Willow's December 2008 Astro Perspective

(Is that a baton in your pocket or are ya just happy to see me?)

Wow, the last week of November was textbook, as far as astrology goes.

Pluto entered Capricorn for it's gut-wrenching 16-year transformation of our power structures November 26.

I had a feeling that its last day in Sagittarius would kick up some Grand Finale violence along religious/cultural lines. And it did – in the form of the attacks in Mumbai, India.

Pluto relates to a level of oppression and the simmering, seething resentment roiling underneath until it erupts to the surface in a volcanic explosion. The attacks, which supposedly targeted Americans and British, could be seen to be related to those feelings of oppressed domination-subjugation along cultural/religious lines. Pluto's transit in Sagittarius brought cultural and religious divisions and the power dynamics around them to to forefront. It also pushed things to a breaking point around intolerance and fundamentalism in all religions. The ugliness simmering underneath got right up in our grills.

Adding to the mix was Uranus, planet of sudden change, upheaval and revolution, which went direct the next morning (Nov. 27). These attacks very much had the Uranian surprise factor. Shocking and surreal. Making us aware of the connection of imperalist governmental policies and retaliatory attacks from people who feel pushed to the very limit. Uranus in Pisces. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

At the same time, there is cloudiness (Pisces) around who is actually at the root of these attacks. Confusion about the facts. There is continued speculation of collusion at the top...with the Americans using attacks like these (as they did with the 9/11 attacks) to further their agenda - as an excuse to continue their brutal foreign policy track and suppression of citizen's rights at home. Obama is certainly setting up a “status quo as you go” government...no regime change there.

In Canada on Thursday (Nov. 27), the Conservative government presented its financial plan (Capricorn territory) in the House of Commons. The Opposition Parties immediately said they would not support it due to its lack of economic stimulus in light of the current world finance meltdown.

Also a point of contention was the Conservatives' plan to stop public subsidization of political parties – a move that would starve its competition of necessary funds. The Conservatives have just been re-elected to their second minority government, and this bold power move did not sit well. The Opposition parties called for a vote of non-confidence, which, if passed, could topple the government. The Conservatives are now in the process of backtracking, perhaps surprised that their ruthless move was met with such immediate resistance.

This is the climate as we enter December. We're all highly attuned to power dynamics related to authority and hierarchy. Going too far with our power simply cannot be tolerated. Nothing is flying under the radar. Strategic moves are out in the open. Pluto brings a quality of do-or-die, all-or-nothing, and people have had enough. There's been enough damage done by the unrelenting quest for more power and more power and more power concentrated in the hands of the few.

(Haha...I just typed “in the nads of the few.” Telling typo there...excessive masculine is one of the things being put in check by Pluto in Capricorn (Capricorn – Cancer polarity)).

It's not just about the interests of the people who hold the power. It's about all of us. Flattening out illegitimate hierarchies till we're all standing on solid ground together as true equals (Aquarius). A new way of wielding power. A new way of governing.

Uranus is very powerful at the beginning of December as it slowly increases speed. Uranus in Pisces is still in mutual reception with Neptune in Aquarius (representing the Pisces to Aquarius paradigm shift) and in opposition to Saturn in Virgo. All this is ongoing for the next two years.

All these houses of cards coming crashing down – the structural hierarchies getting their initial checks from Pluto, which is beginning its work of stripping down illegitmate power dynamics. Like “the economy” and the money system, government is on the agenda of Pluto in a big way.

These are shocking events to some people...but not for those of us who understand Pluto in Capricorn's modus operandi. It's all to be expected. We'll see similar things happening in all our power structures, in all the hierarchies and institutions – police, courts, healthcare, the family unit, etc. How shocking it is is in direct proportion to how much stock you put in the structures to begin with. How much trust you had that the system was just and legitimate and that it was structurally sound.

For me, I've never seen much justice or legitimacy in “the way things are.” I've always found it different levels of intolerable.

The only thing that is somewhat surprising is the rapidity of it all. Pluto is wasting no time. But really, there is no time to waste. The hierarchies, the money system, the merger of government and business, consumer capitalism – these things have gotten so rotten, so poisoned, so far from existing within natural law that we desperately need a good dose of Pluto. The excesses of the financial systems were just begging to be put in check.

As I've said before, Pluto exists in the area of the zodiac where we most need complete core-level change. It's an area that without Pluto's relentless penetration would lead to the extinction of the species. We have to welcome the things it is stripping down, the lack of structural integrity that it is and will continue to bring to light – until no one can avoid it anymore. The Band-Aid needs to come off. Facing the inevitability of the transformation now is like pulling it off in one quick rip. Denying and clinging to what is falling away is pulling it off one hair at a time.

Thank goodness we have three planets in “keep the flame of optimism burning” Sagittarius as we begin the month – the Sun, Mercury and Mars, all travelling in conjunction. Carrying our newly born truth, stripped to its most potent force, lighting the way forward through times of collective anxiety and fear. Doing what Sagittarius always does, but for the first time since 1995, we enter the Sagittarius part of the tropical zodiac without the heavy influence of Pluto. This should add to the Sagittarian glow and joie de vivre this December. Enjoying life – good food, good drink, good friends, good stories – is what Sagittarius loves best, and big, bad Pluto leaving the sign is even more reason to celebrate this holiday season. With the excesses stripped away, hopefully we can celebrate what really matters and infuse our holidays with real meaning – instead of running ourselves ragged buying and getting.

I'm sure the Sagittarian Suns out there are feeling very relieved – even if not consciously. Pluto sort of acts “upon” us over a very long period of time. It is also a generational sign, not a personal one. But still – Pluto is out of tropical Sagittarius for good for our lifetimes, and this has to be felt on a certain level, especially for the Suns. No matter what turmoil Pluto is kicking up in Capricorn, it is always a relief when a planet changes signs. The last degrees are a grind and seem to hold on so long (to me, anyway). But we made it. We've come out of a long, dark tunnel. We've had our faith tested to the very limits, and now we're coming out the other side, changed forever. Sadge Suns really embody that infinite source of optimism and faith in day-to-day life. It's “who they are” in a lot of ways to provide inspiration and a sense of celebration of life for the people around them, especially through tough times. But I'm sure even they were starting to wonder.

To add to the good vibes as December begins, we have a Moon - Venus – Jupiter conjunction in Capricorn December 1. Venus and Jupiter are both feel-good planets. Even in serious Capricorn, these two planets coming together is nice...and beneficial. A burst of expansion in career and public visibility in our chosen fields coming about through relationships. Progress and achievement-related partnerships are at the forefront, which also take our emotional and soul-level needs for recognition and progress into play.

Both Venus and Jupiter in Capricorn are coloured by Saturn in Virgo this month (ruled by and in trine to), and we see that we can continue to expand on the business/career front only in healthy and sustainable ways and only if we come together and balance our needs. The workers hold the key, really. We keep things running.

No surprise unilateral moves to cut off funding from your competitors, Mr. Harper. Not with a precarious minority governement, that's for sure. It's about integrity, all parts working together – not winner-take-all power grabs or cruelty from people in places of authority.

If we face our fears and do what we have to do, taking solid, practical steps (while taking the people around us into consideration), we can make progress this month.

But fear is a big one (Saturn). Fear is especially at the forefront for those who are heavily invested (emotionally and financially) in the continuance of the old structures. As we know by now, the more we try to cling to what Pluto is cutting away, the more brutal the process becomes.

People are scared because what they thought was a sure thing wasn't. The security people were banking on their entire adult lives has evaporated. But I think the Saturnine lesson to take away from this is that nothing is guaranteed in a human lifetime. We can't drag ourselves through mediocre careers that our hearts aren't in, maintaining status quos that aren't in the best interest of the planet, just for the promise of a sweet retirement 25 or 30 years down the road. We have to live in the now. Most of the planet lives day-to-day. The vast majority of people don't know where their next meal is coming from, let alone where they're going to find the funds for a vacation home in Florida. This is another aspect of the great equalization leading into Aquarius, I think.

Again, the level of fear and discomfort is in direct proportion to how much you banked on the security of the capitalist system. For those who have never found that security, adapting to changing conditions should be less brutal.

Adapting to changing conditions is the name of the game this month.

With the Sun, Mercury and Mars in Sagittarius, Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces, we have a mutable T-Square going on through mid-month at different stages of "exactness".

The mutable signs relate to change, flexibility and adjustment, and that is what we're challenged to stay on top of. It makes perfect sense, as our structures change and transform in dramatic ways.

The personal planets in Sagittarius (first Mercury, then the Sun, then Mars) will square first Uranus in Pisces, then Saturn in Virgo during the first half of the month.

So we've got Uranus in Pisces (vision for the future, dissolution into the spiritual “flow” and higher insight) opposing Saturn in Virgo (concrete, practical, day-to-day, grounded). Our “spacey, wanting to get lost in the vision, sleepy, dreamy” side and our “get your head out of your ass and pay attention - and take some responsibility while you're at it” side tugging at each other and trying to find some sort of happy, balanced medium. This will be playing out in ourselves but also in our relationships, and we need to find that balance so as not to cause a huge amount of stress and strain there. Oppositions can push us to our breaking point if we take staunchly polarized sides, so we have to share the responsibility and the dreamy vision. It's definitely not a good idea to turn one person into the “responsible, detail-oriented” one and the other person into the “dreamy poetic” one. Or any version of that.

So added to that ongoing opposition this month is the personal planets in Sagittarius which want to get beyond that Saturn – Uranus opposition with a broader, more philosophical take on it. They want to know the truth about what is going on.

(Emphasis on holding our personal truth and using it as a guide for navigating these squared-off energies.)

Too bad Uranus has other plans and will throw monkey wrenches into Sagittarius' Grand Truths.

Mercury is out in front of the Sun and Mars in Sagittarius this month and leads the procession into T-Square formation. Mercury in Sagittarius squares Uranus in Pisces December 4. The Sun squares Uranus December 10, and Mars squares Uranus December 11.

We're all made hyper-aware of our cultures and our belief systems during Sagittarius and how those differ from others'. We also want to just shoot our mouths off whenever we feel like it. “That's the truth! Deal with it!” But remember – with all this Sagittarius, we're all going to have this fiesty truth-telling urge. We could go overboard (yes, a Sagittarian concept) and develop foot-in-mouth disease. In fact, this is likely, especially with Mercury and Mars involved. So best to keep that in mind whilst running at the mouth this month.

Uranus throws shocking events our way designed to shake us up, and with the personal planets involved in the squares, these things are going to be happening on a conscious, personal level. A lot of adjustments heading our way! S-t-r-e-t-c-h!!

The Mercury square to Uranus (Dec. 4) will probably take the form of shocking information or ideas designed to do that consciousness-shaking thing. Rattling the cultural truths with new information. The media will probably play a big role here – both the mainstream media and the Internet/indy media offering their perspectives. Taking what's valuable from both will help to create a more well-rounded understanding.

New information/insight will also come through simple day-to-day interactions.

Mercury relates to the human intellect/mind. Uranus is related to flashes of radical, cosmic insight. So this has a feeling of wrapping our brains around these larger ideas of where we're headed on this planet.

When the Sun gets in on the squaring action (Dec. 10), this process filters into our conscious moment and starts colouring who we are and how we express ourselves.

The Mars – Uranus square (Dec. 11) is the one that has the possibility of antagonism and violence. Could be a lot of unexpected anger displays, pushiness, me-first kind of exertion - again squaring that “keep your eye on the prize,” broader view of what is going on right now.

Uranus in Pisces keeps things very surreal-feeling, spacey, floating. It demands an increasing level of detachment and acceptance because of that bizarre “is this really happening?” aspect. Things come out of left field. That meteor that disintegrated over Alberta? Yeah. Kind of like that.

Sagittarius wants to know. It's about understanding the truth of the matter through our experiences on the planet. So you can see how these two energies can clash. Wanting to know the unknowable. Wanting to understand something so “out there” that we can't really understand it until it has run its course...maybe not even then. Exerting a "truth" that is always changing.

Then you've got the squares of the Sagittarius planets to Saturn in Virgo.

Again Mercury leads the way, squaring Saturn in Virgo on December 6. The Sun squares Saturn December 12, and Mars squares Saturn December 15.

With Saturn in Virgo, the focus is on the concrete, the here-and-now, and especially what needs to be done, fixed, improved, dealt with. What details need to be attended to to keep things functioning smoothly. How to receive those sudden Uranian monkey wrenches being thrown into the mix and still manage to put things in order, integrating the chaos and harnessing it. Bringing that Uranian consciousness into how we set up our structures and how we live our day-to-day lives. Making it real, practical and concrete.

The clash with Sagittarius here is that Sadge would prefer to deal with the big picture. It would prefer to expand, branch out, have experiences and just kick back and enjoy what life has to offer, while Virgo works to refine to only what's necessary and sustainable. “Works” being the key word. Lots of work to do, and Virgo can get downright exasperated when people refuse to pay attention and focus and do things properly.

The fourth mutable sign in the zodiac is Gemini, and this is the leg that will help to stabilize the mutable T-Square going on with Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces this month. Think of a T-Square as a three-legged chair that is missing one leg. You need the fourth leg for stability. Even if there are no planets/bodies there, the energy represented by the fourth sign also plays a role.

So just in general, the tension created by all these mutable squares will activate Gemini during the first half of December.

Then we have a Full Moon in Gemini on December 12 turning the mutable T-Square into a mutable Grand Cross. This Grand Cross that we bear this month is all about adjusting, changing, and making it through the transitions. Juggling, keeping things moving, not getting stuck. We'll really be able to feel things changing now.

The Gemini Moon as the fourth leg of the Grand Cross is beneficial in that we will have a level of emotional adaptibility and intellectual detachment during the proceedings. Gemini understands many different perspectives, and with the Moon here, many different emotional perspectives. Gemini Moon doesn't generally get too emotionally attached to any one particular point-of-view. The ability to allow many different emotions and to have many different pasts co-existing should help us now. It will alleviate the “Grand Truth” tendencies of Sagittarius. All truths co-existing, converging, making one truth together.

With Gemini and Mercury involved so heavily, we're going to be talking a lot this month. Listening, gathering information, talking about the changes and the shocking events. We're going to need the outlet of day-to-day interaction with people to make sense of it all and to stop from going nutty, I'm sure.

As I said, the media will play a big role in the developing consciousness about what is going on. But it will also become clearer how the media is used as a tool for manipulating the people. How only certain perspectives (Gemini) or truths (Sagittarius) are allowable. How crucial context is left out of the story so that the public is kept confused with partial information, left to come to the conclusions laid out for them.

In order to successfully adjust to the shifting understanding of these times we're living in, communication is going to be key. Information will come to us from many different sources and many different perspectives to help us make sense of it...to help us understand our own perspective within it all. But we have to determine what is meaningful information to us, rather than letting external forces make that decision for us. We have to dig and search for the added context ourselves if we want it – it's not going to be broadcast on CNN.

(Sagittarian aside):

I've worked in both the mainstream and independent media. When I was 21 years old and on my journalism internship at a newspaper in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, I saw for the first time in “real life” how the news is filtered. I wanted to do a story on some local people who were travelling to Seattle for the protest against the World Trade Organization. I was told by my editor that this was a non-story.

How could this be a non-story, I wondered? I mean, that paper wasn't above re-writing a press release for a story. If local people doing an MS run or a fundraiser or erecting a statue in a city park was news, how could local people going all the way to Seattle to protest not be a story?

I had heard the buzz about it. I knew it was going to be big, and I knew this editor was wrong. But what can an intern reporter do about it? Not much.

Three days later the story had absolutely blown up. The Battle in Seattle. Tens of thousands of protesters from around the world had actually shut down the meetings! Unheard of!

And my editor came up to my desk and said...oh yeah. I guess you were right. Do you want to do a story on it now?

I did. It got censored. And that was my first understanding of how the news the public receives is filtered and shaped according to the standards of the powers that be. If it even makes it into the paper, it will still be shaped into what is considered “acceptable.”

But it also taught me that there is a timing for getting the word out, and you have to pick your shots.

With the T-Square keeping the communication planet in check this month, we have to choose our words and express only what needs to be expressed. With the Mercury - Pluto influence this month, exerting your truth and forcing it between someone's ears (or having someone do this to you) could be explosive. We just don't want to hear it. Holding the energy of your truth in every situation and acting it instead of actually speaking it will probably be more successful in most cases.

Psychic communication/telepathy will be on the rise...we won't need so many words, anyway.

Venus enters Aquarius December 7. Our involvement with others may have to take a detached, long-view approach now. Our relationships might not look how we expected them to look. We might be involved with people we never thought we would be, but it's tied to that Uranus in Pisces vision. Unexpected connections coming about in surprising ways. We're getting where we need to go through our relationship dynamics, but it may be a bit odd. Not what we had planned, maybe.

Venus conjuncts the North Node December 16, and we see that our partnerships and what goes on within them now is aligned with the way forward. Creating the community is at the forefront, not so much a focus on our personal wants (South Node in Leo). Relationships are taking on new dynamics. We're reaching a new level of equality and independence. No more Piscean feeding each other of energy. Now, we stand on our own two feet and come together as equals. Relationships are not about needing the qualities of the other person so much anymore. They are about being whole on our own and choosing to team up with our equals, our comrades. A new level of friendship in romantic relationships. A common vision for the future. Romantic expectations are changing, and were maybe more myth than reality in a lot of cases, anyway. No one is going to swoop in and save us from the problems of our lives. The way we have been taught to think about relationships and what they mean and how they are set up has changed. Love is changing and is no longer shackled with so much expectation and disappointment. It's a little more detached and is learning to accept and enjoy what exists, rather than trying to mold it into the expected shape.

All Sagittarius planets are heading, this month, to a conjunction with...you guessed it...Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto is the gatekeeper of Capricorn now, and nothing gets by it without a strip down. Going through tail-end Sagittarius and into Capricorn, the planets in Sagittarius are cleansed of any remaining detritus of the “crystallized belief system” variety. This is newly Plutonic Capricorn. Our cultural beliefs and truths shape our structures, and we can't carry the old forward. Anything left to purge before we get to work on our new structures will be purged here, in these conjunctions.

It will be very interesting to see what emerges from these conjunctions. I think we'll see the old guard ways getting some major karmic bites in the ass. Covert power plays becoming visible – maybe even in really embarassing ways. It just isn't going to work anymore. The old guard will continue trying, sure. Pluto is in Capricorn for 16 years, after all, and some will try holding on right until the bloody (and yes, it certainly could be bloody) end. But the manipulations by those in power will be ever-so-visible for those who have the eyes to see. And by the end of Pluto's tenure, even for those who don't want to see. Old ways of maintaining power – manipulation, deceit, domination, violence, coercion, collusion and dirty deals – will create increasingly detrimental setbacks for those who insist upon them.

Mercury enters Capricorn and then immediately conjuncts Pluto December 12. Another day to practise reserve and to hold your tongue whenever possible because the wrong words could trigger massive meltdowns and rage.

The Sun enters Capricorn December 21 and we have the Winter Solstice. The Sun then conjuncts Pluto December 22, making the changing guard all in our faces, in our conscious moment.

We have a New Moon in Capricorn December 27, representing the new structural framework and power dynamics. New forms of authority. New rules for holding power and using it legitimately. This New Moon is coloured, of course, by Pluto in Cap, and the things begun now will tie in to this whole 16-year Plutonic process.

Just seven minutes after the New Moon in Capricorn, Venus conjuncts Neptune in Aquarius, sign of the future egalitarian paradigm. Yep. We're on our way. The structures and powers that be are getting a transforming kick in the pants, and at the same time, we're moving closer to the changes we want to live. The old is dropping away in layers and we are aligning with where we want to be/go. But this New Moon could feel odd and spacey, as well, with the Neptune influence. There is a level of "surrendering to the oddness" that has to take place now.

Mars enters Capricorn December 26, and it conjuncts Pluto December 28. This is the coming together of both of Scorpio's rulers. Here we have a fusion of personal and evolutionary imperative. Getting our marching orders for Pluto in Capricorn so that the progress we're striving for on a personal level is in alignment with what needs to happen on in a broader sense. This could be another angsty day on Planet Earth. Power struggles. Unilateral moves and over-reaching along authority lines leading to disastrous results. Blatant displays of intimidation and force. When personal desire/action and evolutionary imperative are out of alignment, watch out. Ugliness will ensue.

The final day of December has Saturn going retrograde in Virgo until mid-May. We're going back over the territory we've covered since September. And a lot of territory it's been. I can barely believe that September was only three months ago.

Saturn in Virgo is heading to its second opposition to Uranus in Pisces on February 5, 2009. This time, Saturn will be going retrograde. Going back over the details and putting things in order as Uranus continues to rattle our cages. There is a lot to be done to continually restore the structures/system to health and sustainability, and Saturn will remind us to shoulder our duty there without complaint or lagging.

But the three transpersonal/outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are going direct. Full speed ahead, we are, until Pluto goes retro in April.

(Second Sagittarian aside: a little Pluto in Capricorn-flavoured story to cap off this Astro Perspective...)

After graduating from journalism school, I got a job as a researcher at CBC TV news in Regina, Sask. A conservative Torontonian from the privates (just so you know, CBC-ers often kind of look down on the private stations' news due to its more advertiser-friendly, watered-down coverage) had been hired as head honcho of the newsroom. He was basically there to impose the “VJ” or video journalist system as a cost-cutting measure. In other words, reporters were now expected to shoot and edit their own stories as well as writing, researching, interviewing, etc. It would make many camera and editing jobs redundant, not to mention the fact that it would make doing a decent, in-depth news story almost impossible due to time and energy constraints of the reporters. So this was a bit of a tense time at old CBC TV news. Just in time for Willow to show up.

This was around the time of another big protest, the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting in Quebec City in April 2001.

Again, I was pitching stories about this. Again, I was brushed off. I learned that RCMP officers from Saskatchewan were being called in to be part of the police force there. In fact, I learned that Chretien was bringing officers from all across Canada, not to mention the army. The police presence was going to be immense.

Of course, this was of little interest. The public not picking up after their dogs in the off-leash dog park was a much more important story.

I ended up leaving CBC (umm...it was a mutual decision. haha) and going to the FTAA protest with a group of people from Saskatchewan. Driving day and night from Regina to Quebec City in a 15-passenger van. Not fun.

The powers that be had learned from the Battle in Seattle. This time, they had erected a fence all around downtown Quebec City. Police in full riot gear stood along the fence on the inside perimeter. Expensive cars filled with VIPs were allowed through the fence at a sort of policed checkpoint.

I was a little shocked by the show of force, I must say.

We were there to exercise our democratic right to protest our government making back-room deals. This was a trade agreement that had never been made public (as most of these “free trade talk rounds” are kept undisclosed). They were trying to extend already controversial NAFTA to Central and South America without public consent. There was also word that water and health care were to be turned into free trade-able commodities, subject to free trade rules (ie. no protection, no government subsidization).

The fact that the heads of state were now holed up in their meetings behind a huge chain-link fence patrolled by riot police was a pretty fitting symbol of the lack of transparency in our so-called democracy, no?

We just stood at the fence watching the police standing on the other side of the fence. That was it. But it wasn't long before the police were using CS gas like crazy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_gas - it made me sick for a week after the protest and all the women got their periods immediately following). Pepper spray powder. Shooting us with rubber bullets. Spraying us with a water cannon filled with chemicals that burned as it hit your skin. The gas was everywhere. People were being overwhelmed. I stepped in a mound of pepper spray powder which flew up into my eyes. They burned, and I couldn't see. There were some people going around rinsing people's eyes with water, and luckily someone saw me and doused me.

Again, all this seemed a little much. I couldn't exactly understand why this show of force. But we didn't back down. We stood there at that fence and stared them down. They weren't getting rid of us that easily. All that weekend, we stayed there watching.

One of the freakiest things I have ever seen was when a string of these guys, all in full riot gear and in gas masks, remember – shield and batons at the ready – came out from behind the fence. They moved in formation, like a centipede. No longer individual humans. They were like a machine. It was insane. And that was when I realized what was really going on in my country. And in the world. (Being a 22-year-old farm kid fresh out of university, keep in mind.) Sure this was lightweight compared to what is going on in other parts of the world where the bullets aren't rubber. I realized that even at the time, but at its root, it was the same thing.

What I also realized, though, was that: THEY'RE afraid of US! All those grown men in full riot gear, with batons and shields and gas masks in their big black boots and uniforms were sent to intimidate a bunch of people in jeans and T-shirts with apple cider vinegar-soaked bandanas across our faces to keep the gas fumes out.

The powers that be knew we knew what they were up to. They were scared because we WEREN'T scared! They couldn't intimidate us enough not to show up or to go away, and that freaked them right out. They were afraid of the people they supposedly represented. Afraid of a real show of democratic dissent. Even behind that fence, holed up in their luxury hotel, negotiating our country away...

And this is sort of how these times feel to me. The behind-closed-doors authoritarian regime is on the ropes. It may take all 16 years of Pluto in Capricorn (Capricornian progress takes a great deal of time) to fall, but fall it will, I reckon.

And the less legitimate the power, the more afraid they are. The more vicious and brutal they will be to try to hold onto their power. The more lies and manipulation they use.

But the beautiful thing about Pluto in Capricorn is that people are going to see through it.

Anyway, Happy Holidays to everyone. Happy 2009.

I've been writing these Astro Perspectives for a year now, so thanks to everyone who has read them and to those who have given me encouragement about continuing to write them. All the best.

Willow

Willow's November 2008 Astro Perspective

There are a lot of shifts going on this month. Here is the highlights reel:

- Neptune and Uranus (in mutual reception) going direct
- Saturn in Virgo opposition to Uranus in Pisces (the first of four oppositions in those signs)
- Pluto entering Capricorn for a 16-year stay

We’ve inched our way toward the changes we wish to see or have been dragged kicking and screaming and now we’re at the pinnacle of the big hill in the roller coaster ride. There were a couple dips and weaves in September to get our stomachs dropping out and our mouths running dry in preparation, but this month seems to be the whoooosh toward real movement. Saturn in Virgo has us climbing the big hill bit by arduous bit, waiting on it, waiting on it, step-by-step, grinding closer to the big paradigm changes. We have to want it; more than that, we have to earn it, going over every last detail…and now, this month, our momentum takes us up over the hump and we let go into the unknown. All the while, it’s still Scorpio season in a big way, baby, as the collective becomes ever-more aware of, to paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, the brutish realities of this foul year of Our Lord 2008 (almost 2009) on Planet Earth.

That is, if I’m reading this crap right.

;-) Just kidding.

The Sun and Mars remain in Scorpio for the first part of November (Mars until November 16 and the Sun until November 21), on the tail of the New Moon in Scorpio, October 28. We’ve reached a new level of “cutting the crap” in our lives.

Mercury will join the Sun and Mars in Scorpio on November 4, just in time for the U.S. people to speak in their election. Taking on the do-or-die intensity of Scorpio with what they say with their votes is quite fitting, isn’t it?

We cleared the Mercury retrograde shadow on October 30, so we’ve just nicely gotten into new intellectual/communication territory as November begins. Also fitting that Mercury leaves Libra just as the U.S. election is completing. The gloves are off! No more Libra surface-level, playing-to-your-crowd social wizardry. Now we see who was really elected.

And we deal with the inevitable nastiness that rises to the surface after one of the most hardcore, teeth-bared, divisive political races in history.

Because of the power and current foreign policy of the U.S., this is an election that affects the entire planet.

The Sun in Scorpio is keeping our conscious moment attuned to the things that have to come out in the wash, or else. Getting down and dirty with the nitty gritty. Mercury keeps us speaking our gut-level truth, and Mars ensures our actions reflect that truth - our soul’s truth.

The fixed and unrelenting gaze of Scorpio is important now for stability as we experience a very big astro event - the Saturn in Virgo opposition to Uranus in Pisces on November 4. Also on the day of the U.S. election, of course. (The White House really MUST have an astrologer or two on staff. The Internet rumours are right.)

I wrote about this opposition last month, but basically this is an opposing clash of the material structures as they exist (the “way things are”) - Saturn - and our vision for the future as an impetus to revolutionary change - Uranus.

Preparatory work for Pluto in Capricorn, as we’re infused with the spiritual vision to guide and sustain us during the next 16 years of structural transformation.

Saturn and Uranus will oppose each other in Virgo (earth) and Pisces (water) four times - November 4, 2008, February 5, 2009, September 15, 2009 and April 26, 2010. We’ll be working on this stuff for a while, but the first major dose of spiritual - structural re-alignment happens with the initial opposition on November 4.

Flashes of insight showing the way forward and once seen, nothing is ever the same as it was. Nothing CAN be the same as it was.

With Uranus and Pisces involved, expect things to get a little weird, a little surreal, a little bizarre. Unexpected and shocking spiritual revelation-type stuff. Rebellious energy straining in opposition to dense, material confines.

The material structures are getting a shake-up due to the fact that we are speeding along toward the Aquarian paradigm. How things have been set up in the past no longer serves our imperatives, and they need to change. Simple as that.

Both Virgo and Pisces are mutable signs, meaning changing and adapting to conditions. These oppositions will toss unexpected events and insights our way designed to shock us out of our current structures. Confusion and chaos could threaten to overwhelm, which is why the fixed Scorp energy is so necessary.

Scorpio keeps a cool, clear gaze on what’s really going on, on the surface and below, and to both extremes. It sees the highest spiritual highs (eagle) and the lowest physical lows (scorpion).

This keeps us honest. Scorpio holds us in a place where we are unable to deny those “brutish realities of this foul year of Our Lord” as we experience future flashes and pick up speed. Can’t get drunk on change here, people, believing we’ve left the cares of the past behind us. When all that Aquarian air starts going to our heads (after the poor little Piscean fishies thought they were suffocating, flopping around on the floor), there will be an overwhelming temptation to buy into the oxygen overdose jubilation, believing “we’re already there.” Well, we aren’t. There is much to be done to actually get us there, and we have to keep a close eye on where we are, on the damage that has been done that now asks to be repaired, and on the practical adjustments that need to be made. We’ll get there, but we have to integrate and successfully deal with all parts of the human experience (the true test of tail-end Pisces), even the ugly parts. We have to deal with the details, unpleasant as they may seem.

(And for anyone who insists that yes, we are already in utopia, again, take a look at what the U.S. army has been up to lately with depleted uranium munitions in Iraq and Afghanistan: http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Baby2003.htm. Careful! It’s not nice. But this is what we’re doing these days. Let’s take an honest look at it.

And for those who claim the photos are fake or that this is propaganda, please watch this documentary on the subject and decide for yourselves: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5146778547681767408)

Thank goodness for the Scorpio energy this month, keepin’ it real and puncturing the utopian fog (not to mention the political bullshittery).

We can’t get too caught up in the rosy vision (a distinct possibility with Pisces involved) and believe it is effortless. With Saturn involved, that is not the case. We each have to take individual responsibility for bringing the changes into our daily lives and it’s going to take adjustments, practice, diligence, self-mastery. That’s not to say there won’t be levity. Some things will come about seemingly effortlessly (due to previous preparation) and there will be a great deal of energy available for the right things. But we have to stay grounded, channelling our vision into the minute details of our material structures - into our work, our interactions with others, into every aspect of ourselves.

Uranus uses our spines like lightning rods, and it can also knock us on our asses if we’re not careful. Think about a lightning bolt of insight and vision, full of information and energy designed to take you far into the future, coming through the top of your head, travelling through your body and communicating with all parts of it until it reaches the point where your feet touch the earth, grounding the charge so we don’t short out the system. This is how we bring the vision and insight into the material day-to-day and live them. And vice versa - we communicate the realities of our material, day-to-day existences on the planet to the realm of spirit, focussing on the details and communicating about what is necessary here.

This revolution is a practical one, bringing it in from the fringes into the mainstream. It will be so common sense that no one could argue - except those profiting from the old system. But even some of them are getting it together. T. Boone Pickens, a Texas oil tycoon and the most capitalistic of the capitalists, is now promoting wind energy. Even people who created and were made financially wealthy from the old structures want to be part of the solution. (Mostly because they can now make money and get press with new technology and green power, but hey, whatever gets us there, I guess.)

These are our challenges and this is how we build a world in which we all want to live.

We have to learn from the 1960s (the last time Saturn - Uranus oppositions occurred - in the opposite signs: Uranus in Virgo and Saturn in Pisces) and embed this revolutionary spirit and vision, the possibilities of what can be, in our daily lives. We can’t let our hopes and fantasies get so huge, so beyond the day-to-day mainstream reality, that the crash back down to earth and accompanying disillusionment completely destroys the momentum for change.

So yeah, folks. This means even though right-wing, Bush-loving Stephen Harper won again in Canada, and even if McCain - Palin win in the U.S, we are still responsible for taking up the challenge in our own lives, for bringing about the changes we wish to see in our own day-to-day lives, in our own mindsets, in our own ways of living. And if Obama becomes president and turns out to be yet another upper-upper-middle class establishment-type with *ahem* certain blood ties or can’t bring about the changes he promised due to structural opposition, well, we’re still not off the hook.

The revolution isn’t going to be led by anyone but us. You and me, comrades. The Aquarian era means holding no superiour. Being your own leader, guide, boss. Living by your own code and joining forces with a tribe of people who are working for the same things.

As the hierarchies continue to rot on the vine, as their stench becomes so overpowering that no one can turn a blind eye, we won’t be surprised. When people are shocked at the dirty dealings coming out into the open over the next 16 years of Pluto in Capricorn, we’ll be forewarned and better prepared.

Don’t participate in things that are not acceptable to you. Don’t put your personal energy into things that lack integrity to you. Make your service to the planet a sacred thing and answer to a higher power than the business/money hierarchy. Answer to yourself.

Saturn in Virgo combined with Pluto in Capricorn shows us that it’s the small changes that will create the necessary structural adjustments. It’s each individual worker choosing “right action” in their day-to-day lives and service that will bring unjust hierarchies toppling down, and business will have to do better from that point on.

Jupiter in Capricorn trines Saturn in Virgo November 21 (with Saturn still in opposition to Uranus in Pisces and Jupiter sextiling it). We see how the further expansion in business (Jupiter in Capricorn) is shaped by the holistic health of the structures as a whole. The whole system has to get better. Power and rewards have to be more equitably distributed.

Really, the only way capitalism can work sustainably is if everyone receives their fair cut of the pie (while working within natural laws - yes, the environment does matter). Right now, the energy is moving from the ground floor to the top where it becomes concentrated. Top-heavy and consistently eroding those who make up the foundation (workers). So eventually, a stiff (Aquarian) breeze will bring the whole thing toppling down. Well, let me tell you, Pluto is more than a stiff breeze, so all hierarchical structures that are operating out of integrity had best take heed.

As my Dad put it: They’re feeding all the oxygen to the big fish and leaving the little ones to go belly up.

The big fish don’t seem to understand how reliant they are on the little fish or that they only got to be big fish because of the little fish.

Still such flippance about working people in Canada and the U.S. Such sickening classism, accepted to the point where most people don’t even know they’re continuing it.

Both Neptune in Aquarius and Uranus in Pisces turn direct this month (Neptune on November 1, Uranus on November 27) - another indicator that we’re moving forward on all fronts now, so we have to have things in order.

Neptune and Uranus are in mutual reception and will not be completely out of this configuration until March 2011. Mutual reception means that each is in the sign the other rules. (Neptune rules Pisces; Uranus rules Aquarius.) This mutual reception is the big indicator of the Pisces to Aquarius transition - ending of astrological Piscean era, beginning of Aquarian. These two bodies have been working together on the hand-off, with the completion of one era and the beginning of another overlapping. They are making sure that the lessons of Pisces are well learned, well-understood and well-integrated before heading into Aquarius, but also that the tail-end Piscean energies don’t hold onto tenure too long and sabotage the virility of the Aquarian push to the future.

A smooth transition is trickier than it looks, and the retrogrades of these bodies were ensuring nothing would trip this paradigm shift up. Now they go direct and we get this show on the road.

Pluto heads into Capricorn November 26 for its 16-year stay in the sign of business, prestige, public image, money and achievement. Pluto exists in whatever sign/area of life is most in need of purging and transformation. It’s an area that, without this transformation, will lead to the death of the species. (No joke.) So here we see how “to the brink” we’ve pushed it with things like consumer capitalism, corporate control, the rule of money over all else, business/finance and governments becoming one and the same, working for the “market” and for other financial bigwigs instead of for the people, achievement at all cost, excess masculine ravaging feminine.

I seriously hate myself every time I buy a coffee in a disposable cup. And then I start thinking about all the cups used at that Starbucks or Second Cup or indy coffee place or wherever I am, and then I think about all the cups used in the entire city or in New York City or in the entire world in one single day. And then I think, this goes on EVERY day. And I start to see just how far gone we really are.

I think during Pluto in Capricorn we’ll start to see how sick our mainstream societal concept of success is. And the misery people, animals, and the environment have to take on to allow for certain individuals to portray that image of success. Many people at the top of the current capitalist hierarchical echelon have gotten there on the backs of others and to the detriment of the environment. Maybe we’ll start to see the abuse, control and oppression of other people and resources that went into those rich, shining superstars on the society pages of the local paper.

Western society has a tendency to look only at the “winners.” To hold them up as pinnacles of human achievement (Capricorn) to be admired and emulated. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that the history books were written by the winners? Well, thankfully Scorpio (where we have a concentration this month) knows the truth of the “losers” and holds it equally important (if not more so out of sheer neglect).

Scorpio bears witness as part of its spiritual course. It sees the ways that abuse, oppression, domination, coercion, however subtle, are used to the benefit of some and the detriment of others. It looks at the ugly parts of history, life, self…the parts that are usually denied, glossed over, swept under the rug, and demands that they be brought out into the open, into the air.

It looks to the roots that are sustaining the glossy surface-level situation, and when those roots are connecting to a past of abuse, torment, oppression, injustice, lack of integrity, coercion, what’s going on on the surface is not actually something to be held as a pinnacle of human achievement to be admired and emulated. To Scorpio, the applause and congratulation, in those cases, should be turning stomachs.

Scorpio holds awareness until such a time that the collective is willing to look at and integrate these dark and twisted parts of the situation on Planet Earth. Until we look at the ugly motivations that have driven and continue to drive human beings. Scorpio’s been waiting for a whole long time now. It’s been holding consciousness for the collective for almost too long, battling to stave off poisoning itself and sometimes failing. The longer the collective refuses to take on its responsibility for this awareness, the closer those who bear Scorpionic consciousness of the situation come to destruction. The closer they come to a level of hatred toward those who refuse to see and know. And the closer they come to extremism, fundamentalism, and violence in an attempt to force people to see. (Suicide bombers being a prime example of this, I think.)

As I said, with everything going on this month related to “the future,” the Scorpio energy will make it impossible to skip over the aspects of reality we wish weren’t there.

And as Pluto re-enters Capricorn, (remember, it was already in the sign between the end of January and end of June 2008), we are already in a different situation as far as “the economy,” business, government, money, etc. goes. We’ve had the first unearthing where we started at the roots of the structures in our material world and began to make them visible. Capricorn rules the 10th house of the birth chart and the most visible, public point, the Midheaven. So we see how all this will continue to be confronted in a visible, public way throughout the transit as part of the massive transformation. We’ll look to the roots sustaining the structures to see where they’re coming from, what they’re made out of. Anything that lacks integrity will crumble and be transformed into something better and stronger. Anything being propped up with Band-Aid solutions involving dishonesty, coercion, fear, oppression, suppression, abuse will have its fatal flaws come out into the open in a very public way. (As stated, we’re seeing this with the U.S. banking industry and various corporations lately.)

And there’s really so much fear and coercion around the business/work world these days, isn’t there? I often think, if people weren’t so freaking scared all the time, things would be so much better. None of this garbage would even be going on. If people weren’t willing to allow the suppression of their creative drives, their personal morals, their emotions, their humanity, in general, because of fear of losing their jobs, losing their livelihoods, losing their status, losing their image…the world would be a much different place.

Well, Pluto should be forcing us to confront those fears and hopefully this will purge them in a big way within the work structures.

The entire mainstream view of “success,” what makes for a “successful” person or a “successful” business, will be deconstructed, and we’ll be forced to ask the question: Is this really something to be admired and emulated?

Our hierarchies. “The way things are.” The way we set our world up so that only those who can function in the typical workplace and the typical work structure are considered “successful.” The push for homogeneity…making personal diversity into something embarrassing or pathological. Our businesses, our governments, our work/home set-ups, all institutions (prison system, court system, police, health system, education system, money system, etc.) Our concept of time. Watching the clock at work. Having to “look busy” when you’re not. Ideas of external authority looking over our shoulders.

And, because Cancer is the polarity point of Capricorn, it will have to do with honouring emotion, the feminine and inner guidance in our structures. This brings a transformation of the family unit and the way things are set up there.

All these things will have their structural problems brought into the open for core-level change/transformation. All structures that will no longer sustain humanity in its evolution will have to be gutted and transformed into something more suitable.

There is no more “way things are.” Thank God. Because the way things were was driving humanity on this planet to destruction.

We need a new set up. We need a new form of leadership - a natural hierarchy in which true leaders with real personal integrity, expertise and a vision for all rise to positions of power. Not just people who know how to work the old structures to their benefit - with money and connections (family or otherwise) too often determining who our “leader” is.

How can we respect the leadership when we know that we have a superiour vision and understanding than those claiming to be our leaders?

My Dad said to me recently, when I was talking about proportional representation rather than the majority rule system we have in Canada, “Do you ever notice it’s the losers who want to change the rules?”

To me, this pretty much says it all about the way things have been set up. Winners and losers. So if your perspective isn’t in the majority, you’re a loser and you don’t count. Fatally flawed system, that is. Undemocratic, actually.

And it really just never made sense to me, considering I think the majority of people aren’t really deep thinkers and aren’t all that informed about things going on outside their personal lives. But by this logic, I’m a loser because I don’t think like the mainstream. If I don’t fit into a structure created by and for these mainstream people/thinkers, then I’m a loser. It’s not that the structure was made too simplistic, too homogenous or too lowest common denominator. It’s that I’m a loser. That’s that.

Hmm…all righty then. Thanks, Dad!

The Aquarian paradigm is about going beyond winners and losers, beyond hierarchy, to an egalitarian system where win-win is the only way to go. I win because you win. I benefit because you benefit. It’s a system that has moved past the idea that I win only if I can make you lose.

Within the Aquarian paradigm, personal diversity is a bonus, not something that makes you a loser. When we’re all using our individual personal genius, things are at their best for the collective. All perspectives are taking into consideration…not just those that the “majority” of people have.

Makes sense to me. So let’s getter done!

Willow's October 2008 Astro Perspective

Man, I'm a rockstar. Here's the monthly update...on time! And after a hellish five days of packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking, painting, more cleaning and still the astrology is flowing like water. heh heh

This month, we will be striving with all our ability to find our equilibrium, attempting to find a neutral point between the wild events of September and those yet to come in November. This is always the case with Libra energy (where the Sun will be for most of the month and the currently retrograding Mercury will be until November 4), but Libra's refined airiness and awareness of beauty are needed more than ever at this point to give us a moment to breathe, to give us something lovely to inspire us through some bumpy channels.

Libra is the sign where we attempt to achieve balance, equilibrium, and peace - sweet, sweet, peace - if only for a moment. As fleeting as they seem to be, peace is Libra’s goal, its directive. It is the sign of partnership and relationship, where we are constantly existing in relation to and acting accordingly.

As I said in the September Astro Perspective, Libra energy has its work cut out for it at the moment. We’ve got a lot to balance, a lot piled on the scales and only more to come, it seems. The scales are working hard, correcting where necessary, swinging wildly up and down at times. We just think we’ve gotten it together, a moment to relax (which Libra, ruled by Venus, loves to do most of all), when something else gets added to the pile and we’re forced to take yet another angle into consideration, to rebalance.

Libra is driven for justice, and it just wouldn’t do to leave something or someone out who should be taken into the fold. That wouldn’t be fair. True harmony, true peace (and the peace of mind that comes with it) can only come when we have left nothing out, when every piece gets its say and its consideration. Bringing many disparate elements together into one beautiful, harmonious tone.

But of course, this is not as easy as it looks. Getting a ragtag group of human beings who all sing in different languages, who all have different levels of experience, all singing in harmony, seeing the beauty in each other and enjoying being together. Libra is one harried choir director at times.

Which brings us to the other parts of Libra and Venus, the parts that are sometimes glossed over and that is the strife and battle and discord that exist on our way to finding that harmony.

This month, the Sun in Libra and retrograding Mercury in Libra are ruled by Venus in Scorpio, making it a very strong influence. Venus isn’t ever-so happy in Scorpio, but nonetheless, she will do her job here. She would rather keep things lovely, smiley and beautiful, but in Scorpio, we're faced with both sides of the coin. We understand that our relations with other people contain ugly things as well as beautiful, and that we have to see the dark parts of our relations with others in order to bring them to light.

Scorpio knows that superficial, surface-level peace will never last. Whatever we leave hidden and neglected will eventually come out in nasty, indirect ways to undermine the peace and harmony in our relationships. It drives us to the root, to the very centre, to see what’s REALLY going on underneath it all, so that we can break underlying dynamics that are holding us in a places where we don’t want to be. Also so we can intuitively recognize and merge with those who will strengthen our ability to reach our soul’s directives - both personal and collective - without dragging a bunch of detritus along with us that will smother the alchemical flame guiding us through.

Scorpio shows us the dark parts to bring about awareness of them, so that we can choose wisely when it comes to merging our precious energies with another. So that we don’t walk blindly into situations and relationships designed to give us karmic bites in the ass.

As the balance shifts from Libra energy to Scorpio throughout the month, things take on a depth and an intensity. A “do or die” quality. We are driven to tunnel, tunnel, tunnel right to the core of what is going on in our relations with others and root out what we know in our guts is rotten. Scorpio, ruled by Pluto and Mars, is about bottom-line reality. Whatever can’t morph into something better and stronger, more adapted to what is going on right now, will die, plain and simple. This means in our relationships, our lives, our selves. Any part of the cocoon that threatens to catch and contain our butterfly wings has to go, with little to no sentimentality. Why attach ourselves to something that will hold us back, smother us, kill us? This is what Scorpio energy teaches. To cut ourselves out of that which will eventually collapse us, to trust our intuition to nip it in the bud and to move directly to a new force field that will hold us in a mutually beneficial orbit as we continue to unfold.

Scorpio understands intuitively what needs to be done and sets a goal, directed by the soul - often a complicated, multi-layered, emotionally and/or energetically dangerous goal. And it does not give up until that goal is reached or until it is “told” that to continue would bring it closer to destruction than abandoning the goal.

Scorpio energy can see things no one else can. It sees what no one else will. Will. That’s the word. Scorpio is the place where the will of nature/of the universe and personal will join forces, merging into one direction. To ignore the directives of the soul is to die, either literally or figuratively. To refuse to root out what is rotten is to choose to infect everything. Nothing can be right until this is right. That’s what Scorpio knows. It knows it would rather die than leave things as they are. It knows it is already dead if things are left as they are.

So much talk about death. But this is a Scorpionic subject. To die a million deaths before the physical death. To say goodbye to multitudes of versions of self, relationship, life. To shed a million cocoons, all that is done, to get to the fresh, raw strength of the emerging soul-driven path. And to have the otherworldly Plutonic drive to continue, against all odds, to face deeper and deeper, at times darker and darker, realities. Intricate and intimate. Complex. To burn through an amount of energetic detritus that would be unimaginable to someone without the guidance of that alchemical flame, ridding us of the garbage that threatens to clog up the works and screw us over.

It is to this end that Scorpio energy does its work, so that it can lay the very purest of matter on Libra’s scales. So that the shifts in balance that are made are only the necessary ones. The upsets of the scales are as minimal as possible. Nothing laden in the energetic tar of the past.

This is why Plutonic people sometimes creep other people out. They are driven by something unseen, something not understood by people looking from the outside. Plutonic people must follow the directives of the soul, from the gut, bringing things to light that most people would avoid looking at. Severing unhealthy dynamics as they go, freeing the energy up for new growth, and going deeper than most people care to go. It can be seen as an obsession by other people. But when one understands that it is a case of: do it or perish. there is nothing else to be done.

What Scorpio energy does can also be seen as not very nice (which is why Libra takes issue with it at times). It often doesn’t feel too great to have a Scorpionic surgeon dicing energetic dynamics up around you or within you. But it's necessary. Scorpio energy triggers in us an awareness of what needs to come out and what needs to be purged completely. It triggers an alchemical process where we have to look into the depths of ourselves and our lives to see what is not in integrity and to see old energetic patterns that we fall into and continue unaware. Places where we’ve been fooling ourselves, where we haven’t gone deep enough, where we haven't truly looked reality in the face. In Scorpionic interactions (which will be coming up with Venus in Scorpio), the relationship dynamics make each person aware of certain dynamics that are past their usefulness.

We can be repulsed by what we see during this process, blaming the person who did the triggering. (This is a dynamic that goes on all the time - as Scorpionic/Plutonic people know all too well.) Not so comfortable.

Too much Plutonic energy is poison. Best to take only as much as you need, nothing more.

This is a hard lesson that most Plutonic people have to learn - that some people find being around them a medicine taken best in small, maybe even tiny, maybe even microscopic, doses - or not at all. But once one understands that it's the process being triggered that people find distasteful, it’s possible not to take it personally - sort of.

Scorpio and Pluto go beyond the personal ego. The process trumps social niceties. But it still smarts at times.

Note: “Plutonic” people are what I would call anyone who has these similar drives for getting to the core of the matter, bringing hidden or neglected parts of reality to awareness - planets/placements in Scorpio, aspects to natal Pluto, bodies in the 8th house, and such.

As I said, our Mercury in Libra retrograde this month is ruled by Venus in Scorpio until Venus enters Sagittarius on October 18th.

The Sun in Libra is also ruled by Venus in Scorpio until it enters Scorpio itself on October 22.

Mars enters Scorpio October 3 and is there into November. (Note a pile-up of consequences for any passive-aggressive tendencies/Libra avoidance techniques as Mars passes through the last degrees of Libra before entering Scorpio. October 1 - 3)

So these Libra - Scorpio themes are prevalent.

What we’re leading up to this month is a big month in November. We’re getting our bearings, doing the prep work, so that we can navigate these energies.

There are two big things going on in November (which I will, of course, write about in November’s Astro Perspective):

First, Saturn in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces for the first time since the 60s. Saturn rules our concrete material structures (how things are set up) and Uranus rules revolution. Hmm…sounds about right. The current structures of our material world are about to get a shake up.

Saturn will be opposing Uranus’ freewheeling, future-oriented, slightly erratic, nothing-to-hold-onto-but-the-vision-of-where-we're-going, revolutionary, maverick spirit. And Uranus will be opposing Saturn’s traditional, tried-and-true, conservative, for-our-own-good limitations, restrictions and concrete structures.

Material structural readjustment related to a new understanding and vision of things to come. But also making sure that our revolutionary vision is grounded, that it has legs. That it is practically applied and will really take root within the material and build there - not just stay on the fringes as fluffy, pie-in-the-sky ideas from a bunch of drug-addled burn-outs. (No offense to drug-addled burn-outs, but this is a time when we really have to stay in reality” to bring it to the people - especially those people in suits and SUVs.)

A leap of faith into the future, but one concrete and common sense enough to appeal to more conservative minds.

The last time Saturn and Uranus opposed each other was in the 1960s, so you can see where this is heading. Think of the upheaval of those times that brought strides for humanity - civil rights, women’s rights, anti-war, etc.

But at the same time, the wave of revolutionary spirit didn’t go far enough. The mainstream Baby Boomers got caught up in material trappings and the ego glorification of being the person with the biggest and best.

So now is a chance to continue what began then, to go farther, hopefully to go as far as we need to go. To make the revolution structural, to come in from the fringes and really affect the mainstream flow.

The second big event in November is Pluto moving through the final degree of Sagittarius and heading into Capricorn November 27. Here is the transformation of allllllll our material structures and our understanding of success, prestige and importance on a public level. This is why it is crucial that we take this step-by-step, to really give it lasting impact.

Anyway, that’s next month. But as nothing exists in a vacuum, we have to see October as leading up to that. This is why the Scorpio energy is insisting that everything be put on the table. We have to be real now. It’s imperative to our survival as human beings on Planet Earth. We have to see through the shellaced smiles of those attempting to lead us somewhere our gut tells us we don’t want to go - not only in politics but in our personal lives. The personal is political.

We have to look for motivation - a big thing for Scorpio. What is the root motivation? If it’s something you can get behind, good stuff. If you get a little sick feeling in your stomach, no matter how slight, listen to it and take action, even if it seems like drastic action - action that no one but a Plutonic person would understand. The Mars influence on Scorpio means we often don’t know why we don’t like something or someone. We just don’t. We can sense we don’t agree with the root motivation or that we are being somehow manipulated. We just might not know the particulars in the moment because they’re somehow hidden to us. Here, we have to act on instinct, taking action based on intuition and gut-feeling…and figure out the logistics later, at a safe distance from whatever dynamic/situation/person we didn’t want to participate with.

From October 9 to October 14, Venus in Scorpio is squaring the North Node, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius. This is a bottom-line, reality checking-type of aspect…again, related to not getting too far ahead of ourselves on this future vision thing. Especially with Neptune here, there is a tendency to get a little starry-eyed and lose sight of where we actually are. To get caught up in the rhetoric (Pluto in the last degrees of Sagittarius) of what’s possible and to act as if we’re already there. Scorpio keeps us right in the thick of what is going on right now. It doesn’t allow us to move forward until things are dealt with, until all the crap is brought out into the open for resolution. Until the subjugation-domination dynamics are truly destroyed and we’re truly equals. We’ve still got a lot of work to do here. The vision may be there, but are we really willing to do what it takes to get there? Are we willing to go to the mat on this one? To fight for that vision with everything we have? To leave no one behind? These are the kinds of questions brought up with these squares.

Mars in Scorpio will repeat the squares to the North Node, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius during the last week of October. Here, we’re challenged to put our personal energy behind it. To make it personal, a personal goal, to deal with everything Scorpio brings up, especially the ouchy, ugly parts. To look at the inequality, the injustice that still exists, the fallacies we’re being told, the manipulation of the people - and to really deal with it.

Mercury Retrograde is also working away, bringing up all the things we might have missed since September 4. A whole lot happened last month, so this is a good thing. Any decisions made or actions taken will come up for a review. We’ll get information that we didn’t have at the time. and, again, with Venus in Scorpio ruling, it could be stuff that was hidden at the time.

All giving us a chance to orient ourselves with as much information and understanding as possible.

Mercury goes direct October 15 and leaves its shadow (heads into new territory) October 30.

Just in time for my favourite time of year: Hallowe’en! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-haaa! (also known as Samhain or pagan New Year) A time when the barrier between life and death is oh-so-thin.

So nothing really “new” until then, but lots of necessary information coming up and interactions playing out, especially those interactions that have a sort of fated, soul-mate quality to them. Déjà vu.

Our Full Moon this month is in Aries on October 14. (On the same day as the federal election here in Canada.) The new directions we’ve taken related to our new sense of personal identity are bearing fruit now. The Sabian Symbol for the degree of Aries where this Full Moon takes place is: The Gate Opens to the Garden of all Fulfilled Desires. Let’s hope that’s not just hype. ;-) My Scorpionic “show me the money” side is acting up on this one, but let’s give the universe the benefit of the doubt on this one, shall we? Heh heh

The New Moon in Scorpio on October 28 starts a new cycle of growth - a shedding of past dynamics, as was talked about earlier. The New Moon kicks off a month that will probably feel very unstable as the past structures and dynamics of our lives turn to rubble. As I said before, November is going to be a heck of a month, and this New Moon is an indicator. It really does feel as if we’re going through a gateway, and we have to be 100% real, stripped down, doing only what feels right to us to make it through. It’s a tight squeeze! Getting caught up in what others want us to do, getting caught up in THEIR stuff, allowing any kind of abuse of your energy (no matter how subtle) - all this is detrimental now in a big way.

I have this image lately of always having to stay a step ahead of what is crumbling under our feet, to keep moving on, moving on as a matter of survival. If we aren’t staying true to our own path here, we’re asking for trouble. If we’re clinging to old structures, relationships, ego constructs, personality traits, we just might go down with the ship.

So as always, to thine own self be true. It’s more important now than ever as the waters get a little choppy.

Willow's September 2008 Astro Perspective

We start September slowly progressing into the new post-eclipses lunar cycle after the New Moon Black Moon in Virgo on August 30. Slowly because Saturn is involved, and Saturn brings a certain sombre weightiness with it that can seem to make the proceedings slow to a crawl. Saturn relates to making concrete structural changes and progress, and in Virgo, it’s about perfecting all the nitpicky details, making all parts of the whole function together properly. Realistic progress here is slow, sometimes arduous and even depressing at times. But at the same time, things still feel uber rocky to me after the eclipses…nothing seems on solid ground. Not sure if this is a universal thing or if it’s because I just had my Saturn Return. Anyway…

The first major aspect of the month is the Moon in Virgo squaring Pluto in Sagittarius on September 1, as Pluto slows to go direct for the final time in Sagittarius for 248-odd years (and odd they certainly will be, I think). This square echoes the squares of Mars, Mercury and Venus in Virgo to Pluto in Sag last month (that I talked about quite a bit in the August update and the New Moon update) and brings up some emotional reconciliation related to the themes there. Again, this is related, partly, to getting to the bottom of what people really believe, deep down, and deciding how to refine our personal roles in relation to that. Being very precise about how we perform our function, what we say and just what/whom we will support, based on what WE really, deep down believe.

The emotional work shifts to outer-expression work (all that Virgo work, work, work!) as we move to a Sun - Saturn conjunction in Virgo on September 3. Again, this is a weighty sort of aspect related to growing up and taking on the responsibility of our roles and who we are. Can feel pressure-filled and stressful. Here, we’re refining and maturing ego, personality and self-expression as we come closer to self-mastery. Channelling who we are and how we express that into a role that serves a purpose for the whole. But also finding what is fun and inspiring within our responsibilities. Gleaning joy from a more grown-up role that only we, with our special talents and characteristics, can perform.

September 4, Mercury enters its retrograde shadow in Libra. All that happens now - from September 4 until Mercury goes retrograde on the 23rd - will be coming back up for our perusal and discussion. And a lot there will be, it seems!

September 5 and 6 are very quiet days. Almost no aspects at all, and I can see why. We’re leading up to both Jupiter in Capricorn and Pluto in Sagittarius going direct within about 24 hours of each other. We need some time to take a deep breath and prepare!

Late September 7, Jupiter turns direct in Capricorn, and there is a lot of action involved in the direct station. Throughout Sept. 7 - 9, we have Venus, Mercury and Mars in tight conjunction in Libra exactly squaring Jupiter. All three of these personal planets (moving in conjunction) will square Jupiter in turn and all three squares could create a squeezing, stressful feeling. Stationing planets are already very potent, appearing from Earth to be motionless in the sky, and these squares will create the tension necessary for a strong initiating energy. The things begun at this point forward, given a strong cosmic push, have legs and will for a while. The ways we are expanding the structures in our world, the ways we are broadening our public role or status and our optimism related to the concrete progress we are seeing are all getting a check from the Libra planets. Libra warns: Don’t forget, in the raised dust of all our expansion and business agendas and material goals, that it’s our relationships that really count! It’s our relationships with others and with nature that bring things back to a place of balance…rather than allowing for free rein of the full-speed-ahead expansion and plans of Jupiter in Capricorn.

Mercury conjuncts Mars September 8, as well, and will again as it slows to go retrograde on the 23rd. In Libra, this conjunction has a balancing, tempering effect. Balancing our interactions and actions so as to maintain diplomacy with the people around us. This is not a time for aggressive, blatantly ambitious moves or for focussing strictly on what you want. We’ll have to balance our needs with others in order to make the progress represented by Jupiter in Capricorn.

Libra energy has a tendency to passive aggressiveness, especially when being squared by either Capricorn or Cancer. Considering it is the sign of partnership, Libra can be pretty selfish…all the while claiming otherwise. Doing things for others it doesn’t want to do…while angry about it underneath and acting out in passive aggressive ways instead of being honest. Honesty is another thing Libra has to work on. It’s too concerned with how other people are going to react a lot of the time and this makes for wishy-washy behaviour that causes problems for everyone involved. Not being honest seems like a selfish thing to me, regardless of justification. This is the caution here. Our communications and behaviours could have a passo-aggro tone if we're swallowing something we don't like but don't have the balls to speak up about it. Don’t get poisoned or play into any of those games. If we don’t get sucked into tit-for-tatting passive aggressive behaviour, hopefully this conjunction, active throughout the month, will help us to verbally call out some of that behaviour and bring things back to a true state of peace.

The symbol for Libra is the scales of justice, and justice is what we need to keep in mind as Jupiter starts moving forward in material goal-conscious Capricorn. We must build and expand with an eye towards making things right, making things fair and just, living within a natural balance.

The capitalist system has run amok, and we now seem to be living in (and leaving, I hope!) a system that banks on inequality, injustice, the benefit of the few from the subjugated position of the many. The structures and the “way things are” are operating according to some bizarre man-made production march - very far from the ebbing and flowing cycles of nature. The mainstream of society no longer seems to take its cues from the world around it, and we can feel that. Things don’t feel right. We’re not all that connected to our food sources, our water sources, or to the origin of many of the products we use each day. The sun and moon are no longer comforting constants to be viewed throughout the day and night, giving us a sense of timing and grander purpose. Gazing at the celestial bodies no longer gives us a daily dose of soul nurturing. We can’t even see the stars from a lot of places in our urban centres! The production/consumption cycle keeps us disconnected, as we buy things in the store without much thought about where they come from or who made them (although, this is changing to a certain extent). Driving is the way of life for most in North America, and people sometimes spend only minutes a day with their feet on the Earth. All this adds up to a lifestyle that exists as a sort of veneer over the natural world - never touching the earth (literally and figuratively), never getting our hands dirty, never listening to the cues of nature. Not that this is the fault of the people - it’s the way things have been set up, how things have been structured. And this is what now needs to be addressed. The further we get from the wisdom of the natural world and its cycles, the more of an imbalance is created. Addressing this imbalance is Libra territory.

At the same time, with the Libra - Capricorn squares, there is tension between getting along and getting things done. Capricorn has the material goal in mind at all times and strives for it, sometimes to the detriment of those things Libra rules - balance, harmony, relationship with others, social justice, beauty, enjoying life for what it is. The old saying “business and pleasure don’t mix” is one theme of the Libra - Capricorn relationship…probably from the Capricorn standpoint!

Again, though, there is a balance, as with all things. And there is a holistic whole that must be kept in mind. Nothing exists in a vacuum. Nothing can be severed or denied for the sake of the progress of something else - although this has often been tried and possibly with great “success.” In the end, though, we always pay the piper. We can spend 60 hours a week at the office, living on coffee and processed food. But our health and our relationships will eventually suffer. We can pour ourselves into work and buy into the obsessive focus and drive that is so valued in a corporate capitalist system, but in the end, we will realize how much we have missed, how many relationships we have let slide, and how we have been duped.

Keeping in mind the health of the holistic whole is what Saturn in Virgo is asking of us these days. Virgo relates to living close to the Earth, to natural cycles, in order to live in attune with “the flow” so to speak. Saturn in Virgo trines Jupiter in Capricorn September 8, bringing these themes into play, as well, and infusing Jupiter’s steps forward with these considerations. Here, we are challenged to bring those Virgoan principles into our structures, especially into our business practises. All parts, all aspects of life and self, matter. They all need to be taken into consideration - something that needs to be worked on in our “anything for money, status and power,” yang-heavy structures. Sustainability, “greening” business and corporate responsibility are all things coming into focus during Saturn in Virgo.

Pluto goes direct at the tail-end of Sagittarius the day after the Jupiter station, in the evening of September 8, but because both Pluto and Jupiter are almost motionless in this window of time, in effect, they are stationing at the same time, combining potent energies of transformation and expansion. This sets up the work of Pluto in Capricorn, which begins again in November. We are dredging up the beliefs that we have based our structures upon in the past and getting rid of what doesn't serve us anymore (after first looking it square in the eye), so that we can transform those structures to better suit our needs now and in the future.

Pluto spends a little shy of three more months in Sagittarius, and that is it for 248 years! It will continue its work of dredging up the deep, dark stuff and bringing it to light, forcing us to address things we often would prefer not to, confronting us with anything that is detrimental to the unfolding of new cycles of soul growth. Once confronted, we can cut away any dead weight that is holding us to old dynamics and free ourselves for regeneration and transformation. Again, in Sagittarius, these are things related to belief systems, concepts of “the truth,” religion, culture, higher education, foreign countries, and philosophy, among other things.

I think we are seeing this tail-end Pluto in Sagittarius dredging up quite a lot in politics - especially with the U.S. election coming up. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how honest elected officials are having to be about their personal beliefs and how their beliefs affect how they do things and the decisions they make. It seems to be going beyond polished political veneer - we may just be getting somewhere! (Although…it is politics…let’s not be too hasty.)

Venus and Mars come together in Libra September 11. Should be a nice supportive aspect balancing our personal will within our relationships. Also making sure that we are valued for what we do, especially for those things that often don’t have a dollar value in our society - building relationships, maintaining peace, making things beautiful, keeping things harmonious.

The Sun in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces September 12. This sets us up for the Full Moon in Pisces September 15. The Moon conjuncts Uranus in Pisces just before it becomes full on the 15th, and this conjunction infuses the entire Full Moon phase.

This Full Moon seems to be a culmination of the shocking shake-ups we’ve been dealing with as we enter the Aquarian paradigm. We're being "handed off" from Pisces to Aquarius and the changes have been challenging, to say the least. Bizarre, confusing and exhausting to be somewhat less diplomatic about it. Things can feel unbearable during a Full Moon as everything is brought to an emotional head, and in Pisces (conjunct Uranus), anything is possible! The veils will be thinner than usual and could stir up some karmic unpleasantness…odd events or becoming emotional or overwhelmed as we deal with odd events...psychic powers are strong…we will be very aware of the suffering going on on the planet as we move through these bumpy times, but we should also have the strength of Piscean faith to guide us through. When Pisces is strong in the sky, we often have to surrender and be carried along. Of course, with Virgo (Pisces' opposite sign) also strong this month, we have to participate actively. So here is the balance theme again - determining when to coast and when to dig in. We have to know what we can influence with our actions and what is beyond our conscious control. Navigating these times as an active participant but also knowing when to "give up" and let go of the wheel for a while.

Sometimes, the only solution to our problems is divine intervention, and this feels like one of those times.

The Fall Equinox happens September 22. The Sun enters Libra and the day and night hours are of equal length, perfectly balanced. Our focus now turns from self-improvement, personal health, role, function, service and general nitpicky Virgo navel-gazing for the sake of perfection to our relations with others, partnerships, balance, justice, peace.

The Libra energy has its work cut out for it creating balance and harmony these days!

Venus enters Scorpio September 23, a few hours before Mercury turns retrograde in Libra. Our relationships take on a bottom-line intensity and either get stronger or break apart. Anything holding us back from our highest soul-directed growth potential will fall away…or sometimes be stripped away in gut-wrenching ways. The more we hold on to what is dying, the more it hurts, so we must go through the process of Venus in Scorpio aware that we may be asked to cut to the bone for the sake of our own soul survival. This gets annoying to hear, I know. But there are processes at work right now so powerful that to try to buck the flow would cause some damage.

September 29, we have a New Moon in Libra. A new relationship cycle…whether new people are involved or new dynamics with the same crew. Ruled by Venus in Scorpio, this New Moon will start us in the direction of our most important soul growth…bringing new soul mate work to us through other people and finishing old cycles of it. Disengaging from people and relationship dynamics that are done and have lost their charge.

I wrote this about soul mate relationships and thought I would include it:

“Soul mates are the people with whom you have relationships based on mutual soul work that can't be done alone. It requires the coming together with another person (or animal) and interacting with the hope of getting something done that your soul desires to do/work through/complete. The feeling of familiarity with the person comes because your soul recognizes the person as someone you are meant to merge with in mutually beneficial ways - not necessarily for a long time, but until the charge has been played out. There is a emphasis on busting through karmically entrapping energetic dynamics with these types of relationships, working through issues and traps in relationship dynamics. They are not the types of relationships that necessarily always feel good. They are more about being in it for the long haul, until the work is done, working through the events that come up with a strong commitment to seeing it through. Family members, friends, work relationships, lovers, marriage partners...any relationship that challenges us and triggers us to grow or become better or stronger in certain ways in the ways our souls most desire can be a soul mate relationship.”

Soul desire is a big theme of Scorpio, and since Venus in Scorpio rules this New Moon, this is part of the flavour of what is beginning now.

The Sabian symbol for Venus’ place in Scorpio at the time of the New Moon is: Deep-Sea Divers with Special Machinery. This adds a little more interpretation...

“In the situation facing you, you may need to get deep below the surface to find out what’s really going on. It is down within your subconscious and intuitive wisdom that you must search for solutions…You may feel a huge pressure from the world you have dived into…You can handle the pressure as long as you are not pushing against it, or by changing your perceptions of that pressure…Remember, you have special machinery which can help you in this other world.”

Willow's August 2008 Astro Perspective

The first day of August brings a New Moon total solar eclipse in Leo, ushering in a new backdrop of personal creativity and living from our hearts’ truths. This New Moon solar eclipse will infuse us with the Leonine courage necessary for the new creative cycle unfolding as we express who we truly are and allow that expression to lead the way into something better. Channelling the love we have inside into our lives and using what inspires us on the deepest levels as a force for action and change. It means saying goodbye to old ego games, old creative expressions, old personality traits, old glories that have had their day and saying hello to a new context for our creative self-expressions. It means bringing a whole new role for the creative force within all of us into the community at large. Fresh!

We start the month with the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus in Leo, the sign of the performer, the artist and royalty. Leo is symbolized by the regal lion, king of the jungle, and its ruling planet is the Sun, so the Sun is very happy and comfortable being in this sign. Flowing expression of the self. Leo relates to the joy of creative self-expression and the child-like wonder and magic of the moment. Revelling in our ingenius creations. Think of a child totally wrapped up in whatever it is creating - a mudpie, a finger painting, a play for its parents. Within that creative process, nothing else seems to exist. Nothing else matters. So this is the conscious backdrop of this month as we enjoy the summer. Living in the moment, enjoying being ourselves. Fashion, parties, fun, the dramatic nature of the human experience. Celebrity is a Leonine thing, and if you look at famous Leo Suns, they generally have that larger than life quality. Madonna (Express Yourself!) and Jennifer Lopez come to mind. Dramatic and showy…but also prone to ego excess, insane demands of other people (their peons) and doing things just to gain attention rather than for the true benefit to the community. I'm sure these (and most) artists could somehow justify how everything they do is of benefit to the community...but again, in a lot of cases, there is a strong element of self-indulgence talking.

With the South Node in Leo this month, connecting with the personal planets, there are certain expressions of self that we are being asked to move on from. Suns that have sustained us with warmth in the past are burning out. Continuing to follow those same orbits will provide decreasing amounts of energy. It's no longer about creating strictly for fame, attention, glory or personal ego fulfillment. The world doesn’t need another diva.

The North Node, Chiron and Neptune are still in Aquarius, and the personal planets that inconjuncted Aquarius from Cancer last month now move to oppose from Leo. The tension of the Leo - Aquarius polarity challenges us to understand ourselves, our creative self-expressions and what we create within the larger context of the community, the planet, the times in which we are living and our desired future. It’s the balance between individual (Leo) and collective (Aquarius).

So while we're living it up as the Leonine stars that we are this month, we must also understand that it’s not all about us. There is something beyond the personal, something equally important. Our personal egos and desire for attention and acclaim have to exist within the larger paradigm of what is needed for the community as a whole.

The conjunctions of the Moon, Mercury and Sun in Leo to the South Node (opposing the North Node in Aquarius at the same time) drive these points home. The Moon moves across the South Node August 1, colouring the themes of the New Moon solar eclipse. Dropping the old orbits as we find new ones. Letting old forms of self-expression fall away as we find ones more vital to our current moment. Mercury crosses the South Node August 4 and the Sun does August 10. The South Node relates to an expression that has had its day, to a certain extent. It’s an area that has been mastered as fully as it can be, and in order to continue to develop it, one must head to the opposite point of the polarity, the North Node. With the North Node currently in Aquarius, the way forward is about doing what is right for the community, the planet and the future. It has a humanitarian bent. It means having an objective overview of what is going on around us and using that objective overview to motivate and guide our personal expressions. We have to understand the context of our creative self-expressions, of ourselves and our lives, in general, so that we can truly be brilliant, cutting edge, effective and in the now.

The days of purely hedonistic art are, under the current backdrop of conditions on Planet Earth, well…a little silly. A little out of context. That’s not to say hedonistic art and the lifestyle that goes with it won’t continue to be pursued. For some, this is the way to go, I guess. But we're in the dying days of the Piscean era, which means that the overall context for art and creativity are changing. We are shifting away from romanticizing the tortured and/or pampered artist, wrapped up in the Neptunian pursuits of booze, drugs and transcendence, sacrificing personal health for the sake of the art, insulated in a bubble of his or her own making. The current astro conditions are asking us to move on from the old ideas of art and creativity and from the old ego pursuits of fame, attention and elevation from the masses as a special, special snowflake.

The Aquarian winds of change are asking us to increase our relevance by ensuring that our art (whatever form it takes), our creative force, has a larger context - aligned with bringing the Aquarian future into reality. We can personally determine what the specifics mean for us, but the creative expression of the self must be aligned with the way forward and with the vision of a world that works for everyone, not just for the few “in control” within the current structures. This month, we are challenged to express ourselves creatively while keeping our gaze firmly on the way forward, creating something new, something relevant, something to catalyze the revolutionary spirit. It is about using our creative power and the power of our personalities to make it possible for everyone to be the artist that he or she is. Rather than segregating into the “artistic” community, or creating an artificial image for ourselves, it’s about unleashing the creative potential of the entire community, within the entire population. Cutting a path forward that inspires people to listen to their own creative muse and live from their hearts’ truths in their day-to-day lives - in whatever form that takes. To live as if their hearts’ desires really matter - because they do. It’s about freeing not only ourselves but those around us, little by little, by making the world a little more beautiful, more colourful, and making that beauty and colour accessible to anyone who wants to share in it. It’s not about overpowering or intimidating others with the power of our personalities or personal artistry (South Node Leo pitfalls). It’s not about putting our energies into elevating ourselves above others as “the star” or creating glamour and image to separate ourselves from the “regular people.” It’s about incremental changes in the fabric of our communities that make art, creativity, beauty, and the joy of living accessible, bringing all people closer to achieving their creative potentials - all who want to, anyway. In a society of people often dragging themselves through uninspiring work/lives, to touch peoples’ hearts and souls is important. To uplift and assist people through our acts of creative genius is important. This is the redefining of the role of the artist/artistry within the community that is going on this month. Maybe getting back to what art’s true purpose is…and to the true purpose of the creative force in all of us. Bringing it back to the people and leading away from it being a pursuit only of or for the financial elite.

The emphasis on the Leo - Aquarius polarity will especially be hitting home for the Baby Boomers this month (Pluto in Leo generation - born 1939 to 1958). They have gotten pretty used to ruling the roost, their way or the highway, and now the winds of change are whipping up. It will be interesting to see the shifts happening…and whether there is a lot of ego clinging to the old glories and structures. My guess, knowing what I know about Pluto in Leo, is yes. I suspect we will see some royal tyranny coming up for a purge. Some immaturity, some ego crystallization, some bullying with personality coming up from the depths. The puffed up egos being broken down could get ugly, so stay detached if you are in close contact with a Baby Boomer - or are one! Don’t get bogged down by the detritus. Don’t get involved in the drama. Just keep an eye on where you’re going.

It’s not all about them anymore - and this could come as quite a shock to the system for the Pluto on Leos. The king/queen of the castle doesn’t give up that position easily. But it’s time to grow up, make room, become aware of what is going on. To become equals and comrades, rather than lording personal power over others. The vanity projects are losing steam.

August 16, we have a Full Moon partial lunar eclipse in Aquarius, showing us that one wave of work we’ve done to create the space for new ways has come to completion. At this point, we have created a new balance between individual and collective. Or if we haven’t, the work we still need to do should be forced into the open by the heightened emotion of the Full Moon eclipse. Luckily, the emotional detachment of Moon in Aquarius will help us not to become overwhelmed by what is left to be done, by how far it is from where we are to where we need to go.

Less than 12 hours after the Full Moon eclipse, we have a Mars in Virgo - Pluto in Sagittarius square. A tense aspect between two powerful energies - the force of personal desire (Mars) and the force of evolutionary desire (Pluto). Pluto in Sagittarius will dig up excess and crystallization of religious or cultural ideology, rhetoric, beliefs, etc., and Virgo will analyze and trim away anything that is no longer necessary.

We’ll see the sometimes dark truth of how people really feel, what they really believe, coming to the surface…possibly kicking and screaming. The dark edge of religious fundamentalism, cultural/educational bigotry, dogma. Misuse of universal law, twisted to further certain ideologies and groups. This will set the stage for us to determine what we will and what we will not participate in or further with our personal energies. A paring down there so as to extricate ourselves from anything we can simply no longer tolerate in our lives. Cutting ourselves out of the detritus of crystallized religious, cultural, political views. Understanding people’s true, core-level allegiances and how they may be used to oppress and control others, especially when hidden - as well as our own. Choosing how we operate in our daily lives in relation to that, accordingly. Here, we're getting it all on the table - nothing hidden under the rug. Remember that Pluto is in its final retrograde through the last degrees of Sagittarius…it won’t touch these degrees again for over 200 years, so we have to get to all of it. Virgo will make sure of that, as it knows the importance of dealing with the details.

Mercury and Venus in Virgo will follow Mars’ footsteps later in the month, also squaring Pluto in Sagittarius. Mercury on August 27 and Venus August 29. This will force the issue even further, if necessary. We really have to get clear on any hidden cultural/religious/ideological dynamics and determine just what we will and will not participate in. Understanding things on this core level will help us to define our roles so that we do not get caught up in any draining karmic dynamics here.

There will be some pain here (and throughout the month) for the people who have already been attempting to move past man-made oppression/control structures…who have been trailblazing from way back. The North Node is conjunct Chiron in Aquarius all month, and all the Virgo planets are co-ruled by Chiron in Aquarius…again, the wound of the visionary, of the ones leading into the future and the difficulty, attacks and alienation that sometimes go with that.

Mars leaves Virgo for Libra, the sign of balance, harmony, justice and relationship, August 19, and we desire to maintain peace and harmony…which might be difficult, depending on what the Full Moon eclipse and square to Pluto has kicked up. Anyway, here we strive to balance and harmonize “me” with “we.” And to begin new relationships that reflect who we are now and the community we desire to be a part of.

August 5, Venus leaves Leo for Virgo.
August 10, Mercury follows suit.
August 22, the Sun moves into Virgo.
Saturn is in Virgo all month (and for the next year and a bit).

As the month progresses and we shift focus from Leo to Virgo, we move from pure, creative expression of the self and revelry in being who we are to refinement of the self and the ego so as to be of service. Virgo is the sign where we master ourselves, detail by detail, and focus our efforts. Here is where we find “right work.” The work that feels right; the role only we can do.

The planets in mutable Virgo are busy this month…lots of adjustments, changes, cutting away the extraneous, making refinements. Mercury and Venus in Virgo will conjunct Saturn, trine Jupiter in Capricorn, oppose Uranus in Pisces and square Pluto in Sagittarius throughout August.

The cumulative effect of these aspects is challenging us to understand what is being asked of us by the forces of change and to take responsibility for improving things that need improvement on an earthy level. Mars, Mercury and Venus in Virgo opposing Uranus in Pisces, in particular, relate to getting real about practical reality and addressing it so that we can move forward in a real, rather than artificial and over-inflated, way. Understanding the practical realities of the whole. It means dropping old Piscean spiritual ego and ideas of spiritual hierarchy, in general (the “more enlightened than thou” trip). Taking a look at the material circumstances on Planet Earth and taking action to address things we can no longer let slide. Getting our heads out of the Neptunian clouds. Understanding that the work to be done is right in front of us, right here. It’s not about transcending it, ascending past it, or floating along in a state of denial about what is going on. At the same time, we have to recognize when we should just surrender. Choosing our battles and using our energies effectively so as not to overwhelm ourselves. Not taking the weight of the world on our shoulders but not burying our heads in the sand, either.

Dropping the Piscean “head in the clouds” thing is a big battle going on lately on the Internet message boards. The Love and Light Brigade declaring that they live in a “different dimension,” beyond the suffering going on on Planet Earth. To me, this is more misuse of the “creating your own reality” ideology. “I create my reality, you create your’s,” they repeat. Nice sentiment. Unfortunately, this solipsistic idea of reality doesn’t take into consideration collective reality. It doesn’t address how realities are inter-related, inter-connected. Or the fact that if you are currently living on Planet Earth, you are part of the situation, like it, admit it or not. What is going on affects all of us. We’re on the same planet on the material, biological level. There is no escaping physical reality (Virgo) by insisting one is spiritually above it all (Pisces). No one lives in a vacuum. And the denial of the darker, more unpleasant realities of what is going on on this planet is only furthering atrocities. It only gives them free rein. Historically, denial has not proven to be an effective strategy for change.

Another big push in the “creating my own reality” group (that will be put in check by the grounded, no-nonsense Virgo energy) is that positive people create positive realities, negative people create negative realities. This is how they explain away things like war, crime, homelessness, poverty, injustice, class/race/sex oppression, etc. Instead of these situations being the cause of anger and “negativity,” the anger and “negativity” create the situations, they insist. Back assward if you ask me. Using this ideology, people are often discredited or written off for being “angry,” “negative,” or “in a lower form of consciousness” and creating their own bleak circumstances all of their own volition - a convenient way for the positivity police to block out anything that they find personally upsetting. And yet another way that people can dismiss the current circumstances on the planet as “not my problem.” Another way to shirk any collective responsibility for the circumstances in which we find ourselves (“Doesn’t affect me! I’m above all that!”)…while remaining blind to the ways that they take part in and benefit from these dynamics. Again, not effective if you actually want to improve material conditions (Virgo).

The “ultra positive reality creators” equate positive with “good” and negative with “bad.” In reality, positive and negative are charges that just exist. The good/bad thing is something people decide for themselves. The idea that positive creates more positive and more positive is also an error. Negative and positive co-exist on Planet Earth and seek to create balance. Yin and yang. Feminine and masculine. This is a basic physical law on Earth. Excesses of positive will more than likely create excesses of negative…explaining why the rallying cry from the positivity pushers in the New Age establishment is that everyone who disagrees with them is “negative.” Well, when you insist on experiencing only the “positive,” denying anything that doesn’t fit into your happy, happy, blissed-out world view, that leaves the negative to try to balance off those excesses. And here is the challenge of the Virgo energy this month - to provide some much needed reality checks to the dying-days Piscean era ideology that has gotten a little out-of-touch with physical reality…

Doing things in an attempt to elevate ourselves above the masses and the problems on the planet will not be effective. Doing things simply to prove how “enlightened” we are will also not be effective. Recreating the forms of the past is not what is being asked of us. Under these astro conditions, we must be cutting a path forward as equals, staying real and grounded while creating something new. Moving forward collectively. I don’t move forward until we move forward.

We are also being asked to make sure that our creative forces are not being hijacked in ways that we do not agree with. With the focus on Virgo this month, we must define exactly the roles we play using what we’ve learned from listening to our hearts' guidance. Define yourself or be defined, Virgo says! And none of us really wants to be defined by someone else’s limited view of us. Virgo asks that we choose carefully what we participate in, how we use our personal energies (and how others use those energies), cutting away our involvement in those dynamics we do not wish to further. Virgo relates to service, and too often in today’s societies, the huge contribution of service people is overlooked for something more superficial and glamorous. Too often, Virgoan service falls into dynamics where its masterful energy is taken for granted and not appreciated or recognized as much as it should be. This has to change. And changing it means a lot of analysis and focus on the details of our lives. We need to be precise in what we do and say so that we are serving only what should be served (in our personal estimation)…serving only those situations and dynamics we wish to further, rather than propping up structures, dynamics and people that do not warrant our energy and assistance. The current structures will not shift until we make the adjustments personally that we need to make, coming directly into alignment with our heart’s truth and personal vision. We must take responsibility for the service, assistance and roles we provide within the systems of our society. We have to ask the questions: Who and what am I serving? What dynamics am I supporting and continuing by playing the roles I play? How am I being utilized within the systems of my life, and do I agree with it? With Virgo, the smallest adjustments and refinements create big results. No detail is meaningless. Adjusting, adjusting, adjusting and looking to understand the reality of the world around us so that we truly understand our own context within it.

At the end of the month, Mercury (August 28) and then Venus (August 30) join Mars in Libra. Now, we start to see Libra themes related to balance, equality and justice. Our relationships with others come into play more fully, and we work to harmonize the differences that came up earlier in the month (and year). Some relations can be harmonized…others will have to change dramatically. Keeping the peace is a Libra theme. And hopefully, by this point, we are working to maintain a true, core-level peace and harmony. The squares between Virgo and Pluto at the tail-end of Sagittarius should have forced our different allegiances and ideologies to the surface one final time for analysis. If we have done our work here, we can avoid a Libra pitfall…which is keeping things nicey nicey on the surface while darker, unresolved things brew underneath. Superficial peace does not last long. Avoiding uncomfortable realities and differences within our relationships will eventually come back to bite us in the ass. With luck, we can take these things on in a meaningful way and create a new harmony, based in practical reality.

The last day of the month brings our second New Moon of August. This one is in Virgo and will usher in a new cycle related to the Virgo themes mentioned earlier in the Astro Perspective. Taking responsibility for all aspects of the roles we play, the functions we perform.

- defining ourselves and our roles very precisely
- discontinuing those dynamics we no longer wish to support
- serving only what we truly feel befits us at our best
- focussing, working out the details, smoothing out the rough edges
- cutting out detritus on all levels
- improving diet, habits, holistic health in general
- removing anything that is a detriment to mental or physical health
- streamlining to conserve energy