The Astrology Blog 16 September 2019   

Complacency Check, Redirecting Effort & Paving the Way Forwards

 

“Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.”

 

– Big Yellow Taxi, by Joni Mitchell

 

In the wake of the Full Moon in Pisces – which fell conjunct Neptune (god of the seas) and square Jupiter (excess) the news was dominated by fatal flash floods in Spain and the Tropical Storm Humberto, lashing the Bahamas just two weeks after Hurricane Dorian devastated the islands. Heavy rain, strong winds and stormy seas all added up to huge amounts of water being dumped on land in a frighteningly short space of time.

Jupiter and Neptune both rule Pisces and this week they finish their series of three squares, suggesting that there’s more to come and/or recovery and clean up jobs of unimaginable proportions. This final square isn’t exact until the weekend, but I list it first because pictures formed by the slower moving planets can take months to play out and therefore create a backdrop for a long time, in this case from the end of last year until now, so here’s a reminder of the whole sequence –

• 13 December 2018 – Jupiter 14 Sagittarius/Neptune 14 Pisces
• 15 June 2019 – Jupiter 19 Sagittarius/Neptune 19 Pisces
• 21 September 2019 – Jupiter 17 Sagittarius/Neptune 17 Pisces

The finale is therefore “applying” throughout this week –

Saturday 21 September                                         

• Jupiter 17 Sagittarius square Neptune 17 Pisces 17.48 BST

In the Bahamas many people have lost everything, the fabric of their lives and homes simply being swept away from under their feet and in front of their eyes, victims simply of living in the wrong place at the wrong time. As above, so below, can manifest literally and it’s notable how often major stressful astrological aspects coincide with natural disasters here on earth.

For those of us watching all of this from afar, the symbolic “as above, so below” messages are powerful too, flooding us with compassion and feelings of being blessed to escape such trauma. Take a moment to give thanks for the dry land under your feet and the safety of your loved ones and your home. It’s the nature of the human condition to take so much for granted, we would be living in constant fear and anxiety otherwise. I remember the first time I watched the famous interview with Jung and Joan Bakewell. Haven’t got the time right now to listen to the whole thing but Jung’s words that always stuck in my head were something along the lines of, “there’s something in the human condition that disregards death”. Here’s the link to the interview, well worth a visit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_to_Face_(British_TV_programme)

So we have to learn to push away our fears, ultimately our fear or even awareness of our own mortality, and those who can’t live in an exhausting state of anxiety that often sabotages everything else. So at some level it’s inevitable that we fully appreciate what we had only when it’s been swept away, when we find ourselves in that moment of loss. Three other quotes that popped up while I was researching this theme –

“They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had, you just thought you’d never lose it.”

“Appreciate what you have, before it turns into what you had.”

“We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Freedom is like that. It’s like air. When you have it, you don’t notice it.”

Emotional or spiritual progress, greater awareness, are hallmarks of Jupiter – Neptune combinations. This time around this applies especially if you have planets or angles at or close to 17 degrees of the mutable signs – Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. My sister was always very fond of saying, “If you’ve got money you never think about it, if you haven’t got money you can’t think about anything else.” This can apply to all our needs, not just financial ones. So, there’s something about this aspect that indicates that, whatever you haven’t got in your life at the moment, has probably escalated into a major preoccupation. The finale of the aspect also suggests that clarity is on its way, that the sea mists are starting to clear.

Jupiter’s Job

Jupiter is Mr Big, his job is to make our lives bigger and better, especially while he’s in his own sign as he is now, but by square he goes into “over the top” mode. As this aspect involves nebulous Neptune, with all his associations with the 12th House (loss, sacrifice, retreat, the past, vulnerability, deep spiritual bonds) here are the themes to look out for as we emerge from the boundless seas and clamber back to safety and a deeper understanding. Start with the basic symbolism of Jupiter = Big, and align these with troubled Neptunian issues, so  –

• Big Grief/Big Anxiety
• Big Dreams/Big Imaginings
• Letting go of an impossible fantasy/Finding new dreams
• Letting go of the people or things that have been continually upsetting or disappointing/Learning not to feel guilty (top of the toxic emotions list)
• Exhaustion/Need for a lot of sleep
• Escapism/Excess in the shape of alcohol/drugs/anything that puts us in a temporarily comfortable haze/Accepting and owning pain, crying a lot and letting it out of the body
• Climbing out of victim role/Recognizing your right to personal freedom and happiness
• Standing up to emotional blackmail or manipulative behaviour of any kind, seeing where love has become conditional/Seeing someone or things for how they really are
• Recognising the doormat role or the risk of being swamped by someone else’s needs/Praising yourself for the care and kindness you give, knowing it’s enough
• Psychological separation, coming out of a symbiotic state, recognizing where you’ve been “hiding” behind doing things for others (eg children, parents, partner)/Finding the courage to make healthy choices for yourself

 

Relating and Relationships

At the end of last week (Saturday 14th) the two personal planets Mercury and Venus both left Virgo and entered Libra. This is an especially important shift for Venus the love planet as Libra is one of her signs of “dignity” and it’s the sign that correlates with the 7th House, where we locate partnership.

Things may get off to a tricky start as both of these planets make the awkward quinqunx (exactly 5 signs apart) to rocky Uranus, their first aspect as they begin this new journey –

Tuesday 17 September

• Mercury 6 Libra quinqunx Uranus 6 Taurus 32.32 BST

Thursday 19 September

• Venus 6 Libra quinqunx Uranus 6 Taurus 11.28 BST
• Mars 21 Virgo trine Pluto 21 Capricorn 16.50 BST

This is the blind spot aspect, the one that speaks of “ne’er the twain shall meet”, or the things you could never see coming but which rock the boat and bring opportunities to clear the air. They are also unfortunately associated with illness or accidents so get a health worry checked out, don’t ignore it, and avoid risk taking. Often there are themes too of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing so avoid making assumptions of any kind and be as clear as possible in your own communications.

These aspects also resonate with one of the points from the 5 Top Deathbed Wishes that I quoted in full last week, Mercury being about communication and speaking out, Venus being about love and connection –

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

Note that these two tricky aspects also coincide with the Mars – Pluto trine, the grand finale of the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars all travelling through Virgo over the last few weeks and all making a series of aspects to the slower moving planets of Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Pluto – the slowest of them all with a cycle of 248 years. This aspect is especially significant for you if you have planets or angles at or close to 21 degrees of the earth signs, or if the sign of Scorpio figures largely in your own horoscope as both of these planets rule this sign. Don’t be afraid to start from scratch with the issues that are currently important in your own life. If you’ve given your power away, take it back. There’s absolutely nothing great about being in a prisoner role.

Mercury’s next aspect is a difficult square to Saturn, an aspect that Venus will make in the middle of next week but the faster moving Mercury gets there first, at the end of this coming weekend –

Sunday 22 September

• Mercury 14 Libra square Saturn 17.20 BST

Squares to Saturn are roadblocks. Mercury in conflict with Saturn generally says “no”, and can bring cancellations or delays, car or journey problems, sad or bad news, silences, injuries to the hands or arms or all kinds of feasibility issues. The golden rule is not to try and force square pegs into round holes. This aspect carries extra weight as it’s the first one involving Saturn who, after four months of being retrograde, is turning direct and in his own sign. The exact turning point is midweek but, again, like the Jupiter – Neptune square, this is part of the big backdrop for now and the next few weeks while he starts to gather speed again in the right direction –

Wednesday 18 September

• Saturn turns direct 14 Capricorn 09.48 BST

Saturn switching back to direct motion is like a great big cosmic foot coming off the brakes. Pay special attention to what comes up for you work wise as career moves and decisions made at this time will be important. It’s also the ideal time to restructure your working life in any way that makes more sense, that benefits your life/work balance or to stop pouring your energy and effort into the things that simply aren’t worth it. It’s the end of the road for thankless tasks or for selling your soul to the career devils, or any other devils come to that!

Saturn at a universal level is strongly linked to duty and responsibility. The turning point can signal the end of a job well done, being let off the hook, or it can reveal where we’ve been taking on too much responsibility, either in our working lives or in our personal relationships. Doing too much for another person not only leaves us feeling depleted but it can in fact disempower the other person too. With children for example it can delay the maturing process by over feeding the child-ego state. It’s hard for us to believe that we’re not responsible for others – but we’re not! The best of Saturn is the adult-ego state of taking full and real responsibility for our own lives, actions and decisions.

Anita Moorjani is great on the subject of how loving ourselves first doesn’t mean that we don’t love anyone else, and on how that is the only path to true solution finding, so I’ll leave you with some of her words –

Be solution focused, and PASSION focused, instead of problem focused and anger focused. By finding our own joy. By finding our own love. By finding our own passion and inspiration. Our only responsibility is to uplift our self, so that the person we take out into the world is one of love and inspiration, who touches and inspires others to do the same!

Until next week, with love from Greece

Joanna