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.
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.
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.
By Amanda Painter
Tomorrow night (early Saturday in some time zones) the Sun leaves Capricorn and ingresses Aquarius. That this sign change happens each year within a few days of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday feels fascinatingly appropriate, even though King was a Capricorn.
Photo by Amanda Painter
I say this because of the two planets that rule Aquarius: Saturn (which also rules Capricorn) and Uranus. Saturn represents (in part) responsibility and containment; Uranus represents (in part) liberation and unbridled life force.
We need both concepts, both forms of energy, to live in balance. What I find most striking about King’s life and work in this context was the way he integrated and championed these concepts: calling, from a place of deeply held social and personal responsibility, for liberation; finding the most effective outlet for his considerable life force by focusing it into a clear and singular purpose — one that took as its container the principle of non-violent protest.
By embodying one clear structure of action and philosophy, he sought to dismantle and revolutionize another social and political structure, in pursuit of freedom for a repressed group. And he did so by inspiring individuals to use their freedom to take personal responsibility — whether they were among the repressed group, or among the elite group doing the oppressing.
By Amanda Painter
There is plenty else going on in the world besides the calling out of sexual harassment and assault that needs our attention and energy. Yet, this is a huge topic at the moment — for good reason, given how much pain it has caused to so many people. If you’re finding yourself constantly triggered and exhausted, know that you are not alone, and it’s okay to take care of yourself and to seek help.
In the moment before regeneration; photo by Amanda Painter.
With a New Moon in Scorpio on Saturday, exact at 6:42 am EST (11:42 UTC), it seems the cosmos is asking us to consider where we go from here.
Hopefully the current spotlight on the lopsided sexual power dynamic has gotten you thinking — I mean really thinking — about the many layers of this issue in our culture; about how we got here and what your own role has been; and, perhaps most importantly, how to move forward into healing individually and collectively.
That’s a lot to take on. You might find that you can handle some facets of the conversation but not others. Or you might find yourself at one end of the healing process (for example, just beginning to identify how you’ve been hurt, or how you’ve hurt others), and it might seem impossible to envision getting to a place where you’ll feel better and can stand more fully in your life.
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.
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.
By Jen Sorensen
By any standards, 2018 will be a distinctive year astrologically. Get your essential guide to riding the waves of the next 12 months and beyond. Pre-order The Art of Becoming, the 2018 Planet Waves Annual by Eric Francis.
By Amanda Painter
The sky is illustrating an interesting dynamic currently. On the one hand, the Moon is waning toward a New Moon in Leo on Sunday; waning Moon phases tend to feel lower-energy. On the other hand, accompanying aspects and planetary sign changes suggest an increase of energy. You might be experiencing this as tension or as feeling a little out of balance in some way.
Looking across the Two Cent Bridge over the Kennebec River at Waterville, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.
All of it relates to how you express yourself. And it all feeds directly into the Great American Eclipse on Aug. 21.
How conscious are you of the ways that you express yourself? That is to say, not only the words you use and the actions you take, but also how much energy is beaming through you at any given time, even when you’re not doing or saying anything? I’m referring to a variety of interrelated types of energy: emotional, mental, physical and sexual, as well ‘subtler’ forms (such as what you might tune into during meditation, reiki or t’ai chi, for example).
As Planet Waves reader Sue Edwards mentioned this week, even when you’re not speaking, some people are going to be quite sensitive to how you’re expressing yourself energetically. Think of it like the Sun itself: sometimes the Sun releases large amounts of plasma and electromagnetic radiation in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME); these events create direct and measurable disturbances in Earth’s atmosphere. Yet we don’t need that dramatic display to experience and notice the Sun’s expression of energy: it is constantly lighting and warming the Earth, both fostering life and (if we’re not careful) burning us.
By Amanda Painter
As you head into the weekend (for many U.S. readers, a long holiday), you’ll want to know that the astrology has some things to say about power struggles and confrontations. Mercury and Mars, both in Cancer, are opposing Pluto in Capricorn. At their best, this pair of oppositions can be leveraged to get beneath the surface of things.
Photo by Amanda Painter
Mercury opposite Pluto, exact at 8:36 pm EDT tonight (00:36 UTC Friday), is especially good for deep research into a topic or uncovering a secret. With the sign Cancer involved, this could easily mean getting to the underlying emotions that are driving an interpersonal situation or reaction.
In its most productive expression, Mars opposite Pluto (exact July 2 at 8:02 am EDT / 12:02 UTC) can be used to make positive, creative changes in your life. Again, with Cancer involved, that might mean giving yourself an ‘attitude adjustment’ if your emotional reactivity has been swinging to extremes. What’s really bothering you?
Or it could relate to overdue updates to your actual home environment, just as one example. The main idea is to use the energy constructively and consciously in some way, so that it does not end up using you.
What would that look like? Think power struggles, manipulation, obsession, and trying to control the emotions and actions of others. Remember, you can only ever truly control your own actions and reactions, not anybody else’s.