More "Change of Era" Shifts As We Begin 2015

 Photo: Willow

Renegade Heifer Photography

Our soul-level GPS system, the transiting North Node of the Moon in Libra and South Node in Aries, activates the Uranus-Pluto square this January, creating a month of yet more tension, uncertainty, shifts, and changes, especially in personal and professional relationships.

This is an energetic cardinal Grand Cross spurring (or forcing) us into new territory, and the tense and uncomfortable energetics are our cross to bear as we begin the new year on Planet Earth.

The nodes of the Moon will square Pluto in Capricorn at 13 degrees of the signs exactly on January 14, 2015. The Moon will be in Scorpio January 13 - 16, adding emotional intensity, pressure, and potential trip-wire triggers. Things will be coming to the surface, so stand back, and provide plenty of processing time and space for yourself and others.

This will be followed by unpredictable Uranus crossing the South Node of the Moon at 12 degrees Aries on January 20, 2015. This day also marks the zero-degree New Moon in Aquarius (7:14 a.m. CST), indicating some potential turbulence as we emotionally integrate "where we are now and where we go from here." There is some emotional trauma wrapped up in these aspects, and this could involve the levels of extreme independence, isolation, and survival-orientation many have experienced as the energetics were set for the new era. War manoeuvres are also possible around the time of this New Moon (and during the following 28-day lunar cycle), with the influence of Uranus-South Node in martial Aries.

There are some Plutonic eliminations necessary this month. We will be eliminating certain paths (and relationships) that have proved unfruitful thus far, and we will be re-directing ourselves down fresher avenues.

There is some tightening up of our standards and of our trajectories necessary this month. We are re-balancing the "give-and-take" in our lives and in our relations with others with a bit more of a hard line.

Some turbulence is to be expected with disruptions possible in career/business, with family, in relationships, and with new realizations about ourselves and our personal directions.

Some potentially jarring changes and re-direction will occur over the next three months.

Certain situations, certain structures, and certain frameworks are at their breaking points, and this sustained cardinal Grand Cross energy could start to break things down, forcing us to think fast and act fast as we move through the first months of 2015. 

We are moving into new position, but this isn't always going to be a comfortable process.

We are currently in a very dynamic and changeable window of time sandwiched between the sixth Uranus-Pluto square that occurred December 14, 2014 and the seventh and final Uranus-Pluto square that occurs March 16, 2015. Nothing is set in stone. Most everyone and everything are in a state of flux. If we accept this, rather than trying to force stability or concrete commitments, we come through this period without being shredded (or without being too shredded).

Communication planet Mercury enters its retrograde shadow at 1 degree Aquarius today (January 5) in tight conjunction with Venus in Aquarius. Aquarius is the sign of the future, and it's also the sign of the new era. The strong Aquarius influence this month adds necessary elements of emotional detachment, objectivity, future-oriented thinking, and s p a c e to the hot, compacted, and concentrated Pluto-infused navigational path.

We will be re-visiting the subjects and issues on our minds now during the Mercury retrograde period (January 21 - February 11, 2015 from 17 to 1 degree Aquarius), gaining new vision and new flashes of perspective for the path ahead.

During the transit of Mercury through future-oriented Aquarius, which extends to March 11, we are wrapping our minds around the changes we have been through, the changes we are experiencing now, and the changes that are yet to come. We are challenged to look forward with interest, rather than looking backward glumly.

The planet associated with action, direction, personal goals, and sex drive, Mars, enters ethereal Pisces on January 12, where it will remain until February 19. This softens the edges a bit, but it also makes us keenly aware that, despite our best efforts, many of our dreams and hoped-for scenarios have not materialized - personally, financially, with career and status, with relationships, or with the state of humanity and the planet, in general.

There are end-of-era disappointments here. There are Piscean-era dashed dreams. There is some emotional devastation nipping at us. There are also temptations to go down the wrong roads. There are temptations to go down roads that have proven to be unfruitful in the past. The sticky, cloying burden of lost dreams is sitting on us a bit as Mars in Pisces moves to a conjunction to wounded healer Chiron on January 31, 2015. Pain could drive us into old weak spots if we are not careful. We must apply our will to block old siren songs and to stay on the right track, rather than succumbing to dead-end diversions and segues. Detrimental passivity is one caution with Mars in Pisces.

We are tasked with moving through the glum, end-of-era disappointments just as we would move through an unpleasant dream - with the knowledge that it will come to an end, that we will wake, that the hollow sadness will dissipate and life will begin again.

Venus enters Pisces January 27, adding its healing psychic balm to the wounds that seemingly have no end, no form, no containment. The love is back, softening the hard Aquarian edges, softening the potential frustration and devastation of Mars-Chiron. 

As the North Node in relationship-oriented Libra leads the way, we are tasked with riding the "new era" waves, especially in relationships, dropping old expectations and ideals and adapting to the realities of the electric-exhilarating current moment.

Things are not working the way they once did, especially in human relations, and this is OK. It's frustrating; it's confusing, but it's OK.

Both relationship planets, Venus and Mars, enter Aries near the end of February (Mars on February 19, Venus on February 20) and form a powerful conjunction at 1 degree Aries on February 21, 2015.

This Venus-Mars conjunction is a "new birth point" for relationships as well as for directions taken to find new partners and lovers. This conjunction in early Aries propels us into a new spring and into new life in human relations of all kinds. It marks a surge of new growth in relationships - in the earliest of forms - after a long, hard, and confusing wintery span. This is new promise after the hard trudge of January and most of February. 

We are making a real, historical shift now. Things are changing rapidly for almost everyone around us as we move to the seventh and final Uranus-Pluto square. Put old ideals aside as you grasp the full meaning and the full benefit of the sparkling and enlivening changes afoot.

Remember to kiss goodbye the lovers in your dreams. As of February 21, 2015, we are interested only in the living, breathing, flesh-and-blood versions.

Saturn in Sagittarius: Freeing Suppressed Truths With Our Blazing Arrows of Righteousness

Saturn in Sagittarius December 23, 2014 - December 20, 2017

Saturn retrograde March 14 – August 1, 2015
Saturn is back in Scorpio June 14 - September 17, 2015

Pallas Athene in Sagittarius December 28, 2014 - November 1, 2015
Pallas Athene retrograde period April 20 - August 11, 2015 

With Saturn transiting Sagittarius, there is certain knowledge we absolutely must have in order to navigate the times successfully. If we do not already have this knowledge securely under our belts, we must obtain it step-by-step over the next three years.

Over the next three years, we will be confronted - personally and collectively - with situations that bring us to a broader understanding of the truth. This will not always be pleasant. Contrary to what many may believe, we are not promised a walk-in-the-park Saturn transit just because the taskmaster planet has moved on from deep, dark Scorpio. There will be a lightening of emotional and psychological loads in some ways, but challenges certainly remain.

We are challenged to build on what we learned and saw and came to understand while Saturn in Scorpio was holding our noses in the corrupt power structures and difficult emotional/psychological subtext of Planet Earth.

We cannot just forget about it and go searching for greener pastures elsewhere - though many will try...

Fear Driving People to Regressive Belief Systems and Figureheads 

Coming through the sometimes bleak awareness of down-and-dirty reality on Planet Earth brought front and centre by the Saturn in Scorpio transit, people will be searching for meaning, for a candle in the window, for something to buoy their spirits. But we do not find these things without effort (Saturn). Strong caution is advised if new meaning and solace are found too quickly or seemingly too easily...

Animal and Nature Guides - What They're Showing Us Isn't Always Pretty  

The situation with sea life in the Pacific Ocean is another instance where the animals are telling us things that aren’t very pretty. In fact, they’re pretty horrifying. Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster began in March 2011, sea life has been disappearing from the Pacific, most visibly in the tidal pools. Not a single baby orca whale has survived off the West Coast since 2011. Multiple animals are showing up sick, convulsing, with lesions. Multiple populations are collapsing. The sea life in the Pacific is screaming for our attention, and this will continue throughout the Saturn in Sagittarius transit...

Being able to penetrate the rhetoric of establishment academics, scientists, physicians, and media with the cold, hard facts is an ability we will need if we are to be successful moving forward from here.

This is an excerpt from the article "Saturn in Sagittarius: Freeing Suppressed Truths With Our Blazing Arrows of Righteousness." It is a 7,100+-word document of astrology magic describing themes and aspects associated with the three-year transit of Saturn through Sagittarius. This article is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased for $12 by PayPal or by email money transfer.

One Last Eff You From 2014. Happy New Year!

Well, we've had some fairly tense aspects to navigate this holiday season with Venus conjunct Pluto and square Uranus (December 21) followed by Mercury conjunct Pluto and square Uranus (December 24/25). If you got through the family gatherings and social occasions relatively unscathed without any verbal throwdowns or major mishaps, consider yourselves fortunate.

Now, we have a fairly charged fixed t-square forming for New Year's Eve, so if you thought 2014 would let up on us long enough for us to usher it out...surprise! Not exactly.

The Moon enters Taurus on December 30 (4:56 a.m. CST) and is in fixed t-square territory with Jupiter Rx in Leo and Mars in Aquarius by early afternoon on December 31.

The t-square formation is exact between 6:50 and 8:04 p.m., indicating that New Years Eve plans could be a little stickier and trickier and harder to bring together than hoped.

People with bodies or points between 20 and 22 degrees of the fixed signs are right in the cross-hairs of this one. 

Fixed t-square formations generally indicate the potential for frustration and thwarted will, and with anger planet Mars involved, we may just have to breathe and let a whole lot go, including any and all expectations for the night.

There is some potential personality friction and some social drama wrapped up in this formation, and the fixed energy will have people digging their heels in, squaring off. People who have a bone to pick with each other could cross paths in a somewhat incendiary fashion under these aspects.

The fixed t-square formation directs energy into the fourth leg at 20/21 degrees Scorpio. This is territory that karmic taskmaster Saturn has just left, so if there is any unfinished business there (especially emotional, psychological and/or sexual), you can expect it to be stirred. 

There's alllllways some sort of drama on New Year's Eve, and this year is no exception.

The potential for fixed angst continues into New Year's Day with the exact opposition between Mars in Aquarius and Jupiter Rx in Leo at 21 degrees of the signs at 1:49 p.m.

One good thing about this formation is that if we experience some sort of progress, resolution, or advancement as we close out 2014 and ring in 2015, it is progress that should last. We're grinding out some final issues as we say goodbye to the past year, and there are a few "dam break" moments possible. This is the type of progress we're grateful for right down to our bones because it has been so stubborn and so long in coming.

There is also a fated quality to this fixed t-square formation. Whatever happens (or doesn't happen) this New Year's Eve, it is sanctioned by the universe and "meant to be," as they say. The wheels are in motion, and we are just along for the ride.

Under the tension and potential frustration of this formation, if your New Year's Eve plans don't come together and you find yourself ringing in the New Year alone at home, cozy with a good book or watching the boob tube...I'd consider yourself lucky!

Under this formation, there will be people out there having a far worse time than you! You can bet on it.

Happy 2015, Willow's Web readers! I'll catch you in the new year.

Easy Peasy Post-Holiday Recipes to Alkalize Your System

The holidays are upon us, and for those who participate in holiday gatherings and parties, there are many opportunities to indulge in drinks and rich food.

But sugar, alcohol, processed foods, white flour, meats, and cheeses are all acid-forming and can throw the body's pH level off. Digestive problems, aches and pains, grumpiness, and low energy can result.

Even for those who do not participate in the holiday hub-bub, the change of seasons is a good time to do a little cleansing and re-balancing. Winter solstice, in particular, is a good time to be gentle on our bodies, as we are adjusting to less daylight (in the northern hemisphere) and often decreased physical energy levels.

These are two very easy recipes I whipped up for alkalizing purposes. I'm not a big fan of cooking, and even I can handle these! I don't include specific measurements for the most part, and you can add or eliminate ingredients to your own taste. 

Alkalizing Spicy Coconut Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

4 or 5 no-salt organic vegetable boullion cubes (to make either 8 or 10 cups of broth)
chopped green cabbage
chopped red/purple cabbage
chopped carrot
1/2 cup pearl barley
diced onion
fresh garlic, minced
turmeric
cumin
cayenne pepper
sea salt
1 or 2 cans of organic coconut milk (can be left out if you don't enjoy coconut)

Directions:

Dissolve the vegetable boullion cubes in a pot of boiling water according to directions.

In a separate large pot, cook the onion in coconut oil or olive oil until transparent. Add the chopped carrot, green cabbage, and red/purple cabbage and cook until slightly tender. Add a bit of water to keep the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Add the minced garlic.

Pour the vegetable boullion into the large pot with the other ingredients.

Bring to a low boil and add the pearl barley. Allow to boil for about 20 minutes.

Add turmeric. I would start with 1 heaping TBSP and add to your taste.

Add cumin. I would start with 1 TSP and add to your taste.

Add cayenne pepper. I would start with 1/2 TSP and add to your taste. A little cayenne pepper goes a long way, so err on the side of using less, and add tiny amounts until it has the spice level you like.

Add a bit of sea salt to your taste.

Allow to boil for about 20 more minutes. You can add some extra water, if necessary, to create the right flavour and consistency.

When the vegetables and barley are soft, turn the heat down to below boiling.

Add 1 or 2 cans of coconut milk and stir into the broth. (optional)

Easy Alkalizing Stir-Fry Sauce

Ingredients

1 can organic coconut milk
turmeric
cumin
cayenne pepper
chili garlic sauce (optional)
tiny pinch of sea salt
dried or fresh basil

Directions:

Melt the can of coconut milk in a pot over low-medium heat while stirring. Do not boil.

Add turmeric. I would start with 1/2 TBSP and add to your taste.

Add cumin. I would start with 1/2 TSP and add to your taste.

Add cayenne pepper. I would start with 1/8 TSP and add to your taste.

Add a tiny pinch of sea salt. 

Add dried basil or chopped fresh basil.

If you like spice, you can add a small amount of chili garlic sauce to add to the flavour.

Add the sauce to stir-fried vegetables, and serve over quinoa (alkaline) or brown rice (slightly acidic).


Both recipes keep well in the refrigerator and can be reheated. 

Remember to drink plenty of lemon juice in water to add to the alkalizing effects.

The optimum pH level for the human body is around 7.365. pH testing strips can be purchased at health food stores or most drug stores.

Happy Holidays and Happy Alkalizing!

The Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn Square and Survival Via Reclamation and Re-Direction of the Feminine Force

Radical rabble rouser Uranus in Aries moves into the sixth exact square to Pluto in Capricorn on December 14, 2014 (11:14 p.m. CST), kicking off a powerful "direction change" point at winter solstice in the northern hemisphere/summer solstice in the southern.

We're surging into new position - but maybe only because we have to.

This direction change and surge into new position particularly involves relationships, money, and values, all Venus subjects... 

We're fighting for the survival of our selves right now, the survival of our identities, of who we are. We're fighting for the right to live, freely, as we truly are, squaring off with the structural hierarchies that would deny us our right to do so...

The water part of Capricorn is saying, enough is enough. Enough with the way you brutally downplay and whitewash the feminine force in your so-called success stories. The way you deny emotion, intuition, and human caring when playing out your Grand Plans. Enough with the way you keep the feminine in a subordinate position in your hierarchies. You deny her, use and abuse her, manipulate her, laugh at her, ostracize her, push her down. You keep her vital, crucial influence hidden because the patriarchal masculine takes her as such a threat. It's insecure and would prefer to live under the delusion that it alone runs the world.

Ha!


These are excerpts from the article "The Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn Square and Survival Via Reclamation and Re-Direction of the Feminine Force." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased for $6.25 by PayPal or by email money transfer. 

Please Note: I send these articles out myself (no automatic service), so there may be a short delay after paying before you receive your article. This is especially the case if the article is purchased over the weekend. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

Sagittarius Season Storytime and the Insanity of the Fascist Police State

One night in March 2000, I was driving to my job as a waitress in a pool hall in Regina, Saskatchewan. I had a green light, and as I went through an intersection driving north on Wascana Parkway, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked to the left and simultaneously lifted my foot off the gas pedal. That probably saved my life.

The next thing I remember, I was being helped out of my totaled car by a crying teenager and her male companion. She hadn't seen the red light and T-boned me at a fairly high rate of speed, hitting me at the left driver's side wheel. This then propelled my car head-on into a light post.

I was blacking out but remember mumbling to her that it was OK, that it was just an accident.

The next thing I remember was sitting in the back seat of a police car along with the girl and her companion. The girl was sniffling and calling someone on her cell phone. Then everything went white. I have no idea what, if anything, I said to the officers.

When I came into consciousness again, I was being told to get out of the police car. I was injured, blacking out, and confused.

I asked the two male police officers what I was supposed to do.

One of them answered, "Go find a phone."

I got out of the car and stood on the median. The cops drove away.

I was a young female at least two miles from the nearest public telephone or even the nearest home or store. It was dark. It was cold. I had no money with me. I had no cell phone with me. 

I had been abandoned - injured, going in and out of conscious awareness, and confused - by two members of the Regina City Police force in the middle of Wascana Parkway, far from assistance.

I don't like to think about what could have happened to me that night. I could have been beaten up or raped. I could have, in my blacking out state, stepped into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

What did happen that night involved a stroke of luck, a happy coincidence, or some sort of divine intervention.

A Refresher on Saturn in Scorpio

We are now in the final month of the first pass of Saturn through the sign of Scorpio. This article provides a valuable refresher on the themes, which will be re-visited June - September 2015 when Saturn retrogrades back into the sign. 

"Saturn in Scorpio" - $10

 

  Two thousand seven hundred sixty eight of the finest words you will find on the transit of Saturn through Scorpio.

 

Please note: This is not a new article. It was originally published September 20, 2012, and many readers already have a copy.

If there are any patrons who do not already have a copy, please contact me, and I will send one out.

A Zero-Degree New Moon in Sagittarius and the Dawning of New (and Hard-Won) Emotional Truth

We are currently moving through the Dark of the Moon lunar phase in Scorpio into a zero-degree Sagittarius New Moon on November 22 (6:32 a.m. CST). A New Moon in Sagittarius indicates renewed optimism and inspiration, new understanding and realization of truth, and a broadening of emotional horizons. We're getting ready to move on to our next adventure - as long as we have earned the right to pass.

This is the second in a series of zero-degree New Moons indicating an emotional clean sweep effect that brings us into new emotional territory and new-era dynamics as we enter the New Year and complete the historic Uranus-Pluto square series around March equinox 2015.

From a previous post:

"We can leave a lot of old emotional detritus behind us over the next months, as long as we are willing to resolve it and make the move into something different. We're actively seeking openings to emotional breakthroughs, rather than sitting under old, festering emotional issues and sticking points."


This is an excerpt from the article "A Zero-Degree New Moon in Sagittarius and the Dawning of New (and Hard-Won) Emotional Truth." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased for $4.50 from PayPal or by email money transfer.

Please Note: I send these articles out myself (no automatic service), so there may be a short delay after paying before you receive your article. This is especially the case if the article is purchased over the weekend. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

Wildflowers and Weedflowers

"Wildflowers and Weedflowers"

Original photographs by Willow

This grouping of prints makes a beautiful and dynamic art piece for your wall or to give as a gift.

Six prints (6 X 8 or 5 X 7 inches) - $38

Includes shipping in Canada and the U.S. Please contact me for other international shipping rates.

There are stickers on the back corners of each print so they can be hung on the wall with Sticky Tac, or they can be framed.

Please contact me for other sizes or for framing options.

All photographs are au naturel, no Photoshopping, filters, or effects. 

More prints can be seen here. Mix and match to create your own grouping: 

Renegade Heifer Photography

Neptune and Chiron Station Direct in Pisces

 Image: www.rebelcircus.com

Pisces is the sign of the most sublime spiritual bliss and also of the harshest disappointments, loss, and devastation known to humankind. It's the idea of the lotus flower, blossoming beautifully out of some of the dankest and most difficult muck this planet has to offer. It is the idea of being invisibly bound together by the trials and tribulations of the human condition but also by the love, sweet love, that brings us through it all.

All this is woven into our reality this November as we have two bodies stationing direct in Pisces - Neptune (in its home sign) stations direct at 4 degrees Pisces on November 16, while wounded healer Chiron stations direct at 13 degrees Pisces on November 23.

The dual stations in the sign of Pisces can bring some grogginess, some dreaminess, and some general mind fog. 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.
 
I've written about Neptune stations in the past, and I will include it here for your perusal. The themes are similar for the Chiron in Pisces station November 23:

From "Neptune Stations Direct and Brings the Foggy, the Floaty, the Wispy, and the Surreal," November 9, 2012:

"When a planet appears to slow in the zodiac to station either retrograde or direct, we often experience a palpable concentration of that planet's energy and themes.

Neptune is the planet associated with, among other things, dreams; illusions; spiritual communion and guidance; psychic connection; the unconscious; sublime artistic ability; surreality; escapism; oceans; fluids; flooding; permeation; blind spots; smokescreens; fraud; deception; and addictions...

With stationing Neptune permeating the astro atmosphere, we can expect a few of the following symptoms to be kicked up... 

- Dreams can be much more vivid and involved. They can have a "journeying" quality, as if we have traveled through many other worlds, and we can wake up feeling more tired than when we went to bed. Prophetic or foreshadowing dreams are more common.

- Sleep can be deeper, as if we're falling off into utter abyss and have to drag ourselves out and back into waking life. We may sleep longer or more often than usual, and people can continue to have a sleepy, dreamy quality throughout the waking hours. The standard afternoon coffee just doesn't cut it!

- We can experience disrupted sleep with odd periods of wakefulness in the night.

- "Cosmic winks" and communication from the universe are more apparent. It can sometimes feel as if the radio or TV is communicating directly to you. A stronger than usual feeling that you are not alone.

- Daydreaming increases. Imagery from the mind's eye is clearer and more active than usual and can be distracting in day-to-day life.

- Our psychic space is more permeable when Neptune is strong, and we have to carefully filter the heightened impressions we're receiving.

- People can be more impressionable, easily swayed, and prone to wishful thinking, particularly with love relationships. We can be convinced of things when Neptune is strong that we could not be convinced of at other times. The standard, "What was I thinking?" In the same way that we can believe a dream we've had is real, it's possible to believe things are one way when all logical conclusions (and later, hindsight) would indicate otherwise.

- We can be more easily deceived by people, missing major character flaws because we're blinded by the good in them, by their "spiritual auras," or by their potential.

- Plumbing problems are more likely. A low water level for flushing toilets, in particular, is common during Neptune stations.

- Personal plumbing issues are also more likely. Urinating more than usual or having to use a (hopefully natural) diuretic to assist urination. (Uva Ursi works well.) Urinary tract irritation is more common when Neptune is strong, so avoid soft drinks, caffeine, and alcohol, and increase intake of water and real cranberry juice.

- There can be a strong jonesing for drugs and/or alcohol.

- But we are also more easily altered and affected by drugs and alcohol.

- Food allergies and sensitivities can be heightened. We're craving "fun and easy" foods, but they can have ill effects.

- We can be more sensitive to perfumes and scents.

- There can be a giddy, giggly, intoxicating quality in the air. Neptunian whiffs of ether. This effect is currently mitigated quite strongly by a trine to stern and grounding Saturn in Scorpio.

- People can be more sensitive than usual and their feelings more easily hurt. There is stronger sensitivity to the suffering in the world, and people are more easily brought to tears when Neptune is strong. The Neptunian waterworks. People may choose more isolation than usual to offset this heightened sensitivity.

- We can spend money on things, particularly on frivolous things, that we wouldn't ordinarily spend money on. When Neptune is strong, we crave escapism, entertainment, and ease from the daily grind. Pizza delivery and Chinese take-out must see an increase in business!

- The simplest daily tasks can seem irritating and overwhelming. Multi-tasking is more difficult.

- People may embrace their inner dirty hippie and skip a few showers. Personal hygiene is one of those daily tasks that can seem impossibly arduous when Neptune is strong.

- It can be difficult to make ourselves fully understood..., as if we are yelling underwater. People may pick up on one layer of what we're saying without grasping the full meaning.

- Generally, a lot of projection is flying around. People could be interacting with their own fabricated versions of who you are, rather than anything based in reality.

- Strongly Neptunian/Piscean people can usually be spotted by a sort of dreamy, shrouded, faraway look around the eyes. The area around the eyes can appear a little shadowed and hollowed-out.

Neptune goes retrograde once per year for about five months.

Until 2021, Neptune goes retrograde in the month of June and direct in the month of November. You can expect the Neptune station symptoms to be kicked up at those times."

More on Neptune stations from Willow's Web Astrology

More on Chiron in Pisces from Willow's Web Astrology

Reality Checking

 All it would take is a stiff breeze...

Photo: Willow

Just a reminder, pretty babies, that the personal planets are on the march toward conjunctions to Saturn in Scorpio, indicating that we receive waves of "reality check" this month. 

People are over-extended - emotionally, energetically, financially, time-wise - and the conjunctions of the personal planets to Saturn are going to reel things back in. These conjunctions also provide us with a status report on our Saturn in Scorpio progress so far.

Energy is at a premium this month, so be careful what you commit yourself to or how full you fill your schedule. Leave some wiggle room. 

Venus conjunct Saturn - November 12 (7:02 p.m. CST)
Sun conjunct Saturn - November 18 (2:50 a.m.)
Mercury conjunct Saturn - November 25 (8:37 p.m.)

We've been slogging it out in the down-and-dirty subtext for just over two years now, becoming painfully aware of the crumbling emotional and psychological foundations in relationships, businesses, and societal institutions alike.

The underlying emotional and psychological realities we're privy to are not always pretty. Quite often, they're full-on stinky and corrupt, and Saturn has been holding our noses in it, ensuring that the whiff we get is potent enough to motivate us toward change, no matter how difficult.

There are certain secrets, certain suppressed realities, that can no longer be contained - though many will try to keep a lid on this to the point that their own psyches become shredded by it.

We've gone as far as we can with certain structural frameworks and with certain power hierarchies, no matter how dressed up, "successful," or "prestigious" they may appear.

Whether it's the institution of traditional marriage, the nuclear family unit, or the grasping tentacles of the Global Government, we simply cannot uphold the shitshow any longer. Those who attempt it, still striving for the perceived rewards for doing so, face a slow-motion emotional, psychological, and psychic collapse.

People are still clinging to the old structures and to their perceived power within those structures, but make no bones about it:

The businesses and institutions cannot go on as they exist. The positions within those businesses and institutions cannot go on as they exist. Personal relationships set up according to old-era rules cannot be sustained. Change is required almost across the board.

Make this your reality, make this necessary change your goal, and these personal planet conjunctions to Saturn in Scorpio will put you in better, stronger, and wiser position.

Now is the Time. This is the Place. So You'd Better Bring it This Scorpio Season...

 Illustration: Willow by Ricardo Mira, gatomorfo.com
Thank-you, Ricardo!

 
We are currently in the thick of a very powerful and transformational Scorpio season, kicked off by the Scorpio New Moon solar eclipse at zero degrees conjunct Venus on October 23. That zero-degree New Moon was the first in a series of zero-degree New Moons, indicating an "emotional clean sweep" effect that continues into the first months of 2015. We're going deep here in order to move into new emotional territory, and no stone is left unturned.

Currently, there is a concentration of bodies in Scorpio - warrior woman Pallas Athene, the Sun, Venus, Saturn, and as of November 8, Mercury. This brings the deep, dark Scorpionic themes to the forefront in a big way with many highly-charged, previously hidden, and potentially uncomfortable subjects rising to the surface.

Today, we experience the Taurus Full Moon (4:23 p.m. CST), the yearly Blood Moon or Hunter's Moon, and all that has occurred since the Scorpio New Moon is pushed to a head...

Mars and Pluto are the co-rulers of Scorpio, the bodies that most strongly influence and drive that sign. And these two bodies are forming a catalytic conjunction (exact at 11 degrees Capricorn on November 10 at 5:06 p.m.) right in the midst of Scorpio season. The movement of Mars in Capricorn is activating the Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn square, indicating that major structural changes and major breaks from the way things have been done previously are being initiated via our own personal directions and applications of will. This is societal transformation, structural transformation, institutional transformation, and it's driven by individual actions and decisions.

Mars moves from the November 10 conjunction to Pluto into a November 12 square to Uranus Rx at 13 degrees Aries (7:29 p.m.).

Productive and alchemical earth-water sextiles are also being formed between Mars in Capricorn and the bodies transiting Scorpio.

There's a new direction being initiated here. Help it to dig in. 

Mars is a personal planet, relating to personal desire, will, goals, sex drive, anger, and actions. Pluto is a transpersonal planet, relating to a process of transformation and change on a collective level, brought about by exposing various unsatisfactory elements - corruption, abuse, violence, murder, dishonesty, hidden manipulation, unjust power dynamics. With Pluto now transiting Capricorn, we are exposing those unsatisfactory elements within the institutions of our societies and the associated power hierarchies.

Pluto is a dwarf planet associated with rage. Pluto is a dwarf planet associated with experiences of hell. It is considered a generational planet, meaning an entire generation of people will have Pluto in a particular sign. Thus, Pluto is an indicator of the generational change an individual is tasked with in the area that most needs transformation by that generation of people. Pluto is an indicator of the particular flavour of hell experienced by your generation, and it is also an engine providing the energy, awareness, rage, and strength needed to get out of it.

At it's best, Scorpio doesn't just want to get itself out of hell. It wants to liberate everyone experiencing that particular version of hell. Its personal liberation reaches the desired level of sweetness only when others cannot be tricked, manipulated, or trapped by the same hellacious dynamics and themes.

At it's best, the personal struggle for liberation from the intolerable that is experienced in the sign of Scorpio is fused with the broader, collective struggle for that same liberation. Liberation for all, forever, from the same intolerable circumstances or themes. Annihilation of that which oppresses us  unjustly, manipulatively, and violently, freeing us from those themes for good.