Weekly Weather December 31, 2007
Happy New Year! 2008 will start off with a literal bang or explosion of seeing clearly, evolutionary, possibly destructive, transformative, oppositional energy as Mars retrograde, talking trash, talking his head off in out of bounds Gemini is in a nasty dirt and rock throwing contest opposite to Pluto at the last and most powerful degree of Sagittarius! Wee-haw!!! We are going to be rocking and rolling on Planet Earth as the New Year arrives!
Mercury, Gemini Mar’s ruler, is in powerful Capricorn. Pluto is currently ruled by Jupiter in Capricorn. That means Pluto can give it back as fast as Mars can dish it out. Not that we think Pluto is any slouch at giving it back. Pluto will catch the clots of earth and wild words coming his way and throw them right back at Mars! Expect earthquakes and eruptions from situations or relationships where the pressure has built up to intolerable levels. Capricorn responds to Saturn in Virgo (Mercury is in Capricorn) right now so the criticisms or words will be accurate, precise, painful, critical, sharp, analytical and to the point. This opposition will be pass number 2 ~ bringing up the unfinished story from around September 21, 2007. Back then, the story was a bit more hopeful. Right now, the story can feel overwhelming and irresolvable. It ISN‘T but it WILL FEEL THAT WAY!! Feelings are not reality! The third and final pass of Mars to Pluto will be on March 7, 2008. Most of the week we will all be feeling or dealing with the harsh Mars/ Pluto energy. And back we go to late September to redo or revisit the decisions we made then on their first pass and opposition to each other.
The best thing to do with this kind of over the top energy is to take some sort of physical action to discharge it. REMEMBER TO DISCHARGE IT CAREFULLY!! It is much more powerful energy than it looks. Clean out closets, get rid of old stuff, empty garages, take inventory, or knock down walls to get ready to renovate. Go to the gym or go walking for miles talking on your cell phone. Avoid or be careful around dangerous situations as they are explosively volatile right now. It is a great set of aspects to let something go ~ so make your resolutions around releasing rather than adding things. The releasing resolutions will take right off! The adding ones will not go well! It is a great aspect to move away from something you don’t want to do any more ~ like smoke or drink or debt. It is a let go kind of New Year.
The other thing we will be working with is Venus’ fiery opening and very Sagittarian square to Saturn in Virgo. Saturn is not doing as well right now as Mars and Pluto are taking his attention and he’s moving backwards, slowly, in Virgo. Think back to the leaving the party energy from last summer when Venus and Saturn danced with each other and Venus flirted with Pluto. Remember those good times. Venus and Saturn joined twice in Leo before agreeing to leave the party together in Virgo on October 13, 2007 and live happily ever after. Well, it isn’t fun right now on the happily ever after front.
Venus is feeling a bit trapped, ugly, old and unloved right now. Money is tight. Debts are big. There is never ending work that feels like it is not going any place any time soon. Venus is not feeling the love from Saturn (or anyone else for that matter). And truth be told, Saturn is taking Venus for granted and being a cranky, rather critical curmudgeon of an old goat. Venus wants to flee or party or play or at least get out more to do more fun stuff. And SATURN! Saturn in Virgo is doing his best but he’s a bit (a lot) depressed plus he’s going retrograde, or backwards, into his bad old bad habits. His knees hurt. His body is old. He’s tired. And he’s very distracted by the argument between Mars and Pluto ~ that is sapping his less than robust energy. Right now Saturn doesn’t have much energy to spare and he‘s not giving any of his extra energy to Venus.
So what to do on a week like this? I am reminded of the India Arie lyrics for Private Party which I always play when I am having a week like the one coming up. I imagine I will be playing her song quite a bit this week.
I’m having a private party
Ain’t no body here but me, my angels, and my guitar
singin’ baby look how far we’ve come here
I’m havin’ a private party
Learning how to love me
Celebrating the woman I’ve become, yeah
I tried to call my mother, but
She didn’t get where I was going
I called my boyfriend and he said
Call me back a little later baby
I hung up the phone, I felt so alone
Started to feel a little pity
That’s when I realized that I
Gotta find the joy inside of me
[Chorus]
I’m gonna take off all my clothes
Look at myself in the mirror
We’re gonna have a conversation
We’re gonna heal the disconnection
I don’t remember when it started
But this is where it’s gonna end
My body is beautiful and sacred
And I’m gonna celebrate it
[Chorus]
All my life (all my life)
I’ve been looking for (I’ve been looking for)
Somebody else (else)
To make me whole (ooo)
But I had to learn the hard way (ooo)
True love began with me (ooo)
This is not ego or vanity (ooo)
I’m just celebrating me
[Chorus]
Sometimes I’m alone but never lonely
That’s what I’ve come to realize
I’ve learned to love the quiet moments
The Sunday mornings of life
Where I can reach deep down inside
Or out into the universe
I can laugh until I cry
Or I can cry away the hurt
[Chorus]
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday
So, now that you’ve sung happy birthday to yourself, breathe. Breathe deeply. We arrive in this world alone. We leave this world alone. And in between we have the quiet Sunday mornings of our life, when we realize we are alone. Alone is okay. Alone is part of the journey. Alone is part of the process of living. We are not taught how to work with alone very well in our over connected, continually stimulated environment. Alone is a good place this week. Find your joy within.
As always, the universe offers us a solution for the difficult energy presented to us by the heavens. Creation!
Yes, you read that right. Create. Creation! There is a grand trine in earth forming between Jupiter, Saturn retrograde and Ceres. Create something you’ve been itching to create. I don’t care if it is a baking a cake, writing a book chapter, playing a new song, sewing a dress, or painting your walls. I want you to create something that says you are or were here. Make it legal ~ no graffiti on a storefront wall. Make it something that you can point to and say “I did that! I created that!” Your creation can even be a releasing project where you let a bunch of stuff go out of your life to create new space for something else to come in. I want you to feel replenished and rebuilt after you do create. Do not be sad because you read a bunch of old love letters before you released them.
The second solution the universe offers us is to adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Mercury in Capricorn is approaching an inconjunct to Retrograde Mars in Gemini. That means you can either adjust your thinking (Mercury) or your actions (Mars) but regulate, tinker, modify, alter, fiddle with, fine tune, bend, amend, tweak and adjust one of them you must!
Back to my friends Lisa and Bob from the Venus/ Saturn party last summer. Lisa loves opera, ballet, reading and museums. Bob loves tinkering, puttering, repairing, fishing and doing that man alone in his garage / tool shed thing. When they first got together, Lisa would nag, cajole, or beg Bob to go with h
er to the ballet or opera. I
n her happily ever after dreams, her dream man accompanied her to all of the places she wanted to go. However, the opera, theater and ballet were Bob’s idea of hell. Bob did go a few times, to be nice and because he liked Lisa. We often do things we don’t like when we are dating! Now, Bob liked to take off and go fishing on weekends when Lisa was wanting to play with him. Over time and many, sometime heated, discussions, Lisa and Bob figured it out. They both adjusted their behaviors and expectations. Bob goes to one show a year, of Lisa’s choice. She tries to pick a show she thinks he will like. Lisa still buys the series for the ballet, opera and theater but she takes her sisters, nieces or friends to the other shows. Lisa will go and sit with Bob a weekend or two, on his boat, in the middle of the Ohio River. While he is fishing, she reads. Other times Bob goes by himself or with friends and Lisa does her own thing. Do the same with the situation before you. Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. It isn’t hard to do. You have to Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. The universe will help you if you ask for help.
The third thing to do is take advantage of the two lovely mutual receptions in the sky this week. Mutual receptions are when a planet finds itself in another planet’s favorite sign. The two planets have a special kind of communication which takes place. They understand each other and what the other wants to do or achieve ~ like when a good friend knows what kind of wine you like and orders it before you get there. Mutual receptions allow you to swap the energy of one planet and replace it with the other planet. The two planets can speak for each other and act on the other‘s behalf. If you think the energy will be easier to work with, feel free to swap the planets. There is a mutual reception between Mercury and Saturn and another between Mars and Mercury.
Swapping the planets means Mercury in Capricorn can take Mars’ place in the difficult opposition to Pluto. Mercury in Capricorn can speak plain, solid truth to Pluto rather than fighting with him. Mercury in Capricorn knows when to keep his mouth shut. Mercury in Capricorn knows when to put in a well placed set of examples or precise words to calm the situation. While Mars in Gemini gets dust in his eyes and blinded by the flying earth clumps, Mercury in Capricorn doesn’t mind having earth thrown at him as he IS earth ~ more earth in the air makes Mercury’s earth pile bigger. So be precise, solid, concise and crystal clear in your communications! Know when to keep silent and when to step in if the dust starts flying in the Mars/ Pluto face off.
Mercury and Saturn in mutual reception mean an enormous amount of cosmic energy is available to you to organize projects and create massive structured to-do lists or systematize your life. Mercury in Capricorn swaps into the grand trine of creation, replacing Saturn in Virgo. You might not be able to get it ALL created right away but you can get it structured and organized. You can start to make or develop a habit to be creating regular and reliable delivery of energy toward your longer term projects. You can create a map of where you are going. Saturn in Virgo wants to be organized but he feels SO out of control and unorganized when he‘s in Virgo ~ the multitude of tasks can feel overwhelming to him. What can you help Saturn focus on right now? What is the most important thing you can do?
Now, once you give Saturn some of the energy of Mercury’s Capricorn, Saturn has a goal and a direction to head towards, a mountain to climb. Once Saturn is focused, he’s happy as he can be. He’s completely content to stay home and work on things and his projects instead of being so depressed. Have Mercury sit down with Saturn. Encourage the two of them to do some work together. You don’t have to do it all at once. Delegate. Decide. Make lists. You do have to organize it. And visualize it. And start off with a manageable chunk. Have Mercury show Saturn how to Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your current life wasn’t built in a day either. While you have a vision for the next 13 years, you are, right now, focused and sitting in the middle of your current life. Just keep that 13 year vision in the background of your mind. Take regular, repeated actions (teeny, tiny baby steps) to move towards it while you do the rest of the stuff in front of you. Long term, short term, middle term ~ think of them as all different kinds of heights for Saturn to reach for and climb towards. Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak.
Conscious living through Astrology! Mars opposite Pluto and Venus square Saturn provide the energy to move mountains. Get your mind set to go and have an enormous willingness to Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Make the compromises to get what you want AND be with the folks you love like Lisa and Bob did. Swap the words for the deeds (just for now while Mars is retrograde!) to push the Mars / Pluto energy to a productive place of vision not into a fighting place of he said/ she said. Get Mercury to replace Saturn in the triangle of creation to organize your bigger picture and draft plans. Help Saturn get his focus while he’s heading backwards to his direct station ~ Saturn’s got time to read up on what you want to do with your life over the next few months. So give him reading materials and a copy of your plans.
You aren’t going to get it all done at once. You can make a teeny tiny change in an area of your life and your choices. Those tiny changes move you towards your future and your vision for the next 13 years. Stay aware of what you want to create and do the work in front of you. There is lots of stuff to do! What is the most important thing for YOU to do? And, it is a NEW YEAR! And we are about to have a new generation of Pluto energy when he shifts into Capricorn in a few weeks. So much more fun ahead of us. Ready? Get set. GO!!!
Monday, New Year’s Eve finds Mars moving backwards into Gemini from Cancer. Finally, we aren’t going to feel so whiny and cranky any more. Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Forward to the Next Year! Venus has an aspect of brilliance with Chiron suggesting we see our loves and desires as sourced within and from our soul’s deepest wound. We see what we need to do to have healing. I love 5th harmonic aspects as they make it seem that all is possible. While you might not be able to stop your button (or buttons) from being pushed by the folks you meet, you see where and when and how those buttons GET pushed and why you react so much. Quintiles act like large cosmic cotton balls with soothing salve for your wounds and padding for your buttons. Sing India Arie’s song again. Have yourself a Private Party of your own to celebrate all you‘ve learned and become over the many past years of your life.
Tuesday, the New Year is here! It is a 1 year ~marking a cycle of brand new beginnings as 2,0,0 and 8 add up to 1! Wee-haw! Mars has a biquintile aspect with Vesta ~ find your family hearth and curl up in front of it! Have fun with your home! Give yourself a ritual before a fireplace or candles to welcome in your resolutions. Remember, letting go is easier than adding right now ~ Saturn and Mars are both retrograde and Jupiter is restricted in Capricorn. So don’t resolve to go on a diet, change your life completely and add an hour of exercise each and every day ~ make your resolutions release changes instead of add changes. Let go of that bowl of ice cream every night. Let go of white foods ~ bread, sugar, pasta. Let go of driving around looking for the parking spot closest to the store entrance (unless
it is raining!) so you walk more. Once Mars goes direct at the end of the month you can have as many new add on resolutions as you want (if you really want more). Right now, let go of stuff to go with the cosmic flow! Let go resolutions!
Wednesday Moon is in Scorpio as Mars opposing Pluto perfects. This is a nasty energy if it is poorly used. Back to our lives and our same old, same old, with a high level of cranky thrown in for good measure. Jupiter has a quintile aspect to Uranus ~ there but for the grace of god go you ~ quintiles remind us of the grace in our lives. Count your blessings. Swap that Mars in Gemini out and put Mercury in Capricorn in his place. When folks are arguing or irritated or exploding around you, calmly and quietly say a soft word. Keep your mouth closed. Show up. Do your work. Smile. Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. We partner with things for a reason! What is your reason for partnering with this? Do you see why you are there? Do you see what it gives you?
Thursday, as Saturn squares Juno you might want to reconsider that partnership. Mercury has an aspect of brilliance to the South Node. As I’ve grown as an astrologer, I’ve become more aware of the symbolic energy happening around me. The universe is alive and numinous. It continually speaks to us, if we would only be quiet and take a moment to listen to it. Today is one of those days that the universe will SHOUT at you. Will you listen please? Why are you partnering with things that cause you pain? Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak.
Friday is a crabby, cranky, argue and disagree kind of day. Yes, Moon in Sagittarius is optimistic but a bunch of the planets are in semi-squares, semi-sextiles, sesquiquadrates and seeking to Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Mercury has a union with Jupiter asking for clarity about what, exactly is going on. Take what you hear today with a grain of salt ~ it is a bit over the top due to all the frustration in the air. That said, remember to Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Come up with a new way (or a modified way) to approach things. Ask for help!!
Saturn’s day asks us to Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Yet again! Move the furniture one more time. No! that doesn’t quite fit there! Do you need it? Do you want it? Take down the Christmas decorations and watch how the colorful, decorated house turns back into the plain old regular house. So what is your 13 year plan for your house and your life? Saturn is asking you to partner with Ceres and create something that is nurturing for your soul, even if it is only a cuddly blanket you can reach for when your toes are cold late at night. Make time to nurture yourself today.
Sunday is a busy day! Venus finishes her square aspect to Saturn. Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Sun sextiles Uranus ~ see how the solution was right there in front of you? Be like Lisa and Bob ~ do your own thing, do your partner’s thing (in moderation and to be fun and pleasant) and keep working on your 13 year plan. Rome wasn’t built in a day. But, if you remember to Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Then you will find that Pluto and Venus will help you out in creating your dreams.
Often when I do a reading for someone, they will report back that while the reading was technically ‘correct’, some of the events didn’t turn out quite the way they thought they would based on what I had said versus how they HEARD what I said. We filter, based on our beliefs, and apply all sorts of interpretations to the events before us. I know I often look at a set of transits in my chart and anticipate a whole different set of events than what actually appears.
Remember, we bring ourselves, and all of our beliefs, expectations, anxieties, experiences and fears to everything we experience. For today, and maybe tomorrow too, put those things down. Listen to what the universe is trying to tell you. Hear your heart beating. Understand you are here for a purpose. You are a living and breathing incarnation of the heavens at the exact moment of your birth. You are the heavens made live and walking around on earth! That chart of yours was born, with you in the driver seat, to accomplish something! So get working on it! Adjust. Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Get to work with the Universe! Have a wonderful New Year!
Copyright © 2008 Anne C. Ortelee
