posted January 20, 2008 01:21 PM            

** Your Starcast for January 20 to February 17 **

Get ready to carve out your own unique path and leave behind old routines that don't fit who you are today as the Sun enters the free-spirited sign of Aquarius. You'll be able significantly improve your circumstances with the helpful trine between Jupiter in ambitious Capricorn and Saturn in hard-working Virgo on January 21. The love planet Venus joins Jupiter in commitment-focused Capricorn on January 24 followed by one of the biggest astrological events this year when Pluto, the transformer, enters Capricorn on January 26 emphasizing the themes of responsibility and self-reliance. But, watch out for misunderstandings when Mercury turns retrograde on January 28 and watch your temper when warrior Mars turns direct on January 30! February 6 brings a new Moon solar eclipse in Aquarius making all of your new plans and fresh starts more dramatic and noticeable. And when Venus enters Aquarius on February 17, it's time to socialize and get together with friends!

January 20: Sun enters Aquarius

The sign of the Water Bearer, although sometimes mistaken for a water sign, is actually an air sign, which is all about ideas. Nothing is more Aquarian than revolutionary concepts. Every year as the Sun transits Aquarius, you have the opportunity to break out of your familiar, snoozy routines, and color outside the lines. It's time to do something totally different, innovative and exciting!

January 21: Jupiter trine Saturn

This is an exceptionally harmonious aspect, with the two social planets of expansion (Jupiter) and contraction (Saturn) in the signs of the worker (Virgo) and the builder (Capricorn). This bodes well for social and economic investment not only for counties and towns but also for individuals. In your own life, you can improve your lifestyle significantly. Make sure you take advantage by setting goals and seizing opportunities that are all around you. In general, this is an aspect that favors long-range planning.

January 22: Full Moon in Leo
The full Moon is always a time of culmination, so make sure you put your heart and soul into whatever you do. Full Moons -- always an emotional time anyways -- are intensified by Leo's bravado. Respecting yourself and others is important, so pay attention to how you treat those around you. But most of all ... have fun! Go out to the movies, throw a party or grab the kids and head to an amusement park. Work needs to be balanced with play.

This full Moon will most affect those born July 20-24, October 23-27, January 20-24 and April 19-23.

January 24: Venus enters Capricorn

Enough exploration! As Venus enters earthy let's-build-something Capricorn, your relationship focus turns to commitment. You only want to invest your time and energy into relationships that have a future. Capricorn loves being constructive, so now is the time to build a solid relationship that brings you happiness.

January 25: Pluto enters Capricorn

On January 25, Pluto ends its 13-year transit through belief-driven Sagittarius, and enters achievement-oriented Capricorn. This is arguably the most important planetary event of the year, shifting the focus on ethics, religion and travel to a focus on building and accomplishment. Whenever Pluto changes signs, people's obsessions change as well. Responsibility and self-reliance become major themes in the years ahead, making this a time to improve outmoded, bankrupt systems.

January 28: Mercury turns retrograde

Mercury retrograde periods are famous for misunderstandings and glitches in communications and travel. Cars end up in the shop and travel arrangements go awry. This is not the best time to buy vehicles or media products. You can wait three weeks, can't you? Double check your travel reservations and bring something good to read in case you get delayed. This is a wonderful time to review various areas of your life. If you know your chart, look to see where Mercury is retrograding (this time in Aquarius) and see where it will benefit you to take care of unfinished business.

January 30: Mars turns direct

Whew! Warrior, action-packed Mars has been held in check since last November. Think of a small child who hasn't been able to go out and play for two-and-a-half months and, well, you get the idea. Once the door opens, all of that energy wants to release. Most plans and projects will move forward -- slowly at first, but then pick up momentum. Some situations will come to an end, and you're likely to feel that it's time move in a new direction -- and it is!

February 6: Sun conjunct Mercury

Get out your journal and record whatever's on your mind. As retrograde Mercury conjuncts the Aquarius Sun, you receive a high-speed download of data making connections that will be useful to you later in the month as Mercury turns direct. So, store that information away for now; write about it and speak with your friends about your ideas. Just don't act on them until Mercury turns direct on February 18.
February 6: Solar Eclipse in Aquarius
The new Moon is always a time of new beginnings, and when that new Moon is also a solar eclipse, those new beginnings are especially dramatic. In Aquarius, the mantra is, 'I've got to be me!' This eclipse also stimulates your need to be part of something bigger, so socialize and catch up with your friends, or join an organization with a cause close to your heart. Neptune's conjunction to this eclipse can bring a desire to develop your spiritual life. If you try to be super logical about anything at this time, you may end up more confused in the long run. For now, just open up to the possibilities of a larger sensibility. This eclipse occurs at the north node, urging you to let go of the past and invest in the future.

This new Moon will most affect those born February 5-9, May 6-10, August 8-12 and November 8-12.

February 10: Sun conjunct Neptune

A dreamer, a poet and an idealist are examples of Neptunian expression -- as is someone wrapped up in a fantasy life to escape the mundane parts of life. This aspect is all about the search for bliss and transcendence, and if you can harness the spiritual power of this conjunction you'll be able to make significant progress toward your aspirations. Start by writing down exactly what you want, and then imagine manifesting it.

February 14: Sun trine Mars

Sometimes you feel an immediate rapport with people, other times it seems no matter how hard you try, you just can't get along. When the life-giving Sun in the air sign Aquarius forms a supportive trine with Mars in communicative Gemini, you have the necessary ingredients to get your plans off the ground. People give you the help you need, so don't be shy about asking for it!

February 16: Sun conjunct north node
There are times to reap, and times to sow. Within days of a solar eclipse, the Sun will either conjunct the north node (the future) or the south node (the past). Because last week's Aquarius solar eclipse was at the north node, you receive celestial help. The Sun energizes that assistance, and you'll know which steps to take next.

February 17: Venus enters Aquarius

This is a great transit to connect with like-minded people. Venus is the planet of relationships, and when in friendly Aquarius, you'll feel like spending time with people who share your values. If you're looking for a relationship, attend events that promote a cause near and dear to your heart. If you are married or in a committed relationship, look for opportunities as a couple to make new friends.

Enjoy the Sun's transit in Aquarius!

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** Astrolesson: The Angles **

When astrologers talk about angular planets, they are referring to planets that are conjunct the Ascendant (1st House cusp), Descendent (7th House cusp), Medium Coeli (M.C. or Midheaven), which is the 10th house cusp in some house systems and near the 10th House cusp in others, and Imum Coeli (I.C.): the 4th House cusp or close to it. Planets located in any of these four locations speak very loudly in the horoscope and in the personality of the person.

These four points form a cross within the circle of the chart. This cross is called the 'Cross of Identity,' [or The Cross of Matter] with the Ascendant representing personal identity and the Descendent relationship identity. The MC at the top of the chart represents public identity as in your worldly status, reputation or vocation. This point represents how the world sees you and how you impact the world. At the bottom of the chart, the IC represents your family identity. This is your foundation -- what you stand on in life.

Any planet within a few degrees of these four points colors the identity. For example, if Mars is conjunct any these, that assertive, aggressive and fiery nature will be apparent to everyone. If, instead, Mars is buried in a house far away from these angles, it may take awhile before you witness the more assertive tendencies of the person.

Here's another example: Uranus conjunct the MC will bring the independent and innovative or rebellious proclivities into the career arena. Everybody will see that this individual needs to bring originality to his or her work. This person needs plenty of room to breathe within the career environment, otherwise their maverick tendencies will very well become problematic.

posted January 20, 2008 01:23 PM            

Cosmic Calendar, Sunday January 20th ~

Whenever the Moon transits through its home sign of Cancer (12:06AM PST), it's a great time of the month to focus on home improvement and family concerns. Cooking, baking and cleaning campaigns receive the good housekeeping seal of approval. Soul-searching is in vogue during the early morning hours since the Sun connects with Pluto via a 30-degree link (4:28AM PST). The big news of the day is the Sun's entry into Aquarius (8:45AM PST) for the next 30 days. Become more involved in community events and team sports like soccer, volleyball and bowling. Group ventures and humanitarian causes can capture your imagination and give a deeper meaning to your life. Think more about your higher destiny on Planet Earth. A wave of nostalgia often strikes during Cancer Moon. Books about historical figures and intriguing eras of the past can come alive in your hands this evening. Consider having a strategy session with a trusted colleague or adviser as the Sun makes a potent 45-degree alignment with Pallas (10:12PM PST). This contact can have an undercurrent of nervous tension and anxiety, but it can also provide much illumination for your thought process. By 1:16AM PST tomorrow morning, Jupiter forms a flowing trine to Saturn in earth signs. You may want to begin some kind of large-scale initiatives on the business, educational and professional fronts tonight since Monday brings an extremely long void lunar cycle that will start at 2:57AM PST and last until 2:21AM PST on Tuesday. This is also a good night to start preparing for Tuesday morning's powerful Full Moon.

Cosmic Calendar, Monday January 21st ~

posted January 21, 2008 01:39 PM            

I feel like weeks (as in the next three or so weeks) like this should have a cosmic TIVO recording all that is going on so we can keep track of it! Kind of like Christmas morning where it can be a massive free for all of unwrapping presents and you miss them opening their “big” one! It is going to be hard to focus or stay on point with what is going on. And, frankly, treading water and watching the world go by is a great idea. Not that you will be able to tread water and watch but that is a great idea!

There’s lots and lots of stuff going on all over the place in the heavens! That means there’s lots and lots going on in your world and the world around you. So, hang on tight! Remember to breathe. There are planets active, shifting, changing signs or directions, facing challenges, starting new beginnings or wrapping up and putting a close on endings. Plus we begin to approach the powerful spring eclipses coming early next month, adding oomph for clearing out/ cleaning up/ exposing hidden things for all to see/ creating spurts to the energy as well as a karmic twist of sorts. Mars stops in the sky and prepares to turn direct after his three month retrograde journey ~ so Mars is driving the points home as he comes to his station degree. The world is full of dual messages right now. What you are receiving, while the truth, has other parts of truth too. It is a partial truth but yet a truth. There are other truths out there. You have to figure out YOUR truth. Focus on YOUR truth like you’d hang onto a life raft. Remember, multi-dimensional, as in there are many, many dimensions, is part and parcel of the story we are living right here right now on earth.

It is a week of seeing dreams coming into form in the world assisted by a grand trine forming in the sky and Mercury dancing with Neptune. Or perhaps your dreams will dash or slip away to be replaced by a new dream. Or you could finally figure out WHAT you want your dream to be ~ in solid images and a clear vision of how to get there. The element of earth wants to bring things down to ground, to settle things, to make them firm. If it can’t make things firm, then it wants to move on. Earth trines are about creating power and structures in the world.

The week ahead features a strong and active full Moon at 2 of creative, performance-oriented Leo opposite the witness and collective energy of Aquarius. The full Moon combines with three significant and rather personal feeling conjunctions, marking brand new beginnings after the needed or desired endings of an earlier cycle. Mercury joins with Neptune asking us to speak up and talk about our dreams. Gotta ask for your dreams ~ at least to yourself. Our old dreams have finished an important chapter. Our new dreams haven’t yet begun but will soon (see Saturn go direct in June!). As Mercury joins with Neptune talk of your dreams. Give those dreams of yours a voice, a picture, a sculpture. Encourage yourself to describe your vision ~ even if is fragmented.

Uranus joins with Pallas to say perhaps you need to change your strategy to get your dream. And you are actually in the mood for a change. My apartment, lived in for 30 years with the appropriate amount of stuff accumulated, was “magically” painted last week. It is causing me to think about where I want everything to go. It started as a single wall that collapsed on the Neptune/Saturn conjunction last June, morphed into the entire living room and suddenly was the balance of the apartment (see New York City Rent Stabilization Laws!). Out of the blue, all the thoughts came into form in the form of boxes of stuff. They can now go any where or no where! My call. Change your strategy and embrace change in your life.

The final conjunction is Venus joined with Pluto. It is not always a pleasant aspect for our love or money or desires in relationships BUT we do need to have those kinds of energies or conversations on occasion. If you have a rather fraught emotional relationship, now, this week, while the planets all are shifting and scurrying around is a lovely time to have “a talk” about your vision of where you‘d like the relationship to go. Ask them if they think they can help you create that vision of a relationship. Speak to their strengths. Ask them what they would like from their relationship with you. And, if it is something you can do, commit to doing it. You might not like what they say but that is okay. Remember Mars and Mercury are both getting ready to shift direction ~ negotiations about actions are a good way to describe that. You are simply hooking your wagon to the stars and taking advantage of that negotiation around actions energy.

Venus and Pluto enter Capricorn this week, after their conversation about what they envision for their relationship in fiery Sagittarius. Now, remember, Sagittarian energy can put its foot in its mouth. While what was said was true, it might have stung a bit as the arrow from the archer’s bow can sting. That said, isn’t it true ~ just a bit? Do you want to change it? Now Venus can ground it and create form. While Venus is in Capricorn is the time to go to work to make the changes discussed in the conversation. Provided, of course, that you want to make and actually CAN make the changes.

Once, I’d been in a lazy phase and not colored or cut my hair. My gray was showing and it was pulled back in a pony tail. My friend Sandra looked at me in the sunlight and announced “Ortelee, you look like a Mennonite! Do you want to look like that? Kind of mousy!” I got over the shock and, figured out it wasn’t a compliment but it WAS the truth. When ever I see my gray roots start to show, her Mennonite comment comes to mind. I take care of those roots.

We have Pluto entering Capricorn for the first time since 1762, yes you read that right, 1762. It has been 246 years since Pluto’s been in Capricorn. This event is worth taking the time to Google Pluto in Capricorn and read a few of the myriad articles on the shift. Pluto enters Capricorn ~ and shifts out of it in a few months ~ to re-enter it next fall right after our USA elections. He‘ll stay there until November of 2024. We’ll be covering the changes we can expect Pluto in Capricorn to deliver to our world over the next few months.

Mercury stops in the sky and turns backwards next Monday, which means we’ll be feeling his station energy build towards the end of the week. Can’t you feel the energy building, building, building?

Also big news, we have the THIRD of five passes of the opening trine of Jupiter to Saturn in Earth signs culminating on January 21, 2009. The first trine was March 16, 2007. The second trine was May 5, 2007. The fourth trine will be September 8, 2008. The fifth trine is on November 21, 2008. The first two were the vision thing. These next three trines are in earth so it is time to take your visions and bring them down to earth. And think back to the project you began in May of 2000, when Jupiter and Saturn joined at 23 Taurus. The project begun then has a culmination of sorts now ~ you’ve received or will be receiving a confirmation from the universe that you are on the right track towards your goal. Trines are our cosmic rewards for doing good work. Watch for your reward.

During a week like this, with so MUCH going on, the best approach is to pay attention and try to avoid making firm or final decisions. Gather data. Listen. Have the conversations but say you’ll get back to them with your decision. No need to decide right this moment any way. It is time to pay attention. Once it all calms down, you can start to move forward again. Watch all around you going a bit crazy or being out of control with this energy. Wait until the dust clears and the heavenly turbulence settles down to make any firm or final decisions. And, IF you think you can make firm decisions, think again. Saturn is retrograde. Mars is retrograde. Mercury is stationing to go retrograde. So make ideas of what you want and sit with them. When those planets all reverse again, we are truly able to move forward.

Monday, there are a few squabbly aspects as adjustments are needed. The trine of Jupiter to Saturn culminates, part three of five. Something concrete will appear in your life to mark the shift of energy and remind you of what you began back in May of 2000. Take a moment to be proud of yourself. You done good! Pat yourself on the back. Read or write your progress report.

Tuesday, Mercury joins with Neptune by both declination and conjunction. Time to have that conversation with Neptune about your dreams? Time to be clear on what your vision of your future is? Give words to your dreams if you can. They don‘t have to be perfect words but they do have to be said. Venus has a working aspect with the nodes to help bring your vision of what you want out and help create it in the world. The flip side of this energy can be depression or emotional conversations. A burst into tears kind of energy, this can be a VERY, very teary and emotional day. So be kind to yourself. Be kind to those you meet. You might give yourself over to some soothing process that supports emotional release ~ music, massage, body work, (but remember THEY are feeling emotional too!). It doesn’t have to be perfect, it only has to go out the door. Label it a draft of what you’d like. You can refine it later. Read the full Moon column on this site for more information on how to work with the lunar energy.

Wednesday, revise your strategy as Uranus joins with Pallas. Still an emotional day, you have what you have because of your past actions and events. You are now about to move forward. Yes, parts of the past sucked. Parts were wonderful. Parts you wouldn’t give up for all the money in the world. Other parts you’d change in a heart beat. Today is a change in a heart beat day. Uranus says change your strategy, your vision. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither were you. Your future is built based on the choices you make today. What do you want to change about your future?

Thursday, Venus joins with Pluto and then zooms off into Capricorn. Hang on. Breathe. Right as she goes, she might poke you REALLY HARD in the ribs and take your breath away as she aspects Chiron. Venus can be like that. The image I get is when I unkindly commented (I thought quietly), to a friend while on the subway about another woman’s rather elaborate nose jewelry. As the woman left the subway, she walked by me and pivoted her spiky heel into my foot. Deliberately. When I said “Ouch”, she smiled at me a Mona Lisa smile and exited the train. It taught me to keep my mouth shut on subways! I suggest you keep your mouth closed today. Listen. Experience the energy. Know your vision. Get it out there. If you like your nose jewelry big and bold, then pivot your heel in their nasty mouthed foot as you get off the train. If you are going to say something snarky, you are going to get a pivot from the universe. It is fire into earth as Venus changes signs.

Friday, Pluto enters Capricorn. A thousand words and thoughts. But more about that later ~ it’s Capricorn ~ you have to wait! We are going to be working with the energy until 2024, so we have plenty of time to get used to it. Just watch and observe what happens in your world. And yes, as Pluto has an aspect to Chiron, so this might hurt a bit.

Saturday, give yourself time off to adjust and breathe. We have very busy weeks ahead of us. You need to recreate and rest to get ready for them. It can be a day of heightened emotions too. You are right where you are supposed to be. Breathe.

Sunday, Mercury is at his station degree. Communications taking place today are VERY important. Watch for what you hear. Venus has an aspect of brilliance to Uranus even as Sun has an adjusting aspect to Saturn. Remember to Adjust. Adjust. Adjust! Regulate. Tinker. Modify. Alter. Fiddle with. Fine tune. Bend. Amend. Tweak. Tinker. Tweak. Are you yelling at your unripe tomatoes again? That doesn‘t help them ripen you know. Maybe you can nurture those unripe tomatoes?

Mundane: Oprah starting her OWN network called OWN, for Oprah Winfrey Network, was lovely imagery to paint last week’s Mercury, Vesta and Chiron aspects. Apparently, she wrote it down in a journal 15 years ago ~ Saturn cycle any one? And Oprah, an Aquarian, is ruled by Saturn. Three cheers for her newest Venture. So, write it down in your journal this week and see what you can make manifest in the world. We are waiting! How are you going to create your very own patch of the heavens here on earth?

As Pluto gets ready to leave Sagittarius, we have OJ Simpson in the news again. OJ marked the beginning of our Pluto in Sagittarius journey. OJ helps us wrap it up. Think back to what you were doing in 1994 -95 and watch it reappear, kind of, in a strange way, like OJ is. Pluto in Sagittarius ends. Pluto in Capricorn begins. Off we go!

posted February 02, 2008 01:40 PM            

Weekly Weather Forecast for January 28th - February 3rd
by Anne Ortelee

Another week of changes is upon us ~ actually the cessation of changes and the freezing of action. But freezing the action can be as powerful as movement and often is MORE powerful, transformative and earth shaking! This week, Mars stops in the sky and turns direct and starts moving forward right after Mercury stops in the sky to begin to move retrograde or backwards. Those dual stations going in opposite directions will make the beginning of the week a strange combination of energies as the stations happen on Monday (Mercury) and Wednesday (Mars). The Planetary stations affect the day or so before and after in the case of Mercury and the three days before or after in the case of Mars as they slow to a stop and reverse directions. Essentially the resonance of their stations is in place from last Saturday, January 26th through next Saturday, February 2nd.

That means the entire week is turbulent, rocking, rolling, stopping perhaps as something strange is taking place. Mercury rules the Virgo and Gemini houses and planets in those signs as well as in YOUR chart. Currently in the sky, Mercury is in charge of Saturn in Virgo and soon stationing to go direct Mars in Gemini. Please notice that ~ Mercury is in charge of Mars in Gemini stationing to go forward even as he, himself, Mercury, is stopping to go retrograde. Mercury is in charge of the Lord of Karma, moving retrograde, even as he, Mercury, is stationing to go retrograde himself. Do you think Mercury is going to be paying attention? No, not at all. Mercury's way too preoccupied and distracted by his own stuff. BUT Mercury SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION! He is in charge of Mars, Saturn and Himself. But Mercury is also in the fog of Neptune so he's not with it in his usual fine fashion. Expect cloudy Mercury moments all over the place.

So YOU, yes YOU, must pay attention instead! You have to help Mercury. He's got too much on his plate to be with it. Give Mercury the gift of yourself as second pair of eyes, ears and hands. Mercury, in a double negative with Saturn (two retrogrades ~ his and Saturn's) makes it an OOMPH kind of week for karma stuff to surface in your life. Big time Karma stuff! By karma stuff I mean those noticed or unnoticed revolutionary shifts that in hindsight we go "Wow, THAT moment was pivotal!" Meeting people, first dates, moments that mark a directional shift for you into a new place. It marks the moments in time when we DO KNOW we are shifting into the next place. It marks the moments in time when we don't know we are shifting into a new place even as we do. If you've been having that anticipatory anxiety or sense of something about to change but you don't know what or where, that is the energy I am talking about. If you look, you'll find it in your Mercury or Mars ruled houses or perhaps in your Aquarius house. You'll know what all that anxiety energy is about this week. You'll ground that energy a bit and see it more clearly. Not completely clearly as Mercury is stationing to go back into Neptune's fog. But a bit more clearly. Hold on to the fleeting glimpse of it. That glimpse is important!

Let's talk a bit about Mercury moving back into Neptune's fog. I think of Neptune as, among other things, the Universe's way of keeping you clueless and helpless. Neptune has a set of cosmic blindfolds that he puts over your eyes. You don't see stuff with Neptune or during Neptune transits. You are kind of clueless. All your friends can see it clearly but you? Nope, not you. You are caught in the rapture of Neptune. You are, also, on occasion, a bit helpless and way too trusting during Neptune transits. Your job during a Neptune transit is to trust the process and stay open to it while at the same time noticing that the hot guy you met sucks wind through his teeth. When clients have a Neptune transit coming in their chart, I often tell them the universe is about to blindfold them so they don't or won't get nervous about the changes that are coming. If they can't see the changes, they can't get anxious. But even saying they can't get anxious gets those of us with control issues anxious ~ blindfolded by the heavens or Neptune, we go and get hyper alert to every little thing.

Did you ever play that trust and team building game where they have you don a blind fold and agree be led around a room by other people you don't know? It will be like that this week. Remember how you became hyper-alert as your sense of sight disappeared and you began to move forward? The world is going to be hyper alert this week. Hyper, hyper alert and very, very, very sensitive! Think of it as having a giant blindfold on so the entire world will be extremely anxious. The world is not seeing things clearly. And with that in mind, the world desperately wants to take action as Mars stops in the sky. When the heavens reflect that stopping story, it becomes indicative of our story down here on planet earth.

Remember, we live in a live system ~ our human body. Our heart pulses 60 to 80 times a minute. Our blood rushes through our veins and arteries. Our billions of individual cells exchange oxygen and CO2 as our lungs breathe in and out. We are not static beings ~ ever. We move, at least on the inside, constantly, all the time, day and night, 24/7/365 for all the years of our life. So when Mars, the planet of movement stops, it throws our resonance off. Our bodies go ~ what? Something stopped. Mars stopping makes us FEEL we are stopping. Stopping, to our body, is the equivalent of dying. When we stop breathing, we die. When our heart stops beating, we die. When Mars stops, it creates a resonance in us that makes us think we have to take action or we are going to die. Our action planet, Mars, stops at the same time the planet in charge of our breath, Mercury, stops. When our breathing stops, we think we are going to die. Mercury, the planet in charge of our breath is stopped too. That is an enormous amount of STOPPED tension resonating through the solar system into our bodies. You are not going to die if you don't take action. You are not going to die if you don't know immediately. And with the wild eddying currents of energy, you are better off watching what is going on than taking action. Breathe. Watch. Notice for Mercury and Mars, while they are preoccupied with their stations, what is going on. Be Mars and Mercury's eyes and ears.

The reason the karma is going to pop to the surface this week is because the Mercury and Mars stopping energy, involves 5 of our 12 houses ~ Aquarius, Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio and Aries. That is WAY too much energy being held up to keep an eye on controlling the karmic parts of the chart. Turbulent energy has a way of causing things to pop to the surface so we can see them. Call it a Freudian slip if you will or perhaps a moment of clarity or a blurt out of crystal clear truth or a paper you find on a desk top. Do watch for it. Watch for Mercury and Mars. Pay attention. There is a very big karmic message coming through the turbulence. Remember Mercury and Mars are preoccupied. Watch for it. The message will be there.

As the turbulence begins, we also enter the Spring eclipse season ~ Think back to Spring 1989 and 1970 to see what the eclipse season will hold for you ~ echoes of the same energies so watch for them. There are a number of very positive energies this week ~ trines and beginnings and movements toward what you want. So while all the turbulence is going on, make sure to bring your project list for the next 13 years and do some work on it. Jupiter has lovely aspects including a conjunction to Venus! Jupiter's still got that hammer of his so make sure Jupiter has something to hammer on!

Monday, Mercury stations to go retrograde as he joins with the nodes and Juno. Back to noticing what you partner with. Who is the villain in your story? If the villain left OR you ignored the villain, what would happen next? Mercury promises to bring all sorts of interesting Ghosts into your life as he moves backwards through mid-February. He's going retrograde during the eclipse cycles so the ghosts can be VERY old ghosts from long ago. Think back to the lessons from Spring 1989 and Spring 1970 and Spring 1951 to see what you see about how they relate to now. It is all a big cosmic circle. Hyper alert begins today.

Tuesday, Venus has an aspect of brilliance with Pallas as she pokes at Neptune and Mercury traveling with their blindfolds on. You get the hang of the blindfold today ~ or maybe you figured out how to peek underneath it at the floor through the gap by your nose. Just being able to see your feet is grounding! Take action today to take advantage of the Venus trine to Saturn to follow-up on something you've let slip ~ particularly around money or value or what you desire or are owed. Sun, in the form of ego, has to swallow his pride a bit and ask for what he needs or wants. This is the middle day ~ Mercury is stopped, Mars is stopped. And Venus is pushing on Saturn to pop the karma story into the light of day. Watch for it! Watch for the karma to pop!

Wednesday, Mars stations to go direct as Uranus squares Juno. The change is here! Mars is in charge of the MOON today too ~ so the stop and shift will be highly emotional and bring up stories from the bullfight/ Medusa story in November of 2005. You are integrating the story from that fall, two long years ago, into your life. So whether you were a helicopter pilot, the Bull, Matador, Perseus or Medusa, the universe is asking you to go back and see how the stories all relate. Isn't it amazing? Remember when things seem to stop they actually are stopping to go forward in a new direction! This pause is for a new direction to take place in your life and to offer you a new vision of what you want to do. Mars is activating the early September energies from last year~ when he entered his shadow and the middle of November 2007 when he stopped moving forward to go backwards. Mars entered his shadow, following the eclipse that took place in September at 18 Virgo where Uranus is soon to oppose. All the changes going on in your life since last March are part and parcel of the same story. Link them together. Do you see how they are related?

Thursday, Neptune joins with Vesta ~ go paint your house, do a liver detox or clean something. Clear out the energy in your space. Or throw a towel over the piles to decorate them. Neptune wants you to purge your system, home and body ~ clean it, clear it, purify it, and make it a temple. This is a terrific day to undertake a cleanse or start to release into beauty and creating the vision of what you want your life to become. Smudge your home or office. Sprinkle it with salt water and ring bells throughout your space to clear the energy of stagnant or stale parts. Or maybe rent a sad movie and cry on your couch? It is a cleanse and stay clear of the world kind of day. Besides the Moon is void all day long. You can't do or go much of any place any way. Take advantage of the void and kick back into the Moon's arms to relax and refresh.

Friday, Venus joins with Jupiter as the Sun has a power aspect with Pluto. Yep, time to start again. If you fasted yesterday, make today be light, light, light and give your liver another day of time off. Start or update your symbolic or visual journal with what you want to do. Remember to breathe.

Saturday, Mercury joins with Vesta as well as with Neptune. Clear vision of what isn't clear. Blindfolds about what is not to be seen. Saturn or karma popping to the surface for all to observe. It is changing. Things are changing. Sun squares Ceres saying you can't go home again and you don't really want to. Cry, clean, paint, dream, stay in bed depressed with the covers over your head, walk with a blindfold on, be silent. Listen to the sound of your heart beating. Chant. Change. Forward to the eclipses we go. Lots of activity as the planets settle into their new directions and the world starts to move again.

Sunday, Pluto joins with Vesta ~ transformation of the home and hearth takes place now. Venus is active with the nodes in semi-stressful aspects but it will all be fine. Might not be exactly what you want but it is a start. And a start, after a week like this, is a mighty fine thing. Did you see what the karma was that popped this week? Interesting eh?

posted February 03, 2008 03:33 PM            

This could be an excellent start to your work week as the Moon makes its monthly union with Venus in Capricorn (4:31AM PST). The early hours today can be your most productive as Venus also makes a flowing trine to the largest asteroid - Ceres - currently in Taurus (8:24AM PST). Mother Nature is also sounding a call and large contingents of earthlings will be connecting with the earth, trees and sky right now. However, success could be short-lived as the Sun makes an abrasive, 45-degree link to Pluto (9:48AM PST) while the Moon sextiles Uranus (10:21AM PST) - the latter alignment starting a long void-of-course lunar cycle lasting until 11:11AM PST tomorrow morning. The Sun-Pluto interaction often equates with roadblocks suddenly appearing as tests of your stamina, dedication and willpower. You should be able to hurdle over these impediments and resume your forward march, but with a long void lunar cycle happening so quickly thereafter, the bulk of the day is designed better for review, reflection and re-examination across the board. It is particularly a good day to re-evaluate your professional goals and options. A big event happens this evening when the Sun makes its annual union with Chiron in Aquarius (10:05PM PST). Although this is occurring during a lunar twilight-zone type of time-period, you can still plunge into spiritual studies and learn more about alternative medicine. The entire field of holistic healing is another area open for investigation. Meditate for clarity and peace of mind. Think more about your higher destiny on Spaceship Earth and ways you can heal old wounds and pains.

From Mooncat's Monthly Mewsings:

Mars is retrograde in Gemini (from 1/1 until 3/5/08 when the red planet is back again in Cancer). This placement for Mars brings the ability to multi-task, and a greater focus on our communications, community and education. For lovers who are very jealous or possessive, this can be a challenging time. It will be important to honor responsibilities, keep it real and honest, and not jump to conclusions!

Venus in Capricorn 1/25 to 2/17 is a bit more somber, likes to take charge, and wants to make sure things are moving forward. Lovers may tend to be more earthy, demonstrative and playful in private, yet very proper in public.

Venus in Aquarius 2/18 to 3/13 is wild and free, and looking for excitement, communication and cameraderie in relationships. With Mars in Gemini, there may be plenty of fun to be had. Changes in love can happen quickly, and it will be important for couples to be careful not to lose sight of each other.

FUTURE FORECAST FOR LOVE
The first week in February, Venus and Jupiter are conjunct in Capricorn, sextile Uranus, and Mars quintiles Saturn bringing great optimism in love combined with a strong need to solidify goals and ambitions. This is a great time to discuss long term relationship plans.

During the second and third week in February, Venus entering Aquarius (2/17) makes a number of minor aspects to other planets, indicating plenty of networking and socializing, but not much conflict or discord. A biquintile to Mars and Saturn and octile to Uranus on the 17th-19th could bring either irritation or sexual excitement... you choose!

During the fourth week, Venus novile Uranus and Pluto, conjunct Chiron and octile Pluto brings energy for sexual healing, and the desire to connect more spiritually and meaninfully. This can translate to the arts as well, and our creative energy can turn toward universal humanistic themes.

~ The Big Guys ~
Jupiter in Capricorn til 1/5/09 will help set the stage for societal changes, and perhaps help to broaden the horizons of our policy makers and power brokers. This can be a year of making great leaps forward, taking chances, and making new ways the status quo.

posted February 04, 2008 01:29 PM            

After the past few weeks of turbulent changes, we enter the spring 2008 eclipse cycle. Eclipses heighten the emotional content of everyday life. They wake up previously sleeping giants and get them to roar VERY loudly! They expose things for the entire world to see. Both the Sun and the Moon travel independently from each other, rolling along on their merry paths on their journey through the solar system. An eclipse makes the Sun and Moon sit down with Planet Earth to take a firm look at what is going on. Eclipses cause us to NOTICE things we might have previously missed, overlooked or not realized. The stuff was always there, but now, somehow, its reached critical mass. And NOW, it all needs to be cleaned up IMMEDIATELY!

There are other things taking place during the eclipse week ~ but they all tie back into the eclipse and help it move us forward… We have the Sun joining with Chiron to make us aware of where we still have to grow and heal. Sun’s healing rays on our wound(s) will light them up for us and, quite possibly, the entire world to see. Hopefully, Sunlight, the best disinfectant of all, will heal and warm that wound of yours. The healing around the wound is to help you figure out why you are here and to help you do your work.

Mercury, going backwards through the zodiac, will be bringing us all sorts of ghosts so we can have an awakening of a profound nature. Mercury is very involved with the eclipse energy, joined with a pile of planets in the middle degrees of Aquarius. If you combine the energy of the eclipses with Mercury stationing and going retrograde over those same degrees, do know that you can expect profound information or words that create changes in your psyche. The changes will propel you forward towards the next phase of your journey. Don’t take the words personally. And, as there is SO MUCH clutter and confusion around Mercury right now, make sure to double, triple and quadruple check that what you heard was what you heard. There are plenty of opportunities for misunderstandings on this lunation.

Sun also joins with Neptune ~ so you can be enraptured or discouraged as the lunation takes place. Both are possible. Don’t worry about it. Go with the flow. Take a bath. Dream. Choose a tarot card. Meditate. Open a beloved book and read inspirational words to calm yourself down. Sun and Neptune begin a New Year long cycle of whispering about their dreams for their future into your ears.

Mars is fairly quiet this week. He is moving forward again and getting orders from that confused and befuddled Mercury. So make sure to double check, and check a third or even a fourth time to make sure you REALLY want to do something before you actually go to do it. Mars is of two minds as he is in Gemini. He does have a lovely aspect to Saturn saying what is the bigger purpose of the situation or larger service involved here? How can that continue to be served while moving forward in your life? There is a brilliance involved here. What are you trying to accomplish? Can it sit and wait for a bit until you are in a clearer head or cleaner space to see what you see when the fog clears?

Monday, Venus trines Ceres as she gets ready to leave the grand trine in earth between Jupiter, Saturn and Ceres. When a fast moving planet runs through the middle of a slower moving set of planets in a sky configuration, we often find it gathers the energy of the planets and brings the energy like a bunch of flowers or a lovely gift to the next place it goes. Venus is going to meet up with Chiron and Uranus on the day of the eclipse. Her gifts include new details on how to re-create or re-organize structures in the world (Saturn in Virgo), transformation or expansion of physical possibilities (Jupiter in Capricorn) and the birthing, creation or manifestation of something new, valuable, solid, beautiful and exciting (Ceres in Taurus). Pretty good stuff eh? Venus, carrying these gifts, will bring them to Chiron in Aquarius ~ they are in service to healing the wound of her local tribe ~ and to Uranus in Pisces ~ they inspire others to move towards their own hopes and dreams. All week long ~ watch what the universe wants you to create.

Tuesday, Sun joins with Chiron to start a New Year-long cycle around healing energies and creations. The Sun and Chiron’s marriage or union takes place on the world axis so there is a VERY public quality about it. Mercury is quite active as he joins with Juno by declination and sextiles Juno by zodiac degree at the degree of the eclipse in a few days. Partnership issues are paramount. What you connect with you create. What is your vision and how are you moving toward it? Remember Mercury, while still retrograde, is brilliant in Aquarius. So watch for new awakenings, offers and ideas placed before you ~ they have a quality of numinous inspiration. Gaze at them and see what you see.

Wednesday, the new moon eclipse at 17:44 Aquarius, in the natural wheel’s house of hopes and dreams, is quite profound and exceptionally good for creating things. The eclipse takes place on the north node of moving you forward and out into the world. Read the new moon column on this site for more information on how to work with the eclipse energy. Please, please, please, take time to breathe and let the pulse of the eclipse energy shift and ebb a bit before you take action(s). Be careful what you ask for AND at the same time DO make sure to ask. It is a VERY POWERFUL eclipse for creation or manifestation. It is telling us what Pluto in Capricorn will be about if we care to look.

Thursday, Mars has an aspect of brilliance to Saturn as Mercury, moving backwards, joins with Chiron. The point of your entire life journey was to get you to where you are now. If you knew back then, what you know now, would you have changed anything? What would you have adjusted? With that in mind, take the energy of what has surfaced over the past few weeks of turbulent planetary activity, and decide what you think you want to do going forward that is different than what you’ve done up until now? Yep, that is the lesson of the eclipse. We create our lives, all the parts and parcels of them. All the villains, victories, dreams and dramas are to help us evolve. It doesn’t have to be hard. You do have to evolve. The world doesn’t sit still. You have to evolve, grow and change. You can rest, by the road for a bit. But sooner or later, you are going to need a drink of water or a bite of food ~ and, when you get up to move on to get those things, the evolution continues.

Friday, Juno in Sagittarius is a bit prone to over-promise or over-commit. Be conscious or careful that you don’t do either. It is not that important right now, but once Saturn goes direct at the beginning of May, you might not be unable to keep the promises you are making today.

Saturn’s day Sun and Neptune have a handshake deal. The vision is in place, the details need to be ironed out. Push to settle them. It is a problem to finalize things right now so make sure to put in an ‘either side can bail’ clause in case they want to. Promises made now are not going to be completely honored. They will be kept but not completely ~ the considerations are not clear, the information is not quite right. Something, somewhere is off. The intentions are good; no one is lying to you or trying to deceive you. It is just that life will get in the way down the road a piece. So say yes, with an option to exit if you need to get out of it or change your mind. Forward you go.

posted February 07, 2008 10:10 AM              

The day after 9/11, a story in the Los Angeles Times, referring to the south tower, said: ?There were reports of an explosion right before the tower fell, then a strange sucking sound, and finally the sound of floors collapsing."4

A story in the Guardian said that ?police and fire officials were carrying out the first wave of evacuations when the first of the World Trade Centre towers collapsed. Some eyewitnesses reported hearing another explosion just before the structure crumbled. Police said that it looked almost like a ?planned implosion.?"5

?Planned implosion? is another term for controlled demolition, in which explosives are placed at crucial places throughout a building so that, when set off in the proper order, they will cause the building to come down in the desired way. When it is close to other buildings, the desired way will be straight down into, or at least close to, the building?s footprint, so that it does not damage the surrounding buildings. This type of controlled demolition is called an ?implosion.? To induce an implosion in steel-frame buildings, the explosives must be set so as to break the steel columns. Each of the Twin Towers had 47 massive steel columns in its core and 236 steel columns around the periphery.

To return now to testimonies about explosions: There were many reports about an explosion in the basement of the north tower. For example, janitor William Rodriguez reported that he and others felt an explosion below the first sub-level office at 9 AM, after which co-worker Felipe David, who had been in front of a nearby freight elevator, came into the office with severe burns on his face and arms yelling "explosion! explosion! explosion!"6

Rodriguez?s account has been corroborated by Jos? Sanchez, who was in the workshop on the fourth sub-level. Sanchez said that he and a co-worker heard a big blast that ?sounded like a bomb,? after which ?a huge ball of fire went through the freight elevator.?7

Engineer Mike Pecoraro, who was working in the sixth sub-basement of the north tower, said that after an explosion he and a co-worker went up to the C level, where there was a small machine shop. ?There was nothing there but rubble,? said Pecoraro. ?We're talking about a 50 ton hydraulic press--gone!? They then went to the parking garage, but found that it was also gone. Then on the B level, they found that a steel-and-concrete fire door, which weighed about 300 pounds, was wrinkled up "like a piece of aluminum foil." Having seen similar things after the terrorist attack in 1993, Pecoraro was convinced that a bomb had gone off.8

Given these testimonies to explosions in the basement levels of the towers, it is interesting that Mark Loizeaux, head of Controlled Demolition, Inc., has been quoted as saying: ?If I were to bring the towers down, I would put explosives in the basement to get the weight of the building to help collapse the structure.?9

Multiple Explosions

Some of the testimonies suggested that more than one explosion occurred in one tower or the other. FDNY Captain Dennis Tardio, speaking of the south tower, said: "I hear an explosion and I look up. It is as if the building is being imploded, from the top floor down, one after another, boom, boom, boom."10

In June of 2002, NBC television played segments from tapes recorded on 9/11. One segment contained the following exchange, which involved firefighters in the south tower:

Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've just had another explosion.
Official: Battalion 3 to dispatch, we've had additional explosion.
Dispatcher: Received battalion command. Additional explosion.11

Firefighter Louie Cacchioli, after entering the north tower lobby and seeing elevator doors completely blown out and people being hit with debris, asked himself, ?how could this be happening so quickly if a plane hit way above?? After he reached the 24th floor, he and another fireman ?heard this huge explosion that sounded like a bomb [and] knocked off the lights and stalled the elevator.? After they pried themselves out of the elevator, ?another huge explosion like the first one hits. This one hits about two minutes later . . . [and] I?m thinking, ?Oh. My God, these ******** put bombs in here like they did in 1993!??12

Multiple explosions were also reported by Teresa Veliz, who worked for a software development company in the north tower. She was on the 47th floor, she reported, when suddenly ?the whole building shook. . . . [Shortly thereafter] the building shook again, this time even more violently." Then, while Veliz was making her way downstairs and outside: ?There were explosions going off everywhere. I was convinced that there were bombs planted all over the place and someone was sitting at a control panel pushing detonator buttons. . . . There was another explosion. And another. I didn't know where to run."13

Steve Evans, a New York-based correspondent for the BBC, said: ?I was at the base of the second tower . . . that was hit. . . . There was an explosion. . . . The base of the building shook. . . . [T]hen there was a series of explosions.?14

Sue Keane, an officer in the New Jersey Fire Police Department who was previously a sergeant in the U.S. Army, said in her account of the onset of the collapse of the south tower: ?[I]t sounded like bombs going off. That's when the explosions happened. . . . I knew something was going to happen. . . . It started to get dark, then all of a sudden there was this massive explosion.? Then, discussing her experiences during the collapse of the north tower, she said: ?[There was] another explosion. That sent me and the two firefighters down the stairs. . . . I can't tell you how many times I got banged around. Each one of those explosions picked me up and threw me. . . . There was another explosion, and I got thrown with two firefighters out onto the street.?15

Wall Street Journal reporter John Bussey, describing his observation of the collapse of the south tower from the ninth floor of the WSJ office building, said: ?I . . . looked up out of the office window to see what seemed like perfectly synchronized explosions coming from each floor. . . . One after the other, from top to bottom, with a fraction of a second between, the floors blew to pieces.?16

Another Wall Street Journal reporter said that after seeing what appeared to be ?individual floors, one after the other exploding outward,? he thought: ??My God, they?re going to bring the building down.? And they, whoever they are, HAD SET CHARGES. . . . I saw the explosions.?17

A similar perception was reported by Beth Fertig of WNYC Radio, who said: ?It just descended like a timed explosion?like when they are deliberately bringing a building down. . . . It was coming down so perfectly that in one part of my brain I was thinking, 'They got everyone out, and they're bringing the building down because they have to.'?18

A more graphic testimony to this perception was provided on the film made by the Naudet brothers. In a clip from that film, one can watch two firemen describing their experiences to other firemen.

Fireman 1: ?We made it outside, we made it about a block . . . .?

Fireman 2: ?We made it at least two blocks and we started running.? He makes explosive sounds and then uses a chopping hand motion to emphasize his next point: ?Floor by floor it started popping out . . . .?

Fireman 1: ?It was as if they had detonated--as if they were planning to take down a building, boom boom boom boom boom . . . .?

Fireman 2: ?All the way down. I was watching it and running. And then you just saw this cloud of **** chasing you down.?19

http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060118104223192

posted February 07, 2008 01:57 PM            

Cosmic Calendar, Tuesday February 5th ~

There's no need to rush out of the starting gate when the Moon in Capricorn is still in a limbo-like void cycle until 11:11AM PST. Complete old business and odd jobs in the hours leading up to this time. Giving you some extra oomph is a Moon-Jupiter parallel (9:05AM PST). Once the clock strikes 11:11AM PST, the Moon begins a two-day stretch in service-oriented Aquarius. Community events, team sports, group activities and networking are highlighted. Love vibrations increase in frequency a few hours later when the Moon parallels Venus (2:15PM PST). This is amplified just 8 minutes later during a Mercury-Juno supportive, 60-degree link. This can be a good afternoon to shop for clothes, beauty products, soaps and lotions. Consider trying out a new hairstyle or adding unusual color schemes and patterns to your wardrobe. A little eccentricity and innovation can't hurt during the Aquarian Moon dispensation. You may be able to pick up the thread of this afternoon's romantic bonding tonight when Venus in Capricorn makes a subtle and yet still important 30-degree connection with Chiron in Aquarius (9:48PM PST). Almost any rapport between these two celestial bodies can make hearts flutter and bring soul-mates into a greater magnetic embrace. High-tech nerds receive a welcome pat on the back when the Sun forges a 30-degree link with electrifying Uranus (11:58PM PST). Have fun surfing the world wide web for surprising and shocking stories. In-depth research projects get the thumb's-up sign as tomorrow morning brings the Inferior Sun-Mercury Conjunction - an astronomical line-up in space involving the Earth, the Sun, and Mercury (still moving retrograde and on the far side of the Sun). Amazing insights can be inundating your mind as Tuesday morphs into Wednesday.

Cosmic Calendar, Wednesday February 6th ~ ("New Mercury" Day)

As mentioned at the close of yesterday's calendar entry, this is a big day due to the arrival of a Sun-Mercury union (10:20AM PST at 18 degrees of Aquarius). This type of solar conjunction to the planet of thinking, information exchange and the five senses is also known - astronomically - as the Inferior Conjunction of the Sun and Mercury. It occurs about every four months and Mercury is always retrograde (from the Earth's vantage point) and on the far side of the Sun. Astrology greats Dr. Marc Edmund Jones and Dane Rudhyar would call this a New Mercury - in which potent, cosmic seed ideas are streaming into the Earth and humanity. Will your mind be open to receiving fantastic revelations on a wide variety of topics? However, this is also a busy and active day because of many other alignments: (a) Mars forms a flowing trine to Vesta in air signs (11:18AM PST); (b) the Moon conjuncts Chiron in Aquarius (4:30PM PST); (c) the Moon conjuncts Mercury (6:19PM PST); (d) Venus forms a supportive, 60-degree link with Uranus (6:24PM PST); (e) The New Moon occurs at 18 degrees of Aquarius (7:46PM PST) followed 10 minutes later by an Annular Solar Eclipse. Safety first is a keynote of the Mars-Vesta harmonious trine pattern. The lunar unions with Chiron and Mercury can turn your gaze toward the health, diet, nutritional and medical frontiers of consciousness. Romance can be more scintillating when Venus makes contact with unpredictable and highly stimulating Uranus. The New Moon and Annular Solar Eclipse are trigger points for a new, dynamic and bold adventure into uncharted territories. Be more spontaneous and into the moment following the eclipse. Keep a dream notebook by your bed tonight so you can record nocturnal wanderings and out-of-the-body visions - courtesy of the monthly Moon-Neptune union (exact at 2:42AM PST on Thursday).

Cosmic Calendar, Thursday February 7th ~

This can be one of your most successful days of the year - even though Mercury is still doing backstrokes in Aquarius. After last night's New Moon and Annular Solar Eclipse, the cosmos appears to be in the mood to issue you a couple of blank checks. The monthly lunar conjunctions to Neptune (2:42AM) and Vesta (8:31AM PST) in Aquarius can give you a major boost as an innovative and imaginative thinker and entrepreneur. However, another void lunar cycle arrives on the scene as the Moon makes a flowing trine to Mars in air signs (7:51AM PST). This questionable time-span lasts until the Moon enters watery Pisces (5:47PM PST). While any void lunar cycle carries a note of uncertainty, you can still complete craft projects, work out at the gym, and zero in on construction jobs while Mars makes a stimulating 72-degree alignment to Saturn (12:26PM PST). Spiritual, health and medical interests wax in strength as Mercury unites with Chiron in Aquarius (12:46PM PST) - a celestial conjunction that mimics the Sun's merger with Chiron from Monday February 4. In fact, some of your realizations and gains from earlier this week can now be consolidated. Once the Moon dives into Piscean currents (5:47PM PST), let your empathic and generous nature come forth. Support the truly disenfranchised and destitute. Learn more about the mysteries of the ancient world and the secrets of The Great Pyramid, Stonehenge, The Face on Mars, and other ruins of long ago. Enjoy a whirlpool treatment, hot-tub session under the stars or soothing mineral bath and let old tensions slip away.

Cosmic Calendar, Friday February 8th ~

posted February 07, 2008 03:48 PM            

Tomorrow I have a full day of brain-storming with my team with regards to this project I am working on. Then I have a lunch date since I am single and loving it. Then later that evening I am going to party at a Battle of the Bands"... amongst other things such as spending some time in the national radio broadcaster's head quarters to meet a couple of key people about future business.

Basically, it's going to be a highly monumental day, busy yet fun because I am working on my hobby.

I wish everyone a prosperous year. I think all of us, even though progress might not be in quantum leaps, are going to be moving forward toward our desired directions.

posted February 09, 2008 03:51 PM            

Cosmic Calendar, Saturnday February 9th ~

This should prove to be an excellent morning for anyone seeking overlooked treasures at estate sales and auctions. The Moon in Pisces makes a supportive, 60-degree liaison with Venus in Capricorn (4:53AM PST) while the Moon makes its monthly union with Pallas (8:06AM PST). When Pallas is emphasized, the fine and graphic arts are promoted as well as detailed work on quilts, tapestries, and needlepoint designs. This can also be a good opportunity to have a strategy session with a counselor, adviser or trusted associate. Brainstorms and inventive notions are flying fast and your intellect may not be able to assimilate all of them. Sometimes asking for help and assistance makes sense. Try to accomplish your most important tasks before the Moon squares Mars (1:06PM PST) - igniting a void lunar cycle that lasts for just over 9 hours (until 10:18PM PST when the Moon enters fiery Aries). Projecting anger onto loved ones or acting impulsively during this limbo time-period is asking for trouble. Clean up your emotional act instead and eliminate non-productive behavior patterns that have been keeping you in the psychic doghouse with a significant other. The good news - hopefully! - is the arrival of a Sun-Neptune parallel (8:45PM PST). While this occurs during the void lunar cycle, it can dramatically increase your psychic sensitivity and your creative imaginative abilities. It also acts as a forerunner for tomorrow's annual Sun-Neptune conjunction in the zodiac. On the other hand, any solar association with dreamy Neptune can produce bizarre conditions that make you keep scratching your head in disbelief. Strive for crystal clear communication in your primary partnerships tonight and during all of Sunday.

Cosmic Calendar, Sunday February 10th ~

posted February 10, 2008 07:30 AM              

People I work with have been complaining (unreasonably - i.e. no logic can be applied to their complaints) about my work and throwing what seems like hissy fits - the sh*t mainly seems to come from (surprise, surprise) fixed signs like Leos and Scorpios. They expect me to do things which are not actually practically possible.

For example, the Scorpio, who can't draw himself (so I draw his designs) says to me, can I draw something smaller than it is in real life, on the to-scale plan, because he can sell it better to a client then. I point out that I can't because that would be misrepresentation and the fact is that the area we're dealing with is a certain size and you can't really get around that. So he goes away and picks all sorts of faults in my work and says it wasn't as good as I did last year -which is CRAP - because it is miles better than what I did last year - and wonders if I am *too busy* to *do a good job*. I counter that I did everything I promised I would, always do the best I can, and assume his complaints are due to *personal aesthetics*. And do, be the way, expect to be paid for my time.

Second scenario involves an industrial link we are incorporating into our work from college. There are certain things that are possible and not possible within the area that I am working in. It would be a waste of my time to pursue impossible options. The college does not have the equipment I need to carry out this work. The industrial link (the ONLY one which can do the work for me, and which is actually bloody good) has been rubbished by the lecturers for no good reason other than they think the makers lack imagination. They say I should do all the work by hand - which I refuse to do because firstly, it would give me Repetitive Strain Injury after a while, and secondly, it is just not economically viable. Said Leo lecturer had absolutely no sensible response to offer me when I challenged him during a class review - opening and shutting his mouth like a fish. And then had the AUDACITY to call ME arrogant when I was looking bored later on at someone's project which was based around women's embarrassment at their periods, or some such lazy art-school sh*te that the thicker or less talented people are steered towards so as to have something to hang their hat on. I emailed him afterwards and told him I wouldn't tolerate being called arrogant and especially not humiliated in front of the whole class. Like I said in an earlier mail, I don't frankly care if I get expelled. I have been so angry over the last two days I haven't been able to work properly - I am writing 2 books (which is a project outside college) which need to be ready by May and this is the only project I seem to be able to make any sense of right now.

I think my response was perfectly reasonable in the light of their unreasonableness, but I appreciate it won't do me much good. Still if I had let it fester I would be even more upset.

I try to think of some good things in my life, even though I want to escape to somewhere like the South Pacific and just be anonymous. At least, being single, I don't have some stupid boyfriend p*ssing me about, so that's at least one thing I don't have to worry about.

My mother's a cow, but at least she is several hundred miles away and quite frankly I don't HAVE to talk to her (and I save masses on phone bills).

posted February 11, 2008 02:00 PM            

It is always a bit of a shock to wake up and find the world is different. TheCosmicPath is headed for new dimensions and as a result, change is happening. I have made the decision to replace Anne Ortelee with a new and very wonderful astrologer and writer, Kathy Biehl. I have heard from many of you expressing your grief and dismay at losing Anne. I know it’s hard to let go of the past, but this is exactly what we each must do if we’re going to get on with the future. I thank Anne Ortelee for her years of hard work and I wish her well on her journey. Please remember that Kathy is new to us and she deserves our attention. I wouldn’t have chosen her if I didn’t believe she would add a great new dimension to the site! Onward and upward!

It’s always helpful to have time to assimilate after a big event and this week the universe is doing us a favor. After the rocket blast of last Wednesday’s solar eclipse, we get to breathe a little. This week’s energy will be much less dramatic, providing us with the room to check in with divine wisdom and start implementing our brand new life phase.

Think a bit about last week. What doorway creaked open? Are your eyes starting to adjust yet to the new light? Are you seeing or at least suspecting the new direction into which you are heading? No pressure if you’re not. Remember that it takes some six months for an eclipse’s effect to come into focus. For this one, the process is likely to sharpen and distort that picture a few times along the way. A Neptunian fog shrouded this eclipse, so expect its personal and collective meaning do some shape-shifting as the fog moves about and burns away over the next few months.

A tiny bit is burning away already. The week is bracketed by a pair of planetary contacts, and each one holds information about where the eclipse is leading. We start the week reverberating with the Sun’s conjunction with Neptune, which was exact this past Sunday and should be clearing some tiny portion of the fog around the eclipse. This aspect offers another chance to infuse your eclipse intentions with divine guidance. Align your ego and personal mission statement with your creative Source, with your higher Self, with God. Late on Saturday, the Sun joins the last member in the eclipse stellium, the North Node of the Moon. The light of this meeting shines on the path that we agreed to tread in this life. This business about being true to our Selves and living the life we came here to live is not just for individual fulfillment and enjoyment. Each of us has a job to do that affects and supports everyone around us.

Some bursts of rocket fuel are coming within these brackets. The Sun is building up to a trine to Mars in Gemini, which is exact on Thursday, making it easy to express our new-and-improved selves in word and deed and encouraging us to take steps to advance our eclipse intentions. At least talk about them! The Moon conjoins Mars and then trines the Sun during the predawn hours on Saturday. Expect to jump out of bed with heart and mind united – and on a tear to get something personally important done.

In the middle of this comes Valentine’s Day. Scale back your expectations and the demands you place on yourself. This will not be a hearts-and-roses, boxed candy and Hollywood fantasy kind of Valentine’s Day. Each one of us is currently involved in a personal journey of transformation, which leaves scant room for wooing and projecting onto an object of desire. On top of that, Venus in Capricorn has little interest in trinkets and greeting cards and sweet nothings. She wants the real thing: respect, being taken seriously, action that follows through on words, something of lasting value. Like jewels and real estate. Or honest, sincere commitment, shoulder-to-shoulder, for the long haul. The day is charged with aspects that encourage communication, but no small talk and empty promises, please, and no settling. If you don’t feel like going out, have – what do they call it? Oh, yeah – quality time with the special person in your life. If you don’t have a special someone to share the evening with, have a date with yourself. Seriously. Give thought to what you value in a relationship and what you want to create for the long term. And don’t limit the celebration, low-key as it might be, to a romantic partner or interest. Pay homage to people who have stood by you over the years. That’s appropriate for both Venus in Cap and all the Aquarian energy we’ve been through lately. Love flows through friendships, too, which Aquarius elevates to almost religion status, and it can have a real, reliable and lasting power. (As my longtime friend singer-songwriter Linden Sherwin once wrote, “Wedding bands slip on and off, but friends are here to stay.”) What/who has given value to your heart? Honor it.

Also, Mercury is slowing and begins to pull into his station on Saturday, preparing to go direct next week. Communication is still subject to confusion, misunderstandings and delays, so stay alert. Caution and mindfulness continue to be advisable. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to check your voice mail periodically, either. Several phones that I know of have been sending calls straight to voicemail without ringing during this retrograde – down to my cell phone giving off the voicemail signal seconds after it didn’t ring for the call. (I have a witness!)

Monday: What was going through your mind while you were waking up? Sit quietly and listen for echoes and images of last night’s dreams. They were resonating with the pre-dawn Sun/Neptune conjunction and your innate link to the divine. Align yourself with the highest aspects of your being and embrace being part of All That Is. What is your inner voice telling you to do now? The message points to the path that’s leading out from last Wednesday’s eclipse. As the day goes on, watch for energy and enthusiasm for that path to be building, as the Sun moves closer and closer to its trine with Mars on Thursday.

Tuesday: The Moon moves into Taurus and sets off a “Show me the money” vibe. Operating on faith gives way to a need for tangible evidence. Mid-afternoon the Moon trines Saturn and brings the comfort of structure and satisfaction of work well done. Use the trine to fortify your emotional security. All day, pay attention to what you feel yourself being drawn to do. Excitement is another clue to the coming Sun/Mars trine.

Wednesday: The sky begins weaving an anything-but-lacy backdrop for Valentine’s Day. Mercury, the planet of communication, is sesquiquadrate Mars and opposing Neptune by declination, while the love goddess Venus is inconjunct to Mars. It’s important to remain true to your own individual path, but don’t force it onto the people around you, particularly your partner. Talk; share; respect each other’s journeys and negotiate a way to harmonize them.

Thursday: Happy Valentine’s Day! The trine between the Sun and Mars becomes exact today and the Moon enters Gemini, inspiring a whooooosh of communication. (All this and Mercury retrograde, too? Can we say traffic overload at electronic greeting card sites?) Talk about your vision and plans for this exciting new phase of your life; it will be hard to hold your tongue. No small talk to your loved ones, though; remember that Venus wants messages and displays of affection with meaning, value and commitment this time around. A Moon/Saturn square briefly complicates the mood late afternoon but quickly dissolves. The evening begins and ends with aspects between the Moon and, first, Mars (parallel by declination) and, late at night, Mercury (trine), which should have us yakking and thinking all evening long. Be open and honest with whomever you choose to be with this evening. Share your visions for your future and discuss how each can support and honor the other.

Friday: After all that sociability, a private day follows. The Moon makes a series of awkward and adjusting aspects with the only smooth flow coming from a trine to Neptune mid-evening. Give yourself time for contemplation. Give the people around you space. Process. Be still. Let your heart speak to you.

Saturday: A sociable mood returns. We awaken ready for action thanks to an early morning trine between the Moon and Mars. The Sun conjuncts the North Node of the Moon and brings another transmission about the meaning of last week’s eclipse. Pay attention to your interactions with the public, and by all means watch the news for glimpses of how the world at large is handling this blast of Aquarian energy. The Moon moves into Cancer late morning and sextiles Saturn mid-evening. This is a good day to cook at home and take care of things around the house.

posted February 11, 2008 10:48 PM            

The eclipses are here! The eclipses are here! We enter the middle period between the two powerful spring eclipses. The New Moon Solar eclipse last week pointed out to us what our upcoming Pluto transit through Capricorn means. It marks out our new direction and shows us where our Sun, or solar energy, will be taking us. The eclipse is on the North Node, moving us further along on our individual paths. It will mark an important turning point for the direction of your Aquarian area of life. Look to your chart to see what house Aquarius rules.

The eclipse coming next week is even bigger. It puts the emotional moon on the South Node. It sums up WHAT the past year and a half of the South Node going through Virgo was for. It made you look at your emotional evolution in the areas of your beliefs about service or your critical, analytical nature. Virgo rules our service, work, employees, pets, routines, rituals, daily activities, servants, mundane tasks and habits. All those areas of our lives changed as the South Node rolled through the sign of Virgo and the Virgo ruled house in our chart. We are not going to know 100% what the changes are for until Saturn stations on the eclipse points next May 2nd and Jupiter on May 9th. However, next week, we are going to get a cosmic sneak preview of the coming attractions. In addition, we can expect a cosmic magic carpet ride back to early September when Saturn entered Virgo.

If you think of the South Node as a dissolving or wasting energy, it removed some (not all) of the structural supports in your Virgo ruled areas of your life. Saturn, now in Virgo, is going through destroying or revising. Saturn will start rebuilding, in May, NEW structures to support the next chapter of your life. So right now, you are in demolition mode in your Virgo area of life! Clear it out, clean it out, restructure it, reorganize it, give it a cleanse, take it to the fat farm and get it in shape for when Saturn starts to move forward again. Once Saturn turns direct, you are going to be SO busy you will not be able to keep up unless you organize yourself NOW!

So here we are in the middle period between two powerful eclipses, telling us where we are going and telling us why we had the changes we had over the past couple of years. The deeper secret is the events in our life tie and take us back to the changes we promised ourselves we would make in May 2000, or perhaps earlier in the Spring of 2000. Back in 2000, Saturn and Jupiter formed a union at 23 Taurus. It will take the two structural planets 20 years to completely plant, build, ripen, harvest and ultimately unfold their story. This week, the first quarter moon takes place on that same degree of 23 Taurus. The new moon last May 16, 2007 started a new cycle of development around your dreams from May of 2000. You had those dreams tested by Jupiter and Saturn’s dancing square to each other in the fixed signs of Scorpio and Leo. Now you will see what the next steps in your path are going to be. Jupiter is forming a concrete and solid earth trine with Saturn in the signs of structure (Capricorn) and work/service (Virgo). Part of the earth trine will involve leaving some old habits, behaviors, or situations behind. The other part of the earth trine will be a cosmic acknowledgement that you have done a good job and a pat on the head from Saturn or Jupiter. So watch for it. The third part of the earth trine is taking on the next mantle or aspect of the work before you. The fourth part of the earth trine involves standing in your own power or authority to make positive changes for where you want to go with your life.

We aren’t taught this kind of stuff in schools or by our culture. Sure, we get the basics needed for life like math, reading and following the rules. However, the bigger stuff, like how the bigger cycles affect and move through our being and lives ~ nope that is not covered! Moreover, we have completely moved away from the agricultural model humans lived with and inside of for so many seasons of our existence. The agricultural or land based model demonstrated to us, on a daily basis, the importance and relevance of the phases and seasons in our lives. As a result, we have lost the value and soul level understanding of ‘you reap what you sow’. It is a concept or platitude that sounds good (or bad) depending on the situation involved.

‘To everything, there is a season’ falls in the same category. Those sayings are SO TRUE! We forget them when we want perpetual growth, expansion and abundance. We forget that we are harnessed to the cycles in our charts as well as to the cycles of the heavens. There are seasons for growth, expansion and abundance. There are also seasons for work, responsibility, playfulness, accounting, partnership, community and dreaming. There are dissolving and leaving cycles. We live in a series of cycles defined by our world and the path of the Sun, Moon and planets interacting with each other and our charts. We wear coats in winter and sweat in the summer in tune with the path of the Sun. The Moon moves the tides every 12 hours, in and out, high and low, as she circles our planet. We find our emotions ebb and flow with her tides.

The season you are in right now is incredibly important to your path and your evolution. Pay attention and focus your energy on what you want in your life ~ turn off all the voices of fear and anxiety, which can be rather loud right now. Get still and listen to what your heart wants. Venus and Jupiter are both in Capricorn ~ their desires are practical and passionate even if words can‘t be found to describe them. Still can’t hear what your heart is saying? Wrap your body in something luscious, silky, or glorious and put on some good music, with a solid beat, that makes your soul want to dance! Listen to your heart when the music stops.

We forget that what we dedicate our energies towards is created in our lives. What we refuse to water, tend or nurture, will fail, wilt and perhaps eventually die. We spend time on the things we love, tending them, nurturing them. Sometimes we spend time on things that other people love ~ and forget to tend to our own desires. There is a cycle and a season to things, to all things, including us cute human critters, our lives and the lives of the folks around us. Our upcoming cycle is a giant reap what you sow accounting and keeping track of cycle. The Lord of Transformation, Pluto, has entered Capricorn, the sign of Karma and Saturn. The next years will ask us to focus on the physical earth, structures we have built like governments and corporations, and our own life’s structures. We have very practical energies appearing before us ~ concrete energies of manifestation. We are here now to help create in the world.

Your focus and goal, to navigate the upcoming changes ‘successfully’ and with the least amount of pain and suffering, is to take complete and total responsibility for YOUR role(s) in the situations taking place before you. Your other focus and goal is to make sure those you talk to, listen to and love take complete and total responsibility for THEIR role(s) in the situations they find before them. Take Responsibility OR Deny / Defy / Ignore / Blame the Other. The choice is always ours. Saturn reminds us we are responsible for our choices and actions. The choice is always ours regarding taking responsibility or avoiding responsibility. The outcomes and rewards will be delivered based on the level of responsibility we assume. Paste the phrases ‘To everything, there is a season!’ and ‘You reap what you sow!’ on your computer!

Next, look at all the stories and the various people before you. No, you cannot continue to do their job or cover their work for them. It is time for them to step up to the plate and be responsible for their actions. It does not help them if you constantly fix their situations or bail them out of the mess they have created. Yes, you can encourage them to figure out how to do their job for themselves. You can tell them you know they will do the right thing. Speak to their strengths, that is the place to find the solutions. If you are reading this column, you are probably an advice giver to the folks around you. You have a healthy dose of Saturn in your chart and at least have a bit of an idea about what the Lord of Karma wants from you in this lifetime. Saturn oriented folks are interested in astrology, the occult as well as the laws of cause and effect. The cycles of life and structures are endlessly fascinating to them.

I KNOW you do not have trouble being the grown up in the room. In the past, you may have taken responsibility for fixing and adjusting every little thing! Now, you, yes you, have to help those around you who are NOT-so-Saturn like ~ but you have to help them in a different way. It is time to help the Not-so-Saturns become friendlier towards, acquainted with, and more responsive to and on better terms with Saturn. No more translating Saturn’s messages for them. Take them over and introduce them to Saturn. It is time for ALL of us to grow up, be conscious and responsible for our actions. We are entering a prolonged period of working with the Lord of Karma as embodied by Pluto‘s movement through his sign of Capricorn.

The week ahead, caught as it is between two worlds, captured between two eclipses, marks the beginning of a new sign, Capricorn, being adult and responsible, and the end of the old sign, Sagittarius, being wild, a bit irresponsible and expansive. When planets change signs is a bit like dawn or dusk. There is a magical period at dawn or dusk. It is a special time of day with unique qualities of light. It is when you know one part is finishing but the next part has not truly begun. The transition energy. The shift energy. The move into the next phase part. I love the string image from Ramadan, the Muslim fast that runs from dawn to dusk. They hold a black thread and when they can see it ~ the fast begins as the sun has risen. They hold a white thread and when they can no longer see it ~ the fast ends as the sun has set. So hold your threads, black or white, and watch for the shifting of the energy this week, the dusk or the dawn, into the next phase of your being. You are entering the next chapter of your life. The dawn / dusk phase takes place between now and the end of the year. It is a transition year. Your eyes will become accustomed to the change in the light and energy. Keep paying attention and doing your work with Saturn. Follow your path.

Monday has a bit of a squabbly and irritated energy to it. Moon in Aries has a number of aspects but she responds to out of bounds Mars in Gemini as she makes them. Mars is listening to retrograde Mercury in Aquarius getting into arguments with Jupiter about the vision thing and with Ceres about the changes in your routine or your home. Sun in Aquarius in declination conjunction with Mercury brings up additional information about what the eclipse changed or brought to the surface for all to see. Remember to breathe. This too shall pass. You will be fine.

Tuesday there is not much going on with the planets but the Moon in Taurus is in friendly aspect, forming a grand earth trine, to Pluto and Saturn. There will be a sort of reward or pleasure received today from work created or your energy and being in the world. Grand trines in earth bring rewards for work well done ~ Raises, promotions, or satisfaction arrives today. Watch for messages from ghosts especially while walking in your neighborhood or from siblings, mail or communications.

Wednesday the opening quarter moon in Taurus takes place on the same degree of the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in May 2000. What did you start back then that has ripened and brought you to where you are now? Where do you want to go next? Time for an assessment of your direction as Vesta dances with the nodes. Clean out old papers. Throw out or recycle things you no longer need. Move the stuff you actually USE near to your desk. Reorganize your books. Clean out your computer files. Mercury’s aspect with Neptune suggests it can be an emotional day, especially around communications and connections. And, important papers can be left at home or lost in the shuffle. Tears may occur! The Weepy factor is high! Venus is in the mood to argue with Mars so watch out for fights over silly things ~ involving mis-communications ~ especially with partners or lovers. Venus will win, as she’s not in the mood to deal with Mars being all crazy and out of control. Mars is SO over Venus being snippy, ungrateful and he is SO sick of being out of bounds and feeling out of control. Agree to disagree. That is the best course of action to take. Focus on the part of the person that you love. Smell their neck. Remember why and what you loved about them in the first place. Isn’t it what you are fighting about today?

Thursday is Valentine’s day. And many heart shaped wishes to you! Sun trines Mars suggesting parties, friends and community are fun and full of life. Get yourself out the door and into the world. It is a good day to ask for things or make connections with the Gemini moon ~ especially with people you have not seen in a while. Jupiter is chatting with the nodes of connection suggesting excess and expansion in ideas. Not all of the connections made are going to work out but follow up on them. Get those cards. Take down phone numbers. Jupiter has that hammer of his out, ready to go. He is looking to build something more in your life around the path begun in May 2000. You may meet the next part of your journey today so watch for it.

Friday, Moon in Gemini has an argument about the situation from last March, end of June or early September 2007 with Uranus. Changes, at least the type of changes that Uranus brings, are not easy on the Moon and her being. She likes things to stay the same and follow the pattern, routine or habit. She can feel quite torn between two opposing sides when change happens. And, today, the Moon is VERY torn. Venus has difficult aspects to the Nodes ~ watch for your blind spot to be sideswiped around something of value to you. Dishes can break. Money is lost. Something valuable can leave your life. If you lose something today, meditate for a moment on the bigger symbolic picture of what is going on. What you want, while eminently reasonable, is going to take more work on your part. The missing item will point out what has to be done next to get where you are going. Commit to doing the work. No one said creation was easy. Heck, it took God 7 days!

Saturday is a very busy day. Sun joins the North Node so watch who you met yesterday, today and tomorrow and how they can help guide you on your path. If someone LEFT your life over the past few days, it is VERY good for you too. It is time for you to go out on your own. You are cooked so to speak. Or maybe self-basting with the oven turned to warm ~ dinner gets served in May. Sun joining the north node of destiny starts a new one-year cycle about your path and your future. So take some time today to ponder how your hopes and dreams are creating what you want in your life. Moon in Cancer has stressful aspects to Pluto and easy aspects to Saturn. Endings are difficult. However, they promise new beginnings. Beginnings are wonderful but they spring out of endings. Such is the day we have today.

posted February 16, 2008 10:00 PM            

Cosmic Calendar, Wednesday February 13th ~

In terms of the number and strength of alignments, this is certainly the busiest and most intense day of the week. Like yesterday, the natural world attracts you magnetically and this is amplified by this morning's monthly lunar union with Ceres (4:40AM PST). Make one of Grandma's old-world recipes into a delight for family members. Take a refresher course in baking if you are a little rough around the edges when it comes to making a blue-ribbon berry pie. Clean your gardening tools in preparation for the growing season. Three key challenges can knock you off course in the morning hours when Mercury connects with Mars via a dicey 135-degree aspect (7:38AM PST), Mercury parallels Neptune (7:40AM PST), and Venus in Capricorn makes an awkward, 150-degree link to Mars in Gemini (11:30AM PST). Each one of these alignments is potent and can send you reeling to the back of the class. All together, they can constitute a rather significant shock to the system. Pushing your agenda in romance right now is foolish. You are better off waiting until Valentine's Day (tomorrow) to make some waves on the love front. In the meantime, those two mercurial aspects are a reminder that you need crystal clear communication across the board today. The First Quarter Sun-Moon Phase (energizing 25 degrees of Aquarius and Taurus at 7:35PM PST) suggests that a crisis atmosphere may need defusing tonight. Hurdle over obstacles on your path and manage your life with greater finesse. Note that a harmonious Moon-Venus trine in earth signs happens shortly thereafter (9:06PM PST), but this aspect also begins a void lunar cycle that lasts until 4:20AM PST tomorrow (when Gemini Moon gets cracking). Keep overnight decisions to a minimum.

Cosmic Calendar, Thursday February 14th ~

Valentine's Day 2008 gets rolling once the Moon leaves void status at 4:20AM by entering airy Gemini. This pretty much sounds the tone of the day - sensitive communication. Use words to heal and uplift - not harm and demean. This becomes magnified at 8:40AM PST when the Sun in Aquarius makes a flowing trine to Mars in Gemini. Therefore, during the early hours, the cosmos is stressing the need for openness, flexibility, adaptability and versatility. Being stubborn and holding onto to outmoded behavior patterns is taboo. Get with the program and really listen to your significant other. Make decisions after hearing all points of view and be willing to drop long-held beliefs if they are contradicted by the truth. The solar rapport with Mars is rekindled in the afternoon hours when both celestial bodies reconvene in a parallel formation (2:40PM PST). Sparks can definitely be flying - fast and furiously - in affairs of the heart. Just make sure you don't come on so strong that a partner might become offended by your actions. Keep in mind that sports and great adventures look promising today under the powerful aegis of the red planet Mars. If you are operating solo today, reading, writing and research are promoted during the evening hours when the Moon in Gemini makes a harmonious trine to Mercury in Aquarius (8:03PM PST). It's also a fabulous night to attend a play, concert, piano recital or cultural event. Let the good times roll and go for the gold!

Cosmic Calendar, Friday February 15th ~

How good are you at sensing a change in the direction of a celestial body? Mercury has been doing backstrokes in Aquarius since January 28, but the fleet-flooted Messenger of the Gods planet is slowing down again as it approaches a station and turn direct on Monday evening February 18. If you have been engaged in slow-moving business negotiations over the past few weeks, you might want to chalk it up to Mercury's retrograde cycle. Mercury's shift forward - early next week - won't immediately clear up all financial fuzziness and uncertainty as it will take several days before this planet picks up daily speed. Nevertheless, right now you do want to get handle on key communications across the board during the Moon's transit through airy Gemini. In addition, it's important to focus your attention on protecting valuables and investments while Mercury parallels Vesta (1:26PM PST). Learn more about holistic healing techniques since the Moon makes a flowing trine to Chiron (8:25AM PST) while Ceres makes a square to Chiron (5:25PM PST). Don't be too surprised if some of your more maverick and eccentric personality qualities rise to the surface while Chiron pulls strings in the morning and afternoon hours. It may also be a good time to give your digital or video camera a workout since the Moon aligns harmoniously with Neptune in Aquarius (5:27PM PST). Games and sports capture the limelight this evening during the monthly Moon-Mars rendezvous in Gemini (11:49PM PST). However, if you are traveling about and socializing, drive defensively and avoid the tendency to quarrel over differences of opinion.

Cosmic Calendar, Saturday February 16th ~

Inspirations are potent as the day begins since the Sun and Moon are in a flowing trine pattern of 120 degrees in air signs (2:18AM PST). However, during the next 4+ hours, the lunar orb is in void mode until the Moon happily enters its home base of watery Cancer (7:13AM PST). Once the Moon dives into the oceanic currents of Cancer, home and family themes wax in power. Nostalgia can tug at your heartstrings and this pulls many people into the realm of antique hunting at garage sales, flea markets and art fairs. It's a fabulous morning to find overlooked treasures that make your determined investigative efforts worthwhile. There is also a contrary impulse to be more of a lone wolf today as the Moon opposes Pluto (8:14AM PST) and makes a sextile to Saturn (5:02PM PST). If you want to transform those vibrations, strive to be more generous to the needy and help elders or shut-ins with difficult chores. If you made some progress last Tuesday and Wednesday with planting and gardening rituals, you should be able to pick up where you left off. Keep in mind that lunar transits in Taurus and Cancer are usually very productive relative to sowing seeds and creating a thriving garden. Cooking and baking are back in vogue over the next two days. Reading biographical accounts of famous people in history can prove illuminating this evening. Immerse yourself in literary or film classics.

Cosmic Calendar, Sunday February 17th ~