What You Should Know About the Ongoing Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima, Japan

Click to enlarge.

This is a graphic showing the current crisis at the Daiichi nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan. As was reported in the New York Times on August 6, 2013, tons of radioactive water are now being released into the Pacific Ocean every day from these reactors. 

Officials at the Tokyo Electrical Power Company (Tepco) have said the leak started sometime between December and May of 2012. (Just a guess, guys?)

What has always been a global emergency has now become an acute, immediate global emergency.

How I understand it: The groundwater flowing under the nuclear site has become radioactively contaminated and is flowing out to sea, despite efforts to contain it. 

The nuclear cores from the reactors have breached their containments and are somewhere in the ground beneath the site, contaminating the soil and groundwater.

Since the beginning of the disaster, water has also been pumped through the nuclear reactors to keep the ongoing radioactive reaction - still kicking off massive amounts of radiation - as cool and contained as possible. This has been going on since the start of the reaction in March 2011, endangering the lives of many workers who are pumping the water.

The radioactive water used to cool the reaction is now being stored in storage tanks. Some of the storage tanks have sprung leaks and are also releasing water containing radioactive isotopes into the ground beneath the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

This appears to be an escalation of the nuclear crisis, with Japan now asking for international assistance to contain the situation. Previously, it had refused offers of international assistance.

As ever, we need every brain and every set of eyes in the world on this issue, coming up with a solution to contain or stop it, evacuating people, teaching people what to do to protect themselves from contamination by radioactivity, providing equipment, and educating people around the world about radioactive food, milk, water, etc.

Venus Enters Home Sweet Home Libra, Kicking Off the Cardinal Grand Crosses

Jay Kimball pottery

Photo: Jay Kimball

Venus enters its domicile Libra tomorrow morning at 10:37 a.m. CST (where it will be until September 11) and swiftly moves into the first wave of cardinal Grand Cross configurations August 23 - 27.

A new social framework is being put in place over the next nine months, and this first wave, initiated by Venus, sets the tone.

Venus will square Pluto in Capricorn (August 23), oppose Uranus in Aries (August 26), and square Jupiter in Cancer (August 27), forming an acute, stressed, and highly-strung configuration that may require action, initiative, and strong social leadership skills under pressurized circumstances.

The personal planets Mercury, the Sun, and Mars will follow Venus into Libra, activating further waves of cardinal Grand Cross configurations in September, October, and December 2013, culminating in The Big One - an exact Grand Cross formation involving Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto at 13 degrees of the cardinal signs in April 2014.

We're being positioned and re-positioned - often dramatically, often unexpectedly - over the next nine months in an effort to reformulate relationships and social scenes to better fit the requirements of the astrological Aquarian era. Rules are changing. Ideals are shifting. Conventions are dissolving. Power dynamics are breaking down.

We can expect situations to escalate around the times that the Grand Crosses become exact, reaching crisis points that require decisiveness and leadership. These crises will often be related to the failure of the old set-ups, requiring that we find a new way...and quickly.

With Pluto involved in the Grand Crosses, potentially uncomfortable issues related to power are being drawn to the surface in relationships with an impetus to examine, make aware, and then transform. With Uranus involved, relationships and personal directions within relationship can change dramatically and unexpectedly as new insights and events arise. People will be rebelling from attempts to pigeonhole them in outdated relationship roles. With Jupiter in the mix, it is our wisdom, our truth, and our personal guiding philosophies (and those of our families) that provide shelter during the Grand Cross storms.

Jupiter in Cancer is now moving out of range of the Grand Water Trine with Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces. The flowing, energetic glue that was holding things together is now gone, and there is little buffer from the tensions of the Grand Crosses.

Understand that people are going to be a little (or a lot) on edge.

As we experience the series of cardinal Grand Crosses, we will also experience retrogrades of both relationship-related planets. Love and partnership planet Venus goes retrograde in Capricorn (28 to 13 degrees) from December 20, 2013 to January 30, 2014. Sex, attraction, and desire planet Mars goes retrograde in Libra (27 to 9 degrees) from March 1 to May 19, 2014. These retrogrades within cardinal Grand Cross indicate a major 'turning over of the earth' in relationships of all kinds as we hurtle further into the astrological Aquarian era. It is movement in our relationships and social scenes that catalyzes the biggest shifts as far as the ways in which our lives are structured.

The personal planets in Libra will be hitting all the relational marks we were challenged on during Saturn's transit of Libra (October 2009 to October 2012). During that transit, we set new, concrete standards for relationships and partners. We were challenged by illusion, delusion, and wishful thinking in love and relationship. We were tempted by dead ends, siren songs, and karmic loops. Don't be surprised if themes (or people) you thought you had resolved are kicked up again by the transiting planets in Libra. As the personal planets move through Libra and activate the Grand Crosses, we must prove in active and immediate ways that we've earned our new social authority, our new social positioning.

The transit and retrograde of Mars through Libra, in particular, is an activating transit for the Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in Libra generations, who are challenged to create "right human relations" during a quite inhumane period in human history.

The way people are treating each other on this planet, and the way they are being treated by the state, is fairly dismal in many cases, to say the least.

The eight-month transit and retrograde of Mars through the sign of its detriment, Libra, indicates we will have to fight (Mars) for the social relations (Libra) we wish to see on this planet. It is going to take active effort to maintain respect and a sense of peace, as well as our care for others despite exhaustion and overload.

Keeping our social balance and grace under these very intense and demanding cardinal Grand Cross energies will not be easy, but what is worthwhile is rarely easy.

'Social justice and change' are the names of the game with the personal planets in Libra activating the cardinal Grand Crosses, and these urges can be seen around the world.

Beauty-themed Venus in Libra within cardinal Grand Cross, in particular, indicates a time when we can flip the bird to destructive, media-driven beauty ideals once and for all.

There is a leveling of false beauty hierarchies underway as we move further into egalitarian Aquarius. We can assist this process by rejecting the soul-devoid, competition-based versions of beauty so often stuffed down our throats and by opting for something more humane, more fair, more realistic, more respectful, something that honours the beauty in all of us.

In fact, this is a time when we can pop the beauty illusions altogether, deconstructing all image-related mindfuckery and releasing ourselves from its grip. This is a time to ask: Why let someone else dictate to you what's beautiful? Why does it matter how we look at all? Why do certain people get special treatment simply because they fit societal beauty moulds? And how do we justify all the time, effort, money, resources, and worry it takes to achieve those societal beauty standards?

Whereas the Piscean era was obsessed with a sublime, surreal, soft-around-the-edges beauty, a glowing beauty that could be placed on a pedestal above all the rest, an idealized beauty for which  we were all then trained to strive, beauty in the astrological Aquarian era is more egalitarian, diverse, eclectic, unconventional, friendly, rough-around-the-edges, comrade-based.

The truth of the matter is: human beings are kind of weird. Being a human is kind of weird. We look sort of odd, when you get right down to it. The fact that humans are so enamoured of how they look - driven to a new, narcissistic extreme by digital cameras and social media - is actually kind of silly.

Alien life forms coming across a pack of humans would more than likely not be struck by their amazing and ethereal beauty. More than likely, they would think we were kind of odd. And we kind of are.

The things that make us different are the things that make us beautiful under Aquarius. No one has to fit him or herself into Piscean-era cookie cutter beauty ideals now. No one has to strive to look like anyone else. No one has to give any weight to these outdated ideals, at all.

We can drop the outdated Piscean-era beauty hierarchies and their corresponding misery - it's just going to take our conscious effort to do so.


* The lesser benefic and relationship planet Venus enters Libra on August 16, forming the first cardinal Grand Cross August 23 - 27. This is four 90-degree square aspects (frictional, clashing, dynamic) from bodies in all four cardinal signs (leadership, initiative, new direction).

Mercury in Libra forms the second cardinal Grand Cross September 13 - 19.

The Sun in Libra forms the third October 1 - 12.

Mars enters Libra December 7, 2013 until July 26, 2014 for an almost eight-month stay in the sign of the scales (its detriment), including a retrograde period from March 1 to May 19, 2014.

This transit activates the Uranus in Libra, Neptune in Libra, and Pluto in Libra generations in new ways for the astrological Aquarian era, as well as anyone with a strong contingent of personal planets in Libra.

Mars will form its first cardinal Grand Cross moving direct between December 23, 2013 and January 8, 2014.

The second cardinal Grand Cross will be an exact formation, blisteringly potent, forming April 21 - 24, 2014 with Mars Rx in Libra, Jupiter in Cancer, Uranus in Aries, and Pluto in Capricorn all on 13 degrees of the signs.

"Stop GM Alfalfa" Bumper Stickers from WWA Activism

 Stop GM Alfalfa bumper stickers available at WWA Activism

Many of you will be aware of the ongoing "Stop GM Alfalfa" campaign I'm working on in an effort to raise public awareness and political opposition to genetically modified alfalfa.

This campaign actively supports a moratorium in Canada and the United States on the sale, planting, and growth of GM alfalfa. This campaign also supports independent, long-term animal feeding trials of GM alfalfa, unaffiliated with and unfunded by GMOs corporation like Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Dow, DuPont, Syngenta, and others.

Monsanto's genetically modified RoundUp Ready alfalfa was unconditionally approved for commercial sale and growth by the pro-GMO Obama Administration in January 2011. GM alfalfa has been planted in the United States for the past three seasons. This decision is still highly contentious, and lawsuits attempting to stop GM alfalfa are ongoing in the U.S.

Wisconsin-based Forage Genetics is now planning to sell RoundUp Ready alfalfa for the first time in Canada amidst major protest. It is making its way through the last steps required for commercial sale in this country and could get the green light from the pro-GMO Harper government at any time.

Alfalfa is a feral perennial plant. This means it grows and spreads like a weed, and it grows back year-after-year without re-planting. In fact, if you don't want alfalfa in your field, it can be very difficult to eradicate.

Alfalfa is pollinated by insects like bees and by the wind. As bees and wind do not respect provincial or national borders, genetically modified material can be spread far beyond the area in which it is initially planted.

Monsanto and the rest of the GMO/chemical corporations are trying to make GM alfalfa the first ever feral perennial planted in Canada.

GM alfalfa, if released in Canada, will contaminate the natural crop. There is no doubt about that on the part of farmers or educated citizens. You can read a recent report written by the National Farmers Union and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network on the impossibility of co-existence with this GM crop here: "The Canadian Seed Trade Association’s so-called “Coexistence Plan” is a gateway to GM alfalfa contamination"

Alfalfa is used primarily as livestock feed. It is used as a natural, nitrogen-fixing fertilizer in organic agriculture, and it is also used as the transition crop when farms move from conventional to organic.

If genetically modified alfalfa contaminates the natural crop, the current markets for Canadian alfalfa-based products (particularly European) will be lost. Livestock and human health may be harmed by this untested, experimental crop. And the entire foundation for organic agriculture could be destroyed.

The stakes are high. Now is the time to get vocal and active on this issue if you feel it in your heart and soul to do so.

I've launched a WWA Activism section of the Willow's Web Astrology blog. The primary campaign at this time, due to its immediate relevance, is the campaign to stop GM alfalfa.

If anyone would like to get involved with GM alfalfa activism in his or her local area, please contact me at willowsweb [at] hushmail.com, and I can help you with some basics.

You can also voice your opposition to GM alfalfa in a very easy, simple, and effective way with a Stop GM Alfalfa bumper sticker.

There are three versions available: "Stop GM Alfalfa in Canada: Say 'no' to Franken-hay" (for Canadians), "Stop GM Alfalfa: Say 'no' to Franken-hay," and "Stop GM Alfalfa."

Stickers are $5 each or five stickers for $22. Shipping is $3.00 for orders in Canada and the U.S. Please contact me with international orders, as shipping rates may be higher.

Bumper sticker orders can be placed through the WWA Activism button at the top of the main page. Contact me if you would like to pay by a method other than PayPal.

The bumper stickers are printed at a local, independently-owned, small-town printing shop.

Please provide your full mailing address, and allow three weeks for shipping.

We can stop this. I wouldn't be pouring the coal to this issue if I believed otherwise.

Thanks for your help in this effort.

Genetically Modified Alfalfa Primer - Please Distribute

Stop GM Alfalfa bumper stickers available from WWA Activism

 

GM ALFALFA PRIMER

Franken-Hay: Stop GM Alfalfa

Monsanto is currently attempting to make its Roundup Ready alfalfa the first genetically modified (GM) perennial planted in Canada.

Wisconsin-based Forage Genetics International plans the wide-scale selling of Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) alfalfa seeds in Ontario and Quebec as early as 2013.

Monsanto's alfalfa strains have been genetically modified to withstand its glyphosate-based chemical herbicide Roundup. Genes not naturally found in alfalfa are implanted by scientists into the alfalfa seeds so the plants will withstand large doses of the herbicide.

GM alfalfa was very controversially approved in the United States in January 2011, and genetically modified alfalfa has been planted there for the past three seasons. It now accounts for 70% of the alfalfa crop in some states. Lawsuits to stop the commercial sale of GM alfalfa in the United States are ongoing.

A Call for an Immediate Moratorium on Genetically Modified Alfalfa in Canada

The introduction of genetically modified alfalfa has the ability to wipe out the entire foundation of organic and non-genetically modified agriculture. Alfalfa is a staple livestock feed. It is a crop often used during the three-year field transition from conventional to organic farming. Alfalfa is also essential in the organic crop rotation as a nitrogen-fixer and natural fertilizer of the soil.

As alfalfa is embedded in the entire organic agriculture system, contamination by GM alfalfa would be devastating.

As a staple livestock feed, alfalfa is made into bales of hay that are fed to animals. What we feed our animals, we end up eating ourselves if we eat meat or animal products. Contamination by GMOs would particularly affect organic/non-GM meat, dairy, eggs, and honey. Because GM alfalfa would have an effect on soil quality, however, vegetables, fruits, and grains could also be affected.

The first genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were released in the mid-1990s. GMOs have spread faster than anyone could have imagined, and due to the lack of labeling and segregation within the agricultural system, GM crops grown widely in Canada, especially soybeans, corn, and canola, have contaminated the non-GM versions. If you are eating a non-organic product that contains a derivative of those three crops (soybeans, corn, or canola), you are almost guaranteed to be eating some genetically modified material.

Already, there can be no guarantee that a food product labeled organic is completely free of genetically modified material. However, because the effort is made to keep organic crops separate from genetically modified crops, organic crops remain the best bet for non-GM food choices.

(Source: Manitoba organic inspector Priscilla Reimer)

Co-existence is Impossible

Currently, the plan touted by GM proponents is a "co-existence policy" where genetically modified alfalfa can be grown, harvested, and used alongside non-genetically modified alfalfa.

What organic and non-GM farmers know is that this co-existence is actually impossible, particularly with a feral, perennial crop like alfalfa that cross-pollinates widely, including via the wind and insects.

PhD work done between 2004 and 2007 in Manitoba on the spread of genetically modified canola found unintentional GMO contamination as well as cross-breeding between GM strains. Escape populations of canola were studied - plants growing outside fields where they had not been planted - and widespread contamination by genetically modified organisms was found among them.

The study found that the transportation and containment systems were most often the cause of the spread of the seeds (spilling from trucks, trains, and elevators), making the standard solution of "buffer fields" between GM and non-GM crops almost useless to stop contamination. Unless the growing, transportation, and containment of genetically modified seeds/crops is kept separate from non-genetically modified versions, contamination is inevitable.

In the case of alfalfa, even those measures could not contain the spread of genetically modified versions.

The same PhD work found something the GMO companies had not intended: some of the GM canola plants studied had cross-pollinated with each other in the wild, forming a hybrid of Monsanto's Roundup Ready variety and Bayer's LibertyLink variety.

Who owns the patent there?

(Source: Alexis Knispel Kanu, PhD)

Major GM and Glyphosate Safety Concerns Uncovered in 2012

An unprecedented animal feeding trial has found that lab rats fed genetically modified corn as well as glyphosate residue - the primary ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup - developed high incidences of tumours, multiple organ damage, and premature death.

The results of the GM feeding trial were published September 19, 2012 in the scientific journal "Food and Chemical Toxicology." The peer-reviewed study was conducted by a team of scientists led by biologist and endocrinologist Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen in France.

The study was attacked vociferously as flawed by other scientists and biotechnology groups. Despite the uproar, the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal, a major journal on toxicology, refused to retract the study.

 

In addition, the European Food Security Authority has published guidelines for GMO feeding studies that validated the methodology of the Seralini team.

The Seralini animal feeding trial studied the long-term effects of exposure to NK603 GM corn (Monsanto's Roundup Ready variety) and glyphosate - individually and combined - on the health of rats over two years.

The study found that even exposure to levels considered "safe" resulted in severe negative health effects in the animals.

Of the rats fed GM corn or glyphosate residue, 50% of males and 70% of females died prematurely. This was compared to 20%-30% in the control group. Female rats developed fatal mammary tumours and pituitary disorders. Males developed liver damage, kidney and skin tumours and had problems with their digestive systems.

The study found that ingestion of GM corn and glyphosate caused similar damage in the rats whether consumed separately or together. Even the lowest doses of GM corn and glyphosate, touted as "safe" by industry, were associated with severe health problems.

Previous studies have produced similar findings, but this was the first ever feeding trial done over the course of the entire lifespan of a laboratory rat - two years.

No genetically modified animal feeding trials have been done up to this point for longer than 90 days.

This means, genetically modified seeds/foods have been rushed onto the market in Canada and the United States without any longer-term studies on potential effects. The majority of the tumours and devastating health effects that developed with the rats were detected after 18 months, which means that prior GM testing done over 90 days would not have discovered them.

Glyphosate-based Roundup is currently the world's most popular and widely-used herbicide. Its global usage is set to double by 2017, according to Global Industry Analysts of San Jose, California.

The Battle As it Stands

The sale and growth of genetically modified alfalfa were initially stopped by a lawsuit in the United States in 2007, but that lawsuit was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010. A compromise that would have limited the growing of GM alfalfa, potentially protecting organic and non-GM farmers, was scrapped by the U.S. Department of Agriculture when it announced approval of unrestricted commercial cultivation on January 27, 2011.

This decision is highly opposed by organic farmers, who stand to lose the most money (and their entire livelihoods) from contamination by genetically modified alfalfa or even by the belief that their products are contaminated. This would mean the end of European markets, which ban GMOs, for Canadian alfalfa products.

 

But it is also opposed by all who wish to eat GMO-free food.

Genetically modified alfalfa was approved under Tom Vilsack as Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Vilsack is the ex-Governor of Iowa, a corn belt state. Genetically modified corn is big business in Iowa. As might be expected, Vilsack is a major supporter of Monsanto and their genetically modified seed varieties. Vilsack was even named Governor of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization in 2001.

Genetically modified alfalfa has now been sold, planted, and grown in the United States for the past three growing seasons. Already, it makes up 70% of the alfalfa crop in some states.

In Canada, a motion on a moratorium on the planting and growing of genetically modified alfalfa was tabled in Canadian Parliament in March 2011 by Liberal members of the House of Commons Agriculture Committee.

That motion was left unaddressed as Stephen Harper dissolved Parliament ahead of the federal election in May 2011.

Now, the widespread selling of GM alfalfa seed has been proposed for Ontario and Quebec.

Wisconsin-based Forage Genetics International plans to sell Monsanto's genetically modified alfalfa seed in Ontario and Quebec as early as this year. This would be the first wide-scale commercial sale and growth of GM alfalfa in Canada and the first ever genetically modified perennial released in Canada.

Ontario and Quebec have been chosen as the introduction points for genetically modified alfalfa because farmers in Western Canada have already rejected GM alfalfa.

National Farmers Union protests are ongoing in Canada.

This is a crucial time for the future of food on this planet and for the future of food quality in Canada.

Two thousand thirteen is a make or break year for the natural, non-genetically modified, and organic agricultural industries in Canada and the United States and for anyone who wants to keep food natural and non-genetically modified.

A Moratorium on GM Alfalfa in Canada   

We, as concerned citizens, are calling on our elected officials to do the responsible thing with untested, unproven GM alfalfa. We are calling for an immediate moratorium on the sale, planting, and growth of genetically modified alfalfa in Canada.

We are also calling for additional two-year laboratory rat feeding trials to be conducted on genetically modified alfalfa and glyphosate by independent scientific bodies unaffiliated with and unfunded by GM corporations such as Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF, Dow, and DuPont.

How Genetically Modified Alfalfa Affects You - Please Distribute

Stop GM Alfalfa bumper stickers available from WWA Activism

 

Alfalfa is a staple livestock feed. It is collected and made into bales of hay, which are fed to animals.

What goes into an animal's body goes into our bodies if we eat meat or other animal products like cheese, milk, yogurt, chocolate, eggs, or honey. If we are feeding animals toxic food, it will eventually make its way to us.

So:

alfalfa ---> hay for animal feed ---> you eat meat or animal products ---> you are exposed to genetically modified material

Currently, Canada's alfalfa crop is natural (non-genetically modified). It is one of our precious national crops. It's how we feed our animals. Ninety-three percent of it is unsprayed - no chemical herbicides or pesticides.

Monsanto and the other GMO corporations would like to change that. They would like to make sprayed, genetically-modified alfalfa a much larger percentage of the Canadian alfalfa crop, and the initial foot in the door is planned for Ontario and Quebec.

Genes that do not naturally occur in alfalfa have been implanted in GM alfalfa seeds by scientists so the alfalfa plants will be able to withstand massive doses of chemical herbicide.

With a feral, perennial (grows year-after-year) crop like alfalfa that pollinates widely, including by wind and insects, cross-contamination by GM alfalfa is certain.

Already, GM crops have contaminated much of the non-GM food supply, particularly foods with corn, soybean, canola, or beet sugar ingredients. The organic label, which prohibits genetically modified material, cannot be guaranteed GM-free.

The company selling the seeds, Wisconsin-based Forage Genetics, is choosing Ontario and Quebec for the introduction of GM alfalfa because it has already been rejected outright by Western Canadian farmers.

There is no benefit to introducing genetically modified alfalfa in Canada, financially or health-wise.

The results of an unprecedented animal feeding trial found in 2012 that GM corn and glyphosate (the main ingredient in Monsanto's chemical herbicide Roundup) cause much higher incidences of tumours, organ damage, and premature death in lab rats.

This means, if genetically modified alfalfa is introduced and contaminates the natural crop, we will be feeding our animals something that could cause major health problems. When we eat those animals or products from those animals, this is passed on to us.

If you eat meat, dairy, eggs, honey, or other animal products, this affects you.

Even if you don't, it affects you.

Alfalfa is a natural fertilizer. It is used widely in organic agriculture. If GM alfalfa contaminates the alfalfa crop in Canada, that means genetically modified plant material is going to make its way into the soil as fertilizer...and stay there.

This will make it effectively impossible to call any food certified organic. If the soil isn't organic, the food grown in that soil will not be organic.

New Moon in Leo Squaring the Nodes: Opening Into A New, Alchemically-Charged Creative Cycle

Photos: Willow

The New Moon at 14 degrees Leo on August 6 (4:51 p.m. CST) conjuncts asteroid Vesta and squares the Scorpio North Node and Taurus South Node.

This New Moon indicates a dynamic new creative cycle is opening with a mix of participants that starts to gel around fall equinox. The house where 14 degrees Leo falls in your birth chart is the area where this new creative cycle is getting underway.

The influence of "hearth and home" asteroid Vesta, exactly conjunct the New Moon at 14 degrees Leo, indicates that we're invested in our own creative output and in the power of our personalities. We've kept our creative flames stoked through trial and tribulation. We've put time, effort, and energy into expressing the love, style, and passion in our hearts - even when it was hard, even when it was devalued, even when it seemed pointless. An investment has been made in pure human creativity, joy, and play. We've banked on the power of our personal artistry and creativity. Now we start to see what that investment is going to reap.

With a transiting Scorpio North Node, we are challenged to address energy shortfalls now by coming together with others in creative/working partnership. We are seeking true win-win partnerships where we accomplish more together than we could alone.

But with the Sun and Moon coming together in Leo, the sign of the diva, the celebrity, the star, there is friction possible within these partnerships that must be addressed.

Big personalities, big egos, and big creative power are coming together, with a particular gel point this fall under the Saturn-North Node-Venus conjunction at 8 degrees Scorpio.

This requires a careful understanding and distribution of power. It also requires the careful, proactive honing of our personalities and egos. We have to drop a whole lot in order to achieve the things we need to achieve, in order to fit through the slim doorway to Aquarius. Coming out of this Leo New Moon, square the Scorpio North Node, we're determining the essentials of our personalities from the non-essentials, the benefits of a strong ego versus the pitfalls of an oversized one.

We're purging any potentially detrimental ego bloat coming out of this Leo New Moon with an eye toward long-term gains. The more honest we can be with ourselves, the better, though this will not necessarily be easy. We can expect some ego burns and bruising around this New Moon as we are stripped down, charged up, and positioned for the long term.

We may not get the attention we were expecting, but the attention we do get is meaningful.

Mars in Cancer Within Cardinal T-Square with the Moon in Aries: Entering New Territory

Getting the word out at the Gateway Music Festival this weekend.

Photo: Willow

 

Mars in Cancer moves into cardinal t-square this weekend with Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn, tying our personal actions to the broader, collective shifts we're experiencing under the Uranus-Pluto square series. Don't underestimate the power of your personal leadership and direction over the next week, as we move into a nine-month period of cardinal Grand Crosses (August 2013 to April 2014) that will require our initiative, leadership, and decisiveness amidst chaos. Personal actions produce wide-reaching ripple effects that we can't even see at the moment...

 

Chatty Cathy Mercury is still hanging around cardinal t-square territory, as well, just getting back up to full speed in Cancer coming out of its July 20 direct station. Our minds are on the protection of the people and things we hold dearest, but it's taking all our Uranian ingenuity to protect all that is coming under attack. The homey Cancer circle has to become wider - much wider - if we are to effectively address the real threats to our long-term security and well-being.

 

The Moon enters Aries at 4:29 p.m. CST tomorrow, stirring fire, excitement, action, and drive as the weekend gets underway. The Aries Moon enters the cardinal t-square fray on Saturday - a major activation of t-square themes.

 

Venus in Virgo is hitting all the marks - opposite Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, sextile Saturn in Scorpio and Jupiter in Cancer, and trine Pluto in Capricorn. These aspects involve practically applying our highest spiritual ideals down to the last, nitty gritty detail. Being helpful to those we love and taking care of the mundane details (dishes done, bills paid, hair washed) provide the grounding necessary for all the Grand Water Trine energy. Venus in Virgo likes to get things done, and finishing things is one way we're showing the love now until Venus enters home sweet home Libra August 16, moving into the first cardinal Grand Cross.

 

This is potentially a very dynamic weekend with foreshadowing of the energies and themes soon to come. We're all gunning for new and interesting territory within familiar Cancerian summer realms.

 

The Sun, Vesta, and Ceres are in Leo. The Moon is in Aries. So do your thing this weekend, whatever that may be. No one does "you" better than "you."

 

 

Venus in Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces - July 26 at 7:08 a.m. CST

Venus in Virgo sextile Saturn in Scorpio - July 26 at 1:36 p.m.

Moon enters Aries - July 26 at 4:29 p.m., entering cardinal t-square July 27

Mars in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn - July 27 at 5:51 p.m. CST

Sun in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio - July 27 at 8:05 p.m.

Venus in Virgo sextile Jupiter in Cancer - July 28 at 8:42 a.m.

Venus in Virgo trine Pluto in Capricorn - July 30 at 7:52 a.m.

Mars in Cancer square Uranus in Aries - July 31 at 10:08 p.m.

Battling Genetically Modified Alfalfa Under the Hay Moon

Photo: Willow

The Sun enters Leo Monday morning (10:56 a.m. CST), and we leave an emotional roller coaster of a Cancer season behind us.

Flooding, wind, hail, and other destructive weather have been almost constants this Cancer season under the Grand Water Trines and cardinal t-squares. But we've come to expect this wild and erratic weather - weather even the old folks haven't seen in their lifetimes - over the past few years, under the cardinal Grand Crosses and t-squares that have formed since Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008. Most will continue to point to climate change. I would point to intentional weather modification and manipulation of the food supply as the real kickers...

Citizens in Cancer Sun nation the United States of America have come to understand this Cancer season just how deeply their Big Brother surveillance state has dug in. Purposefully-escalating global battles also continue to simmer, as we experience an energetic replay of the Dirty Thirties under the Uranus-Pluto square series.

The Sun leaves this Cancerian battleground and dips into the leonine sign just in time for the Full Moon at 1:16 p.m. CST on July 22. This Full Moon falls at 0 degrees Aquarius - the freshest degree in the sign of the fresh, new astrological era.

This Aquarius Full Moon is the first of two Full Moons in the sign of the water-bearer. A book-end Aquarius Full Moon will occur August 20 at 28 degrees Aquarius.

Emotionally, we're finding our bearings in the new astrological era. These double Aquarius Full Moons indicate a sort of coolly atmospheric and detached quality amidst a sea of hot and pressurized change, shifts, and upheaval. We're getting comfortable with new-era circumstances that may not be all that comforting, all things considered. With these Full Moons, we're gaining the emotional bird's eye view, taking stock, getting a lay of the Aquarian-era land. We're detaching from areas of previous emotional attachment that could now drag us under and re-investing emotional energy into our own grand future visions, into our own interesting roles within unfolding Aquarian-era communities.

These Full Moons illuminate the progress we've made so far, as we slip off the last tendrils of the astrological Piscean era and allow Aquarius to permeate our emotional bodies. We have new emotional anchors within this new era, and these Aquarius Full Moons show us where those anchors are grabbing hold. The Aquarius house or houses of your astrological birth chart are the most fertile ground for those anchors, illuminated by the Full Moons.

This Full Moon is called the Hay Moon, for obvious reasons. This is haying season, when farmers and ranchers are cutting and baling hay to feed their livestock over the long, cold winter.

This Hay Moon falls in Aquarius, the sign of technology, and this includes biotechnology.

The dispositor of the Aquarius Full Moons is Uranus in Aries, which has just stationed retrograde at 12 degrees. Uranus is the planet leading the way into the new era, and in Aries, we are in territory we have never been in before. Nowhere is this more the case than with biotechnology and the current genetic modification of our food sources.

True to the 'Hay Moon in Aquarius' theme, there is a battle going on right now in Canada for our alfalfa crop. In addition to edible alfalfa products for humans, alfalfa is cut, baled, and used as feed for livestock. It is also used as fertilizer in organic farming, and it is planted as the transitional crop when a farm is moving from conventional to organic.

In other words, alfalfa is a bedrock crop for livestock and for organic farming.

Wisconsin-based Forage Genetics has a plan to sell Monsanto's genetically modified RoundUp Ready alfalfa commercially in Ontario and Quebec as early as this year.

This would be the first feral, perennial (grows back year-after-year), genetically modified crop unleashed in Canada, and cross-contamination of our natural, non-GM alfalfa crop would be inevitable.

Farmers and citizens from all provinces and territories are currently protesting the planned release of GM alfalfa in Canada but are receiving very limited mainstream media coverage. This has been pigeon-holed by media as a "farm issue," when in reality, it is an issue that affects anyone who eats.

I've written a basic primer on genetically modified alfalfa that can be found here: GM Alfalfa Primer. I've also written a very simple breakdown on How GM Alfalfa Affects You. Please distribute these as you see fit.

Starting next week, I will have "Stop GM Alfalfa in Canada: say "no" to Franken-hay" bumper stickers available for purchase. I'll have pictures available soon. Please contact me at willowsweb [at] hushmail.com if you are interested in purchasing a bumper sticker.

If people from other countries would like to purchase the bumper stickers, I can have a "Stop GM Alfalfa: say "no" to Franken-hay" version printed, as well. I can also have a plain "Stop GM Alfalfa" version printed, as this certainly affects more than the hay crop.

Genetically modified alfalfa has been planted in the United States for the past three seasons. This is the very beginning for this feral, perennial, GM crop. Pressure from citizens can stop it from proliferating, but we have to be vocal, vigilant, and diligent. The future of the food supply is at stake.

Use these double Aquarius Full Moons to hone in on your own vision for the Aquarian-era future. Feel it out and get excited about what's ahead, despite the considerable challenges. We're living through mind-boggling times. Focus on the possibilities. Move yourself emotionally into Aquarius. Plant you feet on the water-bearer side. And join with those of like mind to accomplish more than you could accomplish on your own.

Mercury Direct Within Cardinal T-Square July 20: Watch the 'Hurtful Rebellion' Urges in Your Conversations

Photos: Willow

Mercury in Cancer goes direct at 1:22 p.m. CST on July 20, and just a little warning: this could be somewhat of a miserable station.

Mercury is tightly square Uranus, smoking hot coming out of its July 17 retrograde station in Aries, and this creates an erratic and manic effect on our minds. Ideas bop around in our brains relentlessly like exploding popcorn kernels. Our minds can race from one subject to another, to another, to another, seemingly with little continuity. We catch glimpses of lightning-flash insight (Uranus) that can be very challenging to translate into our everyday conversations (Mercury). The urges toward sweet tones and emotional closeness (Cancer) butt up against urges for freedom, independence, and shock value at all cost (Uranus). The desire for the familiar (Cancer) is coming into frictional contact with a body that basically likes to destroy familiarity (Uranus). This is a mental overload/emotional burnout combination.

Warning: people will be crying more easily than usual under this station.

Mercury is also opposing bad boy Pluto in Capricorn, kicking up the possibility of rage, paranoia, verbal triggers, mental pressure, detrimental thinking, and general anxiety. We can fixate on certain subjects now - especially subjects that make us feel bad. The general state of "hell in a handbasket" is preying on our minds - personally, collectively, or both.

"Mentally and emotionally difficult" sums up the positioning of our messenger planet Mercury right now, stationing within cardinal t-square. We've been thinking about how we really feel and what that means during the retrograde period (June 26 to July 20), and, as Mercury drags its heels to a stop in the zodiac and turns direct, uncomfortable conversations and challenging realizations related to that could be on the docket.

From a previous post, Mercury in Cancer Retrograde Within Cardinal T-Square: On Alert, Breaking Out of Mental Comfort Zones:

"People are more sensitive to conversations, tones, and opinions when Mercury is in a water sign, as it is now. We're very aware of our words and how our words can hurt the feelings of others, and this can keep us from having conversations we know we need to have. We may find we have to withdraw from interaction and discourse at times during the Mercury transit of Cancer, drawing our heads back into our crab shells to deal with the sensitivity and maintain emotional stability...

During the Mercury in Cancer transit, we'll be required to have conversations that unnerve us and to participate in interactions that make us or others uncomfortable. There is initiatory movement required here (cardinal energy), and we have to talk about it in order to keep things moving in the right direction...

Cancer involves emotional conditioning, especially from the early upbringing. With Mercury retrograding in Cancer within cardinal t-square, we are breaking out of communication patterns that involve manipulation, emotional blackmail, or guilt - all possible Cancer territory. We are intellectually coming to understand how our emotions can be used against us, how our fear can be used against us, how our desire for comfort can be used against us, and we're working to disengage from those sources of manipulation - personally and on a societal level."

Communicating honestly now without those layers of emotional manipulation - even the subtle ones - is our challenge.

Mercury will be slow in the zodiac for the remainder of this month, re-gaining full speed direct and leaving the retrograde shadow degrees by August 3. This keeps the squiggly-squirmy pressure on us for the rest of July. Any necessary conversations or connections previously avoided will be coming up now.

With powerhouse transpersonal planets Uranus and Pluto so strongly involved, we have the ability to hurt people quite deeply with our words and tones now. The mental and emotional territory in which we're being held can seem intolerable (Pluto), and there will be strong and immediate urges to rebel, to break away, to say anything that could move us in a different direction (Uranus).

 

Understand that these transpersonal planets don't care about hurt feelings. They don't care about the people you care about. The immense amount of energy coursing through our systems, our minds, and our conversations could do a lot of damage if we are not oh-so-careful with our tongues over the next couple weeks.

Don't allow these transpersonal planets to run you or your conversations. Control the energy and curb the urges to be shocking, rebellious, or hurtful. Mental comfort zones will certainly be disrupted by the Mercury contacts to Uranus and Pluto, but we don't have to make this any more difficult for people - or for ourselves - than it already is.

Mercury enters Leo August 8.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This bill is a direct attack against the poor.

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

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

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

Mars Enters Cancer for a Complex and Potentially Frustrating Transit Through the Sign of its Fall

Mars leaves Gemini for Cancer on July 13 at 8:22 a.m. CST, and it will transit the sign of the crab until August 27.

This is the planet Mars (war, aggression, action, will, direction, assertion, instinct, sexuality, desire, masculine/yang energy) taking a more roundabout tack through Cancer, the sign of its fall.

At first glance, Mars seems to be at odds with Cancer in almost every way. Mars is direct, identifying and moving toward goals in an immediate way. Cancer is indirect, taking a shuffling sideways stance as it sidles up to each new scenario. Mars is about desire and what we ultimately want. Cancer isn't always so sure what it wants, having to feel it out for some time before action can be taken. Mars is the warrior and (often) the taker of life. Cancer is the mother and the giver of life. Mars is masculine, hot, hard, demanding. Cancer is feminine, soft, sweet, and food and home-loving more than pure action-loving.

This illustrates the trickier expression of Mars through the sign of Cancer, and you can understand why Cancer is considered the sign of Mars' fall. By contrast, Mars is considered exalted in earth sign Capricorn, a more direct, concrete, and goal-driven sign.

There's one thing to keep in mind during the transit of Mars through Cancer, however: the crab has claws, and it's not afraid to use them. Rather, it might be afraid to use them, but it will use them if pushed to do so, if no option is available for retreat.

With Mars transiting Cancer, people can be more emotionally triggered than usual. They can be less rational and more easily drawn into conflicts that play on their emotions. People's actions will be rooted to how they feel in an immediate way during this transit. This creates emotionally-based behaviours that can be extremely ineffective, diffusing physical energy. And this can be capitalized on by the state to advance its agenda.

Security of home and of loved ones are generally of utmost importance to Cancer, and it will fight - hard and viciously - if it feels that security is threatened. True to its indirect nature, Cancer will also allow others to do the fighting for it so long as it can keep its head in its crabshell. You can see, for example, how Cancer Sun nation the U.S. of A. convinced citizens that Iraq was to blame for the attacks on the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001. Despite no links to the group that claimed responsibility and no proof of "weapons of mass destruction," many U.S. citizens still believe the abomination that was brought down on the cradle of civilization was just.

You can also see how people in that Cancer Sun nation continue to be triggered and manipulated to accept deadly force and war against anyone labeled "terrorist" by the state. (I would be considered a terrorist under the currently accepted definition, and possibly, you would, too.)

We can expect continued emotional manipulation this summer (mostly through media propaganda) as clashes between the people and the "Global Governance" state are ramped up. Watch the sociological dynamics closely and make sure you are not being drawn in emotionally (Cancer) against your ultimate will (Mars).

As Mars enters Cancer, it forms a conjunction to Jupiter, which is at lunar apogee, conjunct the astrological symbol Black Moon Lilith. Mars adds some juice to the Jupiter-Black Moon Lilith conjunction, requiring action and assertion in relation to the dark, denied feminine experience on this planet.

If you are already skilled in the navigation of Black Moon Lilith territory, you could advance quite effortlessly under this conjunction. If you are currently unaware of Black Moon Lilith issues or energy, you may find July and August - and the entire year-long transit of Jupiter through Cancer -  challenging.

The Mars-Jupiter-Black Moon Lilith conjunction in Cancer, strongly in effect into early August, indicates fights (Mars) related to beliefs (Jupiter), particularly those beliefs that have an underlying edge of misogyny and rage against women (Black Moon Lilith).

With Jupiter involved, there is a religious element to the proceedings. This particularly relates to the denied female experience (Black Moon Lilith) within religious/belief constructs. We have to keep an eye on the religious and cultural stories/beliefs coming up and playing out now with a particular emphasis on the downplaying, whitewashing, and suppression of women.

Jupiter relates to myth, story, truth, and wisdom. As the religious and cultural stories have been written mostly by men within patriarchal constructs, the portrayals of females within those stories and the archetypes we've been persuaded to swallow stemming from them are woefully inadequate.

From a previous post on the Sagittarius New Moon (ruled by Jupiter) last December:

"Unfortunately, the men who created and furthered the myths missed about 50% of the story. They missed the herstory of the history, as they say. This is the case with Greek and Roman mythology as well as with much of the standard religious and spiritual imagery of the day. We're working with partial archetypal truth at best and straight up patriarchy-approved fabrication at worst, and we have to understand how detrimental these power-imbalanced units of cultural transmission can be...

[I]t's time to re-write many of the stories one woman at a time, with the female/feminine voices - the real ones, not just the easily swallowed and non-threatening versions - equally strong, equally prevalent, equally important. It's time to bust out of the word-woven chrysalises of these old men and into our own stories. The real stories...

The feminine wisdom and knowledge that needs to be integrated is white hot and will shake things up considerably. It requires something of people. It makes people uncomfortable at times. It's not about being pretty or demure or seductive. It demands its rightful place - nothing more, nothing less."

With Mars lighting up a Grand Water Trine and a cardinal t-square this July, things are going to get hot, triggered, and feisty. These aspects are an indicator that we can expect continued attacks against women's reproductive rights by the Old Boys Club pseudo-religious version of reality trying desperately to cement itself during transiting Pluto in Capricorn. We can expect moves to be made by the patriarchal hierarchies to increase control on all fronts. The nuclear family unit, keeping people neatly tied up, occupied, and under control, will continue to be promoted as the only truly acceptable way to go...

All this requires that women in particular stand up, speak out, and exert themselves on the issues that really matter to them, rather than allowing others to fight in their stead.

As Mars, Jupiter, and Black Moon Lilith transit the first decan of Cancer, they form both a highly flowing and easy configuration - a Grand Water Trine - and a more challenging, clashing, frictional configuration - a cardinal t-square.

The Grand Water Trine involving Mars, Jupiter, and Black Moon Lilith in Cancer has the summer ease and good vibes flowing from July 17 to 22. Our actions pick up support, movement, and even a transcendent quality from beneficial contacts to Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces. Progress toward our goals can fall almost magically into place. Things long-desired, especially related to family, those who feel like family, home, and emotional foundation, are now within reach in many cases. New directions dig in under these trines, as long as we've earned the advancement.

A new sense of family is emerging for the astrological Aquarian era, and this Grand Water Trine gives us an understanding of the ways in which family can expand beneficially to include non-blood and non-marriage ties.

Don't get too hooked on the ease of the Grand Water Trines, however. We're going to need all their good vibes, faith, and momentum in order to get through the more challenging cardinal t-square configurations immediately following - not to mention the series of cardinal Grand Crosses forming between August 2013 and April 2014.

Mars conjuncts Jupiter on July 22, bringing to an official close the spring/summer of 2013 Grand Water Trines. (The good times are fleeting, y'all.) Mars will then zip ahead of the Greater Benefic in the zodiac and move headlong into cardinal t-square territory.

Mars forms an opposition to Pluto in Capricorn July 27 and a square to Uranus in Aries July 31. If you had forgotten the hardcore, do-or-die undertone on this planet currently, this cardinal t-square will remind you.

The influence of Mars in Cancer indicates a protective desire. We are acting all over this globe to protect our families, our communities, our regions, and our countries from the stranglehold of fascism and from another planned World War. With Cancer, there is a particular focus on the fight for our food supply against chemically-treated and genetically-modified corporate food production.

Corruption within our institutions (Pluto in Capricorn) is reaching the surface, triggering rage, movement, and action (Mars) among the people. All over this planet, people are in revolt - externally, internally, or both.

The Mars-Uranus square July 31 indicates further hot spots and uprisings percolating throughout this month, but you have to remember that, despite the Uranian influence, this is pretty much expected - and planned - by the powers that be (Pluto in Capricorn). The ongoing battles, protests, and uprisings between the people and the state may seem spontaneous, but they aren't. We're being intentionally squeezed and squeezed and squeezed under transiting Pluto in Capricorn and the series of squares to Uranus in Aries. There is only so much people will tolerate, can tolerate, and this is clearly understood by the forces doing the squeezing.

It's inspiring and wonderful to see people standing up to fascism and to deadly state control all over this planet. Human beings are proving their intelligence and genius despite horrifying and ongoing campaigns of mind control. Despite the erosion of their health and biological systems via radioactivity, GMO contamination, toxins in the water and air, electromagnetic pollution, chemtrails, and a variety of other methods. Just understand that, to a great extent, this is being managed and controlled on a macro level, so don't take your eyes off what you're doing and what you can do in the future on the micro level...

Jupiter in Cancer opposes Pluto in Capricorn August 7 and squares Uranus in Aries August 21, creating a slow burn cardinal t-square in effect for most of August. This brings beliefs, religion, myths, stories, cultural knowledge, and wisdom - particularly with a dark feminine bent - strongly into the fray. Women's wisdom, feminine wisdom, wisdom from the soul - especially the kinds that threaten the current establishment - are our guiding lights.

The Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto cardinal t-square becomes a cardinal Grand Cross at the end of August, and this kicks off an eight-month period when the Grand Cross is the dominant configuration. Spicy, dicey, and potentially very challenging.

There will be waves of acute pressure and stress under these Grand Crosses during which we will be forced to make moves, to make decisions, and to take charge while things are coming apart at the seams all around us.

The lesser benefic and relationship planet Venus enters Libra on August 16, forming the first cardinal Grand Cross August 23 - 27. This is four 90-degree square aspects (frictional, clashing, dynamic) from bodies in all four cardinal signs (leadership, initiative, new direction).

Mercury in Libra forms the second cardinal Grand Cross September 13 - 19.

The Sun in Libra forms the third October 1 - 12.

Mars enters Libra December 7, 2013 until July 26, 2014 for an almost eight-month stay in the sign of the scales (its detriment), including a retrograde period from March 1 to May 19, 2014.

This transit activates the Uranus in Libra, Neptune in Libra, and Pluto in Libra generations in new ways for the astrological Aquarian era, as well as anyone with a strong contingent of personal planets in Libra.

Mars will form its first cardinal Grand Cross moving direct between December 23, 2013 and January 8, 2014.

The second cardinal Grand Cross will be an exact formation, blisteringly potent, forming April 21 - 24, 2014 with Mars Rx in Libra, Jupiter in Cancer, Uranus in Aries, and Pluto in Capricorn all on 13 degrees of the signs.

So things are getting tight by the end of July on the cardinal square front, and this tension squeezes us and keeps on squeezing right through April of 2014.

Our personal circumstances are being shaken up and transformed via pressures from the macro level. Structures are morphing on every possible front over the next two years. We are in a state of change, shift, flux, and we're trying to position ourselves well within it. We will be required to make major, life-altering decisions within this state of flux, or those decisions will be made for us. Understand this and make whatever proactive moves you can to stay out of the cardinal Grand Cross chaos and crossfire.

These are epic transits, these are epic times, and we are being placed in epic roles within them. We will be required to stand up, to take the lead, and to make courageous decisions that affect many people under these Grand Crosses. With the strong influence of Black Moon Lilith, this will particularly be required of women and men with a marginalized perspective.

With Mars in the sign of its fall until the end of August, we can expect thwarted wills and frustrated desires to be a part of the scene. Things will not necessarily go according to plan, as our personal actions (Mars) are tied inextricably to broader sociological and political forces (Uranus/Pluto). What we want may not be what is wanted for us, from us, or through us by the universe. Or it may not be time to get what we want. This is going to make a lot of people very pissy and short-tempered, especially if they don't have the astrology as a navigational map.

Cancer has an innocence about it, but people can use this innocence (or pseudo-innocence) to fight or to avoid things that need to be dealt with during Mars in Cancer. Passive aggressiveness, denial, emotional manipulation, avoidance, and the use of family connections can all be fighting tactics during this transit, as can an aggressive desire to be seen as the most caring, the most loving, the most nurturing, the most motherly.

Mars in Cancer is a slippery placement at times and can be difficult to deal with. Understand the different pacing toward goals, accept the roundabout way, and know that the big picture is much bigger than we can even grasp at this point in time.

Douche of the Day at Willow's Web Astrology

That's a whole lot of assholes.

Photo: Willow

It's the last gasp of the Dark of the Moon in Gemini, heading to Monday morning's New Moon in Cancer. The Moon was conjunct female warrior Pallas Athene and male warrior Mars in Gemini early this morning, and there is a definite edge to communications now and through the weekend.

There is hate, aggression, and verbal violence surfacing during this Dark of the Moon in Gemini.

And rising from the dank recesses of the interwebs this morning was our pal, ravenise.

His comment on my Wendy Davis post pretty much said it all:

"Politicizing the defense of the murder of unborn children by whores too promiscuous and careless to prevent pregnancy... a new low... great work willow, your tribe would defend any outrage in the name of protecting your "rights" and "Freedom.""

This morning, I had yet another comment from this dude. (There have been many.) I didn't have the inclination to read it in full or to publish it on my site, so it has been rejected.

But what I'd like to illustrate now is just how fucking good Willow's Web Astrology is.

Apparently, the rage burns like a blazing inferno in this guy's soul that careless and promiscuous whores get to have abortions.

He's is also a feminism/gay rights hater who believes feminism and gay rights are a Zionist conspiracy to destroy the nuclear family unit. I have quite a few of those people surfacing and commenting on the blog of late. Makow groupies, I assume.

This guy is a really great combo of insane, hateful, misogynistic, and miguided views, in my opinion. And he's also an illustration of my point:

Even the people who oppose my views 100% can't stay away from Willow's Web Astrology blog!

Yes, folks. This site is just that fucking fabulous...

The Moon enters Cancer at 5:14 p.m. this afternoon, and it will conjunct Jupiter and the lunar apogee, Black Moon Lilith, tonight, keeping the dark feminine issues up front and centre.

There's a potentially nasty emotional-alchemical mix churning about this weekend with Mercury retrograde in Cancer and the Moon in Balsamic phase, and this mix isn't really going anywhere. The conjunction between Jupiter and Black Moon Lilith at the time of Jupiter's ingress of Cancer colours the entire year-long transit, keeping dark issues related to women and femininity in our faces. You can read more about that here: Jupiter Enters Cancer at Lunar Apogee: The Wisdom of Our Pitch Blackest Emotional Experiences

Saturn stations direct just after midnight on July 8. The New Moon in Cancer follows close behind at 2:14 a.m. Monday morning, kicking off the workweek.

Let's use this New Moon in Cancer to open into new authority (Saturn) for women (Moon/Cancer) over their own sexuality issues (Scorpio). Let's take power away from the mostly rich, white males who feel they are crusading for the unborn chillins - within positions of elected power or not.

Keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible.

Let's not backslide into a society where women are forced to carry and give birth to babies against their wills. Let's not go back to the days of coat hangers, back alleys, infections, and hemorrhages.

That sounds a lot like hell on Earth to me.