The Patrons of Willow's Web Astrology

The underlying idea for patronage of Willow's Web Astrology is: a currency exchange. Value given for value received.

If you regularly find valuable insight and information from Willow's Web Astrology, a patronage is a way of offering value in return for that insight and information. This keeps things balanced, it keeps things fair, and it ensures that this source of valuable astrology and analysis does not become depleted. It ensures that the astrology keeps flowing from a deep, deep source.

If you are a patron, the underlying idea is that you want Willow's Web Astrology to continue, and this includes as a business.

There is an old school Piscean-era idea (now less and less relevant) that "spiritual work" should be done for free. The idea is that if you charge for your work, you are something of a scheister, a charlatan, or a swindler.

I simply have to call bullshit on that one.

Many of us doing "spiritual" work (I just call it work, by the way) must pay the same rents, the same bills, and the same expenses as those doing "less spiritual" work. (Honestly, you can see how characterizing some work as "spiritual" and some as "less spiritual" is fairly ridiculous, can't you?)

I don't live in a monastery. I don't live in a convent. I don't live in an ashram. I don't have a parsonage provided for me.

I don't have an organization to provide the basics of living to me. I provide those for myself.

It's come to my attention that some occasional readers are not aware of this fact, but astrology is my full-time business. Willow's Web Astrology is a business, and I work as a professional astrologer. I run this business according to metaphysical rules as much as by rules of the physical plane, but it is a business nonetheless.

I would never ask anyone to work for free. So why would people expect me to?

I would never expect people to charge less than their work is worth. But for some reason, my work, by its very nature, is often devalued.

A patronage is meant to cover the totality of what is provided by Willow's Web Astrology in a 365-day period. 

The idea of a patronage should not be how much extra you can get from Willow for your patronage amount.

The idea is that you are paying for the value you receive organically, without demanding anything more than what naturally comes to you.

I can only write what comes through me to write. I can't force the issue, or it could have dangerous results for me and for readers. With this blog, it has to be quality over quantity.

If you do not find that you are receiving the full value for your patronage amount, I'm sorry to hear that, but it's your responsibility to determine that and to cancel your patronage if this is the case. Astrological tastes can certainly shift over the years, and it is not uncommon for people to move on from an astrology blog, including from mine.

There are certain articles - particularly detailed, energy-intensive, and in-depth articles - for which I must charge an additional fee. This means, even if you are a much-appreciated patron of Willow's Web, you will not necessarily receive every article I write for that patronage amount. There may be the odd article that everyone has to pay for, patrons included.

I'm very highly tuned to what's fair. I'm a Libra Sun, after all. I will not charge for an article unless I know it's the right thing to do and unless I have to. If I know it's the right thing to do, however, it's fully sanctioned both on this Earth and off, and no one else has a say in it.

I thank all patrons of Willow's Web Astrology and all customers who purchase my articles. Without you, this site would not have continued - at least, not with most of the content being provided for "free."

But I also have to ensure that people are becoming patrons for the right reasons.

If you feel you aren't getting your money's worth, if you're angry that I charge for some of my work, if you're miffed that you have to pay to get full articles, or if you resent the fact that I must make a living running my business, I would kindly ask you to reconsider your patronage. There is no anger or hard feelings on my part. It's just that I only want the right energy coming in in the form of currency.

I'm doing nothing below board here. I do not feel guilty for charging what I charge. I feel that the amounts I charge for readings, for patronages, and for additional articles are fully reasonable. I have a niche audience, and please believe me when I say: I'm not getting rich doing this. Far from it. But I do need to make a basic living if I am to continue this work.

It doesn't matter to me what other astrologers are doing. I'm not other astrologers. And contrary to what some nasty pieces of work have suggested over the years, you will not find my particular brand of astrology or astrological analysis elsewhere. It's unique in the true sense of the word.

Knowing that, I will not abuse my position. I will never keep anyone on the hook or charge an excessive amount for my work.

I'm from good, old, working class prairie stock, and I understand the value of a (non-inflated) hard-earned dollar. I understand that many are going through tough financial times now. But I also understand that under the current systems people can't work for free, especially when that work is top quality and energy-intensive.

I run my business in a way that I feel is fair. I charge the smallest amount I feel is fair for the energy, time, and effort I've put out. Case closed.

I thank you for your support of Willow's Web Astrology, both financial and energetic.

I also thank those who have left wonderful comments on the site over the years, as these have provided necessary encouragement to continue through tough times.

I want Willow's Web Astrology to be a feel good enterprise with no underlying resentments or hard feelings involved.

Please know that I do my very best to provide astrological guidance and insight for these times. But I can only do my best. I can only do what is in my power to do.

The same is true for astrology readings. I do my absolute best with every reading that comes in to me. I give each one my full attention and focus, and I do the reading with the intention that it will help the individual, that it will provide the information and insight the person needs at that time (which is sometimes different from the information and insight he or she wants at that time!).

If Willow's Web Astrology is no longer doing it for you, there may be another astrologer out there who would.

No one is stuck in this Willow's Web. You are all free to come and go as your soul sees fit.

My love and gratitude to my comrades.

Peace out. 

The Cardinal Grand Cross Report

This is an excerpt from The Cardinal Grand Cross Report on the exact configuration forming April 20 - 23, 2014. It is 3,500+ words and can be purchased for $8.00.

"The Aries New Moon on March 30 (12:45 p.m.) occurs within cardinal t-square formation, conjunct revolutionary Uranus in Aries and square both Jupiter in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn. This New Moon in the warrior sign blazes new emotional trail, kicking off an extremely potent month for new initiatives, new direction, and new leadership on multiple fronts. Successfully navigating the month of April 2014 is going to take courage, vision, and the willingness to move on from old emotional quagmire subjects. This New Moon in Aries infuses us with all this and more. 

We’re all ready for a change as spring rolls in in the northern hemisphere, so why not make it a big one?

The workplace, the home life, personal and professional relationships, and even our sense of who we are are all between the cross-hairs this upcoming month. These things are being shaped and moulded and tempered on all fronts by the pressures of the exact Grand Cross configuration, made up of two oppositions (180-degree aspects) or four squares (90-degree aspects) by bodies at 13 degrees of the cardinal signs.

New directions are being chosen or forced. New partnerships are coming into being out of desire or necessity. New power structures are being catalyzed for good or ill..."


What readers are saying about the Cardinal Grand Cross Report: 

"Willow! Wow! You have thrown a spotlight/searchlight over a minefield covered with barbed wire that I will now have consciousness to pick my way through in the coming days and weeks. To me this is absolutely awesome reporting and interpreting for what we are headed into this spring."

A Full Moon in Uber Karmic Territory Indicates a Necessary Tune-Up for Health, Diet, & Mental and Psychic Environments

Photo: Willow

We're currently moving to a Full Moon in late Virgo (26 degrees) on March 15/16 opposite the Sun in late Pisces. This area of late Virgo-Pisces is very glitchy, sensitive, and karmic territory at the best of times, and at this late hour of the astrological Piscean era, we need to be oh-so-careful with the themes stirred now.

Our systems are very sensitive at the moment, and even the smallest misstep or over-indulgence could create some undesired effects heading into this Full Moon and for the following two weeks. (Keep particular watch over the Dark of the Moon period in Pisces March 27 - 29 ahead of the Aries New Moon March 30.)

This Virgo Full Moon is the high water mark of the Pisces New Moon lunar cycle that began March 1. That Pisces New Moon occurred conjunct wounded healer Chiron, making holistic health and healing strong themes for the month of March.

With Chiron in Pisces so strongly involved in this lunar cycle, we are working with collective injury, collective dysfunction, and ripple-effect causes of ill health. We are working to sidestep the ways in which we have been collectively set up for ill health.

This Full Moon in Virgo highlights the things we are responsible for personally as far as health and wellness.

Despite what the New Age and all those "creating your own reality" types would have you believe, there is only so much we can do to overcome the layers of poison being heaped upon our systems via air, water, soil, food, toxic psychic environments, media, and energy weapons.

But at this Full Moon, we have to do whatever is in our power to do - and we have to do it right.

This Virgo Full Moon shines a light on any areas of weakness related to health, routine, and overall systemic function, and these areas of weakness are ours to tune up and ours alone.

Virgo is most often about refining things out of our systems rather than adding things in, trimming the fat in all areas. It is the final sign related purely to the self, and, in particular, to the mastery and refinement of the self and the biological system.

This Full Moon in Virgo can take on even a critically important tone, as we are currently completing the final stage of the two-year Mars in Virgo-flavoured goal cycle kicked off by the Mars retrograde in early 2012. This is our last opportunity to focus on perfecting our personal health and function before we are fully immersed in a new goal cycle being initiated by the current Mars retrograde in Libra.

We are about to be immersed more strongly in the lives and habits of other people, entering a two-year period where relating to others becomes a prime focus.

In short, we have to have our own individual systems humming, perfected, and in strong working order so that we can maintain our standards, our health, and our balance as we come more strongly into contact with others.

As the Moon grows full this week, we are looking to tighten up any areas where we have been letting things slide, where we have been a little too soft, and this can involve diet, exercise, organization, cleanliness, details, work/over-work, as well as mental and psychic environments. Bad habits and unhealthy coping techniques we have picked up through our family lines (Moon) are particularly highlighted.

Moving through this Chiron in Pisces-infused lunar cycle, we are looking at the methods we choose for escape, for self-medication, and for anesthetic purposes in an attempt to insulate ourselves from the painful issues facing us personally and as a species at this time.

We are looking to streamline and to eliminate any energy sucks that masquerade as "feel good" activities.

With Virgo, the smallest of changes produce big results.

We may be looking to eliminate television, shopping, alcohol, drugs, sugar, junk food, video games, certain web sites, fantasies, cigarettes, or the like.

Or we may be looking to apply those things only in the most proper and rightful medicinal doses.

Your body will tell you which is the case for you.

This Full Moon is a good time to analyze any emotional eating, addressing underlying feelings rather than covering them up, and applying new comforting techniques.

It is a good time to pinpoint, analyze, and re-jig any addictive behaviours we fall into when desiring escape from the pressures and pains of life on Planet Earth.

Information sources and what we put into our brains may also require tune-ups now. Just as we must limit junk food, we must also limit mental junk food. This is particularly important ahead of Mercury re-entering Pisces, the sign of its fall, on March 17 (4:24 p.m.) for a transit that lasts until April 7. Mercury in Pisces brings its own particular mental and psychic hazards, outlined in this February 3 post: Reeling it Back in Mentally, Verbally, and Psychically During an Era-Shifting Mercury Retrograde.

In light of the third anniversary of the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan and the accumulation of radioactive isotopes in North American water, food, milk, and soil, here is some advice.

How to Avoid Radiation or Reduce Risks Associated with Radiation:

- Stay out of the ocean.
- Avoid sitting or walking on beaches.
- Decrease your time outdoors. Don't run or exercise for prolonged periods outdoors.
- Do not eat Pacific Ocean seafood. Consider eliminating all foods from the sea, if possible, as the contamination is not contained to the Pacific.
- Eat more foods grown in greenhouses.
- Use a Geiger counter on food items before ingesting them. However, please understand that ingestion of radioactive particles can be dangerous to health even when the background radiation levels are relatively low. A Geiger counter will show you only background levels of radiation and only some of the radioactive isotopes present may register. Uranium and Plutonium produce relatively low levels of radioactivity, but they are highly toxic to the human body.
- Stay out of falling rain and snow.
- Do not take unnecessary airplane rides, as this exposes you to high levels of radioactivity. Airline pilots, flight attendants, and celebrities have all shown increases in radiation-related illnesses since March 2011, including passing out in-flight, heart attacks in-flight, seizures, hair loss, rashes, and thyroid problems.
- Boost your immune system with vitamins and minerals (particularly Vitamin C) and natural supplements like garlic, turmeric, apple cider vinegar, dandelion, and the like.
- Consider an iodine supplement to protect your thyroid like J.Crow's Lugol's solution, which is derived from mined crystals, not from seaweed. 
- Have "outside clothes" and "inside clothes." Don't bring shoes or clothing into your home that have been exposed to the outdoors.
- Take baths with baking soda in the water.
- Consider activated charcoal or bentonite clay to remove other toxins, taking stress off your body.
- Drink water filtered by reverse osmosis with added minerals.
- Use your intuition and follow your guidance about how to stay as safe as possible.  

How to Avoid Genetically Modified Organisms in Food: 

 

The major genetically modified food crops currently being grown are corn, soybeans, canola, and beets for beet sugar.

If you'd like to avoid genetically modified organisms as best you can, avoid all corn, soybean, canola, and sucrose products. This includes things like maltodextrin and lecithin, which are derivatives used in processed foods. Unfortunately, even organic varieties of corn, soybean/soy, canola, or sucrose (beet sugar) cannot be guaranteed 100% GMO-free at this point. Unlabelled GM sweet corn (corn on the cob) is also being sold at supermarkets currently.

Soy and corn are often used as livestock feed, so avoidance of conventional meat, eggs, and dairy is required, as well. Certified organic meat/dairy/eggs or the purchase of products directly from a farmer who you know does not feed GM feed are options for eating as GMO-free as possible.

Other GMO crops include papayas and cotton. There are currently plans to release GM salmon - the first genetically modified animal for human consumption - as well as a GM non-browning apple. 

Another issue involves the commercial planting and growth of GM alfalfa, which began in the United States in 2011, with plans to grow it commercially in Ontario and Quebec in Canada as early as this year. GM alfalfa is the first ever genetically modified, feral, perennial plant released in North American history. Its spread and contamination of the natural alfalfa crop have already begun. Alfalfa is used as livestock feed (hay), so this affects meat, eggs, and dairy directly. Alfalfa is also used as fertilizer in organic agriculture and as the field transition crop from conventional-to-organic. We must ultimately end the sale and growth of GM alfalfa if we are to maintain any semblance of GMO-free agriculture or any certified organic soil.

The Moon enters Virgo on Friday, March 14 at 8:17 a.m. CST. It opposes Neptune in Pisces at 7:41 p.m. that evening. It then moves into an opposition to wounded healer Chiron in Pisces at 12:02 p.m. on March 15. The Virgo Full Moon at 26 degrees will be exact at 11:08 a.m. on March 16.

H.A.A.R.P. Homeopathy and the 3rd Anniversary of the Ongoing Fukushima Nuclear Disaster March 11

Riding the waves 

Photos: Willow

From the beginning, I felt that the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan was a planned and orchestrated event. I wrote about it on the blog on March 16, 2011. I believed this then, and I believe it now.

Of course, none of the citizens knows exactly what occurred there in March 2011, and none of us knows exactly what has occurred since. There is a global media blackout underway, and any truthful information being released is old news - things we should have heard two or more years ago.

We're scrapping things together, bit-by-bit. We're having to do our own testing, research, and analysis. And we're our own media on the subject, as well, as the "authority figures" have chosen to either stay silent or to straight-out lie about the radioactive contamination and associated risks.

But my feeling was that the H.A.A.R.P. (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) or a similar energy weapon was used to initiate the massive 9.0 earthquake, which created a tsunami that brought down the Daiichi nuclear reactors. That reported earthquake was the biggest Japan had ever experienced, the biggest most of Earth had ever experienced. A blanket of wavy "H.A.A.R.P clouds" was visible in the sky above Fukushima after the event. More than 19,000 Japanese people were murdered by that event alone.

(There is other evidence suggesting that, rather than the H.A.A.R.P. or a similar device, an underwater nuclear bomb was detonated that day...)

The Fukushima disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, on the very same day that Uranus moved from the last degree of the zodiac (29 Pisces) to the first degree of the zodiac (0 Aries).

Uranus (sudden events, shocks, uranium) + Pisces (ocean, energetic connection of life, end of era/cycle) + Aries (attacks, war, new cycle).

As Uranus entered Aries March 11, 2011, it moved into position for a seven-square series to Pluto in Capricorn (running June 2012 to March 2015) - a square series we last saw during the Great Depression and the lead-up to World War II when Uranus was transiting Aries and Pluto was transiting Cancer (1932 - 1934).

History was about to repeat, Aquarian era depopulation-style.

As soon as I saw the astrology, I knew.

See, naturally-occurring events don't happen that pat. They don't happen that precisely. They rarely follow the astrological symbology to a tee like that - at least, not on that large a scale.

 

The Metaphysical Beat at Willow's Web Astrology

 Venus and the Moon in Capricorn on the WWA blog 6th birthday

Photos: Willow

Willow's Web Astrology blog is six years old today. (Has it really only been six years?)

I feel as tired as any mother of a very demanding six-year-old.

Except, I think this blog was quadruplets.

I'd like to take this opportunity to make an important point for readers in light of the tumultuous times through which we are living:

Please do not rely on Willow's Web Astrology blog to keep you up on all unfolding world events.

Willow's Web Astrology is not a constantly updating news outlet. I am not paid to be a constantly updating news outlet.

It's true that I'm a trained journalist, but after engaging in that line of work, I chose to leave the media - both mainstream and alternative - because I do not like the effect it has on people's minds. I've been censored multiple times while working in the media - yes, in both mainstream and alternative. I see public opinion being shaped in erroneous ways by the media. I see important stories being intentionally kept out of the media.

I've seen how reporters start to self-censor after being shot down by editors time and time again on the stories that matter to them. I see how they start to go along to get along. So I've seen the top-down power structure of the media at work, and it's nothing I wish to be a part of.

Since I do not like the energy of the media, I'm not going to emulate its rhythms or style in any way with my own writing, if I can help it. At this stage in the game, I feel the media is, ultimately, a propaganda tool for the powers-that-be, shaping half-truths and weak arguments into stories for mass consumption. I believe the media diverts attention, in many cases, from what's really going on on this planet. I took my leave, and I won't be re-entering that scene.

You'll see a great number of sexy and sensational images splashed across your newspapers, television screens, and computer monitors this cardinal Grand Cross spring and over the following few years. But you won't see them repeated here.

The world is at a boiling point, it's true. Forced into action by conditions too dire to tolerate. But from my perspective, we've always been here. It's always been this bad - it's just that more people are directly affected now and fewer can deny it. Fewer are able to go along with it. They would if they could.

Have revolt and resistance not always burned in the hearts and souls of people oppressed under corrupt and unjust systems? Things are being pushed to points of criticality on this planet, and will be during the exact Grand Cross this April, but the situation is really not much different than it ever was.

The conditions on Earth were never OK. The levels of needless suffering here were never OK.

We are under an umbrella of the same deadly and corrupt Global Governance around the world. Whether the burning rage against injustice and oppression are internalized or externalized and spilling into the streets, the conditions are pretty much the same.

The protests and revolts that get the big media play this spring (and in the following years) will be the protests that are most useful to the agenda of the powers-that-be. As with the Arab Spring, the rage and passion and resistance of the people will be used to lock a vicious new world order called "democracy" and "freedom" and "choice" into place. The only thing is, the good guys aren't really good guys. The European Union is no saviour from Russia. The United States and "Western democracy" are no saviour from the bloody dictators, who are simply more transparent about their ways of doing things.

I write about a great many subjects on the blog, only some of which are news events. The major focus here is and always will be producing helpful astrological articles for soulful guidance and successful navigation of the times.

No journalist covers all subjects. Journalists generally have beats - specific areas they focus on and cover where they develop particular expertise over time. In a usual newspaper, these beats include city news, the courts, arts and lifestyle, sports, crime, etc.

I've been put on my own metaphysical beat here at Willow's Web Astrology, and I receive my assignments. These assignments are more than enough for me to cover, and I don't have energy to go beyond those boundaries.

I feel that many stories being covered by both mainstream and alternative media are overblown, over-hyped, and manipulative, and I will not put any more energy into those subjects except through media criticism.

That said, if you do not see a topic covered on this blog, it's not necessarily because I don't think it's valuable to cover.

It's just not my assignment, see?

One subject I think needs more public attention is fracking (hydraulic fracturing). Again, just because I don't cover it here doesn't mean I think it unimportant.

It's just that, the only way I can avoid "issues fatigue" and burnout is to focus only on my own assignments.

So please continue doing your own research. Find your own sources. Speak out about the subjects that matter to you. And try to appreciate this site for what it is (fabulous, in-depth astrology with a sociopolitical bent), rather than focusing on what it isn't (a daily news outlet).

Happiest of Birthdays, Willow's Web Astrology blog. You're a guiding beacon of light for me, and my life would be much less rich without you. 

Keeping Our Balance as We Navigate Multi-Planet Gear Shifts

Photo: Willow

The North Node of the Moon entered Libra on February 18 where it will stay until November 11, 2015. As we close out February and begin March, the North Node is on the anaretic (29th) degree of Libra. The master balancer. The seasoned diplomat. The skilled harmonizer.

This is a very good thing, too, as we have four planets changing directions over the course of one week (February 28 to March 6), including both malefic planets, Mars and Saturn. Frustration! Depletion! Thwarted will! Stalled progress! General angst and irritation! Time may seem as if it's crawling. People could be getting under our skin. It may seem as if every direction we attempt to go in is blocked. And these potentially frustrating conditions are in full effect from now through mid-March.  

Four planets shifting gears all at once can create a chaotic, energetic traffic jam scenario, so we're being tossed right into the Libra master lessons here, challenged to keep our balance and our social decorum under some pressurized and potentially irritating energies. Perfect anaretic Libra territory.


This is an excerpt from the article "Keeping Our Balance as We Navigate Multi-Planet Gear Shifts." The full article is available to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.  

"Another tremendously helpful article, the kind I know I won't find anywhere else. Good thing I have excellent taste in astrologers!" - WWA patron Donna F.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water During Another End-of-Era Pisces Season

Photo: Willow

The Sun enters Pisces on February 18 (11:59 a.m. CST), where it will remain until equinox on March 20, marking spring, sweet spring, in the northern hemisphere.

We're at the point of the year where only faith in the coming spring and in the new life up ahead can get us through the drag-ass dregs of winter. Symbolic as always, no? Pisces season.

At the tail-end of the astrological Piscean era, it hasn't proven easy to get through each successive Pisces season. With wounded healer Chiron transiting Pisces until 2019, we are dealing with some of the most painful aspects of this sign and of life on Planet Earth, in general. We're overwhelmed by the dysfunction, by the pain, by the exhaustion, by the psychic malaise, by the problems that face us as a whole on this planet, by the too-easily-swallowed deceptions, and by the understanding that no one can escape what is being unleashed now against life on this planet.

One shining light of this particular Pisces season, Pisces season 2014, is that we do not have a seven-body stellium in the sign as we did last year! Pisces season 2013 involved the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Chiron and Neptune in the sign of the fishies, along with the Moon for a couple days. That Pisces stellium swallowed us whole for a time. We were drowning in Pisces. It was over-the-top and often not in a good way, tipping many of us into the psychic bleak. I lost a friend due to drug use, and my tiny, rural village lost a young man to suicide. I'm sure most people have a similar story from that time period. It was in the ethers - that point of overwhelm where you can't see your way out. I wish I could have explained the astrology and the dangers of that time period to both of them, to everyone who needed to know. You can read more about the stellium and that time frame here: The Pisces Circus Starts Pulling Up Stakes or here: Major Stelliums in Perspective.

This year, we experience a relatively lighter Pisces season, but we do have a potentially difficult New Moon at 10 degrees Pisces conjunct wounded healer Chiron on March 1, 2014. And as we move through that New Moon portal, we head straight to the three-year anniversary of the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan on March 11.

Three years ago, we heard that an earthquake triggered a tsunami, which washed over the Daiichi nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan.

This caused explosions at Units 1 and 3. The explosion at Unit 3, complete with mushroom cloud, likely aerosolized a large amount of Plutonium, which was released as miniscule particles into the atmosphere, along with Cesium, Uranium, Strontium, Tritium, Neptunium and many other radioactive isotopes. That initial release of radioactivity came down in precipitation all along the West Coast of Canada and the United States. It has continued to come down in precipitation all over the northern hemisphere ever since.

Contrary to media reports that the "radioactive plumes" are just now reaching the coastline, radioactive contamination from Fukushima has been found all along the West Coast of Canada and the United States since early spring 2011. It has been here, showing up via ocean currents and air currents, since early spring 2011, and it has not stopped coming in the three years hence. It will not stop coming until the reactions have been contained and until contaminated water is no longer being released into the Pacific.

For three years now, night-and-day with no cessation, nuclear reactor Units 1 through 3 have been in meltdown, releasing radioactivity into the atmosphere, into the ground, and into the Pacific Ocean. You can literally see the reactions underway on the footage streamed from cameras trained on the reactors. They are glowing, flashing, reacting. Things are not under control. Not even close.

Juno in Pisces For Juno Day

This Friday is Valentine's Day, also known as Juno Day, a day traditionally set aside to celebrate love, lovers, romance, relationships, and soul mates.

Fittingly, we have a big, fat Full Moon in late Leo that night (exact at 5:53 p.m. CST) to get us all in the heart-centred mood.

The Moon opposes both the Sun and Mercury retrograde, which form their interior conjunction at 27 Aquarius on Saturday, February 15 (2:22 p.m.). The Sun-Mercury conjunction provides some much-needed perspective as we complete the first leg of the Mercury retrograde, which ends February 28. I hope you're receiving some messages and insight now that make your heart sing with excitement for the future.

If not, well, there's always the chocolate. 

It does seem funny that this day, falling in Aquarius season as it does, a sign related more to universal or humanitarian love, has such a strong focus on romantic, interpersonal love with all the hopes, illusions, ideals, and disappointments that have gone along with it. Seems more like a day for Pisces season, no?

The truth is, though, this day is a day for soul mates of all kinds, not just the romantic, interpersonal ones, and this becomes even more the case the further into the new astrological era we go. The love and bonds between friends also become more important as we head further into Aquarius, with friendship no longer relegated to "second best" behind the much-preferred ooey gooey love relationship. 

With soul mate asteroid Juno transiting the last degrees of Pisces on this Juno Day, some big romantic illusions are falling. These are some of the wounding Piscean-era romantic illusions that have held on with great tenacity, dragging those clinging to them down some nasty and devastating roads. Roads they've perhaps been down again, and again, and again...

From a previous post:

"Juno is showing us what we can count on, what we can draw on, and what we can accept into our hearts as the unchanging and unalterable love from the universe. But it's also showing us the ways in which we have been too naïve, too soft, too trusting, too open, too impressionable, too pie-in-sky, too denial-ridden, too giving, or too forgiving."

Venus is still re-gaining full speed direct, coming out of its direct station at 13 degrees Capricorn January 31. Venus is just about to move out of orb of the conjunction to Pluto, breaking the magnetic Plutonic forcefield and pushing onward on the other side of this Juno Day weekend. The current positioning of love and relationship planet Venus indicates a more down-to-earth and realistic tone for this Valentine's Day - if people even have the energy or money to celebrate it.

We're opening into a whole new rulebook for interpersonal relationships now, a whole new way of structuring our relationships, and this won't always fit the dewy and glistening Neptunian ideals.

So how will this change Valentine's Day?

Hell, I don't know. I'm not a woman who has had the traditional Valentine's experience, to say the least. I find the culture around this day to be over-the-top, a little eyeroll-worthy, and a little bullshitty, to be honest. I have Venus retrograde in Scorpio in the birth chart, and let's just say, I've always seen what lies beneath the candy and flowers and candles and expensive dinners.

To me, it's always been sort of an irritating day - another day when single people are made into the pitiable "other."

(Believe me, there are more people in relationships deserving of your pity these days than people out of relationships...)

This day has never materialized for me the way the broader society says it should, and that's A-OK.

For me, it's about recognizing and celebrating love in all its forms, and particularly - in light of being one of those pitiable "other" singles for much of my life - self-love.

In honour of Goddess Juno, AKA Hera, Zeus' much-beleaguered wife, this is also a day to celebrate the marriages that have stood the test of time, rather than the hyped-up honeymoon phase. Anyone can get through the honeymoon phase. Try the next 30 or 40 years...

On a personal level, this day has been about celebrating the tenacity of my parents and their marriage. They were married on February 12 and, unbeknownst to them, would have an amazingly tough relationship row to hoe. It's all there in the synastry. But they're still at it. And they brought wicked Willow to the world (along with her fabulous sister), so I guess there is some method to the universe's meanness, after all, isn't there?

Juno finishes its transit of Pisces, moving into fresh territory in Aries on March 3.

From there, the soul mate asteroid moves to a rollicking conjunction to Uranus in Aries on March 25, getting Aries season and spring in the northern hemisphere underway with a sizzle.

With Juno transiting Aries until April 26, the soul mates in our lives are showing us the way forward. They're spurring new directions. They're getting us primed and excited and interested in what lies ahead. They're showing us how we need to break new relational trail now, following our own instincts as we take the virgin steps into weird and wild Aquarius. Things aren't going as you had expected? Are interactions making you a little hot under the collar? Is the trajectory of your relationships completely different from what you'd imagined?

That's the vibe to ride this March and April, pretty babies. We're at the end of the Piscean-era rainbow here, and what comes next just might blow your mind a little - in a good way.

Happy Juno Day to all you lovers and fighters out there!

Willow on Cipro Poisoning on the North Bay Astrology Show

Some of the long-term readers here may know that I was poisoned by an antibiotic produced by Bayer called Ciprofloxacin in 2009. I took three little pills, prescribed to me without warning for a very minor health issue, and I have been recovering from complete systemic devastation ever since.

Cipro is from a variety of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have been infused with a known toxin, fluoride, supposedly to increase efficacy. These antibiotics have devastating, debilitating, and even deadly potential side effects. They attack tendons, connective tissues, neurology, vision, the central nervous system, and the digestive system.

Name brands include Ciprofloxacin, Avelox, Levaquin, Floxin, Noroxin, Penetrex, and Maxaquin. These antibiotics are prescribed as eye drops under the names Vigamox, Zymar, Besivance, Ciloxan, Iquix, Quixin, Ocuflox, and Ofloxacin. They are prescribed as ear drops under the names Cetraxal, Ciprodex, Ofloxacin, and as Baytril in veterinary medicine. These drugs are also being erroneously prescribed to babies and children as ear and eye drops. 

Recovery from fluoroquinolone antibiotic poisoning can take many, many years, and permanent effects are also possible.

These antibiotics are so potentially dangerous that they should never be prescribed as first line antibiotics for minor infections. All safer alternatives should be tried first. Unfortunately, the Big Pharma marketing machine has created a climate where physicians are erroneously prescribing these drugs as first line antibiotics. This is a widespread practise.

Neither doctors nor pharmacists are warning people adequately before dispensing these drugs, and physicians are contravening the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm to patients:

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

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

Iatrogenic illnesses and deaths are illnesses and deaths caused by the treatment of a physician. There is currently an epidemic of iatrogenic illnesses and deaths due to the irresponsible prescription of new generation pharmaceuticals like fluoroquinolones.

I recently talked about iatrogenic illnesses, my Cipro experience and recovery, as well as dangerous and fast-tracked pharmaceuticals and the trail of death and destruction they have left behind them. You can listen to the show here: 

Willow Talking about Cipro Poisoning on the North Bay Astrology Show with Matt Savinar


For more: Cipro is Evil

Reeling it Back in Mentally, Verbally, and Psychically During an Era-Shifting Mercury Retrograde

 

Feeling stuck in the snow like this guy?

That's just Mercury stationing retrograde in its fall conjunct Neptune. 

Photo: Willow

Mercury stations retrograde in the sign of its fall (Pisces) conjunct cloudy Neptune on February 6 (3:43 p.m. CST), and this is one overwhelmed little communication/intelligence planet.

This retrograde station indicates a period of time when we can find ourselves mentally and psychically over-active and over-stimulated, particularly from the conversations we have, the words we read, and the media we consume.

It can be difficult to shut our churning, turning brains off now, and quieting the mental and psychic noise is going to require some concerted effort over the next 10 days or so.

This is a time when arguments and debates can go round and round and round, getting nowhere. In fact, it may seem that we are not having the same conversation at all - on completely different wavelengths. Limiting our oratory and social interaction to what's necessary over the next 10 days would be advisable. Use your psychic blocking powers.

Mercury has a tough time in Pisces as it is. The mind is often stuck on "fly wide open" in this sign, and there can be trouble with mental and verbal boundaries. Every word Mercury hears in Pisces leaves a psychic impression, and with all the needless verbiage we are exposed to these days, that can leave a lot of mental chaos to navigate our way through.

Again, practise your mental limits, your psychic boundaries, and your lip-zipping whenever it seems appropriate. Keep your own psychic energy locked down when necessary and within proper limits. This is a time when we could be goaded into over-stepping our boundaries, saying or psychically projecting too much, and this can lead to metaphysical entanglements and drains that are not in our best interests.

Reel that mind back in and clamp down on what's going in and what's coming out of the crown chakra whenever necessary.

As stated, Mercury is in its fall in Pisces and has a hard time verbally encapsulating everything it sees and picks up on in the sign of the fishies. Communication will take some extra effort now. Slow down, and speak clearly. We have to follow our words, directing them right to the intended target, or they may go astray. Misunderstandings and miscommunication are likely, particularly in the days surrounding the Mercury retrograde station February 6. It pays to be extra precise now with information, communication, emails, telephone calls, maps and travel plans, and the like.

The Mercury station in Pisces conjunct Neptune can be a time when we are receiving many "winks from the universe" with dreams, odd little interactions, or snippets of conversations overheard bringing us needed information and insight. Flow with it, even if things are confusing. They more than likely will be.

Mercury will not be in its fall for long, however. Mercury Rx moves back into easier territory in rational, objective, clear-headed Aquarius on February 12 (9:30 p.m. CST), where it will spend the majority of the retrograde period. Mercury stations direct again at 18 degrees Aquarius on February 28 (8:00 a.m. CST).

This Mercury retrograde from Pisces to Aquarius is also related to the shift in astrological eras - from Pisces to Aquarius. We are wrapping our minds around the era shift and what it means for us, gaining insight on how we need to change our thinking in order to align ourselves successfully with the times. Throughout February, we're gaining some much-needed perspective as far as where we are now and how we can best navigate our way out of the confusing, draining dregs of tail-end-Pisces and into more vital and dynamic territory. The house or houses where Mercury is transiting in your natal chart indicates a particular area of focus as far as the era shift underway.

Post-retrograde Mercury will re-enter Pisces on March 17 (4:24 p.m.), and we take a spin with "Pisces for the Aquarian era" until April 7, when the winged messenger ingresses Aries. At that point, we are mentally raring to go into spring 2014 and the exact cardinal Grand Cross forming in late April.


Mercury Rx: February 6 - 28, 2014, from 3 degrees Pisces to 18 degrees Aquarius

Willow's Web Astrology on "What is Mercury Retrograde?"

 

Pouring the Coal to It with the North Node in Earliest Scorpio

 "Petunia & Pearls" by Saskatchewan artist Karlie King

We're currently in the Dark of the Moon period ahead of the Aquarius New Moon on January 30 (3:39 p.m. CST), when the Moon will conjunct the Sun at 10 degrees Aquarius.

The Aquarius New Moon draws to a close a very challenging and tiring lunar cycle which began at the beginning of the year with the New Moon in Capricorn conjunct Mercury and Pluto. That one went deep, and it hasn't let go yet.

As January ends and February begins, we have some complex and potentially-challenging manoeuvres to make, especially involving money, relationships, and career advancement. These manoeuvres are going to require all the emotional and psychological sophistication we can muster, as well as all the "stiff upper lip" grit and restraint.

As we move through the Aquarius New Moon portal, we are stepping into a whole new atmosphere for relationships - personal and professional. The current Venus retrograde in Capricorn - the first Venus retrograde following the historic Venus Transit in Gemini in spring 2012 - has structured and re-structured our relationships according to new era rules. We have drawn some new relational lines in the sand. We've set some new standards. We've held out for full respect. We've determined to partner only with those who can and will meet us half way. We've determined to partner only with those who bring as much to the table as we do, who can bring about mutual advancement and success through association.

We are no longer content to live on potential, promise, hope, wishes, or fantasy. We are no longer content to support and feed and prop up partners and relationships that our rational mind tells us will not get us where we wish to go over the long term.

Although Mercury stationing retrograde conjunct Neptune in Pisces (February 6) could be tempting us with some pretty-sounding siren songs and some pretty-looking karmic loops, in Capricorn, we're only interested in real deal, concrete, and "show me the money upfront, honey."

As we move through the Aquarius New Moon into this new relating reality, Venus is stationing direct at 13 degrees Capricorn (January 31 at 2:48 p.m. CST) in a close conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn and opposition to Jupiter Rx in Cancer.

This Venus direct station spins off the last of the relational detritus, the last of the old relating patterns that need to go as we move forward into new personal and professional relationship frameworks. This could create some relational friction, meltdowns, power struggles, or abrupt endings during the last week of January and first half of February – but generally, only if this has been in the works for a while and only if people are still relating according to old rules.

Venus will station within a degree of Pluto in Capricorn, but it will not form an exact conjunction. There's a slow burn underway but no excessive flames.

If the Venus station does kick up some relational angst or air-clearing exchanges in your life, stand back, let it happen, and let it go.

The themes related to the house where Venus is stationing in your natal chart will likely be a strong focus now, if not an obsession. Break that focus, and divert the energy into other channels whenever you can.

Old relationships could appear to be mighty tantalizing territory right about now, as well. Use the energy of this Venus station conjunct Pluto to reinforce to yourself why those relationships broke down in the first place.

We could be tempted (Pluto) to go down some dark and unsuccessful avenues by this station, goaded by our lesser qualities. Don't allow the influence of these lesser qualities to gain traction. Don't succumb to moth-to-flame.

As Venus stations direct conjunct Pluto and opposite Jupiter, readying itself to move onward and upward, we need to make some intuitively-guided moves related to social positioning while holding fast to our own emotional truth.

We have a fabulous opportunity to clear our slates here. This Venus station can have a clean sweep effect, clearing relationships or relationship dynamics that have outlived their usefulness.

Again, though, this is going to require some concentration and some nose-to-grindstone from us at a time when we are just about spent!

We are currently in the process of completing the North Node transit of Scorpio and the South Node transit of Taurus. In February, the North Node will traverse 1 and 0 degrees Scorpio after having spent a year-and-a-half in the sign of all things deep, dark, buried, and difficult. The nodes will shift signs - to Libra/Aries - on February 18. So we're on the home stretch with this Scorpio North Node/Taurus South Node, but the home stretch is also where we get tired. So very tired. We've been pouring the coal to it in Scorpio for a year-and-a-half now, not to mention navigating Saturn in Scorpio since October 2012, and we're starting to wonder how much longer we can keep it up.

With the South Node in the last gasp of Taurus (detrimental focus on money and security), many are feeling financial tightness and fear that are overblown. Things are tight, but in most cases, they aren't that tight. Money fears are triggered yet again with Venus (money) stationing direct conjunct Pluto (terror, hell, worst fears). And Saturn stationing retrograde in Scorpio (March 2) only intensifies the emotional and psychological pressure. This financial strain and anxiety can tempt us to make the wrong moves at the wrong times, and this must be guarded against now.

All this said, don't let up now! Chase down every last twisted gnarl in your life and make it right. Don't soften on the new standards and rules for the people in your life for even a second. Be a hard ass now, setting your relationships straight as Venus goes direct, and you'll thank yourself for it later.

Our new relational positions are in the process of being alchemically set. There are a few more steps to take, a few more adjustments to make, as Venus changes direction, and we will find ourselves being placed and secured into position throughout the month of February. We will also see others coming into new social position and authority. All this will be anchored into place by the final Venus in Capricorn sextile to Saturn in Scorpio on February 24, just after the nodes shift signs.


This is an excerpt from the article "Pouring the Coal to It with the North Node in Earliest Scorpio." The full article is available to Willow's Web Astrology patrons. 

The Sun Enters Aquarius and Black Moon Lilith Opposes in Leo

Photo: Willow

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

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

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

It's all a bit much.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This could get ugly if we aren't careful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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