​Saturday starts with the Moon in Virgo opposing Neptune in Pisces. Both are mutable signs, well-versed in adaptability and transformation. This opposition may challenge us to articulate and execute the practical steps that are necessary to facilitate more expansive and lasting spiritual change—in our own lives and in the world around us. This process takes on even more gravity as the Moon applies a trine to Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto asks us to face what is hidden, buried, repressed, or unconscious in order to transform our shadows and the shadows of our world. Whatever change gets set into motion between the Moon and Neptune has the potential to bring up challenging or difficult issues, but facing it and moving into the challenge is in our best interests. As the Moon ingresses into Libra in the evening, we may find ourselves drawn back out from our personal processes of transformation, looking for social connection and orienting ourselves within a world of others. However, with Venus—the ruler of Libra—in Virgo, the Moon’s hostess is in aversion to Libra, unable to witness the Moon and unavailable to provide its resources. The opportunity for connecting with others may be there, but don’t judge too harshly if you find that you all feel preoccupied with the details of what is out of sight.

The New Moon at 7º Virgo happens Friday morning at 6:36am eastern, with the Sun and Moon trine Uranus in Taurus. This lunar cycle may begin with a flash of the unexpected or an eruption of revolutionary impulses that can no longer be contained. The New Moon is like the seeds of the lunar cycle, and Uranus is breaking up the soil in order for these seeds to be planted. The processes that begin around this New Moon have the capacity to overturn established orders and break through into innovative potentialities. Virgo and Taurus are both earth signs, and as I write this, the Amazon rainforests are burning at an unprecedented rate. Iceland just held a funeral for its first glacier lost to climate collapse. Flooding is occurring in communities around the world where flooding has never been a concern. We are in dire need for new physical processes and cycles that will break from the crumbling world as we know it and demand different relationships to the Earth. If you are someone who practices divination during the dark phase of the Moon—a good time for divination—I invite you to seek inspiration for new ways of being in kinship with this planet.

We can also look for these themes at the scale of our own lives: what are the physical processes that are no longer sustainable, that are depleting or exhausting your resources? Virgo is a mutable earth sign, and with support of innovative Uranus, this New Moon can be a time to refine, edit, and optimize your physical systems, how you care for your body, and how you relate to the material world.

By the afternoon, the Moon will make conjunctions to Mars and Venus, nourishing the seeds of this cycle with the calls to action and to love, the drive to take charge and the embrace of joining together. May we come into new, loving relationships with the Earth, and may that love propel us into action. In mutable Virgo, the start of this lunar cycle may require thoughtful adaptability, the results of which may not be clear until the Full Moon in Pisces on September 13 or beyond. On a personal level, look to the place that Virgo occupies in your chart for new growth that might be beginning, and look to the place that Pisces occupies in your chart for where you might see results of growth in the weeks ahead.
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As always, if you would like support in studying your own birth chart or using astrology to cultivate more meaningful lives, I would love to help. I am currently booking consults for the next few months. You can find out more and schedule a session by visiting my bookings page.

​The Moon, still in its disseminating phase approaching the waning square, makes a trine to the Sun in Leo. Whatever this moon phase is teaching you, now could be a time to share it. The Sun illuminates and enlivens these lessons, kindling the fires of Aries with its own light and warmth from Leo. For some time-zones, the day will end with the Moon applying a trine to Venus in the final degree of Leo; for others this will take place in the early morning of the 21st. Whether late Tuesday or early Wednesday, this is an aspect that supports union and connection, drawing us into the arms of our loved ones or setting aside time to re-connect with what we value most.

​Today the Moon continues its journey through fiery Aries, making a superior trine to Mercury in Leo midday eastern, followed by an inferior trine to Jupiter in Sagittarius in the early evening. These fire trines bring bold, courageous voice and vision into the subtle rhythms of daily life. As the Moon moves between aspects to Mercury and Jupiter, it may give us a preview of Mercury’s trine to Jupiter later in the week. Listen for messages that affirm your truest sense of self and reconnect you to optimism and hope amidst all the troubles of our world. And remember that it might also be your role to deliver these messages.

​Today Mercury in Leo makes a square to Uranus in Taurus. You may find yourself saying things or receiving messages that disrupt you and your world in ways you could not have anticipated. If there are established patterns in your life from which you know it’s time to break away, now could be the time to speak up and say what needs to be said. With the Moon just past full and co-present with Neptune in Pisces, allow yourself to feel deeply not only into your own needs but into what is best for the collective as well. Dreaming into other potential realities could make the practical details of the day feel diffuse, but could also bring you in touch with resources for imagining a more compassionate world.

After a month of traveling for work, I'm glad to be back to writing some astrology!

This Thursday, August 15, we will move through the Full Moon in Aquarius. The Full Moon is a time of climax, things coming into full visibility or prominence, shining a light into different areas of our lives with new clarity and illumination. Aquarius, a fixed air sign ruled by Saturn, is associated with innovative thinking, zooming out for a broad view of the world and the future, and holding firmly to ideas and perspectives that may not yet be widely held but which will shape the foundations and structures of worlds to come. With Saturn, the ruler of the Full Moon, in Capricorn, this phase of the lunar cycle might be clarifying some part of a larger process of breaking from traditions, establishments, and old ways of doing things in order to lift off into the perspectives we will need in the futures we are shaping together.

This Full Moon in Aquarius is catching and reflecting the light of the Sun in Leo. The Sun rules Leo, and Leo loves to be seen and celebrated and loved for its brilliance and uniqueness. The Sun in Leo is no doubt teaching us about showing up more fully as who we know ourselves to be, allowing ourselves to radiate and shine, bringing into the world those gifts that only we can bring. We might be finding the places where we are really in our own elements, where we have the capacity and resources to sustain our own fires, nurturing those around us with our light and warmth. The Full Moon asks us to take this light, the radiance and brilliance of our unique gifts, and find how they fit within larger, more expansive perspectives of our collective world. How do you hold to the shining integrity of your truest experience of self, and also maintain that devotion to who you are within a world of others?
This reminds me of Brené Brown’s description of “true belonging”: “True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”
This Full Moon asks us to not only come to more clarity and loyalty to who we know ourselves to be, but also to find how doing so allows us to contribute more effectively to future worlds capable of embracing our differences as a fundamental organizing principle.

Just as the Moon moves into its Full Moon phase, Mercury is clearing its retrograde shadow. Mercury stationed retrograde at 4º Leo on July 8. Even though Mercury has been direct since July 31, it’s now finally moving beyond the path that it reviewed and retraced throughout its retrograde. We're finally able to integrate and put into action what we learned through Mercury's retrograde. It may feel as if you're finally putting words to realizations that have been forming over the last five weeks. It may be that you finally feel the boldness and assertiveness to speak truth that so far you've been holding inside. It may be that you're finally feeling ready to have important conversations that have been a long time coming. If you know your natal chart, this shift in communication will likely take place in the areas of life occupied by Cancer and Leo—the parts of the sky through which Mercury moved retrograde—with implication for the areas of life occupied by Gemini and Virgo—the signs that Mercury rules.

Lastly, Jupiter stationed direct this week, on Sunday, August 11. Jupiter has been retrograde since April 10. Jupiter retrograde doesn’t tend to bring the same kinds of disruptions we associate with something like Mercury’s retrograde, but this may have been a period of delay or preparation. Jupiter is in Sagittarius, one of the signs that it rules, for a few more months—until December 2. Jupiter is one of the most supportive planets in the sky, signifying abundance, expansion, and growth. Wherever you have Sagittarius in your chart, that area of your life might feel like it’s being unleashed or released to flow, expand, and grow in new ways. The question is: how can you harness and channel this forward momentum and potential to create experiences of abundance in your life over the next several months? This will particularly be in the areas of your chart/life occupied by Sagittarius and Pisces.

As with all astrology, how this Full Moon and Mercury and Jupiter’s direct motion will show up will be particular to your chart and your life.
If you’re looking for support in using astrology as a tool for your own self-actualization, direction, and healing, I’m starting to book sessions for September and October. You can find more information about booking a session here.