Chiron and Neptune Station in the Same Week

The root of the word Utopia is based on the Greek ou "not" + topos "place. This is a word invented by Thomas More in the year 1516 and it became the title of his book about an imaginary island, the home of a perfect and ultimately unreachable society. This is like Neptune and Chiron stationing forward in the same week, emphasizing our longing for that which feels nearly imposssible to heal or obtain - knowing that - and trying anyway.

Walking Home From "Saturn in Virgo"

With Saturn in Virgo behind them, and the advantage of wind at their backs, the couple continued on their journey into the future, stepping over the threshold of Libra. Both of their minds are on their futures, their jobs, where they will live, and they hope to be together as often as they can - yet all the issues are so important, putting positive pressure are on all sides. The last years beginning to disappear like even a well-crafted movie can.

In France They Kiss On Main Street

Isn't it a kind of over the top Moon in Pisces? This partially means being really sentimental and collapsing into music without even being self conscious about being pathetic. I called a friend tonight who spontaneously flexibly had time and we sat in the living room and played old Joni Mitchell records. If you like this kind of thing it can continue well into Thursday. It got me thinking about all the concerts I want to go to, go to church, mingle, be invisible and reach out all over the world and get my feet massaged.

It's a party for Saturn who got a job at a company he finally likes - Libra - and the first day of work starts in 17 hours.

Photo: Ed Hahn

Moon in Capricorn, Good for Outlines

STILL working on that painting, in the stuckness. Then yesterday, as the moon passed over my natal Mars, Ceres and Venus, I had the idea to outline EVERYTHING in pale lime green chalky pastel. This particular pastel really bit into the orange and lavender and green thing going on and damn if things aren’t looking up.

The Solstice Derby: A Run for Our Lives

Saturn is still at 29° Virgo and will be there until Thursday night. The Sabian Symbol for this degree is "Virgo 30:Having an urgent task to complete, a man doesn't look to any distractions." If we think about a race horse going for the goal of winning a race, the blinders are used to prevent the horse from getting the bigger picture, to avoid being influenced from the energy of the crowd. For the next four days, we may want to apply some tunnel vision to our most important projects.

Moon will have been in Capricorn all weekend until today when it ingresses Aquarius at 3:08 pm in New York. Later tonight, Sunday, at 8:42 pm is the waxing quarter moon in Aquarius. This is the moment when Moon makes a closing square to the Sun. To refer back to racing, this is the last bend, a goal is now in sight. At this moment too, the US congress' health plan has been completely exposed and a level playing field is being discussed. As moon stays in Aquarius all Monday and Tuesday both chambers work on combining versions within versions of the health care legislation, this is the goal.

On Tuesday, Moon will finish passing the triple conjunction when it conjuncts Neptune in Aquarius at 2:11 pm. Overnight Tuesday, Moon will enter Pisces. Both Moon in Aquarius and Pisces are favorable for getting an optimum Public Option onto the level playing field. On Tuesday Evening, Moon, Mercury and Saturn will all be at 29 degrees, deepening the feeling of time standing still, or "void of course".

By Wednesday morning, Moon will have ingressed Pisces, and Mercury will have ingressed Scorpio. Moon will be trine Mercury in a water sign and both will sextle Pluto at 1° Capriorn. Deep in our guts, and based on a deep and authentic emotional honesty, we will all know exactly what we want. Just before 5pm, Moon will trine Ceres, which speaks of a deep nurturing healing. On this evening at 9:01 pm, Venus in Libra trines Jupiter in Aquarius, which speaks of a great and respectful generosity toward each other as humans.

On Thursday at 12:09 midday in New York, Saturn will ingress Libra. The need for fairness at all levels increases, as in one example, the U.S. attempts to reform healthcare. Saturn will leave Libra on October 5, 2012. This is the time to implement fair solutions in all of our lives on both personal and public levels.

President Obama still hopes to have a final bill to sign by Christmas which is about a sextile away in time from now. This tells me to look at the chart of the Winter Solstice on December 21 2009. This is the day when sun enters the sign Capricorn. The environment is similar to this week's astrology. Moon is in Aquarius with the triple conjunction, and Venus makes a closing sextile to Jupiter (related to this week's trine). This to me does show progress based on results made this week. Saturn will have already made the first square to Pluto in November. Sun is moving to conjunct Pluto. We may soon have a nasty scene behind us.

But first things first, and back to the present, which is Saturn still at 29° Virgo. The advice is to look at completing our "urgent tasks" while not looking up for distractions. Where are those blinders?

Feels Like Time Stands Still When Saturn is at 29

I have been laboring over this painting for the last two weeks. That feels slow and it has been a slow time. I felt the same way when Pluto was at 29° last year at this time, and now this year Saturn is at 29°, the last degree in the sign Virgo. I am so anticipating Saturn's Libra ingress. I want to be in the cardinal energy now - in the future. As I stand back and look at this painting, it feels very much like I am wearing the blinders of of my present and past trying to break through to the future. The subject is two, looks like a beginning, a bit closed still - but opening, I admit - serious with the wish to be perfect.

This Thursday at 1:12 pm EST, Father Time, Saturn, will carefully close the gate and turn the latch at 29° Virgo and enter the pretty and new landscape of Libra. Then on Saturday which is Halloween, Chiron will station direct. If I were going to have a Halloween party, I would send invitations to all my single friends and tell them what to be. Then when they got to the party they would just happen to be all dressed up like for example, Scrooge, and run into for example, Tiny Tim. I would love to choreograph a whole room full of couples finding their mates, politely discussing equality issues in relationships.

Astrology, Always There For Us (even when it feels like others are not)

A mother wrote to me about her daughter, Phoebe, who is 12 years old, asking me to do a reading for her. She said Phoebe has just changed schools and has a lot of change going on in general so she was wondering if there is anything I could see that will help support her during this transitional time. I wrote Phoebe's mother back and forth and got more of a sense of the changes. Then we agreed that I would write a horoscope directly to her daughter and this is what I wrote:

Dear Phoebe,
Your mom told me you are settling into a new school, and thought maybe this is a good time to do an astrology reading for you and look into the cosmos to see what is supporting you. What I want to do in this letter is explain some of your chart to you. I am including your chart with a list of the symbols so you can start to get an idea of how your chart is set up. There is a focus on a place in your chart called the 1st house, so I have included the same snapshot of your 1st house four times, so that while you are reading, you look at the picture for reference. I have also included a couple paintings to inspire your imagination.

An Introduction To Your Chart
In general, an astrology chart is a circle and if you imagine, the earth is in the middle and around the circle are the Sun, placed in Pisces where it was when you were born, as well as the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. I also include four asteroids: Pallas, Ceres, Juno and Vesta – because they are goddesses and it’s always nice to have goddess around us : )

Do you see in your chart how a lot of planets are bunched up in one place? Like if the circle was a clock, I mean right around between where 8 o’clock and 9 o’clock are? This is the part of the astrology chart that describes personality, first impressions of us, our physical body and our sense of our own identity.


It is rare to have so many planets squinched together at all, and when it happens, it emphasizes an area of life very much. As I explained, the area where all these planets are is about your personality your body and your identity. I have seen some charts where people have planets bunched up like this but in a different part of their chart - it could be about money, or food, or animals, or houses or books, but in your chart it is about your personality, your body and your sense of who you are.

This is why I have taken some time to write especially to YOU about this – because I think that you, Phoebe, can get a lot of understanding from astrology and it can be one of many tools to help you understand the wonderful mysteries of yourself.

What it means to have SO MANY planets where you do, Phoebe, is there is a LOT of Phoebe to discover, cherish, protect and honor! I mean for you, your personality has many, many levels, and a lot of depth. It may be helpful for you to know that with a chart like yours this could give you a natural sense of your uniqueness which other people do not have and helps you to always in your life develop a very unique Phoebe “Signature”. I want to emphasize it doesn’t make you more special than anyone else. I say this because we are all special – and it is a burden to think in terms of special, but I want you to know that a talent you may well have is that you have a very unique sense of style of being a person.

Each of the planets in the bunched up area have such different characteristics, and they are in the area of the chart which describes you. You have a lot of tools that you can quickly whip out when you need them – beauty, intelligence, humor, artistic-ness, creativity, compassion, story telling, general zaniness and more – I am sure you could surprise me, other people and even your self with all the tools you have at hand!

Phoebe’s Stellium of Planets in the 1st House
I will try to describe what I mean. I will list all the planets which are bunched up and describe how they can add to your sense of who you are. It’s a grab bag, but in this case you get all the bags. The word we use in astrology when all the planets are bunched up is called a Stellium. And the place where this is placed in your chart is called the 1st house. So the effect is a very sparkling personality.

Pallas Athena
At the moment you were born, the goddess asteroid Pallas Athena was right at the most sensitive part in your chart, called the Ascendant. What this means in astrology is, that you may give the impression to other people that you have the characteristics of this goddess. Who was Pallas Athena you might want to know? Well, she was a very strong, intelligent and very beautiful woman. She always had a Strategy for everything – for her life as well as for her thoughts, creativity and artwork. She had a special talent to see patterns – visual patterns as well as people’s patterns. Where this is in your chart means other people might see this in you better than you can see it in your self. Another very magical part of Pallas Athena is when she was born she was in a complete set of armor. If we look at the poetry in this it means she was born being able to defend herself. But again, just from the astrology perspective, other people may be able to see this better than you. The reason I write this is there may be times in your life when people see you as stronger than themselves (you may not know or disagree) and they might think you have the power in the situation. You may or may not know! The positive part of this is you have reserves of strength available to you in your life. You can nurture your ancient ability to defend yourself not just by learning self defense like martial arts, but also with crafts because Pallas Athena is also the goddess of weaving and metal work. If you were ever able to take a class in weaving I think you might feel very, very good. Probably in many past lives you were a master weaver, so this can be a way to tune into the lineage of you self confidence in your ancient past – even if its making potholders on a small loom or luxurious fabric on a big jacquard loom, either way, the thought involved (over... Under... Over... Under...) in this kind of creating could be very peaceful meditative and powerful for you.

With metalworking there is jewelry making, sculpture – or even stained glass because of the soldering involved in the metal around the edges. Anytime you can take a class or learn any of these skills from anyone I think it might be very fulfilling, good for self confidence and at the very least, very interesting for you. Plus it’s always good for us to make contact with all the selfconfidence we have built from past lives because this makes us strong – and in your case as strong as people see you anyway.

I am sure you know this already, Phoebe, but this is a very important time now in your life for you with all the arts, and creativity. I am curious what you like doing the best – dance? Watercolors? Writing poetry? I would love to know.

So far I have only mentioned the first asteroid goddess, Pallas Athena, in that bunched up area of planets. There are seven more! What a chart, Phoebe! Well here are some short meanings of the other planets whose energies you embody with your body and personality so beautifully:

With Neptune in your 1st house you may embody a dreamy romantic quality about you. Participating in something like dance, ballet, art, film, acting, music and poetry may feel very good for you. With Uranus in your 1st house you may enjoy being quirky, innovative inventor-ess who doesnt mind being a freak : ) With Jupiter in your 1st house you may be able to get very excited about stuff! you may be able to spread a lot of enthusiasm and tell and write terrific stories. With asteroid goddess Ceres in your 1st house you may well have the wish and talent to nurture other people. With Mercury in your 1st house you may have the talent to self reflect. With asteroid goddess Vesta - and this is a nice one – you have talent to be devoted to yourself. This is especially good for a Pisces. Pisces can be so dreamy, and give too much away to other people, but we can also use our thoughts and ideas in a creative way to stay strong in ourselves, too. The last planet in this bunched up pile-up is Venus and this give you charm and beauty – your long, elegant, slender proportions and your innovative sense of style. So those are the eight heavenly bodies in your Stellium in your 1st house which you can always learn a lot from. You can read about these planets and get endless inspiration.

So Many Planets in Aquarius!!!
There is always a lot to say about a chart but before I end this letter I want to talk about the sign Aquarius. You know you are a Pisces, Phoebe, but all of these planets which (except Pallas Athena and Neptune which are in Capricorn, as is your ascendant and your Mom’s moon) I spoke about are in the sign Aquarius. You can see this in your chart (6 times) because Aquarius is the symbol in pink that looks like two wavy lines. When someone is a Pisces and has planets in Aquarius, this is very helpful because it can give you another opinion besides a Pisces emotional opinion – it can help you be even more reasonable and make decisions with even more intelligence. What is also very important about Aquarius is friends and belonging to a group. So, all in all, about your Stellium in Aquarius in the 1st house, you may find in your life that you can belong in different groups and cliques and circles of friends and people – with nerds or with cool people or in churches, mosques or spiritual circles – even the grocery store — wherever you go, you may easily find a group where you can identify with at least some part of that group and where you can contribute to that group with your usual flair!

Well Phoebe, that is all for now. If you ever have any questions about your chart, feel free to write me!
All the best for you,
Deirdre

(The name in this chart was changed to protect her privacy.
The first painting is by Gustav Klimt, painted in the year 1898.

The second painting is by Rembrandt, painted in the year 1665)

Would you like to give an astrology reading to a friend as a gift? I have gift certificates available for such occasions as: the birth chart of a new baby, the birthday chart for grown ups featuring Whats Ahead, a written horoscope to empower the self esteem of teenage girls - possibly i.e. for a bat mitzvah or coming of age, or just your average What the heck is happening now and how can I let more of the good times roll in? Contact me deirdre@cosmicguidelines.com and I will schedule a reading with me for you.

Venus conjuncts Pallas: Beauty Strategy

Around the corner from where I live is a dressmaker's shop which has such dreamy windows. Inside are very serious dressmakers working so concentratedly. They never wave. Every time I walk past this shop, which is a lot because it's two stores before the bakery, I always look in but try not to catch eye contact because it's awkward! I am such an American hillbilly in this way, and Germans tend to follow the rule "Only Say Hi To People You Already Know".

This speaks to me of the cusp between Libra and Scorpio. Libra is a social sign and highly influenced by aesthetics, too. Scorpio has a thing about eye contact, like if you are going to have it, you better win.

Sun will remain in dressmaking Libra until this Friday, so we have a few more days to catch the Libra dress for beauty success vibe, especially tomorrow, when Venus conjuncts Pallas at 8° degrees Libra. Venus in Libra can help us have better taste than usual and Pallas can help us with the strategy. Notice the weave of the fabric and how it drapes on your body. What jewelry matches to give us that cool and strong appearance. Late this evening Moon goes into Sagittarius. Tomorrow, Wednesday, the Sagittarian moon will sextile the Venus-Pallas conjunction. It will be a great day to spontaneously (Sagittarius) drop into a favorite dress shop (Libra) and see whats on the rack. If it looks fantastic, get it, because if you don't buy it, someone else will!

Would you like to give an astrology reading to a friend as a gift? I have gift certificates available for such occasions as: the birth chart of a new baby, the birthday chart for grown ups featuring Whats Ahead, a written horoscope to empower the self esteem of teenage girls - possibly i.e. for a bat mitzvah or coming of age, or just your average What the heck is happening now and how can I let more of the good times roll in? Contact me deirdre@cosmicguidelines.com and I will make a reading available to you.

Farewell, Mars in Cancer, See You August 3, 2011

Mars, the planets that helps us get in and out of bed, over to the gym and fight for our right to party is changing signs and pumping up the volume tomorrow, and especially if you are a Leo, I think you will certainly notice, because Mars is going into your sign until June. We can be thinking of the way this will be playing out in three acts:

Act I - October 16 - Dec 19 - Full speed ahead!
Act II - December 19 - March 9, 2010 - Slow, Moe!
Act III - Mar 10 - June 6 - Go for Gold to the Finish!

In the mean time we can spend today feeling sentimental with Mars at the 29° water's edge. Also, Venus is now at 1° Libra, the square to Pluto is beyond peak and separating. It was a very active few days recently, wasnt it? Today I found this drawing I had done a while ago but it seemed to express today. There is that feeling of going to the beach at night and wanting to solve all the worlds problems. With Venus square Pluto what's in her bag? Why is she giving a gold coin to a bird? That's a Venus - Pluto mystery, a triangle with the fish. Off in the distance a sail boat reminds us that journeys begin and end. This woman has joy in her step dancing with her gold coin, nature and the stars.

You can read more on what I wrote about Mars' upcoming adventure in Leo. The first post describes the retrograde period, and the second post makes a connection between what happend for us in August 2009 and how it shows some foreshadowing of the coming Mars in Leo season. retrograde.

Painting Red for Venus and Pluto

Series 5 Cadmium Red is very good at getting to Pluto. Even better, scan in and pump up settings until even a flower gets blood pressure. This makes me realize thick, opaque and more is better. Moon is in Leo, Venus has not yet peaked squaring Pluto. Mercury leaves his shadow this morning at 2:14 am New York Time.

Venus Freaks Silently

I made some Venus guidelines for this week's freak out, in case you are freaking out. If we can just hold out till the New Moon in Libra on Sunday and not freak, but maybe that's impossible. Venus is conjuncting Saturn. My Gemini friend had to endure a relationship talk with out any wine and she was miserable. My Libra friend is boiling to get the house in her name. My Taurus friend wrote the world's most beautiful love letter. My Pisces friend wont turn on her cell and her Aries Sun Gemini Moon boyfriend is going ballistic. We are craving Form and Function! Can't we all just function reasonably ask Venus and Saturn deep in the heart of Virgo-ville. But we dont just want tidy structure damit, we will die for a titanium Yes. Dont just like my paintings, love them says the artist who is suffering for her commisioner. Die, I say, as Venus goes on to square Pluto otherwise known as Hades. Hades had a hat that could make him turn invisible. And that's good enough reason to freak. But will he find out?

Up on the Horizon: Saturn in Libra

A new gigantic ring brought our attention to Saturn last week, just as Saturn is about to enter Libra on October 29, 2009. Saturn will make a brief visit to Virgo again this coming Spring from April 7, until July 2010, after which Saturn will stay in Libra until October 4, 2012, and then it will enter Scorpio.

Libra is a sign ruled by Venus and has to do with relating, looking nice, and being pleasant as well as avoiding conflict, a dislike of solitariness, and sometimes a not saying or not knowing one's point of view. Because Saturn is exhalted in Libra, Saturn will be able to function optimally in this environment for the next few years. This speaks of a new phase of clarity and justice in our relationships which could lead us to our ultimate relational tasks, of taking responsibility for how we relate. The new giant ring triggered my imagination and I saw a wedding ring - a giant wedding ring, one that symbolizes taking responsibility for the space we energize, no showing off here.

This week, Tuesday, October 13th, is astrologically eventful. At 6:34 in the morning Central European Time, Jupiter will finally move his big body forward in Aquarius after having been stationary since June 15. The Winds of Aquarius are now energizing us as a tribe, suggesting we look out for the little guy and the odd man out and strive for innovative solutions in our future.

Later on the same day, at 12:51 pm, Venus will conjunct Saturn at 28° Virgo. Today the advice around money and friends is to remember that fears can block out love and to label the glass half full. This is the day before the last day of Mercury's retrograde shadow period. We may get an important message that has to do with an unfinished topic that has been hanging since August or September.

Late Wednesday night actually just after midnight, Venus will enter Libra, a place where Venus loves to be. We can think of Venus as opening up Libra for the Saturn season.

During the two years that Saturn is in Libra, whenever Venus goes into Capricorn, Saturn and Venus will be in mutual reception. These may be times when we will find it easier than usual to define the forms of our relationships and we may want to remind ourselves of the giant ring around Saturn, the one about taking responsibility for the space we energize.

Venus will next be in Capricorn from December 25, 2009 until January 18, 2010.