Let's Be Thankful for Mercury Retrograde in Taurus Right Now

The opposition between Saturn and Uranus is exact today, marking the fourth and final opposition in the signs Virgo and Pisces. Although Saturn and Uranus remain within range of opposition, this basically marks a conclusion point to the series of oppositions in these signs that we've been experiencing since November, 2008. So everyone give yourself a pat on the back. We made it. Just barely in some cases (me).

There's one more opposition between the body of radical change, future-oriented insight and revolution (Uranus) and the body of concrete structural set-ups, maturation and practical challenge (Saturn) on July 26, when Uranus will be at 0 degrees Aries and Saturn will be at 0 degrees Libra.

But that opposition will have a much different feel from what we've been experiencing in Virgo-Pisces. The tension of that opposition should give us a strong initiating impetus into a new cycle, out of the anxiety, depression, worry, uncertainty, constant adjusting and treading water feelings.

Sure, we may just enter a new kind of uncertainty with the cardinal opposition, but for many of us (me, again) it will be a relief to leave the overwhelming energies of the past two years somewhat behind us...

The reason we can be happy that Mercury is retrograde in Taurus is that we have a lot of Mercurial energy going on - Saturn is in late Virgo and Venus is in early Gemini, both ruled by Mercury. This means Mercury's sign and motion play a big role in how we experience this opposition.

The experience of an opposition is often akin to feeling pulled apart at the seams by two opposing forces as we struggle to find the right energetic mix and interplay on the continuum, so a rapidly moving Mercury trying to do its thing would really push us overboard right now.

Mercury retrograde in Taurus has slowed all things Mercurial to a grounded snail's pace, and, while potentially frustrating, this helps things progress in a much more realistic, comfortable and secure way overall. We're able to really cement our progress here, as long as we work with the much slower and more organically-unfolding Merc Rx in Taurus rhythms.

The Mercury Rx in Taurus energy is also helpful as we head to the Full Moon in Scorpio April 28, on the heels of this Saturn-Uranus opposition.

A Scorpio Full Moon has the tendency to bring us to emotional extremes, but Mercury Rx is coming together in conjunction with the Sun in Taurus, and they oppose the Moon in Scorpio together at this Full Moon. Very cool. This allows us to keep a level head as any remaining emotional nastiness from the past is drawn to the surface for us to deal with.

Scorpio Full Moons relate to (among other things) emotional endings, disconnecting from people, situations or dynamics that have become draining or damaging and transmuting leftover emotional detritus, leaving us free to connect emotionally with what is most vital and nourishing to us now, rather than carrying old energy and dynamics forward that no longer sustain.

My feeling is that this Full Moon will give us an indicator of what shape we're in heading into next October/November's Venus retrograde in Scorpio, so watch what comes up emotionally now and do what you have to do with it. Be firm. Whatever is cleared or settled or dealt with now alleviates the pressure on that Venus retrograde, which is going to have the potential to be a clean-sweep disconnect from damaging relationship patterns, past, present and future. Getting to that real "soul mate" vibe, rather than working in futility with relationships that will never get there.

An interesting thing that came up in a reading a while back is that it might not be us needing to let go - it could be someone from our past who needs to let go of us and disconnect the etheric tendrils they still have attached to us. If we had a role in connecting, it's possible - only possible, not definite - that we have a role in disconnecting, and if this is the case, we can work with that process and help the person, where we can, to let go.

At the Scorpio Full Moon we can focus emotionally on releasing all those who came before with an understanding that they may have gotten hurt in relationship with us. We can get a feel for whether there is something we need to do or say to validate those feelings and whether there are apologies or airings necessary. Only when we bring the buried and roiling Scorpy harsh feelings to the surface, validate them and release them can we stop being oppressed by them.

We do a lot of messed up things to each other before we're consciously aware of underlying relationship dynamics, and here we can take responsibility for both ends of the spectrum. Releasing and being released...with more to come at the Venus in Scorpio retrograde this fall.

The Sabian Symbol for the Scorpio Full Moon is: A Dentist is Hard at Work. So you see how intently we have to root out what is old and decaying emotionally.

The Moon wants to hold on, but Scorpio knows that to do so is death - at least soul death. So we have to be gentle but skillfully ruthless with any ways we've been conditioned to dish out or accept subtle mistreatment, severing ties to energetic dynamics that will never truly nourish us.

There are themes of emotional deprivation/starvation here - and of fighting our way out of that and into truly nourishing territory. Psychic surgeon Scorpio, cutting away whatever snuffs us out emotionally so that the truly vital connections can strengthen and grow. It's a precise application now, more often working with people and relationships rather than simply cutting ourselves off from them altogether.

As we do this, we have to be aware of and respect the Taurean boundaries - our own and other people's - making absolutely no exceptions.

Another interesting development is that Venus in early Gemini is heading to a conjunction with Juno (asteroid of covenant relationships) - exact May 1. This adds more soul mate vibe to the relationship proceedings, especially within our local, day-to-day societies and the related interactions.

All those unspoken connections in small towns/communities and keeping them straight so you don't get drawn in and burned. I know this well.

We're building our vital connections now with day-to-day contact and seemingly light chit-chat. Maintaining this contact is very important. Due to the harsh aspects of these times in which we're living, vital connections can wither on the vine very quickly if not tended to. Whatever connections you want to see succeed in your life, wherever you are being nourished, connect to them all little-by-little and keep them flourishing (Mercury in Taurus).

On the other hand, no matter how light and airy the interactions seem, our timing, tone and what we are specifically communicating to each other is very important. It has to hit the mark. This is the seriousness of these soul mate interactions. We're not playing here.

The Sabian Symbol for the degree where Venus and Juno meet in Gemini is: A Medieval Archer Stands With the Ease of One Wholly Sure of Himself, Bow in Hand, His Quiver Filled With Arrows.

So we know the importance of these times. We're trained and prepared. We know our skills, and we know how to use them. There are a lot of small arrows we need to let fly to get the Geminian connections moving and flowing and interacting with each other.

And as part of that Scorpionic clearing of past ties, we have to use our words and the timed application of our words precisely. Restraint. Words can heal, but they can also do huge, long-term damage - even in the smallest and quickest of interactions. Of this, we have to be aware, but as long as we take due care and attention, the arrows will not miss their marks.

Mercury is retrograde in Taurus until May 11, when it turns direct. It leaves its retrograde shadow May 28, just as Uranus enters Aries, and enters Gemini (a sign of its rulership) June 9, just after Jupiter and Uranus conjunct at 0 Aries.

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)

Astrological New Year, Spring Equinox and International Astrology Day

I just want to post something to shift things a little after all the watery, surrender-requiring, in-the-void Pisces we've been experiencing. It feels as if we've been dealing with it for decades now (more like millenia?).

Anyway, today the Sun passes through the final degree of the zodiac. The anaretic to end all anaretics - 29 Pisces. This marks the end of the zodiac year and the beginning of a new one as the Sun enters Aries (11:32 a.m. MDT tomorrow).

This is always the case this time of year, but passes of the Sun through Pisces are even more poignant now than usual as we rapidly near the end of the entire astrological Piscean Era. The endings are deeper and more all-encompassing and a little more teary as we say goodbye to an entire 2,000+ year phase of human spiritual development on this planet. And to many of the spirits who helped bring it about. Honour.

The entry into Aries is also more potent than usual. It triggers the most cardinal of cardinal points as we gear up for much longer-term t-square action in the cardinal signs over the next nine or so years - massive amounts of initiating energy. We head into something new.

The Sun enters Aries late tomorrow morning, marking the Spring Equinox and a new zodiac year. (This day has also been declared International Astrology Day!)

After all the Piscean end-of-the-cycle, end-of-many-cycles energy, tossing us this way and that in the name of era-completion, we really desire some freshness, some movement, a new thread of a new direction - and something it feels as if we, personally, have a say in for a change! We want some life breathed back into us because the fin-de-Piscean-Era Pisces we've been dealing with packs a real wallop.

We've definitely got some cardinal fire energy representin' right now. Venus, Mercury and the Sun are in the sign of the ram, ready to bust forward with all their might into some less stifling territory.

But on the other hand, we've got that cardinal t-square keeping all movement in tight check. The tightest of checks, with Saturn and Pluto putting the squeeze on.

Venus led the way into Aries March 7 and into the cardinal t-square involving Saturn Rx in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn - that same cardinal t-square that will be initiating massive restructuring and new relationships in almost every arena over this next year and beyond.

Mercury followed Venus into Aries March 17, opposing Saturn Rx in Libra, and it will square Pluto in Capricorn early tomorrow morning, just before the equinox.

So we've got these planets heading into the first sign of the zodiac, all raring to go, ready to burst forth into a whole new cycle. We want ac-tion, satisfac-tion, and all that.

But as soon as a planet hits Aries, it has an opposition to Saturn Rx in Libra and then a square to Pluto in Capricorn with which to contend. The freedom of movement, strength and vitality planets in Aries are used to is being heavily filtered.

Not so fast there, partner! There is a very tenuous balance going on here, and too much Arien shooting from the hip could lead to some pretty diastrous results. We're not just in happy-go-lucky springtime here (are we ever, really?). The context of our Arien fresh starts this year is just a touch on the deadly serious side. 'Careful' is not a word usually associated with Aries, but we're having to apply it.

Combine that with trines to still-sluggish Mars in Leo (dispositor of all the planets in Aries), hanging out just direct on the first degree after its three-month retrograde, and you've got more speed bumps. Purposeful speed bumps, of course, but Aries doesn't much like anything that slows it down when it's wanting to get a move on.

This will, of course, make any movement and progress we do manage much more long-term meaningful. All these checks and balances ensure that we're heading in just the right direction now - the path is quite narrow, sometimes severely so, so being squeezed through this cardinal t-square is helping us avoid going off half-cocked and wasting any of our very valuable raw, primal energy. The new directions initiated by Aries now have much deeper, more long-term effects than we can even imagine at the moment.

The personal planets doing their thing in the sign of the warrior are setting a longer-term stage for the epic battles of Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn, as well as for the final opposition between Saturn and Uranus (on those super potent zero degrees of Libra and Aries) July 26 and the final square of Saturn in Libra to Pluto in Capricorn August 20. It's a big summer.

The long-term Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn square series (June 2012 - March 2015) relates to broader, collective tensions: human beings fighting for autonomy, freedom and survival in the face of corrupt, hierarchical control structures and an increasingly tight (though decreasingly effective) stranglehold by corporate oligarchy.

A narrow path, it certainly is, to freedom. But here are the clashes between those who desire a truly free humanity on this planet, those who desire to BE a truly free humanity, and those doing everything in their power to ensnare and enslave in order to energetically and physically prop up same-old, same-old pyramid-scheme hierarchies.

The battles will continue to be physical, unfortunately, as ongoing power struggles and direction-clashes on the world stage spawn new "leadership," enforcing their rules with armed might. But they will also be spiritual, and those are the battles invisible to most people.

It's important to note that those working to further the same old control mechanisms will not be speaking in blatant Pluto in Capricorn terms, either. That will be the underlying push, understood by those fully trained in deep Pluto lessons.

The false Aquarian leaders will be speaking the language of Uranus in Aries - "freedom," "community," "fighting for change." Obama territory. The agenda is to turn people on with pseudo-fresh, "wave of change" language while wasting people's time and energy with the left versus right paradigm long enough to lock down nefarious Pluto in Capricorn agendas.

It's a many-headed beast with many names - one name for the political machine being communitarianism.

So the Uranus-Pluto battles will be going down on all fronts. Free and autonomous human beings struggling with a sucking, Plutonic vortex of control and manipulation. Powerful stuff. This is why our training in these areas has been so thorough. Our vigilance and awareness is crucially important as we demand, and keep demanding, freedom from the tentacles.

It's going to take a lot of courage to go forward aware. It always does. But this is how we're potent and effective - the only way we are. And this is how we get to real change - the change we've risked so much for generation after generation.

The directions we take initially as we get this astrological Aquarian Era off the ground as well as the particular version of the future we are personally willing to fight for are important themes.

The Uranus-Pluto squares in Aries and Capricorn come to exactness seven times between June 2012 and March 2015 and are most potent around then.

However, we get a taste of this square beginning May 28 when Uranus hits the zero degree of Aries, just before it retrogrades (July 5) and dips back into Pisces (August 14). Uranus will enter Aries for good March 2011, and the effects of the Uranus-Pluto squares will be full-on until Uranus enters Taurus completely (no retrograding back into Aries) in March 2019.

This is not to say that we're going to be in a constant state of clashing and battling - because that's a trap, too. As always, understanding the broader astrological transits helps us understand the context of the times in which we are living, the themes, and, hopefully, helps us understand and better navigate the circumstances of our personal lives. Our personal directions are connected to the broader shifts and vice versa.

Freedom, baby. It's what we're here for.

So take a deep breath. It's going to be quite the decade, and we're just now underway.

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.

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 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.

Uranus Retrograde in Pisces and the Next Saturn-Uranus Opposition

Uranus turning retrograde July 1 at 26 degrees Pisces means that all three outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) plus Jupiter and Chiron are moving retrograde.

This is a lot of retrogrades, but we've just gone through one hell of a changeable and often bizarre period on planet Earth, so we need them.

We're going back over the territory we just whipped through to internally recalibrate to what we've just experienced. This is a time of regaining our bearings, especially in light of the three bodies conjunct in Aquarius and the infusion of future-oriented energy and vision we've just received. Our path forward is probably different from what we thought it was going to be...in some cases, very different. There have been some abrupt changes in course, and these retrograde periods give us a chance to adjust to the new space we're occupying. Here, we let go of previous-held dreams and visions in favour of new ones.

These retrogrades should help with clarifying what we're doing and where we're going now - a very necessary thing considering how heavily involved Neptune/Pisces are and have been. A lot of veiled fogginess and illusion to contend with. We can also emotionally prepare ourselves during this time frame for any big changes up ahead.

Since Uranus has gone retrograde in Pisces, I've had some very bizarre dreams. A common experience, I'm sure, since Pisces relates to dreams and the subconscious.

What I've also noticed, after the shift of Uranus retrograde, is an increase in weight and pressure from Saturn in Virgo. I've been waking up depressed and having an extremely difficult time clearing the fog. Just completing the very basics seems to be a task-and-a-half.

What's going on is that Saturn and Uranus Rx are heading to their third opposition in Virgo and Pisces. They are within a 10 degree orb at the moment, getting ever-closer, now that Uranus has turned retro, to exact opposition between now and September 15.

So the balance here between Saturn in Virgo earthly practicalities and Uranus in Pisces spiritual vision is starting to come to the forefront again. The challenges of receiving downloads of spiritual insight and then applying them in the day-to-day material realm while staying on an even keel is tricky. Balancing the requirements of both material and spiritual while bringing them together as one and the same. Knowing when to surrender to circumstances (Pisces) and when to dig in and get to work (Virgo) is proving to be very confusing, at times.

I've felt paralyzed at different times throughout the entire Saturn-Uranus opposition cycle (combined with my Saturn Return) and unsure of what to do next. A lot of void time and weightiness.

And with the reinforcement of the transitting bodies, I sort of feel like, enough already! hahaha But Saturn says no. It's not enough until it says it's enough. Isn't it funny how Saturn transits always have that feeling of, "Isn't it over yet?" Saturn and time. So relative. It feels as if "this" has been and will be going on forever.

Not to mention the odd effects on our experience of time in general with all the Uranus/Aquarius influence. I was re-reading some of the posts on this blog and couldn't believe that some of them were written only a few months ago. I feel as if I wrote the December 2008 post years ago - and it was only six months! It sort of boggles the mind how much ground we're covering these days, doesn't it? Warp speed.

(Another reason those retros are necessary.)

I was trying to do a little predicting for my own life, and looking at the aspects for the rest of the summer, I have a feeling things aren't really going to get moving until mid-September. As much as I don't want this to be true, for my sake and for the sake of anyone who is feeling at the mercy of the universe right now.

But let's be honest. All the outer planets are in retrograde plus Jupiter and Chiron, and Saturn is still going through its retrograde shadow (previously covered territory).

Things really are still in the freefall. Massive scrambling and restructuring are still underway, and it's quite difficult (if not impossible) to get a new direction going on until the dust has settled. This is my feeling for myself, anyway. There's a lot of wheel-spinning possible but not a lot of getting anywhere solid. Baby steps are all we can do in a lot of cases. And treading water.

Saturn hits new ground August 21 (phew!) and starts moving into opposition with Uranus Rx at 24 degrees Virgo/Pisces, exact on September 15. This will be the third shake-up between concrete structural reality (Saturn) and revolutionary change/upheaval (Uranus).

In the midst of that, Pluto goes direct at 0 degrees Capricorn on September 11. Zero degrees at Ground Zero. Starting on the second wave of Plutonic break down and transformation of our structures, hierarchies, public images and versions of success. Round One was the economic meltdown, the bail-outs, the job losses, the business closures, the funnelling of trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to international banks, the lack of integrity, honesty and transparency in our structures coming to the surface. You know...all that fun stuff.

If I were a predicting gal (which I'm not, generally), I would say that Pluto going direct at 0 degrees on September 11 will coincide with more 9/11 scrutiny. This could be when the idea of U.S. government involvement and/or knowledge before the fact could go from conspiracy theory to commonly held suspicion. Maybe we'll even get some proof on this front, for those who need it.

My feeling is that these September astro-events are the major catalyzing aspects we're leading up to this summer.

However, the eclipse season we're currently experiencing should have an initially loosening effect to get things started. Especially the total solar eclipse on 29 degrees Cancer. It's the longest total eclipse in the 21st century, not to be surpassed in length until 2132. It's a big one.

Saturn-Uranus Oppositions Leading to Uranus-Pluto Squares: The Long Range Astro View

Saturn-Uranus Opposition Cycle:

1. November 4, 2008 (Saturn 18 Virgo/Uranus 18 Pisces)
2. February 5, 2009 (Saturn Rx 20 Virgo/Uranus 20 Pisces)
3. September 15, 2009 (Saturn 24 Virgo/Uranus Rx 24 Pisces)
4. April 26, 2010 (Saturn Rx 28 Virgo/Uranus 28 Pisces)
5. July 26, 2010 (Saturn 0 Libra/Uranus Rx 0 Aries)

Saturn and Uranus will both move from mutable signs (transitioning, adapting) to cardinal signs (initiating, new directions), and we start a series of cardinal squares with Saturn in Libra, Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn.

Saturn enters Libra October 29, 2009, retrogrades back into Virgo April 7, 2010, and re-enters Libra for good July 21, 2010.

Uranus enters Aries May 27, 2010, retrogrades back into Pisces August 13, 2010, and re-enters Aries for good March 11, 2011.

Saturn in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn three times:

1. November 15, 2009 (Saturn 1 Libra/Pluto 1 Capricorn)
2. January 31, 2010 (Saturn Rx 4 Libra/Pluto 4 Capricorn)
3. August 20, 2010 (Saturn 2 Libra/Pluto Rx 2 Capricorn)

After the August 20, 2010 square to Pluto in Capricorn, Saturn gets out in front of Uranus and Pluto degree-wise and will not exactly oppose/square them again from that sign.

The first exact square of Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn is not until June 24, 2012, but these two bodies will be in energetic square in these cardinal signs, at times only one degree apart, for much longer - for all intents and purposes, for the entire Uranus transit of Aries - May 27, 2010 to March 5, 2019.

This is the force of revolutionary new direction/identity (Uranus in Aries) in tense contact with the transformation of our structural set-ups and power dynamics therein (Pluto in Capricorn). The freedom to be who we are in the unfolding Aquarian paradigm butting up against the transformation of power dynamics within concrete structural set-ups/institutions. Widescale new directions creating clashes. Both these planets represent transpersonal/global forces, so this will be going on on a global scale with countries as the players. But as the personal is transpersonal (inter-related) and vice versa, these changes will affect everyone on a personal level, as well.

You can see how the recent Mars and Venus in Aries squares to Pluto in Capricorn (and Venus in Aries retrograde) are pre-cursors for the themes of those Uranus in Aries/Pluto in Capricorn squares. This is why it has been quite heavy at times. It's very important that we get going in the right direction with a good grasp of these energies and how they interact.

The following dates are only for the most severe of astro-geeks (like me). Super long range forecast...

Uranus-Pluto Square Cycle:

1. June 24, 2012 (Uranus 8 Aries/Pluto Rx 8 Capricorn)
2. September 18, 2012 (Uranus Rx 6 Aries/Pluto (stationing direct) 6 Capricorn)
3. May 20, 2013 (Uranus 11 Aries/Pluto Rx 11 Capricorn)
4. October 31, 2013 (Uranus Rx 9 Aries/Pluto 9 Capricorn)
5. April 21, 2014 (Uranus 13 Aries/Pluto Rx 13 Capricorn)
6. December 15, 2014 (Uranus Rx 12 Aries/Pluto 12 Capricorn)
7. March 16, 2015 (Uranus 15 Aries/Pluto 15 Capricorn)

Chiron's Role in the Saturn - Uranus Opposition

One thing to note about the upcoming Saturn - Uranus opposition on November 4 (and subsequent oppositions over the next two years) is the role Chiron plays as intermediary between Saturn and Uranus.

Chiron is located between these two bodies. The body related to the "wounded healer," Chiron shows a wound we carry with us and attempt to heal throughout our lives. Since we often have salt thrown into this wound personally, it's something we can recognize and validate in other people, helping to heal it in them through our understanding and healing touch. And not only in the area of our own particular wound - being in touch with our personal Chiron helps us to understand woundedness, in general, in others...we see how they are hurt again and again in certain ways and we understand what needs to happen to start the healing process there. Working with Chiron in others helps us to heal our own wound, layer by layer, throughout our lives.

As middle ground between Saturn and Uranus, you can think of it this way:

It is a wound related, in part, to the ways that our personal genius and "higher," future-oriented insight (Uranus) makes it difficult to fit into the traditional structures that be (Saturn). Uranus rules the urge to revolution and change while Saturn rules our concrete, material structures and the way we operate within them to achieve success. Saturn relates to authority and fitting into things the way they are. Uranus rules an area where we simply will not bow down, a place where we demand complete independence and freedom. The tension between these two things can cause stress and exacerbate the Chiron wound...

Following our Uranian vision makes us viewed as an eccentric oddball, a square peg in the status quo Saturnine round hole. But the weight of our responsibilities and what we have to do to achieve success in the material world (Saturn) can also painfully keep us from our highest vision and the "genius track" in our own lives.

(It's very common to have Chiron opposite Uranus in the birth chart if you were born before 1991...showing the oppositional relationship between our personal genius and intellectual independence and our lifelong wound.)

To fit in and be what society says is a success...or to march to the beat of one's own drummer, to thine own self be true?

It's a balance, to be sure. A matter of degree.

But with Chiron currently in Aquarius, conjunct the North Node...the way forward definitely has Uranian leanings. We're going beyond the structures that currently exist. We'll be breaking with tradition on our way to freedom, healing ourselves along the way. (Here's a previous post I wrote on Chiron conjunct the North Node in Aquarius for some background: http://willowsweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/chiron-conjunct-north-node-in-aquarius.html)

At the same time, Saturn is going to make sure we understand the responsibilities that come with our freedom, accept the weight of them and deal successfully in the material world. It will ensure that we keep our feet on the ground, moving step-by-step toward our Uranian vision. No skipped details.

Chiron co-rules Virgo (a contentious point among astrologers, but I believe this is so)...where Saturn currently is...so our responsibilities lie, in part, in healing this Aquarian wound. We can't move into the future without some healin', y'all!

See how it's all blending together?

Instead of strict polarity and oppositional division, now more than ever we can see the holistic themes of Virgo-Pisces. All the distinct parts make up a whole. That doesn't mean it's all "the same." It means it all works together...or needs to. That's our challenge.

Willow's November 2008 Astro Perspective

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

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

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

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

;-) Just kidding.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hmm…all righty then. Thanks, Dad!

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

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

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

Willow's October 2008 Astro Perspective

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So these Libra - Scorpio themes are prevalent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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