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| Light and Reflections Catherine Al-Meten Meyers |
November begins with Mercury changing signs from the final degree of Libra to the first degree of Scorpio on November 2. The Sun in Scorpio and the Moon in Leo form their third quarter square on Tuesday morning, November 3. Venus remains in Virgo until November 8, and Mercury transits Scorpio from November 2-20. Mars is also in earthy Virgo until November 12 busily working hard and caught up in enjoying getting work done. This is quite an auspicious start to any month. November 1 is All Saints Day and the day after Samhain, the ancient end of the harvest festival.
On Sunday and into early Monday, the Moon in Cancer finds us creating a a peaceful, secure sense of home within and around us. When the moon changes signs on Monday, November 2 moon in Leo squares the Sun in Scorpio calling us to shed whatever negative and toxic behavior, beliefs, and patterns of thought are serving as barriers to our health and well being. The Sun in Scorpio until November 22 deepens our connection intimacy, passion, and deep-seated desires. It is a time when we dig beneath the surface issues to discover what mysteries, hidden secrets, and shadow elements of our nature are working their way into our consciousness. We are not satisfied in the least with superficial ties and connections nor with spending our time and energy doing anything that is less than meaningful and purpose-driven. This is a time of healing and transformation if we are willing to move deeper into greater self awareness and away from debilitating and dysfunctional behavior and thinking.
Mercury in Libra has been a time when all sides of issues have been clearer than usual. In the anaretic (the critical last degree of a sign) degree today (November 1), we may find we are driven to make a choice and stand firm in a commitment that is in our own best interests rather than trying to please everyone or avoid making a choice. Mercury enters Scorpio on November 2, taking us deeper into more introspective and soulful depths. We become more attuned to both intuition, insight, and our own heightened senses during this transit of Mercury. During Mercury’s transit of Scorpio we seek a depth of focus in communication and conversations of all types. Seeking the truth, exploring unsolved mysteries, and delving deeper into the depths of our own shadow are all part of this movement of Mercury through Scorpio.
Venus remains in Virgo for another week, and our focus stays on handling practical matters. We seek more purpose-driven types of relationships, and may have greater insight into how our past behavior and perceptions in relationships needs to change in order to reflect our own growth and development. We begin to adjust the way we maintain all types of relationships—romance, friendships, partnerships, marriage, and other roles that allow us to express and discover meaning and purpose. We find ways to show our love and affection through support and concern shown to others now. Venus in Virgo requires that we serve as we lead and as we seek to deepen any relationships that hold meaning in our lives.
Mars remains in Virgo until November 12. All this week we set about digging in and getting a lot done. Words and thoughts are brought into action as Mars releases the necessary energy for handling chores and dealing with life in a pragmatic manner. Energy is focused and direct, as we are motivated and freed to work hard now. Unlike times when we work ourselves into exhaustion, we now use our energy wisely and push through barriers that may have stalled our efforts in the past. We put forth the necessary effort to move the mountains we have been waiting to tackle.
Venus and Mars form an exact conjunction in Virgo on November 1-2 (they are already forming this strong conjunction. This is the third and final conjunction these two planets have formed this year. From now through the end of the week the doors open for making some very positive and energizing connections. The love light is lit, and we find ourselves drawn to pleasurable and intoxicating connections. There may be some passionate exchanges and meetings, and our desires may be inflamed through competitive and inviting encounters. We feel creative and powerful, and we exude energy and passion.
Later in the week, November 7-8 Venus conjuncts the North Node. Think of this as a passage from the past to a new future as Venus passes through the gates of the North Node. Taking risks, initiating connections, reaching out in new and interesting ways, are just some of the ways this aspect may affect us. We are entering a new phase now, so we have the opportunity to start over, refresh ourselves in some way, and move forward—out with the old, in with the new (a kind of new year passage regarding all things Venusian. On November 8 Venus aspects Chiron, the Wounded Healer, allowing for our past wounds to remind us how we have healed in those broken or wounded places in our lives. We learn something of value to help us in our healing process. And those lessons come in part through the love and gentleness shown by others.
On Sunday, just before midnight, Mercury enters Scorpio, and on Monday around 5 PM/PST Venus enters Scorpio. The Cancer Moon on Sunday and part of Monday finds us seeking protective and comforting ways to settle in on this first day of the month. After the fervor and excitement of Halloween/All Hallow’s Eve, this Sunday gives way to a calmer and quieter atmosphere. Putting on a pot of hot soup, warming ourselves with a cup of hot tea, or sitting by a fireside find us in a more reflective mode. Monday about 5:11 P.M./PDT the Venus-Mars conjunction in Virgo is exact. All day we should feel the build up to this energetic powerhouse, and since it is an earth sign, it will make us feel more grounded and present in body, mind, and spirit. We feel in harmony with our surroundings and with those we connect with. We find ourselves feeling more in balance than we have been for quite some time. We find ourselves capable and indeed, likely to feel a greater sense of balance between our being in touch with our desires and acting on them, in ways that allow us to flow and pace ourselves. There is a romantic and passionate edge to everything we do right now. Enjoy what is welling up within you, and allow yourself to feel the wholeness within you as you connect more directly to those you now meet and encounter. Playful competition and peaceful coexistence are now likely outcomes of this aspect. Let yourself feel the power of your passions.
On Tuesday, Mercury in Scorpio forms a semi-square to Jupiter in Sagittarius. This makes for some mixed kinds of energy overload. We may hit a spot when we are called upon to process more than we feel capable of doing. Menial tasks become tiresome and we tend not to want to deal with the minutia of life now. If you can, take a mental step back and find a way to create some peace within yourself knowing that now everything that is rising up before you now has to be done today. Get some perspective and relax and rest more than usual. We’re simply being reminded of how many opportunities are being given us now and how much we are growing and learning. Just a bit later Mercury forms a seisquiquadrate to Chiron in Pisces, showing us how any frustration or fear we might have felt earlier is simply a sign to put us in touch with areas where we are still healing and learning how to move toward life-giving choices.
A very powerful aspect on Wednesday, opens us to becoming more aware of how we need to make necessary changes in our lives-both in what we value and in how we are living and working. Around 1:42 P.M./PDT Jupiter in Virgo opposes Chiron in Pisces. This powerful opposition between the planet of Abundance and Good Fortune (illusion and excess its shadow sides) and Chiron the Wounded Healer, focus our attention on what is out of alignment between outmoded beliefs and ways of living and thinking and what we are growing towards. Choices we have made in the past now require that we face what has been forcing us to deal with core values and beliefs that no longer fit the essence of who we are. We also become very aware (almost in a startlingly shocking way) of just how out of synch our beliefs and values are with those of some others whose interests seem to be in alignment with our own. They are not. We can no longer cling to security-based fears as a means of surviving or handling our business. We realize that the risks involved in staying the course of an area of our lives that has been essential for so long, is no longer viable or sustainable. We encounter some challenges to not only what we are choosing to do and be but also in how we are choosing to live and work and make new choices.
On Thursday Jupiter in Virgo forms a quincunx to Uranus in Aries. Something we hadn’t expected to feel or think or be asked to do could now come into direct conflict with what we choose to do and be. We face a real challenge due to this shift and sudden sense of feeling restless, uncomfortable, or disoriented in some way. We may feel our core values and beliefs challenged to the point of needing to make a drastic change or shift.
Mercury trines Neptune on Friday, and this brings us some sense of inner enlightenment. We have some inner knowledge that helps cast a new light on what is happening in our inner and outer worlds. Intuition is strong, timing is perfect, and we feel in synch in a way that is almost magical. Creativity and artistry flourish and give us a way to express ourselves now.
Another very potent aspect and transit this month is Saturn’s square to Neptune in Pisces. Neptune has been in Pisces since February 2011, and will remain so until 2025. The squares that activate energy between Neptune a other slow-moving planets like Neptune, have a long-term and jarring effect. This is a 13-year cycle, and because Neptune can either bring out the very best or the very worst in us, situations, and the general conditions of the world in which we live, we need to understand how important it is to avoid the illusionary nature and the promise that is often ‘too good to be true’ that Neptune brings out. Neptune dissolves boundaries of all kinds, both inner and outer. We can be easily fooled and we can be duplicitous without being aware how off-center our ideas may be. It’s necessary when this square activates, that we be open to looking before we leap. Saturn, the Great Teacher, in this square aspect, is forcing us to examine the areas where we are off base in our perceptions as well as in our behavior and lifestyle.
What can we learn from the Neptune-Saturn square? First of all, we need to become conscious of where we are promising more than we can deliver. Where are we trying to overstep our skills or energy level? How are we over-committed? Where have we overdone and overstepped our limits? If we haven’t learned what those boundaries or limits are, Saturn reminds us. Be careful what you invite into your experience as well as what you commit yourself to. The Neptune-Saturn square reminds us how our addictive patterns of rescuing and enabling others who are struggling directly link to our own unhealed or hidden issues regarding the neglect or absenteeism we might have suffered as a child. Many of our own need to rescue others or fix everyone and everything is rooted in what we experienced or didn’t experience as children. When we unconsciously carry this over into our relationships and into our own self perceptions, we fail to see how our own brokenness is trying to repair and give our understanding and attention to that which was withheld from us. To heal we need to acknowledge where we are trapped in the patterns of neglect.
The patterns that were set into motion by the Neptune-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn in 1989 (Fall of the Berlin Wall, start of the dial-up connection for the internet, Bush declared himself president, Tianamen Square crackdown, The Velvet Revolution, slaying of the six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador). Boundaries broken and crossed. Changes made despite boundaries and limits. We are the waning of this conjunction, experiencing the first square—the challenges to the changes made at that time. Watch the news around November 24-25 when Mercury forms a conjunction to Saturn to see what events, decisions or changes are announced that pertain to dissolving barriers, limitations, and challenges. What first quarter square challenges or dictates will come about? Mercury and Saturn (ruler of the media) join together to both highlight and hinder the truth. Truth is dispelled by lies and misdirection, misinformation and exaggeration. Notice in your own patterns of thinking and communication, your own patterns of hyperbole, exaggerating, hiding, or misleading yourself and others.
Saturn is all about putting limitations, boundaries, and guidelines in place. Watch for how issues related to disease and toxic buildup bring up issues related to ecological and health. The illusionary and misguided use of Neptune’s energy with Saturn is the attempt to cleanse toxins from the system…often mistakenly trying to clean things up by eliminating whole groups of people (i.e. genocide of whole peoples). It is vital that we use the most ethical and sound guidelines when seeking answers for problems that are toxic for everyone. We cannot simply dam up our rivers or move masses of people out of the way.
New ways of solving problems require new ways of thinking, perceiving, and understanding that we are all part of a giant ecosystem and spiritual community. We need to be humane in the way we treat one another, all the inhabitants of the land, seas, and air, and the resources and bounty of the earth. Our place in the Universe is also growing in importance as the barriers to time and travel dissolve, and our connection to how we leave an ongoing trace of ourselves. We are energy, and we need to understand how our actions, thoughts, words, and gifts can either serve or destroy ourselves and others. The Saturn-Neptune square activates movement within and around us, and we are individually and collectively called upon to live from a place of love, compassion, and healing. It matters not only to us in our lifetime but to what we connect or disconnect in the chain of Life.
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