I’ve been thinking about this all week. It started as a joke, but then, at one point, wasn’t very funny. Now that I’m on the other side, I thought I would write about it.
As you know, I am writing my third book with a backbone of Astrology. I am basically allowing Astrology to inspire the story. My characters will have birthdays (down to the minute) and will have real Natal Charts based on the actual position of the planets when they were born. So I’ll do some chart reading within the story as I go along.
And all of that thought about Astrology has me thinking about it some more – namely what’s happening right now.
The three most noticeable pieces to report on are the following:
- Mars in Virgo went retrograde (on 1/24/12).
- Neptune entered the sign of Pisces (on 2/3/12), which it rules, and will be there for 14 years.
- Saturn in Libra went retrograde (on 2/7/12)
First – I want to talk about Mars. Mars is all about action. He may be a lover or a fighter, but in either case he’s chasing you. He gets you to move. He gets you out of your chair. He fires you up.
Virgo is Mutable-Earth. It is the most moveable Earth sign, the hardest to move Mutable sign. A true Virgo is a master at rebuilding, restoring, adding on, or changing physical surrounding in other beautifying ways. Virgo is ruled by Mercury, so it is always an improvement.
So I figured out what Mars in Retrograde is all about this time. It is about digging up dirt.
Believe me, if you live in my neighborhood, you know all about this. The other day, an earth mover was jack hammering about 15 feet from my office for about 8 hours nearly non-stop. By the afternoon, I grew so irritable I was ready to hurt the walls in my bathroom (more on that in a minute).
Down the street where some major earth moving is going on, the neighbors put up a large banner that reads:
“If you lived here, you would be sleep-deprived right now.”
Mar is impatient. He doesn’t like doing things twice, let alone three times. He’s irritated that he has to travel some more in a sign that he doesn’t love. And he knows that since he’s going backwards, he’ll have to travel forward this way for a third time. So he’s moving the dirt and remodeling impatiently. Gotta hurry up and get this part done so we can get to the next step. Try working all day with the sound and feeling of jack hammering 15 feet away and you’ll find yourself doing just that. I worked so hard and so fast that day thinking I could make the hammering stop sooner, but it didn’t. Even my cat was irritated and complained all day.
For me personally, and many close to my age, Mars is also backing up right into our natal Pluto. The last time Mars crossed Pluto for me in December, I blew my top… for days. This time, I am just feeling some irritation – though it’s not quite transiting just yet. But I am feeling especially motivated at the same time – as this combination can do. I’ve had the physical stamina of a younger man – and have been getting a lot done. With Mars going backward, it’s hard to finish anything, but that doesn’t mean things are nearing completion. I’m even impressing myself with how much I’m getting done in a day! So the goal is to get rooms 95% done until Mars goes forward on… damn… April 14th! (I just looked it up.) Well, maybe a room will be completed before then – I just won’t force it. Mars could make me revisit it until then, so I’ll keep an open mind.
The next most noticeable influence is Neptune. Neptune entered Pisces on Friday, and I tore out the old vanity in my master bathroom on Saturday, boy was that fun. The water kept coming and coming. It was turned off at the street, but apparently not fully. And the only pipe that flowed was the one we had open. So the whole time we worked, until the new valve was installed, the water flowed. Talk about mud!? The old vanity already had old water damage and thus just disintegrated further with the new water. My bathroom floor was muddied as a result.
Neptune is a king of the sea. He rules altered states (dreams & intoxication) and apparently disintegration as well. With Mars already going backward in Virgo, he was ready to team up.
- Dig up dirt,
- add water,
- voila!
But mud is not all bad – people do bathe in the stuff.
All things considered, the project went well. We got the pipe plugged quickly (I didn’t, my friend did). I didn’t have a working sink in there until yesterday, but I have two bathrooms now so that wasn’t a problem. But as of yesterday I have a fully functional master bathroom for the first time in my life! Yay!
The real deal is this though – the dreams! Have you noticed? The dreams this week have been super vivid! What’s real to Neptune is that which is unreal to us and my dreams have been unreal for sure! Actually, they’re not that unusual, they just stay with me longer – and have been waking me up.
Oh, and have you noticed how… different… time is flowing? It doesn’t feel like it’s going that quickly, but then you notice how much has gone by. You feel like it should be Tuesday, but it’s actually Thursday. Or you look up and suddenly week has gone by. It’s trippy because I’ll put something in one place, move it days later, and then days after that when I go to find it in the first place, it feels like it moved on its own. I vaguely remember moving it, but like remembering a dream. It’s all very fluid.
Last up – Saturn. For me, Saturn has been keeping pretty quiet. I think he can’t quite compete with the jack hammering and the mud. Truth is, he’s just getting warmed up. He only reversed direction two days ago and in the very tail end of Libra. Once he gets moving again, count on hearing from a few people.
Remember, Saturn in Libra has been working on our relationship communication issues. Well, now that he’s going backward, he’s going to resurrect conversations that we didn’t want to have in the first place, but only if there’s more to say. If you did good the first time, you might not have to have a second time. But if the subject does come up again, it might be time to say that piece you held back the last time. However, keep an eye on Pluto because if he gets involved (like he is in my chart), he could be a bad influence. Speaking your truth need not be about bulldozing over the other person. If you held back last time, you held back. Don’t blame the other person. Saturn is here to teach us about ourselves within our relationships – how we are – not how they are.
So – in summary: Work hard, but don’t get frustrated if it takes a bit of redoing. And you’re gonna get dirty, so dress appropriately. Sleep well and enjoy the entertainment. They don’t make movies as good as the dreams we can have now. And speak softly, but speak your truth. If someone asks, then they asked for it. If they don’t like what you have to say, that’s their concern.
And for a bit on the future – keep an eye out for Venus and Jupiter over these next four weeks. Just after dark, look west and up. Venus will be nearer the horizon and Jupiter higher up. Every day between now and March 14th, they’ll be getting closer and closer…
A Fool's Inclination 