Smile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth!

Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!

Earth of departed sunset — earth of the mountains misty-topt!

Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!

Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!

Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!

Far-swooping elbow'd earth — rich apple-blossom'd earth!

Smile, for your lover comes.
Walt Whitman - Song of Myself

Beltane always falls when the Sun is in Taurus; if you celebrate Beltane astrologically, the Sun will be exactly halfway through Taurus, and halfway between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice — always a few days later than May 1st. (This year, it fell early on Sunday, May 6th) Whether you are heading towards summer or winter, the Earth is in transition. Perhaps this is why the sign of Taurus is so concerned with security, with farming, and the Earth. Taurus’ other main focus is a sensual connection with the Web of LIfe, and the creation and enjoyment of beauty.

The New Moon Eclipse on May 9th will highlight Taurean themes for some months to come. There are four planets (a stellium) in Taurus in this chart — Sun, Moon, Mercury and Mars — and if you follow this blog, you’ll recall that the influence of a solar eclipse can be as long as a year. Saturn in Scorpio provides a balance point for all that Taurean energy. Though there is no direct opposition, as I noted in this post,  “We can look on the progress of Saturn through Scorpio over the next 2 ½ years as an initiatory undertaking  — a deep, transformative time when, if we will discipline ourselves to fulfill the requirements of the body and the Earth, we can create with power, insight and spiritual awareness.”

Venus, the ruler of Taurus, has just moved into bright, aware Gemini, where life is a question to be answered, and connection to others is key. Venus is square to Neptune in Pisces, and Pisces' other ruler, Jupiter, is also in Gemini, unaspected, making it even more of a wildcard than usual.

All of this suggests that in the months to come, issues of material security will be raised again and again at varying levels of intensity depending on how this configuration falls in your personal chart. Are you stuck in a rut somewhere? Has the pursuit of security smothered your creativity and playfulness, or do you need to pay more attention to how you support yourself on this Earth? What are the personal and social costs of the way you live your life? If you don’t ask yourself some of these questions, they will be asked of you, and the answers will demand both action and clear communication.

I believe in the flesh and the appetites,
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.
Walt Whitman - Song of Myself

On April 25th, there will be a partial lunar eclipse. Both New and Full Moons are used for prediction in astrology, and their influence is considered to extend until the next New Moon. Eclipses (which always happen at either a New (solar) or Full (lunar) Moon) have a far longer influence — 6 months to a year.  (I’m going to get into some fairly detailed astrology in the first part of this post, so if you just want my conclusions about how this eclipse will play out in the USA, scan down the article for the text in bold.)

Eclipses are used for prediction in a couple of ways:

• We can cast the chart of the actual event for a particular place — where one is living, or the capital of a country, for instance — and interpret the chart as it stands, with its own angles and houses.
• We can also take that chart and arrange it around the wheel of another chart, such as one’s natal chart, or the chart of a country. This is known as a bi-wheel, and the natal chart is put in the center, using natal angles and house divisions.

For this upcoming eclipse, you will find the chart of the event, cast for Washington, DC, here, and the bi-wheel here, if you want to follow along with my interpretation.

The first thing we’ll look at is the Sun and Moon — the eclipse itself. Here, the Moon is in Scorpio, in the 2nd house and the Sun in Taurus in the 8th (remember that house positions are specific to the place for which the chart was cast — in this case, Washington, DC., which makes this chart relevant for the entire country. The planetary signs and aspects are relevant globally) Immediately, we also see Mars in close conjunction with the Sun, and Saturn conjunct the Moon (a conjunction with Sun or Moon, of course, means an opposition with the other light at a Full Moon). This means both Mars and Saturn, in opposition to each other, can be considered “rulers” of the eclipse. Ack! This is not a happy placement. “Cruelty” is the first word that comes to mind when Mars and Saturn are in tense aspect with each other, especially in Taurus/Scorpio.

Let’s keep looking and see what else stands out.

Just a few quick notes on the Aries New Moon that happened earlier today, and what it might tell us about the month ahead. It gives us a line-up of 5 planets in Aries, Pisces rising in Washington, DC, with Neptune in the 12th, and Mercury on the Ascendant, ruling the 3rd, 4th and 7th houses. Jupiter is in the third house. In the USA’s (Sibley) chart, all the Pisces/Aries action is in the 3rd and 4th houses, squaring natal Mercury, with the Sun and Moon conjunct the USA's natal Chiron. For the country, I very much hope this will manifest as a vigorous public discussion on environmental issues. In my post on the Spring Equinox chart, I noted the strong possibility of industrial accidents, particularly involving mining, fracking, or any extraction of resources. There have been three major oil spill accidents in the country in the past week, and it becomes clearer every day that such a discussion is long overdue.

The stellium in Aries in the New Moon chart suggests a time of pioneering attitudes, of accepting challenges and fighting for freedom. Tempers tend to flare, and no one seems to want to back down. The Obama administration will, I think, be having a hell of a time with foreign affairs, and we all will get an opportunity to think about where courage,  strength, and initiative bleed into foolhardiness, willfulness, and unwarranted aggression. When Mercury moves into Aries in a little over a week, we can expect to see an increase in bombastic rhetoric on the world stage. In our personal lives, we can use this time as an opportunity to communicate with honesty and courage.

Two of the closest aspects in the chart are a inconjunct between Saturn and Uranus, and a sesqui-square between Mercury and Saturn. These are very tense, high-anxiety aspects, both involving Saturn in Scorpio. There is a sense of cruelty here — cruelty fueled by rage. You’ll likely see this played out on the world stage, but watch carefully in your own life and notice where you tend to ignore others’ feelings in pursuit of efficiency or in response to fear.

The chart of the Spring Equinox — cast for the moment the Sun enters the sign of Aries — is arguably the most important of the four Cardinal ingress charts. Many astrologers believe it sets the tone for the entire year, not just the following quarter. It happens at the same moment (not the same clock time) everywhere, so the house positions of the planets are different, depending on the location. Casting the ingress chart for the capital of a country is considered predictive for the whole country for the following quarter regarding the politics, events, attitudes and general zeitgeist. You can analyze the chart for a particular location, and/or analyze it in reference to another chart. Here is the Aries ingress (Spring Equinox) chart cast for Washington, DC, and here is a bi-wheel of that chart around the chart of the USA (Sibley) if you want to follow along with my analysis.

If you follow this blog, you know that one of the major current transits is the ongoing square of Uranus to Pluto, and that aspect is, of course, a major player in this chart — not exact, but still within less than four degrees of orb. (*Note: in the original version of this post, I said the aspect was exact again in June. This is a good example of why we elderly types should not rely on our memories. :-) It's exact again May 20th.) As I mentioned in my discussion of the Winter Solstice chart, Uranus rules electricity, Pluto rules breakdowns and extremes of all kinds, and there were many, many problems with the electric grid over the last few months in different parts of the country, almost all of them due to a series of severe winter storms, as well as a great deal of public discussion around fracking, a very Plutonian process that provides fuel for the electric grid. In the Spring Equinox chart, Mars joins the fray, strong in its own sign, tightly conjunct Uranus (and more widely, the Sun) square the Moon, and, of course, square Pluto. The three planets in Aries cluster around the IC (4th house cusp) of the USA’s chart, and in the first house of the equinox chart.

The first house and its ruler signify the people of a country, as does the Moon, and the fourth house. Mars with Uranus is an explosive aspect, and the public discourse is likely to become even more heated in the upcoming months. Violent expressions of emotion around political beliefs is probable, and the fracking debate will, no doubt, be ongoing. The fourth house rules weather, and Uranus will be in the fourth house of the USA for quite a few more years. Uranus with Mars in this house suggests violent weather or environmental events, as well as highlighting issues of manufacturing and the military. With the square to Pluto, anything to do with mining, fracking, extraction of resources will be a focus, and industrial, mining, or environmental accidents cannot be ruled out. Munitions also come under the rulership of Mars, and I expect the gun control debate to continue to rage. We are also likely to see exhibitions of moral courage (thank you, Bradley Manning), and possibly some more remarkable scientific breakthroughs (hello, Higgs boson! BTW, that discovery was announced just after Mars had entered Aries).

In my last post, I looked at how we can utilize the energy of Uranus in Aries in a positive way. In this post, I’ll do the same with the other arm of the Uranus-Pluto square — Pluto in Capricorn.

There is an underlying structure to any society — a system of laws, rules, regulations, limits, and taboos that are needed for the smooth operation of human social interactions — the roads and bridges that get us from one place to another, the procedures we use in conducting business, the laws we make to regulate human behaviors, and the invisible structures of cultural expectations.There is an underlying structure to any individual life — a system to fulfill the necessities of food and shelter, demands of family, tribe and society, moral and religious strictures, and of course, the cultural expectations that both support and bind us.

Most of us believe that these systems — or some other systems — are required for the good of all, that without laws, rules, regulations and structures, our civilization would descend into violent chaos. Some of us note that our global civilization — despite reams and terabytes of laws, rules and regulations — is remarkably violent and chaotic, business and government are frequently and blatantly unprincipled and manipulative, we are poisoning our own nest, and many of the systems we have in place support and encourage this kind of suicidal, homicidal and ecocidal behavior. There must, we think, be a better way. There must be indeed, because Pluto’s in Capricorn, and everything we thought we knew about the structures in our lives is likely to change.

We look around us, look at the news, and we see pressure, and tension. We see courage (thank you, Malala) and change. We see explosions, violence, power run amok, and dug-in-at-the-heels stubbornness. There is a buzz in the world of astrology around this aspect we call the Uranus-Pluto square. I see its effects in the charts of my clients, my friends, and my own chart as well. I see its effects in the chart of the USA, in the charts of large organizations, in every Cardinal Ingress chart last year and for a couple more years to come. So I’m pretty certain there is a lot to be learned from this configuration, and in this post, I’m going to explore some of the ramifications of one side of the square — Uranus in Aries.

The square is a 90 degree aspect of tension, and many people do not handle tension well, which is why squares often seem to manifest as difficult events. It’s a stressful aspect that demands integration and synthesis as the path to growth and progress. Taking the wisdom that can be gained from both planets and signs involved, then weaving those insights together into a sturdy rope that you can cast into the future, is the way to handle a square. Unfortunately, it’s also possible to weave a rope long enough to hang yourself by drawing on the negative characteristics of the planets and signs. The difference, of course, is conscious awareness and intention. Let’s look at how we might utilize Uranus in Aries for spiritual growth and positive change.

Both the planet Uranus and the sign Aries resonate strongly with the concept of freedom. Aries needs freedom to act, to establish the self in the world, “to boldly go where no one has gone before”. Aries needs to DO something, and restrictions of any kind are anathema. Uranus insists on freedom because it is required for change, and to establish independence and uniqueness.

The secular New Year is a great time to update your calendar, whether it’s in pixels or on paper. As much as I appreciate my ephemeris and all the astrological pocket planners out there, there are some astrological events that are worth adding to your daily calendar, particularly if your spiritual practice revolves around the cycles of the Sun and Moon, or if you work magic, Here are some events that you may find are worth calendaring, so you’ll be reminded to work with — or work around — the planetary energies at the appropriate times.

Retrograde Periods for the Planets

You may want to include only the Mercury retrograde periods in your calendar, since Mercury is the planet that screws up our daily lives the most. (Did you know that Mercury rules not only communications but our daily routines and our immediate environment, as well? This is why Mercury Rx tends to be so disruptive) But there is much to be gained —  practically, magically and spiritually — from being aware of the retrograde periods of the other planets as well. I’ll write more about those retrogrades as they come around this year, and you can read more about the current Jupiter Rx here. You’ll also want to check out this listing of the dates and degrees of all the planetary retrogrades for this year.

New and Full Moons, and Eclipses

The conjunction and opposition of the Sun and Moon (new and full Moons) are points of shift in the energy of every month, and they emphasize each sign and its opposite as the Sun passes through the Wheel of the Year -- an important consideration for magickal work. Magically, you may want to plan workings to coincide with appropriate New or Full Moons (New Moon in Gemini to begin a writing project, for instance). Some magicians prefer to wait until the aspect is separating, which can bring the Moon out of the appropriate sign if the aspect occurs late in the sign.

We looked at the chart of the Winter Solstice, 2012 from a mundane (world affairs) standpoint a couple of weeks ago, and this post will interpret the same chart, but from the viewpoint of the magician or spiritual seeker who is looking for clues about how to utilize the energy of this quarter to grow and transform. The Capricorn Ingress chart (another name for the chart of the Winter Solstice) can be consulted for personal insight as well as mundane, and set against one’s birth chart in the same way I set it against the chart of the USA. (If you have not read my first post on this chart, you might want to do that now, because it gives insights into and explanations of the chart’s structure that I will not repeat here.)

As we move through the difficult challenges of this transformative time, it helps to look closely at the current astrology so we can learn how to ride these waves of change into an evolutionary future, instead of a bleak, painful, or destructive one. In the same way that a farmer must consult the weather before choosing what work to do during any given day, week or month, it is useful for magicians to consult the astrological weather to determine what magical work will be most likely to meet with favorable results. More importantly, the cycles of the planets provide spiritual lessons that are uniquely suited to the time, and, if we look at them against the backdrop of our own birth charts, we will find those lessons personalized for us.

You might want to cast the chart for the moment of the solstice (12/21/12 @ 11:12 a.m. GMT — adjust for your time zone) in your location, then put that chart in a bi-wheel with your natal chart, and look in which houses of your birth chart the planets and the angles of the solstice chart fall, as well as any natal planets that are closely aspected from the solstice chart. This will tell you what issues and areas of your life will be activated. (If that last part just went right over your head, don’t worry. I will bold my conclusions, so those who don’t want the astrological techniques can skip through.)

I know little about the Mayan Calendar — just that this Winter Solstice is supposed to mark the end of a major cycle in that calendar. I know a little more — but not much — about the alignment of the Sun with galactic equator and the Dark Rift of the Milky Way, also purportedly on this date, though it is my understanding that the astronomy of this alignment is difficult to measure with any precision within years, much less days. While I do not doubt that we are at a time of profound, historic shift and change for the human race, I personally do not think that the turning of an age can be accurately said to happen on one particular day, even as a pivot point. A mountain cannot pivot on the head of a pin.

So if you were looking for end of the world, or even end of the age predictions, you won’t find them here. I’ll be interpreting the Capricorn Ingress Chart, the chart for the moment of the Winter Solstice, in the same way I interpreted the Libra Ingress Chart  — as a look ahead at the next three months using standard Western astrology, and staying within the bounds of our solar system. As usual, I have cast this chart for Washington, DC, which reflects the meaning of the chart for the entire USA.

We have quite a bit of astrological activity happening this week, not the least of which is a lunar eclipse on Wednesday. The action actually began this past Friday morning, as Mars, the planet of violence, triggered the Uranus-Pluto square by squaring Uranus, the planet of upheavals and sudden events. Predictably, all over the country, Black Friday triggered fights, chaos, guns and knives drawn, and even a gang fight that ended up filling a mall with pepper spray. Mars goes on to conjunct Pluto on Tuesday, the eclipse happens on Wednesday, and…oh, how could I forget — Mercury goes direct today!

A Look Back at Mercury Retrograde

This week, I’m going to demonstrate how we can interpret the personal effects of an eclipse by looking at it through the lens of our own charts, and I will use Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chart as an example. But first, I’d like to clear up some lingering misconceptions about Mercury retrogrades, particularly the astrological predictions made about the Mercury station on Election Day.

Back in September, when I interpreted the Libra Ingress chart, I wrote:

“The military symbolism in this Mars-rising Libra Ingress chart is inescapable, as are indicators of foreign policy challenges for the President. My guess is there will be much saber-rattling, but I suspect any direct military action (in other words, not just troop movements for show) will be secretive, targeted strikes, like the bin Laden assassination, that become known only after the fact, if at all. There will be a lot going on behind the scenes — the whole situation in the Middle East, for instance, is like an iceberg, with only a small percentage visible — and there may be a surprising diplomatic coup for the administration.”

The current situation with Israel and Hamas — lobbing bombs and rockets at each other, neither recognizing that the other even has a right to exist — has certainly been a foreign policy challenge for the administration, but most of the pundits were saying that the USA would have no real ability to broker a cease-fire in this situation because of the administration’s clearly-stated and unbending support for Israel. And yet, there was Secretary Clinton right next to Egyptian foreign minister Amr as the announcement of a cease fire was made, and we read that President Obama had spoken to both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Egyptian President Morsi. Looks like a diplomatic coup, but I don’t think the cease fire will last, and not just because it was brokered during a Mercury and a Jupiter retrograde period. Let’s take a look at the chart of Israel first, and then I will explain my thoughts on this…

I’m going to start a series of occasional lessons —  I’ll try to do at least one or two a month — on how Witches, Pagans and other magickal and spiritual people can use our own natal charts both to help time our magickal workings, and to adjust our spiritual practices to take advantage of the prevailing astrological "weather". This is Lesson One, in which we learn exactly what the heck we are looking at when we look at a natal chart - a chart that is calculated (we usually say "cast") for the moment and place of a birth.

I’ve given a lot of thought to how best to approach this, and I’ve decided I am going to try to keep these lessons as simple as possible, while providing links to articles that go into more depth for those of you who want it, so watch for the links in the text. Also, I’ll be teaching the system of astrology that I use, which is modern, Western astrology, using Placidus or Koch houses.

To read an astrology chart, there are only a few things you need to know:

You may have noticed that this week’s post is a little late, or maybe next week’s is a bit early, depending on how much writing I get done the rest of this week. :-) My personal Mercury retrograde incident happened as that planet entered its shadow, conjuncting my Mars, and I’ve been recovering from some first-world trauma in the form of an unexpected computer failure — and the backup drive failed at the same time. Yeah, I didn’t think that would ever happen, either. All is well now, and the new computer is a jewel, but I’m still catching up. And speaking of the new computer, I want to give a shout-out to the good folks at Matrix Software. I’ve been using their astrology programs since the pre-Windows days of DOS, and their customer support has always been exceptionally good. They were a big help this time when I ran into some questions about my new setup. I use their WinStar Pro software, but they have excellent, less expensive options as well. Find them here.

November's New Moon falls on Tuesday the 13th, at 22 degrees of Scorpio, and a solar eclipse happens a few minutes later. Like any New Moon, this one will indicate the planetary energies in play for the month ahead, but the influence of eclipses tends to last for several months, and this one will be particularly noticeable in the lives of people (or countries, or businesses, etc.) who have personal planets or angles in their natal chart at between 19 degrees and 25 degrees of any of the fixed signs (Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus, Leo).

(This post is going to get a bit technical, for the benefit of those who are interested in the astrology, so I will bold my conclusions for those who want to skip the astro-jargon and just cut to the chase. All the charts I discuss will have links to pdfs of the charts themselves, so you can see what I’m looking at.)

Let’s take a look at the astrology of Election Day here in the U.S., and also revisit the Libra Ingress chart, which I posted about back in September. In that post, I noted that, with Neptune in Pisces in the 4th house of the chart, cast for Washington, DC, “there is the potential for some large-scale watery weather” in the last quarter of the year.

You’ll also note that Uranus rules the 4th in this chart, and is itself in the 5th — my guess is that Sandy will be, as advertised, an unprecedented and remarkably disruptive storm, I expect there will be particular problems in regard to school systems and educational institutions, and, quite possibly, technical problems within the NY Stock Exchange. I am concerned about health and sanitation issues in the aftermath of the storm, and we also can’t ignore the likelihood of lingering storm-related problems interfering with voting on Election Day.

The astrology of Election Day this year is chaotic, and, like Sandy, unprecedented. This is only the second time in the history of U.S. elections that Mercury has stationed on Election Day. The first time was in 2000, when it stationed direct (and you remember what happened then. Hanging chads, anyone?) This year, it stations retrograde in the 12th house of the U.S. chart (Sibley), in mutual reception with Jupiter, also retrograde, in Gemini in the 7th house, conjunct the Descendent. Regardless of storm-related problems, I believe these aspects will reflect legal challenges around the elections, and with transiting Mercury trining transiting Uranus in Aries, these challenges will be widely seen as confrontations over personal and religious freedoms and rights.

I’m going to change the format of this blog, as of today. Instead of the “Magickal Monday” updates, I’ll be looking at the upcoming transits once a month, just before the New Moon. The other three weeks, I’ll be writing on other astrological and astro/magickal topics. I particularly want to investigate how Pagans, Witches and other magickal people can understand our own birth charts well enough to time personal spiritual and magickal workings, and determine how the current astrological “weather” affects us on both a spiritual and a mundane level.  While astrology is a complex and many-layered topic, the basics are no more difficult to learn than Tarot — maybe less! — and learning to use your own chart as a tool for spiritual and magickal growth is an investment of time that pays off generously.

This week, I want to look at an ongoing flowing relationship between Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto in the upcoming year that is worth considering carefully, so we can weave its energy into our lives in a creative and beneficial way. Here’s what’s happening:

• Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn are in mutual reception (each in the sign the other rules)
• Neptune is strong in its own sign, Pisces
• Saturn is trining Neptune and sextiling Pluto three times over the next 10 months

Now, what does that all mean? As always, a planetary configuration like this heralds a process, both culturally and individually. We can look on the progress of Saturn through Scorpio over the next 2 ½ years as an initiatory undertaking  — a deep, transformative time when, if we will discipline ourselves to fulfill the requirements of the body and the Earth, we can create with power, insight and spiritual awareness.

But there needs to be knowledge and intention to leverage the energy of these aspects. They are flowing, easy aspects that offer us a harmonious way of managing the profound, shocking energies released by the Uranus-Pluto square, but, because they are easy, they don’t force anything. We need to make a choice to tap into their energy and use it to help us navigate through the times ahead. So, here’s how to grab the brass ring…

A short update this week, as I’ve been traveling.

Monday brings a Dark Moon with a fiery trine of Mars to Uranus. As I mentioned in last week’s post, this is an aspect that will be in effect for a couple of days. Mars is a planet that frequently triggers longer-term transits, and it will also be approaching a semi-sextile to Pluto on Wednesday. So expect an influx of energy right through the middle of the week. These aspects will help you take something in your life to a deeper level, but be careful not to get obsessive about your enthusiasms, especially once the Moon moves into the sign that defines obsession —  Scorpio — around 8:00 pm (all times EDT).

About twelve hours before that, though, the Moon joins the Sun for the New Moon in Libra, bringing our attention to the need for balance and relationship. Use this shift of energy to tend your altar, and refocus and renew your intent around any spells you have working, and consider what you might want to change in your life. If you are familiar with your own chart, check which house this New Moon falls in (23 degrees Libra), and consider what areas will be emphasized for you this month, adjusting your magickal goals accordingly. You may not want to do actual workings right at the New Moon, however — many magicians prefer to wait for her to gain some light first, and do their workings at the crescent, or even the first quarter.

 The week opens Monday with a waning Quarter Moon in sensitive Cancer (The Cancer Moon is always a waning Moon at this time of year. Do you know why? Studying the cycles of the Moon can bring a lot of insight).  Mid-morning (all times EDT), the Sun and Venus move into tense relationship with Neptune and Uranus, respectively. Moodiness, over-sensitivity, tension in relationships are all real possibilities, as are unexpected expenses, issues around self-image, and a general lack of clarity. 

Four planets change signs this week, pointing to a dramatic shift in the collective consciousness, in the zeitgeist. What will trigger this shift? With Uranus in Aries under pressure  from Pluto and Saturday’s Full Moon, who knows? Uranus deals in the unexpected, the sudden, the big surprise, and Pluto’s realm is hidden, and underground.

We do know that the astrology of the moment calls for leadership, individual initiative, and courage blended with a willingness to change and transform in order to create new collective structures. Each individual, of course, will feel these collective demands in different areas of their personal lives. Do you know which houses of your chart are being affected by the current planetary line-up? If not, you might consider looking into it. Having a good grasp of the underlying issues involved for your personally can help you make wiser decisions when you are under pressure from unexpected events.

Monday features some challenging aspects of the Moon to Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, suggesting difficulties in communications, misunderstood actions, and stressful emotional scenarios that pit personal needs against social obligations. The Moon moves into Taurus around 7:30 p.m. (all times EDT), then sextiles Neptune. A nice night for a movie at home, or some magick to help with financial flow.