Dog on train

I have no astrology angle for this story. I just could not resist putting it up. Dogs in Russia have taught themselves how to ride the rails. Amazing. My guess? They are all Sages.

Saturn Square Pluto - Part 2

Round 2: Saturn VS Pluto

January 31 4:27 PM EST


Well, we all know (since I go on and on about it) that since November (11/15) we have had tension between Saturn and Pluto. We had the first round in November the second is coming up and the third is in August. The thing is these guys travel with tough armament. Sledgehammers, bombs, scalpels, TNT, wrecking balls ---do these sound like puppies and flowers? Nope. It is a tough aspect and round two is Sunday (1/31). Of course, with the outer planets it does not mean it all happens on that day, in truth we have been feeling it all month(cough, cough, Haiti, Supreme Court, cough, cough) but god knows this weekend with the big ass full Moon adds to the tension. Sigh.

How we relate (Libra) is pushed and pulled by our need to evolve (Pluto) and we must build new structures (Saturn) for the greater world (Capricorn). What does that mean? Have you seen sledgehammers and wrecking balls in your relationships? How do your relationships work? Are you the strong one? Are you the weak one? Are you the funny one? Are you the great follower? Are you the leader? Whatever you are doing may or may not be working for you.

There is no doubt that a lot of the tension will be centered on money. One of my favorite lyrics of all time reminds me of Pluto in Capricorn, “I’ve got my mind on my money and my money on my mind.” When money is crunched and life gets twisted --what does it do to your relationships? How are you surviving? Less is more, right? If not, then you may have trouble on your hands. And this is ALL relationships. Not just spouses. Anyone you relate with is in the mix. You may scratch your head and say, “is this working?” I don’t care if you are alone and no wife or husband but you suddenly realize that your relationship with your dry cleaners is not suiting you. Or your relationship with your boss or your co-worker. All relationships are being scrutinized and if Pluto does not see the value----well, like I said, that relationship might not be there by the end of summer. Or perhaps you will be the one who makes the big changes and the relationship is stronger for it. It is hard to tell and that is probably why we are getting a few rounds of this aspect so that we have some time to figure stuff out.

FWIW, I think it is interesting that the World Economic Summit which is basically a BigMoney Big Shot convention is taking place in Davos, Switzerland this weekend. There is talk that they are going to step up and try to help Greece from going bankrupt. Can they do it? And at what cost? I feel sledghammers are flying through the air. Anyone remember that Ridley Scott Commercial ala 2001?

Leo Full Moon

Full Moon
10 Degrees Leo 14

Friday January 30 - 1:18am

When the Moon is in Leo we are full of ourselves, we feel prideful, we feel our hearts swell, we are generous, we are magnanimous, we exaggerate (maybe lie), we brag, we try a little harder with someone because we care so big and we personalize everything. We just are simply three letters… B-I-G. Every 28 days we get a Moon in Leo. Great.

Now what do we do when that big ol’ dramatic Moon-- is Full? If we are smart we put on our flame proof suit and get ready for action. Okay now what do we do when the Full Leo Moon has got Mars the warrior on it? And the Sun is opposite with Venus in its hip pocket? I dunno but I can tell you Mr Steroid and Ms Diva are in the house.

Are we going to be evolved and stretch ourselves to go for our passion (Mars) and let our sincere (Leo) feelings (Moon) guide us while at the same time include community (Aquarius) and goals (sun) and love (Venus)?
Sounds great. Sign me up.
But at the same time when it comes to this full moon we could also feel stretched and tense (full ), argumentative (Mars) demanding, wanting, everything to change (Sun in Aquarius) and feeling unsure (Moon) of our resources (Venus).
I have a hard time getting my head around that this will be one of our garden variety Full Moon weekends. I gotta think there will be fireworks somewhere on Friday leaving a big mess for the weekend.

And it doesn’t help that the Saturn Squares Pluto on Sunday the 31st.
Thank God Saturn trines the Sun so won’t completely fall apart. Somewhere in the messy weekend we find a Spine and perhaps reign in the crazy.
Or maybe we hide in our chiropractor’s office.

ETA: Btw---the reason why this moon is So Damn bright...is due to its closest proximity to Earth. The closest this year. How perfectly Leo.

Venus Versus Mars

On Wednesday January 27 Venus and Mars will be in opposition at 12:29am EST.

What a nice, fat, bitchy day. Tensions will be taught between love and action. We will want to be cozy with our friends, cozy with our goals for the community, cozy with our groups...all Venus in Aquarius. While at the same time we want to be a leader, we want to fight, we want to shine, we want actions that put us out there in the world because "I 'effin' have have the right solution" accent on I--perfectly Mars in Leo. Do you get the feeling that these two energies are directly opppose each other? Yep.
Others Versus Me. Do I want to be a resource (venus) for others (Aquarius)? Or do I want to fight and put all my energy (mars) and take care of me and my world first (Leo)?

Like I said a real bitch of an aspect and on will be an influence all week.
Here's the good news, we won't have Venus oppose Mars again until next year. So, take this challenging week and work your way through it. Oh, if you and your spouse fight like the dickens this week....don't personalize it. Let it go. It is just Mars and Venus doing their thing. Rise above it.

Curiously, Obama's State of the Union address takes place on Wednesday. I'm sure there will be a lot of talk about resources (Venus) versus actions (mars). See how often he says the word "fight"?

Scott Brown --New Junior Senator from MA

Over at Astro Post where no one lets the grass grow under their feet! Scott Brown's chart has been put up (no time of birth).

Put up against Obama's chart you will see AstroPost's angle on Uranus. Feels accurate to me.

Books on Astrology

Having received numerous requests from many of you to offer up a list of "great books to learn astrology" I have been going through my shelves trying to cull something together. But as I go over many wonderful books I am just struck by the fact that the time we live in now is not condusive to many of my titles. Don't get me wrong, my books are wonderful but right now I don't see the point of giving you Allen Leo's astrology book which I got in the 1970's (I was a teen!) which is frankly too in depth for the average astro searching man and woman these days.
And there are plenty of books that are fantastic and well written by Tracy Marks, Alen Oken, Stephen Arroyo (love him), Liz Greene, Bernadette Brady, to name a very few. By the way, those titles only measure about one foot of my shelf. I've got plenty more feet of astrologers..

Anyway, I think it is best to respect every one's time crunched lives and come up with something that I think would serve you best. So, with that in mind I recommend The Parker's Astrology Book.

It is a beautifully written and laid out. A newby can easily 'get' astrology if they read this book and follow the chapters. You'll learn about the signs, the planets, the aspects, progressions and transits. Once you start to crack it, you'll want to draft your own chart which you can easily do on one of the many free sights (astrodiest my fav) and then you can read all about your aspects in the book, "Jupiter in the 3rd house. Jupiter in Aquarius". Once you read about your chart you will immediately want to read your friends and family charts. All easy peasy.

Having said that, once you get a handle on your chart there is one book that I implore you to run not walk to your nearest bookstore or again amazon and get, Astrology for the Soul by Jan Spiller. Learning about your nodes is VITAL and Jan's books is seminal on that topic.

Also, when you learn that you have, I dunno, Moon Square Pluto, you can google the different aspects and you'll find tons of descriptions of any aspect in your chart. There are many astrology forums with many gifted contributors.

God Speed and happy reading.

Too Big To Ignore : A List

As we wrap up this week, I don't think we can overstate that it by defining it as strange and unsettling.

As of this writing (4:30pm PST) --
The Stock Market had its worst week since March of 2009. Just today it dropped another 216. and the commodities like oil went down. Is anyone surprised given we had the 2nd square between Saturn/Pluto? No. I don't make any claims to be a financial astrologer, but I know some basics and god knows it never felt to me that this would be an UP week. Ii get tired of hearing the sounds of my own voice so I decided to go looking for another voice for you guys. Here is Wall Weather which covers this topic.

Ben Bernake the Chairman of the Fed is officially looking like he might be out. Some are blaming the election in MA, perhaps. But from my perspective the astrological chart of the Federal Reserve is on life support. Several times I posted about the issues going on and Pluto is certainly in the mix. For more on this you can read (Handsome) Ted Phillip's article or Ray Merriman

And late this afternoon the UK raised their Terror Alert from substantial to severe.
This is a pretty sanguine group and I have to ask...."what's going on?"

More will be revealed on all these topics but just a reminder, in year when we have this much cardinal energy we should expect action in all kinds of ways...some of it great some of it not so great.

btw--more people have been found alive in the Haiti rubble ten days after the quake. Miracles do happen.