Pluto retrograde

Planetary news this week: Venus in Leo calls in a fun summer

Astrological update for the week of June 5-12, 2023

artist unknown?

Venus in Leo and the Venus retrograde cycle. Venus leaves emotional cancer for Leo on June 5th, and will remain in Leo until October. This is a nice long time to enjoy the beneficial light of Venus, planet of love, in the sign of the Sun! This week we may find ourselves feeling a greater need for validation from those around us since a stressful aspect from Venus to intense Pluto, and then later in the week to Jupiter, may distort some of our perceptions of our interactions. Once we are through these stressors, though, the beauty of Venus in Leo will shine through.

The next few months are a wonderful time for celebrating our friendships, our romances, our partners, and there is plenty of creative energy too. Have fun with your appearance – change your hairstyle, get some new outfits that are colorful and playful. Leo is all about finding the joy in life, and this is the time to do it.

Venus will turn retrograde on July 22nd and will remain in retrograde motion until September, not leaving Leo until October.  Venus  in extroverted Leo this whole time will offset some of the usual retrograde Venus effects: limited social activity and reassessment of current relationship involvements. It’s often said that relationships which begin when Venus is retrograde will never work out, but in my experience that’s not always true. In any retrograde period we tend to review our lives, reassessing what we need and what we hope for. Sometimes this involves meeting someone new who perhaps would not have caught your gaze in normal times, but because you are looking now through a different lens you […]

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By |2023-06-05T08:47:39-04:00June 5th, 2023|Planetary cycles|0 Comments
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Planetary news this week: Lunar eclipse at the Scorpio Full Moon

Astrological update for the week of May 1-8, 2023

art by Anna Vincitorio

Pluto turns retrograde May 1. Although the lunar eclipse on May 5th is the headline event, there’s a few other things going on too! First, Pluto makes its retrograde turn on Monday May 1st but you probably won’t even notice because Pluto has been stationary in the sky for over a month, and will continue to be virtually stationary for several more weeks. That makes the influence of Pluto more potent, and its transformative effect is likely to feel something like a sledgehammer especially if it’s hitting something sensitive in your own chart (around 0 degrees of the fixed signs Aquarius, Taurus, Scorpio and Leo).

Sun/Mercury conjunction May 1. The conjunction of the Sun and Mercury is an important part of the retrograde Mercury cycle, and when Mercury is retrograde as it is now the conjunction to the Sun marks the midpoint of the retrograde cycle. I know that conjunctions of the Sun to another planet (combust and cazimi) are supposed to be “bad” and burn up the planetary energies with solar light, but illumination from the Sun can shed light on events that may be misunderstood or mysterious. The Mercury retrograde review can help us to gain greater understanding which will help improve our progress when Mercury turns direct again.

Lunar eclipse May 5. The Scorpio Full Moon occurs at astrological Beltane: the midpoint between the solstice and the equinox. This is a magical time of power when in the northern hemisphere the world comes to life again after the winter and the heat of the summer begins to prevail.

This is a partial eclipse and the South Node is 11 degrees away […]

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By |2023-04-30T15:08:43-04:00May 1st, 2023|Planetary news this week|0 Comments
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Planetary news this week: All about Pluto retrograde

Astrological update for the week of April 24 – May 1, 2023

artist unknown?

The big news this week is the fact that Pluto turns retrograde on May 1st. (Geeky astrological detail: Pluto will retrograde at zero degrees Aquarius where it has been for the past month, and it will remain at the same degree point until June 11th when it retrogrades back into Capricorn.)  As you may know, when a planet appears to change direction it seems to be at a standstill in the sky from our perspective, and its influence can seem more intense. This is especially true if the planet is affecting your own astrological chart.

Pluto is the planet of intensity and creative destruction, and tends to be felt as a sledgehammer of transformation. Sometimes the evolution comes from within, but sometimes we meet that force from the outside in the form of employers, friends, coworkers or loved ones who challenge our very sense of who we are. The potency of Pluto right now is particularly acute as it has just dipped a toe into Aquarius to preside over a maelstrom of change, and now it goes back into Capricorn. Any areas where the structures or infrastructure on which we build our lives are weak could be under threat one final time.  This is a time to shore up defenses, and be practical as well build a strong foundation from which to spring into action.

It will be early July before Pluto, traveling retrograde, begins to pick up speed and Pluto won’t re-enter Aquarius until next January, so this is a fairly long-term influence that requires us to learn to surrender when the force of the power of change and transformation becomes too great to […]

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By |2023-04-24T08:16:12-04:00April 24th, 2023|Planetary news this week|0 Comments
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Sunday poetry: Let This Darkness Be A Belltower

art by Lia Van Elffenbrinck

With Pluto, the Lord of Darkness, stationary right now having just turned retrograde, I hope this poem will bring light for anyone experiencing dark times right now.



Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.

Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell.

As you ring, what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

– Rainer Maria Rilke
–

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By |2022-05-01T07:27:05-04:00May 1st, 2022|Inspiration|3 Comments
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Astrological news this week: Pluto retrograde and eclipse season begins!

Astrological update for the week of April 25 – May 2, 2022

art by John Craig

Pluto turns retrograde. I’ve been talking for a while about the Pluto station because Pluto hasn’t moved much in months – it’s only traveled one degree since the end of February and won’t travel more than one degree until early July.  That is a long time if you have planets between 25 and 29 Capricorn or the other cardinal signs Cancer, Libra Aries.  And if you have planets between 0 and 2 degrees of Aquarius or the other fixed signs (Leo, Taurus, Scorpio) you’ll feel some effect too. (Some astrologers use 10 degree orbs or more – I tend to use tight orbs as that seems to work in a more practical setting, like real life.)

We have had quite a few months with no planets retrograde, and with Pluto changing direction we have just one retrograde planet. The next retrograde will be Mercury turning retrograde on May 10, but in the meantime the focus is on Pluto and drilling down to the absolute Truth. Self-deception might have been the name of the game over the past few weeks with Jupiter and Neptune slamming together in a dance of bliss and psychic harmony, and we now have Mars and Venus joining them in Pisces (see the information about the eclipse below).

When Pluto is in charge, we are under the guidance of fate. Anyone with tight aspects from Pluto to their natal chart knows this, and eventually we learn that when fate is in charge we are guided towards our highest destiny if we can only let go.

A note about the Pisces stellium.  The blurring of details is a feature […]

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By |2022-04-25T13:33:14-04:00April 25th, 2022|