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!

 

Transit after transit…

by with 2 Comments Astrology and meInner life

Mercury is retrograde at 13 degrees Sagittarius, very close to make a conjunction to my natal Uranus/Mars in the first house and a lot of the current theme for me has been connected with personal freedom and individuation.

I believe that Jupiter in the early degrees of Sagittarius is also echoing this message.

During this last period of Venus moving retrograde I have been questioning and feeling a strong urge to find more space within my relationship. (with the times when Venus opposed Uranus as a peak of realisation about this need)

Now what is strongly coming up to me is not only the need for personal freedom, but also lots of questions about our conditioning when it comes to relating with one another.

Last week we had a training course on life coaching and the group of people that came here for the training were amazing. I connected with many of them in such a beautiful way. The dynamic between the group reminded me of one of those conscious summer festivals that I used to go when Pluto was transiting my natal Moon.

It felt like home!

In the last night we did an angel walk together (basically walking in a corridor of people whispering beautiful messages into your ears) and had a very long group cuddle for at least an hour. My heart was so open and the love I felt was so strong that it felt like being high on drugs.

I was in such a powerful and beautiful state that even saying no and asserting myself became easy and loving as well. I felt empowered.

Since then, I’ve been thinking about the general conditioning of being supposed to love only one person, or being protective and caring only towards family members, etc. Why is that? Why can we not allow love to flow and increase itself by giving it freely?

Why are we not allowing love to ebb and flow organically?

I have read once that love is the only thing that does not work mathematically in the way we know, the more you give the more you have to give. You never run out of it. (talking about unconditional love here)

Then I thought that if my personal experience of transiting Pluto to my Moon is connected with my role in the collective change that we are going through, my new sense of security within is what will enable me to love more and to help breaking old patterns that do not foster growth in positive ways.

I would really like to find new ways of relating, with more authenticity and the willingness to be vulnerable and communicate openly.

Obscure times…

by with 9 Comments Astrology and meInner life

I am sat at my table with everything ready to start writing my first essay for the university, but instead of doing that, Im catching myself trying to understand what is going on in the world.

I am wondering what is prompting us to give rise, and our votes, to the far right and what it seems like a speech, and ideology, against minority, diversity and the environment? Obviously not all of us are doing this, but it seems like the majority of us are, otherwise people like Donald Trump and Bolsonaro would not have been elected president in their respective countries.

I feel overwhelmed with the amount of arguments between people in the social media and with the bigger picture of what is happening.

Astrologically speaking, I am wondering what does the conjunction between Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn in couple of years time will be reflecting. Pluto/Saturn in Capricorn does feel like the consequences of the abuse of power, death and destruction, could become more clear. What will happen to the environment after years of exploitation? Are we heading towards our own destruction?

Jupiterianism and the academia.

by with No Comment Astrology and meProfessional Astrologer

This is a strong Jupiterian time for me.

Transiting Jupiter is making an exact conjunction to my ascendant, while transiting Saturn is conjunct my natal Jupiter.

Interestingly, my Solar Arc Venus has just moved into Scorpio and is forming a conjunction to my natal Pluto in the 12th house. I have been aware of this change for a long time and wondered what would that be reflecting in practical terms.

I thought maybe a crisis in my relationship, falling in love with someone else, an obsessive passion of some kind, perhaps my partner would fall in love with someone else.

It turns out, at least for now, that the obsession that Im getting myself into is actually researching the esoteric in the academia!

Jupiter in my chart rules the 2nd, 5th house and the South Node and I remember in 2009/2010, when transiting Pluto was conjunct my Jupiter, I had a sort of “awakening” regarding my interest in the occult.

I started researching it more deeply.

It was when I learned how to read tarot cards, when I got in touch with Jungian ideas for the first time, when I started understanding astrology with more depth.

Both Saturn and Pluto in Scorpio (the sign connected with the Occult) are placed in the 12th house in my chart and I think about Gaquelin’s connection of Saturn in the 12th with research (he says this placement is common in Scientists).

I have started a master degree in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (slowly, as a part time Postgraduate certificate student first) and the amount of (academic) reading that I have done already is quite incredible.

Transiting Pluto, after the last hit to my natal Moon (which, by the way, rules the 9th house of higher education in my chart), made its way to my 3rd house (of reading, writing, ideas, etc) and it is going to be there for quite a while now. My progressed moon has moved into the 3rd also and transiting Saturn will move there sometime next year.

I can sense how much the intellectual stimulation, by exposing myself to academic work on the esoteric and the classics (Im currently reading Plato’s Timaeus for this week’s discussion in class), will have an impact on how I think and communicate, without even mentioning the impact on my work as an astrologer.

I know this journey is going to be really powerful and it is so exciting that a lot of the time I feel like screaming inside.

I think this is a good sign…

..”unconditional cosmic acceptance”..

by with 3 Comments Astrology and meProfessional Astrologer

I am preparing a little introductory talk that I will be giving tonight to the 24 Indian girls that are staying with us for 3 weeks. They are attending to a program on becoming “peace ambassadors” the we offer here where Im currently living and working.

While I was printing their charts I’ve noticed that more than half of the girls have either Moon in Scorpio or the Moon forming a major aspect to Pluto. Some of them that don’t, have either Pluto on the angles or other personal planets in Scorpio.

Im thinking that it is interesting to see such a plutonic signature in a group of young Indian women that are here to learn different skills to bring back to where they come from in order to promote positive change.

Interestingly, although I am off from work officially, today one of the trustees came for lunch and she was brought into my house by the founder of this organisation to have a quick look on something.  When she met me she was told that Im an astrologer and, as soon as she heard that, she placed the palm of her hand right up into my nose asking me what I see.

As I explained her I didn’t read palms she impatiently asked me what do I do then. When I mentioned astrology charts based on the date and time of birth she just quickly told me her birthday and the hour of her birth. I then went on explaining that I actually needed a computer program and it would take a little time for preparing the interpretation…

Out off politeness I wrote down her details and the two other women that showed up with her also wrote down their details on my book. The situation made me chuckle inside for a few different reasons, but the main one was the synchronicity between what happened today and all the questions I’ve been asking myself while reading “The Astrologer, the Counsellor and the Priest” written by Liz Greene (the one I mentioned on my last post).

In the beginning of this seminar she speaks about the archetypes that might be unconsciously played out by the astrologer and one of them is Prometheus and stealing fire from the gods. Liz says that like in the myth, we also have to be punished, and she believes that this might be in the root of many common struggles that astrologers usually have. The lack of material wealth, the underlying feeling of guilt that prevents us from charging a proper price for our work or to value our time, and the feeling of loneliness and separation from society. Most people don’t get what it is that we do!

The situation today was the manifestation of some of these symptoms, the women barging in and expecting me to just freely give my time, the palm thing, the lack of boundaries and respect for my professionalism?

Anyway I haven’t got much time left to finish this post so I would like to end with a quote from the same book I’ve been talking about.

Liz Greene is speaking about what we do as astrologers (definitely not necessarily the only definition, but interesting food for thought) :

“Much of what we do for the client has nothing to do with the specific configurations we are looking at, but rather, with the fact that the chart, and ultimately God or the gods through the patterns of the chart, affirm the right of that person to be what he or she is. In this sense the astrologer  acts as intermediary for the cosmos, affirming the individual’s identity regardless of parental expectations imposed on it. A chart reading can be a revelation of unconditional cosmic acceptance.”

 

Saturn stabilising energy

by with 4 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeProfessional Astrologer

I have been meaning to come back here for quite a while but just didn’t manage.

In the last month I’ve developed a taste for the magazine “Womankind” (amazingly beautiful and ad free, full of really interesting articles and interviews), continued reading books and worked on developing my new routine in the community Im living and working since February this year.

Since Pluto has made the last square to my natal Moon things seem to have settled within and without.

My boyfriend also got a job as a cook and has moved here with me since around March. We’ve met in July 2016, when Pluto was making the third or forth square to my Moon, and we have been developing what for me is the most authentic, challenging and rewarding partnership that I’ve ever had.

Since Pluto moved from the 2nd to the 3rd house in my chart issues connected with money and self sufficiency are slowly fading. I feel secure and quite solid materially speaking, which is a very different place to be compared to the last 6 years of insecurity and little money to spend.

I can buy things now. I can also invest money in education or travels if I wish to do so. (Jupiter is placed in the second house in my horoscope, can you tell?)

It is very interesting to observe how feelings and themes are constantly shifting in a synchronous dance with the cosmos.

Going from these long lasting years of emotional breakdown and a tragic, and intense, feeling of insecurity and death to regained confidence and solidity.

From transiting Pluto square natal Moon to transiting Saturn trine natal Mercury and Sun (with Uranus heading towards a trine to those natal planets as well).

I feel strong and capable. I also see recognition being bestowed upon myself in the community and at work. Me and my boyfriend have been offered a little wonderful house in the grounds where we work. We are finally going to have the chance to live on our own within the community.

And the house is amazing, with beautiful big windows facing the forest.

We move in less than a month.

Life has a funny way of developing if we dare allowing it enough space to do so.

Now in the last few days I’ve been contemplating applying for a master in cultural astronomy and astrology. I somehow feel that this could be a wonderful way of expressing these supportive and earthy transits that I am going through.

At my job I also have the opportunity for writing projects for training courses and I feel that this master course will perhaps be giving me much needed food for thought and inspiration.

I had my eye on this master degree for a while but was put off by my lack of stability and material security. How can I concentrate and write essays when Im not sure if I can pay the rent in the end of the month?

 

 

Brainstorming Uranus in Taurus..

by with One Comment Astrological InsightsAstrology and me

Another busy week has gone by and Im feeling thankful for the well deserved rest ahead.

This week I went through a myriad of strong(ish) emotions.

Uranus has moved into Taurus forming an exact opposition to my 12th Pluto (co-ruler of my chart) and I could sense old issues welling up to consciousness once more.

I’ve been seriously studying/researching/practicing astrology for quite a few years now, and that has allowed me to identify certain themes connected with each configuration in my natal chart. And also to realise how they get triggered each time by different transits and progressions.

Lately I’ve been touching strange and uncomfortable states and feelings that most probably not only go back to the time I’ve spent in the womb, but very likely is also imprinted in the female lineage in my family.

I don’t particularly want to go too deep into that right now. But it is interesting to see the contents of the 12th house as being experienced for the first time during your mother’s pregnancy.

(I heard this for the first time in a talk presented by Faye Cossar at the LSA in London a few years ago and the idea resonated with me very much.)

Anyway, yesterday night, whilst having difficulties to sleep, I started brainstorming what could Uranus in Taurus be symbolically speaking of now.

Uranus reflects sudden change and revolution, disruption and breaking free from everything that holds us back. Uranus also resonates with processes of awakening and individuation.

I feel that while Uranus was transiting Aries (from 2011 until recently) it was asking from us to develop a stronger sense of individuality and “selfishness”. To develop your character and to do what you want independently of what other people think of you. To fight your own battles while developing a new sense of “I”, less dependent on others inputs.

And now, as a continuation in the process, perhaps Uranus in Taurus reflects a time for building something new from that fresh new sense of “individualness”.

It seems to me that Uranus in Taurus reflects a period of time when our most cherished values regarding security are going to be challenged and transformed. Attachments to jobs, relationships and situations that are preventing you from developing your individuality further will probably be removed in one way or another.

Perhaps this is a great time to invest more energy into building solidity and security within rather than without.

Pluto as a family share…

by with 9 Comments Astrology and meInner life

My mother’s chart ruler is Mercury conjunct Pluto in Leo in the 12th house.

When I think of this configuration I sense a split. Leo’s fiery energy somehow drowning in the contents of the 12th house, the most elusive of all.

The need to shine its uniqueness lost in union.

It feels like the sense of self is achieved only through, somehow, the transcendence of it.

Leo behind the scenes?

I am currently reading Lynn Bell’s book about planetary threads and family patterns and   it is blowing me away.

The idea that each and every family has a certain myth (or perhaps a number of them), and that we are all playing it out again and again, really fascinates me.

Im thinking of Pluto again. Pluto and my family.

I have Pluto at 0 degrees in the 12th house. My brother has a t-square involving Pluto. Both my grandparents, from my mother’s side, have Pluto at 0 degrees.

And my mother with her Mercury conjunct Pluto in Leo in the 12th.

So many times I felt like I was touching on very deep seated stuff. Stuff that goes beyond my personal, conscious life.

We inherit so much more than just our parents looks!

Lynn Bell talks about the possibility of being fated to (consciously or unconsciously) heal wounds from many generations before.

During this Pluto transit to my Moon I became aware, through my own body, of so many of my mother’s fears .

I could write more on the subject, but for now my split between self-expression and privacy is somehow speaking louder. It’s also a bit late now.

Perhaps another time…

Short note on Pluto and the 3rd house

by with No Comment Astrology and meInner life

Its been 3 months since I moved to this community in the Forest of Dean.

The Square from transiting Pluto to my natal Moon is slowly waning. But I still find difficult to translate into words all the colours and levels of transformation that I have been through in these last few years.

 

The whole urgency connected with survival and financial struggle has gone for now, and I find myself in a place of abundance (within and without!). Pluto has moved from the 2nd house into the 3rd in my astrological chart and my values seem to be a lot clearer and more solid.

But what Im finding interesting is that the flow of communication, specially the written word, seems to be a little constipated for now. I know how much I enjoy writing, and how many journals I’ve completed in the last few years, but lately it seems like Im not present enough to write anything new.

Im somehow lost in my thoughts for now.

Has any of you had Pluto transiting the 3rd house? How did that feel?

Never give up to feel your way…

by with 4 Comments Astrological Insights

Capricorn season is on and interestingly I’ve been seeing a few different posts on social media advising never to give up or stating that there is never the “right time”, it’s all about forcing your way through.

I understand that cultivating will power and determination can be empowering, especially for the strong Capricorn/Saturnian people out there.

But my intuition says that there is a fine line between the positive and the more shadowy manifestations of it.

I feel that many of the transformative lessons reflected by current Pluto transiting Capricorn is somehow connected with the other end of the axis, Cancer and self-care.

Cancer is the astrological sign that I mostly connected with the archetype of the great mother, it is ruled by the Moon which, in the sky, is our most obvious reflection of natural cycles and changes.

It’s no news that the 28 days cycle of the Moon resonates with the 28 days of the female cycle.

Every month it reminds us that we also wax and wane, and that expecting to be productive and strong willed every day is unrealistic and potentially damaging.

How many years, I, oblivious to my cyclic nature, have felt guilty and tried forcing activity when what I needed most was resting and paying attention to my inner visions.

Same about seasons.

How many fruits can you reap during winter time, when the trees are resting and concentrating energy in its roots under the ground?!

We are not machines, we also need our restful phases and I do believe that, like everything in the natural world, there is a right time to do things.

Reconnecting with our intuition, the feminine within, will provide us with guidance. But for that to happen, we need to learn how to shut our overly busy minds up and listen to our body.