In considering whom we use as our sounding boards, let’s also be judicious in our selection. Some people may be able to see the big picture but their vision could be a little spacey, seeing what could be without considering the specifics or the particulars. Other people can be so focused on the minutiae, lost in the details, that they lose sight of the broad perspective. A balance between the two, where someone is able to see both the macro view and the micro view is what would be most helpful. We need to see the big picture but also see how to fit the various pieces into the puzzle to create the whole framework.

While we can be incredibly idealistic as we start February, thanks to the Stellium of three or more planets in Aquarius with the Sun, Mercury and Neptune in the Fixed Air Sign and with Venus In Pisces, we have to be astute and discerning regarding where we place our energies and whom we try to assist. It would be wise to remember the Christian Bible’s advice: ‘Cast ye not pearls before swine’.

Out of our compassion and maudlin sentimentality, we could get so involved in other people’s problems as to get entangled in their drama, and a drama they might be attached to and unwilling to let go. Talk about a no-win situation!

Let’s be judicious in the advice we take, judicious in the advice we give, judicious in our decisions and judicious in our actions. Remember, two of the keywords to engage for these times are: awareness and mindfulness.

Awareness and mindfulness can keep us from leaping before we look and allow time for reflection to consider what is really going on.

Fortunately, the Earth Grand Trine that has been in operation since November continues on through this month and on through the Spring period. We can be highly effective, productive and get a lot of things done. We just need to be certain that we keep our emotions out of the way and that we enlist an attitude of ‘tough love’… not ‘tough luck’ or even ‘there but for the grace of god go I’ but ‘tough love’ whereby we are there for other people as long as they are there for themselves. Being focused and concentrating on the most meaningful would provide us the ability to expedite operations and accomplish more now than usual.

Neptune re-enters its own Sign of Pisces on February 3rd and will transit through Pisces on into 2025. Compassion, spirituality, religiosity can all be accentuated during this time. Idealism can be strong, but there is also a liability to delusion, escapism and non-realities. I’ve got more to write about the Neptune Pisces transit and what we might experience over these next thirteen years of Neptune’s transit through its own Sign. I call it ‘Illumination or Delusion’, and we can carom between the two as we could also carom between acting out the martyr – savior complex. I’ll post it on the 3rd.

The Leo Full Moon on February 7th comes at the time of Saturn turning retrograde in the last degree of Libra. Saturn reaches the cusp of Libra – Scorpio but retreats back into Libra for its four and a half month retrograde cycle. It would be wise for us to note what is going on regarding the financial realm, both on a macro perspective of the geopolitical world and on a micro viewpoint of our own personal financial world, as Saturn turns retrograde. When we come to the Autumn, Saturn will enter Scorpio for its two and a half year cycle. The Saturn Scorpio transit may speak to financial restraints, increased taxations and a higher death rate. Saturn Scorpio will certainly demand that we be resourceful and Saturn in Scorpio could create limitations to our sense of abundance and bountifulness.

With Saturn retrograde until the latter part of June, let’s also keep in mind that there can be greater delays and difficulties in getting things done. We are being asked to reflect and deal with our interactions with other people, especially the significant relationships in our lives. For Saturn retrograding through Libra, which it has transited for the past two plus years, asks us to consider ourselves in light of the ‘other’. The other can be our significant partner[s], how we deal in our social skills with other people or it can be any complement to ourselves, that which would complete us, sometimes known as what would define us. Other can be our work, our recreational activities, anything that we tend to associate to a definition of ourselves. It is not WHO we are but rather WHAT we are, and the latter definition being far easier to relate, and to hide behind.

Shortly after Saturn turns retrograde and the Leo Full Moon on the 7th, Venus exits Pisces and enters Aries on the 8th and conjuncts Uranus on the 9th. Relationships can be highlighted, but the focus on relationships can be less about a balance of personal needs with those of someone else. Instead, everyone may become more self-centered, self-focused and self-absorbed. We might be far more interested in how relationships are impacting us and less considerate of how the relationship is impacting someone else. We could be infatuated by the new and the different, entertaining quirky characters as comic relief to our own day-in, day-out lives. If we have been feeling boxed in by our everyday life and our usual circle of friends, we might want a breakout period where we experiment with a new sense of our being. We might try different hairstyles, consider hip new wardrobes or just seek to do things differently. We may assume that the old is tired, even worn out, and we want something vibrant, exciting, enlivening, different.

Before Mercury exits Aquarius to enter Pisces on the 13th, Mercury trines Saturn. We may be looking for a catch-up with an old friend, someone we might have lost touch with or someone we just need to spend time with and reminisce about old days.

With Mercury moving out of Aquarius and entering Pisces on February 13th, followed by the Mercury Neptune conjunction on the 14th, Valentine’s Day, we could easily buy into hopes and wishes that have no fundamental basis in reality. Although our intuitive sense can be strong, it would be wise for us not to take things at face value. This energy configuration can also be akin to the trickster, things appearing one way, the reality being quite different. In the native American tradition, the coyote is the trickster, for the coyote howls its haunting, seductive song enticing its prey to come forward only to pounce upon it once within harm’s way. While we might be visionaries during this time, we need to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground if we choose to have our head in the clouds.

The Mercury Neptune conjunction on the 14th is followed on the 15th by Venus square Pluto. Expectations not met on Valentine’s Day could have severe implications and even drastic ramifications for our relationships. Some people may draw lines in the sand and insist that another person either make amends for a perceived slight or the relationship could land on rocky shoals.

With Mercury in Pisces, the Stellium of three or more planets in Aquarius comes to an end. Our emotions can rule our thinking and we might be easily swayed more by our moods and how we feel about things than hard analytical thinking.

At the same time, we can be highly intuitive and utilize a best practices approach to get things done. We can combine the intuitive with the pragmatic and develop the right structure, format and means to move our deepest heartfelt projects forward. Mercury sextiles Jupiter on the 16th, and we could feel upbeat, inspired and divinely guided by right action. Mercury sextiles Pluto on the 18th and we could virtually move mountains. But the moves can be done with little effort and may bear truth to the concept of mind over matter. The 18th also has the Sun, just about to exit Aquarius, trine Saturn. A sense of appreciation, support and encouragement for WHO we are and our plans for the future can be forthcoming by a significant ally and important advocate.

The Sun moves into Pisces on the 19th of February and conjuncts Neptune at the same time. We now have a Stellium of three or more planets in the Mutable Water Sign as the Sun joins Neptune and Mercury in Pisces. With the Piscean energy highlighted even more by the Pisces Lunation, the Pisces New Moon on the 21st, we need to be aware that this fortnight between the 21st of February and the 8th of March can be a time of tricksters extraordinaire.

Whatever is presented to us at this time can be a mirage or an illusion or certainly not the truth, the whole truth. Our sensitivity is likely to be turned up severalfold. At times, we may feel like the savior, other times like the victim. The liability towards escapism can be strong, as we seek more pleasant surroundings, our safe happy place where we can go to avoid the hard cold realities of these changing times.

We may feel like sponges soaking up the energies of our surroundings. It might be important for us now and then to step off the track, take time to recharge our batteries and reflect on what is going on. It would also be wise for us to recognize that we are coming to the end of the zodiac year with the Vernal Equinox and the Sun moving into Aries later in March initiating the new astrological year.

The 23rd of February has Mercury opposed Mars. We can either get incredibly spacey, forget details and skip over specifics, or we could develop the ability to combine our intuitive sense with a detailed approach and focus on how best to approach our tasks and effectively deal with our obligations. We do have to watch for any tendency towards being either hypercritical of everyone, including ourselves, or overly sensitive, assuming that the world is against us. It may be a tough balancing act but one necessary to develop an essential skill set for these changing times.

The Mercury sextile Jupiter on the 16th and Mercury sextile Pluto on the 18th are replicated by the Sun towards the end of the month, as the Sun sextiles Jupiter on the 25th and then the Sun sextiles Pluto on the 28th. We may be far more confident about where we are going with an innate sense that we are headed in the right direction.

Spring is just around the corner.

During the latter part of February and into mid-March, we may do a great deal of sighing, even involuntarily sighing. It may not be a sigh or breath of relief, as much as an inadvertent recognition that we are coming to the end of a cycle.

This month is a month when we may have our head in the clouds, far more interested in the possibilities than daily realities. As the month progresses, we grow increasingly emotional and liable to make decisions and judgments more on our moods and feelings than analytical reasoning and well-considered thought. These times ask us to let go of any sense of total control over situations, to be flexible and adaptable to changing conditions. We may discover that we are developing the tai chi moves, adept at recognizing the shifting energies, moving in rhythm with them and being more effective in our lives than we ever have been before. The times are changing and we are changing with them. We can get a greater sense of right direction and right action and realize that we are being assisted in making our way through the maze, no labyrinth, of our life’s journey and procession.

February may be the dead of winter but we are also coming to the end of a cycle, the end of the astrological year. Karma can play out and old issues come up that are asking to be resolved. These issues may be of our present life but may also be of past lives too. This can be a month when our thoughts turn to the past, looking back at what was, all the while yearning for what we might not consciously know but realizing that we are guided by our inner voice and our soul’s knowing.

February… moving ahead, sometimes driven by our emotions…

We start the month with the Earth Grand Trine, with planets in all three Signs of the Earth Element, which has been in play since mid-November. The potential for manifestation and deliberate actions on the mundane level is strong and not an energy configuration to be missed. We can create the foundation stones for our future. We do, however, need to be aware and mindful that we cannot bring all our old baggage from the past into this New Year.

If we choose to make new year’s resolutions, let’s resolve to embrace and engage the two key components during this paradigm shift: AWARENESS and MINDFULNESS.

It is important that we keep aware of the universal curveballs, those incidents arising out of the blue that force us to keep on our toes, be alert and mindful at all times. Although some people might define the unexpected situations as anxiety-provoking, unanticipated variables also allow us to continually re-evaluate where we are and how we are going. Certain surprising factors also create a dynamic of changing circumstances, which could allow us to shift our trajectory and alter our approach.

To reiterate what I wrote above and have written times before, we are living during a most dynamic time when things can change dramatically and virtually instantly.

The New Year and the month of January start with Mercury in Sagittarius square Mars in Virgo. Like every New Year’s celebration, we may have great plans and great resolve to make the unfolding year the best year of our lives. We may feel enthusiastic and exuberant and determined to expand in new directions and to broaden our interests. In doing so, we might easily skip over the means by which to accomplish our goals. We could have little interest in the details and the specifics, leaving behind the mechanics to focus solely on our intention with the firm belief in the old adage: ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’.

We might not have much interest in strategizing the way but rather assume that our intention can bring about realization with little effort and solely our personal will.

Once again, we may be challenged to let go of our old societal mindset of being the masters of our own destiny, the makers of our own fate. The universal unfolding has moved beyond such a myopic view and demands that we accept our role as co-creators of our destiny with the natural procession of our lives and our individual journey.

It is essential that we keep in mind the wise saying that ‘we never get more than we can handle’.

Whatever presents itself to us during these times are opportunities, some times feeling like overwhelming challenges and other times as serendipitous gifts coming from out of the blue and with no effort on our part.

As we move into January, the Earth Grand Trine becomes strengthened when Mercury moves into Capricorn on the 8th, just prior to the Cancer Full Moon on the 9th. With Mercury’s entry into Capricorn, the Earth element is not only strengthened but now we have a Stellium of three or more planets in Capricorn as Mercury joins the Sun and Pluto in the Cardinal Earth Sign.

In the early part of January, we may have our feet firmly planted on the ground, focusing on the mundane and material aspects of our being. We might feel like the mythological bird the phoenix, having gone through our own funereal pyre of the past three years with various losses and eliminations, now ready to rise from our ashes to soar ever higher. In so doing, it would be wise for us not to solely concentrate on re-creating our material realm but to always keep in mind the spiritual aspect of our being and question continually whether what we are doing has true purpose, true meaning and provides us with soul satisfaction.

The times of solely ‘getting while the getting is good’ are over and it is important that we keep in mind that sole acquisition of stuff does not truly feed the soul nor enhance the spirit. This early January can allow a deepening process whereby we place our energies in those areas that have merit and provide us with sustenance not only a material level but also feeds our spirit and our soul.

The first weekend of January is action-packed with Mercury, finishing its transit of Sagittarius, sextile both Saturn in Libra and sextile Neptune in Aquarius. On the 8th, Mercury enters Capricorn where Mercury trines Jupiter in Taurus and squares Uranus in Aries. If we would draw upon the wise counsel of a good friend and use their detached opinion of our plans and intentions, we could create a grounded and focused trajectory for our goals. We might use this weekend to reflect on any resolutions already made or devise the resolutions we wish to engage for this year of 2012 — all with the acceptance and understanding of the wise saying that ‘if you want to make god laugh, tell god your plans’.

We can make our plans, charge up our intentions but all with an acceptance that we are no longer in control [as if we ever were] of our journey, our itinerary and our direction.

From the encouragement and support of the special person[s] in our lives, we can then formulate a best practices approach to realize our goals. We must always be ready to shift and change according to the prevailing circumstances and, thus, two other key characteristics for these times — FLEXIBILITY and ADAPTABILITY — need also to be part of our skill set.

The Mercury square Uranus on the 8th is my least favorite aspect for flying, but problems could also arise at this time in regard to travel, communications and computer problems. We may have some great ideas regarding how best to expand our operations, but we might not be accounting for all the variables that could influence the implementation and execution of our plans. Now would be a time to rein in our sense of omnipotence, omniscience and invincibility in getting from concept into manifestation. And yet much of this period from mid-November through most of January with the strong Earth influence is a time when we can be highly productive and most effective in pushing our ambitions forward.

The Cancer Full Moon on the 8th – 9th may ask us to find the balance and happy medium between our professional life and our personal life. We could find that we are having to pare down some of the extraneous from our lives and be more resourceful with our time, our energy and our monies. Expenses might come due and we may discover what The Rolling Stones sang in one of their classic songs: “You can’t always get what you want And if you try sometime you might find You get what you need.”

Increasingly, we might realize that our focus has shifted more and more from our desires to a need-based reality with less emphasis on stuff and more emphasis on what has deeper meaning for us. We could even engage the mantram that ‘living simply is not simply living’.

Although many people quake and suffer from triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the 13th, in numerology thirteen is considered the number of transformation, the realized individual. And January’s Friday the 13th could actually spell some very interesting, focused, yet otherworldly feelings and sensations. On this Friday, Mercury conjuncts Pluto with both in Capricorn and provides a laser-like vision to cut to the core and to be aware of the basic fundamentals of any situation. Our discussions may be to the point and exceptionally incisive. On that day, Venus in Aquarius also conjuncts Neptune in Aquarius and trines Saturn in Libra, just before Venus moves into Pisces on the 14th. Our interactions with other people can be close to idyllic and we may find that we have an ardent supporter of not only what we are doing but also, and more importantly, who we are.

It is interesting to note that much of the activity during January seems concentrated on the weekends. Does this augur for time spent contemplating and considering our future plans without the harangue of our daily responsibilities? Are we in process of looking up from our routine activities and see the distant horizon of what could be and who we could be?

It does seem as though each of us may be creating the suspension bridge between where we are and where we intend to be, putting down slat-by-slat towards our future goals, all the while taking care of our normal everyday tasks at hand.

There will be times when we might choose to leap ahead, leaving much of our past, even our present, behind. But even though our trajectory of possibilities may be clear, the universe might every now and then tap us on the shoulder and remind us of baggage we have yet to leave behind.

The 19th of January has the Capricorn Sun square Saturn in Libra just as the Sun is about to exit Capricorn to enter Aquarius. Reconnections and memories of our past may haunt us but also provide a mirror reflecting where we have been in comparison to where we feel we are now.

The weekend of the 20th-22nd and including Monday, the 23rd, is a highly active time. The Sun enters Aquarius on the 20th, the same day that Venus in Pisces sextiles Pluto in Capricorn. Our compassion and idealism can be ratcheted up and we may look to how we can best engage our spirit into action. The sense of ‘there but for the grace of god go I’ can be strong and a greater appreciation of the interconnection of everything and everyone. We might feel that if one person suffers, we all suffer. And our consciousness can take on a far more universal approach, even to the point of a cosmic consciousness.

As we move through January, we begin to pick up the pace of universal consciousness, as the planets begin to move into their transits of the two universal Signs of Aquarius and Pisces. Venus moves from Aquarius into Pisces on the 14th, followed by the Sun moving into Aquarius on the 20th and Mercury moving into Aquarius on the 27th.

As the Sun enters Aquarius, the Sun sextiles Uranus on the 21st and the Sun squares Jupiter on the 22nd, followed by the Aquarius New Moon. We are champing at the bit to make our changes, and unexpected opportunities could come forward for us to consider. We do have to be resourceful and wary of jumping at anything and everything that smacks of change with greater autonomy and promises of self-fulfillment. Let’s always keep in mind that during these times of the paradigm shift we are co-creators and often may take our cue from the serendipity and synchronicity of universe unfolding.

The Aquarius New Moon on the 22nd-23rd also begins the Chinese New Year of the Water Dragon, an auspicious year that can imply good luck, hard work and success in many ventures. There is the potential to see things from other people’s points of view and to be passionate, assured and determined in all that we do. But with the black water dragon, there is also the liability to the unpredictable and the unexpected, once again forcing us to stay aware and mindful. Struggles and conflicts are likely during this Chinese New Year, all leading to natural phenomena upheavals [such as earthquakes, volcanic activity and flash floods] and dramatic changes in the socio-political arena.

This Aquarius New Moon can also trigger our personal desire for greater change and our focus more on our future than on our present reality. To incorporate greater change we do have to be wary of needless expenditures that might increase our debt load. Being resourceful at this time will not put a damper on our future goals but could provide a reining in of moving too fast with too much exuberance and not enough due diligence. Let’s look before we leap and quite possibly instead of leaping ahead create a suspension bridge, slat by slat, to get us from where we have been to where we intend to go.

On the 23rd, Mars turns retrograde in the Sign of Virgo and continues retrograde until mid-April. If we have rushed ahead, skipped over details and neglected specifics, we may find some of our energies are focused on the “re’s” of reworking, redoing and reconsidering.

Just as the 19th through the 22nd had the Sun square Saturn as the Sun finished its transit of Capricorn, then had the Sun enter Aquarius where it sextiled Uranus and then squared Jupiter; the 27th-28th has Mercury doing a similar energy pattern configuration. Finishing its transit of Capricorn, Mercury squares Saturn on the 27th, then Mercury moves into Aquarius and on the 28th Mercury sextiles Uranus and squares Jupiter.

While the latter part of January can have us concentrating on plans, strategies and considering how best to move forward, we may draw upon other people for their support, encouragement and advice. It would be wise to do so, since we all might be far more interested in rushing ahead into our future than spinning our wheels in the present. We just have to be wary of acting like lemmings and rushing towards the cliffs. Haste creates waste, and these times call for, even demand, resourcefulness whereby we utilize our time, our energy and our monies in a judicious and focused manner.

January is a month when we can create our resolutions, focus on the building blocks of our future without skipping a beat regarding our present responsibilities, and give serious thought to our goals with a little help from our friends.

January 2012… putting spirit into action…

Even though times may be tense and stressful, with releases of the past necessary to engage the future unencumbered, this month we can celebrate the spirit of the season — the birthing of the light — and commit to our own personal journey of self en-lightenment.

We may feel a new day dawning as we begin the month. We might not be as enmeshed in the craziness that seems to be going on in the world and in many people’s lives. Perhaps we have grown used to it. Possibly, we are closing ourselves off to it and focusing instead on the sparkling radiance of people, situations and incidents happening in our own lives. We might even be more aware and mindful of the mini-miracles occurring frequently to us, those little glimmers of good fortune and manifest blessings that increasingly come our way. Whatever it might be, we start the month with hope and wonder.

Being the holiday season, we can be reaching out to friends and family, making our connections and even reconnecting with people with whom we may have lost touch during our hurly-burly days. Our sense of prospects and possibilities may be strong and we might be looking at what could be and even acknowledging situations that in earlier days we would have cast off as impossibilities, now seen as having real potential. The world is changing. Our personal world is changing.

Although we can be infused with enthusiasm and exuberance, we also have to avoid glossing over details and assuming that our confidence will tide us over any difficulties and make everything all right. Especially during the first week of December, we could have more going on than we might be able to effectively handle. We could feel energized, but we are also liable to be impetuous and hasty in our thoughts and in our actions.

Holiday shopping can be a frenzy, and it would be wise for us to keep a rein on our expenditures. We may find some incredible bargains, but it would be wise for us to be discerning and selective in our purchases.

The 10th of December has a Total Lunar Eclipse at the time of the Gemini Full Moon and with Uranus just having turned direct, ending its five month retrograde cycle. Change is not only in the air. Change is in play. Changes can occur regarding our thoughts, our belief systems, our relationships and even where we are, with getting out of Dodge in order to have a fresh perspective a top priority. We do have to realize that like the Hindu goddess Kali change can be wild and uncontrollable. Change, once unleashed and set into motion, may have its own trajectory and incorporates the law of unintended consequences. We may all want changes to our life, but I would suggest we keep in mind the writing of George Bernard Shaw in Man and Superman: “There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.”

We may be feeling expansive and ready to engage new and different activities. But even if we initiate new projects, let’s try and maintain due diligence in the overview and concentration on the specifics. Otherwise, we could have a tendency to start off with great expectations, only to find ourselves glossing over important factors and skipping essential details.

With Uranus turning direct on the 10th and Mercury turning direct on the 13th, there can be issues with travel, communications, computers and unexpected variables, all of which could create problems. What is being told to us might not be the truth or the whole truth. Everyone might be a little self-absorbed, easy to self-justify and prone to cut corners. Let’s remember that during these times, the notion of ‘what goes around comes around’ is not some eventuality, but often an instantaneous hit on the backside.

The mid-part of the month can be filled with holiday parties. Although we may have work to attend to, our interest might lie more with social get-togethers, holiday festivals and a general enjoyment of the spectacles of the season.

Towards the latter part of the month, the sales marketing jingles and the cash register jangles may ring up a tendency for us to overspend. We might feel obliged to get something for everyone and we could easily get swept up in a holiday buying frenzy.

We may feel in something of a whipsaw of emotions as we reconnect with our past, yet look enticingly towards our future. While we may feel obligated, even restricted, by elements of our past, we could also use such feelings as an indication of some of the changes we have gone through on an internal level. Let’s keep in mind that everything begins in the abstract with the concept, the intention, the impulse, the seed. Eventually, force takes form, the internal manifests on the external. And so it is for us leading up to Christmas. We may revisit the ghosts of our past, yet long for the externalized change of our future.

Christmas week is a busy week with two Sign changes as Venus enters Aquarius on the 20th and the Winter Solstice on the 21st-22nd as the Sun enters Capricorn. We also have Jupiter turning direct on Christmas Day.

Before Venus enters Aquarius, while still transiting Capricorn, Venus squares Saturn on the 18th. Duties and responsibilities could be foremost in our mind as we pay deference to our past and to connections that are more social obligations than desired interactions. But any reconnections may provide us a mirror to see where we are now versus where we have been.

Certainly, this Christmas week will be replete with Dickens’ concept of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol as we visit incidents, connections and circumstances of our past, our present and our future — all in the NOW.

We may feel pulled in various directions during this Christmas week and there is the energy to match it. On Sunday, the 18th, Venus squares Saturn. On the 19th, the Sun sextiles Saturn. On the 20th, the Sun sextiles Neptune and Venus enters Aquarius where it squares Jupiter. Venus sextiles Uranus on the 21st and the Winter Solstice with the Sun entering Capricorn occurs late on the 21st, early on the 22nd. As the Sun enters Capricorn, the Sun trines Jupiter and squares Uranus on the 22nd. The Capricorn New Moon occurs on the 24th and Jupiter turns direct on the 25th. It’s an energetic week, and one when we may question whether we are coming or going but obviously knowing that we are in swift movement.

The Winter Solstice is indicative in the Northern Latitudes of the birth of the Sun, for this day is the day of greatest darkness before the Sun moves north increasing daylight, day by day increasing in light until we get to the Summer Solstice. This birth of the Sun is also symbolized in Christian theology with the celebrated birth of Jesus, the birth of the Son of God. For each of us, the Winter Solstice speaks to a birthing period, although we tend to see the celebration of the New Year as being the time of out with the old, in with the new. A ritual, gesture or acknowledgment at the time of the Winter Solstice is also a way for us to spiritually engage our own rebirthing, our birthing anew, which is especially punctuated during this time of paradigm shift.

While change is definitely in play, it would also be wise for us to realize that things can change in a nanosecond. Even our plans can go awry, due to unexpected variables. This is a time for us to be nimble and quick and to always check and recheck the parameters, the conditions and the circumstances in which we find ourselves moving. And, of course, it is essential for us to embrace a new way of being — accepting ourselves as co-creators with the universe unfolding and letting go of our sense of control over all situations, our belief that we alone can make things happen. Liberating in deed but also possibly scary as we let go the reins of our assumed control and acknowledge the magic of being open and receptive to the natural unfolding with its moments of serendipity and its incidents of synchronicity.

The end of the month may seem quieter, and certainly quieter than Christmas week. We could use this time to rest up, recharge our batteries and tie up loose ends of the year that we might want to bring to closure before we come into the new year of 2012.

The 29th has the Sun conjunct Pluto and during this time we could be quite incisive regarding what we need to be rid of and what we need to focus on. It would be a good time for us to make our resolutions, our resolve to concentrate on the most meaningful, substantial and essential in our lives and to let go of the dross, the outmoded, the dysfunctional and the no longer relevant.

We are at a threshold crossing, and each of us can determine how and when we make the crossing. And during this process, we can even choose to step forward and to step back. We do not have to make all our changes in one fell swoop. We may make them incrementally and like building a suspension bridge we can put the slats and the ingredients of our future down as we go back and forth between our intended future and our recent past.

December 2011… engaging the spirit of the season soulfully.

Although it seems that national leaders have chosen a less than coordinated game of kick the can, kicking substantial issues and fundamental problems down the road, at some point there is likely to be a kickback. I have suggested before, reiterate again, the fact that the astrological signatures now have an eerie correspondence to the patterns in effect at the time of the late 1920’s, early 1930’s — a period that saw the roaring twenties morph into the great depression. I have also indicated long before now my belief of a liability towards a double dip recession.

Unfortunately, the players on the world stage are oblivious to the epochal change, the paradigm shift and the crossing of the threshold from the way things have been to the ways things could be. Past solutions are ineffective for present and future conditions. And once again, I suggest that these times speak more to the ‘power to the person’ than to ‘power to the people’.

Having written that, there does seem to be more and more people speaking out against the powers-that-be. We see it with the tea partiers and the occupiers of the streets. We see it with the ‘Arab Spring’ and the public outrage against austerity measures being imposed. People are realizing and voicing their complaints about the ineffectiveness and corruptibility of traditional leaders and traditional institutions.

A new day is dawning.

The dawning is both on a societal level and an individual level. For each of us, and this may be part of the Saturn transits this November through the Winter and again towards the end of the Summer 2012, before the dawning of our new day, the beginning of our doing our lives differently, we may find that we have to do a major recapitulation, that we have to take our walks down Memory Lane.

The paradigm shift, the threshold of which we are crossing, is also a dimensional shift, a shift from the fourth dimension with its coordinates of time – space into the fifth dimension whereby time – space collapse and all is in the NOW.

Not only have I experienced it but I hear it from other people that we all seem to be living different times of our lives in the present.

For me, my return to Florida after so many years has been a paradoxical dimension of being in my senior years and also being in my teenage years and early twenties. Returning to the area where I spent much of my younger days, there are times when I feel present in both my sixties and also in the 1960’s.

It is an interesting and curious phenomena but one that I have heard from other people, whereby they feel they are living their present chronological age but also connecting with an earlier age in their life journey. And this may be part of the Saturn transit during this late Autumn and into much of 2012.

We may have the opportunity of reviewing, contemplating and re-journeying some of our earlier periods in order to see where we have been and also to leave behind some of the baggage of our past. This timeframe may be an incredible integration of the different facets and phases of our life experience, allowing us finally to be made whole, to come into our own unique gestalt.

Each of us, in cooperation with each other, can find our way and develop a new consciousness and a new way of being. We are going through a transformation, both individually and collectively, and this shape shifting is akin to the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly. We can only scrape our wings along the ground for so long before we are forced to fly.

November is a month when it is essential that we read between the lines, accept nothing at face value and be ever skeptical of presentations long on rhetoric and flourish but short on facts and pragmatic solutions. We may come to realize that we are not the problem, but we are the solution and a solution acted upon the individual level.

While powers-that-be may talk about transparency, all the while trying to continue their sleight-of-hand tricks, the reality of these times is similar to pulling back the Wizard of Oz screen to see the little guy punching the buttons, or the Emperor with no clothes naked unto the world. No matter the images or the appearances or the presentations or the hoop-la, each of us is becoming more aware, more astute and better able to see the real truth rather than being hypnotized by the fantasies and the illusions.

We are growing up and developing into lighter beings.

As the English author G.K. Chesterton wrote: ‘angels can fly because they take themselves lightly’.

And so it is for us. The more that we can engage our bemusement at the foibles of human nature, at the intricate constructions often built like a house of cards, and at the complications when simplicity would better serve; the more we too can fly and engage our light and be the bearers of light.

This November begins with the Stellium of three or more planets in Scorpio. This powerpack asks us to cut to the core, to eliminate the inconsequential and focus instead on the truly meaningful and that which fully serves our soul’s purpose. While we are doing our inventory taking, clearing away the clutter and being passionate in our devotions to get to the fundamentals, a sense of synchronistic expansion can occur.

Serendipity can step in, and we may have various indications that we no longer have to buy into the old societal mindset that we have to assume control over all worldly events in order to make things happen. In contrast, we might have the opportunity of seeing how things can come about unexpectedly and developments arise not from our making them happen as much as our being in the right place at the right time, having our antennae up, working with peripheral vision and being open to receive the magic and mini-miracles of these times. This opportunity seems especially heightened around the 3rd of the month with doors opening that we might not have even knocked upon.

With every advantage comes a test and some of our testing during the early part of the month would be associated with appropriate boundaries and not getting carried away by any sense of omnipotence or invincibility. It is important that we maintain humility, and especially when things seem to be going our way. Otherwise, we could buy into a belief that nothing can go wrong if everything is going right. And such a belief could prove a prescription for disaster. To repeat: a little humility please.

Much of this month can raise the issue of our willingness to engage opportunities, to be resourceful and expeditious in our best practices approach, and to address the specifics while we are considering the long-term and the big picture.

As the month progresses, the energy moves into the Sagittarian influence with breadth of vision, an expansionary attitude and a broad range of possibilities. Both Mercury and Venus enter Sagittarius on the 2nd, followed by the Sun moving into Sagittarius on the 22nd. This Stellium of three or more planets in Sagittarius can put emphasis upon areas beyond our norm, situations that might be foreign to our daily experience.

Things can move ahead with us enthusiastic and capable in virtually moving mountains. With Mars moving into Virgo on the 10th, we have a Grand Trine by Sign in the Earth Element with the Mars in Virgo triggering by trine Jupiter in Taurus, exact on the 16th, and Mars trine Pluto, exact on the 23rd.

We shall have the confidence and optimism combined with persistence and determination to take our plans, put them into action and effect beneficial results. What we do have to watch for are the ‘overs’ — over-confidence, over-commitment, overboard and other overs which speak to excess and arrogance.

While things can easily go our way during the second half of November, we also may find ourselves walking a fine line between too much and too little. We could also find ourselves falling prey to the old societal mindset of being legends in our own mind and having control over circumstance and conditions. We go there at our own peril, since these times ask us to be as astute and as capable as threading the thinnest thread through a very narrow eye of a needle.

The latter part of November could prove dicey. We have the year’s final Mercury retrograde beginning on the 24th and continuing into mid-December. On the 25th, the Sagittarius New Moon is a partial Solar Eclipse. At this time, transiting Saturn enters the last degrees of Libra, the area that has given me cause for concern in seeing it trigger various conjunctions, squares and oppositions in many peoples’ charts.

If we have been lax in our preparations, arrogant in our projections, haphazard in our development or oblivious to the vagaries of unexpected variables; then we might discover that our best-laid plans may either come to naught or demand that we rework our actions and decisions. Even solutions assumed to remedy significant problems may be seen as coming undone and needing corrective remedies.

Like the volatility of these times, November can swing between extremes — extremes of confidence and extremes of dysfunctionality, extremes of extravagance and extremes of financial hardship, extremes of misguided efforts and extremes of unexpected opportunities. And in these swings, we are also likely to see extremes in Nature.

November 2011… all together NOW…

Welcome to life in the twenty-first century, replete with the circus barkers and the kaleidoscope of various colors and diverse situations changing continually and keeping us on our toes. What’s up? What’s down? What’s whirling all around?

October also begins with a Stellium of three or more planets in Libra with the Sun, Mercury and Saturn all in the Venus-ruled Sign of Balance and Harmony. Of course, similar to the scales that represent the Libra Sign, there are often wild swings between opposite polarities before we hit the balance point.

Although life has been anything but serene over the past months, some of us old enough to remember that great twentieth century musician Curtis Mayfield may be humming mantram-like, prayer-like, his classic song We Got To Have Peace:

We got have peace
To keep the world alive
And war to cease.

People please hear us [people please hear us]
Through our voice the world knows
There’s no choice.

A little bit of peace, and quiet, would certainly be welcome and we might find it by reminding ourselves of the serenity prayer:

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Whether we find peace or not, a little bit of peace and serenity are likely to be brief moments of respite from the hurly-burly times through which we are journeying. We may not always have peace, much less quiet, but let’s keep in mind that friction and dynamics allow for sudden, instantaneous and dramatic changes. Never a dull moment is likely to be had during these times of transformation and shapeshifting. Welcome to the twenty-first century.

During the early part of the month, we may be concentrating on our interactions with other people. There can be some very interesting meetings and connections made at this time. Can we say synchronicity? Could they be serendipity operating?

Yes, in deed, the early part of October could have us bumping into people we know, reconnecting with people from our past and spending quality time with those special people in our lives. Although we might yearn for quieter times, the thrill and excitement of wonderful surprises can more than make up for the challenges and the intensity of these times.

What we need to be aware of as we start this month is the propensity towards a level of dysfunctionality whereby things work easily and smoothly in the abstract but the conceptual being excruciatingly hard to realize in the practical. Communications can be off and we could experience computer problems and travel difficulties. Our insights may be especially strong, but we might have difficulty communicating our understanding to the full comprehension by other people. We could feel as though, at times, we’re locked in a long-term children’s game of telephone whereby we hear certain things being said to us and then communicate something completely at odds with what we have heard. This is a time when there can be misunderstandings and miscommunications. Even if we have to repeat something several times, gesticulate as though we were playing pictionary, or slowly annunciate syllable by syllable, it would be important for us to be as clear as possible in our communications. And we might still suffer from people not fully understanding what we are conveying.

Fortunately, despite these few monkey wrenches, the month seems quite pleasant, albeit a little indulgent with a tendency towards excess and exaggeration.

We may be primed for stretching our wings, getting involved in new and exciting projects and assuming that despite the various black swans swimming in tandem no further harm can come our way. Yes, we might be anxious at times, but we are far more interested in the prescriptions of Dr. Feelgood than in the omens of Dr. Doom.

We could be in a la-de-da mindset, oblivious to the harsh realities around us, lost in our own little world and enjoying the secure comfort zone we may have created for ourselves. We might surround ourselves with our advocates and supporters, keeping any naysayers at bay.

Feeling upbeat and expansive as we start the month and ready to put on our explorer’s trekking boots, we do have to be wary of going overboard with our expenses or our investment in new and different projects.

A tendency to skirt issues, put on blinders and focus solely on what we want and how we want it could be exacerbated around the 3rd and 4th of the month. Even if we have various blockers to our forward movement, we could easily negate the warning signs and find ways around the obstacles. Where a problem might arise is our willingness to negate any warning signals on our journey.

Those days between the 3rd and the 6th could have us starting out confident and upbeat but without checking the conditions or evaluating the circumstances. We might rush headlong into some situations that turn quickly and to our detriment and we might feel as though our confidence is like a slowly deflating balloon with the end result a sense of delay or, to the extreme, defeat and depression.

As long as we have our friends and those special people in our lives, we can slog on through some of the messes of these times.

The mid-part of the month can be especially pleasant. Our minds can meander through idyllic fields and our grasp on reality can be a hand held out to that special someone who keeps us from drifting totally away into our fantasies. Although we might want to make assumptions and buy into the burgeoning of great possibilities, a check-in with reality every now and then would prevent us from going on a bender, being indulgent and extravagant all with the belief that nothing bad will truly impact us.

The potential for euphoria can be high and highest during the first half of the month. As we move through the month, we gain more of the Scorpio energy as Venus leaves its own Sign of Libra and enters Scorpio on the 9th, followed by Mercury entering Scorpio on the 13th, and the Sun moving into Scorpio on the 23rd creating a Stellium of three or more planets in the Fixed Water Sign, and culminating in the Scorpio New Moon on the 26th. As planets move into Scorpio, a Grand Cross in the Fixed Signs is created with the Scorpio planets adversely aspected to Jupiter in Taurus, Mars in Leo and Neptune in Aquarius.

Suddenly, we may feel as though our resources are not as limitless as we might have convinced ourselves. We could become more aware that our costs of living are larger than they have been and that inflationary pressures are keeping an inflated bottom to prices with the upside of costs yet to be realized. We might also tend to stay at the party too long, putting up with frustrating conditions with a belief that soon the tide will turn in our favor. Such a belief could prove costly and detrimental.

The second half of October and even more so the latter part of October is a good time for us to make our preparations. We can be incredibly resourceful, focused on how to cut back on our expenses and diminish our need for stuff. This is a time when we can stretch our monies, virtually get blood out of a stone and work more effectively with less expenditure of energy. We may cut away some of the superfluous and extraneous from our daily living. And it would be wise for us to do so.

For as I have written over the past few months, I find it curious, even startling, that in so many people’s charts I have seen this latter part of 2011 through the winter of 2011-2012 liable to be a vexing and even challenging time for so many of us. It appears to be a time of recapitulation, of addressing our past and going over past issues. With it impacting so many people, I also wonder whether we are likely to see further deterioration on a societal level regarding the trust, faith and security in various community organizations and institutions.

We are on the threshold of a paradigm shift and many of our stable and secure support systems and social institutions may be found wanting in the days ahead. If we see elements of crash and burn during these times, it would be helpful for us to keep in mind the analogy of the mythological bird, the Phoenix, on its funereal pyre to rise from its ashes and soar ever higher. We can do the same, on an individual level and on a societal level. Despite what might be advertised, this process of shapeshifting cannot be done for us, imposed by the powers-that-be, but rather is an emaiindividual process that then radiates out into the community and society at large. These are times when the power is in the person, and the individual is the architect for society’s change. Through our own personal challenges and our individual choices, we too can rise from the ashes of our past to soar ever higher into our future.

But before we soar, we may have to go through the alchemical process of fire whereby burning off the dross, the extraneous and the no longer functional of our past. Recapitulation, with us taking our walks down Memory Lane and reconnecting with and reviewing elements of our past, can all be part of this alchemical process, which is a prelude to our own personal paradigm shift.

First, we may have to go through the crash and burn, and then rise in our own resurrection, finally to soar ever higher than anything we have experienced beforehand.

Preparation for such a time would be wise. It is essential that we keep in mind that the days ahead have little resemblance to the days we have journeyed through. We may have to leave much behind. We might feel that we do not have the skill set to cope with uncharted waters. And, in truth, we may not have the playbook for the days ahead. I would remind you of the wise and true universal law that we never get more than we can handle.

The latter part of October allows us to do our inventory taking and see what is relevant for our present and our future, and what may be outdated and no longer useful. We may have to stretch our muscles of resourcefulness in order to accept the fact that no matter what comes our way we have the capability of meeting successfully the challenges and advancing our own personal talents. In so doing, we can discover ways by which to be more effective with less expenditure of energy.

The month ends with Halloween, although many of us may have felt the past year was filled with days of tricks and other days of treats. And so it continues.

October 2011… a time to prepare and a time to discard…

While summer is usually a time for us to relax, re-create and regroup, this passing summer seems to have been more a time of heightened anxiety, extreme whipsaws and tendencies towards overload and overwhelm. With everything that was going on this summer, we might not have had the chance to catch our breath, much less to restore our spirit and invigorate our soul.

If we look back on August, we can see various world episodes that could have proven traumatizing — the riots in the UK, the debt ceiling issue in the US with the liability to default, the continued economic concerns in the Eurozone and the US with fears again expressed of a double dip recession, the wild swings in the equity markets and the rush to gold as some form of safe haven from the daily crises of national economies and the world economy. And some people could add on earthquake activity and devastating storm systems. All that went on during this August period not to mention some of our own personal affairs and our emotional whipsaws.

We might feel that September allows us to find refuge in the familiar and accepted patterns of habit. And during early September we could convince ourselves that we are back in the driver’s seat, able to circumnavigate the issues that present themselves and successful in moving our projects forward. In early September we may feel at the top of our game and able to accomplish more now than many other times when we were merely bumping along.

The beginning of September is under the influence of the Virgo New Moon back on August 28th, a New Moon that created a Grand Trine in the Earth Element with the Virgo Moon trine Pluto in Capricorn and trine Jupiter in Taurus. We have come off of August’s Mercury retrograde and even though the early part of September has us in the ‘shadow’ of the Mercury retrograde, we are likely to be confident, optimistic and enthusiastic about our possibilities.

What we do need to keep in mind is that the playing field has shifted and will continue to change. And part of the essential change in our game play is to avoid our belief in our total control over circumstances and conditions. Any assumption that we are masters of our world will be shown the lie. Increasingly, we have to accept our role as co-creators of our destiny, working with the energies unfolding, the unexpected events and situations that demand or even force us to be flexible and adaptable to the shifting sands of these times.

While we could easily fancy ourselves as being up for the challenges and capable of bending things to our will, any lack of humility is likely to trigger one of those universal lateral lobotomies, those whacks on the side of the head that give us a heads-up that we might be legends in our own mind but such a disposition being ineffectual in true reality.

A sense of confidence to the degree of over-optimism could be strong at the beginning of the month due to the Sun trine Jupiter and the influence of last month’s Virgo New Moon. We might gloss over specifics. We may go on a spending binge, all with the justification of what we consider to be essential personal makeovers — with expenditures to our wardrobe, our environment and our equipment. Budgets may go out the window as we consider our purchases necessary to deal with the immediate conditions and our future plans.

On the 8th, Mercury opposes Neptune just before Mercury re-enters its own Sign of Virgo on the 9th. With a crescendo of ego assertiveness and ego gratification, our ideas and our future goals may be based more on a best case scenario than a practical trajectory of what could be pragmatic and realistic. We might prove susceptible to our own good fortune, embracing the idea that nothing can go wrong and everything will go right just as long as we are in control. Such lack of humility could be a stumbling block and entice us in buying into illusions and fanciful beliefs, even beliefs of our invincibility and omnipotence. We have to be wary not to over-commit or negate constant checks and evaluations

Mercury moves back into its own Sign of Virgo on the 9th, creating a Stellium of three or more planets in the Mutable Earth Sign as Mercury joins Venus and the Sun in Virgo. We can be focused on the details, the specifics and the particulars. Our analytical ability may be razor sharp but our attitude could also tend towards the hypercritical. With the idea that a strong offense is a good defense, we could nitpick other people’s frailties and flaws in an attempt to mask our own personal insecurities. The Stellium is brief, however, for Venus exits Virgo on the 14th to enter its own Sign of Libra.

Before Venus leaves Virgo, the 11th has Venus sextile Mars, a pleasant Sunday afternoon before the Pisces Full Moon on the 12th, also a day when Mercury trines Pluto. We bring closure to the fortnight but the influence of the Earth Grand Trine lingers on. We are able to focus on the truly meaningful, reinforce the purpose of our lives and make the necessary changes that will lead us closer to the realization of our dreams.

The one caveat for this mid-September period is not to buy into our expectations. Especially during this period of paradigm shift when things can change rapidly and dramatically without a moment’s notice, it is far better to let go of our expectations, take off the blinders of the way we want things to be, and be open to the magic and the miracles of the universe. There is a saying that the universal forces have far greater plans for us than we could ever imagine for ourselves. We just have to let go and allow the unfoldings to occur.

We are on the threshold of an epochal paradigm shift, whereby what has been will never be and what will be has never been.

Exciting times are afoot if we can embrace the limitless possibilities, refrain from grieving the losses and eliminations necessary to clear the decks and to make way for the new, and accept in all humility the gifts from the universe!

Our mind will be sharp, our thoughts relatively upbeat, for the Full Moon on the 12th is reminiscent of the New Moon at the end of August. There is a Grand Trine in Earth. The August New Moon had the Moon in Virgo trine Jupiter in Taurus and trine Pluto in Capricorn. The Pisces Full Moon on the 12th has Mercury in its own Sign of Virgo trine Pluto in Capricorn, followed on the 14th by the Virgo Mercury trine Jupiter in Taurus. Our analytical skills are likely to be exceptionally sharp. We are able to focus on the fundamental issues and we can feel upbeat about our intended journey, even if we have to accept that the itinerary may not be clearly indicated from the outset.

Whenever we make dramatic changes, we are also asked to look in the mirror, take an inventory of who we are, what we have and what we are doing. We may find that we have to let go of certain items, situations, people, in order to move into the next phase of our life experiences.

Out with the old before we can engage the new.

The 16th through the 18th of September could prove dicey especially in regard to our relationships. Things could prove explosive thanks to Pluto turning direct on the 16th. Bomb blasts could occur and issues with certain traditional institutions could blow up. Let’s keep in mind that these are transitional times and not only are we individually going through our transformations but so too is society and society’s varied institutions and traditions.

Problems with other people could be pronounced as Venus in Libra triggers a T-Square by Venus opposed Uranus on the 17th, followed by Venus square Pluto on the 18th, the day that Mars moves into Leo and exits Cancer.

This weekend of the 16th through the 18th could hear the drumbeats of anger and frustration with consequent actions of people likely to be acting out. It would be wise to keep a relatively low profile now, out of harm’s way, and resisting any inclination to immediately react or respond impetuously to anything said or done.

The 23rd ushers in the season of autumn with the autumnal equinox as the Sun moves into Libra. This day also has Mars in Leo trine Uranus is Aries. While the season speaks to balance and a focus on our selves vis-à-vis significant other people in our lives, we might find that balance is hardly struck but rather like a metronome the autumn swings wildly.

We may be far more interested in exploring new senses of our selves, feeling restricted or constrained by our associations and committed connections. We might want to stretch beyond our usual parameters but in so doing we have to be fully aware of the liability of the law of unintended consequences.

Mercury moves into Libra on the 25th, creating a Stellium of three or more planets in the Cardinal Air Sign as Mercury joins the Sun and Venus in the Venus-ruled Sign of Libra.

The questions of who we are and who we are in regard to our relationships and who we are defined by what we do and who we are with the backdrop of the shifting world-at-large will be highlighted during this latter part of September.

While the weekend of the 16th – 18th had Venus creating a Cardinal Sign T-Square with the Libra Venus opposed Uranus in Aries and square Pluto in Capricorn, the end of September revisits this T-Square with the Libra Sun opposed Uranus on the 25th, and the Sun square Pluto on the 28th, and compounded by the Libra Mercury opposed Uranus at the time of the Libra New Moon on the 27th, and Mercury square Pluto on the 28th.

This Libra New Moon on the 27th has five planets in Libra — the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Saturn. The New Moon configuration sextiles Mars, squares Pluto and is in orb of an opposition to Uranus. The question of the ‘other’ to ourselves is raised, with a recognition that the ‘other’ — whether people, our community involvements, our self-identity — with which we have been fully comfortable could now prove more of an irritant, somewhat akin to the grain of sand in the oyster which eventually becomes the pearl. So too for us, as individuals and as a society; we may not like the aggravations of this alchemical process but the process itself promises the potential of a pearl.

This end of September can be explosive. People’s tempers can be short and the liability towards arguments and extreme actions is strong. Now would be a time to count to ten, be certain to temper our actions and not allow ourselves to get caustic or sarcastic in our conversations. Our tongue can be sharp and our intensity severe. We may be itching to break free from situations and people. There can be various endings, some sudden with no looking back or any thought of possible reconciliation. Instead of unleashing full force, if we could contain the energy and clearly direct the energy, then this can be a time of dramatic transitions — endings, yes, but also clearing the decks for new beginnings.

It is hard for us to be born anew amidst familiar surroundings. We could be champing at the bit, desirous of change but unaware of what changes we need to make. Other people could question our actions, our decisions and our ideas. Everyone may be a little on edge, both by reason of the changes in interpersonal relationships but also with a lack of trust regarding traditional institutions and once secure organizations.

The world is spinning and we might feel ourselves spinning with it.

Things can settle down around the very end of the month on the 29th and 30th. The 29th has Mercury sextile Mars and Venus conjunct Saturn. The 30th has the Sun sextile Mars.

If we would keep in mind the importance of testing the waters of the new, all the while that we are tidying up the messes of our past, then we might find that our transformations can be far less excruciatingly painful. If we hold on to the ways things have been, a false belief in stability and security, then we could find our world rocked.

This last week of September is energetically intense and may blare headlines that speak of catastrophic natural disasters, major storm systems, and incidents of people acting out. Not everyone can cope with the energy being ratcheted up to such an extreme. But it is through this dynamic, this extreme intensity, that the alchemical process can occur and that we can burn off the dross of our past and shapeshift into the new format of our being.

September 2011… highly productive before autumn leaves…

We are in FUN mode and willing to enjoy ourselves no matter the cost. And costs there can be. We may be indulgent, take our eyes off our budget, all with the idea of ‘let’s live for today’ as captured in the 1967 classic song by The Grass Roots.

The 2nd of August has Mercury turning retrograde, this retrograde cycle continuing into the 26th of the month, with Mercury tracing back through early Virgo and back into Leo on the 8th. Our ability to analyze and reason could become lost to our desires and our focus on summertime fun. Due diligence might go out the window, as we embrace whatever appeals to us with little satiation.

The first week of August may prove the case for ‘let the good times roll’.

Mars moves into Cancer trines Neptune on the 3rd. Neptune exits Pisces and moves back into Aquarius on the 4th, a day when Mercury also sextiles Mars. And the 5th has Venus square Jupiter and the Sun sextile Saturn, followed up by Venus sextile Saturn on the 7th.

This first week of August can highlight our summer re-creational plans. Getting to the beach, staying down by the pool, reconnecting with old friends can all play a part of our first week of August. This would be a good time for us to take a breather, recharge our batteries and just enjoy ourselves.

But the volatility of these times can become evident as we move from the first week of August into the second week of August. The energy shifts from highly pleasurable events to begin the month to some real pushes and pulls during the second week of the month.

This second week could be extreme with liabilities towards poor judgment, impulsive actions even to the point of accidents and explosions. Mercury exits its own Sign of Virgo and goes back into Leo on the 8th, where it opposes Neptune. Mars transiting Cancer triggers the Cardinal Climax with Mars square Uranus on the 9th and Mars opposed Pluto on the 11th. The Leo Full Moon is on the 13th.

Nothing may be done in half measure during this second week of August. Actions taken may be miscalculations with a tendency to push the envelope and go overboard. People may be on edge and we might witness explosive events. Now is a time for us not to react to any situation without taking the time to have full disclosure regarding what is really going on. We might feel confused, hoodwinked and with little information, even false information, leap forward without considering the circumstances or the conditions.

The second week of August could prove the most volatile of the month, for things seem to start to level out as we come into mid-month. The third week of August could have us licking our wounds, and taking the time to focus on our personal interests that give us pleasure and prove a nice antidote to the extremes of these times.

To assume that directions in place will last a lifetime, a season, a month or even more than a moment’s shift and change would be setting ourselves for grave disappointment and a liability to one of those whacks on the side of the head [can we call it the universe’s way of giving us a wakeup call?].

The 16th of August ramps our desire for good times as the Sun, Mercury and Venus all come together in Leo to emphasize: PARTY!

Whether a party of one or a gaggle of many, this mid-August period entices us to focus on having fun, doing our own thing and quite possibly engaging a certain narcissism whereby we expect the world to revolve around ourselves. Seems to me like a potential set-up for a greater fall [not Autumn but the fall of the ego and the fall from grace].

This sense of entitlement can be reinforced on the 18th when Mars sextiles Jupiter. We may look to spend, spend, spend with some of our expenses associated with our home, family matters, a personal makeover, all with the justification that we are preparing for the return of routine as we come towards the Autumn period.

Unfortunately, clarity may be lacking, or not engaged during this time. Whatever we want, we may feel we richly deserve. The richly, however, could come with a hefty price tag and, if we are not careful, we can find ourselves digging a bigger hole of debt. Let’s not go there!

While the third week of August could be something of a Summer respite, reminiscent of summertimes past when we frolicked and played without a care in the world, the fourth week of August ratchets the energy up severalfold. Perhaps we are back to school or certainly in preparation mode to get back into our normal routine. But the energy from the 21st into the 28th could keep us hopping, at times confused, other times following the yellow brick road.

The potential for tricksters appearing could loom large on the 21st and 22nd, as Venus opposes Neptune on the 21st and the Sun opposes Neptune on the 22nd. Whether the trickster is someone we like and trust or our own delusions and grand expectations, we could be vulnerable to specious promises and possibilities that seem too good to be true and are too good to be true. These configurations occur just as both Venus and the Sun are about to exit Leo and before entering Virgo, Venus on the 21st, the Sun on the 23rd.

Our appetites could get the better of us and we might feel deceived or tricked into believing something that has little basis in reality. We may not be especially clear at this time and, if in deed something does occur whereby we feel victimized and taken advantage of, we could find ourselves pulling the plug on certain contacts and relationships.

Mars squares Saturn and Venus trines Pluto on the 25th, a day before Mercury ends its retrograde cycle to turn direct on the 26th. While there might be pulls on us regarding other people’s needs, or demands, we are ready, willing and able to focus on what we need and what we want.

The Venus trine Pluto is a brief introduction to the Virgo New Moon on the 28th – 29th when the New Moon configuration creates a Grand Trine in the Earth Element with the Virgo New Moon trine Pluto in Capricorn and also trine Jupiter in Taurus. Impacting the fortnight, these next two weeks could see us highly productive, back on the fast track, and focusing on the most significant aspects of our lives. We want to cut to the core, be expeditious in the way we do things and concentrate on getting things done.

Although we get quite a thrust of energy from this New Moon, we do have to be wary of feeling invincible and overloading ourselves assuming that we are Superman or Superwoman.

Venus trines Jupiter on the 30th, just as Jupiter is turning retrograde. Excess could be strong and especially in regard to our shopping for what we believe our needs to be for the new school year or for our getting back into our regular routine.

August continues with the ups and downs of these times, the volatility of dynamic changes with highs and lows engaging the extremes. While we can carom between opposite polarities in our moods and in our actions, we are being asked to find a balancing point in a constantly changing and energetically challenging phase of transformation, the alchemical process necessary to adjust to the paradigm shift.

August… naked unto the world, the emperor with no clothes…

We have two Sign changes at the beginning of July. Mercury exits Cancer to enter Leo on the 2nd, and Venus exits Gemini to enter Cancer on the 4th. Our focus can turn to fun events, engaging the true sentiments of the Summer season with an emphasis on re-creation and enjoying ourselves. Our safety net may be our home and family, whereby we stretch into new adventures, all the while that we have a base camp of support upon which to draw and recharge our energies.

The 4th can be an exciting time with novel experiences. Venus trines Neptune and Mercury trines Uranus. We might feel in an otherwordly space and this is a day when it would be wise for us to follow our inner voice, be open to wonderful surprises and luxuriate in the realm of possibilities, even if they seem impossible.

What we do have to watch for, and the caveat for this month and for these times, are the wild swings between euphoria and discouragement. There can be some real ‘up’ times when we might feel as though all is right in our world and that pesky matters have resolved themselves. And there can be some real ‘down’ times when issues thought resolved come back up for us to deal with and create high anxiety with the sense that the worst is yet to come.

Let’s always keep in mind the volatility of these times and the likelihood being that things are never as good as we might imagine nor as bad as we might imagine and as a result reinforce the importance of not making snap judgments or impetuous decisions.

On the 5th, Mercury squares Jupiter and our tendency to blow things out of proportion and a desire to enjoy ourselves no matter the cost could be aggravated and might put a huge dent in our pocketbook. This is a time when presentations may be dramatic and enticing but also stronger in the images offered than the reality of the situation.

During this Summer we will be tested regarding our focus and our willingness to let things play out before opining on what is going on. If we will take our time, not be distracted by the hoopla but concentrate on the unfolding, and an unfolding that might be more asequential than sequenced, the less likely we shall be to step into some trap of our own making, a trap created by our impulsive nature and our desire to do something, anything, in order to move our interests forward.

Let’s always bear in mind that we are crossing the threshold into a time when C does not necessarily follow B, nor B follow A. Instead, the new normalcy is abnormalcy where things can occur in any order, by any means and perhaps without any recognizable rhyme or reason.

Welcome to the paradigm shift, the magical mystery tour when we need to maintain awareness and mindfulness in order to see the unfolding and go with the flow of developing events.

The first full week of July, from the 4th through the 9th, seems a high energy time with a great deal of movement and caroming between extremes. Excess can be in full gear, thanks both to a cock-eyed optimism and deep-rooted intensities seeking release.

The mid-part of the week, on the 6th, has Mars trine Saturn. By drawing upon other people’s objective insight and detached counsel, we may devise a best practices approach by which to bob and weave through the kaleidoscopic landscape. Discussions can be to the point, be far less emotionally-charged and can allow us to be both expeditious and productive in getting things done.

We just have to watch that when we do catch the wave and ride the pipeline we just not assume that we can ride the wave to shore. Our greatest success during these times is to know which wave to ride, when to ride the wave and when to get off the wave before crashing into shore.

The potential for excess and indulgence is ratcheted up on the 7th through the 9th. The Jupiter trine Pluto on the 7th increases things exponentially and can either be the very best of times or the very worst of times, depending on how we play it and how events are unfolding. The extreme during this time cannot be downplayed. Things can go on a positive tear and may seem indicative that all problems have been resolved and that we are back on the fast track able to move full speed ahead. Or the depth of problems could become better known and give us a sense that things are more like a house of cards, flimsy and likely to fall at any significant shift or change.

Venus also squares Uranus on the 7th. Issues regarding our home, real estate and troubling interactions with other people can add fuel to the fire of extremism. This is a time to take deep breaths, not react immediately to any situation going on and wait for the dust to settle before considering actions or making important decisions.

The 8th of July has Venus opposed Pluto. We might be going through our contact list and seeing whom we might wish to expunge and what social invites we are likely to accept and those we are likely to defer.

While the 7th and 8th can be off the charts in regard to people’s actions and reactions, with an either or type of mentality and little space for equivocation; the weekend of the 9th and 10th could allow us to make amends for any belligerent actions. Venus sextiles Jupiter and Mercury sextiles Saturn on the 9th. People may come to their senses and recognize that no one is able to move recklessly ahead, stepping on toes and creating consternation without some blowback. We might find people apologizing for their behavior or excusing their actions with the rationale of overload or overwhelm that seem to be symptoms of these changing times.

Uranus turns retrograde on the 9th, and whatever our plans might be at this time, we need to keep in mind that things can change instantly and without a moment’s notice. But people’s self-interest and self-absorption could also be muted as we all come to the realization that none of us are islands unto ourselves. This Uranus retrograde cycle continues on into the Autumn and turns direct on the 10th of December, at the time of the Lunar Eclipse. Change can be in the air but much of it may become more internalized rather than the spontaneous and sporadic actions we might have taken earlier.

The mid-month of July can see things quieting down. Although we are interested in broadening our realm and expanding our interests, we may also have a tendency to fix our attention on home and family matters. Even staycations, whereby we take time off from our daily routine, get off the track but stay around home base with day excursions rather than long trips, could be preferable to extended distant trips.

Mercury sextiles Mars on the 11th, and we are certainly looking for fun events and variety. We want to be on the move, but our arena could be far less than long distance trips and visits.

July 13th has Venus square Saturn followed on the 15th with the Capricorn Full Moon. We may be concerned about home projects and might be looking at maintenance or home repair issues. Renovations and redecorations could be in the works and a greater sense of fixing up that which we have rather than branching out into new directions. This could also be a time when the real estate market takes another hit, whether another wave of foreclosures, tightness in the mortgage market or further devaluation of real property.

The Sun moves into Leo on the 23rd with a shift of gears into Summer at its peak. We may be planning events for August with the idea that we get away, even if for just a few days before Summer ends. We are unwilling to let Summer pass without some significant pleasurable activity. Getting off the track and getting out of Dodge may be requisite for our health and well-being. This desire for spreading our wings, doing our own thing and enjoying the new and the different can be further engaged towards the end of the month as the Leo Sun trines Uranus in Aries on the 27th. If we have been thinking of trying out some new activity or recreational pursuit, this end of July could be a time for us to do so.

The end of July has Mercury and Venus, once again, shifting Signs at virtually the same time, similar to earlier in the month. On the 28th, Venus moves out of Cancer and enters Leo, while Mercury exits Leo to enter its own Sign of Virgo. Social engagements and fun times are calling us, reinforced by the Leo New Moon to end the month. Love is in the air but we are likely to be selective and not merely interested in settling.

Part of the tenor of these times is quality, and being far more interested in the quality of things rather than the quantity of accumulation. All of us are in an alchemical process, a transformation, whereby we are being asked to be resourceful and concentrate on the truly important and the most meaningful. We might assume that the economic realities of these times are forcing us to do more with less. But, in truth, our own process of self-development is honing our desires and making us far more selective in regard to what we bring into our lives and no longer merely accepting whatever comes our way.

While July begins with an upswing in energy, much of the month seems quite pleasant despite some blips on the screen.

July 2011… basking in the sun with occasional storm clouds to dampen our spirits…

This June begins with a Gemini New Moon and Solar Eclipse on the 1st. The Sun Moon conjunction trines Saturn, and we may find ourselves over the next fortnight connecting with people in social occasions. Some of our connections may be reconnections with people from our past. Some of our connections may be new contacts with people who hold clues or possibilities for our future journey. Like a scavenger hunt, this June could have us going from one clue to another, all the while not fully knowing the final destination or if there is a final destination.

June continues with the planting seeds for our future but now with a greater tendency to try various things out. We are not content to focus solely on one or two areas. We would prefer a smorgasbord of tasty delights to sample and taste. If over the past few months we have already established our base camp, the fundamental values we wish to engage in our journey ahead, then June allows us a greater opportunity to explore, investigate and try different paths by which to reach our summit. If we have not laid down the foundation stones for our future, then June could provide an opportunity to do so, all the while realizing the importance of flexibility and adaptability and being certain we write our plans and intentions in pencil, with a large eraser in hand, and not try and carve them in stone.

On the 2nd of June, Mercury exits Taurus to enter its own Sign of Gemini. This movement ends the Taurus Stellium of three or more planets in the Fixed Earth Sign and increases the sense of variability and our engaging a wide berth of considerations.

Neptune turns retrograde on the 2nd, to trace back its entrance into its own Sign of Pisces and re-enter briefly Aquarius in early August through the end of the year.

This early part of June can be a bit of a muddle. We may feel betwixt and between, but betwixt and between what we might not be totally clear about.

The 3rd has Mercury square Neptune followed on the 4th by Mercury sextile Uranus. We may feel a little confused at this time but I always say that ‘confusion is the starting point of wisdom’.

Confusion forces us to drop our faith in our beliefs and asks us to be open to a wider breadth of understanding. Once again, like the innocents in a brand new world, the more we can let go, the more we can be open to the insights and understandings that can come from all the various sources around us.

We just have to maintain a good filtration process, keep in mind our intentions and embrace the key elements of these times: awareness and mindfulness.

On the 4th of June, we have another major energy shift. Jupiter exits Aries to enter Taurus. A sense of greater security, of serenity and trust can help us feel that the worst may be behind us as we seek to build for a new day, in a new way. We may also see a late Spring into Summer rally in the equity markets as mergers and acquisitions gain greater momentum and companies release their worried grip on their liquid capital assets.

It would be wise for us to assume a conservative approach, not buying into the spin or the presentations of ‘good times are here again’. Now is a time for us to read between the lines, consider what the long-term implications of priming the pump might be, and realize the liability towards rampant inflation through rising prices in fuel costs, food costs and apparel costs, aggravated in the long-term by the devaluation of the US dollar.

The 7th of June has Mercury trine Saturn. Commentators and authorities can give an authoritative and upbeat report on what is really going on. Our mind is focused and we have the ability to see the best means by which to accomplish our goals. We might also seek to contact those people near and dear to us and just give a ‘cheers’ and ‘hello’.

Jupiter sextiles Neptune on the 8th and this is a time when we may be filled with good cheer. We can easily buy into any inspiring ideas and encouraging words. We are likely to be feeling good and seeing the world not as a brambles patch but rather as a world of endless opportunities and limitless possibilities.

While attitude is a large part of how things unfold for us, it would be wise to keep a hold on our boundless enthusiasm and not get carried away by the euphoria of the moment.

Venus exits its own Sign of Taurus on the 9th and enters Mercury-ruled Gemini, where it creates a Stellium of three or more planets in the Mutable Air Sign as Venus joins both Mercury and the Sun in Gemini. We are looking to broaden our social circle, are far more interested in having various things going on rather than a singular focus and may find ourselves picking up the pace and juggling a number of different activities.

On the 10th, Venus squares Neptune, and we may discover that some of our strongest held beliefs may not be as valid as we once assumed them to be. We might also feel a sense of disillusionment in regard to someone that we could have earlier put on a pedestal.

The 12th of June is a significant time, for Saturn turns direct on this day ending its retrograde cycle that has gone on since the end of January. Many of the delays and some of the frustrations we might have felt during this Winter and early Spring could start to drop away.

It might almost seem as though the starting gate is opening up for us. Having grown internally and given deep thought regarding our individual journey, we can move forward confidently, aware that we have the resources and the stamina to deal with whatever comes our way.

The 12th also has Mercury conjunct the Sun and Venus sextile Uranus. Any disillusionment we might have suffered over the past couple of weeks can give way to looking in new directions, connecting with new people. The change that we seek for ourselves is also likely to be seeking us. The sense of serendipity and being in the right place at the right time could open the door to new possibilities and wonderful contacts.

The Sagittarius Full Moon on the 15th is a Lunar Eclipse indicating that we might have taken on too much or tried too many things without dropping some of them along the way. We could be spreading ourselves too thin, wanting to stretch beyond our normal parameters but possibly glossing over issues and neglecting particular details along the way. We might have to rein ourselves in, concentrate on what is in front of us, all the while that we are contemplating possible projects for our future.

On the 16th, Mercury moves out of its own Sign of Gemini and enters Cancer. We may become more focused on our living space, consider fix-ups around our home and pay greater attention to family matters. There is something warm and comforting about our home space and our loved ones.

The 17th can be close to idyllic. Mercury trines Neptune and Mercury sextiles Jupiter. Our intuitive sense is heightened and we may feel optimistic and confident about how our lives are going. We might want to add a little flair to our living space, creating a greater sanctuary in our home base. If it feels right to us, we’ll go for it. We feel encouraged to listen to our inner voice and act on our sense of things rather than solely on empirical reasoning.

The 18th and 19th of June could prove difficult. On the 18th Venus trines Saturn but Mercury squares Uranus, one of my least favorite travel day configurations. Communications can be off, misunderstandings rampant and the ability to get from here to there disrupted. The 19th has Mercury opposed Pluto, and this day is Father’s Day. Discussions could get heated, especially if long-held grievances are aired. It would be wise for us to keep in mind that each one of us sees our reality based upon our own personal perspective. This weekend is one when we need to bite our tongue. While our feelings can be strong, we have to be aware that other people may not see things or have experienced them in the same way. This is not a time to try and convince people of our perspective. People could become righteous, and discussions might ratchet up into heated arguments.

Mars moves into Gemini on the 20th, and we might find that our actions are staccato-like, impulsive with us ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. We might also become ever more opinionated in the way we see things. We may be unwilling to be receptive listeners, preferring to voice our opinions with added emphasis in order to win our points.

Spring ends and Summer begins with the Summer Solstice on the 21st, the longest day of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere as the Sun enters Cancer. This beginning of Summer also has Mercury square Saturn. We may feel reticent about our needs in contrast to the demands of other people. Relationships could be a little dicey, as everyone might seem to have a chip on their shoulder, assuming that the perennial promise of Summer may be hard to live up to this year.

The first full day of Summer on the 22nd could be a mixed bag. The Sun trines Neptune and Mars squares Neptune. We may be a little spacey today and we have to be careful to avoid possible accidents, especially around the water. This can be a day when a boating accident or accidents could highlight the local news. We may have good intentions but we might not be totally clear about what to do and how to proceed. Impetuous actions could create severe problems. While we might want to bask in the sun, we have to watch for those parade rainers, people who might be aggravated and irritated and looking to take their frustrations out on someone. Let’s avoid being that someone.

The weekend of the 25th and 26th could be a time for family fun and sprucing up our homes. The Sun sextiles Jupiter on the 25th and the Sun squares Uranus on the 26th. We want to incorporate greater variety into our lives, try out new things and add some splash to our surroundings. We might feel confident about our abilities but it would be wise to keep a check on our finances, since we could have a tendency to overspend in order to add greater flair to our home, wardrobe or personal appearance. We may be itchy to do something different but we just have to watch the expense involved.

Mars sextiles Uranus on the 27th, and this is a day when we might choose to spread our nets wide. We are far more interested in being spontaneous, doing things impulsively, and accentuating our sense of freedom. We do not want to be restricted or limited in our actions and this is a ‘me’ day when we emphasize our individuality and the quirkiness of our character. We do have to watch that we don’t go overboard in asserting ourselves, for the 28th has the Sun opposed Pluto. If we have gone overboard and to the extreme, we could find the repercussions to be a headbanger and disadvantageous to our interests.

All in all, this June has some very pleasant energies, with some extreme bumps in the road. While we might want to move full speed ahead, we need to be clear regarding our intentions, engage some humility and a willingness to adapt our plans according to changing circumstance, and maintain a sense of focus even when things seem to be whirling around and confusion seems to be in the air.

June 2011… a time of reunions and new beginnings…

We may be both astute and adept in moving our activities ahead. We are not interested in diversions or distractions. On the contrary, we are tending to cut to the core, deal with the fundamentals and do things in an expeditious and productive manner.

We could get a lot done this month, but we also have to accept the possibility of delays and of frustrations with those who just are unable to keep up with us. Let’s not get sidelined by other people’s agendas but let’s recognize that sometimes delays provide a tempering process, whereby we can hone and fine tune our involvements in order to have them operating at their optimum.

Although we may be passionate and determined and full of perseverance and stick-to-itiveness, we also have to be leery of getting so adamant that we are willing to push ahead ‘come hell or high water’. If we get too self-absorbed in specific interests, we could find ourselves depleting our resources and putting all our energy and capital into particular situations that just might bleed us dry.

A little humility is called for during this month and a willingness to be flexible and adaptable and open to changing circumstances. Our stubbornness this month could be a strong liability and a prescription for disaster.

Let’s keep in mind that during this major paradigm shift we are being asked to let go of control over situations, the belief in mastering our personal world and accepting instead the idea of being co-creators, working with the natural unfolding and with a willingness to shift and change as circumstances might warrant.

If we get too fixated on what we want to occur, we could miss the real opportunities that might arise unexpectedly in the most serendipitous conditions.

May seems a great deal less heated and impetuous than April. There is a greater maturity in our decisions and in our actions, no longer leaping ahead without considering the conditions or aware of possible circumstances. Some of our missteps in April, some of our over-reactions and some of our hasty decisions can now be reworked to our benefit.

If we were not ensnared by the rush to judgment in April, then this May period allows us to plant the seeds given impulse during the April time. If we did put our feet into some hotspots in April, we can now disengage and seek a more conciliatory and focused manner by which to move our interests ahead.

Yes, this May could well live up to the refrain of the 17th Century poet Thomas Dekker in his poem The Merry Month of May:

“O the month of May, the merry month of May,
So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green.”

We may frolic, feeling ourselves somewhat invincible and fully capable of realizing our goals and our ambitions. And we can certainly advance our personal interests during this May.

This May has a far more grounded and practical approach in all our affairs. We have a great deal of the Taurus energy as various planets join the Sun in Taurus — Mars on the 11th and both Venus and Mercury on the 15th.

Especially highlighted dates in May are the 11th when both Venus and Mercury conjunct Jupiter; the 16th when Mercury conjuncts Venus and both sextile Neptune; and the 20th – 21st with some favorable Pluto energies as Mercury conjuncts Mars and both trine Pluto on the 20th, followed by Venus trine Pluto on the 21st.

But before we engage a more grounded approach, which increases as the month progresses, our tendency towards rash and hasty and even ill-considered actions based upon our optimism could be a powerful elixir and seduce us into pushing too far, too fast.

The month begins with Mars conjunct Jupiter in Aries on the 1st. We could begin the month quick out of the gate, stretching our wings, expanding our realm. We may feel like there can be no stopping us now. Our enthusiasm, confidence and optimism may know no bounds. And while such a ‘feelgood’ attitude is certainly upbeat and encouraging, we do need to avoid overdoing or becoming excessive and extravagant in our beliefs, our decisions and our actions. If we reach beyond our capabilities and our resources, we could have a severe comeuppance in the mid-part of the month and may even be laying the seeds of karma that might have to be reaped to our disadvantage later in the year.

The 3rd has the Taurus New Moon and influences the fortnight both with a sense of planting new seeds and doing so with plans well conceived, details fully considered. We may feel that we have taken care of all the necessary factors that contribute to a successful and productive implementation of our plans. And that may be true but it would be advised to keep in mind the vagaries of these times, when things can shift and change suddenly and dramatically without even a moment’s notice.

Love is in the air during this merry month of May. We may feel inspired, confident and optimistic and ready to rebuild our lives. But the rebuilding will not be a re-creation of our past, when some of our accomplishments may have been more ego-driven. On the contrary, the alchemical process each of us has been through, and is going through, is likely to focus on the truly essential, on building upon rock, rather than on sand.

We may feel ourselves far more together during May. As though the dark clouds have parted, we can see the way, our way. No matter the craziness of the world and bizarre world events that might be headlining the news, we are far less engaged in the chatter of things that do not directly impact us. We are looking to take our journey. We are looking to engage the true purpose of our being. And we are planting the seeds of our new directions.

Mercury conjuncts Venus on the 9th and both Venus and Mercury transiting Aries conjunct Jupiter on the 11th. We may feel in love with life, in love with love, and a warm and fuzzy feeling about those we encounter and seek to engage. We can see the good in situations, the good in people, and believe that the best is yet to come.

Mars moves into Taurus on the 11th, followed by both Venus and Mercury moving into Taurus on the 15th, thereby creating a powerpack in Taurus with a Stellium of three or more planets in the Fixed Earth Sign as Venus and Mercury join Mars and the Sun in Taurus. Mars sextiles Neptune on the 12th, followed on the 16th with another Mercury Venus conjunction, this time in Taurus, and both Mercury and Venus sextile Neptune. We could easily buy into the prospects, the possibilities. Our discernment and discrimination may lessen as we seek only the potential, the positive, but also perhaps the illusionary.

The process of recent times has afforded us the ability and the opportunity to be more fully aware of what is really going on. Through our challenges and our struggles we have developed the ability to not buy into the presentations, the hype or the spin of appearance and images. We have had the wake-up calls, the whacks on the side of the head and elsewhere, to be far more mindful, to define a healthy skepticism and a valued reticence of looking at situations carefully and in-depth before accepting them or committing to situations that look good on the outside but could prove difficult, even lethal, once inside.

The period of the 12th through the 16th could challenge our ability to separate the substance from the appearance and see what is truly going on. We may feel that we have found the right path for our journey. We might feel pumped about our recently-formed itinerary and our intended goals. And we could expend our resources — our finances, our time and our energy. But are we engaging the truly meaningful or merely casting pearls before swine?

Although we might assume that the clouds have parted and that we are now walking in sunshine, we still have our weeding to do, ridding ourselves of those areas in our lives that no longer fulfill us or serve any real purpose. The Scorpio Full Moon on the 17th of May could prove a little perplexing, as we are asked to release some of our dreams that may have been dreamt before but could turn into nightmares if realized now or in the future.

While we may be looking at this time as one of eliminating some of our plans and intentions, let’s keep in mind that in this paradigm shift we do not have to do it all. The universe provides, and as long as we work with peripheral vision and be open to receive, wonderful surprises and exciting opportunities can come our way. The universe does not like a vacuum, and as we do our Spring cleaning, we may discover that we have created greater space for the new and more intriguing scenarios to enter our lives.

Despite the fact that we might have to let go of certain aspects of our lives, such releases could prove important steps for us to get to our next level.

The 20th-21st of May allows for a restructuring, a rebuilding and developing a solid base from which to operate. The 20th has Mercury conjunct Mars and both Mercury and Mars trine Pluto. The 21st has Venus trine Pluto and the Sun exiting Taurus to enter Gemini.

Similar to climbing a mountainous summit, we may need to establish a base camp from which to climb the summit and explore the greater heights.

If we would take a careful evaluation of our plans, our resources and consider the best approach and the most meaningful direction, we can then concentrate on what is most important for us and for our growth and our self-development.

With the Sun square Neptune on the 22nd, we may feel confused about our identity, about where we are going. We might want to hold on to previous goals and ambitions, but if we will be true to ourselves and accept the vulnerability that comes with shapeshifting, those times when we no longer hold on to the habit patterns or the comfort of familiarity but instead let go and accept a scary time of not knowing; then we are likely to find that new doors, new opportunities, and wonderful surprises are likely to come forward.

The idea of ‘let go, let god’ is a powerful affirmation, even if only the blind faith that the best is yet to come. Such a disposition embraces the concept, and the reality during these times of paradigm shift that we no longer have to master our world but we do have to be open to receive. No longer do we need to have blinders on, looking and accepting only that which seems in front of us. We can release ourselves from the ties that bind, no matter what those ties might have been. In so doing, we prepare the space for the next grand adventure of our lives, those involvements, activities and projects that are more in keeping with where we are going rather than where we have been.

The Sun sextile Uranus on the 26th embraces the adventure of change, the opening of the door to options and alternatives that we might never have earlier considered, and maybe not considered because they were not in the purview of our understanding. This is a time for us to explore, to try things out, to stretch our wings and soar, all with the realization that in moving into new arenas, new situations, new involvements, we do not have to commit for the long-term but rather engage for the short-term with an understanding that as one door opens, so too do other possibilities, other doors, and other options.

As the saying goes: ‘Life’s too mysterious. Don’t take it serious.’

We are on the magical, mystery tour and during this month of May we have the opportunity of developing new interests, laying down new foundations stones, but all with the recognition and appreciation that such movements on the physical level may prove to be transitory or adaptable to change. The internal for each one of us may be far more solid, a deeper connection with our soul and our spirit, and a desire to express our essence. This internal realization is not transitory or subject to change. It is, firm and solid in its inner being, but flexible and adaptable in its external expression.

May… The merry month of May…