After a couple of days of challenging aspects, today the Moon in Taurus makes a sextile to Neptune in Pisces and a trine to Jupiter in Capricorn. We are given the opportunity to revel in lavish inspiration and abundance of feeling. The Moon is currently exalted in Taurus, inviting us to ground into our own sensuality and pleasures. Neptune invites us to dance with our fantasies, allowing our imaginations to draw us toward more feeling and more possibility. How might your fantasies direct and connect you to more expansive experiences of pleasure? Jupiter is in its fall in Capricorn, but reminds us that abundance is not a specific quantity but rather a consciousness of more-than-enough with whatever is available to us. How might your experience shift if you were to seek out and hold the sensations of abundance and more-than-enough within your own body? How might you honor your body as a source of abundant pleasure, with all the resources you need in order to feel more and to feel good?
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Today is a busy day in the skies. The Moon ingresses into Taurus—the sign of its exaltation, but without reception from Venus in Aries. The Moon in Taurus shifts our attention down into the felt experience of the body, our sensuous selves, that which nourishes us and connects us to pleasure. It may not feel immediately clear how to access the resources needed to shift our attention in these ways. It may take more patience and careful feeling—in many ways, strategies that are opposite from those of Venus in Aries. The Moon then makes a conjunction to Uranus and a sextile to Mercury moving retrograde in Pisces. Disruptive Uranus may unsettle our habitual ways of connecting to our bodies and emotions, daring us to feel something new or in a new way. This could leave us feeling unsteady or disoriented. The sextile to Mercury reminds us that there is information that has not yet been revealed, and we may not yet see how this story will unfold. What would it be like to become more present for yourself in this moment as well as attentive to the lessons of your past selves, without knowing what the outcome of this learning will be? Venus then makes a square to Pluto in Capricorn, likely activating power struggles in our relationships—particularly between what we want right now and what we desire in the long-term. The Moon makes a trine to Mars in Capricorn then a sextile to the Sun in Pisces, reminding us to proceed with steady, deliberate action and to move with that which is life affirming. Even if you don’t know where you are going, you know how to get there as long as you continue to connect to that which allows you to shine more brightly. Finally, Mercury makes a sextile to Uranus, signaling unexpected messages or the arrival of information that has the potential to unsettle and shake things up, potentially situations that you thought were over and complete. Don’t be surprised if a process that seemed to be finished breaks open again in ways that could not have been anticipated.
Recovering from the superior square from Mars yesterday, today the Moon in Aries moves through a square from Jupiter in Capricorn, a conjunction with Venus in Aries, then squares from Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn. In Aries, we may be moving through waves of rage and the drive to channel our rage into action. The superior square from Jupiter, a condition of bonification, encourages us to consider how the frustration or anger we are experiencing now is perhaps part of a larger and longer process, covering over both what has come before as well as possibilities yet to come. As the Moon conjoins Venus, we may reconnect to our desires and the erotic as a source of power. Venus is in antithesis or detriment in Aries, so we may be more aware of the dissonance between our longings for both connection and independence. The squares from Pluto and Saturn bring me back to the ways in which rage emerges from loss and grief. Judith Butler writes, “Speaking from rage does not always let us see how rage carries sorrow and covers it over … How often is sorrow effectively shouted down by rage? How does it happen that sorrow can bring about the collapse of rage? Is there something to be learn about the sources of nonviolence from this particular power of grief to deflate rage of its destructiveness?” As you encounter your own rage, get curious about how this rage covers over and obscures grief and sorrow. What is this grief so unbearable that it becomes transformed into rage, and how might connecting and even resurrecting that grief, allowing yourself to feel what may seem unbearable, be a process of transforming destructive impulse into nonviolence?
Today Mercury in Pisces makes a sextile to Mars in Capricorn. Mercury is currently retrograde, so this is an aspect that will repeat once Mercury goes direct. Whatever this aspect describes today may foreshadow events in mid-April, when Mercury in Aries again makes this sextile to Mars in Aquarius. There are injuries that need to be addressed and redressed. There is harm that needs to be examined in order to facilitate accountability. What are the wounds that you are tending, and what would it require to move toward healing? How might you ask for the processes you need in order to come back into connection? The Moon in Aries is then overcome by a superior square from Mars in Capricorn. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, elevated and powerful, and rules the Moon in Aries. This may describe intense emotional or even physical harm, conflict, or separation. If it feels like you are under attack or being struck down by those in positions of authority, seek solace in the places and people who remind you that you are loved, that you are enough, that you belong, and that you are already connected to a vast world of others.
Today the Moon in Pisces makes sextiles to Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn before ingressing into Aries. So often it is the places where we’ve been wounded and the parts of ourselves that have been abandoned that hold the deepest sources of power for creating change in our lives. This is not accidental because it is the parts of us that present the greatest threat to existing systems, structures, and operations of power—the parts of us that are most different or divergent, farthest from that which is centered in our culture or elevated within the current hierarchies—that endure the most forceful repression, restriction, or punishment. As the Moon completes its time in Pisces and moves into Aries, how might you begin to feel for those broken and abandoned places within yourself, then take up the charge to defend and protect those precious places, beginning to access their power? Today we also experience a moment of clarity within Mercury’s retrograde through Pisces. As Mercury makes its first conjunction to the Sun—a condition called “cazimi”—we may glimpse a pathway through the fog, and catch a glimmer of understanding of what this period of reflection and review might be teaching us. This is not the end of the retrograde, but a moment of insight, inspiration, or intuition to guide us as we continue to retrace our strokes to learn what we perhaps missed the first time we swam across these waters.
Today the Moon makes a conjunction to Neptune in Pisces. Carrying forward from the New Moon yesterday, Neptune dissolves our edges, washes away fixed borders, and carries us into states of consciousness in which we can recognize and accept our own permeability and interconnectedness. We may find ourselves undone, opened up, awash in collective experiences that exceed the seeming limitations of space and time. This is a moment for deep listening, for tuning in to the subtle experiences within and beyond your own body—indeed, the subtle experiences that may in fact reveal your body to be so much more than you thought. The Moon then makes a sextile to its ruler Jupiter in Capricorn, a supportive aspect that encourages and cultivates growth of what was planted during the New Moon. Finally, the Sun in Pisces makes a sextile to Mars in Capricorn. Whereas the Sun in Pisces is concerned with knowledge and understanding that comes through the depth and breadth of feeling, Mars encourages us to put that felt knowledge into action. What choices might you make differently if you were to accept your feelings and emotions as strategic guides? What if your feelings were not only trustworthy but also intelligent, aligning you with that which you need in order to be well?
Today the Moon ingresses into Pisces and makes a sextile to Uranus before conjoining the Sun for the New Moon. In Pisces, the Moon turns our attention toward compassion and empathy, following the tides of our personal feelings as they carry us out into collective experiences and the emotional lives of others. However, this New Moon—closely configured to both Uranus and Mars—also carries the charge of action and revolution, for using the dark of the Moon to plant the seeds for radical, material change. How might we use this New Moon to attend to the feelings that flow between us, the ways they shape us, the injuries, the healing, as well as where we might go from here? As Sara Ahmed writes, “A good scar is one that sticks out, a lumpy sign on the skin. It’s not that the wound is exposed or that the skin is bleeding. But the scar is a sign of the injury: a good scar allows healing, it even covers over, but the covering over always exposes the injury, reminding us of how it shapes the body … Justice is not simply a feeling. And feelings are not always just. But justice involves feelings, which move us across the surfaces of the world, creating ripples in the intimate contours of our lives. Where we go, with these feelings, remains an open question.” This New Moon may draw us into processes of healing, but such healing must never conceal the injuries and injustices that shape our embodied lives. Such healing must always retain the trace of the story, exposing the harm as it heals. Venus in Aries then makes a square to Jupiter in Capricorn. We may experience conflict between the fiery impulses of our desires and the slow and steady growth that we are being called to cultivate in our lives. This square is also a condition of bonification—Jupiter overcoming Venus, Venus hurling rays back to Jupiter. While the square demands adjustment, the challenge may actually be in understanding how our immediate urges and slow growth can support one another. Finally, the Moon conjoins Mercury moving retrograde in Pisces. As we embark on journeys of healing, they may require us to revisit and retell the stories of our old wounds, the injuries that have formed us, in order to understand how such narratives fit within larger systems of oppression and cultures of harm.
Today the only major aspect in the sky is the Sun in Pisces making a sextile to Uranus in Taurus. New flashes of understanding may become available today in ways that challenge or liberate how we feel capable of shining and showing up in the world. The Sun was last conjunct Uranus on April 22, 2019. This waning sextile comes toward the end of this cycle. Think back to last spring and consider how you were beginning to be pushed to show up in new ways or understand the world from unfamiliar perspectives. Now as the Sun comes again into aspect with Uranus, we may have the opportunity to recognize and appreciate the changes that have been actualized over the past ten months. If you are familiar with your own birth chart, you might look to see what house or area of life is occupied by Leo—which is ruled by the Sun—and consider what disruptions or developments have occurred in relation to the topics of that house. Astrology is a way of measuring and experiencing time, the cycles of the planets in relation to each other and in relation to our own lived experiences. As we move into the final phase of this Sun/Uranus cycle, use this as an opportunity to observe not only what this aspect signifies for today, but also how it fits within a larger pattern or story.
Today Mars in Capricorn makes a trine to Uranus in Taurus. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, giving it particular strength and distinction to its ability to accomplish taking action that propels sustainable change. Uranus is the spark of revolution, the refusal of establishment and the impulse toward liberation. Angela Davis teaches us, “…the process of trying to assimilate into an existing category in many ways runs counter to efforts to produce radical or revolutionary results.” This insight is in concert with Audre Lorde’s insistence, “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.” We will never achieve revolutionary change by attempting to assimilate into existing categories that we inherit from centuries of systemic violence and oppression—categories of gender, race, sexuality, and class that are themselves the tools with which our current world was built. Rather, how might you harness the revolutionary force of this aspect between Uranus and Mars to struggle at the limits of existing categories and structures to create cracks of possibility through which new worlds might emerge? What if you don’t have to stay in the same boxes that you have been given? The Moon in Aquarius then makes a sextile to Venus in Aries. Ruled by Mars just beginning to separate from its trine to Uranus, Venus may enflame our insistence on desire and pleasure. Sextile the Moon, tonight may be a night to connect with your own body, feel into your own longings, and give yourself permission to follow where your own impulses might take you.
Today the Moon makes conjunctions to Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn. These conjunctions ask us to confront abuse and also to move toward responsibility and accountability. Breaking with the fear and shame that continue to surround the topic of abuse, Kai Cheng Thom writes, “Perhaps most secret and shameful of all is the fear that we, ourselves, are or have been abusive—the fear that we could be those villains, those monsters in the night. Nobody wants to be ‘an abuser.’ No one wants to admit that they have hurt someone, especially when so many of us have been hurt ourselves. But the truth is that abusers and survivors of abuse do not exist, and have never existed, in a dichotomy: sometimes, hurt people hurt people.” Today we may be initiated into processes of not only acknowledging the harm that we have survived but also the harm that we have inflicted. How might we each begin to recognize and accept accountability for the harm that we have done? Jupiter in Capricorn then makes a sextile to Neptune in Pisces. While Jupiter is in its fall or depression in Capricorn, we may feel the limitations and scarcity of possibilities available to us. Neptune invites us back into dreaming and visioning beyond the borders of what seems possible right now. How might you nourish your long-term growth with visions and fantasies of that which you yearn to bring into being? The Moon ingresses into Aquarius and soon after makes a square to Uranus in Taurus. In the process of acknowledging harm and accepting responsibility, old patterns must be broken, opening up new ways of seeing and thinking. Such breakdowns or breakthroughs may be uncomfortable or disruptive, but the established paradigms are no longer working. Learning to become intimate with discomfort is a prerequisite for co-creating new worlds.
Today the Moon in Capricorn makes a sextile to Mercury moving retrograde in Pisces. The Moon is in its antithesis or detriment in Capricorn, and Mercury is not only retrograde but also in its detriment and fall in Pisces. Both of these bodies are displaced from contexts in which they have immediate access to that which they need in order to bring about that which they signify, but both have reception from their rulers, lending support to carry them through these difficulties. This aspect may describe finding ways to move forward through physical or emotional discomfort for which we struggle to find adequate language, but nevertheless find a way through. The Moon then makes a square to Venus in Aries—which is also in the sign of its antithesis or detriment. While both Venus and the Moon are in placements that may involve challenges, this square is a condition of bonification, Venus hurling its rays back to the Moon to offer support. The fiery independence and assertiveness of Venus in Aries sparks our ability to fight for what we believe and to pursue justice throughout the tasks of the day, even if doing so involves struggle. The Moon then enters its balsamic phase before making a sextile to Neptune in Pisces and a conjunction to Jupiter in Capricorn. The balsamic phase is a time of wilting and passing away, the endings that will nourish and fertilize that which begins at the New Moon this weekend. Neptune describes dissolution while Jupiter describes coherence. Today we may experience how allowing some things to come undone allows other possibilities to come together.
Today the Moon in Sagittarius makes a sextile to the Sun in the final degree of Aquarius. This aspect offers hope for futures that will be built from what we choose to make possible in the present. I’m reminded of Judith Butler’s words, “If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible.” What impossible demands might you make today in order to make more lives and ways of living possible in worlds to come? The Moon then ingresses into Capricorn, the sign of its antithesis or detriment. In Capricorn, the nurturing care of the Moon may feel weighed down by practical, material demands and the work that must be done. As the Moon conjoins Mars in Capricorn, we may be stirred to action, the bold courage and drive to put hope into practice and to fight on behalf of our impossible demands. This charge receives even more momentum as the Moon makes a trine to Uranus in Taurus. Uranus is the planet of revolution, upheaval, disruption, and the unsettling of the establishment. After a morning of astrology that feels like the radical movements of personal and collective activisms, the Sun ingresses into Pisces in the final minutes of Tuesday. The Sun joins Mercury—now moving retrograde in the sky—and Neptune in the mutable water sign ruled by Jupiter. With increasing emphasis on Pisces, we may ask: how are our movements and our activisms carried and nourished by deep practices of empathy and compassion? In what ways must we allow ourselves to feel with those whose lives have not yet been made possible within the conditions of—to paraphrase bell hooks—imperialist, colonialist, white supremacist, capitalist, hetero-patriarchy?
Today the Moon in Sagittarius makes a square to Neptune in Pisces. Worlds are expanding and borders are dissolving. As familiar horizons recede further into unknown and unseen territories, we may find that what we thought were our boundaries or our edges are no longer clear. We may find that we—our bodies—are far more permeable than we imagined, surrounded and penetrated by the visible and the invisible to such an extent that there can be no radical separation between a body and a world. Catriona Sandilands writes, “… a queer body politics suggests an active, sustained and politicized recognition of bodies perpetually in the throes of materialization … How to live the body on and in this dynamically porous skin? How to practice a body-on-the-skin in a way that does not aim to coherence and closure, not to infinite fluidity, but to an active, sensual and contextual semi-permeability?” How might today provide opportunities to recognize and accept our own porosity and permeability, practicing personhood in such a way that refuses closure or the isolation of the self, and manages boundaries as pathways and passages of relation from which we are composed again and again? Both Neptune and the Moon are ruled by Jupiter in Capricorn, which invites us to contemplate the consequences and long-term effects of reimagining our bodies and selves in more open and expansive ways.
Today Mars ingresses into Capricorn, the sign of its exaltation, joining Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn. Mars describes our drive and pursuit of that which we desire, and Capricorn is the cardinal earth sign, focus on diligent work, focused effort, and long-term achievements. As Mars moves into Capricorn, we may experience an urgency to define and initiate that which we hope to accomplish in whatever area of our chart Capricorn occupies. The Moon in Sagittarius makes a trine to Venus in Aries, a fiery, adventurous aspect that could heat up the love in our lives and invite us to embody the liberation of our own desires. As Annie Sprinkle has written, “Let there be pleasure on earth and let it begin with me. Never forget that when you receive pleasure, you will be contributing to the pleasure in the world … The best way to learn about love and sex is not be reading about it but by practicing it, by trial and error. Be brave in love. Be brave in sex. Be brave in your ecstasy. Be brave in your orgasms. Be brave in being who you truly are.” What kinds of pleasures can you bring into the world today if you trusted yourself to explore and act on your most expansive desires? Mercury stations retrograde in Pisces, drawing us into a time of reflection and review for the next several weeks. Communication may become distorted or delayed, so this is an opportune time to practice patience with ourselves and others as we try to express the things we are feeling. Finally, the Moon in Sagittarius makes a square to Mercury as it is stationing retrograde. Misunderstandings between different experiences or points of view seem likely. Remember, no matter how expansive you feel your perspective might be, you cannot fully understand what it is like to see the world from another position, centered within different horizons. What if you approached others today with the humility to know that you do not know the world in the same ways they do?
Today the Moon in Scorpio makes a trine to Neptune in Pisces, a dreamy aspect for journeying across or beneath the waters of our conscious and unconscious feelings. The Moon then makes a sextile to Pluto in Capricorn, another aspect that pulls us toward our depths, for working with the buried or forgotten powers of mystery. These aspects offer support for healing work, for working with ancestors, and for connecting to our past and future selves. Then the Moon makes a square to the Sun in Aquarius, entering the waning quarter phase. Think back to the New Moon in Aquarius on January 24: whatever process was initiated at that time is moving toward completion, and in that process, we may be re-evaluating or integrating the lessons that emerged into consciousness during the Full Moon in Leo last weekend. Finally, the Moon makes a sextile to Saturn in Capricorn before ingressing into Sagittarius in the final minutes of Saturday. Saturn supports us in devising and establishing structure and discipline, so we can ask: what habits or ways of organizing my life do I need to put into place in order to hold myself accountable to the lessons I’ve been learning over the last three weeks? While Saturn emphasizes structure and boundaries, Sagittarius turns our attention toward the horizon, toward what we now see is possible that perhaps we could not have imagined previously. The depth and dreamwork from earlier in the day seems to propel us into the excitement and adventure of realizing our own expansive potential.
Today the Moon in Scorpio opposes Uranus in Taurus. What would a revolution erupting from your emotional depths require? What throughout your material reality would have to change if you truly accepted, trusted, and honored the validity of your own feelings—however inconvenient or unsettling they may seem? How much of the comfort or stability of your day to day life depends upon the repression or abandonment of what you feel most deeply? The Moon then makes a trine to Mercury in Pisces, and we may find ease and flow in coming to express or put into words what has previous only echoed throughout the hidden places of our own bodies. Audre Lorde writes, “I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood … What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?” This trine is inviting, asking, perhaps even begging you to put into words that which is most important. Finally, the Moon makes a sextile to Jupiter in Capricorn. Both planets are in their fall, which can be challenging placements, but in this sextile, they can offer support to one another from whatever resources they have. Sometimes the limited resources that are available become more than enough when we create opportunities to share them.
Today the Moon in Libra makes a square to Pluto in Capricorn, a trine to the Sun in Aquarius, a square to Saturn in Capricorn, then a sextile to Mars in Sagittarius. Attempts at meaningful connection with others may be hijacked by difficult feelings lodged beneath the surface of who you are trying to be. Burying whatever darkness or shame you may be feeling will not make it go away; it will make itself unavoidable until it is addressed. Bringing that which is hidden into the light will allow you to move toward that which is life-affirming for yourself and for those around you, when you are no longer giving so much of your energy to concealing or repressing whatever feels like it will cost you love. The square to Saturn describes encountering hard limitations that refuse the direction in which we thought we were moving, barriers that require us to find another path. But the sextile to Mars in Sagittarius activates and inspires us to redirect and journey outward toward other trajectories. What paths become apparent or available to you because the way you thought you would go is now closed? Finally, the Moon ingresses into Scorpio, the sign of its fall, and we may feel immobilized by the density of our own feelings. There’s a lot to process today. What if rather than trying to make big moves, we took the time to feel the reverberations of all that has been uncovered and expressed, the directions that have been abandoned and the paths we are just starting to consider as possibilities?
Today the Moon in Libra opposes its ruler Venus in Aries. Venus in Aries can describe the passionate charge to pursue that which we desire—sometimes without the stamina to follow through—and it can also describe the tension between our tendencies toward union and our impulses to individuate. Opposing the Moon, we may be challenged to co-create interdependence that does not elide our differences. Audre Lorde writes, “Difference must be not merely tolerated, but must be seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic. Only then does the necessity for interdependency become unthreatening. Only within that interdependency of different strengths, acknowledged and equal, can the power to seek new ways of being in the world generate, as well as the courage and sustenance to act where there are no charters.” How might you forge interdependencies with others that rely on acknowledged and equal differences as a source of creative power, where interdependency need not threaten any one’s personal sovereignty? The Moon then squares Jupiter in Capricorn. Jupiter is in its fall in Capricorn, but hurls its rays back to support and affirm the Moon as it cultivates connections with respect and harmony, holding different perspectives, needs, and desires in balance in order to sustain our bonds.
Today the Moon in Virgo makes trines to Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn and a square to Mars in Sagittarius before ingressing into Libra. However we have been moving with the Moon’s transit through Virgo the last couple of days—inflected heavily by its ruler Mercury in Pisces—Pluto will likely intensify those feelings. Pluto can push toward obsession and fixation, and with the Moon in Virgo, we could easily find ourselves sinking into perfectionism and overly-critical approaches to ourselves and those around us. Saturn, however, reminds us of our limits and our boundaries, the discipline to decide that something may not be perfect, but it is good enough. Saturn can also point to our feelings of inadequacy as well as the past, so if you find yourself feeling that you are insufficient, take this opportunity to look back and ask: when did I first receive this message? Who or what made me feel that I was not enough, and can I tell myself a different story today? As the Moon squares Mars, we may be challenged to decide what needs to be cut away and left behind in order to move beyond that constraints of our own horizons. What is no longer yours to carry? What heaviness or burdens have been distributed to you within unjust systems, and in what ways might you refuse to comply with such expectations? The Moon ingresses into Libra, a sign associated with balance, harmony, connection, and justice. We may find ourselves drawn to finding how our lives can fit with others in a balanced way. However, Venus—the ruler of Libra—is currently in antithesis or detriment in Aries, so don’t be surprised if in the process of seeking out connection or even union, fiery needs for independence assert themselves. The challenge will be to hold our desires for connection with others together with our drives for autonomy.
Today the Moon in Virgo opposes its ruler Mercury in Pisces. Today we may feel pulled between moving efficiently through our tasks and to-do lists and the kinds of conversations or self-reflections that allow us to wade into our emotional depths. Like attempting to manage meticulous work while holding back tears or organizing your schedule when you feel swept away by joy or heartbreak, today balance may come from giving yourself time be in your feelings rather than working to push them aside. How might you direct the impulse for optimization and productivity toward responding effectively to your own emotional well-being? What if getting back to work today means getting to the work of slowing down and holding space for your feelings to be recognized, appreciated, and honored—both with yourself and with others? The Moon in Virgo then makes a trine to Jupiter in Capricorn, and we may get a sense of how the small steps we are taking today are part of the larger, slower, deliberate growth we are nurturing this year. As adrienne maree brown writes in Emergent Strategy, “How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale … what we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system.” Wherever Capricorn sits in your chart, Jupiter is spending the majority of this year encouraging and supporting diligent, focused, sustainable growth in this area of life. As the Moon makes this trine to Jupiter, we can observe how the growth we are experiencing at larger scales is being generated and practiced at the scale of the details of today.
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AuthorMichael J. Morris is a witch, an astrologer, a tarot reader, an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Categories
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