A time-honored strategy sometimes utilized in football and some other sports is often called a shift. It happens when the players (often on both teams at once) line up in a particular formation, then shift to another formation just before the play begins. It is an attempt to disrupt the opposition in order to gain an advantage.
Shifts work for two reasons. First, each formation has weaknesses as well as strengths. Hence, based on what they expect to encounter, teams make plans in advance. Shifting from one formation to another compels the opposition to adjust their plans.
The other reason to use shifts has to do with time. The opposing team usually has precious little time to make an appropriate adjustment of its own in response to a shift, increasing the possibility of being caught off guard mentally or off balance physically.
Over the next handful of days, the sky will demonstrate a shift of sorts. It will be a more pronounced and comprehensive shift than is usual for such a short period of time. You need not fear it. The objects involved are not opponents seeking to defeat you. They are simply large chunks of matter moving in their respective orbits as they always do, but shifting to a different formation in relation to each other.
It’s a matter of information and its interpretation. The solar system is just that — a system. In any system one part or combination of parts will constitute information. That information, if properly interpreted as part of a greater whole, will provide data about any other part of the system (including you) and the system as a whole. Astrology is simply a method of interpretation that makes correlations with your life on Earth.
Those correlations in turn can be combined with other forms of information you use every day in order to evaluate your options and make decisions. Right now, a straightforward correlation would indicate that you should consider at least initiating some shifts of your own either to gain an advantage or to adjust appropriately to shifts going on around you, beginning this weekend. As a matter of fact, it appears as though there will be several shifts to be initiated (at least) between now and Tuesday.
It all begins with Mercury leaving Leo behind and entering Virgo tomorrow shortly before 3:15 pm EDT (19:14:43 UTC). Among other things, Mercury corresponds with your mind and its means of communicating. Such earthly correlations with Mercury tend to function very well while Mercury is in Virgo. Hence, you might want to shift into a more communicative and thoughtful way of doing things, at least until Mercury leaves Virgo for Libra on Aug. 27.
The shifts continue over the weekend. Overnight between tomorrow and Saturday (for most of you), the Moon moves from Taurus (where it is today) and into Gemini. Later on Saturday (shortly after 7:32 pm EDT, or 23:32:09 UTC) Mars leaves Cancer behind to enter Leo.
The Moon changes signs every two or three days. Hence, lunar shifts do not usually correlate with major changes. It’s more of a rhythm thing, like shifting your weight to the appropriate foot at the right time.
Gemini is the other sign (along with Virgo) where Mercury is strong. By implication then, simply knowing about Mercury entering Virgo tomorrow can help you get off on the right foot with the Moon (and its correlation with your emotional side, among other things). You can start your weekend knowing that some of what you will want to communicate will probably involve how you feel as well as what you think.
Mars, on the other hand, will remain in Leo until Sept. 24 (or Sept. 25, depending on your time zone). As a result, you will have more time to make or initiate a shift in your life that correlates appropriately with how Mars (forms of energy and the issues of desire, among other things) expresses in your life. By the same token, however, the consequences of shifting (or not) will last longer.
Additionally, you might expect earthly manifestations of Mars in Leo to express more strongly and in a more straightforward manner than in Cancer. Assuming that expectation is accurate, your implied role (at first, anyway) will be to govern your personal desires and energies more thoughtfully by integrating your awareness of Mercury’s shift to Virgo.
Finally, on Tuesday, Jupiter shifts from Leo into Virgo where it will wander around for about a year, amplifying the situation represented by the shift of Mars. In other words, Jupiter’s shift will probably correspond with more time to adjust, offset by a longer process of change and more enduring consequences.
As a planet, Jupiter also correlates with more complex and interactive subject matter than the ‘personal planets’ (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars). Therefore, this weekend will also be an appropriate time to anticipate and make plans regarding where you fit in with others.
Just as with the Moon in relation to Mercury (and Mercury in relation to Mars), however, you can make a good start adjusting to Jupiter’s impending new tenure by realizing that all you do this weekend will set a pattern. This pattern will either get you off on the right foot with Jupiter in Virgo, or require you to make further adjustments over the next 12 months or so.
Hence, for this weekend at least, think. Think and communicate both your thoughts and your emotions equally, and while doing so be aware. Be aware of the energetics of your communication and whether those unspoken energetic signals coordinate with your desires. Proceed with a sure and certain knowledge that your every act will also be amplified in your future.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
“They are simply large chunks of matter moving in their respective orbits as they always do…”
The Planets are living Beings, like Gaia, whose dance around the Solar Logos is a representation of a stable yet ever-changing set of relationships set in motion long before we climbed down out of the trees. Their ever-unfolding pattern of relationships, as we view them from the surface of Gaia, represents the subtle interplay of energy dynamics of this local region of space, and the karmic dramas we are playing out within the local sphere of our activities as incarnate beings.
chief niwots son: Thank you. You make a good point. What you call “the subtle interplay of energy dynamics of this local region of space” and how they are of the same system as “our local sphere” of life on Earth are very well represented as vital forces rather than inert matter and indifferent physical laws. i acknowledge the truth in your comment. i sincerely hope you and other readers here will endeavor to understand the point i was striving to make (focusing on what can be done by us rather than emphasizing anything which may be being done to us) and how both perspectives can coexist in an inclusive and mutually supportive manner. Also, if my approach offended your spirituality in any way, please accept my apology.
Len- your post suggested to me a bit of poetic whimsy, so I shared what came flying through my mindspace. I did not mean to diminish your excellent perspective, i was having fun and hopefully adding to your piece.
chief niwot’s son: Thank you for your reply. It’s comforting to know my interpretation of the astrology did not offend you. It’s gratifying to know my service served to inspire a bit of fun instead.
Very helpful article Len. Thank you.
I dare say the thought processes will be sorely tested by this weekend’s shifting Len, what with tonight’s end of the Daily Show (Jon Stewart’s leave-take) as we’ve known it, and the gazillion possible choices for Republican Presidential Candidate duking it out for the first time tonight. In shifts. Mercury in Virgo and Moon in Gemini? I get a headache just thinking about how that’s gonna play out in the media.
For me there are multiple charts to whip out; the Jupiter and Mercury conjunction, Jupiter’s ingress into Virgo, and Mars ingress into Leo primarily. For now though, my fascination is with an event that will happen this October when trans. Saturn reaches 3+ Sagittarius, still within his shadow from the station retrograde he made at 4+ Sagittarius. Not only will he make a sesqui-quadrate to his pal trans. Uranus in Aries, he will activate the energy of two ancient charts – the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 1982, and the Pluto-Neptune conjunction of 1891. Both charts also have symbolism at the 3+ Sagittarius degree that will be coaxed into play, no doubt through some major shifting that started when Monday’s Jupiter square Saturn took place and which will continue through the weekend. Behind the scenes of course, true Saturn in Scorpio style.
Many thanks for the play-by-play shifting going on in the sky Len. I really need a score card to keep up with it, although the media is making this debate thing sound more like a Triple Crown race among the ponies than football strategy!
be
Barbara (be): Thank you for also making a good point (in this case as regards to current events and the media – both manifestations of Mercury). By the same token represented in my reply to chief niwot’s son, however, it is important to remember that you and i are in a position of responsibility to act rather than in a position to merely accept being acted upon. The candidates contending for the Republican presidential nomination are subject to the voters, not the other way around. As consumers of media product we are empowered to choose, discern, and (if it comes to it) simply turn off the devices and messages of media. We are not slaves to fate unless we choose to abdicate and become so. Astrology is not destiny. We are on an equal footing with everything else in the solar system and it is high time we stand in our power while also acknowledging that we do not stand apart or above the other constituents of the solar system.. Last (but definitely not least), thank you from the bottom of my awe-struck and grateful heart for once again demonstrating your erudite proficiency by making highly pertinent and very important correlations to astrological formations in the past. Just as with chief niwot’s son, your profound wisdom finds respect here, and your teachings are are accepted with gratitude here.
Point taken Len, and thanks for reiterating. Must admit though that governing my desires is never easy. . no matter where Mars is. Mercury in Virgo will help a lot though.
be
“Mercury in Virgo and Moon in Gemini? I get a headache just thinking about how that’s gonna play out in the media.”
LOL! I love it, be. Good one.
. . and I was dead serious about that jinspace!
be
I know! 😀
I meant to comment earlier on the 1891 connection you drew attention to, be. There was a lot of progressive activity around the world that year, not just in the U.S. The Neptune-Pluto/Charon conjunction was exactly quintile a Venus-Mars conjunction at 23+ Leo and, In an extraordinary effort to gain the right to vote, a handful of dedicated women took to the streets that year in Victoria, Australia, collecting nearly 30,000 signatures for a petition to the State Parliament.
Curiously, and probably irrelevantly, 1891 was 124 years ago which is exactly half the time it takes Pluto/Charon to orbit the Sun, while Neptune is now almost exactly three-quarters of the way round the Solar system since that year. It could be said that Pluto/Charon is now in temporal opposition to its position that year, even though it wouldn’t seem so from an astronomical or astrological perspective due to the binary planets’ highly elliptical orbit.
It was also the year Mr Wrigley first marketed his gum, so if you didn’t want to be a bum, you could now chew some. Very addictive, but also quite revolutionary some might think.
Love you Geoff Marsh, wherever you are!
be
U.K. calling, be. Thank you for your loving message, it’s much appreciated! I hope you will accept my thanks for all your deep digging into the astrological background to so many mundane events. (((be)))
Please allow me to correct an error in my previous blog. The Venus-Mars hook-up in tandem with 1891’s Neptune-Pluto/Charon conjunction was at 21+ Leo, not 23+ as I originally stated. Wouldn’t have been a near exact quintile otherwise.
alittlebird: Please accept my thanks to you in turn for your kind acknowledgement of my service here today.
I felt this coming, a sobering sense of getting on track early before the fall, weeding the garden of the mind, and getting clear about future intentions. Hey, chief niwot’s son, I’m in Boulder.
Michael: Well put. Thank you for an excellent synopsis of how your situation correlates with the astrology. May your connections in Boulder be fruitful and gratifying.
Hi Michael- welcome home. I am wondering how we can go about making contact. Let me know if you have any thoughts on the matter.
Mike, shall I send Chief Niwot’s Son your email address? Is that OK with both of you?
Works for me.
Besides the last episode of Jon Stewart tonight (OH, going to miss him!) – & the Republican debate – the first party leaders’ debate happens here in Canada, for the Oct. 19 federal elction. For the first time in over 100 years, we’re having a long, 78-day campaign (they’re usually about 5 weeks), & it’s already getting nasty, though we’ve been spared a theatrical buffoon like Trump. I know 78 days sounds brief compared to the seemingly endless campaigns our American friends endure, but it’s a lot of politicking for us.
I’ve been thinking a lot about “place”, & the energy of place, as in the natural & social environment around me. I’m learning that I need to be willing to be more visible & more willing to speak when needed, which is not easy for a reclusive Saturn rising who would habitually rather just do my creative work.
Right now, there’s a sense of impending change in the energy around, not at all dark or sinister, but just “different”. I am curious, & impatient, but working at tending what’s in front of me right now.
I shall take to heart/mind your advice to pay attention & choose well over the next few days, Len. That’s a helpful focus. Thank-you.
Bette: Please accept my thanks to you in turn for your cogent observations of correlating, events both public and private. Your contemplations regarding the concepts and consequences that go with the word “place” are especially appreciated.
Always grateful Len for the manner by which you explain the astrology and the readers/bloggers contributions. Much to think about and I pray that I will find the self-control to pause this weekend and listen before I react to any information coming my way. Mercury is opposition my natal Sun so I have to watch for ego conflicts but as you know awareness really means everything because then you are in the choosing mode. That really is the key, its not that things are happening to you, its that you are aware of your feelings better, and your feelings are based on energy and energy is form of data. Data abounds in the solar system but it also abounds in you. Its all information and however we have reacted previously is a part of our current reaction and our awareness allows for our shifting and transmutation of the data. I liken your post to Amanda’s where she describes Mercury conjunction with Nessus and our concept of creative play and hubris. If we (collective children) have been told that its no longer good to play (with crayons for example) or to do so is hubris (show off) then we begin to think so. This is our perspective on the data, but if we change our perspective as Nessus suggests, a shift in our thinking, then… well, you get a new meaning.
We don’t evolve if we don’t change perspectives. If anything, we need to evolve in our political thinking, call it “progressive thinking” nod to be and Geoff Marsh here from when historically other astrological happenings shifted in the cosmos to become a catalyst for the human races collective shift in thinking too? Perhaps, it all begins with awareness. One nice thing about a debate is that it reveals things, often it reveals what is not being said but that’s important too.
Everyone enjoy the shift in the universe and your thinking this weekend!
Pisces Sun: Please accept my sincere gratitude in turn for reiterating the principle of how awareness confers conscious choice, especially in the context you use – spot on. Thank you also for sharing your conceptual link to Amanda’s artfully wrought post. Your comment today has brought a lot of thought and people together in a way we would somehow have missed were it not for your awareness and generosity.
‘Shifts happen’ ‘The shifts are hitting the fan’
Yes! And with all of that, I’ve added a move across the country, looking for new places to teach, AND traveling to MI tomorrow to teach at my brother’s health institute! Could I put anything else shifting on my plate these days? Oh I’m sure I can come up with something! Just have to remember what the plan was and then play it out.
Such great play time with all that we’ve known and all that we are re-membering. And now we have the added astrological benefit!
Thanks Len!
Donna