WEEK OF AUGUST 26, 2019

JON KOKO – KARESANSUI

 

Out of perfection nothing can be made.
Every process involves breaking something up.
Joseph Campbell

And just like that, Virgo season is here, and this is definitely one of the most grounding time of the year when we can see the results and the reasons of the past. Not only do we have a stellium in Virgo (stellium: 4 or more planets in the same sign), the New Moon on Friday August 30th is positively supported by Uranus in Taurus. It is a time of traction and implementation for what is being birthed in your life. The new structures that are emerging on the horizon are starting to make sense and you can begin to see the tangible manifestations of your long held visions, the birth of a new awareness, a new reality.

The wish you whispered half consciously under your breath while sleeping is surrounding you. The faint light that guided you through the storm is now your illumination. There is a clarity about the events in your life and a reason for everything. Nothing is perfect but you might be able to accept that all the imperfect decisions has led you exactly where you are.

Witness your powers of manifestation for better or for worst.

Pixelated wood sculptures by Hsu Tung Han

Until the new moon in Virgo on Friday, we stand in the liminal darkness of the waning Moon, the dark of the Moon. Slowdown your pace, reflect, contemplate, clean, cleanse, purge, stretch, create space for the wisdom to enter, collect the strength from the Earth, lay low.

Monday: Moon in Cancer
Tuesday: Moon in Cancer – Moon enters Leo at 21:23 NDT
Wednesday: Moon in Leo
Thursday: Moon in Leo – Moon enters Virgo at 21:27 NDT
Friday: New Moon in Virgo 8:07am NDT
Saturday: Moon in Virgo – Moon enters Libra at 20:37 NDT
Sunday: Moon in Libra

The New Moon in Virgo takes place on Friday August 30th at 8:07am NDT/6:37am EDT. The New Moon signals the beginning of the work, a time of creation and implementation, of ”to-do” lists, of tangibility and manifestation, a time of taking advantage of the resources available to you, utilizing your space and body properly and efficiently. All the small actions that leads to the whole, it’s happening now. Your breath, the way you chew your food, your digestion, your posture. The superfluous will seem extra superfluous while you find a purpose for everything. Each little things in their place, there is a place for everything, and no space wasted.

The New Moon is linked to the revolutionary ways in which you approach the ordinary. Set your intentions, but don’t set them to high as to be discouraged. Plant your intentions in the realm of the possible, the tangible, the practical, something that will yield a satisfactory result down the road, every step counts, every action has meaning.

Wood sculpture by Yoshitoshi Kanemaki

“Your thoughts, become your words;
your words, become actions;
your actions, become habits;
your habits, become your character;
your character,  becomes your destiny.”

WEEK OF AUGUST 5th, 2019: OUR PRIDE AND AFFECTIONS

 Artwork by Jasper Goodall 

Stand straight, walk proud, have a little faith
-Garth Brooks

The week begins with the Moon in Libra until it enters Scorpio on Tuesday signalling the First Quarter Moon. The Moon enters Sagittarius on Thursday, and remains on the archer’s territory until early Sunday morning when it enters Capricorn. The First Quarter Moon is a time of action and momentum when we are challenged to implement what was seeded at the New Moon and push forward.

SPIRIT
Passion burns hot this week as we move deeper into Leo season and straight into the heart of summer. The Sun in the second decan of Leo is bright indeed and Venus blinded by the rays inches closer and closer to the royal throne. By August 14, Venus will disappear completely into the Sun purifying herself in a baptism of light, rebirthing as an evening ”star”. The Sun and Venus in Leo will set the mood this week with loud and colourful roars and regal displays. Pride and affection for what we have created, what we have become, what we value and love is sure to be a theme. We might be moved to expose the content of our heart’s joys for all to see while other folks might dowse themselves in just-a-little-bit too much perfume.

FAITH
The Sun in Leo is moving towards a trine with Jupiter in Sagittarius (exact on Wednesday) and this should give us the ability to say YES more. This easy going and joyful sky is giving us plenty of reasons to celebrate life and make the difficult things a little bit easier to bare. Jupiter stations direct on August 11 after moving retrograde since April 10, 2019. On the same day, Mercury enters Leo and Uranus stations retrograde in Taurus creating a lot of momentum which culminates on Sunday. The Moon entering Sagittarius on Thursday (Jupiter’s day) gives the signal to launch the fireworks, release the helium balloons, cut the red ribbon, and trust that it will all work out. There is a hopeful quality that permeates the week and it is an excellent time to gain perspective on what remains to be accomplished while elevating your standards. Fill your engine to the brim with the potentiality latent in your dreams and aim higher. This is a time of joy, faith and courage; send your prayers and show gratitude accordingly.

THE SALES PITCH
Mercury re-enters the Lion’s den on Sunday at 15:45 EDT after having turned retrograde here in Leo before moving back into the sign of Cancer for most of July. If there is still a faint tinged of longing permeating our minds this week, it will definitely subside by Sunday. The radio stations which until now played a series of nostalgic and sappy songs will now be showcasing ”The Greatest Hits of all Time”. Mercury can be persuasive in the sign of Leo especially when supported by Jupiter. If you have to sell your salad ( convince someone), now and in the next few weeks is a good time to do so. You can expect however that everyone at the market will also have the best salad to sell; you could find yourself shouting in order to be heard.

The Fixed season of Leo is a time of conviction and this year Jupiter in Sagittarius is boosting the signal. Depending on natal disposition some folks might be totally blinded by their beliefs, their pride, and their ideas. Moderate the enthusiasm with healthy dose of reflection before launching headfirst into a debate or a venture. Measured risk and optimism will be rewarded while hubris and arrogance could alienate others but overall, it’s an excellent week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get lost and find your flow. Week of March 4, 2019

This week, we have Mercury stationing retrograde on Tuesday at  1:17pm EST. Mercury is retrograde for most of the month of March and even though there is no need to freak out about Mercury retrograde periods (since it happens 3 times a year), this one will be particularly ”foggy” as it is happening in Pisces (the sign of Mercury’s detriment) and Neptune will be quite active all month. Chances of missing important details increases and so are the chances of getting distracted. This month will be excellent for creative flow without too many rigid structures.

Wednesday, Uranus officially enters the sign of Taurus signalling a new era of technology, innovations, and breaking away from the status quo. Think back on how far you have come since 2011 to now (the time it took Uranus to travel through the sign of Aries) and how in may ways, you are starting a new chapter that is taking you further and further away from the person you were 8 years ago. Uranus ingress into an Earth sign can also bring some surprises this week; expect the unexpected.

Wednesday afternoon, a New Moon in Pisces will conjunct Neptune. This week is filled with impression and hunches as we get lured by half conscious visions of our hopes for the future. A New Moon signals the beginning of the Lunar Month. The seeds and intentions planted at this time will become visible around the Full Moon in Libra on the 21st of March. What is being fertilized/conceptualized at this time for you? Look at the House where Pisces sits in your birth chart for clues of where confusion and inspiration are likely to show their faces for you.

Thursday, the Sun conjunct Neptune; the fog machine is turn on high as we slip between fantasy, irrational fears, and wishful thinking. Neptune dissolves the shapes and boundaries of hard materialism. Is it all there is to reality? Or is something bigger at work here? Neptune gives a desire for transcendence; it makes us want to believe that there is more than meet the eyes. Neptune is the muse or the ghost. Neptune at its worst can turn the anxiety on high as we feel riddled with ungraspable fears, something just beyond our conscious awareness. Pisces season can also be a time of empathy, compassion, confusion or sadness as we can feel more vividly the pain of the world. A good season for generosity and compassion.

On a mundane level, ”fake news” will surely be a big thing this month so be careful about the information you ingest and be discerning! When possible, it’s a good time to tune out and practice meditation, mindfulness or simply go out in nature to bring you back to centre.

Have and excellent week and enjoy those Piscean Waters! 

VENUS IN PISCES ♀♓︎

Venus enters Pisces, the sign of her exaltation from February 10 until March 6.

Venus is considered exalted in the sign of Pisces and Venusian matters like love, music, art, beauty, money, pleasure and attraction have an easier time expressing themselves when she travels here.

We might crave ease and comfort during her month-long transit in Pisces, and this is possible if we heed the lessons of Saturn currently in its home sign of Capricorn. Nothing is free in this world and pleasure is to be found in maturity and pragmatism this year. Venus in Pisces contemplates eternity while Saturn in Capricorn looks for a solid framework.

Venus also applies to square with Mars in Sagittarius for most of February; you might have to adjust your vision, and be prepared to have your faith tested while you reach for the gold.

Applying a stoic perspective to our longings can help us succeed. A healthy dose of desire and the willingness to put in a sincere effort can lead to the success of our endeavours.

This month-long transit of Venus through Pisces supports our ability to find joy and beauty, while the sextile from Saturn can teach us how to sustain these states in the long run.

On the Chiron/Saturn square

The Moon is in Pisces and will meet Neptune later tonight. This can be both mystical and transcending as the Sun (in Scorpio) and the Moon are in deeply intimate waters right now. We could feel more impressionable and inspired with our attention turned towards spiritual matters.

Tomorrow night, the Moon in Pisces will conjunct Chiron and trigger the Chiron/Saturn square, just in time for Halloween.

The Chiron/Saturn square is the big signature aspect this week and it is both difficult and rewarding. We could be aware of old wounds while also being ready to move on from that space of hurt.

This aspect is a mixture of realization around painful truth and healing. You could feel sensitive and self-conscious of your downfalls while experiencing some closure around them. It’s like having the raw awareness of where it hurts in order to locate the pain, forgive yourself and hopefully move on.

It’s hard and edgy but also rewarding if you make the effort to be honest with yourself. It calls for maturity around our most vulnerable selves.

“I said: what about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.

I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.

I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?

I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it.
The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

― Jalaluddin Rumi

NEW MOON IN VIRGO: ENDINGS & HEALINGS

New Moon in Virgo: 1:30am EDT (3am NDT) September 20, 2017.

Mercury, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

☿

The New Moon in Virgo comes to us on the threshold of the Fall Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere. The beginning of this lunar cycle finds us in the liminal space between the brightness of summer and its imminent decay.

Two days after the New Moon on September 22nd, at 16:02 EDT, the Sun enters the sign of Libra and signals the beginning of Autumn.

ENDINGS & HEALINGS

The New Moon is often associated with the beginning of a monthly cycle and renewed vigor for the month ahead. Since this New Moon takes place in the last degrees of Virgo just 2 days before the Fall Equinox, she carries with her an air of finality and closure as oppose to new beginnings.

It is within the current endings that we will find the new beginnings taking shape. Something is being composted into a nourishing and fertilizing soil. However, we must appreciate this process fully and bid farewell to past fantasies and bewildering ideas that keeps us looking backward. To cross this seasonal threshold, something must be surrendered or given as a token gesture to those ideals and fantasies. It is in this paradoxical abandon that we shall receive the necessary healing for the next part of the journey and the accomplishment of our future goals.

OPEN WOUNDS

Under this New Moon in Virgo our wounds will take an incandescent glow calling to our attention what can’t be ignored any longer. The surfacing of these wounds could make us feel vulnerable but it will allow us to apply the necessary medicine. The pain which usually lies dormant under the surface of our skin will rise up and give us a clear indication of what must be healed. The remedies could be a bewildering blend of intuitive visions and practical applications. The most difficult task will be to rid ourselves of the intangible poisons and parasites.

Mercury, ruler of Virgo, presides over this New Moon and will be in exact opposition to Neptune at the time of the New Moon. Mercury began its retrograde motion on August 12 – in this exact part of the zodiac and opposing Neptune.

The train we have been riding since last month had Neptune coloured windows. When Neptune is involved, facts and fiction blend together creating a confusing cocktail of wishful thinking and unrealistic expectations. Under Neptune, we are intoxicated by an ideal and susceptible to delusion. At its best, Neptune gives a romantic tone to the object of desire, making us see what we want a see. Hopefully, the Sun in Virgo has helped us discriminate between what is achievable and what was mere fantasies. Regardless, in the days to come, we should slowly start to gain clarity on our current situation and any confusing scenarios we have been engaging with since the beginning of August will be seen for what they are. The New Moon in Virgo is also in exact opposition to Chiron; once the rose-coloured glasses come off, the truth could be hard to digest and the pain quick to locate. Be easy on yourself.

HONESTY & PRAGMATISM

Finally, remember that not everything can be solved at once. Patience and humility will be required for your perceived mistakes and failings; nothing is perfect in this world. Special attention must be paid to anything that requires fixing; whether physiological, spiritual or mechanical. Some of the keys you hold in your hands will heal what ails you and some of those keys will open dead-end doors. Pay attention to the repeating clues given to you as you cross the threshold between Summer and Fall.

 

Paintings by Zdzisław Beksiński and Magritte

 

SOLUTIONS AND DISSOLUTION

FOR WHEN THE SUN IN VIRGO OPPOSE NEPTUNE IN PISCES AND
THE MOON IN AQUARIUS CONJUNCT THE SOUTH NODE:

Can you discriminate between omens and wishful thinking?
Between poison and medicine?
Delusion and honesty?
Between a ghost and your own shadow?
Do you know your boundaries?

Still from the film ”The Dance of Reality” by Jodorowski

Venus returns to Pisces

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
-Joseph Campbell

The Moon just entered the water sign of Cancer for the next few days and Venus is about to move back into Pisces as part of its retrograde motion.

Even though Venus is considered exalted in Pisces, it will square Saturn almost immediately upon re-entering Pisces. Venus was here at the beginning of February and perhaps something from 2 months ago could be echoed back to us.

Venus square Saturn is bittersweet (like dark chocolate?! 😉 ) and in the next week, we might have to face the difficult choices we made. A sobering moment awaits as we realize the costs of our decisions. (Dark chocolate is generally preferred by adults?) What I’m getting at is that we might be looking for something sweet but we might need to be adults and settle for something less sweet.

Our experience of ease and beauty could feel limited or restrained by something outside of our control. It could feel harder than usual to ”go with the flow”. Age and experience through hardship could figure strongly. The stance is one of mature sobriety.

Mid-April, Venus goes direct as Mercury turns retrograde in Taurus (a Venus ruled sign). This particular series of aspect makes me think that some compromise or revision of priorities will need to be reached in order for us to find the comfort, support and ease we long for.

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”Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.
Only through experience of trial and suffering
can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired,
and success achieved.”
– Helen Keller

Moon in Cancer Musing

Find your sanctuary
the quiet space between
your roots 
and your heart
where the creative center reside
within the safety of yourself

There you will find the endless memories
of all who came before you
Hopes and wishes on a silver thread
will lead you back
to the treasures
of what really matters and what can be buried.

 

Painting by Aron Wiesenfeld

For when the Moon is in Pisces

Today’s Moon in Pisces conjunct Neptune and the Tail of the Dragon (South Node of the Moon) speaks of foggy circumstances. Reasoning and rational abilities might be at an all time low as we are swayed by psychic emotional tides. (particularly coming from social media.)

The upcoming Full Moon in Taurus (earth) ruled by Venus in Capricorn (earth) next week will be a good opportunity to anchor and re-group.

Neptune’s conjunction to the South Node will be exact on the 17th, Mercury will square Neptune on the 18th and Neptune will station direct on the 19th of November. The month closes with a square from the Sun in Sagittarius to Neptune in Pisces. That is a lot of Neptune.

Neptune rules beyond mundane material reality. Boundaries dissolves as we become susceptible to all sorts of impressions. Some are accurate while others are delusional. Here we meet anxiety and escapism or inspiration and bliss depending on where we put our attention. One of the side-effect of Neptune in Pisces could be a tendency to feel like a victim or like things are happening to us with little control over them.

A good idea is to disconnect from the information tide. Without escaping, find space, silence and stillness for true insights to emerge.

There could be missing elements from the picture we are looking at right now.
All things will come to pass, dissolve and disappear back into the void.

A good thing to keep in mind as we navigate these foggy waters.

 

”A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”― Saul Bellow