Continual shifts and changes

by with 2 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeProfessional Astrologer

I just sent an article in Portuguese for a Brazilian blog/website and it was a little challenging to write in my mother thong can you believe it? I think that because I’ve been working pretty hard on writing my assignments for the MA, and also because I’ve been living abroad for almost 12 years as well I suppose… I feel that somehow, at the moment, is easier for me to write more beautifully in English. The words and its combinations come out more easily, I don’t know.

I got the results from my last module and have done pretty well again. Sometimes is hard to believe in your own abilities. The director of my course, Nicholas Campion, sent me an email yesterday regarding some university bureaucracy and mentioned that after two excellent marks he hopes that I will continue doing the course. That was really nice and encouraging as I feel that my sense of self and personal potential gets a bit blurred somehow.

Im also currently writing an article about Saturn in general plus a bit about what happened during my Saturn Return for an online magazine. What an interesting symbol, Im beginning to really love Saturn and its potential for pondered growth, discipline and maturity.  I think that, to my surprise, I am pretty saturnian myself.

Anyway, this blog post was intended to be more about the changes that are happening soon in my life though.

I have given the notice at my job in the community as I realised that I can’t dedicate so much of my time to something that I don’t really want to do it anymore. I want to have more time for my masters and also astrology work, which has never stopped completely but I have been pushing it to the side a bit because Im so busy with other things.

As I was brainstorming about what to do next, Brazil just spontaneously came to my mind, and I decided to go to Brazil at the end of September probably for a longer period than usual. And then I realised that my progressed moon will be shifting to Aquarius in September and my natal IC is in Aquarius. How wonderful symbolism is that? For the first time in almost 12 years I genuinely feel the urge to explore and see with my own eyes, rather than my mother’s, where I come from. I feel that somehow I need to reconnect with that land through like minded people rather than my past only.

It will be interesting going back after Pluto transited my natal Moon and so much transformation and personal work has taken place within myself.

Excited to see what will happen…

Full Moon in Scorpio intensity

by with No Comment Astrological Insights

I finally managed to finish and submit my assignment for the MA and I feel happy that I can read and write about something else now.

The next Full Moon will be taking place on the 18th of May at 27 degrees Scorpio, not too far from my ASC, and I think that I already feel the emotional intensity of this one.

There will be a stellium in Taurus, with Sun and Mercury conjoined, plus Venus and Uranus conjoined at 4 and 3 degrees of Taurus respectively. I feel a strong heavy energy of fixed earth trying to let go and make a move, a strange picture as many of the star signs reflected in the sky have a connection with a strong urge for emotional and material security.  (Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio, Capricorn)

Another point that I  observed is that the moon will be in mutual reception with mars in cancer, both in detriment/fall, and I have the feeling that much emotional release combined with the realisation of emotional defences that are being a hindrance not only in our relationships but also in our personal journey towards individuation will be intensely coming to the surface.

Mars will also be applying to a square with Chiron in Aries, again giving me the feeling that we will be in touch with those wounds connected with our sense of individuality, independency and will power; what we want at odds with what we need in order to feel safe? What we want to do in conflict with what loved ones want from us?

With Venus strongly placed in its own sign, being the dispositor of the Sun/Mercury/Uranus, and conjoined Uranus, the feeling that we must get in touch with our own values is paramount here. The taurean Venus speaks of, amongst other things, our self-steam and capacity for self-reliability. Bring Uranus in the picture and we have a big wake up call regarding those values, and I think that separation is inevitable if we fail on providing ourselves (and others) the space and freedom to be who we (they) need to be.

I also have a strong feeling that karmic debts and attachments can be potentially undone during this intense time if you wish to set intentions for that with Saturn/Pluto/South Node in Capricorn forming a trine to the Sun/Mercury in Taurus.

May we all have much needed balance in the midst of emotional release so we can channel these powerful energies in a positive and growth enhancing manner.

 

Embodying the planets

by with 11 Comments Astrological InsightsAstrology and meProfessional Astrologer

Im currently writing a research project for the MA about the outsider’s perspective of astrology with a target group that came to ASHA for a training course on Holistic Education.

My search for literature review on Holistic Education turned out to be quite inspiring. Im finding many of its themes really interesting, particularly the idea that knowledge could and should be experienced through different channels, not only through the mind.

In traditional/formal sets, education is mainly connected with thinking and developing logic, but we also have our emotional bodies, our spiritual bodies as well as our physical bodies!

This quote from one of the papers I’ve read for my project summarises really well:

‘Education is longing for a deeper more connected, more inclusive, and more aware way of knowing. One that connects heart and hand and head and does not split knowledge into dualities of thought and being, mind and body, emotion and intellect, but resonates with a wholeness and fulness that engages every part of one’s being.’

With that in mind, yesterday, with the help of a lovely actress that has been coming to ASHA for a while now, I gave a session on embodied astrology to the group of EVS volunteers. I have been teaching them astrology for a while but it was the first time that I dared coming out of my comfort zone of brainy virgoan lectures into the fluidity of performance and feeling the knowledge.

The result was really positive!

I’ve been interested in experiential astrology for a long time but did not have the courage to experiment with it.

We worked with both the Sun and the Moon yesterday and after incorporating each we had a little chat and discussion about how that would personally manifest for each one of us by bringing the qualities of the star signs in, but also, a discussion about how it felt to embody each luminary.

It was very powerful and enlightening as another layer of understanding was added to our previous discussions. Even to me, who has been studying and reading charts for a number of years, it was quite mind blowing to play the planets like that.

At the end of our session I was really excited and thinking about eventually experimenting with a constellation exercise involving someone’s astrology chart, with each participant playing one of the planets of that particular chart.

I have heard of that before, I wonder if any of you have heard or experimented with it before?! Any experiences, tips or insights to share?  🙂

Saturn-Pluto nightmares…

by with No Comment Astrology and meInner life

Yesterday I had the pleasure to watch a webinar that astrologer Lynn Bell gave on the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn (already within orbit, will be perfecting in January 2020).

She made use of some powerful photographs made by artist Nicolas Bruno (who has a natal square between Pluto and Saturn) to illustrate the archetypal energies of Pluto and Saturn encountering each other.

I have experienced Saturn and Pluto’s powerful symbolism through family stuff, even though neither is placed in the 4th house in my chart.

Lately I have been feeling a little unsettled with the powerfully changing energies around, especially because of my father. He has Sun in Capricorn at the exact degree that the conjunction between Pluto and Saturn are going to happen in January next year. My mother has Sun in the last degree of Cancer, and my brother’s Sun is in the last degree of Capricorn with his Moon also in the final degrees of Cancer.

With all of my willingness to focus on spiritual growth and the powers of transformation and healing through crisis, I couldn’t ignore the fact that the Pluto-Saturn conjunction is activating every member of my nuclear family in a powerful and fundamental way!

The webinar was very helpful because it somehow helped me to keep a sense of the bigger picture, not to mention a deeper understanding of that planetary configuration. Interestingly, Lynn Bell shared that most of the pictures taken by the artist is inspired by his recurrent problems with sleep paralysis and nightmares, and she said that this transit is actually asking that we face those paralysing fears ourselves.

Something needs to die and we cannot hold it anymore.

Explorations on what we do as astrologers

by with 9 Comments Astrological InsightsProfessional Astrologer

Here I am writing again, still trying to keep a flow of blog posts, but the truth is that if Im not feeling like writing I just don’t. It reminds me of Billie Holiday refusing to sing in prison because she just did not feel like singing, even though everyone was begging her to do it. Not that people are begging me to write, haha. I guess is just a part of myself, a part that wants to be more consistent with blogging, that tries sometimes to put the pressure on writing more frequently.

Anyway, the topic that I’ve been thinking about is connected with the module Im currently doing for my MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, ‘Researching Contemporary Cosmologies’, and Im doing a research project about the view of the outsider on astrology.

I cannot stress enough how mind blowing the whole process has been, and I currently have the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn happening in the third house in my chart, reflecting also this deep journey towards new ideas and ways of thinking. I feel that not only my view on astrology is changing tremendously, but also my entire world view I think.

Ideas are becoming clearer and more palpable regarding what I do as an astrologer, or rather, what I don’t do as an astrologer! I feel more confident in my communication skills, and I also feel less and less the need for validating astrology through having a discussion on the topic with random people, specially the ones that strongly don’t ‘believe’ in it.

I recently have been thinking a lot about the different methods for social research, the qualitative versus quantitative, because of my research and all the academic material that I have been reading for my literature review. I think that the names already give away the meanings in the context of research, quantitative being connected more with numbers and counting results, whereas the qualitative is more subjective and involves depth interviews for example, placing a strong emphasis on people’s stories being told with their own words.

Each method has its place depending on the remit of your research, and they say actually that mixing methods can be quite good for achieving a more ‘complete’ result.

What I find very interesting is that in the qualitative method you are not in search of ‘the truth’ for when it comes to people’s beliefs there is not such a thing as an absolute truth. Individuals are complex and cannot be put all together in the same box without missing out precious bits of information about their unique story and views of the world.

Its is becoming clearer to me that science and scientism are two different things. Science is a method, it is one of the many windows that we can use to perceive and understand the world, and when appropriate it is a great method. But scientism is the paradigm, the belief that this is the one and only way to get to the only possible truth. It is an unbalanced and dogmatic view on how the world works and how we should think. Scientism defends that there are only two possibilities: ‘the truth’ (quantified and classified by scientific method) or ignorance.

Most of the time we are conditioned at school to see the world through scientism’s lens and made to feel stupid if we dare seeing the world with a different frame of mind.

In Patrick Curry’s words: “There is no ‘objectivity’ that could even exist for us, let alone mean anything, without subjective selfhood – and there is no ‘subjectivity’ without a world to sustain it and be aware of. As Merleau-Ponty wrote, ‘All my knowledge of the world, even my scientific knowledge, is gained from my own particular point of view, or from some experience of the world without which the symbols of science would be meaningless’ . Experience is unavoidably embodied, embedded, perspectival and, given the existence of more than one subject, plural.”

With this in mind I cannot help but feel that trying to squeeze astrology under scientism, by claiming it to be a science and making use of statistics and quantitative methods to prove its worth, is a big mistake. (not to mention the belief that there is pure astrological knowledge without the personal lens used by the interpreter!)

It’s like trying to eat soup using a fork.

Geoffrey Cornelius talks about that in ‘The Moment of Astrology’, a great and thought provoking book that I believe to be invaluably important for the astrologers that would like to explore what we do from different perspectives.

Uranian impulses

by with 10 Comments Astrology and meInner life

I’ve been reading Liz Greene’s book ‘The Art of Stealing Fire’ about Uranus and already had some powerful insights on the archetypal energy that the planet represents. She starts by saying that in her perspective, contrary to what we find in many astrology text books, there is nothing individual about Uranus. According to Liz Greene all of the outer planets represent collective yearnings and impulses that are best mediated by a strong (healthy) ego rather than the person being identified/possessed by it.

In her words: ‘Human nature, without individual consciousness and reflection, cannot contain Uranian vision, which tends to break loose and overwhelm the powers of individual reason and individual feeling.’

I resonate with that, and looking back in my life I feel that there were many moments where I unconsciously had a reaction based much more in ideas and visions rather than how I was truly feeling. I feel that the masculine has somehow overpowered the feminine in me over and over again, especially before my Saturn Return in 2012. (Uranus is conjunct Mars [my chart ruler] in the first house, square Sun/Mercury in the 10th, and opposite Chiron in the 7th).

Further in the book, on Uranian people’s difficulty in expressing feelings, Greene says : ‘Something inside keeps saying, “Don’t get stuck in all that emotional glue, keep the door open so you can leave if you have to.” (…) I think Uranus shuts itself up, because the expression of personal feeling binds us to other people, and the daimon wants us to be ready with our luggage packed and our tickets and passports in our hands.’   This quote really summarises how I dealt with attachments many times, wanting to suddenly break them and just walk away. There is a strong impulse in me that feels pretty much like what she describes in the book.

It has been a journey making this part (the one represented by the strong Uranus in my chart) conscious and stopping identifying with it as ‘myself’.

At the moment, for the last three years,  I have attracted a partner that is also highly Uranian and he somehow had been carrying a lot of the rational, logical, removed from human emotions type of inclinations for me. It’s just recently, after we separately went to see a jungian therapist astrologer, that it somehow dawned on me what was going on. (or at least one layer of it all!)

So now, even finding this book by Liz Greene in a shop in Glastonbury for a very good price seems to be reflecting this new understanding that perhaps Im ready to embrace… I don’t know. But I silently stop blaming him for the lack of ‘human connection’ in our relationship.

Relationship Anarchy and the next Full Moon

by with No Comment Astrological InsightsProfessional Astrologer

Today’s first quarter of the Moon (in Gemini) got me curious about the coming full Moon on  21 of March at 0 degrees Libra.

If we consider the full Moon as the continuation and outcome of the New Moon, it will have something to do with the feelings of last week’s Pisces New Moon, conjunct Neptune, with Mercury retrograde in Pisces and Uranus movement into Taurus. Last week was quite emotionally challenging in the community I live. People seemed to be extra sensitive to each others jokes and presence in general, with conflict arising between them more openly.

My period, which has been aligned with the New Moon for a few years now, came couple of days after and my level of sensitivity was very heightened as well. Something touched me very profoundly, awakening a strong sense of empathy and compassion. This all sounds very piscean/neptunian indeed, but I can’t keep my mind off Uranus moving into Taurus permanently (that is, for the next 7 years). The contrast between the two symbols, Taurus standing for stability and endurance and Uranus representing sudden changes, radical changes.

I have the feeling that the emotional atmosphere here also had something to do with people intuiting the big changes that are bound to happen (there are many members of the community with Venus in Scorpio, Ascendant in Scorpio and important planets in Taurus).

The most positive imagery for Uranus in Taurus that I think of right now is that of awakening (Uranus) inner resources and self-reliance (Taurus). We must somehow find ways of expressing our individual selves in a more authentic way within our relationships. Whichever relationship that has its foundations on wobbly, insecure and codependent fashion will be challenged during this period, big time.

Back to the full Moon then…

It will be taking place at 0 degrees of the Libra/Aries axis, the axis of relationships. Once more I feel the theme of authenticity within relationships ringing strongly. The planet ruling the full Moon is Venus which will be at 23 degrees Aquarius forming an exact square to the planet ruling the Sun, Mars, at 23 degrees Taurus. Give and take will be a major theme and challenge during this Full Moon.

But I have also observed that, on the day of the Full Moon, Venus forms a sextile to Jupiter in Sagittarius, and Mars a trine to Pluto in Capricorn. I feel that this could be symbolising also the old conflict between freedom and commitment, an aquarian/sagittarian versus taurean/capricornian difference in style of relating.

Aquarius and Sagittarius are known as the most freedom loving signs of the zodiac, and the earth signs (Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo) are known for their need for stability and commitment in relationships.

So Im already giving the heads up here for the potential intense emotional release of the coming Full Moon on 21 of March. I feel that we better start being more conscious about the need for space, freedom and friendship within our committed relationships. We better be aware of our need for individual autonomy and commitment, and look for ways of negotiating and balancing them out.

Astrology, Symbolism and Fluidity

by with 3 Comments Astrology and meProfessional Astrologer

February has been an interesting month for me so far.

The latest journey (Im realising more and more that there is always a journey within a journey within a journey…), the one connected with this month’s unfoldment, has been very much related with astrological work and symbolism for me.

I’ve had around 12 clients this year and the more I work with astrology the more it mesmerises me as something that is totally alive and mysterious.

What is behind the astrological symbolism communicating with us? Who is IT, or even, is there a who? The universe? The cosmos? God? I have no answer. And yet every single time, I feel something grand happens when Im reading a horoscope, and the connections that I can make afterwards also.

In the book ‘Cosmic Loom’  Dennis Elwell says:

‘For the non-mathematician 196 and 2744 seem unconnected, since they have not a single digit in common, but the mathematician recognises them as the square and cube of the same number. So there is a language of mathematics whereby hidden relationships are revealed, and there is a language of astrology which connects things that might seem unconnected’ (pp. 10 – 11).

I really like that he uses mathematics as an example to explain the hidden language encoded in astrological symbolism as well.

Symbols are a wonderful and elusive thing at the same time.

It never ceases to surprise me and I’m inclined to give it space to communicate rather than rush into putting it inside interpretative boxes.

Out of these 12 clients that I’ve mentioned above, more than half are currently dealing with a Pluto transit/progression to natal Venus/Moon, and my Solar Arc Venus has just conjoined my natal Pluto a few months ago. There is something about this archetypal union between the feminine and Pluto, the God of the underworld, that has been trying to communicate with me. I feel honoured that with each one of my clients I had the opportunity to explore a different dimension of this combination, in a different context, with a different life story.

Im in awe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturnian growth pos Plutonic apocalypse…

by with 2 Comments Astrological InsightsAstrology and meSearch for home

Saturn is transiting around 14 degrees Capricorn and just about to form the first of 3 or 4 exact squares to my natal Moon in Libra. I can feel this transit reflecting couple of different processes within myself.

On one hand I felt the urge to communicate my need to cut down my hours at my current job as a chef so I can dedicate more of my time to what I believe is my call and vocation: astrology.  Saturn is currently transiting my second house so material issues and my values in general have been taken under consideration before I made this decision.

Interestingly, people have been in touch with me inquiring about my services, and when I was travelling in Brazil earlier this month, I had about 6 clients (plus 3 that I did not have time to see before coming back to the UK), which in a way is telling me to get back on track and follow my bliss!

(I also did a successful talk for the Psychedelic Society in Bristol at the end of November last year in which a scholar from Bristol University was present, and later on he contacted me saying how much he appreciated my talk and invited me to participate of one of his projects about paganism and well being!)

Last week I also started to go to the gym, for the first time in my life, and Im actually really enjoying it! I feel so good after exercising (I used to cycle regularly when I lived in London but not anymore since I’ve moved to the forest) that I don’t really need to eat all the sugar and comfort food that I needed in order to make me happier. It’s interesting that just the act of exercising more seems to naturally make you want to choose healthier foods. This is also a lunar theme, the daily routine and diet, which seems to be going under transformation at the moment.

Saturn in Capricorn reflects the gift of discipline and the potential to develop will power. Im doing my best to take this moment as an opportunity to strengthen and bring myself closer to the kind of life that I want to live rather than wait for people to change or opportunities to be given.

I believe this is a DIY time!

Another theme connected with the Moon in Libra is love relationships.

Me and my partner have been living together for a few months and Im realising more and more that this relationship isn’t fulfilling my needs (Moon again) and that I have been oblivious to this fact for quite some time. The feeling that I’ve been having lately is strongly motivating me to fill up the gaps myself and to move out eventually (when is the right time I suppose, I don’t really want to rush anything under a Saturn transit…).

I am not sure how this process is going to unfold, but Im feeling a strong urge not only to be self contained but also to be self motivated enough to create my own happiness instead of expecting someone else to change.

I feel like I have done my homework when Pluto was transiting my Moon and a lot of the challenges that came up were met head on. Many of my “libran” fears connected with relationships, including the fear of being alone (fear of doing things on my own, like travelling or moving houses, etc), was addressed in the last 5 or 6 years and I feel so much stronger now.

I feel that I can do anything by myself! Hah!

We shall see how things unfold, with new awareness and my commitment to the process of individuation and growth, and I hope that all of you out there are making the most of the energies available for your individuation and growth as well.

An Astrologer’s wishes for 2019

by with 2 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeSearch for home

The heat in Brazil is so strong that for most of the day I cannot do much. Sometimes it feels like my brain is melting.

For the last five or six years I consciously went through a Pluto transit to my natal Moon and this is the first time that I came back since. Everything looks and feels strange and familiar at the same time.

That strange familiar feeling of not belonging strongly remains.

I miss my home in England.

I am enjoying some things here, but after couple of weeks its clear to me that many of the structures, customs, opinions, ideas, ideals, cultural identity… have all changed to me? Sao Paulo somehow feels largely small?

Since 2012 I went through multiple transits, I’ve had my first Saturn return and transits from all 3 outer planets to my personal planets. I’ve been dissolved, dismembered and initiated into adulthood. Much pain and suffering was met on the way, but looking at myself in the mirror I can see that it was worth it.

I believe that if we don’t adapt to the seasons we can’t make the most of it. The idea of intermittent happiness to be pursued in life is a fallacy. But being stuck in a loop of sadness for too long can also be damaging.

Nature and its cycles have much to teach us. Accepting and taking action that is aligned with our personal cycle is one of the biggest lessons that I’ve learnt in the last 5 years. (Not that it was easy or that I have ceased to struggle with it. But I feel incredibly aware of it now.) Even if the action is by not taking any action. (something that can also be very challenging in a society that emphasises doing and achievement so strongly!)

So in this New Year Eve, close to a New Moon in Capricorn, my wish is that we can all learn how to be deeply rooted in ourselves, how to feel, trust, and follow the natural wisdom of our cycles, and, in this way, develop more authenticity in a mature and solid manner.

Then, and only then (I feel), we are going to be able to, genuinely, have a positive impact in our society, planet, cosmos, universe… whatever needed.

Happy new year!