Love And Relationship Outlook For 2015 - Libra Through Pisces

Part two of "The Love Post". Part One here.

Libra

Theme For 2015 That Will Effect Your Relational Reality

REVOLUTION VS. HARMONY
Resonating Tarot Card: The Hanged Man

Libra doesn’t like when things don’t feel smooth. And tasteful. And harmonious. Libra, in fact, will often do everything they can to avoid a bumpy road in a relationship. But with Uranus in Aries continuing to oppose your sign in 2015, it’s not a time to be focusing on harmony. This is a time that you will really be feeling an inner sense of discord and shifting, and you may be scanning the horizon for something better “out there”. And you may need to make extreme choices or decisions in order to respond to the Uranian energy.

This will unsettle you. And it's supposed to. Unless you're struggling hard against it and trying to ignore it.

This is a similar energy to that which Aries is feeling this year. The difference is, Aries has the conjunction which is smoother flowing energy.. and you get the opposition.. which often creates a more shocking and dramatic energy. Surprises that you least expected will strike like random bolts of lightening into your life - a sudden breakup, a sudden need to shift your sexuality, a sudden occupational shift. Maybe even an attraction to somebody who is not treating you well, and it forces you to reconfigure the way you look at self esteem and relational function. Or, it could be experienced in a more internalized way: you may feel a constant sense of uncomfortable stagnation. A need to break out of all your norms and shift something in a big way in order to feel “free”. And it will feel rapid and pressing. Urgent. Like the whole river of life is rushing you towards a waterfall.

This desire to be free in some way that you haven’t achieved yet will duke it out with your need to please other people all the time. And if you are trying to let the people-pleaser win, it won’t work. So chameleoning for a relationship isn’t the best idea right now. This is far better used as a time to really explore the tensions you are feeling, and what exactly makes your needs tick. And *gasp* even create conflict. It also includes exploring a wide array of new experiences in order to even find what your needs are. Everything is different from what it was. Uranus is ensuring that. So don’t try to hold on to your same old patterns.

What You Need This Year

To allow your relationship identity to change. That’s the only way you’ll move through this time with grace. If you are holding on to an outdated idea of what your relationships need to look like, you’re going to be in the “Zap Zone”.. which is basically Uranus throwing you a huge (and possibly ugly) surprise in order to “zap” your hands open. Get you to let go of control. If you are truly desiring a partner to help you through this time, you will likely attract somebody who is out of your norm. Somebody you never would have attracted in the past, who will help broaden your perspective through this transit in your life. (Aquarius or Leo might be a good choice.)

Hot Months For You

January - Good one for having a good and sexy time WHILE integrating the Uranian electricity

June - Especially mid-June. Venus/Jupiter conjunction sextile your Sun. Sexy. 

Overall Advice

The more open you are to change and new ideas at this time, the more everything will go smoother for you. However.. (and this will be the hard part for you) it’s not about “smooth” right now. Part of the gift of this time for you is seeing what is actually beneficial about erratic changes. And learning to respond, not react, to them. Jupiter is also sextiling your sign from Leo, so this can be a great time to expand through change. Just let life have it’s flow, and ride through. Grace and harmony will avail themselves to you when you find your revolutionary truth. The real truth. 

Scorpio

Theme For 2015 That Will Effect Your Relational Reality

DEEPENING. AND HOPE.
Resonating Tarot Card: Star

Gotta hand it to you, Scorpio. You made it through a rough few years of Saturn transiting your sign. You really had to get your nose to the grindstone and work hard in order to achieve what you wanted.  Or, everything you'd worked hard for over the years fell apart.. causing you to have to let go of all your previous structures. Now, Saturn is exiting your sign, which is revealing a simultaneous aspect that has been happening for some time now as well: Neptune in Pisces trining your sign. This is a very long, slow aspect.. which may or may not be directly effecting you, depending on your sun’s degree, but it offers a powerful expansion of intuition, empathy, and imagination. You are able to conceive of complex, spirit-opening realities in a way that you never have before. And your usual psychological astuteness is deepened in understanding and softened by empathy. The harshness has opened up and is making way for your spirit to flourish.

It could be that you are also in a relationship, this year, where you are able to flow past previous barriers. Your understanding of both yourself and your partner is able to move into a deeper place. And you might surprise yourself by what you’re able to transcend. Even the messages of past wounds. Easing up on judgements this year will bring your relationship (or a new one) to powerful new heights, and allow you the totality of perspective to understand things in a brand new way. Or, you may find yourself needing to be taken care of while in a weak place.. or taking care of your partner in a weak place. A “savior” tone to your relationship is possible. But thankfully, the harshness of Saturn is moving out of your sign (though it retrogrades next year and takes a small dip back into your sign.. possibly bringing you a little rebound of Saturnine issues.)

What you do need to be careful of right now, especially with Jupiter in Leo also squaring your sign, is the possibility of running away with ideals or fantasies that don’t have any foot in practical reality. For some of you, hope feels really good after such a long time of not seeing it. But it will be an easy time to lose yourself in a flight of fancy, maybe even entering into a deeply unwise situation because you have such an overinflated belief in it. Be careful with money and over-extending your resources. Especially with your partner.

What You Need This Year

Trust your inner knowing. Even about whoever you’re with. Your intuition is especially strong through this time, and will likely guide you in the right direction (If you aren’t being over-inflated by the Jupiter square). You’re tuned into energy levels that are beyond the mundane.. and that may reflect into the kind of partner you attract or are looking for. Your spirituality or imagination needs to be stimulated by your partnership this year. A more firey or airy type likely won’t cut it.. but a Pisces might contribute to the possible savior/victim complex talked about above. 

Hot Months For You

February - Neptune + Mars + Venus in Pisces. Deep, soul-exposing sex.

December - Love .. and other resources in your life should be doing well. ($$). Nice.

Overall Advice

I think that this year will hopefully be a bit of a landing on the staircase of life for you. The overall universal energies are still shifting towards big change (Pluto - your ruling planet - in Capricorn. A huge restructure is still happening).. but as we all know, there are times when things are harder than other times. This is a time that will take a different tone for you. A softer, more Neptunian tone. Your partnerships will also take this flavor.. of looking empathetically into the souls of others instead of uncovering hidden agendas for the sake of judgement.

Sagittarius

Theme For 2015 That Will Effect Your Relational Reality

STRUCTURE
Resonating Tarot Card: The Magician

Good news? Jupiter is in Leo, trining your sign of Sagittarius! Good times! Heavier news? Saturn just entered Sagittarius.. which means honing in on work and structures. Not the kind of thing freewheeling Sagittarius wants. But these energies are actually well-aspected to each other through most of 2015.. so if you’re a Sagittarius born in the earlier degrees of the sign, this could all have a really good-feeling flow to it. And you may not be experiencing the Saturn energies through harshness or depression this year.

When Saturn goes through any sign, it’s a “time to get real” energy. If you were making decisions in the past about partners based on hopping from adventure to adventure without giving it much thought, this will slow you down a bit. You’ll put more critical considerations on yourself or a partner within a partnership, because you are more aware of what your standards are. Your partner may also be eye-rolling as you go off on long-winded tangents about a new discipline you’re adhering to. Or you’ll finally really hunker down and stay with somebody through the long haul, if you’ve never done that. Saturn has a way of making you conscious of the long term, and giving you a desire to meet its demands.

I think the Jupiter trine to Saturn in 2015 will soften this a bit, causing you to feel optimistic about expansion through focusing on building your structures. Especially since it's in Leo, and offering a brightness, fun, expansive feeling to all of your other undertakings. It may also bring you a connection at your work who recognizes you for what you offer. Romantically, it could bring you a partner who works with you through your expansion rather than a “you vs. your partner” energy. You may definitely get a shove in the career department... Either giving you more focus on mastery, or shifting your occupation altogether through a sudden set of circumstances. (Trine of Uranus in Aries). 

This is a “building upwards” year for you. Even through the boring bits.

What You Need This Year

Though you’ve likely been attracted to firey or airy types who don’t get too hung up, things are changing. A more serious or more structured partner is more appealing to you for 2015 than in your past. Maybe even your neighboring sign Capricorn. Buuuuttt.. With the trines of Jupiter and Uranus in the mix for 2015, you will definitely get some of life’s more interesting surprises. Including who shows up for you. Could be that he has some zany, travel-based entrepreneurship.. but also works extremely hard and consistently to hold his life together. It’s a mixed bag. Which is kind of what you like anyway.

You definitely need to learn the balance of work and play.. so the Universe is likely to send you people who will give you a clue as to which one is out of balance. 

Hot Months For You

March - Definitely a time to get out. No matter how hard you’re working.

July - Adventure Month! Venus/Jupiter in Leo trining your sun, and Saturn’s taking a dip back into Scorpio. Out of your sign. Sweet.

Overall Advice

Don’t get carried away with criticisms of your life, your self, or your partner. Yes, you’re painfully aware of the work you have to do, and are getting your nose to the grindstone. Commendable. Really. But you also have to realize that the energy is likely to tip in favor of that side of the scale. You should ease up a little on the harshness. And also talking about it.. which might feel like you are riding a crusade horse into a country against its will.. and that country is your partner. Or friends. Or whoever else has to hear you rattle on and on and on about your new disciplined pursuits in life. 

Capricorn

Theme For 2015 That Will Effect Your Relational Reality

AUTHENTICITY
Resonating Tarot Card: The Hermit

Pluto is slowly..... slowly........... .....slowly.... trudging through Capricorn. Like, for years. And it’s got years more to go. Depending on the degree of your Sun, you will at some point feel the conjunction energy of Pluto. (If you haven’t already). This is a time of stripping down what isn’t necessary and rebirthing you into a more authentic reality. And it isn’t always comfortable. In fact, it isn’t often comfortable. That’s because Pluto often takes you right up into your deepest fears, walks you through them, shows you that there’s always a way through, and then you rise out of it as a phoenix from the ashes. (This is emphasized by the square of Uranus in Aries.. which is likely to throw you whatever surprises it needs to in order to get you out of your rut.)

Capricorn feels a bit shaky about this whole process. You’re an earth sign, and thus you really like when you’ve got earth below your feet.. and a plan. A plan is good to you. In fact, most of you Goats have depended so much on a plan for so many years that it’s hard to imagine it being ripped away from you. But the planet of death and rebirth moving through the sign of structure is all about showing you a more authentic truth than your plan was built on. Many of you Capricorns have likely experienced this through an intense breakup, or a super intense love affair/relationship that brought you to emotional extremes, or a prolonged time of being single.. where you really explore what relationship means to you. Sexual expression is usually intensified and deepened when Pluto is involved, as well. So the sex during the time that your Capricorn planets are aspected by Pluto is pretty memorable.

This kind of transit also has a habit of revealing some of the darker truths in your life. Secrets, or dubious motivations, or deceitful dealings with the law/public/significant others.. maybe even mental issues.. and bringing them to light. Your partnerships may even interact in the area of revealing these things to you.

This isn’t the kind of life material that chick-flicks and rom-coms are made out of. The story between you and your partner will look a bit more like a serious period-drama. Cold Mountain. Or The Painted Veil. Or some kind of story that includes war and psychological extremes and personal breakthroughs and peaks and valleys. This is a time in your life where your truth, your authenticity, and your light is paramount. And authenticity at it’s purest isn’t always something you’d make pretty and put on a poster. No, you’re learning, through every kind of extreme, exactly what you’re made of. Pluto will make sure of it. 

What You Need This Year

I’ll tell you what you don’t need right now: somebody shallow. Sure, if you’re that kind of Goat that enjoys keeping their serious side at work and non-committal play in the bedroom.. it may be hard to change. But Pluto is here now. And if you just compartmentalize all partners under “play”, you won’t meet a somebody who will call you out, help you out, and stick next to you through this very deep transition. If, in fact, you want somebody here through this transition. You may instead need a prolonged period of exploring your psychological depths alone. Which is fine. 

If you’re already in a good partnership at this time.. it will definitely deepen. And if it doesn’t have the capacity to go deep, Pluto will destroy it.

Hot Months For You

- February - Great for an empathetic partnership. Neptune, mars, and venus in Pisces.

- November - ... If things aren’t quake-proofed yet in your bedroom.. I suggest you make the necessary adjustments..

Overall Advice

The “Shock Factor x Deep Factor” of your life is a thing this year. An ongoing thing. And a whole bunch of shit that might not make sense to your structures is likely to happen. For Capricorn, this can really turn your world upside down. But I personally know that Capricorn has a pretty deep, vulnerable spiritual side, wether or not you’re aware of it. Releasing your grip a bit and trusting the Universe (especially the Universe’s natural cycle of death) will greatly reduce your stress and pain. Think about the mountain you’re climbing. Does it still need to be climbed? It could be that you are holding on to burdens that are no longer necessary. Even in your view of relationship.

Aquarius

Theme For 2015 That Will Effect Your Relational Reality

INFLATING POSSIBILITIES

Resonating Tarot Card: The Empress

This may, actually, feel super fun for you. With Jupiter opposing your sign in Leo, and your ruling planet Uranus sextiling your sun from Aries, you may feel like you are on a crazy rocket ride.. and the whole Universe is opened up for your exploration. Or, you may just feel a lot of everyday tension because you wish the above was more true for your life. Overbearing structures will be glaringly obvious to you at this time. Anything that is keeping you trapped. You can feel that there is so much more out there to explore, discover, and do.. and it will tempt you towards extravagant behavior in order to answer the call. Mostly because you feel extra aware of abundance that is available outside of normal structures. 

This can be a time in your relationships where other people (especially people who are oriented towards their own concept of security) might be jarred by how you “stir the pot”. Your restlessness may be expressed through acting arrogantly. Or in some extra-individualized way that rides roughshod over others. Your partner may feel a bit embarrassed by your tendencies towards overkill in the “shock” department. Or, you could stay relatively quiet in your behavior.. but make huge financial promises, make plans for a sudden extravagant trip, or a dramatic lifestyle change that throws everybody for a loop.

It will be hard to understand how to balance or master this energy. Mostly because it will act strangely and erratically, and won’t be easy for you to recognize. But the best way to tone it down is to spend extra time thinking about the implications of your choices. Even though you’re a revolutionary and a progressive.. and not always that interested in fitting into others‘ conventions.. you may consider that you could have a more successful relationship with your partner if you could tone down some of the grandiosity and channel some Saturn. (It’s sextiling your sign from Sagittarius! Useful).

What You Need This Year

Somebody who won’t hold you back.. but will temper you. Of course you care about the collective opinion, and viewing an individual relationship with somebody as a “representative from the collective” can help balance you. Freedom and independence are wonderful things.. and you will want them more than ever this year. But don’t ride roughshod over the people, events, and experiences that don’t fit your bigger flights of fancy. 

If I were to guess, though.. you’ll probably meet your partner at an intentional living community in Costa Rica while doing nude tai chi during a permaculture festival. Or something. 

Hot Months For You

March - This could be that time in Costa Rica I was just talking about.

September - Jupiter moves out of opposition with your sign = stabilizing. Venus/Mars in opposition with your sign = sexualizing. 

Overall Advice

Have your adventures. Really. It’s a great year to take advantage of the restlessness and do something about it. 

I just hope your job is flexible about that kind of thing. 

Pisces

Theme For 2015 That Will Effect Your Relational Reality

WHO TURNED UP MY FISHNESS?
Resonating Tarot Card: The High Priestess

Ooh! Ooh! My turn! My turn!

I’m a Pisces myself. So of course one always feels a little biased while writing about their own sign. But I’m gonna keep the playing field even and express what I see from an objective standpoint. Neptune is still cruising ever so slowly through Pisces. If you’re an earlier degree Pisces, you will be feeling the conjunction of Neptune to your Sun. If you’re a later degree Pisces.. you’re probably feeling more of the Pluto sextile from Capricorn. 

Since Pisces is already Neptune-ruled.. we spend most of our time exploring a plethora of alternate realities, complex ideas, empathy, and illusions. With Neptune coming through Pisces and adding extra watery nature to our already watery nature.. it’s a bit of a deluge. A constant psychedelic trip. This is a prime transit for the Fish to lose itself in something. And really lose their identity to it. In relationships, the primary thing to watch for is flowing into an entirely different identity.. because the object of your affections starts to form your mold. This is, of course, a typical problem for Pisces. But with the added Neptune, it can be part of an enormous “drug trip”. The kind where you wake up in a few years and wonder who made you their avatar and took over your body.

The other two major effectors of Pisces this year are the Pluto in Capricorn and the Saturn moving into Sagittarius. The Pluto in Capricorn might be causing you to have a bit of an alternate experience from the one described above. Instead, you feel astute.. sharp.. and psychologically penetrative. You might also be looking for a more all-consuming love experience than you have in the past. 

What’s difficult is the Saturn in Sagittarius energy, which will cause early-born Pisceans to feel like a storm cloud is hovering over their heads for parts of the year. The Saturn energy might dampen your confidence in relationships, but it will also give you a motivation to get your shit together and accomplish something. The key to using the energy for accomplishment rather than diminishment/depression is to keep objective goals in mind, and to keep an eye on reality.

What You Need This Year

Probably not a starving artist/musician/creative/tortured soul/poor helpless victim/ institutionalized druggy on-and-off lover. I know. We love them. WE LOVE THEM. But we gotta say “screw that noise” right now and remember that reality is a bit of a challenge at the moment.. so a partner who’s maybe even “boringly uncreative” to our eyes could be a good choice. I might avoid air signs and other water signs (Besides a solid Scorpio).

Actually, this may be a good time for you who are so-inclined to really commit to a spiritual practice. Or something that can channel all of that Neptunian, otherworldly power into a pursuit that honors its potential.

Hot Months For You

- Late January/Early February - Sexy. Times.

- July - One of the better times for confidence through the year.

Overall Advice

The double-shot of Neptune in your drink is a lot. I should know. It’s directly on my stellium in Pisces right now.. and it’s intense. Reality has never been less definable. But, I do feel that it’s a great time, while the boundaries are down, to explore. You might make some decisions that are really hard for others to understand at this time.. but remember that you are on the mission of defining for yourself what’s illusion, what’s reality, what’s spirit, and what’s “out there”. Relationships formed during this time are a lot of “learners”.. or at least, may feel that way later on, when you come out of the transit. This is the kind of transit where your behavior will be drastically different before, during, and after it. Whoever is sticking it out with you will have to have a lot of patience with your need to explore the realms of all possible realities.

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For a more personalized reading, please contact me

Saturn. It Might Be What's Got You Down.

'Saturn Devouring His Son' - Francisco De Goya

There are lots of things that we go through in life that I feel people would understand better if they knew a little about astrology.


Like cycles. Cycles that include things like challenges. And depression.

No-No-Words for Bliss Ninnies and Secret-Pushers.

But these are things that happen to us nonetheless.

And why do they?

Is there a way, as many New Agers believe, that we can change these realities?

Can we really 'manifest' or perception-change our way out of these times in life? Can we really find a way to always master complete abandon and joy in the face of horrible difficulties?

Personally, as an astrologer, I don't think so.

For a few reasons.

We're human beings. And being human means that we experience a full spectrum and range of life that offers us a full spectrum and range of development. To jettison any part of this human experience from ourselves, especially harshness, depression, and difficulty, is a disservice to our development. Instead, I think that these times of challenge offer us a lot. Especially if we meet the challenges at their depths and don't avoid their powerful messages.

What? Embrace negativity?

Well, maybe not embrace it. But pull back and look at the big picture: in the full scope of what these natural cycles bring to our lives, a natural and short-term product of their effect is negativity. A negativity which, when fully experienced and transcended, brings us to a new maturity in life. Negativity is often a short-term condition that we are experiencing that is actually able to offer us a fuller perspective of life if we move through it and don't get stuck in it. Its gift is greater understanding. It may have come from a difficult situation.. but it is ultimately leading us, through tension, to a greater unfolding of understanding.

We're usually experiencing negativity because of challenges to our structures. To what we feel we deserve, how we go about getting it, and why.

Astrologically speaking, I think the planet to talk about here is Saturn.

Seeing where Saturn is transiting in your chart can give you great insight into the kind of negativity, difficulty, and challenge that is showing up in your life right now.

Saturn transits are some of the strongest transits (for good or for bad) that we can go through.

You were born with Saturn somewhere in your natal chart.. but it's been moving in relationship to the planets of your chart ever since then. The relationship of a planet that's moving to a planet in your natal chart is called a "Transit". We're all going through them. All the time.

So why does Saturn control this particular part of life experience?

Saturn is basically.. Dad. The traditional archetype of Dad. Saturn is here to give us a sense of discipline. We know that there is a structure, a path, and a security in following that path because of Saturn. That’s Saturn's kingdom: the way. Saturn rules the part of life that’s all about structured routes. Like when you're having coffee with a friend, sighing, and talking about how many more years you've got in school before you can get your internship and your certification. Saturn says “You’ve got to do things consistently this long and in this way in order to get here”.

Saturn is necessary in order to achieve the means to an end. But it’s also interested in showing us what harsh consequences await us when we don’t follow the structures that life is asking us to. Other outer planets are more concerned in getting us to break from tradition (Like Uranus. And don't worry, he gets a turn behind the wheel from time to time as well), but when Saturn is in control.. it wants us to prove that we have follow-through. That we can stay the course. And sometimes, it will create very harsh circumstances so that we can prove to ourselves and others that we can stay the course.

So, when Saturn moves into a new aspect with one of your natal planets in your chart.. you will go through a new cycle involving structures in your life.

Of course, these don’t always have to be bad. If transiting Saturn trines your natal Mars, you may go through a period in life of having incredible staying power. You may train for and complete a marathon with an amount of strength that you wouldn’t have had at another period of your life. If transiting Saturn trines your Midheaven.. you may go through a period of incredible career gains based on all of the hard work you’ve put in to build towards success. All of these (and more) can be good.

But what about when things fall apart? When depression hits? When harsh life circumstances pile up and drown you? These are the times when you are likely going through a harsh Saturn transit.. and this is where I believe that understanding the energies that are happening can really help you.

When Saturn is Squaring or Opposing a major planet in your chart.. it can feel like one of the most challenging times of your life. Deaths, divorce, layoffs, audits, unforeseen accidents and unforeseen expenses. You just feel weighed down.. like nothing you do is making a difference, or that everything you're doing is being challenged from all sides. During these times, it can feel so discouraging to even go on that you wonder why you even try. Why it even makes a difference to keep going. And frankly.. that’s exactly what these transits are for; for you to learn what making a difference actually is. And you know what it is? Saturn will tell you:

It’s showing up every day anyway.

I know. Not glamorous.. but Saturn isn’t about glamour. Saturn Squared or Opposed wants you to evolve to the point of acting out of true conviction for your goals. It wants you to know your truth and your plan so well, that you can act out of patience and persistence in the face of adversity. If you are in one of these transits.. it can be tempting to fall into a depression fueled by imagining better days; days where things were easier. Of course things were once easier! That’s not what this is about right now. That’s not what your reality is now. Saturn says, “The rewards will come if you do your work.”, and if you don’t, the pressures will feel a whole lot harder and the pain will be much more painful until you do. Saturn does not care how you feel about this. It doesn't take your emotions about these matters into consideration. That's the territory of other planets.. but not of Structure himself.

During these harsh Saturn transits we are also likely to feel overly self-critical. In fact, when I went through a Saturn-Sun Opposition about 7 years ago, I went through an eating disorder. (Of course Saturn was opposing my Sun from the 6th House - the house of health, daily habits, and service).

The harshness I felt about myself through this transit fueled the dysfunctionally-structured habits of my disorder. And naturally so. When we are wearing Saturn-colored glasses through a Transit, we’re naturally going to be comparing ourselves to structures that we decide are important to us. Wether they're good or bad ones. In the case of my eating disorder.. the arbitrary structure of physical perfection given to me by mass media appraisal and misread messages of old body image wounds.

I lived out a year in the eating disorder before I came to the end of it.. and then I was completely over it. I had to come out of the mentality that was fueling it. If you’re able to see it this way.. this process can actually be one of the rewards of Saturn’s process. It will let you play out the complete harshness of a (wrong) structure so that you can arrive at a better, more healthy structure. It doesn’t care about how you feel. It’s not sensitive. It says, “You’ll do what you need to do in order to get here”. And so it is.

But what if I'd known about the astrological implications of the transit I was going through? Could I have responded to those energies in a healthier way?

Perhaps so.

But then again.. was the challenge and disorder I went through necessary for the full experiential understanding?

Perhaps so.

 What happened .. happened. And through whatever means, I learned what I needed to learn. But I do believe that if we can see where Saturn is, or is heading, in relation to our natal charts, we can prepare ourselves mentally with whatever foresight and wisdom we are able to access. Of course, since the very nature of these transits is to structure us in new ways, including our blind spots, some of their harshness may feel inevitable. But we can prepare a support system for ourselves. We can find a way to work productively with the energy. We can educate ourselves, spiritually expand ourselves, and integrate our energies in such a way that we respond, not react, to the discipline of Saturn.

But even if we don't..  Saturn will happen anyway.

This planet will always be somewhere in our charts. We will always be struggling with its harshness somehow. And I don't believe that that needs to be a bad thing. In fact, it leads me to believe that it is a very natural part of the tensions of life. Tensions that cause us to grow up, show up, and prove something. That's what Saturn does.. and that's what it wants.

So how can you see what Saturn is doing in your transit chart right now?

Well. You could get a transit reading from me...

Or... if you have a little astrological knowledge..

You can access various websites (Such as www.astro.com - 'Extended Chart Section - Transits'), or astrology programs, and have a look at where Saturn is in your own chart.

I find it to be useful information.

Finding the Green: What happens When You Trap a Triple Pisces in the City

Back in 2009.. I was a hopeful-hearted 22-year old. I'd just moved to San Francisco for art school and a dream.

Within a year of living right downtown in the civic center.. a singular realization began to overshadow my life.

I hated the city.

Hated it.

I hated being trapped in a labyrinth of steel, glass, and grey. Vertical lines, dreary fog, and dead concrete threatened to take away every delicate, organic thing within my soul. I hated the swelling, suffocating forces of chaotic energy.. the calling card of hungry spirits and ghoulish addicts. Filling me with fear and depression. I hated that anything real or natural was asphyxiated by an overwhelming ambitious force.. punctuated by the dead-eyed financial achievers rushing around me in the streets. What was an exciting world of synthetic stimulation to others was a dead, stinking, ugly place to me. I hated the feeling of drowning, drowning, drowning.. unable to find a way out. Unable to come up for air. 

I was a dolphin in the desert. I was a macaw in the tundra. I was completely where I didn't belong. And I couldn't achieve enough, do enough, or ignore it enough to get past the pain in my soul.

Frankly.. with a Sun, Moon, and Mercury in Pisces.. I should have known that my sensitivity levels were too high to thrive in the middle of the downtown chaos. So much Neptunian energy NEEDS natural, organic resting places.

A couple years in.. the depression got so bad that I knew something had to change.  

So, as a small way of reconnecting to nature.. I decided to commit to a Golden Gate Park visit every week. 

I told myself that I'd spend as much time as possible being as lost as possible, in that narrow strip of green.. until I felt whole again. 

And so I did.

The contrast was dramatic. Very dramatic. I'd often melt into tears underneath my sunglasses on the bus, as I headed down the final stretch of Fulton street. Towards those twirling Australian teatrees and rising ancient redwoods. Knowing that in a few moments.. my soul was going to be able to breathe. That I would feel normal again. Whole again. That the deepest, most connected "knowing" in me would be able to feel it's place.. to feel like it had organic, green room around it. 

During this time.. I took lots of photos of my relationship to this little, green world.

These are all very special moments to me.

Because they were so rare.. and I cared so much about them. 

I decided to post them all here today as a reminder of one of the hardest emotional times I have come through in my life, which created a far deeper meaning of beauty for my life. 

                                                   

Mars Retrograde and The Knight of Pentacles: Tilling Your Fields Helping Your Current Confusion?

Feeling a sense of rethinking everything you do, lately? Pouring extra focus into the grindstone, thinking that the extra work will alleviate the feeling of lostness? Feeling pressures about tedious issues, peripheral details, and checking over your shoulder.. wondering if there's something you're not doing right? All of these sensations causing you to recalibrate moving forward.. and as a bi-product, causing tension in your relationships?

 You may just be going through a hard time.. or, you could be experiencing a biennial occurrence known as the Mars Retrograde. Since Venus and Mercury have a closer orbit to the sun, we experience retrograde motion with them far more frequently. Mars is a little slower around the track, and thus we don't feel its retrograde as often.

What makes a planet go "retrograde" in motion, you ask? Ever watch two trains going down a train track at almost the same speed.. but one train speeds up just a few MPH faster than the other one.. passing it slowly, and making the other one look like it's "moving backward"? It's a bit like that. Earth, orbiting the same direction as the other planet (Mars, in this case), will pass up the planet, making it look like the other planet is "moving backwards" for a short period of time. How we tend to feel this backward motion experientially depends on the energy of the planet that's retrograding.. but it tends to give an internalized focus, throwing things from your past into your consciousness, and (especially in Mercury's case), causing specific challenges in regard to the theme of the planet.

With Mercury it's often no more than a month. With Mars.. we get the funk until mid-May this year. 

To make matters a bit more complex, Mars, warrior, thrusting, javelin-throwing Mars, who wants to simply GO, is currently in the diplomatic, Venus-rule signed of Libra. Libra, who goes, "Woah woah woah.. let's everybody get along. Let's not step on any toes here. CAREFUL WITH THAT SWORD! I'm sorry.. didn't mean to be impolite sir!" Libra. Polite, diplomatic Libra. Libra, who's certainly not going to ever move forward in a way one would label "attack". No. Libra has to keep the scale in balance, to consider all possible paths forward, first.

Mars is not very comfortable here. Mars just wants to power forward: teeth bared, shirt ripped off his muscular body, beating his chest like a gorilla. But instead he is forced to sit like Tarzan at a tea party when he's in Libra. Tamed, and not loving it. Instead of doing what he does best, which is simply giving us the drive to propel forward, the gasoline to go up the mountain without any doubts.. he is in a sign that focuses his awareness around himself; on relationships with others, on diplomacy with others, and on the prolonged consideration of forward movement. We get insecure. Wondering why we're not making progress, and on top of it.. we're extra insecure about our relationships or significant other (if we have one). Or insecure about not having one. Should we be moving forward if this isn't the fair thing to do for everybody? Are we balanced enough in EVERY area of our life, we ask? Surely there's a way to create a forward motion that makes everything harmonious, balanced, and checks every item on the list.

Add the retrograde motion to the already turned-inward Mars in Libra.. and you have a perfect confusion-fest. A feeling of suspended animation, self-inflicted loneliness, and losing yourself to working on all sorts of details that you seemed blissfully ignorant of just months ago.. not to mention a feeling of getting NOWHERE in the midst of it all.

So how are we responding to all of this? 

I drew a tarot card tonight. At first, it confused me.. and then in a beam of insight, it offered enormous clarity on what my response has been to the retrograde.

The Knight of Pentacles:

He sits on his horse; a thick, black steed that appears easily to be used for plowing as well as a recreational gallop through the countryside. But this knight isn't out for a pleasure ride. No, he holds responsibly within his right hand a singular pentacle. The representation of the empire he's building. His ambitions. His plans coming to fruition. His painstaking attention to detail.. sacrificing whatever material comforts he needs to in order to create the future he's working so hard at. He's the poster child for consciousness, reliability, tediousness, pessimism, realism, stubbornness, focus, and pragmatism. He's obviously just come from the freshly sown field behind him, where he's planned for all the little seeds' futures. He's not focused on what he's accomplished, though. No. This Knight is going to expect the worst and hope for the best. He's already focused on the next things he needs to do. He's already feeling the pressures of forward motion bearing down on him.. and all the dreams, pleasures, parties, and happy-go-lucky days are behind him. He can't even remember the last time he was able to do those things. No. Pleasure is to be revisited somewhere in the future.. after everything important is taken care of.

The backwards motion of Mars, especially in the results-oriented, intellectual sign of Libra.. has caused me to shift my energy completely from riding a wave of carefree Universal trust to "getting my shit together". The feeling of questioning my forward movement that came at the beginning of the retrograde has led to a response of action that I can only equate with the energy of The Knight of Pentacles. An overwhelming sensitivity to all of the aspects of "my field", an awakening to needs, details, and meticulous actions that are required to keep my life in the balance that Libra demands.

As a result, I've spread myself thin energetically, trying to sternly and realistically apply 150% to every little nuance of my life, all the while still feeling the pressures of Mars moving backward.. stealing any feeling of moving forward, and yet ever holding that pentacle in front of my nose. Just out of reach. 

Unnecessary and misdirected anger is also a result of this.. since Mars isn't allowing itself to feel freely while it's so focused on trying to till its fields to make its caged self feel better. And where have these been coming out, but in relationships! (Mars in Libra, remember? Keywords: relationship issues).

Mr. Knight is up on that horse alone.. nobody to be seen around him. but I'm sure as he gazes into that pentacle, he's told himself that one day, when he's accomplished everything he needs to accomplish, his relationships will be fixed as well. His love will be close to him. He'll have time for fun with his family. He'll play with his son. But all the while, the tension of misplaced relational need within him fuels his frustration to keep tilling his field relentlessly. Confused Mars, which answers the confusion with more force, is likely going to throw that force into an imbalance. Even though Mars has forged his plan to move forward and fix the confusion.. In Libra, his running gait will have to slow to a walk to not ruffle the relationships of those around him. Because he's moving backwards in the sign of relationships!

So, what do we do during this uncomfortable time?

I think the answer to the question is also housed within the Knight Of Pentacles Card. 

A beautiful key to the positivity of the Knight of Pentacles Card is the color of sun-yellow, drenching the entire background of the card. It's the color of being under the warm, rich sunlight. It's the color associated with the Solar Plexus Chakra, at the base of your sternum. This Chakra is your strongest sense of self, your self esteem, your calmness and initiation, clear direction, mental strength, friendliness, joy, and confidence. It's the Chakra that I believe is the answer to dealing with the misdirected Mars energies. This Chakra is linked strongly to the Sun, and drinking in long draughts of sun energy will strengthen the confidence within your Solar Plexus. When this Chakra is in balance.. we spend less time questioning.. and more time moving forward with simple, sunny confidence. Even if the planets are out of whack, we can do our best to respond to these energies by taking care of our personal energy fields. The Solar Plexus specifically answers the Mars Retrograde in a great way. Plus, it puts out a kind of positive vibe that will draw the positivity out of others.. and thus heal some of the relational disharmonies that are going on during this time. 

The Knight is also, obviously, doing what he loves. He's connected to nature. The outdoors. He's in the sun all the time. He's planting his fields because he loves the feel of seed in his gnarled hands, the feel of the soil under his fingers, the feel of a cool breeze over his skin. For as hard as he's working, he's still able to look out from his fields and enjoy the world around him. He prefers this to the life of a CEO, cooped up in an office. He simply wants to be in an environment that makes him feel alive. I believe this is also a positive answer to the Mars Retrograde. Let's find the love, joy, and play in what we are doing.. no matter how hard we're working. No matter how consumed we are in the "why" we are doing it. No matter how sensitive we currently are to others' expectations and reactions. When we shift the perspective of powerlessly struggling against our fate to gratefulness, love, and joy for our surroundings, we actually find the balance we are looking for. No need to try and artificially create it through more force. 

I'm lookin' at you, Mars.