On the radio this morning: The breakthrough show

The Musings on Astrology show on Blog Talk Radio happens (nearly) every Sunday at 11 am.  This week’s show celebrates the conjunction of Jupiter to Uranus that culminated yesterday, and the power of these planets to facilitate breakthroughs. Breakthroughs are sometimes ecstatically thrilling, but sometimes they can be frightening if we don’t feel ready or if we’re holding on to something from the past.  Today we’ll talk about ways to break down the blocks that keep us from moving forwards in our lives. I’ll also talk a bit about the upcoming Equinox and what the Equinox chart suggests about the next few months.
I’ll start taking calls about halfway through the show, so you can ask a question about your own chart (first-time callers only please). The call-in number is 646-478-5731. These calls are best suited to a particular question – there is not time in the show to do a general reading! If you’d like a personal consultation, please contact me directly. To listen, click the player below at or after 11 am Eastern Sunday morning (before that time you’ll hear the last archived program).

Listen to internet radio with Astrological Musings on Blog Talk Radio
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Jupiter/Uranus and an epidemic of UFOs

As I wrote the other day, Jupiter and Uranus reach the pinnacle of their second conjunction tomorrow, this time in Pisces.  The combination of Jupiter and Uranus can make for some pretty big (Jupiter) surprises (Uranus) that challenge the status quo (Uranus) of what we believe (Jupiter), so I think we can safely file the plethora of UFO sightings over the past few days under the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction!

The truth may be stranger than we think.  Many UFO researchers now believe that unidentified or alien visitors are interdimensional rather than intergalactic travelers.  That too would fit under the tendency of Jupiter/Uranus to expand (Jupiter) the mind beyond ordinary reason (Uranus).

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Practice makes permanent

I heard this quote over the weekend at a hammered dulcimer workshop: “Practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, but it does make permanent.”  Evidently Warren Buffett obtained this piece of wisdom from a golf pro, the point of which is that if you do the same thing over and over again, you will obtain the same results.

As an astrological counselor and guide I often have clients who want to know when their lives will get better.  Usually I can point to a particular planetary cycle that is activating a challenging place in their birthchart, and I can tell them that on such and such a date that cycle will ease up and they will start to feel better.  But sometimes, especially after a long slog of Saturn or Pluto cycles, habits of negativity and fear start to build up and it takes more than the movement of those planets off the natal chart to provide release.  It takes a complete change of perspective, and a new course of action.

If a musician practices a tune over and over, but practices it incorrectly, the mistakes will become habit and a part of his repertoire.  Tony Robbins used to say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Whether you play the piano, or golf, or tennis, or practice yoga, bad habits can lead to injury and a failure to accomplish the goal of the practice session.

If we want to change our lives, we have to shift our course and do things differently. Holding a vision is crucial to making this change, but the actions that we take must reflect that vision if change is to occur.

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The Tea Party and the fall elections

astrology of the tea partyFrom an astrological viewpoint, the Tea Party movement in the United States is a product of the opposition between Saturn (the establishment) and Uranus (the rebel) that began in the fall of 2008 with the election of Barack Obama.  The Tea Party movement culminated with this summer’s planetary alignments that I’ve been calling the Cardinal Drama because so many planets (a total of seven in June and July) were in Cardinal signs.  Cardinal signs are the sign of action, and they tend to act first and think later.

The big political question has been whether the Tea Party movement, which seems a bit extreme to many Americans, will continue into the fall election cycle.   Most of the big wins by the Tea Party occurred during this summer’s cardinal alignments, where there was a tremendous force for change and realignment of the status quo as Jupiter and Uranus, the two liberation planets aligned and challenged Saturn, the planet of conservatism, and Pluto, the planet of death of one cycle and the rebirth of another.  We see this mirrored in slogans such as the one pictured here.

The Tea Party adherents are conservatives who feel that the GOP has strayed from conservative values and that the party needs to be destroyed and rebuilt (this is reflected by Pluto’s passage through Capricorn, where the structures of our society (Capricorn) are dying so that a rebirth can occur (Pluto)).  The September primaries occurred just as Pluto, which has been at a virtual standstill all month, changed direction and was therefore a planetary focal point.

The big question is whether the revolutionary fervor that began in 2009 and 2010 with the Saturn/Uranus opposition and continued all summer under the intense planetary alignments will continue into November, and it appears to me that astrologically, the energy is not there for this kind of radical behavior to carry through to election day.

In the weeks leading up to that first week in November we see the conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus, which in Aries carried so much force, traveling retrograde in Pisces where the watery element can confuse the issue and make this sort of radical change more startling than compelling.  Saturn travels freely without being restricted by any other planet, which suggests that a focus on reality rather than ideology will prevail.

And while Mars will be in Scorpio in the weeks leading up to the election, creating intense wars (Mars) over the balance of power (Scorpio) and probably a fair amount of dirty politics (Scorpio hates to lose), Mars enters optimistic Sagittarius right before the election.  I am going out on a limb to predict that the election night results will be surprising and cannot be foreseen by anything that happens in the preceding weeks.

Regardless of the outcome of the election, we are in for a revolution of some kind and we will see that fervor return in February when Jupiter enters the combative sign of Aries, followed shortly by revolutionary Uranus.  They will then begin to face off against Pluto, instituting the kind of intense power struggles and radical behavior that we saw in the 1960s.

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A close encounter with Jupiter

Jupiter is approaching a close encounter with the Earth, which will make it appear beautifully bright in the sky.  The night of the closest contact will be September 21st, very close to the Autumn Equinox, but until then it will be gloriously bright.  Jupiter is near its perihelion, where it is closest to the Sun and brighter than in its twelve-year orbit.

Enjoy the view!

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The astrology of Betty White’s amazing career

Betty White has had one of the longest running careers in show business.  Her career began just after her high school graduation, and she had her first radio show before she was 20.  She was the star of the long-running television program The Golden Girls, and was a supporting actor in many television programs and films.

Recently though her career seems to have exploded.  Since 2009 she has appeared in three films, and she recently became the oldest living person to host Saturday Night Live after a Facebook group demanding her appearance exceeded 500,000 members.  She now has her own television program, a calendar, and her own clothing line.

This explosion began in the months leading up to the transition of her progressed Venus (attraction, love, affection) over her Midheaven (career point) in early 2009.  (Data source: Astrodatabank.)  Her natal chart shows an interesting combination of a Leo ascendant which craves recognition and authority and also bestows good humor and wit, with a conjunction of the Sun and Venus in achievement-oriented Capricorn.  The Sun/Venus conjunction gives her a tremendously likeable nature, and it is squared by Jupiter which suggests that she can be lucky, but somewhat careless with that luck.  However, the Capricorn influence inspires a strong work ethic and an ability to work hard and focus her energy towards her goals.

The Sun and Venus are both in the sixth house, along with Mercury.  The sixth house represents our work environment and everyday life, but traditionally it also rules “master/servant” relationships and small animals.  Those with Venus in the sixth house have a love of animals that is reflected in Ms. White’s embrace of animal charities.

Little is known about Ms. White’s childhood, but it would appear that life has not been completely easy for her – with a challenging square from Saturn to Pluto she has had her share of hardships.  But the Capricorn influence, combined with a passionate Mars in the powerful sign of Scorpio which trines Pluto, planet of power, she has the strength (Pluto) and focus (Mars/Pluto) required to be a success in life.

Uranus sits in her seventh house of marriage and partnership, and while she was married three times the third, to Alan Ludden, appears to have been a charm and lasted nearly twenty years.

Ms. White will go through her third Saturn Return in a few weeks.  The Saturn Return cycle marks our passage through the various stages of life, from the first at age 29 into adulthood, through the second at age 58 into maturity.  The third Saturn Return, at age 89, is not experienced by many and is often associated with transition out of life, either on the physical plane or through an awareness and embrace of the passage of time.  In any case, all Saturn Returns have the potential for great achievement and for Betty White, it is clear that her amazing career has plenty of life left!

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Mercury direct! And other planetary news

Mercury turns direct today after three weeks in retrograde motion, so after today communication will get a bit easier and we are less subject to all kinds of snafus.  It will take a few days for Mercury to pick up steam after its change of motion, but Mercury is in its own sign of Virgo where it is strong and able to operate without hindrance.

Additionally, Mercury is  in harmonious aspect with both Pluto (transformational power) and Venus (the power of attraction and love), so there is an agility now with the mind and communication matters that will serve us well.

As I wrote last week, the influence of Pluto is still strong and tomorrow it too changes direction as it begins its six-month forward travels.  The outer planets travel retrograde for six months out of the year, ensuring that we retrace the steps of any path that needs greater balance or perfection.  When Pluto begins moving direct again, its transformative power will be seen in the outer expression of our lives to a greater degree.

That transformative power deepens even more tomorrow as Mars, the planet of drive and desire, enters the passionate sign of Scorpio.  Mars is the traditional ruler of Scorpio and is quite at home in the intense emotional drive of the Scorpio influence.  But some of us are not quite as comfortable with this degree of intensity and you may need to take some time to acclimate to this new energy.  I’ll be writing more about Mars in Scorpio over the next few days.

For daily planetary news, visit my Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Jupiter and Uranus meet again

Art by Josephine Wall

Jupiter and Uranus are the two planets of liberation, and back in May they converged in the first sign of Aries, the sign of courage, warfare, and action.  The two turned retrograde over the summer, and a few weeks ago Uranus retrograded back into Pisces to complete its mission of revolutionizing (Uranus) the realm of our spiritual experience (Pisces).

Yesterday Jupiter retrograded back into Pisces and the two planets are within a degree of each other now, so the influence of this conjunction is strengthening leading up to the exact alignment on the 18th of September.  The combination of Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces will have a much different effect than the explosive conjunction in Aries back in May and June. Jupiter seeks expansion, optimism and shared meaning in life; Uranus demands radical action to break free of restrictions.

The second and third phases of this cycle will occur in Pisces.  In Aries, there is a big explosion of energy moving out into the world.  In Pisces, the pressure to release and expand moves inward and creates a force of pressure into the world of dreams, ideals, and spiritual realities.  There may be passive-aggressive forces at work here since it is more difficult to identify the players; in Pisces the archetypes are submerged into the deep waters of the sea.  Emotions may feel unsettling at times, all the more so because they are difficult to identify.  This is a time to ride the waves of the internal flow.

The stirrings of liberation made themselves known during the first Aries phase.  Now, in our individual lives, we are asked to go more deeply into the multiple layers of our inner realities so that we can find the true source of liberation and freedom.

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A new beginning, facing backwards

A reader on my Facebook page asked a really good question:  ”how does [Mercury retrograde] work with a New Moon and we are supposed to start new things??”

Mercury retrograde periods are more appropriate for reviewing, re-doing, re-visioning, and renovating than for initiating something new.  This is an assimilation phase.  New Moons are times of new beginnings, because the Moon cycle begins anew when it conjoins the Sun.  So we have a bit of looking forwards and backwards at the same time.

There is a concept called Sankofa in Ghana in which we must look to the past to learn about the future.  I have written of this and the god Janus in a New Year post a few years ago.  The god Janus similarly looks both backwards and forwards at the same time.

At this time of new beginnings under the Virgo New Moon, it’s important to remember the retrograde pull of Mercury which keeps our  attention from wandering too far into the future.  Virgo is more about planning than actually taking action, which fits in nicely with the retrograde Mercury phase.  Planning, creating new ideas that look to the past (Mercury Rx) and take from it only those things that work and eliminating the rest (using the discrimination of the Virgo New Moon).   Following our duty to others, putting aside ego for the sake of service, creating a temple space for our physical body – these are good Virgo things to plan and create and gradually put into action once the plan is fully baked.

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New Moon in Virgo, September 8 2010

from the Symbolon Tarot

The Virgo New Moon occurs Wednesday morning September 8th at 6:30 am Eastern (10:30 am GMT) on the heels of a beautiful aspect from Venus, the planet of love and beauty, to Chiron and Neptune. This Venus aspect has been opening up channels of love and creativity, assuring that old hurts can be more easily healed.

With the Sun and Moon conjunct in Virgo at the New Moon, the emphasis here is on the details of life, bringing us back to earth after this creative opening. Mercury is also in Virgo, traveling retrograde and creating potential snags in our desire to continue to move forward despite the doors that close to keep us retracing our steps and perfecting our progress. Virgo after all seeks a form of perfection that is not often found in this earthly life, and isn’t afraid to stand alone in its efforts to attain that perfection.

This New Moon stands alone in a different way: the lunation itself (the Sun and Moon combination) makes no aspect to any other planets. It is therefore more powerful and confers more energy in the initiation of new Virgo-type projects, such as a new health plan, exercise program, scheme to organize your home or office, clean up old emotional habits.

In Virgo the mind works to create order out of disarray, and with its ruler Mercury traveling retrograde we are encouraged (or we could say forced) pay close attention to ensure that our carefully constructed orderly plan does not go awry.  Mercury is in a harmonious trine to transformational Pluto the day of the New Moon which helps us to focus and let go of extraneous distractions.  There is also a trine from Mars and Venus, both in Libra and celebrating relationships, beauty and harmony, to Chiron and Neptune, the two teachers of healing and transcendent experience.  There is an opportunity in this New Moon to unlock our creativity, but also to open the doors of healing in relationships that need it.

New Moons are times of initiation and new beginnings, so let’s make this a time of conscious attention to detail and creating great order and perfection in our lives.

For daily planetary news, visit my Facebook and Twitter pages.

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