All Air types (people with a strong Gemini, Libra or Aquarius influence in their chart) have some things in common.  They tend to live in their heads and they love abstract thoughts.  They prefer a beautiful theory to a hard reality and they are interested in communication, sharing ideas and networking.  But there are some interesting differences that show up when Air is strong in the chart of a woman as opposed to that of a man.

There’s a marked tendency for Air-type males to be strongly intellectual (leaning toward math and science) and to not develop their social skills, while Air-type females tend to be strongly social and not as math-and-science-oriented as their male equivalents.  Why should this be?  Are men and women really so different physically that the same astrological influences should bear out different results in the bodies of two different natives?  Why do Air-type men grow up to be techies and scientists, while Air-type women grow up to be social mavens?  Why do Air-type women sometimes talk so much and say so little, while Air-type men can be logical to the point of being cold, critical and boring?

It’s not because of biology—it’s that nasty little virus sexism at work again.  Just when we thought we were living in modern times and had evolved into a post-feminist utopia, how uncomfortable to discover that we’re actually still promulgating sexist ideas and limiting our children.

Even today, it’s still ok for men to be smart in ways it’s not ok for women to be.
Boys get rewarded for smarts, while girls get rewarded for social skills.  While both boys and girls are encouraged academically in their younger years, the further the education goes, the less women are encouraged to pursue their studies, especially when it comes to the hard sciences.  This is much, much less true for younger generations, but older generations have a longer view of how far women have come and how far there still is to go.  A potential employer still looks at a woman and thinks, “she’s going to take off and have a family at some point; she’s a flight risk for my company.”

Conversely, women still get taught social skills in a way that men are not.  While mothers explain to daughters the intricacies of social interaction, sons get tossed out into the world to fend for themselves socially, with nothing but their conscience to guide them, and no actual savvy.  This leaves males clueless in many social situations, feeling that women are running circles around them and that every social interaction has layers of meaning that are mysterious and inscrutable.  The result is that an Airy man, who has lots to say, can talk endlessly about his ideas and have no idea that he’s lost his audience.

I’ve done a lot of readings for Air-type women and believe me—they know how smart they really are and they know that all the gossiping, chattering and superficial bantering is survival behavior and they are tired of not being taken seriously as an intellectual force.  And readings I’ve done for Air-type men have clued me in that, while they easily identify with their intelligence, that intense focus on the life of the mind can result in a boorish cluelessness that is very off-putting to exactly the people they’d most like to impress.

If you are one of these Airy folks, you might want to ask yourself if you’re living the full potential of your Air nature.  It’s your God-given right to be both intellectual and social, but because of lingering gender roles you may have to fight for that right.  For both genders, the key to Air lies in good questions.  Ask intelligent questions as if you really want to know.  Be curious—both about people and ideas.  In conversation draw people out.  The wonder and curiosity we all had when we were small is the heart of Air intellectual and social skills.  Learn to ask good questions and you’re set.  If you have an Airy person in your life, encourage them to develop both sets of Air skills.  If you have an Air-type child, it’s your duty to counteract these social trends and make sure your boy learns to communicate warmly with others and your girl takes her smarts seriously.

Thank goodness these things are changing, and rapidly.  Today it’s more common to see a proud “geek girl” who worries more about her grades or her research than her hairstyle or the latest gossip.  And it’s more common to meet a boy who is socially adept without seeming too much of a “sensitive New Age guy.”  Perhaps a balance will be struck at last.

“Wake up!” says Saturn.  “I gave you a chance to see your responsibility recently.  Now I’m telling you again:  this is a time of testing.”

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 Saturn.  It’s as if Saturn is telling us, “You can’t go on avoiding responsibility forever.  Today I’m delivering a wake-up call.”  If Saturn 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 being asked to take responsibility.  Today is the peak of possibility of Saturn’s wake-up call, but it could happen anytime within 5 days surrounding today.

Initiation Leading to an Inner Journey
Sometime between now and the end of last October Saturn showed us an area of life in which we need to take more responsibility.  What he delivered was an initiation and it was our first chance to catch a clue about the changes coming.  That clue may have been obvious or it may have been subtle, but we’ve been shown a place in our life that would benefit from sustained hard work and a more serious attitude.

Did we notice?  It’s human to go into denial after a clue is delivered.  During the autumn 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 Saturn turns up the volume and gives us a reminder.  “That responsibility you need to take?” he says, “You’d better figure it out and start doing it.”  This is a wake-up call.  Today, Saturn’s retrograde journey begins and with it begins our journey inward to discover what responsibility we need to take and how it will benefit us to do so.  Saturn’s retrograde journey lasts until the day it turns direct, which is June 12, 2011.

Where must we take responsibility?
The sign Saturn makes its backwards journey in matters.  Saturn is traveling through Libra all this year and most of the next.  Saturn does well in Libra, because Saturn is the judge and Libra is all about fairness.  It’s Saturn’s job to remind us of our responsibility, our duty and of what we must do to mature, and in Libra he can do that job with some kindness, gentleness, fairness and even an extra spoonful of sugar.

Another thing Saturn does while traveling through Libra is to remind us to take responsibility for our relationships.  “Are you keeping it fair and equitable?” asks Saturn.  While Saturn passes through Libra we must all sharpen up our negotiation and mediation skills.

Is this story your story?
If this resonates for you, it may be that you are personally touched by this transit.  Saturn may be triggering a planet in your own chart, thus bringing these themes up for you.  This year Saturn is covering the space between 10 and 17 degrees of Libra.  If there is anything in your chart in 10-17 degrees of Libra, Capricorn, Aries or Cancer, you will feel this.  And knowing it can explain feelings you may be having of guilt, seriousness, obligation, duty or feeling trapped or limited.  Saturn may be trying to tell you something important, and if you listen, your discomfort will ease and a clear path to action can open up before you.

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 Saturn.  If it’s Mercury, Saturn is asking you to sharpen, hone and focus your mind, so this could be the right time for studying hard.  If it’s Venus or Juno, Saturn is testing your capacity to love and be loved.  If it’s your Moon, you may go though a lonely time while your emotional restraint is tested.  But whatever it is, that feeling of heaviness, oppression, limitation and the pressure to take committed action are present.  That’s Saturn.  He’s nobody’s favorite planet, but because he lives in each of us, the job gets done.

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

You may have read recent articles about a “new zodiac sign” called Ophiuchus.  It’s not actually news.  Here’s the article I found:  http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/wobbly-earth-horoscope-zodiac-wrong-110113.html.   This article went viral, and I (and astrologers all over the nation, apparently) are getting questions about the “new sign” from people who are wondering if they are now different signs than the ones they’ve identified with all their lives.  I’m happy to say that nobody’s sign is changing, and here’s why.

The above article by Stephanie Pappas appears to be a rewrite of a similar article posted back in 2007: http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/your-astronomical-sign.html (It was obviously a slow day in the news room.)  Both articles speak of the precession of the equinoxes as if it were news.  In fact, precession has been well-documented and understood by astrologers since before astronomy separated itself from astrology during the Enlightenment.  The knowledge of precession is not “news,” it is about 1800 years old.  Here’s my FAQ page explaining how it works: http://pandoraastrology.com/content/faq.htm#univ

The topic of precession comes up again and again as if it were news, which it isn’t.  Astrologers know about precession and it has no impact on our work.  It’s been my experience that astrologers tend to be aware of the basics of astronomy while astronomers are not aware of the basics of astrology, and the writer of the 2007 article was quoting an astronomer, not an astrologer.

Modern-day astronomers believe that events in the sky have no connection to events in our lives here on Earth.  This is where their study of the sky diverges from that of astrologers.  Astronomers name the stars, as their title suggests.  Astronomy contains the word root “nom,” which means “name.”  The word “astrologer” contains the root “log,” describing an astrologer’s job:  to log the stars.  We observe (and write down) the corresponding life experiences that go with various sky phenomena.  That’s our job.  Astronomers and astrologers may disagree, and sometimes loudly, but they have something bigger and more important in common than all their disagreements, and that is a sense of wonder and mystery in our lovely, star-studded skies.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain, because this hoo-hah has resulted in me getting a call from the New York Times.  I may be quoted in tomorrow’s paper, dated Jan. 15, 2011.  I was delighted to have the opportunity to simplify and explain the situation.  So rest assured, gentle readers, you still have the same chart and sign that you’ve always had.

This month’s New Moon is also a Solar Eclipse, and it’s one to take seriously.  Influenced by Saturn, this Capricornian eclipse has got a heavy sense of responsibility and duty.  We can expect real-world events to result from this solar eclipse, reminders of what we are supposed to do—and perhaps smackdowns from the Guy Upstairs if we fail to do what is right.  Get on the straight and narrow, people!

Details About This Eclipse

Date: January 4, 2011
Time of eclipse: 1:03 AM PST
Type: partial (moderate in intensity)
Visible in: Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, northwestern China, northwestern India.
At: 13 degrees Capricorn
Shadow Agent: Saturn

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
December 29-January 8
March 29-April 8
June 29-July 8
October 1-11

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 likely to bring up strong emotions and to be experienced as a subjective event).  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it.  Saturn stands there, a tough old man with a craggy, weather-beaten face, dressed in a very expensive suit, wearing a power tie.  Cowering behind him are the Sun and Moon.  Led by Saturn, they all push past you.
Saturn:  Well?
You:  Well, what?
Saturn:  I’ve come to administer your test.
You:  What kind of test is it?
Saturn:  It’s a reality check.
He pulls out a scroll from inside his jacket.  He unrolls it and it’s so long that it hits the floor and touches the opposite wall before unrolling completely.
Saturn:  This is a list of questions I have for you.
You:  Um, ok, shoot.
Saturn:  What have you completed lately?  What have you accomplished?  What is left unfinished?  What have you promised and delivered?  What have you promised and not delivered?  How many times have you been late?  Do you habitually do what you say you’ll do or is your word good for nothing?  Have you earned anyone’s respect this year?  Have you met any goals?
You:  Woah—I haven’t even figured out the answer to question one yet.
Saturn:  I’m sure even a pitiably slow human like yourself could not fail to notice that the year 2011 has just begun?
You:  I had noticed that, yes.
Saturn:  Have you made any resolutions?
You:  I thought of a couple . . .
Saturn:  Do you know that most people abandon their New Year’s resolutions only two months into the new year?
You:  Yes, I’d heard that.
Saturn: (towering over you) Did you think you’d be different?
You:  Um . . .
You turn to the Sun and Moon, who are huddled together on the sofa.
You:  Help me out, guys!
They shake their heads vigorously and go back to trying to appear as small and untargetable as possible.  Both are visibly quivering in fear.
You:  Ok, ok, I give up!  I accomplished very little last year.  I forgot all my resolutions before spring.  I didn’t really want to do any of those things.  They were false promises.
Saturn:  That’s what I wanted to hear!
You:  Are you satisfied?
Saturn:  Not quite yet.  Totally aside from what you promised for 2010 and failed to do, what did you actually do?  What are your successes?
You:  I’m really not sure.
Saturn:  Look not at what you promised but did not deliver—look instead at what you actually did deliver.  Those are your achievements—and they are your commitments too.  If you want to know what you’re committed to, just look at where you’ve put your effort.
Leaving the very long test behind him, Saturn sweeps back out into the night, followed by the still-cowering Sun and Moon.

Read about other eclipses coming up: 2011 Eclipses.

This month’s Full Moon (Dec 21) is also a Lunar Eclipse, bringing emotional intensity even though it’s in emotionally light Gemini.  Gemini’s desire to skate across the surface of emotions may conflict with the Moon’s need to look at emotional shadows during an eclipse.  Several other planetary influences complicate the matter:  Mercury in Sagittarius, along with Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces, leading to a sensation of busyness and many factors to consider.  But if you stay in your head, you may miss the wonder, beauty and depth of this eclipse, so look for the calm place in the center of its storm.

Details About This Eclipse

Date: December 21, 2010
Time of eclipse: 0:13 AM PST
Type: total (strong in intensity)
Visible in: North America, South America.  Its beginning will be visible in Europe and its end in Japan and northern Asia.
At: 29 degrees Gemini
Shadow Agents: 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:
December 16-26
March 15-25
June 15-25
September 17-27

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, with several more deities standing behind them.  The Sun looks a little weak and the Moon looks strong and shiny.  The Sun staggers into your living room and collapses onto the sofa.
Sun:  This is really not my time of year.  It’s just too much effort to light things up.  I can’t keep going all day like I can in the summer.  I get so tired.
Moon:  It’s the longest night of the year.  Soon you’ll get your juju back.
The Sun is already dozing.  Jupiter and Uranus meander into the living room and take the love seat.  The Moon is casting a lovely silvery glow over everything in your living room.  On an impulse, you turn out the lights so you can get the whole effect.
Moon:  I’m full and at the height of my powers.
Mercury pops his head in the door and like a streak is suddenly seated in another stuffed chair.
Mercury:  But you’re going to have an eclipse tonight.
Moon:  Yeah, I know.  I’ll be lighting up the night—until I’m not.
Jupiter:  But there’s always hope, even in the darkest night.
Uranus:  And insights can be gotten—
Mercury:  —sometimes even better when we stop thinking.
Moon:  Merc, I can’t believe I’m hearing you advocate for stopping thinking.
Mercury:  True, it’s not my usual strategy, but I’m always for new ideas, and when you think too much, sometimes the thing to do is stop.  And you’re in Gemini right now—
Moon:  Indeed I am—
Mercury: —so you could use to think less and feel more.
Moon:  I do tend to overanalyze feelings when I’m in Gemini.  Perhaps you, currently in Sagittarius, could remind me of the big picture.
Mercury:  Happy to.  And our old friend Jupiter is always good for that.
Jupiter starts to respond, but the Moon’s glow suddenly dims.
Mercury:  Uh oh, it’s beginning!
The Moon’s light lessens until she is completely dark, so dark in fact that it’s as if there’s a black hole in your living room and the Sun’s glow, which he’s gently emitting while dozing on the sofa, is being sucked into it.  A hush is cast over the room.  You move to turn on the electric lighting, but Uranus stops you.
Uranus:  Why not just dwell in the mystery?  Humans used to experience the full darkness of the longest night.  Modern people now understand that it’s a passing thing and soon over, and you are not afraid.  But you can still experience the wonder.
The hush descends again.  You sit in darkness and silence in the presence of these deities, noticing the magic and that there is nothing in particular that needs to be said.  This brings you a deep sense of peace.  After a time, the Moon begins to glow again, very faintly at first, then stronger and stronger until her full shine is restored.  You are glad you didn’t adjust the lighting because this was worth seeing.  You feel that you have been present for something ancient and true.
Jupiter:  So it seems that the key to this eclipse is “Don’t think too much, but let yourself feel it all and don’t worry about whether the feelings make sense.”
Moon:  Yes, the feelings will sort themselves out, given the chance.
Uranus:  And who knows what startling new insights might come of it?
They all get up to go.  Mercury pokes the Sun, who was quietly snoring.
Mercury:  Wake up, Sun, your longest night is almost over and we’ve figured out how to handle it.
Sun:  Cool.  I’m going home to bed now.  Days start getting longer tomorrow and I want to be alert.
They leave and you feel just a tiny bit of sadness as the cool glow leaves your living room.

Read about other eclipses coming up: 2011 Eclipses.

If what follows looks familiar to you, it’s because this is my post from last year when Uranus went direct.  Uranus goes direct every year, so the post continues to be useful, but the dates will be slightly different every year.

Uranus has spent the last few months (since July 6) traveling backwards.  Today he turns his face forward and re-covers the same ground.  Why should it matter to you?  If he’s passing through a zone where you have a planet in your natal chart, he’s bringing you shocking new ideas that can turn your head around.  And it’s still in progress.

This Is A Pivotal Day
If you are one of the millions of people having a Uranus transit this year, today may be pivotal for you.  Around July 6, you came to realize that some area of your life was in a chaotic uproar.  This was the chaos or breakdown that leads to breakthrough, although it probably didn’t look like that at the time.  Since then, you’ve been re-evaluating that area.  It might feel like a puzzle, the pieces of which have been thrown up into the air, forcing you to reassemble it entirely from the beginning.  And when you’re done, chances are it will not look like it did before.  Not in the least.

The puzzle is still in progress and now you’re waiting for the right moment to act.  That moment is not today, but today (Dec 5, 2010) is when the seed may be planted that will lead to the right moment happening in the next few months.  This day is pivotal in the process of you arriving at a whole new perspective in which so much more is possible than ever before.

Today (and I mean this loosely—it may happen as soon as 2 days before or as late as 2 days after today) is pivotal.  Today may be the day you realize your internal quest for understanding is over.  You’ve heard the message the universe is sending to you and you’re almost ready to act on what you’ve learned.  You can now gather yourself to take that action sometime in the next few months (between now and March of 2011).

“What is a Uranus transit like . . .”
Uranus is archetype of the Revolutionary and he brings a shift in paradigm.  A paradigm shift is a state-based shift, where enough momentum has been built up to cause a cascade into a new state, fundamentally different from the old one.  Uranus’ purpose is to present a new way of thinking about something, so new and so radical that everything that previously existed inside that way of thinking is now reframed and thus altered by its new context.  So the ways in which you were like a fish in water, taking the water for granted, will change because the very water you live in has changed.  Uranus’s paradigm shift is intellectual in nature—a shift to a new perspective where the old way of thinking is rendered irrelevant in the new context.  My favorite example is the way people used to think the world was flat and they shifted to thinking the world is round.  You and I may never travel all the way around the globe we live on, yet every aspect of our lives is different because we know the world is round, not flat.

“. . . and how do I know when I’m having one?”
First of all, you know by feel.  If what I’ve described resonates for you, it’s likely you’re having a Uranus transit.  (If it resonates, but only a little, you may be having a transit, but by a planet other than Uranus.)  A Uranus transit has a particular sensation of agitation and unrest associated with it.  There’s disruption and disarray in some area of your life.  You feel that something has to change and you feel unsettled while you’re figuring it out.  Maybe a new, startling idea has struck you like lightening and your point of view has already begun to shift and you are coping with all the fallout from that.

You can find out whether you’re having a Uranus transit by peeking at your chart.  This year Uranus is covering the space from 26 degrees of Pisces to 0 degrees of Aries.  This will affect you if you have any planet in the space from 26 to 29 degrees of any of the four Mutable signs (Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius) OR in 0 degrees of any of the four Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn).

If you don’t have your chart, or don’t know how to read your chart, you might want to order your own personal Astrology Chart Decoder.  This is a special tool I’ve invented that puts your chart’s details into English, instead of astrology symbols.  Your Decoder tells you where every planet in your chart is located:  the sign it’s in, the house it’s in and the exact degree it occupies.  When you’ve got your Decoder in front of you, check to see if you have anything at all in 26, 27, 28, or 29 degrees of Pisces Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius OR in 0 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn.  If you do, you are definitely having a Uranus transit this year.  And knowing that gives you a chance to understand the major shift that you’re involved in and to see the usefulness of the chaos, instead of feeling overwhelmed by it.

“How long does it last?”
A Uranus transit will typically last for 9 months to 1-1½ years.  Today is just one part of it, a pivotal day in its flow.  The timing of your transit will be personal to you.  It takes an astrologer to look it up—it’s not something I can just tell you in a blogpost.  In an astrology reading you can find out the timing of it and how to move through it consciously, instead of spending this valuable time agitated and disturbed.  You can also find out which part of you (i.e. planet in your chart) is being affected by this paradigm shift.  Is it Relationships (Venus)?  Career (Saturn)?  Home (Moon)?  Or it could be something more subtle.

“What do I do now?”
Take a close look at the area of your life that’s changing.  Why do you feel so agitated there?  Is there some aspect of your life that doesn’t fit the way it used to?  You may have to let go of some old ways of thinking before all this is done.

Sometimes a Uranian paradigm shift is launched by the arrival of a new, startling idea.  It’s startling because it doesn’t fit into your old ways of thinking and therefore it makes you see ways you’d gotten stuck in thought-patterns.  It shows up the flaws in those thought-patterns as if to say, “You weren’t prepared for me, were you?  I’m a truly new idea and you’ll have to make room for me now.”  Everything has to change to accommodate the new idea but because the system itself has to change, this results in a cascade of changes that will not only make room for the new idea but also make possible a whole host of new, exciting ideas, thoughts, perspectives and approaches that you couldn’t ever have seen from the old point of view.  Holy ripple effect, Batman!  This can be a shocking experience.  And it massively widens your vistas.

Sometime Uranus transits are experienced by Uranian (i.e. Aquarius) types in different ways than other types experience them.  For most people, a Uranus transit is a time of breaking out, rebelling and going in a new radical direction.  But a Uranian may already be living that radical way, so for them sometimes the most radical thing they can do is to go conservative.  Sometimes that’s the only new territory left.  So if you’re already a rebel in the area where Uranus is influencing you, this transit may (paradoxically) stabilize you.  It’s like of like how ADD people need to take a stimulant (Ritalin, etc.) to calm down their already hyperactive brain.  (ADD is a Uranian condition, linked to the short attention span that seems necessary and appropriate for coping with the Aquarian Age of Technology.)

Uranus’ Gift
Uranus’ gift is that you come out the other side of this change with a whole new way of thinking about something.  That new way of thinking yields ideas and approaches that were not possible before, that didn’t exist in the old paradigm.  Your world is about to expand into new dimensions that were not foreseeable before.  You are facing a singularity.  After this, everything changes.  Are you ready?

When it’s over, it’s over
After this transit ends, your period of paradigm shift will be over.  It’s quite possible you’ll have another transit like this in a different area of your life in the next few years (it’s likely in fact), but this one will have passed.  If this period is frustrating to you, be at ease, because it will end, and soon (between now and March).  But also, and more importantly, take advantage.  Use this shift while it’s happening.  It doesn’t happen every day.

I get the eeriest feeling sometimes, when I’m doing readings.  Most times, actually.  I’m sitting there talking with someone I just met, telling them all about their life in intimate detail.  I’m finding things in their chart that I don’t know about them as a person.  I have to trust my knowledge of astrology in order to be able to say what I say at all, when the person I’m looking at doesn’t seem at all to match the interpretation that’s coming out of my mouth.  And I experience cognitive dissonance between my personal experience of the client and my astrological assessment of their chart.

To be a practicing astrologer is kind of like speaking a foreign language, a language that is the tongue of one person only.  It’s as if I am holding the map of this person’s inner country and I am describing the territory of their personal country, even though I am not in that country, never have been and never will be.  I am pronouncing the words, sounding out the phrases that are found on the signposts in this person’s inner country.  The listener can recognize himself in what I’m saying and is instantly transported into himself in what is sometimes a very deep way.  People report to me that they feel incredibly seen and heard during a reading.  I understand, because I’ve had that experience myself with astrology.  But I cannot help but feel an odd disconnect as the astrologer in me and the everyday person in me part ways.

I think of myself as a good judge of character (doesn’t everybody?) but my sense of people is hugely enhanced by astrology.  Without it, I’m a little at sea.  I would never think of setting up two friends on a blind date because the everyday side of me is a terrible matchmaker.  Yet the astrologer in me can sit with two strangers and talk about intimate, private details of how they connect with each other in their marriage.  I can turn to one partner and say, “You have thus-and-so conflict with your partner, don’t you?”  “Yes,” they confess, “that’s how it is for me.”  Then I turn to the other partner and say, “Does it make you crazy when they do so-and-so?”  “Of course!” they reply, “Wouldn’t that make you crazy too?”  But I’m no matchmaker.  Sometimes all this bends my own mind.

Some people are not living out their potential very fully.  They are like folks who have been expatriate their whole lives and have never even seen their own inner landscape.  They are very hard to read for, because they insist, “No—that’s not me!” when I start reading them their own map.  Some become pensive or sad during the reading, because I tend to read with a positive slant, and they begin to recognize their own path in my words and realize that they have somehow gotten off track.  Some resist the information but they often come to me later and tell me that I was actually right on the money.  This just adds to the cognitive dissonance.

People are funny.  It’s important to be gentle when you are speaking someone’s unknown, secret language to them, even if you don’t really know what you are saying, because you’ve never actually experienced it.  Or perhaps especially for that reason.

This is part of a series of articles, beginning here:
Venus Goes Retrograde: The Tale of Eros and Psyche

Venus is finally going direct today.  In celebration, one final post about Eros and Psyche, because we’ve arrived at the end of the story.

The tale of Eros and Psyche might also be called, “How The Soul Got Her Wings” because the ultimate end to this story is not only the restoration of love to the psyche, but also the immortality of the soul.

Upon being restored to Eros, Psyche is fed on ambrosia by his father, Jupiter, lord of all the gods.  This makes her a goddess and she is welcomed to the table at Mount Olympus with the other deities.  This is an unlooked-for benefit of seeking love.  Psyche’s journey, which was only ever intended to bring her back into communion with love, has done so much more.  She has deepened as a soul and finally is rendered immortal.

The message here is clear:  to find true love, you must not seek it outside yourself, but only love truly, and not only love, but immortality is your reward.  This is a true, “happy-ever-after” because it is more than just a fantasy.  This happy-ever-after was earned and is therefore sustainable.  The beauty of a goddess is eternal, but the beauty of a mortal fades, unless she does her soul-work.  Then she takes her place among the stars.

There’s one thing I didn’t tell you as the story was going along.  All that glorious lovemaking couldn’t fail to have an effect—when Eros flew away, he left Psyche pregnant.  In anger, he told her that her child would be mortal, not divine.  Psyche pursued him and did all her tasks while carrying that child, never knowing if she would see him again.  When Psyche drinks the ambrosia, her child is also rendered immortal.  That child is named Pleasure.  And how perfect is that?

Does This Apply To You?

Are you ready to love without bargaining for what you will receive for the gift of your love?  Are you ready to go into your soul’s darkness for love?  Are you ready to sort yourself out?  Are you ready to do the tasks that will restore love to you?  If you are, then even Aphrodite cannot stand in the way of your eternal love.

This thread is dedicated to my husband, who does the work of love as well as inspiring it.

Jolly Jupiter has spent the last few months (since July 24) traveling backwards.  Today he turns his face forward and re-covers the same ground.  Why should you care?  If he’s passing through a zone where you have a planet in your natal chart, he’s been bringing you growth and confidence this year.  And he’s not done yet.

This Is A Pivotal Day
If you are one of the millions of people having a Jupiter transit this year, today may be pivotal for you.  Around July 24, you came to realize you were facing a growth period and since then, you’ve been re-evaluating some the area of your life that’s expanding.  You’ve been examining it and mulling it over.  Perhaps you’ve been researching it.  Basically, you’ve been asking yourself, “What is this part of me that wants to explore and get bigger right now?  How have I lived this part of me in the past and what is it turning into for the future?”

Today (and I mean this loosely—it may happen as soon as 2 days before or as late as 2 days after today) is pivotal.  Today may be the day you realize your internal quest for understanding is over.  You’ve come to clarity.  You’ve recognized where the growth needs to happen and you’re ready to do something with what you’ve learned.  You can now gear up to act on that recognition, sometime in the next few months (between now and February of 2011).

“What is a Jupiter transit like . . .”
Astrologers call Jupiter a “benefic” planet because he tends to bring good things.  He’s kind of like Santa Claus.  When you’re having a Jupiter transit, you tend to feel a sense of adventure, an expansiveness.  This expansiveness and willingness to have fun with what life presents you increases your self-confidence and you tend to approach life with hope and optimism.  Because of that, people feel good around you and they tend to offer you opportunities.  You are more apt to get lucky during a Jupiter transit.  It’s almost like being a “lucky Sagittarian” for a specific time period.  The luck is a side-effect of your openness to growth and expansion right now and your ability to perceive events in your life as opportunities.

I’m not saying nothing bad will happen to you during a Jupiter transit—but I am saying that anything bad that happens is likely to go much better than it would have without Jupiter’s benefic presence.  This is because during a Jupiter transit you are more able to put even bad events to good use, to squeeze those lemons into lemonade by adding your own sugar.

“. . . and how do I know when I’m having one?”
You can find out whether you’re having a Jupiter transit by peeking at your chart.  This year Jupiter is covering the space between 23 degrees of Pisces and 3 degrees of Aries.  This will affect you if you have any planet in the space between 23 and 29 degrees of any of the four Mutable signs (Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius).  It will also affect you if you have any planet in the space between 0 and 3 degrees of Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn).

If you don’t have your chart, or don’t know how to read your chart, you might want to order your own personal Astrology Chart Decoder.  This is a special tool I’ve invented that puts your chart’s details in English, instead of astrology symbols.  Your Decoder tells you where every planet in your chart is located:  the sign it’s in, the house it’s in and the exact degree it occupies.  When you’ve got your Decoder in front of you, check to see if you have anything at all in 23-29 degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius or in 0-3 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn.  If you do, you are definitely having a Jupiter transit this year.  And knowing that gives you the chance to identify the opportunities when they appear, and to grab them.  You might well ask . . .

What area of my life is being affected?
Good question.  It will have to do with the planet that you find is in that zone I told you about, between 23 degrees of Mutable and 3 degrees of Cardinal signs.  If it’s Mercury, you could be having a period of intellectual expansion, which is great for learning and expressing yourself in words.  If it’s Venus or Juno, you could be having relationship luck, attracting fun partners who take you on adventures or experiencing adventure in the relationship you already have.  If it’s Saturn, you could be facing a career expansion, a time when you exude confidence and grow your business.

“How long does it last?”
A Jupiter transit will typically last for 8-10 months.  Today is just one part of it, a pivotal day in the flow of a months-long period of growth, expansion and opportunity.  In an astrology reading you can find out all this good stuff:
•    what area of your life has “gotten lucky”
•    exactly how long it lasts
•    when it started
•    when it ends
•    what various phases of it feel like
•    how to take advantage of it
The timing of your transit will be personal to you.  That’s why it takes an astrologer to look it up—it’s not something I can just tell you in a blogpost.

“What do I do now?”
Grab the opportunities as they fly by.  You’re on life’s carousel and Jupiter is not going to just give you the goodies.  You have to reach for and grab the brass ring.  It’s up to you to decide which of all of Jupiter’s offerings are best for you right now.  You have to use discernment and you have to take action.  You have to respond.

It’s OK to say no to some of the opportunities.  Jupiter will simply send you more.  Focusing on what you really want can have the effect of shaping what Jupiter sends you.  It’s a great time for a deliberate manifestation practice.

When it’s over, it’s over
After this transit ends, your lucky period will be over.  It’s quite possible you’ll have another lucky period in a different area of your life in the next few years (it’s likely in fact), but this one will have passed.  Take advantage of it while it’s happening!

This is part of a series of articles, beginning here:
Venus Goes Retrograde: The Tale of Eros and Psyche

Psyche receives a lot of help in the completion of her four tasks, often at the very moment when she has given up.  Where does that help come from?  It appears as if by magic from resources that are close at hand, but the power behind that help is Eros himself.  He stirs the ants up to help Psyche sort the seeds and he breathes wind into the reeds that tell Psyche the secret of how to gather the golden fleece.  The eagle that fills the crystal goblet is sent by Zeus (Jupiter), who is Eros’ father and is helping him.  And Eros himself shows up to gather up the stygian sleep and cram it back into the box so that Psyche may return with it to Aphrodite’s temple.  Without love to inspire her every move, how could Psyche ever reawaken love?  And so he is her helper, but he cannot do these things for her.

Eros has his own story, which is the negative space around Psyche’s story.  His is the story of how erotic love connects with the soul and matures into intimate love.

Eros represents erotic love.  He is portrayed in Greco-Roman mythology as a mother’s son, a male principle that arose from the feminine.  But even Love had to grow up and leave his mother.  Eros’ journey begins when he first catches sight of Psyche (having been sent to kill her by Aphrodite).  He pricks himself with one of his own arrows and falls in love with her.  This means he must change from devoting himself to beauty to devoting himself to soul.

Instead of killing Psyche, Eros has her carried away to a hidden castle where he lives with her.  But he is a god—love is an eternal principle, a divine thing, and it cannot live forever with that which is mortal.  The marriage between Eros and Psyche is inherently unsustainable as long as Psyche is not a goddess.  Eros has married beneath himself, captivated by Psyche despite knowing that she would age and one day die.  You might say he was hanging around a girl from the wrong side of town.

A story is no story without setbacks.  What did Eros do when Psyche lifted the lamp and viewed him in the light?  He flew away to his mother, Beauty.  Eros’ part of the story is about how erotic love must learn to stop revolving around the beauty (Aphrodite) that gave birth to him and start instead apprehending the soul inside what he loves.

The tale of Eros and Psyche is a tale of converting passionate love into intimate, enduring love.  Passionate love is intense and consuming—if you were to try to live that way on an everyday basis, it would burn your life away.  Enduring love is less intense, but it is what passionate love turns into when it learns to bear the light of day.

At the beginning of the story, the Soul (Psyche) is in love with Love itself, and by the end she has taken a hard look at Love and deepened her soul.  Love is already divine; the soul has to earn her divinity.  At the beginning, erotic love (Eros) is in love with the beauty that aroused it (his allegiance to Aphrodite) and has to sneak around to explore his connection with the soul (Psyche) and even leave her to return to beauty.  Ultimately, the soul wins him over and Eros gets to have, not just sexuality with beauty, but sexuality with soul.  Not just erotic love, but intimate love.

Put another way, the psyche falls in love with love, but love itself is in thrall to the beauty of the beloved and needs to learn to love the beloved’s psyche.  Love is the offspring of beauty and is devoted to beauty, but upon encountering the soul, love is awakened and made conscious.

The message here for the Soul is:  Do your own soul-work. A mature lover will see your depth and not run to Beauty to escape encountering the Soul.

The message here for Love is:  Beauty is enthralling, but connection to the Soul is what’s needed to create the enduring connection that will allow Love’s expression over a lifetime.

There’s one final post in this thread, Psyche Is Made Immortal . . .