Winter in Andalusia (Poplars and Sheep at Alcalá de Guadaira) 1880 {{PD}} By Emilio Sánchez Perrier

We enjoy lifts of several kinds over this period; here are the deets:

The big story for the 22nd is Neptune stationing direct, and yet our reaction to this lifting of the fog might be more about the other perfecting aspects: Jupiter sesquiquadrate Chiron, Mars conjoined Zeus, and the Sun parallel Hygeia. When a heavy like Neptune goes direct, we may not be conscious of the shift right away; we may feel something, but it’s likely that it will take a little time for such a change to gather a distinctive shape in our lives, often related to either the matters of the House Neptune is currently transiting, or the one Neptune rules in our natal chart–and that’s aside from any contacts Neptune makes at the point of direction, which can be especially potent in the way they are suddenly revealed, attain an aspect of creativity or idealism or take on spiritual depth, or conversely are obscured, if Neptune retro had been serving to lift the fog.

So, the energies surrounding the turnaround may feel something like this: the social order suffering from and also inflicting wounds (think the #MeToo movement, for one); on an individual level this suggests that the facts or beliefs, one’s own or others, may be painful to deal with, or that the difficult situation presented by those facts and beliefs requires us to offer healing or the Chirotic skill, again, to ourselves and/ or others. Getting bigger spiritually, especially in relation to our fellow humans, may be painful–not exactly surprising.

Then there’s the matter of actions and choices being fused with ambitions and desires, removing any real chance of objectivity–just be prepared to face this in yourself and in others, and cut everyone a little slack; we are passionate about things at this point, so precipitous acts and expression of the Will may cause a kind of ‘blanking out’ that overrides any of our normal reticence or cautions. But, the Sun’s contact tells us that, in the long-term, that Self-expression will ultimately be healthy, so we’re unlikely to damage anything we actually want to preserve.

Rik Wouters – ‘De strijkster (The Ironer)’ (1912) {{PD}}

Today’s word image is iron. Did you imagine something hot coming out of a forge, a cattle brand, perhaps, or something more mundane, a clothes iron, or possibly a hunk of ore, or a daily supplement consumed for your health? Iron has entered the lexicon in a number of ways: ‘strike while the iron is hot’, meaning take an opportunity when it presents itself; to ‘iron things out’ means to negotiate and come to agreement; something is described as ‘iron’, implying unbending strength. Consider whether you need a little more, or a little less, of whatever iron comes to mind.

And what about the 23rd, the day in the US known for gathering the family together to share . . . a turkey? Let’s be clear: it’s a celebration ostensibly triggered by the day the indigenous peoples saved European settlers from starving to death, a day that signaled the beginning of the end for natives in terms of autonomy and cultural, personal, and Collective freedom–and of course, we shouldn’t be celebrating the dominance of one group over another at all, however obliquely that applies. We have to consider what this holiday has become: a symbolic sharing of abundance, and a chance to celebrate that abundance, to be grateful, not just for what we have but for those who share our lives, in the here and now.

How are we to interpret it, then, when no new aspects perfect today? The implication is that we are awash in a combination of previous recent influences that are still reverberating, and those characteristic inclinations and proclivities that we carry natally. Expect the expected, heavily seasoned with current shifts in both the personal arena and the Zeitgeist.

Jupiter, hangin’ out with his eagle By Nicolai Abildgaard 1792 {{PD}}

Word image for the 23rd is an eagle tending a nest where the eggs will never hatch. Well that’s depressing! Sometimes Mother Nature plays a cruel trick on us, or maybe it’s just fate or our own persistent nature, but everyone at one time or another has pursued or tended diligently to something that has no life in it, that will never ‘hatch’ and live in the light of day. This may be a reminder not to pour our care into lifeless projects, ones where the potential has long since drained away, or maybe it urges us to let go of the things that will never be–not all eggs are meant to reach maturity–and how can we have room for the new, if we are perpetually mourning the old?

By the 24th we’ll begin to see how the Neptune direction is flavoring those things we find sacred, that we honor, and that we are committed to; we’ll also be highly aware of the positives of all that’s come forward lately, the rewards offered for not ignoring or denying what is, and we’ll get glimpses down real avenues of Power. What’s not working so well may be our thinking and reasoning, and those faculties that are so injured or warped by negative experience that we can’t see the objective or the factual without distortion. What comes under scrutiny is our ability to be truly rational; our response needs to be a willingness to consider that feedback may be showing us an elemental flaw in our system.

Sculpture “Peace” created by the conceptual artist Stephen J. Kaltenbach, 2005, near the Capitol Mall in Sacramento, California Photo By Carol M. Highsmith – Library of CongressCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/2013633917 {{PD}}

Today’s word image is meeting someone about whom you feel you already know a great deal. When that happens, do you let what you’ve heard influence your perceptions? Are you so busy looking for purported attitudes or behaviors that you don’t see who’s actually standing in front of you? No real relationship can develop when prejudice exists, and perceptions are bound to be artificial, filtered through beliefs rather than arrived at from direct experience. Try not to exercise prejudice, okay?

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