This week in astro-weather - high energy, constraints, and more change (some assembly required)

(Blog art by the incredible Georgia O’Keeffe - Feather with Bird’s Bone)

I selected this painting because of the contrast in elements - the lightness of the feather speaks to the air of Gemini that is abundant right now while the bones speak to the reality of Saturn helping us bring something from our mind into form.

This week brings changes in direction, high energy, potential for conflict & anxiety, and some small amounts of resolution.

Tomorrow, Mars conjoins Jupiter in the middle of Gemini: this is a high-energy, cerebral meeting that seems particularly zany with Gemini’s ruler Mercury trekking backward AND changing signs (from Virgo to Leo).

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New Moon in late Capricorn

The first new moon of 2018 occurs on January 16th late in the sign of Capricorn. Capricorn is the sea-goat – combining ancient wisdom of the waters with the expanded perspective gleaned from the mountaintops. As the third oldest sign of the zodiac wheel, Capricorn is about making practical and socially-relevant use of individual talents, applying lessons from relationships and spiritual insights, and gaining influence and mastery over one’s physical realm.

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New Moon in late Sagittarius: Saturn's Final Words

Welcome to the final lunation of 2017. Every 4 weeks, the Moon and Sun come together in the same area of the sky for a new moon. A new moon is a seed that just might blossom at the full moon two weeks later, depending on its intrinsic qualities, the nurturance or severity of the surrounding environmental conditions, and the fit between the seed and soil. Astrology lends symbols to this pulsing rhythm of conception, growth, birth, life, death, and re-birth, and the truth involves interconnected and overlapping cycles.

Today’s new moon takes place in the very late degrees of Sagittarius, joining retrograde Mercury, Venus, and Saturn. Sagittarius is about the merger of beastly strength and speed with the luminous human intellect. When we set our eyes upon a goal, a dream, or an ideal upon the distant horizon, we must gather up our courage and will and direct all power and attention toward attaining that vision.

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gaze at the shadows cast by your proud and waving flag: new moon-solar eclipse in Leo

As creator of ‘nataleo.com’ I’d be remiss not to publish an article about the giant, important, awe-and-fear-inspiring, so-called “Great American Solar Eclipse” that is happening in the late degrees of Leo on Monday, wouldn’t I?

SO MUCH has been written on it, by vague, new-age-y astrologers and excellent, critical, well-researched astrologers and everyone in between. It can be overwhelming to try and contribute something interesting, unique, and fresh.

I don’t wish to repeat what others have said so well, and there are so many layers to this moment in time.

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don't knock your corners off going through the door you square

In astrology we speak of different geometrical relationships between planets, from the perspective of the Earth. Today, I'm sharing some thoughts about the square aspect (when 2 planets are 90 degrees apart from each other from the starting point of Earth) because we experience 2 important squares each month - the waxing square between Luna & Sol (first quarter moon) and the waning square between them (third quarter). Next week (Dec 6), we pass through the waxing square of last week's new moon in Sagittarius.

Squares can be read as an impediment to growth.

Moon-Sun conjunction (new moon) was squared by Neptune (around 5 days ago) – whatever seed is planted does not take root because it is too dispersed, too porous, too distracted.

Or, the square might generate enough tension to shift the growth of Moon-Sun in a significant and creative manner: the seed takes root in a supraconscious layer of our experience; an awareness (fire/light) of one’s tendency to escape generates enough heat to drive all resources united toward the cherished goal; the seed is bizarre, glamorous, inspired, ethereal, and delicate.

Maybe the vision needs to be broader, deeper, less bounded, more magickal, more considerate of an expanded sense of existence and compassion.

Neptune is the veil masking raving deities, the lapping waters under a lush velvet sky obscuring the slippery monsters beneath.

The new moon was also imprinted with Saturn, as the Moon, Sun, and Saturn (plus Mercury and Juno) were all in Sagittarius at the time and when planets are together in a sign, they are combined and then expressed.

So while the square placement generates tension and challenge in the style of ‘make it or break it’, conjunctions within a sign appear to simply occur... according to the nature of the planets involved.

With Saturn’s influence on last week’s new moon, all seeds taking root are infused with Saturnian qualities – maturity, commitment, the coalescing of the past – for good

  • dedicating self to a new project, goal, relationship, health initiative
  • making plans that reach into the future based on clear understanding of one’s strengths and circumstances
  • sober judgment in difficult circumstances

or for worse

  • bitter seeds
  • dead seeds
  • fear and inaction
  • overcompensation
  • creation based on past circumstances that no longer support you
  • isolation

As we approach the first quarter 'make it or break it' square of rooting your seeds from last week's new moon (exact early on Dec 6 in Saskatoon, SK), you might consider how these interacting dynamics of Saturn & Neptune, tension & dispersal, growth & dissolution are playing out in your life.