Another kind of Neptune Transit, Hello Jupiter (and Uranus)

Well, I've had a few weeks and still I've only just begun the Neptune transit to my Moon and Mercury. In the meantime, I have also discovered (I'm a little slow) that Neptune is just moving away from a Quincunx or Inconjunct to my natal Uranus/Jupiter conjunction.This makes sense as I have been questioning my belief system (Jupiter and Neptune ruled) quite a bit. Had a long talk with a very nice, devout Christian and even borrowed a bible to see if there was anything I had missed when I passed Christianity by. I found out there wasn't. It was as I remembered and I couldn't reconcile my personal relationship with God/Goddess with the guy they were talking about in the Book. This is not a slam to any Christians out there, I have the greatest respect for all paths leading to Spirit. This is just my personal quest and where The Great Spirit has lead me in this life. But, during this transit I was very open to new ideas and now that Neptune is moving away I find that one cannot deny one's own expereinces and connections to the world even if others (or even temporarily, you!) think they are wrong. This much I learned, and not for the first time I might add. Now that Neptune is leaving my Jupiter/Uranus conjunction Uranus is giving me back the courage, nay the impetus, to hold to my own truth no matter what. With Uranus it is always about your truth or the absolute truth in any situation you find yourself in, and you had better be real about it, no matter what. So I have come full circle and find myself back where I was at the beginning of this journey. It was not for nothing though. It had been years since I took a look at other religions. It was time to explore them again. I was so much younger then, I may have gotten it wrong. It is good to know that I didn't. At least, not for me. I feel more sure of myself and perhaps just a little frustrated that, as I told my Christian friend: "The game is rigged." I cannot just decide to be something I am not because it is easier and far less lonely. 

A Neptune Transit

As an astrologer I have certain advantages over an average citizen of the world. I can track the up and down cycles of my life and study them. When bad things happen to astrologers they have charts and graphs and books they can pour over that give them answers to many of life’s trickier questions. At the very least, we can see when a particularly harrowing time will have an end. That is, until that old devil Neptune comes a calling.

I was born with a fairly tight opposition between my Moon and Mercury in my natal chart. The natal chart Moon is primarily someone’s feelings and emotions.

That is: what and how you feel about things, how you process those feelings, your intuition, your empathy, the irrational side of you and how you find and cultivate your own feelings of security in an insecure world. Other themes that orbit around the moon include your subconscious and anything to do with females, (mom, and women in general) just to name a few.

On the other hand, Mercury represents the mind. What we think about, how we think about it, what and how we talk about, and communication of almost any kind.

Neptune is currently stomping on them both in the form of a square. It isn’t pretty and since Neptune moves very slowly and with the orb I use I could be in this situation for a few years. In short, I have a long way to go. Neptune’s influence on any planet is soon felt in the form of loss, even futility. Neptune “erodes” “fogs up” and "dissolves" much of the foundational strength and understanding you may have spent a lifetime building. In this case it is my feelings and emotions and my mental processes, like thinking and communicating. That’s all.

So, how does that feel? Well, it feels awful. First you start feeling unsure about yourself. The insecurity comes from the fact that your usual mode of operation (M.O.) is not working anymore. Either because other people are challenging it or you can’t find it. Suddenly the things that used to inspire you or conversely, tick you off just aren’t anymore…HUH? What happened? Or, in the current vernacular: WTF? Whatever Neptune is touching, the planet and all it represents, begins to get erased to a certain extent. Then because you aren’t sure anymore what is “what” you look outside of yourself for some indicators, loose your boundaries and end up confusing what others think or feel with what you think or feel. You say things you don’t really mean and take what other people say wrong as well. Grand hi-jinks ensue and not the fun city kind. Nothing is as you thought it was. How could you be so stupid, blind, naïve etc.?

A very disconcerting vulnerability descends on your psyche. 

You walk around uncharacteristically crying and when people ask you what the trouble is, you may have an answer, but you know that if things were normal you wouldn’t be this upset. You just can’t handle what you used to handle and you don’t know why. You get touchy and depressed. What is the point of it all? If I survive this week that will come in the form of part two.

The August Sun

We are a month behind weather-wise in the inland Northwest. It all started with a very cold and rainy spring that really never let up until sometime in early July. We were probably the only place in the country fairly cool all summer. However, now that September is here, we are having our August temperatures at last. In the northern hemisphere August is usually everyone's hottest month. Appropriately, the sun is in charge of August in astrology because it is the ruling planet of Leo. Most sun sign Leos are born in August. In the public arena it is specifically the sun and sun sign astrology that gets the most press (That should please all the Leos out there.) Everyone is familiar with their sun sign. When we look at the sun symbolically it is representative of the center of the self or, our home base of operations, a touchstone for all that we are in this lifetime, and it governs our self expression, so after all, this is a pretty important piece of the personality to consider.

Besides being a powerful planet in its own right, sometimes the sun can actually be over emphasized in a person and of course that would be reflected in the natal chart. The most common ways a planetary energy can get ramped up are:

1) The sign the sun is in at time of birth can make it stronger

2) Where it is placed in a natal chart, especially when on the cusp of the angular houses 1^st, 4^th, 7^th, or 10^th 

3) By aspect: a planet’s power can be increased (or decreased) by its association with other planets    

But when it comes to this “planet” you don’t need to be an astrologer to observe someone with stronger sun energy flowing through their chart. Just like the August sun they are quite noticeable! There is a line from the movie Jurassic Park that describes this situation quite well. In an early scene when the guests are being introduced in the helicopter, Dr. Hammond the park curator, has this to say about one of them:

“You’ll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm he suffers from a deplorable excess of personality.” Have you ever encountered someone like that? When they walk into a room they will take the conversation over. You may admire the way they unabashedly light up the room and never apologize for being who they are. They may be funny, clever or just very entertaining. They’ll delight in being the center of attention and even make you feel somehow special. When it comes to life, they are “all in.”

Sometimes though, the intensity of that sun can also create the loudest or even the most obnoxious person you’ve ever met. (At least you will remember them!) Like the hottest summer sun they can be overwhelming, unrelenting, and exhausting wearing you down until you run for the shade.

           

The North Node: Compass to a Fullfilling Life

There was a joke going around several years ago and it went like this: "This life is a test, it is only a test. If this had been a real life you would have been given instructions as to where to go and what to do."  It was very funny because so many of us feel we came into this world without a manual. So where can we go or who can we ask to give us a sense of what we have been put here to do? The answer is: The North Node. The only place I know to get this valuable information is with a natal chart in hand. The moon's nodes (both north and south) mark the pathway where the moon crosses the sun creating sensitive points in a chart. When reading a chart they are the indicators of the native's past (South Node) and their future (North Node). The sign the South Node is in tells what kind of energy and activity has been done to death and needs no further investment of that person's time. The North Node's sign tells the bearer what will give them a feeling of novelty and excitement because it is a new concept to them. By studying and following the sign indicators of their North Node the native can actually receive instructions on where to go and what to do in this life! There are lists of careers for every sign of course, but beyond that, one may simply cultivate an attitude and develop a playbook that matches the sign of their "North" and feel a certain satisfaction, a rare frisson everywhere they go. My North Node is in Sagittarius, a sign of higher learning and philosophy.  I notice when I blindly take on projects that make my heart beat a little faster or things that promote my chosen career, if I check back on that moment transit-wise my North Node is throwing a party and has invited quite a few friends. When I started this blog the North Node in the sky was on my own NNode.Neptune currently traveling through my 10th house made a nice sextile to my NNode and the Sun, Mercury and Venus (in the 4th) were all trining it. Nice indicators of communicating with my fellow human beings spiritually orientated musings and (hopefully) having a positive impact on not only them, but myself as well. Nothing like getting a little astrological cheer-leading from the sidelines.  

The Once a Week Moon and my Mother

I live in the country so going to town is always an expedition of sorts. One that I can easily track by the moon's movements through my chart. My trips to town almost always involve my mother because we enjoy shopping together. I pick her up and we embark on those essential errands of life that usually include food, liquor, and hardware acquisitions. The day of the week that I choose to do these things always involves the moon. This is as it should be for the moon's transits are indicative of when I will feel like doing something. The day I go to town the transiting moon makes contact with certain planets in my chart. This isn't that unusual because once again, the moon moves fast so it is bound to run through a few aspect angles to some point or planet in my chart throughout the course of a day. It's the two or three consistent planets the moon is making contact with that grabs my attention. There is always an exact major aspect by the moon to my moon, my Venus and to a lesser degree my sun whenever I go to town. We all know that the sun symbolically represents our individuality, our center of operations so that aspect is fairly prosaic. In addition to mood, feelings and emotions the moon most commonly represents mother and nurturing. In addition to love, beautification and our social life in natal charts Venus represents women in general.  

Day by day the moon in the sky is busy setting up small happenings throughout each day and the planets in a chart that the moon is having major transits with tells us with whom or what are we dealing with? What is the flavor of the day? The moon/mood of that day for me, is consistently about women and almost always involves one woman in particular: my mother.

Everything is Transitory

Many of the entries in this blog will be about Transits. Transits in astrology are the tracking of the planets (and points) above our head, what they are doing right now, what position they are in (sign) and what geometric angle or what relationship they are having to, not only the other planets in the sky but our own natal charts as well. I have never been one of those astrologers who checked their transits religiously in fact, I almost never check my transits at all! The short answer to why would be sheer laziness on my part. There have been times in my life when some happening had me running for my ephemeris (the big book of planetary movements) for answers to: "What the hell was that?" after it's passing left me bleeding in the street. Anyway, after some time in this field of study I have just acquired enough experience that I can pretty much tell what kind of transit I am having by the flavor of it, the signature traits are just there and soon recognized as a familiar pattern. This usually applies only to the really big transits, the ones from the powerful outer planets (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) as they make themselves known pretty fast, loud and long. However, with this blog I will be moving into a new territory on my map, requiring me to monitor more closely some of the smaller, faster planetary movements and the effect they have on me and consequently, all of us. This will be a fun learning experience for me. (Spoken like a true Gemini rising) 
One "planet" I am starting to gain some new feeling of movement from is the Moon. (Yes, we astrologers know that the Moon is not a planet but in astrology the Sun and Moon are called planets) The Moon moves very fast and it's effects on people are likewise fleeting. However it can make a big difference in a day, one day in our lives. A lot can happen in a day can't it? The Moon can act like a trigger to a larger transit gun that is pointed straight at your life. BOOM! Even if the pieces take weeks, months or even years to sort themselves out, the Moon by it's movement will make this particular day your day of reckoning by adding it's energy to the Neptune or Pluto transit already in the works. 
When we don't have major transits sitting on us or in our natal charts, times are quieter. Then the Moon is a daily barometer of every day life. What kind of day did I have today? How did I feel? How did everyone around me feel? What is the mood out there anyway? The sign the moon is in and where it sits in my chart and yours will tell us that. Tomorrow it will all be different...after all, tomorrow is another day!

Every Day Astrology

 

When I started my love affair with astrology in 1968 I never suspected it would take over my life. I guess that is what happens when you have a passion for something, you become obsessed. (Obsession is ruled by the planet Pluto by the way.) After all the studying, doing astrology readings and teaching, astrology is just the way I look at life now period. What a life it is and what a life we all have, filled with portent and meaning at every turn if we only have a way to think about it. Astrology has always given me (and my clients) a wonderful perspective because it's hard to get a handle on things, to really sit back and become the observer of your own life, while you are living it. The astrological natal chart is a personal compass and the best road map I have found when I am trying to get from here to where ever. When I am out in the woods or in town observing life, astrology is a way to describe not only what is, but what is happening and why. Every process in nature and that includes human nature, has an astrological category, like a ruling planet or sign that helps me to connect with it and get more insight and here I will share that as I may.