‘Symbolist Landscape (The Pali Road by Moonlight)’ By Marguerite Louis Blasingame c1930 {{PD}}
Luna enters Libra at 7:09 AM PDT and makes a statement: it’s all about finding emotional balance. What we feel, whether or not we’re conscious of those feelings or our focus on them, becomes the whole enchilada. The reason for this is a (possible sudden, even surprising) awareness of our tender feelings around who and what we care about; these matters seem to be under stress, and that means they exert their influence even when we think we’re being practical, rational, logical (Venus at 29 degrees of Cancer), and the outlet is just naturally the emotional experience (Venus ruled by the Moon).
This reads as a pressured search for the stress points in relationships, partnerships, commitments, and in our artistic endeavors (Moon in Libra). Even if we don’t think we have issues, our emotional antennae will automatically start combing the airwaves for problems that need fixin’–and if we don’t have any, we may just cook some up, out of a need to exorcise that emotional tension.
The outlet comes through the Air sign Grand Trine of Libra Moon, Uranus in Gemini, and Pluto in Aquarius. The element of Air is our hint that taking a mental, rather than emotional, approach to what we see in partnerships and cooperative ventures today is the way to send those feelings and emotional perceptions (to include intuitions) in a positive direction. The way we feel in those relationships (Moon in Libra) will bring benefits and find constructive form if we take our most unique, individual, and inventive ideas (Uranus in Gemini) and look to the power structure accessible through Higher Mind, group involvement, and/ or by taking an innovative approach to what lies before us (Pluto in Aquarius). The potential trap is found in thinking rebellion or destruction will be the short-cut to relationship reform or change in cooperative circumstances; that’ll only bring forward more tension, and more discord, not less. Empowering ourselves without trashing anything or anyone else is the measure of whether the impulse to act on feelings is a good one or not.
The Daily Word Image is the final pieces of an enormous puzzle that are all the same color. That can be frustrating, and sometimes seems impossible to fit together, but it forces the puzzle-doer to look closely, at subtle detail, at shape, so that once one is attuned to taking that particular kind of care, completing the puzzle takes on a Zen-like sense of calm and introspection that focuses the doer in a way that didn’t seem likely just a short while before. Approach that task that seems at first glance undo-able with calm and focus, and watch the pieces fall into place.
‘Three Ghosts’ By Vishchun 2025 {{PD}} Thank you, Vishchun!
The Virgo Moon passes over the Virgo South Node today, and we connect emotionally and/ or intuitively with the past. Whether this comes in the form of memories, repercussions, persistent situations or circumstances, time travel, nostalgia, or hauntings, is an individual matter, but it will show up–but to what purpose? Possibly we visit the past because Mercury squares the Black Moon Lilith point and Jupiter closely trines it, making difficult matters foremost in our thoughts (whether we like it or not!) and easily showing us the ‘Big Picture’–so it’s all quite fortunate, as our perspective from 30,000 ft, and yesterday’s experience, show us exactly how to process, handle, confront, or modify it all. A very helpful day, if we don’t get too distracted by Memory Lane.
Please see previous posts for other still extant influences.
The Daily Word Image is Strawberries. I know, you may be saying, Get over your fruit obsession, lady! But for me strawberries are something I’m allergic to. Just the thought of them makes me itchy and uncomfortable, so I ask you to consider what comes to mind when you think of these berries. For me, it suggests there’s something currently in my world that I need to avoid–but for you, it might evoke very different references, and that’s the beauty of a symbol, isn’t it? Each of us has a particular relationship to the elements of the Universe, the combinations of which are what makes every individual amazingly unique.
‘Still Life With Strawberries in a Crystal Bowl’ By W.carter Thanks, W.!
Our attention’s still on the state of the world, on reality, how clearly we do or don’t comprehend it, and, most importantly, how we can facilitate change (Sun quincunx Saturn-Neptune sextile Pluto in a Finger of God), and this is mostly because we keep repeatedly being shocked, surprised, or suddenly realizing innovative or inventive approaches to what concerns us; we’re receiving one of the Universal forms of ‘higher education’, and we need to keep up, the best we can, to get the most out of it (Sun square Uranus). The distraction, though, is still the Venus-Chiron Cardinal square, with Venus ruling Mars in Libra and Mars ruling Chiron acting like a boomerang and exacerbating both the urge to act and the sense that we’re agitated, but can’t pinpoint exactly why (or perhaps more accurately, whom to blame!)
Answers may lie in a Water Grand Trine with Jupiter and the Black Moon Lilith and North Nodal point. Grand Trines offer an opportunity to create balance, outlining a graceful interaction among various components; here the idea seems to be that if we focus on expanding what we care about, either in some form having or investing in more of that, or in expanding our world so that we care more about the wider one that surrounds us (Jupiter in Cancer), and by accepting (if not embracing) those things we’d rather not acknowledge, see, or that enrage us, that we typically keep hidden or treat as secrets (BML in Scorpio), we can have a big, conscious say in creating our future–and who could want more than that?
The Daily Word Image is a tomato on the vine that from a distance looks beautifully ripe, perhaps left too long in place, as it proves to be rotted after a sudden summer rain. What looks perfect, mature, in your life that at this point really isn’t desirable at all? Or is it that you’ve left something too long, hoping to maximize its perfection, only to find that you missed its peak and it’s now no good? Missing the moment when something should be used, accessed, celebrated is one of life’s small tragedies–look around and make the most of things that are ready, ripe, before they’re irredeemable.
We’re really feeling that Dark of the Moon at this point, and I think the little spark engendered by the New Moon will feel sharper than usual as the two will meet in Virgo, so that the first New Moon thought may be a critical one. Until then, the Moon most notably today makes contact, in the Dark, by square to the Black Moon Lilith point and by quincunx to the North Node. Luna, reflecting no light, contacts two points, rather than other bodies, so that the whole thing has a ‘feeling around in the dark’ quality. We may find ourselves groping for meaning, wrestling indirectly with what we’d rather bury or ignore, or with matters that enrage us (BML), all the while trying to adjust our efforts so they don’t conflict with the direction we want to go in life (NN). It’s a balancing act with no center, unless we consider ourselves and our feelings (Moon in Leo) as the fulcrum on which all this rests.
Meanwhile, Venus’ Cardinal square to Chiron suggests we may be caught up in wanting to do something about issues cropping up in relationships, over assets and earnings, and in matters where we’ve been hurt by anything and everything we care about. What we must remember is that the Dark of the Moon period is best used for inner work, not outer correction or confrontation. There can be an anxiousness generated within us by that lack of forward momentum provided by (or really, symbolized by) the cycles of the Moon; when we accept that actions right now will arise from anxiety rather than thoughtful assessment, we’ll see that a delay in addressing what’s bothering us will actually work in our favor, leaving hashing matters out for a time when we’ve got the light by which to see clearly. Instead, try to set aside problems and take some quiet time for yourself–not time that asks anything from you, but that offers you a chance to just be, without judgment or expectation.
See other influences extending into this period in previous posts.
Today’s Daily Word Image is a tsunami. That phenomenon has come to be code for being overwhelmed, but it also suggests the same wiping away and new start offered, usually much more gently, by the New Moon. Consider this upcoming Lunar event as a reset, perpetrated with a critical, Virgoan mindset, that will help make it much easier to navigate the eclipses that’re just around the corner.
The waves in this work are sometimes mistakenly referred to as tsunami (津波), but they are more accurately called okinami (沖波), great off-shore waves. Katsushika Hokusai 19th century {{PD}}
The Moon enters Leo Mid-afternoon PDT, on its way to conjoin the Sun and begin a new Moon cycle–but that new start isn’t just yet. And while it’s still in that tense final degree or three of Cancer, Luna moves from a square to Chiron to a semi-sextile to the Sun, setting off a mini crisis in identity or purpose. Just know not to take this too seriously; the upset brews in hurt (Chiron) aimed at the ego (Leo), so is seated more in susceptibility to manipulation by others than it is in reality.
Also of note: a semi-square between Uranus and Jupiter, suggesting the above crisis may be ‘fed’ by exaggeration, applied to a disparity between the way we see ourselves as individuals and the way others see us. This is likely related to our own idea of our uniqueness, of who we think we are (Uranus in Gemini); we assess ourselves in the light of how we believe (Jupiter) others see us: avant garde or freak? Innovative or chaotic? acting erratically or guided by Higher Mind? doing and being in the interests of ourselves alone, or in the interests of the group? Even the most together of us may feel a tremble in our confidence–but don’t let it get to you. Again, what others say or think about us not only isn’t under our control, it’s irrelevant to our existence. Does it close doors to us? Sometimes, but isn’t it most important to be ‘right’ with ourselves, to fit our own idea of who we want to be? Yes, yes it is.
Comments on assessing the meaning of retrograde Chiron, Ceres, etc.: in my view, this hasn’t been observed thoroughly enough over a long enough period to have clear meaning. The mere appearance of a body moving ‘backward’ isn’t necessarily significant, anyway, especially when we consider that movement is apparent motion, appearing so only because of our point of observation. I’m not big on investing retrogrades with lots of deep meaning, as I think that can be a distraction, a kind of justification for negative effects. News flash: those negative components are present no matter what, and they don’t particularly become more prominent just because it appears the body is moving backward from our spot, here. And that brings up another point: one of the things I’ve noticed is that some negatives associated with a body may be removed when the body appears retrograde–and that alone suggests that counting on retro status to explain certain things doesn’t, at least for me, really hold up.
The Daily Word Image is the satisfaction of a job well done. That sounds both nebulous and a little smug, until we think about it: when was the last time you felt that sense of happy completion, of making an impact that was genuinely positive, no matter how small the stage on which it occurred? It’s telling that so few of our efforts result in that sense of accomplishment, and maybe that should prompt two questions: do I want more of that kind of satisfaction in my life, and if so, how do I get it?
Please see previous posts for mentions of ongoing astro effects, and have a great day!
‘The Angel Troubling the Pool’ By William Turner 1845 Photo By Didier Descouens
There’s attention on that cluster of Love and reward matters and opportunities (or, for a few, the striving prompted by overweening ambition) as the Moon conjoins both Jupiter and Venus (see the 18th for details) and we focus more and more on personal assets and relationships, and how to increase them. What sings today, if we’ll just still the cry of our own desires, is a Sun-Chiron Fire trine=this is the passion that ignites from our own singed egos (Sun in Leo) and the hurt we’ve experienced dished out by the egos or aggressions of others (Chiron in Aries); this is fuel, both to pursue those Venus-Jupiter possibilities and to lose our heads (Aries) and hearts (Leo) in righteous outrage over the wrongs done us–either is easy to do (the trine). There’s also, though, a Mars-Mercury sextile, Mars in Libra, Merc in Leo=the saving grace is found here, if we can just remember that others’ actions and aggressions (Mars) have everything to do with them, and nothing to do with us–we just happen to be an available screen on which to project. Centering thoughts on who we are and how we’d like to shine (Leo), minus any plans for vengeance, comeuppance, or celebration of our own wounds, is the way to go today, as anything else is so subject to distortion that we’d best let it lie, for now.
The Daily Word Image is a pair of headphones where the left side goes out. Are you too much of this world, distracted by the material and so missing the spiritual or unseen message? Or does it seem like spiritual communication has been cut off, and you’re missing the guidance or even the assurance that you’re not alone, no matter your circumstances? Or are you communicating, but just realizing you’re only getting half the story? Mercury’s direct now–don’t be afraid to go after what you need to know.
The Moon is in Cancer today, just over a day from entering the Dark period, and as time passes we may find the emotional life front-and-center. Luna will move to conjoin first Jupiter and then Venus over the coming day+, and our awareness grows around the ‘caring component’–that is, we’ll keenly observe what moves the social order and our own relationships. We’ll notice what they invest in, what they value, what they are willing to pay for, sacrifice, or support–and we’ll have our emotional reactions to this. We may think our responses arise out of approval or outrage, but they’ll actually have origins in our own ideas of what kind of opportunities they might bring for us personally. We’re hoping for Love and reward, of course, but if we’re too eager to gain (if we leap at the chance without looking at all the circumstances) we could suffer a loss that will deliver a bigger emotional impact than we might expect. It’s a day to keep our heads even as we scan the horizon for our chance to bring good things our way. With Jupiter involved in a Water Grand Trine with the Black Moon Lilith point and the North Node, being honest with ourselves and keeping one eye on the future are the ways to measure those potential opportunities, and assess them for what they really are, and what they really offer.
Please see yesterday’s post for other influences still in effect.
Today’s Daily Word Image is making a ‘clean sweep’. Is there some part of your life that needs a fresh start, one where you know a refresh is needed, where you can also be sure that you won’t be sweeping away anything still important or useful? We all have an area or three that we know holds only the outmoded or the useless, at least to us; what we need to ask, just before we take up that broom, is why we held on so long. There might be something in that answer to help us move forward in other ways, as well.
‘Cupping the Bees’ By George Mulready c1830 {{PD}}
I think for a while I’m going to offer very short daily commentary on current astro conditions. That does mean no long New and Full Moon analyses to chew on–just a little once-a-day nectar to sip.Seems like time to change it up.
Three situations stand out to me today, and all of them have that sting of facing someone or something and catching a glimpse of ourselves in the encounter/ experience. Venus is just out of maximum range of Jupiter, so that’s not going to save us; instead, it removes emotion (Cancer) and the unspoken hope of reward and puts them where they belong, out in the open and at the forefront of our thinking (Moon in Gemini). Refusing to keep secrets from ourselves is the way to avoid conflict and any nasty surprises. The Sun Fire trine to Chiron over the coming few days says it’s easy to feel hurt, and easy to wound others through our actions–so the question becomes, how much responsibility do we bear for others’ responses?
Two oppositions describe the kinds of issues we may be faced with: Mercury in Leo opposed Pluto in Aquarius, the latter of which is trine Uranus in Gemini=ego based or Self-glorifying thinking will definitely draw out those who want to bring us down a peg or maybe even wipe us out–that’s where the shocks and surprises originate, especially as we may see our own insistence on flexing our muscles in those who oppose us–if you get that kind of reaction to Self-assertion, it might be time to check yourself for hidden motives and the taint of vanity. Honest and sincere motivations (those not focused on Self-promotion or the ‘humble brag’) can put you ahead of the crowd, lead to inspired and innovative ideas, and foster Higher Mind understanding. There’s also a loose Air Grand Trine (Mars, Pluto, Uranus) that features a still-barely-there opposition of Mars to Saturn-Neptune across the Libra-Aries axis. This suggests that power and innovation balances can be thrown off by actions and choices that don’t take into account the gap between reality and what we want it to be, and the gap between the possible and the delusional. Framing issues as ‘Us vs. Them’ doesn’t lead to answers, or harmony. Staying grounded in the real and its potentials to manifest the ideal should be a priority today, as that will help us avoid 99% of possible missteps.
Today’s word image is a bee. Are you busy as one, and if so, how does that make you feel? Like a Queen, calling the shots, like a worker plugging away and forever putting off fulfillment (or even simple enjoyment) into the future, or like a drone, desperate to take things off automatic?
Trees photographed with handheld ICM (intentional camera movement) on Myrstigen hiking trail in winter in Brastad, Lysekil Municipality, Sweden. One photo made with hand-held camera, in a slow movement with a short pause at the beginning for that “double exposure” effect. By W.carter – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=127635920
Or is it that adventures, or at least the messages that urge you in an adventurous or discovery-filled direction, choose you? Here are a small number of Word Images that I’m thinking may come up, stand out, or describe a situation in your life, probably through the period between now and the next Full Moon September 17th, which also happens to be a Lunar eclipse.
Carelessness causes a splash of boiling water on one’s ankle. It’s important to note that the ankle belongs to the person wielding the boiling water. Symbolism linked to the ankle includes the personal ability to receive pleasure, a measure of flexibility in the course of life events, the degree of emotional and/ or spiritual stability, and the ability to move forward in life. Boiling water is an element in an extreme state; it’s never meant to come in contact with the physical body. This image suggests to me an extreme state current in one of the ‘ankle areas’ listed above, a situation where we’ve somehow swung way past reasonable and may be in fanatical territory, almost certainly out of an intense positive desire to deal with life events successfully and/ or to have a positive impact on our world. Moderation is key. If the right side of the body is involved, concentrate on material situations, while if the left is involved, look to the spiritual or the unseen.
A group gathers for a drink, congratulating themselves on something they haven’t done yet. It’s more than the cart before the horse, here: it’s an unwillingness to acknowledge reality. When we are living so far in the future that we believe we’ve accomplished what we’ve yet to really start, we’re in deep trouble, and unlikely to know it. Are you seeing this around you, or are you part of such a group? Your vantage point will tell you whether you actually need to ‘wake up’ yourself, or whether you are an observer who may want to reflect reality back to those who’ve lost their real-world anchor.
A long delayed artistic project is on the verge of completion, and you suddenly find yourself questioning its worth or beauty. If you are a normal human Being, then you have some Self-doubts–that’s to be expected. Is that small voice inside criticizing your choices, questioning your talent, or simply insisting your creation (or you) aren’t ‘good enough’ to be presented to the world? I could say, Ignore that voice, but that’s not an easy or realistic thing to do, so I would instead advise shifting your perspective: realize that after a certain point, artistic creations take on a life of their own, beyond what their creator intended, and probably beyond what that creator is able to fully control. That means that the creation takes on a kind of right to exist that it didn’t have in the early stages, and that ‘right’ allows the creator to step back a bit emotionally and recognize that completion is required for the object or project itself, as a way to honor its evolution from idea to manifestation. With that step back the whole thing stops being so personal, and so allows us to stop trying to impose our internalized criticisms, judgments, and fears onto it. It goes from ‘it will be’ (when we have complete control and responsibility for achieving) to ‘it is’, when we are no longer birthing it, but now for the most part simply observing and appreciating it, as a creation very much separate from ourselves.
A ‘Your Speed Is’ sign goes up on a street where the speed bumps make it very hard to go too fast. What gives, when someone is implying a condition or behavior that really doesn’t exist? It sounds to me like an excuse to exert control over others for their imagined slights or misbehaviors. Is there someone in your life who is insisting that rules or restrictions must be in place, despite the lack of need for them? This is the kind of effort that occurs when someone is trying to gain a preemptive sense of authority in areas where they really should hold none at all. Look to the natal House where Saturn is currently transiting (Pisces) for clues as to who might be trying to exert more control than is appropriate (and is likely trying to obscure, distract, or outright hide those efforts, using the Piscean energy). In the 1st you might be too hard on yourself or your body, in the 2nd those with a say in financial matters or talent management may be involved, in the 3rd siblings or neighbors, in the 4th your family, in the 5th your creative efforts or your children or gambles taken, in the 6th health or work colleagues, 7th with the spouse or the public at large, 8th shared assets or inherited matters and those who handle them, the 9th in laws, teachers, or religious leaders, 10th the career scene or social order, 11th with friends or groups to which you belong, in 12th large institutions or the Collective or even the Universe itself.
You want to exchange all the furniture between two rooms, fundamentally changing the use of each, and it’s a big job. This is about using your space (whether that’s your actual surroundings, the atmosphere around you, or your mental, emotional, or creative space, external or internal) however you want, and not because someone long ago decided a particular ‘room’ had to be a dining room or a living room or a bedroom, even when that doesn’t fit your needs. To follow one’s own course may seem overwhelming, especially if those around you aren’t into how you’d like to alter things, but this large effort is doable, with patience and persistence. Just follow that old saw about eating an elephant: you do it one bite at a time.
Painting By Amrita Sher-Gil ‘Two Elephants’ 1940{{PD}}
Just a couple of things to note in what feels like a kind of intermission, its ending signaled by the Saturn retrograde on the 29th, and the Neptune turnaround on July 1st. Until then a retro Pluto in early Aquarius prompts us to dig into the imagination and the possibilities of what could be, in an attempt to answer the stress inherent in a 29 degree Neptune, while Pluto’s trine to the 29 degree Black Moon Lilith point makes us fearless in digging through material we at other times would resolutely ignore, particularly in that we’ll apply a critical eye, making accountability of ourselves and others a focus.
This is all good–a kind of housekeeping, if you will–and this may spur the action engendered by a Cardinal T-square with Venus in Cancer squaring the Nodal axis=we act or choose according to what we care about, what we are invested in, especially those things that matter to the asset picture or the relationship one; be aware that these decisions arise out of the past, and form the future, essential to remember and certainly influential in what we choose–we’re not pouring our efforts into a vacuum–there’s already a landscape that offers circumstances we must respond to–and our awareness that what we do now really does shape what happens next will be a useful guide when the options lie before us.
That Venus in Cancer is also sextile Mars in Taurus, uniting our emotional needs with a willingness to attend to material matters and emphasizing the necessity of those things that comfort, reassure, and make for a sense of security. And of course this means that Mars is quincunx the South Node, offering a highly valuable perspective: the past as measure, offering insight into the way our actions may play out, and on the repercussions they are likely to have, as hinted at by what we’ve created by our choices before.
And what of the apparent retrogrades of Saturn and Neptune? They’re ‘heavies’, slow-moving planets that typically exert a background energy, and particularly in the case of Saturn, may have different influences on individuals, likely based on the natal status of the planet, where the transiting energy is traversing by House, and what it contacts in the natal chart.
If Saturn is retrograde natally, its transiting retrograde may place us back in a more familiar constructive territory–direct may feel incomprehensible, as we struggle to understand realities and the system that contains them; things may be too restrictive when it’s direct, too straightforward–with Saturn’s characteristic energy (as defined by its natal situation) having the chance to bloom on retrograde for the retrograde natal Saturn. For those with direct natal Saturns, a retro transiting Saturn can skew the sense of reality, with both barriers and things we count on potentially withdrawn, and matters that were making steady progress coming to an abrupt, and possibly permanent, halt. We find ourselves suddenly hemmed in, turned away, blocked, and at least initially, unable to see a way around. The ground slips out from under us, and there’s nothing to be done, not until things change.
Neptune’s turnaround can bring what we were sure of just a moment before into question; suddenly we’re suspicious that there’s something we’re missing, not understanding, or being deceived about, or, something really is hidden or we really are being deceived or mislead. It may be tougher to sort illusions from realities and especially real potentials, and ideals could be gently shaken. Neptune puts a veil over what we most desire to see clearly in the areas of the House being transited, those things Neptune rules in our chart, and in things connected to natal Neptunian perceptions. Whether it’s direct or retrograde in the natal chart seems to matter less with this planet, as it deals so much with what’s nebulous, imagined, possible, or illusory anyway; retrograde periods are likely to shift what about and where we’re feeling its influence, and on the positive side, could bring inspirations and apply creative energies to areas we aren’t natally inclined to see them applied in.
Oh! And there’s this: the July Full Moon falls on the 21st at 29 tense degrees of Capricorn, conjoined Pluto and coinciding with Mars’ entry into Gemini. Mark your calendars. I’m anticipating the status quo and/ or various systems at a bursting point, one that reaches for power with aggressively persuasive words–something along the lines of ‘we must unite those who think alike (us vs them), because if we don’t, they will obliterate you, take your power, destroy what you count on for support–so give your power to us’. By status quo I mean what exists that has been in the process of trying to garner our power–and at this point may try to do so through fear. Beware with whom you network/ unite/ emotionally respond to–if they ask for your support but don’t offer anything but frightening words and encourage extremist behavior against ‘them’, then they are definitely not the ones to follow. Use your own power to think it through (Pluto in Aquarius).
We have a Daily Word Image today: walking a path, a small, agile snake crosses in front of you in an ‘s’ pattern and disappears into the foliage.Something crossing one’s path is typically an opportunity–but then again, if it’s a black cat . . . and ‘crossing paths with’ something or someone is generally considered confrontational, though it can also suggest a fated encounter. And, a snake can represent knowledge (especially knowledge gained through autonomous, assertive, or defiant behavior), the kind that opens one’s eyes, or deceit (‘snake in the grass’). I think the meaning all depends on how the image itself strikes you; for me, I was struck by how young and small the snake was. It made me think of something just started, fledgling, that I needed to put on my radar before it slipped away, something I needed to know, or maybe something that could ‘get by’ me and grow into something larger (and potentially threatening). I’d love to hear what the image means to you in the comments.
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 
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