the notion of karmic relationships

Ugh. Was sick all weekend, and while I feel MUCH better today than I did two days ago, I'm still a far cry from being 100%. But, I wanted to attempt a blog post (warning: have not yet consumed caffeine).

So I was thinking about relationships, in particular the notion of karmic relationships. There are clues to them within yours and another's chart, (while I'm no expert on the topic, yours and another's nodes can be one piece to the puzzle). But that's not really what I wanted to talk about.

For so long I wanted to have that sort of connection with another human being- to be with someone I was supposed to be with, fated, perhaps. I had an epiphany when I read somewhere- and gah, it's driving me crazy that I can't remember where I read it- perhaps MoonPluto? That just because a relationship does have that fated, or karmic, quality, doesn't necessarily make it good.

This notion was major for me, and actually took a weight off me. Took away some pressure, something to worry about.

Of course, it could be a wonderful thing. Or it could simply be part of a negative cycle that keeps going and going. And some relationships do feel like that, non? You can't be together, but you can't be apart. It feels like love and it feels like pain.

But that doesn't mean that you have to be together, ya know? You can become free, and begin a new cycle. :)



Was there a real point to this blog post? Not really. This topic has just been on my mind a bit, and I wanted to write a blurb on it.



Hi to everyone, and Happy New Years Eve. :) Be safe and have fun- I will be nursing what has turned into a head cold, and most likely in bed by ten. :) Here's to a healthy 2013!

rasta kitty will make me feel better.

full moon coming

It's getting there. Early tomorrow morning it will be exact. The energy is building, for sure. Cancer moon will oppose a Capricorn sun. Cancer, who rules the moon, it's home sign- has to do with women. Capricorn has to do with men, and our current Capricorn sun is also very close to Pluto, so it goes deep- you may be getting glimpses into what you only had surface access to before.

So both areas of these charts- where Cancer and Capricorn are- will be activated. May be already. Illuminated. I must say that I am already seeing evidence of this in my life- in more than one way. And it's not even exact yet. How do you see issues to do with women and men being played out in your life right now? Or is it more subtle than that, for you... They are in opposition, so you may feel in between forces.

This moon is known as the long nights moon, or full cold moon. I personally prefer long nights moon- shout out to the Solstice. Not sure if we will be able to enjoy it in my corner of the world, as the sky is covered with clouds and it has been steadily snowing- but we will see. Enjoy, to people who will be able to see it tonight. :)

Painting by Catherine Sherman Fine Art, and yes, prints are available. :)

Lots of love.
p.s., do you like my blog's makeover? :) The tabs need some TLC but I'm just happy to have them at this point, haha.

off the top of my head

I think that I'm moving to WordPress. And/or working on improving this site. If things get a little weird around here in the next few days to a week, that's probably why. It looks like the process should be pretty painless, thankfully. Just wanted to give a heads up. :)

So we're onto longer days, every day. It's a nice thought. I'm feeling zonked from the holidays but I think I will fix myself a hot cuppa and make a list and get some stuff done, life-wise and around the house. At the moment, though, I am loving my work space. Here's the view:

It's from last week. :)

Originally I tweeted it. Are you on twitter? Find me here! Other places I'm around online are to the right.

How are you feeling today? The moon and Jupiter in Gemini (although no longer conjunct) is motivating- for sure- but the side effect is feeling overwhelmed! A rushed, how will I do all this? feeling. But a lot can be found out, as well- this is a GREAT time to set goals for the year ahead, or just a general idea of what you'd like to happen (if you're into that kind of thing). If you do a vision board, now is a great time to work on it.

Felt compelled to draw a card (which turned into three).

From the oracle deck The Wisdom of Avalon by Colette Baron-Reid.

the frog- cleaning house & releasing emotional baggage. get rid of clutter in your environment, head, and heart. it's time to get rid of anything that clutters your life or your space with unwanted, burdensome energy, or that weighs down heavily on your heart.

cleaning up allows for new and fresh energy to enter your world. it allows for positive and supportive energy. the frog says to release all things no longer appropriate to bring on your journey.

the fire faery- creative action & optimism. she sparks ideas into action and encourages you to move quickly. she's also the voice of happy optimism,, showing you signs, signals, and omens to support your dreams. she brings energy to support ideas that serve the greater good. she also brings illumination. if you're in the dark about something, a light.

burden- this card asks what burdens your are carrying on this part of your journey. are they so heavy that they slow you down? stop and look at your responsibilities & commitments.

release others to their own path. it's time to leave behind any unnecessary burdens, and know you have the strength to carry what is yours.


Interesting combo! I'm definitely feeling the need to write and expand my blog and work...

Do these cards make sense to you, too?
Happy Holidays. :)

chart rulers and such

Some texting with a friend a few days ago (she was noting all the venus action in her chart- sun and moon) led to the topic of chart rulers. It's pretty easy to figure out- it's the planetary ruler of your ascendant. my friend's ascendant is cancer, so her chart ruler is the moon.


Brief rundown of the others signs and their rulers:
Aries-Mars
Taurus-Venus
Gemini-Mercury
Cancer-Moon
Leo-Sun
Virgo-Mercury
Libra-Venus
Scorpio-Pluto and Mars
Sagittarius-Jupiter
Capricorn-Saturn
Aquarius-Uranus and Saturn
Pisces-Neptune and Jupiter.

This adds another dimension to your chart, to see a driving force behind your whole chart. Someone with a Pisces rising, Neptune ruled chart is going to be led by a vision, which may or may not be rooted in reality, but will inspire them for good or ill. Jupiter flavor can come in as well, perhaps making this vision seem larger than life, which can be intimidating or inspiring, depending. Someone with a Mercury ruled chart is going to be ruled by busyness- thinking, overthinking, doing, overdoing- but will they allow themselves to move forward?

Uranus rising has a deep need for personal expression in this life. It goes down deep and if they feel blocked or oppressed an especially wild side may come out. Mars is energy, striving, a FORCE to be reckoned with. Pluto takes this Mars energy but hides it down deep for safekeeping. Saturn is steady, methodical, but need a release so the pressure won't burst them, they almost need to give themselves permission to have fun (they deserve it!). Jupiter wants to expand, travel, and generally open up to the world and potential experiences. The sun rising is bright and their presence will ALWAYS be felt. And Venus... Venus expects harmony and beauty but at what cost? They may need to figure out less obvious ways to reach their objectives...


Back to my friend, and fellow moon ruled charts: The moon is characterized by an ebbing and flowing, feelings running DEEP and emotions coming on strong and leaving just as quickly. The moon ruled chart then makes me want to see where the MOON in her chart falls, since we know that the moon has a strong influence. Her moon is in Venusian Libra, in the fourth- which is the moon's natural house. a-ha! More evidence of a very lunar lady. :) However, Libra is a very mental sign, rational thought always at least tries to break through, no matter what the rest of the chart looks like. So, she has a bit of a balance (another thing Libra rules), balancing act, between the emotional and the mental aspects of her personality. I think of stillness, anything that allows for serenity, no matter how fleeting, is going to be very beneficial for someone with these placements, as it will allow for their overworked mental and emotional faculties to rest for a few moments, which can allow for fresh air to roll in... New insights. :)


(For more information, could google "___ chart ruler meaning." An Alan Oken site may come up first, as it did with mine, and he goes into much more detail than i will about chart rulers- great read. (As an aside- his books are fascinating).

As he points out, some signs have more than one ruler. Scorpio has Mars and Pluto, Aquarius has Saturn and Uranus, and Pisces has both Jupiter and Neptune. Some signs have multiple rulers because the planets simply hadn't been discovered yet! Can you see how this may be true for the Scorpios, Aquarians, and Pisces you know? How Scorpio has the drive of Mars, Aquarius fights the restriction of Saturn, Pisces has the same need for expansion as Jupiter.)


Anyway, I digress. What planet rules your chart, and how do you see it? I want to follow up this post sometime in the future by talking about planets that fall in the first house, and how that can affect things... but, first things first. :)

sometimes i draw instead of blog

...and it's pretty loltastic. the girl in the daytime part of the chart is just REALLY happy, okay?! heh.

anyway, it's basically just some thoughts on different houses in the chart, of which there are 12. each has a natural ruler and qualities that sort of govern the house, and then your specific chart fills in the details...

the top half of the chart is the "daytime" part. what's we're putting out into the world, and where. could be obvious, but not obvious because it has been for so long. relating to the other in any sense of the word. it's bright even where it's dark.

and the bottom half is the "nighttime" part of the chart. a focus on your inner workings, what comes out, what's created from these spaces in one's chart... beneath the surface. even the light is dark, light reflected in the moon and stars.

this is obviously SUPER first draft. posting this because i haven't done anything here in days, and i tried writing something and it just felt forced and wasn't going anywhere. feeling a restriction in that third house. i need to be adaptable in the ways i communicate and work and travel...
(am i the only one starting to be confronted by my control issues?)

(control=scorpio=solar plexus chakra. you can physically work on negative stuff around control issues by working on this chakra. you can visualize it being light and clear and bright yellow like the sun. you can rest a hand there, or a crystal or a stone. breathe there. mind/body. stray thoughts from yesterday, and yes there's lots of scorpio in the sky right now, although the moon no longer is there, has moved on to sagittarius).

okay, so i wrote more than i thought i would. hello to whoever reads this. :)

edvard munch and the dark

It's Saturday again. It's already pitch black here in Maine. Has been since about 4. I feel unsettled. I just discovered Planet Watcher yesterday. Love how easy it makes it; all the past, current, and upcoming transits are listed. Still, so much Scorpio in the sky, but Sag provides a lifeline.

I looked up Edvard Munch's birth chart the other night. I don't remember how but I came across The Scream online somewhere, a print of which hangs up in one of my sister's room and that my son once said was "mama." heh. Anyway, that all led to me looking up his chart and actually his birthday was in not even two weeks from now, the 12th of December. I ended up reading his biography too and it was so interesting.

But back to the chart, Capricorn moon, trine Pluto in Taurus. Slow moving but powerful. Uranus in Gemini, the thought of which just makes my head spin. It makes me think of madness, not for the individual in particular but just as a theme for the day... the mid-1800s. And so, so much Scorpio in his chart. Intense undertones. Like a hidden passageway, or something. Not unlike the sky right now- Sag, but lots of Scorpio in the sky, with Saturn, Mercury, Venus, and the North Node of the moon there...Add in the Cancer moon stirring things up inside us and it feels wild, but in an understated way. Madness? Heh. Kidding...

Well this ramble of a post is coming to a close. :) Happy Saturday...

The universal appeal of The Scream. "Is the money you make worth the price you pay?" (Graham Nash)

"the square is agony"

About a month ago I was jotting down some random thoughts on the Astrological aspect of the square, in my phone. Actually... exactly a month ago. Hmm. Obviously I was frustrated while writing it, as it reads like this:

The square is agony.

Self inflicted?

Choices seem impossible.

Can't get out of my own way.

What to do? What to strive for?

Wanting conflicting things.

No balance like an opposition.

It's like an awkward poem. And yeah, it sounds kinda doom-and-gloom. It could be spun another way. And I do think that there are beneficial aspects of the square. It does create action (conflict) within oneself. I think that it is seeking, as opposed to a trine which is more about receiving. Less work, but there can also be less appreciation with a trine- almost an entitled sense. I feel the square truly does appreciate. Appreciates it when things go their way! ha.

The square is near and dear to my heart because my chart is FILLED with them. Let me count... sixteen. Without counting my asteroids and Ascendant/Midheaven, it's down to eight. This is mainly because I have a lot of Pisces and Sag in my chart (although I do have a Venus/Neptune one as well, but in different signs). Pisces and Sag are both mutable. There are definitely, definitely similarities between the two. I relate very much to both signs. 

But that angle does create tension. I'm forever weighing choices, I DO get in my own way, and I even daresay an element of self-sabotage. Like what I wrote in my previous post, about what Doreen Virtue had said, about the ego not wanting you to believe that you're already good enough.

Getting down to the technicalities- a square is a 45* angle. They most commonly occur between signs of the same quality- cardinal, fixed, and mutable.One of each element occurs within each quality. It's like having different ways of dealing with something, having the square in your chart. Clashing perspectives that can leave you gridlocked.

What helps me a lot with this aspect is writing, journaling. Getting the crazy thought process out of my head and onto paper (or the interwebz). It lets me be more objective, and see what may be mental noise more than anything. Meditation can help that stress, as well...

The free way to see if you have a lot of squares, or any aspect, in your chart, is to mosey on over to astro (the "extended chart selection" page) and draw up a free chart, then cruise to the bottom of the page. You'll see a grid with the info, and from there you can google the aspect itself or the individual squares. For example, Mercury square Uranus, like in the chart below (not mine- just an example chart. :) ). Oh, and I like to select "draw aspect lines to Chiron." :)

What aspects do you notice in yourself, and how do you make them work for you?

healing and neutralizing links for grumpiness

To start I just wanted to say thanks to the people who read this!

I was looking at my stats and it's so cool to see that there's people from all over who visit. :) It makes me really happy!

I've been on a bit of a YouTube kick lately. I wanted to share some of the videos I particularly enjoyed. I hope you like them, too.

The always-fabulous Doreen Virtue on moving forward with your life's dreams. I found the part about how your ego doesn't want to allow you to feel fully prepared/qualified especially interesting- food for thought. :)

This was pretty cool. I'm not sure if everyone would enjoy the bliss coded sound, but I did- but I also need a fan or rain sounds app to sleep, haha.

Another Doreen Virtue one! This one is a chakra clearing meditation. My base, heart, and third eye chakras are my top three to work on at the moment! Love what she says about the base- "Learning to earn money WITHOUT suffering." Now that's a goal I need to move toward...

Sometimes I just like to have stuff like this on, just as background noise... I'll still pick up little bits and pieces that help.

Anyway- hope y'all enjoy. I want to do some more research on SAD treatment, as well- I'm a Northerner and I've become more conscious of my mood shifting since we've had shorter days. I'm grumpy. Heh. So is my kid...

I've been out of touch with my Astrology stuff, lately. I think that whole ego thing is part of it... I'll write more later. xo.

you guys, i'm on a website

if you want, you can check it out here: TruthPeaceLove :)

and here's my page. because i know you're dying to see it. ;)

this is really a sneak preview, as it hasn't OFFICIALLY launched yet, but we're close. i'm excited. wanted to share! 

and now, to go back to thinking of a topic to write about... 

fall.

mad world

new moon time. scorpio sun, scorpio moon. intention and ritual time, as carried over from last month's new moon which occurred while taking an astrology class. finding one of each was our homework for the new moon...

it serves kind of as a reevaluation, reflection AND thinking forward. emphasized by the mercury rx (retrograde), i think. reevaluating where you've been the past month, or two weeks, and where you want to go from your present state. makes me think of goal setting, on a personal level. can be the first step of a long term goal or something you want to work on just for the month.

so far i've smudged my home, and myself. clearing. that's the ritual i chose last month from class. i like it. it's methodical, physical, very grounding. clearing out my home of anything stale, leftover. neutralizing. same with me. it sounds hippie dippie, but i like it.you can do whatever you want, though. :)

i'm still not sure of my intention. i have a few ideas though.

and happy diwali!

festival of lights!

uranus/moon insanity

omg, mercury retrograde. facebook hates me. also my phone kinda. and this dang rehashing of... shit. sighs.

that's one thing on my mind. the other thing is uranus. more specifically, uranus in the birth chart. even more specifically, aspects that uranus may make to the moon. it's such a... clashing. such a clashing of energies. two very different things being sort of forced into this relationship. i feel like even the "good" aspects like a trine in this case is still... erratic. vacillating. deep and aloof at the same time. longing for closeness but actively ignoring, pushing away.

and then you have my moon/uranus aspect: inconjunct. the exception, i think, to the clashing, but it presents its own set of problems. they CAN'T be smooshed together. it's just two totally different parts of me, my blind spots of sorts. my moon is up in the 8th house, so it goes down deep but there are always concerns. a fascination with death, and not in a suicidal way or anything (at least not currently), just... that. fascination. it's also where my fear lives, and my deep, deep attachments to others. does that sound scary? it feels scary sometimes. but it's just how i've always been. sometimes i think of the eighth house as just a dark room. pitch black. well, maybe a little bit of light shining in from an unknown source. or a nightlight. 

come to think of it, the moon would have been just the slightest crescent in the sky, as i was born right after a new moon. black except for a sliver of light.

then, uranus, which my moon can't see. uranus which is also conjunct my mars. i'm sudden and erratic sometimes and slightly prone to emotional outbursts, and my blood boils. and i say mean things. it's destructive. uranus can be destructive. and mars is just the warrior. it's gone as soon as it comes on. they are never unprovoked, though... and that's where i see the inconjunct. it's something i can't connect, or struggle to, rather. that part of me with my dark moon. getting a glimpse of something there, usually to do with a significant other, that they're not telling me. i always pick the emotionally unavailable types... which is why i was thinking of uranus and the moon in the first place. in relationships, and how it adds a dimension of just not knowing. thinking you do, but then you pull back or the other pulls back and it's just... unsettling.

i know that i have a degree of this as well. most likely why i attract it.

so far the steps i see to overcoming it (and these are very preliminary): speaking. or writing. or just thinking. quiet. not expecting mind reading on either side, aka not assuming. for me, specifically: not exploding. waiting to speak. writing before speaking, to clear out all the shit from my veins. in other words... outlets.

how's your uranus/moon treating you? or... how are you treating it?

edited to add this excellent article on the moon, uranus, and relationships: sasstrology

more personal

i realized today that i haven't been super kind to myself lately. or, i've been a little TOO kind, aka indulgent, which for me and my pisces sun has the tendency to run away from me a little bit and then i get caught up in a cycle which is neither helpful or healthy. it just keeps me stuck. i gotta get back on track! 

 

physically:

go to bed earlier (again. i did this for a while but the habit didn't quite stick)

go for walks (i'm decent at this one, but i want to maintain it)

yoga (i've fallen off the wagon, y'all, and my body officially hates me for it)

mentally:

well, the physically also applies to the mentally. :P but more specifically:

journaling daily again, including about the current moon sign

astro studies

dream-recording

making reasonable to do lists for each day, to be more organized and less overwhelmed feeling

taking breaks from damn technology

 

spiritually:

do the daily quick meditation sessions. i love thinking about it as a way to basically give your brain a workout, activating different areas than you usually use... inspiring.

using my oracle cards, and getting card readings from others

self-energy work. and/or... hit up a reiki share?!

 

  obviously, all of these tie in with one another. :) i have some big decisions to make soon, and i'm just not going to be able to make a good one without first clearing all this junk out that keeps me in limbo. easier said than done, of course, heh.

oh, and happy full moon. here's a photo from over the weekend, so it wasn't quite full yet...

it's in taurus. opposing all that scorpio in the sky!

hope that everyone affected by sandy is staying safe & warm.

on worry

 

I don't usually post these, but this one spoke to me. :)

We all have our demons...