New Moon in Pisces

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

(lightning scars: see here)

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

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

(Pisces cake)

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

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

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

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

(by Ivan Bilibin)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Kiev protests)

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

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

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

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

Full Moon in Leo

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

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

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

"DON'T CROSS MY LINE!"

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

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

Or this:

But I think this is equally likely:

Anyway, what's the story here?

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

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

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

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

But then you get to the real hurdles.

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

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

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

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

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

(More fight music!)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mercury in Pisces and Venus Direct

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Moon in Aquarius

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Crappy day in dinosaur land)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miss Havisham's rotten wedding cake?

Juliet's corpse.

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

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

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

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

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

Full Moon in Cancer

This one's at 26 degrees Cancer on January 16^th, around 5 am GMT. 

And it's...not so bad. Really, ha. It's actually sort of nice! Provided you've been doing your work.

The moon will be in her own sign of Cancer, which is a very nurturing and motherly kind of vibe. And she will have just passed a conjunction with Jupiter in Cancer the day before, which is kinda like getting a cupcake from the universe. Or a big smoochy kiss. It's a fleeting influence, but sweet. 

The moon will be opposing the sun in Capricorn, which is widely conjunct Venus: so this story is still about having rock-solid standards in love and money matters. Making sure your commitments are solid. 

So basically we are looking at a very motherly, nurturing, cupcake-bearing emotional tone opposing the cold, bedrock reality of limits and standards. You can't always get what you want...

Oh crap, I'll play the song even though it's kind of hokey. You get what you need. 

Yeah, very appropriate for this full moon. (There's even a cake on the cover of the album.) 

Mars will be exactly squaring Venus in Capricorn later on the day of the full moon...so this theme of wants vs. requirements really does seem to be what we are looking at here. Mars in Libra wants one-on-one relationship, social harmony, social justice and fairness. And Venus in Capricorn requires solid investments and security. Something you can bank on. And the moon in Cancer is about hunger and sustenance.

What do you want; what is your heart set on? And is it something that can actually nourish you, or is it junk food? It's the full moon, so you will know: the issue will be all lit-up and in your face. 

Here is a link to hexagram 27 from the I Ching. It's about issues of right nourishment. 

http://deoxy.org/iching/27

There may be something you want that you just can't have. Or something you really want that you probably shouldn't have (another cupcake maybe?)

Maybe you're emotionally invested in something that just does not work in the real world. Or maybe you're involved in some unjust relational dynamics that need to exposed and weeded out. 

Saturn in Scorpio (karma coming due, especially regarding dark collective psychological patterns) will be hitting the sun, Venus, the moon and Jupiter with beneficial aspects, and this is a very steadying influence on the emotional tone. It should be possible to cut off any toxic or unworkable patterns this full moon exposes. It should be easier than usual to walk away from temptation, to stop doing what you know is bad for you, to dissociate yourself from shitty interpersonal dynamics. 

And because Mercury is in Aquarius and sextiling Uranus in Aries...you will probably find it easy to understand, in a fairly detached way, exactly what's going on. And to articulate it brilliantly and with great clarity! To issue your revolutionary manifesto in a very electrifying yet rational way.

I think if you've been doing your work and dealing with your shit (Saturn in Scorpio again), the skies at this time will really be on your side. You'll get back some sort of solid return on investment; you'll have laid the foundations of your security...and you'll probably be feeling pretty damn ok.  

If you've been lying to yourself and others, indulging what's worst in you, attempting to nourish yourself on toxins...well you'll get a solid return on those sorts of investments as well. It's harsh, but that's just how it is.

Something I'm seeing in my own life under these skies: there is a real theme of women being fed up with deeply ingrained cultural patterns of patriarchal power and abuse, and refusing to put up and shut up anymore. It's exhilarating. 

Jupiter in Cancer is some big fat female energy. And this full moon will be conjunct Lilith, a signifier of scary, socially unacceptable female power and rage. And these points are involved in the current cardinal grand cross, which is about rotten social structures that must be changed. 

So I think for women especially...speaking out about relational injustice, even if you're initially branded a crazy bitch for it (and you probably will be), is really important. We have Jupiter (luck, blessing, justice) on our side right now and we had better use it! 

This goes for gay men as well, and men who don't buy into the patriarchal worldview. The cardinal grand cross represents a window of opportunity or a portal to a different kind of world. We can actually instigate revolutionary changes in the collective via individual action these days...and that means fighting for justice on your own home turf, in your own life. Speaking out, making a fuss, being loud and troublesome if that's what feels necessary. And also banding together with other women and like-minded men for support.

Things only change when enough individual people are willing to stand up and challenge the collective undertow...even if that means being isolated at first. We have to value our personal integrity and the truth of our feelings and intuition more than we value fitting into social structures that are inherently rotten.

New Moon in Capricorn / Cardinal Grand Cross



by Tom Thomson

 
This one happens at around 11:15 am GMT on New Year's Day.

And holy crap, what is there to write about this kind of intensity? It's so stark.

Here is a Pavement tune for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9FYkXEFlE8

& another, while we're listening to Pavement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NPeykShUVA

New moon in Capricorn conjunct Mercury and Pluto (deep, austere thought and communication). Opposite Jupiter in Cancer (big emotion), squaring Mars in Libra (social aggression, or a drive for relationship) and Uranus in Aries (individual revolt). It's a cardinal grand cross again, jagged and tense, demanding change.

What austere, difficult story is being initiated here? Is it about the beginning of an ending? Or the beginning of something absolutely true - all dross stripped away? All illusions burnt away.

A dream flayed alive, all stripped down like a winter tree... But surviving.

& this was on the other side of the Simple Machines 7" with that Scrawl song, so I'll include it. Holiday joy. Haven't heard these in a long time.

Yeah, it's Capricorn time again. Dark of the year, but with the promise of new light. The landscape in hibernation: stark and quiet, no frippery. The trees hoarding their light deep underground; enduring.

Earthly incarnation is hard going. That's the message of Capricorn...it's hard going and you will have to work for your security. And there will be times where you're stripped of everything but essentials, standing out in the cold wind and just holding on.

Capricorn is also about building something solid and reliable. Committement. What have you achieved this year...what can you build on? What are you committed to?

If you have committed to something unreliable, you'll know. With this cardinal grand cross in effect...you'll know because it will be battered to bits.

--Where I live, the winds were so high last night I thought the roof was going to fly off. It held.

But the same sort of testing is in effect with regard to relationships and investments of all kinds. Venus - ruler of love and money issues - is in Capricorn, demanding solidity.

And this lunation is disposited by Saturn, ruler of Capricorn. Saturn is about limitation. Duty, rules, karma...also fear, constriction, loss.

Saturn is in Scorpio now, so the karmic load is pretty damn heavy and dark. Not a lot of leeway here. We are facing into the consequences of collective patterns, not just our individual ones...and the changes required of us, especially in relationships, are profound.

Failing deep commitement and the will to relate profoundly, we are likely to see some shocking nastiness under these skies. People either get it or they don't. Either they're doing the work, striving for integrity and decency...or they aren't. It's that stark.

And the ones who aren't, you'll want to stay away from these days...they'll be loose cannons. If a person hasn't established some sort of bedrock ground to stand on via their words and actions...avoid them if you can, for your own safety.

People will be stressed and tense, overburdened and easily pissed off. And sudden violence is quite possible, given the Uranus-Mars opposition.

Sudden accidents are also likely, so drive carefully please!

Yeah...stark is the word for this new moon allright. But Jupiter in Cancer is also about faith and hope and emotional buoyancy. And Capricorn is about faith too. However dead and stripped-down the landscape looks...we are past the solstice, the days are getting longer. Grim endurance is not a permanent condition - soon enough it'll be spring again.

Happy New Year!

And no, it will not be an easy one. But we are getting used to this state of affairs by now, right? If we've come this far we can go the distance.

Here is a link to hexagram 32 from the I Ching. It's about enduring, persevering. Staying balanced amid the changes. It's a good hexagram for the skies at the minute.

http://deoxy.org/iching/32

by Toshi Yoshida



Full Moon in Gemini / Uranus Direct



by Ivan Bilibin

Ok, this Gemini full moon hits exactitude at 26 degrees Gemini on the 17th Dec, around 9:30 am GMT. And then at around midnight on the 18th, Uranus goes direct at 8 degrees Aries after a four-month retrograde period (since July 17). And all this ushers in a very fraught and edgy holiday season.

Let's look at the full moon first. This one appears to be about communication, big-style. The sun will be conjunct Mercury in truth-seeking (but sometimes bombastic and verbose) Sagittarius, opposing the moon in restless, chatty Gemini.

A Gemini moon is not very emotional: it needs mental and verbal stimulation first and foremost. Witty banter, wordplay, amusement, gossip, news headlines, reality tv: it's pretty value-free. It just needs to keep jittering around from one thing to the next - to avoid boredom and stagnation.

Gemini is like the Internet: a network of loosely associated content. You can surf from one link to the next forever but you never exactly get anywhere--and that's the whole point. It's not about getting from here to there or finding meaning or seeking out capital-T Truth - that's what Sagittarius is for. Gemini is more about knitting something together: networking. And shallow as it may seem, nothing really exists outside of this networking. Our minds and lives and communities are emergent properties of the network.

So for example we have a lot of individual trades creating a marketplace, or a community's life emerging from the back-and-forth of individual conversations among people. Or the communication of neurons in the brain collectively creating a mind.

Gemini is about information, communication, commerce. Thought - but the actual physical process of thought, not the products. The leap of a signal across the neural synapse: the intangible, lightning fast transmission. With Gemini, it's not the actual message that matters but the act of messaging. The messenger isn't supposed to read the message or interpret it or act upon it, only convey it.

And this relates to the association of Gemini with twins: in order for there to be a message, there has to be a gap to be bridged: a separation. A duality or polarity, as between two neurons in the synapse. Or the cathode and anode in a battery... Duality is what calls the intermediating spark into being.

(JEDWARD BREAK!!! I'M SORRY.)

Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, is represented as a winged messenger in the mythology, with a cloak of invisibility. A merchant, a trickster and a thief; volatile ('mercurial') and hard to pin down. A real jumpy, nervous, shiny chicken of a god, always rushing around on some errand or another, stopping along the way to perform random little acts of mischief.

Anyway, back to the full moon. This Gemini moon is disposited by (and in opposition to) Mercury in Sagittarius, and this is problematic for our shiny chicken messenger. This is a face-off between the need for distraction, stimulation and networking, vs. a drive for meaning and truth. And Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius, is in Cancer and trining Saturn in Scorpio--so this is about a sustained, steady drive for emotional truth, deep soul engagement and opening up old emotional wounds so they can heal.

How do you jitter around at paties, relaying gossip and talking about the Kardashians or whatever...and be profound and true at the same time? It's pretty damn hard. It could wind up looking like the Jedward video above. Gemini backed up by Jupiter in Cancer: big spurts of female water & a pair of manic teenagers jumping around singing about true love.

(Ok YES I KNOW, that Jedward thing is deeply disturbing.)

Anyway it's likely people will be playing out the two polarities of this dichotomy in their interactions:

some will be jiggling from foot to foot nervously while others try to engage them in long-winded philosophical dissertations.
Some will be replying to deep and heartfelt revelations with ridiculous and inappropriate jokes.
Some will be going on internet dates and spilling their guts to uncomfortable strangers.
Some will be blurting dark family secrets at lighthearted social gatherings.
Some will be blogging about the esoteric meaning of Gemini in windy Sagittarian style, then inserting Jedward videos to illustrate.
Some will be taking absurd selfies at Mandela's funeral and they are the president of the goddamn United States, show some dignitas already please.

Etc etc.

So awkward! --And hey, what about that guy who was supposed to be doing the sign language at Mandela's funeral and it turned out he was only flapping his arms around? Amazing! That is a Gemini-Sagittarius conflict story if ever there was one. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"...except of course it didn't involve sound or fury; it was just dumb.

Anyway, the above examples are pretty harmless and amusing...I'm trying to keep things light, Gemini-style. But Gemini is known for twisting the truth, and the truth is, this stuff isn't really light. For one thing, Mars is in Libra now - the signifier of war in the sign of social harmony - and social faux pas are a big deal. A very very big deal, as Libra moves into cardinal t-square with Uranus and Pluto. People will be very edgy and the consequences of breaches of social etiquette may be severe - and potentially traumatic.

And Uranus, which represents sudden shock, is going direct after the full moon, with Mars in opposition: so things can get explosive and dangerous very quickly. You do not fuck with people under these skies. And if they fuck with you...well I guess you'll have to resist the urge to annihilate them. Unless they really really deserve it, and you are willing to deal with the consequences (such as going to jail for the next 40 years).

Things can turn on a dime and get violent and out-of-control very quickly, so be careful. This is the whole holiday season we're talking about: the second half of December and the first week of January, roughly. The potential for family conflict, with Jupiter in Cancer aspecting Mars, Uranus and Pluto, is very high. There could be breakthroughs as well: big beneficial shifts in relational power dynamics. But these kind of changes don't come without discomfort, and the energies at work here look very uncomfortable.

Anyway, Happy Christmas; Happy New Year. Stay safe and take no chances. Pace yourself, make sure you get enough rest, avoid risky situations. Use your words carefully. You probably say dumb things when you're drunk; we all do. But the consequences over the next few weeks could be serious, so be careful about holiday drinking.

There is a new moon in Capricorn on New Year's Day, and it looks like a doozy. Conjunct the sun, Mercury and Pluto in Capricorn, and aspecting Mars, Jupiter and Uranus in a Cardinal Grand Cross. I'll write more on it later. Suffice it to say for now: things are going to change in a big way this holiday season; there's no way around it. Let's see what happens.

"May all your crises be opportunities!" sayeth thee Philosoraptor

(as he devours yr brain...)