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| Upon Reflection Catherine Al-Meten |
(All times are UT/GMT time; add 8 hours for PDT)
As the week begins, the Sun is at 1/09 Virgo, the moon is in its first day of Aries at 9/34. Mercury has just entered Virgo, and is at 0/07 Virgo as I begin this column. The week begins with Venus is at 8/41 Libra, and Mars is in its lat few days in Cancer at 27/22. Jupiter is at 12/34 Cancer, Saturn is at 8/33 Scorpio in trine with one another. Uranus is at 12/18 Aries, retrograde, Neptune is at 4/03 Pisces, retrograde, and Pluto is at 9/01 Capricorn, retrograde.
The North Node is at 11/31 Cancer, retrograde, tending to find us standing at a transition point in our lives, looking back and reflecting on how the changes we’ve made in our lives have turned out. Chiron, the Wounded Healer, is at 11/57 Pisces, retrograde, also causing us to lick our wounds and ponder how we have dealt with areas of our lives where we have had to grow in some unexpected and challenging ways.
The Sun’s entry into Virgo finds us more grounded and focused on taking care of business. We put ideas into action, make steps in new directions, and show, through our actions, what our true priorities are. On all levels of our being, we feel ourselves shifting into more earthy, down-to-earth energy. We are affected by the seasonal changes, feeling, sensing, and breathing in the inspiration to put our ideas and dreams into form and substance. We awaken to the reality of our lives where we are, and settle in to welcome the changing seasons and the movement of light in our lives. We begin preparing for the major shifts to come. We may feel a bit floored by the sudden sense of feeling ourselves more aware of our physicality than we may have been for most of the summer (or winter as the case may be).
Mercury in Virgo has already made us more aware of the depth, precision, and in some cases, difficulty we have in communicating what we really mean to say. Perhaps some of what we are experiencing has to do with an inner movement that is just beginning to rise up into our awareness. Our perceptiveness and intuitive senses have been fluid for most of the last few months. The more we feel ourselves affected by the Virgo energy, the less we are likely to seek to escape into the world of fantasy, imagination, or unsubstantiated desire. We are more than aware of the overwhelming nature of the life beneath our own feet, and our focus is now on arranging and rearranging the practical matters of life to fit the way we live day to day.
This week Mercury in Virgo opposes Neptune in Pisces. This aspect indicates that our subconscious desires and any unhealed or unexplored personal issues are to be activated by this opposition. We may no longer be willing to put up with living out of synch with our true desires, or we may find those areas of communication that have laid dormant, inactive, or silenced for any length of time, are now being energized and awakened. If we are dealing our of our unconsciousness (unhealed, unexplored, unacknowledged), we may run into conflict with others as we attempt to blame them for our own feelings.
While others may be out of synch with us, we are responsible for maintaining our part of relationships, and our own failure to come to healing and wholeness, has to begin within ourselves, not through conflict, surrender to, or merging with another’s wishes, desires, or life choices. We make the choices that allow us to follow the path that calls us forward toward our soul call, or we force ourselves to move in a direction that we have rationalized as “the only choice we have”. When we continue putting up with unhealthy or unfulfilling relationships, situations, conditions, or choices we have made, we suffer. When we begin to awaken to our own suffering, we feel a deep sense of discomfort either in our perceptions of our reality, or in the feelings, thoughts, memories, emotions, and physical responses within ourselves. Our body, mind, and spirit speak to us reminding us that pain is a sign pointing us toward movement to greater health and wholeness.
The discomfort of the Sun in Virgo’s opposition to Neptune in Pisces, may be physical, emotional, sensual, mental, or spiritual. It may be a combination thereof. Or for those of us who have been consciously moving closer to harmony in our lives, listening and acting on our desires, soul call, and dreams, we may find greater strength and comfort with the polarities of our lives seeing disruption, discomfort, and dissonance as a normal state in our dynamic journey. Virgo’s Sun makes us more conscious and physically aware of these challenges, feelings, and natural conflicts. Harmony is a dynamic journey, not a walk to stasis. The movement of life demands a hearty warrior’s stance, adjusting to the shifting movement of the earth, the rising and falling of the tides, and the changing nature of our place on our swiftly tilting planet, as Madeleine L’Engle described in her book of the same name.
The growing edge of experiencing the Sun’s opposition to Neptune is not allowing ourselves to fall into a sense of false complacency or to drift into illusions, fantasies, escapism, or addictions that cloud our ability to feel, sense, receive, and understand the true nature of how our feelings, intuition, and consciousness can inform, heal, and direct us if we allow ourselves to experience them.
On Wednesday the third quarter square of the Moon in Gemini, will stir those of us on the West Coast in the early morning hours (2:35 AM). Third quarter squares bring issues to a head, as we move into the lunar stage of the final week of the waning Moon. Whatever needs to be released, cleared up, completed, or reconsidered, now appears more important to us. Coming as it does, in the middle of a fairly active week, we may find that our emotional state is either discovering how to bring opposites in balance or we are struggling with the ambiguity of situations we have not yet resolved. Those of us who have planets in 26-30 degrees of one of the Fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius, may feel the square of the Sun in Leo to the Moon in Gemini more powerfully than others. Squares can activate and trigger, and if you feel you are not ready to make decisions, take action, or sign agreements, honor our uncertainty. Though we may feel compelled to make choices, nothing worth doing needs to be rushed at this point.
Venus in Libra opposes Uranus in Aries. Venus in Libra, the place of her natural state, receives a jarring and unexpected jolt from Uranus in Aries. Uranus in Aries is like an out-of-control spiraling gyro that hits, bumps, and balances off us rocking our sense of security, knocking us off our sense of center, and surprising us in new and unexpected ways. Whatever we are holding onto as a means of defining and understanding our ability to both give and receive love, may now change drastically. Surprises come from out of the blue. The Sun in Virgo opposes Neptune in Pisces 9:43 PM Monday, August 26 (8 hours earlier PDT) though these two bodies are moving into this alignment for a good period of time before this.
Venus opposing Uranus can also make us more aware of our differences. This may come in the form of an attraction of opposites or in repulsion and conflict over individual differences in taste, style, behavior, and development. We may feel somewhat restless, and unsettled. The struggles around Venus vs Uranus have to do with our need for individual freedom of expression and our needs and desire for intimacy and deep connection. The struggle that has to be dealt with inside, often manifests in how we treat those we are in relationship with. In fact, for most of us, we try to work things out in relationship that really have to do with what we are struggling with in ourselves. For example, if I need to experience more freedom or individual expression, I may blame my partner for taking away my freedom. This issue may not really be about the partner at all, but when we are not mindful and conscious of our own feelings, needs, and desires, we often miss the opportunity to see that what we experience outside ourselves is often just a reflection of what we are feeling, thinking, or struggling with ourselves. Not always, but quite often.
Mercury in Virgo Sextiles Saturn in Scorpio 5:45 Monday (8 hours earlier PDT), and all forms of communication are affected. As Mercury in Virgo makes its sextile to Saturn, the Great Teacher, we become fully grounded and informed by both our feelings and our physical experience. We may feel, under the sextile aspect, as if we are completely connected and in touch with ourselves and those we care about or those experiences that we value most. The lessons we have been learning, are now manifesting as healing, harmony, love, and peace. In whatever area of your life this occurs, you will feel most at home and comfortable with this lovely earthy aspect. We feel motivated to get organized, to start in on a new project, or to simply put our whole heart and soul into whatever we are doing. What we choose, decide, start, or focus on now, will reap the most benefits. Outcomes are good for anything started at this point.
Venus in Libra square Jupiter in Cancer 5:53 triggers an emotional expression of our joy and happiness. We may go overboard in our desire to express our love. We enjoy the pleasures of life during this kind of aspect, and depending on where it manifests in your life, you might want to exercise a bit of restraint so as not to knock someone or your bank balance off center.
Mars enters Leo Tuesday at 10:05 PM where it will stay until October 15. Mars enters a fire sign, and a sign of pride and sometimes, arrogance. Grand and explosive types of behavior can be aspects of Mars in Leo. Contrary to much of the Virgo energy building up, Mars in Leo acts without caution and cares little for the details. Mars in Leo wants to make a statement, create a scene, and make a point---a grand point. Caution and restraint are called for when Mars is in Leo, however it is unlikely. Whatever area of your life you find Mar’s transit through Leo now, you want to observe caution and care in your behavior, actions, and choices. Be aware that everyone has the influence of Mars going through Leo, so there could be some real fireworks when ego-driven decisions are made without consideration for outcomes and options. Our own sense of self assurance will come into conflict with others who feel just as certain of their own position, so practice discretion, be tactful, and move more slowly in decision making than you might otherwise do. Mars brashness and energy can leave long-lasting scars.
Mercury in Virgo Trines Pluto in Capricorn 10:50 A.M. Wednesday sharpens our mental acuity, and allows our ideas to take shape and form. Our ideas, thoughts, feelings, desires, awareness, and understanding all come together in a lovely meeting of our true being. We understand and know our true nature, and how that nature and our destiny meet on this life path. This aspect holds the potential for us to become more aware and mindful of who we are and what we are doing here, now. We see our place in the larger scheme of things, and feel at home with our mission and purpose. Be at peace with what you discover.
Sun in Virgo sextiles Saturn in Cancer 1:18 AM Friday, and as this sextile takes place, our earlier awareness is now given a glimpse and an opportunity to respond and receive the energetic lessons that our soul is awakening within us. We see the opportunities that our life opens before us, and we are aware of our true north...that direction of the soul that continues to call us forth to live more fully, to love more completely, and to create beauty and healing throughout our lives.
Mercury in Virgo sextile Jupiter in Cancer 11:10 PM Friday offers us some insight and fortunate influences to help us on our journey. Whatever may have raised questions, brought about conflicts, or caused you to question, can now all be seen and understood as part of the process necessary for you to come to wholeness, with a full awareness that you are Divinely guided, inspired, and filled with Love. Live your life fully.
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