Warning: the following Daily Astrology post is unabashedly U.S.-centric. And a little snarky. Today is Thanksgiving Day: perhaps this country’s largest non-religious holiday. It celebrates a legendary shared bountiful harvest between Pilgrim settlers in the New World and native peoples as winter approached. We all know how that went. And as if in honor of the centuries of conflict, baggage and gluttony that has ensued in this country since, the sky is serving up some Thanksgiving astrology, ‘family reunion-style’, courtesy of the Moon.
The Moon is currently in mid-Pisces: that dreamy, foggy, creative, sexy sign whose modern ruler is Neptune, planet of drugs and denial (and whose traditional ruler is brash, expansive Jupiter). The Moon gets the day started with a slew of squares to the centaur planets clustered in late Sagittarius. These are the critters known for raising all kinds of shadowy baggage material, often the familial/ancestral stuff, for the purposes of healing it.
Sound a little… prickly? Kind of like a big Thanksgiving dinner with family from all over the socio-political and spiritually (un)aware spectrums crowding around a big table and shouting? Your suitcase may be packed light for the physical trip to Grandmother’s house, but the emotional trip can be another story once buttons start getting pushed. And the emotional Moon in an emotional sign squaring a bunch of half-animal centaurs (not to mention making other aspects as well) could feel a little wild.
Luckily, the Moon has already passed by its square to Pholus — though it’s still wise to take it easy on the wine today. If you traveled yesterday, did small emotional triggers spiral out of control into big, holiday-special effects? Just keep thinking ‘pie’ this morning to avoid rehashing whatever may have happened. Soon enough, you’ll be able to escape into a state of unconscious, post-turkey bliss or a football game if trying to work out your shadow material with a mouthful of mashed potatoes and an earful of your (insert least favorite relative here) is more than you can chew on.
Just after 8:30 pm EST, the Moon leaves its tryptophan-induced, full-belly nap and enters Aries — just in time for leftovers… or a trip to stand in line at the mall for the insanely early Black Friday sales (and Walmart protests).
You know that Mars-Pluto conjunction heating up in Capricorn? The Moon will square it just after conjoining Uranus in Aries. This could be, um, volatile. Are you sure you’re willing to risk black-Friday brawls over the last Super-Barbie-X-Men-G.I. Joe-Wii-500-inch color TV-iPhone10?
Besides, yet again tomorrow the Moon makes aspects to a host of interesting minor characters including an aboriginal god of the dreamtime (hint: stick with a second tryptophan nap after your leftovers!), another centaur, a ferocious sea monster and a battle hero killed by a centaur. Think about it.
The Pisces Moon even makes tense squares to Vesta (goddess of the hearth) in Gemini on Thanksgiving. And then the Aries Moon squares Ceres (goddess of the harvest) in Cancer on Black Friday.
Feeling frustrated because you thought you’d finally have some help this year tending the hearth (oven)? Try shifting your perspective: you are lucky to have a hearth to tend, and family to be frustrated with. Annoyed that three people failed to communicate during this Mercury retrograde and each brought enough candied yams for the Trojan army — which you’re now stuck eating for the next week? Consider that you are blessed with plenty, and people in your life willing to share what they have.
Be grateful. Seriously.
Hey jinspace – my cynicism about family gatherings comes from the fact that mine are usually fraught with tension and difficulty, my family’s a pretty dysfunctional one. But I also adore them, and like you, feel gratitude to have them in my life. And it’s great that you, Amanda, or anyone else here can have mellow, loving family get togethers.
jinspace — of course it can be. i am sorry to hear you felt afraid to comment — all expressions of genuine gratitude and joy are always welcome on PW.
i simply looked at the astrology and it suggested a certain picture to me. certainly not the only possible one, but it was a picture with a certain precedent and mythology of its own in this culture. tensions *can* run high this time of year, as can obligations that people feel “locked” into, and which come with their own shadow and baggage. the centaurs can definitely bring a lot of “stuff” up for people.
🙂
as i said in my own comment, my own holiday was very mellow with my family. and i have very, very much to be grateful for — i’m glad to know you feel the same.
Well, gee –
Amanda, I do thank you for the warning about the snarkiness, and I suppose the gleeful comments drive home your point, but to me it sounds so ferocious that I wonder whether those who feel otherwise about the holiday – or holidays in general – might be afraid to express that here for fear of reprisals. I truly feel like I’m going out on a limb for saying this.
Personally, I know plenty of Americans who are genuinely thankful for their families, or what’s left of them, and for having a hearth to tend, who know how to enjoy holidays together, know there’s a time and a place for rehashing, and who genuinely love and accept one another with all their imperfections – or work consciously toward acceptance.
Can’t the ideal behind Thanksgiving be something to aspire to, rather than something to scoff at?
thanks all — and happy thanksgiving (and giving-of-thanks for the non-U.S. readers)!
it’s actually pretty low-key here in my family, with just three of us and a dog. though with both my brother and i oversleeping, mom has threatened not to cook anything next year. whoops! but i helped as much as i could & then washed the dishes.
oh… and i brought the wine. i think i’ve always wanted to be part horse. 😉
Amanda! Great writing this should have been the cover for the Times today.
Prickly stuff, yes early morning felt the squares rising up. That shadowy pattern baggage I consciously work my awareness to right perception -towards courage of what is my light. Why does it feel so sore to take what is rightfully mine?
I noticed along with all this potential ‘turkey shit’ today (thank you for the warnings) I saw in my Natal chart yesterday Chiron transiting my natal Saturn exact, directly opposite My natal Pluto in 12th. i am holding on to this as my ealing path through retaining my positive direction and energy connected to universe, oneness and actively severing the pattern of accepting negativity…no matter who tries to pass on ancestral (fears) bad nuts,
Thanks again A for this, and a happy, HEALING thanksgiving to all here.
xlp
Amanda: Thank you for this piece, which is indeed (gravy) spot-on.
I think centaurs are sexy. I’ve always wanted to do it with one. Although a satyr might have greater upperbody ROM, if not better mechanical advantage. I mean really. One can only bend so much at the waist. 😉
:-* a.
thank you for your powerful writing and thoughts… your ending paragraphs really pack a punch emotionally and bring it all home..(in all ways, i guess). Your insights help(ed) a whole bunch. it is very good to read this early Thanksgiving morning 2012…thank you again…
Perfectly snarky and American-centric! The beauty of this year’s astrological doings is that the very foundational myths of America are being put through the wringer, one lovely example is all the right wingers bummed that this is an increasingly diverse country where white xtian males no longer get to have it their way by default. Good, it’s time for a change.
I’m grateful for the quality of the folks who hang out here and cheer one another on to be their best selves. Happy day, every day.
Thanks for this great piece, Amanda! I’d be tempted to lock those centaurs in a room with a few barrels of wine, till it’s all over. Happy Thanksgiving to all you guys. I for one am grateful that we only have Christmas to deal with in this part of the world. Good luck!