February 2008

Planning & Scheduling Living in Accord with the Seasons Mars forms an opposition to Pluto in the beginning of March, releasing a certain tension around standing behind your passions and ambitions. Pluto is teamed up with Jupiter so we may find ourselves questioning ideologies that seem elitist. The energy of popularity and popular values and opinion give prestige a run for it's money - how does this relate to your life? Also, your mission, should you choose to accept it, around this Mars/Pluto opposition, is: to learn skillful means in fulfilling your life's passions, and to open up to the alchemy of turning anger into energy. Venus enters the sign of Aquarius mid March, and conjoins Uranus at the end of the month. Socially, we open up to new possibilities. People that seemed a little out-of-the-box up until now, are suddenly more delightful to hear out. Jupiter in Sag continues his opposition by sign, to Mars in Gemini through the end of April, bringing abundant energy for new ideas. This period might bring balance between your many interests; and a healthy tension between developing competency in many things at once versus tying them all together. Venus conjoins Neptune on March 7th and Mercury conjoins Neptune on March 9th, bringing idealism and inspiration into our lives. We're mobilized to believe in forgotten dreams again. Just don't try to pin down the poets and politicians on the details!

Solar and Lunar Eclipses of February Conversations with the Moon Twice each year, earth experiences a pair of eclipses. Solar eclipses happen by definition at the New Moon and Lunar eclipses occur at the full Moon. An annular solar eclipse took place on Wed., Feb. 6, 2008 at 7:45pm Pacific Time and there will be a partial lunar eclipse on Wed., Feb. 20, 2008 at 7:31pm Pacific Time. Solar Eclipse Eclipses are excellent times for introspection and downtime. In terms of natural life cycles, they're not the best time for beginning important ventures. This solar eclipse is in Dhanishta. Folks with planets in the late degrees of sidereal Capricorn may sense this purposeful "prune" of excess energy streams. Lunar Eclipse When the light of one of the luminaries is blocked, life can feel unusual. We're meant to be taking a moment away from our usual lives, to recharge our batteries. This lunar eclipse is in the lunar sign Magha, and the Moon joins up with austere Saturn on this day. Saturn's influence may ask us to dig down for some necessary emotional self-reliance, especially around being our own cheering squad, our own welcoming committee, and the ultimate authority in our own lives. People with planets in the early degrees of Leo may feel the pinch of this eclipse more strongly than others - life may seem to be testing their mettle. Magha has to do with royalty and real estate, among other things - watch what happens to world leaders, and to the real estate market. On Feb. 20, 1989, there was a lunar eclipse in roughly the same placement as this one. What was going on then for you? Can you see any relationships between that time and now? (It would depend on which house 7 degrees Leo falls in your chart.)