It's the day after the winter solstice: the turning-point between light and dark. And it looks like an emotional turning-point as well.
Cancer has to do with our family, roots, home, emotions and whatever we turn to for emotional sustenance. At a full moon in Cancer, the sun is in Capricorn, sign of rules, authority and outward achievement. So there is always a tension between rules and feelings, outer vs. inner life, work vs. family, head vs. heart. It's fitting that this should happen around the time of the holidays, when we're (often uncomfortably) thrown together with our families, and subject to family rules and traditions.
The family stuff should be especially tense this year, as the sun and moon are squaring Chiron, which is about a deep sense of woundedness. We also have Mercury conjunct Jupiter in Sagittarius, an influence that can lead to tactless blurting of painful truths. And Mercury and Jupiter are squaring Neptune, which means communication may be unclear, deceptive or manipulative. Beware of pity plays and “poor me” stories: sometimes the person claiming victimhood may actually be the abuser. That sort of tactic is very likely at this time. Beware also of drink and drugs, which can really escalate conflict and confusion. It's a good holiday season to stay off the sauce, if you want family interactions to be less fraught. This could be a very wounding and painful time.
Helpfully though, the full moon beneficially aspects Uranus, meaning a departure from established rules and traditions is favoured. It's OK to do something radically different and change the script – you can focus on what you want to do rather than what you think you have to do. And you can change your definition of “family” - it doesn't have to be only people you're biologically related to. It doesn't even have to be people.
We have a somber new moon in Capricorn on the 6th January, just as Uranus stations direct. It looks like a bit of a punch to the gut – harsh realities are setting in. There is still plenty of love and joy on offer though. Happy holidays to you and your family, whatever form it may take.
Gemini is a mutable air sign: communicative, changeable, social, distractable, hyper. Ruled by Mercury, planet of thought and communication, the sign is about the multiplicity of information and choice. It's important to note that Mercury was also a trickster god, patron of liars, thieves and lawyers – with Gemini, the distinction between true and false is not such a big concern.
A new moon is about new beginnings, so this new moon in Gemini is about a new start in the realm of information, communication and thinking. The symbolism here is also of an abrupt shift in values and relationships, as Venus changes signs a couple of hours after the new moon, from Cancer into Leo. It's always significant when a planet changes signs at the time of a new or full moon; it colours everything.
Venus is about love, relationships, aesthetics, values and money. In the regal sign of Leo, she's a prima donna: the queen who expects to be treated as befits her rank. She will not be slighted or undervalued or play second fiddle to anyone.
In this case she's also moving straight into a square with Uranus at 1 degree Taurus. Venus rules Taurus, which is all about physical stability, comfort and security. Uranus is in Taurus as of last month, where he will shake up all these constructs for the next 7 years, roughly. As Venus squares Uranus, we will see people abruptly exiting relationships and work situations that no longer accord with their values or make them feel good. Attractive new options may suddenly appear out of nowhere. Whether those options are real or mirages is another matter – Neptune squares the new moon, which makes for plenty of confusion and delusion about what's real and what's not. Be that as it may, people will be looking to bolt the fences and go after something shinier. (You'll know by the full moon in two weeks' time whether it's fool's gold or not.)
This Venus-Uranus square comes on the heels of a Venus-Pluto opposition last week, which exposed toxicity, power dynamics and betrayal in the realms of love and money. So odds are, someone is feeling undervalued and “done” with something: “I'm worth more than this, I don't have to take this shit!” says Venus in Leo. She's beneficially aspecting Chiron in Aries, which is about a wound to our sense of self. Overall, this looks helpful and healing. Knowing when you've settled for less, coming to understand your true worth and leaving dynamics where you've been undervalued is bound to be a good thing.
We have another shift around this new moon, and it also involves wounded healer asteroid Chiron. Mercury, ruler of the new moon, changes signs the day before it, on the 12th June. He moves from Gemini into emotional, touchy Cancer, where he will square Chiron in Aries. Chiron is about wounds, and Cancer is easily hurt, so this means there's a lot of potential for wounding, emotional communication at this time – especially regarding family issues.
As I said though, there's plenty of potential confusion and delusion at play here, courtesy of Neptune. So if you're upset about something, please take a moment to check that your reaction is justified, and not some trumped-up wounded ego stuff. Think before you open your mouth, as it'll be easy to hurt people.
We are in for some WTF moments this month, as Neptune stations retrograde on the 18th June. This is like brain fog and distraction in warp drive. You may need to retreat from the Gemini stuff (parties, news, social media) to protect your frazzled neurons!
Things are likely to feel kind of edgy and weird leading up to the full moon. Mars will station retrograde on the 26th, and then we'll have five planets retrograde: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto – leading to delay and frustration. If going to be hard to make things happen this summer. If your progress seems to be hitting a wall, just take whatever baby steps you can and wait the blockage out. Jupiter will station direct in early July, Mars at the end of August, and Saturn in early September – things will gradually be feeling less stuck.
The full moon in Capricorn on the 28th is harsh, there's no other way to say it. The moon will be tightly conjunct Saturn in Capricorn, and this is hard, cold realism about the situation you're in. It'll be a necessary wake-up call after the confusion and delusion of this new moon, but a bitter medicine nonetheless. Chiron in Aries will be involved – very wounding to the thin-skinned, emotional sun in Cancer. Family issues and responsibilities are likely to figure heavily.
There will be blessing and help in the form of a trine to Jupiter, but I think it will be hard to appreciate that help with Jupiter retrograde – it's a behind-the-scenes sort of thing, not very obvious at all.
When conflict comes up, it's important to note that the way forward right now is shown by the north node in generous, open-hearted Leo. Venus will be conjunct the north node for the next few weeks, so if you can muster up some creativity, playfulness and love, you might as well use it! The alternative is Mars conjunct the south node in Aquarius – this looks like chilly, egocentric rage and selfishness, and it will be much easier to access than generosity and heart. Needless to say, things will not go well for you or your relationships if follow this path of least resistance.
Mars on the south node and Venus on the north node spell karmic make-or-break stuff for relationships especially. This is not an easy time. It's confusing, disjointed, abrupt. The full moon on the 28th June is a necessary dose of hard reality after the exciting mirages of this new moon, but it's not fun. The outlook into August is not easy – not terrible, but not easy.
This is to be expected after the sign shift of Uranus into Taurus last month. We are dealing with shake-ups to our sense of comfort and security, it's not supposed to be easy. Weird and uncomfortable is how we're rolling for the next while! So please keep doing your north node in Leo stuff: creativity, heart, a willingness to take risks and a sense of humour will pull you through.
This is tomorrow morning – the 6th September, 7 am GMT.
We have Mercury stationing direct the day before it, on the exact degree of last month's big solar eclipse in Leo (21st August). So this full moon is a mental revisiting of whatever was going on for you around the time of that eclipse.
And not just mental. This is a full moon in super-emo Pisces, conjuct super-emo Neptune. Suffice it to say, there will be plenty of super-emo, strange, magical stuff happening. The floodgates will be open, for good or ill.
I think for good, not ill. It looks nice to me – spiritual and deep. A good time to focus inward and purify your heart, to forgive, to be compassionate, to have faith in life. To recover radical innocence, per Yeats:
“[...] all hatred driven hence, The soul recovers radical innocence And learns at last that it is self-delighting, Self-appeasing, self-affrighting, And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will”
Recall, the theme of the eclipse (and of the past two months, basically) has been Leo stuff – creativity, generosity, self-expression, pride, bravery, joy, romance. This sky has been forcing us to ask ourselves how to bring more joy and aliveness into our lives; how to live with heart. And as it was eclipse season, great changes were demanded.
We're past the great changes and intensities of eclipse season now. This month is more a matter of getting on with the new order of things – our next new moon will be in Virgo, and within a couple of weeks we're going to have all the personal planets (Mercury, Mars and Venus) in Virgo. This is a lot of detail-oriented, systematic, humble, relentlessly pragmatic energy – it's going to be a great month for attending to practical matters and getting things done.
But before we get there, we have this gentle emotional catharsis: this dreamy, romantic, teary, spiritual full moon in Pisces, where we look back with nostalgia, gratitude, and maybe regret at the summer just past - and come to terms with it. It's a feeling the Japanese call mono no aware – an acute awareness of the impermanence of life in the midst of the everyday.
I'm going to quote Phillip Larkin's “Sad Steps” in its entirety, because it fits, and because Pisces moons are for poetry:
Groping back to bed after a piss I part thick curtains, and am startled by The rapid clouds, the moon’s cleanliness. Four o’clock: wedge-shadowed gardens lie Under a cavernous, a wind-picked sky. There’s something laughable about this, The way the moon dashes through clouds that blow Loosely as cannon-smoke to stand apart (Stone-coloured light sharpening the roofs below) High and preposterous and separate— Lozenge of love! Medallion of art! O wolves of memory! Immensements! No, One shivers slightly, looking up there. The hardness and the brightness and the plain Far-reaching singleness of that wide stare Is a reminder of the strength and pain Of being young; that it can’t come again, But is for others undiminished somewhere.
You see the speaker move from sentimental tropes about the moon to a personal vision that's very clinical and bleak, but deeply felt? I think it's a good resolution of the Pisces/Virgo polarity (feeling vs. reason): it's possible to feel deeply without being self-indulgent; it's possible to see clearly without being cold. That's the kind of balancing act that's called for here.
This full moon looks great for creating art, music, poetry. Also for letting go of things – remember full moons are about endings. It's potentially very beautiful and profound, like a wistful cat.
Wistful cat
But Pisces can also be full of delusion, self-pity, addiction and victim shit – Pisces is the incurable drunk who calls you at 4 am to cry about all the terrible things other people have done to her. And with Neptune conjunct the moon, this is doubly the case here. There's a real potential for people to wallow in their self-created misery, and to try to drag others in too.
The antidote to this sodden emotional mess is Virgo. The north node was in Virgo for the past few years, and I got used to repeating the boring mantra: “Keep doing your Virgo!” It was about attending to practical matters in order to keep from sinking into self-destruction and despair.
The north node is now in Leo, but for the next couple of weeks, it's disposited by the sun in Virgo. So this month, the old advice applies – keep doing your Virgo, stay practical and focused on everyday tasks and routines in order to stave off existential misery.
The nice thing is, the north node is now in Leo, so there's a larger purpose to this Virgo stuff now. It's not just about staying functional and sane. It's about doing the practical work that needs to be done in order to create a life worth living – a life with more authenticity and joy in it.
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.
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!
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.
This is tomorrow, the 29th August, around 8 pm GMT. Maybe you can feel it already.
It's a big, dreamy, romantic moon – conjunct Neptune, meaning the emotional tone will be idealistic, deluded, sacrificial, suggestible, ungrounded. Drunk, actually.
The moon and Neptune will face off against Jupiter and the sun in rational, detail-oriented, pragmatic Virgo.
So we are looking at the need to balance practical, everyday, earthly reality with big swirling emotion, romance and potential delusion. Grounding ourselves in the everyday while feeling way out at sea. It's a very seasick kind of vibe.
Nice influence for artists and musicians – you can use this to give dreams and intuitions an actual form. Anyone spiritually inclined, or in a helping role or profession, should also benefit. But the danger here for many of us is that dreams and delusions will overwhelm our sense of reality.
Overall this looks like a tough full moon to me. Neptune is a confusing, disillusioning influence, and Virgo can worry like nobody's business...plus Saturn, now grinding his way onto the last degree of Scorpio, will be loosely squaring the full moon, adding an undercurrent of darkness, psychological pain, guilt and deep compulsion. And having Jupiter involved magnifies all this. Fun stuff!
Best case scenario – this is about dreams that can come true, given enough mental seriousness and attention to detail.
Worst case scenario – this is about worry, fear, emotional instability - and just generally feeling kind of seasick. Guts all knotted up with free-floating anxiety and dread.
And the worst worst case scenario, with so much Neptune, is getting in way over your head, screwing yourself over, drowning in your anxieties or addictions.
Personally I think this is not particularly comfortable cosmic weather unless you're comatose drunk or full of Valium - but beware drink and drugs, because the hangover for this one will be the Fear all right. With Jupiter (luck) in health-conscious Virgo, you're better off focusing on what's healthy and avoiding boundary-dissolving substances.
The motto of the Virgo-Pisces axis is 'Serve or Suffer'. So if you're feeling lousy and caught in painful mental/emotional loops, a good way to feel better is to focus on what you can do for others. With Jupiter in Virgo, pragmatism and quiet, unassuming service to others are favoured. These are sure-fire ways to transcend your worries right now.
And there is no shortage of suffering in the world, it's useful to remember. Much of it is particularly horrific these days.
Re. seasickness – this is literal for many, and puts most people's troubles in perspective:
Porous national boundaries, death at sea (Neptune), a lot of fussy bureaucratic anxiety (Virgo), and people willing to go through hell to get away from the hell they're living (Saturn in Scorpio). It all fits.
Anyway, on a less literal level, the full moon makes me think of this card in the Tarot:
Something will have to be sacrificed for the greater good here. It's not about getting what you want. It's about what serves everyone best; what serves life best.
The guy on the card is Odin, sacrificing his physical comfort for mystical illumination in a kind of symbolic death. Jesus on his cross is another example of transcendent human sacrifice.
And all the refugees in those Mediterranean coffin ships represent absolute sacrifice as well.
But the sacrifice required of you may not be so intense. It could just be a bit of your pride. Your story, your opinions, your rigidities of thought, your anger, your defensiveness. Maybe your conceptual apparatus is getting an overhaul about now. I'd say, roll with it - even if it feels like not having any ground under your feet.
Virgo's ruler, Mercury, is currently in Libra and conjunct the north node. It's a good time for seeing all sides of a story, particularly in terms of relationships – the aim here is fairness, justice and balanced relationship.
And Venus will be retrograde in Leo till the 6th September. Again, the theme is balancing, reconsideration, cautious delay, careful preparation for future success in love and money matters.
Starting new relationships or business ventures under a Venus retrograde is generally held to be bad luck, so waiting till she goes direct on the 6th before committing yourself is probably a good idea.
We also have Saturn grinding his slow way through the end of Scorpio – and this speaks of frustrated desire, blockages and delays...also deep fear.
Saturn will leave Scorpio for Sagittarius on the 18th September - not too much longer now! It should lighten things up a bit. (Unless you have refused to deal with your shit – in which case you'll be living with it for quite some time. Decades, actually. It's very harsh, but karma's a bitch.)
Anyway, frustrating as delay and blockage might feel, you can use the next few weeks - and the next week in particular - to ensure you have read the fine print on any interpersonal (or actual) contracts you're thinking of signing. This includes major purchases and new creative projects.
With Saturn in Scorpio, you can open yourself up to a world of long-term hurt by being careless or light-minded about energetic transactions and mergers. (Keep in mind that love and money matters are all about energetic transaction and merger.)
That's not to say there's nothing nice going on! Venus and Mars will be exactly conjunct in Leo on the 1st September, trining the moon and Uranus in Aries. This is a fiery, “expect the unexpected” influence for relationships. Anything could happen! People will be feeling revved-up with desire, and impatient.
The conjunction is in uncomfortable aspect to Pluto in Capricorn. Some skeletons in the closet coming out to play, maybe – some very tense power dynamics at work. It looks emotionally fraught, frustrating as hell... but exciting and positive overall.
I do think, under these skies, that delay and caution will serve you well. Jumping headlong into anything is not a great idea – especially with a full moon as emotionally ungrounded as this one.
Remember: take the time to read the fine print. We are trying to see clearly and lay strong foundations here, in order to create structures that can work in reality. That process takes the time it takes, not the time we might want it to take.
Being swept off your feet may sound very romantic and exciting, but it's not the best way to go right now.
This is on Saturday, the 22nd November, around 12:30 pm (GMT).
The sun and moon will be conjunct at 0 degrees Sagittarius – this is the second in our series of four new moons at zero degrees of their signs. It should be a bit of a jolt!
We're moving from Scorpionic depth, intensity and psychodrama to the sign of freedom and open vistas... So it might feel like walking out of a dark, hot, stifling little room and finding yourself on the open range with the wind in your hair.
As the sun and moon will be conjunct Venus in Sagittarius, the new terrain we are headed into likely has to do with relationships, money, personal values, art. And really it's a wild frontier, uncharted and free. Very exhilarating – but this is the kind of freedom that can make you feel dizzy and dazed - or lost. There are no signposts in a wild frontier. There are no roads to follow - you have to make your own. You may have no pre-existing model for what you're trying to create in your life now, and this can feel disorienting and dangerous. And it can be hard to tell if what you're envisioning is real or a mirage...
“I'm set free to find a new illusion...”
Overall, the tone of this new moon is exuberant and exciting - but the scenario it describes doesn't look particularly easy or light. Saturn and Mercury in Scorpio are also conjunct the sun and moon, holding us in thrall to the past. Jupiter in Leo is squaring these planets, magnifying the tension and intensity of this backward pull. And Neptune, newly direct in Pisces, is squaring Venus, the sun and moon, and Saturn – and this is about siren songs and disorientation.
It's like: OK, you've left your stifling little room and you're walking on the open prairie, dazed by all this sudden light and air. Everything seems perfect and magical, and you're utterly amazed. But your mind is still preoccupied with whatever happened back in the room. You haven't quite left it yet, however giddy with new freedom you may feel.
And therefore, you're in a somewhat dangerous and vulnerable situation – unsteady as a newborn foal. It's going to take some time to settle into the new reality, and you'd better not go galloping off after any exciting possibilities until you've adjusted properly. You could easily trip and hurt yourself.
OK, so how long is this shaky foal stage going to last? What kind of adjustment period are we looking at?
Saturn, lord of time and form, will take another month to grind his way through the last degrees of Scorpio. The last part of this transit could be fairly tough and wrenching, coinciding with the 6th exact square between Uranus and Pluto on the 15th December. He moves into Sagittarius on the 23rd December, the day after the new moon in Capricorn, which is Saturn's own sign. Capricorn is about structure and stability – so this is when you should see your dreams taking on a concrete form. Plans and possibilities should begin to solidify into something real.
Until that solidification begins, hold your horses and don't rush into anything, however much you might want to. People can be very vulnerable to hotheadedness and delusion under these influences - so much Jupiter (inflation) and Neptune (delusion) action going on - and it is imperative to COOL IT and stay grounded.
I think the weeks ahead are for weighing possibilities and dreaming up new ones, and also for working through past issues. It's a good time for drawing blueprints and making sure the designs are workable in the real world. There'll be plenty of inspiration and energy on tap... But the actual construction phase starts later, with the new moon in Capricorn on the 22nd December.
On dreams and plans: we've had two years of sifting through our psychological garbage with Saturn in Scorpio, culminating in an intensely purgative Scorpio season this past month...and with all this behind us, plus these transformative Uranus-Pluto squares going on, you must understand that your old status quo just will not cut it anymore. There is absolutely no point in trying to make it work, or in re-creating scenarios that used to work for you in the past. These times are about radical change, so you have to try something new – maybe something you might never have dreamed of doing.
Dreaming up something new is the best way to roll with this new moon, I think. Sagittarius is about future possibilities, inspiration, conviction, enthusiasm. It's not a pragmatic sign, but a visionary one. It can easily be misled by enthusiasm, and that is something this new moon is clearly warning against – don't go overboard! Step carefully! Look at where you're putting your feet!
OK, speaking of folly, I want to talk about Neptune for a bit, because Neptune is very caught up with this new moon. And also he just went direct on the 16th November, after a retrograde period that started in June. With Neptune, it can be hard to tell the difference between forward and retrograde motion, because Neptunian energy is so dreamy and unclear and diffuse. It is inherently deceptive. And as Neptune is in his own sign (Pisces) – well it's a headfuck on multiple shimmering levels.
Neptune is about high delusion – fairy realms and castles in the air - and the disappointment that follows the return to reality. Addiction is also a useful metaphor for how Neptune works – you have the experience of something intensely sweet and blissful, and diminishing returns as you attempt to recapture that state over and over again.
In everyday life, I think Neptune is mostly about disappointment. But it's the kind of disappointment that leads you to the divine, when you realize that nothing earthly – nothing – is going to satisfy your discontent. You hit some rock bottom of degradation trying to fill up this hole in your heart...and then you give up; you give your life over to the Higher Power like they say in AA.
So anyway, Neptune is all caught up with the new moon and with Venus and Saturn also, and in light of this, it's important to really be careful about over-idealizing any romantic or financial prospects, because the kind of disillusionment that can follow idealization is potentially crushing right now. It's also important to keep your ego in check: to restrain your delusions about how much you're capable of. Look at the fool in the picture above. He's so delighted with himself, he doesn't even notice he's walking off a cliff.
Also, be very careful about alcohol and drugs, because they can throw you way off course about now and for the next couple of weeks.
--One other thing: these squares from Jupiter in Leo to the sun, moon, Saturn and Mercury look potentially pretty ugly. Inflated egos, overboard emotions, death-dealing words. Be careful of what comes out of your mouth and try not to be drawn into disputes, because that stuff is liable to drag you back into the claustrophobic Scorpio territory we're trying to exit.
This is on Monday the 25th August, around 3 pm (GMT).
New moons represent new beginnings - you feel out what an energy (in this case, Virgo) means for you, and you set your intentions for the month ahead in relation to that energy. New moons are also great for initiating projects.
Here, we are looking at the sun and moon conjunct in the early degrees of Virgo. Virgo's ruler, Mercury, is also in the sign.
Virgo represents clarity, order, service, perfectionism, problem-solving, craftsmanship, fine-tuning. It's an analytical, fiddly sign, concerned with getting the details right.
It's also about day-to-day routine, health, work, cleanliness, simplicity, purity. So a Virgo new moon means it's house-cleaning time, back-to-school time, end-of-vacation time. A good time to start new health regimens and to organize your life.
In the Northern hemisphere, you can feel autumn in the air as Virgo season takes hold – that crispness, like a ripe apple. Summer's big showy party (culminating under the happy-go-lucky sign of Leo) is over. The flowers are finished and the harvest has to be gathered... Time to get back to reality and make provisions for the winter.
This particular Virgo new moon opposes dreamy, delusive Neptune in Pisces, which underscores the theme of 'back to reality'. We bring the clarity, focus and pragmatism of Virgo to bear on our swirly dreams and fantasies, and on our destructive habits and addictions.
We also have Mars exactly conjuncting Saturn in Scorpio later on the 25th, and this reinforces the "reality" theme and deepens it. Intense energy is going to be available for getting rid of whatever in your life no longer serves you – and this goes deep. It's a surgical focus.
It seems to me like an absolutely great set-up for anyone trying to kick an addiction or deal with an intractable problem. Really, the best possible set-up. You will be able to see through the bullshit and denial – your own or whoever's - and do what needs to be done.
The amount of bullshit and denial involved – well we are potentially looking at the Augean stables here.
“The fifth Labour of Heracles (Hercules in Latin) was to clean the Augean stables. This assignment was intended to be both humiliating (rather than impressive, as had the previous labours) and impossible, since the livestock were divinely healthy (immortal) and therefore produced an enormous quantity of dung. These stables had not been cleaned in over 30 years, and over 1,000 cattle lived there. However, Heracles succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.”
So if you are dealing with a massive stable full of shit, take heart! You can use the energy of this new moon to re-route a river or two and clear it out. It's entirely do-able and you don't have to be Hercules.
Please take note, though: the clear-out of the Augean stables was meant to be humiliating. And the kinds of scenarios we are looking at with this new moon are potentially very humbling. Venus is still in Leo, and she'll be squaring the Mars-Saturn conjunction - along with Jupiter in Leo, which magnifies the ego insult involved.
Venus in Leo is proud: a prima donna, a queen. She wants the best of everything. Needless to say, she is not going to enjoy shovelling shit in the Augean stables. But it doesn't matter whether she enjoys it or not – it has to be done.
So if you're confronted with a situation that needs fixing but is uncomfortable for your ego, it's best to swallow your pride and get to work. Virgo is about humility – being a good behind-the-scenes worker, a good servant and helper. It doesn't demand the spotlight; it gets to work quietly and efficiently, without needing much recognition for its efforts.
--I keep thinking of Ebola health workers in West Africa in relation to this new moon. Quietly, humbly dealing with a horrible situation that few people would voluntarily take on. They do it because it's their job, because somebody has to, because they care. They sure aren't doing it for glory - it's dangerous and thankless work.
(Virgo is the sign of health workers, incidentally.)
Anyway, to sum up: the way to work with the energy of this new moon is to roll up your sleeves and do what needs doing, with a minimum of fuss.
Of course it's humbling to have to downsize financially, or to deal with your addictions and bad habits, or to confront ugly problems, or to clear out your junk. You are looking at your own imperfections and insecurities – your own shit. That's unpleasant.
But try to remember that the focus here is on order, healing, personal integrity and well-being. It's about what's really best for you and everyone...as opposed to what you'd like best.
(PS: here is a depressing article about the ongoing Fukushima crisis. Another Augean stables situation - one that we're not hearing much about these days. It hasn't gone away.)
There are a lot of things
happening in the sky heading into the new moon in Pisces tomorrow
(1st 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.
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 8th
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 (28th
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 6th 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 20th of goddamn May and the
20th 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.
