Mars Retrograde in Virgo and the Active Re-Organizing Principle Comes Out in Full Force January 23 - April 13, 2012

Mars' forward motion in Virgo grinds to a halt today at 23 degrees of the sign (6:54 p.m. Central) as we unfold into the Aquarius New Moon. The planet of action, will, aggression, and goals will be retrograde until April 13, when it turns direct at 3 degrees Virgo. 

With this almost three-month retrograde, an active re-organizing principle comes into full force in our lives, re-directing us and making necessary adjustments down to the very last detail as we start to exist under the astrological Aquarian era classification system. This transit addresses dysfunction, and it indicates a breaking point, an official "had enough" point, for workers (Virgo), particularly healthcare and service workers. 

Mars in Virgo is inflaming all the issues and dysfunction that should have been addressed but were not addressed during Saturn's transit of Virgo (2007-2010). This Mars transit is a breaking point and a precise re-direction of the efforts of workers within (or out of) criminally corrupt and unresponsive Pluto in Capricorn structures. This includes workers both un- and under-employed (numbering in the hundreds of millions in North America alone) as well as those fully employed within systems intentionally designed to fail. 

There are not many workers unaware of the problems at this point. Those attempting to reinforce and gloss over the dysfunction rather than working to change it are the owners, the CEOs, the upper management. Those are not the people slogging it out, doing the real work. 

The real workers know the score, and, coming out of the momentum-building Occupy Movement, they hold a huge amount of collective power at this time in human history. 

With this Mars transit, if we're lucky, the workers of the world are infused with the guts, the courage, the grit, and the will to stand up and say enough is enough. With this transit, the workers of the world can be infused with enough bad ass Martian energy and rock-solid organization (with the Virgoan intelligence to use them) that they'll never back down again. They'll refuse to bow to the fears instilled by the hierarchies, refuse to allow themselves to drop, silent and passive, under collective Neptunian amnesia and anesthesia. My hand on my heart, I pray this is the scene. 

This Mars transit through Virgo activates the Pluto in Virgo generation in a big way, and the momentum starts to catch for a grand-scale generational power shift. 

Very fundamentally, this Mars in Virgo transit relates to how we apply (or refuse to apply) our physical energy and what we serve or support with that application of energy. This takes on particular importance within the context of rampant structural criminality, moral if not legal. 

From a previous post during Saturn in Virgo: 

"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." 

Virgo is most often about skimming off the unnecessary in order to increase function, and this transit will have us applying ourselves only in the most vital of directions. All the Virgoan territory comes under a state of intense analysis, scrutiny, and precise re-direction, particularly in the areas associated with the house in which Virgo resides in your astrological birth chart. 

As Mars Rx in Virgo forms an opposition to the Pisces Sun at 13 degrees on March 3, the previous two-year cycle of goals, will, and personal direction under the Mars in Leo overlay officially draws to a close. 

New, more practical, effective, and precise goals as well as the uses of will to achieve them start to unfold as Mars goes direct this April. 

As long as we accept and apply the re-direction, these new goals and directions are infused with great and grounding staying power from an exact Grand Earth Trine March 12-15 involving Venus-Jupiter in Taurus, Mars Rx in Virgo, and Pluto in Capricorn, all at 9 degrees of the earth signs. This is big, collective gears shifting and wheels turning. 

Mars has been transiting Virgo since November 10, 2011 and will not ingress Libra until July 3, 2012, after the Venus Transit and the first exact square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn June 24. This means we have almost eight months to go over things with a Virgoan fine-toothed comb, precisely re-directing ourselves through this three-month retrograde us as we enter the new and active duty indicated by this transit. 

From November 13, 2011: Mars in Virgo Retrograde: Precise Re-direction Within Grand Earth Trines  

November 10, 2011 - Mars enters Virgo 

November 18, 2011 - Mars enters the retrograde shadow 

January 23, 2012 - Mars goes retrograde at 23 degrees Virgo 

April 13, 2012 - Mars turns direct at 3 degrees Virgo 

June 19, 2012 - Mars leaves the retrograde shadow 

July 3, 2012 - Mars enters Libra 

The Mars transit and retrograde through Virgo involves an eight-month period of mutable, transitional energy that requires our precise and active participation to direct, re-direct, adjust, and re-adjust our courses. Throughout this time, we'll be directed down only the most pertinent and effective channels in our lives, honing and refining our courses and withdrawing personal energy from anything that is not necessary, valuable, or vital moving forward. This process is happening, specifically, in the house or houses where Virgo falls in your natal chart. That's the area where things need to be tightened. 

Virgo is one of the quieter placements for Mars. Mars is active here but only in the ways that count. No excess of motion, exertion, words, mental function, or use of will. Small movements, adjustments, and re-direction have big effect, and temperance rules, as too much effort in one direction results only in energy expended for self-correction. 

The energy on the planet will be getting very bizarre and out of control at times over the next years, and things can really go haywire if we allow them to. This is why we need the Virgoan qualities applied through the iron will of Mars to set our courses now, doing battle on the fine points. 

If we're oh-so-careful and diligent, smoothing every screwy detail, critiquing every glowing illusion, attending to every nagging issue, we set a tone with this retrograde that can keep us grounded and out of the worst of the hyped baloney and utter bullshit being amped up on this planet. 

Clean, crisp, clear. 

In Virgo, every detail matters. 

Virgo is a sign that needs things to be just right, and with Mars here, we're going to have to take it personally when they aren't. If it hits our ears as incorrect, it's rejected, no matter how many people are saying it, doing it, or believing it. Anyone trying to fill our minds, bodies, societies, or environments with useless crap is viewed as an enemy of our health. 

Enemies of our health. There are many. 

Under Mars in Virgo, we're consciously fighting to maintain health in a world increasingly toxic to living things. Our systems are quite literally being attacked on multiple fronts. There's an immediacy with this Mars transit. There's no more time to put off the changes necessary to fortify our health. It's on. In order for our systems to continue processing and metabolizing what's going on, they need to be in tip-top condition. 

Diet, exercise regimes, habits, routines, work conditions, the quality of our food and water, our mental and emotional environments - a crucial analysis and refinement is on the docket during this transit, fighting to maintain systemic health while preparing us for the next years on the planet. This involves the removal or at least strong limitation of anything that weighs our systems down: excess alcohol, drug use, cigarettes, perfumes, air fresheners, chemical cleaners, electromagnetic pollution, noise pollution, pesticides and additives in food, refined sugar, artificial colours, genetically modified food, fluoride, excessive internet, TV, music, shopping, socializing. 

Mars is a hard-ass in Virgo, and with good reason. Even things touted as healthful should be gone over with a fine-toothed comb. With Virgo, less is more. Be careful what you add to your life and to your system. In most cases, Virgo is about what needs to be taken away. 

There is a sexual element (Mars) to health (Virgo) here. A more precise application of sexual energy is required. A new understanding of the effects of sexual activity on health and on the surrounding energetic environment as a whole comes about here. 

The "too much, too fast, too soon" sexual ethic constantly shoved down our throats is rejected by those who use this transit well, and the application of sexuality is streamlined with a new awareness and focus on the health of the individual, the partner, the relationship, the immediate social groups and society, and the spirit, in general. 

There's a re-wiring of attractions and sexual habits here, a clarification, and a removal of toxic sexual connections. Holistic sexual health. 

Our work is infused with a necessary level of fight during this transit. We fight to overcome the redundancy, uselessness, and listlessness forced upon so many through mass institutionalized unemployment, underemployment, and lack of meaningful paid employment. 

Charting the course for the next two years correctly requires our absolute focus over the next eight months. Mars entering Virgo sets off a grand earth trine with Jupiter Rx in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn that will be in effect most strongly November 16-23. Mars retrogrades back into this grand earth trine in March when the configuration will be exact. 

Jupiter in Taurus, Mars Rx in Virgo, and Pluto in Capricorn will be exactly trine each other at 9 degrees of the earth signs from March 12-15, 2012. 

Mars in Virgo will trine Pluto in Capricorn one last time May 15-17, 2012 with Mars moving direct. At that time, Jupiter in Taurus will be out of range. 

Needless to say, within these grand earth trines, the application of specific choices and actions - including what we choose not to do or say - has big ripple effects, creating real, concrete, structural changes. 

Additional articles on the Mars in Virgo Rx transit:  

Mars in Virgo and Going Scent-Free Mars in Virgo Hot or Nots 

An explanation of two-year Mars cycles and the Mars in Leo cycle officially drawing to a close: New Moon in Virgo Sets a Preparatory Tone For the Upcoming Mars Retrograde

The Eclipse Hangover and Shifting Human Destiny

A dignified human existence. A dignified existence for living things. A planet restored to a natural balance and harmony, the way we know it can and should be.

The cellular soul memory of what once was. The deepest heart's knowledge of how it can be here, how it should be - redeemed, reinstated. Heaven on Earth. The pitch black falls away like a bad dream. Waking from our night terrors, together. We're not alone.

We know the score at this point. We know what has gone on and is going on in the Gulf. We're not burying our heads in the Gulf coast sand.

People are getting sick. Gulf coast refugees have started to move. Louisianan Kindra Arnesen is one of them - forced to relocate her family due to her daughter's rashes and upper respiratory problems since the disaster. Kindra got a backstage pass to the BP "ponies and balloons" show, and I encourage everyone to listen to what she has to say about what's going on.

Now, at this point, fully aware of the situation, we can work on visualizing a shift. We can apply our consciousness to a solution coming through so strongly that it unravels the knots of our helplessness, our grief, our anger, our depression. It releases the Gulf and all living things from the toxic spew, restoring things to a point of health and natural equilibrium.

We intend to manifest:

A fully restored, clean and clear Gulf of Mexico, including all coasts and marshes. A safe place for people, animals and plants to live. Clear water and restored oxygen levels for the Gulf and for the planet.

But hey, let's not stop there. Let's really flex our manifesting muscles and go for a clear and toxin-free world...

The health of the people fully restored.

Energy returned to those who have had it sapped by the activities of industry, commerce and warfare.

Natural, effective healing methods available and accessible to all.

A peaceful and effortless falling away of the power and control structures working to keep humanity enslaved.

World ecosystems allowed to come to a natural state of function and balance, free of manipulation.

Deep, all-encompassing healing and renewal for people, animals, plant life, the planet as a whole.

Peaceful, inter-relating societies around the world, working to solve our problems, free to apply our genius in practical, wise and far-sighted ways.

A grand-scale shift to clean, free energy, out of the death throes of the enforced Oil Age.

A better world is possible. Not just possible, but necessary for the further development of a humanity I wish to take part in.

A shift out of the paradigm of the lucky ones versus the sacrificed. Let's get this straight: No one wants to be sacrificed. No one should live a life of suffering so that others can elevate themselves with that suffering.

We do not accept the sacrifice of life on this planet. We do not accept attacks on our health, our quality of life or our well-being.

And now we start to move, start to shift...in earnest. We all work with the pieces we have to work with.

We can keep our heads above water here, above the malaise and the despair and the isolation that eats at the fabric of us, by understanding that we're here together, experiencing what we're experiencing.

Venus is in Leo right now, and our hearts are being stretched vigorously. At times, it feels as if there is nothing left to give. Overnight, we are being worked on, guided and stretched to go just a bit further. My chest is aching, as if it has been pried apart. I wake feeling as if I've had a bowling ball sitting on my breastbone all night.

This process has been ongoing. We all feel it should have been completed by now - way before now. We're in quadruple sudden death overtime, exhausted but trying to keep going. Because we've come this far. Too far to give up now. Streamed in from all over this universe, the most beautiful, diverse and loving lights it had to offer. The veterans. The experienced. The ones who keep motherfucking going. The ones who have the moves, the spins, the tricks. The souls that keep putting one foot in front of the other even when the physical self is exhausted, despairing, enervated by the sickness and the ridiculousness and the just plain wrongness of what is going on here.

The universe is playing it's A-game on this planet right now. And that's us. Don't you forget it.

Saturn heads to the anaretic degree of Virgo - the final degree of our self-mastery, heavily challenged. The point of the zodiac where all the pieces are finally fit into the whole, where all the details matter. Where everyone counts.

The health or non-health of the whole. Saturn at 29 Virgo.

This is not only the last degree of Virgo. It's the release point for an entire process of self-development, -discovery and -mastery represented by the first six signs of the zodiac, Aries through Virgo.

So you see why, at the end of this astrological Piscean era, we're fucking tired.

A lot of us were born tired.

But we're here now. We're here for now. So we dig in. We accept the weight of this moment, these times, as hard as it is. And we do what Daddy Saturn says.

We've got just over three weeks until Saturn enters Libra (July 21) and opposes Uranus for the last time, at zero Aries (July 26). Cycle upon cycle completes and begins simultaneously at that point, including a whole new 14-year Saturn cycle through the next six signs of the zodiac, Libra through Pisces. Our challenges then are to turn the self outward - to other people, to the world at large, to God. We start to reveal what we've been working on up to this point, to see how it interacts, to see how it measures up.

We lay ourselves and the self-mastery we've reached up to now on the offering stand at that point.

So let's make sure we're putting forth our best effort during this tail end of Saturn in Virgo, despite our aching exhaustion, our despair, our worries that what we do does not have an effect, anyway.

It all matters, even when we can't see how. This is a Saturn in Virgo lesson.

So let's visualize an Earth and an Earthly existence that truly befits us. That'll guide us home.

Saturn Goes Direct in Virgo and We're on the Home Stretch, Beautiful Babies

Saturn is about to turn direct (12:08 p.m. Mountain), marking its last sweep through Virgo for almost 30 years. We've completed four of five Saturn oppositions to Uranus with one remaining in the zero degrees of cardinal Aries and Libra July 26.

For more on this, here's a previous post I wrote when Saturn first retrograded back into Virgo.

Saturn turning direct in Virgo is currently showing us a pattern, as well. Those nutty, nutty Bilderbergers are about to meet again in Spain (June 3-6), and you'll recall that they met last year just as Saturn was turning direct in Virgo, as well. Last year's meeting took place May 14-16 in Athens, Greece. Hmm, Greece you say...

This year's meeting takes place in Spain, which is apparently the next country that will need the "services" of this group and their International Monetary Fund.

Saturn going direct is a potent time period for agenda-setting, and one of the agendas being set by those crazy, fun-loving B-bergers will be the docket for next month's G8 and G20 meetings, going on simultaneously in Ontario, Canada on June 26 and 27.

The G20 meeting, involving the world's 20 wealthiest countries now self-appointed as worldwide overlords of economic policy, is the smokescreen. This meeting is being held in Canada's largest city - Toronto, Ontario - inviting massive crowds of demonstrators. The police presence is going to be huge and disgusting - theatrical, really. But also fucking frightening. Our NWO lapboy Stephen Harper is taking his orders.

Over one billion Canadian taxpayer dollars are being used to set up martial law in southern Ontario next month. Thousands and thousands of police officers and soldiers will be enforcing the secrecy of the "Global Governors," who are meeting behind fences, outside public knowledge or consent. The exact number of police/military is not known, but over 5,500 hotel rooms have been booked to house them.

Peacefully demonstrating citizens have gotten used to being gassed, pepper sprayed and hit with rubber bullets. This doesn't even shock anyone anymore. But now, Canada follows the United States' lead with the introduction of energy/sound weapons.

The Toronto City Police has purchased four Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) to unleash on the protesters. Yep. We're not just renting these bad boys for the occasion. We're not just borrowing from our neighbours to the south like we would a cup of sugar or a snowblower. The Toronto police have locked them in. They will now be a regular part of policing in Canada. They've slid them into the public consciousness slick as shit.

T.O. police spokesperson Wendy Drummond: “They were purchased as part of the G20 budget process,” Drummond said. “It’s definitely going to be beneficial for us, not only in the G20 but in any future large gatherings.”

Yes, lots of fun for parties and gatherings of all kinds!

They're softening things by calling these LRADs "communication tools." Communication tools that can cause permanent hearing loss and inner ear damage, blood clots, aneurisms and can stop a pacemaker? The sound emitted is also being compared to the sound of a jet - sorry, but a jet was not purposefully designed to emit a frequency destructive to human beings.

From Lyn Davignon of the National Non Profit Party:

"This type of weapon disrupts the central nervous system, causes aneurisms, stroke, heart attack, blood clots, damages the eye retina causing blindness, causes permanent hearing loss, can cause permanent damage to your equilibrium (balance), and can kill anyone with a pacemaker.

In addition, it can cause structural damage to buildings...Sonic weapons have been used in Iraq by the US military. First tested at the University of Lyon, France in the 1960s, a six second blast of a 50 watt sonic weapon nearly killed the researchers...It caused structural damage to the building and was deemed to dangerous to continue testing."

The fun never stops.

The real power players, though - the leaders of the G8 countries - will be much more tucked away in cottage-country Huntsville, Ontario, away from the crowds of demonstrators. This is where the orders are really locked into place and the Pluto in Capricorn agendas fused.

The G8/G20 meetings have been set to coincide with the uber potent Full Moon Capricorn eclipse exactly conjunct Pluto in Capricorn on June 26. This eclipse takes place within the cardinal t-square formation, and the potential for this energy to be used in completely nasty, lock-down totalitarian ways by these so-called leaders is high.

There's not much I can do to sugar-coat this - nor is that my role. There's no need to curl up in the fetal position and cry ourselves to sleep over it, but I mean, the astrology is the astrology. You can check it out for yourselves: Summer 2010 Eclipse Season: G8, G20, and Martial Law A-Plenty.

I noticed someone posted an excerpt from my post on an Astrodienst message board. The person then said she hoped someone else could provide a more "positive" take on things.

Hmm...

A positive take on fascism. A positive take on the destructive worldwide agenda of the Global Governors. A positive take on martial law in Ontario, Canada, gassing and sound wave attacking demonstrators. A positive take on agent provacateurs being implanted to incite violence and justify police crack-down.

The only thing I can come up with here is that things could possibly be getting so Pluto in Cappie extreme, so increasingly brutal and harsh, that people will no longer be able to bury their heads in the sand. They'll have to start to look at what is going on in the world around them.

At the same time, I know how strong the powers of denial, willful ignorance and complacency are in the human population - especially among the NA positivity-pushers. I know how easily people swallow the mainstream media line that it's just the police and military doing their jobs, keeping those evil anarchists in line. Keeping the people "safe."

The only real empowerment here, with Pluto so strongly involved, is to face it. To dig a little deeper than the mainstream line and look at what's really going on. When you do that, the power it has over you is instantly mitigated, instantly released.

Maintaining our emotional comfort and health is crucial here, also - but it's equally important to bring this stuff to light in the public consciousness. Here's the required balance:

At the time that Saturn goes direct in Virgo, the Moon in Capricorn is exactly conjunct the North Node at 12 Capricorn. Venus in Cancer is exactly conjunct the South Node.

There is a highly intricate interplay of energies here along this nodal axis, requiring all our mastery.

Overall, we need to keep plowing forward, keep making concrete progress, keep putting one foot in front of the other, out of the Pluto in Capricorn rubble. This is the North Node path - the path out.

At the same time, we need our resting places, our feel-good spaces. We need the connection to hearth and home, to family and friends and other people who get it. We need to take rejuvenating time out for ourselves, when we can protectively sequester ourselves in our little cocoons. These are our touch-points, and they assist us greatly with that Capricorn North Node path. We just can't stay hunkered down there.

Go too far out on a North Node in Capricorn limb, and we emotionally crash and burn. Go too far into the past and into old emotional habits and comforts and patterns, and you'll get sucked in, drained and will lose your momentum.

The nodal axis always relates to soul-level guidance, but with the Moon exactly conjunct the North Node, the importance of our emotional cues are intensified.

We need to maintain emotional continuity here, moving forward out of the wreckage. We need to keep our emotional anchors strongly connected to that which sustains us now. These are tough times to move through emotionally, and we need the right balance. This will become even more important the further into the summer we get, when Saturn re-enters Libra for over two years.

There's a quote I remember from a sociologist. The guy says something about us having the responsibility to take on as much conscious awareness as we can stand. That sounds a little harsh, but I think it's valid - especially in these times.

So the balance here is to be aware of what we know we need to be aware of, to do what we can with that awareness, but to never go past our saturation point, especially emotionally.

When you're full to the brim with the Plutonic dirty dealings, please go look at some cute kitty videos on YouTube or stare into a flower in the park.

Saturn is Back in Virgo for One Last Polish

Saturn Rx re-entered Virgo yesterday afternoon MDT, and for the next four months (until July 21) we have our maturity and development tested around all those Virgoan subjects we've been working on for the past two-and-a-half years. Holistic health, habits, diet, work, service, what we support with our personal energy, doing things right, personal discernment, critical analysis, communication, boundaries - especially mental...

Yes, there are a lot of details to take into consideration with Virgo, and Virgo understands the importance of every last one of them. Even the smallest of matters left neglected and unintegrated can create big problems over the long-term.

This is why Saturn in Virgo has been so stringent, such a taskmaster, throughout this transit, especially as it opposed Uranus in Pisces - a placement very apt to getting caught up in the excitement and bluster of big, grand concepts and energies, losing focus on practical, daily realities and necessities.

If we did our Saturn work, though, that didn't happen. Saturn wouldn't let it. Quite the opposite, actually - as Saturn makes its final pass through late Virgo, we now have all the skills we need to puncture overinflated pseudo-spiritual ideology and ground or reject any dubious Neptunian/Uranian energetic outgrowths related to certain versions of "the future."

Saturn in Virgo helped us keep out feet on the ground when the energies (and people using those energies) were trying to lift us up, up and away. What goes up must come down, after all, so why not just cut out that whole extraneous process, Saturn in Virgo asks? Saturn in Virgo would much rather just work uninterrupted with the realities of our earthly existences. Isn't that quite enough to try to master?

This transit taught us the crucial importance of discerning what is personally valuable and what isn't and gave us the skills to cleanly reject whatever wasn't our bag.

Clean. That's a Virgo concept. Communicating cleanly. Crisp, clear actions and energetic dynamics. No mess, no fuss.

Saturn in Virgo opposite Uranus in Pisces reinforced just how sacred our practical service is on this planet. It showed us in no uncertain terms that our personal energy is precious and limited and that overdoing it and giving too much can have unintended and undesirable consequences. We decided what we will personally support and then learned to support it with only the energy necessary.

Virgo is the final sign related to the development of the self (Aries through Virgo) before we turn our attention and our energy outward to relationships, career, community, etc. (Libra through Pisces). In Virgo, we're working to master ourselves and our processes - to figure out exactly what makes us tick and improve in whatever ways we need to to ensure long-term functionality and health.

As part of that, we learned a deeper respect for our bodies and their functions. We learned to work closely with our bodies, assisting them in maintaining healthful function, as opposed to mucking ourselves up and making it even harder on our systems to stay clean and fully functional.

Saturn is now involved in the early stages of the upcoming cardinal t-squares and has just a little more prep to go over in Virgo before we get fully engaged in the grand-scale initiations of that configuration.

Saturn is moving retrograde now to the fourth of five oppositions to Uranus, exact April 26. It has been involved in this opposition cycle since November 4, 2008, and it will conclude with the final Saturn - Uranus opposition on the potent zero degrees of cardinal Aries and Libra July 26, 2010.

I can't believe it's been less than two years since these oppositions started. The effects on time (Saturn) have been bizarre, to say the least. We've been dealt many Uranian shocks and shattering insights over this time period that have often made even the smallest daily tasks a big challenge (Saturn in Virgo). These oppositional energies have been quite difficult to manage at times, even daunting, depressing and overwhelming. So if you notice some of those heavy feelings returning, never fear. It's temporary, and hopefully we're better prepared at this point to bear the weight of this energy during the last dip back in.

In effect, Saturn and Uranus are in opposition now and will be for the entire spring and summer.

The next exact opposition at the end of this month (April 26) is the final opposition in the mutable signs Virgo and Pisces. So here, we take all we've learned, all the work we've done and the skills we've honed over the past two-and-a-half years and take on more streamlined roles, more precise work, more effective function. Our energetic systems have been purified and the extraneous removed, and we know just how careful we have to be to keep ourselves there.

At this opposition, we're taking on a mature service, necessary for the changing times in which we're living, that uses all our most valuable skills - and it possibly looks very different from what we thought it was going to look like.

After a lot of confusion, we have a clearer understanding of what is being asked of us, what is required of us, going forward from here. With this final opposition in Virgo-Pisces, we square our shoulders and humbly accept the spiritually-rooted, practical roles we are to play within the context of these times.

Every bit matters; this Virgo knows. And we go forward from here with this as a guiding principle. The practical, daily application of our spiritual understanding and insight matter - probably most of all. And the application of OUR OWN spiritual understanding. The natural spirituality and connection that flow through us, uninterrupted, loving us and guiding us from cradle to grave.

I hope we've got a handle on these Saturn in Virgo themes because we're not going to have a huge amount of time to adjust to our new responsibilities and roles.

Uranus enters Aries May 27, Saturn heads direct at 27 Virgo May 30, re-entering Libra July 21, and we experience the fifth and final Saturn-Uranus opposition July 26. This is a big push forward into new territory. Ready or not, here it comes.

Saturn in Libra will square Pluto in Capricorn at 2 degrees of the signs August 20, and then Saturn starts to get out ahead of these aspects.

April 7 - Saturn Rx re-enters Virgo
April 26 - Saturn Rx in Virgo opposite Uranus in Pisces (28 degrees)
May 27 - Uranus enters Aries
May 30 - Saturn direct in Virgo (27 degrees)
July 21 - Saturn re-enters Libra
July 26 - Saturn in Libra opposite Uranus in Aries (0 degrees)
August 20 - Saturn in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn (2 degrees)

More of Those Pesky Saturn in Virgo Details Surfacing And The Death Toll Rises To Three

A third person has died as a result of James Arthur Ray's The Secret-themed retreat and sweat lodge outside New Age Mecca Sedona, Arizona, on October 9.

Liz Neuman, a 49-year-old Prior Lake, Minnesota, woman, was in a coma since that date and succumbed to multiple organ failure October 17. Neuman was one of Ray's converts and was the leader of an affiliated "Journey Expansion Team" in the Minneapolis area. It is also being reported that people have become unconscious at previous sweat lodges conducted by Ray and that emergency medical responders were called to a sweat lodge in 2005.

A Philadelphia blogger, Cassandra Yorgey, has had contact with survivors of the deadly retreat. According to participants:

- immediately upon beginning the retreat, all participants shaved their heads

- participants were encouraged to go without sleep

- one game participants played involved Ray playing the role of God. He would point to a participant and that person would have to fall down and play dead. They would be covered by a blanket, and if they moved, another person would "die." (One of the saddest aspects of this was that Kirby Brown, the 38-year-old woman who died in the sweat lodge, was reportedly holding herself and crying after this particular "game.")

- prior to the sweat lodge, they had been dropped off in the desert for 36 hours without food or water. Ray and his staff did not participate.

- after this 36-hour "fast," they came back to a buffet breakfast. Within an hour of returning to the Center, they were taken to a group meditation and then to the improperly-constructed, overcrowded sweat lodge.

- once in the sweat lodge, "[Ray] not only encouraged participants to stay and push past physical discomfort, he also actively dissuaded people that wanted to leave. The phrase “push through your threshold” was repeated often by James Ray. If participants didn’t make it to the door fast enough they had to wait for the next round. James Ray would slam the tarp shut shouting “Too late! Door’s shut!” and as he was sitting directly next to the door he was escalating it into a physical confrontation...playing off something we are trained from birth to avoid. Throughout all this, James Ray is speaking words of encouragement. He speaks of how throwing up is good and actually purging...and explains that passing out is common...He encourages people who find it too hot to bury their faces in the dirt, because it was cooler...Participants who expressed concern over others were told time and time again to focus on their own journey, and not to interfere with another’s."

Sounds as if it's straight out of the "New Age Cult Leader 101" handbook.

Again, this entire incident is a perfect example of the complete disconnect from physical reality that is preached by the proponents of this garbage. There is an utter lack of regard for the requirements and necessities of physical life, and those physical requirements and necessities are often looked upon distastefully, merely as pesky, unenlightened throwbacks to "push beyond."

People are frequently talked out of their personal boundaries, concerns, physical limitations and comfort zones.

Our bodies tell us when something is wrong, but you see how people are being encouraged to listen to a supposed guru over their own physical bodies and over their own intuition and personal discernment.
 

As always with this stuff, there is a dangerous lack of balance - preaching limitless expansion, exponential growth and zero restrictions. Jupiter without Saturn. Pisces without Virgo. Scorpio without Taurus. As students of astrology know, that just doesn't exist. And you can see the result of that imbalanced ideology when followed to its inevitable result.

I've been writing for so long about the dangers of setting up the master/student hierarchy, especially spiritual hierarchy, as we move from Piscean Age to Aquarian. I've written extensively about the dangers of The Secret and its ideology and self-declared gurus. And I'm disgusted that it has been allowed to go to such a ridiculous extreme that people are losing their lives by putting their faith in these charlatans.

It's my birthday today. I was born during Saturn's last transit through Virgo, a month before the Jonestown Massacre, when 909 people committed mass suicide or were shot and killed by followers of Neptunian utopia cult leader Jim Jones.

My Sun has progressed to just after the day of the massacre, which was November 18, 1978. With a Pisces South Node in the 8th House, I'm so aware of the abuses of these pseudo-spiritual self-declared gurus and their misuse of energetic dynamics. And I think, do we really need yet more lessons on this subject? Apparently so.

Because James Arthur Ray and his ilk are cut from the same cloth.

Jupiter was stationing direct in Aquarius at the time of the deadly sweat lodge, conjunct Black Moon Lilith, Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius. And here you see the dark side of this Pisces-to-Aquarius transition, the aspects that have been glossed over and the abuses of the constantly-promoted "limitless expansion" dogma.

Remember all those Taurus-Aquarius squares we experienced as Saturn turned direct in Virgo in May? Those squares were about not just leaping into the possibilities of the "Aquarian future" without first taking into consideration the physical requirements and necessities of our lives on Earth. Respecting those aspects of physical life and working within those grounded, earthly limitations and boundaries. REAL physical law, not the segmented, incomplete, only-what-suits-you version of reality preached in The Secret and most New Age dogma.

New Age astrologers have focused almost entirely on the vision and the idealism and the grand possibilities of the Aquarius triple conjunction. But here we see, with the help of Saturn in Virgo opposite Uranus in Pisces and Black Moon Lilith in Aquarius, the work that is left to be done, the details people have skimmed over, the necessary perspective we must develop before moving forward into a real Aquarian future.

If we don't learn the lessons of the Piscean past, we carry the same problems and abuses of humanity forward. And speaking of Aquarius, particularly the use of technology...

The Twitter updates Ray was making during the time frame when the deaths occurred were very telling:

"JamesARay: is still in Spiritual Warrior… for anything new to live something first must die. What needs to die in you so that new life can emerge?

JamesARay: Day 5 of SPW. The Spiritual Warrior has conquered death and therefore has no enemies, and no fear, in this life or the next."

Ray actually deleted these tweets, but they were somehow recovered. 

You can see Ray's complete disconnect from any sort of responsibility or care for the victims as he continues his money-machine speaking tour as if nothing even happened. Are these the actions of a truly wise spiritual leader? No. They're not even the actions of a decent human being. It's all very disgusting to me, and again, I sincerely hope this man is held accountable for his actions.

There was a quote in one of the CBS stories from Joseph Bruchac, a man who wrote a book on Native sweat lodges, about how with that many people involved and without breathable fabric covering the lodge, all the people inside would be fighting for the same oxygen.

And I thought, that's what happens when the pyramid scheme starts to run out of steam. Everyone starts off high on a blast of pure oxygen with dollar signs in their eyes. And the people at the top of the hierarchy who got in at the beginning of The Secret pyramid scheme made off like absolute bandits. Multi-millionaires. They all got a piece of the pie, selling books and videos and classes and seminars and sessions and retreats and guest appearances to the masses.

(The other people behind The Secret book and video include Rhonda Byrne, Rusty G. Parrish, John Assaraf, Michael Beckwith, John Demartini, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, James Arthur Ray, Joe Vitale, Lisa Nichols, Marie Diamond, John Gray, Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks, Mike Dooley, Bob Doyle, David Schirmer, Marci Shimoff, Lee Brower, Hale Dwoskin, Cathy Goodman, Morris E. Goodman, John Hagelin, Bill Harris, Ben Johnson, Loral Langemeier, Denis Waitley, Neale Donald Walsch, Fred Alan Wolf, among others.) 

And so did the other people who started selling this delusional ideology before anyone had really heard of it. People have built entire careers on this shit. They all hitched their wagons to the momentum and the money rolled in. But then, as is inevitably the case with pyramid schemes, things start to run out of steam. They run out of people who are going to hop on the bandwagon. They run out of converts. Their critics start to get louder. And the air starts to get stale. Things start to degenerate. And finally, the oxygen high starts to wear off.

The people at the bottom of the pyramid scheme realize that they aren't going to get rich like the people at the top did. It turns out they're just the ones who made the people at the top rich. And eventually there is not enough oxygen to continue the scheme.

Reality...real reality, not the Neptunian-delusional, solipsistic version preached about in The Secret...sets in. I just hope three dead and two dozen injured is enough of a reality check.

New Age Dumbassery Turns Deadly in Arizona

New Age "success guru" James Arthur Ray (aka The Secret-schlepping hack) packed between 55 and 65 people into a sweat lodge his company built (improperly) at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona, leading to the deaths of two people and the injuries of 19 more on October 9.

One of the 19 injured remains in critical condition in a coma. The rest suffered from burns, dehydration, respiratory arrest, kidney failure or elevated body temperature.

The sweat lodge was improperly constructed, covered in layers of tarps and blankets, which restricted air flow.

Properly-run Native sweat lodges generally involve no more than 12 people. Ray and his company packed in five times the safe number of people into the improperly-constructed structure.

Properly-run Native sweat lodges are also headed by people with real knowledge and understanding of the process who are responsible for monitoring the health and well-being of each of the participants. Not qualities you will find with the "instant guru" Native cultural appropriation that Ray favours.

Charge for the retreat: between $9,000 and $10,000.

You can see why they would want to pack it as full as possible.

Ray actually appeared in the video for The Secret, so he's been involved in this pseudo-spiritual pyramid scheme since the very beginning and has made multi-millions from this crap. He has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show and Larry King Live, among others.

"The self-styled success guru says people are ready for his wisdom if "You simply (and deeply) want to make more money and become more successful" and "want to double, triple, even multiply by ten the size of your business."

Hmm...multiplying the size of a safe sweat lodge by five to line your pockets even more didn't turn out so hot for you or your victims. I'll pass on your supposed wisdom, thanks.

"Joseph Bruchac, author of "The Native American Sweat Lodge: History and Legends," called the number of participants in the lodge "appalling."

"If you put people in a restrictive, airtight structure, you are going to use up all oxygen," he said by phone Saturday from his home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. "And if you're doing a sweat, you're going to use it up that much faster."

American Indian sweat lodges typically hold about 12 people and are covered with blankets made of natural materials, such as cotton or wool, and the air flow isn't restricted, he said.

"I don't see how the person running that lodge could have been aware of the health and well-being of that many people," he said.

The participants had fasted for 36 hours as part of a personal and spiritual quest in the wilderness, then ate a breakfast buffet Thursday morning.

After various seminars, they entered the sweat lodge lightly dressed at 3 p.m. Two hours later, a woman dialed 911 to say that two people, [identified as 38-year old New Yorker Kirby Brown and 40-year-old James Shore of Milwaukee] did not have a pulse and weren't breathing."

The full story is here.

I love how Ray updates his Twitter account:

"I am spending the weekend in prayer and meditation for all involved in this difficult time; and I ask you to join me in doing the same."

You should be spending it in handcuffs for criminal negligence causing death, buddy. And you might be if you hadn't skipped out of state.

This level of irresponsibility is hideous, really. And the abuses of this get-rich-quick, "instant manifestation" New Age ideology and its self-declared gurus continue. Completely disconnected from physical reality.

When people preach exponential growth without any level of responsibility for that growth...things go wrong. Case in point.

Building a business or anything, for that matter, that is on solid ground, that is sustainable and of real benefit to the community takes time, effort, patience, diligence, persistence, development of knowledge, expertise, and personal responsibility, among other things.

All those Saturn in Virgo things that so much of the New Age finds distasteful.

Here is some commentary that includes the leaked transcript of a telephone conference call Ray made to the victims October 14 trying to cover his ass and reinforce "the teachings."

Circling the wagons is a very common technique used in New Age indoctrination to keep everyone "on board."

"All part of the divine plan; all part of the divine plan; all part of the divine plan."

Also trying to keep himself out of future litigation, I'm sure.

I sincerely hope this man is held accountable and brought to justice. I also hope the victims' families sue this guy and he loses his phony fortune as quickly as he made it.

Instant manifestation, instant de-manifestation!

That would help raise the profile of another couple "laws" we've got on Planet Earth - easy come, easy go, and what goes up must come down...

Honestly, a tragic incident like this was just waiting to happen. The energy of this stuff is so unbelievable dirty. A pyramid-scheme spiritual hierarchy built on phony foundations and an incomplete understanding of "universal law." Misuse of energy for personal gain in the most extreme ways. It was only a matter of time before it came crashing down.

Unfortunately, people have lost their lives in the process and others will probably have lifelong ill effects to deal with. The two deaths are now being investigated.

And none of this has stopped Ray and his money-making machine. He has continued his "motivational speaking" tour since the incident.

I Would Cheer if I Weren't So Tired

Venus has now passed Saturn in Virgo and Mercury has just come out of its most recent retrograde shadow. Tiring but good to have completed some of the Virgo-themed necessities.

The Moon enters Virgo in the wee hours tomorrow morning, and we head into the Dark of the Moon phase around noon MDT.

The monthly lunar cycle is coming to a close at the same time as we experience those aforementioned cycle completions.

This Dark of the Moon in Virgo is a thorough one because it ties in to the entire previous two-year process of Saturn in Virgo, which we're in the process of finishing.

Venus travels through the last degree of Virgo, entering Libra at around 4:45 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, inside the Dark of the Moon. Venus' home territory.

The Venus in Libra-Pluto in Capricorn square also happens as the Moon is going dark. Another aspect happening within this process of emotional wrap-up.

New Moon in Libra late Saturday evening...

Virgo, Don't Fail Me Now...

I see so clearly the way the language of the "New Age" is being used to manipulate people. 

All this talk of (Aquarian) change and a new way, a global government, a new order (Virgo) out of chaos (Pisces), etc. All these vague, glossy terms that play on people's hopes and dreams and get them to swallow things that aren't in their best interests. I see how astrological symbols/language and timing are being used to further agendas I don't agree with. Agendas that, if they were to succeed, would render this planet unfit for human habitation, in my opinion. 

It makes me question my own words and wonder if they could be twisted to mean something other than what I meant them to mean or if my astrological analysis could be used by people with motives I don't support. 

I know it could be and that, in some ways, it more than likely is. 

I've been talking for a long time about the changes that would come along with true freedom and egalitarianism for humanity, symbolized by the shift into the Aquarian Age. But believe me, the change the "world leaders" are talking about is not freedom and egalitarianism for human beings. They've just hijacked the language and energy of it. It's the same old control-based hierarchy masquerading as something new. A further concentration of power using the energetic potential of Pluto in Capricorn. 

Their concept of progress and evolution is not the same as my concept of progress and evolution. Their vision is not my vision. But we would use the same words. So it's doublespeak. It's saying similar things, using similar terminology, but it has the opposite meaning. And here's where you see how important the application of precise Virgoan powers of definition are. 

There are many different versions of the Aquarian future, many different visions being promoted, and we have to be personally responsible for which version we support and advance. To stay on the right side of all this information warfare and propaganda takes some effort. 

I couldn't stand it if my words were used to further the agendas/ideologies I oppose, but I see how people's ideas and passions and good intentions are co-opted so easily and so often for these purposes. I read a few of my earliest posts here, and I could see, in places, how New Age language had seeped in. It disgusted me, and I was actually ashamed that I wrote it. It generally happened when I was talking about Pisces or Aquarius, and you can understand why it would be these signs that would have the New Age rhetoric attached. 

When I talked about Pluto in Sagittarius stripping down outdated, crystallized aspects of belief systems, little did I know at the time that the New Age/NWO would attempt to use this energy in a campaign to strip people of ALL their beliefs, anything that didn't coincide with their agenda for One World Government/One World Religion oligarchy. Little did I know that The Secret phenomenon would begin a campaign to aggressively "repattern" any thoughts and beliefs deemed "negative" by their standards. 

Of course, I'm opposed to all that. But reading my words over from a year-and-a-half ago, I can see how they could be twisted to support those agendas. 

Again, because astrology has been co-opted by the New Age movement to such an extent, when you're first learning and practising astrology, it's very difficult to define exactly where the divisions have been blurred. You have to feel it out and go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. But still, before you've become practised at seeing this stuff, the energy of it sometimes slips in. So I had to go back over some of those earliest posts and do some Virgoan-precise editing. I just hope I got it all!

Just the Basics...

Guh. Saturn...Virgo...Mercury...Venus...painful...constricting...

You know how it is.

I can't eke out more than the basic info at the moment, but we've got a lot of aspects and ingresses going down in the near future and a lot of potential movement, so here are the crucial tidbits for the next week:

Beginning today, October 9:

Mercury exits Virgo after it opposed Uranus in Pisces Rx and conjuncted Saturn in Virgo (yay!) and enters Libra this evening (MDT), squaring Pluto in Capricorn and completing the series of three Mercury-Pluto squares experienced during the most recent Mercury retrograde process. That third square is exact tomorrow, October 10, just after noon. And then...done!

Venus in Virgo is closely following in Mercury's footsteps and opposed Uranus in Pisces about an hour-and-a-half ago.

(We're bringing the broader energy of the Saturn in Virgo - Uranus in Pisces oppositional shake-ups into our daily interactions, conscious minds and relationship dynamics. Things are not as they were, and here we start to get a handle on what that means, exactly.)

Saturn enters its next retrograde shadow at 27 degrees Virgo on October 11. (We're coming back for one last pass over 27-30 Virgo next year.)

We also have the Last Quarter Moon in the early morning of October 11 - Moon in Cancer square the Sun in Libra. The Last Quarter Moon is the closing square of the monthly moon cycle and coincides with the impetus to make changes related to what we have learned and experienced during the first 3/4 of the moon cycle. This is where we start to shed or release emotion and attachment to what has come before, coming to completion during the Dark of the Moon.

Jupiter goes direct in Aquarius October 12, the first of the three bodies in Aquarius to move direct after they went retrograde as a group.

In the early morning hours of October 13, Venus conjuncts Saturn in Virgo. Around the same time, Mercury in Libra leaves its retrograde shadow and enters new degrees of the zodiac (6 degrees Libra).

Venus enters Libra (a sign of its rulership - comfortable territory) Wednesday, October 14 and squares Pluto in Capricorn in the morning of October 15.

The very next day, October 16, Mars enters Leo, also entering its retrograde shadow - the degrees of the zodiac it will move back over during its upcoming retrograde beginning December 19.

Then October 17, we have a New Moon at 24 degrees Libra - the second of a series of eight New Moons at 24 or 25 degrees of the signs involved.

So yeah...there's a "dam breaking" sort of feel here. Movement after a long period of Saturnine, for-our-own-good restriction.

You Can't Hurry Saturn - Much As We Would Like To

Today was one of those days that seemed to trickle by slower than molasses in January. I kept looking at the chart and the aspects and trying to will things to pick up steam.

Of course, you can't will Saturn to go any faster than is required.

The Moon in slow and steady Taurus trined Pluto in Capricorn at noon MDT indicating some strong grounded energy. That was the last aspect of the day...

Mercury has picked up speed direct in Virgo having just opposed Uranus Rx in Pisces yesterday and is heading to a conjunction with Saturn just after midnight MDT on Thursday. This is adding that draggy heaviness to things of a communication/connection/interaction nature. Progress is a little tight at the moment. There's not much oil to grease the wheels.

I can't believe the Aries Full Moon was less than 48 hours ago. All this earth energy has certainly slowed things down to a more deliberate pace. Every step we take now has to be completely necessary.

We're grinding out the last three degrees of Saturn in Virgo here, and true to form, Saturn's not letting up a bit. Every last minute Saturn spends in Virgo will be utilized. No wasting time and effort.

This stickler stuff is getting to be a real drag.

Tomorrow is pretty much more of the same with only three aspects, all involving the Taurus Moon - an inconjunct to the Sun in Libra, a square to Jupiter Rx stationing in Aquarius and a trine to Venus in Virgo later in the night.

I'll be happy when Mercury clears this retrograde shadow on Oct. 13.

Mercury Direct in Virgo Conjunct Saturn and Precisely-Timed Strategic Information

Mercury went direct at 21 Virgo yesterday afternoon. Now it's heading direct toward its final pass over the Saturn-Uranus opposition and the square to Pluto in Capricorn. 

 - Mercury in Virgo opposite Uranus Rx in Pisces - October 4 at 3:06 p.m. MDT 

- Mercury in Virgo conjunct Saturn in Virgo - October 8 at 12:34 a.m. MDT 

- Mercury enters Libra - October 9 at 9:46 p.m. 

- Mercury in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn - October 10 at 12:44 p.m. MDT 

I can't rouse much enthusiasm for this. On a global level, this Mercury direct action will probably coincide with some "big announcements" regarding Iran and its nuclear facility. 

Let's recall...the Obama Administration has known for nine months about this nuclear facility and chose to drop it into the media, with Virgoan precision, during the G20 meeting. Manufacturing consent and creating a big global uproar. 

This became the big story, completely overshadowing what actually went on at the G20 meeting, as well as the police-state brutality against the protesters, including (for the first time in history) the use of sound weapons. The U.S. government seems to be itching for an excuse to invade Iran. Creating perceived threats and spreading their war machine...  

"Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat." 

 - Zbigniew Brzesinski, top Obama foreign policy advisor, in his 1998 book The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives 

See any similarities between Brzesinski's sentiment and this one?  

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” 

 - Nazi Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg Trials 

Media as propaganda tool and control mechanism... 

I've always found it bizarre that the only nation that ever actually dropped a nuclear bomb on human beings (twice) is now the self-imposed global watchdog in charge of who can have nukes and who can't. 

Saturn in Virgo enters its retrograde shadow October 11. We'll be revisiting this pass of Saturn through the final degrees of Virgo and into Libra during Saturn's next retrograde (January-May 2010). We'll also be revisiting the Saturn in Libra-Pluto in Capricorn square - the first of three happens November 15. 

Restructuring within hierarchical power structures, new balance of power, new relationships, new allegiances, all with big, old "brotherly love" grins on their faces. Showing a surface level of Libra peace and cooperation while the root motivations and strategic actions remain hidden to the people. Look beneath the surface, when the cameras are off, to see what's really going on behind our backs, in our names. 

The final Mercury-Pluto square (October 10) and a Venus-Pluto square immediately after Venus enters Libra (October 15) are more preparation on a personal level for the series of longer-term cardinal squares we're heading into, starring Pluto in Capricorn. 

 From a previous post: 

"You can see how very important it is that we get these cardinal new initiatives, new directions, new forms of leadership down pat. And that we successfully complete all preceding preparations while Saturn is in Virgo. We're heading to a long series of cardinal squares between now and 2015. Saturn in Libra squaring Pluto in Capricorn and then Uranus in Aries squaring Pluto in Cap. 

Grand-scale new directions on both personal and global levels squaring off against each other. New forms of leadership will be struggling into existence...and those who didn't get the self-sovereign, egalitarian memo will be fighting each other for supremacy. We're going over and over the cardinal squares now because we need to get a handle on these energies personally, in our own lives, or risk being bowled over by transpersonal directions and events." 

As we saw at the G20 Summit, we had an undemocratic, unelected world government exert itself and put itself in charge of world economic decisions that affect all other countries on the planet. Top-down, behind-closed-doors hierarchy at its finest, with a blisteringly brutal police and military state ready to impose it. 

Again, at the risk of sounding redundant, these are not our leaders.

The Pressure Eases...A Bit

Mercury Rx in Virgo is pulling away from Saturn in Virgo and out of its opposition to Uranus Rx in Pisces, and you can feel the pressure easing, especially mentally. Our brains (and entire physiological systems) are out of the vice grip...for now.

The Sun, newly in Libra, is also pulling out of this morning's square to Pluto in Capricorn. More good news on the "tensions easing" front.

Mercury is, of course, stationing direct September 28 and will make a final pass over the opposition to Uranus Rx in Pisces while conjuncting Saturn in Virgo in early October. That final pass with Mercury direct should feel much less constricting and internally pressurized than the one we just experienced. The final pass should be more about putting what we've gotten clear on during the retrograde into action, the finishing Virgoan touches and final details, sanded down using the finest-grained sandpaper.

The Mercury-Saturn opposition to Uranus we just experienced with both Mercury and Uranus retrograde was some cosmically downloading madness, I must say. So much going on in our own minds and bodies that we could only be partially conscious of at the time. Too much consciousness of the exact details would fry the system, so you have to love the Piscean psychic anesthesia during those times. Now, we should be infused with the necessary cosmic awareness and connections. The circuits have been charged and tuned up, and we start to move forward as Mercury goes direct.

Other than Mercury stationing direct at 21 Virgo on September 28, we have no major aspects going on until Sunday, October 4 when we experience the Aries Full Moon and Mercury opposing Uranus in Pisces for the final time with Mars in Cancer trining Uranus. That trine should ease the overloading, short-circuiting potential of the Mercury-Uranus contact by bringing in the physical/emotional outlet of Mars in Cancer.

So as the Sun begins its transit of Libra and we step into fall, we really are enjoying a clearing point where we can catch our breath and enjoy some equilibrium.

That's not to say that there aren't major things going on in people's natal charts, triggered by the transits.

But as far as the cosmic weather forecast, things should be pretty clear for the next ten days.

Super Potent New Moon in Virgo Smack Dab on Saturn - September 18

Super potent, yes it is. But the challenge here is to focus the potency in the subtle and useful manner Virgo so enjoys. Let's be practical and use this energy most effectively to finish with any loose ends and prepare for the unfolding of what's to come. The energy preceding this New Moon will be very effective in tightening up the last details and finally completing things we've been dragging our feet on a bit...

The Virgo New Moon early Friday afternoon (12:44 p.m. MDT) finds us with the Moon meeting the Sun on top of (just a tiny bit past) Saturn, directly opposite Uranus and closely opposite Juno - both retrograde in late Pisces. Pallas and Mercury Rx are also in Virgo, creating a stellium in the sign (Pallas-Saturn-Sun-Moon-Mercury).

The third structure-morphing Saturn in Virgo - Uranus in Pisces opposition was exact yesterday, and this opposition aspect is still very tight and very much in effect, colouring the New Moon on Friday.

New Moons always signal the end of a previous cycle and the beginning of a new one, but with this New Moon happening right on the Saturn opposition to Uranus, the reverberations of this one have a much broader reach than usual. Reaching right into the new paradigm we're struggling to bring about...

Background: We're in the midst of a series of five Saturn-Uranus oppositions, four of which will be in the signs of Virgo and Pisces. The last time Saturn (structure, maturation and concrete progress) and Uranus (revolution, the unexpected and lightning-strike genius insights) opposed each other was in the 1960s...but in opposite signs from where they are now. (Saturn was in Pisces, Uranus was in Virgo). With these current oppositions, we're building on those 60s ideals of egalitarianism, freedom and love but grounding them in concrete reality. Building them right into the structures, right into the systems, and using them as a practical, day-to-day guiding vision. No fringe mentality here. No pie-in-the-sky. The challenge here is to apply the vision of what could be and should be on this planet right into the mainstream structural here and now. All the while determining what is the real track to take and what is just old paradigm hierarchy and control dressed up in new paradigm clothing.

With the Virgo stellium in the 10th house, watch what's being "handed down" to you, and reject what doesn't hit you as right.

We all have to take responsibility here for the question: What do you serve?

Our messenger planet is a crucial, crucial player here, keeping the necessary information circulating and providing perspective we might have missed the first time around. Mercury Rx disposits all the planets in the Virgo stellium while squaring Pluto, just direct in Capricorn. There's so much going on now, a behemoth of a process moving forward, and Mercury Rx in Virgo is working to keep it all straight.

There's no real new information being brought forth during the retrograde, but Mercury has its hands (and ears...and mouth) full going over what we've just experienced. Mercury is moving retrograde to the point where it conjuncted Saturn in Virgo on August 17 (which is also the point where Saturn left it's retrograde shadow) and will station direct there on September 28.

But back to the current situation...

Mercury Rx in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn at the zero degrees of the signs early Thursday morning and retrogrades from Libra into Virgo tomorrow night, just in time for Friday's Virgo New Moon.

At that time, Mercury Rx will be on the 29th (anaretic) degree of Virgo directly opposite Juno Rx at 29 Pisces. Another potent alignment involved in this New Moon process. Our contacts and communications are so very purposeful now for bringing about the longer-term shift into the egalitarian Aquarian paradigm. This includes interactions with people in our day-to-day lives (could be some unexpected ones, too, with Uranus involved), but with Juno (soul mate asteroid) on 29 Pisces - the last degree of the zodiac - of equal importance is our communication with our spiritual guidance. Attuning to the assistance we receive from non-physical messengers as well as listening to the Universe talking to us through our mundane lives.

We must be very discerning now, clearing away the glut of unnecessary information we're subjected to on a daily basis and using our honed Virgoan wheat-from-chaff separating skills to get right to the heart of the matter.

The 29th degree contacts here between Mercury and Juno follow the completion/beginning theme of the New Moon with a final completion of old soul mate contracts/work, and a final clearing to make space for new ones designed to take us forward. If we listen closely, we'll be able to differentiate between the ways of interacting/relationship dynamics that are related to past cycles and are on their way out of our lives and the energy of the new ones. A final ushering out of the old and welcoming of the new.

All this has been an ongoing process, as there has been a lot of recent action on this 29 degree of Pisces. Venus stationed direct there conjunct Mars during its last retrograde in March-April 2009, making it a crucial influence in the current Venus cycle. Juno has been going back and forth over this degree and was there conjunct Uranus when Uranus stationed retrograde July 1. More on Juno on the 29th degree of Pisces here.

And this process continues with the New Moons in Libra and Scorpio over the next two months.

The asteroid Pallas is also in Virgo now, a part of the Virgo stellium, adding a feisty, philosophically-minded aspect to this New Moon. We're willing to stand our ground here. We know, quite specifically now, what's important to us, and we're willing to speak up about it.

This is a very sweet New Moon, also, as it marks the point where we've officially completed the first two-and-a-half legs of Saturn's journey through Virgo. (Yee haw!) Those who have been struggling with this transit (*puts up her hand*) should feel a lightening of the load here if we've kept out noses to the grindstone and worked on what Saturn instructed us to work on over the past two years.

Saturn is a picky taskmaster in Virgo, making us go over and over things with a fine-toothed comb. Even the smallest rough edge, neglected detail or sloppy statement can put us way off course. Saturn in Virgo knows this.

So we've been drilled on all those Virgo subjects. Yes, the usual ones like work, service, duty, communication, perfecting of details, cleanliness, organization, diet and holistic/systemic health and functioning, in general.

But also on the finer points of Virgo. Honing our skills of personal discernment, defining and enforcing boundaries, separating the necessary from the unnecessary, rejecting those things that are damaging to our systems, defining our particular skills and service and applying them in the right ways in the right situations, removing our energy and influence from situations that are no longer right for us personally, determining preferences, stripping down to the essentials in self and life, learning and mastering ourselves.

Dispositing Pluto in Capricorn and now the North Node in Capricorn, Saturn in Virgo has helped us get clearer on what we're willing to support and what we're not. We've taken responsibility for the application of our own personal energies and skills in this world. We've learned to define and honour what we do...performing our duties only for those people and in those situations deserving of our skillful efforts. We've broken old, outdated service habits (the servant's soul) and learned to protect ourselves from those with the "master's" soul who would take advantage of our good-heartedness and dutiful natures. We've withdrawn misplaced allegiances and redirected our efforts where necessary. We've refined the detrimental tail-end Piscean martyr out of our systems (and all other Neptunian/Piscean detrimental bad habits).

Saturn in Virgo is the "don't be a dumbass" placement.

Piece by piece, bit by bit, detail by detail, we've done it. Realigned our systems, physically, emotionally and psychically painful as it was. It's taken every bit of our focus at times, with a thoroughness only Virgo can manage, and it hasn't been easy.

But now, if we've put forth the very best of our effort under the Saturnine weight of this transit, if we've accepted our challenges and kept on keeping on even when we thought we could go no further...we'll have gained Saturn's respect. Self-respect. And we'll start to see some of the fruits of our labours. We can start to see where all this Virgoan preparation has taken us. Blow away the sawdust and see what we've carved out.

The Moon enters Virgo tonight at around suppertime (MDT), and as it goes dark between now and the New Moon Friday afternoon, we emotionally wrap up the first two-and-a-half decans of Saturn in Virgo. It's over now. Sigh of relief.

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves on the celebratory front. It's true that Saturn is heading into Libra at the end of October which will mean a shift in vibe from focussed, detail-oriented self-improvement/mastery to relations with others, but Saturn in Libra will immediately move into square formation with Pluto in Capricorn on the first degree of those cardinal signs. That square will be a long-term influence, in effect to varying degrees of intensity until November 2010.

That zero degree cardinal square again! You can see how very important it is that we get these cardinal new initiatives, new directions, new forms of leadership down pat. And that we successfully complete all preceding preparations while Saturn is in Virgo. We're heading to a long series of cardinal squares between now and 2015. Saturn in Libra squaring Pluto in Capricorn and then Uranus in Aries squaring Pluto in Cap. Grand-scale new directions on both personal and global levels squaring off against each other. New forms of leadership will be struggling into existence...and those who didn't get the self-sovereign, egalitarian memo will be fighting each other for supremacy.

We're going over and over the cardinal squares now because we need to get a handle on these energies personally, in our own lives, or risk being bowled over by transpersonal directions and events.

Saturn will also retrograde back into Virgo April 7, 2010 for four months...until July 21, 2010.

So we're not out of the Virgoan woods yet. As always, Saturn will bring us right back to anything we've put off, procrastinated about or skimmed over the first time. That four-month period (April-July) next year really will be the last sweep, fixing the last few problematic issues and completing the last few details of Saturn in Virgo. It will also involve the fourth Saturn-Uranus opposition and the final one in the signs Virgo and Pisces. That last sweep through Virgo will be the point where we can really apply our skills and show off our mastery a little. (Not too much showing off, though. It's Virgo, after all.)

Pay attention to the Saturn in Virgo-ish Grand Finale themes in your life during the last three weeks of October. These are the things Saturn will revisit in its final pass through Virgo next spring/summer.

However! All this info is not to take anything away from the fulfillment and relief that comes with this New Moon in Virgo, wrapping up the bulk of Saturn's transit through the sign. I could weep, I'm so happy about this one. This really is a time to honour ourselves and others for all the hard work and effort we've put forth as we struggle to transition to a new way of doing things on this planet...

Being over the hump with the Saturn-Uranus opposition cycle is nothing to sneeze at either. We've completed three of five oppositions with only one remaining along the Virgo-Pisces polarity (April 26). Another relieving aspect of this Virgo New Moon.

Post-New Moon will be quite action-packed, as the Moon will conjunct Mercury Rx in Virgo, enter Libra and immediately square Pluto in Capricorn on Friday, all before the day is through. This lunar action echoes, of course, the longer-term aspects up ahead - the completion of the Mercury retrograde, the transit of Saturn into Libra and the square to Pluto in Capricorn - and provides some emotional preparation.

The zero degree cardinal square between Libra and Cappie yet again! We're getting a real dose in preparation for the upcoming series of Saturn in Libra squares to Pluto in Capricorn, and we get another dose after Mercury goes direct, re-enters Libra and squares Pluto in Cap again October 10.

An interesting facet of this month's New Moon is that it kicks off a series of eight New Moons at 24/25 degrees of the zodiac. From September 2009 to April of 2010, all New Moons will happen at those degrees of the signs Virgo through Aries.

Anyone with natal placements at or close to those degrees, especially, should experience a dramatic, multi-layered cycle of fresh, new beginnings. The last tendrils of old cycles dropping away here in a grand-scale way.

This push of new energy in the latter degrees of these signs is directly related, of course, to the finale of the Pisces-to-Aquarius transition. The Uranus-Neptune mutual reception is hanging out near those degrees. As is the Aquarius triple conjunction of Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune.

Saturn in Virgo and Eating More Greens

This is a recipe for a salad dressing so good and so easy to make that it has me eating salad on a regular basis (from previous levels of next-to-none):

Oil and Vinegar Dressing

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce (use light to cut down on salt)
1/2 cup flax seed oil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Pour this mixture into an old, washed wine bottle with a cork - or, you know, a regular bottle. Keeps for about two months in the fridge due to the flax seed oil. Shake it in the bottle before you put it on your salad.

The only semi-tricky ingredient to find is the flax seed oil, which you have to buy at the organic grocery store.

I put this dressing on a salad of romaine lettuce, diced Roma tomatoes, carrot, Kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese, and it is heaven. Cucumbers and spinach are also good to add.

I think you can also put some chopped garlic in this dressing. I haven't tried that, but I bet it would be good.

The North Node is in Capricorn and Saturn Leaves its Retrograde Shadow

Let's celebrate! By...uh...drinking a wheat grass shot? Taking a super-potent vitamin? Taking in our recyclables?

Now that's what Saturn in Virgo calls a party!

Phew! Saturn has officially left its retrograde shadow (21 degrees 46 minutes) and we've finished with the first two legs of Saturn's trek through Virgo. Now just the final decan to contend with.

The North Node in Capricorn is now being disposited by Saturn in Virgo, which is inextricably linked to its position opposite Uranus Rx in Pisces.

So our path for concrete progress at the moment is coloured by the context of that opposition, exact on September 15.

Should be incremental movement forward between now and then.

Still Discomfort Leading to Many Shifts In The Next Week

The combination of the Leo Dark of the Moon Phase today and the pressure from that mutable T-square is a tricky little combo.

Being still and quiet and letting things wrap up of their own volition...but dealing with the antsy mutable squares and Mercurial pressure within that stillness.

Not to mention the growing desire to bust forth into a new creative cycle, exerting the power of our personal artistry and talents as we head to the Leo New Moon early tomorrow morning. This is the first New Moon after a longer than usual eclipse season with plenty of intense inner, emotional focus, so we're very ready to start a new cycle of outward expression, letting our personalities lead the way.

The mutable T-square tension continues this week as Mercury in Virgo (coming from it's conjunction to Saturn) as well as the Moon in Virgo oppose Uranus Rx in Pisces (Friday - Saturday). This is also a pre-cursor, of course, to the next Saturn-Uranus opposition coming up September 15. Wrapping our brains around the changes we're dealing with...with many more up ahead. Getting to the necessary information. Getting organized. Mental and physical tune-ups. Getting our systems prepped and ready and functioning well. We need to be mentally, physically and emotionally healthy and strong to process the energy of these times...and the changes we're dealing with. No lagging. (I started doing Pilates at home during yesterday's Mars square Uranus, and I think it's going to be very helpful with some lower back problems I have...)

Mercury entered the shadow degrees of its next retrograde just after the conjunction to Saturn in Virgo at 21 degrees on Monday. So even though Saturn in Virgo will not be revisiting the degrees it is travelling through now, we'll be going back over those degrees of Virgo with a Mercury Retrograde in September, getting a better handle on what we're experiencing now. We'll get a chance to pick up any important info and make any necessary connections then. Details, details when you're dealing with Virgo. And preparation on top of preparation.

We're heading into a very mutable week, post-New Moon in Leo tomorrow. All the personal planets and the North Node change signs. Saturn moves out of its retrograde shadow in Virgo and Pluto continues stationing direct on 0 degrees Capricorn, kicking up more business developments related to the massive Plutonic transformation our structures are undergoing. As we continue to penetrate to the core reality of hierarchical outgrowths...

August 20
- New Moon in Leo

August 21
- Mercury in Virgo opposite Uranus Rx in Pisces
- Moon conjunct Saturn in Virgo
- North Node moves from Aquarius to Capricorn for an 18-month stay (until early March 2011)

August 22
- Saturn in Virgo leaves retrograde shadow at 21 degrees Virgo, entering six degrees of Virgo (until October 10) it will not revisit in its next retrograde
- Sun enters Virgo

August 25
- Mars enters Cancer
- Mercury enters Libra

August 26
- Cardinal T-square: Mercury in Libra squares Mars in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn (0 degrees)
- Venus enters Leo
- Mars in Cancer opposite stationing Pluto in Capricorn (forming cardinal T-square with Mercury in Libra)

Mutable T-Square Still in Full Effect

Lots of astro action today!

Mercury conjuncts Saturn in Virgo as Mars in Gemini heads to its square with Uranus Rx in Pisces tomorrow evening (8:24 MDT). The mutable T-Square is still in full effect. Stiff necks, headaches, mental overload and anxiety are still to be expected as we adjust and shift according to the changing conditions and any new information we are bringing in. Best to limit communication to only what is necessary as the universe continues to inform us about what comes next...

Saturn is just about to exit its retrograde shadow (August 22), so the things we are dealing with now pertain to wrapping up the previous two legs (decans) of Saturn in Virgo. From August 22 to October 10 we zoom through six degrees of Virgo (as much as Saturn can zoom) that won't be revisited in Saturn's next retrograde. We only get one kick at the cat with these degrees, so both Mercury and Saturn stand at the starting gate today, putting their heads together and formulating a plan about the best path forward for the most progress made.

The Moon and Venus come together in Cancer today, also, for a good dose of the feminine. Venus in Cancer has kept us back in those eclipse themes finishing the lunar-driven rinse cycle. Interactions we've had with the people in our lives have very much been coloured by those home, roots, family emotional themes and will continue to be until Venus enters Leo on August 26. We're still emotionally reconciling with the changes the future will bring and strengthening our connections to our roots to prepare.

The Sun in Leo is opposing Neptune in Aquarius today - just moving out of exact opposition with Chiron and Jupiter. The preceding oppositions are still in the energetic mix, as well. Shining our lights and putting forth our creative expressions of self in the face of the mammoth Aquarian shift. Reminding us to enjoy being ourselves as much as we can during the process.

Mars in Gemini also completes its trines to the Aquarius bodies today, trining Neptune this evening. Communication and interaction are the methods by which we are going after our goals right now, and all of it is touched by the objective vision of the future we're heading to. This trine is an easy, flowing aspect, but there could be a little more Neptunian fuzziness involved than Mars would like. Things are not as cut and dry or as easily attained when connections to Neptune/Pisces are involved. There are broader universal/spiritual goals in mind as well as our personal goals. But Mars will just have to work with it because it gets an even more challenging dose tomorrow evening as it squares Uranus in Pisces...

Mutable T-Square Influence Helping Us Make the Transitions

Mars in Gemini is moving to a closing square with Saturn in Virgo Monday at 6:16 p.m. MDT. This creates a mutable T-square with Mars in Gemini squaring both Saturn in Virgo and Uranus retrograde in Pisces.

Mars in Gemini will square Uranus in Pisces (opening square) August 18 at 8:24 p.m., so the influence of this T-square lasts for the next 10 days or so.

(Saturn and Uranus Rx are, of course, heading ever-closer to the third of their five oppositions on September 15 at 24 degrees Virgo/Pisces.)

Mutable energy is transitional, changing, adapting, so this should get some energy moving post-triple eclipses, although the movement will come as a result of these squeezing, frustrating, irritating squares.

The loosening effect of the eclipses releasing previous backdrops will be continued here as we transition to new ones.

The fourth leg of this mutable T-Square is "keeping the faith" Sagittarius. There are no bodies currently in Sadge, but the tension created by the T-square will be looking for an anchoring vibe from that sign. Keeping the candle burning in the window, holding a vibe of optimism and farsightedness to help stabilize all the nervous tension, worry and anxiety that can come with Gemini-Virgo-Pisces interactions. Sagittarius will be the wise old philosopher here, offering a steady hand and a few calming words. Tapping into that sign's best qualities will assist us with the T-square over the next 10 days. Activities/practises related to whatever house Sagittarius occupies in your birth chart should strengthen that stabilizing leg and help offset any tension overload with the other three mutable signs.

Under Mars in Gemini, we're attempting to achieve our goals through connection, communication, information-gathering and networking in our day-to-day lives. We want to get things moving in ways that interest us.

The square to Saturn in Virgo checks those desires with the understanding that we have to be mature and level-headed in our interactions with other people. Those interactions must be purposeful and necessary - possibly a bit of a drag for chatty, social Gemini. Talking for the sake of talking will be allowed only in very limited doses. We can seek stimulation but only if we don't start stuffing ourselves with mental junk food. No gossipping or shit-talking...or we'll suffer the consequences. We have to choose our information sources and the ways we interact carefully. We have to know when to make the connection and how to measure our words.

Precision is the name of the game with Saturn and Mercury in Virgo. Right application of speech and mental energy/analytical skills. Keeping our minds harnessed, working for the right aims. Only what's necessary. Mercury in Virgo disposits Mars in Gemini, so the Virgoan temperance is a strong influence. This influence is only made stronger as Mercury conjuncts Saturn at 21 Virgo on August 17.

The square to Uranus in Pisces ensures that we're keeping our ear to our spiritual insight here, not filling our heads with media and phone conversations and iPod distractions to the point that we can't hear that spiritual communication. We have to be attuned to those unexpected zaps of insight, to that "how could you have possibly known that?" stuff, especially as Uranus heads retro to its opposition with Saturn. Retrogrades offer us the chance to pick up on things we may have missed the first time around, so we have to take heed on that Piscean etheric level at the same time as we juggle and interact day-to-day - an example of the duality represented by both Gemini and Pisces.

We're in the middle of the Saturn-Uranus opposition series. Things are changing, structures are morphing, and we're in the midst of a lot of transition, heading to a new organization of things. The light and airy Mars in Gemini interactions are still light and airy, but they take place within that context.

Mars in Gemini will trine Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune, all Rx in Aquarius, August 13-17, between the squares to Saturn and Uranus, so our motivations for connection and stimulation have a bigger picture purpose at the moment. Understanding that context will help our interactions with others to hit the mark, getting the job done in an immediate way as well as for longer-term progress and shifts.

Things should continue to slowly becoming unstuck here (moving to some catalyzing astro-events in September), but there will be some mental stress, worry and anxiety as we work with the adjustments and changes required by the mutable energy.

We've also still got some Saturn in Virgo heaviness and depression to contend with, which has seemed to come into focus again with Uranus stationing and moving retrograde to that third opposition.

Baby steps...baby changes. Small adjustments bringing us through this transitional time.