The Waters of the Thaw
Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.
Rulemakers, rulebreakers
The lives that inspire me most strike a happy balance between order and chaos, between conformity and anarchy, between form and dysfunction. The relationship between Saturn and Uranus in your birth chart tell us a lot about how you’re wired in this regard. A smooth aspect between them, like a sextile or a trine, suggests you are able to integrate these sides of your nature happily, seamlessly. A hard aspect, like a conjunction, square, of opposition, indicates a struggle to reconcile these warring parts of yourself, with pressure building and occasional explosions.
The first of three squares between Saturn and Uranus arrives this week (Feb. 17, 2021, 11:07 am PST). Throughout the coming year, the heavens and earth reflect a struggle to integrate these qualities. In recent history, years like this one have brought stories of explosions, mass shootings, and impeachment, as law (Saturn) and outlaw (Uranus) battle for dominance.
Expect struggle – perhaps with a partner, a friend, a boss, a neighbor. Don’t shy from the conflict; it’s been coming for awhile, and ignoring it won’t make it go away. It’ll just ensure that the pressure keeps building, until someone does or says something that they can’t take back.
Waters of the Thaw
As the Sun changes sign each month, the spotlight shifts to a new area of your life. This week, the Sun enters Pisces (Feb. 18, 2:44 am PST), the last sign of the natural wheel. The ice of Aquarius is melting, and Pisces splashes around in the waters of the thaw. We’re on our way to something new – but for now, it just feels like everything we knew has disappeared. Pisces represents the state of living between the ice of Aquarius and the fire of Aries – the wisdom of letting go, the faith that sustains us in uncertain circumstances, and the purification and healing that will ready us to charge into the energetic new year.
Furtive
Easing into the Sun in Pisces’ comforting hot tub doesn’t mean we get a free pass from making an effort. The First Quarter Moon in Gemini (Feb. 19, 2021, 10:47 am PST) issues this challenge to dreamy, imaginative Pisces: pay attention.
The Sun in Pisces is on the Sabian symbol 2 Pisces, A squirrel hiding from hunters – generally retreating from all potential harm or upset. But if he hides for too long, the squirrel can’t gather nuts to add to his winter cache. He has to watch carefully for the moment to go gathering.
Fortunately, the Moon in Gemini can be highly observant. This First Quarter Moon is on 2 Gemini, Santa Claus furtively stuffing stockings. This happens to be the degree of my natal descendant, which rules the partner. My husband delights in taking notes and snapshots all year long of things for which I express interest or liking. He observes, and then he squirrels them away – and when I’ve completely forgotten about them, they show up among my birthday gifts!
Use this Gemini Last Quarter Moon to observe, gather information, and find the right moment to act.
Out of the barn
Where is the desire for freedom conflicting with forces of conformity and habit? This week, look particularly toward relationships, as Venus in Aquarius squares Mars in Taurus (Feb. 19, 2021, 3:04 pm PST). “I want to go somewhere new, by myself!” a woman tells her partner. Puzzled by the concept, he might say,“But that’s not something we do,” as though existing precedent were explanation enough. Or, just maybe… “Oh, good for you! That’s a great idea. I’ll hold down the fort while you’re away.” Because that’s also how Taurus can work.
All that’s needed, really, is to admit if you’re in a rut and that you’re ready for an experience that’s weird, thrilling, and completely novel. And it’s okay if you also feel a little freaked out about it; anything new is a little scary. But the cow, as they say, is already out the barn, so you might well follow it.
Our place on the stairs
FFind me in the picture,” we challenge a friend of recent acquaintance, tapping at a fading picture of our 6th grade class. Several rows of uniformed parochial school students are organized by height on graduated bleacher steps. Your friend’s finger traces the blurry figures until it stops, unerringly, on a you that they never met.
This Mercury retrograde in Aquarius may have brought to mind friends from the past; one or two may have reached out to reconnect. My grade school friend sent pictures of us at Disneyland with classmates, along with news that she recently became a grandmother. And I found I couldn’t stop thinking of a high school friend who died in 2009 from H1N1 virus, so I visited her old Facebook profile and read the annual remembrances of her family on her birthday, and on the anniversary of her death.
Mercury turns direct (Feb. 20, 2021, 4:52 pm PST) on the Sabian symbol 12 Aquarius, “People on stairs graduated upward.” Sometimes, after a Mercury Rx, it’s hard to know if we’re ahead of where we started, or behind. We look around us for friendly faces, touchstones from the past, to see if we can measure our progress against theirs. But in the end, we all have our own place on the graduated stairs. And however much we may have changed through the years, those who know and love us best have no problem recognizing us.
Writing and collages © 2021 April Elliott Kent
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