Remember that Solar Eclipse Conjunct Jupiter?

Today's North Node position points to the last recent (and very inspiring) Solar Eclipse from January 24, 2009, when the New Moon was conjuncting Jupiter. The North Node tends to emit a mood or broadcast a zeitgeist. So right around now, the north Node is broadcasting from a very upbeatly charged ecclipse point reminding us positive thinking may help more than we'd expect.

When Venus Gets Hot In the Retrograde

Beneath the swirly clouds which cover Venus the planet, it is actually really really hot there with a surface temperature of 863° F. If I didn't know this picture above was of Venus, I would have thought it was Mars. Mars rules Aries and as the god of action and war, a red moltenous surface seems more appropriate for Mars.
Now, as Venus is retrograding in the sign Aries, we get a chance to see whats below the clouds and experience another essence. Venus may be showing her more Mars-like side. The feeling may be that the sexy, gossamer robe has melted. I think we have the chance now to see where our love needs some balance, Libra is lacking balance now and therefore in a sensitized state of high alert.
I spoke to an Aries woman this weekend. Her boyfriend is a Libra. Suddenly Saturday morning when they woke up, he told her he does not want to be in a relationship with her; he is afraid of her rage. She told me her father had rage issues and she remembered being scared as a small girl. To hear now that her boyfriend wants to break up with her, she is motivated to raise her awareness and own her rage and anger. She wants to get the rage out of her body through physical activity. I saw no signs of a break up in her chart, but I saw some hard days ahead as Venus will retrograde past her natal Mercury-Saturn conjunction this week. I encouraged her to work on this immediately and I felt such conviction in her. What a perfect occasion to work through a relationship crisis when Venus is retrograde. This is a way to bring the relationship to the next level to greater intimacy and improved compatibility through awareness. I thought how brave her Libra boyfriend was to own his fears as a man and say he was scared. She was able to hear him and the moment resonated as a sobering truth.
Venus retrogrades for 42 days and today is day 25 of this retrograde, about two-thirds the way through the backwards part of the whole cycle, which I explained in this post and this post.
In the whole larger cycle which spans February 2. May 21, we are just a little past the midpoint. My friend got a wake up in her relationship on March 28. This day was the midpoint of the larger cycle, the day when Venus and Sun were conjunct. The geometry is present: at the midpoint, we got a message from Libra on how to balance. I think many of us may have gotten a whisper in our ear, like a seed was planeted to encourage love to grow and to increase our capacity to love. Surely by now we know which issues, relationships or friendships we are bringing to the next level. Perhaps relationships have really changed. We may miss our lovers or a friends in this new adjustment.
In eight days, Venus will be back in Pisces, put the swishy, gossamer gown back on as she stands and twirls in dreamy 29° Pisces, all seductive and soft in the days around April 17. Until then, we can keep our sensibilities open for more signs from our partners, friends, lovers and other people we cherish regarding how to vent rage and how to increase our awareness around loving fearlessly.

Image of Hot Venus by NASA
Image of Cool Venus by R. Nunes

The Hero in Your Chart is You

Deirdre - I've always been curious about astrology, and know nothing and have been reading some of your posts/information. Does the exact day you were born and where the planets were at that time forecast your future? because of the energies of them, or what. How can you predict future events or is it just taking advantage of knowing what you should be taking advantage of at any one time. Is there a good beginner book? So confused..... But reading about it is so convincing.

Dear Lynn
I think of astrology as a cosmic science. When I am on a beach at night and look up at the stars, it's just breathtaking and beautiful and the moment feels meaningful. For me there is a feeling that we are one: me, you, the stars, the universe, yesterday and tomorrow, too. I know the Moon has an effect on tides and I know our bodies have a lot of water. Emergency rooms are busier at the Full Moons; people's sleeping patterns can change too. Here is another article which goes into a little more detail on the gravity and magnetism. I found this article through Elsa.
Like you, I have always been curious about astrology, so I have been reading a lot for about 20 years now and the topic feels infinite. The Moon's cycle is kind of mainstream for us Earthlings, and the Sun cycle is too as we make a big deal of our birthdays, a day when we shine. Most astrologers just push that a little further and look at the cycles of Venus, Mars etc all the way out to Pluto. Lots of astrologers are including new minor planets and asteroids, too. The connection between Greek and Roman mythology and the stars still today give insights on how the orbits of the planets relate to eachother, and so the myths live on.
Our birth charts are diagrams of exactly where the planets are at the moment we take our first breath of life. Often times you can see if the birth was difficult, you can see what talents and potentials are in the chart, it's really infinite what can be seen, and it is all potential and we have free will to use our talents or not. People often grow into and become more like their charts the older they get, even if they have never seen their chart or been to an astrologer.
A nice first book is Parkers' Astrology by Julia & Derek Parker published by Dorling Kindersley. This book has been next to my bed or on my kitchen table since 1991. The Parkers are a couple living in England. I have heard that large sections of their books are also ghost written by some very good astrologers, and this could be one reason the book is so rich and varied. Some sections as well do not resonate with me at all, but as far as first books go, this one provides foundation. Other astrologers also recommend: "The Only Astrology Book YouWill Ever Need" by Joanna Matine Woolfolk. I cannot recommend it because I have never read it but astrologers I admire say it's great.
A good first site is astro.com, because there you can cast your chart for free and print it out. Then as you read your first books, you can be referenceing the charts you print out and then the fun gets going. A really great second site is elsaelsa.com. She is a very dynamic, sharp, intuitive and driven astrologer who updates her site almost more often than cnn. Landing on her site is like landing on a moving horse, just to prepare you.
When getting into astrology, beware of the old fashioned astrology predicting doom and gloom. You can find tons of books predicting all kinds of wretched stuff and it's just not productive. I have read astrology books that scare me and I find that type of astrology these days as unprofessional. It is more modern to look at the person in the chart as a hero rather than as a victim and to look at timing, the way orbits intersect, as a wave to go out there and catch and take action. I think of astrology as sacred knowledge for empowering us in our free will to love fearlessly, and to give us strength to live and own our lives.
Have fun with all this, Lynn, I hope this gives you a start,
Deirdre

Photograph by Jose Suro,

Giddy-Up: Horsie's Movin' in Fits and Starts

Looking out the window, there is a horse cantering down the street. I don't think, I jump. Horsie, take me to the corner of 8th and Maple street. There is no time to know there is no moon in the sky. I dismount at First Hatters and bust open the door. I need a hat I say. That red one. I throw down the cash and keep running out the door around the corner brushing people's annoying sleeves. You could say Excuse me I could and I keep running. I get a text and I cant believe anyone has TIME to text, what a BOTHER. I pass the school, pass the church, pass the grocery store, still no time, run, run, run. I see some people in the park waving at me because the contents of my purse spill out splat I have to stop stuff it back in and race, race, race, thinking about chilly peppers, keeping my hat on, getting the client, repairing that other problem and then this annoying sound it's my alarm clock:

Wake up its a new Moon in Aries. Exit Piscesland, Enter Aries. I quickly look at the real news on the real internet and find out a manager in France was barricaded in his office by 110 employees who are ANGRY he has MORE. In this energy a smokin' G20 meeting is around the corner in London, bankers vorwarned It's casual Thursday, Friday, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. Wear casual clothing so no one slimes you.

Mars is still in Pisces, is the dream part, the struggle to wake, Venus fights backwards in Aries rules the head therefore the hatshop. New Moon sextiles North Node in Aquarius, therefore the helpful people in the park. Manager barricaded plays Pluto in Capricorn. The spur in the picture is the spark plug of all 360°. Baby it's impulsive outside but you can light my fire anyway. All systems are go.

Contact

If you have not been reaching me, I am not sure why! Please email me at deirdre (at) cosmicguidelines.com or design (at) deirdretanton.com. Thanks.

More beginnings on tomorrow's New Moon in Aries. Stay tuned.

Illustration, Aries Bird Rises, ©2009 Deirdre Tanton

Sign by Sign for Spring

On the first day of Spring, Sun enters the sign Aries, marking the time of new beginnings. One metaphor for endings and beginnings is packing a bag. What do we put back in the bag, what do we toss and what will we need for the next cosmic year? Whether you have the feeling you're a comin' or a goin' or a stayin' we are all in this together, and so, my cosmic packing tips:

ARIES - You won't be needing your ego in your suitcase, Aries, but you will be needing patience. If that sounds impossible, know that this is your success formula for getting the new job you want and creating a new public image. If you want people in your office to forget you can throw a fit, then you may find your self in a different public setting, having the chance to identify ego battles before they happen, shift gears and play a cooler roll.

TAURUS - In your bag for this trip, I'd say forget the wallet and live in nature and feel its wealth. Well seriously, a middle road may be a better choice. This season the Mall is not your Temple, just like coffee is not bottomless, but you knew that. You will need sturdy shoes and you will need your friends who will go to bat for you if you let them.

GEMINI - Bring anything light on your subconscious mind, but by all means pack your guts and get out a lot. The world wants to hear what you have to say. I am hoping you will be there when the man on the street asks you for an interview. If it's possible, practice what you'll say while you brush your teeth. You don't want to shock yourself when it all comes out — shocking the world, though, is fine.

CANCER - You can bring the cannisters and measuring cups from your kitchen if you want to. Fill your suitcase with empty compartments. Instead of Flour, Sugar, Teas, Grains and Spices, you may want to label the cannisters Receipts, Cables (for electronic items), Pens (100 of your favorite ones), and condoms if that's happening. As you are having powerful encounters and engaging deeply with partners, your power is your bottom line. Use this to nourish yourself first.

LEO - I wouldn't bother bringing sun glasses, but by all means, bring a good pair of reading glasses, the bi-focals if you need them, that way you can read the fine print, which will just end up adding to the confidence you have been building for so long. You may feel tugged and pulled in all directions by partners, families and close friends. Getting them all together in one time zone, and preferably in one room may not be as impossible as you think.

VIRGO - By all means pack the hurdy gurdy — that will get everybody's butt moving. As you are perched in the hidden nook of your humble construction, the music you play will be the songs that straighten home economics with an outcome no one is expecting, but straighted nonetheless. Your happiest moments may be when you find your hands were creative for what may have seemed like no purpose at all.

LIBRA - Cool as you are, you may leave the coquette, paper hand fan trick behind, but don't dare close the suitcase without including the folding director's chair. The "kids in the neighborhood" are making a movie and you are not there to sew the curtains, honey; you are the director. You have the eye, and the connection to each person bearing you the secret of getting the show on the road which may ruffle some feathers. The more you can go headfirst through conflicts, the more solid your foundation will be and the better you will sleep at night.

SCORPIO - What's that spy kit doing in the secret compartment of your suitcase? Spy kit out; barbells in. A six pack tummy is going to get you the power you crave to manage the unruly and motley individuals invading your spaces. Just as it seems there is no safe place, you may find yourself on the disco dance floor getting all the secret spy info whispered into your ear by your all-time, greatest detective, a first-love and fearless partner.

SAGITTARIUS - I don't need to tell you how to pack, Sagittarius. Wise man says: If home jacuzzi is noisy, wear ear plugs. Your astrology says, if you find yourself broadcasting live from the bubbly, then you may have found the ultimate home-office. You just happen to be in the tub and have something to say while the microphone is on. Creating airs of the rich and famous, although, not really all that important or your intention, ends up happening anyway.

CAPRICORN - How about packing a magnifying glass in your cosmic suitcase so you can concentrate on the tree instead of the forest. As a particular tree specialist, you may break through any blockade in the self confidence area. Speaking out of turn and getting your driver's license may help you discover that what you thought were rules are actually boundaries constructed in your favor.

AQUARIUS - Since we won't have peace if you are without it, do bring your favorite digital device to track projects, stay in communicado and have 24-hour access to banking needs. Being on top of the count and amount of your and anybody else's resources you manage is your best navigation device now. With all the trips you have made to the nurse's office the past years, you are now fully present with your most sensitive device, your body.

PISCES - There may be so much cosmic energy tapping your aura, that we'll be glad if you get outside at all, so just go. It is time to make an impact on the world AND let the world make an impact on you. I think this season you will feel quite at home with your community especially if everyone is migrating to the same philanthropical page. The world needs your energy now, so showing up will help everyone in the end, and may finally help make sense of your self worth and your bank statements.

More on Venus Retrograde

Right now, while Venus is retrograde in Aries, we may feel like we have to fight for something or someone we love unconditionally. The fighting part has to do with Aries and the unconditional part is for Pisces; Venus is exalted in Pisces.

When Venus goes back in Pisces, from April 11th - April 24th, the time around which the Venus station forward happens on the 17th, this is the time we can and probably will put down our "weapons", take off our armor, and go into a sacred space (in nature or in our mind or wherever is sacred for us) and dip our fingertips or more likely our Pisces feet in healing waters as a kind of a blessing ritual.

Here is the Sabian Symbol for the time from April 11 - April 24, when Venus is stationing at 29 Pisces: "A majestic rock formation resembling a face is idealized by a boy who takes it as his ideal of greatness, and as he grows up, he begins to look like it." The screenshot above is from a chart for the day April 22, When Moon, Venus and Mars are all at this degree. My sense is this is a deep impulse from the cosmos aligning us with our mission whatever it may be -- to live the lifestyle we have deeply and maybe secretly (Pisces Maximus) wanted to lead since we were small.

The concept of a "small boy" may be about: what do we want to be when we grown up? How do we want to provide for our families and be independant? What mountains do we want to climb? Where do we want to live? How do we want to love? How do we want to be perceived by all the community? In what do we believe?

With Moon, Venus and Mars all at this 29 Pisces degree, it is important to willfully direct vivid images in our mind around our ultimate and true purpose. And because our minds have great influence on us, if we have to, we even have to trick ourselves into it, (this is for those who have a habit of seeing the glass half empty). When our minds are attuned to positive imagery we become it. On April 25th, Venus will go forward across the Aries point empowered with renewed strength.

The post below, "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," has more detail about this Spring's Venus retrograde from the beginning to the end and back again.

"He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" till the Solstice

Once I was telling Emmanuel, my friend from Switzerland who speaks French, about our English phrase, "He loves me, he loves me not." Emmanuel was thrown off by the binary structure and lack of progression of our love. In French, he said, the structure of their daisy love-forecasting had five phases instead of our two and here they are:

I love you:
1. a little bit
2. a lot
3. passionately
4. like crazy
5. not at all

I think of this story now because we are in the midst of a powerful Venus cycle. This cycle is activating the span from the last degree of Pisces to the first 15 degrees of Aries and covers following timeline:

1. February 2, Venus was at 29° Pisces and entered the retrograde zone
2. March 6, Venus went retrograde at 15° Aries
3. March 27, Venus conjuncts Sun at 7° Aries
4. April 17, Venus will go forward at 29° Pisces
5. May 21, Venus passes 15° Aries leaving 2009 Retrograde zone

Venus refers to what we value in our lives. Often times it is our love, our financial standing, our friends, being pretty and/or having what we want. You may be particulary noticing an area of life highly charged in the moment with beginnings and endings, maybe all are just memories in your mind. I say this because the retrograde often digs up the past. This retrograde is focussing on the cusp between the last degree of Pisces and the first degree of Aries, the edge where the end meets the beginning and this is rare.

You may find this particulary noticeable if you have a friendship or relationship which keeps swimming around in your mind. This goes as well for financial situations, if you are re-negotiating a contract. It even goes for a garden you are designing. It has to do with something you value, which you are fighting over either in reality or in your mind. My advice is watch this cycle, and quietly look for signs around March 27 to see if the universe is giving you a hint of which way things will go. By April 17, our Venus issues will be progressing in a defined direction, and by May 21, I think we will confidently know the the new friends, love and or money/connections and constructions in our lives and feel more stable and at peace as well as set to go.

When Venus leaves the retrograde zone, Mercury will already be retrograde, and Sun will be in the first degree of Gemini. There will still be communication to sort. The Mercury retrograde shadow ends on June 15, I think we can feel sure of our decisions and at that point Venus and Mars will be solid as a rock planted in Taurus. On June 19, the Moon will also be in Taurus. I think that would be a good morning to marry, sign a contract, or make a firm decision you want to last for a long, long time.

Painting by Emmanuel Hungrecker and Deirdre Tanton, Boston, 1994

Saturn trines Vesta in Taurus: Dedication to Tangible Creations

This weekend, the moon is in Leo — our creativity and individuality come to the fore. There are two energies which could work at cross purposes and the trick will be to pick the less glamorous of the two.

One path leads toward production and a healthy pride in our selves. These aspects are today's Sun sextile Vesta combined with the slow-moving and sturdy aspect of Saturn trining Vesta. When Sun and Vesta combine, this can boost our ability to focus in the name of our individuality. With Saturn involved, discipline, organization and dedication bring us real results. Use this weekend to work hard, be creative and shine.

Another path, the one that could be working at cross purposes, could lead to disillusionment. This comes in the diguise of glamour. Mars conjuncts Neptune on Sunday. Mars helps us take action and Neptune is not always real but can look good, as well as easy. Neptune rules film and photography as well, so this weekend is particularly suitable to work in these areas. Neptune also rules alcohol, drugs and addiction. Using and creating can lead to false pride as well as other complications.

This weekend we get our most positive results taking a somewhat harder road.

We are building up to a Full Moon in Virgo on Wednesday, when the lights will go up on the details, perhaps with rightful criticism. We have this weekend to give ourselves a real boost, keep us on our tracks and stay connected to our creative pulse.