By Len Wallick
Everything we experience begins with thought,
Our words and deeds spring from thought,…”
Attributed to Buddha
A lot of energy is moving from Aquarius to Pisces this week. Today, Mercury follows the Sun into Pisces (which entered on Friday), conjoining Chiron 12 hours later. Late tomorrow or early Wednesday, depending on where you are, Mars concludes the precipitous and closely synchronized migration out of Aquarius. Mars then also conjoins Chiron about a day and a half before Jupiter exacts its square to Pluto on Friday. This square between Jupiter, the planet that traditionally rules Pisces, and Pluto is a relatively rare and meaningful aspect. That’s the backbone of astrology for the week.
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All of this combines to imply a shift or transformation. Concurrent with these events we may see a change in emphasis. Some might experience the need to re-balance or re-organize. The means and tone of expression may alter.
But before we start to look at the vertebrae of today’s astrology, let us not forget the Moon. Oh yes, again we begin another Monday with Luna in a cardinal sign. Today it’s Libra, all day. This pattern, which started with the first Monday of 2011, will begin to taper off next week.
This has been an an extraordinary run. Perhaps the time has come to put it in perspective. Maybe it was the Industrial Revolution, or perhaps the Protestant Reformation. Could be it goes back before all of that. Somewhere along the line, the day named after the Moon came to mean the beginning of the secular, business week — the day when it is a common practice to go back to work or school after at least one day off. In the United States some Mondays, such as today, are an exception to the rule, designated as a holiday for at least some of us. On the whole, however, this day has assumed a cultural identity that is identified with the start of a new cycle, both in our personal and in our political lives.
Long before time was organized into weeks, the cardinal signs had acquired an identity of their own. There is tangible evidence, going back over 10,000 years that human beings have noted, marked, tracked and commemorated the first day of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn because they correspond to perceptible and auspicious moments in the Sun’s annual cycle — the seasons. It’s extraordinary, really. All over the world, ancient people who knew little or nothing of each other observed the beginning of a new phase in their public and private lives. In other words, the first day of a cardinal sign was a sort of seasonal Monday. So it is that this year of transition starts off with an unlikely rhythm that links the ancient days of initiation with those of the present. This transition symbolically provides not only a bridge between cardinal sign templates, but also a between-epochs past to this present moment.
For an extended period that came to both symbolic and eventful fruition last year, transitions were instigated by the cardinal T-squares. Beginning next year, extending its influence towards the end of our new decade, transition begins when Uranus’ square to Pluto gets down to the business of history. This represents the start of a new cycle — for individuals and for all human kind.
Next week the rhythm of cardinal sign Monday Moons begins to dissolve. Dissolution is a Pisces sort of thing. It is thus synchronous and even fitting that Mercury, representing, among other things, how we think, should change its own context of expression today. Planets, like people, are influenced by where they are. Think of it. Do you change how you dress, what you eat or what you talk about depending on what you are doing, where you are or who you are with? Perhaps there are some who would say that they do not. Most of us, however, do not wear the same thing to sleep as we do in public. Many of us would avoid certain topics of conversation in one place while engaging them in others. Nearly nobody consumes chips and dip for every meal. Synchronicity leads us to expect that our experience of things associated with Mercury begins to show some difference starting today.
First it must be noted that the sign opposite Pisces is Virgo. Virgo is one of two signs ruled by Mercury. That is to say Mercury is very comfortable expressing itself there, as you would be with people you know and trust. Another word used by astrologers is domicile, as in home. Mercury feels at home in Virgo.
For many astrologers, the sign that opposes a place of domicile is referred to as a location of detriment. This is not bad, just different. Imagine yourself camping in the woods. You do not have the comforts of home but it is a worthwhile place to be for the experiences it has to offer — different experiences from what most of us would have at home. The object is to adapt yourself in order to enjoy and learn from those experiences. One of the ways you can adjust is by insulating yourself from the elements. So it is with Mercury in Pisces for the next couple weeks.
Think of Pisces as an expression of water. Think of Mercury as representing electricity, which is valid in concept and in practice. It is not impossible for electrical devices to operate in water. In order for them to function and safely enhance an aqueous experience, some insulation must be used to keep things from shorting out. So, when it comes to perceptions, ideas, words, and their interpretation as represented by the speedy planet, some sort of protective layer may be in order.
On the positive side, that may call for us to be tastefully discreet or cautiously confidential. On the negative side, we may encounter ambient confusion or even intentional misrepresentation. In order to avail ourselves of the un-domiciled experiences Pisces has to offer, we need to be aware of the purpose and spirit of our thoughts before we express them. It would also be helpful to examine our intent when we travel so that we will have a clear idea of what we do when we get there, and how to return. When receiving the communications of others we might want to help ourselves with a measure of compassion to go with the caution. It could be that the facts are not being misrepresented at all, only insulated. Even those who intentionally mislead are speaking some sort of truth, usually having to do with fear. Think of this as a time to help with that.
Finally, Mercury in Pisces is a time for creativity. If prose is not working, try poetry. If you find yourself stuttering, you may want to sing. If you find yourself at cross purposes, offer a hug. If words fail entirely, try a picture. If you can’t get to where you want to go, see if there is another means between points. A planet in detriment is not crippled, it is simply challenged to exist in a different way. When it comes to how you think, speak, hear, write or receive expressions, try something that you would not need to do at home.
Offered In Service
Dear aword,
Many happy solar returns!
I hope your migraine goes away.
Oh! Happy Birthday, aword! 🙂
liminali, thank you very much for the tip! and for remembering! I will play with this for sure. 😉
Be, thanks so much for BD wishes and your astro insights.. I always learn much from you, here. I had not gotten to a point of trying to understand yods or finding yods in my chart yet and now that you’ve pointed this one out, I will take the opportunity to do some of that learlning. Very helpful, thank you.
Brendan, Len, Fe, Thank You!
And re: the Miso soup MSG migraine remedy: I tried something else a little different — I prepared some real miso broth and laced it with healing cayanne and sipped that. I figured there were a few levels of psycological-healing going on with that approach, not the least of which was a sort of “getting back on the horse” theory.
I am better today – in part due to all of you. Thank you with Love.
xo
Happy Birthday, aword! Am I remembering correctly that you wished for a way to “see” the planets moving through your natal chart sometime last year? If you use astrodienst (astro.com), they offer some unusual charts in their special chart section.
First, go to the extended chart selection, the group will be set on “circular charts”. Click on “special charts”, go to the drop down box, select “transit cyclogram(large)”, click on “show chart”. You will have to pick a date to start, the chart will show 12 months worth of future transits. I set mine for January 1st to coincide with the calendar year. This chart will be your natal chart including the positions and paths of the planets and other bodies through your chart for a year.
Each month is a concentric ring around your chart like a tree. The natal positions of your chart are marked with lines so you can see exactly where the transiting planet(s) intersect. Other aspects are marked around the rim of the chart. It is a very cool tool and tons of fun to be able to visualize better the interface of your natal chart with currents transits. For obvious reasons, the transits of the Moon are not included. This chart does not include Chiron either. It’s color coded, and you can clearly see the difference between the true and mean lunar nodes. Retrogrades are easy to spot, too. Enjoy!
Happy B-day, aword. May it be all you want and everything you need to be happy.
Happy Birthday, aword. Thank you for being part of the Planet Waves community.
Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy to Aword!
aword,
I do hope you are feeling better now, and are really having a Happy Birthday. Yes, it does sound like approaching Chiron has set off your see-saw Sun/Pluto opposition, but don’t rule out that it has ricocheted from Pluto to his sextile buddy Jupiter (and north node and Neptune), then bounced it up to the Aries (headache) Moon that forms the pointy end of your yod. A “yodache” maybe?
None-the-less, you have help from some totally new revelation in the form of 12th house Uranus trine said moon. The transiting Jupiter, who is moving in to trine one and conjoins the other, is making it way too much to grasp/understand emotionally. Perhaps if you can relax a little about some other problems (financial?) the pain will lessen or leave. By March 2 there should be good news from a confidential source that makes everything more better. Chiron’s messages are rarely clear, especially when in concert with Neptune. ho boy!
be
Gosh, a similar Pluto opposition for you too huh? My natal is at 4 and 23 Virgo with Sun coming up for the loverly smackeroo soon! Thanks A Word for your good wishes. The surgery is all set to happen again tomorrow, bright and early, and thankfully someone tonight pointed out to me that the stars will be more favorably aligned! Moon was conjunct Saturn today whereas tomorrow it trines Mars (surgery) and Neptune (anesthesia). All good, goddess willing.
Good luck with the remedies on reducing that migraine you are suffering under and releasing those damn toxins built up inside. I’m intrigued and I hope to peruse some of the information Eric has thrown our way on the topic of homeopathy. For now I’m shifting the crap inside to out with those chakra alignments I started recently.
OMG from one Plutonian opposition to another! lol! So – good for you re: communication. Honest and open lack thereof pet-peeve of mine if you will. All good thoughts to you/your special someone/important surgery, shebear.
Yes, and curious too that said migraine should appear today – and even tho I worked through yet another sleepless night to focus on it and understand where it came from – and from a logical perspective I ended up realizing the tainted soup — I also am certain that there is an underlying cause re: my body’s insistence that it will not tolorate ANYTHING chemically-oriented, not nothin’ no how no way.
Tried a different homeopathic remedy “Bryonia Alba”. The homeopathy seems to be more along the lines of NOT RELEASING the crap once it’s inside my system. And once there it festers and creates anxiety thus nausea and inability to “see”.
Anyway – there it is, my Chiron-ic Birthday message for anyone else who ever has similiar difficulty.
Now, back to basics….”Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Meeeeee!!!…….”
😉
A Word: *Very* Happy B’day m’dear! Congrats and celebrations to you….tho’ that migraine does sound yucky….bleah. It sounds yucky but *you* don’t, so well done for shining through it all with your irrepressible *you-ness*.
My day has been challenging as I waited for eight tortured hours on news re. an important surgery happening to a special someone overseas, only to be *not* told that it had been cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow by the various important players in my life who are challenged in the communications dept. It’s been one @#$ of a day but something in this post “to re-balance and re-organize” and something in the Sagittarius LightBridge, jolted me out of a dynamic that has persecuted me for far too long now. I am so sick of poor communication that I took matters into my own hands, Skyped the hospital myself for a current update and I feel so much better now, facing it and tweaking it all in my favour.
OMG, I’ve just realised that the bleep hit the fan for me at the exact same moment Mercury passed over to Pisces and came just that bit closer to opposing my natal Pluto. Something big just got snapped for me and finally in *my* favour. The timing explains everything. Goodness, i feel all grow-ed up now! 😉
A new cycle indeed!! — “Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me!….”
This being my solar return day – and with all that frickin’ activity that’s been going on smack dab in the middle of Mercury at 24 Aq and Sun at 2 Pi and all of it opposing Pluto at 1 Virgo…..not to mention a zillion other aspects, just like all of us!
Yeee Haa! No wonder I’ve come down with a migraine. (Actually it’s chemically induced – I was blindsided by Miso soup laced with MSG. Sigh. These things can take weeks to undo. This time I’m trying old standby flu remedy, cayanne and ginger plus B6. We shall see.)
On the other hand, maybe it’s just the pressure of all these planets piled up around my Sun!
Either/Or – I’m looking forward to another wonderful year learning and loving with all of you here at PW 🙂
Thanks Len, for this Moonday Birthday Pisces Mercury Pluto teaching. Always wonderful to hear your voice.
….”Happy Birthday Dear AWord…..Happy Birthday to Me!” hahahaha! xo
a-HA . . . “If you can’t get to where you want to go, see if there is another means between points.” on a week’s break now and have resented not being able to “go” somewhere . . . am not usually adverse to a “staycation” . . . i love “home” and live in one of the most vibrant cultural and natural areas in the world for crying out loud! my resentment is more about lacking financial and transit wherewithal that increasingly squeeze my sense of freedom. methinks i need to re-visit FREEDOM. thanks for your clarity & compassion, len . . . it softens my heart.
I love your words !
Hearfelt thanks to Fe, Amanda and Eric.