Insights of Virgo Past
August 22, 2020
Sun enters Virgo: 11:44 AM EDT:
Virgo is sharp. Virgo is all the people who are tired of feeling like the children of lesser gods. Virgo is where the change must come. This may or may not be a specific Virgo although when they speak up and speak out they have something to say. Virgo is about the way we treat the ones who care for us be they our relatives or complete strangers. Virgo instinctively understands the necessity for diversity: That change comes from the margins and is only real if it permeates the very fabric of how we live: The small stuff. Virgo is where we understand that one thing changes and everything changes. Virgo is the enemy of hierarchy therefore has been relegated to the margins of culture over thousands of years. Virgo is fierce, not in the way of that troublesome character Mars but rather in the way of a goddess or a Great Mother who has had quite enough.
This year as the Sun moves through Virgo it will make favorable aspects to the planets in other earth signs (Capricorn and Taurus) reminding us that how we actually live on a day-to-day basis matters even if it seems overwhelming in these times of pandemic and cultural collapse. Virgo, unlike most mortals, loves all her children equally. It’s about time.
August 22, 2019
Sun enters Virgo: 6:02 AM EDT
There are contradictions in this sign: it rules the military, for example, as well as the witches. It fears the consequences of not following rules, even as it is capable of outrageous acts of radical subversion (especially on behalf of the natural world or the disenfranchised). It can be obsessively analytical and organizing yet we can only imagine what’s going on should we gaze upon the Virgo desk. At the core, the heart of this sign are the processes of nature Herself. Virgo reminds us of the turning of the wheel of the year, the Big Order of the natural world, not the regimentation of clocks and human-made order. Patriarchy has done a great job of fragmenting Virgo, belittling and marginalizing it. Hierarchical systems distress this sign and cause it to appear (even to itself) as anxious and perfectionistic. A deeper understanding shows us that these are simply neurotic expressions of frustrated instincts that long to live at one, not two, with the intelligence of the natural world. Kept apart from their instinctive appreciation and sympathy with the workings of nature, they are understandably agitated. (This is not just for those with the Sun in Virgo, also Moon, rising and other planets can bring these qualities to the fore. And we all partake of Virgo for the month when the Sun is there.)
Pull back from the panic. We all ‘contain multitudes’ (As Walt Whitman said). Act as if you live in a whole-istic world. Open yourself to diversity, integration, engagement. The world is our lover.
This year as the Sun travels through Virgo it will trine Uranus, Saturn and Pluto, conjunct Mars and Mercury, oppose Neptune and square Pluto, (see below) activating the most powerful astrological pictures of the year which are the last Jupiter square to Neptune and the approaching Saturn Pluto conjunction in January 2020. How much can we take before we break? And what will we do when that breaking happens?
August 23, 2018
Sun enters Virgo: 00:09 AM EDT
When you think of Virgo do you think uptight, anxiety riddled, analytical, critical, bitchy? Or do your thoughts align with images of an emerging goddess; one whose voice must be heard if we are to make it through these times of earthly changes? Is Virgo the virgin of patriarchal religions: A humble woman with downcast eyes symbolizing what seems to be an inhuman perfection, imagined by those who would control her body and dismiss her mind? Or is Virgo the virgin a symbol of feminine wholeness, acolyte to the cycles of life, the turning of the wheel of the year, aligned with the very soul of nature? Unfortunately or fortunately Virgo is all the above mentioned things. Imagine yourself a goddess, chained for thousands of years; reviled, desecrated, and stripped of power. You might be anxious and bitchy too. Yet underlying is and has always been a fierce, devotion to the notion of unadulterated wholeness, in men as well as women who partake of this sign.
Virgo’s greatest difficulty is with the myth of progress. Virgo prefers diversity and a more integrated world. In these times it matters where we position ourselves in this dilemma, even if it’s only in the mind. Possibly the greatest evolutionary step for humans, even when it comes to things like space travel, is compassion, awareness. The ability to see life as it is, rather than as it should or could be.
As the sun travels through Virgo it will trine Uranus, Saturn and Pluto, sextile Jupiter and oppose Neptune. It will even conjunct Mercury before it leaves. A busy month. Look for Virgo’s fierce compassion as we evaluate the harvest. And look for meaning in the way we actually live our lives. Virgo’s greatest wisdom lies in the awareness that all of life is sacred and we are all connected.
August 22, 2017
Sun enters Virgo: 06:21 PM EDT
Mars trine Saturn (before Sun leaves Leo)
Virgo has gone through mighty changes over the last six years as the fixed star Regulus migrated from Leo to Virgo. In this post-eclipse moment it’s useful to remind ourselves that the dominator world is crumbling and the very nature of domination suggests that the weaker it gets the more posturing of power we will see. You can watch it on the news, every day.
When you think of Virgo, think of goddess. Think of nature restoring rhythm and wholeness to the world. As the Sun travels through Virgo this year it will meet up with Mercury in retrograde, Pluto, Neptune and Saturn; each meeting a reminder to consult with the nature of things, even your own nature, before taking action.
Mars trines Saturn before the Sun enters Virgo but on the same day, reminding us that discipline is a useful quality. It’s a shame to confuse it with punishment. Kindness is not weak. Courage is not always about heroism. Rigor, effort and commitment are different than rigidity and restrictive control.
August 22, 2016
Sun enters Virgo: 12:30 PM EDT
Mercury conjunct Jupiter
I do believe that Virgo is the enemy of domination. Unfortunately those who are committed dominators know this (even if they don’t know it astrologically) and they do what they can to violate the seemingly weaker and less physically mighty members of society. It’s the back beat of patriarchy. Virgo wants wholeness and celebrates diversity. Domination cannot abide those things. Every year when the Sun enters this sign we turn toward the harvest. What have we grown? What can we do with it? What is useful and what is not? This year’s harvest has been effected by excessive heat and drought in many parts of the land. We will feel this later. Even in the Countries of Privilege it will show its face. Wisdom tells us to deal with what is rather than to wish it were not so. But that is not the same as accepting it as good or normal. This period from now till the 10th of September is very intense astrologically. Possibly we are meant to consider the razor’s edge of dealing with what is even as we know in our hearts it is not OK.
Meanwhile Mercury and Jupiter are like clowns at the circus of humanity pointing madly to things relevant and irrelevant with equal gusto. Discrimination is necessary but not bigotry.
August 23, 2015
Sun enters Virgo 06:38 AM EDT
The quest of Virgo is to find the sacred in the mundane and to live in the gap; knowing there is none.
It is as if God played a game
immersed in contemplation;
and from this game
all worlds arose
in endless variation.
*
A ruby
is not lovelier
than a rock,
an angel
not more glorious
than a frog.
– Angelus Silesius
*
In the deep mystery of things as they really are in themselves, we are released from our fixations and attachments to them.
-Sengtsan
From ‘Messenger of the Heart: The book of Angelus Silesius
August 23, 2014
Sun enters Virgo 0:46 AM EDT
Every year the Sun goes into Virgo around this time. And every year you could say it’s the same. But every year it’s also different. The Moon is in a different sign and phase and some of the planets will have changed signs. So it’s the same and yet it’s different. The essential wisdom of Virgo can be found in this simple, profound truth. Only in a world that despises diversity has our notion of Virgo degenerated to mean an anxiety ridden need for order.
August 22, 2013
Sun enters Virgo 7:02 PM EDT
Astrology give us the opportunity to hold a mirror up to our minds and see what we think. When you consider the meaning of a sign or even a planet you are actually thinking about what that principle means to you in life. Astrology does not exist outside our experience. For example if you wonder what the Moon means you are immediately in the realm of mothering and nurturing; aspects of life that are significant to all humans whether they conceive of them astrologically or not.
Virgo is a sign that people think they know. It’s uptight, anxious, irritable and precise. Possibly the road to hell is paved with good intentions but more likely its stones are made of assumptions. The main thing you want to ask about this sign – especially if it applies to you or someone you love is, ‘Why , why is s/he like that”? For me Virgo is the sign that has lived in the margins of society. Virgo’s mission is to integrate in a world that mostly respects and applauds those who dominate. Hierarchy annoys Virgo.
August 22, 2012
Sun enters Virgo 01:07 PM
Mercury sextile Jupiter
We are made of contradictions; a constant interplay of shadow and light. We are all the parts and we are the whole. We want to be helpful and make the world a better place and yet we seem to be riddled with thoughts and emotions about people and events long gone or yet to come. Along comes Virgo; sign of the harvest – abundant or not. Harvesting requires that we deal with particulars. We pick the stems and leaves off the fruit and make sure each piece of corn is free of the worm. If you ever bit down on a stone in your lentils or found a bug in your broccoli you know how important every little thing can be. Virgo reminds us of the importance of the particulars, both yours and mine. For today put your mind to understanding the immediate reality as well as the big picture.
Insights of Leo Past
July 22, 2012
Sun enters Leo 06:01 AM
There were those who believed that the world was created when the Sun was in Leo. Undoubtedly they were Leos. There are those who have big hearts and loud voices, who love it when you pay attention to them. There are also the cowardly lions and the ones who hide their light wishing someone would find it. What are we to learn from Leo? Possibly the greatest lesson here is the difference between true pride and narcissistic self-aggrandizement. It’s all about a full heart: the Sun above us is the very heart of our solar system. Love itself. Too much and we burn too little and we freeze.
July 22, 2013
Sun enters Leo
Full Moon at zero degrees Aquarius
Deep inside the heart of anyone or anything is its opposite. The Sun’s great light harbors a deep impenetrable darkness. We experience this if/when we sit alone and feel the vast expanse of inner space. It’s not easy. It can be scary. But as human beings we all have access to this Big Emptiness. For some it’s a darkness, unbearable and terrifying, to be avoided at all costs; for others this vast emptiness at the heart of the heart offers a path to bliss. Either way it requires a lot of energy. Rachel Naomi Remen has said, ‘The heart is an organ of vision, not a valentine’.
Leo, of course, is all about the heart; your heart, my heart, the heart of the solar system.
Today is a Big Heart day and while we’re at it we should remember that big as love can make us feel we need to stay grounded and whole as best we can in any given moment as well as using the potential we have to open our goodness to the larger group around us. Suffering seems to increase as climates of all sorts shift and change. We are actually all equipped to participate in the wild, crazy dance of chaos and change.
July 22, 2014
Sun enters Leo 5:41 PM EDT
Leo is ruled by the Sun. In the northern hemisphere, the cradle of astrology as we know it, the Sun is hottest in this month. It can scorch the earth, it is often a season of forest fires. It can also warm us so we want to swim as well as bring our food crops to fruition for the harvest in Virgo. Here on the ground we are tired of rulers who are dishonest, corrupt, misguided, unethical and devoid of compassion. We have been scorched by misrule. Leo encourages us to find the path with heart and walk it.
July 22, 2015
Sun enters Leo 11:31 PM EDT
When heat and light converge in the heart we call it love. It’s only one version of love but possibly the most compelling. So, take heart, my love. Just because you can. Leo is ruled by the Sun. The Sun is hot and it burns us. These days it is bad for our skin and water is in shorter supply. How is this love? Who is to blame? Surely not the Sun. the poet Hafiz says:
There is a lot to be gained in letting love find its own way.
July 22, 2016
Sun enters Leo: 05:30 AM EDT
Some of us are sun worshipers. Others cover up to avoid its powerful rays. Either way you can’t ignore it. It rides across the sky every day, keeping us company in our conscious lives.
The ancients saw the Sun as the King: The great ruler of all: The giver of consciousness and the ruler of Leo. Powerful, the way love is powerful. Leo is the heart of the hottest, sunniest time of year in the northern hemisphere. The more north you go the stronger the Sun in summer. Leo is about love, and pride and will and strength. It represents power and the Great Spirit that we all partake of when the heart is free.
Maybe we are all sun worshipers in some way. And yet fearful of the power of light and love. Surely now is as good a time as any to let love guide our choices. Especially on the days the sun connects to other planets or the moon:
July 22, 2017
Sun enters Leo: 11:16 AM EDT
When you think of Leo, think of kings; especially the wounded kind. That’s just how it is for Leo these days. People in power do not seem inclined to offer themselves for the benefit of their so-called subjects. Rather they think mostly of how they can have more money, more power, more fame. In the story of Parsifal, the wounded king can only be healed by asking the right questions. It takes a knight of great nobility as well as real human experience to be wise enough to ask the right question. I’ll leave you to it. And, just to be clear – no matter who you are, man or woman, Leo is the sign of healing your wounded heart; shining the light of wisdom and love into the shadows and seeing what courage means to you. There will be both a lunar and a solar eclipse this month. Lots of astrological encouragement to shine this light of love where the shadows lurk.
July 22, 2018
Sun enters Leo: 05:01 PM EDT
Each of us has a heart, just like our solar system has a sun. Our hearts beat like drums accompanying the rhythm of our lives. Such a precious gift. The Sun in Leo this year will oppose Mars and the Moon at the lunar eclipse. It will also square Uranus and Jupiter. We could see these aspects as a call to step up to or into the nobility of heart that each of us has been given. There are many things happening on our planet, some terrible, others wonderful. Denial does not serve, but neither does despair. Transformation requires strength of heart and commitment to purpose. Here we go.
July 22, 2019
Sun enters Leo: 10:51 PM EDT
The majestic Sun rises every morning, everywhere on this planet, waking us up, calling us to the day. Leo is the domain of the Sun. It reminds us as it journeys from horizon to the zenith of the sky and back down again, that we are all “of noble birth” and that we all rise and fall. Leo is about pride. In an age when narcissism is rampant and leaders care most about their image and how many votes they can get, we might well ponder the difference between the pride that (We have been told) ‘goeth’ before a fall and the other kind of pride which is born of healthy self-esteem.
We are enthralled by celebrity and images of ourselves which we post for all to see. Have we lost our ability to discern the difference between overweening pride and true self-esteem? This is the Leo question. Can we not see the difference between true courage and extreme sports? Clearly many of us can and many of us can’t. One more person making it to some summit on a mountain top doesn’t take nearly the courage to see and say the truth.
July 22, 2020
Sun enters Leo: 4:36 AM EDT
I am in the habit of watching the Sun rise. Lately I see the Earth bowing, head bent, skirts collected, soft knees, less like a curtsy, more like at the end of qigong when we honor the teachers and the teachings. Her arms outstretched as She, the Earth, offers her life to Life. Maybe this is the human problem. We don’t bow to the Sun. We lack the humility that should be innate in us as a life form born of a body into a body. As the Earth makes her offerings to the Sun for the next month we do well to consider the difference between self-important, narcissistic engagement with the world (all the rage at the moment it seems) and self-confident engagement which arises out of self-esteem. What is required of a true king? Nobility, and a deep devotion in service to the people. Possibly the time of kings is coming to an end, but there will always be the Sun.
Insights of Cancer Past…
2020
June 20
Sun enters Cancer: 05:44 PM EDT
Mars sextile Jupiter
We made it to the half way mark of one of the strangest years ever. Summer begins with the longest day, here in the north, as we tilt toward the Sun. Half way through this difficult year we might explore Cancer themes from our newly acquired pandemic perspective. Cancer means one thing to those who feel secure and something quite different to those who don’t. It can indicate a creative productivity leading to nourishment for many. We are happy to give when we feel secure. When security is lacking, when productivity is impossible, when there is no hive, we feel needy. Consider the intensity of a new mother’s full breasts and her baby’s empty stomach. (Cancer is the ruler of these parts of the body.) A wailing baby is hard to ignore. The desire to feed the baby is powerful, natural. These two sides of nourishment create a lasting bond and becomes the prototype for bonding throughout a life. Dominator culture has done everything in its misguided use of power to sever this bond. The result being that some eat and some starve and we can’t always feel the bond between. It seems that this is a really good time to do what we can to repair this broken bond.
Don’t be afraid of the moments when you feel good. Our willingness to slow down enough to listen to all states of being opens the doors to change.
2019
June 21:
Sun in Cancer: 11:54 AM EDT
Neptune stationery retrograde
We all want to feel secure, to nurture and nourish the people and situations that hold us in circles of care and connection, now more than ever as the world seems to teeter closer and closer to an unmanageable level of chaos. Cancer is the sign that does that best. This month the Sun in Cancer will meet up with Neptune, Pluto and Saturn, some heavy hitters. See below for specifics.
Today is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. This is a significant turning point in the year as it appears that the Sun stands still and a fundamental change of light begins to take place. Today, the day is as long as it can be. Starting tomorrow or the day after, despite the great light, the long days light will begin to diminish. There is something profoundly paradoxical at the solstices. The longest day has the seed of the longest night hidden in the folds of her dress.
Today is also one of two days in the year when Neptune is stationery: One as it turns direct and this one as it turns retrograde. We can’t say that Neptune has a solstice because only the Sun has that. But, if it did have one it would be on the days of the stations when it appears to stand still and change direction. In this case the paradox might be found in a sense that dreams are made of memory yet we lean into them as if they are the future.
We might consider taking some time for a bit of contemplation on these elusive subjects. At the very least we might marvel at how seeds of darkness are found in light, as well as what it might take to remain present even as we are tossed on the waves of memory and anticipation.
2018
June 21
Sun enters Cancer: 06:07 AM EDT Summer Solstice
Get over it. Cancer is not the sign of apple pie and motherhood as conceived and maintained by patriarchy. And it is not the Queen who derives her powers from the King. A perfect symbol for this sign is the beehive. That’s the kind of queen to consider when contemplating Cancer. She doesn’t so much rule the hive as keep the hive together and make sure it’s making lots of honey. She is not separate from the hive, simply an integral part of the whole. Of course, bees, like humans cannot be stereotyped. Among the bees are the hivers and even loner bees. Cancer is the sign of extended family or tribe. If mom is a matriarch that would qualify. Just remember that it’s not the same as a patriarch in drag nor is it some kind of soppy, introvert. And if it is then I would say there is deep distress. That person needs a purpose.
Over the next astrological month the Sun in Cancer will meet up with Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto and Uranus. There is a story here. How we pull together (or not) under adversity, to celebrate the myriad manifestations of life and for the children and the children’s children.
If you have a deep desire for something, today is a good one to figure out what the challenges might be to having it and who you need to wrangle with to get it.
2017
June 21
Sun enters Cancer: 00:24 AM EDT
Mercury enters Cancer
Sun conjunct Mercury
Magic is afoot on days of greatest light or dark. Today is one of only two days that happen each year. If you could step away from earth and see it from space you would see that today is actually both a day of long light in the north and long dark in the south. There is nothing to compare to a big, blue ball twirling on its axis, spinning around a star in space for magic. Wake early and catch the first rays; stay up late and dream with your eyes open. Make footprints in the sands of imagination and watch them disappear. Then get down to the real magic. Make something grow that you can eat. Feed a stranger. Look around at your hive and see what needs doing over the next season to make honey and who you might be making it with. And if you want your hive to sing, listen to the song of life that surrounds you; join in and add your voice to the music.
2016
June 20
Summer Solstice: Sun enters Cancer: 06:34 PM EDT
The Sun is the heart of our solar system. It travels through the galaxy taking us with it, even as we see it move through each sign of the zodiac every year. Every astrological month, the sun makes contact with different planets and the Moon. Each encounter can be seen as symbolic of a heartfelt conversation between the two. As the Sun journeys through Cancer, bringing summer to the northern hemisphere, it speaks of nourishment, productivity and connection. You might imagine a queen, a loving but demanding mother, visiting each planet it touches as if it were a person. Here is the schedule for this month: (You will find insights about each one under the date indicated, below).
July 3: Sun trine Neptune (trines are gifts).
July 4: Sun conjunct Moon (conjunctions with the Sun suggest renewal for the planet which it conjuncts).
July 6: Sun conjunct Mercury.
July 10: Sun sextile Jupiter (sextiles are opportunities).
July 16: Sun square Uranus, trine Mars (squares are blocks).
July 19: Sun opposite Moon (oppositions are challenges).
We might all be thinking about food and nourishment: Who eats, who doesn’t. Eating disorders. Food sensitivities. Food security. GMOs. Even as we look for new ways to encourage the children to eat their kale.
2015
June 21st
Sun enters Cancer 12:38 PM EDT
Cancer is not a sucky sign. It’s not weak and needy. It’s quintessentially human because it’s about bonding. It’s what humans must do, right from the start (especially at the start) of our lives if we are to be sane; if we are to be aware that we are not here alone. Why is it that so many things about our society seem aimed at weakening this bond? If you cannot get what you need the way nature intended it you will suck for the rest of your life at the tit of stuff; food, things, power, money, extreme sports, violence, drugs, booze, sex – and beyond, although none of these will satisfy. Cancer is the sign that points to these issues. Spiritual people are fond of the notion of non-attachment but non-attachment can slide into dissociation if the original bond that makes us human and humane is severed.
2014
June 21st
Sun enters Cancer 8:51 AM EDT
Somehow this sign got the reputation for being the co-dependent caretaker of us all. Undeserved. Cancer is about the tribe; the extended family; the people. It’s not really about the nuclear family. Look around you and it’s obvious that the nuclear family is falling, breaking, shattering apart even as a new kind of family is growing in its place. A chosen family created by people who expand and extend themselves to be inclusive of more than the nuclear group. It’s evolution; the evolution of Cancer.
2013
June 21
Sun enters Cancer 01:04 AM EDT Summer Solstice
It’s the longest day here in the northern hemisphere. In fact, if you go far enough north, it’s just one long day that lasts for a few months. And then, if you go down under it is the shortest day. This world is full of puzzles and miracles. When you think of the sign of Cancer, think of a busy bee hive. At the center is the queen; not pulling rank but rather offering herself to her people, the bees, and then to us in the wonderful honey they produce. Nourishment naturally
Insights of Gemini Past…
May 20, 2020
Sun enters Gemini: 09:49 AM EDT:
Venus retrograde, square Neptune
As we make our way through the long and perilous (more for some than others) journey of pandemic reality, including self-isolation, hand washing and wondering how we will ever meet again and what we will meet on the other side, Gemini pops into view, bringing, as always, the last astrological sign of spring. Gemini is the sign of the breath and the lungs, the respiratory tract. During the Sun’s journey through Gemini we will be contending with Venus retrograde in this sign: Goddess of matter, values and all that we love journeying through the realm of the trickster. Together we are called, if we are listening, to descend into the dark and foreboding underworld and see to what kinds of transformations are necessary and even possible. Gemini is a funny sign, both clever, eccentric and at times, a bit ‘peculiar’. Other signs might think of themselves as eccentric and one-of-a-kind but Gemini takes that cake. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the mind, that trickster we all know and love who takes us down roads and along tracks seemingly on its own. Unless we practice some kind of mindfulness we are often at the mercy of what goes on in there. Gemini is fake news and skewed statistics as well as the genius of turning a phrase and opening doors to understanding. As Venus descends we are called in her underworld to acknowledge the lies we tell ourselves in aid of believing the lies of others.
A hallmark of descent and return is that we do it alone. No one but me knows the workings of my mind. We can share our thoughts as best we can. We can even try to help those in mental distress but it’s up to the individual to wrestle that unruly fellow – the mind – into position to do the bidding of the heart. To do this we need to sit with it and pay attention to what it’s on about without being led down the garden path. This is our task for Gemini 2020. Even as we zoom here and there on all sorts of mind-ways and by-ways can we pull back and reflect? Is it possible to sort through reams of information and find some truth? Do we actually know what really matters? Can humans ever master the mighty gift of our brains, and the minds that work through them? There is much to process here. Be still, especially on June 3 when Venus conjuncts the Sun. Listen, breathe, and of course, laugh at the absurdity of it all. It’s a wild dance and we are all here, doing it, twirling and spinning to the music of life.
The square to Neptune from Venus today underscores the need to be mindful or else get swept away in the delusions of collective entrancement. We must protect ourselves against the hoodwinkers, the greatest one being our own mind. We are in fact the masters of our own oblivion. So slow down, be reflective, don’t push away your griefs and fears, real or imagined. Simply acknowledge them and see what happens. The only way is through.
May 21 2019
Sun in Gemini: 3:59 AM EDT
Mercury enters Gemini and conjuncts the Sun
It’s a journey. Even if we think we are going nowhere, even if we think we can stay the same, the world around us and within us is constantly changing. The landscape, our feelings, the people and the culture. Change is so fast, so furious as time marches on. Gemini is there. Magician or trickster, this sign calls us to be curious of the moment to moment realities of our shape-shifting world. Gemini, ruled by Mercury, is the symbolic representative of our mind. The secret embedded at the core of this sign is the mandate to master the mind, to truly understand the difference between thinking and awareness and to train our thoughts to bow to awareness. This year, as the Sun travels through Gemini it meets up with Jupiter and Neptune as they meet up with each other. Some astrologers are calling it the ‘meat grinder’ I prefer to think of it as the windstorm. A time when confusion is everywhere and the slippery slope could be that we find ourselves wanting to cry like a rainstorm, howl like the wind. We may experience even more confusion than usual exacerbated by opinions and judgments. For those who can open the mind to awareness it will be a month to not believe what you think, a time to stand at the center of the whirling wheel and breathe, one breath at a time. For the rest it will be a spin-dizzy time of easy mis-perceptions and some bitter communications. We can only approach one day or maybe one breath at a time, with kindness. If we sow the wind it is likely we will reap the whirlwind.
Mercury will be cazimi the sun today. Happens six times a year. Ancient astrologers imagined the Sun as king, the ultimate source of power. (Unfortunately they came to link this to masculinity. But that’s a story for another day…) When a planet sits at the heart of the Sun as Mercury does today it is said to be renewing its mission. The Sun imbues it with light and life. To have this meeting at the earliest degree of Gemini, symbol of mind itself, is indeed powerful. Imagine your mind sitting in the heart of the source of all life. This is strongest a little before and after 9:07 AM. Listen. Let s/he who has the ears to hear, hear.
May 20 2018
Sun enters Gemini: 10:15 PM EDT
In the era of fake news, when facts are a matter of opinion as a matter of course, Gemini is a significant player. As the twins, a dual or mutable sign, on one hand it has two sides. Gemini rules hand eye coordination as well as communication. You could say it’s the journalist, the messenger, the town crier. On the other hand you could also see it as the trickster, the guy with the 3 shells and the pea who manipulates information: Like that Gemini and his Gemini sidekick in the white house. These days Gemini might be about the standoff between journalists and governments . Journalists and politicians might be seen as two wings of democracy. We, the people, need to trust them. At the moment it’s a bit of a mess.
As each of us tries, from our own little perch to see things as they are we can’t help but notice that there is too much information and not enough facts to have a truly rational perspective.
Gemini is also the breath. It rules the process of breathing in and breathing out. This might be a clue or thread to help us keep hold of what we call reality. A powerful tool, hiding in plain sight. Focusing on inhaling and exhaling (which is always happening) cuts through the fake stuff and shows us what is. I breath in, I breathe out. Deeply. With commitment and intention. Whenever we remember. Breathing is always happening but rarely do we connect it to our thoughts. It’s a powerful tool for warding off or calming anxiety, when we use it.
Gemini’s biggest adventure this month is the square to Neptune which indicates confusion and deception. But you can always believe in your breath.
May 20 2017
Sun enters Gemini: 04:31 PM EDT
Each year the Sun enters Gemini. Each year, the same but different. That’s just the way of it. Gemini challenges us to live with change. Some people think this means they can do sleight of hand: Pick pockets: Fabricate truth. It’s up to each individual to discern the difference between impermanence and deliberate chaos-making. This year Gemini is delighted by Jupiter and troubled by Neptune. Jupiter suggests it’s time for a good time. Neptune suggests that nothing is as it seems. Both are happening. We can manage it if we stay connected to the elusive portal of the present moment. Focusing on our breathing helps. Breathing is a Gemini thing; constantly changing; powerful yet subtle. As well, we need to remember not to fly too high. On the other hand, there is fun to be had, so have it. The feeling of this aspect has been with us since May and lingers through July. The worst of it is inflation (of all kinds), the best is playful wisdom combined with a deepening understanding and respect for change.
May 20 2016
Sun enters Gemini: 10:37 AM EDT
Gemini has been missing from the party over the last few months. Jupiter has been in Virgo, Neptune in Pisces and Saturn as well as Mars in Sagittarius. These are the mutable signs whose elements are earth, water and fire; the shapeshifters. Gemini, the air sign of this group, has been missing. Air is about perspective which helps us understand what is happening. Imagine a world with no air. Birds couldn’t fly, leaves wouldn’t flutter, heat would be unrelenting and we would suffocate. So welcome Gemini into the fray and open ourselves to its higher functions: the magician rather than its lower manifestation, the pick pocket.
May 21 2015
Sun enters Gemini 4:54 AM EDT
Venus opposite Pluto
I’m writing to you from the subway; the public transit. It’s the most Gemini thing I could think of – given the stop/start energy of spring this year and the fact that I haven’t seen so many butterflies just yet. I’m not quite in the mood to look for June Bugs. Gemini is all about transit. Getting from here to there seems such a trivial thing until and unless it stops working. Gemini is about language and the way we take it for granted. It’s only when we can’t find the words that we remember how important each word is. This year the Sun in Gemini is accompanied by Mars, and Mercury which has just gone retrograde. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is the powerful and significant issue of how we get from here to there. As any good magician will tell you, it will require respect for the task and a whole lot of focus.
Where love is concerned, today the power of need is so strong it could skew the whole deal. Watch out for manipulators on the inner and outer levels.
May 20 2014
Sun enters Gemini 10:59 PM EDT
Gemini like all mutable signs (Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) is a meeting place for seasons; a shape-shifting season, full of flying, crawling, munching, blooming things. There is magic where seasons meet. And Gemini is the magician – whose lesser cousin is the con-artist who has lost the real magic but retains the gift of sleight of hand. Shape-shifting lives where hand and eye conspire to communicate. The way words combine with inflection to create images that become actions. Magic is afoot; possibly as elegant trickery or maybe clever innocence.
May 20 2013
Sun enters Gemini 05:09 PM EDT
Uranus square Pluto
Mercury sextile Uranus
Some say the mind is a monkey –darting from one window to another, so fast it seems as if there is a different monkey at each window. Others say (similarly) that the mind is the slayer of the real. The mind tells us stories, tricks us into thinking about being, rather than actually being. But the mind – the human mind – is a fascinating creative magician. Not to be rusted nor ignored. Welcome to Gemini. Butterflies and dingbats, liars and thieves. Magicians and physicians. Cultivate genuine curiosity rather than the inclination to entertain yourself to death.
For those of us who have been following the astrology of chaos over the last while we know that this is the third exact square of Uranus and Pluto. This planetary aspect is a core symbol for the chaotic forces at work in our world. Uranus in Aries is the universal individual. It symbolized the fact that we are distinct and unique and yet we are also a collective of humanity. It champions the rights of the individual. This can inspire us to great humanitarian acts but in a disturbed mind it can also inspire such acts of the bombing at the Boston Marathon in April 2013. Pluto is quite averse to all that Uranus represents. It can represent the entrenchment of the status-quo. It represents the manipulation of resources (even if those resources are people). On one hand this might be for the sake of the survival of the corporation but Pluto in Capricorn can also be about conserving and protecting natural resources. Uranus represents uprising energy and Pluto represents the inevitability of decay or loss. The first square was June of 2012. The last square is March 2015. We have a distance to travel over the territory of the economy, climate change and kindness and compassion toward our fellow humans and all the other beings which whom we share the earth. Look for the places in your life that need to break down so you can break through. Turn toward the places that scare you. Fear not the inevitable. It’s the only dance there is and our bright minds will find a way: Many ways, most likely.
Diversity is the enemy of stagnation. Mercury softens the square by encouraging us to look for the opportunity to celebrate, encourage and strengthen diverse solutions to our problems.
May 20, 2012
Sun enters Gemini 11:16 AM
Solar Eclipse (New Moon): 7:48PM EDT
Here is a (slightly paraphrased) definition of Grace from James Finley: ‘The Sun rises every day and no one is doing it. Our hearts beat and no one is doing it. This is Grace’
Take a walk through the streets of May and you will see Grace in every green leaf and perfect flower. Let the mind flit from flower to leaf, understanding it all as a movable feast of Grace. This is what Gemini was made for.
Once was a time when a solar eclipse was an event of totally unexpected and seemingly evil proportions. Suddenly night appeared in the midst of day. The natural order was turned upon its head as a great shadow fell upon the earth, blocking out the light of the Sun. The Sun; the ultimate source of life. Today eclipses are predictable and their path is known well in advance. Some astrologers still see them as portents of unexpected mishaps but more and more over time they are seen to be an indication of sensitive degrees affecting, most intensely the part of the planet where they are visible.
This eclipse starts in China and sweeps across the ocean to culminate in Western USA. There have already been incidents between China and the US.
This eclipse falls on the first day and degree of Gemini; the sign of communication. It ushers in a time of possible information overload as well as breakthrough. If you are feeling overwhelmed by information take a walk. Let Grace in.
Insight for Taurus past…
April 19, 2012
Sun enters Taurus 12:12 PM
A fixed earth sign, Taurus is where we find the essence of embodiment. It holds us to the senses, to the world of matter. In the northern hemisphere the season is spring and the natural world smells good. Hope is high if you have even a little bit of something you can use to bring pleasure and/or value into your life. People who feel they have nothing, especially if they feel that someone took from them what belonged to them, those people show us the difficult side of this sign; a fierce, blind rage, terrifying to behold. All it takes to prevent this is the basic things: some nourishing food that tastes good, a little time to enjoy a bit of beauty, the smell of a healthy life, a reasonable place to live. That’s all it takes. Taurus represents the birthright which belongs to every incarnated being.
April 19, 2013
Sun enters Taurus 06:04 PM EDT
There is doing and then there is being. Spring is a busy season in much of the world. Everybody is happy to spend more time outside. The stark tree branches of early spring are greening and canopies of various greens delight us. Even so, with all this activity we are meant, in Taurus, to take a moment every once in a while and take in the world through the doors of perception, our senses. Bird song, vibrant color, the taste of newly sprouted things, the sensation of the sun on more skin than the face. And most powerful of all, the smell of it. This is common sense: The Body Electric! If you can’t read it, sing it!
April 19, 2014
Sun enters Taurus 11:56 PM EDT
There is doing and there is being. Many have observed this. Taurus is about Being. It’s not that we should all sit quietly, smelling flowers like Ferdinand the Bull, although there is merit in that to be sure. It’s more about sitting inside the mighty tree of yourself and being there. Whatever it takes. There are so many puzzles and mysteries to this life. Sometimes the only thing you can do in the face of all that is to be present. Simple being is one of Taurus’ great gifts. And when this inclination is thwarted, look out! That’s when the bull sees red.
April 20, 2015
Sun enters Taurus 6:45 PM EDT
Think about soil. The dark, rich fertile ground out of which grows our food. A relentless miracle that has sustained us since before time began. Hiding in plain sight. Think about how, when something is soiled or dirty it is considered unclean. And yet, and yet, this is the literal ground of our being. Taurus is the place where this paradox of soil and soiled, dirt and dirty lives. Just add water and sunlight and you get better than gold – you get food and beauty. Like the Sacred Hippies say: the earth is our mother.
April 19, 2016
Sun enters Taurus: 11:03 AM EDT
Venus square Pluto
Pluto is in Capricorn, Jupiter in Virgo and today the Sun enters Taurus, joining Mercury who is soon to be retrograde which means spending more time than usual in this sign. These are all the earth signs. Earth is just what you think it is: the stuff of life: the matter. There are many astrological indications of stress in the world at this moment but if we focus on the earth we can see something else happening too. People are really engaged in building the world from the bottom up. Finding solutions that really work, not just the kind that look good. We take things like reuse, and recycle as a matter of common sense. Trines, which are gifts, aren’t as obvious as squares and oppositions. We take our gifts for granted. It’s human nature. Maybe it’s all of nature. Things just are what they are when we are comfortable. With all three earth signs inhabited by planets we will have an astrological Grand Trine. As the Sun, Mercury and soon Venus spend time in Taurus over the month of Taurus we are all encouraged to use our common senses. Our common senses to appreciate the colors, sensations, sounds and tastes of the world. It’s an excellent time to ‘see a World in a Grain of Sand’. Simple pleasures are the cornerstone to sane values.
If you’re having a hard time today, blame it on Venus, not yet in Taurus. Some days you can’t get what you want, so you might as well be grateful for what you have.
April 19, 2017
Sun enters Taurus: 05:27 PM EDT
We are concerned about our Mother, the Earth. Taurus especially loves its mother because our senses are the doors of perception. Things have gotten out of hand. We are worried that she is so hurt and abused that she will not be able to sustain us. Worried that it is our fault. You would tell a human child, if you could, that your mother’s pain is not the child’s fault. It cannot be. But the earth is not human. She is our mother, no doubt about that, but we are her children along with the birds and insects, the lizards and great sea creatures. All creatures in fact are her children, including the trees and grasses, even the stones and the dirt. Guilt is a crippling emotion; better to opt for responsibility. It is our job, as mature humans to recognize our brothers and sisters: To take responsibility: To stop with the plastic and the fossil fuels, to ease up on the relentless entitlement which our capacity to consume seems to confer upon us. As one of our wisest planetary elders has said:
In primal societies, adolescents go through rites of passage, where confronting their own mortality is a gateway to maturity. In analogous ways, climate change calls us to recognize our own mortality as a species. With the gift of uncertainty, we can grow up and accept the rights and responsibility of planetary (elder) adulthood. Then we know fully that we belong, inextricably, to the web of life, and we can serve it, and let its strength flow through us.
April 19, 2018
Sun enters Taurus: 11:13 PM EDT
Taurus is generally considered to be the most stable and resolute sign of the zodiac, as predictable as the ground we stand upon. It’s the fixed earth sign: Fixed = power, earth = matter. We can play with those key words; power matters, or maybe what matters most. Things are not terribly stable at the moment, not in the world as we experience it nor in the astrological picture of that world. Our world.
As the Sun enters Taurus today it will do so in an out-of-sign conjunction with Uranus, the planet of unexpected change and disruption. Uranus will enter Taurus on May 15th, while the Sun is still in that sign. It hasn’t been there since May 16, 1942: Exactly 76 years.
Specific to this ‘ingress’ or entry to a new sign, is that the Sun today and Uranus from May 15th, will engage the energies of Neptune (in a semi-square). Neptune most definitely represents the ‘tricky fish’ aspect of reality: Things that we see for a moment which slip back into the deep, leaving some of us dazed and confused and others mystified and longing to drink from the waters.
It is never my intention to predict the future. I don’t believe we can or even should get specific about things that might happen. Probability is as real for astrologers as it is for everyone else. What happens, happens. Astrology’s great contribution is to provide insights regarding how we might navigate events. At this time it is hard to find a person who is not anxious about the overabundance of chaos in the wider world. Many seem to be waiting, wondering and often waking in the middle of the night with anxiety as if they are expecting the other shoe to drop, the shoe that will hit their personal reality.
What I like to do with the images of astrology is to remind myself that ‘everything to be imagined is an image of truth”. The fact that this pithy truth comes from a work entitled ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’ tells us that what we imagine can go either way.
And so I practice: calming my mind and connecting as best I can with the natural world. One thing about Taurus, it lives here on Earth. Gaea is its home and native land. In support of this seemingly great change that is upon us is Saturn in Capricorn (along with Vesta). Capricorn is an earth sign and supports Taurus in making the right effort. All efforts are needed, outcomes are not always obvious.
Uranus in Taurus (Meets Mars in Aquarius)
May 15, 2018
In his song, ‘Peace Like a River” Paul Simon says, he’s gonna be up for a while. At this moment in history I daresay a lot of us feel like we’re gonna be up for a while.
Uranus, planet of revolution, revolution, chaos and change enters Taurus and will be there this year from May 15th – November 6th. It will return and spend about 7 years there in March of 2019. This is big astrological news because Uranus has an 84 year return cycle. The last time it entered Taurus was in the late 1930s. It remained there until the early years of the 40s. You might think, ‘end of Great Depression, beginning of WW II’ and you would be right to make that association.
Much is written about this on the internet. I will add my two cents here. You are also welcome to attend my Mars Retrograde workshop or search it out after the fact. Mars is an integral part of Uranus’ entrance into Taurus and so I will look at the combination for the workshop.
Which is to say that within 24 hours of Uranus entering Taurus, Mars will enter Aquarius, a sign that blocks Taurus. This would not be such big ‘news’ in the astrological sense except for the fact that Mars will be retrograde this year (June 26 – August 27) and will square Uranus three times: Once going in (May 16), once while retrograde (August 1st) and once after it goes direct (September 18th.) When things happen three times they are significant.
So Uranus isn’t just entering Taurus, it is entering with an edge.
It seems that somewhere between May 15 and September 19 will be a time of challenge, chaos and change. If only we could take our pick.
Uranus in Aries (June 2010 till now), was about people taking to the streets and a lot of protesting starting with the Arab Spring, Occupy, and Idle No More and, oddly ending up with the alt-right. Aries is often about protest.
Taurus is about money, resources, the economy, values and at a basic level, the body of earth itself. In an individual’s chart I could say, it’s what you value, but in the world it’s about banks and the resources they control. It’s about the land and the fundamental connection we have to it; how it feeds us and how we care for it.
Aquarius is also a money sign in that it has to do with the systems we put in place that store and contain our resources. Maybe you could say it is our concept of money. The investment we make which we think will increase in value.
Mars is the god of war but that is only one of its faces. The scariest. It symbolizes all things relating to assertiveness, breakthrough and vitality. It will enter Aquarius and bring force to the concept or plan that our society uses to direct and develop resources and it will offer challenge to Uranus right off the bat which, in Taurus, has serious plans about what is really happening on the ground and what needs to change.
Mars wants us to stay with the ‘plan’ which is quite likely the status quo no matter what is happening on the ground. In Aquarius there is at least the veneer of civilized behavior. Given it’s propensity for aggression and bullying one might think that the actual terrorists are the ones holding the blueprint. Not the ones experiencing the reality.
It could be many different things including earth changes, computer hacks, and governments trying to manipulate these events on account of where the resources are. It could also be increased activism. Most likely it involves money and power. Think US dollar vs. Chinese yuan.
My personal thoughts about Mars and Uranus lean toward things such as earth changes (fire, flood, eruptions, those kinds of things) and the cost which will be more than can governments can afford. The effects of climate change are real and present, that they are forcing change of other kinds upon us. The ‘keepers of the system’ (governments and giant corporations) are fighting to keep it the way it has always been, according to plan. Although this sounds awful it will give rise to the ideas which are plentiful for how to manage our resources in a shape-shifting landscape.
There are many voices of reason and hope.
In the lives of individuals the Mars Uranus adventure might be about the fact that we must think more about our choices and how they affect the wider world. We already do this when we choose clothes not made in sweat shops or buy organic food. Whatever we are doing to embrace a changing world on May 15th, we may be doing a lot more by the end of 2018.
April 20, 2019
Sun enters Taurus: 4:55 AM EDT
Venus enters Aries
Taurus, like a lot of other things, isn’t exactly what it once was. Back in the lush green, when you could smell colors on the air and feel the texture of spring, Taurus came of age: When the senses were the root of value and ‘common’ meant shared by all, not lowly. But here we are, and now. The revolution is brewing, the earth turns and we wonder and fret over the virtual world and how it steals our time along with the embodiment of our children. Uranus’ recent entrance in Taurus suggests there is big change afoot – exciting, unpredictable, chaotic, game-changing. It matters (Taurus rules the issue of ‘matter’, the stuff of life) how and where we align ourselves as the earth beneath our feet may be ‘torn asunder’ at any moment. Look for empowerment when The Sun in Taurus aspects Saturn and Pluto. Honor the soul in all things when it meets up with Neptune. The earth is our mother, we must take care of her. So she can continue to take care of us.
Venus is the astrological ruler of Taurus, but she is not at home in Aries. She’s a teenager, thinking she can buck the system: Ignorant but full of energy. Maybe she can. Watch out for her when she fights back. Support her but don’t feed her ignorance. Take the good risk when the time is right. Truth to power not arrogance to the Void.
April 19, 2020
Sun enters Taurus: 10:45 AM EDT:
I tend to think that the issue for Taurus is the struggle between being and doing. And so…
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
-Wendell Berry from Standing By Words
Taurus is about real things, their smell and taste, color and shape, texture and sound. The doors of perception, the senses, are found here. Although it’s long been forgotten in our world of hyper consumption, these sense doors are ground zero for our values. We like the way some things look and feel but not others. These preferences underlie the innate integrity of our senses which has little to do with greed or grasping. It just is what it is.
In the current unreality of our enforced confinement one positive side effect might be more being, less doing, a reawakening of simple pleasure and some awareness of core values. Our collective values create our economy. Uranus in the sign of Taurus, is the planet of deep change, revolutionary change, inevitable change. It has been hard at work crashing the system. There never was a better time to ‘be the change’, the one you want to see.
Various and Sundry Musings
It all begins with an idea.
Aries: Sign of Me, Myself and I
Here are some of my Insights into the sign of Aries through time, gleaned from my posts since 2012. Our perception of the signs changes with the times, depending on which planets travel in harmony or tension with them. Even so, the essence remains. If you would like to contemplate the essential qualities of Aries here is something i hope will inspire you.
2020:
As always, Aries is a sign to be reckoned with. We are generally born head first into this world. There is a little Aries in each and every one of us. This year Aries brings more than the usual impulse to get on with it. Whatever ‘it’ is we are called to break new ground and dive fully into the new season (be it spring in the north or fall in the south) as well as a new world that is laboring to give birth to itself. Birth is scary at the best of times. This one is no exception.
As it leave Pisces today, the last aspect the Sun will make is a sextile to Saturn as if to remind us that there are opportunities in a world undergoing rapid, accelerated change: opportunities to nourish the soul as it prepares for birth rather than to line pockets. We can all benefit from the time out which has imposed itself on us. Eventually we will heed the call of self-actualization which Aries suggest.
As the Sun travels through Aries it will square Pluto and Jupiter before it’s done. This suggests that breaking through will require great effort. Later in the second half of 2020 Mars will spend a long time in Aries, making the same aspects. We are getting s sneak preview of the issues that will be activated then.
During the time that the Sun is in this sign it will play host to Saturn as she takes her first step in the sign of Aquarius, as well as Mars shortly after. Change may be good, may be bad but there is no stopping it. Never was.
2019:
It’s time to make the push – to assert our identity – to actualize our existence. Not once and for all but in the here and now. Just because. As the Sun journeys through Aries there is a story to be told. First thing, today in fact, the hours of the day and night are equal. Starting tomorrow or the next day and beyond, the light of day will triumph once again, over the darkness. Life, light and growth prevail. Right off the bat the Sun will conjunct Chiron, reminding us to learn and teach wisely. As the journey develops Aries will meet squares to Saturn and Pluto as well as the nodes. Some say this is about our need to honor the ancestors. Last but not least the Sun will trine Jupiter in a blaze of glory, a righteous moment, the challenge being to recognize the powerful oxymoron at the core of the notion of ‘holy war’. Mars, the ruler of Aries, reminds us today, if we are willing to be reminded, that transformation is an issue of form. The effort we make needs to be worth making, unto the seventh generation.
2018
Aries is a kind of razor’s edge, the perfect balance of light and dark, yang and yin, masculine and feminine, but only for a moment. Then the gunshot, the starting blast and we are off to the races as light begins to overtake night and the impulses for planting and birthing arise at the same time. In some places the seeds as well as the lambs are dropping like crazy.
2017
It’s not easy to push through, to resurrect, to get born again into this world. But it’s what happens every spring. As if called by a conductor of a massive symphony, all manner of seeds sprout through the cold, hard ground and push their way up into the sunlight which has finally surpassed the darkness in the length of time it claims in a day. It takes a particular kind of determination, will and courage to do what Aries does. These days Aries is troubled by climate change; things appearing out of season as well as the unexpected shocks and degradation of our biosphere. There is not much point in lamenting with Hamlet that:
The time is out of joint- O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!
Hamlet: Act 1, scene 5
It seems to me we are all here, together, at this very time because we are meant, each in some small way, to set it right; or at least to witness that it needs resetting. If not in our lifetimes, then for the descendants. A secret to the Aries psyche is that as much as it likes to push through, to break out, to boldly go, it really likes to have a solid, stable base to push against which is not so available at the moment, globally speaking. This year Aries has to contend with opposition from Jupiter (what about justice?), conjunction with Uranus (how can we break through the stuck places together?), square to Pluto (who actually has the power?); and Saturn (what it means or why to bother with your personal best) not to mention Venus retrograde in Aries. You could say these are challenges to those born with the Sun in Aries but you could also say it’s a challenge for all of us, to consider how and what to protest and/or protect in a world where nature itself is unstuck in time.
2016
Just as each and every of the almost 8 billion people on this earth is born with a heart, so does each person receive an identity. Aries is not how we act out this identity it is where, in our astrological horoscope, we have an attitude or an understanding about identity: First and foremost, our own. Here in the northern hemisphere today is the first day of spring. One of only 2 days of the year when the hours of daylight are equal to the hours of darkness. A point like the head of a pin, where perfect equality is possible. But although the other point – the first day of Libra – is associated with relationship and the drive toward harmony (sometimes at any price) Aries is not. Aries looks at the phenomenon of day equaling night and use it as a wake-up call to identity and all that could be done to grow the light to its fullest. Aries is a striving sign: A sign that believes that the most important thing is for the individual to step up and take action. Some people were born with the Sun in Aries. To achieve their hearts desire they must know themselves as separate; as individuals. But each and every one of us has Aries in a house or on the cusp of one. This represents the environment of your life where you really have to take on the fundamental question of what it means to be an individual. For example:
House 1: Who am I?
House 2: What do I have or want?
House 3: What am I curious about?
House 4: Where is my home?
House 5: What or who makes me feel lovable?
House 6: What kind of life am I living?
House 7: Who is that person to me?
House 8: What does that person want from me?
House 9: What is true?
House 10: Who is the boss of me?
House 11: What are my ideals? Who are my friends?
House 12: How do I surrender myself to become mySelf?
2015
We all believe in the power of identity. We go to great lengths to be unique, ahead of the pack, our own person. Aries likes this. But it’s not really what Aries is about. It’s about the strength and courage it takes to get born; to break through. We see little baby things such as humans and lambs as cute and helpless for example. But each and every thing that gets born into the manifest world risks everything to do it. We all took that risk and survived. It’s a 7.2 billion people success story. Although, I will say we have strange ways of celebrating…
2014
Today is the first day of Aries and just so you know, this has less to do with the actual constellation and more to do with the fact that today is one of only two days in the year when day and night are in perfect balance. It only lasts a moment and then the light begins to ascend, pushing the dark further and further away until, at some places on earth it becomes daylight for 24 hours a day for a while. (Of course this is the opposite Down Under. But even in the Southern hemisphere the day and night are equal today.) So here we stand, poised at the beginning of the season of birth and rebirth; when everything fights for its life. Hence, the meaning of Aries as a sign that fights to actualize its identity.
Here is a fifth century take on Aries: “…there is a ‘birthchart’ of the creation known as the thema mundi. … The idea is often introduced to explain why Aries should be the considered the ‘starting point’ of the circle of the zodiac, a circle which has no beginning. ‘They say,’ Macrobius wrote, ‘that when that day began which was the first of all and is therefore rightly called the world’s birthday, Aries was in the Midheaven; and because the Midheaven is as it were the vertex of the world, Aries was therefore held to be the first among them all, the one which appeared like the head of the world at the beginning of light.’ ” P. 304 World Astrology: The Astrologer’s Quest to Understand the Human Character.
2013
Aries is about breakthrough. We can all agree about that. But we should not confuse breakthrough with progress or some kind of self-improvement. Consider the crocus; first child of spring who pushes up through the still partially frozen ground and announces itself in perfect form and beauty of color. This harbinger of spring is not a better version of itself than it was last year. It is simply, powerfully, unmistakably itself. Nothing more or less. Such is the key phrase for Aries, “I AM”. Even God says it in the Bible: I am that I am. Many people celebrate Resurrection at Passover and Easter during the month of the sign of Aries. Joy to the crocus!
The hostility of Aries comes when we are not satisfied with the I am-ness of ourselves or the moment; when we forget to appreciate the ‘mere’ fact of existence; when we worship the myth of progress, thereby overlooking the moment. Be Here Now is the title of a classic book written – wouldn’t you know – by an Aries!?
2012
Possibly life is like a novel; there are themes. This month’s theme has something to do with breakthrough without (or with) violence. Is it possible to leave home, get born, change political structures without unnecessary harm to self or others? Possibly we have confused the urge for individuation with the need to kill that which we are individuating from.
Today is one of only two days a year when day and night are perfectly balanced. It’s a short-lived perfection of balance and like all perfections a fleeting but not insignificant moment. From today until summer solstice the days grow longer and longer overtaking the night. The Sun gets higher in the sky. Most of us are aware that this is not true in the southern hemisphere. In fact down there it’s just the opposite: The dark is rising. Do not confuse light and dark with good and evil. There is nothing here requiring a judgment call. No, this is just a moment; arising and passing. And we are all, each and every one of us, a part of that moment.
Saturn square Uranus
Just in case you were wondering if anything is happening in the world that reflects this aspect you can simply think about what has happened in Texas. Not just the snow but the cracks it has revealed and the difficulty fixing them. Of course there is more. But this is a good place to start.
Remember, the signature of this combination seems (to me) to be ‘beginners mind’. The more we give up our know-it-all defenses, the more we can learn from each other as well as the world around us.