On June 10, there will be an annular Solar Eclipse at 19º Gemini—9º from the North Node. This eclipse is conjunct Mercury retrograde in Gemini and square to Neptune in Pisces, both of which are signatures for potential confusion, misunderstanding, and miscommunication. Mercury is within one degree of its inferior conjunction with the Sun — moving into the heart of the Sun or cazimi. It could be that just as we come to some kind of clarity regarding Mercury’s retrograde, a shadow is also revealed, a side of the situation that we could not see before.
 
Do not expect to fully understand the events around this eclipse and anticipate that more will become clear with distance. Gemini is often concerned with information and communication, gathering and synthesizing data to develop a particular point of view. But at this eclipse, these are precisely the kinds of processes that may experience disruption.
 
Remember, eclipses can describe unpredictable events, sudden or dramatic changes unfolding in different areas of life. Most often, solar eclipses—which occur when a new moon is within close proximity to the Moon’s nodal axis—describe significant or dramatic beginnings. These events can unfold suddenly or over the next six months. Look to the signs in which the eclipses occur in your own chart to see which areas of life they might be describing. If they occur within a tight orb—I use 3º—of a planet or angle in your natal chart, these eclipses are more likely to indicate more significant events in your own life.
 
[Image reads: SOLAR ECLIPSE IN GEMINI 10 June 2021 in yellow-grey letters on a dark background]

​On June 3, Venus in Cancer will make a trine with Jupiter in its domicile of Pisces, both at 1º. I think this June 3 trine between Venus and Jupiter may be one of the most auspicious aspects of the year. Venus is the planet of love, union, relationships, desire, pleasure, beauty, aesthetic harmony, and justice. Jupiter is the planet of abundance, expansion, growth, wisdom, faith, and belief. Jupiter is in its domicile, and Venus is the ruler of the water triplicity by day. Together they create supportive conditions for collaboration, for investing in shared beliefs and values, for connecting our personal desires and pleasures with something larger than ourselves, for making art and love that can guide us to more expansive wisdom and perspectives of the world.
 
Consider prioritizing pleasure and connection today. Notice what feels good and move in that direction. Remain sensitive and responsive to your own shifting desires as well as what your friends, lovers, companions, and colleagues want as well. Follow ease and flow and see where they can take you.
 
Venus made a conjunction with Jupiter in Aquarius back on February 11, which was the start of a Venus/Jupiter cycle. It may be worth recalling what was coming up for you around then and notice how it has grown and evolved to this point now.
 
[Image reads: VENUS TRINE JUPITER 3 June 2021 in light aqua letters on a light blue background]

“What I hope is becoming clear is that sex and sexuality, even in their most mundane forms, involve our already more-than-human bodies mediating more-than-human sexual partners, incorporating more-than-human technologies with consequential entanglements with a much larger world that is far more than human. ‘Ecosexuality’ is a term for these and many other entanglements of human sexuality with the nonhuman world. Broadly speaking, ecosexuality directs attention toward various ways in which sexuality is already ecological, and the ways in which ecology might be understood as sexual or erotic. This term has come to be used by artists, academics, activists, environmentalists, people working in sex industries, and others. Its dimensions can be practical, material, biological, metaphorical, representational, conceptual, and philosophical.”

Excerpt from “Ecosexuality: Toward Pleasurable Relationality With the More-Than-Human World,” a short piece I published in UnBound Zine Issue 9: “Awakening”. Many thanks to executive director Lashonda Love for inviting me to contribute.
I wrote my doctoral dissertation on ecosexualities in performance, and this piece summarizes some of the important ideas that have continued with me from that work. I write about how I understand ecosexuality, the work of Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle who first introduced me to ecosexuality, the ways ecosexuality can disrupt human exceptionalism and anthropocentrism, and awakening to the deep pleasure of belonging with-and-in this world.
I hope you check it out!
https://www.unboundartscollective.com/current-issue

HAPPY PRIDE!
​
[Images above include screenshots of the article described above, in two-page spreads on a light green background. Image below shows the cover of Issue 9 of UnBound, an illustration of two nude brown figures woven through vines and flowers.]

On Saturday, May 29, Mercury stations retrograde at 24º Gemini, and will remain retrograde until June 22 when it stations direct at 16º Gemini. This is our second Mercury retrograde period on 2021.
In Gemini, Mercury is in its domicile, so it has access to the resources in needs in order to accomplish its goals. But for these weeks, the goals that will be best served are reflection and review, particularly in terms of communication, the transmission of ideas, how we access and process information, how we articulate our perspectives, as well as the movements of material goods and travel.
Mercury stations retrograde in a conjunction with Venus and square Neptune in Pisces. How we communicate in relationships of all kinds may require extra care and consideration. With Neptune involved, we may not be hearing one another as clearly as we believe we are. Check your own projections. Exercise patience. Practice deep and deliberate listening. Be intentional in reflecting back what you heard and understood.
There is a moment of vivid clarity possible on June 10 when Mercury is cazimi the Sun, bringing some of what has been clouded into bright focus and revealing what is at the heart of this transit for each of us.
Mercury will make one last square with Neptune on July 6 then clear its retrograde shadow on July 7. Between now and then, pay close attention. Gather information. Develop multiple possible plans and contingencies, holding off making final decisions or determinations—because you very likely will not have all the information that you need in order to come to such conclusions. By the end of the first week of July, it will be time to put what you’ve learned out into the world.
 
[Image reads: MERCURY RETROGRADE IN GEMINI May 29-June 22 in dark olive letters on a bright yellow background]

Lunar eclipses tend to describe significant or even dramatic culminations in whatever part of the chart they fall. Especially as this lunar eclipse occurs with the Moon just 5º from the South Node, this could describe a striking decrease or clearing out, potentially unfolding between now and the Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius on December 4. The events described by eclipses are often unexpected or unpredictable, as an eclipse is an interruption in the light of the Moon or Sun. However, letting go and bringing things to completion—even in unexpected ways—need not necessarily be traumatic. This eclipse is not only ruled by Jupiter—because the Moon is in Jupiter’s domicile of Sagittarius—but the Moon and Sun are also in a T-square with Jupiter at 1º Pisces. Jupiter is in its domicile of Pisces and witnesses this eclipse, offering currents of cohesion and compassionate growth through whatever passage this eclipse describes. This suggests a more benevolent and supportive quality to whatever events unfold around or following this eclipse. In Sagittarius, this could describe changes in our beliefs and how our views of the world impact the particular part of our charts occupied by Sagittarius. What beliefs have you outgrown or outworn? What perspectives of the world are expiring, creating space for new experiences and emergent observations? The loss of belief can be a time of crisis, but as our familiar points of view disintegrate, pathways to more freedom can come into view.
 
[Image reads: LUNAR ECLIPSE IN SAGITTARIUS 26 May 2021 in light grey letters with a red-orange glow on a dark grey background.]

Today Jupiter ingresses into Pisces where it will be until July 28, foreshadowing its longer transit through Pisces throughout 2022. Pisces is Jupiter’s nocturnal domicile, a mutable water sign where Jupiter’s abundance can be oceanic, where its growth comes from its adaptability, and its deepest beliefs are in our capacities for connection and dissolving the barriers between us. More becomes possible with Jupiter in Pisces. Perhaps we become more possible or simply we become more. More abundantly more. More sensing, more feeling, more than one, more than two, more than a single point of view, more gracious, more loving, more compassionate, more passionate, more opening and expansive, more available to more, more of ourselves, more than ourselves. It has been approximately twelve years since Jupiter moved through Pisces, and it’s been since December 2, 2019, since Jupiter was in a sign that it ruled. While Jupiter’s ingress into Aquarius in December 2020 marked an improvement in its condition from being fallen in Capricorn, as it moves into Pisces, it will have access to all of the resources it needs in order to bring about that which it signifies—especially when it is moving direct from May 13 until June 20. Whatever Jupiter is responsible for in your chart—depending on the houses that it rules—this period has the potential to deliver the most resources and support that those areas have had since the end of 2019. Do note that Jupiter will have a trine with Venus in Cancer on June 3, making this part of the year even more promising amidst the other sky stories of 2021.
 
[Image reads: JUPITER ENTERS PISCES 13 May 2021 in bright blue letters on a dark blue background]

​Today Venus in Taurus perfects a square with Jupiter in Aquarius, just before Venus leaves its domicile for Gemini, and just days before Jupiter ingresses into its domicile of Pisces. While the square is the aspect associated with the qualities of Mars—contention, conflict, crisis, and the demand for adjustment—in Hellenistic astrology, the square can also be a very dynamic form of bonification from the benefics. Today the two benefics bonify one another—Jupiter overcoming Venus in a superior square, Venus hurling rays back to Jupiter from the inferior position. Both are offering support and affirmation, particularly in the area of favorable relationships. This could be a potent time for forming powerful alliances, as well as for building deeply meaningful connections in our intimate partnerships. Jupiter describes the principles of expansion and inclusion, whereas Venus describes the principles of union and pleasure. How can we form relationships—personal, political, and professional—that encompass more of our capacities for pleasure and joy? Asking for what feels good and supporting others in experiencing satisfaction can create important solidarities between us. As Audre Lorde writes in “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” “The erotic functions for me in several ways, and the first is in providing the power which comes from sharing deeply any pursuit with another person. The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.” How might you center the sharing of joy in your relationships today?

[Image reads: VENUS SQUARE JUPITER 8 May 2021 in pink letters on a dark purple background]

Tomorrow, April 22, Venus in Taurus makes a conjunction with Uranus. Venus’ conjunction with Uranus offers grounding connections to sustain impulses toward authenticity and freedom throughout the ongoing Saturn/Uranus squares. Notice how Venus entices us to cultivate radical new patterns of relating throughout the year, particularly on July 8 when Venus in Leo makes a square to Uranus, on August 3 when Venus in Virgo makes a trine to Uranus, on September 23 when Venus in Scorpio makes an opposition to Uranus, and finally on November 19 when Venus in Capricorn makes an overcoming trine to Uranus. The trine on November 19 occurs the same day as the lunar eclipse in Taurus, just two days after the Mars/Uranus opposition, suggesting that whatever is culminating and breaking through in mid-November has the potential to bring us into greater loving connections with others, with beauty, and with justice. Tomorrow’s conjunction is the start of this Venus/Uranus cycle, so attend to what is being seeded now in order to witness how this story unfolds in the year ahead. Commit yourself to revolutionary care, and then devote yourself to the process of daring to love in ways that break from established patterns—your own and those you have received from society—knowing that doing so is necessary for our freedom. As adrienne maree brown write, “We need to learn how to practice love such that care—for ourselves and others—is understood as political resistance and cultivating resilience.”

[Image reads: VENUS CONJUNCT URANUS IN TAURUS 22 April 2021 in bright pink lettering on a chartreuse background]

​On 14 April, Venus ingresses into its domicile of Taurus where it will remain until May 9. In Taurus, Venus draws us back to sensual pleasures, to the grounding resources of touch, feeling our feet on the ground and our fingers in the earth, our skin pressed against the skin of another, the taste of the world unfolding through flavors on our tongues, the scent of satisfiability lingering in the air around us. Venus in Taurus insists on taking all the time that we need in order to feel more and feel good. Once we have known our capacities for these depths of feeling, they can become a standard for the quality of life we can demand from ourselves and our world. As Audre Lorde writes in “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” “The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honor and self-respect we can require no less of ourselves.” Venus in Taurus in an invitation to ground ourselves in our own physical, sensual experiences of satisfaction, and to hold ourselves and our lives to the standard of that fullness of feeling. Co-present with Uranus, Venus is ruling revolutionary terrain, reminding us that our bodies already hold all that we need to know about our own personal and collective liberation. As we not only root deeply into our pleasures but also, as adrienne maree brown writes in Pleasure Activism, “prioritize the pleasure of those who are most impacted by oppression,” we tend the gardens of justice, in which everyone has access to what they need—including feeling good. Throughout the next several weeks, how can you not only prioritize your own pleasure and satisfaction, but also use whatever privilege is available to you to support more pleasure and satisfaction for those who are most marginalized and denied pleasure in our culture?
 
[Image reads VENUS INGRESSES INTO TAURUS 14 April 2021 in light green lettering on a rose colored background]

​March 20 is Oestara, the Vernal Equinox in the northern hemisphere, when the Sun ingresses into Aries—the sign of its exaltation—and we celebrate the start of spring. The day and night are equal in length, held in balance before the lengthening days overtake the shorter nights. It is a time for honoring new beginnings and appreciating the return of life after the months of winter hibernation. This year, as the Sun enters Aries, its ruler Mars is in Gemini just two signs away. The waxing crescent Moon is also in Gemini, while the ruler of Gemini—Mercury—is in Pisces, the sign of its antithesis and fall, conjunct the asteroid Pallas. The Sun is exalted in Aries in part because of the days growing longer than the nights, an indication of the Sun increasing in its influence, authority, and strength. Aries is cardinal fire, sparking the flames of new beginnings and the ignition of initiative. With Mars and the Moon in Gemini, this equinox is also a time for gathering information, formulating perspectives, and determining how to act on the knowledge we’re creating. Mars is applying to a trine with Saturn, encouraging principled, deliberate action and bringing long-term, focused discipline to what we choose to initiate. While Mercury may struggle to manage details in the emotional tides of Pisces, its conjunction with Pallas suggests strategic thinking, the wisdom to direct power well, and tenacity to protect those who are made most vulnerable. Pisces carries currents of compassion and inclusion, so at this equinox, as we celebrate the return of life, may our compassion inspire strategic wisdom for protecting the livability of all. With whatever we are beginning or initiating, may we collect the information and data that we need in order to synthesize actionable analyses with long-term vision. May we boldly speak up and dare to make connections that require us to adapt and change our perspectives. If you ritualize the equinox, I hope these words can inspire your rituals.
 
[First image reads “Astrology of the Wheel of the Year: Oestara, 20 March 2021” in golden letters on a dark green field of flowers and stars. Second image shows the chart for the moment of the Sun’s ingress into Aries, and reads “Oestara, 20 March 2021, 5:38am, Columbus, OH, USA”]

​Today Venus ingresses into Pisces, the sign of its exaltation, where it will remain until March 21. In Pisces, Venus is rendered extraordinary, exceptional, elevated to places of esteem. Venus is an honored guest in the sign of Pisces—ruled by Jupiter—and whatever area of your chart is occupied by Pisces or ruled by Venus may receive special prestige or celebration during Venus’ transit through Pisces. As Venus moves through Pisces, we are reminded that love is an abundant resource that we can cultivate within ourselves, our intimate connections, our communities, our chosen families, and our collective movements for social change. Venus in Pisces teaches us that creating and centering beauty and pleasure in our lives can be strategies for pursuing justice and liberation. Our visions of beauty and our experiences of satisfaction are pathways toward goodness. This is a time for indulging in deep and meaningful care, for cultivating expansive emotional expressiveness and responsiveness, for investing in artistry and creativity that nourishes and enriches our sensory experiences. Throughout the whole time that Venus transits Pisces, it will be moving closer and closer to the Sun, in a condition the Hellenistic astrologers described as “under the beams of the Sun”—meaning that Venus will be obscured from sight in the sky. When a planet is under the beams, it is hidden from view, and its effects may be taking place behind the scenes. This can be a powerful invitation over the next few weeks to devote ourselves to practices of love and beauty, pleasure and connection, not for the sake of posting about it on social media or proving to others who much we are loved or how beautiful our lives are. Rather, this is a time for dedicating ourselves to being fully present to the felt experiences of connection, care, affection, and aesthetic rapture—for ourselves and for those we love, the only witnesses who matter.
 
[Image reads VENUS INGRESSES INTO PISCES 25 February 2021 in rose lettering on a dark green background]

​Today is the first exact square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus, one of the biggest stories unfolding in the astrology of 2021. The Moon will be conjunct Uranus in Taurus as the square perfects, suggesting seismic collisions that reverberate throughout our embodied emotional lives. Remember that your body—this body that you are—holds the truth of your most authentic impulses and the keys to your own liberation. If you find yourself crashing into rigid narratives about the ways in which you are insufficient or not enough, your fears of your own body or your own pleasures, shame for what you are feeling or for what you want to feel, remember that the land of your body is sacred. Even if you feel that ground shifting beneath you, ride the currents that carry you toward yourself, your own desires and pleasures—even if that requires moving away from the external restrictions that you have internalized as identities. María Rodríguez writes in Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings: “Against the soul-numbing pressures of everyday life, we come back to our bodies again and again, and look for pleasure there—in dance, in sex, in touch, in the warm sweetness of a ripe fig against our lips. We reach for the touch of joy. And as it brushes past, we are reminded of the gap between our psychic lives as sexual subjects and our lived experience as desiring carnal bodies living in the belly of a hostile world. Because we fuck against the walls of violence, the memory and threat of other forms of touch must forever serve as the constitutive outside to our utopian desires. In a world where so many of us are defined as abject, perverse, old, colored, crippled, illegal, ugly, and outside love, embodied forms of social connection and carnal pleasure become sites of possibility where our survival becomes imaginable.” Come back to your body and look for pleasure there in the midst of whatever internal or external systems might refuse your survival.
 
[Image reads SATURN SQUARE URANUS 17 February 2021 in green letters on a brown background]

​Throughout the year, Jupiter will make a series of supportive aspects with the second benefic, Venus. Venus is the planet of love, union, relationships, desire, pleasure, beauty, aesthetic harmony, and justice. Jupiter is the planet of abundance, expansion, growth, wisdom, faith, and belief. Together they create supportive conditions for collaboration, for investing in shared beliefs and values, for connecting our personal desires and pleasures with something larger than ourselves, for making art and love that can guide us to more expansive wisdom and perspectives of the world. Today Venus will make a conjunction with Jupiter at 12º Aquarius. On May 8, while in its domicile of Taurus, Venus will make a square with Jupiter in Aquarius. On June 3, Venus in Cancer will make a trine with Jupiter in its domicile of Pisces. Then on September 6, Venus in its domicile of Libra will make a superior trine to Jupiter retrograde in Aquarius. Finally, on September 30, Venus in its antithesis or detriment in Scorpio will make a superior square to Jupiter retrograde in Aquarius. All of these aspects could describe auspicious events in the houses occupied by the signs through which Jupiter and Venus are moving—Aquarius for the conjunction, Aquarius and Taurus for the square, Pisces and Cancer for the first trine, Libra and Aquarius for the second trine, then Scorpio and Aquarius for the final square—especially if Venus or Jupiter is an important planet in your chart—like ruling the ascendant for people who are Taurus, Libra, Sagittarius, or Pisces rising. In other words, these aspects will offer opportunities for some measure of ease and support for all of us, and those opportunities might become particularly pronounced depending of factors in your own birth chart or timing cycles through which you may be moving.
 
[Image reads JUPITER CONJUNCT VENUS 11 February 2021 in pink letters on a purple background.]

​Imbolc—one of the eight sabbats in the Wheel of the Year—is the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, usually observed from sunset on 1 February until sunset on 2 February. Imbolc is often translated as “in the belly,” describing the forthcoming spring germinating beneath the cold ground of winter. At Imbolc this year, there is a full stellium in Aquarius—what Chris Brennan recently described as an “assembly” of planets—with Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, the Sun, and Mercury all in residence in the same sign. This puts considerable importance on the sign of Aquarius as well as Saturn—the ruler of Aquarius—who is then responsible for overseeing this assembly. Saturn sets boundaries, rules, and limitations, and in Aquarius, these concerns are often directed toward the future, toward worlds we are building, and that which exceeds the parameters of the old order. As the five planets convene to take part in creating new structures as the old institutions fall away, they are all in a whole-sign square to both Uranus and Mars in Taurus. The Sun is exactly square Mars, both at 13º. Building new worlds founded in ideological integrity amidst challenging upheavals assaults from those who feel disempowered is difficult work. The disseminating Moon in Libra suggests a time for sharing equity, equality, and justice. At this Imbolc, may we gather in our own assemblies, developing clear parameters and strategies for bringing new worlds to term. Whether in group or solitary rituals, may we pour our love and intentions into justice, community care and accountability, and everyone having access to all that they need in the worlds to which we will give birth.
 
[Image 1 reads Astrology of the Wheel of the Year Imbolc 1 February 2021 in gold letters on a background collage of stars and flowers. Image 2 shows the chart for Imbolc on 1 February 2021 at sunset, 5:48pm in Columbus, OH, USA]

Today Mercury stations retrograde at 26º Aquarius, and it will station direct at 11º Aquarius on February 21. Mercury retrograde periods are a time of reflection and review, particularly in terms of communication, the transmission of ideas, how we access and process information, how we articulate our perspectives, as well as the movements of material goods and travel. During these periods, things often do not go according to plan. It is best to use this time to read and re-read, take the time to develop multiple possible plans and contingencies, holding off making final decisions or determinations—because you very likely will not have all the information that you need in order to come to such conclusions—and practice listening more closely, especially when miscommunication happens. Look to the area of your chart occupied by Aquarius to determine what part of your life is potentially undergoing review. During this retrograde cycle, Mercury will make a clarifying conjunction with the Sun on February 8, a challenging square with Mars in Taurus on February 10, a supportive conjunction with Venus on February 13, and an affirming conjunction with Jupiter on February 14. While we won’t fully gather or understand all the details of this retrograde until after Mercury stations direct, this period from February 13-14 when Mercury is enclosed by the benefics could describe stumbling into helpful conversations or supportive connections, even if we don’t yet fully understand how we got there or what their influence will be.
 
For more about the astrology of the year, check out my Astrology Guide for 2021, available for immediate download.
 
[Image reads MERCURY STATIONS RETROGRADE AT 26º AQUARIUS 30 January 2021 in gray letters on a dark purple background]

​Today Mars will make a conjunction with Uranus, both at 6º. This conjunction comes a week after the square between Saturn and Mars, just three days after Jupiter makes an overcoming square to Uranus, and a month before the first Saturn/Uranus square—all big stories for the year that cut around and through one another. Jupiter is still within one degree of the square with Uranus at the time of its conjunction with Mars, offering immense affirmation to this conjunction and potentially enlarging whatever force Mars and Uranus will describe. Separating from the restrictions and limitations of Saturn, Mars encounters Uranus that demands breaking away from the establishment. Mars is in its antithesis or detriment in Taurus, a place as far from its home in Scorpio as it can be. In Taurus, it must make use of unfamiliar resources. Fixed earth is slow, sustained, and deliberate, which can be challenging for assertive and impulsive Mars. Yet Uranus, the planet of upheaval, disruption, and revolutionary change is in a long process of breaking up sedimented and static patterns in whatever area of our charts are occupied by Taurus. The conjunction with Mars can be like setting the charge to a landmine or a match thrown into explosive materials. The assertive, impulse qualities of Mars may be propelled by Uranus’ drive and amplified by the separating square from Jupiter. Expect upheaval perhaps moving faster than it should. We may not even fully recognize or understand the implications of this conjunction until November 17 when Mars will oppose Uranus from Scorpio, in its domicile and strength. This is how a combustion of radical change in a fixed earth sign can unfold—with longer, slower implications that are nevertheless irrevocable in their effects.
 
For more about the astrology of the year, check out my Astrology Guide for 2021, available for immediate download.
 
[Image reads MARS CONJUNCT URANUS 20 January 2021 in violet letters on a dark red background]