Category Archives: Columnist

Solar Virgo: What Will You Harvest?

By Amanda Painter

Tomorrow the Sun enters Virgo, at 6:02 am EDT (10:01:52 UTC), and begins the last sign of the current season. Speaking as one living in the Northern Hemisphere, I am wondering where the hell summer has gone. I’m not quite ready for the cooler nights we’ve had lately where I live, or for the Sun to be setting closer to 7:30 than 8:30 in the evening. But ready or not, here we are — along with the benefits of this part of the season, namely the harvest.

Bumblebee on a bachelor’s button; photo by Amanda Painter.

Along with the literal harvest of vegetables, grains and fruits, the sheaves of wheat in the arms of the Virgo virgin also symbolize what Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker describe as “the wisdom that is harvested in the fields of experience.”

They add that one lesson of this sign is that “although the body must serve the mind, ultimately the mind must serve the spirit.”

I wonder if this idea about Virgo relates to its association with healing professions and processes — not simply in the sense of one part of Self being ‘in service’ to another part. But rather, in the sense that when we get those various parts of ourselves working together in such a relationship, healing occurs. With our own inner healing and harmony, we’re able to hold space for others to do the same and can model how it feels and what it looks like.

Continue reading →

Aquarius Full Moon (and Friends)

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

Mercury leaves its post-retrograde shadow phase this morning, freeing up thought patterns and communication just in time for today’s Full Moon in Aquarius. The Aquarius Moon opposes the Leo Sun and Venus at 8:29 am EDT (12:29:08 UTC), which means the aspect will be separating and the energy beginning to dissipate during the day.

A sunflower demonstrates the Golden Ratio; photo by Amanda Painter

That could translate into any seemingly stuck situations starting to resolve — though this appears to be a Full Moon with less of a conflict/tension signature compared to many other Full Moons.

This one looks more social, with the energy peak having come Wednesday night. Yet even as the Moon moves along from this opposition, the Sun and Venus will still be closely aligned — offering warm, heartfelt social vibes for a few days. Mercury finally treading new ground in Leo describes lively and possibly even dramatic communication of ideas — the bigger the audience, the better.

That said, if you’re in a funk or not feeling as social as everyone around you seems to be, there are elements in the Full Moon chart suggesting that a ‘fake it till you make it’ approach could be worth trying. That would be the asteroids Achilles (false confidence or false lack of confidence) and Icarus (a desire to escape restrictions, exuberance of youth; also potentially reckless actions) conjunct the Moon in Aquarius.

Continue reading →

Jupiter Stations Direct in Sagittarius

2 Replies

By Amanda Painter

On Sunday, Jupiter will station direct in Sagittarius, the first of two signs it traditionally rules (the other being Pisces). I know a few people who’ve been feeling like some part of their lives has been less able to develop over the last several months, or like it’s been hard to home in on a goal or vision. Jupiter traveling in apparent retrograde motion since April 10 is as good an image as any for that sensation, if it’s one you’ve been experiencing.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

In these final days before Jupiter makes its switch (which happens at 9:37 am EDT / 13:37:11 UTC on Aug. 11) it might be helpful to ask yourself some questions. The answers may be slow to emerge after the station direct; I have never tried to track whether Jupiter stations tend to arrive with the same kind of ‘sudden truth’ moment that Mercury stations can signal. I suspect that the expansive nature of Jupiter may correlate to a wider window of revelation and reorientation.

Yet this may be a good time to start practicing and opening up the space via these questions. Such as: how in touch do you feel with your sense of purpose or your vision for your life? What are you noticing right now about the lessons you’ve learned and the patterns you’ve perceived that contribute to your worldview and sense of yourself in it?

Continue reading →

Three Leo Aspects and Mercury Direct in Cancer

4 Replies

By Amanda Painter

Mercury stationed direct last night in late Cancer, just after the Leo New Moon. It will take a few days for Mercury to sort itself out, though, and it’ll be another couple of weeks before it clears where it was retrograde. So your patience and sense of humor could still be handy companions for a while yet.

Three Frisbee players and a wee onlooker at Higgins Beach, Scarborough, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Partly this is because Mercury will stay in the same degree where it stationed for a few days — it takes a while to get back up to its typical apparent speed — which means it’s in extended contact with Eris in Aries and Haumea in Libra, forming a T-square.

Another factor in the overall astrological environment is a square between Venus in Leo and Uranus in Taurus, exact tomorrow, and a couple of other Leo aspects. I’ll get to those in a moment.

For now, has anything of particular interest emerged for you yesterday or today? As in, did you discover or realize something about yourself, or did someone tell you a key piece of new information, or did your intuition about a situation get confirmed or contradicted?

Continue reading →

Lighting Up Solar Leo

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

Traditionally, Leo was the sign of kings and of ruling by divine right. That’s not really a thing anymore in this world. True, there may be pockets of the world where this kind of thinking still holds sway, but it’s not the widespread norm the way it once was; the delegated leadership of governments and corporations — the domain of Capricorn — tends to be where we look for ‘who’s in charge’.

Sunlit peony petal; photo by Amanda Painter

In light of those ideas, it’s interesting to me as I write this on Wednesday, with the Sun still only in the second degree of Leo, that two major leadership-related events are unfolding.

One is Boris Johnson accepting the position of Prime Minister of the Brexit-bound United Kingdom; the other is Robert Mueller III finally addressing Congress in hearings about his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and its role in Trump’s campaign.

The charts for the two events are remarkably similar, as they have very close timing. I don’t feel I’m in a position to offer analysis of either, beyond the Aries Moon almost being void of course in both charts; meaning that it was in the midst of its final aspect to a major planet before running out of aspects to make prior to leaving Aries.

That aspect happens to be a very tight square to retrograde Mercury in Cancer — with that retrograde status seeming to raise more questions than it answers; primarily about the strength of the aspect, and the potential for it to indicate a reversal of some kind.

Continue reading →

Where We Are Now

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

Tuesday evening the second of this season’s two eclipses came and went with the Capricorn Full Moon. On an immediate, practical level, I noticed this event arrived in a way that highlighted or seemed to exacerbate situations with a distinctly Mercury retrograde flavor. I’ve heard from a number of people in the last several days who’ve been wondering why they’ve felt a little ‘off’, down, thwarted or disempowered, and so on.

Seaweed pointing the way; photo by Amanda Painter.

Does any of that describe your experience at all?

Collectively, we’ve been through a lot this year; Mars moving through Cancer and igniting a couple different aspect patterns — and the global events illustrating that astrology — was followed immediately by Mercury stationing retrograde. Add in these eclipses, and it has been a lot to handle.

Yet any astrology, no matter what in your life it describes or coincides with, is a reminder to notice consciously and integrate what you’re learning — particularly about yourself, but also about the people around you, your relationships with them, and your overall environment. So, regarding the last two weeks and the two eclipses bookending that span of time: what did you learn?

Continue reading →

Sun Opposite Pluto: Approaching the Eclipse

6 Replies

By Amanda Painter

How is this Eclipse Zone / Mercury retrograde going for you? Personally, I’ve noticed a mix of positive or constructive ways that the astrology is manifesting along with frustrating or confusing effects. And despite the July 2 eclipse having occurred conjunct one of my personal planets, I feel like I’ve had a hard time focusing in on what these events and these couple of weeks mean for me. That said, this week has been filled with some compelling astrology on the way to the July 16 partial lunar eclipse and Capricorn Full Moon.

Pluto in Colorized Infrared from “The Rich Color Variations of Pluto” (PIA19952); photo by NASA / Johns Hopkins University APL / Southwest Research Institute / ZLDoyle

Perhaps you’ve noticed some of these themes: looking for a a balance between the need to express yourself and do your own thing, and fulfilling obligations to others; psychic sensitivity; idealizing romantic partners or prospects; restlessness or impulsiveness; miscommunication and other mental hiccups (and possibly unexpected information).

Or how about these: power struggles, especially with authority figures; wanting to get under the surface of something. These last couple of themes relate specifically to this weekend’s main aspect: the Cancer Sun opposite Pluto in Capricorn. That is exact on Sunday — which puts it right in the direct pipeline to Tuesday’s lunar eclipse. That eclipse is, in turn, an apparent sounding of the exact Saturn-Pluto conjunction in 2020, since it occurs just a few degrees from those two agents of change.

Continue reading →

Fireworks or Fireflies? Mercury Stations Retrograde

4 Replies

By Amanda Painter

Mercury stations retrograde in Leo this Sunday, July 7, at 7:14 pm EDT (23:14:20 UTC). This means that we’re now in the ‘storm’ phase: the two to three days on either side of Mercury stationing retrograde or direct. Given the astrological location and cultural timing of this event, you’ll want to approach the next several days with increased awareness.

LED hula hoop in lieu of fireworks; photo by Amanda Painter

Eric has dubbed this the “Anger Management” retrograde, thanks to Mercury stationing in a conjunction to Mars: a fiery planet in a fiery sign.

With Mars relating to such things as desire, ambition and aggression, and Leo often shining through as pride or drama (though it can also manifest as more heart-based leadership), you can probably start connecting the dots. Add in the mental level represented by Mercury — and the ways that our attempts to communicate and be understood often fall short — and frustration levels can spike quite easily in such an astrological environment. Our increasingly digital landscape adds another layer of disconnect — subtleties get lost; buttons get pushed; egos flare up.

Mercury-Mars conjunctions, when working at their best, can describe great mental and physical energy, especially in a fire sign. You can tap this to accomplish much if you have a goal in sight, or an obstacle you need to overcome.

Continue reading →