New Moon Eclipse In Cancer

... happening during the early hours of the 22nd July, UK time, about 3.30am. Eclipses seem to set future events in motion, by amplifying the emotional significance of events happening around the time of the eclipse, which future events then seem to unfold out of quite naturally; all within the symbolism of the sign involved. They set a certain tone or a theme for months, sometimes years to come, through the emotional response that events at the time of eclipse seem to invite, or sometimes demand.

This eclipse is in the sign of Cancer, so is uber-emotional anyway, being the sign of emotional attachments, emotional responses and comfort zones. It's all about the invisible emotional cords that pull us to places and people and things, so expect nostalgia and reminiscing, comfy chairs, comfy cardigans, and all that goes with joy of what's soothingly familar, but also what is holiday hell when families get together to squabble amongst fine food and suppressed emotional clutter.

I think this eclipse could highlight need versus neediness, or emotional fulfilment versus lack of it. Then it's the emotional response to it all which is going to count...pangs of indefinable, free-floating, restless discontent might seem to beg for icecream or therapy sessions, but I do think its more symptomatic of feeling the effects of being unplugged from yourself. And no amount of anything that you reach for outside yourself for is going to cut it.

So I think it's a theme of emotional disconnection/reconnection highlighted at the moment, which continues in various forms through situations over the coming months, and while it might seem like others are important in this emotional equation, it's really about being plugged in or not to yourself, and the icky vibes that come with falling out of love with yourself. There's just not enough ice cream in the world to soothe that break-up...

New Moon In Cancer 22nd June...

... and it's powered by Pluto, standing right opposite in the zodiac, in the sign of Capricorn. I've been having super-charged Pluto transits lately, which always makes me go all quiet on this blog for some reason (Scorpio ruling 3rd house of communication perhaps?), and yet now look! - a Pluto powered new moon has brought me out of hiding! :)

Reason being I saw this luverly photo and quote, posted on a forum I visit (thanks Ocean!), and it just oozed what I feel about this new moon vibe. Whenever I am feeling frazzled and fragmented by life, I find that in a good contemplate over a picture of some fabulous symmetry in nature (especially circles), the image of natural wholeness soothes and heals my furrowed brow no matter how heavily it's been on overheat from hamster-wheeling through a problem; and there is something somehow so solution-orientated and nourishing for the soul about this pic and quote that feeds the intense need for completion and fulfilment being activated by this extra-emotionally driven Cancer Moon. So here's self respect in a new light, under the dark moon phase:



"You would all be all right with who you are if you had been making your decisions based upon how they feel to you all along. But it is because you have been trying to evaluate yourself through the eyes of others...You are so hard on yourselves when you are someplace different than where you want to be. And that is what this message is all about. You must soothe yourself into emotional comfort before your desires can become manifest. You cannot hold yourself in disrespect of self and get what you want."

Abraham-Hicks, Ashville 10/23/05

June Horoscopes

Aries
21st March – 20th April
This month your ruler mars, planet of desire in action, moves into the angle of your chart connected to finance, property and worth. Alongside Mars is Venus, planet of worth and values. These two energies work perfectly together, especially at this angle; so whatever happens this month honour your inner Mars and Venus by valuing your desires, especially around the 22nd during a powerful summer solstice inspired new moon (new emotional phase). There’s a feeling of security born from it all that makes it easier to deal with transformation planet Pluto’s overpowering urge to shed skins during this time.

Taurus
21st April – 21st May
If there was ever a time that love is in the air it’s this month. Your ruler Venus is side by side desire planet Mars all month, in your sign, and making a fabulous alignment with commitment planet Saturn, around the time of the new moon (new emotional phase) on the 22nd. This new moon is all about endings as much as it is beginnings though, so a letting go, or releasing process is also going on in some aspect of your life, with a view to making space and time for future transformation.

Gemini
22nd May – 21st June
You had a big change of perspective last month, and now it’s time to live this change through events this month; especially through the tension-building full moon around the 7th, across the relationship axis of your chart, amplifying issues of permission versus denial in situations. Though you’re the only one that can deny yourself anything, it often seems like others are responsible; it’s the mirror thing you see: they reflect your belief ‘it’s not possible’. But with a recent change in perspective, your beliefs aren’t so clear cut anymore, and therein lies your freedom to find the yes in what you want.


Cancer
22nd June – 22nd July
There’s a powerful new moon (new emotional phase) in your sign on the 22nd. It’s powerful because it’s summer solstice time (seasonal shift of energy), and because planet Pluto figures highly. Pluto is about situations that force the issue of trust versus control. Do you let go of control of circumstances, trusting that the bigger picture has your interests at heart? Or clutch tightly at a situation to make it happen your way, from the fear it couldn’t possibly otherwise? First one takes faith initially but is longterm stressbuster. Second one? Not a pretty sight but we’ve all been there.


Leo
23rd July – 23rd August
There’s so much happening there’s not enough space to mention all here, but key points are: last month there was a turning point in long-term aims and ambitions, especially in the realm of career. As June gets underway the new perspective you gained back then starts to affect the way you deal with events now, and with Mars adding persistence to plans, and Venus sweetening relationships, this whole aspect of your life can take on new meaning now. Also, there’s a rare intensity to events around the 22nd, which can incubate change at deep levels over the weeks ahead. Trust it to allow it.

Virgo
24th August – 22nd September
There’s a pressure-filled start to the month because as ever with Virgo there’s a strong desire to sort things out perfectly, but the full moon on the 7th involves planet Saturn and its restrictive energy. The key with Saturn-fuelled events is to know that unwanted limitations are a mirror for where you need to give permission to yourself to experience what’s wanted; which it’s clear you manage by the 22nd, because there’s a fabulous line-up of Saturn/Mars/Venus around then that sets a tone for weeks to come because it’s new moon time (new emotional phase). Intense times, but productive.

Libra
23rd September – 23rd October
There’s a rare and important alignment between Venus and Mars all month, which are close together in the trust angle of your chart, and trust is what it’s all about at the moment. Love goddess Venus is your ruler, so when a meeting with desire planet Mars happens like this, it means romance rules with a passion. And at its height, around the 22nd, there’s a new moon that activates a new phase in key areas of your life. Home versus career; public life and private life; it’s all linked in a powerful way now thanks to transformation planet Pluto’s urge for renewal and regeneration.

Scorpio
24th October – 22nd November
As June begins, your co-ruler mars and love/money planet Venus join forces in the relationship angle of your chart. It makes for an unparalleled time for partnership and contracts, especially around the 22nd when the season-shifting Summer Solstice and new moon aligns with your other ruling planet, Pluto. New moons indicate new phases, and Pluto is the planet that on a good day lets go and trusts the universe to work things out unsupervised, while on a bad day exerts a vice-like grip on proceedings through narrowed and suspicious eyes. You just have to decide it’s going to be a good day, that’s all.


Sagittarius
23rd November – 21st December
Sagittarius is known for the ability to find the positive in circumstances, so if things get bumpy during first week of June thanks to a full moon (emotional amplifier) in your sign, with a theme of limited or restricted circumstances, you could try ‘this too shall pass’ as your power perspective, because in this case it really is true. There’s a lot to be positive about according to the skies, even when your ruler Jupiter turns retrograde (appears to move backwards) midmonth. It’s more about a turning point than a reverse course, so don’t fear a turning of the tide.


Capricorn
22nd December – 20th January
Second half of June looks so interesting for Capricorn. Not to say first half isn’t, as there’s a fabulous alignment of Mars and Venus all month, but it really gets intense at new moon time, around the 22nd. Mars (acting on desire) meets Venus (valuing relationships) in the matters of the heart angle of your chart, so it’s all very cosy and romantic, but it’s also about creativity and alignment with any of your heart’s desires. This new moon vibe is potentially challenging, with Pluto (fear of unknown) strong in the story; but the scales are always poised to tip to positive.


Aquarius
21st January – 18th February
The Jupiter/Neptune partnership (= expansion/non-physical) that has been going in your sign for some weeks now, symbolises a particular energy running through events, and reflects your attitude right now. It’s all a kind of spiritual journey at the moment; all about your awareness of what lies within and beyond the physical world. There’s a turning point coming in this midmonth, though it’s not the end of the story; far from it, as Neptune touches everything with an eternal, boundless feeling. And on top of that, new moon time from around the 22nd speaks of rebirth and renewal; deeply, intensely and emotionally so.


Pisces
19th February – 20th March
Both your ruling planets, Jupiter and Neptune are sitting close together all month. This symbolises a union within yourself that’s going on at the moment; an understanding, or a meeting of not quite opposites but of different intentions or desires that are working together right now. Jupiter turns retrograde (appears to move backwards) midmonth, and this always symbolises a change in perspective or viewpoint unfolding on all this. Also, communication is so well-starred during June; especially after midmonth, especially around 22nd. And that’s even with the radically intense energy around the new moon at that time.

Mercury Retrograde

So Mercury, planet of pathways and communication is retrograde now (appearing to move backwards), and it's a time traditionally associated with glitches and breakdowns and all sorts of palaver. I tried to get online to write about how there has to be a different way to view this, as I do believe the universe is built on positive power, not on energy intent on putting spanners in the works, but I couldn't because my internet connection went down :D

But I will not have it that Mercury retro is just about having to redo, resend, rewrite, reboot, rewire, reconnect, etc etc... there has to be more to it than that, and it has to have a basis in positive energy. So how about thinking of Mercury retro as a time for re-alignment of thought to a more positive perspective? Mercury is the planet of thoughts, and it's thought power that is the creative power behind everything, and the world out-pictures our thoughts and reflects the power of our own mind (mind over matter and all that).

So if you've been having less than kind thoughts about your clunky old computer, or that email you need to write, or you've been thinking you could do with a break, or a change of mind about something; now's the time that you'll reap the reward of your thinking with a nice literal metaphor from the Mercury ruled items around you; for good or ill unless you keep to positive thoughts about how clunky old computers just keep running and running and never let you down...


Mercury retrogrades May 7th, 2009 at 2 Gemini
Mercury turns direct May 30th, 2009 at 22 Taurus

May Horoscopes

It's May already. So your horoscopes for this month are posted here

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.

Alan Shearer, Newcastle United, And Venus Retrograde

So my Newcastle-United-loving mother thought it was an April fool joke when she heard last Wednesday morning that Alan Shearer was to step in to save the day, to become manager of Newcastle United (story here). I had been saying for a while ‘you mark my words, something is happening with Newcastle, their chart is doing stuff’; I knew that Venus had turned retrograde right on Newcastle’s Jupiter, but I couldn't picture what a retrograde Venus/Jupiter alignment would look like for a club who seemed on such a downward spiral to certain doom. But it turns out the picture looks something like when Dr Who turns up right at the last minute when the daleks are yelling ‘exterminate’and the music turns all bouncy and relieving.


To recap, this is part of a story that began last September when manager Kevin Keegan left after bitter rows with bosses (reminder here). Club owner Mike Ashley upset everyone by refusing to restructure the management hierarchy, and let Kevin go instead. It was all very similar to that bit in Young Victoria when Queen Victoria wouldn’t change her ladies-in-waiting despite public pressure, and the public just went crazy, rattling at the palace gates and all sorts. Mike Ashley, just like Queen Victoria, didn’t dare show his face at the palace gates for a long time, meanwhile hiring a temporary manager, Joe Kinnear. Joe is a Capricorn, and he arrived at Newcastle just as Pluto, ruler of complete and utter transformation, arrived in the sign of Capricorn; and Saturn, ruler of Capricorn (associated with bosses and management and hierarchy and structures) began its alignment with Uranus, planet of the unexpected (especially unexpected anti-social, anti-media out-of-the-blue outbursts like this one from Mr K).

Then, right when Saturn was having its second alignment with Uranus, Joe Kinnear was taken to hospital on the 7th February, and had to have major heart surgery. Turned out he’s going to be fine, but it left Newcastle without a manager again. Unexpected and very Saturn/Uranus, but it also happened during the beginning of the ‘shadow period’ of Venus retrograde.

A retrograde phase is when a planet appears from our perspective on earth to be moving backwards. It’s not really, it just appears to be from where we are standing. And so it looks like it is taking backward steps through the degrees of the sign it has just been moving forward through. In this case:

Feb 3rd 2009 - Venus reached 29 degrees of Pisces (beginning of 'shadow phase')
March 6th - Venus travels to 15 degrees of Aries and turns retrograde (appeared to turn around and move back on itself)
April 17th - Venus returns to 29 degrees of Pisces (that is how you get the shadow phase degree - its the degree that Venus moves back to before stopping to turn 'direct' again)
May 21st 2009 - Venus retreads path to 15 degrees of Aries, crossing that March 6th turnaround point, finishing the full cycle by May 21st.

The thing with astrology is you look for similarities or meeting points, between the progress of an event and the progress of the planets in the skies. That's what I am looking for all the time as an astrologer: alignment between planet degrees, chart patterns, and events. That Joe Kinnear was taken out of the picture as the shadow phase of Venus gets underway, implies to me that the whole of the retrograde cycle is going to be important somehow in the chart of Newcastle United. But how? Well firstly you look for ways Venus is important in Newcastle’s chart, and you can also look for how the retrograde cycle hits the planets in the chart.



First thing I noticed was that Venus was going to slow down to a stop and then make its turnaround early March, right on Newcastle’s Jupiter. Click the chart to the left to enlarge it, and find the red symbol, what looks like a red number 4, at the 5 o’clock point on the chart. That is Jupiter at 15 degrees of Aries. So on March 6th Venus is due to stop and turn around right on that point. And astrologically it does symbolise a turning point, or turnaround in affairs. Jupiter is the planet of expansion, upliftment and (traditionally) ‘good fortune’… with a retrograde happening over it, it might be fair to say the symbolism could be a reversal of fortune, and as Newcastle has been right in the mire as far as luck goes, the interpretation becomes ‘a reversal of bad fortune’ (Not that I actually believe in bad luck; I am just talking about how any astrologer reaches for images and metaphors that describe the story of what they see going on – it’s ‘like’ a story of bad luck reversed, rather than literally saying bad luck exists. Alan Shearer isn’t really Dr who and Mike Ashley isn’t actually Queen Victoria, etc etc, it just describes the story).

So anyway, Jupiter is one point, and the other is Newcastle’s north node, which is in Taurus, the sign ruled by Venus (it's the little green arch symbol to the right of Jupiter in Newcastle's chart). The north node point is one of my favourite points of a chart because interesting things ALWAYS happen around it, and especially around the planet that rules the sign the north node is located in. The north node is associated with the moon and longterm cycles in the progress of events (especially 19 year ones, and if anyone knows what was happening to Newcastle 19 years ago, let me know), It’s known traditionally as the ‘destiny’ point in a chart – and the ruling planet of that point can show how that destiny is shaping up, or in other words, how desires and intentions set in motion are moving forward to fulfilment. In terms of Newcastle’s chart, this means the movement of Venus mirrors their progress toward fulfilment of the clubs intention or ‘destiny’ that was held at the moment of its creation or birth back in 1892.


When Joe Kinnear took ill, Venus was at 4 degrees of Aries, in alignment with Pluto (radical transformation), and his Capricorn sun. This 4 Aries point is the degree that Venus was due to return to on April 1st as a result of its retrograde motion, and it was April 1st that the announcement was made that Alan Shearer was to become temporary manager till the end of the season. Looking at the chart of that day as it lines up with Newcastle's (click to enlarge chart on left...symbols in pink are the placing of planets in the skies on April 1st 2009; black symbols are where the planets were the day Newcastle United was created), you can see the big red square in the centre of the circle that is formed by the cross alignment of Newcastle's north and south nodes of the moon, merging with the current placing of the north and south nodes. In astro language, that means big stuff is going on. Nice stuff.


I looked at Alan Shearer's chart last September when Kevin Keegan left, and the stand out point at that time was his career indicator (MC) is where his Venus and Uranus are placed, in the sign of Libra, which Venus also rules. I had kind of expected him to step in suddenly last year (Uranus = unexpected or sudden, and Libra is the balancer of what is out of balance), but it didn't happen. Yet this astro picture of April 1st seems more fitting, as his 6 Libra Venus is opposing the 4 Aries Venus (approx the 11 o'clock and 5 o'clock points on the chart on the left, pink symbols are April 1st skies); as well as lining up nicely with the nodes of the moon at 7 o'clock point, while Pluto sits right next to his Capricorn moon at around the 8 o'clock point, in turn lining up with his Virgo/Pisces nodal axis (the arch symbols at top and bottom of chart).

Astrology always reveals that things happen at just the right time, though it's always with hindsight that the bigger picture reveals itself fully. And so Newcastle United have got another saviour right in the nick of time, and I hope it all works out for them. Though whether or not Alan Shearer will stay after the Venus retrograde period ends in May I don't know; I hope so, as his chart works so glitteringly well with Newcastle's, but for now anyway my mother is a very happy woman and that's what's most important really :)