Saturn Uranus Oppostion, Monkey See Monkey Do and a Problem

This morning I woke up having felt the pressure of the Saturn - Uranus opposition even as I was sleeping. I feel this opposition so strongly in politics, of course, and now personally regarding the subject of a person having a problem. I just found out someone I love is having a problem and now all of us who know that person are polarized and there is this feeling, that we too now, are also a divided nation.

It's really easy to remember that the above mentioned opposition is exact because all we need to do is see a picture of McCain or Obama. It's now and in astrology it's happening at 18 degrees on the Virgo - Pisces axis. Do you have any personal planets at 18° anywhere? If you do I believe we are spending too much energy on our personal defense instead of personal development. There is a huge amount of energy focused here, so I hope I can take my own advice, work on myself and not project the opposition onto my own tribe.

Today when I was imagining the Saturn - Uranus opposition aligning with my natal Mercury in Pisces, I pictured Mercury as my mind, Uranus, right on top of my mind, and on top of Uranus is Saturn. I realized this stays in place, even when I am sleeping. I felt like a totem, still processing the polarity at night, like batteries charging while I sleep. I feel like I am wearing this opposition like a stack of hats extending from my mind, like Caps For Sale. Like the main character in this book, I have a lot on my mind, and I want to improve sales.

One theme in the story written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina is "Monkey See, Monkey Do". When the main character throws his hat on the ground in anger, mimicking him, the monkeys throw down their hats, without empathy of the anger, just out of the mirroring reflex to copy. This describes a near involuntary action which is the surprise factor in the book, and comments on the contrast of having empathy or not. I struggle to feel empathy for the person I love who is having a problem. I fear the person having a problem could change the world as I know it. I also struggle to feel empathy for McCain, who I also fear (Saturn) wants to suddenly (Uranus) blow up the world. In my polarity I have zero tolerance for "the other side".

If there is the climate of "Monkey See, Monkey Do" in the air during this Saturn - Uranus opposition, this may speak to a lack of empathy in our collective. If we want to get out of this polarity, the way out could be a conscious practicing of empathy. It's something to think about, to consider and start to practice. In the end, we are all one, and we need each other, and as we see with Pluto's pre-entry into Capricorn, our needing each other will increase. Do I possibly need McCain? Do I need the person having a problem? Do I need the people who are against me for my intolerance to the person having a problem? These thoughts are humbling, because for a fact I love the person having a problem and I love all the people (Uranus) who are against me (Saturn) for that.

Saturn-Uranus Oppostion or When A Mother Needs To Travel

Dear Deirdre,
A painful family issue from my past is haunting me and I am looking for a way to break the cycle. I feel challenged in living out my life an individual yet still find peace of mind as a woman, a mother and a wife in Asian society where I live. Don’t get me wrong I love being a mother and a wife, it’s just that I feel there is a lot which I do not express partly because Asian culture is group and family oriented, and not always so much accepting of individual expression, especially from a woman.
When I was 12 years old, my mother left me and my three sisters. She left us to work abroad. I went through adolescence alone. The memories are not clear to me, but as I was getting a little older but while I was still younger I became a political activist because of my concern for society. I went to university and my mother paid for it. Later on I got a regular job, got married and had four children who are all teenagers now. I have always worked because I cannot just leave all the financial responsibility to my husband.
To back up 20 years, the first time I saw my mother again after she left us when I was 12, was nine years later, when I was 21 and went to the U.S. When I saw my mother again there, I saw parallels. Many decisions I had made alone in her absence were actually influenced by my childhood when I was with her, particularly the political activism.
But I was determined to do what my mother did not. Although I was not even aware of this myself, I made a secret pact from and with myself, that no matter what, I will never leave my children because I know the pain of being left behind.
I never entertained the idea of going abroad to study or expand my career. But now, I have a strong urge to "leave", not to abandon my family, but to travel and do other things I want to do, however, I know I cannot just decide to do this, because of what I promised myself.
My question is: How can I move forward?
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Scorpio at 42

Dear Scorpio at 42,
I can imagine the parallel you may feel with your mother. I can also imagine that the last thing you want to do is to hurt your children, as you ended up being hurt when your mother had to travel for her work.
With all due respect to you, this could be something you may not be able to see objectively because of your wounding at a tender age. You can feel confident that you are not your mother, and your children are not you. Also today's times are not like the times back then. For example, for your mother to have kept in touch, she would have had to write a letter that might take weeks to arrive. Technology did not allow for the economic spontaneity that internet telephoning, as with skype for example, does today. Because of the internet, you can even see your kids and be seen by them if you want with video. Your awareness of this issue will assure that your children will experience your travels differently than you experienced your mom's traveling.
In terms of the astrology, your chart is filled with extreme tension and this is happening now, even today. You were born with a Saturn - Uranus opposition and right now in our cosmos the same and rare opposition is forming again. Saturn is tradition and Uranus is a breaking with tradition and this message is important to you as an individual and to all of us, including your kids right now.
In your chart, Saturn is in your first house and Uranus is in the 7th. You may feel pressure sometimes to work in an almost dry military way. With Saturn in the 7th, this indicates that you may have picked a partnership situation which gives you a lot of space. This is your opposition. You can see this opposition highlighted by the hypotenuse of the blue triangle in the chart. If you follow from your opposition in the inner circle, to the outer circle, you can see, that the Saturn - Uranus opposition is back. This is extremely rare, that it would land exactly where yours was at birth. and the way it aligns is in reverse, Saturn today is where your Uranus was when you were born, and Uranus is where your Saturn was when you were born.
What this says to me is, it is time to work with your fears differently than you ever have before. 2009 - 2010 is a chance of a lifetime for you to be free of your fears. This is your chance, to do things differently. I am also a mother, and I know how it is as mothers we give ourselves happily and unselfishly, this is something we feel to our core. In your chart, there is a suggestion not to give yourself completely away, as this could take away some of your strength. This is symbolized by Chiron in the first house, which is together mixed in with your Saturn - Uranus opposition. With Chiron here it is very important to set your self free in a way that you still feel responsible.
If you need to travel, make a plan. Tell your children exactly where and for how long. If you don't know exactly where or for how long, then tell them why you don't know these things, but you will make it clear as soon as you know. Make a plan that they visit you or even bring you there to see where you are and what your are doing. Make your children an active part of your freedom. You will all be in new territory, but their memory will be of their brave, generous, adventurous mother. They can be proud to have such a responsible and caring mother like you. What can you give your children symbolically that will hold you together during your time apart. Do they already have their own cell phones? If not what about a family set all in the same special color. What about a new long distance package which lets them call you direct to wherever you are with no additional costs. Can you rotate and bring one child at a time with you. Can you ask them who is interested in visiting you? How can you include your children, so that their memory empowers them as young people and eventually adults. You can be a role model that we can be responsible and independent at the same time.
I believe this is a chance to re-write the myth of your family and to heal the pain from your past as well. Now more than ever you have the power to focus your fears and be free of the anxiety you have experienced in the past. I feel confident that your journeys are just as important to you, as they are for the well-being of your children and your family as well.
Sincerely Yours,
Deirdre
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Click here to find out more about this illustrator at Golden Wood Studio, Ruth Sanderson.

Authority and Chiron

Dear Deirdre, There is something with my boss. I don't think she likes me, but I don't know why. Do you see anything in my chart about this?
Thanks, Scorpio in Australia

Dear Scorpio in Australia,
When you say boss, I look at your 10th house. That is the house of career, any kind of authority including parental authority as well as your way of being in public. I have highlighted this house with a big white light. This is what Chiron does too, I think. Sometimes the light is so bright, it is hard to see through the glare. Your natal Chiron is retrograde in the sign Taurus and I will explain what this means.
Chiron can bring a kind of excruciating awareness to wherever it is in a chart. So in your chart with Chiron being in the 10th, your wish to have your career running smoothly is strong. To compensate for such a strong wish, self-awareness may be a key to a subtle shift in your efforts. With self-awareness you may be able to see your career and your boss and your relationship to authority from more of a distance.
Chiron in Taurus may indicate issues with values. Maybe you love diamond rings and champagne and wish you did not. Maybe in your life it is possible to have times when you look at the world through the filter, What do other people have that I do not. This can bring an overwhelming feeling of Am I Enough? The short answer is diamond rings, as you well know anyway, do not make people happy, the question is what does, and this you find out as your master your life as a manager.
In your chart, Chiron is retrograde. This means Chiron is a very strong magnet. In your situation you are a magnet and your boss is metal. You attracted her for a lesson in values. What are her values. Does she value you? She may not — and this is not because you are not valuable. This is because it is only a lesson about how valuable you truly are.
When a planet is retrograde, there can be a playing of events from the past. Perhaps in a past life you did not value your boss or perhaps once again she did not value you and in this lifetime you are here to repeat the lesson. You are young and she is your boss, so she is aour authority. What can you do to value your self in this situation.
These are my suggestions to you in finding peace with authority:
— Read books about effective management in business. This could give you a kind of power that soothes you. Notice if you or your boss give authority away and then complain about it. Be careful of this. I say this because your Sun opposes the Chiron. You are the Sun, so you may be projecting that your boss is Chiron. She is just a person, and she may have a totally different lesson to learn. It doesn't matter, because your job is to find your peace with and mastery as authority.
— Cook. Because Chiron is in Taurus, I look to the ruler of Taurus to get more information. Venus, highlighted with a pink star on the right, is in your 5th house in Capricorn, trining Moon in Taurus and sextiling Mercury. These are positive aspects and can help you strengthen and fine-tune your role as an authority. Because of the Moon in Taurus and as well with Saturn and Ceres (the pink star on the left) both in Libra, I get the message of cooking as a practical art. With Moon in the 9th I would imagine that for you traveling could be a lot about food. Write down the recipes and most importantly learn how to cook them. When you cook, this is an act of devotion for the people you cook for and when you eat you can thank the divine for providing you with healing nourishment. Can you imagine producing a cookbook? Healing Foods for Stressed Out Managers? What does your inner manager need to eat to balance the tender issue of delegating and owning projects.
— Teach. You mentioned you are an accountant. You are also called in this life to do something healing. This is because of having Chiron in the 1oth. As an accountant you can heal individuals, organizations and businesses where they don't know what is going on at all, with their money. As you progress in your career, you may get offered to teach other people how to become an accountant. By all means take this opportunity because your students will learn a lot from you, and you will learn a lot from them. Teach them that they need an accountant and very important too, follow your own advice.

Wishing you comfort, wisdom and healing as a manager,
Deirdre

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For your own personal reading, contact me for pricing and availability:
deirdre (at) cosmicguidelines dot com.

Full Moon for a Dragon and a Princess

Floating upon a cloud of Libran air, a polite, demure yet strong princess looks an Aries Dragon straight in the eyes. Fear melts between them as the fire from the Full Moon in Aries Dragon brands courage into the Princess' heart. Libra Sun trines Neptune's Aquarian mists, recycling stored Rage into equal parts Action, Ration, Conversation, and Nurturing. Mercury whirrs like a top, spinning stationary until the point is clear: we are all one.

Flora Power

Dear Deirdre:
Would you please write about my daughters horoscope?
Thank you very much,
Martinique

Dear Martinique,
On the day your daughter was born, the sun had just set and the moon had just risen. This is the constellation of a full moon. Your daughter was born the day before (or 28 hours before) the full moon, and this is a very general and broad expression of her life's feeling, that in her life she may always be aware of the fullness just in front of her — full emotions, full power, full bank accounts, full freedom, full optimism and even a full plate.

The sun was in the constellation Gemini at 1° in the 6th house making a positive aspect to good luck planet Jupiter, indicating a natural communicator. Gemini is the sign of the twins, the sign of two, the sign of communication. It could be that she will have a cast of characters she can play — the comedian, the storekeeper, the storyteller, the entertainer. She may play these characters with full concentration, completely in control of even the humor appropriate to each character. These characters can change weekly, hourly and by the minute. As a child, roll playing will be very fun for her. "Lets play store", she might say, or "lets play hospital", or "lets play I am the mommy and you are the baby". She can bend her mind like an athlete. Playing these characters while she is small will provide her with the tools and a map to discover depth of emotions and truths in boundaries. She may be able to play a funny character on the outside but she will experience an emotional depth on her inside which she may keep very, very, carefully protected deep in her heart.

In astrology we look to the moon to read emotional impressions. When your daughter was born the moon was in the sign of Scorpio and this may give her depth and intensity almost not typical for a small person. She may sense all the emotions in her environment and she could reward truth and clarity with unending devotion. It may be very important that people close to her keep agreements. If she is promised something and it does not happen, she may note this and wait 20 minutes, 20 days or even 20 years later, whenever the timing is right. She will quietly find the right time to set a boundary. She can sense a good character from a bad character and this could be her great protection. Behind all her joy and silliness, she may take in her world very seriously and makes deep and lasting bonds with the few people to whom she is completely devoted.

Because your daughter may be able to feel all the emotions in a room, she may love to have quiet time to herself. This is not anti-social behavior but could be a way to add strength to her spirit. As she grows up more and learns to read and write, she may find a lot of joy and satisfaction in keeping a journal, or maybe a few journals, one for each character she likes to express. She may enjoy learning words to songs and writing poetry of her own, as Venus makes a positive connection to Neptune, which can be a sign of talent in describing a connection to the divine in love and inspiration.

Your daughter has a very balanced chart the way the planets are distributed equally around the circle. This can be a sign of being interested in many facets of life and being very open to broad, new thoughts, ideas and practices. She is very lucky indeed to have talents to express and communicate the deep feelings of her experience with the lightness of a butterfly.

Sincerely Yours,
Deirdre

Lost: Astrology Book

For a while now, I have been trying to track down a book I gave away in 1995. This was the first astrology book I ever read. I bought it in 1989 in Boston. I cannot remember the title or the author, but the image above is as clear a memory I have of this book. It was orange and had several crystal patterns illustrated in white. This book was about 6 inches wide and 9 inches tall (about 15 x 23 centimeters) in paperback.

The book covered basic astrology and was written by a very technical person. The style was very dry and detailed, but it was the book which drew me into the circle of the chart and got me understanding the interplay of as above, so below. This book was all in black and white and the text was set in a small serif typeface. My vague memory is the book had been translated from German to English.

My big question is: Do you know this book? If so, what is the title and who is the author? For any tidbits of info I would be grateful.

Service in Friendship, Venus squares Chiron while Saturn is in Virgo

Moon will stay in Capricorn for a little more than a whole day more. As I write Moon is conjunct Jupiter (obviously). Later today Moon will trine Saturn and sextile Uranus. Clean out a closet or a drawer today, line up your shoes in a pretty row and brag about it to your friends after work tonight. Tell them you gave away stuff and recycled other stuff and then buy them a round and toast to the new order.

Also today, Venus squares Chiron, and considering Saturn is in Virgo, we can also consider helping out a friend clean a closet so they dont feel too alone. With this square we can remember our own vulnerability reagarding friendship, and self worth and set the tone around bravery.

Enrollment Now Open at the Chirotic School of Astrology

I am happy to announce to you, our astrology colleagues and friends, that Jeremy Neal, of Chirotic has founded a school called the Chirotic School of Astrology. If you have been wanting to take your astrology to a deeper level, I can not think of anyone kinder, safer, more knowledgeable or dignified than Jeremy Neal.

Jeremy learned astrology from his grandfather about whom Jeremy writes: He had a large library of occult and mystical titles. The best times I remember was walking up the winding wooden staircase at the back of the shop and into his workshop where he framed pictures; the floors were a sea of wood shavings and he would light his pipe and I would sit and listen to him him.

Jeremy continues: Learning the astrology, at any level, is never going to be easy and whilst I was fortunate enough in the early days of my own instruction to be able to turn to a wiser and more experienced mentor, many aspiring astrologers are not nearly as lucky. It is for this reason that I have decided that I will be taking on a select number of students who will be able to benefit from a personal dialogue with me, and to learn my own methods and approaches.

I aim to cater for more or less any level of experience and insight, from the complete beginner, up to and including those who simply wish to explore some of the more rarefied and esoteric realms of study. If you would be interested in becoming one of my students, in the first instance you should email me with a short introduction, explaining your understanding of the astrology and what - if you have any particular inclination - you would be interested in studying. If you are at all uncertain about my personal areas of expertise in the astrology then please read a few of the past posts on this journal for a view.

Places will be offered on a first come, first served basis, so register your interest early (and of course there is no obligation involved resulting from sending me an email) to ensure that I will be able to take you on.

I encourage you to contact Jeremy at chirotic.school@googlemail.com to enroll in classes at the Chirotic School of Astrology.

Spur of the Moment

The middle of a Mercury retrograde can be compared to the eye of a storm. It's quiet for just a moment, the wind stops blaring, we can hear ourselves think and we finally see whomever has been trying to get our attention from across the street, in the neighborhood, or somewhere not far from here at the spur of a moment.

Today notice what information comes your way, speak consciously, and imagine several viable routes from which to choose in November.

Mercury Retrograde, Mr. Holler and a Telephone Chain

When Moon is in Scorpio, I find there is always a vibe. I got a call from a parent from my son's class tonight saying tomorrow school would start at 9:50 am instead of 8:00. I found this surprising — there was no explanation, the plot was a mystery. Who dun wot?

Moon is in Scorpio, Mercury is in Libra retrograde. On reflex I was politely unprobing. We have a telephone chain for this 5th grade class, it's very complex and looks like a family tree with branches. The theory is each person is called twice so no stone is unturned. But I could only figure out one of the people on my branch and his name is Mr. Holler, and he received my disruptive phone call jovially.

An hour later I got another call from the telephone chain explaining there was a mistake, that school will begin at 8:55 instead of 8:00. So I had to call Mr. Holler again but instead Mrs. Holler answered and I gave her the change of data. She giggled and told me she already knew and had been called twice. I was speechless. So it is, here in Germany, where triple strength organization is but silly putty in a retrograde.

Moon will stay in Scorpio on Thursday, and the vibe may continue to be heavy and mysterious. To add another layer of Scorpio energy, Mars and Pluto, both co-rulers of Scorpio, will form a sextile. I suggest bottling this raw, relentless willpower and get the information. This sextile may be like a Mystery Greeting Cocktail for the entry of Mars into Scorpio on Saturday. Detectives, start your notebooks.