Weekly Forecast November 1: New Moon in Scorpio, Neptune Turns Direct

In the Celtic tradition, we’re in the period when the old year has ended but the new year hasn’t yet started. In other words, we’re outside of time.

The ancient Celts obviously knew something we didn’t regarding time, and it colored their entire existence. According to Julius Caesar, who fought the Celts and wrote about it in his famous commentaries, they were fearless in battle, because they believed that if they were killed, it simply meant a brief detour to the Otherworld, followed by a new incarnation. The more bravery they showed, the better the new incarnation would be.

The Celts also believed that night preceded day and that winter preceded spring. So, while astrologers typically consider the spring equinox to be the start of the new year, our Western tradition of Christmas Day at the winter solstice and New Year’s on January 1 is closer to the Celtic cycle. The old year is dead, and the new year will begin on December 21, when the days begin getting longer again (in the Northern Hemisphere).

So that’s where we are this week. We’ve got one foot in the world of the manifest and the other foot in the great void of the unmanifest. It’s a powerful place to be, and there’s a reason it happens while the Sun is in Scorpio.

While out shopping this past week, I noticed that several stores have their Christmas decorations up already! I always hate this, as it reinforces the consumer orgy that the winter holidays have become. And yet, it may not be so depressing when you think about it. Rather than sending a list to Santa or whomever it is you want to buy you that new flat-screen TV, visualize what you’d like to manifest in the new year. Better still, think about what you’d like to become. These are transformational times, and we’ve got an amazing opportunity to create the world we want.

Just be sure you know what that is! If you’re in doubt, Monday’s sextile between retrograde Venus in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn may provide a clue. Then, don’t be too quick to write off what you think you don’t want. Remember, growth can’t happen without a certain amount of pain and suffering, so if you’re seeking to avoid discomfort, you may not be doing yourself any favors. Be brave, and step up to the task.

On Thursday, Mercury trines Jupiter. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.” Favorable contact between Mercury and Jupiter represents the ability to combine the big picture with the smaller details in order to make real progress. Since Jupiter is retrograde for another three weeks, stick to planning for now and schedule your launch date for Nov. 18 or shortly thereafter.

Friday and Saturday are the power days this week, with the New Moon in Scorpio and connections from communicator Mercury to both Neptune and Uranus. New ideas may come streaming in, along with dreams and visions. But be prepared to “edit.” Channeling is a tricky business. The messages you receive may or may not be the truth. While it’s true that rational analysis can ruin your intuitive powers, intuition needs logic as a reality check. Ideally, they need to work in tandem.

Mercury also squares Chiron, which suggests that some messages we hear could be painful or bring up old wounds. I hope that doesn’t happen to you, but I want to forewarn you of the possibility. If something like this should occur, consider it an opportunity for healing, bite the bullet, and do what you need to do.

Neptune returns direct on Sunday (Saturday in western time zones). I usually feel this one, with my Neptune-ruled Pisces Moon. I get sleepy, and my dreams get very vivid. Your energy may be sapped, too, but it depends on where Neptune is transiting your chart. Mars in fiery Sagittarius could help mitigate this effect somewhat.

Also on Sunday, Venus re-enters Libra on her retrograde path. We’ll definitely be revisiting relationships, and you should have an excellent opportunity to go back over unresolved issues and start laying the groundwork for a breakthrough. It can be hard work, but I almost guarantee you that the results will be worth the effort.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

P.S. If you’re in the United States, don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour before you go to bed on Saturday night.

New Moon in Scorpio, November 6, 2010

Scorpio is the sign of transformation. Never was this a more timely theme than now.

Throughout the summer, the cardinal T-square heralded new directions for just about everyone I know. For some of you, the handwriting had been on the wall for many months, even a year. But it was like the difference between planning a long trip and actually setting off on the adventure.

As of last month’s New Moon in Libra, we began to see signs that our new way of living and being were coming into manifest reality. The message was clear. With the New Moon on November 6 (November 5 in Western time zones), the transformation takes place allowing your inner world to align with your external reality and vice versa. It’s a constant dance.

As with last month’s New Moon, the Sun and Moon make no close aspects with other planets, and all of the planets are contained within the confines of the T-square – that is, between Saturn at 12 degrees Libra and Uranus at 27 degrees Pisces. Although the intensity of the T-square has dropped, we continue to feel its effects unfold, like the blossoming of a flower.

The connection between the New Moon and the cardinal T-square may not be readily apparent, but we need look no further than Pluto, Scorpio’s ruler. Pluto was at the apex of the T-square throughout the summer, bearing all the pressure of the conflict. Consistent with the symbolism of Pluto, the tension that many of us felt in the past few months required us to transform in some way, to expand our awareness, broaden our perspective, and consider changes that never would have occurred to us before.

Not only does Pluto rule this New Moon, but he’s very close to the lunar North Node, which we often use in astrology for clues about our destiny. Ceres, also connected with cycles of death and transformation, is in a separating conjunction with Pluto. Our transformation as a species is fated. As an individual, your personal transformation includes accepting your “assignment” in this incarnation. If you’re still wondering what that might be, be alert for signs around this New Moon.

As conscious awareness evolves, we begin to see glimmers of what some call “past lives.” I call them “other lives,” as I don’t believe they are all in the past. Time as we know it is an illusion of the human brain, probably an evolutionary step to help us function. We may come to realize that we are everywhere at once, but we’ll need some way of dealing with this, or we’ll go insane.

Being able to see into the Otherworld is a very Scorpio thing. I believe that’s why there are so many traditions at this time of year that involve communicating with the dead.

As it so happens, Neptune is stationed this week in preparation to return direct on Sunday. Just as Saturn represents time and the limitations that allow us to function on this plane, Neptune represents the dissolution of time and the vast nothingness of the unmanifest. I have a feeling that many of you are going to have dreams and visions of other lives. Or, you may suddenly find yourself in telepathic link with others.

Speaking of communications, Mercury in Scorpio is in a tight trine with Uranus in Pisces at the New Moon, and Neptune and Uranus are in a sympathetic link (mutual reception). This makes it even more likely that we could receive messages from “somewhere else” or that we’ll suddenly pick up on signals from others around us. Or perhaps others who aren’t on this plane.

Jupiter is still tracking fairly closely with Uranus and also is slowing down as we approach his return direct. He’ll resume forward motion on November 18, the same day that Venus turns direct. She’s in the first degree of Scorpio at the New Moon and then returns to her own sign of Libra the next day. If you’ve been having second thoughts about a relationship, I continue to advise you to wait until Venus is back in Libra and returns direct before making any long-range decisions. You might find that your second thoughts disappear into thin air. But at the very least, you’ll gain some clarity.

The Sabian Symbol** for the Sun and Moon at 13°40′ Scorpio is telephone linemen at work, with the keyword ATTACHMENT. Everything is connected. We’re all connected to each other, in this life and in every other life across time and space. “Implicit in the symbolism is a responsibility on the part of all higher life for all lower, and a faithfulness of all lesser things to the requirements of the greater,” writes Marc Edmond Jones, who channeled the symbols.

I’ve observed over time that Scorpios and people with strong Scorpio in their charts seem to be plugged into a cosmic energy source. At this New Moon, we may all be Scorpios.

Pat

P.S. Don’t forget to write your abundance check!

** From The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, by Dr. Marc Edmond Jones. The author, an astrologer, channeled this work in 1925 with the help of Elsie Wheeler, a gifted psychic. There’s one symbol one for each degree of the zodiac, and we can use them to gain insight into charts.

Ask Real Astrologers: How Can Scorpio Get Along Better at Work?

This week’s question comes from Sarah in London, England:

Will relations with colleagues improve? I know Scorpios are infamous for being misunderstood, but this seems to be an ongoing theme for me. I perceive my behavior or reactions as either trying too hard by being too nice or reticent and withdrawn, which can leave me vulnerable to people making assumptions about who they think I am.

Sarah, as you probably know, you are a Rising Scorpio, in addition to having the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars all in Scorpio. With Scorpio on the Ascendant, that means you have Taurus on the Descendant – the cusp of the house associated with one-on-one relationships – and the ruler of Taurus is Venus. In addition, your chart ruler, Pluto, is in the eleventh house, which has to do with your circle of friends and your business network.

No matter how you cut it, your über-Scorpio personality is very much a factor in your relationships, and there’s not much you can do about that. Trying to be someone or something you aren’t just isn’t going to work for you.

You’re right about Scorpio being misunderstood. That’s because people tend to fear what they don’t understand, and Scorpio is an intensely powerful sign. I’ve often observed that Scorpios seem to be plugged into a cosmic energy source that isn’t accessible to anyone without strong Pluto or Scorpio in their charts. You have that, and it’s like carrying around a loaded weapon. Moreover, anyone who has been on the receiving end of Scorpio’s sting has learned to keep their distance.

What you’re describing is the essential dilemma of Scorpio (or anyone with strong Scorpio in their chart). On one hand, you crave intimacy and merging with another on a soul level, yet you tend to keep people at an arm’s length for fear of being annihilated. The fact is, we’re all vulnerable to being hurt if we open up our hearts, but eventually we learn that we won’t cease to exist if someone we love hurts us. Scorpios who are aware of their power also fear that they will annihilate others, and I think that stops them sometimes from being who they’re meant to be.

As for the assumptions, people tend to judge others by their own moral values and beliefs. There is simply no way to control what others think of us. In other words, we’re all vulnerable to being misunderstood. That said, Scorpio does seem to have this problem a bit more than others, because of the tendency to be secretive. With co-workers, you may have to work at being more open with information that concerns them. If it doesn’t, then what you do in private on your own time is none of their business.

I would urge you to work on stepping into your power and making no excuses for it. The key is to wield your power for the good of the collective and not just for your own personal gain. It’s not an easy mission, but you are more than equipped with the tools you need for the job.

There’s a lot more I could say about your chart, and I didn’t answer all of the questions in your e-mail, because there just isn’t the space here for that. I think you would benefit greatly from a complete reading with a professional astrologer. I do them, but there are many others out there as well, and some much closer to home, if you prefer to do it in person.

I wish you the best of everything, and thanks for writing!

Pat

Got a quick question? Click here to contact Ask Real Astrologers. You must use this form to contact me, or I won’t get your question. I do read all of your questions, although I am sorry that I can’t answer them all. If you need immediate guidance or in-depth advice, please contact me for a private consultation. THANKS!

Uber-Scorpion Bill Gates Turns 55

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s richest men, turns 55 on Thursday. What better occasion than his birthday to make a few observations about the chart of a quintessential Scorpio?

Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle. According to Astrodatabank, his birth time was approximately 10 p.m., which gives him an Ascendant of just under 27 degrees Cancer. No one is born right on the hour, so this time is mostly likely a few minutes off. The sign is probably right, though, judging by his preference for V-neck sweaters like your father wore. It just screams Cancer!

As long as I’ve been an astrologer, Gates has been my model of everything Scorpio, which inspired me to start referring to him as “über-Scorpion.” All of the things we think of when we hear the word Scorpio can be applied to Bill Gates: aggressive, competitive, secretive, ruthless, defensive, obsessive, sarcastic, and intimidating, with a penchant for pre-emptive strikes. Scorpio doesn’t wait to be swallowed in a corporate takeover but swallows up the competition first. This is a risk-taker, an individual who doesn’t fear stepping right up to the line of the law and perhaps a bit over it. It’s all part of doing business.

There’s much that could be said about his chart, which has many clearly recognizable patterns – archetypal, you could say. But I’ll leave that analysis to someone else and concentrate on some broader observations.

I have a theory that Bill Gates had to be born a Scorpio in order to play his assigned role in this incarnation as transformer of personal computing. This is someone who aligned with his life’s purpose from a very early age. No matter what you might think of him or the PC, you can’t argue that he hasn’t had a powerful influence on how we use computers and, more importantly, how we communicate over the Internet. And this is where it gets interesting.

A few days ago, Gates’s successor at Microsoft, Ray Ozzie – himself about to retire – set the computer industry abuzz with a proclamation that the PC is dead. In its place we will have “software as a service” (SAAS) and something called “cloud computing.” It is a completely different model of computing, the equivalent of an empire crumbling in the wake of a new world order.

Gates left Microsoft on Jan. 7, 2008, ostensibly to spend more time at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable trust he set up with his wife. When he left Microsoft, Pluto was in the early degrees of his sixth house, which is associated with one’s daily routine and service to humanity, and had just made a favorable trine to his second-house conjunction of Jupiter and Pluto (wealth and power). Saturn, meanwhile, had entered his third house, changing the way he communicated with others. With Saturn going down in his chart, his career was bottoming out. Apparently, he intuitively knew when to retire.

Over the summer, while the cardinal T-square was in full force, transiting Jupiter and Uranus were on Gates’s Midheaven, with Neptune and Chiron opposite his natal Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. That means Saturn crossed his IC (fourth-house cusp), and now Bill Gates is rising again, on a steady climb toward a second career peak.

Both Gates the man and the technology for which he is best known are transforming and evolving, and this seems somehow very exciting. Gates is moving toward using more of his wealth to help solve the world’s urgent problems, while the collective consciousness is channeling into new ways to expand the creative power of our minds and to connect with each other. We’re only one step away from getting rid of the material devices altogether and communicating telepathically.

It all seems so very Scorpio…

Pat

Weekly Forecast October 25: Mars Enters Sagittarius

Mount Shuksan. © Pat Paquette, 2010.

Last week’s action continues to mount this week as Mars enters Sagittarius and brings out your inner daredevil.

As you can see, we’ve been plenty busy here at RealAstrologers, although in typical Mars-in-Scorpio fashion, all the action has been behind the scenes. You’ve just seen the results, without having to stay up until 3:30 a.m. to tweak some code for the gazillionth time.

Although the Mars-Jupiter trine is separating, its influence will continue and perhaps even magnify as Mars enters Jupiter’s home sign of Sagittarius on Thursday. The Big Guy himself is still slumbering in retrograde, but he returns direct in three weeks, and meanwhile Mars is acting as his advance man. You should get lots of hints of where the action is going to be, so when Jupiter finally does wake up, you shouldn’t have any doubts about how your life is going to charge ahead.

Monday promises to be an interesting day, with Mercury conjunct Venus retrograde in Scorpio. We’re still trying to figure out what she’s up to and how she’s plotting to screw up our love lives. Or how we’re afraid she will, or how we’re screwing things up ourselves by worrying … oh, forget it. It seems so complicated and tangled up in knots, but as I’ve told my clients, just wait a few weeks before making any long-range decisions regarding your closest relationships. Talking about underlying issues would be good, though, and if you persist, you can get to the bottom of what’s preventing you from taking things to the next level.

On Tuesday, the Sun sextiles Pluto in what could be the real surprise moment of the week. Normally, a Sun-Pluto sextile favors moving forward by claiming your power. So much the better if you know where the bodies are buried, although the conventional interpretation is that you have to use this knowledge for the collective good and not just for your personal gain.

However, this year has been anything but conventional, with Pluto at the apex of a cardinal T-square. All that power has been building up, with not a lot of opportunity to vent. Trines and sextiles provide a pathway for the energy to flow easily, and with the Sun in Pluto’s home sign, we should be prepared for a major power surge. The Sun symbolizes the essence of who we are at our core and our power to create. If you’ve been paying attention in class and doing your homework, you’re now ready to recreate your life the way you want it. Like my new website, there may be glitches and the need for fine-tuning, but that just goes with the territory.

Losing our fear is an important part of growing. I loved Alison Chester-Lambert’s remark in her new book about how Pluto’s demotion takes away some of his scariness. We tend to fear what we don’t understand, what’s veiled in secrecy and hiding in the dark. Often our imagination creates monsters that don’t exist, and what we fear is just an illusion. Just because it’s hidden, doesn’t mean there’s some evil lurking there. That’s the real meaning of the word “occult,” which somewhere along the line got equated with devil-worship. In fact, occult simply means “hidden.”

What’s hiding in the dark could as easily be a vast treasure. It’s no coincidence that the Romans viewed Pluto as the god of gemstones, which come from underground.

Mars enters Sagittarius on Thursday. Take care not to step on the gas too hard, literally and figuratively! And do watch out for road rage, an unfortunate side effect of this planet-sign combination.

Also on Thursday, Venus sextiles Ceres and the Sun conjoins Venus, then the Sun sextiles Ceres on Friday. Watch for news headlines about powerful women. Next Tuesday (November 2) is Election Day in the United States, with several closely watched races involving women candidates. Whether a candidate is a man or woman truly doesn’t seem to matter anymore, and we’ve finally accepted that just because a candidate is female, she’s not automatically going to be an advocate for traditional “women’s issues.” It’s encouraging to see that voters finally are focusing on issues and not on gender.

Halloween is on Sunday, but most parties likely will take place on Saturday night. The Leo Moon should make for a festive time, so put on your costume and act the part!

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

My natal Venus happens to be both retrograde and in Scorpio. I have heard that when a person has a retrograde planet in a particular sign, that the inverted energies of the planet will reverse themselves, or “go direct,” when that planet goes retrograde in the same sign again. Sort of like two wrongs making a right.

Natal Venus retrograde in Scorpio is INTENSE, to say the least. I would love your insight into this awkward astrological predicament, especially how it relates to re-visiting past-life relationships. In the last year, I have felt more stuck and helpless than at any other time. If you have any words of encouragement for this Venus in Scorpio retrograde time, I’d love to hear them.

Great question, Jennifer. I’ve heard that theory, too, and it makes sense on a certain level. However, I just haven’t been able to verify it in action.

In my observation, each retrograde is different, depending on the sign of the retrograde planet, the house it’s transiting in your natal chart, the aspects it makes with your natal planets, and aspects it’s making with transiting planets. This is also true of Mercury retrograde.

The most I can say with any confidence is that people with a retrograde planet or with a challenging aspect in their natal chart – for example, a fixed T-square – seem to do better than the general population during periods when that planet is retrograde or when there’s a similar configuration in the sky. The logical explanation for this is that they were born with that particular challenge and so learned early on to compensate for it. You’re in your own element in a way, while others are totally disoriented and running around unsure of what to do.

I’ve seen more evidence of difficulty when a person’s chart ruler is retrograde. That means Rising Taurus and Rising Libra may be experiencing a lot of obstacles and frustrations right now.

Beyond that, I’d say that the intensity you feel isn’t all from your natal Venus. You have Venus, the Sun, and Uranus all closely conjunct in your twelfth house, and you’re a Rising Scorpio, too! Now that is intense, and it also means that you’ve got so many things going on at once that trying to pin down what transit is behind which circumstances in your life can be nearly impossible.

That said, it’s a given that Venus going retrograde a degree shy of your natal retrograde Venus is going to have some noticeable effect, and I’d expect it to have something to do with revisiting your relationships or, even more importantly, taking a good, hard look at your general approach to love and intimacy. I have a feeling that you’re not attracting the kind of relationship that fulfills your needs, and this is a perfect time for getting to the bottom of it. If you know a good therapist, I would use these last few weeks of Venus retrograde to have a session or two and at least start exploring the possible ways you may be holding yourself back or even sabotaging yourself when it comes to love. This would be the most valuable gift you could give to yourself while Venus is retrograde.

I could also see how Venus retrograde in your twelfth house would trigger dreams and memories of past-life relationships, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you encountered someone you knew in a past-life (or, as I prefer to call them, “other lives”). I’m seeing a lot of this these days, though, and I can’t say that it’s all due to Venus retrograde. The cardinal T-square, with Pluto at the apex, seems to be awakening these memories in many people. Venus retrograde in Scorpio simply reinforces this trend.

I would advise you to get a complete transit reading as soon as you’re able. There’s a lot going on in your chart, and I simply don’t have the space here to address it all.

Keep your chin up. Things are the way they are for a reason. See if you can accept the change in your life and let it takes its course. If you fight it, you’ll only dig yourself in deeper.

Thanks for writing, Jennifer. I wish you lots of love, courage, and abundance.

Pat

Under Construction

You’ve probably noticed a few things different around here. I hope you’re able to pick your way over the unpacked boxes and aren’t too disoriented.

I’ve had this project in the works for a couple of months and was hoping to be able to unveil it in a (somewhat) final form. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out the way we planned, and with the remnants of the cardinal T-square still playing out, life is moving so quickly that often there isn’t enough time for careful orchestration. I was planning on launching at the Full Moon on Friday, but as of today we had enough done that there didn’t seem to be much point in reverting to the old theme.

Still, there may be some things missing, so bear with us while we fill in the gaps. This theme has a ton of customizing to do. It could take weeks to get everything in order. Among other things, I’m going to have to go back through old posts and resize images. I’ll probably do a few months’ worth and then leave the older ones as they are. As it is, I’m backlogged on work for clients and have had to delay delivery dates for reports, which always makes me feel terrible.

Once I catch up on my consultations, I have several other ideas for adding new features in the future, so keep checking back! In the meantime, it’s sort of like moving into a new home and having to put up with the mess for a bit.

Pat

Weekly Forecast October 18: Full Moon in Aries, Sun Enters Scorpio

If last week’s planetary aspects represented a holding pattern, this week we come in for a landing.

Be prepared to hit the ground running, with Mars in Scorpio making dynamic trines to Jupiter and Uranus, just as the Full Moon takes place in Mars-ruled Aries. And that’s not all.

Monday is still a bit slow, with the Moon in dreamy Pisces and Mercury in a trine to Neptune, Pisces’ ruling planet. Neptune and Chiron are still tracking fairly closely in Aquarius, an energy pattern suggestive healing on the collective level.

One of the ways we heal is by connecting with our tribe, which we sometimes call kindred spirits. I’m seeing a growing trend in this regard, and some individuals even are making connections across time-space boundaries. If you’ve been experiencing this phenomenon, stay open to messages brought to you by Mercury, planet of communications, in synch with Neptune, dissolver of boundaries.

The channel remains open through Tuesday, when Mercury forms an inconjunct (technically, a quincunx) with Uranus. Uranus is back in Pisces until March, meaning that Neptune and Pisces remain in mutual reception. Aspects to one planet feed into the other. Healing on an individual scale affects collective healing and vice versa. You can’t have one without the other, which is why so many of us who have been working on our personal healing for so many years seem to have bumped up against an invisible glass ceiling.

The Sun in late Libra, only a few degrees behind Mercury, repeats these same aspects on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing clarity to what you’re picking up. I often caution against hanging out on the astral plane, as what you see there may be real, or it may be an illusion. If you have any doubts, seek to be enlightened mid-week. Heck, you may not even have to seek it. It may come whether you look for it or not.

Also on Tuesday, Ceres conjoins Pluto. Although they tracked very closely this past spring, the conjunction was never exact. Since the IAU revised its definition of “planet” in 2006, putting Ceres on a par with Pluto, astrologers have been working more closely with her in an attempt to fully understand her role in both personal and mundane astrology. We already know from mythology that Ceres and Pluto are connected, but there also is a theory going around that they came from the same area of the solar system, and Ceres somehow migrated inward. Think about the implications of that!

Ceres is coming into the collective awareness, and I believe this will lead to a global transformation on many levels. Her exact alignment with Pluto this week may well be her breakthrough role.

We’ll feel a shift on Wednesday, when the Moon enters Aries and Mercury enters Scorpio. The Moon in early Aries squares Pluto and triggers the cardinal T-square points, and we’ll likely get a quick review of the last the Full Moon, which fell at 0 degrees Aries. Mercury in Scorpio brings deep insights we may have missed before and that give new meaning to recent events.

You won’t get a lot of time to ruminate, though, as the second half of the week could bring opportunities very quickly and totally out of the blue, thanks to Mars aspecting Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, and Uranus, all in quick succession. Then there’s the Full Moon, which peaks at 9:37 p.m. Friday on the East Coast of the United States. Everything comes full circle, and we could be in for a very busy weekend!

On Saturday, the Sun enters Scorpio, the sign of going “underground” for death and regeneration. In a way, we’ve been doing that all summer, so it’s anyone’s guess how this Plutonic energy will manifest. Remember, Venus also is in Scorpio, and she’s retrograde. We’re rethinking what we want, at the same time as Mars in Scorpio helps us go get it. To those who wonder whether they really want what they thought they did, I advise doing whatever it takes to get clarity in a real hurry. Otherwise, those opportunities might fly by you at head-spinning speed.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Full Moon in Aries, October 22

The Full Moon on Friday, October 22, is at 29 degrees Aries and is the second in a row in the sign of the Ram. Other than that, they have little in common.

A month ago, on September 23, the the Full Moon at 0 degrees Aries activated the early degrees of the cardinal signs and represented an “early harvest” of changes that began to sweep through our lives during the cardinal T-square. The changes we envisioned were held back, like water behind a dam, as long as Saturn was in tight formation with Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto.

When Saturn began to move on, the obstacles started to clear, and the changes we could only glimpse back then began materializing. This Full Moon brings it all full circle and lights the way for us to move confidently down a new path, perhaps with new goals and a totally new perspective.

This past week, we witnessed the dramatic rescue of 33 Chilean miners who had been trapped half a mile underground since August 5, the peak date of the cardinal T-square. Several astrologers have commented on the undeniable connection between the collapse of the mine and the cardinal T-square, and the symbolism of death and rebirth – literally coming up out of the earth – when Ceres returned to a conjunction with Pluto.

All of the interpretations I read were excellent, but among them one in particular stood out, by Christina Rodenbeck in Oxford, England, who wove astrology into the mythology of the indigenous people. It was short, simple, and to the point.

But why mention all of this after the fact, in a post on the Full Moon?

The lunar cycle has been an important timing indicator as we’ve moved through the T-square and beyond. The miners were rescued on Wednesday, with the Moon in early Capricorn conjunct Ceres and Pluto. I mentioned in my forecast last week that Wednesday would be a T-square flashback day, and so it was. And not just for los 33.

The ordeal of the Chilean miners was a very literal interpretation of the T-square – going down into the underworld and returning to a new life. Many of us are experiencing a similar pattern on a more subtle, energetic level, but it is every bit as powerful. I’m seeing more and more deep changes, with individuals emerging in a “new, improved” state that will allow them to live more richly and fully and to be who they were meant to be.

The chart for this Full Moon says it all – every planet except Saturn is contained within the axis of the Sun at 29°33′ Libra and the Moon at 29°33′ Aries. The restraining influence, the Lord of Time, is out of the picture. Between the rest, there is a connection and a flow.

The Sun and Moon are in a lovely sextile and trine with Pluto and Ceres, forming an easy path for all of that Plutonian stress that built up over the summer. The easy manner in which the miners ascended to the surface is a fitting metaphor. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had an elevator to bring us up out of our worldly trap? Then … maybe we do. As I’ve written many times, sometimes the way out is up.

The Sun and Moon also make a sextile and trine to Neptune and Chiron, although it’s separating. That suggests to me that the deep healing we needed in order to move past the obstacles has taken place, and now we’re assimilating it into our lives. The more whole we are inside (whole and heal come from the same Latin root), the better we’re able to manifest what we want and need, without the glitches and gremlins that often appear as part of the process.

Mars and Jupiter also are in a separating trine, which will be exact on Wednesday, two days before the Full Moon. Jupiter is retrograde and could use an energy boost from Mars, who’s very powerful in Scorpio, the sign he co-rules with Pluto. Mars will trine Uranus two days after the Full Moon, which could be a big release point for new opportunities that are exciting and perhaps unexpected.

Mars also is in a square with Neptune and Chiron, which seems negative on the face of it. However, Neptune and Uranus are in mutual reception, and so I believe that the healing that’s taking place will feed into the new opportunities and vice versa. Difficult Mars-Neptune combinations can sometimes sap your energy – it depends on where Mars is transiting your chart – and you may be challenged to let go of some preconceived notions of what you need. The ego has a way of defending itself that isn’t always in our best interest, and when it has to be forced into another way of being – even a better one – the result can feel a lot like pain and suffering!

Just remember, there is no growth without change, and change by definition can be very painful, especially when you’ve invested so much in maintaining the status quo.

The Sabian Symbol** for the Moon at 29°33′ Aries is, A duck pond and its brood, with the keyword RELIABILITY. As with the previous Full Moon in Aries, this symbol is about self-discovery and finding your place in the cosmic order. Everyone has a special gift, and it’s up to you to discover it and to be true to your highest, best self. Once you do that, you can relax into your groove and just go with the flow.

For the Sun at 29°33′ Libra, the Sabian Symbol is Three mounds of knowledge on a philosopher’s head, with the keyword PRESCIENCE. This symbol is about recognizing how cosmic energies manifest in your own personal life. Once you start seeing the patterns, you start to develop the capability to see how things will turn out.

Amen to that! It pretty much sums up my approach to astrology, and it couldn’t be a more timely message.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

RealAstrologers

The astrology of world affairs, human evolution, the future, and the state of the universe.

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