Weekly Weather August 6, 2012
During our week ahead we will emotionally process the profound conversions that took place last week. The conversions were designed to get us ready to finish up and release the relationship lessons of the past two years that took place while Saturn has traveled through Libra. And the conversions were to get us ready for the upcoming 36 month journey of Saturn in Scorpio which starts in October. We have to release and clear. We have to set the framework for our lives for the next major chapter. We need to make our commitments. We have to figure out who and what we want to be in relationships to and with. Who are we keeping? Who are we releasing? Who stays? Who goes? What DO we want in our lives?
Saturn in Libra invites us to define what our relationships mean to us and how they fit in our life. Last week, Venus passed her retrograde shadow degree as Mars, Mercury, Sun and Neptune conversed with the Nodes of Fate about our destiny. We saw our future last week ~ good, bad or indifferent. That was what was coming. We were asked to speak our individual truths. Get that truth out of ourselves and send it into the world ~ even if only a grasshopper or a bird heard us. We came to a realization about ourselves and our journey so far in life. We had the veil lift on an important truth about ourselves.
Neptune squared the Nodes of Fate and asked us to release, release, release and move into the next chapter of our journey. Because the Nodes of Fate are on an axis, Neptune squares both of them and shifts his energy accordingly. Neptune starts a new cycle with the nodes of fate in 16 year increments. The square from Neptune is the psychological closing square to the South Node work begun on January 15 2000 when Neptune dove into the South Node of Destiny. We are ¾ of the way through the 16 year cycle, which finishes up on November 17, 2016. Neptune entering the South Node says it is time to let a dream that you had go and time for a new dream to come in. In my case, I’d finished up working on Y2K projects at Pepsi. I was free to pursue my dream of leaving corporate work and becoming an astrologer. I just had to do it.
The Neptune square to the North Node of Fate is the opening square, crisis of action and moving forward, changing or coming up with a new reality based on being a quarter of the way through the cycle. Neptune started his new cycle with the North Node of Fate on May 4, 2008 based on his union with the head of the dragon which finishes on February 7, 2025. In May of 2008, I attended the United Astrology Conference in Denver, Co which pulls the astrological luminaries from around the world. In May of this year, I spoke at the next iteration of the same conference in New Orleans. What is next in the path of my career as an astrologer? What conversion awaits? What release?
As Neptune squares the Nodes of Destiny, we are faced with choices. We are at a fork in the road. We have options. And of course, the square presents each of us with an opportunity to work on the next phase of our dream. We can move higher or lower, in or out, up or down. A few people at my reading table over the past few weeks reported relationship changes where partner said “I am not going to change. It is too hard. I am going back to what I used to be like. I am going back to a less challenging situation”. As we students of the heavens know, that is NOT the answer that the heavens want to hear. Trying to fit back into a delusional situation or go backwards to a no longer hidden reality doesn’t work very well. In the same way that we never fit back into our mother’s womb once we are birthed ~ we can’t actually go back again. The world spins forward. If we try to go back, regress, it is not accomplished easily or with a sense of grace. Saturn seeks growth in our concept of relationships from each of us. He wants us to move forward and evolve, not de-evolve.
I remember back a few years ago, I was working with a woman who was seriously unhappy in her marriage. A Libra Sun with Venus in Virgo, for a number of reasons, she was not willing, ready or able to pull the plug on her marriage even though she was completely miserable. There is a window period that Saturn offers us where we can make changes effectively. Then the window shuts for our life stream to come forward again as a new current picks us up and carries us along. In situations like that, I will often say to the client, “Well, time is growing short. If you don’t do it in the next month or so, the window of opportunity is going to close. You’ll be stuck in the situation for the next seven years.” Often, if the person is miserable enough, they say “SEVEN MORE years? I can’t take it a second longer.” In her case, she smiled sadly and looked up at me, with her hands folded softly on the table. She said, “About seven years ago, I went to see J. (J is a very well-known astrologer in New York City). He said the same thing to me ~ that I was starting a new seven year phase. Then he added ‘However, YOU are not going to leave your husband.’” She sounded a bit angry about what J had said to her. I looked at her and thought “J was right. You DIDN’T leave your husband. You are still married. You are still miserable.” She still is married to her husband. Miserably.
We each have the rest of August and September to get our relationships and Libra house(s) in proper order for the next chapter. The life stream current picks us up in October and asks us to commit to our future during the journey of Saturn through Scorpio. We are locking down, into the format or context of the framework we will partner with for our next seven years, over the next two months. You’ve been dancing around these relationships decisions since last November. Maybe you’ve even been dancing around them since Saturn went into Libra in September 2010. Think back in seven year increments to see the relationship story as it unfolded in your life in seven year increments.…2004-2005, 1997-98, 1990-91, 1982-83. Do you know what you want to do now?
Of course, we don’t HAVE to change. We can stay miserable. It is our perfect right to limit our lives and live unhappily ever after. Just don’t expect Saturn to leave you alone if you decide to stop growing….
To have a good friend is the purest of all God’s gifts, for it is a love that has no exchange of payment. It is not inherited, as with a family. It is not compelling, as with a child. And it has no means of physical pleasure, as with a mate. It is, therefore, an indescribable bond that brings with it a far deeper devotion than all the others.”
—Frances Farmer, Actress
One of my sadder conversions last week was a death. My good friend Jackie End died last Thursday night at 9:45 pm two months to the day of being diagnosed with cancer. She was part of my woo-woo sisters ~ an eclectic tribe of women who connect to celebrate life, its abundance and glory. She died two days before what would have been my mother’s 82nd birthday. My mother died in 1983. There is something deeply startling about losing a friend who is part of your circle of chosen and beloved companions. Whether we were eating truffle butter on popcorn while watching old 40s movies, dancing in the snow or sun of Sag Harbor, ghost busting, meditating with angels, eating, cooking, getting married (to ourselves!), making absinthe ice cream, sleeping in a museum or laughing, there is SUCH a hole in my heart. Jackie didn’t want to die. Jackie SO was not ready to leave this beautiful earth. There was so much left to do, see and be.
The Summer Day ~ Mary Oliver
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
Into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
How to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
Which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
Our week ahead asks us to emotionally process the changes we’ve gone through, the ghosts we’ve seen and the people we’ve said goodbye to over the past few weeks. Venus shifts signs and enters deeply emotional Cancer where she flows, shimmies and dances in the energy of what actually nurtures her and helps her feel loved, cared for and beloved. Moon and Venus are in mutual reception on Wednesday, Thursday and most of Friday when Moon in Taurus can swap places with Venus in Cancer. That suggests the back end of the week will be quite profound emotionally as the energies building spill out, unrestrained, into puddles around us.
Mercury stations at 1 degrees of Leo ~ again aspecting the Nodes of Fate… last week Mercury brought you information ~ benign, dead, safe, born, married, retired, moved, love, sold, hired, gone, left and tired. All these were words floating off friend’s and client’s lips as they began to make their changes. Now Mercury aspects the Nodes of Fate as he turns to go direct. He is in the sign of Leo asking you to move toward your ego and soul’s further development. Mercury KNOWS what you need. He kind of showed you last week… didn’t he? Believe what he showed you or what you learned about yourself and your life. His station this week shows you MORE things.
And finally, Mars builds in tension, anger and frustration as he approaches his union with Saturn NEXT week on August 15! Mars/Saturn is quite literally impotence ~ so no worries if you can NOT get things to move this week. Those drives are completely, totally frustrated. Once Mars passes Saturn, you will feel like you can move again… forward to freedom. And we start a new 2 year cycle of how we take action to build our lives and supporting structures. While Mars approaches Saturn, it is building in tension. It is frustration, blockage and irritation. You can feel mighty NOT powerful this week and early next week as the two of them tussle and wrestle it out. Of course, Saturn wins the argument ~ he always wins. But Mars is NOT in the mood. Mars also opposes Eris, his lovely mean sister, the goddess of discord and then he digs back into an old wound for yet another pass at your heart. Don’t listen to him when he gets like that. Mars in Libra is passive aggressive with capital letters ~ PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE. He does things on purpose to piss you off and then denies that he did it. Or blames you for it. Remember it IS a transit. It will be over soon enough. And in a couple of weeks, Mars enters Scorpio and we all breath a sigh of relief.
Void Moons This Week
4:04 pm EDT August 7, Tuesday to 3:28 am EDT August 8, Wednesday
2:44 pm EDT August 9, Thursday to 4:11 pm EDT August 10, Friday
A 26 Hour Void Moon.
5:49 pm EDT August 12, Sunday to 4:28 am EDT August 13, Monday.
Moon day, Monday August 6 finds Moon in Aries and full of spit and vinegar. Moon’s last aspect is an opposition to Saturn making today and tomorrow excellent for letting things leave your life. Moon rolls through the T-Square of Pluto, Uranus and Hades, setting off the emotional energy yet again. Honestly, we have to live this with this energy until 2015 and I don’t know how we are going to get used to it. Moon’s has a lovely sextile to Jupiter and the Sun later in the day suggesting you can reach out and help someone feel better. Node’s inconjunct to Hades suggest a night of tossing and turning, with difficult imagery or thoughts. Take action with your chosen group of folks to help move things along. Health matters need to be attended to with Hygeia’s square to the Nodes of Fate. No fooling around here. Deal with the matter at hand. Venus at the last degrees of Gemini has a frantic energy to her as she gets ready to fling herself into the emotional intensity of Cancer. People are going to be relationship sensitive and emotional today. You can’t always get what you want but you do get what you need. Ask for what you want. Then wait, to see if they can do it for you.
Mars day Tuesday August 7 finds Venus entering Cancer. Suddenly, we are all SOO MUCH MORE SENSITIVE! Venus rules that Saturn in Libra. Memories of family, tribes, childhood, and the early years that helped create you come forward to the surface of your memory. Saturn is SOOOO much more sensitive. We are feeling quiet, retreating and perhaps a bit clannish as the sign of the retreating crab and sensitive, emotions rush over Saturn. Pluto is opposite Kronos ~ time is fleeting, never to return. The minutes of your life are passing you by. Are you spending them the way you want to? Jupiter’s working with Pallas to point out what you need to see. Change is easy once you see the overarching pattern. The day ends with emotional difficulties as Moon opposes Saturn… sometimes there isn’t an easy place to be or rest. The restlessness is part of how you shift the energy. Still, it can be hard to get comfortable. Venus looks at Pluto across the sky and wonders why he is so darned controlling and out for power. Power dynamics can be flying around with a lack of consciousness as people are working from a very unconscious place. Allow yourself time and space to process. You DON’T have to say or do anything. No need to rush. Take a pause advice from Mercury. Wait. Listen. Watch. Feel. Observe. Juno, the principle of relationship is arguing with Eris and feeling discordant. Some days NOTHING feels quite like home, nurturing or supportive. Mercury’s semisquare to Ceres reminds me of the Billie Holiday’s song, “Good Morning Heartache”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk1IKHd_0fk&feature=fvwrel
Mercury’s day August 8 Mercury stations and turns direct at 1:25 Leo taking us back to June 27 when something in our life shifted and became clearer or perhaps more communicative. Allow the change to happen. Moon in Taurus is all about luxurious connections to the directions or desires we experience on a physical nature. Sun’s union with the Nodes of Fate by declination asks us to choose our path. We can go in many directions. What calls your heart? Where do you want to spend the hours of your precious life? Sun’s sextile to Ceres encourages you to see how the things that you’ve created in your life are part and parcel of the earlier decisions you made. Appreciate them. Enjoy them. As Mercury stops at 1 Leo, he’s pointing out how they WERE what you wanted. Perhaps now you want something completely and totally different. It is entirely up to you. You create your life through actions taken and not taken. Take actions (slowly as Mars is being blocked by Saturn right now) in the direction you want to head.
Jupiter’s day Thursday August 9 Moon in Taurus is productive in the Morning and then goes void mid-afternoon (2:55 pm EDT) for a 26 hour void moon. Void moons are times to kick back and relax. However, there are SO MANY aspects you may find it hard to catch a mental break as your mind shifts into over drive. Health issues come to the surface and ask us for our attention. Mercury and Venus have a sit down and catch up chat around 1:15 am. Let them bond. They have been sooooo busy all summer, it is time for them to catch up. Sun brings you disturbing dreams about problems that need to be solved. Focus on the healthy approach to take. Venus has an adjusting aspect to the Nodes of Fate… she wants something that is NOT good for her. The nodes are saying, “NOPE not that!”. Our desire nature and Venus can be a bit whiny. Or she can swap place with the Moon today as Venus and the Moon are in mutual reception. Make needed changes in your home and hearth that allow you to find things quicker, easier or make more sense than the current situation. Around 6:30 pm, you can feel like you are plunged into hell…. Venus meets up with Hades and talks to Neptune. While on the surface, it appears you might have requested this, on another level, you know it is not where you are supposed to be. The planets are still pushing you to convert. So convert already. Let the last bits go. Then hell stops being so hellish because you are not trying to make it be better than it is. It is what it is. Ask them to treat you the way you want to be treated.
Venus’ day August 10 finds Moon void most of today and entering Gemini an data collection mode. Neptune and Astraea are fighting so that sense of healing can feel far from your soul right now. You will see a situation that needs to change. Take steps to change it or end it. It might have once been your dream but Moon’s square to Neptune says either you outgrew it or it outgrew you…. Be brave. Go forward on your path. Mercury has a lovely trine to the Nodes of fate. He’s asking you to choose the new direction and go with him toward it. Allow Mercury to lead you to where he guides you. There can be startling reveals where you SEE something you never saw before. Or using my friend Ellen as an example, a situation where you are let off the hook. In Ellen’s case, she fixes the world around her. A demanding job, husband, son and busy family/friend life, she’s constantly on the go and battling problems, troubleshooting or tackling crisis. She heard the news report about an asteroid coming to strike the earth. She started to figure out how she could fix it. And she had a breakthrough ~ there was NO WAY she could fix an asteroid coming to strike earth. It was out of her job description. She breathed a sigh of relief. As the sense of “Wow, there is nothing I can do to solve that problem”, immediately behind it was a sense of freedom and release from responsibility. Take a page from Ellen and put down or release some of the responsibilities you are so diligently carrying for yourself or others. Like a loaded pocketbook, you realize somehow your burdens are getting heavier. So put a few of them down today. Release them to the south node. Let someone else solve the problem. Teach them how to treat you.
Saturn’s day Saturday August 11 is a rocking and rolling day…. So much going on it will be difficult to keep your wits about you. Moon in Gemini adds a frantic energy to the day. Mercury is in Leo and very proud and not listening too well as he leaves his station degree. He’s moving so slowly that it can be hard to parse out what he’s actually asking you to do. Venus is parallel Ceres ~ the creative, nurturing, caretaking function merges with the loving, desire based, emotional needs. Saturn is arguing with Pallas ~ she is saying something and he simply does NOT want to hear it or acknowledge that she might be right. Pallas doesn’t have a dog in this fight. She’s an impartial referee ~ while Saturn is a bit overly sensitive as he answers to Venus in moody, clannish Cancer. Notice where you are emotionally reacting and try to give yourself and the other person a bit of space. Mercury joins up with Pallas and Saturn by declination so his position is all about what HE wants ~ what YOU want ~ or what the OTHER person wants FOR THEMSELVES with not a lot of room for compromise. It is kind of a me, me, me energy. So take care of yourself but realize folks may think you are being selfish by not giving them what they want. No, you are NOT selfish ~ you DO have to take care of yourself. Who else will? Mercury’s argument with Neptune, threatens to take over and ruin the situation. This discussion however heated or emotional it gets is needed to get to the place where it is part of the story, not the dominatrix. Uranus finds himself blind sided by something he didn’t see coming. You can be blindsided too… just know that it is perfectly okay just the way it is ~ especially if the wounding comes by words that reopen an old and sealed off PST Mars is opposite his sister, Eris, who loves blood shed, strife and drama ~ especially the painful and wounding kind… expect to feel your anger flare up as she sends some fire towards his air. Uranus’ harsh energy to Juno can cause relationships to fail, break up or break down. It is a separating kind of day. You had your conversion moment last week… Now you actually know you’ve been converted . What the hell are you going to do…. Adam and Eve donned fig leaves, Galileo didn’t publish his findings until after he died. St Paul had to go back to all the towns where he had persecuted Christians and eat a bit of humble pie. And Doubting Thomas’ hands got all bloody from feeling around in the wounds. Or perhaps you’ll be a bit like an ex-smoker who is all over everyone he used to bum cigarettes.
Sun’s day Sunday August 12 Moon in Gemini has lovely closing aspects of a working trine to Saturn even as Mars builds in his pressure, blocked, held back, delayed and denied as he moves closer to Saturn. Jupiter’s union with Vesta offers a bunch of exciting dreams and ideas about how to shift or change your home. Venus has an aspect of brilliance to Eris ~ suggesting she sees something she had missed before. How “easy” it can be. How comfortable. Mars has a sesquiquadrate to Chiron indicating there is stress around words and perhaps even a bit of wounding. Reframe those hurting words… understand how they can shift you into a different place when you simply move the emphasis to another space, word, or timing. Punctuation counts. Emphasis counts.
A reader Barbara from Texas sent me a lovely poem after reading about my friend Jackie’s death. I thought I would share it with all of you are experiencing the loss of loved ones in your lives right now.
May I go now?
May I go now?
Do you think the time is right?
May I say goodbye to pain filled days
and endless lonely nights?
I lived my life and done my best,
an example I’ve tried to be.
So can I take that step beyond the light
and set my spirit free?
I didn’t want to go at first,
I fought with all my might.
But something seems to draw me now
to that warm and loving light.
I want to go, I really do,
it’s difficult to stay.
But I will try as best I can
to live just one more day.
To give you time to care for me
and share your love and fears.
I know you’re sad and are afraid,
because I see your tears.
I’ll not be far, I promise that,
and I hope you’ll always know.
That my spirit will be close to you
Where ever you may go.
Thank you so for loving me
and know that I love you too.
That’s why it’s hard to say goodbye
and end this life with you.
So hold me now just one more time
and let me hear you say,
“Because you care so much for me,
you’ll let me go today.
Copyright © 2012 A. C. Ortelee
