Full Moon Eclipse in Libra / Uranus square Pluto / Cardinal Grand Cross

(by Ivan Bilibin)

This full moon is exact at 25 degrees Libra on the 15th April, around 8:45 am GMT.  It's conjunct the north node in Libra which means it is an eclipse.

Eclipses make for supercharged lunations, and this one is on steroids. Real intense. Very fitting, as it ushers in the latter half of April – a time of intense, unpredictable, radical change. Very exciting!

I am all for this. I am ready to see and be some change, dammit.

That said, this stuff is unpredictable and potentially very hard. You want to make an omlette, unfortunately you have to break some eggs...well there are going to be eggshells everywhere and we may be walking on them.

The drama starts in the late afternoon on Monday the 14th, the day before the eclipse. The moon (emotions, the public) will conjunct Mars (war, aggression) in Libra, becoming part of the grand cross that is currently tightening in the cardinal signs. A few hours later, Mercury (mind, communications) conjuncts Uranus (shock) in fiery Aries, opposing the moon and Mars, and squaring Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter in Cancer.

This is a very good set-up for emotionally intense, shocking news. Communication that creates trauma....or instigates war.

Be very careful what comes out of your mouth at this time, because you are never going to able to take it back. There is going to be such force and pent-up rage behind the words that they will really be able to wound. And with this kind of intensity at work, people are not going to be able to just brush off what you've said or forget it. Relationships are likely to be severed – and forever.

Maybe that's ok if you're absolutely sure you want them severed. There are clearly a lot of models of human relationship we've collectively outgrown, and we can't carry them with us. Some relational dynamics are so rotten they can't be maintained any longer - all you can do with them is torch them.

This energy is like a forest fire, and ultimately forest fires are regenerative: the rotten old deadwood has to be burnt away before something new can grow.

But please be absolutely sure that what you're verbally torching is something you really want gone from your life. And whatever you do, don't be the one to instigate a fight. With Mars retrograde, an aggressive stance toward others will come back to bite you in the ass later on.

Basically, use your words with extreme caution, keep calm, don't allow yourself to spout off in the heat of the moment. Be especially careful with family members. Schisms are likely, and they'll be hard (or impossible) to repair later.

Thankfully, despite all this intensity, there are some mediating influences coming from planets in the water signs. Jupiter in Cancer (generosity of feeling, big emotion) will be trining Venus, Neptune and Chiron in Pisces (boundless love, compassion, healing and forgiveness). Saturn in Scorpio (emotional containment and control) is involved as well.

What this gives you is a way of averting war. There is this big dreamy flow of universal hippie love shit available, and you can tap into that. Make love not war etc. You will really be backed up and aided by these skies if can transcend your own pettiness and aggravation...if you can forgive and be emotionally generous.

There is a danger of delusiveness and blurred boundaries involved here, so be careful. Forgiving someone privately in your heart for the wrong they've done you is an entirely different thing to staying in a situation where you're being treated as a doormat. Masochism isn't love; enabling isn't love. Sometimes the most loving and compassionate thing you can do for someone who is intent on treating you like crap is to part ways with them.

Keep in mind that these skies demand radical, abrupt change...and endings. Tuning out, floating along, maintaining a stagnant status quo, pretending things are lovely when they aren't, putting up some pretty new wallpaper in a house eaten by rot and termites...these are not real options and will not be supported. Changes coming out of deep internal, emotional necessity will be.

Late on the 14th, Pluto changes direction, entering a retrograde period that will last until late September. I think this kinda underscores the gravity of the situation. Transformative events are being set in motion now that can't be undone, and there's an internal reckoning involved here.

And then the next day, the 15th, we have the full moon eclipse. Full moons represent culminations and endings – full moon eclipses intensify that. The skies are really pounding home this theme of necessary change, endings, breaking with the past and with the old order. It's almost funny how clear and blatant it is. I really doubt you are going to be in the dark as to the kind of change demanded of you: these skies are not too subtle.

With three planets (Mars, Saturn and Pluto) retrograde in the sky during this eclipse, a lot of the change you experience may be internal. No less intense for that though! It's a great time to cut off old habits or behaviours. You really don't have to keep doing the same old stupid shit you've always done...and in fact you'd better not. It doesn't pay to resist this energy; that would be as stupid as trying to stand in the way of a wrecking ball. You have to try to work with it.

Because it is a wrecking ball all right: Uranus squares Pluto on the 21st of April, the 5th exact square in a 7-square series. The moon is involved, so you will likely be feeling this big volcanic internal shift. Change is not going to be a choice but an emotionally-driven necessity. It looks quite uncomfortable, and this discomfort is not some passing, ephemeral thing: it's deep. There is really no going back to how life used to be; we are stepping through a portal into a whole new landscape here.

Eye of Sauron portal!!! (Kidding.)

The next day, the 22nd of April, we have this amazing cardinal grand cross at 13 degrees Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn. Mars vs. Uranus vs. Pluto vs. Jupiter; so freaking intense. It holds this intensity till the 24th before loosening a bit, but we are looking at a cardinal grand cross into May.

An aside: a grand cross is a fairly rare formation. It's when planets in 4 signs of the same modality - cardinal, fixed or mutable - form a big X. It's inherently very tense and dynamic: these planetary alignments require adjustment and adaptation. As the cardinal signs initiate the seasons, the pressure for action and change represented by a cardinal grand cross is very intense - and the one we have going on now involves Uranus and Pluto, signifiers of profound change, to boot. This is really not the normal run of things...it's extraordinary.

So hokey. But yeah...we're going to Narnia!!!

What we are looking at in the second half of April, starting NOW, is a magical portal all right. It's easy to be terrified of this kind of intensity, but I can see it working out very well. It's beautiful. There is intense pressure for change, courtesy of the cardinal grand cross. There is great potential for trauma, shock, emotional upheaval, loss. And also great potential for compassion, forgiveness, healing, generosity, love...via a grand water trine that carries us through to June.

It's deep and bittersweet. You can't step through a magical portal without loss...you leave behind the world you knew, the safety of the familiar. Every birth involves a death as well.

But we're being guided all the way; don't forget it. Whenever things start to feel like too much, too out of control...you can let go and trust that the larger design will take care of itself. And align yourself with the forces of empathy, acceptance, kindness, gentleness...as much as you can, without letting yourself be taken advantage of. That's what will help amid all the chaos.

Ok, good luck! Let's see what happens.

Ps: here is a good way of using these energies. If there's gonna be war, hopefully it can be the dance-off kind.

New Moon in Aries

Ok, let's look at tomorrow's new moon - 30th March, around 7:30 pm GMT.

It's at 10 degrees Aries, conjunct rebel freak planet Uranus! Square Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter in Cancer! I feel like putting exclamation points on the end of every sentence, looking at this!


(DIE ANTWOORD BREAK!!!)

So fun, so freaking scary. That's what this feels like. Big jolt of freak energy, teetering on the brink of mayhem.

New moons are about beginnings, and a new moon in Aries is about the start of something big. Woo, here we go! Yippie ki yay motherfuckers, it's spring! And everything is just shooting up out of the ground like, aaaargh, let me loose!

Aries is a cardinal sign: cardinal fire. The cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn) initiate action, and as the first sign in the zodiac, Aries kicks off everything.

It's the moment of birth: the moment where the baby finds itself suddenly clear of the constriction and anonymity of the womb. What a shock! A riot of new sensations: strange air on your skin, strange blurred forms all around you as you open your eyes for the first time and let out your first big yell of individuality:

“Aaaargh, here I am!! I, MYSELF, ME!!!”

Aries is about newness, excitement, raw enthusiasm - a headlong urge to begin something new; to set a new story in motion.

Ok, but here is the hard part – because there has to be a hard part. Birth is always hard...but these times are especially fraught: nothing is uncomplicated or innocent here. The birth we are looking at is an especially difficult and dangerous one, and as to what is being born, who the hell knows?

It's alive! God help us.

The fact is, we are headed for some shock and awe starting mid-April, and this new moon is the herald. This is the kickoff, the jolt of lightning that rouses the monster.

“Frankenstein” actually fits the themes of the current cardinal t-square between Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter very well. We have a mad scientist (Uranus) creating life out of dead bodies (Pluto)...and his poor hideous creation wants nothing but affection, acceptance, family – Jupiter in Cancer themes. But his efforts to attain these things only lead to heartbreak and violence. Everyone he tries to love either runs away in terror or gets accidentally killed.

Well “Frankenstein” is the worst case scenario, I guess. Maybe we can re-write it though...if we're brave enough not to run in terror from our monsters. They only need a little kindness, a little acceptance.

This new moon is disposited by Mars in Libra, and Mars is currently retrograde and opposing the lunation. In non-astrologese, what this means is it's all about relationships.

Aries and Libra are opposite signs...Aries is about selfhood, pure and simple, uncomplicated by the demands of relationship. But Libra is all about relating, marrying, creating harmony between the self and others.

These two polarities require balancing here. Aries energy on its own can be self-involved, arrogant, blunt and crude.

(Aries cake)

Libra, on the other hand, can be too diplomatic, too people-pleasing, so concerned with social correctness and politeness that the imperatives of the individual self are lost.

Clearly, these signs have something to learn from each other. Libra needs a bit of the fire and self-determination of Aries, and Aries could use a dose of Libra's social finesse and concern for the other.

With both the north node (the direction of the whole story) and Aries' ruling planet Mars, in Libra, the demands of right relation take center stage at this new moon. What we are looking at are the difficulties of balancing the needs and desires of the self in relation to others – especially in close, one-on-one relationships like marriages or partnerships.

And it's a difficult balance. There is a lot of emotional intensity, ambivalence and blockage here...especially with Mars retrograde. Covert tactics, passive aggression, power plays. An underlying drive for freedom, escape, self-determination; vicious argument as a form of communication and exchange. Belligerent posturing, undercover maneuverings. A hopeful new order being manipulated into abusive relationship with a corrupt old one... a revolutionary impulse co-opted, sold out, betrayed.

Prague spring.

On a collective scale, we are seeing the public desire for change coming up against entrenched, rotten old power dynamics. It's fraught and explosive. And the same themes apply in personal relationships...

This is about not selling yourself short, not throwing yourself away in relationships that are manipulative or abusive. Standing your ground, standing up for your right to live by your own standards. And figuring out how to reconcile this fiery self-focus with relationship...How to be yourself, and free, in the context of a relationship.

There is a definite gender theme here. Libra's ruling planet, Venus, is in Aquarius, trining Mars in Libra. Women are the movers and shakers in balancing the relationship equation: they will be the ones demanding change, unwilling to conduct relationships via the old rules, willing to abruptly walk out on situations where their needs aren't being met. Firebrands!

(That's a quote from Lady Lazarus by Plath on her back.)

Men will be more likely to be struggling to maintain control in the context of stale old patriarchal power dynamics. They are going to have to learn to work with women, and within a radically new set of relationship rules. Not easy, but the trine between Venus and Mars means it's definitely do-able... and it's what both parties actually want, deep down. They want to relate, and they want change and freedom in the context of relation.

Something very helpful here: Mercury in Pisces is conjunct Chiron, trining Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Scorpio and sextiling Pluto. What this means is resolution of these issues is available via communication. And it's a very specific type of communication: intuitive, compassionate, profound, emotional.

The speaking of old hurts and grievances in a way that does not accuse or lay blame on the other. And also nonverbal communication: music, art, poetry, gestures of empathy and kindness.

Giving the monster a flower...

But please keep in mind that this sort of thing is always a possibility when you're dealing with monsters:

And we all know how well this approach worked in disarming the military-industrial-partiarchal complex. Ha fucking ha.

Anyway, please keep in mind that despite the fact that nastiness is possible at this time, and can lead to outright war (like in 'Frankenstein' where a lynch mob forms after the monster drowns the little girl!), war can hopefully be averted via the recognition that we're not really separate; that we all need each other ultimately. The ability to empathise and put yourself in the opposing party's shoes (without letting empathy turn you into anyone's doormat) will get you far here. 

PS: re. the discussion of gender relations, what we're talking about here are archetypal 'masculine' and 'feminine' energies and gender roles, not necessarily physical genders! It's about the construction of those roles and necessary shifts within that rotten old structure.  

Full Moon in Virgo / Mars and Saturn Retrogrades / Prelude to April

(Collage made out of pieces of maps. Virgo has to do with detail, and Pisces is the sea.
Matthew Cusick - more here)

This full moon is at 26 degrees Virgo on the 16^th March, around 5 pm GMT. The moon in Virgo is facing off against the sun in Pisces. 

Virgo is a mutable earth sign: concerned with adjustments and adaptations in the realm of physical reality. Fine-tuning, systemization and order, work and routine, bodily health, attention to detail, craftsmanship. It's about making sure the machine of daily existence is well-oiled and functioning smoothly.

Where its opposite sign, Pisces is emotional and lacking in definite boundaries, Virgo is contained, emotionally reserved, pragmatic and orderly. Both signs share a focus on service: Pisces via self-sacrifice, Virgo through attention to the small details of daily life. In fact these two signs must serve something larger than the self: the motto of the Virgo-Pisces axis is 'serve or suffer'.

They remind me of Mary and Martha in the Bible story. Jesus comes to visit and these two sisters set about serving their guru in opposite ways. Mary sits at his feet adoringly, absorbing his presence: that's Pisces. And Martha is bustling around making dinner for everyone and doing practical things and worrying: that's Virgo. (Virgos are great worriers.)

And then Martha is like “Mary! Get up off your behind and help me make this dinner!” And Jesus gets all preachy and tells her not to worry: “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her”.

Kind of a strange story, when you think about it. It sets up a dichotomy: the physical vs. the spiritual. And then it devalues ordinary physical existence in favour of some ethereal, blissed-out notion of spirituality.

I would like to rewrite it and have Martha say, “OK, well then get the hell out of my house, hippies. Go hang out in the fields and sing kum-ba-ya and eat goat turds.”

She had a perfect right to. I don't see how making dinner isn't a spiritual act.

Everyday work is spiritual, care of the body is spiritual. Eastern religions are much clearer on this than the monotheistic religions - they don't have this false dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual. In Zen, for example, work is a form of meditation. They have this saying: “A day of no work is a day of no eating”. Everybody in the monastery helps tend the vegetables...it's very practical. But also they have those very impractical, seemingly pointless (Pisces) rock gardens which they tend in a very methodical, structured (Virgo) way, as an object of contemplation... It's work or routine (Virgo) as high art and spirituality (Pisces). Same with the tea ceremony: everyday ritual as art. This is one way to integrate the Virgo-Pisces polarity: grounding the ethereal via form and ritual.

Here is something on the Japanese Zen-influenced philosophy of wabi-sabi, appropriate to these themes. Really interesting! “If an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.”

Anyway, my point is, Virgo and Pisces shouldn't be at odds – they require each other. Pisces needs Virgo's containment, discipline and discrimination...otherwise it is just some druggy hippie bullshit. And Virgo needs Pisces's ability to relinquish control, go with the flow, accept life as it is. Otherwise it gets all neurotic and naggy; overly focused on unimportant details, destructively perfectionist.

A full moon in Virgo is, on the deepest level, about integrating these themes of the practical and the spiritual. Seeing work as service, everyday tasks as contemplation and art. And feeling the mystery of actual physical existence. Like, here we are in these weird fragile temporal bodies that require all this tending...what IS all this? It's crazy! But here we are eating and sleeping and driving to work and doing the shopping. Composed of our routines, and disintegrating slowly within them. And it all has to be done, day after day after day...there is really nothing else to do. Totally amazing and bizarre. Wabi-sabi for sure.

When you direct your awareness towards the everyday, the seemingly very ordinary and basic...it is revealed as inherently magical and strange.

On a less esoteric level, this full moon takes the theme of service and compassion we saw at the new moon and shines a light on it. Are you following through on whatever you planned to do? How's it working out? Any adjustment required?

It's a really good time to do the spring cleaning and stuff around the house and garden. Or to fine-tune your health regimen. It's also a good time for an emotional clear-out. Jupiter is direct in Cancer, in tense t-square formation with Uranus and Pluto: this demands radical emotional honesty and change. Take out your garbage already.

And it's a good time to think out the practicalities of your plans and dreams: Mercury (Virgo's ruler) is in Aquarius conjunct Neptune in Pisces (Pisces's ruler). With Mars and Saturn retrograde, you probably won't be able to take much practical action for now...But maybe you can see and feel the future up ahead.

This influence is also really good for creative work: for giving concrete shape to things dreamed or imagined.

Toilet roll diorama - Anastasia Elias. More here

Be aware that it's fleeting. It's a kind of lightning intuition that you can use in a practical way...but Mercury is about to change signs. He moves from brilliant Aquarius to murky Pisces on the evening of the 17^th (around 10 pm GMT), so you'd better use your mental clarity while you've got it, before it drifts down to the bottom of the sea.

The day after the full moon, the 17^th of March - St Patrick's Day - is really tense and difficult. The moon will be in Libra, in cardinal grand cross formation with Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto. There is the potential for emotional shock and upheaval galore, so be REAL careful and keep your wits about you..and try to go easy on the drinking. The cardinal grand cross will be exact at around the same time as Mercury moves into Pisces, and this is not a great influence for staying clear-headed or sober...so it's tough. Try to avoid aggressive drunks if you can, and stay out of situations involving emotional manipulation. And remember that if you initiate a fight during a Mars retrograde, you will pay. It's a bad time to start a war, apparently. Whoever fires the first shot loses ultimately.

It might be an OK night for initiating some ahem hot biological action...plenty of fizz in the skies. But unless all you want is a one-night stand, it might be better to hold back. Relationships initiated under Mars retrograde have a tendency to fizzle out.

OK, regarding the Mars and Saturn retrogrades: I personally feel like I'm living inside a bowl of jell-o these days...anyone else feel like this? Physical energy and drive (Mars) is pretty much absent, and time (Saturn) seems to have slowed to a crawl.

Look at this picture I found: flies mating in amber. This is how it feels - pointless and depressing. Kinda wabi-sabi though, I guess - in a gross way.

How long does this glacial, blocked, frustrating crap continue? Till the 20^th May for Mars, the 20^th July for Saturn.

And personally I don't mind so much about Saturn...he works slowly at the best of times, and in Scorpio he's working undercover anyway. But I really miss Mars.

Mars is retrograde in Libra, sign of relationships. So yeah, expect blockages and reconsiderations, especially in the realm of close partnerships. Expect men in particular to act kind of shady about their intentions, and passive-aggressive. Or outright wussy. If you get a chance to start a new relationship during this time, try to hold back until you know exactly what it is you're dealing with...Ideally till Mars goes direct in May. I know that's a long time. Aaaargh, yes it is.

What makes it harder and more aggravating is that right in the middle of this Mars retrograde we have...the scariest April ever. Like, brink of World War 3 type April. The irritation gets so intense.

Mars will be retrograding right into cardinal grand cross territory in Libra : Mars vs. Uranus vs. Jupiter vs. Pluto. This will be exact at 13 degrees of the cardinal signs (Libra , Aries, Cancer and Capricorn) on the 22^nd of April...and we'll just have to see what happens. Uranus (shock) is involved, so there's really no calling it.

Know that if you were born under any of these signs (or have planets or angles of your chart in the mid degrees of these signs), you are likely to take some sort of hit.

You can try to work with this energy...it's about radical change, and you can use it to be an agent of necessary change. There is likely going to be some drama involving you, so you might as well try to own it...make it YOUR drama.

But because Mars is retrograde, know that aggressive action will get you into big trouble. This is tricky alright! How do you initiate change when the outlet for direct action is blocked?

I think the way through this is personal integrity and faith in the larger design: you will have to “be the change you want to see”. Also, remember that the north node (direction of the story) is in Libra, and currently conjunct retrograde Mars...the focus is definitely on relationships, social harmony and interpersonal maneuverings. It's a good influence for back-room deals, diplomacy, detente. Subtlety and strategy will carry you through.

Here's some more freakin' Bible: Matthew 10:16. “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

Shrewd as a serpent and innocent as a dove is a good way to roll with this, if you can. But please keep in mind that a lot of what is set to go down in April is out of anyone's hands, and there's no sugar-coating that fact. Be prepared for some shock. All the strategy in the world can't help you if a giant rock falls out of the sky and lands on your head...and we are looking at big collective influences here which can't be controlled.

An example of this is the dangerous political situation underway in Ukraine. Crimea is holding a very controversial referendum on the 16^th March, and the next day we have the St. Patrick's Day cardinal grand cross I outlined above... This situation prefigures (and can be said to 'set up') the difficult events of April. Interestingly, Putin's sun is at 13 degrees Libra...exactly in the crossfire of the April cardinal grand cross. Expect the Ukraine situation to ramp up in intensity...hopefully outright war can be avoided, but it's not a given.

In your personal life, you may be able to see and feel what the issues of April will mean for you as the moon goes full tomorrow and then passes through cardinal grand cross territory on St. Patrick's Day...so try to pay attention as best you can. As stated above, this may be tough with Mercury going deep-sea diving in Pisces from the 17th. But the stakes are VERY high, so try.

(Shocking "Annunciation" by Simone Martini. Virgo lady not lookin too thrilled.)

New Moon in Pisces

There are a lot of things happening in the sky heading into the new moon in Pisces tomorrow (1^st of March - 8 am GMT). It's potentially a very magical, compassionate and idealistic new moon...but it could be very draining and disillusioning for some. Neptune (dreams and illusions) and Chiron (wounding) are involved with the sun and moon in sensitive Pisces, and this is tough. Furthermore, there is still a very jagged, raw cardinal t-square in effect: Uranus vs. Pluto vs. Jupiter. So there is always the possibility of emotional shock and upheaval, and this is a long-term influence which shouldn't be minimized.

(lightning scars: see here)

First, a word on Pisces. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, a mutable water sign signifying the undifferentiated sea we (and all forms) originated out of and will return to. It is about the dissolution of the personal, the dissolution of ego. Self-sacrifice, self-transcendence, spirituality. Compassion: because if we are all one, then anyone's pain is my pain as well.

But there is a fine line between egoless self-sacrifice and abject masochism. Pisces can be very dark. The imperative to transcend the self can translate into self-destruction and an inability to cope with mundane reality. Addictions are the characteristic mechanism of shadow Pisces: they represent the need to blur out reality because it's too painful otherwise. There can be a real difficulty with personal boundaries...an inability to maintain them. A lack of emotional security or grounding.

(Pisces cake)

The planet Neptune is the modern ruler of Pisces - the ancient ruler was Jupiter. Neptune was discovered in 1846, during an era of romantic artistic and literary movements, and also the development of modern anaesthesia. It is the 8^th furthest planet from the sun, a gas giant. Here's a picture of it taken by the Voyager 2 space probe. They named it after the god of the sea before anyone knew it was colored deep blue by methane clouds.

The sun in Pisces was conjunct Neptune all last weekend, and this was a double whammy of Pisces energy...like being deep, deep underwater. Neptune dissolves boundaries. Conjunct the sun, energy and drive gets dissipated and physical boundaries are weakened, rendering people more sensitive and impressionable... and also more confused and illness-prone. The words 'dissipation' and 'dissolution' are used to describe self-dissipation via drunkenness and drug use, and this is another facet of Neptune you may have been exposed to last weekend.

Thankfully, that influence has waned as the sun has moved on through Pisces...but it's still in effect and will remain so for the new moon. There is a lot of emotional and bodily sensitivity involved, so we should all probably try to go easy on the drink and the drugs, yo... and generally avoid influences that we know to be harmful. Our defenses are low at the moment. And as stated, there is a cardinal t-square in effect and things are tense.

Mercury is currently stationing at 18 degrees Aquarius, getting ready to go direct later today (28^th February), ahead of the new moon tomorrow. This lends intellectual clarity and detachment to the proceedings...and we will need this, with all the dreamy Piscean influence. It is a great gift to be able to think and communicate clearly, especially when our life energy and emotions are underwater.

(by Ivan Bilibin)

Ok, new moons are supposed to be about new beginnings...so what is this one representative of? In the best-case scenario, this is a situation where you find the inner strength to cut free of crappy old conditioning and to forgive others... and yourself. To wipe the slate clean, dissolve hard feelings, and forgive the fallible human beings who've wounded you.

Maybe you'll have a chance to really offer aid or support to someone who needs it, or to commit to a spiritual path. Jupiter in Cancer is trining the sun and moon exactly. This means the kind of attitude supported by the sky is one of compassion and generosity. If you set an intention to aid and nourish others in whatever way you can and to be bigger than your petty little grievances, you should be protected.

There is a wrong way to approach this as well, though, and it involves the shadow side of Pisces. This is like, get really drunk and collapse weeping on the floor like a wet noodle. “Look what so-and-so has done to me!! They ruined my life!! I'll never get over it!”

Victim shit. It's not all that supportable at the best of times, but certainly not now.

That said, there's an aspect of falling apart that can be necessary and beautiful – because it breaks us open. And compassion comes out of our own experience of suffering. It is through our brokenness that we relate to others on the deepest levels...

(This song pretty much ends at 7 minutes; Leonard is just schmoozing around after that. Couldn't find a shorter live version though!)

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”

I found out the other day that there's a Hindu goddess of being a complete mess: her name is Akhilanda, meaning “never not broken”. She rides around on a freaking crocodile. More here:

I nominate Akhilanda the patroness of this new moon. Power and resilience coming out of brokenness.

Feeling the suffering of existence and resolving to act with compassion for all beings because of it...That's the highest expression of Pisces, and that's the theme here. It's like the bodhisattva vow:

“However innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to save them. However inexhaustible the defilements are, I vow to extinguish them. However immeasurable the dharmas are, I vow to master them. However incomparable enlightenment is, I vow to attain it.”

Absurd, impossible vow! But it's the sentiment behind those declarations that is the important thing: the intention to serve and to help. “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

I think in practice it would probably be OK to just vow to make cookies for a few sentient beings this new moon, or to resolve to be a better friend, or to give money to charity or donate some time to a good cause....etc. There are plenty of people stressed to breaking point under these skies, and if you find yourself in a position to help anyone, you're pretty fortunate. 

Something quite amazing: the new moon is bookended by big planetary shifts. Mercury goes direct (sudden clarity and mental illumination) the day before, and Mars goes retrograde (action and initiative withheld) the day after. And Saturn goes retrograde (karma delayed) on the 3rd of March – until July.

It's like...you will probably be able to see and feel and communicate your plan for the way forward; you'll know what's wrong, what needs to change...but it's probably going to be hard to actually initiate the changes that must be made until after Mars goes direct again. In freaking May. Expect delays and setbacks, blockages and reconsiderations. Don't go on the warpath or the offensive...review and solidify your tactics. You probably won't have much choice.

I'll try to write some more on the Mars and Saturn retrogrades later...it is crazy stuff. Very aggravating. But you can save yourself from complete exasperation if you accept that your plans are not likely to go off without a hitch for the next while. Don't get too hung up on having things go your way.

Another amazing planetary shift in the works: right now we also have Jupiter stationing at 10 degrees Cancer, getting ready to go direct on the 6^th of March. This should be nice! A big jolt of faith and luck. Venus enters Aquarius the same day, and this is another zingy influence – electrical and brilliant.

It's like, all of a sudden it's spring! Time to step clear of the past...it's really finally OVER. Time for something radically new.

This changeover is not without potential jolts and difficulty: Jupiter is stationing and will go direct exactly square to Uranus in Aries (personal revolt) and opposite Pluto in Capricorn (rotten power heirarchies). This is some shock and awe all right. Look to what just happened in Ukraine for an example of what these energies might mean on a collective scale...

(Kiev protests)

The Mars and Saturn retrogrades mean there will be likely be long, exhausting rounds of negotiation, behind-the-scenes diplomacy and passive-aggressive posturing before the new order takes hold. The ghosts of the past are going to take a while to let go, and karma is going to take a while to be the ruthless bitch we need her to be...Justice will have to wait a while before being served, most likely.

But overall, things are shifting, however stuck they may feel. You can have faith in that.

You know how in AA they say “let go and let God” or something like that? It's cheesy, but with Mars and Saturn going backward till the 20^th of goddamn May and the 20^th of freaking July respectively, that's exactly what we have to do. Just replace “God” with “Jupiter” in that sentence. With Jupiter direct and Mars going backwards, matters will really be in heaven's hands, not ours. There's a surrender of will involved for the time being.

Surrender is another theme of Pisces, so here's another idea for the kind of intention you'd do well to set this new moon: the intention to have some faith in the grand scheme of things, even when your personal progress seems stalled and you can't push forward toward what you want. Know that you are part of everything, and the grand scheme is unfolding exactly as it has to, even when it feels inimical to your personal goals. Try to go with the flow of things instead of wasting your energy by fighting against it...however frustrating this might feel.   

Full Moon in Leo

This one is just in time for freaking Valentine's Day, brilliant! Around 11:50 pm (GMT) on the 14th February. By that time of night everybody should be all liquored up and ready for some drama. 

And it looks pretty dramatic all right! I think we should listen to some L7 to get in the right mood for this one. 

"So you wanna have some fun? Well break out the big guns!" 

"DON'T CROSS MY LINE!"

It looks like that kind of full moon. Lines could get crossed. People could flip out and break out the big guns. Especially if they feel slighted or unappreciated...things could get ugly. 

Of course, it could also be this kind of full moon, if you're lucky:

Or this:

But I think this is equally likely:

Anyway, what's the story here?

The sun in cold, rational Aquarius is facing off against a romantic, fiery, attention-hungry full moon in Leo. Like so:

Well, what do you think the dialogue here is going to be like? Probably a little stilted, it's safe to assume. Plenty of mutual incomprehension.

Wires could get crossed, with a retrograde Mercury in Aquarius conjunct the sun - this is real glitchy, communications-wise. Expect your phone to conk out just before you text to say where you're gonna meet your hot date. Or you meet your hot date even though your car's radiator just exploded and then you start hiccuping too hard to hold a conversation...or the lights go out in the cinema, mid awkward romcom. Or you realize he/she is actually from another planet and it's time to beam back up to the starship but your transponder is on the blink...

Yep. If you are actually able to sit and converse like a normal human (whatever the hell that means), uninterrupted by glitchy tech shit and shocks and general weirdness... you'll be doing pretty well.

But then you get to the real hurdles.

A moon in Leo craves attention, romance and fun. It's a party moon. But this Leo moon is disposited (and opposed) by the sun in Aquarius, which is not exactly a party sun.

And Saturn in Scorpio is involved, squaring the sun, Mercury and the moon. This means it's actually NO GODDAMN FUN at all. Everything feels too heavy for fun. Emotions are heavy, communication is heavy (and difficult), intentions are heavy, the weight of the past is heavy...

And Venus is still conjunct Pluto in Capricorn; still in cardinal t-square formation with Jupiter in Cancer and Uranus in Aries. Love is heavy. Building a viable future is heavy. Relating honestly is heavy. Being true to yourself and trying to be true to the demands of a relationship at the same time is heavy. Unexpressed rage is heavy. All the shitty things we've done to each other are heavy; our collective baggage around relationships is heavy. The imbalances and injustices that go along with traditional gender relations are heavy.

More L7 - I feel like we need them for this. (Off "Bricks Are Heavy", ha.)

People are likely to be feeling blocked-off, unseen, unheard and undervalued in their relationships, and liable to vent explosively.

(More fight music!)

A defining feature of this full moon: the north node (an eclipse-point signifying the 'slant' of the whole story) will be at 0 degrees Scorpio. This is the last lunation we'll have with the north node in Scorpio for 18 years or so. And Saturn in Scorpio will be squaring the moon and the sun, as we've seen.

So there is a heavy, fateful, Scorpionic emphasis to this full moon. Scorpio, remember, is about death and rebirth. Transformation. Amputation of what's dead or rotten so that new life can grow.

And bearing in mind that full moons are about things coming to light, culminations, endings...and we have Saturn (karma) aspecting this one...this full moon is actually very serious. No matter how many silly Spock pix I may post, please bear in mind that this is actually a big deal!

We've had a year and a half of the north node in Scorpio. A year and a half to examine the energy imbalances in our lives, the power games, the decayed rotten collective patterns of relating. A year and a half to focus on the dark shadow stuff that we'd all rather pretend doesn't exist...but with Saturn in Scorpio as well, there's no sweeping the dirt back under the rug. If we've done our work, we know the worst now, about ourselves and others and the kind of world we live in...and there's no way back.

No way back... I mean, it's actually impossible, once you've seen the corruption inherent in a particular dynamic (whether it's a family, relationship, job, political system or whatever) to go back and relate to it in the same old way. You transform it if you can; you walk away from it and create something new if you can. But once you've really seen into what's happening and how deep the rot goes...you have to act upon that knowledge. The imperative of Scorpio is survival. You do not hang around and allow yourself to be poisoned.

If the rotten dynamic is something happening in yourself, it's just as stark. You have to cut it out already. Addictions, toxic relationships, destructive delusions. Fears and insecurities, unquestioned assumptions, culturally mandated attitudes, ego games....

You know what form the rot takes in you and you know what you have to do.

The north node shifts to Libra - sign of relationship, social harmony and justice - on the 18th February, straight into a conjunction with Mars in Libra. There is a tremendous drive for right relationship embodied in this shift.

But before you can move towards fairness and balance in your relationships, you have to get rid of what's rotten. That means weeding out your own self-destructive behaviours and attitudes, and not putting up with crap from others. Refusing to carry other peoples' garbage for them. Refusing to stay in dynamics in which you're not being met halfway.

Mars in Libra will be harmoniously aspecting the sun, Mercury and the moon for this full moon, which is nice. If you remember that your goal is ultimately to relate with fairness and decency and to have balanced, just relationships...it should give you the energy and drive to stop doing what you know is no good for you.

And the sun and Mercury in Aquarius, disposited by Uranus in Aries, mean that there is clarity and mental detachment available here, as well as a burning drive for personal authenticity at any cost.

On personal authenticity at any cost: this person is an object lesson. And the song fits these skies...

Mercury in Pisces and Venus Direct

Mercury entered Pisces today (31st Feb), hours before Venus goes direct tonight. And the moon will be moving from detached Aquarius into sensitive, impressionable Pisces to conjunct Mercury and then Neptune in Pisces...that's tomorrow afternoon (Feb 1st). And then she's moving on to hit Chiron in Pisces later tomorrow evening.

This gives a wistful, wounded emotional tone to the weekend...the ghosts of what could have been (but will not be now) might take a while to dissipate.

You'll know what regarding love and money matters is real and what's a mirage with Venus direct, and you'll be ready to move on. But there is definitely some sensitivity involved here; some last dream-tendrils to break free of; some grieving.

Well you can't move on without leaving something behind, right? And good-byes can be hard...

Mercury will be in Pisces till the 7th of February, turning retrograde just conjunct Neptune in Pisces. And then he will move back towards rational Aquarius, re-entering the sign on the 13th February, conjunct the sun. Just in time for Valentine's Day and a full moon in Leo - I'm thinking this looks like a good thing. You will hopefully be able to review love and money matters with a big measure of detachment and emotional control after Mercury re-enters Aquarius.

Anyway I think these currents are all about dreams and reality and how they intersect. Mercury in Pisces (and conjunct Neptune) is visionary, imaginative, creative, poetic...also often vague and wooly-headed, distractable, inarticulate. It's about intuition and the difficulties involved in translating intuitive knowledge into language or action.

I guess it's safe to say that with Mercury in Pisces you'll be able to see the issues at work in your life in a larger, transpersonal context, and hopefully have some sort of intuitive understanding of what's happening and what it all means, even if you can't necessarily articulate it.

--This is a very good influence for artists and musicians, who should be able to squeeze a lot of creative inspiration from it.

As Mercury retrogrades and moves back through rational Aquarius, you'll get a chance to reformulate your intuitions and put them into a logical framework. To marry your dreams to rationality and to a concrete vision for the future.

It's about practical idealism: finding out which of your dreams are actually attainable.

Be careful with alcohol and drugs over the next week, and especially this weekend - Mercury-Neptune is a real mental head-fuck even without them, but with them you can get really scrambled. And with the cardinal t-square in effect, things are tense: you will want to keep your wits about you as much as you can.

But overall this looks like a dreamy, sensitive, somewhat weepy, but imaginative and romantic influence. A chance to just feel what you feel, after the cold-hearted Aquarius new moon. And to transcend your feelings and imagine what would be the best next course of action...not just for you but for the grand scheme of things, if you get my drift.

New Moon in Aquarius

This is exact at 11 degrees Aquarius, around 9:40 pm GMT on the 30th January.

And I like it quite a lot! Because Aquarius is progressive, revolutionary, electrifying. And detached. And lord knows we could all use a measure of detachment around this time, given how heavy and fateful these skies are.

About Aquarius: I associate this sign with Mr. Spock. Very rational, honest, scientific, disengaged from messy human emotion...but there is a big measure of inflexibility in this disengagement. A stubbornness. He is actually half-human, he does have emotions...but he regards them as 'illogical' and will not allow them any validity. And this is actually a form of aggression against the feeling side of his nature.

You can imagine how liberating it would be to hang out and talk ideas with Spock: you could say just about anything to him and he'd be impossible to shock. And he'd have plenty of fascinating facts and theories at his disposal about geeky stuff like how to build transponders out of rubindium crystals found on obscure asteroids.

But for an emotional person, hanging with Spock would feel pretty constricting: imagine trying to talk to Spock about your feelings! He'd probably sit there all deadpan, observing you as if you were some interesting new variety of microbe.

This is the paradox of Aquarius: open-minded and progressive on the one hand, utterly inflexible - in a way that can be cold and cruel - on the other. I'm thinking of Le Corbusier here, the French architect who dreamed of razing the poorer neighborhoods of Paris and replacing them with futuristic tower blocks. He wasn't thinking of the day-to-day lives of the people who lived in those areas - he didn't care about them or about the disruption to community life his plans would cause. He had his eyes fixed on a progressive dream of the perfect city, and who cared about the messy humans who got in the way of it?

Le Corbusier's 'Ville Radieuse' or Radiant City model

Imagine what Paris would be like now if he'd been allowed to build this in the heart of it? Imagine living in the Radiant City of his perfect future. It's batshit insane.

--Of course plenty of people do live there: plenty of poor neighborhoods in plenty of cities were razed per Le Corbusier's ideas, and replaced with tower blocks. We know what wonderful places to live those are.

At worst, Aquarius can be like this: loving humanity in the abstract, but with no feeling for the needs of actual people. And utterly unrealistic in its future-oriented idealism.

There are two planetary rulers of the sign: Saturn (the traditional ruler) and Uranus (the modern ruler). Saturn is about constriction, and this is appropriate to the stubborn and emotionally detached nature of the sign.

But let's talk about Uranus, as this is the modern ruler of Aquarius. It was discovered in 1781, during an era of revolutions: scientific, political, social. This was the start of the industrial revolution - technology was about to change ordinary life in previously unimaginable ways. The American colonies were at war with England, two years away from winning and establishing a new government based on progressive ideals of democracy and the rights of man. And France was undergoing social upheaval that would lead to a shocking revolution - one that would turn all social norms and traditions upside-down and tear the country apart.

The outer planets, discovered in the modern era, owe a lot of their astrological symbolism to the times and circumstances of their discoveries, and Uranus has become symbolically tied up with the idea of shock, upheaval, progressive change and scientific discovery (it was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope). Look at this picture of it! No, the picture is not tilted wrong. Uranus is the only planet in the solar system with an axial tilt perpendicular to the plane of the solar system: it rotates sideways.

As if to signal: hey, I'm a freak! I don't care what all you boring-ass bourgeois planets do, I'm going to rotate my own damn way.

Well anyway, that was a long digression on Aquarius and Uranus, but I hope you see where I'm going with this. Aquarius represents progressive change, social idealism, rebellion, revolution, liberation. Also oddity and a detachment from messy human life and emotion that can be liberating... but also strange and cold.

New moons represent new beginnings, and a new moon in Aquarius is a chance to really detach from the past - from old patterns and habits and neuroses. To survey your life rationally and coldly, and to envision a different kind of future. It's an opportunity for radical transformation.

The sun and moon (and also Mercury) in Aquarius will be disposited by Uranus in Aries, which is about individual liberation and revolt.

And Uranus in Aries is currently bound up with some very heavy shit: he is squaring Pluto in Capricorn (rotten social structures and power hierarchies) for the next year, and is caught up in cardinal t-square formations with Jupiter in Cancer (huge emotions, woman power), and then Mars in Libra (a drive for fairness in relationships and social justice) which last until July.

And I will not even talk about April right now, except to say that the drama reaches crisis level intensity (yet again) in April....that's really soooooon.

In other words, there are a lot of things that need changing, especially in regard to relationships, entrenched power dynamics and financial issues. Collectively and personally, radical change is demanded of us - and it's coming, like it or not. And in ways that are likely to be very shocking and unpredictable, especially if you're not prepared to change, or unable. Some people really are not able to change, I know it. It's sad.

(Crappy day in dinosaur land)

But if you are one of the lucky ones who can; who can roll with the punches...well you can use this new moon to observe your life with perfect detached clarity. What needs to change; what changes can you implement in advance of the drama that's coming? What can you do to secure your position, or conversely, to give yourself a lot of options so that you can use all this drama and upheaval to your advantage?

Shock coming out of a clear blue sky - well nobody wants that, but this is the cosmic weather we are living under, and it's good to be psychologically prepared, able to survey your options with clarity and to detach from what you don't need...and furthermore to think about what you actually want; what would improve matters. It might be something radically different and new: a complete break with the past.

The ability to cut cords and envisage something utterly new - that is the gift this new moon is giving us. Remember Aquarius is not just about logic and intellectual clarity and rebellion against the established order. It's also about hope. The dream of a better future, a fairer and more humane future - a future with room for you and your weird-ass freak flag.

Ok, so that's your new moon...use it! Any iota of intellectual detachment you can come by is valuable right now.

Because the cardinal t-square that is in effect now involves a lot of heaviness and emotional intensity. We have Jupiter in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn in tight opposition, and Venus retrograding into a conjunction with Pluto. And all this is squaring Uranus in Aries.

And what's this about? Love and money, death and corruption. And huge feelings, broken hearts, broken dreams, rage. The need to change, to rebel...within a structure that does not allow change?

Miss Havisham's rotten wedding cake?

Juliet's corpse.

Is it time to let the romantic dreams go...to see them for the dried-up corpses they are?

Well of course it is. You know it is - it's way past time.

Venus conjunct Pluto in Capricorn is about wanting stability, security. Love you can bank on and money in the bank. Venus retrogrades are times of past relationships and their issues coming back to haunt us...past lovers, past patterns. They are also about reviewing and reconsidering financial matters - and this is especially evident with Venus in Capricorn, the sign of banking and career.

Venus goes direct the day after the new moon. So you can use this rational and distanced new moon to review how these issues impact your life very calmly and logically, like Spock would. And you can set a course for the future. Confirmation of your analysis should not be long in coming: you will know for sure what is real and viable, and what's a rotting wedding cake that should be thrown out already, after Venus goes direct.

And then you can get on with things. Like this, hopefully: