The Year Above / Astrology of 2019: Heroes in a Dark Time

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

— J. R. R. Tolkein, The Fellowship of the Ring

Outgunned, outnumbered, and running out of time, our heroes are up against the possibility that all their efforts may not be enough. It might be too much. The bad guys might win.

But something shifts. Something changes. Deep within their hearts, a spark turns into a roaring flame, and in the face of impossible odds, inspiration and hope drive them forward in the fight to beat back the darkness.

Inspiration and hope are funny things. They emerge ex nihilo in the strangest of places, often without rhyme or reason. They’re not known for being based in reason. Rational, realistic views on life tend to preclude this kind of thinking much of the time.

But inspiration and hope can move mountains, defy the odds, make the impossible possible — in the right time, at just the right moment.

Jupiter spends all but the last month of 2019 in Sagittarius. In the archer’s sign he does what he does best: inspires hope and faith in that which cannot be readily seen — divinity, justice, the spirit, the soul, gods, angels, a better future, a brighter tomorrow, a light at the end of the tunnel that will emerge if you just make it a little further through. He is lord of philosophy and expansion, particularly expansion of one’s mind, but also expansion of one’s world and life and viewpoint.

Jupiter also spends much of 2019 in a square with Neptune. Neptune is idealism taken to an extreme—she can influence us to fantasy, escapism, and delusion. In aspect with Jupiter, she can bring that unreasonable, illogical hope that things will get better a newfound freedom from the reality around it. In aspect with Neptune, Jupiter finds it easier to believe in hope for hope’s sake, to fight for what he believes in even when the odds are utterly stacked against him, to go for the grand prize even if it’s the furthest thing from reasonable.

We need that energy in 2019. We need people who are empowered to fight for the impossible dream that things can be better, that life doesn’t have to be this dark, that the good guys can win in the end after all. Because it is only when we fight against those impossible odds that all of us, together, save the future.

2019’s other major characteristic is the Saturn-Pluto conjunction which perfects in January of 2020, but has been in effect for all of 2018 and will continue to be felt until the end of 2021. I get these dates from Richard Tarnas’s excellent 2006 book Cosmos & Psyche, which speaks to a number of historical cycles connected with outer planet transits. (In researching the Jupiter-Neptune cycle, I found this paper of his which can give you a taste of what he writes in that book, which you should absolutely read if you haven’t already.) He tends to use particularly wide orbs (range of degrees where an aspect is active) as that is what his historical research has found to be most descriptive; based on his arguments, I am inclined to agree.

Section V of Tarnas’s book is devoted to the Saturn-Pluto cycle. At the beginning of the section he describes it thus:

“…the Saturn-Pluto cycle coincided with especially challenging historical periods marked by a pervasive quality of contraction: eras of international crisis and conflict, empowerment of reactionary forces and totalitarian impulses, organized violence and oppression… An atmosphere of gravity and tension tended to accompany these three-to-four-year periods, as did a widespread sense of epochal closure:… the destruction of an earlier mode of life that in retrospect may seem to have been marked by widespread indulgence, decadence, naïveté, denial, and inflation. Profound transformation was a dominant theme…” (209)

A few chapters later however, he says more:

“As dark and problematic as was its shadow… [the Saturn-Pluto] archetypal complex seemed equally capable of constellating actions, transformations, and enduring social-political consequences involving extraordinary moral determination as well as sheer physical and volitional effort… [S]uch periods seem to coincide consistently with a collective sense of stern purposefulness and determination, a galvanizing of the will against overwhelming odds, grim resolution in the face of extreme danger.” (257)

In other words—Nazis, but also the French Resistance to the Nazis. AIDS, but also ACT UP. The terrorist attacks of 9/11, but also the heroic efforts of first responders to that attack.

I’ll be honest with you. History is getting darker. It always does during these Saturn-Pluto periods. Authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and fascism seem to be rising up around the world. Many governments have such leaders already. But in spite of all that we have an impulse towards moral courage, alongside a little voice in the ear whispering to us that we should hope, that it doesn’t have to be this way, that things can be better. “We can turn this shit around” as Tank Girl says.

And so we must. Drawing upon the unreasonable idealism of Jupiter-Neptune and the steely resolve of Saturn-Pluto, we must fight against the dying of the light, and bring into our little corners of the world a piece of joy, of optimism, of brilliance.

Because we can. Because all of us have these strengths within us. Because we can make the world a better place in spite of empowered forces of authoritarian oppression.

Because all of us together are heroic, and that’s what heroes do.

The Week Above - November 4th-11th 2018 (Election Day Astrology)

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met.

Strap yourselves in for this one, friends, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

The Lunar Nodes enter Cancer and Capricorn and Uranus returns to Aries - November 6th

Election Day in the United States is going to be a big shift, but I’m not predicting puppies and cupcakes here.

On Tuesday, the Lunar Nodes, which have been transiting the signs of Leo and Aquarius, shift into Cancer and Capricorn. In a sense, the Lunar Nodes by transit indicate an arc of collective evolutionary focus. The South Node tends to disempower the sign it transits through, sinking it down into a place that is alternately sapped of energy and given over to its basest instincts, with occasional moments of being on the beam so strongly that being itself is the most natural thing in the world. But mostly all that sign’s shortcomings get revealed. Since May of 2017, that South Node has been in Aquarius, doing all that to the territory of humanitarianism, collective thinking, technology, social networks, futurism, pariahs, and genius. Many of the themes of abuse of technology and abusiveness of technology companies, the agonies of social media, and the splitting away from collective unity got underscored over and again during this time, reemphasized and the humor taken out of it.

Until May of 2020, the South Node will be in Capricorn, sign of authority, ambition, and patriarchs, among many other significations. It’s gonna be an interesting time.

The North Node of the Moon, by transit, tends to hand a six-pack of energy drinks to whatever sign it’s in. It energizes that sign, activates it, makes it want to go go go move move move get shit done, but can also cause that sign to rev its wheels until they burn right off, become overactive, or just get overwhelmed with anxiety. Since May of 2017, the North Node has been in Leo. This is the territory of ego, self, self-centeredness, being centered in oneself in a more spiritual sense, shining in the spotlight, creative self-expression, children, and charisma. Perhaps this speaks more to the negative qualities of this point in history than necessarily the nature of the North Node of the Moon (which is generally considered a positive point in most Western texts, but this may have more to do with Western society’s biases of “more is always good”), but its most visible influences have not been great. Egotism, autocrats, anxious children, all have been spotlighted during this time. Anecdotally, I’ve also witnessed an increased willingness to pay artists for their art as part of left-leaning discourse, and otherwise give credit where credit is due. But I’ve witnessed a politics of “me first, then fuck you” from the right (and certain less-mature segments of the left tbh) get widespread as well.

The North Node will be in Cancer from Tuesday until May of 2020. Cancer is the territory of homes, families, cliques, mothers, emotional nurturing, the womb, feelings of security, and caretaking. On one hand, it’s a scary time for abortion rights. On the other hand, mothers enraged could be exactly the thing the world needs right now.

Now let’s get into Uranus.

Uranus’s initial entry into Aries 8-ish years ago coincided with the Arab Spring. Uranus in Aries is a hot, fiery, revolutionary energy that’s prone to burning hot and burning itself out. Uranus in Aries likes to break shit. Uranus is Aries is on fire with the urge to make things be different, by force if need be. Uranus will be in Aries for exactly four months, returning to Taurus on March 6th and staying there for another 8-ish years. This is Uranus in Aries’s last hurrah before Uranus starts shaking things up in a much earthier, more aesthetic way.

The Nodes square Uranus at 12:47pm EST, then shift signs at 1:09pm EST, then Uranus shifts signs at 1:59pm EST. The whole shift happens suddenly over the span of a lunch break to go vote. All of these major changes happen very, very fast.

Vote, by all means vote, but know that big changes do not happen easily. Shifts happen, but we’re too deep into the muck at this point for a single election to get us clean again. And whatever happens, a lot of people are going to be very, very angry, and seek out a vehicle to express that anger, possible the kind of vehicle they can set fire to. Probably not everywhere, all at once, but enough places to make folks stand up and take notice.

Things shift rapidly on Election Day, but not entirely, and not in a way that functions as a magic “make it all better” button. There’s more work to be done, and help is in fact on its way. Chin up, eyes on the goal, you got this.

New Moon in Scorpio - November 7th

This is not a big, loud lunation.

This is a quiet one. Trine Neptune in Pisces. Loosely sextile Pluto. Smack in the middle of Scorpio. Big things are happening, absolutely—it’s on the world axis, one of a few degrees of very public face—but these things happen in the dark and we just find out about them later. If you want to take political action you don’t want folks to know about right away, this is the time for it.

Not that I’d recommend you do anything untoward. Of course not. But I certainly expect some power players to be doing exactly that, and news stories to show up about protestors pulling off some kind of heist.

This is a heist moon. Secrets bandied about in the darkness taking hold of what isn’t theirs. Shifting shadows. Thievery. Sabotage.

Hey, I’m as anti-capitalist as the next astrologer who’s seen the writing on the wall, but I am not the guy with the mask. I’m the guy with the light in the darkness.

And this is quite the darkness.

Of note: This New Moon is exact just over 15 minutes after Jupiter’s exact trine to the Lunar North Node / sextile to the Lunar South Node. New beginnings are available to you for things you want to stay hidden, but ultimately a more monastic type of seclusion is called for here. The secret voice of the divine from the mountaintop. The Hermit. Spiritual truths only available in quiet contemplation. It’s a beautiful time to sit and contemplate your own mortality, because peace is available from that contemplation on this moon that isn’t always easy to come by. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but a worthwhile exercise when the time is ripe for it.

It seems to be ripe for it on the 7th.

Jupiter enters Sagittarius - November 8th

Jupiter entering Sagittarius is the astrological event of the year, at least in terms of being highly-anticipated and looked forward to more than any other. Here is the hope we’ve been waiting for. It’s a big, positive shift and deserves its own post, which you can read here.

Venus trines Mars - November 9th

Not as big an event as the other stuff this week, but still worthy of note.

Mars and Venus do a little dance around the zodiac, with Venus usually the faster-moving partner, except when she’s retrograde. Their retrogrades this year stepped on the toes of the same few degrees of the zodiac, around 9-10° of the Fixed signs, where they made their last aspect, a square. Their trine on the 9th will be the last major aspect Venus and Mars will make until their next trine on January 18th.

It’s a rare moment of harmony between masculine and feminine energies, or at least it seems more rare these days. Expect male energy to be a bit better behaved, or at least a bit more charming. And feminine energy to be a bit more comfortable making its desires known. Venus is still retrograde, of course, but she’s far out of the worst of it, already arisen as the Morning Star, emergent into the light and emerging further into the light every day. Her trine to Mars just emphasizes that she’s back in business and ready to mix and mingle and have some fun.

Up to you if you want to join her, but it’ll be a Friday, and that’s Venus’s day. Go out, have some fun, get a pedicure, fuck a stranger, dance on a table, impulsively redecorate your living room, enjoy your life however you do you. It’s a good time for it.

And we need these moments to celebrate joy, don’t we?

The Week Above - October 28th-November 4th 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met.

Mercury conjunct Jupiter, trine Chiron - October 29th

The mind is a funny thing.

We sometimes see what we expect to see, and then in seeing it, use it as a mirror to support our pre-existing self-image.

This is not one of those times.

Jupiter’s time in Scorpio has been an eventful one. Widespread adoption of occultism, #MeToo, secrets coming into the stark light of day, all being dealt with and considered collectively. Jupiter in Scorpio has been asking us to think deeply about our secrets, our darkness, our underbellies, and give them their spiritual, mindful, and judicious dues.

On Monday, Mercury makes all of this much, much louder. It is easy to think precisely about deep topics, particularly deep into the underworld. And it is easy to hear the voices bringing our attention to them. Truth, particularly that which we might turn away from, comes into stark, undeniable focus.

Expect a news story or two of “Actually, this is who we are, and it’s time we admitted it.”

For yourself, write or speak with someone you trust on the topic of old hurts coming up. After conjoining Jupiter, Mercury goes on to trine Chiron Monday, adding voice to the pain and making it easier for that pain to be expressed. A good day for therapy sessions.

Mercury enters Sagittarius - October 30th/31st

(Note: On the East Coast of the United States, this happens between midnight and 1AM on the 31st. In other time zones the ingress will be on the 30th.)

The mind is a funny thing.

Those of analytical bent enjoy their analysis because of its precision. There are details to sort out, tasks to be considered, files to organize. The analytical mind can find pleasure in keeping itself up-to-date and on task.

This is easier some times than others.

On Halloween, Mercury enters Sagittarius, a sign it struggles in. Mercury, planet of seeking specific information, gets lost in the vast, poorly-labeled grand libraries of Sagittarius. The analytical mind gets overwhelmed with too much information and too many directions to go in, the details sacrificed for big-picture thinking, the balance between big ideas and small necessities a constant juggling act.

Boy are those libraries fun though.

Mercury is going retrograde later in the month while they’re in Sagittarius, so expect this week to bring you hints of what’s to come from the Trickster’s time in the Archer’s sign. It’s a good time to organize things if you’re ready to get distracted reading them partway through. Otherwise, you might have a hard time getting to where you meant to go.

With Jupiter this close to the Messenger Deity, it’s gonna be a fun time, even with the confusion. More on that in a future post.

Mercury remains in Sagittarius until the end of November, returning on December 12th. This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, Midheaven, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or in close aspect with Mercury in your natal chart, or if you are an investigator, lawyer, writer, analyst, accountant, journalist, or involved in communication or transportation otherwise.

Venus opposes Uranus and enters Libra - October 31st

The heart wants what it wants, and sometimes it is very clear what it does not want.

Breakups happen. Not every relationship is meant to last. Sometimes you wake up in the morning, look at the person or the thing you thought you wanted, and gasp in horror from the newly shifted desire.

Other times you fall madly in love out of the blue with someone or something you never thought you’d want in your life and shift everything around to accommodate it.

For many folks, this is one of those weeks.

This happens right before Venus gets back to her home turf of Libra. In Libra, Venus is happy. She has what she needs to get things done the way she likes to do them. Beauty is more beautiful, charmers are more charming, lover are more loving.

Granted, she’s still retrograde until November 16th, when she stations direct close to the fixed star Spica, but more on that when we come to it.

Still, Venusian matters of love, of beauty, of pleasure, worth, and value get nicer and sweeter after Halloween, and this underworld journey we’ve all been on this month starts to show some real potential for emergence into Light this week. Hope arising from the Darkness. Let it be so.

Venus remains in Libra until December 2nd. This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, Midheaven, or Ascendant is in Taurus or Libra, or in close aspect with Venus in your natal chart, or if your Ascendant is in Aries or Scorpio (thus making Venus ruler of your house of partnership) or if you are a model, beautician, sexuality professional, artist, decorator, newly in love, or otherwise deeply involved with the realms of beauty, love, sexuality, or desire.

Jupiter trine Chiron in aspect with Juno and Pallas - November 1st

We learn most from our wounds.

Chiron, the great healer, the great wounded one, was also known as a great teacher. The deepest pain is often the bearer of the most important lessons.

But to understand these lessons we must consider them closely. What is there to be learned? What is there to simply leave behind? What are we not finished with just yet? How can we take this pain and turn it into medicine for others?

How can we take this pain and turn it into medicine for ourselves?

We can’t do it alone, that’s for sure. We need other people in order to heal ourselves, or even just to learn how to sit comfortably with our wounds.

This is a week of learning to find medicine in those wounds, wisdom in the pain, teachings in the tears. This is a week where we’re gifted clarity in the processing of it all.

Again, a good time to see your therapist.

And just generally? Take care of your emotional and psychological well-being this week. Drink water. Go for a walk. Phone a friend. Whatever helps you feel good and whole within yourself, do more of it this week, even if you don’t feel like it. It’s an important week for that. The dead are closer to the living this time of year. Halloween is a time to honor the dead, not just drink in costume. It’s a time when grief becomes more apparent for many of us. So be kind to yourself and check in on your loved ones. We all need it sometimes, and this is a good time to show that kind of love.

The Week Above - October 21st-28th 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met.

The Sun enters Scorpio - October 23rd

It’s officially Scorpio season.

Scorpio is the sign of the things kept hidden in the dark, the things most folks would rather avoid. Shame, fear, taboos, insecurities, skeletons in your closet, monsters under your bed, societally unacceptable forms of sexuality… All of it belongs to Scorpio.

It’s the perfect time for Halloween.

Venus has been in Scorpio for a little while now, and the Sun joins her this week, adding his expressive, bold voice to her subtle, insouciant one. It’s a masc-femme combo in a sign that has moments of combining masc and femme in odd ways.

It’s also a sign ruled by Mars, planet of aggression and war. But Scorpio approaches these things from behind, and gets at its enemies where they’re most sensitive and least expect it.

Therefore the ego expression and will to create this month are colored in ghoulish shades of black, orange, and purple, taking on the underworld and underbelly tones of the Scorpion during the Sun’s time there, lasting until November 22nd.

Expect your will to be seen in the world to take on a more martial, cunning, genderblended tone this month if that will to be seen is core to who you are. I’d recommend taking the Scorpion’s method to any fights you get into over your right to exist as a sovereign soul, and fight from the shadows until it’s safe to come out into the light.

It is notable that upon moving into Scorpio, the Sun immediately runs into an opposition with Uranus. Uranus provides an electric jolt, and a startled scorpion is prone to sting on instinct. Tread lightly among the vengeful, and expect stories in the news of sudden acts of retaliation against perceived threats.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Leo, or if you were born on the New Moon or at dawn; or if you are a performer or otherwise prone to being in the spotlight.

Full Moon in Taurus - October 24th

It is difficult to feel nurtured and held when the ground you stand on is unstable.

It is not easy to feel safe without a solid hand to hold.

Taurus moons are supposed to give us that stability, that earthiness, that nurturance. But this one is right up against Uranus, planet of sudden shocks to systems. It’s trying to find stability, but the earth is moving underneath it.

The Sun, whose opposition to the Moon makes her Full, is close to Venus, deep in the retrograde underworld. The love that we need to feel nurtured may have a bitter taste this moon.

So what do we do about it?

There is stability to be found in instability. There is medicine to be made from bitter herbs. There is love to be found in the unlikeliest of places, and indeed, this Full Moon will bring all sorts of things out from hiding, especially love you never knew was there before. Take a light into the back of the closet, and you may violently sneeze at the dust and cough from the cobwebs, but there’s a good chance your grandmother’s ring is hiding back there too.

So take heart that there is love to be found and love to be shown which never wound have come out from hiding if the moment wasn’t bringing things out of the dark.

Shake things up. Discover an unexpected self-care routine. Find comfort in feeling uncomfortable. Learn to dance on moving ground. It’s a paradox, but so are all the best truths about life.

This transit will affect us all, on some level or another, but particularly those whose Sun, Moon, or Rising sign is Scorpio, Taurus, or Cancer.

Venus Cazimi in Scorpio - October 26th

In her retrograde journey to the underworld, the center point, the darkest time, is as Venus comes to conjoin the Sun. And then, at the very center, the very Heart of the Sun, she burns bright and burns hot and burns with the Sacred Fire, the Queen of Heaven earning her crown.

Whatever themes have been coming up for you this month around love, worth, self-love, self-worth, relating, partnering, money, and desire, they reach an action point this week. No longer is it time to talk about it or process it. Now you have reached the moment of taking action on these issues. Change has gotta come. Change has been eager to come. And now, finally, is the moment when something finally gives, and you can move onward from here.

But first you gotta go deep, deal with the issue at hand, feel it in your bones, in your soul. Let this Long Halloween reach a climax. The days leading up to Halloween will involve cleaning up from the climax, and with November begins the time of basking in the afterglow.

So let yourself be transformed by love, by desire. Let yourself learn these most important lessons of the retrograde cycle.

It can only get more beautiful from here.

The Week Above - October 14th-21st 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met.

Mercury conjunct Venus - October 15th

Relationships require communication. Relationships require digging into the dirt and muck and getting to the truth. Relationships require honesty - honesty that must be kind, even if it isn’t always “nice.”

Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? These three questions are often said to be the ones to ask yourself before saying something, and it is suggested that if the words do not meet at least two of these criteria, they are better left unsaid. Mercury in Scorpio excels at true and necessary, but not always at kind. On Monday the messenger deity gets some help with that from Venus, who in turn badly needs their way with words.

“Nice” is the enemy of kind. “Nice” is “I’m going to pretend that didn’t hurt me because I feel bad when I make someone else feel bad.” Kind is “I’m going to let you know that hurt me because I want us to have a better relationship.”

This is true regardless of the nature of the relationship. Romantic or not, two people with a connection of any substance are in relation to one another, and that dynamic is up for review this whole Venus Retrograde cycle.

So take the opportunity, if there is a conversation you have been avoiding with someone you care about deeply, to offer a prayer to Venus and Mercury and go into that discussion Monday with an open heart and a brave tongue. You’ve got this. The hour is ripe.

And the conversation is gonna happen sooner or later anyway.

Ceres square Pluto - October 17th

(Content note: Discussion of sexual violence)

Ceres is not generally one to get along with the God of the Underworld. After all, he kidnapped her daughter. And in traditional tellings of the myth, Ceres was so enraged at this abduction that she turned the planet into a hostile wasteland.

This is the myth we are living now. The young maiden, the goddess of the Fertile Spring, has been raped by a wealthy patriarch. The sexual violence inflicted upon young women by powerful men is everywhere, in everyone’s faces. The rape of the Earth by greedy corporations has reached a crisis point, and when Momma Earth ain’t happy, ain’t nobody gonna get out of facing her wrath.

The New Moon highlighted this aspect last Monday, and on the days before and after it. Think back to then. What were you doing when you faced the news that the bad guys seem to be making gains this round? How did you face that news?

More news is coming on the 17th around sexual violence against woman and ongoing violence against the Mother of us all. It is the same patriarchs who would deny the sovereignty of women’s bodies and of the body of the Earth. It is the same forces that would oppress us all to take from those bodies.

We must not fear the wrath of Ceres as she razes the Earth. We must not shy away from the howling rage at the violations suffered. We would do best to lean into that scream, lean into that fire, and show the world that we stand with Mother Earth, who is reacting to her violation by destroying her oppressors.

Sometimes it’s the only way to make people know you cannot abide by oppression and violence any longer.

So don’t do anything that you’re not okay with the consequences of, and certainly don’t randomly burn down a local business. But if you want to express your rage through direct confrontation with those who have violated your sovereignty, the Goddess of Earth is on your side right now.

Mars semisextile Neptune and Sun semisextile Jupiter - October 18th

The Ceres-Pluto story is shown from the other side here: The masculine energies are being snuck up on from behind by spiritual and divine forces of enlightenment-or-bust.

Semisextiles are considered a minor aspect by most astrologers, but I find them to have powerful, tangible effects you don’t see until suddenly you do. The semisextile works in the blindspot of a planet, sneaking around in the shadows like stage crew, setting the scene so the audience (you) never notice what they’re doing or that they’re doing it, just the end results.

Mars and the Sun represent masculinity-as-cultural-constructs. They show how the concepts of maleness and masculinity are expressed and codified, modeled and expressed. They may not represent the true inner masculine nature for everyone, but they certainly show the cultural contexts for them and how those contexts are constructed and internalized.

Neptune and Jupiter represent one’s relationship with the Divine, the greater spiritual truths, the numinous, the Higher Wisdom. Other things as well, but what they have in common most of all is the line to the gods we can pick up and call them on.

So that line is getting a jolt of electricity sent straight down it from them to us, right in the cracks in the armor of masculinity-as-an-institution, masculinity-as-it-is-felt, masculinity-as-it-is-understood.

So men may find themselves shocked by how different their understandings of themselves-as-men are on Thursday as divine revelations come out of nowhere and barely register as such. If your social media is full of LGBTQ folx, expect some more folks to come out as non-binary or trans this week. Gender is a construction overall, and finding that maleness doesn’t make sense anymore (individually and/or ontologically) is indicated here.

And if you’re trying to get one up on patriarchal power, this week gives you a chance to do that while they’re distracted. Godspeed.

Mercury square Mars - October 19th

If you didn’t have the important conversation you needed to have with your partner on Monday, it may just happen spontaneously on Friday. Possibly with some more contention than it needs.

Fortunately it’s happening with contention that is naturally focused on what both parties have in common in terms of outlook and priorities. Things are easier in the verbal altercations and contentious conversations than they may seem at first - the outcome may come faster and more smoothly than it looked like it would early on, with the end result being less dissatisfying than you were worried it might be.

Soothe the wounds that happened over the weekend - it’s a good weekend for it.

Moon in Pisces trine to Jupiter - October 19th - 21st

What a beautiful Moon. What a beautiful weekend.

I don’t usually cover the Moon on this blog, but this one is too nice to pass up. From 4:21pm on Friday, October 19th until going void on at 7:48pm on Sunday, October 21st (Eastern Time), the Moon in Pisces moves towards a trine with her ruler when she’s in that sign, Jupiter.

This makes for a weekend full of expansive, spiritual, fertile, and bountiful possibilities. This makes for a weekend that’s good for getting pregnant, starting creative projects, getting spiritual work done, getting scholarly work done, starting a research project, making new friends, meeting new lovers, having a party, going on a journey, and just generally activities you want to turn out to be fun and productive. It’s some of the best you can do during this time of Venus Retrograde in Scorpio.

Have fun this weekend, you’ve earned it.

If your Moon, Ascendant, or Sun is in Pisces, you’re likely to have an even better time, although maybe more prone to relaxation than productivity, unless you already work in spiritual, philosophical, academic, or publishing fields.

The Week Above - October 7th-14th 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for your sign if certain goals are met.

New Moon in Libra - October 8th

Abuse of power comes as no surprise.

When those who would take advantage of their positions of power to sate themselves on the disempowerment of others discover their abuses have been brought into the light, a primary strategy is to frame their actions as “just the way things are.”

The way things are needs to change.

Howls of rage fly through the night. Ceres, tightly conjoined this new moon, seeks vengeance against Pluto, whom this new moon squares, for what he has done to her daughter. But Proserpina moves to the underworld now; the leaves fall from the trees and a chill is in the air.

The powerful are not stripped of their ill-gotten gains in a season. Neptune, Lord of Confusion, is in quincunx with this new moon, shifting the patterns of light so that the feminine rage is dispersed into directions it cannot effectively move in this dark night’s cycle.

A single changing of the guardians cannot undo centuries of rot.

Therefore this new moon asks us to take our rage, take our howls against injustice, and work our magic with them, not trying to find a quick solution, but a plan for greatness to come in generations not yet born. Not trying to push in a single direction made available to us by those who would stay in power, but bending ourselves with the currents, finding hope and heart in higher truths.

Justice may be the bending of the moral arc of the universe, but we must be the ones who make it bend.

Commune with the mysteries. Speak with the goddesses. Hide your workings in the night. Gather with your coven.

Seasons may come and go, but the right acorn planted in the right soil grows into a hundred-year oak.

No one is going to save us except all of us, together, saving all of us, together.

So shall it be.

Mercury enters Scorpio - October 9th

A sharp tongue begets truths, though it may beget other things as well.

A precise lance into the primary vein of thinking may inject some wisdom there which was not available otherwise.

A brilliance that can be simultaneously shadow-centered can play with darkness as it is brought into the light.

Mercury governs intelligence of the facts-and-figures sort, analyzing and sorting, tallying up the details. They also govern communication of the practical sort, as well as the tools of transportation and messaging.

In Scorpio, the fleet-footed deity takes their facts and figures and messages and dives into the deepest truths, the hearts of the matters, the secrets buried in the dark. It’s good for telling your partner, your therapist, and yourself about what’s really been bubbling up from the bottom of your heart during Venus’s retrograde, giving insight and language to an overflowing well of emotion.

It’s time to think clearly about what wants to remain hidden but cannot for much longer.

Mercury remains in Scorpio until the end of October, returning briefly for the first 12 days of December. This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or in close aspect with Mercury in your natal chart, or if you are an investigator, lawyer, writer, analyst, accountant, journalist, or involved in communication or transportation otherwise.

Mercury opposes Uranus & Venus squares Mars - October 10th

While Uranus is in the early degrees of Taurus, anything entering Scorpio is going to run right smack into it.

Uranus is a disruptive influence to say the least, yet also adds a not-insignificant touch of genius to the planets it comes into contact with.

Venus’s square to Mars takes place the same day Mercury’s opposition with Uranus goes exact, though its influence will be palpable in the days preceding it and some of the days after it. While the last square between them was only a month ago, the final square of this triptych will not take place until March.

Mercury opposed Uranus involves sudden shocks to the systems of modern life—your server, your phone, your Internet. It may be positive, in that those who work with technology may be struck by sudden epiphanies of efficiency and innovation—or it may be bugs in the code that need immediate fixing.

Venus square to Mars brings out the aggressive side of Venus, another testimony to the theme of feminine anger this retrograde cycle. That within us which is feminine—and regardless of gender, we all have it—is pissed off right now, and wants to take action.

Take strategic action, however, as male power structures are fighting back, even as the masculine is concerned with the future it wants. Battles between genders are emphasized this week, and I would advise every gender to think it through before picking how to act on that rage.

Angry gets shit done, but it can lead one to take impulsive leaps if not careful. Especially as the Mercury-Uranus opposition makes the analytical mind more prone to sudden leaps as well.

Look carefully before you leap.

Juno stations Retrograde - October 12th

I would not worry about this retrograde as you might worry about other retrogrades. Juno is an asteroid, and her influences are subtle.

This is her angle on current themes, which she repeats in a unique voice:

Juno is the partnership asteroid, but Juno’s marriage to Jupiter was not usually a happy one, at least not in the myths that have survived to the present day. Juno therefore represents a kind of feminine energy which is sick and tired of men’s shit.

It can usually subsume that under desire to please one’s partner, but this is not one of those years.

The first degree of Gemini, where Juno stations, tends to bring up themes of being endlessly trapped in one’s own self-confounding except for occasional moments where the walls of the self-made cage disappear entirely and massive forward momentum takes place.

As Juno stations retrograde, there is both: The rage against patriarchal bullshit feeds into a great push forward, but if it isn’t breathed into the right way, if true hope for the ability to make serious change isn’t fully embodied… That rage is liable to trip over its own feet, taking comfort in familiar solutions that have never completely gotten us out of this mess, but at least feel familiar.

On the flip side it can feel like that anger has no place to go. It can feel like being trapped in a relationship that doesn’t work and wondering why you don’t just leave. It might be time to leave. It also might be time to reevaluate why you haven’t left before.

Change occurs when we fully embrace the possibility of change. A need for freedom is nothing if your wings have been clipped and you never learned to run without them.

So learn to run. Don’t bother with the old solutions. Find yourself a brand new path.

We can do this. All of us, together, can do this. But first we have to get out of our own way.

The Week Above - September 30th-October 7th 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future Weeks Above will feature horoscopes for your sign if certain goals are met. Later this week I will be posting horoscopes for patrons offering sign-specific guidance on the upcoming Venus Retrograde.

Pluto stations Direct - September 30th

I wrote about Pluto’s direct station last week, but its effects color this week as well. To reiterate with minor adjustment:

The retrogrades of the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto [and depending on your definition Jupiter and Saturn]) don't display nearly the difference from direct motion you see with retrogrades of the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars). What's worth paying attention to with the outers is when they station direct or retrograde.

A planetary station is when that planet appears to stop moving one way and start moving the other way relative to our view on Earth. But first it slows way down. You can think of a station, particularly of an outer planet, as that planet digging a groove into a specific part of the zodiac. Like a vehicle putting on the brakes on a dirt road, it tends to leave a mark, and it tends to shake things up inside the vehicle.

Therefore for the next [week], expect shakings of the earth both literal and symbolic (mostly symbolic); sudden emergings of things deeply buried in the psyche, the culture, the Capitol; dramatic intensity in the realms of sex, soul healing, psychotherapy, and other healing modalities; and revelations of truths both difficult and necessary.

It is a good time to try out new fetishes, investigate secrets that must be brought to light, and confess things to your therapist you've never admitted to them before.

Check your chart using the tools I mentioned up top—this transit will affect you most if you have planets or points at 13-23 degrees of any sign, but especially 15-21 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn; or if your life involves dealing with that which is kept hidden in the dark—therapists, healers, investigators, exterminators, or plumbers.

Venus stations Retrograde - October 5th

Venus’s retrograde cycle is worthy of its own post, as it will color the next month and a half. Fortunately, I wrote one for you.

Sun conjoined Ceres in Libra quincunx Neptune - October 7th

While the influences here are subtle, there is a confluence of them at once; therefore, it deserves speaking to.

Ceres is one of the Big Four asteroid goddesses. Her purview is food, shelter, and other necessities of physical well-being; the way we nurture ourselves and others; and on a bad day, the urge to burn it all down. Next Sunday, she dives into the heart of the Sun, and her life and love is crowned with passion.

But she does so in a strange dynamic with Neptune, Lord of the Seas, planet of that which cannot be grasped or nailed down. That strange dynamic is a quincunx—a 150° aspect which is considered by many to be minor but I find resonates with intense power. Two planets in quincunx have a charged relationship, each trying desperately to focus on the other, but missing the mark over and over again. It is a relationship that is desired by both sides but they struggle to make work, because their respective places give them so little in common.

Considering the news, October 7th (and likely October 6th) are liable to be days of impassioned, righteous rage at the injustice of the world (for Libra is the sign of Justice) and a deep need to find shelter, safety, and peace—but bent askew by nebulous and confusing circumstances, the lack of clear boundaries, false impressions, and fog obscuring the truth. These challenges may be intentionally created, but they are there, and color Ceres’s journey into the Heart of the Sun.

The Sun’s quincunx to Neptune alone is cause to watch how hard you party next weekend, as it is much easier than usual to accidentally drink more than you intended to (or consume more than you intended of some other substance).

If you’d like to work with this transit in a more positive way, attending a ceremony involving humility and dissolution of ego with others would be a way to do it, particularly if you are breaking bread with them. A solid structure to the ceremony matters here—don’t just pop a shroom or randomly evoke a deity and hope for the best.

All that being said, I would repeat that this influence is subtle, and the greatest effects felt this week are more likely to involve the stations of Pluto and Venus.

Venus Retrograde in Scorpio and Libra 2018: A Haunted Heart

The heart remembers.

The heart remembers the girl who kissed you in second grade. The heart remembers the boy who told you you weren’t pretty when you were twelve. The heart remembers every love and every crush, requited or not.

The heart carries these memories with it everywhere you go—of pain, love, ecstasy, grief, communion and abandonment. The heart knows things the mind has forgotten.

Sometimes this is a good thing: You remember moments of joy in times of sorrow and love in times of loneliness. Other times it is the opposite, and the heart becomes heavy with its burdens.

Your heart is full of ghosts.

On October 5th, 2018, Venus—planet of love, beauty, value, and worth—stations retrograde in the tropical sign of Scorpio.

She remains in the Scorpion’s subterranean waters until Halloween, when she returns to the sign of Libra, a much happier home for her.

Consider this a month-long Halloween for your heart.

Love is kind, love is warm, love is gentle. But love is often accompanied by pain, and that pain compounds and weakens when it is not dealt with appropriately. Venus’s retrograde through Scorpio will take us on a journey into the underworld of what we love and what we value, and remind us of what loves or once loved us. That can mean exes popping up out of the woodwork, or discovering a family photo album in the attic, or remembering why you stopped painting so vividly you have no choice but to pick up a canvas and brush once again.

When you deal with the darkness in your heart, when you acknowledge the pain and do what it takes to move through it to the other side, you find that it is full of light as well. And that by scraping out the encrusted justifications and coping narratives from around those wounds, you create a great deal of room for love and light and all that is beautiful and holy.

So don’t be afraid of the ghosts haunting your heart. We all have them. And when, instead of trying to banish them with holy water and banging of pots and pans, you offer them tea and conversation and help them find the solace to move on… You are likely to discover that the mysterious film on the mirrors has disappeared, and the furniture stops rearranging itself behind your back.

After All Hallows’ Eve things get much less spooky. Venus’s retrograde through Libra from October 31st until November 16th takes us out of the haunted mansion and into the temple of beauty where we may find ourselves better able to integrate the lessons of Venus’s time in Scorpio. We can find ourselves letting all the love and light in that there is, shocked by how much room we have for it in our hearts now that we’ve cleared out all the clutter.

November 16th, Venus stations direct in Libra, and the heart is moving forward from there, newly birthed and cleaned of all its gunk.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Between this posting and October 5th, I will be posting brief horoscopes for all twelves signs in a Patrons-only post, telling you what to expect from this time of Venus’s retrograde. I am also available for readings.

The Week Above - September 23rd-30th 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for your sign if certain goals are met.

Pluto stations Direct - September 30th

I’m jumping ahead at the start because this transit will color the entire week.

The retrogrades of the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto [and depending on your definition Jupiter and Saturn]) don't display nearly the difference from direct motion you see with retrogrades of the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars). What's worth paying attention to with the outers is when they station direct or retrograde.

A planetary station is when that planet appears to stop moving one way and start moving the other way relative to our view on Earth. But first it slows way down. You can think of a station, particularly of an outer planet, as that planet digging a groove into a specific part of the zodiac. Like a vehicle putting on the brakes on a dirt road, it tends to leave a mark, and it tends to shake things up inside the vehicle.

Therefore for the next two weeks, expect shakings of the earth both literal and symbolic (mostly symbolic); sudden emergings of things deeply buried in the psyche, the culture, the Capitol; dramatic intensity in the realms of sex, soul healing, psychotherapy, and other healing modalities; and revelations of truths both difficult and necessary.

It is a good time to try out new fetishes, investigate secrets that must be brought to light, and confess things to your therapist you've never admitted to them before.

Check your chart using the tools I mentioned up top—this transit will affect you most if you have planets or points at 13-23 degrees of any sign, but especially 15-21 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn; or if your life involves dealing with that which is kept hidden in the dark—therapists, healers, investigators, exterminators, or plumbers.

Chiron returns to Pisces - September 25th

Chiron is often considered the wounded healer archetype. He shows us where our wounds are and how we may heal others through those wounds.

But Chiron is more than that. Chiron is the centaur who was master of everything, and as such Chiron the celestial body shows us where our mastery may lie. Not only to heal—for we are not all healers—but to master whatever it is we are called to accomplish in this lifetime.

Chiron is retrograding back into Pisces, where he will remain until February 18th when he enters Aries. After that, it will be 41 years until he returns to the Fishes’ deep sea grotto.

Since February of 2011, Chiron has been showing us how to heal from a place of deep compassion and the associated risks of self-sacrifice. He has been showing us how we may master psychic, intuitive, and depth emotional arts. He has been bringing up painful memories in whatever part of your chart belongs to Pisces. And he is about to leave a parting gift there, something to remember him by, some healing or bit of mastery you may not understand at first but ties into the themes of these past 8 years in terms of universal compassion, empathy, addiction, ego dissolution, self-sacrifice, and all the pain that comes from mastering them and mastery that comes from feeling those pains.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun or Moon is in Pisces, or if your rising sign is Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, or Sagittarius. Be sure to look at your chart using the tools at the top of the post to see where Pisces is in your natal chart—whatever house Pisces governs is the area of your life most likely impacted by this transit.

Mars conjoins the South Node of the Moon - September 25-26th

It is difficult to speak your truth when your throat is parched.

It is a challenge to fight for justice when you have no fight in you.

It is also a challenge to fight for justice when you want to fight for fighting’s sake.

The South Node is an odd one. Some sources say it sucks all badness out of Mars when they conjoin, leaving its fire pure. Other sources say it makes Mars even more Mars-y—aggressive, belligerent, horny, accident-prone, all too excess and without much restraint.

Personal experience says it can go one of either two ways for those easily influenced by Mars: You either want to set everything on fire, or you’re completely burnt out.

Fortunately you don’t have to do much guesswork in this age of constant digital records: Look back to June 8th and July 20th of this year. Similar themes as came up close to those days will return again this week.

You know what you learned from whatever happened then? Review those lessons. You’ll be given a chance to apply what you’ve learned very soon.

You can return to focusing on the ideal you wish to fight for afterwards.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Aries or Scorpio, or in close aspect with Mars in your birth chart, or if you are an athlete, activist, or just someone who enjoys a good fight or argument.

Juno enters Gemini - September 26th

Juno is one of the big four Goddess Asteroids astrologers use. Juno, wife of Jupiter, was known in myth primarily for just that, though she also had functions as a head of state.

It was, to put it delicately, a complicated marriage however, and this is reflected in the significations of her asteroid.

Juno shows us how we partner with others in the long term. Not necessarily marriage, though that is part of it, but long-term committed partnerships in general. Best friends and business partners can fall under her purview as well. But Juno emphasizes the struggles and difficulties that come from being in long-term partnership with another human being. The fights, the arguments, the reconciliations, exile and return. She shows us how our partnerships can aggravate us, and what we must do to alleviate those woes.

This is not to give Juno a bad rap, however. If you don’t deal with the difficult stuff, your partnerships will never stand the test of time. And Juno shows us how to make our partnerships stand the test of time. When you made those vows, did you mean it? Did you really mean it? Of course you did. Now let’s find the strength it takes to make that work for you.

Juno’s transit through Gemini lasts until October 24th—she’s going retrograde in the next month and will return to Taurus then. In the meantime she helps show us how essential communication is in partnerships, how necessary it is to acknowledge our self-contradicting feelings and behavior, and that our version of the truth may not necessarily be our partner’s version of the truth. She asks us to keep our word to our partners, honor our vows, and own up to the consequences when we don’t.

And just to reiterate: If you are not romantically entangled, consider this as applying to your connection with your bff or anyone else you’re some kind of pair with. Partnerships take many forms, and they all require working on the communication sometimes.

The Week Above - September 16th-23rd 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for your sign if certain goals are met.

Vesta enters Capricorn - September 17th

Vesta is one of the big four asteroids in astrology, sometimes called the Asteroid Goddesses. She is concerned with many things, as is any archetype, among them: The sacred day-to-day work we do in the world; emotional care; the hearth and home, particularly the qualities that make a house a home; feminine sexuality that is active rather than passive; the self-sufficient feminine; sacred sexuality; sex work, especially as a healing art; and the projected ideal of the Sacred (Light) Feminine.

Vesta will be in Capricorn’s mountainous territory until December 1st. There, she teaches us how to express our inner emotional needs in ways that help us reach our long-term goals, as well as how the parts of ourselves experienced as feminine can balance emotional self-care with striving towards the future we wish to build. There will be questions that come up around whether we bring too much of our work home with us, or not enough; and whether we can do the work necessary to be in tune with the deep inner needs and meet them as human beings who have to live a complicated life. Spend time with these questions if they feel familiar; there is warmth to be gained from tending this hearth.

This transit will affect you most strongly if Vesta is conjoined your Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or another personal planet in your birth chart; if you are a woman or femme-of-center person for whom self-sufficiency is part of the fiber of your life’s construction; or if sexuality is part of your work in the world. The latter might find they have higher libido than usual during this transit.

Mars square Uranus - September 18th

Fighting the good fight gives you reason to fight.

You may want to fight. You may be spoiling for a fight. And when the just cause comes into view, you may find yourself eager to champion it, to make yourself into a righteous warrior.

Yet one person’s righteous cause is another person’s tragedy, and so serious questions must be asked of yourself if this is really the thing you need to be fighting for. Justice without mercy is cruel, and justice without discretion is a drunk waving around a sword in a crowded bar.

This Mars in Aquarius story is about asking yourself what future you wish to fight for and fighting for it. But this week may fill you with a passion to fight for what you believe that blocks from view the importance of slowing your roll to make sure you’re charging toward the correct battles.

Whatever revolution you start this week, if you bring out the guillotines make sure that you’re prepared for the outcome.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Aries or Scorpio, or in close aspect with Mars in your birth chart, or if you are an athlete, activist, or just a cantankerous sort in general.

Mercury Cazimi in Virgo - September 20th

Cazimi means “in the heart of the Sun.” On September 20th, Mercury will make its superior conjunction with the Sun in the sign Mercury calls home. The moment of Mercury’s superior conjunction—9:52pm on the East Coast of the United States—is traditionally an excellent moment for matters of the intellect; of communication, organization, and analysis; and to engage fully with the details.

Yet all is not well for the swift-moving messenger planet. Coming up on an opposition with Chiron and square to Saturn, they are beset by troubles, obstructions, aches and pains. Therefore the evening of the 20th is good to engage in troublesome works of organization and analysis that you expect frustration from, that they may be tackled from a position of both strength and full knowledge of the difficulties.

Your unread emails, for example. Just don’t expect to get everything done perfectly.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or in close aspect with Mercury in your natal chart, or if you are a writer, lecturer, analyst, accountant, or otherwise focused on communication or the details.

Mercury and the Sun enter Libra - September 21st and 22nd

Playing out a similar story in quick succession, Mercury races ahead of the Sun to enter Libra shortly before midnight on September 21st. The Sun follows on the 22nd, marking the Fall Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, when night and day are of equal length. From then on, the nights grow longer than the days until the wheel turns again on the Winter Solstice.

Mercury and the Sun play out similar stories in Libra but each according to their nature. They will both oppose Chiron within hours of entering Libra and square Saturn within days. Libra wants to partner, make nice, befriend and connect; the entry into this territory will make that difficult at first, particularly as Libra’s ruler Venus is in one of its least comfortable signs.

Therefore both intellect and self-will will be trying their best to focus more on connecting with the Other, but not succeeding as much as they’d like for the few days following the changing of signs.

When you want to partner and connect, understand that the one you wish to connect with may have other plans in mind, and do your best not to take it too personally. Things will get easier in this regard once the squares to Saturn are past, though there is still much to be done.

Mercury remains in Libra until October 9th; the Sun until October 23rd.

The transit of Mercury will affect most those in Mercury categories listed above. The transit of the Sun will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Leo, or if you were born on the New Moon or at dawn; or if you are a performer or other creative.

The Week Above - September 9th-16th, 2018

The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Venus in Scorpio - September 9th

What Love wants and what it needs can be very different.

Love wants kindness. Love wants everyone to get along. Love wants harmony and beauty and things to go smoothly. Love is defined by these things, among others.

But one cannot love another effectively if one is not willing to be radically, nakedly honest. Love requires Truth, and Truth can sting. Love requires vulnerability, and vulnerability can lead to pain.

Scorpio is the sign of going into the deep, dark places that scare us and dealing with what we find. This is why Scorpio is the sign of the Healer—because that is what it takes to heal. This is why magical works of finding hidden treasure belong to Scorpio.

Scorpio is foreign territory to Venus. She cannot be who she usually is there. But if she plays her cards right.. If she embraces the great unknown and allows herself to be naked down to her sinew... She might find herself transformed there.

Venus will be in the sign of Scorpio, fittingly, until Halloween, her stay lengthened by a retrograde in October. She will make a brief foray back home into Libra during November, then be back in Scorpio from December 2nd until January 7th. It will be a long period of needing to know what Love can be when she gets comfortable being uncomfortable.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Taurus or Libra, or in tight aspect with Venus in your birth chart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Mars in Aquarius - September 10

Our ideas of masculinity, as a society, are stuck in the past.

Outdated contexts, social constructions that are falling apart at the seams, ideals based on a vision of what used to be that has little to do with how it actually was and less to do with how it is today.

Aquarius is the outsider, the rebel, the one who does not fit in. It conceives of the future before it comes; it drags us towards the potential for what may be.

Mars is the planet of will, of passion, of drive... Of war, of strife, of anger... Of strength and athleticism... Of the ways that we construct masculinity, within ourselves and as a society. It is not maltreated in Aquarius, but it does not easily find a home there either, wandering as it does, a stranger in a strange land.

Therefore the challenge upon us all, as Mars traverses this unfamiliar landscape from September 10th to November 15th, retracing some of its steps from this summer, is to ask ourselves what future we wish to fight for, what masculine ideal exists beyond the confines of society, what passion can take us beyond the bounds of the present day.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Aries or Scorpio, or in tight aspect with Mars in your birth chart; or if masculinity and/or passionate will are important parts of your life.

Jupiter sextile Pluto - September 12th

Like the turning of the seasons, a gradual, subtle pattern of life comes into sharp focus this week.

This is the third of three Jupiter-Pluto sextiles, the previous two having taken place in January and April of this year.

Jupiter represents the human desire to understand the grand themes of the world, whether via philosophy or religion or educating the higher mind. He is buoyant in outlook, his eyes toward the horizons. He's a likeable ol' chap.

Pluto is the underworld principle―resonant with (but not ruling!) the sign of Scorpio, he too takes us to the dark depths most would rather avoid. Taboos of sexuality, chthonic powers and drives, volcanic eruptions arising from the unconscious. As you might assume, he's pretty intense.

Together in a supportive aspect, we find ourselves dealing with themes of occult philosophy, tantra in its original and Western senses, incredible heroism in the face of personal demons, and views towards foreigners that lose sight of nuance. It is a theme to this year's politics, certainly, but also to the personal journeys we undergo. History, after all, is fractal.

Look back to themes and symbols that came up for you around mid-January and mid-April of this year; if you spot a pattern, it should return this week.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Sagittarius or Pisces, or in tight aspect with Jupiter in your birth chart; or if you are an occultist, priest, or educator.

Venus opposed Uranus, sextile Saturn - September 12th

The ongoing trine between Uranus and Saturn has been a theme of the past couple of years. It is an especially strong one this August and September.

There is a tendency for sudden shocks to existing establishments, and sudden establishing of things whose existence is shocking. Things break into pieces and reform as stronger versions of what they were or something else entirely, or they just break into millions of pieces and those pieces are composted into fertilizer for growing the next big thing.

Venus, in the territory of necessary truths, interacts with this pattern as soon as she enters Scorpio on Sunday, but brings it forth throughout the week. Sometimes Venus likes you to see her coming, sometimes she likes you to see her going. Therefore this aspect and its impact on Love, relations, and aesthetics may not make itself known until the 13th or 14th, but it will make itself known somehow.

This is an amazing time to surprise your partner with something unexpected for the two of you to do together―a night on the town, a poem you wrote about them, a fetish you've been waiting to reveal... Something new and exciting. And I recommend you do so. Astrology lets you pick your poison and turn it into medicine. Shake things up in a fun way and Uranus is more likely to have your back.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Taurus or Libra, or conjoined Venus in your birth chart.

Mercury opposed Neptune - September 13th

Mercury retrograde has a lot of stereotypes.

It gets overhyped in a lot of ways, but certain patterns do emerge. Among them are afflictions such as delays, mishaps, and plain old weirdness around communication, transportation, short-distance travel, and technology.

These sorts of effects are also known to happen when transiting Mercury is in hard aspect to Neptune, as they are the first half of this week. The emphasis in this context tends more towards the "plain old weirdness" side of things, so I wouldn't over-fret. You might just find yourself talking to an old friend and running out of time because you spent too long discussing your grandparents' respective taste in ice cube trays, for example.

I wouldn't back up my hard drive on Thursday, though.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or in tight aspect with Mercury in your birth chart, or if you are a writer, tech worker, or lecturer.

One Important Key to Healing Your Relationships with Men and Women

Do you find yourself repeatedly drawn to men who drain your energy by demanding you pay lots of attention to their emotions? Perhaps your inner masculine nature wants its feelings nurtured, and you've dismissed it by assuming that behavior must be feminine. Do you find yourself in relationships with women who seek to control everything around them? Perhaps your inner feminine nature feels powerless, and you thought that power and control were masculine qualities. Do you find yourself always chasing after an idealized version of the opposite gender, and projecting those qualities onto each potential partner? Perhaps that ideal contains qualities of your inner nature of that gender, which is crying out for you to express.

Everyone has parts of themselves which are masculine, and everyone has parts of themselves that are feminine. Each individual expresses these parts of themselves differently. Learning to embrace that within you which is both masculine and feminine involves letting go of ideas that masculinity or femininity is in any way universal. Qualities of your masculine side may be qualities of my feminine side, and vice versa. Because we are all made of many parts, no two individuals have exactly the same expression of either gender. And so one must engage in a process of self-analysis, through introspection, meditation, conversation, and experimentation.

The inner and the outer reflect each other. Patterns in the inner form through encounters with the outer. We develop qualities within us partly by interacting with others who, when we are at an early age, represent archetypes more than people. Not your father but The Father. Not your best friend but The Best Friend. And we adjust who we are and how we express that in relation to these archetypes. The good news is, the patterns form both ways.

One of the most common problems people have, in my experience as a psychic, is finding harmony with people of a certain gender. If you believe the psychoanalytical standard, then you believe these issues stem from a person's relationship with their mother or their father. Perhaps that's true. Personally, I know my love for women and my preference for women as friends has more to do with my earliest relationships with my peers in school. The kinds of interactions I have always valued most involve deep conversations. As a child, that was easier to find if I played with the girls rather than the boys. The boys would push. The boys would shove. The girls would be peaceful.

Throughout my lifetime, I've been friends mostly with women and genderqueer femmes who present as women. And I spend a lot of time in circles where gender and issues around gender are discussed frequently. So I hear a lot of people talking about having issues and hangups around others in ways that have to do with gender. I, myself, have spent much of the past few years confronting and healing my hangups with both masculinity and femininity. And the one thing that has helped the most is looking inward.

When we heal that within us which is masculine and feminine, we find ourselves developing healthier relationships with others who express those qualities. When we accept these parts of ourselves for what they are, and allow them to be expressed authentically, we can create new patterns with others who express healthier versions of those qualities. And by letting go of past patterns, of judgment, and of rigidity around what masculinity and femininity are "supposed to be," we can find freedom and self-expression in new and profound ways.

Predicting the Release Date of Pokémon Go with Astrology

In addition to being a psychic, I'm also a lifelong video game fan. These days I don't find myself with nearly as much time to play video games as I used to, but there is still a soft spot in my heart for the Pokémon game franchise. I haven't played any of the Pokémon games more recent than Pokémon Black, which came out in 2011. And by that point, my enthusiasm had waned enough that I stopped playing it about a third of the way into the game. I still don't know how it ends.

But this year, Pokémon turns 20. And the first Pokémon game I've been truly excited about since 2009 comes out: Pokémon Go. It's an augmented reality game for your smartphone, which allows you to catch Pokémon by bringing your phone to various real-life locations.

Part of why I'm excited about this so much is that Pokémon has always had a strong spiritual component to it. Many of the creature designs in the game are based off of creatures and entities from Japanese and world mythology. For someone like me, whose spiritual practice involves interaction with a variety of mythic beings, Pokémon represents my cosmology introduced into the world wearing the thin disguise of a kid's game. Back in the 1990's, there was a backlash to Pokémon by various Christian organizations, who rightly recognized just how Pagan the games are. Buddhist and Shinto paradigms saturate the games' core philosophical principles. Specifically, the games speak of the importance of living in harmony with nature and all within it. Can't have that!

Naturally, I decided to take a look at the astrology behind Pokémon's initial release date. I ended up using the chart for 12:01AM on February 27th, 1996, in Tokyo, Japan. That time makes the most sense to me for reasons I will likely fully articulate at a future point. Suffice it to say, it works for how I understand Pokémon's purpose in the world.

Nintendo has announced that Pokémon Go will come out some time in 2016, but has given no information more specific than that. Nintendo, as a company, is in the habit of holding off on concrete release dates, much to the annoyance of the fans. So I thought I'd take a look at the astrology of Pokémon's 20th birthday, to see if I can guess within a day or two the most likely dates for important events to happen for the Pokémon brand.

The first thing I noticed is that a very important event will occur just after Pokémon's 20th anniversary. I expect a major announcement to be made between February 28th-March 1st, most likely the morning of February 29th, JST. Possibly it won't be a public announcement, but something gets finalized internally, leading to an announcement 1 month later, on March 29th. Both February and March 29th are important dates according to my interpretation of Pokémon's solar return chart this year, and I believe they are the most likely days for a more specific release date to be announced.

April 29th is also an important date in the chart, and if I'm going to pin it to an exact time, midnight JST seems likely. Because of that timing, and because of how I understand game releases to work, April 29th strikes me as the most likely release date for Pokémon Go. Well, not just because of that. That is the day that Chiron gets activated in Pokémon's solar return chart, and Chiron has a lot to do with being in contact with the spirit realm. Ellias Lonsdale includes the phrase "energized tremendously by special occasions" in his interpretation of the degree that Chiron is at in this chart, 20 Pisces. Chiron gets activated around the same time as Jupiter and the asteroid Karma, and right before the lunar nodes. According to the chart, midnight on April 29th should be the most dramatic moment of the year for Pokémon, so if I were a gambling man, and I'm not, I would put money on that being the release date of Pokémon Go.

Now, keep in mind: I am not omniscient. One of the things I have found to be consistent in attempting to use astrology for prediction is that the archetypal energies frequently manifest is ways you can't predict, even as they are the exact archetypal energies you originally saw.

But I'm putting this out there, to be proven wrong or proven right, or more likely in the middle, as the year progresses.

3 Important Themes for 2016: A Message from Archangel Michael

    As I'm trying to put together my predictions for the coming year, I see Archangel Michael in my mind's eye. I don't always get visuals with my psychic senses, but this is a clear image. He's shirtless, as usual, with the typical white angelic robes only covering from his waist to his knees. His torso is tightly muscled, and unusually for him, he's choosing to appear with large battle scars over those muscles, faded from time. I see him leaning back in a chair behind a cherry wood desk, which shows me he's here for business.
    "2015 wasn't easy," he begins, and narrows his eyes, "And 2016 won't be either. But there's an important difference between them." He gets up and walks away from his desk, standing with his back to me. He looks at me over his shoulder, and gestures to a vision in front of him. It's an idyllic scene of blue skies over rolling green hills, like a fairy tale landscape of childhood joy. "We carry dreams within us, of exactly the world we want to be in." The blue skies turn into a rainstorm. The rain is warm, but intense. "The storms of life come through, and interrupt these dreams. We think we can't achieve them, that everything conspires against us. But look at what happens after the storm." The rain ends, though the sky remains lightly cloudy. Flowers bloom from the grassy hills. Bees land on them. There is a chill in the air. "We survive these storms, and see beauty where once there was only a blank slate. But we see elements of darkness as well. The bee will sting you, and the rain will chill your body, but without them, no flowers will bloom." The vision had been projected in front of Michael, but we're inside it now. He holds out his index finger, and a bee lands on it. Michael gazes at the bee in silent communication and smiles. After a moment, the bee flies away.
    We're suddenly back at his desk. I'm sitting in a chair on the guest side of the desk, he's leaning back in his chair again, fingers steepled before him. He looks at me solemnly. "Were there any questions?"
    I get straight to the point: "What are the big themes of this year?" I ask.
    "Redemption, first of all. You mortals aren't the only ones who've had a rough time these past 12 months. The work in the spirit realm never gets any easier, but we understand the rewards for it better than you do in the physical plane. You've been through a lot. Most of those reading this, you've been through more than you thought you could handle in 2015. When I say 'redemption,' it isn't about righting past wrongs. It's about finding the peace, the sanctity, the reward for all you've put into your lives that hasn't come to fruition.
    You all have suffered greatly. We've felt it up here. We've heard your cries of pain, but our hands were tied. For most of you, it wasn't the time to give you what you needed. For those of you who've suffered, we did what we could to give you exactly what it took for you to make it through. Many weren't meant to make it through, and that's okay. That was their path. And they knew that going into their lives--though mortals tend to forget these things once they're born. The spirit realm has suffered losses as well..." Michael gazes into the distance, looking pensive.
    "2016 is the year that all those who have felt like everything was conspiring against them these past few years reap the harvest from all the growth they've been through and all the chaos they've endured. 2016 is the year that those who encountered challenges they didn't know how they'd deal with, finally rise above and bring forth into the world manifestations of these dreams they've held for so long. By enduring the storms, the dreams were made malleable, tempered, and shaped into a form that would be of use in the physical plane."
    "This goes along with the next theme: Hustle. 8 of Wands, for the tarot-minded among you. Move. Get going. Nose to the grindstone, balls to the wall, pedal to the metal, full speed ahead. Your dreams take action to manifest, and the Fire of God shall be under all of your asses." Michael smiles wolfishly. "Anyone who thought their dreams would land in their lap shall need to overcome that delusion in order to move forward. And unfortunately, not everyone will. Some will fail, and some will be stuck in past patterns and unable to move forward. The key to moving forward is to move. Keep your body healthy, and if you're able, physical exertion will help you stay grounded. Do what it takes to keep the blood pumping through your veins."
    "The final theme I'll mention is Changing of Leadership. Nation-states have elections, and some of those elections happen this year. That is normal--no prediction there. But most of these changes shall herald dramatic shifts in unprecedented ways. The very meaning of what many of these nations stand for shall come under scrutiny and be reinvented this year. Some of these transitions shall not be easy. Some of them shall be accompanied by violence, or disgrace. Many of these transitions shall be forced upon the leaders, and the shock waves shall ripple around the world.
    There is good news, however. Local communities, based on common interests and values, shall undergo changes in leadership that are overwhelmingly Just. Many of the current leaders within small communities have gained positions of repute more through charisma than ability to lead. Many of them have abused their power. Many have used their good will within these communities to serve their own interests, unconcerned with the good of all. And many, many of the leaders of small communities who have abused their power shall suffer a fall from grace. Others shall fill in the gaps. Individuals who choose to act justly, with the whole community in their hearts, shall find themselves in positions of leadership over the coming year. They shall find themselves well-regarded, and recognized for their righteous behaviors. This shall not be universal. Sometimes, stuck places and shadows are what the universe demands. But most shall find that when the groups they belong to undergo shifts around which names command respect, those who are most fit to serve the greater whole shall rise."
    Michael smiles at me, gently this time. "Relax, kiddo." He clasps a hand on my shoulder. "You spend so much time worrying about things. The time to worry is over. Now is the time to act." We stand up. He walks around the desk, and gives me a warm hug. "You got this, kiddo. You all got this."

Fin.

(To book Arthur Lipp-Bonewits for a tarot, astrology, or angel reading, you can email him here.)