Aries & Aries Rising
For some strange reason when I look at your chart, I hear Tevye from Fiddler On The Roof singing “Tradition.” Perhaps it’s because your current astrology gives me the distinctly warm feeling of being connected to “family”, feeling comfortable in your home and connected to, yes, your personal traditions. However, that’s not the whole story. Like Teyve, there are many other forces crashing in, pulling on and disrupting the fabric of firmly held ties to the things that have held you and your identity in place. One of the components pressing you for resolve is your relationship to your career, your public image and/or the image that your parents held for you (or hold you tightly in). Most likely your values in this area of your life are shifting. You’re being stripped bare of all the false notions you have wasted too much energy trying to uphold. Let them go. I’ll run the risk of sounding like every other “advice giver” out there and quote Joseph Campbell who famously said, “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” The most prominent thing about your astrology is that it’s inescapable; these aren’t forces that are just going to slip quietly into the night. For some of you it feels like impending doom, for others a wild ride well earned. For a few of you who have yet to wake up to the call of the wild that is beckoning you out of your slumber, this will feel like a slap in the face. That can be rather enjoyable if not completely shocking. Remember that this beast we call life isn’t fair, personal or out to get you, it just is. Being alive means that we have to deal with all that life is-shit-show to rock n roll, babe, the whole meal deal. Thursday’s new moon occurs in your 11th house of Folks and Friends. If there is something about that part of your life that you know you could give a little more to, do. Otherwise just place your awareness on who you are with and how they make you feel. Are you able to be supported and to support? Are you with the folks that would be there come the underworld and high water? Mercury is about to pull a fast/slow one and go retrograde in this domain of your life. Expect some unexpected issues, conversations and revelations with those you kick it with.
Taurus & Taurus Rising
Your ruling planet, Ms. Venus, is about to station direct this Friday, the day She rules. Side note: every Friday is an excuse to go to the spa and/or have any kind of massage (*wink-wink*) that you need. This isn’t just any old Venus stationing direct (usually an event that refuses to let us stay asleep to the relationship issues we have been dodging like your new puppy who has to pee at 4 am). This is a knock-down-drag-out-all-bets-are-off kind of affair. If you were planning on trying to postpone taking the test I suggest you move to Outer Mongolia now. Venus is coming for you. Speaking of traveling to far off locations, have you booked the trip yet? Have your life circumstances been stretching you to acquire new ideas and approaches? Goddess forbid that you are bored right now. Boredom would surely be a waste of some fairly phenomenal formations in the sky. Now for the paradox: A) Thursday’s new moon is occurring in your 10th house of Career Aspirations, goals and mountains still left to climb. B) Mercury is about to go retrograde, moving back into the 10th house as of February 13th. Two things to remember about these combinations; a new moon is a fantastic time to start something. Mercury retrograde is a horrible time to start things that you want to flourish fast. What I suggest is that you spend this next monthly cycle reworking, revamping and refinishing all the things that you have already begun. Like a good bull slow your roll and sturdy what you have already begun building.
Gemini & Gemini Rising
I mean, we’ve talked about it but it may bear repeating (‘tis the season). Your ruling planet, Mercury, is about to take a turn for the worse if you are a superstitious sister. Or turn for the best if you are a new age “only good things all the time” nutter. Or a turn for the who knows lets watch and see what happens if you like to think for yourself, like, at all. Of course Mercury retrograde is a time to witness our attitudes towards the temporal. It’s a period to challenge the dictators of time and to wander willingly into the witching hours with the wild at heart. Time is a man made concept people! Sometimes it seems as though only age can really teach us that. Bodies age and yet our spirit truly is eternal. The thing that is alive in us does not age, what a trip! This Thursday’s new moon occurs in the same domain of your chart as (a good portion of) the next Mercury retrograde does, your 9th house of The Big Questions, Quests and Quandaries. No need for answers here, just a widening, deepening understanding of the vastness of all things we do not understand and probably never will. The other component to this week (and much of this spring) has a lot to do with money, resources and sharing said stuff that we have access to. For some of you this will involve learning how to work through issues that surface in your collaborations. Work towards understanding your value and asking for what you are worth. For others this will be about tempering some self-righteous notions that you should have all because you bring all (but you don’t). Be fair, strive for balance and don’t be a doormat or make anyone else into one.
Cancer & Cancer Rising
When you are finally able to get down to the truth of who you are, you attract what you really need. We tend to want the things that will support our false identities; a strong partner if we feel weak, a wealthy one if we feel impoverished, an intelligent one if we feel intellectually inferior. Also, we tend to pick the wrong folks when we don’t know that we are alright as we are. With Venus backing up into Pluto (almost, she stops a mere degree before getting there), we are stripped of the false motives that can sometimes confuse our ability to attract what we need in a partner. This is a time for far less bullshit and far more brilliance. This kind of brilliance can only come from absolutely refusing to beg, borrow or steal the praises of another. This is a time for you to get as clear as you can about how powerful you are and what you are never willing to give up in relationships-namely, your self respect. I don’t care how alluring anyone else is, this time is your time to mature in all aspects of your love life. This kind of astrology doesn’t come around every day. A version of it comes around every eight years with Venus’s retrograde through Capricorn and your 7th house of Intimate Partnerships. It just so happens that the ruler of Capricorn, Saturn, is in your 5th house of Love Affairs and Romance. Not only that but Saturn is in Scorpio; the sign of sex, death and a terrifying resilience. That makes this particular Venus retrograde favorable to those willing to grow the fuck up. The great thing about growing up is that you have choice. There is no choice without taking responsibility. There is no responsibility taken when we play the child, a role you are only too talented at. Play the authority now, call the shots, tell it like it is and leave the baggage where it belongs, in the garage. Speaking of dark places, Thursday’s new moon occurs in your 8th house of The Thing That Happens To Us All. Eventually, death my darling, death. No! I don’t mean that you are going to die, I mean that it’s time to let something go. I think I’ve already made myself clear about what I think “that” should be. Ritual always works for me, climb a hill, plant a flag, spread the ash of old love letters, do a dance or howl into the deep dark. It matters not what you do it just matters with what intention you do it with.
Leo & Leo Rising
I’m sitting on a Virgin America flight to San Francisco (Oh! How I love this airline, have you seen their latest in-flight safety video complete with child rappers, robot dancers and naughty nuns? It’s to die for!) staring at the back of a balding head that has spent far too much money on really bad hair plugs. I mean really bad. I feel for the guy, I really do because it’s an ill-advised approach to making oneself attractive to others. That may not have been his intention but the contrary affect certainly is the impact (for me at least). And besides, do you want to be admired for something that you bought or something that you are? Perhaps it‘s the former, perhaps the later. Who am I to judge when it comes to Love and Coupling? This hair plug pondering is brought to you by a once a year new moon in your 7th house of Other People the day before Venus, planet of How To Appear Appealing, stations direct, digging his 9 inch stiletto heel into the heart of your relationship BS, putting love issues on blast. I want to ease your ego by letting you know that you are enough just as you are. Show up on your date as fully fabulous you. If Venus is trying to tell us anything right now it’s this: Let go of your superficial crutches and join the Real Beauty Movement. Not that overly saccharine capitalistic hooey beauty that Dove is selling, the real deal. This beauty finds its way to attractiveness through integrity, not insurmountable standards of “good looking”. In other news, it looks like you’re tempted to run yourself into the ground through over-working or conversely losing touch with gravity altogether. Might I suggest that you have a balance of the two? With one thigh-high patent leather boot in your date book and one size 16 clown shoe in more ethereal realms. Keep only the art of practicing perfect by making sure you enjoy every misstep you make.
Virgo & Virgo Rising
Of all the signs of the zodiac, perhaps you of all star children can appreciate the pleasure of measured pain. I’m all for a good dose of withholding in order to get turned on, trimmed down or tuned in. However, I am going to caution you against undue exposure to loss and loneliness. Be nice to my Virgo friend (that would be you)! However, if you work this week to your advantage you could end up in the arms of a very talented lover. Indeed, I’m seeing someone capable of smoldering intensity with the courage of a thousand Queens. Either way, it looks like you’re about to get pummeled by your fears of abandonment. The only way to solve the problem is to refuse to lose sight of the power that you always have in any situation; the power of choice. I think, if we are wise enough, durable enough and even foolish enough to take all of life as a learning experience (and experiment) then quite possibly we are able to glean meaning out of every circumstance that wanders onto our path. A good place for you to refocus and regain your mental faculties is to do all things that are grounding for you, namely routine and mundane movements. With a new moon in your 6th house of Service, you owe (or service owed you) to yourself to get clear on what your daily routine needs to be for the month at least (if not the season). Mercury’s next retrograde happens (mostly) through this part of your chart.
Libra & Libra Rising
‘Tis the season, Libra! Straight through to the late spring in fact which makes it more of a spell of Sundays than a season, but there you have it. There may not be many signs of things letting up any time in the near future (what would be the fun in that?). However, there are many signs of life, which is the good news. Lets pull focus over to the new moon on Thursday. It will happen in your curiously creative 5th house of pleasure-filled projects. Yes, I said pleasure damnit, go find some! It’s important right now to remember what gives you joy because you seem to be up against many of your core issues; mainly childhood traumas and dust bunnies that dwell under the bed parading around as monsters. Things are rarely as bad as they seem. A lot of good that does when one is in the midst of a subterranean trek through the heartland of heartbreak and love long lost. This Friday brings a curious set of circumstances that is reminiscent of losing what no longer serves your love story. The catch is that you have to get close enough to the beast that protects said outdated stories to snatch it out of her paws. This may take a whole lotta courage, my Love. I want you to remember that it’s more than likely that things look more repugnant than they actually are, scarier than they could possibly be and far less dangerous than your little ego is most likely nattering on about. In short, calm down! This too shall pass.
Scorpio & Scorpio Rising
Last night I dreamt that I was looking for an apartment. I came across one that I had wanted years ago. It was a really great space in a fantastic location but really small. At some point in the dream I thought to myself, “Is this what I want because I think that it’s all I deserve or is this what I want because I want it?” Then there was a visual montage of sorts showing me how I draw things into my world that I think I deserve as was everyone else. (*Disclaimer- I think that this kind of “you draw to you what you are thinking about” can be ill informed at best. It can be downright violent at worst, often when it comes to communities that live with and are impacted by systemic violence that started hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Many communities live with the outcome of other peoples ignorant, greedy and violent thoughts. This world is not so simple or cut and dry. End of rant*) Scorpio, Thursday’s new moon is occurring in your 4th house of home, family and ancestry. If there is something that you need to start in this domain of your life I want you to take a moment to consider what it is you are used to getting and what it is that you may really want. There’s more to “wanting” than meets the eye as well. In my dream I took it one step further by realizing that one of the things I would love to do is live simply. I didn’t want or need anything giant and oversized, that I personally lived in a culture that valued such things but I am more of a tiny house girl than a mansion momma. There is another influence happening in your chart that may have you trying to consume, have and want everything. Beware of such states-they can be fun but they most likely leave you with a ridiculously bad hangover.
Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising
Your ruling planet, Jupiter has been missing ever since it sunk to the subterranean levels of your 8th house of Darthvader-like doom. Okay, maybe the eighth house isn’t that bad. It is a necessary pitstop of purging all things no longer needed. However, jovial Jupiter doesn’t always shine as brightly as it may want to there. It does serve as a fantastic torch to carry at ones side. This is like the archetype of the Hermit moving steadily deeper into the dark center of truth with only her trusty lantern for a guide. This week is full of what folks like us call “growth opportunities.” This is a nice way of saying that possible hell-fire will rain down on us all but that it’s all for the best (insert ire cheery smile here). Let’s break it down like a good plot line to a bad rom-com: There’s a new moon in Aquarius in your 3rd house of communication on Thursday. Get writing, especially if you’re applying for a grant, gig, book proposal or anything else that requires you sit down and put pen to paper/fingertips to key board. On Friday (deep inhale), Jupiter opposes Pluto (Holy Mother of disproportion, exaggeration and overdoing it!), Mercury enters Pisces, which is where it will go retrograde so it’s kind of like entering the lion’s lair, but in this case more like the whale’s lair since it’s in Pisces. On top of that, Venus stations direct. Meanwhile it’ll be devastatingly close to another conjunction with Pluto. They did rendezvous back on November 15th. Emily Trinkaus over at Virgo Magic said this conjunction was about releasing what no longer gives you pleasure and I wholeheartedly agree. For you, Sagittarius, the action between Venus/Pluto on one hand and Jupiter on the other has a lot to do with what you value, what you have to offer and how you are sharing it. In good archer fashion I recommend that you give your very best to those that are the closest to you. what I notice more than not (because I am a self-involved feeling type most likely) is that your tribe may not be the best at listening to what others are saying. You know, it slows you down but slowing your roll to listen to those around you is precisely what this new moon and Mercury retrograde will be asking of you. Which, listening to that advice or not, is of course entirely your call.
Capricorn & Capricorn Rising
Oh sweet surrender! Just let it go already Capricorn! You have, I am sure, noticed that there is actually nothing to control, let alone that fact that if there was, you couldn’t or wouldn’t want to. Venus, having been in your sign since what feels like time began, is stationing direct on Friday. This happens mere hours after a new moon in your second house of All Things You Own and Own You. My grandma would have said your pocketbook (“Are you wearing it? Make sure it’s on you. We’re going downtown, they’ll rip it right off you these days, those hooligans!”). Listen, I treat every new moon as a big deal. It hits us smack-dab in the middle of the deep dark darkness, not to mention the opportunity to hit the cosmic monthly reset button. You better believe that any planet, but especially the ones closer to us (Mercury, Venus and Mars) stationing direct is felt fairly precisely and most certainly deeply. It’s not a “bad” or “good” type of scenario that I’m speaking to here. It is an exclamation point or italics on the whole deal. For the sake of clarity, let’s get out the ephemeris and look at some date. Ok, Venus stationed retrograde on December 21, 2013 but was in its “shadow phase” since late November. If you meditate on that time period and ponder what relationship material has been surfacing, revealing, disturbing, healing and harassing you for attention since then you’ll have a better lens to view this upcoming week through. I’m putting all my money on you locating a new subterranean power source that up until now has only been hinted at in the back corners of your being, or stumbled over in a drunken-like stupor that you only half remembered the next day. Good news, it’s now completely available for you to source groovy feelings of formidable fabulousness from. There is a catch though. You have to be willing to dig in order to find it and digging requires getting dirty, girl. Dirty.
Aquarius & Aquarius Rising
Happy New Moon in Aquarius! This Thursday is your yearly self-renewal via momma moon. Take advantage of it by acting your way into being. I mean that if there is something that you really want to embody this year I would take Thursday and the rest of the week (well year, really) to act as if it has already taken place. You’re in an interesting place right now, one that demands a certain amount of solitude and a consistent practice of self-love. The way you relate to yourself right now is far more impactful than how anyone else treats you. And when I say impactful I mean like knock-your-socks-off-fall-to-your-knees-praise-baby-Jesus-Goddess-type-of-impactful. It’s between getting ridiculously real with self acceptance. The other options is spending all your money on quaaludes, scotch and a “gold” shag rug and have a good old fashioned 70’s styled overdose. I vote that we stick with option A; self-love. But WTF is self-love anyway? Perhaps its steady eyes on all the ups and down that accompany you through the day like a pack of hungry child ghosts and clumsy clowns. Perhaps it’s just making sure that you have eaten well and had enough sleep. Perhaps, as my friend and colleague Wonder Bright has been writing about all week, it’s as simple as praying all day everyday that you are filled with loving kindness and that you are happy, at ease and full of peace. Hopefully everyone else around you is filled with the sea simple solution to this absolute insanity that we call modern civilization. Be simple Aquarius, love is simple, not easy all the time but profoundly, surprisingly simple.
Pisces & Pisces Rising
Last night I dreamt that I was at a big social event. I couldn’t find anyone that I knew. I had one of those awkward moments where I felt insecure and socially awkward so I made it overly obvious that I was looking for my entourage that, you know, I’m usually surrounded by like a bad HBO show about poor privileged rich kids. However, once I realized that I didn’t in fact know anyone there and that I was all alone in a sea full of people I had the most amazing realization. A voice rose up within me and said, “I’m my own best friend.” With that, a love filled my body like I had never felt before. I was, for a moment, in the presence of my higher self and fully connected to “It”. Unfortunately the feeling left as quickly as it came, but the experience changed me. I knew that I was never actually alone. My very next thought was, “I have to write this down for someone’s horoscope. Who’s having something happen in their 12th house?” True story, even in my dreams I’m thinking of you. This Thursday there will be a new moon in your 12th house of dreams, spiritual connections, otherworldly type experiences and loss. There’s also a hell-fire of other insane dynamics taking place at the same time in areas of your chart that have a lot to do with friends, lovers and ownership. You may feel at moments like a little girl lost in a crowd. You may feel like you are in a sea of folks that don’t quite see you, get you or feel you. However, that’s not necessarily the experience that you need to be tending to right now. The universe always seems to conspire to bring us the precise concoction that we need. For you Pisces, it’s about realizing that not only are you your best friend, but your connection to something greater than yourself is the solution to every bit of lonely that has ever, or ever will haunt you.