[September Monthly Horoscope is below.]
OUR MOMENT is the eve of a total eclipse of the Moon in Pisces. This occurs at
10:38 am GMT: early Tuesday morning in mainland United States time zones, late morning in the UK, early afternoon across Europe, and at sunset in Australia. The Moon will be in Pisces, the Sun in Virgo, and Saturn heading for Virgo; all describe a phase of awareness and deep integration of feminine energy.
So far as I can see and feel, we live in an era when women need this integration as much as men do, perhaps more. Being female does not at this point in history automatically mean that one's relationship with feminine energy is integrated into one's psyche. To put on an external guise does not equal an inner harmony with femaleness; to augment one's breasts does not make one more female, though it is a sign that women recognize that something is missing -- and that they fear that men are noticing something is missing.
Indeed, as our technological society progresses at its current and ever accelerating pace, as the Earth is seen more and more exclusively as a source of resources rather than of life itself, our entire species is on the verge of losing its connection to being receptive, being fertilized naturally, being penetrated by experience or existing in sync with the cycles of nature. This may not be news, but it sure is creating a lot of disruption at this moment.
Central to the idea of the feminine is one's relationship to time. Virgo grounds the feminine principle (Mary, Isis, the Sphinx and in many other forms), and on one level, her labor has a long season. That creates a relationship with time that is necessarily patient. It is not always possible to control what time things occur; they occur "in their time"; that is, within their appropriate cycle of nature. Yet for this to be, we need to coexist harmoniously with time, which is most directly accessible by being in touch with the seasons, the planetary cycles and the cycles of a human lifetime.
In our world, we create debt that puts the burden of the present onto the future; we farm out of season, and ship the produce a great distance; we create false histories and live on their pretenses. We do not know how we got here, or understand the force that is drawing us to the next place we are going -- wherever that may be.
Yet Virgo is also the principle of
now. Now is the only time that does not exist as an abstraction, and when embraced, is subject to the least distortion of the mind. We can, alone or together, look at and feel now and make some concrete observations about what is occurring, and based on those observations, state what now might mean. Part of the disconnect within the Western frame of mind is the refusal to look at what is occurring now, and to notice where we are today. It is indeed a major revelation to notice how one feels, today.
As we described Friday, the lunar eclipse is also a mutable grand cross, with the early degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces all involved. The mutable signs have several distinct qualities. They are where duality is most clearly expressed and resolved. Most of the signs represent a form of dualism, but Gemini grounds the concept most distinctly, and Sagittarius grounds the concept of integrating opposites.
The mutable signs are nervous and mentally oriented. They tend to alternate between action and stasis.
And events on the mutable cross take a long time to come to fruition -- but that moment comes. Tuesday's eclipse seems to precipitate events long in development, and to close the door on those circumstances that have been slow to resolve themselves or resistant to gaining any true clarity.
-- By Eric Francis Coppolino
CORRECTION
In Friday's editions of Planet Waves Astrology News, I incorrectly stated that there were no additional Virgo/Pisces eclipses. However, there remains one more eclipse along the Virgo/Pisces axis -- a total lunar eclipse on Feb. 20, very close in degrees to Monday's. From that point on, the eclipses move to the Leo/Aquarius axis for about the next 18 months. I apologize for the error. -- efc |
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Aries (March 20-April 19)
There is just one way to avoid dramas at work, and that is to focus on work. There is one way to avoid health dramas, which is to focus on your health. In both aspects of your life, you are facing a significant threshold, yet the easiest and most productive thing to shift is your point of view -- that is, your attitude or position with respect to these fundamental aspects of existence. For the moment, where other people are concerned, that position might best be a bit remote or removed. Certain people seem poised to shake the tree, when your calling is decidedly in the direction of patient effort, focus and long-term accomplishment. You are laying a foundation now for when Pluto crosses your career angle and your role in the world begins to take on entirely new proportions and undergo some profound changes. The foundation involves learning to set priorities and being able to maintain your integrity when that becomes the last thing on the priority list of others who are influential in your professional environment.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
You seem pulled in three directions. One feels like stern, cool discipline. Another feels like a creative or erotic risk you would never normally imagine taking. A third is "anywhere but here." This third option is a good start, because the past, as a long-haul phenomenon, is something you know it's time to break with. Yet you still seem to be wresting with the perception that a passionate life is something you can plan and live in a structured way. The structure you need is an inner sense of focus; Saturn now making its way across your 5th solar house -- the house of art, risks and passion -- is here to remind you that you must be your own master. Planning the future is one thing, and it's generally difficult. Knowing your priorities and what you are willing to do about them is another. Yet there is one factor on the horizon that you simply cannot plan for; all you can do is respond, and respond with both authority, and remembering your hard-earned sense of adventure.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Your foundations are moving and shifting. You were planning on certain changes, some were hinted by unusual developments in a domestic situation, and others that are less easy to conceive of are reminding you that flexibility is your best asset. At least you now have something you can aim for, which will help you orient and keep your agenda in order. One key is this: something recently ceased to be an ambition or aspiration. It would appear that you struck something that was a long-term goal from your life-plan, or it unexpectedly ceased to be important. This has allowed you to recognize that something else, something that has been brewing for about three years and has long seemed like an impossible dream, is now ready for action. The changes going on beneath your feet, such as to your home situation, your security base, or your delicate choice of where to be on the planet, are conveniently timed to allow you to pursue your most outrageous dreams.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
A combination of aspects is suggesting that you pay close attention to your local environment. Local means walking distance or short driving distance from where your feet are at any given moment. Pay attention to the room you are in, the neighborhood you are in, the town you are in, and what you find when you are walking around or traveling at a slow speed. Current aspects suggest that your immediate surroundings will be giving you plenty of feedback, including information about whether you need to be there or not. Yet all the ongoing and impressive astrological developments have particularly vivid meaning for those who consider themselves people of letters: writers, programmers and idea-people of all stripes. In years of working as a journalist, I have often noted that the most important stories and projects choose me. This is one of those moments when your next assignment will choose you, and while details are still forthcoming, the one thing we know is that it will be interesting.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
Conventional wisdom you might be reading in other horoscopes holds that Saturn transiting one's 2nd house, which begins for you Sept. 2, brings challenges with money. Yet Saturn leaving Leo no doubt comes as a relief on all fronts. As for money, much of how Saturn manifests depends on how we meet those challenges. Saturn transiting any house talks about making reductions and improvements to efficiency -- things you're already good at. But it also talks about focusing your efforts on what matters most, and applying refinements to earn your living from your professional calling rather than some other way. Where Saturn is present, focusing on the architecture and form of the matter in question is helpful, and many have noted that money flows toward structure. Above all, this two-year transit is about deciding what's most important to you. When you're involved in what really matters, you will tend to feel good about yourself. If you ever get to a point where you don't, ask yourself what you're doing and why.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
September's partial solar eclipse in your birth sign happens on a day associated with high drama, which is often a ruse for deception. Keep an eye on this syndrome. Keep both eyes on your integrity. The best thing that will come from events this month is that you'll finally open up to the influences of someone who has been trying to get through to you for a long time. Either that, or a circumstance beyond your control does the job for you. Lighten the impact and deepen the positive influence by making your own choice to reconsider an idea that for too long has seemed necessary but impossible. While you've learned to be open to change in recent years, it hasn't always been easy. But you know the struggle comes down to this: it's not always possible to respond to the passion that drives you forward and still reckon your choices with logic. Events this month will go a long way toward demonstrating that you don't have to think things make sense in order for them to do so perfectly.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
Events or feelings beyond your control suddenly seem to be running your life. You may also feel a need to draw yourself into some seclusion after many months of working to find your place in society. You've accomplished more than you think in that regard, and what remains more than identifying your place is the choice to take it. That, it seems, is a decision awaiting some inner breakthrough that will advance you so far it seems like you've made years of progress, at the pace you are accustomed to, that is probably true. It could be said that you do better in circumstances where you seem to have no choice in the matter. What you then tend to do is make up a second option where none existed before, which is almost always preferable to the one you were faced with. If you ever find yourself going into textbook Libra mode of not being able to make up your mind, consider it would help a lot if you took full responsibility for having invented one of the options. It's also likely to be the most appealing.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You don't like others setting the terms of your reality, and now they are attempting to do just that. Specifically, it seems that someone is telling you what is possible and what is not. We could be polite and say that their thinking is a bit provincial -- based on a simplified and reductionist version of the world. We could be less polite and say that someone is attempting to act in the role of parent, and define the metes and bounds of your potential. I suggest you not spend your precious time arguing. Rather, focus on getting over your own inhibitions about accepting what is possible in your own life, most of which involve getting caught in too many details. Anyone who argues in favor of your limits is doing you a big favor, because they are taking over that job for you. Once you're relieved of it, you can decide to go beyond their version of littleness; or you may decide that you don't need anyone, you or someone else, trying to convince you of what cannot happen. The truth of that matter remains to be seen.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
Sagittarius is considered the resident visionary of the zodiac, which may have something to do with your ability to make specific plans and goals and then follow through with them. You're good at turning what could be vicious self-criticism into a sense of integrity that's less about right and wrong and more about being effective. Now, the thing about plans is they are very good at taking up a lot of time, which is part of why we make so many of them. The eminent psychiatrist Dr. Eric Berne said that the structuring of time was one of the most challenging and debilitating pressures that humans face. Your plans have done well at giving you a sense of the landscape, as well as helping you take up time while other developments come to fruition. While in some ways it's seemed like your fortunes have been rising and falling unpredictably, your star is currently moving upward. Despite what may feel like many unplanned developments this month, you are soon to discover that there is a hidden dimension of order to the cosmos.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
You work on a different timescale than other people. This is in part because you're inherently connected to the distant past, and aware that certain timeless traditions bind together the logs on the fragile raft on which humanity is floating. Yet the sign change of your ruling planet Saturn is taking you into an era when you begin to question some of your fundamental beliefs, and reassess your most basic orientations on existence. No sooner does this process begin than it gets some unexpected results. You're likely to conclude that there's no way you could have created these results yourself, merely by committing to a process of reevaluation. However, what science has not accounted for is that the decision to do something has power that can be called metaphysical. It gets results that can't really have their roots in the clunky world of cause and effect that we spend so much time navigating. In this moment of revelation, all the normal rules of your life are suspended: take advantage of this situation to make some decisions that would otherwise seem much more difficult.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Existence as we know it is like a vast matrix of agreements. Some, we can see and acknowledge, others we seem to have no clue about. What remains a constant, and what every good therapist or spiritual teacher will strive to convey to you, is the importance of following your own values and priorities. This creates the effect of your maintaining your internal psychic air pressure when the human atmosphere is constantly pushing against you. Second, it reminds others that you come with your own agenda. What is always interesting is when they decide suddenly to go along with you. Don't spend so much time wondering why, if the climate of your relationships shifts toward focus, or toward eliminating the nonsense from the discussion. Don't be shocked if someone suddenly decides they are willing to take you up on your whole crazy plan. Just remember: you tend to be ahead of your time, and people need time to catch up. Or rather, they needed it. And soon, a whole new set of agreements will be possible.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Fair to say that something you were not expecting to happen, yet have been working toward for a long time, manifests suddenly this month. The Sept. 11 solar eclipse in Virgo serves as a kind of time warp, which you can ride toward catching up with a plan, idea, concept or dream that has been in the works perhaps since 2003. It may have gone through many revisions and revolutions, but something is ready to hatch. What you've accomplished during that time mainly involves developing the kind of self-assurance that comes only from asserting who you really are, and seeing the results. Remember that long ago, you gave up your reluctance to push others into getting your way, setting themselves free. Among the discoveries of the coming weeks is how willing some people close to you are to wake up and pay attention. As for the rest -- you'll find out where they stand, and don't take it personally. We live in strange times, when many neither understand the pressure they are under, the responsibilities they face, nor why they believe what they believe. Don't let anyone's doubts influence you.
CREDITS: Associate Editor: Priya Kale. Webmaster: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Proofreader and Fact Checker: Sara Churchville. Horoscope Editor: Jessica Keet. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. 
