Saturn, Jupiter, and the moon – Photo: L.Weikel
Major Shifts and Movements
There’s a lot happening celestially this week that’s impacting all of us, in big ways and small, and our life here on Earth. On a grand and profound scale, major shifts and movements of three of the outer, slower moving planets are beginning to take place. These shifts are directly related to movements and alignments that began in January and then reversed in late April/early to mid May. On a smaller scale, a new moon is occurring on Thursday.
As we all know by now, astrologically, new moons are times when we are encouraged to begin new projects, enter new relationships, and plant the seeds of new ideas. Full moons are often viewed as times of reaching full ripeness and peak expression and experience. In the podcast I’m recommending today, master astrologer Rick Levine gives a synopsis of the major planetary influences that will be occurring during the month of September.
Plant Small Seeds
Given the nature of everything that’s going on around us, from a pandemic, to unprecedented wildfires, to hurricanes and water tornadoes, it would be easy to think that the seeds of intention we might want to plant around now would be big honkers that will herald a whole new world. But apparently that would not be the wisest course. Rather, Levine counsels that we plant small seeds. In other words, right now, the wisest course of action is to set small, manageable goals of intention. Take our lives and our intentions to create change one small step at a time.
When I heard this today (I’ve begun listening to podcasts, especially when I mow the lawn, since receiving earpods for Mother’s Day), it not only made sense to me – it felt like a relief. When I set intentions (or make a wish, for instance, on the candles of my birthday cake), I tend to ‘go big.’ I often aspire to make what feel like significant shifts in my approach to life or my practice.
And with the election only 50 days away, I feel like I should also be setting all sorts of intentions to be more of an activist on behalf of voting rights and preserving the integrity of our elections.
Yet the wisdom of setting some small, attainable goals in the midst of the insanity all around us feels really good to me.
The Big Guns
This might be at least partially because the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto are now beginning to shift their configuration again – and based upon what’s happened so far, I expect we will see the impact of that within a couple of weeks.
Briefly, in January, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto all basically clumped together in the sign of Capricorn, which can be seen as the sign of patriarchy, structure, and capitalism, among other things. This is also when we started hearing rumblings of the arrival of a virus that could cause a pandemic. It’s when, unbeknownst to us, the virus was spreading like wildfire, particularly in New York.
In late April and early to mid May, each one of those major, very slow moving planets stationed retrograde. It could be argued that this is when the assurances were being made that it would go away, it would all disappear, and we would be able to return to normal by Memorial Day. Remember that?
Well, just this past Saturday, Jupiter stopped its retrograde movement, stationed direct, and is now moving forward again. Jupiter ‘makes things bigger.’ Saturn, planet of boundaries, restrictions, lessons, and karma will station direct and begin moving forward the last week of September. And then Pluto, planet of transmutation, change, and death, will station direct and begin moving forward on October 3rd. Can’t help but wonder what these planets moving ‘full steam ahead’ might bring.
Hold Your Fire
I encourage you to listen to the podcast I’ve linked. It’s all quite fascinating. And it doesn’t need to be scary. Not by any means. Education and preparation is power. There’s only so much any of us can do individually. But we can remain aware. Plant small seeds. Be prepared.
The ‘theme’ Rick Levine gives for this month is ‘hold your fire.’ It makes total sense when you consider the celestial movements as they relate to our experiences here on Earth, particularly in the United States and the calamitous spewing of revelations we’re being confronted with day after day. It’s important that we not allow ourselves to become exhausted by trying to fight too many huge battles every damn day as we plod through this month and next. It is a temptation we must resist.
We need to allow ourselves to charge our batteries so that when it is time, we will be operating at full power. Take a listen. Especially starting around minute 47 or so. Wow.
(T-438)