The Regeneration Cycle

There is no zodiacal sign more indicative of the cycle of death and rebirth than Scorpio. Metaphorically, Scorpio’s the archetypal energy through which regeneration takes place.

   And regeneration may take many forms—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Like water rushing in to fill an empty space, Scorpio regenerative energy will go where it’s needed most.

   The Scorpio New Moon at 26’19”–ruled by Pluto, lord of the underworld (in modern astrology), and the war god Mars (traditional astrology)–perceives death not as final or finite, but rather as metamorphosis, or the gateway into another stage…

   Life and death are intertwined, two sides of one coin, part of the duality of the universe, as many of our great sages, poets, philosophers, psychologists, and metaphysicians knew and understood. Many believe that without such duality the “reality” of physical incarnated life could not exist.

   This polarity between the energy of the soul (Scorpio) and the value of the physical body (Taurus) was prominent in the last lunation—November 3-4th Taurus Full moon.

   Now, however, this Scorpio New Moon focuses solely on the soul—the portion of our psyche that lies hidden underneath our ego-oriented, empirically focused conscious thoughts and actions.

   Buried so far below this level of the incarnated “real” world, often this part of our psyche stays hidden in shadow for the duration of a person’s lifetime on the physical plane.

Scorpio New Moon Square Solar Eclipse Degree

This Scorpio New Moon takes on greater import because it squares the August 21 total solar eclipse degree 28’43” Leo. This is a “sensitized” degree to the extent that when planets pass through it, it can reactivate the energies of the eclipse.

   Now, however, since this Scorpio New Moon degree squares the sensitized Leo eclipse point, it’s important to review what might have happened in your life since August 21–or beginning about three weeks before.

   Whether you were affected by August’s solar eclipse was determined by the house in which it occurred and the aspects (if any) it formed to planets or important points in your personal horoscope or natal chart.

   It’s possible there was a major effect, though it’s equally possible you felt and experienced nothing at all. It all depends on how closely tied in that eclipse degree was to your natal chart, and how tightly tied in the Scorpio New Moon degree is to your chart now…

   A square is a frictional, harder-edged, less visible aspect that asks us to deal with something on an internal level, something often we’re not able to view clearly. Often frustrating at first, the square aspect represents an issue we must work our way through in order to integrate two particularly unconscious or not very harmonious energies.

   Leo, the sign of the August solar eclipse, is creative, fun-loving, romantic, and prone to liking the spotlight, while Scorpio prefers to keep things hidden, play it close to the vest, demands loyalty, and is power-oriented.

   The eclipse asked us to determine where we doubt ourselves in terms of expressing our true Leonine, solar, subjective, individual nature, and urged us to allow our light to shine without fear, shame, or blame.

Rising To The (Internal) Challenge

The point is that at this lunation you’ll be experiencing an internal challenge, as that’s the way all squares–or 90-degree angles between planets–roll.

   This Scorpio New Moon’s square to the Leo eclipse degree adds a footnote that’s centered around the issue of empowerment vs. disempowerment. It asks us all to ponder how we may hold ourselves back from truly shining in the world as a result of past disempowerment.

   Often, we are our own worst enemies when it comes to freedom of creative expression. We worry that others will judge, ridicule, banish, or somehow render us impotent through their words and/or actions.

   Contemplate this: do you show others the “real” you, or do you hide, ashamed and worried that others will judge, or worse yet, condemn you for being who you really are?

   Ultimately, especially if we’ve been subjected to harsh judgment through early life or prior lifetimes, we internalize this energy and become our own worst judge, jury, and executioner, at least metaphorically speaking.

   However, this Scorpio New Moon tells us we can overcome such disempowerment and rise to the task of being our true creatively expressive selves.

   How?

   By allowing ourselves to relax and enjoy simply being in the moment–without any attachment to the result of that moment…only then can we understand the creative process that Leo archetypal energy represents.

   A good question we can all ask ourselves at this Scorpio New Moon’s square to the Leo eclipse degree is: “what takes us out of the moment?”

   If it’s worry about the future, or regret or anger about the past, we’re being asked to realize that we cannot truly call this “living.”

   When this sign engages in creative thinking and expression in the form of the arts, play, romance, games of chance, sports, etc., it does so with one aim: to allow us to create with the reckless abandon of a child—unfettered and free of (self) judgment.

Mars Square Pluto: You’ve Got The Power!

The energy of this Scorpio New Moon is compounded by the waxing Mars square to Pluto. Again, a square is an internal conflict, something which needs reconciliation within.

   Mars is our personal will, our ability to freely choose, carry out thoughts & actions, express emotions, choose our own spiritual path.

   Pluto is a force to be reckoned with—we astrologers often liken it to the nuclear bomb in its ability to destroy the old to make room for the new. As mentioned in previous newsletters, Pluto is an evolutionary force. It can’t be stopped, though it can be worked with.

   When Mars approaches Pluto through a square aspect, he’s asking us to stand up for what we believe, feel, or know in our bones is “right.” Pluto, however, is not always in exact agreement and so he’ll put up a fight by trying to disempower our ability to choose how we go forward.

   Pluto’s Scorpio also represents issues around power, trust, and deep bondedness, particularly around sexual issues.

   Mars is the sign of male sexuality. There is no coincidence, at least in this astrologer’s opinion, that we’re continuing to witness—as Jupiter transits through Scorpio until November 2018–the expansion of the collective’s consciousness through the speaking up of victims of sexual abuse.

   This square of Mars in partnership-oriented Libra, pitted against the strong, ambitious, authoritarian will of Pluto in Capricorn, sums up nicely the recent revelations by so many women (& some men) who’ve shared publicly their past disempowering experiences of sexual abuse–particularly at the hands of those wielding POWER.

   Remember, Pluto is about power; Mars about the personal will. When Mars tries to speak, Pluto shouts him down, denies, or finds some other way to try to manipulate, weaken, or otherwise render him impotent.

   Sound familiar?

   The resistance to such bullying is what’s on the table for us all during this Scorpio New Moon and just following, as this Mars square Pluto exacts on November 19.

Seeds of Regenerative Healing

The antidote presented by this Scorpio Full Moon lies in its ability to grant us the power to plant new seeds of self-empowerment.

  Like natal Pluto in Scorp Taylor Swift’s lyric in the song/video posted below, we can answer our internal telephones by saying “hello? No, I’m sorry, [fill in your name here] can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, because she’s dead!”

   Death is not always literal and when we think of death in terms of metamorphosis and that all physical things must die in order for something new to be born, we realize that this Scorpio New Moon’s offering us a most wonderful opportunity.

   What’s that?

   To allow our fears to die and be reborn as the courage, compassion, and the trust necessary to be loyal–to ourselves. This is from where we may all draw power moving forward…

   Where in your life has the August 21 Leo solar eclipse called you to come out from hiding fearfully under your bushel and shine your light? Where has fear held you back from taking center stage?

   The Scorpio New Moon says now’s the time to think about what was cut off, stymied, suffocated, or otherwise prohibited through overpowering forces, and to plant new seeds of regenerative energy.

   Like a worm which, when cut in half regenerates into wholeness, we are all capable of transforming our wounded parts into something new.

   As Mars approaches the square to Pluto NOW, it will benefit us all to contemplate where we no longer want to stay silent, bury our hurt, anger, humiliation, or rejection, and can exhibit the strength to sally forth with renewed vigor and life…

   …not because we seek revenge or retribution, but because we want to HEAL… 

Transforming Values Redux

TIME TO LET GO OF FAMILIAR SUFFERING

We know full moons are always a time of release. We also know that, at its core, the Taurus archetype is about value.

When I say “value,” I mean that this archetype, above all–because it relates to the earthy Taurean concept of the physical body–encompasses within it the concept that it’s through our physical five senses that we derive pleasure.

And what makes us feel good becomes that which we value.

Often, however, what makes us feel good does so because it is familiar.

Say, for example, that if you have an argument with someone. You feel better if you eat some chocolate or a piece of cake, or anything sweet that makes you forget your troubles and/or dispels or distracts you from your anger or frustration.

Essentially, you value taste as a way to please yourself out of a confrontational or—shall we say—less pleasing experience.

Here we have a scenario where it might be healthier to replace our old familiar pattern of reaching for something to eat—something that tastes good and therefore pleases us when we feel angry, sad, abandoned, or any other negative emotion—with a different pattern of behavior. Say taking a walk or talking it out with someone who’ll listen, understand, and offer positive feedback.

THE SHADOW KNOWS…

The Sun in Scorpio is all about change. But it’s not about sudden change. Rather it’s the Scorpio reminder to us all that we must evolve through adaptation or we’ll become extinct.

Ruled by the planet Pluto, known as Hades, the god of the underworld to the Greeks, this is not exactly someone you want to mess with, at least on a regular basis.

There’s a kind of “you can run but you can’t hide” quality to Scorpio energy, which—if it finds you’ve been ignoring or denying your need for change or adaptation can become ruthless.

Many of us modern astrologers don’t really go there, we use words like “transformation” and “change” and “new perspectives,” and all these are completely valid. In fact, “transformation” IS the major keyword for Scorpio energy.

So, when the Sun is in Scorpio, which it has been since October 22/23 (depending on your time zone), and will be until November 22, we know that at least a part of our ego identity is being asked to die in order to be reborn again.

This happens on an annual basis, and because Pluto is a planetary energy that registers with us on the level of the subconscious rather than the conscious mind, we get that some transformation in our individual lives will be more momentous than others…at least on an annual basis, since the Sun is in Scorp for a month every year.

WHAT’S YOUR SHADOW REALLY LOOK LIKE?

Just before the Sun moved into Scorpio, Jupiter moved from partnership-oriented but potentially polarizing and polarizingly indecisive Libra energy on October 10. The two met up on October 26—a fortuitous kind of meeting between the king of the gods and the Sun in the archetypal sign of the underworld.

This told us we had a shot at making the best out this year’s transformative energy at this time of year, primarily by allowing Jupiter’s expansive energy to cast light on the dark bits of our psyches—the parts often we keep hidden, both from ourselves and others…

Both Scorpio and Taurus are fixed signs: they like to get the job done, but they can get stuck, remain stagnant or fixated, depending on the natal position of any planets/angles in these two signs and the houses ruled or influenced by Pluto and Venus in your chart.

Scorpio says “change or be changed,” or run the risk of becoming obsolete, which is a kind of death. And Taurus says “I’m very happy right here on my sofa with my bon bons, thank you very much, and while I might entertain the idea that change is ultimately necessary, I think I’ll do it later.”

So, the Taurus Full Moon, as with all full moons, carries a double message: one is that it shows us the high side of the opposite polarity of Scorpio energy, and as such it reminds we can’t stay in a state of transformation forever.

On the other hand, the Taurus Full Moon asks us to get in better touch with our body, to physically ground ourselves as part of the physical, tangible, concrete world and BECOME.

LETTING GO OF FAMILIAR VALUES

As the Scorpio Sun asks us to evolve, the Taurus Moon reminds us that to do this we might have to examine–and jettison–some of our previously held “values.”

When I say “values” I mean, again, that which give us pleasure.

Taurus, at its core, is related to our five physical senses, and through our reception and perception of such sensory experience–sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste–we become aware of our likes and dislikes.

This then translates into what we believe, or feel, both consciously and intuitively, is of value to us.

The Moon, after all, is an energy based around memory, particularly from our earliest moments after we’ve physically incarnated on this Earth—but isn’t always necessarily representative of our soul’s inner “truth.”

So, if the Sun’s energy is transformative, and the Full Moon in Taurus opposes it, it asks us to release what no longer serves us in terms of old values…

…values to which we may cling, based on old familiar patterns that no longer fit our present life, and from which we may inadvertently be “suffering.”

And, in doing so, we may thereby usher in new, healthier, ones…

This means we have the opportunity at the Taurus Full Moon to let go of that which is familiar to us, but does not necessarily serve our future evolutionary growth.

VALUE TRANSFORMATION

How does one transform one’s values? Ah, that my friends is so very easy to say but ever so hard to do! We transform our values by contemplating what it is that really truly pleases us.

First, we can go deep through whatever mechanism works for us. Meditation, creativity (or being in the moment) and channeling the divine, or in this case, the Scorpionic energies which may be showing us the taboos embedded in our psyche’s unconscious in ways that keep us afraid of allowing them to surface into consciousness.

The fear that if people knew what we’re REALLY like, what we’re REALLY thinking deep down inside–in short, the truth—they will neither like nor accept us and, worse yet, might run us out of town on a rail, is what we’re asked to let go of now.

Lunations—meaning New and Full Moons, which occur approximately every 14 days–are transits. Transits trigger our natal patterns or energies.

In order to answer the question for oneself, one must look to see in what house or houses the Taurus Full Moon occurs, and what messages those houses have for us.

Similarly, always we can look at whether or not any particular lunation is touching any of our natal planets or other sensitive chart points. That will give you a fuller picture of where you might go to discover which values are no longer of use to you as you attempt to move forward toward your highest karmic destiny in this lifetime.

This lunation is helped or hindered by whatever it touches, positively or negatively. However, it reminds us, as do all transits to our natal chart’s energies, that the time is ripe for change or transformation!

SELF-VALUE IS WHO YOU ARE, NOT WHAT YOU OWN

While the Taurus Full Moon reminds us that although transformation through the evolutionary process is all around us and in the air right now, still we must take time to consider what our soul values most.

Since our shadow side is that which we project onto each other, we know we’re being asked to go deep for this entire next year on just exactly how we can free ourselves through expanding our consciousness about this darker side.

A full moon is always an aspect of relationship. This Taurus Full Moon highlights the duality of the fixed archetypes of Scorpio’s watery, deep, intense, and potentially volatile but deeply loyal bonding against Taurus’s Venusian emphasis on the body, the five senses, the concrete physical world, and how determining what pleases us becomes that which we value.

Taurus provides us with a constant in a world surrounded by evolutionary change. But it also reminds us that if we cling too tightly to the things we think we value, be they material possessions, relationships, jobs, or anything else, we may deny ourselves the incremental slow evolution that Taurus is capable of demanding out of Scorpio’s need to continually transform.

When it comes to possessions, it’s easy to tie your own sense of self-worth into what you have. But Scorpio’s Sun reminds us that all things much change eventually, and Taurus can help us manifest slow, less upsetting, change.

SEXUAL HEALING

At this lunation, Venus opposed Uranus, and we may have experienced a sudden flash of insight based on an unexpected happening, be it through relationship or any other outer circumstance.

Should you have experienced something shocking leading up to this Taurus Full Moon, something that made you feel a little bit like you’ve been on a sinking ship, or the fire’s just shown up at your door— you may have asked yourself “what do I grab and what do I leave behind?”

The answer to that question is that you take with you what you know deep down is important because it’s part of your soul’s overall sense of who you are and what you truly value…

At the same time, the Scorpio Sun sextiled spiritual, dreamy, psychically-oriented Neptune in Pisces, while the Moon trined the same planet, also known to encompass energy related to confusion, illusion, and delusion.

These energies provided us either with easy opportunities to follow our intuitively guided psyche’s sense of the truth north of our value system, or they obscured our need to let go through the illusory sense that we can keep our soul’s true needs hidden from consciousness…

Saturn’s square to Chiron reminds us that any internalized familiarity based on restrictive or overly repressive people or circumstances in our early lives–i.e., those embedded as “familiar”–may now be revisited in order to be released.

And Mercury’s trine to wounded healer Chiron allows us to give voice to any wounds to our inherent value system based on this oppression. Wounds sustained through that which we LEARNED is SUPPOSED to please us and make us feel good, rather than that from which our soul derives true pleasure.

Scorpio, a sign of deep bondedness and loyalty, also represents sexuality. The highest form of sexual expression is an intimate relationship with a significant other with whom there is a deep, loyal, unbreakable bond of trust.

Taurus’s value system reminds us that part of that trust comes through our attachment to our physical bodies and the fact that it’s about discovering what pleases us by allowing ourselves to receive on the physical plane.

Any relationship not tied to both physical pleasure and an unshakable trust is up for introspection now as we reevaluate that which serves–or doesn’t–our true self…

My advice? Allow the energy of this Taurus Full Moon–as it wanes over the next two weeks–to release what holds you back from uncovering the division between what your mind or ego THINKS it values and what the infinite wisdom of your soul KNOWS is of true value to you…

Black Hole Sun Won’t You Come

Many are approaching the upcoming 28’53” Leo New Moon Total Solar Eclipse on August 21 with trepidation.

Why so fearful?

Well, first, astrologers tell us eclipses are times of sudden, unpredictable change. And let’s face it, a good portion of us do not like change!

Secondly, the whole fact that the Moon blots out the light of the Sun for several minutes—traditionally viewed as scary—elicits in us either negative vibes or the idea that it’s a “bad” omen.

The truth is that eclipses are neither good nor bad, as I noted at the August 7 partial lunar eclipse @15 Leo. Just as with ALL movements of the planets throughout the heavens, an eclipse has import only if it’s “touching” a planet or sensitive point in your birth chart or horoscope.

If not, they may be meaningful, yes, but in subtler, less drastic, and not as easily recognizable ways.

When any given eclipse does not hit your chart hard (meaning aspects an important planet, angle, or other sensitive spot—or triggers major configurations in your chart related to these points) the import lies solely with the meaning of the house in which the eclipse falls for you.

If it does impact you in a more major way, you’ve likely already begun to feel it in one way or another. The trick is to recognize this…

In Disguises No One Knows…

The energy of any eclipse can be felt prior to the actual event, as well as long after.

To highlight the truth of this, all one need do is look at the collective energy around them.

On August 12—the same day Mercury stationed retrograde in Virgo—we saw the tragic death of peaceful protester Heather Heyer and numerous injuries of other participants when a neo-Nazi protester sped his car through a crowd protesting a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In addition, two police officers monitoring the situation from above were killed when their helicopter crashed.

Thirteen people died and up to 100 others from 34 different countries were wounded on Las Ramblas, a major tourist avenue in Barcelona, Spain, by terrorists on August 17.

And one death and five injuries resulted in Cambrils, Spain, an hour from Barcelona, when five attackers there attempted a second terrorist strike shortly before being shot dead by police.

Twenty thousand people took to the streets in Boston August 19 (and other U.S. cities) to protest the kinds of hate speech being spewed by those whose original rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, resulted in Heyer’s death and numerous others’ injuries.

These protests, particularly the one in Boston, spurred by a free speech rally by white supremacists, ended peacefully after effectively shutting out the efforts of those who choose to use their right to speak freely to express hate.
A similar rally in Berlin, Germany, eclipsed those with hate-filled messages there on the same day.

This protest was also one against U.S. President Donald Trump’s wavering reluctance to condemn those whose hate speech provoked the killing of Heyer and the injuries of so many others in Charlottesville more than a week ago.

Funny Thing About Eclipses

See how an eclipse works?

Terrorists and white supremacists sought to eclipse not only the voices but the rights to existence of those they do not like through hate speech—which they have the right to do, under U.S. law at least.
The reaction?

Thousands throughout the country (and some abroad) fought back by eclipsing (read: overshadowing) NOT the RIGHT of hate-spewers to speak their minds, but the message coming from those minds…

Thus, the attempted “eclipsers” found themselves “eclipsed” by the counterbalancing voices who shifted the focus of their argument onto a different plain—one that happens to reflect the majority’s peaceful beliefs rather than that of a hate-filled minority!

Heaven Sent Hell Away…

As the Leo New Moon Total Solar Eclipse looms larger, we’re right now in the dark of the Moon, the time when the Moon approaches her return to the Sun as part of her monthly cycle.
It’s now that things become quiet and still, as we burrow down and begin to say goodbye to the old month in preparation for greeting a new—future–one.

It pays now to contemplate what part each of us individually play in the collective energy that resulted in violence. Where does the clash of ideas and/or ideologies lie within each of us individually?

And how can we withdraw the projection onto others of our shadow energies—the ones that lie hidden, unbeknownst to us, but that get projected out and reflected back to us in the form of another or others’ hurtful, hateful, or—worse yet—disinterested energies?

In short, what needs to be eclipsed in your life?

The upcoming Leo New Moon Solar Eclipse lands on the transiting North Node—like a giant arrow in the sky pointing toward the collective’s future—and is part of a grand fire trine between the Leo Sun & Moon, Mars, Uranus, & Saturn.

Meanwhile, retrograde Mercury in Virgo still opposes transiting Neptune—the planet of illusion, confusion, & delusion–making all things communication, transportation, local business, & sibling & near family-related potentially problematic. Jupiter’s once again approaching an opposition (exact on September 27) to transiting Uranus, as Mars forms a sextile to Jupiter, while Venus moves into a square to Uranian change-making energy.

WTF?

Jupiter opposed Uranus back on March 2, and carries an energy that seeks release from any limitations, be those “limitations” perceived accurately or not. And Mars sextile Jupiter, along with the grand fire trine, provides the impetus behind any action—the wind behind our sails, as they say…
The Leo New Moon is about courage. It takes courage to go out into the streets and peacefully protest what one deems to be bad, negative, evil, etc.

What it pays to remember, however, is that we have met the enemy and he is us!
The enemy is our collective shadow which, when we go boldly out to face it, helps us to withdraw such a projection. However, when we fight fire with fire in terms of physical violence, we lose any moral high ground, disrespect our desire for peace, and set wheels in motion that may not go in the direction we’d originally hoped.

Venus square Uranus is a fleeting energy, but one that’s waxing at this Leo New Moon Total Solar Eclipse into exact on August 24. There’s likely to be some sort of shock to one’s value system (if it hasn’t happened already!), or a sudden, unexpected event that, in the end, will be related to the need to tweak, adjust, rethink (Mercury’s still retrograde, remember!) something about one’s own value system…

Whenever sudden change occurs, it’s the external world telling us our inner energy needs adjustment. Uranus does not like stagnation, so when Venus squares the planet of thunderbolts and lightning, best to pay attention to what’s highlighted, as this is the area that needs some kind of change…

What is it that you value that needs some tweaking in the peace, harmony, & love realm: a relationship, your own creativity, something to do with finances?

Where do you hold on too tightly (Venus’s Taurus particularly dislikes change, while Libra is known to equivocate and avoid confrontations) to people, ideas, material things?

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow–Or Will It?

When I was a child, my mathematics & physics professor father told me about induction, or the theory that we humans believe the Sun will rise every day simply because that’s what we’ve experienced our entire lives.

However, “there’s no proof that the Sun will come up tomorrow,” he told me,explaining that history IS our only “proof,” not any scientific study.

What we’re being asked to do at this Leo New Moon Total Solar Eclipse is to have FAITH that the Sun—despite being blotted out in the sky for a total of 2 minutes & 40 seconds on August 21—will indeed not only become visible but also rise again tomorrow.

Where the eclipse occurs in our individual charts/lives is bound to carry the same message: Where do we doubt ourselves? In what way do we run scared when it APPEARS our “reality” is shifting? How can we express our true natures if there’s possibly not going to be any tomorrow?

These are thoughts likely to run through the mind—conscious or unconscious—of us all at the actual moments of the eclipse.

My suggestion? The two minutes and forty seconds of this eclipse is the time to meditate, pray, or whatever it is you can do to clear your mind of everything and simply tap into collective energy and balance it with peaceful calming energy of your own.

Together we are strong. The rallies this past week or two have proven that. Love triumphs over hate. Unfortunately, sometimes we need reminders as a collective to remain vigilant in protecting the rights of

ALL…

If not, we’re simply adding our own prejudices to collective energy…

What? Two Leo New Moons In One Month?

The first Leo New Moon on July 23 highlighted for us the fact that the zodiacal sign of Leo represents the highest potential manifestation of our most creative individual solar selves.

Seen now in retrospect, it’s our “I coulda been a contender!” energy that asked us to stand apart from the group and to shine our light as brightly as possible.

Why?

Because it is our birthright to do so! Often, however, early life experiences–including negative wounding and insecurities hung over from past lives—have left us fearful.

Fearful of what?

Criticism, judgment, rejection, abandonment, death—you name it, the list goes on…
You can be sure that whatever fear you resonate to is #1 on top of your list of what keeps you from shining as brightly as you can.

The universe, benign as always, presents us this month with a second Leo New Moon—a second chance to plant the seed that can blossom into your solar individuated self!

In other words, it’s simply the universe providing yet another opportunity to view your life from a slightly different perspective and to confirm a deeper faith in what you believe truly defines you and your own specialness.

Which of course gives us all—on either a conscious or subconscious level—a raison d’etre. Without that, the world becomes a dark and gloomy place.

Often, it’s the gloominess of our internal world projected out and onto others that creates our external environment…the key is to recognize that it’s our own internal gloom, resistance, or other negative energies that get expressed back to us by others…

We were tasked on July 23– and are tasked again now–because the universe is benign and has no vested interest in making anyone of us suffer—to face any internal darkness and show the courage to forge through it to the other side.

On a psychological level, this means through the integration of the conscious ego mind and the unconscious/subconscious portion of our psyches so that we can become whole, healthy, happy individuals who can then bring our solar individual gifts to the collective or the group.

AND that’s why it’s important to remember at this Leo New Moon Total Solar Eclipse that we ALL have the right to free speech, no matter how hateful it appears to be.

Still don’t get it?

Everyone is equal. Everyone has rights. Period. ‘Nuff said…

This King Must Die?

Eclipses have traditionally been about kings and leaders, not the “common folk,” as I pointed out in my August 7 Leo New Moon Partial Lunar Eclipse newsletter.

You may have heard that many astrologers predict that this eclipse foretells the demise of Donald J. Trump as president.

I cannot say if he will stay or go, and if the latter how long before he vacates the White House, but what I do know is that this eclipse will impact him strongly.
It’s on his Leo Ascendant, 12th House Mars in Leo, and natal fixed star of kings, Regulus, marking him as someone—born on a Sagittarius Full Moon lunar eclipse—destined to have his appearance affected in some way now.

Again, the tell-tale signs of public opinion shifts are there already, highlighted in particular by Trump’s seeming inability to speak out against those who demand the right to walk through the streets screaming their hatred for/at others. A good leader speaks for and to the majority, while providing equal platforms under the law for minorities as well. It pays to remember the definition of minority, as per Merriam Webster: “A group in society distinguished from, and less dominant than, the more numerous majority.”

Minority is neither good nor bad. It’s simply small(er.)

When a leader speaks out in favor of a minority, he aids that group, regardless of its intent. This CAN be considered the morally correct thing to do. However, when that minority seeks to destroy other minorities and/or the majority, a leader must speak out against—not the minority—but the minority’s message.
Failure to do so may in fact mean that the majority (made of up itself of several minorities) may “eclipse” the leader at the top of it all—in this case the one ultimately responsible for aiding and abetting hate speech.

And so, it remains to be seen whether the majority viewpoint in this case—that love trumps hate—“eclipses” that of the current Administration’s steadfast denial of facts and support of those who espouse hatred.

Either way one thing’s for sure: this king must (change or) die… 

Wash Away The Rain…

Every movement in the heavens is an opportunity for each of us within the collective to wake up and become more conscious. Those who resist the call of the heavens have their burdens to deal with, just as do those trying to proactively become more conscious…

The key is in the choices we make about how we interpret our own reactions around what seemingly happens to us and to begin to recognize that our own external reality is born of our own internal energies.

Life goes on, and we astrologers believe we hold a particular set of keys that can unlock how each of us (and our friends, clients, or those for whom we delineate charts) choose to deal with our own lives.

However, each individual life makes up a part of the collective, and that’s the lesson of what we’re seeing now…

Hold onto your hats for the Sun’s move into Virgo August 22, Saturn’s direct station August 25, and Jupiter’s move into Scorpio October 10, when life may begin to reflect what happens as expansion of the collective shadow’s even darker side begins to reflect back to us all…

“Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.”
~ Khalil Gibran

Here’s Chris Cornell’s acoustic version of Soundgarden’s
Black Hole Sun

Chris Cornell, Soundgarden

For those of a darker bent, here’s Soundgarden’s original
video version of the same song:

Black Hole Sun

“In my eyes, indisposed
In disguises no one knows
Hides the face, lies the snake
The sun in my disgrace

Boiling heat, summer stench
‘Neath the black the sky looks dead
Call my name through the cream
And I’ll hear you scream again

Black hole sun
Won’t you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won’t you come
Won’t you come (won’t you come)

Stuttering, cold and damp
Steal the warm wind tired friend
Times are gone for honest men
And sometimes far too long for snakes

In my shoes, a walking sleep
And my youth I pray to keep
Heaven sent hell away
No one sings like you anymore

Black hole sun
Won’t you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won’t you come
Won’t you come

Hang my head, drown my fear
Till you all just disappear
Black hole sun
Won’t you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won’t you come
Won’t you come…”

Slow Down, You’re Movin’ Too Fast…

The big astrological news you can use this week is the fact that the planet Mercury–representative of communication, siblings (and extended family such as aunts, uncles, & cousins), early childhood learning, local neighborhood & business, and transportation–stations retrograde on August 12…

All retrogrades happen when the planets in the sky—all but the two luminaries, the Sun & the Moon—periodically appear to move backward.

This turns out to be an optical illusion, however, similar to when two trains or cars are moving at the same rate of speed. When you look over from your train or car to the other, it appears that you’re both standing still…

So planetary retrograde periods are often times when we’re forced to slow down so that we may be drawn inward.

And, despite the hype you see online and in all of the astrology columns you may read, Mercury retrograde periods can be extremely useful once one learns its true meaning and how to best navigate these periods.
Mercury retrogrades occur for 21 days at a time, approximately 3-4 times per year.

When you add it all up, that’s a lot of time, right?

Mercury will station retrograde on August 12 at 11 degrees Virgo this time, and dip back into the fire sign of Leo on August 31. He’ll still be moving backward then until he stations direct once again on September 5 at 28 degrees Leo.

Now, what do we notice about that particular degree—28 degrees Leo?

If you guessed that this is the same degree of the upcoming August 21 total solar eclipse, you’re right!

What does this mean?

It means that this is what we call a “sensitized” point, especially since two days before Mercury’s station direct at that degree he’ll meet up with Mars, the god of war!

We’ll be talking more about that on August 17’s Karmic Evolution’s Astrologically Speaking radio show/podcast with my guest professional financial astrologer Mitchell Lewis (who recently held a webinar on the upcoming eclipse.) You can listen live at 11 a.m. PT, 2 p.m. ET here.

However, for now let’s stick to the basic meaning of all Mercury retrograde periods–and this one in particular.

Details, Schmeetails…

On a psychological level, when Mercury appears to stop in the heavens and move backward, it becomes a time when our logical, empirical, fact-based left-brain functions suspend themselves.

Why?

So that our right, creative, intuitive, visual, psychic & spiritual portions of our psyches may float up and into consciousness.

This is why so many astrologers put up big red flashing warning signs that say things like: “Oh no, Mercury’s retrograde—don’t sign contracts, don’t buy expensive items! Especially those related to communication like cell phones, computers, etc., or pricey ones like houses or cars.

This cautionary tone is not without merit. However, the reason is because–while our logical function is somewhat suspended at this time to allow our more intuitive & creative nature to emerge from the depths of our psyches–we may miss the finer print, also known as the details…

In other words, the portion of our brain that controls sweating the small stuff isn’t really all that sharp! But the portion that controls our creativity is front
andcenter during this period.

Erin Sullivan, from whose book Retrograde Planets I often quote, talks about the Mercury retrograde function as a time when what we’ve learned empirically (as in school, etc.) is allowed to sink down and become embedded in our psyches as true wisdom.

Meanwhile, the suspension of left brain functions allows what the psyche knows–the golden wisdom inherent within, the part buried within our subconscious or unconscious brain—to float up and into the conscious mind where it there becomes wisdom, too.

And so goes karma, and moving toward our highest potential in this lifetime if we choose to be aware and open to moving into a greater level of consciousness. 

Feel Before You Speak…

Mercury retrogrades this time in the sign of nitpicky, fussy, and uber-detail-oriented Virgo. You might think this negates any potential confusion of Mercury retrograde in general, as in “hey wait a minute, Mercury’s in Virgo–he can’t miss the details!”

Normally you might be right. However, this time Mercury’s station in Virgo will be opposite Neptune, the planet of illusion, confusion, and delusion. To say that communication in general may go awry would be an understatement!

What to do?

Feel your way into your communication with others. Intuit what needs to be said before you say it. Write your feelings down, play them on the piano, paint or photograph them into a picture, sing them in a song, sway with them to the rhythm of your body…or, better yet, take a nap and dream about them!

You may be surprised at how speaking less and imagining or visualizing more may help you get a better handle on what it is you mean—with less margin for misinterpretation by others!

Gettin’ Back To Basics…

In addition, it’s not so much the sign that Mercury retrogrades through that’s important—it’s the element, which in this case is earth.

Mercury’s been retrograding through earth signs all year, and will begin to shift backward into fire signs when he retrogrades again December 3, this time in Sagittarius, the sign of the archer.

His mission will change then, but for now he continues to remind us to take care of the practical details of our lives. Check your financial accounts. Make sure your will and insurance policies are up to date.

Virgo is also the sign of service and of health. This is an excellent time to get that annual checkup or, if you’ve already done that, to act on the advice of your doctor or other healthcare providers to get that colonoscopy or cardiac exam.

Virgo is associated with the concept that what worries the mind can also worry the body. Often this dis-ease may manifest in the digestive system and/or the gut, so any stomach or intestinal issues bear review right now.

Perhaps there’s something you can do differently to avoid that perky annoying bloating, acid reflux, or other issues that often plague our modern-day lives. Be of service to your body during this period by incorporating healthier daily or regular rituals into your routine, including diet, meditation, and exercise.

Mercury retrograde in Virgo doesn’t mean you can’t have an eye for the details. That’s the small picture. The bigger picture is to take care of the physical, concrete, tangible things necessary in life in order to be able to move forward anon and take care of the less tangible details that make up our lives.

These are the things that may seem mundane and boring, but that need to be foundationally in place to allow you to concentrate on your other stuff—you know, the stuff of life, that pursuit of life, liberty, & happiness about which our U.S. founding fathers spoke!

The more you can do that now, the less you have to worry about next month, next year, and down the line…

Fear Not! From Chaos Comes Clarity!

The keyword for Virgo energy is discernment. When we talk about Virgo energy, we know it’s clarity we’re after!

Virgo’s polar opposite, Pisces, ruled by the planet Neptune–and in traditional astrology by Jupiter—often may lack the type of discernment necessary to understand that it’s the details that make up any (or more) spiritually-inclined picture.

Mercury retrogrades through Virgo now, except for a brief backstroke into Leo from September 3-9, until he ingresses into Libra on September 29.

During the bulk of this period, we’re not only being asked to become more discerning by going back and reviewing what it is we can do to take care of our physical bodies and environment. We’re also urged to add healthier routines into our lives, and to consider being of greater humanitarian service to friends, family, strangers, and the world at large…

As part of accomplishing these goals, we’re tasked with revisiting any plans made or implemented since Mercury’s last retrograde period through (mostly) earthy Taurus between April 9 & May 3.

Doing so provides greater clarity for our forward movement. Every so often one must stop and smell the roses, so to speak, rather than continue to simply move forward.

Mercury retrograde periods are those times when review, rewrite, re-edit, re-analyze, re-assess, re-think, re-do prove not only profitable but necessary!

The usual caution is not to launch anything new during a Mercury retrograde period, unless it’s something you’ve been planning prior to the Mercury retrograde time.

As professional astrologer Michael Lutin said this past week on my Karmic Evolution’s Astrologically Speaking! radio show, we can’t always avoid doing things like signing contracts during Mercury retrograde periods.

So Mercury retrograde isn’t about living in fear; rather it’s about recognizing any lessons such periods have to teach us, according to Lutin.

“People want a simple answer to complex questions,” Lutin said. During Mercury retrograde periods, including this one, people may ask “should I sign the contract or not?”

“There’s nothing you can do about it when you’re forced to go forward at a time when it may not be prudent,” Lutin explained. “All you can do is see what is the lesson is in it…”

And later on note how such lessons can be very valuable over time…

“Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t,” he added. However, “Mercury retrograde says you have to hang loose about it.”

My advice?

Take Michael Lutin’s advice and hang loose—after all, it’s only 21 or so days before you’ll be back in the saddle and galloping forward once again!

Meanwhile, happy reviewing y’all!

P.S. Listen to Michael Lutin’s full August 10 interview on Karmic Evolution’s Astrologically Speaking here!

The Regeneration Cycle

The Sun moves from the shy watery self-protective sign of Cancer into the bold brash fiery sign of Leo on July 22, and is followed by the Leo New Moon on July 23…

   Meanwhile, the warrior god Mars made its ingress into Leo on July 20, paving the way for this month’s Leo New Moon to be quite a powerful energy!

   Powerful how, you ask?

   This Leo New Moon highlights the Leo archetype–and children, creativity, and romance become our prominent dominant energies.

   This Leonine inner child energy encompasses our ability to be un-self-consciously in the moment. In other words, it allows our most gregarious, magnanimous, heartfelt, proud, and family & children-oriented selves to take center stage.

   Shadow side Leo can manifest as an arrogant, aggressive, loud, blustery, and needy kind of “look at me, look at me!”energy, ever-desirous of praise and adulation.

   If we play our cards right (and Leos often love to play recreational games and sports!), we can recognize how this Leo New Moon asks us to plant seeds of creative self-expression without worrying what anybody else thinks—no matter how critical or judgmental they might be…

Don’t Hold Back!

When the Leo Sun meets the Leo Moon at 0-1 degrees–the very beginning of this zodiacal sign–it meets up also with warrior god Mars, which provides our monthly lunar seed-planting time with extra oomph!

   The loud, proud, and clear message at this Leo New Moon?

   That now–with the Sun in Leo until August 22 and Mars in Leo until September 5–it’s time to proactively plant new seeds that can blossom into our own solar, individual style of creative expression.

   Mars is about our personal will and our ability to express ourselves freely. High side Mars, regardless of the sign it’s transiting through or that it inhabits in your natal birth chart, acts to defend and protect those weaker and less able.

   Low side Mars carries a chip on her shoulder and believes everyone (and the world) owes her a living.

   Let’s cast our glance backward and ponder how we handled the energy of both Mars in Cancer between June 4 & July 20, and the Sun through Cancer from June 20 to July 22, shall we?

   Were you able to intuitively and sensitively protect and nurture those less able to take care of themselves while also practicing the art of receiving?

   Or was it all low side whininess, sulking, and/or hiding in your shell as your preferred method of expression due to your extreme and exquisitely sensitive vulnerability?

   Mars in Leo—and it is Mars’ role in general to support the Sun at all times—magnifies our energy and boosts our creative expression at this powerful Leo New Moon! We can put this energy to work best by allowing ourselves now to shine for the duration of the next month and beyond…

Flyin’ Up, No Ceiling, When We In Our Zone…

Is a child afraid to play? Or to engage in creative activities?

   Not if the child is allowed such freedom!

   This Leo New Moon calls us to remember what it was like when we were too young to have incorporated internally the external voices that may have influenced us negatively.

  Not only are we being called to allow ourselves to let loose and allow imaginations to soar—guided by intuition and creative impulses–we’re also reminded to be brave enough to lose any fear around the act of self-expression.

   How can we get back to that childlike state where we no longer fear judgment by others—or, worse yet, self-judgment—and let our inspired, intuitive selves loose?

   Simple! We get ourselves into a zone where we can create with the reckless abandon of a child!

   Picture that two or three-year-old child down on the floor finger painting. Bear in mind, it all looks like mud to you because he’s mixed so many colors together that now it’s all one big brown mess…

   You come along and say “wow, what are you making there?”

   And the child says: “Oh grandma, look—here’s the barn and the cow, and over there’s the deer in the woods—can you see it?”

   Now, you’d have to be cruel not to engage with this child, who hasn’t yet had his creativity sucked out of him or stifled by indoctrination into the world of “grown up behavior…”

   And you, the adult, say “why, yes, I can see it, that’s amazing!”

Courage Takes Heart

We tend to pooh-pooh this kind of creative self-expression as we get older, especially if we’ve had our solar, individuated, creative self stifled during our formative years. Often, we eventually learn to stifle these impulses ourselves.

   The transiting Leo North Node has been calling us—since the nodal shift on May 9—to rise up from the group and to no longer stay simply a cog in the wheel or identified solely with the collective.

   This Leo New Moon echoes the same message: that to become whole we must allow ourselves to develop into our own individuated, subjective, creative, solar selves. We get an additional boost from Mercury’s alignment with the Leo North Node, and its fire trine to Uranus, which can provide us with an outside-the-box brilliantly alternative set of creative ideas—if we let it!

   Also at this Leo New Moon, Jupiter–which stationed direct in Libra on June 9–waxes into yet another square with evolution-master Pluto. The last square was March 30, and this second square will be exact August 4…

   Pluto says: change or be changed! because the archetypal energy of the planet Pluto is at heart about transformation. However, it often takes courage to evolve and change…

   Jupiter, the planet of higher conscious expansion, also represents higher education, exposure to foreign cultures through long distance travel, religion, and law.

   Jupiter’s about the philosophies that we’ve grounded into our society’s laws, especially the western world’s Ten Commandments. Whether received from on high by Moses directly, or intuited by the archetypal hearts and minds of collective wo/mankind as it evolved into societal living–doesn’t matter.

Nowhere To Hide From Your Shadow…

Pluto is the master of hiding within our shadow, so as Jupiter approaches its square to Pluto, he’s asking us to take our fears out from under the rock and shine a light on them.

   Jupiter’s been in Libra since September 9, 2016, and we’ve watched the greater polarization of political parties, the rise in xenophobia, and backlash against immigrants and refugees in many western nations. Likewise, we’ve witnessed large scale terrorist events around the world due to clashing ideologies, as well…

   These have given rise to—and been prompted by—fear.

   Fear is a Pluto shadow side. When we fear we are dis-empowered. When we own our fear, and integrate it, we become empowered.

   And with Pluto, I always say, there’s no going back. You can never undo the day you stood up to the bully. Something inside of you snapped and you let yourself react in instinctive self-defense, and in that reaction your Mars—also ruled in traditional astrology by Pluto—became free…and dare I say it? EMPOWERED!

   Very difficult now to put Mars back in that cage.

   This Leo New Moon asks us to withdraw our fear, stand in our own individuated creative skins, and face the world proudly.

   It reminds us that it’s ok to get back into our “zone,” and to say “this is who I am, and this is what I’ve created, and if you don’t like it, fine, move along, but I’m going to pursue it, regardless, because this is part of who I really am…

Follow Your Heart

The T-square forming between Venus opposite Saturn square Chiron can make it tough to get back into this “zone” at this Leo New Moon. But it also reminds us that getting yourself into the “zone” in the first place requires letting go of conditional restrictions, and that doing so can bring healing…

   This Leo New Moon offers us the opportunity to go under–or rise above, if you will–the voices of others we’ve internalized on an ego level that’s widened the rift between this space where we can create something, and the “real, adult world.”

   To get back into that liminal and creative space, we can to allow ourselves to do some dreaming. We are all heroes in our imaginations precisely because imagination is an integral part of the psyche of each and every one of us who claims to be human.

   Mars conjoined to this Leo new Moon gives us energy, drive, and will, but still we must give ourselves permission…

   Permission for what?

   To free float for a while and simply allow our imaginations to go wild.…

   And please remember, creativity isn’t limited to what we narrowly define as the arts or the fine arts in this day and age!

   Whether we create something tangible, concrete, & physical, or simply something in our minds–whether it’s art, music, dance, or in the realm of the scientific, political, educational, philosophical, etc.—it doesn’t really matter!

   Remember, too, it doesn’t matter what happened a minute ago, and it won’t matter what happens twenty minutes from now. We already know that once those moments pass, the ego may kick in with its self-judgmental and self-critical assessment–but that’s another battle for another time.

   However, in the minutes in between, create that liminal space in your subconscious to allow your creative ideas to flow…

   At this Leo New Moon we’re called to plant, plant, plant our fun-loving individuated creative seeds of self, so we may blossom eventually into whole, happy, healthy adults–ones with our capability to freely and creatively express intact!

“Creativity is what helps me escape a lot of my inner demons.”

~ Demi Lovato

Here’s a great Justin Timberlake song/video that for me captures the inspiring flavor of this Leo New Moon!

Can’t Stop The Feeling

Justin Timberlake

“I got this feeling inside my bones

It goes electric wavy when I turn it on

All through my city, all through my home

We’re flying up, no ceiling, when we in our zone

I got that sunshine in my pocket

Got that good soul in my feet

I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops

I can’t take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally

Room on lock, the way we rock it, so don’t stop

And under the lights when everything goes

Nowhere to hide when I’m getting you close

When we move, well, you already know

So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine…

Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance

A feeling good, good, creeping up on you

So just dance, dance, dance, come on

All those things I shouldn’t do 

But you dance, dance, dance,

And ain’t mobody leaving soon so keep dancing

I can’t stop the feeling

So just dance, dance, dance

I can’t stop the feeling

So just dance, dance, dance

Ooh, it’s something magical

It’s in the air, it’s in my blood, it’s rushing on

I don’t need no reason, don’t need control

I fly so high, no celing, when I’m in my zone

Cause I got that sunshine in my pocket

Got that good soul in my feet

I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops

I can’t take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally

Room on lock, the way we rock it, so don’t stop…”

When You’re Weary, Feeling Small…

This Capricorn Full Moon @17/18 degrees Capricorn/Cancer reflects the light of the sensitive vulnerable Cancer Sun back onto the sterner more judgmental Capricorn Moon. In this way, as with all Full Moons, the Cancer Sun can “see” the Moon—and vice versa—because they are each in the other’s direct line of sight.  

   All Full Moons are 180-degree oppositions, and all oppositions are about relationship.

   Further, all Full Moons are times or release, the culmination of a cycle begun at the last New Moon–in this case, both the longer-term annual cycle since the Capricorn New Moon on December 29, 2016, and the shorter monthly July 23 Cancer New Moon cycle.

   Therefore, ALL Full Moons represent the opportunity for us to integrate polar opposite energies in order to create a whole, healthier relationship with ourselves, AND our chance to let go of whatever no longer serves to help us grow in consciousness.

   Adding to the intensity of this Capricorn Full Moon is the Moon’s alignment with powerhouse Pluto. Together, they bear down on the Cancer Sun as it moves into opposition to the god of the underworld.

   Immediately this tells us there are bigger themes at play during this lunation.      

The power and energy behind the Moon’s alignment with Pluto conspire to make the situation ripe for the Cancer Sun to feel oppressed, repressed, or quite “put upon,” to term it mildly.  

   The Sun’s beams reflected back to it by a harshly judgmental and potentially confrontational Capricorn Moon—given the addition of Pluto to this mix–may make us feel not only weary, but very, very small…

If You Need A Friend…

The Capricorn archetype is about achievement. How much can we achieve if we lie stuck in our fetal position, afraid to go out and meet any of life’s challenges?

   Capricorn is the sea-goat, who made his way from ocean to land–no small feat!–as part of the evolutionary process. Once on land, he didn’t stop there, but rather became the mountain goat who climbed to the top, surveyed the land, spied another mountain, and decided his next move would be to climb another mountain, of course!

   The drive to succeed lies within the Capricorn archetype. It’s when this personal drive for achievement becomes distorted and morphs into a lens through the Capricorn archetype judges those deemed lazy or lacking in ambition that we begin to see inflexibility develop.

   On the higher side, the Capricorn archetype encompasses authority as well because, after all, what’s the point of achieving success if one can’t give back through mentorship? Lower side energy wields power over others because this archetype deems those who haven’t achieved the same heights to be less than.

   Isn’t it better to mentor a sensitive, frightened, vulnerable person than to judge them for their sensitivities and vulnerabilities?

   It is this judgment the Capricorn Full Moon is asks us to jettison. Often, if we judge others, we’re probably particularly harsh judges of ourselves. Capricorn can sure-footedly keep his eye on the prize, but if he’s accomplished great heights by judging himself every step of the way, how sweet is this success at the end?

   It pays to remember that self-judgment doesn’t simply disappear when Capricorn arrives at the desired pinnacle of success…

When Pain Is All Around…

Pluto says: “change or be changed!” and he doesn’t fool around. The intensity of this lunation is evident through any kind of rigid opposition or angry confrontation the sensitive Cancer Sun has experienced, particularly since Mars opposed Pluto a week ago on July 2…

   Evolution is about survival of the fittest. But how can we survive when we’re facing down not only a “this-ain’t-no-fooling-around-get-back-to-work!” Capricorn Moon, but one coupled with the god of Hell?

   Any confrontations leading up to the Capricorn Full Moon July 8 at 9:07 pm PT & July 9 12:06 am ET likely have been necessary–on some level at least–for our personal evolution…

   And any external confrontation is bound to reveal that its origins stem from more an internal battle. Such a revelation, however–that our externally manifested confrontations or battles merely reveal to us with greater clarity our own internal conflicts–does not come without its confusions.

   Therefore, it pays for us to question our actions and reactions during the waxing Moon’s cycle since the Cancer New Moon on July 23 and now, and to ask ourselves whether we recognize that often it’s our small choices that can affect the larger ones we make down the line…

   All of us have deep dark secrets buried somewhere in our psyches’ subconscious. Pluto always represents the crap that we don’t even want to acknowledge, never mind turn around and face…

Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water

At this Capricorn Full Moon, we have a quincunx from Mars to Saturn. A quincunx is a 150-degree aspect that often indicates frustration. It can mirror the major themes involved from more prominent aspects such as the Capricorn Full Moon’s configuration with Pluto, and what to do with our sensitivity when it makes us want to run and hide from the world…

   What dilemmas did you find yourself dealing with when determining whether or not to face down your opposition and stand your ground, or to retreat–an option that often results in shame or blame?

   As Mars quincunxes Saturn, the frustration we may feel now about not having dealt with this previously as the storm was brewing, can leave us still helpless inside our hard little shell. Yet our vulnerability remains, as we hope and pray the intensity of the Capricorn Full Moon won’t crack us wide open and invade our private hiding space…

   There’s also still a waning quincunx between Jupiter and Neptune at this Capricorn Full Moon, which can cause us to think “it’s ok, I can keep hiding, everything will work out ok, I don’t have to face down my demons–no, no, no, somebody else will take care of it for me!”

   Such flights of escapist fantasy are a defense mechanism against the pressure of this Capricorn Full Moon/Pluto AND the Mars/Saturn quincunx. They lead us only to trade dealing with reality for an easier route and delay the necessity of our having to face and integrate into our psyches hardcore reality…

   Choosing the pie-in-the-sky escapist path is not one that will result in internal growth or greater consciousness…

Asset Or Liability?

The Cancer archetype is infamous for having built around its sensitive vulnerable self a hard shell, as impenetrable and impervious to life’s slights and arrows as possible. How tempting it will be to remain recoiled in the fetal position within that shell vs. coming out and protecting yourself not from but WITH our vulnerability is what’s it all about right now.

   How do we face down our fears around allowing ourselves to be made vulnerable without backing down from a confrontation?

   The kinds of hurts that Capricorn can impose upon its sensitive vulnerable Cancer opposite includes making her feel like exposing her vulnerabilities is weak when, in fact, the opposite is true.

   Here’s an idea: We can choose to wear our vulnerability as a mantle of protection. After all, it’s said that the meek will inherit the earth. No, I’m not getting religious on ya, simply pointing out that every archetype has a low and a high side: and the high side of Cancer IS its vulnerability…

   Now is our chance to switch up our vulnerability—formerly perceived as a liability—and to transform it into empowerment. In this way, we withdraw the projection of the Capricorn Moon—teamed now with the power of Pluto and glaring down upon the Cancer Sun…

   Being vulnerable is human. Without having a soft white underbelly somewhere, we wouldn’t be able to have the kind of compassion toward others’ soft white underbellies that the Cancer archetype possesses in spades…

Who’s Got The Power? You Do!

How can we integrate these two energies, particularly now as this Capricorn Full Moon conjoins with Pluto to bear down on the sensitive little Cancer Sun?

When Mars approached its exact opposition to Pluto on July 2, tension and opposition from others may have been at its height. Now that this energy has waned, but the Sun’s opposing Pluto and the Moon, we have the opportunity to see more clearly the real issues at hand.

   Where have we allowed ourselves to become disempowered rather than empowered?

   Where have we run and hidden from facing the pain? And how can we now create a safe enough container with strong enough boundaries that we don’t have to hide someplace to lick our wounds until its safe enough for us to venture back out and face the world?

   Cancer can show compassion to Capricorn, and Capricorn can mentor Cancer the same way a role model mentors a child. To be one’s own best parent does not mean you can take on a role for which there was no proper modeling, or make it up as you go along…

   Well, you can and success is possible in rare instances, but those who had no strong healthy role models in the early years often tend to overdo it by developing an uber-responsible nature accompanied by the requisite self-judgment! If this energy becomes internalized–whether from a harshly judgmental parental figure, or because one had to wing it and make it up as one went along–then now would be the time to let go of the harsher aspects in your psyche that comprise internal judgmental energies.

   In doing so, you’ll make space to welcome the sensitive vulnerable part of yourself into wholeness through self-compassion, acceptance, and encouragement. We all have the opportunity to become our own best mentors.

   Capricorn is about wisdom. When one becomes wise, one understands that which does not bend will break. Capricorn’s rigidity isn’t malleable enough to serve Cancer’s needs and so Cancer can teach Capricorn to develop greater flexibility, soften its judgmental nature, and accept one’s vulnerabilities as part of the whole picture without denigrating, castigating, or making oneself of others feel small.

   Whatever confrontation has been brewing over the past several weeks has come to a head and now needs to be released. Such release will provide more space for the Cancer archetype to incorporate into its psyche a kind, loving, true mentor while at the same time releasing one’s inability to go bravely out into the world unashamed and unafraid.

   At the same time, those more in the need of letting go of judgments, both internal and externally derived—can soften up a little, show themselves compassion, and through this energy receive unconditional love and acceptance from both themselves and others..

And that, my friends, is what makes us whole…

“Love brings you face to face with yourself.

It’s impossible to love another if you cannot love yourself.”

~ John Pierrokos

Here’s a kick-ass version of Paul Simon’s 

Bridge Over Troubled Water…

Stick with it & you’ll experience the kind of positive intensity

inherent in this month’s Capricorn Full Moon!

Bridge Over Troubled Water

“When you’re weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I’ll dry them all
I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you (ooo)
I’ll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Sail on silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
Oh, if you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind…”
~ Paul Simon

The Regeneration Cycle

“When you are compassionate with yourself, you trust in your soul, which you let guide your life. Your soul knows the geography of your destiny better than you do.” ~ John O’Donohue

The Sun moved into Cancer, the archetypal sign of the mother, on June 20-21 (depending on your time zone), suggesting we turn our attention this coming astrological month to all things mother-related.

Cancer is the archetype of the mother because it represents family, roots, tradition, security, nurturing, and the past. The Moon, which rules the sign of Cancer, is habitual and instinctual because it’s the Moon that records our earliest memories—for some of us as far back as in the womb or past lives—and embeds emotions around these memories into our psyches’ subconscious.

Shortly after the Sun’s movement into Cancer, the messenger god’s planet Mercury joined him on June 21 in this sensitive, intuitive sign. Thus, we’ve recently experienced a shift in energy from curious, verbal, social, and information-oriented Gemini to the more watery realm of emotions.

The 2-3 degree Cancer New Moon on June 23 adds yet another layer of extremely intuitive, exquisitely sensitive emotional energy to our lives right now because it calls us to remember that which is familiar from early life…

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

However, and here’s the rub: what’s comfortable because we recognize it from the past as habitual is not always what’s best for us!

For example, if our role model for parental nurturing/caring was uncaring, insensitive, cruel, angry, violent, or physically, verbally, emotionally, or mentally abusive, then we may have stored in our Moon’s memory banks the feeling that this behavior is comfortable solely because it is familiar…

And so, we may replay emotional patterns in our adult lives simply because we mistake what’s familiar with what’s good for us–or with that which we have become accustomed by habit to THINK makes us feel good.

It’s easy to see how recreating patterns in relationships and circumstances now that replay such emotional familiarities can trip us up by leading us to second-guess–or dismiss entirely–our current intuitions, instincts, and hunches.

What’s pretty fascinating about this is that this Cancer New Moon provides us all an opportunity for self-discovery and enlightenment about this watery emotional realm where feelings dominate and logic does not. This, in turn, allows us greater access into–and information about–our subconscious and its non-logical, non-linear efforts to provide us with the kind of security necessary to ensure our survival…

The opportunity is upon us now, during this Cancer New Moon, to plant seeds to replace familiar emotions that arise from external judgments or criticisms that long ago embedded themselves into our emotional fabric, and to replace these with a more compassionate self-love.

Doing so moves us away from a “familiarity breeds contempt” of the “oh, stupid me, why did I (do, say, think—fill in the blank) THAT again?” kind of energy and toward a more forgiving and unconditionally loving one…

If we allow it, we may be called back to childhood now to discover where we’d like to untangle some of our emotional confusion about what feels good simply because it’s familiar and what feels good because it makes the person we are NOW truly happy!

HOW MUCH SENSITIVITY IS TOO MUCH?

This Cancer New Moon reminds us that despite the often harshness of life—and harsh life may feel because of so much Cancer energy right now—Cancerian sensitivity can be a double-edged sword.

That’s because there’s an awfully fine line between being sensitive and compassionate to others, and hiding behind a sensitive, compassionate façade while nurturing others as a way to deflect attention from having our own vulnerabilities exposed.

This Cancer New Moon reminds us that it’s not our job to protect & nurture others ONLY—be they family or those we consider like family—and that it’s wise to engage in self-nurturing as well…

We can go on about the who, what, where, how, and when’s of whether our parents succeeded or failed us in the past—either mother, father, or both—or any other authority figures placed in charge of our earliest care, but soon enough the July 8-9 Capricorn Full Moon will bring us up short.
It’s then that we’ll be called to recognize that–no matter what early life was like–we must put on our big girl pants and have the guts to transform any emotional grievances from early life into newer, better, “memories.”

In short, this Cancer New Moon’s message is that it’s never too late to begin to nurture oneself and thereby effectively change the past–especially if such emotional nurturing was missing early on. And doing so does not take away from our energy to nurture and show compassion to others; rather, it strengthens our capacity to do so…

EMPOWER YOUR SENSE OF SELF-WORTH

Venus trines Pluto at this Cancer New Moon as well, providing us a leg up on empowering ourselves through the strengthening of our own sense of self-value.

However, Mars squares Jupiter on June 24, cautioning us not get too carried away– meaning don’t let the easy energy of Venus trine Pluto allow you to become disempowered by another or others. Don’t get caught up in fantasy by another’s alluringly attractive spell and thus become victim to it.
Rather, keep your eye on the prize—which is to increase the value of your own sense of self-compassion and worth. Nobody says you can’t have fun, but keep in mind that too much fantasy after the fact may find you crashing to earth in the most unpleasant of ways if you fly too close to the Sun!

And while we’re on the subject of fantasy, Jupiter–now direct again in Libra– quincunxes Neptune retrograde in Pisces. We become unsure about points of reality as we seek to merge with others or those we deem likeminded souls. But we must beware our projections—when something appears too good to be true, as they say, it usually is…

If we work it right, this can provide us the opportunity to bridge the gap between fantasy and reality in ways that allow us—rather than disappearing into illusory thinking—to formulate a plan to nurture ourselves through the expansion of self-compassion.
For, if we can’t compassionately nurture ourselves from within, how in the world can we muster the energy to compassionately nurture others?

LET THEM EAT CAKE?

By now, we all know that Marie Antoinette’s quote is something she never actually said, however this won’t stop me from using it here to make my point…
…which is that Saturn’s opposition to dwarf planet Ceres—representative of “sustenance”–is a tight one at this Cancer New Moon. This aspect occurs as the U.S. Senate is on the verge of trying to ram through legislation that will ultimately deprive 23 million Americans of medical coverage.

How is this related?

Well, Ceres’ resonance with “sustenance” translates into that which sustains or nourishes our lives, such as faith and–more literally–food. We literally cannot survive without the nourishment provided by Ceres, the goddess of the grain & harvest.
And, on more philosophical, emotional, and spiritual levels, a lack of faith certainly makes it harder to sustain and better understand one’s karmic journey through this lifetime…

At this Cancer New Moon, the political debate here in the U.S. is about passing legislation that—for the sake of reducing or eliminating (Saturn) federal government spending on healthcare—would including food-related assistance (Ceres.)
Such cuts will drastically and negatively affect the poor, disabled, families & children, and senior citizens the most, while providing greater tax relief to the top 1% of our citizenry. Hence, my use of the quote above…

KEEP THE FAITH, BABE…

The Cancer archetype associates itself heavily with the intuitive process and, whether one carries predominate Cancer energy in one’s birth chart or not, we all may find ourselves saying now “I don’t know how I know, I just KNOW.”
This Cancer New Moon reminds us that–although we may be uneasy if Jupiter’s direct motion results in greater polarization within partnerships and Neptune’s retrograde coincides with more confusion rather than less–that we must follow our intuition because, ultimately, it is our truest guide.

In order to do this, we must have faith.

Faith in our ability to trust ourselves to self-nurture FIRST and to clearly understand that this is neither selfish nor weak nor hard-hearted. Rather, it’s instrumentally necessary for you to develop stronger boundaries, to toughen up a little, and to become a mature and wise adult.

Again, this will be the message at the Capricorn Full Moon, so why not take advantage of figuring out how to get there now?

Think of this Cancer New Moon as a time of soul evolution and karmic healing. In that way, you’ll eventually be able to better intuit the boundary between corporeal and incorporeal, between fantasy and reality, between longing for and proactively making possible.
When we take responsibility for our own hurts and uber-sensitivities, we realize that each of us is human and each of us suffers in equal measure—for how can one put an equalizer on the suffering of others?

Don’t get caught in that trap! Rather, allow yourself to understand that everyone’s suffering is your suffering, yes, but that your suffering counts too. Healing yourself is what’s called for now, not with harsh self-criticism or judgement, but with the tender loving care synonymous to you holding yourself in your own arms like the infant or child you once were and feeling nothing but complete and total unconditional love—for yourself.
Only then, can you venture out and compassionately nurture others.
Namaste…

Recently deceased musician Chris Cornell was a Cancer Sun. His resonance to children & family is obvious in the video he filmed prior to his death on May 17, which was released on June 20, the United Nation’s “World Refugee Day.”

Watch “The Promise” here
(Note: the footage’s Cancerian emphasis on children & families & feel free to weep…): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEpwvvyrAJU

“If I had nothing to my name
But photographs of you
Rescued from the flame
That is all I would ever need
As long as I can read
What’s written on your face
The strength that shines behind your eyes
The hope and light that will never die
And one promise you made
One promise that always remains
No matter the price
A promise to survive
Persevere and thrive
As we’ve always done
And you said: “the poison in a kiss is the lie upon the lips”
Truer words were never shared
When I feel like lies are all I hear
I pull my memories near, the one thing they can’t take
And one promise you made
One promise that always remains
No matter the price
A promise to survive
Persevere and thrive
As we’ve always done
The books still open on the table
The bells still ringing in the air
The dreams still clinging to the pillow
The songs still singing in a prayer
Now my soul is stretching through the roots
To memories of you
Back through time and space
To carry home
The faces and the names
And photographs of you, rescued from the flames
One promise you made
One promise that always remains
No matter the price
A promise to survive
Persevere and thrive
And dare to rise once more
A promise to survive
Persevere and thrive
And fill the world with life
As we’ve always done…”

He Said, She Said, & The Truth

This Sagittarius Full Moon occurs between the sign that looks for meaning in life and the Gemini Sun, often associated with the more superficial collection and passing of information, rather than its larger contextual meaning.

This 18-19 degree Sagittarius Full Moon reflects back to the Gemini Sun its own propensity to dispense with meaning or to myopically focus on bits and pieces of information that, taken individually, may not really make much sense.

If anything, this Sagittarius Full Moon reminds us that meaning is important…

Our attention is called now to whether we act on isolated pieces of information or gather them together, run them through an analytical process, and determine a conclusive bigger picture.  

   It was therefore fascinating to hear yesterday’s testimony by James Comey, the former FBI Director, to the U.S. Senate Intelligence committee, focus on individual notes made immediately following several different conversations with the U.S. President (read: Gemini Sun.)

The Senate committee’s attempt to determine whether Comey was fired by the president because he caused Trump concern with his pesky FBI investigation into whether Trump’s election campaign staff aided Russian election tampering represents the bigger picture (read: Sadge Moon.)

Fascinating also to note that this Sagittarius Full Moon falls very close to the current U.S. president’s natal Gemini Sun/Sagittarius Moon, and that he himself was born under a Sagittarius Full Moon.

Shadow On The Sun 

The 18-19 degree Sagittarius Moon is a few hours away from its monthly reunion with Saturn at this Sagittarius Full Moon, while the Sun is waxing toward an opposition with the Lord of Karma, due to become exact June 15.

The configuration of Saturn in Sagittarius into this lunation portends less of a happy-go-lucky, glass-is-always-half-full optimism, and infuses into it a more solemn, somber, serious, responsible tone.

At the same time, the Sadge Moon semi-sextiles Pluto and the Sun quincunxes the dark lord of the underworld, injecting an element of empowerment or disempowerment—a.k.a. “power struggles”—into this Sagittarius Full Moon scenario.

It’s never easy bringing what’s buried in the subconscious up and into consciousness, and the Moon’s semi-sextile and Sun’s quincunx to Pluto at this Sagittarius Full Moon indicates there will be at least a minor struggle to do so…

Resistance is always futile, according to Pluto, as he seeks to help us uncover the nuggets of pure gold buried within our subconscious and about which our conscious mind is unaware.

While the conscious portion of our psyche may have caught glimpses of these buried treasures, it most likely turned away in horror or fear because it did not like what it saw. But it saw, most likely, only the tip of the iceberg and through the judgmental lens of Saturn. Taking away the judgment is always what’s called for when we try to benefit from astrological insight.   

At the same time, both the Sun and Moon are past their exact mutable squares to Neptune but the energy lingers still and is worth a mention. The separating squares from the two luminaries can always be interpreted as our capability to fall back into victim or martyr mentality…

Put another way, these separating squares to Neptune may represent the need for some of us to declare ourselves winners or losers (the latter a favorite Trump word) in the larger scheme of things.

These separating squares also ask us to discern where we may previously NOT have had all the information necessary to draw a substantial, fact-based conclusion.

Likewise, we may realize at this Sagittarius Full Moon where we might be guilty of having become overly excited about what we’ve just learned, and made public information that should have remained private.

These “loose lips sink ships” pronouncements of disparate pieces of information highlight details, but in doing so obscure the fact that focusing myopically on one or two details risks distorting their meaning as part of a greater whole…  

Either way, it’s not hard to imagine that we’re all—in one way or another—searching now for the truth.

Personal Planets’ Changing Of The Guard

Mars moved into the sign of Cancer on June 4, where it swims now in more intuitive, but extremely sensitive water until July 20, when it leaps forward into the sign of Leo.

Many astrologers might say Mars in the sign of Cancer is weakened because it’s unable or unwilling–because of its perceived vulnerability–to express itself clearly in order to get its needs met.

This can result in passive aggressive behavior or moodiness.

This astrologer believes that any planet in any sign can manifest on its higher level if we choose to follow a higher path. For that reason, if we’re striving to become more conscious, we can understand that Mars–as a proactive energy–can choose to channel the intuitive deep gut-level knowing of this water sign in a positive way.

It pays for us to be mindful of the warrior god Mar’s uber-sensitivity in the sign of Cancer and its capability to retreat into its shell when it feels hurt or wronged. A higher side manifestation while Mars transits Cancer is to utilize its proactive energy to become more intuitive, rather than seething with a rage you may feel reluctant to express…

Channeling such energy into music, dance, meditation, swimming/exercise, cooking, art, drumming, chanting, or simple prayer is what’s likely to satisfy now. Similarly, in Cancer–the sign of family, roots, tradition, emotional security, and the past—Mars’ ability to proactively express your own sensitivity, nurturing, and love is the way to go…think of it as “proactive nurturing!”  

Watch out for allowing any grievances to fester however, and try not to take everything too personally! Mars in Cancer at this Sagittarius Full Moon asks us to intuit our way so we may channel our gut level knowing about that which we truly believe, and not just that which others tell us.

Likewise, Venus entered its own sign of Taurus, and Mercury its own sign of Gemini on June 6. Both these planets are very comfortable in their own territory, so to speak.

Mars sextiles Venus, newly in her own physical but stubbornly plodding sign of Taurus, at this Sagittarius Full Moon, providing the opportunity for Venus in   Taurus to ask us to check in with our bodies: Does it feel right, does it give us pleasure? Do your philosophies and belief systems jibe with what’s going on in your body right now?

Also, remember, what worries the mind worries the body, even though Mercury in Gemini, a sign the messenger god rules, is a lot more comfortable here. On one hand, this energy can make us more cognizant more quickly, or it can fall prey to gossip (as the speaker or the subject) and to jumping too fast to a conclusion before all the evidence is in.

Jupiter Direct In Libra:
Polarization Or Unification?

Finally, Jupiter direct in the sign of Libra calls us back to the fact that inherent in our difficulty to conclude larger meaning out of smaller pieces of information is the fact that Jupiter is THE planet of expansion.

What does that mean exactly?

Well, in the sign of Libra, Jupiter’s expansive quality can go either way. In other words, it may signify the expansion of partnerships comprised of equality, fairness, harmony, and balance, as well as advocate and emphasize compromise and open-minded calm debate over conflict and anger.

However, Jupiter in Libra might also expand polarization of partnerships through conflict.

Now that Jupiter will move forward again hard on the heels of the Sagittarius Full Moon, the question becomes: are we moving toward increased polarization based on taking bits and pieces of information out of context? Or are we mindful that the way forward is through the Libran high side of negotiation and compromise–often more focused on listening—which is far more likely to result in peace?   

James Comey’s testimony yesterday was a clear example of Jupiter’s impending station because it highlights for us a way to rise above polarizing platitudes to join together in unity as people of one nation aligned against the information-manipulating efforts of another.

Anything less than an effort to unify—and we see precisely the opposite going on right now in the Middle East vis-à-vis Trump Administration-driven efforts to continue to widen the divide between Saudi Arabia and Iran—leaves us fractured.

And when we are less than wholly unified it leaves us far more open to further domestic attack…

Who’s Truth Is Truer?

Will we take the bait? This is a question each of us must answer in our own individual lives. The macrocosm is the collective, and our individual energies make up the collective. When we are unconscious, we feed the collective unconsciousness and then potentially become victim or prey to its darker side.

The alternative, however, is that consciousness is always about integration and unification. However, which way you want to go is always a matter of your own free will, a.k.a, choice…

As Jupiter gathers steam in Libra between now and October 10 when it enters the sign of Scorpio, we may ask ourselves what’s expanding in our world? Is it polarization or is it unification? That’s the question worth pondering now…

Getting clear on what your soul actually needs to be truly happy is the goal of astrological analysis. Yes, we can take a myopic short term look at our lives and ask what’s gonna happen next year—will I find the right career, fall in love and/or marry the right person, have children, be—in short—successful?

But the ego’s definition of success often differs from the soul’s definition. How do we bring these two into alignment?

We are being called at this Sagittarius Full Moon and Jupiter’s station direct in the sign of equality, harmony, & beauty, to understand that the opportunity is there for us to bridge this gap, if only…

If only what?

If only we can clear the pathway and channel to our higher divinely-inspired selves and the authentic voices of our soul can we abolish confusion and connect more confidently.

The axiom “he said, she said, and then there’s the truth” is what is under assault right now. If we’re bogged down with “he said this, she said that, and then he wanted to and then she did, blah blah blah,” then we KNOW must look upward to see the bigger picture.

Which facts are actually factual and which ones are not?

 To answer this question, the Sagittarius Full Moon says: have the guts to go deep, slowly and carefully—there is no rush!—and come up with your soul’s own answers. These are the only ones that are right for you…