Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Hexagon Astrology Magazine Subscription Drive!

Hexagon Issue #2

Hexagon Astrology Magazine, the blazingly awesome new astrology magazine being put out by astrologer/editor Matt Savinar, is having its first subscription drive!

You can check it out here:


A one-year subscription (4 issues) can be had for pledges of $55 US or higher.

Canadian subscriptions will be $75 US ($20 shipping). This will be converted for Canadian subscribers when you make your pledge.  

Hexagon Issue #2 will also be available in 335 Barnes and Noble stores in the United States, and further distribution is being worked on. I'm hoping for Canadian distribution, as well, at some point.

If you missed the premier issue of the magazine, which came out in August 2015, there are pledge amounts that will snag you a copy of it, as well. 

The first 144 subscribers (The Original 144) will also receive this highly cool patch as a memento:


Thursday, December 17, 2015

Mercury in Capricorn Triggers the Uranus-Pluto Square Just as it Enters the Retrograde Shadow

Communication and intelligence planet Mercury is closing in on a conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn (exact Dec. 19), and words have the ability to pierce to the core.

Mercury-Pluto contacts indicate that the air needs to be cleared in certain arenas, but we are also looking for verbal and communicative (Mercury) caution/maturity/responsibility (Capricorn) so as to avoid any Plutonic shitstorms that linger like your Dad's last bathroom visit.

Mercury will be coming back to all this during its retrograde period in January 2016, so a little strategic verbal caution now makes for a smoother time later...



This is an excerpt from the article, "Mercury in Capricorn Triggers the Uranus-Pluto Square Just as it Enters the Retrograde Shadow." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

The Relationship Planets in "Detrimental" Mutual Reception: Navigating Charged Social and Relational Territory As We Close Out 2015

This is a reminder for all you lovely WWA readers that Venus and Mars are now full-on involved in the "detrimental" mutual reception that carries us to the end of 2015.

Venus is transiting Scorpio until December 30 and Mars is transiting Libra until January 3, 2016. This means both relationship planets are transiting signs of their detriment - signs opposite the ones they naturally rule. This makes for a somewhat challenging period of time in matters of the heart and in matters of money. The social realms and other people, in general, are not simple or easy to deal with now, as we move to solstice and the end of the calendar year 2015. Frictional.

Not only that, but Venus and Mars are in mutual reception in signs of their detriment, meaning they are each transiting a sign ruled by the other planet. (Venus rules Libra; Mars rules Scorpio.) This creates a tightly interwoven energetic scenario, a special affinity and relationship between the two planets, as each traverses the other's turf and gets a whiff of what the other deals with.

In basic terms, we have quite a charged social and relational setting as we move through December. Interactions are a little more loaded and triggering than we may like. Relationships and social scenes are complex. There's a lot going on, especially in the realm of subtext. There are underlying and perhaps previously-hidden connections being activated this December, and many of these connections are soul-deep.

We're working out some of the trickier relationship stuff this month and through the holidays.

In addition to this, we have transiting Black Moon Lilith in Libra, making the dark-and-denied emotional subtext of relationships that much more charged, raw, and potentially triggering.

The denied emotional realities and structural shortfalls of the standard relationship constructs are being stirred, and this can be a little ugly, especially to more mainstream-minded people. The relational truth Black Moon Lilith is stirring this December is often denied, ignored, and shunted aside by mainstream society. "Proper people" leave all this unacknowledged.

Only those with strong Black Moon Lilith energy running through their souls simply can't do that...

From a previous post October 27, 2015, "A Couple Welcome Shifts With a Side of Mutual Reception Relational Angst as We Close Out 2015":

"You can kind of feel it, though, can't you? The unfinished business from this summer's Venus retrograde in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio? You really didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you? This is the backwash from that Venus in Leo retrograde with all the break-ups, make-ups, social shifting, and new couples emerging.

And we get into it this December and for the holidays.

You can dress up a failing relationship in all its holiday finery, but with these transits, you can't cover up the underlying problems bringing about a slow collapse.

You can gloss over social tensions with trumped-up holiday cheer and goodwill, but underneath, the teeth are still gnashing. The relational friction is still grating.

The holidays this year provide a distinct challenge to new couples, to newly separated or divorced people, and to couples who are holding their existing relationships together by a thread.

Complex territory.

It's hard to pretend in our relations with others when Venus is transiting Scorpio, that's for certain. Both love and hate run deeply and intensely with this placement - often both at the same time. Money issues, especially in relationship, get sticky. Our value systems can clash on very deep and fundamental levels.

Venus gets a good dose of the shittier aspects of human beings and of human relations in Scorpio. It gets a snoutful of the nastier aspects of human relationships and the energy dynamics that pass between and among us: the manipulation, the artifice, the using and abusing, the power struggles, the betrayals, the full-out hatred and undermining of each other.

Venus in Scorpio has to deal with stone, cold reality in human relationships. Anything else is sheer poison. Anything else will end in it getting screwed. There is no Libran glossing over, pretending, compromising, smiling to make others comfortable. Transiting Venus in Scorpio this December is going to get into it, make no mistake about it. All we can do is: avoid what (and whom) we can, avoid getting overly involved in dramas, and keep our distance and our balance socially wherever possible.

With anger, aggression, and war planet Mars in smile-and-it-all-goes-away Libra until January 3, keeping our poise and our balance socially is going to be no small feat. We're navigating some major social friction as we close out 2015 and begin 2016.

But it has to be navigated. If Saturn in Scorpio taught us anything, it's that we can't shove this stuff under the rug anymore. It's too damaging. It's too harmful. Someone gets stuck holding the bag. Someone gets hurt. Someone gets stuck processing the heaping helping of unresolved collective emotion, and that simply isn't fair.

Libra and ruling planet Venus, above all, seek what's fair.

So the best way to deal with this mutual reception of Venus and Mars in signs of their detriment as we move through December and close out 2015 is to proactively and realistically deal with whatever we can as it comes up.

You know what? We don't all get along. We shouldn't all come into contact with each other. Some people - even family members - are best avoided. Some social situations are best avoided. Certain combinations of people create a bad reaction. Certain combinations of people are actually dangerous. Certain relationships should have a skull and crossbones sign on them."

Under the progressive (yet inflammatory) energy of the Mars in Libra - Uranus in Aries opposition this December, we can move into this new era of reality-based honesty in relationships of all kinds - so long as we gather the courage to go.

The angsty Venus-Mars mutual reception in signs of detriment, along with transiting Black Moon Lilith in Libra, is designed to draw the poison out of our relationships and social scenes. We can "get real" here in ways that are desperately needed and amazingly freeing.

So hold your true emotional bottom line as we close out 2015, and work from there - even if it is uncomfortable territory.

Encourage and assist others to get to their true emotional bottom lines, as well - even if this is uncomfortable territory.

Stick to the bare bones truth. Don't be triggered into saying too much or getting overly involved in dramatic scenarios. There is a particular caution on this front as transiting Mercury conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn on December 19 (12:56 p.m. CST), squares stationing Uranus in Aries December 20 (9:07 p.m.), and then conjuncts female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene in Capricorn on December 22 (5:05 a.m.).

Words are potent and potentially triggering December 18 - 22. Nonetheless, the air must be cleared in certain arenas!

Everything pushes to a culmination point at the Full Moon on December 24/25 (3 degrees Cancer), followed by the Uranus direct station at 16 degrees Aries, also on December 25. This makes for a fairly energetically over-the-top Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Above all, don't lose the love this holiday season. Hold the love, hold it tight, even for the most difficult of people. Hold the love as we all work out our own emotional bottom lines, as we all work out the complex and intricate machinations of these human hearts.

Happy Solstice, Happy Holidays, and Happy 2016, WWA readers!

This writing, as always, comes to you from my own hardcore, Plutonic punk Venus in Scorpio heart. It is my love to you - straight-up, no chaser.

Monday, December 7, 2015

New Moon in Sagittarius: The Integration of the Sobering Truth Shall Set Us Free

We are currently moving to a 19-degree Sagittarius New Moon, exact at 4:29 a.m. CST on December 11.

The Sun and Moon in Sagittarius generally have a buoyant and inspiring feel to them, indicating an over-arching freedom of spirit that uplifts no matter what our circumstances may be.

The availability of this uplifting energy is a very good thing, as the Moon will be in the sign of its fall - deep, dark, tooth-gnashing Scorpio - leading in to the New Moon on Friday.

The Moon will also form a conjunction to Saturn in Sagittarius as it completes its Balsamic or Dark phase (exact at 9:02 a.m. on December 10), drawing the energy of the "sobering truth" into the proceedings for the following 28-day lunar cycle.

We'll need some cosmic assistance to buoy our spirits as we work with the heavier emotional tenor indicated by this Moon-Saturn conjunction...



The themes outlined in this article will be in effect for the 28-day lunar cycle that ends with the Capricorn New Moon on January 9, 2016.


This is an excerpt from the patron article, "New Moon in Sagittarius: The Integration of the Sobering Truth Shall Set Us Free." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Powering Up Into Full-On Aquarian-Era Relationship Dynamics With Mars and Venus in Cardinal T-Square

Maintain your fences.
Photo: Willow 

Mars is currently transiting Libra (the sign of its detriment) until January 3, 2016, while Venus is also in Libra (the sign of its domicile) until December 4, 2015.

When desire planet Mars is in Libra, we want relationships and a social life, but we also want balance, peace, and harmony.

You can see the conflict right off the bat, considering the often non-peaceful state of human affairs on this planet today...

Mars is often an inflammatory body, and transiting Mars in Libra indicates the possibility of an irritating and sometimes angering effect in the social realms. (Constant war manoeuvres and manipulative false flag events staged by Global Government will do that.) 

A "charged social setting" can be expected under this transit, and Mars will be stirring this particular pot into the new year. Social factioning can also be expected, so navigate the dividing lines as carefully, diplomatically, and peacefully as possible without compromising yourself. 

This is the war planet (Mars) in the sign of peace (Libra). It's the planet of sex and unabashed desire (Mars) in the sign of social niceties and romance (Libra).

Again, you see the conflict.

Both Venus and Mars in Libra are involved in cardinal t-square formations over the next few weeks as they first square Lord of the Underworld Pluto in Capricorn and then oppose radical, revolutionary Uranus in Aries.

Venus will move through the at-times frictional Pluto-Uranus gauntlet exactly from November 20 to 23. This action is sandwiched between Neptune's direct station on November 18 (7 degrees Pisces) and Chiron's direct station November 27 (16 degrees Pisces). Saturn in Sagittarius will also form a square to Neptune in Pisces on November 26.

In addition to the ramping up of the global war machine (or maybe just the mainstream press coverage of it), this indicates a potent shedding process in relationships and in ways of relating as we transition more fully out of Piscean-era relationship constructs, rules, and ideals.  

We're officially busting our relationships and social scenes into cooler, fresher, and more Aquarian-styled territory, as we move deeper into the new eight-year relationship cycle kicked off this past summer with the Venus retrograde in Leo.

Under these aspects, it's possible to leave much of the longing, the pining, the fantasizing, the whinging, and the crying behind us. That Piscean-era sad sack, heart-wrenched, love = pain stuff can be dropped like the stinking pile of crud that it is - but only if we're willing to make the move. 
 
Mars kicks up these relational era-shift themes again as it re-activates the cardinal t-square from December 6 to 10.

If we didn't get the memo the first time around, Mars is going to whip things up into a situation that requires definitive action on our parts.

If we did get the memo, we will be required to hold a hard Aquarian line in relationships and social settings. We're moving ahead. There's no time for karmic loops or love delusions that get us nowhere.

We're looking for self-contained. We're looking for detached yet friendly. We're looking for interactions and relationships that are clean, independent, no hidden strings, no draining dynamics.

We're looking for interactions and relationships that allow us to be exactly who we are, while allowing room for others to be exactly who they are, as well.

We're looking for interactions and relationship dynamics that don't require a pound of flesh. 

A little turbulence - personally, professionally, or both - could be experienced during the acute cardinal t-square periods as we are positioned and oriented for social/relationship success in the new astrological era.

We are now operating under a new relationship rulebook, and these cardinal t-squares give us a little extra push, a little extra courage, to experiment with this and to implement it in our daily lives. We are supported now by the dynamic energy of these transpersonal planets to make moves and to take quantum leaps in relationship that we didn't even think were possible. 

At the same time, human relations have a definite edge to them during these periods of time (November 20 - 23 and December 6 - 10), as we are forced to drop outmoded ways of relating while simultaneously adopting more vital methods.

These are transpersonal planets we're dealing with, so we're dealing with broad, collective shifts and how they trickle down to our personal relations. In other words, this energy has a mind of its own. It has its own blueprint for how things are supposed to look and be in human relationships in the early stages of the astrological Aquarian era, and we have to follow along as closely as we can.

So stand back and insulate yourself from any pissy Plutonic exchanges or dramatics over the next few weeks. They're designed for movement. Some of the "honesty-and-reality checks" coming from others around these times may cut to the core. 

At the same time, open all the doors and windows to facilitate the fresh, Uranian/Aquarian breeze blowing through relationships and social scenes of all kinds.

Relationships, as we bust loose into the rip-roarin' Aquarian era, are harder-angled and more eccentrically-constructed than the Piscean era versions. They're harder to get a handle on. They're more unpredictable, off-and-on, hot-and-cold. They involve unusual (yet exciting) combinations of people. These emerging new-era relations are challenging, to say the least, and this is part of the frustration during the current transit of Mars through Libra. But they're also oh-so-exhilarating.

You mean we don't have to set relationships up in the same, old, stale-ass ways? We don't have to follow the same stultifying social conventions? We don't have to put up with the same old crap? You mean we don't really have to put up with any crap, if we don't choose to?

It's true. Try it.

Things are different now in relationships and in social settings. Who we're attracted to and who is considered a good match for us (in love, friendship, or business) may be shifting dramatically now. What we want and need in relationships and in social settings may be shifting, stripped down to the essentials, to the immediate.

Independence and self-reliance are becoming much more valued traits. "Co-dependence as love" is less attractive by far. 

Don't try to force things (or people) to meet your expectations or long-held ideals. Don't be disappointed if it doesn't look how you thought it would look. This will be many times better.


For more on the sassy little end-of-the-year mutual reception we have with the relationship planets in signs of their detriment: A Couple Welcome Shifts With a Side of Mutual Reception Relational Angst as We Close Out 2015

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Neptune and Chiron Station Direct in Pisces, Bringing the Anesthetic Effect

Psychedelic Haight-Ashbury, no Photoshopping
Photo: Willow


We've just experienced a strong concentration of energy along the Virgo/Pisces polarity, which - this far into fin-de-Piscean-era - can be a bit much to handle.

A Venus-Mars-Jupiter sandwich in Virgo opposite wounded healer Chiron in Pisces was the main event for late October/early November 2015, and we have just barely moved beyond the acute stress and problems kicked up under that configuration. (Both Venus and Mars have now moved into early Libra.)

Jupiter makes everything bigger, while Virgo is related to, among other things, mental stress, worry, and problems. So we have problems (Virgo) being made bigger (Jupiter) and more stressful as one effect of this Jupiter in Virgo transit. Oh, good times.

Coming out of that configuration, we now have both Neptune and Chiron stationing direct in Pisces with Chiron still within range of the opposition to Jupiter (which will be exact again in February and August of 2016), and this can have a bit of a wet blanket effect, depending on your personal astrology.

Physical reality can feel heavy and burdensome as Pisces energy concentrates in the astro atmosphere, and this effect is exacerbated at the moment as the karmic South Node of the Moon has just entered Pisces, as well (November 11). People are under the effect of illusion and delusion more strongly now, and decisions and commitments can be reversed very easily. Things are not entirely as they seem (ahem, watch for those false flags) with Chiron and Neptune in Pisces flooding the psyche so strongly.

Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, though! Take a meditative approach to cleaning, cooking, hygiene, and daily details, and give yourself plenty of praise and encouragement (Jupiter) for completing even the smallest and simplest of tasks (Virgo). You flossed your teeth, cleaned your shower, clipped your fingernails? Go, you!

This is a re-post (with updated transit information) of an article from the last time Neptune and Chiron stationed direct, in November 2014. The themes are still just as applicable:


"Pisces is the sign of the most sublime spiritual bliss and also of the harshest disappointments, loss, and devastation known to humankind. It's the idea of the lotus flower, blossoming beautifully out of some of the dankest and most difficult muck this planet has to offer. It is the idea of being invisibly bound together by the trials and tribulations of the human condition but also by the love, sweet love, that brings us through it all.

All this is woven into our reality this November as we have two bodies stationing direct in Pisces - Neptune (in its home sign) stations direct at 7 degrees Pisces on November 18, while wounded healer Chiron stations direct at 16 degrees Pisces on November 27.

The dual stations in the sign of Pisces can bring some grogginess, some dreaminess, and some general mind fog. Everything is a bit weirder and a bit more surreal under the energy of these stations. The veil between the material and the immaterial is just a bit thinner. Taps on the shoulder from the universe are a bit stronger. We perceive the other side communicating with us a bit more clearly.
 
I've written about Neptune stations in the past, and I will include it here for your perusal. The themes are similar for the Chiron in Pisces station November 27:

From "Neptune Stations Direct and Brings the Foggy, the Floaty, the Wispy, and the Surreal," November 9, 2012:

When a planet appears to slow in the zodiac to station either retrograde or direct, we often experience a palpable concentration of that planet's energy and themes.

Neptune is the planet associated with, among other things, dreams; illusions; spiritual communion and guidance; psychic connection; the unconscious; sublime artistic ability; surreality; escapism; oceans; fluids; flooding; permeation; blind spots; smokescreens; fraud; deception; and addictions...

With stationing Neptune permeating the astro atmosphere, we can expect a few of the following symptoms to be kicked up... 

- Dreams can be much more vivid and involved. They can have a "journeying" quality, as if we have traveled through many other worlds, and we can wake up feeling more tired than when we went to bed. Prophetic or foreshadowing dreams are more common.

- Sleep can be deeper, as if we're falling off into utter abyss and have to drag ourselves out and back into waking life. We may sleep longer or more often than usual, and people can continue to have a sleepy, dreamy quality throughout the waking hours. The standard afternoon coffee just doesn't cut it!

- We can experience disrupted sleep with odd periods of wakefulness in the night.

- "Cosmic winks" and communication from the universe are more apparent. It can sometimes feel as if the radio or TV is communicating directly to you. A stronger than usual feeling that you are not alone.

- Daydreaming increases. Imagery from the mind's eye is clearer and more active than usual and can be distracting in day-to-day life.

- Our psychic space is more permeable when Neptune is strong, and we have to carefully filter the heightened impressions we're receiving.

- People can be more impressionable, easily swayed, and prone to wishful thinking, particularly with love relationships. We can be convinced of things when Neptune is strong that we could not be convinced of at other times. The standard, "What was I thinking?" In the same way that we can believe a dream we've had is real, it's possible to believe things are one way when all logical conclusions (and later, hindsight) would indicate otherwise.

- We can be more easily deceived by people, missing major character flaws because we're blinded by the good in them, by their "spiritual auras," or by their potential.

- Plumbing problems are more likely. A low water level for flushing toilets, in particular, is common during Neptune stations.

- Personal plumbing issues are also more likely. Urinating more than usual or having to use a (hopefully natural) diuretic to assist urination. (Uva Ursi works well.) Urinary tract irritation is more common when Neptune is strong, so avoid soft drinks, caffeine, and alcohol, and increase intake of water and real cranberry juice.

- There can be a strong jonesing for drugs and/or alcohol.

- But we are also more easily altered and affected by drugs and alcohol.

- Food allergies and sensitivities can be heightened. We're craving "fun and easy" foods, but they can have ill effects.

- We can be more sensitive to perfumes and scents.

- There can be a giddy, giggly, intoxicating quality in the air. Neptunian whiffs of ether.

- People can be more sensitive than usual and their feelings more easily hurt. There is stronger sensitivity to the suffering in the world, and people are more easily brought to tears when Neptune is strong. The Neptunian waterworks. People may choose more isolation than usual to offset this heightened sensitivity.

- We can spend money on things, particularly on frivolous things, that we wouldn't ordinarily spend money on. When Neptune is strong, we crave escapism, entertainment, and ease from the daily grind. Pizza delivery and Chinese take-out must see an increase in business!

- The simplest daily tasks can seem irritating and overwhelming. Multi-tasking is more difficult.

- People may embrace their inner dirty hippie and skip a few showers. Personal hygiene is one of those daily tasks that can seem impossibly arduous when Neptune is strong.

- It can be difficult to make ourselves fully understood, as if we are yelling underwater. People may pick up on one layer of what we're saying without grasping the full meaning.

- Generally, a lot of projection is flying around. People could be interacting with their own fabricated versions of who you are, rather than anything based in reality.

- Strongly Neptunian/Piscean people can usually be spotted by a sort of dreamy, shrouded, faraway look around the eyes. The area around the eyes can appear a little shadowed and hollowed-out."

So cut yourself (and others) a little slack this month as the unseen realms demand more of our energy and mental/psychic space. Understand that we're all a little haunted right now, and we're all a little confused at times. Maintain focus (especially while driving!), stay active however you can, even in the smallest of ways, and don't let the Piscean/Neptunian anesthetic effect take you under. 

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Canada's Vested Interest in the Protection of the Nuclear Industry Via Continued Lies About Fukushima

Dana Durnford, the man who spent months documenting missing, sick, and dying marine life along the British Columbia coast, was recently arrested and charged with criminal harassment for calling out two soft-on-nuclear individuals in a YouTube video. (You can see Dana's work at his site, The Nuclear Proctologist, or on his YouTube channel, BeautifulGirlByDana.)

In an ongoing illustration of the backwards-ass world in which we live, a man who is telling the truth about Fukushima is being made a criminal by those who are downplaying the very real dangers of Fukushima fallout, thereby exposing the public to more health risk through ignorance.

The federal government-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported in April 2015 that radioactive fallout from Fukushima had just been detected "on North American shores for the first time."

As is the standard line from establishment media and government regarding Fukushima, the public was told that the findings were no big deal, nothing to worry about.

(The truth is, there is no level of man-made radioactive isotopes that is safe to ingest. It all carries a risk. Even low-level radiation exposure can cause catastrophic health damage.) 

From the article:

"Trace amounts of radiation from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan have been detected on North American shores for the first time, but researchers say the amount of radiation is not a concern."

Two of the "researchers" interviewed in the article, Jay Cullen and Ken Buesseler, are the standard nuclear industry gatekeepers being held up in mainstream media as experts in order to placate the public.

These men, being held up as "experts" on the Fukushima fallout situation in Canada and the U.S., are testing sea water samples, rather than sea life (algae, kelp, fish, seals, whales, etc.) where the radioactivity actually accumulates, to determine the level of contamination. Testing sea water samples is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Their methodology is flawed, making any results they find close to meaningless. But that doesn't stop mainstream media from holding up these Fukushima-downplayers as supposed experts every chance it gets... 

Now, in order to understand the level of lying, manipulation, and complicity among the establishment scientists and media outlets, we have to look to the roots of the situation. We have to look to the allegiances. We have to follow the money trail.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

New Life in the Dark and Dormant Places at the Scorpio New Moon

We experience a New Moon at 19 degrees Scorpio tomorrow at 11:47 a.m. CST, indicating emotional resurrection, mystery, new life brought to dark places, a sexual surge.

Things long dormant start to move. Painful at first, maybe, but the desire for life overpowers the fear or pain. The desire to get out of the dark becomes the strongest motivator there is. If there's a chance that the long night of the soul is over, we'll take it.

New insight, intuition, and soul stirrings open doorways that were previously locked and deadbolted. Places inside ourselves we had locked away - through hurt, neglect, or betrayal - start to come back to life.

The Sabian Symbol for this Moon is a beautiful one: "A Woman Drawing Aside Two Dark Curtains That Closed the Entrance to a Secret Pathway."

Over this next 28-day lunar month, the still and secret places in our psyches and souls can be touched, rejuvenated, resurrected. How incredible. After all that, our souls want to try again.

We simply can't resist.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Happy All Hallow's Eve, All You Ghouls and Goblins, Witches and Gypsies!

SCORP!

I love, love, love this day of the year!

I really just use Hallowe'en as an excuse to wear temporary tattoos, fishnet stockings, and glamourous make-up looks.

Happy Hallowe'en, Merry Samhain, and Enjoy the Entrance into the Dark Half of the Year from your anarchist astro-reporter (and "slightly slutty witch" for my shift at the redneck bar tonight), Willow.

We are under the influence of a lovely and ethereal Grand Water Trine today with the Moon at home in Cancer, the Sun in Scorpio, and Neptune in Pisces. This makes for a very strong spirit component. The spooky/otherworldly vibe we know and love on Hallowe'en is emphasized even further under this Grand Water Trine. The veil between worlds is even thinner. Interesting things can happen with this much water in the skies.




Have a safe and enjoyably spooky night, all!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

A Couple Welcome Shifts With a Side of Mutual Reception Relational Angst as We Close Out 2015

Fall Colours
Photos: Willow



We have a couple energetic shifts on the horizon, which should provide an interesting change, if not relief, exactly.

Taskmaster planet Saturn is currently moving through the tail-end of its retrograde shadow at 3 and 4 degrees Sagittarius and will move into fresh degrees of the zodiac on November 8. As of November 8, Saturn will be in a sort of "clear progress zone," moving through most of the rest of the first decan of Sagittarius in one pass only (from November 8 to December 19, 2015).

This indicates that we are coming into a period of time when we can accomplish some very big things and set down some very important stepping stones - if we are willing to work for our progress. This is as unencumbered as Saturn's movement gets, so let's make good use of it.

This also indicates that there could be some powerful completion and resolution events occurring (internally and/or externally) during the first week of November as Saturn finishes up in the retrograde shadow. Watch for opportunities to lay certain themes to rest - especially as we head into the 19-degree Scorpio New Moon on November 11 - cementing your footing and progress as you do so.

Saturn in early Sagittarius has been a bit tough. We've had a lot to chew on as we came to a point of truth, understanding, and ultimate meaning related to the dark and difficult experiences we've encountered over the past three years of Saturn in Scorpio in mutual reception with Pluto in Capricorn.

But now, as Saturn grinds out the last of the retrograde degrees, we're ready to move on. We're ready for new challenges and structure to take our minds off the sucking black holes we've dug ourselves out of. We've established that first foothold on the other side of Scorpio, on the other side of hell, and we're damn sure going to use it.

We can drop a great deal of the emotional and psychological load now if we can only set our sights on the new and more inspiring territory up ahead. We can move out of the sticky, suffocating tendrils of pitch black emotion and we can drop ties to people and scenarios that have hurt us. But we have to work for it (Saturn). We have to work for brighter skies and for more inspiring and optimistic times in our lives.

Friday, October 16, 2015

A Venus-Mars-Jupiter Conjunction in Virgo Sets a New (And More Low-Key) Tone

The planet of expansion, benefits, and wisdom, Jupiter, entered Virgo on August 11, 2015 where it has been quietly working away ever since.

With Greater Benefic Jupiter transiting practical and down-to-earth Virgo until September 2016, benefits are reaped for humility, attention to detail, efficiency, moderation, preparation, and hard work.

None of those things are naturally associated with Jupiter, however, a planet with the keywords: big, grand, expansive, jovial, and exuberant. Jupiter likes to go big or go home. It wants to drink the sweet, sweet nectar of every last experience it can experience on this planet...and then some.

But in Virgo, and with restrictive Saturn transiting Jupiter's sign of Sagittarius at the very same time, our lust for life has to be refined a little (or a lot, depending on the person and the degree of life-lusting we're talking about).

This year, while Jupiter is transiting Virgo, we're rewarded for putting health, work, and service considerations first.

We're rewarded for foregoing that last cocktail, that last doughnut, or that last hour of late-night reading in favour of some extra rest and rejuvenation. (We're rewarded even more if we cut our vices and indulgences out altogether...)

Virgo is a sign that loves to work. For the most part, it rests only so that it can get back to work. It takes care of health only so that it can be a lean, mean, optimum working machine.

("BOR-ING!" says Jupiter.)


This is an excerpt from the article, "A Venus-Mars-Jupiter Conjunction in Virgo Sets a New (And More Low-Key) Tone." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased for $5.50 at PayPal or through email money transfer.  

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Aloe Cadabra

I believe my readers are forward-thinking enough to handle this post, so here goes...

I recently found a great natural/organic product and was excited to learn that I can also sell and promote it myself.

It is a product called Aloe Cadabra, a natural and organic lubricant designed to enhance "adult love times" in the bedroom.

This stuff is the best!

There are no chemicals in it, and it is not greasy or sticky. It is made with 95% aloe vera, which has been used as a medicine and health aid for centuries. The other ingredients are all consumable, and it has been designed not to disrupt pH.

This product is good for anyone who wants to add a little something to their bedroom activities, but it is especially good for new mothers and menopausal or post-menopausal women.

It comes in Unscented (my fave) or Lavender scent, as well as Peppermint, Pina Coloda, and Tahitian Vanilla flavours.

According to the company, once opened, a bottle should be used within three months due to the lack of preservatives and chemicals (a good thing).  

There is free shipping in the United States if you purchase three or more bottles.

And if you use my affiliate coupon code at the online check-out, you will receive 25% off your first purchase:

AFWillow 

I don't want to sound like an infomercial or anything, but I really am excited to be involved with this product. I would never use conventional brands of lubricant after trying Aloe Cadabra. 

If interested, please visit the website, and don't forget the coupon code:

 

Aloe Cadabra


Saturday, October 10, 2015

A Check-In with the Asteroids

The major asteroids (along with dwarf planet Ceres) generally do their thing in the background of the primary astrological discourse. Becoming more strongly aware of their positioning in both the natal chart and in the current transits can illuminate their themes so that we can both support and be supported by the activity of these feminine bodies.

Earth Mother dwarf planet Ceres is currently moving direct through late Capricorn after a retrograde period from June 3 to September 14, 2015. This indicates that we nurture others most deeply now by taking care of business, and we are nurtured ourselves by those who do the same. We are nurtured and supported by those who keep a stiff upper lip, working diligently to get the job done, and we nurture others by displaying that same commitment to excellence. Responsibility, structure, and the successful meeting of goals, especially financial and business-related goals, are nourishing to us now. Ceres in Capricorn indicates that we are traversing areas where women or the feminine force can take stronger leadership roles, and this includes with food, agriculture, and purchasing power.

Women and the feminine force are coming into stronger authority within the structures as they exist. This is happening out of necessity more than anything else. This position is cemented as Ceres stationed direct at 25 degrees Capricorn on September 14, 2015, completing the transit of Capricorn October 27. 


This is an excerpt from the article, "A Check-In with the Asteroids." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

A Decidedly Feminine Grand Fire Trine Forms For Equinox: Take Full Advantage

 Hallowe'en Preview!
Witchy Woman

Venus (love/females) in Leo, Pallas Athene (female warrior) in Sagittarius, and Uranus (revolution/shaking things up) in Aries are currently forming a gorgeous and dynamic Grand Fire Trine strongly in effect through the end of this upcoming week.

All three bodies are forming flowing, 120-degree aspects to each other from the fire signs, indicating creativity, exuberance, and inspiration as we move through equinox and into fall in the northern hemisphere. (The Sun enters Libra, marking equal hours of light and dark, on September 23.)

Venus in Leo forms an exact trine to Pallas Athene at 18 degrees Sagittarius on September 20/21 and then moves into an exact trine to Uranus at 19 degrees Aries on September 22.

Pallas Athene in Sagittarius forms an exact trine to Uranus at 19 degrees Aries on September 24.

All this indicates that the female/feminine force is leading the way in creating a future we'd actually like to live through on this planet. Join this heart-surge, and blaze your own path through.

Venus in Leo is just getting back up to full speed direct after a retrograde period from July 25 to September 6. We are officially in a new eight-year creative cycle, and things are absolutely ripe for new creations, new styles, and new ways of showing our love to the world (and to ourselves). Reach to the full depth and breadth of your heart, and express what is there. You will not be sorry.

Take some risks with your personal style, clothing, hair, make-up, or artistic pursuits this week. Try a new look that you've been contemplating for a while. We're expressing the Aquarian-era versions of ourselves now, and a little shake-up of personal style and expression proves refreshing and catalytic.  

Saturn has just re-entered Sagittarius (September 17), coming out of hell-friendly late Scorpio, and this in and of itself is reason to play a little!

With the influence of the female warrior in Sagittarius, there's some battling of patriarchal b.s. involved here. There's also some battling within ourselves as we reveal - and live - our own truth and nothing else, shedding internalized rules that need no longer apply in our lives or in our selves.

There is freedom from old ways, selves, constructs, and relationships here. Just pick up your own creative thread and go with it. Delight yourself, and you will delight the world. (Or at least, those who are important for you to delight.)
 
Catch the wave from the gorgeous fire energy this upcoming week, and be you, fabulous you.

Take no prisoners. Make no excuses. There's no one else quite like you. Show this to the world this week. Be radically yourself, come what may.

Shine on, beauties!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Saturn Re-Enters Sagittarius

Saturn is now completing its last couple days in inky-potent late Scorpio, re-entering Sagittarius on September 17 at 8:49 p.m. CST, where it will remain until December 20, 2017.

Saturn is still moving through its retrograde shadow at this time, meaning the challenges on our plates are somewhat familiar to us. We've been working on them for a while. 

Saturn will now move through the first four degrees of Sagittarius, bringing challenge, progress, and/or resolution related to events and situations that first gained prominence in our lives from late December 2014 to mid-March 2015. 

Saturn clears its retrograde shadow on November 7, 2015, entering the next leg of its journey in the sign of the sage. 

I will take the opportunity to re-post an excerpt from my article on the Saturn in Sagittarius transit. Please note: this is not a new article. It was originally released at the beginning of January 2015. For readers who are not patrons, the article is available in its entirety for $12 by PayPal or by email money transfer.

 
Saturn in Sagittarius: Freeing Suppressed Truths With Our Blazing Arrows of Righteousness - originally posted on the blog January 2, 2015


Saturn in Sagittarius December 23, 2014 - December 20, 2017
Saturn retrograde March 14 – August 1, 2015
Saturn is back in Scorpio June 14 - September 17, 2015

Pallas Athene in Sagittarius December 28, 2014 - November 1, 2015
Pallas Athene retrograde period April 20 - August 11, 2015 


With Saturn transiting Sagittarius, there is certain knowledge we absolutely must have in order to navigate the times successfully. If we do not already have this knowledge securely under our belts, we must obtain it step-by-step over the next three years.

Over the next three years, we will be confronted - personally and collectively - with situations that bring us to a broader understanding of the truth. This will not always be pleasant. Contrary to what many may believe, we are not promised a walk-in-the-park Saturn transit just because the taskmaster planet has moved on from deep, dark Scorpio. There will be a lightening of emotional and psychological loads in some ways, but challenges certainly remain.

We are challenged to build on what we learned and saw and came to understand while Saturn in Scorpio was holding our noses in the corrupt power structures and difficult emotional/psychological subtext of Planet Earth.

We cannot just forget about it and go searching for greener pastures elsewhere - though many will try...

Fear Driving People to Regressive Belief Systems and Figureheads 

Coming through the sometimes bleak awareness of down-and-dirty reality on Planet Earth brought front and centre by the Saturn in Scorpio transit, people will be searching for meaning, for a candle in the window, for something to buoy their spirits. But we do not find these things without effort (Saturn). Strong caution is advised if new meaning and solace are found too quickly or seemingly too easily...

Animal and Nature Guides - What They're Showing Us Isn't Always Pretty  


The situation with sea life in the Pacific Ocean is another instance where the animals are telling us things that aren’t very pretty. In fact, they’re pretty horrifying. Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster began in March 2011, sea life has been disappearing from the Pacific, most visibly in the tidal pools. Not a single baby orca whale has survived off the West Coast since 2011. Multiple animals are showing up sick, convulsing, with lesions. Multiple populations are collapsing. The sea life in the Pacific is screaming for our attention, and this will continue throughout the Saturn in Sagittarius transit...

Being able to penetrate the rhetoric of establishment academics, scientists, physicians, and media with the cold, hard facts is an ability we will need if we are to be successful moving forward from here.

This is an excerpt from the article "Saturn in Sagittarius: Freeing Suppressed Truths With Our Blazing Arrows of Righteousness," originally sent out to patrons January 2, 2015. It is a 7,100+-word document of astrology magic describing themes and aspects associated with the three-year transit of Saturn through Sagittarius. 

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Mercury Retrograde Basics

Mercury retrograde symptoms are popping up a little early as we move through the first of three squares between Mercury in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn (exact today), and this provides a good opportunity to re-post this article on Mercury retrograde basics:

Three times per year, Mercury appears to stop in the sky and then move backward through the zodiac for three weeks before turning direct again. This period of time is called a Mercury retrograde, and it is becoming known by more and more people – even those who are not usually interested in astrology.

Some of the most marked characteristics of Mercury retrograde periods are: information-related confusion or mistakes, plans changing, people changing their minds after receiving new information, difficulty communicating or connecting, and glitchy electronics.

Mercury will station retrograde at 15 degrees Libra on September 17 (12:09 p.m. CST), and it will remain retrograde until turning direct again at 0 degrees Libra on October 9 (8:58 a.m.). Mercury will be moving slowest on the days around the stations (September 15 - 19 and October 7 - 11), and these periods of time could be particularly frustrating with confusion, mental stress, and communication breakdowns.

Traditionally, Mercury retrograde is not considered a good time to sign contracts, make deals, or solidify plans. This is a period of time when we are going back over things, coming into new information and perspective that we may have missed the first time around, and it’s very common to change our minds – sometimes more than once – during this three-week period. It’s a “thinking it over” period of time as we gather, disseminate, and process more information. For this reason, making hard-and-fast decisions during Mercury retrograde can be difficult, if not impossible. We have to be very adaptable, adjusting as perspectives and plans change.

Our minds are basically moving in reverse during Mercury retrograde, and we’re required to slow our brains down. This can be challenging during these often-frenetic times with people glued to cell phones, computers, and social media. However, Mercury retrograde is definitely not a time to push full speed ahead mentally, verbally, or with written communication, or Mercury retrograde “symptoms” will pop up.

Some of the glitchy aspects of Mercury retrograde periods include:

- Communication problems, delays, glitches, mistakes, and misinformation, both written and verbal.

- Telephone lines, internet, TV, radio, faxes, electronics, and computers can go a bit haywire: delayed connections, e-mails or texts that don’t go through, messages sent to the wrong people or messages that seem to disappear into thin air, slow or no internet connections, computer programs that refuse to work, television and telephone problems.

- Transportation problems with both private vehicles and public transportation. Transportation break-downs are more likely. Transportation may be late. We may take the wrong turn. We may receive the wrong directions. Air travel during Mercury retrograde can be especially challenging.

- People have a harder time understanding each other. We're forced to slow down or go back over things in an effort to be understood. We may have to repeat ourselves. Misunderstandings are common that have to be ironed out during or after the Mercury retrograde.

- A feeling of déjà vu: didn’t I just say that? Didn’t we already talk about this? Things come back up for review and revision during Mercury retrograde. Old conversations, connections, ideas, and information come up for a second look. We rediscover crucial information that perhaps we didn’t realize was important before, and we receive missing details so that we can move forward with plans once Mercury goes direct.

- A lot of mental processing related to what’s going on in our lives. "My brain hurts." Headaches, stiff necks, mental overload, and burnout are possible during Mercury retrogrades if we don’t consciously slow things down. Overactive minds can keep us up at night.

- General delays and a feeling that things have slowed down. Having to wait on things, especially electronics.

- Any job involving information or working with the public can be especially stressful during Mercury retrograde periods. This includes reporters, writers, teachers, administrators, data entry, waitresses, bartenders, retail, other service workers, and any job that involves some degree of public speaking or information processing.

So remember: slow it down a little. Don’t force a lot of new information between your ears at this time. Mercury retrograde periods (including the shadow periods when Mercury is in degrees of the zodiac to which it will return during the retrograde) are periods of review and revisiting information and details we may have missed the first time around.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Mercury Retrograde in Libra and Wrapping Our Minds Around this Summer's Big, Bold Venus Retrograde

Mercury retrograde September 17 - October 9 from 15 to 0 degrees Libra

Venus has just gone direct at 14 degrees Leo (September 6), and we begin in earnest a new eight-year cycle pertaining to love, relationships, values, aesthetic, and money.

This is a complex one, however, with Venus forming squares to Saturn and conjunctions to Jupiter. Getting this new cycle off the ground successfully is going to take a little more time and a little more effort. There are layers upon layers here.

The summer of 2015 was very intense and very concentrated. As with most Venus retrograde periods, it was also bittersweet. An eight-year relationship cycle was coming to a close, and many relationships were coming to a close with it. Many break-ups were announced and acted upon, including, with the strong influence of Saturn, long-term couples. In my community of less than 300 people, three long-term married couples separated over this Venus retrograde summer.


This is an excerpt from the article, "Mercury Rx in Libra and Wrapping Our Minds Around this Summer's Big, Bold Venus Retrograde." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Clutch Positions

 Hexagon Astrology Magazine being enjoyed in the Canadian grasslands
Photos: Willow's Mama

With the planet of karma and heavy challenges (Saturn) on the inky-potent final degree of Scorpio until September 17, we are in clutch position, friends. Don't underestimate the power or potency of this position, despite its potential difficulty.

If we work diligently and dig deeply enough, we have the ability to set things right on emotional, psychological, financial, sexual, energy exchange, and power-sharing levels in ways that will release us and heal us (and others) in desperately necessary ways.

We're working ourselves out of some very old traps. 

Saturn on this degree of Scorpio really throws it down. This is the power of being utterly honest with ourselves so that we can be honest with others. It's the power of living an authentic life without the life-wrecking disturbances of artifice, manipulation, or deceit. It's the courage to address and solve some major structural problems that have long drained our energy and time.

We are running into multiple instances of structural energy deficit now - people being asked to give too much with too little support or help or money or recognition received in return. This dynamic is built right into hierarchical power structures (particularly involving the money system), and it feeds those structures, allowing them to continue. The structures as they exist have been set up in this way so that some people are asked to give too much and work too hard, while others simply enjoy the spoils of that imbalance.

This is the basic structure of consumer capitalism these days, trickling down to human relationships, family dynamics, and many other aspects of life within a consumer capitalist society. This energy deficit has been built right into "the way of things," and we are forced to confront and change this however we can as Saturn transits the final degree of "merged energy" Scorpio.

With Pluto (poison, hell, impetus for transformation) halfway through the sign of Capricorn (structures, government, business), most of the current structures don't function unless there are people running themselves into the ground with other people benefiting from it.

Saturn at 29 Scorpio challenges us to expose these unsustainable and unfair dynamics, choosing to re-structure things in a way that is more free, just, and energetically righteous. Determining exactly how to accomplish this is easier said than done, but we're feeling it out every step of the way.

This is ancestral stuff, too, the stuff of the soul lineage, and we have the opportunity to release the spirits of all those who have been enmeshed and ensnared in the same traps of the human condition.  As we work our own way out of unsatisfactory and stultifying dynamics, our work benefits others, as well, including in the spirit realms.

We're releasing some old, trapped ghosts, too.

Scorpio is an intuitive sign. It's about feeling things out down to the very last twinge, trusting our own radar, and having the courage to take decisive action on the things we are feeling and sensing.

So we are tasked with waiting and feeling things out and being patient until the natural solution (or the next step toward the natural solution) comes up to the surface and makes itself known.

There is a karmic inevitability to things now. Things have been set in motion in ways that cannot be entirely altered.

To a great extent, our current circumstances have been determined by the decisions made and movements taken by others in the past. We're working with elements of tradition, elders, structure, and long-time protocol.

Now, we have a profound chance to grind out a new course, to progress beyond long-ingrained patterns, to change our lives, relationships, and the world at large in foundational ways. To make things better, less hellish.

Think: a long-time victim of domestic abuse finally collects the strength, energy, will, resources, and courage to leave her/his relationship for good. No going back. No being reeled back in. It's just over. It's just done. There's no more pull, no more attraction to being treated like that. It's simply time to move on with Saturn at 29 Scorpio.

However, we also have the opportunity to carry forward a whole lot of bullshit and emotional/psychological hell for the next 28 years if we'd rather avoid the lessons, challenges, and growth work that Saturn at 29 Scorpio has placed on our laps.

As stated, this is a very decisive moment. It's a clutch position that in many ways determines our emotional, psychological, and perhaps financial comfort (or lack thereof) for almost 30 years, including for loved ones after we are gone. It determines whether things are set on the right energetic foundation or whether we allow our weakness or laziness or fear or just plain fatigue to sabotage things.

Scorpio is a sign of transformation and change brought about by often brutal confrontations with reality. Basically, with Scorpio, the situation as it stands is so detrimental to our emotional, psychological, and/or soul health that we'd rather die than stay where we are. Scorpio is just that hardcore, yes. It's a matter of life or death, even if it is soul death rather than physical death.

With Saturn on 29 Scorpio, we are determining the moves we must make now, despite their difficulty or fearfulness, in order to set things right in our lives for the long-term.

And with love, money, value, and relationship planet Venus stationing direct in Leo (September 6), kicking off a new eight-year relationship cycle, we are looking to set things right in matters of the heart, in particular.

Scorpio and its ruling planet Pluto involve "moth-to-flame" themes with a tendency to attractions and compulsions that just aren't good for us. Something in us is attached to the energy of it, can't let it loose no matter how much we may desire to do so.

With Saturn on the final degree of Scorpio, an area it will not revisit for another 28 years, we are being tested on these moth-to-flame attractions. We are being confronted by some of our deepest fears, along with the knowledge that some of these fears are actual reality. We're also being tested to see whether we will pick an "older and wiser" path this time or whether we go right back into that flame. 

We must take absolute responsibility for our attractions as well as for the ripple effects our actions have in the minds and emotions of others close to us. 

The 29th degree of any sign, also referred to as the anaretic degree, is a very tired degree. It's an "old soul" degree. It can't take much more of this crap.

So be gentle with yourselves and others as we all work our way out of dynamics of structural energy deficit, as we all work our way out of unsatisfactory relationship dynamics, as we all work our way out of the tail-end of the mindfucks brought to us during the Saturn in Scorpio transit (October 2012 to September 2015).

We can change things with Saturn on 29 Scorpio, but there is no energy to waste. In fact, there is barely enough energy to get us through. If we're careful, cunning, and courageous, we can set things on a new and better course this September. We can eliminate the energy-sucking traps and moth-to-flame draws and seal those suckers out of the framework of our lives and relationships for good.

We're too old and tired for that shit anymore, anyway.

We will receive a progress report from late October 2015 through early March 2016, after Saturn has re-entered Sagittarius, as the personal planets transit Scorpio. Remember one of Saturn's laws: diligence now makes for an easier time of it later.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The Fear

 Photos: Willow


Saturn is currently sitting on the end of the sign of Scorpio, stirring up a whole mess of fear. This is "deepest, darkest fears" territory, which is rarely any fun at all.

Saturn is completing the final weeks of its mutual reception with Lord of the Underworld Pluto in Capricorn, so you had to expect a little something nightmarish with this Grand Finale double dose of Scorpio/Capricorn and Saturn/Pluto.

The fears (depression/paranoia/dread) could seem to come out of nowhere, dug up by the relentlessly slow motion of Saturn regaining speed after the August 1 direct station at 28 degrees Scorpio.

Saturn hasn't gained much speed or distance since then (think "relentless crawl"), so we could be feeling quite stuck under the same old challenges that seem to have no easy solutions. The gut-churning emotional and psychological challenges could be quite thick until Saturn breaks into lighter territory in Sagittarius on September 17. When Saturn re-enters Sagittarius at 8:49 p.m. CST that night, the transit of Saturn through Scorpio as well as the mutual reception to Pluto in Capricorn are officially complete.

For now, we're locked in. Dreadful Saturn has us in its grip.

Malefic planet Mars in Leo is closing in on a frictional square to malefic planet Saturn in Scorpio, which will not be exact until September 25 when both planets have (mercifully) ingressed mutable signs (Mars into Virgo and Saturn into Sagittarius). But this slowly-forming square between the two malefic (ie. potentially less pleasant) planets in the fixed signs of Leo and Scorpio could stir fears and frustrations to almost intolerable points over the next month.

Mars square Saturn indicates a feeling of being between a rock and a hard place with nowhere beneficial to turn. One way is hard, the other way even harder. Our movement and personal will can be painfully constricted under the influence of this aspect. Our challenges and "what we have to do in the world" can seem overwhelming. We're just sitting under it all, spinning our wheels.

Saturn has a way of convincing us that our troubles are always going to be this hard, that life is always going to be this difficult. (Not the case!) But with Mars rubbing up against Saturn in Scorpio in a frictional way over this next month, certain points will seem acutely difficult, if not impossible, to navigate.

This is said not to scare anyone - just that there is nothing "wrong" with you if you experience some difficult or frustrating points between now and late September.

Saturn has the ability to make the things it touches concrete, real, material. And our deepest, darkest fears are sometimes proving more real than we would like under the tail end of this Saturn in Scorpio transit.

These could be fears we may have thought were already confronted, settled, resolved, and accepted but are now circling round to get at us again, and this can be depressing.

(Saturn is back where it was in December 2014.)

It's difficult to see our way out of this glut of fear (though we will work our way out of it). In many ways, we have to accept the things we see and sense. The stone-cold reality on Planet Earth is not much of a comfort these days once you lift all the rocks and look in all the nooks and crannies.

But one comfort we have is this: we're not alone with this terrifying mess. We're all struggling with the icy, suffocating grip of fear at times. We're all existing under the weight and karma of Saturn in tail-end Scorpio. Personal challenges can seem insurmountable now to the vast majority of people on this planet, not just to you and me.

So when it seems there's nowhere to turn to make it feel any better, when Saturn is hell-bent on exposing our terrors, as it is now, we have to endure with the understanding that there are those who shoulder it alongside us. We're all struggling with the sickly grip of personal terror and collective horror at times. How could we not be considering the state of things on this planet? Facades indicating otherwise can easily be cracked by just one more event going awry.

Don't let the fear isolate you. You're never alone with this.

It's not all bad, either:

Benefic love planet Venus Rx forms a conjunction with malefic Mars at 14 degrees Leo on August 31 (11:04 p.m. CST), providing a little boost of love, support, and fire. The Venus-Mars conjunction is often considered a boon for relationships with the feminine and masculine planets coming together.

Lovely Venus goes direct at 14 Leo on September 6 (2:29 a.m.), and the love, money, and relationship planet moving forward again should come as a relief - or at least provide a change of pace.