Mercury sextile Saturn

Planetary news this week: Inspiration and dreams, with a sprinkle of fairy dust

Astrological update for the week of November 27 – December 5, 2022

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It’s a pretty quiet week in the astrological skies, and the lunar influences will be more noticeable (scroll down for the details of the week). This is the end of the Sagittarius influences – next week Mercury and Venus will both enter Capricorn and pave the way for the Sun to move into Capricorn at the December Solstice on December 21st. Every change from one sign to the next brings a release of the matters of one sign and the introduction of something new, and from Sagittarius to Capricorn we transition from an expansive view of possibilities and optimism (Sagittarius) to a more focus and finely honed set of goals and objectives, with strategies for meeting those goals (Capricorn).

That’s what’s coming next week, but this week is the last of the buoyancy that Sagittarius brings and along with it, the tendency to overpromise and under-deliver.  With Ceres opposite Neptune having just peaked last week, we may not have the energy we think we do under the optimistic Sagittarius influences, so it’s a good week to conserve our energy while having a great time in the pursuit of Sagittarian happiness. Jupiter, the planetary ruler of Sagittarius, has just turned retrograde and is still virtually stationary in the sky making sure that we are looking for opportunities and the positive side to things. And Neptune, turning direct this week after a retrograde stint of about six months, is at a standstill with the siren call to experiences of magic and dreamy adventures which could bring bliss or ruin. Ideally the bliss part! At any rate, if you have planets between 20 and 25 degrees of […]

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By |2022-12-02T09:28:14-05:00November 28th, 2022|Planetary news this week|4 Comments

Planetary news this week: Sagittarius New Moon and Jupiter rules the sky

Astrological update for the week of November 21-28, 2022

art by Jennifer Henriksen

Sagittarius season. Having made it through Scorpio season, the time of Samhain and Hallowe’en when the veil between the worlds is thin and we move into the dark time (here in the northern hemisphere), Sagittarius season comes along to bring a lighter viewpoint as we head into the holiday celebrations. Venus (love) and Mercury (mind) have already made the shift into Sagittarius, and this week the Sun joins the party, followed swiftly by the Moon the next day.

Sagittarius is a fire sign, a sign of action and initiation, and under Jupiter’s rulership it bestows an innate sense of good fortune and a sunny optimism. We learned as children reading “The Little Engine that Could” that if you think you can do something or be something, you CAN do and be those things. These are Sagittarius lessons. Sagittarius tends to bring out the social aspects of the most reclusive of us, and that’s why it’s the perfect sign for these times.

Every aspect of astrology has a light side and a dark side, even Sagittarius. Under the influence of Sagittarius, whether in the natal chart or under a Sagittarius planetary cycle, we can be blind to anything which restricts our freedom to explore and pursue our overoptimistic agendas, and this can sometimes result in negative consequences so moderation is a good quality to keep at hand under these strong Sagittarius influences.

Sagittarius New Moon. The New Moon on the 23rd at 5:57 pm EST is a bounty of expansive energies, with four planetary bodies in Sagittarius and really nothing to stand in the way of our hopes and dreams becoming reality. The New Moon marks […]

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By |2022-11-21T12:13:24-05:00November 21st, 2022|Planetary cycles|1 Comment

Astrological update for the week of November 29, 2021: A solar eclipse, and some Neptune fog

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This week the big news is Neptune turning direct on December 1 after traveling in apparent retrograde motion since June 2021 (like the other two outer planets, Neptune is retrograde approximately half the year), and the upcoming solar eclipse on December 4th in Sagittarius.

The outer planets work as inspirational forces, and because they move slowly their impact can last for a long time. When a planet is preparing to change direction, its apparent motion from our perspective on Earth slows down to a crawl before stopping as it appears to turn, just like a car doing a U-turn would do.  At these times the influence of the planet is particularly potent, especially if it is hitting a sensitive point in our own chart.  Neptune has been between 20-23 degrees Pisces since February 2021, so if you have planets in this degree range in any of the mutable signs (Pisces, Virgo, Sagittarius, Gemini) you might have been experienced some intense confusion, inspiration, heightened imagination, deeper spiritual connection – all of these are Neptunian experiences that tend to enhance or blur the mundane day to day reality.

This can be a magical time, full of Spirit and wonder, but it can also create some illusion and delusion. In the middle of a pandemic, and with the intensity of the square from Saturn to Uranus creating some conflict and disruption, the desire to escape may be a strong one. Neptune in Pisces is itself connected with the idea of a virus that spreads mysteriously around the world. Neptune will not leave this 20-23 degree box until April after a conjunction to Jupiter in Pisces, which is another whole story of potential spiritual grace mixed with delusion.

In any case, […]

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By |2021-11-30T10:49:01-05:00November 30th, 2021|Planetary news this week|2 Comments