Astral Weeks for August 26 - September 1: Full Pisces Moon & Mars Direct Bring Opportunities For Heart-Healing

Astral Weeks

August 26 – September 1^st

Sunday begins with a big, bright, full moon in Pisces, Big, wet, maybe a tad weepy. Full Pisces Moon sextiles Uranus in Taurus and Saturn in Capricorn, softening both Earth signs (mud is what happens when water meets earth). Good chance of unexpected opportunities for healing via surprising glimpses of the Divine disguised as the mundane. As the Grateful Dead sing: "Once in a while you get shown the light / In the strangest of places if you look at it right." 

Because our bodies are mostly water, full moons in water signs can be – moist. Sensitivities are enhanced, and energies take a turn for the forward on Monday when Mars, after an entire summer of Retrograde zig-zagging through the early degrees of Aquarius, finally stations Direct at 28 Capricorn, where it will linger until September 9^th before beginning his inexorable march back through Aquarius. Mars conditions are what they were mid-May of this year – it’s like you get to time-travel without all the mess and expense – make it count this time! Tuesday the Moon enters go-getter Aries, making a conjunction to the asteroid Chiron and uncovering feelings of vulnerability – but wait, don’t allow yourself to go into automatic defense / shut-down mode, those feelings are valuable indicators of places within yourself which need further nurturing and love. 

The Aries Moon squares Pluto in Capricorn on Wednesday night, revealing the roots of emotional power struggles and professional rivalries, followed by the Moon’s opposition to Venus, in her home sign of Libra, on Thursday morning. When asked if she would rather make love and not war, Venus in this case may opt for war if she’s feeling overlooked or underappreciated. When the Moon enters Taurus Thursday evening, she makes a conjunction to unpredictable Uranus, which, depending on whether you’ve gone to war or opted for peace earlier in the day, may invite either innovation in lovemaking or doubling-down on stubborn pride using emotionally extreme measures (advice: don’t do it!). 

Friday’s Moon-Sun trine in Earth signs Taurus and Virgo respectively may bring the grounded emotional harmony you’ve been seeking all week. The Moon’s sextile to dreamy Neptune Friday evening may be the very thing to reintroduce feelings of one-ness, smoothing the rough edges and ruffled feathers and restoring peace. Saturday is Shabbat, Parshat KiTavo, the beginning of a long Labor Day weekend in the United States, and the first day of September. Moon in Taurus opposes Jupiter in Scorpio in the wee small hours of the morning, arousing issues of possession both emotional and material. If you’re fighting over the blankets, best to roll over and seek body heat rather than battle it out over who gets the covers. If you’ve played your cards right all day, the Moon-Mars trine late Saturday night might reward you with a deeper and more grounded emotional energy and a more profound sense of partnership.

Astral Weeks August 19-25: How Do You Spell "Relief?" Mercury Direct & Sun Enters Virgo

Astral Weeks

August 19-25

When you wake up Sunday morning, you’ll find Mercury has stationed Direct after his long Retrograde in Leo (since July 25^th). Start your day feeling positive with the Moon in jovial Sagittarius, and if you want to go the real feel-good route, Jupiter in Scorpio’s Trine to Neptune in Pisces will give you all the watery lubrication you need. Overindulgence in food and especially drink is a possibility: take a ride share service or party at home! Hydration is the key to avoiding a hangover, and you’ll want to avoid that because the short-lived party winds down as the Moon enters hard-working, responsible Capricorn on Monday evening, spurring you on to clean up your act and get on with the show. You can be proud of any hard-won achievements Tuesday as the Sun at 29 degrees Leo says a dramatic farewell and takes his final curtain calls, bowing out (not without encores), and introducing Sun in Virgo, enter stage right, Wednesday evening. 

The Moon enters radical, futuristic Aquarius Thursday morning, making a conjunction to Retrograde Mars and sparking strong emotional energy centered on universal issues of humanitarianism and community. Moon in Aquarius opposite Mercury in Leo on Friday pits the feelings of the collective against the voice of the individual, perhaps in a very public way.  

Saturday is Shabbat Parshat Ki Teitzei, the Sun in Virgo making a hard Trine to Uranus in Taurus in the morning and another Trine to Saturn in Capricorn in the afternoon. All three Earth signs involved in these transiting Trines, calling us to ground ourselves in the loamy soil of Mother Earth and remember the common soil of our shared humanity. The Moon moves into dreamy, imaginative Pisces late Saturday evening, preparing for the Full Moon at 3 degrees Pisces on the morning of August 26^th.

Wishing everybody everywhere a great week, and may our Creator’s celestial luminaries be lights along the way!

Astral Weeks July 29 - August 4, 2018

Astral Weeks

July 29 – August 4, 2018

For everyone who survived the longest and most-hyped by the media full lunar eclipse of the 21^st century on July 27^th, Sunday July 29’s void of course Moon in Aquarius feels like a little bit of breathing room in a dizzying schedule. Inhale! Exhale! Focus on hope and reject lingering fearful thoughts. Let some of the tension that has built up around all the energetic activity dissolve. Practice the Aquarian superpower: detach and keep moving.

The Moon moves into Pisces Sunday evening, enhancing sensitivity and empathy. Last week’s planetary activity was so jarring, we need tender connection to each other more than ever right now. Monday’s Moon in Pisces trine Jupiter in Scorpio invites deeper intimacy, followed by the Moon conjunct Neptune in Pisces in the wee small hours of Tuesday morning. That’s when boundaries and borders between intimate partners become porous and dissolve. If you are smart and you are lucky, you’ve had a pajama party with your most beloved partner going on since Sunday night. 

Take advantage of the relative down time because mellow turns to fierce and fiery when the Moon goes into dynamic, courageous, impulsive, brave, energetic, and sometimes headstrong Aries on Wednesday morning. The emotional energy gets ramped up but may run into a log jam when Retrograde Mars and Uranus make a direct square Wednesday evening strongly in the fixed signs of Aquarius and Taurus, respectively. 

Uranus is the modern planetary ruler of Aquarius, so square his Fixed Air (Establishing Thought) home sign in the Fixed Earth (Establishing Manifestation) sign supports the possibility of revolutionary energy come up hard against the status quo of the establishment. Uranus is also called by some “the higher octave of Mars.” The connections between Uranus/Mars/Aquarius continue to ripple through the end of the week, energizing (perhaps shocking, perhaps merely surprising) the comfortable out of complacency. 

Thursday might feel like power struggles of the heart when Aries Moon trines Mercury Retrograde in Leo, and squares Pluto in Capricorn. Pushing and bullying others to get your way will only result in a complete system shutdown. When you’re tempted to be forceful beyond the spectrum of customary politeness, realize you’re about to cross the line of perhaps not such a quick return. 

Friday sees the Moon enter Taurus, making a conjunction to Uranus in Taurus in the evening, joining Uranus’ supportive trine to Retrograde Saturn in Capricorn. The Last Quarter Moon in Taurus on Saturday, August 4^th marks Shabbat Parshat Eikev, a recount of the many blessings the Israelites were receiving as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, and exhortations to remember that their blessings were because they were beloved, not because they were deserving. 

This consciousness of humility and dependence on Divine Grace is important to keep in mind always, never more so than during this time in our collective history. Saturday is also Shabbat Mevarchim, during which we announce the molad, the date and time of the upcoming Rosh Chodesh, the new Month of Elul, which will occur on Shabbat, August 11^th, at 7:33 (and 9 chalakim) PM, Jerusalem time. 

A Closer Look at the Skies:

During this week, Retrograde Mars and Retrograde Saturn are inconjunct in Aquarius and Capricorn, respectively. In classical astrology, Saturn is the ruling planet of both Capricorn and Aquarius. Saturn (“Shabbtai” in Hebrew, from the same root as the word for “Shabbat,” meaning Sabbath) is said to be the ruling planet of the Jewish People. 

Symbolically speaking: Mars (aggression) in Aquarius (humanitarianism, idealism) inconjunct (on a completely different wavelength, invisible to each other) Saturn (the classical ruler of both Aquarius and Capricorn) in Capricorn (traditionalism, ambition, assertive persistence, materialism). It’s like a perfect symbolic picture of the simmering struggle between American and Israeli Jews over the direction the State of Israel is taking, politically and religiously. 

The total lunar eclipse in Aquarius on July 27^th conjunct Mars in Aquarius stimulated a series of events that may climax in December of 2020, when Jupiter and Saturn make their conjunction in Aquarius. Following this event, Saturn and Pluto will make a conjunction in Capricorn in January of 2021. The events of this month are the kickoff to the developments climaxing at that time, which according to Jewish astrological tradition (see last week's edition of "Astral Weeks") have a direct bearing on the nation of Israel.

May the One Who keeps Israel neither slumber nor sleep!