Venus Conjunct Saturn & North Node / Full Moon in Pisces / Pluto Direct

We have a few days of heavy-duty magic as we drift toward the full moon in Pisces on September 19^th. And by heavy-duty, I mean no bullshit. This story is about having the power to change your life, no lie—but it only works if you use it the right way. There is definitely a right way involved, and a wrong way.

The right way involves seeing (in an intensely focused, probing, detail-oriented way) what is unworkable or diseased in your life… and REMOVING it. Cutting it out. 

The wrong way involves wishful thinking, pining for the impossible, fantasy, escapism, self-delusion. But thankfully, the current cosmic weather makes grand illusions hard to sustain. Reality itself, seen clearly, will have more than enough magic and strangeness in it—you are not going to be needing your bullshit, or anyone else’s.

How does it play out? Well first, on September 18^th, Venus in Scorpio conjuncts Saturn & the north node at 8 degrees Scorpio. The conjunction exactly sextiles Pluto at 8 degrees Capricorn and trines Neptune and Chiron in Pisces. (The moon is involved today on the 17^th September—so you can try to tune in on what these themes mean for you via feeling, the day before it all really goes down.)



This is a very big deal. The theme of the skies at this time (signified by the north node) is all about karma coming due—and the reckonings involved are profound. Venus (love and money) joined with Saturn (responsibility) in Scorpio (depth and death), backed up by Pluto (transformation).

--I put a picture of a pearl here because the sky these next few days is making me think of pearls. Irritation and wounding (Chiron) transformed (Pluto) over time (Saturn) into something of great beauty and value (Venus). And it happens down in the depths of the sea, hidden from sight (Neptune). And the product of this deep-sea transformation (Pisces) becomes a symbol of purity and integrity, absolute simplicity (Virgo). The themes are all accounted for.

Regarding Saturn in Scorpio: this is all about getting back the energy you've given. Energetic return on investment. So if you've invested wisely in solid relationships or ventures and done the necessary work, you will know it. And conversely, if you've wasted your resources somewhere, it will be quite clear--you will know it's time to cut your losses.

We can't keep throwing good money after bad under Saturn in Scorpio--it's untenable; there is just not enough to spare. Resources (financial, relational, energetic) must be conserved and invested wisely. Squandering your love or your money or your limited and valuable life energy on folly and delusion—will not fly for long under these skies. Casting your pearls before swine: ditto.



However, there IS the opportunity to use your compassion and idealism in concrete, practical ways that ground and heal: that’s courtesy of Chiron and Neptune in Pisces trining the Saturn, Venus and north node conjunction. And Pluto in Capricorn gives backbone and integrity.


As I said above, it’s all about seeing clearly. Using discrimination. The sun is still in precise, detail-oriented Virgo, and Virgo’s ruler Mercury is Libra, just moving out of tense cardinal t-square formation with Uranus and Pluto. All the flaws and imbalances in your relationships have been on full display this past week, right? Maybe you’ve managed to stay out of any toxic verbal exchanges…but I’m sure you’ve felt the tension in some way. I sure have! The mental urge (Mercury) to completely torch what’s inherently flawed (Uranus square Pluto), and do it in words that can’t be taken back… To give the world a good tongue-lashing.

Well, I held back, mostly. And for me that’s been a good thing. It would only have made things worse…and in the end, Saturn (karma) will do what he does regardless. Rottenness WILL be laid bare under these skies, whether I open my big mouth about how rotten it all is or not.

But if you have something burning in you that MUST be said or done in the interests of individual human freedom (not individual self-aggrandizement—be clear on this)…well the days ahead might be the right time. Mars in Leo and Uranus in Aries are in easy trine formation, and Mercury is leaving the cardinal t-square—so the potential for explosive conflict via communication is reduced. Speaking up might even revolutionise matters.

Use discrimination, caution and compassion (in the form of ‘tough love’) and you’ll be backed up by the cosmic weather. Speak the truth if it falls to you to speak. Do it quietly and clearly and with concision—do not go overboard or fall back on emotionally manipulative tactics. The potential for doing so is built-in, via a square between Jupiter in Cancer and Mercury in Libra, so try to stay mindful. But don’t back down from what you know is true, either. And accept the fallout. Of course there will be fallout—there are situations and people you will have to walk away from, or they may need to detach from you. It may hurt. But it is imperative to accept the loss of what is no longer necessary and vital.

The day after the Venus, Saturn and north node conjunction, we have the full moon at 26 degrees Pisces. 19^th September: here is the pearl of great price, fully illuminated. Nurturance, compassion, sacrifice, suffering (Pisces moon) versus method, organization, discrimination, clarity.

It is entirely possible to balance these energies via service to others: that is ultimately what the Virgo-Pisces axis is about, and the energies complement each other. Notwithstanding the brashness of Mars in Leo, this is not a time for self-assertion, unless you are doing it in the service (Virgo) of the transpersonal (Pisces).

And finally, the day after the full moon, Pluto goes direct, having been retrograde since April. There will be no avoiding deep structural changes to your life now. The gears mesh up and the big wrecking machine sputters to life. Whether it’s going to grind your world to dust or seed the ploughed-up ground for new growth, the machine has its own momentum—you really just have to suck it up and get out of the way when Pluto’s involved.

What in your life needs to die? What are you holding onto that is already dead? By now you know exactly what it is…it should be clear as day.

Whatever you are unwilling to let go of now will be ripped from you regardless—so best let go if you can. Make a sacrifice of it on the Pisces full moon. Sit down and name it, define it (Virgo)…and then let it go.   

New Moon in Virgo Opposite Chiron in Pisces

Plastic-filled albatross: see here

It’s very hard to know even a little about the damage we’ve inflicted on the world’s oceans without feeling overwhelmed and depressed. Among the most obvious—and difficult to address—problems are overfishing, pollution, and acidification due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.

With a human population projected to hit 9 billion (from a current 7 billion) by mid-century, the prospects for ‘fixing’ the damage we’ve been doing are dim. In many respects, things are already too far gone to fix.  

Life on Earth depends on the health of the oceans. They are the circulatory system of the planet. We came from the sea and the salinity of our blood mirrors the composition of seawater: the amniotic fluid we developed in.

Pisces is the sign of the sea and the last sign in the zodiac. It signifies our origins as well as our ends: the final dissolution of the ego and the personality; of all the seeming boundaries that make us separate and individual beings. Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, has been in the sign since April of 2011—so in a very nebulous way, our intuitive awareness has been focused on the seas these past few years. And Chiron, the asteroid signifying profound wounding, has been in Pisces since January of 2011, conjunct Neptune—so this awareness we have of Piscean matters is inherently painful. We all have this dim background sense that something is very wrong, whether it can be articulated or not, whether it is faced or evaded (and Neptune is famous for self-delusion and escapism).

Shortly on the heels of Chiron’s ingress into Pisces we watched the Deepwater Horizon disaster unfold in the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of barrels of oil from a blown-out wellhead gushed into the Gulf from April to July of 2011, an environmental calamity with ongoing consequences.

I remember watching the ‘spillcam’ live video footage in horror that spring and summer, hypnotized by sight of oil billowing from the broken pipes. Like blood from a wound that wouldn’t heal.

Chiron, the unhealable wound, is also supposed to teach…but I don’t know what it taught in the case of the Macondo blowout. There is a Neptune-tinged helplessness and despair in the face of such destruction: a resignation to profound loss. BP, the corporation accountable for the disaster, continues to evade real culpability. It is a Pluto in Capricorn theme.      

And now, just in time for the September 5^th new moon in Virgo, comes an escalation of the ongoing (since March of last year) Fukushima crisis: another profound wounding to the health of the seas, and thus, to the overall health of the planet. Another poisoning.

But the situation at Fukushima is much scarier than the Deepwater Horizon disaster because the threat is invisible, intangible. Much easier for corporations and governments to lie about and whitewash into non-existence. How Neptune is that?

Except Saturn is in Scorpio, in mutual reception with Pluto in Capricorn—and the attempts to cover up or avoid dealing with inherently rotten situations can’t work for long these days. Again we are seeing, clear as day, the criminal failure of a corporate structure to prevent or adequately deal with the destruction it has unleashed. 

And again we are seeing environmental catastrophe on a scale that induces abject horror and helplessness. A wound that can’t be fixed, with ramifications that spread across national borders (more Neptune) to encompass the whole web of life on the planet. 

Virgo is the sign of attention to detail, health, orderliness, self-purification. The new moon in Virgo is a good time to start new health regimens or get your physical or psychic house in order.

The question posed by this new moon, which opposes Chiron in Pisces, looks to me like this: how can you adequately safeguard your physical integrity and health in the face of disasters like Fukushima, that threaten everything and everyone indiscriminately? Of what use is it to get your own personal house in order—clean and germ-free!—when the entire planet is being poisoned?

Ultimately there’s not a lot we CAN do, except live with the consciousness of wounding and profound loss these disasters entail—and this is also a consciousness of our own mortality. I mean, we can write letters to ‘responsible’ government bodies; we can avoid eating Pacific fish and seaweed (or anything grown in Japan for that matter); we can move to locations on the planet we hope are ‘safe’ and ‘clean’; we can organize and march in the streets against the expansion of nuclear power generation… and all these actions are necessary and valuable.

But ultimately they only give us the illusion of personal agency. And what’s happening is (always) much bigger than our pitifully limited personal agency. We can’t personally or collectively stop the process that’s underway at Fukushima. It is out of control, and even the attempts at mitigation have proven to be dreadful failures so far. A process has been set in motion that is out of anyone’s hands. 

And it is terrifying and painful to know this—but also healing. Because ultimately our lives are uncontrollable in exactly the same way, and this lack of control must be accepted. You can try to systematize your existence, to purify and perfect it (Virgo)…but the boundaries and routines you build and uphold are temporary and foredoomed to failure. Your attempts at self-mastery are foredoomed…the self does not endure. All boundaries dissolve eventually: you are destined to become part of everything again.

And the retaining walls and containers at Fukushima, sooner or later, will dissolve. Invisible poison will disperse through the world’s bloodstream unhindered, and everything alive will partake of it in some way, for generations and generations. It’s terrible, but it’s the reality. How do you live with this knowledge? How do you live with the knowledge that even if this situation is ‘contained’, there are currently hundreds of nuclear power plants around the world, each as potentially destructive as Fukushima Daiichi?

It’s like asking: how do you live with the knowledge that someday you will die? That despite all your best efforts to eat right and stay healthy and be a decent human being…one day you will die and this is entirely out of your hands?

I pose these questions because they’re the questions this Virgo new moon poses for me, not because I know how to answer them. Everyone has to find their own answers.

As we move toward the new moon, we also move into the current square between Mars in Leo and Saturn in Scorpio. It’s uncomfortable…it’s like, you can try to have fun and be lighthearted, but the awareness of just how bad things are, personally and collectively, will make that difficult. And as we move toward the full moon in Pisces on the 19^th September, Mercury also moves into the Cardinal Grand Cross zone that Venus has just left—so our minds are likely to be preoccupied with the weighty, shocking, difficult things we’re finding out. Pay attention. Don’t try to look away from or evade what you know deep down to be true.

All the thrust of the current story lies with Saturn in Scorpio, which is moving toward conjunction with the north node and Venus, exact on the 18^th September, the day before the full moon in Pisces. Attempts to skate along the surface, especially relationally, just will not work under these skies. The themes are depth and endurance. Find out who and what you trust, and stick to it! You should know pretty well who and what you can’t trust by now: don’t waste any more energy on it.

Aquarius full moon / Venus in Libra / Cardinal Grand Cross

Moon in Sagittarius today (August 16^th): emotional buoyancy! But can you feel the foreshadowing as it moves toward conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn tomorrow? The sense of something dark up ahead? There are some rough seas coming up, and tomorrow we get a feel for what’s involved for us as the moon hits Pluto and activates the cardinal t-square between Pluto, Uranus and Jupiter. The second half of August is intense!

What themes opened up for you at the Leo new moon two weeks ago? What traps did you recognise you needed to be free of? Where did you decide to direct your creative energies?

Now we see a culmination: what was only felt and known internally then is all out in the open now. Full moon in Aquarius on the 20^th. Moon conjunct Neptune in Pisces, opposite the Sun and Mercury in late Leo. This looks like some emotional drama to me. Great, MORE emotional drama! As if this summer hasn’t been emotionally dramatic enough already. Sigh.

Big egos and over-the-top pronouncements courtesy of the Leo stuff, emotional withdrawal and befuddlement courtesy of the moon-Neptune Aquarius/Pisces stuff. Let’s see how it pans out. It could also be wonderful and magical: great for creativity and artistic work in particular.

Pretty, right? But jellies STING! See, even as we're getting all this dreamy luminescent creative stuff, Venus is moving into a world of hurt in Libra.

 

Venus in Libra—finally a bit of air! All this water & fire feels like being a firefly in the rain. And Venus is happy in Libra--it's her own domain.

 

But Venus in Libra is not easy this time around—nothing in Libra or the other cardinal signs will be easy or harmonious for the next few years. It all gets hit by the stressful, transformative Uranus-Pluto square, forcing adjustment, purgation, action.  

This time around we have Jupiter in Cancer in the mix, so it’s a cardinal grand cross: Jupiter opposite Pluto squaring Uranus opposite Venus, active August 23 to 27th. The moon in Aries gets involved on the 23^rd, setting the tone for the proceedings: emotional freedom and authenticity, at any cost. LIBERATION.

But it’s painful. Do you think it hurts a butterfly to force its way out of its chrysalis; do you remember whether it hurt to be born? I guess it did; I guess it was terrifying. You know the one about having to break a few eggs to make an omlette? Every birth involves a death: there is no going back to the way things were.

Anyway, this cardinal cross is ugly… but I think it could be worse. The two benefics (Jupiter and Venus) are involved, and Uranus-Pluto gives the potential for sudden lightning change, deep transformation. Also relational ruptures that need to happen. Jupiter is happy and exalted in Cancer, and Venus is in her own sign of Libra. So the things that need to be changed, can be. And there is emotional healing and backup provided courtesy of the still-active grand water trine. 

But no question, it’s tense. Poor Venus in Libra. She just wants everything to be lovely and for everybody to get along. Everybody can’t get along, though.

Venus opposite Uranus (and the moon) in Aries: enough of covert or not-so covert manipulation and control, people aren’t going to be having it. 

Jupiter opposite Pluto: power struggles, yeah.

Ugh, it looks like the ‘Get-Along’ shirt.

 

Ha! Venus in Libra at her most insane, squaring Jupiter in Cancer (family fun). And Venus squaring Pluto: controlling love. And an opposition to Uranus--what a shockingly brilliant idea this 'get along' shirt thing is! I wish I had one to put my ENTIRE FAMILY in!

Aaargh.

On a personal or familial level, this stuff can (hopefully) be funny. But you take these energies and apply them to a collective and you are looking at explosive tension (Uranus-Pluto). Over economic issues (Venus), justice (Libra) and notions of 'home' & 'country' (Jupiter in Cancer). The current crisis in Egypt illustrates these themes pretty well. It will be interesting to see what happens there in the weeks ahead as the cardinal cross comes into full force.

Tense as it is, three days into the cardinal cross we get a little dose of magic. From the evening of the 25^th August to the morning of the 26th we have, holy crap, another grand sextile. Brought to you by the moon in Taurus and the sun and Mercury in early Virgo. And this is a beautiful, very welcome thing: it grounds the dissonant, difficult energies of the cardinal grand cross. It's like, in the midst of all the conflict, there is this magical calm; this great potential space to breathe in; to process the changes or to lick our wounds in.

 

So, maybe we’re not out of the woods yet; maybe there is no ‘out of the woods’, ever. But there are great gifts mixed in with the difficulties, always. As with the last grand sextile, the message here seems to me to be about engagement. The sun and Mercury will be in Virgo: self-improvement, a focus on the little details of earthly existence. There is no getting out of the necessity of working with the difficulties as they present themselves.  Assimilating the lessons, figuring out how to use them.

 

New Moon in Leo / Cardinal T-square / Jupiter opposition Pluto

Well, Jupiter’s still hanging out in cardinal t-square land—Mars is moving out of the assemblage. Thank gods. Because last weekend, for shocking, emotionally-driven, manipulative nastiness, was really quite enough.

That’s not to say it’s over—there are reckonings coming due when the moon hits mid-Libra on the 11^th August and briefly activates a cardinal grand cross. There are decisions to be made as to how you will deal with the fallout. Some veils were dropped last week…with luck (Jupiter) you know what’s underneath them now. You know there are people and dynamics that feel harmful and hurtful to you, and violently constraining. It’s up to you to decide (Libra) how you’re going to deal with this gut knowledge—do you put up and shut up, do you try to fit in with the rules and impossible expectations other people set for you? Do you try to shift the dynamic? Or rebel? Or simply walk away?

The new moon in fiery, self-concerned Leo today gives a clue as to the kind of response the skies are supporting. How it plays out in your life is a matter of how it hits your chart, but the overall theme is AUTONOMY. Being your own source of light, your own eccentric, shiny self. Valuing the truth of your own being and your own emotions, no matter how weird you may seem to others. Valuing yourself.

The sun and moon both trine Uranus—so being a free spirit, detaching from imprisoning internal and external dynamics, flying your own personal freak flag—these things are supported. And with the grand water trine still in effect and Mercury still in Cancer, you can trust your deepest feelings and intuitions. You will not go wrong if you honour your own emotional truth. 

But there is also an exact opposition between Jupiter in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn, so this is not going to be conflict free: there are definitely power struggles involved. There are some rotten old structures here (Pluto in Capricorn) that must be confronted with emotional truth (Jupiter in Cancer). Speaking out may or may not be an option for you: with Mercury in Cancer, it can be hard to say what you feel or intuit.

But knowing what’s right and true within yourself, FOR yourself—is of the utmost importance. Honouring your own truth and your own values. Being your own authority. Creativity can be part of this: Leo is all about creativity. So find ways to creatively address the situation at hand, to express yourself, to express your feelings.

New moons are a good time to set your intention for the month ahead. If you set an intention having to do with personal freedom, autonomy and creativity, things should go swimmingly.

Grand sextile

Yesterday's t-square: Christ it was ugly allright. For me anyway. Rotten old family dynamics, emotional manipulation, trauma, betrayal.

Jupiter, Mars & Mercury (big huge fighting words, emotionally wounding communication) all conjunct in Cancer, opposite Pluto in Capricorn (rotten societal structures), square Uranus in Aries (the individual need to be free & self-determined).

Why is family stuff so hard? Who are these crazy people we're bound to, & why? Why are our emotional triggers where they are; what is there to learn here?

I could say 'detachment', but these skies are not exactly about detachment. Not from where I'm standing anyway. They are about making the best of a bad deal & engaging with the difficulty of embodied existence. Engaging with painful dynamics you can't just wish yourself out of. Age-old, rage-old mind-games & head fucks; corruption & secrets. Societal, familial. These problems have deep roots and are not going to just disappear. They have to be addressed. But how?

Is it enough just to feel them? To feel the deep old trauma & turmoil; the powerlessness and rage, the constraint. Can that kind of acceptance (& surrender) actually heal?

I don't know about 'healing'. But today, the necessity of engaging with difficult, actual existence, as pictured in the heavens, becomes so profound. 2 grand trines, water & earth; sun square Saturn. Taurus moon. Yes it's heavy to BE. Yes it's constrained.  Venus still opposite Neptune & now Chiron: love hurts when the veil of illusion drops. But the truth, while it may not quite set you free, can be stabilising (Venus sextile Saturn). When the veil drops & you're down to bare rock, well that's somewhere firm to stand anyway. Bare rock.

It's the kind of sky where, if you try to detach and do your own thing and be your free-spirit self--you will encounter violent internal & external resistance. The next couple of days are about working within the limitations, feeling the feelings, staying grounded, staying diligent. Help and support are available if you can manage this. It's far from easy, especially for airy/fiery types--it's earthbound & heavy. But necessary, necessary. Look at the north node 7 degrees away from a conjunction with Saturn in Scorpio. This is not about frippery or fun--it's dead serious. Time to face the music; time to flay away the rotten, non-living, non-essential stuff; time to deal with your shit. Time to get real.

The thing to remember is, it's very temporary. The sun-Saturn square is only a few days' duration, and soon the sun will trine Uranus in Aries. And then the moon will join it in Leo for emotional support. And then (next week) you can shine.

Venus in Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces

Mia Farrow as Venus in Virgo. Careful, shy, humble. Look at her face at the end of the clip. Neptune in Pisces is what she's looking into: a projected dream, pure fantasy. And she is in love with it, entralled. In the story, her real-life dreams have been broken. Yet the cinematic heaven illuminating & softening her angular little face...suffices. Or does not suffice. It doesn't matter. None of it is real: Neptune & Venus are staring from opposite sides of the screen at each other & it is all happening inside another dream.

Her face here...is the closest image I could find for how this opposition, bound into the kite formation of the current grand water trine, feels. What it feels like to be sitting in the theatre during this particular film: end of July 2013. No illusions will be permitted of us, really (Saturn in Scorpio); the  shocks & manipulations & betrayals are written up there in the sky....the rottenness is palpable. The t-square between Mars, Pluto & Uranus right now feels UGLY. Having Jupiter & Mercury involved doesn't help...I know my mind has felt under some deep dark waters this week.

& yet there is this fragile, humble little dream of redemption binding the pattern together at present. Tenuous as a spider's thread or a frame or two of celluloid or a sentimental old song. & it's nearly over...

Venus is moving out of the opposition with Neptune now & the moon leaves dreamy Pisces this evening to conjunct Uranus in Aries tomorrow & add more emotional fire to the Mars, Pluto, Uranus t-square. Nearly time to wake up from the dream, to leave the cinema, to face whatever difficulty or horror or opportunity the street outside is holding in reserve for you.

Welcome to Spider Lady Astrology. I am hoping to update here regularly and am available for natal chart, I Ching and tarot readings. Drop me a line!