posted June 21, 2009 05:48 PM         

Happy first week of Summer!

The eclipses are coming! The eclipses are coming!

We’ll enter a strong emotional clearing period over the next two weeks. We’ll be building up emotions for the first of three summer eclipses in Cancer and Capricorn. The first two eclipses will give us a preview and taste of what we will be working with for the next 18 months. The Nodes of destiny will soon be moving through Cancer and Capricorn bringing karmic changes to those areas of our lives. Cancer traditionally rules the home and hearth while Capricorn is in charge of the structures we build and our career or external world. The nodes, moving backwards, will soon change into Cancer and Capricorn bringing profound changes to those areas of our lives.

The first eclipse on July 7 is emotional and lunar while the second, on July 21, is about working with cosmic energy on a ego level and seeing things clearly. The third emotional lunar eclipse, on August 5, will wrap up the last 18 months. It will send us merrily on our way saying “Well done!” or “That’s finished!” or “Thank heavens THAT is finally over!”

But first we have the week ahead of us which features interesting energies as the nodes teeter-tooter on the last early degrees of Leo and Aquarius, the Sun enters Cancer for 30 days, the New Moon fights with Pluto while Venus and Mars gets working on their new baby. It will be kind of a cosmic soap opera over the next couple of weeks!

Since December 2007, when the Nodes entered Leo and Aquarius, we’ve been working on strengthening our relationship to the collective, group, tribe or clan and releasing the more “kingly” or “queenly” people, connections or beliefs that we have. The Leo people and our Leo planets have had a particularly hard patch as they’ve had to learn that maybe they weren’t so simply fabulous after all. Where ever we have Leo is where we think the rules don’t actually apply to us. We believe we are the king or queen. We can behave a bit like a spoiled brat, complete with fury, temper tantrums and major pouts when it isn‘t all about us all the time. The King or Queen must not be questioned! And, when they are, they don’t much like it.

As the South Node moved through Leo, we’ve watched the Leo house in our chart take some hits and experience losses. Instead of “The king is dead, long live the king”, we’ve said “The king is dead. Thank heavens I don’t have to step and fetch for THEM any more! Now I can get on with MY life!”

But, as we’ve looked at our lives since December of 2007, we realized that maybe, because we were so busy honoring and stepping/fetching for the kings or queens in our lives, we hadn’t done too much with our own hopes and dreams. Kings and Queens need an audience. Aquarius, the sign of the collective and group, is the natural sign of the audience. The audience or witness or group part of our charts have been busy trying to get their own stuff together. The Aquarius part of your chart has been too busy to worship or adore the Leo part of your chart, where the Kings and Queens in your life reside.

That Leo section of your chart might have felt like a bad episode of “Mean Girls” or perhaps it was the dawning awareness that you weren’t getting your needs met while you were doing a heck of a lot of work meeting and taking care of other folks‘ needs. A part of you is permanently finishing up with that energy over the next few weeks. Now, as Venus and Mars square that section and those signs and the New Moon activates it, they conspire to move you toward starting a new cycle of creation. It is time for you to be clear and say what you want out of your life where you have Leo in your chart. What is the creative journey you want to undertake? How do you want to use your freshly cleaned out Leo area of your chart and the resurgent Leo energy to create, expand, laugh, have fun and play? (Those are much more fun activities rather than worshipping Kings and Queens)

Where the King or Queen used to live, (and still may be hanging out in a bizarre kind of exile) what does the NEW King or NEW Queen you want to crown look like, behave like or do? You do realize it is YOUR chart so it should be a King or Queen of YOUR choosing. You don’t have to crown someone who simply waltzes in and announces “I am now the King or Queen of your chart!” Remember there are quite a few Kings and Queens who are looking for people to worship them as the other place and folks where they WERE hanging out don’t seem to want them any more. What is the creative journey you want to undertake? What is the passion you want to pursue?

Equally as important, if you were BANISHED as a King or Queen from some place, Mazel Tov! Being banished means you don’t have to do it the same way any more. You can try new stuff. You can do new things. You can have a different relationship to that Leo area of your life. Being a King or Queen can be a bit tiring. Too much worship and adoration is not healthy for a soul or your perspective. Worship and adoration becomes a responsibility that is hard to measure up to. Do you want to inhabit that castle all the time? It can be tiring to be always “ON”, having to perform or be the star of the show. It is tough when the audience boos. Kind of like an over binge on candy or carbohydrates, the Leo part of your chart longs for salad, fresh veggies or pure water. Some thing simple, clean and plain instead of all those fancy desserts and multiple courses with sauces.

A new kind of creativity wants to take place in the Leo area of every chart as the south node gets ready to leave it in a few weeks. Let the new creativity grow and see what it is looks like over the next few weeks. It might look like a weed at first but it might also be a fabulous, marvelous new adventure now that the King or Queen has exited, stage left.

For this week, I want you to do an exercise I found helpful from John O’Donohue, a former priest, Irish poet and philosopher. He points out that every thing we see, understand, know and feel is filtered through the lens of thought. Picture it as a pair of glasses: If you put on spectacles with little squares all over them, then everything you see will have squares on it.

O’Donohue suggests a simple exercise to ask yourself “What are the seven thoughts that guide my being and frame what I call “meaning” in my life?” Write them down. Put the seven thoughts in your day timer or calendar for August 5 when the eclipse will make those meanings activated and crystal clear to you. Add a companion question to the list to read to yourself at that time, “What are some other ways I could think but, through my constant attention to these seven ways of thinking, I never do?”

Monday we have a New Moon in Cancer that aspects Pluto. Pluto, Sun and the Moon also activate the nodes by inconjunct aspect, bringing the nodal energy of choices to our evolving consciousness with a thump in our heart and a lump in our throat. This is not an easy New Moon. Part of it is clear, crystal clear, but other parts are feeling mighty scary and rather emotional. The Cancer Moon is out of bounds and in emotional Cancer so expect to have some profound feelings as we start the next lunar cycle. It is near enough to the world axis that it will be a public event. Mars and Venus are semi-squaring the New Moon and sesquiquadrating Pluto adding an energy to the lunation of stress and having to take action to relieve the stress. It might be hard, but do take the action you need to take. Venus and Mars trine Saturn in Virgo so you KNOW you’ve had to do this action for a while. It is a VERY important change to make. Please be brave and make the change. Mars joins with Uranus so expect explosions or sudden events that seem to come out of nowhere but actually were important and not THAT unexpected if you get right down to it. On some level you knew, on another level, it is time, and on a third level, it is a release of sorts that needs to happen. Sun and Moon join with Vesta so they start a new cycle of creativity around the home and hearth. Pluto pushes you to clear out situations around your home to remove the hell and make it a place you actually want to live! Read the new moon column on this site today for more information on how to work with the energy.

Tuesday is a busy and productive day. Note any dreams upon awakening as Venus and Sun were both busy with the Lord of the Underworld last night. They might be disturbing dreams but they are important none the less. Mercury argues with Saturn so you can get into a pointless fight over stupid stuff with very little provocation. Part of you wants to fight it out. Another part of you wants to walk away. Watch that Leo section of your chart for badly behaving Kings and Queens. Mars is in the mood to throw some dishes out of frustration ~ let it happen. Nothing like smashing a glass or plate because you can’t take it any more! Try to smash the chipped dishes rather than the good china! It is a great day to get stuff out the door ~ not so good for the emotional parts. Mars and Venus are supported by the Moon so do recognize the Leo part of your chart and your reaction to the Kings and Queens comes from your early childhood. Time to change! Evolve! The Brilliance of Time ~ you are smarter today than you were yesterday!

Wednesday, We have a void moon in the Morning. Then Moon enters Leo and triggers emotions from the New Moon. Pluto pushes on Vesta to clean up the hell she’s found herself in lately. Take time to clean your nests ~ either office, home or your car. Make any place you spend time and solitude a nurturing space for your soul. Again dreams can be rocking and rolling so note them on awakening. Sun joins with the Node by declination meaning you can meet important people ~ either yesterday, today or tomorrow. Pay attention to who arrives in your life.

Thursday, we see the results of our actions. Things change. You have changed. They have changed. There is a desire to fight or argue with whatever nurtures us. It no longer nurtures us the way it used to nurture us. Perhaps we’ve grown up. Perhaps they don’t want to nurture us the way they used to. There is a fast moving Hammer of Thor between the principle of communication, nurturing and the nodes of destiny. When I was younger and visiting home, my mother and I used to have a rip-roaring fight right before I went out the door to catch the airplane back to New York City. One or the other of us would start the fight. Buttons pushed, the other one would hop in. Full throttle in 10 seconds, we were shouting at each other! Furious, I’d get in the car, slam the door and drive with my dad to the airport. At some point, we realized our "parting fight" was to HELP us separate ~ it allowed me to leave her and go back to my life. And at that point, once we became conscious of WHY we were fighting, we stopped fighting. Or, perhaps more accurately, one of us would call the other’s pick a fight behavior out. The result was the fights stopped before they could escalate. Certainly parting was MUCH more difficult ~ standing in the sad emotions is much harder than leaving in anger. Today if someone wants to fight with you (or you want to fight with someone), it is time for you to part. You don’t have to go in anger. You can just say, “Hey, it is time for me to move on.” Or know that it is time for them to move on. Make it a nice parting so you can reunite down the road if you both want to.

Friday, Mercury fights with Saturn so the structures you’ve built are not working with you or communicating in the same manner. This is a great day for cell phones to fall in toilets or for computers to crash. Back up your data! Moon has emotional aspects to the Gang of Three after yesterday’s fight energy. Sit and give blessings to who ever you fought with or separated from. They were part of your story. They were an important part of your story. Trust that the time you spent with them was as important to them as it was to you. Now it is time for the next chapter. Maybe they will be back. Maybe not. Either way, you are deeper and wiser because you knew them. Bless them. See the patterns in your relationship so you don’t repeat the same situation down the road! Moon in Virgo has a tendency to self criticize and be thin skinned. If the parting fight had nasty words, know that is how they had to do it to be able to leave. Words do hurt. Those words hurt. Recognize you are a work in progress. You aren’t perfect. Nor are you supposed to be perfect. Part of seeing your former King or Queen has feet of clay is to know you created them as your King or Queen. They are from earth, just like you are. They are people just like you are.

Saturnday has Moon working in the world of Virgo ~ gerbil brain can take over your mind today. Criticism. Analysis. Process. Lists of what you did versus what they did. Just get busy and get stuff out the door. Organize your spice rack. Exercise. Start a new diet. Do something positive with that critical and analytical Virgo energy. Don’t keep worrying the events of the week with your mind. Part of the reason for the energy is to get you to move forward. So do something!

Sunday, Again your mind can be very busy and preoccupied with criticizing yourself or others. Mercury wants to ground even as he is scurrying around in air. Give him jobs to do so he can focus his considerable energy on something rather than criticism. There can be a start or restart to a process or task mid-day so give that permission to happen. You are ALMOST there. It is an imperfect world. Saturn joins with Ceres. You are starting a new 5 ½ year creative cycle about and around how you nurture yourself ~ ending in October of 2014. This is a FABULOUS day to start a new food, diet, vitamin regime or exercise program! You can’t go back to your old ways (at least not with out a heck of a lot of denial!). They don’t work for you any more. It is time to go forward toward your NEW life. It will be great. This is why you are on earth and where you are right now in your life! Forward we go!

MUNDANE:

Iraq seems to be taking and manifesting the meltdown energy that I thought our stock market would have. I am quite pleased with that! We aren’t finished with the meltdown energy or completely in the clear yet. We do have the nurture ending/beginning cycle, get rid of the King/ Queen and fight energies this week. But if there is no market meltdown, we are probably in the clear. True clear is when Saturn clears 18 Virgo ~ next month ~ but no collapse thus far this month is great news.

The angry shouting in the news will be with us for a while as the Gang of Three are hanging together pretty much all year. Once Chiron separates out a bit, it will be less WOUNDING in all the shouting. Still it is shouting and not pleasant. That is the negative side of Aquarius ~ I am right and You are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!