Final Jupiter Square Pluto | 3rd times the charm .... what are we willing to risk to succeed

1935 by arvael18

Jupiter (in Libra until October 10th) and Pluto (in Capricorn 2008-2024) have squared off three times this year. First in late November, then in late March and for the last time today. 

Squares create friction and challenge. They are stressful. They test us. They reveal to us how we react and respond to tense situations.

Jupiter in Libra wants justice or peace. Pluto in Capricorn wants power or transformation. In our own lives we could feel this as a hunger to succeed at something and the questions around what we are willing to do or risk to succeed.  

This could be conflicts between work responsibilities and our personal relationships, power dynamic tension within relationships, authority issues and even infidelity issues - some kind of unfaithfulness within a relationship or partnership structure. Imbalances will show up if one person is compromising too much and/or one person has too much power.

If this stuff is hitting personal planets in your chart, major breakthroughs are possible now.

This is a series of aspects that started around last Thanksgiving, so where are we now? Maybe we have taken a leap of faith (Jupiter) and increased our power (Pluto) or maybe we have taken on too much and are dealing with the realities of that now. Know however the story is playing out in our lives, things will start to cool down as the planets begin to separate and this square unwinds itself.

This could be a major turning point (with its connection to next week's Lunar Eclipse - you might not see results for a few days) for some 2017 stories since this is a major transit for this year.

For today, let's check ourselves when trying to push our beliefs on other people - not a good idea. Judgemental attitudes will create conflict with others. Know everyone else is dealing with this, too, so keep a cool head. 

Relax. Fear of the future is what is getting us all tangled up now. It's eclipse season and we just don't know what we don't know. Loosen the reins a bit ....

xo all

(I had two people tell me that advice to let someone's mother move in with them and sleep on their couch was very bad advice - this was something I wrote about in a recent post. Now, I didn't tell the person to take in her mother. I asked her what her heart wanted to do - what was the simplest, least complicated thing. This person gets along well with her mother. Her mother is already in her house about twenty hours a week watching her children. She just didn't want the added interruption/responsibility. She was really asking me "if I let her move in - will she ever move out?" so we were looking at timeframes, etc. The couch part is my own invention. I have no idea if an actual couch is going to be used, although if you want someone's stay to be short, offer them your couch - turning over the master suite and having it painted in their favorite color is probably a bad idea. Please don't take this story as meaning we need to help other people at our own expense - which I think is what both readers were saying I was saying. I wasn't saying that. Or if I was saying that I wasn't meaning that. This was her mother. And maybe mom sleeping in her car would be more heartache than safe in our livingroom, right?")

Uranus Stations Retrograde | loosening our grip

trio by alkapralka

Late last night Uranus stationed retrograde. He will be retrograde through the end of the year.

If we have been hit by a curveball recently things may smooth out a bit. For other people it will be the retrograde degrees that bring the intensified changes.

The degree Uranus stations (28 degrees Aries) trines the August 21st Solar Eclipse also at 28 degrees. Trines allow things to happen faster by removing roadblocks. This could be a good thing because now you can get where you are going. Or it could be a not so good thing if say the roadblock is preventing your car from speeding over a cliff. The best use of a trine is to take action rather than allow the action to happen to us.

And, of course, the best way to take a good fall if your car is already too near the cliff to change course - is loose limbed, don't tense up - or drunk, that works, too.

Uranus is also the ruler of the August 7th Lunar Eclipse since it is in Aquarius - his station, meaning his seemingly erratic energy that gets us from point A to point B in the most expeditious manner our current situation can possible line up with - ties in to both eclipses. He has been sitting almost still in the sky for a while now which is why the eclipse commotion (area of focus) is already in play for many people.

This is where knowing your natal (and progressed) charts will come in handy. Uranus is at 28 degrees Aries and moving backward. Let's say you have a planet at 29 degrees Aries - well, Uranus will be backing away from that planet. If you have been on a rollercoaster ride with changes this year in the area of life ruled by late Aries in your chart (remember Uranus moves very slowly and transits last a long time), then your rollercoaster ride will slow down - you might even be able to exit the damn ride. 

But, let's say you have a planet at 25 degrees Aries, well now Uranus will begin to move toward that planet. So, just when you think it's safe to go back into the water, you see another shark. Whatever this disruption is - it will be strong enough to finally shake loose whatever it didn't manage to shake loose the last time it crossed your planet (while it was moving direct). So, things might appear to get worse before they get better. What is really happening is that you are being freed up. With the eclipses involved I am thinking the stuff we are "freed up" from is not stuff we are so intent on losing. But it won't be a total surprise either, even for those people who claim it is ....

If you have planets or important points (think of 12,3,6 and 9 on the face of a clock) around 28 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn - you will feel this whole thing strongest.

The best way to work with Uranus (this would be kind of like working with Donald Trump, who with his natal Uranus sitting on his natal Sun, would probably cause the people who work with him to age in dog years, trying to keep up) is to loosen our grip on things. Stay open to changing our mind and direction. Expect the unexpected. Maybe what seems totally crazy, will make sense later on.

After he moves into Taurus next year, his retrograde then will take us back into Aries. Yes, another trip over those beleaguered late degrees of Aries - sorry! But by then I suspect most of us will be so focused on what he has been shaking up in Taurus (ruler of our money, our resources, the planet, weather, food) that we might not even notice ....

Uranus is retrograde for 5 months of every year and for most people it is like background noise. We don't notice unless he is touching our charts directly. This year, with his tie in to BOTH this month's eclipses, we could all be feeling this.

xo all

The August Eclipses | part 1 - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse August 7th

head in the clouds by pawssou

The Sun is 400 times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away. Does the chance of this being anything even slightly random strike anyone else as impossible?

Wouldn't the odds be "astronomical"?

As we approach the big "American" eclipse on August 21st - which will not just impact America btw - there will be more and more astronomy talk on the news, hopefully some astrology voices will be heard, too.

Someone told me recently that it was such a coincidence that the eclipses were in Leo/Aquarius this year and the Nodes of the Moon have moved into Leo/Aquarius, too (North Node in Leo, South Node in Aquarius). Hehe! The nodes of the Moon, the points where the orbit of the Moon crosses the ecliptic ARE the eclipse points so eclipses ALWAYS happen in the signs of the North and South Node because that's what the North and South Nodes are! I thought it was funny that she said this because I always say North Node this and South Node that and probably never explained them!

Maybe the big news this summer is the August 21st Solar Eclipse in Leo. But before we talk about that one and there is ALOT to talk about, let's take a look at the first August eclipse next week - in many ways this one looks bigger to me than the next one!

On Monday we have a Lunar eclipse (Full Moon) at 15 degrees Aquarius. Full Moons are the culmination point of the monthly cycle. There are natural endings and conclusions. The night sky is lit up and something comes to light down here - both in the collective and within our own lives. It's a time when the Moon is opposite the Sun. With the Sun in Leo and the Moon in Aquarius - the Leo/Aquarius polarity themes (as well as the polarity theme of your Leo/Aquarius natal houses) will be in play.

This polarity (warning shameless plug ahead - have you seen my lockets?) is about our ego vs the collective, the king vs the people, the stage star vs the audience, our heart vs our head, following the rules vs breaking the rules, following our heart vs maintaining unity within a group, yada, yada - we work this polarity best when we blend big heart (Leo) with big mind (Aquarius).

The Lunar Eclipse in Aquarius is just a few days after Uranus (ruler of Aquarius) stations retrograde. There are multiple aspects involved with this Full Moon, but the Uranus station is important.

This might be about stepping away from a group or feeling like we don't fit in anymore. We could be re-evaluating something that is restrictive or that we perceive as "holding us back". I also get the feeling from looking at the other aspects and seeing what I am dealing with in my own life (my natal Sun is at 15 degrees Aquarius) that there is something here about a person, situation or event, taking away our personal power.

Or more correctly stated, this loss of personal power is the feeling that is generated. It could feel like a threat to our safety, security or way of life.

We'll want to work through our feelings about whatever is happening between this eclipse and the next one. Releasing what is happening to God/Goddess/the Universe - trusting that what is happening is what needs to happen ....

Eclipses are usually about loss and often the thing or situation or belief or person we lose is not something we are ready to let go of.

Things that are already shaky and uncertain, areas that are already volatile, these are the spaces where things tend to come to a head. Often the 'eclipsing out' appears to be 'out of the blue' or sudden, but it is almost always something we could have or should have or did see coming.

Because we have the big Solar Eclipse a couple weeks later, it makes me think the things we lose or see at this one might be particularly challenging (this doesn't mean it is necessarily a big devastating loss, just that whatever it is we are tasked with releasing is challenging to let go of or whatever it is that 'comes to light' is challenging to look at probably because we won't want to take the action it is forcing) - since this eclipse is kind of clearing the space and making room for the next eclipse.

At the time of this first eclipse on August 7th, the Sun will be hanging out with Mars (in Leo) - so both planets will be opposing the Moon. The Full Moon is always a time of Sun vs. Moon - hence its reputation for crazy stuff to happen - but with Mars involved here, this one has an extra kick. Mars can bring passion and initiative. Mars can also bring anger and violence. Managed poorly we could see shocking abuses of power (this Lunar Eclipse also carries the energy of this Friday's final Jupiter/Pluto square). Managed well - a gigantic creative push to get us to the top.

There are some GREAT aspects for this eclipse, too. The Moon is trining Jupiter and the Sun is sextiling Jupiter. Both increase our opportunities for GOOD LUCK and expansion (Jupiter). Let's focus on them. We'll likely have to wade through the other, muddier aspects to reach these, but they will be worth the dirty boots.

So hold on loosely. Focus on the highest attributes of both Leo and Aquarius - following our heart, generosity, dignity, enthusiasm (Leo), logical thinking, non-judgement, vision, non-conformity (Aquarius). Don't get into a power struggle now. Compromise. The high road is the one with the best view and the cooler breezes.

If something ends or someone leaves, eclipses are reset points - it's/they're gone. If something comes to light now that pushes us away from a group or situation or ideal or vision - it is something we are meant to see now.

This is a karmic culmination point - we have been building toward it for a long time ....

We'll talk more about the Lunar Eclipse in next week's post, but I wanted to post a heads-up.

Eclipse season is not the time to make any big crazy moves if we don't have to because we don't know what we don't know.

We can't see there from here. Let's let the eclipses do their job first. Let's see where we are all sitting by the first week or so of September when Mercury has done his magic, too, and assess from there.

With that North Node in Leo the right move is not going to be some super complicated thing where twenty things have to fall into place for us to get what we want. Following our heart should feel natural. There is an ease to this. 

I have a friend whose mother lost her house (so many people have lost long term housing situations in the last few months!) and the friend is unsure and worried about her mother moving in with her. She loves her mother, but is thinking about all the problems that could happen and the changes her own family will have to make. So, I'm asking her, "well what is the simplest thing here? If your mother doesn't come to stay with you what will happen?" She tells me, "well, there isn't really any other place right now, but I'm not sure I want to do this!".

The North Node in Leo is saying to go with our heart. So what does she do? Is she following her heart (oxygen mask on own own face first, right?) by helping her mother or isn't she? Is she really hurting herself by helping her mother or is she overthinking and projecting the situation too far ahead?

Leo brings us to the bottom line. She loves her mother. She has a couch and a pillow. Her mother has a head that needs a pillow. There you go. That is the simplest thing (and yes, I know this isn't simple, but the first, next, best step almost always is).

(and, of course, if there is any way to push this whole decision off until mid September she should do that and she will be glad she did)

Thinking twenty steps ahead is what Aquarius does - we don't want to be doing that. Right now we follow our heart. We have to trust this stuff to work out. This overthinking thing "my mother is going to live on my couch forever!" which our heart knows is ridiculous, but our head is stressing over is often what keeps us from following our heart.

This "following our heart" thing isn't about all of us hopping into an Uber and heading to California to be movie stars. Your head might want to be a movie star (and I guess someone has to be one), but I can promise you your heart's desires are much closer to home .....

xo all