Kathy’s 2010 astro-overview talk is available for $15 in mp3 format. To order, email kbiehl@fortunaworks.com or visit EmpowermentUnlimited.net.
Get ready for 2010 to begin in earnest. A powerhouse week is ahead. We’re still going backwards and forwards simultaneously, but the greater pull is, finally, toward the future. One retrograde is ending and another one beginning, an outer planet is changing signs, and in the middle of the action comes the first New Moon of the year, a solar eclipse in the sign of long-range planning. All of this happens amid a growing insistence on renegotiating, restructuring and, in some cases, dismantling relationships and agreements of all kinds. We’re addressing issues that will be with us for some time, and what we set in motion now will color at least the next six months, if not the entire year.
Nothing’s happening halfway now. We are not being given the opportunity to do anything slap-dash or continue on a less than stable and supportive foundation. Pushing us to take care of that is the vibe and purpose of both the backwards pull and the forward drive. We are getting our lives set up so that we can bolt when the starting gun goes off, without having to think about whether our shoelaces are tied or whether there’s water in our bottle or whether the other members of our team are ready to go.
All the backward activity is a call to sweep out all the corners, wipe down the shelves, reorganize the backs of the closets and update ground rules to match who we are now, not who we were when we entered into a particular situation, relationship or arrangement. Every backward impulse, every situation or person or issue from the past that is popping up shows something that we might — or probably — would benefit from addressing, cleaning up, rearranging or putting to rest. At the same time, the pull forward is enticing us to build our own security, responsibly and carefully, from the positive vision of what we want to create, rather reacting against or fleeing what we do not want to have in our lives. How we react to and implement the pull forward has long-range implications, so it’s to our benefit that the skies are impelling us to act slowly, steadily and deliberately.
Two cosmic tools are dislodging information that’s useful in this process. The current Mercury retrograde has been and remains full of surprises, revealing practicalities that have gone wrong, have been hidden, obscured or misunderstood, have fallen through the cracks or are otherwise for some reason not what we thought or were told. These tidbits are exposing problems that affect and even threaten long term security, structures, buildings and goals. My own home has been a laboratory of these disclosures, thanks to a contractor who has located one structural, heating or ventilation problem after another caused by various owners ignoring the advice of experts, making penny-wise and pound-foolish decisions or incompetently doing remodeling work themselves. As unwelcome or distressing as these discoveries are, once we move past the initial gasp and “I had no idea!” stage, the next reaction is generally to address whatever has been brought to light, pronto. That’s how you’ve been reacting, isn’t it?
The other source of revelations is triggering more emotional and contemplative reactions. As the week begins the influence is still lingering of the Cancer Full Moon lunar eclipse that crested on New Year’s Eve. This eclipse has been shining light onto matters that have previously escaped our notice and largely involving our family (current, childhood, chosen or ex), care-taking responsibilities (imposed or assumed), homes, career and public standing. Some revelations flesh out back stories from last summer; some tie back to the earlier eclipse cycles of Christmas 2000 to late June 2002 and late July 1990 through Christmas 1992. What’s important for this week’s purposes is how you reacted to anything you heard. Think about the heightened emotions, pleasant and not, that have run through you in the past two weeks. None of the triggers were a surprise, if you are honest with yourself. None of them were the result of a sudden personality change on anyone’s part; every intense emotion you experienced was connected to behavior that you have encountered before. If you had a reaction that was charged emotionally or affected you physically, that is information. If you felt unsupported, drained or less than nurtured, that is information. If you felt the impulse or sensed the expectation that you would act as Mommy or Daddy and step in to fix someone’s problem, that is also information. All of this information is fodder for the Capricorn New Moon, the solar eclipse happening on Friday the 15th.
Before we get to the New Moon, though, its ruler Saturn goes retrograde. Saturn has made it only five degrees into Libra, the sign of relationships, which he entered at the end of October. He stations retrograde on Wednesday the 13th and will usher in a refresher course on personal boundaries, responsibility and intactness when he makes a final visit to Virgo from April to July. His retrograde lasts for almost the first half of the year; he will go direct at the end of May and reach his current position again at the beginning of September. Saturn’s entry into Libra is testing the intactness and boundaries we established during his years in Virgo by requiring us to apply them in our dealings with others. To drive home the point that our previous ground rules have gone or must go out the window, Saturn has been traveling since November in a harsh, unavoidably transformative angle to Pluto, the ruler of the psyche and agent of metamorphosis. The tension of his next exact clash with Pluto (on January 30) is already building and becomes more palpable after he changes course midweek, as the retrograde inches him closer and closer to the aspect. These two outer planets are pushing issues of reciprocity and fairness to the surface, with the force of tectonic plates shifting, and demanding renegotiation and restructuring. Davids are finding firmer and firmer backbone and aiming their slingshots at Goliaths with increasing accuracy and impact. At least one major relationship issue, and likely several, will come with you into and affect the new phase launched by Friday’s Capricorn New Moon solar eclipse. The issue may involve rectifying previous inequalities in power or bargaining power; it may well involve a question of trust or follow-through on obligations or commitment.
The actual New Moon solar eclipse is not a waking event for most of us, unlike its companion lunar eclipse of New Year’s Eve. This Moon occurs at 2:21 AM Friday morning, while many, if not most, people in the US are asleep. The New Moon sets a course in motion involving striving for material security, responsibility for ourselves and our families and the public positions that we are building. This is a collective event, affecting larger structures than merely the ones in our personal lives, because the North Node is close by. With Venus also overseeing the New Moon, relationships, money and our core values are intrinsically connected to this event and to the new course unfolding from it. (Venus is the first planet the Moon touches post-eclipse, too, after which she goes void (until noonish EST) and invites us to sit with our desires and values and contemplate turning them from wishful thinking into tangible reality.) Doors to new perspectives, new approaches and liberation are opening, because of the growth aspect the Sun and the Moon are making to awakening Uranus. Fundamental transformative change is also part of the mix, with the New Moon’s ruler Saturn in the action-demanding square to Pluto.
Pay attention to where your focus is going as the week ends. Your focus will affect the course you are setting under this eclipse. A solar eclipse operates as a super-charged New Moon, putting profound power behind thoughts, intentions and wishes that are made under it, as well as new beginnings that launch under it. Harness this power, because this Moon molds the path that you will be walking all year long, possibly longer. Think about all the discoveries and snafus and revelations you’ve encountered in the past two to three weeks. Think about the emotions you’ve experienced and all the conversations and realizations you’ve had that have defined or redefined relationships. Think about the internal decisions you made last summer regarding where you want your home to be privately and out in the world, and with whom you want to share it. From these, formulate descriptions of the support and foundational structures you want to have, to build and to nurture in your life, the goals you want to pursue, the values you want your life to embody and the exchanges of money, love and energy you are willing to engage in. Acknowledge what exists now, affirm what you are building, and be honest with yourself about the situations that you are going to have to clean up or leave. Use all of this to set your intentions. They’re really new year’s resolutions, whether you think of them that way or not, and if you have already made resolutions, rework them now. (You get a cosmic mulligan).
You are plotting a course that stretches out far. A New Moon solar eclipse plays out over a much longer period of time than a regular New Moon, we will still be feeling this week’s impact for months. The first measuring point will be the Capricorn Full Moon lunar eclipse at the end of June. That will be followed by July’s Cancer New Moon solar eclipse, which will propel our home, family, career and security issues forward for years. Since this week’s solar eclipse operates as a super-charged New Moon, For more information, read my report on the site.
The final big event of the week occurs on Sunday, when Jupiter leaves Aquarius and enters Pisces, the sign of his traditional rulership. His stay in Pisces will be brief and interrupted. He zooms through the sign and enters Aries in early June, only to return from September through next January. Jupiter is bringing his expansive influence into the home of the companion he traveled with all last year, Neptune. Jupiter will be enlarging our connection to the divine, gracing us with transcendent experiences and reminding us again and again that we are all in this life together. Although Pisces Suns and ascendants are in for the greatest benefit from him, all of us are in for awareness of the presence of guardian angels. The watchwords for Jupiter in Pisces are: Everything has a silver lining. Everything.
Monday: Empowering, focusing developments happened on either side of Christmas when the Sun and then Venus crossed Pluto and honed awareness of what’s most important to us. Still newly sharpened, the Sun and Venus come together today, melding ego and heart and infusing our sense of mission with our deepest desires. The offspring of this union is efficient, unblinking commitment. Watch yourself embrace what is truth to you, while idle distractions fall away.
Tuesday: The Moon makes her last round of major aspects to Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus while the first two are still in Aquarius. We have one last opportunity to assimilate the blending this pair has been beaming down of optimism, expanded vision and wisdom with compassion, transcendence and higher guidance. Consider how much more you can integrate these qualities into your life.
Wednesday: What did your heart and mind commit to on Monday? Today doors fly open onto new ways of looking at your choices and new avenues for experiencing them. There’s time aplenty for implementing your choices, not to mention for turning them over and over and checking out the fine print. Saturn’s retrograde station starts a period of slow consideration and reconsideration, balancing, addressing and redressing, so slow that we will peer more deeply than before into the details, subsurface and underlying assumptions. Slow may be frustrating, but it’s good news in the long run, because what comes out of this process will be reliable and durable.
Thursday: The morning brings a flurry of flaring tempers, followed by understanding, conciliation and group hugs. There’s a message in this cosmic one-two punch. We’re regaining compassion and the bigger picture more quickly after unpleasant outbreaks. The next step is moving that compassion and bigger-picture awareness even closer to the outbreaks, then infusing those qualities into (and defusing) events while they are occurring … then minimizing the occurrence of those events in our lives altogether. Put writing materials by your bed before turning in. You’ll want them in the morning.
Friday: It’s a big, big day, the biggest of the week and one of the biggest of the month. The dreamtime is highly active. The schedule kicks off with the Capricorn New Moon solar eclipse. The Moon and the Sun make a growth aspect to Neptune that promises many a dream exploration of the future that our current selves are creating. The Moon meets Venus, imprints our heart’s desires onto the eclipse energy, then glides into a void that’ll last until noon EST. Wrapping up the predawn show, the Moon quarrels with Mars and joins Mercury by declination, stirring scenarios of impassioned, even furious action and delivering messages of great personal meaning. Your head may well be spinning when you wake up. Take your time; sit with your dream echoes; write them down and begin to contemplate the future your subconscious is urging you to build. Mercury goes stationary direct during the void. Give him a few days to get moving before you do the same.
Saturday: As hectic as the skies were yesterday is how quiet they are today. Continue sitting with your vision for the future. If you’re still crafting New Moon intentions or new year’s resolutions, that’s fine. There’s still time. The Moon’s light is just beginning to grow. And remember what you experienced Thursday, when head-butting could otherwise unleash a roaring argument mid-evening EST.
Sunday: A Sun/Mercury meeting by declination makes it easy to express ourselves, because ego, mind, mouth and mission are unified. Action is another matter. If you feel stymied, don’t take it out on the person or force you perceive as the impediment. The week ends on a lovely relaxing, floating note, the perfect antidote to the intensity of the day of (and days around) Friday’s solar eclipse. The Moon meets Neptune mid- afternoon EST and goes void until after midnight. Dedicate the evening to rest and relaxation, in whatever form brings you a sense of sanctuary and healthy escape. The week’s final astro-event is Jupiter’s sailing into Pisces, home of the Moon’s last contact today and of Jupiter’s traveling companion for the past year. If ever there were a night to drift and dream and float on the healing waters of life, this is it.
Visit Kathy’s site EmpowermentUnlimited.net for podcasts, 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.net.