Astrological news this week: Mars/Neptune and Gemini season

Posted on by Lynn

 

Astrological update for the week of May 16-23, 2022

How did everyone fare during the eclipse Sunday night? I was knocked so off kilter (the eclipse squared my natal Pluto which and a bunch of progressed planets) that I forgot what day it was yesterday! So this forecast is late, but hopefully better late than never as they say.

This week is a bit quieter astrologically, although Mars, planet of action teams up with Neptune, planet of transcendence, in the sign of Pisces (culminating around 2:30 am on Wednesday). At its best this planetary combination can release a torrent of creative energies and unbridled compassion; at its worst, it can bring confusion and the kind of passive aggression that Mars in Pisces is known for. Mars needs to express itself forcefully, and in Pisces that force is watered down and sometimes disappears, so the aggression of Mars can be quite leaky and come out in unexpected places.

The Moon will have moved from Scorpio after the eclipse into Sagittarius which can be a  mixed blessing: Sagittarius is certainly hopeful and optimistic, but if the wrong thing is expanded under the Sagittarius influence it can cause problems. Tread carefully in the evening of the 17th (Tuesday) when the Sagittarius Moon will face off against Mars and Neptune.

On the heels of a powerful eclipse this can be somewhat destabilizing so in the early part of the week we may want to try to avoid open conflict where possible and wait for the fog to clear. It shouldn’t take long for that to happen since the Moon enters Capricorn on the 18th around 8 am which helps to ground and stabilize. Then a harmonious trine from the Sun to powerful Pluto on the 19th will burn through the clouds and help to clear up any confusion. Mercury (mind) harmonizes with Jupiter (optimism) the same day which helps to enhance understanding and generally positive thinking for an extra boost of clarity.

The Moon enters Aquarius on Friday the 20th at 8:52 am EDT, and then the Sun enters Gemini at 9:22 pm on the same day. This shift into the airy element, especially with Mercury retrograde, brings new energy into the mental realm and makes any kind of communication easier and more facile, especially since the Sun conjoins Mercury on Saturday the 21st at 3:17 pm. This marks the midpoint of the retrograde cycle and because both Sun and Mercury are at zero degrees of Gemini, the very first degree, that Gemini influence is a powerful one. Curiosity, changeability, adaptation – all of these aspects are highlighted now. This is a wonderful time for writers and communicators of all kinds.

The Moon will leave Aquarius for dreamy Pisces on Sunday May 22nd, bringing back some of clouds of illusion that we saw earlier in the week because it will form a challenging square to the Sun and Mercury. But this lasts for only a few hours late morning that day EDT, and a lovely harmonious sextile from Mars to transformative Pluto builds throughout the day to culminate around 6:15 pm EDT.  In addition, Mercury retrogrades back into Taurus to facilitate completion of anything left undone.

If there is something you’ve been trying to accomplish which has been a challenge because of retrograde do-overs or Mars/Neptune confusion, Sunday might be the perfect day to make it happen, especially the Sun and Jupiter are moving into a beautifully harmonious alignment for good fortune which culminates on Monday May 23rd.

That takes us nicely to the end of the week!  I hope you have a good one. ❤️gs and writings by Lynn Hayes.

Musing on Saturn in Aries and the 12th house

Posted on by Astrobant

 I have a chart here with Saturn in Aries in the 12th house. 

 

It gives me a headache… 

 

A headache is a relevant interpretation. Aries rules the head, Saturn is often painful, Saturn in Aries gives me a headache. Literally or metaphorically. 

 

 

 

 

Metaphorically a headache means struggling with thinking. Thinking is usually associated with Gemini and Mercury. I won’t contradict that, but the exciting difficulty of astrology – is that it is never so simple. 

 

Mars and Aries rule the head, and thinking doesn’t happen in the lungs as far as I know. We often hear that Mercury rules the mind so how does this work with the association of Mars and Aries ruling the head?… let’s just refine a bit: 

 

 Mercury connects. There is an expression: connecting the dots. Mercury does just that. 

 

The mind does a lot of connecting, so much so that we end up associating Mercury and the mind. In reality, all planets are involved in everything. 

 

So what is the Aries or Mars quality of the mind? Let me show you. In meditation we want to be conscious of who we are, at the core, in our heart. In meditation we are coming back to the dot at the centre of the circle – the Sun within. Or at least we try. It takes some training because we have a tendency to rush away from the centre, like the symbol of Mars, an arrow rushing away from the circle. With Mars we go back to the front of our being, to the frontal mind, and we’re already thinking of what we are going to do next. 

 

Joan Hodgson in “Astrology the Sacred Science”  says that Mars (and the Moon incidentally) rule over the frontal mind. In this respect we can say that it takes our awareness away from the heart and we live in our head instead – and not anywhere in our head but at the front. This can be a positive attribute, we need Mars to exist on the material plane, confront reality and act in the world.

  

 

Now let’s turn to Saturn….

 

Saturn is a power that wants control – and better than control, to  master. In the 12th house, one of the best ways to live Saturn is “spiritual discipline”. 

 

Someone who practises meditation, yoga, Qi Kung, Fasting, prayer… is doing something Saturn – 12th. There are other possible expressions of course, but I am not here to make a long long list of positive and negative expressions, it would never be complete. What I suggest is to get the spirit of the placement… 

 

As we have seen, Aries is an energy that leads. What leads our consciousness is our attention. Saturn the old master in Aries and the 12th house wants to be able to master attention. Being able to focus, in the middle of the sea of desires and dreams… 

 

So Saturn in Aries in the 12th wants to master this tendency of the mind to take our consciousness away from the centre and rush into worldly concerns. 

 

An awkward way of doing that is trying to block the thoughts. This is a lost battle. However we do manage to suppress a number of thoughts, for instance thoughts charged with anger – anger sounds like Aries – 

 

When we suppress an angry thought, we are like a magician who puts a bad spirit in a bottle, seals it and throws it at the bottom of the sea – at the bottom of the 12th house. Then later on when we meditate we find it difficult to just calm the mind down because if it calms down we are like the fisherman who finds the bottle and opens it. Then there is a big smoke of anger coming out of it and it is very unpleasant to say the least. 

 

But unlike the fisherman of the Arabian nights who tricks the Bad Genie back into the bottle, we need to understand and soothe this anger, because it belongs to us, to the child or the young person we were a long time ago…

And if we can do that, we achieve a little bit of mastery… 

 

Let’s think about these themes in another way…

 

Saturn wants to control. Aries wants speed. 

 

In Aries mode, Saturn says: “Hurry Up!”… or “Slow down!” according to the context. For example, in a chart with Taurus Rising, Saturn in Aries is more likely to say “Hurry up!”  

 

But because it is in the 12th, it may be felt as an inner feeling coming from the depth. “I have to hurry! Why am I always in a rush? Even when I could take it easy I manage to be late and I have to rush!”…

 

 Once I asked a Libra Rising with Saturn in Aries near the Descendant but in the 6th… Do people tell you to hurry up? She smiled and said “All the time!!!” –even if it’s in the 6th and not in the 7th it is in the Western part of the chart – so more likely to be met through others…

 

 Another picture comes to  mind: the dissolving effect of the 12th house made me think of children building sandcastles quickly, very quickly, before the next wave washes the fortifications away… It’s just a game, it’s fun but aren’t we often living our lives racing against time to achieve things that won’t last? 

 

The presence of Saturn reminds us that our Aries-like efforts to remain eternally young, strong and beautiful can create a bitter existence unless we remember the immortal beauty of our souls and the impermanence inherent at the core of life… 

 

 I am Jean-Marc, storyteller and astrologer. I write astro stories. If you want one… use the contact form on my website! It’s there: https://www.jeanmarcpierson.com/

There is certainly more to Saturn, to Aries and to the 12th house than what I have been able to conjure up in this storyline, so much more… But that’s what came up for this time. If the flavour is there, there is the spirit.

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio, May 15-16, 2022

Posted on by Neith

Eclipses do have a way of getting our attention and this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse at 25° 18’ Scorpio on 15 May 2022, 09:15 PM PDT features a fixed T-Square with Saturn in Aquarius squaring the Scorpio Moon and Taurus Sun. Full Moons are also associated with extreme tides, both high and low. And what is hidden at high tide will be revealed when the tide is at its lowest. We may have to face how deeply unhappy we are with what we perceive as limitations built into societal structures (Saturn in Aquarius).

This is one of those situations where there might not appear to be much happening on the surface at this time. Scorpio plays a long game and this particular Scorpio Full Moon is widely sextile Scorpio’s ruler, Pluto in Capricorn, which suggests deep changes are in the works. Another factor at play is Mars conjoining Neptune in Pisces with both trine the Scorpio Moon and sextile the Taurus Sun. This hints that going with the flow combined with common sense solutions can go a long ways towards easing the pain of having to give up cherished ideas, possessions, relationships, etc even though all of those things were holding us back from realizing our full potential.

The waxing sextile between retrograde Mercury in Gemini and Jupiter in Aries (exact on May 19) is about using Mercury in Gemini’s natural brilliance to find ways to review what’s happening in our lives from a positive point of view. Jupiter in Aries is very forward looking and optimistic. This duo can get carried away and dump waaaay more information than we can take in at one time. One approach is throwing out the extreme ideas first, then carefully consider what is left to determine what is most workable. Air and fire folk will likely think this is loads of fun. 😀

There is a quirky semi-sextile between Taurus’s ruler, Venus in Aries, and unpredictable Uranus in Taurus. There is no telling whether Uranus will amplify Venus in Aries’s independent streak or the Taurus energy will bring out Venus’s sensual side. Romance can show up in unexpected places and ways. Any time Venus aspects Uranus there is the potential for falling in and out of love very quickly. It might be best to enjoy the silliness of the moment and refrain from making promises we may not be able to keep.

Something that can make a difference in how this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio impacts us and our lives is how comfortable we are with Saturn. Those who are intimately acquainted with Saturn because it plays a large role natally or who have dealt with major Saturn transits over the years usually have learned Saturn’s little ways. Those largely revolve around taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions, being dependable both in large and small ways plus simply showing up every day and being present. There is a thread of instant karma running through this lunation and those people who never admit to making mistakes and always blame someone or something else could take a big hit . . . maybe not immediately but Scorpio style retribution may be quietly set into motion now. It’s time to put on our big boy/girl pants and behave accordingly. It behooves us to be kind, tolerant and patient with ourselves and others. Peace and love to all.

Note: Timing is averaged for EDT to PDT.

 

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio, May 15-16, 2022

Posted on by Neith

Eclipses do have a way of getting our attention and this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse at 25° 18’ Scorpio on 15 May 2022, 09:15 PM PDT features a fixed T-Square with Saturn in Aquarius squaring the Scorpio Moon and Taurus Sun. Full Moons are also associated with extreme tides, both high and low. And what is hidden at high tide will be revealed when the tide is at its lowest. We may have to face how deeply unhappy we are with what we perceive as limitations built into societal structures (Saturn in Aquarius).

This is one of those situations where there might not appear to be much happening on the surface at this time. Scorpio plays a long game and this particular Scorpio Full Moon is widely sextile Scorpio’s ruler, Pluto in Capricorn, which suggests deep changes are in the works. Another factor at play is Mars conjoining Neptune in Pisces with both trine the Scorpio Moon and sextile the Taurus Sun. This hints that going with the flow combined with common sense solutions can go a long ways towards easing the pain of having to give up cherished ideas, possessions, relationships, etc even though all of those things were holding us back from realizing our full potential.

The waxing sextile between retrograde Mercury in Gemini and Jupiter in Aries (exact on May 19) is about using Mercury in Gemini’s natural brilliance to find ways to review what’s happening in our lives from a positive point of view. Jupiter in Aries is very forward looking and optimistic. This duo can get carried away and dump waaaay more information than we can take in at one time. One approach is throwing out the extreme ideas first, then carefully consider what is left to determine what is most workable. Air and fire folk will likely think this is loads of fun. 😀

There is a quirky semi-sextile between Taurus’s ruler, Venus in Aries, and unpredictable Uranus in Taurus. There is no telling whether Uranus will amplify Venus in Aries’s independent streak or the Taurus energy will bring out Venus’s sensual side. Romance can show up in unexpected places and ways. Any time Venus aspects Uranus there is the potential for falling in and out of love very quickly. It might be best to enjoy the silliness of the moment and refrain from making promises we may not be able to keep.

Something that can make a difference in how this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio impacts us and our lives is how comfortable we are with Saturn. Those who are intimately acquainted with Saturn because it plays a large role natally or who have dealt with major Saturn transits over the years usually have learned Saturn’s little ways. Those largely revolve around taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions, being dependable both in large and small ways plus simply showing up every day and being present. There is a thread of instant karma running through this lunation and those people who never admit to making mistakes and always blame someone or something else could take a big hit . . . maybe not immediately but Scorpio style retribution may be quietly set into motion now. It’s time to put on our big boy/girl pants and behave accordingly. It behooves us to be kind, tolerant and patient with ourselves and others. Peace and love to all.

Note: Timing is averaged for EDT to PDT.