Saturday, November 28, 2009

Mars Retrograde in Leo: Reclaiming Our Primal Creative Force in the Face of Shifting Structures and Changing Paradigms

(December 20, 2009 - March 10, 2010)

Mars entered Leo October 16, 2009 and will be transiting the sign of passionate, creative self-expression for almost eight months, until June 7, 2010. This period includes a retrograde beginning at 19 degrees Leo on December 20, 2009 and ending all the way back at the 0 degree, stationing direct on March 10, 2010.

As we enter the month of December, Mars is slowing to station retrograde, and we start to get a flavour for what this retro is going to mean in our personal lives.

Mars in Leo relates, very basically, to a desire to create. The motivation to create something that didn't exist before, something only we personally could create, and something we love enough that we are willing to pour our hearts - our blood, sweat and tears - into bringing it into existence, often with no guarantee of the result.

The zodiac sign Leo relates, in part, to children - children being (arguably) the most wondrous use of Leonine creative potential. It's a sign related to personal artistry and self-expression, traditionally associated with the performing arts like acting, dance and music.

But those are just some forms the energy of the sign takes...

The force of Leo as a sign relates to something broader (and possibly sappier): the creative power of the love in our hearts.

In basic terms, Leo refers to the artistry in each and every one of us and the realization of personal creative potential, whatever form the expression should take.

Creative self-actualization. Creating a life that is a pleasing and satisfying extension of who we truly are, from the heart. Using our particular talents, our particular self-expression, our particular personalities and shining the big, bold light of who we are in the world. Being the stars that we are.

Mars is the action planet, related to physical energy, will, goals, direction, motivation and desire, as well as sexuality. It's basically what gets us going, what excites a passion and desire within us.

As Mars transits and retrogrades in Leo, we're setting a new cycle of creative goals for ourselves and releasing previous ones. We're determining how to direct our physical energy and what actions we need to take to achieve the sexy, new creative goals that have us excited at the moment.

But more importantly, I think, in the face of shifting structures and the burgeoning Aquarian paradigm, this Mars retrograde in Leo coincides with us reclaiming and harnessing our personal, primal creative force.

We're reconnecting with our deepest heart's desires for love, joy, fun, excitement and the freedom to express whatever is in our hearts to express. We're reclaiming the right to be self-directed in these ways, to use our creative power only as we see fit.

Mars goes retrograde at 19 degrees Leo - just shy of an opposition to the triple conjunction in Aquarius. (Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune will be at 22-24 degrees of the sign.)

And this is purposeful. Because we need this time with ourselves and with our creative pursuits to get clear on where we go from here. There has been so much focus on Aquarius, so much detachment that has been required of us as we speed through these changing times. We've had to keep our eyes on the prize, and it was so far off in the distance at times that the immediacy of Leo, the joy of creating and being ourselves in the present moment, took a back seat as we worked on bringing about our visions for the collective future.

And now we need this retrograde time to draw our creative energy back inside us, to reconnect with our deep, primal creative force and bring it back to our hearts, energizing and fortifying ourselves for what's to come.

This will ensure that what we do and what we involve ourselves in from here, as the paradigm continues to rapidly shift, is from our deepest heart's desire.

We're fighting to get our mojo back with this retrograde in the midst of what are proving to be often quite unsexy times.

And we thaw the cool, Aquarian detachment here with a Mars in Leo furnace of passion, creativity and desire. Stoking the fire. Slowly, though, all through the transit and retrograde.

And this could be the frustrating part. Both Mars and Leo are masculine, outer-oriented. Both are in their element with external action and expression. But with a retrograde, the energy is drawn in. It's a time of disengagement from what has run its course and a recalibration and readying for what is up ahead. Retrogrades require patience and an inner focus, and that could feel quite thwarting to the Mars in Leo energy.

Mars retrograde is a time of (often) lower physical energy when it is not as easy as usual to exert your will and get things done. There is a deliberate timing related to retrogrades that, again, could be frustrating with this combination of planet and sign.

Although, those who have a somewhat thwarted natal Mars (through retrograde, detriment or aspects) could find things are easier than usual in those respects since they are accustomed to these types of conditions and deal with them better than most.

The level of frustration experienced will coincide greatly with how readily an individual allows any necessary creative re-direction. Leo is a fixed sign, and changes in course are not so comfortable. (Think of a mother being told that her child needs a correction or change in behaviour, for example. Not so comfortable.) But any changes in direction initiated now are for the best and have the future situation in mind.

This Mars in Leo retrograde will also be a time of strengthening self-love because loving ourselves fully and truly, through it all, is so crucial as we navigate the bumps and obstacles of these sometimes intimidating and frightening times. We can reclaim love and self-love as our prime motivators here in a world that seems to cultivate self-loathing as a marketing technique. The revolutionary act of loving yourself no matter what!

This Mars in Leo retrograde will allow us to get clear on the specific talents we hold inside that we simply must share with the world and also on the most powerful creative avenues to take with those talents.

We'll make sure here that our creative force is not being co-opted or siphoned off in ways that are not true to us.

There is a voracious appetite with Aquarius for "the next new thing," "something different," "something unique." And there are many people still playing in the same old structures who are looking to latch onto real, independent creative expression and artistry and milk it for all its worth to reinforce the same old bullshit.

We can ensure here that the goals for our creative energy are purely our own, connected to our own visions for the future, and that we are not unwittingly fuelling nefarious people or agendas.

With this Mars in Leo retrograde, we can reclaim our creative forces completely and stake our claim for their independent expressions. We can ensure that our personal creative energy is working to bring about real, meaningful change, not a phony Hollywood-ized, Obama-fied, commodified version of "the future." Creative self-expression that is relevant both personally and for these times, a force for freedom, both personal and collective. Here, we make sure that what we are creating comes from our own hearts and that we are not just following a formula that has been set out for us. There is no pattern to follow here. Just the raw, powerful direction of our own creative desire.

I hope we can finally slough off hollow, Hollywood versions of art and pseudo-artists once and for all and embrace our own artistry and the artistry of others who have something real to offer.

After this retrograde, we will be ready to head in new creative directions where necessary.

There are ways we've been exerting ourselves, ways we've been using our personalities and forms of creative self-expression that need to be re-directed, and that is what this retrograde process will do. (*cough!* Pluto in Leos *cough!*)

Reconnecting with our primal creative force is a big part of finding our true places within the developing Aquarian communities. We're creating the networks and communities as we go. Instead of trying to fit into crumbling, outdated constructs, we're creating new situations that have not previously existed.

Moving to artisan-quality lives with the personal, human touches that don't exist with corporate cookie-cutter products or roles. Taking pride in who we are and in what we do, in what we produce.

It's been done before, many times, as a reaction to industrialization and depersonalized corporatization.

And here we're making another attempt at it because really, it's all we can do. At the point of Pluto transiting Capricorn, the corporate structures and the factory production lines have gotten so out of control, so insane, so inhumane that going back to direction from the heart and soul is the only way.

Another interesting point to this retrograde is that Mars retrogrades back to 0 degrees Leo and stations direct there - the first degree of the sign - but it doesn't dip back into Cancer.

This is good news for anyone who has found the last two years (since the previous Mars retrograde) quite difficult. Mars takes just a hair under two years to go through the zodiac, and the last retrograde was in Cancer from November 2007 to January 2008.

Because Mars in Leo does not re-enter Cancer during this retrograde, it tells us that the goals we set then for achieving emotional independence, strength and vitality have been completed. We fought hard to break out of detrimental emotional habits, especially related to co-dependence and old familial patterns, and our hard work has gotten results.

At the point of this Mars retrograde in Leo, we are on a new emotional foundation (also kicked into gear by last summer's eclipse season) and can use it now as an anchoring point as we paint a new reality for this little planet...

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Uranus Stationing Direct in Pisces: Keep Your Heads About Ya

Uranus is potent right now in Pisces, stationing direct conjunct the soul mate asteroid Juno. (December 1 at 1:28 p.m. MT) The Moon is also in Pisces for the next two days, adding to the Piscean vibes.

Things are more spacey, time-warpy than usual right now and will be until the end of next week, so keep this in mind and do your best to keep your mind from wandering off into the etheric realms whilst doing anything potentially dangerous like driving, crossing the street, chopping veggies...

No time warping while you run the bath or broil some nachos!

When Pisces is strong, there is a tendency toward little slip-ups, accidents and injuries, so protect against that with grounded mindfulness and by not taking any unneccessary risks. The Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius could tempt us to push the limits, but that is not advisable as Uranus stations in Pisces.

Uranus conjunct Juno in Pisces means we're getting some strong communiques from our spiritual assistance (whatever form that takes) related to the way forward from here, so allow time for that connection and understanding to come through fully. Allow time for it to envelope you, but don't become distracted while doing anything that demands your full focus and attention.

If Saturn in Virgo and the opposition cycle to Uranus in Pisces has taught us anything, it's the importance of managing our time along these lines and successfully balancing the otherworldly/etheric with the material/physical. Both realms have different requirements that need to be co-managed.

The importance of soul mates in our daily lives also comes into focus here with the conjunction to Juno, whether they be people who are constants in our lives or just people we pass by on the bus or in the grocery store. The spiritual will be peeking through in the oddest and most unexpected of places.

At the same time, there's a strong tail-end Piscean Age necessity to filter out any Neptunian/Piscean communication or energy that isn't for you. The ability to screen that energy, turn it off and focus only on our own experiences is especially important during this direct station and will help us from becoming energetically overwhelmed or creeped out. There's another Saturn in Virgo lesson we can put into action - differentiating between what's for you and what isn't and reinforcing boundaries related to that.

Dreams are very potent, too. The division between waking and dreaming life is very thin now, becoming more of a single flow than usual. Dreams can be very literal, and it might help to write them down and analyze them related to what is going on in your day-to-day life.

Uranus in Pisces is in mutual reception with Neptune in Aquarius (indicating the transitional period between Piscean and Aquarian eras) and is the final body going direct related to that mutual reception with Neptune in its place in the long-term triple Aquarius conjunction. After Uranus moves direct, all the outer planets will be in direct motion. Full speed ahead.

Another post on that is here: Status Update on the Aquarius Triple Conjunction

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Happy Sun in Sagittarius! Leaving the Energetic Hangover From the First Saturn-Pluto Square

The Sun is passing through the 29th degree of Scorpio today. By tonight, the Moon will be out of Capricorn and into Aquarius, and the Sun will enter Sagittarius.

Yippee ki-yay, cow patty!

This is good news because it means we are moving out of the energetic hangover of the first Saturn in Libra - Pluto in Capricorn square and the coinciding New Moon in Scorpio amidst that big old stellium in Scorp. The related pressure and the hold of any stirred-up fears should ease now...

Scorpio and Capricorn, along with Saturn and Pluto, are heavy hitters. They don't mess around. We dug in deep over the past week, and some long-embedded detritus was spun off as Saturn squared Pluto and the cardinal structural shifts started to get their legs under them. The Capricornian/Saturnine structures started to move according to new agendas, often under as much obscurity from the public as possible.

There are still plenty of dark and dirty allegiances, hidden motivations and obscured manoevres going on behind the scenes, beneath the surface-level handshakes and photo-ops. We still have work to do to bring what's REALLY going on to the surface and to conscious mainstream awareness.

I can feel it - the corruption. And how deeply it really goes. How complex it is and how many twisted corridors it really involves. It's overwhelming at times, as most people continue to swallow the official line or bury their heads in Aquarian/New Age rhetoric. Even the supposed alternatives to the official line have been co-opted and filled with disinformation on many fronts.

Yes, we've only just begun with this aspect, and we've got a Saturn retrograde to go over it all - January 13 to May 30, 2010. There are two more exact squares of Saturn and Pluto to get it all straight, and we're in range of the square for the next 11-ish months. Unrelenting, baby!

One situation that is so very fitting for these energies is the shift to the "new world order" through the usurping of the G8 group of nations by the G20. The G20 nations took the reins in September in Pittsburgh, becoming a self-imposed world government body in charge of economic issues. And this was done, of course, behind closed doors, guarded by fences and thousands of riot cops and amidst almost complete public ignorance. Never has any of this been up for debate by the public in any country. Do most people even know that the World Bank or International Monetary Fund exist? I think no.

It's yet another blatant example of the disconnect between pseudo-elected governments and real, informed public will. These governments, merged with corporate interests to such an extent that they are almost indistinguishable from each other, have an agenda of their own that (to them) supercedes the best interests and will of the public. There is no informed consent here...just consent manufactured through media manipulation, the police state and the drone of their supposed "experts," lulling the public to sleep with tales of economic growth through global harmonization and "co-ordination."

Well, I, for one, don't want to be co-ordinated into your grand plans, you twisted bastards!

They're the worst kind of middle management imaginable. With corresponding delusions of grandeur, of course.

The most recent G20 Summit happened as the Sun in Libra squared Pluto in Capricorn. And now, as Saturn in Libra moves back and forth over that square to Pluto, the figureheads work to solidify this arrangement and get moving with their One World Goverment agenda. They've got less than a year to make their big manoevres, consolidate power at the top of their man-made hierarchies and fuse agendas - as the public is still reeling from the orchestrated economic collapse.

And they're not wasting any time.

The next G20 meeting is scheduled for June 25-27, 2010 in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada, just as Saturn is back up to full speed in Virgo after its retrograde. (Although, there is apparently some debate about moving the meeting to Toronto?)

The G8 meeting will be held simultaneously, and this is being called a symbolic hand-off of power - although the public has been told the G8 will continue as a decision-making body regarding security issues and such. Isn't it funny how this brand of power follows the money? How those supposedly "in charge" of the economic issues suddenly rise to the very top of the hierarchy.

Seoul, Korea, led by President Lee Myung-bak, will then hold yet another G20 Summit in November, 2010.

Implementing the new agendas and imposing the new power players/structures with blistering speed - layering meeting after meeting, crowding the media and allowing for much less public attention on each individual event.

There is no way the public can really dig in to what is going on here on this timeframe and with so little transparency and education on the issues. As I wrote in September's G20 post, the lack of transparency, accountability and public awareness is all very Pluto in Capricorn purposeful. Plutonically merging the activities of bodies of power, consolidating the power and creating as much murkiness and obscurity as possible about the decisions being made behind closed doors.

Using the same strategy, the United Nations General Assembly in New York City went on at the same time as the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

Anyway, the Saturn-Pluto series of squares is definitely the backdrop for the next year. You can understand the weight of these times and how important it is to remain aware of what is going on as these new structures and power agendas work to draw everyone into their world-wide pyramid schemes.

But going back to the good news of the day - the Sun is entering Sagittarius tonight, and we start to experience the warmth, faith and optimism that sign has to offer. A very welcome shift at the end of Scorp season! Sagittarius puts a lit candle in the window to guide us, and we start to come in out of the dark...

The Sun's transit through Sagittarius is interesting, also, because Jupiter in Aquarius becomes its dispositor - a strong layer of influence on our day-to-day conscious awareness. Jupiter is in formation in the Aquarius triple conjunction and will conjunct and pass in the zodiac Chiron (December 7) and then Neptune (December 21 - Winter Solstice) before entering Pisces mid-January, 2010. A more extensive post on that is here: Status Update on the Aquarius Triple Conjunction

These Jupiter conjunctions have a nice healing, spiritually-connected feel. A time when our faith can be renewed related to the times we're living through and the change we're working on for humanity. (Well, the change some of us are working on, anyway.) There is reassurance here that the sometimes hellish struggle is worth it and that we're making headway, even when we can't see it in front of us. We're in this together, connected always to those who share our struggle, and these aspects can renew our strength and our faith in what we're doing here. We can feel, even in our darkest moments, that we are not alone, that we are loved and assisted, that there is a candle burning in the window for us...

There is a theme of truth with Sagittarius. Doesn't it seem that getting to the truth about the issues of the day is a full-time job these days? More than full-time. Propaganda after propoganda to wade through.

But Sagittarius also affirms within us the fact that real truth, laid bare, is inalterable. That no matter what wrongs are committed, what injustices are covered up, what corruption is seemingly gotten away with...the truth of what is good and right and high-minded always rises above. It sustains through time. Nothing can ever truly whitewash it or rub it out, no matter how dedicated an effort to do so, because it's one of those things that we carry with us in our hearts and souls.

So soak up all you can and fortify yourselves with the Sagittarius energy (Mercury is also in the sign until December 5) because we're heading to a Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn (December 26 - January 15) that will retro right back to within two degrees of Pluto in Capricorn and the square to Libra! haha

This New Year is going to have a serious undertone, but as always, it's better to know this stuff than to be swept up unaware...

Right? RIGHT??! heehee Just kidding. Of COURSE it is.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

It's Been a Long Time Coming...And It STILL Ain't Here!

The Moon in its dark phase came together with Venus this morning. A conjunction of the feminine planets, merging forces in the deep, dark sign of ancient soul knowledge, Scorpio. Feminine strength and its raw, powerful beauty - wounds, scars and all - holding its position as Saturn in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn square off in the first of three closing squares. Holding its position as the Old School Masculine believes it's divvying up the world and serving it on a silver platter to its cohorts at the top of their man-made pyramid-scheme hierarchies. Dividing it into dollars and cents, euros and yuans, rupees and dinars.

All the raw, soul-deep Scorpio is squaring the triple conjunction in Aquarius and trining Uranus Rx in Pisces. Eyes on the future, eyes on the future is the constant refrain.

But what about now? And what led up to now?

It's been a hurtful trip to this Earth for many of us. A long succession of hurtful trips through the lineages.

And we're supposed to believe a change is coming. That it's almost here. After lifetimes of dirt in our eyes and salt in our wounds, after being ground down and ground down until we barely had the strength to go on. After having the faith diminished to the tiniest pinprick of candlelight. After having what's right and good punished and abused and mocked for so long.

Scorpio is intuition. The soul knowledge we kept inside and carried with us through generations like the most valuable of family heirlooms. Like the best china or lace or silver or pearls. Because it is the most valuable family heirloom.

And we agreed. No, we'll never forget. We'll never give up. We'll continue despite derision and opposition and every dirty trick in the book. We'll use that derision and opposition and all those dirty tricks to get better and wiser and stronger and more effective. Until the change is here. Until we can see it with our own eyes and hear it with our own ears and taste it with our own tongues.

And everyone who kept that promise, who kept his or her soul close, who protected the connection and the knowledge above all else and fought for that right in others, knows the struggle. We know it's the only battle worth fighting here on this beautiful little planet.

Here's Beth Hart, an Aquarius Sun, singing about the real change - not the co-opted Obama-fied version:

Beth Hart's A Change is Gonna Come

It's an old song written by Sam Cooke that has been covered many times, but her version really captures the feeling of this Scorpio square to Aquarius and trine to Pisces to me.

She's singing about all the times our hearts have been broken because the change didn't come. The sweet, child-like hope we had for it that was crushed so many times. And the times we went out on a limb for what was right and good and were left hanging because what was supposed to be there to support us wasn't.

And she's singing about the never-say-die resolve. The sheer strength of will of what is right and good. The power of soul truth. And the love that is so strong it keeps us getting back on our feet to try again...and again.

We can be thankful for the particular brand of Venus in Scorpio love here because with it, the heart has been broken and betrayed so many times that it won't be fooled again. Venus here is not an easy sell. Glossy words and social charms will never impress. Only the real change will suffice.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

The Deep, Dark Balsamic Scorpio Moon


Photo: Willow

The Moon enters Scorpio this afternoon at 3:24 p.m. MST and we start into a series of big lunar aspects surrounding tomorrow's Saturn-Pluto square and preceding Monday's Scorpio New Moon. The detailed post on that is here. We're bringing a lot into the alchemical mix over the next 48 hours. Processing, processing.

There's nothing left to do as the Moon goes dark but to get still and listen carefully, intuitively, as we allow for emotional completion of this cycle. As we do that, there could be some intense emotions rising to the surface. Traumas and betrayals from the past that we need to emotionally revisit one last time before passing the related emotion through us and releasing it once and for all.

We're in a much different place now than we were then.

This is a very powerful Dark of the Moon in Scorpio, as well as New Moon, and we can let go of a lot here. The emotional rebirth at the New Moon can be complete. We're finally able to release some knots we've been working on untying for so long now related to complex, long-embedded issues.

We also experience the Sun in Scorpio trine to Uranus Rx in Pisces at 22 degrees of the signs around suppertime tonight (6:41 p.m.). In relation to the Saturn-Pluto square:

"There's a strong body intuition available here connected to broader spiritual guidance, and we can use that as a guide and a safe haven as the structures shift (or reinforce yet more of the same) and attempt to draw us into roles within them."

We've got a stellium in Scorpio at the moment - the Moon, Venus, Ceres, the Sun and Mercury.

For a backgrounder on Scorpio/Pluto energy, check this post: "The Slow March Out of Scorpio Has Begun..." It's from almost exactly this time last year - November 17, 2008.

Although, the current Scorpio energy has more of a "completing" feel to it to me...still striking us where it hurts at times, but not as incendiary as last year.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Last Quarter Moon in Leo and Yet More Fixed T-Square Action

We experience the Last Quarter Moon today as the Moon in Leo squared the Sun in Scorpio and opposed Jupiter in Aquarius this morning. As the day progresses, the Moon will also square Mercury in Scorpio and oppose Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius.

More fixed T-Square action...

We enter the last quarter of the lunar cycle here and slide toward the main events - the Saturn-Pluto square and the Scorpio New Moon on November 15 and 16 respectively.

Things are feeling a bit tight, but it might help to remember:

"Any progress made now will be gritty and very hard-won, yet long-lasting and meaningful. Fixed sign issues are issues that stay with us and stick to us. The themes can be almost constants in our lives, and gaining movement with them takes a tremendous amount of effort for seemingly little progress. However, the progress that is made is also fixed - as in, it's not going anywhere."

We're setting our stances now, digging in where we know we have to and letting go in other areas, prepping for the cardinal structural movement of Saturn in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn - the first of a six-year series of cardinal squares involving Saturn in Libra, Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Saturn in Libra Square Pluto in Capricorn Amidst An Uber-Potent Scorpio New Moon

Dates/times in Mountain Standard Time

Moon enters Scorpio - November 14 at 3:24 p.m.
Moon sextile Pluto - November 14 at 6:26 p.m.
Sun trine Uranus - November 14 at 6:41 p.m.
SATURN SQUARE PLUTO - November 15 at 8:20 a.m.
Moon conjunct Venus - November 15 at 8:41 a.m.
Moon square Mars - November 15 at 3:03 p.m.
Sun square Neptune - November 15 at 4:11 p.m.
Moon square Jupiter - November 16 at 2:02 a.m.
Moon square Chiron - November 16 at 6:18 a.m.
Moon trine Uranus - November 16 at 8:57 a.m.
Moon square Neptune - November 16 at 10:40 a.m.
NEW MOON in SCORPIO (Sun conjunct Moon) - November 16 at 12:14 p.m.

(!!!)

Since Saturn entered cardinal sign Libra (October 29), we've felt things start to move. Simultaneously, there has been a building tension as Saturn slowly moves closer to its first square to Pluto in Capricorn at 1 degree of both signs.

The structural shifts have been initiated. Creak, creak, creak. I can feel it in my bones.

Any structural set-up (especially relationship set-up) that can't withstand the increasing Plutonic pressure will break rather than bend.

Unresolved drama and detritus will increasingly be spun off and thrown up in our faces as the square tightens and Pluto penetrates further to the core of the situations.

This week (November 8 - 11), Mercury in Scorpio - just out in front of the Sun - leads the way with squares to Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius and a trine to Uranus Rx in Pisces.

We're being brought mentally into the game and prepared for the multi-layered aspects we're heading into that will propel us into new structural situations.

I've written about the Saturn-Pluto series of squares previously, and I've basically been writing about the themes since the G20 Summit in September. There is quite a lot of background available on the blog, so I'm not going to do a really broad article here, but I do want to focus on one particular aspect involved in this initial square.

One thing that stands out to me in the chart for the moment when Saturn in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn (8:20 a.m. MST on November 15) is a massive conjunction of points and bodies in Scorpio (the Moon, Venus, Part of Fortune, Ceres, the Sun and Mercury).

Of particular interest is the Moon in the Balsamic phase (also called the Dark of the Moon) in Scorpio exactly conjunct Venus in Scorpio.

Background on Balsamic Moon/Dark of the Moon: this means that that Moon is closing in on a conjunction to the Sun, moving in orbit between the Earth and Sun. Because of this alignment, it appears as if the Moon is going dark. This is the end of one 28-day lunar cycle, and we'll be completing anything that needs to be completed as we release the previous cycle and ready ourselves emotionally for a new one.

The New Moon at 24 degrees Scorpio on November 16 occurs as the Saturn-Pluto square is still in full effect.

And the Dark of the Moon phase surrounding the Saturn-Pluto square and preceding the New Moon is extremely active and potent:

The Sun in Scorpio trines Uranus Rx in Pisces and squares Neptune in Aquarius November 14/15, preceding Monday's New Moon.

The Moon enters Scorpio in the afternoon of November 14, and as it goes dark in that sign, it will sextile Pluto in Capricorn, conjunct Venus in Scorpio, square Mars in Leo, square the three bodies in the Aquarius triple conjunction AND trine Uranus in Pisces! All that will be merged into the alchemical mix in less than 48 hours.

We'll be using our whip-smart Scorpionic intuition here to scrape off any last dishonest garbage related to Aquarian Age rhetoric, pulling off any remaining blinders related to our paths forward from this point. There's a strong impetus here to keep it real Scorp-style and to integrate the more difficult, neglected aspects of consciousness and reality that it represents.

The soul-deep Scorpionic feel for things is squaring off with the bird's-eye-view, emotionally-detached Aquarian intellectualism.

But it's also trining Uranus Rx in Pisces - so the understanding and experience of the spiritual/intuitive/unseen realms held by Scorpio and Pisces are flowing around those fixed squares.

There's a strong body intuition available here connected to broader spiritual guidance, and we can use that as a guide and a safe haven as the structures shift (or reinforce yet more of the same) and attempt to draw us into roles within them.

Within the context of the strategic relationships being formed and solidified with Saturn in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, the super potent Dark of the Moon in Scorpio means: we've got some bullshit to burn off first, and we'll initiate that process surrounding this first Saturn square to Pluto.

Makes sense, right? The planet of structure and the planet of soul-necessary transformation in a series of closing squares. There are bound to be outdated dynamics and structural components that need to be addressed. Aspects we've outgrown that need to be sloughed off and other areas that need to be strengthened and structurally reinforced for the long haul.

With this much Scorpio energy, there will be an almost overpowering energy related to coming together and merging resources. However, with Saturn and Capricorn involved, things must move forward step-by-step, concretely, toward shared goals and structural integrity. We can't seal the deal until we know it's absolutely right, right down to the nitty gritty details.

We're taking the lead here and choosing more adult relationships and relationship dynamics. Committing to true soul affinity and compatibility, nothing less.

We're getting serious and getting real about the types of relationships that are going to be successful vehicles for us to reach our full potentials long-term - both on a personal level and relating to the Plutonic impetus for collective potential and progress.

Our Saturnine goals take on a much broader context with Pluto in Capricorn involved, especially within the context of the times in which we're living. There are bigger goals for us here than we can even see at the moment, but as long as we know that and trust our intuition to guide us in reaching those goals, we can make the right decisions step-by-step.

With the influence of the Dark of the Moon in Scorpio during the Saturn-Pluto square, we can understand that there are dynamics we've been accepting that we can no longer accept moving forward. There are ways we've been put down and made less powerful that we can no longer live by. Subjugation and domination power and control dynamics we've been conditioned to continue that have to go. Subtle abuses, mostly energetic and beneath the surface, that have to be brought up and faced. These themes will be especially visible in our business/commerce structural set-ups and in the ways we relate within those set-ups.

With the Moon, the process at hand relates to early conditioning, so old wounds that have their roots in childhood or the teen years will be coming up. Conditioned responses we learned then from our interactions with other people that we have continued into adulthood can be examined here.

The learned ways of interacting that will be successful for us moving forward can be built into our relationship dynamics now, and the ones holding us back from our heart's desire relationships can be let go of - with some emotional digging.

Things that have been simmering for a long time will be forced to the surface by this series of Saturn in Libra - Pluto in Capricorn squares - in effect between now and September 2010.

There are a lot of dirty tricks and outdated dynamics embedded in our relationships - especially related to the interaction of masculine and feminine. There are ties we need to sever - maybe to people, maybe just to certain dynamics, probably to both - because we can't achieve our full potential with the way things are, with the way we are relating.

The Moon relates, in part, to conditioned emotional responses and the past. So again, here is the Scorpionic process of examination, elimination and regeneration related to these emotional themes.

There is a strong theme here (as there is with Pluto/North Node in Capricorn, in general) of the feminine (in both men and women) empowering itself, taking control and getting out from under dynamics and situations that have oppressed it for generations. And that's not always going to be pretty or easy. The feminine has been conditioned not to rock the boat, not to hurt anyone's feelings, to keep the appearance that all is well, even when that's far from the case. And it has been accepted, often, only on those terms.

The feminine has also been conditioned to accept co-dependence and to fear for its survival without the structure of a relationship, even an inadequate or abusive one.

There are forms of emotional abuse people have been so conditioned to accept (especially prevalent in work structures/hierarchies and along the home/work continuum) that people are not even consciously aware of them anymore.

That's about to change in a big way. We've hit the do-or-die breaking point.

To be brutally honest about these things, to bring them to conscious awareness and to sever energetic ties to the abusive/draining aspects once and for all is the potential of this Saturn-Pluto square within the Balsamic Scorpio Moon phase. Snip!

The understanding of what (and who!) needs to go (and how to go about getting rid of it) can be accessed internally now if we allow the quiet, still part of ourselves to take the lead post-Saturn-Pluto square, as the Moon goes dark and then renews itself with the Scorpio New Moon. If we do it right, what needs to go will slough right off like a snake shedding its skin.

Another round of tightening boundaries and stopping energy leaks.

Making better, more mature decisions about how we interact and with whom we interact. Choosing not to enter into relationships or dynamics that are beneath us. (This is often a Scorpionic attraction.) Not falling into old, conditioned karmic dynamics - examining and understanding what it is emotionally that drew us into those types of dynamics in the first place, including family patterns. Committing to the understanding that what is abusive to the soul cannot possibly sustain us. Restructuring our relationship dynamics so that we are fully cemented in a better, more mature way of interacting.

Saturn in Libra demands that we enter into relationships and partnerships of true equals, and this square to Pluto is where we take responsibility for that. If we bypass that responsibility, the rest of the Saturn-Pluto squares could get nasty!

This will also be a time when long-term goals and motivations become more visible and apparent based on the alliances and relationships that are entered into or solidified at this time. So watch the manoevres of business heads and members of government to get an understanding of the long-term directions they are trying to implement (or rather, impose).

This will also be visible in our personal lives with the people in our social circles, as there will be restructuring there, as well. A transformation of social hierarchy and breaking down of old social pecking orders...with new ones emerging.

The rules for our relationships and social dynamics can be rewritten here to reflect the more mature, fair and equal relations possible with these aspects.

We can choose to continue the domination/subjugation hierarchies or we can commit to building real egalitarian relations, accepting all the bumps in the road that that will bring...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Status Update on the Triple Conjunction in Aquarius

Neptune is officially direct at 23 degrees Aquarius, so the three bodies hanging out in conjunction in that sign have completed their retrogrades and are now moving direct.

Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius entered into retrograde motion almost simultaneously (May/June 2009) and have gone direct almost simultaneously, as well (October/November 2009).

Jupiter is the fastest moving body of the three and will conjunct and pass both Chiron (December 7) and Neptune (December 21 - Winter Solstice) before entering Pisces mid-January, 2010.

This is the last pass of Jupiter through detached, intellectual, future-vision-oriented Aquarius before it enters much-less-detached Pisces and we have a spotlight put on the spiritual understanding and knowledge we need to fully attain before a better future (and reality) for humanity is possible.

Jupiter transitting Pisces will continue the shift to a spirituality attuned to the Aquarian times (and no, that doesn't mean One World Religion). We will continue to see people preaching irresponsible exponential growth, over-expansion and zero restrictions - over-reaching and then, eventually, falling on their faces. (Jupiter is good for those experiences.)

The misuses and abuses of Aquarian Age rhetoric will reach a fevered pitch as we near 2012 (an often-used official date for the beginning of the Aquarian Age). New Age charlatans with Neptunian tricks galore will be feeding the spiritual materialism addictions, taking it all the way to the bank.

And Aquarian Age corpo-governmental figureheads will be riding the "freedom, change and progress" train while continuing to reinforce hierarchical servitude as usual.

(No coincidence, Sarah Palin has just fired up her U.S.-wide speaking tour to promote her new book. Get in line, people! Her words of wisdom are right up there with Baby Bush's as far as value to humankind.)

All the spiritual excess and unneccessary garbage we'll see during Jupiter in Pisces will be a last-ditch attempt to get individuals to fully take responsibility for their own spirituality, rather than relying on spoon-fed spiritual hierarchy, which really has little place in a true Aquarian situation. That transit will relate to an attempt to get to real spiritual truth, which is a far cry from the commodified, speaking-tour-ized version being sold to the masses today.

But more on that when Jupiter enters Pisces...

Uranus in Pisces goes direct December 1. We can't forget this body in the whole scheme of things because Uranus and Neptune in mutual reception refers, of course, to the transitional times we are experiencing between the astrological Piscean Age and Aquarian.

At the point that Uranus goes direct, the outer planets will be "all systems go."

There are still many things that need to be attended to before we fully enter our "Aquarian state of mind," but the mutual reception being at the ends of the signs involved indicates that we are nearing the end of the most intensely interwoven cross-over period, at the very least.

Things will more than likely get very bizarre as we head to 2012 with a lot of buzz and electicity, but if we've got our feet planted firmly on the ground, there's little chance we will be swept up in any distracting and damaging fervour.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Mmm-mmm!

Oh my goodness, that Taurus Full Moon is delicious! We've got a perfectly clear evening here in Calgary, Alberta, and the huge orb is visible all over downtown. And of course, I'm the only person standing on the sidewalk staring up at it and grinning! Yes, I guess you'd say I'm a luna-tic.

Definitely a feel good night and some much-deserved relaxation amidst some fairly intense fixed square tension.

Ahhh! Love those grounded lunar Taurean vibes.

Fixed T-Square and a Taurus Full Moon - Things Are Getting Real With Some Samhain Online Activism

We're experiencing a squaring-off of planets in the fixed signs right now, continuing into the Taurus Full Moon, exact at 12:14 p.m. MST tomorrow.

This isn't a long-lasting t-square, as it involves the faster-moving planets, but it is a potent one.

We have Mars in early Leo (fully into its retrograde shadow) squaring Mercury in early Scorpio at 5:50 p.m. today, just five minutes after the Moon enters Taurus.

Also involved in that Mars-Mercury square is Ceres and the Sun in Scorpio. So in effect, we have a triple conjunction (if you include the asteroid Ceres) in Scorpio being squared by Mars in Leo and opposed by the Moon in Taurus, which is forming an ever-tightening fixed t-square as it moves to fullness. There are some definite fixed sign issues coming to culmination here.

This is a clash of the fixed titans. People will be digging their heels in. Any progress made now will be gritty and very hard-won, yet long-lasting and meaningful. Fixed sign issues are issues that stay with us and stick to us. The themes can be almost constants in our lives, and gaining movement with them takes a tremendous amount of effort for seemingly little progress. However, the progress that is made is also fixed - as in, it's not going anywhere.

Mars in Leo square Mercury in Scorpio can bring some passionate verbal sparring and a general feistiness to communications. Our words trigger deeper, multi-layered and complex issues now, often related to what has remained unsaid, unintegrated, taboo through generational lines.

Our Scorpionic realizations now can also fuel the huge new directions we're undertaking related to our personal creative processes, in focus over the next seven months as Mars retrogrades in Leo (December 19, 2009 to March 9, 2010).

Part of the tension here will be between us raring to go with our new creative goals (Mars in Leo) versus the slow, grounded timing related to bringing those creative directions into physical reality (Moon in Taurus). The impatience of Mars in Leo being tempered by the demands for patience and the wait for emotional readiness of the Moon in Taurus.

Mars square Mercury relates to the application of our will through our words. With Mars and Scorpio involved, things can get incendiary, and there can be a real attraction to getting down and dirty. Throwing some verbal punches. But there is a necessity with the square formation to stay in check - using the Taurean groundedness and boundaries and the Leonine playfulness and fun to temper the concentration in super-driven Scorpio.

We have to be careful not to cross those lines because there are things that must be accomplished with this square tension. As always with Scorpio energy, there are some very neglected truths that need to come to the surface. And in order to bring them to the surface, we have to stay in touch with our intuitive understanding of how to go about doing that while not letting the Scorpionic tendency to extremes push us to the point of meltdown, ruining our chances for that fixed sign movement.

Scorpionic insights are not comfortable for status-quo, steady-as-you-go Taurus or for expressive, fun-loving Leo. Scorpio has a "let's get it all out there in the open" drive that threatens to blow things wide open, shaking the Taurean foundations and the Leonine joie-de-vivre.

It's not all tension and harshness, though.

Luckily, we have a nice Venus in Libra trine to Neptune, stationing direct in Aquarius, in the late afternoon tomorrow (4:21 p.m. MST) to soften the T-Square edges. This Venus-Neptune trine will support us in keeping the peace by providing us with a broader, birds-eye understanding of these very important times we're living through. Our spiritual faith and guidance will be very accessible here to get us through any rough spots.

Appreciating what we find beautiful on this planet (with Venus in its own sign Libra and the Moon in Taurus) can also provide some uplifting and buoyance as we grind out the fixed squares/oppositions.

I experienced one of the square-induced rough spots online last night (Hallowe'en night) with a woman in an online forum I just joined (and subsequently left) who was claiming that Hallowe'en is an evil, Satan-worshipping occult ritual and that anyone who takes part in it is an unknowing pawn. She also grouped pagans and astrology into that category.

I was actually shocked to hear this type of thinking (I'm not exposed to it often).

The woman had no knowledge of the traditional roots of Hallowe'en/All Hallow's Eve/Samhain and was making blanket statements about it based solely on the commercialized form of Hallowe'en we experience today, as well as extreme examples of immoral and criminal behaviour committed on this day. IE. the Satan-worshipping stuff

While I respect the right of people to make their own judgements about things like Hallowe'en, I begged to differ with her blanket statements and attempted to explain the traditional roots of the day, pointing out that certain aspects of modern-day Hallowe'en being corrupted and misused by a small segment of the population did not mean that all people who participate in the day are unknowing pawns in that corrupted version.

For anyone who doesn't know, modern-day Hallowe'en stems from a thousands-of-years-old pagan festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-in) which was a day to celebrate the transition between the end of summer/harvest and the beginning of colder temperatures/the darker days of winter.

Outside the religious connotations (which don't relate to my use of the term), pagan means, very simply, country-dweller. So it refers to people who live connected to the land and the seasonal cycles, the harvests, etc.

I'm really not sure where this all-pervasive attitude that pagan is synonymous with "evil" comes from, but I must say that this ignorance (the same ignorance that would have led to my ancestors being burned at the stake) is certainly alive and well in 2009 North America.

Corresponding to the division between the lighter half of the year and the darker half, people traditionally thought Samhain/Hallowe'en was a day when the veil between the living and the dead was particularly thin. It has an association with ancestors and the sign Scorpio, corresponding to the modern-day focus on ghosts and haunted houses and such. Because this day and celebration relate to heading to the darker half of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway), there is a corresponding focus on the darker, more taboo elements of human existence. As well, it gives people a few delicious frights as we dress up and let loose from the constraints of daily workaday life - which forces most people to live according to the homogenous corporate time clock, not natural timing.

To me, the day has a sacred feel to it. Hallowe'en means "holy evening," and it's a day when you can feel close to your ancestors and honour all they went through to get you where you are today, including the dark, brutal aspects of human life.

Now, here lies a major distinction:

There is also an idea associated with this day that, because of the thinner veil and the potency of the day, you could draw on darker spirits, as well, if you so chose.

So of course, this means that a small segment of people will choose to use the energy of the day for irresponsible ends. Misuses of energy go on all the time. (The Secret, anyone?) But taking it to the dark, ritualistic extreme is done only by certain types of people. It's not a pre-requisite by any means, and celebrating Hallowe'en doesn't mean condoning murder, Satanism or immorality. To apply that corrupted version to everyone celebrating the day is just false.

But try explaining that to a person who thinks that the words pagan and astrology are synonyms for "evil."

This woman was using perversions of those terms, making them something sinister, and applying these perversions in a blanket sort of way to everyone involved. Sorry, but that's horseshit.

People who are connected to the seasonal cycles/nature have celebrated this day for thousands of years, alongside all the corruption and BS. To claim that we're all unknowing pawns in some sort of Satan-worshipping plot is just ridiculous to me.

Anyway, this was quite an interesting Hallowe'en, if irritating and neck-stiffening. But I'm sure my ancestors were gathered round as we did our little part.

Again, Happy Hallowe'en and let's never forget the real, strong, true roots of the day and what it really means to those of us who stay connected to beautiful Earth.