April fools, all month!

 Anyone who actually reads this blog, I have been ignoring it since February, but, really, there is a LOT going on.  

Many astrologers and other eavesdroppers have said so much already, but today I was feeling that there are things which I am not seeing elsewhere, so I will address them. 

  In case you only get this far, let me tell all y’all to tread lightly, react slowly and work on your consciousness as though your hair were on fire this next week, with the time around the 15th being main karma crunch time.  We are feeling hemmed in. 

 We are being hemmed in, and resisting the process makes it more uncomfortable.

  We are beyond being called, we are hearing the shouts to simplify, to be aware of what is actually real and necessary, to move through the lies like a pile of dead leaves, and watch the signs for direction.

This is the future pulling us forward, not the past pushing, so dragging old stories, programs and cherished prejudices will not work anymore.  It’s like trying to use a dial up phone when Ma Bell no longer exists.

Ask for help.

Who did you incarnate to be? 

Spoiler alert, it’s probably something simple and not flashy, but it is real, and useful, and as we are going through the vibratory portals, necessary.

Joy is an inside job, as I heard Anne Lamott say the other day, and inside is where the hotline to the helpers is.

After the Pisces new moon..

 Before the New Moon had a chance to rest, Venus changed signs, then the Sun and then the Moon, all going into Aquarius, where Pluto sits in the early degrees also.

Pluto brings corruption to light.  The real tipping point in change, there’s so much to be said about this bell that rings out on the edges of our system, but her influence is not small.  I experience the cycle of Pluto as similar to the Goddess Kali, who acts with surgical and irrevocable precision to separate the egoic attachments from the necessity to grow in consciousness more aligned with Source.

In looking at the astrology of movements, Pluto will completely sweep away a worn out paradigm, and as the Sun, Moon, and Venus cross where Pluto is resonating at the beginning of Aquarius, there is global opportunity to know for certain that we are all connected.  This will be rough for some, leaning into the change is the way to surf this powerful turn.

The Sun has to do with rulers, heads of countries, the. Moon with the zeitgeist and consciousness of the people, and Venus with the arts, there are more things than these, of course, but to keep this post short, I will say that I feel that we have absolutely started on a new path of opening up the wounds of corruption to the general consciousness.  Time for accountability, personally and collectively, and Kali/Pluto doesn’t mess around with this.

I am hoping to see an emergence of more and different content coming from the artists among us, we will probably get a close and disturbing look at the AI world, and will have to learn how to use it constructively, and with discernment, because it’s not going away.  I hope more artists refuse to perform for tyrants, and that our wonderful comedians keep the lights on.

As to the combination of the Sun (rulers) the Moon (the people) and Pluto (transformation, well, I’ll quote Richard Rohr “Trauma that is not transmuted gets transmitted.”

Dark of the Moon

 For the next few days, the energy wanes as we come into the next retrograde Mercury period and the New Moon, this means it’s a really excellent time to take it easy when possible, though the holiday season and the need for people to be selling things makes that a thing that we have to choose rather than fall into.

There is almost always a sense of speeding time before the retrograde Mercury period invites us to slow down, to pay attention, and to go back to things we have left unfinished or unaltered.  3 times a year we get this opportunity to look more carefully into ourselves, and what messages come, some of which are no surprise, but have just been put aside.

The time before the new Moon is finishing up a phase, looking backward at the previous month and is not as supportive of launching new projects, but of tying up the loose ends of previous ones. 

 There are many people who have New Moon and full Moon rituals, and I would recommend performing them just before the full Moon, and after the new, because the new Moon wave is like an ungerminated seed, so give it time to settle into your energy, and keeping intentions light, positive, and truthful.

Mars right now is in Sagittarius which wants to expand, reach out and be active, so it may feel like a stretch to not push forward.  

This New Moon in Sagittarius asks us to notice how we might best use this new month phase to put our ideals into action, to reach out into the broader world of ideas and beliefs, to open up more to inspiration.

For the next couple of days, as the Moon darkens, and squares Saturn, we’ll possibly be helped to slow down by Saturn’s characteristic banking of fires, and keeping things simple.

At the time of this post, the Moon is bringing awareness of disruption, with an opposition to Uranus, so it’s good to be generous with other people in our thinking and encounters, bearing in mind that so much of relationship is projection.  

Slowing down, listening, being gentle with ourselves over the beginning of this week will smooth things out.

This Full Moon

This full Moon is getting us ready for something.

It’s going to be a different trajectory for each of us, based on how we decide to deal with it.

I have come to see that My Whole World Lies Waiting Behind Door Number 3 is more than a lyric fragment in these times.

I know this is about the Full Moon in Leo this weekend, and I will get to it, but I want to start with the frosting, because sometimes, and this is one of those times, that is the first thing we will notice.

Uranus.  

The sky God, the presence of OMG in the turn of events.  There are varying stories about the god for whom the planet was named, so pick one, but the cycles delineate a tidal pulse of change.  Change is a constant anyhow, but when Uranus gets pinged by, oh, say a Full Leo Moon, the usual dynamism of fruition has unexpected flair.

One of the fun keywords about Uranus transits is “unexpected”.  This lets astrologers off the hook for telling all y’all how this will manifest. The one dependable thing that I have seen is that the Uranus cycle is a truth revealer.  

Uranus will be square [friction] the Sun [identity] and the Moon [mind/feeling] so here’s how I am breaking it down, and hope I’m near accurate…

The Moon in Leo when full, is interested in create a dramatic story, center stage energy with a triumphant hero, but this is at odds with how the part of us which steers through what we are pleased to regard as the daily life of facts and pragmatic management of needs.  

Meanwhile, The Lightning God appears, sort of out of nowhere, and illuminates something you cannot ignore.  “Hey, over here!” He suggests, as a bolt hits the ground and shows you elements you had not anticipated.

It means that this weekend will be a retooling of vision, intention and perception, as a result of new information.  With this, we have Venus [desire] and Mars [ how do I get that desire met?] working at cross purposes, and action taken can be out of proportion to the perceived need.  So, basically, slow down, back up, reconsider.

Mercury the messenger and Pluto, the hidden stuff, give us a chance to see more deeply into our projections, our shadows, and the dynamics we create as we move along our way.

And, if you are going to be in New England, wear a hat.

Reboot

Well, we have just gone through another summer retrograde Mercury, and true to the symbolism of Mercury, the weather has been oddly extreme around here.
Other places, too, I hear, but in NH, my house plants, customarily moved outdoors for the summer were whining to be let back in, and the chickens have been demanding that I do something.
Along with the review of our thinking, our ways of communicating and our daily routines, we have had the extra blessing of a retrograde Mars.
Now, anyone who follows astrological websites knows that a retrograde isn't REALLY a backwards motion, in fact it is the time that we are closest to that planet, and get to receive more of what that cycle is about.
Mars is about how needs get met, or, on the darkside, how aggression is expressed.
Mars is still retrograde people, so it is still going on, and because of how everything is configured, we are being treated to the sight of how this works on a global scale.
The archetypes are out and they are dancing up a storm!
This full Moon coming up will give us all another peek through the coming doorways and gates in the labyrinth of life, and choices about which direction to go.
What kind of person do you want to be in the future?  Because that is based on the micro choices made in the present.
We all consist of stardust, we are all blown into life by the same breathe.  Be kind.

Blood Moon

The fourth eclipse, a Super Moon [perigee] the Harvest Moon, but I am thinking of this as the 4th arm of Kali.  In each of her hands she holds an object, and each object represents a process of the destruction of obstacles to liberation. One hand is in the mudra of blessing, one of fearlessness.  The other 2 hold a sword, shaped like the dark of the moon, or like the glyph for Lilith, the dark feminine, and the other holds a severed head.  These represent destruction of the ego.  Her tongue is out to show that she is ready to devour the demons and all other obstacles to awakening.  Each of these eclipses are in the axis Aries/Libra, looking from self to other, from desire and cooperation.  In a collective sense, we are in a time of being required to look to the other as a mirror of the self, to recognize that we are all connected, that none of us are walking away from the wounds inflicted by some of us on humanity, on life forms in general and the planet.  It is an axis of responsibility, and the need now is to take it for all the ways obvious and secret in which we miss the point, [or sin, as Christianity would have it].  Every thought we have, every thing we do every interpretation we make is seeds of karma sown or karma harvested.
There is no escape from Kali, we all have to wake up, and the eclipse energy opens the channels to the less seen, less acknowledged areas of consciousness to speed the plow.

threats and promises...

I should probably not vow to stay regular with observing anything, because it is a killer.  Nothing gets the inner critic muttering like promising to stick to something.  Now with The Sun Squaring a Moon Saturn conjunction,  I'm throwing out the idea of completely abandoning this blog to point out that not only has it bee a tough couple of days, or weeks for the ego, [not just mine,] but to put all who follow this on notice that we don't have much time left in this particular cycle to get it together.  What does that look like?  Getting serious about reevaluating.  Whatever it is that you think has made you happy, unless you are Buddha, is probably not doing it the way it used to.  We are in an upward spiral of consciousness, and this turn is demanding that the useless be seen for what it is.  There have been hold ups, the kind we generally like to blame a retrograde Mercury for, but in this case, it's about values and attentive interaction more than paper pushing and missed communication.  Patience is always waiting for an opportunity to say "Look at Me"  and nothing brings her more center stage than a Saturn event.  Saturn is the voice that says, "Now hold on..."  as an admonishment to face reality as much as an attempt to hold down the ground.  This is where patience comes in, and not in the sense of enduring, but of abiding without judgement.  Saturn is moving from "I never forget a face" Scorpio to "Let's go out and play"  Sagittarius.  Play?  Saturn?  Saturn's idea of play means building a fort.  Out of stone.  So, what we are looking at next is a time of orderly growth, in the face of upheaval [ a couple of other planets, I'm not mentioning in this post] and all proceeds ticketyboo if the value systems have been reassessed beforehand.  You have until mid September.

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.

Super moon

This up coming full Moon will appear to be huge because it will be closer to us. The Moon has so much to do with our habits and every day rhythms, our bodies and our feelings that all the things we take personally will heightened for us. The Moon is in Scorpio and Sun in Taurus, both signs a little sybaritic and inflexible, so people will have to tap into the help available from the ongoing grand trine {Mars, Jupiter and Pluto] to stay in a place of balance and truth. Truth begins at home, like many things, and this Full Moon of this year of numerous powerful planetary harmonics and dynamics is a fulcrum for our movement to a clearer knowledge of ourselves and our place in the world. Most simply, no human is at the center, but all are connected to it

New Year coming..

Not long now, the Moon is Void of Course for about another 1/2 hour, and then moves into the sign of Aquarius.  Good for shaking off whatever was lurking over the last week, but remember that anything you start in the next couple of days is going to experience a long road of work winding up fizzling out in confusion.  If I were you, I'd wait and give the dust time to settle.
 In about 3 days the energy will pick up and be supporting productivity until around the 3rd week of January when Mars turns retrograde.
Have I talked about retrogrades?  They aren't used as such in Vedic astrology because it's a different system of cycle measurement, but in Western, or Tropical, or what most Westerners think of as astrology, retrogrades are the time when the relative orbits of the Earth and some planet are at their closest proximity.  The effect can be a distilled dose of the energy represented by that body.
 Mars on the level of personal astrology has a lot to do with how we get our needs met.  When Mars is retrograde, [ happens every couple of years for about 6 weeks] we get the chance to review how we do that, and also what we are driven by.  It can be a very valuable time or a bloody uncomfortable one.

The turning of the Light

In 5 days the Northern hemisphere gets the gift of the longest night.  There is magic in the feeling of change.  Many are uncomfortable with change, but for millennia it has been celebrated, ritualized and honored.  One way that could be seen is another attempt on the part of humans to believe in control over events.
The night of the Solstice is an energetic portal, one of 8. It releases powerful energies into the global consciousness and supports forward movement for us all.
In the cycle of the astrological year, this door is #7, and can be seen as an opportunity to spend some time in your own interior to decide how you will flow with this surge of energy.  This involves being honest about what kind of life you want and what the price is for that.  Winter is for more than surviving the cold and pushing for more social engagement.  It is a time for cultivating clarity and a core sense of peace.

Mercury direct!

Ok, y'all, you can sign papers at the end of the week, and start new projects.  We are going to have a window in which there is support of nature for activity and productivity until Mars goes retrograde in January.  As we come down from the Full Moon to the New [on Christmas] It's good to not have a powerful attachment to things working out quickly.  More growth after the New Moon.
We are all still being offered the chance to let go of the old way of doing things.  If you want to hold on to a worn out paradigm, go right ahead.  There will be plenty of opportunity to change your mind, redirect and grow forward in the new year, and one way or the other, it's the only direction left.

Mars slows down

Mars' motion is one of the most dynamic reflectors of energy trends and releases in the collective consciousness.  It is in Leo, a fire sign, and a place it likes and feels able to express in, but as it comes to the end of Leo at the end of this month it finishes up a strong forward movement with a loss of direction by opposing fuzzy and deceptive Neptune.  At this time, there's a loss of clarity in the collective mind which undermines some progress made.  This may manifest as people trying to take action, and then becoming unsure of their motivation.  For about a week this continues, but by Nov 08 or so, the fog will lift a bit, and show the areas where details were overlooked, where systems were not allowed to move smoothly because of overriding egos.  Good chance to clear this up before it creates a problem.

Mars changing signs again.

Mars is in the very last minutes of the sign of Cancer, and will be going into Leo @ 9:51 pm EDT.  Mars is one of the major timing triggers, more abrupt than the others, so don't be surprised if you wake up tomorrow feeling as though you aren't getting the attention you deserve [think you deserve], particularly if your birthday is in the early parts of a fixed sign - that would be roughly January 20th, April 20th, July 21st or October 21st.  This is when the Sun enters the fixed signs of Aquarius, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio.  The ego [Sun]  will be energized or challenged [Mars] over the next few days. This will be most harmonious for Leos, and if you are early on in any of the fire signs, [March 21st or Nov 21st]  You'll feel as though you have access to your physical energy in a way that has been missing for the last month or so.
 In addition to the changing of signs, Mars will be coming up on a period of expressing the need for adjustment in how we understand our desires.  Particularly, what we expect from interpersonal dynamics, and why.  What happens is unimportant, how we deal with our expectations is.