Win the Peace

Astro Notes for Gemini Season 2023

On Tuesday (May 16) Jupiter entered Taurus, where it will stay for the next 12 months or so. Taurus is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. Jupiter and Venus are considered the two ‘benefic’ planets in astrology, ones that bestow grace and good fortune. Thus when Jupiter is in Venus-ruled Taurus, it’s fair to say that sweet opportunity is likely to come knocking in some area of our lives. Furthermore, when Jupiter aligns with Uranus (which it will do in April 2024, though we will start to feel its effects as early as this northern hemisphere summer), we could find ourselves very pleasantly surprised by an unexpected breakthrough that will open a big channel of creative energy propelling us toward the future. Jupiter-Uranus has been called by some the “Praise the Lord” transit. After everything we’ve been through over the last few years, Lord knows we could use a little relief.

But before we open to these more expansive possibilities, we have to make it through a very sharp test.

Gemini season (May 20-June 20) actually began this year on the heels of a beautiful new moon in Taurus (May 19) that made only harmonious aspects — a sextile with both Neptune and Mars and a trine with Pluto. The harmonic energy of the new moon carried the promise to deliver a Taurean gift of relaxation and abundance.

But we might not have perceived this pleasant note amidst the overpowering clang of an extremely tense T-square taking place between Pluto, Mars, and Jupiter. On Saturday May 19, Pluto at 0 degrees Aquarius was exactly opposite Mars at 0 degrees Leo, with both in an exact square to Jupiter at 0 degrees Taurus. We'll feel this transit intensely until the end of the month at least.

Phew. Pluto opposite Mars is as feisty and confrontational an energy as it gets. With Jupiter squaring both planets, the energy is likely to be magnified. Be mindful of the high potential for volatility. Treat it as a spiritual test of your ability to master the wild forces within you, rather than lashing out at others.

Yet every transit has its purpose. The universe is asking us to take decisive action in some area of our lives to bring it into alignment with our true values. (With Jupiter in Taurus, this may well involve our relationship with money or resources.) We can’t simply sit on these energies. We have to ‘win’ the peace promised by the new moon. Do whatever you can to keep your vibration high over the next 10-14 days. Let your sincerity guide you to take the action you need to bring your life into greater integrity. Arm yourself with courage to meet the challenge of this T-square with the fullness of your life-force, knowing that there’s a sweet reward if you do.

This T-square action takes place against the backdrop of our shift into Gemini season. Sun in Gemini provides the base note, while the other planets provide the flourishes. Taurus is fixed Earth, while Gemini is Mutable Air. So the baseline mood or rhythm becomes significantly lighter, faster, and more mental. In developmental terms, Gemini corresponds to the phase of an infant’s life when language first emerges. Along with language comes an innocent curiosity that expresses itself through endless questioning. The function of Gemini season is to return us to that state of beginner’s mind. We cooperate with Sun in Gemini by being in the aliveness of the question.  As the zen saying goes, “not knowing is the most intimate”. If we allow a true question to pop the bubble of our certainty, we become immediate to the mystery of existence again. What assumptions about yourself or the world are you willing to question this month to make space for new possibilities to come in?

Mars and Venus both move into Leo during Gemini season. Mars enters Leo May 20 and Venus follows on June 5. Mars and Venus in Leo can turn up the razzle dazzle factor by a few welcome notches. Having the archetypal masculine and feminine personal planets together in the extroverted sign of Leo is likely to invite us all into a more sexy, playful, expressive mood. Creative or artistic activities in particular should receive a spunky boost of energy.

On May 30, Jupiter is conjunct the North Node in Taurus. If we have navigated well the challenge of the T-square, this transit could coincide with real opportunities for increased prosperity and abundance in a particular area of our lives (depending on where Taurus falls in our charts). It also favors building solid foundations — both internally and externally — for our long-term aspirations and the enjoyment of the simple pleasures of life on Earth.

Finally Pluto moves back into Capricorn on June 11, where it will stay for the remainder of 2023. Awwwwah! (Not sure if I’ve spelled that correctly.)  If you’re like me, you’ve been enjoying this little taste of the fresh new energies of Aquarius since mid-March. But Pluto still has an important job to do in Capricorn. We are in the intense final clean-up operation over the next 18 months or so as Pluto dredges up all the old patterns and structures in ourselves and society that will not survive our transition into the Aquarian Age. It’s still an intense time of purging, personally and collectively. It’s definitely no walk in the park, yet it presents an extraordinary opportunity for rapid spiritual purification for those of us willing to examine our shadows.

Go Slow to Go Fast

Astro Notes for Taurus Season 2023

This year at EarthRising, we are telling the story of the astrological year, from Aries 2023 to Pisces 2024. Attuning to the astrological year helps us to re-orient to the natural rhythms of life, rather than to the artificial overlay of the Gregorian calendar. In our ORACLE Event last month, we gave an overview of the key themes of the astrological year. In these monthly Astro Notes, I’ll be unpacking these themes for each astrological season.

The story thus far….The astrological year began with a bang on March 21 with a New Moon at exactly 0 degrees of Aries. One could hardly imagine a more precise symbol of new beginnings than a New Moon on the first degree of the first sign of the zodiac on the first day of the new year. It was a jump start to help us all awaken out of the slumber and fog of the Covid years and take bold strides toward the emerging Aquarian era.

A few days later, Pluto moved into Aquarius — the biggest astrological event of the year — initiating a 20-year revolutionary cycle of social change. (This year we have a short preview of this momentous development with Pluto peaking into Aquarius until June only before returning to Capricorn for the remainder of the year.) Earlier in March, during Pisces season, Saturn moved into Pisces (where it will stay for two and a half years), also heralding a significant shift in mood. Saturn had been in Aquarius since March 2020 — the Covid years — so its movement into Pisces was another key signifier that we are closing that chapter and beginning a new one.

Did you feel the reverberations of all this new, initiating energy during Aries season? Was your spirit stirred from its early 2023 slumber into bold action? What new initiatives did you begin? What new seeds did you plant?

Now we enter Taurus season, a time for sustaining and fertilizing the new growth initiated during Aries season. Taurus is fixed Earth and typically brings a slower, steadier rhythm. In the northern hemisphere, Taurus corresponds with Spring in full bloom, nature at her most abundant, sensual, and beautiful. Taurus is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love and pleasure. Taurus teaches us to attend to our practical needs for food, shelter, and security, and to enjoy the simple and natural pleasures of the body. The goal is not to overcomplicate things with unnecessary drama.

This year, though, Taurus season begins with a bang, starting the day after a rare solar eclipse on April 19. A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon, and one of the lunar nodes are together (conjunct) in the sky. It’s basically a new moon on steroids, a cosmic reset that brings about big changes. This eclipse is conjunct the North Node (which represents our evolutionary endpoint) and thus asks us to step outside of our comfort zone to take in something new. It’s also in Aries, so it’s another opportunity for new beginnings in the realm of personal courage, drive, and self-assertion.

Aries season began with a new moon at the first degree of Aries and ends with a new moon (and solar eclipse) at the last degree of Aries. If your (Covid-weary) heart wasn’t revived by the electro-shock of the first new moon, the second one is another jolt to get you jump-started! Yes, indeed, we really have turned a corner.

This time, though, we are in Taurus season, so there’s solid ground to stand on while we step forward bravely again toward a new adventure. The new inspiration now wants to materialize into a solid form, a stable structure that can sustain the initiating impulse over the months and years ahead. Be open to this structure itself being novel, of the future.

Mercury (our thinking function) will be retrograde April 21 through May 14. This suggests we’ll be navigating this passage primarily by instinct. We may not have the cognitive clarity to understand just yet all the pieces that are coming together, but we are encouraged to move forward anyway, trusting our gut feeling.

On May 5, we have a South Node lunar eclipse in Scorpio. A lunar eclipse occurs at the Full Moon, which is a time of culmination of that which was initiated at the new Moon. If a solar eclipse is like a new moon on steroids, a lunar eclipse is like a full moon on steroids. A South Node lunar eclipse brings to a culmination a long cycle of karma. The outcome may be positive or negative depending on our karmic history. Taking place in Scorpio, we could see a karmic outcome manifest in the realm of sex and intimacy, or in our finances. For better or for worse, this outcome will be linked to our purpose and new direction. Now we will know what cards we are playing with.

On May 16, Jupiter enters Taurus, where it will stay for a whole year. Just as the Sun entering Taurus is a time for fertilizing the new seeds we planted when the Sun was in Aries, Jupiter entering Taurus is a time for solidifying the growth we initiated when Jupiter was in Aries. It’s essentially the same process but over a longer time scale. Jupiter was in Aries from May-October 2022, and again from late December 2022 to May 16 this year. Whatever you began in that period, you now have a year to stabilize those new beginnings by developing the concrete structures that will support their growth over the next 11 years (when Jupiter reaches the end of its current cycle in Pisces and begins a new one again in Aries).

Even though the eclipse window brings a lot more action and drama to this Taurus season than usual, Taurus demands that we slow down and take care of the body. Don’t think that building in down-time or rituals of self-care is separate from the project of creating the structures to support your vision. The wisdom of Taurus is that the creation of these outer forms only emerges from a relaxed body that knows what it wants.

Start Your Engines

Astro Notes for Aries Season 2023 (March 20-April 19)

The astrological year begins when the Sun enters Aries. Despite our adherence to the Gregorian calendar, the March Equinox is the real beginning of the annual cycle. If you’ve been fretting over your stalled progress during the last couple of months, don’t worry. That’s all about to change.

Aries season — and thus the whole astrological year — kicks off with an incredibly auspicious New Moon on March 21 at exactly 0 degrees Aries. It’s hard to imagine a more potent symbol of new beginnings than a New Moon falling on the very first degree of the zodiac. It’s like the cosmic reset button. If you’ve been gestating a creative project or vision through many months or even years of darkness and struggle, this may well be the moment you get to finally press go.

Aries is an interesting energy. Most people tend to associate the sign of the Ram with its fiery, feisty side. This is not wrong — Aries is ruled after all by the God of War. But there is also a purity and innocence to the first sign of the zodiac. Aries corresponds developmentally with new born infants. It is associated with the first signs of Spring, the first shoots emerging out of the seed, the first buds on the trees, the first birds singing. If Pisces is the surrender to the Mystery that occurs at the end of a cycle, Aries is the rebirth out of the Mystery that takes place at the beginning.  

The link between the two sides can be explained by the paradox that a true warrior has an innocent heart. A person with an innocent heart recognizes an act of sacrilege in a way that a more scheming, sophisticated person cannot. He doesn’t overthink his response, but acts instinctively in defense of life. Although in modern times we have understandably grown weary of war and aggression, this kind of fighting spirit is essential, for it gives us the courage to carry out our sacred assignments against all odds. Indeed, given the imminent explosion of AI and its associated risks, we’d better embrace the archetype of the sacred warrior  — and soon — if we are going to rise to the challenge and opportunities of our moment.

Speaking of AI…..on March 23, just two days after the New Moon, Pluto enters Aquarius. Woah. Pluto has been in Capricorn since early 2008. Its ingress into Aquarius is undoubtedly the most significant transit of the year. When Pluto changes sign, it usually makes an unmistakable entrance. In 2008 we had the Global Financial Crisis. And now, as Pluto prepares to change sign again, we are seeing another run on the banks.

Pluto will be in Aquarius for just a couple of months this year before heading back into Capricorn for the remainder of the year. It will enter Aquarius again in January 2024, then move back into Capricorn in September before returning to Aquarius for good in November 2024. It will then stay in Aquarius for a full twenty years.

Pluto’s function is to ruthlessly dredge up from the shadow all that is out of alignment with reality for purification. Its movement in and out of late Capricorn between now and late 2024 will create a kind of ‘rinsing’ effect whereby any patterns within ourselves or our world that are out of resonance with the zeitgeist of the coming age will be forced up to the light for transformation. While intense and difficult, there is an immense opportunity here for massive personal and collective evolution — if we lean into the hard work of owning and integrating our shadows.

Pluto in Capricorn has exposed much darkness and corruption in the governing institutions of society. It has revealed what is not working in the established structures of politics, media, health, and finance. Pluto in Aquarius will involve the radical transformation of all aspects of society. Pluto in Aquarius signifies revolutionary social change. The last time Pluto was in Aquarius coincided with the American and French Revolutions and the birth of the modern period. By the time Pluto leaves Aquarius, the world will be a very different place indeed.

Much of that transformation is likely to be connected to the exponential growth of AI. Aquarius rules technology, so AI will undoubtedly be a core theme of the next twenty years, for better or for worse. Of course, many of us are concerned about the ‘worse’ part.

There is no getting around the dark side of exponential technology. Yet it is important to remember that Pluto’s function is to expose the dark to the light of truth for purification. Pluto in Aquarius will shine a powerful light on all that is corrupt and unethical in the realm of technology. That’s a LOT of darkness to bring to the light. It will be a wild ride for sure. But it may be the messy yet transformative process that allows us eventually to harness the more creative and humanitarian possibilities of AI, which would represent the more exalted potential of the Aquarian archetype.

Meanwhile, until the end of March we are still within the influence of the Jupiter-Chiron conjunction I focused on in my last Astro Notes for Pisces season. This aspect is separating now, but there is still a window for integrating our core wound on a deeper level than ever before and realizing how it can be transformed into our greatest gift.

On March 25, Mars enters Gemini. Mars changing signs would not normally make my astrological highlight reel, especially in a month with such an epic transit as Pluto moving into Aquarius. But Mars has been in Gemini for six long months. That is a ridiculously long time for Mars to be in one sign. It’s probably safe to say we’re all very much over this transit by now. Dear Universe, I think we’ve got the lesson, thank you very much.

It’s a dramatic time. A bold time. We’ve all been roughed up quite a bit over the last few years. We’ve all had to endure so much. If you’re still standing, and your vision is intact, get ready. The real race is just about to begin.