NEW MOON IN TAURUS

There’s a New Moon in the last degrees of Taurus on Friday (near Fixed Star Algol) and the collective is weary and susceptible from too much information, too much internet, too much algorythm, although it’s a really nice hopeful moment and new forms are emerging, projects are budding and starting to unfold; Venus in Cancer rules over the skies, birthing pathways towards greater pleasures and joys, inviting us towards compassionate care and connection with ourselves and with others.

There could be worries about money, about resources, about not having enough or needing more since most of the planets in the sky right now are concerned with ease and stability. Needing more reassurance and proof although Taurus knows how to take charge of itself and its world slowly and steadily. Taurus rhythm is nature’s rhythms but with Venus in Cancer ruling over this New Moon there’s also a need for connection, care and value.

This is not supposed to be a pity party but… …Mars in the very last degrees of Cancer and applying to oppose Pluto is like a dull blade; more dangerous than a sharp one, insecure about its position, needing to prove something, doubling down on efforts and requiring more pressure and force to do what it’s usually good at – which is making things happen without tearing itself up trying to prove something. Power and power imbalances are obvious now. Know how to distinguish between quiet strength and quiet rage within yourself; They don’t have the same effect on your body and your health. These acrimonious ‘’feels’’ threaten to blind the vision, the aims, and the peace.

This New Moon brings fertile opportunities but care must be taken to plant seeds in soils that offer steady growth and longevity; not just hollow gratification. Invest your powers wisely not just to curse strangers on the internet or people who’ve hurt you.

The Goddess is near, waiting to hear your prayers.

SCORPIO LUNAR ECLIPSE

Scorpio is one of the three Water signs and sometimes I say that Scorpio is like the Water sign of Cancer but on steroids. The intuitive and receptive qualities are so acute and so sharp that everything is experienced at a higher level of intensity, especially the things that affect the root and emotional centres. ”Feeling” power and power dynamics is second nature to Scorpio so the implications of relating are profound and the efforts to conceal are mostly self-protective although people often read that as manipulative. Scorpio is a very unconscious sign. It doesn’t lead with the head; it leads with the guts and the groin, and true motivations are often hidden, even from oneself, as one cannot reason with survival instinct.

Everyone wants to be a Scorpio when Halloween comes around. Being edgy and dark is trendy during that time of the year but the rest of the time, people don’t want to deal with the intensity and the implications of what it means to be fully involved in your desires because it doesn’t fit into a neat box and it can be really confronting to face ugly truths.

I’ve been calling the upcoming Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio on May 5th: The Purging of Poisons. It takes place in the middle Decan of Scorpio, which is the most fixated place of the zodiac, the end of the Via Combusta, and relates to the transmutation of toxicity, toxic states and self-destructive tendencies, into power. This is also a South Node Eclipse which is more about letting go and being receptive to the spiritual lessons contained in the darker aspects of your story and what you keep hidden from yourself. There is a need to live life more profoundly now and the things that have gotten in the way, stuck, static, and stagnant are being purged in exchange for a more meaningful ways of being. Trust the process. Don’t resist it. It’s ok to be sad after making the right decision or while moving through a difficult process. The underbelly of life is death, and death is inevitable but there’s power in flow.

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“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”

-Rumi

Mount Yoshino midnight-moon – Iga no Tsubone, from the series One hundred aspects of the moon
January 1886

Charivari and Eclipses

In many cultural traditions from the past, there seem to be an important link between sound and eclipses and more extensively, ”evil spirits” and noise making.

The word charivari refers to the derisive cacophony made at night in traditional European cultures. Banging of pans, cauldrons and so on in front of the houses of people suspected of love-making in scandalous, incestuous circumstances. This noise making tactic has been compared to the din made traditionally by people in many parts of the world.

This may also be related to beliefs that a dragon or monster is about to devour the heavenly bodies and to make sufficient noise to discourage the monster of excessive intimacy with the Sun or Moon. Should a celestial monster intervene in the natural cycle of day and night by eating the Full Moon, there is then a danger of a gap opening up the sequence so that unless something is done, darkness would alternate with darkness.

‘’If you say this to me many times, you will observe all things growing dark,
For the curved bulk of the heavens disappears and the stars do not shine;
the light of the Moon is hidden and the Earth does not stand steady.’

Chaldean Oracles Fragment 147 (The Epiphany of Hekate)

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More on Eclipses…

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VENUS IN GEMINI

Michael Larrain left a Hollywood career in his mid-20’s to try his hand at writing. Larrain has been selling his “Flowers Not to Reason Why” from the back of his car on E. Cotati Avenue for nearly 50 years.

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Venus in Gemini and what we attribute worth to and what it’s actually worth:

Venus is now in Gemini in Mutual Reception with Mercury in Taurus meaning they are in each other’s sign and are assisting each other. Gemini has received much attention in the past eight months with Mars retrograde having occurred there. The themes related to the House where Gemini is located in your birth chart can now get a solid ‘’polishing’’ with Venus transiting there until May 7th. This is an opportunity to make adjustments, organize or get better at something you have been working on or thinking about that relates to the Gemini House in your chart.

With Mercury in the Fixed (stubborn) sign of Taurus ruling over a Mutable (changeable) Venus, there may be a tendency to grasp too tightly or not want to face the inevitable or, on the contrary, NOT commit to anything because you want to keep your options open.

Venus in Gemini is curious, restless and experimental and will have a lot of say over the upcoming Mercury Retrograde in Taurus which may highlight the contrast between where there is a need to secure things versus where you may be slowing down your progress by being too stubborn or attached to the status quo.

Although Venus in Gemini and Mercury in Taurus are in Mutual Reception – Taurus and Gemini are also in AVERSION – meaning these two signs do not see each other and are looking for and needing completely different things to thrive. Value and Worth come into focus via two very contrasting interfaces. It may not be about favouring one over the other but instead, mindfully adjusting your stance to acknowledge where you need stability and where you need change.

What happens when values and desires are at cross-purpose or when pragmatism gets in the way of creative flow? Can you pinpoint where you are bored with the status quo and need to bring fresh energy into your life versus where you are being too flaky and need more organization and stability?

Verbalizing or writing things down could be a helpful mode. Don’t underestimate the power of your voice and of your words at this time. Both Gemini and Taurus can be extremely persuasive signs. Just make sure you are pitching for something you actually want or care about.

The divide between luxury and scarcity is great indeed.

UPCOMING : MERCURY RETROGRADE IN TAURUS

Mercury stations retrograde in Taurus in the later part of April, just as Eclipse Season begins. No need to worry about it but it’s always best to plan accordingly which is something Mercury in Taurus is generally good for.

Mercury entered the sign of Taurus on April 3rd and will enter Gemini on June 11th. Mercury enters its shadow* on April 7th *where it will station direct on May 15th but won’t turn retrograde until the 21st of April.

If you have major moves to make, contracts to sign, or purchase to make, best to make them during the first week of April or wait til the later part of May.

Otherwise, lots can be done while Mercury is in Taurus, even during its retrograde which should be especially good for restructuring basics in your life, prepping gardens, managing available resources, renovating and getting your hands dirty although things may progress more slowly than anticipated. (There is such a thing as Taurus rhythm so take heed!)

On a mundane level we are almost guaranteed to see themes related to money, investments, food security, resources and the fear of scarcity take the forefront in the next few months especially with Mars in Cancer. We may be prompted to assess resources well into the month of May and it’s a good time to work on your garden, rethink expanses, DE-HOARD and manage your assets.

To understand how this retrograde may show up for you, look to the house where Taurus sits in your chart and more extensively the houses that Mercury rules (Gemini and Virgo) If you are born with Mercury in the first 15 degrees of Taurus, this retrograde will be more significant and if you are born with Mercury retrograde in your birth chart, this period may be more progressive for you!

ARIES EQUINOX + NEW MOON IN ARIES

The Fourth Crusade by Michael Whelan

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The Sun entered Aries on the 20th and the New Moon in Aries occurred a day later on the 21st being an important astrological time-stamp or marker for the renewal that is flowing through the world and through our lives at this time.

There has been a lot going on astrologically, so much so that it’s almost too confusing to try and delineate it all, especially amidst the astrological noise that has taken over social media now that everyone speaks astrology.

Saturn entered Pisces on the 7th of March lifting the heavy vibes that had befallen us all since 2020 while Saturn was transiting in Aquarius; a sign in which Saturn is extremely strong which is not necessarily a good thing. But we’ve learned some hard lessons and our eyes got opened in many ways which is why Saturn is a great teacher in the end. Now we are all collectively excited to find our groove and blood flow again while moving from scenarios and patterns that are stagnating.

Saturn in Pisces until 2025 definitely brings a lot more fluidity but it is still Saturn, and for those of you with important Gemini/Pisces/Virgo/Sagittarius placements – you will most likely be called to sharpen your skills and refine your boundaries at some point during this transit lasting two years.

Mars which has been in Gemini since last August finally exits this dual sign that brought some paralysis by analysis, and way too much intellectual chatter, especially during its 2.5-month-long retrograde which ended mid-January. Mars enters the sign of Cancer on the 25th of March where it is way more irritable and emo but at this point, I think we are ready for the shift although Mars in Cancer is likely to bring different kinds of problematics in the world at large at least.

Pluto leaves Capricorn tomorrow to enter the sign of Aquarius for the next 20 years. You will see a LOT of delineations about this ingress but keep in mind that Pluto is an outer planet; a slow-moving, generational planet which means that its impact is long-lasting but usually more obvious in retrospect. It will also be back in Capricorn later this year and officially re-enter Aquarius in November 2024.

There is a lot of change in the air so give yourself the time to process these changes somatically. Aries season is perfect for reconnecting with your intuition, and your body and not overthinking things too much.

NEW MOON IN ARIES MINI HOROSCOPES

For this Aries Equinox moment…

Aries Rising 🐏 : Renewing with vitality and intuition. Being on the move and in my body. Simplifying and streamlining. Making time for my own needs. Taking care of my body. Honouring my personal rhythms and accepting the gifts that life is bringing me.

Secret weapon: My ability to generate wealth

Aries 2nd House (Pisces Rising) 🐬: My worth and my values and what I attribute worth and value to is changing. I am making space for a more authentic version of what it means to be resourceful, independent and wealthy. I know a lot more than I give myself credit for.

Secret weapon: My skills

Aries 3rd House (Aquarius Rising) 🍶: Not all information is good information. How can I be more honest and direct in my communication with others and honour my truth and my frustrations without feeling alienated? Where am I being too stubborn and unbudging?

Secret weapon: My loyalty

Aries 4th House (Capricorn Rising) 🐐 : Deep down I want to not care about what people think of me so that my creative expression, and my desire to have fun, can flow forth uncensored. I am bursting at the seem with creative vitality.

Secret weapon: My pleasure

Aries 5th House (Sagittarius Rising) 🏹 : Pleasure and sensual experiences are available to me and I don’t have to prove myself to anyone. I am an infinite well of inspiration and the greatest satisfaction comes to me when I can live out my passions and express my purpose unencumbered and in the most authentic ways.

Secret weapon: My endurance

Aries 6th House (Scorpio Rising)🦂 : I like to be in charge of my time and my schedule. The greatest blessings come my way when I am in control of my own experience. I create more space for pleasure by getting through my to-do list and getting rid of what distracts me from my goals.

Secret weapon: My relating skills

Aries 7th House (Libra Rising) ⚖️ : Commitment turns me on. I want to feel mutually excited and purposefully aligned with others. Confrontation helps me understand what my partnerships require from me. Stress is a shared experience and I want to find a pathway to serenity with the people that I love.

Secret weapon: My secrets

Aries 8th House (Virgo Rising) 🌾 : Being in charge of my psychic well-being. Knowing how to differentiate my own burdens from the burdens of others. Honouring my intuition and need for personal agency within my partnerships. Understanding power dynamics and frustrations in my shared experiences so that I can release myself from unnecessary responsibilities.

Secret weapon: My innate wisdom

Aries 9th House (Leo Rising) 🦁 : I trust the wisdom and the expansion that is emerging in my life. I let my intuition guide me toward new possibilities. I am open to new experiences and letting the world receive me and my inherent knowledge. Fear informs me and transforms me. I am a spiritual dare-devil, full of wisdom and insights.

Secret weapon: My charisma

Aries 10th House (Cancer Rising) 🦀 : Trusting that my pioneering spirit is needed. To honour my impulse to reach the top and to be the best possible version of myself. I am allowed to be both competitive and caring. My ambitions are the most genuine expressions of my love for this world. I can be both a leader and a collaborator.

Secret weapon: My resilience

Aries 11th House (Gemini Rising) 👯‍♀️ : I am excited about my dreams and about becoming more genuinely aligned with my guiding star/my daemon. I am not afraid of hard work, I am energized by the path ahead and everything that is left to learn. I honour my warrior spirit and I am ready to defend my right to live authentically.

Secret weapon: My alone time

Aries 12th House (Taurus Rising)🐂 : My anger and passions are the secret fuel that serves me well. I am able to channel my abundant energy and anger into creative and physical outlets – creating results that will outlast me. My self-expression is a legacy beyond my control.

Secret weapon: My generosity

On Venus, Jupiter and Chiron’s conjunction in Aries

The month of March opens with a conjunction of the two ‘’benefics’’ Venus and Jupiter in Aries shining brightly in the Western skies after sunset in the Northern Hemisphere. Another astrological factor mainly the asteroid Chiron joins this conjunction yet is not visible to the naked eye like Venus and Jupiter. This seemingly beneficial and bright meeting of Venus, Jupiter and Chiron in Aries is actually a lot more complex than meets the eyes (literally) and it may be what is invisible yet quite raw or painful that will speak the loudest at this time while hiding under a veneer of superficial gloss.

Five years ago, in the Spring of 2018, Chiron entered the sign of Aries. Think back to what was happening in your life at that time and the realizations that were starting to emerge especially around your need for autonomy and personal revolution. If you know your chart, I can almost guarantee that some of what is coming up now in your life relates to a longer story that is playing out in the Aries part of your chart wether you are tying a stronger knot with that story, revising your alliances or simply putting on a brave face.

Natal or transiting Chiron has a way of putting a finger exactly where it hurts in a way that brings epiphanies that feels so convoluted you can see the entire tapestry of your life in all its twisted complexity and find patterns with opposite threads and stories you didn’t even know were actually connected and that usually feels a lot more awkward than integrative because what actually truly hurt is connected to things we can’t intellectualize.

Which brings me to this part of the story when Venus and Jupiter shines their light brightly not only on what we love and believe so dysfunctionally but also on the idea we might have that things are going to change or that we can get all that we want without changing and the subsequent bargaining we do with ourselves to self-soothe or toughen up. Chiron acts like a reflex or a muscle memory that is mostly imperceptible except for times like these when we are asked to take in the whole picture and see the beauty in our desires and flawed humanity.

Heart & Mastery

Sometime obstacles shows up on our path so we can return to the essential.

There is a beautiful technology in the language of the stars (Astro-logos/Astrology) and I think it’s no coincidence that we get an exalted Venus in Pisces meeting Neptune in Pisces around Valentines Day, only short of a few days when Saturn meets the Sun in Aquarius which represents the heart of Winter. This time is confronting us with the essential fuel we need to thrive in this world: LOVE (unconditional). Loneliness and exclusion in the connectivity of social media is very real. Everyone is King and Queen of their own glamorous domain but what about our heart center and its very own unique song of Love it longs to sing the world? 

Everyone deserves love and respect but the world is unfair, cold and cynical.  

Saturn meets the Sun (on the 16th) compelling us towards the essential, the work we are here to do and what truly matters amidst a complete overall of the ways we relate to each other and the heart says:

‘’Here my song, it is the most honest reflections of my love for this world’’

You may feel lucid, alienated and maybe even cynical about the harshness of the world but simultaneously soothed by the connections and support you receive from people who love you and even from pure strangers. This is your arrow; it pierces your heart and makes it bleed so that you can surrender to the essential reality of this world which is: Love. Do not be led astray by your suffering.

What matters to you, what are you here to do and what electrical impulses govern your longings, your passions, your desires?

In our echo chamber, we can for one moment feel an intellectual superiority for what WE have understood, for our own ‘’specialness’’ and for our personal gnosis but in the end, the mind remains a beautiful servant but a terrible master while the heart extends and connects us towards each other like an infallible link across oceans, forcing us to return to the essential and most important principles of life.

PLUTO IN AQUARIUS: 2023-2043

“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills,
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien

Pluto: Compulsion – Obsession – Power – Unconscious – Fears – The Underworld – Riches – The Shadow – Darkness (Not the darkness of night but the darkness of the world in all its horror and degeneracy) – Transformation – Putrefaction and Compost that fertilizes new soils.

Aquarius: Individuality, equality, friendships, group associations. The desire to distinguish oneself for our progressiveness, scientific minds and ideals. (Cafe Astrology)

The last two years have shown us that society can very easily be divided into two camps of folks who are unable to comprehend the very real ‘’reality’’ of the other , each party in complete outrage and disbelief by the seemingly incoherent beliefs and behaviours of the other side. What took place in our society with the lockdowns, the vaccine mandates and the masks is the most extreme example of the power and the hold that social media has on shaping and dividing the collective psyche which has primed us for the transit of Pluto in Aquarius.

Looking at the current cultural and societal weather we can easily see the place that social media has carved for itself in our daily lives and in the very most interior parts of our spiritual being. The virtual world now permeates all aspects of our daily existence and a lot of us make our living entirely online which brings a host of very real problems as we navigate corporate platforms that are engineered to polarize in order to keep us engaged. As we connect to each other online, everyone is also experiencing its very own little echo chamber of news, information and world views.

Believing that you are outside of these corporate-plaforms behaviour-shaping influence would be a grave mistake as we proceed forward. Think very carefully about what you are engaging with; your outrage is the trap and if you are someone with a spiritual practice think of the emotions generated by your anger, your fear and your polarized state and the subsequent parasitical entities it attracts to feed on your state. 

Pluto enters Aquarius on March 23rd and will be transiting there for the next two decades. Pluto tends to expose what is corrupted and bring to the surface the darker aspect of the sign it is transiting through. The sign of Aquarius relates to ideals of betterment where the whole is favoured as oppose to the individual. However, the archetype of Aquarius also relates to the individual, the rebel and pioneer who is able to think outside of the box as they stand on the periphery of society although alienation and exile often results from excluding oneself from the group or worst, from being ostracized.

Belonging versus estrangement or exclusion are concepts that relates to Aquarius and we’ve witnessed first hand what that meant collectively as Saturn entered Aquarius in 2020 and gave us an appetizer of the themes that we may have to contend with while Pluto moves through Aquarius for the next 20 years.

I will continue to reflect on the very real issues we are now facing as individuals navigating the virtual world, artificial intelligence and the behaviour-shaping algorithms and how the upcoming transit of Pluto in Aquarius may reflect this process taking place in the collective for the next several years so I hope you stick around… 😉

For when Mercury meets Pluto: The Power of words

_{“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster”}

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What was hidden is revealed. Everything eventually rises to the surface; the fears and the corrupted. If you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Power corrupts absolutely. Let others reveal themselves to you.

Mercury is now separating from its conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn; the last one that will occur in this sign in our lifetime.

Pluto is associated with the underworld and its powers. What lays under the surface, what hides in the shadows behind the veneer of what is deemed socially acceptable. The blackness of the places where the Sun (the light of reason) never shines. The blindness of night. The mystery

Pluto holds dominion over the underground world and its riches; nuclear power, gold, and all the precious minerals. Think of the unconscious and the incredible power it has over our conscious awareness. Although it expresses itself through our behaviors, there is a reason conscious and unconscious do not mix. This is why the underworld must be fiercely guarded by Cerberus.

Pluto is associated with the underbelly of the world in all its ugliness. What society tries to hide; the bad, the broken, the corrupted. What happens to people when they hold some form of power over others? It leads to abuse, corruption, exploitation and greed which subsequently brings all the inequalities we see in the world.

The good news is that the corruption, the horror, the putrefaction, and decomposition is the compost needed to create fertile soils so even the bad has its place in the cycle of things.

Secrets are exposed

Maliciousness worn as righteousness

One rotten apple spoils the bunch 

There is nowhere to hide

The light has been turned on;

the actors have removed their masks

Revealing character to the world