‘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.

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.

‘Mt. Fuji Behind a Spider Web’ By Katsushika Hokusai 19th century {{PD}}

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.” Sir Walter Scott

Even if we don’t set out to mislead anyone, we may get tangled up in our own lack of understanding, fuzziness on details, or over-idealistic notions of what is what. We go forth not realizing we don’t really know the outlines of things; we think we have them, but when we come to the point when specifics are required . . . suddenly it’s just indecipherable. What does work? Focusing on ambitions, and our own unique or original or innovative approach (don’t allow old wounds, contrary instincts, or erraticism make you needlessly skittish). Creating comes easily, and rather quickly coalesces into something meaningful, if we don’t try to pin things down or demand a specific material result.

This image reminds us that Cappy isn’t just a goat, he’s a sea goat! By Unknown – http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/documentation/enlumine/fr/visites_00.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1492320

Today’s word image is the month of January 2018. I kept trying to write ‘January’ today, every time a month was called for. Looking ahead, what jumps out at me is the 9th. On that date the Sun, Pluto, and Venus are all at 19 Capricorn; with Earth in opposition, all square Zeus at 19 Libra, and, for a few hours, the Moon as it conjoins Zeus, forming a T-square. This suggests dynamic, permanent, possibly traumatic or dramatic change that affects relationships or finances via the mechanism of friction within the ambition or desire picture. What will change for you? If you have anything at 18-21 Gemini, you’re looking at someone acting, or you acting or choosing, in a way that brings results related to the apex natal placement in Gemini, with the Capricorn gathering sextile Mars as the base of a Finger of God. For everyone else, the most likely manifestations are around subjects of the Houses where the Cappy group sits in relation to subjects of the House where Zeus sits at 19 Libra. It may play out as who you are and what you love interacting with others who have the ability to aid you with, or block, ambition fulfillment. Of course there are other potentials, as well–but it very well may be a day to take note of, probably in terms of change and what it will cost, or what profit it’ll bring.

Votaire By Agabaranska – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24783153

Today we show our stuff. We’re naturally strong, coordinated, expressing our most original Self, able to do and say just the right thing, and we proceed with eyes on relationships and finances and their future potentials, so we choose with what we want to develop in mind. That’s all wonderful, but as usual, there are a few places we may trip up. We may feel so confident we become aggressive, believing it’s our right to make demands–no. Any missteps rise straight out of an injured sense of Self, wounded identity, memory of lost status, or out of shame or anger from events in the past. Our gifts are at our disposal, but it may be our wounds that make us flex our muscles, unless we do our best to be conscious of our own foibles, and to consciously direct our energies into the positive, natural forms we vibe to most strongly. Though revelations about what has hurt us are possible, and expunging an injury from the psyche could occur, it’s not really a day for sorting that out intentionally; instead it’s prime time for controlling, directing, and making the most of our own impulses, no matter the source.

By Carroll Jones III, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50337932

Today’s word image is a door, specifically a back door to a house. The front door is often reserved for facing those we don’t know, people who approach our house for their own reasons, or for greeting guests on formal occasions. We think of the back door as much less formal, used by family members or those familiar with the house and its residents, often a means of entry and exit used by those who come and go as they please. Sometimes it’s used by those who work for us, rather than by social intimates, in which case we see it as a door of necessity, just as we do if it’s how we typically enter or cart in our groceries. Using the back door is a statement: this is my house–or, I’m close with the people who live here, and welcome. This image could suggest we need to pay attention to those we have a close relationship with, maybe so we can discern the right call in some matter they’re presenting us with (for instance, someone we consider close who asks for something, but when we think in these terms, we realize we don’t feel that chummy, after all, and may not be comfortable with what they’re asking). We may also want to consider who we feel sees us that way–and whether we reciprocate. Or maybe it’s to think about how comfortable we truly are in our current relationships or living situation, or even to remind us of a recent dream or vision involving a door. In any case, a consideration of intimacy, familiarity, and the ‘proper’ interactions within our relationships.

See a recent article on the Saturn Return and relationships here—

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Weather vane of Fame, attributed to Washburne & Co., New York, circa 1890. Exhibited in the American Folk Art Museum, New York City, New York, USA Thanks to the anonymous photographer who provided the pic {{PD}}

We meet what feels like a contradiction today: that which empowers us messes with our relationships, or with our earning power. You’d think being strong and effective in expression would bring just the opposite, right? But what we find at this time, despite an unusual harmony between thought and action, is that power roles, those things we do to make ourselves and our wishes felt, don’t deliver more Love or Money–in fact, they seem to leech it away in subtle and often inexplicable chain reactions. We must console ourselves with the certainty that what we want at this moment isn’t healthy for us, one way or another; and we should be reassured that the actions we do choose to take (those that we’re able to implement) will support our autonomy and our ability to be Self-determining. This mixed bag of influences may show us, more than anything else, that what we think of as empowering, those circumstances we pursue because of the power we think they’ll confer, are not what will deliver our potency at all–that will come from more modest actions, choices made out of need, and firm guidelines provided by those people and things we value.

Today’s word image is a weather vane, spinning in a storm. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to know which direction to head; this is one of those times. Just keep in mind that the storm will move on, and then ‘which way the wind blows’ will become abundantly clear.

John Singer Sargent c1883 {{PD}}

So much is sotto voce this weekend, tendrils of sub-sonic sound that reach into the mind (wrapping most particularly around the wisdom and practicality functions), throwing off balance, affecting the solidity of our values and the sureness of our identity. We are troubled, thinking others are remarking on us, a hint of paranoia covering us like a shroud. In reality, we are aligned with our instincts; that suggests that if we can stop believing we just need to think about it first, we can function without too many negative consequences. It’s really the pervasiveness of Mars conjoined retrograde Mercury in Leo trine Uranus in Aries that fuels any upset. If not for this need for action, the impulsiveness and burning desire to be original, to pursue our own viewpoint, what we imagine might remain un-acted upon, ideas that simply remain ideas, abandoned tomorrow (or maybe after Merc’s direction) as just too too! Today, if we can take out the middle man (in this instance, that troublesome brain!) and have the instincts direct the muscles, that would be ideal. As it is, we may feel those whispers exerting themselves in some leap-before-we-look action. Choices will have a bigger or more long-lasting effect than you anticipate, so avoid any commitment that might last longer than a movie or a meal.

Lazarine Baudrion, the artist’s wife, with the Rose-breasted Cockatoo. By József Rippl-Rónai Before 1927 {{PD}}

Today’s word image is a parrot with bright plumage, riding on a woman’s shoulder as she moves down the street. How do you feel about keeping birds as pets? I love them, used to have some, but don’t want to put them in cages anymore (we’ll ignore the fact that some birds, long bred by humans, would not find life in the wild survivable, much less sustainable). Is there something you used to love, that you now don’t feel the need to relate to in the same old way? What does this change in attitude say about you, and has it changed what you do or how you behave?

Henry Herbert La Thangue – ‘The Return of the Reapers’ 1885 {{PD}}

The mental processes take on a particular tone today for the Merc retrograde review: we are inclined to look closely at either our power and status situation, or at our health, with strong potential for inspecting those areas where they overlap. It all takes on a highly Virgoan cast, where we closely peruse detail, inspect methodologies, and in some way try to ‘balance the books’. This is likely successful, leading to a nice equilibrium between trimming and getting more, expanding and contracting, and between taking an optimistic approach and a realistic one. Remember what you conclude today, and write it down if you have to–realizations seen at this point will be invaluable post-Mercury direction.

Today’s word image is a woman who sits alone in a darkened movie theater, watching the show for hours. What do you imagine she’s watching? And what does that say about what’s ‘playing’ in your life right now?