Saturn--it is timing, baby!

Saturn and his Greek cousin God Cronus are the gods of Time, Timing and Time Management (Thus, the word Chronology.) Uranus is the planet of weird and strange and for the last year we have been in a ping pong war with Saturn and Uranus in opposition. During this time we certainly had some of the weirdest things come up that almost defy all logic. For example, Ted Kennedy the senator known for championing health care dies during this opposition. Naturally, his Senate seat opens up. At this same time, The Obama Administration puts all guns on Health Care. Kennedy's seat goes to a special election and the liberal 'shoe in' loses to a little known republican candidate Scott Brown. As we know, he wins, the Senate changes its numbers and the Health Care Bill is Morte. Or close to it.

That, my friends is weird.

We have had so many of these types of stories since the opposition began last year and we will continue to have odd, unexplainable even when you are explaining them events while this opposition builds. The next exact date is April 26 but the influence is like a fog bank. We're always feelingn it.

This week while Saturn squared Pluto I could not help but notice something so odd it reminded me of our weirdo time window.

Machu Pichu the NY,NY of ancient Incas is kind of over--at least for awhile. Over two thousand tourists who were crawling around the ruins were trapped by raging waters and had to be rescued by Peruvian army helicopters. The area is so destroyed by raging Earth that Machu Pichu will remain cloistered for perhaps a very long time. Curiously, this week on PBS Nova will be airing Ghosts of Machu Pichu

Be prepared to see more strange, weird things in the news and NOTE the timing.

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.

Venus Trine Saturn

Today, Friday January 22 at 1:07am (EST) Venus in Aquarius trines Saturn in Libra.

What a perfect aspect for tonight's telethon for Haiti. Venus rules things that we value which is why it rules Money and Love. Saturn is concrete results and structure. Aquarius rules television, groups and social causes and Libra rules partnerships and contracts. All of this should make for a successful night to generate tons of money for the global telethon to help Haiti.

Turn on your TV, it will be everywhere. Thank god.

In terms of your personal life? Look for structure from your loved ones. Offer something of value to those who support you. It is all good in the hood.

Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm --"Rut Ro"

I actually don't know what to make of this......but in the last week there has been over 1000 earthquakes in Yellowstone.

More than 1,000 small to moderate earthquakes have been recorded in Yellowstone National Park since Sunday, according to the National Park Service.

That’s more than half the total annual average in the park — 1,600 a year. Last year, a swarm of more than 800 quakes near Yellowstone Lake was recorded in late December and early January. All told, more than 1,650 earthquakes were recorded in the park in 2009.

I highlighted the interesting part--last YEAR, 1,650 quakes---and in ONE week, 1,000---

Let us hope THIS has nothing to do with a Supervolcano which would then explain the Cardinal Climax, wouldn't it?

Saturn Square Pluto ---A Supreme Problem

As I mentioned here and here and here we are experiencing a hideous square between Saturn in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn. The tension is great but certainly on days where the aspect is exact the pain is a bit concentrated (to say the least) . The first hit took place on November 15 and the second is January 31.

And, OMG it showed up in the most perfectly (hideous) way. Contracts and legal maneuvers are in landscape of Libra and god knows business and money is Capricorn. I was only partly joking when I wrote on Capricorn new moon that one of my favorite lyrics, "I've got my mind on money and my money on my mind" would be the calling call of the month and never was it more true than the Supreme Court's mindbogglingly ruling yesterday. If you have not heard the supreme court ruling overturned the limit on campaign donations by businesses. Now the roads are clear for a politician who plays ball with let's say Big Pharms to have Eli Lilly or Merck donate endless shovels of cold hard cash to their campaign. And I can't say it any better than this:

"We are moving to an age where we won't have the senator from Arkansas or the congressman from North Carolina, but the senator from Wal-Mart and the congressman from Bank of America," said Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Saturn Square Pluto is in the house. We will continue to feel the pressure of these two planets although it will dissipate a bit in the spring but then build up for big ass peak in August and then come back again in the Spring and Summer of 2011. I would say, we should expect more shit to hit the fan but I dunno, maybe people will see through this crap.


And fwiw, also yesterday there was a big drop in the Dow. Of which I say, "no shit, sherlock."

ETA: I was poking around on NodeOrama (see link on the right) and MsGeminiRising posted a link to her blog which had a great note Jupiter in Pisces and this Judicial Move. She is completely correct on it. Give it a read.

ETA2: I had inadvertantly written 1/21 for the exact square. Total typo...it is 1/31

Just a weird thought

Sometimes I just have to share weird stuff and in this case the weird stuff is not a fish that walks (although I like that thought) it is something that has been rambling around in my brain in the last few days. Now right off the bat I need to share that Uranus in Pisces is ending its very long stay in my 12th house. Uranus is the oddest planet in the zodiac, where ever it goes it brings the strange, unusual and goofy. The 12th house is the mysterious, unworldly, SciFi house and it can be the crazy house. Although, actually there is crazy in every house but at the very least the 12th house is a very active imagination house.
Having said all of that---let me tell you some stuff I can't shake.

As we all know Haiti is THE news story and I have had a crash course in the history of the island like the rest of you. One thing I knew before the earthquake was that Christopher Columbus landed on Haiti when he "discovered" America and within two hundred years it was a vital colony to Europe and a slave state. What I have learned since the Earthquake (as the various news agencies filed their stories) is that Haiti had a successful slave result around the time of the French Revolution and became a free black republic. ( The only one is our hemisphere). And now here we are with the first African American president who has no ancestral history of slavery in a position to help Haiti who is perhaps in its most dire strait since slavery. I feel like there is this huge cosmic connection which I can't prove but it keeps rattling around in my brain as I try to connect some dots. Then fate kind of messed with Uranus in my 12th house one more time when one of the other news stories to come out yesterday was a gun man in Virginia was arrested in Appomattox, Virgina where of course The Civil War ended. I don't believe I have ever seen Appomattox in a major news story in my lifetime. Seriously, it is only a name I know from history books or that perfunctory scene where Robert Lee and Sherman signed something and handed a pistol or did something that some guy at MGM directed them to do.
Anyway, all I keep thinking is that there is some huge cosmic, karmic thing going on. I don't know what it is but I can't shake it.
I may come back with an astro angle but for right now it could just be my own personal astro in the mix as Uranus sends electricity to some goofy part of my brain as it wraps up it's final months in my 12 house.

And if you don't mind, I must now walk my fish.

Aquarius

The Sun moves into Aquarius January 19 11:28pm.





For those of you born under Aquarius you should be getting a treat this year. Something new and exciting (which always rings your bell) is coming your way. This Spring, your Ruling Planet Uranus is moving out of Pisces where it has been since 2003 and into something QUITE different--Aries. Holy Moly, get out of the way, the teacher is giving you a permission slip to go out into the hall and run like hell!!!! Uranus makes the move in late May and spends a lot of summer in Aries where you will be itching to do something different, to make moves in your life that give you more freedom and or take care of you. In late August Uranus will retrograde back in Pisces and you'll feel a bit calmer, perhaps rethinking some of your actions since May. Not necessarily regret but just 'rethinking it'. But then in 2011 Uranus will go right back in Aries and everything you did back in May-July this year will make sense. Uranus will remain in Aries until 2019. So, you have a lot of time to work out that independent energy Aries sends your way.

As always, we still have Neptune in Aquarius and those born in late Aquarius ( Feb 13-Feb 17) are feeling woozy, dreamy and fuzzy a lot of the year. No one likes to talk about how stubborn you guys are but you Aquarius can be pit bulls. Sure your independence and stick-to- itness has gotten you far in the world but it has also effed things up for you. And in the quiet of the night you think about that part of your 'dogma'. Now those of you born in this window will have Neptune dissolving some of those opinions. It does not mean you lose your center but frankly it is dissolving the part of you that is so stuck you are rusty. This is why you will be dreamy and unsure of stuff. That is a great place to start as you figure out what is next. If you are not sure how to handle this it starts with, "I know I always did, said, ate, went, played, visited, etc _______ (fill in the blank) but I dunno, I'm not so sure I want it any more."

The beginning of the year will bring a lot of energy as Mars is in your opposite of your sign stirring up some angst and drama. You could be very busy and you could be short fused but by June it will dissipate.

Jupiter in Pisces

Many apologies for not getting this up this weekend. It was MLK three day holiday here in the states and I took the opportunity to clean some crazy closets in my house and I could not make it to my computer without a hand grenade. You know how it is when you pull everything out of closets! What a mess.

Anyway, on Sunday Jupiter moved into Pisces. For those of you who missed my New Moon article I will re post here what I wrote about Jupiter's move into Pisces. I will note one thing that there were ten people rescued yesterday out of Haiti which lines up to my suggestion that we should expect some miracles with Jupiter. Fwiw--I posted the article the day before the Earthquake.


WASHINGTON — Search and rescue teams from the United States on Sunday pulled a record 10 people alive from the rubble of quake-struck Port-au-Prince, according to the US Agency for International Development.
"According to rescue officials, this is the largest number of rescues in a single day in decades of earthquake search and rescue efforts," USAID said on Monday.




“I hear church bells” Jupiter in Pisces

While all this Capricorn energy is going on---Jupiter will make its annual move from one sign into another. In this case after a year in Aquarius, Jupiter is moving into Pisces on January 17 which is still New Moon. Like Mercury turning direct on New, this is a very auspicious move. I would venture that we are all going to be keen on the spiritual or religious component of our life this lunar phase. Perhaps a lot of us will note that there is a big hole where there should be spirit.

The last time Jupiter was in Pisces was 1998-1999 and we can all look back to those diaries for a little insight. What we do know is that Jupiter is grand and big and it is expanding humanitarian and spiritual interests in the sign Pisces. Jupiter is also the judge so if we see some religion zealots going nuts we’ll be inclined to call them on it. Meditation and mysticism will draw large numbers but again, everything had better be on the up and up. On Feb 6 (Balsamic) Jupiter will make a nice aspect with Pluto. Something foreign like a person or idea, or concept could come into our world and bring something positive and practical. Perhaps it is directly related to the goals we set on New Moon. Or maybe we just get a much needed boost of confidence. We should not be surprised if we see something amazing if not a pure MIRACLE take place in and around that week in the news.

Personally, where you have Pisces in your chart will determine what energy Jupiter brings into your life. Pisces on the 3rd house? Expect some big stuff with siblings or neighbors or your communication in general. Pisces on the 5th house, love affairs and play, entertainment will be grand and fun. But of course not everything is at it seems when it comes to Pisces. There can be disillusionment and at the very least a highly evolved imagination. So, watch the bigness and make sure self deception is not in the mix. You can find you’re your own chart by going here http://www.astro.com/cgi/genchart.cgi

Mars Retrograde Leo

Back in December on the Sagittarius New Moon article I mentioned that Mars would be turning retrograde on December 20. I wrote:

On December 20, Mars will turn retrograde. Normally, Mars moves pretty fast in a sign but this is one of those times when it is in a sign for about a year forcing us to get the message of the sign. Leo teaches us how to personalize things. How to own it and make it our’s. Mars in Leo is a lot of actions based on personal desires. Yep, Leo is also about EGO and I’m sure there will be some loud noisy braggarts who are going to get their asses kicked while Mars goes backward (until March 2010). But at the same time if there are some of you who are shy and don’t share your valuable traits and talents and hide in shadows---well, knock it off. Did it occur to you, that shyness is hurting others? Still fighting me on it? Then don’t blame me when your hiding comes back and bites you in the ass too.

I must say as one who knows a bit about late comedy (we'll leave it at that) there is enough ego battling going on right now to make Shakespeare rewrite King Lear into KingLateNight. Jay's experiment lays a goose egg, Conan fights back, Dave not missing an opportunity to zest Jay. Jimmy Kimmel getting in there with his two cents and pretty much every comedian who has or has not been in front of a camera in the last five years is getting out in front to be heard.
This is all ego.
To me it is all silly.
I remember years ago when I learned Civil War History, the point that was made about the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimak was not which boat succeeded (by the way historians consider it a draw) but the fact that both boats were made out of metal. Two dinky boats (by today's standards) duking it out in Chesapeake bay were not the big deal. The big deal was that at that time England ruled the waves with THE most powerful navy. Except for the fact that all their boats were made out of wood. The United States and the Confederacy had in one small battle made the British Navy obsolete.

Every year there are fewer and fewer homes watching television. The internet pretty much has wiped the audiences off the map and the ones that are still there will continue to dwindle.
So, this battle between late night hosts is really silly. Their format is on the road to obsoletion.

It is also worth noting that the week that this battle was suppose to be at its apex Haiti imploded. The Universe could not give it the attention. How perfectly Mars Retrograde in Leo! Also in the mix Sarah Palin launched her new television career on Fox and with barely a comment from anyone--- as once again, all eyes were on Haiti.

I predict more ego bruising in the next few months but watch to see if the Universe gives it much oxygen.

Surf the Wave

If you have not made your HAITI Donation yet... please do it this weekend. It is New Moon and when you plant seeds on New Moons they grow. The energy of your donation during this cycle will activate others. It is like riding a wave. When you plant or activate on the New you get the whole force of the wave behind your efforts.

So,

Plant that seed now. You know how to find the various organizations who are helping. As I said earlier my personal favorite is OPERATION USA ...they have 4 stars in charity works. They run a very lean operation, I volunteered in their offices and they were dumpy. Which is great. No glamour..... 93 percent goes to HELP, not pay fancy buildings. That's top notch.

Mercury is Direct

Thank goodness... Mercury is direct. Hurray. 1/15 11:52am EST

Oh, lordy that was a long (kind of hideous) three weeks. Glad it is done.

Mercury direct in Capricorn is all about thinking, doing and being practical. Having a goal and making it happen. Not being airy fairy, "some day, maybe that _____ (fill in the blank) will happen"... nope---this is all about getting it done. And doing what it takes. Our minds want it so.

Because this Mercury direct is happening on the New Moon do not be surprised if you find this whole 28 day cycle working on things that you have talked about for months but now you are doing it.

Perfect example happened to me today. I ended up spending 6 hours today focused on a sink for a closet off an school auditorium. That is driving around town, meeting with a plumber calling another plumber, blah, blah, next thing you know the day is over and all I accomplished was finding, purchasing, and locking delivery of a sink. But here is the deal---that sink has been on the "Some day TO DO" list for a year. Today it was done. Come hell or high water I was going to see it to the end. And get this... THAT was not even a project on my docket. It was on other people's TODO list but somehow it ended up near my friend and me and bam--we had to do it. That is the power of this Mercury Direct on a New Moon.

God speed as you all accomplish much this cycle.

Pluto in CAP... Greed is ..the other G word: "Gross"

So, let's talk about Pluto in Cap for a minute. As you know we are a few hours away from the NEW MOON in Cap, which I for one am Desperate to begin. It is a solar eclipse and there is a lot of good in it that we can certainly use.

I am putting my antenna out there at least for the next few years to really watch what comes up around the Cap New Moon as it will speak volumes especially as we begin to deal the Cardinal Cross centered around Pluto in Capricorn. I find it particularly interesting that today it was reported that credit card companies were charging 3 percent fee for transactions costs for every donated dollar to the Haiti Relief. As you can imagine, the millions of dollars coming in via credit card donations would give Amex/Visa/Mastercard a big profit. This is blood money if you ask me. Imagine telling RedCross, I'll let your donation of $1000 from NicePerson go to you but you have to give me $30. Ping, ping, ping, in the time you took to read this think how much money they made.

Well, after a public flogging on various news sources, today the companies have retracted that policy and all donations will go to the charity donation. Thank 'effin gawd.

Like I said, I believe it will be a better new moon.

Of Relief Work

I am sure I am like the rest of you in that I carve out a little TV time/Internet to find out the latest in Haiti and I am promptly sadden. This afternoon I was home answering emails and other stuff and I thought, "Let's see the latest on Haiti." There on CNN was a reporter in front of a collapsed building where locals and some newly arrived relief workers were attempting to extract a young girl. Alive and around 10, the girl was described as having the upper part of her body free but her right leg stuck under the rubble. They needed big equipment to move it out and every time they moved some of it she screamed out in pain. The reporter said that he had no idea if they would be able to get any equipment because there is very little in the country.

My Moon in Cancer could only take this for about five minutes. It was too painful to watch and luckily I received a phone call from a friend.

Clearly Relief Work during a Balsamic Moon with a Mercury retrograde is terrible. It feels like we can't get in front of it. There is no equipment and to get equipment means being shipped by the US. Although Florida is not that far away it is still too far for immediate help. Slowly stuff is coming which is typical but it is not typical like what happened today when American Airlines had to cancel flights that it started up because there is no more jet fuel in Haiti. (or at least they can't get to it). Argh.

Here's what I can say...I am hoping that tomorrow's New Moon which is actually about 7 hours from now will shift the energy a bit. Plus a few hours later Mercury will go direct and that should open up more resources.

It is my hope that there will be a few stories of hope and faith over the weekend with this New Moon. I do not kid myself that these stories will do anything to assuage the pain of the awful stories but at this point a little good news will be better than what we have been witnessing so far.

Prayers out.

Earthquakes

I started getting emails from friends last month that basically went something like this, "What is going on with all the earthquakes--is there an astrological reason?"

So, clearly it was on everyone's mind when Haiti happened yesterday.

The quakes began to ramp up in the fall of 2009 with the Samoa one (8.1) in September, Banda Sea (6.9) October Fiji 7.3 (november) Baja California (5.9) and Northern California (6.4) January.

For me, my antenna went up when Saturn moved into Libra and began it's first (of 3 squares) with Pluto on November 15. Those are two tight warriors and although Libra is an air sign, Pluto in Capricorn is an earth sign and it does crack and destroy. You can find a lot written about earthquakes and planets. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto usually seem to be in the mix. If not all three perhaps one of the three and then there can be a Moon aspect. About a year or so ago I posted about Supermoons and their sometimes tie into earthquakes. Fwiw, Friday is a solar eclipse.


Here is an interesting article about various earthquakes and astrology.

I don't know if we ever can predict them. I suppose at the very least we can say there might be an astrological weathercast for them but then is that helpful? I dunno.

Anyway, as I write here from the lip of the San Andreas, I guess it can't hurt to get some water just in case. In the meantime, I will make a donation to OperationUSA which I have posted here before (on one of the other quake disasters) as being an excellent resource of AID.

But back to Pluto in Capricorn---is there really any reason for a country surrounded by so much wealth to have such poorly built buildings? Really? This begs the question...why did that happen?

No answer now. But then Pluto will be in Cap for many years and we'll have all that time to figure this out. And for what it is worth, the last time Pluto was in Cap was over two hundred years ago, after it did what it did...Pluto went into Aquarius and we got the French Revolution.
What will it do this time?

Capricorn New Moon 2010

January 15 2:11am EST

This Capricorn New Moon has a lot of positivity in it. Of course, Cap is not always comfortable in a positive enviroment. It likes doing hard work. But the interesting thing to me is that we are going to get this nice New Moon so we can mind out the magic in Capricorn cycle. And hopefully when the Sh*t hits the fan later this year and all the cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn) start to gong, gong, gong..we'll be ready for the fall out. Afterall, we might as well learn from a master.

As always I have posted my whole article on Margaret Wendt's website but here is a snippet:

This Capricorn Lunar phase has Sun/Moon/Venus and North Node in conjunction which means they are all on top of each other talking non-stop about their future and how to accomplish it. They know that the potential for success with Capricorn is great. Capricorn is a goat and it can climb any mountain. And where others complain that the air is thin and there isn’t much vegetation, Capricorn just smiles and nods, “Yep, just the way I like it.” The bottom line is that Capricorn can be wildly ambitious but the irony is that it does not need that much to be happy, that is, besides success.

People with strong Capricorn in their chart (or 10th house) are driven to make their mark in the world. Whether they are the big shots in their town or in their family or in the greater public world --they are driven. Many Capricorns or those with strong Cap in their charts go into the public sector from Chamber of Commerce to Mayor to City Councilmember to congressman to senator to President. Capricorn is not satisfied to be a worker bee, love their family and then die. That’s not good enough for Capricorn. No. They LOVE to build their own company or build their own destiny. Or they build something for the community. They have vision and out of nothing they will make a big something. They love hard work and dedication and they take responsibilities very seriously. However, if you noticed I said that they can be the most ambitious sign of the zodiac. I said can because there is more to Capricorn. They can also be extremely insecure and inhibited and perhaps the most pessimistic sign. When their inner switch is shut off, they only see the glass half empty. Negative and lacking self confidence however they are not always up-front about their insecurity. They can cover it with smugness and apparent lack of interest in something when in truth they covet it greatly but are afraid they won’t succeed so they play like they don’t care. Ah, the complication of Cappy.

And just to send home the message--- out of nothing Richard Nixon, a perfect Capricorn built a political career. Always ambitious he didn’t let a lot stop him and had it not been for Kennedy’s great tan he may have been President the first time he ran. However, when he did get the job his insecurity, pessimism and paranoia got the better of him and in the end he flew off into the sunset with only his misguided choices rumbling around in his head. Now, the world remembers him for two issues. Opening up relations with China (Gee, how is that going now?) and Watergate. The highs and the lows..so perfectly Capricorn.
For the next twenty eight days don’t be surprised if you do all of the above. Well, I don’t think you are going to bug a hotel room but you may feel exactly in tune with the universe as you build your future with some concrete solution and ideas. You will come up with a serious game plan as to what is next. Of course at the same time you may feel negative and not sure you can do it. The Sun gives us confidence, Moon gives us the

Go to link for more.

Saturn Turns Retrograde

On Wednesday January 13 10:56 am EST

Saturn Turns Retrograde at 5 degrees Libra. It will go backwards until May 30 at 28 degrees of Virgo. So for those of us who have got planets in Late Virgo (or Mutable signs) or early Libra (and cardinal signs) we will be feeling Saturn up our grill one more time. Remember, Saturn is the DAD planet, or the BOSS planet. What is not working here will be found out during this retrograde.

As always it is interesting to see where these outer planet retrogrades take place within the lunar cycle and in this case it is on the Balsamic part of the Sag Lunar cycle. Of course Saturn is about structure and organizing things that are important to us. Libra is relationships. This is the first retrograde by Saturn since it moved into Libra last Fall. Since it moved into Libra it is putting all our relationships on notice. We are learning a lot about our relationships and what we think is important. How we relate and how others relate to us. What we need from relationships. All of that is getting overhauled. This does not mean that we are just walking away and ditching it all. Instead we will be moving things around and shifting things. Libra is all about negotiations but Saturn is all about defining what is NOT negotiable. We have a lot of work in front of us and it will become more apparent during Saturn’s retrograde through the end of May. And again, please not that this retrograde is coming up during our Sag cycle where we come up with goals. It is specifically during the balsamic phase which means when we release goals that no longer work. Perhaps some goals we set on Sag new Moon will be released now for the benefit of our partners and relationships.

Sun Conjunct Venus

Monday January 11 4:06pm

Sun Conjunct Venus

Several times a year The Sun and The Venus will get in bed together, literally and figuratively. Usually this is a day that is a bit softer, cozier and warmer. Feelings move a bit easier amongst us earthlings. Not just romantically but just our humanitarianism is grooving with everyone. However, when the Duo get together in Capricorn (now) everything does have a tinge of practicality. “Oh, wow a new oven mitt! Just want I wanted.” What’s on your ToDo list? You can carve through a lot of it today. Especially if you need someone in authority to sign off on something. Cap is all about authority so reach out and get some of that good Mojo and work the boss.
A very nice way to start the week and by the time we get to the end of the week we’ll have a nice practical new moon in Cap.

Start your year Merri---- Ray Merriman

I was just poking around on Lynn Hayes site where I mentioned in a thread an article by Ray Merriman that I really enjoyed.
This got me thinking that if there are some of you who do not regularly check in with Ray then you are missing some valuable info. Make 2010 your year to check his cycles report. FIND HERE

Here's a snippet from this week:


Longer-Term Thoughts
What kind of year will 2010 be? My initial thoughts are that 2010 will be “The Year of Extremism.”
We are going through something astrologically that we have not been through in our lifetime. The closest we have come to what we will experience in 2010 is perhaps 1965-66 and 1930-31. In 1965-66, we made it through the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in opposition to Saturn. It was a time of fervent revolutionary thought that had the potential to overthrow existing governmental structures. In 1930-31, we were in the middle of the previous Cardinal Climax involving Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto in a cardinal T-square, similar to what is transpiring this year (late 2009 through early 2011). That was a period when the world financial system had a meltdown. It ushered in the Great Depression, and led to a revolutionary new direction in many world governments, including the United States.
But 2010 has something extra going on. Not only are Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto in hard aspects again to one another, but Jupiter and Uranus will be moving back and forth between Pisces and Aries in this hard aspect formation Pisces and Aries are the end and beginning of the zodiac, and this dance begins in May 2010 and last through early 2011.

Go to link for more.

Have you considered learning about Chiron in 2010?

Chiron is such a pain in the centaur-ass.
It has only been tracked by astrologers for the last 25 years or so. So, it is very much a work in progress. Wherever it goes it hoovers up our past pains and spits them out for us to process. It is never easy but what I have found out is that it can't be second guessed. Yeah, you can get the broad strokes on it but the painful minutia is between you and your maker. Sigh. BTDT.

Anyway Karyl Jackson has a nice write up.

Chiron portrays a forced savings account from our
efforts. On our road of life, each of us are given pot holes from one
challenging situation or another. The tendency is to blame others for these pot
holes, or to blame situations for these deep challenges and scars in our
life.
The Truth about Chiron is that it points to the type of qualities and
the area of our life that is designated to give us the opportunity to understand
selfless giving and to grow through our chosen responses to these potholes.
Within these challenges, we are given the deep hole of experiencing unfair
situations that we must accept, deal with, understand and ultimately bless. This
is a very tall order, however, our life, our path is sprinkled with
them.
Chiron takes 50 years to make one complete orbit, so that we have to
provide 50 years of effort that may not be rewarded until Chiron connects with
where it started out in our charts. Chiron is the ultimate of giving us
challenges to see how we will respond to them. They usually take the form of
unfair situations, being the target of ill-motives, blame, displaced power, etc.
It is easy and the most popular response to be angry, to blame the situations or
the people involved, something outside of ourselves for creating these pot
holes. That may be true, however, the most important part is not the fact that
others or outside circumstances created the pot holes unfairly. The important
part is the quality with which to fill up these pot holes.
There are five
qualities, each of which has its own level of (spiritual) awareness with which
to fill up the pot holes of challenges;
First, there is tolerance. We can
tolerate the situation with patience and those that have created this pot hole
with patienceclick on the link to read the whole thing.

A little something to lift you up for 2010

I have been poking around on different sights and one of my cyberfriends (MMM) put up this link to a Youtube video about 2010.


And I don't know about you but I have been buzzing around lately thinking about Numbers...specifically Numerology. I don't know much about it but I felt a strong vibe that once we clicked over to 2010 something changed in me. It felt like the numerology bell rang.
Anyway, I went looking and found this piece on Numerology.....it might interest you.

4th 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.