Checking Charts
If you want to see the sign and degree of the planets in your own or any other natal chart, to check against the signs and degrees important this week as outlined in the blog, here’s the link to Astrotheme. Enter your data into the boxes provided:
https://www.astrotheme.com/horoscope_chart_sign_ascendant.php
Press Feature
Journalist Jane Alexander attended the Talking Tarot course here in Greece last May and her feature is now online – here’s the link –
The Astrology Blog 17 June 2019
Working with your own Truth, Swimming Downstream and the Life Force of the Summer Solstic
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
– Victor E Frankl – author of Man’s Search for Meaning, born 26 March 1905, Sun Aries/Moon Sagittarius
The week starts under the light of the Full Moon at 26 degrees of Sagittarius, which I covered at the end of last week’s blog as it was exact this morning (Monday) at 09.32 BST. Jupiter in his own sign of Sagittarius is alongside at 19 degrees – 7 degrees away, so just within the orb of 8 degrees allowed to call this a conjunction. At a general textbook level this is a very positive picture as Jupiter blesses and expands whatever he touches, so all Jupiter/Sag issues are the in the spotlight, including travel, legal concerns, new opportunities and liberation from restrictive, unhealthy or claustrophobic situations.
If your horoscope is a map for the road you’ve travelled and the road ahead then this Full Moon acts as your headlights on full beam. Some matters will be blazingly obvious. However, just because something is simple doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy. But if you want a humbling example of the power of optimism and freedom of choice, classic Sag/Jupiter characteristics, holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl is inspirational.
In terms of things not being easy bear in mind that this Full Moon was preceded by the major Jupiter square Neptune (yesterday, Sunday 16th, 16.19 BST) so there are Neptunian factors in play as well – distortion, everything from avoidance to outright lies, confusion, uncertainty, longing, fantasy, disappointment or grief. If you have planets or angles at 26 Sagittarius (degree of the Full Moon) or at 19 Sag/19 Pisces (where Jupiter and Neptune are now) then your own personal scenario will bear some of these hallmarks. I have Saturn at 26 Sag, ruler of my 3rd house of siblings, and this weekend brought to light a serious health diagnosis for my one remaining sister, so there’s a lot more to come on that score.
As I outlined last week there are two major aspects creating the backdrop to this year. Here’s a reminder of the sequence –
Jupiter square Neptune
- 13 January – 14 Sagittarius/14 Pisces
- 15 June – 19 Sagittarius/Pisces
- 21 September – 17 Sagittarius/Pisces
Saturn sextile Neptune
- 31 January – 15 Capricorn/Pisces
- 18 June – 19 Capricorn/Pisces
- 9 November – 16 Capricorn/Pisces
So the aspects being formed this week and last week are the middle ones of these series of three, as both Jupiter and Saturn are now on their retrograde journeys, and Neptune is “stationing”, appearing to stand still at just under 19 degrees in readiness for looping backwards, turning retrograde at the end of this week (21 June, the day of the Summer Solstice). I’ve noticed many times that with these three legged transits – either universally or when applied to a natal chart – that it’s often the second middle one that packs a punch.
The other major middle contact happens tomorrow, followed by Mercury meeting up with Mars –
Tuesday 18 June
- Saturn 19 Capricorn sextile Neptune 19 Pisces 12.41 BST
- Mercury conjunct Mars 21 Cancer 17.06 BST
Any of the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Chiron) meeting up with Saturn tends to signal difficulties. However, at least this one is between two planets both in their own signs and also coming together by sextile, a harmonious aspect created when two planets are exactly two signs apart. Some people prosper under Saturn transits – he’s the “getting our act together” planet, the grownup of the skies, rewarding hard work, commitment and the assumption of responsibility. Personally I’ve never prospered under Saturn activity, but then I’m a textbook Jupiterian!
If you’re not a Saturnian type then his transits to natal positions, or when he’s involved in major aspects like now, tend to bring heaviness, frustration or serious waiting games. Someone else’s “realism” may be experienced as a killjoy attitude, tramping over your dreams (Neptune) in hob nailed boots. Or you may discover a side to someone that makes you feel uneasy, or realize that someone is never going to meet your needs, or realize that you’ve taken on far too much in a work or personal situation. Either way, if your full beam headlights are shining on a brick wall it’s time to recognize a dead end when you see one. Select reverse.
Mercury – Mars combinations are also not easy. This is the stuff of painful conversations, especially as this one falls in a water sign (feelings/emotional needs) and family connections will be high up on the list. This can be everything from niggly, infuriating issues re how you share your living space and domestic chores to serious heart to hearts. Be prepared to address what is expected of you in your family and what you expect of them, but try not to hark back to the past. Dragging up old hurts will almost certainly be counterproductive. Cancer’s link to the 4th House also includes property matters, especially if you’re moving or planning to.
Normally these kinds of issues would blow through in a couple of days, hurt feelings on either side would calm down, but as both Mercury and Mars then immediately move on to oppose Pluto this suggests that whatever comes up on the Mercury-Mars conjunction is likely to have deeper implications.
Wednesday 19 June
- Mercury 22 Cancer opposite Pluto 22 Capricorn 11.54 BST
Thursday 20 June
- Mars 22 Cancer opposite Pluto 22 Capricorn 04.22 BST
The favourite textbook word for Pluto is “transformation” but this word rather glamourises the stuff that we experience under this planet’s activity. Pluto is primarily endings, but in the spirit of death/rebirth symbolism, and the death of a situation, relationship, personal desire, job etc is never painless. Before we can see and reach the changes that lie ahead we have to go through the transformative process, which with Pluto is never an overnight sensation. Pluto rules loss and absence, when we’re having personal Pluto transits we can feel as if we’re living at the bottom of a black hole, with no magic wands in sight. So these aspects rather fit in with the dead ends that I was talking about earlier. Be ready to face up to whatever isn’t working for you and, more importantly, be ready to release it.
Pluto also symbolizes power and control issues. Who or what has power over you, did you hand your own power over and, if so, how do you take it back again? Going back to this week’s leading quotation, remember that no matter what you may be losing or ending in your life you still have the power to choose how you’re going to react to it.
The end of the week brings Neptune’s turnaround. As above, so below, watch for the turning of the tides and if you have to swim downstream for a while, then do so. There’s no point in struggling through currents that are stronger than we are. Identify what or who in your life is a total waste of energy and swim away.
The Summer Solstice is also brilliant for reflection as this is the longest daylight of the year, when the Sun (Sol) appears to stands still (Stice). So it’s a celebration of the Sun, the life force, which is there whether you’ve got cloudy skies or blue ones!
Friday 21 June
- Neptune turns retrograde at 18.43 Pisces 15.37 BST
- Summer Solstice – Sun ingress Cancer 16.55 BST
The end of the week brings a more playful mood, a welcome relief after the heaviness of the aspects to Pluto midweek. Venus entered Gemini on 9 June but has been travelling solo. This link to Jupiter is her first major aspect whilst in the sign of the Twins –
Sunday 23 June
- Venus 18 Gemini opposite Jupiter 18 Sagittarius 17.46
Venus and Jupiter are both known as the “benefics” of the heavens so even by opposition this is a fun aspect, even if it does have a rather over the top quality about it. But we don’t have to be sensible all the time! If you need to catch up with friends, let your hair down, set aside all those jobs that never seem to finish, then this weekend is the time to do it.
Venus is all about life’s pleasures, with love at the top of the list. Have fun with your partner, especially if you’ve been going through heavy family stuff, and remember what attracted you to each other in the first place. If you’re single and searching the chances of meeting someone new this weekend are considerably higher than average.
However – sorry, there’s another however! – note that whatever aspects currently involve Jupiter will also automatically involve Saturn and Neptune as these three are all at 18 – 19 degrees of their current signs. In other words, Venus is playing into the major aspects being created between Jupiter and Neptune, and Saturn and Neptune, both of which happen as we go into next week –
Monday 24 June
- Venus 18 Gemini quinqunx Saturn 18 Capricorn 03.33 BST
- Venus 19 Gemini square Neptune 19 Pisces 11.00 BST
Venus’ three aspects here are not only the first ones since entering Gemini but they are also the last before she changes sign again (moving into Cancer on 3 July, the day after the Solar Eclipse in Cancer) so a lot of “love stuff” is crammed into this coming weekend. So the chances of meeting someone with a complicated life are also considerably higher than average! The most obvious scenario with Venus in the double sign of the Twins is meeting someone who is already spoken for, or still in the process of splitting up from another relationship. So tread carefully with someone who is unavailable, whether this is to a larger or smaller extent.
If you’re the one who’s in a relationship breakup, and especially where a third party is involved on either side, the top advice is to stay calm and to stay with your own truth. In fact, that applies to any matter in your life that is causing stress or forcing you to make changes. Don’t throw good money after bad, and don’t throw good feelings after bad.
This issue came up with a client yesterday and I told her something that I’ve said in this blog before and which I feel very strongly about. Guilt is really useful when it’s telling us that we’ve done something wrong which we can then try to put right again. It’s useful when we’ve committed a crime! Otherwise guilt is toxic and is the opposite to our own truth. It’s usually the result of someone else making us feel bad because we haven’t done or given them what they wanted. And that is the basis for an alarming number of people staying in relationships or situations that are wrong for them, I’ve seen it countless times. Food for thought.
Wishing you a life giving Summer Solstice,
Until next week
With love from Greece