Style That Lasts
In 1988, I was planning an overseas trip and invested in a few items of expensive clothing for the journey. I still have a very cute pair of leather Edwardian boots and one of two beloved scarves I bought for that trip. The boots are in great shape, if a little pinchy for my 63-year-old feet. But I wear a scarf from that shopping trip every winter and still mourn its missing mate.
These beloved items were purchased at a high-end retail store for major bucks. But while other accessories have come and gone, these are still going strong 36 years later. They’re well-made, classic, and have stood up to punishing wear while still looking great.
This is the preferred style of Venus, the planet of fashion and décor, in sensible Capricorn (Nov. 11, 2024, 10:26 am PST, through Dec. 6). Rather than the false economy of inexpensive, trendy items that last a season, better to pay extra up-front for craftsmanship, quality, and classic styling; these will serve you well for years, perhaps even decades.
What the Muse Doesn’t Deliver
Mercury in Sagittarius is as wriggly and excitable as an energetic puppy. So if you have important work to complete and need some focus and discipline, be grateful for Mercury’s square to Saturn (Nov. 12, 2024, 5:22 am PST). Nothing will focus a scattered Mercury quite like a hard aspect to Saturn, the planet that keeps us on task with our eyes on our own work.
If there’s something you’ve been putting off for a long time, maybe tackling some paperwork in your office, perhaps a significant writing project (NaNoWriMo?), these would all be excellent to tackle this week. If you should find that inspiration isn’t flowing, no matter; what the muse doesn’t deliver, Saturn will accomplish through sheer grit and determination. It may not be easy, but don’t misinterpret that as a sign that you’re on the wrong track.
Latch-Key Kid
When Saturn is retrograde in a birth chart, it often symbolizes growing up with relatively little external authority. Sometimes dad was literally missing from the picture, or else emotionally distant, receding into the background. The Saturn retrograde person might have been a latch-key kid, or charged with taking on responsibility for their siblings from a young age.
When Saturn is retrograde by transit – as it is for almost half of each year – it’s a time we’re left to follow our own leadership and authority, to delineate our own boundaries and set our own rules. We’ve been running the show ourselves since Saturn last turned retrograde on June 17.
This week, as Saturn stations direct (Nov. 15, 2024, 6:21 am PST), I imagine some of the authorities in our lives will begin to flex their muscles and start trying to set rules for us. But they’re in for a surprise. The authority we internalized during these months of Saturn’s retrograde will make us much less willing to take instruction from anyone else.
Make Friends with Change
Each Full Moon is a big, luminous, noisy, emphatic message that something is missing from your life. When the Sun is in its Scorpio season, it emphasizes the magical and otherworldly, things that can’t be perceived with our ordinary senses. But the Full Moon in its opposite sign, Taurus (Nov. 15, 2024, 1:28 pm PST), reminds us that before we can give ourselves over to the magical world, we have to fully inhabit the sensual, everyday, here-and-now.
The Sun in Scorpio can sometimes seem spooky. But the Taurus Full Moon is, to me, the opposite – a big, shouty reminder that we’re here to learn from, and to celebrate, life.
The Sun and Moon are in close aspect to the planet Uranus at this Full Moon. We live in a world where everything can change, literally, in a moment. The best we can do, then, is to make friends with change. To regard it as an inevitable part of life – normal, really – and as regular as the seasons.
Bright Focus
The Lunar Nodes represent the process of releasing old patterns and embracing new challenges. This is generally difficult; it’s safer to stagnate in a toxic but familiar situation rather than reach out to an unfamiliar one, however potentially positive. But when a planet squares the nodal axis, it provides an incentive – or a push – in the direction of growth.
As Venus in Capricorn squares the Lunar Nodes this week (Nov. 16, 2024, 3:03 am PST), pleasure provides the push, and in the form of a carrot rather than a stick. The Aries North Node, on the Sabian symbol 6 Aries: A square brightly lighted on one side, emphasizes the importance of focus – and in this case, to focus on what you need rather than what your family, friends, and society want from you.
Why would we hesitate to embrace this life-affirming, North Node world view? When you’ve been disappointed and mistreated, hope and optimism can feel like a sucker bet. But have faith. If we take steps, however tentative, toward the North Node, we’re rewarded with happiness. How to proceed? Venus is connected to sensual pleasures, so let your senses guide you toward new and different food, scenery, sights, sounds, and smells. Smile at strangers on your morning walk. Have lunch with a friend. Let your senses bend you toward the invigorating pleasures of everyday life.
Bigger Truths
When the Sun in Scorpio opposes Uranus (Nov. 16, 2024, 6:45 pm PST, 25º14′ Scorpio/Taurus) this week, as when the Sun and Uranus meet in any kind of aspect, the world brings us messages about the importance of change and innovation. In particular, we’re urged to look at the ways we get stuck in our own habits and insecurities, and to experiment with new ways of being.
The opposition aspect often plays out in relationships, and we take turns playing out both planets. Stuck in patterns of resentment, jealousy, or possessiveness (the dark side of Scorpio)? Someone might issue a demand for more breathing room (Uranus). Inconstant with your commitments, dropping out of communication while you pursue other projects or relationships (Uranus)? Expect to be called out on it.
This is not a long transit – its strongest influence is probably a day or two either side of the exact aspect. But because it’s prominent in the chart for the Taurus Full Moon the previous day, this particular reveals bigger than usual truths. This Full Moon initiates a longer process of balancing Scorpio’s intensity with the need for independence and personal space, and alchemizing chaos into creative power.
Writing and images © 2017-24 by April Elliott Kent
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