The Week Above - December 17th - 24th
Venus gets a boost, action on Antares, and Moon for the holidays…
Read MoreVenus gets a boost, action on Antares, and Moon for the holidays…
Read MoreCycles ending and beginning, returning and renewing. Venus, Mercury, Sagittarius, and Scorpio.
Read MoreHope is the light held onto in the darkness, felt in the heart even if it can’t be seen. Hope is reason for being, even if being feels like an obligation. Hope is the thing that can keep the darkness at bay.
We could all use a little hope right now, and hope is on its way.
Read MoreThe Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.
If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met.
Strap yourselves in for this one, friends, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
Election Day in the United States is going to be a big shift, but I’m not predicting puppies and cupcakes here.
On Tuesday, the Lunar Nodes, which have been transiting the signs of Leo and Aquarius, shift into Cancer and Capricorn. In a sense, the Lunar Nodes by transit indicate an arc of collective evolutionary focus. The South Node tends to disempower the sign it transits through, sinking it down into a place that is alternately sapped of energy and given over to its basest instincts, with occasional moments of being on the beam so strongly that being itself is the most natural thing in the world. But mostly all that sign’s shortcomings get revealed. Since May of 2017, that South Node has been in Aquarius, doing all that to the territory of humanitarianism, collective thinking, technology, social networks, futurism, pariahs, and genius. Many of the themes of abuse of technology and abusiveness of technology companies, the agonies of social media, and the splitting away from collective unity got underscored over and again during this time, reemphasized and the humor taken out of it.
Until May of 2020, the South Node will be in Capricorn, sign of authority, ambition, and patriarchs, among many other significations. It’s gonna be an interesting time.
The North Node of the Moon, by transit, tends to hand a six-pack of energy drinks to whatever sign it’s in. It energizes that sign, activates it, makes it want to go go go move move move get shit done, but can also cause that sign to rev its wheels until they burn right off, become overactive, or just get overwhelmed with anxiety. Since May of 2017, the North Node has been in Leo. This is the territory of ego, self, self-centeredness, being centered in oneself in a more spiritual sense, shining in the spotlight, creative self-expression, children, and charisma. Perhaps this speaks more to the negative qualities of this point in history than necessarily the nature of the North Node of the Moon (which is generally considered a positive point in most Western texts, but this may have more to do with Western society’s biases of “more is always good”), but its most visible influences have not been great. Egotism, autocrats, anxious children, all have been spotlighted during this time. Anecdotally, I’ve also witnessed an increased willingness to pay artists for their art as part of left-leaning discourse, and otherwise give credit where credit is due. But I’ve witnessed a politics of “me first, then fuck you” from the right (and certain less-mature segments of the left tbh) get widespread as well.
The North Node will be in Cancer from Tuesday until May of 2020. Cancer is the territory of homes, families, cliques, mothers, emotional nurturing, the womb, feelings of security, and caretaking. On one hand, it’s a scary time for abortion rights. On the other hand, mothers enraged could be exactly the thing the world needs right now.
Now let’s get into Uranus.
Uranus’s initial entry into Aries 8-ish years ago coincided with the Arab Spring. Uranus in Aries is a hot, fiery, revolutionary energy that’s prone to burning hot and burning itself out. Uranus in Aries likes to break shit. Uranus is Aries is on fire with the urge to make things be different, by force if need be. Uranus will be in Aries for exactly four months, returning to Taurus on March 6th and staying there for another 8-ish years. This is Uranus in Aries’s last hurrah before Uranus starts shaking things up in a much earthier, more aesthetic way.
The Nodes square Uranus at 12:47pm EST, then shift signs at 1:09pm EST, then Uranus shifts signs at 1:59pm EST. The whole shift happens suddenly over the span of a lunch break to go vote. All of these major changes happen very, very fast.
Vote, by all means vote, but know that big changes do not happen easily. Shifts happen, but we’re too deep into the muck at this point for a single election to get us clean again. And whatever happens, a lot of people are going to be very, very angry, and seek out a vehicle to express that anger, possible the kind of vehicle they can set fire to. Probably not everywhere, all at once, but enough places to make folks stand up and take notice.
Things shift rapidly on Election Day, but not entirely, and not in a way that functions as a magic “make it all better” button. There’s more work to be done, and help is in fact on its way. Chin up, eyes on the goal, you got this.
This is not a big, loud lunation.
This is a quiet one. Trine Neptune in Pisces. Loosely sextile Pluto. Smack in the middle of Scorpio. Big things are happening, absolutely—it’s on the world axis, one of a few degrees of very public face—but these things happen in the dark and we just find out about them later. If you want to take political action you don’t want folks to know about right away, this is the time for it.
Not that I’d recommend you do anything untoward. Of course not. But I certainly expect some power players to be doing exactly that, and news stories to show up about protestors pulling off some kind of heist.
This is a heist moon. Secrets bandied about in the darkness taking hold of what isn’t theirs. Shifting shadows. Thievery. Sabotage.
Hey, I’m as anti-capitalist as the next astrologer who’s seen the writing on the wall, but I am not the guy with the mask. I’m the guy with the light in the darkness.
And this is quite the darkness.
Of note: This New Moon is exact just over 15 minutes after Jupiter’s exact trine to the Lunar North Node / sextile to the Lunar South Node. New beginnings are available to you for things you want to stay hidden, but ultimately a more monastic type of seclusion is called for here. The secret voice of the divine from the mountaintop. The Hermit. Spiritual truths only available in quiet contemplation. It’s a beautiful time to sit and contemplate your own mortality, because peace is available from that contemplation on this moon that isn’t always easy to come by. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but a worthwhile exercise when the time is ripe for it.
It seems to be ripe for it on the 7th.
Jupiter entering Sagittarius is the astrological event of the year, at least in terms of being highly-anticipated and looked forward to more than any other. Here is the hope we’ve been waiting for. It’s a big, positive shift and deserves its own post, which you can read here.
Not as big an event as the other stuff this week, but still worthy of note.
Mars and Venus do a little dance around the zodiac, with Venus usually the faster-moving partner, except when she’s retrograde. Their retrogrades this year stepped on the toes of the same few degrees of the zodiac, around 9-10° of the Fixed signs, where they made their last aspect, a square. Their trine on the 9th will be the last major aspect Venus and Mars will make until their next trine on January 18th.
It’s a rare moment of harmony between masculine and feminine energies, or at least it seems more rare these days. Expect male energy to be a bit better behaved, or at least a bit more charming. And feminine energy to be a bit more comfortable making its desires known. Venus is still retrograde, of course, but she’s far out of the worst of it, already arisen as the Morning Star, emergent into the light and emerging further into the light every day. Her trine to Mars just emphasizes that she’s back in business and ready to mix and mingle and have some fun.
Up to you if you want to join her, but it’ll be a Friday, and that’s Venus’s day. Go out, have some fun, get a pedicure, fuck a stranger, dance on a table, impulsively redecorate your living room, enjoy your life however you do you. It’s a good time for it.
And we need these moments to celebrate joy, don’t we?
The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.
If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met.
The mind is a funny thing.
We sometimes see what we expect to see, and then in seeing it, use it as a mirror to support our pre-existing self-image.
This is not one of those times.
Jupiter’s time in Scorpio has been an eventful one. Widespread adoption of occultism, #MeToo, secrets coming into the stark light of day, all being dealt with and considered collectively. Jupiter in Scorpio has been asking us to think deeply about our secrets, our darkness, our underbellies, and give them their spiritual, mindful, and judicious dues.
On Monday, Mercury makes all of this much, much louder. It is easy to think precisely about deep topics, particularly deep into the underworld. And it is easy to hear the voices bringing our attention to them. Truth, particularly that which we might turn away from, comes into stark, undeniable focus.
Expect a news story or two of “Actually, this is who we are, and it’s time we admitted it.”
For yourself, write or speak with someone you trust on the topic of old hurts coming up. After conjoining Jupiter, Mercury goes on to trine Chiron Monday, adding voice to the pain and making it easier for that pain to be expressed. A good day for therapy sessions.
(Note: On the East Coast of the United States, this happens between midnight and 1AM on the 31st. In other time zones the ingress will be on the 30th.)
The mind is a funny thing.
Those of analytical bent enjoy their analysis because of its precision. There are details to sort out, tasks to be considered, files to organize. The analytical mind can find pleasure in keeping itself up-to-date and on task.
This is easier some times than others.
On Halloween, Mercury enters Sagittarius, a sign it struggles in. Mercury, planet of seeking specific information, gets lost in the vast, poorly-labeled grand libraries of Sagittarius. The analytical mind gets overwhelmed with too much information and too many directions to go in, the details sacrificed for big-picture thinking, the balance between big ideas and small necessities a constant juggling act.
Boy are those libraries fun though.
Mercury is going retrograde later in the month while they’re in Sagittarius, so expect this week to bring you hints of what’s to come from the Trickster’s time in the Archer’s sign. It’s a good time to organize things if you’re ready to get distracted reading them partway through. Otherwise, you might have a hard time getting to where you meant to go.
With Jupiter this close to the Messenger Deity, it’s gonna be a fun time, even with the confusion. More on that in a future post.
Mercury remains in Sagittarius until the end of November, returning on December 12th. This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, Midheaven, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or in close aspect with Mercury in your natal chart, or if you are an investigator, lawyer, writer, analyst, accountant, journalist, or involved in communication or transportation otherwise.
The heart wants what it wants, and sometimes it is very clear what it does not want.
Breakups happen. Not every relationship is meant to last. Sometimes you wake up in the morning, look at the person or the thing you thought you wanted, and gasp in horror from the newly shifted desire.
Other times you fall madly in love out of the blue with someone or something you never thought you’d want in your life and shift everything around to accommodate it.
For many folks, this is one of those weeks.
This happens right before Venus gets back to her home turf of Libra. In Libra, Venus is happy. She has what she needs to get things done the way she likes to do them. Beauty is more beautiful, charmers are more charming, lover are more loving.
Granted, she’s still retrograde until November 16th, when she stations direct close to the fixed star Spica, but more on that when we come to it.
Still, Venusian matters of love, of beauty, of pleasure, worth, and value get nicer and sweeter after Halloween, and this underworld journey we’ve all been on this month starts to show some real potential for emergence into Light this week. Hope arising from the Darkness. Let it be so.
Venus remains in Libra until December 2nd. This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, Midheaven, or Ascendant is in Taurus or Libra, or in close aspect with Venus in your natal chart, or if your Ascendant is in Aries or Scorpio (thus making Venus ruler of your house of partnership) or if you are a model, beautician, sexuality professional, artist, decorator, newly in love, or otherwise deeply involved with the realms of beauty, love, sexuality, or desire.
We learn most from our wounds.
Chiron, the great healer, the great wounded one, was also known as a great teacher. The deepest pain is often the bearer of the most important lessons.
But to understand these lessons we must consider them closely. What is there to be learned? What is there to simply leave behind? What are we not finished with just yet? How can we take this pain and turn it into medicine for others?
How can we take this pain and turn it into medicine for ourselves?
We can’t do it alone, that’s for sure. We need other people in order to heal ourselves, or even just to learn how to sit comfortably with our wounds.
This is a week of learning to find medicine in those wounds, wisdom in the pain, teachings in the tears. This is a week where we’re gifted clarity in the processing of it all.
Again, a good time to see your therapist.
And just generally? Take care of your emotional and psychological well-being this week. Drink water. Go for a walk. Phone a friend. Whatever helps you feel good and whole within yourself, do more of it this week, even if you don’t feel like it. It’s an important week for that. The dead are closer to the living this time of year. Halloween is a time to honor the dead, not just drink in costume. It’s a time when grief becomes more apparent for many of us. So be kind to yourself and check in on your loved ones. We all need it sometimes, and this is a good time to show that kind of love.
The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.
If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met.
Relationships require communication. Relationships require digging into the dirt and muck and getting to the truth. Relationships require honesty - honesty that must be kind, even if it isn’t always “nice.”
Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? These three questions are often said to be the ones to ask yourself before saying something, and it is suggested that if the words do not meet at least two of these criteria, they are better left unsaid. Mercury in Scorpio excels at true and necessary, but not always at kind. On Monday the messenger deity gets some help with that from Venus, who in turn badly needs their way with words.
“Nice” is the enemy of kind. “Nice” is “I’m going to pretend that didn’t hurt me because I feel bad when I make someone else feel bad.” Kind is “I’m going to let you know that hurt me because I want us to have a better relationship.”
This is true regardless of the nature of the relationship. Romantic or not, two people with a connection of any substance are in relation to one another, and that dynamic is up for review this whole Venus Retrograde cycle.
So take the opportunity, if there is a conversation you have been avoiding with someone you care about deeply, to offer a prayer to Venus and Mercury and go into that discussion Monday with an open heart and a brave tongue. You’ve got this. The hour is ripe.
And the conversation is gonna happen sooner or later anyway.
(Content note: Discussion of sexual violence)
Ceres is not generally one to get along with the God of the Underworld. After all, he kidnapped her daughter. And in traditional tellings of the myth, Ceres was so enraged at this abduction that she turned the planet into a hostile wasteland.
This is the myth we are living now. The young maiden, the goddess of the Fertile Spring, has been raped by a wealthy patriarch. The sexual violence inflicted upon young women by powerful men is everywhere, in everyone’s faces. The rape of the Earth by greedy corporations has reached a crisis point, and when Momma Earth ain’t happy, ain’t nobody gonna get out of facing her wrath.
The New Moon highlighted this aspect last Monday, and on the days before and after it. Think back to then. What were you doing when you faced the news that the bad guys seem to be making gains this round? How did you face that news?
More news is coming on the 17th around sexual violence against woman and ongoing violence against the Mother of us all. It is the same patriarchs who would deny the sovereignty of women’s bodies and of the body of the Earth. It is the same forces that would oppress us all to take from those bodies.
We must not fear the wrath of Ceres as she razes the Earth. We must not shy away from the howling rage at the violations suffered. We would do best to lean into that scream, lean into that fire, and show the world that we stand with Mother Earth, who is reacting to her violation by destroying her oppressors.
Sometimes it’s the only way to make people know you cannot abide by oppression and violence any longer.
So don’t do anything that you’re not okay with the consequences of, and certainly don’t randomly burn down a local business. But if you want to express your rage through direct confrontation with those who have violated your sovereignty, the Goddess of Earth is on your side right now.
The Ceres-Pluto story is shown from the other side here: The masculine energies are being snuck up on from behind by spiritual and divine forces of enlightenment-or-bust.
Semisextiles are considered a minor aspect by most astrologers, but I find them to have powerful, tangible effects you don’t see until suddenly you do. The semisextile works in the blindspot of a planet, sneaking around in the shadows like stage crew, setting the scene so the audience (you) never notice what they’re doing or that they’re doing it, just the end results.
Mars and the Sun represent masculinity-as-cultural-constructs. They show how the concepts of maleness and masculinity are expressed and codified, modeled and expressed. They may not represent the true inner masculine nature for everyone, but they certainly show the cultural contexts for them and how those contexts are constructed and internalized.
Neptune and Jupiter represent one’s relationship with the Divine, the greater spiritual truths, the numinous, the Higher Wisdom. Other things as well, but what they have in common most of all is the line to the gods we can pick up and call them on.
So that line is getting a jolt of electricity sent straight down it from them to us, right in the cracks in the armor of masculinity-as-an-institution, masculinity-as-it-is-felt, masculinity-as-it-is-understood.
So men may find themselves shocked by how different their understandings of themselves-as-men are on Thursday as divine revelations come out of nowhere and barely register as such. If your social media is full of LGBTQ folx, expect some more folks to come out as non-binary or trans this week. Gender is a construction overall, and finding that maleness doesn’t make sense anymore (individually and/or ontologically) is indicated here.
And if you’re trying to get one up on patriarchal power, this week gives you a chance to do that while they’re distracted. Godspeed.
If you didn’t have the important conversation you needed to have with your partner on Monday, it may just happen spontaneously on Friday. Possibly with some more contention than it needs.
Fortunately it’s happening with contention that is naturally focused on what both parties have in common in terms of outlook and priorities. Things are easier in the verbal altercations and contentious conversations than they may seem at first - the outcome may come faster and more smoothly than it looked like it would early on, with the end result being less dissatisfying than you were worried it might be.
Soothe the wounds that happened over the weekend - it’s a good weekend for it.
What a beautiful Moon. What a beautiful weekend.
I don’t usually cover the Moon on this blog, but this one is too nice to pass up. From 4:21pm on Friday, October 19th until going void on at 7:48pm on Sunday, October 21st (Eastern Time), the Moon in Pisces moves towards a trine with her ruler when she’s in that sign, Jupiter.
This makes for a weekend full of expansive, spiritual, fertile, and bountiful possibilities. This makes for a weekend that’s good for getting pregnant, starting creative projects, getting spiritual work done, getting scholarly work done, starting a research project, making new friends, meeting new lovers, having a party, going on a journey, and just generally activities you want to turn out to be fun and productive. It’s some of the best you can do during this time of Venus Retrograde in Scorpio.
Have fun this weekend, you’ve earned it.
If your Moon, Ascendant, or Sun is in Pisces, you’re likely to have an even better time, although maybe more prone to relaxation than productivity, unless you already work in spiritual, philosophical, academic, or publishing fields.
The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.
If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon.
What Love wants and what it needs can be very different.
Love wants kindness. Love wants everyone to get along. Love wants harmony and beauty and things to go smoothly. Love is defined by these things, among others.
But one cannot love another effectively if one is not willing to be radically, nakedly honest. Love requires Truth, and Truth can sting. Love requires vulnerability, and vulnerability can lead to pain.
Scorpio is the sign of going into the deep, dark places that scare us and dealing with what we find. This is why Scorpio is the sign of the Healer—because that is what it takes to heal. This is why magical works of finding hidden treasure belong to Scorpio.
Scorpio is foreign territory to Venus. She cannot be who she usually is there. But if she plays her cards right.. If she embraces the great unknown and allows herself to be naked down to her sinew... She might find herself transformed there.
Venus will be in the sign of Scorpio, fittingly, until Halloween, her stay lengthened by a retrograde in October. She will make a brief foray back home into Libra during November, then be back in Scorpio from December 2nd until January 7th. It will be a long period of needing to know what Love can be when she gets comfortable being uncomfortable.
This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Taurus or Libra, or in tight aspect with Venus in your birth chart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Our ideas of masculinity, as a society, are stuck in the past.
Outdated contexts, social constructions that are falling apart at the seams, ideals based on a vision of what used to be that has little to do with how it actually was and less to do with how it is today.
Aquarius is the outsider, the rebel, the one who does not fit in. It conceives of the future before it comes; it drags us towards the potential for what may be.
Mars is the planet of will, of passion, of drive... Of war, of strife, of anger... Of strength and athleticism... Of the ways that we construct masculinity, within ourselves and as a society. It is not maltreated in Aquarius, but it does not easily find a home there either, wandering as it does, a stranger in a strange land.
Therefore the challenge upon us all, as Mars traverses this unfamiliar landscape from September 10th to November 15th, retracing some of its steps from this summer, is to ask ourselves what future we wish to fight for, what masculine ideal exists beyond the confines of society, what passion can take us beyond the bounds of the present day.
This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Aries or Scorpio, or in tight aspect with Mars in your birth chart; or if masculinity and/or passionate will are important parts of your life.
Like the turning of the seasons, a gradual, subtle pattern of life comes into sharp focus this week.
This is the third of three Jupiter-Pluto sextiles, the previous two having taken place in January and April of this year.
Jupiter represents the human desire to understand the grand themes of the world, whether via philosophy or religion or educating the higher mind. He is buoyant in outlook, his eyes toward the horizons. He's a likeable ol' chap.
Pluto is the underworld principle―resonant with (but not ruling!) the sign of Scorpio, he too takes us to the dark depths most would rather avoid. Taboos of sexuality, chthonic powers and drives, volcanic eruptions arising from the unconscious. As you might assume, he's pretty intense.
Together in a supportive aspect, we find ourselves dealing with themes of occult philosophy, tantra in its original and Western senses, incredible heroism in the face of personal demons, and views towards foreigners that lose sight of nuance. It is a theme to this year's politics, certainly, but also to the personal journeys we undergo. History, after all, is fractal.
Look back to themes and symbols that came up for you around mid-January and mid-April of this year; if you spot a pattern, it should return this week.
This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Sagittarius or Pisces, or in tight aspect with Jupiter in your birth chart; or if you are an occultist, priest, or educator.
The ongoing trine between Uranus and Saturn has been a theme of the past couple of years. It is an especially strong one this August and September.
There is a tendency for sudden shocks to existing establishments, and sudden establishing of things whose existence is shocking. Things break into pieces and reform as stronger versions of what they were or something else entirely, or they just break into millions of pieces and those pieces are composted into fertilizer for growing the next big thing.
Venus, in the territory of necessary truths, interacts with this pattern as soon as she enters Scorpio on Sunday, but brings it forth throughout the week. Sometimes Venus likes you to see her coming, sometimes she likes you to see her going. Therefore this aspect and its impact on Love, relations, and aesthetics may not make itself known until the 13th or 14th, but it will make itself known somehow.
This is an amazing time to surprise your partner with something unexpected for the two of you to do together―a night on the town, a poem you wrote about them, a fetish you've been waiting to reveal... Something new and exciting. And I recommend you do so. Astrology lets you pick your poison and turn it into medicine. Shake things up in a fun way and Uranus is more likely to have your back.
This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Taurus or Libra, or conjoined Venus in your birth chart.
Mercury retrograde has a lot of stereotypes.
It gets overhyped in a lot of ways, but certain patterns do emerge. Among them are afflictions such as delays, mishaps, and plain old weirdness around communication, transportation, short-distance travel, and technology.
These sorts of effects are also known to happen when transiting Mercury is in hard aspect to Neptune, as they are the first half of this week. The emphasis in this context tends more towards the "plain old weirdness" side of things, so I wouldn't over-fret. You might just find yourself talking to an old friend and running out of time because you spent too long discussing your grandparents' respective taste in ice cube trays, for example.
I wouldn't back up my hard drive on Thursday, though.
This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or in tight aspect with Mercury in your birth chart, or if you are a writer, tech worker, or lecturer.