the weather inside me

where is the march 2010 new moon in pisces entry?

It's at Madame Zolonga's!! Trot on over and have a gander...She would be so happy to see you.

madame zolonga lives!

The Weather Inside is still here, but will now function as an archive of previous astro posts from 2009/early 2010.

As of this March New Moon, you'll have to come visit me at Madame Zolonga Speaks: Astrology for Misfits and Monkeys. The New Moon in Pisces report is up and ready for you! Hope to see you there.

Click HERE to whisk you over to Madame!

omg...omg...omg

I'm knocked over. Like, flattened. Wow!

Rotating on my lazy susan of projects is a grant application that had stalled out because I couldn't come up with a suitable project for them to fund. You know, the whole point of the grant. But I've been kicking around an idea since, oh, the beginning of this Mars in Leo stint. Just didn't know if it was The One.

Now I think it's The One.

I'm posting something about this because sometimes the astrology is so damned flabbergasting, I've just got to wave it in your face.

So. The project is partly about the first electrically lit city, Wabash, Indiana. Of course, I have to draw a chart for this event, and the news accounts from the time helpfully gave me an exact time --8pm, March 31, 1880. Huzzah.

Here's the chart. (Click on the picture to enlarge) The inner circle represents the 1880 event and the outer circle, the time I cast the chart tonight. Those of you who can, will find some very nice connections. Wish I had time to talk about the story in this chart, but that Pluto (the symbol on the far right that looks like man getting held up) in the sign of Taurus is important. The Pluto in Taurus era was the era when the big industrialists came forward and built the industrial infrastructure of America.

To further appreciate this chart, read this description of that night's event:

“Promptly as the courthouse clock struck eight, the thousands of eyes that were turned upward toward the inky darkness over the courthouse saw a shower of sparks emitted from a point above them, small, steady spots of light, growing more brilliant until within a few seconds after the first sparks were seen, it was absolutely dazzling. A loud shout went up from the crowd, and the band began to play…”

“People stood overwhelmed with awe, as if in the presence of the supernatural. The strange, weird light, exceeded in power only by the sun, rendered the square as light as midday. Men fell on their knees, groans were uttered at the sight and many were dumb with amazement. We contemplated the new wonder in science as lightning brought down from the heavens.”

Note the strong horizontal line across the chart. This is the ascendant/descendant axis, the I/Thou exchange. In an event chart like this one, it represents the giver (the ascendant sign on the far left) and the receiver (the descendant on the far right of the chart). Sometimes it represents who/what is coming and going --or the action/initiator and the consequence.

You see the descendant house of the chart is busy (a lot of consequences handed off) and Pluto is there --important! Moreover, the Sabian Symbol for the descendant degree (1+ Taurus) is --get this-- "an electrical storm". The theme is "transformation":

This symbol speaks to impact, and to man's ability to influence the course of events by effectively meeting crises with the full of himself. The image of an electrical storm inspires awe and fear of potential destruction. In the same way, men also fear themselves and their own potential for violence or destruction when they experience their anger rising or their emotions getting out of control...

Kinda felt like I got struck, too. This is very, very good...

Don't forget: Back tomorrow with the new moon/vernal equinox round up and a new blog!!

dark moonings: "I think it's your heart"

Mars had definitely gone direct, but I'm hearing stories of major, sudden hirings and firings --or of folks plotting, plotting, plotting...

It's a picture of a major cycle shift emerging under a dark moon, I think. And well, geez, we got that T-square between Venus, Pluto and Saturn immediately after Mars turned direct. Lots of power plays and more than a few grudges outed, from what I hear. Luckily none have landed on me. Nothing feels entirely "up with people" yet. But gut level realizations galore. Dark moon.

A writer friend who's recently been in the hospital for heart trouble is really struggling right now. She sent me this passionate plea overnight, which evolved into a discussion about her heart and the current Leo/Mars cycle: Leo traditionally rules the human heart, both the physical and the emotional heart, and frequently physical heart trouble is a sign that emotional heart trouble preceded it by years. But who hasn't had their heart broken before?

Here's a bit of her response, which began with an unsubtle defense of her ipod purchase. I've highlighted the Leo relevant ideas:

...I used payment for my stories in the Sistahfaith anthology. Those stories broke my heart. And it's so odd, that right after I read my copy, these massive upheavals began to happen, and I've realized I've built an armor of false identities around me. And they must go. My heart is broken, but the doctors can't find the fissures. Yet, they keep saying, "I think it's your heart." I'm beginning to believe my heart is saying, it is time for you to let me see the sun. I've desired to be a saint. Thomas Merton said, to be a saint is to be yourself. Maybe that is what I lost. Myself.

A new friend of mine just returned from a life shattering trip to India to study with a Sufi Master. He told this story about walking to find this memorial site, and getting lost in a very hostile environment. The men on this seedy side of town made them take off their shoes because it was holy ground, and then they tried to charge them all this money to get them back. It was becoming very tense, when this man, dressed in pristine white walks up to them. He says, in perfect English, "What are you doing here?" When Steve said that, I thought, isn't that so much of the spiritual life. God saying, "What are you doing here?" In some hostile environment where you're treated like you're a fool, and where you are totally disrespected, and all you can say is, "I was looking for something, and then realized I was lost."

What are you doing here? What a question! I wouldn't file it entirely under "spiritual" but it surely begins there. Leo shows us how to respect ourselves. But failing to respect ourselves, Leo is perfectly capable of forging the finest armor of false pride and false identity.

Not that we have many examples of true self-respect to follow. We've got false pride and false identity models galore, though. Most of us work in hostile environments where people fail to respect us. We're lucky, in fact blessed, when we find compassionate and caring people. It's just so rare in these days of endemic, programmed mass-fear.

If someone said to you, "You've got to respect yourself," where would you begin? Who would you look to as a model of this elusive trait?

And what the hell does self-respect look like anyway? I think it looks something like a heart. What makes your heart pump? What drives you like nothing else --you know, in those moments when nobody's around to grade you, guard you or give you props, a paycheck or a pat on the back? It's like some core energy cell that never fails us.

Leo is represented by the Sun. The Sun is the core source of energy in our SOLAR system. When we fail to recognize the core of our own energy, we fail to contact the core source of the physical world in which we live. It's like we're just not plugged in.

But we can pretend. With Leo, it's all to easy to pretend.

the new moon cometh, and a new blog, too!

New Moon this coming Monday. Should be a beaut. This one is special because it's also the official kick-off of spring, a.k.a. The Vernal Equinox. Finally, no matter how cold and hard the ground is where you are in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is d.o.n.e.

I'm taking this auspicious date to launch the new blog, which I plan to make a fun as possible. Don't worry, I won't lose my gift for launching deep thoughts at you, but I'm ready to play more creatively with my work. (You can blame this on the retrograde Mars phases, particularly that one full moon in Leo.)

So. We will launch next Monday, March 15th (the Ides!). I say "we" because I'll have a couple of friends along to help.  Ramu, here, is one. He's a friend you might want to know, but then you might not. He'll be along, mostly because I can't get Arthur without Ramu, so we'll deal with Ramu. Ramu even has his very own wiki page, though mostly as a warning to others.

And Arthur? Well, I'll explain Arthur later... And me? I'm off to find a spangly mu-mu and some bangles this weekend...

For the rest of your questions, I have no answers. (She says as if she's been forthcoming, already.) I suppose you'll just have to play along. It's a work in progress, so we'll see how we pro-gress.

go feather your nest

 It's nearly spring after all.

That nest could be your brain still coming off the Mars retrograde. Today may feel tense, but the cure has something to do with nests.

Venus and Pluto and Saturn form squares with one another today. On a chart this looks like the top end of a drafter's T-Square, which is what it's called --the T-square aspect. It also looks like a bow with it's string drawn back for maximum tension. So the experience could be tense, or intense.

We recommend looking at where the bow is aiming. Here, it's outlet is 5+ Cancer. The Sabian Symbol is "game birds feathering their nest". A lovely image for spring.

Venus-Pluto contacts can bring out the gamesman/powerplayer in us all, if we get hung up on winners and losers. If we can release the need to control the ball, we could find a deep surrender to something mysteriously transforming.

You don't have to be all "woo-woo" about this. Right now I'm facing a recalcitrant child with a secret agenda she won't reveal until we have a sit down with tub of cream top vanilla yogurt and the prospect of no computer access. This is the carrot (Venus) and stick (Saturn) approach so common to parents (Pluto --the prime mover) everywhere.

Of course, most of us aren't children and we need something less crude than yummy food and the threat of lost entertainment to get us motivated. But what is the motivation today? That'd be a good thing to know before you go into any negotiation.

Consider, then the game birds feathering their nests. No one's hunting them because this is home-building and security forming season. Time instead to soften the mood and deepen the feelings of purpose and place for the impending changes that will come soon enough.

Find a soft place, therefore. Add a little grace and charm to your surroundings, even if it's the simply the thoughts you surround yourself with. Relieve the me-you tension by taking the topic beyond the interpersonal. Send your need to change into your immediate surroundings and create a safe, comfortable spot for the people in your life today.

Top photo: Mamma Roots
Bottom illustration: The Paper Apartment

Mars Direct: A Vision

A lovely essay on the potential hidden within the Mars Direct days ahead of us:

I envision a world in which we grant one another the freedom to love ourselves, and to love ourselves freely in the presence of others: an intention field of mutual self-forgiveness, for the sake of awareness, freedom and love; for happiness and existence. For relief from the unnecessary desperation that so many endure, and a gateway to something beyond.

This means holding the space open for others to forgive themselves (the opposite of judgment), and finding the space where it is possible to forgive ourselves: for all that we’ve denied that we wanted, all that we’ve refused that was true, all that we’ve done in the name of whatever, when we wanted something sincerely, that we knew we could have; wanted simple pleasure and denied ourselves; wanted to grant simple pleasure to others and denied them; when we wanted contact and denied that truth.

For the rest of the essay, click here to Planet Waves.

mars in leo direct: rock on w'id yer bad self

A-a-a-a-a-a-a-yy-a-a-a!!! Mars goes direct today, bringing out a lil' of the Tarzan in all of us. From my time zone, it's done. Men, especially, should be feeling the shift. This is a big transit for 2010. Something is coming unstuck.

Four things you need to know right now about this change:

1. We're now retreading ground that began back in mid-October. Think back to October 17th(ish) and what projects and ideas were in play back then. You will begin reworking them now. Some will get tossed; some will get revamped; some will finally move forward.
2. People everywhere will want to bust a move, major. Some people will do this well, and others, well, will come off more George of the Jungle than Tarzan, if you know what I mean.
3. Some people will be gettin' their groove on (artistic, social, sexual) and some people will just be flat out angry. Mars can work either way. How you decide depends on how you're handling desire and ego identification. Desire and ego identification is something we usually attribute to things outside our bodies, as if someone or something else is forcing/beguiling/seducing us into feeling something we "should"  or "ought" to feel or be. This is the engine of advertising. And because our culture is immersed in advertising we no longer question this approach. In fact, we have begun to assume that this is how all desire functions. The ubiquity of advertising produces an insidious assumption that all relationships are based on manipulation. So we withdraw from our true feelings, whether these are emotion or physical feelings. Many people will want to act on desire, but will still use the old "sales" paradigm that will leave you feeling like the exchange was some kind of quid pro quo deal, or worse, a "what have you done for me lately?" demand. You will know if someone did their Mars retrograde well if they "own" their desire: ie, speak from their own feelings and acknowledge their own desires without making you the "reason" for their desires.
4. Watch out for "unvectored thrust". I got this phrase from an retired Air Force colonel --it's Mars all over. Technically, it describes a pilot who's lost directional control of his plane. But this spring it describes the person who can't get a grip on where this desire thing is coming from or heading to. They want something, they just don't know how to get it. Here's a big bonus tip fer you: MOST people will be functioning on "unvectored thrust". (#2 tells why)
5. Our actions this month will set in motion much, much bigger developments to come this summer. For the rest of March Leo Mars is STILL activating the Aries Point and continuing to work a productive sextile to Saturn in Libra. This is generating much needed adjustments to our relationships, work, and friendships on every level --personal, professional, national. By August we'll really see the fruit of these adjustments, so be VERY honest about what you're after.

My final thought is this: rock the boat, but don't tip the boat over. If it's good, then rock it --go for it. Get a good vector and don't tip the boat over. Rock on w'id yer bad self, baby.

who's the cat? you the cat! (mars direct today!)

Could I possibly be feeling it already? Short post this early morning as I was out having lovely time last night and actually feeling a bit of the old flash. For now, just think "Who's the cat? YOU the cat!" a la Alex the Lion, and thus prep yourself for your moves.

2010 = the reinvention of you

Reinventing the creative self, a la retrograde Leo Mars. Lots of smart Jupiter-Uranus in Aries ideas here, too. Jupiter-Uranus will be the DIY, build your own self initiative this summer. Totally Up With You.

From a Brazilian advertising agency, Propague, a charming ad celebrating their 45th anniversary.