On the current Mars’ transits

by with 2 Comments Astrology and meSearch for home

The last few days have been mental and beyond intense. Somehow I got dragged into a drama that does not have much to do with me, apart from being the friend of one of the persons involved. I don’t really want to get into the details of everything as it isn’t worth it, but I was locked out from my house at 10 in the evening and the shock and absurdity of that situation for me was absolutely maddening. It was traumatising, to say the least, and it made me think about all of the people out there suffering in abusive relationships.

My heart is with you and I hope that you can heal and manage to break out from whichever pattern of hurt and suffering you feel you’re stuck in.

Astrologers know and have been talking about the myriad of challenging astrological transits for 2020 for quite sometime already, and we are currently navigating the energies reflected by Mars in Aries in square to Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn.

They manifested in quite a real way in my case, with a touch of physical violence included, but it doesn’t have to be that way. What I think is that whatever intensity and anger that came up to us now is pointing out to the changes that we are contemplating and aware of their need for quite sometime already.

We have to be brave to be the best we can be, to leave behind whatever, or whoever, feels familiar but does not embrace and support this best version of ourselves.

Raise up to the challenge!

Use the current energies to embrace courage (Mars in Aries) and to take constructive action towards a better life. Learn about healthy boundaries, and about not blaming other people for your shortcomings. Take responsibility for your process, and your process only. You can’t take anyone else with you, you can’t change anyone or ‘make’ them behave in one way or another. It’s about you and what you want in your life.

May we all find creative and constructive ways of working with the challenging changes ahead!

Full Moon in Aquarius and Authenticity

by with No Comment Astrology and meSearch for home

Im not sure how I missed out the fact that the coming full moon will be exactly conjoined my natal IC in Aquarius this coming Monday.

I guess that when you start studying astrology you become so keen that you never miss something like that, but once you have been studying it consistently for a few years, you then start to take the fast moving transits a bit for granted. Or maybe you just realise that every month there will be a new moon, and a full moon, etc…

But lunations do trigger long lasting transits, solar arc directions and secondary progressions. They have a way of emotionally intensifying whatever it is that you are going through.

I am working on my last assignment before my masters’ thesis and it happens to be a sky journal, a piece of phenomenological research on my observations of how the weather affects me emotionally. One of the themes that came up from the exercise is the awareness of a strong connection between weather x culture, home and belonging.

Lots of food for thought and it amazes me that for my last essay I am doing such a personal piece of work which enables me to explore an issue that feels so urgent to me right now. What and where is home? All of the internal work that took place during the transit from Pluto to my natal Moon still hasn’t given me the answer. I feel closer to finding it out maybe, but the concept of home still eludes me…

Back to the full moon though.

I have the feeling that this full moon will be triggering and challenging to reveal the amount of authenticity in our lives at the moment. Are we really in the right place? Are we really being ourselves in whatever situation that we are going through?

The full moon will be square to Uranus in Taurus and Venus (ruler of Taurus) might have some clues on how to solve the dilemma represented by this t square. Venus is in Gemini and very close to the North Node, so allowing people the space needed to find out what they need to find out, rationality and open communication afterwards might be what we need. Perhaps there is something that we will need to communicate regarding the process that Venus retrograde was reflecting earlier this year as well. Also these days Venus formed the last of 3 squares to Neptune (which started in May), and some resolutions regarding previous confusion might be a possibility with this full moon as well.

What are your values, what is important to you in order to feel loved? Are you happy with the flow of give and take in your relationships or are you giving more than receiving? And if that’s the case, why? These are some of the questions worth asking ourselves now..

Progressions 3rd round

by with 4 Comments Astrological InsightsAstrology and meInner life

Here I am preparing a talk I will be giving tomorrow for an astrology group about astrological interpretation and still pretty impressed by the uncanny accuracy of Secondary Progressions.

Today I was taking a closer look to sign ingresses and etc in past progressions and how fascinating that was! When my Sun progressed to Libra I moved countries, and mind you  I have natal Moon in Libra ruling the 9th house of long journeys abroad… and just like this one there were many other examples…

Progressed Moon just about to move into the 3rd house when I applied to my masters…hitchhiking for 3 months when Progressed Moon was in Sag conjoined my natal Mars-Uranus in Sag… wow man… so many other examples.

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to give the attention that I feel Secondary Progression deserves as a technique!

Not to mention the big questions that are naturally brought up by this symbolic and most impressive astrological practice; what is behind everything? How come we live in a compressed format everything that we will live during our lifetime (the so called ‘one day-per year’ of life formula)? Why these patterns seem to repeat themselves in different vibrations and contexts? What about the invisible thread connecting it all? Is there such a thing? …

Astrology and Seasons!

by with 4 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeSearch for home

Omnia tempus habent… (All things have their season) – Ecclesiastes 

As I finish preparing my powerpoint presentation for my webinar tonight on secondary progressions here I am again, feeling baffled with the accuracy of astrological symbolism.

All things have their season, and prognostication is about that. It isn’t (not for me anyway) about predicting what the future holds or what is going to happen exactly, it is about realising your inner (and outer) season. Work with nature rather than against it, you wouldn’t try to harvest things during winter, etc.

There is the right time for everything. And astrological symbolism can help you not only to understand that, but also to align yourself with it. What a wonderful tool, albeit often misunderstood, astrology is.

As my progressed Moon makes its way towards my natal IC, boxes, removals, decorating and furniture permeates many of my conversations as well as my mind. I want to create a proper ‘nest’, a strong base where I can get in touch with my creativity (which will probably be happening once my progressed Moon moves into my 5th house I guesss…) and do more of the work that I love doing. Free myself up from some of the mundane preoccupation and fully dedicate myself to my master’s dissertation and my astrology practice.

Live a life that’s more aligned with what I want to do daily, focus my energy. (I guess I can also hear my progressed ascendant moving to Capricorn here!) I really look forward to being able to focus more and travel less (a little less anyway…).

Are you aware of your secondary progressions right now?!

A note on progressions

by with 7 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeSearch for home

Have you experimented with secondary progressions much?

I have been observing it for a few years now, a few times that my progressed moon has shifted signs for example, and watched how that manifested in my life. But it was only today, whilst preparing one of my webinars on prognostication, that it actually clearly dawned on me how much progressions relates to internal transitions and our inner reality.

Currently my progressed Moon is just about to conjoin my natal IC, which in a few months will then be transited by Jupiter and Saturn; followed by Pluto a few years down the line. Whatever is brewing within myself regarding belonging, home, family, and a reconnection with my roots will have a long lasting effect, it seems.

For the last 12 years I have been living in the UK and travelling around, I have been living a very nomad life style, always on the go without allowing any roots to become too strong and prevent me from experiencing what it seemed like ‘freedom’. My relocated chart in England has Sagittarius rising, with my Mars-Uranus quite close to it, and exactly conjoined my South Node in Sag. I feel free around here…

But it turns out that I am not sure this is what I want anymore, and when I check my progressed chart I see my p. ASC just about to move from Sagittarius to Capricorn, there is a huge shift happening within myself. It is really baffling to be able to see them so clearly reflected on my progressed chart!

Since my Moon progressed to Aquarius I have been thinking about home a lot, about Brazil, about my cultural heritage. I’ve been missing to speak my language and the small silent understanding that talking with someone from where you come from brings you.

I never thought this would happen! But as my progressed Moon moves closer and closer to my natal IC, these issues are becoming greater and greater. And I wonder what is the point on keeping the so called ‘freedom’ in detriment to human connection? As humans, do we all need to have and develop a sense of belonging and being accepted?

I also think about the easiness, the recognition, the familiarity which is calling me louder and louder from within. This is the progressed chart manifesting in a very obvious way in my life…

Celebrating some achievements

by with No Comment Astrology and meProfessional Astrologer

The last month and a half have been so incredibly busy for me: taking up my two final modules for the masters (that in itself is so much work already!), doing three talks in the month of June, also started teaching astrology webinars and have over 10 students waiting for me to come up with the second series, not to mention the other more humble life tasks which are equally important (even if it doesn’t seem like).

After all, where would I be without my routine? Without my ‘healthy-ish’ meals? Without my long walks after lunch and long baths listening to Billie Holiday? I honestly think that I could only manage the amount of things I had to do because I kept track of my basic routine as well. Without that I wouldn’t have made it!

Interestingly, Uranus is transiting my 6th house, and work is somehow embedded in my daily rituals and routine. There isn’t one without the other.

Two out of the three talks are done already, and I think they went very well. I have a real passion for teaching. This week I will be finally giving my talk at the Astrological Association’s conference on the astrology of the Handmaid’s Tale. Such an interesting novel, with an amazing tv production and not to mention, Margaret Atwood herself, a figure that I deeply admire and researching about her was a real joy.

Atwood’s natal Sun is very close to my ASC, so I guess the commonality speaks for itself. I somehow feel a sense of closeness when I watch her speak and I wish I could meet her in person one day and have a cup of coffee.

How did I manage to get through the most difficult challenges of this month, in special my fear of coming out professionally in the astrological community and my inner critic’s strength and power over me sometimes? I guess that I have used a few different tools in the process, but specially reminding me of the joy I feel when I talk about astrology and when I share ideas in general (which helped me with the masters as well) was a huge part.

Passion and joy seems to be a great guidance force in life… at least sometimes… or maybe most of the time…

What is your passion and what brings joy into your life?!        😀

 

 

Brief catch up

by with 2 Comments Astrology and meInner life

I have been feeling a bit nostalgic and melancholic lately. The current global crisis, even with its promises of a positive much needed change, it’s taking its toll on me, most probably on all of us.

Social distancing is proving to be more challenging than I thought it would be. I miss the people I love, I miss hugs and physical contact, I miss the quiet presence of someone else in the room.

When we isolate I believe that we meet whatever is placed in our natal 12th house, and here I am, having my daily meetings with Saturn and Pluto in Scorpio lately.

Don’t get me wrong though, I appreciate the power that both, specially Saturn, seems to have in my chart and in my psyche, and I see it playing out in every deadline that I manage to meet for my masters for example. But there is also something heavy here, something deeply heavy and serious and melancholic.

I feel the deepest feelings when Im on my own and people bring lightness into my life. Somehow that’s how it works and the configuration of Pluto-Saturn in the twelfth versus Moon-Venus in the eleventh is a reflection of what it seems to be my experience.

I can sense that we are onto something big right now, perhaps something to do with the potential for positive realisations which will then enable us to actualise it once we are free to move and get together again. I don’t know.

All I know is that I feel for everyone out there in isolation as well and how this might be challenging your mental, physical and spiritual health, not to mention the ones that are, and have always been, suffering from the many unfairnesses of a system in decadence. I feel for you, for us all.

And I hope that during this most extraordinary time of disruption and change we can all make the most of it and come out empowered, so we can co-create a better reality for us all, including for the animals and nature in general.

 

Astrological Debates and the coming Full Moon

by with 2 Comments Astrological InsightsAstrology and meProfessional Astrologer

Catching a bit of a ride with the current energies building up to the full moon happening this coming Friday. It will be forming a t square between the Moon in Sagittarius, the Sun in Gemini and Mars in Pisces (close to Neptune), all at 15 degrees (so watch out all of you with personal planets in the mid degrees of the mutable signs).

As the lunar nodes have also shifted recently to the Gemini-Sagittarius axis, I expect a lot of intense discussions to be taking place, and considering the apex of a t square as a potential clue to a way out from the dichotomy symbolised by the opposition (between the Sun and Moon in this case), I feel that there is something of the energy of Pisces and Neptune that can help us get out of the impasse. Perhaps transcending truths that are plainly egocentric and not really constructive for others as well as ourselves is one way of interpreting this.

Both Pisces and Neptune at best talks about compassion and the capacity for dissolving boundaries which are necessary for us to understand that ultimately we are all connected. So perhaps something connected with that could help us resolve some of the difficult debates that we are bound to be witnessing, as well as taking part in, this week.

Another thing that comes to mind is any form of artwork could also be of great help now to contain the splits of opinion within and without!  Paint, drawing, dancing, writing…

This whole thing reminds me of a small discussion I got myself involved in these days, and made me think as well (again) about the spread of misinformation that we currently can have access to using social media. Freedom of expression can be great and very empowering, but at the same time, there seems to be a lot of people claiming to hold the truth about something which isn’t quite correct.

To be precise, there was an individual claiming to be a professional astrologer who said that: ‘If you have Saturn in a hard aspect in your chart it can and it will definitely make you poor’. I mean, what the fuck? After this post there were lots of comments from scared people, trying to find out if they had that or not in their natal charts.

I usually don’t get myself involved in these online debates, but I couldn’t help and just searched for examples of people with hard aspects from Saturn who happened to be quite rich actually, to respond to that person.

Anyway, my message here is to say that astrology can be a wonderful tool for empowerment and insight but it has to be used wisely. And, at the same time, I strongly feel that it cannot be used divorced from serious commitment to personal work and growth. It’s just too easy to project our life’s traumas and shortcomings into an astrological aspect, star sign or whatever, and then spread misinformation to people around us perpetrating fear and disempowerment.

So remember, if it sounds like fear mongering and simply negative, go and try to find another source or another astrologer to have a consultation from. I am pro different views and techniques and approaches to astrology, but definitely not supportive of astrology done badly and without personal responsibility.

Next week’s astrology

by with 3 Comments Astrological Insights

Next week there will be some interesting stuff going on astrologically. The lunar nodes will be shifting from the Cancer-Capricorn to the Gemini-Sagittarius axis on the 5 of May (ten days before Venus goes retrograde), and two days later there will be a full moon at 17 degrees Scorpio.

If you have been following my work you have noticed that I don’t really write consistently about the lunations; but I am specially fond of the full moon in Scorpio though and I tend to write about it every time. I think that these full moons are so emotionally powerful that is worth to have a look at the astrological chart of it to gather insight into its general themes.

First with the lunar nodes changing, it seems like there could be a great shift into prioritising the exchange of information rather than the shadowy side of Sag’s dogmatism. Communication, teaching and learning, seems to be already in the collective awareness as we go through the current crisis and are forced to stay home as much as possible. (I think this big boom of online courses and information exchange could also be linked to Jupiter and Saturn’s meeting in December)

Regarding the full moon, both Venus and Mercury are in mutual reception, with Venus in Gemini and Mercury in Taurus, and it seems that this could be an opportunity to shine the light into what isn’t aligned with our values so we can let go of it and move on.

The Sun and Moon are both forming supportive aspects to Neptune in Pisces as well as Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn, giving me the feeling that this could be insightful and help further the collective changes that we are going through now.

This quarantine is forcing us to look within, it is giving us the chance to do personal work which includes, hopefully, integrating the shadow. Under next week’s full moon we can become very much aware of this process and perhaps choose to make the most of it instead of resenting it….

Wishing you all a happy full Moon!

Productive quarantine and Pluto retrograde

by with 14 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeProfessional Astrologer

I think that I am finally managing to create a productive routine during the lockdown. I guess moving countries again was also inevitably disruptive on my daily practices, etc.

That Mars/Uranus in Sagittarius in my chart reflecting the part of me that keeps travelling and moving around no matter what…

Anyway, Im enjoying the time and space to focus on the things that truly matter to me, in this case, my astrology work. I’ve been working on talks that I will be giving this June, and also taking the opportunity to watch free online courses as well. It really is mind blowing the quantity of online webinars and lectures available even for free at the moment.

That really made me think about the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius that will be taking place in December 21 this year. It seems like we are heading towards the direction of a massive boom of online education, where information is made accessible to a larger number of people.

These days I watched an interesting webinar on how to create online courses and it was quite insightful. Im glad I did it. Now Im being flooded with ideas for creating a short course on astrology myself. I love teaching and public speaking, especially about a subject that Im so passionate about like astrology, so I see potential for developing something really nice.

I even had someone getting in touch with me for a short astrological session in order to learn a bit, rather than just receive the interpretations. That is a sign, isn’t?!

As I work on my talks and think about these ideas of mine, I have to witness a very strong fear of coming out, perhaps a fear of failure, Im not entirely sure. But I do remember astrologer Frank Clifford talking about the journey of Virgo being connected with developing self-confidence because they never believe they know enough or that they are good enough.

That resonates with me so much!

My first big talk for the Astrological Association is happening in June 28 or 27 and Im dreading that moment and, at the same time, really looking forward to it because I will have to break an old pattern of fear, otherwise I won’t be able to do it.

I feel that I was born to be a communicator (amongst other things of course), but it does not come very easily in terms of taking action and being confidently encouraged. But once Im on stage it is almost like something else takes me over and it is really joyful, I feel incredibly high during and afterwards as well.

Anyway, Pluto is going retrograde today until around October the fifth, and this is a great time for revisiting our shadow work. Looking into those paralysing fears that are limiting our capacity to live our lives to the fullest, preventing us from being what we are meant to be.  That’s what Im going to do as I prepare myself for the series of talks that I will be giving in the near future…

Wish me luck!

And if you have been following me and my work for a while and feel that you could be interested in knowing more about the teaching side of it, get in touch. I would love to hear from you.