Mercury is currently transiting the final degrees of Pisces, the sign of its fall, and communication is a bit of a slog. Mercury has also entered its retrograde shadow, meaning it will be moving back over these degrees during the upcoming retrograde (March 12 - April 4).
The quick and zippy communication and intelligence planet does not operate smoothly or with ease through the lens of foggy, soggy, often surreal Pisces. The Sun, Chiron, Pallas Athene, and Neptune are also in Pisces, and trying to translate into words what we experience in this swirly, dreamy, meandering sign is a challenge, to say the least. Poets and artists have been making their attempts for thousands of years. And Mercury in its fall in retrograde motion, to boot - forget it. It's like one of those dreams where no one can understand what you're saying no matter how hard you try. We stress and strain and repeat ourselves, but either the words won't come out, we can't accurately express what we mean, or people just don't get what we're saying, regardless of how we say it.
Finally, if all efforts are thwarted, we decide to just be quiet and let the underlying psychic flow do its thing.
It seems as if we've been in difficult Mercurial territory for ages now. The last Mercury retrograde fell in Sagittarius (November/December, 2011), and there, again, we had Mercury in a tough placement (the sign of its detriment) going through a retrograde and extended transit.
Mercury just catches a little break entering Aries March 2 when it runs straight into a lightning bolt - a conjunction to Uranus in Aries March 5. If not careful, the excitable forward surge of communication and mental function when Mercury enters Aries will amp up the Uranus conjunction, overloading and singeing our circuitry. Pace yourselves. Mercury slowing to station retrograde (1:49 a.m. Central on March 12) with one final dip into Pisces might just seem like a soothing reprieve from the Uranian blast.
This Mercurial action is another Pisces-to-Aquarius transition: Mercury is revved up and raring to go after the conjunction to Uranus in Aries, but not so fast: we have plenty of Piscean insight to go back for. How's that for understatement?
Oddness with communication of all sorts, particularly electronic, can be expected as we mentally ground the Uranian charge and go back into the soupy Pisces mix for full context.
Mercury stations retrograde at 6 degrees Aries March 12. Mercury Rx re-enters Pisces March 23, stationing direct at 23 degrees Pisces April 4. It re-enters Aries April 16, leaving its retrograde shadow April 23.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Happy, Happy Birthday, Babyyyyyy.
Four years ago on February 26, 2008 at 12:39 a.m., I posted my first Willow's Web Astrology post on this site. It's been quite the ride since - personally and on the planet, in general.
Time is definitely a relative concept at this point. I couldn't tell you whether I've been writing for four months, forty years, or four millennia. Four years is the Earth Time they say has passed, so that's what we'll go with.
I didn't plan to post the first WWA article at a particular time or on a particular date, as many astrologers would have. The original format wasn't even my own. Another astrology site was looking for an astrologer/writer to write a monthly forecast, and I wrote a couple to send in. When that astrologer passed on them, I held them for a while until asking my friend Saviabella for instruction on how to start my own site. (Thanks, Savia.)
As I said, there was not much planning or foresight. I just slapped the first two articles up when the mood struck, when I was impelled to do so, all messy-like. And yet, the exact aspects and positions are uncanny. You can see clearly from the chart for Willow's Web Astrology's "birth" the workings of the universe through the lens of astrological intelligence.
This is a Pluto on zero Capricorn site. That's pretty apparent, I'd say, and it kind of speaks for itself.
The site's Jupiter is also in Capricorn.
Willow's Web Astrology site had its birth during the Uranus in Pisces - Neptune in Aquarius mutual reception, and it was certainly meant to be in existence for these times - a true "straddling the ages" navigational enterprise. The site's Aquarius North Node is conjunct Neptune in Aquarius, and Chiron in Aquarius is exactly semi-sextile Uranus in Pisces, increasing the theme.
Willow's Web Astrology site has a Pisces Sun in the 4th house tightly trine a Scorpio Moon in the 12th. You'd never know, would you? (sarcasm)
In addition to the Scorpio Moon, the site has a Scorpio Ascendant with true Black Moon Lilith on the 29th degree of Scorpio in the 1st house.
The site came into existence with Mercury and Venus forming an exact conjunction in Aquarius in the 3rd house. The Mercury-Venus conjunction is loosely conjunct Chiron in Aquarius and square the Scorpio Moon.
The site has Mars in Gemini in the 8th house exactly trine the Aquarius North Node in the 3rd house and sextile the Leo South Node in the 9th house.
Saturn was retrograde in early Virgo at the time, tightly conjunct the Virgo Midheaven, trine Pluto in Capricorn, and sextile the Scorpio Moon.
The site's 2012 Solar Return chart looks to me like a "go balls out" sort of chart, but along pristine channels with pristine filters. Who would expect anything less?
I was introduced to one of the major Sun sign astrologers a few months ago - a Canadian woman who has gained her reputation by writing syndicated Sun sign horoscopes for newspapers and magazines. She'd written a book letting people know that they are more than just their Sun signs (sort of ironic) and was doing a talk in the city where I live to promote it. I normally wouldn't have known about it, but I was asked to go by an astrologer friend who, it turns out, is this woman's long lost cousin. Talk about weird.
I was introduced to her as a blogger and as one of the better astrological writers out there, and her reply was, "But have you actually written anything?"
What she meant, of course, was have I written a book? Because for a lot of people, if you haven't written a book, you aren't considered a real writer. (This despite all the shite books published these days.)
How can I explain what this site is, what this writing is, to people who don't believe you're legit unless you have a publisher?
I don't have a publisher. I don't have a book to sell. I'm not sure I ever will - not because I couldn't write one but because I don't know that a book is the way to go. I don't have a fancy website. I didn't even bother migrating to WordPress, the blog site considered more pro. I'm not a member of the associations or societies. I don't attend the conferences. I can't name drop any big name astrologers I've had dinner with recently (I'm more likely to have throwdowns with them, anyway). I'm outside the scene - or maybe at the edge of the scene, practising a form of astrology that doesn't fit neatly into pre-structured channels.
And I guess that remains a struggle with this site: working and writing as a professional astrologer, and as a DIY punk astrologer, when the markers that would indicate career success - along with the parity with other astrologers who have those markers - are not apparent to a lot of people. When what I do here is diminished in the minds of people who look for daily blog hits in the hundreds of thousands; shiny, new books sitting on bookstore shelves; a book tour; a lecture circuit; magazine articles; candid photos taken with gurus-of-the-day; television appearances; a tiny picture of my face in every newspaper in the country.
I just can't get all that jazzed about that stuff, you know?
Maybe it's the site's Leo South Node in the 9th house (publishing). Despite its generally much lower prestige value, I can't imagine anything could usurp the relevance and potency of finger-on-cosmic-pulse blog/internet writing. I mean, what a weird and wonderful thing. Though I would love to have the usual indicators of "success" just to shut people the fuck up and put them in their places, I can't imagine anything more interesting than writing astrology on my own site, in the moment, as it happens.
Is it a waste to write this way? To offer it up, article after article, to the worldwide web? I don't think so, but I can't be sure. What I do know is there are reasons I started writing this way, there are reasons I'm still writing, and I guess I'll just keep going until I'm advised to stop!
Here are some of the articles I particularly like from the past 365 days:
From December 27, 2011: Saturn in Libra (Not Quite) Trine Neptune in Aquarius and Saturn Retrograde: Neptunian Relationship Fodder From the Anaretic Degrees
From December 6, 2011: Uranus Direct on Zero Aries (The Fukushima Degree) at the Gemini Full Moon Eclipse
From December 1, 2011: Mars in Virgo Hot or Nots
From November 6, 2011: Weeping Willow Designs with Mars in the Last Degrees of Leo Opposite Stationing Neptune in Aquarius and Closing Out a Creative Cycle
From November 2, 2011: Scorpio on Not Letting it Go Too Soon
From October 23, 2011: Via Combusta Scorpio New Moon October 26 Opens Into the Dark Half and Sets the Tone for Saturn in Scorpio 2012 - 2015
From September 18, 2011: New Social Authority For the Pluto in Libra Generation and Blazing the Plutonic Trail Through Relationship Constructs Past
From July 10, 2011: Ceres Stations Retrograde at Zero Aries Conjunct Uranus and Buying Organic Is a Revolutionary Act
From June 27, 2011: Warning: You're About to Read a Plutonic Punk Astrologer. Proceed at Your Own Discretion.
From June 14, 2011: The Law of Attraction Fukushima-Style
From June 6, 2011: Saturn Stationing Direct in Libra Says: Time to Get Very Serious About Who You Have in Your Life
From May 24, 2011: Neptune Stations in Pisces and We Head to the Gemini New Moon Entryway Into the Cardinal Grand Cross/Triple Eclipse Summer of 2011
From May 8, 2011: Canada Day Cardinal Grand Cross Eclipse: Well, Golly Gee Whiz. Look Who's Fuelling the Global Nuclear Industry
From April 18, 2011: Pluto in Capricorn Retrospective: It's All Just a Norman Rockwell Painting, Isn't It?
From April 1, 2011 (April Fool's Day post): A Message From Our Starry Brethren at the Galactic Centre
From March 20, 2011: The Sun Conjunct Uranus at the Zodiac Birth Point Marking Astrological New Year and the "Odyssey Dawns"
From March 9, 2011: The Precession of the Equinoxes, Shifting Astrological Eras and '2012'
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Readings from Willow's Web Astrology
I list the types of readings I do, but it's not mandatory that you choose one particular type in order to have an astrology reading done.
If you don't know the particular reading that suits you and your queries best, just describe your circumstances and give some indication of the type of perspective you're looking for. Using this information, I can determine how to orient the reading.
I'm not a predictive astrologer, and that is by conscious choice. Contrary to what many might desire, I don't want anyone predicting the events of my life ahead of time, and, therefore, that isn't my form of astrology to practise.
I value the helpfulness and effectiveness of astrology as a soulful navigational tool, one that provides context by describing conditions, circumstances, dynamics, themes, and timing in an immediate and detailed way with depth and catalytic power.
Through astrology, we can verbalize and "make real" certain feelings, experiences, dynamics, and energies that would otherwise remain vague, potentially throwing us off track.
If it speaks to you, the clarity astrology provides is invaluable.
This is a basic description of the individual readings I offer:
Natal: A natal reading works with your astrological birth chart, a very soulful document, indeed. This is the chart of planets, bodies, and points in the zodiac at the moment you were born, when you became a person on the planet separate from your mother. My understanding of the astrological birth chart is that it is both a micro and a macro document, indicating how the personal life is connected to broader collective forces and what the broader impetus is for that individual. This type of reading describes your astrological placements and indicated themes. It includes strengths and talents as well as potential pitfall areas. This type of reading is useful for self-understanding and awareness of life's astrological themes.
Transit: A transit reading is a reading of the current placements and movement of the bodies and points in the zodiac and what they indicate in relation to your natal chart.
If a person is looking for assistance and perspective with current circumstances and themes, the reading looks at the recent past, describes the present, and talks about themes that carry into the future. This type of reading is effective for getting to immediate details that can help a person make more informed and clear-headed decisions, taking corrective action where necessary and capitalizing on benefits coming through various transits. It is good for perspective (What's going on in my life?), context (What's some of the meaning of it?), and timing (How long is this going to last? What's up ahead?). It provides an analysis of the astrological indicators as far as successful ways to deal with themes and events.
Secondary Progressed: With this reading, your natal chart is advanced one day in the ephemeris for every one year of your life. This provides another astrological lens to look through that provides valuable insight into themes and any upcoming "chapter shifts" in life. I generally read the current transits as they are interacting with the Secondary Progressed chart. This reading gives a sense of how things have advanced in you and in your life since birth. It advances the themes of the birth chart (which remain foundational/root themes).
Relationship Synastry: This is a reading for any two individuals in relationship and describes the relational dynamics. This type of reading is most commonly done for romantic pairings but can also be done for business colleagues, family members, friends - anyone in any type of relationship. The natal charts of both individuals are placed in a bi-wheel - a double-layered wheel - and the aspects and interplay between the two are described in order to give an analysis of the relationship and its dynamics. I sometimes look at the Relationship Composite chart in a synastry reading, as well, which is considered the chart for the relationship itself.
The Four Major Asteroids and Black Moon Lilith: This reading focuses on Ceres (now considered a dwarf planet), Vesta, Juno, and Pallas Athene, as well as Black Moon Lilith (the point of lunar apogee) in your chart. These bodies/points are sometimes considered secondary, but they can be quite prominent and influential, especially when they are being aspected by transit. This reading fleshes out some of the feminine influence in the chart. I can add other asteroids by request.
The internet has made it easier for people to really suss out astrologers before choosing to have a reading done, and I'm all for this. It's important to have an astrology reading done by someone you trust, whose perspective you value. If you enjoy what the astrologer has to say in general, you will probably enjoy your reading.
No one wants to waste time and money on a reading that does not hit the mark, and almost no astrologer wants to waste his or her time and energy doing one. Doing research and using your intuition helps to ensure that the right readings are being done with the right people involved.
If it's your first time having a reading done by a certain astrologer, it's a bit of a crap shoot. There's not much that can be done about that; it's the nature of the astrological beast. I will say, though, if you find an astrologer who gives you the information and perspective you need when you need it, it's well worth the price.
If you don't know the particular reading that suits you and your queries best, just describe your circumstances and give some indication of the type of perspective you're looking for. Using this information, I can determine how to orient the reading.
I'm not a predictive astrologer, and that is by conscious choice. Contrary to what many might desire, I don't want anyone predicting the events of my life ahead of time, and, therefore, that isn't my form of astrology to practise.
I value the helpfulness and effectiveness of astrology as a soulful navigational tool, one that provides context by describing conditions, circumstances, dynamics, themes, and timing in an immediate and detailed way with depth and catalytic power.
Through astrology, we can verbalize and "make real" certain feelings, experiences, dynamics, and energies that would otherwise remain vague, potentially throwing us off track.
If it speaks to you, the clarity astrology provides is invaluable.
This is a basic description of the individual readings I offer:
Natal: A natal reading works with your astrological birth chart, a very soulful document, indeed. This is the chart of planets, bodies, and points in the zodiac at the moment you were born, when you became a person on the planet separate from your mother. My understanding of the astrological birth chart is that it is both a micro and a macro document, indicating how the personal life is connected to broader collective forces and what the broader impetus is for that individual. This type of reading describes your astrological placements and indicated themes. It includes strengths and talents as well as potential pitfall areas. This type of reading is useful for self-understanding and awareness of life's astrological themes.
Transit: A transit reading is a reading of the current placements and movement of the bodies and points in the zodiac and what they indicate in relation to your natal chart.
If a person is looking for assistance and perspective with current circumstances and themes, the reading looks at the recent past, describes the present, and talks about themes that carry into the future. This type of reading is effective for getting to immediate details that can help a person make more informed and clear-headed decisions, taking corrective action where necessary and capitalizing on benefits coming through various transits. It is good for perspective (What's going on in my life?), context (What's some of the meaning of it?), and timing (How long is this going to last? What's up ahead?). It provides an analysis of the astrological indicators as far as successful ways to deal with themes and events.
Secondary Progressed: With this reading, your natal chart is advanced one day in the ephemeris for every one year of your life. This provides another astrological lens to look through that provides valuable insight into themes and any upcoming "chapter shifts" in life. I generally read the current transits as they are interacting with the Secondary Progressed chart. This reading gives a sense of how things have advanced in you and in your life since birth. It advances the themes of the birth chart (which remain foundational/root themes).
Relationship Synastry: This is a reading for any two individuals in relationship and describes the relational dynamics. This type of reading is most commonly done for romantic pairings but can also be done for business colleagues, family members, friends - anyone in any type of relationship. The natal charts of both individuals are placed in a bi-wheel - a double-layered wheel - and the aspects and interplay between the two are described in order to give an analysis of the relationship and its dynamics. I sometimes look at the Relationship Composite chart in a synastry reading, as well, which is considered the chart for the relationship itself.
The Four Major Asteroids and Black Moon Lilith: This reading focuses on Ceres (now considered a dwarf planet), Vesta, Juno, and Pallas Athene, as well as Black Moon Lilith (the point of lunar apogee) in your chart. These bodies/points are sometimes considered secondary, but they can be quite prominent and influential, especially when they are being aspected by transit. This reading fleshes out some of the feminine influence in the chart. I can add other asteroids by request.
The internet has made it easier for people to really suss out astrologers before choosing to have a reading done, and I'm all for this. It's important to have an astrology reading done by someone you trust, whose perspective you value. If you enjoy what the astrologer has to say in general, you will probably enjoy your reading.
No one wants to waste time and money on a reading that does not hit the mark, and almost no astrologer wants to waste his or her time and energy doing one. Doing research and using your intuition helps to ensure that the right readings are being done with the right people involved.
If it's your first time having a reading done by a certain astrologer, it's a bit of a crap shoot. There's not much that can be done about that; it's the nature of the astrological beast. I will say, though, if you find an astrologer who gives you the information and perspective you need when you need it, it's well worth the price.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
New Moon in Pisces Conjunct Neptune, Pallas Athene, and Chiron: Carving Out Pisces for the Aquarian Era
February 19 - Sun enters Pisces at 12:18 a.m. Central
February 21 - New Moon at 2 degrees Pisces at 4:35 p.m. conjunct Neptune, Pallas Athene, and Chiron
This is the first Pisces New Moon of the Neptune in Pisces transit, and it falls smack dab between Neptune at zero Pisces and Pallas Athene and Chiron at 3 and 4 degrees Pisces, forming a tight stellium.
Our luminaries the Sun and Moon come together in New Moon conjunction, burning away some of the confusion, listlessness, and pain related to what's come before, dropping it like a cloak before drawing aside a new curtain and illuminating a new Pisces entrance way.
At the points where the burden of awareness has been too great, where we could not take another step under its paralyzing weight, we're released.
But we have to want it, and we have to be willing to go for it.
To survive emotionally and psychically now, knowing all we know, feeling all we feel, seeing all we see, we have to get out from under the most suffocating weight of it. The outpouring flow of the compassionate heart must be gently stemmed, moving into a place where to love and feel does not mean the sacrifice of personal health and safety.
Here, we step into a smart, new expression of Pisces, fully aware of the context of the times and of our context within them.
New Moons bring an opening into a new expression of the sign in which they fall. In the case of this New Moon at 2 degrees Pisces conjunct Neptune, which is just settling back in to the sign of the fishes, the opening is more vast than we can immediately comprehend. We're opening here into a new expression of Pisces for the astrological Aquarian era, closing the door, gently or with a slam and a deadbolt, on many prior expressions, many prior patterns, many prior karmic loops**.
The transit and retrograde of Mars through Virgo, moving to a mid-April opposition to this New Moon point and Neptune in Pisces, assist us in the process. We're picking through, analyzing, removing from the expression of the sign anything redundant, bloated, draining, past its prime. We apply the stinging Virgoan antiseptic, starting to create function in the sign of Pisces in areas where there has for too long been only dysfunction. We also apply the healing Piscean understanding of the way it all works together, of the ways it's shared, bringing new life to areas that have remained sorely isolated, neglected, outside the fold.
Wounded healer Chiron is here, and so is pain. A more in-depth treatment of this placement can be found here: Chiron, May We Pass? from February 18, 2011.
The intense levels of psychic pain held at this point in human history, collectively left denied and unvoiced, truly have the potential to do us in. The psychic backwash drops over us in waves, often without warning, threatening to drag us under. The homeless, the alcoholics, the addicts, the mentally ill, the depressed, the prostituted, the murdered, the missing are symbols of this unaddressed psychic pain and the resulting dysfunction, symptomatic of deeper roots. They've done all they can, said all they can, and still most don't see the connections.
It seeps into suburbia, into condo buildings, into schools and offices, and still people won't put their fingers on it.
Chiron transits Pisces until 2019. The first half of the Neptune transit through Pisces is coloured strongly by this body out in front in the sign.
"There is no easy answer, just as there was no easy answer for Chiron's wound. No magic pill makes it all better. We're past the point where concessions and tokenism soothe in any form. We don't want to be thrown another bone.
Until the underlying wounding dynamics are truly addressed, rectified, discontinued, no long-term healing is possible. We're just treating symptoms.
And the army of people bleating about victim consciousness and creating your own reality works very effectively, moving us further from the depth of understanding of power dynamics and structures on this planet that would get us to the true healing points. Every flippant use of those concepts is another pound of pressure pinning Sedna down, suffering in betrayal on the ocean floor."
Before forgiveness, we need to understand the underlying dynamics, give them name, give them voice, change them, ensure they don't continue.
Before healing, we need to get to the roots, working for complete systemic change rather than just anesthetizing, masking symptoms and calling it healing.
Before the victimization cycles can end, we need to understand why these damaging cycles have been held in place for so long and why they continue to be reinforced. Who benefits from them and who would prefer things go on just as they have? We don't get rid of "victims" until we alter the systems and dynamics that benefit from victimization, and that requires a shift from blaming people for their circumstances to a focus and analysis of the power dynamics on a socio-political level.
With Pallas Athene so prominent at this Pisces New Moon, there is a battle going on for our psychic space. A ferocious reclamation is necessary here, as we battle to remove the ropey, sinewy arms that invade and drain, diverting the power of the feminine psychic force with idiocy about appearance and weight and celebrities and money and status symbols and manufactured music and sports and how to find a mate in five easy steps.
The women of the world, in particular, have to call a spade a spade now, refusing to play the same, old, look-the-other-way games.
With this New Moon, we open into a new Piscean infusion. We come back to Pisces in certain ways, letting it seep again into our pores, letting it lift our eyes again to the glorious wonder of it all after a stretch of years (during the Uranus in Pisces - Neptune in Aquarius mutual reception) when the focus has been strongly on Aquarius and the shift to astrological Aquarian era.
For the past eight years, the focus has been intensely on the transition. What to leave behind with a soft, sweet kiss, what to battle our way out of tooth and nail, and what to carry ahead with us.
What do we carry forward, and what do we leave behind: this has been a difficult consideration. But Neptune has now slid beyond the last impressions of the mutual reception, entering new territory in Pisces by the end of this month, and we've made our choices. It has become clear - or clearer. We've moved through the grief, the confusion, the catatonia, and we're coming out the other side - because we have to. We're needed. We go on from here.
Neptune is in its own sign now, having left Aquarius February 3, and we open into this clear conduit for Piscean understanding, for the permeation of the wondrous spirit of it all, for the experience of the puzzle piece connections that show us how it fits together.
With this New Moon, we get our new Piscean sea legs. Pisces for the Aquarian era.
We don't forget. We don't deny. We don't sever from us all that has come before and all that is happening now. This would only increase the psychic struggle. We take the wonder and the pain and the difficulty and the beauty with us. But we don't carry it anymore as a hopeless burden, as endless, roiling suffering.
What has gone on, what has been done, is known. We know and feel what humanity, what all living things on this planet, have suffered, have endured. We know what we suffer and endure now. We move forward with it shared among us, no one isolated in its pain and difficulty. It's part of us.
But again now, we move this story forward.
** A karmic loop is a scenario that plays out in a person's life over and over again with only slightly different circumstances, spitting the person out repeatedly in close to the same spot with close to the same results. It's generally something that plays on weak spots or patterns, and after a loop has been spotted, work can be done to change behaviour/patterns/decisions in order to come up with a different outcome and hopefully break the cycle.
Karmic loops can be related to any astrological body or point, but at the end of the astrological Piscean era, there are many Piscean/Neptunian karmic loops to be broken, in particular. One thing that makes these loops tricky is that they often involve collective dynamics and patterns and their results. It's not strictly personal issues we're working through, and the collective issues are very, very potent and confounding at times since we can't root them solely back to ourselves.
February 21 - New Moon at 2 degrees Pisces at 4:35 p.m. conjunct Neptune, Pallas Athene, and Chiron
This is the first Pisces New Moon of the Neptune in Pisces transit, and it falls smack dab between Neptune at zero Pisces and Pallas Athene and Chiron at 3 and 4 degrees Pisces, forming a tight stellium.
Our luminaries the Sun and Moon come together in New Moon conjunction, burning away some of the confusion, listlessness, and pain related to what's come before, dropping it like a cloak before drawing aside a new curtain and illuminating a new Pisces entrance way.
At the points where the burden of awareness has been too great, where we could not take another step under its paralyzing weight, we're released.
But we have to want it, and we have to be willing to go for it.
To survive emotionally and psychically now, knowing all we know, feeling all we feel, seeing all we see, we have to get out from under the most suffocating weight of it. The outpouring flow of the compassionate heart must be gently stemmed, moving into a place where to love and feel does not mean the sacrifice of personal health and safety.
Here, we step into a smart, new expression of Pisces, fully aware of the context of the times and of our context within them.
New Moons bring an opening into a new expression of the sign in which they fall. In the case of this New Moon at 2 degrees Pisces conjunct Neptune, which is just settling back in to the sign of the fishes, the opening is more vast than we can immediately comprehend. We're opening here into a new expression of Pisces for the astrological Aquarian era, closing the door, gently or with a slam and a deadbolt, on many prior expressions, many prior patterns, many prior karmic loops**.
The transit and retrograde of Mars through Virgo, moving to a mid-April opposition to this New Moon point and Neptune in Pisces, assist us in the process. We're picking through, analyzing, removing from the expression of the sign anything redundant, bloated, draining, past its prime. We apply the stinging Virgoan antiseptic, starting to create function in the sign of Pisces in areas where there has for too long been only dysfunction. We also apply the healing Piscean understanding of the way it all works together, of the ways it's shared, bringing new life to areas that have remained sorely isolated, neglected, outside the fold.
Wounded healer Chiron is here, and so is pain. A more in-depth treatment of this placement can be found here: Chiron, May We Pass? from February 18, 2011.
The intense levels of psychic pain held at this point in human history, collectively left denied and unvoiced, truly have the potential to do us in. The psychic backwash drops over us in waves, often without warning, threatening to drag us under. The homeless, the alcoholics, the addicts, the mentally ill, the depressed, the prostituted, the murdered, the missing are symbols of this unaddressed psychic pain and the resulting dysfunction, symptomatic of deeper roots. They've done all they can, said all they can, and still most don't see the connections.
It seeps into suburbia, into condo buildings, into schools and offices, and still people won't put their fingers on it.
Chiron transits Pisces until 2019. The first half of the Neptune transit through Pisces is coloured strongly by this body out in front in the sign.
"There is no easy answer, just as there was no easy answer for Chiron's wound. No magic pill makes it all better. We're past the point where concessions and tokenism soothe in any form. We don't want to be thrown another bone.
Until the underlying wounding dynamics are truly addressed, rectified, discontinued, no long-term healing is possible. We're just treating symptoms.
And the army of people bleating about victim consciousness and creating your own reality works very effectively, moving us further from the depth of understanding of power dynamics and structures on this planet that would get us to the true healing points. Every flippant use of those concepts is another pound of pressure pinning Sedna down, suffering in betrayal on the ocean floor."
Before forgiveness, we need to understand the underlying dynamics, give them name, give them voice, change them, ensure they don't continue.
Before healing, we need to get to the roots, working for complete systemic change rather than just anesthetizing, masking symptoms and calling it healing.
Before the victimization cycles can end, we need to understand why these damaging cycles have been held in place for so long and why they continue to be reinforced. Who benefits from them and who would prefer things go on just as they have? We don't get rid of "victims" until we alter the systems and dynamics that benefit from victimization, and that requires a shift from blaming people for their circumstances to a focus and analysis of the power dynamics on a socio-political level.
With Pallas Athene so prominent at this Pisces New Moon, there is a battle going on for our psychic space. A ferocious reclamation is necessary here, as we battle to remove the ropey, sinewy arms that invade and drain, diverting the power of the feminine psychic force with idiocy about appearance and weight and celebrities and money and status symbols and manufactured music and sports and how to find a mate in five easy steps.
The women of the world, in particular, have to call a spade a spade now, refusing to play the same, old, look-the-other-way games.
With this New Moon, we open into a new Piscean infusion. We come back to Pisces in certain ways, letting it seep again into our pores, letting it lift our eyes again to the glorious wonder of it all after a stretch of years (during the Uranus in Pisces - Neptune in Aquarius mutual reception) when the focus has been strongly on Aquarius and the shift to astrological Aquarian era.
For the past eight years, the focus has been intensely on the transition. What to leave behind with a soft, sweet kiss, what to battle our way out of tooth and nail, and what to carry ahead with us.
What do we carry forward, and what do we leave behind: this has been a difficult consideration. But Neptune has now slid beyond the last impressions of the mutual reception, entering new territory in Pisces by the end of this month, and we've made our choices. It has become clear - or clearer. We've moved through the grief, the confusion, the catatonia, and we're coming out the other side - because we have to. We're needed. We go on from here.
Neptune is in its own sign now, having left Aquarius February 3, and we open into this clear conduit for Piscean understanding, for the permeation of the wondrous spirit of it all, for the experience of the puzzle piece connections that show us how it fits together.
With this New Moon, we get our new Piscean sea legs. Pisces for the Aquarian era.
We don't forget. We don't deny. We don't sever from us all that has come before and all that is happening now. This would only increase the psychic struggle. We take the wonder and the pain and the difficulty and the beauty with us. But we don't carry it anymore as a hopeless burden, as endless, roiling suffering.
What has gone on, what has been done, is known. We know and feel what humanity, what all living things on this planet, have suffered, have endured. We know what we suffer and endure now. We move forward with it shared among us, no one isolated in its pain and difficulty. It's part of us.
But again now, we move this story forward.
** A karmic loop is a scenario that plays out in a person's life over and over again with only slightly different circumstances, spitting the person out repeatedly in close to the same spot with close to the same results. It's generally something that plays on weak spots or patterns, and after a loop has been spotted, work can be done to change behaviour/patterns/decisions in order to come up with a different outcome and hopefully break the cycle.
Karmic loops can be related to any astrological body or point, but at the end of the astrological Piscean era, there are many Piscean/Neptunian karmic loops to be broken, in particular. One thing that makes these loops tricky is that they often involve collective dynamics and patterns and their results. It's not strictly personal issues we're working through, and the collective issues are very, very potent and confounding at times since we can't root them solely back to ourselves.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
February 14: Venus-Ceres in Aries Make a Tense Juno Day Connection To Pluto. Unfinished Business? Baby, You Ain't Kiddin'
The lovely ladies of the zodiac are up front and centre in the chart for this February 14, Juno Day. This is a day for soul mate relationships of all kinds - not just the romantic ones - and an observation of the shit we all go through to complete our relational soul work together.Is there a greeting card out there with this sentiment? If not, there should be.
My parents were married 35 years ago today on February 12, 1977, and with synastry like: Sun square Sun, Mercury square Mercury, Venus square Venus, Juno square Venus, Mars-Saturn conjunct Sun, and Chiron conjunct South Node-Neptune, they're pretty much the poster couple for the underlying meaning of this day. (You'd expect nothing less to spawn such a lass as Willow, right?)
On this fair Juno Day 2012, Ceres - the asteroid related to the harvest and fertility of the earth, symbolized by a sickle - is in tight conjunction with love and relationship planet Venus, in detriment in Aries, and both bodies square Pluto in Capricorn. Feminine bodies Ceres and Venus joining forces in the sign of the warrior, squaring off with masculine body Pluto in the sign of hierarchy: the underlying battle rises to the occasion.
Ceres squares Pluto February 14; Venus squares Pluto February 15.
You'll recall that Ceres and Pluto have a long and brutal history between them involving kidnapping, rape, hell, and the utter destruction of life on the planet. Every time these two meet, especially in tense aspect, you can expect things to get a little frictional along the male-female, masculine-feminine lines. And in Aries and Capricorn, that might just be an understatement.
"Let's get real here, shall we?" Ceres purrs.
"We shall," drops Pluto.
Ceres and Pluto are now on astronomical equal footing, both having been scientifically re-classified as dwarf planets. Despite Ceres being far more down-played in the astrology of the day, they always have been equals. Their power - both for growth and generation/regeneration as well as for death and destruction - are evenly matched.
Ceres and Venus are flanked by Uranus in Aries and the true placement of Black Moon Lilith in Aries in this Juno Day chart, adding unpredictability and charge. The feminine is infused with raw, radical Uranian energy as well as on-the-edge, on-the-verge Black Moon Lilith, and Ceres, now included in modern astrological ephemerides with the other major bodies, leads the way.
The feminine, sensing Uranian freedom from previous forms in the air, exerts itself, forging ahead and stirring deep, structural unfinished business with the squares to Pluto in Capricorn. Some hot button male-female, masculine-feminine issues are being pushed to the surface, to say the least.
At the same time, quick temper and burning anger can trigger us to go too far - a distinct possibility with Black Moon Lilith involved in Aries - and this must be kept tightly in check to head off self-destruction. Anger acts as an instinctual guide and as impetus to action and self-exertion here, but it's the erratic warrior nature - dodging and weaving, ducking and moving, advancing then retreating, appearing then hiding, here and then not here - that keeps us safe within the battle and the rebellion from that which oppresses and snuffs out life. The fears of rejection and forced exile are founded ones when Black Moon Lilith is strong. We must ferociously rise to the occasion when it's required but just as quickly douse our flames.
Black Moon Lilith in Aries does lend her beautiful punk presence to the proceedings with the conjunction to Venus and Ceres on this February 14, but it's a loose conjunction, and she's not all that interested in getting involved. She's played this game before - and been played by it. For the most part, she's happy to do her thing from the outskirts of this one, and in Aries, so are all those fierce and independent who couldn't give a rat's ass about the expectations and manufactured importance of this day.
Still, this day for the sweethearts has been implanted pretty deeply in the collective psyche...
Squares abound in this Juno Day chart, meaning lots and lots of "growth opportunities." Don't we all just love those? Perfect for the day of the soul mate, but not so cool for those who like to keep their relations on the soft-lit, romantical side. There's tension beneath the lovey dovey.
With Neptune, Mercury, Pallas Athene, and Chiron conjunct in early Pisces, people are going to be giving it their all to keep the glossy, glowy Neptunian mirage of the Standard Romantic Love Relationship afloat. Illusions swirl as people fight to maintain Piscean era ideals about love, romance, and togetherness. A lot of these are on life support at this point, but they're still being played out and often quite sincerely.
Still, there is some Piscean magic to be had on this day.
Vesta in late Pisces opposes illusion-puncturing Mars in Virgo and says, "Hey, bud. No getting too nasty here. We don't want anyone falling down a black hole depression spiral from a too-severe love blinder removal."
But with Chiron edging the party, if not careful, people do set themselves up for disappointment.
Our celestial body of the day, soul mate asteroid Juno, squares the early Pisces party from telling-it-like-it-is Sagittarius and gains effect from the Sagittarius North Node. Juno square Neptune, Juno square Pallas Athene, Juno square Mercury, Juno square Chiron: on this Juno Day, the Piscean era love story cliches are straight-out played. The truth about love and relationship, much more attractive to Juno in Sadge, will prevail nicely, naughtily, or both.
The Moon in Scorpio squares the Aquarius Sun at mid-day on the 14th, and this is the friction between friendly detachment and airy, social, live-and-let-live on an outer level and an inner, emotional bottom line of "the same old bullshit ain't gonna fly." Emotions run deep here, and any crossed etheric lines related to lovers past can create major and potentially incendiary insult. With such caked-on collective love karma as this day has, those crossed lines are a major possibility. Be very careful to be fully present with the one in your life right now, body, mind, and psychic space. No replaying old scenes from Juno Days past with current loves.
The Moon leaves Scorpio for Sagittarius by 7 p.m. Central, just in time for things to get underway. The Moon moves to a warm and spicy conjunction to Juno by the wee hours of February 15, but also through those clashing squares to the bodies in Pisces.
The night leaves us with a warm, loved-up buzz, but only if we remain aware of how things are changing, staying ahead of the curve...
With so many frictional aspects involving the feminine bodies, this is not a day to mess with people's emotions. Anyone doing the Valentine's thing had better show up on time, well-dressed, probably with flowers, and it had best go off without a hitch. Mars in Virgo disposits love planet Venus, irritated in Aries, and the details matter. If you're going to do it, put in the effort to get it right.
If the current astro dynamics find you without the funds for entertainment (or the inclination to be an acquiescing consumer), the good thing about Mars in Virgo is that appreciation can be shown by anyone for anyone in inexpensive and practical ways: clean the house to a spotless shine, make a lovely dinner, offer a well-deserved massage, spend the evening in conversation without distraction. The simple things keep desires stoked, as long as we appreciate and acknowledge the offerings.
All in all, February 14 is a day that has seemingly been designed for people to build themselves up only to be let down. Maybe they eat more chocolate that way?
"The snub" is a Juno theme built right into the day, pricked the very first time we didn't get a Valentine from someone we hoped we would in elementary school. There has always been an underlying edge to this day, and it's made crystal clear under these particular astrological aspects.
There's a symbolism related to this day that by default makes a lot of people outside the confines of a relationship feel at least a little lonely and left out. (Or annoyed? Disgusted?) The possibilities for this are greater than usual under these cosmic energies unless people can puncture the illusions right from the get-go, refusing to be sucked into the tail-end Piscean era collective love undertow.
I have to say that with Saturn retrograde on the anaretic (29th) degree of Libra and the restructuring around love and relationship a prevailing theme, busting this particular day loose from its rigid, existing forms would be one mighty fine use of the astro energies.
Happy Juno Day 2012 to all you lovers and fighters out there, whether coupled up or flying solo. And Happy 35th Anniversary, Mum and Dad!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The Final Saturn Retrograde in Libra For 30 Years and Your Saturn in Libra Post-It Note from Willow
Saturn retrograde in Libra (29 degrees to 22 degrees) - February 7 to June 25, 2012
Saturn's last retrograde in Libra for 30 years will be testing all weak points in the sign of the scales over the next four+ months, going over territory we first entered in early November, 2011. Expect circumstances from around then, particularly regarding relationship, fairness, balance, and justice, to come up for resolution now, though this retrograde reaches back much further than that.
This is the final going over for the entire Saturn in Libra transit, which began in October 2009 and ends in October 2012, and it reaches back to relationship and relating issues from 1980-1983, 1950-1953, and 1921-1924. If we don't ace our Libra lessons now, we drag relational issues and weaknesses - mostly related to the astrological Piscean era - forward for the next 29 years. Chew on that one for a minute.
This retrograde station brings with it some dread, some fear, some pressure, some challenge, some difficulty, and some "looking back over it all" melancholy (all Saturnine things), especially as far as relating, relationships, and the structuring of our lives to include other people.
Holding our noses and taking our Saturn medicine now puts us in good position for upcoming cardinal Grand Crosses (more on that later in the article), but knowing that doesn't necessarily ease a mad case of the Saturnine dreads. Because of Saturn's almost exact trine to Neptune as it stations, there's some discouragement possible related to the disparity between where we hoped we would be at this point (Neptune) versus where we actually are (Saturn). However, if we accept and work with our limitations and challenges over this 4.5-month retrograde, we find ourselves in much stronger position in late June as Saturn turns direct and we experience the first of the seven exact Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn squares.
I've written quite a lot on Saturn in Libra and the upcoming retrograde, and I'll post some pertinent excerpts and links here. Hey, it's a retrograde. I'm bringing up old posts and previous efforts (Saturn). This will be new to some, and for those who've read it before, it can serve as a solid reminder. Consider this a Saturn in Libra Post-It note on your mirror from Willow.
From a previous post on the remaining leg of the Saturn in Libra transit November 21, 2011: Venus-Saturn Mutual Reception November 26 - December 20: Ants Get More Play Than Grasshoppers
"There's a solid groundwork that should have been built by now - new relational rules and standards, a heightened command of social responsibility, the ability to maintain equilibrium under pressure, as well as a new maturity in the tone of our relationships, especially between the sexes. At this point, people either have it or they don't...
This far into Saturn's transit of Libra, we start to see the social and professional results of having put this groundwork in. We also see the results of not having put it in, as well as the areas that contain hazardous holes and breaks in structure. This is especially apparent when we relate with those who have shirked the full effort. Under Saturn in Libra, we've determined who makes for a favourable partner and who doesn't, and now these standards must be applied across the board...
We're looking for long-term pay-off in relationship here and nothing less than that is worth the time or energy. Those who prove they cannot be responsible toward us, in relation to us, are not worth the time or energy. Only take on the responsibility toward others that feels absolutely right to take on, and don't give anyone a level of responsibility in relation to you that he or she is not meant (or equipped) to take on...
[I]t's a person with solid integrity, with some financial savvy, with a nose for legitimate advancement, with expertly handled personal responsibilities, and with the ability to dig in and get the job done even if it means deferring personal pleasures who is most attractive under these astro energies. [Saturn in Libra] is seeking partners with strong shoulders who bear their burdens well, partners who act their age (even older than their chronological age). [It's] seeking a partner who understands the full realities of life, including the difficult, sombre, or "unfun" aspects, who understood them early on, and who worked with them pretty much from the get-go rather than sloughing them off...
People who are obviously playing catch-up on this front are not going to hold as much appeal. We're looking for the results of long-term efforts - what a person has built and what progress has been made over the course of the lifetime. Charm is a quality with a decreasing amount of value the closer Saturn gets to Scorpio if it is not also attached to absolute integrity and authenticity. Those are the qualities that make bank under Saturn in Scorpio. People who have skated by on looks, charm, charisma, or social prowess and facade are going to find these qualities don't get them nearly as far as they used to. Playboys (or girls), those who refuse to grow up, the skittish, the cheaters, the fibbers, the non-committal, those who can't manage limitations, restrictions, or adult responsibilities - these people become less and less attractive."
Everyone will be feeling the Saturnine relating/relationship pressure to a certain extent, as we all have Libra somewhere in our natal charts, but this retrograde is particularly potent for those with strong natal placements in Libra. On a generational basis, this relates in particular to the Uranus in Libras (1968 - 1975), the Neptune in Libras (1942 - 1957), and the Pluto in Libras (1971 - 1984).
As mentioned, with sustained effort, the Saturnine squeeze on Libra puts us in good position for the upcoming cardinal Grand Crosses (2013-2014) when the personal planets in Libra will form, in waves, the fourth leg of the configuration. Having a firm, mature, responsible handle on the energy and themes of Libra - especially the slippery bits - will be of great benefit to us then, so grit your teeth and dig in now.
Cardinal Grand Crosses 2013-2014
A Grand Cross is a formation of four bodies within two oppositions (180-degree aspect) or four squares (90-degree aspect). All four bodies within the upcoming Grand Cross configurations are in cardinal signs, indicating the need for grand scale and dynamic new leadership, direction, and initiative within highly pressurized global circumstances. As the square is a tense, difficult, and frictional aspect, this configuration involves feelings of being boxed in from all angles, with the impetus to move in new directions coming from the tension of our circumstances on the planet.
The Grand Cross formed in the summer of 2010 that kicked things off was not a full cardinal Grand Cross because Saturn was in late Virgo, a mutable sign. I referred to it as a cardinal t-square.
The formations of the summer of 2011 were full cardinal Grand Crosses, involving Uranus in Aries, Saturn in Libra, Pluto in Capricorn, and the personal planets (Mercury, the Sun, Venus, and Mars) in Cancer.
The cardinal Grand Crosses that form from August to December, 2013 and in April, 2014 will involve Uranus in Aries, Pluto in Capricorn, Jupiter in Cancer, and the personal planets (Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and Mars) in Libra.
August 23-27, 2013 - Venus in Libra will move into place, forming the fourth leg of the cardinal Grand Cross.
September 14-20, 2013 - Mercury in Libra will pass through this territory, using a nine-degree orb.
October 1-13, 2013 - The Sun in Libra will trigger the cardinal Grand Cross using a ten-degree orb for aspects.
December 23, 2013 – January 1, 2014 - Mars in Libra moves into cardinal Grand Cross formation to close out 2013.
April 21-24, 2014 (exact) – Consider all prior cardinal Grand Crosses a dress rehearsal for this one. Mars Rx in Libra makes an exact cardinal Grand Cross configuration with Jupiter in Cancer, Uranus in Aries, and Pluto Rx in Capricorn all at Lucky 13 degrees of the cardinal signs. This formation strongly colours the Mars retrograde through Libra February 28 to May 19, 2014.
From a previous post:
"Aren’t you glad Saturn in Libra is drilling us on our maturity and responsibility with Libra themes right now? Weak points related to this sign’s energy would (and will) wreak major havoc within these future cardinal Grand Crosses. Going out of balance within the pressurized circumstances of this formation would require an immense amount of effort to put right. Under this type of tension, if one spring goes, they all go. This formation, especially the exact one April 21-24, 2014, will have a hugely polarizing effect socially with a tendency to move to extreme ends of the spectrum in relation to other people or groups.
Mars is in detriment in Libra and indicates a struggle to maintain any semblance of social diplomacy and human decency. It will take great effort (Mars) to maintain peace (Libra), especially in light of the groups gunning for another world war. Thirteen is a potent and highly symbolic number, and we can expect this formation to be used to trigger further symbolic events on the world stage. Learn your Libra lessons well between now and October 2012, and the foundation will be set as far as future success with these cardinal Grand Cross formations."
More articles on this Saturn retrograde in Libra:
January 16, 2012: Let's Just Say The Cosmos Isn't Going to Be Blowing Confetti Out Our Butts This Week
December 27, 2011: Saturn in Libra (Not Quite) Trine Neptune in Aquarius and Saturn Retrograde: Neptunian Relationship Fodder From the Anaretic Degrees
Friday, February 3, 2012
This Mind is Otherwise Occupied.
"The original idealism had been compromised by these homeless people. We lost the narrative."
- Kalle Lasn complaining that the homeless people stepped on the OWS buzz in Vanity Fair article "An Oral History of Occupy Wall Street" by Max Chafkin with additional reporting by Alexandra Beggs, Mark Guiducci, Jaime Lalinde, Elizabeth Nicholas, Rebecca Sacks and Kaitlin Sanders
The seed idea for Occupy Wall Street came from the Vancouver, British Columbia-based anti-consumer, anti-capitalist publication Adbusters, co-founded and edited by a man named Kalle Lasn.
Kalle Lasn is an advertising man, you see. A Pluto in Leo advertising man. He became disenchanted with the consumer capitalist version of advertising and decided to defect, starting a publication that advertised the counter-culture instead.
The glossy, edgy, hipster-cool version of counter-culture his publication advertises makes some good points. It works with certain layers of the situation, but that's just it: it works with layers, not roots, and layers that still put way too much emphasis on money and consumer goods and the existential crisis over whether we should or should not be buying these consumer goods. These are layers that come from the perspective of the materially-privileged classes.
Getting you to buy or getting you to not buy - it's pretty close to the same thing.
And for people without expendable income, it really isn't all that much of a dilemma.
When you get down to it, Adbusters is still a form of advertising-based reality-construction, using the underlying concepts of advertising and its visual panache to promote ideology. It keeps people's minds occupied with advertising and the versions of reality that advertising is promoting, even if those versions are of the stark, edgy, graphically-stimulating, anti-consumer variety.
I fully supported the people speaking out through Occupy Wall Street, but I wasn't able to put my personal energy into the movement, and I wasn't directed to cover it on the site. When I found out the seed idea came from Adbusters, I started to get a clearer understanding of why that might be.
The movement raises some very good, crucially pertinent issues. It got people together to talk about what's really going on in the world, outside the carefully-crafted versions coming from mainstream media. It made people feel that they were doing something about the corruption, and that's important. But it didn't have the depth I needed to see in order to get really excited about it or even all that interested in it. There was an organic element and a grassroots fire that were missing, and I didn't feel it had the roots to address the issues I needed to see being addressed.
It's an interesting movement and one that fully utilizes the organizational power of the internet, but it has to be kept in context. The intense use of media - alternative, mainstream, or both - has a tendency to skew things by hyping up the broader importance of an event.
We've been protesting these issues for decades now. The World Trade Organization protests, including at the Battle in Seattle in 1999. The Free Trade Area of the Americas protests. The IMF. The G-8. The G-20. And on and on. Millions of people have protested worldwide. People know the score.
- Kalle Lasn complaining that the homeless people stepped on the OWS buzz in Vanity Fair article "An Oral History of Occupy Wall Street" by Max Chafkin with additional reporting by Alexandra Beggs, Mark Guiducci, Jaime Lalinde, Elizabeth Nicholas, Rebecca Sacks and Kaitlin Sanders
The seed idea for Occupy Wall Street came from the Vancouver, British Columbia-based anti-consumer, anti-capitalist publication Adbusters, co-founded and edited by a man named Kalle Lasn.
Kalle Lasn is an advertising man, you see. A Pluto in Leo advertising man. He became disenchanted with the consumer capitalist version of advertising and decided to defect, starting a publication that advertised the counter-culture instead.
The glossy, edgy, hipster-cool version of counter-culture his publication advertises makes some good points. It works with certain layers of the situation, but that's just it: it works with layers, not roots, and layers that still put way too much emphasis on money and consumer goods and the existential crisis over whether we should or should not be buying these consumer goods. These are layers that come from the perspective of the materially-privileged classes.
Getting you to buy or getting you to not buy - it's pretty close to the same thing.
And for people without expendable income, it really isn't all that much of a dilemma.
When you get down to it, Adbusters is still a form of advertising-based reality-construction, using the underlying concepts of advertising and its visual panache to promote ideology. It keeps people's minds occupied with advertising and the versions of reality that advertising is promoting, even if those versions are of the stark, edgy, graphically-stimulating, anti-consumer variety.
I fully supported the people speaking out through Occupy Wall Street, but I wasn't able to put my personal energy into the movement, and I wasn't directed to cover it on the site. When I found out the seed idea came from Adbusters, I started to get a clearer understanding of why that might be.
The movement raises some very good, crucially pertinent issues. It got people together to talk about what's really going on in the world, outside the carefully-crafted versions coming from mainstream media. It made people feel that they were doing something about the corruption, and that's important. But it didn't have the depth I needed to see in order to get really excited about it or even all that interested in it. There was an organic element and a grassroots fire that were missing, and I didn't feel it had the roots to address the issues I needed to see being addressed.
It's an interesting movement and one that fully utilizes the organizational power of the internet, but it has to be kept in context. The intense use of media - alternative, mainstream, or both - has a tendency to skew things by hyping up the broader importance of an event.
We've been protesting these issues for decades now. The World Trade Organization protests, including at the Battle in Seattle in 1999. The Free Trade Area of the Americas protests. The IMF. The G-8. The G-20. And on and on. Millions of people have protested worldwide. People know the score.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Saturn Stationing Rx on 29 Libra Trine Neptune and Talking to Ghosts
Using women, treating them badly, treating them as if they don't matter, and then making it all part of your "process." Waxing poetic about all the self-understanding and the peeling of layers and the healing you're doing as a result.
Well, good for you, buddy.
The fact remains that you treat women badly. And it doesn't matter if it stems from Mommy's early rejection, from an ex unceremoniously ditching your ass, or from some sort of genetically-wired inclination to misogyny in the 20th century male. You treat women badly.
Being as "self-actualized" and "enlightened" as you claim, you should understand that this is one of the most selfish and cad-like ways to relate to another person. It's detrimental to any type of real relating and mutuality because you aren't interacting with the person. You're interacting with your own baggage, using that person to "get in touch" with it.
It isn't all about you and your "process." Get it?
You used me and them as a port in the storm, to strengthen yourself as you steamrolled forward, doing the damage you do. You've stolen my time and energy and the time and energy of other women with no intention of reciprocation or restitution. And you left a whole bunch of your shit behind for us to deal with and clean up.
It's like a revolving door, right? That's what you said. One woman exits and there's another one waiting, at the snap of your fingers.
Lucky women.
And again you're talking about forgiveness. Whatever that means in your world. And again, it's all about what WE can do for YOU. How we can let you and males like you off the hook before you've even scratched the surface of your energetic irresponsibility. How we can make it all better for YOU, allowing you to continue your misogynistic merry-go-round. Allowing you to be hero-worshipped for a style-over-substance that never even gets close to the truth or the reality of anything.
New Age men. Fucking Christ, you know?
Luckily, it isn't up to me. It's in Saturn's hands now, and whatever isn't held accountable in Libra surely will be in Scorpio.
Well, good for you, buddy.
The fact remains that you treat women badly. And it doesn't matter if it stems from Mommy's early rejection, from an ex unceremoniously ditching your ass, or from some sort of genetically-wired inclination to misogyny in the 20th century male. You treat women badly.
Being as "self-actualized" and "enlightened" as you claim, you should understand that this is one of the most selfish and cad-like ways to relate to another person. It's detrimental to any type of real relating and mutuality because you aren't interacting with the person. You're interacting with your own baggage, using that person to "get in touch" with it.
It isn't all about you and your "process." Get it?
You used me and them as a port in the storm, to strengthen yourself as you steamrolled forward, doing the damage you do. You've stolen my time and energy and the time and energy of other women with no intention of reciprocation or restitution. And you left a whole bunch of your shit behind for us to deal with and clean up.
It's like a revolving door, right? That's what you said. One woman exits and there's another one waiting, at the snap of your fingers.
Lucky women.
And again you're talking about forgiveness. Whatever that means in your world. And again, it's all about what WE can do for YOU. How we can let you and males like you off the hook before you've even scratched the surface of your energetic irresponsibility. How we can make it all better for YOU, allowing you to continue your misogynistic merry-go-round. Allowing you to be hero-worshipped for a style-over-substance that never even gets close to the truth or the reality of anything.
New Age men. Fucking Christ, you know?
Luckily, it isn't up to me. It's in Saturn's hands now, and whatever isn't held accountable in Libra surely will be in Scorpio.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Pluto in Virgos Take Position and Pluto Square Pluto for the Pluto in Libra Generation
New Catalytic Position for the Pluto in Virgos
Throughout 2012, potent transits are placing members of the Pluto in Virgo generation in new catalytic position as the Transition Team out of the structural set-ups currently held in place by Pluto in Leos (born 1937 to 1957), now entering retirement and semi-retirement.
Certain members of the Pluto in Virgo generation are working, literally, to change (Pluto) the system (Virgo). Others are doing their damnedest to support and lock down more of the same male-dominated hierarchy and illegitimacy in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
Recall that there is a whole crop of current Global Governors with natal Pluto in Virgo (born 1956 to 1972), with many more clamouring to rise within the ranks, and they all have their prudent and practical plans (always involving many, many sacrificial lambs) out of the chaos we so conveniently find ourselves in.
Members of the Pluto in Virgo generation are responsible, in part, for analyzing and addressing deep, systemic dysfunction. Virgo is a sign with a highly-sensitive responsiveness, and it generally requires the same in return. As we are currently working within Pluto in Capricorn structures almost entirely unresponsive and non-adaptive to input, the difficulties for this generation are clearly apparent.
The Pluto in Virgos who would like to see a free humanity and improved living conditions on this planet will work to create new systems, transforming human work out of current variations of drudgery, slavery, toxicity, and eroding inhumanity and into something meaningful, integrated, and healthful. The true transformative power (Pluto) of the workers (Virgo) comes to the forefront with this generation.
True-to-the-core members of this generation are assigned the task of applying holistic principles to our ways of doing things, especially in work and business. A tall order. They have the immense job of bringing the lofty, often theoretical, and mostly dissipated (or at least latent) ideals of the 1960s into concrete, practical, functioning reality, and if any generation has the specialized skills to do this, it's Pluto in Virgo.
As stated, individuals and groups from this generation will be embedded in new catalytic position within the systems beginning this year - or within systems of their own creation. However, as is always the case with Pluto, only a rare few will go as deep as is truly necessary, penetrating to the core of the dysfunction and dishonesty, rather than wasting time and effort on more superficial, diversionary layers.
The Pluto in Virgos work the Virgo-Pisces polarity, and the efforts of a good many will, unfortunately, be swallowed by a sea of Piscean distraction, illusion, and dead ends as Neptune in Pisces opposes their natal Plutos over the next 14 years.
Many will squander their effectiveness by working to reform around the edges systems and structures that need to be completely gutted and reworked. Others will focus on perfecting their personal lives from privileged positions with little progress made as far as broader, sociological understanding and change. Many will refuse to deepen a real transition out of the current structural set-ups, continuing to wield power and control in similar ways and reinforcing the same pyramid schemes with, again, small reforms around the edges.
Many more will remain caught up in the New Age paradigm - or whatever they decide to call it now - erroneously believing they are working for real change, when, in fact, they are reinforcing and feeding energy into more of the same meaningless and illegitimate hierarchical control.
There's still a lot of guru-itis in this generation - it's just a little more on the down low than the Pluto in Leo version.
A rare few, though, will really get the job done, applying soul-directed, life-supporting efforts with laser-like precision and efficacy and peeling away the detritus keeping things dysfunctional. These are the real movers and shakers of the Pluto in Virgo generation. These Pluto in Virgos are not going to fall back on the quick fix of slash-and-burn sacrificial lambs, preached by their less skillful members. No mass kill-offs are required to put their plans into action.
It's always so nice and clean to just sever the problematic issues/people from the scene altogether, isn't it? Creating your own little "enlightened" bubble realities from positions of social privilege. It reminds me of the sentiment that arose that "Occupy Wall Street was so fun and rosy and ideal until all those yucky, mentally ill homeless people started showing up and mucking it up."
(Reality check, assholes. It's about more than your ideals and your amputated version of "community." Those mentally ill homeless people have the most to be upset about as far as your cause goes. Your scope should have widened to include them, rather than making them pesky irritations that ruined your good time.)
With Neptune in Pisces opposing the natal Pluto in Virgos over the next 14 years, missing the point altogether will be a common theme. A sanitized and superficial version of reality, including only those aspects considered manageable, will be put forth regularly.
It's only the rare few Pluto in Virgos who will refuse that superficiality and really work with what's before them. These people understand the real meaning of Pisces and put it into action. They get that every piece matters, that nothing and no one is expendable, and that a plan that doesn't work with every bit of it is a pretty poor plan, indeed.
For a long while, masses of people have understood that something is fundamentally wrong - many somethings. They just didn't know what to do about it. With the potent "fixer solver" Pluto in Virgos gaining influence, gears start turning and grand-scale practical avenues start opening. Solutions can start to become accessible en masse, rather than to the specialized and privileged few.
Pluto Square Pluto for the Pluto in Libra Generation
With Pluto transiting Capricorn, the Pluto in Libra generation (born 1972 to 1984) is experiencing transiting Pluto in Capricorn square natal Pluto in Libra at various times from 2008 to 2024.
All Pluto generations experience this Pluto square Pluto transit. The Pluto in Virgo generation was the last to experience it as Pluto transited Sagittarius (1995 - 2008). The Pluto in Leos experienced it as Pluto transited Scorpio (1983 - 1995), and the Pluto in Cancers experienced it as Pluto transited Libra (1971 - 1983).
An interesting point about the current crop of people on the planet, written about by astrologer Erin Sullivan, is that the Pluto in Leo through Pluto in Sagittarius generations experience this transiting square at a younger age than both previous generations and generations yet to come.
Our feet are being held to the Plutonic alchemical fire in our late 30s to late 40s, whereas other Pluto generations both past and future experience it in their late 50s to early 90s.
As the Pluto in Virgos move into new position this year, individuals from the Pluto in Libra generation will be coming to the table to catalyze a new social structure, bringing their own special brand of social justice, which, with Pluto in the sign of relationship, is not always a socially pleasant brand.
With the cardinal Grand Crosses (2011-2014) along with the ongoing square series between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn (2012 - 2015) occurring at the time of their Pluto square Pluto transit, members of the Pluto in Libras - responsible, in part, for transformation into right human relations - are propelled into new social leadership capacity. From September 18, 2011: New Social Authority For the Pluto in Libra Generation and Blazing the Plutonic Trail Through Relationship Constructs Past
Certain members of the Pluto in Libra generation will be placed quite immediately within new positions of long-term influence and social authority - both legitimate and illegitimate.
Again, Pluto can be used to move into legitimate forms of power but it can just as easily, probably more easily, be used to reinforce and continue the current violent, coercive, inhumane, and unjust forms. Pluto is both liberator and oppressor.
Many Pluto in Libras, as with those in generations both preceding and following, will take their places within the current illegitimacy, reinforcing a social structure and forms of leadership that maintain the power of the dominant paradigm.
The Charming and Bullshitty Politico/Celebrity Type with gleaming, bleached-and-bonded teeth will be played to a fine art within the Pluto in Libra generation by both men and women. And there will be a new focus: the Charming and Bullshitty Politico/Celebrity Couple. We'll be getting double teamed on the charm and bullshit front. A false egalitarian Aquarian facade mixed with potent Pluto in Libra social literacy will be used to maintain a smoothly-functioning status quo while the real issues remain seething, unaddressed and unresolved, underneath.
Social prowess, attractiveness, popularity, and connections will be primary weapons of control. The ability to create and drive obsessive social trends, tapping into Aquarian era technological and virtual reality desires, will continue as a major source of social engineering power over the masses. The use of beauty to enchant, entrance, manipulate, and dominate will go to extremes. New allegiances and alliances, making for shiny photo ops, will sustain oppressive and regressive regimes of all levels. Flash, flash, flash go the cameras, creating false memories, false history, a very pretty and touching manufactured reality of important moments, indeed.
Those fighting for real relational change and justice have their work cut out for them, as usual.
The Pluto square Pluto aspect forces a deep examination and unearthing of layered power dynamics, particularly generational power dynamics. This includes the power other Pluto generations hold, as the Pluto in Libras determine legitimate power from illegitimate and natural skill and leadership from authoritarian hogwash. A new balance and sharing (Libra) of power (Pluto) emerges with this generation, for good or ill.
Pluto square Pluto is a tense, frictional aspect that will eventually make the cardinal Pluto in Libras stronger leaders, more concentrated in their own power and influence, by forcing confrontations with the current Pluto in Capricorn power dynamics and structures.
Throughout the Pluto in Capricorn transit, the Pluto in Libras will come to a deeper understanding of the source of their own personal power, connected to broader, generational impetus, as well as the sources of their motivations and the motivations of others. Certain people, places, emotions, psychological states, or ideas, particularly relationship-related, that hold a disproportionate amount of power over the Pluto in Libras will be examined. In many cases, the hold over them will be broken, though this can create terror.
As this aspect happens around mid-life, it leads to the realization (for those still unaware) of how short a human life on this planet really is, which can give individuals the courage to take on new areas of authority, power, and leadership in these times of crisis. Death is examined and any fear of it can be confronted through this transit, which can result in an often dramatic reorientation of personal lives, directions, and goals.
Personal Plutonic crises compel various examinations and confrontations.
Until the Pluto in Capricorn children come of age, the Pluto in Libras will be the only cardinal (initiation, new direction) Pluto generation in the works. Many Pluto in Libras will work through a fear of their own authority within new positions of social leadership throughout this transit. Libra is a sign that often prefers to defer to others, but with Pluto in Libra forcing the strong development of the Aries polarity point (transited by Uranus in Aries for the next seven years), sitting back and deferring to others can be catastrophic both personally and collectively.
These transits will force often fence-sitting Libra to choose, once and for all, which direction it is taking as we move fully into a new astrological era. The Pluto in Libras will be brought to a point where to refuse new positions of power in their own lives and societies, within their generation, is death to the soul.
The successful use of the Pluto square Pluto transit means taking on a new and powerful role in a position of vital influence or forever being under the thumb of others who have.
Throughout 2012, potent transits are placing members of the Pluto in Virgo generation in new catalytic position as the Transition Team out of the structural set-ups currently held in place by Pluto in Leos (born 1937 to 1957), now entering retirement and semi-retirement.
Certain members of the Pluto in Virgo generation are working, literally, to change (Pluto) the system (Virgo). Others are doing their damnedest to support and lock down more of the same male-dominated hierarchy and illegitimacy in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
Recall that there is a whole crop of current Global Governors with natal Pluto in Virgo (born 1956 to 1972), with many more clamouring to rise within the ranks, and they all have their prudent and practical plans (always involving many, many sacrificial lambs) out of the chaos we so conveniently find ourselves in.
Members of the Pluto in Virgo generation are responsible, in part, for analyzing and addressing deep, systemic dysfunction. Virgo is a sign with a highly-sensitive responsiveness, and it generally requires the same in return. As we are currently working within Pluto in Capricorn structures almost entirely unresponsive and non-adaptive to input, the difficulties for this generation are clearly apparent.
The Pluto in Virgos who would like to see a free humanity and improved living conditions on this planet will work to create new systems, transforming human work out of current variations of drudgery, slavery, toxicity, and eroding inhumanity and into something meaningful, integrated, and healthful. The true transformative power (Pluto) of the workers (Virgo) comes to the forefront with this generation.
True-to-the-core members of this generation are assigned the task of applying holistic principles to our ways of doing things, especially in work and business. A tall order. They have the immense job of bringing the lofty, often theoretical, and mostly dissipated (or at least latent) ideals of the 1960s into concrete, practical, functioning reality, and if any generation has the specialized skills to do this, it's Pluto in Virgo.
As stated, individuals and groups from this generation will be embedded in new catalytic position within the systems beginning this year - or within systems of their own creation. However, as is always the case with Pluto, only a rare few will go as deep as is truly necessary, penetrating to the core of the dysfunction and dishonesty, rather than wasting time and effort on more superficial, diversionary layers.
The Pluto in Virgos work the Virgo-Pisces polarity, and the efforts of a good many will, unfortunately, be swallowed by a sea of Piscean distraction, illusion, and dead ends as Neptune in Pisces opposes their natal Plutos over the next 14 years.
Many will squander their effectiveness by working to reform around the edges systems and structures that need to be completely gutted and reworked. Others will focus on perfecting their personal lives from privileged positions with little progress made as far as broader, sociological understanding and change. Many will refuse to deepen a real transition out of the current structural set-ups, continuing to wield power and control in similar ways and reinforcing the same pyramid schemes with, again, small reforms around the edges.
Many more will remain caught up in the New Age paradigm - or whatever they decide to call it now - erroneously believing they are working for real change, when, in fact, they are reinforcing and feeding energy into more of the same meaningless and illegitimate hierarchical control.
There's still a lot of guru-itis in this generation - it's just a little more on the down low than the Pluto in Leo version.
A rare few, though, will really get the job done, applying soul-directed, life-supporting efforts with laser-like precision and efficacy and peeling away the detritus keeping things dysfunctional. These are the real movers and shakers of the Pluto in Virgo generation. These Pluto in Virgos are not going to fall back on the quick fix of slash-and-burn sacrificial lambs, preached by their less skillful members. No mass kill-offs are required to put their plans into action.
It's always so nice and clean to just sever the problematic issues/people from the scene altogether, isn't it? Creating your own little "enlightened" bubble realities from positions of social privilege. It reminds me of the sentiment that arose that "Occupy Wall Street was so fun and rosy and ideal until all those yucky, mentally ill homeless people started showing up and mucking it up."
(Reality check, assholes. It's about more than your ideals and your amputated version of "community." Those mentally ill homeless people have the most to be upset about as far as your cause goes. Your scope should have widened to include them, rather than making them pesky irritations that ruined your good time.)
With Neptune in Pisces opposing the natal Pluto in Virgos over the next 14 years, missing the point altogether will be a common theme. A sanitized and superficial version of reality, including only those aspects considered manageable, will be put forth regularly.
It's only the rare few Pluto in Virgos who will refuse that superficiality and really work with what's before them. These people understand the real meaning of Pisces and put it into action. They get that every piece matters, that nothing and no one is expendable, and that a plan that doesn't work with every bit of it is a pretty poor plan, indeed.
For a long while, masses of people have understood that something is fundamentally wrong - many somethings. They just didn't know what to do about it. With the potent "fixer solver" Pluto in Virgos gaining influence, gears start turning and grand-scale practical avenues start opening. Solutions can start to become accessible en masse, rather than to the specialized and privileged few.
Pluto Square Pluto for the Pluto in Libra Generation
With Pluto transiting Capricorn, the Pluto in Libra generation (born 1972 to 1984) is experiencing transiting Pluto in Capricorn square natal Pluto in Libra at various times from 2008 to 2024.
All Pluto generations experience this Pluto square Pluto transit. The Pluto in Virgo generation was the last to experience it as Pluto transited Sagittarius (1995 - 2008). The Pluto in Leos experienced it as Pluto transited Scorpio (1983 - 1995), and the Pluto in Cancers experienced it as Pluto transited Libra (1971 - 1983).
An interesting point about the current crop of people on the planet, written about by astrologer Erin Sullivan, is that the Pluto in Leo through Pluto in Sagittarius generations experience this transiting square at a younger age than both previous generations and generations yet to come.
Our feet are being held to the Plutonic alchemical fire in our late 30s to late 40s, whereas other Pluto generations both past and future experience it in their late 50s to early 90s.
As the Pluto in Virgos move into new position this year, individuals from the Pluto in Libra generation will be coming to the table to catalyze a new social structure, bringing their own special brand of social justice, which, with Pluto in the sign of relationship, is not always a socially pleasant brand.
With the cardinal Grand Crosses (2011-2014) along with the ongoing square series between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn (2012 - 2015) occurring at the time of their Pluto square Pluto transit, members of the Pluto in Libras - responsible, in part, for transformation into right human relations - are propelled into new social leadership capacity. From September 18, 2011: New Social Authority For the Pluto in Libra Generation and Blazing the Plutonic Trail Through Relationship Constructs Past
Certain members of the Pluto in Libra generation will be placed quite immediately within new positions of long-term influence and social authority - both legitimate and illegitimate.
Again, Pluto can be used to move into legitimate forms of power but it can just as easily, probably more easily, be used to reinforce and continue the current violent, coercive, inhumane, and unjust forms. Pluto is both liberator and oppressor.
Many Pluto in Libras, as with those in generations both preceding and following, will take their places within the current illegitimacy, reinforcing a social structure and forms of leadership that maintain the power of the dominant paradigm.
The Charming and Bullshitty Politico/Celebrity Type with gleaming, bleached-and-bonded teeth will be played to a fine art within the Pluto in Libra generation by both men and women. And there will be a new focus: the Charming and Bullshitty Politico/Celebrity Couple. We'll be getting double teamed on the charm and bullshit front. A false egalitarian Aquarian facade mixed with potent Pluto in Libra social literacy will be used to maintain a smoothly-functioning status quo while the real issues remain seething, unaddressed and unresolved, underneath.
Social prowess, attractiveness, popularity, and connections will be primary weapons of control. The ability to create and drive obsessive social trends, tapping into Aquarian era technological and virtual reality desires, will continue as a major source of social engineering power over the masses. The use of beauty to enchant, entrance, manipulate, and dominate will go to extremes. New allegiances and alliances, making for shiny photo ops, will sustain oppressive and regressive regimes of all levels. Flash, flash, flash go the cameras, creating false memories, false history, a very pretty and touching manufactured reality of important moments, indeed.
Those fighting for real relational change and justice have their work cut out for them, as usual.
The Pluto square Pluto aspect forces a deep examination and unearthing of layered power dynamics, particularly generational power dynamics. This includes the power other Pluto generations hold, as the Pluto in Libras determine legitimate power from illegitimate and natural skill and leadership from authoritarian hogwash. A new balance and sharing (Libra) of power (Pluto) emerges with this generation, for good or ill.
Pluto square Pluto is a tense, frictional aspect that will eventually make the cardinal Pluto in Libras stronger leaders, more concentrated in their own power and influence, by forcing confrontations with the current Pluto in Capricorn power dynamics and structures.
Throughout the Pluto in Capricorn transit, the Pluto in Libras will come to a deeper understanding of the source of their own personal power, connected to broader, generational impetus, as well as the sources of their motivations and the motivations of others. Certain people, places, emotions, psychological states, or ideas, particularly relationship-related, that hold a disproportionate amount of power over the Pluto in Libras will be examined. In many cases, the hold over them will be broken, though this can create terror.
As this aspect happens around mid-life, it leads to the realization (for those still unaware) of how short a human life on this planet really is, which can give individuals the courage to take on new areas of authority, power, and leadership in these times of crisis. Death is examined and any fear of it can be confronted through this transit, which can result in an often dramatic reorientation of personal lives, directions, and goals.
Personal Plutonic crises compel various examinations and confrontations.
Until the Pluto in Capricorn children come of age, the Pluto in Libras will be the only cardinal (initiation, new direction) Pluto generation in the works. Many Pluto in Libras will work through a fear of their own authority within new positions of social leadership throughout this transit. Libra is a sign that often prefers to defer to others, but with Pluto in Libra forcing the strong development of the Aries polarity point (transited by Uranus in Aries for the next seven years), sitting back and deferring to others can be catastrophic both personally and collectively.
These transits will force often fence-sitting Libra to choose, once and for all, which direction it is taking as we move fully into a new astrological era. The Pluto in Libras will be brought to a point where to refuse new positions of power in their own lives and societies, within their generation, is death to the soul.
The successful use of the Pluto square Pluto transit means taking on a new and powerful role in a position of vital influence or forever being under the thumb of others who have.
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