Weekly Cosmic Tides – Astrology for the 5th – 11th September 2011

This week continues a cosmic lull in proceedings marked only by inner planetary activity. Mercury returns to oppose Neptune before passing out of shadow range and shortly after moves into healing Virgo. Venus and Mars cosy up in a sparkly sextile but not before Mars and Eris have a bit of a spat midweek.

Monday 5th September
Whilst the Moon is still in spontaneous Sagittarius, Venus is altogether more practical in Virgo. With a square from the Moon, Venus is not impressed with all the bluster and bounce. You may feel moody if chores tie you down or have a touch of Monday Blues. Venus reminds you that freedom is in the heart regardless of whatever mundane task calls you.

Venus is also conjunct Diana. You need a sacred space in which to work. God forbid anyone who steals your pens today or fiddles with your swivel chair.

After office hours, a Moon-Mercury trine, puts you in the mood for a little fun. Whether it’s a subtitled foreign film or a roller-coaster movie, kick back and enjoy some down time.

Tuesday 6th September
The Moon enters Capricorn bringing everyone down to earth with a bump. There’s a ruthless streak in the air as the ambitious Capricorn Moon conjuncts powerful Pluto, Venus squares the Nodal axis and Mars squares Eris.

Generally, a Capricorn Moon is useful for making constructive plans, productivity drives and taking a cold hard look at your reality. There’s a temptation to fill every moment so that time isn’t wasted, working into the night to complete your to-do list. With Venus squaring the Nodes however, it can produce a feeling of something being ‘not quite right’: that somehow what you’re doing doesn’t quite fit with your deepest core values. Sometimes this aspect can manifest as bringing someone into your life who challenges you to get back on the path. With Venus in Virgo you might want everything to be perfect, but the Node in Sagittarius is reminding you of the bigger picture.

Meanwhile Mars is in a heated argument with sister Eris – Goddess of discord. Mars in Cancer is defending his territory whereas Eris in Aries is like a teenager having a full blown strop. Eris is in her brother’s sign, burning him back with his own scolding comments. Both of them seem to wail ‘it’s just not fair!”

And sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes life dishes the dirt to the kind of heart and winning lottery tickets to petty thieves. Sometimes it’s hard to understand. All we can do in those moments is choose how we respond because life keeps happening and the wheel continues to turn. Give it a few hours and the Moon’s trine to Jupiter will make you realise it’s not all bad after all.

Wednesday 7th September
A sweet Moon trine to the Sun fades quickly into Moon square Saturn, leaving us all wondering why we got up. It may feel like one of those days when it takes forever to get to work. Chin up! The Moon is moving towards a lovely trine to Venus which should carry you through the working day with a smile on your face. Perhaps use the time to sort out any financial issues or simply implement some penny saving habits.

By early evening, The Moon squares Eris and opposes Mars – remember the sibling argument yesterday? Mum’s got tired of listening to her squabbling children and has finally stepped in – unfortunately she forgot to put her slippers on first so she doesn’t tread lightly.

Ease yourself through the evening. A trine from the Moon to Sedna provides an escape root. Sometimes you can’t sort out other people’s problems so all you can do is focus on yourself. Paint your nails, watch a match, turn the TV up to drown out the sound of shouting upstairs.

Thursday 8th September
Mercury is shifting out of retrograde shadow but before he re-enters the light, he re-opposes Neptune. This aspect last occurred on July 29th. It may be useful to look back to see what was going on at this time. Chances are that the vagaries and nonsense have moved into a growing sense of unease, like you know something but you don’t know it all at the same time. Within an hour of this aspect becoming exact, the Moon meets asteroid Kassandra named after the Greek prophetess Cassandra.

In mythology, Apollo cursed Cassandra after she spurned his advances. Whilst the Gods whispered in Cassandra’s ear, people sniggered. No one believed poor Cassandra any more and her warnings went un-heeded.

With all this going on, there’s a bit of a dilemma. Put your opinions forward and everyone else might simply treat you like a prima donna. The Moon gives us a clue in Aquarius.

You need to be in touch with the mood of the people. If they aren’t receptive to your thoughts, no amount of amateur dramatics is going to persuade them otherwise. If you sense things aren’t right, go with your gut. Mercury opposite Neptune suggests that intuition rules over logic but at the same time you need to be logical about your intuitive impressions. It’s like walking a tightrope in heavy cloud.

Watch your daydreams for clues. Daydreams can be interpreted just like night time dreams. Got a song stuck in your head? Listen to the lyrics. There may just be a message there.

Friday 9th September
Still under the influence of Neptune, Mercury steps onto home turf in Virgo
prompting a desire to clear mental fogginess and get things in order. Adding a flair for discrimination, Mercury is better equipped to deal with the illusionary nature of Neptune. Even if things are still unclear, it seems easier to negotiate a more practical solution. That said, watch that you don’t lose yourself in lists – pro and cons, tasks and schedules. It all might look great on paper but you have to start doing it sometime. Note that there is a Moon square to Jupiter right before Mercury opposes Neptune which can sometimes prompt hasty emotional decisions. If you don’t know quite what to believe, wait.

A few hours later, a trine between the Moon and Saturn settle things down nicely. Everyone is in a more gracious mood and willing to take the emotional backseat in favour of friendly relations.

A trine between Pluto and Pandora prompts us to remember the power of hope.

“Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.” ~ Samuel Smiles

Saturday 10th September
The Sun in Virgo squares Phaethon in Gemini just as the Moon makes a conjunction to Neptune. The Moon conjunct Neptune is helping us to dream big, but don’t forget that Phaeton ended up in the river after taking on way more than he could handle! He sought to set tongues wagging with tales of how he was the son of the Sun God Helios. After Helios granted him one wish, Phaeton took up the reins of the Sun chariot but couldn’t control the horses. Coming too close to Earth, he burned the planet which enraged Zeus who took him out with a thunderbolt. The message here is to dream big but stay humble. Take small steps. Make little promises that you can keep.

Also today, Mercury completes his recent retrograde cycle by passing the degree upon which he stationed retrograde. We are finally out of the shadow and can truly look forward to moving forwards!

After the conjunction to Neptune, the Moon passes into sleepy Pisces. You might want to spend the evening curled up with a good book and furry slippers.

Sunday 11th September
A sexy sextile between Venus in Virgo and Mars in Cancer brings to mind shy flirtations and extra special smiles between sweethearts. Having watched a re-run of Sex and the City recently, this aspect is rather more Charlotte than Samantha. That said, it’s not without some bubbling passion as the Moon sextiles Pluto around the same time.

And there is another sextile, this time between the Moon in Pisces
and Jupiter in Taurus. I have a vision of lying in bed eating Haagan Dazs, preferably white chocolate raspberry truffle flavour pretty please 🙂

Sextiles are about taking opportunities. Traditionally seen as a ‘positive’ aspect they are more active than lazy trines. With the nature of Gemini (60
degrees from Aries brings you to the beginning of Gemini), the sextile speaks to you in a way that you can’t really ignore. It engages you on some level that makes you curious to find out more. Unlike a square it doesn’t force you to act, just tickles your fancy and leaves you to decide what to do about it. This is one of those days when opportunity knocks. Somebody get the door…