Author Archives: Amanda Painter

From the Sept. 20 Climate Strike; photo by Amanda Painter.

Libra New Moon: Tipping Points, Reconciliation and Relationships

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By Amanda Painter

As I write this on Tuesday, the internet is blowing up over two things: 16-year-old Greta Thunberg’s impassioned speech to the UN, in which she spared nobody in her condemnation of leaders’ inaction to stem the climate catastrophe; and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that the U.S. House will open a formal impeachment inquiry against Pres. Trump. With the Sun on the Aries point — via the first degrees of Libra — and the Libra New Moon on Saturday still in that zone where personal and collective meet, this is fitting.

From the Sept. 20 Climate Strike; photo by Amanda Painter.

From the Sept. 20 Climate Strike; photo by Amanda Painter.

Libra’s hallmarks include balance, justice, initiative and — worth noting — the possibility for something to go either way. That’s the tricky thing about tipping points.

One would think that the tip would necessarily occur in the direction opposite to what has been experienced up until that moment. That might even be true for these two particular issues. Yet ‘the collective’ and the political machine seem to carry far more inertia than, say, personal tipping points.

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Get Ready for Get Real

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Tomorrow — Monday, Sept. 23 — the Sun enters Libra, heralding the equinox. It’s the beginning of a new season (autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, spring in the Southern Hemisphere), and therefore a natural check-in point.

Planet Waves

A student at the Portland, Maine, Climate Strike last Friday quoted teen climate activist Greta Thunberg. Photo by Amanda Painter.

As such, the Libra equinox is arriving as a pointed contrast to much of the energy that has colored recent weeks — and, really, much of the past year.

We’ve essentially been living the life of Jupiter in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces this entire time: those two gas giants made their first exact square on Jan. 13, the second was June 16, and the third and final exact contact was yesterday (Sept. 21).

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Saturn Direct and Jupiter square Neptune — Or: What You’ve Learned Over Summer Vacation

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By Amanda Painter

Saturn is now in direct motion in Capricorn, as of Wednesday; this begins the final approach to its conjunction with Pluto in January. On Saturday, Jupiter in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces will complete their last of three exact squares this year. Both of these events seem to ask: what have you been learning about yourself?

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Jupiter-Neptune, and Saturn Stations Direct

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Congratulations on making it through last week. I’m hearing from a number of people that it was an especially challenging build-up to the Full Moon, which peaked early on Saturday — as in, not a typical Pisces Full Moon at all. Personally, I found it to be marked by a variety of external stresses, internal emotional detours, and a number of interpersonal situations not working out as anticipated at all.

Planet Waves

One of the largest and longest-lived storms recorded in our solar system, first observed on Saturn in 2010; pictured here in false color. The blue stripe is the rings seen edge-on; that black band is their shadow. Photo by the Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA.

We can likely chalk a lot of that up to the primary feature of this week’s major astrology: Jupiter in Sagittarius in a long square to Neptune in Pisces (which was directly involved in this Full Moon).

On Saturday, Sept. 21, Jupiter and Neptune will make their exact square for the third and final time in this series; the other exact contacts were on Jan. 13 and June 16. Between now and Saturday, Saturn stations direct in mid-Capricorn — more on that in a moment. You might check your calendar or journal to see whether you can trace a progressing or recurring theme between the first two exact contacts of Jupiter-Neptune and now.

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Drop by Drop: the Pisces Full Moon

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In the midst of the building Jupiter-Neptune square, and with all the personal planets still in Virgo and still broadly opposing Neptune, this week brings yet another Pisces event. That would be the Pisces Full Moon, exact overnight Friday into Saturday (Sept. 14 at 12:33 am EDT / 4:32:39 UTC).

Planet Waves

Last month’s Full Moon over Casco Bay; photo by Amanda Painter.

With so much Neptune and all that Pisces, and an abundance earthy-yet-intellectual Virgo energy trying to make sense of it all, it might be worth considering a few watery concepts and sayings. A few of my favorites that come to mind:

— The gradual, persistent accumulative power of ‘drop by drop’.

— The sometimes-sudden, sometimes-imperceptible action of erosion.

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Things We Notice, Even When it’s Hard to See

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Dear Friend and Reader:

As we continue to move through the current ‘wait and see’ astrology related to planets aspecting Neptune, the news offered at least a couple of stories this week worth touching on. One is Hurricane Dorian; the other is a new development in the summer-long protests in Hong Kong (Brexit-related news will have to wait for another essay).

Sun shining over Hurricane Dorian in a photo taken by Garrett Black, a first lieutenant and aerial reconnaissance weather officer in the USAF.

I’m not going to try to figure out if the astrology could have predicted Hurricane Dorian. From what I understand, the astrology of natural disasters is complicated, though it often appears easy to make correlations after the fact.

Yet, related to the ‘time will tell’ theme of this week, it remains to be seen just how difficult the recovery and rebuilding phase will be for the hardest-hit communities. Hurricane Dorian hovered over the Bahamas for about three days — a terrifying length of time to endure such high winds and rain — resulting in thousands of homes destroyed and at least 23 deaths recorded so far there.

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Navigating an Impressionistic Sea

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By Amanda Painter

Have you ever seen an image of an outrigger canoe? Attached to the main portion of the boat is a smaller hull (without seating) that sets out a ways from the primary hull. These boats were developed by early Austronesian-speaking peoples of the Southeast Asian islands for sea travel; the design — and its offshoots, such as catamarans — continue to be popular.

Photo by Amanda Painter

Fire engine abstract; photo by Amanda Painter

Something about this week’s astrology reminds me of an outrigger canoe.

Mainly, it’s that the Virgo planets opposing Neptune are receiving some stability from Saturn in Capricorn. The relationship from Virgo to Capricorn is a trine between earth signs: a relationship of harmony and support, but not great power.

In an outrigger canoe, all the power to move the boat comes from the people in the main hull, paddling. Nobody is paddling in the second hull; it has no seats for people. It’s strictly to help keep the boat balanced and afloat on ocean swells.

The outrigger part of the boat offers stability, but not a guarantee. As we know, the ocean is vast, deep and very, very powerful.

You could say the same about Neptune, particularly in Pisces. It might not be a ‘stormy’ placement. But it can describe a high probability of disorientation. Without landmarks or literal stars visible — such as on a dark, cloudy day — early ocean navigation (pre-compass and sextant) could be incredibly difficult.

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