Category: Astro-Musings

Parental Synastry

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

Being Venusian, I find synastry incredibly interesting – synastry is the astrological study of relationships; specifically of how the planetary energies in Person A’s chart interact with those in Person B’s to reveal potential points of harmony and/or contention. It’s super useful for teasing out the dynamics between individuals and pinpointing exactly where problems are apt to occur, and quite expeditiously at that. It also gives us great insight into the “purpose” certain people play in our lives, from lovers, to friends, to family and everyone in between.

I find the synastry lens tends to be my default “filter” setting when I look at charts – whether it’s the chart of a family member, a friend, or even a client, my eyes seem to be naturally drawn offhand to how the energies of their chart interact with my own; perhaps because I subconsciously yearn to understand my own role in their lives a bit better. I think this tool is most useful whenever we have a particularly challenging relationship of one kind or another on our hands, if for no other reason than it can help us to make peace with What Is while understanding it takes two to tango and the only one we only have control over ourselves & our own behaviors. How much do we want to contort ourselves to maintain a particular connection?

I have long thought about this question; specifically as it relates to family-of-origin since we have no choice at all regarding the relationships we are born into. For example, some of us are born into single-parent households, or are only children. Some are blessed with wonderfully loving and supportive families; others with emotionally distant, physically absent, or even abusive relatives. Some thrive under the care and protection of their parents; others wilt due to neglect. When family relationships are difficult, can they be turned around & improved? SHOULD they be?

It was a search for the answers to these types of questions that had me studying synastry at a young age. Pulling charts for both of my parents and comparing them to my own, it came as no real surprise to find prominent Uranus connections to my personal planets. A brief disclaimer is due because this is not uncommon whenever we are dealing with generational planets like Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto – these celestial bodies are slow-moving and therefore large groups of people will all have these planets at or near the same point if they are born within a given age range. But my parents were born 5 years apart, which put their respective Uranus placements in entirely different signs…far enough away that I theoretically should not have hit cosmic bingo the way I did.

Pronounced Uranus connections in synastry will tend to make a relationship anything but stable. In a positive context, they can be exciting and stimulating – they will most certainly foster our independence (one way or another) and this is often the hallmark of a type of relationship that is very “non-conventional” in one respect or another. These connections do help us to develop true individuality, but on the negative side this may also result from alienation and estrangement as detachment is a hallmark of Uranian energy as well. When put within the context of a parent/child relationship and specifically with respect to understanding that children psychologically look to their parents to provide some measure of safety, sanity, order, and security, one starts to see how this might be problematic. On the plus side, though, Uranus is the patron planet of astrology – it was the search to understand my tumultuous life/upbringing that first drove me to study astrology as an adolescent…I doubt that I ever would have become an astrologer without their disruptive (Uranian) influence activating my nativity. One thing is for sure: It absolutely did push me to be different and to do differently – Uranus always does, as it represents the evolutionary Quantum Leap.

Have you ever examined the synastry you have with your own parents?

goats

11/27/2016

Jupiter Square Pluto: Dark Blessings

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shadowangel

Building upon my last post discussing Jupiter in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, another theme that keeps resurfacing in my head in relation to this energy lately is this concept of “Dark Blessings”.  Have you ever been through some kind of majorly unpleasant or even traumatic life event and then later turned around to use that experience to better relate to others; say someone who is/was in a similarly difficult circumstance?  Or as awful as things may have been, were you perhaps able to back up and get perspective to see that no matter how bad that experience subjectively was, there were certain factors that *could* have made the situation exponentially worse?

This is what I mean by “Dark Blessings” – it might not exactly be a silver lining, but the ability to salvage *something* (relatively) positive out of the situation is at least an appreciably lighter shade of grey, surely. Gilding the turd of a shit circumstance however we can – perhaps even through black humor – is certainly better than taking nothing positive at all away from a profoundly terrible experience, yes?

11/13/2016

Forced Air

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

Waking upon a cold, damp, and blustery autumn morning, I slid on my sneakers and slipped out the door into the clear post-dawn light for a run. As I made my way down the long and winding road the wind whipped at my face ferociously, stinging my eyes as tears welled up.

I pressed onward.

The path under my feet turned to dirt. My chest began to heave with exertion, but my limbs were invigorated and felt as if they could run indefinitely. Mile after mile passed as the arctic blue sky continued to howl around me, lashing out with a post-storm cold front vengeance.

"Ecstasy" by Maxfield Parrish
“Ecstasy” by Maxfield Parrish

It was then I realized the entire time I ran, this cold damp wind had been forcing its way down into my lungs; oxygenating my system and supplying fuel to my muscles in an all-natural ram-air induction process.

If that’s not a metaphor for my life, I’m not sure what is.

I have a natural astrological resonance with the Air element, and the glacial blasts infusing their essence into my run felt soooo Aquarian; the one Air sign I lack.

Do you have an elemental resonance?

11/2/2016

Pluto In Capricorn Reminder: (Governmental) Corruption Has Corporate Sponsorship

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

…and it is impacting global leadership. Surely we all know this by now; especially in the wake of the 2008 Big Bank Bailout? Executives surreptitiously making out like bandits as their companies imploded within; the cost of which was financed by government tax dollars. This whole ugly ball of wax kicked off back when Pluto first entered Capricorn, the sign of Big Business. But the most sinister part of all of it is how these corporations play Master of Puppets – it’s positively Machiavellian. Raping and pillaging wherever they go, and then turning around and use these ill-gotten funds to install sponsor our leaders.

Here we are halfway through Pluto’s transit of Capricorn, and most of us acknowledge the existence of this very real corruption. Yet we still don’t have campaign finance reform laws in place to prevent this kind of thing from continuing. How can any candidate claim to be “for the people” when beholden to Big Business to fund their election? In this writer’s humble opinion, it is a pretty jacked up state of affairs here in the USA as we prepare for our Pluto Return…we’re veering dangerously close to a plutocracy, which is something one might expect when a nation has Pluto in Capricorn nation occupying its astrological second house of money and resources. Money is power, and it’s being wielded by companies to get their dirty little hooks into government – when those running for office are heavily indebted to their evil corporate overlords, it effectively means the rest of us are, too.

So what do we do about it? Campaign finance reform laws are a great place to start, but realistically speaking no politician is likely to vote for such a thing because it would mean biting the hand that feeds. My proposal, then, is to figure out a way to defund the current power structure, and I think we can do this over time. It won’t be overnight, but when Pluto is in Capricorn the transformation is never overnight, as it’s a marker that things have been in a long, slow, steady state of deterioration for some time.

The first part of this strategy – since we’re acknowledging the world is, in fact, run by corporate interests – is to look at the energy behind the products we use. If we’re going to defund the current power structure, we have to look at how to eliminate our support of the companies that prop it up. For example, there is a reason Monsanto is colloquially referred to as MonSATAN for its global environmental fuckery – stop financing corrupt businesses and they won’t have the funds to keep installing candidates via campaign “donations”. Do a background check of your “brands” – it doesn’t have to be exhaustive, but put some energy into researching the companies you align yourself with and whenever possible divert resources instead toward supporting the companies whose energy and mission resonate with your own.

Secondly, there is a concept that has really started coming into its own ever since Pluto entered Capricorn, and specifically since 2012 when this planet started squaring revolutionary Uranus: Socially Responsible Investing (sometimes also called Sustainable, Responsible, and Impact Investing, or simply abbreviated SRI). The principle behind this is stands in stark contrast to the typical Wall Street slash-and-burn approach that creates wealth without considering the environmental and social implications of where and how the money is allocated – broadly speaking, SRI aims to align the return on an investment with ethical, social causes that create change; such as promoting investment in eco-friendly companies, for example.

I’m grossly oversimplifying this, of course – by no stretch of the imagination am I a finance guru nor do I wish to delve into a lengthy explanation of this practice on an astrology blog as my readers’ eyes would likely glaze over, LOL. If you’d like to know more, you can start here and here.  But suffice to say that I believe this is another way to start pulling money away from big business we don’t want to support and certainly don’t want anywhere near our government and start redirecting energy and resources toward companies that actually give a crap about something besides making as much money as possible, however possible; consequences be damned. Call me quaint, but I don’t feel good about investing in a company (regardless of however many millions I might stand to make off the deal) that engages in the practice of using things like child labor sweatshops, for example – I’d rather put it in a company dedicated to paying its workers fair, decent, and honest wages and that give the health and safety of their workers priority over corporate greed.

I think these are two very good places to start in this Pluto in Capricorn Era, which lasts until 2024. We really do have to be mindful of the “Faustian Bargain” now; specifically with respect to corporate sponsorship.

Images courtesy of the RWS tarot. "Judgement" is astrologically correlated to Pluto, while "The Devil" is connected to the sign of Capricorn - if this doesn't pictorially represent the neccessity of heeding the call to raise our consciousness surrounding how we have become enslaved by the Capricorn structures in life (of which corporations and government both belong), I'm not sure what does!
Images courtesy of the RWS Tarot. “Judgement” is astrologically correlated to Pluto, while “The Devil” is connected to the sign of Capricorn – if this doesn’t pictorially represent the necessity of heeding the call to raise our consciousness surrounding how we have become enslaved by the Capricorn structures in life (corporations and government both fall under this same umbrella, BTW), I’m not sure what does!

 

10/7/2016

Being Venus/Pluto

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phoenixheartOne of the more difficult facets, I think, of being a Venus/Pluto native has to be the fact that there are so many layers to our love nature. A person or relationship that once suited us during a particular point in our emotional/psychological/spiritual development will often need to be molted over the course of our lives as our level of self-awareness intensifies and we gain insight into the very core of our love nature. As this happens, it can frequently mean that we have to let go of others, as love and loss are intrinsically linked with this pairing. This is the “curse” of Plutonic self-awareness, and even as we gain inner illumination it can make relationships incredibly difficult at times…especially when they have grown stagnant.

It is always sad whenever we love someone and they can’t or don’t want to develop a deeper connection, or practice the same level of insight into their inner workings to heal dysfunctional patterns of relating. But the only one we ever have control over is ourselves, and so we must honor where a loved one is at even as we grieve having to leave them behind while we move forward alone. Such is life with Pluto; its journeys often require isolation as we descend to the deepest reaches of our soul in order to heal and transform.

When the alternative means staying stuck in a non-functional union, it is so important to realize when we have indeed reached a relationship’s “expiration date”. Some simply don’t want to immerse themselves into a deeper level of relating and deal with all the intricacies this entails. Some are uncomfortable with the self-awareness that makes true intimacy possible in a relationship, because this would mean having to look at their shadow. Not everyone necessarily has the stomach for this, and this is something I’ve historically had a very difficult time relating to/accepting on a personal level – if there has been one constant in my life (a laughable concept if you only knew my history or my chart, LOL) it has been an unquenchable thirst to try and better myself and to transform all the psychological lead that I started out with in life into gold. Plutonians are all alchemists at their core, after all – this is the magick we possess. We’re happy to share it with you, but you have to be willing and able to get down to our level and become similarly enriched by all the psychological uncovering that happens during the process of relating.

09/20/2016

Mars Conjunct Saturn In Sagittarius: Right Action Meets Right Timing

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After months of stalled or slowed activity, action planet Mars finally reaches escape velocity from its long and arduous retrograde phase. But before it finally achieves liftoff in earnest, it has one final pre-flight checklist to go over courtesy of its current conjunction with Saturn: Are we going the right way? Doing the right thing? Do we have a good plan in place to increase our chance of success with this initiative? Do we have optimal weather conditions and timing for our “launch”?

Mantis1
© EmpoweredDestiny.com 2016. All rights reserved.

You may recall that months ago while discussing this Mars retrograde phase, I mentioned the importance of waiting for “the Sign” to know when it’s “go time” – it amused me to no end to get confirmation of this via a visitation from a praying mantis yesterday just ahead of this conjunction. Mantis symbolism teaches the wisdom of right timing, and of not moving until we know for sure the moment is most opportune. I watched the mantis for a good 45 minutes, noting its very deliberate movements up the stalk of a flower until it sat just below a profusion of blooms that was sure to attract its prey. It was very patient – a few bees buzzed above it here and there at various points, however they were just out of reach and moving would have meant the risk of the mantis scaring its quarry off after it had found the perfect spot. After several more moments of observing, I watched with utter amazement as it snatched a hapless yellow jacket from mid-air with complete impunity right before my eyes – if that’s not a Sign about the veracity of waiting until the perfect moment to strike, I don’t know what is. And with Mars currently aligned with Saturn, it’s crucial to heed this wisdom and strike only when we’re certain right action and right timing have in fact converged.

If you are unsure of whether or not this is indeed the case for you, this duo squaring mystical Neptune indicates that stillness is the way. Meditate. Dream. Pray, like my mantis friend. Ask for Divine Guidance in the form of a vision.

08/24/2016

More Saturn In Sagittarius

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I mentioned a while back in a previous post that with Saturn in Sagittarius, the type of evil to fear most is quite possibly “The indifference of good men”.  To recap a bit, Hi-Fi Saturn is about protection and when it resonates with the higher side of Sagittarius, it does so without regard to things like race, culture, socio-economic status, age, gender, or sexual orientation because we are all a part of the HUMAN race. Saturn in Sagittarius largely deals with the reality that – as members of this global human race – each person has an individual responsibility toward the Collective Good. When we are firm in our principles and seeking to live an upright life there really isn’t room for “The indifference of good men”, because our goodness and virtue only extend as far as our willingness to protect what is right, true, & just when presented with tests such as the ones we now face with Saturn now at the halfway point of its journey through Sagittarius.

Yes, I am referencing Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, among many others.

The global community is being challenged like never before during Saturn in Sagittarius’ prolonged square to Neptune in Pisces square to deal with the reality of prejudice rather than sticking our heads in the ground like a bunch of ostriches and pretending this doesn’t exist.  And more importantly, it is time to figure out how we can put a stop to it.

Frankly, I’d like to think this will eventually resolve itself as age continues to claim old-school folk with residual dinosaur mentalities re: these issues.  But what scares me is the fact that over my lifetime I have never seen such a sharp and abrupt backslide toward the dark ages of civil rights as I have in these last few years.  I am disgusted that men with badges jump right to the use of lethal force because they claim to be in fear for their lives and that it doesn’t dawn on them 1) what kind of conscious or even nebulous, unconscious bias may have played a role in the manifestation of that fear  2) the extensive training they had been given in police academy also taught them how to use non-lethal means to protect themselves (taser, pepper spray, etc.) – do they suddenly forget this?  3) that if one finds themselves so afraid that they are in danger of making a grave error in judgement that may result in the wrongful death of another human being, then they are clearly not fit for duty  4) that if one is prepared to discharge their weapon in the line of duty, then they had damn well better be willing to be accountable for doing so.

I don’t mean to sound as if I am completely unsympathetic to law enforcement, because it is unquestionably a dangerous job – especially for beat cops working in crime-laden districts.  There absolutely ARE reasons for having legitimate fear.  But when Saturn squares Neptune, fear is apt to become exaggerated and unrealistic – especially if/when it’s hiding a bias of some kind.  Police – being Saturn-ruled – are especially affected by this energy, to the point where it has now become an epidemic.

Mars has finally left volcanic Scorpio and its volatile contact to Uranus.  Its aching trine to Chiron suggested that we are all in pain and must heal the violence in our psyches.  Now, as it approaches a conjunction to Saturn once again (exact on August 24), more than ever we must address police brutality so there is accountability.  There simply has to be consequences for use of excessive force that results in another human being’s death – justice for all regardless of race!

08/03/2016

Forgiveness Under The Saturn/Neptune Square

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

ApologyIt is not simply a case of “forgive & forget” when the Saturn/Neptune Square is in play; forgiveness is something EARNED under this astro! To err is human, but rebuilding trust after a major transgression takes a lot of time and work. There is no magic wand that will suddenly erase a sin, so being accountable and demonstrating humble willingness to atone is important. It starts with an apology backed up by contrition, and then ends with consistent and abundant efforts to make amends. Guilt and shame do have their purpose when these emotions challenge us on a spiritual level to recognize any suffering we’re responsible for and put a stop to it.

(I sure wish my parents had gotten this memo, LOL)

Saturn turns direct on August 13th and its square to Neptune only tightens after this point (becoming exact for a final time on September 10, 2016) – nobody is perfect, but if we think we can try harder to make a situation right, we should definitely do so under the Saturn/Neptune Square.

ForgivenessPersonally, I find it most difficult to forgive when it’s not being sought and when it’s clear to me the person in question doesn’t want to be accountable for their history. I may have compassion for them, sure (in a “they know not what they do” sort of way), but I am hesitant to offer my forgiveness. A hat-in-hand apology, however, can do wonders. I suppose this is because I work hard to be honest with myself about my mistakes in life and try to do my best to offer up a sincere mea culpa when I know I’m in the wrong. I can’t imagine going through life without ever apologizing, but some do. Some will even try to justify this, in which case it is little wonder why absolution would be denied.

 

07/27/2016

An Important Saturn In Sagittarius Reminder

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

The following is an excerpt from my December 2014 newsletter; the topic of which was an overview discussing the numerous energetic manifestations of Saturn’s entrance into Sagittarius. The message is as relevant now (perhaps moreso given the context of recent events) as when it was first published over a year and a half ago. FYI, Saturn remains in Sagittarius until December 2017.

“Dealing with the reality of bias: Everybody sees the world from different angles – this fact forms the basis of our perspectives in life and helps us realize that our “truths” are actually quite subjective much of the time. But sometimes, without even realizing it, our life experiences may form the framework of a (negative) bias or prejudice of some kind, and Saturn in Sadge can challenge these kinds of beliefs for the sake of putting a stop to them – especially when we’re inclined to try and fit our view of things into nice, neat, organized little boxes. What do I mean by this? Surely we’ve all heard (if not ourselves uttered at some point) blanket statements along the lines of “All ______________ people are ___________”, as if it were some kind of factual reality not up for philosophical debate. The Hi-Fi side of this transit is well served by getting a handle on discrimination in all its forms; all the “-isms” of life like racism, sexism, classism, ageism, or whathaveyou. If we’re called on the carpet and held accountable for a bias of some kind during Saturn in Sadge, this is definitely the time to get it in check because chances are high that such a perspective is flat-out wrong and this is merely The Universe’s way of letting us know it.”

I can’t help but wonder if we, as a society, are ready to master this challenge? Because right now it (as is so characteristic of Saturn) it sure would seem we are all collectively being punished for letting fear and prejudice get so out of hand. Just look at how one of the USA’s 2016 presidential hopefuls is, in this writer’s opinion, a xenophobe – when even your proposed leadership is bigoted, you (as a country) have quite an inconvenient truth on your hands that would be most prudent NOT to continue ignoring during these Saturn square Neptune times. Prejudice is a sickness of the soul, plain and simple, and we need to work instead on promoting understanding over fear, tolerance over hate, and compassion over hard-heartedness.

More on this to follow.

07/12/2016

The Moon

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 4 Comments

The Lunar vibes have been coming on quite strong lately, most notably over the recent long holiday weekend when a potent Cancer New Moon arrived early Monday morning. Note the interesting correlation with the New Moon also falling on Mo(o)nday; a day of the week energetically ruled by the Moon. Feeling especially introspective on the 4th, I decided to go for a walk along a wooded trail encircling the reservoir to do some reflection and to quietly commune with nature.

I was most of the way around the loop when I passed over a wooden footbridge that spanned a rocky little creek – the water level had fallen considerably due to a recent dry spell, so instead of a babbling brook the water poured sluggishly over the rocks and collected into miniature pools. Small islands of rock and mud lay exposed by the thirsty creek bed, and I felt a pull to leave the path and do a little exploring along its bottom. Swatting away a pestilent cloud of buzzing mosquitos, I began hopping from rock to rock, occasionally finding footing in a muddy sandbar as I peered with curiosity into the tiny lagoons to see what I could see.

The first couple held nothing of interest save a small contingent of water skaters doing their bug-like Jesus thang atop the overgrown puddles; the high surface tension of the water combining with their ultra-light bodies and four perfectly balanced legs to keep them miraculously high and dry. The third puddle contained what I believe was a juvenile trout about 5 inches long – some primal hunter-gatherer instinct must have surfaced within me, because I was immediately compelled to see if I could catch it by hand. I began moving some small rocks in the pool to box him in, plunging my hands into the cold water and emerging triumphantly with fish in hand. I took a good look at him and then set him back into the water, moving the rocks back where I had found them to allow him to swim freely once again. As I was moving the rocks, I noticed a rather large pincer in the water sans its owner – there must be crayfish in here, I thought excitedly!

Downstream I went, making my way over to one of the larger pools and would you look at who I found just hanging out in the water!

©EmpoweredDestiny.com 2016. All rights reserved.
©EmpoweredDestiny.com 2016. All rights reserved.
Image courtesy of the RWS Tarot.
Image courtesy of the RWS Tarot.

He was SO COOL! I picked him up by the rear to avoid being on the business end of his impressive and no doubt mighty claws, and was absolutely delighted that he elected to reveal himself to me! Pondering the significance of Crawfish Medicine, my mind’s eye suddenly conjured up this image:

Such perfect symbolism for such Lunar-flavored astro, no? The Moon in tarot can often be a reminder that even the most domesticated creature cannot be fully divorced from wild roots – the Call of the Wild resides in each of us; it’s just a matter of how well we listen.

07/06/2016