Isabel Hickey | MoonPluto Astrology

The Stars Today: Divine

The energy is intense out there today. We know this. And not just the Eclipse (wouldn’t that be enough?) but Mercury (communications) retrograde (askew) square (difficult) Neptune (confusing) in Pisces (rose-colored glasses).

Were you looking for clarity? Were you looking for truth? Sorry! Here’s some emotional intensity instead

I am thinking about my mortality, about the body, about aging, about love, about Chiron in my 8th House (Scorpio’s House). Ya know, the usual around here, and I’m home, at my desk, looking at the weather. It’s rainy in the Big City and if I had to characterize the astro-weather, I’d call it rainy too

Let’s draw a few cards for the day…

1. You are taking on more than your share of the burden. This could be work, literally what is happening at work, and telling me that need to reframe your work! Someone once advised me to master the art of being elusive. I want to tell you the same. Slip through the eye of the needle. It could save your sanity. Of course this could also apply to worries and worrying. Same advice. Put it down. Actually see yourself doing this. A little escapism goes a long way…

2. And then, once you do that, your strength and focus can return. You release what is not yours so that what IS yours, what you are supposed to be doing, can come home.

3. There is a conversation you are supposed to be having with the Divine. Today.

And speaking of the Divine and in honor of the New Moon in Scorpio, this is what Isabel Hickey has to say about the 8th House, which is associated with Scorpio:

“Every Eighth House operation is a celestial messenger in disguise and a challenge to penetrate this disguise and become the recipient of the blessing he bears. In the wake of an Eighth House storm, there is always a rainbow if we but lift our eyes to perceive it.”

I am working on my Readings page, trying to explain better what I *do* here. Take a look!

Hurricane Sandy And Neptune The Divine

Was watching the news just now. I don’t know when the report was from exactly. Earlier today I think. People in communities in Coney Island who lost everything. Maybe they have their homes, but no food, no water, no electricity, no heat. And then some who lost their homes as well. Cars too. And they’re running the marathon as usual? (As I edit this post just heard the NYC Marathon is cancelled this year for the first time ever.)

I live in an area that got lucky. Our power didn’t go out. My apartment lost internet access for 24 hours but it came right back on like magic. And today I went to my PO Box in another neighborhood. That particular subway train isn’t up and running yet so I took a bus and then got off the bus because the bus was SO crowded and SO slow. Figured that I’d get there just as fast if I walked, easily an hour.

Getting back was easier, a bus and a train and when I was walking to that train I saw folks in Downtown Brooklyn waiting for a Manhattan bound shuttle bus (no trains running from Brooklyn to Manhattan yet as far as I know) – we all stared. I can’t even tell you the number of people waiting — three or four long long city blocks? At least ten buses worth of people. Ten buses. Maybe.

Back home, on my desk is a book called The Unbreakable Soul. I haven’t reread it yet. I took it out of one of my storage boxes last night. I like the title. From what I recall, it’s about using your hands for work, for your livelihood, but using your spirit, your soul, your heart, for God. Putting it there. It’s a book from my traditionally religious days from about 7-8 years ago. Don’t get me wrong though — I’m still religious. I still seek connection to the Divine. But it’s different than before.

I have no words of wisdom for the suffering going on now in New York and New Jersey. In my warm apartment with water and food (and not that much heat actually), who am I to tell them to be unbreakable. That they are unbreakable. I wish anyone suffering from this storm to be safe and warm and full and fed. To know the comfort of a hot shower, clean clothes, warm coat, shoes that fit. Help on the way.

***

Tomorrow the Moon is in vulnerable homebody Cancer and will trine poetic Neptune and hard-working Saturn, creating a Grand Trine in water. You can make your life (your home = Moon) more beautiful (Neptune) if you try (Saturn).

Venus in Libra will square Pluto and she’s been opposing Uranus (a stressful configuration) so the Moon in Cancer makes the tsquare a Grand Cross. Will this be a love (Venus) transit for you? An uncomfortable one? Maybe. A realization. Crisis. You may feel (Cancer) pushed to take action or take cover.

One more thing I want to mention is my current obsession: Neptune going direct on November 11th. I fully believe that retrograde planets hold us up, keep us prisoner make us wait! Call it review time or re-do time but mostly, lately, I just find it annoying I want life to proceed. The retrogrades remind us that we are… not ultimately in control. Oh yes I’m starting that conversation again: free-will vs. fate and how much of each is in charge of us.

So Neptune moves forward and that area of your life, your chart, will begin to glow. And like all the planets, signs, houses, even aspects, there are lower and higher vibrations, like lights. I’m reading Isabel Hickey again so let me give you part of her list:

In a personal chart Neptune represents:

Obligation: in whatever area it is placed in the blueprint, one must serve the universal whole.

Sensitivity.

Psychic and mystical capacity.

Cosmic consciousness that comes through devotion and feelings.

Chaos or Cosmos.

Dreams, night or day.

Material bondage.

Illusion and disillusion.

Deception.

Alcohol, drugs, anesthesia.

Suffering.

Divine compassion.

Along these lines (and this came up in the private room) there’s a word that comes from Chassidic thought that I like a lot: bitachon. And from what I remember (and I am not a Rabbi) this word, more or less means BELIEF (with a side dish of surrender).

And that belief is BEYOND faith. That faith is… hope or wishing or closing your eyes and maybe just maybe you’ll make it through. Whereas belief is WITHOUT A DOUBT you are being taken care of and will be taken care of. You don’t leave even a corner of a corner of a corner untouched by Divine shelter.

Such a distinction could be considered hair-splitting for some but it’s part of a long tradition…

Are you tracking Neptune in your chart?

P.S. Just heard! Power is back on on the Lower East Side

Yes I am doing Mini-Moon Readings for the upcoming Eclipses as well as my usual longer Readings.

Scorpioland!

Sun in Scorpio. Saturn in Scorpio. The transiting Node in Scorpio. Mercury will retrograde back into Scorpio. Neptune in Pisces is trining Scorpio. And the Solar Eclipse New Moon on the 13th will be in Scorpio.

There is no escape. You are supposed to… stop lying to yourself. Stop pretending to be who you aren’t. Get real, get true. You get the picture. All your feelings are okay. Don’t hate yourself. But enough with the confusion. Get clear.

***

Anyone who reads here knows I love the work of Isabel Hickey and this is from her book Astrology, A Cosmic Science, her list of the Negative and Positive expressions of Pluto, Scorpio’s ruler:

Desecration vs. Consecration

Annihilation vs. Rebirth

Tribulation vs. Transformation

Destruction vs. Construction

Intensity vs. Free-flowingness

Submersion vs. Submission

Instinctive Force vs. Transmutation

Struggle vs. Wisdom

Obsession vs. Illumination

Darkness vs. Light

Hell vs. Heaven

Willfulness vs. Willingness

Karma vs. Grace

Disintegration vs. Integration

Where are you in this list?

You must spend time meditating on the Scorpio sector of your chart and then branch out to the opposing signs/houses – Scorpio, Leo, Aquarius. Fixed energy so change is slow but necessary, deep-rooted, without end (that’s how it feels). I think all the energy in Scorpio makes us feel rushed just because it’s A LOT but we have to BE Scorpio to confront and absorb it.

So, basically, you have time, but pay attention with your x-ray-eyes and serious heart.

Yes, I am doing Readings as usual, including Mini-Moons for the eclipses!

Out of Hell: Your Pluto, Your Power

You know, I never used to pay attention much to retrograde Pluto in the birth chart.

Wasn’t thinking that it had a special meaning beyond anything the astro books could tell me.

But now, after tracking planets so intensely, since I started this blog, and for clients, and after a bit of discussion in the virtual classroom, I’ve changed my mind. It IS important. Even though these retrograde motions are normal, are common… it matters. Because context matters. Context is the story.

This week Pluto goes direct so this means that for all of us the retrograde motion has been a stall, physically and spiritually. REALLY. It’s real. And even when the astro books talk about what the retrograde outer planets “mean” in a chart… it’s never very rich to me. Okay, the planet doesn’t act the same way. Or it’s more internal.

I view the birth chart and the transit chart as being in motion, despite your natal being your natal, forever and always. The sky was in motion as you slid out of your mother’s womb. And then it continued. Your arrival was a triumph.

You are having a Uranus Pluto story now. A Uranus square Pluto story and part of that story is Uranus retrograde NOW and Pluto retrograde NOW and Pluto going direct SOON. It matters. It’s real. The energy is real. The energy is… a person born close to a Pluto station, well, it’s not precisely the same as forward motion Pluto.

So that’s one piece of homework that you can do. Dig out your ephemeris and find out what was happening close to your birth, how close Pluto was to going direct or forward. Where he was in his process.

Pluto is power. Pluto is your will. Pluto, lower vibration, is manipulation, abuse of power, disturbance, taking without giving, taking and then giving what no one wants, like a stomach flu. Pluto rules the bowels.

Y’all know I love Isabel Hickey. Here is a list of “negative” expressions of Pluto: desecration, annihilation, tribulation, destruction, intensity, struggle, obsession, darkness, hell, willfullness, karma, disintegration.

You know it’s true. If you know Pluto people, you know it’s true. Tons of Scorpio or prominent Pluto and especially a challenged Pluto. Pluto touching personal planets. Packed 8th Houses too. They KNOW hell. And they will either spread their hell to others like a disease or broil in it themselves. Or both.

And here is part of her list of the positive expression and if you say this list out loud you’ll notice how different it feels:

consecration, rebirth, transformation, construction, free-flowing, submission, wisdom, illumination, light, heaven, willingness, grace, integration. What a beautiful list. Grace.

Take the Pluto challenge this week. Find transiting Pluto in your chart. 6 Capricorn. And commit to light and heaven and grace and transformation THERE. And FOR REAL. Not lip service. Not manipulation. Not trying to get what you want. Not control tactics. FOR REAL Real surrender. Turn the volume down on your emotional intensity. Master it. Channel it. Make ART.

Allow for others to live and breathe as they see fit. Out of the stranglehold. Out of hell. Because you strangle YOUR life as you attempt to strangle others and there is so much more.

Writing is magic. When I write here, it is magic. I mean that I am creating something or altering something — that wasn’t there before. Creation. Pluto rules death but also rebirth. So where Pluto is transiting for you now is… where you have more power than you realize. And where you will change. Will you go willingly?

Here Come The Retrogrades

Uranus goes retrograde on Friday. Mercury goes retrograde on Saturday. Both in fire signs so they trine. I’ll have to give you degrees and more important details in my next blog post. The Sun is in Cancer and I’m not getting off the futon to get my glasses

When planets retrograde, they don’t act like they are supposed to. They don’t act like we want them to. Now, Uranus Rx is an interesting one in and of itself because Uranus is the planet whose affect we cannot predict (says Isabel Hickey). Expect the unexpected. The shock of the new.

Ponder it for a moment: if Uranus forward is surprising, does that mean that Uranus backward lacks surprise? Or that the surprises multiply? Or that the surprises mystify?

I’m feeling, I’m thinking, it will be a return to something unfinished, like with Mercury retrograde (redo, review, revise) but larger in scope than what this Mercury retrograde has to teach you.

This Mercury retrograde is a mini Uranus retrograde. AND this Uranus retrograde is more proof that your Uranus square Pluto story is FAR from over.

There may be less fire around these issues. There may be less impulsivity. There may be more chaos and less drive. But…

Aw hell, let’s draw a few cards around Uranus retrograde. That’s what we’re here for, right? Right!

***

Cards for Uranus retrograde are telling me

1. be stubborn. If a certain goal seems out of reach during the rx period? Hold on

2. this certain goal definitely feels out of reach during the rx period. Could be some low mood around this, a feeling of defeat. Guard against it

3. what needs to be cut away. Prune the goal. There are weeds, some of them poisonous. Would do you well to cut. Ask Uranus square Pluto what should remain

and

4. the goal is reached or at the very least you are in a better place. You have enough, you have so much, that you are able to share it.

***

To summarize: although Mercury rx is quick and Uranus rx is months long, they are linked. They trine, Aries and Leo. Find the houses in your chart where these guys are transiting and you’ll find answers, I promise. More to come on this topic

Love, MP

Letting Go/Holding On: Full Moon In Scorpio With Venus In Gemini

Well, I don’t know if I’m leaving anything behind. Full Moons bring results, news, endings.

I feel myself holding on and I feel like a broken record: leave behind self-blame, leave behind guilt. I feel like I’m in mourning and it will have to run its course. Won’t turn off the tap.

What is this mourning about? Not telling. Moon in Scorpio is private.

Seriously though, if you are dealing with any intense emotions during the build up to this Full Moon, my best advice is to leave the story and just feel the feelings and give them space.

If you work at a job with other people, carry lots of tissues. Blame it on allergies. Go to the bathroom a lot so you can cry or pull yourself together or punch the mirror (no, don’t do that).

***

Pluto rules hell. And that’s a fine place to be for the Full Moon in Scorpio just don’t remain there. You are a visitor. We’ve got too much Gemini action going on this spring/summer and Mercury, ruling Gemini, is the messenger who moves freely between this world and that one. Come back up. Resurface. Rise.

***

I am going to pull a “wisdom” card now for anyone dealing with Intense Emotions, Moon Pluto emotions or otherwise. A card for wisdom and a card for strength. Wish me luck

***

Well, hell, check this out. Wisdom card: King of Cups.

Strength card: 6 of Wands.

Sit still (King of Cups) to feel your feelings and then get back on the horse (6 of Wands). All will be well. Even better.

***

Kiss your fingertips and then open your hands in front of your face, palms moving away from each other, opening them up to the sky.

Isabel Hickey‘s Pluto keywords: heaven, grace, integration, light, rebirth, submission…

***

If you have suffered a loss, due to your own behavior or someone else’s… my suggestion is this (pulling another Tarot card):

6 of Pentacles: give. Receive. Feels like the 8th House to me, Scorpio’s house. No suggestion for behavior here. Just… keep it in mind for now. We’ll return to these cards.

***

Pull a Tarot card for your Scorpio House and the upcoming Moon. What do you see?

Yes I am doing Mini-Moon Readings for the Full Moon in Scorpio!

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Expect The Unexpected With Uranus

I feel like I can’t keep up with my own changes. Uranus rules sudden changes.

I haven’t checked my chart lately but I’m pretty sure there’s some Uranus action going on. What’s happening is happening fast and it’s out of the blue.

Well, actually, it’s not totally out of the blue. I can trace back the history but the… end result, the changes that are happening have been surprises.

I am trying to put it all together, sort of, and find that I can’t, caught between the Piscean flow of transiting planets and my own North Node in Pisces vs all my Virgo which is thinky and wants to understand why what is happening is happening.

Damn. I need to be the High Priestess, don’t I? Accept mystery.

Okay. Pick a card, any card. Let’s draw JUST ONE. Shuffle first. Here we go…

Interesting. The King whose feet don’t touch the ground. I pull two more cards for clarity and the story is told. When I first saw the King of Cups it gave me a negative feel but that neg feel was based on someone else’s interpretation that I recently read. The two additional cards pulled tell me more…

But I digress….

Isabel Hickey wrote that we could not control Uranian energy. I take this to mean that we could work with everything else to some degree – but not Uranus. Too shocking, too out of control, too… inhuman. I mean doesn’t it seem like a force from… I have no clue! Doesn’t feel like God. Feels like… fate. But isn’t fate God? Something about Uranus feels strangely (another Uranus keyword) impersonal and yet… it’s YOUR LIFE. It’s my life. What could be more personal?

The FateMaster has spoken! Such and such will happen! These changes are being brought to you for your own good! The Universe loves you!

Huh? I don’t think Uranus is saying “the universe loves me” and yet…

Also, changes seem to come to my life in pairs or threes. It’s never just one thing. It’s never just love. It’s love and work. Or work and self-esteem. Or money and moving. Or someone dies and… there’s a rebirth somewhere in my life.

Astrologers are writing a lot about the Uranus Pluto square which gets tighter or looser depending on direct or retrograde motion of these planets. They are slow movers so they dance away or dance closer together.

Uranus brings change. Pluto brings change. Uranus is sudden. Pluto can take years. So the changes I am describing above truly are a product of both.

Find transiting Uranus and Pluto in your natal chart. For me? Uranus is heading to the 8th which is a money house and a house of other people. Pluto is heading to my 5th: a self-expression house but also a house of other people: sex, romance, fun!

Feels like a choice. A hard choice. Between loyalty and commitment and being true vs a… “fuck everything” attitude.

We’re all up against it with this square. How will we change. How will we HAVE TO CHANGE. As my teacher used to say, “Will you go kicking and screaming, or…”

More than ever meditation becomes necessary. To be able to… put aside the monkey mind, the stinky busy gangly jangly monkey mind.

How often do you check your chart?

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Moon Pluto People And The Gemini Moon

As the hours passed today and I felt a bit lighter and my foot less swollen, I wondered if the Moon had magically entered Gemini already, had skipped the late Taurus degrees because there had to be a reason for this feeling, right?

As if a Moon in the 1st House person (me) and Cancer Sun (yep, me) ever needs a reason for the mood around the corner. Nope! They come and they go.

The Moon is still safely tucked in the sign of the good cheese, Taurus And as the Venus Mars opposition gets closer and closer… is it a kiss?? Well? Is it? Venus is in the house and Mars is knocking on the door. Or ringing the doorbell and running away. It could go either way. Mars is still Mars but Mars is in Virgo! AND Retrograde. Funny warrior, he. More likely to kill the enemy with a blade of criticism.

Moon Pluto people (and I speak of my conjunction here but I’m sure others can relate) spend much of their lives learning emotional regulation. Learning grown-up skills. Do we ever get there? My Moon in Virgo never stops trying.

Isabel Hickey talks about surrendering to Pluto transits. Lowering the intensity. And I think she’s right. And that it also applies to our natal Pluto.

Which brings me back to my favorite topic these days: Mars retrograde being more High Priestess than Magician — not that we don’t need to act but we also need to listen.

So even though the Gemini Moon will square my Virgo Moon, it’s lighter Mercury, don’t you think? Restless is the key word they often use, meaning: that Gemini Moon DON’T STAY DOWN!

Remember: squares not only show us what we’re doing wrong, so to speak, but what we can add in. Like a BIG CAKE says the sweet Taurus Moon.

Yes, I am doing Mini-Moon Readings for the Full Moon in Leo (which are kinda like mini-transit readings). Look here for Astrology stuff and here for Tarot stuff and don’t forget the Testimony!

Fear Not The Sun In Capricorn…

"new moon in capricorn 2011" — Saturn rules my 5th House :)

…even though Saturn rules Capricorn.

These words from the late great Isabel Hickey, “Saturn’s goal is perfection. Through the chastening process of testing, sorrow, delay, disappointment, limitation, and privation, man learns the purpose of life is not pleasure but to gain experience, patience, humility, wisdom, and compassion.”

Alrighty then!

So we are moving from the hearty generous Sagittarius thirst for adventure and knowledge and freedom to… THAT.

Oy.

Truth is: baby, I like it. And it’s not that the party is over forever. But we’re moving to a different room, down the hall, with a different number on the door, and different food and different smells and different people, and there’s goats! There’s goats around! The symbol for Capricorn is the goat who climbs high, higher, highest, keeps climbing. Ambition. Sturdy. Steady. 10th House. Career. The Father. Prestige. Endurance.

Think of the movement here, from Sagittarius to Capricorn to Aquarius. Isolate just this portion of the Wheel of Life for a moment.

Sagittarius has embarked on a journey, is seeking a new land. He gets to the land (which really is an analogy for his inner demons/spiritual seeking), wants to conquer it, but sees there is work to be done. It will take time. Aquarius Season rolls around and he has gained some distance, some detatchment. His mind is sharp from solving problems, from Saturnian testing.

When we reach Pisces we are whole again.

See? We are more than halfway done. Do the work of Capricorn and you will acquire knowledge (Aquarius) and compassion (Pisces) and when the cycle starts again, with Aries, you’ll be more than another “year” older, you’ll be… Well? What do you want?

Ready to work?

Yes, I am doing Mini-Moon Readings by email for the New Moon in Capricorn. $25 for 15 minutes. Set New Year Intentions! Your chart only, no synastry for these. Email moonpluto@gmail for scheduling

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?Your Thoughts On Transiting Neptune?

"moon conjunct pluto" — neptune in pisces

I unwittingly scared a client the other day by talking about the confusion of a Neptune transit. She’s a Pisces under Neptune square Neptune.

But it’s not dementia-type confusion, I told her (and believe). It’s not like forgetting your keys everyday although I suppose that could happen with Neptune aspecting Vesta or Mercury or the God of Small Things

It can definitely be an overall fog though, lack of clarity, a WTF am I supposed to do feeling (in regards to the house he’s transiting and aspects he’s making).

For example, I think I am figuring out WTF I am supposed to DO as Neptune gets out of my 6th House of WHAT WE DO EVERY DAY. Sure it made me very compassionate and sacrificing ‘n shit whatever I was doing but there was this overriding sense of… I’M LOST PLEASE COME FIND ME. A feeling of, well, drowning. And pulling on the 12th House like that, I felt pretty down for a pretty long time. Neptune is the seas.

Isabel Hickey says that wherever Neptune is transiting, “stick to what you know.” Makes sense to me. And I did. My life felt static… even though it wasn’t.

Jupiter grows us. Uranus surprises us. Mars energizes us. The Moon feels us. The Sun shines us. Mercury makes us go faster. Saturn works us… Who am I forgetting?

Venus. Venus loves us. Pluto consumes us. And Neptune? Neptune is the rain.

So how do you get anything done under Neptune? You buy a raincoat! And an umbrella! And galoshes! And you learn to swim.

Thoughts?

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Wisdom vs Struggle: Today’s Pluto!

"moon pluto conjunction" — don't struggle with the boat

Sometimes a chart answers a client’s questions so clearly and profoundly that it’s spooky-good. And they could have picked any astrologer or teacher on the internet and they picked me for this moment, this question, this time. I may be #27 or #270 in their search but it doesn’t matter.

So life puts people and events in our way. Not just to piss us off (sly smile) but to challenge us (annoyed half-smile), bring us joy (happy face), make us feel God (hands in prayer position).

I believe we can feel blocks in a chart – or not. Even before we look at all the details. We feel it. Maybe I shouldn’t say “we” — this could be just “me” i.e. that I have a watery chart. You may have different words to describe how you feel (there I go again!) when faced with a chart.

But this morning, I didn’t feel blocks in this person’s chart. I felt challenges, sure, but they were more like “play” more like “navigation”– There wasn’t a feeling of “Oh oh oh oh… no.”

Ever notice you can see the clear road ahead for others, but not for yourself? But then sometimes you CAN see it for yourself too.

Wisdom vs struggle, wisdom vs struggle, wisdom vs struggle…. this pair is part of Isabel Hickey’s fine list in her Pluto chapter. I wrote it here three times because I was actually saying it out loud to myself–

We don’t have to struggle with our charts. We need to get in between our charts. Kind of like sneaking into bed when you are a kid, between your parents or… the way a cat finds the smallest little place and makes her home there. It’s the Still Small Voice and… making it so you can hear it better. Wisdom vs Struggle: what does it mean to you?

Willing not willful. Not ratcheting things up with emotions and intensity and overwhelm every chance you get, always pushing pushing pushing others or yourself even, for a reaction, for a result.

The high side of Pluto does NOT manipulate. The high side of Pluto sets free.

An image for this: a little boat tied to a dock in the wind is struggling. Untie it and let it go and… yeah.

"new moon in capricorn" — you, under the sky

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Full Moon Intentions???

"uranus direct" — full moon lunar eclipse in gemini 2011

I know we don’t usually think of Full Moons as the time to set intentions BUT with Uranus stationing direct on the SAME DAY…

And I was going to say anyway: the old rules? You know those old old rules? Do they still hold? Do we still need them? Doesn’t Uranus break? Doesn’t Uranus overthrow? Sometimes we need New Rules.

And I was thinking about Full Moon intentions even before remembering Uranus Direct.

Uranus favors the new, the unconventional, the outside, the outsider, the electric.

Isabel Hickey wrote that Uranus was the one planetary energy we could not control.

Expect the unexpected!!!

So while you are contemplating your Gemini house and your Sagittarius house and the affects of next week’s Full Moon on your life, also consider the house in your chart where you find the beginning of Aries because life will start moving THERE.

And it’s only a few days later, on the 13th, when Mercury stations direct... And then another New Moon on the 24th… and then Jupiter direct on the 25th.

Can you see this? Feel this? It’s lining up. 2012 is going to be forward movement for so many of us.

I also love Jupiter direct on Christmas Day — a fine present don’t think?

And to connect a ritual that I was talking about a few days ago, in order to amp up your Full Moon intentions, pick a favorite Tarot card, And pick it soon because the changes are happening soon and keep it with you or place it where you’ll see it each day and focus your intentions there and use this card as a meditation-point or an image to keep in mind… when you feel stuck, hopeless, lost, hopeFUL… A card that reminds you of where you want to go.

I don’t do readings using the Connolly deck but have become enamored of the art. And this morning I took out three more cards.

Do you follow the rules?

Yes, I am doing Mini-Moon Readings for the Full Moon Eclipse in Gemini. Email me for scheduling at moonpluto@gmail.com

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Breathe: Moon In Aquarius

Uranus breaks. Saturn builds. These two planets rule Aquarius and the Moon is in Aquarius today.

Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury (according to the amazing Isabel Hickey). Mercury is the mind/words/writing, and Uranus? Intuition, which I believe is related to Inspiration and, thus, the breath.

This is elementary but how easy it is to forget: the breath.

And when people die, when people stop breathing, that’s when I realize they are never coming back. Until then? There is hope. (Aw, hell, for my chart even after they die I still hope they’ll walk in the door.)

Last night my mind was like a bad t.v. with a possessed channel changer and every channel was something I did not want to see. When I remembered to switch my attention to my breath, when I asked myself, “how will I ever get through this” — That’s when I finally remembered and finally fell asleep.

The Moon in Aquarius sextiles the Sun in Sagittarius now: you can detatch. You can observe. You can be free. You can be happy like a scientist with a new toy but understand this: the toy is YOU.

Observe. Detach.

I was writing this blog post when I was on the treadmill this morning and out the window I saw not just fall leaves but people farther out, and dogs, games of fetch.

10 of Pentacles.

Paying attention to your breath is good medicine no matter the longing because it brings you back to yourself, away from the story you are telling yourself, the suffering you are adding by telling this story over and over and over.

I don’t have a t.v. but if I did, I would have thrown it out the window. I could not throw my mind out the window.

And when I was on the treadmill this morning, I talked to Saturn. Show me, I said. Because I don’t know anything.

I thought I was building (Saturn). I thought I was learning (Saturn). But no. It broke (Uranus). Just in time for another Moon in Aquarius. Detatch. Observe. And breathe.

Do you relate to the Moon cycle? (And thanks all for your beautiful comments. I read them all and am grateful)

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The Death And Rebirth Of Love And Money: Venus In Scorpio

"new moon in scorpio 2011" — new moon in scorpio 2011

What are you seeing back from the dead in your life? Look for the Scorpio house in your chart. Venus and Mercury are transiting there now. Venus loves. Mercury talks. What are you talking about these days?

And what are you seeing back from the dead? Maybe you didn’t want it to die. Maybe you did. Doesn’t matter. It’s back.

Isabel Hickey has this great list in her great book “Astrology, A Cosmic Science.” She writes that some of the positive expressions of Pluto include: heaven (instead of hell), wisdom (instead of struggle), rebirth(instead of annihilation), free flowingness (instead of intensity). The list goes on. Can you think of Pluto and Scorpio this way? Or is it too hard?

Once you find your Scorpio house, it still may be hard to detect a zombie from a non-zombie, hard to pin down what’s come back from the dead versus what you normally consider life… but you must put on your detective googles for Scorpio Season. Commit to the deep dig and go under.

Are you seeing ghosts?

Mini-Moon Readings for the New Moon in Scorpio: click here!

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Who’s On First?

I’ve told this story before, but it’s on my mind again I named myself/this blog Moon Pluto because of that aspect in my chart: Moon and Pluto conjunct, in Virgo, 1st House. Other than the conjunction itself, it has no “bad” aspects, only sextiles and trines. For this I am grateful

Still, what’s a Cancer Sun with an afflicted Moon to do? Don’t answer that

And, see, when I found out that I had this aspect, during an astrology reading, years ago, it was an AHA MOMENT as in AHA SO THAT’S WHY I AM THE WAY I AM. I felt defined. And I didn’t mind. I didn’t feel limited by it. I felt… FINALLY someone sees who I am and can name it.

It was that big, that meaningful. It still is.

Any first house STUFF is gonna be all pervasive, all encompassing, all YOU, all the time, because the first house is YOU. Your default setting, as they say.

You know how much I love Isabel Hickey. This is some of what she has to say about the 1st house (and she has it in list form, but I am making it a paragraph here)–

The First House is what you look like. It is the personal self. Its chief characteristic is action — destiny in the making. It is the Present. It defines the personality, appearance, disposition, and manner. Also, outlook on life. The window through which you view the world.

Do you have a show stopping First House?

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Why I Love Venus In Scorpio

If you make a way or breakaway this Full Moon in Aries (read Part 1 here and Part 2 here) and find yourself with a burned down house or ashes in your hands… then find your antidote in Scorpio.

What do I mean? I mean that Scorpio follows Libra and Venus entered Scorpio today and the next New Moon is in Scorpio and… that is the energy all of us will reckon with. It’s real, it’s out there, it’s ours.

What does Venus mean to you? What does Scorpio mean? How do *you* put it together? I can’t bear to list the keywords; that’s what Google is for But think about it. Venus loves WHAT when she’s in Scorpio. Or in the 8th House for that matter.

Isabel Hickey, as always, had a great take on it. She recognized the potential in this placement for, well, cruelty while acknowledging, hey, everybody wants you. And that’s just for starters.

But back to my main point. If any part of your world… confuses you, crumbles you, in the coming days, look to Scorpio for strength. Pluto Power. That you rise again. That you come back. That your passions are strong. That you know what they are. And you are confident.

Hickey says this: “Scorpios are truly powerful when they do not seek power for self, but seek to be used by the power to heal and bless others.”

Now apply that to the love thing and you can see why you should love Venus in Scorpio too

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What Will Saturn in Scorpio Feel Like? (part 1)

When I first think of Saturn, the negative keywords come to mind: fear, oppression, depression. But there are neutral keywords for Saturn and positive ones too.

Limitation, for example, is not always negative. Without limitation, there are no laws. At all. My natal Saturn takes some good aspects in my chart. I like laws.

Here’s a quote from the late great Isabel Hickey: “Saturn’s goal is perfection. Through the chastening process of testing, sorrow, delay, disappointment, limitation, and privation, man learns the purpose of life is not pleasure but to gain experience, patience, humility, wisdom, and compassion.”

Sounds like she knows.

Now this process she describes doesn’t sound like, um, fun, but it sounds like LIFE, it rings true. Saturn is reality. Saturn is true. Saturn can be harsh but like Hickey says, it’s a PROCESS, we’re on our way there. We will have time to rest. Later.

Are you under Saturn the Steamroller these days? I am. Transiting Saturn is inconjuncting my natal Saturn AND squaring my Sun and Mercury. He’s pretty close to squaring my Mars too.

The other day I felt like I was being hammered, literally. That I was a piece of steel being banged into shape. Now this sounds more like a Pluto metaphor to me, but I kept feeling it was Saturn and it was in regards to a certain relationship in my life… that I was being… chiseled at, refined and that it was/is hard hard work: Saturn in Libra.

Saturn in Scorpio: we will be forced (and I do mean forced) to define Pluto, to contact it, to penetrate (Scorpio) it as it penetrates us. To understand it.

Practically speaking, people may not want to get close. Or may work hard to get close. Some will be really cut out for this transit and others… will hide under the bed

Scorpio is a relationship sign, the most profound one, and Saturn through Scorpio is bound to be satisfying to YOU, the deeper you go.

Saturn in Scorpio fears looking at what’s underneath, fears the unconscious, fears what’s hidden, fears change. It takes courage to look under the bed. It takes courage to enter therapy. It takes courage to examine why you are the way you are and to say to self: fuck, this isn’t working! I am locked into unconscious patterns and I am truly fucking up my relationships and my life! Saturn in Scorpio will see all of us grappling with our muck and our drek, either by engaging it or by avoiding it. Which will you choose?

Saturn in Scorpio is fear of sex, fear of the orgasm, fear of getting close and I mean REAL closeness. Not this bullshit 5th House sex for pleasure thing. I am talking DEEP DEEP DOWN.

According to Hickey, Pluto’s energy is underground and invisible. You will be walking through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel like a miner. What holds you back? How can, will, you unearth it? You will work hard to unearth it. You will go inwards and down down down down down.

And it is fitting of course to go from Libra to Scorpio. Libra is the 7th House, the marriage, and Scorpio is the 8th House, the union, sex. With Saturn in Scorpio? We’ll be thinking about sex A LOT.

We work through (Saturn) our fear (Saturn) of relationship (Libra/7th) and then comes (Scorpio) the intimacy (8th House). It’s the dark prize! We got our relationship on stable ground (or we left it) and now we must learn (Saturn) sharing (Scorpio).

Sex is spiritual. If you don’t know that by now, then I can’t help you. Or maybe I can. Sex is spiritual and God knows this. Don’t you want to know what God knows? To let someone into your body… is an act of holy trust. The reason it feels good is… to distract us from how fucking profound it is. Because if we truly understood, we wouldn’t do it all. We’d die.

What do you understand about sex? About the 8th House/Scorpio/Pluto?

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The Stars Today: Sun Opposition Uranus

"new moon in libra 2011" — don't be alone in Libra Season

And today’s big news? The Sun is opposing Uranus.

Sun in Libra, Uranus in Aries. Sun moves fast. Uranus moves slow. Dizzy yet?

Are the changes coming too fast for you to handle, to process? Well, sit down. It’s okay to sit down. Actually, it’s more than okay.

Uranus is the “expect the unexpected” planet. Unpredictable. Isabel Hickey called it the one planetary energy we cannot control.

The same keywords arise: it’s too fast, too sudden, too crazy, too much. Isabel Hickey also wrote that Uranus is the “higher octave” of Mercury. So think about that. THINK. Intuition. Mental shortcuts that get to the truth. Ever notice that the Uranians among us are pretty damn tuned-in? Electric. That’s another Uranus keyword as in people with Venus Uranus contacts in their natal charts usually have some shocking (or shockingly attractive) quality that draws you in. And we find them absorbing but absorbing like a flash of lightening. Here today, gone tomorrow. Uranus is fast.

Sun opposition Uranus square Pluto: what are you losing? what insight are you gaining? who is coming and who is going? who is leaving, who is healing, who is knowing, who is carrying you. We always set intentions for the New Moon but I say set an intention for Sun opposing Uranus. It might help you… hold on a little better.

I keep having an image in my mind of a whirling carousel, horses bobbing up and down at different speeds.

If the Sun is who you are, then Uranus is the stranger. Friend or foe? You’ll find out. But then what?

I feel this Sun Uranus opposition is the build-up to the New Moon in Libra. Your foundation is cracking and the New Moon will deposit you where you need to be.

And this too: don’t be afraid of what’s to come. Look to Uranus as a friendly flag waving. Hello! Over here! Your new life! I’m shaking you up! Hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on!

Yeah, look in your chart for the Libra Sun and Uranus in Aries in the opposite corner. These houses, these areas of life are ALIVE for you right now, vitally ALIVE. You can make great change, great progress. Progress is Aquarian, Uranian! It is NEW. You must move forward. I know you don’t want to. I’m sorry.

But Mars in Leo sextiles the Sun in Libra and trines Uranus in Aries so… make sure to smile a big big big big big big big Leo smile. With teeth. Like a proud lion. After the kill.

Contact Me to talk about your chart

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Quitting Smoking: Mercury Rules The Breath

I was up to something today, don’t remember what, when I started wondering what in astrology rules the breath. Some context: I didn’t smoke today and for a few months now I’ve been smoking more and more. It used to be one a day or two a day… and now was up to 4 or 5 a day. Cigarettes, not packs. I’m sensitive. It affects me.

And I decided not to smoke and not to drink any coffee either (I got caffeine from other sources but it was waaaaaay less strong than my usual two cups of coffee). I’m on a mission to… de-stimulate my nervous system, thank you very much New Moon in Virgo! Virgo rules health matters!

And last night was my meditation class and today on the train I brought some articles to read about… the breath. And oh wow this article was wonderful and as I was walking down the street, doing whatever it was that I was doing, I thought to myself: Self? What rules the breath? My first thought was Uranus. My thinking was… Mercury rules speech and Uranus (says Isabel Hickey) is the higher octave of Mercury so… Uranus rules the breath? I quickly emailed an astrologer friend of mine who said that Mercury is the ruler and I think we’re both right. Can’t talk if you can’t breathe

And there’s a deeper connection here, the connection between breath and love. And quitting smoking. I don’t think I’ve taken one deep satisfactory breath in months. My boyfriend smokes and I am co-dependent so I started (again). Why don’t I breathe? Fear maybe, the fear that comes with “relating,” the fear that comes with “opening,” the fear that comes with “offering,” the fear that comes with……….. All these fear balloons rising up from the breath. They became it.

I don’t know if I’ll quit smoking this time, forever. I’m going day by day. I do know I feel… better today. Better meaning less anxious.

And when I felt stressed today, instead of smoking I… didn’t smoke. I breathed. I felt whatever I was feeling instead of reaching to suppress it or alter it in some way. And the anxious thought went away quicker. It dissipated.

I don’t mean to make this sound like some kind of triumphant stop-smoking commercial; I’m not that way and I’m not looking for encouragement. You know what smoking is like? Like a dog chasing his tail, always always always chasing after… that feeling, that high, and it doesn’t satisfy. It’s never enough. It misses the mark each time. It doesn’t end… the dissatisfaction, the unhappiness, the confusion. And then, unsatisfied, you have to do it again, and you’re unsatisfied again. And on it goes.

Ultimately, the Virgo body wants to be a smooth running machine Virgo body. Process process process process. This is what Virgo can do for you, by the way. Sun in Virgo, Venus in Virgo, the Moon is no longer in Virgo but the Moon was NEW which means… you get a push, a head start, for whatever you begin.

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Moon Alert! Full Moon in Aquarius! (Part 2)

Well well well. I just had a revelation. With a capital R. And this is a Happy Blog Post even though it’s about feeling depressed because it is true that I, MoonPluto, have been a bit depressed lately but BINGO I figured out why. And not on my walk to the store to buy summer fruits and lettuce and soymilk and an avocado but on my way home from the store? Or did I realize it once I was back. I don’t know. I’ve lost track. All I know is that I FEEL BETTER NOW.

See, something was getting me down and I thought it was free-form, floating, God knows what, hormones, fate, my chart, half a Ritter chocolate bar the other day BUT NO. There was a reason. I found the reason. Insight came and we all known those flashes of insight are often the work of Uranus and guess what? Tomorrow is the Aquarius Full Moon and Uranus (and Saturn) rule Aquarius and the Full Moon is taking place in my 6th House of daily routines, opposing my Venus, my Planet Du Love. And I haven’t checked the degrees but I wouldn’t be surprised if right now the Moon is trining my natal Uranus.

So, my question for you is: Where will you be having your Full Moon? And if you answered this already, feel free to answer again. I don’t mind! Full Moons illuminate! Full Moons are BIG. Big lights in the sky! And the knowledge or the outcome that the Full Moon presents to you may not be what you expect (remember, wildcard Uranus is involved here) but I believe it will be WORTH IT, especially if you gain understanding, insight, an aha moment, if it gets you out of your depression or… whatever’s got you by the throat.

Uranus breaks stuff down. Saturn builds stuff up. Old forms. New forms. We need both and Aquarius has both and can show us the way.

So? Well? What is breaking down in your life? What is building up? Becoming stronger? See how these two forces work together? Painful though it is. And it is.

And with Uranus (intuition) being the higher octave of Mercury (says Isabel Hickey) I encourage you to think about this Full Moon.

And you know what? Without this revelation? I would not have enjoyed my weekend. NOW I can enjoy my weekend. Now I am going to eat some seaweed, and delight in the cats, and enjoy my complete day off tomorrow because the weight the weight the weight the weight has been lifted.

A prayer: Dear Full Moon, Thank you for showing me the light.

(PS When in doubt, go for a walk. Even a short one.)

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Neptune: Back Into Aquarius Ta-Da!

Drink Up!

Neptune back in Aquarius? Okay. Fine with me. Truth is I don’t feel the outer planets changing signs. I try to understand what it means, but I don’t feel it. I’ll feel a transit, I’ll feel a house shift, but these slow-movers? Nope. And Neptune? As if. As if we can know anything at all. Maybe after the fact and 20 years later.

Isabel Hickey wrote that with a Neptune transit, you should stick to what you know because it’s foggy! Illusion, confusion, delusion, foggy! Soup! What do you think she meant by that?

For me, it’s still a 6th House deal and oh yes it just aches and longs and pines to enter my 7th but noooooo not yet!

What’s interesting though, of course, are the aspects that transiting, retrograding Neptune will make because, y’know, the Sun and Venus, currently in Leo, and Mars eventually, will oppose Neptune! And our friend Mercury Rx is doing it now! What does this mean? I say look in your chart for your Aquarius/Leo axis and you’ll begin to know…

Now, other folks, sensitive souls, sensitive to the collective, they may feel this shift. Do you?

Contact Me to talk about your Neptune! (And I’m starting to include Tarot again in my readings)

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Mercury Retrograde: Travel Without A Map

Little Miss Mercury turns retrograde at just 1 degree Virgo. Just. One. Degree. You’re a tease, Mercury!

Mercury Retrograde is famously the time we’re not supposed to sign contracts or buy electronics and also the time we are supposed to RE i.e. REvisit, REdo, REvise, REview, REnew! Yes, renew your… connection to Mercury and Mercury matters: communications, writing, siblings, your immediate environment/neighbors, your hands, your nerves, your thinking, your 3rd house, your 6th house, the place where you have Mercury in your chart, any aspects it makes. What sign is it in?

In mythology, Mercury was able to travel to the Underworld and back out again, the only God permitted to do this. Mercury the Messenger, a cosmic mailman.

So here’s an exercise for ya: become Mercury this Retrograde period. Travel (3rd House) short distances (whatever that means to YOU) without a map, without a plan.

See, Mercury Rx may mess up your plan, BUT if you travel without one? Without a guide, without a map? Well, that’s the kind of trouble, or, freedom, the trickster wants from you. The freedom to let yourself get lost. Mercury in Virgo may not like getting lost but Mercury Retrograde in Virgo DEMANDS it. No plan!

Travel backwards in your mind in your Virgo/Leo House(s) and what do you find? What/Who do you need to revisit? Refine? REfind? REmember? Then go DO IT.

Mercury Retrograde (to paraphrase Robert Frost) is that guide who only has an interest in your getting lost. It’s okay, though. Really, it’s okay.

Tell us about your Mercury Retrograde!

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Your Progressed Chart: Use It Or Lose It!

Loyal reader and commenter redleppard wanted me to address the topic of Progressions so here goes. And this is not going to be too technical (not today anyway) but more about what I do, my approach. And of course I need to quote my fave (one of my fave) astrologers Isabel Hickey who says that progressions, the progressed chart, show how the consciousness is affected from within.

Do I think they matter? Yes. Do I use them in my work? Yes. But for me, it’s the natal and the transits first and foremost and everything else is everything else. I definitely look for the progressed Sun and Moon, and Venus and Mars. And the angles. Progressed Jupiter will be interesting to see if you’re of a certain age. I’m 41 and my progressed Jupiter has moved only from late Libra to the beginning of Scorpio. (Oh, and I do like to look at progressed Sun/Moon/Mars/Venus in synastry.)

Thing is: you just never know until you look. Maybe someone comes to you with a problem and you are having trouble finding the key to the door and something in the progressed chart lets you in a little more. It happens.

An example from my own life, years ago, on the phone with an astrologer, who had read for me ten years previous, she saw transiting Saturn was sitting on my progressed Sun in the 12th House. It helped to explain why I felt so… Saturned!

Or, another example, right now my progressed Venus is in Libra and Saturn is sitting on it but… this Venus Saturn transit only mimics, echos other themes that are already happening, already being shown by the transiting planets. Knowing the placement of the progressed Venus just emphasizes it that much MORE.

I do admit to being cynical, however, when I feel people over-rely on their progressed chart, for example. I mean, to a good astrologer with a sharp intuitive sense, the information is THERE in the natal and the transits. I believe this.

There are layers upon layers of information that often lead us back to the same place. Understand? All these different techniques should bring us where we need to be, which is… why you came to us (me, whoever) in the first place.

I hope this made sense, redleppard

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Your Uranus Transit

Every 7 years.

Every 7 years, Uranus takes you by the hand, or by the hair, and says: you’re coming with me! That’s how my first astrologer, years ago, put it.

Uranus is the only planetary energy we cannot control (wrote Isabel Hickey). We can only control our reaction to it.

Uranian keywords and phrases include: expect the unexpected, rebellion, sudden change, originality, revolt, electricity, genius, invention, inventive, astrology, out of the blue, weird, freedom, independence, don’t fence me in, don’t tell me what to do.

Uranus, says Hickey, is the higher octave of Mercury, bringing flashes of insight. When transiting Mercury, for example, positively aspects your natal Uranus you may feel brighter, literally sparkling with exciting new ideas. Your intuition will be sharp!

People with Moon Uranus aspects in their charts may be prone to creative brilliance, or mood swings, feelings that can’t be trusted because they change so fast. Erratic.

Mars and Uranus in hard aspect is famous for accidents or violence. With Mercury, Mars, and Uranus in configuration, your hot words could get you into trouble.

And of course there is a difference between the soft aspects and the hard aspects but anywhere you find Uranus is where you find a question: how will this play out? What will happen? Who is in charge? Am I safe? Do I care? I’m doing it MY WAY.

Uranus entered Aries and is now Retrograde. Look in your chart and see where your Aries house is. The house shows the area of life that will be affected. And look in your chart for planets in the early degrees because Uranus is in the early degrees. Match up those numbers and you can begin to see more of the story.

Also helpful is to look at the condition of your natal Uranus. Where is it located? What aspects does it take? Is it comfortable or challenged? A little of both?

My natal Uranus is either in the 1st House or the 2nd House (depending on House System) and I tend to read it for both. Its aspects are few, but one of them is one of my few trines: Uranus trine Mid-Heaven.

So one could say that my um renegade nature will cooperate with my career. How about you? Tell us about your Uranus!

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