Monday, May 15, 2017

Mercury and Venus Simultaneously Move Into Fresh Territory

 Photos: Willow

There are a few notable astrological events occurring as we close out Taurus season that indicate a push into fresh new territory as the Sun enters chatty and changeable Gemini on May 20.

After reflecting, reviewing, and regurgitating for the past few months, this move into a new chapter is quite welcome.

Mercury and Venus leave their retrograde shadows almost simultaneously this week, just as Saturn in Sagittarius retrogrades into its second exact trine aspect to Uranus in Aries.

Love, money, and values planet Venus crosses out of the retrograde shadow at 13 degrees Aries on May 18. This officially puts Venus Retrograde 2017 (March 4 to April 15 from 13 degrees Aries to 26 degrees Pisces) in our rear view mirrors. This movement of Venus indicates a surge into fresh territory, an opening into new experiences in the realms of love, relationship, social life, money, self-esteem, aesthetic, and art. We have hopefully had more healing experiences than wounding ones coming out of the Venus direct station conjunct wounded healer Chiron in Pisces on April 15, 2017. Now, we have a chance to put our "relationship reviews" into active practise. The ghosts of relationships past are ready to be released. It's time to move on - together or on our own. Either is good, as long as we're moving in the right direction. There is a sense that we are embarking on the next social and relational chapter, putting certain people, situations, and relationship dynamics behind us while others simply change form. There is just a moment being allowed for the bittersweetness of this experience before we are propelled into action, dynamism, and forward-ho movement.

This movement will be especially observable in money matters, with self-esteem/self-worth, and in relationship realms (that always-juicy Venus domain). This heats up further as Venus in Aries activates a cardinal t-square formation, initiating new directions in relationships and social dynamics of all kinds. Venus in Aries will form an opposition to Jupiter Rx in Libra (May 19 at 13 degrees), a square to Pluto in Capricorn (May 25 at 19 degrees), and a conjunction to Uranus in Aries (June 3 at 27 degrees). We must cling to the wisdom we have gathered during the Jupiter in Libra transit about which relationship dynamics must now end and which will propel us forward into new and beneficial mutuality.

Venus in Aries will also form a lovely trine aspect to Saturn in Sagittarius on June 1 (25 degrees), indicating a solidification and shoring up of our wise new tactics in relationships and social realms.

The very same day that Venus exits the retrograde shadow, May 18, Saturn Rx in Sagittarius forms a second flowing and congenial trine aspect to Uranus in Aries. (The first occurred in December 2016; the final will occur in November 2017.) This is the force of conservatism, stability, and prudence coming into mutually supportive contact with the force of upheaval, sudden change, and the avant garde. This indicates the possibility for a nice, structured move into the future, into new ways of doing things and new ways of being, with surprisingly few frictional moments. It's just time.  

Communication and intelligence planet Mercury enters Taurus tonight (9:07 p.m. PDT) and crosses out of the retrograde shadow at 4 degrees on May 20. Mercury was retrograde April 9 to May 3 from 4 degrees Taurus to 24 degrees Aries, and we have been in an extended Mercury-Uranus conjunction since late March 2017. Words and communication have been a little too hot to handle at times. We've been in a bit of a mental burn-out zone under this lengthy conjunction, but Mercury moving into new degrees of Taurus indicates that we can now shift our mindsets to simpler and more grounded concerns, moving out of the heightened buzz and zing and zap of the electric-Uranian force field that has been so influential over our mental environments. Although transiting Mercury in Taurus indicates the possibility of some hard work and strategic planning ahead, to think about simpler and more material concerns comes as a relief after the "genius overload" of the lengthy Mercury-Uranus conjunction.

With Mercury moving into new territory May 20 and almost immediately moving out of reach of Uranus (by May 22), we can expect exchanges and connections that ground us in material reality, right where we stand. Things take on a more earthy and even laconic tone. (This is the winged messenger in the sign of the farmer, after all.) This shift can have a calming effect on our mental circuitry. As Mercury moves onto new ground, we may have conversations that were delayed previously. We may have realizations or pick up pieces of information that anchor us in a stronger way into our here-and-now reality. There is a very practical, "sorting things through" mindset at play. We may be talking money matters, farming/gardening/agriculture, values, or beauty, but whatever the topic of conversation, with Mercury in Taurus until June 6, it will be "real world"-oriented. 

The Sun enters Gemini May 20, as well (1:31 p.m.), and we're ready for new ideas, new thoughts, new conversations, and new connections - as long as they're grounded and earthy (dispositor Mercury in Taurus), rather than flighty and pie-in-the-sky.

Overall, the period between May 18 and 20 has some strong momentum that propels us into new mindsets and new relational dynamics. A page is turning, and things are moving forward in a nice, grounded sort of way. (As grounded as it gets in this foul year of our Lord two thousand and seventeen, anyway...)

Keep your eyes on what's ahead, and allow any concluding events from the Mercury and Venus retrogrades to unfold according to their own natural timing.

Monday, May 8, 2017

A Full Moon in Scorpio Catalyzes Deep Emotional Movement

The Full Moon at 20 degrees Scorpio on May 10 (2:42 p.m. PDT) pushes us to a point of emotional catharsis and purge, illuminating dark and neglected corners within the inner landscape. 

There's movement here, potentially uncomfortable, within these inner landscapes. It may be movement that has been a long time coming, movement that can no longer be held back. Things are being pushed to an internal catalytic point. Emotional earth is being turned over, and there will be no going back once we come into the full awareness being gifted to us (sometimes painfully) under this Full Moon. 

Wherever Scorpio lives in your birth chart - that's the area where this awareness is being gifted to you.

This Full Moon may coincide with events that validate your feelings and intuition at a deep level.

Secrets may be exposed, and the use of shared resources (particularly family resources) may be a theme.

Scorpio is a sign symbolized by both the scorpion and the eagle. It knows the highest of highs and the lowest of lows of this Earth experience. It also knows these experiences cannot be separated. They are yin and yang, day and night, earth and sky. They're all part and parcel.

Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment under the Scorpio Full Moon.

A large number of leopard sharks are currently washing up dead along the San Francisco Bay, part of the ongoing collapse of the Pacific Ocean ecosystem following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. The sharks are dying from a hemorrhaging brain infection - hemorrhaging is a common side effect of poisoning from radioactivity, as are compromised immune systems which allow for increased infections.

Because this particular die-off  is occurring in a highly-populated area (San Francisco) and the animals involved are large and dramatic (sharks), it is receiving a little bit of media attention, though with the Mars in Gemini-Neptune in Pisces square, the real cause will most likely remain foggy and obscured within media channels...

We have also had an unusual winter in most of Canada - almost constant cloudiness and a much higher level of precipitation than usual in many areas. On the rare sunny days, you will almost certainly see what has now become a familiar sight - planes spraying chemtrails through the sky. Within minutes, the trails spread out into cloudy wisps. Within 24 hours, there is generally a thick blanket of flat, grey cloud cover, often including precipitation.

The inner discomfort under this Scorpio Full Moon is building toward a release from old and crystallized emotional burdens ready now to be liberated. Don't push it down. Don't push it away. Sink down into the discomfort and read what it's trying to tell you. You already know. Just let it come to the surface as the Moon's rays grow bright in the night sky.

This is a Moon for examining the trade-offs we make in our lives, as well as determining if these trade-offs are still worth it to us. This is a Moon for examining the energy expenditures we make (especially of an emotional/supportive nature), determining if those remain a wise investment.

This is a Moon for illuminating and then stepping past detrimental compulsions, jealousies, patterns, and addictions. It's a Moon that will illuminate the roots of our behaviours, particularly any dysfunctional (and ultimately fruitless) ways in which we try to get our needs met. These behavioural roots may stem from childhood or from family/ancestral patterns (Moon).

This Moon will illuminate compulsiveness so that we can break its hold.

This Moon will help us to differentiate between needs and fears - a critical distinction to get clear on ahead of Jupiter entering Scorpio for a year on October 10, 2017. This includes ancestral fears hard-wired into us that may be controlling us in detrimental ways in our present moment.

Not the easiest of emotional territory - Scorpio is the sign of the Moon's detriment, after all - but ultimately rich and productive territory if we can find the courage to take action.

The Moon enters Scorpio tonight (10:00 p.m.), and things start to move and shift beneath it all. We're under the strongest effects from the Scorpio Full Moon on May 9 and 10, just as the North Node enters Leo and Mercury forms an exact conjunction to Uranus in Aries. Pressure, fullness, emotional unease.

Understand the state of uncomfortable emotional/psychological fullness that we are all being brought through via this Full Moon. Understand how "at the brink" certain people and situations are at this point, especially if they have been clinging to the security blanket of denial regarding the state of things. Understand how difficult it is to go on denying the underlying realities under the exposing rays of this Scorpio Full Moon, and understand that people will be having issues because of this. Allow room for some hard-edged emotions to surface under this Moon. Allow room for a certain level of emotional and psychological distress and disturbance to play itself out.

The ugly and the beautiful. The distressing and the sublime. With Scorpio, they are a magic dance, inextricable from each other. They weave in and out in a spellbinding display of rich and mesmerizing life. Don't shortchange yourself from this full experience. It's such a very short time we have to stay and play...

The Scorpio Moon will go void-of-course after opposing the Taurus Sun, marking the Full Moon at 20 degrees on May 10 (2:42 p.m.). The emotional percolation process is quite intense and concentrated within that void-of-course period until the Moon enters more buoyant territory in Sagittarius on May 11 (9:59 a.m.).  

Friday, May 5, 2017

Projects, Projects, Projects With the North Node on Zero Virgo Until May 9

Last year around this time, I was relocating to a new province. I planted a garden in Saskatchewan before I left but moved before I could enjoy the "veggies of my labour."

I moved to the new location halfway through June and spent the summer getting my bearings in my new locale.


I visited the local Farmers Market (and set up my own DIY table there for a few weeks) and was also happy to learn that my local grocery store carried a nice selection of foods, including organic.

Still, I missed my garden terribly! More than one might imagine. It was like an ancestral psychic panic when I thought about having no space to grow food after having a garden five years running in Saskatchewan. The trauma and vulnerability of the landless peasants, reliant on someone else's land, over which someone else has ultimate control. It runs through the blood of most of us, I'm sure.

I applied with the community garden for this year but was only able to secure one 4-foot by 6-foot bed.

Since being poisoned by Cipro, I have to eat a diet of mostly fresh vegetables (my body rejects most other foods), so this was not going to cut it considering the volume of vegetables I needed to produce.

I scoped around for more space, but the community garden was full. The local college had a little bit of space available under some landscaping fabric, but it was two bus rides and a three-quarter kilometre trek just to get to the garden spot. A little on the inconvenient/arduous side, but I went to check it out anyway because I was pretty well desperate.

I was talking about gardening one day around my apartment building, and my landlord overheard. He said he would be happy to put in a raised bed in the adjacent yard! Oh, man. Was I overjoyed.

That still left me a little short of space for things like cucumbers, zucchinis, and tomatoes, which like to spread out a whole lot. So he said I could spade up some sod along his hedge to make an extra vegetable bed. Eureka! Amazing! I found my garden space, and I could make it right in the yard of my apartment building. There's an outside water source, too, to make it even more convenient.

The first project to get to work on was the raised vegetable bed. This part was a bit more complicated and definitely required assistance from my landlord, as I had never made one before. Now that I've taken part in putting one together, I can see that it is quite simple if you have the supplies and tools required. (Thank-you to my Awesome McPossum landlord. I hope he is well-rewarded for his kindness.)


Tools/supplies needed to build a simple raised garden bed:


 Isn't it cute?


- wood (6 pieces that are longer, 6 pieces that are shorter, of a 3-inch depth to make a 9-inch tall bed like the one shown)
- a drill
- large nails/spikes
- a hammer
- a vehicle, possibly with a trailer (to get the wood and also to pick up the soil)
- a spade (pointed shovel)
- a level
- top soil 

Monday, May 1, 2017

The North Node Enters Shiny, Happy Leo, and There's Almost Too Much Goodness to Contain in One Article!





 

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