Tag Archives: Moon

The Day of the Incorrigibles: Birthdays and Planet News

If Your Birthday is Oct. 4
The Day of the Incorrigibles | Order the 2019-20 Libra Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

Now is your moment to step into the next phase of your journey, or to kick-start that project you wanted to get underway. You’re likely to be busy. This year’s astrology isn’t just on skates; it’s driving a Ferrari. You’ll want to stay alert, and be prepared to steer the energy in a productive direction — in particular, toward your personal growth and healing. If what you’re doing now isn’t contributing to that, you may want to consider doing something different. Check in regularly with your inner guidance system.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have your Sun, Moon or rising sign in Libra? If so, your sign is directly aligned with the single most significant astrological event beginning 2020. Eric will walk you through the most effective ways to approach your year in the 2019-2020 Libra Astrology Studio, now available for instant access.

Written in the Planets

Mars enters Libra at 12:22 am EDT (4:21:50 UTC) today. This is one of those ‘funny’ Mars placements, in that signs ruled by Venus are not easy places for Mars to be. It can describe enthusiasm and an active approach to relationships, but also can express as less self-directed than in other signs. People with this natal placement can swing between mild-mannered and hot under the collar.

That is a signal to stay conscious of your unexpressed desires and frustrations: usually it’s the things we have not figured out how to express or act on — or which we’re afraid might rock the boat — that trip us up eventually. Awareness in this realm could be especially useful this afternoon. The Moon enters Capricorn at 1:43 pm EDT (17:43:07 UTC) and immediately squares Mars. Although Moon transits do not last long, they can have impact.

In this case, that could mean emotions getting the better of people (including you), irritability, or acting rashly. Notice if you’re letting small annoyances rile you up, when really there’s some larger grievance you’re trying to avoid facing. That’s the kind of set-up that can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. And really, who needs that on a Friday? If you’re willing to lean on Mercury, newly in Scorpio, to think a little deeper into your feelings, you may be able to get beneath the petty stuff and deal appropriately with what’s really bugging you.
— by Amanda Painter

My readings offer a place of refuge, an opportunity to suspend self-judgment, and my careful reading of the charts. I offer you reasons to be motivated, and strategies for handling the strange complexity of society at this time. To this work, I bring all of what I have learned as a journalist, editor, astrologer, spiritual student and man of the world; and I offer it to you for an affordable price. Read more here.

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Action and Resolution at the Quarter Moon

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By Amanda Painter

Full Moons and New Moons tend to carry more weight in astrology writing. Yet this weekend’s first quarter Moon happens to connect with one of the more important aspects we’re building up to, as does another event this week.

What’s in the dark under that rock? Mercury in Scorpio wants to find out. Photo by Amanda Painter.

On Saturday, the Capricorn Moon squares off against the Libra Sun. That’s the quarter Moon, traditionally describing an opportunity to lean into projects and processes you can build some early momentum with.

Yet the Moon will also be conjunct its own South Node and the planet Saturn. The South Node can represent what is familiar, ‘comfortable’ and habitual in a way that does not help us to grow. You can also think of it as karma: repeated patterns that we’re trying to learn from, so we can move on toward a greater sense of lived purpose. Saturn, of course, holds the line of authority, responsibility, limits and restrictions. Its presence also connects this quarter Moon to the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in January.

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The Day of Verbal Acuity: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Oct. 2
The Day of Verbal Acuity | Order the 2019-20 Libra Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

There’s a somewhat edgy or liminal quality to your astrology at present, as if you’re gearing up for a big breakthrough in either your situation or your consciousness. You may need to employ patience, and focus on making the best use of the resources you currently have, of which there are plenty. Whatever change you’ve been working toward will likely happen at precisely the time it’s meant to. In the interim, support your inner growth as a continuous journey. Much progress can be made in these threshold moments.
— by Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Diplomacy could get briefly challenging today. The Sun, Venus and Mercury are all in harmony-loving Libra, yet Mercury is moving into that sign’s last degree. Planets in the last degree of a sign can feel a little antsy; for Mercury in Libra, this could translate as indecisiveness.

Mars is also in the last degree of Virgo until Friday, describing a potential layer of physical/mental frustration around wanting to move forward in a very specific way. Indecision around what to say or how to say it could feed any edginess around wanting to do things ‘just right’. Pholus contacting these planets from Sagittarius suggests the effect could be exaggerated or feel exacerbated.

Even so, once the Moon enters Sagittarius at 7:44 am EDT (11:44:13 UTC), optimism, adventurousness and an urge to ‘just wing it’ could help you to glide over any snags or hesitation. Simply keep adjusting to whatever the day brings, bearing in mind that a series of continual small adaptations will likely bring more relief and forward movement than big decisions and actions might (even if only briefly each time). If you’re currently faced with a pattern you need to stop on the one hand, and a threshold you’d like to cross on the other, this approach could be especially effective.
— by Amanda Painter

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The Day of Glaring Truth: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Sept. 30
The Day of Glaring Truth | Pre-order pre-order the 2019-20 Libra Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

You are something of a natural in terms of mental exploration, and presently you may be experiencing more curiosity than usual. Yet there is only so much you can grasp from theoretical knowledge. If you want to understand how something operates, interact with it on a practical level, as far as is safe. Along the way, there may be an opening for you to bring your inventive abilities into play: that is, to fix a problem you see, or improve on a working model. This is likely to be useful all round.
— by Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

If you’ve been wanting to ‘go deep’ in some way, especially with another person, this could be a good day for it. For one thing, the Moon enters Scorpio this morning at 5:42 am EDT (9:41:37 UTC). That automatically signals a potentially immersive or compelling emotional tone, and describes an affinity for getting under the surface. With the Scorpio Moon briefly opposing Uranus in Taurus, this could translate into emotional responses to the unexpected that are a little more intense than usual.

Venus in Libra is exactly square the centaur planet Chariklo in Capricorn, and squares Pluto exactly tomorrow. On one level, this describes a need to seek emotionally or sexually heightened interactions. On another level, this may suggest that it’s time to acknowledge changes in a relationship. Can you hold space for your own mix of emotions and needs, and for those of the other person? Both are real, and both are valid. You may be able to avoid sliding into co-dependent behavior by using tools like active listening (paraphrasing what is said to be sure you’ve understood clearly) and “I” statements. Discerning true needs from strong desires and idealized expectations is also key.

Assistance with that process is described by a trine between Mars in Virgo and Vesta in Taurus. This looks like support for a less personal, truly service-oriented way of approaching some matter of desire, sex, healing or teaching. If you’re finding it easy to connect the details of a situation with some hands-on mental or physical effort and a sense of emotionally grounded purpose, this aspect may be what you’re tapping into.
— by Amanda Painter

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The Day of the Heartbreakers: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Sept. 28
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The New Moon on your birthday signals opportunities to initiate a significant new cycle in your quest to realize ambitions. This leg of your journey may require adjustments related to financial interests or partnership issues of some kind. Express yourself with as much conscious awareness as possible. You can further your interests or instigate unnecessary conflict, depending on your agenda. Creative expression can open important doors, yet to maximize that potential will require your focused discipline. Social engagements likewise should work in your favor, and certain relationships with those in your immediate network could move to a whole new level.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

Today the Sun and Moon meet for the Libra New Moon, early in that sign (exact at 2:26 pm EDT / 18:26:14 UTC). The closest other object is the asteroid Isis — about as close as you can get. Named after a primary Egyptian goddess, one of the major Isis myths involves how she had to put the body of her husband Osiris back together. From this, we get astrological themes for Isis such as re-unifying, recombining, reconstructing, reconciling, synthesizing, and also feminine strength.

Cozied up in the same degree of Libra with the Sun, Moon and Isis are the objects Makemake and Logos. One possible delineation for Makemake is, “the mystery of how things came to be the way they are.” Logos not only relates to words, but to logic and reason.

So there appears to be something in this New Moon — the dark, inward-looking lunar phase — about finding the tipping point (or the sweet spot) between the mystery of how things came to be the way they are, and the logic of how they have become this way, and using that space between to reconcile or synthesize the two. In other words, today could signal an opportunity for you to seek balance in your life through a new approach.

Consider what has and has not been working; meditate on what is becoming clearer and more real as Jupiter and Neptune continue to separate from their square. If you’ve been focused more on someone else’s glow or glare, this could be a good time to sort through your own responses — to them, and to yourself. Today may not feel super high-energy, but you could have an urge to enact steps in a plan — particularly if it feels like a second chance to ‘get it right’. There may not be any such thing as ‘perfection’, but the Golden Rule and cosmic law do offer solid ethical guidelines.
— by Amanda Painter

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The Day of the Ambiguous Hero: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Sept. 27
The Day of the Ambiguous Hero | Pre-order pre-order the 2019-20 Libra Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

This is a year to clear the decks and wrap up old business related to your past, your family, or your base of operations. Future aspirations need an open floor-plan in which to unfold. There’s a lot going on just beneath your conscious threshold that may register as a subtle feeling of pressure, or vague anxiety. You should find that the more you clear out and bring closure to pending situations, the less oppressed you’ll feel. Old imprints around partnership history likely play a role in what calls for resolution. Your communication skills can serve you extremely well, and go a long way toward laying the groundwork for the new cycle that lies ahead.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

With the Virgo Moon waning toward tomorrow’s New Moon, energy levels could be a little low. It’s a ‘tidy up loose ends’ kind of day, with a suggestion that attention to details and organizing could suit best. Same with helping someone else in such tasks if there’s nothing pressing that needs attention on your own agenda.

With the Moon briefly opposing Neptune in Pisces and squaring Jupiter in Sagittarius, notice if you feel any emotional, energetic or mental ripples reminiscent of the Full Moon two weeks ago. That was a highly charged event.

Full Moons and New Moons generally signify peaks and moments of closure on a unifying theme or cycle of activity anyway. Yet there may be a little something extra from two weeks ago that surfaces today — specifically so you can analyze it with a clearer head and emotional body, and then release it more fully. Venus in Libra making its own slightly itchy aspect to Neptune suggests that continual small adjustments still need to be made in a relationship situation. Think in terms of rebalancing a long-standing fantasy with a newly emerging (or freshly recognized) reality.
— by Amanda Painter

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Libra New Moon: Tipping Points, Reconciliation and Relationships

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By Amanda Painter

As I write this on Tuesday, the internet is blowing up over two things: 16-year-old Greta Thunberg’s impassioned speech to the UN, in which she spared nobody in her condemnation of leaders’ inaction to stem the climate catastrophe; and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that the U.S. House will open a formal impeachment inquiry against Pres. Trump. With the Sun on the Aries point — via the first degrees of Libra — and the Libra New Moon on Saturday still in that zone where personal and collective meet, this is fitting.

From the Sept. 20 Climate Strike; photo by Amanda Painter.

Libra’s hallmarks include balance, justice, initiative and — worth noting — the possibility for something to go either way. That’s the tricky thing about tipping points.

One would think that the tip would necessarily occur in the direction opposite to what has been experienced up until that moment. That might even be true for these two particular issues. Yet ‘the collective’ and the political machine seem to carry far more inertia than, say, personal tipping points.

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The Day of Restless Drive: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Sept. 22
The Day of Restless Drive | Order 2019-20 Virgo Astrology Studio | You can also pre-order the 2019-20 Libra Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

There is a time for work, and a time for play. You can surely rely on your innate sense of responsibility to carry out what has to be done. The chances are you would benefit from erring on the side of pleasure, hobbies and social contact. Make a point of setting aside regular periods to relax and recharge. Spend lots of time with friends who get you laughing from your diaphragm upwards and, if you so desire, lovers who bring you delight in even more places than that.
— by Amy Elliott

If your Sun, Moon or rising sign is Virgo, you are heading into a most unusual solar year, set up to do the thing Virgo is designed for: integrate the elements of your being, find your direction and purpose, and act on it. Eric lays it all out in your 2019-2020 Virgo Astrology Studio, now available for instant access.

Written in the Planets

With the Sun in the last degree of Virgo (it enters Libra for the equinox tomorrow), notice whether there’s any sense of ‘edginess’ to the day. That can sometimes be a feature of the Sun in the last degree of a sign, especially at the end of a season. If you’ve been plotting and planning and trying to get some vision off the ground, know that we’re moving toward a time of initiative and enactment. But you might not be quite at the starting line yet.

Keep tying up loose ends, and checking your plan against what steps you’ve actually checked off your list so far. Small moves will likely count for a lot today and for the next couple days, as the Sun is square Pholus in Sagittarius. The Moon entering Cancer around midday EDT is another description of initiative — though it might actually be helpful for once to make like a crab and think in terms of lateral movement toward your goal. Often being indirect is an impediment, but it does have its uses — such as when you need to slide by your own resistance to fulfill a desire or responsibility, or when a clear move forward is not apparent yet.

With Mercury in Libra square Saturn and the lunar nodes in Capricorn, there might be some help in working out the practical details of your plan. You may have a choice between putting mental effort toward the unknown, or letting pessimism (or difficult communication) keep you in a holding pattern. Familiarity of that sort is rarely the entire picture. So why settle for it or let it bog you down?
— by Amanda Painter