New Moon in Cancer

This is today, the 2nd July, at about 8:15 pm GMT.

The sun and moon are close to the north node in Cancer, meaning this is a solar eclipse - a more intense than usual new beginning in the Cancerian realm of emotions, roots, family stuff, your sense of home. Your inner, emotional life should be the focus for the next month, along with your relationships with family and with what constitutes "home" to you.

Saturn and Pluto are still conjunct at the south node, which means plenty of stuff you don't want to look at will be coming up from the depths. You might as well just look at it. Maybe it isn't trying to hurt you this time - maybe it was never trying to hurt you. Just to be seen.

We have a Mercury retrograde this month, running from the 7th July till the 31st. The usual Mercury retrograde cautions re. travel difficulties, appliance failures and miscommunication apply. The risk of these kinds of difficulties is currently heightened as Mercury is conjunct Mars in Leo and squaring Uranus. Sudden accidents are more likely at this time - be careful driving and around machinery. And try not to let your ego run your mouth, there's just too much firepower here and people will get hurt.

Big mental breakthroughs are also possible at this time. With the sun and moon conjunct the north node in Cancer, something new is coming into the world, and you should go to meet it.

And with Saturn and Pluto on the south node, something old has reached the end of the line. Whatever form this takes in your life, something might be grinding on, persistent as hell - but you know in your heart it's done for.

Like this blog, which I've kept going out of habit, despite wanting to stop writing it for a few months now. I began it exactly six years ago, and it's been an interesting discipline and sometimes a lot of fun! But it's time to stop.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my astrological meanderings - I hope they've been of use to you. I will remain available for chart, I Ching and tarot readings at clock.arrietty@gmail.com.

New Moon in Gemini

Image credit: Walter Crane, "Four Winds"

This is tomorrow, the 3rd June, at about 11 am GMT.

Gemini is light of foot and thought, quick, communicative, sociable, easily bored. New moons represent new beginnings and this new moon is not heavily aspected by anything else in the sky, so we're looking at some pure Gemini here. Expect a lot of frenetic activity and chat, and multiple options opening up in some area of your life.

As the sun and moon are widely squaring Neptune, these new options may turn out to be flash-in-the-pan stuff – mirages with little basis in reality, or outright deceptions. So try to keep your head screwed on amidst all the flux and activity.

At the same time we have Venus in Taurus beneficially aspecting the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, which means there are things of solid value in your life that you can rely on for security and stability. Real assets and real relationships, real commitments. These things are weighty. If the Gemini stuff is like a sailboat responsive to every breeze and change in the weather, the Venus-Saturn-Pluto stuff is a very heavy and dependable anchor that will keep it from drifting off course.

Another way of describing this: despite multiple narratives and desperate spin and cleverly constructed falsehood, the bedrock reality will not be denied. This especially regards love and money scenarios – the truth will be apparent if you care to look at it.

Of course you can choose to engage in willful self-delusion if that's your thing, but we are headed for a difficult reckoning, like it or not. Mars in Cancer is in opposition to the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, and this is happening across the north and south nodes of the moon. Oppositions play out interpersonally, and this one denotes some very dark and brutal karmic drama – especially involving family.

Mercury in Cancer is going to be part of this opposition at the full moon in Sagittarius on the 17th June, and holy crap. This looks like a set-up for verbal and mental and emotional and physical violence. Again, the emphasis here is on family stuff – but even if you manage to avoid your crazy family at this time, some kind of drama is likely to land at your door. Please be careful, avoid angry people, and try to keep calm. (Strenuous physical exercise can help if you find yourself wanting to kill someone.)

To sum up: light – even frivolous – as this new moon in Gemini may feel, we are not really in the silly season this month. It reminds me of the fun episode of Game of Thrones before the big battle with the ice zombies – everybody's telling stories and partying and singing songs, meanwhile some extra heavy shit is about to go down.

That is not meant to scare you – hopefully you won't be fighting undead ice zombies or whatever their metaphorical equivalent is. But the month ahead looks difficult and fairly gut-wrenching, and I think things are going to start feeling a lot heavier and darker.

I think the key to getting through this time is knowing what your anchor is: what and who you can really depend on, what your real assets and values are, what grounds you and lends you mental and emotional stability. If you stay anchored in what's solid and real, hopefully you can avoid being blown off course this month.

Making moves to protect your assets is probably also a good idea at this time. At the very least, avoid risky gambles.

Full Moon in Scorpio

Yumiko Kayukawa

This is tonight, the 18th May, around 10 pm GMT.

I think it looks very calm and profound and powerful. Quiet, terse communication can cut to the heart of a situation at this time - few words are needed, but those words will go deep. Issues of love, money and values are highlighted, and surprising shifts in our thinking around these issues are likely.

Permanent endings of associations that no longer fit our values are also likely - full moons signify culminations and endings, and Scorpio is extreme, all-or-nothing. Also, Venus is conjunct Uranus in Taurus, making for a lot of abrupt change in relationship and money matters.

Please keep in mind, these endings are most likely necessary and healthy. If a situation is pathological, it has to be transformed, and if it can't be transformed it must be amputated from your life. It's that black-or-white. Trust your gut – you will know on a bodily level what's healthy / viable vs what's defunct / toxic, and you'll know what to do about it.

Sudden new beginnings are also likely with Venus conjunct Uranus – don't be surprised if something very new and strange starts looking attractive to you, or if things that never interested you before suddenly catch your eye.

New Moon in Taurus

This is tonight, the 4th May, around 11:45 pm.

There are two poles to this new moon in Taurus. On the one hand, we have deep emotional security, stability and comfort – a bodily kind of certainty. This is courtesy of beneficial aspects between the new moon and Saturn conjunct Pluto in Capricorn, Neptune in Pisces and the north node in Cancer. Whatever new start you're making now, know that it's solid and real.

On the other hand, we have mental agitation, disruption and a lot of very ugly stuff surfacing around money and relationships – the opposite of comfortable. I won't go into all the details because I don't have time, but it's a jangled, neuron frazzling, unsettled sky.

So what does it all mean? Uranus in Taurus means the stable structures of our lives are being disrupted in all kinds of ways, and Saturn and Pluto on the south node mean we are being forced to look at our toxic old programming. It's not supposed to be a comfortable time, and obviously our minds are reeling.

Despite all this, it looks like there's a deep well of internal calm and quiet to draw upon, even in the midst of jittery, confused chaos. Don't believe your mind and the stories it spins, or the stories other people spin - that stuff is more unreliable than usual at this time. But you can believe in your bodily instincts - you know what's true and what's good for you deep down, outside of all the mental chatter. And you also know what to stay away from.

If you're finding the jangled nerves and upheaval hard to deal with, you can do something soothing for yourself at this Taurus new moon. Take a bath, eat nice food, pet a cat, whatever. Things are probably not as bad as they might seem, but even if they are, there's comfort to be found.

The sky will be quieting down ahead of the full moon in Scorpio, so the mental overload stuff is temporary. It's in play for at least another week though. Mercury will conjunct Uranus in Taurus over the next few days, so mental breakthroughs are possible And the full moon looks very positive - calm, profound and transformative, especially re. love and money. I'll write about it closer to the time.

Full Moon in Libra

This is exact today, the 19th April, at about noon.

It's our second full moon in Libra this year. The last was a month ago at 0 degrees of the sign, and this one is at 29 degrees, the very last degree. And between these bookending full moons in the sign of “we”, we've had a zinger of a new moon in Aries, the sign of “me”.

“Me vs we” is the sort of tension we've been dealing with for the past month, and this full moon is a culmination of that tension. The harmony-seeking, relationship-oriented Libra moon opposes the sun in go-it-alone Aries, and the sun is also conjunct Uranus in Taurus, an influence for change and revolution.

So basically weare looking at this drive to disrupt everything that binds us and bust loose, contrasted with the need to maintain important relationships. Some old associations will be ending abruptly about now, and new ones will be springing to life just as abruptly. Some relationships will require an injection of raw honesty in order to survive, but some may not be able to survive it. The ones that do survive will be the ones that are able to adapt to radical change.

How do you maintain a relationship when all your values around it have changed and you can't just go through the same old motions anymore? What would it mean to be truly authentic, to say what you feel and ask for what you want? Would it be the end of the relationship or a new start? These are the sort of issues likely to come up.

Try to be aware of what you're projecting onto the other and to own your own anger and desire – with Libra there is often a drive to “make nice”, at the expense of authenticity, and projection can be used as a mechanism for deflecting unpleasant emotions. That's not what we want to be doing here – you have to own your bullshit.

And there's plenty of it! Saturn and Pluto are 3 degrees apart on the south node in Capricorn, meaning old issues around authority, boundaries and respect are likely to be surfacing in your life. These will directly feed into any relationship issues you may be experiencing. There are deep psychological patterns and belief systems underlying the kinds of interpersonal relationships we get into, and these will be coming up for examination at this time. Don't try to brush them back under the rug – look at them. What assumptions and beliefs got you into the mess you're currently in, and do they hold up under scrutiny?

Watch what you say – Mercury is in Aries and conjunct Chiron, and Jupiter is sending a square from Sagittarius. Meaning words can be very wounding at this time and the repercussions of hurtful speech may be larger than intended. If you want to maintain harmony in your relationships, some tact will be required! There is an imperative for brutal honesty, but sometimes it's only necessary to be brutally honest with yourself.

On the other hand, if you want to end a relationship, it will be easy to do so using this cutting honesty. But there are ripple effects to this kind of thing that extend beyond the immediate relationship – most relationships don't exist in isolation, they are part of a network. Be mindful of those ripple effects.

New Moon in Aries

This is tomorrow morning, the 5th April, around 10:15 am GMT.

A new moon symbolizes a new start, and Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, all about the self in its rawness and immediacy. It is ruled by Mars, planet of desire, drive and aggression.

So basically this is a great time to get serious about who you authentically are (outside of social niceties) and what you really want. And to get moving toward it.

Blockages and limitations are present, though. The sun and moon in Aries are squaring Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, and it may feel like what you want will require the labours of Hercules  to achieve, or a miracle. But Aries is warrior energy, so you just have to keep on going and keep on fighting. It's a “hero's journey” kind of scenario – and you don't get to be a hero by running from what scares you, or focusing only on what's easy and makes you feel good, or refusing to acknowledge the summons to change your life.

Our clusterfuck of a Mercury retrograde is over as of the 29th March, thank goodness. Mercury is still conjunct Neptune in Pisces, which means your brain may still be a bit underwater - but that conjunction (involving Venus in Pisces as well) is beneficially aspecting Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn. All this speaks of a profound spiritual dimension to this new moon – the “call to adventure” in your hero's journey may come as a summons from your deepest, truest self. Trust your intuition to guide you in the right direction, and pay special attention to your dreams at this time – they are certain to contain important messages for you. These messages won't be the kind that require much analysis, as you'll understand the meaning in your bones. If you're analyzing and second-guessing and worrying over what they mean (quite likely with Mars in frenetic Gemini), you're on the wrong track.

Relationships figure heavily this month despite the “me first” emphasis of Aries. This is to be expected with Uranus in Taurus shaking up our values around relationships. Our sense of the inauthenticity of certain social arrangements is likely to be heightened. There may be an urge to break away and go it alone.

And then as if to drive this relationship emphasis home, we get a second full moon in Libra, sign of relationships. This is on the 19th April and it will underscore the importance but also the difficulty of relationships; the need to maintain personal autonomy, authenticity and space within them. It could be a real “come here / leave me alone” vibe. Or remain vs. no deal, if you're following the endlessly crazy Brexit. Ultimately it looks like some balance has to be found between being true to ourselves and maintaining our important relationships (however annoying they may be). No one can go it entirely alone.

Full Moon in Libra

See here

This is tonight, the 21st March, at about 1:45 am GMT.

It's a supermoon and a pretty big deal, as it coincides nearly exactly with the spring equinox.

The equinox happens as the sun moves from the end of Pisces into 0 degrees Aries. This is the kickoff point of the whole zodiac, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere - so it's pretty intense. The symbolism is of rebirth. In this case, the sun is also conjunct Chiron in early Aries, which is about an unhealable wound to the sense of self. So it's kind of an existentially fraught rebirth – who are you, going forward? It's not who you've been, that's for sure.

Also, an equinox is a balance point between the hours of light and dark, the turning-point where the sun returns to the northern hemisphere and retreats from the southern. And few hours after the equinox, we have the moon hitting 0 degrees Libra, the sign of the scales.

Libra is rational and relationship-oriented, seeking justice and harmony between different viewpoints. As full moons symbolise culminations or endings, the symbolism here is of setting something decisively to rights, or finally deciding.

Would that it were so simple! We also have Mars and Venus, the rulers of Aries and Libra, squaring each other from fixed signs, so you can expect a bit of a standoff. And as Mercury is retrograde in Pisces and conjunct Neptune, it will be a confused, obfuscatory head-fuck of a standoff.

Still, something very important is being decided even if the lineaments of that decision are as yet unclear. I guess it's fitting that as I type this, the UK is asking the EU for an extension to Brexit, their national existential crisis. It's meant to happen in 9 days though there is still no plan in place for how, because the UK parliament is in nervous breakdown mode. And the EU is mulling over how to be fair to the UK without leaving the door open for further destabilisation and chaos. It fits the symbolism of this full moon pretty well.

In your life, expect to see plenty of tension around relationships especially – but not the usual kind. This is some breakaway stuff, with red lines being trashed and new lines being drawn, or associations ended altogether because people's values have suddenly changed completely. Uranus is in Venus-ruled Taurus, and Venus is in Uranus-ruled Aquarius – this is called a mutual reception and means these planets are working together. And what they are working for is the disruption, upending and re-balancing of old patterns of relationships. So if you think you can ride the turbulence out by sticking to your old patterns and habits, you're quite wrong - radical change and accountability are what's called for. And once you're “woke”, you can't go back to sleep. We are collectively leaving Neverland.

This is especially true with Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn conjunct the south node, laying bare the corruption underlying structures we took for granted.

The way through the turbulence at this time is via the moon in Libra: moral clarity, fairness and rationality. Don't get swamped by your sense of personal grievance. Think about what's best in the grand scheme of things, not what's only best for you. Have faith that what's best in the largest possible sense will turn out to be what's best for you personally, though it may be hard to see how at this time.