Now that Jupiter has completed its annual sign change (this time from Libra to Scorpio), it’s time to look around. Maybe it’s because Mars (in Virgo) was moving to oppose Chiron (in Pisces) when Jupiter made its ingress. Maybe it’s something else, but current events do seem to feature a lot of what you might frankly (if not politely) call pissing contests.

Predictably, many participants in these diuretic exchanges are men who are in possession of power. Almost uniformly, the parties to this seemingly expanding pattern of conduct have better things to do.

This is not to say anger doesn’t have its place. If there is anybody not angry about something at this time, it’s likely they are either profoundly evolved or not paying attention. Indeed, it would be fair to say that anger is sometimes a crucial factor in getting things done.

In practical experience, however, rage tends to be more corrosive than constructive. Especially so if grudge comes along for the ride. Even more so if agendas contested through excessive verbal urination (comparative manhood, for example) are not nearly so important as more worthy issues being neglected (like survival).

So, the question logically comes up: Can we really expect this gratuitous, unending and public exchange of euphemistic bodily fluids to continue unabated for the next twelve months? Furthermore, is there anything any of us can do about it?

We can invest some hope in the late, great Rachelle (“Rocky”) Gardiner’s assertion that astrology is not destiny. You can also do your part by refusing to participate with petty pissers in kind.

Instead, you can direct your attention to what is probably an abundance of authentically vital issues in your personal life. You can also, if you are so moved (and in your own way), insist that your putative leaders be just as accountable, mature and responsible as they expect you to be.

There are too many people dying unjustly, and before their time. The ugly stench of bigotry is exacerbating by the day. Wealth and power continue to conceal, excuse, and sometimes even glorify serial abuse. Love and tolerance are increasingly being disparaged, even (or perhaps especially) among those whose ostensible spiritual practice is based on exactly those two principles.

There is work to be done. Real workers take care of their personal needs privately and effectively in order to be productive. Yet, somehow, a lot of people who should be working for you are in fact defiling public life and the greater good because they have been enabled to believe it’s all about them.

If you would like to see the pissing contests stop, don’t support them. Don’t encourage them. Don’t respond in kind. Work the upside of both Jupiter and Scorpio: do your part to get things done, even if it means a wiser use of anger. Encourage the selfless and comfort the needy. Leave the polluters of public discourse with nobody left to listen.

Jupiter in Scorpio has started. When it is over, it will have been what we made it. For now, it’s pretty clear what it could, but does not have to, be.

Offered In Service

By Amanda Painter

Recent news events have a lot of people either feeling activated to fight for change, or overwhelmed and seeking emotional refuge. It may seem like there’s not a lot of room in the middle for things like connecting with others, making art, making love or integrating everything that’s rushing at us. And yet, today’s astrology is suggesting some of these very things through two major aspects.

The February 2015 conjunction of Venus and Mars, with a crescent Moon mimicking this week’s Full Moon thanks to a phenomenon known as “Earthshine.” Photo by Amanda Painter.

These aspects happen nearly simultaneously, essentially making them one event: Venus conjunct Mars in Virgo at 12:53 pm EDT (16:53 UTC); and the Aries Full Moon, exact at 2:40 pm EDT (18:40 UTC).

Eric, in covering this week’s astrology, wrote on Monday about the ways that conjunctions (two planets coming together in the same degree of a sign) differ from oppositions (the Full Moon being an opposition between the Moon in one sign and the Sun in the opposite sign). For example, he notes that Full Moons not only represent a peak of heightened emotional energy, but also ” distinguish between the energies of the signs involved, in this case Aries and Libra. They pull the picture into high contrast.” With Aries and Libra, that can mean the contrast between individual needs and balance in a relationship.

He also writes, “Conjunctions guide us to blend, morph and merge the energies involved; in this case Mars, which rules Aries, and Venus, which rules Libra.” There’s the idea here of integrating female and male, receptive and active. And since this conjunction occurs in Virgo, that integration would seem to be mental and yet manifesting physically somehow.

Yet, you might be reading this and thinking, “Ok, but what do I do with all of that?” The Venus-Mars conjunction and the Aries Full Moon seem to have opposite agendas — at least on the surface. And while the Full Moon might be more obviously palpable, Venus and Mars are not exactly background players; our inner female and male are core energies that directly influence how we see ourselves and how we move through our daily lives.

Interestingly, one of the heavyweights of the solar system is in contact with both aspects: Pluto in Capricorn. Although the contact is not exact, Pluto is definitely involved: making a T-square with the Sun and Moon (tension), and making a trine to Venus and Mars (harmony).

Pluto seems to be suggesting you go deeper with everything that is coming up for you this week. Be willing to look beneath the surface of any apparent conflict, disagreement or stalemate you’re caught up in. How deep are those roots, and what’s truly at stake? Perhaps go beyond how you dress and what pronouns you use for yourself to allow your receptive and active sides to work in clearer harmony in everything you do. That is, regardless of what society says ‘gender balance’ is, what feels balanced, integrated and aligned to you?

In other words, I think Pluto’s contact with both the Aries Full Moon and the Venus-Mars conjunction is about intensifying the transformational power of these two aspects in tandem. Do you feel like some kind of subterranean pressure is pushing you from within to release what’s not working in your relationships (specifically how you are in your relationships) and to create something better? Is the desire to merge disparate facets of yourself (or even to merge with another person, or with your creative process) compelling to the point of almost feeling like lust?

Pluto is a strong force; handled well, it can be an incredible catalyst for growth — though that growth is rarely simple, and is not a one-way process. It asks you to listen to your deeper needs honestly; and those deeper needs might not look much like the needs you’re used to articulating, if you’ve gotten too focused on symptoms and surface reactions. Particularly with this Full Moon, Pluto seems to be a reminder to be accountable for your actions, and to beware of falling into any kind of victim/perpetrator dynamic or compulsive behavior.

Trine the Venus-Mars conjunction in Virgo, Pluto would seem to add extra body (and all that physical bodies imply) to what might otherwise be a fairly intellectual or detached exercise in gender integration. I’m talking about: meaningful emotional expression (especially of love or lust); making emotionally deep art (especially if your preferred forms of creativity are physically active — think sculpture, dance, acting, etc.); the ambition to walk your talk in terms of how your own aims and the social good align.

Finally, today’s astrology is a reminder that there are conscious and subconscious (or unconscious, or semi-conscious) facets to just about everything that we do and feel. Sometimes we’re more aware of those dynamics than others. When we are, it opens us up to a whole new set of tools, a whole new level of being present in the world. With that deeper presence, your choices have more potential influence. Use it well, and use it consciously.

With the Moon waxing through watery Pisces all day today, it would not be surprising if both your inner and outer environments featured a significant emotional component. Shortly before 4 pm EDT (20:39:31 UTC) tomorrow, the Moon will move on to Aries, where Thursday’s Full Moon — with the Moon opposing the Libra Sun — will take place.

With any Full Moon comes an indication of climax, but not conclusion. That’s because a Full Moon is commonly recognized as the middle (not the end) of any given lunar cycle.

The two weeks following a Full Moon tend to be underrated. Perhaps it is because the Moon rises later each night. Hence, during the two weeks or so between a Full Moon and the next New Moon, it becomes more and more likely that you will go to sleep before the Moon becomes visible.

While that which is out of sight can easily be out of mind, it is not necessarily so. Your mind does not turn off while you sleep; it simply processes information in a different way compared to your waking hours.

As you will probably recognize from evaluating the content of dreams that you recall from slumber, a lot of the material commonly relates to your experiences from the day (or days) before. For what the waking mind struggles to resolve, the sleeping mind can very often provide some insight.

Working with dreams requires some intent. It is also necessary that you be as shrewd as you hopefully are when interacting with somebody who is attempting to sell (or convince you of) something. If ever there were a time to remember and apply those two principles, it would be during what remains of this week.

Based on what the Moon will be doing in context with the rest of the sky between now and Sunday, you can expect some rather strident sales pitches to be part of both your inner and outer climate. Given where the Moon will be in its own cycle during the same period, it would serve your long-term well being if you remain engaged while refraining from immediately buying in.

This does not mean you should procrastinate. What needs to be done will always remain so regardless of astrology. In matters where discretion is involved, however, it would probably do nobody any good if you were to rush to judgement over the next handful of days.

Instead, explore. Be curious. Note all your waking mind gathers. Consider everything your sleeping mind offers. Listen to others, not just for data, but also to put yourself in their place on the spectrum between highly reactive and unresponsive. Then, work with your imagination.

Imagine where you would like to end up on the continuum between any extremes you are observing and/or personally experiencing. Finally, give yourself at least five days (and as long as two weeks) to change your mind before taking a stand.

The times in which we are now living are trying – there is no denying that. Yet, no trial can result in a just end without the patient application of due process. If you can but facilitate that process for yourself, patiently allowing for one step at a time, the beginning of the next lunar cycle could very well come with the seeds of genuine wisdom.

And some authentic wisdom from you is something the rest of us could use right now.

Offered In Service

To some extent, we have all seen (or should have seen) the present day coming. Those of us who are older are (or should be) seeing it come around. It is not a question of whether some rather substantial changes are going to happen. It is a matter of how. If the current astrology is any indication, you matter.

This week, the so-called “personal planets” (which usually can be said to include the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars) are playing a substantial role in the astrology. Even so, that role is in a longer-term context.

That context is being provided by the interpersonal planets (Saturn and Jupiter), along with the planets that correlate more closely to the history of established cultures and nations (including, but not limited to, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto).

As if to initiate the “personal” side of things for this coming week, Mercury will leave Virgo behind to join the Sun in Libra shortly after 8:42 pm EDT tonight (which translates to seconds after 00:42 UTC tomorrow morning).

In the meantime, the Sun and Moon are gradually moving farther apart even as Venus and Mars are moving closer together. On Thursday, the combined motions of all the personal planets will reach an implicit climax.

Venus and Mars come together in the same degree of the same sign — for what both astrologers and astronomers call a conjunction — roughly every other year. The last time was 2015. The next time will be on Thursday, in Virgo.

About two hours after the Venus-Mars conjunction, the Libra Sun and Aries Moon will reach their monthly opposition (or, as it is usually called: a Full Moon). That’s a lot of astrological activity in one day, but it’s not about one day.

It took nearly two years for Venus and Mars to get to where they are now. Likewise, it’s been about a year since Mercury toured Libra, and nearly a month since the last Full Moon. Very much like the prospect of substantial change, the astrological events having to do with personal planets next week have all been coming for a while.

With those events will implicitly come personal choices. In general, there will be no clearly “right” or “wrong” electives. In most cases there be three ways you can go, and the consequences of each way.

First, you can act to favor going back to the way things were before now. Or, you will be able to endeavor to keep things the way they are now. The upside to either path will be the lure of familiar outcomes.

Both scenarios, however, will almost certainly require you to put more energy into the effort than you will get out of it. That’s because you will be resisting change during a time when there is no longer any excuse for not seeing it coming.

The third path is not passively letting change happen to you, either. Rather, it is being receptive (Venus, or the Moon if you will) to something different from before. It is also being both thoughtful (Mercury) and active (Mars) in determining what that difference is. Of course, this approach will have its challenges.

It is not easy to break personal habits and patterns, even if you are dissatisfied with them. In addition, uncertainty comes with the territory of moving forward.

All that being said, there is one clear reward of electing neither to go back nor to stay in the same place. It is the satisfaction of knowing that you are now participating in what will one day be seen as what was coming, even if all you reshape is your own life.

Offered In Service

By Amanda Painter

We’ve been experiencing a week of highly charged, transformational astrology. And whether you’ve been experiencing it in acutely personal, direct ways or mainly watching it play out on the nightly news in frightening and heartbreaking events, chances are you’ve noticed the universe inviting you to pay attention and investigate with your full awareness.

Photo by Amanda Painter

But first things first: take a deep, slow breath; and another one. Take one more. There. I don’t know about you, but it’s been that kind of week for me.

Looking at the (hopefully) more manageable personal level of astrology, two main events catch my eye as we head toward the weekend. Both speak in one way or another about relationships and the act of relating.

The first is an opposition between Venus in Virgo and Neptune in Pisces, exact Friday. This is just the latest in a series of oppositions to Neptune since about mid-August (Vesta, the Sun, Mercury, Mars and now Venus) that have perhaps contributed to peaks of confusion or uncertainty.

In the case of Venus-Neptune, that confusion plays out in the realm of relationships — particularly those involving ‘romantic’ love or sexual energy (or both, of course). This is the ‘beware of rose-colored glasses’ aspect. Neptune can make it incredibly difficulty to see the object of your desire clearly — and that can contribute to setting expectations the other person cannot hope to fulfill (and likely are oblivious to).

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Nobody can credibly deny the reality of seasons. Likewise, there is no disputing how seasons are driven by the Sun’s relationship with the Earth. Yet, you are constantly challenged by practices and convictions in direct conflict with those two facts. It need not be so, however. Intrinsic to astrology is an alternative point of view: the truth.

When the Sun enters a cardinal sign on astrology’s zodiac, a new season is simultaneously initiated and recognizable by what you experience of the Sun — no matter where on Earth you are. That’s the truth.

Today, shortly after 4 pm EDT (20:01:42 UTC) the Sun enters the cardinal sign Libra. At the same time, it will be one of two days in the entire year when the Sun is directly overhead at the equator. That’s the truth too.

In addition, everybody on Earth is receiving an equal portion of sunlight today. What’s more, sunsets are now taking place precisely in the west, and the Sun is rising exactly in the east, regardless of your location. Taken all together, these simple facts do more than constitute an equinox.

The basic solar data evident today (all of which you can apprehend and confirm for yourself) separates truth from fiction.

Revealed as an (admittedly convenient) fiction is the human construct of time zones. Regardless of what your clock reads at the time of today’s Libra equinox, you will experience it at precisely the same moment as anybody and everybody else. In other words, at least one (and implicitly all) of the artifices which divide rather than unite us in our individual experiences are basically lies.

Those lies, as it turns out, serve to empower and enrich only a comparative few while perniciously yoking the minds and lives of many. Just like monetary currencies, and nations, and war.

It’s enough to make an open mind wonder how anybody can be convinced to kill and/or die for such plainly manufactured falsehoods which are, at best, inconsistent with the seasons and the Sun. Yet, vast numbers of people are so convinced.

Some even say that such clearly contrived and unnatural predilections are somehow “hard wired” or even fated. Yet, even cursory observations of the seasons and the Sun reveal such a dim view of humanity to be the biggest lie of all. Conflict, bigotry, hatred and separation are choices which are (but need not be) constantly remade.

On the other hand, the ancient (and now, often disparaged ) discipline of astrology is in perfect synchrony with the Sun, the seasons, and their self-evident truths.

Take for example, the famous (and often discredited) fact that we are all created equal. Witness the frequently contested certainty that all of us are endowed by our very existence (regardless of what brought you to exist) with certain inalienable rights.

On an equinox, those self-evident certainties are verified by the Sun, and not just symbolically. Nobody can conceal the Sun’s support of those truths from anybody who bothers to simply look. Furthermore, every occasion of an equinox implies a new start which gives you and everybody else a chance to begin living in better harmony with veracity.

So, today of all days, look. See the truth of the seasons, and their connection with the Sun as what they are: the backbone of astrology.

Look too, and see the lies, especially those which keep much of the world angry or worried. Your purpose here is not to experience or inflict pain and fear. Anybody who says so is a liar.

There are other reasons for your existence. Just as with equality and inalienable rights, they should be self-evident. Up to now, those reasons have frequently been concealed by no small amount of stubborn attachment to pernicious conditioning which does only a few any good. But periodically (such as now), the truth is brought to you by the Sun – provided you will simply have it.

Offered In Service