Update On 14th October UFO No Show

Blossom Goodchild is the lady that was convinced UFO's were going to show themselves on the 14th October (reminder here), and if you ever wanted to know how to recognise someone going through a major Pluto transit, and probably Neptune too... heck, may as well throw Uranus in there given the subject matter; this video update she made after the no show UFO says it all.

When I first read about this story last week I laughed and thought she was a nut, but after seeing her YouTube vids, reading her blog etc, she just seemed a nice lady, and the story for me wasn't about the UFO's but became about the human side of it. The hate mail she got was shocking, mostly from religious nuts, but she still kept to her belief that these aliens were going to come and show us all the meaning of life.

But they never showed up and now she is left with her crumbled belief system, and trust shattered. See how it's Pluto in Sadge: the promise betrayed, etc. So you have to be pretty hard hearted to not feel compassion for her in this video, though judging by the comments section that goes with it seems there's a few hard hearts out there with nothing better to do with their day.

Thing with Pluto is that it's the symbol of the Phoenix rising from the ashes, so she'll come through this, and be better for the experience, all reborn and renewed. I prefer her message now she's stopped saying we need people from other planets to show us what high vibrations are all about, "so they didn't come, so lets do it without them... " couldn't agree more, Blossom; we didn't need the buggers in the first place. Write a book about that instead.

It's Not The End Of The World Then...

So that thing is switched on then, the collider thing in Switzerland. I was getting worried that all past efforts to save the world by only half-filling my kettle were in vain, especially after waking from an awful dream where I was standing with my mother at my parents house, watching this swirling vortex of energy rise from beneath the ground outside, which then turned into a huge mushroom shaped cloud. Green glowing gooey light started radiating off things, and I was saying to my mother 'that's radiation you know, I saw it on The Simpsons; they must have switched that particle thing on' (astrology buffs won't be surprised to learn that Pluto is transiting my 4th house at the mo).

But this is Pluto for you, it's all about the unknown, the uncontrollable, the invisible and what lies beneath the surface; and it's about how we react to the unknown and what we can't control etc, based on mindset and expectations. But Pluto is in Sagittarius and Sagittarius is all about keeping faith that there's always more to come, that it's safe to go Star Trek style where no-one has gone before, and how it's never the end of the world really. I hear they aren't smashing particles into each other until October, so till then I hope they are planning on saving the world by switching it off instead of leaving it on standby...

Something For The Full Moon...

...Sun in Gemini opposes Moon in Sagittarius on 18th June at around 6.30pm UK time, which means it's a full moon in Sagittarius. And it's a full on kind of energy carried by this one because among other things Pluto stands next to the moon, symbolising emotional depth and intensity on a trust/control/letting go theme (as ever where Pluto is concerned). So if the planetary stand-off plus Pluto vibes are starting to hit hard, here's Cilla Black to cheer you up with a special message for Gemini, sexed up with some smouldering Yin meets Yang Bollywood dancing...

Love And Liberation Full Moon Gives Pluto A Warm Welcome

The sun moves into the free-spirited, future-orientated sign of Aquarius today (21st), followed swiftly by a rather fabulous full moon tomorrow in the opposite sign of open-hearted Leo. It means the big move of Pluto into Capricorn taking place later this week happens via this strong and rather stylish Leo/Aquarius lunar phase, which couldn't be better in my book, as Aquarius looks to feel liberated by what's to come, while Leo will celebrate the opening of an envelope if it means an opportunity to give the gift of Leo Love.

There's probably plenty of negatives, as all this intense energy for change can express in a variety of ways of course, but if there's one thing I learnt from Pluto's journey through Sagittarius, it's that perspective is power. "Two men look out from the same bars: one sees the mud and one sees the stars", said Frederick Langbridge, and I love how Pluto in Sagittarius got me so starry-eyed. I started this Pluto cycle back in '95 all cynical and disillusioned, yet I'm ending it feeling utterly empowered just for deciding to keep choosing the bright side of the road. I also love how being Ms Pollyanna Positive pisses so many people off as well; for example try smiling warmly at a sceptic in full flow. It has the same effect on realists as well...

A 4th House Story And A Full Moon In Cancer

Don't know about you but my December has whizzed by in a Saturn in Virgo style flurry of lists, commitments and stuff to sort, as well as a waving off of old stuff and welcoming in of new stuff, and in trying to suss my damaged internet connection... Amy Winehouse has been a more reliable performer than my net connection of late, which along with a continuing saga of various housing situation issues (noisy neighbours, grrrr) meant I've been able to spend even less time than usual writing this blog than I would like.

Transformation planet Pluto hit the base of my chart, my 4th house, a couple of years ago (4th house rules comfort zone, home and family, what's private, personal and very emotionally driven, just like its ruling planet, the moon), and it has been a bit of an intense emotional rollercoaster since then to say the least. Pluto has been in opposition to my Mercury/MC combo at the highest point of my chart, which has manifested as a constant challenge of whether home/personal stuff or work/outside world stuff wins my attention. And months ago I spotted the pile-up of planets that were due to congregate around Pluto at this time of the year and eyed it with trepidation, wondering what on earth else might be about to manifest in this 4th house mix as a result of the Sagittarius sun, expansion planet Jupiter (my 4th house ruler), and communication planet Mercury mingling and merging with the Pluto energy.

I've worked with astrology long enough to know that any energy, no matter how intense looking can express positively, yet it still felt bizarre last week, when with utter synchronicity, right in the heart of all the swooshing busyness, a perfect and peaceful new place for me to live appeared from apparently nowhere (on the day Jupiter moved into Capricorn), transforming everything in my situation including my faith, in a Pluto moment. I've always been into the 'create your own reality' approach of the Law of Attraction philosophy, but what I'd found difficult was not the idea that we are each the creator of our own reality, but the challenge of holding faith long enough toward a preferred vision of the future for positive thinking to get going a snowball-down-mountain type momentum and expansion.

How to think positively when you've already got yourself in a real negative situation is always the dilemma; how to hold the dream while reality keeps biting. Well it can't be done overnight that's for sure, but there's nothing like a stellium in the sign of Sagittarius to help be buoyant enough to rise high above 'reality' and realise that reality is built on belief, and so is as transient and pliable as belief itself.

And now the Solstice is upon us, serving as a cosmic timer for significant turning points, and it means there's a change of mood afoot. Here in the northern hemisphere, Winter Solstice marks the beginning of the sun's journey through earthy Capricorn. This year it is joined by expansion-orientated Jupiter; and during the early hours of Christmas Eve here in the UK the sun in Capricorn stands opposite moon in Cancer, indicating a full moon. With Mars close to the moon on one side of the zodiac, and Pluto still close to sun/Jupiter/Mercury on the other side, it all spells tension as the energies pull against each other. But while I'm gritting my teeth having to write this through my neighbour's endless repeat drivel of overly loud bad-taste power ballads on a hi-fi that only seems to work to its full capacity very late at night, by the end of January I'm outta here, which makes the anticipation of change a real tension breaker.

Change and transition is such a big theme of late 2007 and early 2008; it's everywhere you look, and the mood has now moved from the recent promise of Sagittarius to the anticipation of commitment in Capricorn. Where Sag was about huge leaps of faith, Cap is the next known small step, so Capricorn is easier to handle in that respect; but it's also the sign of great expectations, and apparently the universe delivers experience according to our expectations of it. Therefore this full moon might be a good time to look at expectations of experiences ahead, increasing a feeling of deservability accordingly if low levels are sighted.

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.

Scorpio New Moon

This new moon takes place on the 9th Nov, around 11.05pm GMT. New moons are strongly associated with beginnings, while Scorpio is strongly associated with endings, so the beginning of the ending looks a logical theme to run with, especially with Scorpio ruler Pluto so near the end of its stay in Sagittarius.

Some people often look at astrology and the like for signs of doom to worry about, and there’s nothing like the mention of the beginning of the end to set folk off worrying we’re all headed for hell in a handbag especially when there’s an unexpected comet on the loose and 2012 is a date about to figure highly in any five year plan instead of just being a sci-fi theme or ancient manuscript reference; but what I’m discovering at the moment is that beginnings of endings can be more like a welcome light at the end of the tunnel, which is why I’ve decided to now interpret the Comet Holmes appearance as exactly that.

You see, this week was a bit of a week for me. I’ve had agoraphobia for years (which intensified dramatically once Pluto hit the 4th house cusp of my chart a while ago btw). But this week on the day that the sun hit 15 degrees of Scorpio, in fabulous aspect to freedom planet Uranus, and Scorpio ruler Mars, I suddenly ended up out and about on my own for the first time in many years, wandering around like a comet on the loose. And today I went back to the shops and stayed in there long enough to know the other time wasn’t a fluke. I was only vaguely aware of the exact astrology of now, having been all engrossed in my healing stuff for the past couple of weeks (how Scorpio in itself), so it was a bit satisfying to say the least to see the astro significance in all its glory.

If you’ve ever had a panic attack or you’ve a fear of heights, or enclosed spaces, or the dark, or the dentists, or spiders, birds, mice, love or commitment, flying/driving, life or death, etc etc, then you’ll have an idea of the kind of fear that goes with agoraphobia, and anyone who doesn’t relate at all to any experience of ‘irrational fear’, you’re either very very lucky or in complete emotional denial, and I don’t relate at all to you. It’s only now I’m realising the utter gift of this kind of experience, in the positive broadening and deepening of self-knowing that comes in direct relative proportion to the intensity of the negative experience. The balance of it feels like perfect justice. True it’s bittersweet, as I spent the best part of ten years chasing a freedom I only half believed existed, and I won’t get those ten years back (grief and loss is another Scorpio theme); but there’s no way on earth I would exchange what I’ve learnt about myself and the world as a result. Who would have thought an agoraphobic could learn anything about the outside world, but there you go.

I’m going to be writing more on this in connection to Pluto transits in particular, but wanted to mention it in connection with this new moon, because I'm feeling the joy at the moment of realising that while there’s no point (and no need) trying to be positive about whatever it is that is turning you inside out, there’s every reason to feel positive about the potential of the direction you are headed in as a direct result of the negative experience itself.