A short interview and a catch up!

With the Super Blue Moon in Pisces approaching us, I thought I’d come here and say hello.

It’s been a while since I wrote last.

I’m still in the UK but getting ready to fly back to Brazil soon. The transit from Saturn to my natal Sun/Mercury has been going on for months and the process of crystallising myself as an individual out there in the world is strong. Not only I had my MA graduation, but also many developments work wise.

Here I’m sharing a short interview I did for the MysticMag about my work and sensitivity if you’d like to find out more about what I’ve been up to this year: Astrology and Highly Sensitive People/Empaths

It’s very exciting and I can’t wait to be able to share more about it with you!

Are you a Highly Sensitive or an Empath? Let me know in the comments how you found out and how it’s been for you ever since. I’d love to hear from you!

Wishing you all a beautiful Full Moon in Pisces, full of achievable dreams and inspiration.

Uranian new moon in Leo today

As Saturn made its way back into my 3rd house again recently, I have been feeling this strong urge to express myself through writing. I also realised, once more, how much I actually love words and playing around with them.

Today is the new moon in Leo, with a waning square to Uranus in Taurus. I don’t know about you people, but I have been struggling a bit with the disruptive energies reflected by that particular configuration. Interestingly, I do have a Sun-Uranus square in my natal chart, shouldn’t I be more familiar with that type of cosmic weather?

I guess this logic makes sense, but it is always important to see the natal chart as a whole, and the Sun-Uranus square in my chart is actually part of a t square which involves Chiron in Gemini in the 7th house and Mars in the first.

Ouch!

Yes, charged disruption, restless feelings, behaviours that although outdated have proven to still be extremely compelling. All of that fuelled (perhaps fuelling at the same time) by miscommunication with others.

But that have also thrown me back to writing. I find tremendous solace in the written word. I have the time and space to express myself more accurately, more eloquently, sometimes even poetically… a real achievement to my analytical mind.

Transiting Saturn isn’t only back in my third house, but it is also applying to trine my Chiron in Gemini (with north node conjoined it right now!). Yes, maybe this is a time where I can work with communication blocks differently.

Obviously, with the nodes activating my natal super charged Uranian configuration, I also sense this to be a big time, a great opportunity for me to rethink/reset some of my patterns. Why do I have this extreme urge to do what I want, when I want, and I don’t take a no as an answer? Or the voice in the back of my mind that wants to sabotage intimate relationships by being uncompromising in a disguised manner? It is daunting to see this side of myself in comparison to my moon in Libra and Venus square Neptune, all those two want to do is compromise all the time.

A tug of war within.

But now, with this new moon square Uranus, I believe this is an interesting time for setting intentions regarding expression of the Uranian dimension of our charts. I somehow really think about the Sun-Uranus people out there as the new moon takes place in Leo.

Everything in the chart seems to be charged with tremendous power (some configurations more than others, of course) and it is our job to fine tune it. It is our job to use awareness to direct that power.

Surely it is challenging to do that constantly, but I believe that consciousness it’s like a muscle. The more we train it, the stronger and more present it becomes.

So I will be using this new moon to envision how I could express that strong urge to be my own man in a more creative and conscious manner, somehow, and hopefully, less taxing on my connections. Perhaps more active on my astrology work and less urgently and compulsively expressed in my private life. I feel this is what the alchemists have talked about, about how nature isn’t finalised but requires our conscious dedication to transform the lead into gold.

The archetype of the magician…also the trickster, hence the difficulty…but I believe it is possible… Happy new moon everyone.

Decisions, decisions: some food for thought

This post is born from a mixture of different insights I’ve had in the last couple of weeks. One of the things I have been thinking about is the importance of making choices as part of the process of maturation. Then again, how can I talk about maturation without thinking of Saturn?

Impossible.

I have the feeling that our choices in life need the support of our natal Saturn in order to be sustained and also for us to take responsibility no matter what the consequences of those choices are.

As someone with a lot of mutability in my natal chart, making choices have always been a bit challenging.

What if this is not the best way to do it? What if that isn’t the right place for me? What if…

Thoughts go round and round my head. The result was usually either decisions being made impulsively in the spur of the moment (the mars-uranus thing in Sagittarius) or avoided at all costs, allowing the ‘world’ to make them for me.

As I get more and more aware of the importance of having a gravity centre well placed within myself, I realise that I need to be the one in charge of my destiny. I have to be the one who consciously choses, the one who ponders on consequences and gains or losses.

When I was working as a child minder one of the moms I worked for was a life coach. She, as a Gemini Sun, would always give me some interesting food for thought, and one of the main things she felt was really important was to teach her daughter how to make choices. I always had to give the girl (when possible) two options, for example, if she preferred her sandwich cut in squares or triangles that day, that kind of thing.

As I observe the current transits I think about the sextile between Saturn in Aquarius and Chiron in Aries, both currently retrograde, reflecting the perfect time for reassessing how we make our choices and how we face the consequences (willingly or unwillingly). Saturn is also opposite the Sun and Mercury in Leo at the moment, another interesting trigger being revealed by the symbols.

How authentic can we be if we are scared of our individual power?

With the lunar nodes in the Gemini/Sagittarius axis also being involved in the configuration I have the feeling that this is big, it is major. Communication then becomes of paramount importance, our world view as well, and how supportive or prone to self sabotage is our expression. Because the south node is in Sag and its ruler just recently popped back into Aquarius, I tend to think that Saturn in Aquarius is more about inner structure and responsibility whereas Mercury (ruler of the north node) in Leo is reflecting the importance of knowing yourself more and communicating more freely and creatively. The focus right now is on self awareness, self love and respect.

Leo at best.

If we communicate in a non violent way and our ideas are still not well received, then maybe it is time to move on and find your crowd – find the people that will be supportive of who you are becoming.

The next new moon in August 8 will be in Leo, square to Uranus in Taurus, and still opposite to Saturn. Much disruption can happen when we decide to be ourselves unapologetically, just bear in mind that we don’t need to create more drama than necessary. Know who you are, know your values and stand by it solidly but respectfully of others’ differences. During this lunation cycle we can make choices that will support the development of individual integrity and self expression, lets make the most of it!

Saturn and Inner Wisdom

Ok, so this writing just happened to me.

I was listening to music and having a cry when these words just started coming to me, so here they are.

But before that, just an astrological note. I see my Saturn in Scorpio being reflected in the text below, and when I recently found out (or maybe realised) that this planet sits exactly in the midpoint between my natal Venus square Neptune, I am convinced of its importance. Getting to know this Saturn and daring to integrate it a bit further seems to hold an important key for me and the potential success of my relationships. I think that the text below encapsulate a bit of it, a bit of my Saturn in Scorpio in the 12th at best.

Feeling things intensely isn’t the issue, the real issue is how we manage and work with the powerful energy that gets released/triggered with powerful emotions. Having someone that supports this process is of utter importance to me, for my growth and self-understanding. It is also paramount to not project and blame another for those feelings, either when they’re pleasant or unpleasant. Either way, we need taking a position of ownership rather than victimhood and to not act out onto another. 

The respect has to be mutual. 

It is clear to me that I cannot be with someone that cuts off emotions, or that find it all a bit too much. People that shy away from tears as if they’ve seen the antichrist disturbs me. Emotions are just that, something in motion, changeable. It is just a powerfully healing and transformative force. And I do not take the power of emotions for granted. This is why it is necessary to be like some sort of samurai, some kind of martial art master – to be brave enough to master your emotions. To ride them and see where the destination is, at least in that moment, for it changes from moment to moment. 

Bravery to be an observer of the change.

I see emotions like a powerful chariot, like the one in the Tarot, with a white and black horse pulling it around. Happy or sad, emotions drag us around, it pushes us to do things, to take chances, to cry in the bathroom when no one is looking. One thing is for sure, emotion is what heals, inflames, possess us at all times, so getting to know them, making them your acquaintance is, in my view, a positive way of relating with it. It is a powerfully transformative way of relating with your deepest and authentic self, of getting to know you…    

A note on astrology and responsibility

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?

Saturn’s shift to Aquarius

In order to celebrate the last few days of Saturn in Capricorn I decided to come here and try to write something.

The first thing that comes to mind is the idea that Saturn represents the principle of giving birth to ourselves. Becoming more solid as an individual requires a close relationship, and an authentic one, with what Saturn represents: (especially) taking responsibility for ourselves. I feel that whilst Saturn was in Capricorn the theme of authorities, including becoming one, was emphasised.

Capricorn talks about ambitions, our ambitions and those of the people in power positions have been under the spotlight. With the lunar nodes being in the axis of Cancer-Capricorn in the last year as well, many questions surrounding self-care, personal and family (inherited) values, career and personal life unbalance were under scrutiny. The pandemic has forced people to stay home, to rethink their work-personal life dynamics, to review values and goals.

With the nodes shifting to the Gemini-Sagittarius axis the theme of information, sharing ideas, reviewing belief systems is becoming more and more important. I feel that Saturn moving on to Aquarius has a resonance with this process.

Aquarius is an air sign, mostly concerned with abstract thinking, humanitarian causes and ideals. Perhaps now with Saturn’s shift to this sign, we are called to be more serious and cautious regarding our ideas and how we express them. It feels like somehow our ambitions and skills will have to be aligned with serving the group rather than having only personal gain as the ultimate goal.

Wherever the conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter at zero degrees Aquarius falls in your chart, reflects the potential area where you can offer something to the human family/community. With Saturn in Aquarius personal responsibility takes another dimension, the dimension of personal contribution to the whole.

We are individual cells of the collective, a change within can have the power of positive impact in a larger scale.

Where is Aquarius in your chart?!

A little on midpoints

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?

Reflections on ‘we create our own reality’

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…

Grand Cardinal Cross

As I organise myself to send my boxes to Brazil, I think about the current energies and the full moon in Pisces.

At the exact moment of the full moon there was a grand cross in the sky involving Mars in Aries, Saturn/Pluto/Jupiter in Capricorn, Venus in Cancer and Juno in Libra. What do we commit to, how, and the motivation behind it, might be the theme of this intense month. The grand cross is in cardinal signs and I can imagine plenty of energy being available for us to tap into and problem solve.

Cardinality asks for action; so one way of channeling the intensity is exercising a bit more than usual.

Another thing I was thinking about is the challenge regarding compromise; do we know when to compromise and when not? With Mars stationing to move retrograde soon, we better revisit how we assert ourselves and where resentment might still be present, even without our conscious awareness. Buried anger is another one that might come up in the next few months.  How have you been using your libido? How do you get what you want? Do you know what you want or do you get confused in the middle of everybody else’s wishes? These are some of the questions worth asking ourselves now.

Cardinality also speaks of taking initiative, so I can imagine this grand cross reflecting a big amount of energy compelling us to get out of whichever stagnant situation we’ve got ourselves involved in. The important thing to remember though, with Mars just about to go retrograde, is to rethink our strategies rather than just impulsively create more conflict. Rationality goes a long way with so many tense astrological aspects.

Wishing you all a happy full moon!

Venus-Neptune rant

After much tension for the last couple of weeks here I am to write another blog post. This one I think is more of a need for self expression than anything else.

I feel confused and not sure about how to proceed, where should I be or how should I deal with my situation now. My natal Venus Square Neptune has been transited by Pluto and Saturn for some time, with my progressed Venus just about to conjoin natal Saturn, and I do feel this is potentially a big time of learning. Learning about boundaries and self worth, learning about my self-delusion tendencies in love, etc. Learning to get hold of my longings and to not project into a potential partner.

But these days I met an ex lover and all of that knowing and self awareness sort of went down the drain. I’ve always made a point in meeting past lovers after sometime just to complete the process of getting over someone. Just to see how much that person does not have a hold on me anymore. Banishing someone I like from my life forever, has never been my way of dealing with a broken heart.

But what do we do when even after not seeing someone for 5 years you realise that you still have strong feelings for that person? How can that even be possible? I feel like I’ve had so many lives for the past five years, so much travelling, moving cities, jobs, doing a masters, different relationships, etc. So much has happened, so much growth. How is it possible to still have strong feelings for someone that I thought I left behind long ago?

He is one of the only people I’ve met that I felt completely comfortable sleeping beside me, I didn’t feel restless and could manage to go into deep sleep quite easily. Many of his personal planets fall into my 12th house and I have the feeling that that reflects an access that he has to my unconscious, which is quite nice for sleeping. I don’t know. It actually feels like he has free access to my soul, and that’s the trouble. How can you let go of a connection of this kind?

Although a lot of good things are happening in my life at the moment, I feel sad. I wonder what is the point of having such a strong and deep link with someone if you’re not able to pursue and explore it further. Grow together. Why? What is the point in learning about letting go of someone you like so much, knowing that they feel similarly towards you?

Not meant to be? What does that even mean? …