It's first quarter Moon time! The seed of a new cycle emerges and now again a new story is taking hold. The Sun and Mercury are preparing to enter Sagittarius by the end of the week and Autumn will give way to winter.Let's discuss for a moment the archetypal tension between Aquarius and Scorpio. Let's think about the commonality of the two signs first. Both signs come during the middle of two dark, cold seasons. Scorpio as the firm sign of Autumn is most identified with decline, descent, loss of …
Mercury into the Heart of the Sun Today
The Moon is in Capricorn, about to sextile Mercury and then the Sun in Scorpio.Right now Mercury is combust the Sun, but as the Moon, Mercury and Sun all make aspect, something that looks bad might turn out okay by the end of the day.The combustion of Mercury turns into cazimi by the evening. For example, one of my students wrote to me today saying that a friend just spilled tea on her laptop and it's currently at the Apple store getting looked at. She'll have the verdict by the end of the day. …
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Paris Attacks and the Saturn/Neptune Square
The Moon is in Sagittarius this morning, void of course. Meanwhile Saturn in Sagittarius is within less than two degrees of an exact square of Neptune, and yesterday the "western world" was shocked by a series of mass murders by Islamic terrorists in Paris.One of my astrology students aptly pointed out the words from my post on the Centaur yesterday, "So today, let's see if we can spot the solemn, sometimes angry or zealous, figure of the sage and his arrows."One of the most unfortunate images …
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The Importance of Symbolic Thinking
As I am preparing to teach another round of astrology courses to another group of eager students, the question I've been meditating on is "why do I do this?" Or even more directly, "What is the value of learning astrology?" Especially considering the fact that the majority of students who have completed the courses I teach are not becoming full time astrologers. In fact, maybe 1 in 10 I've taught are now practicing full time, and yet the response to the experience of the course has been …
Horses and Stars
The Moon is in Sagittarius today, applying to a trine of Uranus and then square of Jupiter. An exciting day of transits.Watch for the burst of Uranian excitement, unpredictability, eccentricity, rebelliousness, or shock this evening around 7:00 pm (east coast), and then between 9 and 10:00 pm the Moon/Jupiter square highlights the themes of growth, faith, religion, truth, expansion, exaggeration, family or tribe, travel and optimism.In the meantime, with the Moon in Sagittarius near the opening …
All Things Without Complaining or Arguing
The Moon has just entered Sagittarius and is applying to Venus, Saturn, and Neptune through this evening.With Mercury diving more deeply into the Sun in Scorpio, let's continue examining the symbolism of Mercury combust the Sun.In the past week I've been revisiting the Psalms, or what was called the "Tehillim" in Hebrew. The word means something like "songs of praise" or "praising," and the book of Psalms is part of both the Hebrew Bible and also the Christian "Old" testament. The study was …
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The Well Spring of a New Moon in Scorpio
It's New Moon today!! Yay!!!This new moon takes place with sextile to Jupiter in Virgo and features the detriment of Jupiter and the depression of the Moon.What does that mean? Quite simply...it's one of those cycles that starts with the excitement of what we might call "negative joy." It's the kind of joy where you feel like you've come home to yourself, or you've opened your eyes to something you've been avoiding, or you simply see now what's been hidden, or you remember, down to your bones, …
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Create in Me a Clean Heart
The dark Moon is in Scorpio this morning, and it will be the new moon by tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile Mercury is moving more quickly into its conjunction with the Sun in Scorpio.Yesterday we talked about the Mercury/Sun conjunction as an intimation of "sacred anxiety." Today let's talk about the word "security." Each fixed sign of the zodiac seems to value security, or stability, over all else. The form of security may vary from one sign to the next, but each fixed sign shares this common …
The Sacred Anxiety of Mercury in Scorpio
The dark Moon is void of course in Libra this morning, and will push into Scorpio by tonight. New Moon by Wednesday of this week!Meanwhile, Venus has moved into Libra, one of her two domiciles, and Mars will join her there by Thursday evening, just after the new moon. Also, Mercury is moving closer towards his conjunction with the Sun in Scorpio.Let's talk about the Mercury/Sun symbolism today. Specifically the ideas of worry and anxiety, as well as fear and authenticity.When Mercury and the Sun …
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Venus Finishing Up in Virgo
The dark Moon is in Libra today, and it's ruler Venus is about to finish up it's rather more difficult placement in Virgo and then enter the sign of her rulership in Libra. Mars will follow suit and enter Libra by Thursday night (sign of his detriment).Here's a short list of what to watch for:* Small disasters (caused by over eagerness/desire/ego) thankfully averted (Mars surrounded by Jupiter and Venus in Virgo, with Venus in her fall conjunct the increasing effects of the north node)* The end …
A Diatomaceous Earth Party
The Moon is in Virgo today, applying to conjoin Mars and Venus in Virgo by this evening.Our house currently looks like a cocaine party gone totally wrong. A diatomaceous earth cocaine party, but don't let that fool you because these kinds of white powder parties are as exciting as they come. The hangover involves (hopefully, knock on wood) ridding ourselves of the dogs' fleas! In the midst of this shit show I was finally able to understand how the calculation of Placidus houses work. …
Mercury in Scorpio and Fleas!
The Moon is in Virgo today, just moving past a square of Saturn and sextile of Mercury, and shortly opposing Neptune and then making sextile to the Sun and trine to Pluto.For the second time in my life my dogs have fleas while Mercury is in Scorpio. It looks as though we caught it very early, but yesterday involved all the tedious protocol and elimination rigmarole. Vacuuming and treating rugs (thankfully we have hard wood floors), bathing both dogs and quarantined bathroom situations, …