saturn in scorpio

September 2015: The Grand Balancing Act Between Simplicity and Complexity // Eclipses, Mercury Retrograde and the Mutable T-Square

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Somehow, some way – it’s here! September has arrived and we have entered one of the most important months astrologically for the year of 2015. This is the threshold we have been preparing for all year long. September is a cosmic stew of energetic confluences, and many are feeling the changeable energies quite tangibly in their lives already. The easiest way to summarize September is to say that it is the beginning of forward movement towards the realization of the visions and goals we’ve been discovering, discerning, working on, playing with, and struggling with since 2008 when Pluto first crossed into Capricorn and issued its profound reverberation through the systems and structures the world’s societies are built upon. This month, we enter a phase of malleability. It’s a shifty, fuzzy, wavy ocean of complexity. We are confronted with the undeniable impulse to take action on our spiritual dreams, and the completely overwhelming task that lies before us in order to do so. It’s a long road between there and here and the path is not straight. In fact, it is confusing as heck. But, at least, we’ve arrived at the path. Starting in August, we had several important shifts and departures in the heavens – Saturn moved direct and is finishing its journey in Scorpio, Jupiter moved from Leo to Virgo, and Venus went retrograde in Leo. I’ve written quite a lot recently about how the energy of the past few years has been a process of whittling who we are and what we truly want down to its core. Saturn in Scorpio has caused us to brush through the cobwebs in our mind in order to discover just how much of our behavior is dictated by fear and other hidden psychological factors. It has also been about committing ourselves to the thing we most want and being willing to endure loss and discomfort in the name of growth and evolution. As Saturn moves out of Scorpio at last, we might be receiving its final lesson on the self-responsibility of empowerment very intensely. Saturn in Scorpio seems to be reminding us that no matter what happens in life, it’s still up to the individual to strengthen and embolden themselves towards the light.

Meanwhile, the vibrations of the recent Leo transits have been directing us to reevaluate and re-receive our heart’s desire. We’re really SEEING it, and those situations that still exist for us that we DON’T want are feeling rather intolerable. Ongoing relationship dramas, people that you just don’t jive with anymore, the job that pays well but makes you unhappy -- each and every one of these things is getting the proverbial ax. With Jupiter now in Virgo, the ways in which our mental state affects our physical being is felt with greater acuity. A need to move in a direction that is both fulfilling and healthy on all levels of our being is something we may be finding more valuable at this time. As we begin September, the invisible influences in our lives seem more present and active. Virgo’s call for purity, discipline, and devotion might be motivating us to work towards organizing our lives in a manner that is more holistically minded. If health has been neglected we might be feeling it’s time to get around to that exercise routine and invest some in healing ongoing ailments. The feeling behind it is that by not taking care of ourselves first, we are impeding the flow of creativity and happiness that we have been working so hard to find. Jupiter in Virgo also implies that the realm of service and work is about to get really busy in some fashion, and the need to be in optimum health is tantamount to accomplishing what needs to be accomplished. As Venus moves direct on September 6, tying up its retrograde story for the remainder of September, I expect many of the heart’s impediments will be clarified and released. The things within ourselves and our environment that block our enjoyment and ability to receive love and money – as well as what it is we really want to create, what makes us happy and brings us joy – are recognized. There is a sense of finality around situations that cause frustration – a feeling that there’s just better ways to spend one’s time.

With the Virgo energy I feel comes a great desire for simplicity, because the paradox of this time is that it is incredibly complex in all ways imaginable. The primary reason for this is that September begins the mutable T-Square between Saturn in Sagittarius, Jupiter in Virgo, and Neptune in Pisces that is a predominant feature of the remaining months of this year. We feel that there is a LOT to do, no time to do it, and that the task itself is monumental. Simplifying our lives as much as possible is necessary but is in itself a task and discipline in circumstances that have no consistency. As Mercury moves Retrograde in Libra mid-month I sense the issue of balance will come prominently into the fore. Tip the scales the other way for a while and see what happens. Libra, of course, is also about relationships – and there is an echo here to Venus Retrograde – how are we relating with life? Do we enmesh ourselves with other people’s thoughts and feelings without realizing it? Are we closed or open to collaboration that could be helpful to us? Who do we want to collaborate with? How can we have more equality and fairness in our relationships with partners and clients? In business?

At the same time that Mercury goes retrograde Saturn moves into Sagittarius for the next 2-3 years. Saturn in Sag suggests that now it’s time to begin one’s own pattern of thinking and behavior and creating one’s own dogma and truth, rather than continuing to allow other people’s ideas take control. Saturn in Sagittarius is a truth telling energy and it is the apex of the T-square pattern. In an interplay that shows immense confusion, delusion and deception, Saturn will reveal false idols for what they are and prompt us to test and evaluate all truths for ourselves before accepting them. With the energy of Jupiter and Neptune alone, we are dealing with the struggle between the mundane and the mystic – knowing of course that there is a path to the mystic through the distractionless fulfillment of life’s practicalities – yet finding ourselves in a climate that supports anything but. Underneath this energy is a pulse of frustration that seems to emanate an almost fractal web of complexities that multiply times ten with each beat. Saturn in Sagittarius wants us to find the meaning of it all, to see the big picture and put some shape around it. The thing is, we live in a world that cannot give us peace -- it becomes more and more busy by the day. So how do we arrive at balance? How do we transcend distraction? How do we discern the master from the charlatan? How do we live in this world and practice our truth in real time, at all times? How do we structure our lives to allow for meaningful engagement with reality? How do we build a world in connection to our highest good, in greater health and heartfelt connection? How do we take lofty ideals and put them into a practical form, functional for the modern paradigm?

These are among the many questions I see being predominant in the coming years.

The T-Square itself could have it’s own article. Having been through this vibe by transit these past few years I can say Neptune Square Saturn is not an easy energy – it is highly confusing and anxiety inducing. Add the expanding force of Jupiter to the mix and you have a vortex of turbulent and muddy waters. Neptune erodes Saturn’s normally sober sense of reality and order. Being in Sagittarius our core beliefs are being attacked – all sense of truth is shifting dramatically. A lighthouse that once stood strong is washed away to sea, slowly declining and decrepit. The question of whom to believe becomes difficult – even one’s own intuition can seem untrustworthy if it is colored by subconscious attitudes. The truth is very fuzzy and must be searched for. However, it can be found. As with all of Neptune work there is a great potential for clarity. The ultimate purpose of this energy is the alignment of the soul to the soul’s dream… and the soul’s dream does not care at all about your beliefs, thinking patterns and social dogmas. In the end we are cleansed, but the process requires a lot of faith and patience. We cannot rely on the material or the ideological – as the answer lies somewhere beyond both.

To me, the beauty of this configuration is the tone of deep questing. The mutable signs’ purpose is to transform and this energy signifies a tremendous amount of fast-paced change emerging from inner turmoil surrounding the question of what truth really IS. If it wasn’t the lighthouse, then what is it? Is it the light itself? Or is it even beyond that? The mutable energy also presents a great deal of malleability that we have not had in recent years where the energy has been functioning more like a gridlock – with a lot of stop and go, stalemates and impasses. We had to go through the phase of irreconcilability to cross into the phase of action. We had to go through the phase of action and confrontation in order to cross into this new phase, which is the phase of transmutation. Things have freed up – we can now meld reality to better suit us – the challenge will be maintaining the proper direction. These are energies that can spiral out of control and create delusions, or they can bring the wisdom of positive habits, positive thinking, and pure spiritual flow. To stay ahead of it, we have to employ some discipline to our thinking and our lives. Discovering where we carry rigid, negative thinking, and subsconscious fears and learning to change these things is a major aspect of this process. We will learn that we can opt for pathways that allow us greater clarity and peace by remaining grounded, centered and aware or we can opt for pathways that feed the fear and confusion and fall for the illusions of the world. Everything we believe that is not universal law is subject to and likely to change. All that is unsteady already will grow more unsteady. It’s unsteady because it’s not honest. Let it fall apart. Keep the positive intention and the positive direction. The mind is powerful at this time as boundaries between the subtle and mundane reality are thinner than usual. Our dreams can be real. So can our fears. We’re responsible for whichever we create.

And then… The eclipses. Yes, there’s more than this. On top of Mercury retrograde, Venus retrograde, Saturn changing signs, Jupiter changing signs, Pluto stationing to go direct (Which I haven’t even talked about it only adds to the feeling of evolutionary intensity), the Fall Equinox, and some very strong configurations – we have eclipses. Eclipses are a twice annual phenomenon that bring about major culminations, endings, new beginnings, and generally speaking – points of destiny and fate in our lives. This month’s eclipses occur at 20 Virgo (Solar eclipse on September 13) and 4 Aries (Total Lunar Eclipse, visible in the US, on September 27). So anyone with planets in mutable signs around 20 degrees or cardinal signs around 4 degrees will feel the eclipses most strongly – but all people will be passing through the energies of the eclipses.

The Solar Eclipse on September 13 is highly sensitive. Under this energy we will be very aware of what we lack. It is a good new moon to set intentions with regards to health routines – health and healing is a major highlight of the eclipse. Radical changes around work and health may occur out of necessity. The spirit of service and how we personally express it is an important motivation to changes we make under this energy. We’re more inclined to break bad habits and let go of spiritual burdens, especially if they’re holding us back from our sense of efficiency and simplicity. We are taking our Saturn in Scorpio lessons and applying them in every way we can. To not do so will cause us more pain and suffering than is necessary, and we intuitively know this. We need to evolve and work from our strengths, rather than stay in a Sisyphus-like cycle of never-ending burdens. We have the power to make our life what we want it to be, truly, we do! This a great new moon to make a plan of tangible actions and set goals towards making the soul dream come true. We’ve done the inner work, now it’s time to apply all we’ve learned, and then learn some more as we go. Know that it’s going to be complicated, busy and changeful – but not impossible. The world has changed, and it is opening as we are opening to be re-oriented and re-aligned to our naturalness and divinity. Be open to the possibilties. Refinement of the focus, I feel, can be considered the theme of this eclipse.

The Lunar eclipse feels much more about the balancing energies of the Mercury retrograde, which lingers nearby to the eclipse degree. In the period between eclipses, Saturn will have moved into Sagittarius. The first eclipse feels much like the ending of a cycle being put into practical action, while the second eclipse emphasizes the opening of a cycle and all of the complex processes involved with the new energy. It is a very powerful, evolutionary eclipse. Great frustration exploding into radical change. It doesn’t matter what the frustration is at – just that the forces involved are inhibiting and intolerable. We’re stepping into new terrain in our lives and are being faced with the duality and paradox of all that we have developed thus far. What we really want is to break free and step directly into joyful self realization (isn’t the work over yet?), but we must do so with awareness. The best action taken now is righteous action. This is a South Node eclipse, meaning it is a releasing energy. We are releasing Aries impulsiveness and dog-eat-dog survivalist attitudes. The energy of this eclipse shows us that impulsiveness will not only not serve us, it will cause all kinds of unforeseen problems. We are becoming aware of where we are blocked and frustrated, but learning the lesson that not all obstacles are meant to be “blasted through” – It’s important to do the work and negotiations necessary to arrive at clarity before taking action – and all actions are well served to be backed up with some kind of plan and forethought. We have plenty of time – and even though it seems the world is swirling around us without control – we do not need to hurry ourselves and get swept up in the madness. As we enter this mutable energy it is absolutely necessary to seek clarity with patience and yielding. Aries energy is neither of these things and it may feel difficult to quell the fire. If we have done our work of purification, and are willing to let go of expectation, we can be decisive – but it is a decisiveness that must arise from the true mind. We will know what the right decision is if it feels peaceful and freeing. Our decisions must not be made with shadows of uncertainty – investigate all unsettled feelings and see more deeply into choices. The period upcoming may be a chaotic and confusing time, but it can be a phase where we really learn to tap into the inner voice and work from our spiritual center, as this may be the best way to survive and the only way to thrive under these influences. It is a beautiful spiritual lesson in a “feminine” form of evolution. Release doing, return to being. Work from being, and find the truth without searching.

The energy of September is huge. This is a pivotal time for the world’s direction. People who choose to be assistants and servants to the world in one way or another will experience immense growth through this process – this is a time when spiritual energies are very high and many people will start experiencing mind-bending shifts in their perspectives and need grounded influences. It is important that we all become aware of balance in our lives and transparent with our truth – especially with ourselves. Simplify, clarify, wait until things settle. Your mind is a powerful creator…. Use it wisely.

“All will come to those who keep to the one – for there lies rest, happiness and peace.”

- Tao Te Ching, Chapter 35

The truth we practice: Blue Moon in Aquarius, Venus & Uranus Retrograde, Saturn Direct in Scorpio

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Life has felt up in the air lately. At the start of this year I had predicted it would be one for reevaluation and clearing the decks, and it has been that to a degree of intensity that I had no idea was even possible. We are in times of major internal change and revolution. The call to abandon activities, attitudes and persons that do not align with our spiritual process is growing louder by the day. As the invisible & subtle reality merges more acutely with the dense, physical reality our minds and our bodies are undergoing painful and confusing transitions. We are in a moment in life where everything matters. What we choose to do and be defines us now more than ever. Deep subconscious issues are arising at alarming rates, and with the right attitude and willingness we can shift our consciousness around a given situation nearly as quickly as it appeared. The key, no matter what, is to maintain the integrity of a positive direction and move towards that which makes us feel happier, lighter, and more free. The other night after working for several hours in the office, I went out to bathe in the moonlight and for the first time in some weeks, take a moment to reflect upon all of the recent changes and overall direction of situations in my life. The past few years in summertime, I have been so BUSY and this summer in particular, I’ve entered an unprecedented phase where the present is the only reality I have much time to worry about. Summer used to be my favorite season, but since moving south I find the intensity of the active yang energy a challenging contender. It is more difficult in the summertime to sink in to the lengthy periods of reflection and internal work that come so easily in the slower seasons and staying balanced in the midst of constant activity can be quite tricky. However, with so much shifting energy in the cosmos this past week and next, life seems to have put on the brakes to some degree. I feel we are all getting the opportunity to look more closely at the action taking place all around us and making determinations that could slightly or significantly alter our course from here on out.

In astrological terms, the major events that I am referencing are those in the title of this article: Venus Retrograde, Uranus Retrograde, and Saturn moving Direct and out of Scorpio, as well as today's Blue Moon in Aquarius. As an astrologer and intuitive, I very often feel and sense these types of cosmological shifts for a period of time before I write about them. Retrograde/Direct cycles especially of the outer planets like Uranus, are not highly unusual, but since they are happening together we feel these energies very acutely and perhaps more dramatically than usual. Uranus is the signifier of change and awakening. Venus relates to harmony, luxury, and relationships. While Saturn is the lord of karma & matter: the “work” of life. The feeling of this past week has been somewhat “strange” to me. There is a very intense sensation toward making, in some cases, unanticipated changes as immediately as possible in order to be in better alignment with our true spiritual direction and overall peace of mind. I find myself commanded to quickly shift gears and refocus in ways that I did not expect at this juncture, but am nonetheless grateful for. The clear message coming through the Uranian principle seems to be: “The time is now to live the life we wish!” Change now what demands to be changed – ESPECIALLY as it relates to Venusian aspects of our life: Creative pursuits, love relationships, and financial matters.

Venus is spending the majority of its Retrograde cycle in Leo the sign of fun, self expression, and creativity. Since Venus has entered its shadow (the area of the sky over which it is moving retrograde) in late June, I’ve been seeing the themes of the retrograde cycle – and in many ways am finding a direct correlation between this Venus Retrograde and the Saturn Cycle that has been so prominent throughout 2015. Saturn is in Scorpio for the very last time, demanding our final word on the Scorpionic lessons we’ve been working with since October 2012. Throughout this transit I have concluded that Saturn in Scorpio can be summed up as such: A firm, deep, and fearless commitment to our own path, our own evolution, and our own empowerment irregardless of all obstacles or realities that aim to take us down, don’t understand what we’re doing, or otherwise keep us from realizing our own true strength. And this very much includes our own inner psyche’s negative patterning. The lesson of Saturn in Scorpio has been to persevere through the depth of our fears around true power, true love, true strength, true intimacy, and true vulnerability in faith and trust that what we truly want and need will await us on the other side. It has been very much like a psychological “clean up.”

Saturn is stationing at the very final degrees of Scorpio, while Venus is moving through the same patch of sky in stressful, restructuring, reevaluting, releasing waning square to Saturn, along with Jupiter who is also in Leo in the final degrees. What I have been noticing about the themes of Venus retrograde that have thusfar arisen is that there is a sensation of finality. Many old and crusty characters and behaviors have been popping up all over the place – in dreams, in people on the street, in current relationships, you name it. All of these things relate to old psychological scars that we might be carrying from past relationships and around love in general.  With the Scorpio energy really pushing us to purge our fears and psychological hang ups, I feel this Venus Retrograde has a lot of energy around really finding what LOVE and FREEDOM IN LOVE means to us and how we want to shift our psychological patterning around partnership, friendship, and creative processes.  What do our past relationships show us about what we desire in love, and also what we feel is missing?  What are the projections we experience through others saying about how we relate to love and relationships – is it all roses and daisies, or are there some shadows there? What is happening in your current relationship that you no longer tolerate? What choices can we make around relationships of all kinds that will bring more fun, lightness, and joy into our lives?

Generally speaking, I’ve really noticed a sudden flourish in social connections, as people around me seem to be expressing a desire to connect more often and more meaningfully. In love relationships, I see partnerships departing, deepening, and most definitely reevaluating and shifting based off of what the two partners most deeply value in relationship, as well as what will bring the relationship to an overall happier and more harmonious place in the long term.  I also see people craving time for themselves to rejuvenate, relax, and take care of their relationship with self on a deeper level -- in a realization that this allows them to be more present in connection with work and others.  And all of this seems to be happening in a “now or never” sort of way. Venus is about what we DESIRE and the sense I am getting is that what we want can no longer be put off. What makes us happy is tantamount and those things that make us unhappy we are willing to shift completely sans the usual hemming and hawing. The reason being those parts of our relationship with life that make us unhappy are REALLY starting to feel old and burdensome, and we’re recognizing the extent to which many of these things are just reflections of our own self limiting beliefs and psychological fog. Our own disempowered behaviors.

The overall feeling is one of moving forward with the aim to improve. This might mean some significant changes in particular patterns that are pretty firmly embedded in our relationship to others, self, and even our work and creative life. There can be some frustration around this as so often lately it feels that every time something is settled or resolved, it’s quickly dismantled for rebuilding. This uprooting feeling can be disturbing, especially to those of us who sorely wish for reality to be more fixed and predictable.  However, it is my sense that we should get used to this to some degree and learn to create our lives from the consciousness that change not just a possibility but inevitable. In other words, what we create in our lives needs to have plenty of room for evolution – as the more walls we build, the more walls we’ll have to take down later. A firm foundation can still be established, but all other elements must be highly malleable. Simplify everything and be ready to be “on the move” so to speak.

In my contemplation of the times, of truth, and the messages of the Retrograde cycles and today’s Blue Moon in Aquarius -- I wondered about a certain phenomenon one encounters when walking a spiritual path and working on one’s internal growth – in the stages between major breakthroughs there are these phases where one can feel utterly out of sorts and look around at one’s life only to wonder if any progress has been made at all. I thought back to myself in earlier stages of my life and journey and how it seemed so much easier to grasp certain concepts that in times more present seem as if they are far away on some high mountain. Were they not even further from me then? The answer I got was this: The truth can be known in an instant – but to realize it, to practice it, to live it, takes years – a lifetime, many lifetimes.

The bottom line of the universe, of creation, of action, of being – is intent. We place our intention in the direction we want to go, and yield to the obstacles that fall in our path. We sometimes need to weed whack our way through some emotional crap but the pathway is still there and muck or no muck we still walk forward if it is our aim to do so.

In some fashion, at least on this earthly plane, there is no change without some sort of muck. Even if we manage to transcend some of our own, there is the junk of other people, of society, of consciousness in general that we all contribute to, experience, and are, in our own ways, responsible for. In this sense the path is always being realized – our journey upon it is eternal as there is no end to the possibilities of growth. If we master one or two elements of life, there is an infinity of others we know nothing about. And even upon mastery, we have to understand the inherent nature of change – the spiraling, cyclic nature of the universe, of cosmic influence, of life in general. For every culmination there is a decline, a reevaluation, a release, and a letting go, in order to make room for new levels.

I feel that this is what we’re enduring at this moment and in many ways, what we are also learning how to do. We are discovering how to process immense amounts of new information on all levels of consciousness and balance the most disparate aspects of ourselves, our environments, and the world at large as a community. In this moment, it doesn’t matter so much where and who we are, per se – what matters is our intention and our direction towards authenticity, freedom and humanity. Our intention towards gentleness, love, and respect.  The world needs this enlightened vibration. It needs people who are concerned with balance, who wish to deeply live and love, who are here to serve from the heart. These intentions, actions, and choices awaken the possibility of change and of balance on a much larger scale. We have the ability to create life more directly than ever before.  In the moment it doesn't always look as we envisioned, but the envisioning is so fundamental.  What we desire to be, we can be.  What we aim for, we can have.  What are soul craves can be realized.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but in time with perseverance.  And even then, the vision will take a new form.  The important part is now:  To be dedicated to the process of change, of growth.  To make wise choices, and to move forward with hope -- knowing that there is no end, and that it won't be linear, and that the results rarely look anything like the ideal, but somehow are ideal regardless.

What is it you're REALLY here to create?  What changes do you need to make to move in that direction?  See that, and go from there...

Saturn in Scorpio - Redux ... A Note on Inner Strength, Transformation and Spiritual Evolution

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I do not love the energy of Saturn in Scorpio. Probably because Scorpio also rules my 12th house and lord knows, the 12th house (as I have learned through this treacherous transit) can be an unpleasant room of faceless anxiety and emotional terribleness.  However, inexplicable emotional turmoil aside, I am appreciating this final ingress for the motivation it's given me to go the extra mile on the physical, emotional, and spiritual house cleaning left undone when Saturn went into enthusiastic Sag this December. I think what's happening with this little dip back into Scorpio that lasts throughout the summer is that since we have begun the Sagittarius visioning process in the earlier part of the year, we have a bit more clarity about WHAT our problems in life really are, and WHY we need to make the effort to resolve them. We now have a much more tangible understanding of how making certain changes really serves our immediate and long term goals. Additionally, there's likely been some progress made since last fall that is allowing for changes to take place now that were not possible then.  We are finishing up business, tying up loose ends, and making deep life adjustments that will be essential for our future growth -- and even more specifically -- our long term mental & emotional health.

Scorpio governs psychological processing, sexuality, shared resources, raw emotion, grief, birth and death. The past few years of Saturn in Scorpio has been one of experiencing the psychological blockages that we might have around any or all of the above issues, recognizing them, and working to open up a process of healing.

Saturn in Scorpio is really about commitment to our own empowerment. So often we think that this is as simple as saying "Go" only to find that authenticity as an actuality is an arduous task of parsing through one's own misgivings, societal conditioning, childhood wounding, etc. What Saturn in Scorpio shows us is the true nature of power -- A person does not become truly authentic, thus truly powerful, without enduring the full experience of their own darkness and going through the process of transmutation and transformation. Power in the form of wealth or status can display itself so brightly and seem so convincing, but if it is all a facade, it is ultimately a house of cards that will someday fall down. True power comes through humility, surrender, and commitment to the absolute truth of oneself on all levels.  Under the eye of Saturn we are directed to face ourselves, our fears, and the hidden ways we behave in order to recognize the way our falseness undermines our strength.

To be our whole self takes courage and integrity.  Scorpio energy in its ultimate is the pure, raw, and honest merging with the infinite mysterious power of primal chaos.  It is the fearless knowing and embodiment of our true soul -- the freedom from all the suppression and oppression.  We all want this, yet the profound fear of it can cause us to behave in so many strange ways -- clinging to the things that feel "safe" but are in fact illusory, attempting to control every outcome, and so forth.  Even the desperate and crisis driven "survival mode" Scorpionic folks can fall into is a type of emotional safety and psychological clinging.  The power of the Scorpio spirit, however, is its ability to be in crisis and remain open to the possibility of its own, inevitable death.  We cross these thresholds of fear -- that of life and death -- to meet transformation.  Invariably, in these moments of giving in to that which seems the most frightening, something about us does die, even if it is not our physical body.  But in the process we have met the true self and liberated it.

Though I would not describe these vibes as particularly pleasant, they are productive. We have a few months to excavate and steam clean some final dark, murky space in our psyche. Or at least bring it to light in some way to later set it free. It may be an unpleasant task but we're sure to feel better when it's over, and ready to move on to bigger and better things with a great deal more clarity and peace of mind.

Wood Horse Exits -- January 20 New Moon in Aquarius: Radical Release & The Sheep Year Ahead

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Tuesday's new moon at 0º Aquarius marks the last new moon of the lunar year of the Wood Horse as well as the first of the 2015 calendar year.  The feeling of one phase ending and another beginning is really emblematic of the Aquarius New Moon chart, as well as the energy of this winter season, and in many respects, 2015 as a whole. When I look at the charts for this winter season and observe the development of current and incoming astrological trends, there are a number of immediate standouts.  Working from the most obvious to the more subtle:

  1.  The Uranus-Pluto Square which was exact for the 6th of 7 times around the Winter Solstice, a major astrological cycle that has been working us in profound ways since 2012, are sticking close to each other and having their final joust just as the winter season closes on March 17, 2015.  We feel an increasing sense of urgency as this call for revolutionary change in our personal lives and in the world bears down on us in these final months.  This winter season is like laboring for the gold of the alchemical fire.  We've been working this energy for a long time, and in a big way during the 2014 year of the Wood Horse.  Deeply threaded beliefs are being worked out and unraveled in society at large and within ourselves.  The true impact of this alignment will continue to unfold for years to come.  Nonetheless, we remain in the final clutches of the deep, ongoing cooking process -- anxiety, uncertainty, and instability are real and unavoidable.  Change is upon us, and the best thing we can do this season is direct our minds, wills, and hearts toward positive and evolutionary directions.  Have faith in their significant and positive outcomes -- and know that the stress will abate considerably in a few months.
  2. Saturn's Sagittarius Ingress and dip back into Scorpio this summer -- Saturn represents structures and material matters and therefore his travels through the signs often impact cultural feeling in a big way.  This year of 2015 receives Saturn's first messages from his more optimistic, hopeful, idealistic Sagittarius transit.  This ingress is about the ideas we want to build our life around and our process of hearing, telling, receiving, and giving THE TRUTH.  These are the truths, of course, reflected upon and revealed through our deep passages in Scorpio, the sign of death, rebirth, and profound merging with intimates, family skeletons, and mystery itself.  In 2015, we will return to meet Scorpio for a few months before uniting completely with our Sagittarian visions.  In the current and coming months before the retrograde cycle, we are working quite a lot on developing our initial ideas about moving forward, but we won't have the official go ahead until later in the year after we've finished our Scorpio work once and for all.
  3. Exit Wood Horse, Enter Wood Sheep -- The Wood Horse has come and gone with swift intensity!  Last year's energies from both an Eastern and Western astrological perspective were profound, changeful, and chock full of huge life events, and spiritual growing pains.  Whereas previous years, the changes were felt profoundly within, this past year was jammed with action -- and it hasn't really relented as it normally does come January.  This coming New Moon feels very much like the Wood Horse's last labor of love.  With Uranus meeting the south node and Pluto squaring the nodes last week there is a sense of deep, emotional, profound, BIG release.  The Wood Horse year has had us working!  No matter what area of our life we looked at, we have worked our butts off!!  And for what grand purpose?  If we follow the perspective of the Horse, it was so we could have greater freedom, self expression, and independence in our lives.  This remains true, even if we still feel shackled or that the past year was burdensome -- sometimes it's beneath the shackles and burdens that we are able to find the seed of true freedom that we would have never known existed otherwise.  This New Moon is that seed.  The "Firing" process I spoke of with reference to the Uranus-Pluto square and deep Saturn Scorpio work with commitments are starting to crystallize.  Let go, in a BIG way, to clear the deck for the softer, more creative, nurturing and developing vibe of the sheep.  The barrier between what we deeply want and what is possible has become a lot less stable.  Take your work horse, and march right through that big ole pile of bull ;)
  4. Energetic Preview of the Mutable T-Square -- For me, a big game changing piece in the coming Sheep & Monkey years (end of 2015-2016), is the mutable T-Square that is to form between Jupiter in Virgo, Saturn in Sagittarius, and Neptune in Pisces.  This is the next BIG phase of energy adjustment coming in, and it will provide a totally different feeling from the past few years which have been about discovery, awakening, development of consciousness and taking initial action towards change. Through this, there have been very real, physical, psychic, and emotional trials.  My initial feelings about this coming formation are that they bring with them a test of the mind's ideals and the struggle between practicality and spirituality.  Logistics, thwarted implementation, discovery of false truths, intense & prolific confusion, and the dissolving of previous beliefs.  Our readiness for the incoming time is dependent on our willingness, now, to unhinge ourselves from any aspect of our lives which negatively suppresses our individuality and openness to new and resonating information.  This month Mars in Pisces makes its aspect to Saturn (last week) and Neptune giving us an initial hint of the struggle to make the elusive, beautiful dream world a reality.  It is an interesting image, actually, to think of normally energetic Mars ambling through the slow, undecided watery sign of Pisces (as he does every two years) -- the reminder here is that not all things are gained by doing.  Some, are gained through surrender, through receiving, and through insight.
  5. 0º Point of Potency / 29º Point of Conclusion  -- The new moons this winter season are falling often on the 0º and 29º points.  The 0º and 29º points of signs are considered especially significant as they denote the most powerful and most weak points in the sign -- the vibes of beginnings and endings.  The new moon on the Winter Solstice landed at 0º Capricorn -- indicating a huge season of creating new foundations and also a season of sweeping away deep parts of our past, as Saturn was still at the very last degree of Scorpio.  The January new moon is of a similar essence, landing at 0º Aquarius with both moon and Sun residing in the EST Chart's 12th House of the deep, profound, & subconscious karma.  Moving into the Lunar New Year, the new moons start the year falling at 29º of Aquarius and then a new moon solar eclipse occurs at 29º Pisces on the Spring Equinox, March 20, both of these moons setting the tone for the season of Spring and the remainder of 2015.  With Saturn moving into its retrograde cycle around this same time, we can expect the Sheep's new years resolutions to be centered around cleaning up after some of the eruptions left behind by the horse, healing, reevaluating, and completing unfinished tasks in preparation for the spiritually trying expansive phase to come towards the end of the year.  The peaceful sheep will want to make sure things are in order before chaos returns.
  6. Mercury Retrograde -- The Aquarius moon cycle will also be occurring in stride with Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius.  Since the rising sign of this New Moon chart is also Aquarius with other Aquarian elements strongly thematic (Saturn aspecting the chart's Midheaven, Uranus aspecting the south node) I see this also as a moon that is really working our Aquarian ruled realms -- Our unique fingerprint, intuition, genius, Our connection to community, groups, friends, tribe-members, Social equality issues, technology, science & innovations.  Mercury retrograde simply re-emphasizes the energy of this evaluative moon cycle -- the paradox of planting outer seeds for new growth through a process of inner work and deep letting go.  Allow yourself to be called to your revolutionary new visions, and really feel the one-of-a-kind you -- how we all individually contribute to the people around us is the mainstay of Aquarian ideals.  Being our authentic selves and knowing our authentic selves IS our service to the community.

Working within the context of all of the above, through January's new moon we see the new creation with such depth, that we are left with no choice but to make profound soul-level decisions to radically release impediments, obstructions, and obfuscations that hinder absolute freedom.  All of this being done with the knowledge that it is a necessary part of our evolutionary course -- that loss and karmic release is only a temporary state.  This new moon is REALLY about seeding intentions for our hidden spiritual visions and unique quest, voice & individuality, while sloughing off the uniform.  We still have more to change, more to review, more to settle before we're quite ready for the complete development of our ideas... but we're starting to come into full alignment with these ideas and full knowing of what exactly we will need to address in the coming months.  Right now, we're remodeling our inner home -- brilliantly envisioning exactly what we want it to look like, with an old structure falling down around us.  The new foundation is being laid, but there's still some old dry wall that needs to go to the dump before we can start building.  Now is the time to go crazy, be creative, and joyfully throw out the crap.  Don't think about the logistics, just express yourself (that's for later anyway!)

And most of all, don't let the old house dictate what the new one must look like.