Tag Archives: Nessus

The Day of Initiative: Birthdays and Planet News

If Your Birthday is April 4
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Cultivate your sense of compassion and of commonality with other living beings, as a stage of your personal journey. An active, conscious effort for unity is needed at present to counteract the divisiveness of the age, and you have an opportunity to be in the vanguard of that work, setting an example for those around you. Flexibility of opinions and a willingness to learn will help you a good deal.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Be on the lookout for possible conflation between how you’re feeling (and what you’re sensing from others) now, and the echoes of any past hurts or boundary issues. There may be a bit of a blind spot there, described by a conjunction of Venus with the centaur planet Nessus. (Also, the continuing Mercury-Neptune conjunction could be adding a layer of “is this insight or is this delusion?” confusion.) If you’re concerned about making the same transgressions others have made against you, stay in touch with your empathy toward the other person to help you make a different choice.

That said, with so much Pisces energy still in the sky, it could be easy to lose sight of the fact that true empathy means feeling the actual emotions of another, not assuming that what you’re picking up on through indirect channels is correct. In other words, you have to ask the other person what’s going on for them to know for sure how they feel. A current Sun-Ceres contact suggests harmony between self-expression and what feeds you spiritually, including via travel or mentorship. Even so, particularly for situations where you’re in a position to offer guidance, keep reality-checking your boundary awareness.

You may be feeling an impulse to initiate a new step in your healing process — or some form of learning or teaching. Start putting pieces in place, and then see what insights come through about how to begin in earnest as tomorrow’s Aries New Moon approaches.
— By Amanda Painter

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Planet Waves offers readings for all the signs and rising signs. These readings are must-haves among a core group of people who love them, though perhaps you have not heard what Eric is doing. We’ve taken many readings from 2018 and put them on a 24-hour audio stream, which anyone can tune into. Whatever your sign, you will find it interesting no matter when you tune in. If you’re up late and want something soothing and informative to listen to, or if you’re curious about astrology, tune in here. No login is required.

Pairing Up with the Aries New Moon

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By Amanda Painter

Early on Friday the Sun and Moon conjoin in Aries for the Aries New Moon. This is occurring right at the midpoint of the sign, in a rather interesting chart. The sky right now features a strong mix of Aries and Pisces; and while that often occurs at the very beginning of this season, the mix is feeling especially striking to me this year.

Simplified chart section for Friday's Aries New Moon, showing the four pairs of conjunctions. From top: Nessus & Venus, Neptune & Mercury, Vesta & Chiron, Sun & Moon.

Simplified chart section for the Aries New Moon, showing four conjunctions in Pisces and Aries. From top: Nessus, Venus, Neptune, Mercury, Vesta, Chiron, Sun, Moon.

I chalk that up partly to the fact that the Mercury-Neptune conjunction is still going strong, its influence seemingly all the more potent due to its level of exactness when Mercury stationed direct a week ago.

Related to that, for the last week I’ve been repeatedly confronted by a mix of my intuition being right on some things, and other thoughts and feelings — sometimes related to the same topic — being completely wrong. Heightened awareness of energetic, emotional or spiritual boundaries, particularly when I’m starting to overstep them, has been another prominent theme for me.

What has your week been like? Your personal experience of the energy may vary considerably, yet Mercury-Neptune is the background against which tomorrow’s New Moon occurs, so it’s worth considering. I sometimes think of the Aries New Moon as kind of the ‘other shoe’ to the equinox. It’s a ‘restart button’ for a shorter-term cycle (lunar rather than seasonal) that invokes, concentrates and then releases into the same energy of newness, growth and initiative.

Yet what caught my eye about this New Moon chart is that the Sun-Moon and Mercury-Neptune conjunctions are only two of four conjunctions in effect right now across Pisces and Aries. There’s also Venus conjunct the centaur planet Nessus in Pisces, and Vesta conjunct the centaur Chiron in Aries.

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Chiron in Aries: Where to Start?

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By Amanda Painter

Now that the Mars-Uranus conjunction is beginning to separate, it may feel easier to look ahead to the next major astrological event: Chiron entering Aries on Monday, where it will stay for the next seven years or so. Also on Monday, the Sun will enter Pisces, the last sign in the cycle. So Chiron begins its new zodiacal ‘year’ (metaphorically speaking) just as the Sun begins to wrap up its own.

On Dec. 19 and 20, 2004, the Mars Opportunity rover used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this mosaic view of itself. During Chiron in Aries, curiosity about, and willingness to explore, who you are may be a good starting place. Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Dec. 19-20, 2004, the Mars Opportunity rover used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this mosaic of itself. Chiron in Aries should provide ample opportunities to explore who you are. On Wednesday NASA announced the rover had stopped operating after nearly 15 years. Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Between the significant themes that Chiron in Aries will be highlighting, the Sun entering Pisces, and some of the interesting specifics of Monday’s chart, I’m having a little trouble deciding where to start as I write this.

So I think I’ll start with this: Chiron last visited Aries for a brief five-month stay on April 17, 2018; it retrograded back into Pisces on Sept. 25, 2018. Those five months were not that long ago, even if they feel a world away to you now, thanks to a long series of overlapping inner-planet retrogrades (starring Mars) and a couple of eclipses in the mix last summer.

You might find it worthwhile to check your journal or calendar (or similar) to see what exactly was happening for you in mid-April. (This April 15, 2018, Planet Waves essay is worth re-reading, too.)

What you discover could offer some clues to what Chiron will nudge you to begin paying attention to in earnest. While many planets have moved quite a distance from where they were in April, some of the slower ones have not moved far at all. So we’re not going to get a do-over a la Groundhog Day, but there may be some useful echoes.

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A Mercury Station, a New Moon, and You Are Enough

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By Amanda Painter

Often misworded, the quotation “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are” is also overwhelmingly misattributed to Theodore Roosevelt (Teddy did not come up with it; he quotes it in his autobiography, and attributes it to one Squire Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia). Be that as it may, it struck me as perhaps a useful mantra for the current astrology as we head into the weekend. With Mercury stationing direct today, a New Moon in Sagittarius tomorrow, and various other planets interacting with those two events, you might be feeling a mix of push-pull on the one hand, and a lull in energy on the other hand.

Rocking chairs at the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

If that’s the case, I suspect it would be useful to stay in touch with your actual circumstances, resources and honest desires. I’m not only referring to the seeming ‘limitations’ of What Is, but also to something that you may sometimes push aside or not believe: your inherent enough-ness; that is, the fact that you are enough, as you are right now.

But, I get ahead of myself. Let’s go over the astrology in a little more detail.

As mentioned, Mercury stations direct in late Scorpio today at 4:22 pm EST (21:21:59 UTC). I don’t know about you, but the last few weeks (most of which Mercury spent in Sagittarius) seem to have been marked by a number of interesting things coming to light — both in the public/political realm, and also in my personal life.

Given that Scorpio is the sign of secrets (among other things), I’m very curious to witness what shakes out as it stations direct today. See if you can keep your awareness tuned to that sense of something being revealed, and make a note of what you discover.

Tomorrow, at 2:20 am EST (7:20:15 UTC), the Sagittarius Moon and Sun form their conjunction for the month, for the New Moon. They do so conjunct a deep-space phenomenon called the Great Attractor (you can read more about that here) and square Mars and Neptune in Pisces.

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Big Thanks: Sagittarius, Jupiter and the Gemini Full Moon

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By Amanda Painter

The Sun enters Sagittarius today at 4:01 am EST (9:01:23 UTC) to begin the last month of the current season. Less than 24 hours later, we get a Full Moon in Gemini (the Moon opposite the Sun, exact at 12:39 am EST / 5:39:06 UTC). On the one hand, the Full Moon could amplify any Thanksgiving tensions (or other social polarities, if that’s not your holiday); on the other hand, given the mutable signs involved, you may find that conflicts are easier to breeze over, chat your way through, or bend around.

The 2015 Gemini Full Moon; photo by Amanda Painter

Part of what will spell the difference is your own personal emotional history and the social circumstances (especially familial) that you find yourself in today and through the weekend. If you’re gathering with people who don’t tend to push your buttons, or if you’ve done a lot of therapy and healing work around those buttons, the sociability of the planets currently in Sagittarius (the Sun, Jupiter and retrograde Mercury) may be more dominant or easier to tap into.

If you know you’ll be in a situation between now and Sunday where it’s possible old wounds might be metaphorically uncovered or picked at, it could be helpful to make a self-care strategy before you get there. Identify early the spaces (indoors or outdoors) where you can escape briefly to collect yourself. It might be useful to get in touch beforehand with either someone who’ll be at the gathering who is an ‘ally’, or someone elsewhere who’ll be able to respond to texts, and let them know you might call on them for a little grounding or venting.

Of course, if you decide instead to do your own thing — or if you get to choose who’s invited to the gathering, with no sense of obligation to invite those who cause you difficulty — this shouldn’t be as much of an issue. (Though you might want to investigate sometime the relationship between your sense of obligation to your family and your sense of commitment to your own healing process and wellbeing.)

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Back to School with a Handful of Aspects

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By Amanda Painter

Now that Mars is finally direct as of Monday, what have you been able to put in motion? Is there anything you actually feel more uncertain about or stymied by than you did last week? Hopefully you’re enjoying a sense of energy freeing up for use, though it’s possible that this week’s aspects are raising some new questions.

A fellow student in the lounge of the Kristin Linklater Voice Center. Photo by Amanda Painter

For example, two aspects that have caught my eye are: the asteroid Vesta conjunct the centaur Ixion in Sagittarius; and the asteroid Ceres square the centaur Pholus and the Galactic Core (GC) in Sagittarius.

In general, that Sadge energy might be lending a sense of restlessness — though the tension of these aspects could also be seen as questions.

For example, are you finding this week that your approach to nurturing your ‘higher purpose’ is to get critical of the ways you’ve often strayed from it? That could be one way Ceres-GC might manifest.

Yet, when we add in Pholus, another thread emerges: the idea that, just as a small act of selfless service can go a long way, so can a little self-criticism take on a life of its own. Which of those would you rather send rippling out into the world? Because even if you keep your fault-finding of yourself to yourself, there’s an excellent chance it could hinder your ability or willingness to offer your gifts fully to those around you — thereby shortchanging the world of your light. What might happen if you pushed aside any thoughts of ‘not good enough yet’ and just offered what you can do?

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Small, Meaningful Moves

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By Amanda Painter

We’re moving into the last half of Mercury’s current retrograde in Aries — and the contacts Mercury is making this week seem to be stirring things up for many people. If you’ve been feeling a sense of pressure lately, this astrology could be why.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

A combined square between Mercury in Aries and Mars and Saturn in Capricorn continues to be in effect today. Mercury square Mars was exact on Wednesday, and Mercury square Saturn is exact today — though they are really one event.

This aspect pattern is an image of tension — especially with Mercury in a hot, fiery, action-oriented sign, and its retrograde motion describing an inward direction (for at least some of that energy). If you’re feeling frustrated, you might notice how much of that energy is directed at yourself, versus how much of it you’re projecting (or unleashing) onto others.

Lots of people fall into negative thought loops when they have trouble expressing their anger and annoyance; that said, it’s also becoming more common for people to seek an outlet on social media. If that tends to be your go-to, you might notice whether people’s comments in response actually help you to transmute your frustration, or whether it serves to amplify it. There are reasons why social media is often referred to as an ‘echo chamber’ — though sometimes we do truly just need to say what we have to say and know that we’ve been heard and empathized with.

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Flowing with the Currents and Lighting the Fire

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By Amanda Painter

With the Sun now in Pisces as of this past weekend, winter starts to loosen its grip and we begin the approach to spring (even if the weather doesn’t play along consistently). Right now we have a concentration of planets in Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac; yet it won’t be long before the sky’s emphasis begins shifting again, from deep water to the fire of Aries.

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