
#imagefromPixabay
#imagefromPixabay
Hope the Full Moon in Libra yesterday helped initiate a level of balance for you ~ I wrote an article in the Career Astrologer’s Spring Equinox edition titled ‘Tapping into the Libra Polarity’ during Chiron’s transit through Aries, which begins April 17th and continues for eight years. During this time, making efforts to establish balance and harmony will be incredibly important. I think it will be helpful to reflect on the upcoming transit during this Full Moon on how we can invite more cooperation, fairness and gentleness into our lives
Find the article on page 4 at: https://www.opaastrology.org/March2018caOPA.pdf
Beginning now until end of April, an interplay between fire and earth elements tests us on many levels. Mercury begins its retrograde in Aries, ruled by Mars, on the 23rd until Apr 16 and Uranus covers the last couple of degrees of Aries before it enters Taurus in May. We also have the Sun in Aries, the north node continuing in Leo (fire), Jupiter continuing in Scorpio (traditional ruler Mars) and Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn (earth). Aries, an aggressive, instinct-driven energy, is closely connected to the physical body. Our thinking (Mercury) is aligning with Aries energy and the retrograde transit will encourage us to deeply reflect on where we are out of alignment with our instinctual natures. Observing where one’s intuition and gut instincts are repressed during the retrograde will indicate where peace and harmony need to be integrated.
Take advantage of this retrograde period to move in a healing direction particularly as a prevention measure because April becomes increasingly intense (and possibly ugly) with Mars drilling in Capricorn now until May 17th. Aries and Capricorn are energies that don’t easily merge or work well together and without consistent intentional effort towards positive productivity, they get scattered and frustrated. Mars’ hot-tempered nature doesn’t exactly provide warning as to what it wants but its’ severing energy wants to in fact break apart the existing structures (Capricorn) and systems in our lives. Mars throws tantrums because it wants to be human again and anything that blocks the expression of that humanness must be faced.
Energy expresses itself positively or negatively. Negative manifestations of Mars include violence, rage or illness such as headaches. Capricorn rules bones so aggravations of arthritis, bone diseases and inflammation are likely especially if you are already prone. April 1-3 brings a culmination point with a Mars and Saturn conjunction and Venus’ transit through Taurus in April emphasizes survival but brings a more supportive influence.
Mars whirls in another layer of energy April 17th, with a New Moon in Aries and Chiron moving into Aries for the next eight years. If you haven’t had enough of Mars yet, stay tuned.
February’s solar eclipse again highlights the birth of a ‘Collective Vision’ and brings an opportunity to create an intention around manifesting this because it’s a new moon (Solar eclipses are new moons). It occurs in conjunction with the Sun and Mercury to almost the same degree helping us align our thinking and well-being around shared ideals. This moment is literally screaming ‘It’s the Age of Aquarius!’ and it really is time to focus on the values and ideas that work towards creating harmony within a group or society.
What I love about this eclipse is that it flows into a beautiful Piscean current towards the end of the month (Neptune/Mercury and Neptune/Venus conjunctions in Pisces) reminding us to always integrate compassion, healing and a sense of service within the work done in the collective. Neptune/Pisces has an exquisite imagination and we might begin to imagine some wonderful and even surreal possibilities as to how relationships and ways of relating to each other can evolve. If you need a dose of groundedness or practicality, you’ll get it on the Full Moon in Virgo on March 1, but don’t be afraid to dream big and have faith in the possibilities.
The vision we form now becomes the ground we walk on in the near future and we should feel free to incorporate our intellectual sides. Another phase of intensity is brewing underground and we’ll be seeing the effects of that in the spring so forming new definitions of what independence, friendship and compromise look like now will ensure that we’re prepared for what’s coming ahead.
This eclipse again highlights the Leo/Aquarian axis and feels like the height of this energy given the series of Leo/Aquarian Full Moon and Solar eclipses on the following dates:
25 Aquarius – Aug 2016
22 Leo – Feb 2017
15 Aquarius – Aug 2017
Solar eclipse 28 Leo – Aug 2017
11 Leo – Jan 2018
Solar eclipse 27 Aquarius – Feb 2018
4 Aquarius – July 2018
Solar eclipse 18 Leo – Aug 2018
0 Leo – Jan 2019
As you can see, a certain cycle began in Aug 2016, culminates now and goes underground by the end of this year. Creative efforts that began with a lot of Heart in the past are materializing especially with Saturn in Capricorn now, whose time has come to give out rewards (and punishments) in form. The creative (Leo) work doesn’t end, however, and expressing our creativities with healthy ego while embodying a spirit of inclusion and innovation (Aquarius) is crucial. Eclipses bring changes so we are at a point of rebirth or deep shift relative to what we are creating and how things will look no matter where we find ourselves in the journey. Committing to intelligently working with a collective mindset at this juncture will help us profoundly in moments when we feel like choosing between war and peace and we’ll feel this more during the Solar Eclipse at 27 Aquarius on Feb 15.
The Sun, Venus and Mercury are also currently sitting on the South node at 14 Aquarius, heightening our thinking, needs and well-being around cooperation and unity, the more positive embodiment of this energy versus becoming stubborn and inflexible. They are positioned within the eclipse’s spotlight so there is a beautiful potential for the honest and authentic expression of our identities and individualities in a spirit of play, generosity and unity. Mars’ Sagittarian influence until mid-March can encourage this expression with a sense of adventure where we discover new philosophies and realities and remember to be lighthearted.
Saturn’s transition from fiery, excitable Sagittarius into stolid, earthy Capricorn took place at the tail end of 2017 and slowed down the motion so to speak. The emphasis shifted from Sag’s nomadic, philosophical, truth and meaning seeking thinking into Capricorn’s settled, foundation-making mentality. For the next two and a half to three years, we will be reevaluating our existing foundations on all levels including the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. As we do this, faults in our foundations will undoubtedly appear especially with Jupiter’s Scorpionic emphasis and the key will be to make appropriate changes without fear.
In astrology, the signs and planets have dual expressions of their energies, manifesting either positively and proactively or negatively and dysfunctionally. Saturn in Capricorn’s higher expression will be to (re)build with values of honesty, commitment and forgiveness instead of selfishness and condescension. There is also little room now to resort to the type of Sagittarian dogmatism and stubbornness that surfaced intensely over the last couple of years. It will be more productive to bring higher ideals and deeper philosophies uncovered during the recent Sagittarian journey into the process of changing how we build foundations. This process has already been initiated by Jupiter’s transit in Scorpio and will be re-emphasized when Jupiter moves into Sagittarius in November of 2018.
According to evolutionary astrology, Jupiter and Saturn have been in a ‘crisis in consciousness’ phase in relationship to each other, where beliefs, judgments and the structures related to them were shaken up resulting in confrontations and climaxes of varying intensities. They are just now entering the spiritual ideation phase but will dip back into ‘crisis in consciousness’ this spring and summer. Look forward to some more uprooting. Various themes will emerge under Capricorn’s emphasis such as confronting our conditionings, asserting our personal authorities, setting limits and boundaries, all to be accomplished either proactively or traumatically. We will find these themes in the collective consciousness on a world level no matter where or when we find ourselves. Overall, the breakdown of structures for regeneration purposes has begun and the potential for transformation is massive.
You can find another article I wrote in the Holiday Issue of Bodhi Tree Magazine on page 4 at: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/59631242/holiday-2017
Jupiter has now entered the sign of Scorpio for about 13 months, after having been in Libra since Sep 10, 2016. Scorpio is a sign of regeneration and growth, processes that come with varying degrees of death and rebirth, while Jupiter brings expansion and philosophical meaning to our experiences. The house(s) Scorpio covers in your natal chart will indicate which areas in life you will experience this growth.
Opportunities for positive change may become readily available or they may come through crises and drama. Jupiter in Scorpio in essence brings with it a deeper integration of the psyche and a holistic understanding of the self.
Jupiter’s effect on Mars’ transit through Libra from Oct 22 until Dec 10 will be a deepening desire to understand one’s interpersonal and worldly relationships and how they must harmonize and balance. I feel that Jupiter is also beginning to unearth an understanding of the masculine and feminine as both Venus and Mars transit Libra and Scorpio. Saturn’s final square to Chiron in Pisces (Oct 27 – Nov 5) may bring up some remaining hurts and wounds, particularly around the masculine/feminine, as well as a spiritual opportunity to begin healing. A Venus/Uranus opposition on Nov 3 will bring a moment of equilibrium and an opportune moment of integration. It could also trigger internal and external conflict in order for a new equilibrium to occur.