ILLUMINATIONS

 

There is a light in the corner of your eye where your blind spot use to be and you can’t really see where the illumination is coming from or its shape but you can feel that it’s changing the landscape and a lot of things that use to take a lot of space have turned to ashes and their meaning is now part of the blackness of the void inside your pupil giving you clear sight. Time has become a strange pond on which you float face down while fishing for clues in the depths of the hypnotizing indigo nights and tentacular oracles reaches up and you can somehow breath underwater and dialogue with the creature who resides here opalescent pearls for eyes shining brightly from its hiding spot. Visions are shaping themselves into rocks in the palm of your hands which you leave behind as an offering to your future self who has walk this path since eternity and is watching from a different vantage point.

 

MERCURY CAZIMI PURGE

We have about 9 days left of this Mercury retrograde in Scorpio. Monday begins with Mercury conjunct the Sun which is always an important part of the Mercury retrograde cycle. This conjunction/cazimi/transit,  is happening in one of the most fixated part of the zodiac pulverizing long held ”materials” connected to the Scorpio house in your birth chart. Whatever emotional raking Mercury has been doing, it’s taking place at the depth of your being and most likely connected to things that are deeply ingrained, solidified, calcified. Whatever Mercury has been stirring up for you in the past few weeks, whatever has been on your mind, whatever type of process or shedding has been taking place, you will now be able to start  integrating these realizations more clearly.  It doesn’t mean however that we are completely out of the swamps, but your bullshit radar is tuned on high, and you can see right through artificial niceties in others and detrimental patterns in yourself. This Mercury retrograde in Scorpio is zooming in on weaknesses contained in our thought patterns that throws us out for a loop or doesn’t serve us well. Other people who are not willing to go there with us might be left behind as we renew ourselves in these authentic waters. It’s an excellent season to work with your fears, the ones that seem to lurk just behind your conscious awareness, and have an honest conversation with them while purging what keeps you in a sort of detrimental auto-pilot dialogue with your ghosts.

FULL MOON IN TAURUS: FULL STEAM

The Full Moon in Taurus rises Tuesday morning (8:36am EST) and like a giant sigh of relief, soothes our body into maximum relaxation, amidst the deep and sensitive churning of Scorpio season. With the even bigger tidal shifts happening thanks to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, this Full Moon acts like a calming balm and roots us down into the essential. A good day for body work, healthy sustaining food, hiking in nature, and for simplifying what has become overly complicated.

Venus in Sagittarius rules this Full Moon and is applying to a square with Neptune in Pisces (exact Thursday, Nov 14) while Mars in Libra sextile Jupiter in Sagittarius at the time of the Full Moon giving off a lot of romantic and philosophical steam. We could find ourselves getting eager about an idea, a vision, a creative project, and there could be an excitable and enthusiastic momentum colouring our interactions. This optimistic outlook could in turn bring new opportunities since there is a tendency with these aspects to have faith and to trust that everything will work out. We might be tempted to take bigger risks than usual and this has the potential to pay off.

The Moon enters Gemini early Wednesday morning (5:15am EST) shining her light on the current Mercury retrograde as the day begins with Mercury forming a sextile to Saturn. This supportive aspect can help us separate the wheat from the chaff and delineate our ideas and goals in practical ways. We start to see the tangible shapes of recent revelations and visions and how they can serve our material reality. Wednesday evening, Mercury trine Neptune in Pisces plunging us again into a tide of inner sensations. We could feel overwhelmed by indescribable moods and imagery. Enjoy this aspect for what it is, and go see a movie, create, listen to music, write poetry, lose your footing without getting anxious about it. Get out of your own way and let the sensations take over without trying to analyze them.

Thursday has a similar vibe as Venus in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces and the Moon in Gemini oppose Venus and Jupiter in Sagittarius; big picture ideas about life and how we want it to be, versus detailed and realistic analysis of the practicalities that makes our existence possible collide, but there is space for both modalities. It could feel like things are not moving fast enough or moving too fast, and there is an underlying agitation about all the details of our existence, trying to form them into a consistent whole to match our vision while being overwhelmed by the impossibility of the task.

The Moon enters her home sign of Cancer Friday morning (11:16am EST) and will be here all weekend but void for most of the day on Sunday until she enters Leo (16:56 EST). Its a good weekend for integrating things as oppose to taking in new information, sitting with your emotional body (whatever that means) and assimilating all the juicy nutrients from the freshly raked soil. It’s a somewhat ”watery” weekend so bring a rain coat and your compassionate ear to meet the brokenness of the world.

 

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
-Søren Kierkegaard

 

 

 

 

SOLVE ET COAGULA

Threads from the past are weaving themselves into the current fabric. Pulling out new strings to make space for old ones, adding to a tapestry that keeps revealing archaic shapes and ancient stories. The tension created by this weaving/unweaving weakens unsustainable narratives contained in the darkened fabric. Invisible hands dictate unknown yet eternal connections while the replicas get discarded. Holes and unfinished sections disclose clashing patterns with faded colours and missing links. After an honest review of primordial memories, a space will be created for unborn depictions to arise. For now a dim light illuminates distorted shadows, ghostly threads and changing colours in a labyrhthn of knots. Misleading synchronicities and insubstantial lies confuse the seeking eyes in search of the golden threads. Fears threatens the patterning, and discrimination must be taken in this part of the creative process; Looking backward to understand the original composition being birthed out of the void while keeping enough tension for the weaving ahead. An empty mind trusting the sensations moves with the flow.

CONTAINMENT
The week begins with some contradictions as the First Quarter Moon takes place in the sign of Aquarius early Monday morning. The Sun in Scorpio highlights the deeply felt undercurrents and powers that regulate much of our lives and connections, while the Moon in Aquarius is busy separating herself from the heard, feeling rather alienated by all the intensity. There will be plenty of momentum and objectivity available on Monday and Tuesday to allow us to get back on track with some of our goals, while still being fuelled by our deeply felt insights.

Mars in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn to begin the week (exact Tuesday 5:21am EST), and this will require conscious handling for best results. Until now, Mars in Libra has been calling for diplomacy and balance within our relationships. However, there is a need to release some tension that has been building up while powerful libidinal dynamics and regenerative currents have been kept under pressure. Great aspect for heavy work or situations that requires focus and exertion, but not so great for getting caught up in power struggles and ultimatums with others. Domineering or uncompromising attitude will bring more trouble than its worth. Best to find pro-active, physical and creative outlets to release tension this week.

DREAMING THE DREAM
The Moon enters Pisces Tuesday evening (18:08 EST) doubling on the ”Watery” and impressionistic undercurrents, bringing poetic colours to the middle of the week. Saturn is also applying to sextile Neptune in Pisces (exact on Friday 21:46EST) for one last time this year.

Like the hands of Fate at work, reality is manifesting just as we imagine it. Saturn sextile Neptune is a highly visionary aspect that helps birthing new shapes and ideas that have been gestating for a long time. You could start seeing the results of all the hard work you have put into your thought processes, and how this affects your reality. Wednesday and Thursday contains a good dose of faithful optimism that supports new levels of understandings but also, totally new realities. Conscious acknowledgements of how your visionary impulses is shaping your world could bring renewed trust in your creative flow. Good mental posturing is essential at this time if we are to enjoy these ephemeral insights that bring life changing results. Keep your fingers on the pulse and stay blessed.

FEELING RED
The Moon enters Aries Friday morning (6:49am EST) and will be here all weekend until Sunday evening when she enters Taurus (exact at 18:17 EST).

The weekend contains a mixed bag of optimistic impulses and confronting limitations. Desires could feel thwarted by circumstances without easy outlet. Mars in Libra ruling the Moon in Aries sees us vacillating between compromise and assertion, frustration and catharsis. Mercury retrograde sextile Pluto on Saturday night could bring old information and stories to light that changes an equation. We could feel impatient to ”get to the point” but this is simply not an option right now. Conversations will continue to feel deeply personal and revelatory with Mercury still moving backward in the Scorpionic swamps, but it could be hard to differentiate the many layers presenting themselves to you at this time. Intuition and mind could be working at cross purpose, and its best to be an observer without judgment at this time. You could still be missing some important pieces of the whole picture, and only patience and time will provide the clues.

 

Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood.

Friedrich Nietzsche

 

 

 

TURNING BLUE

Why are you lying
I’m not lying

☿

TRUSTING THE PROCESS 

Underneath the superficial and glamourized reflections, a deep rumble threatens to break the status quo. Electrifying currents stirs the instinct awake and long buried sparks rise into presence. Revealing a soft interior, your heart open as a rebellion, displaying wounds like war paint, you step into the circle. The light fades from the landscape and you are left with the luminescence rising from this new found flesh. Glow in the dark powders fall like ashes around your body who is invisible yet eternally birthing. True power lies here; in this circle of cycles and the ability to surrender to it. Every moment dying – every moment renewed. The experience is total. Are you covered in deadly poisons or beautiful jewels, precious stones or cursed objects? Difficult to tell them apart in this liminal space. While night spreads her wings across the land, you stalk your own shadows in search of Fire.

Uranus oppose the New Moon in Scorpio to begin the week, and offers momentum to enter this New Lunar cycle with a renewed vision. Some answers might come from understanding our past and our lineage, but this is also call into presence and embodiment. Uranus is the spell breaker, the liberator. Uranus opposing the New Moon is a wake up call to exorcise old fixated patterns, finding more spaciousness, freedom, and creativity in the process.

”It’s an invitation to us in reality to lean into sensation not as a doorway to the catastrophic, but as our soul anchor to the present moment, to the here and now, what we’re feeling as leaning into the body, starting somatic therapy, feeling those pangs of hunger, lust, and panic as indications that nature and culture are both trying to reclaim their right to sing their songs to us and through us. It’s no so much a choice between sameness and switch, as it is about flexibility and response, and seeds of beauty and exquisite delight are created in the most disorienting places.”  – Nate Speare from @mythopoetic_astrology

 

MERCURY Rx IN SCORPIO: THE CONTROL ROOM

On Thursday October 31st, Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio (11:33am EDT)  after a conjunction with Venus foreshadowing (amongst other things) a revision of our desire nature, our attraction, our relationship to relationships, beauty and pleasure. However this won’t be the only themes under revisions during Mercruy’s retrograde time. Look to the house where Scorpio sits in your chart for a more precise idea of where this house cleaning is taking place.

Something that emerged prematurely will need more maceration time than expected. In the excitement of a new idea or discovery you might of forgotten some important details. Like the birth of a premature child, a period of incubation is necessary. Before seeing the world in all its confronting glory, this child, this idea, this vision, this connection, must build enough resiliency to withstand the tests of reality. Old stubborned skeletons will first need to be dislodged to make space for a new protege. Intuition must be sharpened without overthinking the process. Old habits die hard as they say.

VENUS IN SAGITTARIUS

On her favourite day, Venus enters Sagittarius (Friday 16:25 EDT).

On the archer’s territory, Venus sheds her deep velvety magnetizing gowns for something much more light-hearted. The appeal here is for the bright bond fires of potentiality and the joys found in spaciousness. An image or a map that had recently been polished to the point of reflecting a path is getting oxidized by the ambient desert winds. Amnesia sets in as we enter a vast foreign landscape and our gaze shifts on the distant horizon and all the promises that it holds. Venus will be in Sagittarius until November 25th.

 

LUNAR RYTHMS

The week begins with the New Moon in Scorpio. On Tuesday morning, the Moon in Scorpio  exchanges secrets with Mercury and Venus before entering Sagittarius at 17:55 EDT Tuesday evening. The Moon moves through Sagittarius on Wednesday and will square Neptune in Pisces while Mercury and Venus perfect their conjunction. Thursday, the Moon in Sagittarius meets up with Jupiter an hour before Mercury turns retrograde. Wednesday and Thursday holds much excitement and it could feel like you are on the verge of some sort of breakthrough. Mid-week is great for renewed faith and optimism directed towards your current projects. There is a lot of momentum and excitement coming up this week even though Mercury is slowing down and stationing retrograde. Prepare to be bombarded with opportunities to extend your reach much further than originally anticipated. It’s a good time to say yes to what is happening to you, while keeping in mind that Mercury retrograde for the next few weeks will demand a careful analysis of what is being initiate at this time. The Moon will be void for most of the day Thursday (from 10:29am to 22:39) creating the perfect liminality for Halloween’s shenanigans. Plans made during the day on Thursday might not hold ground. Best to go with the flow and see where the day takes you.

The Moon enters Capricorn late on Halloween night (22:39 EDT) until early Sunday morning when she moves into Aquarius.(6:19am EDT) The weekend is somewhat of a return to work and the grind after the excitement of the week. The Mars-Saturn square is fading but still within degrees, creating a controlled and pressurized atmosphere. This aspect can have us feel confined to a very limiting set of circumstances and a sober approached is needed to tackle next weekend’s tasks.

“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
(Born with Mercury in Scorpio)

 

Taming a Beast

 

Civilization is not by means an easy thing to attain to.
There are only two ways by which man can reach it.
One is by being cultured, the other by being corrupt.
Oscar Wilde

⚖︎

POWERS AND POLITICS

The instinct knows what the mind can’t explain. It doesn’t matter how many books you read, you won’t find the answer to that riddle. Your body is hungry and you eat. It gets complicated because we rationalize things that can’t be rationalized and then we find systems for these rational ideas. ”You need 5 portions of vegetable a day” We like to do that a lot. It makes us feel structured and functional even though your body already knows what it needs on a fundamental level without over thinking it.

It gets even more complicated when we start creating rules and regulations, and contracts, and agreements, and codes of behaviours but we have no choice if we are to function in society together. We sort of find the middle ground so that everyone gets their fair share of pie, we really like the idea of fairness and equality. It works for the most part until it doesn’t. Things get unbalanced and corruption sets in. Power is very alluring, and the world is not a fair place. Our instinct is more like dog politics than the high democratic principles we aspire to when you take water, food, and shelter out of the equation. Put people in survival mode and see what happens to the established rules and regulations.

SUN IN SCORPIO

This week, the Sun moves through the very last degrees of Libra and enters the sign of Scorpio on Wednesday around 13:20 EDT. Mars, planet ruling over Scorpio is halfway through the sign of Libra and this is what we have to contend with for the next month.

This part of the book is a tricky bit of business. In Libra we aspire to high principles of fairness and harmony especially in the realm of relationships. We willingly compromise so that we can stand on the middle ground between what we want and what the people we care about need from us. Relating to others is an art form that requires smooth charms and tactful concessions. Maintaining alliances means having the willingness to surrender some of our personal desires for the sake of our bonds. This situation is never a given of course, and things must constantly be recalibrated in order to keep the balance intact. With the Sun entering Scorpio this week, we will start to see how our personal desires and instinct push to override our contracts and alliances. What happens when the mental tries to rationalize the visceral and create a civilized structure fo it? This will be an ongoing theme with Mars in Libra ruling the Sun and Mercury in Scorpio for the next several weeks.

LUNAR RYTHMS

We begin the week with the Last Quarter Moon (exact at 8:39am) on Monday in the sign of Cancer. What was initiated during the New Moon in Libra on September 28 is now reaching its point of integration. This week, we can sit with the revelations and discoveries of the last few weeks. Collaborations and connections that were established or the ones that were lost or severed during Libra season is fertilizing fresh perspectives. With Saturn in Capricorn being such a big player right now we have been negotiating our boundaries and a lot of the excess is being trimmed off. We are getting to the essential quicker because we have a new awareness of time and what we want to do with it.

The Moon enters the sign of Leo Monday at 12:30 EDT, and will travel here until Wednesday when it enters Virgo at 15:31 EDT. The Moon is in Virgo for the rest of the week, and enters Libra Friday evening at 16:21 EDT. The weekend will see the Moon at her darkest light in the sign of Libra before renewing herself late on Sunday night 23:38 EDT in the sign of Scorpio.

SCORPIO NEW MOON

The New Moon in Scorpio late Sunday night/early Monday morning (Oct.27-28) initiates a fresh lunar cycle. The New Moon takes place at 4 degrees of Scorpio exactly opposite Uranus in Taurus. Mars the ruler of this New Moon will be in Libra exactly square to Saturn in Capricorn. There are two very distinct threads going on right now. One has to do with the dismantling of old corrupted structures and our ability to address these, and deal with them. The square between Mars and Saturn shows that it might not necessarily be easy, and will require disciplined actions and sustained efforts on our part. We could feel blocked by circumstances, stuck between a rock and a hard place, with a tremendous urge to break free from a difficult circumstance, situation, habit, or person. Something that has power over you could feel stifling. We must move through these times very strategically as each actions and thought is shaping the future. Stay clear on what feels right for you at this time.

The other thread is connected to the birth of a different and powerful awareness that relates to our material world/realities and the breaking of very stubborned crystallized patterns. This arising perception allows for tuning into a sense of knowing that could feel new for you or that could be deepening. Priorities are reorganizing themselves as we plug into this current. New modalities and ways of being in the world will be birthed from these insights, but for now we must sit with the visions and trust our gut feeling. The materialistic world and established corporate structures lose their grip on us as we deepen our intuition and get clear on the essential. The hunger for meaningful connections and experiences will no be satiated by superficial success.

The Moon in Scorpio is not a comforting or nurturing one, but instead it’s our cue/challenge to work with our fears and vulnerabilities, and let them inform us forward. Trusting could be the central issue. We could be wrestling with a need for security that keeps us locked in unhealthy patterns. We are moving forward and things change and die, and we must learn to move with this flow, and surrender, and let go, and shed old skins if we are to renew ourselves. Security and safety at its core is not an external condition.

This week, our desire for authentic experiences and deep soulful connections with life could collide against protocols. Our powerful urge for renewal will not necessarily find an easy outlet. Don’t battle your intuition, speak to it, work with it. Intuition is at an all time high. Mars squaring the Nodes to begin the week calls for efficient actions that supports your progress. Deal with the minor irritants/people/workload efficiently so that you have time left to tune in to the synchronistic undercurrents informing your life.

“Conscience is no more than the dead speaking to us.”
― Jim Carroll

CATCH AND RELEASE

We clasp the hands of those that go before us,

And the hands of those who come after us.

We enter the little circle of each other’s arms

And the larger circle of lovers,

Whose hands are joined in a dance

And the larger circle of all creatures

Passing in and out of life

Who move also in a dance

To a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it

Except in fragments.

The Larger Circle, Wendell Berry

⚖︎

 

We begin the week on the other side of a potent Full Moon that took place on Sunday evening in the sign of Aries. The Sun is now in the last decan of Libra and we are moving deeper into the obscurity of the Fall season. With the obscurity also comes a special kind of interiority and the ability to shine a light in dark. What was hidden is revealed not through the five senses but through the ability we have of reading between the lines.

The Sun is separating from a square with Pluto and Mercury in Scorpio is slowing down while walking in its shadows, preparing to move retrograde at the end of the month. Revelations could feel potent at this time, like you are on the threshold of a new understanding. The skies are regenerative, and your experience will be reflected by your ability to look into the under layers that regulates your life, and being honest about your findings.

This relational time of the year highlights our connections and alliances. With Venus in Scorpio ruling the Sun in Libra, we might be inclined to go for authentic connections with little time left for superficial exchanges. Exchanging becomes the means of understanding ourselves and our motivations, and this could feel both painful and cathartic depending on our ability to step into intimacy with others. Conversations with others could feel open, honest, and edgy while an underlying tension promises to throw everything off balance at any moment. A delicate little dance we dance while moving between seasons, balancing the old and the new, holding and releasing, revealing and concealing just enough to be seen, but not enough to be hurt. A finger on the trigger while the other hand waves a white flag, juggling the vulgar and the ethereal, looking for peace and change simultaneously. There is a certain obsessive edge to our mental pursuits right now and the ability to look at a situation and its complexities from many different angles.

LUNAR RYTHMS

Monday, the Moon enters Taurus at 12:24pm triggering the recent opposition of Venus in Scorpio with Uranus in Taurus; catch and release is your best approach right now. Live and let live will save you a lot of trouble. The Moon in Taurus ruled by Venus in Scorpio is sensual yet the nerves are frazzled. The Moon enters Gemini on Wednesday night at 10:31pm and will be traveling here until early Saturday morning. The Moon in Gemini ruled by Mercury in Scorpio could bring out more information into the light, obsession and gossip, but her opposition with Jupiter in Sagittarius on Friday, could be asking us to separate the wheat from the chaff and reset our stance before we get too deep into a situation. The Moon enters Cancer early Saturday morning at 6:44am.  The weekend under the auspice of Watery aspects could see us move between sensations and intuitions without a definite hold. We might gravitate towards familiarity in order to find our footing while also extending a hand towards the future. Fears and vulnerabilities can be utilized as a creative stepping stone but you must be willing to step into the dance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Recalibration of our Scales

⚖︎

If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
you must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
you must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
of the way things are.

The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results

Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu – chapter 36

⚖︎

LUNAR RYTHMS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 7

The Moon is waxing towards full and the scales are oscillating between light and darkness. This week brings us halfway through Libra season as we move towards the Full Moon in Aries next Sunday. The week begins with the Moon in Aquarius until Wednesday afternoon allowing for a brief period of stabilization and equalization. Wednesday afternoon the Moon enters the Water sign of Pisces (13:35 NDT) plunging us far down into the mysterious realms of our senses and imagination. Mid-week contains a strange mixture of bewilderment and inspiration and it’s an excellent opportunity for unbounded creative projects. Saturday morning, the Moon enters the Fire sign of Aries at 2:15am NDT as we move towards the Full Moon exact on Sunday evening (18:37NDT). The Full Moon shines her light on our contrasts, contracts and alliances, what sustains and strains us, and the recalibration needed within and without.

You’ve so distracted me,
your absence fans my love.
Don’t ask how.
Then you come near
“Do not…” I say, and
“Do not…,” you answer.
Don’t ask why
this delights me.
-Rumi

VENUS IN SCORPIO

Venus enters Scorpio on Tuesday at 13:06pm EDT and will travel here until the end of October. Venus in Scorpio will relatively change the tone of this Libra season which until now had been ruled by a much gentler Venus in her home sign of Libra. With Venus entering Scorpio, we begin our exploration into the underbelly of our desire nature, confronted with the unholy sight of our attractions and obsessions and what remains un-satiated. Mars ruling over this Venus, has just entered its place of detriment in Libra, and will stay in Libra until mid-November. It could be difficult to find lasting satisfaction right now, and it will be easier to purge than to take in even though we might be magnetized by intense situations, people or experiences.

Venus in Scorpio opposes Uranus in Taurus on Saturday evening, breaking some taboos and freeing up the space needed within our relationships, while the Sun in Libra is being supported by Jupiter in Sagittarius;

The opportunity to redefine our alliances is here but it will take some shaking up and truth serum. Finding the equilibrium between our desire nature and what must be done to keep the peace, we are prompt towards honesty but it could create more problems than solutions. Decisions could feel difficult right now and the correct way to proceed elusive. Still, progress is being made. Pluto recently direct will exasperates or revitalize depending on how close you sit with power.

 

FULL MOON IN ARIES

The Full Moon in Aries rises on Sunday evening at 18:37NDT illuminated by the Sun in Libra. Mars in Libra rules over the Moon in Aries while Venus in Scorpio rules the Sun in Libra and both are indisposed and in aversion (they do not see each other). Jupiter in Sagittarius will trine the Moon and sextile the Sun at this time.

The push and pull of instinct versus reason, containment and release, darkness and light culminates with the Full Moon. There are two very distinct sound tracks playing at the moment and no easy ways to harmonize them, unless we are to simply move beyond them. Look to where Jupiter in Sagittarius is transiting in your chart for where to invest your energies pro-actively and make progress right now.

The Full Moon in Aries shines a dramatic light on our emotional and relational landscape and the imbalances found here, what lies between the raw and unbounded aspects of our vitality which crave direct experience with life, versus the polite and stable facades of the established order which allows us to function in the world.  Passion and prescribed codes of behaviour do not make good bed fellows and we could feel torn between revealing and concealing, between creation and destruction, between our impertinent impulses and the inherent balance born out of experience.

 

 

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30th: Mystery Reflected

1924 Georgia O’Keeffe, Dark Abstraction

 

“At no other time then autumn does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters on Cézanne

 

The week begins with the Moon in Scorpio until Wednesday morning when she enters Sagittarius at 7:44am EDT. The Moon is in Sagittarius Wednesday and Thursday and will enter Capricorn Friday afternoon at 13:43. Moon is in Capricorn all weekend until Sunday night when she enters Aquarius Sunday night at 23:41. The New Moon in Libra on Saturday brought forth a new understanding in regards to ourselves and what we are capable of doing when we are supported and lifted by others. This week we take this renewed confidence born out of our connections and move forward with our own agendas.

There is an underlying relentless momentum which allows for the pushing and shaping of our desires and the manifestations of what laid hidden until now. We move forward to the steady rhythm of our heart as if the very next chapter of our existence depended on it. Eyes piercing the horizon for clues that will confirm our choices, Fall season forces us to sink deeper into the mystery. We have to let ourselves be possessed by shadows. The creative gold that arises from our exchanges gives us the strength to show up in the world.

Mid-week, Pluto turns direct after being retrograde since the end of April. A lot of the process we have been undergoing this past Summer has been about identifying where we invest our power and our time, and where we are losing it. Anything unsustainable, especially in regards to your own energy input is being clarified.  On Thursday, a few hours after Pluto turns direct, Mercury enters Scorpio. There could be an underlying obsessive thread running through the week. No stones are left unturned and this could be especially obvious when interacting with others.

The Sun and Venus are still in Libra and our connections with other people reflect parts of us that seemed inaccessible on our own. The solidity we need for our ideas and projects is renewed once we receive positive feedback. There could be a dependency on other people right now that seems out of balance and the willingness to sacrifice some of your own integrity or needs for the sake of keeping the peace.

Mars enters Libra at 12:22 am EDT Friday and the Moon enters Capricorn Friday afternoon signalling the first quarter Moon. The Moon in Capricorn squares the Sun in Libra, and we are confronted with the tangible realities of our emerging desires. Situations that have been initiated since the arrival of Fall are now being tested against structures that are already well established. Relationship tangles could be magnified as we come to a crossroad and weigh our collaborative efforts against our personal plans. Compromise and concessions might be necessary and the weekend has a sobering and realistic tone as the last rays of light give themselves to the arising darkness.

Some bargaining is necessary in order to balance our personal agenda with the needs and requirements of our alliances. We exchange and trade, we take some and leave some while flipping a coin to choose what seems like equal options. What we take with us and what we leave behind won’t matter in the end, but right now we are held captive by our need for others and the contracts that comes with them.

‘Autumn’ by Rainer Maria Rilke

The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,

as if orchards were dying high in space.

Each leaf falls as if it were motioning “no.”

And tonight the heavy earth is falling

away from all other stars in the loneliness.

We’re all falling. This hand here is falling.

And look at the other one. It’s in them all.

And yet there is Someone, whose hands

infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

 

 

 

Knowing what to Love

Love in Autumn by Simeon Solomon, 1866

​

“The art of love is largely the art of persistence.”– Albert Ellis

 

THE FIRST ACT: VENUS SQUARE SATURN
Once you know exactly what you don’t want in life, it is much easier to invoke what you want.  It is getting to that point of clarity that takes time. Illusion must be shed and desires understood in order for wisdom to inform our decisions. Libra season is the season of the Scales. When the perfect balance between light and darkness is reached for a brief moment before we plunge deeper into the darkness of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Things are weighed and measured to see if they are really worth their while. The decisions we make carry responsibilities and burdens that will have to be assumed down the road. Commitments made out of Love are lighter to carry, but first we must know what we love. This week, as we enter Libra season, we are facing the responsibility of our choices. The opportunity is here for us to carry them with grace and to assume the roles we have chosen. Grace, Beauty and Stoicism CAN co-exist.

THE SCALES
Libra being an Air sign, supports an even and rational approach when facing difficulties. The problem is that everyone has their own set of Scales, their own Truth. What is Justice and Fairness if everyone has their own personal system of measurements? What is right and what is wrong? What is objective Truth? Who establishes the Law? Expect social media and the news at large to be filled with righteous condemnations and vigorous convictions in the next few weeks as we move deeper into the season of the Scales. What is fair and what is just will be measured on the public arena with cries of indignations and a call for Justice.

LIBRA NEW MOON: THE PROMISE OF BEAUTY
Once the square of Venus and Saturn is done by Thursday, we are ready to move along towards the juicier parts of the week. After a stern look from Saturn, Venus moves towards a supportive aspect with Jupiter in Sagittarius, which will be exact just as the Moon renews herself in the light of the Sun. The New Moon in Libra is on September 28 at 14:26 EDT at 5 degrees of Libra. Look to where this New Moon is taking place in your chart and invoke pleasure, beauty and ease in these areas of your life. Jupiter supporting Venus at the time of the New Moon is a call to connect with pleasure and what makes your heart sing.

It’s a hopeful weekend over all and a good time to reset your stance in regards to what you value, what brings you joy and pleasure. Now that you have gained the wisdom of experience, trust that you deserve Beauty and Love not in a naive or childish way, but in a way that is closest to your own personal truth.

“Elegance is a glowing inner peace.
Grace is an ability to give as well as to receive and be thankful.
Mystery is a hidden laugh always ready to surface!
Glamour only radiates if there is a sublime courage & bravery within:
glamour is like the moon; it only shines because the sun is there.”

–C. JoyBell C.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 16: DREAMING REALITIES

“…disbelief in magic can force a poor soul
into believing in government and business….”
― Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

VIRGO SEASON SO FAR
We are slowly emerging from Virgo season with two planets (Venus and Mercury) having moved into Libra, giving us a small respite from the caffeine-induced, anxiety-driven ”hustling” of the last few weeks. I’m not sure that Virgo season is more productive than any other seasons, but it surely is a time that brings attention to all the work that must be done which in turn creates a frazzled vortex of to-do lists and reminders.

VENUS IN LIBRA: IN LOVE WITH LOVE
With Venus now transiting in Libra until October 8th, the time has come to take your social grace out for a stroll. A good time to mend the broken pieces of your mirror with sugar and vanilla while sending peace signals into the air. Beauty and pleasurable things should get a boost while vulgarities are put aside (until Venus enters Scorpio in October). Venus in Libra’s pleasurable things are soft, delicate, agreeable and graceful. Venus contains potent charm here in Libra, but unlike the sensual physicality of Venus in Taurus her other home sign, Venus in Libra is a joyful romantic. Venus in Libra is like the sweetness of dimples on rosy cheeks, the intoxicating fragrance of a blooming rose, a young couple innocently holding hands while taking a romantic stroll. It’s not that Venus in Libra is innocent really, but innocence is deliberately utilized to enthral a potential admirer and soothe the enemies. Those are the charms of Venus in Libra.

SATURN IN CAPRICORN: THE GRIND
Saturn in Capricorn stations direct this Wednesday next to the South Node of the Moon after being retrograde since the end of April. The last 4 months have been a period of powerful Saturninan recalibration, going to the roots of what discipline, structures, sobriety, mortality, ancestral baggages/family patterns, society and it’s crumbling structures means to us. We have become lucid and perhaps even stoic in regards to the efforts needed to reshape our realities on a small and big scale. With Saturn turning direct the work and lessons continues but we also integrate the revelations of the last few months.

MERCURY IN LIBRA SQUARE SATURN IN CAPRICON: LEFT OR RIGHT
Mercury having also entered Libra will square Saturn in Capricorn next Sunday highlighting the difficult compromises that must be made if we are to achieve our aims. Next weekend could be somewhat stressful, as we try to reconcile our own agenda with the agenda of a partner or a friend. Our scales could be working overtime or we could feel blocked by circumstances while weighing difficult options.

JUPITER SQUARE NEPTUNE: MAGIC SQUARES
The ”pièce de résistance” this week is surely the last of three squares between Jupiter and Neptune exact Saturday afternoon. Jupiter in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces is innovative but it’s also deluded. The ability to dream up a crazy idea and have the faith and the optimism to do it. Jupiter square Neptune is why everyone is talking about and fascinated with magic right now. Jupiter square Neptune is the ability to believe without seeing, but its also the delusion of seeing something that isn’t there. You have to be a Fool to let this pass, but you also have to be a Fool to believe it. Jupiter square Neptune gives us the ability to watch Netflix series ad nauseam, or to have revelations about your past-present-future while lucid dreaming. It’s the desire to get totally wrapped up in fantasy, to be taken for a ride. Jupiter square Neptune is also the ability to manifest, to follow a vision, an intuition, and to trust that it will work out. Faith leading you directly to your goal. Where the mind goes, energy flows.

 

Goals & Daily Life

“I see that I’ve become a really bad correspondent. It’s not that I don’t think of you.
You come into my thoughts often. But when you do it appears to me that I owe you a particularly grand letter. And so you end in the “warehouse of good intentions”:
“Can’t do it now.” “Then put it on hold.” This is one’s strategy for coping with old age,
and with death–because one can’t die with so many obligations in storage.
Our clever species, so fertile and resourceful in denying its weaknesses.”
― Saul Bellow

 

The week begins with the Sun in Virgo and the Moon void of course in Libra until it enters Scorpio late Monday evening. Monday is a (parenthesis) before the week officially begins and an opportunity to sharpen our tools for the work that lays ahead of us. A necessary period of inner refinement, adjusting our compass and vision as we find ourselves oscillating between our instinctual-desire-nature and our rational-pragmatic-intellect.

Constructive actions in tandem with inspired insights permeates this week. There is a lot of juicy momentum and it could even feel as if things are moving waaaay too fast for you to catch a break. Productivity is high on the list right now, and as a result procrastination hangs like a shadow over our game plan.

The soul craves synthesis while the mind dissects every aspects of existence.

The Moon will travel in Scorpio until late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning when it enters Sagittarius. The Moon in Sagittarius all day Thursday (Jupiter’s day) applies to a conjunction with Jupiter. The First Quarter Moon happens at 13º Sagittarius this month when it squares the Sun at 13º Virgo.

The First Quarter Moon is a time of action or crisis when the plans that were laid at the New Moon in Virgo on the 30th of August are being challenged or are starting to gain traction. This First Quarter Moon brings attention to our big idea or vision and the execution of this particular vision or idea. We have to trust that we will get there but we also have to put in the efforts required to get there.

Perspective gets lost when we spend too much time on the details (Virgo). However it can also be hard to execute a big idea if we don’t delineate a practical way to get there (Sagittarius). You could feel overwhelmed by the amount of preparation necessary for the execution of your idea/goal, losing perspective on where you were going it in the first place. Or it could be that you are so taken by your big project that you totally brush over the details and neglect some important steps in the process.

The Moon in Sagittarius will be next to Jupiter at the time of the First Quarter Moon on Friday September 7th – giving us a huge boost of confidence and faith that ”everything will turn alright”. We KNOW what we have to do, but it doesn’t mean we have the discipline to do it. It’s one thing to know, it’s another thing entirely to repeat the process day after day to install a new routine, a new program that will lead us to a new helpful habit. There is a conflict between knowing and executing, between an idea and the implementation of that idea into a tangible process. Time and patience is required as nothing is born overnight and it’s a good idea to keep that in mind as you navigate Virgo season and find yourself going over everything that remains to be done. Be patient and be happy for the process, because every step of the process is what eventually leads you to the desired result.

The Moon enters Capricorn Saturday morning, and here we are again, back at the working bench, at the drawing table with our plans and our to-do lists, and the burden of all that remains to be done. Time is slipping away so fast, and there are still too many details to deal with. We are not quite as healthy, productive, efficient, and successful as we could be, and it could all be too obvious next weekend. The Moon travels in Capricorn next Saturday and Sunday, convincing us that there are vegetables to harvest and preserve, fire wood to split, renovations to do, and all kinds of work left to be done. Not the most relaxing weekend but a productive one I hope.

Most planets traveling in the Earth element (Taurus – Virgo – Capricorn)  means it’s a great time to get stuff done, but terrible for anxiety around status, work, income, discipline, and habits. Don’t compare yourself too much. You are exactly where you are suppose to be; trust your process.

“You have to believe. Otherwise, it will never happen.”
― Neil Gaiman