Saturn in Pisces: Welcome to the Great Resignation

As of 7:35 am Central Standard Time, Saturn has exited out of Aquarius and made His ingress into the Mutable Waters of Pisces. There are profound energetic shifts any time a planet transits into a new sign, but this is especially true of the outer planets of our solar system, which move at a much slower rate than the personal planets closer to the Sun. And given the fact that we have the heavyweight of Pluto also changing signs later in the month (more on that in a subsequent post), March 2023 is a Cosmic Green Light to the activation of sweeping changes / structural overhaul that will affect us collectively and individually.

Hail and Welcome, Powers of Air: Tomorrow’s Gemini Solar Eclipse/New Moon

Tomorrow morning’s Solar Eclipse (5:53 a.m. Central Daylight Time) at 19° of Gemini is North Node-oriented, calling out a major energy that we should all collectively be evolving towards. In this case, with Venus and Mars in sensitive Cancer forming a trine to expansive Jupiter in mystical Pisces, we are invited to discover how what we communicate can serve the purpose of a Higher Truth. Mercury Retrograde at 20° Gemini, right on top of this eclipse and New Moon energy, asks us to discard long-held and limiting “shadow” beliefs about the world and our role in it.

Seeking Stability: The Astrology of May 2019

I apologize for the tardy post, as we’re already one week into the month, but I’ve been reeling in shock over the untimely death of the mother of a dear friend from early childhood. Actually, the death energy ties into an astrological energetic current I’ll be highlighting in my planetary activity overview for the month. Let’s jump right into it.

Eventual Clarity: The Astrology of April 2019

Overview

The first half of April will still feel like a Piscean hangover from March.

Manifestation Magic: The Astrology of January 2019

Overview

The glyph for Capricorn

Happy New Year, gentle reader! January is one of the best/most positively powerful months of 2019. Its firepower, evident from a powerful stellium of five planets in Capricorn at the time of the Capricorn New Moon/Partial Solar Eclipse the night of January 5th, builds the framework for the triple super conjunction of Saturn-Jupiter-Pluto in Capricorn that will occur in January of 2020. Capricorn’s ruling planet, stable and serious Saturn, tests the mettle of our projects and goals to determine their worth for implementation (should we even bother?) and chances of long-term viability (to reap major rewards for work well done over the long haul). New Year’s Day, the Capricorn New Moon/Partial Solar Eclipse on January 5, and the conjunction between the Sun and Pluto in Capricorn on January 11 are what I’m calling the three most crucial Power Days of the Month, whose energies you would be well advised to capitalize upon to execute your goals.

We will all be feeling motivated to push forward and excel, thanks to the drive of fiery Mars rejoicing at having entered His home sign of Aries on New Year’s Eve, 2018. And once electrifying Uranus stations Direct in the last degree of Aries on the afternoon of January 6, ALL OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM’S PLANETS WILL BE MOVING DIRECT UNTIL THE FIRST WEEK OF MARCH. THIS IS THE MOST AUSPICIOUS WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR: BE LIKE THE CAPRICORN GOAT AND SCALE NEW HEIGHTS!

Time Out: The Astrology of December 2018

Overview

December highlights Elemental opposition between Fire and Water, and that translates, astrologically, into a severe square between between Sagittarian Fire planets (at the time of this writing, I’m referring to the Sun and Jupiter) and Piscean Water (Mars, Neptune—Pisces’ ruler—and Retrograde Chiron) that will serve as the dominant energetic pattern for most of the month. We also have the cosmic paradox of fiery, ego-identified and assertive Mars, the ruler of Aries, unhappily slogging His way through the Neptune-ruled Piscean star-soup every day this month until the night of New Year’s Eve, when fireworks truly begin to ring in the New Year with a bang as Mars will be entering His home sign of Aries. But for the first 30 days of the month, alas, Mars is skewered by Neptune’s trident, floundering in confusion, low energy levels (possibly even low libido), and even physical sickness. (I’m actually combatting pneumonia as I type these words; I was diagnosed with it on Thursday and am now in Major Arcana Hermit mode at home.) Mars in Pisces loses impulse and direction.

Adding to the Watery Elemental force is the fact that the month begins with Retrograde Mercury having backed into Scorpio’s harsh currents on December 1, and on December 2, the first night of Hanukkah, beguiling Venus also dips back into the familiar waters of Scorpio. So much of the energy will feel exactly like it did during Venus’ protracted Retrograde period in Scorpio (October 5-November 16), and now with Mercury’s analytical focus shining a spotlight on these dark waters, we’re going to be given remedial lessons on power dynamics in relationships, the abuse of power, sexual abuse and trauma, obsessiveness and jealousy/possessiveness, and what it means to assert one’s (sexual) autonomy. This is Underworld terrain, and its concerns very much go against the grain of the commercially enforced cheerfulness marketed to us this time of year for the holidays.

And, one more prominent note on the Fire-Water opposition, this month will bring us a Fiery New Moon (in Sagittarius, early in the morning on December 7) and a Watery Full Moon (on December 22 in Cancer, the Sign ruled by the Moon). So much of this push-pull dynamic and the Sagittarian desire for real-world expansion and adventure contrasted with the Piscean pull towards cultivating a rich inner life translates into moving. Very. Slowly. It’s deliberate. The Cosmos is asking us to sit quietly with what we perceive to be setbacks in the “real world.” For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere getting ready to welcome the official start of Winter at the Winter Solstice on the 21st, our task, as much as we may not like it, is to follow the pattern of Nature and take a cosmic Time Out. Slow down. Reflect. Dream. Build your emotional foundation. Hibernate. Act slowly and steadily. Set your intentions/do your goal-setting at the time of the Sagittarius New Moon, but allow your intentions to germinate in the garden of your soul. Don’t put plans into action until the very last day of the month, when Mars breaks free from His Piscean prison and announces it’s all systems GO as He bursts headlong into the Cardinal Fire of Aries and is home again. It will be an amazing way to welcome 2019!

Shift Happens: The Astrology of November 2018

This month we have no less than 7 planetary bodies dramatically changing signs and affecting the energy patterns of the Collective Consciousness, and as of the time of this writing, November 6 (mid-term Election Day in the United States: fellow Americans, I hope you voted!), two of them will be set in motion by day’s end with effects to be felt for the next 12-18 months. Let’s just jump right into it.

Please note all times given for planetary transits reflect Central Standard Time in the U.S. Please adjust for your time zones accordingly!

My Experiences at UAC 2018: Part 4 & Epilogue

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

“He went like one that hath been stunn’d

And is of sense forlorn:

A sadder and a wiser man

He rose the morrow morn.”

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (lines 623-626)

The atmosphere in the Marriott Magnificent Mile hotel conference room where Dutch astrologer Karen Hamaker-Zondag taught her United Astrology Conference 2018 post-conference workshop on May 30, 2018, definitely felt gloomy and funereal. In many ways, the dimly lit and shockingly cold space would be a fitting Plutonian environment for delving deeply (six hours’ worth of learning in a single sitting) on the subject of “What Do You Really Want with Your 8^th House and Pluto?”

My Experiences at UAC 2018: Part 3

All of the amazing concurrently running astrology workshops and classes comprising the 9^th United Astrology Conference, recently held here in Chicago from May 23 to May 30 at the Marriott Magnificent Mile hotel on Michigan Avenue, definitely made it hard for me to choose which world-class teacher’s talk I would attend at any of the time slots for each day. At times I wanted a truly trans-historical, “big picture” perspective on the Cosmic Intelligences at work in all of our lives, while at other times my Virgo Sun Sign made me want to take a more granular view of planetary energies, focusing on present or imminent planetary transits. And while so many of my fellow Americans were planning on celebrating the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 28, through the time-honored tradition of outdoor grilling and family barbeques, the fires I wanted to zero in on instead were those of “Mars Transits and the Mars Cycle,” my first class of the day, which was taught by astrologer Donna Van Toen.

 

My Experiences at UAC 2018: Part 2

The main conference days of UAC 2018 were Friday, May 25 through Tuesday, May 29, though I also elected to participate in Karen Hamaker-Zondag’s 6-hour-long post-conference workshop on May 30 on the subject of the 8^th House. These glorious days of intense learning, fellowship, socializing (I organized a small-group dinner outing to Greek Town for out-of-state conference attendees the night of Sunday, May 27) and partying (the Chicago “Roaring Twenties”-themed jazz party and silent auction on Saturday the 26^thwas lots of fun) were definitely presided over by Airy and Watery Elemental forces.