New Moon Solar Eclipse in Virgo

This is tomorrow morning, the 1st September, at about 10 am GMT.

We have a lot going on in the sky this month, ushered in by this harsh and intense solar eclipse in Virgo. I think September will ask a lot of us. It looks stressful, weird, anxious, head-melting. Things are in flux in a big way. People with a lot of planets in the mutable signs (Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius) will be especially hard hit.

The good thing is, there is a very clear and defined way through, and it is built into the chart of this new moon: keep doing your Virgo. Keep doing the jobs that need doing, quietly and humbly. Keep fine-tuning your routines, keep adapting to change in a simple, straightforward, constructive way. If you're having an existential crisis, do the dishes or mop the floor or walk the dog. There is always something (or someone) that needs taking care of.

Keep your focus on the humble, the everyday, the functional...even (or especially) in the midst of chaos and uncertainty about the future. If you try to think too far ahead these days, or on too large a scale, you're liable to get depressed or overwhelmed – or to be flat-out deluding yourself. So just attend to the boring, everyday, small stuff as it comes up, however fucking irritating it may be. Boring and mundane is the way to go here.

Also, we are dealing with a lot of mutable energy here – so adaptability and flexibility are important. If you hit roadblocks, delays and annoyances this month (which you will!), try to accept them with humility and grace. Find a way around them; be willing to alter your plans. And have some faith that the fog will dissipate sometime, and the road ahead will become clearer.

The other thing I'd say is – try to have a sense of perspective (Saturn in Sagittarius) about your anxieties (Virgo). I know that people are facing difficulties at this time – but there are problems and PROBLEMS. If you are not fleeing a war zone right now or holding onto your kids in an overcrowded dingy in the Mediterranean, you're relatively lucky.

Remember your situation is probably workable no matter how hard it feels. It's important to try to find a way to work with it, because running away from difficulties or trying to ignore them is not going to go so well under this sky. Throwing up your hands in despair and giving up is also not really an option. I mean, you could do that, but it will only lead you into worse trouble. You have got to deal with the choices you've made and the messes that need clearing up.

This new moon eclipse opposes Neptune and the south node in Pisces, so escapism will pull at us. (Beware drink, drugs and romantic delusion.) It also squares the Saturn-Mars conjunction in Sagittarius, meaning we'll likely be feeling like miserable, frustrated, angry shit on a stick.

Keeping the focus practical and reality-based under this kind of moody cosmic weather will be hard, but very beneficial.

Big stuff this month:

We have a Mercury retrograde through Virgo that started yesterday (August 30th) and will go on till the 22nd September. Expect the usual Mercury retrograde stuff: jangled nerves, jumbled-up communication, information overload, glitches in devices and travel plans. Plus brain fog, anxiety and distraction courtesy of the Saturn-Neptune square. Fun stuff!

We have Jupiter ending his yearlong residency in Virgo on the 9th of September, and entering Libra. This is a big shift, and it actually looks like a nice one. Jupiter in Libra will be about balance, justice and harmony, especially in close relationships.

This new moon is Jupiter in Virgo's last big party – and he exits the sign conjunct Venus and Mercury, which is great for cleaning up your relationship messes via precise, effective communication before he enters Libra. If you've been doing your Virgo work, you'll benefit from this.

The next day, we'll have the third and final Saturn-Neptune square, exact on the 10th of September. This is a reality (Saturn) dissolving (Neptune) influence – potentially very disillusioning and disorienting. It looks like it could involve some relationship nastiness and power plays – Venus squares Pluto the next day. So be warned.

Saturn square Neptune is really the event of the month - the aspect that colors everything. Truth, clarity, rules and limits (Saturn) vs. bullshit, dreams, addiction and escapism (Neptune) - and I've already told you ad nauseam which side of the equation you want to be on, with the north node in reality-based Virgo.

Then we have a full moon eclipse in Pisces on the 16th September, and it looks fairly emotionally wounding. Painful stuff. I'll get to that closer to the time.

Finally, we have Pluto stationing direct in Capricorn on the 25th September. This looks OK! It's about deep structural change though, which is never exactly comfortable.

The upshot is, we don't come out of September the same as we went in. This month, is a scene-changer, and maybe you'll find yourself in a different play altogether by the end of it.

Keep in mind, plenty of people are not going to be in their right minds this month. Maybe cut them some slack unless they're going around shooting people. And if it's you that's going crazy - focus on the practical, and please get some kind of help if things are really bad. Your issues are workable, and they're not unique to you - other people can help! But it'll be easy to lose sight of that fact.

Full Moon in Aquarius

 

 

 

This is tomorrow, the 18^th August, at 10:26 am (GMT). It is – very marginally – an eclipse, which ramps up the usual full moon intensity a bit.

It doesn't need to be any more intense – this looks like a zinger. Aquarius is about shock, novelty, upheaval. For this full moon, the sign's ruler, Uranus, is beneficially aspecting the sun and moon, meaning the shocks involved may be liberating. You might just go off in an entirely new direction; you might just take a big gamble, and it might just work out.

But it looks very crazy and unpredictable. All bets are off! This full moon is part of a yod – a tense, weird aspect pattern. This one looks like it's about a need for personal freedom and authenticity (moon in Aquarius sextile Uranus in Aries), conflicting very uncomfortably with dutiful, routine-bound Mercury and Jupiter in Virgo. It's nervous breakdown stuff.

If that were the only nervous breakdown stuff we were dealing with, it'd be enough. But there's more! There's Neptune on the south node, pulling us backward into utter escapist madness and addiction. There's Mars conjunct Saturn in Sagittarius: truth, consequences and inescapable, harsh realities re. the road ahead. There's Venus in Virgo harshly aspecting all these planets, making relationship and money issues feel simultaneously delusive, unreal, constraining and inescapable. There's Chiron in Pisces opposing Mercury and Jupiter in Virgo – a big existential wound to our minds and capacity to find meaning in existence.

All in all, a total headfuck – and it's not going to just disappear. This is some heavy mental shit and it will get heavier as we move toward the new moon eclipse in Virgo on the 1^st September, which looks frankly awful for anyone of a sensitive or nervous disposition.

That eclipse ushers in a month of mental health weirdness, but the next couple of weeks are no picnic either. We have a Mars-Saturn conjunction on the 24^th August, which will feel like hitting a wall of karma – lies and hype will be exposed. We have Mars squaring Neptune, exact on the 26^th August, which will make heroin addiction seem like a viable life option. We have a Mercury retrograde through Virgo starting the 31^st August, which will probably feel like this:

 

 

 

only even less comprehensible.

And then after the new moon eclipse, we will have Saturn squaring Neptune on the 10^th September – a profoundly disillusioning (and disorienting, and depressing) influence.

I know I am being very dire. I could try to put a positive spin on it all, but I don't see what good that'd do anyone. This stuff looks very painful and disturbing, and it is in play till the end of the year – and people should be aware of it.

Mutable sign people especially (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) – please don't commit suicide. Try to ride the next few months out, one day at a time. One foot in front of the other; one small, mundane, routine task after the other – even when your brain is a mess and you can't see the purpose of any of it. If you try to look too far ahead you're liable to get dizzy and lose your footing – so keep the focus narrow, on what needs doing in the here-and-now.

And if you need some outside help, please GET IT. From friends, therapists, religion, meds, the suicide hotline - whatever works. Don't try to keep your craziness all bottled up and expect it will just disappear. If you start to feel the walls closing in on you, talk to someone. You are not the only fuck-up on planet Earth.

OK, having said all that – it's not all bad. I wrote at the new moon in Leo a couple weeks ago that our theme this month was new beginnings beset by roadblocks.

Those new beginnings are still pretty solid! Just we are hitting the roadblocks about now, and they are considerable. And some karmic backlash is hitting, for those who've been pretending to be what they're not. It's a shock allright.

 

 

The important thing is to follow your personal truth, your vision for the future – YOURS, not anyone else's. And to keep on truckin', even if your onward progress is stalled for now. Keep the faith – small, careful steps will carry you toward the goal, even if you can barely make out your own feet through the fog.

New Moon in Leo

This is later today, the 2nd August, at 9:45 pm GMT.

New moons represent beginnings. Leo is about creativity, pride, self-expression, bling, romance, childlike enthusiasm, look-at-me DRAMA, ego! And hair, of course. Leo people work very hard on their manes. If you know one who claims not to care about their hair or isn't using it to make some kind of statement - well something is off.

(Leo rising)

Leo people can also be very childishly thin-skinned, highly sensitive to criticism and perceived slights. Best not to disrespect the hair.

OK, but more abstractly - and seriously - Leo is about the divine, radiating through the medium of individual personality. It is associated with the heart – the core of who we are. Everyone is the star of their own show, and has to express their core essence.

The sign is ruled by the sun, which can't help but radiate. And in doing so, it keeps life as we know it going – it is the star of the whole melodrama. The boss, the central heavyweight every entity in the solar system orbits around and relies upon.

So in addition to being about creativity and showmanship and personal expression, Leo stands for boss-energy, inherently organizational and entrepreneurial.

Anyway, a new moon in Leo signifies a new beginning in creative / romantic / business endeavours. It's a great time to start a new artistic, romantic, or entrepreneurial project.

This new moon will prove especially good for initiating new projects: the sun and moon will beneficially aspect Saturn in Sagittarius. This gives whatever you begin this month weight, staying power, and a realistic sense of the road ahead.

2 of wands - see here 

It doesn't mean it's all going to be smooth sailing. It's not, needless to say. The sky is setting up some major roadblocks this month – there will be a need for sustained effort, even when things look  hopeless, confusing and stuck.

All in all, though, there is great promise and potential here. But the future will have to be worked for. Saturn is involved, and Saturn is about karma and hard work. You'll get back what you put in. If you aren't willing to put in sustained work toward making something real, don't be surprised when your dreams turn out to be substanceless.

Reinforcing the theme of new beginnings in creative / romantic / money-related endeavours, Venus in Leo is beneficially aspecting Uranus in Aries (exact 1st August). This is a fiery, impulsive influence – it has to do with going after what we really want.

But here is the roadblock part: Uranus stationed retrograde on the 29th July. So bear in mind that the new beginnings being considered here may be stalled / under reconsideration till the direct station in late December. A seed has been planted, but it might take a while to germinate.

Also reinforcing the theme of new beginnings (and roadblocks), Mars moves from Scorpio into Sagittarius a few hours before the new moon. This is a big deal! It marks the end of a long and difficult transit recapitulating Saturn's transit through Scorpio from 2012-2015.

--Think back to where you were psychologically this time last summer, with Saturn grinding his way through the last degrees of Scorpio. Plenty of people were dealing with some fairly nasty crap. Plenty of toxicity was erupting from the depths. Saturn in Scorpio was some ugly, karmic stuff, and the difficulty of the transit was heightened by the Uranus-Pluto squares during the same period – the whole setup was like a wrecking ball.

Anyway, Mars has spent much of the past year going over the still-raw wounds of the Saturn transit through Scorpio, squeezing out the last of the pus, cutting away the dead flesh, putting in the sutures. It has not exactly been pleasant. Surgical procedures aren't meant to be.

But on the day of this new moon in Leo, Mars moves from deep, dark, psychologically intense Scorpio to Sagittarius – a sign which is all about new vistas, exploration and enthusiasm. Meaning: it's time to leave the past behind and move on. There is no longer anything to be gained in revisiting it. What could be repaired – has been. What was broken will remain broken, and it might just be a blessing. (The word “blessing”, incidentally, comes from the French for “wound”.)

It doesn't mean that the losses disappear. An amputee can learn to function just fine in her new reality, but still feel the ghost of the missing limb.

It also doesn't mean the consequences of past actions can be evaded - and in fact Mars is going to hit a wall of heavy consequences later this month. (I'll get to that in a minute.)

But losses and consequences aside, you have a life to be getting on with and new things are happening. Remember that, please, when you feel like wallowing in nostalgia or self-pity. There is no going back to the way things were; you are here in your life now, and it is never going to be perfect (and it never WAS, however ideal the rear-view mirror makes it seem). But there is still plenty to be done.

I feel obliged to say that, because this new moon is hit hard by an inconjunct to Neptune in Pisces. And Neptune – planet of idealisation, delusion and fog – will be close to the south node in Pisces for the rest of the year. So it'll be easy to get pulled backward into dreams of what might have been; romantic fantasy; poisonous nostalgia; idealisation of scenarios and people that are, in fact, not so ideal...

So Neptune is another of our roadblocks under this sky - or more like a swamp you'll get stuck in. Beware of escapism and self-serving fantasy. (Plus - substance alert, in effect now and for the rest of the year. Drink and drugs are more dangerous than usual these days. You'll need to keep your wits about you and your boundaries intact, so please be careful with the boundary-dissolving substances.)

OK, re. roadblocks - this is important. Mars, planet of will, desire and forward drive, is going to hit a huge one later this month as I've said. Saturn, lord of consequences, resumes direct motion in Sagittarius on the 13th August – and then Mars runs smack into him on the 24th August. This is likely to feel like hitting a big wall of karma at high speed. It will hurt.

I think people who've been insulated against the consequences of their crappy behavior under Saturn in Scorpio are going to feel this more than most – they will have to pay the piper here. Also, inflated ego types who do not walk their talk are likely to be exposed as frauds. (This is a Saturn in Sagittarius theme.)

But really everyone will be affected. Please take blockages and delays as a matter of course, because it's unlikely that forward motion will be easy over the next month. It's important to try to stay calm and humble and keep working toward your goals even if progress seems impossible. Getting angry over it will only make things worse. This stuff looks intensely frustrating; there is plenty of potential for violence and cruelty. People will be lashing out.

And it won't help that we'll have a nervewracking mutable t-square in effect again (as in June), involving Mars, Saturn, Neptune and a succession of planets in Virgo. Or that Mercury (mind and communication) will be right in the crossfire of this mutable t-square for much of August, before retrograding back into it in September. (Head-wrecking!)

--Or that we are headed into eclipse season, with an extremely uncomfortable-looking solar eclipse in Virgo on the 1st September.

--Or that we are approaching the third (and final) pass of the Saturn-Neptune square, exact on the 10th September. Saturn is about structure, Neptune is about dissolution – and with these planets squaring each other over the past year, we have been seeing instability, uncertainty about the future and terror spreading like contagion.

I think things are set to get worse this month and into September. Nice as this new moon looks, we are not headed into a nice stretch of time – we are headed into more crazy / violent, and I think everybody can feel it. It's frightening.

My take on getting through all this is the same as it's been all year: the important thing is to keep doing your Virgo. The north node and Jupiter in Virgo point the way forward.

And after Venus moves into Virgo on the 5th August, we'll be looking at a stellium in this sign for the rest of the month. So Virgo is extra-highlighted.

In many ways this Virgo party will be Jupiter in Virgo's last hurrah – he moves from Virgo to Libra on the 9th of September, having spent a year in the sign of humility, detail work and service.

Jupiter is about what enriches and blesses us - where our luck comes from. From now till the 9th September, our luck and blessings are in Virgo.

So however crazy things get and however crazy and powerless you may feel, keep doing your Virgo. Keep your head down and your mind on the everyday tasks at hand. Clean the house, weed the garden, walk the dog, go to work, stay humble and grounded and focused on the small stuff. Restrain your ego and serve others as much as you can.

And clean up your relationship karma – make sure your relationships are clear and balanced and fair. Pay attention to the details and clear up the misunderstandings and injustices. Because Jupiter in Libra is going to be all about relationships... and justice.

It's hard to avoid the feeling that a lot of karma will be coming due over the next few months. We'll see what happens. It is sure to be interesting, anyway - as in the curse "may you live in interesting times". We do!

Full Moon in Capricorn

(Tsuchiya Kōitsu, Nijo Castle, Kyoto, 1933)

This is exact tonight, the 20th July, at midnight (GMT). The sun in Cancer opposes the moon in Capricorn.

Cancer is private, moody, domestic, emotional, creative; Capricorn is status-oriented, focused on outer achievement, authority and public persona. So a full moon across the Cancer-Capricorn axis will tend to highlight issues of inner life vs. outer life:

-inner self vs. public persona
-home and family vs. work life
-emotional truth vs. money / career / status
-feelings and needs vs. responsibilities
-nurturance and gentleness vs. order and discipline

Because these signs have to do with matriarchal (Cancer) and patriarchal (Capricorn) values, family issues are likely to be highlighted.

So how do you, personally, navigate this stuff and integrate these polarities? That's the question this full moon shines a bright light on. The odds are, something in your work-life / public-private balance is changing pretty rapidly right now, or has to change. Or your family dynamics may be shifting in unexpected ways.

Full moons are always a bit fraught, and this one is no exception. The sun and moon are in cardinal (initiatory, action-oriented) signs, and both square Uranus in Aries, which is an explosive, impatient, erratic influence. It looks frustrating – Uranus wants to rebel and break free, but Cancer and Capricorn are quite conservative and attached to the status quo.

Emotional control and pragmatism will be pretty important in dealing with this kind of energy. I think these will be on hand, courtesy of the moon in Capricorn. This influence can be repressive and depressing, but it is also very sober, grown-up, grounded and realistic.

We have seen plenty of eruptive violence on the collective level in the past few weeks. Much of it relates to Cancer-Capricorn themes: homeland (Cancer) and order (Capricorn).

I hope we don't see more violence this full moon – hopefully having the moon in Capricorn will lend a bit of stability and sobriety. It does look violent though – like a crackdown.

(human kindness) 

Collectively and personally, we are dealing with the aftermath of the transformative Uranus-Pluto squares of 2012-2015. These set populist anger and desire for change against a rigid and corrupt status quo, with very unpredictable results. The landscape has altered - often in shocking and disturbing ways - over the past few years. The dust hasn't settled yet.

Compounding the confusion, we have a Saturn-Neptune square now – and this is about the dissolution of whatever we took to be stable and secure. Also, a corresponding mood of unease and free-floating dread.

Fragmentation and chaos are the order of the day, the future is lost in fog, and people are scared – and angry. Under these circumstances, extremist and reactionary movements gain traction. I think things will get worse before they get better, and it will take a good while.

It's not a cheery prospect, but it is what it is.

Some Yeats:

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

Anyway, how do we deal with this frightening collective stuff, and with the smaller-scale ways these influences play out in our everyday lives? The sky does indicate a way through.

1. Jupiter and the north node are in Virgo, and have been for the past year. This is about a humble, service-oriented, systematic focus on the details of everyday life.

-So: you could take out the garbage, walk the dog, cook the dinner, clean the house, honor your commitments, do the small stuff that needs doing. Keep your head down and your mind on the task at hand. This sort of thing is very beneficial and grounding right now.

2. Venus and Mercury are in Leo, just past an exact conjunction but still conjunct for the full moon. This is a beautiful, loving, heart-centered influence on our minds, communication and relationships. Both planets are beneficially aspecting Saturn in Sagittarius, which, at best, is about realistic vision, taking the long view and having a sense of proportion.

-So: you could let your words and actions be governed by kindness, generosity and faith in the future, not hatred, cynicism and reactionary fear. There isn't going to be much of a future otherwise.

3. Finally, Mars (now direct in Scorpio) is beneficially aspecting the full moon, and we still have a grand water trine in effect, involving Mars, the sun in Cancer and Chiron in Pisces. This is painful emotional force and insight that can be easily directed toward compassion, forgiveness and healing.

-So: you could let pain and frustration open you up to the world instead of closing you off.

I think what we do and how we behave in our small lives has a huge ripple effect on the collective. It's the only real influence we have. So this stuff is very important.

Anyway, it's a well-balanced full moon overall – harsh, angry, childish and emotionally reactive on the one hand; but steady, realistic, kind and grown-up on the other. You can pick which side of the equation you want to be on.

New Moon in Cancer

This is today, the 4^th of July, around noon GMT.

We have a big stellium in Cancer for this new moon: sun, moon, Mercury and Venus. So this is a heavy dose of Cancer energy.

I think it's much-needed after the crazy mutable intensity of the past month. This is like a big soothing duvet over our frayed nerves and minds. It's a bit of a break – a chance to retreat, regroup, lounge around at home eating nice food and rebuilding our reserves.

Cancer is about home, family, our roots, motherhood, nurturance, emotion. It is ruled by the moon, and can be as changeable – it is a moody sign, with a lot of fast-shifting emotional intensity.

Our Cancer stellium this new moon opposes Pluto in Capricorn. So expect the emotional intensities this Cancer season to be a bit amped-up. Please cut yourself and others some slack if things get kind of PMS-y and hormonal... It's probably not a big deal, and not worth starting WW3 over. It's just a mood that will pass. Maybe it's a mood that you need to examine and go deeper into, instead of acting it out with others or trying to block it out.

Despite the Pluto opposition, the new moon is well aspected overall. It looks good for emotional catharsis - Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter and the north node in Virgo send support. Maybe there's some emotional processing to be done after all the shifts and WTF moments of June. Things have changed pretty drastically – we are all trying to get our heads around the changes and what they'll mean in a practical sense. (And with Saturn squaring Neptune, this is extremely hard – the road ahead is lost in fog.)

This month looks like a good time to let our hearts catch up with our heads. There are probably a lot of pent-up feelings we haven't had time to look at, busy and buzzing as things have been. I think it's a chance to focus inward and let those feelings come up and be acknowledged.

 

Not in a melodramatic way – with Jupiter and the north node in Virgo, the point of this kind of emotional processing is very practical and sensible. It's about reaching a point of calm in ourselves, because what's ahead will not be this calm again for a good while.

So please use this month to be kind and motherly to yourself and others. Eat well, rest and focus on healthy, practical things. There are more intensities ahead – August looks quite cruel, as the t-square across mutable signs regroups and tightens, and Mars (now direct in Scorpio) catches up with Saturn in Sagittarius. I think retreating a bit now in order to rebuild the reserves is not a bad idea.

Neptune is very close to the south node, so beware of using drink and substances to blot out stress. The hangover will be pretty swampy. (This is a good influence for anyone who wants to make art, though. This month is full of creative potential.)

 

And please remember you can't go far wrong if you focus on the Virgo stuff: health, everyday routine, humility, order, service to others. The current Cancer stellium - which is all about emotional nurturance - supports this focus on Virgo themes. So taking care of ourselves and others in a very practical, gentle way is what the sky is asking us to do this month.

 

That includes letting yourself feel what you feel - not beating yourself up over it, suppressing it, or using it to construct a sob-story that perpetuates your suffering. Pluto is about purgation and clearing-out of old gunk. So Pluto's involvement with this new moon indicates it's time to let whatever's emotionally dammed up or stagnant in you start flowing and moving again. You're allowed to feel what you feel and to let it flow through you.

You don't have to use it against anyone - please don't! But it's important to honour your own feelings, and make the space and time for them to come up out of the watery depths. It's healthy and pragmatic, irrational as it may feel.  

Summer Solstice and Second Full Moon in Sagittarius

This is on the 20th June, exact around noon GMT.

It's our second full moon in Sagittarius this year – the first was on the 21st May, at the early degrees of the sign. This one is at the final degree. The final, or anarectic, degree of a sign is where all its energy is concentrated. So this thing is fraught to begin with. Plus a moon in Sagittarius inflates emotion, for good or ill.

Plus it's a full moon, and those are intense. Plus it falls at the summer solstice, the height of summer. Plus we are looking at a nerve-wracking mutable grand cross during this, and Saturn squaring Neptune, which is all about reality dissolving under our feet.

All in all, it looks extremely tense – the culmination of a crazy, jangled-up month. Mental concerns are highlighted. Issues around communication, mental overload, truth vs. falsity, manipulation of reality, and reliability of information take center stage.

How fried do you feel right now? Do you feel like you're tripping?

How mentally exhausted are you? How much of a mess is your brain? How many little irritations are being thrown at you? How crazy are the people around you acting? How crazy are you feeling? How hard is it to know true from false or even what the hell is actually going on anymore?

There is so much stressful stuff happening in the sky right now, and our minds especially are under fire. And under this full moon, the mental strain and information overload are coming to a head. If you can avoid nervous exhaustion / collapse, you're doing well.

I think the key to getting through this lies with Jupiter conjunct the north node in Virgo. This conjunction will be exact for the full moon and solstice. It is all about keeping a grip on humble, everyday reality and the tasks that must be done. This focus on small stuff, necessary details, health, routine and service to others is immensely beneficial and grounding right now.

Another key is Mars in Scorpio, retrograde till the 30th June. This is a very sharp knife, in terms of intuition. Also the ability to cut ties that are energetically harmful or toxic. It can be pretty ruthless - but if you feel drained and depleted by certain interactions, or you have a sense of being lied to, trust your gut instinct.

New Moon in Gemini

This is tomorrow morning, the 5th June, 4 am (GMT).

Woo, it is MENTAL! Absolutely all over the place. That's the kind of month we are entering into.

Neuron-frazzling as it looks, I think it's also very exciting. Gemini is the sign of thought, communication and networking. And this new moon is the focus of a very tight grand cross involving planets in the mutable signs.

Meaning, a lot is going to shift this month – a lot of new developments and multiple confusing options will be thrown at us. It'll be important to stay flexible and open to change. Everything will be in flux – even circumstances that had seemed immutable are liable to change radically, in ways you couldn't have imagined.

So being open-minded and ready to grab whatever opportunities are thrown at you is key!

But so is staying practical and grounded, if that's even possible. Because maybe some of these new developments might not have a lot of substance behind them. Remember not everything is what it's cracked up to be.

“Cracked up” - what a great phrase. It has multiple meanings: to laugh, to go insane, to shatter...

We will be cracking up on multiple levels this Gemini season! It's looking kind of ADD out there – positively Jedwardian.

Maybe I should skip writing this up and just post Jedward videos. I think Jedward illustrate the cosmic weather pretty effectively.

It is bonkers. Fun, hyper, ridiculous, shiny, disturbing, irritating – all at the same time.

The new moon forms one corner of a grand cross involving planets in mutable signs. This is absolute, unavoidable flux. We will be dealing with it in various forms all summer, but I think this is the official kick-off.

So if you're being hit with multiple little irritating problems and adjustments these days, or if your mind is all over the place, or if you feel like jumping out of your skin with frustration – you're not alone. This is just the sky at the moment, and this kind of energy will be in play for much of the year. Everyone is affected in some way.

That said - despite all the chaos, this new moon is kind of nice! We'll have the sun, moon and Venus all conjunct at exactly 14 degrees Gemini. This is about multiple options, especially re. love and money. Something pleasant is bound to come out of this.

With Gemini, there's a need for variety, diversion, communication and mental stimulation. It looks kind of fun and sparkly: glitter everywhere!

We'll want to jitter around and party and explore multiple options.

The trouble is, this feeling of multiple options may be an illusion. Neptune squares the new moon and Venus from Pisces. This is some heavily delusive energy.

Plus retrograde Saturn opposes the new moon from Sagittarius, and this is a party-killer: a dose of heavy, uncomfortable realism.

So you might want to believe you're a free agent and can do anything you want, but this is actually not the reality. There are commitments (especially, as this involves Venus, re. love and money) that you'll have to honour. There are tasks which must be fulfilled and responsibilities which will constrain your future, like it or not. You do not actually have infinite options; you may not actually have that many options at all.

We also have Jupiter in Virgo squaring the new moon and Saturn, opposing Neptune. Jupiter magnifies things, so having Jupiter involved in this mutable grand cross magnifies the tension between dreams and reality, "options" vs. necessities.

The nice thing is, Jupiter also shows the way forward. He is conjunct the north node in Virgo, and this is about keeping our heads down and our minds on the tasks that must be done. Staying humble, grounded and realistic. Keeping to our commitments.

It doesn't mean you can't have a bit of fun with this and jitter around partying like Jedward! But don't go overboard, and don't forget your actual, real-life circumstances.

Reality is heavy at the moment, and staying attuned to it is favoured. We still have a grand trine in earth signs. It's in effect for the new moon, and therefore for the month ahead.

This involves Mercury in Taurus, Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter in Virgo, and it is a grounding, stabilising, realistic influence on our minds. This is really lucky to have in the midst of so much flux.

I think the flux will be fairly unrelenting, though. Saturn squares Neptune this month on the 18th June, right on the heels of Neptune's retrograde station on the 14th June. It's going to be really hard to know what's real from what's false – it will take all the pragmatism and discernment we have.

We'll have a second full moon in Sagittarius on the 20th June. And we'll have another mutable grand cross for this, with Mercury in Gemini. There is just no letup to the insanity – not for a while.

It looks like we'll really be trying to parse truth from falsity this month – to distinguish between our real options and our illusions. Hopefully by the full moon we'll have a clearer idea of the reality we're dealing with.

Mars retrograde in Scorpio is a good bullshit detector, and this should help. You can rely on your intuition to guide you – and your innate sense of self-preservation.

Anyway, enough seriousness. Here is some suitably discordant music for the grand cross:

New Moon in Taurus

This is today, the 6th May, around 8.30 pm GMT.

I don't have a lot to say about this new moon, except that it looks lovely. Solid, slow, pleasurable, calm – all the grounded, earthy, steady Taurus stuff. It's a taking-bubble-baths, eating chocolates, revelling in physical existence kinda vibe, and it should calm and slow us down considerably. After a month of shocks and unpredictable changes, this slowdown is very welcome.

That said, the key word here is SLOW. Patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait, etc. This is not a month for beating your head against walls. If you encounter blockages and delays in your endeavors, please just sit tight and wait them out. Don't go trying to power your way through. You'll only exhaust yourself. Things will happen when they're ready to, not necessarily when you want them to.

If you find yourself pushing against big resistance to accomplish something, it's a good idea to take a step back. You can use the blockage to reconsider and refine your plans, or you can divert your energy toward avenues that are not blocked – and there will be plenty of these. We have a grand earth trine in effect until the first week in June, and it means there will be lots of material opportunities and blessings flowing.

So if something is just not happening for you at this time, focus on what IS working. You can probably do a lot with what you've got; there is no hurry and there's no need to punch yourself out trying to force things. The way things are set up this month, delay is a gift. Please remember that if you find yourself frustrated!

If all else fails, you could just sit in the sun and have a beer. Life is mostly good! Whatever your problems may be, you are probably not dealing with this – I think it puts the everyday first-world problems into perspective. There is always a lot to be grateful for.

Anyway, re. the sky this new moon: we have a lot of stuff in Taurus right now. Sun, moon, Mercury and Venus. This is very slow, calm, contented energy.

And those planets are bound into a grand earth trine with Jupiter and the north node in Virgo, and Pluto in Capricorn. It's just very HEAVY and solid – but in a nice way.

Jupiter beneficially aspecting Venus denotes new opportunities re. love and money matters – and with all this Taurus energy, it's likely that things begun now will have some stamina and momentum behind them. We are looking at new beginnings and opportunities that stick.

That said, there will likely be plenty of delay. Five planets – Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto – are currently retrograde. So your actions / effectiveness may be temporarily blocked in the outer world.

It doesn't matter! Remember Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep attending to the small stuff and the big stuff will sort itself out.

Things should flow much more easily after Jupiter stations direct on the 10th of May. He'll go direct in beneficial aspect to Venus, and this is like getting a beautiful present that you can actually use – something practical and real.

It's especially helpful because we have a jangly, tense t-square across the mutable signs, involving Jupiter in Virgo, Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces. This will be tightening all month, as Jupiter and Saturn square off (exact on the 26th May) – but this kind of tension will be in effect all summer, in one form or another.

Jupiter-Saturn aspects are about expansion vs. contraction: the tension between our grandiose visions of the future vs. what is actually possible and practical. This is hard enough to navigate on its own, but it's made trickier by Neptune's involvement. Neptune blurs the lines between the real and the unreal, so it's hard to know what is actually possible and what is a pipe dream.

So we'll have this background craziness and cognitive dissonance going on all summer – this low, constant buzzing drone of discontent, like a cicada chorus.

If you're in any doubt as to what's actually feasible and what is not, I'd say just focus on the small everyday stuff as it comes up (per Jupiter and the north node in Virgo). Don't drive yourself crazy with plans and schedules and long-term scenarios that may or may not pan out. Just do what needs doing on a daily basis, and have faith that the long-term will manage itself.

Under the circumstances, it's lovely to have the slowdown indicated by all the retrograde planets, and the calm and stability of the grand earth trine and stellium in Taurus. This new moon really does look like a soothing, happy, grounding influence to me.

So if you're feeling frazzled, please put your feet up and eat some ice cream for me, and don't worry too much. Things set in motion will come to fruition, even if it's slow. And in the meantime, life is beautiful.

New Moon in Aries

This is today, the 7th April, around 12:20 pm GMT.

Oh man. It's such a zinger. Just in time, too.

Our last new moon, in Pisces, ushered in a swampy, drunk kind of 28-day lunar cycle – quite dank and depressing really.

Well this new moon is the antidote. It's a powerful, charged-up new start.

A new moon in Aries is the start of the whole astrological year. It signifies beginnings in all their rawness and urgency. And this one is a bit more raw and urgent than usual!

The sun and moon will be conjunct Uranus in Aries, planet of shock and rebellion. They'll also be squaring Pluto in Capricorn, which is about restructuring, hidden corruption coming to light, death and transformation.

We are past the historic, transformative series of exact squares between Uranus and Pluto (2012-2015), but those heavies are still in square aspect, and this new moon sparks it off again.

Under the Uranus-Pluto square over the past few years, a lot has changed. For better or worse. Think of your life, your self, in 2012 – and now look at you, four years later. Did you ever think you'd be this person?

A lot has been absolutely blown to bits; a lot has been re-built from the scorched earth. And the restructuring process is ongoing – the future isn't what it used to be, and we all have some adaptation to do.

Anyway, whatever way you look at it, this new moon will be a deep jolt. Especially if you have planets or chart angles in the cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn) - something is going to shift in a lasting way.

A deep jolt, and possibly nasty – Aries is warlike, and with Pluto involved, things can get pretty dark. I guess it won't be the calmest month on the world stage – but that's the norm now.

But nevermind the world stage. We are dealing with Aries, sign of the self – so this is all about YOU.

What do you want for your life? Not for anyone else, not for the planet, not for your highfalutin' ideals. For YOURSELF. What do you really, actually WANT? What kind of future do you envision?

Because by now you must know: nothing is going to go according to plan! Nothing is going to be quite what you'd expected.

Maybe you need a new M.O., because the one you had pre-Uranus square Pluto just doesn't cut it anymore. You don't believe the same things as you did, you don't want the same things. You're not the same person.

This new moon looks like a really good time to look at what you really, truly, deep-down want, going forward – and to set your intentions toward that end.

New moons are magical. Setting intentions at a new moon is a powerful thing. This is when you plant your seeds. The act of clarifying and articulating a desire is like planting a seed – something is bound to come of it.

But Aries new moons are super-special, because they set the tone for the entire year ahead. Meaning today at the new moon, you can set your intentions for the year ahead and expect them to carry a charge.

Ask yourself: what do I want for ME? What do I need? What has to change completely? What baggage do I have to drop?

Aries has an association with selfishness, but this is really not about being selfish. It's about being true to yourself. Your deepest desires are in you for a reason, and it's bigger than just you. Desire is how destiny manifests itself. What you want, what you're drawn to, what you value, what you love – that stuff creates the shape of your life.

This lunar cycle really does look to be about desire. We have Venus (love and money planet) in Aries, where she is a total warrior for what she wants. She's beneficially aspecting the new moon's dispositor, Mars in Sagittarius. There is a lot of sparky desire-driven energy here.

Mercury (mind and communication) has just moved into Taurus, where he is preoccupied with practical, earthbound reality – and also matters of pleasure, desire, contentment, self-esteem, ownership. This is a calming, stabilising influence on our minds and communication – useful when we are dealing with so much fire and drive. It'll help us to look at what we want in the light of reality, and see what is actually possible (and healthy) vs. what is not.

Plus Saturn in Sagittarius beneficially aspects the new moon – and this is about having a vision for the future.

Clearly, this is not about short term anything. It's about the long haul. That's why I think this is a really good time to set intentions for the future – with Saturn involved, your intentions will carry weight. Maybe write them down. Jupiter and the north node are in systematic Virgo, so list-making is favoured!

It can be pretty difficult to clarify what we actually, deep-down want. It can involve some psychological excavation. You have to cut through layers of things you think you want, that were programmed into you by your culture or family or social circle.

We are looking to get down to the core of what actually drives us here. What lights you up, engages you, makes life vital and meaningful for you? It's different for everyone.

But this is not about superficial desire. It's about the deepest levels, and it may involve stuff that is buried or taboo for you. There's a need to excavate – who are you really? What are you really about?

And to purge all the stuff you're carrying that isn't really yours and has nothing to do with what you actually want out of life. No more distractions, no more drama.

Sing it Mary J!

This emphasis on depth work has to do with Pluto's involvement – now at the new moon, and also at the full, which will be on the 22nd April, in Pluto-ruled Scorpio.

Scorpio is about psychological depth, the taboo, the Shadow. Also, desire in its most primal, compulsive form.

Driving home this focus on the depth stuff, we'll have the sign's two rulers, Pluto and Mars, both stationing retrograde just a few days prior to the full moon in Scorpio. There is a deep inward focus here, and it will be in effect all through the summer, as Mars retrogrades through Scorpio.

So yeah – this month definitely looks like it's about focusing True Will.

Aleister Crowley was an unsavoury human being and largely full of shit, but I think he was right on this score: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”.

But first you have to dig out what it is you really want – not what you think you ought to want. Not what would please your parents or your friends or even your ego.

If you can identify what really drives you and be drawn by that lodestone, provided you're not harming anyone, you can't go far wrong.

Anyway, I really like the look of this month, though it's quite violent and intense! And fraught. The usual cautions apply. Expect some kind of depth charge / jolt this new moon, especially if you have planets or angles in mid-degree Cardinal signs. Something is going to shift in a lasting way, and it's likely to be uncomfortable. Don't be surprised if it's nasty - there are some hidden agendas at work here. But whatever hits you or erupts out of you, it won't really be out of the blue. This has been building for some time.

Mind yourself and don't fight anything out to the death please. Don't blow yourself up, or anyone else. It'll be easy to overdose on rage.

Also, we are dealing with a mutable t-square now, involving Neptune in Pisces, Mars and Saturn in Sagittarius, and Jupiter and the north node in Virgo. This influence will be in play for nearly the rest of the year. It looks pretty jangled and confusing to me – like it'll be hard to know what's true.

I guess this makes it all the more important to clarify your deepest intentions and desires now. Like, now. TODAY.

Happy new astro year!

New Moon Solar Eclipse in Pisces

Yumiko Kayukawa

This is tomorrow night: 9th March, around 2 am GMT.

We have a lot in Pisces at the time of this new moon – sun, moon, Mercury, Neptune, Chiron and the karmically weighty south node. And Venus moves into Pisces on the 12th of March.

I don't want to be all doomy, but the month-long cycle this new moon ushers in looks like a real swamp of head-fuckery to me. For the next two weeks especially – until we reach the spring equinox, as the sun moves into Aries – we are in some deep, chaotic and dangerous waters.

Substance alert: be careful with the drink and drugs, please. They'll hit harder than usual. Pisces dissolves boundaries, so you can really lose yourself when you combine this influence with boundary-dissolving substances.

That may sound like fun! But with so much Pisces / Neptune involved, the hangover will be miserable.

I think if you have any kind of addiction or propensity to addiction, you should be real careful this month. It will be so easy to get sucked back in. The temptation will be strong.

--With Venus in Pisces, that includes an addiction to idealistic romance. If you find yourself gushing about how some poor fallible schmuck is your perfect dream soulmate twinflame whatever and oh my god, it's just like a fairytale! – please take a step back. This is the kind of thing that precedes massive disillusionment and loss.

Keep in mind that when you are dealing with heavy Neptune energy like this, and things seem too good to be true – it's usually because they're not true.

Anyway, the substance alert applies to medications / foods / chemical exposures / cultural products as well -  people are just a lot more sensitive and porous right now. Be careful what you take in. Try to take good care of yourself physically, because we're all likely to have lower physical immunity at this time. It's much easier to become physically drained and / or ill.

With Mercury in Pisces – and conjunct the sign's ruler, Neptune – we will also be more mentally porous than usual. This can make for really vivid dreams, creative inspiration and psychic revelations. It can also make for brain-fog, delusion and full-on mental breakdown.

So take care of your mental and physical health, please. Eat well and try to get some fresh air and exercise every day – and also try to have some kind of positive daily interaction with other sentient beings. It could just be your cat, if that's all you can handle.

You might feel like being a complete hermit, lying around on the couch eating potato chips and watching boxed sets for 14 hours a day. There are times when that sort of thing can help you feel better. Not now, though! Seriously.  

Pisces south node vs. Virgo north node

Please try to keep a grip on the practical, healthy, utilitarian Virgo stuff that I have been harping on about for months, because it's really important to hold onto everyday reality and to keep your ship afloat and help others keep their ships afloat too. I think it will be so easy to sink, physically and mentally, under this sky.

For this eclipse, we'll have the sun and moon in Pisces conjunct the south node and Chiron. This just looks very painful and draining to me. Chiron is an unhealable wound, and the south node in Pisces is about being pulled backward into addiction, emotional overwhelm and delusion.

Plus we have Mercury (mind and communication) conjunct Neptune (dreams, delusions, addictions, lies). So basically, our brains will be underwater or off in cloud-cuckoo land at a time when it'd help to have them working properly. This is exact the 11th March, the same day as the sun makes a painful-looking conjunction to Chiron, but it's in effect now.

Maybe I'm being overly negative, but I just don't like the look of it. Pisces and Neptune can be beautiful, transcendent and spiritual influences, sure. But they can also represent the worst, most insidious traps human beings get themselves into. There are so many ways you can fuck yourself up with this stuff. I keep thinking of fairytales that turn into horror stories. And addiction in all its guises – how every means we use to evade suffering can become a trap and source of suffering.

That's Neptune – that's the reversal he engineers. He makes you feel like you're in fairyland for a little while, gives you a big rush of magic – then dumps you back into grim reality. The reversal is acutely painful, and it's the cycle underlying any form of addiction – we keep trying to get back into fairyland, and fairyland keeps receding.

The denial / avoidance of reality that underpins the whole process is also Neptunian. Denial is a hallmark of any kind of addiction.

The only way out of the whole mess is surrender. You give up trying to avoid or control reality. You let yourself feel the pain you feel, and be undone by it. It's a kind of death. But people resist death with all their might.

Maybe some people will hit rock bottom and surrender to their higher power under an eclipse like this one. Eclipses are about supercharged new beginnings. But as the last sign in the zodiac, Pisces is also concerned with dissolution and endings – and every new beginning is also a death. I'm sure we'll see some actual endings.

Anyway, it's not all dire. It's really what you make of it – whether you sink or swim.

These influences can be great for artists and musicians and intuitive types. You can channel inspiration from the beyond and give it a concrete form.

In fact this eclipse is great for anyone trying to give a dream concrete form. You can articulate your dream, set your intention, and then work toward it in a practical, incremental way.

The eclipse opposes Jupiter and the north node in Virgo (pragmatism, attention to detail), and squares Saturn in Sagittarius (realistic vision, perspective). And all this represents a tremendous amount of tension that you can use to pull yourself out of the doldrums and make necessary changes in your life. Pluto (death, rebirth, transformation) is also beneficially aspecting the eclipse – so there is a lot of transformative potential and raw power here. It's a great set-up for letting go of influences or habits that drain or destabilise you. Also great for cutting your losses, forgiving and forgetting, moving on.

Saturn is trining Uranus – so there really are new horizons opening up. And Mars has just entered Sagittarius, reinforcing this theme of an open road.

Just, the future will have to be worked for.

The sun enters Aries on the 20th March – that's our equinox! I think it'll be a relief. A burst of energy and fire.

Then we'll have a full moon eclipse in Libra on the 23rd, and Mercury will be in Aries by then too.  I'll talk about it closer to the time – but I think the atmosphere should feel a lot less heavy and confused by then. Things will start getting all zingy and dynamic!

So keep in mind, we only have a little over two weeks of heavy Pisces / Neptune influence to get through. If you find yourself sinking and you feel like this is a permanent state – rest assured, it's not. Please don't commit suicide for a couple of weeks, anyway!! Wait and see what the full moon brings to light.

Some songs by Townes Van Zandt. He was born under Pisces, and he's a good illustration of what this sign is about. Sensitive, suffering, dreamy, spiritual, artistic. He was also alcoholic and self-destructive.

Kurt Cobain too, while we're at it. Another Piscean. Look how he became this Christlike cultural icon via suicide - there's your Neptune, throwing a shimmery veil of glamour and romance over a horribly sad, sordid reality.

Full Moon in Virgo

Hiroshige, from 100 Views of Edo

This in tomorrow, the 22nd February, 6:22 pm GMT.

The sun left clear, bright, futuristic Aquarius and entered dreamy Pisces on the 19th February. For this full moon, we'll have the sun at 3 degrees Pisces facing off against the moon at 3 Virgo.

Pisces is about magic, dreams, art, faith, compassion. Going with the flow of things. Also delusion, addiction, self-undoing. For this full moon, the sun will be conjunct Neptune, the ruler of Pisces. This amplifies the dreamy, swirly,confusing atmosphere.

Virgo, on the other hand, is rational, focused and systematic. Focused not on dreamy magical spiritual otherworld stuff, but on the mundane work that has to be done here and now. A moon in Virgo denotes a need for order, routine, cleanliness and health.

We are halfway through the weird cycle initiated at the new moon in Aquarius two weeks ago. That was a game changer – a big zap of newness and shock. And now things are in flux, big time. Everything is shifting like crazy, nothing has settled. It's all a bit psychedelic and disorienting really.

So at this full moon in Virgo, we are dealing with the need to be practical and keep our feet on the ground in the midst of all this magic and strangeness. Things are all over the place, and yes it is confusing – but there are a lot of new ideas and directions and opportunities popping up. They can be turned into something real and tangible with a little work. There is some practical magic to be done here.

Right now it's easy to sink into laziness, worry, self-pity or emotional overwhelm - or to just zone out completely. Also easy to cling to unrealistic dreams or addictions. It's important to stay focused on the small stuff: sticking to our daily routines, doing the work that needs doing, maintaining our physical health, serving others.

The Virgo-Pisces axis has the motto “serve or suffer”. Virgo's suffering takes the form of endless worry and hypercritical perfectionism. In Pisces, the suffering is more about feeling emotionally adrift and overwhelmed.

You get a lot of existential dread with both signs. The best way out of this misery is to turn the self-focus outward, toward what you can do to serve others. There is always someone worse off than you who could use practical help, or just some compassionate understanding.

Virgo and Pisces are supposed to work together: Virgo has practicality, and Pisces has compassion. Meaningful work requires both. Compassion without practicality is just ungrounded hippie shit, while practicality without compassion is soulless and bureaucratic.

There is a big emphasis on Virgo-Pisces issues right now – Jupiter and the north node are in Virgo, so Virgo is the focus. Health, cleanliness, routine, realism, attention to detail, humility, service. This is the way forward for now. With Jupiter in Virgo, simple and basic stuff like doing the dishes, mopping the floor, walking the dog - can really lift you out of the doldrums.

It's a long-term influence: Jupiter is in Virgo till September of this year, and the north node will be there till May 2017. They will be quite close together for much of this year – conjunct until July. So you really can't go far wrong if you focus on doing what needs doing, staying humble and grounded, and trying to serve others however you can.  

The Jupiter-north node conjunction currently opposes Chiron in Pisces. Chiron in Pisces is about a wound that won't heal – a deep sense of injury and of the pain of existence, with no particular boundary.

It's like Fukushima bleeding its invisible poisons into the sea, or the war in Syria and the uncontainable refugee flows resulting from it. Or the current Zika virus scare, or the rumors of immanent global financial collapse. With all these issues, it's hard to know what is actually happening – but the implications seem quite sinister. And quarantine or solution is pretty much impossible. Everyone is affected, ultimately.

There are problems too deep and systemic to fix. And in the face of them we have to accept our powerlessness – and our mortality – but keep working as if it mattered, per Jupiter and the north node in Virgo.

According to this sky, whether you believe your work matters or not, it really does matter. Staying focused on the small-picture everyday stuff and doing our best within that framework matters. Doing what has to be done – even in the face of overwhelming hopelessness and despair – matters.

I think having Neptune, Chiron and the south node in Pisces is pretty tricky. We are being pulled backward into despair, delusion, addiction and nostalgia for what never was. It's a Slough of Despond.

And it can be very painful to let some dreams and illusions die...But they have to die. We all have real lives to get on with, and responsibilities.

Anyway, for the next month, the Virgo-Pisces axis is all lit up, so these issues take center stage. This Virgo full moon will be followed by a new moon solar eclipse in Pisces on the 9th of March. And for much of March, we'll have a stellium of planets in Pisces. Mercury moves from Aquarius to Pisces on the 5th of March, followed by Venus on the 12th – and by then I guess our brains will be deep underwater, dreaming of perfect unattainable love in Fairyland or some such shit.

We'll see how it all pans out. But I think the Pisces south node, with the combined influence of all those planets in Pisces, will pull hard at us...like the sirens pulled at Ulysses. It looks like it'll be hard to keep on rowing. I'll write about it closer to the time.

Re. the keeping on rowing: this is a good slogan for the next month.

Anyway, for now and the next week we have Venus and Mercury a few degrees apart in Aquarius, beneficially aspecting Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Sagittarius. This is about brilliant new ideas and directions – a blast of fresh air in relationship and money matters especially. Opportunities are opening up, there are new people to meet and places to go.

Nothing will exactly be handed to you – these opportunities will take work to develop, and with all this Virgo, some measure of skepticism and caution is advised. But things are definitely shifting fast and it's all pretty exciting.

I do think the key, with this full moon and for the next while, is to keep on doing your Virgo. Be reliable. Stay grounded and healthy, and stick to your routines as much as possible. Do things for others and keep your ego in check. Get to all the work you've been procrastinating. When in the grip of existential despair or ungrounded wooziness, focus on the practical. Try not to get drunk too often (and we are definitely on substance alert for the next month - please be aware that drink and drugs will have stronger effects than usual!)

But I should quit harping on and nagging about Virgo now.

PS - Nagging is very Virgo! Please remember that for the most part, they only do it because they want to help. They can see your discrepancies and shortcomings in excruciating detail and they feel they have a duty to tell you, so you can fix everything. They want you to be as close to perfect as you can be! Not to make them happy, because there will always be some other worry or fiddly problem that needs fixing. But for the sake of your own health and integrity.

It can be annoying as hell, but it's how they show they care. They are helpers and fixers, and they can't help but notice the small stuff that others overlook.

With Jupiter and the north node in Virgo and at this full moon in Virgo, I think the Virgos deserve some love! Try to take criticism as inspiration. Appreciate how hard they try to help, how much they want to be of use, how much grief they give themselves. Remember they are much more critical of themselves than they are of anyone else.

Here is a Virgoan self-criticism anthem. They don't really feel good about doling out criticism. They criticize themselves for it. Virgo is self-reflexive to the max:

 

New Moon in Aquarius

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hexagram 1 ("The Creative") from the I Ching seems fitting here...

This new moon is Monday the 8th February at 2:38 pm GMT.

OK, so it looks like a jolt – a big reboot. Aquarius is liberating, progressive, erratic and shocking – like a lightning bolt. Abrupt, good at sudden beginnings and endings. Freaky oddball electrical energy, like a dragon made out of lightning.

Plus we have Mars in Scorpio squaring the new moon, adding a surge of uncomfortable emotional drive and irritation. This is the kind of thing that makes you want to jump out of your skin or break something.

There is a deep push for personal freedom and authenticity encoded in these aspects. Something - maybe everything! - has to change.

Also there's the potential for a lot of stupid viciousness and power struggles, if the necessary freedom and changes are blocked.

Recall the full moon in Leo two weeks ago. Drama drama drama! Plus, messes that must be dealt with, revelations, shocks, hidden things coming to light.

OK, so this new moon is a continuation of that theme.

As of this past week, Venus is tangled up with Mercury and Pluto, and squaring Uranus. This represents a value shift, a jolting re-assessment in love and money matters - maybe as a result of whatever has been brought to light over the past few weeks.

Sudden shifts - endings and beginnings - are likely in relationship and money matters at this time. The shifts could also be in your values. The status quo just won't cut it anymore, with these aspects - deep structural change is needed.

Something new and strange wants to happen! So if you're dealing with intense frustration at this time, it might be worth asking yourself: "how am I boxing myself in; how am I failing to be fully true? How am I blocking change and progress and dragons made of lightning?"

The Venus-Pluto conjunction is about dead loves coming back from the grave, true love and commitment, romantic obsession, betrayal, manipulation, addiction, toxicity – human bondage in all its best and worst forms. Also sex, money, power, control, possession. There's nothing light about it, especially in sober, serious Capricorn. You add in the square to Uranus, and it's Indian soap opera time.

OK, so hopefully your life is not as intense (or dumb) as all that, but you get the picture.

Happily, Jupiter in Virgo sends beneficial aspects to Venus, Pluto and Mercury. This affords some buoyancy, cosmic benevolence, perspective and humor to situations that might otherwise be very fraught and gloomy.

We also have Saturn in Sagittarius beneficially aspecting the new moon and Uranus in Aries, and this grounds and stabilises the tense, erratic energy. There's a real future to be built.

And there's plenty of balance on hand. Whatever new direction you're headed in, whatever your vision for the future, whatever you have to change about your circumstances so that your life looks less like an Indian soap opera - it is entirely possible to make your dreams a reality. It will just take focus, planning and sustained work.

The right way to deal with the power surge of this new moon is to channel it into things that support freedom, authenticity and progress for you and your wider community. No hidden agendas, no manipulation, no passive aggression. Everything out in the open, fair and egalitarian and objective.

The worst way is to use all this jolting electricity to shock, hurt and manipulate. There's plenty of potential for that here. Aquarius can be cold to the point of cruelty, and Mars in Scorpio knows exactly where to stick a knife for maximum damage. Both of these signs are fixed: they don't back down.

It's like a dinosaur battle in Jurassic Park - intensely violent and reptilian. Needless to say, if you find yourself in the path of any dinosaur battles, best not to get involved. Best keep the hell away, if you can. Dinosaurs are not rational and they don't care if you become collateral damage.

If you are the dinosaur battling it out, I don't know what to tell you - except, nobody wins; nobody prevails. With Jupiter and the north node in Virgo, it pays to be humble and to keep a low profile.

The really nice thing about this new moon is that it represents a new direction: a surge for freedom, a shedding of old restraints, and a fierce drive to be yourself in all your freaky glory. You get to shed something that's been draining and dogging you.

Wherever this falls in your chart is where you'll feel a lightning bolt of clarity and personal authenticity. There's really no reason to stifle your true self anymore – what have you got to lose? The world needs everyone's weirdness.

Bearing this out, Lilith, taboo 'mother of demons' and emblem of the dark feminine, is beneficially aspecting the new moon - and this is good for women especially, but it supports everyone's suppressed wildness. Go ahead and speak your mind, say what you really think and feel, be your real self and not the respectable facade you think you should be. Cut loose and be true - "be the change you want to see", as they say.

But at the same time, remember the message of Jupiter and the north node in Virgo, and Saturn in Sagittarius. Perspective, humility, good boundaries and grown-up behaviour, please.