Saturn

Planetary Clarity – Day 703

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Saturn & Jupiter (l-r) – Photo: L. Weikel

Planetary Clarity

As Karl and I neared the final leg of our evening jaunt both last night and tonight, we were treated to some breathtaking planetary clarity. Saturn and Jupiter shone brilliantly and obviously in the southwestern sky, while Mars blazed like a distant, illuminated pumpkin, reddish-orange and glowing as it rose in the east.

I don’t ever remember being so aware of the planets than I have been over the past year or so. And while the Sky Guide app I approvingly muse about so often is wonderful in the way it confirms for me just what I’m looking at, I think the initial awareness and subsequent desire to seek them out is also spurred by the astrological podcasts I listen to while mowing our lawn.

Yes, I realize that’s a rather specific time to pinpoint (while mowing lawn), but that’s actually when I get my most consistent listening accomplished.

Mars – 10/14/20 – Photo: L. Weikel

Mercury Retrograde

Just to add some fun to all the disinformation and misinformation and outright propaganda floating around in our ethers at the moment, Mercury stationed yesterday and is now appearing to move backwards from our perspective here on Earth, or move retrograde, from today until – get this – the morning of November 3rd. Yes. Election Day here in the United States.

So from now until Election Day, we’ll be operating under the influence of Mercury retrograde. When you consider that Mercury Retrograde is often associated with glitches in electronics and miscommunications, it’s easy to see that we just might have some serious shenanigans taking place over the next three weeks.

Mars Retrograde

Adding to the frustrations that may start piling up with Mercury going retrograde, we also are continuing to contend with Mars retrograding in its home sign – Aries – until November 14th. Even a cursory recollection of Greek and Roman mythology will tip us off to the fact that Mars, the God of War, is not exactly an easy going energy. And when moving retrograde? I believe a simmering pot with the lid on it, might be a good analogy.

There are a few interesting articles I want to link to in order to provide you with information and insight on the transits that and will be impacting all of us as we navigate these wild times. One of them is this monthly forecast for October by Rick Levine.

From the sound of a lot of different analyses, it would appear that the greatest planetary clarity we’re going to experience in the next couple months is going to be the type we see when we look up and peer directly into the night sky. Nevertheless, it pays to remain aware and awake to the possibilities, because forewarned is forearmed.

Mars – 10/14/2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-408)

Major Shifts and Movements – Day 673

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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)

Cosmic Parade – Day 626

Posted on by Lisa Weikel Leave a comment
Saturn Jupiter Moon Antares – Photo: L. Weikel

Cosmic Parade

Oooh, I am so glad we waited until the sun set before taking our walk this evening. By shifting our usual trek time to more than an hour later than usual, we ended up experiencing an array of unexpected treats – including witnessing a veritable cosmic parade.

It was hot today. Perhaps not quite as oppressive as it was last week, but pretty darn close. I’ll admit that I made the mistake of watching Bill Barr’s testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, and today I paid attention to the news as the day unfolded. Witnessing what’s going on in the world, especially in our country, at the moment is enough to test even the most even-keeled person’s resolve to remain detached and chill.

And Karl and I have both been inexcusably indolent lately. We actually failed to take a walk two days in a row – both Monday and Tuesday – in spite of the fact that we desperately needed to walk the frustration off. So today we were both adamant that we wouldn’t capitulate to the temptation to stay at home in the air conditioning.

Not the Comet

As we rounded the third leg of our shorter journey this evening, the waxing moon was so brilliant, she was throwing stark moon shadows. Glancing up at her in the sky, I noticed a reasonably bright object slightly below and to the right of the moon. I wondered if it was a planet, so I whipped out my phone to check my Sky Guide app.

Actually, I discovered it was the star Antares, which is a red supergiant located at the heart of the constellation Scorpius. (I only know this courtesy of Sky Guide.)

Cosmic Parade – Photo: L. Weikel

But the cosmos had snagged my attention. The sky was growing darker and darker, making more and more of our ‘hatun chaskas’ (great Star brothers and sisters) visible.

One extremely bright object in the sky initially had us thinking it must be the lights on a plane approaching. Nope; it was Jupiter. I then excitedly realized that just to the left and a little below Jupiter was Saturn, not quite as bright as Jupiter, but definitely one of the brighter objects in the sky.

We were delighted to witness this parade of planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Moon – with Antares thrown in as a bonus. (I know the moon isn’t a planet.) I guess the better description is a cosmic parade.

Here is how Sky Guide displayed what we were observing:

Sky Guide screen grab – Photo: L. Weikel

If you get a chance to take a walk tomorrow night, I highly recommend that you get outside around 9:00 p.m. and take a look in the southwest sky. Oh my.

 

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