Pluto in retrograde - 9 April to 16 September

It's time to wake up and shake up.  A few of my friends on Facebook have suddenly had to change their entire lives since all but yesterday.  Whatever you consider holds your values, ideals and sense of identity together could be shaken up.  It's a time for moving forward and challenging the parts of yourself which need a desperate Spring (Autumn down here!) clean.  Have you got any hangups that you need to address?  Do you think you could benefit from doing a cord cutting once the waning moon comes around?  Start to plan this and leave it open and flexible so that you can become stronger and ready for any challenges that come ahead. 

The truth will set you free, no matter how hard it can be to face.  I have personally taken on the challenge to meditate every morning for 20 minutes to half an hour and my world is sincerely changed.  In this time, depending on the goals and prayers of each individual day.  Every day, each meditation presents a challenge for me to overcome the ego and find ways to clear my mind from bad thought (possibly about others) which are putting up barriers in my life.  What do you really believe and why have you made yourself stop at that point to believe it?

It's time for Mr. Intensity's retrograde cycle. This year Pluto retrogrades from April 9 to September 16 and will go over the road he's already traveled from 8 degrees back to 5 degrees in Capricorn. Do you have natal planets/house angles between those degrees? If yes, then Pluto has been hanging around agitating that part of your chart/life. Just when he moves past the degree of your natal planet/house angle, he switches gears and heads for it again. But it's not personal. It's his job. And it's each of our jobs to endure with whatever transformative change he is helping us make. The more we resist, consciously or not, the more difficult his transit on our charts/in our lives will be...

For more go to Astrogrrrl's page for how this will affect you over the majority of the year.

New Moon in Aries (Mars) Reflection

As a witch, I am aware that I am going through many changes, alterations and maturing into the path.  My abilities are stronger than what they once were and the responsibility that walks hand-in-hand with it is becoming more apparent over time.  I'm more able to take a step back and inspect my beliefs from an outer perspective to the point where I feel like I can provide stable advice to others and be a more receptive learner.  I'm more fond of wearing black and have started to balance with my dark goddess energy who knows when to keep silent.  I certainly feel that I have been very inward and could do with taking this new moon energy in order to flip that around a bit.


I really feel that I have benefitted from reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and was about 150 pages in when my boyfriend accidentally left it on the plane on the way to Tasmania.  Once I've read that I can give you all a full review, but it would take a while!  I'd still highly recommend it even though I'm only part way through.


The new moon is a time of reflection - looking back on the last moon phase and looking forward to the rising, waxing moon energy, setting your own personal goals towards the full moon.  I feel like I can be more honest and relaxed with people and possibly with myself.


I have been so inwardly silent that I haven't even written here for quite some time!  Not to mention that I have also been very busy.


I really felt Mars entering Aries on the 1st of April all but two days ago as I am more driven, clear-thinking and charged for all of the challenges lying ahead with this Arien energy!  It is a time to take charge & proclaim in the new moon what kind of elements of your character need strengthening from the Mars energy that is coming to the fore.  You need to understand your motivations in order to strengthen your character, so inspect those motivations in order to move forward to strengthen yourself as the moon's energy waxes.

"Mars enters Aries on April 1 at 9:51 p.m. PDT (April 2 at 12:51 a.m. EDT) and will stay through May 11th. While in Aries, Mars will align with the following celestial bodies (all dates reflect North America Pacific time zone; allow +/-2 days for life span of influence):

§ April 3 ~ Mars conjunct Uranus. Nothing is as it seems. Openness to unconventional solutions, even to the most common problems. Pushing for one's desires. Aggressiveness. Unpredictable behavior. Be extra careful when traveling, even short distances. Also today, the New Moon in Aries with both Sun and Moon oppose Saturn-rx.

§ April 11 ~ Mars square Pluto. Power struggles. Everyone wants to be the boss/everyone seems bossy. No one seems to want to listen or reason or discuss. Tempers fly. No one wants to budge. Standstill. Agreeing to disagree. Elsewhere in the sky, Mercury-rx conjunct Jupiter and conversations/ideas can easily be blown out of proportion.

§ April 18 & 19 ~ Mars oppose Saturn-rx and Mercury-rx conjunct Mars. A chance to get things accomplished. Commitment and hard work are required, though. Simply starting something without a good plan will most likely fail when obstacles present themselves. Think first before acting.

§ April 30 to May 1 ~ Mars conjunct Jupiter. A little braver to try out something new. More optimistic of succeeding or arriving at desired results. Believing in the dream coming true. Making a go of things. Elsewhere in the sky, Venus oppose Saturn-rx."

Information via Astrogrrl - thanks Honor!

Big News: Changes to the Zodiac (Part I) - don't change your astrological tattoos

This news over the past 24 hours has been shaking the world, but it needn't do.  The reason why I'm calling this Part I is because I want to see what my Astrologer Jonathan Cainer has to say about this before I go any further.   The fact that he hasn't posted anything on his main page as yet is very interesting.  Certainly what I have found proves it to be false.

According to this article below, 'The astronomers from the Minnesota Planetarium Society found that because of the moon's gravitational pull on Earth, the alignment of the stars was pushed by about a month.'  That would mean that the following signs have now changed to the list below.

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16. 
Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11. 
Pisces: March 11-April 18. 
Aries: April 18-May 13. 
Taurus: May 13-June 21. 
Gemini: June 21-July 20. 
Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10. 
Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30. 
Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.Scorpio: Nov. 23-29. 
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.  (Yep, this one is new — read all about the Ophiuchus way of life here)Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.


This confused me at first because I thought 'If before this change I was born at a certain time and that at that time I was a Taurean, surely it means that only people born from now onwards within these time slots can be regarded as these star signs?'  But some people believe that the signs were out of alignment the whole time.

If this is all true, are the astrologers sweating?  Apparently they are receiving a lot of phone calls from people freaking out, particularly when it comes to their compatible signs for their love life. If this is true, this would mean that my sun, rising and moon signs would be completely different.  I would go from being a Taurean whose favourite colour is green & is in love with luscious smells, food and aesthetics to a fiery Arian!  Does that not feel right for a reason?

CNN says that we have nothing to worry about:

'"This story is born periodically as if someone has discovered some truth. It's not news," said Jeff Jawer, an astrologer with Tarot.com, told CNN's This Just In news blog.

Astrology experts say the shift in zodiac signs does not apply to most Westerners, who follow the tropical zodiac, which is fixed to the seasons. In contrast, the Star Tribune article referred to the sidereal zodiac, which is fixed to constellations and is followed more in the East.'

Having read around, it seems that the astronomer who made this news was making a casual remark about a thirteenth star sign, which all astronomers are aware of and has been left out deliberately because only twelve signs will follow with the seasons.  Some might argue 'Perhaps it follows the 13 moons of the year' but I say: let the astrologers do their work - they would know better than what we would!  Certainly don't go changing your astrological tattoo for a viral uproar.  It certainly hasn't featured in the main newspapers as yet, and it probably won't because it's false.


Sources:
Read the article supporting the new astrology here

Read the full CNN article here

Christian Science article which says 'It's not new news at all' here

Recording of the Lunar Eclipse from December 23, 2010

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.