Morning Star: March 2, 2014

This morning, the Moon is Void after high fiving Venus in Capricorn via sextile at 6 AM EST. Have these two bodies been working together the last few days? I'm thinking maybe they were!

Venus is wrapping up her humdrum “all work and no play” affairs in Capricorn. She's looking at the Water Bearer thinking the two can accomplish great things...amazing things...and realizing that her everyday attire will need to change a bit when she moves to the new sign.

Moon leaves VOC status at 10:41 AM when it enters Aries. A new lunar cycle is upon us and, of course, it starts with our wheels spinning (and probably sinking in mud). The last few ingresses into Aries occurred (or was largely felt) in the early part of the week (Monday or Tuesday). This is still true, but I do prefer the actual movement into Aries to happen on Sunday midday because there is a bit more of a relaxed atmosphere in order to make the transition. To me, the shift from Pisces to Aries, feels like the most annoying obnoxious loud alarm clock has just rattled me from a dream---unsettling.

Saturn shifts gears shortly after the Moon's transition at 11 AM. Review what you have built and learned. Saturn is not a light and fluffy planet on its own. But, Saturn mixed with Pluto? That's some heavy stuff that we've been dealing with for quite some time. I'm inclined to believe that the retrograde will have us looking more deeply into our shadow self in a more introspective way.

A Scorpio Disciplinarian can be masochistic. And, throughout this transit of Saturn in Scorpio, our shadow has frequently been displayed on the faces of others for us to either own, deny or be horrified. It's rather humbling when you discover little buried inclinations of your psyche that are less than refined. With this process internalized, we could continually beat ourselves up on the inside (with Mars RX anger spirals inward, as well) over the the crusty shards of shadow that are working their way to the surface of our skin for extraction.

I know I have found myself exhausted and feeling defeated several times during Saturn in Scorpio (and Saturn in Libra since it was a transit through my 8^th) as I've frequently been reminded of the areas of myself that are not pretty and presenting themselves to be dealt with. You can become self-depreciating in the process. But, don't forget the benefit in encountering the parts of yourself that may hold you back, inadvertently affect your dealings with others or prompt you to self-destruct. You become aware of this ugly and are given an opportunity to forgive and accept that, yes, you too do have a dark side.

Much of the time, the ugliness that surfaces is deeply rooted in our history and tied to some event that caused us to be fearful, cynical and may even have been born from extreme trauma (physical and emotional).

The more this is revealed to us, the more opportunity we have to rework those debunk coping mechanisms and thought processes we constructed in our early years in reaction to things we did not understand and transform them into something more effective and beneficial to our well being. That's the key here. To take the ugly. Face it. Nurture the innerself that built that wall and understand that the wall was most likely constructed from a place of pain.

Allow yourself space to grieve and heal. Shedding skin and exorcising demons is exhausting. The grieving process is exhausting. But as this weight is shed, we do become lighter, fresher and more resilient (given that we release/heal these things and not allow them to hang around increasing our cynicism and pain).

What's interesting, too, as we give ourselves permission to be less than perfect and accept the fact that we all have inner demons, we garner more empathy toward others and are less likely to persecute/judge someone who is attempting to also overturn and release said demons. The way we treat ourselves does, indeed, affect the way we treat others.

At 3PM Venus meets Mars RX via square. Venus rules Mars right now and there is tension between the two. On Tuesday, we feel this as the Moon, Venus and Mars RX form a Cardinal t-square of their own between 27 and 29 degrees. This speaks directly of the constructs of the Me vs We continuum which is highlighted throughout this spring and displayed in the Libra NN/Aries SN axis. I will talk more about this Cross on Tuesday. But, know that Venus and Mars (what we want and desire) butt heads in the early afternoon. This flare up is likely to set an undertone for the next few days.

Venus and Mars will rectify their differences eventually. When Venus moves into Aquarius, these two bodies will interact via trine through Air signs. That's considerably lighter.

Overall, I think we will feel the shift in emotions today. I would recommend wrapping things up if you need to but also finding time to rest and prepare for the tension that will come tomorrow when the Moon passes through the Cardinal t-square once again. We always react more effectively under pressure when we are well rested.

The planetary ruler of the Aries Moon, Mars, is RX. Your emotions, while Moon is in Aries, may give you cues as to what that retrograde may bring to you. So, take notes.

Also incoming tomorrow (aside from the Moon's passage through the square), the Sun sextiles Pluto as it conjuncts Chiron. Sun to Pluto gives us resilience to push through whatever the meet up with the Wounded Warrior may bring. This is waxing today and another good reason to be gentle with yourself and allow room for recuperation and healing.