Tag Archives: Pholus

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

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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The Day of Current Taste: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Sept. 21
The Day of Current Taste | Order 2019-20 Virgo Astrology Studio | You can also pre-order the 2019-20 Libra Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

You’re likely to be busy this year, possibly spending a significant amount of effort on a longstanding project. This may well require some grit and determination, and a little chutzpah here and there; yet you can cover a lot of ground. Faith in your own powers is an important, and often underestimated, contributor to success. Likewise, knowing that you’re getting helpful advice from others, as opposed to added confusion. Choose your companions and confidantes wisely.
— 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

Jupiter in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces make their exact square today. Although they’ll remain within an influential distance from each other for a while yet, you may find over the next few weeks that you’re able to sense the ground beneath your feet a little more solidly. This weekend, though, things could still feel rather floaty, kind of indistinct, surprisingly optimistic, or extra expressive in a vague-yet-charming way.

Note also today that the late-Gemini Moon squares the late-Virgo Sun for the last quarter Moon — incidentally, the last Moon phase before the Sun enters Libra on Monday for the equinox. Minor planets and points in contact with the Sun and Moon include: Bacchus conjunct the Sun in Virgo; Chaos conjunct the Moon in Gemini; and Cupido (Uranian point), the Galactic Core, Pholus and Ixion in Sagittarius.

One thing this appears to describe is an opportunity to start again almost from ‘nothing’ with a second chance of some kind. It could be one that allows you to make a more ethical choice, or may relate to freeing yourself from something, or is in response to a higher calling or broader cooperative and creative partnership.

There’s also a reminder here to watch your intake of alcohol and other mind-altering substances through the weekend. This has been an ongoing caution for the last few weeks as Jupiter and Neptune have moved into position, and now the last quarter Moon is highlighting it again. There are other ways to get free — whether creatively, spiritually, mentally or physically — at a time when something in your life may be ready for restructuring, and for more balanced forms of inspiration.
— 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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Saturn Direct and Jupiter square Neptune — Or: What You’ve Learned Over Summer Vacation

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By Amanda Painter

Saturn is now in direct motion in Capricorn, as of Wednesday; this begins the final approach to its conjunction with Pluto in January. On Saturday, Jupiter in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces will complete their last of three exact squares this year. Both of these events seem to ask: what have you been learning about yourself?

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The Day of the Perceptive Critic: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Sept. 14
The Day of the Perceptive Critic | Order 2019-20 Virgo Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

Your birthday this year plays host to the Pisces Full Moon amid some eventful astrology. You may well find yourself both unusually busy, and in an especially good position to make things happen. It’s likely you’ll easily figure out how to turn an idea into a concrete reality or a practical application, or set a long-term project in motion. The only thing to be wary of is if you have a tendency to self-doubt. If so, keep an eye on your state of mind, and check in regularly with people you trust.
— 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 Pisces Full Moon peaking early this morning (12:33 am EDT), hopefully you’ll start noticing some relief if this week has felt a little crispy around the edges yet soggy in the middle. Planets are still opposing Neptune, but the Moon is easing off from its role as emotional intensifier/polarizer. You’ll still want to beware of mind-altering substances this weekend, particularly if you need to drive, do anything physical, or handle hot or sharp items. Easy does it today. There is still a ‘things may not be as they appear’ undercurrent to many interactions and circumstances.

Mercury and Venus are traveling together in a conjunction for a few weeks. They begin the day in Virgo, square the centaur planet Pholus in Sagittarius. Then Mercury enters Libra at 3:14 am EDT, and Venus follows suit at 9:43 am EDT. One thing this could represent is a revelation — either something is revealed to you, or you reveal something (to yourself or to another).

Whatever it is could have effects well into the future, or could point you in a new direction. Mercury and Venus entering Libra may describe an increasing sense of balance or spaciousness in thought processes, and in the emotions that influence them. You can let that buoy you, though stay aware that with Jupiter and Neptune still moving toward their exact square, the reference points for what counts as ‘realistic’ remain nebulous and shifting.
— 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.

Now available for instant access!

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The Day of Seasoned Experience: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Aug. 22
The Day of Seasoned Experience | The 2019-20 Virgo Astrology Studio can now be pre-ordered | 2019-20 Leo Astrology Studio is available for instant access | All Other Signs

You may be looking to make unusual moves with regard to your career. Or, said another way, something different from simply being promoted in a straight line, or from remaining in a conventional role. Possibly you have a particular calling in mind; alternatively, you just want to do work you can love. Either way, various opportunities could soon present themselves. Be aware of all your options, and look out for those that might be some way off the beaten track.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have a Leo Sun, rising sign or Moon? Your last couple years may have left you reeling trying to figure out which path forward is best. Hear Eric’s thoughts on expediting your post-eclipse process in your 2019-2020 Leo Astrology Studio reading.

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 will lay it all out in your 2019-2020 Virgo Astrology Studio.

Written in the Planets

How do you typically express your needs in love, sex or in any other type of intimate or affectionate relationship? This question could come into focus today, as the Sun occupies the kind-of-edgy last degree of its current sign (Leo), and makes a conjunction to the asteroid Juno. Do you generally offer what you hope to receive? Or do you tend to withhold generosity, or fail to ask for what you want out of pride and past wounds to your ego? Are you feeling impatient about any of this currently? With the Sun and Juno also making a trine to the centaur Pholus in Sagittarius, there’s potential for what you express today in this realm to have a ripple effect. Tomorrow the Sun enters Virgo: the last sign of Northern Hemisphere summer, and a symbol of the harvest. When you choose consciously what you’d prefer to reap, it should help clarify what you’d like to sow now with those closest to you.
— by Amanda Painter

It is difficult to feel good these days; it’s challenging to focus on your growth and self-care, or even to relax. We are pulled out of ourselves constantly, and often distracted from our core purposes. IN THESE TIMES, the Planet Waves autumn reading, will help.

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The Day of the Cryptic Secret: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Aug. 20
The Day of the Cryptic Secret | The 2019-20 Virgo Astrology Studio can now be pre-ordered | 2019-20 Leo Astrology Studio is available for instant access | All Other Signs

Your need to express your uniqueness is a fundamental part of your being, as it is for everyone. It’ll help immensely if you give yourself the room to do so, and refuse to confine yourself to the narrow expectations of conventional society. You’d have trouble fitting into that particular box, anyway, and would soon be compelled to burst out and do your own thing. Don’t be afraid of causing a little turbulence here and there; you might consider it a service to the perpetually sleepy.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have a Leo Sun, rising sign or Moon? Your last couple years may have left you reeling trying to figure out which path forward is best. Hear Eric’s thoughts on expediting your post-eclipse process in your 2019-2020 Leo Astrology Studio reading.

Written in the Planets

A little is likely to go a long way today, in terms of demonstrating your affections (and in seeking such from others). Venus — still close to the Sun and Juno in Leo — has arrived in the last degree of its sign. That alone can have a sort of itchy, edgy or impatient quality. But Venus is also making a trine aspect to Pholus in Sagittarius. Trines are aspects of harmony, which may help soften things a tad — but Pholus is the object of ‘small cause, big effect’. So this looks like a reminder to keep the generosity of selfless giving — rather than what would boost your ego — at the heart of what’s lighting your fire.

The Leo Sun trine the Galactic Core in Sagittarius could help you to channel a broader ‘highest good for all concerned’ type of love into all the ways you express yourself today, though it will help if you set that intention consciously. The Aries Moon swings through to complete a brief grand fire trine tonight with the Sun and Galactic Core (and then does the same with Venus and Pholus). Do you feel inspired toward warmth and illumination, or are you feeling burned out by your impulses? Notice first, and then choose how to proceed.
— by Amanda Painter

It is difficult to feel good these days; it’s challenging to focus on your growth and self-care, or even to relax. We are pulled out of ourselves constantly, and often distracted from our core purposes. IN THESE TIMES, the Planet Waves autumn reading, will help.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Read more here.

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The Day of Unique Happenings: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Aug. 6
The Day of Unique Happenings 2019-20 Leo Astrology Studio is available for instant access | All Other Signs

You’re preparing for a gear shift, prior to making some substantive changes. This process could be triggered by certain external events, though at root this has to do with you wanting to leave some aspect of former times behind you. If you’re unsure how to begin, consider where the past may be leaking into your current life. Do you consciously think or say one thing, and then end up doing something different under pressure? That could be a sign of an underlying idea you may need to let go.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have a Leo Sun, rising sign or Moon? Your last couple years may have left you reeling trying to figure out which path forward is best. Hear Eric’s thoughts on expediting your post-eclipse process in your 2019-2020 Leo Astrology Studio reading.

Written in the Planets

The centaur planet Pholus has been hanging on out on the Aries Point, via the first degree of Capricorn, for more than a month now. That’s one facet of the astrology that describes the dual sense of a chain reaction (or the genie let out of the bottle) and ‘didn’t we already deal with this ages ago?’ that marks so much of what’s in the news currently. If what’s been happening politically or culturally has felt especially personal recently — in a way that seems to have a life of its own — Pholus offers a clue to that.

Later today, Pholus retrogrades back into late Sagittarius. You might take this as a signal to revisit certain goals or broad visions you had earlier this year. Notice the steps you’ve taken toward them, and what those steps have led to. Do you still feel like you’re on track in moving toward your ideals? Did those ideals, or your sense of possibility regarding them, shift or get blocked or become more solidified? What have you been learning about how to structure them, or about what limits them, or about the initiative it requires to pursue them?

As you track the answers to these questions and begin plotting your next steps, bear in mind that small adjustments and actions could count for more than you’d expect. This goes doubly this week, with Jupiter slow and about to station direct in mid Sagittarius. The Moon moving into Scorpio for the later part of the day could intensify your feelings about all of this, or lend some sharpness to your reactions. This could be useful for getting to the feelings beneath the surface.
— by Amanda Painter

COMING SOON FROM PLANET WAVES…

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The Day of the Convincing Storyteller: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is July 14
The Day of the Convincing Storyteller | Order Your 2019-20 Cancer Reading | All Other Signs

Remember that relationships and collaborations of all kinds work best when everyone involved is honest and willing to do their share. Don’t wait for others to set the example; make sure you’re holding up your side of whatever agreements you’ve made. Even if you’re not used to taking the lead, this is your moment to do precisely that, and show who you really are. This will help give those around you the space to do the same, to your mutual benefit and enhancement.

Hear Eric describe the impressive eclipses involving your Sun sign or rising sign in your 2019-20 Cancer Astrology Studio Reading — now available for instant access.

Written in the Planets

We’re on the approach to an eclipse: the July 16 Capricorn Full Moon and partial lunar eclipse. This is the companion event to the July 2 solar eclipse in Cancer. Typical protocol in the couple days surrounding an eclipse is to do your best to focus your intentions on some goal or life vision you’d like to move toward, and to do things you love and want to cultivate as steps toward that goal. Yet some eclipses also ask us to do some heavy lifting in the process. This may be one of those events, and if so, chances are you’re already aware of that feeling. The Cancer Sun’s opposition to Pluto describes this situation.

Bear in mind that ‘heavy lifting’ does not mean forcing a situation or dictating to others in order to get your way. It might, however, mean making an honest assessment of your emotions and overall wellbeing; and in light of that information, then taking a realistic, ground-up approach to fixing what has broken down — preferably by enlisting the help of anyone else involved and impacted.

The Moon enters Capricorn tonight at about 7:05 pm EDT (23:04:35 UTC). Its immediate conjunction to the centaur Pholus is a reminder that a little may go a very long way right now, especially where reactions are concerned. You don’t have to stuff your emotions and seal the jar tight, since that’s likely to backfire. Just remember that our current sky suggests implementing a delay on all responses that come from a place of frustration, slights to your ego, or old pain being triggered.
— by Amanda Painter

Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

Partial Lunar Eclipse: Dec. 31, 2009. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

New in the Special Readings Series
Magnum Opus on Eclipses, Now Through Late 2020

Eric’s new 90-minute discussion of all things related to eclipses, in any sign — with a focus on Cancer and Capricorn eclipses, from the current pair through 2020 — is available now for instant access. Part audio reading, part astrology class, it offers you a lot of help processing the solar eclipse on July 2 and the lunar eclipse on July 16, and features original music. Hear it as part of the 2019-2020 Astrology Studio for Cancer, or purchase the Eclipses Reading separately for only $33.