Here’s a snippet for early September:

September begins on the heels of a Full Moon eclipse that occurred on August 28, an event that served as a catalyst to activate unconscious issues that had previously been hidden.

For the first time in many months, we are no longer under the influence of major planetary cycles involving the slower-moving outer planets. This means that there are fewer major issues that require our full attention and we are likely to feel that our lives are moving more quickly in a forward direction. This will become more particularly clear when Pluto, which has been traveling retrograde since March 31 of this year, turns direct on September 7 followed the next day by Venus turning direct. This summer we have had a high number of planets in retrograde motion which has kept us looking backwards with the necessity to keep re-doing and re-vising various aspects of our life. Once Pluto and Venus change direction early this month we may notice a definite surge of energy as we begin to look ahead once again.

Saturn enters Virgo on September 2 after spending the past two and a half years in Leo. Leo is the sign of kingship and royalty (as well as the expression of a healthy ego), and Saturn’s travels through Leo have brought significant challenges to leaders of all nations. These difficulties were particularly pronounced during the dance between Saturn and Neptune that took place over the past year, but with Saturn leaving Leo for more conservative Virgo we are likely to see a reduction of the flamboyant grab for power that we saw under the Leo influence. Virgo is a hard worker, and well-suited to Saturn’s demand for discipline and responsibility. (Read more about Saturn in Virgo here.)

Jupiter has been approaching the final sextile (harmonious aspect) to Chiron since early August. Jupiter is the expansive urge which calls on us to seek adventure and meaning in life, and Chiron is the healing influence, asking us to dig a little deeper into the painful areas of our soul and psyche so that our wounds can be released. This is the end of a longer-term dance between these two planets since the end of December 2007 that has been an underlying positive influence to the more difficult cycles we have endured.

We are also concluding another Jupiter cycle: the square of Jupiter to Uranus and its urge for radical change. Under this influence we have been urged to seek a more authentic experience; Jupiter wants liberation and Uranus desires freedom and autonomy, and the two acting in conflict creates a tremendous revolutionary force. Any resistance to change will be broken down as we head towards the final phase of the cycle in early October.

For the first few days of September we are likely to experience quite a bit of saber-rattling as Mars (aggression) approaches a square to Uranus (rebellion) which culminates on September 3. This is a reactive time where resistance to authority is in full swing. With Mars in talkative Gemini now, aggression will be expressed primarily through words. Lovely Venus makes a harmonious aspect (sextile) to Mars on the same day which will soften the effect somewhat and help to alleviate angry reactions.

read more here…

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Art from the Daily Galaxy

Regulus is a fixed star located at 29 degrees Leo, and Saturn is currently sitting right at that point. Regulus is known as the Star of Kings, and April points out the significance of the conjunction to Saturn just before Saturn leaves Leo for Virgo:

The last degree of Leo is associated with a fascinating fixed star called Regulus. Sometimes called “the Royal Star,” Regulus has an affinity for those in power but can also deliver its own kick-ass brand of karma – rewarding those who have tried to lead with honor and dignity, and bringing down those who have dishonored their elevated stations.

Exhibit A: Senator Larry Craig of Idaho (July 20, 1945, Council ID, time unknown), who is the center of a schadenfreudalicious scandal involving a June 11 bust for lewd contact in a public restroom. The news of this arrest became public on August 27, the day before the eclipse – with transiting asteroid Larry (30440) at 3.29 Gemini, square Saturn and the eclipse points. Craig’s Moon in early Sagittarius is feeling the eclipse heat as well; eclipses in aspect to the Natal Moon can leave one feeling – er – “exposed.”

Exhibit B: Also on August 27, Attorney General Albert Gonzalez, who has an ego to match the approximately 59 planets in Leo in his birth chart (August 4, 1955, San Antonio TX, time unknown), finally got around to tendering his resignation. On August 27, transiting asteroid Albert (719) was at – of course – 29.23 Leo.

The moral of the story, kids, is to keep your noses clean, ‘cuz Saturn isn’t cutting anyone the least bit of slack right now.

There are thousands of named asteroids, and their significance is uncanny as April points out. Their use in astrology is rather new but growing. An article by Jacob Schwartz, author of the Asteroid Name Encyclopedia which I just ordered, has this report:

At the very moment skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by Shane Stant in her dressing room in Detroit, 6 January 1994, 2:20 p.m., asteroid Tanya was conjunct lord of the underworld Pluto on the descendent, asteroid Harding was on the eastern horizon, and asteroid Shane formed a perfect triangle on the nadir of the chart. . . .

Peter, Paul and Mary first performed as a singing group in the summer of 1961. The asteroids Peter (#1716), Paul (3525) and Mary (#2779) were also together then too, in the theatrical sign of Leo. When Fidel Castro established the first Marxist government in the Americas, the asteroid Karl Marx (#2807) was conjunct the asteroid America (#916). The asteroids Adolphine (#608) and Germania (#241), discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, have almost the same orbit around the Sun and conjunctions are rare, but long; well, they were traveling together both in longitude and declination throughout the twenty-year period when Adolf Hitler was in power in Germany, separating in the summer of 1945, when the Third Reich collapsed!

The synchronicity of these named asteroids is staggering and adds to the richness of the astroogical tapestry.

After I posted my eclipse experience yesterday there were quite a few comments from readers sharing their own changes. Each of us has a different path and we are affected differently by planetary events depending on a variety of factors.

Still there is an underlying theme here: the breakup of underlying subconscious patterns which hold us back.

Most of us are resistant to change and we tend to see our emotional dysfunction as part of who we are. It becomes more difficult to give them up as we evolve and progress, and we hold on harder and tighter to that dysfunction in an attempt to hold onto our old identity.

I feel it is more useful to take this oppurtunity to step back and observe what is being triggered rather than react blindly. Slow your breath and let your heart soften. See where you can let go and where you’re not ready.

Life is an adventure, and its greatest mysteries lie within our own psyche!

The eclipse has not yet occurred, but the intensity is out there. I’m usually not that sensitive to eclipses but this one has so many planetary aspects there’s something for about everyone.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with everyone because for me it really illustrates the power of the unconscious. I was feeling fine on Sunday, perfectly normal until I said something to Rich on the way to the gym about an idea I’d had. As is typical for his Virgo ascendant, his first reaction was negative. I’m used to that and he usually comes around but that time all of my buttons were pushed at once and I went into a tailspin about feeling unsupported, with plenty of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

My little drama took about two hours and then as quickly as it came, the bad feelings lifted but I felt oddly cleansed.

Anyone else having any drama lately?

From Beth Owl’s Daughter comes this lovely image that I connected immediately with Saturn’s entry into Virgo next week:

As the Summer’s light begins to fade, the sun rises later each day, and the first harvest festival has come and gone. If we pay attention, we may feel in our bones the ancient rhythms of our ancestors, who knew that the time for storing and preparing for the dormant season was come.

Although we are blessed to have grocery stores and access to virtually unlimited food supplies all year round, we know that the growing season (in much of the Northern Hemisphere) will soon be coming to an end. Now is the time to put up those juicy tomatoes and summer squash, to dry our herb harvests, and to prepare for the barren times.

But how we go about it means everything. If we save and store based on our fears, that fear contaminates us. Hoarding and stinginess can taint our wealth, just as surely as weevils can spoil our larder. I believe our ancestors knew this very well, and they made sure that their preparations for winter’s hunger were centered on gratitude and celebration, not the shadow of doom.

Certainly, they lived in precarious times, with starvation over the winter always a very real possibility. Yet even with death always present, perhaps because of this fact, the harvest times were greeted with glad rituals, feasting, and sharing. Possible disaster was never far away, but their preparations were not panicked. Instead, in a life that was very hard and dangerous, and often cut short early, our predecessors went to great lengths to make sure that every part of the gathering and saving of their abundance was done with intention, gratitude and joy.

read more here…

On August 28, the Sun will eclipse the Moon in an event which will be seen only in the South Pacific. According to NASA, the eclipse will be partially visible in the Americas and in Asia, but virtually invisible from Europe and the African continent. Whether the eclipse is visible in your area or not, eclipses are often events that denote a change in direction of some sort.

The Full Moon occurs when the Moon opposes the Sun, and lunar eclipses occur when the Moon and Sun each conjuncts the nodes of the moon. The South Node shows our past and the influences that hold us back, and the North Node guides us into our future. The eclipse on the 28th shows the North Node conjunct the Pisces Moon, calling us to go into the great beyond that lies within us to achieve a greater harmony within ourselves. The Virgo Sun conjuncts the South Node, highlighting our tendency to place the details of our daily life above the needs of our soul.

The nodes of the moon are known as the Dragon’s Head and Tail, and in many ancient cultures it was said that during an eclipse a dragon did battle with the moon – a myth that has a basis in science because of the proximity of the Moon to the lunar nodes, or dragon, during an eclipse. The blood red color that the Moon turns during an eclipse was said to be the Moon’s blood, adding to the fervor over the “death” of the Moon during an eclipse.

This is a powerful eclipse that includes a Grand Cross involving Mars in Gemini, Uranus in Pisces, Jupiter in Sagittarius and Mercury in Virgo. Grand Crosses occur when four planets are square to each other, and each is in opposition to one of the other planets which creates a buildup of energy that tends to explode in a crisis that is the impulse for change. This Grand Cross is in mutable signs where that energy tends to be scattered and unfocused, creating a great deal of confusion.

There are a number of planets in opposition during the eclipse, in addition to the Sun and Moon which makes this a Full Moon. The 180 degree aspect creates tension and requires balance between the two opposing polarities, and a prevalence of oppositions indicates an exceptional need for integration. So during this eclipse we have:

• Mercury in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces, challenging us to open up our minds and souls in a voyage of self-understanding (Uranus in Pisces) while still attending to the details of our everyday life (Mercury in Virgo).
• Mars in Gemini opposite Jupiter in Sagittarius, where the search for The One Truth that gives our life meaning (Jupiter in Sag) requires balance with the drive of Mars in Gemini to experience as many different truths as possible.
• Venus in Leo opposing Neptune in Aquarius, urging us to balance the need to dissolve our personal needs and awaken to a more spiritual truth (Neptune in Aquarius) with our desire to indulge ourselves in more self-oriented behavior.

The eclipse takes place at 4 degrees Pisces/Virgo, and you will get some clues about how you may be affected by the eclipse by investigating where in your own chart the eclipse falls. The houses in which you find 4 degrees Pisces and Virgo will show you which polarity will be accentuated for you during this time, and where you are likely to encounter a change of direction. (If you don’t have a copy of your chart, you can have one calculated at no charge at astro.com.)

Beth just told me that the commenting feature on this site wasn’t working, and then I remembered that during the hoopla over the Dawkins postings I had turned on the comment moderation feature and then promptly forgot about it. I’ve approved all of the comments and they should appear soon. Sorry to have cut off your voice!