Outer Planets Series - Jupiter in Gemini

Jupiter is our friendliest, most benevolent Planet and as the closest of the Outer Planets to us. Jupiter’s role in the Universe and therefore also for us, is to facilitate our growth and bring us success; because when one of us truly wins, we all do. 

Jupiter entered Gemini in May of this year and will remain there until June of 2025, but prior to that, in Taurus, Jupiter was focused on us creating improved foundations for ourselves in ways which we had previously overlooked. Now in Gemini, Jupiter tries new interests and directions on for size so that we can explore different avenues and discover new aspects of ourselves. 

In Gemini, Jupiter ensures that we are busy, but equally, we will note significant cultural shifts associated with new modes of operating wherein governments, nations, down to communities will implement never before seen approaches. With Jupiter in Gemini, we have officially entered a period of experimentation, and therefore, we will encounter new policies and directives that perhaps raise eyebrows. However, if we truly are looking for solutions and improvements, we would do well to keep an open mind.

Outer Planets Series - Saturn in Pisces

Approaching the middle of the Planetary order is Saturn, the Planet known for its strict  disciplinarian energy, providing us with the necessary tough love guidance to keep society in check. Because this Planet is inching closer to us, his impact will be more personal, but still very pertinent in his influence on the Collective.

It is worth noting that Saturn was in Aquarius for the duration of the Covid era, forcing the customary Aquarian issues of power usurpation, identity, ideology, and rebellion. However, since March 7th of 2023, Saturn has been transiting Pisces, and that comes with a whole perspective on where we have lost ourselves to groupthink and a false sense of belonging. This Piscean transit, which will continue until February of 2026, involves a good deal of heartache and disappointment at discovering that things were not as selfless and unified as they appeared. This transit brings significant lessons necessary to maturing in perspective through the realization that although from a Higher Perspective, we are all one, but in our everyday world, we continue to live out our traumas and biases, which can bring about betrayal in many forms - on both the societal and the personal scale. Under Saturn in Pisces, true motivations and power struggles are revealed and therefore alliances are broken again and again before they can be reformed in integrity.

Coming up is the last in this series, Jupiter in Gemini

Outer Planets Series - Uranus in Taurus

The third farthest Planet from our Sun is Uranus and its domain is that of innovation and creativity, individuality and dynamic change. Interestingly and uncomfortably, Uranus has been transiting the staid Sign of Taurus since 2018 and will be until 2025. 

Unlike the relationship between Neptune and Pisces, Uranus in Taurus is incredibly difficult due to the sheer amount of heavy lifting which must be done to effect any influence. Taurus is very set in its ways and will only modify in exchange for good reasons and verifiable return on investment. Yet Uranus does and continues to make himself known while in Taurus; the sheer amount of societal change in the past six years is enormous. Comparable and previously in tandem with Pluto in Capricorn, many an uncomfortable old norm has been toppled and transformed into a whole new reality via innovative solutions. Uranus in Taurus means massive and meaningful change to established and perhaps taken for granted ways

Taurus governs all that is comfortable, preferably profitable and also attractive. Therefore, Uranus certainly had quite a bit of work to do in, for instance,  reorganizing the labour/work market, economy, education and surely more to come before he moves out of Taurus and into Gemini in 2026.

Stay tuned for Saturn in Pisces

Outer Planets Series - Neptune in Pisces

Neptune, as the second farthest out Planet in our Solar System, also exercises its influence on the collective. Because Neptune’s energy dictates the deepest hopes, dreams, and desires of the people, (whether they admit them consciously or not), Neptune governs the Collective Unconscious.

Neptune has been residing in Pisces since 2011, where he has been very comfortable and very, very powerful. Afterall, Neptune rules over Pisces and the Piscean nature is intuitive, forgiving and unifying, and therefore is the perfect space for Neptune to spread his influence. As such, Neptune in Pisces is rocking the world with the Collective’s underlying motives since 2011 and will be until 2025. This can be continually shocking, because afterall, these are Unconscious desires; consciously we may be pushing for something completely different altogether.

However, in Pisces, the agenda(s) is revealed to be the Collective’s desire for resolution for all, and unity. Many would argue that this desire is merely the result of disillusionment with the status quo and deciding what that improvement will look like, is the subject of a constant back and forth debate stemming from our various world-wide tribal identities. Nevertheless, the general longing for a better way is palpable in the countless world-wide protests, dramatic shifts in governance, wars, and the rise of like-minded movements via technology. It may be said that certainly, events of such magnitude obviously affect us individually, but as with all Outer Planets, the influence of Neptune on the Collective is top down.

Next up, Uranus in Taurus

Outer Planets Series - Pluto in Aquarius

As the first installment of this series, we will be addressing the farthest Planet in our solar system, Pluto. As the farthest away Planet, it has the most impactful influence on the collective, although it does of course create change for the individual in its trickle down. 

On November 19th 2024, Pluto, definitively shifted out of Capricorn where it has been since 2008. Think back to what your life was like at that time and how life has progressed as a result of significant events of that era until now, or more specifically, until late November, because there has been a grand scale shift at that time.

Since then, Pluto has moved into Aquarius, an Air Sign concerned with progress, power, individuality and nonconformity. Now, anyone with a cursory knowledge of Pluto’ energy will know that Pluto’s energy is that of destruction of the ‘dirty work’ variety. As the demolition expert of the structures we refuse to address, to reform and/or improve of all the stuff that has reached its expiry date yet continues to take up space regardless, Pluto has this as his domain and his clean up efforts. 

Consequently, the years 2008-2024 when Pluto transited Capricorn, were concerned with breaking down the outdated norms associated with Capricorn, meaning - career, education, policing, organized religion, social status, among other societal pillars. In retrospect, Pluto in Capricorn saw grand shifts, primarily around trustworthiness and viability of long-standing institutions on a global scale. However, now the farthermost Planet is transiting Aquarius until 2043 and it is here that we will see the dismantling of the Aquarian charges - ideologies, belief systems, governance, and rebellion. Everyone and everything will be making dramatic shifts in alliances, paving the way for a reimagining of how we organize ourselves as people, communities, and nations. This may be frightening in some respects but it is the innovative force necessary following the disillusionment of Pluto in Capricorn years. Afterall, Pluto destroys only to make way for new and better. Therefore, Pluto in Aquarius promises to bring about the necessary mindset shakeup that kept us stuck in a rut during Capricorn. We are in for large scale innovation for the next 20 years, particularly in how we identify and how we organize ourselves on all levels.

Next we explore Neptune in Pisces.

Cancerian Full Moon

This morning, the almost perfectly full Moon shifted over into Cancer in order to reach its peak fullness this evening.

Energetically, Cancer represents maternal energy which can express in one of two ways; one is the nurturing, protective, enduring mother figure and the other is the stifling, controlling, jealous mother archetype. 

One is mature, honest, and vulnerable, the other is immature, conniving, and self-centred. Both are well-documented both in spiritual traditions as well as in psychological studies and let me tell you that the Cancerian Moon is the perfect domain for exploration of both sides of the maternal and everything in between.

The mature version of the ‘mother’ is best expressed in the Mother Mary Christian figure who guided, assisted, supported, but also, allowed her Child to fulfil His duty and His goals, even in the face of knowing it would lead to His own detriment.

The under-developed, sometimes referred to as all-devouring mother figure can be represented by the Greek Goddess Demeter, who already had so much under her control, and yet viewed her Daughter as another department to manage; never allowing her Child to discover herself or live independently, effectively sealing her Daughter’s doom - that of being forever subject to others’ demands.

This Full Moon in Cancer has us in all our neediness. We each of us have a need to be nurtured, whether our experiences with the mother archetype have been good or bad, they were no doubt complex - and this uniting need to nurture and be nurtured will feel exposed and raw tonight. Therefore take especial good care of yourselves tonight and throughout this holiday season. Let’s face it; what we needed and continue to need in terms of the primordial maternal energy is not always available and therefore tenderness with ourselves is paramount.

It is of particular significance that Chiron stations Direct tonight as well. Chiron is the celestial body that is interested in how we address our pain and of how it deepens our understanding of life; Chiron above all offers the perspective of purpose and the ability to create and maintain dignity. In the depths of maternal wound this Full Moon, we have Chiron to guide us through.

Shifting into Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius is upon us. We are now transitioning to a time that has been awaited for decades, if not centuries. It is the dawn of a new era so hyped up that some people truly feel we will enter some sort of egalitarian heaven, or at the very least, something better than our current state of affairs.

Here is some background to inform your ideas and expectations a little better.

The so-called Ages are cycles of about 2000 years per Sign. The Ages occur in retrograde order, meaning, they move backwards through the Zodiac. For instance, we are currently exiting the Age of Pisces, which is the twelfth and last Sign of the Zodiac, and instead of beginning a whole new cycle with Aries, the first Sign of the Zodiac, we are instead moving backwards towards Aquarius, the eleventh Sign.

Pisces, which we are leaving behind, is typified as the the Sign of the mystic, or dreamer. Pisces has the gift of true vision, and as such can see that ultimate truth that we are all one. By virtue of being the last Sign, Pisces is the ‘elder’ of the Astrological wheel. In this final, elder stage, the veil between worlds thins dramatically. There is not real division between the sacred and the profane, between this world and the next; separation is illusion. Pisces sees the bigger picture and is convinced that we really could all just come together and sail off into forever.

Yet, looking at the past 2000 some years that consisted of the Age of Pisces, you couldn’t say that any of it resembled a spiritual paradise that you would expect from Pisces. But, it must be reminded that people did attempt to create a spiritual, unified paradise, over and over again in many misguided, different forms. From crusades to colonialism, forcible conversions and holocausts, nationalism, imperialism, fascism, supra-national governments and banks, communism, communes, revolutions, closed religious communities, cults, doomsday religious movements, all were aimed at creating some form of unity and eternality during the Age of Pisces.

Piscean perspectives translated poorly because while Pisces is an Astrological archetype concerned with mass consciousness and spiritual elevation, humans do what humans do.

Now we are moving into the Age of Aquarius. For comparison, where Pisces is the dreamer, Aquarius is the idealist. Pisces wants to dissolve differences and bring people together, while Aquarius is a hyper-individualist'/outsider, who sincerely believes that he knows what is best for all. Pisces is the mystic, Aquarius is the revolutionary. Unlike Pisces, who lives almost exclusively by vibes, Aquarius lives through his ideas and ideologies. And unlike Pisces, Aquarius does acknowledge limitations, but wants to smash them. You see, Aquarius is determined to adapt reality to his perspective, ready to build something completely anew. Like Pisces, Aquarius can see the bigger picture, but in an entirely different way. Aquarius is more interested in society than in people, in the ends more than the means, and is generally unafraid of discomfort, willing to sacrifice for long-term pay-offs. Aquarius is firmly focused on the future, is tech-savvy, and inherantly political.

Therefore, in lieu of imagining the Age of Aquarius as some sort of idyll, let’s examine some of the very real indications of humans doing what humans do while moving into Aquarius:

-Choosing personal spirituality over organized religion

-The rise of terrorism and extremism

-Fringe politics

-Rapid technological advances

-Surveillance and tracking

-Personal disconnection

-Splintering of identities + identity politics + intersectionality

-Post-modernism

-Political correctness + censorship

-Increased accessibility of information and expression platforms

My goal in writing about this new Age is not to frighten anyone or disparage any Sign. As a collective, we have and will continue to move through all the Signs. I wanted only to communicate that Aquarius is not a cushy end goal. Know that the freedom and liberation that Aquarius endlessly seeks has the potential to work out any which way. Aquarius is the Sign of the Revolutionary, and looking back on past revolutions, regardless of their aspirations, they had mixed results. Note the responsibility that we, people, have to carry this revolutionary age towards better, more conscious options.

OPEN VS CLOSED ENERGY

In many commonly used connection practices, from exercise to prayer to therapy and beyond, a common instruction is to ‘open up’.  We are encouraged to open up with our ideas, thoughts and feelings. We are instructed to let go or release in artistic expression.  Even some yoga-related physical methods are referred to as ‘opening’ in nature.  

This should come as no surprise.  In many cultures, but definitely in our western, mostly urban experience we are bombarded with an excess of stimuli and people to be interacting with constantly, leading us to keep to ourselves as much as possible, avoid eye-contact and strangers, and the conversations we do have with anyone but our closest humans, are generally limited to small talk.  We close down, seemingly for our own good, our own mental health. And we are right.

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To break it down into a useful analogy I once heard, ‘you wouldn’t trust just anyone to do electrical work on your home, and you shouldn’t trust just anyone with your personal energy either’.

We and everything around us is energy.  This is not even an esoteric belief anymore, it is proven science.  And so our instinctive or rather, intuitive response to the constant energetic intrusion that is modern life is to shut ourselves off to the best of our ability.  This of course does not mean we do not want connection, we just need it to be done the correct way and with full consent. However, once accustomed to being closed off for protection, we find it difficult to then pick and choose when we can be open and when to close off.  After all, shutting down has proven to be effective security while being vulnerable often ends up hurting us.

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Do not judge yourself for closing down.  It is a necessary protection method, more so than most of us are aware of.  However, we cannot overlook that openness is a requirement for a connection to ourselves and by extension, to the Divine.  When we open ourselves up to the full roster of emotional wealth we possess, we connect with who we truly are. When we open up to new perspectives and experiences, we literally connect to our potential, otherwise known as our Higher Self.  When we open up our hearts, we heal our trauma, our Inner Child’s wounds and equip ourselves for making better, healthier more conscious decisions. In other words it is crucial that open up, BUT it must be done in safe, calm spaces. Alone, or in the company of like-minded people.  We should not allow ourselves to be guided to opening up by people whom we do not trust whether they be teachers, entertainers or spiritual leaders. And whenever and whatever kind of opening practice you do engage in, remember to always close back down afterward. Protect your energy and care for it.  Open it up only when safe to do so and tend to it as you would to any other part of yourself.

The Learning Years

November 12, 2019

Sometimes we get so caught up in the story, in the daily grind, in the details, and yet we wonder why we aren’t moving forward.  We keep doing the same things expecting different outcomes when we know, at least at the intellectual level, that if something isn’t working, it’s time for a change.  But change is daunting, isn’t it? It requires us to be honest with ourselves, which might necessitate some uncomfortable changes, and noooooo one jumps into discomfort eagerly.  That’s a fact. Yet, in many ways we are all getting a not so subtle cosmic push to make fundamental changes.  

If you follow me on Instagram you will have noticed that I wrote and spoke about today’s Full Moon and some other pertinent Astrological Aspects, namely, the placements of both Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn.  To elaborate, Saturn and Pluto are both ‘teacher’ Planets. Their job is to make us better humans and, like all good teachers, they don’t mind giving you a hard time when you need it. Saturn is more of a taskmaster, dispensing toughening lessons and discipline, while Pluto puts you to the test on the larger matters of character, behaviour, and loyalties.  The two of them are teamed up together in Capricorn, the Sign that likes to think of itself as practical, but is actually perpetually caught up in endless endeavours of overcome, to better and to show up on others. Capricorn simply wants to win in all the ways and will absolutely not back down. So what, dear reader, does this bode for us since both stern Saturn and unforgiving Pluto are in Capricorn?  Well, only you know how this is manifesting in your life. But needless to say, our need to be right and our one-up-manship is being tested. Pride is being taken down and concern with appearances is depleting. Taking their places are knowledge, skills, patience and above all recognition and acceptance of self.

This journey being a long one, it is being punctuated by various check-ins of progress.  For instance, about half way through this evolution is this morning’s Full Moon in Taurus, which was so stable and sure, calm despite all the shifts and falling away of false priorities for the real thing.  We are well on our way to the heart of our potential and fate and alignment or however you choose to think of it, and by now are not easily shaken. Well done.

Hello and welcome!!!!

For me this month is a fresh start in a lot of ways; it's a new year, it's a new(ish) business and with the upcoming Super/Eclipse/Full Moon in Leo this 31st of January, it's a big, bold chance.  

It is the nature of an Eclipse to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.  To give us clarity and a second chance, but, with the expectation that we can do better.  Astrological wisdom holds that the Moon is intimately synced with our emotional worlds.  Therefore, in the cycle of the Moon, each and every position affects us, whether we make note of the correlation or not.  And once the Moon reaches to its peak, its fullness, that is the point at which our experience of this cycle culminates as well.  Full Moons can be quite intensely felt for that reason;  A whole month's with recap of your emotions?  No kidding.  

However, with this Total Lunar Eclipse upon us, yes, tensions and emotions are rising to culminate in the powerful, expressive Sign of the Lion.  In fact, if your sense of self is not feeling simultaneously threatened and celebrated as we come closer to the Full Moon, then I am confused.  This is a Super Moon in Leo.  There is no room for subtlety.  Leo is literally coaxing us into dominating in our respective fields, forcing us to stand up for ourselves, to fight, if necessary .

And with that, comes the Eclipse.  Having learned the lessons of Leo, having it all come to a head, we are left to take a deep breath and move on.  We've changed, we've been refreshed, and with our reinforced confidence and will and drive, we are ready to prove ourselves.