patricia maher astrology

April 2 2024

It’s crazy out there!  Solar eclipse April 8th with a wild lineup, and  the outer planets run the show all month long!

Oh -me- o- my -o.  April is quite a month.  if you don’t have a regular grounding and/or spiritual practice, get one. This month is wild. Before I even get to the eclipse, which has the most extraordinary lineup of planets, I must describe the backdrop of the month. 

Jupiter in Taurus  has been approaching Uranus in Taurus and they pair up for the month ahead.  This is an interesting and expansive energy that brings openings, opportunities, surprises, even breakthroughs.  Jupiter intensifies the Uranian chaos and the sense that time has speeded up.  Not bad, really,  but definitely kind of wildly unpredictable.  

Oh!  I almost forgot to say that Mercury turned retrograde yesterday!  And in Aries — that could be annoying, I think– it might take away our filters, so don’t be surprised at what comes out of anyone’s mouth. And it will add to the overall weirdness…

And Saturn sits in an angle to Uranus and Jupiter all month, joined by Pluto by the time the Sun enters Taurus on the 19th and for the remainder of April.

What?!  Yes, this is kind of intense and very contradictory.  We have the liberatory and expansive and surprising energy of  Jupiter and Uranus, combined with more restrictive or structured Saturn, combined with raw power and the shadow side of humanity represented by Pluto.  This is  breakthrough, breakdown, and transformation all rolled into one.  

And I haven’t even gotten to the eclipse!

The moon almost totally eclipses the sun during a near total solar eclipse as seen from Salem, Ore., Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

   What about this eclipse, you ask?  First of all, eclipses happen frequently–lunar eclipses on full moons, solar on new moons.  They are always astronomically wonderful and astrologically important.  The astrological importance is that they intensify whatever is happening on that lunation.  This one is important  because many of us in the US can see it, partially or totally. 

On this one, all those planets that I have described — with the exception of Pluto– line up on the eclipse: Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter and Venus and Mars.  Mars in Pisces will be sitting in the exact same spot with Saturn, and Venus makes an angle to Uranus and Jupiter.  This is about a tremendous clash of values, perhaps radical breakthroughs grounded in Saturn Mars tenacity and hard work, probably more structural breakdowns (we just saw a major bridge collapse), and perhaps significant repression and violence.  And then there is climate, and weather gets very intense on new and full moons.  In any case, Uranus and Jupiter push us to the future with Saturn’s grounding in what we have learned from the past. 

 

So you see why I say stay grounded, stay strong, stay hopeful. Do our work. Go see the eclipse!

Important Dates in April (times ET)

April 8    222 pm  New moon @19’24 Aries and Solar Eclipse!

April 19   1001 am  Sun enters Taurus, squares Pluto  – welcome change!

April 23 750 pm  Full Moon @4’18 Scorpio- honor those ancestors!

April 25  855 am  Mercury turns direct @ 15’59 Aries  – whew! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 2 2024

March is…complicated!  First, some Piscean mushiness, and then Saturn and Pluto get into the mix with Uranus.  

The month begiOns with the Pisces Sun lining up with Mercury and Saturn, allowing us to do some nudgy mental work. Then Venus and Uranus shake things up and make us itchy for change.  Let’s hope Venus brings a cease-fire to Gaza. There is a powerful new moon in Pisces on the 10th with jangly Mars-Uranus aspects.  Then the Pisces Sun catches up to Neptune by the 15th for a few days of complete confusion. The Spring Equinox comes on the 19th when the Sun enters Aries, along with a stressful set of angles between Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto that take us almost through the rest of March and then are in effect on and off for months. 

I am hoping Venus mitigates what is otherwise a dicey combination. Although Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto are not on the earth axis, my sense is that they will still ramp up conflict on the world stage. Jupiter will in fact be crossing the earth axis, and so it will likely magnify the impact.  

Keep in mind that one of Trump’s criminal trials starts March 25th in New York City, the day of the Libra full moon and this pigpile of intense planetary  influences.  It will be interesting and dramatic, no doubt! 

At the end of March, Jupiter in Taurus closes in on Uranus, and they get even closer during April. This is an exciting and surprising energy that can bring breakthroughs when we least expect them.   There is always change in the universe, and change gives me hope. 

Speaking of change, I have been studying the birth charts of some of the national political players.  As I have written before, both Nikki Haley and Kamala Harris have Pluto moving across  their Suns (Capricorn and Libra, respectively), indicating a potential path to power, and a  kind of stealthy and hidden power.  President Biden will be experiencing stressful Uranus aspects to his Sun in the height of the campaign beginning in August. Uranus will be moving through his 6th house could indicate health challenges and drmaatic changes in his work situation. 

And, I am counting on Jupiter turning retrograde on top of Trump’s Gemini Sun to take the steam right out of his campaign come October…A big fizzle.  

I also have been looking at the birth chart of Gretchen Whitmer, an August 23rd Virgo with a Libra Moon and Aries ascendant.  Saturn is moving through her 12th house right now, which is often about service to the greater good, often through  working in institutions. Uranus has just entered her 2nd house, indicating big changes in her work.  additionally it is making an angle to her Midheaven, bringing change and disruption and the unexpected to her career.  Interesting, right? 

Important Astrological dates in March (EDT)

March 10     502 am    New moon @20’17 Pisces           Pray and organize for peace!

March  19    1108 pm    Spring Equinox!   Sun enters Aries      Plan your garden!

March 25    301 am        Full Moon @5’07 Libra and annular eclipse    Stand strongly in your values!

Make your plans for total solar eclipse watching, coming on April 8th!!  

February 4 2024

February brings some heavy Uranus action, and a gorgeous two week-long Mars-Venus conjunction… 

I, for one, am grateful for today’s Mercury Pluto conjunction that inspired me to focus and finally get my monthly column posted!  This Sagittarian has been busy… So yes, Mercury and  Pluto help us concentrate and use our brain cells for something useful and even erudite.

Happy belated Brigid’s Day February 1st — Feile Bride or Imbolc!  It is  one of my favorite holidays in the Celtic calendar, a celebration of healing, poetry and creative fire. 

Just to remind us that there are good things happening,  I love that the restoration of the power-sharing government in the North of Ireland– led by Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein!–  occurred this past week, coinciding with the Brigid celebration.  

There’s an awful lot of Aquarian energy in the sky this month, and Uranus, the ruling planet of Aquarius, figures big in the first half of February. Uranus brings the unexpected, a desire for liberation, a push out of our comfort zone.  It can be good or it can be chaotic and dramatic.  By February 7th the Aquarius Sun makes a potent angle to Uranus in Taurus, and the Aquarius new moon is on the 9th.  Get ready for tumultuous and dramatic events.  

And on the 13th Mars enters Aquarius and immediately meets up with Pluto.  Hmm, power struggles perhaps; more saber-rattling and violence. 

But then Venus enters Aquarius on the 16th, and Mars and Venus pair up for the rest of the month.  This is a beautiful energy of working together for shared purpose. This could bring movement in all kinds of things, and successful negotiations on many fronts.  On the Virgo full moon on the 24th they make an angle to Jupiter in Taurus, intensifying their energy.  We could see some breakthroughs.  I’m hoping for a cease fire in Israel’s war on Palestinians!

So dear readers, stay hopeful.  Don’t mourn– organize.   In celebration of Brigid’s celebration, here is a poem that was recently shared with me by Trish Farley, unstoppable anti- racist organizer, mentor, and friend: 

Hope, by Victoria Safford

“Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope — not the prudent gates of Optimism, which are somewhat narrower;

nor the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense;

nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness, which creak on shrill and angry hinges (people cannot hear us there; they cannot pass through);

nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of “Everything is gonna be all right.”

But a different, sometimes lonely place,                                 

the place of truth-telling, about your own soul first of all and its condition,

the place of resistance and defiance,

the piece of ground from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it will be;

the place from which you glimpse not only struggle, but joy in the struggle.

And we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we are seeing, asking people what they see.”

January 1, 2024

Happy New Year!  Well, it’s an interesting year ahead…Bright spots, grim spots, eclipses, and a lot of complexity. Read on for my take on 2024. 

Happy New Year, dear readers.  Happy end of Mercury retrograde. Happy Jupiter direct.  I don’t know about you, but although I normally love Mercury retrograde, this one pushed me to the limit.  I wrecked more electrical  devices than I thought was possible…so I for one am grateful that Mercury turns direct tonight!

But I know you really want to hear about 2024 and not my astrological travails, so here goes:

2024 ushers in some really different and important aspects.  The dramatically awful Saturn-Pluto angle that has been weighing us down pulls apart during January and February, which should make peace and justice more possible.  January has some easy stretches and ends with a week long Sun-Pluto conjunction (not easy), followed  by a Sun -Jupiter angle (easy) in the last week of January.  February has a beautiful Mars-Venus conjunction for the second half of the month, a delightful combination for shared action.

However, starting in March, and on and off throughout 2024, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto make an angle to each other.  It’s not an angle on the earth axis, but still it is potent and dramatic. It says we are in for more upheaval– in terms of climate, war, economic access, etc.  So yeah, there will be some troubling times…

Pluto enters Aquarius January 20 and remains in its early degrees until September when it retrogrades back into Capricorn, reentering Aquarius in November.  Expect more focus on AI.  In addition, both Nikki Haley and VP Kamala Harris are undergoing the slow transit of Pluto to their Suns (Haley is a late Capricorn and Harris a late Libra).  They are stepping into their power –and also struggling to be seen. 

April 8 brings a big big big total solar eclipse, visible in much of the US. This eclipse has a complicated lineup of planets– Mars, Venus, and Jupiter are  involved with Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto.  I am hoping that Venus Mars and Jupiter create openings for peace.  Jupiter and Uranus move together in Taurus for much of April, bringing surprises. 

In May, Jupiter enters Gemini after spending a year in Taurus. More on this later when we get to November and Donald Trump. He will have some difficult Saturn challenges in June and July, perhaps in connection with the various indictments and lawsuits. 

In August President Biden’s Sun, Venus and Ascendant are all aspected by Uranus. It will be a very stressful time for him.

September 18th brings a partial lunar eclipse in Pisces that lines up with Neptune.  Expect very bad weather. 

In September and October, Jupiter in Gemini gets very close to Trump’s Gemini Sun and Sag Moon.  He will be going strong — but then Jupiter retrogrades on October 8th and stays retrograde til early February.  According to astrology writer Erin Sullivan, when Jupiter retrogrades, forward motion can come to a stop– especially if one has overreached. Hubris doesn’t sit well with Jupiter retrograde.   He will have Jupiter retrograde sitting on top of his Sun in October and November. Just sayin.   I think he will fall hard.  

Mars goes retrograde in Leo on December 4th.  This long transit  lasts til late February.  The aftermath of the US elections  will undoubtedly be messy.  (Mars was retrograde during the 2020 election and also when the Supreme Court decided the election in Bush v Gore).  I will of course have more to say about the 2024 elections as we get closer to the fall.  

January’s Important dates – all times EST

January 1        1109 pm      Mercury turns direct!      woohoo!

January 11       658 am      New moon @20’44 Capricorn       plan plan plan

January 20       1108 am   Sun enters Aquarius              envision peace

January 20        751 pm    Pluto enters Aquarius          

January  25       255 pm  Full moon @ 5’15  Leo squaring Jupiter     fulfill your dreams!

_____________________________________________________

December 4 2023

The Saturn -Pluto disasters continue into December– and along comes Mercury retrograde and some liberating planetary influences!  

I apologize for this December post being a tad late.  Like any good Sagittarian I was doing what we Sag’s do best– traveling abroad, expanding my horizons, and being endlessly convivial. 

So yes, Saturn and Pluto continue to be in an angle to the Earth axis through most of  December– war, earthquakes, and all kinds of disturbingly bad news that you don’t need me to dwell on.  There are always openings for peace and liberation, and that is also true this month. 

Not that I am wearing  rose-colored glasses or anything!

First of all, there is a pretty Venus-Jupiter opposition for a few days on the 9th, which could bring some positive and peaceful outcomes for the planet.  Then there is an inspiring Sagittarius new moon on the 12th in the shadow of Mercury retrograde, which begins soon after on the 13th.  Those couple of days will be powerful, and let’s hope it brings to bear some hopeful Sagittarian vision. Mercury turning retrograde on the same day could really throw a wrench into the works, for good or for ill.  So we will see. 

In any case, in would try to avoid traveling on the 12th-13th, and also not on the 26th, the day of the Cancer full moon.  You know what I always say about new and full moons:  the lunations move a lot of water around the planet.  Just sayin’.

Here comes Mercury retrograde on the 13th! 

This Mercury retrograde starts in Capricorn on the 13th and moves into Sagittarius on the 23rd, where it continues to be until January 1st, a nice New Years gift! 

 I always say I love Mercury retrograde — which I do, although a bit less when it’s in my own Sun sign.   Let me review the do’s and dont’s:

1.  Yes, you can make decisions during this period as long as those decisions are informed by intuition. It’s best to wait til the retro period is over so you can be sure you have all the information you need. 
2. Linear processes can go sideways during Mercury retrograde — time, technology, appointments, short travel.  
3. Pay attention to your dreams and your “gut.”
4. Always back up your computer before the retrograde begins. (I learned that the hard way! )

This month, Mercury retrograde crosses paths with the Sun on the 23rd. Expect a very retrograde day!  We have other very interesting dynamics at play at that time– the Sun and Saturn are in an angle to Neptune and Venus in Scorpio opposes Uranus. Again, another opportunity for peace. The last week of the month brings Mars squaring Neptune — a time of expansively projected energy.

I think of the Mars and Neptune effect as akin to the superpower of Storm, the X-Men character played by Halle Berry in the above photo.  She creates atmosphere and weather.  This is what Marvel says about her, emphasis added:

“As a storied, veteran X-Men member, Ororo Munroe – aka Storm – is one of the most powerful mutants on Earth. A trusted and wise leader of the team, with the ability to control and manipulate weather patterns, Storm has created a legacy of both freedom-fighting and mentorship, forever aware of how emotions can cause one’s powers to spiral out of control.” 

If that isnt a perfect description of Mars and Neptune, I don’t know what is!  We have a powerful opportunity this month to create the emotional “weather” of the planet. Pray and take action for peace and justice like our lives depend on it– because they do!

Sneak preview: my January column will discuss the 2024 planets and a sneak peek at electoral politics. For example, Nikki Haley’s chart is very interesting right now–  Pluto is transiting her Sun, which has a lot to do with stepping into power.  More later…

December’s Important Dates

Dec 12      633 pm     New Moon @ 20’40 Sagittarius        Envision justice!

Dec  13     210 am      Mercury turns retrograde @ 8’28 Capricorn    Back up that hard drive!

Dec 21      1028 pm    Winter Solstice!   Sun enters Capricorn!    

Dec 23       Mercury retrograde crosses the Sun     Really —back up that hard drive!

Dec 24 -31   Mars Squares Neptune    Amplify loving kindness!

Dec 26    834  pm       Full Moon @ 4’58 Cancer, aspecting Uranus           Expect the unexpected

October 31 2023

Saturn and Pluto wreak havoc on the Earth axis into November, and November 13 brings an explosive New Moon 

Happy Halloween. Indeed, the veil between the worlds does seem very thin right now– so much loss of life.  I am sorry to say it but Saturn and Pluto’s destructive action continues for the next couple of months.  Saturn and Pluto represent some of the most destructive and transformative energies in the entire zodiac. When Saturn engages with an outer transpersonal planet there can be a certain kind of hell to pay, because by its nature, Saturn wants to control the uncontrollable by giving it form and structure, thereby making the uncontrollable more powerful. Pluto represents life/death/rebirth.  It  is often an urge to power and retribution that is  deeply buried in the unconscious. As I have written before, violence, terror, repression can be expressed in very stark ways during this transit. 

It is really important that we lift up the transformative and life-giving potential of Saturn and Pluto. That means being very clear about how violence begets violence, and clear about what the creation of peace actually entails.  Peaceful strategies work– war never does.  I am reminded a lot these days of Ireland, where I spent a lot of time in the 90’s working to support the sustainability of peace.  I learned there that peace takes a different kind of work, work that is grounded in a clear-eyed recognition of history, of the multigenerational impact of violence,  and an understanding and critique of state power.  Twenty-five years later these are the same requirements for my anti-racist work here in the US.  These lessons can and should be applied in any conflict zone around the globe. 

Pardon me for getting all Sagittarian and lecture-y!

So November might be a bit dicey. 

On November 13th, the Scorpio new moon lines up with Mars in an opposition to Uranus.  New moons concentrate a lot of potential energy, and Mars and Uranus are explosive and rebellious. There is a desire to bust out out of restrictions, challenge the status quo, exercise one’s will.  This could play out any number of ways, of course, with protest and open resistance and/or with the usual Uranian element of surprise. Like I always say, expect the unexpected…

Keep in mind that the deadline for Congress to fund  government operations is November 17th…

The Sun enters Sagittarius on the 22nd, and squares Saturn in Pisces, usually kind of sobering, but this time with Mars and Venus. This combination could bring a diplomatic breakthrough of some sort.  A few days later the Gemini full moon occurs on the 27th with a Saturn-Mars angle  and a Mercury-Neptune  opposition at the same time.  We should all be mindful that we might be caught off-guard, looking at one drama while the real crisis occurs somewhere else.  We need to have eyes in the backs of our heads on that full moon! 

On a lighter note, in case you’re wondering what we talk about in my monthly Ask Miz Saturn chats, we had a fascinating conversation last week about the state of the world and the astrological outlook…

First of all, the Earth signs always represent, and they did again last time!  Why is that? Curious dog wants to know… My take is that the Tauruses, Virgos, and Capricorns are very rooted in dealing with the day-to-day realities of life on the ground, and they want to know how to handle what’s going on.  So here I am with no Earth in my chart (for real!), dialoguing with the Earth signs about the terrible things unfolding in our world. It was a fruitful and deep discussion.  We talked about the Saturn Pluto dynamics of a few years ago. We talked about how to deal with it, and how each of us can figure out what we can do in our little corner of the world to move through helplessness.  We talked about the mutable signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces being more future-oriented and therefore more hopeful. So I hope you can join us next time– even if you’re not an Earth sign!

November’s Important dates

• November  1-2 Talk to the ancestors– the veil is thin! Pray for peace
•  November  8– Venus enters Libra—   celebrate relationships
•  November 10– Mercury enters Sagittarius and squares Saturn — back up that hard drive
•  November 11 – Mars opposite Uranus–   expect the unexpected       
•  November 13 – New Moon at 20°43’ Scorpio  —organize for freedom
•  November 22–  Sun enters Sag and squares Saturn   Be hopeful but grounded
• 24 November – Mars enters Sagittarius – cultivate hope and take action
• 27 November – Full Moon at 4°51’ Gemini, Mercury square Neptune, – focus on loving kindness

__________________________________________________________________

October 10 2023

Your astrologer fell into the trap of Libran idealization in her October post… Yup, there’s nothing like rose-colored glasses

Silly me, thinking that October’s roller coaster would be more manageable than the chaos of recent months.  My bad.  

I forgot to mention that this month Saturn and Pluto are equidistant from a major trigger point on the earth axis, where Jupiter happens to sit.  

In terms of global  dynamics, Saturn and Pluto are rarely a positive combination, signifying power and repression in an extreme way.  When the nation of Israel was created, there was a Saturn -Pluto conjunction in the sky, and it is no accident that war has erupted there.  As someone who has spent a lot of time in the north of Ireland, up close and personal with the violence that raged there for so long, I am very familiar with the destructive nature of power and repression. Violence is never good.  In Ireland I learned  that when the only tools the oppressed have are the tools of the oppressor, brutality and violence seem like the only option– as horrifying as that is.  Israel’s tragic Saturn-Pluto flaw is that borne out of the horror of the Holocaust, Israel has become the oppressor of Palestinians. Let’s pray for a cease -fire before it goes on much longer.  Let’s avoid either/or thinking, and the tendency to say, you’re either for us or against us.  

This  is a terrible, terrible war that is unfolding. And under this Saturn-Pluto-Earth axis influence there is a danger of it becoming bigger, with other countries involved (the US is already involved.)  Keep in mind that in Saturn-Pluto style Putin has tested long-range nuclear cruise missiles.  North Korea, another 1948 Saturn-Pluto country, has recently met with Putin… The geopolitics that are happening now are unpredictable and intense.   Then there is the earth itself, and the recent spate of devastating earthquakes…

Remember, Venus was retrograde this summer until September 4th.  Remember, the ancient Mayans said Venus retrograde was a time to prepare for war.  Seems so.  

And on a lighter note (not really!), the US House of Representatives might soon be led by  “David Duke Lite” Steve Scalise.  Kevin McCarthy, in his Saturn return, is wrestling with his own inner demon and can’t stop himself from trying to regain power.  The representative from Ohio who is also vying for the leadership position is so slimy he doesnt not deserve a mention here….

Be mindful of the eclipse coming this weekend which falls on the earth axis, pulling in Mars together with Saturn and Pluto.  Deep breaths.  Stay as peaceful as possible.  This new moon is in Libra — equal day and equal night. In other words, contemplate the “both/and” and investigate our shadow sides. I invite us to reflect on why we care about some people being harmed and not others.  We ignore our shadow sides at our peril. 

October 1 2023

October brings two eclipses (!) and ups and downs that I think we can handle…

October is a manageable month, astrologically speaking.  All of the planets from Jupiter on outward are moving retrograde, which is interesting.  I believe that we feel the impact of retrogrades when it is a personal planet like Mercury, Venus or Mars going retrograde.  Because the outer planets spend so much time being retrograde I believe we notice it less. However, it is worth mentioning that right now Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are all retrograde.  To me, what is significant about these outer planets’ cycles  is that they make several sweeps over the same points in the sky.  So we get a do-over, or a period where we have to deal with the same issues in a different way, thus a feeling of unfinished business.   Or, are we going through this again?

In the Uranian system of astrology which involves 8 additional planets, there is a combination in the sky right now about accountability and having people pay for misdeeds.  

Fani Willis, Letitia James, and Jack Smith and several federal judges seem to be manifesting that energy…Thank god it is a very slow transit!

On another note Jupiter in Taurus spends half of October backtracking over the earth axis. As I wrote last month, labor rights are the realm of Jupiter in Taurus.  We are in a time of heightened labor organizing — not just the UAW strike but also many other labor actions around the country as well as the organizing to obtain work permits for new immigrants.  Taurus has to do with meeting people’s basic human needs. As Jupiter retrogrades in Taurus the real day-to-day impacts of economic inequity will be further revealed. 

And I hate to say I told you so but I have to say it.  I said it last month:  watch out for especially extreme weather on full and new moons. That is always the case but it is more dire and dangerous in this time of climate change!  Friday’s flooding in New York City and beyond was on the full moon!  There are two eclipses this month, which will intensify the energy even more. See below for dates.

October’s Important Dates

October 14    156 pm     New Moon @21’08 Libra and Annular Eclipse     

October 23    1222 pm  Sun enters Scorpio       

October  28  405 pm     Full Moon  @ 5’09 Taurus and partial lunar eclipse   

October 31   Halloween    The veil between the worlds is at its thinnest: talk to your ancestors!

September 3 2023

Let Venus work her magic this month!  Venus-Jupiter then Venus-Uranus bring fulfillment and liberation

Whew!  Things ease up this month– kinda, sorta.  Venus turns direct tonight,  inspiring us to integrate the lessons from the retrograde. We will get a lot of help  with that this month, since ’tis the season of integration, with the Sun and Mercury moving through Virgo… 

Like its opposite sign Pisces, Virgo has to do with wholeness, with identifying the disparate parts and putting them into a coherent whole so we can integrate that whole.  The  constellation Virgo is named for the medieval virgin “who was whole unto herself.” The Piscean approach to wholeness is a bit different– as a water sign it has a feeling of wholeness and connection to all things, to a universal wholeness of consciousness, “substance of we feeling,” as Doris Lessing coined in her novel Shikasta.  Virgo  is very much an earth sign, and like all earth signs, its realm is our bodies, the earth itself, and what we do in the material world in terms of work.  So Virgo seeks to bring mind, body, and spirit into an integrated whole.  

Look at that, this Sagittarius is explicating, as we Sagittarians love to do! I can’t help myself. 

And Venus too will help us integrate what we learned in the retrograde, first with a two -week angle to Jupiter starting the 11th  and then a week-long angle to Uranus at the end of the month. We learned a lot. We learned that we can’t deny climate catastrophe. We learned that Fani Willis is a badass (and we are glad that Venus and Jupiter are aspecting her Scorpio self very positively over the next while…)   On a personal level, Venus and Jupiter bring fulfillment and call for gratitude.  Venus and Uranus will bring creative vision.  We can all use a dose of all of this!

The Venus-Jupiter combination will be sitting on the Earth axis at 15 degrees Leo and Taurus, respectively, so it will be impactful for the world.  

When I saw this aspect coming I thought that to some degree it would show up in world economics, since there is a side of both Venus and Jupiter that has to do with money.   Hmm. China’s economy is suffering which of course has a great deal of impact on global dynamics.  Today’s news reported the possibility of a UAW strike against the big 3 automakers, with a D-Day of September 14th– the day of the New moon in Virgo and the day before Mercury in Virgo turns direct.  Then there is the September threat of a US Congress budget impasse with right-wing Republicans threatening a shutdown…  There is increasing awareness of the economic impacts of climate disasters —  in Hawaii and in so many other places.  So we can see Venus and Jupiter at work in all these events.

Yes, Mercury turns direct on the 15th.  It will be a helluva new moon on the 14th

For all you travelers out there– I frequently say this, and it is more urgent in this time of climate change– a lot of water gets moved around the planet on full and new

 moons. Storms are bigger, weather events are more dramatic. Similarly– our bodies are made up mostly of liquid so we are also very affected by new and full moons. Pay attention to lunar dates  when you make your travel plans! And on the 14th,  with Mercury about to turn around, travel plans can  be affected. The day Mercury turns in either direction can be wild.  Just sayin.  

September’s Important Dates (EDT)

September 3    921 pm     Venus turns direct @ 12’12 Leo    Integrate what you’ve learned from Venus 

September  6     Mercury retrograde crosses the Sun @ 13-14 degrees Virgo  Back up that laptop!

September 14th   941 pm   New Moon @ 21’59 Virgo         Seek inner guidance!

September 15th    422 pm   Mercury turns direct @ 8’03 Virgo

September17 March for Climate Justice!

September 23rd     1222 pm   Sun enters Libra   Happy Fall Equinox!!   

July 31 2023

August is wild!  Venus retrograde, Mercury retrograde, two full moons!  

Ooh, this is the kind of month we astrologers love, so complicated, so rich and interesting and potentially momentous.   First, it starts on August 1st with an Aquarius full moon, and closes out the month on August 30th with a Pisces full moon, the classic ” blue moon.” 

That is the least of the dynamics!  Of course I love Venus retrograde, and then on August 23rd, Mercury turns retrograde as well and we will have 11 days when they are both retrograde at the end of August and into September.  Venus retrograde, in addition to inspiring us to bring our lives in line with our values, also challenges conventional definitions of femaleness and speaks truth to power.  When both planets are retrograde we will see some interesting challenges to patriarchy and to repression of all kinds. 

We have to talk about Barbie!   

It is no accident that this subversively feminist  movie was  released on July 21st, on the eve of Venus’s retrograde turn, and that it is wildly successful.  It presents quite the analysis of patriarchy…Its success flies in the face of the right wing’s actions to strip women of rights and agency.

And Rest in Peace, Sinead O Connor

The gifted Irish protest singer and activist died last week at the age of 56.  She was a Sagittarius (we’ve lost two of my favorite Sagittarian divas in last few months, Sinead, and Tina Turner in May) with very complicated Venus aspects in her birth chart. You can see her Sagittarian righteousness in her sense of justice and in her courageous challenge to the Catholic Church’s institutionalized sexual abuse of children. You can see her sensitivity to trauma and abuse of all kinds in the  Venus-Saturn-Uranus aspects in her chart.  She stood up against racism, violence, homophobia and gender oppression and was vilified for it.  Although we think of her dramatic challenge to the Church, I also love her for her spoken word song “Famine” in which she positions the Irish Famine as the deliberate act of British colonization (which it was), and she goes on to state that PTSD from the famine is the source of patterns of violence and of abuse in Ireland. 

But it is the outpouring of grief and recognition of her impact on Ireland that is very much a reflection of Venus retrograde– that she was ahead of her time and pushed Ireland to be a more open secular society, one has  adopted  a far more progressive social contract in relation to women’s rights, abortion rights and queer rights than the United Sates has… Sigh. 

Although she didn’t have Venus retrograde in her chart, she might as well have had, with Venus aspecting explosive Saturn and Uranus.  Venus retrograde is about marching to the beat of a different drummer.  Sinead certainly did that. 

Venus retrograde:  August transits of Uranus and Jupiter, economics, climate and the Ukraine

Like I said, August is complicated.  And Venus retrograde is complicated, potentially liberating personally, yet globally can bring crisis and war.  Oh wait– we already have lots of crisis and lots of war, (Niger, Israel, the US, just to name a few crises) so what could happen now?  Starting on August 5th, Venus retrograde in Leo moves toward  a square with Uranus in Taurus, which is at the 22-degree mark.  It just so happens that Putin’s Midheaven is at 21 degrees Leo– the Midheaven, at the cusp of the 10th house,  has to do with destiny, purpose, and career.  Ukraine’s chart has Venus, Jupiter, Mercury  all between 28 and 25 degrees Leo, right where Venus is now (and it has Venus and Mercury retrograde in its chart!). Then over the next two weeks Venus retrograde in the sky moves across all three of those planets as it approaches its angle to Uranus in the sky and lands opposite Ukraine’s moon at 22 degrees Aquarius.   The August 16th new moon falls on this same key point, 22 degrees of Leo.  I say, expect the unexpected. Venus retrograde can bring reversals of power.

All I can say is that Putin and Ukraine are very intertwined astrologically as well as politically (duh!). These current transits are hitting Putin very directly in terms of his position of power, and  they are affecting Ukraine’s chart. In addition, later in August, after Venus retrograde moves past Uranus and the Leo planets in its own chart, Venus retro moves into a square with Jupiter on the earth axis.  This happens after the 20th, and the actual birthday of Ukraine is  August 24th. The Venus retro -Jupiter combination on the Earth axis has big implications for the world–especially economics, food, climate.  But somehow events in Ukraine will be key to the transits of the entire month of August. 

 I see 3 possible scenarios:

Ukraine’s offensive puts Russia on its heels, and Putin falls 

Russia smashes Ukraine, and sparks direct involvement by NATO

Unexpected diplomatic breakthrough and ceasefire

What do I know — Im just an astrologer! There are of course many other possible outcomes, and the other thing to remember is that Mercury turns retrograde on the 23rd, and we will have 10 days of Venus and Mercury retrograde.  That could be a time of behind the scenes negotiations and creative solutions. Anything is possible! 

And it is important to look back to 2015, the last time Venus retrograded in Leo.  the Chinese stock market crashed at that time.  I have always thought that there could be a major economic shift when Venus retrograde and Jupiter cross the earth axis– there is a side to both Venus and Jupiter that has to do with money.  Given Jupiter in Taurus it also could relate to food shortages and the collapse of the grain deal in the Ukraine.  In 2015 climate was a big issue– as it is now, of course.  I would expect more and worse climate events over the next month, sorry to say.  

On the personal level, Venus retrograde is all about  coming into alignment with integrity.  Let’s do that, for real. 

 

Important August Dates (times EDT)

August 1        233 pm      Full moon @ 9’16” Aquarius     Celebrate something

August 16     539 am   New Moon @ 23’17 Leo, exact square to Uranus    Focus on core values

August 23    502 am   Sun enters Virgo      

August 23    401 pm   Mercury turns retrograde @ 21’49 Virgo      Cultivate your intuition and listen to it!

August 30   937 pm   Full moon @ 7’25 Pisces   Invite in creative and restorative solutions to conflict

July 2 2023

Happy Capricorn full moon, Happy Venus retrograde!

So July is an interesting month!  Venus in Leo is in an angle to Uranus this week, and the Capricorn full moon of July 3rd just amplifies that creative energy. 

Never forget that Uranus introduces dramatic upheaval and reversals into any planetary situation — and we have seen plenty of Uranian upheaval in the past week between a mercenary army marching on Moscow and the Supreme Court decisions this week.  Not surprisingly, Mars was paired up with Venus and they both squared Uranus last weekend.

We probably didnt expect the Prigozhin-Putin  dynamics but we should have expected the right- wing majority of the Supreme Court to do what they did. 

So–  what does Venus squaring Uranus mean?  It is an unsettled energy, one that desires freedom and liberation.  Venus, among other things, has to do with values.  The Supreme Court just ran roughshod over Uranian values of justice and liberation. We are living in a period of dramatic clashing of values.  So if many of us are feeling out of sorts…. 

Here comes Venus retrograde on July 22!

I  love Venus retrograde because it makes us aware of where we lack integrity, or wholeness. It is a 40 day period that occurs every 1 -1/2 years. It is a subtle, introspective transit on the personal level, where we become aware of where we are out of sync with our values. It is always fruitful because we just understand that the emotional, physical, financial energy we are putting into something isn’t what we need or isnt worth it. In other words, it doesn’t align with our sense of value and values.

Venus is a complicated little planet!

It has to do with an ideal  sense of relatedness and relationship.  Venus’s cycles are a direct depiction of a 5-pointed mandala. This relates to the number 5 and the spiritual ideal of the Golden Section, a perfectly irrational and harmonious mathematical ratio. It represents the ideal of balance, beauty and spirituality reflected in the quintile, in the 5-petaled lotus, in the pentacle, in  DaVinci’s iconic drawing of a human being in a circle, in the Venus-like Yoruba deity Oshun who is associated with the number 5, and in countless other symbols. 

Astrologer Erin Sullivan writes in her book Retrograde Planets:

“The knowledge that Venus imparts…is an aesthetic, visceral knowing, which cannot be articulated but can only be enacted or portrayed through the subtlety of relationships with others or in abstract imagery.” 

Yet the retrograde is also  a visit from our shadow side, where we have to confront what we want that we don’t have, or perhaps what we don’t allow ourselves to have or be or express. The ancient Mayans, who tracked Venus’ movements and had a complex understanding of its duality, saw  Venus retrograde as a time to prepare for war.  Flaws and problems in relationships and commitments can become visible during this time, resulting in necessary change.  We can blunder, as Venus retrograde shows her shadow side.  The goal is to be in alignment with our creative needs  and our capacity for self- love and love for others. 

In order to understand what unfinished work we have to do related to Venus, it is useful to look back at the last time Venus retrograded in Leo, which was 8 years ago in August 2015. (Venus is retrograde in the same sign every 8 years). That  gives us each an important clue about what we will grapple with between July 22 and September 4th of this year.  Ruminate on that!

Thus politically and globally Venus retrograde puts the focus on diplomatic and international relationships and conflicts

It is a time when leaders can fall, just sayin.  This time around, it appears that Ukraine and Russia — and Prigozhin– are likely to have Venus retrograde breakthroughs– or breakdowns. In August, Venus retrograde squares Uranus and then Jupiter. The Venus-Uranus square falls on key points in the charts of Ukraine, Putin, and Prigozhin — not unlike right now.  The Venus retrograde introduces an additional wild card on top of Uranus, already a major wild card.  When Venus squares Jupiter on the earth axis in August it occurs near the birthday of modern Ukraine.  Ukraine has Venus retrograde in its chart.  

 I will discuss this further in my August column!  

July’s Important Dates (EDT)– Enjoy all the expressive Leo energy! Make art!

July 3           740 am   Full Moon at 11’19 Capricorn                     

July 17         233 pm   New Moon at 24’56 Cancer                 

July 22       1134 pm    Venus station retrograde at 28’36 Leo

July 22       1152 pm    Sun enters Leo

June 2 2023

Sagittarius full moon on the 3rd along with wacky Mercury-Uranus action while Mars and Venus move into Leo.  Fire!  

It looks like the Mars-Jupiter -Pluto lineup at the end of May and beginning of this month delivered, and  Congress was able to hammer out a debt-limit deal.  Whew. Those three planets have begun to move apart, with Mars advancing in Leo while Jupiter moves more slowly in Taurus, and Pluto just sits, as it is wont to do.  June begins with a sweet conjunction of Jupiter and the North Lunar Node, which is great for relationships and intimacy.  

Yes, we have a lot of energy in fire signs this month– the Sag full moon and Mars and Venus in Leo– fanned by the airiness of the Gemini Sun.  There is a certain amount of egotism and bombast with this fiery energy (I can say this and own it because I’m a Sag, after all.)  For example, this week I’ve noticed some particularly aggressive and dangerous driving behavior on New York streets, even above the usual baseline of aggressiveness.  So have eyes in the back of your head  this weekend as we approach the full moon.  And– Mercury in Taurus catches up to Uranus this weekend, adding to the edginess.  

Speaking of fire signs I have to note the passing of one of my favorite Sagittarian divas, Tina Turner. What a chart she has, with Sun, Mercury and Venus in Sag, and what a compelling a gifted performer.  She was born on the full moon, with the Gemini Moon opposite her Sun and Mercury and all of it squaring Mars in Pisces. All of  those planets being in 90-degree angles to each other is what we call a “T-square,” an intense dynamic that I wrote about last month in regard to May’s  Mars- Pluto -Jupiter combination.  The resolution of the angles falls in Virgo, in her case, the missing point in what would be a Grand Cross.  If you ever had the great fortune to see her in concert (which I was lucky enough to have experienced twice), you know that she just poured out energy and was incredibly generous as a performer. 

You can see the her extraordinary energy  in all the Sag planets, and the giving side of Virgo manifests in that generosity of hers.  It was enhanced by the Venus-Neptune square in her chart as well.  Give give give — for good or for ill.  Obviously she took a lot of abuse in her life and then she transcended it with Virgo and  Neptune’s help and the indomitable and infectious enthusiasm of the Sagittarian.  

And who could resist her in “Beyond Thunderdome”?!

Back to the month at hand– go outside in evening and dawn and see  all the visible planets! Check out this link: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/  

 

June’s Important Astrological Dates (all times EDT)

June 3    1143 pm      Full moon at 13’18 Sagittarius      Pay attention to your wildest ideas

June 18   1238 am    New moon at 26’43 Gemini      Work your creative and healing practices!

June 21   1059 am   Sun enters Cancer   – Summer Solstice!     Celebrate love!

_______________________________

May 2 2023

Bring it on! The Scorpio full moon and eclipse on the 5th line up with Uranus; Mars, Jupiter, and Pluto dominate the second half of May…

May is a fascinating month!  So who cares if Mercury retrograde crosses the Sun in Taurus for the first few days, causing events such as yesterday when my dead relatives were controlling my GPS and sending me on all kinds of strange roads…Yikes.   That was just yesterday, so who knows what today will bring.  It is an interesting time, that’s for sure.  The full moon and eclipse on Friday fall on the earth axis and are very close to Uranus.  Then the Taurus Sun takes about a week to cross over Uranus in the sky —  this transit will bring all manner of crazy and unexpected to our world, not all of it bad. 

Mercury ends its retrograde on May 15th, and on the 16th Jupiter enters Taurus. That is a delightfully earthy home for Jupiter’s excess. Taurus, Taurus, Taurus.  Taurus is the quintessential earth sign, and has to do with this wee blue planet of ours, with our relationship to our values and the value of what we do and who we relate to.  Oh, wait– value means worth, and value and worth also have to do with money.  We’re about to hit the debt ceiling in the US.  Uranus in Taurus, Jupiter in Taurus, Pluto in Aquarius, and Mars is about to be in Leo… That’s a lot of energy in forceful, fixed signs.  

The good news is that Mars, and Jupiter make an angle for the entire second half of the month, and Pluto spends about 10 days mixed up with them, forming what we astrologers call a T-square. The 3 planets will be 90 degrees away from each other.  This is a big ball of productive and powerful energy that will facilitate development, planning and execution. Congress will need this energy to be able to navigate this particular economic challenge of ours, and I wish them well with it. (Bigger economic tensions are likely to surface in late July and August when Venus is retrograde and crosses paths with Jupiter, but more on that this summer…)

The thing about a T-square is that the resolution is at the point of the missing 4th 90-degree angle, in this case in Scorpio.  so the Scorpio full moon on Friday might foreshadow a resolution.   With Scorpio we get commitment and transformation.  As I said, bring it on! 

Important May Dates

May 5 125 pm    Full moon and annular eclipse @14’58 Scorpio   Cultivate equanimity!

May 14  11 58 pm   Mercury turns direct @ 5’54 Taurus         Now you can get that new laptop! 

May 19   1154 am     New moon @28’25 Taurus                 Set intentions, generate plans, create! 

May 21    310 am    Sun enters Gemini 

 

March 31 2023

Happy April!  Mercury retrograde, Pluto repression, and a helluva an Aries new moon and eclipse on the 20th

Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. I said March was going to be intense, didnt I? Well, April is interesting. First of all, some of us fire signs appreciate the stimulating Aries energy that abounds.  April begins with a nice line-up of Mars, Venus, and Uranus that has made it easy for me to knock out my column this month, and a day early, no less.  So yes, there is lots of energetic action possible this month, thanks to the Sun and Jupiter in Aries, Mars in Cancer and a Libra full moon on the 6th.  Cardinal signs are very stimulating.  

There is always a “but.” But–  we have some other influences to contend with, the main one being Pluto.  And of course, Mercury retrograde from April 21-May 14. 

Let’s talk about Pluto. 

Pluto has entered Aquarius and is hanging out at 0 degrees until it moves back into Capricorn in June, so we are getting a hint of its Aquarian flavor.  Pluto is one of the most powerful planets (yup, still a planet to us astrologers!) and one of the hardest to understand.  It has to do with life, death, and rebirth; in other words, transformation through crisis and change.  It rules the underworld. It signifies urges deep in our unconscious which we often repress, as well as social urges that then get suppressed.   In Aquarius, there is the potential for transforming society according to humanistic Aquarian values, or conversely, transforming society according to fears, urges, and blinkered ideologies that are unconscious. We can see tremendous repression with Pluto, and we have been  seeing plenty of that lately since Saturn and Pluto have been  equidistant from the earth axis for the last few weeks.  

For example:   

1.  Artificial intelligence. Aquarius is a sign that rules technology.  The development of ChatbotGPT and other AI systems to generate information based on cues and not from actual human creative input is a scary manifestation of Pluto in Aquarius — stripping humanity and individual creativity from writing and information .  

2.  In Israel, Netanyu and his right wing cabinet are trying to force through an anti-democratic weakening of the judiciary in the face of massive resistance. Let me just say that Israel is exploding — in its birth chart, Uranus in the sky is on Israel’s Saturn and then in July Uranus in Taurus moves onto Israel’s Taurus Sun . We aint seen nothin yet!

3.  In the US the rash of current attacks on school curricula regarding racism and queerness, including  book banning. What the hell?!

On the positive side of this Shikasta-like mess we are living in: 

> Trump was just indicted. 

> A group of young people just sued Montana over its support of fossil fuels: 

And the huge resistance in Israel to Netanyahu and the right wing– amazing.  Hundreds of thousands in the streets, and the military standing up against the proposed changes in the judiciary.

>  Massive strikes in France to protest economic injustice.  

Pluto does give us the will to speak truth to power! 

Get ready, folks:  April 20 brings a dramatic new moon and solar eclipse in the last degree of Aries, and the Sun and Moon square Pluto.  The next day, on the 21st, Mercury turns retrograde as it sits on earth axis very close to Uranus.  

I hate to say it but I think we are in for a few really wild and dicey days. around that new moon and eclipse.  Political upheaval, technological and financial crashes, dangerous weather.   I won’t share my worst fears because I don’t want to be a doom merchant.  I continue to remain hopeful in the face of all this!  

April’s important dates (all times EDT):

April 6   12:36 am      Full moon @16’07 Libra      Practice healing disciplines

April  20  12:14 am    New moon @29’50 Aries     Pray for peace!               

April 20  12:18 am  Total annular eclipse!            Pray for peace!

April 20    4:15 am   Sun enters Taurus          Plant your garden!

April 21    436 am    Mercury turns retrograde   Back up your hard drive!

April 22    Earth Day                                 Nourish the earth!

 

 

 

 

__________________________

March 3 2023

March:  Better keep your metaphorical seatbelts on for one more month!  Saturn enters Pisces. Pluto enters Aquarius. Uranus remains on the earth axis.

Okay, people.  You know how I natter on about Uranus on the Earth axis, and how some of you must grow tired of it….  But no question about it:  March will pack a punch, just as February did.  Uranus is still moving across the Earth axis at 15 degrees Taurus this month.  It begins to pull away from this trigger point in April.  But March can be a long month. 

And to complicate matters, Saturn and Pluto are equidistant from Uranus and this Earth axis, so we get a Saturn -Pluto reflected vibe in the mix.  So, I am not surprised that Russia is not cooperating with the SALT treaty, that North Korea is testing more missiles, and that a pissing match is occurring between China and the US.  This is a lot of belligerent energy on top of an already volatile world.  Then there is the earth itself– fault lines, storms, displacement, climate change.  So expect March to be a cliffhanger in a few different ways.   The month does end with the energy of diplomatic breakthroughs. Always expect the unexpected with Uranus!

Here’s the flip side:

 

So yes, things are tumultuous, distressing, and yet the planets always always show us the ways positive change can happen. 

Saturn enters Pisces on March 7 for the first time in over 28 years,  pushing us,  I hope, to more sensitivity to the collective suffering around us. Pisces washes away the sense of separation among us, attuning us to a more universal consciousness.  Things that we were able to disconnect from while Saturn was in Aquarius we may not be able avoid seeing and feeling.  The Saturn in Pisces energy is that of the wounded healer, someone who is selfless and serves.  This could be a game changer. What would it mean if we actually wanted to take care of each other ? 

Pluto in Aquarius may help us do that.  It enters Aquarius on March 23rd, but just for a few months before it retrogrades back into Capricorn, entering Aquarius again next January.  So we will just get a hint of its energy.  Pluto is the most transformational energy of the zodiac, and it burns through old forms to give way to new ones.  Life, death, rebirth.  In Aquarius it is about transforming the collective consciousness to be about the group, not the individual.  British astrologer Jessica Davidson writes: “Pluto in Aquarius will reform how we organise society through laws and social norms, innovation in science and technology, and philosophical systems of thought and ideals.”

The last time Pluto was in Aquarius was 1780-1798, a time of colonization, genocides, the enslavement of African peoples, and the radical visions of the French and American revolutions. Russia even invaded Crimea during that period. 

Since we are living with the multigenerational structural legacies from that period it is very possible that over the next 18 years in the United States we will have an opportunity to shift the deeply individualistic core principles of the country to more of a sense of collective care and collective responsibility.  This could look like a redistribition of wealth, restoration of  social safety nets, innovative approaches to reparations, creative strategies to house the unhoused, innovative sustainability solutions, single payer health care, new economic models that are humanistic. It could go in a million directions, with widespread organizing and participation.  Pluto in Capricorn for the past 20 years has brought us breakdowns in  every system in this country, and that is still happening.  Pluto in Aquarius and Saturn  in Pisces will bring something different. 

Let Saturn and Pluto teach us how to begin the repair. 

March’s Important Dates

March 7     742 am EST     Full Moon @ 16’40        Avoid conflict; make art, make love

March 7    636 am  EST    Saturn enters Pisces         Make a giving plan, volunteer in the community

March 20   526 pm EDT   It’s spring!!!   Yay!  Spring Equinox   Sun enters Aries

March 21  124 pm EDT   New Moon @ 0’50 Aries      Get fired up!  Get free!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 1 2023

February brings more Uranian upheaval and some good old Jupiter-Saturn wisdom.  Whew!

It’s February 1st, a quarter-holiday in the Celtic wheel of the year.  It’s Imbolc, or Feile Bride,  the feast day of Brigid, the original fire goddess in Ireland, now known as St Brigid.  Brigid is the goddess of creative fire, poetry and healing. Yay– we could use some of that right about now!  

February. Hmm.  We have just two more months to go of Uranus smack on the earth axis, a trigger point of global events.  Deep breaths.  Expect more unexpected, expect more climate weirdness and catastrophes, and sadly, probably more violence.  You know what it’s like– we’ve been living in it for months.   Let me remind us though– Uranus brings a certain kind of chaos and unexpected events, and not all of them are bad.  There is always transformation and breakthrough and we can help the breakthrough by honoring these important rituals, like celebrating poetry, healing, and creative fires today. Make art!  And support the artists and seers– they see the truth before the rest of us can!

So February.  This first week of February might be the most intense, in terms of the Uranian upheaval, since the Aquarius Sun is getting closer and closer to a square to Uranus all week.  The angle is exact on the Leo full moon on February 5th.  That will be a dramatic full moon — with really bad weather, I imagine.  Be careful, be as safe as you can– god knows only some of us get to be safe in this society.  Sigh.

Interestingly,  Saturn and Jupiter track in a close angle for the first few weeks of this month, a combination that is all about wisdom, good leadership, eldership, far-sightedness.  It will be excellent for planning and decision-making, especially about resources. Let’s hope Congress reads this and gets their s–t together about the debt ceiling!

Wisdom– that’s something we can all call forth this month. 

But I have to talk about the unwise a bit…. that would be Kevin McCarthy and some other fools.   I find it very interesting that McCarthy and Brett Kavanaugh are both Aquarians born within a couple of weeks of each other, in the same year.  Since we know McCarthy’s birth time, we have his actual birth chart and can see that his Saturn is in his 10th house.  A 10th house Saturn is about ambition, manifestation, and power, and Saturn itself often has to do with the gain and loss of power. We know he wants power at any cost.  McCarthy’s Saturn is at 5 degrees Pisces in his natal chart; Brett Kavanaugh’s is in the same spot. They are both in their Saturn returns– a time of big changes.

The Saturn return always brings reversals, because we think we are creating the perfect structures for our lives, but little do we know.  But it turns out these structures we create are not perfect and they often fall apart, and our lives end up taking a different form from what we expected.  Not knowing Kavanaugh’s birth time we cannot know which house his Saturn is in, so we don’t know in which part of his life Saturn blindsides him.   Because Saturn always blindsides us, somehow!  That’s part of the Saturn return process! 

But we do know that Saturn enters Pisces in March, reaches both their Saturn positions  in April, and spends the rest of 2023 moving in and around their Saturns.  I think McCarthy is likely to lose his Speaker position pretty damn soon — if not in April then by next January.  He also has Uranus in  an angle to his Midheaven for the next couple of months, causing a lot of work stress.  Kavanaugh will also be stressed with Saturn hitting his Saturn–  it could be that documentary film coming out about his sexual misdeeds.  Anything is possible…

As writer Erin Sullivan writes: “The harsh reality of power and dethronement… [is] precisely the dilemma[s] of the Saturnian nature.”  Dethronement:  now that is an interesting word in this current context.

(I would write here about another fool, George Santos, but who knows if his birth record is true… Just sayin’)

February’s important dates (times EST)             

Go outside this week and look for the green comet!                    

February 5  130 pm    Full Moon @ 16’41 Leo                            Sun conjunct Uranus— Stay calm!

February 18 535 pm   Sun enters Pisces

February 20  207 am  New moon @ 1’22 Pisces    

Make art!  Be inspired!

_________________________________________

January 2 2023

Happy New Year!  2023 brings a whole other vibe….Saturn moves into Pisces and Pluto sneaks into Aquarius. Huh.

Beautiful view of Saturn from the Webb telescope!

 Happy holidays and Happy New Year, dear readers.  2023 brings some very  interesting dynamics—some good, some stressful, but in any case, kind of different.   Let me break down the astrological highlights of the year.

First, January:  Mars remains retrograde til January 12^th, and Mercury is now retrograde until January 18^th, making things feel especially wonky. Mars and Mercury retrograde at the same time can bring a sense of standstill.  Just roll with it.  The only thing that isn’t standing still this month is the moon, which is full in Cancer on …..January 6^th!   Oh jeez, yes, and this full moon falls quite close to the Cancer Sun of the United States. Uranus is still on the earth axis, so I expect some white supremacist acting out on January 6^th to commemorate the 2021 attack on the Capitol. The Mars and Mercury retrogrades will make it less effective, I hope.

And Kevin McCarthy—oh my, he is getting slammed by Saturn this month. He’s scrambling for power and Saturn can bring quite a fall, given where it is in his chart.

February and March:  Jupiter will zip through Aries, getting ready to enter Taurus later this spring.  Jupiter lines up with Saturn in late January and February, a good time to address financial decisions and long-term planning.  Keep in mind that Uranus is moving across the “earth axis,” a major trigger point for the world, and is very exact in February and March.  So the energy of uncertainty and global upheaval is still really intense.

In March, Saturn enters Pisces and Pluto dips into Aquarius, bringing an energetic sea change.

Saturn hasn’t been in Pisces in 29 years, so this is significant.  As one of my favorite astrology writers Erin Sullivan writes in her book Saturn in Transit, “Astrology interprets Saturn as the boundary and definition of existence, whether that is the body, the consciousness, or the social realm.”  Saturn is a big deal and you gotta love it. 

Saturn moves from Aquarius, an air sign which has to do with a mentalized process of figuring out our relationship to humanity, to Pisces, the last sign in the cycle, a water sign that dissolves our individual boundaries and operates in the realm of feelings.  What?!  It means we will be attuned to collective suffering, and I hope leading us to a sense of care and responsibility for the earth and all beings.  We should see less polarization and more connectedness with Saturn in Pisces. 

But—shields up, folks.  We will also be vulnerable and porous, psychically and physically. Sorry to say, but the viruses ain’t gonna stop.  Climate disaster won’t stop, and I expect lots of flooding and big water.  We all have to do what we can to shore up our immunity and engage in healthy and healing disciplines.  Saturn in Pisces – and moreover, the Saturn-Neptune conjunction coming in 2025—bring an opportunity

for spiritual transformation. And remember:  being overwhelmed by suffering doesn’t accomplish anything in the material, Saturnian world. Guilt and overwhelm are the shadow sides of Saturn in Pisces.  The positive side are healing and transcending boundaries. 

And then there is pesky and endlessly interesting Pluto!    It sneaks into Aquarius in March and retrogrades back into Capricorn in June, and continues a back and forth in 2024, finally moving fully into Aquarius in 2025.  So this is just a taste, an “amuse -bouche” from our Michelin-Star Chef Pluto.  Because Uranus falls exactly on the midpoint of Pluto and Saturn during March there could be some explosive world events that occur (yes, umm, more than what we’ve seen), but I won’t dwell on that.  Most importantly, Pluto in Aquarius will transform our understanding of humanity and how we relate to each other and what we expect of society.  It will likely bring radical changes to our sense of who we are through technology, magic, and science.  Remember—this will be an 18 year process, the transit of Pluto in Aquarius.

Mercury retrogrades in Taurus on April 21^st, the day after a new moon and eclipse at the tail end of Aries. This comes with major Pluto aspects, and, as I’ve been saying Uranus will still be tweaking the earth axis even in April. Expect some dramatic world events.  

In May, Mercury turns direct on the 15^th.  Jupiter enters Taurus on the 16^th, and with its retrograde periods, stays in Taurus til 2024.   Jupiter in Taurus is kind of juicy and l might bring some improved financial dynamics, albeit briefly and at least until Venus retrogrades in July. Jupiter in Taurus will also shine a light on food access, climate, and earth justice. 

Speaking of Venus, yes, it turns retrograde July 22 for 6 weeks until September 4^th.  Its entire retrograde is in Leo, and will square Uranus the second week of August and square Jupiter in Taurus the 3^rd week. This girl loves Venus retrograde personally—it is a time when we become aware of where our lives are in sync with our values and where it is not.  But globally and politically it is a whole other story.  In order to understand it we have to look back 8 years to 2015, the last time Venus retrograded in Leo to see where the unfinished business might be.  It was a time of major economic struggle and stress—Greece was crashing economically and the Chinese markets were in free fall.  The Donbas region of Ukraine was in play.  The war in Yemen was off and running, and tensions were high in Kashmir, North and South Korea, and Palestine. These places will likely be hotspots again if they aren’t already.   It was a really bad season for typhoons, hurricanes, and wildfires.  I expect major political, environmental, and economic upsets over the summer.  Just sayin.

Mercury turns retrograde on August 23^rd at 21 degrees Virgo and turns direct September 15^th.

October brings another solar eclipse on the Libra new moon on the 14^th.  We get another round of Saturn-Pluto angles off the earth axis in November, bringing global tension.   Mercury retrogrades on December 13 in Capricorn, and moves direct in Sagittarius on January 1  2024.

That is our new year in a nutshell.  Of course I will describe it in more detail in my monthly columns. 

Stay grounded, stay healthy, take your Vitamin D3, pray, meditate, practice loving- kindness, establish healthy boundaries, grow plants. 

Celebrate and support all the visionary, transformative humanistic work that is taking place all over the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 1 2022

December is a breath of fresh air, plus the Winter Solstice — 

and Mercury retrograde!

December has a very different feel from the last several months.  We do still have Uranus at 15 degrees of Taurus, sitting on that trigger point of the earth axis, bringing us all kinds of disruptions – whether it’s upsets in the World Cup, the eruption of Mauna Loa in Hawai’i and  very unexpected protests in China. 

Let me just point out that the white paper protest is the perfect Mars retrograde in Gemini expression of dissent given how much Gemini has to do with communication. A blank piece of paper to protest censorship. Perfect!  The other very Mars retrograde event is the report that  Rev Rob Schenck knew of a 2014 Supreme court decision before it was issued and used that information to further his anti-abortion cause. He also described organizing efforts to influence Supreme Court justices. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/us/supreme-court-leak-abortion-roe-wade.html

But December begins with Venus and Mercury in Sagittarius exactly opposing Mars retrograde, a creative combination that brings shared ideas and collaboration. 

This is an interesting moment – the sky is filled with planets in mutable signs of Pisces, Gemini, Sagittarius.  The mutable signs, which includes those three plus Virgo, are signs of transition, movement, flow.  (I know – they can also be irritating – hell, I am well aware of my Sagittarian foible of being a know-it-all. Like I always say, every sign has its shadow.)   Here is a little lesson on the signs and their qualities:

Cardinal – Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn  – Direct and primary, of fundamental importance, essential (as in Aries captures the essence of fire signs. )    Shadow sides:  arrogance, bossiness

Fixed—Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius – Rooted, committed, steadfast, persistent.  Shadow sides: rigidity, stubbornness

Mutable— Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces– Adaptable, forward-looking, changeable, innovative.  Shadow sides:  flakiness, lack of commitment

Here I go, doing the Sagittarian thing and explicating!  Back to the month at hand, the mutable planets are creating many openings for change, and that feels different from the last several months.  Mars retrograde does bring surprises, and we know that Uranus does as well.  We can look forward to a Gemini full moon on the 7^th, which will be full of surprises because it lines up exactly with Mars retrograde.  In the course of every Mars retrograde there is always a day where Mars opposes the Sun.  This month, that day happens to be the full moon, so Mars retrograde sits with the Moon, and they both oppose the Sun. This opposition is a turning point in the Mars retrograde cycle because up til now actions may have been on hold—people have been more reactive than active. At the opposition there is a release of energy: that which has been dormant or set aside has to get out and take shape, whether it is in the form of actions, passions, feelings.  Mauna Loa might really let loose.  Given that Mars is in Gemini, which is all about communication, I expect some big announcements or leaks.  That this occurs on the full moon will intensify the release of energy.  It will be interesting!

The other significant transits this month involve Jupiter and the Sun crossing the earth axis and lining up with Uranus on the Winter Solstice on the 21^st and also on the Capricorn new moon on the 23^rd.  I expect there will be major world events that week.  Lots of endings and beginnings, lots of dramatic changes politically, personally, earth-wise.

And then Mercury starts its retrograde on the 29^th  until January 18^th. Keep in mind Mars is also retrograde until January 12^th. Having both planets retrograde will make things very changeable indeed!  In January’s column I will look at the astrology of 2023. Sneak peak:  It’s Kevin McCarthy’s Saturn return and he’s getting kind of walloped by Uranus…

December’s Important Dates (all times NY time)

December 7  1109 pm    Full moon @16’02 Gemini  and Mars retrograde opposes the Sun

       Put things into motion!

December 21   449 pm    Sun enters Capricorn  Winter Solstice!   Ring in the light!

December 23   518 am     New moon @ 1’33 Capricorn     Make some plans!

December 29  4’33 am Mercury turns retrograde @ 24’20 Capricorn  

Go with the flow!

Happy holidays to all!

—————————————————————–

November 1 2022

Taurus Full Moon and lunar eclipse on the 8^th brings shock and awe; Mars retrograde squares Neptune all month, bringing more changes and also universal consciousness; Sagittarian hopefulness inspires the second half of November

We are in a seriously tense moment in our world right now, as we all know.  This upcoming full moon is no joke—it falls on a trigger point of the earth axis, and lines up with Uranus, Mercury, and the north Lunar Node.  Saturn and Venus are close enough to be involved as well.  All of this falls in fixed signs of Scorpio, Taurus, Aquarius which brings a kind of relentlessness.  And eclipses just intensify the energy of the moon.

I expect more violence between now and next Tuesday, more unexpected loss of life, more craziness. With Uranus and the North Node in Taurus  and triggered by the Taurus full moon we can expect more stress around access to food, housing, money, water, fuel  around the world. 

I am as scared as you are right now, and yet I am seeing reasons for hopefulness—you know me, the Sagittarian.   Here’s why: 

• Remember that the backdrop in the US is that we are in our Pluto return as a nation, when the shadow side becomes visible. We have been seeing that shadow very clearly for the last several years.

• The Saturn Uranus square is all about the breakdown of systems, a clash between status quo and a visionary future, and intense polarization.

• Mars retrograde squares Neptune all month so the disinformation is off the hook. Elon Musk’s

  

   purchase of Twitter makes him the demon side of Mars-   Neptune, a scary trickster.

•   With the Sun, Mercury, and Venus in Scorpio and the full   moon coming, the Taurus full moon is illuminating this   shadow. As more and more violence erupts and white  supremacist forces act out, the Sun-Venus conjunction in Scorpio this week reveals our values.

• In other words, do we really want a country that operates like this? The right wing may have overplayed its hand.

Remember that Uranus can bring liberation and Scorpio is about transformation. Election Day could go quite differently from what the polls predict.   Think about Iran and Brazil. 

In the meantime – get out there and vote.  And watch the eclipse! Check your local listings for times.

The second half of November brings some relief when the Sun, Venus and Mercury all enter Sagittarius. The Venus-Mercury conjunction in Sag for the second half of the month brings imagination and creative thinking.  Mars retrograde in Gemini opposes Venus and Mercury at the end of the month and the whole thing squares Neptune.   That sounds creative and like a lot of fun to me!  But we all have to be careful about needless arguments during Mars retro in Gemini.  And a word to my mutable peeps—Geminis, Virgos, Sagittarians and Pisceans:  we will be spacier than usual under this transit.  Pay extra attention while driving and chopping onions since we could be a wee bit accident prone…

November’s important dates (times EST)

November 8         6 am     Full moon @ 16’01 Taurus    Total lunar eclipse!          VOTE                            

November 16 -30   Venus-Mercury conjunction in Sagittarius          Make joyful music

November  22      322 am   Sun enters Sagittarius                whew! enough with the fixed signs!

November   23    558 pm    New moon @ 1’38 Sag              happy birthday to me!

November 28-30    Mars retrograde in Gemini opposes Mercury and Venus   Dance!

 

 

September 30 2022

October!!  A major Mars -Neptune transit, the Saturn -Uranus square, and… Mars retrograde!

So yes, it’s the season of wild and crazy. Or, shall I say wilder and crazier. It will certainly be full of surprises.

First, the Saturn-Uranus square is very exact this month, and we are seeing an intense clash between authoritarian and progressive forces happening in many places.  Specifically:  the popular uprising in Iran and the government’s suppression of the protests, Russians protesting the war in Ukraine, and draftees fleeing Russia in droves, while Putin doubles down on repression there and on war-making in Ukraine.  Saturn and Uranus are also a clash between the past and the future.  Arizona just reinstated an 1864 law banning abortion, just to show how far back into the past some people are willing to go.

The dramatic upsets and surprises will continue in October and November and be even more intense. 

This is an “emperor has no clothes moment” in many places, where the structures are corrupt, hollow and unsustainable, and the situation becomes so untenable that people rise up to tear them down. The good guys don’t always win, but sometimes they do.

Remember:  Change is a constant.

So it isn’t clear what will happen in Russia or Iran but clearly people are at a breaking point, and the systems are brittle and brutal and also utterly dysfunctional.  We can look just about anywhere in the world and see the same thing.  Another example is Britain.  Britain’s chart has Saturn at 22 degrees Leo, getting walloped right now by the Saturn-Uranus square.  Speaking of attachment to the past, Liz Truss, the new prime minister, is enacting Margaret Thatcher/ Ronald Reagan trickle- down economic policies to the detriment of the people. The foundations of that country are being shaken in a deep way.

Uranus in Taurus puts the focus on economics, climate, resources, and basic human needs.  Food, gas, living wage, and the nature of work itself are all at issue right now. In the US, just this week, flight attendants from Southwest Airlines picketed at 10 airports and workers at the Philadelphia Museum picketed over stalled contract negotiations.  Interesting! 

Mars and Neptune

Mars in Gemini and Neptune in Pisces spend two weeks of October in a very exact 90-degree angle.   This angle is powerful and complex.  Mars in Gemini has a lot to do with information and communication. Neptune’s influence is potentially one of confusion and in this case, sowing misinformation and lies.  We are seeing this already in Putin’s staged “referenda” in the Ukraine, and of course Donald Trump continues to spin lies in the various lawsuits against him.  Bolsonaro in Brasil is already disputing the validity of an election that hasn’t occurred yet, an election he will likely lose.

In order to stay grounded this month we need to use the other side of Neptune, the side that has to do with connection to all living things and to the earth and to each other, and  to “substance of we feeling,”  to quote Doris Lessing. Just as the misinformation will hit like a wave it is also possible for resistance movements to take hold and flourish. 

The Sun tracks with Venus most of this month which I hope pushes us towards more humanistic values.  The Sun-Venus-Pluto angle on the 19^th may raise the specter of nuclear weapons.  It also signifies tectonic shifts in relation to economics.    

Mars retrograde politically

Mars in Gemini begins its retrograde pass on October 30^th. This 12 week transit occurs once every two years. Yup – 12 weeks, so it turns back around  January 12.  It was retrograde in Aries during the 2020 US elections, so think back on that period. Yes, it was wild. 

 That it is in Gemini puts the focus on information and communication.  The US has Mars in Gemini in its chart and Mars in the sky catches up to that point in December, just as it catches up to major planets in Trump’s chart.  Putin has Mars in Sagittarius, Gemini’s opposite sign, and transiting Mars retrograde will spend this month and next month moving across his Mars. He has transiting Saturn opposite his Midheaven in his 4^th house.  Vlad the Impaler could lose his position.

Conventional astrology teaches us that when Mars is 60 degrees from the Sun before the retrograde – this month that occurs around October 16—it is a time of action and possibility.  Then when the retrograde happens, two weeks later, the action can get stymied, and things can go sideways or go nowhere.

We will see what unfolds! 

Mars retrograde personally

Mars is a big part of our daily life: effort, will, action, impulse, anima.  When it is retrograde forward motion of any kind can be squirrelly and not go exactly forward.  We may find ourselves suddenly not wanting to do what we were doing, we may feel ourselves pull away from commitments and passions.  It is important during this period to absolutely go with the flow, and to be introspective about what is surfacing.  Repressed anger and passions and struggles may surface. The emphasis is on process not outcome. 

It is an opportunity for growth!  Mars retrograde also brings surprises and unexpected turns of events, just adding to the vibe of unexpected that we are living with thanks to Uranus.  Because it is in Gemini, it will have a big impact on my mutable peeps:   Geminis, Virgos, Sagittarians, and Pisceans!  So if you have personal planets in those signs, be prepared!

 October’s Important Dates

October 2    509 am  Mercury stations direct at 24° Virgo   Yay, but it still opposes Neptune.  Invoke your muses!

October 9    456 pm  Full Moon at 16°33 Aries   Celebrate relationships

Oct 16-18                    Sun trine Mars    Jump into action

October 19                 Sun and Venus square Pluto  Reevaluate commitments

October 23    637 am  Sun enters Scorpio     

October 23     353 am Venus enters Scorpio

October 25  650 am  New moon @ 2’ 00 Scorpio and partial solar eclipse!   Talk to those ancestors!

October 30  1127 am  Mars stations retrograde @ 25’36 Gemini  Honor process not outcome

October 31 Happy Halloween! 

 

September 4 2022

September brings Mercury retrograde and serious Saturn-Uranus shenanigans, and it’s just a warm-up for the Fall!

Well, the start of this month has been vexing..Grrr. Mars in Gemini squaring the Virgo Sun can make a girl cranky, especially if she’s a Sagittarius. Miscommunication, tech issues, things not going my way.   Didn’t you all know that the universe revolves around us Sagittarians?   Anyway, I’m over it — even a Sagittarian’s snit is nothing the Atlantic Ocean can’t cure. 

But enough about me — it’s the world you are wondering about, and the “fuckery” that abounds. (I’m quoting Michelle Dockery’s wonderful character in Guy Ritchie’s film “The Gentlemen,” — and a shout -out to my dear friends Rob and Sally for making me watch it on my last birthday!)  

What is this fuckery, you ask?  It’s all very interesting, while completely terrifying at the same time.  But really– it is interesting, right?   And as I’ve been saying, not all the upheaval is bad– to wit the pigpile of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.   Who expected the FBI to raid  Mar A Lago?    This is an example of Uranus  in action… Just sayin’.

So Mercury goes retrograde on September 9th, right before the September 10 Pisces full moon.  That is a lot of big, sloshy confusing energy.  Hurricanes, perhaps?  And Mars will be in Gemini for the better part of the next 6 months– a long time  due to its retrograde between Oct 30 and January 10 (more on that next month).  Gemini– the sign of information. The sign of papers and documents.  Of voting machines and counting. And let me remind all of us that Mr Trump -Trash -Can -Fire is a Gemini, and Mars retrograde in Gemini  will pass over his Sun and Uranus and oppose his Moon in early November.   Hmm.  And since he has Uranus on top of his Sun and Moon in his natal chart, my sense is that Uranus is giving it to him just a bit. A nice juicy bit of Karma. 

Mercury retrograde hits some rough spots between the 18th and 22nd, which could  bring more  revelations. 

The other big big BIG thing this month is that Saturn and Uranus return to their 90-degree angle, and it is quite exact by the end of the month and will remain in effect through November.   Yup. 

This is an intense angle that has to do with the breakdown of systems, with polarization, and with new beginnings.  It is the tension between the ways of the past and the vision for a new future.  So hold onto your hats– the polarization is going to get more extreme.  The bright spots?  Look at all the women who have registered to vote since the Supreme Court issued its misogynist Dobbs ruling that reversed Roe v Wade. Look at Kansas. Look at the unionizing occurring at Amazon, Starbucks, and a vineyard on Long Island. Interesting and unpredictable dynamics are at play.  And– we have the second season of the January 6th Committee to look forward to… Saturn and Uranus have to do with structures of society. Sometimes we need a breakdown to be able to see a way forward.  

Stay hopeful.  Work for Justice. Keep Breathing. 

September’s Important Dates (all times EDT)

September 9       1139 pm    Mercury turns retrograde at 8’55 LIbra   

         Enjoy the dreamtime, expect lots of changes in plans, back up your hard drive

September 10     600  am    Full moon at 17’41 Pisces.  Ooh baby, keep the kleenex handy; it’s a weeper

September  22   Sun crosses paths with Mercury retrograde; Mercury retrograde enters Virgo

                  Expect confusion and revelation and miscommunication

September 22     905 pm    Sun enters Libra– Fall Equinox!   

                   Celebrate the turn of the wheel of the seasons   

September 25     556 pm    New Moon at 2’49 Libra     

                   Reimagine fulfillment and celebrate relationships

______________________________________

July 31 2022

August is like the last few months …but, um… perhaps more stressful!  Lots of challenging Uranus aspects, and Saturn and Uranus return to their potent angle by month’s end.

I truly wish I were wrong about all of this disruption, but it appears that my take on Uranus is borne out in the whiplash of daily events personally, politically, economically, and environmentally: Sri Lanka, Uvalde, Kentucky, Ukraine, Joe Manchin.   Yeah– Joe Manchin—what??

Yes—as I have been saying, not all of Uranus’ reversals are bad.  Who would have thought that Chuck Schumer would have been able to hammer out a yes from Manchin on the climate bill—of course thanks to the sit-ins by congressional aides who pressed Schumer to take action.

Who would have thought that the January 6^th Committee would leave us all on the

Liz Cheney, a Leo whose Moon and Saturn are being activated by Uranus right now.

edge of our seats, waiting for its “second season “ in September, as more Trump acolytes  decide to testify against him? 

So this month, Mars in Taurus catches up to Uranus til the 5^th, and then moves into a square to Saturn.  This is disruptive and even explosive.  The Aquarian full moon on the 11^th has the Leo Sun and Aquarius Moon in a 90-degree angle to Uranus, and that continues for a few days.   More chaos, surprises, reversals, upsets.  Put on your seatbelts and keep them on.  The Leo Sun opposes Saturn a few days later. At least Saturn is in an angle to Jupiter, mitigating some of the heaviness, but—Saturn and Jupiter are all about economics.  Uranus in Taurus is also about economies, food, the earth itself. 

Once the Sun enters Virgo on the 22^nd and we head to the Virgo new moon on the 27^th the vibes shift a bit, diluting the effects of all those big planets in fixed signs of Aquarius, Leo, and Taurus.   Whew.

But don’t relax too much—Saturn and Uranus return to the angle they were in during much of 2021.  This potent angle is about a clash of values, breakdown of systems, and challenges to the status quo.  This angle will be in place into November.  It is a big deal for our society, since the United States is also in its first Pluto return in which the shadow side of the US is walking around in broad daylight. The ugliness at our collective root from colonialism, genocide, and enslavement is right here in front of us, unavoidable. 

Take heart—change is painful and hard and can also be good.  Facing the shadow is part of healing.  Since their angle last year Saturn and Uranus have been pulling us apart to what feels  like a breaking point so that we can see how broken the systems and structures are.  It’s scary and awful , yet we need that so we can build new structures. This fall could be a time of accountability and structural breakdown.  The summer has been a reckoning. 

The Saturn and Uranus action is hitting hard in the natal charts some of the political figures —Mitch McConnell, Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas. The Supreme Court decisions have unleashed a backlash that the Republicans have misjudged… Just sayin’. 

Expect the unexpected!  Change is not only possible, it is the nature of the universe.  “God is change,” a main theme of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. 

Your astrologer’s tips for coping with Uranus: 

Remember: Uranus’ job is to yank us into the future, dramatically and sometimes violently.  Here’s some thoughts on embracing the future and not fighting these times we are in.

1. Artists are always way ahead of the rest of us.  Read, listen to music, see art, make art, dance. 

2. Stay present and be grateful for being alive.     

3. Love up on your loved ones

4. Pray for the dead – they are trying to help us out here, after all—but as Mother Jones said: fight like hell for the living.

5. Celebrate nature, protect nature, compost, garden. Do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint including using less plastic.

6. Look at the night sky—meteor showers this month! Always look at the moon.

August’s Important Dates (EDT)

August 11     9:37pm          Full moon @ 19’21 Aquarius      Roll with the changes

August 19 -21                      Mercury opposes Neptune        Pay attention to your dreams

 August 22   11:17 pm         Sun enters Virgo, squares Mars in Gemini   Get stuff done!

 August 27   4:18 am            New moon @ 4’04 Virgo; Venus lines up with Saturn and Uranus        Consider what liberation would look like!

July 3 2022

Expect the Unexpected–  For real!   

Uranus joins up with the North Lunar Node all month, exaggerating the disruption, global whiplash, and surprise factor.  I know, it’s terrifying.  Mars and Pluto are in an angle for the first few days of the month, so seatbelts please on the July 4^th holiday since some may see it as an opportunity for violence. Saturn and Jupiter are in an angle all month, putting more pressure on economics and supply chain issues.

Expect the unexpected– that’s the mantra, folks

However, surprises can be good.  Did we expect the January 6^th Committee to be as badass as they are turning out to be?  Did we expect the Republicans to perhaps underestimate the public’s rage at the Supreme Court’s gutting of abortion rights?   I was so inspired to see such a clear political analysis – and so many young angry queers connecting all the issues at last week’s Queer Liberation March in NYC.  

I know it seems like institutions are imploding. Yes, they are in fact, and there will be more of that.  Saturn and Uranus — who are returning to their potent square starting in August –bring a massive breakdown in institutions, and we are certainly seeing that with the Supreme Court.   We don’t know yet what’s coming from the January 6^th Committee, the Justice Department, and the Fulton Co. Georgia suit against Trump.  We don’t know what will come of the Committee interviewing Ginni Thomas. All I know is that Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas will  have the weight of  Saturn and Uranus crashing onto their charts starting in August.  We don’t know what will come of the deep unrest roiling this country, but we have a lot more Uranian surprises and reversals to weather before we do know…

The Supreme Court is not sacrosanct and can be held accountable – check out this piece by Jamelle Bouie on How to Discipline a Rogue Supreme Court in the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/opinion/supreme-court-constitution.html

Expect the unexpected– and be prepared

The Leo new moon on the 28^th brings Mercury in Leo together with Mars, Uranus, and the North Node in Taurus on the earth axis.  Be prepared – for what?  Anything and everything, but especially bad storms, power outages, hacking, tech crashes.  General craziness.

Expect the unexpected .

Trust Uranus, folks. Yes, it’s disruptive and chaotic, and everything is cracking open.  As Leonard Cohen wrote:  “There is a crack in everything.That’s how the light gets in.”

 

July’s Important dates

July 13  239 pm      Full Moon @ 21’21 Capricorn       Plan and set goals

July 18   Mercury and Sun oppose  PLuto                     Secrets will be revealed!   Speak truth to Power

July 22  408 pm       Sun enters Leo  !       

July  28    1 56 pm      New Moon at 5’39 Leo          Get ready for unexpected events. Back up that hard drive!

 

__________

June 3 2022

Uranus – still on the Earth axis this month, still wreaking havoc

I know, I know – we all feel like we can’t take much more bad news. I have been trying to figure out how to write about another month of Uranus-induced whiplash.

The thing is, dear people, that awful things are always happening and always have, and liberation and innovation are also always happening.  The real question is, how do we  understand what’s happening and make sense of it, so we can move forward in a  healthy and transformative way?

So I decided to look at the last couple of times that Uranus was in Taurus, and particularly when it crossed the 15-degree mark, this critical point on the Earth axis.  If we are living through some crap right now, then what was happening then?  What are the things that manifest in our world when Uranus is in Taurus—not only the wars and disasters but also the innovations, technologies, and expansions that are part of Uranus’ sphere?  (Thank you, Rebecca, for helping me reframe this…) 

What I love about astrology, and why I think it can be so helpful, is that it helps us understand the times we are in and the great natural cycles that we are part of.  And, of course, that change is a constant. 

So take a deep breath…

The last two times Uranus was in Taurus and transited 15 degrees of that sign was in 1938 and 1854.  (I have not looked at earlier cycles but I am sure that would illuminate…)

Wow. 1938—we know the awful parts of that year: the German invasion of Austria, the Munich Pact that allowed Hitler to take Czechoslovakia, Kristallnacht and open warfare on Jewish people by Hitler’s government and the Nazis.  Not very comforting, I know. But read on.

The Crimean War was a very big event that occurred in 1854 between Russia and an alliance of some European countries over the rights of various religious minorities  You may recall Russia’s annexation of Crimea 8 years ago, in the same neck of the woods that is at issue now between Russia and Ukraine—and the rest of Europe.  

Hmm.  A major war in Europe seems to be something that occurs when Uranus is in Taurus and on the Earth axis. Crimea is a repeating hot spot. Whaddya know. 

Then there is the growth of white supremacist ideologies that clash with humanistic frameworks that is happening now, and happened in Nazi Germany in 1938, and in the US in 1854.  1854 was the year “Bleeding Kansas” began, a multi year war

between white supremacists and abolitionists. John Brown was running his raids in Kansas at that time, attacking pro-slavery people.  In 1854 Britain legitimized the status of the white supremacist Boers in South Africa by recognizing the Orange Free State.

In all of these events we see the Uranus theme of ideology.  It is an air sign after all, so its sphere is thinking and ideas, not just on a personal level, but on a collective level. Its nature is to present a polarity and to create extremes.  It happened in 1854, in 1938, and now.

Uranus also seeks to bust through limits, to connect cultures and people, or to disrupt those connections.  Technology, travel, and communication are its modes.  In all three of these periods there is tremendous expansion, interconnection, innovation.  In 1854 there was a burst of new technologies – railroads, steamboats, the telegraph.  In 1938 the Queen Elizabeth made the fastest transatlantic voyage.  The “War of the Worlds”, a story of alien invasion (so Uranian!)  was broadcast on US radio and completely freaked out the public.  Nuclear fission was discovered by German scientists. The word “autism” was coined in 1938 by Hans Asperger.  Einstein published The Evolution of Physics. Now in our current moment there is exponential growth in sustainable technologies, as well as debates about the ethical and mental health  implications of social media.

Uranus in Taurus  specifically – what is that about? 

It is about the earth itself and its resources, and it’s about taking care of people.  In 1854 San Francisco used coal gas for the first time to light lanterns in the city.  In 1938 oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.  Fossil fuels and their role in fueling capitalism and climate change are currently a major issue for the planet. 

Food is a Taurean resource, as are other basic human needs.  Climate change and the war in Ukraine are adding to a global food crisis. In the 1850s Ireland was just coming out of a famine. The US and Canada were emerging from the Dust Bowl devastation in the 1930s.

The first minimum wage law was passed in the US in 1938. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were developing their communist ideologies during the 1840’s and 1850’s. Dickens  wrote  Hard Times in 1854.  The gap between wealth and poverty and the impact of unchecked racialized capitalism are right in front of us in our current moment. Living wage proposals are back on the table in some places and even succeeding in Austin Texas.

So we can see  the context of Uranus in Taurus, and that its transit over the 15 degrees Taurus point is reflective of major world events that have impacts over generations to come. With help from Uranus the opportunity we have is always that of liberation. As systems break down through

I took this photo at an April 23 event at St John the Divine Cathedral in NYC to honor the impact of Covid on POC communities in northern Manhattan and the Bronx

the Saturn Uranus clashes of 2022 and 2023, we can recreate them. Our challenge is to make a world that is based in humanistic values, that sets up different food systems, that finds alternatives to capitalism, that expands definitions of freedom, community, safety, and identity.  It is through new technologies, new forms of communication, solidarity, and interconnection that Uranus will push us.  

That’s all I have today, my people.  It’s gonna be another helluva month.  Take care of yourselves. Onward. 

June’s important dates

June 3          401 am            Mercury turns direct at 26’5 Taurus      Yay!

June 14        752 am             Full moon at 23’25 Sagittarius          Be clear about what’s true

June 21        515 am               Summer solstice, Sun enters Cancer    Expect the  unexpected

June 28       1053pm              New moon at  7’23 Cancer                    Plan the revolution!

 

 

 

 

May 5 2022

Uranus on the Earth Axis, Mercury retrograde, and  a dramatic Full moon and Eclipse on May 15:  Oy

I apologize for my late post –I spent the May 1^st weekend celebrating the new moon and solar eclipse, the celtic holiday Beltane, the great goddess in all her forms, by helping to build a garden to honor the ancestors.

Good thing – it gave me the strength I needed to cope with  the news from the Supreme Court on Monday.  Ugh.

Yes, Uranus in Taurus parks itself on the Earth Axis all month long, bringing more chaos and uncertainty our way.  It is a season of tumult, of not knowing what’s going to happen – about anything whatsoever.  That is the thing with Uranus that we have to remember–  it is the very essence of change. As awful as things are, the possibility of liberation and positive change is also always present.  So no hand-wringing! Go see the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once for a lesson in String Theory (and to see the wonderful Michelle Yeoh!).

Starting yesterday on the 4^th the Taurus Sun started moving towards Uranus, so buckle up – it could be a rough weekend.  Then Mercury retrograde starts on May 10^th  in Gemini, one of the signs it rules.   Expect Gemini -like processes of travel and time and technology to be utterly weird, and also expect revelations.

May 15 brings a powerful Scorpio full moon (always a fun one!) and a total lunar eclipse around midnight.  Go outside and watch it.   This full moon makes an exact square to Saturn and Saturn spends the month conjunct the Moon of the United States.  People will be in a grim humor, and I imagine it’s from things occurring around the full moon, perhaps an escalation of the war in Ukraine, climate disasters, more violence in any realm.

Jupiter enters Aries on the 10^th, followed by Mars on the 24^th. That’s some fiery and potentially bombastic energy.  We definitely don’t need more bombast but the good thing about Jupiter in Aries, however, is that it will inspire us to feel less overwhelmed and more inclined to take action.

 And So We Rise.

I took this photo at an April 23 event at St John the Divine Cathedral in NYC to honor the memory of those who died of  Covid in Black and POC communities in northern Manhattan and the Bronx. The event was entitled “Imagine Repair,”  organized by the Zip Code Memory Project.

May’s Important Dates (times EDT)

May 6      Exact Sun -Uranus conjunction         Hold on!

May 10    749 am     Mercury turns retrograde @ 4’50 Gemini      

     Back up your hard drive

May 16  12:15 am   Full Moon @ 2518’ Scorpio and Total Lunar Eclipse  

      Get outside and watch it and pray for peace

May 20     1124 pm   Sun enters Gemini and meets Mercury retrograde

  Watch for miscommunication!

May 30     731 am     New moon @ 9’03  Gemini   Go inward and enjoy the dreamtime

April 4 2022

April is a hot mess, but you knew that! More contradictory influences—the beautiful Jupiter Neptune conjunction and the aggravating Saturn-Lunar Node square.  Sigh.

First – I apologize for the lateness of my post.  There is a Mars-Saturn conjunction happening after all this week, and like the rest of you I am having trouble getting stuff done. 

Let me cut to the chase:  the world is getting walloped, and the uncertainty and craziness continue this month.  Uranus in Taurus is moving closer and closer to the key 15-degree Taurus point of the Earth axis, bringing reversals and changes and a world of hurt to our wee blue planet. Whether it’s the going – from -bad -to-awful situation in the Ukraine, the ongoing climate catastrophe, the racist attacks by Republican senators on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and any other number of disruptions, we are deep in the mess that we humans have made.   

What is to be done?    All I can do is give you some tips for getting through this. 

Your Astrologer’s 5 Tips for getting through April:

1. Expect uncertainty. Uranus will be moving across the Earth axis for the next few months, and won’t be done with us entirely until March 2023.  This war in the Ukraine could go on for many months.  Uranus brings change and reversal, chaos, the unexpected.  Although we are rightfully upset about the bad things happening, the unexpected isn’t always bad.  Stay open and notice the positive developments that are occurring.  Despair is not an option.  Grassroots organizing is always happening around the world, and people always stand up for truth, justice and self-determination.  Look– Amazon workers in NYC just voted for a union!  Celebrate it!  Many communities around the US are finding creative ways to repair the historic harm done to Black people.  Celebrate that! 

2. Expect many more global changes in economic systems, food scarcity, resources, labor, and supply chains. Uranus is in Taurus, after all.

3. Saturn’s square to the Lunar Nodes provides an opportunity for changes in collective relationships. We will see more refugee crises under this aspect, sad to say.   Leaders and governments can fall. Just sayin.  On a personal level, be aware that people are stressed and hurting.  Avoid arguments and avoid either/or thinking. Look for nuance and the “both/and.”  Find common ground. Don’t throw relationships away, even if you disagree.

4. Jupiter meets up with Neptune in Pisces all month. This is a beautiful conjunction that gives us a sense of belonging to each other. We are one. This is the aspect of “Substance of  We Feeling,” to quote Doris Lessing. It’s also a really fun and expansive combination – so have fun, enjoy the Spring, enjoy your friends and loved ones.  Love your silly pets. Love nature.  Be grateful for the earth.  Make art. Take nothing for granted.

5. Jupiter and Neptune will move a lot of water around the globe, especially on the April 16 full moon and April 30 new moon. Expect flooding and severe storms.   Be prepared for climate events!

April’s Important Dates:                 

April 1     2:26 am      New moon  @ 11’31 Aries

April 2-9                      Mars conjunct Saturn  in Aquarius                  Expect some obstacles

April 16    256 pm      Full Moon @ 26’46 Libra, with Pluto             Avoid power struggles

April 22                           Earth Day!

April 28-30                 Venus in Pisces conjunct Jupiter and Neptune    Have a lovefest!

April 30   429 pm       New moon/ partial eclipse @ 10’28 Taurus    Generate growth!

 

February 28 2022

The Ukraine is under attack, thanks to Saturn and Uranus, whose midpoint is on the Earth axis.  Our hearts go out to the people of the Ukraine.

Okay, peeps, it’s time to talk about the Earth Axis, and why it’s important. In the Uranian system of astrology, the earth axis is the plane created by the points of the solstices and equinoxes—when the Sun crosses 0 degrees Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, as well as the in-between points of 15 degrees Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. In fact, we keep on dividing that plane by 2, 4, 6, 8 and on and on to get even more obscure points. But the key ones are the 0 degree points of the Cardinal signs, the 15 degree marks of the fixed signs, and then 22.5 degrees of the Cardinal signs.  Are you with me?

I know, you’re saying, who cares?  You’re saying, I’m making your heads spin, and who cares about all this math.  I care, and you should too.  This Earth axis has to do with the world itself and world events, which are triggered when planets move across this axis. The hallmark of 2022 is that Saturn and Uranus both cross the Earth axis – Saturn just passed 15 degrees Aquarius and Uranus is just few degrees shy of 15 degrees Taurus and will spend a lot of time there this year.  Both of these planets are ….well, um…stressful. Dramatic.

Right now, the midpoint of Saturn and Uranus falls exactly on the Earth axis, and oh wow, look at what’s happening. Russia has invaded the Ukraine, in an insanely despotic action by Vladimir Putin.  This of course has huge implications for the Ukrainian people and the nation’s self-determination, and for Europe and Russia.  It also is impactful for the US, for the global economy, for supply chains, for oil and gas markets, etc. Astrologers have predicted that Uranus in Taurus would bring major changes in economic systems—these changes will be even more dramatic as Uranus gets closer to the Earth axis this spring.  I have been predicting that Uranus crossing the Earth axis will also bring more devastating Earth events—climate and environment-related. Sorry to be a Bad News Bear but we can all feel the disruptive and unexpected energy of Uranus.  I saw all kinds of things coming with Uranus on the Earth Axis, but I didn’t really see a war in Europe….

Russia and the Ukraine

However….your astrologer did write in these pages that the ancient Mayans believed Venus retrograde was a time to prepare for war, and I thought that in January Putin was doing exactly that, especially since he annexed Crimea the last time Venus retrograded in Capricorn 8 years ago.  Sigh.  

Ukraine is in its first Saturn return, which in this case could bring a complete restructuring of itself.  Sigh again.  Ukraine is trying hard not to get trampled, and they have Mars and Venus on their side, supporting their resistance. Who would have expected citizens with Molotov cocktails to be holding their own against a superpower’s army?!  You see- the unexpected isn’t always bad.

Saturn in the 1^st house of its chart signifies that the core issue for the Ukraine is identity, autonomy and self-realization.  Saturn approaches Ukraine’s Moon in Aquarius and makes an angle to its Midheaven and Pluto over the coming weeks, which is kinda grim.  The Ukraine’s and Putin’s charts have a lot of intersections – no surprise there.  Their fates are wrapped up together.  Putin himself is having some bellicose transits—Uranus is aspecting his Mars and Saturn is about the enter his 4^th house—a transit that often has to do with acquiring land.  The 4^th house also has to do with security and insecurity, borders, and self-protection.  It is very possible that over the next couple of years Putin really will attempt to reclaim the former Soviet states and pull them into Russia. 

The Moon of the Ukraine falls very close to the Aquarian Moon of the US, so the mood of the US public will be more and more aligned with the will of the Ukrainian people in the next few weeks as Saturn moves towards both Moons. There could be a popular demand for the US to intervene more directly.

We are under a positive influence of a long Mars and Venus conjunction. During the first week of March, they move across Pluto. Mars and Venus are about shared effort.  But the Pluto effect can be violent and destructive, even without actual use of nuclear weapons. The threat is scary enough.  The March 2 new moon will exaggerate everything, especially with  the Pisces Sun catching up with Jupiter in Pisces – normally a sweet transit but in this case, just more amplification of bellicose energy.  Pluto also means undercover and secret, and we know already that negotiations are going on covertly, and it is also possible that Putin’s inner circle could turn against him, and there could be a nice little Plutonic coup…

Putin does seem kinda crazy right now.  Hmm, interestingly, he has the same Mercury-Neptune combination in his chart that Donald Trump has, giving them both a rather strange relationship to information, media, truth, and delusion. 

During March and April, Saturn pulls away from the Earth axis as Uranus nears it.  It is just going to get more intense, I’m afraid. Uranus crosses the Earth axis at 15 Taurus in mid-May, along with Jupiter.  More on that in the coming months, and like I’ve been saying, in the meantime get those emergency kits together.

There are some bright spots – as I said, the Venus-Mars conjunction which lasts all the way til the 22nd, and a Sun -Jupiter conjunction as well that takes us til about the 10^th.  Enjoy these combinations if you can tear yourself away from the news.

Stay strong. And remember to expect the unexpected.

March’s Important Dates (times in EST or EDT)

March 2   1236 pm         New Moon @ 12’07 Pisces   Pray for peace

March 13   2 am              Daylight Savings Time begins   harrumph

March 18   319 am          Full moon @ 27’40 Virgo         Make some art!

March 20   1135 am       Spring Equinox!  Sun enters Aries!!   Woohoo!

 

January 31 2022

The February 1^st New Moon in Aquarius ushers in major action on the earth axis. But the second half of the month is delightful!

Well, I guess Mercury retrograde can bring surprising and good things—I have written my column early this month.  Wow. 

The start of this month is definitely stressful, with the Aquarius New moon on the 1^st pulling in a strong influence of Uranus.  Saturn is crossing the earth axis, a major trigger of world events, and the Sun in Aquarius joins Saturn on the 3^rd.   So it’s high drama on the world stage this week, and the backdrop is the threat of a Russian invasion of the Ukraine.  Personally–  I do love Venus retrograde, except for the preparing for war part of it.  Venus just turned direct on January 29^th, and so the next few days are volatile.  The last time Venus retrograded in Capricorn in 2014, Putin annexed Crimea. With Venus retrograde, we have to look back 8 years to the last time it retrograded in the current sign (Capricorn) to see what the unfinished business is.  It’s the Ukraine.  

Interestingly, Russia is having its Saturn return right now.  Yup, it has Saturn in Aquarius in the 6^th house of the chart cast for December 25, 1991 at the creation of the Russian Federation, and Saturn in the sky is in Aquarius, passing through Russia’s sixth house. The challenge of the 6^th house is finding a healthful  balance, avoiding perfectionism and control, and  not overdoing.  In the Saturn Return we create structures that we think are going to give us stability and solidify our life purpose, and we make lots of mistakes along the way. Hmm.  Russia is trying to reinvent the allegiances of the former Soviet Union in some ways , which could be one of those Saturn Return errors.  The Capricorn Sun of Russia’s chart will have some rough aspects this week, so we will see what unfolds. I would not be surprised if there is an invasion, followed by Saturnian sanctions, and then many global repercussions. 

And a word about that pesky Saturn in Aquarius… Keep in mind that Aquarius can engage in contradictions like nobody’s business, and that all of the air signs tend towards mental gymnastics. In astrology the air element has to do with mental process.  This is usually a wonderful quality, but there is a shadow side to every astrological sign, element, and planet.  The shadow side of Air is overintellectualizing, and distancing from heart. That can lead to a dangerous disconnect and an ability to convince oneself of any reality whatsoever. (Donald Trump is a Gemini, an air sign.)  Even Libra, which we think of as the gentlest sign, can have rose-colored glasses to such a degree that it idealizes people and relationships.  (Please allow me to give the other elements their due: the shadow side of Fire is self-focus, and that of Water is personalizing every emotional exchange, and that of Earth is being overly concrete…)

Contradiction is an Aquarian specialty. Uranus, the ruling planet of Aquarius, really captures the essence of this. Uranus was discovered when all those revolutionary Europeans and Americans were enshrining the ‘rights of man’ into political structures while at the same time enslaving African people and legally removing them from the human family.  That is some kinda powerful split in consciousness, to be able to pull that one off. Saturn in Aquarius right now is surfacing similar splits and contradictions that are giving rise to dangerous ideologies.  In the US some of the same people crying “keep your hands off my body” regarding vaccines are the same people who organize against abortion rights, because apparently hands on women’s bodies is all right.  Some people are seeking to ban books in the name of freedom.  Huh?   Russia’s Saturn in Aquarius gives it the ability to manipulate other contradictions, casting Russia as a victim of Europe while at the same time Putin seems content to be viewed as an icon of white supremacy by white supremacists around the world. 

The challenge and opportunity with Saturn in Aquarius is to see the contradictions and transcend them, rather than to polarize.

And before all my Gemini, Libran, and Aquarian friends get mad at me, let me point out that the Air element has to do with making connections and infusing vision into relationships and society.  We can’t live without the vision of Air!

Mercury retrograde turns direct on the 4^th.  Remember that the day it turns around can be … interesting!  What’s more, Mercury is in late Capricorn and it spends the first two weeks of the month sitting with Pluto.  This is a great combination for deep investigations and research—in other words, for digging up dirt.  I am looking forward to seeing what comes of the House Committee’s investigation of the January 6^th insurrection.   You go, Rep. Bennie Thompson!  There could also be revelations in the various investigations of Trump’s interference in the election and in his financial dealings.

The Saturn and Uranus action is also indicative of tremendous changes in the earth itself – not only climate disaster but also natural disasters like the recent explosion of the undersea volcano in Tonga. There has been a great deal of volcanic and earthquake activity lately and that will continue. 

Otherwise, February gets easier – for real. There is a beautiful Venus Mars conjunction in Capricorn starting on the 8^th and going all this month and next month too.  That’s a delightful combination for shared effort, shared goals, collaboration.  Wow, maybe there will finally be some comity in the political sphere.

Happy Lunar New Year, Year of the Tiger, and Happy Feile Bride—the Celtic celebration of poetry, creative fire, and healing.

February’s Important Dates

February 1      12:47 am  New moon @12’20 Aquarius

Seat belts on! 

February 3      11:14  pm  Mercury turns direct @24’22 Capricorn

Expect plans to go sideways!

February 16   11:58 am   Full moon @ 27’00 Leo 

Everyone wants their day in the Sun

February 18   11:44 am   Sun enters Pisces

January 1 2022

Happy New Year–  Stay nimble, expect change in 2022!   

What else is new?  You ask.     

Well, even this hopelessly optimistic Sagittarian must sound a sober tone about 2022. It is an intense year, at the very least, with more Saturn-Uranus upsets and impactful retrogrades. The climate disasters are not going away—obviously, based on what we’ve seen as recently as yesterday–nor are the political tensions.  Things come and go in cycles – it goes without saying that we are in a cycle of disruption, not in a cycle of stability.

So let’s not expect stability from systems and structures. Systems and structures have not worked for lots of people for a very long time. And let’s not lose hope.

With the passing of the great Desmond Tutu this week, I have been reflecting a lot on South Africa, and its struggle for liberation.  I recall that when I had the good  Jupiterian fortune to travel there in the late 90’s, I was struck by the hopefulness of the people in the face of such seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It made me realize that cynicism and hopelessness are often a function of privilege.  Did Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Ella Baker, John Lewis, and Anne Braden ever lose hope and get cynical?  I don’t think so.

Here is what’s coming, in broad strokes.

As we know, Venus is retrograde now and will be so until January 29^th. This transit can bring political instability and breakdowns or breakthroughs in negotiations and diplomacy. (Umm, Joe Manchin’s self-serving actions would be the breakdown part…Preventing Russia from invading the Ukraine might be the breakthrough…).  The Ukraine will likely be the focus of this Venus retrograde, since it also was in 2013, the last time Venus retrograded in Capricorn…And we have to keep in mind that the ancient Mayans—who knew more about Venus’ patterns than anyone else—saw Venus retrograde as a time to prepare for war. 

On the personal front Venus retrograde is not as dramatic  — thank all the gods and goddesses!  It is a time of growing awareness about where our lives are in sync with our values and where they are not.

On the Cancer Full moon on January 17^th, Venus retrograde makes an important angle to the US’ Sun and Saturn, perhaps bringing some closure to the Democrats’ push to get voting rights, social supports, and climate change legislation passed….  Or perhaps Attorney General Garland will pursue sedition charges against Trump and his band of weasels.  Anything is possible! 

Venus retrograde, which has been sitting with Pluto in Capricorn for all of December, has been predictably bringing attention to resources and the environmental implications of mining cobalt, nickel, lithium, and other metals needed for electric cars….Venus retrograde’s task is to tweak us so that we align our values with reality. Because this is occurring in Capricorn, reality is …um… very real. 

So real, in fact, that not only did voters in Chile elect a young progressive president, but they are writing a new constitution to highlight protection from environmental degradation and climate impact.  They are considering providing nature itself protected rights under the new constitution!  Go Venus retrograde!

Mercury turns retrograde on January 14^th until late on February 3^rd.  It begins its retrograde in Aquarius and moves back into Capricorn.  You know the drill:  no big decisions and let your intuition be your guide.

A word about retrogrades of the personal planets – Mercury, Venus, and Mars:  these retrogrades are not bad, they simply reveal a different side of the planet’s action.  We cannot fight the direction of the energy during a retrograde but need to go with it!

Saturn pulls away from Uranus in January, and by January’s end crosses the earth axis at 15 degrees Aquarius while the Sun squares Uranus, bringing a global hiccup of some sort, and unexpected dramatic events, perhaps economic, environmental,  or virus-related–  but it’s fast, just a couple of weeks.

Pluto in late Capricorn reaches the exact degree of its location in the chart of the US this month and stays there most of this year, turning the heat up in the years-long Pluto return of the US, and returning the national focus to the legacy of racism and the desire of some to preserve the US as a nation by and for white people.

Jupiter enters Pisces on December 30, sneaks into Aries for a few months in May, and returns to Pisces in late October til late December. Jupiter is comfortable in Pisces and emphasizes healing and connection.  Yay!   This transit also brings a fondness for personal excess – so enjoy!

Things get interesting in May.  Mercury retrogrades again May 10 at 4 degrees Gemini. It retrogrades back into late Taurus until it turns around on June 3^rd.   Uranus in Taurus spends the month crossing the earth axis at 15 degrees Taurus. Expect the unexpected, and expect tumultuous world events, probably climate or environmental.  The May 16 Scorpio full moon and total lunar eclipse falls in a direct angle to Saturn, the Lunar Nodes,  and to the Moon of the US’ chart, so the US public will be rattled and sobered by some series of events…. Jupiter sneaks into Aries for a few months, emphasizing the primacy of the individual.  Uh oh.

By August, our friends Saturn and Uranus come back into their 90-degree angle, where they remain through mid-November. This is about a clash of ideologies, a  conflict between old and new, a conflict between individual rights and a concern for the collective good, a breakdown of systems, and a potential liberation.  We have been living with this for months, and it will be back for the fall.   What can I say? Put on your seatbelts.  

Mercury retrogrades on September 10^th at 8 degrees Libra, and turns direct at 24 degrees Virgo on October 2^nd.  Libra tends to want to emphasize the good, and so the Mercury retrograde may surface difficulties and blocks in communication with friends and loved ones. Its pass through Virgo may surface self-criticism.  Beware of that demon!

October and November – oy vey!!   In addition to the stress of the Saturn-Uranus square, there are some other stressful dynamics, and just in time for the US midterm elections. Mars in Gemini spends October and November in a 90 degree angle to Neptune, facilitating big vision and perhaps the sowing of a lot of confusion.  Mars retrograde isn’t bad but it sure is interesting!   It turns retrograde on October 30^th for 11 weeks, staying retrograde into January 2023.  Mars retrograde in Gemini squared Neptune?  Umm, that’s a lot of misinformation, I am afraid, or perhaps another Covid variant, or both, since in this aspect Mars just amplifies Neptune.

Mars retrograde can be an energy of things not going as planned, and there is great potential for them to move sideways. Remember that Mars is the energy of action, plans, goals. When it’s retrograde, things don’t necessarily follow the trajectory we expect. There can be an opportunity for important process and re-evaluation of what we are doing and how we are doing it, as well as power struggles and challenges to authority.  (Remember that Mars was retrograde on election day 2020…) 

The midterm elections will be a mess, with wild accusations of fraud and interference—but you probably didn’t need me to predict that since it is entirely obvious.  On election day itself there is a major full moon and eclipse in Taurus that lines up with angles to many planets: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.  The elections will be impactful, stressful, unpredictable, dramatic. That’s all I can say, at this point, 11 months in advance…

Mercury turns retrograde on December 29 in Capricorn… but hell, piece of cake, right?!

How to deal with the upcoming year     

1. Read Octavia Butler, Doris Lessing, NK Jemisin. Get comfortable with holding uncertainty and vision at the same time.

2. Get outside, be in nature, have a garden. Read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass and get in right relationship to everything on earth, and cease doing harm to our planet.

3. Do whatever we can to support and be involved in grassroots social and racial justice.

4. Do whatever we can to stay gracious, calm, and forgiving.  

5. Make art.       

6. Honor our ancestors.

7. Prepare an emergency kit—for real—because if nothing else there is the climate.

8. Welcome change and uncertainty. There is a lot of growth and liberation possible at a time like this!

January’s important dates   (times EST) 

January 2    135 pm      New Moon @ 12’20 Capricorn     Plan plan plan!

January 8                        Sun conjunct Venus retrograde   Reflect on your core values

January 14   645 am     Mercury turns retrograde @ 10’18 Aquarius, squared Uranus  

Back up that hard drive!

January  17   650 pm     Full moon at 27’51  Cancer, opposing Pluto   High drama and power struggles!

January 19   940 pm      Sun enters Aquarius

January 23                        Sun conjunct Mercury retrograde   Expect revelations!

January 29    347 am     Venus goes direct @ 11’06 Capricorn   Now you can make commitments!

December 2 2021

December is wild!  The Saturn Uranus square is back and with us all month. Venus parks itself next to Pluto and retrogrades December 19.  

Well, it’s Sagittarius’ month, so I love it—the short and magical days, the oblique light.  Just to lighten things up here since I have plenty of serious stuff to discuss this month, here is my list of some stellar Sagittarians, which includes quite a lineup of artists and personalities that are larger than life…This will help you all understand the nature of Sagittarian-ness.  I have to name a few:

Tina Turner…….Janelle Monae…….Cassandra Wilson…

Miley Cyrus (I am slightly embarrassed to admit I share a birthday with this crazy girl who seems to need to take her clothes off all the time…)        

Taylor Swift….Jay-Z……Dame Judi Dench…..Brad Pitt…..Lucy Liu… Pope Francis

And … Stacy Abrams! 

(There is, of course, quite a list of dictators, power-mongers, and fools who also are Sag’s –Andrew Cuomo, for one. There is a shadow side to every sign, after all! What can I say?)

Back to December–  it is likely to be a challenging and very interesting month on the planetary level.  There are two major influences that create the backdrop for the entire month.  One of them is the return of the Saturn-Uranus square which was in effect from February through August. It’s back, and in fact, will be exact on  December 24^th.   Saturn overtakes Uranus in January but the angle comes back into play later in 2022, so we aren’t done with it yet.  The second influence is Venus in Capricorn sitting with Pluto all month, and turning retrograde December 19^th  for 40 days.

First, Saturn and Uranus.  As I have written in these pages before, this powerful angle has been manifesting in our world as intense polarization, conflict, chaos, breakdown of systems, and rebuilding. The old ways are clashing with the new—are we going to go backwards or forwards, as a nation and as a planet?  Will we hold onto systems and ideologies that are completely oppressive or create societies based on progressive and humanistic values?

I know that things feel hopelessly uncertain- and that sense will be exaggerated this month–  but in order to deal with this influence it is important to see the clashing and polarization as part of the process of change.  There is positive change that can emerge from a time like this.  Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine contained articles about creative shifts in infrastructure development that have resulted from manufacturing systems breaking down in the pandemic, and new attempts to coordinate public health infrastructure to address pandemics. This latter point is in response to the fatal disjointedness of systems that we have witnessed in the last two years, a disjointedness that is the result of years of disinvestment in public health.  

This month, Biden and the Democrats just might get their bill through Congress, the bill that attempts to restore some pieces of a safety net and move towards some economic justice. This is more of the  infrastructure focus that the Saturn-Uranus square is all about.  It is just December 2^nd, and many world governments are scrambling over structural responses to the spread of the Omicron variant, such as closing borders etc. Will we learn from past experience or go into panic mode?   The Saturn Uranus angle falls quite close to the Earth axis, but not as close as it was in July and August. Still, I am expecting more dramatic global events, especially around the December 18^th Full moon in Gemini, with a particular focus on the earth itself and climate. 

So–  stay nimble, expect the unexpected. We have to just live with unsettledness and be okay with a certain amount of instability.  Turn to what eases our frayed nervous systems. For me it’s music, art, yoga, exercise, cooking, and talking to my ancestors.  I also like looking at the night sky—and this is a month to get out in the evening and watch for Venus, Jupiter and Saturn!  Check out Earth/Sky for their great tips for planet watching.

Touching on climate and the environment leads me to the Venus situation.  Venus will be in Capricorn, sitting with Pluto all month, as it slows down to turn retrograde on the 19^th.  The Venus-Pluto dynamic is one of intense desire and commitment. It brings transformative intimacy. On an individual, personal level this conjunction will definitely turn up the heat in relationships—are we in this or not?  It will bring intense negotiations about needs and who is giving and getting.  What does satisfaction look like? 

Check out Aretha Franklin addressing the issue of satisfaction: https://youtu.be/Eto2urJTKno

Venus and Pluto in Capricorn are also about resources and money.  There is a side of Venus which has to do with money, and of course, Capricorn as an earth sign has to do with our material reality.  The heat will also be turned up high for people out of concern about the economy.  When Venus turns retrograde on the 19^th, things get very interesting.   Remember that the old astrology books used to caution “buyer beware” during Venus retrograde : don’t spend a lot of money on something because you may not know it’s true value. 

I look at Venus retrograde more broadly. In other words – don’t put a lot of energy into something you’re not sure about.  It is a time of reflection and growing awareness about values and value. Is our investment of time, energy, and resources worth it?  What do we really want to be doing?  Are we getting what we need and want?  Because Pluto is involved this process comes with intensity and even drama.  So even though I see Venus retrograde as a pivotal transit, it is usually not annoying in a daily way in the fashion of Mercury retro or Mars retrograde.  With Pluto involved, however, anything is possible.

As for the world at large, this transit will also be about values and value.  Remember that the US is in its first Pluto “return”—when Pluto returns to where it is in the astrological chart of the US (in late Capricorn and in the second house, Taurus’ house, and Taurus is ruled by Venus.)  So chefs, the universe is serving up a double dose of Venus and Pluto to the United States.  Core values are at the heart of it, and a deep reckoning with our past.  Just like for individuals, this transit will raise economic and resource issues.  I also have a feeling that Pluto in Capricorn has to do with resources like oil and gas, so during Venus retrograde we may really have to wrestle with our societal love of cars and trucks, and of our collective willingness to destroy  Black, Brown, and Indigenous people and communities and the entire natural environment for the sake of oil.

Venus and Pluto seem to me to be about reckoning on many levels.  I expect some reckoning about the January 6^th seditious insurrection.  I expect some dramatic confrontation about the gap between wealth and poverty, about racism, as well as more climate catastrophes, maybe more volcanic activity.  Remember that historically, Venus retrograde was viewed as a politically volatile time, a time when leaders can fall, and when there can be breakthroughs or breakdowns in diplomacy.  Perhaps the Republican Party will tear itself apart.  Perhaps there will be more overt military actions in the Ukraine. Perhaps the US and China will do something stupid. 

Not to be irritatingly optimistic, but there continues to be opportunity for change, for alignment of values, for a more humanistic way of being. And a sense of interconnectedness. Jupiter enters Pisces on December 29^th, and I hope it signals that kind of sea change.

December’s Important dates

December 4       243 am       New moon and solar eclipse @ 12’22 Sagittarius  —  have an idea party!

December 18    1137 pm     Full moon @ 27’29 Gemini  … try to avoid debates

December 19    537 am        Venus turns retrograde @26’29 Capricorn.  Reevaluate your life!

December 21   1100 am       Winter solstice!  Sun enters Capricorn…welcome the return of the light!

December 24                          Exact square of Saturn and Uranus, and exact conjunction of Venus retrograde and Pluto   — put on your seatbelt

December 28    1111 pm     Jupiter enters Pisces —  Ring in the New Year with lots of love and compassion

Happy Holidays!

_______________________________________

 

November 1 2021

Uranus is running the show this month… Get ready!  Taurus full moon and partial eclipse on the 19^th…And Saturn and Uranus return to their powerful angle by month’s end

What a month!  Uranus is in charge!  So many planets in fixed signs, all squaring off and opposing each other, and Uranus or Saturn are at the center of all the angles… So yes, we are looking at more changes, and a lot of jolts, and course reversals.  It’s not all bad though—we just have to expect to get thrown around a bit and be in a constant state of whiplash. 

Remember that Uranus is a transpersonal planet that embodies the following concepts:

 change, chaos, the unexpected, surprises, revolution, seemingly accidental twists of fate, polarities, the future, brilliant perceptual leaps of insight, the art of astrology (it’s true!), science and technology, ideology

Wrap your tired brains around all that!  Uranus is in the sign Taurus, so it is expressing itself in very earthy manifestations, including the earth itself as well as human-made structures like work and labor systems,  financial systems and the economy, infrastructure, agriculture, and use of earthy resources.

We can see that this is a very tumultuous time in all those systems, and it is a tough time for Mother Earth.  We will continue to see breakdowns in systems, as well as more earth events, especially volcanoes and earthquakes.  I am also expecting a lot of electrical system impacts from these events, given Uranus’ involvement, as well as fires and explosions.   Just trying to be real, folks….with Uranus, we really have to expect the unexpected. (https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/emergency-preparedness/)

This month we can expect to see many more upsets in these areas of our lives, yet at the same time, I see some positive resolution occurring in areas that have been stuck.  For one thing, many of the planets that have been retrograde have been moving forward, releasing some stuck energy. I sure hope Nancy Pelosi calls for the vote on the big bills this week – the Sun Saturn square should help close the deal, probably by the November 4^th new moon.  (Will someone please tell her she needs an astrologer?!)

The upcoming full moon in Taurus on the 19^th is a shitkicker. It is also a partial eclipse (get out there and view it!), amplifying its effect.  The full moon carries the influence of Mars and Uranus, and a bit of Venus too, and it falls exactly on the Scorpio Sun of Joe Biden.  This full moon will have a significant impact on him and should bring to a head the struggles and hopefully a successful passage of the bills he is trying to get through Congress. (Will someone please tell him he needs an astrologer? )   

Meanwhile by the time the Sun enters Sagittarius late on the 21^st, the mutable, excessive, and irrepressible optimism of Sagittarius will  arrive not a moment too soon, a welcome change from all the fixed-ness in the sky.  Just keep in mind that at the end of November, the Saturn-Uranus square is back. This angle dominated the sky from February til August, and created a context for many positive things, including allowing us to dream again for a sustainable future.  It is an energy of radical reorientation, of breaking down and rebuilding.  This transit goes into January, and then we get the Saturn-Uranus square off and on again throughout 2022.   

We have to learn to live with uncertainty, with hope, and with vision.  As Ronald Chisom, the cofounder of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, always told me when I was going through the biggest political struggle of my life:  “stay strong.”

It always helped me to hear that.  So I’m saying to all of us:  Stay strong 

November’s Important Dates  (in EDT or EST)

November 1^st and 2^nd      The veil between worlds is very thin        Celebrate and talk with those ancestors!

November 4       5:16 pm            New moon @ 12’40 Scorpio                        Envision change!

November  7      2 am                  Daylight savings time ends

November 9-11                             Mercury and Mars square Saturn               Crankiness abounds!

November 15-18                           Sun squares Jupiter, Mars opposes Uranus.   Make changes!

 November 19      3:59 am            Full moon and partial eclipse @ 27’14 Taurus  

Live in contradictions: Take a risk and stay safe

November 21      9:35 pm           Sun enters Sagittarius                                   Whew!!!

November  26-30                         Saturn-Uranus square returns                     Retire the old; ring in the new

­­­­­­­­­­______________________________

 

 

October 1 2021

Mercury is retrograde til the 18^th…. The Sun and Mars pair up in Libra for most of the month… Uranus on the earth axis, still kicking the crap out of our wee blue planet… Saturn and Neptune make an angle of stuckness

October is an interesting month, with a lot of Libra energy: the Sun, Mars, Mercury retrograde, Libra new moon on the 6^th.  While I have your attention, let’s get clear about Libra.  People always think Libra is about balance.  It is, but not in the way we might think, and by that I mean that Librans are not necessarily even-keeled! 

Libra starts at the Fall Equinox, when day and night are equal. The balance that Libra has concerns a balance between day and night, light and dark, conscious and unconscious.  You gotta have both to have perspective. 

Libra is an air sign, and the air signs of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius speak to the human condition of belonging, or, who are my peeps?   In Gemini, the relationships are with siblings and peers, in Libra, the relationship is with the “Other,” and in Aquarius, it is with the collective, with society itself.  The air signs want to know how they fit in, where they fit in, and because they are air, the main mode is thinking, considering, evaluating.

Libra is ruled by Venus—which also rules Taurus–  and in the Libran context, Venus is about the ideal.  So Libra looks for the ideal relationship, partnership, constantly evaluating who they are in relation to whatever the” Other” is — an ideal situation, action, person, thing, place.  That’s what makes Librans so thoughtful.  But they can idealize too much, by not looking at the “night” and only staying in the daylight.   Libra’s opposite is Aries, an instinctual fire sign that has to do with the Self –as you can see, the mirror opposite of Libra’s concern about the ”Other.”

So here we are, on October 1^st, with the Libra Sun moving in tandem with Mars for nearly three weeks this month, Mercury retrograde in Libra, etc.  The Sun and Mars moving together makes us all want to be productive, to do do do, feeling like we should be busy.  Mercury retro is messing with that a bit. This is a set up for feeling disappointed in ourselves!  We need to all go with the flow, and if stuff doesn’t get done, it’s okay. When Mercury retrograde crosses paths with the Sun and Mars on the 9^th for a few days, we have to be very careful to not judge ourselves and others for what we are doing or not doing.  We all need to watch out for the mean creature of perfectionism this month.

Speaking of that lineup—when Mercury retro crosses  paths with the Sun and Mars—I expect some big revelations or surprises on the political front.  Jeez, maybe Joe Manchin will stop being an idiot.  (Hope springs eternal for this Sagittarian…) We are already seeing the revelations roll in under this Mercury retrograde. 

As for the overall atmosphere of craziness….  Uranus is still on the earth axis, moving very slowly retrograde.  Volcanoes, earthquakes, deadly hurricanes, fires, droughts: yup. Surprising and shocking political events on a daily basis:  yup.  Saturn is retrograding away from Uranus but turns direct on October 10^th, to head very slowly back towards Uranus.   It’s like a rubber band being pulled, and the release probably won’t happen til December, when the two planets get near each other again.  What this bodes for any kind of action in the US Congress is beyond my powers of comprehension at the moment. 

But here is the thing—Saturn is in a tight angle to Neptune, so people feel overwhelmed and stuck, not knowing what’s what or how to move forward.  My metaphor for Saturn and Neptune is that it is like being in a river in a canoe, raft or kayak, and being stuck behind an eddy.   We feel trapped behind the eddy fence and don’t know how to get back into the current.  We have to paddle like hell to get out.   That means engaging with Neptune  spiritually and

These kayakers are paddling around an eddy. 

creatively by using strength and discipline to transcend the barriers, to get through those eddy fences.

And it goes with saying that we are in a time of incredibly intense polarization.   We have many planets in fixed signs:  Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius, and Uranus in Taurus.  Those signs have a great capacity to dig their heels in, and by its very nature, Aquarius and its ruling planet have to do with polarities.   We will get through this, and Neptune in its home sign of Pisces has a lot to teach us about connection and oneness. 

We get a whoppingly powerful transit of the Sun, Mars and Pluto this month, starting about on the 18^th, carrying us through the Aries full moon on the 20^th and beyond. Oh boy.  I expect some global upsets, perhaps military ones… But keep in mind that the power of Mars and Pluto are the dream of every community organizer: Moving a group of people around a shared purpose. 

There’s always a positive side to these planets!

October’s Important dates (Eastern time)         

October 6        7:07 am     New Moon at 13’25 Libra     Plan, plan, plan

October 10      Sun, Mars, Mercury retrograde conjunction    Avoid arguments! 

October 18      Mercury and Jupiter turn direct!            Yay!

October 20  10:58 am        Full Moon at 27’26 Aries      Stay calm and grounded, no fighting!

October 23 12:52 am         Sun enters Scorpio

October 31   Halloween!    Honor your ancestors! 

September 2 2021

September is wild: we are buffeted about by Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.  And then Mercury retrograde!

This is a very intense month, I am afraid.  Hurricane Ida just ripped up the Gulf Coast and the Northeast, the perfect and awful metaphor for the Mars-Neptune aspect in place for the first

week of September. Mars is in Virgo and it is exactly opposite Neptune in Pisces, amplifying all that watery energy.  So there is a lot of Neptunian energy being moved around right now – and people are overwhelmed by uncertainty and on tenterhooks about what unimaginable event could come next. 

 

Meanwhile Uranus is sitting at 14 degrees Taurus all month, right on top of the “earth axis” or Cardinal axis, as we call the trigger points for the world itself in Uranian astrology.   The sudden events of July and August – a devastating earthquake in Haiti, severe storms and worsening fires, the shocking events in Afghanistan, Hurricanes Henri and Ida, spiralling Delta virus cases—all of these events are what we can expect while Uranus is on the earth axis.  And, it remains on this axis through October. 

This month, we get a succession of wallops from Neptune and Uranus, as Mars and then the Sun in Virgo aspect Neptune, emphasizing uncertainty, and when Mars and then the Sun enter Libra they both trigger Uranus.  Bam, bam, bam.  It will be a month of whiplash, I am afraid, from climate -related catastrophic events and political events, and god know what else. Expect the unexpected—seriously.

Mercury, the fastest planet, spends an uncharacteristically long stretch this month in an angle to Pluto, the slowest planet.  Weird. The angle begins on the full moon on the 20^th and remains in the angle through the month, including after it turns retrograde on the 27^th.  Mercury and Pluto are about very deep knowledge, deep study, access to the unconscious.This aspect is also about secrets, and Mercury retrograde is often about revelation.   It will be a helluva retrograde!  

The dramatic changes of the month are counterbalanced by strong aspects of emotional and relational commitment, so keep track of your people.

Things are way too unpredictable right now, and we should be ready for anything.  Here is my advice:

Have an emergency/ disaster kit ready, no matter where you live, and a make a disaster plan with your loved ones. Get a solar-powered weather radio.  Pay attention especially on the new and full moons, when tides can be extreme and a lot of water gets moved around the planet.

Figure out how you will keep track of your people if anything happens.    

Mars and Neptune are about movement:  Dance!  Go swimming!  Mars and Neptune are also about contagion, so take precautions about Covid.  Be smart, people!

Work your spiritual practice, whatever it is. Meditate. Pray.  Honor the ancestors.

Reduce your carbon footprint.  Support grassroots environmental justice organizing. 

September’s important dates:

September 6          852 pm          New moon @ 14’38 Virgo                   Make sound plans!

September 14        815 pm          Mars enters Libra, aspects Uranus      Expect the unexpected

September 20       756 pm           Full Moon @ 28’14 Pisces        Don’t hide important information

September 22       322 pm           Fall Equinox – Sun enters Libra, aspects Uranus       

               Expect the unexpected – again, still     

September 27      12:11 am        Mercury turns retrograde @ 25’28 Libra in aspect to Pluto   Expect revelation!

 

 

 

 

___________________

August 1 2021

Uranus is on the earth axis: Don’t take off your seatbelts! Saturn pulls away from Uranus this month and they don’t come back together til late December. Another Aquarius full moon, the second in two months.

August begins with Saturn exactly opposite the Leo Sun, making it very visible in the night sky.  Go out there and see it!  Both Jupiter and Saturn are quite visible, and right now both are in the sign Aquarius.  Even though Saturn is pulling away from Uranus, perhaps lessening the utter polarization we have been seeing in our political bodies (Congress) and in the body politic (us).  Everywhere we look it appears that people are in opposition to each other, at loggerheads.  That may wane a bit as Saturn separates from Uranus.  Let’s hope so. 

Uranus is sitting almost exactly at the 15-degree mark of Taurus, a significant point on the earth axis (Uranus is at 14 -degrees -and -change).   This means that events occur of great global significance.  Uranus is the principle of the unexpected, chaos, revolution, reversal, and it is in Taurus, the earthiest of earth signs.   It will be a difficult month in terms of climate crisis and extreme weather, and perhaps also earthquakes. The Ring of Fire is rockin’ and rollin’ right now.  It is clear that things have taken a turn and that climate crisis is upon us. 

Of course Uranus is not just manifesting as ecological events.  The August 8^th Leo new moon happens to make an exact angle to Uranus, so it will trigger a lot of surprising events of all kinds, including the whiplash of what to expect from the ever-changing Coronoavirus.  Expect the unexpected, and expect the predictable.  Sorry, folks, but I am expecting an attack from white supremacists in mid August somehow, somewhere.  (I hope I’m wrong, and keep in mind that I often am!)   Donald Trump has apparently said that he “will be reinstated“ in August, and some of his supporters have also talked about August as some kind of watershed.  Trump devotee Michael Lindell (of My Pillow fame) has been promoting August 13 as the day of Trump’s “reinstatement”, which happens to be a big day in Nazi history  when Hitler refused to serve as Franz Von Papen’s vice chancellor. And in 1862 Confederate General  Nathan Bedford Forrest defeated the Union army at Murfreesboro, TN on August 13.  And of course, August 11 is the anniversary of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville VA in 2017.  Just sayin’ 

I hope the FBI is reading this.

And now for something much more fun than my grim predictions… Mercury, Venus and Mars all spend some time in Virgo this month, and they all make a transit in opposition to Neptune at some point.  That will be fun and weird, inspiring and confusing. Neptune—so mysterious, so confounding, so enticing and transcendent.  Its symbol is the ocean, and like the ocean it can be beautiful and clear and welcoming, or it can be terrifying.  In any case, we can often not see what’s under the surface – a lot like astrological Neptune. 

So speaking of Neptune’s influence, I took a look at renowned gymnast Simone Biles’ birth chart. 

I totally commend her for making a difficult decision to honor her own health and well-being.  She is a March 14^th Pisces, with a Gemini moon, and Mercury and Venus in Pisces. Mars is retrograde in the 10^th house, in late Virgo, exactly opposite her Mercury.   Her personal planets are all in the mutable signs of Pisces, Virgo and Gemini.  Mutable signs are future oriented, leading the way into a new way of being. Mars retrograde in a birth chart always indicates a person who doesn’t lead a conventional life, someone  who defies expectations, either positively or negatively. 

Neptune is in Pisces currently, and it has been parked on top of Biles’ Sun for the past year or more.  It is also very close to her Mercury-Mars retrograde opposition, a configuration which clearly helps her have amazing physical skill. Neptune, which has everything to do with image and the media, has brought an inconceivable amount of media attention to her in the last few years, and that attention has reached a crescendo in the approach to the Olympics and of course during these Olympics.  Even her experiencing the ungroundedness of the ”twisties” is a Neptunian phenomena.  Neptunian reality is hard to hold onto; now you see it, now you don’t.  It’s elusive, ephemeral.  Her Mars retrograde gave her the centeredness and strength to make a decision that went counter to everyone’s Neptunian image of who she is and what she should do.  Meanwhile last week Jupiter and transiting  Mars, which entered Virgo late last week, were exactly squaring her Gemini moon.   Jupiter brings change, often both success and loss at the same time. The moon is Simone herself, as a woman and public figure, and it is also how she feels.  Can’t ignore one’s gut while Jupiter is moving across one’s moon!  Mars entering Virgo is a big transit for Biles in light of all her natal mutable planets. Virgo, after all, is about integrity.

August’s important dates

August  1        Happy Lughnasadh, the ancient Celtic harvest holiday.

August 8                851 am                   New Moon at 16’14 Leo – in aspect to Uranus

 Put on your seatbelts  and keep ‘em on!

August 22              703 am                    Full moon at 29’37 Aquarius  — second full moon in Aquarius in two months!

   Have a party!

August 22               436 pm                   Sun enters Virgo           

_____________________________              

July 3 2021

Mars and Venus in Leo get mixed up in the Saturn Uranus square at the top of July; Saturn and Uranus start pulling apart this month; Venus and Mars move in tandem in a beautiful conjunction

Wow.  What a time we are in.  As I have said in prior columns, with Saturn and Uranus on the earth axis, climate catastrophe is upon us.  Although Saturn is retrograde and pulling away from Uranus, its effect is still strong. In any case, Uranus will sit right on the earth axis through September, so it will be a helluva summer.  Raging heat in the Pacific Northwest, severe drought in the West and Southwest. Wild fires. And hurricane season has barely begun. Batten down the hatches, people.

Saturn and Uranus are also about infrastructure, and we see that this is a huge issue for the US and a subject of great debate in Congress. The tragic collapse of the condo in Surfside, Florida is just one more example of an infrastructure crisis that Saturn and Uranus are bringing to light. 

Right now, at the beginning of July, Mars in Leo opposes Saturn and squares Uranus.  That is a powerful set of angles, with Mars bringing an incendiary energy to an already dramatic influence. (Let’s hope a July 4^th firecracker doesn’t ignite a fire in the parched west…).  This July 4^th holiday—occurring as it does in the middle of the Pluto return of the United States when the public’s different notions of democracy are very evident–   could be tumultuous.  The US Supreme Court just issued a decision that further guts the Voting Rights Act. This, in combination with the 14 states that have enacted 22 voter suppression laws, really does call the integrity of this so-called democracy into question.

So this is a weird month.  It gets better after the Sun enters Leo on the 22^nd , when we have a pretty Venus Jupiter angle and a fun Aquarius full moon.  

On another and I trust more hopeful note here  is what my astrologer’s mind is thinking about:  the astrology of the Mayoral election for New York City. I love making political projections although it is very difficult since we often don’t have birth times of candidates. Take my prediction with a grain of salt between the lack of birth times and my own biases, which are impossible to hide.   I do live here after all, and after looking at the birth chart for NYC I now understand why –  the city has four planets in Sagittarius, for god’s sake!  There are two charts for New York, one cast for the 1600s and the one cast for the political consolidation of the boroughs into the City, cast for January 1, 1898.  The second one is the one I refer to.

Yes, New York City has its Sun in Capricorn, no surprise there, its Moon is in Aries, and as I say, 4 planets in Sag.   Jupiter is right on the Libra Ascendant, which makes exact angles to the Sun and Midheaven.  We are talking excess, and excitement, expansion and expansiveness, money, and a ton of intellectual superiority with  4 planets in the 3^rd house.  All that fire adds up to a lot of arrogance, that sense of being the center of the universe.

The top candidates for Mayor—Eric Adams (Virgo, Capricorn Moon), Kathryn Garcia (Pisces, Capricorn Moon), and Maya Wiley (Capricorn, Leo Moon) – all have a significant Capricorn placement.  Maya Wiley’s birthday is January 2, so her Capricorn Sun falls right on top of the Capricorn Sun of NYC.  Saturn and Uranus are on top of her Venus right now, indicating the potential for an upset.  Kathryn Garcia has Pluto on her Mars right now, also aligned with the Moon of the City, a combination potentially indicating a rise to power.    

I think Maya Wiley could win, after the mess which is  the NYC Board of Elections counts the absentee ballots and does the ranked voting arithmetic.  If not her, then Kathryn Garcia.  

You heard it here!

July’s Important dates

July 9   818 pm    New Moon @ 18’02 Cancer    Feel those feelings!  Get free!

July 22   1128 am   Sun enters Leo  Express yourself fully and passionately!     

July 23     9:38 pm   Full moon @ 1’26 Aquarius   Have fun and celebrate!

 

June 7 2021

Saturn and Uranus are exact this month;  Mercury retrograde squares  Neptune for days—whaaaat?;  Gemini new moon and eclipse June 10;  Mars and Pluto give us some headaches

My apologies to my readers for posting late.  Sigh—Mercury retrograde. Speaking of Mercury retrograde, it is in a square to Neptune for the first 10 days of June. Yowza.  That just adds to the spaciness and squishiness, but Mercury retro is certainly delivering on revealing hidden information, as in the news of Trump’s Justice Department going after NY Times sources.  Expect more revelations especially as we get closer to the June 10 Gemini new moon and eclipse on the 10^th. On that day Mercury retrograde crosses paths with the Sun and Moon, bringing insights and closure to things and maybe some surprises. Back to Mercury and Neptune, an influence that can have to do with delusion and fantasy: it was reported that Trump is saying he will be “reinstated” in August. Really?

The 90-degree angle between Saturn and Uranus gets very exact this month during the week of the 13^th, before Saturn retrogrades past Uranus. Nonetheless they remain very close to each other til  August, so we will still feel their influence.  Most importantly they are nearly on top of the so-called “earth axis”, the plane created by the solstice and equinox points which indicates the world. The fifteen-degree mark of all the fixed signs of Taurus, Scorpio, Leo and Aquarius are key points on this axis, and this month Saturn and Uranus are at 13 degrees of Aquarius and Taurus, respectively. By August Uranus will be at 14 degrees and change, almost exactly on top of the earth axis. 

So–  as these planets hang out on the earth axis we see tension, polarization, and a certain amount of crisis intensify.   Saturn and Uranus in fixed signs are certainly manifesting in dramatic polarization of public opinion and political discourse. The fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius have the capacity to dig their heels in.  We are certainly in the midst of a crisis  between the old guard and progressive vision, not only in the US but in many places around the world.  In Israel, for instance, Saturn and Uranus are tweaking a major aspect in Israel’s natal chart. Will it double down on repression and right-wing reactionary actions, or move forward with a new and strange coalition ?  Hard to say….   In any case, this Saturn Uranus combination is dramatic, brings the unexpected, and can bring us a whole new way of doing things. By the end of June Mars in Leo makes an angle to both planets, so expect some big global changes and events. 

As Saturn and Uranus close in on the earth axis there will undoubtedly be earth changes and

climate catastrophe affecting large portions of this wee blue planet. There has been a lot of volcanic activity over the past few months, and I expect more severe storms, fires ,and possibly earthquakes to occur over the next few months.  Put on your seatbelts.

 

And what’s up with Joe Manchin?  I had to look at his natal chart.  He is an August 24^th Virgo with that difficult Saturn-Pluto conjunction that many people born in 1947 have.  He has a taste for power.  Right now Jupiter in Pisces is exactly opposite his Sun, so he feels on top of the world.  (As my good friend and Leo, the wise Dr Riesman said this morning, he’s enjoying “smelling himself and thinking about the 2024 Presidential primary.” ) Yes indeed—but not for long, since Jupiter starts retrograding this month and moves back into Aquarius in August.  

Have fun with this new moon this week – it’s a good one for making transitions.  And—Mercury retrograde will end, on June 22 as a matter of fact.

June’s Important Dates (times are EDT) 

June 10   654 am      New moon and annular solar eclipse at 19’47 Gemini    Let go and move on

June 13 -17   Saturn Uranus square is exact                           Expect the unexpected!   

June 20          1133 pm             Sun enters Cancer. Summer Solstice!                         Happy Summer  

June 22            601 pm            Mercury turns direct at 16’09 Gemini                  Enjoy clearer communication and restore your hard drive                

June 24           221 pm                Full moon at 3’28 Capricorn                Set some priorities and make some plans!

__________________________

 

May 2 2021

May continues the Saturn-Uranus push-and-pull of change vs retrenchment, interesting Jupiter action… and Mercury retrograde!

This pesky Saturn-Uranus square — which continues to be dominant this month– is very interesting, to say the least!  As The New Yorker wrote this week after Pres. Biden’s speech to Congress, he was channelling Elizabeth Warren in his proposals to re-shape the economic and social contract in the US.   Who woulda thunk it? 

As I wrote last month, whatever one thinks of Joe Biden, his actions are quite the manifestation of this Saturn-Uranus angle.  Study him, and we get a sense of the visionary, progressive potential that these planets are offering us. Study the Republicans, and we can understand the other side of this aspect — the polarizing, dig -your-heels into preserving the past, in this case, the Confederacy and Jim Crow.  It is head-spinning. 

For the first few days of this month, the Sun meets up with Uranus in Taurus and they both square Saturn. This makes the Saturn-Uranus effect very strong.  Are we getting through this pandemic? Maybe, just maybe…. and then India and Brazil’s numbers skyrocket.  The Uranus effect makes for a kind of whiplash.  George Floyd’s murderer is convicted, but not a day goes by it seems when another Black or Brown person is shot dead by police.  We flip between poles of.. are things getting better, or….?  Climate change is being taken more seriously…. ah yes,  wildfires have already started in New Mexico and Arizona. 

This Sagittarian maintains hope.  There is always effective organizing going on, and the organizing of the last number of years has had an impact on everything from the Biden Administration’s plans to the jury’s decision to bring justice for George Floyd. 

The good news is that Jupiter gets into the mix this month in some interesting ways.  Jupiter enters Pisces on the 13th for a few months before it heads back into Aquarius in July. Jupiter is a complex symbol, having to do with expansion and a sense of trust in the universe (As the ruling planet of Sagittarius, it is what makes us Sagittarians so damn optimistic.) It is not just about “luck” but about the turning of the wheel of fate, with life cycle changes  that can be good or bad.  It is an expansive energy, and its entry into Pisces will augment that. By May 18th the Sun in late Taurus begins a few days of a 90-degree angle to Jupiter.  This should mellow out the dramatics of Saturn and Uranus a bit, and highlight issues of completion and fulfillment for us all. 

Once the Sun enters Gemini on the 20th, this angle is exact, so it will be very powerful for a few days.  And as it happens, it occurs in the run-up to the Sagittarius full moon and lunar eclipse on the 26th.  Full moons intensify and illuminate, and the eclipse gives it an extra punch, and this will be a particularly powerful one because of Jupiter’s position and because Venus and Mercury in Gemini make an angle to Neptune.  Expect drama, big feelings, big desires, big opinions. The key word here is big. (The eclipse is only partially visible on the East Coast but is visible in parts of western US and westward to Australia and parts of Asia. )

And on May 29th Mercury goes retrograde until June 22nd. It is retrograding in its own sign of Gemini, making Gemini’s linear process go belly up.  You know what that means — expect technology problems, appointment and time mixups, travel issues. On the positive note, trust your intuition and what information bubbles up from your unconscious…  Have fun with that! 

 May’s important dates (times EDT)

May 11         3:01 pm    New moon at 21’18 Taurus 

Get out in the garden!  Plant something! Make something!

May 20       3:36 pm   Sun enters Gemini

May 26       7:15 am   Full moon at  5’26 Sagittarius. Eclipse totality at 7:20 am.

Be excessive!  Go big or go home!

May 29       6:35 pm     Mercury goes retrograde at 24’41 Pisces

Go with the flow, but try to keep track of your stuff since things may go missing!

______________

April 1 2021

April brings a long Mars-Neptune aspect and Saturn and Uranus continue to do their terrifying and beautiful thing…. The Pluto return of the US is in full swing…

And why aren’t things better if the Sun and Venus are moving in tandem?

I have a lot to say this month.  I have been analyzing the planets to see what is up with these mass shootings, with the terrible uptick in anti-Asian violence, Georgia’s passage of Jim Crow voting restrictions, etc, especially against the backdrop of the Sun -Venus conjunction which is in its 2nd week.  I think of Sun-Venus aspects as being very positive and indicating a strong sense of connection and interrelatedness, and so it has been hard to figure out.  Is all the violence a manifestation of the bellicose side of Aries? That feels too simplistic.  

Taking a step back, here is what I found:  the Saturn-Uranus square—although visionary in many ways—can be a violent clash of ideas and structures.  Keep in mind that right now, there are volcanoes erupting all over the world – from Italy (Mt Etna, no less!) to Japan to Iceland to Peru, and in many more places.  Volcanic eruptions are fiery and violent. Uranus is in Taurus, and as it approaches the earth axis in the next few months and continues its square to Saturn, we are likely to see more earth and climate events. 

That so many people are acting so badly right now is nothing new.  And of course, Pluto, at 26 degrees Capricorn, is just a degree away from where it is located in the birth chart of the US. I have been talking about this Pluto return for a while, because it is letting the demons out of our collective psyche.  We should not be surprised by new and awful expressions of racist violence occurring, in light of the US’s long history of oppression of Asian immigrants (remember the internment camps during World War II? —  to name just one way anti-Asian sentiment has long been imbedded in the structures and attitudes of our society…) Similarly we should not be surprised by the brazen attack on the US Capitol on January 6th by white supremacists.   This is our shadow side as a nation, and Pluto is making it obvious.  Things in this regard will get worse before they get better, and I believe they will get better and that we will face our shadow.  

What is new – and this is the Sun-Venus part–  is the response to all these things.  Venus, after all, does have to do with women, and with relatedness.  In regard to the terrible Atlanta shooting, our response forced us to look at the intersections between racism and misogyny.  Those two things were actually named and discussed in the mainstream media.  In England, after the abduction and murder of a young woman walking home at night, women all over England rose up in protest.  Women are on the frontlines of the resistance in Myanmar. 

So the Sun and Venus are bringing a different consciousness and response to the normal litany of awful events.  The response to the repressive voter suppression enacted by the Georgia legislature has sparked a cascade of criticism – over 70 African American corporate leaders joined together to condemn the bill, and what do you know, Delta Airlines and Coca Cola had to step up. 

Joe Biden and the Saturn-Uranus square

Then there is Joe Biden, who is moving forward with plans that are much more progressive than many expected.  The Saturn Uranus square falls exactly on his Mars.  He’s just doing it, taking action after action, rolling out plans to address child poverty, racial justice, climate change—whether the Republican senators are on board or not. Yesterday his presentation of an infrastructure plan reflected values of people over profit. He talked about workers and workers rights – not only Amazon workers but women of color who work in home care.

Damn! What’s up with this guy? I’m not saying he is perfect but the  Sun-Venus conjunction in his chart grounds him strongly in his values. 

If you want to understand the Saturn and Uranus square, look at what he and his administration are trying to do.  It is  is one manifestation of this square, especially the Uranus in Taurus part, which has everything to do with money and economics.  He is trying to dismantle the Trump tax cuts and attempt to hold corporations accountable, as well as create union jobs.  Clearly there is some serious vision behind this plan, which is exactly what we can get from Saturn and Uranus: big progressive vision and restructuring.   In his rollout yesterday, he said – and I paraphrase– that 50 years from now, people will look back at this moment and say this is when America’s future began.  That is Uranus talking—looking ahead, not back!

The US Senate?

The other side of the square is Saturn, of course, which does look back and often wants to hang onto the structures of the past.  Although there is plenty of Saturnian concreteness in

Biden’s proposals – and plenty of lessons learned from the Obama administration —  the way Republicans are digging their heels in to obstruct the Democratic agenda reeks of Saturn -Uranus polarization.  The Republicans are also aligning themselves with the most overtly racist parts of their so-called base, in quite a squaring off against moderates in their own party.  They are reaching way back, to Saturnian structures from the Confederacy.

The month ahead:  Mars squares Neptune for 10 days!

What a powerful and weird aspect. It is like having a fire hose that spreads Neptunian energy around with a lot of force. Mars is in Gemini, and so its mode is ideas and communication.  This will be a time of Biden and the democrats needing to convince as many people as possible about the values of the infrastructure plan.  Mars and Neptune can also have to do with deception, so the disinformation campaign run by corporations and others will be intense.  Jupiter in Aquarius will make a nice angle to Biden’s Sun-Venus during the second half of April.  Hopefully it signifies fulfillment.

Unfortunately the Mars-Neptune angle could also portend a surge in Covid infections. Mars and Neptune sounds like a superspreader event to me…Let’s hope I’m wrong. 

April’s important  astrological dates (all times EDT)

April 4         Mars square to Neptune begins           Recommit to yoga or another healing physical practice!

April 11   1032 pm    New moon at 22’25 Aries        Reevaluate your commitments of time, emotion, and resources

April 19   4:35 pm      Sun enters Taurus

April 22     Happy Earth Day!       Venus is conjunct Uranus and squares Saturn!   Restructure your life!

April 26    11:33 pm      Full moon at  7’06 Scorpio       Hang out, conversate, be convivial.

 

March 4 2021

March begins and ends with juicy aspects – ideas and communication at the start, and a gorgeous Sun Venus conjunction at the end. Bring on the love. 

March is an interesting month.   It begins with Mercury and Jupiter paired up in Aquarius. That’s all about conviviality and the exchange of ideas with some Aquarian dogmatism thrown in…

But Saturn and Uranus still have us rockin and rollin…

And the Saturn-Uranus square continues to be the dominant influence this month. Now that we are two months into it, it is easier to see its complexity. 

Remember that it is fundamentally about a struggle between old and new, and it has the potential for visionary change, for breakdown, and for rebuilding and restructuring with Aquarian humanitarian values.  It is a very structural aspect, having to do with the structures of society and of the earth itself.  It has an edgy, dramatic quality, and we don’t know whether to feel good or bad about the state of the world.  Saturn and Uranus also has a polarizing, dogmatic, and repressive side (to wit, the Republican Party’s  allegiance to white supremacists, and the state repression in Myanmar.)  Uranus is in Taurus, the quintessential earth sign, and Saturn is in Aquarius, a fixed air sign, as I have written about over the past couple of months.

Our most recent poster child for Saturn and Uranus ….

…would be the events in Texas.   I had long expected that Saturn and Uranus would bring dramatic climate events, but what we have seen in Texas is climate change in combination with a collapsed infrastructure as a result of  petrocapitalism.   As Saturn and Uranus approach the earth axis this spring and summer, there will be more of this – more climate events with dramatic and drastic structural consequences, and confrontations with the sheer inhumanity of our economic arrangement.  

Sorry, folks. And just today, two huge earthquakes (8-pointers!) occurred off of the New Zealand coast, with threats of tsunamis in the Pacific.   This, too, is a reflection of Saturn and Uranus.

But the last 10 days of March bring a beautiful Sun-Venus conjunction.  The Sun and Venus are close together on the Equinox (happy spring!) when they cross over the earth axis, the axis created by the equinox and solstice points.  Jeez—maybe world peace breaks out!   The Sun and Venus move together throughout the rest of the month, putting the focus on opening our hearts.

Important dates in March

March 13   5 22 am        New moon @ 23’04  Pisces.   Invite in Neptune’s inspiration!

March 14    Daylight savings time begins 

March 19    Sun -Venus conjunction begins @ 28’00  Pisces         

March  20    539 am       Spring Equinox!   Sun enters Aries!     Happy Spring!

March 21    10 17 am    Venus enters Aries      Sun and Venus cross the earth axis!  Celebrate world peace and justice!

March 28   10 49 am   Full moon @ 8’18 Libra        Tell your peeps you love them!

February 1 2021

Mercury is retrograde, and the Saturn-Uranus square is upon us!  And so many planets in Aquarius!

February is interesting, with the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn all in Aquarius.  Uranus, Aquarius’ ruling planet is a big actor right now, so chefs, we have prepared the Aquarian effect two ways for you this month.   What does that mean?  It puts the focus on vision, on the future, on concern for the collective– and on ideology.  As I have written before, Aquarius has to do with a sense of belonging to the largest collective possible, or isolation from it.  It makes sense astrologically that the pandemic restrictions are forcing a kind of isolation and also facilitating creative ways for people to be in relationship with each other. 

Uranus, the ultimate change agent, can also be a force of polarization. It is the planet of reversal, and we can see this playing out in the public sphere.  The Saturn-Uranus square, which will be in effect throughout the spring, is tight this month, and is already positing the forces of innovation against those of the status quo. It can feel like three steps forward and two steps back, but it is really a wrestling match between visionary progressive change and holding onto the old ways.  In the case of the US, the old ways are white supremacy, and with a particularly Aquarian twist the white supremacists see themselves as the revolutionaries.  President Biden, the ultimate old guard politician, is putting forth holistic plans that integrate racial justice and climate justice. Uranus has certainly turned things on their heads.

We need to get used to this creative tension between old and new. It is a process! 

But let’s talk about Mitch McConnell!  He is a February 20^th Pisces, with many planets in fixed signs of Aquarius and Taurus, which means he’s getting buffeted by the Saturn Uranus changes.  In his birth chart, he has a Mars-Saturn conjunction in Taurus, the ultimate hardball combination. The Mars Saturn conjunction gives him his terrifyingly Machiavellian strategic ability.  He also has Venus retrograde in Aquarius opposite Pluto – he maneuvers and protects his values in a stealthy way. Right now, Saturn and Uranus are on top of his Venus-Pluto angle.  He’s in a pitched battle about values, about  the direction of the republican party, and trying to figure out how to hold onto his power.  By the fall, Saturn alone—without Uranus—will move across his Mercury and Venus in Aquarius. He will have a tough time this year.

Mercury is retrograde til the 20^th, so you know what to do.  Be guided by your intuition and go with the flow.  On February 8^th it crosses paths with the Sun for a couple of days, coinciding with the start of the impeachment trial in the Senate.  There will be manipulations and revelations.  The other day to watch for unexpected information coming to light is the 14^th when Mercury retrograde meets up with Jupiter.   

Today and tomorrow mark an important celebration in the pre-Christian old European calendar.  It is the celebration of fire, poetry, and healing, Feile Bride, named for the fire goddess Brigid in Ireland. 

Bring on the healing and inspiration!   

February’s important dates (EST):

February  1       907 am         Venus enters Aquarius             

Have some fun!

February 8 -9                          Mercury retrograde conjunct the Sun @ 20 degrees Aquarius           

Let the surprises unfold !            

February 11     207 pm         New moon @ 23’17 Aquarius      

Envision a new world and celebrate relationships!

February 14                            Mercury retrograde lines up with Jupiter     It will be a very retrograde day!

February 18    645 am          Sun enters Pisces  

February  20   853 pm         Mercury goes direct @ 11’05 Aquarius  

February 27  318 am            Full moon @ 8’57 Virgo    Make some art, redecorate. 

____________________________________________________________

January 3 2021

Happy New Year!  2021 is a year of Saturn-Uranus reform and revolution.  January brings the first taste of it… and Mercury turns retrograde on January 30^th!

Here we are—we got through 2020, somehow.  The weight and angst of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction is truly behind us.  Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius are very future-oriented, and suddenly we can look ahead.  So let’s take a sneak peek at 2021.  No major retrogrades, except for the usual Mercury retrograde stretches, this year starting on January 30^th, May 29^th, and  September 27^th.   Venus turns retrograde in Capricorn on December 19, 2021, but that’s a long ways away.

The dominant aspect of 2021 is an important 90-degree angle between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus. We get the first taste of it this month, in late January, and the two planets pretty much spend the next 6 or 7 months in a very close angle until they separate in August and don’t come back into aspect til December.  Keep in mind that Saturn and Uranus have a relationship of their own, and that before Uranus was discovered, Saturn was said to rule Aquarius.  Saturn represents the structures we create in our lives and in society.  Uranus is a “transpersonal” planet that rules Aquarius, and its energy is in our unconscious as well as out there in the universe.

Uranus has to do with innovation, with busting through boundaries, transcending structures.   Uranus is the lightning bolt of insight and vision, and it is also the unexpected, the surprise.  Uranus shakes things up; Saturn conserves and protects.  Together, they have to do with a tension between conventionality and more radical expressions.   They can connote taking the best of the past and moving into the future with that sensibility.  They can also signify a conflict between those positions.  Uranus is in Taurus, making it more grounded. Saturn in Aquarius is more visionary, and believe it or not, a bit more able to take risks than it has been in Capricorn.   Saturn and Uranus feel a call of responsibility to the collective, to society at large.  This aspect will certainly bring significant technological and ecological advances.

We are obviously in a world that has been devastated by the pandemic, by climate collapse,  and also by right wing leaders and their social/economic policies.  It is time to rebuild.  The Saturn Uranus aspect promotes re-building, re-forming, re-envisioning.  We will all be pushed by events that appear out of our control—especially as Saturn and Uranus approach the earth axis in June and July.   I suspect with Uranus in Taurus that those unexpected events will have to do with climate catastrophe and also with economic crisis.  Events will push us collectively to embrace new ways of doing things.  We will have no choice. 

As for January—we will have to weather some more shenanigans.  Mercury transiting Pluto on January 6^th will bring out the bad boys of Congress trying to challenge the certification of the US Election.  The week of the Inauguration there very well could be organized white supremacist violence – Mars is conjunct Uranus that week, and the US still is in its Pluto return, after all, during which the core wounds of racism and settler colonialism must be dealt with.  And we are far from being done with that.  But the Jupiter Saturn aspects will still deliver us a new government.  You can see how the Biden-Harris Administration is the very embodiment of Saturn and Uranus!

This Aquarian energy – both Saturn and Jupiter this month and the Saturn-Uranus square of the spring – is very forward looking. It is about the future, shaking us out of our attachments to structures of the past.  It will play out personally as well collectively.  Speaking of the personal:  it has been a long time since we have had major planets moving though fixed signs.   For all of you out there who are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius – or for that matter, any of us with significant planets in those signs—we will experience transits by Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus this year. That is a lot of change, so heads up!

January’s significant dates

January 13    12:01 am         New moon at 23’13 Capricorn—conjunct Pluto     Plan, plan, plan

January 19      3:41 pm         Sun enters Aquarius  —                                              Have a virtual party!

January 28     2:17 pm         Full moon @9’06 Leo  — with Jupiter!              Embrace the new !

January 30    10:53 am        Mercury goes retrograde @ 26’27 Aquarius     Back up that hard drive!

________________________________

December 2 2020

 Saturn and Jupiter join together and enter Aquarius, ushering in an era of social responsibility. They make a once -in- 800 -year appearance doubled up in the sky!

Yes!  Finally some good news.  Can you feel it?  Jupiter is moving closer to Saturn and away from Pluto.  There is more of a sense of certainty, stability.  We are still in a massive crisis, but now we know, among other things, that soon grown-ups will be in charge.

So Saturn and Jupiter.  Saturn is material reality, structure, form—literally, our bones. Jupiter is our belief systems, how and if we perceive  a fabric of purpose and meaning in our lives and in the universe.  Saturn and Jupiter are mid-distance planets, planets that aren’t the “personal” expressions of individual personality the way that Mercury, Venus and Mars are; nor are they transpersonal unconscious forces like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.  Jupiter and Saturn are in the middle, in between the personal planets and the transpersonal ones, and besides representing our individual relationship to structure and form, and faith and fate, they also manifest in the structures that we humans create in  our society: institutions, government, economy, religion, the law.

They come together (in a conjunction) once every 20 years.  When they join up there are always impacts on the societal structures and institutions.  There are very close right now and are at the tail end of Capricorn, where they have been along with Pluto  for a good few years.  Capricorn is an earth sign, and as such, it involves the material plane. Capricorn, like all the earth signs, has to do with our bodies, with this planet Earth we live on, with what we do in our work, what we build with our hands, what we create as a society. Of all the earth signs, Capricorn’s realm is how we manifest ourselves and our destiny in the world around us, usually through work and career.  So you can see that with all the planetary movement in Capricorn over the past few years by planets that are structural and societal  in nature (Jupiter and Saturn) and transformational (Pluto), it has been an incredibly stressful period in which these planetary energies have played themselves out through the structures of government, politics, social institutions, and  on the earth itself.

Saturn and Jupiter always signify profound changes in systems, and in Capricorn right now, it is about governing, the presidential transition, the economy, leadership and planning.  Saturn and Jupiter have very different energies astrologically, and together, they form an interesting balance , with Saturn moderating Jupiter’s excess, and Jupiter softening Saturn’s hard edges.  I like it as a combination – it can bring really seasoned leadership. long range vision, and the positive wisdom one gains from age and experience.

The move into Aquarius is significant, because it marks the start of a 200 year period of the Saturn-Jupiter conjunctions occurring in air signs.  We are leaving the earth cycle and moving into the air cycle. It takes 800 years for Saturn and Jupiter conjunctions to move through all four elements of the zodiac.   It means that we are moving from a focus on the material to potentially a focus on consciousness,  vision, ideals, and connections. Some astrologers think this portends the end of capitalism, the end of an era that began with the industrial revolution.

Aquarius is the “water bearer” constellation – confusing, I know. Didn’t I just say it was an air sign? It is an air sign, communicating, transmitting, and  carrying the water principle to humanity. The water principle is interrelationship and connection, “substance of we feeling”.   Aquarius is the second to last sign, and the last three signs (Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces) all have to do with the collective.  Aquarius is the most oriented to the larger collective of the three air signs Gemini, Libra and Aquarius.  The air signs also have to do with belonging – where are my people?  It is interesting that these two planets enter Aquarius in a time of great social isolation because of the pandemic.

Saturn moves into Aquarius on the 17^th  and Jupiter on the 19^th.  By the 21^st they are so astronomically close that they appear to be one single bright planet in the sky before sunset!  People speculate that this same phenomenon was the star of Bethlehem that drew the Magi. Better go outside and look at the night sky!  The entry of Saturn and Jupiter into Aquarius signifies a new age, an age of infusing Aquarian humanitarian values into structures and systems.  Could it be the famed Age of Aquarius? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSr9BbhoJQ  What a thought!

Not to get all religious on you – and those of you that know me know I am no fan of organized religion—but if we look back 800 years, Francis of Assisi was reforming the corrupt Catholic church. He was devoted to the poor and he talked to birds.  You gotta love a guy in a dress who talks to animals!   And speaking of Francis, the current Pope Francis just published an op-ed in the New York Times  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/opinion/pope-francis-covid.html?searchResultPosition=1  in which he wrote:

“We cannot return to the false securities of the political and economic systems we had before the crisis. We need economies that give to all access to the fruits of creation, to the basic needs of life: to land, lodging and labor. We need a politics that can integrate and dialogue with the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable, that gives people a say in the decisions that affect their lives. We need to slow down, take stock and design better ways of living together on this earth… To come out of this crisis better, we have to recover the knowledge that as a people we have a shared destination. The pandemic has reminded us that no one is saved alone. What ties us to one another is what we commonly call solidarity. Solidarity is more than acts of generosity, important as they are; it is the call to embrace the reality that we are bound by bonds of reciprocity. On this solid foundation we can build a better, different, human future. “

This is the opportunity that Saturn and Jupiter entering Aquarius offers us, to build social structures that reflect these values, to “be bound by bonds of reciprocity.”   The Winter Solstice is  December 21^st, when the Sun enters Capricorn.  This is the New Year in the indigenous pre- Catholic old European calendar, celebrating the Return of the Sun, the Return of the light.

I plan on celebrating the longest night of the year with light and song and noise—what about you?

And what about this Sagittarian new moon and eclipse on December 14^th, the day of the Electoral College vote?!

It is very interesting!   First of all, it is the day that Mars makes a particular angle to the Sun after its retrograde, signifying resolution of what went on during the recent  Mars retrograde from September through mid-November.  Hmm…

Secondly, it is a new moon, signifying potentiality and new beginnings, and the eclipse factor makes it very intense.  It falls exactly opposite Donald Trump’s Gemini Sun, and in the same spot as his Sagittarian moon. It falls at the same degree of the Full moon and lunar eclipse he was born under, in fact, in some strange bit of astrological karma…

He’s done.   That’s’s all I have to say.  He’ll spin a bunch of lies on December 14^th with the help of Mercury and Neptune, but so what.

The more important thing about this new moon and eclipse is that it is really powerful for healing. Healing all of our souls, hearts,  bodies, and the planet itself. 

December’s Important Dates (EST)

December 14th        118 pm          New moon and eclipse at 23’08 Sagittarius       Pray for peace, for healing!

December 17^th         105 am          Saturn enters Aquarius                                          Sigh of relief!

December 19^th          805 am        Jupiter enters Aquarius                                          woo hoo! Have a party!

December 21            503 am         Winter Solstice – Sun enters  Capricorn                  Celebrate the return of the light!                                                                                       Go outside and honor Saturn and Jupiter

December 29          1029 pm       Full moon @ 8’53 Cancer                                         have a good cry; grieve our losses, and celebrate life

  Stay healthy and safe and enjoy the holiday season!

November 1 2020

Change is coming, I swear. In fact, change has been happening.  Pluto has showed its heart center and people have been rising up .. .for months! 

In November Mars and Mercury go direct. Saturn and Jupiter start their conjunction and usher in grounded leadership.

Let me cut to the chase. This is a rough time and we are all crazed in the run up to the election.  The question isn’t so much who will win the election but what will 45 do when he loses?

I am being unusually succinct this month – in part because I’m doing voter protection work in Ohio and that is my focus.

Here is the deal: 

We will remain anxious and wigged out through election day, despite the signs pointing to Biden’s win, because we know we are still living through multiple  disasters.  Mercury turns direct on November 3^rd, bringing some clarity.  Saturn and Mercury will clarify and hopefully speed the ballot counting. Mars turns direct November 13^th. Although it remains almost stationary for the rest of the month, but at least it aint moving backwards. With Mercury and Mars moving direct, there will be less uncertainty, less unpredictability.  Will there be crap happening? Yes. Might there be violence?  Yes, very likely.  Will it backfire?  Yes.  First Mars retrograde and then Mars direct are parked in an angle to Trump’s Neptune—people are just done with him and his compulsive mendaciousness and narcissism.

The Sun in Sagittarius and Mars in Aries make a nice angle on December 14^th, the day of the Electoral College vote.  This is a a significant day in the Mars cycle that brings resolution to what occurred during Mars retrograde:  the disasters of self-aggrandizement on display from September through Nov 13.

Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn dominate the first three weeks of November and Jupiter and Saturn start their conjunction  at the end.  Jupiter and Pluto make the reality of the pandemic unavoidable, and they help us plan for sustainability. Venus is also in the mix, lifting up a sense of community responsibility.  Jupiter and Saturn bring sensible leadership and a feeling of groundedness and stability. And dare I say It?  Maybe even wisdom.

The most interesting part of the month is that towards the end of November we get an emphasis of  future-oriented transits.  Venus opposes Uranus; Jupiter conjuncts Saturn, a Gemini full moon.

Another world is possible.  Bring it on!

 

November’s Important Dates:

November 1         Honor the ancestors! They are working double time on our behalf!

November 3^rd        Election day!   Mercury turns direct    1251 pm EST   @25’57 Libra    VOTE! 

November 13^th  Mars turns direct   737 pm  EST   @15’14 Aries   …      Woo hoo!  I think we will want to celebrate

November 15    New moon      12 08 pm    EST    @23’18 Scorpio …   Meditate, plan for sustainability and community mutual aid!

November 21   Sun enters Sagittarius    341 pm EST

November 30   Full moon and annular eclipse     431 am       @ 8’38 Gemini …  Talk and envision the future!

October 2 2020

October: two full moons, Mercury retrograde, Mars retrograde, and lots of dramatic dynamics.

Sigh.  This is the kind of month that makes me dislike being an astrologer… The pressure!  How the hell am I supposed to interpret what is going on?!   Let me just say that I am walking a fine line between Sagittarian optimism and Scorpionic doom on a daily basis. So I am going to try to thread the needle here between both of those states.  Here goes.

I wrote in my last post that this fall was going to be rough, between Mars retrograde and the last blast of the Saturn-Pluto conjunction.  Over the past couple of weeks we have been feeling increasing angst – the fires, hurricanes, and increasingly despotic and racist behavior from Trump and his cronies.   Many of us are on edge – scared of white supremacist violence, scared of unparalleled interference with the elections, scared that Trump won’t leave office.  It is all terrifying.  This really is the final swipe of the Saturn -Pluto conjunction, which is all about repression and breakdown of systems, and also about revealing the best and the worst of human behavior. 

The Mars retrograde effect surfaces a kind of helplessness. I had this image the other day:  we are all in a river being pulled along by the current.  We can all hear the waterfall ahead and can’t do a damn thing but keep heading for it.  We don’t know if that waterfall brings liberation or disaster, or perhaps both. I’m banking on liberation. 

So—October.  Mercury turns retrograde  on the 13^th . Mercury is in Scorpio, and Scorpio is conducive to the non-linear intuition of Merc retrograde. There is a lot that is usually hidden in Scorpio, so the retrograde is going to reveal a lot of dirt.   With Mars also retrograde, the two planets retrograde will bring more uncertainty, more unexpected events.

Then it gets very interesting – and trigger warning—  somewhat scary.  On the 14^th the Sun in Libra opposes Mars retrograde, which is a pivotal point in the Mars cycle. There is typically a release of energy. Things that have been stuck or just under the surface since the start of Mars retrograde tend to come out.  This time, I hate to say it, they will come out explosively – Jupiter and Uranus are in this aspect, as is a planet we use in the Uranian system called Zeus.  Zeus has to do with fire and explosions. So not only will we see a release of energy but a massive release of fiery explosive energy.  Hmm.  People who live in the fire zone, pay attention! My other thought is …umm.. you know… white supremacists…Proud Boys… etc —I really hope I am wrong about this.  But the other side of this turning point is that people speak truth to power, and quite simply reach a breaking point of No, we are not going to take this anymore.

So whatever happens, there will be massive resistance for the rest of the Mars retrograde.  After all, Mars retrograde can bring revolution.

Other Mars retrograde dynamics in play in the body politic:

I mentioned last month that Trump is having a difficult run of Mars retrograde.  It is moving through the 8^th house of his birth chart, and in traditional astrology that is the house of life and death crises, and, quite amazingly, of taxes. It is about things coming due, legacy, what we inherit.  Things are catching up with him. 

Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s hearings begin in the Senate on October 15.  If we read these planetary angles as a “bombshell” of information rather than an armed insurrection, then it’s very possible that something comes out about her that causes her nomination to fail (I know, hope springs eternal!). Since she has Mars in Aries in her chart and Mars retrograde in the sky will be exactly on top of her Mars that week, perhaps she will decide to throw in the towel in some Mars retrograde realization that she doesn’t really want this job….  Perhaps she will decide it’s not for her, and she’d rather be a stay at home mom.

In addition, October 16 brings a Libra new moon with Saturn and Pluto influences.  It is going to be a tough week in a tough month.  Sorry, folks.

Yet— we cannot lose hope. There is so much happening that is so unexpected, and not every reversal is a bad thing.  Mars retrograde, Mercury retrograde, Jupiter and Uranus all bring lots of change. So even while we are feeling put through the meat grinder of Saturn and Pluto, as Leonard Cohen wrote in his song Anthem: 

Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That’s how the light gets in…

That is how the light gets in.  Saturn and Pluto are showing us exactly how broken we are, and yes, it’s scary and awful—and yet necessary. We need those cracks!!   Stay strong, stay calm, pray a lot, don’t mourn but organize, and vote vote vote. 

October’s important dates and how to deal with them! 

October 1        5:06 pm EDT     Full moon @ 9’08 Aries   This full moon is exposing arrogance and self-aggrandizing behavior. Mars retrograde is allowing us to be horrified by it. We are not numb!

October 13      9:06 pm EDT    Mercury turns retrograde @ 11’40 Scorpio   Work your intuition and pay attention to dreams.  Expect revelations.

October 14      Sun opposes Mars retrograde @ 21’ Libra       Put on your seatbelt and pray for peace with justice!

October 16      3:32 pm   New moon @  23’53 Libra     You know what you have to do!  Stay calm, make plans to support free and fair elections, vote early if you can, stand up for racial justice!

October 22      7:01 pm   Sun enters Scorpio 

October 31    10:50 am   Full Moon @ 8’38 Taurus         Happy Halloween!  Make sure to give food to your ancestors. They are working overtime for us! 

 

Stay healthy, safe, strong and sane!

Change is coming…more on that in my November column.

______________________________________________

September 2 2020

Just when we thought things couldn’t be crazier….  We get Mars retrograde and Saturn-Pluto redux this month! 

Oh yes, September is a fun one, the kind of month that I have been nervous to write about. How can a girl possibly make sense of these dynamics?!

So, first, Mars.   

 

Mars turns retrograde on September 9^th – and stays that way til November 15^th, for god’s sake.  (Yes, that means it will be retrograde for the US election…) This is a long transit that only occurs every 2 years or so, and therefore we are really not used to it.  Mars has a large sphere of action – the primary one being action itself: movement forward, the will, plans, goals, work, and yes, there can be some aggressiveness thrown in.  Mars is the planet that rules Aries, and it happens to be in Aries right now, and will spend its retrograde period in Aries.  Mars in Aries really embodies all that Mars is about –fiery impulsive action, leadership, decisiveness, inspiration, directness, forthrightness.

When Mars is retrograde, all that direct forward action gets a bit wonky, goes sideways.  Things that were moving full steam ahead take a detour or stop entirely.  Energy gets pulled away from externals and towards our internal state, draining right out of what we were focused on.  The key with Mars retrograde is to absolutely go with the flow of it, with where the energy is, as opposed to where it isn’t. No forcing things!   As with any retrograde personal planet, self- reflection is required. 

With Mars retrograde in Aries, the reflection will be about the ethics of self-aggrandizement and the meaning of leadership, the obligation of the self to be in relationship to the collective. 

Mars retrograde can also surface struggles that have been brewing under the surface.  Mid way through Mars’ retrograde cycle (mid-October) – when the Sun opposes Mars retrograde — there can be a feeling of frustration, of I can’t take this anymore, I can’t bear the injustice.  The sense of being “in reaction to” people and to external forces for the first half of Mars retrograde shifts to more strategic action on the part of conscious people. For those ruled by impulse and chaos – that would be Donald Trump—the pull of chaos grows stronger and creates more turmoil.  Sigh. 

At this point in the cycle—and I will have more to say about this in my October column—there can be a deep challenge to the status quo.

Mars retrograde can bring surprises, shocks, upsets. This particular stretch of Mars retrograde is complicated by its triggering angles to the major planets retrograding in Capricorn right now: Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto.  Oy veh.  Mars spends the last half of September squaring Saturn and this aspect continues into October.

We are also getting the last taste of Saturn and Pluto being 3 degrees away from each other during September and October – so everyone’s sense of impending apocalypse is very heightened right now. 

But Mars retrograde in a 90 degree to angle to Saturn for 3 weeks?  I saw that coming and assumed it was another series of intense quarantines.  Given who has guns in this country and the increasing threat from armed white supremacist militias, it could be a rough few weeks of violence and repression.  I also think that Mars retrograde can be highly creative and open some new possibilities …and we never know what can happen. (Who would have thought professional ball players would strike and demand arenas be used for voting?)

So expect the unexpected!

Here are my projections – or fantasies – about what Mars retrograde could mean for our nation that is already in turmoil. 

Mars retrograde Fantasy #1—the military has to escort Trump out of office.

Mars retrograde Fantasy #2:  Trump gets too tired of his job because Mars retrograde is wreaking havoc in his chart, and he gives it up.

Mars retrograde Fantasy #3:  Massive strikes occur in the US for housing, income, food, racial justice.  Teacher strikes, sports strikes, general strikes.

Mars retrograde Necessity #4:  We all drop everything and do get out the vote.

By the time of my October column Mars retrograde’s impact will be a bit clearer than it is now.  And then there is November.  You don’t need an astrologer to know the US elections will be a mess. Mercury will be turning from retrograde to direct on Election Day.  The last time Mercury and Mars were retrograde on Election Day was the year 2000—recounts, hanging chads, and the Supreme Court decided the election.

This year we will be in the streets!! 

I am heartened by the fact that Mars retrograde does rip through Trump’s chart like a velociraptor, while its transit through Biden’s is more consonant with Mars’ action in the US’s chart. The US — with its July 4th Cancer birthday– wants a Good Dad – in that Cancerian kinda way. And Kamala Harris gets the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of November/December moving right across her Libra Sun.  I think that’s a good sign…. Just sayin. 

Stay strong, stay safe, stay healthy, stay sane, stay hopeful.

September’s important Dates—and how to cope

September 2       1:23 am       Full moon @ 10’12 Pisces             Keep the Kleenex handy!

September 9       6:24 pm        Mars goes retrograde @ 28’06 Aries         Seriously:  go with the flow!

September 17       7:01 am    New moon @ 25’01  Virgo

      Can some tomato sauce; make a quilt; make food deliveries to your neighbors!!

September 22       9:32 am    Fall Equinox – Sun enters Libra!

       Mercury Mars and Saturn sure  can make us cranky; take a cooling rejuvenating bath with basil and mint!