Tag Archives: Pluto

Getting Ready to Get Going

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By Amanda Painter

Even though the calendar page will turn to a new year in a few days, the astrological year still has most of a season left to it. Yet the sense of one thing ending and something new beginning is still strong — and there is some major astrology on its way to support that sensation, even if the timing is not exact.

Photo by Amanda Painter

Photo by Amanda Painter

For one thing, Uranus will station direct on Jan. 6. This means that ALL the sign-ruling planets will be in direct motion for a spell — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (the Sun and Moon are never retrograde).

If that doesn’t sound like a cosmic green light to finally move important projects forward, I’m not sure what does. I don’t know about you, but after the continual feeling of limbo I experienced with this year’s inner-planet retrogrades, I’m really looking forward to a phase of momentum and traction, even if it’s brief.

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Looks Like Libra, Smells Like Scorpio

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By Amanda Painter

Although the Sun is still in Libra, some of this week’s news events appear to have a distinct Scorpio scent. This would seem to relate to astrology involving Mercury in Scorpio that is bookending the current workweek.

Micro-landscape at Acadia National Park one year ago. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Mossy micro-landscape at Acadia National Park in Maine one year ago. Photo by Amanda Painter.

We began the week with news coverage intensifying about the disappearance of Washington Post journalist and Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkish officials allegedly have audio and video evidence of Khashoggi being tortured and dismembered within the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, which he had visited to obtain legal documents pertaining to his upcoming marriage.

We might interpret this as representing a dark shadow side to Mercury conjunct Venus in Scorpio, which was exact on Monday and which was also sextile Vesta in Capricorn. Usually astrologers describe Mercury-Venus conjunctions as stimulating an appreciation for beauty or declarations of love. Yet Mercury-Venus can also help one to see the underlying patterns in a relationship. The alleged events surrounding Khashoggi’s disappearance and apparent murder do appear to be laying bare certain unsavory facets in the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

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Shining a Light on Pluto

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By Amanda Painter

I recently ran across a Planet Waves article from a few years ago that described Pluto in Capricorn as wanting us to address the deepest subject matter of where ‘systems’ — such as family, religion, government, the legal system, and so on — pack all of their values into us, and then we end up with all that as ‘baggage’ that we have to sort through. Ten years into Pluto’s journey through Capricorn, I think it’s safe to say that was a pretty accurate description. Pretty much daily at this point we’re confronting events and experiences that center on these issues, and which ask us to take the conversations ever deeper.

Trail to Vernal Falls, Yosemite; photo by Amanda Painter.

Trail to Vernal Falls, Yosemite; photo by Amanda Painter.

At the top of the list, of course, are the ways the systems mentioned reinforce values around race, sex and the misuse of power in regard to each.

Those topics, in turn, are closely related to our attitudes toward the natural environment (and our place in it), economic mobility, the use of emerging technologies, approaches to and accessibility of health care… I could go on and on. But I suspect few would disagree that, at least in the U.S., race and sex (or sexual violence) are the two hottest of the hot-button issues in our polarized cultural dialogue.

Pluto in Capricorn is insisting that we dig into these areas as deeply as we can, and sort out what in there is entirely personal, and what is really collective. Yet I have to wonder: given the very large number of people who have direct personal experiences and even trauma involving one or both of those topics, is it truly possible to differentiate personal from collective?

I’m not 100% sure. Though I suspect that tomorrow’s square to Pluto by the Libra Sun could hold some hints. The sign Libra speaks of one-to-one relationships (among other things); with the Sun there, we get an emphasis on how we express ourselves in relation to others directly. As in, how we are in relation to one other specific person at a time.

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Street art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.* Photo by Amanda Painter

Neptune on My Mind

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By Amanda Painter

What’s on your mind? Or, perhaps a better question might be: how is your mind behaving this week, especially in response to the unexpected or the unclear? I ask because Mercury in Virgo (a sign it rules) is making some aspects that could well be affecting your thought processes and perception.

Street art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.* Photo by Amanda Painter

Street art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.* Photo by Amanda Painter

The primary aspect in question is Mercury’s opposition to Neptune in Pisces — exact today, though it’s been in effect for several days and will continue to be so for several more.

Mercury is also in a square to the rather mysterious Great Attractor (a deep-space phenomenon in mid-Sagittarius), exact today. And between now and Sunday, Mercury is making a trine to Pluto in Capricorn and a sextile to Jupiter in Scorpio.

But first: Mercury and Neptune. At its best, this can be an aspect of heightened spiritual sensitivity and awareness. With Pluto offering assistance with investigating deep issues and mysteries, and Jupiter lending a hand with seeing how things fit the underlying patterns in your life, you may very well uncover some profound truths with this astrology.

Here’s the thing, though: in our mainstream culture and everyday life, it’s relatively rare to witness or experience Neptune in its higher manifestations. More often, we encounter Neptune’s glamour, cloudiness, slipperiness, confusion and outright deception.

One look at all the clickbait online, glossy magazine ads, the proliferation of ‘fake news’, Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS confirmation hearing, and the escapist nature of most of our entertainment options will tell you where we, collectively, stand with Neptune — not to mention the many forms of mundane denial so many people live in, covering everything from the truth of our desires and most intimate relationships, to things like climate change and the abuses of the Catholic church. Which is to say, Neptune is great at obscuring where one really stands in relation to almost anything, including in relationship to oneself.

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It might look like they're about to step off the edge, but they're not. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Entering the Eclipse Zone with Pluto

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By Amanda Painter

Tonight is the Cancer New Moon, exact at 10:48 pm EDT (02:48 UTC Friday). But it’s not just a New Moon: it is also a partial solar eclipse. Not only that, it’s an eclipse opposite Pluto in Capricorn.

It might look like they're about to step off the edge, but they're not. Photo by Amanda Painter.

It might look like they’re about to step off the edge, but they’re not. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Perhaps the most striking story I’ve seen in the news this week that illustrates this setup is the rescue of the 12 Thai student soccer players and their coach from the Tham Luang cave. Even though the rescue was completed on Tuesday, I’d say it’s still in the zone.

Pluto (lord of the underworld) in Capricorn (mountains) is absolutely subterranean. A New Moon is the darkest part of the lunar phase, yet it’s also the turning point when a new cycle begins. Cancer, of course, is a water sign — and the one most associated with taking care of others. It’s also worth noting that Jupiter stationed direct in Scorpio on Tuesday: an image of the trapped (or ‘fixed’) water that had closed off the cave deep under the surface, and the good fortune involved in being able to emerge from it.

Yet it’s Pluto’s associations with death, fear, and profound, soul-level change that really bring it all home. Think for a moment about the inherent metaphor: 13 people were ‘entombed’ while alive underground. They were brought back to the surface, but they will forever be changed in some way (likely in many ways) as a result of this experience. They can no longer be exactly who they were before — yet they still are who they are, and they are alive.

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jan21-2018

A Penetrating Mind, and Mars Changes Sign

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What do you need to dig into, investigate or persuade someone about? Astrology this week offers support in those realms, though with a caveat: empathy and a goal of mutual benefit need to be guiding principles — along with an awareness of the potential for obsession and self-righteousness.

jan21-2018

Dragon-horse sculpture by Taiwanese artist Hung Yin in Manhattan. Photo by Amanda Painter.

In this era of binge-watching shows online and falling down Google rabbit holes, it seems we’re becoming acclimated to a certain level of obsessive behavior.

That can be problematic when it comes to getting distracted when you’re on a work deadline; or when an inability to avoid the pull of obsessive diversions undermines personal goals. When it becomes a habit, self-esteem can suffer.

Yet there’s a time and a place for hyper-focusing. Many kinds of research and high-stakes tasks require it for brief stretches. If you’re investigating a mystery, engaging in intense, penetrating thought could be the key to solving it — as long as you don’t fixate on one detail to the exclusion of others that might, in fact, lead you to the solution.

As Mercury nears its conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn this week (exact Wednesday), these are some of the themes to watch for. You may find your mind is predisposed to getting under the surface of something; perhaps what you say to someone will strike at the heart of a matter, or persuade them of your point of view. If so, being considerate of others’ feelings, and not misrepresenting yourself, are important.

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In Search of Positive Momentum

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By Amanda Painter

I write today aware of a curious mix of emotions, and maybe you can relate: buoyed by some of this week’s Election Day results; numbed and exhausted by news of yet another preventable mass shooting here in the U.S. In the background of all of it are the same long-term, emotionally polarizing issues we’ve been grappling with for far too long; in the foreground are personal desires, goals and crises, and the chosen (or, more often, unconscious) distractions from them.

Bicyclist in motion; photo by Amanda Painter.

Bicyclist in motion; photo by Amanda Painter.

It can seem impossible at times to achieve lift-off when it comes to making positive changes on even the most basic personal level, given all that one is up against. Yet sometimes making progress really just comes down to keeping a little momentum going.

Some of this week’s astrology appears to support that. Of course, to keep momentum going, sometimes you have to figure out a way to overcome stationary inertia to create momentum: you have to get the ball rolling.

It’s easy to get intimidated by that; to forget that, often, doing just a little something (or a series of little somethings, taken one at a time) is all it takes to move from stasis, to engaging with a process, to some kind of result that previously appeared impossible.

The beautiful aspect that’s approaching — and which you’d do well to start actively warming up — is Venus conjunct Jupiter in Scorpio. This is exact on Monday, Nov. 13.

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june18-2017

Energy Surge: Bring on the Solstice

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Somewhat astonishingly, we’ve nearly arrived at summer solstice. On Wednesday, within hours of one another, the Sun and Mercury ingress the sign Cancer. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the week when the days are longest and the nights are shortest. The Sun seems to be at stasis.

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