Tag Archives: Vesta

The Day of Ironic Insight: Birthdays and Planet News

If Your Birthday is May 1
The Day of Ironic Insight | Order Your 2019-20 Taurus Reading | All Other Signs

Reconsider your ideas as to what is and is not possible, and make room for approaches other than the solely pragmatic. That is to say: do not dismiss a hoped-for or intended outcome on the basis of what seems achievable in this moment. Take confidence from what you have accomplished in the past, and from your sense of devotion to what is truly important. You have both the passion and the capability you need to make it happen.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Can you take some initiative today with tasks that require discipline and a lot of mental energy? Mercury is making aspects to Mars and Saturn today that suggest this course of action could prove effective. The more you can own the project and your efforts, the more likely you are to enjoy the benefits. This may mean focusing on a personal goal or project first, to generate a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. After that, moving on to the obligations you have to others could feel a little easier.

Also note that we’re in Beltane territory — the ancient Pagan holiday associated with honoring the fertility of the Earth, which occurs when the Sun reaches the middle of Taurus. Plus, May is Masturbation Month. So how do you want to get your freak on? Venus conjunct Vesta in Aries today may be signaling an ‘unorthodox’ sexual relationship or encounter, but could also be prime energy for ‘tending your hearth’ solo, if you know what I mean. The Moon entering Aries is a reminder to watch impulsiveness — especially with your temper or libido, if either one is feeling the heat. There are plenty of ways to express both energies that take their impact and potential consequences into account, without bottling them up.
— By Amanda Painter

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Planet Waves offers readings for all the signs and rising signs. These readings are must-haves among a core group of people who love them, though perhaps you have not heard what Eric is doing. We’ve taken many readings from 2018 and put them on a 24-hour audio stream, which anyone can tune into. Whatever your sign, you will find it interesting no matter when you tune in. If you’re up late and want something soothing and informative to listen to, or if you’re curious about astrology, tune in here. No login is required.

The Day of Dutiful Overload: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is April 30
The Day of Dutiful Overload | Order Your 2019-20 Taurus Reading | All Other Signs

Watch for insights regarding your vocation or mission in the most profound and spiritual sense of those terms. You may experience a flash of intuition, which reveals a pattern underlying various events and features of your life. This is likely to be drawing you in a specific direction in terms of what to do next. Verifying whatever information you receive will be useful; meanwhile, keep your mind open, and leave room for more details to emerge gradually.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

With Venus and Vesta in Aries making a trine to Ceres in Sagittarius, there’s some serious goddess fire on tap. Your inner flame — be it creative, sexual or simply your joie de vivre — may feel like a warm, nourishing undercurrent to the day. Perhaps try tending to it directly (such as with some kind of solo activity, though sharing the love — or lust — might feel similarly enriching; just bear in mind that Venus in Aries can come on a bit strong).

If you want to take things to the proverbial next level, you might consider how this energy connects to your overall healing journey. The centaur Chiron is conjunct the asteroid Salacia today, focusing the issue one way or another. How is your awareness being drawn to some facet of your sexual experience, or your sense of identity as a sexual-yet-spiritual being? Notice your feelings about it, and take some notes or make some art in response. Chiron tends to reward documentation, and Aries is the sign of ‘get started’. So what are you waiting for?
— By Amanda Painter

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The Day of Excess: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is April 9
The Day of Excess | Order Your 2019-20 Aries Reading | All Other Signs

Employ your powers of reason and strategy to the utmost. You already have the passion, drive and willingness to work toward your goal. Now you just need to figure out how to get there efficiently and without having to take too many backward steps. A solid plan will be well worth the time and energy spent on careful crafting and double-checking details. Let your enthusiasm serve as fuel, without letting it run away with the process.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Small moves appear to count for a lot right now, particularly in the realms of sex, healing, teaching, being seen for who you are, and holding space for unorthodox relationships, desires and identities. So if you’re feeling tension around any of those topics, how might you express and release that energy just a little? It’s not that you can’t go bigger; it’s that you can probably accomplish more with less effort than you’d expect. The aspect pattern in question is the centaur Pholus (small cause, big effect) in Capricorn making a square to a triple conjunction of Vesta (holding space), Chiron (raising awareness) and Salacia (sex, especially if ‘scandalous’) in Aries.

If you’ve been actively trying to repress and ignore any tension related to one of these topics, how is that working out for you? Is it starting to come out sideways, or to feel even more overwhelming and messier already? Note that with Aries involved (a sign ruled by Mars), it would be wise to consider your anger, too. Do you have a safe place in which to express your anger and frustration (including sexual frustration)? Can you create one — such as shouting out in the woods alone, or asking a very grounded friend (or counselor) with good emotional boundaries to hold non-judgmental space, and to witness you as you rage? (Just remember not to direct your fury at your witness; that’s asking them to process your feelings for you, which is solely your job.)

We don’t have a lot of practice with this in Western culture, especially for men; and ranting on Twitter or Facebook does not count. If anger is not part of the equation for you, creating art, writing, ritual or masturbation could just as easily be part of your process. The idea is to find or create a space in which you can get to the root of whatever’s itching to be let out of the proverbial bottle. It might not turn out to be what you think it is; and that discovery could itself open the way to actual healing.
— By Amanda Painter

The Day of Consequence: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is April 5
The Day of Initiative | Pre-order Your 2019-20 Aries Reading | All Other Signs

Focus your energy actively on your higher ambitions and thoughts. Resolve that distractions will be kept to a minimum. This is a pivotal moment for you, and you have every support possible at your disposal to facilitate constant growth. Treat the matter as if no door is closed to you, because that will be pretty near the truth. Even if getting through some of them might take considerable effort, set no limit on your sights.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Today’s Aries New Moon — a conjunction of the Sun and Moon — takes place at the very midpoint of the sign. This means it’s also square the position of the Capricorn New Moon and partial solar eclipse that we experienced on Jan. 5. You might take a moment today to think back to that week (and the whole winter eclipse season). How does what you’re doing now relate to the clearing, intention-setting, constructing and initiating you were involved with three months ago? Can you see any continuation, development or sense of integration?

Also intriguing about this New Moon chart is that it features four separate conjunctions across Pisces and Aries: Venus conjunct the centaur planet Nessus in Pisces, Mercury-Neptune in Pisces, Vesta conjunct the centaur Chiron in Aries, and then the Aries Sun and Moon. Taking a broad view, this mix of spiritually sensitive and imaginative energy with the fiery get-up-and-go of Aries could be a potent combination for getting some things done. What might those things be? Healing of past hurts and growth processes is one possibility.

This chart also speaks of the process of bringing vision out of the clouds and into contact with vital life-force energy — whether that be through creativity, sex, or any other form of enacted agency. As in, the kind of thing that creates you as you are creating it. Any time we commit energy to tangible actions, we not only have an effect on our environment, but on our perception of who we are. That effect might be subtle; it might take a while to fully manifest, or for you to begin noticing the ways you’re growing into it. Why not plant some seeds of initiative and see what next step appears before you?
— By Amanda Painter

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Pairing Up with the Aries New Moon

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By Amanda Painter

Early on Friday the Sun and Moon conjoin in Aries for the Aries New Moon. This is occurring right at the midpoint of the sign, in a rather interesting chart. The sky right now features a strong mix of Aries and Pisces; and while that often occurs at the very beginning of this season, the mix is feeling especially striking to me this year.

Simplified chart section for Friday's Aries New Moon, showing the four pairs of conjunctions. From top: Nessus & Venus, Neptune & Mercury, Vesta & Chiron, Sun & Moon.

Simplified chart section for the Aries New Moon, showing four conjunctions in Pisces and Aries. From top: Nessus, Venus, Neptune, Mercury, Vesta, Chiron, Sun, Moon.

I chalk that up partly to the fact that the Mercury-Neptune conjunction is still going strong, its influence seemingly all the more potent due to its level of exactness when Mercury stationed direct a week ago.

Related to that, for the last week I’ve been repeatedly confronted by a mix of my intuition being right on some things, and other thoughts and feelings — sometimes related to the same topic — being completely wrong. Heightened awareness of energetic, emotional or spiritual boundaries, particularly when I’m starting to overstep them, has been another prominent theme for me.

What has your week been like? Your personal experience of the energy may vary considerably, yet Mercury-Neptune is the background against which tomorrow’s New Moon occurs, so it’s worth considering. I sometimes think of the Aries New Moon as kind of the ‘other shoe’ to the equinox. It’s a ‘restart button’ for a shorter-term cycle (lunar rather than seasonal) that invokes, concentrates and then releases into the same energy of newness, growth and initiative.

Yet what caught my eye about this New Moon chart is that the Sun-Moon and Mercury-Neptune conjunctions are only two of four conjunctions in effect right now across Pisces and Aries. There’s also Venus conjunct the centaur planet Nessus in Pisces, and Vesta conjunct the centaur Chiron in Aries.

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The Day of Dignity: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is April 1
The Day of Dignity | Pre-order Your 2019-20 Aries Reading | All Other Signs

Keep your moral compass and your spiritual sensibilities as honed as you can get them. You may be on a special mission to help point the way for others, amid all the confusing stimuli of this age. Make sure you set aside enough time for yourself to meditate, reflect and/or cultivate your personal relationship with the divine, however that manifests for you. You deserve to have that space and those moments.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Vesta in Pisces is currently in a square to the Galactic Core (GC) and the centaur Ixion in Sagittarius. Although Vesta-GC looks like a need to integrate the ways you tend your inner flame with how you serve the greater good of humanity, Ixion highlights how that process can get complicated or corrupted. This looks like a great reminder to watch your boundaries — especially the subtler ‘spiritual’ or energetic ones, though they all count.

Do you know the difference between ‘holding space’ and transgressing it? When you’re excited about helping someone, are you able to stay clear about your motivations? (In other words, are you unconsciously being driven by unmet needs of your own, or some ego-related idea of what you can do?) It’s possible that any situation you encounter fitting this theme represents a ‘second chance’ of sorts to make a course-correction if you overstepped sometime in the past. Remember that asking if you have permission to give what you have to offer is a good way to stay accountable. This could increase in importance after the Moon enters Pisces later today.
— By Amanda Painter

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The Day of Innocence: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is March 28
The Day of Innocence | Pre-order Your 2019-20 Aries Reading | All Other Signs

Get ready for a new phase of your life, or perhaps a change of direction. Before you take those crucial first steps, however, you’ll need to tie up some loose ends and clear some space for yourself to move more freely. Stay in the moment; proceeding thoroughly will probably get you to your goal faster than any attempt to sprint. Preparation is your friend. What you’re doing is worth the time you need to do it right.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Say a cheer: Mercury stations direct today at 9:59 am EDT (13:58:41 UTC)! Now repeat after me: I will keep checking my facts. I will continue to regard any ‘really good deals’ with skepticism, and do my research. I will reach for the phone if emails or social media get twisted up, and will try for face-to-face if phone calls aren’t getting through. These are words to live by for at least the next couple weeks, as Mercury slowly moves out of the part of Pisces where it has been retrograde, and gradually leaves the company of Neptune. If an unexpected puzzle piece comes you way today, add it to the puzzle but perhaps wait on declaring it ‘complete’. Reviewing your notes from the last three weeks could prove useful.

More than one current aspect pattern is offering a reminder to watch your boundaries. This applies both to incoming energy and outgoing energy or actions. A square between Vesta in Pisces and the Galactic Core and centaur Ixion in Sagittarius offers a reminder that when we get excited about helping, it can be harder to notice our underlying motivations. By all means, hold space where it’s needed and aim to serve the greater good; just check your ethics in the process. The idea is to act in a way that integrates lessons learned with what you offer the world. It’s not all that complex; we just are operating in a moment when all may not be as it seems — both within and without.
— By Amanda Painter

The View from the Other Side

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By Amanda Painter

At last, the major astrology of this week (this month, really) has occurred: Mercury is retrograde in Pisces as of Monday; Uranus is in Taurus as of yesterday, and the Pisces New Moon is separating. As I write this, it’s all so fresh that I’m still getting a feel for whether the edginess and sense of anticipation I’d been experiencing has dissipated.

Utility poles in Orkney, Scotland, the day after Uranus — the cosmic light socket — ingressed Taurus in May 2018. Photo by Amanda Painter

I’ve tried to think back to last May, when Uranus first dipped into Taurus, to compare how I felt and what was going on for me, to see if there are any correlations. I have to confess, though, I feel like last year’s ingress was easier somehow.

That could be more the result of time softening the edges of memory than an actual contrast. But I’m curious to hear whether anyone reading this has a similar sense of it all.

I know that last year, like this year, I was involved in a theater production; immediately after, I traveled to Orkney, Scotland, for an intensive workshop on voice and breath for theater. It was during that workshop that Uranus entered Taurus. I recall feeling busy before the trip; maybe a little overwhelmed; but when Uranus actually made its move, I was simply focused completely on the workshop and on exploring my surroundings when I was not exploring my own breath and voice.

So I’ve been wondering: was it partly being in a strange place, on an adventure of self-discovery, that aligned with the energy of Uranus and therefore seemed to smooth the change? Are my situation and activities somehow less in harmony with Uranus this year? Was it the resonance of a voice class with the sign Taurus (which rules the neck and throat)?

Or does this year’s edginess in the lead-up relate more to the succession of other planets we’ve had hanging out in the final degrees of signs? Maybe having Chiron in the sensitive first degree of Aries, conjunct Salacia, is providing more agitation than I’ve been giving it credit for?

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