|
Today the Moon in Leo opposes Saturn in Aquarius. The pressure to withhold and hide can be relentless. The absolute conviction that if you diminish yourself, if you conform to the expectations of others, you will be loved can seem unquestionable. But it isn’t true. If you do not allow yourself to show up fully and be seen, you have decided in advance that all of you cannot be loved. As Brené Brown writes, “We can’t be ‘all in’ if only parts of us show up. So: be all in. Show up and be seen. The Moon then makes a square to Mercury and Uranus in Taurus, just as they are perfecting their conjunction. Mercury conjunct Uranus can describe exciting, unexpected, and even revolutionary new thought processes, conversations, or exchanges of ideas. The square to the Moon may insist that we embody new ways of thinking or connecting with others, even if it feels challenging. We are living in unprecedented times, and no doubt we are facing unanticipated difficulties, but these conditions can also inspire radical innovation in how we communicate and connect. The Moon makes a square to the Sun in Taurus, entering the waxing quarter phase. This can be a turning point or moment of crisis in relation to what was planted at the New Moon on April 22. How are you continuing to bring your personal and collective experiences of pleasure into alignment with your values, moving more and more into your own authentic experience of orgasmic yes in solidarity with those who are most marginalized and alienated from access to pleasure? 
0 Comments
Today the Moon in Cancer makes a trine to Neptune in Pisces. In an essay entitled “How We Learned (Are Learning) Transformative Justice,” adrienne maree brown writes, “When we define ourselves, the result is complexity. We are none of us one thing, neither good nor bad. We are complex surviving organisms. We do appalling things to each other, rooted in trauma. We survive, we learn we have agency about our next steps. We rise to great kindness, great bravery, rooted in lineage and dream.” The Moon in Cancer roots us into deep lineages of kindness and care, and this trine to Neptune in Pisces roots us in compassionate dreams in which none of us are ever one thing. The Moon then opposes both Pluto, moving retrograde in Capricorn, then Jupiter in Capricorn. In order to remain rooted in lineages and dreams of kindness and great bravery, we must be willing to oppose operations of power that would drag us down into domination and exploitation, acting out our own traumas. We must be willing to grow and exceed the limitations of who we have been in the past. The Moon then ingresses into Leo, with reception from its ruler the Sun in Taurus. Leo calls us into vibrant authenticity, courageous loyalty, and the kind of warmth that endures, sustaining us through difficult days. What fuel do you need to access or gather in order to sustain your authenticity, courage, loyalty, and warmth throughout the challenges of these times in which we are living?  Today the Moon in Cancer makes a sextile to Uranus in Taurus. This is an aspect of revolutionary mothering and revolutionary care. Alexis Pauline Gumbs writes, “The radical potential of the word ‘mother’ comes after the ‘m.’ It is the space that ‘other’ takes in our mouths when we say it. We are something else. We know it from how fearfully institutions wield social norms and try to shut us down. We know it from how we are transforming the planet with our every messy step toward making life possible. Mamas who unlearn domination by refusing to dominate their children, extended family and friends, community caregivers, radical childcare collectives, all of us breaking cycles of abuse by deciding what we want to replicate from the past and what we need to urgently transform, are m/othering ourselves.” As we practice caring for ourselves and one another, how are we refusing domination, being intentional about what we want to replicate from the past and what we need to urgently transform? The Moon in Cancer then makes a sextile to the Sun in Taurus, reminding us to be guided by that which is life-affirming. Mercury in Taurus makes a square to Saturn in Aquarius. Overcome by malefic Saturn, we may feel inhibited or prohibited from speaking or expressing ourselves. Be careful of how your thinking is being shaped or limited by your fears.  Today the Moon in Gemini makes a sextile to its ruler Mercury in Aries just before the Moon ingresses into Cancer and Mercury ingresses into Taurus. Messages that motivate us to action may arrive with urgency—perhaps you are the recipient of such messages or perhaps you are the sender. Whatever the direction of communication, remember to situate what you are saying and hearing within a broader context, alongside all of the data, information, and perspectives available to you. As the Moon moves into its domicile, we return to the resources that we need in order to provide comfort and care both to ourselves and to those we love. Mercury moves into Taurus, exchanging signs with Venus in Gemini but unable to witness one another. Both may provide the support that they can offer, but without being able to assess one another’s needs. When in doubt, speak from the truth of the body, and connect with those whose opinions matter most. Remember, as Brené Brown has written, “Our stories are not meant for everyone. Hearing them is a privilege, and we should always ask ourselves this before we share: ‘Who has earned the right to hear my story?’” With whom have you built steady and reliable foundations of trust that are capable of holding you and your stories? Reach out to those people to share what needs to be said.  Today Mercury in Aries separates from its square to Pluto and into its square to Jupiter in Capricorn, a condition of bonification in Hellenistic astrology that may also challenge us to grow in our voices. How can you begin to transform your silence and fear into words that must be said, words that motivate you to action? Audre Lorde writes, “My silence had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you … 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? … In the transformation of silence into language and action, it is vitally necessary for each one of us to establish or examine her function in that transformation and to recognize her roles as vital within that transformation.” The Sun makes a conjunction to Uranus in Taurus, disrupting and challenging how perceptions and understandings, as well as how we will risk shining and showing up in the world. The Moon in Gemini makes a conjunct to Venus, a trine to Mars in Aquarius, and a square to Neptune in Pisces. It is necessary to connect with others, to find the actions that can be taken together, but know that as we do so, something of our egos and our individualism will be challenged. The more we work together in solidarity, the more the distinction between self and other dissolves, bridging our differences as that which connects us.  Today the Moon ingresses into Gemini just as its ruler Mercury in Aries makes a square to Pluto in Capricorn. This is a moment of speaking truth to power. But as Judith Butler has said, “To speak truth to power is not fundamentally an individual act. To speak truth to power means that one appropriates power in speaking as one does. And that the structures of power can be taken over or redeployed in the service of ‘talking back’ … Before we ask what it means to speak truth to power, we have to ask who can speak … So in a way, we have first to break into discourse before we can speak truth to power. We have to break upon the constraints on political representation in order to expose its violence and oppose its exclusions.” Who has been excluded from speaking? Whose voices have not yet been heard or allowed to matter in the ways power operates? If speaking truth to power is not fundamentally an individual act, how might you amplify the voices of those who have not yet been recognized as authorities on their experiences—not speaking for them, but speaking with them in ways that demand that their voices be heard? The Moon in Gemini makes a trine to Saturn in Aquarius, supporting us in feeling in our bodies what it would feel like to live in a different kind of world, a world less structured by oppression, domination, exploitation, and violence. Finally, Pluto stations retrograde, as if turned back by the force of Mercury’s fiery words. Do not underestimate the magnitude of the words you put out into the world.  Today the exalted Moon in Taurus makes a square to Mars in Aquarius, a sextile to Neptune in Pisces, then trines to Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. The square from Mars is a difficult aspect, a condition of maltreatment in Hellenistic astrology. Sometimes being part of a collective feels impossible. Sometimes it feels like in order to be part of something larger, there are parts of ourselves that have to be excised, cut off, our left out. When confronted with abandoning parts of yourself in order to be a part of something, remember what Brené Brown writes: “If I get to be me, I belong. If I have to be like you, I fit in … True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.” What if your response to being challenged to cut off parts of who you are in order to fit in was to get more and more intimate with your whole self? The sextile to Neptune reminds us that the more deeply we go into being present for our own experience, the more we will find that we were part of something larger than ourselves all along. We become more available to being with the experiences of others when we develop a practice of holding and accepting our own experiences in their wholeness. The trines to Pluto and Jupiter show us that committing to staying in our own integrity and the truth of our experiences—despite insistence that we must be something or someone else—we access power and growth that would not be available to us otherwise. So, today may challenge us to belong fully to ourselves in spite of demands that we become less of ourselves, but as we come through these challenges, we access more connection, compassion, power, and growth.  The only exact aspect in the sky today following yesterday’s New Moon is the Moon making its conjunction to Uranus. The stability of the body is shaken, disruptive, trembling at the encounter of what else might become possible. Judith Butler writes in Bodies That Matter: “To what extent is ‘sex’ a constrained production, a forcible effect, one which sets the limits to what will qualify as a body by regulating the terms by which bodies are and are not sustained?” She pursues as “radical rearticulation of the symbolic horizon in which bodies come to matter at all.” As the Moon conjoins Uranus, may not only the limits of what we believe to be the truth of bodies be shaken, but may the ways in which such limits and beliefs live deep within our own bodies quake with the sudden realization that this is not the only way. What do you believe to be true of bodies—your own body—and how do you reproduce the reality of such beliefs every day by continuing to behave as if that is real? What if today you questioned the foundations of such beliefs—risking staging a revolution within your own flesh—in order to experience what else a body could do and become? What if you questioned the ways in which the materiality of your own body has been transformed into signs of cultural situation—sex, race, age, ability, and so on—which shape the material conditions of life and livability, in order to break down the horizons of how bodies come to matter, in order to challenge the limits of who gets to live and how?  Today the Moon in Aries moves through squares to Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. The square with Pluto can describe a confrontation with authority figures or misuses and abuses of power. The potential for conflict and extreme pressure is high. But then the square from Jupiter—a condition of bonification—offers some relief. Jupiter is fallen in Capricorn, so its strength is limited, but it nevertheless will offer support and ease with the resources it has available. The Moon then ingresses into Taurus, the sign of its exaltation, inviting us to return to the grounding nourishment and pleasures of the body. The Moon makes a square to Saturn in Aquarius, both in their dignity but with Saturn in the superior position, which may describe physical and emotional contraction or the exacerbation of our fears around scarcity. Then the Moon makes its conjunction to the Sun for the New Moon in Taurus. The New Moon is a time of new beginnings, and in Taurus this can be a new process of what adrienne maree brown describes as “tuning into what brings aliveness into our systems.” She writes, “We are in a time of fertile ground for learning how we align our pleasures with our values, decolonizing our bodies and longings, and getting into a practice of saying an orgasmic yes together, deriving our collective power from our felt sense of pleasure.” With Venus, the ruler of this New Moon, in Gemini, collective power from pleasure and saying an orgasmic yes together are exquisite intentions for this lunation cycle. How can we personally and collectively bring our experiences of pleasure into alignment with our values and decolonize our bodies and desires through our practices of pleasure?  Today the Sun in Taurus makes a square to Saturn in Aquarius. In Hellenistic astrology, this is a condition of maltreatment, with Saturn overcoming the Sun. It may feel as if the light is diminished or withheld, or that our capacities to stand in our own brilliance and offer that which is life-affirming to others is limited or restricted in some way. The Moon in Aries moves through sextiles to Venus in Gemini and Mars in Aquarius before perfecting its conjunction to Mercury. Aries ignites impulsive action. The Moon’s sextile to Venus reminds us that we do not act alone, while Mars severs and separates, empowering us to clarify those with whom we are not acting in alignment. Then as Mercury settles into the body of the Moon amidst the fires of Aries, having clarified who is with us and who is not with us, there comes the combustion of language, the need to speak up in ways that demand change. In This Bridge Called My Back, Gloria Anzaldúa quotes Kathy Kendall’s recollection: “Audre [Lorde] said we need to speak up. Speak loud, speak unsettling things and be dangerous and just fuck, hell, let it out and let everybody hear whether they want to or not.” What are the loud, unsettling, even dangerous words resonating from within your bones that are demanding to be spoken—whether anyone wants to hear them or not? What we say sparks effects and sets processes into motion, sometimes because of the impact of our words and sometimes simply by virtue of having said them. You don’t know what change is possible because of speaking up and speaking loud, and if you do not dare to say what needs to be said, you may never know. Only one way to find out.  Today the Moon ingresses into Aries and directly into a sextile with Saturn in Aquarius. The cardinal fires of Aries may compel us to charge ahead with haste and urgency, but Saturn cautions patience, moving at the pace of commitment to the collective. As adrienne maree brown writes in Emergent Strategy, “There is such urgency in the multitude of crises we face, it can make it hard to remember that in fact it is urgency thinking (urgent constant unsustainable growth) that got us to this point, and that our potential success lies in doing deep, slow, intentional work.” As politicians and protestors call for a reopening and repopulating of public spaces amidst the ongoing crisis of COVID-19, question the motivations of this haste to abandon the practices for protecting the most vulnerable among us by preventing the accelerated spread of the virus. Consider: what is the deep, slow, intentional work into which we can channel our passions in order to support and sustain us in the days ahead?  Today the Moon makes a conjunction to Neptune in Pisces, a dreamy aspect just around dawn that may blur the boundaries between sleeping and waking life, as we start the day still carrying the imprints of other realms. The Sun ingresses into Taurus, leaving the sign of its exaltation and without reception from Venus. Direction might not be clear, so ground yourself in the slowness of the tangible, taking time to orient to substantial reality of the world around you. The Moon in Pisces then moves through sextiles to Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. Pluto intensifies whatever it touches, and sextile the Moon in Pisces, our sensitivities, our capacities to move and be moved, could feel overwhelming. Jupiter—the ruler of Pisces—encourages expansion and growth, which could further enlarge the emotions that are already arising. But Jupiter also brings coherence, and in Capricorn, sustainable growth. How can we allow ourselves to feel more without dissolving or disintegrating under the force of such feelings? What practical considerations can you put into place to support you in not only feeling your own experiences more deeply, but also becoming more available to empathy and compassion with others? Brené Brown reminds us that empathy is both a practice and a skill: “Empathy is a strange and powerful thing. There is no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgement, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone’.” The more we engage in the practical steps of empathy, the more stable and resilient we can be as we feel deeply with one another.  Today Mercury in Aries makes a sextile to Venus in Gemini. This aspect ignites meaningful communication, potentially in many different directions. Check in with the people that you love. Respond to correspondences that excite you. Share your thoughts and perspectives with someone who values what and how you think. Take time to read, listen to your queue of podcasts, or tune in to an online class. The Moon in Pisces makes a sextile to Uranus in Taurus then a square to Venus in Gemini. Uranus may stir up feelings that have gotten stagnant, and Venus hurls rays of support back to the Moon from Gemini, reminding us to reach out for support, ask for the things that we need, and offer support to others who may be moving through emotional intensity. Mercury then makes a sextile to its ruler Mars in Aquarius. What action can you take to back up the words you are saying? How do the words you are speaking or hearing motivate you to take charge or take a stand? Sara Ahmed writes, “When did feminism become a word that not only spoke to you, but spoke you, spoke of your existence, spoke you into existence? When did the sound of the word feminism become your sound? What did it mean, what does it do, to hold on to feminism, to fight under its name; to feel its ups and downs, in its comings and goings, your ups and downs, your comings and goings?” Maybe it’s feminist words or the word feminism that propels you into action. Maybe its other words other movements. Listen to the words you are speaking and that are being spoken to you, and notice which ones animate your willpower into action.  Today the Moon in Aquarius makes a waning sextile to the Sun in Aries. We are approaching the final phase of this lunation cycle, which began at the New Moon back on March 24. This has been a journey of elevating stories of collective sovereignty, celebrating brilliance that is shared and distributed rather than consolidated into heroic individuals. As the Moon perfects this sextile, how might you celebrate those who inspire you, who illuminate your world, who provide ways of perceiving and thinking that have connected you to more light and life? Toward whom can you direct awareness and attention? Sara Ahmed writes, “Feminism is at stake in how we generate knowledge; in how we write, in who we cite.” She writes of citing “companion texts,” “…whose company enabled you to proceed on a path less trodden. Such texts might spark a moment of revelation in the midst of an overwhelming proximity; they might share a feeling of give you resources to make sense of something that had been beyond your grasp; companion texts can prompt you to hesitate or to question the direction on which you are going, or they might give you a sense that in going the way you are going, you are not alone.” Who do you cite as the people who gave you the resources with which to think your thoughts? Who do you honor as those who supported you in accomplishing what you have accomplished? None of us do any of this alone. How can we make these reflections of interdependence more visible? The Moon then ingresses into Pisces, with reception from Jupiter fallen in Capricorn. We may feel as if we are wading into the depths and breadths of personal and collective feelings without a lot of support. Hold onto what keeps you afloat and trust that you can hold and be held in the immensity of these feelings.  The only aspect that perfects today is the Moon making a conjunction to Mars in Aquarius. Mars is the archetype of the warrior, the principle of action, as well as the drive toward severing and separating. Aquarius calls our attention to the systemic, the collective, the big ideas that shape the worlds we are building in futures yet to come. What kind of worlds are you ready to fight for? What kinds of worlds are you prepared to refuse? As Angela Davis asks in “The Meaning of Freedom,” “How do we imagine and struggle for a democracy that does not spawn forms of terror, that does not spawn war, that does not need enemies for its sustenance? … We need to use our imaginations to envision versions of democracy that allow for many things: the right to decent, fulfilling employment and a living wage; the right to quality education; the right to live in a world where education is not a commodity, but rather a creative discipline that allows us to understand all the worlds we inhabit, both human and nonhuman, the kinds of education that compel us to transcend the limits of nationalist patriotism in order to imagine ourselves as citizens of the globe.” As the Moon conjoins Mars, we are being asked to begin to embody and put into practice these kinds of worlds that we can imagine, and to refuse the persistence of tyranny, exploitation, domination, and oppression.  Today the Moon ingresses into Aquarius and directly into a conjunction with its ruler Saturn. Saturn demarcates boundaries and limits, and this conjunction may feel like hitting a wall, encountering emotional or physical situations that stop us in our tracks. Take a breath, reassess, and determine what boundaries are necessary in order for you to proceed while remaining in alignment with your optimal well-being. The Sun in Aries makes a square to Jupiter in Capricorn, a condition of bonification with Jupiter overcoming the exalted Sun. Support for recognition or even honors may arrive from sources that seemed to have little to offer. The Moon in Aquarius then moves through a series of aspects in the afternoon: a square to Uranus in Taurus, a sextile to Mercury in Aries, and a trine to Venus in Gemini. Pay attention to what feels unsettled this afternoon, in the hidden places of your emotional body. Dare to put words to these feelings, to address what feels shaken or agitated, letting your words rumble with the truth of your situation. And know that by doing so, by finding the courage to speak what needs to be said, you will open new pathways for developing love and connection.  Today the Sun in Aries makes a square to Pluto in Capricorn. In Aries, the Sun is exalted, a place of honor, elevation, and recognition, and while Pluto can intensify all that it touches, it can also drag down the shining brilliance of seeming self-sovereignty. Judith Butler writes, “We can only be dispossessed because we are already dispossessed. Our interdependency establishes our vulnerability to social forms of deprivation.” Pluto reminds us that no matter how accomplished our autonomy may seem, it was always already vulnerable to dispossession. Self-sufficiency was always the repression of interdependency, and this is what Pluto demands that we face. It may also be that the exalted Sun illuminates and reveals that which has been carried off to the underworld, lighting the way for those or that which has been buried to arise, for the dead or forgotten to accost our high places. The Moon in Capricorn makes a sextile to Neptune in Pisces then conjunctions to Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. Neptune whispers to us through the mist and fog at the edges of ordinary reality, drawing us toward perceptions and inspirations that come to us from beyond the reasonable or rational. Pluto draws us deep beneath the ground of that which is conscious, into the compost of what we could not accept or no longer maintain. Jupiter nourishes the seeds of whatever is planted there, supporting the growth of who we will become from the deterioration of who we were.  At the very start of the day, the Moon in Capricorn makes a square to Mercury in Aries and a trine to Uranus in Taurus. Both aspects hold the potential for conflict and disruption. The Moon is not well supported in Capricorn, and Mercury in Aries does not hesitate to speak and wield the strength of its words. Today language may land more deeply in the emotional body, heightening our sensitivity to the ways in which words can wound. Judith Butler writes, “When we claim to have been injured by language, what kind of claim do we make? … Could language injure us if we were not, in some sense, linguistic beings. Beings who require language in order to be? Is our vulnerability to language a consequence of our being constituted within its terms? If we are formed in language, then that formative power precedes and conditions any decisions we might make about it, insulting us from the start, as it were, by its prior power.” If words can hurt, it is in some sense because who we are had already been formed within language. Notice today how language acts on and through your body, both making and unmaking who you feel yourself to be. The trine to Uranus indicates that whatever is said or heard may set off tremors that bring our attention back to the larger cycle of change that Uranus is describing as it moves through Taurus from May 2018 until April 2026. Whatever part of your chart is occupied by Taurus is undergoing a process of radical change. If you encounter injurious or inflammatory experiences with language today, it is worth asking how such experiences are carried into the longer process of change that Uranus in Taurus signifies for you.  Today the Moon in Sagittarius makes a square to Neptune in Pisces and a trine to the Sun in Aries. Remaining sensitive and responsive to others, constantly adapting to changing conditions and circumstances, could feel overwhelming today. It may feel as if we are eroding beneath the relentless waves of uncertainty. This could be a good time to turn toward those who inspire you most, looking to your role models and possibility models to show you how the qualities that you revere most in them are also available within you. Then the Moon ingresses into Capricorn, the sign of its antithesis or detriment, without reception from Saturn. It may feel as if the demands of work, productivity, or accomplishment are superseding the limited resources that you can access right now. It may feel as if we no longer know how to fully function within the old systems that are collapsing, but we can’t yet see how to function well within the new systems we are building. Slow down. Scale your expectations. Do what you can with what you have, and know that is enough.  Today Mercury ingresses into Aries. Mercury has been in Pisces since February 3, with a brief visit to Aquarius during its retrograde cycle. Now finally moving out of the sign of both its antithesis and fall, Mercury—the planet of communication—enters the fiery cardinal sign of Aries. These are the days of coming passionately, assertively, and willfully to voice. Reflecting on her own experiences of domestic violence, Sara Ahmed writes in Living a Feminist Life, “… being judged as willful was a technique for justifying violence in the midst of violence. You are being punished for your subjectivity, for being the being you are. You can be beaten by a judgement … becoming a feminist was about becoming audible, feminism as screaming in order to be heard; screaming as making violence visible; feminism as acquiring a voice. Willfulness: the acquisition of a voice as a refusal to be beaten.” In Aries, Mercury compels us to become audible, to scream if we have to, to assert our voices as an assertion of our right to exist and as a refusal of violence. The Moon in Sagittarius opposes Venus in Gemini then makes a sextile to Mars in Aquarius. We may feel the tension of giving our own needs room to take up space while also making ourselves available to respond to the needs of others. Finding that balance may require us to demand change of a whole system, in order for all of our needs to take up space. Finally, Mercury makes a sextile to Saturn in Aquarius. If Mercury in Aries fuels the fires of our voices, Saturn gives us the reassurance to refuse what is no longer bearable. We are living in truly unprecedented times; if you find yourself faced with expectations that are no longer sustainable, remember that you have the right to refuse. And as adrienne maree brown writes in Pleasure Activism: “No is a complete sentence.”  |
AuthorMichael J. Morris is a witch, an astrologer, a tarot reader, an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Categories
All
Archives
September 2024
|
- Home
- About
- Bookings
- Offerings
- Events
- Tutoring and Mentorship
-
Downloads
- Queer Sexualities in Ancient Astrology
- Transits and Transgender Liberation
- Feminist Astrology and the Moon
- Feminist Astrology: Mars, Violence, and War
- Celestial Kinship
- Introduction to Ritual Workshop + Beltane Ritual
- Minor Asteroids in the Birth Chart and Ritual
- Astrology Guide for 2022
- The Atomic Age, Urgency, Danger, and Kinship: Astrology and Climate Collapse
- Asteroids in Astrology: Nuance, Subtlety, and Direction
- Tarot Workshop with Michael J. Morris
- Astrology as an Artistic Practice: As It Is Made, So It Makes
- Astrology Guide for 2021
- Celestial Corporeality: Astrology and the Body
- Astrology Consultations as Feminist Praxis
- Embodying Astrological Archetypes
- Resources
- Blog
- Testimonials
- Policies
- Gratitude
RSS Feed
Copyright © 2020