Greetings starseeds and wise ones! This week has been tricky energetically with an abundance of Scorpio energy darkening things up a bit. This looks like stuff coming up left and right that folks have to tread forward and work through. We as humans have a natural tendency to hide from those parts of ourselves that are "scary" or "bad" but when you run from them they leak out into other areas of life and then mirrored right back to us in the workplace, the bedroom and in our relationships with others. This is the time to breathe and be with the process even when things that tough. Without a doubt we'll all make it through this Scorpio season more resilient and ready for whatever life presents us with. On the positive side, Mercury is going into Sagittarius this week which should at the very least allow us to observe the absurdity of everything and hopefully allow us to laugh in the face of fear. This week is full of degree changes which will at the very least shift some of the dodgy energy around.
The North Node changes degrees this week from 21 to 20 degrees of Leo. This transit exists to open our hearts collectively, even if it means the universe has to use heavy machinery to do so. North Node is indicative of destiny or fate, and the destiny or fate of this movement through Leo is for the collective heart to become opened and stay open. On an individual level, people have been put into all of our lives right now to teach us the lesson of radical love and compassion; to show us that even though sometimes you don't like someone, as an extension of the divine it is preferred to love them anyway.
The following is an excerpt from my favorite book Inside Degrees by Ellias Lonsdale about the 21st and 20th degree of Leo.
"LEO 21 A holly bush covered with berries. It is in the snow. Ornamental display and deep underpinnings. Within the karmic theater you perform to the hilt as your best self and your worst self grappling with each other in extreme mutual polarization. The witnessing intelligence is far removed from this dramatization, and registering every nuance from beyond. Within the precincts of the drama there is also a compulsion to go against form and show the other side, against what is expected or assumed. Yet as the observer beholds this very compulsion, it is minor and trivial, only a personality quirk. The inward wisdom drives you, the karmic performer, to outdo yourself in switching and reversing polarities. But ultimately you are not amused and archly await steps toward maturity and the dawning of ability to see through yourself on the spot. Which is a very difficult and advanced state and the only one that inspires and urges onward this quixotic combination of outward entrapment and inward fair witnessing with the utmost dispassion.
LEO 20 A black pearl hidden in an oyster. Working very hard to find again what is lost, to get at what is conspicuously missing, it takes tremendous inner forces to restore the pearl. But most of all, you must vanquish your pride and acknowledge from the core of your being that going through this world without your deep soul intact is hell. If you seek, you shall find. If you ache, you shall come to a restored wholeness. But not without the suffering, the grief, and the facing of the void; initiation in the depths. It is a superb path if you have the courage and stamina for it. But midstream it is cauterizing, corrosive, and deadly; appearances are deceptive; nothing is as it might seem for a while. What matters supremely is guts and integrity."
- What is interesting to me is that the 20th degree of Leo- the "black pearl" that Lonsdale speaks of is something that we can find through understanding and evolving past the lessons of Scorpio. Looking straight into the void will bring us closer to restoring the black pearl, the deep soul.
Saturn also switches degrees this week, from the 24th to the 25th degree of Sagittarius. Saturn is almost done with Sagittarius so people with heavy Sagittarius placements (or a Sagittarius rising like myself) will be jumping for joy! Hopefully, we'll have mastered putting philosophies into actions in realistic ways and will have retained a good amount of spiritual integrity. Saturn in Capricorn will put roadblocks in our path that require sobering discernment and will test our newfound spiritual integrity only to make it that much stronger in the grand scheme of things.
Here's what Lonsdale has to say about the 24th and the 25th degrees of Saturn in Sagittarius.
"SAGITTARIUS 24 A statue of Isis covered by a transparent veil. The one who lives inside is awash in colors, tones, and symbolic ritual displays of an extraordinarily precise attunement to the heart and soul of ancient wisdom. You are suspended in a long-ago time. So much of your being is still back there. The evolution of the world since the ancient times is neither acknowledged nor accommodated in any way. It all depends upon whether this exquisite gift of soul remembrance is honored or exploited. If it is exploited, which is so very tempting, the life empties out of meaning and value and becomes false and repulsive. If it is honored, the expanded faculties on tap become revitalized and find a fresh relevance. As the Divine Feminine reveals what we need to know and draws us to our utmost capacity, it is with an unfallen grace of sensing directly into the deepest parts of people and all they can become in the ancient future just ahead.
SAGITTARIUS 25 A small boat with no one in it. It is gradually drifting out to sea. When life is a dream, not too much of selfhood is asked for or welcome. Ancestors, previous lifetimes, collective currents feed the dream, keep it alive. The self hugs a secretive outpost of neither being with nor being against. One of the remarkable things that happens is that spirit can speak and reveal much. One of the habits which easily proliferates here is to take no responsibility for anything. And one of the primal paths through is to drift deeper down in and to let all ego go, yet move with the soul as it is guided to each and every place it is meant to travel."
- This degree change is particularly interesting because we are called to receive the message that the divine feminine has to teach us and then we are asked to strip down to our bare bones and be humble, to strip away the ego and see what we are guided towards. Scorpio season will bulldoze any ego or pride anyway, may as well get it out of the way early.
Uranus moves from 26 to 25 degrees of Aries as it continues on through its retrograde period. This is the degree interpretation for these degrees:
"ARIES 26 The man in the moon smiling. Living on the edge. Poised at many brinks. Swept up in a tide of changes--chaotic and magnificent. Everywhere at once, you are creative and generative, overwhelmed and overstimulated, but primarily exulting in yourself and your emergent capacities. Falling in love with the dance of destiny you find yourself in. Ecstatic release in being able to catch the spark as it flies. Very fast, very strong, very remarkable, and knowing it.
ARIES 25 A great dragon asleep in a cave. Storing up for centuries all of the best goodies for the time when they are needed, meanwhile, you are cast loose between source and destination, buffeted by strange winds and held firmly between the ancient past and the near future. Karmically held in the balance. Truly having nothing to do until waiting is fulfilled. But where there is nothing to do, mischief and mayhem proliferate. You participate in karmic scenarios, elaborate dramatizations, variations on the theme of nobody home and nothing happening yet. Supremely restless while deeply restful. If there should come a time when all the signal flares go off and give the go ahead, your stored up power and resources shall prove to be absolutely incredible. From way back when to the promised time, you feel a projectile of intent to hold on no matter what. In a cross between a crazy deal and the purest vows of commitment not to push the river and to wait for the universal waters to flood their banks and bring you back alive, right on time for futures unlimited."
- This shift is asking that we conserve our energies and resources of all kinds for when they matter most. Ego takes energy and so does avoiding going inside of yourself when prompted for old dust to be eradicated.
On Monday, the moon moves into Pisces and will cross over Neptune, intensifying our creative and spiritual yearnings, even just for a day. We may feel a little bit low on energy and in that event it's a great day to rest and take it easy. Allowing yourself to just be instead of consistently doing is a great day to honor this short-term lunation.
Wednesday, the moon moves into Aries which will increase our ability to speak up for and take care of ourselves. The moon here could indicate a little bit more physical energy than normal, contributing to the building up of energy leading to the full moon in Taurus on Saturday.
On Thursday, Saturn in Sagittarius makes a square aspect to Chiron in Pisces. This is definitely one of the tougher transits this week because it reminds us of where we are hurting and reverberates echoes of why we're not good enough in the eyes of society. This is where our idealizations and our fantasies may not be held up realistically. The silver lining with this aspect is that Mercury in Scorpio is making a positive aspect to Chiron, allowing us to brainstorm and open up ways to make our dreams fit within the realm of reality, we just have to listen to our intuition and our soul's deepest yearnings and get our logical mind on the same page to align the real versus ideal and our inner child with our inner adult.
On Friday, the moon will move into Taurus while Venus in Libra makes a positive aspect to Saturn in Sagittarius and the Sun in Scorpio positively aspects Neptune in Pisces. These transits add some ease to Thursday's Saturn-Chiron square- Taurus gives us the ability to ground everything we're going through out into our body, using nature, the right foods and the five senses. Venus in Libra making a positive aspect to Saturn in Sagittarius will allow our creative ideals and our need for balance to fuse with the realistic possibilities, lifting up some of the road blocks and the red tape. Scorpio Sun positively aspecting Neptune in fellow water sign Pisces will cause the life force and the energy in all of us to be exerted in a creative direction, but also this is a nice opportunity to find some radical compassion and understanding for ourselves and those in our lives, even those who are making our life challenging.
Saturday is the full moon in Taurus! This full moon is asking us whether or not what is material and what is spiritual aligns and if not, what will it take to get us there with full integrity? This can also be understood as using our five senses as a vehicle for spiritual development- to sink a little deeper into our souls to understand what has been uncovered so far in Scorpio season, to heal ourselves physically and tangibly from the trauma and the hard times that this season presents us with. Around this time most years wounds are opened or re-opened for us to go back and deal with them and Taurus is calling for us to be extremely present in our physical body for whatever comes up.
Relationships may take an interesting turn on this special full moon day because Venus in Libra is going to be opposing Uranus in Aries. This aspect represents personal freedom in relationships as well as insights and innovations into the future of our romantic partnerships, family relationships and friendships. Uranus aspects usually come with surprises in unexpected directions, so it's a good day to prepare for some adjustment but to allow the intuitions and the insights to come into your frame of reference just to notice them and especially to notice where they hit your body (adage to the moon in Taurus).
On Sunday, levity finally comes into our minds and our hearts as Mercury, planet of logical thought, communication and work, enters into Sagittarius. Finally we will be able to zoom out a little bit more to see the bigger picture of where everything is headed and find some humor in any and every situation. The thoughts and feelings could be a little all over the place as the moon moves into Gemini, directly opposing this new Mercury transit. The moon in Gemini can be slightly neurotic surrounding the details of certain situations and is definitely one to stress out or ruminate on conversations. To use these opposing forces to your benefit, Sunday is a great day to get things done while playing devils advocate, asking yourself the important questions and holding the bigger picture and the details in your mind at the same time, not allowing anything that needs attention to fall through the cracks.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy and above all else, regardless of whatever happens, have compassion for yourself.