As we come into February, we seem to come back to earth, get more grounded, all with the help of a trusted confidante. We are less likely to buy into the hype, fall into the impressions or be swayed by the images and appearance. On the contrary, we can focus on the essentials, see what is going on, and recognize the true substance to any appearance.
The 1st to the 3rd of February has Venus completing its transit of Pisces and with Venus sextile Pluto on the 1st – 2nd, and Venus sextile Saturn on the 3rd. With us willing to avoid jumping to conclusions and our desire to take the time to see what is really going on, we can dissect situations down to their very core. We could draw upon our past, our expertise developed from experience, and develop a best practices approach by which to forward our ambitions. Foresight combined with practical application may prove a winning formula. We may prioritize and be most effective by concentrating on the fundamental characteristics and then building from there.
The beginning of February can be a highly productive time, a time when we could accomplish a great deal and without being contentious or confrontational. Things may flow easily without our being either aggressive or conciliatory. We might have our head down, nose to grindstone and in the process achieve successful results.
On the 3rd of February, Mercury exits Aquarius to enter Pisces, a Sign of Detriment for Mercury where the critical, rational analysis gives way to more diffuse thinking with a liability of confusion between reality and fantasy. Ideas and thoughts are triggered more by emotion than intellect.
Fortunately on the 5th of February, the Pisces-transiting Mercury sextiles Uranus. Since we are more receptive and open to possibilities and less critiquing and analytical, we might find ourselves privy to the muse of inspiration and en-lightenment. We could experience those ‘ah-ha’ moments when clarity pierces the veil of illusion and provides those magical insights of which we had not been previously aware.
The 7th of February has Venus exiting Pisces to enter Aries, a Sign of Detriment for Venus where relationships might suffer due to people being more self-absorbed to the point of being narcissistic. The transit of Venus through Aries often creates a disparity in relationships where it becomes all about ME.
This push – pull in relationships could be heightened with the Leo Full Moon late on the 8th, early on the 9th of February. The Full Moon occurs at the very beginning of the third decanate of the Leo – Aquarius opposition [Aries for Leo, Libra for Aquarius].
If we had any doubt about issues in our relationships, they can be heightened with this Full Moon, augmented by the Venus transit of Aries with the Venus transit of Cardinal Fire Sign going on until late on the 4th of March. We might be more interested in playing on center stage with a focus on our own personal desires rather than being collaborative or considerate of other people’s needs.
The 16th of February has two contradictory energy configurations.
Mars exits Sagittarius to enter Capricorn, a Sign in which Mars is exalted and adds greater physical force to the determination to work hard, accomplish and succeed. As Mars enters Capricorn, greater weight is given to the Capricorn Stellium as Mars joins Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn in the Cardinal Earth Sign. We may feel as though it’s full steam ahead as we concentrate on our goals and ambitions.
The other energy configuration occurring on the 16th is the first of this year’s Mercury retrogrades with Mercury turning retrograde in Pisces. Although we may feel a great thrust of energy, we might question our itinerary and how we can make manifest our desires. Timidity and anxiety could vex us even to the point of our putting the pedal to the metal, all the while that we have the transmission stuck in neutral.
Our clarity may be lacking, our fortitude wilting, as we spin our wheels wondering what direction to go in. The convoluted nature of Mercury retrograde is often strongest whenever Mercury is turning direction, whether from direct motion to retrograde or from retrograde to direct motion. It takes some time for us to adjust to the shift in energy.
The 18th of February has the Sun entering Pisces and triggering a Stellium in Pisces as the Sun joins Mercury and Neptune in the Neptune-ruled Mutable Water Sign. Although the following four weeks may have us unconsciously sighing, and often with little reason for doing so, we are all feeling the dead of winter, the end of the Zodiac cycle as the Sun transits the last Sign of the Zodiac, all in anticipation of the coming of Spring.
Before we get to the Spring season, we have much to accomplish both in conclusion of outstanding matters and in development of our ambitions and our goals. We shall be assisted in the process by some of the energy configurations we are likely to encounter over the next four weeks, a productive period so long as we can restrain our impetuousness and a narcissistic liability of putting blinders on and closing ourselves off from any input other than that which we choose to receive.
On the 20th of February, Jupiter sextiles Neptune. With attention to detail and to the presentation, we could expand our goals and embrace new opportunities, some of which may seem to fall into our lap with little effort on our part.
Not only can we develop the right template for our activities with an inner knowing that we are on the right track. The Mars trine Uranus on the 21st and the Sun sextile Uranus on the 22nd of February contribute to the ability of ‘working smarter rather than harder’ as we draw upon innovative and streamlined approaches to realize our plans.
The willingness to release total control over our circumstances and be receptive to the natural unfolding of our projects could be a godsend in producing successful results.
But old patterns die hard. Most of us have been conditioned into a belief that we are the ones who make things happen, that we are solely in control of our circumstance, and that we are masters of our destiny. These assumptions, well engrained from our earliest days, are finding greater resistance during this paradigm shift from linear, sequential reality into the asequential reality. Increasingly, things happen in a most unexpected manner with unanticipated variables coming along that shift and change the trajectory.
We are but co-creators with the universal unfolding of our journey and the paths we ‘choose’ to take.
These are exciting times, disruptive times perhaps, but times that give us evidence that the universe unfolding offers us a far broader palette from which to draw than our own limited perspective would allow.
The challenge for each of us is to let go of our need to control, manipulate, and to try and determine both the direction and the outcome. It is a tall order especially in light of our tendency to focus on the infallibility of the anthropocentric. We have put our egotistical selves at the center of our universe, even to the point of making ‘god’ in the image of our selves.
While we can see evidence of things working out in their own accord, we could still get in our own way and mess things up, a liability that might happen with the Pisces New Moon on the 23rd of February with its influence over the next two weeks up to the Full Moon on the 9th of March.
At the time of the New Moon on the 23rd, the two ‘good guys’ of the planetary realm, Venus and Jupiter, are square to each other. Both of these planets are transiting Signs in which they are uncomfortable, Venus being in Detriment in Aries, and Jupiter being in its Fall in Capricorn. A liability of arrogance with a one-upmanship characteristic could narrow our vision, dismiss the role of the universal unfolding during this paradigm shift of unanticipated variables, and put us back on the pedestal of presumed total control. Talk about a setup!
It would be wise for us to tamp down our own showboating or to avoid those people who make grandiose gestures largely to mask their insecurities and individual frailties.
Our sensitivity is ratcheted up severalfold during this period and with it the opportunity to accomplish a great deal the more receptive we can be to hunches, suggestions and feelings as to what our best practices might be in each situation and to the magic of the universe ever more apparent during these times.
We are living during disruptive times, times when the semblance of stability and security might seem minimal at best. But such times of chaos and frenzy also provide opportunities for us to make significant changes and to be aware of possibilities that might not have seemed plausible under earlier conditions.
Humility is called for with an appreciation of the wise words Ernest Hemingway expressed in this regard:
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
Much of the potential during this two-week period up to the Virgo Full Moon on the 9th of March could be seen in those times when things seem to happen easily and with little effort on our part, as if we are gliding along on greased wheels with only occasional bumps along the way.
This latter part of the winter season can be a highly productive and effective time, despite the Mercury retrograde, which turns direct on the day of the Virgo Full Moon, the 9th of March.
The 24th through the 26th of February could seem like we have fully engaged the concept of ‘spirit in action’. The 24th has the Sun sextile Mars, followed by the Sun conjunct Mercury on the 25th, and culminating with Mercury sextile Mars on the 26th.
If we would reflect and contemplate on what we want to do and where we want to engage, we can enlist our passion with determination to forge ahead. Few obstacles may stand in our way during this three-day period, but it is essential that we utilize the tai chi moves and recognize the Taoist sentiment:
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”
– Lao Tzu
The disparity between the old paradigm of sequential progression and the new paradigm of asequential reality can play out on the 28th of February when Venus squares Pluto and Mercury sextiles Uranus. Like the wolf in the story of the three little pigs, we might try to force our will upon a situation only to get a major pushback. Instead of aggressively trying to secure what we want, we might find that we are more effective by reflecting, contemplating and allowing things to unfold in their own time, in their own way, and what might be a surprising way for them to occur.
Old and new seems very much engaged during this winter season. We have times where we can bear witness to the magic and mini-miracles of these times, other times when by trying to force circumstance to our will we wind up banging our head against the wall.
I always suggest that the universe taps us on the shoulder. If we don’t get the message, the universe taps a little harder. If we still don’t get it, the universe is liable to land a lateral lobotomy to our head. Whatever it takes for us to fully understand the message, to comprehend the lesson.
February 2020… Having Heart in the Dark…
