Tag Archives: self-awareness

Ringing in the Eclipses

By Amanda Painter

When this column publishes, it’ll be within a couple minutes of the Capricorn New Moon and annular (not total) solar eclipse. The New Moon is exact at 12:13 am EST (5:13:00 UTC), with the eclipse peaking about four minutes later. You likely have some idea already what the event signifies for you.

Boy in a funeral procession; the Balinese do not mind strangers witnessing their ceremonies, and funerals are a big celebration. Karma and dharma are a strong part of their Hindu beliefs. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Boy in a Hindu funeral procession at Pura Goa Lawah; the Balinese do not mind strangers witnessing their ceremonies, and funerals celebrate reincarnation. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Yet even if you were not sent a bright star in the east last night to follow — or some other massive, impossible-to-ignore sign from god — chances are you can look back over the past year to gather some clues. After all, this eclipse is happening in Capricorn, the same sign as the year-defining Saturn-Pluto conjunction that’s exact in a few weeks.

Saturn-Pluto has been the long game: the gradual building of pressure, the progressive dismantling, the ever-increasing awareness of a need to restructure. Its manifestations on the world stage have been obvious and dramatic. Possibly it’s been showing up in your life more subtly — kind of like insistent, repeated nudges in a particular direction, or something coming apart in stages.

Eclipses, on the other hand, tend to be a more focused process. Usually there’s one solar and one lunar eclipse bracketing a two-week span. (The corresponding partial lunar eclipse of this pair arrives Jan. 10, almost aligning with the 12 Days of Christmas and the arrival of the three Magi with their gifts.)

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The Cosmic Breath that Quickens Capricorn

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By Amanda Painter

I was thinking recently about how, each year, the Sun moves from its alignment with the Galactic Core in late Sagittarius (today) to its ingress of Capricorn (Saturday) within the span of a couple of days. I’m fascinated by this juxtaposition of energies, and what it might mean.

Aurora Borealis, or northern lights, shines above Bear Lake, Alaska. Photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang, U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons.

Aurora Borealis (northern lights) above Bear Lake, Alaska. Photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang, U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons.

Even though our Milky Way galaxy and its center are far from the most massive things in space, they’re still too huge and too far away for most of us to comprehend.

How do you relate something like that to your job or your breakfast, or your life’s goals, or even how long it takes you to fly on a plane from one continent to another? You can’t. And yet we’re part of the Milky Way.

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Body and Soul, After the Full Moon

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By Amanda Painter

By the time you read this, the restless Gemini Full Moon will be separating. However, I’m writing this piece in the thick of it, and it’s been a challenge for me to stay focused on the Sagittarian arrow of the Sun and not get mixed up in the less-conscious mental chatter of the Gemini Moon. Thankfully, today you may notice certain interpersonal situations begin resolving, even if other feelings are intensifying.

Male dancers performing the Tedung Agung, a dance evoking a protective umbrella, in Ubud, Bali. Photo by Amanda Painte

Dancers performing the Tedung Agung, which evokes a protective umbrella, in Ubud, Bali. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Mental activity should ease this evening, after the Moon enters Cancer at 6:23 pm EST (23:22:58 UTC). With the Moon in its home sign, emotions are more likely to be felt for what they are.

Yet they might get verbalized less, as the Moon opposes the impressive collection of objects in Capricorn over Friday and Saturday.

While the Moon oppositions act as mini tidal shifts (either with people you encounter or entirely within you), you’ll want to notice whether there’s anything deeper going on for you.

Emotions that intensified during the recent Full Moon likely still have depths calling for exploration — or excavation. Venus makes its exact conjunction to Pluto tomorrow. Venus is the planet of feelings and the senses. Pluto represents not only change, but also all that exists ‘below’ — such as below consciousness, below the Earth’s surface (as in Capricorn), or below the proverbial belt.

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The Day of Inner Fervor: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 10
The Day of Inner Fervor | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

The intrepid quest for truth is a core motivation for Sagittarians of any stripe. Truth and freedom are inseparable, yet to live in terms of those ideals requires hard-won self-awareness and self-acceptance. Your path this year calls for honestly addressing mounting tension in some area of your relationships or support systems. Fortunately, you’re well equipped to tap your highest capacity for insight, objectivity and skillful communication. Take the reins on your busy mind and steer with intent.
— by Victoria Emory

If you have a Sagittarius Sun, rising sign or Moon and could use some insights on such real-life matters as work, relationships and career, your 2019-2020 Sagittarius Astrology Studio reading by Eric Francis will cover your ruling planet Jupiter’s conjunction to the Galactic Core, a preview of Jupiter in Capricorn, and many other potentially life-changing facets of your astrology.

Written in the Planets

Emotions will be running deep as Venus in Capricorn aligns with Pluto and Saturn. The planet of feelings, sensory experiences and pleasure makes contact first with Saturn, then with Pluto. Venus to Saturn describes a potential sense of loss, longing or a limit placed on a relationship. That can lead to a breakthrough of depth: of discovery of your real feelings.

This aspect peaks at the same time as the Gemini Full Moon on the 11th. The Full Moon is a high tide emotionally, which will accentuate the poignancy of Venus-Pluto. Yet the Moon’s full phase in Gemini can be about talking a lot but not really saying anything. Avoid chatting away your feelings; rather, stay with yourself and what you’re experiencing, whatever it may be.

Almanac: Moon enters Gemini at 11:47 am EST today. The Full Moon in Gemini is exact at 12:12:12 am EST Thursday, 12/12. That’s a lot of 12s!

— by Eric Francis

Would you appreciate a resource to help guide your personal review of 2019? We’ve compiled all 12 of your monthly horoscopes by Eric for this year.

The Saturn-Pluto conjunction is upon us, just weeks away. While this event will happen two or three times in the lives of most people, this particular event is a moment of convergence and reckoning for the world and for us as individuals.

I’m underway recording RESPECT, the 2020-2021 Planet Waves annual readings, to cover the momentous astrology of the coming year-plus. You can read more about the project, and pre-order the readings, here.

The Day of Flamboyance: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 9
The Day of Flamboyance | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

Let your touchstone in the coming year be an enhanced ability to perceive yourself objectively. Work-related demands and building financial security will require sustained effort. Yet opportunities seized now can lead to substantial, long-lasting results. If commitments trigger resentment, or the balance of power in relationships impacts your self-esteem, analyze underlying issues. With awareness and focus, you can initiate effective and necessary communication about sensitive topics.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

Mercury enters Sagittarius today at 4:41 am EST (9:41:26 UTC). Mercury being the planet of the mind, this activates awareness of what else is happening in Sagittarius: namely, the Sun moving between the Great Attractor (a deep-space phenomenon toward which our region of the universe is moving) and the Galactic Core (the center of our Milky Way galaxy). At this time of year, the Earth and the Sun are facing into the galaxy and into a larger galactic structure, focusing us on the Big Questions of Existence. Can you feel them tugging at the edges of your consciousness?

The natal placement of Mercury in Sagittarius tends to describe focusing on what is far-off and/or broad in scope, sometimes to the detriment of the details. Yet people with this Mercury are apt to be direct and sincere, even if they sometimes speak more candidly than others are prepared to hear.

Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius, is making a conjunction to Pholus in Capricorn and a square to Chiron in Aries. Action is the name of the game with squares; in this case, putting your knowledge and spiritual theory to the test with some actual experimentation. How does it measure up against what you’ve learned previously? Notice if someone seems to be meeting you where you are in your experiment, or is showing you something about how to hold space for such a process in tangible ways.
— by Amanda Painter

In 2020 we have not one but two conjunctions that mark the turn of a generation, and of an era in history. On Jan. 12, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn form their once per 33-year conjunction. Then on Dec. 21. 2020, Jupiter and Saturn, both now in Aquarius, form a conjunction in the first degree of that sign. Read more here…

The Day of Abandon: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 8
The Day of Abandon | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

Draw upon the wellspring of inspiration bubbling up from your psychic depths to help dispel confusion or uncertainty. You’re on the verge of a conscious breakthrough, and clarity will emerge soon enough. Creative work of some kind looks promising, in terms of your quest for greater financial security, just don’t waste time chasing rainbows. Your open heart works best with open eyes.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

All week, the Sagittarius Sun and Neptune in Pisces have been in a square aspect, exact today. Neptune, especially in Pisces, is a diffusing and dissolving agent. It can obscure, mislead or embellish. But it also represents the kind of universality at the heart of concepts like agape: unconditional, divine love. The Sagittarius Sun is open in spirit and forward thinking in its most evolved forms.

Generally speaking, Sun-Neptune squares can describe deceit, disillusionment, and an inability to see clearly where emotions are concerned. However, this aspect can also describe something that stimulates your idealism.

With the Sun and Neptune in aspect to the Great Attractor — a deep-space phenomenon that’s pulling everything in our region of the universe toward it — we get an image of consciousness in contact with something too big to comprehend. Yet it’s strangely attractive or compelling. Consider this an invitation to explore some of the mysteries you contain, and how they relate to the greater mysteries of existence.

If that feels too broad or ‘woowoo’, you have another option. Chiron in Aries* is square Pholus in Capricorn. These two centaurs speak of multi-generational patterns — and how you differentiate yourself from them, while owning how they’ve influenced you. A modest step in this process could release more tension than you’d expect. If you think of it in terms of ‘traditions’ that no longer fit, you may see the pieces more clearly.
*(Eric wrote on Chiron in Aries in a section of this essay.)
— by Amanda Painter

The Day of Idiosyncrasy: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 7
The Day of Idiosyncrasy | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

You’re starting this new birthday year more profoundly aware of who you are, where you’ve been, and what past imprints must transform to get where you want to go. Old images of nurturance or support no longer suffice, and you know in your bones that self-worth is an inside job. A grounded, one-step-at-a-time approach to consolidating foundational security is your path of mastery.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

Mercury leaves its post-retrograde shadow or ‘echo’ phase today. Meaning, it will finally enter new zodiac territory for the first time since Oct. 11. What a long, strange trip it’s been through the waters of Scorpio. How actively did you dive into yourself and explore? If you really went for it, did your investigation seem to mitigate the usual Mercury retrograde frustrations? What have you learned, and did you recover or regenerate anything there in the deep?

Also today, Venus and Eros in Capricorn make a harmonious aspect to Vesta in Taurus. If love and/or sex are on your agenda, your activities will benefit from an ability to be as tangible as possible about giving it the room it needs. Whether solo or partnered, this means literally creating a comfortable physical setting — as well as emotionally opening up the space within yourself to be fully present. Earth signs are tactile; listen to the messages your skin and bones (and other senses) are sending you. All of these ideas also hold true for any practical creative sparks you’re trying to stoke.
— by Amanda Painter

The Day of Extraction: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 6
The Day of Extraction | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

Steps you take to enhance financial security have the potential to generate results beyond what you’d imagine, and this is the year to direct efforts to do so. Avoid risking precious resources, or splurging on unnecessary expenses. Have fun, just don’t be reckless. Foster creative relationships through self-knowledge, i.e. honesty about your own emotional history. Value yourself and others will follow.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

In the direction of the middle of Sagittarius lies a deep-space phenomenon called the Great Attractor. The Great Attractor (GA) is the focal point of a supercluster of about 100,000 galaxies stretched out over 520 million light years — and everything in our region of the universe seems to be contracting toward it (though overall, the universe is expanding). Today the Sun — emblem of conscious self-expression — aligns with the GA.

What goal, vision, or sense of faith and optimism is pulling you along currently? In what ways does it feel elusive, or like you’ll never finish chasing it? Trying to express it, whether through actions or words, could provoke strong reactions from others. Yet those reactions will likely slide past you or spur you on, rather than ruffle or dissuade you. Note also that figures and images from the dreamtime may mirror another side of this situation to you.

On a more mundane and less ethereal level, a Venus-Eros conjunction in Capricorn suggests that feelings of emotional, material or social security will foster arousal or your general Joie de vivre. “Traditional” turn-ons (whatever that means to you) are another good bet. A square between Pallas in Sagittarius and Orcus in Virgo describes a sense of tension in fulfilling a promise. What do you need to do to bring ‘the spirit of the law’ into better accord with ‘the letter of the law’? Chances are this will also align with that elusive vision that’s drawing you along.
— by Amanda Painter