After beating my head against the wall attempting to do the upgrade manually and failing dismally, I decided to use Fantastico on Cpanel. Lo and behold, it worked! But there are some odd quirks like images vanishing from posts so we may be puttering around behind the scenes for awhile.
posted by Neith . . .
If you think Friday the 13th is scary, try it while Saturn is squaring Pluto. I’m shaking in my boots.
OK, not really. But this isn’t going to be an easy week. It’s not that I think anything terrible is going to happen, just that we’re shifting into the cardinal energies now, and that means big changes are on the way. For a heavily fixed-sign person like me, it means more stumbling over the rearranged furniture. Some people are just better at adapting than others.
The cardinal signs — Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn — mark the beginning of a new season, at least in Western thought. In astrology, they are traditionally associated with the four chart angles. When transiting planets cross these angles in our natal charts, we typically experience major life events, changes, and breakthroughs.
Likewise, with four out of the five outer planets heading into cardinal signs, we can expect these changes to happen on a planetary scale. Since several of these planets will be in conflicting squares with each other, we also know that powerful forces will be working at cross purposes, each trying to dominate and gain the advantage over the others. It is going to be tense, chaotic, and maybe scary.
This week, we get an advance glimpse of this trend, when Saturn in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn. The square is exact on Sunday, but we’ll feel it all week and into next week, too. The Moon in Libra on Thursday and Friday will activate this energy, so watch for clues on those two days. Who are you with? What are you doing? What news do you receive? Even if it doesn’t seem that significant, take note, because this may be part of a growing trend in your personal life. Keep an eye on the news headlines, too, because we may catch a glimpse of the global trends.
Taking the week day by day, we start with a sextile between Venus and Pluto overnight on Sunday (just after midnight Monday morning on the East Coast of the United States). We all know that Venus and Pluto make a sexy pair, although there can be obsession and jealousy, too. This is all the more likely with Venus in Scorpio. If you’re willing to go into some dark places in your psyche, you can use this aspect to grow, and this could be the seed of personal transformation.
For most of the day Monday, the Moon is in Leo, and she opposes Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune. Jupiter is gaining speed now and soon will make a last exact conjunction with Chiron and Neptune. Our healing has been slow and painful, but now we’re beginning to see results. I know quite a few people (myself included) whose lives are starting to turn around.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Mercury in Scorpio squares Chiron and Neptune, making this a good time to talk about our healing process. Some wounds may never heal, but if we at least are aware of them and accept them as part of who we are, we can move forward lighter and less encumbered. For better or for worse, the Sun further illuminates our healing process this week when it squares Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune.
Mercury and the Sun also trine Uranus this week — Wednesday for Mercury and Saturday for the Sun. If you’re willing to shine the light into the dark corners of your heart and mind, you’ll probably find that what’s lurking in there isn’t so scary after all. If you’ve been going through a difficult time, remember that none of it is outside the human experience. Your responses are normal and understandable, including any discomfort you may have for feeling that way to begin with.
Sunday is the Saturn-Pluto square. Since the normal work week is Monday to Friday, I’m guessing that most of you will feel this more acutely next week. Just be aware of the buildup this week, though.
As usual, if you experience any noteworthy events that you believe are linked to any of these broad energy trends, leave a comment. Those of you who are part of the Real Astrologers community know that you’re not alone. Even though others aren’t experiencing exactly what you are, we’re on parallel paths, and often the emotions are the same, even if the names and places are different.
Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat
Image: A patron is reflected in a sculpture entitled “Transition,” by Satu Bushell. The work is part of the Sculpture By The Sea exhibition in Sydney, Australia. Photo by Daniel Munoz of REUTERS.
Scorpio is the sign of mysteries, secrets, and hidden things, so it’s no surprise that among its hidden attributes is an entire “lost sign” of the zodiac.
I wrote about this last year in the second half of Scorpio, so many of you already are aware that there’s a thirteenth constellation of the zodiac, Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, sometimes called the Snake Handler. There is so much rich symbolism in this sign, including its hidden nature.
As I explained previously, the zodiac is comprised of twelve constellations Continue reading
This week’s question comes from Adina from Montreal, Quebec:
How will Saturn’s transit through Libra affect me (personally, professionally), taking into consideration the position of Pluto until 2024, of Neptune and Uranus and Jupiter – the slower moving planets?
Neith’s response:
Adina, I believe you will find Saturn in Libra much, much easier to live with than when he was in Virgo for many reasons, the most important being Saturn is far more at home in thoughtful, equitable Libra.
When Saturn entered Virgo in September 2007, he started right out by conjoining your Jupiter, making you feel like you had to earn every bit of luck that came your way. Also, just before he moved into Libra, Saturn conjoined your Uranus, a transit that almost always feels extremely confining. Since this transit was through your eleventh house, those with whom you have chosen to ally yourself are probably a much smaller group than before.
The good news is that you will not be directly impacted by Saturn until he enters the second half of Libra in 2011, because he will be tucked away behind the scenes in your twelfth house. None of the other outer planets will be strongly affecting your chart for quite some time, either. So relax for now and take advantage of this time to consolidate gains and restore balance to your life – something Libras everywhere will be doing!
One note of caution that applies to you and all of the rest of us with Mercury in Scorpio: Transiting Mars in Leo will be squaring our Mercury on and off for the next several months, and we’ll be quicker to take offense than usual. This can come as quite a surprise to friends, co-workers and family members if you are generally seen as a peace-loving Libra!
If you can, Adina, take time to refresh yourself in beautiful surroundings, always important for the Venus-ruled. Best of luck to you!
Pat’s response:
Adina, I concur wholeheartedly with Neith regarding Saturn in your twelfth house. It’s not inconsequential, but it’s a more subtle influence that doesn’t manifest outright as other house transits of Saturn tend to do.
This is a time for finishing what you started, not a good time for starting new projects, relationships, careers, etc. This would be true regardless of what aspects transiting Saturn and the other outer planets are making to one another. If a new job does come along — a real possibility after Uranus moves into your sixth house in late March — then of course you shouldn’t reject it out of hand. But in general, you should be focused on completing what you’ve already started rather than looking for something new.
Beyond that, understanding how the complex energies create by the T-square (Saturn in Libra, Pluto in Capricorn, Uranus and Jupiter in Aries) will affect you personally exceeds the scope of this column. You’d need to have a complete reading by a professional astrologer to explore all the ins and outs. In general, I think it’s safe to say that all of us are going to experience sudden shifts and sweeping changes. How much depends on our individual charts and unique circumstances.
Thanks for writing, and I hope you’ll join the discussion on our blog. Our readers often leave comments about how astrological aspects are affecting their lives. It’s all information we can use to better understand how these complicate transits involving multiple planets work.
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Neptune stations today in preparation for returning direct. Typically, when Neptune changes directions or forms significant aspects with other planets, we dream more vividly and have more psychic experiences, premonitions, synchronicities, and so forth.
In this week’s poll, we’d like to know whether you are feeling any effects, courtesy of the planet of dreams and illusions.
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Pat
We’re heading into dreamtime now. With the Sun in Scorpio and Neptune at a standstill, preparing to go direct, we’re all more open to psychic phenomena and “downloads” from the universe.
I forgot to mention in last week’s forecast that Sunday was the Celtic cross-quarter day of Samhain. In earlier times, Samhain was the beginning of the new year. In the industrialized West, we tend to view night and the dark part of the year as negative and undesirable, but to the nature-centered Celts, light grows out of darkness, so their days began at sunset, not sunrise, and their year began with the descent into winter. The seeds have all been planted for what will be born again in spring.
This also is a time of year when many people feel the veil thinning between the worlds of the visible and the unmanifest. So the tradition goes, the veil lifts very briefly on Samhain, which evolved into our modern Halloween. Still, as with many of our traditional holidays, we’ve retained the rich symbolism, even if we’ve lost touch with its meaning.
Because of this week’s Full Moon and Neptune’s change of direction, the window will remain open a little longer this year for us to travel into unseen realms. Your dreams may be very vivid this week, and they may contain important messages. Keep a journal by your bed, and don’t let those images get away!
We begin the week with the Full Moon in Taurus. Most of you probably have read Neith’s post from Saturday, but if not, don’t miss it. She has a lot of interesting insights, especially for us change-averse fixed-sign types (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius).
Even if you don’t have a lot of fixed energy in your chart, it’s human nature to fight change, and the changes are going to come fast and furious as we head into next year’s cardinal cross. Now is the time for us to take inventory, keep what serves us, and get rid of everything else. We’re going to need to travel light in the times ahead, both materially and spiritually. In my experience, it’s always best to make the necessary sacrifices, rather than waiting for someone or something to take away the things you’re attached to.
Neptune turns direct on Wednesday. We may feel sleepy and slow for much of this week, and concentration will be more difficult than usual. If you don’t have a mentally demanding job, or if you have a lull and can turn off your thought processes for a few days, you can get some amazing insights. Because Neptune is in Aquarius, the sign of the collective, the messages that come to us now may be about how we fit into the unfolding story of our time. We may get glimpses of the future, too. If a booming voice tells you to build an ark and gather the animals two by two, let me know!
The Sun and Mercury conjoin on Thursday, and it’s another day for profound insights and deeper understanding of how the universe works. New ideas may come into our minds as images or even feelings rather than thoughts, and they may need time to process before you understand them. It could take days or even months.
Venus enters Scorpio on Saturday, intensifying Scorpio themes of money, sex, and power. To the undeveloped mind, this translates to greed, lust, and the need to control. But the evolved mind knows that desire is a means to an end and that there is real power in being able to desire with an intensity that could kill us, and then releasing attachment to those desires. That kind of power is a bit scary to think of, and maybe that’s why we have a simultaneous fear and fascination with Pluto and Scorpio.
On Sunday, Mercury sextiles Pluto. The downloads just keep on coming, and we stumble on information that opens our eyes and may even be scandalous. If you need to talk to someone about your deepest feelings, this is a good time for it.
With all this intensity, it’s not going to be an easy week. But with some effort on your part, it will be an amazingly productive week. Be sure to leave comments and let us know what’s going on with you!
Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat
Image: Wet dawn in the Pacific Northwest. Off daylight saving time, with the days shortening, and rain, rain, rain. It’s weather for going inward, and so very Scorpio. Photo by Pat Paquette, all rights reserved.
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