Highlights for Feb. 17-23, 2020: Recharging

Recharging

Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone. Click them to see the date and time where you are.

Slush

The Sun entering Pisces (Feb. 18, 2020, 8:57 pm PST) ushers in a month of thaw, as icy winter begins to slide toward slushy spring. I seem to remember it, from my farm days, as mud season, when the good earth was in a state somewhere between the comforting solidity of winter’s ice and spring’s freshly tilled soil.

This year’s watery Pisces season, with so many planets still in earthy Capricorn, does seem a little muddy – especially as Mercury makes his confusing retrograde slog, which makes any attempts at forward movement feel a bit like wading through molasses. But remember that resistance builds strength, and that even if it’s hard to feel you’re getting anywhere, you’re in fact covering a vast internal distance. Have faith, and keep moving.

The Big Tent

As Jupiter – symbolizing the laws and beliefs of a society – makes its first in a series of sextiles to Neptune – symbol of faith, minorities, and fluidity (Feb. 20, 2020, 7:56 am PST) – it’s on the Sabian symbol degree 18 Capricorn, A Union Jack. But really, it could probably stand for any flag, and any emblem of civic or group pride. A flag signifies what sets us apart from other groups. Meanwhile, Neptune is on the Sabian symbol A gigantic tent as Jupiter makes its aspect – the sextile, an aspect of opportunity.

Throughout this year (the other exact Jupiter/Neptune sextiles form on July 27 and Oct. 12, 2020), opportunities exist to incorporate new perspectives, new cultures, and new ideas. It’s a big, infinitely expandable tent, says Neptune; there’s room for everything – and everyone.

The restless earth

As Mars makes a trine aspect to Uranus this week (Feb. 21, 2020, 1:10 am PST), a brief meditation: Far beneath the earth’s apparently still surface, tectonic plates are constantly in motion. From time to time, one slides under the other, or volcanoes form from the intense heat of their interaction – and mountains are formed by subduction or by lava. Such is the power of the restless earth. It creates rugged, constant mountains that call to the ambitious side of humans, exhorting us to climb, ever higher, and to keep on climbing.

Deep beneath the surface, Uranus in Taurus is busy shifting our tectonic plates. New challenges are arising, new mountains to scale – and that’s just the way Mars in Capricorn likes it. As Mars makes a harmonious aspect to Uranus, the shifting ground beneath our feet suddenly lifts us up – a little higher on the mountain, a little closer to the heavens.

Recharging

In the early 19th century, Michael Faraday hypothesized that sea water moving across the Earth’s magnetic field induced eddy currents in the sea. In early 2018, a trio of satellites were able to detect electric currents generated in the world’s oceans as they are dragged through the Earth’s magnetic field by the gravitational pull of the Moon. These currents are able to induce their own weak magnetic fields.

This is the romance between the oceans, the Moon, and the electric earth. In astrology, we associate the ocean with Pisces and Neptune, symbols of the eternal soul. It’s possible for the spirit to be willing while the flesh is weak, but it’s also entirely possible for physicality to revive and strengthen the spirit. As the Sun in Pisces forms a sextile to Uranus this week (Feb. 22, 2020, 6:13 am PST), get out in nature to stimulate the soulful, watery, eternal side of yourself. Take off your shoes for a walk in the park; splash through mud puddles. Let the earth recharge your spirit.

The Bazaar

In 1997, I moved to a neighborhood known for its used bookstores and antique shops. They’re gone now, replaced by craft beer places, tattoo parlors, and yoga studios.

I miss those old shops. But I will say that although I don’t like beer, have no tattoos, and prefer to do my yoga at home, I’m happy that these new marketplaces exist – because they provide physical spaces not just to spend money, but to gather with other humans.

That’s what I’m taking from the Sabian Symbol for this Pisces New Moon (Feb. 23, 2020, 7:32 am PST, 4.28 Pisces) degree, A church bazaar. The church near my house has one of these rummage sales each year, and a big part of the fun is chatting casually with neighbors as we paw through stacks of flotsam and jetsam.

Another feature of a bazaar is the element of surprise. You don’t generally shop at a church bazaar to find something in particular, but for the fun of discovery. This is how Pisces finds its way to the world’s treasures: It wanders. It floats. It meanders. And it does all this in fellowship with others.

Now, it’s possible to get a little carried away at this New Moon. With Venus and Jupiter meeting each other in a square aspect just an hour later (Feb. 23, 2020, 8:59 am PST), one might be inclined to buy too much at the “church bazaar” of life. To indulge in too much rich food and drink, too much late night…fellowship, too many lotto tickets, too much makeup, too many shoes, a car that costs too much.

Venus in Aries knows exactly what she wants and doesn’t necessarily want to spend a lot of time browsing around the church bazaar. But when she connects with Jupiter in Capricorn – the banker who loans money to people who are not qualified and invests on margin in hopes of a big payday – even she might be lured into spending too much money on something that isn’t necessary.

By the end of the month, as Venus comes up against Saturn and Pluto, it will be time to pay the piper. So this week, do your best to avoid impulsive purchases – or other decisions that complicate your life and can’t be quickly and painlessly undone.