Pisces all around: Inspiration and Creation

by with No Comment Astrological Insights

Today transiting Sun is very close to Jupiter at 15 degrees in Pisces. After this week’s new moon in Pisces, the general vibe seems to be very hopeful and dreamy. (I also just realised that my progressed moon has moved to Pisces about a week ago!)

Yes, as I have already spoken about it lots of times, astrology is very much reliant on context – I believe we can only manifest things that we have the tools to create. In the same way, context is what gives flesh to the bones, in this case, to astrological symbolism.

So Jupiter and Sun are both travelling together in the sky, what are you going to wish for in your life?

I was quickly checking a list of fixed stars and came upon this one here, saying that 15 degrees Pisces is the fixed star ‘Achernar’, also known for ‘sudden success in public office, religious benefits, access to another realm’. I am particularly interested in the ‘access to another realm’, because with this powerful emphasis in Pisces, this definitely rings true.

This whole week has been resonating with this kind of energy to me, hopeful, watery and somehow abundant. But, as it would, a tad foggy… more like a surrounding feeling, a timid sensation.

Fertility.

If you knew your garden had the most powerfully fertile soil, what would you grow in there?

The current emphasis in Pisces, as well as the coming conjunction between Jupiter and Neptune at 23 Pisces happening in April holds a somewhat powerful energy.

Dreams are more vivid.

Pisces, the sign co-ruled by Neptune and Jupiter, naturally connected with the mysteries of the 12th house, seems to be symbolically carrying a very precious seed of potential.

Sure illusions and disillusionment, addictions or victimisation could also be in the picture there. But for now, let’s stay with its most positive potential, because what really drives that is you and your consciousness.

Yes, that’s it, read it again, you.

We are the conductors of these potentials and this is the main reason why I believe in brainstorming as much potential as possible when I’m seeing a client, rather than telling them something is a hundred percent concrete.

Astrological symbols are reliant on context, a Mars-Uranus individual will express the tendencies in various different ways according to cultural upbringing, life’s situations and levels of awareness. There isn’t a formula that works in every circumstance, there is no absolute when it comes to interpreting astrology. No matter how much some astrologers may plead otherwise, I continue to strongly disagree.

So, after reading this, close your eyes and think about Pisces energy and the mysterious waters reflected by the last of the zodiac signs. The sign that somehow represents completion, other realms and the longing to transcend. Spirituality, soulfulness, art, compassion, uplifting… these are some of the topics that comes to mind.

The wishing well.

Where is Pisces placed in your chart? Do you have anything in it? And, more importantly, how would a more fulfilling and creative life look like for you? Where could you serve as a channel to the higher realms? Even if it seems mundane at first sight, following your joy and doing something with your heart can prove to be healing beyond your sense of individuality. It has power and it somehow creates a certain aura. Have you been around someone that was just in their flow? How contagious was that?

We are not separated.

The more you are you, the more I am able to be me.

During this strong Pisces emphasis, one of the best potentials could be to find or manifest your flow.

Happy Pisces season!

Jupiter (etc) on the IC

by with No Comment Astrological InsightsAstrology and meInner lifeProfessional AstrologerSearch for home

Today there was no thunderstorm.

Instead, just a gentle rain, one of those still somehow illuminated by the sun, some kind of rainbow weather.

As I watched it through my window, eating a piece of freshly cut watermelon I felt a warmth in my chest and smiled thinking to myself: ‘I’m in Brazil’

‘I am Brazil’ or ‘Brazil is me’, probably both.

With Jupiter conjoining my IC in Aquarius to the degree right now, I strangely feel a sense of belonging.

The last full moon was activating my MC-IC and a huge release of emotions happened to me, I had to begin letting go of the UK and the last (almost) 13 years of my life. Another chapter is beginning to unfold, and the pandemic and collective general chaos is affecting my options and the choices I have to make.

In the last few years I went through a Pluto hard transit to my natal Moon and a conscious quest for home sort of began, in the process I went through a lot of purging, moving around and challenging myself, perhaps all in order to discover a new sense of security within. But now it seems that I am closer to having an actual home to put my roots down a little deeper this time.

I am aware that the effects of a Jupiter transit lasts a lot less in comparison to the outer planets’, and for this reason it somehow reflects opportunities that are somewhat more fleeting. Saturn will then make its way backwards and forwards over my IC while Uranus squares it. I know that I need to change how I present myself into the world and I also feel that in order for that to happen I need some solid ground. I need to have a secure space to do my work from.

The amazing thing is, the more I listen to the voices coming from the depths of my IC the more I seem to be thriving in my work. Many people are seeking my services lately, with a few different talks lined up, including a short course I designed introducing Synastry, I am beautifully busy. There is also my masters’ thesis which I am just about to start. My professional dreams seem to be slowly coming true and I’m loving it.

My mind is sharp at the moment.

But for now, I silently eat my watermelons gazing out the window…watching the water nurture my surroundings.

A note on astrology and responsibility

by with 9 Comments Astrological InsightsProfessional Astrologer

How did the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction go for you?

I was checking my social media stuff today and had a thought that seemed to be fiercely expressed by Charles E. Carter when he claimed that it could be ‘criminal to introduce astrology’ to some, as he believed only ‘people with moral courage should study their own maps, and only those endowed with more than average common sense and sense of responsibility should study others’ . Obviously the next question to be asked is who is to decide when someone has enough common sense or moral courage, which is another very pertinent question, especially during the beginning of a collective cycle with such an aquarian overtone like the one we are currently heading towards to.

But I did feel slightly overwhelmed, for the first time, with the thought of how the quick spread of information (and in many cases, misinformation) can affect the practice and role of astrology. I used to feel excited regarding some predictions about astrology’s rise as a subject of knowledge, thinking that my profession would somehow become more respectable socially, but there is a very shadowy potential for astrology becoming popular again and taught by very unexperienced people. There seems to be many charismatic young people out there eager to accumulate a whole legion of followers no matter what kind of information they are helping to spread.

I am not very old myself, but I feel that I have always been aware of the necessary hard work, time and dedication when it comes to learning something as powerful as astrology. How can we make sure, as a community of professionals, that there is some kind of rigorous process when it comes to teaching and practicing astrology? Would the benefits that the digital era has and is bringing to astrology be greater than the potential pitfalls?

A little on midpoints

by with No Comment Astrological InsightsAstrology and meInner life

Astrology as a subject for research never ceases to amaze me.

I have currently been looking into midpoints a bit more and what a fascinating topic. My Moon in Libra, ultra sensitive towards symmetry and beauty, really seems to love the idea of a midpoint being a place where integration can happen.

For the ones reading this and thinking ‘what the hell are midpoints?’, it is a very simple concept, for instance every single point or planet in the horoscope, in relation to another, will have a half way – if mars in your chart is at 6 degrees Sag and your Venus is 26 Virgo the middle between the two is 1 Scorpio. Does that make sense? It is a simple mathematical calculation really. (there will be a further midpoint and a closer one, the closer is the most commonly used including to cast composite charts – another fascinating use of midpoints!)

In the astro.com website they say: ‘A midpoint marks the focal point at which the energies of two planets meet. If a third planet is conjunct this point it receives these energies and to a certain degree acts as a channel for them.’

Exactly!

It is very interesting, if you have a planet in the midpoint of two planets in an opposition (that would be a T square) or in between two planets forming a square, it could act not only as a ‘channel’ but also it could reflect a possible way out from the dichotomy and towards more inner integration.

I love how we can potentially discover new things as we continue our astrological learning journey, including discovering new placements and things about our own astrology chart that we did not notice before.

I have written about my currently progressed Venus forming a conjunction to natal Saturn and roughly how serious I have been feeling regarding love relationships and personal boundaries – well, as I researched the midpoints in my chart I realised that Saturn sits right in the midpoint of my natal square between Neptune and Venus!

How interesting! To me this placement is somehow quite hopeful. The more I work on my Saturn in order to integrate it further in my psyche, the more I can potentially become more solid and realistic in how I deal with others… I feel that my natal Saturn holds a potential key for practicing boundaries and realism when my Venus-Neptune combo gets too dreamy.

Has any of you found an important planet in between a natal square like this? Do you feel that that planet can help you out with the conundrum?

Multiple views

by with No Comment Astrological InsightsAstrology and me

Last Sunday was the third workshop I was giving in partnership with fellow astrologer Gillian Crawford on the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius happening this coming 21 of December. It was a real pleasure to prepare the classes as I really enjoy teaching. I love information and sharing it with others, perhaps this is part of what I came into this world to do (says my North Node in Gemini). In fact, the older I get the more I realise how much I appreciate the lightness of Gemini in contrast to the potential sagittarian pitfall of dogmatism and the idea of ‘the (one and only) truth’ (which I used to indulge in, specially before my first Saturn return).

Mercury is about a variety of useful information (I am a Virgo!) versus Jupiter (ruler of Sagittarius) reflecting belief systems. I love the process of brainstorming the possibilities that each astrological symbol can potentially be about and in that way to enrich interpretations.

While preparing my workshop for last Sunday I really got myself thinking in many different ways about Aquarius and the conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter itself. One of the things that really came to me for instance, is the possibility of each one of the other fixed signs (Leo, Scorpio and Taurus) representing a potential antidote to Aquarius’ pitfalls for they represent a different point of view. I have a strong feeling that problems arise when we are stuck in a single way of seeing things with disregard to others and their views. And btw, this is also the danger and base of totalitarian regimes, there is only one way or one truth, etc.

For instance, when Aquarius becomes too detached in its visions and ideas, Leo can bring forward the human heart and its soothing qualities, Taurus reminds us of embodied and instinctual knowledge, while Scorpio can provide the gift of emotional honesty.

All of the three other fixed signs can remind Aquarius of its humanness and this can be of paramount importance from now on, when we will see such an emphasis in this archetype (with Saturn and Jupiter conjoining in Aquarius, but also with Pluto following it in a couple of years).

So, from that perspective, if you have any planets or points in your chart in the early degrees of the fixed signs, you are being invited to bring a point of view that might be balancing and, at the same time, you are asked to question any extreme behaviour connected with that planet/point in your chart.

Reflections and realisations

by with No Comment Astrology and meInner lifeProfessional Astrologer

The coming full moon eclipse on the 30th of November will be exact conjoined my natal Chiron in the 7th house. There are lots of different insights that I can have by observing the full moon’s chart in comparison to my own, but what strikes me is the reminder that most things astrological symbols reflect are rather process oriented than a ‘one off’ type of thing.

Another fellow astrologer wrote an interesting text regarding the coming full moon eclipse and linking it up to a lunation from May 2003, that’s when I was beginning my History degree in Sao Paulo. I can’t particularly remember anything else, nothing special in the relationship arena (which I would expect to see with a natal Chiron in Gemini in the 7th house). What about yourself, can you remember anything relevant that was going on for you in May 2003?

The Sagittarius-Gemini axis relate to information and education in general, how do you communicate your ideas and beliefs? How attached are you to them?

Since 2017 the big planets transiting Capricorn have been activating my natal 3rd house and a huge process of deepening and exploring ideas about astrology and how to communicate them has been taking place for me. Also, the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction will be happening there for me, in my 3rd house. It will be forming a trine to my North Node in Gemini in the 7th house as well as a square to my Pluto.

Ideas, communication, writing, reading, expressing myself, are some of the themes that have been under the spotlight for me recently, and it seems like it will be even more so in the years to come.

Regarding intense emotions and full moons and eclipses, I just realised how emotional I feel right now after having a melt down by myself for feeling really tired. I haven’t had a whole day off in ages, I can’t even remember when was the last one. I have always wanted to work on my career so badly in order to make sure that my job never feels like a ‘job’ in the boring/obligation kind of sense.

I have known that I can only dedicate myself to something meaningful and enjoyable for quite sometime.

But as I was crying and feeling the tension throughout my body today I suddenly realised that that too feels like ‘work’, like something serious and important, and that I need to find ways of relaxing and having lightness and fun in my life. At the moment I doubt my capacity for doing that, for enjoying myself without studying or working or being productive in some way. One of the only ways that I could do that was by having a romance and dating someone but the last thing I want to bring into my life now is frivolity, and dating seems very shallow to me at the moment (says the progressed Venus exact conjoined natal Saturn in the 12th).

I feel heavy. Hope you are feeling better out there.

Reflections on ‘we create our own reality’

by with 4 Comments Astrological InsightsProfessional Astrologer

Today I was listening to another fellow astrologer doing a live and some thoughts came up regarding what we do and what we say as astrologers as well.

Astrology is very pluralistic, and there are many different ways of practicing it, I can definitely see that. But I can also see, and have read some articles about that too, that in western astrology the ‘psychologising’ is pretty strong, where it is commonly claimed that the internal world speaks much louder than the outer world.

I do agree that enhancing self awareness is a pretty important step towards empowerment and the idea that that which remains unconscious has a very strong potential to become our ‘fate’.

But at the same time, I see the limitations of this way of perceiving reality. I have been watching a couple of documentaries about the cult that was under Keith Raniere’s leadership (who was convicted recently to 120 years in jail) and one of the main things they used to catch people and brainwash them, was this sort of ‘new age’ discourse claiming that you create your own reality etc.

By all means, I am not trying to compare a cult leader to astrologers who genuinelly have the best interest of their clients at heart. Not at all!

I am just reflecting on the potential pitfalls of claiming that we create our reality too much when it comes to illnesses for instance, or trauma in general. I don’t want my clients to feel guilty for having problems that we don’t really understand, even if Saturn is transiting that person’s whatnot, we still don’t fully comprehend why certain things happen in someone’s life the way it does.

Here is where I think astrologers would do well in keeping a sense of inflation under control, yes, we do have access to information that the majority don’t have. We spend more time exploring certain mysteries that most people have no interest or don’t even know it is possible to explore. But that does not mean that we fully understand what the universe or these mysteries are all about.

You might have a strong feeling about past lives, or whatever, but I don’t think that we should impose our belief system upon our clients in a way that might be causing more damage than healing.

Just a thought…

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?!

Astrology as an imaginative practice

by with 2 Comments Astrological InsightsAstrology and me

As I listen to a birds song’s playlist I ponder about the importance that imagination plays in interpreting astrological symbols.

The more I explore and think about the subject of astrology the clearer it becomes to me that imagination is a fundamental faculty that needs to be used in order to get insights. And because imagination can hardly be quantified and tested in a scientific way it creates confusion amongst us astrologers and people interested in astrology in general.

We are coming from a world view that overemphasises science and rationality as the only true way to access valid information, and as we are conditioned by this mindset in a very fundamental level, it becomes very challenging to let go and recognise that imagination is an important and necessary function, as much as rationality is.

Everything has its place!

I saw a post the other day on social media with someone saying that after this quarantine we will finally understand and value artists, because if it wasn’t for music, films, etc, we would not be able to get through this tough time. I agree on that one.

And this brings me back to the idea of imagination being a fundamental part of ourselves and a valid way of engaging with reality.

Once I started thinking about the role of imagination in the interpretation of astrological charts I began to relax with the horoscope image for longer before making any judgement.

I feel that perhaps a successful astrological interpretation has a strong connection to the capacity that the astrologer has to stand uncertainty and let go of rationality a little bit, for a little while anyway.

I see the astrological chart as a painting, something to be felt as well as interpreted. So next time when you look at a horoscope, what if you didn’t rush into making assumptions and searched for reasoning? What if you also used this moment to get in touch with and to train your imagination?

Unless you’re a writer or something like that, in our educational system we are generally encouraged to dismiss imagination, and I feel that astrology can be such a powerful tool to befriend our imagination again, and perhaps, a tool to help us being aware and staying with the mystery that being alive entitles without rushing into explaining everything.

Astrology can help us engaging differently with the world so maybe there is no need to try and fit into a cookie cutter rational mode to be justified or respected as a subject.