Tag Archives: politics

Who’s Going to Save Us?

By Jen Sorensen

Your sign hosts the other major conjunction that bookends this year: Jupiter conjunct Saturn, the traditional ruler of Aquarius. That event is exact on Dec. 21, 2020. Before we get to that stunning conjunction, Saturn enters your sign on March 21. So you’ll have much of this year to get busy discovering Saturn’s gifts — which can be considerable.
Your 2020-21 Aquarius Astrology Studio is now available for instant access. The Astrology Studio is a perfect complement to the Respect annual edition, and a great birthday gift for yourself or the Aquarius you love. You may order it here.

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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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 Republican Racism Quiz

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By Jen Sorensen

COMING SOON FROM PLANET WAVES…

Caring in Action: the Cancer Eclipse

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By Amanda Painter

Dear Friend and Reader:

Eric wrote at the beginning of the week about today’s Sun-Chiron square, and the collective healing needed to our inner masculine/yang sides. Then I looked at the chart for the July 2 Cancer New Moon and solar eclipse, and started thinking about the daily assaults on our empathy and capacity to care that are being made by the daily news.

Demonstrators gather to protest against the separation of immigrant families at the border in Austin, Texas, on June 14, 2018. Photo by Amanda Voisard / Statesman.com via AP

Demonstrators gather to protest against the separation of immigrant families at the border in Austin, Texas, on June 14, 2018. A year later, things are no better. Photo by Amanda Voisard / Statesman.com via AP

And it all cascaded together in my perception of what amounts to the ongoing psychological and physical torture of immigrant children separated from their families and being held in detention at the U.S. border. I’ll get to the astrology in a moment.

I’ve been seeing a lot about this in my Facebook feed and my email inbox. The strongest recurring theme, however, is an overwhelming sense of paralysis: not knowing what we can do; wondering ‘why isn’t anyone organizing a mass protest?’; asking ‘who is organizing something I can join with?’; feeling completely at a loss regarding which actions will help and which might actually make things worse.

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The Day of Worldly Rapture: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is June 21
The Day of Worldly Rapture | Order Your 2019-20 Gemini Reading | Pre-order Your 2019-20 Cancer Reading | All Other Signs

By now you’ve figured out that it’s essential to direct your energy in productive and creative ways rather than in aggressive ones. Yet the line between the two approaches to the use of energy can be difficult to see if you’re in a negative space. So it would be fair to say that creative and productive means positive and friendly. Let your curiosity and sense of humor lead you forward, and try new approaches — one at a time, long enough to see if they work.
— by Eric Francis Coppolino
Hear Eric speak about your year in-depth in your 2019-20 Gemini Astrology Studio Reading — or in your 2019-20 Cancer Astrology Studio Reading

Written in the Planets

Today is the solstice: the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere (shortest in the Southern Hemisphere), heralded by the Sun entering the sign Cancer. This year’s solstice chart looks potent: it combines the recent confrontational Mars astrology with the ‘personal is political’ message that comes with major activity in the early cardinal signs.

Certain minor planets bring in the question of how you relate to your familial and ancestral baggage and patterning; other factors seem to be steering us toward the need to align more precisely with what truly enlivens us. Remember that the care you offer has the potential to ripple out widely — as do your more emotionally defensive reactions. Which kind of chain reaction would you prefer to set in motion?

Meanwhile, a conjunction of the asteroid Vesta and Uranus in Taurus appears to speak of revolutionizing your approach to sexual relationships; that is, in a way that allows you to choose what is most authentic to you. Which might not look like how others do relationships, at least not from the outside.

Venus in Gemini is in aspect to Jupiter in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces into next week. Are you feeling compelled to seek new experiences, or just to lie back and daydream about them? If you’re feeling generous (or even just a little ‘spendy’), you’ll likely have a better experience with your giving if done through some kind of structure rather than just trying to help on your own. The idea is to keep perspective on your expectations for recognition and reciprocation; a little research about the recipient and the avenue of assistance is another safeguard.
— by Amanda Painter

Did you know that Eric Francis has recorded new videos for all 12 signs, specifically investigating Mars interacting with some of astrology’s most influential planets this season? His Call the Astrologer readings are available individually or as a 12-sign set to share with your loved ones. Check out samples here and here.

When Standing Out May Be the Only Real Option

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By Amanda Painter

When everyone around you is wounded and hurting, if you initiate and pursue your own healing it will probably make you stand out. I suspect countless people have had this thought before, but it came to mind as I was thinking about tomorrow’s conjunction of the Sun and Chiron in Aries. I don’t know how many people think of that possibility consciously before starting (for example) a therapy process; even if present unconsciously, however, I imagine it holds some people back.

Nothing Safer; photo by Amanda Painter.

Sun conjunct Chiron occurs at 2:38 pm EDT Friday (18:37:51 UTC).

And although it’s not in the very first degree of Aries, it is in the second degree, which is still Aries Point territory (the nexus of personal and political).

Whatever tomorrow’s astrology describes for you personally, it will likely resonate with issues that are prominent in our collective social environment right now.

This is the first conjunction of the Sun and Chiron in Aries since Chiron left Pisces for good on Feb. 18. As far as I can tell, it is the only conjunction these two bodies will have in the first five degrees of Aries for this particular journey of Chiron in Aries (though next year will come close; that one happens in the sixth degree of Aries).

My guess is that this means this year’s Sun-Chiron conjunction may ring the personal/collective Aries Point bell the loudest — though I don’t know for certain if it works that way. And who knows: maybe we will be able to hear the signal better once we’ve all gotten more used to this energy next year? After all, we’re also adjusting to Uranus in Taurus and wading through Mercury’s retrograde in Pisces, both of which seem to be having a slightly destabilizing effect on many people. Then again, when is there not something in the astrology describing things being off-kilter, or provocative, or confrontational, or energizing in some way?

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They Can’t Shut Down the Cosmos

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By Amanda Painter

We’re not quite at the midpoint between eclipses — that occurs Jan. 14 with the first quarter Moon. How are you doing with ‘looking where you want to be’? Are you feeling drawn to continue clearing out some space, or to initiate a project, or to dive into something? Are you feeling optimistic or frustrated (or something else entirely)?

M100, known as a ‘grand design’ galaxy, is 56 million light-years away, and is similar to our Milky Way. Studies of variable stars in M100 have played an important role in determining the size and age of the Universe. Photo by NASA / ESA / Hubble.

I ask simply as a prompt for some reflection and self-assessment; a way of taking a barometric reading on your inner and outer environment. With all the major sign-ruling planets in direct motion — and therefore not ‘forcing’ introspection — it occurred to me these questions might be useful.

Did you watch Pres. Trump’s Oval Office address Tuesday night? I confess I did not, trusting that I could read all about it afterwards if needed, without subjecting myself to his toxic projections in real time. It’s challenging enough being surrounded by its effects as they ripple through the collective. But in researching some of the current astrological aspects, it occurred to me just how reflective his speech and government-by-tantrum are of the astrology.

The first aspect to really speak to me of this is tomorrow’s Sun-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. Now, on the level of your own personal life, you may experience this as another wave of deep cleaning and space clearing related to the recent eclipse — particularly regarding how you express or present yourself to the world. Or it could come through as the drive to get beneath the surface of something. Or perhaps as the need to repair a thing or situation that’s broken and needs radical changes to be able to continue.

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