Morning Star: Daily Astrology for January 12, 2015

The first day of this work week has a bit of kick to it. It's actually bites more than it kicks, but, yeah. Hang in there and I'll try to illustrate why.

This morning we wake up to the Moon still in Libra packed full of the same problems as yesterday. But, today, those “less than favorable” qualities of Libra have a better chance of seeping out because the Moon is now out of orb with Saturn.

First, at 4 AM, the wind tunnel starts to swirl with a trine from the Moon to Mercury in Aquarius. Then, the wind tunnel continues to churn with a trine from the Moon to Venus in Aquarius. Ok, that's ALL Air, folks. Ungrounded it can equate to too much pontification and quite a bit of over-thinking without any effort toward true manifestation. At the same time, though, it can provide a nice break from any type of over-emotionality allowing us to temporarily check in with reason and put any overly watery sentiments aside momentarily.

Oh, but, don't think we are going to completely escape water influence; because, Mars also enters Pisces at 5:20 AM. Ok, I'm going to say this even at the risk of it being taken the wrong way. I'm not a fan of Mars/Neptune energy when it comes to me by transit. That doesn't mean that I don't like Mars/Neptune people or that I think there is anything wrong with the placement. It's just that on a personal level, I don't like the energy. I find it confusing, tiring and frankly, I have enough Neptune...thank you very much. As a matter of fact, I'm glad that Mars will square Saturn from Pisces at about the same time he will conjunct Neptune. Given that this transit also occurs on my natal Moon/Neptune square, that may sound a bit masochistic. But, it's true, none-the-less. When you are swimming in an endless sea, coming across a floating piece of something solid for support (voila Saturn) is a freaking blessing even if you may skin your knees on it...lol...I'm telling you.

Ahh, but it is during the meat of the morning that things begin to get really “interesting.” At 8:42 AM, our Libra Moon opposes Uranus in Aries. At 10:18 AM, she squares off with Pluto in Capricorn. Then, at 11:37 AM she makes an inconjunct with Chiron in Pisces. Conflict. Unexpected upsets. Power struggles. Passive-aggressive control techniques all compounded by a poking sense of ethereal pain that we really cannot put our fingers on. Yum! Breakfast was great! What's for lunch? Right? Well, that's for you to decide but I can tell you that the icing on the cake is that this also occurs under Libra Moon waxing in sextile to Jupiter and in square to the Sun as we begin to feel the affects of our Last Quarter Moon (perfects at 4:47 AM in the morning but will likely be felt this evening, too).

The picture I see here is of wonderful ideas swirling around in the morning. No real problem there. But, when we go to initiate these ideas, our ambition is met with the resistance of water. Ever tried to run while waist deep in a pool? It's a lot harder than trying to run on land, right? You have to adapt your forward moving efforts to meet the medium in which you are moving. In other words, running is not going to be as energetically efficient as floating or swimming while in water. That fact goes against every lesson most of us were taught about being ambitious. I mean, that's why Mars in Pisces is labeled as being poorly placed according to traditional Astrology. It's a more passive Mars placement. Passiveness gets no respect in our current culture.

Alright, minds are churning but ambition is waning. Then, something unexpected comes along and upsets our apple cart with the opposition of the Moon to Uranus. There is a bit of a tug of war here between wanting to assert ourselves independently (Uranus in Aries) while also trying to accommodate the “other” (Moon in Libra). It's kind of a big deal because this aspect also perfects ridiculously close to our nodal axis that runs from SN in Aries to our current NN in Libra. Plus, this aspect can be catalytic prompting us to move but our movements are awash in the drag of Neptune. Sounds fun, right? Oh, we aren't done yet.

This entire situation is compounded by the effect of our Moon also squaring Pluto which has a tendency to bring forth the subconscious demons of our character. We may want to control the situation or manipulate certain aspects of it in an attempt to foster a sense of personal gain. We may revert to less savory Libran tendencies (passive-aggressiveness, emotional manipulation, etc) in an effort to do that. But the key to ALL of it lies in knowledge of self with access to that knowledge being brought forth from the sextile from the Moon to Jupiter (midnight) in Leo along with the ability to draw upon the gold from our South Node (the ability to operate independently) while reaching for the goal of our North Node (to foster well balanced relationships and the ability to compromise while still maintaining our own personal integrity...instead of allowing our identities to be swallowed up completely while in relationship).

THEN, the friction between the Sun and the Moon creates another sense of tug-of-war between the ego's desire to be in control (Sun in Capricorn) and a need to foster a connection with others (Libra Moon).

Yep. There's more than a wee bit of friction and confusion packed into this day. Thanks for delivering that to us on a Monday, Universe. Really. I may need to wear my mouth guard all day in an effort to keep from grinding my teeth into dust.

This is a very personalized transit. You know? There is a myriad of ways it could play out. The best way to meet the challenges presented depends on so many things that it is impossible to give a Band-aid solution that will work for everyone. Nope. No one else is going to be able to tell you the best path to take (not even me). You are going to have to come up with that on your own and then engage (or not) as per your own judgment. That is going to push this Libra Moon right out of it's smiling comfortable sense of complacency. The gloves may likely not only fall off but get thrown across the room and against the wall. We may find exactly where we've been too accommodating which may have caused us to stuff our emotions down and cover them up for appearances sake because those bottled resentments are now spewing all over the dang place in light of this “straw that broke the camel's back.”

Ah...what to do? Well, the first step is to calm the fuck down. Er, as my Aries grandfather used to say, “The main thing is not to get excited.” Unless there is a true emergency there is no reason to blow the situation out of proportion and treat it as one. So, figure out, first, if this situation NEEDS an immediate reaction from you. If it doesn't, then give it some time to percolate without doing anything. Deal with the emotions safely and then come back to the situation when you are on more level ground. Realize that you are a whole person all on your own and there is no one out there that this going to fill any “emptiness” you feel inside you up. If you feel you are missing pieces of yourself, go inward to find them not outward. If a situation does call for an immediate reaction, don't be looking around for someone to tell you what you should do. Instead, reflect upon the person you are striving to become and do whatever it is you think THAT person would do.

Refrain from actions that illustrate old ways of thinking and avoid falling back into behaviors that you have learned are ineffective. These shadow tendencies should have become apparent to most of us while Saturn was in Scorpio. But, in truth, we aren't completely finished with that transit yet...Saturn is due to come back to the latter degrees of Scorpio for a few final integrations and lessons. What we are getting largely from Saturn in Sagittarius right now is just a preview that most definitely calls for us to pull from what we should have learned from Saturn's earlier passages in different signs. Saturnian lessons continually build upon themselves. For example, the lessons we learn from Saturn in Sagittarius will assist with the lessons we are to learn when Saturn enters Capricorn. The lessons we learned from Saturn in Libra assisted us in learning what we needed to learn while Saturn was in Scorpio. Brick by brick by brick the structure continually reinforces itself (at least until Neptune comes along and starts eroding everything we've ever known to be solid, blurring our boundaries and all that. We'll certainly talk about that more as Saturn in Sagittarius more closely squares the Lord of the Seas).

The square from the Moon to Pluto could tempt us to resort to shadow behaviors. Don't fall for it, Sweet Pea. Reach for true power instead. True power has its roots in effective behavior. Effective behavior is NOT rooted in the ability to manipulate others or in avoiding conflict. The fun part of that is that it may be hard to discern what the most effective action is because of Mars' current placement. There may be situations in which we should actually do nothing and that may seem to be at cross purposes with what we have been been taught about effectiveness and ambition to begin with. Refusing to engage in a power struggle is not conflict avoidance especially if that power struggle promises to be fruitless to begin with. Sometimes, its a good idea to just let go of the rope in a power tug-of-war because, do you really need to be in conflict with someone to validate your own power? If you do, then you don't have true power to begin with because that, my friends, is fostered internally by you and is not really up for anyone to judge but you. Go back and read the rights of the assertive from yesterday's write up to refresh your memory if you need to.

In a nutshell, protect your triggers, disallow anyone to push your buttons in an effort to get you to blow up (avoid doing this yourself, by the way) and know when to float instead of trying to run in water. Know the difference between avoidance and invoking your right to “not care.” And, when in doubt, ask your own opinion because no one knows better what the future version of yourself would do in any given situation but you. And, do all this while remembering you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. However, you do have to go to sleep in whatever bed you make.

In MANY instances the answer to the conflict is going to be to let go of it and do nothing. But, with Uranus and Pluto both excoriating our Moon and upsetting our emotional body, pulling back may be tough. There may be gnashing of teeth and much wailing for “Can't we all just get along?” LOL...welcome to Libra Hell. And, um, don't kill the messenger. She certainly didn't order this mess.