Full Snow Moon in Virgo, Pisces Sun and Water Planets Align to Shower Us with Possibilities

Empress Card from Elements of Tarot                            Created by  Tammy von Payens

This year’s Full Moon in Virgo has a special place in my heart as I was born just past the Virgo  Full Moon many moons ago.  The Virgo Full Moon peaks at 12:26 P.M. on Monday, February 25, 2013. The Full Moon occurs at 06/24 (rounded up to 7 degrees) degrees opposite the Sun in Pisces at 06/24 (rounded up to 7 degrees) degrees.  For anyone who has planets, the Sun, or the Moon within 5-6 degrees of Pisces/Virgo, this will be a very powerful and transformative Full Moon, bringing with it an abundance of energy, opportunities, and benefits.  Full Moons symbolize the culmination and potentialities inherent in fulfillment of what has already started in your life, particularly as pertains to the last New Moon, two weeks ago. 

As we now have an abundance of planets and the Sun in water signs, 6 to be exact, and the North Node also in Scorpio, we are awash in emotional and tidal energies. What is rising up from the unconscious (Saturn’s sojourn through Scorpio sending waves of emotional energy to the surface of our awareness), and what we are sensing intuitively, taking in through our senses, and what we are assimilating and taking in from the Collective Consciousness of the Universe is making it difficult to ignore the major areas of our lives where we are transforming, growing, learning, and developing into a new layer of consciousness and being. 

The Virgo Full Moon’s aspect to the Pisces Sun triggers what the Sun has been bringing up in our lives for the last week. The Virgo Full Moon calls us to harmonize our lives between  the practical needs of life with our spiritual health and nature. Virgo Moon signals the need to take care of the pragmatic needs required to care for ourselves physically (health and hygiene), in our daily routines, habits, and patterns of behavior (need to take care of business), and getting our “houses” in order (body, mind, and spirit). The Pisces Sun has been calling us to pay closer attention to our spiritual and emotional health, to be more mindful of our intuitive knowledge and our inner voice (as exhibited and noticed through our senses, physical and emotional expressions), and to begin trusting our vision and connection to Divine guidance and order in our lives. If ever there was a time to surrender ego, will, and fears to Divine order, it is now. 

With the Virgo Moon we come to a greater understanding of the tools, techniques, patterns, and habits we need in order to come into greater physical harmony, and in turn, to unite our spiritual being within the physical life and circumstances we are blessed to have.  We do better to see the polarities and struggles in our lives as opportunities rather than blocks and impediments to our wholeness and health. What are we learning about how we are living? What in the way things may not be working, signal a need to adjust some aspect of our lives? What is endangered by the failure to ignore or continue a struggle that clearly is not going to improve?

This Full Moon brings forth some form of crisis (crisis of consciousness perhaps) or a sudden awareness of some major component of our life that is missing making our life less than what we require for survival and health. View any type of crisis that occurs as an opportunity to experience emotionally the needs that we may have been ignoring, trying to rationalize about, or living an inauthentic life due to our failure to acknowledge our real, felt needs. This time is such an emotional time, that most of us will find it very difficult to live in a state of denial or ignore pressing issues that must be attended.  Because there are so many planets in line with the Sun in Pisces and because Saturn in Scorpio will trine the Sun and Moon shortly after the Full Moon, we are given not only the deep and powerful insight of what Saturn is teaching us on the unconscious level, but the timing of change signaled by the Sun and the Moon’s trine to the North Node (gate of change) indicates this is a crucial time for decisions and a change of heart and mind. What is needed is that we are both honest with ourselves, and we express ourselves by speaking our truth into being now.  Holding back is no longer an option. Bringing our desires from the depths of our heart, soul, and authentic self up into some form of communication is vitally important now. It is virtually impossible for people to sit on their feelings at this time. The two weeks following this Full Moon will allow us a time to express ourselves more creatively than we might normally feel ourselves capable. It is wise to express ourselves in safe, healthy, creative, artistic, and positive ways, and to avoid unloading on friends and family, or inappropriately sharing with those who may be toxic or dangerous to us.  We all feel a bit more vulnerable as our emotions are so apparent right now, so it’s good to be mindful and intentional about how we express ourselves. 

The Virgo Moon is called the Full Snow Moon, the Hunger Moon, Shoulder to Shoulder Around the Fire Moon (Wishram), the No Snow in the Trails Moon (Zuni) , the Bone Moon (Cherokee).  Traditionally, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, the heaviest snows fall in February, so the indigenous people’s names for the Full Moon represents this fact. Other names include: Opening Buds Moon, Trapper’s Moon, Snow Moon, Moon of the Dark Red Calves (Lakota), Big Hoop and Skip Game Moon (Cheyenne). The names for the Full Moon represent the local experiences of different groups of people. 

This Full Moon is a transitioning and traveling moon as well. We are each exploring changes, whether that be just thinking about possibilities or actually taking steps to make major changes, it is the time for complete transformation. We may be refining our concepts and experiences of a major relationship, contemplating a change of lifestyle and work, and or making plans to alter our way of life, from the inside out.  Often circumstances dictate how we respond in our behavior and choices; this Full Moon indicates the change comes from within, and cannot be ignored. What seems impossible or a trap, is not.

The Sabian Symbol for 7degrees of Virgo/Pisces, is “ A five-year old takes her first dance lesson.” Time to put ourselves back into our Inner Child-that 5-year old that lives within you. What hopes, dreams, desires, and parts of yourself need to be brought back to life? What parts of yourself have been locked away, forgotten, or ignored? What needs to be enlivened inside of you?

The Virgo Moon is symbolized in the Virgin Mother, represented in Isis, the Blessed Mother, the Ashara, all archetypal and symbolic of  the Divine Feminine. The Divine Feminine that is the active femine principle of the Universe (alive in and around us)  includes our untested and authentic selves and our capacity to give birth to the lives we are meant to live.  We connect with the Divine Principle, recognizing our Divine and spiritual nature, and the basis of our lives as conceived in Love and reflecting Divine Love in all we do. 

The Virgo Moon, especially when opposing the Pisces Sun, activates and energizes the uniting of opposites. Virgo teaches us to discern (the negative expression of this is criticism and judgment). Discernment is about weighing options, gaining perspective, and acknowledging a full spectrum of sources (intuition, imagination, dreams, sensibilities, creativity, knowledge, emotional truth) as we form our ideas and make our choices. The unhealed Virgo energy in us critiques, judges, criticizes, and demands perfection. As we heal, and heal with must with Chiron in Pisces as well, we become more open to our intuitive brain, we pay attention to our emotions and feelings, and learn to be more compassionate with ourselves and our imperfections.  

As the Sabian Symbol emphasizes dance, we are called not just to pay attention to our intuitive voice, imagination, dreams, desires, and callings, but to channel those dreams into action through some form of discipline (practice, not punishment) that enables us to deepen and activate an inner archetypal calling.  What is calling you to take action; to learn, practice, and express?

As part of our experience with the Virgo Full Moon, we seek to discover where and what it is that we need to heal within ourselves and within the way we are living our lives? We all need to feel better, and how do we go about doing that? Part of the discernment process is asking ourselves the hard questions, and then being honest with ourselves about the answers:

“Who do I need to forgive?”

“How do I need to forgive myself?”

“What am I resisting, and within that resistance, is there anything within me or someone in my life I need to forgive?”

“What are the messages I am receiving right now (this week, around the waxing and early waning of this Full Moon)?”

“What have I heard recently that does not ring true for me?”

Consider areas of your life that are uncomfortable, not working, ending, becoming less important, or about which you no longer have a strong connection or passion.  Begin discerning:

“What is no longer true for me?”

“What needs to go?”

“What is coming into my life, becoming more potent or powerful?”

“What possibilities lie before me?”

“What is holding me in place, keeping me from considering change?”

“What do I truly want, and how would I like to change my life if there were no possibility I could fail?”

The Sun in Pisces squares Jupiter in Gemini, conjuncts Chiron, the Wounded Healer, opposes the Moon (as happens with the Sun/Moon at each full moon), and trines Saturn in Scorpio.  Venus just entered Pisces, and immediately came into conjunction with Neptune in Pisces and also forms a conjunction with Mars. Venus also squares Ceres. 

The Mercury retrograde phase in Pisces, just began. This year, Mercury will be in retrograde for 6 months of the year. It is a very powerful time, for it calls upon us to reflect, go deeper inside, become more discriminating in our choices, and learn to deepen our powers of discernment-the goal being, to gain a deeper knowledge of who we really are, what we really want, how powerful and creative we really are, and how we are now being flooded with the Divine Feminine energies within us and in the world around us. Rather than trying to escape or rationalize the feelings, intuition, dreams, and powerful energies away, dive deep into them, dancing, drawing, designing, dreaming, developing, creating, and using the energies, knowledge, and power of this time to help create and dream your new life into being.  The power of imagination, dreams, and ideas is in recognizing your own power to put them into being. Time to manifest the unmanifest, not by wishing upon a star or expecting God to play Santa Claus, but by uniting your divine being with the truth of who you are with the truth of what the Divine created you to express in this life.  We all came here for purposes. We all came into being with gifts, talents, and a life time in which to express, create, and join into the ongoing Creation.  

The Sabian symbol for the Sun in 7 degrees of Pisces is a young girl blowing a bugle. Again, the archetypal message is using the talents, desires, and physical experience to develop and practice so that we may participate in the life we have come here to share with others. The positive expression of the Sun in 7 degrees of Pisces is to answer the call, the summons to use your talent and skills, and in turn to give and receive in kind. The negative expression is to become a dilettante, regimented, ‘nose-to-the-grindstone,’ incapable or unwilling to enjoy and blossom from the joy of expression and creativity.  A crucial time for finding our place in the world, the right place that nourishes, and allows us to come to full bloom. 

Wisdom comes to us when we discover that though it seems we have no choice and though it seems we must put up with unhealthy and dysfunctional conditions, relationships, and commitments, we have more to lose by clinging to the ropes of a sinking ship, than we do if we let go. At some point in our lives, we discover that we can make the choice to release that which no longer serves us and indeed harms us, and that the outcome frees us to receive what the Universe has been wanting to give us all along. If we understand that we are responsible for moving, choosing, changing, and planning, but we are not responsible for the outcome of our choices alone. We cannot know what the intention of our choices will unfold for us, but we may be assured that if what we desire is for our highest good, excellent health, and for the good of all concerned, we have nothing to fear. We will receive the bounty only when we let go, and become open and receptive to the Divine flow.  

We can swim against the tides, or we can swim on the tides of movement, change, flow to the place where we are being propelled anyway. 

Sun Enters Pisces, Stellium of Stars in Pisces

Feeling awash with emotions, memories rising to the surface, or feeling an overwhelming sense of pathos or desire? Could be because today, with the Sun’s entry into Pisces, there are now six planets in water signs, five of them forming a stellium in Pisces. It is also the day when Saturn in the early degrees of Scorpio, goes retrograde (12:20 P.M. PST), taking us back over some of the unconscious, unresolved, undeveloped and unhealed matters that have begun to awaken in us since Saturn entered Scorpio last autumn.  Also today, the Moon in 9 degrees of Gemini is still in close conjunction with Jupiter in Gemini. If you look at the waxing moon in the sky tonight, you will see Jupiter, appearing like a bright star, right next to the Moon. Jupiter is not a star, but the largest planet in our Solar System, and one of the archetypal rulers of Pisces. Pisces is ruled by the archetypal energies of both Jupiter (the planet of Abundance, Expansiveness, and Good Fortune) and Neptune (the planet of dreams, Illusion, the Unconscious and the Collective Consciousness).

Jupiter’s realm is that of higher thought and the abstract mind. Guardian of religion, philosophy, and higher learning, Jupiter is active as we seek through paths of both reason and spirit, to develop and shape our own philosophical framework, ethical and moral code, and infuse us with a sense of hope, optimism, and goodness. Also the archetypal ruler of long-distance travel, Jupiter motivates us to search far from our homes for answers and destinations that are meant to awaken us. Jupiter is currently in 6/56 Gemini in the first third of this benevolent planets three-year transit.  A symbol of good fortune, Jupiter represents growth, development, and joyful movement, urging us on the right path. In the area of your life where  Jupiter is transiting, you may feel more playful, relaxed, and we may find ourselves reaping the rewards of our hard work. Accomplishments, success, and prosperity are all within Jupiter’s realm. The shadow side of the Jupiter archetype, is laziness, overdoing, and sinking into the pleasure realm at the expense of everything else.  Jupiter rules sports and pleasure, so using the energy of Jupiter for healthy, balance in our lives is probably better than taking the next three years off and sitting on a pillow eating bon bons. That would of course lead to weight gain which is the result often of overdoing and not knowing when to say “no” to excess and when to say “yes” to restraint. 

Since this month we will have an abundance of Jupiter-ruled planets, the Sun and the Moon transiting Pisces, we may want to notice how Jupiter is affecting the area of our chart/life where Pisces currently is. It takes twelve years for Jupiter to cycle through all the houses of the zodiac, so you might want to look back 12 years to see what the last Jupiter cycle initiated, brought to the surface, presented you, or cleared the way for. Jupiter is also the ruler of Sagittarius and of the 9th and 12th houses of the chart. Looking at these areas in your life/chart could give you an idea of where you are being propelled forward and what is being triggered by the transits of the various planets and the Sun currently in Pisces. No doubt issues, relationships, connections, and ties to the past and from afar, are rising up to reappear, address, heal, resolve, or remind us of something of great and worthy importance in our own development and from our past. We get both the call of the deep Unconscious and the call from afar to explore those areas that hold great treasure for our growth, development, and well being.

Neptune, the traditional ruler of Pisces, is pictured in Greek mythology as Poseidon the ruler of the seas and oceans. He loved to ride across the oceans in his golden chariot, his long blue hair flowing as dolphins pulled his chariot. Poseidon is pictured holding his trident representing his power over all natural and supernatural  In Roman mythology, Neptune, the brother of Pluto and Jupiter was part of the trio who ruled the Heavens (Jupiter), the underworld (Pluto), and the oceans, seas, rivers and all water ways of the Earth. The archetype of Neptune in astrology  views the archetype of Neptune as the ruler of our watery planet, emphasizing our own fluid and changeable nature. Neptune is the archetype of generations due to its slow-moving orbit around the Sun.  It takes 165 years for Neptune to complete her cycle, giving her 14 years in each sign.  Each generation of humans then shares the Neptune placement, and this has a collective effect on each generation. Where Neptune is in your chart and how you deal with the energy and trends of the planet, do differ.  Currently, Neptune in the 2nd degree of Pisces, is near the start of a 14-year cycle. Not only will this cycle affect those born during this time, but it affects all of us in the area of life where all the planets in Pisces are currently lined up. 

[to truly understand this, knowing your chart would help. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you have your chart done so you can follow the movement of these major transits. The more you understand what areas of your life are affected, the more meaningful information like this will be to you.]

Neptune’s archetypal influence relates to our abstract reasoning, our dreams, intuition, insight, and seeing through or better understanding illusions we may be operating under. There tends to be a blending of so-called reality or realistic thinking and the ability to envision, imagine, or intuit deeper and broader understanding  of situations, experiences, or conceptual thinking. Neptune can be a  very creative influence, if used correctly. It can also aggravate areas of our thinking, reasoning, or sense of identity if we have been abused, have suppressed, or ignored whatever has risen  up from the unconscious to be confronted, healed, and understood.  Neptune brings into awareness that which we need to be wholly human-body, mind, emotions, spirit. Neptune also rules the creative and performing arts. Even when dealing with the shadow sides of Neptune, we can use the creative forms of art, music, writing, film, dance, and sculpture to express, inform, and discover deeper meaning and find greater healing. One of the shadow sides of Neptune is the use of drugs including alcohol and other addictive behavior and patterns to attempt either to suppress what Neptune brings to the surface of consciousness or to express or attempt to numb out, the unconscious material that is in need of being felt, understood, and transformed. Sleep and dreams are ruled by Neptune, so your dreams can be a gift for you or can awaken areas that will make you more uncomfortable.  When we use our dreams, especially during a Neptune cycle like this passage through Pisces, we can discover greater strength, creativity, human potential, healing, as we also deepen and strengthen our ability to form lasting and deep connections in our relationships. 

Low Tide Reveals                                                                                                                       Catherine Al-Meten

Look at the area of your chart where Neptune is transiting through Pisces, and notice what has already begun to stir in the watery depths of you unconscious and what has awakened in the world around you. How have your illusions and beliefs about life begun to change, alter, or reveal cracks in the lens of your perceptions? Where in your life are you being made, from some inner urge or awareness, to see the distortions in the way you are living, relating, viewing, or altering your life patterns, habits, and direction? Receive your dreams as the  gifts they are, making an intentional effort to learn how to read them and use them to strengthen the areas of your life that are undergoing the deep transformation that both Saturn and Pluto have been creating in all our lives over the last couple of years.  

We are through the gateway of a new era, and now is the time when we are given the gifts of the spirit to bring us into connection with our inner gifts of transformation.  We now move forward to use what we have learned, heal and alter the areas of our lives that have survived the changes, and put forth the effort, develop the discipline, and begin putting one foot in front of the other to live according to the beliefs we profess.  The dreams we had, the goals we set, the plans we made, and the intentions we set, we now surrender so that we can receive that which is meant for our wholeness, our creative growth, and our deepest learning and transformation.  

During this month, and far into this year, the influence of so many planets in water signs, and so many of both the inner planets (Sun, Mercury, Mars, Chiron) the slow-moving outer planet Neptune in Pisces and Saturn in Scorpio (also for a long transit), a time could not be greater for us to live with a fuller awareness of the body, mind, emotion, spirit connection and our soul connection with one another and our journey of life.  We experience greater connectivity, have the opportunity to tap into our own spiritual gifts and abilities, and to grow personally and influence and serve others with those gifts through the music we create, the relationships we strengthen and build, the love we share, the help we give, the awareness we experience, and the soul purposes we discover for making life more meaningful for ourselves and others.  Take whatever lessons you need, prepare for whatever task is calling you, and use your life for fulfilling and living out your dreams and desires.  Let go what needs to go; be receptive to what is coming into your life.  Both are gifts. One of loss which creates space. The other of a gift to fill the space.  Enjoy the movement throughout the process, and surrender to your highest good. 

Mars in Pisces moves deeper into the unconscious realms, and operates on a quieter, more penetrating level of our being.  Normally, noted for its energetic power and activity, Mars in Pisces, is muted and somewhat slowed down in the watery realms, but is no less potent and active. Imagine a speeding arrow moving through water, and visualize that arrow representing movement through the emotional and spiritual realms (the watery depths). The arrow still moves, but is muted by the element. In our lives, the movement is within, yet it has a powerful effect, as it awakens us in a new way. We are informed in new ways, and that assists in the deep transformation taking place (in conjunction with Pluto’s transit of Capricorn) moving in areas of our lives that bring about great change as Mars awakens our psyches, spirits, emotions, and memories. At the same time, Saturn, the Great Teacher, transiting Scorpio, turns retrograde today, and reminds us that we must see the past to resolve and heal the past. Anything we may have tried to ignore, is now coming back to be dealt with or received in order to become more whole.  What we thought may have been lost, will be found. What we were afraid had passed us by, will reappear. What we thought we had finished, will come back into our awareness to be acknowledged.  We may feel we are going back over ground we’ve already covered, and that might be the case. We also may rethink an old situation, or find healing from something that had caused us great sorrow or loss over time. Healing is coming to those who have sought it.  

The main message for all of us at this time is our Unconscious (our personal storehouse of memories, reflections, desires, dreams, experiences), that which lays undeveloped or unexperienced within us as well as all that we have suppressed,  and the Collective Consciousness (all the potentialities, knowledge, and all that is) combine to provide the flow of movement that could bear islands on the surface of our lives, much like undersea volcanic eruptions create the beauty and grounding of the islands that rise to cool into manifestation as islands on the surface  of the ocean.  

Uranus in Aries and Venus in Aquarius form a semi-square today and tomorrow (Feb. 18-19) and this aspect may raise some uncertainty within us about whether or not we want to be with someone. The struggle comes in the urge of Venus in Aquarius’ desire for freedom and unconventional views on relationships and commitment, and Uranus’s desire and tendency to move too quickly or act rashly.  Venus is moving into Pisces on February 25, and in a more positive realm for romance and understanding.  While Venus is in Aquarius, pushing limits or experimenting may be more detrimental than helpful if you are looking for something more deep, more traditional, and more lasting in relation to love, commitment, partnerships, and mutual joy.  Later in the week, February 22, Venus also semi-squares Pluto, indicating that this is a time when we are undergoing a transit that makes us look for the flaws to the exclusion of all that is right in relationships. It also is a time when jealousy, due to our own insecurities, may become an issue.  Examine your relationships, your partnerships, and your love connections with an awareness that what we find as flaws in someone else signal to us something that we need to face, release, heal, or understand about ourselves. When we continually try to heal ourselves by trying to change someone else, our partner, we miss the gift of transformation and true innovation; we are responsible for our ability to give and receive love. If we are not able to see ourselves as lovable and accept ourselves as we are, we will seldom find someone who meets our needs.  Venus in Aquarius could be a revolutionary gift for us to see that we ourselves have to love ourselves, accept ourselves, and see what gifts we are and what we have to offer others.  Then, and only then, can we act from our authentic selves, and then and only then, can we have a relationship that isn’t based on fixing someone else, but of truly giving and receiving love. 

Venus parallels Saturn on February 24-25, and though relationships begun at this time may carry some heavy responsibilities, they will be more long-lasting than most. Saturn teaches, Venus reveals our ability to give and receive love, and the combination can provide a time when we identify what it is that brings us together, thus making the commitment clearer than it may have been before. 

On February 25, Venus enters Pisces at 9:03 P.M.. Venus conjuncts Neptune in Pisces on February 28, as Venus moves into Pisces, signally the start of a new experience, phase, or stage of a relationship.  This should be a very romantic time, a time when beauty, sensuality and sensitivity awaken our senses, heighten our awareness, and infuse our psyches with deep intuition.  Avoid anything that will artificially alter your consciousness this is already a very potent time, and using mind-altering substances can cause imbalance and disorders. Use the energy to deepen your awareness, create, connect, enjoy, and embrace a new level of love and relationship. 

Lest I forget Chiron, the Wounded Healer also in Pisces, will be in close conjunction with the Sun in her early degrees of Pisces, bringing us opportunities for deeper healing in areas of our lives that have been experiencing the Neptune transit and is now being activated by the Sun's passage. Turn from fear, anxiety, and doubt, and embrace the power of Love to heal you from the inside out. Be grateful and joyful as you give and receive love. Live in communion with allowing love to flow in and out of you on each breath. That is Divine Love's way.

San Francisco Astrologer and Writer, Tosha Silver, shared this prayer for today, and it fits beautifully as we navigate the watery depths of our own psyches and the movement and trends of our times. 

"My Beloved, free me from attachment to ANY situations that hamper my highest good or Your Divine Will. 

I now put all of my relations in Your hands...whatever needs to come, let it come. 

Whatever needs to go, let it go. 

All of my needs are always perfectly met; 

I am safe and fully cared for.

I am Yours.

You are mine.

We are One.

All is well."  (Prayer by Tosha Silver)

Gateway to a Year of Transformation

Crossing the Bridge, Leaving Port                                                                                                            Catherine Al-Meten

                         Gateway to a Year of Transformation

Today as I write about the New Moon in Aquarius and the ushering in of the Chinese New Year, the Moon in Capricorn conjuncts Pluto. Our emotional being is grounded, somewhat heavily, in the transformational energy released by Pluto’s long-term transit through Capricorn.  

Our emotional nature connects us to the very real, pragmatic reality of our physical being, as five other planets (Saturn in Scorpio,  Mercury, Mars, Chiron, and Neptune in Pisces) all in water signs, make us feel awash in the emotional, inspirational, mystical, and intuitive depths our our nature.   These next few days are powerful times when we prepare to move past the threshold of the new year. 

Saturn and Pluto come into exact alignment, opposing one another in their transits through their respective signs of Scorpio and Capricorn.  Saturn, the Great Teacher and Pluto the Great Transformer, have been working in the depths of our unconscious and in the foundations of our physical, emotional, and mental lives, to give birth to and renew our basic patterns of belief, life purpose, and pathway. Each of us is at a point in our lives where we are moving into a new leg of our spiritual and physical journey (we are spiritual beings taking a physical journey).  On February 7, 2013

Aquarius reminds us to see the greater picture by gaining a greater perspective than our personal and ego-centric viewpoint might allow. The dance between personal strength and ego development and acknowledging the needs and greater good of the larger whole, is always at work in some area of our lives, but particularly when the Sun and the Moon line up in Aquarius as they do with the February New Moon on February 9 (11:00 P.M. PST)/February 10, 2:00 A.M. EST). 

The New Moon in Aquarius welcomes in the Year of the Black Water Snake and the 15-day celebration ushering in the Chinese New Year, the lunasolar new year for many cultures and spiritual traditions. It is said that Dragon (this past year) fell from the heavens and transformed into Snake, and that is why Snake is sometimes called the Little Dragon. The Year of the Black Water Snake is meant for us to make steady progress and pay attention to detail. In order to attain our goals, this is the year we discipline ourselves to focus on that which we hope to achieve. Somewhat like the energy of Taurus, the Black Water Snake time prefers quiet and predictability. It’s a year we may seek more peace and solitude. We may find that this year that we receive the grace of our past struggles and efforts. This is a year that may be full of sudden and unexpected changes, making us feel like we are on shaky ground. The Year of the Black Water Snake begins in the first month of the Chinese calendar, the Tiger month. It is said that the Dragon fell down to the earth and became the snake, and so the Snake is sometimes called the Little Dragon. What we set forth and put into motion last year, we now continue to work with on a very pragmatic, down-to-earth level. This year the New Moon in Aquarius also squares the North Node, the gateway between past and future, making this a significant time in shedding the old and entering into a more conscious surrender of what is meant to enter our lives from now on.

Chinese New Year is based on the lunisolar calendar, a calendar used in many cultures worldwide. It is based on the phases of the moon and the movement of the sun. The Hebrew, Buddhist, Hindu, Tibetan, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean calendars, to name just some, are cultures that use a lunisolar calendar. Just as Easter is based on the movement of the Sun and the Moon (Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the Spring Equinox), the lunisolar calendar is based on different criteria than just the Earth’s rotation around the Sun.

The Chinese New Year coincides with the New Moon, and promises to be a year when the influence of Saturn in Scorpio, and  Stellenium of planets in Pisces, will bring us very beneficial and harmonious energy and support. Right now Mercury (archetype of all forms of communication), Mars (archetype of action, movement, and energy), Chiron (the Wounded Healer) and Neptune (the archetype of the Unconscious, Intuition, Imagination,at one end of the spectrum and Illusion, Hidden Enemies, and Self Deception at the other end) all line up in Pisces where they will be joined by the Sun and Moon at the next New Moon in March, to form a powerful and overwhelming influence on all things water; within and without. We will feel on the deepest levels of our being, an upwelling of emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental movement.  A general sense of feeling out of synch with both time and space limitations, our dreams, intuition, mental capacities, memories,spiritual and psychic connections to one another. You will feel drawn, nearly compelled to those with whom you have your deepest connections and needs to communicate, need to heal, resolve issues, or make deeper connections.  Such powerful influences, during a period when we are putting our dreams, desires, and decisions into action, will seem other worldly in the way experiences, unfold, dreams foreshadow, imagination becomes reality, and memories raise us to a new level of understanding. 

Our ability to live in the realm of the unconscious, allowing ourselves greater access to both inner knowledge and metaphysical  information, heightens for those who are open and consciously paying attention to what body, mind, emotions, spirit, and all levels of consciousness deliver to our awakening minds.  For those who resist or stay submerged in bondage to material and ego-driven beliefs and movement, the struggle will be much more difficult and upsetting.  When we are awash with the energies of the powerful unconscious realms of the greater Universal Source and energies, old patterns and habits that block our spiritual, emotional, and psychological growth will manifest in the physical life we struggle to maintain.  Growing in the Unconscious Ocean demands we be in conscious surrender, allowing what is meant to leave our experience leave; allowing what is coming into our experience to come in.  

Learning more about how to come into harmony with the patterns and trends in our relationships, our life paths, and our internal personal struggles to become more and more ourselves, involves the constant dance between the inner movement in coordination with the outer life and connections we make.  We may feel the boundaries, structures, and formations that have kept us feeling protected, crumbling or falling apart on some level. Harmony comes when we learn to nourish, ground, stabilize ourselves in motion, as part of the natural process of living.  Being mindful of where we are in the body, open and receptive to the spiritual connections which infuse us with all we need, and living in harmony with the rising and falling of our breath, the intake and expression of our energy, and the need to nourish, rest, amuse, release, and find ways to connect into the eternal Now of our living, is essential. Conscious surrender to what is, while being mindful of letting go of energy cords where we’ve trapped others or ourselves in places where it is not needed. Letting go to be present in whatever situation we are in, with whomever we are in relationship with, is the greatest expression of living fully and wholly.  

This is the time, the year, we learn that despite our expectation, plans, and compulsions, our lives are intricately linked through tiny threads of golden charge, to one another. We cannot know what lies ahead, yet we move with intention as if everything will come into fruition at the perfect time, in Divine time, not ours.  The lessons of Saturn’s movement through Scorpio, pull us into the deeper waters that are harmonized by the crown of planets, the Sun and the Moon all transiting Pisces over the next month, and the more long-lasting transits, over years. 

This deep, movement within each of us, is the most compelling influence, I believe, at this time, as the New Moon closes the door on the past, and opens it on the future. Last night, I dreamed I was pulling a huge door closed, and symbolically if not actually, this is what many of us have been doing and are doing with conscious intention. For others, what we all ‘circumstances,’ ‘choices,’ ‘fate,’ ‘luck’ or even progress, is the Divine movement of Creation moving us when we are not able to move ourselves.  In either case, welcome and receive the energy of the New Year of the Black Water Dragon and the New Moon in Aquarius, and look beyond blocks, beliefs, and needs to a horizon clear and open to cross the bridge into a new future where you mindful presence sustains you, and the Divine propels you.  As Emily Trinkaus, author of Virgo Magic describes it, this is a time of a Quickening...the coming of the Light, and all we need to do is to be open to receive that Light, in whatever way your traditions and practices allow you to honor and receive Divine Light.

There are so many wonderful and interesting aspects active and moving our world at this time. Read Emily Trinkaus’ Virgo Magic for some enlightening ideas about this new moon energy. And Moon Circles and Mountain Astrologer  have articles that I think you would find helpful and very interesting too. 

Week of Moon in Scorpio and Venus Shining on Us

Winter Tulips in Bloom                                                                                                                                Catherine Al-Meten

Sunday, February 3rd the Moon in Scorpio Squares the Sun in Aquarius, the First Quarter Square. First quarter squares tend to stimulate challenges, crises, or issues of which we need to be more aware. Since this is an aspect that is brief, it can be viewed as a time to focus on noticing what, that was set into motion recently or in long-range plans, may need to be revised, corrected, or could stand for deeper scrutiny.  The New Moon is on February 11, and the period right before (2-3 days), called the Dark of the Moon, is a time for reflection; another one of those transition times or gateways in between what has been and what is to be. In terms of our own planning, it is a time to analyze, rest in reflection, and discern what seems to be working and what is not.  

The First Quarter Square often raises issues, either from the unconscious or from activity and energy in the world around us, that calls for us to become more aware.  The square of the Moon affects us emotionally, and nudges us ever so gently, to pay attention to what matters. For example, it may affect your reaction to food or drink that didn’t agree with you, or you may find yourself edgy or full of nervous excitement for no reason in particular (a sign to notice what is triggering the emotional reaction/response). We pick up on subtle energies that might otherwise be unapparent. The square occurs at 14/54 degrees, about the midpoint in Aquarius and Scorpio. Notice where these points are in your chart/life, and you may have a greater sense of where you’re being affected. Remember that an exact aspect affects along a range, in this case, from 13-17degrees. And the effects may as likely be positive as not, it depends on what shifting or needing attention.  For example, you may find yourself having a stronger desire to find deeper and more tactile pleasure, or you may feel a need to gain less attachment to a situation or condition, and give yourself a broader view or perspective on something that has seemed quite personal.  Scorpio energy calls us to our depths and Aquarian energy calls us to view experiences in a broader, less attached and egocentric way.  Ego is good; we all have and need one, but too much emphasis on our own ego needs, like anything else that is out of balance, is not healthy.

Aquarian energy is predominate right now. The Sun is in Aquarius from January 19 until February 18. We seek new and exciting experiences, we long to learn and experience life in new ways, and we tend to break away from convention. Because Saturn is transiting Scorpio, the Aquarius Sun was initially in opposition to Saturn, activating whatever has been recently awakened in your own subconscious. Either issues, memories, or desires you have pushed into the unconscious or issues, memories, and needs you have ignored or been unaware of are all in the process of awakening. Saturn calls us to learn how to deal with our unconscious needs, and how to pay attention to the subconscious messages that are arising within us. When we fail to learn from the inside out, we continue to project our own unhealed wounds, issues, anger, frustration, fears, and needs on others, usually those with whom we are in closest relationship or those who most remind us of ourselves--our blocked selves.  

Think back to the beginning of the Sun’s entry into Aquarius, and remember what may have risen to the surface through dreams, internal turmoil, emotional outbursts or repressed anger, fear, or frustration.  That is what is moving upward into your conscious awareness. Now with the Moon’s square, we may be more emotionally aware than we were earlier, to face our feelings, and allow them to surface.  Doing so, allows us greater freedom to express ourselves, learn how we use our pain to manipulate, move ourselves into depression, or ignore basic needs by pretending they don’t exist.  This won’t work for long as Saturn digging deep into our consciousness, is moving us all on a much deeper level than many of us have felt in some time, if ever. Contrary to this being a hard or negative period, it is giving us each a greater connection to our true selves, and allowing us to heal, grow, and deepen our ability to connect to others and to create from a true sense of purpose and soul calling.

Mercury and Venus are also both in Aquarius. Mercury, archetypal ruler of all forms of communication, awakens a desire to learn and think beyond the limitations or experiences that have formed us up until this time. We are more receptive and open to learning, to letting go of preconceived or biased viewpoints, to more clearly understand the scope and range of ideas, viewpoints, and the urgent need to not shut out possibilities. We may now learn or discover new information that sheds light on areas that have been hidden, incomprehensible, beyond our ability to understand, or intentionally kept from us.  It is a time of true awakening.

Venus in Aquarius opens us to the different ways our relationships (social, familial, intimacies, partnerships, work-related) can evolve differently, thus allowing greater freedom and  more openly defined kinds of relationships. We tend, during Venus transit in Aquarius, to understand our relationships are not bound or restricted to role-playing if we are willing to delve into a deeper and more authentic type of communication with one another.  Connections flourish when we are more authentic, and happier doing what we do.  Any areas that are out of balance, will actually be so apparent that we will have little trouble releasing anything that does not foster and nourish our connections with one another.  We won’t be pushing the river so much in relating to others; we will move with the currents and flow of life, more affirmed by the ease of life when we are accepting and mindful of the gifts we have in each moment.  When we stop trying to fill ourselves up and heal our emptiness or lack with energy that is not meant for us (addictions of all kinds, dead end relationships and jobs, and blind alleys in areas that no longer call us), we gain our freedom and we have clearer sight to how our lives right here and now, serve us perfectly.  We are more willing to let go the reins or traps we hold each other in connection with, and begin to appreciate the axiom that whatever or whoever you love must be set free in order for it to come back to us.  It is counter-intuitive for most of us, but it is a universal law. Live dynamically, allow yourself and others the freedom to be--these are Aquarian archetypal messages.  In some area of your life, you understand this on a real and deep level. Let that help you relate those ideas to other areas of your life. Venus rules beauty and harmony, and now with so much Aquarian energy, we have a very felt sense of this and that makes it easier to appreciate and test our limitations, release ourselves and others from traps, and discover that harmony is grounded in freedom.

Beauty is devoid of chains.

The Mars cycle is active over a period of 23 months, regulating the amount and type of energy available during this time. Mars is beginning a two-year cycle in Pisces which also trines Saturn’s transit through Scorpio, thus activating much of that internal activity and release of the unconscious into self awareness.  We receive the shadow messages, the repressed and sublimated energy, and the urges and needs that have come out of loss, grief, and sadness.  We awaken to the Divine beauty and creativity within as well now.  Mars in Pisces energizes our spiritual, emotional, and psychological drives, and we put greater attention on delving deeper into these drives. We become less motivated to action and external or more traditional goals, instead we find our way through connections and supporting others, as a way to uncover our deeper needs, drives, and desires. Mars in Pisces activates our more idealistic side, and we discover that whatever our goals, needs, motivations, and desires are, our lives are infinitely more complicated that we might have thought. A time of great discover, for most people are learning to operate from in new skin with transformed and transforming needs, goals, and energy.

Saturn entered Scorpio in the Fall, 2012 (October 5, 2012), thus ending a long cycle through Libra. Wherever Saturn is transiting in your life/chart, you can expect The Great Teacher to focus your time, attention, and energy on the nature of your relationships, as a reflection our our own ability to know ourselves. Our relationships reflect that which we draw to one another in order to learn how to express, be, and connect. We will be examining our power ratio in relationship, noting where we have given away our own power for the sake of peace, or where we have used our power to manipulate or use others. Saturn’s transit through Scorpio until 2015 opened a path that insists we examine our use of power, control, and dependencies. Fears and anxieties rise up into awareness through intuition, dreams, memories, experiences, conflicts, and opportunities around us. The challenge is to see whether we allow our fears to rule us, or whether we learn to live by faith and trust of our innate goodness. 

Humans fear loss, abandonment, rejection, giving up control and some humans fear enjoying life, being successful, and getting what we want.  Why? Saturn’s journey forces us to seek the answers to these questions for ourselves.  We become stronger when we are put to the test. Liberation from fear and anxiety comes when we allow ourselves to face the fears, take action in spite of fear and anxiety, and experience success, fulfillment, and pleasure. With such a goal in the end, we can view this as the opening and coming to wholeness we have been seeking all our lives.  

Saturn is in mutual reception with Pluto. As mentioned in an earlier column, that means each planet is in the ruling house of the other. Scorpio is Pluto’s ruler; Capricorn is Saturn’s ruling sign. Both the Great Teacher, Saturn, and the Great Transformer, Pluto, harmonize one another’s energy, making both learning and changing more in balance, to an extent, easier, and mutually supportive.  If we can learn to appreciate the gifts in the garbage (trusting the gifts are there even when we can’t yet see them), then we make great progress. The more we resist, the harder and more delayed our progress. I recall before I decided to begin my doctorate, I spent at least a year or two resisting and debating about whether to do it or not. I more often than not leaned toward “not.”  My friends will attest to the lengthy discussions I had with them over the merits, and may recount the number of times I said things like, “I’m absolutely not going to do it.”  When I finally decided to take one step at a time, giving myself permission to go to the first class (and permission to leave if I hated it), I found myself doing something that I must say was one of the very best experiences of my entire life.  I often wondered after that, what it was that had made me resist something so pleasurable? What in your life are you resisting, and what might be holding you back? What can you give yourself permission to take one step at a time towards something that might seem like a giant, scary mountain, but might in fact be the road to Nirvana (not the band)?

Jupiter’s turn direct in the early degrees of Gemini, triggered a strong push forward in those areas where you will most discover your true abundance, prosperity, good fortune, and well being is in place within you and your life, if only you will let go the reins and allow the Source of all being to shower you with blessings.  Open your heart, mind, life, and arms to receive your good.  Know the truth of your being is to be fulfilled and to flourish, in order for you to help others be fulfilled as well. Notice again, which area of your life is most affected by Jupiter’s passage, and be open and receptive, clearing the clutter of your mind so you may receive your good.  Practice and ground yourself in gratitude and mindfulness, and notice now what already is the bounty at your feet. 

Uranus in Aries continues to bring shocking and surprising changes right and left. The word “headstrong” comes to mind, and that might describe some area of your life where you feel you can no longer wait to get started in a new direction, to learn a new skill or to let go of old patterns to live more freely and creatively. We may discover new aspects of our personalities are coming to the surface, or we may be anxious to make plans to redo our lives, homes, relationships, and experiences with work.  With all the transformative power of the other planets and the innovative energy of the Sun, Mercury and Venus in Aquarius, Uranus’ shocking events serve in many ways as the signals or signs that deliver the messages you have been waiting for. Work with your dreams, and learn how the patterns in your life and dreams reveal the underlying messages that point you toward your True North...your true direction and life purpose.  

Venus is a powerful messenger this week. She makes a number of intense transits and aspects, including:

Pluto and Venus are parallel on February 5-6, making this a dramatic time in relationships.  Pluto, the Great Transformer activates energy in this connection with Venus to empower and energize relationships with intensity around trust and sharing.

Venus sextiles Uranus on February 6, indicating that we suddenly lose our fear of taking risks because we know without risk we are in danger of losing any connection at all. This is an intense time in our relationships, and a time when we can grow in deeper connection and more authentic relationship.

Venus trines Jupiter February 6-7 bringing harmony, intensity, and abundance into relationships. We see beyond our fears, beyond our anxiety, and recognize possibilities, potential, but more importantly, we become less afraid of loving and living, for we know without that deeper connection, there is no abundance. This is a very uplifting, optimistic and joyful time.

Venus squares Saturn February 10-11, kind of the hangover after an intensely meaningful, fulfilling, and powerful week. 

Saturn, the Great Teacher, calls attention to areas where we feel dissatisfaction or disappointment for what we don’t have or for not having things the way we want them to be (how quickly we forget?). Remember, we may react emotionally, when Saturn reminds us of the balancing of the scales.  “No hay rosa sin pena” (There is no rose without a thorn). All squares can be disruptive if we fail to see the need to balance. We become more aware of the duty and obligation in relationships, and if we allow it to, this can overwhelm other very important aspects and qualities of relationships. Use the energy of the square to look at what you can do within yourself to find greater fulfillment and balance, and avoid blaming others for what you sense as lack.  Venus just entered Aquarius on February 1, and this energy is going to be having a transforming effect on your views of love, harmony, beauty, and balance for the next two months. 

Mecury enters Pisces on February 5, deepening our feelings, emotional depths, and search into our hidden and undeveloped consciousness. February 4-5, the Moon in Sagittarius will afford you the broadest window of opportunity for making choices before she enters the Dark of the Moon period just before the New Moon.