Neptune Stations Retrograde and the End-of-Pisces Disappointment and Futility Drop Like a Veil...

Neptune is slowing to station retrograde at 5 degrees Pisces on June 7 for a retrograde period that will last until November 12, 2013. As Neptune stations, still within range of wounded healer Chiron, it permeates the astro atmosphere with its energy and themes, and this means end-of-era despondency can sit on us.

Hollow-gut disappointments hang around us like stale fumes. End-of-era love relationships are a confusing, disorienting mess. The idea that our dreams are not special, that we're not special under egalitarian Aquarius, can erode us at the heart. The discrepancy between where we hoped we'd be at this point versus where we really are is staggering at times - both personally and on a broader societal or collective level.

Anyone aware of the circumstances of humanity on Planet Earth at this time will find them humbling, to say the least.

The Moon enters Pisces at 7:30 p.m. tonight, conjuncting Neptune at 4:54 a.m. tomorrow and Chiron at 7:46 p.m. tomorrow evening. The themes are acute until the Moon enters Aries in the early morning of June 2.

Some lingering depression, disappointment, disillusionment, despondency, or a sense of utter futility about carrying on from here can be expected for the next couple weeks, however, as Neptune stations and starts moving backward through the zodiac. There's an unfulfilled sadness in the air, in the collective psyche, so watch to make sure you or your loved ones don't tip too far into the psychic bleak.

The new guy wasn't who you hoped he was. The new job that seemed so interesting turned out to be more of the same. The daily grind seems increasingly dull, painful, pointless, hopeless. Reaching for the bottle, for the bong, for junk food, or for the credit card are all possibilities to dull the pain, to desensitize.

This is standard end-of-era backwash, however. More end-of-Pisces clearing. Fool me once, shame on you, Neptune. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Keep moving, keep flowing, and keep laughing at the insanity of the situations with which we are faced in this foul year of our Lord two thousand and thirteen.

It's the sensitives, the creatives, the Piscean/Neptunians who hold the true weight of where we are right now. They're the ones holding the energy of Pisces, the energy of the spiritual whole, where every last detail matters and nothing can be conveniently amputated or ignored without problematic future repercussions. They're the ones potentially being crushed under the cruelty, the inhumanity, and the dysfunction of the current scenes. Yes, it's that serious.

But it's also funny.

Isn't it?

To be set up with these seemingly impossible clusterfuck scenarios during our lifetimes on Planet Earth?

It didn't start with us, and it doesn't end with us.

But we do have a prime and shining opportunity to direct things now.

Neptune stationing, like prominent Neptune in the natal chart, can create a sort of stoner effect on even the most sober among us. Air-headed and flaky. Forgetful. Dreamy. Wistful. Pie-in-sky. Avoiding. Self-pitying. Indulgent. La La Land-living.

Stay on track and stay focused on your own newly burgeoning Aquarian-era ideals, despite the Neptunian fog tempting us to go down maudlin back alleys or to take diversionary, wishful-thinking detours. We have plenty of assistance in keeping our feet on the ground with the Neptune trine to concrete and steady Saturn in Scorpio. Focus on dealing successfully with the full reality in front of you, and the rest will take care of itself.

For more Neptune stationing effects, check this post from Neptune's last direct station in November 2012: Neptune Stations Direct and Brings the Foggy, the Floaty, the Wispy, and the Surreal

Mercury and Venus in Cancer Get the Grand Water Trines Flowing

Photos: Willow



Mercury and Venus are currently forming a gorgeous triple conjunction with Jupiter in late Gemini, and I hope some good, solid cosmic benevolence is raining down upon you! This is a meeting of the two benefics of the zodiac along with Mercury in the sign of the twins. Our conversations, connections, and communications are lovingly blessed at this time, and the good-vibe ripple effects continue...

Mercury moves from this very pleasing triple conjunction in Gemini into Cancer on May 31. Venus follows suit June 2.

As these two planets move into the sign of the crab, they kick off multiple aspects that will be repeated throughout the summer by the Moon, Sun, Mars, and Jupiter in Cancer (see the end of the article for dates). This is a combination of easy Grand Water Trines with less easy cardinal t-squares and later, Grand Crosses.

The primary "good vibes configuration" this summer is certainly the Grand Water Trine. Three flowing, 120-degree trine aspects formed by bodies in the water signs.

The base aspect in all the Grand Water Trines forming this June/July/August is the Saturn in Scorpio trine to Neptune in Pisces. Saturn and Neptune formed their first trine on October 10, 2012, just after Saturn ingressed Scorpio, and these bodies have been within orb of that trine ever since. They now move into their second exact trine (June 11), with the third (July 19) following soon after Saturn's direct station at 4 degrees Scorpio on July 7.

You can read more about the Saturn-Neptune trine effects here: Saturn in Scorpio Trine Neptune in Pisces: The Last of the Wounding Piscean Era Illusions Are Gently Purged From the System

"Spiritual and psychic elements of life are drawn almost effortlessly into even the driest and draggiest of realities. Things solidify and dissolve, solidify and dissolve, in an interwoven dance of physical and ethereal, planned and dreamed. Wood, steel, and stone are acted on by mystery, magic, and metaphysics.

Solid advancement seems just within our reach, at our fingertips, when the tide goes out yet again, washing things away, back to chaos, back to square one.

And then it’s time for another attempt, for a new set of plans, for a new angle of advancement.

If a foothold does gain traction here - finally, beyond all reason – it’s because it is infused with some 'Pisces for the Aquarian era' pixie dust. It’s a step that has found, through trial and error and otherworldly instruction, a new direction into a new framework of successful energy dynamics.

Our experience of time (Saturn) continues to reformulate. The concept of time having a static and regular nature seems to belong to a different era. Certain time segments speed by, disappear, are seemingly lost altogether, and then time slows, seems to crawl, becomes standard again. Time being relative is antiquated understatement at this point. We snap in and out of the timed reality, the linear regularity, touching down and blanketing ourselves in its weight to regain bearings. Oh, clock. Oh, watch. Pin me to this grounded life. Comfort with your tick tock tallies of life’s moments, speeding blindly past.

Progress made now is not purely linear, easily planned, or directed via desire for personal advancement alone. Things are being put in place, but the work is completed on its own timeline.

A Truth-Raising Sagittarius Full Moon Eclipse With Busy Bee Gemini Getting the Word Out Worldwide

 Photo: Willow

 

The Moon is big and bold and full in Sagittarius tomorrow night (11:25 p.m. CST), opposing the Gemini Sun at 4 degrees of the signs, in the third eclipse of this eclipse season. This eclipse is a penumbral lunar eclipse visible in the Americas and western Africa. The first two eclipses of this eclipse season were the Taurus New Moon solar eclipse May 9 and the Scorpio Full Moon lunar eclipse April 25.

The Gemini/Sagittarius polarity has themes of opinion and ultimate truth, personal perspective and big picture, gossip and wisdom along with the intermixing and intermingling that go on along that polarity.

There is a strong and very beneficial Gemini influence in the zodiac right now. Communication and intelligence planet Mercury forms a conjunction tomorrow evening with love, beauty, and relationship planet Venus at 18 degrees Gemini, just before the Full Moon.

Mercury and Venus are also on their way to a conjunction with Great Benefic Jupiter on May 27/28 at 23 degrees Gemini, and this is pretty much an awesome sandwich. A light social touch, good connections, and just the right amount of conversational flow bring big ripple effects of the beneficial networking variety. We can get the word out now (Gemini) in big (Jupiter) and loving (Venus) ways and in ways that are ultimately hugely beneficial to our local societies and neighbourhoods.

Sagittarius is a sign seeking ultimate, high-minded truth, and at this Full Moon eclipse, the ultimate truth is coming out one conversation, one e-mail, one telephone conversation, one text, one tweet, one article, one link, one Facebook message at a time (Gemini).

The Great Shining Sagittarian Truth is refracted into many, tiny Geminian bits. Its light is re-directed into all corners of the situation, all corners of the globe. Every perspective comes clamouring. Every busy social bee has a piece of it.

With group effort, we're catching up to the detrimental agendas so pristinely planned, organized, and laid out by the financiers and those who do their dirty work. The messages of the people are gaining some serious momentum, and if I were a member of the powers that be at this Full Moon, I'd be getting a little nervous...

This truth-raising Sagittarius Full Moon is occurring under the third Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn square (exact May 20), coloured strongly by a t-square to agricultural dwarf planet Ceres in Cancer.

The truth about our food is getting out, little-by-little.

Because the outer/transpersonal planets are so strongly involved, the food and agriculture themes are playing out on the global stage, among nations, with Cancer Sun countries Canada and the United States playing pivotal roles.

The public is starting to understand en masse the insidious contamination of the food supply by genetically modification and chemical herbicides and pesticides. The insidious contamination by GMOs has been going on since the 1990s, but the issue is now reaching critical mass.

With the unleashing of genetically modified alfalfa in the United States (proposed also in Canada), the entire food supply is at risk. People are starting to understand this. Countries are starting to take a stand.

Hungary, one of the only countries in the European Union to ban genetically modified seeds and crops, has just destroyed 1,000 acres of GM corn by plowing it under.

China has just destroyed three shipments of GM corn from the United States that were said to lack proper documentation.

And the world is gearing up for a massive global protest action against the GMO and chemical corporation, Monsanto, in the worldwide March Against Monsanto on May 25. Check to see if there is an event in your area here.

As always, however, it's important to gather your own information and to guard your own truth. To be your own truth-teller, rather than passing the buck to one of the many figureheads currently available for the job.

The truth is: Monsanto is just one part of the problem. Demonizing one corporation is not the move. There are hundreds, thousands, more doing similar things. The whole corporate model is corrupt at this point. Pluto in Capricorn.

The real truth, the whole truth, on this planet requires us to dig deeper than most are willing to go and to keep digging. This is the case now.

The Sun (figurehead) in Gemini (media) is currently square Neptune and Chiron in Pisces (wounding deception and illusion), within Yod formation with Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn. The Sun is repeating aspects made earlier by Venus and Mercury in Gemini (Mercury-Saturn-Pluto Yod, Mercury Square Neptune and Chiron: Conversational Maya Remover), and their influence is with us strongly through June 1.

The truth is: the stylish, truth-telling, media-savvy figureheads that have been put up for us to consume are often also here to divert attention, to disperse energy, to help us miss the point.

They've been allowed a position of influence to control opposition, to control the information flow, to focus on one part of the situation to the detriment of the full truth - whether they understand this or not.

They're here so people can abnegate their own responsibilities, passing them off to the celebrity mouthpiece of their choosing. They're here to stem the flow of people really figuring things out.

These puffed-up personalities are Piscean-era throwbacks on pedestals we now have to dismantle.

Tunnel beneath the information and opinions to the underlying intuitive feel of the situation. Go beyond the figureheads. Tap into the energy, the potency, and the momentum of the real, underlying issues. The real grassroots. This is where your words and actions can affect the outcome, turn the tide.

Let this big, bold, beautiful Sagittarius Full Moon light up YOUR truth. And speak it. There will be people listening, people glad to hear it.

Ceres in Cancer Forms Cardinal T-Square with Uranus and Pluto: Putin Says Big Ag Could Trigger WWIII

Ceres Territory

Photos: Willow

Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn form their third exact square today, and the grand-scale structural morphing first triggered when Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 reaches another acute point within a series of acute points.

Things are on the move under highly stressed and pressurized circumstances. Backs are against walls all around the globe. Job security is a thing of the past for many people. Keeping a roof over heads and food on tables is in many cases, too. Many of us are out of options within the systems and structures as they currently exist. No direction within those structures seems like a good direction at this point. No option seems like the right option. Everywhere we turn, we run into difficulty, hellishness, corruption, things just not being right.

This is the stress we're under within crumbling Pluto in Capricorn structures and institutions, rotten to the core, with the corrupt profiting by staying one step ahead of wrecking balls they themselves have unleashed. Capitalizing on manufactured chaos and implanted fears.

Uranus is the planet of rebellion, revolution, upheaval, lightning-bolt genius insight, and sudden change. As Uranus transits the first sign of the zodiac - the sign of new life, new territory, new energy, new direction, and new fight - it is also a symbol for the entrance into the astrological Aquarian era.

Pluto is a planet that rules processes of deep corruption-correction, the change from one state to another, and the drawing up of underlying realities to surface consciousness in order to fuel metamorphosis and transformation.

The squares (tense, frictional, 90-degree aspects) between these two bodies are in effect from 2012 through 2015 and bring do-or-die clashes between those who desire a free, self-sovereign humanity (Uranus in Aries) and those continuing the top-down, fascist agendas forced by corporate business and corporate-ruled government (Pluto in Capricorn).

As Uranus and Pluto form their third of seven squares, dwarf planet Ceres is in Cancer forming a cardinal t-square with those two bodies, and issues related to food, agriculture, and the fertility of the Earth are piping hot.

Mercury-Saturn-Pluto Yod, Mercury Square Neptune and Chiron: Conversational Maya Remover

Mercury square Neptune: Where am I? What dimension is this? Got any Cheetos?

Photo: Willow (with no Photoshopping)

Communication and intelligence planet Mercury in Gemini is currently squaring Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, and we're attempting mightily to gain perspective on our "new era" positioning. Wrapping our minds around exactly where we are right now and exactly what it means is easier said than done, however.

We've just come out of the long, hard, and disorienting winter of 2012/2013 with a seven-body stellium in Pisces symbolically indicating both the end of the astrological Piscean era and the beginning of a new expression for the sign of Pisces. We've shed (or are shedding) the last bits of Piscean-era cocoon, opening into new love, new union, and new communion for a new astrological era. We're holding a place for Piscean sweetness, innocence, love, and togetherness in an era that preaches individuality, self-sufficiency, independence, and detachment, and this leaves us emotional and vulnerable in the process.

How we show and experience ultimate spiritual love and communion have changed, are changing. 

With Mercury in Gemini squaring Neptune (May 18) and Chiron (May 22), we're gaining perspective on where we are now and what it means one conversation, one exchange, one thought, one idea, one piece of information at a time. What we're learning may not be completely clear to us under this aspect, however. We can expect some confusion, some illusion, some mind fog, and some difficulty in expressing our points, continuing through next week. If you're experiencing conversations that circle around and seem to go nowhere, just make like a slippery fishy, and go with the flow.

Love, money, values, and relationship planet Venus is also in Gemini. It squared Neptune in Pisces May 13 and will square Chiron in Pisces May 20. This creates the possibility for some lingering disillusionment and disappointment in romance and relationship. The information we're receiving from others can deflate some of our hopes or dreams. Character weakness and inferior influences could rise to the surface in ourselves and others. Things are not exactly as we thought - a common Piscean/Neptunian theme - and we have to keep talking, keep interacting, keep gathering perspective, even when it's painful, to determine what's really going on.

The Venus and Mercury squares bring new dreams, fresh and potent, bubbling up into our conscious minds and mouths, along with new perspective on old ideals, particularly in love, relationship, and partnership. But this is also very confusing and potentially disheartening. We're wading through the old and the new at the same time, not completely sure which is which at times. We're trying to make up our minds about which long-cherished dreams and ideals have to be surrendered, morphed, re-jigged, and which ones move forward as guiding lights.

How much can we compromise, if at all? How fluid can we be? How can we move toward shared dreams when our dreams are in such a state of discombobulating morph?

The Uranus in Aries energy - forming its third of seven exact squares to Pluto in Capricorn May 20 - is driving us into extreme individualism. Survival. Independence. Self-sovereignty. Razing emotional attachments as we blaze new trails.

Pretty far from the Neptunian/Piscean ideal of loving union, communion, togetherness, compassion, unbreakable connection and inter-relation. One. Whole.

Uranus (uranium) and Pluto (plutonium) squaring off into 2015 are splitting Piscean-era atoms and Piscean-era communion. The way energy works is different now. What holds us together is different now. And it's a very steep learning curve as we put things together on the fly.

How much can we detach? How much detachment will kill us and other living things? How much will disconnect us from our souls? How much is pathological? These are questions we have to answer through Aquarian experimentation now, and this makes for some very unstable and unpredictable dynamics, especially in relationship.

With Mercury and Venus conjunct in Gemini and forming multiple aspects, love, money, values, beauty, and relationships are primary themes, as well as the talking and thinking (Mercury) about love, money, values, beauty, and relationship (Venus).

Both Venus and Mercury will conjunct the degree of last June's historic Venus Transit (15 Gemini) on May 21 and 22, increasing the "new era relationship" themes.

After the exterior conjunction of the Sun and Venus in Aries on March 28, also conjunct Mars and Uranus, we are truly in new relational territory. There is no protocol, no blueprint, going forward from here. We're learning as we go.

Mercury in its domicile of Gemini is a facile information collector. It gathers perspectives, thoughts, ideas, information, and messages that help put things in context. The influence of the squares to nebulous and filmy Pisces/Neptune at this time, though, makes grasping the full perspective elusive or impossible.

The current astro climate tells us in no uncertain terms, however, that we really do need to figure this out. We really do need to keep the conversation flowing, regardless of difficulty, even in meandering fits and starts.

Venus and Mercury in Gemini are also triggering the double Yod formations we experienced around the time of the Jupiter direct station in January 2013. The Sun in Gemini re-activates these configurations May 27 - June 1, and Mars follows suit June 7 - 15. The Yods were strongly in effect December 2012 through mid-April 2013, bringing about new understanding through some awkward exchanges. They helped us acclimatize to the oddness of Aquarius and also to the necessity of being around people who see things very differently from the ways in which we do. Now, we put some of that into active and immediate practise.

Saturn and Pluto are currently digging up the dirt and the suppressed muck in retrograde motion. Mercury in Gemini pushes into quincunxes to Saturn Rx in Scorpio and Pluto Rx in Capricorn May 18-20, and our conversations become alchemical, catalytic, dangerously potent, as Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn form their third structure-busting square.

Things we hear or say this upcoming week could bust things wide open. Don't be shocked if your words trigger reactions you had not intended. There are underlying feelings, psychological realities, and suppressed energies that must come to the surface in a controlled way now, spread around through bits of daily convo, and you just might be an agent for that.

Mercury in Gemini likes to keep it light and conversational. But with quincunxes to those hardcore brutes Saturn and Pluto, we're going to hear subtext in people's words and tones that potentially confirms our fears. Even the lightest of comments can hit us in the gut with the deeper understanding of what it really means under the sociability.

With Venus and Mercury transiting Gemini, we're forced to gather more information, to have further conversations, but we're scared of what we're going to hear. There's a very good likelihood under these aspects that we will hear something that displeases us, upsets us, threatens our security.

With the North Node and Saturn coming together in conjunction in Scorpio (exact September 18), the successful soul-driven path involves confronting and working through some of our deepest fears. We're looking down some very dark corridors, contemplating some very disturbing possibilities, walking the gut-churning razor's edge. And we have to feel it. We can't cut ourselves off from it or avoid it. Our emotional and psychological depth work is the only thing that can keep things on track now. One extrication at a time. No more dirt hidden under any more rugs. It won't stand.

Mercury in Gemini in Yod formation and squaring Neptune and Chiron in Pisces is the Conversational Maya Remover. This upcoming week, we're being asked to dig through the superficial layers and comments to get to the real, stone-cold reality. We're asked to honour the often-uncomfortable process of truth and reality rising to the surface. And we're asked to divine down deep for the courage to be true to that process, carrying it through to completion.

The Sun enters Gemini May 20, shining light on the Neptune and Chiron squares May 26 and June 3 and re-activating the Yods May 27 - June 1. These solar aspects should assist us with clarity of perspective, though there is also the possibility of painful personality or self-expression issues. An eroding feeling that we are not special, alone in our pain. This is transient.

Mars enters Gemini May 31, activating the same aspects June 7 - 15. Proactively dealing with anything that comes up now can head off anger, frustration, and fights during that time.

Mercury and Venus move from angsty Yod territory into a gorgeous triple conjunction with Jupiter on May 27/28 at 23 degrees Gemini. This triple conjunction of Mercury with the two benefic planets in Gemini brings us a dual scenario. There is the possibility for "peak experiences," so to speak. Conversations and information coming to us that will renew our faith in almost miraculous ways, releasing long-standing doubt, unease, and fear.

But there is also the wading through of the end-of-Pisces disappointment, desolation, weakness, and pain.

The frictional (yet potentially productive) squares between the bodies in Gemini and Neptune and Chiron in Pisces hold the pain we carry from dreams deferred, dreams disappointed, dreams unrealized. The perspective we're gaining now, heading into the Mercury-Venus-Jupiter conjunction, will be inspirational and exciting but also potentially painful and disappointing. Two twins. Two realities existing at once. Juggling this is our challenge.

We're being asked to remove the layers of maya, to see clearly where we are at this time, and it's through verbal and written interactions, through thoughts and realizations, through gathering more information, that we release the illusions that could hold us back and keep us down.

There are painful points here and over the next month related to communication, interaction, and perspective. But removing the last of the maya that could keep us from realizing our dreams in the new astrological era is worth the effort and the struggle now.

Officially Becoming the Town Astrologer

I've been moving households over the past while, and in true Taurus stellium fashion, the process has taken a little longer than I expected - though it's unfolding with the right timing. The earliest date I could get for a telephone and internet hookup is this Friday.

So as of next week, I will officially be the town astrologer in a tiny Saskatchewan village, living in an apartment above the library in a semi-spooky, old, brick character building on Main Street. Who would have thought?

Mercury moves out of Taurus and enters home sweet home Gemini this afternoon, joining Venus and Jupiter in the sign of the communicator. The Sun moves into Gemini May 20 and Mars enters Gemini May 31.

If you've been finding the earthiness and slow pacing of the Taurus stellium a little arduous, never fear. The mutable winds of Gemini are blowing, and things are going to start moving as early as this evening with the Mercury ingress.

Incidentally, I'll be living on Main Street, along a provincial border, a state border, and a rail line. Very Gemini.

If anyone has been wondering about the lack of posts, this move and slow internet hook-up are the reasons. Everything should be on track again by next week. Thanks for your patience during Taurus season, and I hope it's been a productive one for all of you, too!

Taurus and the Behaviour of Bovines - Re-Post

We currently have a stellium of planets in slow and steady Taurus (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, along with the South Node and Pallas Athene) and are heading to a Taurus New Moon eclipse on May 9 that a lot of people seem to be working themselves into a lather over.

In light of all this hyped-up eclipse fervour, I'd like to offer some very Taurean advice:

Just chill out.

If something shakes out in your life at the time of this eclipse, something needed to shake out in your life at the time of this eclipse. It's as simple as that.  

We experience two or three eclipses every six months, like clockwork. These eclipses are not an anomaly.

In times of yore, people were understandably freaked out about eclipses. It was more than a little unnerving to see the Sun or Moon "go out" without really understanding why. People would stay out of the light of the eclipsed Sun or Moon for fear that it would bring them bad fortune.

So there is a traditional store of fear related to eclipses, not completely unfounded, but (in this astrologer's opinion), over-emphasized and hyped to the nines in post-post-modern day astrology.

It's true that this New Moon eclipse at 19 degrees Taurus falls exactly conjunct female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene and closely conjunct male warrior planet Mars, as well as the karmic, karmic South Node. This can certainly ramp up fighting and aggression around the time of the eclipse, but this isn't all au naturel. War manoeuvres are often purposefully timed according to astrological/astronomical events like eclipses.

Israel timed a major attack against Palestine for the last Scorpio New Moon eclipse November 13/14, 2012. That eclipse was conjunct unfortunate fixed star Unukalhai (Alpha Serpentis). You can read about that here: Israel Opens the Gates of Hell at the Alpha Snake New Moon

Today, as the Moon moves between the Scorpio Full Moon eclipse April 25 (the culmination point of that Scorpio New Moon eclipse) and the Taurus New Moon May 9, the news is telling us that Israel has just launched an air strike attack against Syria, targeting a shipment of missiles said to be intended for Lebanon. (Because, as you may have noticed, only the "good guys" like Israel and the U.S. of A. are allowed to have missiles, nukes, and weapons of mass destruction.)  

All this taken into consideration - if you haven't noticed, this planet has been under a state of financier-backed siege for decades (centuries? millenia?). This is nothing new. It's not right, but it's the state of things. Eclipses are not to blame. Greedy, murderous sociopaths masquerading as our leaders are, as well as those who do their bidding.

To lighten this hyped and charged state of affairs, I'm re-posting an article I wrote last year about Taurus and the behaviour of bovines. From May 19, 2012:

Photos: Willow

I've been a ranch helper for the past few weeks, and you can't really get much more Taurean than that type of work. It's life on the land, on prairie grassland. It's physical work. It's animals and plants and dirt, wind and rain, sweat and sun. The work unfolds according to natural timing, according to the seasons, and it follows a similar course every year. Farmers and ranchers are time keepers in this way. They work according to old, nature-based rhythms and keep those fundamental energetic patterns anchored, just as the animals themselves do. When the Sun goes up, it's time to work. When it goes down, the work day's done. Simple.

It's coming to the end of calving season now, and the babes are running around all over the place. Watching cattle always reminds me of how much you can understand about the sign and energy of Taurus through the behaviour of bovines.

Understanding The Sign of Taurus Through the Characteristics of Cows

1) Taurus is a fixed sign, and cows have a fixed nature. They really don't like to move all that much, especially if they've just had a calf. Cows don't enjoy transition. They like their basic routines, and they're not fans of any upheaval or changes in those routines.

2) Cows are comfort seekers, just like Taurus. Once they're content, they like to stay put, enjoying the sunshine, grazing, and chewing their cuds. The only time they can be convinced to favour a change is if an option opens that brings them even more comfort. This generally involves more or better food - another Taurus favourite.

This is the transition going on right now. Every year, most of the cow-calf pairs along with steers and heifers are rounded up and trucked to a Native-run community pasture for the spring and summer. Once there, they have all the space and grass they could ever desire, but in order to get there, they have to endure the transition. They have to be moved from pasture to pasture at home and then up to the corrals to be worked before being trucked to the new pasture, and this definitely ruffles them a bit. Again, though, if the reward is there, they'll endure - just like Taurus.

To move the cow-calf pairs, my Dad rides horseback, and my mother and I (never horsewomen) each drive a vehicle through the bumpy-ass pastures in a mini round-up. My sweet ride is the 1986 Chevy farm truck. Just as if we were on horseback, we spread out and herd the cattle. Trying to determine how best to get cattle moving in the right direction gives us helpful hints for interacting with people with a lot of Taurus!

3) Cows, like Taurus, don't like to be rushed. They like to do things slowly, gradually, on their own timing. When they do move, they like it to be related to securing basic resources - food, water, shade, shelter from wind, or a comfortable place to lie down.

4) You can't pressure them too much. Cows will take some gentle guidance, but press too much, at the wrong place, or too quickly, and they won't do what you want them to do. If they feel excessively pressured, they'll rebel or freak out. They can be remarkably stubborn once they've been riled and will even jump a fence to get away. If an entire herd has been spooked in this way, they'll run through a barbed-wire fence. Suffice it to say, it's best to take it nice and easy on both bovines and Taureans, givng them lots of time and adequate space to make their moves.

5) Cows, like Taurus, enjoy working with a boundary. The easiest way to move cattle is by gently pushing them along a fence line to an open gate. Taking them through the middle of the open prairie is more likely to create confusion and panic. Boundaries and limitations can help them feel safe.

6) It takes them a while to get going, but once they have some momentum gathered, they follow a steady course. And once they have a steady course, they move along fairly quickly - no fuss, no muss.

7) Cows pretty much do what the rest of the pack is doing. This is the traditional aspect of Taurus. Once in a while, there will be a renegade cow who busts out on her own, but usually, they like to do what the other cows are doing, as long as it makes good, practical cow sense.

8) They seem very docile and gentle, and generally are, but cows can become very pissed off - and dangerous - if they feel threatened in any way. Like most animals, cows are very protective of their babies.

9) Just like Taurus, after a transition or upheaval, they need time on their own to settle down and get back to a state of calm contentment. Once the pressure is removed, it doesn't take them long to get back to a settled state.

Use these helpful insights into the ways of the bovine to keep the Taureans in your life (and the Taurus in your own chart) sweet, calm, contented, and moving in the right direction!

Pluto in Capricorn and the Epidemic of Physician-Caused Injuries and Deaths From New Wave Pharmaceuticals

Iatrogenic injuries and deaths: injuries and deaths caused by the physician, unrelated to the original health complaint.

Iatrogenic injuries and deaths are occurring in record numbers. A conservative estimate of the number of people killed in the United States by correctly prescribed pharmaceuticals every year is 100,000. This statistic does not include the hundreds of thousands of people who are injured or permanently disabled by dirty pharmaceuticals every year. This statistic also does not include people who commit suicide due to adverse reactions without "provable" links to the drug. Suicide is a common side effect of many of the new wave of pharmaceuticals on the market.

Natural News: Hospitals and Doctors are Killing Americans in Record Numbers

From the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC):

- Sixty-one people die every day in the United States from pharmaceuticals (adverse reactions or overdoses).

- Reported poisonings have gone up 90% between 1999 and 2008. The major reason is the exponential increase in the use of pharmaceuticals, including all the new pharmaceuticals that have been fast-tracked onto the market without due testing and the pharmaceuticals that have been kept on the market despite known deadly/damaging side effects.

Whenever I see a commercial for a new pharmaceutical and the majority of the commercial is a list of the deadly and horrific side effects it can have, I'm transported to my Plutonic surreal insanity place. How messed up a society are we living in when a deadly drug is being advertised to people as if it's a new flavour of Pop Rocks? It's a type of messed up that we could only fully experience under transiting Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto (poison) in Capricorn (big business). Pluto (hidden control) in Capricorn (institutional hierarchy). Pluto (extreme dominance) in Capricorn (corporate oligarchy).

With Uranus in Aries (radical survival and necessary breaks from the old guard) forming its third exact conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn (poisonous corporate shenanigans) on May 20, these issues are in our face, up front and centre, more visible than usual, more challenging than usual.

Corporations and their foot soldiers are poisoning us en masse, and they're making off like bandits doing so.

On May 7, there will be a march on Washington by a group of people who have had horrendous, long-term adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Major brands include Cipro and Avelox (manufactured and sold by Bayer) and Levaquin (manufactured and sold by Johnson & Johnson). The group is asking that physicians be educated on the dangers of prescribing these antibiotics. It is also asking that fluoroquinolones not be prescribed as a first-line antibiotic, as they are now.

Cipro is Poison is the website of a man named Jeff who has had one of the most severe adverse reactions possible to Cipro.

I hope none of us ever experiences the horror this man has been through. He's going through hell. It's truly unimaginable, and it's going on thousands of times over as these drugs continue to be handed out like Chiclets.

Scorpio Full Moon Eclipse Conjunct Saturn: Ooga Booga!

There's a Full Moon partial lunar eclipse in Scorpio tomorrow, starting a series of three eclipses, and I'm going to keep this one very simple.

There are people, dynamics, and situations trying to fuck with you right now. They're trying to get under your skin, trying to scare you into devaluing yourself and what you do in this world. They're trying to undermine your self-esteem and your sense of security, getting you to accept scraps rather than holding out for your true worth. It's easier for them that way. Less threatening. They're trying to jostle you out of position, and they're using your own energy in this attempt.

The Moon pushes to its most full and illuminated point today and tomorrow. It's shining some love and light, all right, but this is of the Scorpionic 'tough love' variety. 

With Venus, the Sun, Mars, and asteroid Pallas Athene in Taurus, the inclination is to accumulate - people, money, ease, comfort, pretty things. Taurus is a tradition-oriented and fairly simple sign that generally wants to maintain the status quo. It digs the status quo. The status quo most often works for Taurus. Stable, easy, rewards-rich.

The South Node of the Moon is also in Taurus, however, indicating major pitfalls possible with certain expressions of this sign.

We have to balance our Taurean needs for simple and basic, for accumulation, for stability and security with the hardcore eliminatory function of the North Node, Moon, and Saturn in Scorpio. Getting down to brass tacks as far as who and what needs to go - and making it happen.

With a North Node in Scorpio and a South Node in Taurus:

In order to achieve physical security in the material world (Taurus), channeling money, value, and earnings into your life, you first have to make the underlying energy dynamics right (Scorpio) - emotional, psychological, psychic. You have to address and get rid of all the shit sandwiches people are attempting to serve you. You have to fight for your full value without backing down.

In order to accumulate what's right for you, you first have to eliminate what isn't.

This Scorpio Full Moon is a culmination of themes that opened at the November 13, 2012 Alpha Snake New Moon total solar eclipse in Scorpio. Underlying allegiances that had been simmering beneath the skin of the situations started to be drawn to the surface at that Scorpio New Moon.

From the Alpha Snake New Moon post:

"Underlying loyalties start to shake out under this Moon, and we start to get a clearer picture of where people stand as we head deeper into Saturn in Scorpio. Incompatibilities glossed over during Saturn in Libra are pushed to the surface, like it or not. Crossed motivations send up sparks. Lips will curl, unconsciously, showing our fangs if we come too near those with whom we lack inherent common ground. The ties that bound friendly allies during Saturn in Libra snap like dry, autumn twigs under Saturn in Scorpio. Soul compatibility is something altogether different.

Soul-deep incompatibilities go from cracks, to divisions, to chasms. There can be no doubt where we stand on the other side of this New Moon portal."

Now, as the Moon grows full in the sign of sex, death, regenerative healing, hardcore soul drive, and X-Ray vision, we get a look at these underlying allegiances and alliances under the full moonlight, and we get a chance to address them head-on.

We knew where we stood at the Scorpio New Moon last November. Now, at the Scorpio Full Moon, we put that fully into practise - or suffer the consequences (Saturn).

The North Node in Scorpio, coming ever-closer to the conjunction to Saturn (and Venus) this September, is asking you to eliminate every single person, dynamic, and situation that isn't right. Do it authoritatively, and do it now, when the concrete opportunity to do so (Saturn) arises. The Scorpio North Node is asking you to carve out a path that goes to the bone, to the core, stripping down to only the right energy dynamics, to only what's vital, to only what has some fucking life left kicking in it.

With the Moon conjunct Saturn in Scorpio, opposing all that Taurus, you intuitively know the people, dynamics, and situations that need to go. You know which ones are draining you, forcing you into unnatural positions, keeping you stagnant, afraid, or in a subordinate position.

At this Full Moon eclipse in Scorpio, it's time to make the final snips. It's time to get rid of every last drop of poison. Your emotions guide this process - the deep down, dark and dirty ones. The ones you might be ashamed of. How you really feel. How your soul really feels.

It might be difficult to muster the self-confidence and the self-esteem to address the muck and sever ties under these transits (Moon-Saturn), but if you muster it, you will be rewarded.

These are some subtle, gut-feeling twinges we're following here. Following even the slightest surface disturbance down to its root. Getting clear on what's really going on down there. And making the cuts.

Some traditional dynamics need to be skipped altogether. Some overall trends need to be bucked.

With Saturn so influencing this Moon, we're working with patriarchal authority figures and patriarchal institutions and the fear those things are built on and powered through. Money fears come through this and through the Taurus South Node. We're working on confronting and diffusing the at-times paralyzing psychological hold these fears can have over us. We're working through some of our deepest security fears at this Moon, saying "no" to them, breaking their influence.

It takes courage to sever ties to elements of our own "security." But it's certainly a false security if we have to swallow shit sandwiches in order to maintain it.

This is the type of false security that must be destroyed at this Full Moon, freeing our energy for a metamorphosis into a truly solid foundation. The soul-deep kind that cannot be shattered or disturbed by any event or individual on this Earth.

Emotional, psychological, and psychic security are more highly valued now. Scorpio energy is more highly valued now, and it's worth more than (highly manipulated) dollar bills.

Divine down to the roots here, at this Full Moon. Don't be afraid to look at anything kicked up by this Moon, though it may be uncomfortable.

Remove detrimental influences that drain and hold you back. Remove the influence of people who try to unsettle you. Do it quickly, completely, unceremoniously, and guilt-free.

Building on the Sun-Venus Exterior Conjunction with Jupiter Conjunct the Venus Transit Degree

At the time of the Aries New Moon and Aries stellium earlier this month, Venus was in the sign of its detriment (Aries), and Mars was in the sign of its domicile (also Aries). The females and the feminine (Venus) were in a tough spot, while the males and the masculine (Mars) were living a little easier.

Now, just 10 days later, the tables have turned. Venus is now in the sign of its domicile, Taurus, and Mars entered the sign of its detiment, also Taurus, this morning.

The Sun and Venus are still within range of a conjunction, now in Taurus, and this blesses us with some much-needed ease and congeniality as spring starts to dig in in the northern hemisphere. These bodies were exactly conjunct on March 28 at 8 degrees Aries.

From the Aries New Moon post:

"The exterior conjunction of the Sun and Venus on March 28 was the first conjuction between these two bodies since the interior conjunction on June 5, 2012. That interior conjuction, with Venus retrograde in Gemini, also marked the Venus Transit, an event that will not be experienced again for more than one hundred years.

From a previous post:

"The Venus Transit is an eclipse of the Sun by Venus during which we are able to observe Venus passing across the surface of the Sun as it orbits between the Sun and Earth. Astrologically, this event will be marked by a conjunction of the Sun and Venus retrograde at 15 degrees Gemini on June 5, 2012.

Venus Transits occur in pairs in the same sign, eight years apart (one Venus cycle), and they do not happen often. The last Venus Transit - the pair to this one - occurred June 8, 2004. The most recent Venus Transits prior to the 2004/2012 set occurred December 1874/1882 in Sagittarius. The next set will occur in December 2117 and 2125, also in Sagittarius.

Suffice it to say, it's a noteworthy event during our stay on planet Earth...

[T]his indicates a shift in relationship cycles - one closes, another begins. Because the June 5 Sun-Venus interior conjunction in Gemini is also a Venus Transit, this shift in relationship cycles is profound and far-reaching. The upcoming Venus Transit acts as an official relational backdrop change between astrological eras. As of this event, we're no longer one foot in, one foot out. We officially move beyond Piscean-era relationship ideals and constructs and are propelled into the early stages of a new relationship paradigm - relating within the astrological Aquarian era. New tracks emerge that were previously unavailable. Relationships and we within relationship are not the same coming out of this June."

The March 28 conjunction of the Sun and Venus in Aries indicated a new chapter in Aquarian-era relationship has been opened, fresh and new, stemming from the monumental Venus Transit."

This exterior conjunction of the Sun and Venus in cardinal, initiating Aries injected new life and new direction into relationships, value systems, and money matters, indicating that potent new territory had been reached following the Venus Transit.

Now, with Venus, the Sun, and Mars in fixed and sensual Taurus, we take the new directions and dig in. Taurus is the sign of the bull and the sign of the farmer, and it's our understanding of natural timing that advances the initial sparks of Aries now, particularly in relationship. We're building a relational foundation that will support future progress.

When it's time to cultivate, you cultivate. When it's time to fertilize, you fertilize. When it's time to sow, you sow. When it isn't time for those things, you don't do those things. There's an order and a timing that comes around naturally every year. This is the simple and lovely wisdom of Taurus. Slow and steady wins the race. This slow and steady farmer wisdom and the natural timing associated are applied to both relationships and money matters now, and it's the females and the feminine force most strongly setting the timing and the tone.

Attention to boundaries and personal comfort are important whenever Taurus is strong, and this is the case now, as the Taurus bodies oppose Saturn Rx in Scorpio, which is digging up many uncomfortable creepy crawlies from beneath many rugs.

Sexual and emotional challenges, blocks, and intensity are being stirred now by Saturn in Scorpio, and it's the Taurus energy that helps keep things on the rails, ensuring we don't give up our sexual, emotional, metaphysical, or healing skills too soon, too intensively, in the wrong ways, or to the wrong people.

Saturn is requiring that we dig deeply to determine "what time it really is" in newly organizing Aquarian-era relationships of all kinds. This way, we know when it's time to cultivate, when it's time to fertilize, and when it's time to sow. Listening to and heeding the intuitive voice on this front might be a bit of a drag, but any sticking points or delays coming up now are purposeful. Any gut feelings or little twinges or doubts are purposeful and must be addressed concretely. In general with a Saturn transit, it's best to deal with each obstacle or challenge as it comes up. Anything avoided will simply circle back again at a later time, especially in the sign of Scorpio.

As the Sun and Venus continue to move through the zodiac in their exterior conjunction, in effect into early May, Jupiter in Gemini is conjunct the degree of the Venus Transit at 15 Gemini. The conjunction of this degree is exact April 18-23.

Our greater benefic planet on this degree is yet another nice marker of our new era progress. Jupiter has had a somewhat rough transit in the sign of its detriment, Gemini, taking part in two Yod formations and a long-term square to Chiron in Pisces. But at this point, not only has Jupiter moved out of range of those tricky aspects, it's also moving out of its retrograde shadow April 24, leaving this angsty territory behind.

More good (Jupiter) news (Gemini): Jupiter will make no further tense aspects during its final two months in Gemini.

In fact, the major aspect Jupiter will make is an "ice cream sundae with a cherry on top" sort of aspect - a conjunction to Venus at 23 degrees Gemini on May 28, just after conjuncting Mercury in Gemini. This is the lesser benefic (Venus) and the greater benefic (Jupiter) joining forces, and this one is lovely. Our communications, our words, our networks, and our interactions with local society and siblings (or with those who feel like siblings) are blessed around this time with many beautiful and even miraculous connections and re-connections possible. Misunderstandings - even long-standing - can be lifted under this aspect. Any effort on our part to those ends will be rewarded.

Jupiter enters the sign of its exaltation, Cancer, on June 26 and heads into Grand Water Trine territory immediately after.

We've made it to a new, post-Venus Transit foundation for love, relationship, values, and money matters. Relax into it whenever you can under this Taurus stellium (Sun, Venus, Mars, and soon Mercury), and appreciate the hard work you (and they) have put in to get here.

Venus-Pallas Athene in Taurus Opposite Saturn Rx in Scorpio: "WWA Blog is Not Worth $2.50 Per Month"

Photo: Willow

The planet of value and money, Venus, is currently at home in Taurus, the sign of value and money, and will be until May 9. Venus is conjunct female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene in Taurus at this time, creating a powerhouse feminine influence in the sign of tradition, earnings, and security in the physical world.

Both Venus and Pallas Athene are opposing Saturn Rx in Scorpio, and this brings up themes of the valuing and undervaluing of astrological knowledge and infomation. The divinatory, digging, researching, uncovering, drawing-up-to-the-surface energy of astrological work.

I've been writing about the undervaluing of astrology for a while now, which is rampant in this "easy access" internet age, as well as the undervaluing of Scorpio energy, in general. This is emotional, psychological, sexual, metaphysical, healing, X-ray vision energy. Hidden processes that are easily put down, degraded, stepped on.

From October 13, 2011: The Bodies in Scorpio Oppose Jupiter Rx in Taurus: A Conscious Re-Valuing of Soul Energy and Scorpio's Mad Skillz in the Nether-Realms

"Scorpio works in the energetic realms - mostly hidden. Taurus works in the physical world - quite visible and what most consider "work." Taurus is a sign related to what is most commonly valued these days: money (and all the concrete things you can buy with money). Scorpio relates to complex energetic currencies.

From a previous post:

"Scorpio is a healing energy. It intuitively knows where the trouble is and gets right to work, divining and digging to trigger multi-layered release points. It isn't just treating symptoms, either. Scorpio knows it's either go deep or go home, and it puts forth immense stores of energy to go to the mat for people, driving right to the root of the problems that keep them locked up, inauthentic, programmed, and less effective than they could otherwise be.

Scorpio digs the poisoned thorns out - and if it's masterful enough, it gets them all.

But Scorpio's mastery is also it's downfall. Here's where the betrayal aspect of the sign comes into play. Scorpio is a liberating energy, an almost magical transformer of all things oppressive and stagnant and intolerable - and its emotional, psychological and psychic currency is woefully undervalued. Quite often, it's used and abused with little to nothing offered in return. It's left holding the bag with nowhere left to put the shit.

What Scorpio does is mostly in the energetic realms, and because so few people have developed the sight to see this type of energy work, people take it and run. Often, they take it and run right back into the same unhealthy patterns and dynamics Scorpio was expending so much energy to extricate them from in the first place."

This theme has been coming up strongly since last fall's Venus retrograde in Scorpio and has been triggered again now that Venus is back in the sign:

The currencies of sexual, emotional, psychological, and psychic energy as well as masterful Scorpionic healing abilities require a conscious re-valuing and re-working, eked out one interchange at a time."

Well, today, I'm not allowing myself or my site to be put down, degraded, or stepped on. Today, I'm doing some eking.

This morning, with the Sun (external presence and self-expression) conjunct Mars (attacks) in Aries, I got a lovely gem of a comment in the comments section telling me that this blog is not worth the price of a subscription. In other words, it's not worth the price of half a Starbucks per month to read. That's the price of the cheapest subscription option.

"I read your blog faithfully, but there's roughly similar information free all over the web. I agree with your GMO stuff, but it's not worth a full subscription. I wonder if others feel similarly. If you're feeling an energy drain, you could ask what's off with the tone of the blog. Why is it not inviting more traffic & more private clients or more community? This has a lot to do with the Pluto Saturn mutual reception at the moment--I personally feel we all have to watch our tendency to lose the wisdom potential here if we give in to being Aries Uranus firebrands, freakin' people out. In the end, it's always about building & deepening relationships while giving up need for absolute control -- this is the secret recipe for Cap-Scorp happiness." 

All the astrological and sociological information I put out here, in this reader's humble opinion, can be found for free elsewhere on the internet. Therefore, it's not worth a single dime to this person to read this blog.

What a worthless, worthless site I put out here.

I wonder why these people even keep reading it?

Incidentally, this comment comes from an individual who claims to read this blog "faithfully."

I don't need that variety of faithful reader.

So here's a Metaphysics 101 lesson for this reader and for readers like this person:

When you take from a site like this "faithfully" without giving anything back but your bullshitty and eroding comments, you are creating an energy drain. When you read a site like mine while holding an attitude like yours, you create an energy drain. When frenemies and haters read this site and use the information as if it is free for them to use, they create an energy drain. And when you further devalue this site with your passive aggressive (and semi-nonsensical) commentary, you are exacerbating that drain exponentially.

This reader wonders if anyone else feels the same about the relative worthlessness of this site.

I wonder that, as well. I wonder that because people who feel that way are not welcome to read this site and have no business being here. From this point on, if you hold that attitude, you are reading here against my will.

Don't take that lightly. I certainly don't.

It's also interesting to note that it's usually people who think they have astrological prowess of their own who make eroding comments on my blog. Either that, or they are coming in from another astrology camp.

I have to say, though, that what this person has to say makes little sense to me. "Losing the wisdom potential"? "Aries Uranus firebrands"?

Keep studying from the masters, honey. You might get there yet.

Venus in Taurus is opposite Saturn in Scorpio April 22 at 8 degrees of the signs.

Make damn sure your energy is not being devalued under these aspects, as well.

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