Weekly Weather

Weekly Weather March 30, 2009

There will be lots of “reveals” over the next few weeks.

Reveals are when the part of the story that you didn’t have yet comes to light. The hidden crucial fact. The pivotal part of the data. The “Oh THAT is what is going on!” The steps in the process you didn’t know about and have to take to get what you want. The “Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary!” moment.

Well it may have been elementary to THEM but it wasn’t elementary to YOU. You are the one who figures it out over the next few weeks. And then it will be elementary to you too.

When the reveals come to light, you’ll have “Ah HA!” moments. After the “Ah HA!” moments, you actually know what you want to do. The doing, of course, will take a bit of time and be done down the road.

But STARTING this week and going until April 15, you WILL come to KNOW. Or at least see it for what it is. Understand why things are the way they are. Gather the clues and put them together. A lot of the indecisions, delays, obfuscations, cloudiness and craziness will clear in the three weeks ahead as you get crystal clear and see things as if for the first time, with new fresh eyes, as the scales covering your eyes fall away.

I am reminded of Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus. We are each going to have our very own Road to Damascus conversion over the next three weeks. Like Saul, we may be “blinded” a bit by our conversion’s effects and information we receive which is THIS week’s part of the journey. After we get used to our conversion and being “blinded”, we’ll figure out what to do about it which is next week’s part of the journey. Finally, the scales will fall from our eyes which is the third week’s part of the journey.

For those who don’t know Saul’s conversion story ~ he was a Pharisee, or learned leader, who "violently persecuted" the followers of Jesus. His conversion experience was described as miraculous, supernatural or revelatory in nature.

Pretty dramatic I know. Bright light comes out of the heavens, knocks you off of your horse, and a voice yells at you and tells you to stop persecuting it. You are blinded with no eating or drinking for three days. Then some guy comes by, lays hands on you and the scales fall from your eyes so you can see again. You get baptized, get a new name and regain your strength. It is going to be an interesting patch of time!

Now, you might not have ALL those things happen, but the purpose of the next patch of time is to have you see things that you never saw before. AFTER you see them (and perhaps spend a few days blinded or not eating and drinking), the scales will fall from your eyes and you’ll get “it”, whatever “it” is in your life, in a way you never got “it” before.

That is the scenario for the next section of energy we’ll be working with over the next few weeks as Venus finishes her retrograde station, Pluto stations and Mars visits with Saturn and Uranus. Mars to Saturn takes place this week ~ knocked off your horse as Pluto draws to a stop in the sky. Mars to Uranus takes place on April 15, when the scales fall from your eyes and you start a whole new 2 year cycle.

Mercury is exceptionally busy this week bringing you all sorts of information and new ideas. Plus Juno changes signs and enters Pisces asking you to partner with your soul and your soul’s hopes and dreams.

Another busy, busy week. And it builds to a crescendo as we approach week’s end when Mars is opposite to Saturn and Pluto stations to go retrograde.

Monday, Mercury is busy on the same day that the Moon is in Gemini making it a BIG communication day for all of us. Watch for messages that you didn’t expect or don’t know quite what to do with. Gather the data. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The person may bark at you impatiently ~ ask questions ANY WAY! Especially if you don’t understand what is being asked of you. Mercury is in Aries so communications are Pioneering, executive, competitive, impulsive, eager, courageous, independent, and dynamic. People can be sharp tongued. Or assume YOU know about the situation when they call to complain to you. Or they are just moving fast and leaving steps out. There is a lovely opportunity for mis-communication as Mercury is talking to Neptune ~ you might not completely HEAR correctly. Or they might not SPEAK clearly. Double check communications. Sun and Mercury join so communications are “combust” the Ego or Solar purpose for existing. People will want what they want IMMEDIATELY. Details are ignored in the face of bold, adventurous, spontaneous, and direct actions. Move or be run over. Be aware that YOUR words may come across as extra sharp too. So caution on the tone.

Tuesday Moon in Gemini has lots of aspects while you are sleeping making for a busy night of dreams. Once you wake up Mercury is in the mood to organize your home, office or work area. Sun follows up with a sense of well being at the end of the day ~ content with the work that Mercury accomplished earlier in the day. Moon has a crabby aspect with Saturn mid-day so you can feel blocked or thwarted or given a big “no”. No worries. You get a yes at the end of the day as the Moon trines Jupiter in Aquarius. Think big picture and not little skirmishes. The no was a skirmish. Watch for the yes behind it.

Wednesday is April Fool’s day so watch for practical jokes. The moon is void in the morning offering us an opportunity to wrap up some of the tasks from busy, busy Monday and Tuesday. All sorts of communications get a boost if you detach from the outcome. Kind of watch it from a third perspective. Imagine you were riding along with Saul as the light came down and you watched the conversion. Maybe you are supposed to be the light for someone else and help them have their “ah ha” moment. Or perhaps the light comes down on YOU today. Mercury is getting spoken to and will take action base on what is said. Moon in Cancer sets off the Aries planets and squares Pluto ~ the source of our habits is our early conditioning or karma. While it might feel emotionally threatening, it actually is a good thing. Venus, with her quick, expressive and self interested outlook, initiates a direct and straightforward conversation with connections, community and some larger principle of relating. Ask so you can get. Go ask! Quick! Ask!

Thursday Cancer moon continues her journey and wakes up the Sun and Mercury with her emotions and anxieties. This can be either a very good or quite a difficult day. It depends on where you are and what you are focusing on. It can and probably will, swing back and forth between those two polarities. The pressure builds as Mars approaches his fight with Saturn and Pluto stops in the sky. Cancer moon carries the message from her square to Pluto yesterday to the rest of the personal planets. Thrum, thrum, the pressure builds. Moon sends a bit of extra emotional energy to Saturn and Mars as the two of them get ready to fight over the weekend. You are fighting over old tribal issues. We each have belief systems we get from our family, religion or childhood that we don’t question. The beliefs live in us, inside setting the stage, and guiding behavior. Often they are unconscious and we are unaware of their potency as they guide us. That may be what you have your conversion on the road to Damascus about. You become conscious of WHAT that belief of yours is and how it works. Sun offers you an opportunity to see things in away you never have before. Don’t be afraid to look. Mercury is joined to Uranus by declination encouraging you to take a risk, get knocked off your horse, fall to the ground, shocked, shocked. You have to adjust your old beliefs today or risk losing something very important to you. You have to adjust how you do things today or risk losing something. Make sure to adjust. Please adjust and don’t be rigid.

Friday offers lots of tension and drama as the Moon in Cancer void most of the day offers us the ability to NOT be grounded in reality as a number of aspect push on us to evolve. Mars is feeling blocked and held back as he powers up to his opposition to Saturn and Pluto stops. You can push or wait till the energy clears. Venus squares Pluto first thing in the morning starting us off with the energy of transformation and change. This is their second square so think back to February 5^th to see what the beginning part of the story was. Square of Venus to Pluto part three will resolve the story on May 2^nd. Venus square to stopped Pluto pushes us to really clarify what it is we want and why we are doing it. If the behavior isn’t getting you what you want, you have to change your behavior. Mercury is talking with Jupiter so you might hear God’s voice shouting at you like Saul did on the road to Damascus. Or maybe not God but someone’s voice. It’s a clearing and cleansing opportunity. Mars in Pisces has an aspect of brilliance to Pluto ~ take advantage of triangles to advance your strategy or move yourself forward. Again an opportunity to get off the rock. Triangles are particularly potent today to help you get things done so definitely open up things to invite in other, helpful and transformative people.

Saturn’s day we find Pluto stopped dead in the sky, grinding, grinding, grinding us into new reality. He’s going to go back to zero in August so forward motion on the economy and where ever he is in your chart by house essentially stops today as we revisit those areas requiring changes. So we go back to late November and revisit the issues from that time. Mars is quintile to Vesta so the dreams of last night are vibrating in your being. Mercury gets a great idea from the dreams too. Ideas and communications are seeking to partner and work effectively with the bigger picture and expand how you are in connection to the world. Mars opposes Saturn so you could hear shocking news today that you didn‘t anticipate ~ news that knocks you off your horse and renders you blind as Mercury links up with Neptune. Juno enters Pisces so it says to work with your other senses and partner with your soul. That is why God knocked Saul off his horse. Partner with your higher version or vision of life. Enough of justifying why you have to suffer. Now is the time to evolve or be blind forever.

Sunday Sun finds itself arguing with Saturn as the Moon argues with your sense of well being and safety. You have to adjust now. If you find yourself blinded by the experiences of the past week, please know it is a temporary condition to 1) make you appreciate your eyes and 2) help you see clearly. Often we only see things clearly when we are faced with losing them. Why we wait until the moment of loss and fail to appreciate what we have when we have it is a mystery tied to our deeper being and our soul‘s connection. You have a thought or idea that is brilliant today. Make a plan to act upon it if you can. How can you shine even as your life is changing? You can shine by knowing that over the next few weeks you’ll be figuring it out. You can shine by learning to love the questions and the NOT knowing. You can shine by spending time doing and loving the things you love to do.

Mundane:

I love the Mount Redoubt volcano smoking up the skies in Alaska ~ it so fits the imagery ~ fire Aries planets all square to Pluto stationing in Capricorn. The top should blow off this week as Pluto stations. Wee-haw! Are we all having or reviewing our doubts? Redoubt ~ the name even fits Venus retrograde! If volcanoes are erupting in the world ~ there can be volcanoes erupting in your life too!

The Ann Arbor Michigan News announced it would print its last issue in July. Since January 2008, at least 120 US newspapers have gone under according to CNN. Pluto’s entry into Capricorn lets us see and deeply know what Pluto in Sagittarius, the transformation of the publishing world, was all about.

Venus retrograde and the bad economy has been great for the Candy makers ~ Cadbury and Nestle posted double digit profit gains. Sugar is ruled by Venus as well as money!

The stock market going up last week is temporary and emotionally based on Mr. Geitner’s proposed plan to buy the toxic assets from banks. Even the curmudgeonly Republicans are excited. The Republicans can’t help homeowners but they CAN bail out the bankers <wink>. The stock market folks have been told the “plan” and are excited. They get to gamble again! Obama had banking CEOs down to the White House last week. He asked for regulations of their behavior. We’ll see how that goes.

The problem is the CDO stuff is still unregulated, perfectly legal and essentially a pile of crap. Or a pile of toxic assets. So, it is a bit like bailing out your teen age kid’s $100,000 (yes $100,000 not $10,000) credit card bill and letting him keep the card. The banks are going to go run up the bills again. It is all still perfectly legal. Once we relieve them of the consequences of their very bad behavior by paying off their credit card bill, there is NO thing that stops them from going right back out and doing it again.

The toxic asset buy up isn’t going to fly very far for a few reasons: first, we are doing in under Venus Retrograde. Venus rules money. The whole thing is going to shift, reverse, change once Venus goes direct mid-April.

Second, once the American taxpayer realizes what it is about, I expect significant pushback. We’ve not been told yet. If we got that irritated about a few million dollar AIG bonuses, imagine trillions of tax payer dollars to buy the toxic stuff. This might have worked BEFORE now. Now we are ALL paying attention. I don’t think it will fly.

Third, we don’t have enough money. This stuff is SO leveraged and SO out of control and SO toxic. We will have to print SO MUCH MONEY. If we buy the stuff, we’ll have runaway inflation. Under the Bushies, we stopped publishing the M3, which is the amount of money in circulation. I imagine the upcoming summit will ask us to START publishing the M3 again. And when we do….. Well, it won’t be pretty. We’ve been printing money and spending it like crazy with no way to pay it back. The US government is like all those overleveraged home owners with adjustable rate mortgages facing foreclosure. We do have the ability to print money, but, eventually, if there is nothing to back it up, we have runaway inflation and have to admit we can‘t afford it.

Fourth, the G20 summit takes place as Pluto stations on April 5. We’ve been selling these crappy CDO assets all over the world. Have you wondered why the banks and AIG aren’t telling us where they are spending our tax payer money? It is because they are reimbursing all the “big players” that they screwed with these CDOs all over the world.

From the internet: President Barack Obama faces a difficult balancing act at an international summit in London next month to tackle the world economic crisis.

In his first major trip abroad as president, Obama will have to tread cautiously in pressing the case for a global fiscal stimulus while European partners try to put the emphasis on revamping international financial regulations.

The purpose of the April 2 meeting is to coordinate strategy and actions among the Group of 20 leading developed and emerging countries to come to grips with the worst economic crisis in decades.

But it won't be easy to forge a united front.

Here is a rundown on the differences, risks and possible outcomes of the G20 summit, meant to follow up on an initial round of emergency talks held in Washington in November.

THE DIFFERENCES

The April summit is shaping up as a tug-of-war over priorities.

Washington has begun signaling that when G20 leaders gather, the most pressing task should be doing more to boost their economies through spending programs like the $787 billion stimulus Obama pushed through Congress last month.

Top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said there was an urgent need for "more global demand" and that should take precedence over ironing out other problems.

But European Union finance ministers made clear they have no intention of increasing government spending beyond already announced plans for now.

While Britain has backed U.S. calls for stronger fiscal stimulus, Germany and other countries are reluctant to build up more public debt to spend their way out of recession.

They are more interested in focusing on an overhaul of international financial rules to prevent a repeat of the current crisis, which many blame on lax U.S. regulations.

Though the new Democratic president agrees on the need for major reforms, he is not ready to commit to a detailed plan for reshaping the international regulatory order established at the Bretton Woods conference after World War Two.

The administration, preoccupied with domestic economic policymaking and other issues since taking office on January 20, wants more time to craft a fuller strategy.

Another key factor: Washington historically has been wary of ceding power over markets to international regulators with the kind of cross-border powers that Europeans are advocating.

The biggest risk is that the summit participants will fail to produce a unified plan, which could disappoint a recession-weary world and further roil global markets.

Concern that the United States is moving too slowly to revive the world's biggest economy has weighed on markets, and investors fear that without a clear agreement by the G20 on how to tackle the crisis, stocks could fall further.

Personal: New stuff arriving as promised after Spring came!

Some of you expressed a desire for AUDIO formats.

So there are THREE New Ways to get your astrology~ ALL AUDIO ~ for your I-tunes, car rides or computers!

I started an internet radio talk show with a psychotherapist, Mary Fitzpatrick. We discuss current events from an astrological and therapeutic point of view. The show runs for an hour on Monday’s at 2 pm Eastern Time and allows you to call in or write in questions. The link is: http://themaryanneshow.com/

The pod casts I’ve been doing each week with Heather Roan Robbins and Marks Wolz are migrating to the internet radio show format. You will be able to get them promptly instead of waiting for us to load them. We still are figuring out a good time to record but the link is up http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Access-Astrology

I will be reading my Weekly Weather and Moon columns into the internet radio show format. Last week’s New Moon is up. The link is http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Anne-Ortelee

The nice part about all the audio stuff is you can sign up for it so it gets sent to you by the computer. Technology is a wonderful thing!

Finally, people asked for a forum to ask questions, share or comment. So while my Web Mistress Ellen and I figure that out technologically, here’s a first trial version:

Reader Questions/ Anne’s Response:

Teresa asked: Would you care to expand on what you said in Weekly Weather about the woman who noted there was a special karma involved when a mother is taken from young children? My carpool partner died in 2003 when her children were in 5th and 8th grades, and I've often tried to figure out exactly what that could be about and how to help her children deal with the loss.

Anne: The loss of a mother often shows as an affliction or difficult solar arc at a young age to the Moon in a person‘s chart. The Moon rules our body, personal physical creativity, sense of safety, nurture, home as well as mom and apple pie. Creative people, in whom we notice an abundance of creativity often lose their mothers at early ages ~ either due to death, physical or emotional separation. The loss of the mother seems to combine with their life story to create an incubator that produces profound creativity during the course of their life: John Lennon, Picasso, Paul McCartney, Princess Diana, Prince William, Prince Harry, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Eric Clapton come to mind.

Nick Plath, the son of Sylvia Plath, hung himself last week at age 47 as all the planets in his chart came to semi square all the other planets and he “reenacted” the experience he had at an early age.

From the internet: Nicholas Hughes, whose mother asphyxiated herself in 1963 by putting her head in a gas oven at her London home while her two children slept in the next room, hanged himself at his home in Alaska, his sister Frieda told The Times newspaper.

His father wrote of how, after Plath's death, their son's eyes "became wet jewels, the hardest substance of the purest pain. As I fed him in his high white chair."

Hughes was only a baby when his mother killed herself, and his father tried to shield his children from the intense public interest in the family. Some feminist groups blamed the death on Ted Hughes, who had left Plath for Assia Wevill, the wife of another poet.

Six years later, Wevill gassed herself and their daughter Shura in an apparent copycat suicide.

While the whole chart shows the karma of the person, afflictions to the lights, either the Sun or the Moon, often indicate a child had more challenging early life experience that marks him or her for the rest of their lives. Our early life experiences serve as an incubator for our soul’s journey in the life. We carry the marks and actions, or karma, the results of those marks and actions forward with us.

I don’t believe there was a single conversation I had with my maternal grandmother where she didn’t relate the story of her mother’s death at age 52, when she was age 13. Her two maiden aunts came to live with and care for her family. My mother, her daughter, died at age 52, of the same disease as my great grand mother. When I turned age 52, it was a stressful year. My sister said she thinks she will die at 52 ~ she‘s 50 in a few months. Those early marks are deep and strong.

Amanda sent a Spring Equinox card for us to enjoy.  

https://www.peacefulday.com/equinox/spring_equinox_02.jpg

And then she commented p.s. you're starting to give me a complex about having my Venus in Aries- ("hunt em, hump em, dump em") .We have some good qualities too! :)

Anne: No worries re Venus in Aries. It is fabulous for accomplishing things, taking on challenges, getting stuff done and conquering the world. Plus, it doesn't hurt on the love side, except you can get bored easier than the rest of us do and leave sooner rather than later.

I have Venus in Scorpio in MY chart so I have difficulties LEAVING. You are probably noticing a bit of my shadow issues ~ how can they leave so fast? No long lingering good byes etc. My Scorpio Venus merges and keeps loves well past the expiration date (even into stinky) while you've cleaned out the love refrigerator and gone shopping again!

Venus in Aries is difficult on the collective level, as people fly off the handle, lose their social controls and fight. And on the mundane level as we fight more among ourselves as countries ~ lots more shootings and war things. Natasha Richardson had Venus in Aries. It is a great placement when the person uses it consciously. She was a brilliant actress and won awards/prizes for her Venus in Aries roles ~ Anna Christie got her Liam, Cabaret got her a Tony.

It is difficult for those of us WITHOUT Venus in Aries natally as Venus is going retrograde for 40 days. She’s in Aries for February, March, April and May ~ one month is fun. Four months is hard. Four months with a retrograde included harder still.

That said, this makes it a GREAT time for YOU as Venus is dancing with your Venus for four months! And a great time for all the ARIES planets in all of our charts. It allows us to get a great deal accomplished and start a new 8 year cycle in our Aries house. Plus you’ll have fun having three Venus returns! And we all have three passes of Venus joining every Aries planets below 15.

Other wonderful Aries qualities: Pioneering, executive, competitive, impulsive, eager, courageous, independent, dynamic, lives in present, quick, individuality, expressive, begins things, self interested outlook, needs recognition, enjoys personal risks, martial, loud, metal, body building, vigor, to initiate or be active, quick results, urgent, good at starting & ending things but overlooks details, bold, adventurous, spontaneous, uncooperative, direct, extraverts, frank, uncomplicated, generates activity, daring, determined, domineering, quick temper, hasty, restless, self-centered, focused in vision, dislikes routine, headstrong, competitive in relationships, workaholic, over-active, reckless, striving, goal oriented.

Where would we be without our Aries friends?

Marilyn Wrote: This new moon has created all kinds of fabulous opportunities for me and my Aries friends.

For each one of us, we have experienced the fury of the energies that just preceded the new moon with answers and wishes and resolutions to very old situations all coming to a head with this particular new moon cycle. All of these were brought up and about by parties that were unrelated (or seemingly so) to the old issues at hand. By their content new life, freedom, and opportunities have exploded into the front of the line breaking away all the previous limitations. Aries is fast and that is just how this all came about....in the blink of an eye. Life has never looked better. The squares to Pluto in Capricorn appears to have only served to bring order to what once was chaos.....or at least it all looks that way for the moment.

Anne: That’s the positive version of my suggestion to invoke that Pluto triangle energy for growth~ the unrelated parties were Pluto acting as Saturn’s wing man. Once the baby crowns, the rest of the birth process is fast and quick ~ slip sliding into your waiting arms. And you Aries people always get to go first! In my next life, I am coming back as an Aries! For the rest of you, still laboring away, note the Aries excitement. You get your baby soon!

Debra wrote: I think there is a problem with your site - someone left all the positive feedback totally out of it. I'm sure there is someone who looks forward to sources of information that reflect, tighter, tighter, tighter, pressure, pressure, pressure, darker, darker, darker - though I seriously wonder why.

Anne: We are having a volcano erupt in Alaska! When the volcano calms down, our lives calm down. It should blow up the top by the end of the week and burble through April 18 or so, calming down by the end of May. Mean while, we are in the process of giving birth to ourselves ~ tighter, tighter, tighter, pressure, pressure, pressure, darker, darker, darker. Dawn comes soon. But not just yet. If the darkness bothers you, skip my column for a few weeks and check back after mid-April. We are in the final throes of giving birth to our new lives. It takes a bit of time and work. And while the Aries are there already the rest of us are experiencing it in other parts of our charts that are harder to work with and less in our “control”.

And, on a lighter note, Kay sent: This was an article from the St. Petersburg Times newspaper on Sunday.

The Business Section asked readers for their ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"

I think this reader nailed it!

Dear Mr. President,

Patriotic Retirement: ; There's about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million dollars apiece Severance Pay with these stipulations

1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed

Anne: Amen!

Copyright © 2009 A. C. Ortelee

Posted by Anne Ortelee at 04:21 AM | Permalink

New Moon March 26, 2009

12:06 pm EDT

8:06 am PDT

6:08 Aries Sun and Moon

The Aries New Moon takes place a bit after noon on the east coast of the United States. Both the Sun and Moon will be joined in the heavens over our heads with a pile of other planets. The New Moon chart features a powerful lineup of planets captured between Venus, moving retrograde in Aries and the North Node of Destiny in Aquarius. Venus and the Node are only 60 degrees (out of 360) apart or 1/6 of the circle. Packed tightly, the planets between Venus and the North Node are the Moon, Sun, and Mercury in Aries, Uranus, the Midheaven, and Mars in Pisces and Juno, Neptune, Chiron, and Jupiter in Aquarius. THAT is a LOT of ENERGY in one spot or section of the chart. Oodles of energy in fact.

The North Node and Venus are sextile to each other and working together to bring enlightenment as well as new beginnings under the light of the moon. They are squeezing all the other planets like a cosmic tube of toothpaste, tighter, tighter and tighter. The cap isn’t screwed on very tight. The toothpaste is pushing against the cap, trying to get it to move out of the way.

Or perhaps a better image is a moving, shaking and bumping can or bottle of soda on a hot day You can’t SEE the buildup of pressure but boy, oh boy, can you anticipate how that soda water will EXPLODE when you open it, very gingerly. Point it away from you!

Pluto is squaring Venus, Moon, Sun and Mercury adding extra tension to the lunation. Venus is moving backwards to have part two of her argument with slowing to station Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto is at the degree of his station in early April. Again, Pluto stations are tense times but square to the lights in a passionate, fire, action taking me first kind of sign ~ hmmm probably going to be lots going on all over the world.

Over on the far side of the chart, opposite the powerful stellium of planets trapped between Venus and the North Node is Saturn. Dear old Saturn in Virgo is in charge of the handle of the bucket shaped New Moon chart. Saturn is bossing Pluto around these days, so think of Pluto as a kind of wing man to Saturn as Pluto squares and aggravates the Aries planets.

I keep getting the image of a pick pocket ~ the distraction or commotion is being caused by Saturn. Saturn is going backwards, so we all are feeling a bit stuck and like we are not moving forward. Saturn is in Virgo right now. He’s about oppress, repress, depress. Saturn’s talking to you and all those planets across the heavens from him. Saturn is pontificating from his platform and going on, and on, and on. Saturn is talking fear ~ fear of loss, creating anxiety, causing tension, focusing you on lack, on how there is too much work, too much criticism, too little planning, and not enough ~ money, love, work, heat, attention, caring ~ not enough. How there seems to be nothing. How you are not feeling appreciated nor particularly loved.

While Saturn’s distracting you with daily stories of gloom and doom, Pluto is setting you up in a power struggle with some one or some thing. Pluto is the guy picking your pocket while Saturn draws your attention to your lacks and fears. Watch for Pluto. If it feels WRONG, it IS WRONG ~ regardless of what Saturn is saying to you about how that is how it has to be this way because of a, b or c.

No, it doesn’t have to be that way. It is a choice to LET it be that way.

We have a choice to NOT let it be that way too.

Remember as long as you are breathing and alive, you have choice.

When we are afraid, we are easily manipulated. Fear makes us compliant. That is what muggers and robbers rely on ~ the unexpected change or the threat of violence/ attack that makes us follow their orders, comply, and not question.

Fear helps us become a victim.

When I was in high school, I read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. I go back and re-read it during difficult passages in my life. Published in 1946, Frankl chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate. As a psychotherapist, he studied his fellow inmates as they sought to survive and live through their experiences. It seemed a good book to turn to for quotes to help us through the New Moon ahead as Saturn and Pluto ask us to adjust our lives to the new reality forming in our lives.

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

"Nietzsche's words, 'He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.'"

"When we are no longer able to change a situation—just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer—we are challenged to change ourselves"

"Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp."

"We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering."

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

"Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary."

"We have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s prayer or Shema Yisrael on his lips."

"We were not hoping for happiness---And yet we were not prepared for unhappiness."

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

"Man is a being whose main concern consists in fulfilling a meaning and in actualizing values, rather than in the mere gratification and satisfaction of drives and instincts. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him."

“The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected."

"A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."

As we listen to the news and hear the stories of our friends and family going through difficult times, it helps to remember how deeply lucky and truly grateful we actually can be. Look around at your life ~ see the people who love you, the people you love, the simple joy of laughter, flowers, spring, and a child watching a squirrel hurry up a tree in the park.

When you see those things and people, think about what you actually need, AT THIS MOMENT, in your life. Do you have it? What gives you joy? Where do you find your heart pulled? Can you do more of that, that joy, that heart’s desire of yours, each and every day? If you do it, you will find your life has meaning.

Venus’ job is to point out to us what we deeply, deeply want and desire. Her desires help us create the meaning in our lives. Her aspect to the North Node under the New Moon may point out a place where you are NOT GETTING what you want. That said, by knowing the NOT GET, you also know the positive version of that ~ the DO GET or the DESIRE.

Look at who ever you are blaming for NOT doing for you. Take back that projection of yours. They are not responsible to do it for you. They are doing their own life the best they can. You have to do YOUR own life the best YOU can. In that middle space, or as Frankl says "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

Choose your response consciously under this New Moon. Pay attention. Choose consciously.

Lynda Hill’s interpretation of the Sabian Image is A MAN SUCCESSFULLY EXPRESSING HIMSELF IN TWO WORLDS AT ONCE

Commentary: ‘A Man Successfully Expressing Himself in Two Worlds at Once’ shows someone having the ability to be versatile and adaptable. When operating in ‘Two Worlds’, one’s life may seem divided with divergent responsibilities, needs and urges. As this image implies that this person is ‘Successfully Expressing Himself’, it shows that this is a time when it is possible, or necessary, to cope with separate or diverse areas of life.

Oracle: You have the ability, or the challenge, to shift your focus from one thing to another when it is necessary. There is also the drive, determination and focus not to run out of energy. However, there is a need to be careful not to scatter your energies, as this may lead to wasting time and losing valuable opportunities for growth. Remember to be versatile and adaptable. There is often a need for a form of balance between the emotional, spiritual and material arenas. It’s through being clear and true to the difference between these two areas, these ‘Two Worlds’, that great things can be achieved. For instance, one can have a “straight” job during the day, and be doing something really unusual, during the rest of the time, or live between two homes, two cities, two relationships, etc. On another level, there could be a realization of operating on the physical, more everyday, level of your life whilst having messages coming through from more spiritual realms. You can be successful in anything you undertake now, as long as you are happy with the compromises that may be asked of both you and others and the splitting up of areas of your life. Are you enjoying the best of both ‘Worlds?’

Keywords: Integrating the spiritual with the material. Balancing things. Doing juggling acts. Moving through people’s lives and social stratas. Translations of words and thoughts from one area of life to another. Having separate family situations. Living a dual life. Being adaptable. Moonlighting. Alternate realities. Shifting focus when necessary.

The Caution: Fooling yourself that you can be all things to different people, but eventually failing in one or both. Exhaustion through trying to achieve too much. Deception, if allegiances are not clear. Infidelity and fickleness. Scattering of interests with little being achieved. Bigamy. Two-faced. Lies and masquerades.

Lynda Hill’s interpretation of the Sabian Symbols appears with her permission. Check her work out at http://www.sabiansymbols.typepad.com or http://www.sabiansymbols.com

Copyright © 2009 A.C. Ortelee

Posted by Anne Ortelee at 10:35 AM | Permalink

Weekly Weather March 23, 2009

It is officially SPRING!!! The Sun has begun his three month journey north to the Tropic of Cancer where he stops at the Summer Solstice. If you watch, each day is slightly longer and ALL the days are longer than the nights ~ teeny bits longer but it still counts. The shift in light tells us that it is time to rise up and start to bloom. Time to get ready for another growing season. There are MORE than 12 hours of day light gracing the Northern hemisphere of earth as our Southern hemisphere friends slip slowly towards their winter as their nights grow longer than 12 hours.

Our week ahead is going to be difficult as the Sun squares Pluto and joins with Venus while Mercury enters Aries, squares Pluto and joins with Venus. And we have a new Moon in Aries. Now, normally all that Aries energy would be volatile, fiery and passionate ~ kind of fun and frisky. A Ram chasing down a Sheep for frolicking fooling around. The Aries planets would sex, shout loudly, fight with each other, and flare up. It would feel a bit like you were in a battleground or being hunted. However, the nice part is it would also be OVER, fairly quickly, and onto the next conquest, no apologies but forward to the next battle or skirmish or opportunity to get naked. Hunt ‘em, hump ‘em, dump ‘em.

The problem is Mars. Mars is in Pisces! Mars rules all those Aries Planets. So the Aries planets ~ Sun, Moon, Venus Retrograde and Mercury are listening to and getting their instructions from Mars in Pisces. Mars in Pisces is SO indirect, unclear and wimpy, it can be simply painful. I had a friend who dated a fellow with Mars in Pisces. We used to call him Flying Fish as he kept flying off like a skittish fish when ever he got spooked by the concept of having to maintain intimacy for more than a day. He got spooked at the weirdest stuff ~ zoom he would be gone with nary a second’s notice. You might feel a brief ripple of water as he swam away.

If you‘ve ever snorkeled or scuba dived, you‘ve undoubtedly found yourself in a school of fish. Suddenly, quickly, they all, via some unseen mechanism, skitter, scatter and change direction and flee, at the same time, they shift directions. Maybe it was a flick of your flipper or a predator in the coral but whoosh, they flip, flop and swish change and vanish before your eyes.

Now I LOVE Mars in Pisces for Artists, Poets, Musicians and other Creative Types. Mars in Pisces can even be great for athletes that need to respond quickly to changing conditions on the court or field ~ Bjorn Borg, Martina Navratilova and David Beckham have Mars in Pisces. Mars in Pisces IS fast, mobile, quick and speedy. It is not consistent however, and that is the problem with our week ahead.

When you are fighting with Fire planets, it is good to have a straight line of Fire in front of you so you can see it and work with it. The problem with the Fire planets being ruled by Mars in Pisces is they aren’t going to fight in a consistent, predictable, straight or non-emotional manner. The Aries planets are going to get skittish, squishy and swish change before your eyes. Stuff that is very old yet HIGHLY emotive is going to come flying out. The fish are skittish ~ Mars in Pisces is skittish. The arguments are going to skitter, slip and slide all over the place.

Plus, Mars in Pisces can play the victim. Flying Fish’s ex-wife gave away his dog while he was flying away from her one time. It helped end their marriage. He moaned about the missing dog a lot to my friend. She was simply appalled that an ex-wife would DO something like give away a person’s dog. My reaction was “The ex-wife must have been really, REALLY angry with him.” So, when ever he would fly away and leave my friend feeling hurt or abandoned or stood up, I would pipe up (I can be VERY annoying) and say, “Well, his ex-wife DID give his dog away!” By the end of their time together, my friend probably would have given away his dog. And he, still, had not a clue how his behavior contributed to problems ~ or his dog’s disappearance.

So the Aries planets are also going to be feeling like they are victims. Or at least they will be feeling VERY sorry for themselves. Or perhaps not noticing how they contributed to the situation before them that they are emotional, sad, whining, upset or arguing about. Unaware of why someone would give away their dog. Clueless.

That makes it a tough week for us in terms of getting and staying conscious. It will be hard to keep a handle on what exactly is going on. Mars is in the 12^th house, the house of undoing, in the blind spot of all the Aries Planets. The Aries planets are not going to see how their behavior undoes their very desires or causes them problems. The 12^th house is our blind spot. The 12^th house is also a place of karmic balancing. Mars in the 12^th house of all the Aries planets implies that there is going to be a balancing out of karma this week. Most times Karma balancing ~ affairs get found out, people leave, deceptions unravel, secrets are revealed ~ is NOT much fun nor overly pleasant.

It can be a week where people get mad over seeming inconsequential things and flounce off. Trust me, the surface needs to be looked below but you might let them swim off to cool off. Do tread carefully if you decide to open up previously unexplored emotional territory as you can fall into a Bermuda Triangle of turbulent and rather violent energy. Or get squirted and totally soaked by a shaken, warm bottle of soda that you simply opened.

So what to do? Play music. Dance. Read or write poetry. Sing. Create art. Paint. Take time to walk by the beach. Escape your life in (healthy please) Pisces ways by doing healthy Pisces things like yoga, tai chi, swimming and avoid the lower forms of Pisces such as sugar, drugs and alcohol as they will fuel fights that rapidly get out of control. Check out how many people have ice cream and cookies in their shopping carts ~ and ONLY ice cream. We are all going to be in the mood to escape into primal comforts and want to crawl back into the womb. Unfortunately, you can’t go back into the womb, even if you want to. You can, however, find comfort in knowing it will calm down soon and your path will be clear before you. Not this week, but soon enough.

So learn to love the unknowing. Love the parts you know. Love the questions before you, swirling around in your being. They are all part of the same moment in time ~ a changing, magical moment where all the heavens swirl and ask us to pursue that which we love with all our heart. If you do that, you’ll be fine. The rest is illusion anyway. "Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest of human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky." — Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Monday, "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." Richard Bach, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. Pisces Moon makes the day emotional and dreamy upon awakening. Unfortunately, the energy gets darker faster as the Sun comes to square Pluto pushing on our boundaries and forcing us to make choices we probably don’t want to make. Venus is not happy with her partner right now and in the mood to argue for arguments sake. Some of it is “REAL” but most of it is pent up old stuff that has found a convenient time to unleash itself. Be cautious opening that dropped and shaken up soda bottle today?! You can get mighty wet! Sun has an aspect with the Node by declination to move you out into the wider, wider world or off on your own today. Launch yourself! No fears. It’s the letting go of the trapeze that is scary but the flying through the air part is fun. Besides, there is a net below you if you don’t catch the thingie on the other side.

Tuesday is a big dream night. Watch who shows up and asks you to partner with them in your dreams. Move toward that direction. Mars in Pisces is fabulous for dreams too. Venus is in the mood to reach out and HURT some one with her words or actions. Moon is busy with a fast launch and able to get a lot out the door today. Chiron is in a flowing aspect to Pallas ~ run it by others to help you see the pattern. You might miss it yourself. So, if some one says something very snaky or snarkie to you, tell another person and get their reaction. Use Pluto’s energy to HELP yourself by invoking triangles and use the triangles to help you see the pattern. If a person is acting like a drama queen and THE OTHER person notices they are acting like a drama queen and a third person remarks they ARE a drama queen, then, maybe, they ARE a drama queen? So then when they accuse you of hurting their feelings in a dramatic manner, you can remember they are a drama queen. The problem is, with the Mars in Pisces ruling those Aries planets, you may FORGET that they are a Drama Queen! That is why it is a good idea to run stuff that is said by another person for a second or third opinion. Remember it is NOT an easy week to be conscious. ASK FOR HELP! To start with a conclusion puts a stop to all thinking." --J. Krishnamurti, Commentaries

Wednesday “Prometheus understood: It is not in tranquility and rest that we find our perfection, but in the fiery crucible of change." --Brian Muldoon, The Heart of Conflict Prometheus felt it was more important for humans to have fire and the spark of divine knowledge than to obey the Gods. For his trouble, he got hung, upside down, on a rock and an eagle ate his liver. Then, at night, his liver would grow back. Repeat the story the next day. Repeat for the rest of eternity. Well today, you and Prometheus have an opportunity, an opportunity mind you that I suggest you take to GET OFF THE ROCK! Mars is chatting with the Nodes and Venus AND Mercury is going into Aries. This is the pickpocket day too. Pick their pocket. Pick your own pocket. There is opportunity for sleight of hand to escape the bondage you‘ve been in. Or perhaps you‘ll spot an opportunity that you simply MUST take. Take it. Go for it. Crucibles of change do allow us to change. Change!

Thursday "The treasures of the earth were movement, courage, laughter and love." — Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale We have our lovely new Moon at 6:08 Aries. Read the new Moon report on this site for more information on how to work with the energy. Chiron squares Vesta so home situations can be difficult today and fairly wounding. Moon in Aries is going to make everyone exceptionally emotionally volatile. Mercury is quincunx Ceres so words are harsh, cutting, critical and not helpful to the process. Again, take the words and run them by OTHER PEOPLE to use the Pluto energy productively. If you know their ex-wife gave away their dog, you KNOW the person can be exceptionally provocative. It isn’t JUST YOU! It also isn’t JUST them! You found each other to help each other get clear. So notice what you notice. Not a pleasant New Moon but is does show you a different reality than what you’ve noticed before. And that, my friend, is what the purpose of the new Moon is for. Notice. Notice. Notice.

Friday "We don't reach the light through endless analysis of the dark. We reach the light by choosing the light." - Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love Been a cranky kind of week and it is almost a wrap. Today is the worst day of the week. Venus sextiles the North Node and SQueEzES all the planets captured between her and the Node. Sun, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Juno, Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter are all shaking, shimmering and bouncing. Another volatile day to open the shaken up soda bottle. Aim it away from you. Mercury stimulates Jupiter to blast sharp words that are very detached. Mercury squares Pluto ~ invoke healthy triangles. Watch out for difficult triangles. Jupiter sesquiquadrates Pluto ~ know that soda bottle has been shaken a few times before the shake you just gave to it. Sun joins with Venus pushing the emotional desires even higher. When Venus connects with the Sun, she shifts from the Evening star LOVE goddess (where she hasn’t been doing such a good job lately) into the morning star WARRIOR goddess. She has NOT a single boundary on her desire nature. She wants what she wants when she wants it. Temper tantrum kind of energy. Neptune blurs your ability to recognize patterns or see it coming. Sun works the with the node to help you evolve ~ provided you are still alive of course. Focus on the light. The point of this is to help you see your patterns so you can become conscious of them and change them. So you can pause between stimulus and response. So you can grow and evolve as a human being. The world feels like One giant ball of pulsing protoplasm of pain. Or as my editor friend likes to say “When is this ugly egg going to CRACK?” Not yet, but soon. Hang in there! The Ugly egg will crack soon!

Saturn’s day Taurus moon is ruled by Venus in Aries. The good news is you don’t have to talk to anyone today if you don’t want to. Just stay home. Mercury joins with Venus, two dear friends having a chat. Call some one you HAVEN’T talked with in awhile. Some one who knows absolutely NOTHing about your life or problems or woes. Some one who makes you laugh. Divest yourself of your life for a bit of time today. Take advantage of spring to spring for yourself.

Sunday. But lifting a person's heart—now that matters. The whole problem with people is...they know what matters, but they don't choose it. … The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters." — Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees. Can be a hard day or an easy day. Mercury is wanting for you to make the connection between what has been going on over the past week, where you’ve been and where you are going next. If you understand it is part of the plan, a difficult chapter perhaps, but a transitional one, then it makes it a bit better. We can under go enormous changes and challenges if we believe it is for a purpose we believe in. Focus on lifting someone you know and love. Lift their heart. Laughter helps. Throw away things or clear out space in your garden for new plants to be placed. Sun says to Chiron, yes, it was worth it. Life is always worth it. Move forward towards your dream a bit today. Remember to laugh.

Mundane: Natasha Richardson’s (May 11, 1963, 5 p.m. London, England) sudden death from a ski fall on the beginner’s slope at Mount Tremblant, Canada reminded me of how quickly it can all change. In a moment, your life can be completely altered.

Ms Richardson had Venus in Aries natally, was Libra rising and had retrograde Venus in Aries on her descendant, the end of matters, when she died. Venus in the form of Taurus rules her eighth house of death, and the Taurus part of the brain ~ the stem at the back of the head and the cerebellum are responsible for respiration, heart and the automatic functions we take for granted that keep us alive. Aries rules the head. So Venus in Aries ruling the eighth house is death by her head~ particularly the Taurus part that rules respiration and body functions. There were a number of other indicators and planetary triggers, piling on to her natal planets which make her survival doubtful even if she HAD gone to the hospital immediately after she fell. Venus in Aries in her natal chart is her springing up and saying "Nope, no, I don't need to go to a hospital" energy.

Venus in Aries retrograde takes away the young and beautiful mother. Venus was at the same degree, in the companion sign of Libra, 14, Jupiter at the same degree of Aquarius and the North Node at the same degree Saturn is now when Princess Diana died. Princess Diana was another young and beautiful mother, leaving behind two sons. My astrology teacher Eileen McCabe mentioned in class the other night that there is a special karma involved when a mother is removed from her children when they are so young.

Last week, two days before Ms. Richardson’s accident, Prince William spoke, for the first time ever, about “palpable emptiness” regarding his mother's death when he addressed families at a London event about how "losing a close family member is one of the hardest experiences anyone can endure."

"Never being able to say the word 'Mummy' again in your life sounds like a small thing. However, for many, including me, it is now really just a word – hollow and evoking only memories," he said. Looking slightly flushed, he added, "I can therefore wholeheartedly relate to the Mother's Day campaign, as I too have felt and still feel the emptiness on such a day as Mother's Day." (Mother's Day is earlier in England than in the United States)

His chart was being triggered by transits in the same degrees as when his mother died. He speaks about his loss. Two days later, another beautiful, enchanting woman with two young sons dies.

I’ve been fascinated by the AIG bonus business and the response. We have to back up and focus on the bigger picture, people. Sure, no bonuses or giving the bonuses back is a great idea. Part of that money comes out of my payments to the IRS.

The PREMISE behind the bonuses, unregulated markets of unregulated products is ACTUALLY where we need to focus our attention. What they were doing was PERFECTLY LEGAL! And if someone offered you or me the ability to make $20 million a year doing something that was PERFECTLY LEGAL, wouldn’t YOU do it? I know I would! I’d love a two bedroom, two bath apartment with a terrace and view of the river!

The issue is, and remains, the lack of regulation.

Recent media noises about “Mark to Market” regulation and buy backs seems to be leading us towards buying the bad stuff from the banks and investment houses so we, the people, will own a bunch of crap.

That is exactly what ENRON did, and why the “Mark to Market” law was passed a few years back. Enron hid all their junk in “junk” accounts. Once they had to come clean, Enron collapsed like a house of cards. After Enron, we passed laws that said you have to account for the junk in your accounts on your REAL books. That law was called Mark to Market.

So NOW, the banks and brokerage houses want US, the taxpayers, to buy the JUNK on THEIR books (at whatever price they set?) and leave them with the good stuff? They are too big to fail. No, I, for one, think not. They can fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. They knew it was crap when they wrote it. They got paid a LOT OF MONEY for selling the crap back and forth to each other. They paid themselves a lot of money to sell the stuff back and forth ~ commissions each and every transaction.

And now, that they have to actually record, on their books, that it is crap, they want to sell the crap to the government so WE own the crap? And they keep the good stuff? And this is the way we solve the problem?

We need to call our one Congress Representative and our Two Senators. Three phones each for each of us. One call to each of our three representatives ~ Say “NO MARK TO MARKET” purchases by our government! Gotta get the crap flushed down the toilet. Or let them sit in it. They pooped in their own pants so they get to clean themselves up. We are all grown ups here.

Why do WE want to pay perfectly good money to buy a bunch of crap?! And when are we going to regulate this stuff? If we buy the crap, and they are left with the good stuff, what is to stop them from doing it all over again? Absolutely nothing!

The Republicans have taken us down this road before. Remember the Savings and Loan Scandal? Resolution Trust? When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn!

Personal: The Weekly Weather column is up for your reading pleasure on Sundays now. Enjoy. Also I sent out the New Moon column to those on my newsletter list. It will also be posted on the site on Thursday. Have a great week and be careful out there! 

Copyright © 2009 A. C. Ortelee

Posted by Anne Ortelee at 03:32 AM | Permalink

Weekly Weather March 16, 2009

We wrap up the astrological year this week as the Sun moves through the final degrees of Pisces to enter Aries Friday and start our new astrological year! YEAH! I, for one, am glad last year is OVER! It wasn’t one of my favorite years for sure. While New Year’s Day is celebrated by all the Julian Calendar observers among us, this week is the OFFICIAL beginning of the year from the Sun’s point of view. Our Sun is in charge of virtually every thing that blossoms and grows on earth. The Sun is why we on earth revolve around every day ~ and we get to watch Sun rise and set. The Sun is what we orbit around in the course of a year, bringing the various seasons on earth. For those reasons, I am going to use Sun entering Aries as my New Year’s Day.

Venus is still moving backwards and she is still in fire flaring Aries. Her energy will shift a bit in intensity now that Mars, her ruler, has moved into watery, sensitive, fluid and emotional Pisces. Feelings will be MORE sensitive than usual to harsh words or energies. While Mars was in Aquarius, you could detach from Venus picking fights with you. You could look at it with a cool eye. You weren’t connected to it even if you were a bit annoyed. Now when Venus picks fights, you are going to cry, hang up the phone, get steamed (fire combined with water) or simply take Mars in Pisces at his energetic best and swim away for a while until you/they cool down. Nothing wrong with any of those options mind you. In fact they are often and probably preferable to getting into a boiling point, scalding argument over some thing pretty stupid in the scheme of things.

That said, Venus is STILL hot, hot, hot and peppery ~ full of piss and vinegar as my mother used to say. And dealing with Venus in this state is not much fun. If you find you are irritated or exceptionally annoyed, take the energy and direct it at something you CAN do something about. Might as well use the head of steam you have to get things accomplished and off of your plate or to-do list.

Mercury is pretty active too ~ he’s in Water, stirring up, heating up now that Mars jumped in the Ocean with him. He’s going to fight with Saturn and join forces with Uranus during the course of the week ~ making communications, siblings, relationships and connects a bit fraught and full of push/pull energy. Plus Mercury in Pisces is never a clear placement. There are many opportunities in the week ahead for miss-heard, or miss-understood words. Double, Triple, or Quadruple check what they were actually trying to say before you get too upset.

Mars is in early Pisces. If you think about how hard it is to run through the edge of the ocean’s water ~ the weight, the pushing against a moving wave, the shift in height and resistance as the waves move around your feet ~ that is the swirly emotional energy of the week ahead. Mars sextiles Pluto to create a bit of tension right before the Aries Ingress ~ that is one of those rogue waves that comes and slaps you unexpectedly getting your shorts soaked.

Mars and Mercury in Pisces are poetry and music ~ so add that to your life in the week ahead. Read inspirational quotes. Listen to music that makes you move, dance or your heart sing. Get yourself moving to things that inspire you. Feel the increasing flow of energy ~ attempt to harness and direct it ~ you can if you work at it. It is slippery energy but it is moving, connecting and having an impact on the flow of ideas and information.

Monday ~ Moon in Sagittarius helps the day fly by. You might feel like you wake up on the wrong side of the bed but it gets easier as the day progresses. There are not too many aspects today which makes it less stressful than the past few days. It is a great day to get things moving and out the door. Recover. Release. A child can always teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires." — Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain

Tuesday Moon in Sagittarius has a number of move things along aspects. Great day to get things out the doors as the closing aspects are fabulous. Mercury and Venus, normally pals, are carping at each other. He wants to be alone, she wants to party. They are at odds. Normally, they get along fairly well. Not today. But that is okay ~ agree to disagree and go your separate ways. Meet up with each other when you are in better moods. Once Mercury gets a bit of distance from crabby cakes Venus, he has an inspired idea from Pluto. Triangles, power, balance. Take that new strategy and start to implement it today. It almost seems so easy you can’t stand it!

Wednesday is a hopping, bopping and mixed bag between easy and difficult day. Moon is in foot in mouth Sagittarius so she should be careful what she says. Mars is fighting with inappropriate mothering ~ this is for your own good stuff is going to set people off like crazy right now. No reminding people to take their mittens with them. Let them have cold hands. Ceres is in a hypercritical mood right now ~ she’s being judgmental, carping, bossy, difficult and not much fun to be around. While MOST of the time, we LOVE Mother Earth, this kind of nagging, criticizing and difficult mother energy is what we want to bop on the head with a milk bottle or stick a sock in their mouth. Mercury in Pisces is free associating and rifting with Jupiter. It doesn’t much matter WHAT you say, they are going to hear it entirely through their own set of ears which have large pieces of cotton in them. They are NOT going to hear you. On top of that Mercury is poking at Saturn from across the galaxy ~ from misunderstood, unclear Pisces to thin skinned, hyper critical yet sensitive to criticism Saturn, separated by millions of miles. Yes, it is NOT an easy day to live on planet earth. "You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow." — John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Thursday, Capricorn moon is tough. Venus fights with the Moon. Moon says, “NO” to Venus. Venus say, “Well, the hell with you. I will if I want to.” Mars separating from Pluto says well, this could be the end of something IF you are not careful. Uranus has stressful aspects to the Nodes ~ if things shift in an ending direction, this COULD be the end of something. Maybe it is okay if it ends? Maybe it is TIME for it to end? Life does change. We change. Forward. Don’t look back.

Friday Do not let yourself be bothered with the inconsequential. One only has so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like or doing things when one would be better off somewhere else." — Louis L'amour, Ride the River Chiron joins with Juno ~ my tarot teacher pointed out, as we were studying the swords, how much time, true, real and not get back kind of time, we spend worrying about things we can’t fix or with folks we don’t much want to be with. Think about that spent energy. The minutes, hours, days that were spent and are gone. Sun joins with Aries to start a new and exciting SOLAR YEAR of fun, adventure and the ability to follow your passion and create your dreams. Why not? What is holding you back? If you only had a year to live, starting right now, today, on the Aries Ingress, what would you do? Make a resolve to live as if this was your last year of life. How fast the time flies by.

Saturn’s day, Moon and Sun cooperate and help you leap out of bed with a bright smile on your face. Mercury is all about making changes in the home and hearth as you come up with brilliant ways to organize, condense, restructure and accomplish things. It is a closet clearing, garage cleaning, spring fling, shift the energy kind of day. Mercury squares Pallas asking you make a list of all the patterns you want to change in preparation for tomorrow when you start the changes as Mercury joins with Uranus. To have a different outcome you have to have a change in beliefs, thoughts or behaviors. And, yes that includes diet if you tried on your Summer clothes and nothing fit. Venus will be able to drop the sugar and carbohydrate loading once she gets out of Aries but until then, you can modify or mollify her by drinking lots of hot water ~ that will satiate her a bit.

Sunday the Moon has gracious aspects today, moments that are gentle and detached as she journeys through Aquarius. However, the REST of the planets are quite contentious. Keep your head as the changes sing, zing and zag all over the place. Mercury joins with Uranus offering the opportunity to have or take a break and get a fresh start on a new project. Uranus/ Mercury offers a different perspective on things. Expect to wake up (or go to sleep Saturday night) with an “ah -ha” moment. Mercury argues with Chiron so words spoken today can be rather hurtful and seem to come out of no where. They actually have been percolating since Wednesday and perhaps before but now Mercury simply can’t contain himself a second longer. Jupiter is arguing with Saturn suggesting you live in the moment instead of trying to make long term plans. Long term plans are NOT going to happen today! Sun is energizing Jupiter to DO something ~ but Saturn says No, not yet. That can be crazy making but write the ideas down so you don’t forget them. So notice delays, don‘t get all bent out of shape over them. Uranus is square to Pallas saying the patterns are breaking, the patterns are breaking ~ watch for changes in the folks you know. This is when you, me and the other guy can actually make AND keep long term changes. If anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again." — William P. Young, The Shack

Mundane: Once I found out that Denny Chin (April 1, 1954, 3:53 pm, Hong Kong, China) was the Southern District Federal Judge for Bernie Madoff (April 29, 1938, 9:44 am, New York, NY), I breathed a very big sigh of relief.

Denny immigrated to the United States at age 2 with his hard working parents. After graduating from Princeton, he was the first Asian American and the youngest person ever appointed to the Federal bench. He’s a practical law and order kind of judge. Chin pays attention to the SPIRIT of the law as well as the ACTUAL legal ruling parts. I have a friend who argued a case before him. The opponent’s lawyer screwed up and my friend moved to dismiss the case. Judge Chin denied her motion, noting in his ruling that while she was correct that he SHOULD have dismissed the case, he didn’t because he wasn’t going to penalize the opponent because THEIR LAWYER screwed up.

He ruled for the Naked Cowboy in his trademark infringement suit against M&M’s. Chin actually left the courtroom to visit the Naked Cowboy at his outdoor work location in the middle of Times Square and observe the offending billboard by M&M‘s. Chin ruled against Listerine when they were sued by Colgate Palmolive ~ No, he ruled, Mouthwash ISN’T the same as Flossing! He’s taken controversial stands that irritated the general public ~ such as not making the sex abusers registry retro-active to include sex offenders convicted before the registry law was passed.

Perhaps best of all, Chin holds folks who should know better based on their position and training accountable for their actions. He holds them very, VERY accountable. He’s been known to openly chastise lawyers for lying in his court room. To his mind, you can’t effectively enforce or practice law IF you lie. Chin’s been quoted as saying while the JURY might accept that lawyers lie, he didn’t feel JUDGES should accept that type of behavior in their courtrooms. He wasn’t going to let liars lie in his court!

Chin’s gotta have a HUGE problem with Bernie, a guy trained in and knowledgeable of Security Laws and Regulations, running off with his clients’ money. Not good for Bernie, not good at all.

Their charts have interesting synastry ~ each person’s Sun is in hard aspect to the other person’s Saturn ~ illuminating the deeper beliefs and purposes that the other person is working on solving and resolving as their karma in this life. They represent authority figures to each other ~ for better or worse. Chin’s Mars in Sagittarius forms a Finger of God with two of Bernie’s big Ponzi scheme points, Pluto in Cancer sextile to the South Node and Venus in Taurus. While Chin has a compassionate Pisces Moon, his Midheaven is ruled by Taurus, answering to Venus in Aries ~ he delivers swift, sharp and clear justice.

Bernie Madoff is to Pluto in Capricorn what OJ Simpson was to Pluto in Sagittarius or Rock Hudson was to Pluto in Scorpio. Bernie’s the face and the story we‘ll carry as the marker of the beginning of the 16 years of Capricorn ahead of us. He’s carrying a shadow for the collective. He’s helping each of us as we work on how to become our own authority and grow up to rely less on those who say they will take of us. He’s asking us to stand up to authorities even as they are abusing their power, taking advantage or picking on us. He’s asking us to be conscious, clear and to learn to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.

One thing I LOVED was that people are now re-filing amended tax returns based on the Madoff fraud. The IRS collected taxes on stuff that didn’t exist from people who made money on paper, but not in reality. Depending on how Madoff reported the earnings, that could be a sizeable chunk of change.

A friend forwarded the link below to me and I thought I’d share it with you. It is a visual of a million, billion, and trillion. You get a sense of what they are talking about when they throw these words around. Heck it is ONLY a different letter at the beginning, ISN’T it? Well, NO, not really. Check out the link to see what they are talking about. Share it with your friends!

Another reader, Michelle, wrote “I wish the gunmen in Germany and Alabama had taken your advice !! How horrible !!!!” and quoted words from my column last Wednesday when the shootings took place. We have more of that kind of energy ahead of us this week, particularly on Wednesday and Sunday. Unfortunately, when the planets are this volatile, we do have to consciously focus our energies to keep them in the higher realms ~ it is very easy to drop into darkness or de~ evolve into the muck and mire.

For a happier, more positive Venus in Aries story, one of my astrology students, the highly creative Melissa, entered a video Dance Off contest sponsored by the Bacon Brothers. She wrote, directed, shot and IS the dancing woman in the video. It’s an upbeat, happy, make your Venus in Aries wanna dance kind of song. We even have an Aries Venus hunt in the plot! So if you need a bit more joy, consider this my Venus in Aries, Mars in Pisces gift to you. Play the video during the week when you are feeling a bit blue! Who knew that Kevin Bacon (yes, the movie actor who lost his money with Bernie) could sing so well?

Personal: So I’ve started the new routine. My column was up for you on Saturn’s day. If you checked, you could have read it on Sunday! The New Moon column, for the Moon on March 26, will be sent out later this week. I will post it to the site on the regular day. So if you want an earlier edition, sign up for the newsletter on my website. More exciting changes are coming! Stay tuned.

Copyright © 2009 A. C. Ortelee

Posted by Anne Ortelee at 01:59 AM | Permalink

Posted by Anne Ortelee at 04:13 PM | Permalink

Weekly Weather March 9, 2009

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.

Where knowledge is free.

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.

Where words come out from the depth of truth.

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection.

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.

Where the mind is led forward into ever-widening thought and action.

Into that heaven of freedom, let me awake.

Rabindranath Tagore

Venus moves backwards for 40 days, starting last Friday. Passions, desires, and loves, old and new, return, send notes or haunt our dreams. Jeannette, a reader and student of the heavens, wrote to me about her experience with Venus’ eight year cycle. Venus, our third brightest object in the heavens (after the Sun and Moon) forms a pentacle, a five pointed star, in the heavens every 8 years. Venus returns to very near the place of she was 8 years before. This time marks the beginning/ending of an 8 year cycle. A star has formed in the sky as Venus danced through the heavens and now she‘s magically or by cosmic design returned to where she was 8 years ago. Think back to the project, desire or love you started to pursue in March 2001, when Venus last stationed and went retrograde through the same degree band of the heavens. Actually Venus stationed at 17:43 Aries (but who’s counting?) on March 8, 2001.

An eight year cycle began in your life during the Spring of 2001 around love, passion, money and your desire nature as well as in the Libra and Taurus ruled areas of your chart. That eight year cycle is ending now and moving into a new cycle. A new phase will begin over the next few months. It will supplement and augment the cycle wrapping up now as you move forward and evolve in time, tempo and unity with the call of the heavens.

In my case, Spring 2001 I decided it was time for me to leave corporate America and a steady paycheck to become a fulltime astrologer. Venus co-rules my second, third, seventh and eighth houses. The money earned and received for the value of services rendered is clearly houses two and eight. The seventh house is who I interact with on a daily basis ~ as a sales person, programmer and project lead, I worked with individuals all day long. I still do. My third house, writing, speaking and various forms of communication, evolved during this last Venus cycle ~ the columns you read, my weekly lecture at the bookstore and the new addition ~ internet pod casts and radio shows. Venus beckons and calls each of us to evolve again.

So think back to Spring 2001. Mull on what desire you began to pursue then. How has your desire changed or been fulfilled? What is the NEW desire that is wrapping its arms around your heart as Venus whispers in your ear? Mmmm.

Venus in Aries answers on a feeling level to the mythology of Goddess Rhiannon, a Celtic Horse goddess, according to Raven Kaldera’s book, Myth Astrology. Venus in Aries loves setting tests up, sending lovers off on quests or expecting those who want her to be inspired into performing great deeds for her. She wants a “manly man” who will take and subdue her but at the same time she doesn’t want anyone but the best. And, she doesn’t want to be told what to do. Tests are how she checks out her lover’s mettle, courage and heart. Venus in the martial sign of Aries needs to claim her own aggression rather that tricking or manipulating others into acting it out for her. Venus in Aries does have great courage and stamina to go further and farther than others for her loved ones or to answer her desires. If Venus can avoid the scorched earth approach while undertaking her quest, that is the approach to take. Often, when Venus is in Aries, she fights exceptionally hard or rebels against those who judge or control her. She says things in the heat of the moment that she regrets later. She often attracts champions who take up her cause and run with it ~ sometimes further than she expects. As Kaldera warns “Bad deeds done in the heat of anger or passion cannot be merely apologized away because they destroy trust and the hope of future relationships.”

Our week ahead has a few golden opportunities for Venus in Aries to get out of control and set forces galloping wildly loose that go further and farther than she intends them to go. Or perhaps for you to scorch the earth in your important relationships. So be cautious with Venus’ passions and fires this week. Watch the quests you start or instigate. Be aware of the tests you create for loved ones that can cause unexpected problems or difficult consequences. While Venus is passionate ~ direct that passion toward something YOU can control and create for yourself. Stop messing around with or manipulating your loved ones.

Mars leaves detached, intellectual and don’t take it personal Aquarius to enter sensitive, moody and swim away from conflict Pisces on Saturday. When that shift happens, it means Venus in Aries will then be ruled by Mars in one of his least favorite places. Mars in Pisces tends to swim away from conflict or react passively in the face of aggression ~ acting like a flying fish and disappearing into the waves before you can catch it. Think about snorkeling on coral reefs on rough wave days ~ all the fish are gone ~ they disappear some place else. No fish! The fish return when the sun is shining and the waves are gentle.

So, if Venus in Aries gets you going out of control this week AND the other person disappears after Mars changes signs on Saturday, know you may have a real snarly problem on your hands. We are setting the stage for the next 8 years of your life around Venus matters, so you can scorch the earth for quite a time to come. You might have an opportunity to repair whatever you blast in a few months, when Mars and Venus link up in early May.

However, it is MUCH better to keep your mouth closed than open it, blast out highly toxic and volatile dragon fire, ignite the curtains and burn the place down. No going around and spoiling things! That is why you pay attention to the heavens, isn’t it? To know about week’s like this. So take your anxieties and fears some place else. No dragon flames! Of course, if you absolutely can’t take it a second longer, blast away. Just know, like Rhiannon, that dragon fire can get carried away with unintended consequences. Like Rhiannon, you may have to sit in a hut outside your former palace telling people you didn’t mean to do it for the next eight years. Caution.

Monday, Moon in Virgo is thin skinned and rather sensitive. She’s arguing all night with various planets so expect restless sleep while she finishes up her travels through Leo. She argues with Mercury and walks away with her sensitive feelings hurt. This can be a very high anxiety couple of days as the full moon tomorrow is right on the Saturn/Uranus opposition. Expect extra volatility (Uranus) or depression (Saturn) or some weird combination of both as we swing with the cosmic force of change and restructuring. It is a day when you’ll see things about your home that you never noticed before. Change things. Ease up the stress by changing things.

Tuesday, we have a full moon in Virgo late at night. Read the full moon column on this site for more information. Mercury is having a serious chat with Pluto suggesting we will be asked to work with triangle or power energies. Stand up straight and open up the triangle. Get all the people involved on the same page or carbon them on the emails. Mercury is in Pisces so lack of clarity can be expected. However, that is not what is needed ~ not this time. Venus in Aries needs and wants to be clear. Not militant but clear. Watch out for Dragon fire coming at you or from you. If you receive it, don‘t blast back. But do be clear. If you want to blast, hold yourself in check. Attempt to be calm and clear. Patterns are trying to change. The Full Moon is setting off all sorts of negative emotions this month so be conscious of WHAT you get angry at ~ that is the part of you that wants to change and is SO over the old life. That said, don’t waste energy having the same fight one more time for old time’s sake. Move forward. Leave it behind. Put it down. Moon joining with Saturn wants you to OWN your OWN stuff. Moon opposing Uranus is tired of taking care of THEIR STUFF and wants to BREAK free. You are in charge of how you keep on same old, same olding. Time for you to stop? Time for them to stop too?

Wednesday, Venus in fire breathing Dragon mode, going backwards, has an accelerating energy with Jupiter. This can either be a very, very good or very, very bad (or combo of both) day. Today relationships can end for good. Be careful what you say. Snarky remarks are best avoided. They are going to be pushing on your MOST primal buttons and making you want to simply scream, nash your teeth or pull out your or their hair. You will feel like a teenager who is fighting with their mother or father for permission to be a grown up. Or some one may fight with YOU to be able to grow up. So pointless to fight. Instead of letting the inner teenagers rage in a hissy fit at controlling parents, channel that energy towards a productive purpose! Or leave the room. Or own your stuff. Or stop fixing them. They are the way they are because they like it. You are the way you are because you like it. Saturn and Uranus are trying to get you to change patterns and behaviors here. Saturn and Uranus are also driving home how deeply embedded these patterns and behaviors are. Deeply embedded patterns are very resistant to change. You can also use the energy today to POWER, and I mean POWER, through things. But the tendency will be to fire breathe!

Thursday Moon in Libra is still answering to Venus in Dragon Fire breathing Aries. Be cautious. While it looks like the Dragon is in a happier mood, looks can be deceiving. Moon in Libra is going to set off the Dragon through some idle remark and get the fire roaring like a blast furnace again. If it roars, be silent. Jupiter trine to the Moon in Libra will MAKE you WANT to say something to fix it. Not a good idea. Whatever you offer as solace will only further fuel the fire. Better not to feed it anything. Let the fire roar of its own accord and burn up the fuel it has at hand. If you speak, it will be like throwing water on a kitchen grease fire, you’ll only accelerate the flames. And if you want to see what THAT looks like check out you tube kitchen grease fires. Put a lid on it. Listen. Things can end today with Sun’s aspect to Uranus. Again, redirecting all that passion can let you get a great deal accomplished.

Friday is a great day for getting things done and out the door. Some of the volatility of the past few days has abated and Venus wants to dispel or discharge the excess energy. She’s got nice aspects to do so. She may be feeling a bit tuckered out from all the energy moving through her the past few days. She can still flare up if stirred. Her trine to Neptune feeds her a bit of fuel and her last aspect to Mars ensures that whatever has happened since 2:46 pm EDT Wednesday is all for the greater evolution and good for all. Might sting a bit but aren’t you clearer? Probably hurt but NOW you know what you want to do. Maybe didn’t want to but now you get it.

Saturn’s day we find the Moon in Scorpio asking us to process, process, process as she aspects Pluto and Mercury. As we mull over the week’s events, we get even clearer. Old stories begin to make sense. Previously unclear energies become lucid and real. Things make sense when you can see them. You can see them now. Dark water moon is about to go EVEN deeper as Mars dives from 20,000 feet into the depths of Ocean Pisces later tonight. Watch for drunk drivers. It is an out of emotional control moon ~ Perhaps tears. Perhaps sadness. Perhaps relief at the inevitability of things. On some level, you always knew it would end up this way. And now it has. You will be okay, even if it doesn‘t feel like it right now.

Sunday’s Scorpio Moon is now ruled by deep, rolling Ocean Pisces Mars ~ the feeling roll through. Venus in Aries is now ruled by dark, boiling, passionate sea Pisces. Moon finds herself with oodles of aspects to swirl around. Mull over. Ponder. Examine your relations, the father’s story, the community at large, the structures you’ve built to support and sustain you, your fears, shames, or perhaps your guilt and sorrows. Notice your options for new beginnings ~ each and every day at Sunrise, we start with a fresh slate because the Sun offers us a new day as he rises in the east. Delve into the possibility of change, chaos, creativity and how it affects your life. Focus on what your life is for. Why ARE you here? What DO you want to do? How can you do MORE of it, each and every day? As Sun speaks to Neptune and Pluto talks with Ceres understand the pulse of life in you. See how the passions and perhaps the tears of the week prove you are alive and ready for your next adventure.

Mundane: Vanity Fair had a couple of excellent articles on Bernie Madoff (April 29, 1938, 9:44 am, NYC, NY) in the current issue. Rumor has it Bernie’s getting a plea deal with prosecutors. My mother’s second cousin robbed a liquor store on Christmas Eve when I was a 13. He was 17. He went to jail for 2 years for $25. They let him graduate from High School before they locked him up.

How can this Madoff guy, who ADMITS he stole $50 billion, not be locked behind bars eating luke-warm gruel? Is it possible that he is not going to get serious jail time? I don’t want to know how he did it. I don’t care how he did it. What ever he has to tell us about his methods are virtually no different than my cousin who used his hunting rifle during his heist. Bernie stole stuff from people. Bernie ‘fessed up. The money is mostly gone, spent on high living and commissions for his friends with their feeder funds.

I want Bernie locked up. How can he plea bargain with the court to let his wife keep their multimillion dollar penthouse apartment (with a LOVELY planted terrace I might add!) and the many millions she took out of one of the firms’ feeder accounts a day or two before it all unraveled? She was an accountant ~ what do accountants make, $60,000 to $100,000 a year? If she can produce 30 years of paychecks showing he paid her all those many millions AND she paid income tax on the millions received as salary, fine. Then she can keep the money. But the money she withdrew from the “feeder accounts” at feeder firms who pushed money Bernie’s way? ~ well I think THAT money needs to be put right back where she took it from.

If not, Nope, no deal. No millions. No penthouse with a terrace on Park Avenue. She gets a big box of oatmeal, moves into a cozy 5^th floor walk up and lives off her social security pension like the rest of us. I know, I know, what is with those Venus in Aries scorched earth remarks, Anne? I’ll be better! I promise.

More volatility in the Stock Market. Watch it rock and roll all week. Especially mid-week when Moon and Sun set off the Saturn- Uranus opposition and amplify our desires to restructure our reality, security, and change in our lives. Ouch.

Saturn is moving towards a two month pause, late April through mid-June, on the very degree where Lehman Brothers collapsed into bankruptcy one day last fall. We will have two months of Saturn slowing to a stop on that same spot where natal Saturn, Mercury/ Jupiter and Venus/ Pluto receive pressure and, more importantly, Mars/ Uranus sit in the USA chart (July 4, 1776, 5:10 pm Philadelphia, PA).

I‘ve been reading my economic history books of previous difficult financial times. This degree is always active ~ 14-15 Mutable. It is active this time around ~ witness the craziness. The degree is going to have Saturn in Virgo in the 12^th house of undoing, (every chart’s blind spot) to the USA Saturn. The blind spot is coming from foreign places. To see what it might be (or perhaps rather what we might expect), we look to last week’s news (or rather rumors). The point is very active with Venus stationing on it and talking to the USA Saturn across the chart.

From the internet: “The “factual basis” to an Internet rumor that went wild over the weekend claiming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was willing to pledge American homes to China as collateral for Beijing buying U.S. debt was denied by the State Department. The rumor, in various versions, claimed Clinton brought with her last month to Beijing a written agreement offering to extend to China the option to eminent domain rights within the U.S. The rights purportedly were offered as collateral for China’s continued willingness to purchase additional trillions of dollars in U.S. Treasury debt the Obama administration hopes to sell to finance projected federal budget deficits.”

While I don’t think any one’s house is going to claimed by China tomorrow, the underlying issue and problem cited ~ China‘s “continued willingness to purchase additional trillions of dollars debt” is what we will be working with during that two month stop of Saturn on the Mars/Uranus midpoint, semi-sextile to Saturn from the 12^th house of undoing by foreigners.

The Bush Administration ignored the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing that said Osama Bin Laden was going to attack us with airplanes when Mercury triggered the same point. We were shocked into silence on the morning of 9-11 when Mars attacked the same point. Now, as Venus stations and triggers the same point with a volatile internet rumor, we need not be “shocked“ when China or some other foreign nations stop buying our debt a few months from now when Saturn sits on the point for virtually two months. Mars/Uranus ~ sudden, aggressive, shocking actions.

Personal: Starting in Spring (only two weeks away!), I’ll post the Weekly Weather column on Saturday so you can read it Sunday before your busy week starts. I will remind you later this month! And remember to refresh your page if you don’t see it. The site doesn’t automatically refresh.

Due to the way my website is set up, earlier delivery of the Moon columns presents a bit of problem. It is a blog type where the most recent entry overrides the previous one ~ meaning you have to scroll back. People write in and complain the Weekly Weather is missing when, in fact, it is there but obscured by the recently posted Moon column.

And then a brilliant idea arrived ~ Anne, use your newsletter! Those of you desiring early editions of the New and Full Moon columns can register for my newsletter! I’ll put the moon columns in it. It will arrive in your email box a full week before the moon so you can prepare and work with the energy ahead of time. Then the Moon column will go up on the site same day as usual. But all newsletter readers will get the column a week ahead of time. All parties are served and happy.

So register for my newsletter using the tab on the left of the website. You‘ll receive the New Moon issue for the New Aries Moon on March 19, a full week before the actual New Moon takes place. How cool is that!?

Thanks again for all your feedback. It was great to hear from you. Forward we each go to each do our Saturn!

Copyright © 2009 A. C. Ortelee

Posted by Anne Ortelee at 01:32 AM | Permalink

Weekly Weather March 2, 2009

How did it get to be March already? Our lives continue to speed by as Venus remains in Aries, slows to a stop at the end of the week as the rest of the planets are zipping along at a pretty rapid clip!

Whenever anything stops, we notice. Think about how quickly you notice when you hold your breath. Planets stopping in the sky are times of major changes reflected down here on earth. We deal with Mercury stations and their retrogrades several times a year. Venus and Mars, our other personal planets, only stop every other year. When planets pause and go backwards, they screw up the stuff they are in charge of. They bring back the old “ghosts” and stuff from our past. They ask us to look at things ruled by the planet more closely and perhaps even redo parts of what we‘ve already done.

Mars retrograde screws up men, the principle of taking action and doing in the world. We’ll have that happen in December. Venus stationing and going retrograde screws up finances, money, our love life, and women. Plus our desire natures get all funky as the Goddess in charge switches her mind, turns around and even goes PMS on us.

All of us are undergoing major life changes in several areas of our lives. First, we have Saturn and Uranus stirring up our charts, pushing on formerly “stable” structures and asking them to “change”. And, we are dealing with the Lord of the Underworld in our Capricorn ruled house now that Pluto is in the room ~ witness the banking and corporations collapsing under the strain of Pluto’s entrance into their sign as you notice the section of your chart sagging under his considerable weight.

And now we are going to have Venus pitch a hissy fit, a royal temper tantrum, for 40 days, in a sign she simply hates to hang out in. As my mother would say, “I don’t NEED this right now!” Well, ready or not, here it comes.

When Venus stations, people, particularly women, feel the URGE to do something, anything about their relationships, finances, loves and desires. We all get a bit nutty. Men get crazy about feeling “pressured” to “do some thing” for or about the women in their lives. Women change their minds about their relationships and their vision of the conditions in them. Lots of break ups happen. Lots of run off to Vegas and get marrieds happen. The urge to “do some thing” about our most personal and important relationships rises to the fore front of our minds.

So what to do? Sit on it. Don’t react if you can help it. Breathe ~ deeply and slowly ~ from your belly. Measure twice and then DON’T cut, measure again. And maybe measure once more. Gather information. Pay attention. Notice things. Research all sorts of things financial, love or relationship based. Redo custody, divorce or payment arrangements. Venus is traveling back and forth over a section of your chart like a highlighter marking up a part of your life. She’s vibrating where she sits in your chart natally. The Libra and Taurus houses in your chart are awake and paying attention. Venus is calling your attention to how you go about getting what you want in and out of your life. Pluto in Capricorn has changed the rules, made the game more serious, the stakes higher. Venus has noticed. She’s taking a new approach and changing her strategy for the next 40 days.

Ghosts, as in ex-loves, spouses, partners or friends will be turning up or giving you a call ~particularly people you had an emotional attachment with or to. Debts are often repaid (or can be sued for). Financial settlements scuttled or discarded. Or long lingering legal messes can be finalized and done as Venus also rules Libra or the law. She stations on Friday, March 6 and goes direct again on April 17 so push, push, push if you need to change, revise or revisit financial or legal matters.

And, if someone is pressuring you to make decisions that you are not sure you want to make regarding love, legal or financial matters, attempt to postpone it until after Venus goes direct in April. Think of the retrograde as a cooling off period ~ detach and be still.

And, if you get dumped during Venus retrograde, it can reverse when Venus goes direct. If you WERE dumped recently (since January 28) due to Venus feeling pressured or unable to commit or because they had a girlfriend they forgot to mention, Venus retrograde can bring the dumper or dumpee back into your life. Remember between Friday, March 6 and April 17, all matters ruled by Venus ~ love, money, desires, relationships and legal matters ~ are up for change and revision.

The ultimate goal of this chaos and change orchestrated by the Goddess of Love is to get you in position for when Saturn goes direct and Venus passes the degree she’s at this week. That happens in the middle of May. So no worries! You aren’t going to know what is going to happen for real, for true, for good until then. Yes, you read that right. You aren’t going to know until mid-May.

The other planets are fast moving, offering us the ability to get things accomplished in other areas of our life this week as Venus stops. There are a BUNCH of planets swooshing through Aquarius asking us to intellectually focus on the vision we have of our future as well as our hopes and dreams.

Mercury and Mars are moving rapidly through Aquarius waking up the slower moving planets, Uranus, Chiron, Neptune. We will figure things out under these aspects ~ and once we do, we are not going to be able to go back to the way things used to be. We are kind of “over it” in a profound way. Mercury moves during the week into Pisces, or emotional, wordless, water. Changing from detached, cool, collected, brilliant air where Mercury sees things clearly, we dive with him from a height into the depths of the ocean. It will be a bit of a shock to the system ~ like that brisk feeling as your body enters the water in a dive. The flow of water over your body, the shock of the temperature change, the realization you are in a new and rather wet world. It means emotions are strong and flowing right after Venus stations to go retrograde.

Monday, Mercury wakes up Uranus with a bit of startling news this morning. Moon in Taurus is answering to Venus in Aries so food, favors, desires and flavors will be sharp, fast moving and passionate. Sun’s aspect to Jupiter offers you plenty of help ~ but you might have to ASK for the help to have it show up in the time frame you need it. Mercury joins with Chiron so expect words that cut or hurt as he speaks the truth even if you don’t much like it during the evening. Or, if some one asks you what you think ~ remember the truth will pierce the soul like an arrow today. Harsh words, even if true, need to be watched.

Tuesday, No worries. All as it is supposed to be. Moon in early Gemini is about writing, connecting and getting stuff moving out the door. It is the opening quarter moon from last June so projects, situations or stories from that time appear and are ready to move forward. Or change.

Wednesday is an amazingly busy day. Moon in Gemini makes aspects to virtually every planet in the heavens. Push to get things out the door today and be productive. Venus is busy, busy arranging for her upcoming retrograde. She’s trying to get her buddy Pallas Athena to watch the cat or water the plants. Some energy about getting others to do things for you will work brilliantly today. They will say yes and actually follow through and do it. So ask. Mars is in a 12^th house approach to Uranus so be cautious about being blindsided with too much or by not seeing it coming. It can be shocking but once you SEE it, you are there. Mercury is in his favorite sign ~ flying high and clear as he talks to Saturn by mutual reception. Make a list. Keep track of all the great ideas that come flowing through your brain and life today. You will be working on them (or could be) for the next part of your life. Push for the meeting or the decision. It might be no, but that is okay. At least you know.

Thursday Mercury joins with Neptune so the energy is about deep sleep as well as amazing dreams. Write those dreams down upon awakening. Sun is in an aspect of brilliance to Pluto so watch for unexpected light beams of understanding to come flowing in. Sun links up with the North Node too, providing or offering important connections mid-day to early evening. Notice who or what you connect with. They are part of your future path. Pay attention to what you see too. Sun is the ego focused on the soul’s development. Mars joins with Chiron in the early evening so there can be a profound wounding. It also marks the beginning of a new two year cycle. It is time for you to go find your tribe. You need to connect with people who are where you are in your evolution and life. While these other folks are lovely, are they the ones you want to spend the next 16 years with? Or is there, perhaps, a bit of an unrealized dream in there (notice what you were dreaming about this morning) that wants to start to dance in the sunlight with your heart?

Friday Venus stations. All week, her slowing to a stop, slower and slower, has put enormous developmental pressure on the rest of your chart and life. Today Sun is going into a losing argument with Pallas who is covering for Venus while she’s off doing her retrograde thing. Forty days of revising, revisioning and redoing your desires. Could be good. Think of it as Lent for Venus. When I was a kid, my father would announce the “family” lent. We had to do the family Lent in addition to what ever we came up as our Lenten resolve. To my mind, going to mass every day was preferable to giving up the television for the next 40 days! So what is your Venusian’s resolve? For the next 40 days, how are you going to treat your Venus differently as she moves backwards through your chart? Like Lent ~ you can DO something FOR Venus or RELEASE something FOR Venus.

Saturn’s day finds Saturn looking at Juno and saying I didn’t want THAT outcome! Change the structure toward healthy partnership instead of problem partnerships. Sun has a bunch of energy to help get the house in order. Great day for a spring cleaning, closet straightening and getting stuff out of your house into Goodwill. Get some fresh flowers to support the Leo moon and put on good music to make the clean up go faster and be more fun, fun, fun. That makes it a day FOR your Venus!

Sunday is a rather sad day. Mars aspects Neptune so we can find ourselves bursting into tears for no reason at all. Sun opposes Saturn and pushes him towards a grumpy acknowledgment of something difficult about our lives. We can feel so very old, ugly and not loved on Saturn /Sun days. Optimism is hard to come by. Mercury dives from detached, cool air into chilly, swirling and emotionally volatile ocean water. Our feelings are as wide as the ocean as deep as the seas. On days like this, I like to pull out my stash of “makes me cry every time” videos and have a good boo-hoo. Then a hot shower. Then a cold compress, lying down with good music, for my red eyes and puffy nose. Works every time. So rent a sad movie and give yourself permission to cry for all the sadness and sorrow in the world. Sometimes life feels harder than other days. Today is one of those days.

Mundane: A reader wrote to ask about the large number of airplane crashes happening around the globe. It is a combo of Mars in Aquarius and Venus in Aries sextile to Mars. Mars is a malefic which means you can put the words “danger from” into a sentence ~ so “danger from” things that are ruled by Aquarius, a fixed air sign ~ or from air planes. The planes falling from the heavens are fixed (wing) air planes. Helicopters tend to go down on Mars in Virgo ~ birds are ruled by Virgo and helicopters are known as “whirly birds” with moving “wings”, not fixed wings like their airplane siblings.

Australia, with the “fixed winds” blowing sextile (working with) to cardinal Aries Venus in fast moving Fire is experiencing fires they can‘t drive away from. Aries rules cars, metal as well as speed ~ the fires are too fast and literally overtake the cars before people can escape. Australia was the location for the recent eclipses making it a bit of a global hot spot for a while to come. More fires are forecast for this week and Venus stations on Friday to amplify that energy. February 7 was called Black Saturday as Aquarius Fixed Air Mars and Cardinal Fire Venus worked together in sextile mode to create winds as strong as 77 mph which drove fires that killed at least 210 people, and destroyed 2,000 homes and 1.1 million acres of land. A larger version of the combination happens again this week as Venus slows to a stop and Jupiter moves into sextile with her while Mars accelerates the energy by joining with Chiron, Neptune and Mercury and struggling with Uranus.

Last week, a number of newspapers announced bankruptcy or financial problems, a few magazines pulled the shutters down and Denver Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News closed down after 150 years of publishing. We can use these events to mark our files that Pluto is officially OUT of Sagittarius and is 2 degrees past where he stationed last spring at 1:09 Capricorn. Pluto wreaked his magical havoc on the publishing industry, ruled by Sagittarius, including newspapers who saw their ad revenues migrate to the internet. Of course, Pluto’s evolutionary push did bring us cell phones for all, the wild expansion of the internet and virtually every website you read.

Pluto in Capricorn is now going after corporations, governments, banks and our infrastructures. We can expect MAJOR, MAJOR stock market and financial problems in the week ahead. There will be a very large downward correction based on bad news, probably the unemployment numbers due on Friday, the day of Venus’ station. Transiting Mars will form the apex of a finger of God with Neptune and Mercury in the USA Moon chart. The unemployment news is going to be much worse. And that doesn’t even begin to count the people who are under employed, still unemployed but not collecting unemployment insurance any more or employed but doing two people’s jobs because their employer is threatening them with job loss if they don’t work 18 hours a day.

Can we go fast forward through this hard part please?

Furthermore, Saturn sits on the Federal Reserve nodes suggesting the Fed is not going to help the banks deal with the required “Mark to Market” issue. In my opinion, that a good thing! But the markets are not going to like it and will react accordingly. With Venus stationing this week, that throws a bit of a wrench into the mess as the pressure to “help out“ will grow louder.

Mark to Market is Part Two of the coming financial collapse this spring. While we’ve heard a great deal about how the housing market collapse caused the stock market to collapse, that is ONLY ONE PART of the story. There are oodles of OTHER CDOs sitting out there which are NOT based on the housing market! When Wall Street was running around like an unregulated crack addict under the Republicans, they were making collateralized debt obligations out of EVERYTHING, not just the home mortgages.

All that OTHER CDO crap is still sitting their books. They want the government to take it off their hands. I say “No, you wrote it, you own it.” The banks have an accounting requirement that requires them to Mark the assets down to what they would be worth on the open Market (thus the phrase Mark to Market).

Well, the stuff wasn’t worth much when they wrote it. Then they raised the prices. They inflated the value of the CDOs and traded them in giant Ponzi scheme. I think they should have to sit with them. Let the banks that wrote them, own them or hold them take the write down. No more of my tax money to pay for their actions.

First, collapse those CDOs to what they are actually worth. Then we’ll look and see what is left or who is left standing when this is all over. My guess is it will be the big greedy guys who take the hit, not the smaller, well run places. And so be it. Pluto in Capricorn is all about being responsible for your choices and actions.

Venus in Aries, soon to be retrograde, is when Fannie and Freddie rollout their mortgage re(see retrograde)-financing programs. Gotta love astrology.

Venus in Aries is responsible for all the fighting going on between women ~ lots of women yelling at each other on the streets here in New York. Mars in Aquarius is the suddenness of chopping off or crashes Uranus rules separation, castration and crashes. The Face and Head focus is because Aries rules the head ~ there was another public beheading in Pakistan, the man who beheaded his wife defending his honor, Rhianna beaten about the head and face by her boyfriend and Travis the chimp chewing on the woman’s face. Expect more martial and violent news around women, love and money as Venus slows to a stop later in the week. And weird attacks as Mars moves into aspect with Chiron, Neptune and Mercury ~ Uranus rules weird things.

Personal: Last week, I asked readers to send in suggestions for the future as well as things you‘d like to see included on the site going forward. Thanks to all of you who took the time to write to me!

Thus far the results seem to be 1) send the info out “sooner rather than later” , “Saturday” or “Sunday” so people know what they will be working with in the week ahead, including the Moon columns, 2) expand on the Mundane (events in the world) part of the column. It is quite loved and looked forward to ~ astrology in action so to speak!, 3) my quirky metaphors are helpful and not annoying (always good to know), plus 4) requests to include the times of the aspects by day. So, yes, Australia, until I do that you DO need to read ½ a day earlier!

And, no worries. The site will continue to be free. We all need MORE support during Pluto’s journey through Capricorn. Besides, the column counts as me doing my Saturn so you KNOW it has to keep on keeping on. I want to keep Saturn happy!

Keep your suggestions coming! Use the contact Anne tab on my site or anneortelee@yahoo.com Venus retrograde is when the changes will start to be put into place so stay tuned!

Copyright © 2009 A. C. Ortelee

Posted by Anne Ortelee at 02:48 AM | Permalink