Cancer

Planet Watch: Water Grand Trine & Uranus Retrograde July 2013

Jul 14 2013

Planet Watch: Water Grand Trine & Uranus Retrograde July 2013

“…A Water Grand Trine can bring into focus emotions, feelings, heightened intuition and creative ability, and spiritual awareness and/or awakening…”

Planet Watch Week of July 14: A Water Grand Trine Transit could make for an interesting week for Water Signs and Cardinal Signs. If you have a Pisces, Cancer or Scorpio Sun, Moon and/or Ascendant, you could be feeling fortunate effects of a Water Grand Trine Transit that goes exact on July 17. Based on the planets involved in the Trine (Jupiter in Cancer, Neptune in Pisces and Saturn in Scorpio), you might experience improved “feel good” bonds with others, heightened creativity and intuition, and a deep sense of accomplishment, to name a few. Grand Trines are when three or more Celestial Bodies are in 120 degree aspect to each other, forming an equilateral triangle. As a result, each of CBs involved in a GT are in the same Element — either Earth Fire, Air or Water. Mysterious to many, one school of thought is that they symbolize a fortunate, or soft, aspect highlighting qualities of the Element involved and that, if not used wisely, can be wasted. When transiting planets form a Water Grand Trine, the characteristics of the planets involved are brought into focus through the qualities that embody Water — emotions and feelings, intuition and creative ability, and spiritual awareness and/or awakening — for those who have CBs in their natal chart in Trine aspect with those CBs involved in the Trine transit.

Interestingly, Uranus retrogrades on July 17, too, so any benefit from the Water Grand Trine could have a Uranian quality (sudden or out of the blue). Especially for the Aries, Cancers, Libras and Capricorns who are in the middle of the Uranus-Aries Transit we mentioned in our Facebook Post and in detail in our blog post, Cardinal Signs & Uranus-Aries Transit. If the Water Grand Trine Transit forms positive aspects to your natal Celestial Bodies, it could help you better absorb any continued or return of “chaos” you might experience from the Uranus retrograde…at least while the Trine is in effect through the first part of August. (You should know, however, that Uranus will retrograde for the next 4 months, but the good news is that it will be the third and last time Uranus revisits those of you Cardinals Signs with your Sun, Moon and or Ascendant at 8-12 degrees).

And, finally, Mercury stations direct in Cancer on July 20 after having been retrograde for 3 weeks. During the retrograde, some of you might have decided to hold off on or rethink any communications, travel or business transactions (Mercury) that you’ve been considering. Under the Cancer influence, these could have been related to whether or not to share your feelings with someone close to you about something in particular, deciding where to go for summer vacation, or buying, selling or fixing up your home. With Mercury direct, you’ll likely now be ready to make those decisions.

 

By • Elements, Quality, Ruling Planets, Transiting Planets, Zodiac Signs • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Cardinal Signs & Uranus-Aries Transit 2013

Jul 13 2013

Cardinal Signs & Uranus-Aries Transit 2013

A Uranus transit forming a hard aspect to your natal Sun, Moon, and/or Ascendant can be life-altering. …its shock can be difficult and the resulting awe isn’t easily apparent for most of us until viewed in hindsight.

If you are an Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn, you might have experienced or are experiencing sudden change — or the extreme urge for freedom — in a particular area of your life during the last few years. Manifestations of these unexpected changes or urges to set yourself “free” can range from job loss to ending/beginning of a close relationship, starting your own business, or refusing to go along with status quo, to name a few. Leaving you slightly traumatized and asking yourself, “What the heck just happened?” (If you were to be honest with yourself, however, you weren’t happy in that area of your life anyway!) It’s likely you can thank the Uranus transit of Aries for all the “fun”.

The seventh planet from our Solar System’s Sun has been transiting Aries since 2010/2011 and will be working its way through the first sign of the Zodiac until 2018/2019. As an outer planet, its affects are often on a societal scale. When paired with Aries (ruled by Mars, the planet of war and action), a sudden chaos can ensue, producing a sort of “shock-and-awe” effect. The last time these two paired together was over 80 years ago — during the Great Depression (shock) and the New Deal (awe). Some would argue today we are facing a similar scenario on a global scale with the financial woes (shock) that have been plaguing the world financial markets, forcing us to revolutionize our way of life through globalization, living within our means, etc. (awe).*  We still have some years to go in this transit, so it will be interesting to see the outcome.

That said, a Uranus transit forming a hard aspect to your natal Celestial Bodies, especially to your Sun, Moon, or to your Ascendant can impact you personally on a global scale of its own in that it can be life-altering. Unfortunately, at least in the beginning, its shock can be difficult and the resulting awe isn’t easily apparent for most of us until viewed in hindsight. However, it usually is for the “better”. This particular transit is forming hard aspects to Cardinal Signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn). Those of you who have your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant in Aries or if the House Aries rules in your birth chart is angular (e.g. 1st House/ego, self; 4th/inner, family life; 7th/one-on-one relationships or 10th/career, public image). At the time of this writing, Uranus is at 12 degrees Aries and has been affecting those of you with your Sun, Moon and/or Ascendant in early degrees of the sign (8 to 12) for the last year or so. Essentially, Uranus has pulled up alongside that Celestial Body or angle it’s aspecting, forming a conjunction.  Aries are not alone, however. Those of you with Capricorn, Cancer or Libra Sun, Moon and/or Ascendant have felt or will feel the punch, too, as Uranus forms a square (Caps and Cancers) or opposition (Libra) to these Cardinal Signs (For examples, see our “Uranus-Aries Hard Aspects” sidebar below).

“If there’s an area in your life that you are not satisfied with, or in which you feel stuck, this transit will give you the chance to change that.”

So what do these “growth” opportunities look like under the Uranus/Aries transit? Uranus, the ruler of that so-unusual Fixed Air Sign Aquarius, represents freedom, change, innovation, revolution, the sudden and unexpected, among other things. In transit it works to awaken or free us from areas in our life that have become mundane or static, or in which we feel stifled, trapped, stuck. In short, areas in need of change. Aries represents independence and new beginnings, and its Ruling Planet Mars represents action (not the gentle kind). Working in concert, this duo can orchestrate an electrical (Uranus also represents electricity) shock (Mars) to our systems that’s unlike no other combination if it forms a hard aspect with any of your CBs or your Ascendant. If there’s an area in your life that you are not satisfied with, or in which you feel stuck, this transit will give you the chance to change that.

Over the course of its transit of an astrological sign, Uranus visits the CB that’s in hard aspect three times, giving you plenty of chances to get the point. At the time of this writing, Uranus is about 12 degrees, so for those of you with any Cardinal CBs and/or your Ascendant between 8 and 12 degrees, your last round is near. Uranus goes retrograde July 17 (for more on what retrograde means, read our Pluto and Mercury Retrograde posts), giving you the third and final look at what needs to be changed, if you haven’t complied already, before stationing direct Dec. 17. Then it’s time for the Blue Planet to pay a visit to those Cardinal Signs who have their CBs or Ascendant in the middle degrees of Aries for a conjunction (and of Capricorn and Cancer for a square, and Libra for an opposition).

The best advice for those of you still under its influence and for those of you who have yet to encounter it:  Take the “one-two-three” on the chin and go with the “blow”… or flow, as it were.  You might be ever so reluctant to pay the initial price, but in the end you’ll look back and be “glad” you paid it. And if you don’t pay upfront, you just might feel like a missed opportunity passed you by and lifelong regret could end up being your only purchase.

*Note: we would be remiss within this post if we didn’t mention the current transit of Pluto (transformation) in Capricorn (government, finances) that’s forming a square to the Uranus/Aries transit and adding to the “color” of the Uranus/Aries transit, especially for the United States, which has a Cancer Sun.  On a personal scale, if you a have CBs and/or Ascendant in Capricorn at 8-12 degrees, the Pluto-Uranus square could be “doubling the fun” for you. That Uranus/Aries induced “unexpected” change goes beyond the surface and is transforming or will transform your subterranean landscape. But we’ll save that for another post.

Uranus-Aries Hard Aspects Explained
Remember from our post Basic Architecture of a Birth Chart that conjunctions between CBs produce an intense focus or emphasis of energy between the CBs or angles in question, giving us the chance for improvement in the areas represented by the House in which its occurring; we tend to feel squares between CBs or angles as an inner tension or struggle, alerting us to an inner growth opportunity related to the Houses in which they reside. Oppositions, on the other hand, often form a sort of metaphorical tug-of-war that you must engage in, usually with or as the result of others, as it relates to the Houses/signs in which the CBs or angle reside.  Below are brief examples of how each hard aspect might manifest, for the purpose of illustration. If you are feeling the transit, you’ll know!

Conjunction
If you have an Aries Sun in the 10th House, it did/is/will form a conjunction with the transit, causing you to focus on your career or how you interact with the public, maybe even a combination of the two. It could be that all of sudden you feel you’ve outgrown your current position and want to take a leadership role. If you can’t make it happen where you are, you could end up finding what you need elsewhere or starting a new endeavor on your own as the one in charge.

Sun Square
If you have a Capricorn or Cancer Sun in the 6th House, it did/is/will square Uranus-Aries in the 10th House. You might be feeling stuck or trapped in your career (10th House) and or bored with the monotony of daily work life (6th). This could manifest in a job loss or change requiring you to reevaluate your career direction and environment, or to start entirely fresh.

Moon Opposite
If you have a Libra Moon in the 3rd House, it was/is/will be opposite Uranus-Aries in the 9th House. As a result, the transit might cause an emotional conflict within a relationship resulting from a sudden desire by one of you to perhaps pursue a higher education (9th House) that involves having to move away, perhaps even to another state or country (9th House). Do you (or they) stay or go?

Ascendant Square
If you have a Capricorn or Cancer Ascendant, it did/is/will square the Uranus-Aries transit in the 10th House. Again, squares are usually felt as an inner struggle about the areas it’s aspecting.  It’s all about you (Ascendant) and could manifest in restlessness, rebellion against the status quo, all to find the freedom or excitement you desire, regardless what others think. With the 10th House involved, you could suddenly decide to shake things up and reinvent your career, just for the sake of it.

 

By • Aspects, Quality, Ruling Planets, Transiting Planets, Zodiac Signs • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Saturn Stations Direct With New Moon 2013

Jul 7 2013

Saturn Stations Direct With New Moon 2013

“With Saturn stationing Direct at the same time of a New Moon, we can take what we’ve learned during Saturn’s Retrograde period and apply it to the two-week period of new beginnings offered by the New Moon cycle.”

During the week of July 7, 2013, we see several interesting planetary aspects occur, all taking place in the Element of Water, potentially activating the nurturing, intuitive, feeling side or our psyches.  It begins with transiting Saturn in Scorpio stationing Direct on July 8, the same day of the New Moon in Cancer. This is significant because with Saturn stationing Direct in conjunction with a New Moon, we can take what we’ve learned during the Saturn’s Retrograde period and apply it to the two-week period of new beginnings offered by a New Moon cycle. Specifically, Saturn, the teacher, just spent 5 months Retrograde offering us an opportunity to slow down and revisit areas of our lives in which we might not be living by the rules. And if we have been living by them, then it was more of a pause to give us time to consider our next move. If we’ve learned from its teachings, we can resume the exploration into our psyches and transformation through personal growth symbolized by Scorpio. As we mentioned, New Moons represent a time of the month to put into action new plans, ideas, and goals that we might have been contemplating. In Cancer, this New Moon and the two or so weeks following it offer opportunity to allow ourselves to open up and follow our instincts and feelings, and to nurture ourselves or others. Paired with Saturn stationing Direct in Scorpio, this can be the perfect time to teach others (or ourselves) to feel secure and safe through nurturing and sensitivity.

Now, if that’s not enough, Mars transiting from Gemini into Cancer on July 13 will take the planet of action from our minds to our solar plexis. The actions we take will be based less on intellectualization to actions driven by intuition and emotions. In other words, it’s time to get out of your head and into your soul.

Finally, all of this is happening during a Water Grand Trine Transit formed by Jupiter (expansion) in Cancer/trine Neptune (spirituality) in Pisces/trine Saturn (learning/teaching) in Scorpio that started flowing in June and will go exact July 17 before  trickling itself out by mid-August.  Grand Trines (when three or more Celestial Bodies are in 120 degree aspect to each other, forming an equilateral triangle) symbolize a fortunate aspect that if not used wisely is wasted.  That said, this Water Grand Trine is yet another sign to let your emotions, feelings, intuition and creative ability flow into a heightened spiritual awareness and/or awakening (as long as they result in positive outcomes, of course!).

Now, if you lay this overall Sky Picture over your natal birth chart and look to the respective Astrological Signs, Planetary Rulers and Houses of all of these Celestial Bodies (Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, Moon) and see that their transiting aspects form direct aspect to your natal chart, then you should pay extra attention…for you will have the most to gain…should you choose to. Even if you don’t have this information at hand, you’ll be able to pinpoint how these aspects might be affecting you if you just open up your heart, mind and eyes to what is going on with you and around you. Remember, just follow your intuition and be open to the healing and nurturing that is embodied by the Water Element.

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Transiting Mercury Retrograde & You

Jun 29 2013

Transiting Mercury Retrograde & You

“The confusion in communications related to such things as speaking, business negotiations and travel typically associated with Mercury Retrograde is best viewed as an opportunity to “slow down” and revisit or to give more thought to an action you’re considering taking.”


Did you know that Mercury retrogrades several times a year? So what does that mean for you? First, let’s clarify what “retrograde” really means. As we wrote in our post, Transiting Pluto Retrograde & You, in as near scientific terms as we can understand and conjure (so please speak up if we get it wrong!), when a planet is retrograde, it’s not actually going backwards as the term implies, but only seems as if it is to those of us who happen to be inhabiting the planets that are passing each other at certain times of their orbits. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and, thus, on the most inner lane of the orbital racetrack, so to speak, while Earth is on an outside lane of the track. As the faster planet’s (Mercury) pulls parallel to the slower planet (Earth), the planets appear stationary to each other for a “moment’, until Mercury passes Earth. It’s at this point, it appears that one or the other is going backward, depending on which planet you’re living on. “Appears” is the operative word here. Or, if you prefer more “Earth bound” analogies, consider when a fast car approaches a slower car…for a moment two cars seem simpatico, but not for long. As the fast car pulls ahead, the slow car appears to move backward or vice versa. That’s not really the case, as we know. Something called physics is happening!

Mercury takes about 88 Earth days to orbit the Sun. The animation shows Mercury revolving around the Sun approximately 4.14 times (yellow trail) compared to Earth's 365 days (blue trail). Original simulation by Todd K. Timberlake

Mercury takes about 88 Earth days to orbit the Sun. The animation shows Mercury revolving around the Sun approximately 4.14 times (yellow trail) compared to Earth’s 365 days (blue trail). Original simulation by Todd K. Timberlake

In the case of Mercury, its latest retrograde at the time of this writing began June 26, 2013, in Cancer and will continue through July 20.  Unless you were born with Mercury Retrograde, when the fastest orbiting planet in our solar system “goes retrograde,” confusion in communications related to such things as speaking, business negotiations and travel might occur for many. However, it’s actually an opportunity to “slow down” and revisit or to give more thought to an action you’re considering taking. For example, when it’s in Cancer, as it is now, generally speaking you might find yourself feeling more sentimental than usual about the past or your family and you have an nagging urge to express these sentiments. Or maybe you are considering a real estate transaction. Or signing a contract to have work done on your house. Depending on the House it’s transiting in your birth chart and if it’s forming an aspect to any of your CBs, the three or so weeks it’s retrograding might be best used to mull things over before taking any action. And if you can wait until it goes direct around July 20, all the better.  If Mercury is the Ruling Planet of your Sun, Moon or Ascendant Sign (Gemini or Virgo), read our blog, Gemini Sun Sign.

Interestingly, if your natal Mercury is retrograde at the time of your birth, these periods are can be productive for you and you’ll rarely experience its confusion (To learn more about the difference between natal planets and transiting planets, read Natal Planets vs. Transiting Planets). However, when in doubt, the best modes of action to take during any Transiting Mercury Retrograde period: slow down, take stock, reorganize, review, be patient.

Mercury Rx 2013
Feb. 23 – March 17
June 26 – July 20
October 21 –  Nov. 10

A Few Mercury Fast Facts

  • Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun in our Solar System
  • Its orbit around the sun is about 88 Earth Days
  • Named after the fleet footed messenger of the Roman Gods
  • Its atmosphere is nearly nil, so has widest temperature fluctuations of any other planet in our Solar System
  • Because of its speed and eccentric orbit it has been the least understood of the Solar System’s planets
  • NASA’s Messenger space probe launched in 2004 reached Mercury’s orbit in 2011, when it captured the first-ever complete picture of Mercury

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Pisces Element—Water

Mar 12 2013

Pisces Element—Water

If you’ve read the Pisces Sun Sign and the Pisces Ruling Planet—Neptune posts, by now you know the element Pisces is “made of”…water. Each astrological sign is qualified by an element…water, earth, fire and air…with three signs to each element. Cancer and Scorpio join Pisces. These three signs share qualities associated with water…more so in the metaphorical sense than in the literal sense (though you’d be hard pressed to find one of these signs who is not noticeably attracted to pull of the sea). Emotional, tidal, sensitive, nurturing, selfish, intuitive, cold, imaginative, escapist. The kingdom of Pisces’ ruler stretches far and wide, spanning nearly three-quarters of the Earth, no less. So it’s these natives who possibly are the most sensitive to the undercurrents of their watery world. Their deceptive subtle, calm nature can be likened to a baby’s heartbeat muted by the amniotic fluid of its mother’s womb. They are very alive. And of the trio, it’s the only mutable astrological sign. You see a trend. By it’s very nature the sea is always changing, and so it is with Pisces. Another explanation to these folks’ “dual” nature and ability to swim in any direction, eluding capture but only by the most skilled of anglers…unless they allow themselves to be caught, that is.

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