Hello,
Thank you for visiting. I am still blogging about astrology, metaphysics and music. These days I'm doing it via my site: http://www.elizabethsoracle.co.
Lots of love,
Elizabeth
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Friday, December 21, 2012
Sun Into Capricorn 2012-13: The Valley of the Shadow
The Sun and Santa Claus may be coming to town, but you better watch out, as the old song says, for Pluto. This year’s solar trip through sober, provocative Capricorn will see the planet ruling power, death and the subconscious make direct connections with most of astrology’s personal planets. Closely allied with staunch Saturn in transformational Scorpio, the cycle is set to help us confront blocks and fears. to clear our paths of psychic debris and to lay more ascension groundwork. But before we can plant the seeds of change, we have to locate our seeds of self-destruction.I once was lost
But now I’m found
Was blind
But now I see
- John Newton
The Sun will move into determined Capricorn at 3:12 A.M. PST on December 21st and by the 30th it will be conjunct (at the same degree as) Pluto. Ambitious and assiduous, Capricorn sets its intention and achieves its aims. In traditional astrology, this Cardinal earth sign is associated with career and industry, and in our heavily materialistic culture they are in turn primarily associated with monetary reward. In the new paradigm, life purpose may be the more appropriate and helpful term when defining our work, and satisfaction and happiness are equally important indicators of the worth of our endeavors. Under Pluto’s waxing influence, stated business ethics will increasingly have to match industry practices. So when the Sun contacts honest, purifying Pluto these days, evolved interpretations of success will apply to our professional lives and surviving institutions. When Pluto connects with Mercury on January 6th, we may be forced to examine inconsistencies. Are they based on fearing or trusting life? When Pluto aligns with Venus on the 16th, we may have to look at our relationships and values. What have we been sweeping under the rug for the false sake of peace? What changes are we ready to make? Plutonium is after all a key component of nuclear power. We can think of these Pluto connections like coming into contact with internal nuclear energy. Anything less than our complete authenticity and a commitment to carefully disposing of our accumulated toxins would be like ignoring proper maintenance at a nuclear power plant. Body work such as massage and acupuncture may be especially helpful at this time. As Saturn continues its transit of Pluto-ruled Scorpio, the pressure to clean up our acts, systems and planet will only increase.
On December 26th Pluto will form a sextile to Capricorn’s ruling planet Saturn. This structuring planet is just getting settled into the shamanic sign of death and rebirth, and this is only the first of the exact sextiles it will form with Pluto over the next three years. Fortunately for us, the influence of a sextile is astrology’s kinder and gentler cleaning mode. Still, these forces are intent on fully exposing flaws and falsehoods and washing away blockages and distortions. Scorpio’s candor will help us see the issues clearly. It will sextile Mercury on January 6th, under a Scorpio moon, and it will sextile Venus on January 17th. Conversations shift from image to substance, and substance determines consequences.
The enormous wave of heart wisdom they create is beginning to form now. This is where and when feelings, language and spirituality begin playing a greater role in determining reality. This wave will envelop all three of the year’s Mercury retrogrades which will take place under the water signs. Capricorn is the domain of astrology’s ancient sea goat, so now is when can begin to master navigating between the material world and the watery home of heartfelt intelligence. Pluto’s transit through Cap lasts until 2023 and Neptune’s voyage through Pisces until 2025. It is into this larger context that the Sun enters competent, capable Capricorn. Evolutionary Pluto stands in its path, poised to purge us of impediments to our progress. Are we ready to face the music and to sing a new song?
When you've seen beyond yourself
then you may find peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see
we're all one
and life flows on within you and without you
- George Harrison
Monday, October 22, 2012
Sun Into Scorpio 2012: Eliminate To Generate
They said, “We are afraid.”
They came.
He pushed them....
They flew.
- Guillaume Apollinaire
Emotional, fixed Scorpio thrives on intensity and change, and the Sun will dive into its purifying waters at 5:14 P.M. PST on October 22nd. Material matters will surface courtesy of a full Taurus moon on the 29th and a total solar eclipse conjunct the lunar nodes on November 13th. A provocative full Cardinal cross will precede the Mercury retrograde that begins on Election Day in the U.S. Saturn and Pluto will begin strengthening 2013’s evolutionary Uranus Pluto squares. And, Neptune and Chiron, turning direct in reflective Pisces, will connect us more directly with our intrinsic truths. In the grand scheme of things, new dimensions and higher levels of awareness are opening up to us. To access them, we must journey through solemn Scorpio’s passageway.
October 29th’s full moon in physical, security-oriented Taurus will be opposed by restricting Saturn and the willful Sun in truthful, transforming Scorpio. This super moon is connected to 2012’s Venus occultation, 2013’s Uranus Pluto squares and the lunar node placements lasting into early 2014. It is a call to strike a healthy balance between the our spiritual essence and material needs. It is also an opportunity to examine and release the financial fears that ironically limit us. Occurring two days before the Celtic holy day of Samhain, it is a summons to look within, reconcile losses and dedicate ourselves more fully to the spiritual work we came here for. This meaningful moon will receive a friendly trine from evocative Pluto in industrious Capricorn. Infused with this lunar wisdom and inspired by practical plans for the future, we enter a Cardinal gateway of Light the first weekend of November.
October 29, 2012
Abundant Venus has two celestial abodes, and she will be residing in her harmonious Libra lair when the moon comes home to its native Cancer from November 3-5th. With Pluto and Uranus settled into Capricorn and Aries, the cosmic stage is set for initiation. If the full moon or Samhain/Halloween purging has worked its magic, then new offers and opportunities will begin materializing in early November. Discouraging unwisely impulsive decisions, clever Mercury will turn retrograde on November 6th. Lasting until November 26th, this transit will provide ample time for studying details and carefully reviewing facts and figures before moving ahead. And with the Messenger traveling all the way back to 18 degrees of probing Scorpio, deceit, abuse and deception will be exposed. Mercury, Saturn and the Sun are intent on clearing corruption and instituting the honesty and integrity now critical for planetary evolution.
Mercury re-enters sacred Scorpio on November 13th, the day of a total solar eclipse. This new moon eclipse in Scorpio is conjunct the lunar North node. In general terms, the moon’s South node describes the past and its North points the way forward. The Taurus Scorpio opposition created here concerns resources and power. In late August the Nodes shifted into Taurus and Scorpio, where they will be in influence until February 2014. Here they will intensify the current Scorpio directive to fully integrate our spiritual beliefs with our economic practices and the care we give to our physical bodies.
The “let go to grow” mantra being sounding now will be booming by the time we reach 2013’s Pluto Uranus squares. They will take place on May 20th, the final day of the Taurus Sun cycle, and on November 1st, in the midst of next year’s Scorpio solar sojourn. By then stern, structuring Saturn will be adding more of its considerable weight to the equation. The ringed-planet is after all Capricorn’s ruler, so it supports Pluto’s presence in the sign of pragmatic progress. Reciprocally, Pluto respects Saturn’s disciplined prowess in its home sign of destructive Scorpio. In short, Pluto in Capricorn and Saturn in Scorpio understand and mirror each other. In these placements, their energies are complementary and mutually fortifying. Mars will amplify their power when it moves through ambitious Capricorn from November 16th through December 25th. This is the fuel for setting and ultimately reaching conscious goals. The Sun’s coming placements in Taurus and Scorpio on the exact days of the next Pluto Uranus squares will reinforce the work we undertake now.
Scorpion change is often dramatic, turbulent and obvious. By contrast, fellow water sign Pisces works more like waves upon rocks. It dissolves so subtly and gently that its influence is usually only recognizable over time. The planet it rules, Neptune will turn direct on November 10th as will healing asteroid Chiron on the 14th. Both are in holistic, integrating Pisces, the sign that also completes the zodiac. Thus the planets in these collaborating water signs are on message: release to regenerate. The Neptunian element here assures us that even in the midst of great upheaval, peace is always available. The boundless, artistic planet instructs us to turn inward. There we can center ourselves. From the void of a quiet mind, inspiration emerges. Aligned with its clarity, we know precisely which steps to take next.
“And now I see with eye serene,
the very pulse of the machine
A being breathing thoughtful breath
A traveler between life and death”
William Wordsworth
Friday, September 21, 2012
Sun Into Libra 2012: Dare To Care
The Libra cycles gets off to a lively start when the moon moves into Cardinal Capricorn on September 22nd. In alliance with powerful Pluto, the moon will square Uranus, the Sun, Mercury and Saturn through the 24th. These energies are bound to stir us up and spur us into action. Aligning our thoughts, words and deeds with high frequencies of awareness, the moon will next head into lofty Aquarius. There, with the Sun, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter in fellow air signs, it will beam rays of sheer brilliance to us through the 26th. The last of Saturn’s transit through balanced, deliberating Libra will lend soundness to the ingenuity coming during these days. October 8th, with its exact Sun Jupiter trine, is another five-star day for bright ideas. Putting the wind beneath our wings, or lighting the fire under our arses, a full Aries moon is set for September 29th. Rambunctious, pioneering and ever provocative, Ram’s irrepressible spirit will inform and infuse us until October 1st. Much more than the mere turning of a calendar page, October 1st marks a turning of the celestial tide. That week Venus, Mercury, Mars and Saturn will change signs and generous Jupiter will turn retrograde. The most significant planetary shift is that of Saturn.
We are in the midst of a fifteen-year Pluto journey through reforming Capricorn and a three-year series of Uranus Pluto squares. Their propulsion will be strengthened in 2014 when Jupiter traverses Cancer and forms more major planet Cardinal crosses. And recently, on August 29th, the moon’s nodes shifted to the Taurus Scorpio axis. It is into this eventful context that Saturn’s transit of Scorpio occurs. I’ll be writing more about the implications of the lunar node shift in the Sun Into Scorpio edition of the newsletter next month. For now, understanding more about the Saturn Scorpio transit is what’s important. Because it has as many implications as it has interpretations, I highly recommend reading the work of many astrologers about this transit.
Its icy rings have been visible since 1610, and they’ve reinforced Saturn’s reputation as the planet symbolic of boundaries, discipline and limitations. Saturn is astrology’s authority figure, and it teaches us to earn life’s rewards. Scorpio, represented by the scorpion, snake and phoenix, is the sign of metamorphosis. Amongst its many gifts are honestly, intimacy and death. This is a call to truthfully examine ourselves, and to change. For the next three years, each time an emotional button is pushed or a psychological issue is triggered, resolute Saturn will offer Scorpion medicine. Blocks to intimacy can be revealed and healed. Mortality is another Scorpion awakener. In the gifted hands of the planet governing time, respect for death’s inevitability can help us live on purpose. Sober, abiding Saturn will help us face and overcome the fears preventing us from living our most cherished dreams. Immensely connected with the Neptune and Chiron transits of Pisces, this is cosmic transformation of the deepest magnitude. Indifference is not an option. For the resistant, this transit will be harsh. Saturn is as inflexible and it is relentless, and in emotional Scorpio it will be intent on getting to the heart of matters. For the hearts and minds bravely committed to personal and planetary evolution, this transit is alchemist’s gold. We can release all heart chakra blockages and experience new levels of awareness and intimacy. Our first treatment is scheduled on Oct 10th when Saturn trines Neptune. The challenge for us will be to not deny that we care, but to fully acknowledge how dearly and deeply we do.
October 15, 2012 New Moon
To gently usher in the beginning of this great change, the cleansing energies of the Mutable signs will be in evidence for the reminder of the Libra cycle. With Jupiter in Gemini, Venus in Virgo, Mars in Sagittarius and Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, each Mutable point of the zodiac’s wheel will be occupied. Strong messages about what to let go of will be reinforced by Mercury’s presence in detecting Scorpio. Dates to watch for these invitations to reflect and release include October 7th, 12th, 16th and 17th. Saturn’s presence is Scorpio will add resonance to the clarity coming through far beyond this Sun cycle.
On the whole, the sweeping shift we are all experiencing is unfolding over many years, and the Saturn transit through Scorpio is poised to play a major role in it. For now, the Sun is entering diplomatic, instigating Libra to initiate us for the life-altering sojourn. It arrives here each autumn to start the new season and to remind us of our relationships. Spiritual growth doesn't happen in a vacuum, and Libra shows us where and how we can evolve through the people in our lives. Often reprinted at this time of year, the Prayer of St. Francis, elegantly expresses the wisdom and grace of this evocative sign. This prayer also reminds us to get outside of ourselves long enough to support those we are blessed to have in our lives. Its essence activates a deep internal shift that moves our Light and love outward. At a point of such tremendous planetary change, its transformational simplicity is well worth practicing. Happy Birthday Libra!
The prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace Where there is hatred, let me sow love where there is injury, pardon where there is doubt, faith where there is despair, hope where there is darkness, light where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
to be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
and it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Sun Into Virgo 2012: Tuning In And Turning On
The Sun’s annual journey through principled, practical Virgo is usually when we consider the balancing of polarities. The days and nights are becoming equal in length as the autumnal Equinox approaches, and this cycle always features a full Pisces moon. Under its ethereal pull, the intrinsic, intangible essence of Pisces mingles with the analytical, methodical Virgo Sun. In 2012 several planets will join the struggle for balance along this axis of sensitivity and sensibility. On one side of the equation, Neptune and Chiron will be in imaginative Pisces, in resonance with Venus and Mars in fellow water signs. This group will inform us through gut feelings and intuition. Counterbalancing them, and keeping us connected to our intellectual capacity, will be the Sun and Mercury in mental Virgo. Pluto in fellow earth sign Capricorn will share a healthy dose of pragmatism with the Sun, Mercury and us. The dance begins on August 24th when Neptune opposes the Sun. The planet of artistry and illusion then goes on to challenge Mercury on September 1st, while healing Chiron opposes the Sun on August 30th and Mercury on September 4th. On August 29th the Sun and Pluto form a supportive, harmonious and decidedly grounding trine. Finally, on August 31st, the full moon will see thinking Mercury return home to logical Virgo. The subtle, internal tensions that ebb and flow during this time are inviting us to experience life from a more enchanted and connected perspective. The planetary powers in the realistic earth signs will help us remain rooted and responsible. It’s a complex mix, one in which inner guidance, applied carefully, will light the way ahead.
September 15, 2012
Strengthening our psychic power, aiding our quest for answers and prompting needed change will be Mars in shamanistic Scorpio. Its presence in the fixed water sign will strengthen Pluto’s influence. Pluto is after all Scorpio’s ruler, and on September 17th it stations from a five-month-long retrograde. No life is immune from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and no planet is better at forcing us to face, and heal, the pain they inflict than unrelenting Pluto. Since the start of its retrograde back on April 10th, we have been on the annual hero’s journey through Pluto’s unsettling Underworld. In this abyss, we have likely encountered people and events intent on reshaping our lives. If, like ancient Percephone or Odysseus, we’ve wisely summoned our hero’s courage and accepted the challenges, we are now nearly ready to surface. Aggressive Mars traveling through transforming Scorpio will intensify these final weeks of the sojourn. If it unearths a few more betrayals, breeches or inconvenient truths, we are richer. These are precisely the experiences and lessons that shape us most. If we are willing to change, vast reserves of Neptunian insight and Chiron healing from compassionate, holistic Pisces will be available. Also lending immense support will be Virgo’s dedication to virtue. Reformed, we can complete this year’s cosmic quest.
According to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “that which does not kill us makes us stronger.” As we ascend from the dark realms, the new Virgo moon on September 15th signals a stellar new dawn. The next day Mercury will move into Cardinal Libra where stoic Saturn is finishing its two-year transit. On September 18th another of those mammoth Uranus Pluto squares will take place, the second in a three-year series of seven. Finally, on the 22nd, the Sun will enter instigating Libra. This sizable and seismic gathering of Cardinal energies is a portal to brighter and better new worlds. It is a turning point at which we can shift from destruction to creation and from disarray to wholeness. To prepare us, organizing, ethical and meticulous Virgo has arrived. It will close the summer of 2012, bestow a little more time for study, analysis and planning and issue its annual call to service. With authenticity, bravery and consistency, those who heed the call can begin building the future.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Sun Into Cancer 2012: Momentous Times
In astrology much psychological and cultural significance is attributed to the discovery of a planet. The idea is that such findings deeply impact the human psyche and the course of collective evolution. For example, destabilizing, innovative Uranus was discovered in 1781, the time of the American and French Revolutions and the beginning of the Industrial Age. Pluto, associated with death, destruction and the underworld, was discovered in 1930. That decade saw the splitting of the atom, the rise of Hitler and the proliferation of organized crime. On June 24th, Uranus and Pluto will form an exact square, the first of a series that will last until the spring of 2015. Revolutionary Uranus is in provocative, independent Aries, and evolutionary Pluto is in institutional, pragmatic Capricorn. From demonstrators challenging the authority of their rulers in Moscow, Damascus and Cairo, to the battle lines being drawn during an election year in the United States, to continued opposition to austerity measures in the European Union, one need only scan the headlines to see the reforming forces of the Uranus Pluto clash at work. In an increasingly transparent world, we also see Uranian humanitarian beliefs challenging Plutonian deception and despotism at every turn. What if instead of viewing the seven coming squares between these colossal powers from a dualistic perspective, old versus new, right opposing left, or conservative against liberal, we choose to dedicate ourselves to the triumph of Universal Truth?
In this paradigm, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent tour of European capitols would serve as a model for harnessing the Uranian Plutonian dynamic in service of human evolution. She challenged the political status quo (Uranus) and consequently lived under house arrest for 15 years, a sentence that would ultimately make her more powerful (Pluto). Only 19 months after being released, Suu Kyi is now traveling abroad to lobby for economic investment and development in Myanmar, and strengthening a government that once repressed her. Suu Kyi’s extraordinary path can be as instructive as it is inspirational. From a holistic perspective, the Uranus Pluto squares can function more like cornerstones than collision points, and their truths can reconcile, resonate and reverberate. We know that tyranny can only be temporary, for it is innately inhuman. When we heartily accept the inevitability of death, we are awakened. Realizing how little time we have here, we can live fully and vigorously. When we embrace the hurt and trauma encompassing our shadows, with the intention to heal, we no longer unconsciously project them. And when we shed the us against them mindset, our connectivity and collective power increase.
If we’re going to transform our lives and positively change the world, we’ll need a little chutzpah. Offering lessons in confidence and courage, and ample supplies of enthusiasm and stamina, mental Mercury will move into spirited Leo on June 25th and fearless Mars will enter diplomatic Libra under the full Cardinal Cross moon of July 3rd. On June 27th Mercury will hit the shadow point of its forthcoming retrograde at 1 degree of Leo. That is the point it will return to at the end of its July 14th through August 8th retrograde. June 27th is also the day Venus turns direct. What we get to practice throughout the shadow and Mercury retrograde is speaking truth to power and saying yes to the new opportunities being presented. Spontaneous Uranus in unflappable Aries will beam supportive rays to Mercury in a fellow fire sign, and it will be part of the grand Cardinal cross of July 3rd. That full moon will host six planets in Cardinal signs, with at least one at each of its four Cardinal points. Early that day lively Mars will charge into Cardinal Libra, energizing the great forward thrust.
That moon, the start of the seven Uranus Pluto square series and the Cancer cycle now getting underway are a powerful portal into the future. They are part and parcel of the greater sea change we are experiencing here on Earth. On one hand domestic Cancer craves emotional intimacy and security. On the other, emerging from beneath its safe, trusty shell to venture onward is the crab’s cosmic imperative. As brave new worlds are born, we find ourselves in this paradox, wanting to cling and needing to grow. For guidance, nostalgic Cancer reaches back in time (it keeps exactly one copy of everything for just this purpose you know), to the reassuring wisdom of one of its most eloquent natives, Henry David Thoreau. In 1854 he offered the following:
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws will be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings."
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Sun Into Gemini 2012: Gentle Release
To every thing there is a season, and nature’s four seasons end under astrology’s four mutable signs: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. Adaptable and flexible, the gentle mutable signs teach us how to bend and move with the tides of change. They also prepare us for the new beginnings represented by astrology’s cardinal signs, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn and Aries, the signs that start the four seasons. In 2012, the Gemini prep time is leading us right into the first of seven exact Uranus Pluto squares. The last time we experienced a series of squares between Uranus and Pluto in cardinal signs was during the Great Depression. Regarded for their ability to facilitate systemic reform, these alignments, which will take place through the spring of 2015, portend great societal shifts. Uranus, in instigating, revolutionary Aries, and Pluto, in ambitions, pragmatic Capricorn, will be at a relatively early eight degrees when they collide under a cardinal Cancer Sun, at three degrees. The seismic force being unleashed by this alignment is about initiation and ignition. What we bring to life and where we land on this evolving landscape will depend greatly on having and holding a clear, integral vision, for ourselves and the world we live in.
Representing what we value, Venus began probing our thoughts under Taurus skies when she began her retrograde on May 15th. In mental Gemini, her love quest is guiding us on a journey into our hearts. She is helping us take an emotional inventory of sorts. Sometimes becoming keenly, if not painfully, aware of what we lack is the key to defining what we want next. From her review vantage point, Venus may speak to us through the language of yearning and loss. The longing and desire that emerge may point us in the new directions we need to take. Some points of inspired illumination ahead include June 1st, when Venus meets up with clever Mercury, June 4th, when the full moon eclipse occurs, and June 5-6th, when Venus crosses the Sun’s path.
The Sun, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter in the sign of travel, communication and technology support dialog, open-mindedness and the exchange of ideas. These transits encourage us to think about and express what we want individually and globally. As our visions become clearer, what we need to release also becomes evident. Several contentious points, especially amongst the planets in mutable signs, arise during the forthcoming cycle. Neptune and Chiron are transiting holistic Pisces, and Mars is gaining momentum opposite them in meticulous, detailed Virgo. While they engage in an argument about the nebulous and the intuitive and the precise and analytical, they will form squares to the planets transiting Gemini and to the full Sagittarius moon. That full moon itself presents a challenge. Gemini loves to meet, mingle and learn. Sagittarius needs to find the deeper meaning behind all of that information. The South lunar node in Gemini and North node in Sagittarius intensify this struggle, and the June 4th eclipse is the final one taking place with the nodes along this axis. We are being asked to strike a balance between frivolity and taking life too seriously. Mercury squares Neptune on May 25th and Mars on the 30th, the Sun squares Neptune on May 23rd and Mars on June 7th, and Venus quarrels with Mars on the full moon. If we look at the issues that surface on these occasions as matters asking for peaceful resolution, then we will see how to bridge divides or completely let go of unproductive situations and patterns.
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