Friday, December 30, 2016

Navigating the Dreamscape Under a Pisces Stellium

We're currently experiencing a large concentration of bodies and points in Pisces, which, among other things, indicates a period of time when dreams may be more vivid or intense.

There's a lot going on in the unseen, etheric realms when Pisces is strong, and our sleeping hours may involve an even more powerful release of the unconscious than usual.

With transiting Saturn in Sagittarius square Chiron in Pisces, our dreams may have something important to teach us or to tell us. We may experience prophetic or foreshadowing dreams, also, as our spirits inform us of the path ahead through future events - albeit through the strange imagery of the dream world, which may not be comprehensible until said future events are upon us...

We may be working things out via our dreams in a more intense or active way under these astro conditions, solving problems or releasing old traumas. 

This concentration of Pisces energy will continue throughout the month of January, with Venus (as of January 3), Pallas Athene, Mars, Neptune, Chiron, and the South Node of the Moon transiting Pisces.

The veil between the visible and the invisible, the material and the immaterial, becomes thinner when multiple bodies and points crowd the sign of the fishes. Things are watery, slippery, hard to pinpoint, hard to nail down. Even waking life takes on a sense of the surreal and dreamy with synchronicity and "cosmic winks" from the universe more common. 

With aggressive malefic planet Mars in the mix, there may also be an emphasis on nightmares or otherwise unpleasant dreams (letting up by January 27 when Mars enters Aries).

The Pisces concentration picks up some juice yet again in late February with the Sun and Mercury transiting Pisces, until Mercury enters Aries March 13 and the Sun enters Aries, marking equinox, March 20. 

So because the dream life is such a prominent arena at the moment, let's buck the common wisdom that no one cares about other people's dreams except therapists and that's only because therapists are paid to care about them!

I was considering this Mars in Pisces transit, in particular, and its potential correlation to edgy, intense dreams or nightmares.

What type of nightmare do you find most terrifying or disturbing?

I think the one I find most terrifying is when you wake up and for a couple seconds, you see a figure in the room with you. You're aware that you just woke up, so it seems certain that someone (or some thing) is right there with you. It takes a few seconds to realize that no one is there, that it was part of a dream, and those few seconds are truly petrifying.

Recurring dreams are also really interesting. (Again, maybe not other people's recurring dreams, but let's throw caution to the wind on this one!)

I have a few different recurring dreams. One that I've had throughout my life is a dream about tornadoes coming. Sometimes I can see the tornado on its way; sometimes I only know it's coming. Generally there is a panic to get everyone (including pets) into the basement in time. Sometimes, I'm considering what possessions I have time to collect. In some of the dreams, I have to call for help and can't seem to get the number to the ambulance/police right, having to dial again and again. This dream is not all that mysterious, as my mother was in a tornado while pregnant with me and barely escaped before the tornado hit the trailer home she was living in.

The recurring dream I have the most these days is about eating food! This isn't mysterious, either. Since being poisoned by Cipro, I have had to limit my diet to a very small list of items. Most foods are off limits. If I stray from my highly limited diet, even with basic, non-junk foods, there is the possibility that I will trigger a cellulitis infection on my face, which has (horrifyingly) happened three times before. So my dreams usually involve eating some sort of contraband foods, realizing with horror what I've done, and then feeling intense dread that I will wake up the next day with cellulitis. heh

What types of recurring dreams do you have? Can you pinpoint the reasons for them?

Feel free to share your own thoughts/dreams, or feel free to skip this boring post filled with someone else's boring dreams. ;-)

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Uranus Stationing, a Plutonic Mercury Rx, and Jennifer Jason Leigh in a Pixie Cut

We're currently experiencing a highly Plutonic Mercury retrograde in Capricorn/late Sagittarius (December 19 to January 8).

Mercury retrogrades, in general, bring us newly-uncovered information and perspective to process. But this one, infused so greatly with Pluto energy from the Mercury retrograde station conjunct Pluto on December 19, is truly hell-bent on exposing certain things that have been hidden from view.

There is really no holding back the tenacity of this Mercury placement, infused with intense-and-otherworldy Plutonic drive. It will leave no stone unturned.  

The information Mercury is digging up now is molten lava. It gets right to the point. This information is potentially traumatic, potentially triggering, and potentially disgusting.

But it is also empowering. It's always empowering to finally have something exposed that has been going on beneath your nose. 

Mercury is digging things up, in particular, to expose illegitimacy, dishonesty, and nefarious practises (especially business/financial practises).

This process of exposure, of bringing certain (potentially gross) information to light, is working its magic layer-by-layer but will not be complete until the exact Mercury-Pluto conjunction on January 29 (17 degrees Capricorn), the exact Mercury-Uranus square January 31 (21 degrees Capricorn/Aries), and finally the Mercury ingress of Aquarius (February 7).

In addition to this Plutonic Mercury retrograde digging around in the muck, Uranus is currently stationing direct at 20 degrees Aries (December 28), which indicates the potential for shocks (Uranus) related to our identities (Aries).

And boy, did I just get one of those.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Ceres in Aries Triggering the Uranus-Pluto Square: the Goddess of Grains in a Gluten-Free World

Earth Mama dwarf planet Ceres is currently in late Aries in tight conjunction to stationing Uranus and in loose square to Pluto in Capricorn. In other words, the Goddess of grains, agriculture, and the fertility of the Earth is triggering the Uranus-Pluto square.

Ceres moved retrograde into late Aries in mid-October, and it stationed direct, tightly conjunct Uranus, on December 8, 2016.

Ceres and Uranus are still in that tight conjunction as Uranus now prepares to station direct at 20 degrees Aries on December 28.

This is an indicator that food, agriculture, and nourishment themes - especially those that are new in human history - are being electrified and shaken up. This is also an indicator that an immediate and perhaps radical change in course may be required in these areas, and it likely needs to be self-directed.

Ceres in Aries in general indicates a battle (Aries) regarding our nourishment (Ceres) that may also involve human rights and genetics.

Uranus is an indicator of technology, including biotechnology, and the insidious introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods into the general food supply is one area being lit up by this Ceres-Uranus conjunction.

The results of yet another animal feeding trial were recently released (under this Ceres-Uranus conjunction) that indicate health damage in lab rats fed a diet of GM Bt corn. This is corn that has been genetically modified to have insecticide built right into the plants, and it is grown widely in Canada and the United States.

The Egyptian study showed that after only 90 days, the intestines of the lab rats were damaged by diets of this corn:

"In the GM-fed rats, some areas of the villi – finger-like structures in the intestine that absorb nutrients from food – were damaged. They were distorted and flattened, with some cells joined together. The damage can clearly be seen in the images included in the study. The crypts (mucosal glands) were disrupted and blood vessels were congested. Signs of inflammation – white blood cell infiltration – were seen around areas of damage. In addition, the cells of the intestinal lining were abnormal in structure.

Other signs of damage included increased shedding of mucosal cells, increased numbers of mucous-secreting goblet cells, and higher rates of division of cells lining the crypts."

(Source: Claire Robinson, gmwatch.org)

This was the third Egyptian feeding trial study that showed health damage in rats fed GM Bt corn. The first study showed changes in organs, blood biochemistry, and body weights. The second study showed toxic effects on the liver and kidneys, as well as damage to the intestines.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Fringe-Dweller Associations, Survival-Based Subcultures, and the Tiny Home Community Movement

I was recently a guest on Matt Savinar's community radio show to talk about Jupiter in Libra activating the Uranus-Pluto square. I see these aspects as an indicator of the emergence/catalyzing of fringe-dweller associations and survival-based subcultures in the face of increasing fascist controls and abuses. You can read more on the subject in this patron article.

You can listen to the recent radio segment here:

Jupiter in Libra Activating the Uranus-Pluto Square: Fringe-Dwellers and Survival-Based Subcultures


I was speaking about the necessary emergence of alternative housing, including tiny homes, to solve the homelessness and affordable housing crises and also about the need for people and communities to take these matters into their own hands, as the current power structures will not be solving these desperate problems. The lack of effective action up to this point tells the tale, with billions of dollars wasted on inadequate Band-Aid solutions that only keep the nasty cycles going.

Today, that evil data-mining site we all use nowadays told me of a tiny home community in Oregon that has been created for the homeless. Another community is being planned for people who have jobs but can't afford a place to live due to the prohibitive cost of rents.

Upon further research, these tiny home communities are popping up all over the place because, quite simply, they are a common sense solution to the problem. Facebook Page: Tiny Communities

The creative potential of these communities to solve housing and social problems is huge. The possibilities are truly exciting.

A tiny home community has been developed in Los Angeles, California specifically for homeless teens. Each tiny home costs just $1,200 to build.

So let's just put this on the record: there is no legitimate reason why our governments are not spearheading major initiatives like this, as well as tackling more long-term solutions to the affordable housing crisis. At the very least, governments should be fully supporting the people behind these initiatives as well as training and supporting people to build their own alternative shelters.

The fact that this is not happening en masse, that people are on their own with this stuff, is a blatant sign of the corruption and inhumanity of the power structures on this planet. It is a blatant sign that our governments are failing us miserably. It is a blatant sign that - especially in the astrological Aquarian Age - politicians are not our leaders.

We are our leaders.

Luckily, the corrupt and control-based power structures of Planet Earth are no match - have never been any match - for human ingenuity, adaptability, and the desire to end needless suffering.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

A Happily Uranian Holiday Season

 Santa's Beach House!

This appears to be a very Uranian holiday season, as we experience yet another era-shift shake-up in our relations with others (particularly family).

We generally come into closer contact with the people in our lives during the holidays, and this close contact illuminates the path we need to take in order to get out of some classic karmic emotional pits related to this time of year.

The holidays aren't necessarily warm and cozy and wonderful for everyone, and this strong Uranian energy suggests that we can make some changes to address that fact this year.

The astrological Aquarian era is about creating fluid, common sense rules and structures that work for the individuals involved, rather than forcing people to fit within rigid, pre-set ways of doing things.

As we move through the holidays and close out the year 2016, the planet leading the way into the new astrological era, Uranus, is stationing direct at 20 degrees Aries (exact station December 28), and this body's erratic, up-and-down, off-and-on energy permeates the holiday scene. 

There is a little agitation here, and for good reason.


This is an excerpt from the article, "A Happily Uranian Holiday Season." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

New Moon in Sagittarius Conjunct Juno: We Bear the Burden of This Truth With a Little Help From Our Friends

 Photos: Willow


We experience a New Moon in lively Sagittarius on November 29 as the Sun and Moon come together exactly conjunct soul mate asteroid Juno at 7 degrees (4:18 a.m. PST).

This Sagittarius New Moon falls tightly square the nodal axis (North Node in Virgo/South Node in Pisces), as well as Neptune, which is still regaining speed direct at 9 degrees Pisces in a separating conjunction with the South Node.

At the time of the New Moon, wounded healer Chiron will be stationing direct in challenging square aspect to Saturn in Sagittarius (November 30), potentially creating some fairly intense personal/collective pain-waves.

This is not easy territory to navigate, with various patches of emotional and psychic quicksand threatening to take us under into the swirl and whirl and confusion of the end-of-Piscean-era energy. A painful memory, an insensitive comment, a triggering image - pretty much anything could bring us into an acute awareness of how rough it's been. A creeping sense of overwhelm can permeate things now, and we may have to fight the urge to give up the seemingly futile battle with a resounding, "Screw it!"

Now, there are certain battles we really do need to disengage from. Certain battles really are futile and are becoming moreso as we hurtle beyond the Piscean era paradigm and into astrological Aquarius.

The false dichotomy of the Hegelian dialectic (Democrat vs. Republican, left vs. right, liberal vs. conservative, etc.) is one of those battles, as much of the population wastes time and energy fighting "the other side" rather than focusing energy and attention on the big picture, on the real problems, on the more important common battles that actually draw us together.

These aspects indicate particular challenge for those who know and express an understanding of things that is not commonly accepted.

With a Sagittarius New Moon exactly conjunct Juno, we can draw strength and inspiration from the others out there who know the things we know, who see the things we see, and who are willing to speak up about it when necessary. We can draw strength and inspiration from the others out there willing to live their lives bearing and doing right by these unpopular truths.

There are others out there being opposed because of the truths they understand, carry, and deliver. This has been a theme throughout human history. And there are others who feel just as beleaguered and exhausted by the bearing of these unpopular truths at the end of the road for the astrological Piscean era.

How is it possible to continue, to gather the strength and energy, time and time again, to cut through the mind control, the distraction, and the carefully manufactured lies that have been accepted as truth?

How it is possible to continue the battle against misleading media, deceitful corporate communications and advertising, and maya-inducing controlled opposition agents, all with budgets in the millions or even billions of dollars?

The truth is: we can do it because it needs to be done. The force is with us, so to speak. We can do it because a single word of truth applied at the right time in the right way can cut through millenia of establishment bullcrap, billions of deceitful words and phrases and concepts and lecturers and authors and pundits.

We can do it because we have soul mates (Juno) out there who know and understand and carry similar truth themselves (Sagittarius).

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Chiron Stationing Direct in Pisces and the Natural Reaction of Depression Under Highly Challenging Collective Circumstances

 Photos: Willow


Wounded healer Chiron is stationing direct at the moment at 20 degrees Pisces (November 30), bringing the need for clarity around how our personal pain is intricately tied to the broader collective pain and pain-inducing dynamics.

This body in this sign moving through a station can bring a definite "emotional wet blanket" effect.

On the heels of the Neptune direct station exactly conjunct the South Node of the Moon at 9 degrees Pisces on November 19, the pain we are shouldering due to our collective circumstances is intensified.

Thanks to a comment made by one of WWA's intuitive and researching readers, I've updated a previous post on the subject from October 25, 2013. The themes still very much apply and may help to put things into helpful context:

"Depression is often talked about as if it is a disease, and it certainly can be.

But depression is also a natural bio-chemical response to the state of things on this planet. This is what most people miss. Or maybe it's what they choose to gloss over because then they are not in control. Then the issues snowball. They become huge and unmanageable via the usually prescribed methods. And there is no real solution - only understanding, acceptance, love, endurance, and a willingness to stare it all down, to expose it.

One of the biggest sources of fuel for depression these days is the degree of collective denial we are living with en masse. It's emotionally upsetting, to say the very least. This is the distance between the bottom line reality on this planet and the way most people - including our so-called leaders - are living. The decisions being made and the options being presented don't have much basis in that bottom line reality. Most are living in an artificial state of manufactured reality, and there isn't much that is more depressing to a natural, biological being than living in artifice. Take a look at the animals in the zoo.

We are connected to the living beings who are suffering on this planet, and they're connected to us and to our suffering. And when that suffering is denied, avoided, glossed over, brushed aside, it adds a heaping helping of psychic disturbance to our psyches. Did you really think you were just going to go about your happy, happy life while the majority of this planet suffers under systems and structures that create and reinforce that pain? That's not how life on this round, rotating ball really works.

You remember what went on in Iraq? What's still going on? Well, the devastation and pain from that is monstrous, unimaginable, and it has ripple effects that haven't even gotten started yet. We're going to be dealing with this one for centuries.

You know the nightmare going on in Fukushima these days? That affects you. It affects all of us. It seeps into our psyches, whether we pay it any conscious heed or not. We're tied to the water on this planet, to the creatures in that water. We're tied to the workers on the Fukushima front lines who are being irradiated as I type. We're tied to the emotional and psychic states of other living beings. We can't separate ourselves from this "terrible tragedy that's happening somewhere else." We're teetering on the brink, right here, right now, and we have been since March 11, 2011.

You remember when we thought the oil gusher and massive, criminal dosing of Core-exit in the Gulf of Mexico was the big collective problem? Doesn't Chiron in Pisces have a funny way of putting things in context for us?

We live in a world that wants to separate people into the happy and the unhappy, the joyful and the depressed, the fortunate and the unfortunate, the normal and the abnormal, the positive and the negative.

But those distinctions are not real.

If the scenarios on planet Earth during transiting Chiron in Pisces (2011 - 2019) teach us anything, it's that what affects one will eventually affect all. There is no real line between the fortunates and the unfortunates. We cannot separate ourselves from the corruption, the murder, the erosion, the destruction, the poisoning that is going on - no matter what dimension you mistakenly believe you are ascending to, no matter how much fake currency you have in your bank account.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

A Disturbance in the Force: Neptune Stationing Direct Exactly Conjunct the South Node of the Moon in Pisces


I woke up this morning, came out of my bedroom, and found this. A mystery bowl sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. At first, I just stared at it and thought I must be seeing something of supernatural origin. Then I remembered I heard a noise last night that woke me up but was too lazy/sleepy/unconcerned to investigate. I assume the bowl fell off the heap of clean dishes, rolled across the floor, and came to a rest in upright position as you see it here.

But then I put the bowl back on the pile of dishes, looked to my right, and saw a sponge sitting in the middle of the sink. This sponge had been resting firmly on the side of the sink when I went to bed last night. I hadn't used it in a few days. So there was really no logical explanation (Virgo North Node) for how that sponge got into the sink.

Neptune stationing weirdliness! It's to be expected under the current astrological conditions.

From the November 8, 2016 post, "Neptune Stationing Symptoms: A Friendly Reminder from Your Anarchist Astro-Reporter":

"Everything is a bit weirder and a bit more surreal under the energy of these stations. The veil between the material and the immaterial is just a bit thinner. Taps on the shoulder from the universe are a bit stronger. We perceive the other side communicating with us a bit more clearly."

The exact conjunction of Neptune and the South Node of the Moon at 9 degrees Pisces occurs today, and the Neptune direct station occurs November 19, so the weirdliness reaches its peak over the next few days with the Sun traversing the last degrees of otherworldly Scorpio. 

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Keeping it in Context

 

Your anarchist astro-reporter, Willow, on the psychic and emotional aftermath of the U.S. presidential election and how to keep it all in perspective:

 

SoundCloud: U.S. Election Fallout

 

YouTube: U.S. Election Fallout

 

 

This discussion is courtesy of Matt Savinar and his KOWS 107.3 FM community radio show, Ask the Astrologer, out of Occidental, California. You can listen to Matt's show live online every Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific.

More on the astrology of the time and its effects can be found in this November 8, 2016 article: Neptune Stationing Symptoms: A Friendly Reminder from Your Anarchist Astro-Reporter



And speaking of keeping things in context (ahem), Happy Full Moon in Taurus at perigee!


Photo by my dear Mum from her kitchen window on the cattle ranch in Saskatchewan. You can't get much more Taurean than that!

Friday, November 11, 2016

Intense Social Transformation with Survival-Based Subcultures and Fringe-Dweller Associations Emerging

 Photo: Willow



In many cases, common sense and common human decency cannot be applied within the current structural set-ups. This goes against protocol, you see. It's just not how things are done.

Ultimately, there are people sitting at the top of pyramid scheme hierarchies who have not truly earned their positions of power and leadership. These people are afforded a certain leniency and a certain level of freedom that are not offered to those struggling on the lower echelons of the power structures. Their lives are relatively easy and luxurious simply because they are living off the sweat, labour, talent, and intelligence of those beneath them on the rungs of power. Their ease is supported by the discomfort, struggle, and misery of those forced into disadvantaged positions out of economic necessity. And these unjust dynamics are built into most of the institutions, businesses, and structural set-ups in existence. 

If Lord of the Underworld Pluto transiting Capricorn has taught us one thing, it's that the structural hierarchies of Planet Earth are illegitimate to the point of criminality in many cases (moral if not legal).

Jupiter in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn throws a spotlight on all this illegitimacy and unfairness. With the first square intensifying into late November, we can't just put a happy face on it anymore. We're all out of happy faces.  


This is an excerpt from the patron article, "Intense Social Transformation with Survival-Based Subcultures and Fringe-Dweller Associations Emerging." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it is available for $10.25 by PayPal or email money transfer for non-patrons.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Neptune Stationing Symptoms: A Friendly Reminder from Your Anarchist Astro-Reporter

Psychedelic Haight-Ashbury, no Photoshopping
Photo: Willow


Neptune is slowing in the zodiac to station direct November 19, and it is exactly conjunct the South Node of the Moon at 9 degrees Pisces.

This Neptune-South Node conjunction intensifies the effects of the Neptune direct station, and it also adds an element of increased caution related to blind spots, spaceiness, wishful thinking, illusions, and areas of psychic vulnerability.

There are many nasty karmic loops and ass-biting scenarios associated with the South Node of the Moon, in particular the Pisces South Node, and in particular the Pisces South Node with Neptune stationing direct in exact conjunction!

I've woven together and updated some information from a few past articles on the subject to describe the conditions under which we find ourselves at the moment, with much of the world under the intense illusions of engineered U.S. presidential election maya. One of these illusions is the belief that there is any real choice between the two candidates, that either one would alter the violent and fascistic trajectory that has already been set out and followed to the pre-planned letter for decades, centuries, and millenia now. The belief that a woman in office will be kinder and gentler or that the billionaire male candidate in office will be "anti-establishment" (with his cozy Goldman Sachs and high finance cronies) is yet more of this mind-fogging maya.

(Just like Obomba was supposed to be the great hope for the people and for race relations...)

So let's just say we have some fairly major collective illusions being played out under this particularly potent Neptune station conjunct the South Node, with election theatrics and related mainstream media mind control diverting the public's attention from much more important matters.

The Moon will be in Pisces during the U.S. presidential election (November 8 - 10) to boot, forming conjunctions to Neptune and the South Node in the early morning of November 9.

Physical reality can feel heavy and burdensome as Neptune energy concentrates in the astro atmosphere, as it is doing now. This effect is exacerbated, again, as Neptune stations in exact conjunction to the karmic pitfall-oriented South Node of the Moon. People are under the effect of illusion and delusion more strongly now, and decisions and commitments can be reversed very easily. Things are not entirely as they seem (ahem, watch for those false flags) with Neptune in Pisces flooding the psyche so strongly.

Wounded healer Chiron is also slowing to station direct in Pisces (at 20 degrees on December 1). This can heighten the psychically painful aspects of our collective situation and inter-related circumstances on Planet Earth. The false divisions being created among the people by our so-called leaders are particularly painful to experience under Chiron in Pisces. Ultimately, this placement teaches us that those divisions, too, are part of the mind-fuck illusions being used to deceive us and to divert us from our real, unified collective power.

From a previous post (updated): "Hollow-gut disappointments hang around us like stale fumes. End-of-era love relationships are a confusing, disorienting mess. The idea that our dreams are not special, that we're not special under egalitarian Aquarius, can erode us at the heart. The discrepancy between where we hoped we'd be at this point versus where we really are is staggering at times - both personally and on a broader societal or collective level.

Anyone aware of the circumstances of humanity on Planet Earth at this time will find them humbling, to say the least.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Points to Ponder Under the Scorpio New Moon

I just found this in my drafts from a few years ago, and it seemed apropos as we open out of the 7-degree Scorpio New Moon today:

One of the biggest ways to screw yourself over if you're an "all in" Plutonic type is to mistake someone else as "all in" when, in fact, they are "one foot in, one foot out."

Just to keep it straight: most people, if they have any designs on fundamental change on this planet at all, are "one foot in, one foot out." They'll rail against the hierarchy but only from within the security of that hierarchy. They'll bitch about the masses, but only from a socially acceptable position.

When you get right down to it, most people want to fit in. They want a "normal" life, firmly within the insulating folds of whatever establishment will have them.

One of the greatest and most wondrous things the Pluto in Capricorn transit is doing, with world economies timed to implode one-by-one like dominoes, is it's making it harder for people to further insulate themselves within their version of the American/Canadian Dream.

Don't get me wrong. At this point, most people just want back into the fold. They just want back in their safe, secure 8 to 5 with dental or whatever variation there might be. People just want back on the treadmill, damn it.

But I'm glad Pluto is not allowing that.

For billions of people on this planet - the majority of people on this planet - being insulated within that mainstream dream was never an option to begin with.

And this is what it's like for truly Plutonic people. There is no option of being insulated from what's really going on on this planet. There is no way to put the blinders back up after they've been unceremoniously torn down. There is no going along with it, unless one can tolerate being soul-poisoned by the facade they must project to do so.

But most people aren't like this, and this is a key thing to remember, especially during Scorpio season. Plutonic people are a special breed, under a special set of conditions that most of the human race couldn't tolerate let alone succeed or prosper under.

To forget that - to project the "all in" Plutonic qualities on people who don't, ultimately, have them - is one way those who have Pluto as a driving force in their lives can screw themselves over royally...

Monday, October 24, 2016

Scorping Season

The Sun and Mercury form their exterior conjunction in underbelly-exposing Scorpio on October 27 (9:16 a.m. PDT at 4 degrees), and we are officially immersed in the witching season.

For a brief time, our thoughts are fused with the current moment. No ruminating on the past or stressing about future challenges. We're right here, focused right into the Scorpy-quiet current moment.

As the Sun and Mercury come together in regeneration-oriented Scorpio, our brains receive some much needed healing.

Our synapses are being purged and cleansed of the million little worries and zillion little details we had on our minds during the extended transit of Mercury through precision-driven Virgo. That transit lasted from July 30 to October 7, including a retrograde period that required some intense mental focus on our parts in order to stay on top of the proceedings.

This Sun-Mercury conjunction marks a completion point related to the themes of that Mercury retrograde process. We've made, re-established, or reinforced some important connections, coming into new understanding and perspective about things, and this allows us to shed some mental dead weight.

Allow that dead weight to fall away, layer-by-layer.

We can finally let go of some things that have been eating at us and infringing on our peace of mind since the summer.

We are also moving to a very interesting New Moon at 7 degrees Scorpio on October 30 (10:38 a.m.), just in time for All Hallow's Eve.

As we move into the dark half of the year in the northern hemisphere, ceding the reins to dark Goddess Cailleach, the focus turns inward. At the surface, things appear to go dormant as we enter the dark half. But this is not entirely true. The real action, the real alchemy, and the real catalyzing effects are going on beneath the surface appearance of things, simmering, simmering like the bubbling witch's brew.

As we move through Scorpio season and the potent Scorpio New Moon at Samhain, we're moving into a period of energetic fusion and merging in areas where we can no longer go it alone.

There is a fierce protectiveness to the sign of Scorpio, and using its energy well means coming together with the right people in the right situations that will buffer and support us - rather than drain and destabilize us - through the trials, tribulations, and traumas of human life. Using this energy well means sussing out deep-down allegiances, alliances, and motivations and making our choices as far as who we'd like to join forces with (if anyone at all...) and who we'd like included in our dark-half bunker.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

New Emotional Instincts and Cues Under A Revolutionary Full Moon

The Moon is currently traveling through misty and mystical late Pisces, forming a conjunction to wounded healer Chiron (21 degrees) tonight before pushing its way to fullness in a 23-degree Aries Full Moon on October 15 (9:23 p.m. PDT), almost exactly conjunct Uranus.

There are emotional endings - playing so sweetly on our heartstrings - wrapped up in the new emotional territory we're entering now, as the Moon completes its transit of the final sign of the zodiac, Pisces, before entering the first sign of the zodiac, Aries, at 8:08 a.m. PDT tomorrow morning.

The Moon is pushing its way to fullness in the sign of the trailblazer, conjunct radical and revolutionary Uranus, and there can be no stopping our momentum now onto new emotional ground.

There is a "busting loose" theme here as our emotional instincts and cues take on a particularly primal tone. 

This Aries Full Moon is raw, alive. It brings movement. It knows what (and whom) it wants and will go directly for it. Our usual emotional habits and patterns are getting a necessary shake-up. We're being pushed beyond the safety and pull of old comfort zones. Our emotional impulses take on a strongly Uranian tone - erratic, raw, instinctual, driving us to new inner life, new emotional fuel, new growth.

We know we can't stay where we are. And this Aries Full Moon connects us with the beating Uranian pulse of the new astrological era. It beats a drum that perhaps only we can hear, producing necessary new rhythm and movement. We need only to gather the courage and the guts to follow this new pulse, this new rhythm, these new emotional cues and instincts, as they propel us and compel us into exciting new places.

It's a matter of emotional survival to tap into and then direct ourselves via this raw and instinctual inner pulse. The old story lines are breaking down. The old comfort zones are being shaken apart at the seams. We must move on, toward something else.

This is a relationship-oriented Full Moon, also, falling opposite the Libra Sun. 

The Aries Moon will also oppose Jupiter and Mercury, in conjunction in Libra, as it moves to its peak. Mercury in Libra will form a square to Pluto in Capricorn as the Moon grows full on October 15, producing a "cutting to the chase" effect in communications.

These new emotional impulses are working to initiate necessary change in our relations with others. People could be making seemingly sudden moves or changes in direction within relationships or social settings. Some of these moves may seem "out of character," but they are true to the traits and aspects of identity emerging as we shed astrological Pisces and commit fully to weird and wild Aquarius.

These changes in direction - potentially sudden and even radical - are reinforced by a deep and transformative conjunction between Aries' ruling planet Mars and Lord of the Underworld Pluto in Capricorn. 

This Mars-Pluto conjunction is strongly in effect during the Aries Full Moon, but it is exact at 15 degrees Capricorn on October 19 (4:22 a.m.). 

This conjunction indicates that some paths are no longer available to us. Some personal goals are no longer worth pursuing in light of the collective circumstances. Our goals and trajectories are in a state of shedding, morphing, and streamlining in order to survive "the way things are being done" on Planet Earth.

Our personal energy expenditures - including emotional and psychological - are coming under new limitations in light of planetary conditions.

Our true power now comes from shedding and eliminating all that is unnecessary, particularly as this relates to personal desires, goals, trajectories, and energy expenditures. 

Old attractions, old draws, old attachments, old hang-ups, old triggers, old dramas - all these are being offered up in a process of sombre, soul-driven purification. There simply isn't energy for all of it anymore, and this awareness makes the changes in trajectory and the honing of personal desires and goals much easier to accept.

Mars in Capricorn will continue to a square to Uranus in Aries on October 28, bringing some sudden changes or lightning bolt flashes of insight that propel us into new structural realities, providing new - and perhaps surprising - mountains for us to climb.

Female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene stations direct at 18 degrees Aquarius on October 18, and the themes of this body are very potent at the time of the Aries Full Moon, as well. Both male warrior (Aries/Mars) and female warrior (Pallas Athene) are represented prominently. 

The Pallas Athene direct station in Aquarius indicates that our most successful strategies involve setting our sights on a future vision, rather than dwelling on the things that have been taken away or lost. This is the way we battle and strategize our way into a preferable future, rather than allowing the traumas and heaviness of the past and present to consume us. 

Stretch beyond your habitual responses at this Aries Full Moon. Find the courage to take just a single step into new and uncharted emotional/relational territory, and the flashes of Uranian brilliance will guide you the rest of the way.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Dispositor Venus and Unlocking the Benefits of the Jupiter in Libra Transit

 Photo: Willow

The planet that makes everything it touches bigger (Jupiter) entered Libra on September 9, putting a spotlight on all things Libran for the following year - justice, balance, peace, beauty, social settings, and relationships, to name a few.

As I mentioned in the previous Jupiter in Libra patron article, the Greater Benefic planet in the sign of relationships does not mean purely smooth relational sailing, however.

Relationships and social scenes are growing, developing, and expanding over the course of this year (along with desires for peace, justice, beauty, fairness, mutuality, and balance), but this expansion comes with some definite growing pains, especially as we struggle to navigate new-era relationship rules, dynamics, and constructs.


This is an excerpt from the patron article, "Dispositor Venus and Unlocking the Benefits of the Jupiter in Libra Transit." This article is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

A Blessed Point of Balance



The Sun enters Libra September 22 (8:21 a.m. PDT), marking fall equinox in the northern hemisphere, a balancing point when daytime and nighttime hours are perfectly matched.

After the nose-to-the-grindstone Virgoan harvest, a time of work, work, work and intensely industrious progress on the physical plane, we move to this airy Libran equinox point of balancing and re-balancing.

Fall equinox is a time when we raise our eyes from our own dutiful productivity, shifting focus to the enjoyment of human society and the people we like and love most on this planet. It marks a time characterized by relationships, sociability, and the shared enjoyment of the fruits of our industrious labour. It is a point of rest, recuperation, and relaxation as the scales balance themselves out naturally with little effort on our parts, perfectly counter-weighted for a fleeting period of time that must be recognized, enjoyed, and celebrated.

So Happy Equinox, everyone!

This equinox and the following Libra season are special ones, indeed, as Greater Benefic planet Jupiter is also newly in Libra (as of September 9), marking the first fall equinox since 2005 when lucky horseshoe Jupiter is bringing its blessings, expansion, and grace to the proceedings.

The Sun will form its one and only conjunction to Jupiter in Libra on September 26 at 3 degrees. These bodies will not conjoin again in Libra until September 30, 2028, so the cosmic grace is really raining down on all things Libra - and on anyone with a strong Libra placement or placements either natally or by Secondary Progression. This is a time of blessed expansion, luck, and grace in relationships, partnerships, social life, and community building. Issues around art, beauty, and aesthetic are being given a boost at this time. This aspect also indicates the potential for beneficial progress related to justice issues, fairness, truth, and overall mutuality in human relationships.

We are forming or building relationships and alliances at this time that expand our social webs in beneficial ways that will develop over the next 12 years of life on Planet Earth and beyond.

There is some strong social magic at this fall equinox and throughout this Sun in Libra season, to say the least.

With Jupiter transiting Libra until October 2017, love and togetherness are back in vogue.

This is not to say that it's all smooth relational sailing, however. (A more in-depth look at the Jupiter in Libra transit can be found in this patron article.)

Libra's ruling planet Venus moves into the sign of its detriment, Scorpio, on September 23 (8:51 a.m.) for a transit that lasts until October 18. This is the placement most heavily influencing the Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Libra on September 26.

In order to benefit fully from the relationship expansion indicated by the Sun-Jupiter conjunction, we must go deep, perhaps deeper than lovely Libra is completely comfortable with.

Full emotional authenticity - layer by layer - will be required as we work together to overcome tricky ancestral patterns and sore spots as well as their emotional/psychological aftermath.

There are deep needs that have gone unmet in relationship through our ancestral lines, particularly emotional and psychological needs. These unmet needs create disturbance, trauma, and dysfunction that are carried forward through the generations. The upcoming aspects indicate a wonderful opportunity to address the carried-over ancestral trauma and unmet needs right to their roots, building relationship dynamics with greater awareness, transparency, depth, understanding, and mutual support.

Venus transiting Scorpio indicates a time when it is especially important to be clear on underlying motivations, goals, and trajectories in relationships, ensuring that these things are ultimately compatible before too much expansion and merger are taken on.

Venus transiting Scorpio indicates a deepening of soul-level bonds, a stronger emotional meshing with others, and a full merger at the heart with those we love right to the core of who they are. Powerful bonds are being forged here, and a powerful love is being catalyzed that will fuel our relationships and social settings over the next 12 years. 

We will also experience some relief in mental pressure and intensity just in time for equinox, as communication and intelligence planet Mercury stations direct at 14 degrees Virgo on September 21 (10:31 p.m.).

We've had a lot on our mental plates as the messenger planet retrograded in highly-focused and hard-working Virgo. There were many details we had to stay on top of (not at all easy during a Mercury retrograde period), many duties that had to be completed, and much work and worry and stress that had to be navigated.

Now, with Mercury shifting forward again, we experience some relief in the mental strain and worry, as well as an alleviation of the painfully intense focus. (A full shift comes as Mercury enters Libra October 7.)

As Mercury re-gains speed direct, we start to feel as if we're on top of things once again.

Something has been clarified for us since August 10 when Mercury first entered the retrograde shadow. Our perspectives have been honed and re-shaped as new information and details came in - or were dug up by us.

As Mercury goes direct, we have achieved a necessary new clarity, and we are able to put that into practical application in our lives. 

Mercury stations direct in exact trine to Pluto in Capricorn, which is also stationing direct at this time (September 26 at 9:02 a.m.). This flowing Mercury-Pluto trine - though quite concentrated and intense with both bodies stationing direct - indicates some very welcome progress, no matter how small the advancements may seem. Solutions can appear for even the largest of problems and concerns.

Overall, the Mercury direct station in Virgo relieves mental pressure, taking a load off our minds as we move into Libra season.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Jupiter in Libra: Bringing it All to the Table

Photos: Willow


Relationship-related planet Venus is acting as a scout at the moment as it transits its home turf of Libra. 

Venus is currently out front of Jupiter, which enters Libra September 9 for a transit that lasts until October 17, 2017. 

As it transits the sign of the scales, Venus is forming the same aspects to the outer planets that Jupiter will form during its own year-long transit. 

This gives us a taste of the social and relationship growth on the near horizon, and friends, this taste could be a little spicier than we were expecting from such a balanced and peace-seeking sign. 

Just as we clear the final exact Saturn-Neptune square on September 10, Venus will square transiting Pluto in Capricorn (September 11) and oppose transiting Uranus in Aries (September 18). 

Sandwiched between those two Venus aspects, we have a number of dominant squares to navigate, and the flavour of these squares gives us an indicator of the sometimes-frictional growth opportunities that lie ahead. 

The Sun and Mercury retrograde will form their interior conjunction at 20 degrees Virgo on September 12, and both bodies will be in exact square to Mars in Sagittarius September 12/13. 

We will also experience a 24-degree Pisces Full Moon conjunct wounded healer Chiron on September 16 opposite the Sun and Mercury Rx in Virgo and with all bodies squaring Mars in Sagittarius. This Full Moon has a definite "getting it all on the table" quality, and the things being shared could be inflammatory (Mars). *ahem* 

As mentioned in the recent Jupiter in Libra patron article, Jupiter's transit of Libra will put a spotlight on social justice issues and the ongoing work toward a more just society.  *hoo boy* 

The main theme I see here - with Venus scouting for us in Libra and the Sun-Mercury in Virgo square to Mars in Sagittarius - is a requirement for some of the finer points on social justice issues to come forth in order to puncture and "reality check" some partial-truth rhetoric being put forth by academic circles, media, and various organized groups. 

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Jupiter in Libra and a New-Era Shake Up of Relating Patterns



Big, beautiful Jupiter enters tropical Libra on September 9 for a transit that lasts until October 11, 2017. 

We have a lovely equinox September 22 to look forward to, as the Sun enters Libra and daylight and darkness hours are in perfect balance. This will be the first fall equinox with Greater Benefic Jupiter bringing its good vibes to the party since 2005. Enjoy this moment of natural re-balancing and good cheer. The Sun will form its one and only conjunction to Jupiter in Libra on September 26 at 3 degrees. Wonderful.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and is said to make anything it touches BIGGER. Jupiter is associated astrologically with blessings, benefit, luck, wisdom, expansion, and the broadening expansion of horizons. Referred to as the Greater Benefic planet, Jupiter is generally considered an optimistic and jovial influence, a bringer of benevolent things.

Libra as a sign is associated with balance, peace, justice, beauty, aesthetic, manners, and social graces.

Oh, yeah, and relationships. Did I forget to mention relationships?

Now, I have a feeling I know how a lot of astrologers out there are going to read this transit. Jupiter in Libra: nothing but luck in relationships all year long! If we're single, we all fall madly in love, get married, and live happily ever after! If we're already paired up, get ready for romantic trips to Paris, Mimosas and chocolate-dipped strawberries every morning, and full-on coupled-up bliss!

The astrologer you're reading, however, has Venus in one of the tougher placements, which makes her well aware that relationships are not that easy-breezy, smooth sailing for everyone. In fact, if you are reading this particular astrologer, it's quite likely that you're well aware of that yourself, and probably from personal experience.

This astrologer is well aware that Jupiter is also associated with bluster, rhetoric, assumptions, blanket statements, over-reaching, and over-confidence.


This is an excerpt from the article, "Jupiter in Libra and a New-Era Shake Up of Relating Patterns." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased for $10.25 by PayPal or email money transfer.

This 3,400+ word article outlines themes and major aspects for the year-long Jupiter in Libra transit.

Friday, August 26, 2016

A Concentrated Mercury Rx Station: The Truth is in the Details

Graffiti on a train car
This train went forward past me and then reversed back up the track the way it came. A fitting symbol for a Mercury retrograde article, I thought.


Mercury retrograde August 30 to September 21 from 29 to 14 degrees Virgo


Communication and intelligence planet Mercury stations retrograde on the 29th degree of Virgo on August 30 (6:04 a.m. PDT) in a mash-up with the two benefics of the zodiac, Venus (which will be newly in Libra) and Jupiter (just finishing its transit of Virgo).

Winged messenger Mercury is at home in Virgo. It is the ruling body of that sign. However, a retrograde station on the potent and concentrated anaretic (final) degree of this sign is a bit much, even for Mercury in home territory.

There is an absolute glut of information and detail concentrated into this degree, so very much we have to take into consideration if we are to maintain effective perspective. As Mercury puts on the brakes and reverses direction on this most analytical of zodiac degrees, to say we are tasked with keeping up on the finer points would be an understatement.

Luckily, we have an extended transit of Mercury through Virgo (until October 7) to process and integrate all those pertinent finer points...

We're going back over the ideas, information, connections, perceptions, and conversations we've had since Mercury first entered the retrograde shadow on August 10. There are more details to be gleaned and more perspective to be gathered on everything experienced between August 10 and August 30.

There is some confusion here, also, as Mercury reverses itself, some difficulty in maintaining that honed, practical, "100% totally and completely with it" perspective. Staying on top of alllllll the information, details, and organization we have to stay on top of in our daily lives and work is a challenge at the moment, to say the least.

This challenge eases a little as Mercury re-gains speed in retrograde motion during the first few days of September.

Mercury in Virgo has a tendency to turn things over and over and over in the mind, looking at every possible angle, bringing in even the tiniest of details, going over even the most minute of perceived errors.

And all that mental processing and processing and processing has a tendency to make us a little stressed!

With Mercury stationing retrograde in conjunction to Jupiter, the over-thinking and overly-analytical tendencies are exaggerated even further. Mercury conjunct Jupiter indicates the possibility of too much information/analysis/thinking with the Virgo function (fairly overloaded at the moment) required to streamline and filter it all.

The truth is in the details, but we must first shed the unnecessary and narrow our focus.  

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Saturn Square Neptune Tension and Some Fortifying Context From the Vault

As mentioned in a recent post, the astrological aspects of the moment suggest a tough period of time for many as end-of-Piscean-era structural realities continue to dissolve, disappoint, and come up short all around us.

At the same time, we're forging ahead - experimentally, often in a state of muted shock - while gaining momentum in a new astrological era. Things work differently now. Energy works differently. As a result, in order to be successful, things must be set up differently, under rules aligned with the natural laws governing the astrological Aquarian Age.

In many ways, we are moving into a freer and more dynamic period. As things break down, we are forced to seek alternatives, to do things differently. Keeping the grand scale, macro shift in mind can help to inspire us and buoy our spirits when everything seems to be swirling down the fin-de-Piscean-era drain.

There can also be no doubt, however, that many/most are weighed down in some way by this "will it never end?" transitional period. We're moving through experiences of stagnation, inertia, confusion, isolation, listlessness, disappointment, and/or despair, time periods when nothing at all seems to work, and these periods can increase in potency as the era shift gathers momentum.

Keep in mind: we are working to achieve escape velocity from the sticky karmic loops, from the devastating dirty tricks, and from the unmet and unrealized ideals of the astrological Piscean era.

And we're going to get there, there's no doubt about it. If for no other reason than: there's nowhere else to go.

At the same time, no caring, feeling, intelligent being of any degree of sensitivity could deny the pain and suffering going on on this planet - much of it intentionally being brought down upon us by the nasty mix of nefarious nogoodniks inhabiting positions of power within the illegitimate structural hierarchies of this planet.

More than two thousand years of it is being layered upon us now, concentrated into this period of time, spread amongst the billions of us currently living and breathing on Planet Earth, shared even amongst the Earth-compassionate spirits on the other side.

No one can entirely separate his or her own emotional and psychological states from the intense misery and fear that has been generated, stirred, and intentionally manufactured around the globe for millenia. We can protect ourselves from it, insulate ourselves from it to a degree, love ourselves and others through it, but we cannot separate ourselves from it.

This impossibility of separation is a Chiron in Pisces lesson, and with the wounded healer now transiting late Pisces, this lesson is coming to a head.