Avoiding Unsatisfactory Astrology Readings on Ask the Astrologer

I was a guest on Matt Savinar's astrology-based radio show Ask the Astrologer recently. We delved into a very complex topic, and I hope we did it some justice.

Avoiding an Unsatisfactory Astrology Reading Part One

Avoiding an Unsatisfactory Astrology Reading Part Two

What to Do if You've Gotten a Reading With Which You are Not Happy

A Highly-Charged Full Moon in Libra

Photos: Willow

 

We have a very spicy Libra Full Moon in store March 26/27, coming out of the Pisces New Moon within massive Pisces stellium that occurred March 11. The Moon will be completely full in the early morning of March 27 at 6 degrees Libra.

The personal planets (all but Mercury) have now shifted from ethereal Pisces into rough and ready Aries, making the early March Pisces stellium into a late March Aries stellium.

This Full Moon falls opposite that Aries stellium (Sun, Venus, Uranus, and Mars tightly conjunct in Aries) and square Pluto in Capricorn. Sizzle and spice, and it won't necessarily all be nice!

The Sun and Venus are currently travelling through the zodiac in tight conjunction in war planet-ruled Aries. These bodies form conjunctions to Uranus in Aries on March 28 and squares to Pluto in Capricorn on March 31.

Mars is just out ahead of this pack in Aries. It was exactly conjunct Uranus on March 22 and forms an exact square to Pluto March today.

Our Arien desires for new energy, new direction, and new life are kept in check by bad boy Pluto in the sign of bureaucracy, institutional rules, finance, and hierarchy.

As if that weren't enough, female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene is finishing its transit in late Aries, adding some extra feistiness and fight, female-style, to the proceedings.

These aspects and transits are motivating but also stressful and potentially frustrating. People are going to be a little on edge this Aries season.

The final square between Jupiter in Gemini and Chiron in Pisces occurs March 27, exact during the Full Moon. We've been under the influence of this square since July 2012.

Communication and transportation planet Mercury will be conjunct wounded healer Chiron at that time, squaring Jupiter exactly on March 29.

The Mercury-Chiron square to Jupiter in Gemini indicates that conditions are ripe for conversations, connections, and information that create spontaneous healing. However, this square is also mentally and psychically taxing, increasing stress, sensitivity, confusion, and irritation. People are very sensitive to words and tones now, and certain perspectives will rub salt in old wounds - intentionally or unintentionally.

All this makes for a highly-charged and important week (March 25 - 31) as we surge into spring in the northern hemisphere.

The strong Aries influence squaring Pluto brings the potential for spats, battles, pissiness, and even epic meltdowns as we elbow the winter of 2013 out of our way. Coming out of the last dregs of this winter, we're like grumpy bears rolling out of our dens after a long and sometimes miserable hibernation period. We're hungry, we're dopey, we're annoyed, and we're not suffering fools all that gladly.

There's a large amount of cardinal energy in the zodiac now, indicating people will be chomping at the bit for new direction and movement. We're ready to get the show on the road. However, the post-equinox increase in action, activity, and enthusiasm can rub people entirely the wrong way if they feel things are moving in the wrong direction or at the wrong speed. People taking leadership roles upon themselves may find an air of mutiny if their actions and decisions miss the mark for the group. Sudden, unilateral power plays will more than likely be met with opposition. Our action is held tightly in check by slow-burn Pluto in Capricorn.

Aggression and power plays won't all be out in the open, either. With Venus in detriment in Aries until April 15, some passive aggressiveness can be expected. Watch out for that slow drip poison, especially from women dysfunctionally expressing anger and a frustrating lack of influence within the structures as they exist. The confines of the Pluto in Capricorn-era office environment - often emotionally and psychologically toxic - will be a particularly nasty breeding ground for this behaviour. Mercury is still in the sign of its fall, Pisces, sandwiched between Neptune and Chiron, and this increases the possibility of these "invisible" attacks, especially verbally or through the written word.

Those fed up in customer service roles will also be at their maximum level of tolerance with those "the customer is always right" dynamics. Compassion for people stuck in dysfunctional work systems would be more appropriate than bitching about bad customer service this week. Allow more time and more leeway for those working with the public. And if you are one of the lucky ones working with the public - work to hold your temper and your tongue, directing your energy into making changes and improvements wherever you can.

There's a lot to balance emotionally this week. The Libra Moon has its work cut out for it. And those who believe Libra is always nice may have some Pluto-and-Uranus-sponsored education on the docket...

All the personal-transpersonal connectivity creates a universe-directed surge into new territory, as well as the potental for radical breaks in relational form brought about quickly and instinctively, motivated by the new space our identities require.

Some changes in the cast of characters in your life are possible at this Libra Full Moon, stirred by both independence-oriented Uranus and metamorphosis-oriented Pluto. Certain relationships or relationship dynamics have run their course. Others have been cemented into place with Pluto's blessing. You have to love that. What goes forward from here has roots.

With these aspects, we're bristling under the top-down control of Pluto in Capricorn-era institutions and illegitimate hierarchies. Keeping ourselves under lock and key to the extent that we are trained to by the militaristic corporate regime is just not possible for many at this point.

We're committed to a new way, unfolding in the vital current moment, organizing as we go.

Any sudden changes or movement kicked up in relationships or money matters at this Full Moon are tied to the broader changes we're navigating as things continue to shift on the macro level. The personal planets touching the transpersonal planets indicates our personal directions are intricately tied to the collective shifts indicated by the ongoing series of Uranus-Pluto squares, experienced last in the 1930s during the Great Depression and the lead-up to World War II.

In other words, this is bigger than just you.

Things are very, very screwed up on this planet. Things have been intentionally screwed up on this planet. And we're doing our best to navigate personal lives within these circumstances.

Not only is Pluto taking part in the historic squares with Uranus, it is in another historically important position - within mutual reception to Saturn in Scorpio. The last time Saturn and Pluto were in this relationship was in 1776 and 1777, coinciding with the American Revolution and the break from English control (or at least, the appearance of it).

So you can see and sense some of the intense broader context here as major changes and new agendas unfold both personally and on the world stage.

Libra is the sign of justice, often overlooked by those who prefer its soft pastel shades, interior design, and relationship how-to. This Libra Full Moon indicates a point of high-water emotional illumination reached within stressed circumstances related to fairness, justice, and balance, as well as what more we need to do to achieve those things. There are many scales that must be tipped from injustice to justice on this planet. It takes all our courage and drive now to move toward that under threat from Pluto in Capricorn regimes.

Under these complex and challenging global circumstances, charged by the Aries stellium, make sure to allow enough emotional space for your own scales to balance this week. Don't overload. Focus on the lovely and the beautiful in your life and in this world and come back to a point of inner calm and peacefulness amidst all the fighting Aries - definite necessities with a Moon in Libra.

The Aries Stellium Charges Up The Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus Yod for a Grand Finale

By tonight when Venus enters Aries, most of the personal planets will be in the sign of the ram, clustered around Uranus, and the Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus Yod is being charged up to the max.

The Aries planets are sextile Jupiter in Gemini, forming a brash and chatty base for this Yod. This is a whole lot of young, yang energy looking for expression in a big and bold way. The Aries planets stimulating Jupiter in Gemini so intensely creates an instinctive urge to take action, to take charge of our directions, and to speak up from personal perspectives in a fairly aggressive manner.

Spring fever in the northern hemisphere is pretty much off the hook at this point after the massive Pisces stellium and harsh winter transits.

However, the finger of God or apex of this Yod is Saturn Rx in Scorpio. This becomes the navigation point of the potentially loud, over-the-top, and inflammatory energies of this formation. This indicates it's restraint, restraint, restraint that gets the job done over the next couple weeks, as well as careful withdrawal, sober second thought, strategy, grounding, conservatism, and seriousness. Saturn Rx in yin/feminine sign Scorpio plays its cards very close to its chest, avoiding immature drama and tempting diversions. Saturn is the wise and responsible filter for all this immediate and in-your-face Aries and Gemini. Aries and Gemini are not known as the most patient signs of the zodiac, so applying some of the grumpy old man Saturn in Scorpio energy keeps these bratty astro kids under control.

The Aries and Gemini Yod base is basically going to take care of itself. Air and fire are interacting in a big way. Connections are going to be made, and new directions are going to be initiated. It's the Saturn in Scorpio energy that will need to be more consciously applied. A good dousing of the party atmosphere by Saturn in water sign Scorpio will be required at times. And don't you secretly love doing that when it's necessary? Saturn sure does.

You can read more about the two Yod formations we're currently experiencing in this extensive post on the subject: Yods, Oddness, and Awkward Social Angles Create Breakthroughs in Understanding Through April 2013

As stated, we're currently under the influence of two Yod formations. As we entered March, Jupiter in Gemini was the apex or finger of God navigation point. You can read more about that here: Jupiter in Gemini and Our Alchemical Tongues.

Now, at the end of March, things have switched, and Saturn in Scorpio is the finger of God navigation point.

Did I mention we've been under some very challenging transits this winter?

The Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus Yod formation is fully in effect now. Jupiter in Gemini is quincunx Saturn in Scorpio exactly on March 23, and it's quincunx Pluto in Capricorn exactly on March 29.

We're also experiencing the final Jupiter in Gemini square to Chiron in Pisces at this time (exact March 27 at the Libra Full Moon), and this increases the possibility of a mentally and psychically challenging last week of March.

However, the good (Jupiter) news (Gemini) is that this is the last big stress point created by these Yod configurations. One last hurrah, and the Yods have done their thing. Mysteries will be revealed. Intricate and hidden communications networks will be unravelled. And the excessively loose lips of others can be worked to our own strategic advantage (just keep that on the up and up).

The Sun in Aries Brings the First Day of Spring in the Canadian Prairies

It sure looks like spring, doesn't it?

 

Standing in front of his handiwork for the winter of 2013.

 

This is how you shovel snow in Saskatchewan.

 

 

Happy Astrological New Year, all! The Sun entered Aries, marking March equinox, early this morning. I hope you're enjoying warmer and less snowy environments wherever you are.

 

Major Stelliums in Perspective

A stellium is made up of three or more planets in the same zodiac sign.

The more planets in the sign, the more rare the stellium.

Stelliums indicate a concentration of focus and energy in a particular sign, involving the themes of that sign.

During late February and March of 2013, we experienced a major stellium of bodies in Pisces. At its height, the stellium included six planets (the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune) and Chiron, which is considered a comet nucleus.

Because Mercury and Venus travel close to the Sun in the zodiac, it is not uncommon to have those three bodies (Sun, Mercury, Venus) in the same sign in an astrological chart. There are 30 degrees in each sign of the zodiac. Mercury is never more than 28 degrees behind or ahead of the Sun. Venus is never more than 46 degrees behind or ahead of the Sun.

Mars takes a little under two years to move through the zodiac, and it goes retrograde about once every two years, as well. The largest stelliums often occur when Mars has reached the area of the zodiac inhabited by the transiting Sun, Mercury, and Venus. This was the case with the recent Pisces stellium.

Large stelliums of five, six, seven, or more bodies are more rare.

In order to have a stellium of more than the five personal planets, one of the intermediary (Jupiter, Saturn) or outer (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) planets has to also be in the sign.

The personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) move fairly quickly through the signs of the zodiac. The intermediary planets (Jupiter and Saturn) move a bit more slowly through the signs. And the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) move the slowest, spending approximately six to twenty years in each sign, depending on the body.

One or more of the slower-moving bodies must be inhabiting the sign in order for one of the largest stelliums to form.

According to my research, the next seven-planet stellium will occur September 5 and 6, 2051 in Virgo. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus will be in Virgo at that time.

There will also be a seven-planet stellium in Aquarius on the last day of Aquarius season, February 18, 2080. This will actually be an eight-body stellium because dwarf planet Ceres will also be in Aquarius at that time, along with the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. Using Ceres, the seven-planet stellium is extended for about a week in February.

The most recent seven-planet stellium took place May 3, 2000 with seven planets in Taurus - the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Prior to that, a stellium was experienced January 10 - 12, 1994 with seven planets in Capricorn - the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Uranus, and Neptune.

There was also a seven-planet stellium in Aquarius February 18 - 20, 1962. That stellium involved the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the South Node.

The Aquarius stellium in 1962 has been linked to the official start of the astrological Aquarian era.

If that Aquarius stellium marked the official beginning of the Aquarian era, the Pisces stellium we just experienced in March 2013 can be seen as the official end of the astrological Piscean era. Up to this point, we have been living in a layered, transitional time between eras when characteristics of both were prevalent. Now, we tip into the stronger Aquarian overlay and find a new expression for Pisces for the astrological Aquarian era.

Six-planet stelliums are also notable but are less rare than seven-planet stelliums. Some of the six-planet stelliums coming up include:

A six-planet stellium in Capricorn in January 2018.

A six-planet stellium in Aquarius in February 2021.

A six-planet stellium in Aries in April 2026.

A six-planet stellium in Gemini in June 2028.

A six-planet stellium in Gemini in May 2032 - this does not involve the Moon, so it's substantial.

A six-planet stellium in Scorpio in November 2041.

A six-planet stellium in Taurus in April 2047.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it does give some perspective on large stelliums.

They are not necessarily once-in-a-lifetime astrological events, but they are certainly not common. The meaning ascribed to each stellium will vary based on astrologer.

 

An updated version of this article from 2020: Major Stelliums in Perspective

The Dank Mental Backwash of Mercury Rx in Pisces Ends Just in Time for a St. Patty's Day Piss Up!

If you're confused...

Wondering if you've lost your way... 





Just keep following the trail.

Mercury stations direct in the afternoon of March 17 at 5 degrees Pisces, just in time to get your St. Patty's Day drank on, and the relief of this is going to be palpable.

(Unless you celebrate St. Patty's on Saturday night. In that case, your hangover headache may start to lift as Mercury goes direct!)

We're a little worse for wear at this point, a little shredded, but as Mercury starts to move forward with Mars blazing new trail in Aries, we can finally look ahead to spring equinox in the northern hemisphere after a fairly nasty stretch of transits and aspects throughout the winter.

We started 2013 with a heavy, pressurized, and sometimes beastly Pluto-infused stellium in Capricorn. Then we had the highly-stressed Jupiter in Gemini station within two challenging Yod formations and a square to Chiron in Pisces. That morphed into a massive stellium in Pisces, coloured strongly by the pain and dysfunction of Chiron in Pisces. And as if that weren't arduous enough, we also had the three-week Mercury retrograde in the sign of its fall, Pisces.

The Mercury retrograde period has brought us through the mental and verbal dregs with Mercury moving backward in a sign in which it is not the most effective, touching wounded healer Chiron and stirring many ouchy issues.

We've been experiencing an often uninspiring mental and verbal backwash during this retrograde in Pisces, but that now comes to an end.

Keep going...

In Canada, St. Patrick's Day is generally a party and a piss up, Pisces style. Some misty Irish romance, nostalgia, bittersweetness, and song washed down with gallons of green beer. At St. Patty's Day, we've made it past the Ides of March (tomorrow) into an end-of-winter, end-of-Pisces-season celebration of survival and of warmer and hopefully easier times ahead.

This St. Patrick's Day, we have a lot to celebrate. We've moved through "The End Times" of December 2012 into a monumental end-of-Piscean-era Pisces stellium, and through some very harsh transits during the first quarter of 2013.

Though it doesn't look like it where I'm sitting, this winter will soon be behind us, and so will another layer of end-of-Piscean-era themes.

The Moon will be in Gemini on March 17, sextile Uranus in Aries and conjunct Jupiter in Gemini. As the booze and the socializing melt the last of the icy winter tendrils, we are awash in gratitude and good will (or is that just beer buzz?).

You're sure to meet up with friends.

Bird tracks, coyote tracks, Willow tracks.

Congratulations on surviving the winter of 2013, everyone.

We now head to a March equinox with Mars conjunct Uranus in Aries and square Pluto in Capricorn. Zing! Uranus and Pluto are heading to their third of seven exact squares on May 20, and we can expect to start feeling those effects on the other side of this equinox.

Equinox will be followed by an Aries stellium made up of the Sun, Venus, Mars, Uranus, and later Mercury. Venus and Mars will form a conjunction at 20 degrees Aries on April 7, and that conjunction will be fully activated by the Aries New Moon April 10. More on that later...

For now, there's nothing to do but look ahead.

Happy Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere, and Happy Astrological New Year!

* Note: Willow's Web Astrology does not endorse the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, even after this Pisces season, and even when they're green.

Bird, coyote, Willow. Saskatchewan, 2013.

Juno Enters Aquarius Where it Remains for the Rest of 2013

The asteroid associated with marriage, commitment, and soul mates, Juno, enters Aquarius on March 13, where it will stay until January 1, 2014. This extended transit in the sign of the new astrological era indicates an at-times frictional move into stronger Aquarian-era relational themes throughout 2013.

Juno will retrograde through Aquarius from June 14 through September 22 (19 degrees to 3 degrees).

During its transit of the water-bearer, Juno will square Saturn in Scorpio three times: April 13, 2013 at 9 degrees of the signs, August 26, 2013 at 6 degrees of the signs, and November 29, 2013 with both Juno and Saturn at 17 degrees of the signs.

We're grinding these "new era" relational issues out from the gut, from the core, guided as always by our own inner knowledge of the way things need to be. We're digging deeply to find the emotional and psychological stability required this year as we are whisked into new dynamics and new situations.

Many frictional issues will be raised by Juno this year related to a shift in relationship dynamics, new forms of commitment, and new rules for marriage and commited relationships of all kinds coming into play under a stronger Aquarian umbrella.

We're looking to create the true egalitarian win-win here - no coercion, no unequal power dynamics, no swallowing things we don't want to swallow.

We're moving from crystallized marriage and relationship constructs determining the behaviour of the participants...to to the needs of the participants as individuals determining the shape of the constructs. And this is going to be highly frictional at times, as people resist the unfamiliar leadership of our lady Juno in Aquarius.

You can read more about this Juno transit within the context of the broader structural shifts we are experiencing in love, relationship, and commitment in 2013 in my paid article:

Venus, Juno, and Pluto: the Reconfiguring and Renegotiation of Marriage and Commitment in 2013 - $20

* Note: This is an article from the start of 2013 that I'm re-advertising now. You may have already purchased it.

The Pisces Circus Starts Pulling Up Stakes

The upcoming week opens into a New Moon in Pisces at 21 degrees on March 11, which conjuncts Venus at 17 Pisces and Mars at 29 Pisces, on the last degree of the zodiac.

At this New Moon, we have both relationship planets (Venus and Mars) along with Neptune, Chiron, Mercury retrograde, and the Sun and Moon in the sign of the fishies. This ongoing stellium in Pisces has had us swimming around in circles for over a month now. It's hard to even remember the last time things weren't soggy-foggy, swirly-whirly confusing. The Piscean mind fuzz.

All this mutable water has worn us down over the past weeks. Or is it over the past 2,000 years?

Some of  those gorgeous and glowing Neptunian mirages are looking mighty tantalizing right about now. Like the answers to our prayers. (Don't they always?) But keep your eye on things. Keep moving through the spectral images. Don't chase dead ends or tired siren songs. We're being tested on the end-of-Pisces karmic loops this week. Keep in mind that a lot of this is make-believe.

You can pick up a good and lovey Neptunian buzz from all this Pisces. You can indulge in some high romanticism and fantasy and woo woo. But don't make the mistake of believing these things are concrete, stationary, or long-lasting. The Pisces circus starts pulling up stakes coming out of this New Moon and will move on down the etheric highway, regardless of how many hearts may be broken in its wake.

We've been completely immersed, swallowed whole by this Pisces stellium, but it starts to break up after the New Moon, as Mars moves from the last degree of the zodiac to the first, entering home sweet home Aries on March 12.

At that point, though still very influential, the Pisces stellium energy has reached its peak.

This Pisces New Moon on March 11 marks the two-year anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. It also marks the two-year anniversary of Uranus entering Aries for its full transit of the sign. Fukushima was kicked off as Uranus moved from 29 Pisces to 0 Aries. Now, we have Mars moving over those degrees. In 2012, we had Mercury retrograde moving over those degrees. You can read more on that here: Stationing Mercury Conjunct Uranus in Aries on the One-Year Anniversary of Fukushima and a Retrograde Over the Zero Aries/29 Pisces Point

This 29 Pisces/0 Aries point is highly symbolic as the simultaneous close of one cycle and opening of another.

Jupiter in Gemini and Our Alchemical Tongues

Planet of luck, expansion, blessings, and all things big, Jupiter, has just pulled out of its January 30 direct station in early Gemini.

As Jupiter gets cranked up to full speed ahead in early March, it starts to more fully activate the two Yod formations in which it is taking part. We feel the stress on our minds, on our communications, and on our interactions, and we sense their taut importance at this time. You can read more about those Yods here: A Potentially Inflammatory Jupiter Direct Station: Awkward Yods, a Detrimental Sign, and Squares to Chiron and Neptune

The Yod involving Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn as the base with Jupiter in Gemini as the apex or "finger of God" is particularly highlighted at this time, tightening as Jupiter pushes to 10/11 degrees Gemini by the end of March. Jupiter is quincunx Saturn exactly on March 23. Jupiter is quincunx Pluto exactly on March 29. This gives a great deal of weight to even the seemingly smallest of exchanges this month. The lightest of connections or interactions can have very big and lasting effect. The people with whom you come into contact and the conversations you are having are more meaningful than you might imagine. Tone also says a lot, and it can be triggering.

In short, with Jupiter transiting this area of Gemini, our communications are charged.

At the same time, with Jupiter squaring Chiron in Pisces and dispositor Mercury moving retrograde in Pisces, our communication is meandering, floating, befuddling, disconnected, and often out of our conscious control. Words, information, and opinions have the potential to heal but also to wound and irritate - probably at the same time. Knowing when to apply our potent perspectives and when to keep it zipped is an ongoing effort.

The Saturn-Jupiter-Pluto Yod will be close to exact by the end of March, tightening all through the month, just as Jupiter in Gemini makes its final square to Chiron in Pisces March 27.

So Jupiter in Gemini is the star of our show this March, but it's a star under some level of duress. This is, shall we say, a bit of a toxic Hollywood star. Stressed by quincunxes to bad boys Saturn and Pluto and the square to Chiron, we're channelling an intense and at times immense amount of energy through our minds, our hands, our communications, our interactions, and our daily neighbourhood goings on. It's going to take a hero to keep going through all this. So you'd better get your hero pants on...

Speaking, listening, writing, walking, driving, telephoning, texting, messaging - these are all activities that keep the potentially constricting energy of the Saturn-Pluto sextile and mutual reception moving, flowing, functioning, and alchemizing. Doing its thing.

The Saturn-Pluto sextile and mutual reception indicate the potential for potent change in the structural set-ups of our lives and societies over the next two years.

The truth as we see it, from our own perspectives, is our guiding force now, spreading the concentrated Saturn-Pluto energy around with even the lightest of conversations. A piece of potent information here, a piece there. Keep it moving so it doesn't weigh you down and drag you under.

Words are energy, and they have a particularly concentrated energy now and into mid-April.

Even the most seemingly superficial and innocuous of comments can dig in over the next month, embedding in the structures as they exist and catalyzing ripple effect change.

With Ceres, Black Moon Lilith, and Vesta joining Jupiter in Gemini, the missing perspectives - particularly the deep and dark feminine truth-oriented perspectives - are finding their places now. It's getting a little easier to be a purveyor of these perspectives.

This is a Plutonically-charged tongue we're speaking with here, and surgical precision can be required. The right words at the right time - offered lightly and conversationally - can bust things open in a very beneficial way, exposing long-hidden aspects to the light of day. Speaking up with our own particular perspective or angle on the situation cuts like a laser through dense and oppressive Pluto in Capricorn-era set-ups. Telling the truth as you see it is one of the most powerful things you can do now - though it must be done carefully and in a socially palatable manner.

This is a stressed, irritating, and potentially volatile Jupiter placement, in the sign of its detriment, Gemini. Jupiter in Gemini can be a real loudmouth with an opinion on everything, so we must apply Saturnine restraint very skillfully over minds and mouths. Going verbally overboard or insisting on making that one last point could have some fairly major consequences now.

We're dropping verbal bombs without even knowing it over the next month. Let's just make sure we're only blowing up what needs to be blown up, shall we?

We start to become aware of people's deeper allegiances based on the perspectives they're sharing as truth. If these deeper allegiances are not in line with our own, this can be upsetting, disturbing, angering, or royally off-putting. The severing of communicative ties in certain arenas can also be expected under these Yods.

There's thick subtext here, and being aware of it is the first step toward working it to our advantage.

Potentially awkward conversations we've been holding off on having will be coming up over the next month. In particular, these conversations involve: sex, death, energy exchange, power, abuse, trauma, and underlying emotional and psychological realities. The trickiness of these conversations is compounded by Mercury retrograding in the sign of its detriment, Pisces. This is a bit of cottonmouth. Words that dribble away into a puddle, instead of having the big and immediate effect we would hope. Thoughts, impressions, and understandings that are almost impossible to put into words. Conveying our full meaning to another is not easy under this transit.

But with Mercury retrograding back to Chiron and Neptune and stationing direct there March 17, we can't afford to pass this opportunity up for healing of the spirit. Conversations had now can make us whole again. Let go of the upper hand. Let go of verbal control. Allow the universe, the great spirit, to guide your words now.

At the same time, our words are setting off tripwires, activating previously unseen connections, and this brings us right into the thick of things. Right into the heart of the Plutonic beast, so to speak.

Though it's your tendency, there's no need to exaggerate the situation on Planet Earth, Jupiter in Gemini. The stone cold Plutonic reality speaks for itself.

The power of knowing what's up on this planet - knowing what's really up - and speaking about it is a miraculous, inspirational, and blessed thing.

(Don't you just feel blessed, all you Plutonic truth tellers out there? Heh.)

Jupiter clears the orbs of the Yods and the square to Chiron in Pisces by mid-April, just in time for the Pluto retrograde station. Jupiter will then be into some less stressed - and quite exciting - territory. It will conjunct the degree of the May 2012 Venus Transit during the second half of April, and this should be a lovely boost. Miraculous things can unfold...

The personal planets entering Gemini in May and June also creates a flow of good vibes and meaningful exchanges with contacts to Jupiter. This Gemini season has a horseshoe up its butt that it will not have again for 12 years. Communication, transportation, networking, and relationships with siblings are lucky and blessed now.

On June 26, Jupiter will leave the sign of its detriment, Gemini, for the sign of its exaltation, Cancer, for a highly eventful one-year stay. Jupiter in Cancer will be in Grand Water Trine formation with Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces this summer.

So we're definitely heading to softer and less verbally/mentally abrasive ground with Jupiter in Cancer.

But to capitalize fully on the jovial blessings available to us now in Gemini, we have to work those awkward, annoying, aggravating, alchemical Yods like nobody's business.

So speak up! Get out there. Make a splash. Keep talking, keep circulating, keep interacting, despite the stress and difficulty. Just be responsible with the power and the potency of your perspective over this next month on Planet Earth. Be responsible with your power to annoy people. Draw back from convos that get you hot under the collar, as well - unless it's required that you go in for the kill. With a Scorpio and Pluto-influenced voice, that will often be a possibility...

Mercury Rx Re-Post Part Four: The Corporate Stomp on GMO Food Labelling

Mercury is currently retrograde in Pisces (February 23 - March 17) and will station direct conjunct Chiron and Neptune March 17.

The connections are there. We just have to make them visible.

This is a re-post of an article from November 8, 2012: Proposition 37 Defeated By the Slimmest of Margins Amidst a Massive Advertising Blitz By GMO Corporations

Agriculture-related dwarf planet Ceres stationed retrograde at 3 degrees Cancer on October 31 within a cardinal Grand Cross with Venus in Libra, Uranus in Aries, and Pluto in Capricorn.

This configuration brings food and agriculture issues to prominence, particularly as they relate to increased corporate globalization (Pluto in Capricorn) and the direction into biotechnology (Uranus in Aries).

Ceres maintains its strong influence into mid-2013, forming a cardinal t-square May 5-7 that will still be within orb during the third Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn square May 20, 2013.

These are high stakes times for the future of food and, correspondingly, for life on this planet.

And nowhere are those high stakes more visible than in the realm of natural versus genetically modified seeds and foods.

The sign of Cancer is related to family and babies and all things precious. When Ceres is transiting Cancer, the question of what we're feeding our children and our families becomes an over-riding issue.

People in California had this question in mind on election day as they voted on a proposition to begin labelling foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Proposition 37 - called The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act - was defeated November 6 by the slimmest of margins: 53.7% No to 46.3% Yes.

After early leads, support for the Proposition softened amidst a massive radio and television blitz of attack advertising in the weeks leading up to the vote. The mammoth $40 million+ advertising campaign, funded by GM seed corporations and manufacturers of genetically modified foods, swayed public opinion by claiming Proposition 37 would raise food prices, increase bureaucracy, and trigger lawsuits.

It is a group of six mega-corporations - Monsanto, DuPont, BASF, Bayer, Dow, and Syngenta - currently merging the world's seed supply with their genetically modified versions. Genetically modified seeds have had their genes altered by scientists in some way so as to exhibit certain traits.

Five of the six major GM seed corporations – all but Syngenta - are chemical corporations that have only more recently gotten into the food business. All five have long histories of involvement with the military industrial complex, including chemical and nuclear warfare. The companies currently convincing people that GMOs are safe to ingest are the manufacturers of Agent Orange, napalm, chlorine gas, gunpowder, and nuclear weapons, to name but a few.

The "No on 37" financial donors are a Who's Who of genetic modification, with the Big Six GMO corporations at the top of the list:

Monsanto ($8.2 million)
DuPont ($5.4 million)
Pepsico ($2.1 million)
Grocery Manufacturers Association ($2 million)
DOW Agrisciences ($2 million)
Bayer Cropscience ($2 million)
BASF Plant Science ($2 million)
Syngenta Corporation ($2 million)
Kraft Foods ($1.9 million)
Coca Cola ($1.7 million)
Nestle ($1.3 million).

Those and other major donors, including General Mills, Kellogg's, Del Monte, Campbell's Soup, Heinz Food, Hershey, J.M. Smucker, Ocean Spray, Hormel, Unilever, Sara Lee, Dean Foods, and Dole, make up most of the major brands on supermarket shelves in the U.S. and Canada. Source.

All have a huge stake in keeping genetically modified food products unlabelled so that people continue to buy their products unaware.

Mercury Rx Re-Post Part Three: First Ever Long-Term Animal Feeding Trial of GMOs Produces Alarming Results

The common line on genetically modified seeds and foods - repeated ad nauseum in mainstream media, by industry, and by government - is that they have been tested and have been proven to have no ill effect on animal, human, or ecosystem health.

This is simply not correct.

Aside from the fact that the longest feeding trials up to this point have been 90 days (inadequate), many, many studies have found problematic health links to GMOs.

The results of the first ever two-year GMO animal feeding trials, the "Seralini study," were published in September 2012 when Ceres was on 28/29 degrees Gemini. Ceres is now moving back to those degrees just in time for the 2013 spring planting season in Canada and the U.S., and it's time for the results of this study to hit the public mind (Gemini) in a much bigger (Jupiter) way.

From September 21, 2012: Ceres in Gemini, Food Issues in the Media, and Unprecedented GM Feeding Trials Produce Horrifying (Though Unsurprising) Results

Asteroid of grains, cereals, and the fertility of the Earth, Ceres, is finishing its transit of Mercury-ruled Gemini, and information about food that could sway public opinion is potent. Ceres moves into Cancer September 26 but retrogrades back into Gemini December 4 until April 5, 2013.

An unprecedented animal feeding trial has found that lab rats fed genetically modified corn as well as glyphosate residue - the primary ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup - developed high incidences of tumours, multiple organ damage, and premature death.

Photo of rats with tumours released by the Seralini study scientists.

The results of the GM feeding trial were published September 19, 2012 in the scientific journal "Food and Chemical Toxicology." The peer-reviewed study was conducted by a team of scientists led by biologist and endocrinologist Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen in France.

The trial studied the long-term effects of exposure to NK603 GM corn (Monsanto's Roundup Ready variety) and glyphosate - individually and combined - on the health of rats over two years.

The study found that even exposure to levels considered "safe" resulted in severe negative health effects in the animals:

Of the rats fed GM corn or glyphosate residue, 50% of males and 70% of females died prematurely. This was compared to 30% and 20% respectively in the control group. Female rats developed fatal mammary tumours and pituitary disorders. Males developed liver damage, kidney and skin tumours and had problems with their digestive systems. Rats fed GM corn or Roundup residues developed 2-3 times more tumours than the control group.

The study found that ingestion of GM corn and glyphosate caused similar damage in the rats whether consumed separately or together. Even the lowest doses of GM corn and glyphosate were associated with severe health problems.

Previous studies have produced similar findings, but this was the first ever feeding trial done over the course of the entire lifespan of a laboratory rat - two years.

Yes, folks. Despite the fact that lab rats live only two years, no genetically modified animal feeding trials have been done up to this point for longer than 90 days. Genetically modified seeds/foods have been rushed onto the market in Canada and the United States without any longer-term studies on potential effects. The majority of the tumours that developed on the rats were detected after 18 months, which means that prior GM testing done over 90 days would not have discovered them.

Monsanto's Roundup Ready corn (NK603 variety) has been genetically modified to withstand its glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup. You'll recall that Monsanto is the corporation that has also brought us such wondrous improvements to the human condition as: Agent Orange, DDT, saccharin, PCBs, bovine growth hormones, and Aspartame. Monsanto has bullied and sued farmers around the world over the use of its patented seeds. The corporation is directly responsible for suicides among hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers who went into debt to buy Monsanto seeds with the promise of magical yields that did not materialize.

The growth and sale of genetically modified corn, including Monsanto's Roundup Ready variety, were approved in Canada in 2001. People have been unknowingly ingesting genetically modified material in their corn products since then.

According to Patricia Reimer, a Manitoba organic inspector I spoke to for a story last year about genetically modified alfalfa, corn has become widely contaminated by genetically modified strains. There is no separation of GM and non-GM corn, soybeans, or canola in the food system, outside the organic system. What this means is that unless you are eating certified organic corn, soy, or canola, there is a high likelihood that you are eating at least some genetically modified material. Even organic products cannot be guaranteed 100% GM-free at this point.

Genetically modified sweet corn has now come onto grocery shelves in Canada and the U.S. in order to test the waters. Corn is also used in corn syrup - a product used in many processed foods.

Roundup is currently the world's most popular and widely-used herbicide, and its global usage is set to double by 2017, according to Global Industry Analysts of San Jose, California.

How's that for a horrifying Pluto in Capricorn era fact?


More from Willow's Web on GM alfalfa.

Mercury Rx Re-Post Part Two: GM Alfalfa and Corporate Organics

Mercury is currently retrograde in Pisces (February 23 - March 17) and will station direct conjunct Chiron and Neptune March 17.

The connections are there. We just have to make them visible.

This is a re-post of an article from July 10, 2011: Ceres Stations Retrograde at Zero Aries Conjunct Uranus and Buying Organic Is a Revolutionary Act

Executives from Whole Foods Market sent shock waves through their customer base with the click of a mouse this past January.

The Whole Foods Market (WFM) grocery chain, touted "natural and organic," experienced a meteoric rise from a single store in Austin, Texas in 1980 to over 300 stores, including four in Vancouver, one in Oakville and one in Toronto, by 2011. The same store that found its success selling organic and "natural" foods to people deeply distrustful of the growing glut of genetically modified (GM) fare announced to customers by e-mail that it was giving up its opposition to the widespread growing of GM crops.

The new Whole Foods' stance is one supporting "conditional deregulation," in particular of Monsanto's genetically modified Roundup Ready alfalfa. Whole Foods admitted this co-existence would potentially cause cross-contamination of non-genetically engineered alfalfa crops, in turn, contaminating livestock, dairy products and honey, but the softening of stance of those at the top of the corporate organic food chain was clear:

"The policy set for [GM] alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other [GM] crops as well. True coexistence is a must."

Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa is genetically modified to withstand glyphosate, a herbicide sold under the Monsanto brand name Roundup. If authorized, Roundup Ready alfalfa would be the first genetically modified perennial planted in North America.

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are created when a gene from one species is transferred to another, creating in a laboratory something nature would not produce. Genes from plants, animals, insects and viruses are used to implant certain desired traits in seeds and even animals.

Although they are being grown widely (especially soybeans, corn and canola), genetically modified foods have not been proven safe for human consumption. Testing on animals has found a possible link between GMOs and organ damage, particularly liver and kidneys, as well as cancer. Genetically modified organisms spread rampantly through the seed supply, contaminating non-GMO plants and seeds irrevocably. GMOs also have the potential to damage soil and water systems. A study of genetically modified corn implanted with a toxin-producing gene that protects it from pests found that the toxin accumulated in nearby water, increasing mortality and decreasing growth in aquatic insects, which are food to animals higher up the food chain.

On January 27, 2011, after a five-year court battle, Monsanto’s GM alfalfa was authorized for sale by the United States Department of Agriculture. A second lawsuit was launched March 18, 2011 by groups including the Center for Food Safety and the National Family Farm Coalition challenging this authorization and stalling the sale and planting of the alfalfa for the time being.

Priscilla Reimer, organic inspector and president of the Manitoba Organic Alliance, says the organic industry in Manitoba opposes the policy of co-existence with GM crops. Reimer says the production of GM alfalfa, in particular, is a huge threat to the organic industry.

In addition to being used as feed for livestock, Reimer says, alfalfa is a crop often used by farmers during the three-year field transition from conventional to organic. It also becomes essential in the crop rotation once a farm is organic because, as a nitrogen-fixer, it naturally fertilizes the soil.

"If in fact [GM alfalfa is] approved, it would essentially put organic production out of business," Reimer says. "[Alfalfa] is embedded in organic production, and for that to go GMO would literally destroy the foundation of organic production."

On March 3, 2011, a motion was tabled in the Canadian Parliament calling for a moratorium on the approval of genetically modified alfalfa in Canada. The vote on the moratorium was delayed by the Harper Conservatives, who support the expansion into genetically modified organisms.

Reimer says, despite the fact that the vast majority of Canadians do not want GM foods on the shelves, this co-existence policy is being imposed upon them through the lack of a sufficient framework for regulation, separation within the system, and labelling of GMOs.

Reimer says because of this, there is simply no 100% fool-proof method for determining if food products are GMO-free. However, as far as labels go, the organic labelling system is the best we currently have. "The organic label is the only label where there is any effort made to keep certified organic products GMO-free...The organic label really is the only one consumers can rely on."

Reimer says non-organic corn, canola and soybeans are so cross-contaminated by GMO versions at this point that it would be virtually impossible, once they have been put into the supply chain, to guarantee they are GMO-free. Unless non-GMO crops are also organic and therefore kept separate, they are mixed in with GMO varieties.

"There's no effort in the system to keep GMO and non-GMO products separate...Even if there is a GMO-free product grown, by the time it's gone through the system, you are guaranteed to be eating some GMOs in those key three crops - canola, corn and soybean," Reimer says. "We have a climate in which it is virtually impossible to ensure against contamination."

Reimer recommends looking for certified organic labels as well as buying directly from farmers who are certified organic or who farm up to organic standards.

Due to cost and bureaucracy, many farmers do not certify their products but grow and raise them to organic standards.

Anneliese Schoppe and her family are among those who farm to organic standards but are not certified organic. They produce beef, eggs and heirloom vegetable seedlings.

Schoppe would like to see strict labelling of GM foods, something the Canadian government does not currently have, or a complete ban.

Schoppe says if the goal is to eliminate GMOs from food sources, developing direct relationships with farmers is beneficial.

For example, unlike at her farm, chickens are often fed feed that includes soy protein to bulk up the meat and assist in egg production. Because so many of the soybeans currently being produced are genetically modified, this can be one source of GMO contamination in food. Schoppe says if people talk to farmers directly and ask questions about products and feeding practises, there is a stronger likelihood that they can determine which products are GMO-free.

Schoppe finds the idea of co-existence with Monsanto's GM crops unsettling. She says her family works hard to keep its animal feed GMO-free, growing organic hay, and a test plot of Monsanto alfalfa in a neighbour’s field has the ability to wipe out all that hard work.

"Just because you have a buffer field in between or an acre or two doesn't mean that's going to stop the wind or insects from pollinating this GMO alfalfa crop to the next alfalfa crop and then, what's pure anymore?"

Alexis Knispel Kanu did her doctoral work on the spread of GM canola. She looked specifically at canola that was growing outside field habitat where it had not been planted, in ditches, for example.

Knispel Kanu studied these escape populations and their genetic make-up in order to determine how the genes might be spreading.

"What we found was that genetically modified traits were widely present in these escape populations of canola outside of cultivated fields where no one had planted them and there were no licenses to do the planting. They were just growing sort of like weeds in the way that seeds that get scattered grow," Knispel Kanu says.

What was even more startling about Knispel Kanu's findings was that genetically modified canola plants she studied from the escape populations had cross-pollinated with each other, creating a hybrid of Monsanto's Roundup Ready variety and Bayer's LibertyLink variety.

"Of the two GMO traits that are widely grown in Manitoba, we found both in the same plant, which is not something that is done by the companies. That's something that results from out-crossing in the field," Knispel Kanu says.

Knispel Kanu looked at landscape elements that could have contributed to the spread of the seeds outside fields. What she found was that factors like the location of elevators and traffic intensity on nearby roads contributed strongly.

"A truck going to an elevator will spill seeds inevitably, and a train being loaded will spill seeds inevitably, so those larger-scale transportation factors are contributing to the spread of these plants," Knispel Kanu says.

"That makes co-existence really challenging because it's a matter of segregating our transportation systems for these crops, not having a truck transporting GM canola through an area you're saying is GM-free. It's not just about where the crop is planted in relation to another crop. It's about how we're transporting these things through the whole landscape."

Knispel Kanu says GM alfalfa poses even more of a problem as far as cross-contamination due to it being a more feral, perennial crop that isn't dependent on cultivated environments tended by farmers to survive.

It is a group of six corporations - Monsanto, DuPont, BASF, Bayer, Dow and Syngenta - currently merging the world's seed supply with their genetically modified versions.

Five of the six – all but Syngenta - are chemical corporations that have only more recently gotten into the food business. All five have long histories of involvement with the military industrial complex, including chemical and nuclear warfare.

United States-based Monsanto is the most well-known of the six with its line of genetically modified Roundup Ready seeds designed to grow into plants that withstand its chemical herbicide Roundup. Monsanto is the company that brought us Agent Orange, a defoliant used to strip trees of their leaves during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange is highly toxic and carcinogenic and killed or debilitated hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people as well as soldiers during and after the Vietnam War. Exposure to Agent Orange caused widespread genetic damage and birth defects. Other products on Monsanto’s roster include saccharin, DDT, PCBs, bovine growth hormones and Aspartame.

Bayer is a German company that produced chlorine and mustard gases used in the trenches of World War I. Bayer was later enveloped by Nazi chemical and pharmaceuticals conglomerate IG Farben, along with BASF - another German chemical company trying everything to get into refrigerators and pantries. Eight hundred Canadian women are currently involved in a class action lawsuit against Bayer related to the dangerous side effects of its birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin. Bayer also manufactures the fluoroquinolone antibiotic Cipro, designed to ward off anthrax attacks, that poisoned me in December 2009. I'm still recovering. Cipro was repurposed post-anthrax scares and has become omnipresent, being prescribed widely by Canadian doctors for minor infections despite dangerous and debilitating long-term side effects.

DuPont is an American corporation now in the chemicals and plastics game but started off manufacturing gunpowder, becoming the largest supplier to the U.S. military by the mid-19th century. During World War II, DuPont produced military explosives and plutonium, playing a major role in the Manhattan Project and the creation of the atomic bomb. It is also the maker of the Kevlar vest, used in police forces around the world.

American chemical company Dow produced napalm, a chemical that clung to the skin and melted flesh, for the U.S. government during the Vietnam War. After public protests of napalm, all other companies making it stopped production, leaving Dow to reap the profits as the sole provider. Dow managed a nuclear weapons production facility from 1951 to 1975 near Denver, Colorado called Rocky Flats Plant that was involved in multiple management problems leading to radioactive leaks and contamination fires. Thousands of plant workers have died or are sick from cancers they say are caused by radiation exposure and most have had their compensation claims denied. Dow was ordered in 2008 to pay $925 million in damages to 12,000 homeowners who live downwind of the plant for plutonium contamination, but in September 2010, an appeals court threw out the award. Dow and the other company involved were indemnified by the U.S. government in the case, meaning taxpayers would have paid any judgment along with the companies' legal fees.

For Whole Foods, the newly announced co-existence policy with GMOs is more than likely a fait accompli. Ronnie Cummins, National Director for the Organic Consumers Association, an 850,000-member strong organization based in the United States, has reported that testing done by his organization of Whole Foods Market products sold as natural showed that two-thirds were contaminated with GM material. This was in contrast to the certified organic products which were uncontaminated.

GMO labelling has long been a source of confusion, frustration and anger for people who want to know exactly what they're buying and eating. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no guarantee that products labelled "natural," "green" or even "GMO-free" are indeed free of genetically modified material. Even certified organic products are no longer fool-proof.

The Strongest Defense Against Genetically Modified Foods

- Grow your own food from non-GMO seeds.

- Buy products from store shelves labelled certified organic whenever possible, which remains the best defense within the current system. According to the Organic Food Council of Manitoba, these food products must contain 95% organic ingredients, must be produced without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers or sewage sludge and do not include genetically modified organisms. Animals raised organically are allowed access to the outdoors, are fed organically grown feed and are not given antibiotics, synthetic parasiticides or synthetic hormones. Certified organic does not mean pesticide-free as a number of natural pesticides can be used in their production. Products should read: "Certified by" a regulatory body such as the Organic Producers Association of Manitoba or the Organic Crop Improvement Association.

- Buy and eat food that has the smallest number of steps between the farmer - organic or farming to organic standards - and your plate.

- Develop a relationship with local farmers since the onus for maintaining non-GMO standards falls to the producer. Talk to farmers at farmer's markets. Ask questions about their products before buying.

- Shop at local grocery stores committed to selling organic and non-GMO products. Talk to store employees and ask questions about products.

- Avoid processed foods unless they are labelled certified organic.

- Avoid fast food.


More from Willow's Web on GM alfalfa.