Maybe it’s because we’re in that Balsamic, Dark-of-the-Moon phase, with the Libra Moon just passing over my natal Sun (my own personal New Moon) and slightly more than two days from conjoining the Scorpio Sun for a New Moon, making me want to share what’s been happening with me, or maybe it’s Uranus trine Pluto with Uranus quincunx the Black Moon Lilith point, suddenly making changes and the inevitable good to talk about, especially with Merc retro in Scorpio, urging us all to spill what’s been hidden or secret. Or maybe it was reading this, from Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland:

Determined to deny all she had learned by way of the stars, to turn back to Earth, to re-submerge . . . it was the stars that had chosen her, and her fate after all was to read them to others. This summer something secret and momentous was turning beneath the visible everyday . . . Pluto, which had been retrograde, was making a station, appearing to pause before going direct again. For most planets this would be a change for the better, but for the ruler of the Land of Death, retrograde was the best it ever got–then, people with power, instead of using it for short-term and sooner or later harmful ends, had a chance, at least, while Pluto soared backward against the ground of stars, to learn mercy and wisdom in applying it. Megalomaniacs suddenly reached out to strangers, asking if they were OK, road dogs rolled belly-up and smiled at mail deliverers, developers gave up plans to rape pieces of countryside, kids who had sprayed CHOOSE DEATH on bridge abutments now were seen, often in matching outfits, assisting at religious services. But this summer all that. . . was ending. Pluto was about to get back to its ancient underworld and nihilistic ways, also known as Business as Usual.

I’ve been limping along, doing mostly only New and Full Moon analysis, for some time now. The desire was to make room in my life for all the things I’d set aside over the years, but somehow that didn’t really work, and the days were busy as ever–and then I started treatment for a lung issue, in November 2025, that involved six months of steroids, followed by chemo in perpetuity, and in the midst of that skin cancer emerged that involved surgery and skin grafts on my face this past August. And while all that was happening, I was asked to step in for a nonprofit I am involved with to act as their secretary–and that is a full time job. It felt like too much–and of course this stirred up every thought and feeling around the limits of time and how I want to spend it, around forces much larger than the individual, around death, change, transformation–the usual Pluto menu.

This shouldn’t have surprised me, with transiting Pluto in Aquarius within orb of a square to my Neptune, a sextile to my Midheaven, a trine to my Mercury, and a quincunx to natal Pluto, and all these aspects in force for a long period, with Uranus and Neptune over time doing their own number, on and off, to these same energies, Neptune obscuring, Uranus surprising with the unexpected. But, here’s the good news: Chiron is quincunx my Venus, making me so uncomfortable I finally had to see the worth of all this–and opening avenues to healing. I realized that the job came along just when I would’ve been most frightened–instead I had to work with others, focus on sharpening skills and learning new ones, with the work preventing me spending time catastrophizing in my own head. The cancer was minor and the change to my appearance almost negligible, thanks to the skills of the surgeon and the nurse, and the chemo isn’t just holding my disease in place, as intended, but appears to be unexpectedly shrinking the nodules–a surprising bonus, perhaps shown by the Air Grand Trine involving my Mercury (lungs), and transiting Pluto and Uranus, which latter also happens to be ruler of my chart.

Pluto has made me wrap my head around the idea that ‘it’, all those things we have in our lives that we’re waiting for an ending to so we can get on with what we think life should be, don’t really ever end, they just morph and change shape, a flow from one form to another, and that our approach, our attitude, is what really matters–because it’s in recognizing that these transformations, tragedies and miracles, obstacles and assists, are just the Universe guiding us along the way–all we need to do is accept the wisdom in them, and listen.

Enough about me, right? And by the way, I’m just fine right now–no need to worry–but I do want to share a few comments about current aspects. Mars and Jupiter are scheduled to conjoin in Leo at the South Node–be ready for this one. There may be some wallowing in the past, regret of past actions or choices, the tendency to create litanies of one’s perceived mistakes–but no! That’s the ego, and it feeds on being believed and then pampered, though what you really want to do is challenge it: make it not about vanity, boo-hooing your lack of perfection in the past, but using your knowledge of yourself derived from the past to make the right choices and take the most fortuitous actions in the present. You might even be able to get the wider world’s assistance, right now. If you let the ego keep you focused on past mistakes, you’ll miss the opportunity (and this is an opportunity) to take steps that could have a big impact–and even better, they’ll really be indicative of your best Self. And, Chiron is body of latest degree and trine that Leo cluster, telling us that healing, or wounding, will be the outcome of current events–it really is your choice.