The Astrology Blog 4 October 2021
All times in BST
“Love can never possess. Love is giving freedom to the other. Love is an unconditional gift, it is not a bargain.”
Rajneesh (Sun in Sagittarius), also known as Osho, was an Indian godman and mystic
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Bhagwan_Shree_Osho_Rajneesh
“You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.”
Thich Nhat Hanh (Moon in Sagittarius) age 94, is a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, revered around the world for his pioneering teachings on mindfulness
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Nhat_Hanh
THE NEXT RETROGRADE/DIRECT MERCURY – READINGS END OF JAN
I’m now filling my diary with the appointments for readings based on three planets turning around within a week of each other – Saturn 11 Oct and Mercury and Jupiter both a week later. Pluto is also turning direct this week, 6 Oct. This list is fully subscribed from when it was first advertised a couple of months ago.
The next retro Mercury will be 14 January/turns direct 4 Feb, so the readings for the next time Mercury turns direct again will start from the end of next January, this time coinciding with the love and money planet Venus also turning direct, on 29 Jan in Capricorn. This is a much rarer event as Venus turns retro only once every 18-20 months.
These readings will be the same 75.00 and are for 45 mins. If you want to put your name down just let me know, this doesn’t commit you to anything but gives you first dibs for when I put the schedule of appointments together in the New Year.
RETROGRADE MERCURY
As I’m always saying if you’re a serious student of astrology, or if you simply want to know enough to stay in step with the universe, it’s educational to pay attention to what unfolds on astrological turning points, planets switching from direct to retrograde and vice versa.
Mercury specializes in this area, turning retrograde three times a year for three weeks at a time. At least that bit is consistent! He was “stationing” – appearing to grind to a halt before starting a backwards loop – over the weekend of 25/26 Sept and made the exact switch to retrograde motion first thing last Monday morning 27th.
The first news headline to watch out for was therefore Tuesday, and the textbook definition of “problems with transport and communication” jumped off the page, the BBC’s headline story being the petrol crisis –
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58713770
it wasn’t clear from this feature but I learned later from friends in the UK that it was in fact the BBC who had started the stampede for petrol, erroneously reporting a few days earlier (as Mercury was stationing) a petrol shortage when in fact the real shortage was drivers. And it was from my niece that I heard the stories of people pulling knives on each other at petrol stations, police cars jumping the horrendous queues and ambulances not getting any petrol at all.
Some retrograde periods for the Winged Messenger start slowly and subtly but others start with a bang, and this one so far certainly seems to be in the latter category. Mercury is news, so retrograde = sad or bad news. Within the space of the same five minutes also last Tuesday I learned that my other niece had got Covid and that my sister’s last cat, adopted by a good friend here when I had to rehome several animals after Sue died, had gone missing ten days earlier. She was very old, at least 15, and getting frail. Sadly, for their owners, cats often just take themselves off when their time has come. Another link to Sue gone, but I still have her wonderful dog.
My ageing car has also developed yet more problems. The electric motor for the passenger window has broken and the garage finally got the new part. Took the car into town on Friday and left it for three hours – and they then discovered that they needed new buttons as well as the motor. They would order them.
Got home again only to get a phone call that they’d forgotten to take a photo of the button and could I send it by Viber, equivalent to Whatsapp and I don’t have it. So I took the photo, sent it to a Greek friend who does use Viber and she sent it for me. She messaged me back, oh they also want photo of the buttons on the driver’s side too. Back to the car, take another photo, send it to friend, she sends it to garage …. Back to the waiting game.
On the same day in town bumped into friends I haven’t seen for ages, on their way to the police station to sort out problems with their residents permits. Since the advent of that wonderful thing called Brexit we all had to produce mountains of paperwork to get our biometric permits, valid for either 5 or 10 years, depending on things like whether or not you own property here. I laughed and said good luck, trying to sort that on a retrograde Mercury, problems with transport and communication!
As we parted, less than a minute later, there was an almighty bang. Three cars had collided at the entrance to the car parking area across the road and they were all badly damaged. My immediate thought was oh no, more whiplash sufferers. For the second time in the space of a week I’d hit my head again that morning, this time much harder, on a car boot hatchback door, and classic whiplash means that it takes two to three days for the pain to develop. I went out Friday evening and am still paying for it. So I’m getting the message about staying still!!
As mentioned in the checklist last week keys often loom large too with a retro Mercury. A friend in London had driven half an hour, using precious petrol, to her regular cleaning job. When she got there she remembered too late that she’d changed handbags and the keys to the property were, of course, in the other one …. She had to drive back again to get them.
Loads of other stories but no time or space to write them all up in full but include a client wanting to keep her appointment for a reading but was in the middle of a massive house move and would pay me when she’d found her laptop! An emergency hospitalization for breathing problems, pain in chest and shoulders related to an accident that happened in May, the last time that Mercury was retro. The return of an ex lover but the relationship now being renegotiated on equal terms (so Libra). Regrets about decisions made earlier in the year which turned out to be made for all the wrong reasons. Food poisoning from eating fish that had been in the freezer too long.
Computers of course are part of the checklist. My lovely tarot group, last course of the Summer School in Sept, knew all about my keyboard problems that were happening at the time and presented me with a thank you gift at the end of the week, a whip round for the new one. So generous and thoughtful. Nobody is carrying any stock but I’ve ordered it, I can’t wait, writing on an old borrowed one at the moment that is a true clumpy dinosaur, but I’ve done the option of cash on delivery. So if it doesn’t turn up at least they won’t have my money for nothing.
So, keep your wits about you, make no assumptions of any kind – and I’ll look where I’m going!
WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING THIS WEEK?
It’s a dodgy start to the week –
Tuesday 5 October
- Mercury 21 Libra quinqunx Neptune 21 Pisces 14.54
Mercury in the blind spot aspect (exactly five signs apart) is bad enough, but throw in the retrograde and the fact that it’s to nebulous Neptune and this is a classic picture of confusion or deception. Definitely don’t believe everything you hear or be aware of the potential for crossed wires, themes of “lost in translation” or no answers at all. Also watch out for water/plumbing problems.
LOVE AND LIBERATION
Within the space of 24 hours we have the New Moon in Libra, one of Venus’s own signs connected to partnership matters of all kinds, and Venus herself changing sign and starting a new journey. This is an important transition as Venus now leaves the deep or murky waters of Scorpio (one of her signs of detriment) and enters fiery, freedom loving and optimistic Sagittarius. This also coincides with Pluto (co-ruler of Scorpio) switching to direct motion after being retrograde for five months, since 27 April –
Wednesday 6 October
- New Moon 13 Libra 12.07
- Pluto turns direct at 24 Capricorn 19.27
Thursday 7 October
- Venus ingress Sagittarius 12.22
Venus in Scorpio is always linked to life and death issues in one form or another, and to control/power issues in connection to women. In this last week we’ve seen thousands attending rallies in all US states for abortion rights, and in the UK the life imprisonment of Sarah Everard’s murderer.
Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, planet of justice and the law, so this shift of sign can indicate the beginning of powerful changes in legislation, especially as it’s so strongly underlined by the New Moon and Pluto’s turnaround. In mythology Pluto is Hades, god of the underworld, and links to the Rape of Persephone. The time is right for zero tolerance for abuse, especially through the means of the law and education.
In our personal relationships it’s time to spot the difference between negotiating and control. Is it love or is it bondage? When thinking about the symbolism of troubled, detrimented Venus in Scorpio moving into Sagittarius, sign of expansion, travel and freedom of all kinds, I immediately thought of Shirley Valentine.
Remember the iconic and definitive scene when Joe doesn’t get steak for dinner on a Thursday night? Shirley, having given the steak to the neighbour’s “vegetarian” bloodhound, serves up egg and chips instead. They end up in her lap as he shoves the plate across the table in disgust and fury. This is one of her metaphorical and literal tipping points in the decision to go Greece. It’s a brilliant example of love having turned into control and dictatorship.
The beauty of this movie is that in the process of her empowerment she never becomes like Joe, angry and controlling. Venus does not become Mars. She rediscovers her compassion for him, but through finding fulfillment in her own life and not at the expense of her own life. She sees him for what he is, tired, unhappy and fearful. When he sees her for what she has become, serene and confident, he doesn’t recognize her.
When they reconnect it is on her terms, a neat role reversal of stereotypes – she invites him to sit at the table to join her for a drink, not the other way around. Joe, having reverted from bully to nervous schoolboy, quietly accepts.
If you want a clear example of “taking back your power”, look no further. We can’t change others. But they can change when we do. It start with us, not the other way around. Pay special attention to what unfolds for you midweek as Venus makes the transition, moving on what are called the “critical degrees” – critical as in important, from 29 degrees to 0 of the next sign.
New romance starting? The message is clear, start as you mean to go on. The same applies to new jobs or any fresh start with money matters or source of income.
THE SUN, MERCURY MARS TRIPLE CONJUNCTION
Whenever Mercury is in a retrograde period there’s always an exact conjunction with the Sun somewhere roughly in the middle (this time around turned retrograde at 25 Libra on 27 Sept, will turn direct at 10 Libra on 18 Sept). The Sun catches up with Mars roughly once every two years, and this time it coincides exactly with that Mercury moment –
Friday 8 October
- Sun conjunct Mars 15 Libra 05.02
Saturday 9 October
- Sun conjunct Mercury 16 Libra 17.19
- Mercury conjunct Mars 15 Libra 23.50
Monday 11 October
- Saturn turns direct at 7 Aquarius 03.18
Any other planet conjunct the Sun to within 17 minutes of arc (ie just over a quarter of a degree) is said to be “cazimi” – defined as being in “the heart of the Sun”. The symbolism of this is about the other planet drawing strength from that heat instead of being burned up by it. It’s a window of opportunity, the stuff of light bulb moments, vital information or having the chance to get your point across exactly in the right way and at the right time. In that hot spot is a golden nugget of truth or a lifeline of help.
- The Mercury cazimi lasts approximately for 8 hours, four hours either side of the exact conjunction
- This cazimi will therefore be from approx 1pm through to 9pm on Saturday in the UK. Adjust to your own time zone – eg Greece 3pm to 11pm
- As Mars is slower moving his cazimi period lasts longer, roughly 19 hours either side of the exact conjunction
- This cazimi will therefore be from approx 10am on Thurs 7 Oct through to midnight/0 hours of Sat 9 Oct – adjust to your own time zone
- Look out for that Mercury moment, especially things that shine a light into your understanding, help you to make a decision, negotiate a deal or find the right words to get an important conversation started
- With Mars in the picture all of the above packs a punch. Whatever gets moving for you, especially in the second half of the week, will have a significant impact on how your life, plans and goals are moving forwards
As the week draws to a close we also have Saturn switching to direct, having been retrograde since 23 May. Saturn’s first aspect going forwards will be to Venus, and I’ll be talking about this picture next time,
Until next week, with love from Greece
Joanna