Pluto retrograde

State of Denial – Day 1072

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What will the light reveal? – Photo: L. Weikel

State of Denial

The atmosphere of the world is feeling really dicey to me lately. Precarious. In a lot of ways, it feels like most of our country, at least, is in a deep state of denial. “Let’s pretend everything is the way it’s always been.” “Ignore the insurrectionists behind the curtain!” “It’s all an illusion. A scam. A hoax.” “We’re number one!”

For the past nine months or so, one planet after another has ‘gone retrograde,’ up to the point where Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury were all seemingly going backwards in the sky at once. It doesn’t take an astrologer to intuit that this occurrence could indicate a time during which our forward momentum might get disrupted (to put it mildly).

For me personally, it’s felt like I’ve had some exciting insights and hatched some great ideas, but then found my attention being called elsewhere. I can see the need for radical transformation, not only in our country but in the world as well. Climate change is accelerating exponentially – just to name one crisis we share world-wide.

The foundations being shaken, the status quos being challenged, are not just ‘out there.’ They’re personal, too.

Change – Photo: L. Weikel

Things Are Shifting

Over the past couple of weeks, everything has started to shift again. One after another, the planets are screeching to a halt in their (illusory) backwards trek and grinding their gears to start moving forward again. It’s not pretty. And deep down, deep within our very own selves, we’re feeling the grind.

This all started just about nine months ago. Hmm. Just think. I wonder what we’ve been gestating. Looking around, it appears as though grievance-stoking has been a hot pastime. Elites operating with blatant impunity and not a single shred of accountability being levied upon anyone in power is gutting our system. Everywhere we look, division, hatred, and fear have replaced the concept of ‘e pluribus unum’ and the concomitant belief in us being stronger together.

So as these outer planets start ‘turning around,’ I wonder. What exactly will ‘moving forward’ bring to us? And this full moon arriving on Wednesday (the 20th) – just what will all that light reveal?

There’s been a concerted effort to not only keep a lid on progress in this country but also (I think we can all agree has become painfully obvious) drag us back to a halcyon past that never was.

Moving Forward

I have a feeling the last nine months or so were a chance for us to look at and really see (and hear) what’s going on all around us. It was a chance to start cleaning up our act and holding people, corporations, and other entities accountable for the decimation of practically everything we hold dear.

And since we’ve managed to essentially dither that time away? Well…I’m guessing we’re going to start reaping soon.

I don’t think there are enough puppy pictures in the world to make things ok. But I’m trying to hold up my end. So here: let’s take a lesson from Pacha and Brutus and hold onto each other as we enter this next phase of our evolution.

We need to hold onto each other – Photo: L.Weikel

(T-39)

Step Back and Reflect – Day 930

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‘Cosmic’ Crystal at Linwood Gardens – Photo: L. Weikel

Step Back and Reflect

I have to admit I actually relish the times when planets go retrograde. On some level, deep down, I feel a sense of permission being granted me. After all, when planets go retrograde, we’re told that all the ‘re’ words apply: rework, review, renew, restore, revamp, repair… You get the picture. So giving ourselves time and space to step back and reflect (there’s another one) is a gift. And if we’re paying attention, it’s a gift the Universe sort of builds into our lives: periodically encouraging us to accept some ‘re’ time (instead of resisting it). Ha ha – yet another ‘re’ word that happens a lot during retrogrades!

It’s occurred to me recently that there may be another reason why I generally welcome retrogrades. In looking at my natal chart (the position of the sun, moon, and planets on the date and exact time of my birth), I see that five planets were retrograde at the time I was born: Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. It seems to me that I might feel most at home or ‘settled in’ when those planets go back to the way they were traveling at the time of my birth. This is just a guess, but it makes sense to me intuitively.

It’s sort of like putting on a pair of comfortable shoes.

Hold True For You?

Is it possible that you, too, feel a kinship with the energy of retrogrades? Do you know whether any planets were retrograde at the time of your birth?

Once again, I encourage you to visit the Astrodienst site. It’s free and can give you access to an astonishing amount of information about yourself. All you need to know is your date, time, and place of birth.

Most people can find their exact time of birth listed on their birth certificate. Sometimes hospitals send parents home with an ‘unofficial’ birth announcement that contains this information. Others of us have baby books our parents kept for us, in which they tracked all sorts of personal facts and accomplishments.

It’s definitely worth doing some digging to find your exact time of birth, since that time is of particular significance in determining both your Ascendant (the sign that was on the horizon at the time you were born) and your moon sign. Both of these change significantly from minute to minute.

The rest of the planets, because they move more slowly, are less likely to shift from one sign or house to another within a 24 hour period. So getting a snapshot of the position of the planets in the sky at noon (as a default time) on the day of your birth will give you a reasonably good idea of your chart.

Amazing Complexity

The depth and complexity of astrology is remarkable (and not a little daunting). There’s no question in my mind that our lives here on Earth are reflected in the macrocosm. We’re not ‘fated’ by any means. But we’re all operating under influences that can be tracked and understood – and all of us are prone to having our buttons pushed harder at certain times more than others. It’s helpful to know when this might be happening to us and why.

Information is power. Understanding how unseen forces may be uniquely applying to us can be of enormous benefit in making choices, both big and small.

I do not have aspirations to become an astrologer in my own right. Goodness knows, this subject is far more complicated than the simple knowledge of our ‘sun sign’ (the sign the sun was in at the time of our birth) and the blanket attributes associated with that.

But I am keenly aware of how my understanding of the movements of the planets and luminaries can help my clients better understand themselves and their feelings. Understanding our charts can help us have compassion for ourselves and each other, too.

Furthermore, don’t be fooled: every planet is associated with a particular sign and house in the zodiac, and these all come together in varying interlocking and interconnected ways in each of our own unique charts. Where everything is situated, including the specific degrees of each planet in each sign and house, is significant.

We really did give ourselves a roadmap to the challenges and gifts we were bringing into this lifetime. Whether or not we decide to read and attempt to understand those maps is up to us.

Sweet Resource

Of course, it’s definitely worthwhile to have your chart read by a professional astrologer. Your best bet is to seek out a personal recommendation from someone you trust.

In addition to receiving readings periodically throughout my life, I’ve also read about this stuff for years and years. Mostly I’ve just glossed over the details and focused upon cursorily understanding the signs of my sun, moon, and ascendant. But recently I’ve been giving myself a chance to understand things on a deeper basis by, among other things, using Astrology for Yourself – a Workbook for Personal Transformation* by Douglas Block & Demetra George.

If you want to get to know yourself better, I highly recommend using this tool to delve into understanding your own personal map for this lifetime. There are lots of courses you can take as well. But this workbook is quite thorough and, well, tangible. I like that.

*affiliate link

(T-181)

On the Horizon – Day 929

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Grandmother of Wands ~ Matriarch, Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

On the Horizon

It’s been a while since I chose a card for us to contemplate. The intense astrological aspects taking place in the cosmos right now are influencing all of us, whether we ‘believe’ in them or not. As a result, I thought it might be beneficial to see what my Tarot of the Crone might have to say in counsel to us as we navigate the wild unpredictability I sense on the horizon.

The total eclipse of the full blood moon on Wednesday sent powerful ripples of revelation out into the world. Truths are being uncovered. Relationships exposed. Treacheries revealed. We’re being asked to review, reflect, and readjust over the next few months.

Pluto (planet of transformation, death, and resurrection) and Saturn (planet of boundaries, limits, foundations, and conservatism) have both gone retrograde recently. A cursory look at what those two planets influence make it obvious that some big stuff in our lives is going to be demanding our scrutiny. And Mercury (planet of communication, electronics, and technology/mechanical things) goes retrograde tomorrow.

The effect of Mercury retrograde will probably be more personal and also more fleeting. Nevertheless, it can be a pain. It would be a good idea for all of us to back up our computers. And try not to have a meltdown when your tv acts like it has a mind of its own or your appliances conk out.

Long Weekend

It seems to me that the coming long weekend will give us an ideal opportunity to hunker down and engage in some juicy personal reflection so we can navigate these turbulent influences with grace. Not only do we have a holiday weekend encouraging this inner work but many of us will also have rainy and chilly weather pressing the issue.

I do want to mention again one other planetary aspect that’s influencing all of us this entire year, but especially now and heading into the next two weeks (culminating on the 14th of June): the Saturn square Uranus transit. It’s essentially the old vs. the new. Tradition and the way things have always been done vs. new, radical ideas and approaches that turn things inside out, upside down, or just utterly transform.

It’s no surprise that we’re being asked to remember the insurrection of January 6th and deal with not only its aftermath but also – crucially – its planning and purpose. There’s a lot going on right now. Responsibility and accountability are two big words that have yet to be meaningfully invoked. And the tensions are only going to grow. Thus, we must prepare ourselves.

Request for Guidance

I asked what we maybe should keep in mind over the coming long weekend – and beyond. I chose the Grandmother of Wands: Matriarch (again, from the Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince). The wisdom that’s shared with us when we only ask never ceases to amaze me:

Grandmother of Wands ~ Matriarch

“It is time to have a talk

And time to have a listen

Time to recognize our common bonds

With honest standing

With Goddess guiding

We create our culture

By how we treat one another”

“In a cave of light under a cover of dark, many figures gather closely around a fire. One figure looms larger than the rest; this is the matriarch. One of the group, she is also its heart and its strength. She speaks, she leads, she ensures all are heard and considered. She weaves individual strands into a tapestry, creating common ground and common cause. With warmth, rectitude and respect, she creates space for group magic to happen. She is tradition and invention in one. She is the fullest integration of your spirit. Embrace it; her power is yours.”

(T-182)

Big Week Ahead – Day 686

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“Guardians” – Mystic Art Medicine Oracle Cards by Cher Lyn

Big Week Ahead

Although I haven’t mentioned it a lot this year, 2020 has so far unfolded pretty much as expected by those who follow the movements of the planets, sun, and moon. We have some configurations in the sky that haven’t occurred in hundreds of years, and when they last did, major disruptions in societies and humanity as a whole often resulted. There are a lot of aspects occurring over the next several days that portend a very big week ahead.

Maybe I’ll get into some specifics later in the week, but suffice it to say, on Tuesday the planet Saturn stations and goes ‘direct’ once again. It’s been retrograde (with Jupiter and Pluto also retrograde) in the sign of Capricorn since late April/early May. Jupiter ‘went direct’ about 8 days ago, I believe, and Pluto will go direct next Sunday.

Suffice it to say, this week is teeing up to be a blockbuster of a ballbuster. Sorry. But it’s the truth. It was interesting to me that Saturn is going direct on the day of the first presidential debate of this election season even before the news broke this evening that the New York Times has finally obtained copies of DT’s tax returns for the past two decades or so.

I can only imagine – actually, no, I can’t – the reaction this is engendering in the White House tonight. And surely it will have an impact on the debate, making it more, dare I say it, incendiary than it was sure to be anyway?

With all this in mind, and being tired from the emotional toll of the past few days in my own life, I thought it would be instructive to ask for some guidance on what might be best for all of us to focus upon this week. So I broke out my Mystic Medicine Art Oracle Cards by Cher Lyn and started shuffling. I asked: What should we strive to keep in mind as events unfold in the world this week?

Guardians

The top card I chose was Guardians. If you can zoom in on the intricacies of this card, you’ll see some fascinating glyphs and symbols in the details. I’m going to share with you the text Cher Lyn provided with this card so you can consider what feels appropriate to you:

Guardians – “Cosmic Connections”

A dance to heal it all…repair the fall

Cosmic connections…mirror reflections

Copper metal crease, spin the void…Release

Taken to the stars and out beyond,

To the Guardians

Ancient Symbols speak it seems…

We awaken from the dream.

—-Cher Lyn

“The Beings in the painting of “Cosmic Connections” are Apache dancers in ceremonial spirit. Glowing symbols are floating and spinning, emerging out of the vortex and off the dancers’ bodies themselves. They are the embodiment of our star brothers who watch over us. The blue flowers are from a dreamtime journey into another dimension on another planet, the star brother holds them as a gift he brings from home. The others hold curative tools of power from other worlds, gifts to channel and aid.

There is more to sight than just physical seeing. Human sight creates its own obstacles. We stop seeing where the general consensus says we should. There is much more to this dimension than meets the eye. We are often if not always being watched by Beings that we ourselves cannot see with our naked eye.

The Guardians are here to support you in a number of ways, to include bringing you power to connect to multidimensional realities, ’comprehended.’ You are Ancient, Wise, and Awake. Take notice of your imagination expanding and maturing. The Guardians are opening your vision to help you remember why you’ve embarked upon your journey here on Earth. Communication of thoughts and feelings in your heart give fresh insights. Your higher knowledge becomes easily accessible as you let go of any fear or preconceived ideas of how limited you thought you were. Surrender into your highest good and relax into the vastness of Creation.

There seems to be something secret about everything and everybody, a mystery to behold within your perception. What you see in everyday life is not the natural world deceiving you, but nature encoding reality in ways you can come to terms with. The natural world looks the way it looks because of the way you have been taught.

If you’ve chosen Guardians, study the Ancient Symbols of the Star glyphs, the images of the crop circles. Place your attention upon the stars at night, and spend quality time in medication exploring the universal void inside your own soul. The guardians are ready to telepathically assist you.”

Quick Reflection

I’m in awe at how this card reinforces my posts of a few days ago, when I sensed “Watchers” keeping an eye on us as events seem to swirl more and more out of control. I love that this card suggests we consider expanding our vision to See more of what’s right before our eyes that perhaps we’ve been trained not to see.

And I find it particularly important to heed the advice that we ask for assistance and guidance from these Guardians who are watching us.

“Perception” – Mystic Art Medicine Oracle Cards by Cher Lyn

Card Underneath – the Foundation

So of course, Spirit loves to tantalize us with continuing examples of YCMTSU (you can’t make this ‘stuff’ up) by reinforcing the guidance we were given at the beginning of this month. Of course, the card at the foundation of this question was Perception.

Check out this post from earlier this month, where I quoted the text for this card, which absolutely bears further reflection. Only this time, it’s important to keep in mind that it is providing the underpinning for the top card: Guardians. One possible interpretation might be for us to pay particular, conscious, attention to our powers of perception. Perhaps those Watchers I’ve been sensing are answering our calls for guidance – but we need to shift our perceptions ever so slightly (sort of like how we used to turn the dial on a radio just a teeny tiny bit to hit the sweet spot/frequency that would get a station to come in clearly) in order to perceive them.

Good stuff to keep in mind as we embark on a week like no other.

(T-425)

Change of Course – Day 584

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Change of Course

It’s extremely rare for me to have an idea ahead of time as to what I’m going to write about on any particular night. Tonight, though, I actually did. But now I’ve had a change of course.

In the past 584 posts, I’d say I knew or had a good idea of what I wanted to write about when I sat down with my laptop fewer than ten times. And that may be an overstatement. So of course the photos that are actually a necessary element to what I wanted to write about tonight have not yet arrived.

Pony Express

The photos have not yet arrived on their journey of approximately 18” or so, leaping pixel by pixel from my iPhone to my laptop. At this point, I’m sure they won’t arrive for hours, perhaps not until close to noon tomorrow.

And yes, for those of you who have a modicum of tech knowledge, I tried just sending the photos by AirDrop. This method worked in transferring the photos, but they came through too big and I cannot get them to upload into my WordPress document.

So, obviously, even though it was a good idea for a post (or so I thought), it is not meant to be.

Realization

Just as I was typing the last two paragraphs, above, I realized what’s going on. It’s Mercury Retrograde!

Ha! Yes indeed, Mercury is just today (the 18th – now that it’s past midnight) joining the seeming fifty million other planets that are retrograde right now. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the photos are stuck somewhere in the ether, struggling to make their way from my iPhone to my laptop.

And it shouldn’t surprise me that the only expression of the photos I can get to send via AirDrop are so huge that I can’t use them.

It all just reinforces the idea that we need to be aware of how very easily communication efforts can break down when Mercury is retrograde. And that goes doubly or triply so for electronic communications.

I’ll just need to make adjustments over the next several weeks to accommodate for such potential delays.

It will be interesting, though, to see what’s coming next.

Blue Jay’s expression says it all.

(T-527)

Retrograde – Day 549

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Maple Seeds; Heart’s desire? – Photo: L. Weikel

Retrograde

There’s a lot of astrological activity occurring this week that you’re probably already feeling on one level or another. I know I am. Perhaps most significant in my mind is the fact that Saturn went retrograde on Sunday, Venus went retrograde on Tuesday, and Jupiter is going retrograde tomorrow (Thursday, May 14th).

I’m pretty sure I’ve provided an elementary explanation of what it means for a planet to station and then go retrograde. It’s all in our perspective which, when you think about it, is so true of practically everything in life. In this case, though, a planet going retrograde means that, from our perspective on Earth, it looks like a planet is stopping in its orbit around us (stationing) and then appears to be moving backwards.

As I say, this is all an optical illusion based on our perspective from here on Earth. It all has to do with the length and pace of a planet’s orbit around the sun vis-à-vis the Earth’s orbit.

Different Influences

Nevertheless, as we are complex creatures influenced by a myriad of factors that we often aren’t consciously aware of, including the moon, sun, and planets, it can be a deeply powerful time of reflection and change when they go retrograde.

Most people have heard one thing or another about Mercury going retrograde. Because Mercury is closest to the sun and is the planet that moves most rapidly in its orbit, it’s the one that’s discussed most often. When Mercury goes retrograde, an occurrence that happens four times a year, I believe, the length of time it is appearing to move backward is about three weeks.

When the larger planets go retrograde, their periods in that state happen less frequently and are longer in duration, although they vary. The thought is that the influence of the larger planets is generally more profound and long-lasting.

As I’ve written about a number of times over the past year and a half, the planet Mercury is associated with communication and electronics, to name two of the most common factors influenced by that planet. Obviously, then, when Mercury goes retrograde, there are certain activities that are enhanced during that time, such as editing and going over details with a fine-toothed comb.

Not Mercury

When Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter go retrograde this week (joining Pluto, which went retrograde at the end of April), we are called upon to stop our relentless efforts at moving forward or maintaining the status quo. Instead, we’re asked to take time to reflect upon and really take stock of those aspects of our lives (or the life of the society we live in, or the country, etc.) that are associated with that particular planet. We’re asked to decide what is working for us in those areas – and what we need to release or surrender.

For instance, Venus has to do with our values, our ways of earning a living, what we hold dear, the things or aspects of our lives that mean most to us. When Venus goes retrograde, we’re called upon to reflect on just exactly what we value most. What we can live with losing. Who we are if we lose what we value.

As you know, I enjoy the work of Kaypacha and I like to listen to his weekly Pele Reports. He knows his astrology – particularly evolutionary astrology – and he translates it into information I can apply to my own life. I recommend you give this week’s Pele Report (for May 13th) a listen. The interplay of each of these planets going retrograde and what and how they influence us is fascinating. And the application of these influences to what the world is experiencing right now is fascinating and provides an abundance of food for thought.

Just planting the seeds for all our growth…

(T-562)