End of Year Tarotscopes

Welcome to the last quarter of 2019. There is (as has been, but stronger now) a heavy emphasis on that house in your chart where the sign of Capricorn is located. Events playing out in other areas of your life will somehow all lead back to or affect (or be affected by) this Capricorn area for you.
For Aries the emphasis is on 10th house matters

Image taken from https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/464252423/tarot-12-houses

Taurus——> 9th house
Gemini——>8th house
Cancer——->7th house
Leo————>6th house
Virgo———>5th house
Libra———>4th house
Scorpio——>3rd house
Sagittarius->2nd house
Capricorn—>1st house
Aquarius—->12th house
Pisces———>11th house

If you refer to the above list with respect to your Sun sign, the energies will affect your internal life, your goals and intentions. If you refer to the above list with respect to your Ascendant sign, you’ll see the areas of your life that will be affected by external events. And if you see the list with respect to your Moon sign, you will see which area of your life will impact you emotionally.

The image on the right shows you the themes related to the houses against the respective house number.

If you know your birth date, time, and place, you can find out your Ascendant and Moon signs from https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

I’ll be posting your tarotscopes for the end of the year by and by. If your sign is not listed here today, it will be soon! Please keep checking back for your tarotscope upload. All the best.

YOUR TAROTSCOPES
(Updating, please keep checking back)

ARIES
(Un)Reality Check for Aries

TAURUS
Expect the Unexpected, Taurus

GEMINI
Into the heart of darkness, Gemini

CANCER
You tell me, Cancer!

LEO
More Inspiration, Less Perspiration, Leo

VIRGO
Timing Is Everything, Virgo

AQUARIUS
Navigating by the Stars Aquarius

 

August-September Tarotscopes

Your tarot readings for August and September. Things and thoughts start to get unstuck. Focus on the possibilities, respect the limitations, get creative with the two!

Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces

17 July: Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn

A frail, old man walking down the street, hunched over,
overloaded with bags in his hands four times his weight,
he’s making a delivery, because he still needs to make a living,
you’ll rush to help him without a single thought, surely,
but what if you found out he was a former Nazi who escaped conviction
and has been molesting his grandchildren?

A Lunar Eclipse conjunct Pluto in Capricorn tonight, a time ripe for all sorts of creepy crawly thoughts and ideas to come forth from the midden heap of the collective psyche where they usually live, repressed.

This lunar eclipse in Capricorn is taking place right on top of Pluto (and significantly close to Saturn and South Node aka Ketu to boot), indicating, more than most eclipses, a stirring of secrets, psychological material, and generally all the muck we refuse to deal with. Full Moons generally indicate a time of bloom or coming forth. But what comes forth during an eclipsed Moon? Something unpleasant or at least completely unexpected for sure, especially with the Lord of the Underworld involved. It’s a great time though for a deep cleanse of one’s psyche. Since this eclipse takes place in my first house, I’ve been having the strangest sort of Freudian dreams, and they are pointing to the changes I need to make in the way I experience myself with respect to my place in relationships (Sun and North Node aka Rahu are in Cancer, my 7th house).

The 17 July Lunar Eclipse has all the ingredients (involvement of Cancer-Capricorn, Pluto, Saturn, Ketu) to bring the past back in some way. It also indicates big secrets being hidden — but since Pluto is retrograde — in plain sight; or something you are unable to see right under your nose. A parental-seeming figure who seems to care for you might only be emotionally manipulative.

On a positive note, that which was thought lost can be found. In every sense. Is there something you are searching for?

 

 

June-July Tarot (T)readings

I’m calling them tarot treadings this month because with Saturn, Pluto, Ketu still continuing to bring destruction in Capricorn, and with eclipses impending on the Cancer-Capricorn axis, tumult will continue. If you haven’t experienced this energy directly or indirectly, then congratulations you are one of the very fortunate ones!

Your Messages for July

June-July Tarotscope for Aries

July Tarotscope for Taurus

July Tarotscope for Gemini

July Tarotscope for Cancer

July Tarotscope for Leo

July Tarotscope for Virgo

July Tarotscope for Libra

July Tarotscope for Scorpio

July Tarotscope for Sagittarius

July Tarotscope for Capricorn

July Tarotscope for Aquarius

June-July Tarotscope for Pisces

‘No Deal’ May Readings

Due to an unforeseen emergency in the family I won’t be able to post tarot readings for the month of May. But since I’m at my uncle’s place where there is a well-stocked library, I shall pick a few books and share some stichomantic advice instead. Scroll down to skip the astrology and go straight to your stichomancy readings if you like. 

But before I proceed, a short note on the astrology of May.

Pier de Crescenzi, Construction d’une maison, in Livre des prouffitz champestres et ruraulx, circa 1480

In the month of May we have three big daddies — Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto — apparently moving in reverse. Jupiter stationed retrograde in Sagittarius on 10 April, and in Capricorn, Saturn on 29 April, and Pluto on 24 April. I have meditated long and hard on retrograde planets. There is much written about them, most of it from a modern free-will-oriented perspective along with some very scattered mentions of the effects of retrogression in traditional astrology. The latter for the most part focuses on what the motion does to the strength of the planet and its ability to manifest its significations. Indian and Western astrology diverge on this aspect with the former claiming retrogrades make planets stronger, and the latter finding it a weakening influence. In astrology, when in doubt, it always pays to bring to mind the actual and apparent movements of the heavenly bodies from the Earth’s perspective — since that is what we as humans ascribe meaning to; and if god exists and the ‘stars’ are divine agents, then what we see from here is the message we are being given.

The superior planets, those that wander around the sun outside the earth’s orbit, apparently turn retrograde when they approach an opposition to the sun. Therefore during their retrograde periods they rise in the sky at night after the sun sets, shining at their brightest. Their orbit also places them closest to earth. Symbolically speaking, these movements are rich in meaning. It is a recent revelation for me that retrograde superior planets — with the earth (material plane) standing between them and the sun (soul desire, pride, ego) — in their proximity to earth indicate a shift away from the signification of the planet as an ‘intention’ or quality to a preoccupation with the manifestation of the planet in material, earthly terms. To illustrate, ever since Jupiter (expansion, fortune, philosophy, knowledge) entered Sagittarius (invention, guidance, evolution) I have been busy studying for a Master’s degree, and my focus has been on truly absorbing what I learn rather than simply going through the motions of completing the program. Yet, just as Jupiter turned retrograde, circumstances turned a certain way (due to administrative issues etc.) such that I have since been more engaged with paperwork and meetings with officials that are necessary to keep me going on in the program. Note how the emphasis shifts from the intention of learning to the practicalities of formal education. Similar twists have also taken place with respect to Saturn (structure, discipline, authority and father figures, rules) and Pluto (debts, death, transformation, hidden wealth, power struggles, psychological undertows).

In short, the major emphasis in the month of May is on practical, material matters. But since transpersonal planets are involved, these matters pertain to important, life-defining situations. Ketu a.k.a South Node is active too, bringing a feeling of ‘destiny’ to proceedings. Structural aspects of our lives, the power dynamics and the ideologies that inform them, will be in focus during this time. Change is in the air, as is also a chance to redo things in some way. In the month of grounded Taurus, who signifies the earth in bloom, this is an appropriate theme for proceedings — even if it portends some difficulties, bull-bodied Taurus is more than capable of giving us the tenacity and goal-mindedness needed to harvest pleasant outcomes.

I took a random book out for each sign, opened to a random page and blindly pointed my finger at a random spot to bring you messages through synchronicity. Hopefully these will give you something to ponder about in your current context.

Your Stichomancy Readings for May

Aries

keep someone/something at arm’s length
avoid contact with someone/something. Mrs. Bloggs is not my favourite person, so I tend to keep her at arm’s length.

(From: Gordon Javie, 1996, Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms)

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Taurus

My father, as nurse said, did never fear,
But cried ‘Good seamen!’ to the sailors, galling
His kingly hands, haling ropes;
And, clasping to the mast, endured a sea
That almost burst the deck.

(From: William Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre)

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Gemini

The celebration was held on a meadow by the village, at the brook; there was already a crowd there when we arrived, many people had come in from neighbouring villages, and the noise was bewildering.

(From: Franz Kafka, 1930, The Castle)

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Cancer

I had visits once a week, always of course in the presence of a warder, but nevertheless very cheering. Ottoline and Colette used to come alternately, bringing two other people with them. I discovered a method of smuggling out letters by enclosing them in the uncut pages of books.

(From: Bertrand Russell, 1967, Autobiography)

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Leo

This beginning is remarkable beyond all measure.

(From: Friedrich Nietzsche, 1979 translation, Ecce Homo)

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Virgo

So to get the total force on a particle, we have to sum up the influences from all other particles, coming from different earlier times.

(From: Frank Wilczek, 2008, The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces)

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Libra

The whole in part, the river in drop, — if you cannot see,
It is then the child’s play, not the eye that sees.

From: K.C. Kanda, 2004, Mirza Ghalib: Selected Lyrics and Letters)

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Scorpio

The lady stood there gaping, but the gentleman wasn’t proud: he had a humble appearance, he must have been very familiar with intimidating gazes and brief interviews.

(From: Jean-Paul Sartre, 1949 translation, Nausea)

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Sagittarius

Even with her cute move with the knife, I’m guessing that she’s not a real blade fighter. If she was, she’d be holding the tanto under my ear, where she’d be right above a major blood vessel.

(From: Richard Kadrey, 2013, Sandman Slim)

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Capricorn

Relationships are about coexistence, and pride goes against the concept of coexistence because it is about superiority. Therefore, it is impossible to have a healthy relationship as ego will always form barriers.

(From: Khorshed Bhavnagri, 2009, The Laws of the Spirit World)

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Aquarius

All problems of constitution originate precisely in the self-constitution of temporality, in that final limiting stratum of the “primal phenomenal present” which alone is not “being” in the same sense as everything that is constituted as being.

(From: Hans-Georg Gadamer, 1976 translation by David E. Linge, Philosophical Hermeneutics)

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Pisces

The next day was passed in mere mechanical deeds of preparation, both the women being anxious to immerse themselves in these to escape the emotional aspect of the situation.

(From: Thomas Hardy, 1939, Return of the Native)

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Until next month! 🙂

Full Moon of April 19: ‘The Lovers’ Dilemma Resolved?

Skip to your April tarot readings here

John William Waterhouse, Saint Cecilia. Wikimedia Commons

The heavenly cast setting the stage

I mostly defer to the time-tested wisdom of ancient astrological delineations in my astrology practice but I also keep an open mind and an eye out for the newer heavenly bodies and their significations — asteroids and power points etc. — especially when they punctuate the energy of the transits in such an obvious way (discussed later) as they are on this Full Moon of April 19 at the critical 29th degree of Libra opposite an exalted Sun at the 29th degree of Aries. An event occurring right at the last degree of a sign is significant in a headlining sort of way — something decisively changes, usually in the form of a culmination or ending. Add to that the fact that Full Moons generally indicate moments of completions or culminations — a report card of what your endeavours have resulted in, plus the degree at which this Full Moon occurs is part of one section of the sky dubbed the ‘Via Combusta’ (between 15 degree Libra and 15 degree Scorpio) where the Moon is considered to be generally weak in her ability to bring things to fruition in the way that you would prefer or rather, in the strictly conventional way. Venus, also at the end of her sign of exaltation at 28 degree Pisces is exerting a subtle influence on the Sun, and creating a sort of self-defeating situation for the Moon, which has its spiritual benefits. At this time the Sun’s dispositor Mars will be in Gemini in mutual reception with Mercury in Aries — swapping places in each other’s house of rulership they will facilitate and strengthen, among other things, the need for athletic sex, as well as the ability to communicate and take action expediently. On Full Moon day Mercury is conjunct Chiron underscoring a ‘think and do different’ vibe.

To be sure, there is a lot of creative energy in this ‘Full Pink Moon’ of April:
The Sabian symbol for 29 degree Aries is ‘The music of the spheres’
The Sabian symbol for 29 degree Libra is ‘Mankind’s vast and enduring effort to reach for knowledge transferable from generation to generation’
And Mercury is activated, along with the social signs of Gemini and Libra. 

There is a strong signature here of becoming aware of a world of possibilities and learning potential which we have denied ourselves by letting social mores define what we invest our energies into. But this is about becoming aware and taking action.

Matters of contracts, partnership and awkward ‘marriages’ 

With the Sun (soul), Moon (emotional mind) and Venus (pleasure instinct) engaged at this time in the formation that they are, a partnership could be coming to an end in its current form regardless of how much passion and hope you began it with. Something tells us that what we have is not enough in some way, that there is need to explore other ways  to relate or other people to make the soul sing. You could reach a realisation that a coupling just isn’t for your highest good or inspirational enough. The term ‘conscious uncoupling’ comes to mind. The wife* could decide to graciously walk away from the marriage to make space for the mistress they just cannot compete with, or perhaps the mistress is brought into the marriage by the husband regardless of what the wife wishes. In walking away from a partnership or altering its terms to include ‘third parties’ you might act out the crystallization of the main lesson of Libra consciousness which is doing right by others with a dispassionate sense of harmony — not what is prescribed by human-made law, but what feels balanced. There is a distinct tone of some alternative forms of partnership contracts — spoken or written — emerging from this dynamic.

Some couples might find themselves discussing the need to explore alternative sexual arrangements ranging from swinging, to threesomes, to polyamory, to enacting fantasies.

And now for modern astrology: the mother, the seductress, the sister-wife 

Interestingly, there is an Air Trine** being formed by the Moon in Libra, asteroid Juno at 29 degrees in Gemini, and Black Moon Lilith (the apogee of the Moon’s orbit) at 28 degrees Aquarius. This is a supercharge of elemental Air energy uniting Luna — the wife, the mother, Juno***  who in modern astrology represents the partnership dynamic between the wife and the husband, and what the wife might resort to to keep her husband in check; and Lilith *** who represents the ‘witch’, or the feared female outcast (not that she cares) who refuses to conform to any order or structure that undermines female power and sexuality. A cooperative formation between these three expressions further punctuates everything mentioned in the section above about changing partnerships. The changes will most likely come from or be triggered by the female in the equation. This could be the wife joining forces with the mistress, or choosing to enjoy the same freedoms her husband has been. There is nothing conventional about this. And even the usual ‘Venusian’ forms of expression society has come to expect of women are  promoting the dissolution of boundaries that block the flow of love and creativity.

With the Moon (significator of mother), disposited by Venus (also significator of mothering received according to Vettius Valens in Anthologies, among others) in the sign of Pisces (the ultimate expression of mother-child bonding), trine Black Moon Lilith (the devourer of human children, the antithesis of mothering) making contacts there is a theme here about motherhood as well. Women who have sacrificed their goals and neglected their female sexuality in favour of disproportionately giving of themselves to nurturing their child might feel ready to cut the proverbial umbilical cord. This will be an emotional passage to say the least.

Matters of creative endeavours, campaigns, projects, inventions

The culmination of a creative project or inventive endeavour might result in something that seems to tick all the boxes in terms of form, but somehow lacks soul. Or in a more positive development, you might decide that what should have been a project completed, is just a turning point towards further improvement, experimentation, or research. It’s the sort of energy that keeps the artist or scientist seeking — which is always a good thing eh?

Advice for partnerships and projects alike

Beware of taking what you think might be a munificent or inspired course of action — the ‘right’ or imaginative thing to do — because fairly soon afterwards you might have to contend with feelings of envy or survival anxiety and even a sense of having to fend for yourself in a situation that feels like ambiguous or unsettling in some way.  

Of pious love

I stumbled upon the Story of Saint Cecilia and was gobsmacked by the quite literal description of yet another way a ‘marriage’ (or any sort of collaboration) could play out in the times of this Libra Full Moon, in the way that Cecilia keeps herself chaste within her earthly marriage for the sake of divine love.

In terms of the Rider-Waite Tarot, this Full Moon can be viewed as the story of ‘The Lovers’ which presents us with the dilemma of Adam. After Eve unwittingly takes a bite of the forbidden fruit, Archangel Jophiel appears to expel her from Eden. Adam , who believes himself and Eve to be partners for life, expresses his wish to accompany her even though he has the option to stay on. This display of loyalty from Adam comes from what we on earth might think is a good place, yet it earns him a place in hell after death along with Eve for he has exercised his free will to go against the divine scheme. The message seems to be that what we think is ‘good’ or ‘right’ in human terms might be quite the opposite of what is spiritually desirable. The Lovers card in readings represents a moral dilemma between sticking with tradition/God’s plan/ higher minded goals/ long-term spiritual gains, and choosing material gains/ earthly delights/base desires/short-term gains. Interestingly, I have noticed many Tarot readers viewing this card as a love triangle too, which seems to fit the current Full Moon theme  in terms of the pure imagery of the card which can also be seen as the wife looking to her husband’s ‘ethereal’ lover in search of a resolution.

But the card’s number 6 in the path of the Sefirot represents a second level of manifestation of the divine spark, where some kind of gains balance out the stasis of the first level of manifestation and an experience of deprivation that often results from saturation. For The Lovers to be assigned the number 6 perhaps the message to Adam is that Eve’s departure is necessary, but that he must have faith that his loss will be balanced out as the universal forces ultimately seek harmony. Or perhaps it means that a reliance on one’s physical senses alone is destined to mislead humans away from sources of higher intelligence.

But life isn’t about absolutes therefore perhaps the question that The Lovers card and this Full Moon raises for us is: is there a happy medium between staying true to our earthly commitments and following our spiritual path? Is there a way for our spiritual pursuits to bring us earthly delights and vice versa?

In bodily matters

It is possible you might have the revelation that something about your routine (or lack of it), health management or self-care practices is promoting an unhealthy addiction or creating some sort of imbalance which affects how you move.

How I, or even you, might be affected

I have a planetary pile up in Cancer natally so lunations affect me more than most. I’ll probably just get a massive headache as I often do around Full Moon times.

Sometimes even the most dramatic seeming planetary transits only show themselves as some unexpected little ache here on earth. It really depends on how much and what sort of nudge an individual needs to stop and pay attention to the spiritual aspect of life. Clearly I’m most effectively reached out to with physical pain!

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* I’m using conventional terms pertaining to spousal roles to illustrate best the archetypal energies of the unfolding events. These are not to be taken literally, but applied to your situation as you see fit.

** Equilateral triangle in the Air element. Trines are aspects made by signs 120 degrees apart from each other. According to the ancients who understood divine will and the metaphysical world in geometrical terms, the Trine forms a triangle, or a trinity, that signifies harmonious manifestation blessed by the heavens.

*** Juno or Hera is Jupiter/Zeus’s sister-wife, much troubled and constantly plotting against her husband’s many paramours and consequent progeny.

***Lilith is the Biblical and Talmudic first wife of Adam, created, like Adam, of the earth and therefore his equal. But she abandons him and voluntarily exits Eden in an act of defiance towards God when she feels subjugated by God’s prescribed rules of coupling.

Poetry in Planetary Motion: The Aries New Moon on April 5

(You can skip to your April monthly tarotscopes here.)

In the past few posts I have been writing about the various aspects of the cosmic drama currently playing out in the skies — and it’s a story of hope, liberation and rebirth, but also of profound systemic changes that are long overdue in the personal and well as political sphere.

An event occurring in the middle of a sign is as such a bridge from the youth of a situation to its maturity and completion. The New Moon on April 5th at 15 degrees Aries is a peak point — for some a climactic moment in the Final Act — of what is going on. Let’s look at the cast and plot:

• The New Moon in Aries will occur with the Sun exalted in Aries, in full strength to transmit higher-purpose creative, inventive and even death-defying urges to the seeds that are sown at this time.
• The New Moon is occurring on the fixed star Alpheratz aka The Head of the Princess, said to bestow honor, riches, intellect and freedom when charged positively, and death by decapitation when negative. Fixed stars have a special place in traditional astrology and are certifiably potent in  the manifestations of their significations when activated in a birth or event chart.
• While the New Moon is a great time to set intentions, the ideal time to initiate a new cycle of actions is 2-3 days after the New Moon (or after 45 degrees of the Moon moving away). for this New Moon, these initiation days will occur with the Moon in Taurus her sign of exaltation, which is great for realising material goals. Also, action taken with the Moon in the early degrees of Taurus will mean your mission or goal get the cooperation of all the big bosses in Capricorn through an easy Trine down the line.
• Taurus is ruled by Venus, who at this time will be exalted in Pisces, informing our desires with higher-minded goals, creativity, imagination, otherworldly beauty. She will be also be conjunct Neptune-conjunct-Mercury creating a powerful channel to amplify messages coming in from higher realms or from deep within your unconscious mind. This mana of spiritual nourishment is feeding the New Moon through 1) the 12th house with divine guidance, signs, ideas, passing thoughts, and 2) a sextile aspect to the growing Moon which makes it easier for our inspirations to be noticed and then communicated into actions by us.
• All this fantastical goodness oozing into our New Moon from Pisces is in turn informed by Jupiter in his own house in Sagittarius from where he is able to support our dreams and inspirations with a spirit of change for everyone’s greatest good, plus he adds an extra dash of good luck and a soul-enriching philosophical tone to proceedings. He is making a fortunate Trine aspect to the New Moon indicating the presence of divine intelligence in the proceedings.
• Still, this New Moon is not without its tensions, but in a very very good way, which are coming from the ‘big daddy’ power complex of Pluto conjunct South Node conjunct Saturn in Capricorn. Whatever inspiration or new beginning comes to the fore now will signal a resolution and/or severance from karmic power dynamics and psychological struggles about which I have written in detail here.  Saturn in his own sign is a good guy and positioned to facilitate the establishment of new structures in your life that could well tide you through the next thirty years if you invest the hard work and discipline that this may require.
• This is going to be the new beginning of a lifetime for many, especially those with personal planets and points in the Cardinal signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn.
• Mercury in Pisces is in their weakest position, their debility, yet for this New Moon this is a good thing because it allows for us to suspend our rationality and logical thought which occurs within the bounds of our perception and instead, tap into the no-holds-barred ideas and revelations that are coming through from the different planes activated by Neptune, Pluto, Sun and Venus.
• Mars will be in Gemini’s first decanate (i.e. first ten degrees) which is ruled by Jupiter, therefore where he is usually quite competitive, skilled, athletic, and forceful in communication, Mars will be concerned just now with invention, good sportspersonship, although he might not find the will necessarily to compete given Mercury the controller of Gemini’s affairs is busy getting high in Pisces.
• Mars is also sextile Chiron in Aries so the spirit of healthy competition and mindful action is further enriched.
• Although combined with all other planets and aspects above, Mars will contribute his bit to also charging this time with the kind of sexual energy and indeed, the kind of sex that feels like a neutron star collision, or like a headlong plunge into energising waters. This is a great time to overcome inhibitions pertaining to sex through actions and conversations.

As you may see this is a long, long list of truly great stuff. The gods are giving us a break!

Therefore, starting today, in a run up to the New Moon is a good time to sit with yourself for a bit and explore the areas of life where you feel held back, or where you might have scope to alter your mindset or worldview in a way that energises you to achieve what you wish to. Sometimes we create our own fatigue and anxieties with the way we look at situations and extrapolate upon them. But this time now is the perfect time to stand with yourself, stand in the moment, and just take in everything around you as it is objectively without the tint or taint of your coloured outlook.

Identify your worries and concerns and fears and blocks and past traumas and insidious mental chatters now and then surrender them. Write them down maybe and then strike them off. Symbolic acts can make a powerful imprint on our minds.

Do this now so to make the space in your mind for the clarity and divine inspiration that are set to come your way this New Moon.

The stages of the New Moon to help you along your schedule:

Stage one: From now to New Moon time, reflect, identify patterns, explore them in depth. Analyse areas where you feel you need closure but cannot achieve it — think of ways you can engineer your own closure. Empty your mind. Listen to your own thoughts

Stage two: (April 5-6, but check your local timezone for New Moon dates) The trine of Aries and Sagittarius. What would you like to do about all the above? What is something you have always wanted to do or create but never haven’t had the courage to? Identify that one thing that will evolve your current life.

Stage three (April 7): The sextile of Pisces and Taurus. Take action! Take the first step, no matter how small, start something, do it now!

And if you wish to know more about the heavenly movements of now, this is one great video about it from one of my favourite astrologers:

 

 

 

April’s Full Monthly Tarot Readings

Venus Urania by Christian Griepenkerl, 1878. Wikimedia Commons

April may not be the cruelest month this year, in fact, emerging from the fog of that doozy of a retrograde Mercury transit in Pisces last month, this month’s exalted Venus in Pisces will be welcome relief, even if it is happening against the backdrop of other powerful changes. Indeed, her transit now may be just the anaesthetic needed for what is going on in the big picture. In ancient Greek philosophy, including the works of Plato and Xenophon, Venus or Aphrodite has two forms: Aphrodite Pandemos of earthly lusts, desires, and even the social institution of marriage; and Aphrodite Urania, daughter of Uranus, in her most holy form the patron of the arts, and universal, transcendental  love. In the origin myths of the zodiac sign of Pisces, the two fish contained in the symbol represent Aphrodite who yoked herself to her son Eros (Cupid) and transformed him and herself into fish in order to hide from the monster Typhon who was coming to get them. Venus in Pisces therefore is the protective love of the mother at a universal scale which we experience in meditation or in moments of pure bliss as oceanic feelings of oneness with the world akin to how babies feel in the womb — one with the mother, with no concept of self apart from her.

Aphrodite Urania will help us channel our collective angst into something beautiful like art, poetry, and music. Venus in her exaltation traveling with Mercury in their* debilitation position may not be the best for logical thought, but this transit is great for creativity and spiritual practice. Remember however, Uranus has re-entered Taurus** and already he is showing us glimpses of the revolutions he has in mind in the area of environment, ecology and finance. In a shock to the world, Johnny Depp filed for HEFTY damages in a defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard just as Uranus re-entered Taurus at zero degrees, making contact with sensitive points in his chart. So far he had maintained a dignified silence surrounding her (now apparently false) accusations of domestic abuse, but when he found his earning prospects getting affected by her continued negative publicity of their marriage, he took action. It is about money. Not dignity. On a global scale too, this is going to be the concern. Already you can see in the spreading ‘Yellow Vest’ movements of Europe, and in the agenda of new politicians like USA’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a coalescing unrest — regardless of which side’s ‘wing’ they are — regarding the concentration of wealth (Taurus) in the hands of the few who represent power (Capricorn).  When it comes to the planet too, it can no longer be about pride or ego, it is about very practical, Taurus concerns, which includes changing standards of beauty, consumption, and productivity to make our habits more earth-friendly. We are in trouble, and we can either embrace the necessary changes or the changes will come to us anyhow (Uranus doesn’t care). What started with Greta Thurnberg in Sweden is now a worldwide movement of children organising weekly strikes to urge the adults and the extant systems to change their polluting ways. May their future be as bright as they are.

  Your Tarotscopes

Please read for your Sun, Moon, and Rising sign.

Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces

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* I use a gender-neutral pronoun for Mercury in observance of the fluidity of gender and form that the planet represents in astrology.

**Uranus first entered Taurus briefly in May 2018, before it retrograded back into Aries from November 2018 to March 2019 to take one last look and clear up any unfinished business there — which has interestingly coincided with the official declaration of ISIS’ defeat and the end of a movement (hopefully) that came to typify the problematic expression of Uranus in Aries. Hopefully their valourisation of lone-wolf violence that has become a problem all over the world won’t survive them either. Uranus transits bring shocking events that can turn lives and countries around, but the precipitating events themselves don’t quite stick and are generally temporary in nature, like earthquakes.

The Pluto Conjunct South Node (Ketu) Transit

Shortcut to the March tarotscopes here.

Annieglia, About Now VI. Wikimedia Commons.

Maybe you feel it, maybe you don’t yet, but we have already entered the intense energetic period that is going to bring Plutonic forces to the fore as a sort of beginning of the end of Pluto’s transit through Capricorn where it has, since it first entered the sign in 2008, dredged up the hidden power, money, psychological and sexual dynamics that have been playing out on the shadow side of what we know as society, tradition, government, patriarchy and structure (all Capricornian playing fields).

About Pluto

Pluto or Hades (in Greek), is the lord of the underworld who has the dirty job of claiming debts (including that which every human incarnation owes: of death), and rounding up the dead and judging their souls. After his insecure, power-hungry, offspring-devouring father Saturn (Kronos) was overthrown as ruler of the world by his brother Jupiter (Zeus), and the kingdom was being divided into the three realms of sky, water and underground among the three brothers, the third being Neptune (Poseidon), Pluto drew the short stick and got the most dismal realm of all. But the underworld isn’t only just about rot and stench. The Romans viewed Pluto in a more favourable light as the ‘lord of the riches’, as within his chthonic realm lay also the bounties of seed-nourishing fertile soil, gems, and precious metals. Still, one of the only stories that is widely known of Pluto’s life is his abduction of Proserpina (Persephone) daughter of Demeter — the agricultural goddess who went on strike till the gods helped her retrieve her daughter from the realm of the dead, which resulted in a cold, dark period which we to this day know as the winter season.

In astrology, Pluto the planet (he was always a planet to me) is a new entrant, having only been discovered in 1930, and his use remains controversial among those of a more traditional bent of mind. Indian astrology does not employ Pluto at all. Most modern and many traditional Western astrologers do. As heavenly bodies not directly visible to the naked eye, Pluto, Neptune and Uranus are said to represent different aspects of the collective unconscious that exert their influence at a generational level rather than at an individual one (owing to really long orbits that cause them to stay within one zodiac sign for many years). However, in individual birth charts, when any of these three forces makes a close contact to an important personal planet or energy point, it does indeed signal an impactful personality or at the very least, a life-changing event, drama or trauma. From the collective unconscious point of view, Pluto can point to the repressed material in our psyche, our traumas and shadows that lay buried deep within, until something triggers them to spew forth, which sooner or later they do.

So this powerful character has been travelling through the sign of Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn. Everything here says POW POW POW! Anywhere Pluto goes by transit, he either ‘unearths’ or ‘claims’. Now imagine Pluto meeting up with the electric force of Ketu (aka Dragon’s Tail, or South Node)!

About Ketu (South Node)

Ketu is the severed tail of the dragon/snake that tried to steal the potion of immortality (amrit) from the gods through subterfuge, its severed head is Rahu (North Node). You can read the full story of the Rahu-Ketu myth here. Astronomically, the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is slightly tilted with respect to Earth’s path around the Sun so it has a north-south orientation. Ketu represents the point in space where this orbit on its north-to-south journey intersects the Sun’s apparent path across our sky. Rahu represents the south-to-north intersection point. As notional points in space, rather than physical bodies, these are shadow forces that play out in our lives, rather dramatically, through our psyche which experiences objective events as subjective narratives of victimhood, desire, lack, excess, and personal fable.

Ketu (and Rahu) exert far more influence on the techniques used in Indian astrology than they do in its Western counterpart where their significance and use remains slightly uncertain. In my own practice I work with a hybrid of Indian and Western methods (in the true spirit of globalism), so I employ the outer planets as much as I do the nodes. Ketu in a nativity (birth chart) signifies variously an overdeveloped aspect of the personality that must be balanced out in this lifetime; inability to materialise desires, and the spiritual gains that come from such defeats; a compulsion that continues to bring ‘bad luck’; and sudden separations. This Ketu, the smoky one, devourer of matter, giver of spiritual insight has begun to get close to Pluto, the lord of the underworld. How does that sound?

About Transits in March-April

If you have deeply buried or untended relationship dynamics, or psychological and physical issues, they all are going to come out now, especially if these forces make important contacts in your chart. A clue to what might emerge can be gained from what has come to your attention in March, during this period of Mercury retrograde in Pisces. Out of nowhere, and for no specific reason, your dreams and waking thoughts might remind you of defeats, jealousies, embarrassments and traumas from long ago. Perhaps difficult dynamics and situations that you had thought had been finally put to rest also rise up again. The realm of Pluto is not for the faint-hearted. But Mercury in Pisces (empowered by Pisces’s ruler Jupiter in his domicile in Sagittarius) could forearm you with a philosophical perspective, or insight, that will serve to light the way for you as you traverse the dark and smoky Pluto-Ketu environment, battle your demons for one last time, and emerge victorious! Just remember, this is not about winning. If you have a showdown, be it internal or external, you will fare better if you approach the experience as a lesson in understanding yourself or even just learning how to keep your priorities straight rather than just going down with the enemy. This is not a time to do or die, it is time to live and release. Cry if you must. Cry all you can. But keep it about you and you alone — don’t make it about what someone else owes to you or did to you or meant to you. In nature, the organism improves its ability to survive not by focusing on that one creature that almost got it, but by learning about the enemy as a species in general.  In the dance of the cosmos, it is the energies that come into our lives that require reckoning with, not the actors.

Pluto brings life-changing events. It can bring endings too. But it is important to remember with Pluto that only that which is perishable dies, the soul lives on, transformed into something else — manure or a new life. Nothing truly ends, except the illusory concreteness of form.

Here’s a message that might be helpful if you’re in the crosshairs of the planetary wrecking ball just now.

Pluto is at 22 degrees 51 minutes in Capricorn today, Ketu (who always moves in retrograde motion) is at 23 degrees 21 minutes in the same sign. It is already happening. This conjunction will perfect on April 4th, when Mercury will have turned direct in Pisces, bringing forth an expression of everything that came up from your psyche during March — all the attachments, illusions, delusions and even ideas that came up.

…And Saturn’s Here Too!

It is worth no small mention that right after the conjunction with Pluto, Ketu will be headed for an encounter with Saturn, the significator of authority figures, rules, structures and obstacles, who is generally benevolent when he is in his domicile of Capricorn. This conjunction too occurs once in eighteen years and is therefore momentous. But carrying energy from Pluto, Ketu brings to Saturn the dissolution of those structures, duties, traditions, and equations that are no longer serving you. From Pluto to Saturn, family secrets could come up, final decisions could be made. With Saturn conjunct Ketu, ties broken and insights gained will be permanent.

If you get fired at this time, or rejected, welcome the turn of events — you will see down the line how this was indeed, in your best interest in psychological and consequently material terms.

For those on a spiritual quest, these movements are most rewarding — a feeling of aimlessness could be replaced by certainty of purpose, or initiation into occult, magical or esoteric traditions. If you are in a healing profession — physical, psychological, or spiritual — this period could bring forth some of your best work yet.

For others, it’s time to put daddy issues to rest.

Now is the time to liberate yourself. The key is to detach rather than seek closure.

But bear in mind also, the Pluto and Saturn party is not over yet. This right now is an important event — it happens once in 17-18 years (recall what shifted in your life all those years back…that too might be coming to a conclusion) — but it’s just one milestone, at least for our social structures in general. Saturn will turn retrograde on April 29th, turning direct again on September 18th, during this movement he will meet Ketu again! Tectonic shifts are underway and ongoing for most of this year, the point at which they hit you (if they do) will depend entirely on your chart’s sensitive points, and current personal transits (life progressions marked by time lords, profections, and progressions). The aforementioned jargon, for those who don’t know astrology, is only meant to highlight the subjective nature of the celestial events mentioned in this post. I know it is intense, but if you are not scheduled for an intense experience by personal karma, chances are you will have to be there for loved ones who are.  The key to making the most of whatever goes down now will be to stay invested in the learning opportunity it offers rather than material concerns.

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A song dedicated to the ghosts that might come back to haunt you just now …

Pick Your Own Bloomin’ March Tarotscopes

(Scroll down to skip the intro and go straight into the readings)

Nearly all through March, Mercury shall be in retrograde motion, as it is three times each year. By now it is almost common knowledge that this is not the ideal time to sign new contracts, enter new deals, or rely on communications, diagnoses, promises, schedules, gadgetry, administrative plans, trades, purchases etc. to come through predictably — confusion in such areas abounds. This year, Mercury is retrograde in the sign of its debilitation, Pisces, where even in direct motion it tends to impede one’s ability to communicate and understand worldly matters. But hey! Lady Gaga has a retrograde Mercury in Pisces (which also happens to be her Ascendant ruler), which has assisted her, along with other chart factors, in employing her musical talents in a refreshingly unique way contrary to the strict religious code and ‘ladylike’ piano playing skills she was expected to adhere to.

Which is to say, this period of Mercury retrograde in Pisces will have its advantages if you prefer to deep dive into your imagination, dream space, or contemplate philosophical notions because this otherworldly placement will operate in your inner world, and through meditation and thought provide you perspectives that could well blow your mind, especially since Pisces’ ruling planet Jupiter, the  bringer of blessings, light and auguries, is in Sagittarius, the sign of innovation and expansion, and positionally in a potent angle to act as a catalyst that urges us to think beyond the boundaries of our imagination. Research and academic endeavours too could benefit from a second look at that which continues to confound. But in worldly matters, this time might be ripe for the false prophets, snake oil salespersons and even everyday signboards and signals to get the better of you. Do not buy into anything that seems too good to be true. This is especially important to remember since the New Moon in Pisces is conjunct Neptune, lord of water bodies, and horses, significator of distorted thinking and its agents, sublimated action, water problems, travel issues, and long exiles. Therefore, any new planets related to the house Pisces is in in your natal chart made at this time might be subject to either divine inspiration or delusion. The latter would be more likely given Mercury’s position. BUT, any internal shifts experienced at this time will be immensely rewarding and spiritually enriching — practice mindfulness this month to receive signs and signals from the universal consciousness that will inform changes in perspective and ultimately lead you to a more spiritually enriching path.

In order to promote the use of intuition so that you may channel Mercury retrograde to your advantage, this month instead of regular tarotscopes I have a pick-your-own reading format that allows you to tune into your ESP and what it is trying to tell you…

PICK A CARD

Concentrate on the image below, empty your mind of any chatter, hopes or expectations, choose the card that calls to you and then scroll down to select the link with the number associated with your card of choice.

This reading is published in March 2019, but it can serve as a timeless reference for whenever you feel stuck and need an answer.

REVEAL THE MESSAGE

Card 1
Card 2
Card 3
Card 4
Card 5
Card 6
Card 7
Card 8
Card 9
Card 10
Card 11
Card 12

This Is No Ordinary Love Tarot Reading of February 2019

Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Angel of Love. Public Domain

In terms of planetary transits, Venus is in for quite a ride this February as she marches through controlling Capricorn currently home to saturnine, plutocratic energies preparing to meet with the shadowy force of Ketu (or South Node), who brings knowledge and spiritual ascension through losses that highlight one’s shadow side. In this tense terrain Venus will step in not only to be dampened first by Saturn, and then driven to jealousy or slavery by Pluto but then to receive the light through Ketu so that by the time she is exiting Capricorn with one last showdown, through a square with wilful Uranus, she will be ready to take charge and cut some cords rather decisively…or may be change up the rules a bit. This is also love — self-love that allows us to bow out of or amend situations that are not healthy for us, and love for others to be protected from experiencing pain at our hands. Dissolution of contracts and relationships should come easy at this time with Mercury in Pisces forming a collaborative Sextile aspect with Venus — with Mercury not in its best position to communicate solid facts, conversations could serve to put the last nail in the coffin. There might be philosophical or ideological differences that just cannot be bridged. Yet the element of Pisces’ ‘Universal love’ might just mean that while connections formally break in the material world, they persist on a psychic level, percolating into your unconscious mind wisdom that might make itself known later down the line. Something is not quite over. This is a useful aspect however to channel your hurt into creative expression such as poetry or writing.

As always it matters which houses in your chart are occupied by Capricorn, Cancer (the sign opposite) as well as Aries, as this will determine which areas of your life are affected by this difficult trek Venus is making. Also those born (roughly) between May 1944-Dec. 1945, Jan. 1963-Aug. 1964, Sep. 1981-Mar.1983 and Apr. 2000-Oct. 2001, who are experiencing their Nodal return this year (when transiting North Node or Rahu returns to one’s natal position), might feel this transit more significantly than most — an eighteen year old cycle might be coming around a full circle now. But everyone should expect accord and interpersonal dynamics to be affected to some degree. There might a strong undercurrent of a power struggle, jealousy, and desire here.

Note: This post has been amended on 15/02/19 to remove information about Venus’s aspect to Chiron in Pisces due to a miscalculation on my part regarding the aspects.  

Interestingly, the tarot readings I have done for this month so far do all seem to be reflecting a Venus-through-Capricorn theme, where small-seeming interpersonal, financial or pleasure (all Venus themes) related occurrences are leading to big breakthroughs in our lives. I hope you enjoy the joyride!

Tarotscopes by Sun/Moon/Rising Sign*

Aries in February 2019

Taurus in February 2019

Gemini in February 2019

Cancer in February 2019

Leo in February 2019

Virgo in February 2019

Libra in February 2019

Scorpio in February 2019

Sagittarius in February 2019

Capricorn in February 2019

Aquarius in February 2019

Pisces in February 2019

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*If you know your birth time and place as well as birth date, find your Rising sign (Ascendant) and Moon sign here for free https://alabe.com/freechart/default.asp. Some months, the tarotscopes for these signs will be more helpful for you than the one for your Sun sign, some months, all three combined will give you the messages you need.

2019 Annual Tarotscopes

Welcome to 2019!

Read these tarotscopes for your Sun sign only (and not your Moon sign and Ascendant as I usually advise you to), because in the intention I set for my readings I focused solely on what is going on inside of you, how you experience the world (rather than what is actually happening, since these can be two entirely different things), and consequently, solutions entirely within the domain of your free will.

 

 

 

2019 for Aries

2019 for Taurus

2019 for Gemini

2019 for Cancer

2019 for Leo

2019 for Virgo

2019 for Libra

2019 for Scorpio

2019 for Sagittarius

2019 for Capricorn

2019 for Aquarius

2019 for Pisces

The Guiding Star in the Key of Virgo

(If you’re looking for September’s advice please click here)

I’ve been through a long passage filled with confusion and turmoil regarding some old patterns in my life and as Saturn stationed direct in Capricorn (on the 12th house side of my rising sign), I had a WTF! moment (the Tower card) when I realised that I had built something up to be more special than it was. A lot of pieces fell into place to give me a more realistic picture of what was really going on, and it looked nothing like the cloud cuckoo land I’ve been in (with natal Neptune retrograde in my 12th house opposing natal Venus in the 6th, this happens to me a lot, but strictly in matters where emotions are involved because hey! my natal Moon’s conjunct illusion-making North Node too!). But fairly soon after, a switch just flipped in my mind (right when the transit Moon moved from Gemini to Cancer) and my perspective shifted towards hope.

I have always given the side-eye to all that woo-woo talk about ‘manifestation’ and ‘law of attraction’ but suddenly the idea made sense. Because I’d been so focused on things that are long dead, I was also giving life to associated heavy emotions which was having a knock-on effect on my daily life, slowing down my progress in endeavours that will eventually lead me to my ideal life. But in a trice I switched my view finder to a more inspiring vision of the future with the thought that If I could spend all that time mulling over history which is no longer tangible, I could easily spend time looking to an equally intangible future instead!

Conjuring a desirable scenario in the head released a wave of positive emotion which in turn energised me to dust myself off and get back to my piling chores with a better tempo — a spring in my step.

I realised that’s what the Star card is in the original Rider-Waite tarot deck. I’ve always read that card as many things, including signs to look out for, that are mostly external to the individual. But for the first time I saw the Star to be a distant glorious goal that is alive and bright at the back of the girl’s mind even as she focuses on nourishing her landscape in the here and now.

Keep your eye on the prize to get the inspiration to stay in and tend to your present. Be mindful of how every action and thought of yours in the here and now is either a step to or away from that cherished goal. This attention to detail for the sake of building something beautiful is essentially the Virgo archetype. I would associate the Star card with Virgo. The guiding ‘Star’ would be the inspiration Pisces brings to her from the opposite end of the axis, and from the depths of human consciousness which knows fewer limits to possibilities than our cognition.

In psychological terms too, I suppose there is merit to visualisation. When we dwell on the past we are simply following force of habit, taking the easy way out to go over mental constructs that already exist, firing affective chemicals that we get used (addicted?) to over time. Essentially, that’s our brain’s cognitive bias for functional fixedness, which ultimately leads to concrete thinking. Keeping our brain supple, young and protected from cognitive decline requires some mental gymnastics and divergent thinking — using imagination to create and hold in place a vision of future destinations would encourage greater mental activity in the production of new constructs, and therefore, the use of new neural connections and the triggering of different affect (with the assumption that one is moving from a less happy to a more happy visual to spend one’s thoughts on).

I suppose this boils down to that old cliché: Follow your dreams.

If you find thoughts of the past or undesirable situations rearing up in your head at any time while you go about your business consciously redirect your thoughts towards that beautiful vision of your future, and ask yourself, what can I do right this minute to get a step closer to that goal. The answer will be: Drop this ugly thought for starters, duh!

Now, if this isn’t an appropriate post for the upcoming New Moon (a time to start a new cycle) in Virgo, I don’t know what is!

Dancing in September Tarot Update

Max Ernst, Une Semaine de Bonté. By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4958007

I am writing this post mostly out of a sense of commitment to regularity and information dispensation but a race against a deadline for paper submissions related to course work is keeping me from trotting out any sign-specific tarotscopes this month. I promise the monthly tarotscopes shall return per usual in October.

DO READ ON THOUGH, IT’S LENGTHY BUT IMPORTANT

‘Cause love’s such an old fashioned word, love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night, and love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves. This is our last dance. This is ourselves under pressure’ — Queen & Bowie

Here’s the most important message for September: Venus this month leaves her own sign of Libra and ingresses Scorpio, where she seductively crawls to about 10 degrees till 5th October after which she retrogrades, retracing her way back into Libra’s 25th degree till November 14. Venus’ reverse motion is always a time of reckoning for matters related to money, relationships, giving, receiving, peace, women in your life, nurturing etc. But this year, a revisit of her own sign right before some other major shifts in November makes this period all the more potent. Broadly speaking, it’s going to be lessons in whom or what we choose to invest in or passionately protect (even if it is our own interests) vis-a-vis a paradigmatic shift in our understanding of what we ought to pursue.

September is the sort of month where everything on the surface is seemingly neat, in true Virgo spirit, but there is an undertow of psychological material we would be ill-advised to neglect. In the early degrees of Scorpio, Venus will (not once but three times!) provide opportunity or assistance to a newly-direct Saturn in Capricorn who is on his own agenda to build  new (self-serving?) support structures (where in your life are you doing that? Pursuing long-term goals that require some sweat and tears?); and she will square off against the Lunar South Node (Ketu) in Aquarius and North Node (Rahu) in Leo — the axis along which our compulsions and impulses have alternately kept us tethered to ‘what’s good for everyone’ and pushed us towards ‘what’s good for my self’ for the past year (and perhaps even expressed themselves as ego-validating humanitarianism).  Venus is not in her true element here, so it is possible her dark side comes out in the form of manipulative behaviour we justify to ourselves in order to achieve our vainglorious desires (that might even disguise themselves as altruistic or ‘sensible’ goals). Not to mention, Venus opposes a retrograde Uranus in Taurus too where she might tempt us to channel our repressed ‘potency’ into something shady (related to money, sex, sensuality of any sort). I paint a sordid picture, I know. But the whole point of metaphysical pursuits such as astrology and tarot is to forewarn in order to forearm — this too is an expression of Venus in Scorpio, the lady who will take no prisoners! If all goes well, I expect something of  (happy) consequence to occur in favour of women’s rights (from now through November, as Jupiter finishes his journey through Scorpio as well)

All of the above might play out, or not, at different octaves for you depending on how and whether these planets trigger your natal chart placements. Also, as always, self awareness, willingness to honestly accept our mistakes, and commitment to acknowledge and heal our shadow will keep us protected from any planetary configuration. Still, you might be affected indirectly by the consequences of changes in  your environment. We are all inextricably connected and as one after all.

When Venus turns retrograde, especially back into her own domain of Libra, you might have to revisit the terms of agreement and cooperation you forged earlier: from the distant past or more likely from this period of September. Therefore, as a preventive measure I pulled out a tarot card as the general advice for us all to live by during this period. Bear this message in mind at all times during September when working with your desires and others in your world.

And oh! On a positive note, this is an excellent period for you to delve into esoteric matters, do background research on plans pertaining future financial (or any other) goals, or even sign up for counselling or therapy.

Tarot Advice for September

How aptly the Temperance card has shown up for the season of Virgo, a time of measured, precise action. But more importantly, in light of the intense Venusian themes mentioned above, this month this card highlights to me, more than ever, the need to surrender to ‘divine’ will a.k.a. the natural flow of things. In September, it might be a better idea for all of us to let events play out through us rather than by our own agency. Meditation, or simply reining in our reactivity, might help us to listen to the whispers of our higher calling that will in turn guide our actions along the right path. I always see this card also as ‘fated’ meetings of the blessed sort. In relationship matters, contrary to what movies, books and songs tell us, your soulmate might be the one who mellows you out rather than the one who stirs up your passions. This is also a great time for a detox or a new self-care regimen.

Pick-A-Card Tarotscope

PICK A CARD

Concentrate on the image below, empty your mind of any chatter, hopes or expectations, choose the card that calls to you and then scroll down to select the link labelled with the symbol associated with your card of choice.

This reading is published in August 2018, but it can serve as a timeless reference for whenever you feel stuck and need an answer.

Hi!

We’re living in strange times indeed. Or are we? Are we so plugged into the alternative reality of electronic media that we can’t see the normalcy right under our noses?

I think now more than ever we need to get back in touch with our intuition and reality — which might be quite different to what we perceive it currently to be. The irony of me writing about the need to unplug from media on electronic media isn’t lost on me! 😛 But still, we try.

So this month instead of writing ‘scopes for each sign, I’ll let you tune into your own intuition and choose the card that calls to you, to get the message you need the most at this time for constructive action on your part. We can’t always control external factors, but we can control our responses to affect better outcomes for ourselves than readily available.

REVEAL YOUR MESSAGE

Green star
White square
Blue star
Black pentagon
Blue ring
Orange square
Red ring
Pink pentagon
Yellow star
Orange oval
Purple star
Yellow square

 

 

 

 

 

 

Siriusly Serious July Tarotscopes 2018

By Yashima Gakutei; Yashima Gakutei died 1868; Shichidaime Sanshô died 1859; Bunbunsha died 1837 – http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/collectie/RP-P-1986-467 (handle), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33338651

Happy Birthday Cancer, I’m one of you, so to me too!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tarotscopes for this Month

Aries, July 2018            Taurus, July 2018             Gemini, July 2018

Cancer, July 2018               Leo, July 2018            Virgo, July 2018

Libra, July 2018            Scorpio, July 2018            Sagittarius, July 2018

Capricorn, July 2018       Aquarius, July 2018        Pisces, July 2018

July

It’s Cancer season, and an intense one at that, with eclipses and retrogrades all joining the party. Even in more benign times Cancer time is the time when even the baddest, moss-free rock will catch some feels. And with a Full Moon that conjoined a retrograde Saturn close to the start of the month (28 June), we might just be making our way out of quite a bit of melancholy.

Saturn in astrology is melancholy himself. Wherever he sits, he plonks beside him a bit of a damp squib. As a rather melancholic person with a strong Saturnine cloud containing extremely sensitive watery energies in my natal chart, only recently, on the Full Moon in fact, did I start to take some interest in Saturn and melancholia as such. I was trying to find a cure when I started out. But the very interesting literature out there on Marsilio Ficino’s humanistic view of astrology in 15th Century Italy, composer John Dowland’s part in the ‘School of the Night’ in 16th Century England, and their connection to Hermeticism  has given me a rather glittering perspective on my “condition”.

If one views the Universe as one of divine purpose, and our existence here on Earth as the learning experience of recovering from a fall from heavenly grace to find a path back to our blissful abode, then the planets, arranged in almost concentric orbits, symbolise the levels and expressions we must graduate through in order to go back home. From that point of view, Saturnine natives can be said to be “blessed” with a life of looking inward, cosseted by deprivation of social fulfilment, which ultimately opens them to the most fulfilling interaction of all — of formlessness through sublime spiritual union, of losing oneself in the flow of everything, of no longer being confined in 3D but getting swept away atom by atom into the universal consciousness that contains us and fills us.

Melancholy is good for the soul. It takes us away from that hamster-wheel of physical desire into a far more exciting chase and adventure of self-discovery. It is so easy for us currently to stay trapped in the “social” sphere through our phones and laptops, to buy into a version of reality that is entirely and exclusively made by the input-constrained perceptions of the human mind. When your heart breaks watching children being caged at the US border it might be good to remember that borders and countries and their resultant problems are all human-made in the first place. If there were no demarcations claiming ownership of space that frankly, belongs to no one, most of the problems we face today, of rising extremist nationalist sentiments, terrorism, and even environmental abuse wouldn’t exist. If we all shared this planet as a border-less home, common to a joint family, we would all perhaps treat it with the love and respect we give to the place we rest our head on every night. With national and personal property divisions also comes alienation and transference — everything is someone else’s problem. Everyone has facts to quote from history to pass on the buck to someone else for the present state of the world. (How boringly Cancerian of me to want the entire world to be a home to everyone equally!)

But I’m digressing (and ranting!).  Of the “melancholy of a soul trapped in a material world, exalting the veiled mysteries and inward truths of the night over the rational clarity of day”*, late English Renaissance composer Dowland had this to celebrate in Flow My Tears:

Flow, my tears, fall from your springs!
Exiled for ever, let me mourn;
Where night’s black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.

Down vain lights, shine you no more!
No nights are dark enough for those
That in despair their lost fortunes deplore.
Light doth but shame disclose.

Never may my woes be relieved,
Since pity is fled, and tears and sighs and groans

My weary days of all joys have deprived.

From the highest spire of contentment
My fortune is thrown;
And fear and grief and pain

For my deserts are my hopes, since hope is gone.

Hark! you shadows that in darkness dwell,
Learn to condemn light
Happy, happy they that in hell
Feel not the world’s despite.

Healthy detachment from emotions is important for humans to survive, but the occasional trip to the ocean of emotions, for those unaccustomed to living by its shores, is necessary for catharsis and liberation too.

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*Angela Voss. The Power of a Melancholy Humour. Source: https://themathesontrust.org/library/voss-power-of-melancholy

 

 

2018 Summer Solstice Special: Retrograde Revelation (or Ramble)

Currently the Sun is in 0 degrees Cancer, marking the Summer solstice, a time when according to myth the veils between worlds are thinner and there are rituals one must perform to keep the evil spirits from taking the opportunity to invade our minds and our lives. Hah! Has no one noticed lately, Earth seems be full up on its evil spirits quota!

With many planets in Cancer, I am always quite physically informed (by headaches, tingles, or lace doily patterns flashing my eye etc.) in the movements of the Moon and ingresses of other heavenly bodies in signs that make contact with my Cancer planets: Crabs are extremely sensitive to the “undercurrents” that affect their home environment and sense of safety. I don’t even have to look at the ephemeris to know when the Moon has moved signs or perfected a New or Full phase.

This solstice, in the midst of feeling rather anxious and breathless — I feel as if big shifts are coming our way like tidal waves so massive they could be made by Cthulhu — perhaps in anticipation of the upcoming eclipses in July and retrogression of Mars and Venus etc., I had a sort of epiphany about retrograde planets in transit and in one’s natal chart.

From my still-incomplete knowledge of astrology: The Western school views retrogrades as a time to ‘re-view, re-visit, re-do’, while practitioners of the Vedic form view retrograde planets in a natal chart as a symbol of their amplified energy. Mulling over my own experiences of retrograde planets, in personal life and astrological practice, I came to the realisation just now that perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

When a planet goes ‘retrograde’, that is just the apparent motion of the heavenly body from Earth’s point of view, but what is actually happening is that Earth is outpacing the planet, almost as if the Earth, like a thief, is getting away with something of the planet!

In astrology as in most other esoteric spiritual practices the Earth is viewed as the realm of physical manifestation, ideally, of the Divine will or direction (I have recently been studying the Kabbalist Tree of Life, Sephirot, and the Rosicrucian Rose Cross, which illustrate this idea so intriguingly beautifully). I say ideally because like every Tarot card has a different meaning in reverse; like every planet and sign in astrology has a higher and lower expression, so every human has shades of  ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ which determine what an individual might do with their free will — will they materialise that Divine inspiration for ‘good’? Or ‘bad’?

Sephirot, Image credit: Public Domain, uploaded on Wikipedia by User, AnonMoos

Rose Cross, Image Credit: By Fuzzypeg – Created by Fuzzypeg using Inkscape, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4100581

When I synthesise all the ideas above, I visualise (I only truly understand anything through immersive visualisation) the retrograde effect as: A human on earth, rat-racing forward, getting ahead of themselves in the pursuit or expression of an urge, suddenly stopping, realising something is missing, looking back to see their goal is falling away from them, it’s being taken away! Then retracing their steps to get back to Start, discovering on the way something they’d dropped, to place themselves once again in tandem with the project schedule (planet agenda). Or differently, A person leaving their house to go somewhere, getting to the car only to realise they’ve left their keys back home so they turn back to fetch them, realising in the process they’d left their heating on!

In transit terms this seems to fit the Western view of review times during retrograde.

Also, from Earth’s perspective, when a planet is retrograde you are spotting it in a portion of sky you’ve already looked at before, so symbolically too, you are called to attend to something from the past rather than initiate new projects. Since planetary retrogrades are less frequent than their direct motion, they symbolise periodic flips in perspective which might return to normal once the planet resumes normal movement, so anything initiated at this time, you’ll most likely have different feelings about once the tide changes, hence the prediction of doom associated with retrograde-born initiatives.

But from whatever I have understood of the Western view* of retrograde planets in the natal chart, is that the energies of planets in reverse are “internalised,” something the native must work on on their own, without, or perhaps in spite of, external events provoking that energy.

I appreciate more the Vedic view of amplified power in natal retrograde planets because those who are born with a ‘constant’  feeling like their goal/objective is falling away from them will, in the planet’s positive expression, try doubly harder to get to it. Since achieving the retrograde planet’s forward expression does not come easy, and requires quite a bit of trial and error to refine their methods, people with natal retrogrades are perhaps even better at what they ultimately achieve — a hard-won victory! Also, since they can’t quite “run away with the planet” as the Earth racing forward would like to, they also experience the restlessness and chagrin that comes from not being able to get away with the liberties and privileges other people seem to.

I know a few people with retrograde Venus in their natal chart who are really good at amassing money in spite of, or perhaps because of, their poverty mindset.

Individuals with retrograde Saturn are likely to desire approval from a father or authority figure so much that they self-regulate themselves to the point of toil, achieving high ranks and authority positions (Saturn) for themselves in the bargain! Of course, on the negative side, this same desire for approval can cause fears or blocks in their creative expression or intuitive intelligence.

Being on the greyer side of 30, I have lived through many retrograde transits myself but in 2018 I have become acutely aware of three whose impact was too stark to ignore.

Saturn retrograde in my First House of Will: In line with Saturn’s message of toil I have enrolled for an educational course that I hope will launch me into a completely different, yet perfectly resonant with me, career. As I got to grips with studies at this age and stage, I put off getting my balcony door fixed, which was threatening to fall off any day. But it so happened, one thing led to another, and I was forced to postpone taking my exams for this course to the next semester because, upon closer inspection, along with the door, the roof was crumbling, as were the walls and various other parts of the house! I had to pause my ambitions for an overlooked task which would only have created a bigger block at a much more crucial time further up ahead in my course.

Jupiter retrograde in my 11th house of wishes and networks: My pursuit of finding “my tribe” (also linked to my course above) also got stalled with the home renovation and interestingly, this period and a little before it, has witnessed a natural ‘trimming away’ of friendships and associations perhaps to make space for the new? Or as we might find out when Jupiter turns direct, to return in my life better aligned with my new goals.

Neptune retrograde in my 3rd house of communication, mental and manual abilities, and kinship: The standstill of Neptune just a few days back couldn’t have been more obvious had it dropped a piano on my head! Here I was merrily exchanging messages, communicating with people when suddenly, I realised there was a different meaning to what was being communicated to me and I had been perceiving it as quite the opposite! Certain facts came to light too that gave me a BIG pause for review.

This year we have more ahead, Mars (our drive, ‘warrior’ spirit, energy, lust) turns retrograde on 26th June, Uranus (our unfettered, ‘eccentric’ drive and will) on 3rd August, Venus (our sense of romance, harmony, pleasure, abundance) on 5th October, and of course Mercury (our cognitive abilities, communication skills, logic) on 26th July and again on 16th November.

I have only written here the personal expressions of each planet but of course these planets also manifest their lessons as external events through the agents associated with each but I’ve other work to do and I’m beat, perhaps I’ll update this already rather long post another time to list them all!

Happy Summer Solstice and Cancer season! 🙂

UPDATE: (On the resourcefulness of retrograde planets) I write this at a time when Mercury has resumed direct motion in Leo, but Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (not to mention Chiron) are still retrograde. I was meditating on astrological symbols just now when it dawned on me that when a planet backs away from us, functionally withdrawing its support from our progress on the path of that planet’s expression, it leaves us on our own, first befuddled why our endeavours are not yielding the results they ought to but then! THEN! Like a spirited youngling left to fend for themselves without their parent, we can find a creative solution to achieving the expression on our own! No wonder then that retrograde planets in the natal chart can point to path-breakers and eccentrics*

I say this from recent personal experience with the currently retrograde Mars: Its backward transit through Aquarius and now Capricorn has affected my First House of Will, Health, Vitality, Virility bringing constant fatigue and sleepiness at a time when work and study commitments need me to have 26 hours in a day! I was getting nowhere fast with a complete loss in momentum in studies when one day, I had the brilliant idea to make a school time table sort of schedule for myself where instead of just studying for hours on end, I set the timer for 1-hour chunks, taking 30-min breaks in between for rest, and I’m pleased to report, forward movement despite groggy-headedness has not been disappointing!

You see what I did there? Took a different approach to the affected situation. Of course, what matters here is that we don’t lose heart when we encounter the initial roadblocks and keep a can-do attitude to achieving what we wish some way, some how. This might be easy to do during a transit, but those born with natal planets in retrograde can struggle with finding the hope of a solution — after all, resistance is all they’ve known! But I hope what I’m writing here reaches those of you who need to read this and know that that Mercury retrograde in your chart means you have an intellectual gift! That that Venus retrograde in your chart means love and money are yours to enjoy as you long as you don’t set great store by the tried and tested methods of making them! Whatever your retrograde planet(s), I envy you your gift! 🙂

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*In case I’m interpreting it wrong here are two links for you to explore to reach your own conclusions (https://www.pathwaytoascension.com/astrology/lesson5.html, https://www.thetarotlady.com/star-school-lesson-17-retrograde-planets-natal-chart/)

* See some famous names here: https://www.paulinegerosaastrology.com/retrograde-planets-in-your-birth-chart

Maybees Won’t Fly in These June Tarotscopes

The slow-moving outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are viewed in astrology as generation defining forces, which to me underscores their potency when it comes to the impact they can have on individual lives, especially when they make contact with a natal planet or point. For me, the most important event of June is the retrograde motion of Neptune in Pisces. With a natal Neptune in retrograde in my own chart I am all too familiar with the subtle yet insidious ways in which it can distort your thinking to show you demons in angels, angels in demons, diamonds in lumps of pure coal. This retrograde starts on 18 June and ends on 24 November, and it won’t necessarily affect you directly, but it might influence someone close to you and have an indirect impact through their changed behaviour towards you, good or bad. This is all the more relevant in June when, with Jupiter still in retrograde motion in Scorpio, Pisces’ fellow water sign, we might already be exhausted from trying to keep alive a transformational process that showed promise to begin with, but now seems to have slowed down to a near halt. We become all the more susceptible to unfair blame-assignation and delusional thinking in such a dismayed state of mind.

In a nutshell, don’t kid yourself! And remember, it’s Gemini season and perfect time to learn a new skill, make friends, keep an ear out for useful information and generally, keep an open mind to the existence of duality in various measures in everything and everyone.

André Derain, Arlequin et Pierrot. Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9973950

Pick Your Sign, Read Your ‘Scope

Aries, June 2018

Taurus, June 2018

Gemini, June 2018

Cancer, June 2018

Leo, June 2018

Virgo, June 2018

Libra, June 2018

Scorpio, June 2018

Sagittarius, June 2018

Capricorn, June 2018

Aquarius, June 2018

Pisces, June 2018

May Day! May Monthly Tarotscopes!S.O.S.! Pass them on!

This month’s tartoscopes are without reversals or jumper cards — just good, clean, uncomplicated, straight to the point readings the way Taurus love ’em…or are they? Snh!

For the rather eventful astrology of this period: Prosper You MAY: Astrology Update

For ‘scopes for your sign:

May for Aries

May for Taurus

May for Gemini

May for Cancer

May for Leo

May for Virgo

May for Libra

May for Scorpio

May for Sagittarius

May for Capricorn

May for Aquarius

May for Pisces

 

Prosper You MAY: Astrology Update

May the upcoming month of May be an exciting month for one and all. While the usual personal planet movements might or might not be that interesting to follow (depending on your specific interests in astrology and/or life), April to May is a period I’ve been looking forward to with much anticipation for the big energetic shifts that certainly herald ‘exciting’ times in the eight years ahead for fertility, wealth and anything we assign value to. As Uranus ingresses Taurus, our values and the things we value, are about to change. We already see glimpses of what lies ahead in the birth of cryptocurrencies on the one hand, and a turn to ‘local’ sourcing and produce, upcycling, kitchen gardens, on the other.

Félix Vallotton, The Wind. Credit: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Something’s Changing — About Uranus

I find mythology to be the best source for truly internalising the meaning of a planet or sign. Uranus, according to myth, is the primal sexual urge that seeks to satisfy itself regardless of consequences, which in the case of the deified Uranus were a stream of children he either ignored or buried alive. So too has Uranus come to be associated in the natal chart with an urge to express oneself unbound by emotions, social mores, rules etc. Uranus the god of the skies, is unpredictable too, given as he is to his impulses, thus lending his domain changeability. He signifies the shocking, including, quite literally, electricity. Astronomically speaking, Uranus has an odd axis with a 98-degree tilt that essentially means it spins on its sides, its rings spinning around it but vertically, quite unlike any other planet, which further reinforces its rulership over everything eccentric. For the past eight years, this crazy, self-willed, lusty character has been in Aries, giving birth in equal parts to the rising phenomenon of lone-wolf attacks (booooo!!!) and women refusing to take any shit from anyone any more (yaaaaaaayy!!!). The atmosphere has been especially charged since Uranus’ tense aspect with the lord of Plutocracy, death and buried wealth, Pluto, currently busy destroying and reconstructing the political and organisational structures. That is to say, the individual’s assertion of self-will has been both agitated and inspired by overdue change in power systems and equations.

So what happens now, when Uranus enters Taurus? It dons the character of the mythical Bull now, thinks, feels and does things, the Bull would. The good news, or perhaps the bad news (?), is that Uranus now will be in a harmonious aspect to Pluto (there’s also Saturn in the mix but for relatively shorter time, so I won’t go there) signifying either positive changes in what we value, wealth distribution, etc, or easy times for the power hungry to redefine wealth to suit them better i.e. devaluing currencies, demonetisation etc.

As always, things in astrology, and in life, can go either way, depending on how you’re playing your cards, i.e. on free will, and attitude. Unfortunately, when it comes to slow moving planets, it’s down to the collective will to turn the tides one way or another, so we better hope everyone’s on the same side, fighting the good fight.

Master of the Die, Venus removing a thorn from her foot. Credit: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund.

Something’s Changing — About Taurus

There is no singular origin myth about Taurus being incorporated into the zodiac, but the one that I turn to for understanding the Bull better, is the one about the once wild and untamed Cerus who went about trampling gardens and causing general mayhem among people until Persephone taught him patience and wise use of his strength and since then he brings the goddess on his back, back to earth in time for spring each year, to make the flowers bloom. The other useful origin myth has to do with the ancient people’s association of the bull with prosperity in terms of its use in agriculture and as a food source. Being associated with things earthy, fertile and life-sustaining, Taurus is a sensual sign in every sense of the word.

Imagine now the lusty soul of Uranus come to possess Taurus for the next eight years! Sex drives may go crazy — people might start doing it outdoors more!

But in terms of money, possessions, physical comforts, expect the unexpected. All that gold you’ve got stowed away for a rainy day might not be worth a dime any more, on the other hand, your collection of 1950s crockery might fetch you a great price. Agriculture will be affected. Economy will be affected. Earth will be affected. Nutrition might be affected. Eating habits might change. Notions of beauty might change.

Hopefully, with Pluto in a Trine house, this will be to everyone’s benefit.

Importantly though, Taurus is the earth in bloom, it has a strong association with the verdant bounties of this planet, a planet that is just now trying to cry for help with a voice muffled by all that plastic and other suffocating junk and fumes we are producing. Most people sense an imminent crisis in the life of Mother Nature or Pachamama as she is called by the good folk in Ecuador who have granted her constitutional rights.

Poetic it is therefore that Uranus, the god whose unbridled lust gave Earth its rivers and ponds and other life-sustaining water bodies, should now enter Taurus, the sign that signifies the Earth itself. Hopefully, this will signal the dawn of a happier, cleaner planet for the plants and trees, birds and beasts.

How Things Change – About Planetary Interactions

The one thing I have noticed with the slower moving planets is that they seem to have three phases as they transit a sign (may be the fast moving planets have those same phases too, except they happen so fast you don’t notice):

First, you experience the planetary energy as an external agent of change. Something ‘bad’ happens (mostly. slow moving planets are a bit…strict teacher like), or at the very least something happens to ruffle your feathers or entirely undo you.

Then, once you’ve regained your bearing a little from the initial ‘WTF’ moment, you start to negotiate that energy or you attempt to negotiate with it — It’s either “OK, if this mud is now my life, I better get some Welllies” or “OK, if I do this, will you not do what you’re doing in return?

Third, at the moment when you surrender to the will of whatever seems to be controlling things for you, there comes the stage of becoming the planet. It becomes a part of you in some way, that very essence of your ‘teacher’ is now your way of doing things too.

These phases tend to correspond with the transit of the planet through the three decanates (or 10 degree divisions) of the 30 degrees of a sign. They are also greatly determined by the pace at which you naturally tend to adapt to things. But also, for some, who unfortunately get consumed by the darkness of the first phase, things remain stuck there, and they continue to experience the energy as an external force. It’s a bit like if you don’t join ’em, you keep getting beaten. Not to say that this necessarily means we have to ‘join ’em’, it has to be a choice that is made from the very core of your being, from a place of true understanding of what it is that you were meant to learn from it all.

Uranus in Taurus then, might shake the markets, economies, the earth, its produce in the first phase, then we’ll start to take stock and make amends and then, we might end up assimilating some hitherto “eccentric” way of doing wealth…like returning to a barter system may be? Or something completely new. Or may be it will be something quite unexpectedly mundane?

We need to talk about Chiron!

On April 17, Chiron enters Aries and begins its nine-year-long trudge through the sign that personifies the will, the instinct to win, the drive to conquer, hot-blooded youth, bloodymindedness…

Like Uranus, Chiron is eccentric too. In mythology, Chiron was the one genteel Centaur in a population of lusty boors. In astronomy, 2060 Chiron, the minor planet (there’s nothing ‘minor’ about it in astrology, if you ask me!) located between Saturn and Uranus, has a wonky orbit around the Sun whose perihelion is closer than Saturn ever gets, and whose apehelion almost touches Uranus’ orbit. Thus, Chiron appears to ‘pendulate’ between Saturn and Uranus.

Now THAT’s a whole load of classic Chironic symbolism right there! Chiron in our charts is where we experience that one (or repeated) ego-wound we never quite forget, usually through some kind of or sense of rejection or alienation. The ego (Sun) burns. But then, when we ‘admit defeat’ or ‘give up on’ that which continues to elude us — a goal, a desire, a sense of self gained from the validation of others — something magical happens: we liberate ourselves from the rules and structures (of society, relationships etc i.e. Saturn) of the interactions that were necessary to for us to gain and keep gaining acceptance. When we no longer need others to notice us, or cater to us, to make us feel valued, expression turns to self-expression, of the unbound kind (we get closer to the Uranus way).

If you’ve seen the stage musical Wicked, (SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN’T YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THE NEXT PARAGRAPH) the Chiron experience is akin to the part where Elpheba, having worked hard through the ridicule of peers, and pressures of study, finally gets to meet and perhaps work with her hero, the great Wizard of Oz. But then, as her admiration turns to disgust at the discovery that he performs cruel experiments on animals, she seeks to expose him to the kingdom, a decision that turns the entire Oz administration against her. She is publicly vilified as a “wicked witch” and being hunted by bloodthirsty crowds when she realises she no longer can ever dream of working with the Wizard; but aha! that as the outcast she no longer need follow the rules that forbid the use of magic for flying. At that moment when her lifelong dream comes crashing down, she gains the freedom to “defy gravity”.

Contrary to what our consumeristic, production-oriented, productivity-focused, Earth-hollowing culture will have you believe, it’s OK to be a ‘loser’. In fact, it’s bloody fantastic! From loss comes a new kind of gain. Something more creative, different and of a higher order than what it was before. It’s the kind of experience that makes blissed-out fakirs of former accountants; free lovers of puritans; iconic artists of former rejects; content humans of racing rats.

In Aries, a more will-driven sign than most, that initial wound or loss can feel more acute — the more attached you are, the harder it is to let go. And with Uranus about to change the rules for everything Taurus, you’ll do well to identify less with your “possessions”, be they objects, people, animals, lands, or even concepts. Because whatever you secretly call “My precioussssess” like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, might just be wrenched away from you in the next few years. I recommend a visit to the The Minimalists for an elegant view of a life with ‘nothing much’ in it.

This is not a doomsday warning, it’s actually glad tidings! 🙂

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Have a good one! 😀

April Monthly Tarotscopes

April fool!

Sorry for that bad joke, but genuinely I’ve no tarotscopes for you this month. It’s a very difficult and busy time for me just now (as it is for everyone in some way or another, I know, judging by planetary indications) so you’ll have to make do with my quick and dirty stichomancy readings where I choose a book and ask for messages for each sign before I randomly open to a page, and blindly point to a random line on the page.

Hopefully this will still yield some important insight or points to ponder for you. If not, mea culpa! I shall return hopefully next month with your monthly readings!

Since T.S. Eliot, for very different reasons, did feel “April is the cruellest month” summarising how I’m feeling with my life plans and chores just now, I have chosen Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot to get everyone’s messages from. Surely a poet will know best how to make sense of the chaos that might have hit your life in the last month and ongoing period (hint: it’s the kind of astrological environment that frustrates you into life-changing decisions)!

Stichomany Readings for the Signs

ARIES: (Blank space) Page titled: ‘The Waste Land’ 1922

(I’m sorry, that’s all it said, and I tried twice, it opened to the same page! What could it mean? You tell me! Do the numbers mean anything? Is your life feeling like a waste land? Perhaps it’s just a matter of perspective. If there is *nothing* to look forward to, then there’s everything to look forward to! Perhaps this is the time for you to be the Tarot’s Magician who can conjure up anything he wishes from nothingness by the sheer force of will putting all the four elements in his command. Where there is a vacuum or a feeling of emptiness, there might be opportunity to go freestyle! Balancing your autonomy with collaborative enterprise might be the key. See what I did there? I made SOMETHING of a reading out of nothing!!! :-P)

TAURUS:

Your building not fitly framed together, you sit ashamed
and wonder whether and how you may be builded
together for a habitation of GOD in the Spirit, the
Spirit which moved on the face of the waters like a
lantern set on the back of a tortoise.

GEMINI:

And if it rains, a closed car at four.
And we shall play a game of chess,
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the
door.

CANCER:

And four wax candles in the darkened room,
Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead,
An atmosphere of Juliet’s tomb
Prepare for all the things to be said, or left unsaid.

LEO:

The collocation of these two representatives of eastern and western asceticism, as the culmination of this part of the poem, is not an accident.

(My personal note: Go figure!)

VIRGO:

You see the border of her dress
Is torn and stained with sand,
And you see the corner of her eye
Twists like a crooked pin.

LIBRA:

Proffer my deeds to oblivion, and my love
To the posterity of the desert and the fruit of the gourd.

SCORPIO:

Among the smoke and fog of a December afternoon
You have the scene arrange itself — as it will seem to do —
With ‘I have saved this afternoon for you’

SAGITTARIUS:

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold coat, and
       snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

CAPRICORN:

Whispering lunar incantations
Dissolve the floors of memory
And all its clear relations,
Its divisions and precisions

AQUARIUS:

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to  eat a peach?

PISCES:

And some say: ‘How can we love our neighbour? For
love must be made real in act, as desire unites with
desired: we have only our labour to give and our
labour is not required

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…Until next month! 😀

 

 

March for March 2018 Tarotscopes

March brings us out of the deep-delving, mind-scrambling, brain-fogging, intense-feeling Pisces season that’s gradually waning. Yet, Jupiter goes retrograde in Scorpio on March 8th so that we aren’t entirely spared all the befuddlement.

Jupiter in Scorpio can be quite…complicated, as such. This transit marks a period when endings rather than beginnings are to your benefit, as is your brave decision to deep dive into your own psyche and bravely face aspects of yourself that might be subconsciously sabotaging your success. Jupiter softens the blows of the endings and deep dives, in fact it can even bring a sense of joy in the oddest moments of these processes. Jupiter in Scorpio is in a nutshell, about evolution and rebirth, true to the Scorpio keywords. In the material realm, it is about tending to finances and benefiting from strategic decisions to pool in your resources with others  (not just intimate partners but also investment vehicles) but with a sharp eye and full knowledge.

When Jupiter turns retrograde all of these themes are accentuated, demanding our attention because suddenly, something we were counting on just doesn’t seem to be yielding the results we were hoping for. You might find your investments dipping, you might slide back into a situation you thought was over, or you might even experience the same old anxieties and hurts you thought you’d vanquished. Never fear! Just as a planet’s retrograde motion is only an illusion, so too the reversals of planets are only seemingly negative from a material perspective. All the good things are still happening, or rather, can happen, if you can, like those enterprising individuals born with a retrograde Jupiter in their charts, be hip to the hidden opportunities in setbacks, make use of what the trend is revealing and learn to make your own luck! Just be aware that all may not be as it seems.

Your Monthly Tarotscopes By Sign

March for Aries

March for Taurus

March for Gemini

March for Cancer

March for Leo

March for Virgo

March for Libra

March for Scorpio

March for Sagittarius

March for Capricorn

March for Aquarius

March for Pisces

Pick A Card: An Eclipse Oracle

If you’re confounded, lost, confused or simply curious about what’s going on in your life at this time, consider this Pick-a-Card oracle for answers. Clear your mind and look at the four tarot cards laid out face down in front of you. Pick the number, colour or whatever, that draws you in the most, then read what your choice reveals by scrolling down below!

In astrology, regardless of whether a Solar Eclipse is total or partial, it illustrates a significant time in our lives when our emotional and physical selves first obscure then illuminate a part of our soul’s desire that we might not have even known exists.  This process of self-discovery, be it through inner dialogue or external events, leads to powerful new beginnings that light up our path for the next many months (and sometimes even years) ahead, especially if the degree and sign in which the eclipse occurs tickles planets and points in our natal chart close to that degree, especially now since this Solar Eclipse in Aquarius is getting supported/challenged by Uranus in its last few degrees of Aries, eager to see you being more YOU!

Messages follow

If you picked card number 1

All may not be as it seems. Amplified fears or hopes might be obscuring the truth. Listen to your inner voice. Meditate. Pay attention to what your mind says to you when it’s making detached observations and ideas. The inner chatter of disturbing thoughts is illusion. Something might be revealed to you, and as painful as it might be at first, it shall open a new path for you towards a more evolved, psychically attuned way of being.

If you picked card number 2

Sooner or later, everything ends. The trick to inner peace is to truly internalise this fact of life and appreciate that when something leaves your life, something else comes to take its place. An ending long overdue might be playing out in your life right now. Simply, things that no longer serve your evolution are withering away.  Let them. It might seem unfair now, but wait till you see what a new day has in store for you. New misadventures at the very least!

If you picked card number 3

Sometimes three is company. Sometimes three is a crowd. Forcing yourself to stay in a circle of friends or an association that once was full of mirth but now seems forced is serving no one nothing. Set yourself and your associates free to explore other, more rewarding interactions. Also consider if an overemphasis on ‘fun’ and ‘partying’ is actually taking away from your experience of life’s magical offerings. Take a walk outside among nature’s critters, stop to notice the roses and what hovers about them. Earthly delights of a much more energising and enriching kind abound all around you, outside your favourite hangout spots.

If you picked card number 4

Going nowhere fast? Stuck in a rut? Consider that the places you want to go and the things you want to achieve might need you to learn a little more, the art of navigating ambiguity and harnessing failures to become vehicles of victory. If something comes along to upset your apple cart of desires, upturning your well-laid out plans right now, see it as a course correction destined to take you where you need (and will ultimately like) to be rather than where you want to be. Perhaps what you were aiming for wasn’t actually good for you. Losses are blessings.

 

Fervently February 2018 Tarotscopes

The month of February is bookended by eclipses, marking a period between two crucial decision points. First the Lunar Eclipse on January 31 beckons us to declare autonomy or make a crucial break, not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of the collective or group. Sometimes, leaving unhealthy dynamics is the best way to show you care. Sometimes, one noble mission must be sacrificed for another. Eclipses can be rather complicated and nuanced like that hence perhaps their notoriety in ancient times. The Solar Eclipse on February 15 begins something to replace the ending from earlier. And it likely has to do with an opportunity to create change but at the cost of legacy systems,  extant rhythms and connections that you were coddled in. If Valentine’s Day is your thing (it’s not really mine) then expect this one to be more about connections that encourage your thoughts and freedoms, rather than any ooey-gooey stuff.  Planets are always up to something, but this month and the period till May might prove significant for being maverick Uranus’s last chance to push you to greater individuation. In whichever area of your life you have begun to feel, for unbidden reasons,  a bit fettered in the past few years, there shall be change or your spirit shall be broken. Sorry! Not meaning to cast gloom, but Uranus rolls on without a care for broken anything. It’s up to us to get the better of the energy. All the best!

Your Monthly Tarotscopes

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

2018 Tarotscopes

Hi,

Whether you came by choice or got directed here by default, I believe it is because there is a message for you that is important for you to know. That’s what I intend and pray for my readings to be — timely interventions of the sort I wanted at a time when I needed them badly. Not to sell you on any kind of ‘woo-woo’ idea of synchronicity and signs, but I do believe in intention and force of will. I hope mine are of help to you!

Have a wonderful 2018. Not to rain on any parades but I do think it won’t be before 2020 that any of us will get any sense of something more solid and certain in our lives. No matter how silent or insignificant seeming, that feeling inside you that makes you feel just a tad…bewildered…is the sense of a major process of overhaul that is happening as we speak. In 2018, we’re one step closer to a different world. Your smallest effort counts, not just in your life but in our collective experience.

I’m adding each sign’s 2018 tarot reading one at a time. If your sign’s ‘scope isn’t up yet, please check back soon, it’s only a matter of time!

 

Aries in 2018

Taurus in 2018

Gemini in  2018

Cancer in 2018

Leo in 2018

Virgo in 2018

Libra in 2018

Scorpio in 2018

Sagittarius in 2018

Capricorn in 2018

Aquarius in 2018

Pisces in 2018

Boo! Octobrrrrrrrr Tarotscopes!

Shiver me timbers, it’s the eventide of seasons and a transition to darker, colder times here in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, the bearer of opportunity, truth, expansion (and even unhealthy excess or overbearing pedantism sometimes), Jupiter moves into the dark realm of Scorpio on October 10. For the next year, Jupiter will enjoy living on the edge, exploring the depths of human consciousness and the shadow side of the material world alike. Jupiter in Scorpio is going to be like taking a ‘Haunted Mansion’ ride for a bunch of laughs when you’re old enough to appreciate the gimmicks. Jupiter the explorer, preacher of truth, can show you how most things that scare you are just a play of your own shadows!

Me, I eagerly await the weather and the planetary plumb! What about you?

The house where Scorpio sits in your chart will benefit from at least one new development which will hold you in good stead when (and if) the rug is pulled from under you in the area of your chart ruled by Taurus (the sign opposite to Scorpio), where Uranus will move in with a revolution for an eight-year span. On a worldwide scale I am hopeful that sometime in the next one year there will be the surprising discovery of a new resource or a new source of resource that will revolutionise the commodities or money market. Perhaps we will discover a new element or fuel source or precious metal that will not only render existing resources pointless, it will also help in redistributing power among the poor people and countries, as well as the marginalised. There could also be an expansion in the insurance markets that leads to another financial meltdown (or tides things over) come mid 2018. If the Uranus in Aries era was about ‘more power to the individual’ standing up to corrupt systems (Pluto in Capricorn till 2024), Uranus in Taurus could well herald a time of ‘more financial power to the people’ supported by a fast-dying-needing-to-be-transformed trend for plutocracy. And the start of that revolution might just begin with something Jupiter discovers or uncovers. Things from underground are coming up to uproot the old and bloom something anew.

Scorpio is the natural ruler of the house where things go to die in one form and be reincarnated in another. Indeed, we are already becoming more aware of the financial and ecological importance of recycling and upcycling but when more and more people join this movement it could well put consumerism out of kilter and support the formation of new economies and governments that are more sustainable and healthier for the planet.

In general, now is a good time to start being a bit more resource conscious and conservative in spending. Why not start this practice by spending your precious time on reading the monthly tarotscopes I have so lovingly written for you? 😉

Pick Your Sign, Read Your ‘Scope!

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

 VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Timing Is Everything, Virgo

I didn’t think I’d have to say this to you of all signs Virgo, but form over substance won’t get you anywhere. There is a need for you to ‘declutter’ some aspect of your endeavours, to strip them away of all unnecessary elements, so you can focus on the thing that will actually translate into results. I see some sort of formal decision going your way, or perhaps it is you who makes a wise decision at the start of this period. But then it’s kind of, sort of, downhill from there. But the good news is, this is due to controllable factors and not necessarily outside forces. For starters there is some agitated energy in you, a restlessness to get going, at a time when what you really should be focusing on is better goal definition. Our attitudes can in a very real way influence how others act around us too, so I would advise caution against pushing your agenda too energetically at this time as it might invite a backlash you wouldn’t necessarily enjoy. More importantly though, this is a crucial time for research and getting in touch with your intuition but I see you jumping the gun somewhat. Keep your senses open, listen, keep an eye out, you’re off to a good start now all you need is some restraint and research.

Also, listen to your body.

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P.S. Due to time constraints I may not be able to post pictures of your card readings anytime soon. Please bear with.

Also, generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign, present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

Expect the Unexpected, Taurus

There is something you have been working towards slowly perhaps, but surely. A sure, considered approach is in fact one of your biggest strengths. But all sense of equanimity goes flying about like clumsily tossed salad if you’re confronted with any change in plan, non? Well may be I’m generalising a bit too much, but still. Well, the thing is, you’re making great progress, it’s true. And in fact I think more and more you might be feeling freer to move forward. Yet I see you arriving at a point, or being made to pause, by divine intervention that might have you reconsidering that which you have in pursuit of. On balance, is it really all that wonderful to attain? How your body feels when you work on what you want might be an indicator too. In any case, there is a pause, and then a break in action to reconsider. Let me tell you, there is also something brewing in background that you can’t see yet that might shed a new light on things. But here’s for the kicker: An excitedly jumping Star card told me, that in place of what you want right now, something new is coming in — something writ large in the stars. You’ll know it’s right because it will feel so right!

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P.S. Due to time constraints I may not be able to post pictures of your card readings anytime soon. Please bear with.

Also, generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

 

You tell me, Cancer!

You got a curious set of cards Cancer, all in reverse. When that happens in a reading it usually means there is something that the Universe doesn’t want you to know yet about what is to come. Perhaps the message is to have faith everything will work out? From your cards it seems you are entering a period when neither your inner compass, nor your moral compass, nor the isms you subscribe to will have the necessary guidance to offer. Retreating into your shell won’t help just as much as seeking guidance won’t help just as much as falling back on relationships you feel loyal to won’t help. It’s as if something new is coming at you and you won’t have the necessary conviction to keep it at bay. Is it a good thing? One can’t tell! The cards are all quite pleasant enough so it can’t be too bad. In fact, the only hiccup I see is a tussle of wills. If I were to attempt to sum it up in some way then you are being beckoned, nay, dragged, out of your comfort zone into a whole new era. This is life defining stuff. I can tell you no more. The cards won’t let me!

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P.S. Due to time constraints I may not be able to post pictures of your card readings anytime soon. Please bear with.

Also, generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

Into the heart of darkness, Gemini

If the truth sets you free, then the opposite must hold true for lies (or let’s call them omissions of fact).  I’m not here to judge Gemini, because it may well be that what you have been guided by is what you erroneously thought to be the truth or ‘right’ but it turns out, it’s not. Well, what’s true and what’s right is always up for debate. But let’s just say that there are certain courses of action you may have taken, fervently, may be even dogmatically, that were not quite for the highest good of one and all. You might feel terribly wronged at this time too, but please don’t let it motivate you into further, more vehement reactions. This is about a clash of values. And the stuff that keeps the world going. But for you personally, this end of year period is a time when unfavourable events will hopefully prompt you to examine your own thoughts and the parameters you use to decide which ones must be acted upon and which ones are not in the best interest of your long-term good. Not only thoughts, but even the people you choose to team up with ought to be examined at this time — you’ll be forced to reflect on your allegiances anyhow. You might find that teaming up with someone has borne the consequence of you being ostracised from an organisation and/or penalised.

Of course, it could also be that it is you who is taking a punishing stance against certain people who seem to have run afoul of your value system, but for you the message also is that rightness and correctness are socially constructed — do unto others as you would have done unto you because you never know when times change and suddenly you’re the one who is on the wrong side. This is also a fair warning to not let your ideologies become your prison.

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P.S. Due to time constraints I may not be able to post pictures of your card readings anytime soon. Please bear with.

Also, generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

More Inspiration, Less Perspiration, Leo

You know when you just know that something is meant for you? You have that feeling, I know. Whatever creative or romantic endeavour you are a-questing for, you’re on the right track, and you have what it takes in terms of skill and abilities to make it happen for yourself. But sometimes, even being on the appropriate course, and knowing the right action isn’t enough. Because until what you wish to bring into existence does not have soul it won’t last for very long. Because everything that is manifest in our reality requires a form, yes, but it also requires, spirit, or purpose. A relationship that just looks like a relationship but has no feeling means nothing. A creation that has some physical form, no matter how beautiful, but no special useful or inspiring quality to it becomes junk fast.

During this end of year period I see you quite eager, in fact rather restless (and possibly stoked by petty competitiveness), to make things happen for you one way or another. Sadly I fear if you choose that path, you might be setting yourself up for some financial setbacks that could require breaking into your savings even. If this is about a relationship, glossing over the unwillingness or unsuitability of the other half, just to have a partner to take with you to all the parties during holiday season is not going to bear any long-term benefit, and in fact, might end up depleting your sense of material or familial security in some way.

In the movement called Positive psychology, its proponents such as Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi recommend entering a state of flow to tap into one’s true creative genius and happiness. The idea is to enjoy the process one step to the next without any preset agenda, without any real purpose other than achieving the completion of the act itself, which, studies have shown, enable mental processes to work better with abstract concepts and the elements in one’s work space — flow allows the mind to flow, to go where it hasn’t gone before, thus resulting in creative output that can surpass the commercial limitations you may place on it, and in doing so, bring you the very material rewards you are working for! Even in matters pertaining to dating and mating, being in the flow of social activity, meeting people for the pure joy of meeting people, might magnetise more suitable partners towards you than the ones you feel you have to mould to your requirements.

Today flow, tomorrow disco inferno, baby! (errrr….I mean in the way of passion not a conflagration! :P)

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P.S. Due to time constraints I may not be able to post pictures of your card readings anytime soon. Please bear with.

Also, generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

 

 

Navigating by the Stars Aquarius

According to Hermetic thought, the pinnacle of personal evolution is the ability to subject — rather than be subject to — cosmic forces to your will; to manifest what you desire in spite of your circumstances. This concept of ‘manifestation’ has been popularized in modern times with a dangerous sort of ignorance that neglects to take into account that the true, evolved manifestor, the ‘Magician’ in Tarot and in Hermeticism, acquires their ability by rising above their narrow-minded, flesh-body dictated material concerns, and attuning themselves to the divine will of the universe, which at times might deny us something for a higher purpose. The Magician flows with the universal consciousness and therefore desires only that which is in accord with its intentions. The recent idea of manifestation in the mainstream is focused entirely on earthly desires and as such can only serve as a portal to baser energies that forever might trap us in a cycle of greed and entitlement. Why am I telling you all this though?

At this end of year period you are being called to examine the merit and purpose of that which you wish to manifest in your own life. The goals, desires, dreams that you are working towards will be called to question by circumstances that will either validate them with support, or annihilate them through an event that may seem like treachery or a rug being pulled from underneath you at first, but which will serve as course correction, opening your eyes to brighter, spiritually more rewarding vistas. Be it through a person, an unfortunate series of events, or an unexpected blow, whatever ends in your life right now is ending a long period of intellectual erosion and misguided thinking. You better believe it.

There is an air of evolution about you at this time, and that evolution and accompanying sense of liberation is coming into your life like a breath of fresh air whether you like it or not. You’ll be shedding preconceived or socially-instructed ideas of what is desirable, or needed, in favour of a new way of life — one that is entirely your own and directly transmitted from the stars.

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P.S. Due to time constraints I may not be able to post pictures of your card readings anytime soon. Please bear with.

Also, generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

(Un)Reality Check for Aries

This last quarter of 2019 has some important reality checks for you. Paradoxically, it has to do with you not paying enough attention to the ‘unseen’ realms that exert their subtle influence on your reality. Ultimately it is about shedding your naive ideas and ideologies about the big bad world we live in and yet somehow coming to grips with the idea that just as there are demons working in the shadows to enervate your sense of security, there are also angels waiting in the wings to replenish your bliss. If this story plays out internally, you could find yourself struggling with health issues that are trying to show you how unhealthy thoughts and thought patterns can sap you out. Whether you are obsessing over someone or something, or being extra watchful, constant mental activity consumes physical reserves. If you’re wondering why you haven’t been feeling your vital self lately, it has everything to do with what’s going on in your mind. And it’s creating a negative feedback loop where the less energetic you feel, the more you worry. For you I have only one advice: Meditate! Or go spend time alone in nature; disconnect from your everyday concerns for a bit. Get away from people too.

Some of you will experience this end-of-year energy externally in the form of people whom you may have trusted or brought into the fold to your own detriment. You may need to open your eyes to the fact that you have given of yourself to someone who has been squirreling away your ideas, money,  or even your psychic reserves. You may think it unimaginable but people can sometimes work behind your back — not everyone is as straightforward as you. Listen to your gut, it has been trying to tell you how something somewhere is not quite right. Investigate.

A bit like the child discovering there is no such thing as Santa Claus, this end-of-year period marks a time of (sadly) growing up to realise that your vision for this world is perhaps out of step with the majority’s motivations. Perhaps people are just so nihilistic that they don’t quite care to work towards betterment? This is not all of us of course. And that too is your lesson at this time. Essentially, it is about learning to discern who is in your camp and who isn’t. Again, there is a paradox here — those who look like they are in your camp may not be, while those you don’t pay enough attention to could be the ones you need.

Don’t let preoccupations with the material state of your life (health, wealth, relationships) take away from you making these important observations into the subtext of occurrences, which holds the clues to your material improvement.

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P.S. Due to time constraints I may not be able to post pictures of your card readings anytime soon. Please bear with.

Also, generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

 

August-September Reading for Gemini

You probably already know Gemini that your zodiac sign is one of the two domiciles of Mercury, the trickster god of communication, ingenuity, and diplomacy among other things. Mercury is a dubious character, the only god who has no fixed gender (in astrology), who can freely roam every realm including that of death, who often resorts to trickery to get things done. People in general similarly view Gemini as tricky, shifty characters sometimes simply because you lot are adaptable and open to explore different ways of doing things which can make you seem inconstant.

During this time it seems as if you are working towards a vision that involves perhaps brokering peace between two sides of a fence, or getting chalk and cheese to work together. It might require you to work for both sides, or none. And it will make you appear to be a bit shady. It is even possible that in order to realise your idea for a synergy you might have to take some sort of questionable action. But in time people will see you had something good in mind.

If perchance you happen to face a setback in your pursuit of a goal you will understand soon that it was merely a timely, and quite propitious course correction. It might also be that what seems like an accident, defeat, or betrayal, turns out to be synchronicity that brings you together with someone who feels like a soulmate. Oooooh! This is all very exciting. Something appears to go wrong but it is right. This is so you!

Your Cards

 

Top row (left to right): Theme, message for August
Bottom row (left to right): Theme, message for September

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Generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth

August-September Reading for Scorpio

‘Take a grain of sand, drop it in the direction of the sand scorpion and it will notice it.’ 

Scorpions don’t have eyes, yet they have plenty of other sophisticated sensory systems that make them formidable as both predators, and survivors of all sorts of extreme environments, from deserts to mountain tops. Scorpios have a similarly refined threat-sense system which is unfortunately sometimes necessitated by the need to protect oneself due to an insecure childhood or early exposure to disturbances. Sometimes, the defensive posture can become such a hardwired response that you end up self-sabotaging your chances of happiness by treating with suspicion (and as a consequence even working against) the very people who show up for you. This period now is an opportunity for you to reflect on how you can be your worst enemy sometimes. Whether you are guilty of seeing ploys where there are none, or of making preemptive strikes that ruin a moment, or even of tricking yourself into believing you don’t need others, there are patterns here that need to change. Because regardless of what zodiac sign you are born under you are still human, with an intrinsic human need to connect with other humans. If you have found progress to be wanting in your endeavours, there are people coming in to help you. If you have been going solo for too long, there is someone who will be there to go the distance with you. But first you must make the room in your heart to welcome them in. Staying safe should not have to mean staying excluded.

Some of you could find something you thought was lost right under your nose.

Your Cards

 

Top row (left to right): Theme, message for August
Bottom row (left to right): Theme, message for September

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Generalised tarot readings such as this, written for everyone under one Sun sign,  present archetypal energies that may or may not play out for you, depending on your personal context. Therefore, if this message does not apply to you, I recommend checking out one’s Moon sign and Ascendant sign tarotscope as well (because the message you need just might be there or emerge as a combination instead).

To find out your Moon and Ascendant sign (the constellation that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born), you can visit https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/free-astro-portrait-horoscope-by-date-of-birth