Part of being human is encountering and dealing with limits. For example, you actually cannot fly as a bird does, even though you might imagine yourself doing so. Unlike a bird, you were not born with wings. Even so, you do have something else going for you — free will. You can choose how to deal with your limits.

You can choose to allow your lack of wings to confine you to the ground. Conversely, you can also elect to be defined by what you do have to work with. For instance, you can choose to employ your hands to supplement your imagination and make a device that gets you off the ground.

The same principle applies to working with astrology’s corollary for limits: Saturn. All too often, the ringed planet is interpreted so as to take only its confining downside into account. Actually, that’s not a surprising perception. Nonetheless, it is outdated.

For all anyone knew, an emblematically stern and authoritarian Saturn represented the outer limits of the solar system until just over two centuries ago. Interestingly, human life on Earth often followed suit. Up until relatively recently, most people’s prospects in life were confined by the station they were born into. For most of human history, responsibility was defined as the acceptance of that confinement.

Then, right around the time Uranus was unexpectedly discovered in 1781, there came an age of revolution. The all-but-unprecedented experiment of replacing hereditary monarchies and opportunistic warlords with participatory republics was an audacious idea. It was a bold and imaginary concept of instituting a greater freedom accompanied by greater responsibility for exercising free will, so that a previously subservient and politically inconsequential majority could define itself.

What has followed since is the continuous application of imagination and innovation. The result has been both additional planetary discoveries and the evolution of alternative models for governance.

Now it would seem that our world is poised at a critical passage. There are presently a significant number of people who would have astrology once again confined within the limits of Saturn’s orbit. There are even more who would surrender individual freedom and cede individual responsibility to a strong leader. Interestingly, both the astrological and political initiatives to roll back to a bygone era require either stubborn denial or willful ignorance of all that has been proven since the 18th Century.

It has been proven that awareness of Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and other objects in the solar system have value for astrologers. It has also been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that political power concentrated in the hands of only a few serves the best interests of only a few.

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Indeed, even Saturn itself clearly indicates that progress must ultimately triumph over regress. Earlier this year (on March 25, 2016), Saturn stationed retrograde in the 17th degree of Sagittarius.

Tomorrow, just before 6 am EDT (09:49:37 UTC), that retrograde will end in the 10th degree of Sagittarius. Saturn will then slowly resume direct motion and progress into the 28th degree of Sagittarius before its next retrograde begins in 2017. As result, the net motion of Saturn is always forward, not backward, continuously moving beyond previous limits.

As above, so below. Even allowing for periodic setbacks, it is natural for you and humanity as a whole to ultimately and continuously move forward and transcend the confinement of previous limits, to define oneself anew. To do so takes imagination and freely exercised will, which is where you come in.

It is never natural or in harmony with any part of the universe (even Saturn) either to go backwards or to remain confined. Yet, somewhat ironically, you can choose to do so. Just as Saturn has a confining downside and a defining upside, so does free will.

Even though Saturn will inevitably and predictably start moving forward again tomorrow, it is not fated that you or humanity as a whole will do the same. Unlike in the heavens or on the zodiac, the direction you and the rest of us take from this point on will be a matter of choice.

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By Amanda Painter

Do you ever find yourself letting beliefs that were handed down to you (such as by your parents or religion) run away with your feelings about who you are in your relationships, or about what counts as ‘success’ in love? Do you sometimes let disappointments in love (and in your financial habits) dictate your beliefs about what can happen for you in those areas?

Watching the fog roll in at Pine Point, Scarborough, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Both situations are common, and it’s absolutely possible to detangle yourself from those mental-emotional snares, especially with counseling.

Or, at the very least, one or more insightful friends who are not about to let you get away with self-flagellation, pessimism or blindly following what magazines say you need to do to land and keep the ‘perfect’ relationship.

Nobody really wants to fall into debilitating self-criticism or making rigid demands on others. Yet many of us do as we search for something to validate that we are worthy of love and abundance. Fear is rampant, including the fear that one might not deserve to be loved, or that one might be incapable of loving.

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By Amanda Moreno

I went camping again this past weekend. I’m constantly aware at the theoretical level that escaping to the woods — or the ocean or anywhere that doesn’t have cell service and is surrounded by ‘nature’, really — is integral to my emotional wellbeing. But I always forget at some level just how much I need the retreat until I’m in the middle of it.

Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day

Being in spaces where city noise is absent, where everything slows down, and where I can just laugh and sit and eat and be in silence or among good friends does something to my whole being that I just can’t get enough of. I think the groundedness these retreats provide are particularly helpful as a retreat from world events, and a return to re-centering.

This time around, the occasion was a good friend’s birthday, and it was a group of 12 humans I don’t know all that well. Going was a difficult decision for many reasons, one of which was that although my extrovert self has been reigning pretty supreme lately, the knowledge that my introvert self might not quite like adapting to strangers with fairly different lifestyles (mostly all monogamous couples) kept me non-committal.

That is, until I was sitting in my bedroom and heard the Blue Angels flying overhead, rehearsing for their yearly weekend shows. The thought of having to listen to war machines flying overhead in order to spend millions of dollars while people gawk upward forced my decision: to the woods I would go!

Alas, the camping trip was fairly perfect. Low key, laid back… but a few things really stuck out for me, only one of which had to do with humans.

First of all, there was the white noise of wind and river. The nighttimes were windy, and being able to listen to the intense rustling of the trees — at first distant and then just above and throughout the campsite — felt like it swept all that wasn’t working in my nervous system right on out. The wind transmuted it to joy or abundance or whatever light matter my being could imagine. The river noise was a constant backdrop, and frequently throughout my life I’ve been heard saying that there are three things that stop the monkey-mind chatter of my brain: the white noise of rushing water, dancing at a live show and sex.

Second of all, there were the stars. Oh, the stars! I will never get over the wonder that floods my whole body when I can look up, away from the light pollution of the city, and gasp at the magnificent sky above. I could see some planets, I could place some stars and I stood under the Milky Way in totally humble reverence for the vastness of the space we live in.

I am awestruck every single time. Not just at that vastness and how many little glimmering points of life there are, but at just how floored I am when I try to grasp the fact that those twinkling lights are massive three-dimensional objects that exist incomprehensible distances away.

A friend remarked to me as we stood in the pitch black, craning our necks to look upwards, that she is afraid that someday soon people will stop seeing the stars. Whether because of light pollution or inability to get out of the city, or just because we become so unaccustomed to seeing stars and incapable of seeing them — or even just uninterested — that we lose our concept of them and our ability to communicate about them. I agreed and felt a shudder down my spine.

We spend so much time looking down at screens or our own navels. What about the mystery beyond? Such a natural humility occurs when we tap into how much we don’t understand by doing something as simple as looking at the stars. A humility very different from the humiliation it seems too many people experience when trying to fit into a world that tries to define so much so concretely.

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Finally, there was a kiddo there with us. At five years old, he was a sight to behold and to hear. He was inquisitive and hilarious and full of piercing insights and fun little songs. Listening to his narrations of his own perspectives was incredible.

We’d be talking about something and spell it out — “There’s a B.A.T. flying overhead!” And we’d ask him, “What does B.A.T. spell?” And he’d respond, “B.A.T.!” Of course it does.

He’d sing little songs, and slide his trucks and his behind through the dirt. He immediately chucked his clothes off to go swimming in the river. He pronounced the marshmallows that all of the adults were so excited about roasting for him to be sour and icky, and pronounced the dog that accompanied us to be one of his best friends. Slowing down and seeing the world through the eyes of a five-year-old was the perfect accent to an already low-key weekend.

I returned to the city feeling calm. De-stressed. Stable. Quiet. I keep thinking about a world where things are calm. Not stressful. Quiet. I also keep thinking about a world where no one looks at the stars, be it because they can’t be seen or because no one cares. It makes me sad. I hope that doesn’t happen, while I know that it might.

In the meantime, however, I’m going to keep looking up. I’m going to keep enjoying my life in my urban wonderland while still seeking excursions out. And I’m going to keep remembering my little five-year-old friend, and his astute observations and singsong approach to curiosity and presence. Because there’s a lot to learn from that, and a lot to celebrate as well.

There’s an old saying about keeping an ear to the ground. There is also a truth in the aphorism. Generally speaking, the denser the medium, the faster sound travels through it. That’s how actually placing your ear in contact with the ground can give you data before you could receive it through the air.

Maintaining an ear to the ground is also a figure of speech for being especially alert and attentive. As such, it’s an appropriate metaphor to employ when Mercury is moving through what astrologers call its first ‘shadow’ (or ‘echo’) phase prior to retrograde.

That phase begins shortly before 7:30 am EDT (11:23:43 UTC) tomorrow and continues until Mercury shifts into reverse on Aug. 30. You can think of the phenomenon in terms of both space and time.

Spatially, the shadow begins when Mercury in direct motion first passes the zodiac degree where its next retrograde will eventually come to an end (with a pivot back to direct motion again). To help you visualize it, think of a windshield wiper on an automobile. The wiper’s first swipe is the first shadow phase and the second swipe (which returns the wiper to its starting position) is the retrograde. That’s how it works on the zodiac.

Tomorrow, Mercury’s first swipe begins smack in the middle of Virgo. Mercury will then continue in direct motion until it reaches the very last degree of Virgo where its retrograde will begin. From there, Mercury will backtrack, returning to mid-Virgo on Sept. 22.

After that, a resumption of direct motion will carry Mercury over the second half of Virgo a third and final time. That will begin the concluding echo phase, before Mercury finally moves on to new territory (and into Libra) after Oct. 6.

In terms of time, the first of Mercury’s three swipes usually takes more than two weeks, but less than three. From an astrologer’s point of view, it’s typically a period you can put to good use if you have your ear to the ground for any foreshadowing (so to speak). Given the part of the zodiac Mercury is about to begin tracing and retracing, the results of monitoring events with extra care should be more than just typically productive.

First off, Virgo is one of two signs (along with Gemini) where Mercury is said to rule. That’s another way of saying that the earthly manifestations of Mercury can be expected to express strongly while Mercury is moving through Virgo. Among the many worldly phenomena associated with versatile Mercury is information.

What’s more, the midpoint of Virgo is the one degree in all of the zodiac where Mercury is exalted. In other words, the already strong expression of Mercury in Virgo can be expected to be even further amplified and most highly focused when Mercury is at that particularly sweet spot.

Additionally, consider the combination of element (earth) and quality (mutability) that distinguishes Virgo from the other eleven signs. Among other things, the specific amalgam of earth and mutability implies that any time Mercury spends in Virgo can be an especially productive period to gather information for the purpose of making changes in your life.

Finally, consider just two ways the beginning of Mercury’s shadow phase tomorrow connects holistically with the rest of the zodiac. Once again, employ concepts of space and time.

Spatially, Mercury at the midpoint of Virgo tomorrow will be in a precise trine aspect with Pluto in the cardinal earth sign Capricorn. A trine is a separation of 120 degrees.

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That particular geometric relationship clearly implies a flow of grounded and substantial power available to anybody who has an ear to the ground. In addition, the Moon (which entered Scorpio earlier today) will move to 90 degrees of separation (a square aspect) from the Leo Sun tomorrow for its first quarter phase — just seven hours after Mercury enters its shadow phase.

Among other things appropriate to accomplish during a lunar first quarter is a leveraging of your awareness. Doing so would include action on your part.

Specifically entailed would be your acting to become more conscious of what’s going on both inside and outside of you, and then putting that information to work to become stronger and more highly evolved once the square aspect has passed.

In view of the fact that the Moon moves rather swiftly, timing is important when it comes to lunar aspects. Any ear to the proverbial ground could thus make a big difference tomorrow, and even possibly result in an easier time for you during the rest of our current lunar cycle, which will end less than 48 hours after Mercury’s retrograde begins.

So do what you can to keep your eyes, ears and other senses more open and connected beginning tomorrow. Strive to keep yourself well informed. Try to be especially proactive when it comes to gathering information that strikes you as useful or advantageous as regards to addressing any unanswered questions or unresolved tensions you are left with after today.

Chances are that any effort you expend keeping your ear to the ground for the rest of this month will be returned to you as even more substantial insights once September begins.

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