3rd Quarter Moon

On Thursday at 5:40am (EST) will be the Last Quarter Moon of this lunar cycle. I normally don't stop down to talk about the phases because I am so certain that you take copious notes when you read my monthly NEW MOON which lists all eight phases that you just don't need additional prompts from me (cough, cough).....but on this Lunar Phase I wanted to remind you that this is the Last Quarter Moon where we can address our Goals. Remember, we had a lot of stuff happen between New Moon (Dec 16) and now that impacts our Goals. Things came up that we never want to experience again. We saw holes in our life that need to be fixed. We felt some good things that we want to continue. We realized we have things that need to be improved upon. We grew tired of some people. Our brains had to make adjustments as our beliefs started to shift. All of that taking place on the Sag lunar cycle is fodder for our Goals.

Now on this last quarter we get the final information as to what we need for our goals.

As a reminder (from my New Moon article)

Third Quarter moon: Now we do the final adjustments to the seeds we planted on new. The final call, the final letters to send, we follow all the trails that came up that still make sense. And we let the other parts lay fallow. It is a time of action but wise action. It is a time for living “The serenity prayer”

God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things cannot change Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.


Focus on: Can you make some final changes based on your new moon goals that will include others? How do your relationships and specifically partnerships fit into your life and your goals? What moves can you make in your life right now that will improve your relationships? Are you giving too much in relationships? Or are you not receiving enough? Or are you doing too little? Did it occur to you it might be impacting your goals?

Mercury conjunct Venus

January 5-- Mercury Conjunct Venus 5:39am (EST)

Wit meets love. Brains meets Beauty. Smart meets Sassy. Do you get the gist or do I have to continue with pairings that sound like Jeopardy catch phrases?

We will feel a bit more prickly with our loved ones but what we are really craving is practical application of love and brains. When our lover calls us up and whispers sweet nothings to us our first instinct is to hang up. Sweet nothings mean nothing on a day when Mercury and Venus hook up at 13 degrees of Capricorn. No shit. What we are concerned about is our money (what's new?) we crave a deepening of our goals and values. We look around and if we see things that are not of value...we want to ditch 'em. This includes people. (Yikes!) If we have a houseful of Chinese Crap from Target, we'll hate it all.

I think it is interesting that some of these blah aspects are coming up while we still are on the Sagittarius Lunar phase. Remember, this is the period in the year when we figure out our goals and desires, where we put our little arrow in the sky, zero on our target and go for it. It is quite an interesting to have aspects come up which make us go 'blah' when we look around our life. We're not suppose to get depressed by them, but perhaps we are suppose to rethink stuff. Maybe a couple years ago you were thrilled to go into Target and buy a bathroom rug for $10. Now you are asking bigger questions like, I wish this bathroom was not in Van Nuys. Or fill in the blank.

Anyway, today you may be thinking more about what you value and is it in your life the way you want?

Sun Conjunct Mercury

January 4 2:06pm (EST).

The Sun conjuncts Mercury several times a year and is basically a nice garden variety aspect. Nice but no big whop. You feel a little bit brighter and a bit smarter and more clever today BUT and make that a big BUT...when the conjunction is with a retrograde Mercury it is a bit duller. The shine is not on this one instead we feel a bit more energized but we can't quite get 'there'.

It is a good day for us to take on a few projects but we need to cut ourselves some slack if our ideas and aspirations are too big for our reach today.

I know I took time to move out all spices that have not been used in the last year and (5 years !) from my cabinet to Mr. Trash Can. I also had a great desire to clear out the fridge and what is on top of it...but I have to save that for another day by the afternoon I did not have the brain or energy to touch the yucky grime on top. Perhaps another day.

Be grateful for whatever new ground you covered today but give yourself a break if you don't do as much as you hoped.

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse December 31

At 2:14pm (EDT) was a lunar eclipse. I say "was" because I am posting this about 3 hours after the fact. But the effects are still in play.

As you know a lunar eclipse is a Full Moon where the shadow of the Earth masks part or all (depending on your vantage point) of the moon. There is usually a POP that we feel somewhere in our life depending on where the eclipse takes place in our chart. Look at your own chart and see where 10 degree cancer lies. Do you feel down? Do you feel unloved? Do you feel a bit off? Yeah, that's all eclipse stuff.

Of course, the energy of this full moon will be felt for about 3 days.
A bit crabby, a bit melancholy, a bit 'what's the use', a bit down. But under the sadness or low energy is something more important. We are being asked to take more responsibility. If there are things in our life that aren't working, what disciplines can we activate that will help us get the life that we want? Responsibility and rebuilding our lives is very Capricorn. And remember, the Full Moon happens when the Sun is opposite The Moon. The Sun is at 10 Capricorn, reminding us that we can accomplish much if we just start doing the work. Bit by bit.

Additionally, This full moon has a beautiful conjunction between the Sun and Venus and Pluto and a wide aspect with Mercury. There are a lot of tools at our disposal---if we use them. If you want to lose weight you have got everything from Weight Watchers to friends who are dying to exercise with you. If you need to meet a mate, Match.com or one of the others is just a few clicks away. If you need to bring in more money, what skills or resources in your own life are you neglecting? There are tools there for you, use this full moon to find them.

one other note, in Mountain Astrologer, Stephanie Austin indicated that this Full Moon eclipse is similar to the one we had on December 30, 2001. Are you revisiting topics from then?

Mercury is retrograde....but you had to have already known!

On December 26 at 9:38am (EST)---Mercury turned Retrograde.
I'm sure you guys are already feeling it. I know I am. Confusion about dates and people's expectations, lost glasses, batteries broken, miscommunication...yeah, I'm already feeling it.

Back on New Moon I wrote the following:

Mercury Retrograde

Well, what the heck… in the middle of this Sag Lunar cycle where we are redefining goals and stretching for more and then adjusting ourselves, we get a big fat Mercury Retrograde. On December 26 Mercury will Retrograde 9:39am (21 Cap 47). This is a pragmatic retrograde. I think it is quite ironic that the Sag lunar cycle is about bringing in MORE and Expanding our world but Mercury in Capricorn is about “practical application” Construction and building something from the ground up . God knows we all understand how Mercury goes backward and we can’t find our keys, our computer freezes, emails are lost, things go screwy but when Mercury is in Cap we are going to have to slow down and really make sense of our life. Is the theory of our life way too big and misguided than the practicality? Yes, I want to be healthy but if I do not have a structured exercise program than how is it going to be accomplished? And if my computer freezes or my car breaks on a Mercury retrograde, I gotta ask, “should I have bought a new computer years ago but was unwilling to do it?” Or should I have taken my car to get a tune up in August but skipped it? Practicality serves our minds and our worlds greatly during this retrograde.

Also, the Sabian Symbol for 22 degrees of Capricorn is “ A General accepting defeat gracefully.” Obviously, when we learn from experience (Capricorn word) we can cut our losses and move on to more fulfilling environment.

And for those who like to follow the shadow period-----
9th December 2009 - 13:37:39 - Mercury shadow began (5 cp 33'16")26th December 2009 - 14:38:07 UT - Mercury stationed retrograde (21 cp 47'43")15th January - 16:51:49 UT - Mercury stations direct ( 5 cp 33'16")4th February - 07:03:55 UT - Mercury shadow ends (21 cp 47'44")

For more information on Shadow go HERE.

How was your Christmas?

As most of you may remember, on Christmas Eve we had our annual Sun conjunct Pluto event.
Last year was our first run of the two in the sign of Capricorn.

And then on Christmas we had a big old square between the Sun in Capricorn and Saturn in Libra. If any of you got out of the holidays without a fight with your husband or wife, without a huge brawl with your family and without a completely miserable experience then consider yourself one of the Lucky Ones! It was a shitty couple days.

And no surprise to any astrologer that during that two day period there was the flight between Amsterdam and Detroit with the cuckoo terrorist-lite jerk.

Now, if you look back on your Christmas and feel really yucky, do yourself a favor and plan next year's Christmas now. What would it look so that it is an improvement on this year? What would make it more meaningful? What changes do you need to make? Capricorn is a pragmatist--so in order to make the most of the this year, get practical. Get out your 2010 Calendar and write down exactly how you want Dec 25 2010 to look. Do it now. Don't hang on to sadness, bitterness about this year get PROACTIVE for next year.

Many Apologies.....

My last post was one week ago. Please forgive me, I had relatives in for the holidays and it was pedal to the metal entertaining.
I had meant to get here every day but ended up going to bed out of sheer exhaustion!
I will attempt to make up some lost time.