Sun and Mars in Virgo

The Sun and Mars in Virgo

It’s Virgo time!

Virgo Suns and Risings will start to feel like you’re getting back in the groove, and the rest of us will be getting some nudges for a little order in the chaos. Even with six planets in retrograde!

I can feel Virgo energy creeping in. All of a sudden I want to structure my life.  It’s crazy because –

I actually WANT to fill out my calendar and commit differently to work and projects.

I actually WANT to get more organized and disciplined. Gasp!

Here’s some Virgo vibes to embrace for the next month-ish:

• Organize your schedule

• Do the mundane tasks (like checking your banking statement - how many monthly streaming or member charges are you getting that need to be canceled that you aren’t using?)

• Commit to better health/eating/self-care practices

• Arrange your desk and workspace for better productivity

• Do the detail work you’ve put off

• Purge your closet or pantry

• Commit to an act of service (Virgo loves to help others in need!)

The warning bells also start chiming for me in Virgo season. I really have to watch for perfectionism.  Virgo energy is BIG on getting things just right. It can paralyze me. I know in my gut perfection isn’t possible. Yet she still exists - Miss Annoying Perfectionist Pearl.

Maybe you suffer from a bit of this too - and you don’t have to be a Virgo! Just notice that you may feel more of that push during the next month to over-analyze and get things right. Super important if you’re designing a NASA space shuttle, but it can go into overdrive in our home, work and romantic life - a place where exaggerated Virgo energy may not be as welcome or needed! Don’t wait to share your gifts until you get it perfect. You’ll be waiting forever.

At my writers’ retreat I attended this summer, we talked about all of the things that trap us, keep us from our writing goals. Perfectionism was one. Procrastination was another. Do you want to know how we dealt with Procrastination? - We put her in a corner and gave her something to do. (Julia, you were amazing at impersonating procrastination).  

To fill you all in - Julia sat in a corner and played with soul cards instead of doing her work. I felt so seen.

So during Virgo season - if you’re feeling it - honor that time to get stuff done, organize, purge the closets, sell the crap you don’t need, re-structure your calendar, take better care of your body, eat good food, honor your energy levels, enjoy these last few weeks of the ripeness and fullness of summer, and prepare for fall and winter when it makes sense for you!

Happy Virgo Season!

PS the Sun is in Virgo Aug. 23-Sept. 22

Mars in Virgo Aug. 18-Oct. 3

New Life; Guarded Vigilantly

THREE MONTHS of all direct planets starting today. Woot Woot!!

Mercury is direct in Capricorn, Mars is direct in Gemini and Uranus went direct today in Taurus.

Those first two weeks or so of January were a little cloudy, a little hopeful, a little difficult, a little confusing - a little of all of those things in one swirly package. Now, we peep out of the emotional or brain fog with some hope and clarity.

In the last few weeks, beginning in Capricorn season, we may have been dreaming. Dreaming of new careers, relationships, creative projects, new versions of ourselves. Eliminating not so great habits, becoming more disciplined in certain areas, all the things we do when we’re ready to shed old skin and begin anew.

Today, I drew the oracle card “A New Life, Guarded Vigilantly.” When we start new routines, habits, disciplines, creative projects - all the things - it’s freaking scary.

First we start out high - riding an adrenalin rush.

Yay - this is new, this is fun!! - this is so aligned with who I want to be and what I want to do!

Then, doubt creeps in. And challenges.

It’s like after a new moon. Did you know in the first quarter phase after the New moon we are faced with our first challenges to new moon intentions? It's as if the universe is asking us - do you really want this thing?

When a powerhouse like Uranus goes direct, it electrifies and supercharges the natal house it transits. Look your natal chart up on astro.com and see what house Uranus is transiting for insight.

There’s so much hope and good vibes/energy, yet the self doubt - can I really do this? Am I strong enough? Talented enough? Disciplined Enough? Ugh, the 'enough' word.

In every creative process in every birth, in every birth, in every opening of a new cycle of life, there is a time of excitement - and of vulnerability.

While everyone (including me) is talking about how awesome it is to have all of this “Go For It” energy, we might be feeling wobbly, unsure, and vulnerable. And that’s ok. That’s how it starts. We will get traction, in our own divine timing. And yes, we are and have more than Enough to get there.

Oracle Cards: Sacred Rebels by Alana Fairchild

Do you feel at Home? New Moon in Cancer 2022

The New Moon in Cancer today on June 28th symbolizes our relationship with Home and Family. With the Sun now in Cancer, along with the moon, the month ahead will prove to highlight these topics in our lives no matter what sign you are.

We find ourselves presented with questions around what brings us security, how we need to be nurtured (our love language) and our relationships with family, our familial and ancestral values, and how we agree or disagree with them. Now is the time to “feather your nest”. It's a beautiful time to create Sacred Space on your property -  within your home or in a corner of a room - a space where you can nurture your spirit and come home to yourself. If that space has already been created, clean it, re-arrange it, and add new magical objects that are powerful for you now. It’s time to refresh!

We may look back into our histories and be saddened by some memories and comforted by others. It's up to us to decide what traditions and what values we want to bring forward into our own family unit in the present.

As with any new moon, it is time to set intentions. This life review around family and home can give us a place to start  - what do we want to create for ourselves? How do we want our home to feel when people come inside our doors?

Our home is our sacred space, and speaks to our inner landscape, personality, and what we hold most sacred in our lives. 

The sign of Cancer also highlights our intuition, as it is a feminine sign, ruled by the moon and the symbolic Mother archetype. 

We may reflect on how we have been mothered and nurtured - the blessings and the traumas related to both. Again, how do we want to be loved and how are we doing with loving others? If we attempt to love from a place of fear or lack, unfortunately we may fail and make many mistakes we wish we could take back. But we may have been mothered with fear. So now is the time to reflect upon and heal this ancestral mother wound many of us have. The best way to do this is to nurture ourselves. Speak to ourselves with love. Have self-compassion if we make a mistake. The more lovingly we care for our own bodies, heart and spirit, the more love we radiate. “There is no fear in love”. 

Pay attention to your dreams and intuition. Your gut will be more activated now. The sign of Cancer also rules the stomach - ‘gut’ feelings will be more present, and we will feel things in the center of our belly if they are not right for us.

My own family and sense of home is going through several transitions. Greg, my husband and I, moved to his home in September of last year, and 9 months later, (the last box was unpacked yesterday!), have moved back to our farm (my ancestral home) in Ohio. Three out of our four children are in transition between homes, apartments, other parents’ homes, and other cities out of state. My son came to me the other day saying he felt ‘so ungrounded’. We had a long talk around what home means and how everything can feel out of sorts when the definition of home is in transition-either geographically or within ourselves.  

When we feel ungrounded and out of sorts, and have not created a space for ourselves that feels like home, it can shift and affect every decision in life we have to make.

Greg and I are intentionally creating space and moments to help ourselves and our children feel more at home, when home  - or the definition of home - is shifting.

The sense of home is an alive and evolving thing. And growing and maturing and learning how to create a sense of home within ourselves is a lifelong path with many lessons learned along the way. What kind of home brings us the most Joy? Who do we want to live with? Do we want to live alone? What about my home of origin? How important is it to me? What values and ways of life will I take with me when I create my new space? Where is home?

We can never underestimate the power of home. It is the foundation from which we launch into every relationship and decision in life.

 I am wishing all of you the comforts of home, the gift of being loved how you need to be loved, and the ability to create a loving and joyful environment for yourself and others -  no matter where you are.

Scorpio Sun, Moon and Ascendant

Scorpio has a reputation and is the most blatantly over-generalized sign (next to Virgo). We are either seen as devious, jealous, sex-crazed or simply scary as F. 

We can be all of the above. But as I’ve analyzed myself, and every other Scorpio I’ve come across in my lifetime - I realize we have as many variations as snow has snowflakes. Yet snowflakes we are not.

I do believe it’s advisable to have a healthy respect for a Scorpio and the depths they contain. They can be dangerous folk, yet they can also be the one sign/person that can lead you to the truths about yourself, exercise your shadow, bring up your wounds to be healed, face you with your darkness, talk about shit no one else will, and love you fiercely and deeply across time and space.

Their memories are kept as energetic imprints - as is true for many water signs. They may forget when your birthday was or your sister’s name - but they’ll never forget you - what they experienced with you, and the ways you changed each other. A Scorpio usually comes into your life to create intensity - and whether that is intense light or dark, it is for a reason - and you will never leave a relationship with a Scorpio without being changed in some way.

Scorpio rules transformation, death, sex, shadow, alchemy. They represent the Eagle or the Scorpion - and a Scorpio human will land somewhere on that scale between holy Shaman to a manipulative and wounded soul with an intention to sting.

A Scorpion must do much inner work. Their wounds and pasts are felt deeply. If they are a Scorpio that has not forgiven themselves or those who have hurt them (intentionally or not), they will first become toxic to themselves - and then naturally, to those they are in relationship with.

A Scorpio who works to plumb their own inner depth and learns to LET GO of wrongs, regrets and rejection, will soar like the Eagle and love with a love so powerful it is transcendental and holy - and that includes a love for self.

Scorpions have chosen this incarnation to transform - ruling the root chakra, the themes of sexuality, ancestry, family roots and home roots, inheritances, death, etc. are often where these transformational themes occur.

An immature Scorpio (and by this I don’t mean childish, I simply mean still learning and lacking wisdom) may use sex as a power play, may manipulate with sex, or use sex to attempt to bond or control without opening the heart and other chakras. A Scorpio overly consumed with sexuality without the balance of soul, spirit and love, will often feel a void, even if they can’t name it. It is like allowing a child to play with a butcher block full of knives. She/he has the equipment to be dangerous, and isn’t quite ready to use it to its fullest potential in a safe and ‘productive’ way - for lack of a better word. Sex is a fleeting form of adrenal high at this point, without offering the gorgeously delicious, transformative power sex can have for Scorpions. And Scorpions that do not respect their sexuality or the sexuality of others are dangerous. On the other side of the coin, some Scorpions have a fear of sex that leads them to actually shut down their root chakra and avoid connecting with other humans through sexuality. This may happen because of past sexual trauma, or because of a family or religious environment where sex was taught to be dirty, shameful, or something people didn’t do - as if it didn’t exist.

A Scorpio with not only a healthy - but a thriving, delicious, respectful and FUN approach to sex is one of the most lit up, energetic, powerful beings on the planet. Their powers of manifestation seem limitless, and they can literally perform sex magic and shamanic healing.

All Scorpions will be a bit secretive. Even the sweetest and most evolved of us will keep some cards held close to our chest. This is not to say Scorpions are cheating or lying - far from it - Scorpions are often fiercely loyal! They simply know how deeply they feel things, and often have a very difficult time spilling every emotion, thought and feeling out onto the floor. And that is how it feels to a Scorpion. What if someone stomps on those feelings? What if they use it against them? They will be crushed to the depths.

To love a Scorpio and encourage openness, their friend or lover MUST create trust and safety over time. I add the ‘over time’, because a Scorpio won’t trust you just because you ask them to. In fact, if you ask them, that may make you seem even more untrustworthy. “Trust me” may just be the two words that send a Scorpio running. They watch your actions, listen to your words, and constantly observe you. Sounds stalker-ish, but it’s not. They want to see if there are patterns in your behavior. Are your words lining up with what they see? Are you worthy of their deep love and loyalty? Can they let their guard down? They are keen observers of human psychology. They make excellent detectives because of this observation of actions, patterns, words. Their deepest fear is to be fooled - and for their love not to be returned in the same magnitude they give it.

Scorpions love getting to know people. Unfortunately, a Scorpio may too quickly disregard others who are wonderful options for friends and lovers because they may judge someone too quickly - especially if they seem superficial or fake in any way. Advice to any Scorpio, and one I’ve learned as I’ve matured: Give people time and space to reveal their depth. A Scorpio should remember that everyone has layers and often wear masks - just as they do.

Like other water signs, Scorpios need time alone. Don’t be offended when they seem to disappear mentally. Water signs are empaths and need time to disengage from the energies they absorb - even from their loved ones.  But a mature Scorpio must learn how to communicate this need. Disappearing acts without explanation are cruel and could even be a form of abuse in intimate relationship. Running away and not showing up are signs of a wound and trauma in action. They are trying to keep a bit of themselves back, and it is a form of dishonesty. Again, this doesn’t mean they are lying and cheating, it means they haven’t learned who they are, what they need, and the ability to communicate it. Trust that a Scorpion who hasn’t learned to trust themselves and others has great potential to change and turn this completely around - even if just one person shows them safety, unconditional love, and non-judgment - over time!

The Scorpion is represented by the Phoenix for great reason. They can be burnt up, destroyed, devastated, life seemingly ruined, and rise up with a new version of themselves and their life, stronger than ever before. In fact, this is often their journey on earth and the main way they grow and transform. Their strength is not superficial, and rises up from a soul level. Their being KNOWS that the dark night of the soul is the night before the dawn, and even if the pain feels insurmountable in the moment, there is a soul-knowing that keeps them moving through the pain until the new life is born. They know the inside of the chrysalis - as does the butterfly -  and that crawling on the earth was simply the step before taking flight.

Full Moon Halloween! What it means for ALL SIGNS!

Happy Full Moon Halloween Oct. 31, 2020!

This full moon happening in Taurus is filled with electric energy.

Remember that we don’t just feel the effects of the full moon day of - this whole week from Oct. 25 and lasting until Nov.3  is the building up, peak and culmination of the blue moon (second full moon in a month) full moon energy.

Are you ready to cast your spells?

Spell casting isn’t just witchery. We cast spells  in our every day lives. Ever set an intention? Ever written down your goals? Ever made a wish and blew out a candle on a birthday cake (ahem, pre-Covid). You are sending a spell, wish, expectation out into the universe. And this weekend is a prime time to remember that powerful ritual.

How has life been for you since April 22, 2020? This was the new Moon in Taurus; the full moon on Oct. 31 in Taurus is the culmination of that cycle.

What have you learned about yourself? Are you ready to move forward with a new energy and focus and let some things and people go that aren’t an authentic use of your time and resources?

Whatever isn’t in alignment with you - your dreams, wishes, desires and highest good, is going to feel extra crappy right now. You’re going to KNOW it’s time to move on. 

Uranus is a major player affecting this full moon. Uranus brings a heightened level of anxiety, a greater need for grounding (helped by the earthy Taurus moon), surprising changes and information, rebellious actions from yourself or others, and possible major shifts.  Think of plugging into an electrical socket. Uranus supercharges the atmosphere.

Also, Venus is opposing Chiron, the Wounded Healer. Many of us will be focusing on relationships - what are our triggers, our patterns - and especially what do we not want to tolerate anymore. 

We may suddenly see how we wound ourselves in relationships - how we open ourselves up to repeated trauma with our repetitive ways of communicating, welcoming in partners that don’t see our value, and being with people we know aren’t good for us. 

Uranus and the moon in Taurus will push us to pay attention to our sovereignty and self-worth. If you feel like you deserve trauma, you will accept trauma. At some point, we need to look at what choices we make and realize there are other options. There should be no judgement or harsh criticism of self at this time. Simply the awareness that we are ready to shift our realities. If you feel like you need to forgive yourself for some shitty past decisions, do so and move on. Visualize and feel into how you want things to look and feel differently in your daily life and relationships. Are you ready to feel free? This freedom will only come by committing to self.

Full Moon Focus for Each Sign:

Aries - Value. Taurus already rules over values, and this is also where the moon is hanging out in your chart. Are you aligning to your values - do you even know what they are? You may want to spend some time writing down your values and see if you are off track. Look at how these values align with your financial health as well. There’s time to course correct.

Taurus - it’s all about you Taurus - the moon is in your first house of Identity. Where in your life are you NOT being authentic? Can you show up more wholly in your life, career and relationships and not be afraid to speak your mind? This is the beginning of a new month for you, where YOU are the priority. Make sure you are making decisions based on your needs first. Then the rest will fall into place.

Gemini - Going inward may be the best thing you can do right now. You may not feel like partying it up - and that’s just fine. Your spiritual world is illuminated, and you’re feeling the need to nurture the divine within you with a little peace and comfort. You may be looking at letting go of old spiritual beliefs or behaviors that have been too confining.

Cancer - Any problems with your buds or social connections?  A friend you need to let go of that’s draining you? Ready to switch up the friend pod? There may be sudden changes in friend-world. Just go with the flow and try not to take it too personally. Friends come and go in perfect timing.

Leo - Your career is up this full moon. Just because you aren’t working on Saturday doesn’t mean you won’t get news in the days prior or after that shift some things at work. And this information may be better than what you hoped for.

Virgo - Covid season has been great for nesting, but you’re feeling the urge to get out of Dodge. Just know Mercury retrograde may throw a wrench and the Uranus/moon relationship may throw in some surprises to your travel plans - but isn’t spontaneity and surprise what you’re looking for anyway? If you can’t travel, expand your mind.

Libra - Money and transformation, one or the other or both. Eighth house matters are always deep ones. Other people's money, debts, inheritances, windfalls...something may shift in the money realm, or in your outlook on the control or power money or lack of has over you. Sex also falls under this area of the chart. How are the power dynamics in your sex life? Ready for a super-charge?

Scorpio - Relationships receive full illumination now. You have insights you can’t ignore, and these last months since April 22 have magnified the crap you won’t take, the crap that’s holding you back in relationships, and the treasures you want to keep. You can say good-bye now, and you can welcome the vibes you really want to stay in your relationship world. Remember - it all starts from within you. You are a powerful manifester, and if you are a mess, you’ll attract messes. Time to journal and really figure out where you want to heal and change in the realms of how you want to relate and what you want to bring in.

Sagittarius - How’s your daily routine? How’s your work-life balance? How’s your health? Now’s the time to make some radical changes in time management, health practices, and general self-care. Don’t wait for health crises or breakdowns to happen to make those changes you’ve been thinking about for six months. Start with one habit you need to change, and watch how this gives you steam to tackle some more.

Capricorn - It’s play time! You’re so good at putting your nose to the grindstone and taking care of your responsibilities. Take this weekend to prioritize fun, kids, creativity, music, dance, or anything that helps you let your hair down. Don’t worry, your life won’t fall apart if you give in to some hedonism this weekend!

Aquarius - the theme is home for you - have you moved recently or thinking about moving? Some pretty sudden opportunities have been in the air and may culminate this weekend, or at least shift so that you can start to see the path ahead. A change of environment is just what you need. Even if you aren’t changing locales, change your nest. It’s time to revamp the space around you to allow fresh energy into your life.

Pisces - Communication! Now may be time to say your piece, or someone else may give you a piece of their mind. Don’t fight it, you know that it’s time to clear the air. When what was held back is spoken, you can finally move on to the next chapter. Try to stay clear, firm, and kind, just how you would like to be spoken to. You can make your point without being a brat. And so can they. Don’t let anyone verbally abuse you.