New Moon in Libra

This is on the 24th Sept around 7 am (GMT). The sun and moon will be conjunct at 1 degree Libra.

Libra is about balancing multiple perspectives; creating a harmony between different viewpoints. It's an inherently social sign – it has to do with the relationship between self and other. Specifically one-on-one relationships, partnerships, marriages. It's an air sign: concerned with thinky stuff, not particularly emotional. Which comes in handy when you're trying to balance different viewpoints in the interests of keeping the party polite. It's about diplomacy.

Here's Frank Sinatra on how to be a lady. He's talking about luck, but this song is very Libra:

 

"A lady never leaves her escort
It isn't fair, it isn't nice
A lady doesn't wander all over the room
And blow on some other guys dice"

Social decorum and politeness are pretty important in Libra-land. It can get kinda Jane Austen. There is a big drive to be 'fair' and 'nice' – even to one's own detriment.

That said, Libra has been particularly stressed under the Uranus-Pluto squares of the past few years, and a lot of people with planets or chart angles in this sign may be feeling pretty shook up, and disinclined to be 'nice' where it isn't being reciprocated. The famous Libran composure and tolerance and civility may be just about at breaking point.

There are more rapids ahead in October as the moon, sun, Venus, retrograde Mercury and the north node swing into cardinal t-square zone with Uranus and Pluto. It is likely to be stressful.

So if you should meet formerly polite and civilised Librans running around acting like the zombies from “28 Days Later”... well please try to remember that these people are getting hit by stressors you wouldn't believe, and they probably no longer give a fuck. The same goes for the other cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer and Capricorn.

Actually, the same kinda goes for everyone. The Uranus-Pluto squares are about intense collective change, and no one comes out of this period the same as they went in. But people with planets or angles in the cardinal signs are more likely to be hit in a personal way – right where they live.

OK, so the day before this new moon (September 23rd) is a very big day. Two important things happen. First we have Pluto, King of Hell, going direct after a retrograde period that started in April of this year. Then a few hours later, we have the autumn equinox as the sun enters Libra. This is the start of autumn in the Northern hemisphere and spring in the Southern – the day when daylight and dark hours are equal.

With Pluto direct, it's time to let go of whatever rotten bullshit you're still hanging onto. Your pathology, your addictions, your ideology, your ego...whatever. Just drop it if you can. Pluto will now be moving into the 6th square with Uranus, exact on the 15th December – more shock and awe ahead for the rest of this year, and you'd better be getting ready to turn on a dime.

Which means... stop maintaining your ossified stance toward existence, whatever form it may take. Take that pole OUT of your ass already. Get loose.

Can you dance? No?! Why not?!

Who told you you couldn't?

Lao Tzu:

“A man is born gentle and weak; at his death he is hard and stiff. All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life; dry and brittle in death. Stiffness is thus a companion of death; flexibility a companion of life. An army that cannot yield will be defeated. A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. The hard and stiff will be broken; the soft and supple will prevail.”


Well I don't know about 'prevailing' under these skies, but you can hopefully avoid getting your head beaten in... by being ready for change, and embracing it. However upsetting the change may be. Remember, you do not get to 'manage' the way this stuff goes down: these are outer planet transits, and the most you can do is be prepared for change, and ready to shift with it.

And as for the equinox, this is a time of eerie balance...light and dark in accord, like a yin-yang symbol.

Polarities creating a whole, requiring each other... accommodating each other. It's a tango, which we all know takes two.

It makes perfect sense that the very next day, we have the new moon in Libra: sun and moon (which are contextualized as opposite polarities) conjunct in the sign of marriage and balance.

On an everyday level, a new moon in Libra is about beginning new social enterprises and interactions, or fine-tuning existing relationships. It's a good time to go on a first date, or to try to work out an existing conflict. As Libra is associated with justice and the law, it is also a good time to deal with legal matters.

Or you could just set an intention to dress really well or to be a nicer person or to beautify your surroundings or to hang out with your friends more – Libra has to do with harmony and beauty and social interaction. Look at all the people in the “Soul Train” video above: that's Libra. They are dressed so sharp! And they're dancing at the best damn party, and with such finesse! It adds something nice to the world.

Ok, so you could do that sort of thing, whatever form it takes in your life - and you will have the backup for it. Libra's ruler, Venus, will be in Virgo, loosely conjunct the new moon and in a mutual reception with Mercury in Libra. What this means is you'll have discrimination, attention to detail and fair-minded, diplomatic communication at your disposal.

--But enough about the mundane level. I am interested in what this new moon means on a deeper level. It's great for networking and partying and starting projects and resolving disputes...and that stuff is all necessary! But there are deeper things you can do with this energy, should you be that way inclined.

On a deeper level I think this is a good time to come to terms with your shadow. To 'marry' the light and dark aspects of your own psyche, as in the yin-yang symbol.

The shadow  is a concept originated by Freud but refined by Karl Jung. It's basically everything we can't accept as part of us, and would prefer to believe is 'out there'. All our socially unacceptable qualities, our 'negative' emotions and drives.

When we're not aware of our own shadow we are likely to project it onto the world outside us, and to become crusaders against it. Often with very harmful results: look at those IS guys in Iraq and Syria for instance: zealots and true believers all, convinced they are carrying out the will of Allah. They are the 'good guys' in their story – everyone else is a 'bad guy' and marked for destruction.

It's not just insane Islamists who do this. We all do, in our everyday lives...even well-intentioned, progressive-thinking people. Whenever you hear yourself or someone else referring to a nefarious 'they' who are responsible for the world's ills, you can be sure there's shadow projection going on.

No one is all light or all dark – we are made up of both polarities. We are all Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Anyone who thinks they're solely one or the other is deluding themselves – and perpetuating war. The task of a free human being is to withdraw these projections from the outside world and come to terms with them internally. To 'own' our own darkness.

This is not to say that external evil doesn't exist. There is no shortage of it out there, wherever you look. The more focused you are on it, the more you'll find.

But if you try to fight it without having done the difficult work of integrating your own shadow side, you risk becoming a crusader, and just as bad as what you're trying to fight. None of us are innocent or pure. And the world's evil is not always as straightforwardly 'evil' as it seems.

I mean, there are plenty of instances where it is. IS seem pretty damn evil to me. But their kind of cruelty is not the norm – most of the evil in this world is not the unmitigated kind. It's a lot more complex, and it may even have good in it – as in the yin yang symbol, where each polarity contains a spot of its opposite.

Anyway, we have Pluto, which represents the shadow, going direct. We have sunlight and shadow hanging in balance at the equinox. And we have a new moon in Libra, the only zodiac sign represented by an inanimate object: the scales. I think this is probably the best time ever for looking carefully at your own shadow and coming to terms with it.

(Cover of Blake's "Marriage of Heaven and Hell")

Ok, so this might seem pretty heavy, but I'll leave you with something nice: Mars (drive, energy, will) is in happy-go-lucky Sagittarius now, which is fun! & he is heading into a grand fire trine involving Uranus in Aries & Jupiter in Leo. This fire trine is going be active into mid-October.

It's about blazing energy and enthusiasm, lucky breaks, excitement! If you've been feeling stuck & exhausted, this should provide a big lift.

To use it properly though, you have to get out and run with it – maybe even literally. Jumping headlong into something new, taking risks, being fearless and active... these things are all supported.

To sum up: it's a tough month ahead overall, and the rest of 2014 is no picnic either. But we have enthusiasm, energy and the potential for exciting breakthroughs on offer as well. 

Full Moon in Pisces

(Detail from Van der Weyden's Descent From the Cross)

This is exact on Tuesday, the 9th September around 2:30 am (GMT).

The moon will be at 16 degrees Pisces, conjunct Chiron and opposing the sun in Virgo.

A Pisces moon is sensitive and empathetic, with a lack of clear boundaries between self and other... and Chiron represents a wound that will not heal. So the emotional tone described by this full moon is one of painful sensitivity for the suffering of all existence. Boundless empathy.

We are also moving into an opposition between Venus and Neptune, exact on the 10th September. It's an aspect known for romantic delusion, pining, unrequited love. Also spiritual longing and artistic creativity.

The emotional tone of these skies is very idealistic, sensitive, dreamy and wounded overall.

The nice thing is, there are practical, helpful things you can DO with all this sensitivity and empathy. The sun in in Virgo, sign of the dedicated nurse, the selfless servant. Virgo is happiest when there's a job to be done, a problem to be solved, a bandage to be applied, someone to be helped.

The themes here are the classic Virgo-Pisces ones of compassion, service, sacrifice and healing. “Serve or suffer”, the motto of this axis, applies. If you're feeling bad, focusing your energy on something you can do for others is the quickest way to feel better.

That said, suffering may be hard to avoid. with the moon conjunct Chiron and also a cardinal t-square between Uranus, Pluto, and Mercury in Libra. Situations are weighty and difficult, on a mental level as well as an emotional one. Remember last month's new moon in Virgo? We are still clearing out the Augean stables - there is still plenty of work to be done.

I'm thinking of the Ebola health workers again...

Or of the old concept of the sin-eater, a person who ritually absolved the dead of their sins.

These are forms of human sacrifice. Or compassion (the word comes for the Latin for “suffering with”).

From Vivre sa Vie.

Beware of what the Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa called “idiot compassion” (another word for which is “enabling”). What's required here is a very sharp, pragmatic, purposeful kind of compassion. Like a “cordon sanitaire”.

Bearing this out, we have Saturn in Scorpio sextiling the Virgo sun and trining the Pisces moon. Saturn in Scorpio is a no-bullshit, surgical energy that is best used for removing what's rotten or diseased from your life.

The whole setup reminds me of a line from T.S. Eliot about “the sharp compassion of the healer's art”:

"The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer's art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart."

Chiron is often referred to as the 'wounded healer'. In the mythology, he was a healer and a teacher of heroes. But he was hit by a poisoned arrow during one of Hercules' escapades and proved unable to heal himself, for all his knowledge.

The archetype of the wounded healer goes back a long way. In classical shamanism, initiates were called to healing via trauma and illness. The explanation was that the spirits tormented people until they accepted the calling to become a healer.

Accepting the call meant the death of the ego – 'shamanic sickness' often ends with the sick person's vision of death and physical dismemberment, which is experienced as literal. And there follows the acceptance of a new mode of living, and a liminal social position – one foot in the everyday world, one foot in the otherworld. Your life doesn't really belong to you anymore – you become a channel between the worlds, an instrument. Not an easy position.

This pattern of initiation holds across cultures. The Buddha was so traumatized by his apprehension of the truth of suffering that he left his comfortable life and entered into austerities that nearly killed him – and his final realization was a kind of death. Jesus was an itinerant faith healer who was literally tortured to death before attaining god-status. Odin hung himself from a tree for nine days and nights in order to gain knowledge. Muhammed nearly killed himself after his initial revelation...and then he spent three years in a deep depression. Inanna went down to hell and was stripped of her finery and even her skin, hung for dead on a meat-hook. Etc, etc...

The message of all these traditions is: there's no real power or wisdom without the acceptance of suffering. You gain the ability to help others only by making your own wounds conscious. But bringing those wounds to consciousness can be very painful and difficult, and there's no going back to your old life... no 'healing' of what has been broken. It stays broken.

But that brokenness, that loss...is also the source of the ability to empathise with others, and to help them.

Chogyam Trungpa again:
"To be a spiritual warrior, one must have a broken heart; without a broken heart and the sense of tenderness and vulnerability, your warriorship is untrustworthy."

Ok, enough writing. Let's just play some videos. Under these skies, music and art make more sense than any amount of  talking or explaining...

Making art is a good use of this energy, by the way. Art is a form of catharsis or purgation, and can heal.

Another by Nina Nastasia:

And here are a few for Venus-Neptune. Bollywood has always been great at portraying Venus-Neptune (unreachable glamour, impossible love, spiritual longing).

--Worth noting: the actresses in these films were dying in real life. Madhubala of a hole in her heart, Meena Kumari of alcoholic cirrhosis. Very fitting, for Moon-Chiron in Pisces: they were tragedy queens. The boundary between life and art was very porous for these women.

--And here is one that is just kinda silly. I don't get what is happening in this video at all, but it's fun...

Anyway, "a heart that hurts is a heart that works" is a good slogan for this full moon.

New Moon in Virgo

Toilet roll art by Anasstasia Elias

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.

From wikipedia:

“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.)

Full Moon in Aquarius

(I'm nominating Spock as patron saint of this full moon.)

This is tomorrow: 10th August, around 7:10 pm (GMT).

It'll be the largest full moon of the year – the moon will be at perigee, the point in her orbit where she's closest to Earth. Very intense.

I'm going to try to be brief for a change, because I don't have a lot of time to write this!

What we have this full moon are a lot of intense, clashing energies coming from fixed signs. The sun and Mercury in Leo will be opposing the moon in Aquarius, and these poles will be squared by Mars and Saturn in Scorpio.

Fixed signs are...fixed, basically. Stubborn, intractable. They don't negotiate – they insist. Aquarius insists on its ideology and its vision for the future, Leo on its personal importance, Scorpio on its security and control.

What we've been seeing in the news these past weeks are a bunch of conflicts that look hopelessly intractable, involving ideological differences that admit of no resolution.

And the world is getting drawn in, taking sides. It's a kind of contagion - & it's getting out of control. (“Out of control” is how the WHO is now characterising Ebola in West Africa.)

There's a lot of emotionally charged rhetoric going on...a lot of terror and panic. There are bombs raining down on a lot of places right now.

Mars and Saturn are traditionally known as the two 'malefic' planets, and having them mixed up with this full moon is...tough. It's bad enough to have the two of them conjunct: Mars-Saturn contacts are known for their violence and cruelty.

But also they are conjunct in Scorpio, sign of extremes. Black-or-white, all-or-nothing. So we are looking at extreme cruelty and no middle ground – scorched earth. Utter savagery.

Plus Mars and Saturn are squaring the sun and Mercury in Leo, which can be read as hubris and bombast on steroids.

And also they're squaring the moon in Aquarius, which can be about emotional shock and disconnection – shell shock. Or emotional polarization, or dogmatism.

So you can see how bad this can get...how this full moon lights up a very apocalyptic storyline. You have only to turn on the news these days to see these themes playing themselves out. It's tragic.

But remember the word 'apocalypse' comes from the Greek for 'revelation' or 'uncovering'. That's the potential good in this scenario: it represents an intensely powerful potential for revelation, mental clarity, objectivity, deep understanding. Maybe not on a global political scale – though one can dream. But on a personal level, definitely.

Aquarius is about humanitarian ideals and our shared vision for the future. At worst it can be rigid and dogmatic, but at best it is rational, unsentimental, independent-minded – and very concerned with the well-being of the collective, and with creating a better future.

These are all necessary qualities when you're trying to negotiate a peace deal or bring aid to a warzone or see through propaganda. Cool-headedness and clarity are very important right now, what with the overblown and emotionally-driven rhetoric we're being exposed to on all sides.

So in the spirit of Aquarian progressivism and optimism, I am determined to see this full moon as a good thing...as an opening for some kind of rationality and intelligence to get through to a world that is imploding with hatred and violence.

Something nice about this full moon: despite the fact that it is bound up with the two malefics (Mars and Saturn), we are also moving into a conjunction involving the two benefics (Venus and Jupiter). Venus is currently in the late degrees of Cancer, applying into conjunction with Jupiter in Leo, exact on the 18th  August. This aspect represents some kind of luck or blessing -  something lovely. So that's good, and much-needed.

The sun and moon also make some very nice aspects to the north node in Libra and also to the moon's dispositor, Uranus in Aries. Meaning this story is ultimately not about war, but about a struggle for peace, justice and right relationship. And this struggle takes place on an individual as well as a collective level - though the individual level is actually where it can make the most difference.

It is about thinking for yourself, exercising emotional restraint and discrimination, expressing yourself clearly and calmly... even when self-expression has the potential to get you ostracised. Lilith (a point representing the lunar apogee, or the point in the moon's orbit at which the moon will be furthest from Earth) is conjunct the sun and Mercury in Leo, and this carries the risk of ostracism via communication. But the message of Lilith is that it's better to be alone and free than to go along with the status quo and be enslaved. Even if it means you're demonised for it.

Lilith, in the Jewish tradition, was Adam's first wife, who refused to be made subject to him and was exiled from Eden. She was known as the mother of demons after that.

Well there are plenty of people out there willing to demonise (or worse) anyone who thinks differently from them these days, we know this.

Anyway, because of all these planets in Leo (Jupiter, Mercury, the sun, and in a few days Venus) opposing or squaring planets in signs that deal with the collective (Aquarius and Scorpio) I am inclined to think that this is about a personal, individual response to collective patterns.

That's only one way of reading it, of course. But I think luck and hope (Jupiter) are dependent on how we filter these collective currents through our individual psyches, and how we express ourselves (Leo).

Because the moon is in such an unemotional sign, I think it's probably a good idea to avoid getting too emotionally worked up over the panic-inducing things that are happening. The problems the world is dealing with are a direct result of people losing any sense of proportion or equanimity. And with Mars and Saturn in Scorpio, extremism has very dangerous consequences.

It doesn't matter what form your extremism takes. Leftists can be every bit as extreme in their views as radical Islamists. You have to take the other side of the story into account: that is the message of the north node in Libra, the sign of relating and fairness. You have to take other people's views and experiences into account. Maybe actively seeking out other points of view is a good antidote to extremism...we can easily spend our lives surrounded by people who agree with us and back up our opinions, and information sources that confirm our prejudices. The way things are going, that's a recipe for collective disaster.

Anyway, to sum up: it's extreme, violent weather out there. If you focus on changing yourself, freeing your mind and avoiding personal extremism, you'll be better off and maybe you'll be of benefit to others.

Don't surrender your mind to anyone or anything – not to a dogma or to an emotional appeal or a cause. Try to think for yourself and stay objective. If you feel yourself being swayed by panic or moral outrage, try to take a step back – there is detachment and clarity on offer if you want it.

Maybe ask yourself: "what would Spock do?"

And try to express yourself even if it feels isolating. That's the only way people get to hear alternate points of view at all.

(Dissent & skepticism, Aquarian style.)

New Moon in Leo

My last post was about shifts and endings. Well we are in the thick of them now, heading up to the new moon in Leo on the 26th July. And I guess I underestimated just how heavy and dark these weeks would feel: how much revision they would entail of old issues.

I left out some important shifts and influences, because I didn't want to run on too long. Let's look at them now.

For one thing, Mercury moved from flighty Gemini to emotional Cancer on the 13th July, and he's now facing off against Pluto in Capricorn. This is a dark and brooding mental focus – intense thought, a preoccupation with the past, mental and emotional profundity.

And Venus left Gemini and entered Cancer on the 18th July, which deepens the general emotional tone. It's kinda mushy-gushy, dreamy, vulnerable (and defensive) weather out there, till mid-August.

Venus is moving into an opposition with Pluto in Capricorn as well: the opposition comes into full view two days after the new moon (28th July). Venus-Pluto aspects are about power plays in relationships, manipulation and control issues, love and money...also the ghosts of dead relationships coming back to haunt you and generally screw with you. Great fun.

And then we had Saturn going direct in Scorpio on the 21st, followed by another important shift: Uranus went retrograde the day after Saturn direct, in lockstep. One forward, one back. Very tight inconjunct aspect between them: Saturn at 16 degrees Scorpio; Uranus at 16 degrees Aries, exact almost to the minute.

So...karmic necessity (Saturn) grinds onward, while personal metamorphosis (Uranus) moves underground and inward.

All of it seems to me to signify a very tight, uncomfortable focus on personal psychological issues, blocks and blind spots – it's laser-like really. A painful sort of inwardness and inertia courtesy of Saturn direct and the Uranus retrograde. A sense of entrapment, whichever way you move. And the Mercury–Pluto and Venus–Pluto oppositions described above, swinging into place like lead doors. Nowhere left to look but into the heart of darkness.

Well you're supposed to look into it, that's the point. Think about what came up for you around the 21st July, as Saturn began moving forward again. What buried old muck did he churn up for you? What skeletons did you see grinning from the closet?

HI!!!

There's your focus: you know where the rot is. You can't move forward in your life without wrapping that stuff up and giving it a proper burial. The Uranus retrograde in Aries, sign of new beginnings, drives this point home. This is about a shift that has to happen at root level, deep beneath the surface.

And yeah, it is fucking uncomfortable, as signified by the exact inconjunct aspect between Saturn and Uranus. How do you move forward, when you are dealing with this level of psychic damage?

It's easy to minimise the difficulty involved...to talk glibly about the necessity of detaching from the past and moving on. But how do you move on with a ten-ton weight attached to your heels? How do you move at all?

--Well I guess you just do. Nothing else to be done. You have to.

You can easily get stuck in your own issues here, unable to move forward or back. But remember this is about regeneration and transformation. If you feel stuck, try to think of it as a kind of dormancy. Changes are at work: important underground ones, out of your conscious control.

A caterpillar encased in a chrysalis is in a stuck position as well, and to an outside observer it looks like nothing is happening.

Rest assured, there are deep changes afoot. You probably know that already. If your life hasn't been dramatically upended over the past few years, you're in a minority.

We are 5 squares into the series of 7 exact squares between Uranus and Pluto, which began in June of 2012 and will end in March of 2015. We are a little less than 2 years into Saturn's transit of Scorpio, which will end in December of this year (with a brief revision period between June and September of 2015). And nobody gets out of this period unscathed or unchanged.

Granted, change is always what's happening – but the hallmark of these years is the level of psychological depth and trauma involved. The difficulties and losses people are dealing with are profound – there's really no going back. The landscape will be permanently altered, coming out of this.

Uranus square Pluto machine - see here

Anyway, it may feel like we are stuck down in the trenches, struggling through the muck right now, but we have some hopeful, shiny stuff underway. 

For one, the sun moved into Leo yesterday evening (22nd July), straight into a conjunction with Jupiter. This is a big jolt of energy and enthusiasm, much needed. 

And then we have our new moon in Leo on the 26th July, around 11:30 pm GMT!!

It's a fiery portal and a new beginning. Sun and moon in Leo conjunct Jupiter: this is fun, exciting, full of drama and bravado. It's Jupiter in Leo's big opening night – you'll get a sense of what this energy will mean in your life over the next year. 

It'll be Saturday night in GMT-land, and it looks like a lot of fun. A big, glitzy, happy, trashy night. Are we gonna put on our bling and go out looking for trouble? Yes we are! 

SPARKLE JELLY SHOES!!

Except going out looking for trouble is really kind of a bad idea. You probably won't need to look. Staying out of trouble will be the achievement, on a night like this. 

Because Jupiter ('the great benefic') is involved, I am determined to see this new moon as a good thing, even though the sun-moon-Jupiter conjunction makes no easy aspects with other planets. In fact it makes a very tense aspect with Mars, which will have ingressed into Scorpio just ahead of the new moon. And yeah, this can go badly wrong.

Leo and Scorpio are both proud, fixed signs...hard to budge. Jupiter conjunct the sun and moon in Leo can mean inflated egos; squaring Mars in Scorpio we might see some OTT ego-driven drama and nastiness. A stupid fight where neither side will back down. 

(Leo smackdown mode)

Given the amount of political conflict going on around the world right now, the mood of this new moon doesn't bode well. On a more local level, it looks like a big bitch smackdown... or cokeheads fighting in a nightclub.

Don't be part of anything like that, if you can avoid it. If ever there was a night to STAY AWAY from the cocaine, this would be it. Saturn direct in Scorpio means - heavy consequences.

(Rick James providing some object lessons.)

Let's think our way a little deeper into Leo, because for the next year, this energy is a focus. 

Leo gets associated with pride, ego and exhibitionism...and these things have a bad rap. But on a deeper level, the sign is about individual personality as an expression of the divine. And in that light, there's nothing wrong with a bit of pride. If you, in your individual life, are actually a once-off expression of the divine, a never to be seen again work of art (and you are!) - well you ought to be holding your head up high.

Leo's ruling planet is the sun, which no one would ever accuse of being egotistical or an exhibitionist. It shines because that's its nature – it has to radiate its essence outward. Same as you, this year - you have to shine. Guilelessly, like a damn care bear.

AAARGH!!

Leo is about play, romance, children, innocence, fun...and art. What kind of art are you making of your life?

It doesn't have to be art in the traditional sense. Anything you do that is truly an expression of your own nature is a kind of art.

And you have to express your nature - that is your job on Planet Earth. To do you. No one else can, and no one else ever will. 

And really, the stakes couldn't be higher, with all this Uranus-Pluto and Saturn in Scorpio stuff going on. Being true to your own individuality and expressing yourself are actually matters of life or death now. No one profits from people's conformity to a rotten social order. No one profits from you keeping your mouth shut, your art hidden, your heart locked down.

This is about art and free expression as a means of personal and societal salvation. 

Come on baby won't you show me what you got / I want your salvation!

Some relevant quotes:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” --Martha Graham

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” --Gospel of St Thomas

--Well yes, it's heavy. But don't let it make you all grim. Jupiter's transit of Leo should be more fun than we've had in years, and this new moon will hopefully be the start of something fierce and adorable. Like kittens.

Obligatory cat pic time!!

(More Leo smackdown)

(kittens!!)

(smackdown.)

Full Moon in Capricorn

(Otherworld - Andrew Wyeth)

This is tomorrow, the 12th July, around 12:30 pm GMT.

Full moons signify culminations or endings. This particular full moon is a real exciting one, with an end-of-era feel about it. Big shifts are underway! It's a “one door closes, another door opens” scenario.

Specifically, the issues that are being wrapped up relate to old family issues, old emotional dependencies and baggage, old power hierarchies.

Some Morrissey. Don't much like this song, but it expresses the mood.

“Break up the family, let's begin to live our lives.”

Time to shut the door on something old and outworn in your life...some closet full of rotting family mementos and clothes you wore 10 years ago. Fiery new portals are opening all around: opportunities for new alliances, creativity and self-expression, fun and mayhem.

But you can't step through a fiery portal of fun and mayhem carrying all your old crap and your parents' old crap and their parents' old crap...that doesn't work.

So what is the story here? We have a cardinal grand cross again, but it's looser this time than the ones we've been dealing with all summer. So tension is still in effect, but it's starting to break up.

We also have a grand water trine involving the sun, Saturn and Chiron. It actually makes a kite formation with the sun-moon opposition as the axis.

So we are looking at jagged tension, drama and power struggles via the grand cross. But also inward emotional strength and deep feeling via the grand water trine.

Plus we have some madcap social stuff going on: Venus and Mercury in Gemini trining Mars and the north node in Libra. That's easy communication, mental energy, lots of romantic options, excitement.

All in all, a big weekend! If you have scores to settle, this is the right time to settle them. And hopefully without too much ugliness either. There'll be plenty of emotional restraint available, and shiny new doors opening for every door that's closing.

Underlining this theme of shifts and endings, we have three major shifts happening in the weeks after the full moon, leading up to a brash new moon in Leo on the 26th July.

First Jupiter switches signs, then Saturn goes direct, and then Mars switches signs. This is what I mean by new doors opening.

Let's look at these changes.

Shift 1: Jupiter moves from Cancer to Leo on the 16th July. This is huge! Jupiter has been in Cancer for a year, so the emphasis this past year has been on home and family stuff. Nurturing those closest to you, dealing with turbulent emotions, taking care of your nest, makin' babies, wiping snotty little noses, lying around on the couch eating comfort food and watching boxed sets, etc etc.

But now our faith / hope / luck (Jupiter) shifts to Leo, which is about self-expression, drama, creativity, fiery self-regard, fun.

What this means is for the next year, it's not about dealing with your crazy family and their issues anymore... We've done that for a whole damn year and now it's over for another 12 years, thank god. The emphasis for the next year is going to be on YOU and how freaking amazing and special you are. How you are making a unique work of art of your own life. That's where your luck is going to be at.

Shift 2: Saturn goes direct in Scorpio on the 21st July after a retrograde period that started in early March. Karma comes due and starts being a bitch again.

If you've done your Saturn in Scorpio work and cut away the deadwood in your life, this will probably come as a relief. If you are still hanging onto crap that no longer serves you, it will hurt.

Saturn in Scorpio is about a kind of emotional ruthlessness – with yourself first and foremost. It's about taking responsibility for your pain. There are trade-offs to be made here for the sake of survival...the stakes are very high.

It's like, if you're walking around with a gangrenous leg...you are going to have to amputate the leg, and it will hurt like hell, and you'll have to learn to live differently. But if you don't amputate, this rotten thing attached to you is going to poison and kill you. It's that stark.

For 'gangrenous leg', substitute whatever in your life you know is rotten or unsound – it could be a relationship, a habit or addiction, a way of thinking. Bite the bullet.

(That expression comes from the days when wounded soldiers were given a bullet to bite while undergoing amputations without anesthesia. Very apt here.)

Shift 3: Mars will leave Libra and enter Scorpio early on the 26th July. He has been in Libra (the sign of his detriment) since December of last year – 8 damn months already. (He usually spends around 2 months in a sign.)

This was a long time for the planet of raw male energy and war to be stuck in the sign of peace and social harmony....like forcing Mike Tyson to sit around drinking tea in a never-ending BBC regency drama. And his stay in Libra was made even more fraught by the cardinal t-squares and crosses he got involved in there. Just a very drawn-out and frustrating time.

Well anyway, that's nearly done and he's moving out... to Scorpio, which is more his style. We go from passive aggression, enforced politeness, metrosexuality and wussiness to...film noir. Mars in Scorpio is a private dick (ahem) out of film noir: obsessive, secretive, probing, boiling with concealed passion.

Here is Mars in Libra:

And this is what he looks like in Scorpio:

And I know which of the above pictures I'd be happier in, if I were Mars.

--So anyway, these big shifts are underway and you'll feel it. The full moon tomorrow represents the last stand of the issues we've been dealing with all this summer – and really since the start of the year. Look back to the new moon in Capricorn in January and think about what you've been slogging through since then. Time to draw a line under all that stuff and move on.

--OK, I could leave it at that, but I'll write a little more background on the full moon tomorrow. The sun at 20 degrees Cancer will be facing off against the moon at 20 degrees Capricorn. 

Capricorn is about the old order: the tried and true. Authority, stability, duty, responsibility, following the rules. And Cancer is about home and family, roots, nurturance, emotions, the past.

They are also about public life vs private life: Capricorn is the outward image or persona, and Cancer is the inner world. Career and worldly status vs. home and family life.

They are very 'parental' signs: Capricorn is patriarchal, and Cancer matriarchal. Ideally these polarities should work together: the point about polarities is they are two sides of the same thing, requiring each other. So Capricorn's rules and discipline can turn into cruelty if they don't originate from a Cancerian will to nurture and protect. And Cancer can get lost in emotional turbulence and sentimentality without a dose of Capricorn's restraint and pragmatism.

Anyway, Pluto in Capricorn is widely conjunct this full moon, meaning part of what's lit up here is the corruption and abuse underlying the old, patriarchal order. And the sun in Cancer is applying into a conjunction with Jupiter in Cancer, meaning truth (Jupiter) is on the private, emotional side of the equation. And these poles are bound into a grand cross involving Uranus in Aries (individual revolt) and Mars in Libra (fighting for justice).

We have been dealing with this scenario for awhile, and this is just another iteration of it. One way of translating it is to say that it represents a stand-off. The corrupt old forces of outer power / authority / respectability / status... vs. your own inner emotional truth.

Pretty tense. Again, Jupiter (luck) is on the side of the inner truth stuff, so I would pay attention to that. If you have some kind of stand-off in your life between what is expected of you, what you 'should' do and what you truly feel...well your own feelings are the thing to trust here, of course.

But with a caveat: restraint and an awareness of limits are called for. There are responsibilities to be attended to even if you don't like it.

The sun and Jupiter in Cancer are disposited by the moon in Capricorn, which represents emotional containment. Don't go spilling your messy emotions all over the place...now's not the time. Try to be realistic, pragmatic and disciplined about what you feel and what you need.

Bearing this out, we are moving into a conjunction between Mars in Libra and the north node, exact on the 14th. The story for the next few weeks is still about enacting a balance, fighting for fairness and right relationship.

A full moon is a balancing act really: you have two opposing themes (in this case Cancer and Capricorn) that must be reconciled. Hopefully in yourself: the point of all this astrology stuff is self-understanding. Otherwise you mindlessly play out one side of the equation and someone else comes along to play the other side and it's just a battle of puppets.

The real work is this alchemical thing of reconciling the opposites within yourself. This is tricky and takes a lot of awareness. And it's also always a work in progress: you have to keep at it forever. But ultimately there's no other way to be free.

With this full moon, we're dealing with these parental signs, Cancer and Capricorn, and a conflict between emotional truth and practical necessity. And then Jupiter moves from Cancer (which is about the undertow of childhood, mama and the past) to Leo (which is about the self, YOU in all your glory). And we have Saturn going direct in Scorpio, which is about the sloughing off of an old skin.

So I think the story here is about taking responsibility, becoming your own authority, your own parental figure – and that means you rely on what you know to be true deep down, not what the powers that be try to force down your throat. 

And also you get rid of the psychological baggage of the past: the stuff you can't bring through the fiery portal. Your granny's lovely tablecloths, moldering in the attic; your father's sense of inadequacy; your mother's rage; whatever. It's not yours and you don't have to carry it anymore. Something new is trying to be born - your life, maybe. 

(Yeah. Always.)

We are the sons of no-one, bastards of young!

And here is some Tsunami. I used to listen to this when I was a teenager. Sitting in my room, waiting for my real life to start - ha.  

New Moon in Cancer

This one is tomorrow morning: Friday the 27th June, around 9 am (GMT).

The sun and moon will be in the moon's own sign, Cancer. Cancer is basically big mammy energy: concerned with home, emotion, food, nurturing, babies. Nice day to hang out with your family and eat comforting snacks. Nice day to not get out of bed at all if you don't have to, and just lie around eating chocolate and watching 'Moonstruck'.

I think I saw that movie with my parents when I was a kid. If I remember right, it's about a big Italian family being all Italian and arguing over dinner, eating spaghetti, stuff like that. Very Cancerian. Plus a dreamy love story, and Cher weeping at an opera. It seems like the right kind of movie for this new moon.

Wow, it's hokey. But that's ok, right?

Cancer can be hokey. Home, roots, mamma, the past...and the sentimentality that goes with that stuff.

You know what Jung said about sentimentality? That it was "a superstructure covering brutality". With Pluto in Capricorn (rotten societal structures) opposing this new moon, maybe that's a useful quote to keep in mind.

Still, it looks pretty sweet and lovely overall. I don't mean to be snarky about it.

As with the last new moon (in Gemini), Neptune is involved with this one. But Neptune is much happier in the arrangement this time. So we are looking at a very dreamy, kind, romantic influence... Good for artistic inspiration, good for calming family tensions, good for forgiving and forgetting, good for easing ragged nerves.

Let's listen to some Chopin:

Re. ragged nerves: there is still a background of high angst courtesy of the cardinal t-square. Wednesday the 25th saw the Mars-Uranus opposition hit exactitude... this energy is waning now, but it will still be pretty  strong all week. And Mars-Uranus is a blitzkreig. Fury coming out of nowhere. Sudden accidents, explosive anger, nerves at breaking point. Factor in a square to Pluto, and the consequences can be profound and disturbing...life or death.

So I think this dreamy, romantic new moon is a welcome respite. If you're lucky enough not to live in Iraq, you should find it quite pleasant really.

What the hell, let's listen to ALL of Chopin's nocturnes. I guess we need them after the past few weeks.

Anyway, the weekend ahead should be nice too. The moon conjuncts Jupiter on Sunday morning (29th June), which makes for a buoyant emotional tone.

And then later in the day on Sunday we move into an exact square between Venus and Neptune. This is...Chopin's nocturnes again, basically. It's about unrequited (and therefore perfect) love, spiritual longing, pining for the ineffable: divine discontent. You can use this as a spur toward artistic creation or spiritual growth.

Venus-Neptune is also about trying to rescue people or dreaming of Prince or Princess Charming arriving on a white horse to rescue you, and that side of it is just stupid.

With Venus in Gemini, it could be about being tantalized by multiple options (Gemini) that are just out of reach (Neptune). If you're drunk in some bar on Sunday evening I'd say you'll know exactly what this aspect is about. Try to have fun with it and don't take home any loquacious charmers with substance abuse issues! Maybe don't take home anyone at all, because physical reality is only going to be disappointing, compared with whatever woozy fantasy you're entertaining.

Early on the 2nd of July, Mercury goes direct in Gemini, and you should be able to view your options with greater clarity after that.