the weather inside me

the story so far...the (long) late february 2010 overview

If you're just joining us, here’s a summary on the current long and mid-term astro scene:

Pluto-Saturn square: it’s still on --the hard realities, the call to courage, the fear, the projecting of shadows-- but Saturn’s moving back into the Virgo degrees, so we’re just getting a second look at relationship “stuff” that popped up since last October. Count it a second chance at important conversations and decisions.

Neptune-Chiron in Aquarius: the end of an era, or as Gawker proclaimed it, “The Fake Decade”. Finally, we're getting it. Chiron’s not done with his work here, but these past few weeks have certainly given me some unusual views into inconvenient “truths”. And talk about a wild dream life. Oy. I need a break.

Jupiter in Pisces: Connections, identifications, and professions with and of encouragement and hope are totally available if you want them. As are big creative possibilities. Can you be the bigger person? Sure you can. (As I type this, I’m listening to Alan Simpson joking it was time to hold hands and jump into the wine-dark sea --of the budget deficit. Poetic water imagery as political threat? Only with Pisces.)

Avoid the paranoid and the generally detached from reality. This is the dark side of Pisces and not a comment on Mr. Simpson. Uranus in Pisces (at the end of the sign, now at 25+ degrees), is pulling punches with those teetering on the edge of the Fear Abyss. A lot people are completely convinced this is the end of the world. No, it's just the end of the world as they know it, a fact that's microcosmically true every day of our lives. Still, we can't ignore the big, big challenges we face as a country. It's just that fear is not gonna get us closer to a sane deficit, safe highways, or decent health care for all.

On a related note: if you’re a Pisces or have personal planets in Pisces, take care with substances this year--right on down to caffeine, MSG, BHT and food coloring. I’m serious.

And finally, Mars, still retrograde in Leo: Mars is really slowing down now, and by the full moon on the 28th will have reached it’s retrograde direct degree. So if you feel some kind of gear grinding or stuckness, that would be Mars. Ditto big case of anticipation. This is all about going backstage and reworking your self image. (My original horoscopes on the retrograde are here and here.) What you're feeling could be a case of stage fright, or could be a case of retrenchment before the big advance come March. Circumstances vary.

If you know where Mars is passing through your chart, just ease up on yourself in that area. Strategize, visualize. Play with any new ideas that popped up with the Neptune/Chiron bingle last week AND the Full Moon in Leo in mid-January. What do you want to do with that new knowledge?

Strangely, if we’re not handling our own nervousness or irritation well, we seem to invite similarly nervous, irritating people into our lives. Not always true, but you could play with that idea and observe other people’s responses to your energy right now.

A note to men, or anyone who cares about a man: I'm not a guy, nor do I play one on TV, so I'm not gonna pretend I know what this feel like for you. My thoughts are based on my own reading, and the thoughts shared by men at other serious astrology forums.

Mars retrograde is especially challenging for men; after all, Mars is THE planet of the male impulse, the anima, the dude in you. Here’s the bottom line: the man in your life (could be you!) may or may not know what Mars retrograde is doing, but it's affecting him nonetheless --rearranging his ego, his self-image, his heart, his leadership instincts, his pride for his pride (or whatever substitutes for his creative output, progeny or no).

Mars retrograde is all backwards and inhibiting, frustrating and often confusing for many men. You could be angry, frustrated, scattered, inconsistent, or distant --really, really distant. Especially now as we approach the incredibly slow stationing direct motion. Imagine trying to save the damsel in distress who's stranded on the opposite side of a molasses pit. And the molasses pit is your expectations about what guys should do, could do, did do --starting with your dad and then every significant male authority figure you've known in your life. Now imagine how difficult this time could be if you never really had a solid male figure who taught you what to do when damsels lie on the other side of molasses pits. McGuyver never had it so bad. This "self" thing won't get fixed with a Leatherman, some chewing gum and three paper clips. Think about that for a moment.

If the man in your life doesn’t know what’s going on, or they’re resistant to introspection, you get a guy who needs to take on the world instead of himself. This might get internalized as heart problems; Leo rules the heart. As Leo practically grinds to a halt, Evan Bayh announced today that he’s lost heart in his work in the Senate and will retire. This is not good for the already straggling Democrat majority in the Senate.

The WORST example of this impulse also showed up in the news today: Andrew Stack, an enraged, suicidal man (badly managed Mars retrograde?) who’s sense of manhood and pride (Leo) was threatened by the limitations (Saturn) imposed by a government (Pluto in Capricorn) agency, the IRS, flew his personal airplane into an IRS office.

No doubt his actions were exacerbated by feelings of paranoia and doom emerging from those who’ve been embracing the end of the world (Uranus in Pisces) scenarios. He's not the first man who's wanted to take on the IRS with violence, but as we're revisiting a Saturn-Pluto alignment that last appeared fall of 2001, I'm saddened but not shocked that Stack chose to mimic the violence of that tragedy by flying his plane into an IRS office in Austin, Texas. Note --this was his own Piper airplane, and thus, he was not one of the huddled masses spewing underclass resentment. This was a wealthy guy by any standard. Do you have Piper small craft docked in your local airport hanger?

On that note, I looked at Glenn Beck’s astrology last week. He’s got Venus at 29+ degrees Pisces, the last degree of the zodiac, aka, the end of the world (sort of). In short, he’s in love with the end of the world. Yes. Have a look at his wiki and you’ll see a guy obsessed with eschatology. We'll hear much more about his obsession come spring. Bank on it.

Sigh. So play safe out there folks. You don’t have to be paranoid. You don’t have to push people around. I know so many people who are experimenting with huge new possibilities for their lives. Really big thoughts. I've got one friend who was making good money as a black-jack dealer, but she's leaving the industry to work at a raw-food retreat. She'd been wanting to walk away, but it wasn't until she broke her wrist in four places over the January eclipse that the decision was forced on her. A break like that is a career ender for a card dealer. But the end didn't start there: as she became mentally and emotionally more stable, her tips took a nose dive and she knew why --unhealthy people only reward their own kind. She's a Cancer rising, so Leo is working through her second house of money and self-esteem.

If you're moving towards healthier self-esteem, know that some people will find this a turn-off and not know why. They would prefer you functioning as their food source for whatever emotional, financial, or practical service you give them. And you're gonna catch some flak for this. For my friend, this translated into lost income. If you're hanging with people who pay you for being as immature, selfish, and needy as they are, you're going to face a loss of something --a contract, a contact? Or you may face losing old friends. These are not easy losses at first because they represent an old image you've probably carried with you for years. But this whole year is forcing all of us to rethink the old ways. Those who refuse to change won't be any fun to hang with anyway. Keep that in mind as you grow and experiment with the new you.

The time is also exciting because it presents the kind of risks that demand truly creative thinking and not a little paradigm shifting/shattering going on in that mix. But the risk doesn’t disappear just because the adventure holds happy possibility. So compassion is very much in need right now, too. Compassion that entends both ways --to you and to those around you-- and patience.

In that spirit, I’m taking a few days off from this blog to address some work at my side. One project is a revamp of this site, another some notes for the upcoming NCGR conference...and then daily ephemera and sticky fingerprints that come with motherhood. I need to shift my focus for a bit. Maybe I'll actually go for a walk. What a thought.

I’ll be back before the Full Moon to talk about the Venus-Uranus conjunction and early March events.

Until then, have a visit with any of the forecasters on my link list. They’re good people who’ll be happy to serve your astro needs.

Ciao.

Art: lisacongdon.com

Photo: seattlepi.com

All other photos: Philippe Halsman

go blow your horn

This Wednesday we have a lot of inspiring, exploring action in the sky. Aquarian Neptune and Chiron are in an exact (to the minute) conjunction, and a Pisces Venus and Jupiter are still hand in hand. Mars has moved past that strange but productive Dreamtime Yod, and the Moon is now in action oriented Aries ready to do something about the lessons we've discovered over the past two weeks.

Go blow your horn today. Where, when, or with whom is your choice. Blow it fortissimo or pianissimo. Just find the tune inside you and let it fly.

renounce

Today Venus and Jupiter hold hands together at 7 degrees Pisces. The image for that degree shows a wooden cross thrown upon a rocky shore; the key word is "renunciation". Oh, joy. This, on the eve of Ash Wednesday and Lent.

But this brings to mind a conversation I had with a client a couple of weeks ago. We were doing my usual thing at the beginning of a consultation, which is to review a few dates that usually turn out to have significance to the client. I'm almost always impressed with what folks tell me, but this one was a particularly fun moment:

"So what was going on in your life in '68/'69?"

"Oh. Well. That was my first year in college and --oh, my god. That was the year I had a vision of St. Francis of Assisi! It was amazing; I'll never forget it. He was holding out his arms wide and looking at me with those intense, dark, iconic eyes, saying, 'Renounce! Renounce! Renounce!' It was terrifying. And I thought, 'What's St. Francis doing in the dorm room of a nice Jewish girl like me?"

We both crack up.

"And that was before the sex and the drugs! I didn't have anything to renounce!"

We crack up again.

"But you know, we were really into Marxism and the idea of violent revolution and 'the struggle' in those days, and St. Francis did give up his wealth to help the poor, I know."

Days later it occurred to me some sort of conflation was possibly going on there, in my head or hers. Renouncing isn't the same as denouncing. What students were doing back then was denouncing a system and a set of values they felt was invalid, in fact harmful to ordinary people. Denouncing is a kind of shaming, though. It assumes an act of judgment and engages the element it judges. We march in the streets and pull down the posters and paraphernalia of the corrupt element. We shake our fists and shout. We recognize our anger and make it plain to the world.

Renouncing, however, turns away from the object it no longer values. Call it a judgment, if you want, but renunciation's power lies in disengagement. We slough off the element like brushing away dead skin cells to let our bodies breathe again. Turn away. Turn to different work, different feelings, different people. Renunciation simply says, "I don't need this anymore."

"Making one's own wounds a source of healing . . . does not call for a sharing of superficial personal pains but for a constant willingness to see one's own pain and suffering as rising from the depth of the human condition." - Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer

Today is not a day to debate the efficacy and place for denunciation vs. renunciation. We're in Piscesland right now, and this is renunciation's territory. It's a day for letting one's own pain and suffering rise from the depth of your human condition --and then letting it drift away. Pisces has the blessed gift of simply swimming away into the starry midnight ocean of Forever, forgetting entirely what the argument was about in the first place.

Those of us who like things defined and settled tend to find this annoying. But, you know, the indefinite void of Forever and Forgotten is a different sort of definition. It's definitely gone, gone, gone. Whatever it was. I can go with that settlement.

If you could say, "I don't need this anymore" about something today, what would it be? And then what would it take for you to allow it to go away forever and ever? If ever there was a day you could take a breath and turn away from that unhelpful, entangling or toxic thought, emotion, person, or behavior, this is a good day to do it.

And don't forget: nature does abhorr a vacuum, so fill that new empty spot. Pisces lets things drift into our lives as much as it lets stuff drift away. Likely there's something very good and positive at hand in your life right now. You know what it is. If it's good, don't let it drift by on this stream. Reach out and grab it today.

Poster: Zefferelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon , the 1972 film about Francis of Assisi (for you, S.)

can you see the strings now?

What were the unspoken conditions of your conformity to the group?

What assumptions did you make about yourself, then?

What's paid off and what do you still regret?

How did you short-change yourself because you thought you weren't good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, sexy enough, rich enough or well-connected enough to be socially acceptable?

The Sun spends a week under the tutelage of Chiron. This is the last time these two will have this conversation for a loooong time. It's a talk about what hurts us as we try to fit in, where we've screwed up, and what we want to do about it. We're all ready to move on, yes?

Here are some basic conversation prompts, based on your Sun Sign. As always, note your Rising Sign as well.

Aquarius: The Face You Give The Crowd

Pisces: Faith In the Unseen

Aries: Friends and Market Domination

Taurus: Career and Your Public Image

Gemini: Religion and Creed

Cancer: Your Debts and Obligations

Leo: Marriage and Fair Play

Virgo: Your Work Mission

Libra: Love and The Wee Ones

Scorpio: Home and Yer Ma

Sagittarius: Your Mental Tapes

Capricorn: Your Bank Account/Self Worth

martin luther king, jr: capricorn sun/pisces moon

While the Sun is in its last degrees of Capricorn and the moon drifts through Pisces we find ourselves honoring an American icon of practical dreamers, Martin Luther King, Jr --born under a Cap sun with a Pisces moon.

Remember when I said last week that all Caps have a hidden side to their stuffy selves? Here's Capricorn leader who gave us inspiring leadership and kept a couple of secrets on the side.

This is my first look at his chart, so these are just a few first glance notes:

Cap Sun in 10th: destiny as public figure. Bam. No gettin' round that. These Capricorn hooves did climb to the mountain top.

Pisces Moon, conjunct Ceres in 12th: nurtured the creative, imaginative and spiritual dreams of the oppressed or confined. A karmic role. Here the Pisces moon/Ceres in 12th also illustrates his unconscious desire (he feeds himself with it) for sacrifice as well as his enduring legacy as a martyr devoted to his universal compassion (Pisces) for his family/people (Moon) of African-Americans, as well as all people. (Consider Eric Francis' recent discussion of the Thema Mundi (aka, "The Chart of the World", which begins with Cancer and the sign of the Moon. In other words, the Thema Mundi suggests we are all one family.) Many believe the content of his last speech also suggests he knew his death was imminent.

Packed 12th house: this is the house of hidden enemies as well. While in prison (12th house activity) his Letters From A Birmingham Jail revolutionize (Uranus) the civil rights movement and bring him, finally, into the public discussion (the Uranus/Aries Point conjunct iconoclast Eris--wow--talk about rock the boat). Eris always has something to tell us about folks who "didn't get invited to the party" and Uranus isn't interested in following anyone else's lead. Unfortunately, a 12th house Uranus in Aries also suggests unpredictable (martial--Aries) self-undoing or by hidden enemies --he was assassinated by hidden (to the public) enemy. One could easily argue his self-destructive secret affairs were part of his undoing.

Saturn in Sagittarius: on the cusp of the 9th House of Belief. classic signature of the preacher. 'Nuff said. Eighth house stuff is an issue, though. Hard lessons about the libido? Sagittarius is impulsive. Saturn says you gotta control those impulses or you'll face consequences. 'Nuff said.

Mars in Gemini: in 2rd House of Resources: driven to communicate and connect with people. Opposed Sagittarius.

Mercury in Aquarius in the 10th: career of speaking to people. Aquarius thinking = iconoclast, inventive, utopian. Downside? The tendency to embody the phrase "Do what I say, not what I do."  Sun in tenth (out of sign) with Mercury means what he says and who he is are conjoined in our image of King.

Taurus rising: semisextile the Aries Point at 0 degrees. Jupiter and Chiron conjunct Asc. This gives me the feeling of someone who can never escape the perception that he must provide for others. If Santa ain't gonna come this Christmas, he's got to boot up and be Santa. Taurus is a provider sign, and semisextile the AP, his provisions will have public consequences.

And on and on... a really interesting chart to study in these times. Or any time, but especially now.

If you're planning on taking my Astro 101 class in February, expect to work with this chart.

eve of the new moon and where's my hobby horse?

As I type this, the Moon is exactly, and I mean exactly to the arc minute in full lip lock with Venus. Just a degree away from my Ascendant. How charming. Venus rising for me. No wonder I'm feeling the need to reach out from my self-imposed break from the world and touch someone. [wink] And no --I did not plan this. Synchronicity just kills me.

Ah, there she goes now, the Moon is separating...Adieu, sweet Moon! We'll meet again.

Really, if you've got a Mac, go get yourself an Io Sprite. It's a whole lot of fun watching this stuff in the sky do its thing, real time. Even on a cloudy night. Seeing how quickly the Moon moves, for instance, deeply impresses upon me the sensitivity and importance of the Moon's placement in any chart. With a toy like the Sprite you can finally see what astrologers mean when they call La Luna the second hand of the celestial clock.

Right now the Moon is at 17+ degrees Sagittarius, but by the time I have finished this paragraph it will have reached 18 degrees. Does that matter? For most, not really. What's one degree over another? But esoteric symbol systems like the Sabian images do count each degree has a distinct theme, so one degree's difference matters to them.

And because you asked, I'll tell you that this moon's Sabian symbol is about hobby horses. 

I like New Moons in Sagittarius because the sign implies new vistas, new horizons, new ideas. Fresh starts and newness everywhere! Sagittarius is not a backward looking sign at all. What happened in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas. In fact, by the time Sagittarius has made it to the plane, he's only thinking about his next adventure not the last one.

The hobby horse has multiple meanings. Some bawdy, some benign. Here, I think the Sabian interpretation emphasizes idealism and the practice that comes from working out your hopes and dreams with enthusiasm and joy. It's not nose-to-the-grindstone practice, but nose-almost-to-the-horizon practice. You know, practicing your galloping before someone hands you a real horse and saddle.

I've been thinking about this image all week. It's been a good week for me here at my friend's home in Chicago. We've had some good 'horizon' conversations about our futures, and the practical realities we're negotiating as parents.

The Venus trine Mars stuff all week has been brilliant for me, too. I'm not redefining the novel, but the words are coming quickly and my work has been very productive. And we've played theater a little, too. Not everything has happened as we'd planned, but I expected that. My host is a Fish --a Pisces girl. So she comes and she goes, we make plans and then everything goes sort of wonky and we rearrange them. But Fish are fabulous for letting you swim off for the day and not getting hung up about it. Loners like me do appreciate that; Fish folk do too.

This past day I've been particularly tired, something I've noticed at the end of dark moon phases. So it helps to have a friend who appreciates my need for alone time.

Mars is slowing down (which could account for some of my foot-dragging, too) all this week. So while New Moons imply new beginnings, Mars is about to turn retrograde. A Sun, New Moon and Mars all in fire signs is a recipe for hot enthusiasm, but your flame probably isn't so bright right now. So if you're feeling a bit low on fuel, it's not because you're already exhausted with the holidays. We'll see, but I think tomorrow you'll feel brighter. Enjoy the perk.

And about that perk: the New Moon is sextile the Jupiter/Neptune/Chiron connection in Aquarius. Lots of perkiness there. Or rather sparky thoughts. Insights, sudden vistas open when you thought some door was closed.

Think about the people you spend the most time with --or wish you spent the most time with. This is an Aquarius theme, and it's been running pretty hot since last January. Something's been shifting since then, and that something is your place in your crowd, your culture, your peeps, your milieu. Whatever it is, your relationship to the people who help you do "your thing" is shifting, and has been for a long time now. Part of this is because you are shifting. (This is Pluto work, which deserves a different entry.)

December's New Moon gives you potential to shift a lot more. It's likely a mental shift, but as I've come to learn, mental adjustments precede practical implementations, often by months and years. But it's important that you see the door that's open to you now. Likely some very different people are on the other side of that door. Note the opportunity and the people. Note what you think they mean to you now. Most of all, honor the far-sighted enthusiasm of Sagittarius in your personality. (It's in there somewhere.) You don't and can't have all the information you think you need now. There's a bit of "you've got to believe" in this moment, so keep an open hand and an open heart.

In the next couple of weeks we have some hot astrological action, and my chart is loaded with contact points this month. I'm wondering a lot about it myself, but for now I'm content to observe this new moon on it's own merits and think about my shifting future. 

Happy New Moon.

the fort hood shooting

Eric got this up at Planet Waves right away. The analysis is interesting. Check it out.

(click the image if you want a larger picture of the chart)

In addition to the comments already made, I find the air trines from Moon in Gemini/Pallas in Libra and then again to the Jupiter/Neptune/Chiron Aquarius Stellium back at the Moon interesting. They are not technically a grand air trine formation, but close. There's a lot of unquestioned mental synergy happening here. At one level it seems to paint a picture of a premeditated act (Pallas/Moon). It also seems to suggest someone attempting to regulate a perception of injustice (Chiron/Pallas in Libra).

The most important point, though, is Saturn at 0+ degrees Libra --again, an Aries Point event. As I wrote before, the Aries Point reminds us that all politics are local. If the news reports are correct, the shooter was about to be deployed overseas from an Army base that's seen more than it's fair share of soldiers returning (or not) from Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe this was his statement about America's involvement in these wars. Who knows right now. What I can say for sure is this: Afghanistan will not be the war "over there" anymore; the war has come home and the politics will surely get local.

Note Pholus (the green square with the flag on top in the 11 o'clock position of the chart): this is the "little event, big effect" centaur planetoid. It's in the spot where one would find a public event (10th House) in the sign of international affairs (Saggitarius), and it's trine Mars in Leo in the everyday affairs/military/environment house (6th House). So this will surely get big; it's got the energy to roar. Not that you'd need astrology to point that out...

november 4: neptune swims forward

Neptune turns direct November fourth and will continue pressing on through the sign Aquarius until May 31st, when it turns retrograde again. Tomorrow also features a very companionable trine from Neptune to Venus in Libra --useful for soothing old grudges and making nice-nice between old friends, but NOT good for suddenly springing for everyone's dinner because you've paid off the credit card and you're feeling so breezily freeeee and generous.

Don't do it.

Right now is a great time for dreaming, though. And for scribbling every last inspiration that crosses your little mind. Aquarian Neptune has an avant-garde twist to it --a little futuristic if you want it to be. So be sure to ink in some future schemes and dreams. Relationship innovations, too. If you could think outside your current box with your lover, husband, collaborator, fellow traveler, friend...whomever...Neptune in Aquarius can help. Not that Neptune moments actually amount to action --you would need a little Mars or Saturn on your side for that. But you could dream.

The thing is, with Neptune in retrograde since last summer, we've been dreaming plenty. But it's been very much an interior journey, an interior plotting and scheming. And idea trapped in a bubble. Or a head-trip (a la Balloon Boy). However, with Neptune now stationing direct, we're moving toward some sort of actualization or emergence/birth of that dream.

But what if it's just fantasy? Just a bunch of hoke'um I've piled up in my head, these dreams?

Good question. See, you don't have to worry about that. In a couple of weeks time Saturn and Pluto will make clear what you need to separate fact from fantasy. Already you've had a little jolt last week when Chiron turned direct in Aquarius. Most likely it showed up like a contract rider, or an addendum on your personal plans. Perhaps you felt a loss. A little, "Yes, but you see, there's a complication..." So already you've survived one reality check.

Whatever doesn't survive the mid-November Reality Check II, would not have survived the next 15 years, anyway. What does survive will probably require a lot of work, but the dream that survives this next season is more likely much more than a dream.

Photo: Alex Worsley