Upcoming Full Moon in Aries and Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio

October 18 to 21 will be a dynamic time.  On the 18th the Moon will be full in Aries, inviting all of us to assert our independence at a fundamentally emotional level wherever Aries rules our chart.  As the New Moon offers us a new beginning, the Full Moon brings those monthly beginnings to culmination, then declining as the Moon moves towards the end of its current cycle.  With the Sun in Libra until the 21st, this month is one about decisions, which we should all be using to bring any out-of-balance situations back into balance, or as close to balance as we can.  The Full Moon Aries energy will encourage you to express yourself independently, aggressively, and selfishly.  At its highest vibration, you recognize what you must do to be true to yourself and will feel the emotional push to take the necessary actions to protect or bring that truth forth.

In my case the Moon will be passing through my 6th house of Service, where a majority of Energy Points reside (Chiron, Venus, Mercury, Eris, Vulcan, Saturn, the North Node, and Sun).  I can expect a powerful impact from this Full Moon.  Each point will be charged emotionally for me to be assertive with my feelings as they relate to each part of my life that those points represent.  If there is action to take regarding healing my wound (Chiron), I will want to take it.  I will want to actively (Aries) do something to heal it.  If I am operating on the low end of this vibration, then I will likely take action to create or aggravate a wound.  Aries is the energy that will not take enough time in recovery or rehabilitation, resulting in a reopening of the wound.  I will face this high/low vibration test regarding my relationships (Venus), my communication (Mercury), my need to stir things up (Eris), my productivity (Vulcan), my patterns (Saturn), my stretch goal (North Node), and my primary drive (Sun).  If Aries is a dominant theme in your chart, then you can expect this Full Moon to have a powerful impact.

Right on the heels of the Full Moon, Mercury will go retrograde for the third and final time this year from October 21 to November 10 in Scorpio.  Scorpio deals with deep, intense emotions and Mercury represents our thoughts and how we communicate.  Mercury entered Scorpio on September 30, and thanks to the retrograde phase, will stay there until December 6, creating a very long period of Scopionic communication and thinking.  Do not be surprised if your thoughts take you to some of the deeper parts of your psyche, leading you to address issues as powerful as your mortality, or any unresolved subconscious problems.  You may find yourself on unplanned Shamanic psychological quests that require your undivided attention to resolve.  The retrograde phase only deepens the journey because it turns outward energy inward and demands that we slow down and address whatever issues the retrograde energy represents.  Uranus and Neptune will continue to be retrograde during this time, forcing us ever deeper into our own psychological issues.  

Mercury retrograde gets negative press because we are told to be hard driving all the time, so trying to go at life with a-business-as-usual approach is what actually causes the negative outcomes.  We are supposed to slow down, rest, review, take inventory, digest, and process during the Mercury retrograde.  If we can, we will enjoy its benefits and avoid its pitfalls.  While in Scorpio, this reflective energy is going to ask us to do all these things around the issues that transform us emotionally, like our most important relationships and our deepest secrets.  This can be a time to bring those secrets slowly and carefully to the light or bury them even deeper, depending on how we want to treat them.  With an Aries Full Moon it will be much harder to keep emotions tamped down and much easier for them to explode into full view.

Additionally, Saturn is currently making it's way through Scorpio as well, forcing all of us to evaluate our deep emotions and see what is working and what is not.  Depending on the location of Scorpio in your chart, this could mean evaluation of your identity, values, how you communicate with others, family, creativity, responsibilities, partnerships, intimate relationship, expertise, career, community, or spirituality.  I get all my Scorpio fun in the 1st house of identity.  This next month will be one of deep introspection and reorganization of my identity terrain.  If you happen to have any birth energy points in this sign, they will get "touched" by Mercury and it will force you to think about that energy at the deepest level.  I have already spent a fair amount of time digging deep into my commitments (Juno, from mid-September to now) and how I want to communicate with those people I am committed to, especially my daughter.

In general, expect to feel especially intense while Mercury and Saturn share time in this sign.  Saturn will remain there until December of 2015.  Luckily Mercury will be done by December 6 of 2013!

New Moon Wishing: Astrology Applied

I thought it would be fun to do some applied astrology by way of Jan Spiller's New Moon Astrology: The Secrets of Astrological Timing to Make All Your Dreams Come True.  The new Moon in Virgo arrives on 9/5 at 6:38am and offers wish fulfillment opportunities for the areas that Virgo rules (Spiller, p.84): physical health/diet/exercise, work/job, efficient organizing, clear discrimination, helpfulness, order, and relaxing perfectionism (yes, that last one requires a bit of "suspension of disbelief").  I am going to outline the basic tenants of the wish practice she presents in the book, but I highly recommend purchasing and reading the book in full if you want more detail about the practice.

The new and full Moons are powerful times in our yearly life cycle, so it's not surprising that astrology would unlock a potential opportunity to use the timing of these events to make positive changes in your life.  As with any practice that offers tangible outcomes, certain steps must be taken to move the energy correctly in  your favor.  First among these steps is the timing of the wish(es); the best time to make the wish(es) is the 48 hours prior to the new Moon (in this case 9/3 after 6:38am through 9/5).  Approaching energy is always stronger than Separating energy.  Spiller has observed that the 48 hours after the full Moon still has power, but not as much as the preceding.

Next the wish(es) have to fit the parameters of the sign of the new Moon, in this case Virgo.  Aries energy focuses on (Spiller, p. 48): new beginnings, self-focus, innocence/authenticity, self-discovery, independence, courage, and disengaging self-absorption.  You want to make the wish(es) this month around the themes ruled by Virgo, not Aries or any of the other signs.  Next, you must hand write the wish(es), not type them or speak them.  Spiller herself admits this step comes from practice, not theory, "I have no idea why this is important, but years of experience with wishes have shown what does and does not work." (p. 8).  Her directions are as follows:

• Do write your wishes down by hand each month.
• Do NOT write more than 10 wishes on any one Power Day (the 2 days before and 2 days after the exact full Moon).
• Do write more than one wish on each Power Day.
• Do date and keep your wish lists.

Wording of the wish(es) matters and Spiller offers the following style of phrasing to get the energy properly aligned.  For this sign, a wish around health could begin, "I want to easily find myself doing _________ (aerobic exercise/yoga/weight lifting/etc)." (p. 85).  For your job, "I want to easily find myself creating a routine that gives me plenty of time for work, play, time with my family, and ___________." (p. 86).  For order, "I want to find myself creating neatness and order in my home." (p. 86).  For critical discrimination, "I want to easily find myself effectively responding to external crisis without inner tension."  Any Virgo theme can be the focus of your wish(es).

Like the Law of Attraction, this practice requires an understanding of larger issues in management of energy.  For example, "You can't make wishes that will affect the behavior or self-determination of another - experience has shown me [Spiller] that it simply doesn't work." (p. 13).  She goes on to write:

However, you can make wishes for changes in your own behavior relative to that person that will open the way for a change in them.  For example, wishes like: "I want Steve to fall in love with me" are not likely to come true.  However, you can say: "I want to easily find myself saying the right words to Steve that evoke feelings of love in our relationship"; or "I want all inner resistance to experiencing happiness and love in my relationship with Steve easily lifted from me."

Proper and appropriate intention matter, as does the alignment of the wishes with your larger astrological purpose.  You can have all the proper and appropriate intention and wording for your wishes, but if they do not align with your astrological themes, they will not manifest.  Case in point, I pulled out my wishes during the new Moon in Pisces in 2010 (3/16/2010 at 6:35am - the date and time I wrote them; the new Moon exact was 3/15/2010 at 4:05pm).  Most of my wishes that morning involved my astrology and tarot practice (spiritual themes aligned with Pisces and my highest good by way of my astrology chart); but one involved moving, which had two flaws - 1) it was really a Sagittarius or Taurus wish and 2) it did not align with my highest good because it would have removed me from an ideal location to practice my astrology and tarot.  The wish was, "I wish for land with water (a lake) and rich farming soil to be available within 50 miles or less (of my current location) and our family to be ready to purchase it as soon as possible."  

Now the more appropriate wishes did manifest, including: "I wish for deep insights into my spiritual and professional practices of astrology and tarot" and "I wish for astrology and tarot clients happy and willing to pay my fees who need to reach me this year" (snuck a little Capricorn into that last one!).

So, want to give it a shot?  I chose to write each wish individually on note cards; you can use whatever written material you want.  I also have a box set aside for my note cards, a sturdy wooden one, where I store them.  Keeping the wishes in a location you can go back to will give you a chance to put the practice to the test.  Not all wishes manifest immediately; my client wish is just now coming to full fruition because other factors had to align, but it was a good wish, properly expressed from my heart; and those are the ones the universe helps develop and grow.  Keep your wishes focused on Virgo themes: the practical, service, and day-to-day responsibilities.  The main theme of the Virgo month (8/23 to 9/22 this year) is "getting things in order."  One of my wishes tomorrow or the next day will be to "easily find the energy to regularly write my blog entries!"

Full Moon in Aquarius

The moon will be full today at 6:45PM, but its effects are felt most powerfully over a three day span (8/19 to 8/21). During its time in Aquarius 8/20 to 8/21, we will process emotions through the energy of Air; we will be cerebral about our feelings. Aquarius processes thought with a focus on authenticity, idealism, community, and originality, and does so with Air's usual sense of detachment. We are like a scientist looking our emotions, evaluating what comes up during this full moon. Aquarius is also a fixed sign, so it organizes ... cardinal Air (Libra) initiates and mutable Air (Gemini) adapts. In general you will likely find yourself comparing your current feelings about a situation, relationship, or belief to an idealized thought about the best way a situation, relationship, or belief should manifest.

The farther the reality from the ideal, the more the discomfort. To resolve any difference between the Aquarian ideal and the lived reality, we are called upon to be authentic with our feelings. Being authentic will help us move towards, if not achieve, the ideal. We must also evaluate the ideal and honestly determine if some close approximation is possible or if a more radical change is required to address our feelings. Say you are in an unhealthy relationship and the ideal is a healthy one, but no amount of authentic expression on your part is going to change the circumstances that are making the relationship unhealthy. You know, for example, healthy relationships do not have alcoholic partners and during this full moon phase you can see, with scientific clarity, that your alcoholic partner does not think he or she is an alcoholic. The authentic expression of your feelings may finally lead you to end the relationship in order to give yourself a real chance to have a more idealistic and healthy relationship.

The key to any understanding of an Energy Point transit (Moon in Aquarius) is knowledge of your own chart and where Aquarius has influence over that area of your chart. In my case, Aquarius covers my 4th House of Family and Roots. In particular, it will be passing over Astraea (the Energy Point of Community, and the only Energy Point in my 4th House and Aquarius) and forcing up my need to evaluate my feelings about not only my family, but my most important community members (friends). I find myself, today, thinking about the structure of my most personal relationships and how well they fit or are tracking towards/away from my ideals. The relationships and the interactions in my relationships that do not match with what I envision (Aquarius) as the best of those relationships will bring emotional discomfort that I can choose to address or ignore at this time. Best to address it. Relationships that are close to or meeting my ideal vision will feel particularly great during this full Moon phase. And thanks to human complexity, we will be able to hold space for both experiences. If the negative ones, however, significantly outweigh the positive ones, this may be the ideal time for some authentic expression that changes the circumstances supporting and perpetuating the negative feelings.

Return

Hello all,

I've been away for a while, but am now returning in full force.  I have updated my primary website (http://www.blackunykorn.com) and started a new coaching/web design/document editing site (http://www.philipyoungphd.com).  I plan to blog regularly on various astrology and tarot topics, especially the major current energies in play.

I am now embracing my role as an astrologer and tarot reader full time.  I have expanded my astrological services, especially adding astrocartography ... location/relocation/travel astrology, which is proving to be a much sought after product.

My first astrological book is complete and now in process with an editor and publisher.  I hope to have a copy in hand by the first of next year.

Best to all,

Philip Young, PhD

Pluto in Capricorn/Penn State Scandal; Uranus in Aries/Leave Your Bank Day

I circulate through four main news sites (Google News, Yahoo Finance, Alternet, and Al-Jazeera) and receive financial commentary from Patrick.net, John Mauldin, and Graham Summers.  Today, I read an article from a man my age who is a Penn State grad who said he "had lost all faith in the leadership of my parent's generation."  I can relate.  I have written and spoken about the fact that my generation (born in the midst of the Civil Rights movement) does not have any Elders to guide us; our society has turned our would be Elders into second life teenagers, telling them to forgo responsibility to family and society in favor or vacations and extravagant consumption whenever possible.  Many people I talk to who are within 10 years of me (33 to 53) feel lost or unguided at this time in their lives.  Predictably this period coincides with a Saturn square, opposition, and second square; Pluto squaring Pluto, Neptune squaring Neptune, and Uranus opposing Uranus.  These transits all represent transitions from adulthood to Elderhood and can prove devastating without guidance or enlightening with support.

The Penn State scandal is probably the model we astrologers could use to precisely show how Pluto transiting Capricorn transforms large institutions by revealing the "deep secrets" in such a way that we understand how the very institution is complicit in the secret and the crime.  The tendrils of the situation are just beginning to spread outward and have already consumed individuals who probably thought they were the highest of the high, living without a worry about their safety or security.  The most venerated and successful (Capricornian) coach in college football history was fired just days after the story broke and it was clear that the structure designed to help protect young people (through chain of command reporting and assumed action), supported the powerful and "loved" member of the football team coaching staff over the children abused.  Other similar blow back has happened in other arenas, politics especially.  The Occupy Wall Street movement is rather similar to the Civil Rights movement with all the same tropes and themes that were used at the start of that movement to discredit the protesters.  Keep in mind that Pluto is still in the first decan (the first 10 degrees of the sign).  When it squares with Uranus next year and starts moving into the second decan, watch for the European Union debt can to find the end of the road, no more kicking available.

Once you say something is too big to fail, Pluto says ... "really?"

Uranus in Aries will represent "Awakening to Survival and Independence."  The "Leave Your Bank Day" proved dramatically effective as people leveraged the real vote left in our pseudo-capitalist society ... taking their money elsewhere.  Corporations may have bought and sold our government, but banks are not the only game in town ... at least, not yet.  Each sign interacts with each energy point in different ways, sometimes enhancing, sometimes neutral, and sometimes diminishing.  Believe me when I say that Uranus in Aries is like putting a booster pack on lightening.  The previous Uranian journey through Pisces was about the Awakening of Spirit and Spirituality, largely taking shape through rapid communication technology and the maturation of the Internet.  Social Networking emerged while Uranus was in Pisces.  Keep in mind that Pisces is probably the most fluid and ambiguous sign, especially since it reflects dreams and the mass consciousness (one giant Amoeba).  Aries is the Warrior image, so imagine Zeus hurling thunderbolts and you have some idea of what Uranus will be like moving through Aries.  The journey has just begun and the peak, several years out, will likely see the mass consciousness realize that voting as it currently stands is a choice between a pile of dog crap and a pile of cat crap ... and no REAL choice at all.

Monumental change is on the horizon and likely to emerge and explode between 2012 and 2015.  2012 is not only an ending, but also a beginning.  And like all beginnings involving a movement from the status quo to a new status quo, the transition will be chaotic at times, but Pluto is moving through the sign ruled by Saturn to force transformation from the old ways into new ways.  That will be done by unveiling the systemic corruption present in government and corporate business, by design ... but not before the current players go all in.  Make no mistake that the wealthy will destroy themselves before they give up any of their possessions ... and they will eat their own, just ask Lehman Brothers employees.

The easy to miss and forget transit is Neptune in Pisces; it is watery, ambiguous, delusional, dreamy, and spiritual ... and entering its own sign while Pluto and Uranus do their work.  I think we can expect to see issues with liquids, the two most important being water and oil, constantly entangled with one another as more deep sea drilling must be done to locate new sources of oil and millions of gallons of water must be used to separate oil from the "miracle" tar sands in North Dakota.  And lastly, expect more gas in the water system as Fracking continues to develop with minimal regulation and maximum greed for alternative energy that is just like or just as good as oil.

Uranus square Pluto, Occupy Wall Street, and Karl Marx

I've written quite a bit about the upcoming Uranus/Pluto square, as have many, many other astrologers.  The situation has had me thinking about Karl Marx.  Most people who denigrate Marx or claim Communism is a failed system have not read a page of Marx.  In graduate school I took the opportunity to read not only the Communist Manifesto, but also Das Capital.  Neither of these books are "light" reading.  It's not surprising that Marx would be vilified by the elites and all those in the West who hope to one day be members of the elite group (meaning the vast majority) since he promotes a communal system, a more egalitarian sharing of resources, and the idea that resources are limited and must be managed properly.

Marx not only wrote about a complex problem in a complex way, but he accurately predicted various outcomes and his most important one is coming to pass right now.  Marx argued that capitalism would have to be global before socialism and communism could be viable alternatives because capitalism has to reach the limits of the system in order to show its destructive process to the masses and essentially override any and all propaganda.  He also argued that there was a short cut, violent revolution.  But he provided a caveat, those who overthrew an existing dictatorship or oligarchy would have to give up the power it seized in the revolution, which has not ever happened.  No "communist" country, especially Russia, has implemented Marx's principles; they have just traded one kind of top down power for another and clothed it in the word communism.  In essence, Marx is on the side of the 99 percent.

Occupy Wall Street is in its infancy and will likely sputter along until the European debt crisis matures and wipes out bond holder wealth to a staggering degree.  Look for that event to happen some time between now and the first Uranus/Pluto square in June of 2012.  What Marx wisely predicted was the inherent problem with capitalism, which chugs along just fine so long as there are new frontiers and cheap labor to exploit.  But once the system goes global, then inequalities become more and more apparent.  Western workers are finding that their value is coming in line with the value of Eastern workers, and now that global commerce has taken hold Eastern workers are seeing a rise in their value because there really are no more labor markets to exploit.  As John Mauldin, a very smart economist, entitled his book Endgame, we are beginning to see the Endgame of capitalism as predicted by Marx.  

Many different layers will emerge during this transition period as we begin to reach the limits of our closed system.  Not the least of which is the collusion of technology and population growth.  As technology makes the need for workers decrease and population continues to increase the disparity between those who have and those who do not will continue to grow.  Oddly enough an energy crisis could prove to be a saving grace (in the long run) for the human population.  Watch for problems with liquids (oil and water) as Neptune traverses through Pisces.  And, when energy and jobs become scarce, watch spirituality increase, from the infantile (fundamentalism) to the sophisticated (Hopi and Mayan).

In essence, the world has borrowed about three lifetimes of wealth which cannot be paid back.  We could move towards this future consciously by engaging in some very radical changes, which would include conscious population management, rethinking private and public resources, eliminating corporate charters and the stock market.  But, I suspect and expect the Plutonian/Capricorn elites to resist to the full measure of their greed and wealth, requiring a violent revolution to dislodge them and redistribute resources to the larger civilization.  Nothing new under the sun ...  Don't be surprised if they figure out that they need to shut down the Internet or close it down restrictively if the movement grows and thus dodges the mainstream media.  Once the larger system collapses on itself (debt default), there will be the opportunity for people to come together and look for new, more mature solutions and Marx's prediction of a natural evolution to socialism and communism will prove to be true.

2012 to 2015 - The Coming Storm

In his book on Lunation Cycles Dane Rhudyar emphasizes the cyclic nature of all energy points, not just the Sun and Moon.  To understand the ebb and flow of energy using Astrology, one must understand the current cycle of the energy relationship between two points in the chart.  The one to watch from 2012 to 2015 is the upcoming square between Uranus and Pluto.  Since Uranus is the faster moving of the two, it passes Pluto approximately every 115 years (1850 to 1852 they were conjunct in Aries and 1965 to 1967 they were conjunct in Virgo).  So, looking at the most recent conjunction, the 1960s represented the end of the cycle and the beginning of a new cycle.  In America this transition played out significantly moving the country out of a stratified mind set and into changes that brought new and better opportunities for minorities and women.  The whole period around 1958 to 1972 experienced the combination of Awakening/Transformation in the energy of Virgo, affecting skills, day-to-day work, and health.  Not surprising, the 1960s represent a fairly clear shift from America of 1850 to 1960.

As part of the whole cycle, the energy points will square twice and oppose once.  Significantly the first half of the movement towards the opposition is considered waxing (or increasing in intensity) and the movement towards the conjunction from the opposition is considered waning (or decreasing and preparing for the next cycle).  So, as the full on square approaches in July of 2012, we can expect more volatility that will intensify through 2015 and leave lasting impact on the way to the opposition.  Since the two signs involved are Capricorn (Pluto's transit) and Aries (Uranus' transit), there will be antagonism between big systems going through necessary change and people's survival needs.  The Occupy Wall Street movement will grow as the large systems crumble and people realize that the war is between the 1% and the 99%.  

Greece will default, and even if the European Union provides a bailout now, they will be trapped by all the other countries in need of defaulting or bailing out (Ireland, Portugal, Italy, and Spain).  Sort of, well if Greece gets to cut as much as 50% or more from its bondholder responsibility (or 100% through default), why shouldn't the other countries get the same deal or make the same move.  Basically the EU is backed into a corner.  Iceland has been kept as far out of the news as possible because they gave the finger to British and Scottish banks, defaulted, were froze out of the international credit markets, suffered an economic fall off a cliff, and now (9 months later) are stabilizing and rebuilding their economy in more realistic terms for what the country can produce and sustain.  They are, in fact, living within their means.  The fact that Greece, which probably represents no more than .04% of the world economy, can threaten to bring the whole financial system to its knees helps you can understand how out of control credit lending became while Pluto was transiting through Sagittarius.

I also find it ironically interesting that the "birthplace of Western Civilization" is likely to lead to the "end of Western Civilization" as we have known it pretty much since the last Uranus/Pluto conjunction (during the time of the industrial revolution).  Since the upcoming square involves Cardinal energy, the tension is more likely to be explosive than collaborative.  Jeff Green, in his book on Uranus, points out that Aries represents, at its most primal, the need to survive.  More broadly Aries rules the pioneering spirit, independence, arrogance, and selfishness.  As more and more people see the big systems fail and the corporate and banking ruling class no longer hide as effectively behind both parties, it will become clear that the political system is rigged on both sides of the isle.  Both parties are now, more clearly than ever, the tools of corporate greed, especially now that corporations are people too!  We are also seeing how fully controlled the mainstream media is by the same powers, as they do their best to denigrate the protesters, put as the lead story the release of some woman accused of murder in Italy 2 years ago, and make claims (thank you Hermann Cain) that this protest against greed is Un-American.  I wonder if Mr. Cain would feel the same about Civil Rights protests that helped put him into a position where his "work hard" did allow him to become wealthy.  Obviously he did everything on his own.

Everything will be done to avoid taxing the wealthy since they have so clearly paid to put people in office to protect their interests.  While 2012 may not be the year to throw out everyone from both parties, it will likely be the catalyst year when people finally realize that neither party is interested in protecting the larger populations interest for the common good.  How radical could Pluto become with the antagonism from Uranus?  How about the end of private/corporate donor money to politicians?  Term limits for Congress?  A line item veto or better yet, one item per bill?  The stripping away of corporate charters and the elimination of the stock market and the privatization of all companies?  Maybe at the end of the Plutonic transit.  Right now I expect more the cutting of services and the end of Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlements, even though they will not be nearly enough to cover the debt and the most "essential" service, the military.

Unemployment will continue to increase and power will continue to consolidate.  In the US only 4 banks own all the remaining banks and Bank of America is on its too big way to failing, leaving the other three to gobble it up (the rich eat their own, just ask Lehman Brothers employees).  How many phone carriers remain; the magic number of 4 again (Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and T-Moble) with a merger underway.  And keep in mind that, on the whole, advances in technology always eliminate more jobs than they create, which does not help when the population keeps increasing.  The number they do not talk about in the monthly job report is the 65,000 jobs you need to create just to handle population growth (all those 17 year olds that become 18 year olds each month).  So when you read about 103,000 new jobs in September, make sure to subtract 65,000 from that number to get a more correct number.  Now consider all the months in which there was no job growth.  And keep in mind that every time a Republican suggest cutting the deficit by cutting the budget he or she is really saying "let's put more people out of work."

The sad, difficult truth is that private companies cannot do all the hiring and that the government is a massive employer.  Unemployment benefits keep the peace.  Sports won't be enough to keep the masses distracted when they have to cut off their cable to have extra money to buy food.  2012 will be a big year, but 2013 and 2015 will contain all the real action.  If the wealthy successfully block tax increases and new technology continues to displace people and we keep increasing the overall population, we will begin to see the survival instinct/awareness so basic to Aries begin to grow more restless.  For the first time in human history we are actually reaching the boundaries of our closed system; there is no such thing as limitless growth on a sphere.  And unless we develop a warp drive in the near future, we are likely to meet the boundaries in this century.