The Times They Are a Changing

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Here in Canada it’s Thanksgiving Weekend. 

The recent Harvest Moon marked the gathering in at this time of year as we prepare (in the northern hemisphere) for the coming winter.  Tomorrow or Monday families gather for turkey (or tofu) dinner and good company, to express our Thanks for each other and for all the good stuff in our lives. We celebrate all we have and give thanks for the earths bounty.

 Happy Thanksgiving from Canada.

Astrologically, things are a movin’ and a shakin’.

If you have been feeling bored or blocked, or just plain frustrated by how slow things have been all year, you may have noticed that finally things are moving right along.

The first half of the year many retrograde planets caused that feeling of being held back or stymied. Plans were put on hold; agreements re examined  and relationships went though an overhaul.

Slowly things have been shifting forward and the recent repeat of an exact Pluto Uranus  square lit up the atmosphere with an almost  palpable drive for change.

This week, four personal planets change signs. Venus entered Virgo on Wednesday, Mercury and Saturn slipped into Scorpio together yesterday, and Mars charges into Sagittarius today. This marks some major shifts in energy, as things really start moving forward at quantum speed!

It may take a while to adjust; that’s a lot of changing energy all at once.  Apparently it is rather unusual to have so many personal planets changing signs (all within a five day period) and it is all happening against the background of the ongoing Pluto Uranus tensions, which alone has been heating things up.

This is definitely a time  where personal and global transformation intersects on many levels, and these sign changes will bring new fresh input.

Virgo will ground and stabilize Venus love energy, Scorpio will deepen and intensify our thoughts and communication (Mercury) as well as our need for limts and boundaries (Saturn). Mars in Saggitarius will inspire our sense of adventure and ignite our drive to change the world!

All the planets currently moving  make immediate aspects to Neptune as they change signs, which in itself is highly significant.

Neptune, currently in its home sign of Pisces, is calling us back to our source, it is calling us home.

I have written a few times about how Neptune in Pisces signifies a general atmosphere of spiritual awakening, just in time for us to (hopefully) save our planet from imminent destruction.  Neptune rules the seas, the unconscious, the soul… and both Neptune and Chiron in Neptune ruled Pisces are bringing waves of deep creativity and healing energy to help us through these crazy times. 

It also shows up in the melting ice caps and rising sea levels which will drastically change our world in a very short time frame.... or trigger escapism and addictions if we try to avoid facing the reality of it all.

The spiritual aspect of the Neptune influence occurring right now can bring palpable, inner experiences as we undergo a process of profound transformation and change on both inner and outer levels.

The Pluto Uranus square  will not be a quiet revolution. Look around the world as people stand up and ask to be counted. Tensions abound as many struggle to have their voice heard. It can be tricky to find sure footing in  uncertain times of change.

As everything on the planet (and in many personal lives) begins this much needed and rather major overhaul, Neptune represents the eternal and unchanging heart residing in all of us.

The Neptune link creates a strong pull to find sanctuary against the storm,  urging us to connect to the bigger picture. It reminds us that all of this upheaval and transformation is part of a greater awakening and is worth it if it puts us in touch with our deepest soul longing.

Creativity, dream work, meditation etc can all help to connect us at this time to our intuitive, less linear side, as we are  called,  just for a moment, to leave logic behind and trust that our inner voice is as valid and as real as what we see on the outside.

Knowing what that inner voice is, and testing its reality, is going to be important, as we are prodded and poked by Saturn, the planet of karma, moving through Scorpio for the next 2 ½ years.

While Neptune pulls into the depths of our soul, and stimulates our creative and visionary side, Saturn in Scorpio will ask us to walk our talk and make those dreams and visions into something concrete. It wants us to get real.

Scorpio, ruled by Pluto, god of the underworld, is associated with sex, death, shared resources, taxes. Saturn here is about the stuff we don’t like to talk about and the issues we wish would go away. Saturn in Scorpio is intense!!

Called the Grand Task Master, Saturn’s placement shows where there will be challenges and tough lessons. It gives us structure, boundaries, and maturity by forcing to own up to fulfill our duties and responsibilities.

Also associated with Chronos, the personification of time, Saturn is linked with karmic cycles. The seven year itch is one such  cycle, as well the seven year learning stages often used in education (each 1/4 of the complete 28 year Saturn journey around the zodiac)

Ever heard of Saturn return? At ages 28/9 and 56/7, the karmic planet returns to its original degree in our birth chart, brings us face to face with our ‘stuff’!  Those of us approaching our first or second Saturn return now have Saturn in Scorpio and will be especially attuned to this transit. Major decisions, choices, changes will ensue.

Saturn also represents authority and father figures, duty and rules; time and restrictions, structures and systems. Wherever it travels, we are asked to hunker down and take some responsibility.

The last few years that Saturn has been moving through the sign of Libra, many a relationship or partnership has been firmed up or let go as we  sh** or get off the pot!!!

In Scorpio, Saturn will dig up deep issues, as our survival instincts come to the fore.  Struggles with sex and desire,  power and control, shared resources (money issues) like inheritances, legal agreements etc, will put many of us under great pressure or scrutiny. Any lack of integrity or dodgy dealings will come to our attention under this transit.

As can be expected, this kind of exposure is not always welcome. When Pluto (ruler of Scorpio) passed through Scorpio IN THE 80's, stories of incest and sexual abuse filled the headlines as  people seemed to suddenly remember what had been forgotten or repressed. Though some immediately tried to deny the validity of what was being exposed, in general it was a positive (if difficult) process of finally and often publicly facing stuff no one wanted to admit was happening.

Right now, Pluto in Capricorn (ruled by Saturn) echoes this energy in other ways right, as abuses of power are coming to light more often, and despots and unfair systems are being exposed almost daily it seems.

In a general way, Saturn asks us to take responsibility, to grow up.  And there is no playing around in Scorpio.  This is the real deal.

All of the above changes and challenges will help us grow by us/forcing us to take stock of how we operate when our survival instincts are triggered!   Is it through blame and shame? Power over/power under etc. Saturn can also create resistance. It may show us where we resist transformation and growth.

As we go through the next couple of years, we can align our root chakra (Scorpio) and step into integrity (Saturn in Scorpio)  which will ultimately empower both ourselves and others.

Meanwhile, the newly shifting planets /signs will bring fresh energy to move forward with. It’s all for our greater good to help us renovate, renew and revision our commitment to life, to each other, to the planet.

And as the Neptune aspect awakens our higher selves, lets make our choices from a more enlightened awareness, from a deeper truer self, rather than from fear based egos.

This is it. This is our time. 'We are the ones we have been waiting for.'

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

                                                                                 Marrianne Wiiliamson