Poll: Saturn-Pluto square — clash of the titans?

I seem only good for posting polls these days. The last time these two titans made contact was in 2001 (a momentous year everyone remembers), and Saturn opposed Pluto. At the time, Pluto also opposed my natal Sun-Saturn on my Saturn return (which I’ve mentioned here and here).

This time, on 15 November, Saturn is squaring Pluto, while the former is riding over my natal Pluto and the latter opposite my natal Venus. Oh joy.

Poll: Neptune direct — sleep, and perchance to dream?

I don’t often take naps. When I do, it feels like a luxury. And I definitely felt like one today after a very long few months, and took it. A cue from Neptune direct (see also) perhaps, to give the psyche a break, a rest, and a chance to recuperate. Dreams were strange too.

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth II.ii

Safe space, my space

I just read this article by Judith Gayle, who is as ever amazingly frank and astute:

We humans have various energy fields that overlap: physical, emotional, mental. Each has its own frequency, existing as layers in a single space. Emotions have a resonant signal; they attract more of the same, and send signals to those who match, drawing them in. Fear is a particularly dense vibration; a teeth-rattling one. It works like a magnet to pull more fear toward it. Literally, that’s how we get ‘what we deserve.’

When we choose to connect with people, we make a choice to share energy fields, and we take it on faith that they’ll be respected. We all have such spaces be they in the home, in the work place, the car, or even in the mind or the psyche. The dreamspace it seems to me is one such space where possibilities we don’t even consider can get played out. Likewise, this blog is a similar space, as I wrote recently about my 100-Acre Wood.

Poleaxed!

I’ve tweeted and whined on a couple of occasions this week about being floored with the flu. I think it’s partly the result of a drain by that energy vampire I talked about earlier.

Yes, it’s the flu season but the timing, suddenness and severity of my condition made me think. I am a sixth house person, health matters to me, and I’m usually sick only once every couple of years. The last time I was this badly floored was after spending an intense three days resisting property agents trying to palm off sewage holes as liveable spaces.

Poll: Jupiter direct

I remain phenomenally busy through October, but thought I should mark the week Jupiter goes direct, since Jupiter rules my chart and I’m badly looking forward to a break after a v.e.r.y. l.o.n.g. s.u.m.m.e.r.

For a list of what else is happening astrologically this week, have a look at Lynn Hayes’ post and Pat Paquette’s on Real Astrologers.

Energy vampires

I once blogged about ‘emotional vampires’, but have recently come across the term, ‘energy vampire’, which is a different variation. They are sometimes also known as ‘psychic vampires’. Energy vamps as the term suggests siphon your energy.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

The fiasco at work I blogged about exhausted me so much I took half the day off and stayed in bed past noon. Then I received an email from one of my bosses who made the mess with the report which I had to fix, saying that she is glad we ‘care so much’ and is now ‘reinvigorated’, without admitting a single fault.

As I read it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and signalled: ENERGY VAMPIRE! I should have picked it up earlier. She drains everyone around her, and then gets the energy to carry on screwing up so she can drain us some more!

The mad woman leaves the attic

My Sun-Mercury-Saturn in Gemini and Moon in Capricorn frequently struggle to understand insanity. I don’t mean clinical insanity (though maybe it’s not exempt!), but the calculated insanity imposed upon moderate people — crazy-makers, rather than crazy people per se. Just look at all the loonies shouting and crying out against Obama’s ‘death panels’ and ’socialism’. The more reasonable he tries to be, the more hysterical they become. My theory is that this is one public manifestation of the current Saturn (reason) and Uranus (unpredictability) opposition. Much has been said about how Uranus (maverick) will break the shackles of Saturn (tradition), but I think the other view is highly plausible as well. Oppositions seek out balance after all, and it is the balance between the two that we must find. However, that’s not quite the subject of today’s post.

A Mad Woman (Eugene Delacroix 1822)

The more I get through life, the more I wonder whether the crazies will always capture the space simply because they shout louder and the adrenalin carries them further than the reasoned moderates who simply get tired and want to hide under a rock.

I mean, isn’t my turn to Buddhism, to astrology, to psychotherapy an attempt to maintain some sanity in a crazy world? But I sometimes suspect my secret fear is going mad myself. In other words, while I watch others perform their madness, I am not entirely certain of my own sanity. It doesn’t help that Mercury/Geminis are frequently too open to suggestion — Is it X or is it Y? Or maybe Z? Or all three!

I had an ex who had two psycho ex-es (yeah, you think I’d have picked up the signals earlier). You know, the sort of woman who would make a scene in public, scream and shout and throw carrots at the supermarket. No, I’m not exaggerating. At the point of splitting up, I wondered what was so desirable about them that he tried to stay with them (for a while at least) and what was so undesirable about poor level-headed, no-drama me? Then I realised, that’s precisely what he’s doing, albeit unconsciously, making me question my sanity, and many a time I did feel as if I was going mad. However, I’m glad to report that I left way before the carrot-flinging stage. I abhor public scenes.

The Sunshine Boy

The Sunshine Boy (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Iceland 2009)

There are some films that have the power to change the world, and I hope this one actually proves it.

Fridrik Thor Fridriksson directs this documentary about one woman’s journey to try and understand her autistic son’s mind. In adopting the voice of one mother’s search for answers, and help, for her son, the film introduces the wide spectrum of effects this condition can have on individuals and families, many of them heart-breaking.

Poll: Saturn-Uranus opposition

I have a half-written post on the Saturn-Uranus opposition about to make its third pass in this cycle, but as I’m travelling from tomorrow for 2 weeks, I might not be able to finish and post it by the 18th.

So here’s a poll of what you might be expecting. Share some stories on Twitter or in the comment stream, if you have any!

Here’s an earlier post of my thoughts about the opposition:

• Controlled chaos, or thoughts on the Saturn-Uranus opposition

Pluto direct: Blog stats spike!

Hey, I was totally surprised to find out that the number of hits to my blog has spiked exponentially in the past 24 hours! Mainly because some very popular and respected astrologers have recommended my blog — I’m awed and humbled. Is this an effect of Pluto direct in my 1st house?!

Thank you to all the astro-blogging -twitter friends I’ve made these past weeks, who have linked to my blog, left comments, re-tweeted my posts and so on. You’re all so amazing, I’m privileged to be counted among you. Here are some of you:

• astrogrrl
• Donna Cunningham
• itsplanetary
• Julie Demboski
• lucywatchthesky
• Lynn Hayes
• Neith
• Neeti Ray

If I’ve missed out anyone, I’m sorry!! Just know that every comment is appreciated.

I hope Pluto direct is ushering good things for you.

Healing Pluto problems: Obsidian order, Walnut way

If you are currently experiencing the Pluto station at a sensitive point on your chart — it is currently square my natal Pluto, and opposite my natal Venus — it’s likely you’re feeling just a bit taut, like waiting for a shoe to fall, but not knowing if it’s going to be made of soft leather or hard concrete.

Detail of Pluto and Proserpina (It's stone!)

Pluto issues are deep and transformative (cellular, as I once put it) and healing them requires a genuine and concerted effort at looking inwards, and the courage to square with yourself, your desires and your fears, warts and all. Plutonians who choose to look away often end up projecting their shadow sides onto others, hurting themselves and loved ones in the process. I know a Plutonian (still) undergoing a tough Pluto transit who once asked me what the point of therapy was. He said, ‘What’s wrong with just getting on with life? Won’t therapy just raise things that are better hidden?’ My answer was: ‘Sure, you can just do that and time will pass and you will get older and die. But who do you hurt in the meantime? Do you want to live life awake or asleep?’ My questions were not meant to be rhetorical but he never answered them. As far as I can tell, he’s still sleepwalking.

Healing Pluto Problems

In honour of Pluto going direct on 11 September 2009, I thought I’d share some thoughts about Donna Cunningham’s book, Healing Pluto Problems, whose title I’ve borrowed for the title of this post.

I picked up this book on Neith’s recommendation. It is not as heavy-going as Judy Hall’s Hades Moon, which I’ve written about here and also like for different reasons. Rather, Cunningham’s book contextualises Plutonian issues (deep transformation, sex, death, guilt, resentment and so on) in terms of the things one can do to mitigate their effects, whether one is the Plutonian or on the receiving end of one. And it could well be both — Plutonians tend to attract other Plutonians.

Being a Plutonian herself, Cunningham exhibits great empathy for the depth and intensity of Plutonian feelings. If there are ‘problems’ with being Plutonian, it is not the natures of Plutonians that are put on the line, only a lack of understanding (and resources) in wider society to address them. The book does not victimise Plutonian native either — each one is required to take responsibility for their own actions and feelings, and the author is quick to point out that the unevolved can quite easily turn their Plutonian power on others and themselves.