A Week of Action and Movement: Ready or Not, Here We Go

Bicycle Fence                                                                                                                                             Catherine Al-Meten

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As the week begins, the following indicates where the Sun, Moon, and planets are as I write.

Sun in Aquarius, Moon in  18 degrees of Aries, Mercury in Aquarius until March 23
Mercury Retrograde began on January 21 and lasts until February 11.  Venus is in Aquarius until January 27, then moves into Pisces until February 20.

Mars is in Pisces until February 19, Saturn is still in Sagittarius, Jupiter is Leo where it remains until August 11 of this year.  Uranus is in Aries where it began it’s 14-year cycle on March 11, 2011. Neptune is in Pisces as is Chiron.

Astrologically, this next week is a busy week. The Moon is in Aries all day today, making us feel like moving and taking more risks than usual. The Moon made a conjunction with the transiting Uranus this morning—evident in dreams and in feelings as you arose. The urge to move, shake things up, or the information coming into you on an emotional and metaphysical level, is triggering feelings that may make you feel a bit edgy or tense. Movement helps get this energy channeled, and sets up the scene for the aspects Uranus makes later in the day.

Tonight at 6:18 P.M. PST/9:18 EST, Venus forms a semi-square to Uranus, bringing sudden and unusual types of attractions. The pull with this aspect is between our desires and our needs. We seek freedom, independence, or release from binding situations. We desire connection and feel restless with unmet needs in relationships and romance, in particular. We meet with resistance in relationships, and feel a need to escape. We may also be caught off-guard in romance, relationships, or new interests. Exercise restraint and practice a bit of caution regarding impulse shopping. Whatever awareness you have with this aspect, can be held in abeyance to be thought over and acted out after some discernment.  Look to the past to see how you have made changes. Change may be needed, but avoid moving from the proverbial frying pan into the fire under this influence. Ask yourself what you learned about how you make changes and how you  have learned to avoid doing more harm to yourself than is needed.

The first part of Monday, the Moon remains in Aries, and then shifts into steady, grounded Taurus. That helps calm us emotionally as we meet the challenge of the Venus in Aquarius semi-square to Pluto in Capricorn.This aspect is pretty potent, and probably has a hidden agenda involved in relationships and romance. Jealousy, fear of loss or abandonment, and disappointments in romance and relationships, may result in manipulation and power plays on the part of partners and other close relationships. Because this aspect is so deeply rooted in both our intuitive and visceral experience, we will pick up the hidden dangers, heat, and anger brewing beneath the surface of all types of communications.

Be aware of where you are not getting what you want and need, and how this is affecting your life. What is rising up in others’ reactions to you, that is really all about your own needs? Pay attention to what you need to do to make changes in your own life. Notice how not moving forward on your true path, creates conflict, jealousy, and distrust in current relationships and experiences. We can learn a lot at this time about how we are meeting our needs in the choices we have made. Jealousy and disappointment are indicators of being in the wrong place, trying to make something work that isn’t. Since Venus is in the final, anaretic degree of Aquarius, things are coming to a head and endings occur and decisions are made.

On Tuesday, Venus enters Pisces around 7 A.M. PST. When Venus enters Pisces, boundaries are blurred as Pisces’ view of love does not acknowledge limits or boundaries. Compassion may be mistaken for true love, and empathy for compatibility. We also are more likely to forgo meeting our own needs as we try to be all things to all people, animals, and causes. The open-heartedness of Venus in Pisces is something wonderful, provided we do not undo all the recent changes we have made in our relationships and our awareness of our own soul growth. One characteristic of Venus in Pisces is to avoid anything sticky or difficult. This happens as we are picking up so much from so many different areas that we naturally pull back to avoid getting overwhelmed. We become more aware of how deep our passions, needs, and the breadth and depth of our compassion goes. Because we can understand or sympathize with everyone and everything, does not mean we are meant to allow ourselves to become the door mat or target of another’s obsessions or demands. It also does not mean that just because we can understand someone’s needs that we are the right person to meet those needs. During this transit, we may find ourselves challenged to learn how to discern and protect ourselves better in our romances, relationships, marriages, and partnerships. Also in how we use and participate in our search for and expression of beauty.

Closer to next weekend, January 29-30, Venus squares Saturn, making us feel distant from those we love, abandoned (emotionally or physically), and unloved and dissatisfied. Negative situations, feelings, or emotional upset tends to highlight the areas where we have not yet learned how to make choices that are in our best interests. Saturn, the Great Teacher, has been showing us, over and over, where we ignore our needs and passions. Venus in this aspect, spurs us to action to make the changes we need to make to end the discomfort, sorrow, and lack that we feel in the area of relationships, love, and any type of partnership related to the Venus-ruled  areas of our lives. In other words, if you are miserable and unhappy, it’s time to do something about it.

On Sunday, February 1, Venus moves into conjunction with Neptune in Pisces. Neptune has been sending signals on the subconscious and intuitive levels. When they conjunct on Sunday, new beginnings are in the forecast in the areas of romance, pleasure, and beauty. If through the week you have been paying attention to the energy being generated by Venus, and if you have been courageous enough to make necessary changes or to see ‘the light’, so to speak, you may open the door or find someone knocking at yours. The promise of a magical new beginning is right on the horizon. Listen to what is going on beneath the surface. Watch the tenor of your dreams, and pay attention to that inner knowing that lets you see the truth clearly. It should be very accurate at this time. Trust that you know.

Mercury sextile Uranus late Tuesday on the West Coast, and just past midnight on the East, signals a good time to communicate with others. Since it occurs after business hours for North America, it may be more likely to be good communication in personal relationships, enlightening dreams, or insightful meditations. Prayers and intuitive communication may now be where this energy is best available.  Others may be thinking of you, and/or working on and sending you messages that are going to help you make break throughs (especially scientific or technological). Be open to innovative ideas you have at this time, and be prepared to hear from someone about an idea that has been on the back burner for a while. Good news is on its way with Uranus sextile Mercury. We have some great “ah hah!” moments under this aspect. Problems are solved, doors are opened, situations are unscrambled, and puzzles are figured out.

Thursday, with the Moon in Gemini all day making aspects to a number of the planets and the Sun, we feel energized and highly attuned to movement, communications, and our emotional and intuitive knowledge.

Friday, just past midnight on the West Coast and 3:24 A.M. on the East, the Venus square to Saturn takes place. (noted earlier). Mars in Pisces sextiles Pluto focusing our intentions and attention on getting down to business. Our goals become clear, we take definitive action, and we move forward. If you are not clear about what this means, clean up whatever areas of our lives are out of focus, in a mess, or have been neglected for too long. Clean out the car, declutter the closets, or do a thorough reorganization of your office space or some other area of your home. Through the physical act of doing this, you will seek things in other areas of your life in greater clarity, and the energy will shift.

Mercury also conjoins the Sun on Friday, bringing things into clarity. Good for all forms of communication, communicating, and dealing with ideas.

On Saturday night, after a long, busy, and active week, Mars in Pisces conjoins Chiron. The planet of action and relationships with men and the masculine aspect of our own being, is in direct alignment with Chiron the Wounded Healer. We become deeply and emotionally aware of how we are healing from our own woundedness and bringing ourselves into a deeper connection to our true soul selves.  Many blessings as your enter a week full of promise, action, insight, and opportunities to set your sails for the future.

New Moon in Aquarius and Chinese New Year of the Sheep

   (Painting by Tammy Heintz)

Current Planets Sunday

18-Jan-2015, 15:24 UT/GMT

Sun 28 Capricorn 12'15" 20s31

Moon 1 Capricorn 59'46" 18s29

Mercury 16 Aquarius 15'36" 15s36

Venus 18 Aquarius 47'37" 16s42

Mars 4 Pisces 51'35" 10s37

Jupiter 20 Leo 3'51"r 15n40

Saturn 2 Sagittarius 30' 3" 18s44

Uranus 12 Aries 53'54" 4n30

Neptune 5 Pisces 53' 0" 10s02

Pluto 13 Capricorn 46'35" 20s36

TrueNode 13 Libra 16' 8"r 5s14

Chiron 14 Pisces 29'53" 1s54

(From Astrodienst.com)

The next week promises to unfold as a critical and crucial time for much-needed and long-awaited change. With the New Moon and Sun aligned at 0 degrees of Aquarius, and the Chinese New Year of the Green Wooden Sheep beginning, it is time to be open to positive and healthy changes. 

The Sun’s transit through Capricorn is nearing its end. Early in the week, on January 20, the Sun enters Aquarius. Mercury and Venus are already occupying Aquarius, Mercury at 16/59 Aquarius and Venus at 18/47—forming a conjunction between the planet of Love and Beauty and the planet that rules communications. On Tuesday, January 20, the New Moon in Aquarius ushers us into a lunar phase beginning at 4:43 A.M. GMT/8:43 PM PST in the evening of  January 29. As the Sun slips into airy Aquarius and the New Moon sits in the shadows, we head over the threshold into a time of innovative and unexpected changes and surprises. 

The Sun and Moon at 0 degrees Aquarius, allow us to feel the full spectrum of this Aquarius transit. When the New Moon and the Sun align at 0 degrees of a sign, a new beginning is indicated. The contemporary ruler of Aquarius, Uranus and the ancient ruler Saturn, highlight the polemics we are faced with at this new beginning. On one had, Uranus in Aries forces the issue, making us more aware than usual, of what needs to change and how. Things happen suddenly and unexpectedly, and challenge how we generally approach transition in our lives. Saturn, the Great Teacher can be a slow learner, but with the energy of Saturn in Sagittarius now, combined with the influence of Uranus, we are ready to take the leap and make some major changes. 

Uranus in Aries sits atop the lunar South Node releasing us from the need to hang on and continue in unfulfilling or fruitless experiences, relationships, or directions. Decisions that we may have been afraid to take, now seem more likely to happen. While there may be some conflict, we approach change with an element of grace, compromise, and compassionate cooperation. Saturn in Sagittarius, having transited deeply into Scorpio (the unknown, the unconscious, the heart of hearts), now releases into actions, energy that we can direct in our choices, decisions, and direction.  Part of what is happening is that we are now able to see more clearly, how our past choices and experiences have prepared us for the gateway that is opening now. We have reached a point of resolve, resolution, and now feel ourselves released from karmic debts and old patterns of behavior and commitments. Whether or not you believe that the soul continues healing, learning, and growing, surely within any one lifetime we are given many opportunities to grow, learn, and move toward greater autonomy, growth, and independence. Because of what we have learned, accomplished, or developed, we now see more clearly new choices and alternate ways of living our lives. 

This New Moon in Aquarius brings with it  completion and cleansing at whatever area of your chart/life you find Aquarius. Notice where Saturn and Uranus also are in your chart, for those planets indicate the types of energy and experiences that are likely to have a great impact on the choices you make where the New Moon and the Sun in Capricorn align at the threshold. The first decan of Aquarius is ruled by Venus, so expect whatever changes take place, to happen in the realm of your relationships, marriage, and sense of harmony and beauty as it applies to the house the Sun and Moon are transiting now.

The New Moon in Aquarius also falls on the fixed star, Altair in the constellation Aquila. Aquila is a constellation found in the Northern sky. Altair is the brightest star in the constellation. Aquila comes form the Latin word for ‘eagle’. http://stardate.org/night sky/constellations/aquila With this alignment we can expect a break with the past. Our interest and connection to the past now brings us a crisis where we are challenged to align our expectations with the current reality. Whatever it is we are seeking in life,  whatever we need to make us feel at home with the life we are living, we will be able to make the necessary changes in order to live the life that more clearly aligns us to what we seek and what roots and grounds us in our own Truth. 

New Moons are times when we can plant the seeds, set the intentions, and release ourselves from whatever chains or beliefs have worn us down and allowed us to prevent ourselves from growing and moving in the direction we have longed for. The next couple of days during the dark of the moon, we feel at peace and close connection to that which matters most. We have a good idea of what we want to set into motion. Whether we are planning a major change within the next 6 months or so, or whether we are setting a more short term plan into motion, this is a crucial time for focusing on the areas of our experience that matter most.  For some, this can be a major shift, the influence of which will last for years if not a lifetime.  

At the New Moon in Aquarius, Saturn in Sagittarius is in sextile. A harmonious aspect, yet Saturn has its ways of stirring up melancholy or making us doubt our resolution.With the moon in an air sign, there is a tendency for us to intellectualize, rationalize, or dismiss our true feelings when the melancholy or fear arises from Saturn’s angle to the Moon.  There is a great deal of nostalgia connected to the New Moon and the Sun’s entry into Aquarius at 0 degrees. We have a deep, inner longing that cannot be easily dismissed, nor should it. Expressing and allowing ourselves permission to feel the full weight of decisions now, it is a necessary part of making change.  

The ongoing square of Uranus in Aries to Pluto in Capricorn, forces the issue, bringing us to a crossroads or turning point—choices will have to be made. The New Moon and Sun’s entry into Aquarius occurs the day before Mercury enters its retrograde cycle. That means we will have time to reflect, reconsider, and regenerate energy that is linked to whatever issues, areas of our lives, or choices that are arising now. We are at a special point where if we choose to resurrect what has slipped away or seems lost, this is the time to do it. First, be aware of your true feelings and that voice within that tells you what you really want. Then consider whether or not your future is in the past or is opening up in a new direction? 

This is a potent time, and you need to make certain you pay attention to your intuition and make certain your boundaries are strong. Be aware of unhealthy influences, inappropriate relationships, or unrealistic expectations. Use your spiritual practices, reliance on Divine direction and guidance, and your own intuitive knowing to guide you and protect you as the changes come to you this time, unfolding and appearing without warning. Change is afoot, and the best way to be prepared, is be in alignment with your true self. You and you alone know what you need or want, and what your dreams and hopes are telling you. Be at peace with yourself, and know that what is meant to open up in your life, will flow to you without your needing to push, plan, shove, or rearrange a thing.  Allow the Divine flow of life to operate and reveal to you the answers and direction you have  been seeking. Have a wonderful week, and celebrate the turning of the times. 

This New Moon in Aquarius opens the Chinese New Year celebrations. We are completing the Year of the Horse and entering the Year of the Lamb/Sheep/Goat (depending upon which culture you follow). This new year will be the year of the Green Wooden Sheep. This year promises to be more favorable than the last. Political and economic conditions and the chaos of the last few years is beginning to level out. It is a crucial year for making the choices of what we are going to nourish in our lives in the future, and what we are going to leave behind. We need to pay attention to the hopeful signs for the future. The kitchen is ruled by the energy of this new year, so it is also a good time to gear ourselves to better nourishment on all levels—body, mind, spirit. With tensions easing,  awareness  clearer, and prosperity on the rise, it is time to engage in a fruitful, enjoyable, and meaningful life.