Tag Archives: Neptune-Chiron conjunction

Weekly Forecast December 31: Mercury Enters Capricorn, Mars Trine Jupiter

Solstice Treat. © Pat Paquette, 2012.

For some reason, it feels as though we’ve had our New Year’s celebration and 2013 is already here … maybe because we survived the end of the world. Then, the Solstice is my winter holiday, and my annual celebration of this special day typically doesn’t involve champagne and noise-makers.

Of course, this also is my busiest time of year for astrological forecasts, so I’ve worked on New Year’s Day pretty steadily for the past 10 years. More about that later. First, I want to talk about an interesting item in the news this week, even though it’s kind of old news at this point (I guess it takes a while for things like this to make it into the mainstream).

According to astronomers, a new comet is heading our way that could be as bright as the Moon in 2013. We don’t know yet exactly how Comet ISON will behave; like the much-heralded Comet Elenin, it could break up, or it could get so close to the Sun that it has a meltdown. But if it lives up to early expectations, we could see a celestial phenomenon unparalleled in our lifetimes.

To make the event even more exciting, ISON will be conjunct Mars and Regulus in mid-October, right before the first eclipse in the new Libra-Aries series. In November, the comet will be at its closest point to the Sun, right around the time of a powerful Solar Eclipse in Scorpio and the second Uranus-Pluto square of 2013. Right now, ISON is moving very slowly through Cancer and isn’t visible to the naked eye. That won’t happen until September. Still, we have a visitor in our solar system, apparently a messenger from the Oort Cloud. I’ve been poring over charts all morning and afternoon but need more time to connect the dots. When I do, you’ll be the first to know.

Looking at this week, Mercury, our messenger-in-residence, finally leaves Sagittarius and moves on to Capricorn. Although he’s somewhat subdued in the somber sign of the Sea Goat, he’s more stable. More importantly, he’ll no longer be in mutual reception with retrograde Jupiter in Gemini. I thought the mutual reception might help us work through some details while keeping the big picture in mind – and perhaps it has – but I suspect it has been behind the lingering feeling that Mercury is still retrograde, even though he went direct more than a month ago. We’ll see what happens on Monday morning. Heck, maybe Congress will even come to its senses and pass measures to avoid going over the fiscal cliff.

Also on Monday, Mars sextiles Uranus. Occasionally, these two do play nice together, and they’re also in mutual reception, which is even better. As I wrote last week, this is a superb opportunity to manifest thoughts into reality through action. I normally don’t advise acting on impulse, but this is one time when spontaneity could turn out to be beneficial. That said, it couldn’t hurt to think for a split second before you act.

Mercury sextiles Neptune on Tuesday – good for translating dreams and imagination into practical ideas. On Thursday, Mercury squares Uranus, and it’s back to impulsiveness, this time the dread “foot-in-mouth” syndrome. My advice is to avoid wearing stilettos.

Moving right along, the Little Guy sextiles Chiron on Friday, quincunxes Jupiter on Saturday, and conjoins Pluto on Sunday. Neptune and Chiron were conjunct in 2009 and 2010, and while the conjunction has separated, we’re still feeling some of the healing effects of that influence, especially when the fast-moving inner planets aspect Neptune and Chiron within a day or two. We’ve all gone through an enormous of amount of healing in the past two years. Many of you have told me how you look at things differently, how things that used to bother you don’t faze you anymore, you’re much steadier and calmer, and overall feel wiser and more mature. But we still have our moments, don’t we? Some of the core wounds we dealt with were so deep that we know they will always be with us, even though we are more adept at working around them. The thing is, Pisces feels so deeply and intensely that it may prefer to hide emotions, and Capricorn is the long-suffering, work-through-every-crisis sign. If you feel like you have to cry on Friday, then find a quiet, private place and cry. It’s OK.

Mercury’s quincunx with Jupiter isn’t likely to be more than a blip, although sometimes all it takes is a blip to crash your computer. The biggest Mercury aspect of the week is the conjunction with Pluto. This is when we find out where the bodies are buried and who’s got skeletons in their closet. Within yourself, you may have to do an assessment of your self-discipline. Yeah, I know, I hate it, too. We’d all like to banish the negative voices in our heads, but sometimes they’re telling us something we need to know, and it’s a good idea to listen to them. If, after serious consideration, you think they’re a replay of the Mommy Dearest tapes, you can tell them to go back to hell.

Friday is our happiest day of the week, when Mars trines Jupiter. Gee, he’s behaving so nicely this week, but it’s not going to last long. Next Monday, he goes right back to being a bad boy when he squares Saturn. But that’s then and this is now. Mars and Jupiter in air signs put some additional punch behind our ability to manifest big, bold plans into reality. True, Jupiter is still in detriment in Gemini, and he’s retrograde. Scratch “big.” But you can still be bold, and if your ideas are quirky and offbeat, so much the better. Do write down any flashes of brilliance, because they could come and go so fast that they get lost in your information-overloaded brain.

Before I go, I’d just like to remind you again that if you’re thinking of ordering your StarGuide 2013 Forecast, do it as soon as possible. I’m running a backlog of several days, so order now if you want it near the beginning of the year. Also, if you haven’t joined RealAstrologers on Facebook, please take a moment to “like” my new page. For those who have, don’t be shy about posting. Lastly, I’d like to ask that you also please take a minute to “like” my 2013 video on YouTube. It’s my advertising, and, admittedly, it’s a hard sell when I don’t do psychic love readings, messages from angels, or Sun sign horoscopes – what the majority of people seem to be looking for at this time of year. I hope to have some influence on that state of affairs in 2013, but that’s another story for another time. In the meantime, I need to stay afloat, and I sure could use your help getting the word out. Please feel free to share the video on your own pages.

Thank you all for making 2012 a rewarding year. See you next year.

Wishing you a New Year filled with love, joy, and prosperity,
Pat

Weekly Forecast February 7: Chiron Enters Pisces, Venus Conjunct Pluto

Puget Sound in late January. © Pat Paquette, 2011.

Chiron moves into Pisces this week, launching us into a decade of deep healing on a soul level.

Chiron is peculiar celestial body, a planetoid in a class of objects discovered in the 1970s that eventually were called “centaurs.” In the beginning, no one knew what they were. Sometimes they behaved like comets, other times they were more like asteroids. Thus the name of the mythological half-man, half-horse.

In Greek mythology, Chiron became a powerful healer as a result of his tortured past. Astrologers often refer to him as the Wounded Healer and, as far as we’re concerned, it’s no coincidence that alternative medicine began to blossom in the West right around the time of his discovery.

Chiron also is special in that he has an erratic orbit. At his closest to the Sun, he is just inside the orbit of Saturn. At his farthest, he orbits just beyond Uranus. His path is highly symbolic, as he travels between the last of the planets visible on earth and the first of the outer planets that can’t be seen without a telescope. He is therefore seen as a sort of “bridge” between the known and the unknown, what can be seen and what is hidden. Astronomers believe he may have originated in the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune.

Chiron ventured into Pisces last spring, then went retrograde and returned to Aquarius in July. When he returns to Pisces this Tuesday, he’ll remain there until February 2019.

In many ways, Chiron in Pisces won’t be new. I say that because he has been tracking for the past several years with Neptune, the planetary ruler of Pisces. I see Chiron’s movement into Pisces territory as the next step in the collective healing begun under the Neptune-Chiron conjunction, about which I have written quite a bit.

Neptune and Pisces are associated with the deep psyche, the collective unconscious, and the mind of God. Like Cancer and Scorpio, Pisces is a water sign, but it has no “container.” There are no boundaries. It is where illusions of separateness disappear and we become one with the All, manifest and unmanifest. As a result, we’re in vague and constantly shifting territory – if you can even call it that. It defies description and can only be sensed through feelings and images. Of course, that’s what makes it such a dangerous place, and it’s why many people lose their sanity if they hang out there too long.

The last time Chiron was in Pisces, from 1960 to 1969, a whole generation turned on, tuned in, and dropped out. For many, using psychedelic drugs brought about a level of awareness they might never have achieved without the pharmacological aid. Of course, they many had bad trips, too.

This time around, we’ll be able to reach those levels of awareness without the use of drugs. It’s likely we’ll see the rise of new forms of psychic and spiritual healing that bring about deep shifts in awareness, allowing us to integrate the parts of ourselves that we’ve closed off. These processes can be painful. Like Pluto, Chiron represents releasing and healing, but first you have to dig into the old wounds and dredge up a lot of messy feelings.

Then, perhaps new techniques in the next ten years will find a way to circumvent these difficult processes and heal instantly. Sounds kind of far-fetched, but why not? In the beginning, few believed alternative medicine would work, either. Perhaps these new spiritual healing techniques even will replace psychiatry and an over-reliance on psychoactive drugs.

Maybe we’ll also see new generations of drugs that are gentler and don’t have so many unwanted side effects. That could end up being a double-edged sword, however. Once Neptune enters Pisces next year, we will be in murky psycho-spiritual territory where it’s difficult to tell the difference between reality and illusion. Mass escapism through drugs and other addictions may become too tempting to resist. Rather than waking up, many people may tune out completely.

Whatever comes to pass, we are on a crash course in healing, and Chiron in Pisces is a major indicator that human consciousness is about to play a part once again in socio-political movements.

Back to this week, there are only two other days I want to alert you to. First, the Moon on Monday zips through the early degrees of Aries, possibly triggering events related to the 2010 cardinal T-square and its 2011 sequel, which hasn’t happened yet. Be on the lookout for clues and perhaps even concrete developments related to those larger trends. You should know by now where it’s hitting your chart.

Also, Venus conjoins Pluto on Wednesday. This is supposed to be one of the passionate, sexy aspects, but I don’t see it in this pairing, unless you’re into bondage. It may relate to the other kind of bonds, though. Pluto is about money and power, and Venus is associated with finances, especially in Capricorn.

Still another possibility is that many of you will become more aware of the karmic bonds between you and another person. These ties sometimes feel more like handcuffs or chains. This is one area I didn’t mention above in my interpretation of Chiron in Pisces, but it’s something I’ll explore more in future posts. As more people open up to higher dimensions of reality, we’ll be more aware of “other-life” connections. Severing those ties may be necessary to heal age-old wounds, and there’s no doubt it will be a painful process.

Moon in Taurus from Wednesday through Friday brings us a brief respite, topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry. The weekend’s Gemini Moon is sociable and light-hearted, especially on Sunday. Make a date for brunch with friends or siblings.

Wishing you all love, courage, and deep healing,
Pat

P.S. This is just a reminder that I’m on hiatus for a while so that I can catch up with my backlog of client work. I’ll continue to write the weekly forecast and will publish guest posts periodically. If you want to get posts as they’re published, I suggest subscribing to my feed.

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,
Pat

** 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 June 21: Sun Enters Cancer, Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn

Stars being born in the Orion Nebula. Composite of images from the Hubble Space Telescope, by C.R. O'Dell of Rice University and NASA/ESA.

I’ve been writing a lot about the cardinal T-square of this summer. Well, as of Monday, June 21, summer is here, and the T-square kicks in immediately.

The Sun’s entry into Cancer officially marks the beginning of summer (winter in the Southern Hemisphere). As the Sun moves through the early degrees of the Crab, it will form conflicting aspects with Uranus and Jupiter in early Aries and Pluto in early Capricorn, forming three legs of a triangle pattern, or T-square, made up of cardinal signs. The cardinal signs are characterized by impulsiveness, action, and change. That is why astrologers have been predicting sweeping worldwide changes in 2010 and 2011, when the cardinal T-square and cross will be active.

The 2010 Cancer ingress is all the more dramatic, because it occurs just five days before a lunar eclipse in the same degree as Pluto. Is the world going to end? Of course not. And, chances are, the sky is not going to fall on our heads. As I mentioned in my post on the eclipse, there could be positive developments and breakthroughs for many of us. If you’ve been stuck and in need of a good push, get ready to start moving again.

But I believe it’s safe to say that the next two months are going to bring shocking developments that we cannot imagine now and that thus will be impossible to prepare for. The likeliest time for these events would be at the peak of the cardinal build-up in late July and early August.

However, with the Sun’s entry into Cancer this week, we may start to get some clues. It is no coincidence that most of us identify primarily with our Sun sign. The Sun represents our center, our heart, our core energy. Events in the next couple of weeks will take root in our hearts, and who knows where that could lead?

Shortly after the Cancer ingress, the Sun squares Uranus in Aries. The fires and explosions in the headlines over the past couple of days are possible expressions of this aspect, but Uranus is a wild card and unpredictable. It is safe to bet that whatever happens will be big. That’s because Jupiter, the amplifier, is just a couple of degrees from Uranus. The Sun forms an exact square to Jupiter on Wednesday.

Even without the involvement of Uranus, Sun-Jupiter contacts tend to involve extremes, over-the-top behavior, and recklessness, although they can be very lucky, too. And, while Saturn is still in mutable Virgo, he’s close enough to opposition with Uranus and Jupiter that I am hopeful this will be a stabilizing influence.

You should know by now what areas of your life are being most heavily impacted by this complex configuration. Still, there’s a strong possibility of surprise developments this week.

Mercury, meanwhile, is about to enter Cancer on Friday. As he moves through the last degrees of Gemini on Wednesday and Thursday, he opposes Ceres in Sagittarius, squares Saturn in Virgo, and trines Neptune in Aquarius. More environmental bad news may be on the way, and the dialog intensifies about what it all means and what we can do about it.

After entering Cancer, Mercury squares Uranus and Jupiter, repeating the Sun’s contacts of a few days earlier. If we didn’t get the message the first time around, we’ll have another chance. Events may come in pairs this week.

Both the Sun and Mercury also trine Chiron in early Pisces. The Healer is separating from his conjunction with Neptune but still close enough for the two to signify collective healing on a deep level. I am encouraged by this aspect and believe it is a continuing factor in the cardinal build-up. It’s more of a side issue at this point, but we shouldn’t ignore this influence or let the opportunity pass for healing deep wounds from our past.

Tension will build during the week as we approach the Full Moon lunar eclipse in Capricorn on Saturday. We’re moving into the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon, and we’re also pulled in several directions at once by an extreme configuration of planets that, as far as we know, has not occurred in recorded human history (if anyone out there can find a date, please drop me an e-mail!).

I wrote a long post on Saturday about this eclipse and won’t repeat myself here, except to say that we’re approaching the rapids and need to hang on tight. Think about who and what constitutes your safety net or personal flotation device.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Extra! Love in the Time of the T-Square

Breakthrough. © James A. Weythman.

I’ve spent so much time lately writing about this summer’s cardinal T-square that I’ve barely given much thought to Neptune and Chiron, both of which turned retrograde this past week.

Those of you who followed me over from The Pisces Chronicles may recall my posts about the Neptune-Chiron conjunction of the past few years and the opportunity for healing deep wounds, both collective and individual. In my observation, that window is a bit wider during times when one or both planets are changing directions.

In November 2008, I wrote:

Culturally, we are taught that giving up is a bad thing, that it shows we are weak. Don’t go down without a fight, we’re told. But sometimes, giving up and giving in is exactly what we need to do, and there’s nothing like extreme pain to force us to let go of everything we are, everything we believe, and to open ourselves up to something else.

Neptune dissolves the ego and allows us to open up to that “something else.” We’ve got some extra help from Mars, the surgeon. Mars is opposite Neptune and will oppose Chiron on Tuesday. Re-opening old wounds can hurt like hell, but sometimes it’s necessary before true healing can take place.

Most of us have some idea of our individual wounds, but we’re at the point at which we have to address our collective dis-ease. This wound is millennia old, and I believe its origins lie in the separation of male and female energies. Many of my old PiChron posts were devoted to the coming planetary shift and what it means for healing the imbalance between feminine and masculine energies — yin and yang, if you will.

Given the building intensity of the cardinal T-square, it may seem like Neptune is a minor influence at this point. And besides, now that Uranus is in Aries, they’re no longer are in mutual reception. But Neptune is still a player in this lineup, albeit in a more subtle, Neptunian way.

Within the cardinal T-square is polarization and extreme tension. Polarization is at the root of every conflict on the planet right now, and it all goes back to the separation of the fundamental masculine-feminine energies. We’re stuck, and the only way out of it is going to be a major breakthrough in consciousness — if we don’t kill each other first. Breakthroughs are not possible without first having a breakdown, and that happens when the ego gives up and stops fighting.

The ego is invested in hanging on tightly to old wounds. Experienced for long enough, our fears, insecurities and paranoia become so much a part of us that we may take them for granted and not even realize how much they’re affecting us. If we do manage to release them, we feel an odd emptiness, like something is missing.

I believe that an increase in consciousness will come simultaneously with the opening of our hearts, individually and collectively. We have to open our hearts and keep them open despite repeated hurt, and we have to work to clear out the energies that prevent love from taking root. Love makes us whole, but it can’t descend on us and bestow its light unless we clear a space for it in our hearts.

For those of you who are working on making the world safe for love, I want to encourage you to keep going. I am optimistic that we’re about to turn a corner, even though it seems like we’re in the darkest hour, and the in the outside world, it’s feeling a lot like war and the seven plagues.

I leave with you with a video called “Soldier of Love,” from the first album in 10 years by Sade. A Capricorn (ruler of the military), she’s back just in time for the cardinal T-square. And what about those Mayan ruins on the album cover? Just a coincidence?

Pat

Weekly Forecast May 31: Jupiter Enters Aries

Devils Tower, Wyo. Native tribes associated this imposing rock formation with the Big Dipper. Its energy, like that of the coming cardinal T-square, is unnerving and extremely powerful. © Pat Paquette.

If you’re asking yourself how much more could possibly happen in the next few months, the answer is, “a lot!”

And it could happen very fast, too, once Jupiter enters Aries on Sunday (June 6). Jupiter is the planet of “big,” and he combines forces next week with erratic, explosive Uranus. I might have thought something like an oil well blowing up and gushing millions of barrels of oil into the sea would occur under such an influence, but I would have been wrong.

We’re still in the early stages of the buildup toward this summer’s cardinal T-square, and that could mean we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Traditionally, Jupiter is considered to be one of the luckiest influences in astrology. He is an indicator of growth, expansion, and abundance. And perhaps that will be true this summer. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that his presence in this complicated and volatile configuration of planets will bring some favorable outcomes to situations that currently look catastrophic and scary. Let’s just hope …

In Aries, Jupiter may help us maintain our optimism despite the challenges that are coming at us faster and harder every day. For some, there may be an element of adventure in these challenges. Others could find ways to turn hardship into opportunities for growth and positive change, while still others may find ways to provide services that many people will need in tough times. In Aries, Jupiter is the “can-do” man.

Conjunct Uranus, Jupiter unfortunately could take his enthusiasm to an extreme, and we may see many instances of speculative and risky behavior, especially in politics and finance. Should this happen, the backlash will be swift and severe. Everyone’s on a short fuse these days, and there is so much anger and polarization everywhere.

I’m waiting, along with everyone else, to see how these unprecedented energies play out. At the same time, I’m trying to stay mindful of how I can work with them rather than waiting around for something to happen to me.

As for the rest of this week, Neptune turns retrograde on Monday and will stay in “reverse” until November 7. Because his orbit is so far from the Sun, Neptune moves through the signs slowly and spends a good part of every year retrograde (as do Uranus and Pluto). We aren’t likely to see sudden events related to this transit, although I’ve often felt very sleepy for a week or so when Neptune stations. This may be very apparent on Thursday and Friday, when Neptune is conjoined by the Moon and opposed by Mars, ruler of physical energy.

Hard aspects between Mars and Neptune also can indicate deception of some kind. Well, does it take an astrologer to tell you that somebody’s lying to us? Mars symbolizes confrontation, so those perpetrating the lies might want to make sure their blowout preventers are working.

Also on Friday, Chiron turns retrograde. Chiron, often referred to as the Wounded Healer, speaks to our individual and collective wounds. He recently entered Pisces, but will return to Aquarius in late July and continue to move close to Neptune for another six months. I’ve been writing about this conjunction for several years, mostly in regard to healing the collective mind.

Sometimes, our wounds are so deeply buried that a part of us needs to break down completely before we can repair the damage and put ourselves back together in a way that is more healthy and whole. Perhaps this is even part of the message of the BP oil “spill,” which we might view as a physical wound deep within the Earth.

On Sunday (Saturday night in some parts of the world), the Moon in Pisces conjoins Jupiter and then moves into Aries, where she immediately conjoins Uranus. Less than ten minutes later, Jupiter enters Aries, and then the Moon carries that energy forward to a square with Pluto.

Still, it’s not a cardinal T-square yet. Saturn is still in Virgo, and while Venus is in Cancer, she has advanced too far to be included in a T-square.

As I wrote above, we’ve got a way to go before we hit the peak power of this cardinal T-square. I truly hope that you are all able to find ways to put these forces to work for you, even though it’s probably too much to expect that each of us won’t be adversely affected in some way, however small.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Neptune and Chiron Transiting Chart Angles

My childhood home in Unadilla Forks, N.Y.

About a month ago, I had a sudden urge to check out my childhood home in upstate New York on Google maps. With the new “on-the-ground” feature, it was as though I were standing right in front of the house!

Two days later, I discovered a new online history of the village. The author had been in the 4-H Club chapter started by my father, whose name was mentioned in the registry of previous inhabitants. There was a link to some old photos, two of which showed my former home. This photo was taken before my parents moved to the farm in the 1950s. The other, which I posted last week, showed what was left of the barn after a tragic fire.

As an astrologer, I tend to look at everything through the lens of astrology, so of course I wanted to know why I suddenly got all of this information about my early childhood. I lived on the farm for less than seven years. Then, upon reflection, I realized how important these formative years are for us … and how wounding it was when my family was forced to leave this idyllic location. What’s more, all of my photos from my childhood have been lost or destroyed. Seeing these images was a shock, but it also opened a window for some deep healing to take place.

And therein lies the answer to my question.

I’ve written a lot here and on my former blog about the healing potential of the Neptune-Chiron conjunction. For the past couple of months, it has been in an exact square to my Midheaven and IC (fourth house cusp). Transits to the Midheaven typically show up as obvious events or situations, while transits to the IC may be felt internally and often relate to our early childhood experience or our genetic and spiritual roots — what some call “past lives.”

With Neptune and Chiron in Aquarius, much of the healing is taking place in the collective mind, but the collective is composed of individuals. Where this conjunction falls in your natal chart can tell you where you are doing the deepest healing work now. If it falls on a chart angle or conjoins personal planets, the healing potential is extremely powerful. A dear friend has 27 degrees Aquarius on the Ascendant, and you can bet that she is feeling this transit intensely. Her self-image is undergoing a radical change. It is a portrait of a healer being healed.

Hard aspects of Neptune to the Moon or IC are especially likely to bring up memories of the distant past. And to those memories, I now return…

We left the farm in 1963. Four years went by, and then two weeks before my birthday, my mother died of Hodgkin’s disease. A couple of months later, near what would have been her 45th birthday, the barn burned to the ground. I learned later that the entire herd of dairy cows perished in the blaze. I was fond of those cows and spent a lot of time in the barn “talking” to them. In the years following my mother’s death, I used to have recurring nightmares of her burning up in a fire, calling for help. Could there be a connection?

I’ll never know, but I do know that revisiting my childhood home via the Internet has been a powerfully healing experience, and that, too, fits with Neptune in Aquarius, sign of technology.

You see, there are many ways to heal.

Pat

Weekly Forecast February 15: Venus Conjunct Jupiter, Sun Enters Pisces

If money washed up on the beach. Sand dollars are a lovely expression of Venus and Jupiter in Pisces. I didn't realize when I took the photo that there were seven "stars," like the Pleiades.

Last week’s potent healing energy continues into this week as we sail on the wake of Saturday’s New Moon.

The word “heal” comes from the same root as “whole.” Being whole is about accepting ourselves and others, with all of our imperfections. When challenges go on and on with no end in sight, it’s hard not to let them define us. For me, it helps to understand my life as a continuum and how I got where I am.

Self-acceptance is a powerful healer, although it can be a tricky process, as many people misunderstand and use self-acceptance as an excuse not do the work required to reach their full potential, as humans in the material realm and as spiritual beings.

Confronting past traumas, unhappy memories, or parts of ourselves we don’t like can be so painful that many people would rather keep them buried in a dark corner inside. In my work with clients, I’ve observed that repressed emotions are more powerful than those that are expressed, and if they aren’t dealt with, they can wreak all sorts of havoc in one’s life, leaving the individual feeling victimized. I’m not saying this is always the cause of our misery, but it can be the case, and more often than many people realize. My job as an astrologer is getting to the bottom of these issues to help my clients feel whole.

Many people I know have gone as far as they can with their individual work, and yet it still feels like something is “broken” or missing. I’ve been writing for years about the need to have a partner or a group to continue the work. With Neptune conjunct Chiron in Aquarius, we’re finding like-minded individuals to connect with, and this is another way that we feel whole. Also, more of us are coming to understand that when we do deep healing work on ourselves, we send healing energy back into the collective. Sometimes I feel that it’s the collective unconscious that’s demanding we do this hard work.

Neptune and Chiron remain in close conjunction throughout 2010. The alignment is exact on Wednesday (late Tuesday on the West Coast of the United States).

On Monday, Venus sextiles Pluto and Mars sextiles Saturn, both aspects that could be very productive. How this energy plays out remains to be seen, as we have not one but two Yods in play, with Venus and Mars at the apex. You may find that one or more areas of your life are moving forward, but with a lot of irritation and major challenges, some of which could be so difficult that you don’t think you’re getting anywhere at all. Don’t give up.

On Tuesday, Venus conjoins Jupiter, an annual occurrence that is always cause for celebration. These two are known for wealth and abundance. It’s often material, but it doesn’t have to be. You might experience an abundance of love and friendship or some other intangible stroke of good fortune that is no less important just because you can’t turn it on and off with a remote.

On Thursday, the Sun enters spiritual Pisces, where it will take the place at the apex of the Yod with Mars and Saturn. Being “spiritual” may not feel very practical, and in some cases, it’s a deterrent to more worldly pursuits. Living with integrity often requires material sacrifices, and this can feel uncomfortable or scary to those for whom security lies in material wealth. Finding balance should come easier with Saturn in Libra.

Friday gets my vote for most pleasant day of the week. The Moon will be in placid Taurus, sextile Venus and Jupiter. If you’ve got a date, it could be quite a memorable evening, for all the right reasons.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Weekly Forecast February 8: New Moon in Aquarius, Venus Enters Pisces

All of the ingredients for a romantic Valentine's Day. Photo by Pat Paquette.

It’s Valentine’s Day next Sunday, and what a show the cosmos has in store for us. This week could be positively transformational.

However, it’s clear that we’re going to have to work for it, and there will be challenges and tests. Romantic partnerships in particular will be affected, and if you’ve been waiting to move up to the next level or to heal deep-seated issues between you and your partner, this promises to be a memorable week for love.

The week begins with a romantic conjunction of Venus and Neptune. Astrologers usually describe this as the “rose-colored glasses” aspect, and there is some risk of idealizing your partner. Well, why not? We delude ourselves about so many things when it comes to our loved ones, what’s wrong with a brief fantasy of perfection? Still, the point here is to love your partner, human failings and all. I’ll come back to this in a minute.

On Wednesday, Mercury enters Aquarius, the sign of his exaltation. If you’ve felt like life is moving too fast, hang onto your seat, because it’s going to get even faster now. Inspiration and new ideas come streaming in at the speed of light.

Also on Wednesday, Mars forms an inconjunct with Jupiter, activating a Yod with Mars and Saturn at the base and Venus and Jupiter at the apex. This is an extremely rare formation and very interesting, because Mars and Saturn are the malefics — the bad guys in astrology — while Venus and Jupiter are considered the benefics. Moreover, both Mars and Saturn are retrograde, the only two planets currently in reverse.

The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter is said to be the luckiest combination in astrology, and this is even more true in Pisces, as Venus is exalted in the sign of the Fishes, and Jupiter is its co-ruler. This is our call to higher love and opening our hearts to receive wealth and abundance. However, the Yod formation suggests a block of some kind, a “hump” to get over before all those good things flow to us.

Mars sextile Saturn is good for setting immediate ego gratification aside to accomplish difficult tasks. Since both planets are retrograde, we can’t expect to move mountains, but to make steady progress, a little at a time, until the job is done. It’s also likely that projects we undertake at this time have something to do with the past — clearing accumulated clutter, eliminating toxins from our bodies, and confronting tasks we’ve put off for months, if not years.

That sounds all well and good, but when we concentrate too much on work, what needs to be done, and “reality,” we shut the magic out of our lives. This isn’t intentional; indeed, I’d say it’s a negative side effect of modern industrialized societies. In order to go to work day after day and to live in crowded cities, we have to shut our sensitive, intuitive side down. After years of doing so, many people become desensitized, and it’s as though their minds have gone to sleep. Higher love can’t exist in such conditions.

There’s another inconjunct this week, between Mars in Leo and Pluto in Capricorn. This is a heavy handed combination that subjects the ego’s need for creative expression to oppressive authority. This suggests censorship to me and may be at the root of Google’s problem in China. The aspect peaks on Friday, and there will be a third and final round of it on April 10. Also on Friday, Mercury trines Saturn, a great aspect for finding a practical use for all those outlandish Aquarian ideas.

Mercury opposes Mars the following day, fueling arguments and creating breakdowns in communications. This seems like a small thing, but we need to be very careful with this one, given everything else that’s going on. Events this weekend could be overwhelming, and it won’t take much to get irritated with others. If you do get in an argument, hopefully it will be short-lived, as the New Moon is just a few hours later, and it holds much healing power.

At 25 degrees Aquarius, the New Moon will be tightly conjunct Neptune and Chiron. This is our cue to start anew by embracing our wounds. Earlier in the week, with Venus conjunct Neptune, we’re called upon to accept others, as they are. Now, we’re being called to accept and love ourselves. That’s more than just 80s Me-Decade psychobabble. Opening our hearts to love depends on it, and what better time is there to walk through the portal of love and healing than on Valentine’s Day?

Sunday’s aspect list is long, and I’ve covered most of it already. The one wildcard is Pluto. I just wrote of his inconjunct with Mars, but that means he’ll be sextile Venus and Jupiter, and that suggests an “out” of some kind. Maybe it’s about our true power as human beings, not just the illusion of power we get by sitting in the executive’s chair.

Wishing you nothing but true love,
Pat

Saturday Extra! Susan Boyle: Prepare To Be Transformed

Susan Boyle's magic moment on Britain's Got Talent. Official photo from ITV.

How did Susan Boyle skyrocket to global superstardom overnight?

At last count, the various Internet versions of her heart-stopping three-minute performance on the reality TV show Britain’s Got Talent had been viewed well over 100 million times. So the first explanation was that new media made her famous. Then why didn’t other talented contestants, notably the precision dance troupe Flawless and 12-year-old singing sensation Shaheen Jafargholi, achieve similar results? Was she that much more accomplished than they?

Most of the commentary on Susan’s performance and the response to it emphasizes the disparity between her appearance and her angelic voice. There are theories that we all love the ugly duckling and root for the underdog. Her plain looks, age, and background all make her an unlikely celebrity, and that alone has mass appeal. Some economists explain the phenomenon as a reaction to tough financial times.

Of course, astrologers weighed in, too, starting with her birth chart and examining transits and progressions. I was amused by the confusion over Susan’s birth data. Tseka and I saw a lot in the April 1 chart, and when the Sunday Times reported that her birthday was June 15, we were left scratching our heads. It now appears that the April 1 chart was correct and that the newspaper got it wrong.

Before I comment on her chart, I’d like you to see the complete lyrics of her song. She didn’t sing the whole thing, presumably due to time restraints. The words are key to understanding what this is really about:

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he’ll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

In all the analysis I’ve read, there hasn’t been much mention of the song she chose, other than that it was about a dream that died, how this strikes a chord in many people, and so forth. Sure, it fits her life: a difficult birth, learning disabilities, bullied by other kids, later giving up her career to care for sick parents and winding up as an unemployed church worker, living alone with her cat. So the theory goes, we’re touched that her dream didn’t die, and that means there’s still hope for us, too.

I won’t discount that. But it’s still not the whole story. Need another hint? Let’s look at her choice of songs for her interview with Larry King, “My Heart Will Go On,” from the film Titanic, and the song she recorded 10 years ago for a charity fundraiser, “Cry Me a River.”

These songs are about lost love and the wound that results. I’ve been writing about this theme for years, and I’ve felt a growing awareness that we are in a period of deep healing. The separation between the divine masculine and the divine feminine is one of the deepest rifts in the human heart, and it’s so much a part of us that most of us don’t even realize it. Susan is singing about a wound that is many millennia old, that dates back to the time “when men were kind.” And yes, something went terribly wrong.

If astrologers need to stretch to find indicators in her chart of her great success, it’s because this isn’t just about her. It’s about all of us, and it’s about a karmic moment in time. Susan was just the vehicle. That is what angels do. They bring us messages, and these messages can change the world.

There’s a lot I could say about her natal chart, but I’m going to confine my remarks to her lunar nodes, which are one of the leading markers of destiny. With Pluto on the North Node in Virgo, her role is to serve as a transformer. Chiron on the South Node in Pisces speaks of the ancient wound that pervades the collective conscious. She carried it into this incarnation and has lived it for all these years. Her voice came not from her but through her and went straight to the depths of our being. That is why we cried.

Looking at transits, the Jupiter-Neptune Chiron conjunction, boosted by Uranus in mutual reception with Neptune, gives us a clue about the healing power in this moment. The weekend that Susan burst into the collective conscious, Mars was about to conjoin Uranus.

But the biggest factor I see here is Venus retrograde in the last degree of Pisces, the “weeping degree.” Although it’s hard to know the circumstances of the original separation, mythology and religion inform us that the divine masculine abandoned the divine feminine. Now the divine feminine is returning to the world, and with her she brings love. We might think of it as the Second Coming, the opening of the heart.

Susan opened millions of hearts, and the world is going to be transformed as a result. Many of us have felt it coming, but did we ever imagine it would happen this way?

Over the next couple of months, as Susan advances in the competition, Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron move toward exact conjunction and then go retrograde together. At the same time, Venus and Mars will move together toward yet one more conjunction, the third in less than a year. It’s a fair bet that a lot more healing is going to take place.

Meanwhile, the discussion has turned to her makeover. I can understand wanting to preserve that karmic moment, but it can’t stop there, and we can’t and shouldn’t control it. Let her blossom. Even if our heartstrings are being played by marketing experts, she is a real woman and a real healer. Let yourself be transformed.

Pat