Susan Boyle - Saturn In Virgo? Venus In Aries?

If you haven't seen Susan Boyle's appearance on 'Britain's Got Talent' have a watch right now before reading further: here

Wish I had her chart details as there's something strongly emphasising the healing energy of Pluto in Virgo in her ability to draw all the unkind, cynical, disillusionment right out of us all like squeezing a big spot, leaving us wide open to renewed faith that life really IS a series of sassy sublime moments that are difficult to predict or prepare for, and it's this unpredictability that's actually a source of joy and refreshment rather than something to be guarded about.

The whole thing embodies current planet placements too - Saturn in Virgo in the self contained, mature woman who stands self-approving in the face of massive criticism; rising to the challenge Venus in Aries style: uncompromising and thankfully self-ish enough to maintain self-acceptance rather than be diminished by the sneery suspicion that others are projecting her way. There's also something Neptune in Aquarius/Uranus in Pisces here too, as collectively I think we've been waiting to be won over like this for an awful long time. It answers a deep need for people who can take us beyond the emptiness of conditional approval to unconditional appreciation, which can only happen when what is deemed real, important or necessary about gaining others approval is put to the test. It feels so good to watch Susan win the nation over in such an intense way because it feels so good to watch preconceptions fall away and appreciate another unconditionally. It's satisfying and fulfilling because we're wired that way.

Jupiter Meets Pluto At The End Of Sagittarius

I don’t know one person who isn’t feeling that something is coming to an end in their lives at the moment. There’s a finality about events, or a sense that the end is nigh somewhere, somehow. It’s Pluto that radiates the finality feeling, that sense of things never being quite the same again sometime very soon. Pluto just ‘is’ that feeling at the best of times, but it ‘is’ even more so at the moment because Pluto’s going through an ending all of its own, coming to the end of its stay in Sagittarius, where it has been since 1995. And it ‘is’ even more so again because Jupiter, the planet that rules the sign of Sagittarius and which has been travelling through Sagittarius for the past year, is now also wrapping up its stay there, finishing off the journey by passing across the degree where Pluto now sits. Jupiter is known for it’s optimistic, uplifting vibe, but is also known for expanding what it touches, making more of what it touches, which means the feeling that ‘is’ Pluto is feeling a whole lot bigger at the moment.

Sagittarius is the sign of personal perspective on the world. It’s the outlook or standpoint individual to each of us, based on where our journey through life has brought us at any particular point, and Pluto has been affecting our standpoint on life since 1995 (take a look back to then, and remember how differently you viewed life. See how much your outlook on life has been transformed by events that had the Pluto stamp all over them since that time). Sagittarius says it depends where you stand as to how you see the world, and Pluto says it depends at what stage you are in the Pluto process as to how you view what’s going on, because look back to ’95 and you can clearly see with hindsight how at times new life eventually unfolded out of a forboding sense of finality. What felt like the end was actually a rebirth, because from the Pluto perspective beginnings are born from endings all the time. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, without question there's a sense of finality about the caterpillar experience, but life doesn’t stop when the caterpillar perspective ends.

But knowing that and allowing the experience of big change are two very different things; before change happens the doubts creep in, that there might be nothing more to come, nothing more beyond what we know now and are currently aware of, and that’s a harsh kind of thinking to see through and beyond. Sometimes people hold back, consciously or unconsciously circling with fear around the doorway, hating the hamster wheel effect their life then produces, just because they can’t find a way to believe there could possibly be more to come. Or that there could be better to come. Or quite often with Pluto, there’s a feeling of being dragged kicking and screaming into new territory (no one said rebirth was easy). So this is where faith comes in, something very much associated with planet Jupiter and so also with Sagittarius (also with Pisces, the other sign that Jupiter rules).

Faith is something that people too often use selectively, especially when it comes to applying it to their own dreams, but if there was ever a time that faith is going to be at the forefront it’s when Jupiter meets Pluto in the sign of Sagittarius. And I’m not talking religious faith, though that is one expression; it’s faith in your own future self. I believe our future shapes itself according to the outlook we hold today, so there’s no need to consult a clairvoyant for your fate, you just sit right here and now and listen to the kind of thoughts that drift through your mind about yourself on a regular basis. How those thoughts feel when you think them indicates your own view about where you believe you are headed, and we always end up going with what we really believe in.

But fate is as flexible as your perspective of it, and Jupiter/Pluto together at the end of Sagittarius can be a formidable force for deep, far-reaching, long-lasting change in outlook because Pluto always seeks to complete its own process. A phoenix always rises from the ashes, but how many of us can say we have gladly moved towards an ending, transition or transformation without any doubt about what might be ahead? Well, Jupiter energy just loves to have faith in our future self and so can work wonders on any Pluto trust issue. It loves to express optimism about what is to come and loves to feel the joy of that life energy in motion (it’s the journey not the destination!). Jupiter knows it’s natural to feel the deep Pluto current of change as a potent and therefore daunting prospect, but also knows there’s more to life than being a caterpillar, as any butterfly will tell you.

You can read more about Jupiter/Pluto cycles in Kathryn Cassidy's newsletter this month. She goes into detail on the key dates involved and has great info on the potential for transformation that this time holds (sign up at her website here or drop her an email). I love her explanation of the cycle of life as a spiral rather than a circle, and of how "Jupiter and Pluto coming together in Sagittarius can speak of a moment pregnant with possibility for a huge spiritual transition, or a leap in consciousness". So if you are done with the hamster wheel of endless circling doubt and disbelief, now's a great time to let go and take a leap of faith in yourself with Jupiter/Pluto.

New Moon Eclipse In Virgo - When Less Means More

Willard Wigan MBE is an artist who makes sculptures so small they can't be seen with the naked eye, some are so small they are only three times the size of a blood cell. He paints the sculptures with a hair plucked from the head of a housefly, and sets them in the eye of a needle or on the tip of an eyelash.

As a child he had undiagnosed dyslexia, and was made to feel small by teachers who singled him out and told him he would never amount to anything. His response was to run away from school and hide in a shed, watching the ants that lived there. He began constructing houses for them out of splinters, and his obsession with miniature worlds started to unfold, born out of a desire to prove that 'less is more' and that 'nothing could be everything'. And he just sold his collection to date for £11million.

Virgo is the sign which has an eye for detail, and often astrology focuses on the downside of that - the nit-picking, the criticism, the scepticism, the fussing. But when a new moon eclipse comes along in Virgo there's not much time to dwell on the negatives, especially when hard working Saturn has just arrived in this sign, and law-breaking Uranus, the paradox planet that has the power to turn any situation completely on its head, is linking up to the new moon from opposite sign Pisces. The message being, that because in reality anything is possible, now's the time to whittle it all down by choosing what it is YOU WANT to be possible. Scientists and sceptics doubt this artist's creative ability because they don't see how it can be done, but thankfully disbelief didn't dampen his desire to make great things happen out of apparently nowhere.

You can read more on Willard Wigan here
and here
watch an interview here
and here's a YouTube montage of his works:



The 2007 new moon eclipse in Virgo takes place on 11th September at around 1.45pm UK time.

Abraham Hicks And The New Moon In Leo

If you believe in what you see, then you are believing in the creations of the past. Everything you have from here on out can be created at this moment, and it can be created differently - Abraham

I love Abraham-Hicks. For so many years they have just been quietly getting on with doing their own thing, inspiring and uplifting whoever feels drawn to listen, with crystal clear speaking on the beautiful way the universe has about it, of Law of Attraction and the innate value and natural power possessed by every being on the planet. On the one hand speaking with more common sense than your most down-to-earth 1940's North of England matriarch, complete with pot of rationed tea and flowery pinny, against a background of cobbled streets strung with fluttering white washing; yet somehow at the same time managing to make life seem more magical than a Midsummer Eve in Unicorn Land, where all elves and fairies are lately rejoicing the lifting of a thousand year curse.

Yes, I can't get enough of them. And last year I quoted them in relation to the 2006 New Moon in Leo (read that here), as Leo embodies the creative heart of the zodiac and is ruled by the Sun - the creative heart of our solar system - and it's this creative power that Abraham talks endlessly about, where energy follows attention and only love and appreciation can make a fairy wand work any real magic. Once a year the Sun arrives in this sign to light up the inner Leo in everyone, and once a year the Sun meets the Moon in that sign, making a New Moon in Leo; a time to set new intentions and to begin a new cycle for all projects we've poured heart and soul into, as well as those we are only just nurturing dreams of pouring heart and soul into. For 2007, this New Moon takes place on 13th August, just after midnight in the UK, when Sun and Moon stand together opposite Neptune, the planet of least resistance. Which makes a right old line-up of planets in Leo this year, as communication planet Mercury stands near the New Moon, while Saturn + Venus are together again to recall and replay past events, perhaps with a focus relating to late June.

It's an unusual line-up in the skies, and there's an unusual offering from Abraham-Hicks to match it - their first LIVE two hour internet workshop, courtesy of Hay House Radio. So if you've ever wondered whether the Law of Attraction is really myth or reality or maybe want to sharpen skills already fashioned from other inspirational fires, you can grab a powerful, live, New Moon experience to remember by taking part here , or you can gen up for free by listening to past Abraham recordings in the comprehensive Hayhouse archives.