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.

Mercurial Wanderings under Venus Retrograde…

Venus has turned retrograde with the last full moon in Gemini and has been hovering around Pluto for quite some time now and this post is a reflexive product of it somehow. As usual a mix of personal experience and food for thought which I hope you might find useful, or inspiring, or at least entertaining. 

Mercurial wanderings…

I sometimes find it amusing the way that our society works. Not that I am completely outside of it, of course not. But with the strong Aquarian, Uranian, 11th house and out of bounds emphasis in my natal chart, I confess that it feels like I am ‘out of bounds’ myself most of the time. I don’t think I always fully understand the logic behind some of our taken for granted agreements. 

I see a powerfully strong Capricorn theme when it comes to work ethics, productivity, goals, and visions of success. Ambition is very high rated, material gratification too. But I am also especially thinking about the idea of ‘professionalism’ here. 

When did we stop valuing humanness and buying into this concept that absolute detachment equals a more ‘professional’ and capable approach? Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for ethics, in a deeper sense, I would say. But the coldness that usually accompanies the generally accepted ‘professionalism’ really hugs me, no, I mean bugs me. 

Another thing that comes to mind is how value is attributed to money and how much not having money has a detrimental effect on self-esteem. It is difficult to value yourself if not having enough money prevents you from having a voice, from making choices and being considered important by other members of society. 

As my secondary progressed ascendant slowly transitions from Sagittarius into Capricorn (it has already made the shift in Solar Arc direction last year), the more I see myself valuing professionalism and the material realm without losing sight of some of the questions stated above. I have most of the time considered myself a freedom loving and informal type of person – always hated the hypocrisy that sometimes being ‘professional’ makes you comply with.

But now I see myself getting increasingly tired of the hippish approach to life and really feeling the need to gather all my professional experience (which by now is kind of considerable as I’m no spring chick anymore…) and put it into one place. Have a brand – (did I really say that?!) – and make a proper income (whatever that means) solo from astrology work. Get myself deeply involved with the potential productivity, which is quite vast considering the possibilities that the internet and digital era offers us.   

You see, these words seem like a great example of what we could be doing during this cycle of retrogradation from Venus in Capricorn. Ask ourselves where we are going and if that place is truly aligned with our core values. I would also say, as I think about the shift that my progressed ascendant seems to be reflecting, this could be a great time for catching up with your shifting values too. What important and major themes in your life are slowly fading and losing their grip on you now? How aligned are you with your natural changes and the resulting new-born values within it? 

Recently, while I was trying to relax and enjoy the holiday season, I decided to reread my last journal – another great thing to do during one of the fast-moving planets’ cycles of retrogradation. It can be wonderfully insightful to be able to see your process and how (surprisingly) congruent it usually is with how you intuitively feel from moment to moment. 

This time I was surprised to see how much had been written about my search for a fulfilling relationship (another relevant topic for this Venus retrograde period) and how to get there by being clear about what I really want – my natal Venus/Neptune square has been transited by Pluto, whilst progressed Venus conjoined natal Saturn.

There is no healthy relationship without healthy boundaries. 

I can’t remember where I read this, or who mentioned it to me, but it is so true. 

In one entry from my journal, I wrote: 

‘Is this what self-worth looks like? Making difficult choices that puts your mental/emotional/physical wellbeing first? I guess so. His love life is a mess that I don’t want to be part of – There is no role for me there, at least, there isn’t a role that I am willing to play.’    

And later I wrote:

‘It is exciting to be able to be more myself and less of what people want me to be’, with the conclusion that more validation coming from within gives space for authenticity to be truly expressed out there. 

If you don’t feel comfortable being yourself around someone, or if that person does not support your authenticity and shows no appreciation for who you are, always making demeaning comments or trying to change you into what they want you to be, it is a sign that this might not be the right relationship for you. 

Remember, you are nobody else’s dream! (that used to be a little note to myself, natal Venus-Neptune’s things…) 

And these thoughts also remind me of psychotherapist Mark Vernon’s great article ‘What is Love?’ where, amongst other things, the author discuss the idea that love grows through conflict – and that in fact, the secret of a successful relationship many times is in our capacity to deal with disagreement and not necessarily in our capacity to love. In his words ‘an inability to handle conflict is a good predictor of divorce’.

According to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ‘experience shows us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction’, and for that to happen, we have the obligation (with ourselves, more than anyone else) to know our values! To be (absolutely) aware of the importance and urgency of asking ourselves: what do I value the most in life, partnerships, career, daily choices, etc?! With Venus retrograde this is the perfect time for you to seriously (Capricorn) and deeply (conjoined Pluto) ask yourself these questions, get to the bottom-line of your core values and how much they might be changing. Cath up with them, ponder on them. Befriend them, for in a way, your values define who you are.

Full Moon in Aquarius and Authenticity

Im not sure how I missed out the fact that the coming full moon will be exactly conjoined my natal IC in Aquarius this coming Monday.

I guess that when you start studying astrology you become so keen that you never miss something like that, but once you have been studying it consistently for a few years, you then start to take the fast moving transits a bit for granted. Or maybe you just realise that every month there will be a new moon, and a full moon, etc…

But lunations do trigger long lasting transits, solar arc directions and secondary progressions. They have a way of emotionally intensifying whatever it is that you are going through.

I am working on my last assignment before my masters’ thesis and it happens to be a sky journal, a piece of phenomenological research on my observations of how the weather affects me emotionally. One of the themes that came up from the exercise is the awareness of a strong connection between weather x culture, home and belonging.

Lots of food for thought and it amazes me that for my last essay I am doing such a personal piece of work which enables me to explore an issue that feels so urgent to me right now. What and where is home? All of the internal work that took place during the transit from Pluto to my natal Moon still hasn’t given me the answer. I feel closer to finding it out maybe, but the concept of home still eludes me…

Back to the full moon though.

I have the feeling that this full moon will be triggering and challenging to reveal the amount of authenticity in our lives at the moment. Are we really in the right place? Are we really being ourselves in whatever situation that we are going through?

The full moon will be square to Uranus in Taurus and Venus (ruler of Taurus) might have some clues on how to solve the dilemma represented by this t square. Venus is in Gemini and very close to the North Node, so allowing people the space needed to find out what they need to find out, rationality and open communication afterwards might be what we need. Perhaps there is something that we will need to communicate regarding the process that Venus retrograde was reflecting earlier this year as well. Also these days Venus formed the last of 3 squares to Neptune (which started in May), and some resolutions regarding previous confusion might be a possibility with this full moon as well.

What are your values, what is important to you in order to feel loved? Are you happy with the flow of give and take in your relationships or are you giving more than receiving? And if that’s the case, why? These are some of the questions worth asking ourselves now..

Neptunian longings …

Im feeling tremendously nostalgic as I prepare myself emotionally to move on from the past six months spent in Brazil. Its like I already miss everything around here so much…

Then I looked into the astrological chart of this moment and realised that the Sun is exactly conjoined Neptune in the sky. I tend to feel the Sun as a big spotlight that illuminates whatever else it touches, so in that sense, Neptune is really under the spotlight right now.

My melancolia has this Piscean Neptune’s signature.

I have always found hard to write about Neptune but Liz Greene’s book on Neptune really helped me understanding this archetypal dimension of life a bit more. She talked about it in relationship to a few different possibilities/themes like for example martyrdom, victimisation, art, transcendence, nostalgia, the scapegoat, and many other dimensions, including the longing to go back to the source.

This is such a complex and yet simple idea to think about, the longing to be in union with everything once again, a sense that resonates with the experience of being in the womb. It touches one of the main points regarding Neptune I believe, for Neptune really talks about our boundaries being easily dissolved. Compassion is a potential manifestation of this phenomena, but victimisation, a less pleasant one, is also a possibility when Neptune features strongly. They are two sides of the same coin.

With transiting Sun in an exact conjunction to Neptune I think that our longings are bound to come to the surface now. In my case is connected with the sense of belonging and searching for home, but I think that this might be a coverup to this deeper longing to stay in union, to go back and swim in the waters of the goddess’s womb. To be one again.

Today and tomorrow, and perhaps for this whole lunation cycle so rich in Neptunian energy since the New Moon was also conjoined with Neptune, we would do well in being aware of this longing underneath what we think we need. We would do well also in honouring this energy consciously by writing poetry, or painting, or appreciating beautiful music… anything that can help us dissolve the boundaries in a constructive way…

How are you feeling?   …

Pluto-Moon transit update and roots

In less than a month I will be heading back to the UK after almost 6 months living in Brazil. I have mixed feelings and think about how much the decision of living outside your home country changes things for good.

Where then is home?

For many years I rejected Brazil as my place of origin and adopted the foreigner identity, but now this seems to be changing again. I don’t feel completely Brazilian in a cliche sort of way, but I also don’t feel ‘not Brazilian’ anymore either.

These feelings made me think about writing a sort of update on my long lasting/ongoing Pluto-Moon transit.

For the last 5 years much has happened in connection to transiting Pluto forming a square to my natal Moon.

(if you’re curious about this whole process just click on the tag ‘Pluto Square Moon’)

I now find myself a lot more balanced and emotionally honest, giving more space for healthier emotional bonds in my life, and the list really goes on. Feeling more secure within myself, more solid, living what seems to be a more authentic life, more courageous in lots of different levels, with a transformed relationship with my mother but also the inner mother has changed a lot… (the list really goes on…) but…

I still find myself without a home.

Since I moved out from London in early 2015 I’ve travelled a lot and experimented a lot. I’ve developed myself through moving around, also through gathering the courage and guts to move on my own. I lived in Bristol, in Thailand for 3 months, I hitchhiked for 3 months, I’ve worked on summer festivals by myself, I moved to a community in the Forest of Dean for a year and a half, I came back to sense myself in Brazil for 6 months… I’ve put down roots just to shortly pull them up again.

I think I did a lot. (A lot of moving around, definitely)

Now, as I stare into my temporary keyring which is once more with multiple sets of keys (one for my mom’s, one for my friend’s where I currently live, and one from the guy I’ve been dating)  I wonder how long it will take until I’m able to have a home that’s not so much temporary…

How long until I can put down roots which will grow a little further than usual?

I am looking into buying a flat in Sao Paulo with my father and my intuition says that perhaps my 12 year chapter in England is coming to an end…

At the moment transiting Pluto is forming a trine/sextile to my ASC-DSC axis and trine to my natal Venus, but it will eventually conjunct my IC in Aquarius. And I wonder what will be the condition of my roots by then…

I also find interesting the fact that my Progressed Moon is in Aquarius, the sign of my IC, and in 6 months it will be crossing over it and into my 4th house, exactly when Im thinking about coming back to Brazil to spend another 6 months, but by then, possibly with a flat of my own.

Piscean Mercury Retrograde 2020

For a while I’ve been meaning to come here and write a little about this cycle of retrogradation of Mercury in Pisces which begins today.

We usually attribute imagination to the symbolism of Mercury in Pisces but as I look into the chart for the moment that it will start moving backwards later on today, I have the sense that much of the themes emerging back will have something to do with rebalancing the emphasis we put on relationships and other people’s needs versus our own.

How did I get to that idea?

Both the Moon and Mercury will be forming an almost exact square, from Sagittarius to Pisces, and I see here a conflict between merging (Pisces) and freeing yourself in order to pursue what is meaningful to you (Sagittarius). Both are ruled by Jupiter in Capricorn somehow reflecting the need to be grounded and take responsibility for working with this duality.

Venus is in Aries, quite close to Chiron also in Aries (speaking of dealing with the different layers of our wounded sense of self?), emphasising individuality, and Mars just recently moved into Capricorn. Here our awareness is brought back to the Stellium in Capricorn which has being under the spotlight for a few months now (comprised of Saturn, Pluto, South Node and Jupiter).

What is it that we better take responsibility for?

Mercury in Pisces has a resonance with intuitive thinking, dreams, imagination, but the final dispositor for this cycle of retrogradation is Saturn in Capricorn, a symbol reflecting separation, inner authority, hard work and maturation. I feel that this could be a wonderful 3 weeks to regain focus on what truly matters to us as individuals, even if in a creative and intuitive manner, as opposed to what other people expect from us, including our partner.

As usual, during the Mercury retrograde period we do well in revisiting, rethinking, reassessing, etc… and also, not to forget to always bring the symbolism of transits into your natal chart in order to figure out how “exactly” and in which area of your life this process is bound to take place, and in this way, achieve further insight.

Wishes for the coming new decade…

We are heading towards a new decade in couple of weeks and I thought that I should somehow honour that by writing something.

When I look back, from 2010 until now a lot of important things have happened in my life, first it was during this decade that I decided to take astrology and esoteric studies seriously and became a professional astrologer. What a journey this has been…

I also had my first conscious experience of multiple transits and the depth of transformation that this reflects, and feeling the intense pain that was brought up with it… and surviving it all, feeling stronger and renewed.

There was so much growth, sooo much!

What will this coming decade be about, I wonder?

I am currently having my Jupiter return, which is activating my natal Jupiter-Sun/Mercury trine and I have started experimenting with doing videos on social media. I’ve been doing stories on instagram, sharing some ideas and it’s been really enjoyable. After a long period of transformation with a lack of clarity regarding my identity and voice it seems like I am slowly stepping into another place, another phase is slowly dawning and I feel excited.

It seems like what I enjoy doing is to bring the academic discussion into a more popular format, when I did a video on the full moon it somehow didn’t resonate much with what I want to be doing. Im not entirely sure what will be, but that is how I feel for now.  I would like to focus on sharing some of the information I am coming across in the MA with other fellow astrologers and the general public. Bring in the deeper, bigger, questions so we can discuss the nature of our art and work.

I know that I can be inconsistent sometimes, so I will go with the flow and see what comes out of it without expectation. What is really important to me is the authenticity of it all. I don’t want to fake anything just to have more ‘followers’. It has to be real!

So cheers to this decade for teaching me so many difficult lessons, and welcome to the new! May the coming 10 years bring us much growth, understanding, healthier values (collectively speaking) and love.

Love al-ways!

 

Light at the end of the tunnel, New Moon in Sagittarius !

I just finished writing my essay! Hurray ! Such a great feeling to finish something challenging, something that requires a certain degree of difficulty. (is that Saturn, ruler of my 3rd house speaking?)

I thought to celebrate I came here to write a little about the coming new moon (still me trying to be a consistent blogger…)

This month’s new moon will be taking place on the 26 of November at 4 degrees Sagittarius, Im feeling excited about this one as it is sort of marking the transition from Scorpio Season into Sagittarius Season and Im looking forward to this shift in energy. (probably many of us are!)

Last month has been quite challenging and charged with intensity. A lot of stuff from the past coming up again, old patterns of behaviour getting strongly triggered, old emotions coming back, basically, a lot of shadow work was being asked from us. It’s been tiring but also rewarding, and Mercury retrograde in Scorpio was reflecting this process of  deeply reviewing the hidden contents in our psyche.

Well, Mercury is already moving forward since the 20 of November and we are still dealing with those themes, but now heading more towards conclusion and insight rather than emotional involvement with whatever it was that we had to revisit during this period.

Regarding the new moon now, as I stare into the astrological map of that moment, a few things pop into my mind. Mercury is still picking up speed in Scorpio and Mars will be at the exact degree of the previous new moon in Scorpio (the one that was opposite Uranus and reflected much of the disruptive energy that was going on during the month of November). This tells me that the difficult themes we had to deal with are still going to be lingering on, and as Mars travels through the exact degree of that new moon perhaps this is the moment where action might be taken or at least we will feel compelled to act on whatever insights we’ve been having this month.

We better be conscious because this is not reflecting an easy going process and best to think well before acting, as Uranus is involved in the picture, Uranus the planet of sudden changes and unpredictability. It might turn out as pretty liberating as well, but nevertheless is best to be as conscious and present as possible.

Another thing that catches my eye is the Moon and Sun in Sagittarius after such a dark period, illuminating our higher aspirations and future drives. This can feel as a real relief as we regain optimism and visions regarding the bigger picture. Great for setting intentions connected to expansion, personal growth, anything to do with our purpose in life, all of those jupiterian themes.

Planet Jupiter is still in Sagittarius and just about to move into Capricorn for the next year and I see this as a reinforcement to think about what our highest goals are because as we move on to Capricorn season, and Jupiter moving also to Capricorn, we will have the energy to actualize these goals in a realistic and pragmatic fashion.

Mercury in Scorpio will be forming a harmonious aspect to Neptune in Pisces and I also have the feeling that this could be reflecting a process of letting go and forgiving whichever demons came to visit us during the difficult month of November.

Full Moon in Taurus, and the importance of conscious lightness…

Today I’ve been working on my first assignment for the current module Im taking for my MA and was checking the astrological weather for the coming weeks.

Mercury still moving backwards in Scorpio reflecting an invitation for non-action and for deeply rethinking about our emotional patterns and shadows. Communication only if deeply honest and tempered by psychological awareness.

Where is Scorpio in your chart?!

This is the area where all of this soulful reassessing is happening…

My ASC is in Scorpio and as I write this post, Mercury is starting to make its way back into the 12th house of my natal chart until it reaches my natal Saturn, in the exact degree that Mercury will be stationing to go forward again on the 21st of November.

I feel that much of the themes that this Mercury retrograde is reflecting personally to me is quite recognisable, all the emotional honesty kind of stuff, including addressing my fear of it as well (as Saturn in my case is involved in this cycle).

I do love what Scorpio stands for though, even if sometimes is a bit too much, or too intense, I have a real appreciation for it. This too reflects something of my own nature / natal chart. The dichotomy between the Scorpio placements and the strong disruptive tendencies symbolised by the prominent Uranus in my chart.

So then I tend to attract people with a very similar split, not to say with the same astrological symbolism in their charts, (even if slightly shuffled). This is an interesting phenomena I’ve seen repeating again and again not only in my life.

Then I was checking this coming full moon which will be taking place on November the 12th in Taurus. Couple of things called my attention.

Firstly we do well in keeping in our minds that this is the culmination of the disruptive New Moon conjunct Uranus we had this month, so somehow the continuation of that story.

The other thing I noticed is that Mars, the traditional ruler of Scorpio, will be aspecting Jupiter in Sagittarius and Venus, the ruler of Taurus, will be placed in Sagittarius also. This somehow makes me think that keeping things humorous and being in tune with your capacity for laughing at yourself and at life’s situations in general, could be of great aid here. Friendship rather than intense possessiveness could also be a way out from the dilemas potentially reflected by this intense lunation.

The moon in Taurus and the Sun/Mercury in Scorpio will also be harmoniously  aspecting Saturn/Pluto in Capricorn, a potentially positive and productive aspect if we are willing to take responsibility for ourselves, especially our emotional needs, and avoid blaming others or projecting our wellbeing on another person’s presence. Making sure boundaries are well set (paying attention not to exaggerate here, if overdoing boundaries is your pattern?) could be very helpful in order to make the most of these energies available!

 

Libra New Moon intentions soon

This is my last day in Rio de Janeiro before going to São Paulo and Im contemplating many things. I’ve been back in Brazil since the 23rd of September and for the first time since I left the country I came back more open to seeing what my place of birth can reveal about my identity. I am more open to staying for a little longer than usual.

As I contemplate my feelings of nostalgia and wonder about life’s ways, I thought I’d have a go on interpreting the energies reflected in the cosmos for this new lunar cycle.

This new moon will be taking place at 5 degrees Libra and one of its main aspects is an opposition to Chiron in Aries. I feel the symbolism to be strongly pointing out to issues of equality in relationships rising to the surface through acknowledging the pain connected with expressing our individuality.

How comfortable do you feel stating your individual needs to your partner and other people in general? And how about compromising, does that feel like a major challenge to you?

Any issues that we might have connected with the process of giving and taking in relationships will be featuring here. Another thing will be how much time we spend on our own versus how much we are willing to spend in the company of others.

Reflected by the equinox that happened a week ago, light and darkness are balanced again, and I feel that we as well should follow these steps and try to find as much balance as possible within ourselves.

With Mercury, Venus, Sun and Moon in Libra, and Mars in Virgo, there seems to be an emphasis on thinking about the other and serving. Chiron in Aries reflects a need to not forget who you are as an individual, your free will and independent spirit. But the emphasis on Libra, Virgo and Capricorn (with Saturn, the South Node and Pluto) in the sky seems to be stating that compromising and taking action that will benefit others as well is paramount during this lunar cycle.

I believe that this needs to come from a place of fullness provided by practicing healthy self-care, reflected by the North Node in Cancer. This is an important aspect to keep in mind while we walk this tightrope in search for more equilibrium in our lives and relationships.