Category Archives: astrology

Good Day To . . . 31 August 2020 Challenges of the Cross

30 Sunday Aug 2020

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Not the kind of cross we’re talking about, but still–Shillito Cross in Shillito Woods, Ramsley Moor, Derbyshire, probably erected by monks from Beauchief Abbey during the 13th Century as a navigation aid for travellers to outlying fields. Photo By Martinvl CC BY-SA 4.0

The 31st Is A Good Day To . . . focus on a Cardinal Grand Cross that lasts through the 2nd and then on the 3rd adds Mars to the arm with Black Moon Lilith; the other factors are Venus, Juno and Saturn. This is the cross that all of our challenges, anxieties, and upsets get hung on today, with our own sense of empowerment, our relationships and/ or finances, and the physical and solid perceptual reality picture all supplying components that in some degree we’ll each need to deal with. Here are the things everyone will deal with: hidden or denied matters either make themselves known or must be acknowledged or dealt with directly; our own position (the one that says, ‘I am in charge of me and my issues’) stands in conflict with our relationships, our finances, or both; reality presents some walls, some non-negotiable terms, or some endings. Know that what we are stopped from doing, however this obstacle presents itself, is to our benefit; it would’ve cost us (money or love), or would’ve created its own barriers to or curtailing of our empowerment, if we’d gotten our way. Don’t forget: the Universe really is looking out for us, if we’ll just accept/ listen.

The Cardinal nature of this configuration means we may already be in motion when confronted by one or more of these matters, or that we have seen these things developing. Though the need to deal with things may have a sudden urgency, or may seem to come out of the blue, it doesn’t really take us by surprise; Saturn retro tells us we’ve known about at least some of this for a long time, and now Saturn ‘delivers’ it to us in a way we can’t avoid. The addition of Mars on the 3rd says the individual will be required to make choices or take action on what’s before them at that point–or may signal that we are forced to do so by someone else, or that our own anger or aggression brings things to a head.

There is a simple-but-not-easy-to-implement way of handling all this: we ‘shine a light’ on those matters that normally fall into our ‘blind spot’ (which calls for a high degree of Self-awareness)–or, we listen without mental or emotional intrusion to our instincts. If we can do that, access what we ‘know but don’t know’, we can do well, taking the natural impetus to confront and complete issues or advance an agenda of a Cardinal Cross and using it to our benefit (Sun parallel Sedna).

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 30 August 2020 Resisting Power, Resisting Beauty

29 Saturday Aug 2020

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The formation suggests a winged fairy-tale creature poised on a pedestal; this object is actually a billowing tower of cold gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula. NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) {{PD}}

The 30th Is A Good Day To . . . ask: what is it about resisting those we perceive as having power that makes us feel good about ourselves? It seems inversely proportional: we are ‘good’ in direct relationship to how ‘bad’ we see the power person being–but that, we should become conscious of, is totally irrational. We do not gain virtue when we stand next to someone we judge negatively; that’s a particular kind of magical thinking that most of us don’t question. It’s entirely human to paint our assessments of others with value judgments unique to our lens (or more often, to our tribe)–but we need to know that the assumptions we make that derive from that are fiction, not fact.

And, when this prompts us to indulge on a regular basis in a form of oppositional-defiant disorder, we undercut ourselves and our causes without even realizing it. To contradict, to say no to, to defy and deny, simply because the opposite party seems to wield more power than we do (or because we think that the act of saying yes is a form of cooperation that gives away our power) is its own form of handing away our power, in that we see ourselves as denying power to the Other, but we may fail to note we are also cutting off options for our own power expression. We may feel powerful in the moment, but this is the power of being against something, and for nothing, other than our right to say no. To see ourselves as receiving virtue from that act just compounds the issue (and may in some cases simply be a way we justify our choices, a way to feel good about something that may, in some instances, not represent our best interests at all).

Power is a long game that requires not just facing the reality that’s before us but also acknowledging those things that everyone else may look away from–that’s where the power actually lies, as those who operate from the fullest awareness of the entire reality picture invariably win. Too, in engaging in power struggles (for they are struggles, even when there’s no overt tug-of-war) we may also resist the beauty or value that may come with cooperation. Today, no fairy tales, and use values to heal where you can, either taking action on them and remedying some hurt, or soothing wounds by rising above them.

(Seemed important to share today’s aspects: Chiron trine Vesta, Mercury opp and contra-parallel Neptune and parallel Black Moon Lilith, Venus opp and Sun sesq Pluto)

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 29 August 2020 Observational Lens

28 Friday Aug 2020

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Astronaut Piers Sellers during the third spacewalk of STS-121, a demonstration of orbiter heat shield repair techniques. NASA, Photo By Astronaut Michael Edward Fossum {{PD}}

The 29th Is A Good Day To . . . get out of our own heads. We think and speak too much from hurt if we’re not Self-aware (and who is totally conscious? Most of us are at least softening the edges of reality with a largely harmless observational lens), so being as cognizant of real-world circumstances and details as possible is important. The best (quality and success-wise) ideas are backed by ideals, and we currently have the ability to transmit these to the social order, so do your best to infuse interaction with a big shot of integrity-based decisions, viewpoints, and action. Live Your Truth, and be on the lookout for the kinds of irony, contradiction, and hypocrisy that can overtake us when we stray from our Highest Values.

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 28 August 2020 Hammer of the Gods

27 Thursday Aug 2020

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‘God the Father Creating the Heavens’ By Jean-Charles François 1760 {{PD}}

The 28th Is A Good Day To . . . talk about the astrological health picture–of ourselves, of the Earth–and Nature’s responses to our efforts to tamp down Her assertions (for what’s a virus but a living thing sent out into the world by Mom to compete for territory and success with other living things? A creative statement, perhaps, or a created statement, generated by the Mother of All Earthly Creation, Ceres.)

There’s a Fist of God (or Thor’s Hammer, for the Norse among us) with a base of Venus-Zeus in Cardinal signs (compelling action because we care–Cancer–about others/ loved ones–Libra) and apex of Earth-Ceres, with the Sun semi-square each factor of the base. This is a picture of everything we care about, everything we reach for and want for ourselves as human beings, in a crisis (square) situation, with the inevitable outcome showing in a difficult relationship to Nature (Ceres) and our material surroundings (Earth), a need to adjust our interaction to the needs of the planet, and a need to take into consideration her other inhabitants, as well.

The configuration itself is a punishing one. A Fist always describes a clash (the base square) between two disparate energies that are trying to find a way to resolve their issues and work together; even if they don’t find a way to mesh, the result is the energy at the apex, and it’s in the way the base energies have either resolved their clash, or failed to, that determines whether the apex energies manifest in a positive or negative manner.

This Fist stresses all that we love (Venus) in its conflict relationship to our own appetites and heedless desires, our thoughtless taking-what-we-want (Zeus), and asks us to consider what needs of the environment (Earth) would cause the response that Nature (Ceres) makes. For instance, in answer to global warming, Nature deploys the current unprecedented hurricane situation in the US gulf; for the first time we’re seeing two hurricanes at once, and storm Laura at the time of this writing promises something I’ve never heard in US hurricane forecasting before: an unsurvivable storm surge of 20 feet. If you are a reader in the storm zone, I hope you made it out of there, and are sheltered, safe, and warm!

So, we’re challenged to both admit how our appetites have affected the natural order, and admit that we are the only ones who can do anything about the disruption; Nature is only responding to our interaction with her and her creations–it’s up to us to learn respect, before we as living organisms are overwhelmed ourselves.

Ad for “Pluto Water” laxative by Pluto Water company. Text at the bottom recommends it as a preventative for Spanish Influenza. Printed in LA Herald Oct 1918. Pluto water contained an assortment of minerals, most notably lithium salts.

The only other thing of which I’d like to make note is the Cardinal square of Pluto to Juno. This simply points to the tension of a power struggle that calls for action (the Cardinal placement). Here we may see the power establishment sparring with the kind of empowerment that comes from cooperative efforts (Juno in Libra). The resistance of the power elite to sharing that power can’t be overestimated. In any case, it’s a day to reflect on all that it’s within our power to do, whether we admit/ recognize we hold that power or not.

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 27 August 2020 Creating Drag + A Mini-Lesson on Zeus

26 Wednesday Aug 2020

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, forecast, Zeus

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‘Dreams’ By Ellen Montalba 1880s {{PD}}

The 27th Is A Good Day To . . . profit from, share, or invest in the Creative and/ or the Ideals. Dreams come True–or do they? It’s a day when our positive fantasies come to life, our dream of Money or Love may materialize, or what we’ve imagined we’d love appears, happens, or we finally have the opportunity to engage in–and we may suddenly be faced with the way fulfilling our desires isn’t what we thought it would be. It’s not that we find out we don’t want what we dreamed of–instead it’s that when we get it we see that it doesn’t actually support our ambitions, that it adds complications to the desire picture, that it throws up impediments to our goals, that it brings forward conflicts we didn’t anticipate, or in some other way doesn’t serve what we’ve been aiming for. The question then is, which needs adjustment, our ambitions or our dreams?

There’s something else important here of which we should take note: when we hold contradictory dreams, imaginings, goals, or even entertain and relate to contradictory beliefs or standards, we set up a dynamic that almost guarantees both internal dissonance and difficulty creating what we want. We can hold the recognition that something can be two things at once, and we can accept that, without causing friction; it’s when we hold two contradicting absolutes in our minds that trouble occurs. If we dream of a life of freelance mountain climbing with no fixed address but also want a life shared day in and day out with our family and to nest at home, we find that these dreams don’t support each other: we find we can’t live a life of ‘no strings’ and also have all the ‘strings’ that come with intimate involvement in family life and the making of a home.

Or something like this: we believe we are good because we are a follower of ‘X’, which/ who teaches that killing is wrong–and yet we’re okay with killing when we judge someone to have broken another of X’s dictates, or even when someone else has broken that prohibition against killing–suddenly we think we should have the power to punish for the offense–but then that makes us killers, too. How can we still judge ourselves to be adherents to our faith (and therefore ‘good’) if we don’t follow the rules (no matter how good we judge the excuse to break them to be)? Therein lies the conflict, one we may successfully ignore for a long time.

Carrying these kind of contradictory intentions/ standards can have the overall effect of creating drag on our ability to accomplish, beyond any internal discord we may feel (and often this discord exists inside us consciously undetected). Influences like those we are under today can bring out the contradictions, the discord, or can present us with certain clashes within our own presumptions, beliefs, or expectations that can (but no longer should) be ignored.

For a few of us, today will feature a major deception or misperception centered in Love or Money; for some others it brings something that feels like ‘True Love’, and to you I say, Enjoy it! Time will tell whether it’s actually the dream situation it seems to be–and I genuinely hope it is.

ZEUS TAPINAĞI Photo By Ali Hakan İlban CC BY-SA 4.0

(To help you understand what’s happening today, the newly perfected aspects are Venus trine Neptune and square Zeus, and Sun semi-sq Zeus. For those unfamiliar, Zeus signifies our ambitions, our desires, our lusts, even, and a certain hubris that accompanies a passionate insistence that our want justifies our taking–think of Zeus swooping down on any number of individuals in order to sate his appetites, many times deceiving in order to fulfill his desire. Zeus also reps the kind of passion that drives a dream, that helps us set goals, that keeps us moving forward. When you read it in a chart, keep in mind both the positive, hard-working ambition to make things better and to achieve, and the pushy arrogance and inclination to just take what’s wanted–either, or both alternately, can be at work. Too, Zeus may carry an added potential relating to someone who holds power such that an individual seeks to access power through relationship to, often when the kind of power desired would be unavailable to the individual otherwise. See a brief example of this here)

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 26 August 2020 Action!

25 Tuesday Aug 2020

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‘Runddans i Græsted’ By Julius Paulsen 1909 {{PD}}

The 26th Is A Good Day To . . . put ideas into action. I know! Lately it’s seemed like we can’t move forward without risking putting a foot wrong, but today that changes: action, especially when we channel what we’ve learned to build the future, is supported, and thinking is ‘bright’, purposeful, and empowering. Two caveats: rather than focus on ambitions, seek to affect what you know needs attention, choose to do things that are right; and keep highest values in mind with each choice–that way you can’t go wrong.

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 25 August 2020 Mash-Up

24 Monday Aug 2020

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‘Wooded Landscape’ By Albert Bierstadt {{PD}}

The 25th Is A Good Day To . . . take a deep breath; then get your bearings before going forward. Today is a mash-up of numerous, sometimes conflicting, influences; here are some pointers on how to sort it out: trust your sense of uniqueness, of individuality, of originality, as it’s not only aligned with inner wisdom and practicality, but is keyed to support both ambition fulfillment and mental acuity. Don’t count on ‘luck’ to get you through–doing so will end up costing you. Nature is your friend today; the social sphere, not so much. And whatever you do, don’t let negative fantasies overwhelm efforts or send you into a dark place–the operative world is ‘fantasies’, meaning ‘not real’.

That Fist of God I talked about on the 23rd (Saturn-Mars square, apex Mercury) perfects today. Here’s what I said then–just add sparkles: “it funnels a good deal of existing but denied upset, shame, tension, desire for power, and thwarted Will into a critical assessment of what’s before us, including those with whom we interact–no wonder things explode!”

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 24 August 2020 Battering Ram

23 Sunday Aug 2020

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Battering ram found in 2010 at a depth of 81 metres in the area of the battle of the Aegadian islands, fought on 10 March 241 BC, during the First Punic War. Carved inscription in Punic letters: “May this [ram] be directed against the ship with the wrath of Ba’al, who makes it possible to reach the mark, may this go and strike the hewn shield in the centre.“ {{PD}}

The 24th Is A Good Day To . . . refuse to be a human battering ram! With Mars square Saturn it’s the Will (and sometimes an angry, temperamental, insistent, I-must-have-my-way-Will) that makes us put our heads (so Martian!) down and run directly at immovable objects. And have no doubt, what we want to shove, topple, or punch today WILL NOT BUDGE. With each body in its own sign, each force is at its strongest–and so each side will spend a great deal of energy, one to impose a want, one to resist any change, a pointless expenditure. We are pushed to act out like this by our own denied inner torment, by wounds we’ve not yet made peace with, and by the way our minds prompt us to do anything other than deal with our issues (Merc sesq Black Moon Lilith, qnx Chiron, and semi-sq Hygeia). Face what’s really bothering you, and you won’t need to storm any walls, or exhaust yourself in defending your own.

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 23 August 2020 The Fist of Power

22 Saturday Aug 2020

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Turner, Joseph Mallord William; Barge on the River, Sunset; Tate; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/barge-on-the-river-sunset-202413

The 23rd Is A Good Day To . . . tread with care around Power. I hate having to tell you that, but it seems attempts at communicating our ideas or just going about our business (even when it doesn’t involve or infringe upon others) stirs up some surprisingly pernicious conflict. It’s as if those in power (and in those places where you hold power, this applies to you, too) will see themselves as threatened, even when no threat exists. That suggests that everyone may become aware they’ve somehow exceeded their rightful limits–and what does a guilty conscience do? It reacts as if that’s what’s being done to them! So, cultivate awareness of where your territory begins and ends, don’t overstep it, maybe reassure others you don’t see them as carrying a target on their backs, and a great deal of the tension and subliminal fear might dissipate.

Sources: Merc opposes and Juno sesquiquadrates Ceres–see what I mean? The real corker, though, is the Fist of God with base of Pluto-Black Moon Lilith, apex Virgoan Mercury–it funnels a good deal of existing but denied upset, shame, tension, desire for power, and thwarted Will into a critical assessment of what’s before us, including those with whom we interact–no wonder things explode! This lasts through its perfection on the 25th, at least.

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Good Day To . . . 22 August 2020 The Flip Side

21 Friday Aug 2020

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By Arkhip Kuindzhi 1878 {{PD}}

The 22nd Is A Good Day To . . . be aware that there might be a lot troubling us below the surface. The ways we have strayed from our own highest values, the ways we’ve failed to achieve particular goals, and the ways that hurt has crippled our ability to act effectively and to choose correctly will all be lurking under conscious awareness and so making us see ourselves in a particular, unflattering way. That means we could waste an entire day feeling bad and fearing we haven’t done what we need to do–which leads us to feeling bad about ourselves once again, and around and around.

What we need to know is this: at some point we will become aware of, even begin to obsess over, these whispering upsets, and it’s our job to realize that the lens through which we’re seeing things is shaped and distorted by the fears our imaginations cook up. Awareness that we have moved away from our ideals is a good thing, because it tells us what we need to do; pretending that there’s no way to re-align ourselves, to re-fresh our commitments, or to forgive ourselves for goals not met, is not. As the Sun moves into Virgo, use its bright spotlight to look at ways we can better reach for aims, handle details, assess matters, and better conduct ourselves, and remember: the flip side of criticism is forgiveness.

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

Here’s the recent New Moon–

Looking for a Cosmic calendar, one that tracks Lunar cycles? New editions (for 2021, for Europe, and for Australia) are now available–