‘Moonlit Landscape’ Archip Kuindshi 19th c. {{PD}}

3 March just enjoy the growing moonlight.

Today’s word image is actress Tilda Swinton. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea for the very reasons we should all embrace: not feeling the need to conform to others’ expectations, responding from genuine feeling and concern for others/ the planet, allowing the creative essence within to drive the existence, not fearing one’s own uniqueness (and this latter is particularly tough, since we are instinctively ‘programmed’ to feel that conformity is safety). Today, have yourself a Tilda moment: be, or do, whatever you are moved to.

4 March Venus retrogrades! Here’s something on dating during a retro, and then there’s this: “Any Venus area where we have met a dead end while she’s direct is an area prime for rejuvenation during retrograde. This means that the changed tastes and willingness to try the new and unusual in Venusian pursuits that typically surfaces during this time can be a means to re-generate a part of life that we have worn into a rut with too narrow a viewpoint, taste palette, or definition of what’s ‘right’ or appropriate for us. ‘New’ can definitely be the keyword that frees up an area and an approach leading to new relationships, experiences, and an enhanced aesthetic sense that lasts and benefits us long past Venus’ direction. The retro period can serve to modify our Venusian standards and perceptions so that they are wider and at the same time more refined once the planet appears to move forward again.” This rejuvenation is related to the House subjects where the retro occurs, which are likely very close to where Venus reversed direction 8 years ago, with the retro energy now re-visiting these topics in new form (or, sometimes, picking up precisely where they left off). And there’s also this on the current cycle.

It’s an odd mix today, as actions shape the future even as thoughts and reasoning are obscured, inspired, deluded, or steeped in deception. Opportunities and ‘luck’ come from tackling hidden, ignored, denied, or enraging matters head-on and doing one’s best–everything else simply turns in upon itself.

Too literal? By misocrazy from New York, NY – Cropped from Kipper, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17673198

Today’s word image is a shack with a sign that reads ‘Red Herring’. What established thing in your life (possibly something that has a sense of ‘shelter’ about it) is actually a ramshackle distraction or misdirection–a red herring?

The 5th is a day when our physical actions and choices are highly effective in real-world terms–in shaping our surroundings, in producing material results, in stopping or containing the impact we have–and this is doubly so if our acts have spiritual or creative inspiration behind them. Just be aware: thoughts are thoroughly divorced from instinct, and in order to make things work, we must be our most reliable, by-the-book selves.

Today’s word image is a cement retaining wall with this spray-painted on it: ‘Please let me get what I want this time.’ A retaining wall holds back something, typically earth, preventing it inundating another area or collapsing beneath a structure. So, perhaps we can see this plea as requiring our own restraint or holding back in order to get what we want. Maybe we need to ‘firm up’ the foundation of something important to us. Or we can see the spray-painted sentence as the internal mantra of so many people, those who are always focused on the next thing, always believing their wishes aren’t heard or fulfilled; inevitably these people fail to see and appreciate what they have, since a good part of their Self-image is wrapped up in seeing themselves as denied. Take a good look around, beyond gratitude, and consider that singing a song that’s always got a sense of deprivation at its center simply attracts that very quality.

For the 6th, which just so happens to feature the Superior Conjunction of the Sun and Mercury (their meeting when Merc is in direct motion), also shows a kind of serendipitous array of contacts that promise both a strong awareness of opportunity, the social order and its requirements, the facts, and/ or the need for more, and a clear sense of ambitions and goals. Simultaneous to that, though, is a sense that we are not empowered, and that the opportunities spread before us are, one way or another, unwise in what they offer or require us to do. Concentrate today on what’s presented whole, done, or completed, in such a way that we can contemplate a new approach or venture without actually having to take too many steps right away.

No creator info provided {{PD}}

Today’s word image is a paper doll. Remember those? We practiced our cutting skills on these cheap, easy-to-carry-along and fun-to-change-the-look-of representations. Though wonderfully entertaining, they weren’t durable, and they had their limits as they were difficult to make stand and required some patience when dealing with clothes and accessories. What in your life brings joy but is ephemeral, and may need extra care in order to preserve?

The 7th it’s all about health, mental, emotional, and the healthiness (or lack of it) related to our choices and actions. Changes and choices made today build the future, but we are in danger of making at least some of those out of fear or a compromised sense of our own wants, abilities, and power. Kinetic energy in all its forms contains a certain genius at this time–get moving and get inspired. If you can trace ‘it’ back to a fear, don’t go forward, but if you can be confident in your integrity and aims, then absolutely move ahead.

Ilja Repin ‘Apples and Leaves’ 1878 {{PD}}

Today’s word image is an apple. What does that bring to mind? The Adam and Eve story? One a day keeps the doctor away? The story of William Tell–and are you the archer or the potential victim, with the apple on your head? Do you think of your favorite apple thing–cider, pie–or do you think of the orchards, with their delicate blossoms and their twisted trunks? In order to create the same kind of apple again and again, we resort to grafting–apples in nature are distinctly different from every tree, with no two alike. Think of the role some humble component plays in your life, and discern whether it’s a freakish natural gift, or whether it’s taken a lot of intervention and engineering just to be what it is.

For the 8th action and choice bring us power and automatically help us stake out our territory, and thoughts and reasoning are easily aligned with the highest values and priorities. The down side? We can only seem to see what’s not working with our ambitions and goals, and may spend too much energy on trying to adjust and correct, rather than pursue.

Today’s word image is a white rabbit with red eyes. When you think of a rabbit, do you think of a pet, a casserole, the Chinese zodiac symbol, Alice in Wonderland, cosmetics testing, the old-fashioned pregnancy test, the way they multiply like wildfire, how some so casually carry the rabbit’s foot for luck right up until they realize how grisly that is? Personal associations are important with this, and at least part of the meaning may lie in how often and varied have been the cultural associations projected upon the rabbit, all of which spring from how we decide to relate to this rather unresponsive and unconcerned animal.

On the 9th Mars enters Taurus, and so the Will, ego, and actions become more material and sense-related in expression. At the same time, thinking resists the facts–it may seem like too much to adjust our prejudices to reality–but at the same time we may demand sweeping change. Try to get the entirety of the psyche on the same page.

Thomas Gainsborough – ‘Mary and Margaret Gainsborough, the artist’s daughters’ c1758 {{PD}}

Today’s word image is two sisters who seem to be polar opposites but are actually very much the same. Where in your life are there two elements that you’re assessing as very unalike that are in reality two peas in a pod?

Enjoy your week!