New Moon Journal

Being stalked at this new moon

At this new moon in Sagittarius on December 9th, 2007 a stellium of planets [Sun, Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Pluto]¹ are stalking my first and second houses [this is me and this is what I am worth, self-worth]. Can I share it is not a good time to aggravate me, yet that is apparently what the Universe has in store. Oh my.

In the news there are stories of people losing their tempers in a flash and saying something they regret. Imus on steroids. One shamanic friend set some much needed boundaries in her community, she blew her fuse and at the exact same moment the power went out in her neighborhood. Good news- there was a healing. Like her I am finding it increasing difficult to hold back and not mince my words. Here is my New Moon SoulCollage® for Sagittarius:

Jupiter’s Shadow
I am the One who Consumes
Buy this and that
fill up with this and that.
Spend too much,
Eat too much.
All because I feel
Not enough.

What do I want?
What do I need?

No more she shouts
quietly to herself,
I’ll sit here
Let myself be.
Discoveries...
I will not run myself
ragged this holiday.

Superwoman
is just a costume
I use to wear.
It doesn’t fit me
any longer.
For today, silence and faith
in myself and my God
that is my
this and that.

Saturn in Sagittarius Looking for your truth in all the wrong places

Saturn moved through Sag from January 1956 through January 1959 and November 1985 through February 1988

Pluto has been in the sign Sagittarius since 1995 and leaves to move into the sign Capricorn next month. Pluto transforms us from within, the Cosmic garbage collector, rules death and rebirth. As an agent of transformation he doesn’t just go away. Pluto is our collective get out of Hell ticket so we can share our story through transformation. Pluto is the change agent for our rigid black and white thinking; our shadow issues, those things we want to hide. Pluto is the task master over the crap of our shame represented by the seven deadly sins- pride, wrath, greed, envy, lust, gluttony, sloth. The offenses against Love.

“Pluto burns away the conditioned voice of family and society that limits our vision of what is possible for us and for the world.” (Casey, p. 99)

Read the rest of this post via the New Moon Journal pdf

Saturn and the 7 year itch

“I am not getting married until I am 28 years old; who wants to be just a housewife? A woman doesn’t need to ‘get married’ to be her own person. Marriage stifles her creativity.” These words barely escape my 17 year old mouth when Mr. G my high school history teacher lets out a huge belly laugh, “Bailey, some man will sweep you off your feet and you’ll drop all that feminism stuff to walk down the isle in a heart beat!”

Mr. G was right.

Two years later, in the spring of 1975, we find our feminist a college freshman at UF. One evening a tall shaggy haired frat boy, reeking of cologne, dressed in his finest baby blue bell bottom pants and nic-nic shirt, comes knocking on the door to pick me up for a blind date. We fall in love and three years later, at tender age of 22, we marry. He’s my best friend. Here I sit on the eve of our 29th year of marriage, and Saturn has returned to Virgo, the sign it occupied on our wedding day.

I knew nothing about astrology, cycles or right timing, that would come years later. Somehow I knew 28 was a magical number in one’s life. But what’s a person to do when they fall in love ahead of time?

Last week I asked April Kent, fellow astrologer extraordinaire, to share her thoughts on a Saturn Return for a marriage. April’s new book Star Guide to Weddings: Your Horoscope for Living Happily Ever After is coming out in February.

Our wedding day is wedged between my graduation from art school and moving to Chicago so Dear Husband can start law school. Looking back was I too practical in my decisions? Our special moment November 25 is jammed into a demanding schedule.

Let’s pick a holiday weekend everybody’s off from work or home from school-celebrate Thanksgiving, get married Saturday at noon, go to the reception, leave at six to watch the Gators play football and beat FSU with family and friends at the hotel. Good golly what was I thinking?

Solo, I plan and execute the entire event in six months, while going to school full time, getting a senior portfolio in order and working on my first interior design commission- a beach condo that had to be completed in 40 days. I pick out the dress and veil in about 1 hour, meet with the hotel and select the food. Bridezilla I was not.

Any wonder why the getting married part is really a blur to me.

Our three day honeymoon in the Bahamas? Dear Feverish Husband is shivering and shaking either from the marriage vows or the stomach flu. He bravely waves from the 8th story balcony; a trash can by his side, while his solitary new bride sips strawberry daiquiris floating in the pool below. My thoughts at that moment? “I am so glad I didn’t save myself for the wedding night.”

So I laughed when April assured me (in contradiction to the dire warnings on her website), not to worry about the Venus retrograde in my marriage chart. “It’s less of a concern for those who are operating at a higher level of consciousness. Which you must be – I mean, 29 years later you’re still together, right?” Higher level of consciousness — is she kidding me?

That set me to thinking, maybe the wanting to be my own person was being conscious. (“Bingo!” laughed April.) Maybe all that practical Saturn in Virgo energy at play in the marriage had worked to our advantage. And this is why.

Saturn, marriage and the seven year itch

They talk about the seven year itch in a marriage. Saturn rules timing in a person’s life and it takes approximately 28-29 years for a Saturn return. Saturn’s energy highlights the Self’s restrictions and limitations- the tribal conditioning one has to work with, move through and let go of. Thus the Saturn impulse can be experienced in seven year increments both in the Essential Self and in one’s marriage.

I consider Dear Husband and myself soul mates. I don’t make light of that statement. A conscious relationship means that one works at the partnership because the other person means more to you than you do. At the same time balancing a woman’s issues of sovereignty. It’s not easy being real and rubbed raw by another person. Even so, after twenty-nine years Dear Husband lights up the room and makes me laugh. So let’s look at this through the lens of Saturn in Virgo, Sag, Pisces and Gemini.

First Quarter – the honeymoon phase, 1-7 year anniversaries. Saturn in Virgo: I am born with a Pisces Sun and Mercury buried deep within the 4th house with a Scorpio rising; I need a soul mate that would force me to come out into the light, yet still help me ground. Here comes my blind date, a very Sag guy with a Leo rising who loves an adventure. First generation born American, raised by strong matriarch- a single working French mother; he’s a latch key kid before his time. Thus he is not put off by the feminist me, soon to be successful business woman. Yet Sag man still wants his home to be a home. Can you see the picture here? Interior designer marries traveling salesman.

Donna Reed I am not. Dear Husband has no problem when I start my own company at 24, make more money, travel and work 70 hours a week. He was tempered in childhood to be around this type of working woman.

Second Quarter, the Power Level- 7-14 year anniversaries, Saturn in Sagittarius: During this time the partnership is being tested. Both of us at 29 are experiencing our Saturn return. Can I be me and still be in relationship with you? Honeymoon’s over, and the true person’s inner child [or demon] comes up and out.

“You better believe it,” writes April. “And even if you still basically like one another, Saturn will make damn sure you get tested from outside your relationship. Financial problems, career worries, plagues of locusts… expect anything!”

I swore I would never marry a stock broker. I come from a family of stock brokers who always seemed to be broke. At our first quarter Saturn square Dear Husband announces out of the blue “I am going to be a stock broker”; within a month he passes the Series 7 to get his license. Damn, I am now married to a stock broker!

We face fertility issues and through a miracle of events Dear Daughter is born. Now Dear Mom can’t keep up her workaholic ways. Dear Dad must step up to the plate to be the dad he never had. It’s going to get a little wacky here but neither of us know it yet because ‘wow look at the baby.’

The Third Quarter- The Psychological Level 14-21 year anniversaries, Saturn in Pisces: Like a full moon phase there is a release, a surrender. Truth be told, it’s more like a pummeling to your head and your heart! I am left wondering"What happen to our happily ever after?" Saturn is now whacking at my Mercury (communication) and Sun (power). Pluto’s (the transformer) moving from Scorpio into Sag, over my ascendant and into the first house to sit on my Saturn. All first house stuff related to self. Pluto wakes one up from within, death and rebirth. We are being rendered.

Domestic Diva I am not. I swore I would never be a stay at home mom -let a man take care of me, no way. I need to make my own money because of childhood fears; staying at home brings up those trust and abandonment issues. April writes,

“My husband and I just celebrated our 14th anniversary, and the past few years have brought up a lot of the same issues for me. At the same time, my husband has been having something of a career crisis. You can imagine what a delight it’s been around our house. I think so much of our experiences of Saturn are culturally prescribed; women experience Saturn in terms of structure, security and support, and men in terms of being successful in the world and good providers. I suppose that’s part of what a marriage faces at the 14 year mark: confronting those societal expectations and figuring out how to co-exist with them.”

As Saturn moves into opposition I leave my business career in the dust to become a full time housewife and mommy. My high school self is screaming “what the hell is wrong with you!” Dear Husband is now a road warrior, home on weekends; soon he’ll be a proud card carrying member of Delta Airlines Million Miler club.

Eventually the marriage suffers from lack of attention- his travel and my shape shifting. As I heal, Dear Husband feels side swiped- “why can’t you stay the same?” The road offers him respite from the wild-woman housewife sitting at home. Saturn’s now sitting on my Mercury in Pisces demanding that I speak up in new ways. Everyone wants me to be quiet. That doesn’t work, I go metaphysical on everyone.

Then a wonderful thing happens. Dear Husband bravely tells me “you’re too spiritual and I am leaving you.” What’s driving all this- his own parent’s divorce when he was 8; we get to see how his unconscious inner child impacts our lives. No coincidence Dear Daughter is fast approaching her own 8th birthday. My inner child is screaming “I told you so!” I see a bumper sticker on the back of a car while stopped in traffic “I used to be alone, then I got a divorce.” I cry.

Please don’t tell me your unconscious inner child doesn’t affect a marriage- that child is driving the bus of the coupleship until you and your partner wake up. Usually this occurs around the time one decides to ditch their significant other.

“We pick up emotions and values that surround us, and to a greater or lesser degree, feel them as if they were our own. This is why it is crucial that we know ourselves deeply. In order to see through what is happening a couple must either be centered in their own being, or they must have a shared approach that automatically protects them.”- Prather, pg. 20.

Dear Husband’s has left the house. Nothing changes because he hadn’t been home in years. Deeply afraid, I make a list of jobs I can do; once I get to job 20 the fear abates. I’ll be okay. As his walls come crashing down. Seeing what really matters, how being on the road changed us and him, this honorable man starts taking back his life with no guarantees that I will be in the picture.

No, we didn’t divorce but we came close to the threshold of going our separate ways, cleared the air. One of my favorite relationship books at that moment- “I Will Never Leave You: How Couples Can Achieve The Power Of Lasting Love” by Hugh and Gayle Prather.

The separation forces my spiritual self to have a greater voice. At the time Uranus is transiting my Mercury in Pisces. For couples at the threshold of divorce the keyword here is “Imago Therapy”. Today Dear Husband swears by it and recommends the process to all his suffering buddies contemplating divorce.

The Fourth Quarter, The Social-Cultural Level- 21- 28 anniversaries, Saturn in Gemini: The unconscious baggage from our childhoods is no longer hidden, and most times we both feel supported, heard and seen. Loved. Thank you couples dialog!

Dear Husband puts me on a pedestal, cherishes me. To my feminist self the pedestal part just feels weird. One day I complained, “I don’t want to be up on a pedestal we’re equal.” DH replies… “It’s good to be a Goddess, besides on the pedestal I can look up your skirt.” Sag man still makes me laugh. Just before September 11th, 2001 Dear Husband’s territory realigns, no more week long air travel. Home. In essence we have come home to ourselves as well.

Saturn returns to Virgo. This is our annual week long celebration. Dear Daughter comes home from FSU, a new Seminole with a proud Gator Mom and Dad. This Thanksgiving week we not only celebrate with turkey but also our 29th wedding anniversary with Saturn in Virgo. FSU meets the Gators in the swamp, party at our house. A blind date, married at 22, and Venus in retrograde does work out.

Warm wishes to you and yours, may you have a peaceful and safe Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Maybe these Saturn insights will help you get clarity on where your own marriage sits in the Saturn cycle. Where was Saturn at the moment you were married? Where are you now in that Saturn return cycle? If you are divorced at what junction did the split happen? Did that mirror anything from your childhood? April notes,

“Saturn’s turning points, about every seven years, always point out that we’ve outgrown our old structures and forms and are ready to become something new. We see it as Saturn moves through the birth chart, but it’s true for marriages as well.

As your own story illustrates, Michele, from time to time we outgrow our marriages. Suddenly we realize they’re too small to accommodate who we’ve become as individuals, and they need renovation. The challenge lies in recognizing these moments, and finding ways to keep refashioning a marriage into something that suits both partners better. Now, at the Saturn return mark, it starts all over again for you and Dear Husband!”

Thank you to Dear Husband for a wonderful 29 years. Shout out of gratitude to April Kent for feeding me additional insights on the Saturn cycle in a marriage. April notes,

I so enjoyed reading your story… It must be marvelous having your Moons in exactly the same degree of the same sign! Ah, to always be in such sync. As opposed to my hubby with his Taurus Moon and me with the fidgety Gemini Moon – you’d laugh if you watched us trying to get out the front door in the morning. Me, hopping up and down on one foot: “Hurry up!” Him: “I’m coming…” as he casually wanders off to do one or two more things.

April Elliott Kent is a San Diego astrologer and writer whose website, http://www.bigskyastrology.com, offers seasonal essays, tutorials, and wedding services. Her first book, Star Guide to Weddings: Your Horoscope for Living Happily Ever After takes a fresh, fun look at your marriage’s Sun Sign. It will be published by Llewellyn Worldwide in February 2008. April can be contacted by email: april@bigskyastrology.com

Jupiter in Capricorn-fix-it

February 8, 2007- The Oprah Show reveals The Secret. Minions across the planet start discussing the Laws of Attraction and creating the life they want. So very Jupiter in Sagittarius. Now on December 19, 2007 Jupiter enters Capricorn for the first time in 12 years. One month later Pluto enters Capricorn to stay for the next 17 years. Jupiter’s asks us to take a risk.

Pluto’s energy transforms by taking things apart from the inside out. Pluto in Capricorn is a rendering energy-fix the structure. "[We may see] a true New World Order based on an in-depth understanding of reality united with a deep respect for the need for material power to be illuminated by the Light of Transcendence."-astrologer MJ Abadie

Rev’Ed note: This post was to be published on 11/29 but for some reason TypePad published it early and it went out across the blogosphere. Rather than delete it, I said so be it. If you get double dosed with the post, my apologies. There is a reason. Just transport yourself to 11/29 a few weeks ahead. Or mark your calendars to come back on December 19th. - michele

Saturn rules Capricorn- in that sign you become disciplined, practical and persistant. I am the One who Builds. Capricorn rules structures, ie governments, social security, the patriarchy.

Jupiter rules Sagittarius-this energy provides a foundation for systems of beliefs- religious, philosophical, ethical attitudes. How you frame your images and beliefs based on the system, society you were raised in. Example-think the recent troubles of ’Dog the Bounty Hunter’ racist remarks, his not thinking anything of it.

Pluto traveled through Sagittarius from 1995-2007 de-structuring the belief systems. This happened within you and around you.

At the end of this Pluto in Sag journey in 2007 The Secret was revealed on Oprah with people telling you why it works. Now that Jupiter is moving into Capricorn we’ll become more focused and practical. I would imagine people like Bill Harris from the Secret will be sharing why it has not worked for you. That’s the practical side of Jupiter in Capricorn.

Contraction, expansion and stasis: How is your Life Pulse around money? Saturn contracts and Jupiter wants to expand. This push/pull energy occurs in our bodies through our 1st [Saturn] and 2nd [Jupiter] chakras. You can know how grounded [1st chakra and Saturn] you are by looking at your money issues. Are you in a...

Contracted state- fight or flight, how are you moving money in your life? Are you constantly on edge not knowing where it all goes, there’s never enough. Do you feel the need for silence/contemplation or just plain “I want to stop reading because she’s tapping a nerve.” An energetic contraction may bring up “I need to get out of my body and numb out” This is mud may be related to the earth of Saturn, your 1st chakra.

Expanded state-merged with spirit, mystic…feet off the ground “I am merged and the physical doesn’t matter.” Or the flip of this there’s never enough so I need to hoard or get things for free. Expanded states bring on creativity, growth, building…expansion also translates to greed, cruelty, and hoarding. This mud (emotions in the body) is related to the fire of Jupiter 2nd chakra, the earth of Taurus. (Taurus rules hoarding and we saw a lot of that negative intent while Saturn moved through Taurus in 1999).

Stasis- balanced, heart centered, loving. Can also represent the inner state of stagnation, putrefication and inertia. Muddy water of Mars in Scorpio/3rd chakra, power issues, don’t worry here’s where Pluto steps in. Now you have the picture of contraction, expansion and stasis related to your money issues and self-worth issues.

Jupiter in Capricorn offers up a combination of tasks- first ground then expand into. How are you contracting in fear, refusing to change, connected to your tribal conditioning [Saturn]? Trust yourself, expand into a new venture, a new way of being. Where is Capricorn in your chart? That is where the action is.

Or the flip of this- how have you expanded too fast and now you don’t feel like your feet touch the ground? Check in- are you grounded? If not, then fix-it. Get grounded. It’s all about balance (heart chakra and Libra).

Fiery Jupiter asks you to take a risk; it’s archetypal force represents truth and wisdom. With Jupiter’s energy we are collectively called to expand, venture out beyond our comfort zone. To travel beyond our borders, to learn something new. To connect with, embody the God of our understanding through our own inner knowing [versus what we are told about God]. Angeles Arien in the Four Fold Way shares "To tell your truth without attachment to the outcome is the Way of the Warrior." Collectively aren’t we all rubbing up against one another’s cultural truth for God, so very attached to the outcome.

Jupiter entered the sign Sagittarius in December of 2006¹⁾. His home town. Jupiter rules Sagittarius. It takes Jupiter 12 years to complete a cycle in one’s birth chart. Pluto had been dismantling and renovating the Sagittarius house since 1995. When Jupiter entered the sign for the first time in 12 years things had changed. It’s been a year of discoveries.

Now that Jupiter is entering the sign Capricorn, a new structure is needed. There is a natural contraction. In Capricorn we are cautioned to not go at this too fast, because a firm foundation is in order. Think of a pressure cooker.

Saturn in Virgo, September 2007 through 2009 -brings up our fear of not being perfect. Keep in mind that Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, is now moving through the sign Virgo bringing up work and health issues, asking you to edit and sort through the clutter of your life and heart to find a new balance. With Jupiter entering Saturn’s sign, an auspicious occasion, there is a natural dance between Saturn and Jupiter. Just remember Saturn’s taking the lead. Are you ready? The pressure is on.

As Pluto gets ready to move into Capricorn in the next 35 days, our Essential Self knows something is up in the collective psyche, but we can’t see it yet. That is making people on edge. Earth rumblings. Add the holiday stress, and well you get the picture.

Your 3rd Chakra is ruled by Mars. Are you feeling queasy? Mars is still retrograding through the sign of Cancer [stomach] and Gemini [throat chakra] from November 12 through January 30; this retrograde period is bringing up our issues around feeling safe in speaking our truth, in home and heart matters.

Fiery Mars does not like to be in watery Cancer. Fire is yelling, "Hey water don’t put me out!" The archetypal force of Mars is forward motion, go get what I want now, action energy. Now Mars has stopped, forcing you to deal with issues of power in your emotional body (the Moon in you). The last thing Mars wants to do is spend time dealing with feelings and communication issues- ’get over it already.’ If you are causing trauma/drama then deal with your issues, don’t spew on people.

If you slay people with your angry words, isn’t it time to do things differently? The power of your words have the ability to harm or heal, which are you opting in for?

• What happened for you the last time Jupiter moved through the sign Capricorn?
• How old were you during these years?
• Are your children or grandchildren the same age, how are you being triggered? Who and what’s tweaking you? Wake up.
• Where does Capricorn sit in your birth chart? What house? Any planets there in Capricorn, Aires, Cancer, Libra. Those areas will be affected during this transit.

To start the new year maybe it’s time to get an astrology reading. As a reference point these are the years Jupiter moved through Capricorn:

March 1960-1961
February 1972-1973
January 1984- February 1985
January 1996-1997
Now December 2007-2008

Become an observer, create a self portrait through the SoulCollage® process. Expect to be revisiting issues, people or places and taking the Jupiter in Capricorn experience [wisdom] to a new level of understanding during the next year in 2008.

Before Jupiter enters Capricorn, journey to your Shamanic Teacher, Helping Ally and ask what is necessary. It’s an excellent time for a dismemberment journey.

Create a SoulCollage for this Jupiter in Capricorn energy. The best way to work with Jupiter is to create with the energy of the moment, start with an image from a magazine that calls to you. Work with the process of "I am the One who...and then allow a dialog to unfold in your journaling. Release what isn’t working, and allow the new structure to be created.

Fix-it and be reborn. It’s time.

1) Jupiter in Sagittarius:

February 1971-1972
January 1983-1984
January 1995-1996
December 2006-2007

What was happening for you in those years? You may have aha’s and/or you may be screaming ‘aaarrggh’. During the past year in 2007 you may have revisited issues, people or places and taken the experience [wisdom] to a new level of understanding.

Taurus Full Moon-less is more

Less is more. Have you noticed the trend in interior design? One of my favorite home magazines is Domino (and Blueprint). This month’s cover showcases a very hip 20 something decorator [sans her architect hubby], wearing an A-line skirt and blouse, who is revamping interior space of "her classic ranch style house" with furniture styles that were common place in the 60’s.

The call is to pair down our lives, get back to the basics. Now what does this trend have to do with this Taurus Full Moon?

Become a Minimalist- Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe adopted the motto "Less is more" to describe his aesthetic tactics of flattening and emphasizing a building’s frame, eliminating interior walls and adopting an open plan, and reducing the structure to a strong, transparent, elegant skin.

Full Moon in Taurus
Friday, October 26, 2007
12:51 am est at 3° of Taurus

This Full Moon in Taurus represents:

• Accumulation such as money, material comforts, ownership, possessions.
• Senses- Sensuality, massage, physical comfort, aromas, taste.
• Enjoyment of Life on Earth-contentment, appreciation, gratitude, simple pleasures, rapport with nature, satisfaction.
• Building- solid foundations, persistence, progressing step by step, thoroughness, perseverance.
• Reliability- patience, dependability, trustworthiness, steadfastness.
• Self-Worth- awareness of personal needs, setting appropriate boundaries, strong values, determination and self-acceptance.
• Inflexibility- stubbornness, attachment, resistance to change, possessiveness, holding dogmatic opinions, stagnation.
• Restoring health- coughs, throat, chin and neck, thyroid gland, voice and vocal cords.

In Taurus we are called to get back to the basics, know who I am (self-worth), live life with the essentials (solid foundations) and really appreciate the details of it all (enjoyment of life). Minimilize our lifestyle. Collectively we are leaving a time of mass consumerism and going green. Taurus is an earth energy ruled by Venus.

In Venus we can move towards excess and decadence, as seen in the 1990’s. Chasing the dollar, my Taurus SoulCollage>>. Then there is a correction (Saturn in Taurus 1999-2000) and you’ll find yourself pushing off one way of life, moving towards the opposite polarity. Paring down. Getting lean. Saturn in Virgo calls us to this task.

You may already find your normal coping skills of buying things, eating things, drinking, relating, drugging just doesn’t work. Doesn’t feed your spirit. "There is a synchronicity between the Moon and Saturn at this lunation to easily and painlessly bring our lives into balance." Brenda Brush

Venus, the ruler of Taurus, is in Virgo and Saturn’s in Virgo. Virgo wants efficiency. Venus is opposing Uranus in Pisces at the time of Saturn in Virgo. Mercury is retrograding in Scorpio-asking us to surrender what isn’t working- the way we think, act, feel, do. We have seen what the "issues" in the last 10-12 days. Changes need to be made. The Call is to get back to basics- bringing up our personal issues with a "less is more" approach.

Personally I take a more Mary Emmerling approach to decorating our home, very country. But lately I find myself paring things down. The inner reflects the outer. I see my/our possessions with a "new eye". You know I am old enough (1956 baby) to remember this new wave of design. As a 20 something designer myself I witnessed older designers get stuck in their past- I could tell the age of an interior designer by the way they decorated. Now I am on the other of this looking backwards, going forward. I never thought I’d say this but the baskets and fluff are moving out. I don’t want to be pegged to the past if it no longer serves me. As I change my surroundings change.

Where is 3° of Taurus in your chart? Look to see if you have any planets sitting at 3° of Leo [squares the full moon], Scorpio[opposes the full moon], Aquarius [squares the full moon]. That is where the action is at this lunation.

Full moons represent our personal issues coming to a head, things coming to completion. It is a time of emotional intensity. Something must be surrendered that you have been holding onto. Remember Fall is a time of harvest.

So grab a magazine and then look around your own home. Notice your surroundings. What is there that does not fit with your lifestyle any longer? Pare down, get rid of it. Work with the concept of "less is more" at this Taurus full moon.

Sun enters Libra-moving to get it

Autumnal Equinox. For those living in the Northern Hemisphere the Sun enters Libra at 5:52 am on September 23 2007 and we collectively begin the fall harvest- of letting go and surrendering. Death of the past to manifest the future. It’s time to give your creative life new form, to disintegrate, purify and regenerate.

During the summer months we may have been imbrued with new direction, a creative project was revealed in the inner world that now seeks attention in our outer world.

Here’s a quick scenario of what happens energetically when you seek to build.

I am inspired with a new idea or project (last spring, New Moon in Aries).

I start to create from that seed thought. The idea is manifesting within my psyche. I plan it, I speak it. [5th chakra] I love it. [4th chakra] I edit and sort my inner and outer worlds to make it real. [Virgo] My dream begins to build power within me and around me. [Mars,3rd chakra] I move to get it.

How good are you at moving it???

To get it, I have to move. I have to stand in my power, be authentic. In order to move I’ll meet others along the way-my partner, my friends, my family [Libra] and as I share my precious idea, those people might not see my vision or understand what I am about.

• How do you meet with naysayers and doubters?
• Do you abandon your creative projects?
• Do you rear up?
• Do you push through it? Again...

How do you move to get it?

It’s now time to temper my response..do I expand and take a risk- feel it and drive it home, or do I contract, retreat- to feel it and drive it home. Each task is a death. Each task is sacred.

The Fall Season- Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius

In the Fall we harvest the seeds for planting next spring. What you planted in March 2007 is now ready for harvesting. If I planted weeds then I am harvesting weeds. If you planted corn you are harvesting corn. Cycles and rhythm and balance are what this astrology stuff is about. Bringing the sky and the earth together and honoring the rhythm of the seasons and the rhythms of the day and night forces is mirrored back, within you, around you. In that regard issues I may be dealing with issues that are ready to be taken to the next level, released and surrendered too (Scorpio) based on the way I think (Mercury). Plus at the Autumnal Equinox there is a Mars/Pluto opposition (see Lynn Hayes post here) at play taking the intensity up a notch. Mars goes retrograde in November 14th and jabs back and forth at Pluto until Spring 2008.

What did you wish and dream of back in late March? Harvest it now. Here are some themes for the Libra energy and your SoulCollage® cards for the next new moon. In Libra I am the One who....

• I am the One who Partners. I am the One who is a Wife. My energy relates to healthy agreements, sharing and interdependence.
• I am the One who Balances. My energy relates to issues of fairness including balance, equality, appreciation of opposite views, negotiation and counseling.
• I am the One who Counsels.
• I am the One who is Beautiful. I seek harmony representing peace, beauty and art. Refinement- luxury, elegance, pampering, good taste, grace are things that attract me.
• I am the One who builds Teamwork- giving and receiving, collaborating, supportive relationships, cooperation.
• I am on the One who is the Diplomat. I love being social- being companionable, tact, getting along with others, one-on-one interactions, diplomacy, affinity for others. On the world-wide web think of MySpace and Facebook.
• I am the One who is Co-dependent. I feel lost in my relationships- loss of self-identity, appeasing behaviors, indecision, aimless discussion. I represent entanglements that bind.
• I am the One who Harvests. Restoring health- adrenal glands, buttocks, diabetes, kidneys.

Michele’s SoulCollage® card for the Fall Harvest
Death Stalking...

I am the One
who is Death.
You walked
and stalked with me
as a child
learning much.

I bring changes
to the inner and
outer worlds.

To render
to release,
what no longer serves.
To renew.

Walk with me now
see what I hold,
where I go
there are lessons.

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Fall catalogs arrived in record numbers this month, and this One wanted attention. Jennifer Louden’s blogs about resisting her own inward retreat. The death of mommyhood I faced this summer and the renewed energies I have found in letting go reminds me once again how we are collectively called to face the little deaths to be reborn anew.

You may now find yourself dealing with issues that are ready to be taken to the next level, released and surrendered too (Scorpio) based on the way you think (Mercury). Who and how are you going to partner with another to make your creative dream happen?

Thus, as we turn the wheel from summer into fall, Libra’s energies call us to bring our creative life back into balance- in all our relationships. To ask what has heart and meaning for me now? How do I hold myself back? Am I supported? What needs to be let go of so I can move freely into the future?

Saturn’s now in Virgo, demanding change, attention to details and the structure of health and work.

You’ll see pretty quickly what needs attention, what needs to be let go. The archetype of Pluto, the Transformer as death [also Saturn] is often depicted as a dark form holding a sickle. Saturn represents the structure, the status quo, the ego. Fear. Pluto is the cosmic garbage collector, he takes away in order to transform. Something needs to change or be surrendered in order to go to the next place. Restructure.

Harvesting your seed thoughts means that Death is stalking. Fall is a time of disintegration, we surrender and let go to move to the next place. Expect resistance, expect disintegration and then renewal. The Moon and the seasons reflect this cycle of birth, death and renewal. Our own birth chart mirrors this dance with death (8th house, Scorpio) and at the turn of the wheel we begin the Fall. Namaste.

Some resources to share:

A retreat Discovering your Authentic Self, November 1-4, 2007 in Delray Beach, Florida is a four day psycho-spiritual retreat with both integrative breathwork and SoulCollage® offered by my friend, Noreen Donahue, LCSW.
Jennifer Louden’s September Newsletter is full of insights.
The Alchemy of Social Transformation by Lenore Norrgard. Visit Lenore’s website for more about her ritual Dreaming the Dark Solstice Ritual.

About: Rev. Michele Lessirard, C.Ht. is an astrologer, SoulCollage Facilitator and shamanic practitioner providing healing, counseling and instruction since 1993. She writes, shares her thoughts and art online at The New Moon Journal®.

Virgo New Moon- 5 alchemical steps

Here’s a shamanic journey for the New Moon/Solar Eclipse in Virgo, it’s a five step process. There’s a whole lot of learning going on at this New Moon/Solar Eclipse in Virgo. Look at the players involved..

• Sun/Moon in Virgo
• Uranus in Pisces
• Jupiter/Vesta in Sagittarius.

Vesta¹, the Goddess energy that rules Virgo, is keeper of the sacred flame, representative of hearth and home. Her energy is like sinking into a warm wooly blanket, comforting. I have written about the Virgo energies for the last two posts- Saturn in Virgo and The Babbling Woman. I added new information to the Virgo Journal PDF and this post information is there as well.

Rather than write more about the new moon let’s just dive into the energies. In the next 24-48 hours spend 15-20 minutes in meditation.

If you know how to shamanic journey, then grab your drumming cd and go to your shamanic teacher/helping Ally.

Step 1. Print out the PDF chart of the New Moon/Solar Eclipse in Virgo. The Call- to perfect the mundane through rituals that feed my soul.

Step 2. Reflect on the symbols [don’t worry about knowing astrology, just look at the symbols, feel into them] and ask your Higher Self what is necessary. What do I need at this time? Don’t try and make sense of it all. Trust your inner Muse will step forward and guide you.

Step 3. Meditate or Journey for 15-20 minutes at least 24-48 hours before the New Moon occurs on September 11 at 8:44 am eastern standard time.

Step 4. On return journal about the experiences. Note any images or symbols that may come up, make note of them. Place the
Virgo New Moon chart on your altar.

<<< Wait you are not fully cooked yet. >>>

Step 5. Dreamtime. For the next two days watch your dreams, watch what animals come to you in sleep or during the day. How are you being inspired? What is tripping you up? Be ready to make adjustments. Again make a note these events in your journal. You might be inspired to create a SoulCollage card. Implement a daily ritual that connects you to spirit and heart[h].

With Saturn in Virgo, the energy of this eclipse continues to impact of our lives in a positive way for many months.

Thanks to Diane for her New Moon SoulCollage card- "I am the One who weaves magic."

¹ HESTIA was the gentle, virgin goddess of the hearth (both private & municipal), the home and family. She voluntarily relinquished her position as one of the twelve Olympian’s (which every believer was required to honor) in place of Dionysus. As recompense she was made goddess of the sacrificial flame and granted a portion of all sacrifices to the gods. Hestia is also known as Vesta:

VESTA } : Virgo is the maintenance room of the chart, a mutable earth sign whose symbol is the Virgin, the six pointed star. The Virgin from the Vesta’s perspective is a woman whole unto herself. Virgo rules the higher mind. We don’t really understand the Virgin archetype in our society (see the attached article regarding the highest expression of Virgo Vesta -the sacred Virgin). Vesta in Virgo as an archetypal force represents the principle of focus and commitment. - Demetra George from her book the Asteroid Goddesses: The Mythology, Psychology, and Astrology of the Re-Emerging Feminine.

The story of a babbling woman

Virgo is the sign of the healer. Virgo is the sign of the mentor. In order to be a great healer one has to have a strong connection to all things Virgo. There are key times in your life where you are forced to open up, to move beyond who you think you are. Most times one can’t see it coming...your inner earth shakes. The experiences leave you feeling raw and on edge.

When Saturn moved through Pisces [February 1994 through April 1996] I became a babbling woman. As past trauma’s cleared and the energy merged within I went on spiritual overload that left me very ungrounded. Later my friend Wendy, a therapist, joking told me that I didn’t make much sense. In essence I was learning a new language... all healers go through this initiation.

A healer must understand their connection to earth [Virgo], all things matter, while being infused with Spirit [Pisces]. This story is important because you may now be called to mentor others, especially if you were part of the group of women who woke up in the early 90’s. I know because I was in the rooms with some wonderful souls, healing our pasts and reclaiming our power in a new way.

It may now be time for you to mentor others who are being initiated. Or as you awaken to your healership, you may be in need of a mentor.

In order to seek new lands one has to let go of the shore. Back in 1994 I leaped out of my body and traveled the cosmos. It was scary for there were very few roadmap’s and I was forced to learn how to trust the world behind my eyes. Collectively we learned how to ride the waves and stay in our bodies to ground the energy in a new way.

And that ability to ground came from understanding and appreciating the relationship to my mother- a Pisces who acts more Virgo, and my beloved maternal grandmother, a Virgo who seemed more Piscean in nature.

One of the key events in that Saturn in Pisces time period was during a guided meditation where I was asked to go to my safe place as a child- I found myself at grandma’s house at the shore.

For two years I had horrible oceanic dreams of drowning, of rendering, of baptizing. At these times the sky was dark, the sea swelled and swirled, but I’d find my way to grandma’s house and then I was safe. I had forgotten that when hurricane Donna¹ hit the Jersey shore my parents took my sister and I on a Sunday drive to see the damage. At the age of five it was devastating for me to see huge houses knocked off their foundations and the world whacked in all directions from wind and water. I remember the utter joy I felt seeing Grandma’s house survived, with only the wooden stairs floating away.

The House stood solid. When my inner child needed a hug, I’d climb the back stairs, hear the screen door slam and walk into the kitchen to get a hug and talk to with grandma. It was as real as real could be. I eventually learned that our loving ancestors are always with us, even after they pass. I just needed to learn how to communicate in a new way.

During that Saturn in Pisces period I craved new colors in my life (yellows, purples and spring greens), I craved hydrangeas. In renovating our new home I unconsciously selected colors from the grandma’s house at the shore (later I found pictures)...I filled the house with baskets of blue silk flowers. I literally was recreating the safe place of my childhood past in the here and now.

Why is this Saturn in Pisces story important? Well 13 years later, it’s like a full moon energy. There is a release, there are spiritual gifts being offered up. So today I share my SoulCollage Community card I created. There’s foundational of earth- the rustic well worn pine wood floors. A picture of the home that offers me sanctuary, reminding me to remember while heading out in life, Grandma has my back. "I am the One who is your grandma, your mentor, I loved my family well." She was a farmer’s wife, a teacher, who infused her family and friends with an innate wisdom that still lives as a legacy through each of us today.

So before Saturn gets deeper into Virgo I invite you to work with the energies [Virgo Journal PDF], to uncover and begin to unfold your myth and discover your mystery.

*In transpersonal psychology rather than medicating the client different modalities are offered that creates a container and allows the energy a voice, it is celebrated as a time of spiritual awakening.

^1. I think it must have been Donna who hit New Jersey on September 12, 1960: Hurricane Donna, the only tropical cyclone to bring hurricane force winds to every state on the East Coast of the United States passed New Jersey as a Category 2 hurricane while moving at a high speed. Damage was significant along the coastline, but was less than in other states struck directly by Donna. The hurricane caused winds gusts of up to 105 mph (169 km/h), heavy rainfall, and a storm surge of 6 feet (2 m).

Saturn in Virgo

At 9:49 am Sunday, September 2, 2007 Saturn enters earthy Virgo for the first time in 29 years and stays for two years. Over the next 10 days I will be discussing these Virgo energies in short posts every other day. My goal is to serve you with a series of constructive creative insights into how Saturn in Virgo may be working and learning you...especially as we approach the New Moon/Solar Eclipse in Virgo on September 11, 2007.

“I am creatively expressing my soul’s purpose that benefits and serves others. Today I seek a clear understanding of my function and role in society.” - A Virgo affirmation from Alan Oken’s Soul Astrology

Get Grounded. Honor what you know. Saturn represents the connection to all things of matter- earth, your 1st chakra, structure, the masculine principle, the Father. Tribal conditioning that may no longer serve you. The will to survive. Something is being birthed, you may not see it yet for it still sits on the spiritual realm ready for manifestation. But only if there is order and structure to give the energy form.

First lets look at your cast of characters and how the vibration of Virgo impacts your life:

1. Where is the sign Virgo in your chart? What house?
2. Are there any planets in that house?
3. Who are those mentors that serve as a Virgo mirror in your life’s journey?
4. Who are the important people born in the sign of Virgo [August 21 through September 22]?
5. Are these Virgo people a challenge or a joy to be around? Look to past relationships?
6. In those Virgo relationships what have you learned?
7. List significant events that occurred in your life around mid-August through mid-September.
8. Look at the last time Saturn was in Virgo. List significant events in your life from August 1978 through October 1980.
9. Look at the Pisces people in your life? Again where they a challenge or a joy to be around? What lessons did these Piscean people bring you?
10. List significant events in your life from February 1994 through April 1996.
11. I invite you to create a SoulCollage Community card to honor these significant people in you life. For more information read The Community Suit in the SoulCollage book by Seena Frost, pages 23-32.

I created a Virgo Journal PDF for use in this exercise. The task is to gather information about how Virgo/Pisces has impacted you life- both the negative and the positive.

Virgo asks you to embrace a common sense practical approach to life, your day-to-day routines infused with Spirit. Spirit and matter working in union brings transfiguration. More light and life rather than more drama/trauma. It’s a choice. Virgo is earthy and grounded.

Working with clients for over ten years in the soul retrieval process I have met several people who get so fixated on their storyline that leaves no room for healing to occur. "How I was wounded" is the negative aspect of Virgo’s analytical quality gone astray.

The story’s constant repeat creates a vicious numbing cycle that can create additional soul loss in your life, in essence you missed the gift of the experience. But when we dance the story, breath the story, infuse it with meaning and magic the energy moves, transmutes and transforms.

What is true for you?

Can you voice that truth?

Can you keep your peace?

When we hold onto a belief, become inflexible, rigid and stubborn we create trauma/drama in our lives. There is so much misrepresentation of truth out in the world right now, so much mind chatter. What’s true for you may not be right for another. How do you embrace and embody the law of allowing?

Pisces and Virgo work together to balance the mystical side of Pisces and the practical world of Virgo. Holding the tension of the opposites we walk the razors edge. Pisces is ruled by Neptune, a water element, fluid and boundless. For a person to work the Pisces area of their life and forget Virgo’s energy can bring a mystical union with the divine yet leave the person unable to function in their day to day world (chaos).

A strong Pisces personality needs to be grounded- two feet planted on the ground!!

A strong analytical Virgo personality needs to be lifted!!

Balance these too extremes and the person is highly intuitive and grounded; one who is able to manifest their dreams in the material world, face their challenges and still laugh like a child. There is faith and trust in their ability to be present in their own lives.

Here is another article about Saturn in Virgo: http://www.astrodynamics.net/Articles/Saturn-Virgo.htm

Go to the Virgo Journal PDF

Stay tuned for the rest of the story...