Monthly Archives: January 2015

Weekly Forecast January 26: Venus Enters Pisces, Mars Sextile Pluto

Dancer Anabel Veloso in photo shoot for her 2009 Deje Flamenco production Nacidos del Mar.

Venus in Pisces: Dancer Anabel Veloso in a photo shoot for her 2009 flamenco show Nacidos del Mar.

This week’s astrological aspects are mostly favorable, but I don’t need to tell you that world events are getting serious and seriouser.

That trend is going to continue – and with increasing intensity – the closer we get to the seventh and final pass of the Uranus-Pluto square in mid-March. This astrological phenomenon is so strong that it overshadows just about every other aspect for the next four months. The one exception is the Saturn-Neptune square, which is working synergistically with Uranus and Pluto.

As I’ve written before, the final Uranus-Pluto square is different from the first six in that the others took place with Saturn in Scorpio, which reinforced Pluto in Capricorn so that we saw militarized police forces brutally suppressing movements for greater freedom and civil rights. There have been other Uranus-Pluto themes, but Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast January 19: New Moon in Aquarius, Mercury Retrograde

© Dan Collier for Dreamstime.com

© Dan Collier for Dreamstime.com

This week brings three major astrological events and a couple of lesser ones. There are bright spots and inspiring moments, but also a vague feeling of “ickiness” that we can’t identify, let alone figure out what to do with.

The ick factor comes on early in the week, with a conjunction of Mars and Neptune in Pisces on Monday. On Tuesday, the Sun enters Aquarius, less than four hours before the New Moon. On Wednesday, Mercury turns retrograde and will be in “reverse” until February 11.

For many people in the United States, Monday is a work holiday, in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Astrologically, it’s not a bad day for commemorating Dr. King’s commitment to non-violent civil disobedience. Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast January 12: Mars Enters Pisces, Mars Square Saturn

The Tower of Babel, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563.

The Tower of Babel, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563.

The title of this week’s forecast might well have been, “On How One Thing Leads to Another and Comes Back Full Circle.”

While looking at charts for Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Paris, I was listening to a YouTube playlist of recordings by English musician William Orbit. I instantly gravitated to his work after hearing a clip in the 2004 docudrama What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? but hadn’t kept up with his new releases. Until this past week, I wasn’t familiar with his version of “Nimrod,” Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast January 5: Mercury Sextile Saturn, Pre-Retrograde Shadow

Train trestle, Black Warrior River, Tuscaloosa, Ala. © Gretchen Friedrich, 2015.

Train trestle over the Black Warrior River, Tuscaloosa, Ala. © Gretchen Friedrich, 2015.

Believe it or not, there is only one major planetary aspect this week! Good thing, because most of the week will be colored by the Full Moon in Cancer, which is still ahead of us as I write.

Of course, there are always several lunar aspects in a week, and I’ll cover some of that below. Also, there are minor aspects between planets, including the inconjunct, which some astrologers consider major. For me, it depends on the planets involved. More on that below, too.

Otherwise, the only planetary aspect in the coming week is a snappy sextile on Monday from Mercury in Aquarius to Saturn in Sagittarius. Even though Mercury transits are quick and sextiles are breezy, this one contains some important information about events or circumstances Continue reading →