Leo types are experts at discovering and unleashing human creativity—in themselves and in others.  Here’s how they do it, along with advice about how anyone (even those with only a smidgen of Leo in their charts) can do it too:

Be playful and childlike.  Have fun. Get so absorbed in what you are doing that you forget how others see you.  Engage others in the fun you are having.  Taking a playful approach to just about anything opens up creative channels and allows for relaxed, right-brain thinking.

Be a role-model. Be a leader.  Stand up, be seen, be visible.  Chief obstacles to this include embarrassment and fear of looking silly.  But don’t let them stop you!  If people don’t have other people to look to, how can they learn to live?  If there’s something you’ve figured out about how to live an excellent life, model that, be that, show that to the world.  I’ll betcha someone around you needed to see it in action.

Be self-centered–appropriately. This is a delicate balance.  Love yourself without arrogance as a flawed-but-beautiful human being: one of many, all of equal importance, holding yourself as your own special charge.  You are the shepherd of your own self, the guide of this body, this mind, this heart, this soul, this being.  Cherish this person you were given to be.

Shine on everyone. Leo knows a very special secret: that attention is the most valuable commodity in the world.  Everybody wants some and almost everybody wants more than they are getting or a different quality of attention than they’re getting.  When your Leo side is badly-behaved, it will pull you to grab attention—any attention at all.  When your Leo side is healthy, you give attention as the Sun gives sunshine—naturally, because you cannot help it and because you simply love to share.

Never underestimate the importance of your unique, authentic creativity. Leo exists to remind us that the individual point of view is important.  Modern physics tells us that the center is everywhere—and nowhere.  This means the center of the universe resides in you just as powerfully as in anyone.  Your point of view matters, and the creative flow that can come forth only from you and you alone is absolutely crucial to the workings of the whole.

You gotta give Leo credit.  It’s not easy to be your truest, most authentic self in front of God and everybody.  That’s scary stuff.  Occupy your whole social footprint—no more, no less, and the Leo in you will be happy.

Nothing fires you up or gives you purpose like a birthday reading.
Contact Jamie to schedule one for yourself or your favorite Leo.

This is a repost of an article I wrote for the San Francisco Bay Area Women’s Journal.  You can read the original here.

The planet Saturn is about to change signs.  This momentous event happens only every 2 and a half years.  You’ve probably read about Saturn on my blog before.  You probably already know that he represents the archetypal Father principle. Saturn rules the following things (and more):

•    Father
•    Career
•    Authority
•    Hierarchy
•    Discipline & structure
•    Order
•    Ambition
•    Goal-setting and achievement

Saturn can be a very harsh taskmaster.  Sometimes his lessons come through exacting, demanding, limiting experiences where we feel there is no exit.  Saturn demands maturity and self-governance in whatever area he is passing through.

Today, Saturn enters Libra, the domain of relationship.  Libra covers:

•    One-on-one relationship
•    Partnerships of all kinds
•    Fairness and equality
•    Balance and symmetry

Saturn in Libra represents fair jurisprudence, rigorous negotiation and balanced judgment.  In the next 2 and a half years, Saturn will demand that we take all our relationships more seriously.  He will press us to set those relationships in order and he’ll push us to work at it.

Libra is the very finest sign for Saturn to be in:  Libra brings out the best in Saturn, while diminishing the worse qualities of this sometimes-harsh archetype.  The harsh judge becomes the tough-but-fair judge when Saturn is in Libra.  While in Libra, he’ll also demand that we take all our partnerships of all kinds more seriously and work to improve them.  Saturn is a very simple principle:  when you feel his pressure to perform, just stop complaining and resisting and simply do the work.  Saturn hates a procrastinator and he  promises reward for those who put in effort.  His directive is:  “In the next 2 and a half years, take on your relationships with relish—I promise that if you do, there’s a toy surprise inside.”

I want to take a moment to bid a fond farewell to Saturn in Virgo.  I don’t usually say a valediction to a planet departing a sign, because I’m usually too busy heralding its entry into the next sign at exactly the time when you, dear Reader, need to know about it.  But this one’s personal.

I wish I had been born with Saturn in Virgo.  I honestly do.  Instead I have Pluto and Uranus in Virgo, so I get compulsive about habits and my habits tend toward the eccentric, instead of simply having a set of habits that make my life run like a well-oiled machine.  But when Saturn transits through Virgo, as it has been doing for the last 2 and a half years, we all get a taste of anti-entropic goodness.

Here is a list of 5 things I’ve accomplished while Saturn was in Virgo:

1. Read David Allen’s book Getting Things Done—twice.

2. Bought and implemented OmniFocus, personal organization software that has helped me deal with the overwhelming amount of details life presents.  Used it to implement David Allen’s processes.  Sat back and watched the paper piles diminish.

3. Kicked sugar out of my diet—several times.  It’s very hard to do it permanently, but at least I caught a glimpse of a whole new world—my life without sugar.  In it I am always full of energy and in a good mood.

4. Cleaned my basement, reorganized things, put them in clearly-labeled boxes and donated things I don’t want.  I did this twice, with the help of my extremely energetic Aries sister (go her!).

5. And a whole host of other tiny-but-adding-up-to-a-mountain of small changes to my processes and procedures that have made every area of life go smoother.  They include ways of systematizing my business that have led to greater productivity for me and better support for my clients.

Now that Saturn’s moving out of Virgo, it’s time to bid farewell to the extended cleaning and organizing frenzy and to turn our serious Saturnine attention to all things Libran.  During the next two-and-a-half years, it’s a great time to take more responsibility in our relationships, to embrace fairness and good judgment, to create balance in all areas of our lives, especially wherever Saturn is transiting.  This is Saturn’s favorite sign, so may he have mercy on us.

Want to know where Saturn is in your chart right now?
A reading can tell you this, what to do about it and much more.
Contact Jamie to find out how.

This is a profoundly domestic New Moon.  This Moon asks, “Exactly how do you want your home to be?  Do you feel safe at home?  Do you feel supported?  What can you do to make it a better nest for you?”  Mars, traveling through Virgo forms a helpful sextile to the Moon, offering loads of industrious energy to tidy, fix and refurbish.  This is a great time for house projects.  And because this New Moon is also a Solar Eclipse, we are also likely to see our shadows during it.

Details About This Eclipse

Date: July 11, 2010
Time of eclipse: 12:40 PM PST
Type: total (strong in intensity)
Visible in: People in New Zealand, Patagonia, the South Pacific, and parts of Chile and Argentina will see this eclipse.
At: 19 degrees Cancer
Shadow Agent: Mars in Virgo

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
January 3-13
April 3-13
July 5-15
October 6-16

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable.  A solar eclipse is likely to be marked by an external, real-world event (unlike a lunar eclipse, which is mostly experienced internally).  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it.  Mars is there.  Before you can even speak, he’s rushed past you and is bringing things inside: a vacuum cleaner, a toolbox, a bucket containing cleaning supplies and several kinds of brooms, mops and brushes.  Outside you can see his van, groaning with construction supplies: jars of nails and screws, aluminum siding, wood flooring, copper pipes, roofing shingles and other sundry building materials.  After a few minutes of lightning-swift activity, he stops in front of you and gives you a military salute.
Mars:  Domestic Industry Team, reporting for duty.
You:  Team?  But there’s only one of you.
Mars:  I’m so efficient, you only need one.
You:  Oh.
Mars:  So what needs doing?
You:  Um, I have no idea.
Mars:  (pushing past you into the house) Ok, so the foundation needs fixing, the drain-pipes need adjusting before the next rainy season, and you could really use a drainage ditch.  A couple of rooms need updated wiring, and you’d really like a second story and some solar panels.  Is that all?  That can’t be all.
You:  Um, I think that’s it.
Mars:  What about your sense of safety here at home?  Do you feel loved?  Are you comfortable?
You:  What?
Mars:  How about some fixes not only to your home, but also to your sense of home?  Does your relationship need fixing?  How about your family?
He starts rummaging through his toolkit.
You:  Uh, sure.  Lots of things like that need fixing too.  Can you really do that?
Mars:  I can at least kick your butt and get you started.
You:  Wow.  You mean I could get a whole new sense of home out of this eclipse?
Mars:  You betcha.  But you gotta be willing to take action.  Just figure out what your real needs are and ask for them.  You need to take the first step.  Help is near, but you’ve got to ask.
He winks and goes back to the truck for more supplies.  You sink onto your sofa.
You:  Nothing like getting the problem and the solution at the same time!

Solutions for Earth-Gone-Wrong

In my recent post Personality Flaws of the Four Elements I described ways the 4 Elements can go wrong, each according to its own nature.

How To Know If Earth Is Grounding You
When your life is carefully measured from achievement to achievement (or failure), it’s easy to forget how to have fun.  Earth is the poster child for “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”  Your Earth has gone wrong when:

•    You’re such a critical perfectionist that your partner calls you a nag.
•    You’re a cynic, only interested in the bottom line and closed to any ideas that don’t have already proven value.
•    You’ve been called “cold” or “calculating.”
•    You’re prone to overindulging in physical pleasures to compensate for how hard you work or how boring your job is.
•    You’ve learned to defer gratification in favor of long-term goals—learned it so well that you can’t let yourself off the hook during a vacation and you despair of enjoying retirement.

Solution One:  Balance Earth With The Other 3 Elements
If your Earth is distorted, the other elements can help restore balance.  When your routines and systems are so effective that even you are bored, it’s time to break up the Earth with a little Fire.  Be spontaneous, take risks, look dopey.  Fling yourself into something, instead of calculating all its details first.

Earth gets dull and blockish without the lightness of Air.  Air encourages brainstorming sessions and crazy ideas—some may sound just like empty theories, but others will, with the time and testing Earth provides, prove useful in the end.  But you have to open your ears and listen first.

Water fertilizes Earth in a wonderful way, bringing warmth, emotion, compassion and sensitivity Earth does not naturally possess.  Too many late nights at the office?  Balance them with cozy family time.  Gotten too controlled or controlling?  Nothing like a nice emotional outburst to break down the walls.  Oh, and don’t forget to be vulnerable.

Solution Two:  Emphasize Healthy Earth
Healthy Earth practices can eliminate the need for compensatory, negative Earth behaviors.  Here are some examples of “Earth-Fu:”

•    Pay close attention to your bodily needs and engage in rigorous physical self-care.
•    Feed yourself delicious, homemade, organic, healthy food on a regular basis.  It tastes best when you cooked it yourself.
•    Organize your home, your office and your projects in ways that allow you to streamline, be effective and stop worrying.  Work smarter, not harder.
•    Fall in love with this physical world:  get out in nature more, breathe clean air and surround yourself with trees.
•    Set achievable goals and be consistent about rewarding yourself (even if it’s just a mental pat on the back) when you succeed.  When you become preoccupied with your failures, wrench your attention away from them and instead put it on what you’ve done right.

The Four Elements are a fascinating part of human temperament.
Find out about yours in a reading with Jamie:
Contact Jamie to learn how.

Coming up next:  Does Air Have You Lost In A Cloud?

“Wake up!” says Uranus.  “Are you facing chaos? Lately I’ve turned your life upside down.  This year I’m making you an amazing offer:  to not only restore the order you used to experience, but to shift your life in a global way so that the problems you used to experience—the ones that led to this chaos—are not even relevant anymore.”

Today Is A Pivotal Day
When a planet turns retrograde it makes a pivot in the sky and also creates a metaphorically “pivotal” experience for human beings.  Today, that planet is Uranus.  It’s as if Uranus is telling us, “You can’t go on avoiding this change forever.  Today I’m delivering a wake-up call.”  If Uranus is touching a planet in your chart this year, this message is for you and it will have very specific meaning, depending on what planet that is.  That planet, and the part of you it represents, is in a massive uproar.  It’s time for a shift to a whole new level.  Today is the peak of Uranus’s wake-up call, but it could happen anytime within 5 days surrounding today.

Initiation Leading To An Inner Journey
Sometime between March and now, Uranus showed us an area of life in which we are due for a change.  What he delivered was an initiation and it was our first chance to catch a clue about paradigm shift to come.  That clue may have been obvious or it may have been subtle, but we’ve been shown an area of life in which something new and startling is possible.

The clue was delivered, but did we notice?  It’s human to go into denial.  As spring proceeded, we may have said to ourselves, “Maybe I don’t have to do anything about this.  Maybe it was just a one-time thing.  Maybe I can just move on.  Maybe I can get away without paying attention to this.”

Or maybe not.  Today Uranus turns up the volume and gives us a reminder.  “That big change you’re due for?” he says, “It’s crucial.  And I’m putting it right in your face until you do something about it.”  Today, Uranus’ retrograde journey begins and with it begins a period of soul-searching during which we must reflect upon and seek to understand the massive shift we feel coming.  Uranus will continue moving retrograde (i.e. backwards) until the day it turns direct, which is December 5, 2010.

Every Breakthrough Begins With A Breakdown
Uranus teaches us a fundamental truth:  a fresh, more inclusive order only comes after a chaotic mess.  A transit of Uranus is accompanied by a restlessness that causes you to want to dash it all to pieces.  You don’t actually have to destroy everything you’ve built in order to shift to the next level, but you may have to tolerate some uncomfortable mess as you search for the new frame to put it all into.

Uranus brings the “Eureka!” or the “Aha.”  From Uranus comes that moment of insight, that lightning-bolt-from-the-blue that disrupts your normal everyday assumptions and introduces an idea so new, so crazy, so startling that it just might work.  The best response to a Uranian insight is to open your mind up and engage in a search for a new frame, a new context, a new order in which all the old pieces make sense, and the new ones also fit.  Uranus turns your head around—that’s what he’s for.

Is This Story Your Story?
If this feels true for you, it may be that you are personally touched by this transit.  Uranus may be triggering a planet in your own chart, thus bringing these themes up for you.  This year Uranus is covering the space between 26 degrees of Pisces and 0 degrees of Aries.  If there is anything in your chart in 26, 27, 28 or 29 degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius, or additionally in 0 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, you will feel this.  And knowing it can help a lot if you’ve been feeling surrounded by chaos and you don’t know why.  If Uranus has touched you this year, this could be the year when you finally liberate yourself from old, self-entrapping ways and instead bust out into a whole new way of being.

What Area Of Your Life Is Being Affected?
Good question.  It will have to do with the planet in your chart that’s being triggered by Uranus.  If Uranus is affecting your Venus, you may find yourself feeling restless and wanting more in your relationships.  You don’t have to destroy all your relationships to satisfy that restlessness, but you do need to shift them to a whole new level now.   If Uranus is affecting your Mercury, you’re getting more crazy, paradigm-shifting new ideas these days than you usually do—use this time of genius for your long-term benefit.  And if you are between 39 and 42 right now, this could be a year that calls forth your genius and the tremendous restlessness that goes with that, demanding that you live into your potential once and for all.

Uranus’ Gift
The promise of Uranian chaos is that it leads to a new order.  Uranus doesn’t really want to leave you in a chaotic mess for the rest of your life—and if he ever has, you’ve not responded to the situation with your true power.  The mess Uranus causes is only a temporary state—although a necessary one—on the way to something much bigger and better.  Sure the ride is messy, but what does that matter?  Isn’t being the most amazing you possible worth a little chaos?

Want to know more about how this Uranus transit affects you?
Contact Jamie at pandora@pandoraastrology.com
to schedule a reading.

Solutions For Fire-Gone-Wrong

In my recent post Personality Flaws of the Four Elements I described ways the 4 Elements can go wrong, each according to its own nature.

How To Know If Fire Is Burning You Up
When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  Fire is at best a blunt instrument and when abused it becomes destructive quickly.  Your Fire has gone wrong when:

•   You frequently feel angry, destructive, or aggressive.
•   You always need to have the last word.
•   Your friends report that you habitually squash other people’s self-confidence by dominating them .
•    Some say your ways of being make you feel big and others feel small.
•    You feel restless and can’t settle down into a job or relationship.

Solution One:  Balance Fire With The Other 3 Elements
If your Fire is distorted, the other elements can help restore balance. Some say that anger is a disguise for grief, and for a Fiery individual this can be very true.  Are you masking sadness with your Fiery display?  Take off the armor, sink into your Watery side and let yourself feel sad.  But leave the battle zone first.

Air can also lend a useful perspective.  Draw on your Airy side to access your inner Observer, that part of you that can get healthy distance from yourself.  Step outside your anger and use logic instead.  Debate with yourself before arguing with others.

Earth reminds Fire that dominating others is impractical, because it impedes the very leadership you’re trying to create.  Why would people want to follow someone who blows up easily and loses self-control?  Earth says, have self-discipline and show them that you take practical action on your promises.

Solution Two:  Emphasize Healthy Fire
If you emphasize healthy Fire and fill your life with positive expressions of Fire, there will be no room for unhealthy Fire.  This elegant solution gently allows negative Fire traits to fall away as a side-effect of your emphasis on positive Fire.  You might call this solution “Fire-Fu.”  Here are some examples:

•    You’re prone to overindulging in physical pleasures to compensate for how hard you work or how boring youHave a regular athletic routine that allows you to “blow off steam.”  Then you don’t explode unexpectedly.
•    You’re prone to overindulging in physical pleasures to compensate for how hard you work or how boring youEncourage mental self-talk that builds your confidence, instead of undermining it.  Then you don’t need to dominate others to get your way or express your needs.
•    You’re prone to overindulging in physical pleasures to compensate for how hard you work or how boring youEnjoy healthy competition with strong people you respect.  Then you’ll find the patience you need to get you through the times when you have to tread delicately with people you wouldn’t choose, but have to relate with.
•    You’re prone to overindulging in physical pleasures to compensate for how hard you work or how boring youAssert yourself early and often, so you don’t build up a head of steam and blow.
•    You’re prone to overindulging in physical pleasures to compensate for how hard you work or how boring youExamine the beliefs that make up your philosophy of life—create a world-view that expands (not contracts) you.

The Four Elements are a fascinating part of human temperament.
Find out about yours in a reading with Jamie:
Contact Jamie to learn how.

Coming in a few days:  Has Earth Grounded You–Permanently?

Human temperament is made from combinations of the four elements, Fire, Earth, Air and Water.  Everyone has all four, but in different proportions.  Everyone also differs in how well they express each element—whether that element is expressed mostly in a clean and clear way or in a distorted way.

It’s not that some parts of your chart are good and some are bad.  All are good and all are bad—it is in how you use them.  Some will be easier to have as good and you can express those parts well with little effort.  Others are more challenged and prone to distorted expression.  But it still comes down to what you do with it.  You’re in charge.

And so, as a cautionary study, what follows is a look at what happens when each of the 4 elements goes terribly, terribly wrong.

Fire
The Fire side of us is naturally upbeat, cheerful and energetic.  When Fire goes wrong, all that drive and energy still needs someplace to go, so the person tends toward irritation, frustration and anger.  They can also take cheerfulness to the point of being entirely false and being unwilling to admit to having a down day.  When Fire is distorted, a person becomes fierce, a bully, arrogant, entitled, self-centered and even violent.  When you meet a person who can’t take feedback without exploding, who has to have their own way and who must dominate every situation, blame Fire.  Fire is also at work when an individual is hardheadedly self-determined or naïve to the point of clueless because they simply won’t listen to others.  And Fire also brings us the megalomaniac, the self-absorbed, self-centered people for whom it’s “all about me.”  Fire can be very uncaring and insensitive to others.  Oh, and Fire’s known for being an attention-grabber and a drama queen, insistent on blowing things up bigger than they have to be—and always in public.

Earth
Earth’s nature makes it practical, pragmatic, grounded, serious and realistic.  When a person expresses Earth in a distorted way they become cold and calculating, holding others (and sometimes themselves) to harsh, overly demanding standards.  Earth can be judgmental and critical, nit-picky and a perfectionist, setting the bar too high and valuing achievement over a balanced lifestyle.  Earth has also gone wrong when a person is overly security-oriented and abusing food and pleasure for comfort in reaction to excessive restrictions in other times or areas.  Binging and purging are Earthy behaviors.  Earth can also embrace structure too much, becoming extremely regimented, engaging in ritualistic, obsessive routines and finding themselves unable to relax and let life flow.  Earth craves wealth and can become a miserly, money-grubbing, gold-digging Scrooge who is obsessed with the bottom line and cries “show me the money!”  And obviously, Earth’s ambition can go very wrong, resulting in a person who will ruthlessly step on anybody necessary to climb to the top of the heap—and then paradoxically, they will spend their time hyper-vigilantly watching the competition, unable to relax and enjoy the fruits of their achievement.

Air
Air represents the mental side of human nature, so Air types tend to be idea people—intellectual and curious types.  When Air goes wrong, the person is nervous, twitchy, restless and agitated, too full of nervous energy and has too little tendency to work it off physically, as Fire or Earth might do.  Instead, Air will spend time reading or surfing the net or otherwise involved with ideas, theories and virtual things instead of physical reality.  Air tends to be attracted to caffeine and stimulants that make one’s mind sharper or help one focus.  Distorted Air leads to ADD symptoms, Asperger’s Syndrome, autism and other conditions that make it hard to bond emotionally with others, leaving a person cold, unattached and stiff (both emotionally and physically).  An Airy type can be the epitome of a talking head, full of theories and the logical reasons behind why they should work, but disinterested in their application.  That Airy intelligence can lead to a tendency to criticize whatever doesn’t fit the theory.  At its worst, Air is alienated, unfeeling, cut off from others and amoral, because it lacks compassion.

Water
Water represents the emotional side of human life:  Water grants us feelings, intuition, instinct, empathy and compassion.  Water-gone-wrong heads in a number of seemingly unconnected directions.  One way is that distorted Water becomes whiny, clingy, weepy, hypersensitive, histrionic and emotionally self-indulgent.  This leads to codependence and being easily manipulated by others.  Other people take distorted Water in a different direction, toward being passive-aggressive, manipulative, controlling and a user, always covertly pushing for one’s way.  Water is moody; it can fall into pits of depression, resulting in spending time being lazy, unmotivated, greasy & unwashed.  You can just feel the creeping entropy.  Even when Water is expressed in a spiritual way, the person can take an attitude of spiritual superiority which is actually not spiritual at all.  Did I mention that Water has a sexual side?  Water can get sleazy, sluttish, creepy and sexually predatory.  And Water can be morbidly sensitive, leading to agoraphobia and misanthropy.

So there they are, the four Elements in all their very worst aspects.  And there but for the grace of God go we all.

In the next few posts, I’ll talk about solutions to these elemental problems:
Is Fire Burning You Up?
Has Earth Grounded You—Permanently?
Does Air Have You Lost In A Cloud?
Are You Drowning In Water? (coming soon)

The Four Elements are a fascinating part of human temperament.
Find out about yours in a reading with Jamie:
Contact Jamie to learn how.

June’s full moon is also a lunar eclipse, and a complex melting pot of influences it is too.  The Capricorn moon likes to keep a lid on all things emotional, while the Cancerian Sun says, “let ‘em rip!”  Toss intellectual Mercury and passionate Pluto into the mix and you’ve got a wealth of contradictory arguments.  Uranus adds his form of irritation and Jupiter just makes everything bigger.  What to do—should we all just stay in bed?  No, just be aware from the get-go that this day is a mass of contradictions.  Make no plans, stay flexible and be aware that circumstances may change right underneath you.

Details About This Eclipse

Date: June 26, 2010
Time of eclipse: 4:30 AM PST
Type: partial (weak in intensity)
Visible in: eastern Asia, Australasia and most of the Americas.
At: 4 degrees Capricorn
Shadow Agents: Pluto in Capricorn, also Mercury, Uranus and Jupiter

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
March 20-30
June 20-30
September 22-October 2
December 21-31

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable.  A lunar eclipse is likely to bring up strong emotions and to be experienced as a subjective event (unlike a solar eclipse, which is likely to be marked by an external, real-world event).  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it.  The Sun and Moon are there and they seem to be fighting over something.  Several more deities are standing behind them.
Sun:  You can’t have it!
He’s looking relaxed in sweats and a comfortable t-shirt.
Moon:  But it needs protecting!  And I’m the right one for the job, because I’m in Capricorn.
She’s wearing a gray twin set and a business-length skirt, and trying not to look undignified as she tries to wrest the object away from the Sun.
You:  Hey, what is that you’ve got there?
The Sun holds it out of the Moon’s reach and you can see for a moment that it’s your own heart.
You:  That belongs to me!!
Sun:  Oh, you’re the one who left this lying around?
He begins to hand it to you, but at the last moment, Pluto steps around him and plucks it from his palm.  She’s dressed in business casual, much like the Moon, and she gives a wink to the Moon as she grabs your heart.  As soon as she does, a rush of previously-unconscious feelings well up into your chest, leaving you feeling overwhelmed and a little faint.  Pluto stalks past you and makes herself at home on your sofa.  The Moon sits next to her and coos over the heart, which Pluto has cradled in her arms.
You:  Whoa.  I feel so . . .
Pluto:  What you are feeling, my dear, is the rush of pure, unadulterated, undiluted power.  If you had three wishes, and you could have absolutely anything, what would you wish for?  Money?  Fame?  Power?
You:  I want a better job.  I want more money.  I want to be respected.  I want to be famous.  I want to be loved.  I want to be safe.  I want to never worry again.  I want my family to be taken care of.
Mercury pops in the door and occupies the other sofa, next to the spot the Sun has now occupied.
Mercury:  You know what always happens at the end of all those “Three Wishes” stories, right?  You’ll end up using your third wish to undo the stupid things you wished for with your first and second.
The Sun chuckles.  At that moment, Uranus and Jupiter burst through the door and into the room.
Sun:  Where’s the fire?
Uranus:  We’re here to force a decision–
Jupiter :  We’re in a terrible hurry–
Uranus:  Places to go–
Jupiter:  People to meet–
Uranus:  All very important!
Pluto:  Ri-i-ight.  Terribly important.  Have a seat, gentlemen.
Pluto points to the only chair left in the room and Jupiter and Uranus try to claim it simultaneously, then both crash to the floor.
Pluto:  They’ve just gotten into Aries and they’re not settled yet.  Speed freaks!
In the meanwhile, you’ve sneaked up behind Pluto and are now attempting to grab your heart.
Pluto:  No you don’t!
The Moon glares at you.
Pluto:  You’re going to feel all of this ambition.  All of it.  You’re going to feel the desire for power surging through your blood and in your marrow.
Jupiter: (suddenly stands up, looking frantic) What to do?  What to do?
Uranus claims the chair but can’t sit still in it.
Pluto:  There is absolutely NOTHING to do.  Nothing at all.  Just feel it.
Moon:  That’s right, just feeeel it.  Let it move through you and change you.
Sun:  Let it make you more aware of yourself and your motives.
Mercury:  Let it give you pause.
You:  OH.
You stand still for a moment, in the middle of your own living room, just noticing all the sensations, feelings, thoughts in your body.  It wells up from inside you, taking over your mind and senses like a drug.  You are filled up with dizzying sensations of glory, power, grandeur and greatness.  In your mind’s eye you see everyone around you living the way you wish they would, appreciating you the way you wish they would, and doing only what you tell them.  Just when it feels like you cannot hold anymore, you panic.
You:  It’s too much!
Pluto:  Control and power bring responsibility.
You have become very agitated.
You:  Make it stop!
Moon:  You are the one who can make it stop.  Close your eyes again.  Slow down.  Let go of the need to have everything your own way.
When you slow down and notice, the sensations that were dizzying begin to move again, and then to dissipate.  Finally, they have passed.  You find you are comfortable again.
Pluto:  Congratulations—you have acted as a surge protector.
She hands you your heart.
Pluto:  Pay better attention to your desires in future, ok?
Uranus:  And try not to get so wound up.
Mercury:  Look who’s talking!
You:  Um, ok.
Sun:  Feeling them is good.  Acting on them—not always so good.
You:  No kidding!
With that, Pluto sweeps out the front door, followed by the Moon and the rest of the crew.  You are left with your heart, none the worse for wear, and all yours again.

Want to understand how this eclipse affects your own life?
Contact Jamie for a reading.

Do you know why Cancer types are so lovable?  Emotional intelligence, that’s why.  And the root of emotional intelligence is soothing—self-soothing and the soothing of others.  This sensitive Water sign quickly learns that life is lived through a feeling-filter (it’s true even for those who claim to not be emotional).  Cancers become adept at connecting emotionally with human beings in general.  Here’s just some of the great stuff Cancers learn as they swim through life’s waters.

Cancers quickly learn to value love and the ability to love above being right or being strong.  They are not usually stoic people.  A Cancer would usually rather be connected to someone they love, even if that connection is painful, than be shut out.  Cancers are not usually interested in superiority or in dominating (unless they’ve got a Leo streak).  Loving, connecting and bonding and feeling-with are high on their value scale.

An emotionally intelligent Cancer is adept at sympathizing and empathizing with the emotions of others.  Cancers are naturally supportive and sympathetic, which gives them an edge when it comes to establishing rapport and connecting with others.  Being able to feel-with and feel-for others binds them to you.  Cancers are great bonders.

Cancer understands how important it is to know what you are feeling. One of the first and best pieces of knowledge that a smart Cancer learns is how to tell the difference between an emotion, an intuition and a mood.  An emotion is any feeling you have.  An intuition is a feeling you should pay attention to, even if you don’t know why you are having it, because it’s trying to guide you.  A mood is a passing feeling that you don’t want to act on, because such impulses lead to bad choices.  Smart Cancers know the difference.

Knowing the differences between kinds of emotions leads to knowing how to manage your own emotions.  When you know why you feel what you feel, then it’s easy to know what you should do about that (or not).  So, suppose you just met someone and you took an instant dislike to him.  Is that because there’s something creepy about him or is that because you’re in a sensitive mood or is that because they remind you of somebody who was mean to you years ago?  Each situation calls for a different response and you need to know how to choose.

As a Cancer matures, she becomes able to channel emotions into life in ways that make a difference.  As soon as she’s comfortably situated, or at least oriented (and sometimes even before!) she looks around for things that need nurturing and she begins pouring love, care and thoughtfulness into those things.  And whether those things include babies, gardens, businesses, projects, people or pets, under the loving gentle rain of Cancerian care, they cannot help but blossom.

It’s not necessary to have your Sun, Moon or Rising in Cancer to develop intuitive ability.  Every human being alive has Cancerian emotional intelligence.  Cultivate yours and watch your world flower!

Cancers, how about a special birthday present?
Your birthday is your own personal New Year’s Day.
Having an astrology reading at this time can
deepen your self-understanding
and support your intuitive knowing in the coming year.
Contact Jamie at Pandora@pandoraastrology to schedule a reading
or put one on your wishlist.