An Astrologer in Brooklyn

Help with Love

2008-03-21T18:11:00.004-04:00

My previous post was all about how I'm not blogging. I was emailing with a fellow astrologer about this and I can't remember what the result was.

One thing I have noticed though is that my energy is like this. I can be all hot to finish something. And then... it cools off. But it always comes back.

It makes me thing of Venus square Mars in a natal chart. That aspect is supposed to signify someone who is "hot and cold" in relationships. But sometimes I wonder if my Venus square Saturn does something similar. Venus square Saturn is, among other things, about timing. Maybe he loves you and you don't love him or she feels warm to you and you don't feel warm in response... at the time, at the moment. And then the warm feeling comes around again. Or the cool feeling comes around again.

Venus square Saturn challenges you to... get it right. To get "on the same page," as they say.

I have a good friend who has Venus opposition Saturn and I always wonder about the differences between his opposition and my square. Squares, in my experience, are about so much inner tension. They may lead you to act or to project, but the problem is yours (at least to start off with). Oppositions, on the other hand, are something external, something coming at you, for better or worse, to challenge you. For better or worse. Asking you to find that balance and not side with one side or the other.

So, in my friend's life, who is the Venus and who is the Saturn? Where does he find balance? Does he find balance? How does he not take sides? Or does he? How does he find committment when his Venus (in Gemini, by the way) wants to fly...

It makes me think that this opposition will cause people to come into his life to help him with this issue, whether he wants it or not. And he seems to want it. He always has a woman or two or three in his life, helping him with love. With love.

My New Jupiter

2008-03-12T09:51:00.004-04:00

I'm having blog guilt.

I created this blog with much enthusiasm and astro-obsession but other stuff has taken my attention lately. I don't know if anyone is out there reading this. Someone might wind up here by accident. Are there any accidents?

But I want to talk a little about Sun and Jupiter in opposition.

One of the best ways to study and learn astrology is to pay attention to your current transits. Then you can really feel it. Feel what's going on.

So if some transiting planet is making an aspect to one of your natal planets... read up on it in books, on-line... discover what others have to say, and then match that up with your own experience.

Transiting Jupiter in Capricorn is opposing my natal Sun in Cancer and I do feel it. Wanting to expand in every direction! Lots of creative energy (Jupiter is in my 5th house), romantic energy, but it's directed, it's work (Capricorn).

And I keep wanting to make everything big. Like this blog, for example. Started it with so much Jupiter energy, as well as my webpage, but now the web page is sitting and something else, something even more important to me, but also writing related (also Jupiter) is taking my attention. With Jupiter/Sun, EVERYTHING wants to expand. Everything wants your attention. And you can't do it all. You have to choose.

And something else I read about it, which I am finding to be true: you will tempted to expand materially but you must not forget the spiritual. This has been happening with me. My meditation practice has suffered this week. I had a lot of work and a lot of creative energy, but I haven't been sitting. I will sit this morning...

Sometimes when you read about a transit, it doesn't ring true. You need to find the authors, the teachers, who resonate with you, with your experience and ideas. Learn from them, from your experience, and make it your own. Then share with others :)

Jupiter will go on to oppose my Mercury and then my Mars. Big ideas, big communications, big writing, big energy...

Last night, was at a friend's apartment and I was looking up his partner's chart. His partner also is having (or going to be having) a Sun Jupiter opposition, also in Cancer and Capricorn. How ready I was to tell him a little about what he might feel in the coming weeks...

Intuition and the multi-cat household

2008-03-05T08:35:00.005-05:00

I had written a new post, but deleted it somehow without realizing it and it didn't get saved anywhere so I am going to try to remember, try to piece it together. I haven't had any caffeine yet but want to put something here since it's been a few days.

The original post was about intuition, that if you go along this path, if you study these things, your intuition will improve. It can't help it. Intention is important as well in these matters. I was speaking to someone last night who was asking me if he thought my "improvements" were from "higher sources" or "lower" ones. And I'm not even going to address that here for the time being...

But let me tell a story...

So this summer I started to study the Tarot and really fell in love with it. I began to read many books and do little card spreads for myself and friends and then on Halloween night I read Tarot for patrons at a bar, hour after hour, into the wee hours. It was intense. My third-eye hurt after the end of that night. I'm not sure if that was the turning point. I think the turning point was even a couple of months later, but I do know that working with Tarot helped my Astrology and that the two systems correspond and have nice conversations with each other. Working with Tarot (as well as having a regular meditation practice) made a difference. It was nothing I could force and I kind of forgot about it.

The other night though I was on the phone with my sister. She had two cats and then added two more to her cat family. Of course any cat person knows an adjustment period will follow. On the spot, I did a few quick three-card spreads for each cat and then emailed her my results or further questions. I was right-on with what I was saying. I guess the special thing here was that she could tell me right away if I was on track whereas with clients at the bar that night, some of them just sat with arms folded across chest and I couldn't figure it out. Some of them were tough. It wasn't until later that I found out the feedback had been so good.

Anyway, so I was telling my sister things about the new cats, their pasts, how they got to her... whatever the cards and my intuition and Spirit would have me know.

And then there came a moment when I did a little spread for Violet one of the original cats (and I did three cards again, but not in order i.e. not past/present/future, but I like to do three for a wholistic reading and then figure out if a timeline is involved or not). And I got a feeling. A strong sad feeling in my body, my heart. At first I just saw it as mine, my feeling. I mean, I can often feel sad all of a sudden for seemingly no reason. No big deal.

Then I realized, recognized that the feeling wasn't mine. It was Violet's. I was picking up on her energy. The feeling didn't belong to me. And once I realized that, the feeling pretty much dissapated (after I went deeper into it). It was as though I were watching this happen....

It happened again, a night or so later.. a different situation, without the Tarot, but picking up on someone's emotional state after receiving an email. It was a mood of crisis and there was, late at night, in bed, tossing and turning, feeling this strong crisis feeling. And then I remembered: wait a minute! THIS isn't MINE!

I am sharing all this because it was new to me and exciting and interesting. I have always been an empath but these events seemed to represent a new.... clarification. A new line being drawn. Others in my life have told me that I pick up feelings from my environment, but it never seemed so clear to me before...

Learning Astrology and Reverb

2008-02-29T19:58:00.004-05:00

I've learned astrology from a number of amazing astrologers/teachers. I've learned it from formal classes, from drop in groups, from one on one lessons, from readings (a great way to learn because then you are exposed to the astrologer's thought process, which fascinates me), from talking with others who also love this stuff, from doing readings, and from books.

Last night I was listening to a tape of a class I was in last year and my teacher was talking about the echo effect of aspects. Reverberation. (Did I spell that right?)

That even when an aspect has passed the exact degree as well as heading out of orb, the effect may not only still be felt, but may be quite strong!

I know that was the case with transiting Mars square my natal Pluto that I wrote about before. The most intense manifestation of that difficult aspect for me was when the aspect was separating. Hmm. It's the separation that was so hard! It was fighting to hang on!

And I think it may be different for each person and each transit as well as where the person feels it, whatever the transit, whatever the house, whatever the theory.

Ultimately how transits affect you is personal to you. Yes, there are accepted meanings and plenty of books and teachers to share those, and often they do figure in. But there is always nuance because you are special....

And this is what I love about astrology: it's where knowledge and intution meet.

So in the sky is an applying Mars/Pluto opposition. If you were sitting in front of me, I would ask you where Gemini/Cancer and Sag/Capricorn are in your chart... and we'd go from there. We'd find out how this powerful aspect will feel to you...

For me, it's 10th house (Mars) and 4th House (Pluto). I don't have too many planets at low degrees (to aspect the Mars/Pluto opposition), but I do have asteroid Hera at 1 degree Taurus, my nodes in Virgo/Pisces at 3 degrees, and... Uranus at 4 degrees of Libra. Hmm...

I'll get back to you on this one... and will hope for a swift moving Mars.

back to saturn, back in charge?

2008-02-25T19:39:00.008-05:00

Saturn is going to conjuct my Ascendent this summer.

My Iowa astrologer said, "It means you're back in charge." I like her view. But I'll definitely let you know how it goes... if I feel in charge! Or just somber, since it will go on to join my Moon...

This weekend I'm going to talk to someone about her Saturn Return. She's just about done with it. Are the challenges over? I look forward to hearing about her experience. I was unaware of this stuff when I was her age. Funny, that phrase "when I was her age." That, too, is Saturn.

They say Saturn teaches us what we need to learn.

In your life, when you feel stuck, which planet do YOU blame ;)

Does Neptune make you feel foggy and confused?
Does Pluto unearth what you'd rather leave hidden?
And Uranus? Expect the unexpected.

Jupiter is the "great benefic" and makes things big, but what if it's Jupiter (expansion) and Mars (energy/anger/sex). It depends on the situation, doesn't it? That's where timing comes in, which leads me back to Saturn.

Maybe you (whoever is reading this, astrology fan or dazed reader who walked in here by accident, or beloved friend I sent a link to) don't think about the planets at all. It's possible. But, you see, they think of you. Astrology is just one way, one really cool way, one set of symbols, archetypes, metaphors... to help you understand you better.

I usually don't feel each and every transit, especially if they are quick ones... and the outer planets take their time. It's not one thing, boom, and it's over. It's energy, cycles of energy. And change.

What did the eclipse bring you?

2008-02-22T20:04:00.006-05:00

Yes, I realize I'm writing an Astro-Diary. A little love life, a dash of daily routine, a helping of philosophical confusion. And some pictures of the city, the city, the city.

The planets are poetic for me. The metaphors resonate with me. And the technology boggles my mind. Even Blogger. This evening I tried to add something to my template and just couldn't succeed...

So here I am in my noisy neighborhood, blogging for who reads.

Searching mind for astrological tidbit and coming up with nothing. I've worked hard today on other things.... the positions of the planets will have to catch up with me tomorrow. Perhaps this malaise is post-eclipse malaise? A weary-mind after that intense energy? Maybe. What is needed to get in touch with the self, with Spirit? Meditation, yes. Prayer, yes. A quiet room, yes.

And it snowed today. Snowed and snowed and snowed. Perhaps that was also post-eclipse response, New York City style. Just cover everything, just dampen everything, just slush it all up, just make it so mud-wonderful, puddle-luscious (apologies to e.e. cummings)...

What did the eclipse bring you?

Snow

2008-02-22T14:53:00.004-05:00

No post today (yet)... just snow.

Love Squared

2008-02-21T20:32:00.005-05:00

There was a moment today when I suddenly felt acutely lonely. You see, I have a special person in my life but our relationship is long distance in more ways than one: I have a Venus Saturn square. He has a Venus Saturn opposition. And that's just part of the story.

At the moment neither of us is doing our "negative" Venus (love/value) Saturn (restriction/fear) . We are being sweet and caring and attentive. I feel lucky and blessed to have him (our Jupiters are conjunct). But we also have squares. Squares and squares and squares. This makes for some tension. An up side to this is that the squares are in cardinal signs. So we can move through it.

But sometimes the astrology doesn't explain it all. There is something that happens between people that goes beyond human interpretation. Or understanding. It's mystery. (It's the High Priestess of the Tarot:)

Some connections, some spirits must meet up, God knows why.

I was on the phone this morning with a friend and she said "squares ARE a connection."

At the time I didn't reconze the depth of what she said, how true it was.

So the hard aspects can bring people together just as the softer aspects do. But will these aspects keep them together...

How I Love Thee Sun Venus

2008-02-21T20:20:00.004-05:00

Sun Venus conjunct is my favorite "personal" aspect. What I mean is this: I drawn to folk who have this configuration in their birth charts and recently looked at the charts of two ex-boyfriends and they both had it! (Although in different signs and houses.)

Now a fellow astrologer I respect (never met him though) says he doesn't like this aspect. He also has it in his chart. He says his Sun burns up that Venus. And I'd heard something similar before.

Well, I can't and won't dispute how it feels for him.

But for me it's a magnetic attraction. I'm pulled in. That Sun Venus creates a cloud of loveliness around the person.

My meditation instructor also has this aspect in his chart, in Aries in the Eighth House. From the moment I met him, I wanted to be his friend. His manner was so warm and welcoming. And so real. And I suppose my Moon Pluto conjunction is always comfy with Eighth House people.

To be continued...

Sexy Saturn

2008-02-21T10:55:00.004-05:00

The Ninth House bores me. I have Saturn there. Travel? I'm a Cancerian homebody. Foreign culture? Okay sure, that's fine. I have friends from around the world. Religion, God? Yeah, I'm with you there. I think about God a lot. Philosophy of life? Okay. But my Saturn is in Taurus. I get kind of fixed. Fixated. Higher education? I have my MFA. Publishing? Anyone who knows me knows I do another kind of writing and am frustrating by publishing. I feel restricted, to say the least. I did publish when I first graduated then I stopped trying for some years. Now I am trying again. It's slow going. Thanks Saturn.

Saturn is the teacher. Saturn is serious. Saturn is authority (thus, the police officer posted above).

Saturn, they say, is your work. Saturn, they say, makes you work. Some even say there will be reward for all this work. IF you work. If you learn your lesson. Saturn, dear Saturn, always has a lesson.

My astrologer in Iowa (yes, astrologers need other astrologers!) tells me that Saturn does not deny you (I can hear her voice saying this) but it does delay.

And it's a funny little karma (karma also is Saturn): this thing I long for so much, this thing I value (Venus) squares my Saturn (restriction) in the 9th house of publishing.

Saturn is not sexy. Pluto is, hell yes. Maybe even Uranus with its weird tastes and sudden excitements. Neptune while not so sexy is larger than life, supersize spirituality, illusion and delusion.

But Saturn? No. Not sexy.

Pluto and Change

2008-02-20T21:00:00.004-05:00

In response to Kingsley who commented on an earlier Pluto post:

My Pluto square is done. Pluto square Pluto, that is. It was 1st House (natal) vs. 4th House (transiting). What WASN'T going to change with those two houses in square? Two houses so much about the self and its beginnings. And again, it was change or...

No. There was no other option.

Since my Moon is joined to my Pluto in my birth chart, they work as a unit. Can't separate them. I guess every conjunction need be judged on its own, but as for mine... Moon and Pluto are fused together. Memories/emotions/moods/mother/security.... all of that is married to Pluto. To transformation and resurrection. To power, desire, and death. Oy.

My mother died when I was 26. I've never looked at the Pluto transits from the time, but it would surprise me if Pluto wasn't doing something fierce then...

What doesn't, who doesn't, come back from the dead? Pluto People know the answer to this...

Neptune Goggles

2008-02-20T18:33:00.007-05:00

I was emailing with a friend today and she described herself as an intuitve astrologer, not so much "into the numbers."

I knew exactly what she meant because I feel the same way. For me, astrology (and working with someones natal chart) is mystery work, an intuitive art, an art of storytelling, your story. And that's just the beginning...

This blog is in its Aries, in its infancy. Still searching for my true subject(s) here, my true purpose, my true North.

So with my North Node in Pisces in the Sixth House (which is Virgo's house), I want my blog to reflect daily concerns and I want it to flow, to feel loose and swim.

More Pisces, less Virgo.

Less discerning and analyzing.

More.... fish.

And about the Mars Pluto aspect I was writing about the other day: it's so much easier to understand someone else's chart, isn't it? It's like giving myself a Tarot reading. My hopes and wishes (I do have a stellium in Cancer in the 11th) get in the way. Blindspots. Can't see.

And my chart is fairly Neptunian (squares and an opposition to Neptune, Pisces descendent, Venus in the 12th. You get the picture. Or maybe you don't because it's Neptune).

But then my Virgo points and planets scoop me up and bring me back to the details.

The picture above was taken in New York City, near Penn Station. I like it for Neptune thoughts because it's out of focus...

Intuition IS focus though, isn't it...

Hurry up Mars!

2008-02-19T21:35:00.009-05:00

Wasn't sure what was up. Why was I feeling so angry, so frustrated?

I'd been under a Mars Pluto square for a couple months (and perhaps that is enough reason!) but now it was supposedly OVER. Mars in Gemini (Tenth House) pushing on my Moon Pluto conjunction in Virgo (First House). Mutable energy, emotional.

I kept looking at my ephemeris, hoping: did it pass yet? did it move yet? Where's Mars? Move Mars move! Hurry up! And now Mars is finally off my Pluto, but I felt more ornery than ever today. They say the stars, the aspects, don't run on train time... (And honestly I know the square is still affecting me but I wanted to pretend that it was done!)

I remember when Mars was applying to my Moon Pluto: I got sick. A bad flu. And there I was hoping to stay out of harm's way, not make any waves, make sure to say please and thank you to everyone, not inspire anyone's Mars in my direction... but it turned out that it manifested, mainly, in my body (First House).

It's fascinating to watch an aspect move through the chart, especially when I can really feel it. And I felt this one. Mars is our energy, our drive. Our sexuality, our violence. Our war. And the war can happen inside.

And I chose that photograph for this post because it's exactly what my body and spirit need right now. To sit like the Buddha, to sit still, and breathe. And breathe. And breathe.

And breathe.

The Wheel of Life (the Twelve Houses)

2008-02-19T09:40:00.006-05:00

I keep talking about First House, Seventh House, etc. so I figured I should say a word or two about what this means.

The Houses (in one's birth chart) are the areas of life where your life happens! Each house (there are 12) is associated with a sign and its ruling planet.

For example, the First House corresponds to Aries which corresponds to Mars which corresponds to YOU: who you are, your identity, your essence, your will. The essential ego. If you have any Aries in your life, then you know that makes sense. Aries people have a beautiful firey way of moving forward (if they aren't otherwise challenged!). They will their will! Like the ram, they charge ahead...

Venus in Aries will charge ahead in love. Mars in Aries will charge ahead in war. Mercury (communication) in Aries won't be shy to express her opinion.

So when you have planets in the first house, they have an Aries flavor to them, even if they aren't in the sign of Aries.

Remember though, you can't just look at ONE element in a birthchart and make judgements (even though I am doing some of that here). The chart as a whole creates a picture of you.

I remember my first astrology reading. I couldn't believe that this total stranger sitting across from me could know so much about me just by reading that funny looking wheel with all the little symbols. I'm an insight-junkie. Whether it's an insight into me, into you, into the world at large or spirit in general. Give me insight and I'm happy.

The Reinvention of Pluto

2008-02-19T09:06:00.000-05:00

I wasn't always an Astrologer.

But I have Pluto prominent in my First House.

Pluto in the First can suggest a difficult birth (especially if it's joined to the Ascendent) or difficult beginnings. Any planet in the First is what people will see... when they see you. They can't help it. You come towards them. It comes towards them. Thus, Pluto. People see my Pluto. And I often wish they didn't.

Those of you familiar with Pluto's keywords or archetypes or imagery will understand. Pluto the creator. Pluto the destroyer. Pluto, God of the Underworld, mining. Pluto (associated with the sign of Scorpio) causing slow slow slow inevitable transformation. Will you go peacefully? Or will you go kicking and screaming? Pluto doesn't ask those questions but Pluto waits for the answer and does what it needs to do: change you.

With Pluto in the First House, one's identity will go through many transformations. And I can say this has been true in my case.

And it's not as though the "old you" never existed but that part of you or many parts of you had to change, had to burn up, and had to rise again.

Pisces Season part 2

2008-02-19T06:44:00.000-05:00

So now the Sun is in Pisces.

The Pisces-ruled parts of your chart (i.e. your life) are going to be illuminated. It can be that simple. Of course it will be different for everyone and it's hard to know what to expect. I have noticed though, in my own life, that I can track the Sun's movement through the houses of my natal chart and it does match up. When the Sun was in Aquarius (mostly my 6th house), work issues were quite prominent. Health as well. As the Sun continues to do its march around the wheel, I can expect each area of life to get a little louder... Something WILL happen. But it may be small. It may be very small. But the spotlight is there.

When I first started studying the astrological aspects and reading a natal chart, I always expected a Big Bang. That a transiting planet would come around, touch one of my natal planets and something huge would happen. Huge Life Event. Creative or crisis. What I've come to see though is that things do happen, but they are subtle. And it's best, sometimes, to watch it all with a detached eye (not so easy for this emotional Sun in Cancer).

For example, Jupiter transiting my 5th House might just make me feel a little more cheerful or a little more expansive. It might not mean I'll get pregnant or have a romance (those being 5th House issues). Of course if there are other indicators in the chart, well....it's a map, a mystery to unravel.

Since Pisces is tied up with my 7th House, I can expect some 1:1 relationships to... be on my mind. Could be business. Could be personal. But I always like it when the Sun transits the Western side of the my chart, those areas of life that involve other people. I have such an Eastern-dominated chart that when the planets move along the West side, I feel I can sit back and watch a little. What will life bring? What will be offered? What will I be invited to?

Where is Pisces in your chart? What Houses does it rule? Where is your Neptune? Where is your Jupiter?

I'm going to have to get a little technically savvy so I can find some readers... Maybe Pisces in my 7th will give me some ideas. It won't be too long before that Pisces Sun (identity, will) conjuncts transiting Uranus (technology, astrology) and astrological insights abound!

Pisces Season

2008-02-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

Pisces rules my 7th House so I thought this picture would be appropriate: a bride being fitted for her wedding. I'm not much of a technical photographer and used the zoom feature on my digital camera. So it's blurry. But you get the idea.

The 7th House is Partnership. It's marriage or business or contracts. It's close. It's 1:1. It's associated with the sign of Libra. I have Pallas Athena in that house and I wonder: am I to be the protector or the protected? Or both? The strategist at love? Or the strategist in love?

Yesterday I had a reading with a client who is an artist. Early Scorpio Sun. Late Libra Moon. Packed 7th House. With Pluto tenanted there! And Uranus. I dug in. I connected with that chart. A busy 8th House too. No wonder she was open to what I had to say. The Moon was in Cancer that day (until it went Void of Course).

So I call this post Pisces Season because that's where we are headed now. Aquarian days are winding down. We are going from the mental processes (Aquarian Air) to the flow of the body and spirit (Piscean water).

More on this soon....

Blog Beginnings

2008-02-18T19:07:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not going to talk about Mercury going "direct" for my first post on this blog.

Even though I have a Virgo emphasis in my natal chart and Gemini at my Mid-Heaven, I usually feel the "up side" of the Retrograde period: all that business about reviewing and re-doing. And remembering. And I just kind of hold on. I hold on and I think: well, whatever got all messed up, if anything did, will right itself when the Retrograde period ends.

I did have a slight problem with my mobile phone but I got it fixed with a quick call to customer service. And perhaps it's only fitting, in a mercurial kind of way, to begin a blog so close to "direct motion."

After all, I'd been meaning to begin an Astrology blog for a while now and since I've started doing readings for people, I wanted to create a space where the astro-obsessed could go and read a little, reflect a little, comment. Easy going. I probably won't write about the politics of the planets, the love lives of celebrities, or what Pluto entering Capricorn means for the Pluto in Capricorn generation. This blog will take a more personal approach.

And I welcome your feedback :)