Chiron retrogrades in Aries this weekend while making a conjunction with Mars.  On top of that the Aries Moon supplies an emotional fuel to kick off this conjunction that will have ramifications over the course of the remainder of the year.  This is one of several conjunctions that will launch new beginnings that make way for the clearing of the old, outworn and outdated. 

Astrology really does have a very practical application if you know the vocabulary and apply it to daily living and events.  It's not always easy to know what the outcome might be but you can definitely make correlations to events and timings for when an outcome may take place.  

Mars and Aries are a planet sign combination that are associated with the face and the head.  Chiron is a planet that concerns itself with wounds, healing, medicine and education.  The aspect of a conjunction is the end of one way of life and the beginning of another, the birth of something new.  The first sign of spring is about awakenings, thrusting forward into a better vision of the future, starting something new, and making conquests.  

Retrograde is about going back to the past to revise, change or fix something.  A revisiting of an issue to  reimagine, reinvent or rework it.  To mask or not to mask?  That is the question!  The science and numbers say that countries and populations that have required the population to wear masks when in public and interacting with others have flattened the curve and reduced the spread of coronavirus significantly.  There is a battle, in this country in particular where the spike of the coronavirus is virulent, as to whether or not it is important to wear a mask or not.  This conjunction says its time is to mend wounds, go to war in order to make things whole.  Chiron retrograde is about healing something from the past but the sign of Aries says to take firm and deliberate action in order to heal past wounds.  This is also correlated to our country's karma (BLM) as well as the more pressing issues of the spread of disease.  The retrograde is also indicative of research being done to find a vaccine and other healing medicines to eradicate and battle the virus.  Chiron was a teacher and an educator so this planet/sign combination is about the struggle, battle and fight to find a new vision on how to open up the education system for our students and teachers.  

It's all about what face to show people:  a healthy or unhealthy one.  The mask will be a symbol of how you fight the battle the war and face the enemy.  Mars will turn retrograde on September 9th and that will be when the fight becomes more internally virulent.  It will be a deepening of the action to fight the inner enemy of the virus, the enemy of the people, each other and also the deeper warrior cry in the research for the vaccine.  Educating the public on health matters is imperative and the education of our children must be debated as to how and when to reopen the schools.  Let's not forget that Mars as an energy is deeply connected to the military and police.  So there are major overhauls to those systems as well.  Mars is about leadership and on the retrograde that leadership may be rendered impotent and signal the reversal of who is in charge.  Mars retrograde has a lot to do with dirty, underhanded types of fighting.  

Chiron is called the wounded healer.  Our health is wounded, our education is wounded, our police and military is wounded, and our country's soul is wounded.  It is time to heal these wounds.  

Look in your personal life as well to where these changes are taking place by the house in your chart contains the sign of Aries.  

Mars entered Aries on June 27.   This is the warrior planet that fights and has at its disposal the qualities of assertion, aggression, bravery, courage, competition, bullying, violence and anger.  He represents the action principal.  The action principal that is driven by the ego urge of going after what you want.  Mars remains in Aries through the beginning of 2021.  This is the sign of its dignity.  When a planet travels through the sign of its dignity it has more power and strength.  In this case Mars has power and strength to act and get what it wants with a free will and very little to stop him.  It's as if there is a green light and no red stop sign to set limits.  So what happened in the USA since Mars entered Aries where he can behave in as aggressive a manner as he would like?  We've been having a major uptick in the spread of the Coronavirus.  Look at the science?  The charts are off the wall in the rise of cases especially in California, Florida, Texas, Arizona and many other states.  The rise is fast, rapid and there seems to be nothing stopping it.  The USA currently has a third of the world deaths and a third of the worlds reported Covid-19 cases.  Yes, Mars likes to win.  

Mars will turn retrograde on September 13.  We have a choice people.  If we don't want this pandemic to continue spreading unabated then we have to start doing something now.  Astrology outlines time periods when energy peaks.  Depending on how current transits are handled can often, though not always, lead to how the future is affected.  If we do something now, then the retrograde of Mars has the potential to reverse the current trend.  The rampant rise in cases happening now can,  in mid September, slow down as Mars reverses direction.  But, and it's a big but, if we don't handle this wisely by taking action now then the retrograde of Mars can render a sense of powerlessness.  Our power must be redirected to help influence the direction of the energy.  

I would like to think that as Mars turns retrograde we can tap into his attributes as guardian and protector vs. warrior and aggressor.  We do have a choice.  

June 21st marks a Solar Eclipse at the Summer Solstice which is 0 Degrees Cancer.  While a solar eclipse is always important for planting new seeds and beginnings that will evolve over the course of the next 6 months, this one is even more intense and important because it lies on the world axis.  That means that it connects with events that play out on the world stage in even more fated ways.  Its influence will be felt in the collective and everyone's response will be extremely personal in nature as well as more emotional.  There will be much unconscious, conditioned behavior called out in the open to be processed and looked at.  The history of our country is up for reinterpretation especially the parts of our history that have been hidden, swept under the carpet or totally obfuscated.  Everyone will have a personal reaction and it will be publicized, advertised, televised and visualized through the media and world events.  Try to be reflective as opposed to responding in knee-jerk fashions.  That goes for everyone, even those that feel to be on the right side of history.  

Eclipses occur in 19 year cycles.  Astrologers and scientists define this as the Metonic cycle.  That means that 19 years ago we had another eclipse at 0 Degrees Cancer on June 21, 2001.  That was the eclipse cycle that ushered in the events of 9/11.  You have to be aware of the past in order to predict the future.  There is something about his cycle of eclipses that will reflect back to that time.  We already have had a terrorist attack in the form of a the Covid-19 Pandemic so we are aware of the cycle being reflected in current events.  In 2001 it came in the form of an open enemy and this year it arrived through a hidden enemy.  Of course we have other cycles affecting the process this year, most importantly the Saturn/Pluto conjunction as well as the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction.  That has only intensified the challenges of this year.  The other major influence is the USA experiencing her Pluto return that will continue for several years.  That is exposing the dark underbelly of the institutions and structures that form the basis and foundation of our country; namely slavery and capitalism.  The dark and hidden side must come out in the open in order to be processed, understood and eventually transformed and rebirthed into something more constructive and powerful.   

The summer of 9/11 was interesting because even though the eclipse happened on June 21 the event of 9/11 occurred a couple of months later.  What one must remember about eclipse energy is that often the event doesn't occur exactly on the date.  The energy is put in place but often another planet triggering the degree of the eclipse can set the event in motion - especially Mars or the Sun.  In the case of 9/11 Mars, the action and war planet was transiting 0-1 degrees Capricorn on the day of the attack.  This year Mars will transit 0 degrees Aries on June 29-30 very close to the date of the eclipse, so let's watch out for important world events around that time.  We are in the middle of three eclipses this summer, June 5, June 21 and July 5 and world events are in a precarious state.  Bernadette Brady defines this set of eclipses as belonging to a difficult Saros Series. Here's a direct quote from her book The Eagle and the Lark:  "Restriction, inhibition, restraint, separation and illusions are the trademarks of this family of eclipses.  Events can occur which seem to block the individual.  In this blocking the individual is very prone to misjudge his or her strengths or the situation and is best advised to wait until the eclipses passes before taking any real action.  This is a difficult Saros Series".  

On an individual level having a North Node solar eclipse at 0 degrees Cancer suggest that everyone has to personally redefine the concept of home and family.  This could be as simple as refurnishing, redecorating or purchasing a home but on a more psychological level it's about investing a new energy and concept surrounding the definition of home and family and those people, ideas, concepts and situations that you devote time and energy towards that promote your personal comfort and security.  Cancer energy is extremely self-protective and there's a strong urge to fight and defend family values.  Are your family values in tact or are they in need of redefining?  Those are the big questions that we as individuals must ask ourselves as well as the country on a collective level.  Look at the past and see where you have succeeded and failed and how will you lay new foundations to promote growth instead of stagnating in a quagmire of self-inflicted pain and suffering.  Where are you holding grudges?  So much of the polarization in our country stems from everyone feeling that their personal security is being stripped away - whether that belief is true or not.  People like to hold on to the past because it feels comfortable - even if it is outdated, and no longer serves a useful purpose.  They will go down screaming unless awakened.  We will see more fighting and emotional and irrational behavior.  Just think of the image of a mother lioness fighting to defend her cubs from an outside invader.  That's the kind of energy we see in the human race right now.  It can be ugly because of its raw, instinctive and visceral nature.  The child of a drug addicted mother will scream if taken away from that mother even if it's in their best interest.  That is the only type of nurturing and mothering the child is conditioned to, but doesn't mean it is good for them.  Zero degrees Cancer has a strong connection to the umbilical cord.  The minute we are born that umbilical cord is severed yet the baby screams for continued nurturance.  Our growth and maturity from infancy to adulthood comes out of finding ways to re-attach the umbilical cord through our own devices and without relying helplessly on the outside Mother figure in our life.  We have to become our own Mother by discovering ways to nurture ourselves through new relationships and creative activities.  How we do this is always predicated on the original conditioning.  It must evolve and grow and cannot stay attached to the past especially when that past has proven to have outgrown its original function.    

If you have planets at 29 degrees of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) or 0-1 degrees of the cardinal signs (Cancer, Libra, Capricorn, Aries) then you will experience the events of this eclipse much more intensely during this period and within the next couple of months.  The form that experience will take depends on what planet it hits and what houses are involved.  I cannot go through all the permutations of what that means.  For that you need to invest in a full astrological reading of your personal natal chart.  

Take a couple of deep breaths.  The planet Neptune is also stationing in the sky right now turning retrograde on June 23 so that is adding to heightened sensitivity, anxiety, sentimental behaviors as well as strong feelings of compassion and love.  Neptune inflates emotions, whether good or bad, that are already in the ethers so be aware. Remember what I always say about eclipses:  Nothing is as bad as it seems and nothing is as good as it seems.  Events, situations and feelings are always heightened and inflated so try to take a step backwards.  That is true now, more than ever.  

Today Mercury retrogrades in Cancer through July 12.  Retrograde Mercury is always about a review, reorganization, rethinking, reconnecting and re-contacting.  In the sign of Cancer there is an extra hefty dose of reflecting on the past.  This retrograde is about reclaiming and reconnecting to the past.  Cancer demands a review of history on a more psychological level.  On a national level it is a continued review and revision of the USA's complicated history.  What exactly is the truth of our heritage?  It's an important crossroads of coming to terms with reaping what we have sown.  

As individuals we must review our own personal past and have a clearer vision of what that is as well.  It's time to revisit family matters for clarification.  Reclaiming a personal past or a countries historical past is about setting things right and communicating with an open heart where feelings are hurt.  Cancer is a feeling oriented sign and Mercury is a mental and logical planet.  There has to be a balancing of the heart and mind with this combination.  Feelings must first come to the surface before they can be processed mentally.  Mercury retrograde joins Venus retrograde as well as Saturn, Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune.  That's an awful lot of retrograde energy, so if you don't like to take a step backwards you may be forced to in the coming weeks.  You cannot move forward in life without reflecting on past mistakes as well as glories.  It's time to plot what needs to be fixed and adjusted before setting a new plan into action.  Now is the time for deep, reflective, internal work.  Plot your eventual course of action and redefine your template.  

Your family will become more important during this time.  The definition of family may change and expressing love for family bonds will be heightened.  A retrograde in Cancer is also notorious for more family quarreling and arguing.  If that's the case, there is a reason certain issues are coming to light now so do your best to listen as well as self-express.  

This is a very intense time as we also are approaching a Solar Eclipse on June 21.  Many of us are dealing with more intense and fated life situations.  Do what you must in the moment, but let other decisions that can wait a couple of weeks remain on hold.

We are in a period of darkness but the light will return.  Sit in your power.   

I want to talk about the Lunar Eclipse of Friday, June 5, 2020 along with the importance of the Venus retrograde in Gemini and the transit of Mars.  These three astrological transits are coloring the immediate period and setting the stage for a great deal of change. 

Lunar Eclipses bring to light, in eruptive ways, destined events rooted in the past that now need to be confronted.  They heighten emotions and bring an unstable and chaotic energy to the foreground in order to catch our attention because the matter that is climaxing must be addressed.   It’s time has arrived and there has to be at least an attempt at resolution.   It’s asking to fuse and unite tension between two different zodiacal signs.  On a lunar eclipse there is too much light and information, and that adds an extra layer of freneticism.   Anything that has been simmering, percolating or festering now boils up to the surface and overflows.  Lunar Eclipses are heightened and more fated versions of full moons and rational behavior doesn’t abound.  This eclipse is at 15° 34’ Sagittarius.  The very important inferior conjunction of retrograde Venus with the Sun at 13°35’ Gemini occurred within two days of the eclipse.  Planets within a 2°-3° orb of conjunction, opposition or square with an eclipse will color what the eclipse is about.  With that in mind Mars and Neptune also play important roles in the interpretation of this eclipse since on the day of the eclipse Mars is at 15° 52’ Pisces, and Neptune at 20° 52’ both squaring the eclipse degree.  Conjunctions are about birth and creation, squares are about resistance and challenge, and oppositions bring conflict through awareness of the other.   This is a configuration astrologers know as a T-square but more on Mars and Neptune later; let’s deal with Venus and the eclipse first. 

Please read my post from Monday, June 1 for some important background information.  Venus retrograde periods are very important.  There is a death and rebirth syndrome with this transit.  The Sun is the giver of life, light, birth and creation.  It is also a destroyer in the sense that anything that gets too close to the Sun ignites and burns up (read the myths of Daedalus, Icarus and Bellepheron as symbolic of being filled with hubris, flying too close to the Sun and toppling).  Think of when you’re out in the Sun too long and it burns your skin.  Basking in the glow and energy of the Sun brings a sense of vitality and life up until the point where it blinds you with too much heat and light.  There are two ancient astrological terms that describe the power of the Sun as destroyer and giver of life.  They are “Under the Beams” and “Cazimi”.   Under the Beams means, that when a planet gets within 15°of a conjunction with the Sun, it cannot be seen with the naked eye.  Venus has a unique relationship with the Sun in that it never is more than 48° away from it.  Its retrograde motion is always important in predictions and the ancients knew this.  In Mesopotamia, Babylon and other ancient cultures, these cycles of Venus were timed with the agricultural seasons.  Her inferior conjunction to the Sun begins her new moon phase, when she is closest to Earth and is seen in the sky as the Morning Star, rising before the Sun.  In this visage she becomes more warrior-like and aggressive.  The land was dry, arid and barren.  Her superior conjunction starts the full moon phase when she is farthest from Earth and morphs into an Evening Star, setting after the Sun.  She is imbued with more pleasure seeking and indulgent behaviors and in ancient times this is when the land becomes wet and fertile. 

In modern interpretations the transits of Venus provide powerful periods of great change.  It’s a time of rebirth surrounding one of the many Venusian matters such as love, relationships, equality, peace (and its opposite war – more of that later), diplomacy, pleasure, money and values.  When Venus is Under the Beams of the Sun its light is completely overshadowed and obscured by the closeness to the Sun and something about the matters she presides over is burning up, coming to an end, being destroyed or purified and transformed.  There is darkness surrounding the planet and because we don’t see her light we are not sure where she is going and what direction she is taking.   Matters become restless, in the dark and concealed for a while until she reveals her light and is reborn as the Morning Star and sets out on a new, more assertive path.  But for the time she is Under the Beams she is agitated, frightened, dark, concealed and hidden from view.  The issues pertaining to her such as peace, love and harmony are nowhere to be seen in her benefic form.  Instead we see something more warrior-like and antithetical to her true nature.   Venus is still concerned with the principles of equality, peace and harmony but she is angry and bitchy that they have been ignored, so she changes her form, alters her fighting tactics and adapts a more Martian-like guise and aggression accompanied by Pallas-Athena’s sword of justice and cold, strategic wisdom.  There’s more yelling, screaming, punches and loud, abrasive and assaultive tactics as opposed to diplomacy and standard protocol.  The Goddess of Love becomes the Goddess of War because she is fighting for true love and justice.  She has lost her balance and equilibrium and must get it back.  She becomes the Iron Fist in the Velvet Glove although I’d go one step further by saying the velvet glove comes off too!

Under the Beams for the current transit of Venus lasts from approximately May 24 through June 15.  This is the time period when major world events occur and there is a death and rebirth of Venusian principles.  She is in her darkest period as she must be reborn into a new, and hopefully, but not necessarily higher form.   There is death and destruction before the rebirth.   

On Monday, May 25, just as Venus started disappearing from the sky, George Floyd was arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill.  Police ordered Floyd out of his vehicle, handcuffed him and forcibly pinned him on the street.  One of the officers, Derek Chauvin, held his knee to his neck for 9 minutes till Floyd lost consciousness and died while 3 other officer looked on doing nothing.  As Venus goes under the beams she is in the dark and there’s a loss of consciousness of Venusian peace and rationality.  A man literally loses consciousness and those that are supposed to be there to protect are literally turning into his murderers.  Venus is a planet without a rudder and has abdicated her throne.   Her normally calming influence is nowhere to be seen as she rears her ugly head.  It suddenly seems as if we have a double dose of bully Mars’ energies in the sky as the light of Venus is extinguished.  During the entire week that follows, and through at least June 15 when she comes out from Under the Beams, there will be protests and riots over the injustice of this crime.  Venus has a rogue quality and this crime powerfully fuels the awareness of the vast inequality of our black and brown brothers since the founding of the country and the institution of slavery was established.  This transit is a trigger point for major evolutionary energies that were birthed on the Saturn/Pluto/Jupiter conjunctions in Capricorn in January 2020.  On top of it all the USA is currently experiencing her Pluto return, and the current eclipse cycle harkens back to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 as this set of eclipses is part of that 19 year Metonic cycle.  This eclipse cycle will bring back memories from 2001.  We’ve already seen the correlation to the terrorist attacks from an open enemy in 2001 vs. terrorist attacks from of a hidden enemy in 2020.

The Cazimi period was Wednesday, June 3rd.  Cazimi is when Venus and the Sun conjoin within 15’ of arc and it means “in the heart of the Sun”.  This is the day that Venus literally combusts into the heart of the Sun.  She is dignified and blessed with the revitalization principles that the Sun, as King, can bestow on her and share with her.  She is crowned and reborn and embraced rather than being burned.   In current events, on that day the rebirth of Venus is seen in the intensity of the peaceful national and international protests combined with the loud battle cry for change.  Yes, there is still anger and violence, but something is changing on a deeper level that we are still unaware of.  We sense change, feel it, yet we are unclear of its path and manifestation.  Most importantly on this day all four police officers are charged in Floyd’s death.  Pallas-Athena’s sword of justice is making her first of many swipes.  We feel a hope and chance that we may be able to give the Black and Brown community the justice they deserve and the equality that is their God given birth right as citizens of the USA.  New love is being born out of the awareness of centuries of fear and lack of love.  In the absence of love horrible things occur to the human spirit and soul. 

One of the other major events of the exact Cazimi period was the announcement of General James Mattis excoriating the Trump administration.  Here is a major military voice, a former United States Secretary of Defense, writing a damning condemnation of Trump and the administration.  This is a new voice coming out of the old guard.  It may be a small step, but it is a major one.  Through his voice there is a chance that the dying old guard is coming around and slowly breaking and smashing old, ossified, warn out traditions; traditions that have enslaved our black and brown brothers.  Could it possibly be a sign of the baton finally being passed forward?  The cold heart of white entitlement may be starting to wake up on a more wide scale level.  More and more religious leaders are also adding their voice to the cause. 

Cazimi is the moment of rebirth.  We now feel a spark of clarity and gain deeper understanding of Venusian issues of agreements, reconciliation, epiphanies and awareness of the “other”.  There’s that “A HA” moment!  It can also bring to light someone’s shadow side where you see the absence of love.  The phony artifice is revealed and what becomes visible is the stark difference between the superficial image and the real more substantive Venusian issues.  This is when you begin to realize whether a relationship will grow or the revelations forge a split because you learn who does not love you as well as who does.  On the world stage Venus is revealing an even deeper insight into the shallow and superficial posturing of Donald Trump through the manner in which he did a sham photo op in front of a church.  The epiphany for many is that “A HA” moment of the lack of empathy and understanding coming from the President.  The image of something is revealed to be vastly different from what he says is in the heart.  He’s the president and now at the Cazimi point many are finally awakening to the truth of his lack of true leadership and seeing someone who wants to divide and conquer rather than bring peace, harmony and understanding.  If you’re not coming from a place of authentic love then no matter what image is projected to the public, it will come off as phony and disingenuous as the retrograde reveals the truth of what lies beneath the surface. 

In your personal charts look at the two houses of the Gemini/Sagittarius polarity because that’s the area of your life where you have to balance energies based upon the eclipse and Venus’ transit to the Sun.  The Gemini house is where Venus is seated on the throne and given the seal of the King or the Queen and empowered with the authority of the Sun.  That’s the house where you want to grow into your higher nature.  The Sagittarius house is where you want to revise philosophies and release outdated opinions and prejudices. 

The Sun spiritualizes Venus as she comes into its heart.  We are driven to see what’s at the center of a situation and the depth and truth of what’s at the core of relationships as Venus is elevated, lifted, and illuminated.  The power the Sun bestows can conversely veer Venus towards a negative manifestation.  Venus is redefining love, peace and happiness but first she has to reveal just where those values are falling short.   All levels of social expression are under immense pressure and transition due to the pandemic, and now the George Floyd protests has delivered another paradigm shift in dealing with already stressed out social interactions.  Fate is forcing a social revolution and reevaluation.   How that fate is received is dependent on one’s point of view and depth of enlightenment.  This holds for personal as well as collective situations. 

As I said, Mars and Neptune are also playing a strong part in the June 5 lunar eclipse and the Venus transit to the Sun.  The Mars/Neptune conjunction tightly squares Venus at her inferior conjunction and the eclipse chart.  Mars and Neptune are inflaming the fight for the invisible, the underdog and disenfranchised in Pisces.  That’s who Mars likes to fight for in this sign.   He provides the flame of action to the Neptunian collective.   Enough with the pain and suffering of relegating our black and brown brothers and sisters to the fringes of society.  That old pattern that is woven into the collective psyche of the nation for eons is played out.   There’s a warrior battle cry from the soul of the collective unconscious.  This square aspect is a battle and struggle between beliefs, thoughts, words and principles.  It’s a struggle to find common ground between the heart and the mind.  Out of the struggle will come new laws.  The invisible are given a voice that is finally being heard.  It has to come in the form of peaceful protest, a definitive phrase for retrograde Venus.  Yes, there is some violence amidst the philosophic battle, but that is a fringe element.   A fiery planet like Mars in a waters sign like Pisces produces hot steam.  The imagery is a pot of water boiling over.  This is a fight that has a compassionate undertone to the surface anger. 

The empty sign of the T-square is the sign of Virgo and that is an indication of where the healing can occur.  Through practical matters of change and reform that impact the daily, everyday lives of the citizenry.  Everyone has a role to play in the wheel of life, and it’s time to find where you can be of service to implement change.  That is what Virgo is all about.  Everyone has to do their small part because it all adds up in the end.  Look at a finely tuned Swiss watch.  Open it up and see how many parts and pieces go into the making of a thing of precision, beauty and high functionality.  That’s what we have to do with the internal workings of society.  We are all pieces to the puzzle.  We can fine tune society through constant awareness, healthy criticism, fixing, analyzing, adjusting and processing.  We can always be improving it.  There is a striving for perfection, but never the attainment of it.  The striving is what makes everything work and function better.  Virgo rules civil servant jobs like the Police, the Military, laborers and blue collar workers.  There needs to be reform in all these areas in one way or another.  I barely mentioned the Coronavirus in this article as I’ve been posting a great deal of information on that over the past few months.  You can see the imagery in everything discussed above at work with the pandemic.  We are dealing with two social viruses:  a flu and racism. 

Our thoughts and words (Gemini), beliefs and history (Pisces), Laws and Philosophies (Sagittarius) are at a breaking point and must be changed.  Virgo is the remedy.   Virgo is a health sign.  The country is unhealthy, ravaged with disease and riddled with Cancer.  We are dependent on our health care system and health care workers more than ever.   We have to heal it, feed it better food and take care of the common man.   Where can each of us as individuals be of service?
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In order for there to be a new Morning there first has to be Mourning. 
   

Monday, June 1.  I know I haven’t been posting much in the way of mundane, everyday astrology but because there is so much evolutionary change in the world I felt compelled to gear the astrology towards larger themes and movements.  I will get back to posting more practical, daily information but the times seem to require something different right now. 

We are fully into eclipse season with the first of three eclipses occurring this Friday, June 5 at 15° Sagittarius.  It’s a lunar eclipse and they have a way of flaming and intensifying already existing conditions.  This week will continue to build up more and more heated types of energy so stay grounded, focused and prepared to the best of your ability during the protests. Watch your words! Eclipses always over sensitize and exacerbate current emotions. Even after the full moon this Friday the month of June will continue to feel off kilter and out of control.  The Gemini/Sagittarius polarity that the eclipses are moving toward (with one last kick in the butt of the Cancer/Capricorn energy) brings to mind how we think and form our opinions.  It’s about opening the mind and broaden the interpretation, meaning and understanding of things.  Read the facts and let that inform you.  The Cancer/Capricorn energy has forced us to look at the history, structures and foundations of the country.  This astrological shifting of the eclipse signs is about a mental shift and adapting our mind to new, better ways of thinking based on reason and logic rather than emotion and conditioned responses.  It’s about a re-education of society.  George Floyd died speaking the works “I CAN’T BREATHE!!”  - Gemini is the air we breathe into our bodies that keeps the divine spark of life flowing to our brain.  When that is choked off by ignorance and hate then something must evolve and erupt to force a change in thinking.  Sagittarius opinions can only be formed when Gemini facts and information are gathered, collected and sifted through.   When a dialogue is opened with others then great knowledge and wisdom can be shared.  We can then formulate better philosophies and laws that can be carried out in society through building strong structures on solid foundations based upon sound principles.  This is going to be a difficult eclipse month although you don’t really need an astrologer to tell you that.  But we can frame it.  Eclipses have a 19 year cycle and often what occurred 19 years ago is reflected back to us now in a different form but possessing similar event characteristics.  2001 was the year of 9/11 and the country was irrevocably changed from that moment forward due to an outside invader and terrorist.  This year we have another invader and enemy in the form of a Pandemic and also an internal invader as we face the sad underbelly of our society and its imbedded inherent inner terrorism.  2020 is dealing with more hidden forms of terrorism and invaders and henceforth much more deeply psychological as a Cancer within rather than from without.  Really think about the phrase being bandied about right now, "The Hidden Enemy." 

We are at a crossroads in America as we face a pandemic and social upheaval erupting with the murder of George Floyd that has yet again, brought out in the open the racial inequality that has been at the root of this country since its founding.  It’s time for all the pestilence to be unleashed.  America is going through her Pluto return and that means the next few years are about staring the ugly part of our history squarely in the face and emotionally process the collective mess.  It never starts easily with Pluto.  The beginning of the Plutonian process is like an infection that has festered for a very long time, in this case for centuries, that finally intensifies and erupts in volcanic ways and not just once but many times until a complete transformation has evolved.   It spits out the putrid, rancid and rotten.  Pluto is the vile, base, seedy, murderous type of behavior that gets swept under the carpet and is only dealt with in backrooms, bar rooms, dark rooms and board rooms.   These are the secret nasty power dealings and negotiations that go on behind closed doors.  Pluto is the mafia and all underground, covert types of behaviors.  Pluto is the “original sin” if you want to put things in those terms, and America is being forced to confront that in all its ugliness.  The Corona Virus Pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement is part of this.  Both these monumental events are showing the gross inequality of society and the disproportionate and unequal way a valuable part of our society has been treated.   Pluto is like a toilet bowl being clogged and shit just backs up and overflows.  Our plumbing is the problem and we need to unclog the pipes from centuries’ old buildup of muck and mire.  There are layers and layers of coagulated dirt and grime. Pluto is a watery and subterranean planet so feelings must be felt and processed.  That is not an easy thing to do on a personal level so can you imagine the struggle this is on a collective one? 
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Pluto is demanding an overhaul of the entire system.  That necessitates pain, so the suffering right now is unavoidable on an impersonal level.  The USA’s Pluto is 27° 32’ of Capricorn.  When transiting Pluto approached a conjunction within 6° back in January 2019 is when things really started to percolate.  The Pluto return will be at its most intense in early 2022.  After Plutonian death, destruction and purging comes the rebirth as the Phoenix rises from the ashes but that rising won’t occur for a while until Pluto leaves Capricorn in 2024.  We all must learn to adapt, change and evolve.  Nothing stays the same, ever. 
When Pandora opened the box unleashing pestilence and vice into the world infecting all of Mankind,  HOPE alone, which had somehow got locked in the chest with all the sickness, did not fly away.  Hope remains in the midst of atrocities and difficulties.  That’s where we must remain.    

We're just coming off the Gemini New Moon. Normally, I'd say it's time to connect and gather with friends and family. This is usually an effervescent energy for social gatherings, conversation and intellectual exchanges of information as well as fun and games.

This year the retrograde of Venus in Gemini along with Neptune aspects says that the summer season is getting off on a more tentative step as we test the waters of the social climate. We know it’s due to Covid, but because the Gemini energy wants to buzz around like busy little bees there's a confusion, haze and caution about just how we go about making our connections. There's a certain amount of paranoia, fear and hesitation about traveling and reaching out to touch someone. We are being re-educated on how to reconnect with friends and loved ones. We are also rethinking the education system for our children, as well as personal learning on how to use technology. It's important to gain more knowledge of the digital world that we will need to depend on so much more in our daily social and work life. The road is slow and steady with opening up the country, and the choices you make to open up your life. We are being assaulted by more and more information in a daily barrage of briefings and we have to assimilate much that is new and uncharted. You must learn to discern fact from fiction and there's more and more blurring of the boundaries on a daily basis. You have to reprogram the logical mind to be more vigilant about everyday truth and common sense, while also being more creative in adapting to new opportunities.

Let the Gemini energy stimulate your curiosity and imagination to try and test new things. If you've been too much of a couch potato take a Zoom exercise, yoga or meditation class. Learn a foreign language, or take up some new hobby that can be done on your time schedule through online classes.

We are heading towards eclipse season and the heightened sensitivities will start to be felt in new ways as we adapt to new communities and social gatherings. Be patient, don't judge others too harshly and think very, very carefully before voicing an opinion or criticizing others. You may not have all the information so don't go on the attack until you know all the facts. Gemini represents the air we breathe and it can be deadly right now, but it needn't be if you remain alert and flexible. This is a mutable sign, so its job and function is to adapt and learn.
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I can't stress how important it is to be in touch with your imagination and stretch the mind into something more creative. Even if you fail, you really won't, because in making paradigm shifts any failure is a lesson towards advancing to something new. A new road or path is always one step forward, two steps back and that's what the energy is all about right now, so don't feel defeated if the first attempt at something doesn't bring the result you want. Gemini energy is always about trying, doing or saying anything at least twice!
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,The Sun in Gemini will only emphasize the current retrograde of Venus in Gemini.  Issues of communication, facts, figures and truth are heightened now.  The Sun in Gemini wants to shine the light on the truth but with Venus currently retrograde and squaring Neptune there's going to be much confusion, obfuscation and downright lying coming down the pike from yourself and others.  Issues will be clouded and important information will be left out of conversations and communications whether intentionally or not.  Some will maliciously and consciously lie to get their way, but in most other cases it will be about misunderstandings and misinterpretations.  It's necessary the rest of May and June to repeat yourself in order to get the point across.  Double check all work and if you don't get an answer that is satisfying then make another call, send another text, have a second conversation or write another email and see if the second time around is the charm.  Starting this Friday, it's a good time to reschedule important things that were delayed due to the Coronavirus.  

Things will really start to heat up after the new moon on Friday, May 22nd.  From that point onwards be alert and pay attention.  Have your radar on high alert and be more aware of your immediate environment.  We are entering eclipse season so everything becomes heightened and more highly sensitized.  If you continue to be in lockdown this is a time when whoever you're living with will only get more on your nerves unless you clear the air with honest, truthful and direct conversation.  The more you bury resentments and harbor grudges the more that buried energy will rear its ugly head at a later date.  A heated debate may be what is called for but don't let the energy veer towards a screaming and yelling match.  Let each person have their say and make sure to put on your listening ears when needed.  

There have been three major planetary retrogrades this week that are important in the scheme of how to deal with the next few months. Retrograde planets are always about reviewing how to solve issues regarding what those planets represent in our life. Often it's a review of the past and how to make important changes. When the planet turns direct we can implement those changes after careful review, consideration, revaluation and reeducation.

Saturn turned retrograde on May 11. This planet rules the structures of daily life and concerns itself with career, authority, responsibilities, rules and regulations. Through September 29 we have to review all the structures in our life and make slow adjustments and changes to everything that has supported our earthly existence in terms of material achievement and security. Old structures need to be revised; some torn down and others built up. That which is working for you will need to be tweaked while that which is not working may need to be totally scrapped in order to lay a new foundation. Traditions are changing. What is ossified will break. There is an awareness of that which is broken in life so the retrograde is a critical self analysis of repairing the cracks and putting in some hard work and effort. Take an adult responsibility about the difficult changes staring you in the face.

Venus turned retrograde on May 13. This is a careful review and consideration on how you'll want to be socializing with others. Venus is the law of attraction, partnership, relationships, love, affection, money, values and talent. It's time to rethink and reevaluate how you will approach new ways of social interaction. This retrograde lasts through June 25. It's important to revise your thinking on all these subjects and take a more logical approach since the sign of the retrograde is in Gemini. This is about reeducating yourself on new ways to relate and new ways to make money. How up to date are you in using social media and digital technology? This is an important two months to learn new skills and update all computer, phones and technological gadgets at your disposal. Learn how to attend a Zoom meeting and become smarter on how to re-establish social contacts at a distance. Because everything is starting to open up this is a slow reconsideration of how to make physical contact with others and reengaging in the pleasure principle. Everyone is on a different schedule. Some may distance themselves more while others will want to go back to an old way of socializing. Everyone should re-evaluate their finances and take steps to insure future security as best as possible. It's a time to re-educate yourself on many matters but especially issues of love, money and pleasure. Close personal and business relationships will either bloom and blossom or come to a realization that they must end. Those decisions will be made at the end of June and into July.

Jupiter turned retrograde on May 14. This is about a reassessment of your philosophies and belief systems. Jupiter is the planet of growth, optimism, enthusiasm, luck, outreach and confidence. The internal transit of this planet says your philosophies need a reboot. It's important to reconsider your religious and spiritual beliefs for guidance to help you through hard times. This is an inner quest and adventure into restructuring your heart and inner faith. Jupiter brings abundance and refills the horn of Plenty. Where and how can you redefine the meaning of abundance once again, even in times of adversity. It’s time to look for new meaning and explanations to formulate into concrete principles that can be applied to the practical side of life. Jupiter provides the confidence to rebuild your life in Capricorn’. Saturn may be tearing down structures but Jupiter will introduce new guidance and paths to rebuild the walls and structures of your life. What new possibilities and paths are there? Jupiter says if you put some effort into rebuilding your life there will be some serendipity when you least expect it. There is a new purpose and there is an area in life where that purpose will be revealed in more benevolent and optimistic ways. This planet turns direct on September 13.

It's important by the fall to be ready to implement all your plans for a new life that is unfolding. Saturn wants you to be cautious and Jupiter wants you to take some risks. Life is a balancing act of constriction and expansion.

Saturday, May 9, 2020.  Saturn turns retrograde.  This week three planets turn retrograde.  The first is Saturn which turns retrograde at 1.57 ° Aquarius on May 11, followed by Venus at 21.50° Gemini on May 13 and finally Jupiter at 27.15° Capricorn on May 14. 

Let’s focus on Saturn.  Saturn is the lord of karma and rules how we structure our life.  It’s about taking personal responsibility towards achievement, accomplishment and building security in the material world.  It represents the legacy we leave on the planet.  His style is through honest and diligent hard work and effort.  He pushes us to strive towards climbing the ladder of success through hard work, focus, discipline and by making mistakes.  Mistakes are a great teacher that humbles and brings us to our knees.  Some buckle under the fear and pressure while others overcompensate and use the lessons of Saturn to grow and achieve.  His methods are often through blocks, delays, repression, oppression and depression but his ultimate goal is to make us better people by highlighting what is wrong in our life and focusing on self-improvement so that we become stronger, more accomplished and professional.  He puts pressure on us in the sign and area of life that demands our attention.  He rewards after the lessons are learned and worked through or he brings failure.  The failure usually occurs if we are not putting in the proper effort, or that which we think we need is something that no longer aids our growth.  If that’s the case then Saturn takes it away because there is a better way even if you disagree.  That’s when he causes the most pain. 

He demands honesty and doesn’t like short cuts.  He doesn’t reward those looking for the easy way out or that cheat, lie or break the law.  He always makes us initially focus on what’s wrong in order to improve the issues at hand.  He presents us with challenges and hurdles.  He’s about endings and limitations.  An old way of life has to end, break or alter in order for the structures as dictated by the sign, house or planetary aspects to improve.   

Saturn entered Aquarius at the Spring equinox and that coincided with the restrictions to our freedom and independence and the blocks put on society by instilling the new rule of law of social distancing.  Aquarius is about society and the infrastructures that keep society running smoothly.  Saturn brought out all the flaws in our society with a glaring and harsh light.  The instrument used to show us that we need a huge humanitarian shift is the Covid-10 pandemic. 

The retrograde has a lot to do with revisiting an old way of doing things.  We’ve learned that our social interaction has drastically been stifled and now we slowly and cautiously are trying to reestablish some familiar routine and structure by going back to the old ways, while being consciously aware that there are new rules that must be adapted.  Astrology is a beautiful tool for timing and giving us the weather forecast.  What is going on this week is the country trying to go back to business as usual by opening up.  The retrograde indicates that we want to go back to the old way of doing things and reopen the economy.  Saturn, along with Jupiter, rule the principle of constriction and expansion, hence they are the two planets that rule the economy and as Jupiter turns retrograde later this week these two titans will play a balancing act in trying to get the economy slowly growing again. 

This social and economic shift is going to be even more extreme as Saturn retrogrades back into the sign of Capricorn on July 1st.  The first wave of reopening is now, with an even bigger wave on July 1.  What we don’t want to do on this retrograde is to become complacent.  Just because things seem to be getting better doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned any longer.  The worst thing we can do is have a false sense of security, especially if things seem to be calming down.  This brings me to the second use of this retrograde.  Saturn’s purpose is to make sure that structures and infrastructures are in place and fortified, made stronger and buttressed so that we are better prepared for a second wave once he turns direct on September 29 and more importantly re-enters Aquarius on December 17.  There’s an enormous amount of internal work that needs to done. 

Saturn in Aquarius has made us painfully aware that we need to progress to a new phase in society.  There is a revolution afoot no matter who you ask even though everyone has a distinct view on what the revolution is.  For some the revolution is about upholding the traditions of past that have been in place for centuries while for others it’s about smashing those broken traditions that don’t serve society as a whole while establishing new more innovative and progressive principles.  It’s never one or the other.  Saturn always demands a compromise. 
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What you can use Saturn for personally is to reexamine the area of your life that must be restructured in order to stay viable and relevant during the evolutionary change affecting society.  Do not become complacent.  Be a parent to yourself by taking responsibility to implement the necessary changes and restrictions so that you’re prepared in the fall and winter when you’ll have to put new plans into action.  The success of the action you take later this year is highly dependent on how you use the retrograde to restructure, re-examine, redevelop and reconsider what your long term goals are.  The practical goal for everyone should be towards trying to remain afloat by building a new daily routine.  Our daily routine keeps us in line and on track.  The train tracks need to be readjusted, realigned and newly laid down.  We know what the lessons are and now each of us has to do our homework.  It’s not easy and some have it much harder than others.  Not everything is fixable.  For many there will be great pain and suffering.  Sometimes Saturn demands a complete ending before the new beginning, and sometimes it’s about fixing and making adjustments to what’s already in place.  You have a pretty good idea of which it is in your life.  The retrograde will help you become more aware of whether you need to fix and make adjustments or completely start all over.  We have 5 months to do our homework and the final exam comes after that time.   Will your report card show that you get an A, B, C or F?  Saturn is Father Time and the clock is being reset.  Listen to your personal internal clock; rewind and reset it accordingly.