$50 on Red

I am running a new special for the month of Sagittarius. Give a reading (30+ min) as a gift and receive 50% off a reading for yourself.

Today is 11/21/2012. That means we have 30 days until the much-anticipated end of the Maya long count. We are also two-thirds of the way through Autumn, and that means that the sun is crossing into the sign of Sagittarius.

But there’s a lot more going on than that. Consider the chart below for 11/22/2012.

In this chart, I have reduced orb to one degree. Often, Astrologers use 8 or 10 degrees, but even when considering only a single degree, we still have a number of aspects going on. Let’s start at the right.

Venus, like the sun, changes signs today. She leaves her ruling sign of Libra trailing the sun by exactly 30 degrees, which is an aspect called Semi-Sextile. What intrigues me about this is that when Venus moved into Libra, she was exactly 30 degrees behind Mercury and had been trailing him for some time. How apropos that Venus would be escorted (by Semi-Sextile) into and out of her ruling sign, which itself is all about relationship.

This hints at another pattern I see developing. Notice that in this chart we have five pairings, each conjunct to within 5 degrees. Conjunctions are interesting because they muddy the waters. When two planets near, their energies blend harmoniously, but in a way that makes it harder to distinguish them. For example, with Neptune so close to Chiron, his other-worldliness has purpose. Neptune by himself can be simply an escape, but Chiron directs those altered states toward the healing of self and/or others.

With Venus and Saturn, what I see is a partnership striving for balance. In general Venus and Saturn have Libra in common,  where one rules and the other is exalted. Each sits on one side of the scales and now they are carrying with them some of Neptune and Chiron (via near exact Trines). All of this is in water signs.

To me, the message is simply to utilize your relationships for support. This reminds me of the allegory of the long spoons. Venus is an expression of love. Expressing love can be pure pleasure (Venus in Scorpio), but sexual expression can also be healing (Venus trine Chiron), especially when one employs responsibility for self and other (Saturn). Mars in Scorpio would represent mad passionate sex, but this aspect is more of the genre of making love.

Sex can certainly be healing, but it can also be hurtful and harmful – like when one partner takes advantage of another. Mars and Pluto, the traditional and modern rulers of Scorpio, are joining. Thus aggression can more easily be used for the sake of power.

And even if the intention is not to hurt, with Neptune involved, it can be involuntary. Take, for example, the scene where an intoxicated man takes his wife aggressively, disregarding her pleading to go softer and slower. With the sun square Neptune exact, emotion can cloud judgment – like how difficult it is to think straight when we are hysterical.

Mars and Pluto are four degrees apart heading into an exact conjunction. Today, Mars exactly squares Uranus prodding the Pluto-Uranus square. What we see happening in the Middle East is likely feeding off all of this fuel.

So the Mars-Pluto-Uranus square carries a lot of fire. It is like the Universe just put $50 on red heating things up. But via the Perfection of the Universe, there is also $50 on blue – and that’s the Venus-Saturn Neptune-Chiron part.

Later today, the sun and moon will trine marking two-thirds of the way between the Total Solar eclipse and the coming lunar eclipse. Eclipses bring things out into the open. The aggression we are seeing is not new. It is probably not even stronger than it has been. It is merely showing itself through outright conflict and in this way is begging for healing.

There was an interesting piece of wisdom that came through last night in a dream.

Your actions are not a reflection of who you are, but of where you are. If you find yourself in a desperate place, you will act out; you will struggle and fight to get out of the ropes that bind you.

In human society, people are judged by what they have done. Sin once and you are forever a sinner. Lucky for us the workings of the Universe are based on a different value system than we have today.

If you don’t like the actions around you (yours or those of another), strive to put yourself in a different place – one that promotes and allows more of what you desire.