It’s all coming together. Everything we have learned, realized, decided and experienced in the past year delivers us to a doorway this week. Saturn and Uranus complete the third of five oppositions on Tuesday. Their showdown locks into the existing dance among Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron and Uranus. By Friday’s New Moon, every major body in the sky interconnects, even the Nodes. It’s like when all the tumblers fall into place, a lock gives and a steel door slowly swings open. It’s a pivotal moment, which we have been waiting for and working toward, consciously or not.
The Saturn/Uranus opposition is testing, rattling and, in many cases, dismantling personal and societal structures that have formed the underpinnings of our existence. This process is occurring over a couple of years, from the fall of 2008 into the summer of 2010. (The exact dates are November 4, 2008, February 5 and September 15 this year, and April 24 and July 26 next.) Each exact opposition shoots a bolt of Uranian energy into Saturn’s turf. Try as Saturn might to protect the structures he has overseen, sooner or later, something gives way, even — especially — on the level of thought, which is where all reality begins, anyway.
How this has been affecting you depends on where the Virgo/Pisces axis falls in your chart. Since the testing has been going on for nearly a year, it should be no mystery what areas of your life are being shaken up. (Rethink November and February, if you are unclear.) Situations are changing, and so is your willingness to cling to their old forms. By this point in the process, you also have wisdom, guidance and perspective available to you, all by-products of Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron traveling together in a growth aspect to Uranus since spring. They have encouraged us to make peace with our pasts, to connect with higher guidance and pull it down into the most mundane aspects of existence, and to open ourselves to living exuberantly, expansively in faith, love and joy.
Their influence is beaming right into the opposition. Use it to shape your experience of whatever transpires this week. Whether you can see it at the moment — and that vision is at your disposal — personal liberation and growth is behind every crack, collapse, break, departure and restructuring. Each of us is rewriting our personal ground rules and, since this summer’s eclipses, our personal organizational charts. We’re updating them to match the voice and essence of our soul, which we have come to know and cherish this year more fully than ever before. We have the strength of having become intact and complete within our Selves (rather than searching for some perceived missing piece outside ourselves), and our renewed boundaries and commitment to personal well-being enables us to move confidently into the world and be of service with more presence and power. We are understanding the importance and imperative of letting our light shine, brightly, in front of people who can see it. Remember all that and welcome every insight, every harsh truth, every fissure, every explosion or implosion, every radically new situation, every magical, lucky break. Many will involve something that you’ve been actively pursuing, but whether you’ve been conscious of it or not, you’ve asked for or invited each one, on some level. And each development plays a role in compiling or implementing your new rule book.
Every major player in the sky is chiming in on this. Venus, the planet that rules relationships, money and what we value in possessions, each other and ourselves, is opposing Neptune (which means, by conjunction, Jupiter and Chiron as well) and in adjustment aspect to Uranus. Mercury, the planet of our thoughts, words and modes of travel, is opposing enlightening Uranus, joining Saturn, making an adjustment aspect to Jupiter (who pulls in Neptune and Chiron) and trining transformative Pluto. The North Node of destiny is trining Mercury and Saturn, in growth aspect to Neptune (and thus also Jupiter and Chiron) and in opportunity aspect to Uranus. Every facet of existence is participating this week: our hearts, relationships and bank accounts; our minds; our will, drive, energy and motivations; and the path that we know, deep down, we came here to walk.
All of it is coming together for us to internalize, assimilate and move forward. These interlinking aspects become highly personal, like a pearl we are to swallow and absorb, on Friday. The Sun and the Moon join in on the action then when they meet in the Virgo New Moon, sandwiched between Saturn and retrograde Mercury. This New Moon signals a time to pull the boundaries of our world very, very close around us, go deep within and then, within that focused area, expand our experience as far as we can. We’re launching a new, focused, efficient and mindful chapter, which fits and supports our soul’s urgings and expression and lets everything else go.
A New Moon launches a cycle, usually for the short term, and is for that reason an appropriate time to set intentions (or goals, or wishes, or whatever label appeals to you; there’s no one magic word) for the upcoming weeks. This one being just before the autumnal equinox (which happens on September 22), expect its effect to last through the whole season, well into December. The Saturn/Mercury honor guard also lengthens this Moon’s process. The presence of slow and steady Saturn and retrograde Mercury extends the seeding time for this New Moon. Much that starts or enters a new phase now may not feel like it is truly moving forward until (or may hit a sudden growth spurt when) Mercury crosses this degree again in early October. For more on the New Moon, read my report on the site.
The week ends with Venus trading the glitz and glamour of Leo for the natural beauty of Virgo, where she’ll remain till October 14. Her shift into this imminently practical mode is the cap on this week’s Virgo New Moon, bringing its less-is-more bent to relationships, financial issues and values. Venus in Virgo is willing to work in her garden and on her body, to cultivate plants and habits that support well-being and to share her bounty and knowledge with others. Her first act is to heighten, deepen and sharpen desires, when she trines Pluto Sunday night. This easy flow of energy between the goddess of love and the lord of the underworld has the power to ignite passions and sweep you into profound intimacy. Remember that Venus in Virgo puts discernment and discrimination at our disposal. Use her gift to analyze the choices before you and identify — and claim — the ones that support and further your newly focused path.
Monday: After trining Uranus, the Moon is void for the entire day (9:58 AM – 6:40 PM EDT). Floating in new, liberating and future-oriented concepts is definitely the way to go today. No matter how much is on your agenda and how much others expect from you, your task is to not produce, but simply be. Going with the flow into the new will let you ride gently into tomorrow’s exact opposition. Talk may grow more and more excited, but it’s just the result of thoughts and minds stretching and trying on the new. Both ends of tomorrow’s opposition get a send-off from the Moon, Saturn an opportunity aspect and Uranus a trine. Change is beneficial, and deep inside we know this.
Tuesday: Fasten your seat belts! Saturn and Uranus complete their third opposition of this cycle. The Sun faces Uranus off by declination, while Mercury makes an adjustment aspect to him. Venus opposes Neptune. The Moon makes uncomfortable aspects to Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter by zodiacal degree and faces off Jupiter and Neptune by declination as well. It will be impossible to either cling to collapsing structures or maintain hope that the chaos is momentary and life as it was will resume. Changes, insights and enlightened perspectives crystallize. Decisions are made. Lead with your heart and connection to spirit. Choose Love.
Wednesday: The Moon was void the day before the Saturn/Uranus opposition perfected, and it’s void again the afternoon after, from noonish EDT till almost 8 PM. This time she hugs Venus before heading into the void. Whatever changes have been crystallized, the general immediate reaction is either happy, sociable and generous-hearted or upping the ante for attention. Take the open-hearted route. Venus’s contacts to Saturn and Neptune (and the Sun and Moon’s to Neptune) invite acting with maturity, love and compassion.
Thursday: No trivial chatter today. Communications pare issues down to the core as Mercury backs into his second square with Pluto. Hard truths can be conveyed and uncovered. Say what you must in the fewest possible words. Each one will echo with meaning. The Sun joins Saturn, opposes Uranus and channels their tension directly into our beings. Take responsibility for your actions, decisions and the role you play in the structures coming down and rising up.
Friday: The New Moon in Virgo pulls everything together in one elaborate interconnected web. Maintain healthy focus on yourself: your boundaries, your physical body, the special and individual talents and abilities you bring to the world and the passions you came here to express, experience and share. What you want is crystal clear now, on both a spiritual/philosophical level and a concrete, practical level. You can have both; they are, in fact, inseparable and integrated. Commit to them. You have the power of the mind and every other positive force in creation behind them. Manifest away.
Saturday: The day dawns with a growth aspect between Mercury and Venus, as if to underscore that all the week’s changes are for everyone’s benefit. Your mind perceives the path of diplomacy and kindness; follow it in your morning communications, especially if it’s a new and improved approach for you. The day has no major aspects at all until a late night Moon/Mars square. Physical activity can vent the energy of their impact; otherwise, you could find yourself erupting in anger or jumping off the couch (or out of bed) and stomping around the house. Remember how well you handled the morning and monitor your words.
Sunday: The Sun and Mercury confer before sunup EDT, and your ego and mind get on the same page regarding the new direction unfolding in your life. No pushing, no shoving; just sit with these realizations for the rest of the day. The weekend sails out with the Moon void from mid-afternoon EDT into the midnight hour. Her last major contact being a trine to Neptune makes for a gentle winding down with restorative potential. Take it easy. Lose yourself in reverie or movies. Venus and Pluto meet late night in the void, which will end when the Moon enters Scorpio after midnight and then sextiles Pluto. Whatever intensity comes your way will take hold of your heart, and your heart and subconscious will have the opportunity overnight to apply the experience to the refocusing of your life.
SPECIAL FOR COSMIC PATH READERS: SWAT readings of what’s going on now in your chart. 30 minutes, $90 (normally $100) for paid bookings through Sept. 30. Mention CosmicPath in the e-mail subject line. Visit Kathy’s site FortunaWorks.com for podcasts, other mp3s, a discussion forum and more on the eclipses, the Aquarius/Pisces traveling party and the Saturn/Uranus opposition. To join her mailing list, send e-mail to kbiehl@fortunaworks.com.