Venus Rx in Leo Conjunct Black Moon Lilith: Activist Art, Punk Art, Outsider Art, and Art with an Edge

Venus is currently retrograde in Leo (July 22 - September 3, 2023) conjunct Black Moon Lilith, the lunar apogee. These astrological symbols indicate themes around "art with an edge," activist art, punk art, outsider art, and art that expresses something uncomfortable or even repugnant to the mainstream. Venus Rx in Leo conjunct Black Moon Lilith also indicates review or reflection on these themes. In light of the astrology, I thought I would look back to a darkly hilarious experience I had in 2019/2020: The scrappy little photo above documents dual forms of censorship. It also illustrates how regular people censor each other so that "uncomfortable and inconvenient" information never makes it to the broader public. I did a "5G Dangers Awareness" postering campaign on public bulletin boards in Castlegar, British Columbia in 2020 and 2021. Each time I put them up (in multiple locations), the posters would be ripped down within days. Each time, I would replace the posters. This little game went on for months. Under the anti-5G poster, you can see a poster for Castlegar's Open Mic Night. I was the main organizer of this open mic in 2019, spending many unpaid hours doing the legwork and promotion to get it up and running. This involved encouraging and promoting the other performers. I shared some writing from my zines at the first three open mics. The third reading involved a folk punk song I had written about fluoroquinolone antibiotic poisoning and the maker of the drug that harmed me, Bayer. I also talked about the recent Bayer-Monsanto merger and the upcoming worldwide march against Bayer-Monsanto. Afterward, some of the other performers went behind my back to try to have me censored because what I had read made them uncomfortable. At the open mic I organized. At my own open mic! "I Was Censored At My Own Open Mic...and Other Tales from the Plutonic Punk Underground!" I can laugh at this experience now as the absurdity that it is, but it was quite traumatic at the time. None of the other performers/founding members stood up for me or for my right to perform. I wrote an article about it on my blog at the time, and the jist of it was: Art doesn't have to make you feel comfortable! Art doesn't have to be all warm and fuzzy. That's entertainment, and there's a difference between art and entertainment. Punk art and activist art are just as worthy as teenagers singing rock-and-roll cover songs.

 

* mic drop! *

 

 

 

 

Related Articles:

 

The Nazis Got Me With Fluoride Pills! 

 

Venus Conjunct Uranus, Open Mic Censorship, and the Apolitical Arts Scene

 

Mercury-Black Moon Lilith Contacts, Censorship, and Reporting From the Fringes

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

 

Pluto Stationing Retrograde in Capricorn: From Millions Against Monsanto to Billions Against Bayer  

WWA articles on Ciprofloxacin, fluorquinolone antibiotic poisoning, and Big Pharma

WWA articles on 5G and cell tower dangers

VIDEO - Black Moon Lilith and Empowerment Through the Embracing of 'Outsider Status'

 

 

Bitchute Link to Video

 

Associated articles:

The Diminishing and Marginalization of "Those Types" of Astrologers Within the Astrology Establishment

 

The Push for Standardized Astrological Education As a Pluto in Capricorn-Era Control Mechanism

 

Mercury-Black Moon Lilith Contacts, Censorship, and Reporting From the Fringes

 

All Willow's Web Astrology articles on Black Moon Lilith 

 

New Moon in Cancer Conjunct Black Moon Lilith: Emotional Empowerment Through the Nullification of Authoritarianism in All Forms

Well, this Cancer season, so strongly coloured by Black Moon Lilith energy, has been one for the history books - and not in a good way. 

The authoritarians are swinging their dicks (or their tits) around pretty fast and furious these days on multiple fronts, trying to convince us that they hold legitimate authority over us, over our values, over our decisions, over our bodies, and over our lives.

They do not.

They never have.

They never will.

The man-made, coercion-driven, violence-enforced version of authority they hold is false, fake, corrupt, illegitimate, and oh-so-flimsy. 

But Pluto (power) is in its last gasp in Capricorn (institutions, hierarchy), you see, and the race is on to lock down their Grand Authoritarian Schemes and all the control that goes along with them before Pluto shifts into Aquarius in March 2023.

Of course, most recently, we've seen the (obviously orchestrated) overturning of Roe vs. Wade in the United States, which will make abortion illegal in almost half of the 50 states unless those states overturn their own laws. (That's a very real possibility in some of those states.)

The Sun entered Cancer, the sign of mothers, family, and the feminine, on June 21, marking summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. Roe versus Wade was overturned on June 24. 

The Sun joined Black Moon Lilith, the point of deep, dark, denied feminine experience, in the sign of Cancer. Black Moon Lilith has been moving back and forth between Gemini and Cancer since December 2021. 

Today, we experience an extremely powerful New Moon at 7 degrees Cancer (8:52 p.m. CST) that falls tightly conjunct Black Moon Lilith in Cancer and exactly square Jupiter in Aries. The Sun and Moon are coming together at the lunar apogee - the point in the Moon's orbit where it is furthest from Earth. This indicates a month-long lunar cycle (June 28 to July 28) characterized by emotional extremes and dark emotional states connected to the historical mistreatment of women, mothers, and the feminine. We're being stretched emotionally to the furthest points we can possibly tolerate - and hopefully not beyond. Conditions are being orchestrated to exhaust and deplete us emotionally, and we must see through these orchestrations if we are to maintain an even keel. 

The New Moon in Cancer conjunct Black Moon Lilith is occurring in exact square to Jupiter in Aries, which puts issues around reproductive rights and the active fight for those rights in the Cosmic Spotlight. There is an undercurrent of ugly misogyny being exposed, being thrown under the spotlight, as well as the historical authoritarian control of women and the feminine. These are all Black Moon Lilith in Cancer themes. 

 New Moon at 7 degrees Cancer conjunct Black Moon Lilith and square Jupiter in Aries - June 28, 2022

Click to enlarge.

This astrology indicates a lunar cycle (June 28 to July 28) with a very deep, complex, and often disturbing emotional tenor. The emotional subtext is heavy, immersive, difficult to deny. We're working through some emotional trigger points, some trauma, and some historical (and present day) misogyny and mistreatment of women and the feminine. 

We're also being played. Hard.

I Was Censored at My Own Open Mic...and Other Tales From the Plutonic Punk Underground - VIDEO

If only people had listened all along instead of censoring, denying, and ostracizing...

 

We'd be in a much different scenario than we are today. 

 

All the (censored) information in this video is highly applicable to current-day events.  

[Hilariously (dark humour, of course), this video about my long history of being censored has now been censored and removed by YouTube. Here is a Bitchute link to the same video. I also posted this video at Odysee.]

 

VIDEO from October 2019: Mercury-Black Moon Lilith Contacts and Censorship

Related Articles:

 

From May 14, 2019 - Venus Conjunct Uranus, Open Mic Censorship, and the Apolitical Arts Scene 

 

From January 29, 2019 - Mercury-Black Moon Lilith Contacts, Censorship, and Reporting From the Fringes

 

Videos:

Odysee: Mercury-Black Moon Lilith Contacts and Censorship

 

Bitchute: Mercury-Black Moon Lilith Contacts and Censorship

Venus Conjunct Uranus, Open Mic Censorship, and the Apolitical Arts Scene

Venus (arts) is currently conjunct Uranus (sudden events, upheaval, community, radical), and a 15-year-old from a cover band just tried to censor me at an open mic that I was instrumental in organizing and promoting.

I couldn't make this stuff up at this point.

This was the third open mic we had put on. I was an original organizer and put many, many (unpaid) hours into organizing, promoting, social media, local media, liaising with the public library, photography, videography, and even the writing and creation of a 40-page Open Mic Nights Zine to be sold to raise funds for the open mic. 

In fact, I'll blow my own horn here and say that I'm the reason this open mic has gotten organized so quickly and efficiently and why it has been running so well. I was the driver, so to speak. I've also been very supportive and encouraging of all the performers involved, and I've encouraged newbies to join us despite their nerves, as well. IE. lots of emotional energy has been expended, as well as physical/intellectual.

Mercury-Black Moon Lilith Contacts, Censorship, and Reporting From the Fringes

Media and communication planet Mercury forms an exterior conjunction to the Sun in Aquarius today (6:52 p.m. PST) at 9 degrees. 

These bodies continue travelling in conjunction until Mercury enters Pisces on February 10. The Sun and Mercury are also forming conjunctions to Black Moon Lilith (BML), the point of deep, dark, denied feminine experience. 

This indicates that the Sun is shining its light on outsider (BML) information (Mercury) and on those who write, speak, and share that information. 

Reporting from the fringes!

Mercury-Black Moon Lilith contacts can indicate perspectives that are inflammatory or disturbing to a more mainstream or establishment mindset (even pseudo-alternative varieties), and these outsider perspectives can sometimes create hostile backlash for the marginalized messengers. 

There's some bounce-back, some rejection, some ejection, some circling of the wagons associated with Black Moon Lilith, and when winged messenger Mercury is involved, this particularly relates to information, ideas, and communication. 

As a person with a prominent Mercury-Black Moon Lilith contact in the natal chart, I'm offering up an illustrative tale here from my 20-year experience as a writer and reporter who has always, through no intention of my own, had a very hard time getting my work included in the public discourse - both mainstream and alternative versions.

Before I became the ass-kicking anarchist astro-reporter whose words you are reading here today (heh), I briefly worked in mainstream media.  I have an undergraduate degree in journalism and communications from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan. But even way back in journalism school, the BML writing was on the wall. 

I came to understand quite quickly that the media outlets as they existed would not allow me to do the work I needed to do. I knew they wouldn't accept my perspective or the perspectives of people like me as fully legitimate, as deserving of a voice and a real place at the table. 

A New Moon Conjunct Black Moon Lilith in Aquarius: Exploring the Outer Reaches of Our Emotional Landscapes

"A New Moon Conjunct Black Moon Lilith in Aquarius: Exploring the Outer Reaches of Our Emotional Landscapes" is an article available to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

This article also includes my 2,500-word primer on Black Moon Lilith and its sometimes-hardcore themes.

If you regularly find Willow's Web Astrology valuable, please consider becoming a patron. Patrons receive rich, detailed astrological articles to their email inboxes that are not available on the public blog. 

You can become a patron for less than the cost of a fancy cup of coffee per month. 

Full Moon in Aquarius Total Lunar Eclipse: Celebrating Our "Weirdness" and Eccentric Fabulousity!

 A groovy-electric Aquarius Full Moon ahead, baby!

The Moon is now growing full, pushing its way to a powerhouse Aquarius Full Moon total lunar eclipse on July 27 (1:20 p.m. PDT) within a tight fixed T-square configuration and a loose Fixed Grand Cross.

This Full Moon total lunar eclipse in Aquarius is the longest eclipse we will experience in the 21st century with a 103-minute totality, and this gives it some extra kick. 

In the icy air sign of Aquarius, also conjunct lunar apogee Black Moon Lilith in late Capricorn, this is a Full Moon eclipse that celebrates the weird and the wonderful. It celebrates the people who don't fit in, who can't go along with the standard protocols, and who lead in order to advance the scene for humanity, even when it means sacrificing personal comfort, professional standing, social acceptance, or financial security. 

This includes people working from outside the system and also people working from within. It's the shared vision for a better future for all on this planet and the willingness to work, always, toward that vision that create the common bond. This common bond and common drive connect us from our often-disparate social positions.

This is a Full Moon that celebrates the fabulousness of being exactly who we are and letting the chips fall where they may.
 

So here's to all the square pegs in round holes out there! 

We've arrived! 

We've achieved! 

We've overcome! 

And damnnnnnn, we're fabulous.

I know it's trendy these days to call yourself "weird." It's become a sort of status symbol to take on an image of carefully-curated eccentricity. 

But to actually be considered one of the "weirdos" of society (even when you don't consider yourself to be weird) is often not a very pleasant thing. The conjunction of this Full Moon to Black Moon Lilith brings in some of these harsher elements. Being considered a "weirdo" or an "ill-fit" by mainstream or pseudo-alternative societies often involves isolation, ostracism, vilification, opposition, and straight-up attacks. It often requires one to forego the comforts and rewards of fitting in - socially, professionally, financially, with family.

This isn't the type of "weird" that involves eating brunch off a shovel, learning to play the ukelele, or wearing ironically outdated eyeglasses.

This is the type of weird that is often dangerous to one's personal well-being.

This isn't carefully-curated eccentricity. 

It's one's natural way of being coming into frictional, sometimes explosive, contact with "the way things are" and with the people who are mostly doing just fine with the way things are.

Triggers and Baiting and Smokescreens, Oh My!

 The clock in my town is stopped at 11:11...

We're currently in the grips of a very spicy opposition between Venus in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn. This opposition is in effect now, and social/relational/financial pressures may be building as the aspect becomes exact June 5 at 20 degrees of the signs (7:25 p.m. PDT). 

A Venus-Pluto opposition, which occurs about once a year, has a real "cut the crap and cut to the chase" sort of tenor at the best of times. This one is made extra spicy by the influence of Black Moon Lilith in Capricorn, which is tightly conjunct Pluto, as well as soul mate asteroid Juno in Aries.

People may become triggered very easily under this aspect, and, with the extra-triggering influence of Black Moon Lilith, those triggers may carry on and on and on...

Understand this charged social/relational atmosphere, and give space where necessary. 

The cardinal sign influence indicates that we may need to lead or participate or stick our necks out in some way within this charged atmosphere. But after we've done what we need to do, we can take a cue from Black Moon Lilith and duck out of sight/reach. 

Laying low or practising mindful avoidance at key charged points has distinct advantages now. 

If you have unintentionally triggered someone with an innocent remark, there may be some damage-control finessing you can do to set things right. Some soothing or apologizing or smoothing over. But there also might not be! Juno in Aries says, you may just need to stand your ground and do your thing, regardless of the reactions around you.

We're not going down as martyrs anymore, friends. That's so last era.

So remember: other people's triggers are not your responsibility, just as your triggers are not theirs. Recognize the roots of the reactions or behaviour if possible, but don't allow people to dump a steaming pile of nasty emotions on your lap. Just step out of the way. Allow some processing time. And keep your lips zipped until you sense the "all clear."

Confident women with strong personalities may be especially triggering now, particularly to The Old Guard sticking with the patriarchal rules of engagement. But you know what, strong women of the world? That's not our problem! Those are triggers that need to be sprung, and we're going to spring them just by being ourselves and doing what we need to do in this world. 

There's a pretty strong "suck it up" vibe with this one, especially for those doing their best to reinforce old, outdated status quos. There will be some ego bruising for those clinging to the old standards.

At the same time as we're doing our thing with our fine-yet-triggering selves, we're doing our best to avoid our own known trigger zones so as to save ourselves the time-suck and energy-spew that triggered emotions create.

We may be thinking some dark-ass thoughts about the people around us and about human society in general under this Venus in Cancer opposition to Pluto-Black Moon Lilith in Capricorn, but know that the "human intolerability quotient" is exaggerated at the moment and will start to ease as Venus moves out of orb of the opposition to Pluto-BML (officially by June 13 when Venus enters Leo). 

Just as our social/relational tolerance levels are being stretched to the breaking point by Venus opposite Pluto-BML, the Sun and Mercury come together in exterior conjunction at 15 degrees Gemini (June 5 at 7:02 p.m.), forming challenging square aspects to stationing (ie. very potent) Neptune in Pisces on June 6. 

(Neptune is currently slowing to station retrograde on June 18 at 16 degrees Pisces.)

These aspects to stationing-intense Neptune indicate a confused and chaotic element to things where people may be looking for a scapegoat to blame for their pain, struggles, and troubles. People may not be able to pinpoint exact what is stuck in their craws, so they may lash out at whatever or whoever is handy.

Again...we ain't playin' that game.

The Sun-Mercury in Gemini square to Neptune in Pisces also indicates a prime time for media-related distractions (the Roseanne gong show springs to mind - that had to be a set-up from the get-go), as well as mainstream media outlets attempting to pull the wool over our eyes in some way. (When are they not doing that, though, really?) 

Eliminating as much contact with media as possible may be in order for the next couple weeks. Read a good book instead! Get outside. Forget the diversionary maya world being constructed for us via mainstream media and social media. Really...you don't need to pay it much mind at all. 

Mercury in Gemini will continue into an awkward, uncomfortable, and potentially-inflammatory quincunx aspect to Pluto and Black Moon Lilith in Capricorn on June 8, and again, this indicates that mainstream media and social media have an even more toxic element to them than usual. Conversation, ideas, and words are not hitting the right spot, either, and this may be one of those "duck out of sight" times. 

The Sun in Gemini continues into this quincunx to Pluto-BML on June 11, extending the intensification of media toxicity for a few more days. 

There is a lot that we need to be outsmarting and seeing through these days, and the hair-trigger intuition of Black Moon Lilith conjunct Pluto helps us to spot the poison before we inadvertently swallow it down...

That Black, Black, Black Moon Truth

Bringing more beauty to this world and to my life!

I was part of an art market recently, and the brilliant awesomeness of Aryelle Attridge-Weeks from two tables away was near-blinding! Lucky for me, she is not as scared of other humans as I am (or she fakes it nicely). She suggested an art trade, and she also enjoys cow photos! Perfect. I'm delighted to have her gorgeous watercolour print on my wall. She worked previously as a tattoo apprentice and I love the combination of tattoo culture and fine art.

Yesterday was the eight-year anniversary of me being poisoned by the fluoroquinolone antibiotic Cipro. There's not a day that goes by that I do not experience some sort of pain, dysfunction, discomfort, or emotional/psychological horror directly caused by this drug.

I was mis-prescribed the terribly dangerous Ciprofloxacin in late 2009 for a very minor urinary tract infection and was never given any warning about the potential side effects, despite a Black Box Warning about tendon rupture that already existed on the drug. The Black Box Warnings did not trickle down to prescribing physicians, and most of the people describing the damage done to us by fluoroquinolone antibiotics have not been believed by the medical establishment.

In light of the current "dark truth-telling" themes with Mercury retrograde conjunct Saturn, Venus, Sun, and Black Moon Lilith in Sagittarius, I thought I would interject a little Black Moon-style truth into the following articles, pulled from mainstream media sites. (Bold All Caps, just to be uber punk rock/stereotypical internet activisty...heh)

"The Fascists Got Me With Fluoride Pills" would make a good folk-punk song...

From a July 26, 2016 article by Maggie Fox, "FDA Strengthens Warning on Powerful Antibiotics":

"The Food and Drug Administration strengthened the warnings about one type of antibiotic Tuesday, saying they’re too strong (STRONG = "POTENTIALLY DEADLY OR PERMANENTLY DEBILITATING") to be used for sinus infections, bronchitis and simple urinary tract infections.

(EXCEPT HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PERMANENTLY DAMAGED, DEBILITATED, OR DISABLED EVEN SINCE THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BECAUSE FLUOROQUINOLONE ANTIBIOTICS WERE PRESCRIBED AND DISPENSED AS JUST THAT - FIRST LINE ANTIBIOTICS FOR MINOR INFECTIONS? THEY'VE BEEN PRESCRIBED AND DISPENSED LIKE THIS FOR DECADES NOW WITH DOCTORS DENYING OUR STORIES ABOUT THE DEBILITATION. THIS DAMAGE WAS KNOWN ABOUT FOR DECADES, AND THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT KEPT DOLING THESE DRUGS OUT WITHOUT WARNING!)

The drugs are in a class called fluoroquinolones and include levofloxacin (as known as Levaquin) and ciprofloxacin (Cipro). They can cause serious and sometimes permanent side-effects. (A LAUNDRY LIST OF MORE THAN 50 SYMPTOMS, SOME EXTREME/TERRIFYING, MANY LIFE-THREATENING. THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THESE DRUGS WILL SHORTEN THE LIVES OF MANY OF THEIR VICTIMS.)

Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius: Know What You Believe, and Believe in What You Know

Look at that face! 

Photos: Willow

Mercury retrograde December 2 - 22, 2017, from 29 degrees to 13 degrees Sagittarius

Communication planet Mercury has just stationed retrograde (December 2) on the potent anaretic (29th) degree of truth-telling Sagittarius in close conjunction to Saturn and Black Moon Lilith.

This indicates that we're receiving some mental processing time, some final integration of truth and understanding we've been gathering throughout the entire Saturn in Sagittarius transit (December 2014 - December 2017). 

With the strong influence of Black Moon Lilith on the Mercury retrograde process, this truth and understanding may have some dark elements or difficult angles.

Certain truths - about ourselves, about our world, and about our places in that world - are sinking in here, and we'll ultimately be shored up, supported, and validated (Saturn) in that truth.

With the strong influence of Black Moon Lilith in Sagittarius, some of the truth requiring full integration now is a little difficult to swallow. Some of the truth and understanding we carry - and that we are being called on to share in the world - may be difficult for others (or ourselves) to accept. Sharing what we know may bring us into frictional contact with others and with the society around us. It may put us at odds with accepted consensus reality. So there is an element of drawing on our deepest faith and also on our sense of duty and responsibility. These are things that can fortify us in challenging messenger roles. 

The information and perspective we are being called on to share may involve truth that the mainstream society refuses or even violently rejects. This may be truth - deep, dark, and concentrated - that society will do almost anything to deny, silence, or stuff down.

Under these placements, our voices, our words, may unintentionally trigger others, especially those of a more establishment-friendly perspective (even alternative-establishment). 

Chiron in Late Pisces: Spiritual Solidarity with Leslie Demeniuk and Those Unjustly Imprisoned, Past, Present, and Future

Photos: Willow

This is a call for spiritual solidarity with Leslie Demeniuk and for all those unjustly imprisoned on Earth, past, present and future. 

Leslie is a 48-year-old woman currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole at Lowell Correctional Institution, a women's prison in Ocala, Florida.

(Lowell Correctional Institution has been described as "a special hell for women," where it is common for female inmates to die under suspicious circumstances. There have been accusations by prisoners of sexual exploitation, beatings, and torture of inmates by guards.)

Leslie is a victim of the pharmaceuticals industry – of their dangerous and deadly drugs, of their lies, of their cover-ups, and of their diabolical greed, which places profit over human life. Leslie is a victim of the patriarchal hierarchy known as the medical establishment, where doctors and medical professionals often refuse to listen to patients, arrogantly (or at the very least, ignorantly) continuing with practices that contravene the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm:

"I will apply diatetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. 

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect."

It is the pharmaceuticals executives of GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer Inc. who should be serving this prison time, not Leslie. Leslie – like millions of others around the world  – is a victim of a reckless and irresponsible industry focused on profit, rather than real care and consideration for human beings.

In 2001, Leslie was going through a divorce and custody battle and was experiencing depression - a natural reaction considering the circumstances. Leslie saw a nurse practitioner at a local clinic and was given trial samples of the new generation anti-depressant Zoloft (manufactured and sold by Pfizer Inc.), as well as the anti-anxiety medication Xanax. 

(Of course, the instant reaction from the mainstream medical establishment is: drugs.)

 

Howling at the Aquarius Full Moon Opposite Black Moon Lilith in Leo

The Moon is full in Aquarius this weekend with prime viewing on Saturday night. This Full Moon is at perigee - the closest the Moon comes to Earth in its orbit - so make sure to howl! This is the biggest, boldest Full Moon of the year.

The Aquarius Full Moon at 18 degrees occurs opposite a pile-up of planets and points in demonstrative and dramatic Leo - the Sun and Mercury tightly conjunct, Jupiter, and Black Moon Lilith.

This brings a bit of a party vibe with the desire to see and be seen. Many will want to dress up a little, imbibe a little, and show themselves (and their friends) off.

With our lady Black Moon Lilith at this Full Moon party, however, we can expect some personality friction if we are not careful to allow everyone his or her own space to shine. As stated in a previous post, with the planets and points in Leo squaring Mars and Saturn in Scorpio, we are working with the idea of "creative and personality-based jurisdiction," ensuring there are no crossed wires, hurt feelings, or stepped-on toes.

This Full Moon is in egalitarian Aquarius, and remember: Aquarius thinks you're just as special as the next guy!

This Full Moon also occurs in fixed t-square with Saturn in Scorpio, adding to the underlying charge and personality subtext. It will be easy to unintentionally rub people the wrong way under these astro influences, and it will also be easy to be triggered ourselves.

Attention is a bit of a frictional subject these days, in general, and there is an inverse relationship here that must be watched carefully. There are people who naturally get a lot of attention and support for almost anything they do - perhaps a disproportionate amount. And then there are people who do what they do masterfully and without a lot of fanfare.

People who generally get a lot of attention may be triggering those who deserve more, while those whose stars are on the rise may be triggering those who have gotten used to being in the spotlight.

With the North Node transiting Libra, there is a social re-balancing underway, and some who have been neglected on "attention and visibility" fronts will be getting a boost, particularly with the squares to Saturn in Scorpio.

We're learning to share the fruits of Jupiter, newly in Leo, which brings a boost to creativity, personality, visibility, and general applause.

Frivolousness and self-aggrandizing behaviour will be put in tight social check, however, so keep attention-getting behaviour to a minimum over the next few weeks, instead allowing natural radiance and support to come to you.

If you know you are a strong Black Moon Lilith-type or have a particularly charged personality, understand that less is more. Feel out any points of resistance to your presence, to your personality, or to what you're throwing down, and make like true Black Moon Lilith: yield, move, change things up, disappear for a while. Your presence resonates, whether you desire it to or not, and this continues strongly through August as the personal planets in Leo pick up the BML charge.

The energy is big and potentially-volatile at this perigee Full Moon, so maintain that objective Aquarian detachment from the scene (and from yourself) whenever necessary.

There is a strong theme here of being exactly who you are - weirdness, wildness, and all - so that you fit exactly into your rightful community. But this also about knowing how to fit into that community so that you are accepted by those from whom you desire acceptance.

We are the builders, the shapers, the movers, the shakers, the creators, and the risk-takers of the future we wish to see on this planet. Let 'er fly a little this weekend! Focus on the future you wish to see, the future you are creating one step at a time, and stay inspired despite the difficulties of the times.

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The Sun Enters Aquarius and Black Moon Lilith Opposes in Leo

Photo: Willow

The Sun entered icy cool Aquarius, the sign of its detriment, on January 19, providing us all with some much-needed  s  p  a  c  e.

The Aquarius Sun is squaring the nodal axis, which completes the transit of Scorpio/Taurus on February 18. At the end of this transit, this is a pretty hot and overloaded little axis.

With the North Node of the Moon in early Scorpio and Saturn in late Scorpio, we're focused very intently and very intensely on some deep-down drama and intrigue - personally, on a planetary level, or both. We're not sure how much longer we can hold this intensity, this X-Ray vision making us aware of every last hidden angle, every last suppressed raw point that could trip us up over the long run.

It's all a bit much.

So we get this objective and coolly-detached Aquarian infusion just in time. The Sun will spend the next month in Aquarius (also until February 18), and we will also experience a Mercury retrograde in the sign of the water-bearer.

The space, distance, and emotional detachment of Aquarius come into sharp contrast with the intensity, intimacy, and dog-on-bone conviction we find with Scorpio. You may recall that our last Mercury retrograde period - highly challenging - occurred in Scorpio (October 21 to November 10, 2013) with Mercury making a series of conjunctions to tough cookie Saturn. During the upcoming Mercury retrograde in early Pisces/Aquarius (February 6 to 28, 2014), Mercury will form a series of tense and dynamic square aspects to Saturn in Scorpio. Over the next couple months, we will have the opportunity - whether we like it or not - to employ an extreme level of mental and emotional detachment with a wide-ranging bird's eye view of the very intense proceedings before us now.

This breezy Aquarian infusion is even more important for "even keel" maintenance now, as the wild and raw true calculation of Black Moon Lilith has just started dipping into Leo.

Black Moon Lilith (BML), the astrological symbol representing the lunar apogee, spends about nine months in each of the signs of the zodiac. There are two calculations for Black Moon Lilith - a true calculation and a mean calculation, which is an averaged daily calculation of the movement of the lunar apogee. Both true and mean points can be used in astrological analysis.

The true Black Moon Lilith point is considered the more raw point, the more erratic, unpredictable, and volatile point, moving quickly back and forth, back and forth in the zodiac. It is this true Black Moon Lilith calculation that has now started dipping into Leo, and this is going to start to bring the diva in a big way.

The mean (averaged) calculation of Black Moon Lilith is currently finishing its transit of Cancer and will enter Leo on March 6 for a transit that lasts until December 3, 2014.

The influence of BML in Leo will be felt into March 2015.

So for most of 2014, dark feminine Black Moon Lilith will be transiting Leo, the sign of artistry, creativity, presence, drama, fun, play, children, personality, ego, celebrity, and star power. 

Transiting Black Moon Lilith in Leo does bring the potential for some diva antics (in males and in females), and those diva antics can have a real edge to them, especially if people feel they have not been allowed to shine fully. People who feel passed over or as if they do not receive the full attention and appreciation their talents warrant will be feeling this one acutely, as will anyone with strong Leo natally or in the progressed chart.

Everyone is going to have to watch the ego antics in 2014, as well as any unconscious or underhanded ploys for attention.

Black Moon Lilith relates to the feminine experience that is generally denied, suppressed, marginalized, or otherwise not given its due.

With Black Moon Lilith in Leo, it is the people who do not generally get their full play that will be in the most powerful - yet volatile - positions now. This is empowerment for the people who are digging into the dark stuff, the suppressed stuff, the stuff that makes the mainstream most uncomfortable. This isn't about going for the easy attention, the easy laugh, the easy ego hit. This isn't about mainstream popularity, either.

This is some hard-core, deep-down, shouting it from the margins creative power, busting some shit wide open that desperately needs to be busted open.

With transiting Black Moon Lilith in Leo, we all need plenty of space to let our star power shine this year. If we come into contact with other Big Personalities in the wrong ways, we are certainly going to know it. Sparks! Sizzle! Snarl! This is not the year to crowd anyone on an ego, personality, or creative level. This is not the year to steal anyone else's sunshine.

In particular, Black Moon Lilith in Leo will have the suppressed female ego, female creativity, female personality, and female star power breaking out of some of the old confines.

This could get ugly if we aren't careful.

Some BML in Leo themes include: the toxic nature of celebrity, the alchemical arts, dark ploys of the ego, broken hearts, living from the depths of the heart, difficult and powerful personalities, stars in meltdown mode, inherent and radiating star power, triggers related to being or feeling special, seen, and appreciated, Queen (and King) Bee attitudes run amok, personality clashes, suppressed creativity coming to the surface in explosive and provocative ways, anarchist art, feminist art, art from the margins, art that makes the mainstream uncomfortable, the lineage of arts and crafts made by women, dark truths about children and childhood, coat-tail riding, attempts to undermine the artistry or star power of another, stealing another's thunder, being painfully passed over despite superiour skills and talent, popularity, raw nerves and extreme sensitivity related to our heartfelt creative output, including children.

This is not a placement that enjoys being head-patted in any way, shape, or form. Fair warning.

Black Moon Lilith in Leo has earned her star power. She knows who she is. And Goddess help anyone who steps on her starshine.  

The sometimes-painful Black Moon Lilith in Leo desires for recognition, praise, and attention could be especially stirred during Aquarius season. Leo is a sign ruled by the Sun - a big, bold, radiating presence. But the currently transiting Sun is in detriment in Aquarius, in a sign opposite the one it naturally rules, and this means it can be difficult to achieve the praise, attention, and "specialness" the Sun so craves.

An Aquarius Sun has a presence that is focused on the big picture, on concepts and ideas, on a future vision, on friendship, on the community as a whole, and on being a presence that is of benefit to that community. As a result, the orientation of the self-expression is often conceptual, group-focused, "beyond" the standard interpersonal relations and concerns, and this Sun placement can have difficulty shining fully as an individual at times.

This difficulty could be exacerbated with dispositor Uranus in competitive Aries, increasing the rebellious need for individuality, independence, and a strong sense of self.

The Sun in Aquarius and the extended stay of Mercury in Aquarius will certainly be a help with the intense and potentially volatile energies afoot over the next while, however.

Any fiery Black Moon Lilith in Leo diva action will be kept in check by these transits through Aquarius. After all, Aquarius thinks you're just as special as the next guy!

One Giant Step Backward for Humankind: Anti-Abortion Crusader Rick Perry Signs Sweeping Anti-Abortion Bill in Texas

Despite Wendy Davis' 11-hour filibuster on June 25 as Jupiter ingressed Cancer conjunct Black Moon Lilith, a sweeping anti-abortion bill has been passed in Texas.

Texas Governor and rabid anti-abortion crusader (yet also, rabid death penalty advocate) Rick Perry called a special session of the Texas Senate specifically to pass the bill.

Unless lawsuits stop it, this bill will close 37 of the 42 abortion clinics in the state, severely limiting access to abortions, especially for women outside major urban areas.

The bill requires that all abortion procedures be performed at a surgical centre. It also requires that all doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (48km) of the clinic.

Only a handful of Texas abortion clinics fall within those parameters, and all are in urban centres.

Under the new bill, women will be required to travel hundreds of miles to receive an abortion. This brings up issues of transportation, time off work, and the cost of overnight stays, which will be a particular deterrent for women in lower income brackets. When you're low income, taking time off work often means losing your job.

This bill is a direct attack against the poor.

Logically, it will increase the number of low-income babies being born, and the Republicans just love those freeloaders, don't they?

They become cannon fodder or poisoned consumers at 18 years of age, but for some reason, those fetuses are just oh-so-precious to the anti-abortion Republican crowd.

Often, women must obtain abortions in secret. This bill makes it almost impossible for women to exercise their free will on this issue in a discreet and private manner.

Wendy Davis: Black Moon Lilith in Cancer in Action, Protecting Abortion Rights

Wendy Davis on the Texas Senate floor June 25.

Photo: Eric Gay/AP

Last night, as Jupiter ingressed Cancer and conjuncted Black Moon Lilith, Texas Democrat senator Wendy Davis was Black Moon Lilith in action.

Davis successfully talked for 11 straight hours on the floor of the U.S. Senate June 25 to stop an anti-abortion bill from reaching Republican Governor Rick Perry's desk. This is a move called filibustering.

As Davis spoke and the midnight deadline of the Senate special session passed, the bill was officially dead - for now.

Through her actions, Davis is drawing attention to the ongoing attack on women's reproductive rights in the United States. Abortion is an issue that often has difficult emotions associated - shame, guilt, sadness, fear, anger. Perfect Black Moon Lilith territory. Abortion is often kept in murky, unspoken territory in our patriarchal societies. Davis standing up on this issue in such a dramatic way - supported by men and women around the world - helps move abortion out of the shadows and into place as a basic, human health issue - where it belongs.

The anti-abortion bill Davis filibustered would have banned abortion past 20 weeks of gestation, limited abortion-inducing drugs, and required that abortions be provided at ambulatory surgical centres by physicians who had admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles. This requirement would have closed 37 of the 42 abortion clinics in Texas, severely limiting access to abortions, especially for rural women who do not live near a hospital.

You may recall that Rick Perry is the Texas Governor who passed the forced sonogram laws in 2012, which required women to have a transvaginal sonogram before they could have an abortion. The laws, which were passed in four states - Texas, Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina - required doctors to basically attempt to talk women out of having abortions right at the abortion clinic itself.

Jupiter Enters Cancer at Lunar Apogee: The Wisdom of Our Pitch Blackest Emotional Experiences

Tonight at 8:40 p.m. CST, Jupiter moves from the sign of its detriment (Gemini) to the sign of its exaltation (Cancer) for a one-year stay. As Jupiter makes the ingress, it is at lunar apogee, conjunct the astrological symbol Black Moon Lilith, and this energy colours the entire year-long Jupiter transit.

The wisdom gleaned from our pitch blackest emotional experiences fills our bones like marrow. This becomes our lantern in the darkness, a year-long guiding light through the often horrifying themes and circumstances of the Pluto in Capricorn era.

We draw on the simple, nourishing wisdom of our mothers, our grandmothers, our roots, our families, our clans, our homes, our emotions, and our souls to get through this one. We draw on the wisdom of our early upbringings, particularly the difficult experiences. But we use it to advance, not to fall back. We're hurtling into Aquarius, and there's no going home again, no matter what the Cancerian nostalgia is telling you...

Black Moon Lilith is a symbol of the dark, denied feminine experience. In the cultural stories, Lilith was Adam's first wife. She refused to be his wifely subordinate and was kicked out of the Garden of Eden, exiled, because of it. Adam hooked up with Eve, who was content to be just a rib, just an offshoot of her man. And Lilith discovered that comfy, cosy society would prefer her 'out of sight, out of mind.' Truth be told, it would prefer her dead so that it didn't have to look at what she reflected, represented.

There has been a whole lot of post-post-modern mythologizing about Black Moon Lilith. To the point that it has been swaddled and stifled by the psychological takes.

You have to remember that the myths in astrology exist primarily so that we can get a handle on the energy of the points or bodies. It's about putting them into context so we can properly apply them in our lives and in our selves.

So stripping down all the myth and the layered language: Black Moon Lilith is raw, raging, volatile, marginalized, vilified. It's a caged animal screaming "fuck you" to whoever put it there. It's a trigger point with a deep reach into longstanding issues, grudges, resentments. It touches the historical mistreatment of women and the historical downplaying of feminine knowledge on this planet, in general.

It's also a point of our deepest power, creativity, and hard-won feminine know-how. It's a point where we're willing to stand alone, in our power, in our righteousness, in our marginalized understanding of things. If we tap this point correctly, harnessing the raw and wild energy surging up from its depths, it is source. It is Kali destroying maya, ripping down blinders, yanking heads out of sand, tearing phony constructs asunder. It is Kali forcing us to see, to understand, to know how it really is on this planet and how it really has been.

The state of women on this planet is abysmal. The state of the soulful on this planet is abysmal. Emotional health is in the tank in many, many respects. Our institutions and power hierarchies reinforce this, and Black Moon Lilith transiting Cancer isn't going to let us forget it.

This Black Moon Lilith point, with all its discomfort, alienation, and disturbance, is a primary source of guiding wisdom over the next year. It's our lucky horseshoe. Acknowledging its dark and often disturbing wisdom, accepting it, validating it, drawing it into the whole - this is how we fully capitalize on the blessings Jupiter would now like to bestow.

The cultural wisdom and the cultural myths have mostly been written by men, from the male point-of-view. During the transit of Jupiter in Cancer, women's wisdom and stories are in the spotlight.

Some long-denied issues are coming to the forefront this year, particularly related to mothers, mothering, nurturing, supporting, food, cooking, the nuclear family unit, home life, femininity, emotion, and soul. If we work to bring these issues into the mainstream whole, we can experience both emotional resolution and rapid expansion during Jupiter's transit of Cancer.

Adam Lanza: Another Pluto in Scorpio Overloaded

NOTE: There is now good evidence that the Sandy Hook shootings did not happen. You can take the article that follows as a commentary on the very real pressures on the Pluto in Scorpio generation. It's possible Adam Lanza died one day before Sandy Hook.

On December 14, coming out of the Sagittarius New Moon, a 20-year-old male named Adam Lanza reportedly entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and shot and killed 27 people, including 20 children, and then himself.

Lanza's mother was a teacher at the elementary school and had also been found dead in her home.

Adam Lanza's birth date has been listed as April 22, 1992. According to news reports, he was an honour student, and a family member has told media he had been diagnosed with a form of autism. One of his old classmates told the press, "You could tell he was a genius." Lanza's parents divorced in 2009 when he was 17.

When an event like this happens, people always say, "I don't understand how someone could do something like this."

I can.

I don't like it. I don't justify or condone it. I know it's wrong. But I understand how a person could be pushed to the point where they hate society so much that they could do this. And I think the mainstream has to start looking at this if we're going to change things.

There are obviously a lot of factors involved in shootings like these. The underlying culture of neverending war and violence in the United States, so implanted in the psyches of citizens from birth on, is part of it.

For me, it also comes back to the way "outsiders" are treated by the mainstream society. An outsider who has autism (some form of "neurological diversity") along with an above-average intelligence level, for example.

I know how cruel people and society can be toward people who don't fit in, and I know what that can do to a person. If you don't feel that you belong or that you can ever enjoy the benefits of "normal" society the way other people can, it's easy to dissociate from it, to hate it, and to even want it destroyed.

Especially when you're in your teens and twenties. And especially when you have a highly-stressed natal Pluto in Scorpio.

A Black Moon Makes For a Dark Night in Colorado

An individual believed to be 24-year-old James Holmes threw a tear gas cannister into a theatre in Aurora, Colorado just after midnight this morning. When the people started streaming out, the individual started shooting, killing 12 people and wounding at least 38 more.

The theatre was screening the new Batman movie titled The Dark Knight Rises, making for more of that creepy Hollywood symbolism to which we've become accustomed.

The Batman film franchise has a history of tragic events associated with it, as does that area of Colorado.

Heath Ledger, an actor in the previous Batman installment, The Dark Knight, died suddenly at the age of 28 a few months prior to the release of the film in 2008. An effects technician also died performing a stunt while filming. Morgan Freeman, another actor in The Dark Knight, flipped his car a month after the release of the film and had to be operated on, and "Batman" himself Christian Bale was arrested that same month for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister.

Aurora, Colorado - where the shootings occured at the Century 16 movie theatre early this morning -  is 30 kilometres from Littleton, Colorado where the Columbine school shootings happened in 1999.

According to the Huffington Post, James Holmes was a PhD student in neuroscience but was in the process of withdrawing from classes. His birthdate is listed as December 13, 1987.

Using that birth date, Holmes would have a tight Mars-Pluto conjunction in Scorpio (within one degree) in his natal chart. He would have Uranus, Saturn, and the Sun conjunct in late Sagittarius with Mercury in mid-Sagittarius. Venus would be at 19/20 degrees Capricorn square Jupiter at 19 degrees Aries. Holmes' North Node would be in Pisces with a Moon in Virgo conjunct his Virgo South Node (unless born later than 10:40 p.m., in which case his Moon would be in Libra, also conjunct the South Node). Neptune would be in Capricorn.

Natal Black Moon Lilith Square Mars-Pluto in Scorpio Heavily Activated by Transiting Moon-Mercury

Holmes has Vesta-Black Moon Lilith in Leo square Mars-Pluto in Scorpio in his natal chart. This square was highly activated at the time of the shooting, and one can certainly see the involvement of this combination of energies.

Astronomically, Black Moon Lilith is the point of lunar apogee - the point where the Moon is furthest away from Earth in its orbit. Astrologically, it relates to a point of deep, dark feminine awareness and life experience, as well as marginalization from the mainstream.

This point involves a theme of being put out of society, being put out in the cold, being isolated, alone, forced to fight for bare survival. It relates to a society that would prefer an individual dead rather than accept what he or she represents into its folds. As part of that, Black Moon Lilith can be a raw, potentially volatile point, with sudden, extreme, and even violent trigger points.

Pluto is the dwarf planet named for the Lord of the Underworld and involves a state of living beneath the surface, seeing in the dark, being aware of what others who live above ground are not. Pluto involves a process of bringing up to the surface issues which remain detrimentally denied and suppressed in the collective. It is related to Hades (hell), death, and destruction and can also be volatile, highly-triggered, and violent.

The Deep, Dark Feminine Makes its Presence Known at the Scorpio Full Moon

The Moon is full and at perigee at 16 degrees Scorpio this Saturday night (May 5), opposing both the Sun and Black Moon Lilith in exact conjunction in Taurus.

The opposition to Black Moon Lilith (the lunar apogee) takes the emotional depth of the already depths-divining Scorpio Full Moon to its furthest, pitch black extremes in order to get to the fullness, the richness, the outer boundaries. In order to get to what’s real.

This isn't a light moon. It's an alchemical soup mixing and boiling moon.

This one is bloody, dripping, birth and death and everything in between. It's the wise woman metaphysical midwife telling us it's time, drawing the etheric into the physical, weaving in and out of the curtain that divides. This is a roots moon, a pagan moon, a running on pure, ancestral intuition and rhythm moon. It buzzes with magic and symbol and meaning, bursts at the seams with the awe-inducing wonder of this life on this planet.

Buddha reached enlightenment under this Full Moon.

But Black Moon Lilith already knew the score. She’s here to represent.

This is a deeply feminine moon. A deep and dark feminine moon. A wise women's moon at the end of the astrological Piscean era - an era in which male-dominated religion, figureheads, ideology, and spiritual constructs have ruled.

Yes, this moon is one that certainly knows the score.

Jupiter in Taurus is on its way to a conjunction to Sedna (May 8 – 12) and will be joined there by the Taurus Sun next weekend. Sedna is the Inuit goddess pinned under the weight of deepest betrayal and suppression at the bottom of the ocean. She’s sending up her reports from this furthest vantage point to those who have the internal sonar to hear her. The Gulf of Mexico is still full of oil and Corexit. Parts of the Pacific are still radioactive. Sedna’s sea creatures are poisoned, full of lesions and mutations. Jupiter and the Sun join forces to shine a spotlight on some things most would prefer to overlook: things have not improved.

When you dust off the history, it’s the same story over and over again. The story of power misused and abused. The story of a boot in the face and of life, energy, and magic debased, manipulated, taken advantage of.

The Scorpio Full Moon is a strange one in that emotional comfort can only be found in the full acceptance of our emotional discomfort - ground zero, brass tacks reality, the uncovering of the tortured and hidden, the sharp edges, the fear, the dark corners. 

This Moon at its fullest point in Scorpio comforts us with the presence of the unvoiced, too ground down to fully put into words what has happened here.

But that’s the beauty of Scorpio: you don’t have to explain it; we can feel it. We know it without the superlatives. The layered mix of intuitive understanding coming from every corner of the globe, coming from within our own bodies, becomes our Full Moon lullaby. Drawing on the strength of that which remains suppressed, of that which remains betrayed, of that which remains unaddressed - the continued liberation of this is our emotional sustenance.

This moon is salt from the earth, from emotional quick. A deeply meditative moon requiring our very best Zen to honour, work with, and move through the roiling, raw energy of life betrayed and suppressed on this planet. It's the lead in our guts that tells us all is not, in actuality, well on the Western front. Or the Eastern front. Or on any front at all, really.

And it’s knowing the whole of it, keeping it safe and undenied within us, that keeps us free, powerful, at our most potent, catalytic point.

This Full Moon’s a beauty. If you have clear skies, enjoy it.