Tag Archives: Ceres

Weekly Forecast January 31:New Moon in Aquarius, Sun Conjunct Mars

Signs of spring. Cherry blossoms at the Ballard Locks in Seattle. © James A. Weythman.

This week promises to be fast-moving, highly productive, and not without a surprise or two. I know, I know – some surprises we could do without.

The main event this week is the New Moon in Aquarius on February 2 (February 3 in the Eastern Hemisphere), in close conjunction with Mars and Ceres. Aquarius is future-oriented, rebellious, and innovative, with a spark of genius. Mars is about action, and Ceres is associated with the environment and the cyclical nature of life. That’s quite a combination!

The New Moon represents new beginnings, and with Ceres in conjunction, we can expect the start of a new cycle, whether it’s a new way of interacting with the world around us or a personal rebirth – perhaps both. Mars, meanwhile, gives us the energy and motivation to carry out our novel ideas. If you’re starting a new project, this would be a great week for it. Do wait until after the New Moon, though.

Rebellion does seem to be the order of the day – or, more precisely, disorder – with Egypt in total chaos. This is exactly the type of social unrest we would correlate to the Uranus-Pluto square, which actually is quite wide at the moment but approaching a closer angle. Further, the rebellious nature of Uranus is being “fed” by all the planets in Aquarius, the sign Uranus rules in modern astrology.

The involvement of Ceres in this New Moon tells me that rebellions that occur now – whether globally or inside ourselves – are part of a greater cycle. There is a deep need for change in order to free ourselves from the constraints that limit our creativity and authentic self-expression. One of the key components of a repressed society is the suppression of free speech.

Even more telling, the Sun, Moon, Mars, and Ceres all are at a close positive angle with Saturn in Libra. The exact trines will take place throughout the week and are all indicative of productive changes that result in greater equality and more balance. Again, we can apply this globally and individually.

Venus, the planet of love and money, forms an exact square to Uranus just before the New Moon. Squares and oppositions involving Venus can be disruptive, but they’re usually not bad overall. This square definitely will make for an interesting day! Watch for events totally out of the ordinary. Right before squaring Uranus, Venus sextiles Neptune, injecting some beauty and romance into all this chaos. If you’ve got half a second, stop and smell the roses.

On Thursday, Venus sextiles Chiron just as both bodies are about to change signs. The collective can’t heal unless individuals within it heal, but the reverse is also true: it’s impossible to make that last leap toward becoming whole when we live in a sick society. Healing has to take place simultaneously, and I believe it is. However, in both cases, the dis-ease often has to become worse before it gets better, and whole systems may need to break down in order to be rebuilt in a more balanced, sustainable model.

After her sextile to Chiron, Venus enters Capricorn, where she is more excited by cold cash than a hot kiss. Look for signs of money and power coming together for control, be it to force a rebellious population into submission or to control another person in an individual relationship. On Sunday, Venus squares Jupiter in Aries, and thus a new cycle of the cardinal T-square begins unfolding.

It’s interesting to note that the three asteroid goddesses – Vesta, Juno, and Pallas – all are involved in this New Moon. Juno, named for the mythological wife of Jupiter and thus associated with marriage, is particularly strong in the New Moon chart, as she forms an opposition with Uranus by exact degree, and she’s also opposed to Jupiter. What we have, then, is a close mutable T-square with Juno, Venus, and Uranus.

Meanwhile, Vesta is conjunct Pluto, and Pallas is tightly square Saturn. What this tells me is that women and feminine energy are a crucial factor in the shifts taking place. Not that you need to be an astrologer to see it; the charts just confirm what we’re already observing in real life.

On Friday, the Sun and Mars formally conjoin. This is the day that I expect we’ll see the release of the New Moon energy. It’s a great day to start a new endeavor, whatever that may be.

The Sabian Symbol** for the Sun and Moon at 13°54′ Aquarius is a train entering a tunnel, with the keyword PENETRATION. It’s a lot quicker to go through the mountain than to climb over the top – which, in many cases, is impossible anyway. So, we have to put on our thinking caps and figure out how to penetrate what seems impenetrable. That’s going to require creativity and innovation – keywords for Aquarius.

The New Moon in Aquarius is the Chinese New Year, heralding the Year of the Metal Rabbit. February 2 also is the Celtic cross-quarter day of Imbolc, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and it’s Ground Hog Day. Catholics celebrate this day as Candlemas, but its pagan roots are undeniable. In France, they celebrate the festival by eating crèpes. Miam-miam.

This New Moon is extra special for me, as it falls on my Sun – which, of course, means that it’s my birthday. In astrology, we call it the Solar Return.

My “new project” is going to be devoting my full attention to reports and readings for my clients. As some of you know, I’m still recuperating from a serious back injury I suffered two years ago. My energy is limited, and I’ve been struggling to write for the RealAstrologers blog three or four times a week and stay on top of work for my clients – whom, by the way, have been so patient and understanding that it almost makes me want to cry. If you are among those on the wait list, take heart in knowing that I’m making these changes in order to get to your requests sooner.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to write the weekly forecast and to publish guest posts from my associates. If you don’t want to have to keep checking back to see if there’s a new post, subscribe to my feed, and you’ll get the new posts directly into your inbox.

Much love and courage to all,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

P.S. As part of your new endeavors, don’t forget to write your abundance check!

** From The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, by Dr. Marc Edmund 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.

Weekly Forecast December 20:Lunar Eclipse, Sun Enters Capricorn

Pretzels on a Christmas tree outside the Danish Bakery in Leavenworth. © Pat Paquette, 2010.

This week is so big astrologically that we started experiencing it before it even got here.

As most of you know by now, we’re in for a lunar eclipse on Tuesday, which also is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The eclipse, which I covered in last Wednesday’s post, is the first in a new series in Sagittarius and Gemini. As it so happens, it will be on the Midheaven here in the Pacific Northwest, at the exact degree in Vancouver, Canada.

Mercury, on his retrograde path, passed over the degree of the eclipse on Saturday. Close to that exact moment, I accidentally let in a malware program that turned my very smart new laptop into a slobbering idiot. Adding insult to injury, I fell prey to an ad promising a solution with a free trial of anti-spyware software. Three hours later, after downloading the program onto my computer and following the surgical instructions, I arrived at a page telling me that the “free trial” found the problem, but if I wanted it fixed, I had to buy the program. I fired off an impolite note to the company, PC Tools, only to have it bounce back with a message that they don’t answer e-mail from nonpaying customers.

Ah, Mercury retrograde at his finest.

The bigger message, as I see it, is about moving toward a “circle of trust” model. Rather than giving my money to a faceless corporation that tried to trick me out of my money when I was in a vulnerable position, I took my computer to our IT shop on the island. It’s a bit more expensive, but they are professional and guarantee their work, and if I have a problem, there’s a real person to talk to.

I’ve written before about the need to choose our friends and allies carefully as we head into the rocky terrain of 2011 and 2012. Who we do business with is part of this process — a fitting message for an eclipse ruled by Mercury, planet of commerce and contracts.

But we may be tempted to shoot the Messenger plenty this week. On Monday and Tuesday, he aspects Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Jupiter, repeating the same aspects he made in late November. He’ll make a third and final pass January 10-11. If nothing else, there will be a lot of gift returns after the holidays. The good news is that what you really wanted and didn’t get may be on sale in January.

Otherwise, think of what kind of Mercury ruled activities were going on in your life in late November. They may erupt in a crisis this week. If so, don’t worry, because it will all work out by the middle of January. For me, this is clearly the backlog of consultations I’m still struggling to catch up with. The infected computer set me back another couple of days. To new clients waiting to get on my list, hopefully I’ll have my current workload cleared by the first week of January.

If you’re trying to repair a dinged relationship, Tuesday is a good time to make overtures. However, don’t have the conversation until New Year’s or after, by which time Mercury will be direct.

Right after Tuesday’s eclipse, Venus passes the degree at which she went retrograde on October 8. Romantic relationships can progress to the next level now. Money issues may start to clear up, too. However, with Mercury retrograde, solutions may be delayed until the end of the month.

With the Sun’s entry into Capricorn on Tuesday, we’ll get yet another blast of the summer’s T-square as the Sun crosses the early degrees of Capricorn and conjoins Pluto on Sunday. I ran across an AP news article this morning about the unprecedented number of earth events in 2010. It’s not enough to convince astrology debunkers, but those with an open mind may stop and think about the connection.

As you’ll recall, Ceres was a vital part of the T-square. This week, she forms a sextile to Jupiter and Uranus, and she’s on the Descendant in Washington, D.C., in the Capricorn ingress chart. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department sued BP and eight other companies involved in the Gulf oil disaster. Dare we hope that the United States in the coming months will join in global initiatives to protect the environment, perhaps under the leadership of President Obama?

Friday’s Leo Moon should make for a festive Christmas Eve, for those who celebrate the holiday. The Moon in Virgo on Christmas Day favors healthy feasting and moderation in food and drink. Hopefully, it signifies restraint and good taste in gift-giving, as well. Like many people, I love the festivity of the season but am saddened by the crass commercialism that has overtaken the spirit of Christmas. The winter holidays are so much more meaningful when we celebrate with those we love and trust, exchange gifts from the heart, and create abundance through our soul connections.

Wishing you all much love, joy, and abundance,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Weekly Forecast December 6:Mars Enters Capricorn, Mercury Retrograde

© James A. Weythman, 2010

If you haven’t finished your holiday shopping and especially if you haven’t mailed packages yet, don’t read this post.

Stop reading right now, get out of your chair and get busy. Or, if you like ordering online, just do it! Same goes for handmade gifts. If you don’t have all of your supplies, don’t waste another minute. Stock up, and then you can relax and finish reading about what’s happening this week. Even if you’re giving homemade goodies, get everything now, or you may find an empty spot on the supermarket shelf where you expected your key ingredient to be.

You probably know already why I’m writing this. That’s right, Mercury turns retrograde this week, and he already has started creating a little mischief. I’ve had several miscommunications, a Facebook snafu, and a billing error. Important e-mail is ending up in my spam folder. These are small problems and easily rectified. But it’s going to get a lot worse in the next few weeks – right up until New Year’s Eve.

Now, I know that holiday shopping may be the last thing on your mind as the week begins. We’re all hellaciously busy and preoccupied. The New Moon on Sunday is still unfolding, and Uranus is now direct. Although he’s not moving much yet, he’s no longer holding up the show. What’s more, all the planets will be direct until Mercury turns retrograde on Friday. These are very short windows when we can sail with a strong tailwind, so make the most of it!

As I mentioned in last week’s forecast, we’re feeling rumblings of the cardinal T-square again this week, thanks to activation of the early degrees of Capricorn by Mercury, Mars, the Moon, and the lunar North Node.

The Moon is in Cap on Tuesday and Wednesday. Her first order of business is a sextile to Venus in Scorpio, followed shortly by an intense conjunction with Pluto. On Wednesday, Venus and Pluto make direct contact. Hidden things continue to come to the surface, whether we’re talking about explosive revelations by WikiLeaks or implosive revelations from the individual subconscious. There’s an old song from the Broadway musical, The King and I, called “Getting to Know You.” Sing it to your shadow side.

Also on Tuesday, the Sun sextiles Saturn, and Mars enters Capricorn, sign of his exaltation. I wrote about the Sun-Saturn contact in my post on the New Moon. It’s very positive and provides good energy for manifesting your thoughts into reality – provided that what you’re trying to manifest conforms to your highest truth.

Mars, meanwhile, is very powerful in Capricorn, and as he crosses the T-square degrees over the next couple of weeks, springs will be sproinging all over. Mercury retrograde actually may help in this regard, as we’re going to be revisiting issues that came up in July and August but that didn’t seem to have a resolution back then. In other words, we may have another chance to go back and do things right. Or, we simply may have a chance this time, when before we couldn’t get a break to save our lives.

There’s no doubt, though, that things are going to get very messy, and all of the pieces likely won’t fall into place until next spring and summer, when Jupiter and Uranus re-enter Aries. For many of us, the seed we planted during the cardinal T-square is sprouting one tiny little shoot at a time, and the new growth has yet to poke its head above ground. Just have faith that once it does, it will grow like a veritable weed!

On Wednesday, the Moon makes aspects with Ceres, Jupiter, and Uranus, all of which were major players at the height of the T-square. Ceres seems to have made her presence felt mostly through environmental issues. I just read that BP is in the news again as it tries to downplay the amount of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico. The difference could translate to billions of dollars in fines.

Mercury turns retrograde on Friday at 4:04 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Aside from the usual Mercury retrograde shenanigans, we’ll almost certainly be going back over old ground. Chances are, you already know what it’s going to involve, although the outcome could be a big surprise.

The Moon will be in Pisces on Saturday and Sunday. I recommend that you spend the weekend inside, sleeping or watching your favorite film on Blu-ray (my all-time favorite film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, just came out on Blu-ray; I’ll have a review soon). Hopefully, you’ll get your DVD player to work without any problem.

Wishing you all much love and joy in this holiday season,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Weekly Forecast November 15: Venus and Jupiter Direct

Big trees. Old growth in Wenatchee National Forest. © Pat Paquette, 2010

We’re in a weird space as this week begins, with three planets stationed.

Neptune went direct more than a week ago but has moved forward by only one arc minute, so for all practical purposes, he’s standing still. Jupiter stations on Tuesday and will remain at a dead stop for the rest of the week. Venus has a smaller orbit and so doesn’t remain at a standstill for long, but she’s moving real slow. Then there’s Uranus, moving at just two arc minutes a day.

I had vivid dreams the past few nights about being in Russia and India. Was I channeling Obama or Jonathan Cainer? Or just picking up psychic noise? It was so very strange.

If it feels like you’re in a freeze-frame, enjoy the moment and use this energy … because you can use it. This is a powerful time to visualize the creative changes you want to make in your life – sort of like sending your Christmas wish list to Santa.

On Monday, Mars sextiles Saturn and the Sun trines Jupiter. Mars-Saturn combinations usually aren’t very much fun, but this one creates a favorable environment for detailed planning for the future. Visualize that wish list and then do your back-of-the-envelope calculations for how you’ll get what you want. Ask yourself whether your goals are realistic and whether you have the resources to accomplish them. You can cross off your list anything that doesn’t pass the reality check or contribute to a balanced life.

The Sun-Jupiter trine is even better and should help boost our optimism about what’s possible. We can be realistic and practical, without feeling like we have to stay inside the lines and think inside the box. Indeed, the Sun also will trine Uranus on Friday, and that’s where our creativity and innovative spirit gets a big shot in the arm.

But I’m getting ahead of myself …

On Wednesday, Mercury sextiles Saturn, adding mental acuity and big thinking to the muscle of Mars. If you can imagine it, it’s possible.

Thursday is the big day this week, when both Jupiter and Venus return direct within a few hours of one another. Jupiter and Venus traditional were considered the benefics – the lucky planets. When Jupiter is retrograde, it’s not so bad. He’s just asleep at the wheel and isn’t all that helpful. Once he wakes up, yawns, and stretches, I expect that we’ll all be experiencing some major breakthroughs, whether material, emotional, spiritual, or all three.

Venus is another matter. She can be quite vicious in retrograde mode, although thank goddess she returned to Libra for her station. A lot of you contacted me with serious issues during this retrograde, mostly regarding romantic relationships, but there were financial setbacks, too. If you ended a relationship during this retrograde, don’t try to force a repair. Just observe for a bit and take time to reflect on what you really want. It’s quite possible that your goals and desires have changed.

Earlier on Thursday, the Sun squares Neptune and Chiron, which will be at the apex of a brief fixed T-square at this Sunday’s Full Moon. Some of you might feel tired and discouraged, and others might have momentary delusions of grandeur. However, I don’t see this as the dominant energy, and if it rains on your parade it all, you should only feel a drop or two. If you’re tired or coming down with the seasonal crud that’s going around, use this time to rest.

On Saturday, Saturn squares Ceres. This is the third and final pass of a three-part square that began on March 24 and repeated on June 16. The cardinal T-square was ramping up back then. What we saw was a conflict between infrastructure, energy production, and the environment. So, I would expect another incident that brings this message full circle.

Speaking of environmental consequences, there is a tragic outbreak of cholera in Haiti as a result of the cramped, makeshift living conditions since the country was devastated by an earthquake in January. Mount Merapi in Indonesia also continues to erupt, and the death toll is rising. These situations are two examples of how the cardinal T-square has unfolded, both before and after its peak in July and August. Ceres was a substantial influence in the planetary alignment.

On Sunday, there will be a Full Moon at 29 degrees Taurus, and it will form a fixed T-square with Neptune and Chiron at the apex. I’ll have a full analysis in a day or two (I didn’t post yesterday, because the Full Moon is still a week away). In the meantime, keep your eye on the prize.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

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,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Recommended Reading: The Future in the Stars

It’s getting really old to see “2012” in the title of every new astrology book … as though the marketing people think that’s the only way to sell astrology these days.

Take the latest addition to the bookshelf, The Future in the Stars: The Astrological Message for 2012 and Beyond. The title elicited a big ho-hum from me, and I’d never heard of the author, Alison Chester-Lambert. It is with the utmost humility that I retract the yawn and recommend that you read this book! It is enlightening, smart, funny, and nothing short of amazing … and it really doesn’t have that much to do with 2012.

The message won’t be new for readers of RealAstrologers and my old blog, The Pisces Chronicles. In fact, I launched PiChron specifically to discuss the coming shift in consciousness and to nudge things along in any way I could, using the ancient tool of astrology. That’s pretty much what Future in the Stars is about, and more.

In a short volume (208 pages) that you can read in one sitting, Alison Chester-Lambert covers most of the topics I’ve been writing about for the past five years, plus lots of additional material, primarily on the discovery and naming of the dwarf planets, which the International Astronomical Union placed in a special class in August 2006.

I’ve written a lot about Ceres, and you’ll also find a couple of articles on Eris in my archives. However, I haven’t addressed Sedna, Makemake, Haumea, or Charon, each of which has its own chapter in the book, with deep insights into their mythology and examples of how they’ve played out in the mundane sphere.

I particularly like her take on Ceres, which she connects not just with cycles within life but the death and rebirth of the soul – in other words, past lives. This is something to think about, especially as transiting Ceres conjoins Pluto for the first time since the IAU’s decision, which paved the way for Ceres to gain the same level of astrological significance as Pluto.

She also presents an interesting twist to the “demotion” of Pluto.

“If our perceptions of Pluto the planet are undergoing revelation and change, then so will the human race undergo metamorphosis and a different way of being,” she writes. “…[W]e will gain knowledge, and we will come to be less fearful. We will fear death less, we will fear the Underworld less, we will fear magic and miracles less, we fill fear the secret power of the unconscious less, we will fear sub-atomic and nuclear power less, we will fear change less.”

Just as Eric Francis became known for his pioneering work with the centaurs, I foresee that Alison Chester-Lambert will become the “dwarf planet astrologer.” The connections she makes between the discovery and naming of these bodies with events on earth is right on and will resonate powerfully with followers of my work.

Some of the material in the book can be found on the website for the Midlands School of Astrology, which Alison founded in the Midlands region of England. Nevertheless, it’s well worth buying the book.

Overall, Alison is an astrologer after my own heart, combining art and intuition with science, logic, and serious research to produce a compelling case for the connection between astrological phenomena and events on the earth plane.

In short, if you like my blog, you’ll love this book.

Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

The Future in the Stars: The Astrological Message for 2012 and Beyond
By Alison Chester-Lambert
208 pages
July 2010/Findhorn Press
ISBN: 978-1844095056
US $16.95

Related articles on RealAstrologers:

Goodbye Pluto, Hello Ceres
Should Virgo Get a New Ruler?
Eris Tells It Like It Is
Why We Need Eris

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

Apples, symbol of the underworld. © Pat Paquette, 2010.

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,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Weekly Forecast October 4: New Moon in Libra, Venus Retrograde

October sun reflected in the Wenatchee River on Stevens Pass. © Pat Paquette, 2010.

In our fast-paced world, time is the one thing we don’t seem to have enough of. So when we have to go back and rethink our plans or re-do something, we often think of it as wasting time.

Likewise, we tend to think that going back means we’re losing ground and not moving forward.

This week’s aspects will dispel those notions and may even help us perceive a different concept of time itself.

The New Moon in Libra just as its ruler, Venus, is going retrograde seems like a mixed message. On one hand, we begin a new cycle, while on the other, we have to go back for something we missed. I don’t see these two paths as contradictory at all. Retracing our steps is part of the process of growth and moving forward – if we view the process as a whole, as part of a cycle. As we progress along this time-space continuum, alternative routes open to us.

Moving through the summer’s cardinal T-square – or trying to, anyway – many of us were able to see where we needed to go, but we just couldn’t get there. Rather than stopping and waiting for the opening to appear, we kept moving, but without a vital piece of information or a critical event that needed to happen before everything else could fall into place.

Before I take the week chronologically, let’s have a look at the interplay between Venus, Pluto, and Saturn, who are in a powerful three-way reception. Venus, planet of love and desire, is in the sign ruled by Pluto, planet of transformation. Pluto, meanwhile, is in Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, lord of time. Saturn is in Libra, ruled by Venus. And so we have the “circular path” that is the Sabian symbol for Thursday’s New Moon.

Saturn and Pluto are both karma planets. Pluto represents the “underworld,” or what I prefer to call the “otherworld.” This is where the underpinnings of our physical universe live, and it’s where we can work to transform. As lord of time, Saturn represents manifestation on the physical plane. Once we transform our energy underpinnings, what manifests in our physical world changes, too. With Venus in Scorpio, we need to be especially mindful of what we’re attempting to manifest. If we try to control the results for gratification of our immediate physical desires, we remain stuck in fear and attachment.

Venus retrograde in Scorpio is asking us to release ourselves from those attachments. You know you’re attached when you’re obsessing about someone or something.

So, that’s a rather long introduction, but it’s important to keep these concepts in mind this week as we take advantage of this exceptional New Moon to put all the pieces together and move into the new territory we’ve been exploring for most of this year.

On Tuesday (late Monday in far western time zones), Mercury squares Pluto, which may bring those obsessive thoughts to the surface. If this happens, don’t fight it. Those thoughts that keep spinning ’round and ’round in your head are trying to get your attention. Work on figuring out the message, which will contain invaluable information about what you need to work on to achieve your goals.

The Moon enters Libra on Wednesday and begins its monthly journey over the degrees of the cardinal T-square. On Thursday, she conjoins Mercury and Saturn and then carries that energy forward to the New Moon, which occurs at 2:45 p.m. on the East Coast of the United States.

Venus turns retrograde on Friday morning, but you’ll likely start feeling the effects early in the week, if you haven’t already. With Mercury in Venus-ruled Libra, you might even be experiencing some low-level effects of Mercury retrograde.

Mercury conjoins Saturn on Friday as well, which can help us get a grip on reality. Reality can be depressing sometimes, but it’s a lot easier if you work toward aligning your goals with your true purpose in life. If you don’t know what that is, I strongly recommend an astrology reading or some other method, such as Tarot.

Also on Friday, Ceres re-enters Capricorn. She was part of the cardinal T-square back in April when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, and then she went retrograde and returned to Sagittarius for four months. As I noted in my New Moon post on Saturday, Ceres is now moving toward conjunction with Pluto (exact on October 19). This reinforces the theme of venturing into your deep psyche to reclaim something you need in order to advance. Be attentive for the next few weeks to fleeting memories of your past. In some cases, they may not be so brief but could be right in your face.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Full Moon in Aries, September 23

Harvest Moon rising over the Cascades, Sept. 17, 2005. © David Haworth, http://www.stargazing.net

The Full Moon in Aries on September 23 revisits the cardinal T-square of 2010 and expresses its powerful potential to set sweeping changes in motion.

Normally, we look to the Full Moon as an outgrowth of whatever was begun at the New Moon, but I don’t see a lot of association here. This Full Moon, which traditionally is called the “Harvest Moon,” appears to be a sort of “early harvest” of the seeds planted during the cardinal T-square, or at least an indication of what the future harvest will look like.

Although the outer planets no longer are in a tight cardinal T-square, this Full Moon fills in the blanks, so to speak. So many people told me over the summer that they felt like they were on the verge of a breakthrough, but they kept bumping up against obstacles. This Full Moon on the dynamic first degree of Aries may be just what it takes to blast through those invisible walls.

The breakthroughs we sensed over the summer were real, but with the T-square blocking the energies symbolized by each of the other planets, we were stuck. Some of us, but not all, were able to find a way out via a personal planet or chart point opposite Pluto or during one of the soft transits (sextiles or trines) from the planets in the T-square. I alerted you to these windows in my weekly forecasts.

The Moon at 0°15′ Aries opposite the Sun at 0°15′ Libra repeats the degrees of the T-square at its peak in early August, both square Pluto. This Full Moon also is square the very powerful lunar eclipse in Capricorn on June 26, which was closely conjunct Pluto. The difference is that Pluto was retrograde back then, and he’s now in a powerful position of waking and returning direct.

The Full Moon on the Aries point reinforces the theme of new growth and emerging from darkness into light. However, since this is a Full Moon, and it’s the day after the equinox, this isn’t a time of birth, but of bringing what already has been born into full realization. It is a time of blooming into fullness, and that includes awakening consciousness on an individual and also broad, collective scale.

Jupiter and Uranus, which were in the first few degrees of Aries during the height of the T-square, are now retrograde and back in Pisces for the rest of the year. But they are still conjunct the Moon by just a few degrees and so are very active participants in this Full Moon. Even retrograde in Pisces, these two are big, loud, and rebellious, especially with Jupiter at his closest approach to the Earth in nearly 50 years. From Tea Party gains to powerful storms in the Atlantic, these two are making themselves felt (maybe all the hot air in Washington is keeping those storms offshore).

Saturn, meanwhile, has advanced to nearly 7 degrees Libra and makes a wide conjunction with the Sun. A lot can be accomplished, particularly in the sphere of relationships. With Saturn separating from the tight square to Pluto, we no longer have powerful forces working against each other, and this is another reason for my optimism that we can start achieving the progress we just couldn’t manage to pull off a couple of months ago.

At 26 degrees Sagittarius, Ceres is in a tight square with Jupiter and Uranus as she moves toward alignment with the Galactic Center and conjunction with Pluto. Ceres, symbol of the cycles in nature, was a major influence in the chart for the BP Horizon disaster. Fittingly, the news headlines talk of the well’s permanent death. But, as with the fateful meeting between Demeter and Hades (Greek counterparts to Ceres and Pluto), the implications will be with us for a very long time.

Ceres also makes a tight trine to Neptune and Chiron, reinforcing the theme of collective healing. Understanding that life experiences come in cycles is one way to feel whole and connected, even when we’re surrounded by darkness, chaos, and confusion.

Mercury, Venus, and Mars are in a wide, separating aspect, and they aren’t major influences in this chart. It’s important to note, though, that Venus is slowing down as she gets closer to retrograde on October 8. She’ll conjoin Mars right before that.

Lastly, I’d like to mention that this is the first of two full moons in Aries this year. After the New Moon in Libra on October 7, we will be back in the cycle of the New Moon in a sign followed by the Full Moon in the opposite sign. The next Full Moon in Aries falls on October 22, the day before the Sun enters Scorpio. It will have a very different feel to it than this one, so stay tuned for a complete report next month.

The Sabian Symbol** for the Moon at 0°15′ Aries is, A woman rises out of water, a seal rises and embraces her. The keyword is REALIZATION. As the first degree of Aries, this is a powerful symbol of the soul emerging from the primordial state of non-existence, or what we might call the “unmanifest.”

According to Marc Edmond Jones, who channeled the Sabian symbols in the early 1920s, this symbol is about “feminine receptivity calling up a more masculine or personal and self-seeking initiative.” Put to positive use, this energy allows us to see life as a field of unlimited experiences we can use to our advantage at any time. Closing yourself to this realization may result in failure to find your true purpose in life, because the ego-self stays stuck in its obsessions.

For the Sun at 0°15′ Libra, the Sabian Symbol is a butterfly made perfect by a dart through it, with the keyword ARTICULATION. Whereas the first degree of Aries is about the soul emerging out of the unmanifest, the first degree of Libra is about emerging consciousness. I couldn’t think of a more appropriate symbol for our time! This symbol is about seeing beyond the material world and living fully, completely, from the heart and soul.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

** From The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, by Dr. Marc Edmond Jones. The author, an astrologer, channeled this work in the early 1920s. There’s one symbol one for each degree of the zodiac, and we can use them to gain insight into charts.

Weekly Forecast August 23: Sun Enters Virgo, Full Moon in Pisces

Finding the Path. © Pat Paquette, 2010

It happens every year here in the northern latitudes. The Sun enters Virgo, and suddenly the air feels different, even though it’s “officially” not fall yet.

It’s a nice way to begin the week, with the Sun in a new sign. That feeling in the air is exhilarating, filled with anticipation of the fall harvest, baking, and preserving the bounty.

But the air also carries a whiff of the dark days ahead and a reminder that nothing lasts. It’s a good message to keep in mind as the cardinal T-square continues to push us into new and unfamiliar territory and strips our lives of anything that doesn’t feed growth and change.

The theme of letting go is reinforced by Tuesday’s Full Moon in Pisces (I posted a detailed interpretation on Saturday, in case you missed it). As the last sign of the zodiac, Pisces represents dissolution and endings. Sometimes we have to sit in those endings for awhile until the new cycle begins. It’s a hard place to be and painful, but letting go is necessary before we can make the radical changes that we’re being called to make in this time of awakening.

Those changes will be on hold for at least a few weeks, though, with Mercury retrograde until September 12. Indeed, this could be a very good thing, as it will allow us a break, a chance to slow down, and an opportunity to catch up on unfinished tasks at home and work. Don’t forget all those repairs that have to be done while the weather is still nice.

As I mentioned in my Full Moon post, this lunation holds possibilities for moving through the obstacles we’ve been bumping up against all spring and summer. The way out is via a sextile from Pluto to the Moon, which occurs on Tuesday, and a trine from Pluto to the Sun, which is exact on Thursday. Keep your eyes open for the hidden path to a breakthrough that may seem miraculous, but that has been in the works all along. Often what eludes us is right under our nose.

On Thursday, the Moon conjoins Uranus, newly back in Pisces, before entering Aries and activating the cardinal T-square on Friday. Throughout the day, the Moon aspects Jupiter in Aries, Pluto in Capricorn, and Saturn in Libra. Now that we’ve had our Full Moon breakthrough, we should be able to see some rhyme and reason to the challenges of the T-square.

It’s all about getting what we really want, but so many people don’t realize what deep changes are necessary to achieve those goals. As of Friday, you may be able to see with a whole new set of eyes.

I would be remiss not to mention the sextile between Venus and Ceres on Sunday. As symbol of the divine feminine, Venus represents beauty, desire, and creativity. Ceres, as the earth mother, symbolizes fertility and the bounty of nature, but she also holds the opposite symbolism of harvest, dormancy, death, and rebirth. There is a natural association between Ceres and Virgo. That’s why I advocate establishing her as the modern ruler of Virgo, or, at least, co-ruler with Mercury.

Admittedly, a sextile between Venus and Ceres doesn’t sound like a powerful influence on our daily lives, but it’s a fitting image to contemplate during the brief reprieve that retrograde Mercury is so kindly offering.

Wishing you all much love, courage, and abundance,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat