With the Sun presently conjunct Mercury in Gemini, it’s time to derive creative inspiration from our innate inquisitiveness about life! Recall which core topics joyfully absorbed your intellectual attention as a child; way back before you started to care who was watching and what they thought of your interests. It’s these little threads that appear early on that so often tie together and gather into something greater to come full circle later. Everything else is a distraction – the soul communicates the information vital to its mission of self-actualization in youth; frequently though play/our pastimes. So think back to all the natural curiosities that consumed your mind as a kid; whether this encompasses subjects you enjoyed learning/reading about, topics of conversation you loved talking about, or any intellectual pursuit that may have filled your heart with joy – especially if it was in any way precocious. The glowingly radiant spark of Divine Child that we all carry inside of us ignites and comes alive if we blow on the ember but a little…
With the arrival of June we’re inching incrementally closer to the edge of a major astrological event horizon – Mars is in the process of downshifting as we speak; losing speed but building in power as it prepares for its Retrograde station on June 26th. This was the topic of my recently published June newsletter so I shan’t bore you all by repeating myself here, but one thing I would like us all to keep in mind going forward from this point regards how there’s apt to be a long slow burn perhaps punctuated by intermittent outburst in some area of our life over the next few months as Mars does this prolonged bump-n-grind motion between the area of 09 degrees Aquarius and 28 degrees Capricorn.
Even if you don’t have planets or points located in this particular vicinity of the zodiac, look to see what astrological House(s) in your chart will be affected by this passage. This energy is both frictional and invigorating, though it may not feel like it at first – Mars is the desire planet and when it retrogrades we’re challenged to get in touch on a deep visceral level with what we want out of life or our raison d’être. This can then lead us to take inspired action, but note the entire retrograde period as a whole (late June – late August) is best used as an incubation period. Stoke the internal fires and tend them consciously and carefully, but do not rush into action just yet; our desires are still in the process of more fully unfolding during this time so may wind up altering significantly. It is a waste of energy to change tack two or three times and there is an economy of movement being conveyed by this energy, so definitely take your time before pulling the trigger on something.
A stylized Pisces symbol set upon a funneling column; blacklit in a watery blue hue that denoted the bar area of the hotel lobby. Sooooo many astro-clichés in a single sentence, non? When I pointed this out to friends they exclaimed “How the hell did you see that?!?” in absolute astonishment.
Pluto Life, my lovelies; the symbols and omens are omnipresent and obvious. Just wait until I tell you about how my (otherwise perfectly lovely and very comfortable) hotel room sprang a water leak that left a soggy, spongy pool on the carpet after the day’s lectures had concluded….! Yes, Neptune in Pisces had his fins aaaalllll over this trip; including the remote viewing dream sent to me circa a year and a half ago that gave me the heads up my attendance at this very function would be required.
With the Neptune vibe super strong for the foreseeable future c/o its occupation of Pisces, we need to have a discussion about this planet’s idealism for a moment. Planets in Pisces, the 12th House, or in aspect to Neptune tend to distort our view of reality; it’s just how this energy operates. When this applies to the planet Venus it can affect how we see our partners or women in general – the same is true of the Moon, with a slightly different flavoring that it’s inclined to skew our views on maternal figures or the mother of our children (if we partner with women, that is). Neptunian energy affecting either the Moon or Venus tends to broadly impact our relationship with women and this can mean we may ignore/miss some major red flags regarding females. Now if it’s Mars or the Sun in Pisces, the 12th House, or in aspect to Neptune, men tend to get idealized instead – both are Masculine planets, and again there’s apt to be this distortion thing going on.
Neptunian energy affecting anything is prone to projecting worship onto false idols – I have this theory that may times we may do so due to early disappointment with a parent. For example, they may have been absent, addicted, or ineffectual and we were so let down by this we cope by (consciously or unconsciously) fantasizing about a mythic “savior” or “saint” who never disappoints us in this way. However, human beings have a very difficult time living up to this fantasy. They’re often tragically flawed so when we fling these glamorous qualities onto the blank canvas of someone else serving as a stand-in, we risk repeating the cycle when the blinders finally do come off. Unless we just keep them on and continue glossing over the fact that our suffering has led us to project illusory qualities onto a figment of our imagination.
Here’s the thing, though: Denial never makes it better. When “The man behind the curtain” is finally revealed for what they are, we mustn’t excuse or enable. We have to learn to live with disappointment for what it is instead of perpetuating cycles of sickness. And if we cover for someone, make excuses for them, and/or enable them, we’re not only victimizing ourselves without realizing it (because it gives them permission to do it again) but we also potentially risk victimizing others via our blind devotion.
There’s this unconscious defense mechanism that can be triggered as a result: Denial. Instead of allowing this insular bubble of fantasy to be burst, the individual views everyone criticizing the person on their pedestal as “lying”. This is where the blind devotion comes in; you see it time and time again with sexual abuse in families, for example – “Oh he would never do that”. Meanwhile, the person they’re defending has been arrested and arraigned on charges of soliciting a minor and there’s evidence for days; including emails, texts, and photos. But when Neptunian energy holds sway, none of that matters. An individual will just bury their head in the sand and insist the charges are fabricated rather than face the crushing disillusionment that their precious so-and-so is actually a very sick individual.
So here’s the TL;DR version: If you have the Moon or Venus affected by Neptunian energy, know your views of women aren’t likely to be very realistic. If it’s the Sun or Mars, how you see male figures is prone to the same kind of distortion. Either way in these Saturn in Capricorn times, it’s time to straighten this out. Saturn’s power is equal to Neptune’s now, and this = a Reality Check; particularly when Saturn moves into a sextile with Neptune in 2019. It’s time to pump the brakes and stop projecting fictitious qualities and “can do no wrong” innocence upon real life figures who are just as human and fallible as the rest of us. We mustn’t genuflect to the cult of fame, either; rather look instead to those using their social status/position as a platform to make a real difference in the world via humanitarian causes – these are the ones who earn our respect in this Saturn in Capricorn era.
In honor of the approaching square between Venus & Pluto, here is the crux of about 90% of the issues that Venus/Pluto peeps (Pluto in Libra generation, pay attention!) typically encounter in partnerships:
People with this energy signature present in their nativity (and it can come in many different forms – Venus in Scorpio, Pluto in Libra, Venus in aspect to Pluto, Venus in the 8th House, Pluto in the 7th House) tend to attract power struggles in relationships. This happens because deep down individuals with this energetic “stamp” often feel threatened by a loss of control in relationships and do not yet possess the insight to see that real intimacy entails placing total trust in your partner; thus making oneself scary-vulnerable and “naked” in every sense of the word.
Frequently this may be the result of some kind of trauma attached to the word “love”; perhaps on an instinctual level we’ve had reason not to feel safe enough to metaphorically “disrobe” like this because trust was violated somewhere along the way. So we then become determined to always make sure we have the upper hand/ace up our sleeve/dagger in our boot that will keep us from being totally disempowered in the event that things go bad. Consequently what can happen in such instances is a subconscious attraction toward relationships where we’re not equally matched with a partner, because on a superficial level our psyche thinks this will allow us to stay in power.
Now it doesn’t always manifest this way; sometimes we’re forced to confront this “power differential” theme in other ways. And the reverse can certainly be true where we may be magnetized toward relationships where we tend to give our power away to a Significant Other and become submissive rather than dominant. But unless we look deeper and leave no internal stone unturned in understanding the propensity for this kind of dynamic and healing it, eventually one or both of the parties comes to resent this and the relationship sours; resulting in a negative feedback loop that affirms our suspicions regarding vulnerability and validates a subconscious desire to gain or keep control/power. In situations where there has been a major trust violation that deeply affected our ability to “expose & disclose”, it can be scary for the psyche to feel like it risks being subsumed by another via intimacy.
But the Hi-Fi version of Venus/Pluto love is about viewing relationships on a more psychological level so we can become truly empowered. Every relationship, no matter how bad, puts us directly in contact with our own “Shadow” one way or the other via involvement with a Significant Other so we can heal any dysfunction within that leads to be attracted to partnerships with built-in power differentials. The x-ray vision this energetic combination affords one when it comes love and partnership is second to none – once we let our eyes adjust to the darkness, we can see the layered subtext going on behind the scenes to get to the bottom of the issue(s). It’s a complex process and there are hidden entanglements to tease out, but Venus/Pluto natives come factory-wired with invisible illuminated mining helmets precisely for this kind of job.
In healing, what we might aim for in the future is to be intimidated by a partner in a *good* way. I don’t mean creeped out, LOL – that kind of thing happens all the time when you’re a Venus/Pluto person. But finding someone who puts us in our un-comfort zone in a positive sense; who has gone just as deep (or deeper) into themselves and mined their own love life just as intensely for insights, self-healing, and personal transformation to gain profound acumen. This energy signature is about learning – on a soul-level – how to figure out the balance of power in close intimate relationships; neither hoarding it nor giving it all away. The trick is we have to share it.
With Saturn now in Capricorn and gradually working its way toward a conjunction with Pluto in 2020, it’s becoming more important than ever to guard ourselves against “toxic teachings”. Though we have some time before this conjunction perfects, it’s definitely something we want to prepare for well in advance and the longer we give ourselves, the stronger the buffer. I’m putting out this caution now because Pluto’s energy tends to corrupt things gradually in Capricorn; it’s never an overnight process and with Saturn playing the role of Cosmic Teacher we do have to be very careful that any educations instilled in us aren’t twisted. This ranges from ancient lessons imparted by parents or mentors that were perhaps rather messed up, to rigid programming drilled into us by our leaders, or any kind of teaching implanted in us by anyone that we consider an “authority” – this includes spiritual and occult “leaders” as well.
It is this last item I want to discuss in particular, because it can be very dangerous when a toxic teaching takes root in our psyche or soul and metaphysicians work on these levels almost exclusively. Spiritual and occult leaders are often granted a form of absolute power due to the intense loyalty of their followers; nobody stops to question their authority, and those that do are often gagged and shunned. But as we’ve seen time and time again with every fall from grace since antiquity, being wise, perceptive, and in a position of prominence does not make one exempt from serious moral failings and character defects – it does not render one immune to criticism, nor let them off the hook from facing the consequences arising from any abuse of power.
When it comes to the psyche and the soul, we have to be more watchful than ever about substituting someone else’s authority for our own internal sense of authority. This is not an area where we should ever allow someone to usurp our power from us because dysfunctional constructs, programming, and conditioning can take root and bear poison fruit if we’re not careful; particularly as we get closer to the conjunction of Saturn with Pluto in Capricorn. We need to be particularly cautious regarding what we’re letting our teachers and leaders sow inside of us now – this especially applies to any toxic teachings regarding how we “create our own reality” , which may then used to mask forms of abuse. We need to watch out for any kind of teaching that could potentially infect us with Surrogate Responsibility Syndrome™; a condition where we psychologically take on responsibility/blame for something that frankly doesn’t belong to us and never did.
This is where certain New Age precepts can actually become dangerous – in reality, IMO it is a covert form of control fetish to buy into the false teaching that everything in life is completely within our influence and we’re 100% responsible for every (negative) circumstance in it, as in “I attracted the lesson”. Sometimes we do through poor choices and lack of good judgement, yes, but other times it has absolutely nothing to do with us at all – if bad things sometimes happen to good people (like pediatric cancer to an innocent child) or good things happen to bad people (Trump becoming president), we’re a bit out of line for thinking that we’re responsible for *everything*. We have no business trucking with this kind of control freakery when it actually has the potential to be very damaging – for example, toxic teachings that imply we’re somehow responsible for being raped or for being abused by our parents. This is an undercover form of Stockholm Syndrome – instead of placing the blame where it belongs (i.e. squarely on the shoulders of the abuser), we internalize this burden and make it about *us*.
On a psychological level, it’s understandable that one might subconsciously do this as a self-protective measure; convince themselves the circumstance was somehow within their control. But at the end of the day this is how we enable abuse to continue; by not holding it accountable – this is how we wind up with problems like teaching our girls how *not* to be raped instead of teaching our boys *not* to rape and it’s how we wind up with things like rape apologists. To put a stop to this corruption, we need to hold abusers accountable and stop manipulating our psyches with the covert power trip that we “create our own reality” and that everything is within our ability to control – it’s not. Get off the exit well before Saturn hits that conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn, because otherwise it’s a dead-end.
I want to talk about the notion that “positivity” is always a good thing – we love being upbeat because it feels…good, right? But like all things Jupiter-oriented, it does have the capacity to be harmful when taken to excess and it’s this angle that I want to discuss today with Jupiter continuing to traverse Scorpio until November 2018. Any planet tenanting Scorpio has to face its Shadow side for proper psychological integration, and when we’re talking about uplifting Jupiter this naturally entails an examination of how it’s possible to suffer from terminal positivity.
Let me begin by stating that I am generally of the opinion that what people choose to believe is their own business – as long as you’re not going door-to-door trying to promote your life philosophy to others and “convert” them, vaya con dios. I prefer “Live and Let Live”, so provided you’re not bothering me or mine by “correcting” others and telling them they’re “wrong”, have at it. But please bear with me, because for the purposes of this post I do need to outline how certain beliefs have the capacity to turn dysfunctional on us and this includes Jupiter’s optimism.
There is a point where positivity warps into something pathological and one of the primary indicators we have of this is zealousness; especially regarding the promotion of it. Jupiter in Scorpio can be prone to fanaticism because Scorpio is a sign of extremes, so it takes the moral, philosophical, political, and spiritual beliefs of Jupiter and applies them with passion. Now there is nothing wrong with believing something very deeply; however when this crosses the line to where we seek to impose our personal truth upon others (no matter if we think it for their own good and do it with a smile), this is a problem. This kind of coercion or manipulation does not respect the sovereignty of the individual and is in fact an intrusion – recall the saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”.
Another important point to consider is whether or not the “positive” individual is open to discussing different point of view. Scorpio energy can tend to make things very black-and-white, all-or-nothing and one of the signatures of terminal positivity is negating the existence of all that does not fit within its paradigm. If one is very fixed in their doctrine and finds it threatening to contemplate or discuss other ways of seeing things, they may seek to kill off anything they perceive as “negative” or “low vibration”. The keyword is perceive, though; it does not mean that in raising bigger-picture (social, cultural, moral, spiritual, political) questions that may be challenging to the individual’s views, one actually isbeing negative. “Positive vibes only” becomes destructive when it loses context – for example, when it denies the existence of things like racism, sexism, classism, and all kinds of larger socio-cultural issues because it’s too busy white-lighting its aura in a protective bubble because we magnetically “receive what we believe”. To insist a “poverty mindset” is at the root of someone’s financial insecurity when corrupt and very real things like wage inequality still exist in the world is rather messed up, IMO – it is a very first-world problem to be able to negate the things that huge segments of the global society have been deeply affected by just because one has supposedly ascended above it all and says they have reached a level where it can no longer affect them. While it may be all fine and good that it doesn’t affect *your* reality, what about everybody else??
Perhaps the most reliable indicator that someone is suffering from a case of terminal positivity, though, is when this has twisted from being a helpful tool in combating a negative default inner monologue and turned instead into a covert weapon of smug condescension directed at those one perceives as having “stinkin’ thinkin’”. If this really is about making your life and the lives of those around you better, surely there is no need to pervert this with the taint of arrogant self-righteousness? When lifting yourself up involves kneecapping someone else, re-evaluate your ulterior motives because this is a dysfunctional, poisonous, and power-trippy philosophy.
It’s the vocal changes brought on by puberty as our throat chakras Awaken. It’s the voice of rebellion; an anthem of protest. And it is digging in its heels to use the voice of the collective to bring peaceful reform and revolution – screw “slacktivism”; our 21st century Indigo Ray neo-Flower Children are woke to all kinds of social, ecological, and environmental issues ranging from economic disparity, to awareness of GMO “FrankenFoods” effects upon on the body AND the environment, to a prescient and humanitarian concern for the sustainability of our Future. Uranus in Taurus knows the value and substance the vocalizations of the collective carry and yokes modern technologies like social media to network and influence people’s VALUES. It also inherently understands that the best way to create change is with your wallet and emphasizes conscious spending; particularly regarding social and environmental causes that align with one’s personal value system – if you want reform, nothing speaks louder in this corporatocracy than where your money is or isn’t being spent.
In technology, Uranus in Taurus signifies a graphics revolution – Taurus is aesthetic while Uranus is electric and I predict some gorgeous advances that change the way we see things. If history is any indicator, we might consider how a revolutionary new 3-strip Technicolor process gave us huge and visually stunning hits such as “Gone With the Wind”, “The Wizard of Oz”, and Disney’s “Fantasia” the last time Uranus visited this zodiac sign. It’s exciting to think about the optical advances this energy may herald; not only for cinema and television, but regarding computers, software, gaming, and all of our modern digital devices.
Uranus in Taurus will also set textile trends – Taurus is a highly tactile sign and I predict there will be a cutting-edge fabric that comes out during the next 7 years that changes EVERYTHING. When Uranus previously occupied Taurus, nylon and polyester were invented; let’s hope for something more organic than synthetic this time around! Or if not, then perhaps novel and environmentally-conscious technologies will facilitate the (re?)invention of more sustainable textiles that help further the green revolution.
Uranus in Taurus also represents a sort of neo-communism vibe – I realize this word carries unfortunate political connotations that may be triggering for many, but I mean this in its purest philosophical sense. As in, living in hippie communes with people who all share the same ideals, sharing resources among the community to create a hedge against things like wealth inequality, and crowdfunding things and causes we feel are worthy; especially important social and/or ecological ones.
This placement also deals with the redistribution of wealth; Uranian energy reforms and re-arranges, while The Bull is a fiscal sign (it’s one of Wall Street’s two animal totems for a reason!) and as such there will be financial disrupts that change fortunes literally overnight. Perhaps a substantial portion of this may be precipitated by wild fluctuations in commodities and currency markets; digital currencies especially, which are now creating their own economic revolution. Uranus acts as a destabilizing influence and wealth can be made or lost in the blink of an eye – “Nouveau Riche” may no longer be such a dirty term after this 7 year transit. Retrospectively, the previous Uranus in Taurus era from mid-1934 to mid-1942 should ring some bells in an economic context; it was the era of FDR and his “New Deal” (both of them) so we see that financial (Taurus) reform (Uranus) is indeed a hallmark of this energy. Part and parcel of this included the founding of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the *exact day* that Uranus entered Taurus in 1934!
Uranus in Taurus is coming – this momentous shift will be upon us in just over 3 months’ time and on May 15, 2018 we step into a brand new Uranian era that few people have ever experienced in their lifetime. Perhaps the most intriguing thing for me in contemplating the significance of this event is the fact that I see history repeating itself – Uranus last entered Taurus on the heels of the Great Depression and a Uranus/Pluto Square in Aries and Cancer. Today, its ingress will be in the wake of a global financial crisis and recent Uranus/Pluto Square in Aries and Capricorn. The 1934-42 version happened with a Uranian President of the United States of America (FDR; Aquarius Sun + Uranus Rising) while the current one will feature a Sun + North Node conjunct Uranus at the helm. Don’t get me wrong; DJT isn’t even a quarter of the man FDR was and the comparison ends there. However when we look things dispassionately and just consider the data, the correspondences between these two periods do seem uncanny for the above mentioned reasons.
I wonder, will Uranus in Taurus be the “hero” we deserve, or the one we need?
With Neptune powerful in its Pisces domicile for the foreseeable future, I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss this planet’s considerable intuitive gifts and how to recognize them. Intuition is something that happens completely outside of the conscious rational mind – it is a non-tangible, non-logical sense of receiving information that we have no other reasonable explanation for. For some this expresses as “hearing” a voice that is often initially mistaken for their internal thoughts. For others, they may “see” things in their mind’s eye and blow it off as “just their imagination”. Others feel things on a visceral level in the form of physical sensations in the body that are “weird” or transiently mimic illness. There are many varietals – perhaps yours comes instead through dreams. Or maybe it’s heard through music, whether it’s the perfect timing of a song on the radio or the lyrics stuck in your head on repeat for no good reason.
Neptunian intuition is frequently quite hard to pin down; it is something prone to shapeshifting and behaves differently for each individual. Some are more connected to it than others, and it all depends upon how good we are at listening to it rather than judging it. Those who consciously seek a spiritual connection to Divinity and who have personal beliefs that hold space for the impossible and miraculous seem to have an easier time tapping into it, as there is less resistance to the flow and the ability to suspend judgement and disbelief is crucial in lubricating Neptune’s energy so it can stream *through* us. We’re just Receivers for the signal, that’s all – it doesn’t originate *from* us but is instead a god-given factory setting that allows us to tune in to the Source of all that is, was, and will ever be. The precise frequency that each one of us uses to tune into that information from Source varies, but the key is to put ourselves in settings that allow us to tune out more of the white noise of mundane life so we can pick up instead on the more subtle dimensions that might otherwise be ignored.
That last bit is crucial; the more distractions we have jamming up the input lines, the harder it is to decipher what’s what – that’s why solitude can be invaluable. Carving out time to rest, meditate, pray, sprawl out in shavasana, be still, or just get good sleep are all ways of making ourselves clearer conduits for intuitive messages to come through us. And perhaps the most important thing to understand about Neptunian intuition is how it often goes unrecognized by the Self because this planet’s energy is highly ego-effacing by nature. “Oh, that wasn’t anything; it couldn’t possibly be – I don’t have any ‘psychic’ abilities. I’m no Edgar Cayce,” is often what we tell ourselves, downplaying the significance of those nebulous impressions we shouldn’t be ignoring. The Neptunian vibe seeks no glory or recognition, being inherently self-effacing. Therefore it can easily remain a blind spot obscured from our view so that we don’t recognize it for what it truly is; a different means of understanding that comes not from the mind but from Spirit.
Saturn in Capricorn is a lot like being the General Contractor of a jobsite; something is under construction in whatever area of your chart Saturn is currently transiting and YOU are the foreman overseeing this whole operation. Now as the GC you don’t do all the work yourself – perhaps you take on the work that you’re most qualified to do, but you hire subcontractors to take care of the more specialized jobs like the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. because 1) You acknowledge these aren’t your areas of particular expertise and 2) It frees up your time so your considerable experience can be put to better use ensuring that everything is being done the right way and in the proper order. Every building plan needs someone to supervise its execution – that, my friends, is YOU.
Or, to use a different analogy, Saturn in Capricorn is similar to being the CEO of a major corporation; you’ve put the systems, proper framework, and hierarchy in place so you can concentrate on making all those high-level executive decisions. No matter how much of a control freak you are, you can’t possibly do *everything* yourself and have to rely instead on the organizational backbone you’ve established to support you/your business.
Saturn in Capricorn is an uber-responsible vibe, so often when it contacts one of our planets or visits a particular House in our chart we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to TCOB. That’s all fine and good; we’re likely very ambitious and working toward some kind of monumental goal. But the weight of that burden may be heavier than expected, so it’s prudent to think about what labor can be delegated to others in order to make the load more manageable. This is not to be confused with pawning off our duties; rather it’s about orchestrating all the proper elements and putting the right support structures in place so we can reach that finish line. Mastering the Art of Delegation is important if we want to be successful during the roughly 2 ½ years that Saturn visits this sign, so by all means hire help, tag out and enlist the support of someone who’s more experienced/qualified at a particular task, and generally put people to work for you if/when possible. You don’t have to be a GC or CEO to do this; try it in any context that works for you/your situation.
EmpoweredDestiny.com 