Category Archives: current events in the sky

Just a Little AstroEssence 27 September 2017 Focus On: Brawling Heavies

26 Tuesday Sep 2017

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We’re going to concentrate on one set of aspects perfecting today: Jupiter opposed Uranus and sesquiquadrate Neptune. These are three big guns, heavy hitters throwing weighted punches–and these fisticuffs are going on as our attention is fixed solidly on what matters to us, on fulfilling our commitments to those things we honor, find sacred, and value, and on living our ‘Best Self’ (Sun conj Vesta). Unless the involved bodies are directly linked to the natal picture, these energies are likely to be experienced as persistent cross-currents that try to pull us off our feet, efforts and incentives to expand the world view or the reach, to learn, to believe, buffeted by rebellious and erratic tendencies, a deep desire to be original, or pressure from the group, and this stand-off is exacerbated by our own imaginative powers, creative needs, and delusions, misperceptions all the way to full-blown fantasy.

That isn’t an easy influence for the individual to handle, just because these are exerted by astrological heavyweights, the turbulence like the confluence of two mighty rivers, with a third, unpredictable and impossible-to-source influence adding to the tumult. It can be exhausting if we try to deal with it head-on, and only slightly less debilitating if we allow the currents to carry us, then try to deal with whatever shores we’re washed up on.

If this does hook into the natal chart in some way (approximately 12 degrees of anything other than Aquarius and Aries, and approximately 27 degrees of anything), then according to the nature and province of the contacted energy in your chart, you may have to deal with being pulled into one or more brawls, and it may be difficult to know why, or to discern the reality of circumstances, not to mention the potential for being surprised by what occurs (but that can include being offered unexpected opportunities, and/ or receiving sudden new creative ideas).

Advanced Info: Watch for interaction among the Houses ruled by the heavies in the natal chart. This is where you may meet some impossible conflicts or circumstances, and again, it may feel like a no-win situation whether you resist or go along with it. Best just to realize this is all temporary, that this may present opportunity, challenge beliefs, rule you through accident or ‘group think’, and/ or offer creative impetus or delusion/ deception.

Lago del desierto, Patagonia Photo By Adroar – Propio, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4104264

Today’s word image is a place: Patagonia. For me this represents a kind of ‘gateway’ to the South Pole–and my astro-brain insists we’re really talking about a way to access the South Node, landscape or territory that in some way ‘takes me back there’–and maybe that’s so for you, too. There’s also a well-known clothing brand specializing in outdoor gear–and if we consider both those possibilities, we may see an invitation to ‘rough it’ and re-acquaint ourselves with something from out past, with the implication that revisiting it will be of benefit now.

Just a Little AstroEssence 26 September 2017 Dream A Little

25 Monday Sep 2017

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‘Joseph’s Dream’ By Georges de La Tour 1628 {{PD}}

What we do is smart–whether we do it consciously and with intent, or stumble into it, actually meaning to create another effect, is really beside the point. Choices made and actions taken will be wise and practical, in spite of our intentions! The secrets to success? Don’t dwell on the past; be willing instead to modify your view of it. Nurture relationships and financial situations that support goals and ambitions–but one key to this is not insisting on going big, overdoing, or exaggerating your current position or needs. Attention easily goes to the future–and that’s where it should be. Dream a little–it will help align the unseen with what you most want.

Today’s word image is a hard-boiled egg. ‘Hard-boiled’ has the connotation of something one can’t change or influence–and an egg is a beginning, its hard-boiled status suggesting it will not change, and neither will it ‘grow’. What thing just started is in reality already finished? The sooner you see it, the sooner you can accept it as it is, perhaps let it go, but in any case, move on.

Just a Little AstroEssence 25 September 2017 Runaway Imagination

24 Sunday Sep 2017

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There’s an influence running through our lives, just out of sight, and we need to identify it and its potential effects. ‘Apollo and Daphne’ By Benedetto Luti 18th century {{PD}}

Our imagination runs away with us; it’s as if we so dislike reality (or is it that What Is is so at odds with our wants?) that we act erratically, off-the-cuff, and this affects relationships and finances, possibly clearing the air and setting things in a good direction. Wow, I didn’t expect that to come out like that, did you? Enjoy your week!

Today’s word image is a mole. Do you think of the burrowing animal, a spy of some kind, a saboteur, or that thing Austin Powers couldn’t keep his eyes off of? For the most part, those have an element of the hidden about them. Is there something exerting a surreptitious influence on proceedings, something you’ve been ignoring as harmless when it could have a big effect at a later date? If something springs to mind, that suggests it’s in need of greater scrutiny for what it could bring about. And if it’s an actual mole, maybe you want to get it checked (or banned from the garden, if it’s the other kind!)

Just a Little AstroEssence 24 September 2017 Get Real

23 Saturday Sep 2017

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‘Harmonie du soir’ By Michel Simonidy 1904 {{PD}}

We’re honoring what we find sacred, what we care about and make a priority, and yet this is somehow translating into an unwise direction for the future. What are we doing wrong? We’re pitting our beliefs against our instincts–and the instincts are losing; and we’re acting (when we do act) out of fear of what we imagine might happen, rather than in response to actual circumstances, and that’s making us seem arbitrary and unreliable. The one shining light in all this is that we do know what’s healthy, we value it, in fact, so we have a guideline to follow: whatever yields love or benefit, in any of myriad forms, is the solid thing to do.

Today’s word image is hearing music at random times. This is actually happening to me; I pause in the middle of things, trying to catch some delicate tune on the breeze. It never turns out to be music, though: it’s something metal tapping against a metal tube, a cord brushing across the strings of a mandolin, the wind moving branches against the glass, freshets of air sighing through the pines, sounding almost like thin, high violins. It’s clearly not music as we normally think of it, but I still feel like I need to stop and listen, as if there’s a ‘song’ I need to hear but am largely missing. Maybe this is about listening more carefully, more intently (to what isn’t said?), and perhaps about recognizing all the many ‘songs’ there are in the world.

Just a Little AstroEssence 23 September 2017 Lion’s Roar

22 Friday Sep 2017

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Circe by Wright Barker (1889) {{PD}}

Ceres enters Leo, and Venus trines Juno. That lion you hear roaring? That’s you! You reap benefits by being Self-responsible, motivated, accepting of both duties and the legitimacy of pursuing your own goals. Unless unless unless: you are a Jupiterian human, married to a certain god-sense within you that grants an assumption of might, and possibly of superiority (and this isn’t automatically a bad thing, it’s a Jupiter thing, making it right for those of a Jupiterian orientation! That kind of Self-perception can make you tackle what others might hesitate to handle, an admirable kind of courage.) If you vibe to Jupiter, you may feel left out today; the strong anima energies that express with such surety, such confidence, may feel to you anti-Jupiterian–which they are not. The lesson to you, my Jupiter friends, is that just because someone else is confident, generous, feeling their own benevolence and yes, let’s admit it, their cleverness, their knowingness bestowed by Nature, more powerful than any random facts or human-cooked-up beliefs, just because they are feeling empowered, doesn’t mean you are any less you–or any less significant to the world.

That said, if those Jupiter energies perceive themselves to be harmed, there’s the potential for some mild lashing out, à la Mr. Burns offering “the beating of your life”: the force is diluted by a serious lack of true impetus behind it–it’s just driven by hurt feelings, which soon enough pass. So, all you Jupiter people must be aware that feeling left out doesn’t mean you really are left out, so no need to react as if you are–and everyone else should tap that dynamic receptive energy, and roar.

By HumanisticRationale at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10542536

Today’s word image is an inappropriate invitation. Are you exercising the kind of discretion that recognizes ‘wrong’ when you see it, or are you prone to dress up the ‘not right’ in harmless garb–and why would you do that? Those who have an honest relationship with themselves will see that’s all it takes to spot the inappropriate or nefarious; those who disguise the inappropriate as acceptable need to realize they’re casting themselves as victim, for some larger, ‘hidden’ reason.

Just a Little AstroEssence 22 September 2017 All Things Being Equal

21 Thursday Sep 2017

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Farbtafel aus Feuilles d’automne. Neuchatel, Delachaux et Niestle By Philippe Robert 1909 {{PD}}

Today is the Autumnal Equinox for the Northern Hemisphere/ the Vernal Equinox for the Southern. On this day we experience equal measures of darkness and light (though we should note, the farther North or South of the equator you live, the longer it takes for/ the longer after the stated Equinox point your experience of an equal day and night actually occurs–that is, it will be somewhat later/ earlier than its ‘official’ event point today). Astrologically the meaning is in its symbolism of perfect balance between day and night, shown by the tropical entry of the Sun into Libra. Sometimes it’s possible to feel that balance, to experience the tipping point of bold summer into the decline of autumn in Northern climes, the first green or birdsong of renewal in the South. That’s what we wait for, that moment when the shift becomes palpable, a moment we ‘listen’ for four times a year, this time in my part of the world attuning ourselves to days to come with ever-dwindling light.

All things being equal–well they never are, are they?–today offers life-changing ideas, thinking that may destroy, alter, or transform our way of being, and this brings acceptance via the social sphere, new opportunity, or both. We also see the costs of our ambitions and desires, and apply the immense power of the mind to figuring out how to preserve relationships and assets and still get what we want. It’s a Self-centered day, and there should be no qualms about concentrating on what we need; we are doing some major reorganizing, choosing where and how to expend our energies in future–today is the day when we make those all-important plans.

Today’s word image is a dog barking and barking at nothing but crisp air. Is there something you’re agitated about, that you may be sounding the alarm over, or that you may be perceiving as a threat? The image suggests we are wound up over nothing–that’s not to belittle our concern, but instead to say that we may be more upset than is either warranted or useful.

Just a Little AstroEssence 21 September 2017 Anti-Matter

20 Wednesday Sep 2017

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Veil Nebula: Wisps of an Exploded Star
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

We’re listening to our instincts today, doing what (we think) comes naturally, so why is everything going cockeyed? The problem is what we’re seeing as instinctual is actually a window into our ‘blind spot’, that area where we just don’t have any perspective on our own take on things, or on our behaviors; the result, then, is that we are choosing and acting in that way we do when we are unaware of the implications and consequences of what we do. Those most embarrassing moments happen when we’re in this groove, the ones that torture us later, because we assess ourselves as having been so naive, so flippant, as having been the only one who didn’t know, in the moment. Today, though, we do have remedies for this–and the first is to absolve yourself from any bad feeling acting from the ‘blind spot’ may have presented.

First, let’s look at the nature of the upsets we may deal with: relationships get down and dirty, seemingly inherently difficult in their essence, and what bothers us is the way they seem to require an element of disempowerment on our part, just to keep the peace. Interactions become a kind of anti-matter power struggle, where the powers exerted can’t be pointed to and named. The thinking today is anti-ambitions; everyone acts like having goals is a selfish thing to do–and yet, we see everyone pursuing their own agenda (oh, there’s a taste of that irony we saw yesterday!) Too, no matter how closely we examine our options, it’s very difficult to discern the right thing, the smart thing, or the wise thing, in all that static.

But, if we’ll make the effort to tune in, Nature supplies the answers, or at least a guideline to help us navigate. We get a measure of reality by assuming the mantle of our own authority, by acting within our ‘natural’ roles (to include those of parent, child, sibling, friend, mate), and by seeing enough worth in ourselves to approach authorities not in a spirit of overlord/ serf, but ready to negotiate something that respects both parties. Could be a tough day, but with the potential to bring significant steps forward, particularly in areas of human relations and Self-regard.

Today’s word image is ice cream. Seems non-controversial, right? A treat for all? No–for those who are lactose intolerant, ice cream is a hellish punishment, so good for a few minutes, and then . . . you know the drill. The image suggests we need to be aware that those things we regard as positive or good may not be so for someone else, for completely legitimate reasons. Keep that in mind today, as you act, react, and interact.

Just a Little AstroEssence 20 September 2017 Irony

19 Tuesday Sep 2017

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Grin Reaper by Banksy, Photo By Szater – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3408893

We could expect big things from others, not noticing the irony in our unwillingness to do anything on our own. We’re not lazy; we need others, or a larger cause, to spur us forward, and yet we anticipate that the world or the social order should step in and motivate us, pick up the slack, give us something to believe in. We are so mistaken. We suffer from two issues: wonky, fantastical thinking, and erratic perceptions of ourselves that drive repeated sudden shifts in the way we see our role, our sense of identity, and that divert our attention something terrible. We can’t quite see that we are asking for precisely what we’re unable or unwilling to give to the world ourselves. Take my word for it, and free yourself from grumbling resentment at the way you can’t seem to get anything truly satisfying out of anyone–instead look toward your own inventiveness (innovative Self-responsibility), and combine it with the wisest thing you know (centered in security and appreciation of the finer things and/ or basic comforts–or tap the skills). Those together can act as a highly effective guide to bumps and valleys today, if only by giving you a safe place to retreat, or a means of comfort or security.

Georges Seurat ‘Morgenspaziergang’ (Morning Walk), 1885 {{PD}}

Today’s word image is planting a tree, needing to go elsewhere, and finding someone to look after it in your absence. It’s time to move on in some area where you’ve got a young, new, or ‘immature’ project or effort ‘planted’ and growing. This is unexpected, but also right. Hand it off to the next person–or trust that the Universe will provide care, and go forward–the recent New Moon is calling, and it’s showing you a new beginning. Trust that what you planted will survive, even as you start something fresh.

Read  —  Donate  —  Have a great Wednesday!

 

New Moon in Virgo 19 September 2017 To Serve Man

18 Monday Sep 2017

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The Enchanted Garden of Messer Ansaldo by Marie Spartali Stillman (1889) {{PD}}

Many of you will recognize this article’s title from an old Twilight Zone episode, where humans eventually realize that extraterrestrials who arrived carrying a book titled ‘To Serve Man’ haven’t come to offer altruistic aid, which is humanity’s first, Self-serving assumption. Too late it’s discovered that the tome is, rather than instructions for actually a cookbook, and we’re all on the menu! I’ve been seeing something like this all around lately, a dogged attempt at interpreting actions and events as ‘for our own good’, one way or another, when in fact those choices are serving only the perpetrators. Is there anything wrong with serving one’s own needs and agenda? Of course not–it’s true that our primary responsibility is to look out for ourselves–it’s the presentation of selfish choices in a way meant to lull others into feeling cared for, to deceive concerning the intentions behind what’s said or done, that are the problem.

We may have accepted the unacceptable in particular over the weekend, and during the Monday and Tuesday preceding the New Moon. The Dark period often makes us unintentionally receptive, the mind and psyche open, either from a sense of relaxation or a sense of unguardedness. Sometimes we feel extra-alert in that figurative darkness (when the transiting Moon is contacting sensitive natal bodies or territory as it approaches the Sun), but more often we feel adrift, and so unable to resist what comes at us; sometimes this is a good thing, as we absorb information that otherwise might not be available to us, and potentially a bad thing, as we receive influences without our usual critical assessment.

What does all this have to do with the New Moon in Virgo, occurring at 10:30 PM Pacific time of the 19th? Everything, really, as we see a New Moon in Virgo brings new, productively-oriented beginnings–and what prompts those beginnings may have been influenced by Dark of the Moon material. Again, this may not be a problem, as it could’ve acted to lower our barriers and quiet critical resistance to our creativity and imagination–but it also may have ‘let in’ things that tailor our new start more to the interests of others than to our own wants and needs.

Since the tone of Virgo is one of service, we may find we need to ask ourselves one defining question about what originates around this time: For whom am I doing this? If you do it for yourself, fine; if you do it in pure service to others, also fine; but if you do it unsure of what motivates you, you may do best to stop and sort it out, or risk creating something that’s more burden than benefit.

The New Moon perfects at 27 Virgo 27, widely conjoined Vesta in Libra, and opposed both Earth (natch) and Chiron. The NM also sextiles Ceres, widely squares Black Moon Lilith, sesquiquadrates Pallas, trines Sedna, with its closest aspect a quincunx to Uranus. (This is where I might also point out the Finger of God that, though not connected directly to the New Moon, still may poke us in the eye: Sedna sextile Earth-Chiron, apex Jupiter=if we can get the instincts and material skills to work together, we make something larger than the sum of its parts–a challenge that might apply to whatever we instigate at this point, and that we must be aware can get away from us, overwhelming our control or understanding, at any time).

The aspects suggest the New Moon ‘births’ something we dedicate ourselves to, that reflects our highest values (and again, we see the need to know why and for whom we are acting, as new commitments and obligations, especially to others, are a distinct possibility–Vesta in Libra). The caution comes in the opposition of Chiron, suggesting we may be in denial of, or out of touch with, our own wounds, substantially upping the chances of us being insensitive to our needs (or even to martyring ourselves–Chiron in Pisces).

The square to BML describes tension over things that enrage us, or over injustice or things we are in denial of–again, a ‘looking away’ or separative element to what we do, or how we see or process events, that suggests we observe and react to the wrong without actually doing anything–though the sextile to Ceres and trine to Sedna both promise we can connect to informative energies through our natural roles and sources of power, especially those attuned to Mother Nature and her rhythms and cycles. We can trust our own natural authority as our guide, and we’ll need to; the sesquiquadrate to Pallas and the quincunx to Uranus imply difficulty using the intellect to discern what’s wise, what’s smart, what’s ‘right’, and this can contribute situations where we must draw on skills in times of sudden opportunity or, more likely, sudden stress.

The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘A Baldheaded Man Who Has Seized Power’. The image is one not just of taking power for oneself, it conveys natural power, akin to that which we find in Black Moon Lilith, Ceres, Pallas, and Sedna, derived in the image via the high testosterone levels we now know cause baldness. The NM meeting of Moon and Sun suggests a blending of male and female, with the Sabian providing a male image of power, overt in its expression, while the connections of the New Moon provide a picture largely of female power, or at least power represented in various female forms, a more receptive and emotionally perceptive energy.

The New Moon, then, brings us all a chance to dedicate ourselves in some kind of service, and we may become powerful in the process, though one of the challenges is to be as aware as possible of not just who we are serving, but how and where the power to serve and be served is derived, in growing this New Moon seed of Higher Consciousness.

Just a Little AstroEssence 19 September 2017 Trust Yourself

18 Monday Sep 2017

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Maestro della madonna della bilancia, madona col bambino, s.elisabetta e s.michele, 1510 ca. Photo By Sailko – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30211792

Venus enters Virgo and at the same time contra-parallels Pallas; what could possibly be unwise about attending to what needs service, to accounting for things, about seeing to the harvest, about fussing over the details, and getting it all done in relationships and finances? More than about the physical situation, this may be about what’s in our heads: we think we’re rejecting fantasy, processing clearly and logically, showing our best, most-attuned-to-reality thinking, but the thing is we’re so bent on avoiding setting off old wounds, or on dodging new hurts, that we throw out the creative baby with the bath water, and in our haste invite accident and the unexpected (which, to be fair, includes the potential for serendipity and revelation, the spark of inventive idea–Merc opp Neptune and sesquiquadrate Uranus, Sun opp Chiron). Of course, we’re always offered a way to deal with such friction, and this time it’s through instinct and accessing what we know-but-don’t-know–and that requires a kind of relaxing into our own knowledge, trusting ourselves to know and then follow through on what’s best for us (Sun trine Sedna).

Today’s word image is a cry for help, heard just as you’re falling asleep. That liminal space between consciousness and sleep is typically a place where you can be conscious of what’s in the psychic atmosphere but is not yet overt; this image suggests we’re aware of distress somewhere that we could assist with, but which has not ‘surfaced’ in some obvious way in the material world. Who needs help, and what can, or are you willing, to offer?

New Moon post here–