Mars Square Neptune

Planetary news this week: Virgo Full Moon, and Saturn in Pisces

Astrological update for the week of March 6-13, 2023.

art by Verena Wild

Full Moon in Virgo March 7th. The Virgo Full Moon on Tuesday (EST) occurs with Saturn at the 29th degree of Aquarius, just about to spill into Pisces. The Virgo Moon is the only personal planet in an Earth sign, and with three planetary bodies in the mystical watery sign of Pisces it may be difficult to ground into the practical realm of life for the next few days. If that occurs, the best thing to do is to go with the flow.

The Pisces influence is wonderful for anything creative or magical, but with the Moon full in Virgo there is a strong emphasis on ritual and routine. Mars in Gemini is in a strong square to the Sun and Moon this week which suggests that we will likely find ourselves somewhat scattered under these energies, so this Full Moon will be better for planning and imagining than actually implementing something which requires a disciplined approach.

Saturn at the true cusp of Aquarius and Pisces is intensely idealistic – Aquarian idealism is intellectual and Piscean idealism is emotional – combining the two offers up a banquet of visionary longing for a world that offers greater perfection than the one we actually live in. The Virgo Moon resists this broadening of the scope of our experience and prefers to be grounded in the mundane details of life in physical form. It anchors us into a heart of practical reality where we are able to make the small changes that can ultimately result in the satisfaction of the larger Aquarius/Pisces vision. In any case, this lunation will impel us to seek more from our […]

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By |2023-03-06T08:45:50-05:00March 6th, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Sunday inspiration: The power of language

Mars is retrograde in Gemini, the sign of language and communication as well as the assimilation of our experiences through thought. Mars is in a challenging square aspect to dreamy Neptune right now which can be confusing, but it also offers an opportunity to use language to generate magic. 

In my practice I am often gifted with the opportunity to help a client find a new direction in their lives, and often this comes through words. For example, in 2012 I posted an article about a reading with a client who had been working on her own personal transformation and learning techniques to help other people to evolve and connect with their own divine power within them.  When she talked about the work that she was doing and her excitement about shifting her work life into more transformative work like this her entire face lit up and it was clear that this was her soul work.

Still, she lacked confidence and was afraid to take those steps to move forward and make this shift. This is so true for many of us!  She told me, “I pray about it every day.”   In her prayers she has been asking “why am I still stuck, what is keeping me from moving forward.”

In the 1990s when I was developing the work I now call Visioncrafting™ Tony Robbins was a guru of mine (before he fell off the pedestal as gurus so often do). In any case, one of the most important lessons he teaches is that to get the right answers you have to ask the right questions.  If your questions run along the lines of “why does this always happen to me,” you will tend to reinforce the feeling of […]

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By |2022-11-20T07:51:32-05:00November 20th, 2022|Inspiration|0 Comments

Astrological news this week: Post eclipse optimism

Astrological update for the week of November 14-21, 2022

art by Jason Center

Post-eclipse wrapup.  In my monthly Planetary Illuminations report for November (see the subscription form in the sidebar) I wrote that the total lunar eclipse on November 8th would have two segments: the dark time before the eclipse and the light time after the eclipse. I wrote “Eclipses aren’t inherently dangerous, but they are usually portals through which difficult truths may emerge. The lunar eclipse on November 8th conjoins the North Node of the future, suggesting that any challenges which come up at this time will drive us more easily towards a more enlightened fate. ”

We have entered the post-eclipse phase, with a watery trine to facilitate the flow of feeling and intuition. Over the past few days with the Moon in Cancer this trine became a Grand Trine, an endless circle of emotions, moods and sensibilities but on Monday the Moon enters fiery Leo and all of that feeling and emotion becomes very personal and begins to burn with a brighter flame.

Still, with five planets in water signs working together in harmony, this week has the potential to bring some good fortune and optimism into the mix, along with enhanced creativity and a burst of inspiration. (Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces trine Sun, Mercury, Venus in Scorpio.) With Venus the first planet to move from Scorpio to Sagittarius, we begin to say goodbye to the intensity of Scorpio season and move into the lighter realm of Sagittarius with all of its optimism and positivity.

Ceres opposite Neptune. Ceres is beginning a three-phase cycle with Neptune which will last until June of next year. Ceres is the planet which bestows the grace of […]

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By |2022-11-14T07:50:01-05:00November 14th, 2022|Planetary news this week|0 Comments

Planetary news this week: The end of the Saturn/Uranus square

Astrological update for the week of October 10-17, 2022

Saturn square Uranus: The final hurrah. We are in the final stages of the challenging square from Saturn (compression) to Uranus (rebellion) – the planetary cycle of 2021 which promoted so much civil unrest and overreaction. Although this is not an exact aspect (the two planets are 39 minutes of a degree apart and will begin to wane, we will likely continue to see the final stages of reactionary behavior well into November.

When two planets are in a square aspect to each other, there is conflict which, ideally, will lead to a resolution and eventual personal growth. But this can only occur when there is an attempt to understand the other’s point of view. In this case we have the co-rulers of Aquarius (Saturn the traditional ruler, Uranus the modern ruler) fighting over the fate of society (Aquarius). This is not an ideal planetary condition for an election, and there have been quite a few around the world since August while this aspect has been in effect.

Planetary squares can bring out extremes, but we can modulate their effect somewhat by finding a middle way – the “Mahayana” of Buddhism, the “path between.”

Mercury enters Libra. On Monday Mercury leaves the orderliness of Virgo for the diplomacy of Libra. For the next few weeks (until October 29) there is potential for greater ease in negotiations and seeing both sides of an issue so that a resolution can be achieved, something that we could really use under the Saturn/Uranus conflicting energies.


Here is what you need to know for the week ahead. Dates and times are for the Eastern time zone, please adjust for your locality. 

Monday October 10. As the week begins the […]

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By |2022-10-10T08:35:58-04:00October 10th, 2022|Planetary news this week|2 Comments