posted June 21, 2010 07:34 AM         

The eclipses are coming! The eclipses are coming! And the summer solstice too! And the cardinal t-square is starting to get tighter and tighter as it moves towards early August! And a WHOLE bunch of other stuff that would be enough to write three columns on. AND it is a TWO page week~ meaning there were lots of aspects in the sky as it took two typed pages for my computer to describe them all!

So have you noticed the change in the energy in the air? Have you felt the shift into action taking fire passion, irritated I want to move things forward? Have you found yourself in wow that was an unexplained power struggle that popped up out of no place? Have you been pushing against what you perceived as “bad authority” or been accused of being a “bad authority” yourself? All part of the looming t-square!

This week, the Sun moves into Cancer as summer begins. Sun will aspect each of the legs and set off the energy of the loose t-square formed in the sky so we will get a sense of what is to come in the weeks ahead as the t-square tightens and tightens and tightens like a vise in the sky.

We have the first of the eclipses, a Full Moon or Lunar Eclipse, on Saturn’s day, June 26, at 4:46 Cancer Sun Capricorn Moon. Capricorn Moon sits on Pluto and the North Node of Destiny, suggesting permanent changes in the structures of your life as Capricorn Node answers to Saturn. Cancer Sun, on the South Node of RELEASING past life (and current life) karma, lets go of the things that no longer have a place in your life. Eclipses are very life altering cosmic events where leaders fall or step down, final or major decisions about life directions are made, people end relationships and folks that are lingering or having serious health crises can leave the planet.

Last summer, the eclipses were in the same signs, Cancer and Capricorn when Jon Stewart was quoted as saying “Every one you know is dead!” We can expect similar major exits and events this summer during the next month as the energy and tensions build while the eclipses release it and send it off into the ethers. Cancer Capricorn eclipses bring up the parental paradigm ~ we want to be child like on some level but are asked to be adults. We lose some of our child like innocence and move toward a firm level of responsibility and discipline. Eclipses can be fun if you realize that everyone is feeling them just like you are. And if you embrace the changes as part of life.

Often with eclipses, there is an urge to “DO SOME THING! Situations that have moseyed along just fine for ever, or at least for a long while, suddenly have a life and death urgency to them. We want to make a statement and resolve the situation. We have to take action and do something! We’ve lived together for years and suddenly decide to run off and getting married. We’ve put up with a difficult boss for EVER and in a huff, we quit because we can’t take it a moment longer. We’ve spent a long time thinking about giving up smoking and we actually do quit. Hidden health situations that have been going on for a while get diagnosed. People that have been lingering and are quite ill, die. You get the idea. Eclipses are cosmic clean up the situation heavenly events where we suddenly see things differently than we did before and are forever altered by the new vision.

The Summer Solstice is the longest day in the Northern hemisphere. It is when the Sun appears to stop for three days on the Tropic of Cancer to slowly reverse his steps back towards the equator. After Monday, each day will become a minute or so shorter as each night becomes a minute or two longer. Summer is officially here! The solstice Sun will enter into the empty leg of the upcoming t-square and trigger it. We’ll see what we are going to be working with over the summer as that happens. Watch the events from last Saturday through the eclipse next Saturday to see what the story is going to be in your life under the t-square.

Mercury also enters Cancer and triggers the t-square. Mercury in Cancer has trouble with words but feels PROFOUND FEELINGS even if he can’t say them. So in addition to the eclipse and Full Moon energy, we’ll be feeling high water, deep swirling emotions as the planets dance above our heads.

You might want to print the next section of this column out and keep it handy as your guide for the next few months and to share with others along your path. We are going to be working with this energy over the next few months and each of us can use the next section to our advantage.

While astrology helps us know what is coming, it doesn’t “stop” the energy from showing up in our lives. There are difficult passages in life. We all know that to be true. The next few months will be hard or harsh times. Perhaps the events that take place won’t be hard or harsh in YOUR life but you will encounter people who are going through the cosmic blender or wringer so to speak. You, as an astrologically aware person, can talk to them about how to work with the energy AND let them know it will be over by the end of August.

T-squares are difficult energies to work with as the three competing legs argue with each other for freedom, dominance, authority, power or control. In this case, the t-square is made up of very malefic, or mean, planets ~ Uranus, Pluto, Saturn, and soon Mars. Jupiter, normally what we think of as a good guy planet, is hanging out with a tough crowd of nasty planets. Jupiter is going to egg the others on or expand their malefic natures. You know how your mother used to say you are judged by your friends? Jupiter has mean friends right now.

So what to do? Apply consciousness. And remember to breath. Know that this too shall pass. Breathing and passing will take care of themselves. These are transits. Consciousness is a bit harder yet actually a great way to approach these difficult energies.

Transits of planets are energy beings. Planets literally act like characters in a play and take on roles based on the signs they are in as they move around your chart. Over the next few months, in any emotionally charged encounter with a person, the odds are excellent that you are going to be ONE leg of that t-square. The person you are interacting with is going to be another leg of that t-square. And some where nearby is the third and possibly fourth legs. All the legs are yours to use if you know what you are doing.

Your job is to identify WHICH of the energies or legs each person is embodying. Know which energy YOU are in the exchange. Take your role AND DO THE HIGHER VERSION of the planet’s energy or character‘s behavior. That will offer an attempt to the heavens and the person with whom you are interacting to lift the t-square out of the mud and into a higher form of behaving.

The roles are:

Uranus in Aries ~ CHANGE AGENT

Lower form: rebellious, angry, impulsive, fighting, hotheaded.

Higher form: visionary, creative, initiating, starting and leading the needed changes.

Saturn in Virgo (until July 26) AUTHORITY ~

Lower form: an authority that is critical, picky, fussy, thin skinned, crabby and not satisfied.

Higher form: a gentle kind, editor, or guide who perfects, tweaks and tunes the skills of the person he’s supervising.

Saturn in Libra (after July 26) AUTHORITY

Lower form: an authority that is unable to make a decision, take responsibility or stick with a decision. Vacillating.

Higher form: an authority who partners with the other person to achieve agreed on goals ~ able to work out a compromise so all are partially satisfied and partially satisfied..

Pluto in Capricorn: DESTRUCTION/ POWER

Lower form: Triangles that are two against one. Power over. Do it my way or else. Dominator model. Realizing how insignificant you are.

Higher form. Opening up the triangle so all three parties are involved. Invoking the higher power or authority available (there always is one). Sharing power or helping the other evolve.

In every interaction, determine if you are Uranus, Saturn or Pluto. Change roles. If you’ve been behaving like Uranus, rebellious and non-cooperative assume the role of Saturn and become a good authority and responsible. If you are in a difficult conflict, look around for the authority or power that is higher that both of you ~ Pluto ~ and ask for his intervention.

For example, my friend discovered her sister stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from their wealthy, elderly parents using a power of attorney as well as by simply stealing it. The mother changed her will before she died, excluding the sister who stole the money. The thieving sister is contesting the new will and her exclusion. As the daughter stole the money from her mother, the mother had a perfect right to exclude the daughter.

My friend has been playing the roll of Uranus ~ she discovered her sister’s theft, documented it and served as the “awakener” of her mother. Now she’s feeling forced into fighting her sister to uphold her mother’s wishes when all she really wants to do is settle the estate and move on with her life.

That said, my friend STILL being Uranus in a small town in upstate New York doesn‘t serve her as the executor of the challenged will. Outsiders or rebels aren’t particularly welcome even if they were born and raised there. As her lawyer said “Being from New York City is not considered a good thing up here!”

So we’ve been strategizing how to shift her role to either Pluto or Saturn to make the contested will situation go away. How can we work productively with the situation and turn her sister into Uranus in Aries so she leaves? We came up with quite a few options. For example, my friend can contact the District Attorney or the Bar Association to turn in her lawyer sister in for the theft from the parents. Doing either of those things, she invokes Pluto, the stronger power ~ the law and the governing body of lawyers, AND she switches her role to Saturn ~ enforcing both the law of the land as well as her mother’s wishes. She would make sure her sister won’t steal money from other elderly people in the future. She could consult with other attorneys in the area who are not friends with her sister and hire them. Or she could reach a settlement with her sister and move on with her life, letting the situation end. She could go to surrogate court and present the story of the sister’s theft, her mother’s will revision with the subsequent exclusion and let the judge rule.

Or she may not do ANY of the options. She may continue to play along in the Uranus in Aries role she is currently holding. HOWEVER KNOWING that she COULD change her role AND take advantage of the t-square’s other job openings brought an enormous sense of relief. Our brainstorming session gave her a couple of hours of laughter, a few tears for her dead parents and the sense of choice, freedom, authority and power as she tried on the differing options in her mind. Just THINKING differently helped shift the energy of conflict, domination and loss into something else entirely.

So try this at home. Suggest it to your friends who are struggling with the t-square in their chart.

Additionally, while I don’t normally include the Uranian system’s Trans-Neptunians in this column, I am adding them now as two of them ~ Hades and Kronos are very, very active and sitting near 0 Cancer, the outlet of the t-square. If we count the Trans-Neptunian points, we are working with a grand cross ~ creating a cross or a crucifixion of stuck, trapped energy. As you might guess, Hades is malefic ~ literally rules hell and all sorts of hellish things while Kronos is about age, endings, time, decrepit decay as well as power grabs. Not pleasant energies to be working with but we will each be asked to work with them this summer. So creative strategies are the rules to play with as you figure out other approaches to take to the energy flying around.

Finally, several of you have asked about the sense of extreme tiredness that seems to be flying around in the ethers. Saturn is inconjunct to Neptune and perfects on June 27th. When you are not doing your Saturn, Neptune can drag you down into the depression or tired energy. When you are doing too much Neptune, Saturn can feel oppressed, depressed or repressed. He takes to his bed or couch in situations like that. Planets that are inconjunct can act as frozen energy systems. The planets argue with each other and are then unable to move. If you move one end or the other, it helps the energy shift. If you live in the moment and let both of them speak their piece and have their way, that will banish the tiredness.

Also, because we have 5, count them, 5 outer planets shifting signs, we are being bombarded with a lot of shifting energy. We are being asked to evolve in up to 5 areas of our life and up to 75% of our chart. All that energy shifting IS quite exhausting! Go to bed early. Give yourself a break. Get extra sleep. Schedule a bit of space into your calendar to allow for spaciousness ~ both mental and emotional spaciousness.

Monday the Summer’s ingress of Sun into Cancer takes place at 7:30 am Eastern time. The Ingress takes place after a night of weird dreams about creativity and endings. Venus is very active and moving fast today as she leads the planets in the heavens and aspects many of them. What do you love to do? What do you want to do? The solstice chart has a Void of Course Libra Moon answering to Venus in Leo who also rules the Solstice Sun, South Node and Juno all in Cancer. I have a quote on my desk saying “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” Many of us fail to “attempt to do” due to our Saturn placement by sign and house. The fear is running high with this Solstice chart. The inconjunct of Saturn to Neptune says who are you to have that dream? You need to answer right back “Of course I have that dream! It is in my chart!” Often my work as an astrologer consists of simply encouraging people to take the risk(s) to go for their dream, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far. The stars in your chart speak to that unreachable star! The Sun today encourages you to reach for that impossible dream of yours…

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest, to follow the star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To fight for the right without question or pause
To be willing to pass into hell for a heavenly cause

And know if I'll only be true to the glorious quest
That my heart lies peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered in scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

Tuesday Moon in Scorpio is intense, passionate and very, very tired. This energy feels a bit relentless! Sun is pushing past the pain into a new vision for himself. Communications seem to fall on deaf ears or to drift off unanswered. Double check that they received your email or phone call. It is a brilliant idea so do make an attempt to get it started or at least recorded. Go to bed early tonight if you can. The rest of the week is a bit relentless. Moon in Scorpio Monday and Tuesday brings bad or sad news as the closing aspect is a square to Neptune.

Wednesday’s off to a slow start as a restless night of bad dreams affects your ability to get going. We’ve got a void moon between 11:33 am and 2:10 pm Eastern Time so no important lunch dates today ~ nothing will come of them! Sun wants to over do things today as he squares Jupiter and pushes the energy up a notch. While enthusiastic, this is not a great day for getting things that are actually of long term value to you. While positive in nature, they are over promising what they can actually deliver. Or you are over promising! It is a good day to set the vision in place as Moon in optimistic Sagittarius sets off the t-square planets. It is a bad day to commit to firm deadlines! Stuff is going to change tooooooo much. Nod and agree. But no firm commitments.

Thursday Mercury in late Gemini fights with Saturn and cooperates with Neptune making for a good news/bad news kind of effect complete with a final ending energy where you are going to want to tell someone to go to hell or as my mother would say “Go to Hades!” First there is a NO from some authority. Then there is a green light from the sense of freedom and creativity that opens before you. You didn’t realize how much stress you were under until this happened. The ending is freeing. Pallas, the planet of strategy, stations today suggesting a reversal or revision of a strong Scorpio’s strategy. Pluto is going to make a take it or leave it kind of offer. You can safely leave it if you are not 100% sure you want to proceed. Mercury wants to move on housing or changing the house up and rearranging the furniture. It is not a day to listen to what your mother says or would say about the situation from an “ending” perspective. This one is different and your mother never had to deal with something like this before. On the other hand, it IS a day to listen to what your mother would encourage you to do about the situation ~ conduct yourself with honor and do what makes your heart feel right. What do you want to do? That is what the cosmic mom is saying to you too! Sagittarius Moon has unclear closing aspects so trust that if you are true to your own heart, you are doing the right thing.

Friday is a stress filled day as Mercury enters Cancer becoming very sensitive and emotional, the eclipse energy builds and Sun and Mercury set off legs of the t-square. Moon in Sagittarius is not contained in their word and has unclear closing aspects. You can find yourself between a rock and a hard place today so hedge your bets. Ask for more time. Power over dynamics ~ you better or else energy tries to bully the Sun into doing something he is NOT ready to do. Say NO to bullies ~ on and off the play ground. The bully is being pressured too. However that is not an excuse for bullying behavior. You might get bad news about an ending today. Don’t fight it. If it ends, so be it. Let it go. It needed to leave and move on. Eclipses can bring up a sense of false urgency. Breath and see if it is REALLY that urgent or if you can wait a bit longer. Tears are near the surface today. Nothing wrong with a good cry. Wanting to punch a hole in the wall is near the surface today. Nothing a piece of dry wall can’t fix. Cry or punch (inanimate objects please) away.

Saturn’s day dawns bright and early with a Full Moon eclipse. Read the column on this website for more information on how to work with the energy. It is a releasing eclipse as the Sun is on the South Node so this is a great lunation to release bad old bad olds ~ habits, people, problems, situations or routines that no longer serve you. Have a ritual. Announce what you want to let go of to the universe and stand back. Announce what you want to move toward and step forward toward it. There is powerful magic afoot with this eclipse! Harness the power of Zeus to partner with your future dreams. Mercury argues a bit with Jupiter so there can be a overdoing quality to the energy of communication or connection but usually this is not a bad thing. You are growing up now. And moving forward. There is a quality of being aware of your age and that you can’t go home again or at least back to the way you were. You’ve seen too much to forget what you saw. Over time, it might fade but there is a part of you that is no longer so innocent and naïve. You might be able to play as if you were a child or maybe hang out like one but a part of your heart knows it is time to move on.

Sunday the tiredness will start to go away as Saturn and Neptune perfect their inconjunct and begin to separate over the days ahead. You can have health transits or discoveries under eclipses so if you are feeling a bit under the weather, it is a good idea to see a doctor for a check up. Eclipses often bring on colds too. Moon in Capricorn yesterday and today has a lovely closing aspect to Saturn so you can move forward with confidence. Mercury in sensitive water fights with Pluto, setting off the last bits of the t-square ~ expect tearful partings or difficult ending words. Try a new strategy rather than same old, same old. Take a different role in the t-square. You can hear from an old love or spend money faster than you intended today so go out the door with a clear idea of what you want to spend and a shopping list. It IS pretty irresistible and probably one of a kind so if you can’t contain yourself and you can figure out how to pay for it, go for it.

Reader Mail: A reader sent along the following quotation without attribution. It calmed me right down!

May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.