A look back at the Astrology of 2011

December 31, 2011 By

Sankofa birdI like the principle of the Sankofa Bird, which says that in order to understand the future we must understand the past.  When I see a new client I always go back over the past five years or so to see where they’ve been before I can help them to see what the future might hold, and the same holds true for global predictions.  The Romans held the same principle in their god Janus, who looks both forwards and backwards and rules the month of January – the first month of the year.

To understand what happened in 2011 we have to go back to early 2008 when Pluto entered Capricorn and began the contraction that is now spreading around the world and creating one economic crisis after another as country after country implements austerity (Capricorn) measures that continue the contraction rather than counteract it.  In 2009 and 2010 Chiron and Neptune aligned to force us to look beyond the material world (Neptune) and heal the wounds of the past (Chiron).  These years also marked the peak of the Cardinal Drama as I called it (also known as the Cardinal Crisis in many astrological circles) during which up to seven planets and luminaries combined in a variety of challenging positions to execute intense change in our personal lives and in the world at large.

I didn’t write an article last year on the Astrology of 2011, but if you want to go back you can listen to the podcast I did to forecast the events of 2011.  This was a year markedly less impacted by major planetary cycles other than the square between Uranus (radical change and revolution) to Pluto (destruction and regeneration) that will be the most important planetary news over the next three or four years.  This aspect began building in March when Uranus entered Aries and came within breathing distance of Pluto’s energy field.

The chart for the Spring Equinox in March showed the Equinox Sun exactly conjunct Uranus and with five planets in Aries, signifying an intensely combative three month period, and that is exactly what occurred.  Aries is ruled by Mars and is devoted to the expression of the aggressive instinct, and when that aggression combines with the powerful revolutionary force of Uranus you get the various protest movements and the “Arab Spring” that spread like wildfire across the Middle East last year.

You can read more about the details of these cycles here in these pages, just go into the archives of previous posts.

The square from Uranus to Pluto peaked in July when the two planets came within a degree of an exact alignment, and the planetary weather between August and the end of the year was much more subtle.  But it would be a mistake to be lulled back into an unconscious state, because the Uranus/Pluto square will reach its full force in 2012.

Uranus and Pluto conjoined in the 1960s and inspired the cultural revolution and change that transformed the world during that time period.  There is a reason that everyone is saying these days are just like the Sixties – and that reason is Uranus and Pluto.  This is a potent combination for creating endings and new beginnings, both globally and in our personal lives.

I’ll write more about what is coming up in 2012 over the next few days.  Stay tuned!

 

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Mars retrograde December 2011- January 2012

December 28, 2011 By

Mars retrograde 2011-2012You may have heard that Mars is getting ready to turn retrograde, an event that only occurs every two years or so.  Mars is known as a malefic in traditional astrology signifying bad luck and loss (Mars is the “lesser malefic” and Saturn is the “greater malefic”), but in my work a strong Mars is absolutely essential for good fortune and for good health.

Mars symbolizes our drive and inspiration, and the need each of us have for certain experiences.  We need food to eat and experience hunger: that hunger is Mars in action.  We have sexual drives that demand satisfaction: that demand for satisfaction is Mars.  We need to feel that our loved ones reciprocate our affection: that need is Mars.  When we are excited about going for a walk in the woods, that excitement is Mars.  When we hear music and absolutely have to dance, that urge is Mars too.

When Mars is weak or afflicted in the birthchart, these urges are weakened.  When we are unable to ask for the things we need or want, when we allow inertia to take the place of inspiration, Mars is weakened and it becomes more difficult for us to achieve our goals and dreams.  Not impossible – just as any weak muscle we can exercise our Mars so that it becomes stronger.  A weak Mars can also make it difficult for an individual to defend themselves or create good boundaries, resulting in a feeling of powerlessness that leads to a depression or frustrated state that saps our energy and creativity and ultimately creates a state of chronic poor health.

When we feel our needs aren’t met we become angry, and overtime this can lead to a state of chronic rage.  If this anger or rage operates primarily at the subconscious level, we can find ourselves in situation where others are chronically expressing anger at us or where we are prone to accidents or even violent encounters.

The effect of transits of Mars to planets in our birthchart typically last only a couple of days because Mars is a fast-moving planet.  I generally don’t even discuss them in a client consultation unless we are targeting specific time periods that require more focused forecasting.  But when Mars turns retrograde it can make a second and then third hit to the natal planet which gives that planetary cycle a stronger impact.

Still, even when retrograde these hits of Mars last only a few days or a week at the longest if Mars changes direction right on a natal planet.  Transits of Mars activate and energize us, so if we have a weak Mars in our own chart a Mars transit can be very helpful if we consciously utilize its energyIf you feel more agitated than usual, you are probably having a Mars experience.  My prescription for Mars transits is (1) exercise, and (2) speak out appropriately and where necessary before anger and rage have an opportunity to build up.

Mars has already slowed down in anticipation of its retrograde turn on the 25th, and it will only travel a few degrees between now and then.  Those of us with planets in the mutable signs (Virgo, Gemini, Sagittarius and Pisces) will be most affected by this Mars cycle.  Mars is in Virgo now where it inspires us to pay more attention to details, so when Mars retrogrades in Virgo there is a necessity to go back over details that we may have missed in the past.  Mars is an active planet and prefers to be on the move, so this necessity to go back and re-do could be frustrating if we don’t keep in mind the higher purpose of the cycle.

Mars turns retrograde on January 25 2012, and then will retrograde back to 3 degrees Virgo where it will change direction on April 14th, moving forward again through Virgo.

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New Moon in Capricorn, December 24 2011

December 24, 2011 By

The Sun entered Capricorn on December 22nd, unlocking an irritating aspect between Jupiter (expansion) and Uranus (radical change). The Sun harmonizes with Jupiter which promotes harmony and self-confidence, but the Sun squares Uranus which can be frustrating as we come face to face with our limitations. As with any potentially challenging planetary event, just breathe and pay attention to the signals from the heart. Transits of the Sun last only a day or two, but they can open up the consciousness to receive important information from the spirit, especially on the 23rd when the Sun sextiles Chiron and increases our receptivity to that information.

All of this leads up to the Capricorn New Moon on December 24th. This New Moon is not an eclipse but it is a powerful event nonetheless because of the planetary aspects involved. Capricorn is the sign of achievement and mastery in the world, and the Capricorn New Moon is the perfect time to set goals and aspirations for the New Year. A trine from Jupiter to the Sun/Moon conjunction that forms the New Moon will help to facilitate our ability to think large and create a powerful and wonderful vision for the new year. The Jupiter/Chiron sextile can help us to heal and work through patterns that hold us back from achieving success.

The New Moon is a little more than 5 degrees from a conjunction to Pluto, intensifying the New Moon and forcing us to face up to something that is important for us to know but which we may have been struggling to keep repressed. In order to truly move forward in our lives we must remove the obstacles that stand in our way, and Pluto is the perfect ally for this task.

Jupiter is stationary at the New Moon and will turn direct the following day. Since we often call Jupiter Santa Claus, nothing is more appropriate than the fact that Jupiter turns direct on Christmas Day! Over the next few days the Sun will approach a conjunction to Pluto, so the last week of December is the perfect time to spend getting to know yourself a little more deeply than you have in the past. This is how personal power is achieved, and the increase of personal power will be your greatest ally in moving into the New Year with confidence and engagement on all levels of being.
Capricorn new moon

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The astrology of the death of Kim Jong Il

December 21, 2011 By

Kim Jong Un astrologyKim Jong Il, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, died  on December 17th leaving his already unstable country in a state of uncertainty.

In 2006 I profiled Kim Jong Il which you can read here.  As I wrote then, there are a lot of different versions of Kim Jong Il’s birthchart floating around because of the mystery surrounding his birthdate. Although his official biography gives his birthdate as February 16, 1942 Soviet records show that he was actually born in 1941 but that his birthdate was later changed so that he would appear to be 50 years of age at the time of his father’s 80th birthday celebration. The noon birthchart that I’ve posted uses the actual birthdate of 1941. This birth data has the lowest Rodden Rating of XX according to Astrodatabank and there’s probably not much point to further investigation.

What would be more interesting would be to profile Kim’s successor, his third son Kim Jong Un.  As with his predecessors his actual year of birth is a mystery.  Various news sources quote “intelligence sources” as giving his date of birth as January 8, 1984 but without verification I am hesitant to use this date since it is little more than rumor at this point.  His official year of birth is 1982 but it is widely thought that this date was assigned because it echoed the official year of birth of his father Kim Jong Il.

Astrologically, the 1982 chart makes more sense than the 1984 chart does.  The 1982 chart has Saturn conjunct Pluto in Libra which would make this his Saturn Return, and transiting Saturn would be sitting right on his Pluto right now, a fitting image of his having take new responsibilities (Saturn) in order to assume power (Pluto).  Saturn and Pluto both square his Capricorn Sun, suggesting that he is highly responsible and feels a great deal of pressure to perform.  The Moon is in Gemini in this chart which suggests someone who craves a wide variety of experiences, and it opposes Neptune which sometimes suggests an individual who can be easily deluded and manipulated, especially while young.

In the 1984 chart Saturn and Pluto are both in Scorpio and the Moon is in Pisces which does echo the 1982 Gemini Moon opposition to Neptune since Neptune rules Pisces.  But a Pisces Moon is quite different – it is highly sensitive and “soft.”  We already know that Kim Jong Il eliminated his second son from the succession because he was too soft so it’s difficult to imagine someone with a Pisces Moon as the next Supreme Leader of North Korea.  But the Sun in the 1984 chart is unaspected, a “singleton” Sun, which often indicates an individual who operates on his own and finds it difficult to connect with others.

In any case, since we don’t really know if even the birthtime is correct for now I’d rather focus on the chart for North Korea.  The chart I use is from September 9, 1948 (noon), and we find that transiting Uranus is exactly square to Uranus in the national chart.  Just two days before the death of Kim Jong Il transiting Jupiter was in an exact square to Venus in the national chart, mirroring the release (Jupiter) from a pattern of relating to others in the nation (Venus).  Jupiter will be virtually stationary at that point over the next two months so it will be interesting to see how the various relationships of power in North Korea begin to unwind.  I suspect that there will be a great deal of conflict before that settles into any kind of normalcy.

I’ll report back on any new information we have about the new leader’s date of birth.

for daily planetary cycles visit my Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Sunday poetry for the Winter Solstice

December 18, 2011 By

Winter Solstice 2011artwork by Jane Miluski

WINTER SOLSTICE

Journeying around the sun,
at Yule, she turns furthest from the light.
Here In the dark of the long night she is veiled,
and here she comes to the fullness of her union with creation.
To enter is to hold Death closest to our hearts.
And as we do, Death has her sensuous way.

Slowly, we come to a clearing, and the solstice.
And in deep stillness, we enter.
Our journey from the sun has come to its full,
and we wait in a rare quality of quietness.
Time is no more.

Here in this place, we gently slip into the emptiness, and depth of the void,
and bathe in the energies of creation.
when we are cleansed, and fully drunken from the cup,
she continues on her journey around, and we edge back closer to the light.
slipping out through her veils in birth, we are new, and journeying to the sun.

–Martin Jones

Note: In the southern hemisphere the seasons are reversed, and the December Solstice is the Summer Solstice.  The seasonal references are different, but the astrology works the same. 

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The Optimism of Tim Tebow’s astrological chart

December 16, 2011 By

Tim Tebow astrologyNot being a sports fan I had no idea who Tim Tebow was, but as a student of human behavior this article in the New York Times intrigued me:

Tebow tends to have his worst 45 minutes of play when it matters least and his best 15 when it matters most. And while he makes many mistakes, their cost is seldom exorbitant. These aren’t so much skills as tendencies — inclinations — that prove to be every bit as consequential as the stuff of rankings and record books. He reminds us that strength comes in many forms and some people have what can be described only as a gift for winning, which isn’t synonymous with any spreadsheet inventory of what it supposedly takes to win.

 

This gift usually involves hope, confidence and a special composure, all of which keep a person in the game long enough, with enough energy and stability, so that a fickle entity known as luck might break his or her way. For Tebow that state of mind comes from his particular relationship with his chosen God and is a matter of religion. For someone else it might be understood and experienced as the power of positive thinking, and is a matter of psychology. Either way it boils down to stubborn optimism and bequeaths a spark. A swagger. An edge.

 

It’s easy to be pessimistic about optimism. When peddled generically by unctuous politicians, it can seem the ultimate opiate, a cop-out and fallback when there’s nothing more substantive to sustain you. But optimism can have an impact. It’s what radiates from Tebow and fires up the Broncos. And therein lies a lesson about leadership with a resonance beyond football.

Whether Tebow’s optimism comes from religious faith or within himself doesn’t matter for the purposes of astrological study – suffice it to say that it comes naturally to him and has infused his teammates with a confidence that has driven his team to turn around their losing streak and transform the playing field.

Tebow (born 8/14/1987, time unknown in the Phillipines) has the Sun in Leo which is a forceful and energetic sign.  Leo types NEED to develop a personality that is somewhat larger than life and learn to embrace the ups and downs of life in order to ultimately achieve lasting joy despite the details.  But that Leo Sun is only part of the equation.  Tebow’s Sun is part of a stellium in Leo that includes Mercury, Venus and Mars.  This guy has a ton of natural energy that helps to fuel his inner spirit, and he is also gifted with the natural competition that comes from a Sun/Mars conjunction.

As if that weren’t enough, these Leo planets are part of a Grand Trine in fire signs.  His Aries Moon (emotional needs and inner security) conjoins Jupiter, the very planet of confidence and optimism which often bestows a sense of righteousness and conviction.  This pair harmonizes with the natural competitiveness of the Leo stellium to add to the overall energy of the chart.

We don’t know Tebow’s ascendant (rising sign), but we do know that he has Saturn in Sagittarius.  When the planet of limitation (Saturn) is in the sign of confidence (Sagittarius), and in his chart it is retrograde to boot, there is more than a hint of self-doubt that creeps into the personality.  In this chart, with all of this fiery confidence and enthusiasm, that’s not a bad thing as it helps to temper and moderate what could be extremely reckless and impulsive behavior.  Because Saturn is trine his Sun, Venus and Mercury, he has an added benefit of Saturn’s discipline and sense of responsibility and this influence is likely the motivator behind Tebow’s religious humility.

Completing the fire trine is Uranus in a trine to both the Sun/Mars and the Moon and Jupiter.  Uranus inspires us to break free of restrictions and not to allow ourselves to become stuck in situations that no longer suit us, and in this chart it offers endless opportunities for change and new ideas and situations for Mr. Tebow.

This is an important year for Mr. Tebow as his progressed Sun is aligning in an exact square to progressed Saturn, suggesting something of great significance is to occur this year.  The significance is likely to be extremely positive since a long string of Jupiter transits beginning in March are likely to open new doors and bring new opportunities his way.

Optimism and confidence come easy for some people, but they are qualities that can be learned.  The certainty that good things will happen generally brings good things our way, and seeing only the negative will bring more bad luck.  Opening our minds to new possibilities is a skill that can be learned, and through practice we can all have the kind of confidence and optimism that can turn our lives around.

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Time Magazine’s Person of the Year: The Protester

December 14, 2011 By

Time person of the year 2011Astrologers everywhere are nodding their head.  Uranus in Aries square Pluto – Time Magazine names “The Protester” the person of the year.  Uranus: rebellion and radical change, in Aries: initiation and action.  Squaring Pluto, power, endings and transformation; in Capricorn, the structures upon which we build our lives such as governments and corporations.

It’s so obvious!

Except to Time Magazine:

No one could have known that when a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in a public square, it would incite protests that would topple dictators and start a global wave of dissent. In 2011, protesters didn’t just voice their complaints; they changed the world.

Read more here.

And also re-read my article from February of last year about the spread of global protest in which I wrote:

These protests are just the beginning of what will become a firestorm of political resistance over the next year as Uranus, planet of revolution, squares off against Pluto, planet of power and control.  They were inspired by the return of Jupiter into Aries and the simultaneously square of Jupiter to Pluto in Capricorn, which mainlined confidence (Jupiter) and courage (Aries) into the souls of individuals who were fed up with the control (Pluto) of autocratic governments (Capricorn).

This is just the beginning of the excitement.  Uranus and Pluto have only come within a degree of their exact square which culminates next summer.  THEN the fun will really start!

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Sunday inspiration: Musings on aging and friendship

December 11, 2011 By

Last night I went to a birthday party for someone I have known for over 30 years, since I first moved to North Carolina.  A large group of us that were involved in the same meditation group relocated to North Carolina at the same time, but because I left that group in the mid-1980s there were quite a few people I haven’t seen for many years, so there were people at this party that I hadn’t seen for years.

As many of you know if you’ve been following this blog for some length of time, I like to say that I have one of the hardest charts I’ve ever seen.  Saturn and Neptune straddle my Sun and square Uranus.  My Moon conjoins Pluto and the South Node at the IC, the root of the chart, and the whole mess squares both Jupiter and Venus.  And I just discovered recently that the Black Moon Lilith, a new tool in my astrological arsenal, conjoins Pluto and sets off that whole configuration.

If all of that makes no sense to you it doesn’t matter: suffice it to say that I had an extremely challenging interior experience and a great deal of psychological pain for much of my early life.  Since my first Saturn Return I have been on a path of healing, and since I’m now in my second Saturn Return that path has lasted for the past 30 years.  During this time I am glad to say that the hard work has paid off and resulted in a much happier individual than the one that started out on this planet back in 1952.

Over the past couple of years I have reconnected with three of my very closest friends from whom I was estranged for varying lengths of time because of my own inability to express my needs and my certainty that no one really loved me.  It’s a fascinating process to begin a new relationship with an old friend that necessitates stepping out of the patterns of the past and the reactions that became embedded in that relationship and begin anew as the person I have now become: a person of greater confidence and self-love.

One person at the party last night was my ex-husband who was rather a victim of my desperation and agonizing lack of self-worth.  I hadn’t had a real conversation with him for quite a long time and my interaction with him provided a mirror to me that showed me how much has really changed in those years (20) since we were together.

I have often thought of working on a suicide line because of my own experience that life can and really does get better if we can stay open and work to heal the challenges that we are given.  Unfortunately there is no easy way to navigate a difficult chart – you can’t just ignore the problems and hope they will go away.  You have to do the hard work of healing because on a soul level that is why you came in with the chart you have.  But the benefits are so enormously gratifying.

I don’t often see how far I’ve come in my life.  People that I have only recently met think I’m just lucky to have such a nice life – they have no idea what it has taken to get here.  And no small part of this healing has come from my current husband, for whose patience in my healing process I am exceptionally grateful.  But the healing did not come easily, and much in myself had to be confronted and dealt with in order for this marriage to succeed.

We can’t help but live as though the world revolves around us, since we are “in here” and everyone else is “out there.”  The people around us are always a mirror of who we are inside, and our old friendships can be the truest mirrors for how far we’ve come in our lives.

Here’s the thing about aging: You just don’t get these experiences of growth and healing without it.  My mother always says “youth is wasted on the young” and it’s true that young people have no appreciation for their vibrant energy and the world of possibilities that await them.  Maybe it’s just that cranky old Saturn sitting right on my Sun that has taught me this, but to me the greatest gift is surviving to this age and being a witness to the transformation that has been my life.  And there’s nothing particularly special about me – anyone can do it.  All it takes is the courage to walk through the fire of your own emotions and the tragedy of your story, and allow your soul to take you down the path to that divine being that you truly are.

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Full Moon Eclipse, Uranus turns direct – December 10, 2011

December 9, 2011 By

Full Moon eclipse December 10 2011The next few days are packed with astrological energy as Uranus makes a station (a standstill) at zero degrees Aries on the same day as a lunar eclipse.

As the planet of sudden change and shocking events, the role of Uranus is to startle us out of complacency and force us into an experience that will break through the shackles of closed-mindedness and attachment to the past.  Uranus is the revolutionary, the innovator – it also rules technology and a detachment in which reason takes precedence over emotion.

Planets don’t really change direction, obviously, but because we observe their movement from earth they sometimes appear to do so.  The outer planets generally spend about half of the year in what we call “retrograde” motion.  Planets changing direction operate in a similar fashion to cars that are making a U-turn:  before they make that U-turn they slow down, from our vantage point on earth, progressing just a degree or maybe a few minutes of arc each day until they make that change of direction.  When a planet slows down to a standstill and makes that “station” its effect is more powerful, rather like a car blowing its horn as it comes to a standstill right outside our home

Uranus is at the zero degree of Aries now, the first degree of the first sign of the zodiac.  Symbolically this is a point of initiation and action – something new is being birthed both within us, and in the world around us.  Because Uranus is stationary at that degree its energy is focused like a laser beam of intensity, inspiring a desire for change and letting go of the past and whatever is holding us back from venturing forth into a brave new world.

This is the backdrop for the lunar eclipse that occurs on the same day.  A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon is Full and the Sun’s light opposes the Moon.  The Moon represents our emotions, our needs – what we need to feel secure, what we need to feel safe and loved.  During a Full Moon our emotional range may be heightened as the solar light of the conscious mind challenges the lunar instincts.  An eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon conjoin the lunar nodes, and because the lunar nodes represent our evolutionary direction there is a fated quality to eclipses and an unmasking of something crucial that is required for our spiritual development.

The emotional realm is murky and hidden in the best of times, and during a lunar eclipse the mysteries of the subterranean realm of the heart become intensified. More magical, yes, but also potentially more frightening if you are a person who tends to hide from emotional matters. This is a Gemini Full Moon, and Gemini desires above all else to communicate.  This is not a time to hide your emotions and try to absorb them into the core of your being.  This Full Moon requires communication and expression of the emotional realm so that it can be transmitted and transmuted into personal growth.

Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication, and Uranus is considered to be the “higher octave” of Mercury in that Mercury rules mind and Uranus rules higher mind.  Uranus takes the chatter of our thoughts and converts them to intuition and insight.  In the Gemini Full Moon the Sun is in the sign of Sagittarius which is expansive and seeks the One Truth, but the Gemini/Sagittarius polarity requires that we find balance between curiosity and ideology.  Even when we think we know what is true (Sagittarius), we must always continue to learn and inquire (Gemini).

This Full Moon will appear huge as it begins to rise and will be colored by the Earth’s atmosphere.  The beauty and magnitude of this Full Moon reflects the power of this lunation which offers us the potential to see beyond the veil of our ideas and beliefs and to elevate our thoughts beyond the confines of our emotions.

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A supersized lunar eclipse

December 7, 2011 By

I’ll be posting tomorrow about the astrological effects of the upcoming Gemini eclipse, but meanwhile please enjoy this story from NASA about the supersized “Moon Illusion.”  (Thanks to Astrococktail for the link.)

During the eclipse, most of the light from the Moon will pass through atmospheric effects that will create a red effect around the Moon as it hangs low in the sky.  This will create a magical atmosphere and fits in nicely with the fact that Uranus changes direction that day, turning direct and creating surprising events to promote change and evolution.

 

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