It’s difficult to say exactly when it happened. Somewhere along the line, love and money became contenders for humanity’s universal language. They have a lot an common with each other. For example, the distribution of both is not equal. Also, nearly anybody knows either upon sight. Yet, it would also be difficult to find two things more different.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing love and money have in common is their mutability. Anybody of a certain age knows love is manifold. There are even compelling, but less than empirical, accounts of love having manifested in living flesh. Arguably, however, love at its most viable is without tangible form.

Money has also transformed in many ways, uncounted times. Even so, there has been a through-line of sorts. First, perhaps, essential goods and services served as means of exchange. Later came agreement regarding the value of uncommon (and often reasonably uniform) materials. Manufactured currency followed.

Then, in one short lifetime, money has somehow been abstracted out of tangible existence while losing none of its potency. Were you to total all of today’s monetary transactions in the world, close to one hundred percent of them would be entirely digital from start to finish.

Now, one speculative way of explaining the times in which we live is to say that money has manifested in the living flesh. Granted, that is a distressing, and spurious, possibility. Nonetheless there would be at least two upsides were it true. First, there would be yet another way to tell the difference. More importantly, were money to somehow take life, it would be tangible evidence of the power of your mind.

For love and money have yet another thing in common. Both depend on your mind as at least a tributary to their reality. History is full of examples of what happens when people no longer believe in money. Unfortunately, that is also true of love.

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Beginning tomorrow morning at the latest (depending on your time zone) we will have again entered the roughly two-week period that typically separates matched eclipses. Some of us here at Planet Waves have taken to calling this period ‘the eclipse zone’ because (just as Rod Serling described his conception of “The Twilight Zone”) it is largely a dimension of mind.

Just as with love and money, nearly everybody knows the Sun and Moon on sight. When eclipses happen, it is because the Sun and Moon align with two invisible and intangible (albeit calculated) points called the lunar nodes. Hence, eclipses combine the same elements as love and money: that which is plain to see and that which cannot be seen at all.

For technical reasons that you will not be taxed with here, the particular eclipse zone we are all about to enter and travel through together has (among its many melodic lines), a distinct astrological tone. It will implicitly be an opportune time to make your own mind up somehow regarding love and/or money — plausibly becoming a bit more powerful as regards to both. If you can keep just that one theme in mind over the next two weeks or so, chances are you will emerge having somehow transformed yourself.

Offered In Service

By Amanda Painter

This Friday at 7:33 pm EST (00:33 UTC Saturday) we have a Full Moon in Leo (with the Sun in Aquarius). But this is not just any Full Moon; it is also a penumbral lunar eclipse. And it’s an eclipse whose chart is beautifully illustrating our collective moment.

Detail from a Chenrezig Sand Mandala at the UK House of Commons, during the visit of the Dalai Lama on May 21, 2008. Photo by Colonel Warden/Wikimedia Commons under CC license.

I say this because this opposition of the Sun and Moon is making almost a mandala of aspects. When I printed out the chart and circled the major points in aspect to the Sun and Moon, the impression I got was one of balanced factors all converging on a center point.

Of course, that center point is you. And while some of the aspects to the Full Moon indicate harmony and flow, others suggest a kind of uncomfortable process of continual adjustment. When you put those two types of energy together it can equal some actual progress and movement.

Yet those energies need to be actualized somehow. In other words, the key is for you to be aware enough to engage actively with the representative situations in your life — both personal and collective. Having the Moon near its own North Node (a hypothetical point related to its orbit) tells us that this idea of intentional engagement is a hallmark of this eclipse: North Node eclipses relate to dharma, or to moving forward along your soul’s path of development.

In other words, it’s time to step up.

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Long ago in the 20th century, live television brought the weekly blessing of Gilda Radner. One of the recurring characters Ms. Radner brought to life in the early days of Saturday Night Live was Roseanne Roseannadanna, who proved that a sufficiently perceptive and fearless “nasty woman” could be a very good thing indeed.

One of the summary lines regularly repeated by Ms. Roseannadanna was the resigned yet cheerful declaration that “it’s always something.” Crafted as only Gilda could, that “something” reliably took the form of a hilarious (if dissonant) grace.

For what is grace if not a sense of being levitated by your perception of someone? Often, such an example is the result of refining discipline. Exceptional cases, such as that of Gilda Radner, go a step farther to show grace in unexpected ways. The elegance is hidden. Patterns of expectation are broken. New possibilities are revealed. Delight prevails, and gratitude results.

Earlier today, Mercury broke a nearly three-month pattern of astrological sign resonance by entering Aquarius. At the end of this week, the Sun and Moon will depart from a pattern of almost five months, with the first of a pair of eclipses — a lunar eclipse at the Leo Full Moon.

Then, well before this year grows old, the two perpetually opposing zodiac points called the lunar nodes (near which eclipses always take place) will themselves initiate a new motif. The lunar nodes will change signs for the first time since 2015: from the Virgo-Pisces axis to Leo-Aquarius.

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Given its correlation with all things mental, it’s appropriate that Mercury is implicitly leading the way. After all, nearly anything achieved (including grace) must first be conceived.

To have the Sun and Moon fall into step with Mercury so soon after Mercury moves on to Aquarius is a demonstration of how the connection between mind and consciousness can indeed be a two-way street.

The nodes are the two locations where lunar and solar emblems of consciousness align in eclipse. When they follow with a sign change of their own, a crucial further step (with the new perspective it provides) will almost certainly be available for you to take.

To be among those taking the next step would require some grace of you. Based on the astrology, you would not have to be exceptional to show some of the same finesse with which Gilda Radner found her way into so many hardened hearts. Indeed, you would only have to consciously take exception. Rather fall into lockstep with an accepted pattern, you would at least have to initiate an exploration of other ways to be — ways that would also serve to lift others.

Then, should you choose to do so, you would need to go only one step farther than refining (but not necessarily revealing) the elegance of that special “something,” which has always been yours to share. Ultimately, you could do more than just make a difference for others. You might even find a way, to the liberated delight of everybody else, to enjoy being a bit more nasty yourself.

Offered In Service

By Amanda Painter

With the Sun reaching the midpoint of Aquarius, a ‘fixed’ sign, we reach the middle of this season — ‘fixing’ into place. You might say we’re also watching the new presidential administration taking steps to similarly fix itself into the political and social landscape. Yet our astrology is still leaning more heavily on the mutable signs (which are adaptable) and the cardinal signs (which are about initiative), and socially we seem to be reflecting this energy.

Photo by Amanda Painter, Jan. 21, 2017.

For example, there’s still significant, long-term activity in Pisces and Sagittarius. Yet what seems to be really ringing the bells as we head into the weekend are the planets currently in — or newly entering — the cardinal signs.

This is stoking the imperatives to act and to express ourselves.

All the while, that Aquarius Sun represents (at its best) our consciousness of the need for collective, humanitarian awareness and forward-thinking ideas.

One standout feature of the astrology today into tomorrow is a grand cross in the cardinal signs. This is made up of Eris in Aries (with the Aries Moon, briefly), Vesta in Cancer, Jupiter in Libra and Mercury in Capricorn — all in the 22-24 degree range of their signs.

Grand crosses are considered to be stable patterns, in terms of their energy. Yes, there may be some pressure and confrontation, and this pattern can represent obstacles that need to be overcome. But in cardinal signs, the outlet for that energy and tension is action — and our current cultural situation is nothing if not an open invitation to act, with the Sun serving as a reminder to balance action with responsibility.

It might help to take Mercury, Vesta, Jupiter and Eris as a collection of questions to consider:

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The Sun will reach the midpoint of Aquarius on Friday. According to Zhongxian Wu (in his book The 12 Chinese Animals), the “JieQi” system of Chinese cosmology considers the new year to begin when the Sun reaches “the celestial longitude of 315 degrees” — which corresponds to the middle of Aquarius in western astrology.

Interestingly, the middle degree of all four “fixed” signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) is also meaningful for western astrologers. That’s because the Sun in the middle of a fixed sign corresponds to the exact midpoint of the current season.

Hence, on Friday, we will be precisely halfway between the Capricorn solstice (when the Sun first entered the cardinal sign Capricorn) and the vernal equinox (when the Sun next enters cardinal Aries).

For many ancient traditions, and most modern astrologers, the tipping point of any given season is an auspicious time. Even today, such “cross quarter” days still receive vestigial, albeit trivial, recognition. Halloween (correlating closely with the Sun in the middle of fixed Scorpio) is one example. Upcoming Groundhog Day observations will represent yet another instance.

There is a reason cross-quarter days were sacred to our ancestors. If you have to grow your own food (as has been the case for nearly all human beings until relatively recently), keeping track of the seasons is absolutely vital. Now, even though the cultural context has changed, the implications of where the Sun is remain important.

When the Sun enters a cardinal sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn) all beings on Earth are connected through a common experience of the Sun. The Capricorn solstice in December, for example, featured both a sunrise and a sunset taking place as far south as they will ever get.

Every day since the Sun entered Capricorn, the Sun has risen and set farther and father north — regardless of who you are, or where you live. Similarly, the upcoming Aries equinox will find the Sun rising precisely east and setting exactly west, with a corresponding equality of day and night for everybody.

It follows, then, that cross-quarter days resonate unavoidably with the turning of the seasons. As with any other halfway point, the theme is one of both perspective on the past and anticipation of the future. This year, the astrological context of the Sun at the midpoint of Aquarius implies something even further: the importance of how you think and what you feel.

As of today, all of the traditional sign-ruling objects except for the Sun and Saturn are in, or will soon be in, cardinal signs. The Moon enters Aries today and will remain there until late Thursday or early Friday (depending on your time zone). Mercury is in Capricorn. Mars has been in Aries since the weekend. Jupiter is in Libra. Finally, before Friday is over, Venus will be in Aries too.

Throw in Uranus (continuously in Aries for nearly six years now) and Pluto (continuously in Capricorn since 2008), and it’s plain to see that the sky is full of cardinal energy. This energy corresponds to both new beginnings and common connections.

As the Sun’s emblem of consciousness moves toward the point of essentially bringing all of that cardinal energy to fuller awareness, the Moon (correlating with your feelings) and Mercury (having to do with how you think) are playing especially important roles. The Moon, for its part, is waxing. With every passing night this week, the illuminated portion of the Moon will grow larger and larger, implying feelings getting stronger and stronger. Jupiter opposing the Aries Moon indicates even further amplification.

In the meantime, Mercury is moving faster by the day. A fleeter Mercury implies a more active mind. A rapidly reactive mind is great for quick thinking, but not so good for careful and patient reflection.

You don’t need to look very far into current events to see how the combination of reactive thinking and strong feelings are playing out. As this week goes on, so likely will the trend. Fortunately, when it comes to how you think and what you feel, you have a choice.

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Being aware of your choices when it comes to sharing your thoughts and feelings will be especially important this week. In the days to come, every rush to judgment will implicitly have the potential of initiating events that could easily get out of hand before they run their course.

While there is little or nothing you can do with regards to the decisions others make, you explicitly have it within your power to regulate and direct what you think and how you feel. In doing so, you can support (rather than undermine) both your intent and your interests.

It is almost certain everybody will not be exercising the same degree of care. Some will set unfortunate precedents. Others will sabotage themselves. You, however, need not be among them. If you have simply retained what has happened for you since the third week of December, you will have the information you need to keep your perspective solid and sound.

With a firm grasp of the immediate past, you will be prepared to go a crucial step further. For it is those who concentrate their energy on what they can change who will be most effective when it comes to both anticipating and defining seasons yet to come.

Offered In Service

Astrology has a proven core of planets, signs and houses. After that are objects and concepts in various stages of being proven. In the week to come, the proven and unproven will begin a series of interactions that will define the timeframe from today to the next equinox. Events that correlate with those interactions will be instructive as regards to the concept of power.

Over the last several thousand years (at least), a single thread has connected a lot of deep thinkers. Tellingly, most of those intellectuals have been men. At least one fiber in that long thread has been an aspiration to understand the defining impulse at the root of what it is to be human.

Among just a few examples, Plato clearly implied that human beings are fundamentally political beings. Freud postulated that the single impulse underlying all human behavior (and to which all other human impulses are subordinated) is Eros — basically, sex. Perhaps most influential in our time, Nietzsche singled out what he called a “will to power” (which is at least convincing when you consider that power will make you politically dominant and also provide access to lots of sex).

Then again, it would be fair to assert that politics, sex and power are not fundamentally human at all — that love in fact conquers all. Nonetheless, for centuries, those who have hitched their wagon to raw power in and of itself have held a very deep, broad and consistent sway.

If there is anything to astrology, we are implicitly living in a time that will go a long way towards proving whether or not we are (in essence) power tools.

The long, deep background for this era is implicitly being played out by objects at the edges of the solar system (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris now foremost among them). Yet because those distant planets are all of relatively recent discovery, it would also be fair to say that the nature of that defining long game is actually a dynamic process in progress with an uncertain outcome.

It would also be reasonable to assert that astrology’s proven core constituents (the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn — in context with the signs and houses) are themselves subject to a range of fluctuations (or cycles), and maybe even evolution.

Then, finally, there is the ultimate arbiter of all existential reality (in which astrology plays a currently underrated part): you. You and all of our kind are undeniably at a crucial point in the process of proving what we most fundamentally are.

Beginning with the Aquarius New Moon today (or tomorrow, depending on your time zone), and ending with the vernal equinox in March, could very plausibly be a vital timeframe in this crucial point of humanity’s existence.

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Breaking that timeframe down further, it would be essential to note that the ingress of Mars into Aries (where Uranus and Eris wait), a few hours after the Aquarius New Moon, will express as a lot of energy in the world.

Mercury’s long-deferred conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn this weekend could also be interpreted as energy of a different sort — having to do with the inner life that individuates each living being in the world.

All of which leads back to power. Without energy, there is no power. If that energy is directed (something you can actually do, as least in regards to your inner life), then the fundamental nature of power itself is transformed from master to servant.

Finally, should love prove itself capable of directing that energy, then all of intellect’s formidably formative influence up to this point would be integrated, while still being honored into an existence that you can master. If you were to do just that, it would contribute to make you and all of humanity so much more than a long line of really smart guys ever thought to give us (and you) credit for.

To think you are somehow unimportant, somehow powerless — even meaningless — is to all but prove yourself that way. Yet, you have a choice. You can think, and prove, yourself otherwise. According to what’s going on above, the next six weeks or so will provide you with a very appropriate timeframe to get started proving yourself the equal (if not superior) of what all that those smart guys ever amounted to.

Offered In Service

By Amanda Painter

Tomorrow is the Aquarius New Moon: when the Sun and Moon form a conjunction to begin a new lunar cycle. Curiously, the Sun and Moon themselves are not making any major aspects to any major planets; the action seems to be happening elsewhere in the chart, which is an interesting kind of commentary in and of itself.

Jan. 21, 2017, Portland, Maine; photo by Amanda Painter.

For one thing, it’s rather fitting that the sign associated with groups (which is a collective of individuals) is hosting a New Moon whose chart emphasizes events other than the New Moon itself.

I read it as a metaphor for the importance of community awareness even at one’s most introspective moments. For example, events of the past week could be prompting you to do some deep questioning; it’s possible you’ve been drawn into old patterns of fear and anger; maybe you wonder about your effectiveness as one individual in the face of a political machine that is massively larger than you are.

It would be very easy to give up and retreat into the confines of your own mind. Except for one thing: there is just so much energized social and political activism happening right now.

Looking within will give you one view; looking around you will give you another view — one that’s possibly very motivating in its opportunities to get involved. The two forms of awareness have to work together.

So while the New Moon Friday night at 7:07 pm EST (00:07 UTC Saturday) is a natural time to quiet yourself and look inward, it would make a lot of sense if that introspection also points you back outward — to your local community, to the national stage, to global issues — and informs you somehow about how you, as a unique individual, can contribute to the work being done to benefit the common good.

Remember, Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington and its many sister marches was only the beginning. It was a rallying cry; and now the real work must begin. Some of that will be individual work; some of it will be collective. All of it is necessary.

As for the other astrological things happening in the Aquarius New Moon chart, one is that Mercury finally leaves its post-retrograde echo (or shadow) phase several hours before the New Moon. This means that Mercury (in mid-Capricorn) is finally traveling over some new zodiacal territory. If you’ve been dealing with reverberations from its retrograde for the last two-and-a-half weeks or so, you should be able to tie up any loose ends you’re still wrangling. It’s also a symbol of a refreshed mental space, which feels long overdue.

Just twenty minutes after Mercury slides free, Venus in Pisces makes a square to Saturn in Sagittarius. At first glance, this aspect reminds me of something an old friend is fond of saying: “You only truly have what you give!” Whether you’re talking about love, money, compassion or something else, it’s a pretty sound way to approach life. Generosity tends to open the way for receptivity. But stinginess closes you off to receiving just as much as it closes you off to giving — because it’s an energetic cycle.

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Yet, taking a closer look at the signs Venus and Saturn are in, another layer of meaning comes through.

Taking into consideration the social and political context I was just discussing, let me ask you this: are certain friends and loved ones not living up to your moral, political or ideological standards of “love and compassion for all”?

Saturn in Sagittarius can indicate a rigid and self-righteous belief system. Venus in Pisces can be seen as love and compassion for all, all the time. In a square aspect, we get an image of tension looking for a path of integration.

So, where are you at with those concepts? Is your own capacity to love and empathize feeling a little constricted in our hyperpolarized political climate, especially in the Aquarius-ruled environment of digital media? Do you feel like you could use a reminder of what compassion for those who piss you off and push your buttons feels like?

I’m not suggesting that you offer yourself up to bullies and abusers, by any means. Healthy boundaries are important; Saturn can help with that, as can the Aquarius New Moon itself (traditionally ruled, as it is, by Saturn — with modern ruler Uranus sparking progressive ideas). But if you’ve noticed any rigidity in your assessments of people you’re close to, or if your current zealotry on some issues is feeling a little myopic, it’s okay to take a step back and self-assess.

What are your deepest relational ethics, and are you working in alignment with them? Is there any sense of lack within yourself that’s influencing your interactions with loved ones — and if so, can you ease up on that and find where you can allow more generosity? Apropos of the New Moon, a little solo time could give you the space you need to recalibrate.

A brief metaphysical pause from the fray could be just the ticket to feeling ready to re-engage with your community, whatever that looks like for you.