Sunday, February 25, 2018

A Solid Decade of WWA!


Yes, I sang Happy Birthday to my blog. So did this rotating lotus candle. That's just how we roll.
 

Today is the ten-year anniversary of the fateful night I unleashed the first Willow's Web Astrology post onto the worldwide web.

Happiest of Birthdays, ten-year-old WWA blog!

As with most professions, writers generally improve and hone their skills over time, but I would say the overall tone of this blog was there from the very first posts! I started the blog with Pluto on the zero degree of Capricorn, and the themes are definitely still ringing a bell with Pluto now two-thirds of its way through the sign. 

Let's reminisce, shall we?

(Or skip to the bottom if you're not in the mood for astrological reminiscing...)

Published on the WWA blog's birthday, February 25, 2008:

"Pluto fuels a process of intense examination and scrutiny of the aspects of life we would often rather not look at. All the dark creepy crawlies we’d prefer would just stay hidden under the rug - the dark undercurrents of life, ourselves and other people; denied emotional realities; abusive, unequal relationship dynamics; things we repress that then come out in our lives and selves in a multitude of unpleasant ways; power struggles; control issues; hidden motivations; betrayals; emotional suppression and poisoning; oppression; domination and subjugation; lack of personal integrity; behaviours and circumstances that result from disconnection to the core, soul-level reality; etc. All that fun stuff that we all love dealing with!

...Pluto in Capricorn will be a time when the Plutonic process is applied to things such as: business and corporations and the hierarchical structures within them; “bosses;” owners; management; time; money; economics; material goals and progress; patriarchy; use of power of those at the top; the aspects of control and power that money and position afford; public image; what our societies respect, recognize and deem worthy; leadership and the legitimacy of that leadership; concepts of success; climbing the corporate ladder and where that ladder is leading us; etc.

In my view, the masculine and feminine energies on the planet are currently unbalanced and unequal to the point of collapse. And nowhere is this more apparent than in our business structures, with the prevailing ideology of growth and achievement at all cost and a seeming lack of concern about negative effects on the environment, the populace and the basic overall soul of things. To me, we’ve gone as far as we can go with the current system of unfettered growth (to the point of almost destroying our planet), and now we desperately need some balance. We need to inject some soul into our structures. We need to balance outward achievement with inner reflection and guidance. We need to care about how our actions and “progress” affect other people and the planet. We need to make sure that the ways we’re striving to be recognized and respected in the public world feel right to us in our inner world...

Addressing and rebalancing these issues through Pluto in Capricorn will, hopefully, change the lifestyle track that people are running on of go, go, go!, "I'm so busy," tossing down three Starbucks a day to keep going, cocaine sniffing (yes, business people have resorted to that, apparently), body in a constant state of alert/panic, constant growth, constant focus on outward results, goals!, achievements!, recognition!, outpacing the other guy/gal, etc...

This Plutonic transformation will also renew our respect for and understanding of growth cycles - the fact that creation involves outward growth, but also rest, dormancy and connection to the inner for guidance. The fact that the human body is not a machine, and it cannot just produce, produce, produce. Energy levels fluctuate. There is a timing of things...

Pluto will help us to see what power is legitimate in our business structures and what isn’t, who is rightfully a leader and who does not have the personal integrity or character to truly lead humanity into a new era, who is a dinosaur clinging to power using the old methods of coercion, manipulation and control…and who has rightfully earned the position of leader."


I'm glad this blog has survived the past decade, and I'm glad I've survived to continue with it.

Thank-you to the readers, patrons, customers, and friends of WWA from the past 10 years. Thank-you for your comments, your emails, your patronage, your business, your trust, your intelligence, and your humour - and also for just being kick ass humans on Planet Earth! I'm grateful that my work means something to you, and it's amazing to think that some of you have been reading this blog for almost 10 years! Some of you have!  

A lot of things have changed over ten years, but luckily, being an old school Blogspot is not one of them. heh (If people turn their noses up at Blogger blogs, they're really missing the point...)

I'm glad people still read blogs.

I'm glad people still read.

I'm glad you read.

Thank-you for reading.

I'll keep telling you what I see through the astrological-sociopolitical lens.

Party on, Willow's Web Astrology! Party on, Willow's Web Astrology readers!

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Mars-Vesta in Sagittarius Square Neptune-Chiron in Pisces: Keeping the Motivating Flame of Truth Alive

 Photos: Willow

Mars is currently transiting Sagittarius until it reaches more solid ground in the sign of its exaltation, Capricorn, on March 17.

As warrior planet Mars moves through philosophical Sagittarius, we're truth-applying missiles, following the motivational drives of our own truth, ethics, and beliefs. We're seeking the quickest and most direct route (Mars) to greater understanding, meaning, and purpose (Sagittarius), but this path is not simple or clear-cut.

As Mars works its way through Sagittarius, it is retracing the steps of Saturn in Sagittarius (December 2014 - December 2017), which means it is activating/inflaming the themes of the Saturn in Sagittarius square to Neptune in Pisces (in effect late 2015 through 2016) and then the Saturn in Sagittarius square to Chiron in Pisces (in effect late 2016 through 2017).

Many found the years 2016 and 2017 to be highly challenging under these aspects, and we're now going through a (relatively quick) re-cap of the associated themes. 

Mars is in some pretty thorny territory with many quagmire areas in which we could get emotionally or psychically bogged down.    

Mars can have an inflammatory effect, and Mars transiting Sagittarius indicates a time period when people following their own truth may come into frictional contact with other people following an entirely different truth.

Frictions may be particularly acute in the days surrounding these exact squares:

February 13 - Vesta in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces at 13 degrees (along with Mercury in Aquarius square stationing Jupiter in Scorpio at 22 degrees)
February 17 - Mars in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces at 13 degrees
February 25 - Mars conjunct Vesta (18 degrees Sagittarius) square Venus (18 degrees Pisces)
February 28 - Mercury in Pisces square Mars in Sagittarius at 19 degrees
March 14 - Mars in Sagittarius square Chiron in Pisces at 28 degrees
March 28 - Vesta in Sagittarius square Chiron in Pisces at 28 degrees

We may be moving through some murky confusion about which way to go now. We're stepping into the backwash of some broad collective problems that seem to have no easy solutions. Under the sensitizing, immersive influence of Neptune/Chiron/Pisces, the pain and problems we face (personally and collectively) can seem particularly daunting and intolerable, and we can experience acute points of frustration, followed by depression or despair, about the way forward from here.

Motivation may be dampened somewhat under these Mars-Neptune and Mars-Chiron squares, and we may have to fight to keep our spirits buoyed and to stay on task. We may have to force ourselves to forge on, to stay on track, despite the energetic remembrance of disappointment and futility, hanging around us like stale fumes. 

We're working through some energetic lulls, some points of inertia, and some points where our footing seems to drop out from under us, and this may have us questioning the effectiveness and meaning of our current path.

These aspects are in full effect around Valentine's Day, a day which creates a big, old void of sucking misery at the best of times for a lot of people (honestly, for couples and singles alike). 

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Stop Bayer-Monsanto's Crimes Against Humanity, Animals, and the Environment!

The 66-billion dollar merger of Bayer and Monsanto, two of the most evil corporations in the world, each with extensive blood on its hands, will reportedly go forward as planned, closing in early 2018, despite what many see as a clear violation of anti-monopoly/anti-trust laws.

The unholy union between pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and GMO (genetically modified organism)-giant Bayer with chemicals and GMO-giant Monsanto will solidify as Saturn and Pluto come together in conjunction in Capricorn. The Saturn-Pluto conjunction is in effect from 2019 through 2020 and will be exact at 22 degrees Capricorn on January 12, 2020.

We can see these corporations positioning themselves, preparing to use the energy of the merger - under these hardcore astrological markers - to advance their nefarious operations. 

If approved, the merger would create the largest chemical pesticide/herbicide and GMO corporation in the world. 

The merger comes together under transiting Jupiter in Scorpio (October 2017 to November 2018). This indicates a theme of large (Jupiter) mergers (Scorpio) that involve great complexity along with (in this case) a sinister underbelly. The power dynamics and detrimental practises (Scorpio) of these corporations are being exposed under the spotlight-scrutiny of Jupiter transiting Scorpio. 

Despite flatlining sales and millions of people around the world vehemently and vocally opposing its chemical-ridden, genetic modification of the food supply, Monsanto has said that it "expects to accelerate the growth of products it offers to farmers" via the merger with Bayer.

"The synergy coming from the merger is expected to contribute significantly to Monsanto's overall sales, which for the past two quarters have been flat compared to analogous quarters a year prior." (Source: "Monsanto Merger with Bayer Progresses" by Alberto Abaterusso)

Here we see a method that keeps many a criminal corporation in business - the "synergistic merger" with another criminal corporation. The planned merger of Bayer with Monsanto follows other recent mega-mergers in the GMO and chemicals game - Dow and DuPont joined forces to form DowDuPont in 2015, and ChemChina merged with Syngenta in 2016.

Despite the fact that they are losing - badly - in the court of public opinion, Bayer and Monsanto are using the energy of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn to join forces in an attempt to dominate and control the global seed/food and chemical supply.