ASTROLOGY THIS WEEK: SEPTEMBER 9 - 15

Tuesday, September 10th
12:24am PST: Sun in Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces, both at 17°18’
As the Sun makes its annual opposition to Neptune, it asks us to confront both our dreams and illusions. About what are you fantasizing that you haven’t taken any practical steps towards? To dream in a world which is so oppressive is a radical act. More radical than this, is to take actions towards that dream. Rather than using fantasy as an escape, this is an invitation to treat our wonders like a springboard. Where are you holding yourself back in the material world? Where are you stuck in a dream with unrealistic expectations, trapped by the immensity of an irrational ideal? Likewise, where do you believe you are deluded when you could actually have critical thoughts to offer? Use this moment to do some journaling, or better still, drawing or vision boarding. Sometimes we need to see a physical iteration of a dream to believe we are capable of embodying it. This is the kind of aspect that, when well-applied, reminds us that art is of paramount utility, especially under oppressive systems. It is a tool that helps us journey our dreams into the touchable, tangible world. 

Thursday, September 12th
2:06am PST: Mars in Virgo square Jupiter in Sagittarius, 16°01’
Mars/Jupiter aspects are notoriously over the top. In one sense, Jupiter here is like the big kid that instigates the little kid into a task they might be too small to tackle. Be cautious of people and situations that provoke you into acting out in unreasonable ways. Someone challenging you to jump off a cliff isn’t necessarily strong rationale for putting your life at risk. Sometimes, our limiting beliefs are not just beliefs - they are our somatic bodies speaking to us about when we’re safe and when we might need to walk away. As this aspect approaches, press your pause button. Give yourself enough space to determine which swooping gestures are right for you and which small movements might get the job done with considerably less expenditure of energy.

Remember that this aspect can also play out in your consciousness. The mutable signs generally are indicative of our perceptions. Jupiter can challenge us internally to expand our respect, opinion, even admiration of ourselves while Mars might cut Jupiter off with unkind criticism. This has the potential to drive us mad but with awareness, we can recognize that both internal voices might lean a little too far into positive or negative thinking. Start from neutral. Harness your humility and your humanity. You make mistakes and you also probably bring a ton of goodness into this world. Respect your skillset. Learn where you fall short. Evolving with others is better than being alone at some meaningless finish line.

Friday, September 13th
8:10am PST: Mercury conjunct Venus at 28°Virgo50’
This aspect isn’t necessarily fun and games but it does emphasize humbling conversations that can be gateways to deeper intimacy. In our society, we are conditioned to believe that we shouldn’t say something when we are hurt by another’s actions or behavior. We don’t share our feelings of hurt because that would make us mean or critical. This aspect proposes that being critical doesn’t necessarily mean being malicious. There is a difference between being clear and being cruel. When we don’t share our hurts, we are being emotionally dishonest (note that there is a difference between not sharing something because it’s uncomfortable and not sharing because to share would actually make us unsafe). This creates barriers between ourselves and intimacy and halts us from accessing relationships in a profound way. These planets together in Virgo remind us that rather than pointing fingers (i.e. “you made me feel”), we can offer our experience (i.e. “I felt hurt when…” or “I’m feeling…”). Venus here also encourages us to receive criticism or feedback with grace. To honor and appreciate the work that someone may have had to do to be honest about their feelings (i.e. “thank you for being honest with me.”). We can’t expect others to read our minds. Treat your truth, and that of others as a service. Ask questions. Own where you may have made a mistake, or offer insight (distinct from an excuse) as to why you may have acted the way you did or thought something was different. Avoid beating yourself up for something you didn’t know. Rather, focus on actions that strengthen bonds by showing someone you are a safe person with whom to communicate. Changed behavior is a beautiful companion to any apology.

12:42pm PST: Sun in Virgo trine Pluto in Capricorn, both at 20°44’
The term intersectionality may be thrown casually to the wind, co-opted by companies and collectives alike as neo-liberal jargon that means all-inclusive or labels them in the public eye as doing their due-diligence to be diverse. This is not to slander intersectionality as a term but to get us to really examine its meaning and whether it is being used appropriately or as a tool for massive bi-passing of real political ideas and objectives. To be truly intersectional is to be cognizant of, to emphasize, and to work to align with the many and specific links between various groups and struggles. When we are intersectional we are showing up to resist systems of oppression that might not seem like they affect us, but when we dig deep enough into the web of connection, we see the myriad ways in which we are all tied up in methodical, but not necessarily moral, arrangements of power. As the Sun in Virgo trines Pluto in Capricorn, it shines the light on the particulars of our plights and shows us how crucial it is that we do the work to become informed about struggles and conflicts which we might not consider as own. Intersectionality does not want us to claim ownership of these assorted fights but it does ask us to examine our complicity. Where we are complicit, we are responsible. Where we are uninformed, we are often complicit. Where we are complicit, we are often privileged. Privilege shows itself not only in the color of our skin, our sexual preference, our gender identity. It presents itself in our knowledge, our lack thereof and our capacity (in time, conditioned skills and resources) to be informed. It presents itself in our economic disposition and our willingness or ability to share or even show what we have. It presents itself in our bodies, in our ableism within a system that stigmatizes need and care. It shows itself in this and so much more. The Sun illuminates all the little ways we comply with oppression. The ways we gain at the expense of others. Pluto shows us that if we dig deep enough, we will find our complicity. This aspect teaches us to change our behavior. To understand intersectionality is a layered and overlapping system rather than a blanket term for diversity. It should inspire us to better care for each other.* Start by exploring a hurt or pain you think is disconnected. Find the link, however many degrees of separation I guarantee it is there. There is nothing in this web of life that is untouched by you. By humans. By technology. When we recognize this, we also recognize our capacity to inspire and instigate change. 

*Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, “Care As Pleasure,” in Pleasure Activism, ed. Adrienne Marie Brown (Chico, Edinburgh: AK Press, 2019), 313-315.


9:33pm PST: Full Moon at 21°Pisces05’
A Full Moon in Pisces might suffuse us with suffering but it will also engulf us with compassion. Bathe us in mercy. Shower us with untamed visions that support our ability to understand there is so much more in this moment, and every other moment, than we thought possible. A Full Moon in Pisces reminds us that the depths to which we can go, in any direction, are inherently infinite. This Moon sits opposite the Sun and Mars in Virgo and sextile to Pluto in Capricorn. We don’t often consider the power of harmonic aspects (like sextiles and trines) because they don’t induce the same awareness of tension produced by opposition or square. Sextiles and trines create easeful flow of energy between the planets or points involved. This Moon’s sextile and the Sun and Mars’ trines to Pluto intensify Pluto’s effect on our ability to heal ourselves and show up for others with care and consideration for our collective evolution. This Moon illuminates where our delusions disempower us and where our dreams act like connective tissue. Where the focus on our differences becomes detrimental while also scattering scores of constructive and necessary perspective. Wherever this Moon lands in our charts, it aims to show us how we self-sabotage and accordingly, how we heal. Our pain teaches us prudence. Helps us survey our provisions and where they fall short. Our scars are rites of initiation. Notice how far you’ve come in your capacity for concern. Our wounds are like gateways. Dams knocked down that send care, sympathy and tenderness rushing forth like white water rapids. Allow time for the flow to sedate itself. For the surface to settle. Celebrate our collective mortality and from this place, move with conscious kindness.

10:25pm PST: Mars in Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces, both at 17°12’
This aspect reminds me of a letter Bruce Lee wrote to his friend Taky Kimura in 1964 about process in learning Gung Fu. “The nature of water is that if nothing is mixed with it, it remains clear; if nothing ruffles it, it remains smooth.” Mars is the opponent. Neptune is the water.

Rather than giving a suggestion for this aspect, I offer reverence for Bruce Lee’s work, because I could not have said it better myself: “Follow the will of nature and coordinate your mind and your will to become one with nature, and nature will protect you. 

Yielding
Yielding will overcome anything superior to itself; its strength is boundless. The yielding will has a reposeful ease, soft as downy feathers - a quietude, a shrinking from action, an appearance of inability to do (the heart is humble, but the work is forceful). Placidly free from any anxiety one acts in harmony with the opponent’s strength. One does not move ahead but responds to the fitting influence.

Nothing in the world is more yielding and softer than water; yet it penetrates the hardest. Insubstantial, it enters where no room is. It is so fine that it is impossible to grasp a handful of it; strike it, yet it does not suffer hurt; stab it, and it is not wounded.

Law of Non-Interfering
One should be in harmony with, and not in rebellion against, the strength of the opponent. Such art will “preserve ourselves” by following the natural bends of things; consequently, we achieve immortality because we do not wear ourselves out.”*

*Bruce Lee, “1964: To Taky Kimura”, in Letters of the Dragon: Correspondence 1958-1973, ed. John Little (Boston, MA: Tuttle Publishing, 1998), 37-38

Saturday, September 14th
12:14am PST: Mercury enters Libra
6:43am PST: Venus enters Libra
Two personal planets shifting from one sign to another within a few hours affects a sweeping shift in our personal and relational orientations. Mercury, dignified in Virgo, still finds skill in Libra, which offers an ambiance of grace to messages and movement, as well as easeful ability to see situations from another’s perspective. Venus, on the other hand, turns from a spell of struggle to the sweetness of connection. Venus in Libra helps us create balance in partnership, knowing when to reach out and when to receive. Extend the hand. Offer your consciousness. Consider various angles. Sometimes, Venus and Mercury in Libra together can be a little pushy, but this is not unfriendly. It is the kind of over-consideration that reminds you how valued you are. Notice who calls you out of your shell. Whose endearing nudge reminds you how vital it is to join in the fight and the fun. Perhaps you are the one summoning others to share themselves with you. This too is a service. Likewise, when others offer compliments and kindness, this season is not a time to hide or turn it away. Libra understands that rejecting kindness is inconsiderate (this is distinct from knowing something does not feel good and not giving consent). Sometimes Libra, as an air sign, will have us more in our heads than in our hearts. Sometimes it is the channel that travels between theory and passion. Recognize the part of yourself that needs to embrace and be embraced. With planets in Libra, everyone can enjoy the opportunity to gender-bend, to swing over and under the line that divides and connects the feminine and masculine.

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