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…

Full Moon and relationship challenges

by with 5 Comments Astrology and meInner life

Digesting and integrating the energies that have been released during the last full Moon in the early degrees of Aries couple of days ago.

I think that with the energy of the T square (between Venus in Scorpio, Uranus in Taurus and Mars in Aquarius) that happened for a few days around the 10th of September, plus Venus in its shadow period to enter retrograde motion on the 5th of October, our values in relationships are somehow under the spotlight.

The axis of Aries and Libra also reflect the process of relating, “who am I when Im alone versus who am I when Im with someone else”, and these last few weeks have been quite interesting regarding boundaries and voicing up needs in my relationship.

September has been a charged month and issues of co-dependency/dependency, unhealthy expectations, individualism, etc, were in the forefront. The whole myriad of emotions and the resulting crisis (Im a Scorpio rising!) seems to, hopefully, be pointing out to a journey towards more authenticity in relationships by not only taking responsibility for some of my projections, but also, through exploring what my true values are at the moment.

The full Moon was conjunct Chiron in Aries and when it was just about to hit its peak I was very much in touch with a fundamentally wounded part of myself. It was very clear and strong the sensation in my body.

Aries is ruled by Mars, the same Mars that was the apex in the earlier T square I mentioned here. The apex has a very important role in the potential resolution for the conflict that the opposition reflects.

Mars is currently in Aquarius which is traditionally ruled by Saturn, and Saturn, currently in Capricorn, was also the apex in this full Moon in Aries. (The Moon in Aries and the Sun in Libra were both forming an almost exact square to Saturn)

It seems to me that both these planets (archetypal energies) have an important message for the resolution of whatever has been brought up in the last few weeks. Perhaps making sure that we are taking extra responsibility for ourselves (Saturn in Capricorn), and expressing what we want in a cool, rational and detached fashion (Mars in Aquarius) could be of great aid now.

By making a commitment (Saturn in Capricorn) we allow more freedom to come in our relationships (Mars in Aquarius).

I wanted to write a post about the energies of Venus/Uranus/Mars before but didn’t get my head around it.

It’s been quite busy for me lately as I’ve been accepted to study a MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at the Trinity Saint David University. Im very excited and have had a few inductions about the course and etc already. I will be going there this Friday to meet some of the tutors and find out a bit more about the course’s structure.

This feels like the Saturn in Capricorn stuff that I should be getting on with!

Saturnian sobriety.

by with 9 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeProfessional Astrologer

I am currently reading Liz Greene’s seminar entitled “The Astrologer, the Counsellor and the Priest” and, as Saturn stations to go direct in the early degrees of Capricorn, I feel very introspective and naturally reviewing my connection with astrology.

In this seminar, Liz Greene is presenting a few different archetypes and mythic themes that might be unconsciously played out by the astrologer (as well as the client), for example the solar deity Apollo and the idea of expanding consciousness and promoting individuality, or Chiron, the wounded healer, that needs to share his wounds with others so he doesn’t feel so alone.

I am simplifying things here for obvious reasons and I couldn’t recommend this book enough for the ones that consider themselves, or aspire to become, professional astrologers.

As much as I would like to support as many different views and ideas as possible, or at least respect every person’s ideas and views, I struggle a bit when it comes to astrology.

When I read the myriad of astrological updates online I usually get the impression that most people that write them down don’t seem to consider their own lens and how much it impacts the interpretation of the symbols. ( I tend to think that a lot of those are but a reflection of their inner life?)

I have a funny feeling when I read things like an astrological configuration of some kind has helped something to happen. Or that the moon moving into a new constellations should make you feel in a certain way. Or a planet moving forward again might cause specific symptoms in your life.

For some reason this kind of immediate interpretation unsettles me.

I somehow feel like I have left a phase of infatuation with astrology behind. I don’t necessarily want to talk about it all the time with just anyone like I used to in the beginning of my studies.

I am still an enthusiastic of the complex intricacies of what astrology reflects, but for some reason I now find tiring to preach about it to the general public.

Interestingly, this seems to be synchronistically reflected by Saturn moving forward again and harmoniously activating my Mercury.  I feel that my view of astrology is somehow becoming a bit more sober. I don’t think that astrology can change the world, and I don’t desperately ask people’s star signs or time of birth anymore. Neither I try defining Astrology as a science when a skeptical crosses my path.

I am somehow accepting the mysteries more willingly, and looking within before rushing into revealing the secrets of another’s soul in what perhaps could potentially be an unconscious attempt to validate myself and choice of interest.

Have you ever thought about what made you choose to pursue your career path? Have you also gone through a process of change in how you relate with the subject that you dedicate yourself to? Im sure the answer is yes.

Any astrologers out there that would like to share their perspective on it?

 

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?

 

 

A little more on Uranus in Taurus

by with 2 Comments Astrological Insights

Here are a few more thoughts that came up to me about Uranus’s ingress in Taurus:

Revolutionising diets.

These days at work I’ve received a list with the dietary requirements for one of the groups that we will be hosting in 2 weeks and the variety of diets amazed me.

Nowadays things are going beyond gluten, nut and dairy free.

Paleo diet, ketogenic diet, low histamine diet, no nightshades… and the list goes on…

My feeling is that diet (Taurus) seems to be getting more conceptual (Uranus) rather than a survival need. I have even heard of “breatharianism” (getting nutrition from air/ food free diet!), unfortunately not in the list I’ve received (which would have made my work a lot easier).

Not from the chef’s point of view, it is interesting to see that diet is becoming more and more individualised and, at the same time, separated in groups of “like minded people”. Tribal in a sense, which again brings me symbolically the flavour of Uranus in Taurus.

Another thought that I’ve had on Uranus in Taurus is bringing our deepest earthy urges into the abstract mind’s realm. Sounds weird doesn’t it?

I have read in some places about Uranus in Scorpio being exalted, which then makes Taurus the sign of its fall. If we think about it, it is quite easy to understand why I suppose. Scorpio is about deep transformation and change, Taurus is about permanence and solidity.

Uranus in mythology speaks of Ouranus (father sky) who loathed his children with Gaia (Mother Earth) for they were too earthy and imperfect for his cosmic taste. Ouranus kept pushing his children back inside Gaia’s womb and, also because of his great sexual appetite, caused her great pain.

(And that’s when Saturn enters the picture, taking the power by cutting off his father’s genitals to help his mother Gaia, but later on paranoically swallows his own children.)

So in a way, Uranus in Taurus, which is all about sensuality and the earthy realm, is somehow a kind of paradoxical and challenging configuration. This perhaps reflects a need to collectively find creative ways to relate and express our earthy nature.

Maybe, like in the myth, we can do that with the help of Saturn? Saturn is currently strongly placed in its own sign Capricorn (another earthy sign). Perhaps self-discipline and the development of our inner authority will be paramount in the process of change reflected by Uranus in Taurus?

 

 

Shadow work cast the light

by with No Comment Astrological InsightsAstrology and meInner lifeProfessional Astrologer

I have presented a talk about the shadow in the horoscope on the 21 of December. The theme was chosen in relation to the season, it just made sense to talk about the shadow on the darkest day of the year.

When I was back at home I did my own private Yule ritual to honor and welcome the Sun’s rebirth.

And that’s when I fully realised that for the past month, whilst preparing my presentation (this time I had a projector available to use), I was doing intense shadow work myself.

{It is amazing to see how we naturally start resonating with whatever subject we decide to put our minds into.}

The last month has been one of the quietest, with no other occasional work to do, and I felt thrown back at myself.

A lot of anxious feelings and many of my insecurities came out to stare me in the face.

It was interesting to be going through yet another layer in this process, which, even though very challenging, seems to be strongly offering me an opportunity to grow and find my sense of self and solidity within rather than without.

(I truly feel that Pluto in Capricorn transiting my second house, and aspecting my Moon from there, symbolises my search for a different, perhaps more authentic, sense of security…)

With Saturn moving into Capricorn in the winter solstice as well, I also had the realisation that my ambitions were somehow being tested and needing reassessment.

My natal Sun is in the 10th house and vocation does seem to be the arena where my light shines the brightest, but it must come from the heart, not from an ego seeking validation!

My spiritual values and integrity have also been challenged throughout this shadow work period. The choices that I have been making so far, based in what I believe rather than “social ideas of success”, versus the incredibly intense insecurity and fear of being “wiped out” and not surviving in this world.

The whole thing got me thinking about community living once more and with a strong urge to move closer to nature again.

Liz Greene said in one of her Pluto webinars that when you are going through a Pluto transit, all of the profound changes that you experience individually are part of your role in the collective changes that Pluto’s cycles are actually reflecting.

Our personal drama gives us the guts and impulses that later on will compound the social transformation.

We are talking about survival here.

And with Pluto in Capricorn (and Saturn as well) I really feel that our survival depends on changing many of the basic values that our society is built upon, and that Donald Trump seems to be the personification of it, in a rather exaggerated form.

I am talking about patriarchy here.

The lack of connection and devaluation of the feminine (objectification of women, lack of connection and caring for the environment, profit coming before wellbeing, etc) and a distorted manifestation of masculinity, if not changed, will destroy us.

All of these rather important questions are the foundation of my need for reassessing ambitions.

How do I want to develop my astrology business in this world? What kind of contribution can I truly make without changing my life style?  How can I put my skills into service without feeding the patriarchal structures in our society?

With no title

by with 15 Comments Astrology and meInner life

Once again I’ve left such a huge gap between now and my last post. So much has happened..

I’m gonna keep myself free to just write about what I feel truly matters at this moment in time..

On 29th of march I went for a 10 day Vipassana meditation course. 10 days in silence, without almost any distraction, and learning how to meditate for around 10 hours a day.

That was intense. Life changing.

I’ve been meditating 2 hours a day since I came out from the course and I feel that something in me has massively changed and  in a very fundamental level.

I am also still taking a selection of the Bach flower remedies (have I told I’ve done a level one course about the remedies?!).. big changes, massive healing…

At the moment (for a few weeks already) my progressed moon is transiting my natal Neptune and I consciously chose this period to learn how to meditate. Although I’ve practiced yoga consistently for a year, meditating has always been a real struggle.

I guess this is the reality for many of us living in an overly stimulating world. Our minds just go wild and we don’t seem to have any control over it.

Transiting Saturn is also crossing over (more precisely about to cross over) my natal Neptune. Good time for getting serious about spirituality, good time for developing discipline and consistency in my spiritual practice.

This is the way I’ve been using my knowledge in astrology. And it seems to work..

Finding creative ways of working with the symbolism, brainstorming what could be the best potential for those flavours..

Aiming higher..

(I still haven’t bought myself a laptop so will stop here, for writing in a small tablet is tiring..)

Plutonic Capricorn crisis..

by with 2 Comments Astrology and meInner lifeProfessional Astrologer

I’m sitting down having breakfast on my own.

I just realised that the clock has changed in England and instead of 6:50 is actually 5:51 in the morning.

Having some issues at work and, with that, also having shadowy parts of my psyche popping up regularly.

Being an authority isn’t easy and yesterday, when I went to bed at 8pm feeling down, I was thinking about the reasons why I’ve never wanted to do that (be an authority figure in almost 7 years of experience in this industry).

I am a very good worker and pretty good at taking orders from superiors too (even though I have to respect the person in charge first). And I used to enjoy just being that, the excellent part time worker that comes 3 times a week.

In that way, without committing too much, I’ve managed to keep myself free from the inner critic and almost obsessive perfectionism, at least in these kind of odd jobs (the ones that aren’t really my true passion).

But is really hard to do that now.

I just cannot keep myself detached and make a commitment at the same time.

If I decide to do something, I’m doing it wholeheartedly. I put all of me in it. I am a Scorpio rising after all..

Yesterday when I was in bed really early, resting my exhausted legs and feet, it took me at least 3 good hours and a half to stop thinking about work. I was worried about the inconsistent way that we’ve been serving our coffee (we don’t have a barista), then I was worried that I’m getting my period soon and don’t want to be at work because of the pain (I refuse to take pain killers since my Saturn return and my journey of healing and reconnecting with my womb) but we are a tiny team for financial reasons and at the moment is hard to get someone to cover you..

Then I was worrying that I don’t want to commit myself that much, reasoning that I haven’t opened a cafe myself and that my real passion is astrology.

I want to focus my energy in reading and writing, these are one of my best skills and that’s what I most love doing.

And finally I had to calm myself down and remember that I just need to give him a hand for a little (I’m giving 3 months minimum) and save up some cash working full time, and then I will be free again.

I also can’t forget that Pluto is making the final exact square to my Moon for the whole month of November still.

Home life is pretty good, I’m enjoying it enormously. But what seems to be brought up now is the financial and lifelong (so it seems) crisis in my value system.

I’ve had moments in tears last night thinking about the business mentality of efficiency above human well being and how my ego is easily falling into that trap, for I am the manager now, even though I really don’t believe and don’t want to be a part of that system anymore.

And so I just kept quietly repeating to myself “only 3 months, only 3 months, only 3 months”.. until unconsciousness came to rescue me.

Little thoughts on Gauquelin zones..

by with 6 Comments Astrology and meInner life

Today I finally felt the urge to get out into the world again.

I went for my first bike ride to where my new job is going to be.

The place still a mess, painting to be done, etc. We had a nice chat (me and the owner) and I offered myself to give him a hand with all of that without being paid for it (he doesn’t have much money at the moment and is doing the whole thing by himself).

He is a really nice guy and I really feel that I could do with a new sense of mission, at least for now.

I’m thinking that perhaps the theory about the Gauquelin zones make sense to me. I have natal Saturn right there and I do feel that the planet features strongly in my psyche.

I find that I am pretty good at research and, in a funny way, I really enjoy the challenge of starting from zero and slowly building up.

I enjoy hard work.

I guess this is part of a signature in my chart as I also have natal Sun in the 10th house together with Mercury.

Something about the process of slowly, and steadily, earning respect and achieving mastery fascinates me.

I definitely want to pay more attention to planets in Gauquelin zone in my client’s charts.

One of the kids that I used to mind in London couple of years ago had a stellium in the 6th, near the DSC, and he definitely had talent with sports.