Vernal Equinox, Sun in Aries - Wednesday, March 20th, 2013, 4:02 AM, PDT

In the Pacific Northwest, we have a number of salmon hatcheries.  There, as the salmon grow, they are released into successively larger pools that eventually lead to a wild river.  Thence, they begin their extreme journey upstream to the sea.

You can think of this past winter as your life as a young salmon in a fish hatchery.  The past month was particularly uncomfortable as you were fairly large, yet all you could do was swim around in circles in a little pool.  Maybe it seemed annoying and constricting, but hopefully you learned some few key lessons that will help you succeed in reaching the ocean.

That was Mercury, swimming backwards (i.e. retrograding) in noncommittal Pisces (2/23 - 3/17), in company with Neptune, Chiron, Venus, Mars, & the Sun.  Mars’ ingress into Aries on 3/11 gave a bit of forwards momentum to that wishy wash, but things will be kicking into higher and higher gears throughout most of this spring.  I hope you rested up in preparation for this mad dash!

Spring begins on Wednesday, 3/20/13, with the Sun’s entrance into fiercely determined Aries, a.k.a. the Vernal Equinox.  This is the point in the year when light overtakes darkness, when activity shifts from internal to external - a time of arising and bursting forth.

A chart cast for this spring indicates a highly serious and goal-oriented tone, aggressiveness &/or over-extending oneself, all at odds with a supremely sensitive undertone.  The way to handle this mish-mosh of energies is to alternately attend to your inner needs and your outer responsibilities.  Always, but especially this spring, take note of your emotions and the state of your body as indicators of whether your outer actions are on track, or need some adjusting.  Know well that this spring, ignored emotions will have a stronger tendency than usual to erupt into fights, eruptions of aggression, illness &/or injury.  You may also find some family issues beginning to surface, which will grow bigger, starting in late June.

In addition to a highly sensitive equinox chart, which includes three major configurations - a Grand Water Trine (massive sensitivity with a life of its own), a Cardinal T-Square (act or be acted upon - your choice), and a Yod (a dose of reality forces you to choose what’s really important to you, rather than frittering your energy off into a zillion directions) - we are moving into eclipse season (April & May 2013).  I’ll get into that in next month’s posting, but for now:

Do you notice any recurrence of issues that arose last eclipse season (November 2012)?

How can you meet these issues, relationships, emotions and situations in a more evolved way?

For practice, relive those situations in your mind, but say what you wish you had said, do what you wish you had done, or hold back in that moment when you rushed headlong into an ambush.

The first couple weeks of spring 2013 are explosive.  Many of the “personal planets” enter go-go-go now-now-now Aries, one after another - Mars led the way on 3/11, followed by the Sun on 3/20, and Venus on 3/21, all convening into a massive conjunction with edgy, electrifying & altogether unpredictable Uranus.  Bare in mind that Uranus is in a longterm square with nothing-but-the-truth Pluto in hard-nosed Capricorn.  This conglomeration peaks into another Cardinal T-square pattern at the Libra full moon on 3/27.  With Libra activated, relationship issues, fairness and the arts are brought into the my-freedom-now versus face-&-attend-to-true-&-longterm-responsibilities mix.

Your “homework” for 3/20 - 4/5:

What opportunities are showing up for me?

Which ones best align with my values?

 Am I attending to my personal needs as well as my responsibilities & my relationship needs?

Am I wasting time & energy on unimportant details?

What, in my life, is most important to me?

Hint: look to your actions, as well as the story you tell yourself in this regard - then determine which is truer & adjust yourself accordingly.

What fears are holding me back from expressing my true potential/power?

Are there any issues starting to show up in my family?

How can I prepare for their increase in prominence this summer?

By the end of the first week of April, a new set of energies begins to simmer.  At this point, the classic lovers, Venus & Mars, form an exact conjunction in mid-Aries (a highly sexual configuration with potential for argument, but also an alignment of values & will) as Mercury exits the shadow of his recent retrograde.  The Aries new moon on 4/10 marks the build-up to the Scorpio lunar eclipse on 4/25.  Use this day (4/10) as a still point to quietly & privately determine what the wisest course of action will be for you in the coming weeks.  Mercury enters Aries on 4/13, setting your mind afire with new ideas.  Then, Venus placidly leads the next planetary trend into her home-sign, Taurus, on 4/15.  This will shed some light on the themes of the quickly approaching eclipses.  Taurus is the most nature-loving sign, so you may enjoy taking the intriguing class, Eco-Poetics, taught by prime poet & professor, Janie Miller, on Tuesday evenings in April, in her cozy living room that overlooks the fiery glow of sunsets on the Cascades from the top of Capitol Hill.

Your “homework” for 4/6 - 4/18:

What do I value?

How have my values shifted since November 2012?

How can I align my values with my will & actions?

What fresh ideas am I excited about?

How can I communicate assertively, honestly & with kindness?

What gives me a sense of peace, & how can I bring more of that into my life?

For more personalized insight, please contact me for a private astrological consult, or - if you’re feeling out of whack - an Alithesis healing session.

Until next month’s posting, have a wonderful beginning to Spring!  Thanks for reading,

Rae Diamond

rae13diamond {at} gmail.com

206 - 963 - 3073

Sun Enters Pisces, Mercury Retrogrades in Pisces, 2/18/13 & 2/23/13, respectively

I hope you know how to swim because things are about to be supremely watery.  By the Virgo Full Moon on February 25th, half of the ten major planetary bodies of astrology will be in liquidy Pisces, plus Saturn and the Dragon’s Head (evolutionary true north) are in the deep pools of Scorpio.

Before going any further into the nitty gritty of who’s on first in the planetary world, let’s take a look at the art of swimming.  A very different set of rules apply when we’re in the water.  Ole gravity itself is seemingly tweaked unless, of course, you’re weighted down with some extra heavy baggage.  To stay afloat, it’s necessary to both keep yourself unburdened & allow the water to hold you up.  To maneuver yourself around in the water, you must both move the water & understand that the water also moves you.

Many of you know that in esoteric terms, water is associated with emotions.  Just in case you didn’t get all the above metaphor, here’s the breakdown:

1, Let go.  Release unnecessary baggage.

2, Let go.  Allow your life, work, relationships, surprises, & surroundings to hold & direct you.

3, Let go.  If you want to shift things, master your emotions.  However, you cannot force them.  It’s like swimming in the ocean - you can move in your intended direction, but the tide will also move you in its own way.  Stop occasionally to check your progress & adjust yourself accordingly.

On the 18th, after the Sun enters Pisces, Saturn stations retrograde in Scorpio until early July.  Until then, you have the opportunity to gain truer perspectives on issues that have come up for you around power, exchange, sexuality, death, and authority (anything dark & uncomfortable) since Saturn entered Scorpio in October.  This Saturn/Scorpio combination is particularly prone to the projection trap.  Here’re some methods for getting free if you’re stuck:

1, Assume total responsibility for the state of your life. How have you created your life as it is now?  In what ways do you have the power to alter it from this point onwards, & in what ways are attempts at control futile?

2, Understand that no two people perceive anything the same.  Therefore, you cannot know another person’s motivations.  Nor can anyone know yours unless you state them clearly & honestly.

How do you perceive others’ motivations?  Do you know these perceptions to be true?  Where do these perceptions come from?  How might these perceptions relate to previous experiences & relationships you’ve had?  If you are experiencing repetitions of relationship patterns that are unique to you, doesn’t it make sense that you are in some way creating them?  How can you harness that creativity to make new, more evolved relationship experiences?  For a really mind-blowing line of questioning, what are you not choosing to perceive in the motivations & actions of others?

3, In relationships, take note of who takes the role of the angry one, the sick one, the emotional one, the sexual one, etc.  In reality, we take part in both halves of all of these equations.  Where, pray tell, is the anger/illness/emotion/sexuality in the other half of the relationship?  What comes up for you when you switch these and other roles (teacher/student, boss/underling, perpetrator/victim etc) in your mind?

With Saturn, responsibility is always up for review.  With this retrograde through Scorpio, it’s time to consider how we can be responsible for our emotions.  It’s also time to be responsible with our power over others, & responsible for how we give our power away, often in ways that the people we’re giving it to do not want, or even know about!  No matter how you use it, don’t use it, give it away, or lock it up “safe,” your power is always, only & irrevocably yours.  Saturn is asking you how you can use your power more responsibly.

On February 23rd, Mercury stations retrograde in Pisces.  Thrice a year, for roughly three weeks at a time, Mercury does his little inversion dance.  The general mundane preparatory protocol in the weeks before Mercury’s retrograde period is:

1, Back up your computers, phones, & other communicatory devices.

2, Pin down any dates & obligations that have been kicking around, but be flexible about whether/when they actually happen.

3, Deal with any outstanding issues in your car/bike, or even - in this instance especially, as Pisces rules the feet - your feet & shoes.

The soul level preparatory protocol is this:

1, Take note of what issues are arising in your mind, as you will be revisiting them, & learning about them in depth in the coming weeks.

2, Open yourself to a new way of looking at things.

3, BE FLEXIBLE!!!

Here are some thinks to think during the next few weeks until Mercury stations direct in Pisces, on 3/17/13:

Forgiveness is up in spades for the next month, folks.  Whom do you need to forgive?  Whom do you need to forgive some more?  Do you need to forgive yourself for anything?

Are you playing the martyr or victim card?  How can you shift this story?  What happens when you forgive your perpetrator?  What happens when you take responsibility for how you respond to the suffering you are experiencing?

Are you playing the savior card?  Whom does this actually serve?  What is a more honest role for you?  Are you projecting the savior card onto another person?  What happens when the projector’s light goes out?  What does that person become?  What do you become?

Hint: Historically, saviors often become martyrs, & vice versa.  Consider how this relates to your situation, & to the people you paint in these lights.

How can you bring compassion forth in your life every day?  How can you bring love forth in your life every day?  How does/do the world, people, situations, and your environment shift when you perceive them through the lens of compassion & love?  For extra credit, try this with your “enemies,” with people you think deserve no compassion or love.  See how you feel afterwards.

The Dalai Lama once defined compassion as the desire for oneself or another to be free of suffering, & love as the desire for oneself or another to be happy.  For a most elevated Pisces experience, you can envision your heart extending outwards, so that it encompasses yourself & whomever/whatever you’re feeling compassion/love for... maybe all of humanity?  Try it out, yo!

That is plenty to keep you abreast of the energetic tides of the coming month.  For those of you who miss my old every-two-weeks format, please consider revisiting this same posting on the full & new moons.  This is a dense report, chock full of juicy queries & soothing reminders that you’re feeling the way you do because you’re in alignment with the Cosmos.  It’s not just true right now.  It’s true for the entirety of the coming month.  I promise.

Another thing about Pisces, where so much planetary energy will be concentrated in the next month - it’s a mutable sign.  That means things are changing.  Allow yourself to change.  Allow yourself to be changed.  We’re moving out of winter.  You can see, hear & smell harbingers of spring already.  Remember the inherent impermanence of life.  Feel crummy today?  You might not tomorrow.  Feel good today?  You might not tomorrow...  Or you might!

Thanks for reading, & enjoy your swim!

Rae Diamond

rae13diamond {at} gmail.com

Go here to schedule an astrology or healing appointment with Rae.

Sun enters Aquarius, Jupiter stations direct, 1/19/13 & 1/30/13, respectively

With the Sun entering Aquarius, we find ourselves in the very heart of winter.  Yet the days are lengthening, and the tension we’ve been pressure-cooking in is easing a bit - for a while, anyhow.

Generally speaking, consider yourself in the midst of a transition, finishing up the old, clearing space, time, & energy, & making things ready for the next phase.  You may be wading in the new waters already, or you may still be approaching them.  Either way, the new is not yet in full swing, but things will get cooking with all due heat & haste in mid-spring, in preparation for a wild summer.

The pearl from the oyster of this preamble is:

Rest now, if you have the time for it.

The chart cast for 2013’s solar transit through Aquarius (effective 1/19 - 2/18) suggests the activity will be, for this “solar month,” primarily outwards, meaning it’s time to put your attention & effort into your community, your relationships, your career, your goals, & whatever it is that gives you a sense of oneness.  Although winter is usually a nice time for introspection, the world will be tugging on your coattails, stepping on your toes, & jumping up in your face. 

The T-square configuration of this chart suggests that when you feel discomfort or malaise in the coming month, the missing ingredient, the medicine, the source of nourishment is joyful enthusiasm.  When your heart yearns for a settling into winter’s quiet & ease, but your sense of responsibility insists you attend to the details & mastery of what matters most to you, while your mind is whirling with insight & an inarguable impulse to communicate & get your Big Idea across, you just might forget that the whole process could be fun - & most importantly, that the strength of all of the above is dependent on that very joyful energy.

Think of this remembering joyful enthusiasm as a New Mayan Calendar take on the ole “don’t take yourself so seriously” rap.  There are important distinctions between these two approaches - the latter scolds the negative & inspires judgment, while the former gently nudges the nose of the ship back to true north, & inspires hope.  Try the two of them out yourself, & note the difference in how you feel, & also in your proceeding effectiveness in navigating these various impulses - & in inspiring others to see your point of view, which is a strong desire during this time.

Another intriguing characteristic of this solar month’s chart is the Pluto, Venus & Juno conjunction in Capricorn.  Although this configuration is now in the easing & completing phase after beginning to make its presence known around the new year & reaching its height in the past week (1/13 - 1/16), its presence in this chart will make it felt throughout the month.  It offers particular healing around power dynamics, which is a central issue throughout the next couple of years.

The dark side of this configuration is undue (& usually passive-aggressive) punishment, especially meted out & received when issues of insecurity arise.  You may find yourself on either or both sides of this equation.  However this configuration effects you, a sextile to this conjunction from Neptune & Chiron in Pisces reminds us all to practice forgiveness & compassion in these situations when they arise - for ourselves as well as others.  To help you attain an evolved expression of this configuration:

If you are in a position of power or authority, are you exercising that power from a place of love or fear?  What are your self-doubts?  How can you claim & then evolve them, rather than projecting them onto others?  How can you exercise your power with integrity, even when you feel those doubts arise?

If someone else has power or authority over you, are you giving your power away?  If so, why?  In what ways can you - peacefully & with integrity - maintain your own power & authority in the context of this relationship & its attendant dynamics?

The Big Shift this month begins on January 30th, when Jupiter stations direct after retrograding through Gemini since early October 2012.  It’ll take that most enormous planet in our solar system a few weeks to gain momentum, but you can take heart that anything in your life - particularly anything that feels big, or something you’re taking a leap of faith with - that’s felt hung up since around September 2012 should start shifting & falling more into place.  Uranus’ influence adds an electrifying kick in the pants (making this more of a cattle prod, perhaps) to Jupiter’s Big Idea.

What’s your Big Idea?  How has your Big Idea shifted in the past four months?  Do you feel the leaps you are considering now are more in alignment with your philosophies than what you were planning before?  What’s the evolved message behind your Big Action, & how can you use that message to both fuel & guide you?

Have you been actively evolving your mind with some form of contemplation, meditation or through applying some system of beliefs?  If not, start now!

Well, that should keep you busy & relatively aligned for the next month.  Stay tuned for the next planetary report’s scoop on Mercury’s upcoming retrograde in Pisces (2/23 - 3/17).  Also, you may find it helpful to refer to the previous posting on the Winter Solstice, which is effective until the Vernal Equinox in late March.  As always, feel free to contact me in the meantime for astrology consults or Alithesis energetic alignment.

For anyone interested in supporting a very cool arts program, you can become a “shareholder” in Seattle’s Community Supported Arts (CSA) program.  It’s based on the Community Supported Agriculture model, & particularly supports local & sustainable art.  Yours truly is one of 2013’s featured artists, so by becoming a shareholder, you’ll end up with a CD of dreamy dulcimer music in a beautiful package amongst eight other original works of art in various media by my compatriots in this program.

Thanks for reading, & have a joyful month!

Rae Diamond

rae13diamond {at} gmail.com

Winter Solstice, 2012, 12/21/12

What’s real?

You can use that question throughout this winter, which begins at Winter Solstice, as a means of bringing yourself back to center whenever you feel off kilter.

Off kilter is exactly how you will feel much of the time during the next three months, so I suggest you make friends with a sense of the world, your life, your body, your relationships, and your plans being quite akimbo.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate this:

When I was a young, rascally punk, my friends & I thought it would be great fun (i.e. dangerous) to explore some houses that had been built at a cliff’s edge - a cliff’s edge that had recently eroded to the point that the now-abandoned houses were dangling off the cliff at unnatural angles.

Once we were inside, we noticed the view out of the windows showed the shore & horizon at about a forty degree angle, rather than the customary zero degrees.  When we walked across the floor, we were moving both forwards & either up or down.  We could see right angles at the edges of the rooms, but nothing felt right in any sense of the word.  We were overcome with nausea, dizziness, light-headedness, a sudden & urgent need to clear our bowels, or all of the above.

This is what happens, apparently, when the information your body & mind are receiving about the very basic question of, “Which way is up?” is full of contradictions.  We are equipped with a balancing device in our ears that lets us know which way is up.  Unless we’ve sustained neurological damage, that little sensor is always right.  We are also equipped, however, with a lifetime of thinking of the ceiling as up - not somewhere between up and sideways.

Just so, you can expect to get conflicting messages about which way is up, which way is forwards, which way to go, & whether you are moving, up, down, in circles, in a straight line, or zig-zagging.  Your internal sense of orientation will be telling you one thing, but your conditioned ways of thinking & perceiving will be telling you another.  The Big Work this winter, then, is to tune in to that inner sense of orientation, and make your decisions based on that, and that alone.

In the meantime, I suggest you enjoy how special & different this feeling is, despite the discomfort.  I suggest you DO clear your metaphorical bowels, so you’re freer to move about in this peculiar & complex reality.  Let go, & be in a state of wonder & curiosity, orienting yourself with the question, “What’s real?”

What’s the astrological basis for me saying all this?  You know what?  It doesn’t matter.  What does it really matter, whether retrograding Jupiter in Gemini is in the culminating point of an exact Yod, & in a T-square; whether Saturn is conjunct the Scorpio Ascendant; whether there’s a mutual reception of Saturn & Pluto, who are in the guiding arms of the exact Yod; whether one of the dark & wily Lilith’s is conjunct the karma-releasing South Node in Taurus, which is square Nessus’ vindictive old poison, ready to instigate transformation; whether the need-for-newness Aries Moon is trine Mercury & Pholus’ bottle of mayhem in grandly leaping Sagittarius; whether a 5000 year calendar is ending, & another 5000 year calendar is beginning?  Do we really need to know all of that data?

No.  That’s the ceiling akimbo.  That’s the horizon at forty degrees instead of zero degrees.  Don’t make the mistake of getting so distracted by all of this confusing information that you poop your pants.  Attend to that urgent need to let go, and then tune in to that inner orienting instinct.

How to let go:

Whom do I need to forgive?  Do I need to forgive myself?  Hint:  You will experience great opening, healing, & redemption if you review your personal myth (the story you tell yourself & others about anything & anyone in your past, even the recent past) with a filter of forgiveness.

Whom do I need to have compassion for right now?  Am I being compassionate with myself?

What material junk could I destroy, give away, or sell?  What associations, memories, & expectations does that matter hold, & how would it feel to release that?

What is actually happening?  How does this differ from my expectations?  What would happen if I attended to & trusted what is?

What do I have to be grateful for?  Whom can I express gratitude to?  How would expressing gratitude rather than anger towards those I am judging shift both my own & their reality?

What aspects of my identity are in a state of dying & release? 

How to orient yourself:

What aspects of my identity are in a state of rebirth?  If I could reinvent myself, how would that new self feel, act, speak, relate with others, think, & perceive?

In any given situation, & in general:

What is real?  What do I know, with all certainty?  What do I honestly not know?  What questions do I need to ask?  Whom shall I ask?  What questions are currently unanswerable, & how can I accept that?

What is my body telling me?  How can I better respond to my body?  How do I need to think differently about my body?

Thanks, you, for reading.  I’d also like to extend warm & heartfelt gratitude to all of my students & clients - past & present, to my colleagues, to my friends & family, & most especially to my dear husband, Joe, for encouraging me to continue writing this blog, even when I’ve been overcome with existential angst about writing something for people I do not get to interact with in a human-feeling & heartfelt way.

Anyone who has known or worked with me, know that if you feel I’ve touched your heart, the feeling is most certainly mutual.  And for that, I thank you.

Have a wonderful winter.

Rae Diamond

Click here to schedule an astrology or Alithesis appointment.

rae13diamond {at} gmail.com