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.

Pourin' on the Aquarius

I have been saving this photo of a stained glass window for Aquarius season, so here it is. Although the Sun is in Pisces, there's still a party going on in Aquarius. Here's to the stellium in Aquarius, here's to Jochen the Aquarius who helped me with all the getting back on line stuff, here's to Aquarius Sonya, the greatest card reader of former East Germany, here's to the Neptune-Uranus mutual reception. Aquariuses, I have needed you and I love you! (but don't worry, I won't suffocate you).

This weekend the Moon is in Aries conjunct Venus late Friday night and then early in the morning Moon will sextile Mercury and Mars which are building to an exact conjunction.

What this says to me is, the environment is charged, and this feisty Moon can be the spark plug to sparring words. Let's not waste this on a stupid rebellious fight which could waste our time or hurt other's feelings. Mercury is words and messages - Mars is agression and war, so we'd be better off devouring a book, going to a poetry slam, writing about war, weapons or aggression or drawing a boot with a spur. It will be easy to pick a fight especially on Sunday and Monday. Moon changes signs to Taurus on Sunday and we may not be likely to change our view. We may dig in our heals if our comforts are denied. Let's protect creativity and by all means go full throttle into any writing project which may have been on the back burner.

I think we will be happiest and most productive pacing ourselves, (if that is possible in a quirky Aquarius stellium) because Mercury will conjunct Chiron on Wednesday and then conjunct Neptune on Thusday. These Mercury contacts are all of very different energies: on Sunday Mercury-Mars is fast, on Wednesday Mercury-Chiron is deep and Thursday Mercury-Neptune is dreamy. Because Mercury is making these contacts while in Aquarius and thus open for innovative solutions, we can expect an openness of mind and changes or distance in relating to open space for the future. Venus is slowing to her station, a time when we will be reviewing that which we value. The information we gather now will help us continue constructing dreams as works in progress.

Next week, Mercury will be in Pisces, the Moon will be full in Virgo and we will have layers of creative dreams in our hearts to feel, analyze and adjust.For now, while so many planets are in Aquarius, we have lots to enjoy in comeraderie with our brothers and our sisters, coworkers and the groups in which we find ourselves - RIGHT NOW, these groups are teaching us, even if we think we are the teacher, think twice.

Photo of stained glass window in the main Cathedral of Richmond Virginia. Screen shot of Aquarius Stellium in software Io Edition.