INsight
February 2009
NEWS
Healing Meditation Circle
Just a reminder that bookings are about to close for Meditation Healing Circle. Classes commence Monday 9 Feb 2009. The venue is close to Altona beach and a local park so we’ll be able to use these locations when the weather and ambience is right. If you have not already booked, I have a few spots left.
I will also be running a series of Sunday astrology workshops throughout 2009.
New Year’s Resolutions
Did you make a New Year’s resolution? Maybe you want to quit smoking, become more motivated? Lose weight? Get fit? Have more confidence?
Hypnotherapy is a completely natural and highly effective way to achieve these outcomes. I have helped hundreds of people stop smoking, and most people only need one session. Hypnotherapy is also a great way to eliminate negative thinking and beliefs such as fears, phobias and other unwanted habits.
Nature and Health Annual
Just a reminder that Nature and Health 2009 Annual is available in newsagents. Read more about the astrology cycles and planetary picture for the coming year and how it will manifest both personally and collectively. As always, this feature includes stress management tips and healing suggestions.
February 2009 Forecast
Mercury Direct
1 Feb 2009
Mercury turned retrograde on the last Full Moon on January 11. I have to tell you that this was an amazing time for me personally. If you experienced overwhelming emotions of joy, sadness, love or other intense feelings, you are probably not alone. The January Full Moon was in its own sign and it was at perigee (closest approach to the Earth) while the Sun was close to perihelion, (closest approach to the Sun).
All this happened while Mercury stood still, providing us with an opportunity to pause for a moment and reflect. Mercury retrograde cycles are a useful times to look within and help us connect with our inner most feelings. So often the day-to-day general business of our busy lives gets in the way of deeper observations that can open our hearts. This was a real opportunity to connect to our soul and express our spirit in new ways. I hope you found it as moving and wonderful as I did.
Mercury retrograde is a good time to write down our inner most thoughts and assess where we are headed. Now that Mercury is direct, it’s time start moving forward again with hopefully some fresh understanding.
Children will be starting the new school year now, some for the first time. Mercury moves direct right on cue, as we return from the traditional holiday period, returning from the more leisurely pace as things get moving forward once again; perfect timing!
Interestingly, Mercury is now located at the exact position the Sun occupied at the last Full Moon, illuminating the path ahead as we chart a new course. Since the last Full Moon was so powerful, Mercury now gives us a chance to evaluate and make sense of these heartfelt experiences and gain clarity about their true significance.
Saturn Opposite Uranus
Second Hit (of 5)
5 Feb 2009
A waxing Moon in Gemini completes a T-square to Uranus and Saturn, suggesting this is a pivotal time of decision making. Several choices and options may be available. Saturn and Uranus need not be mutually exclusive. Both need to adapt and work together. This is a time of weighing up our options and making informed decisions. Getting all the facts is important.
Mars joins the Aquarian grouping of planets and Mercury will soon join too, highlighting this need to take action and bring about change.
At this second hit of the opposition of Saturn and Uranus, learning new skills and the exchange of ideas will help us reconcile Saturn’s traditional approach with the Uranian need to reform, so that new ideas can be grounded and tied to practical outcomes.
Leo Full Moon
Lunar Eclipse
10 Feb 2009
This Full Moon is another potent one; in fact it is a lunar eclipse. The Sun meanwhile is within 7 minutes of the healing centaur Chiron, while both Sun and Moon are making a series of quincunxes and semi-squares to Saturn and Uranus, forming 2x150 degree and 2x30 degree angles in the sky.
I am not sure if there is a name for this planetary pattern, but I am tempted to call it a “flint” or a “wedge”. (See the narrow green rectangle in above chart.)
Signs that are 30 degrees and 150 degrees apart have nothing in common. They are of a different element, quality and polarity, and yet signs which are right next to each other, (30 degrees and semi-sextile) share a common cusp. They are neighbours, and need to learn to get along with one another.
It seems highly synchronistic that the planets should make this pattern right now, as my book, Secrets of the Zodiac is about to be released which explores this very theme.
The zodiac is a map for our journey. Aries represents the new born infant, and Pisces the wise old sage, while the other signs symbolise the various stages of life and learning in between. In this book I explore the idea that we can learn from the sign which follows our own, and teach something to the sign before.
Secrets of the Zodiac will be available in early March.
In this Full Moon chart, Saturn can teach the Moon to be more comfortable about focusing on the small things, the little details it might be feeling unwilling to face. At this Full Moon, we can become more aware of the emotional nuances, the small things, little gestures and expressions of love that make us feel supported and nurtured. Emotional maturity is the theme here. It's time to behave like responsible grown ups, not like pentulant children who are only concerned with having their own needs met.
Meanwhile, Uranus in Pisces develops our conscious awareness and spiritual understanding by expressing itself with more compassion and embracing art, life and creativity in a spirit of cooperation and friendship.
This lunar eclipse will be visible in Australia.
Jupiter Mars conjunction
Feb 18 2009
Bountiful Jupiter and energetic Mars join forces at 10.06 Aquarius, within a degree of the North Node and marriage goddess Juno. The Aquarian emphasis suggests that as individuals we can co-operate and work in harmony with our wider community.
Jupiter and Mars help when we need to put in a big effort to make something happen. Though disputes may erupt, results are usually positive and action swift.
A mystic rectangle in this chart brings in the Sagittarian Moon and Pallas Athena in Gemini, which oppose each other, so women may play a significant role, expressing their ideas, get issues on the agenda and seeking more freedom.
Juno and Jupiter were husband and wife and they would often fight and argue, but through it all they stayed together. Although this combination seems to echo this potential for angry outbursts and conflict, the Aquarian flavour supports the maintenance of friendship, or at least a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood through it all. Both the male and female point of view should be respected and listen to.
Pisces New Moon
25 Feb 2009
This New Moon opposes Ceres the grain goddess in Virgo, a sign where she is comfortable and where she sorts and processes the bounty of nature.
The Moon and Sun are in the fertile sign of Pisces, so the energy of this New Moon supports the planting of seeds into fertile soil as one cycle of growth concludes and another commences.
The Sabian symbol for this New Moon is: Illuminated by a shaft of light, a large cross lies on rocks, surrounded by sea mist.
New Moons are seed moments where the spirit energy (Sun) is communicated to the soul (Moon). As the Moon begins to grow, waxing towards the next Full Moon, our experiences underline the cosmic message contained in each seed moment.
Ceres is close to the Earth now, and in Earth sign Virgo, so this New Moon emphasises the need to be attuned to our inner spirit as well as the Earth.
Dane Rudhyar says that the Sabian symbol for 7 Pisces symbolises a spiritual blessing which strengthens those who stand up for their own truth in the face of opposition.
