The hammer and the sword

As the New Moon gets closer, an old cycle is being wrapped up.  A new intention may be set for the coming month, but the repercussions of decisions, particularly action taken on those decisions are more far reaching because a new 2.5 year period is being initiated at the same time that requires unprecedented clarity.
 If I were astrologer to the politicians I would tell them to watch themselves very closely, because a poorly motivated plan is going to boomerang, and will be a bitch when it does.  Aggression is less appropriate than ever, and action taken from unclear motives at this time are bound to produce disappointment at best.
This is  period when it is vital to approach decisions with consciousness of harmony instead of self interest, progress instead of profit, being honest about what is needed without smokescreens.  Shame has to be confronted,  fear as well, and the masks, once ripped off, reveal only a mirror.  We are all more connected than we know.

Mars handcuffed to Saturn

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting tired of the cosmic hammer.  Here in NH we have been having the perfect summer.  It's a rare thing.  Not too hot, not too cold, no long stretches of any kind of uncomfortable weather, but cosmically, energetically, it has been another story.  The cardinal cross which has danced around between being a T square to a complete cross depending on the faster moving planets, all the switching around with retrogrades has been  dizzying.  We are coming up on the Mars-Saturn conjunction in unforgiving Scorpio this week, so between the fire and the hammer, the sword and the anvil, I get an image of tempering.  Also, how important it is to the next phase to keep our tempers.  This will apply globally of course, the US chart [ I use the time recorded on our money, 2:22pm, giving the US a Scorpio ascendent.   The US is nothing if not dogged, relentless and unforgiving.  With Saturn going through our collective hose of masks, and now being joined by Mars, the activator and producer of results, we could see some severity arising and acting out based on rigidly held positions.  Personally, this next couple of weeks requires discipline and simplicity, as well as unflinching taking of responsibility.  This is all arising with the Virgo New Moon, it's a requirement that we recalibrate our intentions for the new cycle.  Saturn is always more benevolent when worked with rather than against.

short

This last New Moon we just had was less subtle than New Moons often are, distributing fireworks and determination that we can draw on for another 10 days.  Today, tomorrow and the day after are the times when the invitation is to not get stuck in a particular attitude, not by being dogged or bloodyminded, but by accepting responsibility for how one gets where one is.  There is a series of decisions that went into creating the present situation.  To change circumstances those decisions have to be acknowledged or they will hover in the background, affecting the development of anything new.  

now?

Well, we have gotten through the most tiresome of the retrogrades, and now we are encountering the ones which tie in with global trends.  It seems to me that it is mighty important these days not to manifest the collective archetypes that we are constantly bombarded with in the news and the entertainment press if we are to contribute to a rise in global consciousness.  Can we please cease all this mud wrestling, cage fighting and misery vendettas, there has been enough.  We have the support of the Cosmic cycles at this time to attune to harmony building, reconciliation and creative solutions.  This begins with the hard task of facing ourselves, seeing how we got where we are, and being willing to do what it will take to get somewhere else.  This time is not about gaining access to more on the material, though that may be part of it, if it is the goal, it is likely to fall short.  This is about acquiring vision and building a solid interior foundation.  Foundations, not battlements.  August 8th is Astrological Lughnasad, a time when we give thanks and begin the preparations for the harvest.

Here we go again, Mercury will be turning retrograde on the 7th of June, [2014] after a brief respite.  Mercury, as I have said, has to do with connections, this ranges from nervous system, networks, whatever you use to get to the store or work and back with [on or in] and contracts.  Notably, during the last 3 weeks of June, great ideas abound, but have a hard time getting off the ground.  Delays, delays.  The full Moon this month is in Sagittarius, a real swinging from the chandelier kind of moon, but with a retrograde Mercury ruling connections, that chandelier could fall.  Make sure it's hanging from a low ceiling.
Mars, who has something to say about how we all go about getting our needs met is moving sloooowwwly through a sign he is unhappy expressing himself through to begin with.  Hard to go and get what you want when misunderstanding and diplomacy is demanded.
That's all fine though, if you can work with it, float downstream and not fight for your position more than is reasonable.  Notice I said "reasonable"?  That's the key.  June is not beginning the summer with a bang, save that for July, it is a month of clean up, preparation, reconnecting and revisiting.  Whatever you want to do, put "re" in front of the verb, and you will be fine [probably].

Retrograde rage or irritation and impatience.

As we come up on the Full Moon this April, we also approach the coming together of many dynamics that have been brewing for some time.  Trouble is out there if you are looking for it, Mars is Retrograde, and if you think Mercury retrograde is a pain in the ass happening 3 times a year for 3 weeks, be glad that this time of boomerangs with razor blades only happens every couple of years.  It lasts for 6 weeks though, and will be with us until the third week of May.  It is a call to clean up how we go about getting our needs met and actions taken in defense of dearly held positions, this time, it acts out in the area of contractual relationships, agreements and really, whomever we have in our lives that we project our needs onto.
We are coming up on the big grand cross that astrologers are talking about, Mars is involved with some of the planets that have to do with collective and generational movements and awakenings.  Jupiter, the big magnifier of all things  has a hand in making any problem look enormous and bringing on too much at once.  This could be a profoundly emotional time for all of us, this "convergence" of energies will be impacting the chart of the US as well, so be prepared for some news of more corruption coming to light as well as some amazing technological breakthroughs.  For us mere individuals, the alchemical drawing out of our own impurities is happening at this time, at the level of mind.  Such a great opportunity to drop an old pile of useless  crap and move on

I'm choosing this time to come back to writing this blog, Mercury has gone direct, this morning, Mars is about to turn retrograde, so while communications are unsnarling, the ways in which we go about getting our needs met are up for reevaluation over the next couple of months.  One of the ways this may manifest for people is unexpected spurts of temper in relationships at times when diplomacy might be more appropriate.
We begin the month with a New Moon in Pisces, and if you live in New England, this will mean that the next month's cycle of attention will be focused on what we have, what we value, and more obliquely, the standard we identify with.  A new Moon in Pisces means this is going to come to us through a more intuitive than an active process.  Pay attention to dreams, and the messages they are bringing to consciousness about money and prosperity and your relationship to both.  They are not the same thing.
The coming full moon, in 2 weeks will be the chance to take all that has come up and retune it toward a more appropriate way of handling finances for our present lives.