Transformational Astrology

July 2011

Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of July focuses on the powerful New Moon eclipse at the beginning of the month plus once again the important T-square of outer planets Saturn, Uranus and Pluto. The New Moon squares Saturn, now returned to direct motion after its June 12th station. Saturn thus emphasized is bringing its restrictive and yet constructive energy to the table of the changes promoted by Uranus-Pluto for one last monthly cycle before the T-square fades. The extreme polarization of our times – strongly symbolized by the Saturn leg of the T-square – is likely to continue through these summer months but will lessen markedly in September. Since in contrast the Uranus-Pluto square reaches the one-degree mark this month and stays close for the next several, we will gradually find that a more purely transformative thrust begins to take hold, fading slightly over the late fall and winter, to emerge in its greatest intensity yet by June of 2012. We therefore will see even further evidence than we have thus far of the massive transformation still to come begin to show itself over these climactic summer months. Does this mean that in the words that Bob Dylan famously penned nearly 50 years ago, the old guard will be forced to “get out of the [new road] if [they] can’t lend [their] hand,” that the times indeed are “a-changin’” ? Time will tell but it is certainly beginning to appear that some form of his prophetic vision will indeed once again be the case as was the case in the tumultuous decade of the sixties that this current one reflects.

The intense changes of our world will continue to manifest on a more personal level as well. The planetoid Chiron, termed in modern Western Astrology “the Wounded Healer,” is also strongly invoked by the Solar Eclipse of July 1^st. The eclipse Sun and Moon trine it; Mars, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto strongly aspect it, while Saturn and Mercury form a bi-quintile Yod to Chiron. Since an eclipse is good at bringing things to greater conscious awareness, we might expect that that hidden traumas of all kinds will become more apparent to us. So also will the knee-jerk reactions and dysfunctional behavior patterns that stem from such deep woundings, and our task when these dark places within us do surface is to remain in conscious contact with our emotions while putting at least a temporary hold on our reactivity. Only by accepting every part of our human inheritance at the deepest possible level are we able to love ourselves through the grief and rage inspired by early trauma and begin to move past it. The scary part of all this is what might come up for us during the first two weeks of this present month, but that is also our greatest blessing, since what comes to conscious attention at this time is ripe for healing and eventual integration.

As this monthly cycle unfolds and our awareness continues to grow, we are able to feel creative limitation evolve into a sense of our own empowerment, but it won’t be easy. The First Quarter Moon of Thursday, July 7^th, conjuncts Saturn and strongly aspects Neptune in mystical Pisces. Then the next week can bring us to new levels of self-actualization as the Moon opposes Mars and conjuncts the recent lunar eclipse degree, followed by the Full Moon on the 14th. The Last Quarter Moon of Friday, July 22^nd, adds to this process as the Sun and Moon respectively enter Leo and Taurus. The hard work consists in figuring out who we really are, including a strong dose of out-of-this-world spiritual component, and then in acting on this realization to form a better basis for security beyond ordinary superficial reliance on material gains or beliefs conditioned by consensus thinking. The stages of this powerful lunation cycle demand no less.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). Ideas abound, Aries. You are on course to really begin to recreate yourself and your values– and the basis for your emotional security – out of the failed premises of the past. You are going through a birth process that is sometimes difficult but never dull, making an embattled stand for your cherished beliefs both new and old. You might wind up questioning everything that you ever knew, or thought you did, but there’s an excellent chance of it all coming out somehow right in the end. Your basic quality of character, the strength of your resolve, and your trust in the benevolence of the surrounding universe will see you through.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  You are feeling a joyful energy for change these days Taurus, and it is a truly spiritual direction that you are taking. As you contemplate your future now nothing makes sense that does not partake of the numinous and unseen world behind what is available to your senses five. As Whitman puts it you “contain multitudes.” There is a practical side to your desire for self-transcendence now that is appealing and that balances your wilder notions although might also feel limiting in the short term. With so many alternatives presenting themselves to you a certain degree of uncertainty and confusion is also inevitable. Optimistic thinking will take you far, but perhaps you are not meant to so easily get yourself all the way out of this particular dilemma.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). Your full potential is opening up before you, Gemini. As you search out new fields to conquer and focus on what is ahead for you rather than on what is behind, it’s almost as though what has gone before no longer even exists. This dream of the future unfolding is the stronger and overcomes any illusion of past incompleteness. It’s scary taking on a new kind of responsibility for yourself in moving into a better internal relationship with Spirit actualizing itself through your life, and yet this vision is so compelling that it outweighs all other considerations. Your life as it develops and as you respond to the evolutionary pressures within you and outside of yourself is simply allowing you to become who you really are.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) This is the first month of the rest of your life, Cancer. A new phase is upon you with the July 1^st Solar Eclipse in your sign. You are now more fully yourself, and it might be best to simply accept the changes that continue to rain down. You recognize that you are being put through the ringer, but for good reason, as your work in the world and the way that you come across to others turns topsy-turvy as a result. This all goes better when you relax and let the cosmos have its way with you. As the poet says, “Why, that my chaff might fly, my grain lie shear and clear!” You are somehow allowing Spirit to mold you and sculpt you, removing whatever is not your truest self.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) This is an odd month for you, Leo; you are uncharacteristically feeling a little secluded. You may find that it is increasingly important that you reach out to your peers and yet this is an intention that does not easily find its resolution. You are meanwhile connecting to a quiet and calm space within you that is slowly transforming your approach to life from the inside out. Brothers and sisters and the way that you communicate your deepest thoughts to others create an important t feedback loop to your own process which is a largely internal one. Your insights are dazzling in their essential clarity and when you can find the way to get them across to others then you will really see them shine. They magnify in significance and serve to further the common good as you see it.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) it is an entirely new ballgame for you, Virgo. Your wishes are powerful now, and lead you toward new horizons. Self-expression is a transformative area, a changing landscape throwing you out of your normal orbit, and putting you more in tune with a deep sense of intuitional purpose that takes you beyond former limits. You are coming to greater consciousness regarding old patterns of dysfunctional behavior that have perhaps held you back for far too long, and that with the help of the feedback from constructive partners are starting to shift. You have been feeling stuck, shying away from necessary adjustments that you fear will take you out of your comfort zone. All that may be about to change with the power of this monthly cycle.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) You are taking it over the top, Libra. This is the month that the pace of change really accelerates for both your work in the world and also for your on-going internal transformation. It is important to recognize that far from being a distraction, the one is not really possible without the other. Partners in your life provide much of the catalytic excitement and part of the joy, but the real opportunity is for deep connection within the bounds of your very own mind and heart. As you sink into more meaningful resonance with the surrounding cosmos you might return to your own profound center and, as they say, know that place as though it were the very first time.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You are undergoing a sea-change, Scorpio. Nothing that is fundamental to your former life will be left untransformed, but with your reaction to the events of this month and the next will turn “rich and strange.” Day-to-day existence becomes surprisingly unpredictable. Hidden and even difficult places within you are likely to be revealed and to present themselves to your conscious self for acceptance and healing. Significant partners in your life have an important role to play in illuminating your way down and through your own deep places and in keeping up your spirits during the course of these inner explorations. It is important that you keep the communication flowing in order to achieve an entirely necessary balance.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) You are in for some serious fun this monthly cycle, Sagittarius. You must yield up any preconception of what is in store as you explore yet another new edge for yourself in a culmination of recent developments. You are fundamentally optimistic while still remembering – as you dream large – to cross the T’s and dot the i’s of the necessary details of life. The world is not as you have always known it but is far richer, and far stranger. The very grounding of your being has been pulled out from under you and it’s disconcerting. An unexpected blessing awaits you though when you dig down deep into your process, as you find your fear and then proceed to move beyond it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) Your transformation has merely begun, Capricorn. You are a little like the weary traveler who has surmounted hill after hill just to find that the truly daunting heights are only now fully revealed. Still there is solace in the notion that you will emerge on the other side a wiser and much different person than when you started. Partnership holds promise for you, as you are currently seeing your intentions and your possibilities in this area in an entirely new light. Your world is being rocked, sometimes gently, at moments quite a bit more suddenly, and it is the rocking to which you are going to have to become accustomed rather than any temporary resting place that you might happen to find along the way.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) This is an unusual time of questioning, Aquarius. You are seeking the truth about your life path on this earth; why now of all times and whither, and why me in particular? Communication with your peers is the name of the game for you lately and helps you to grow in some uncharacteristic directions that involve far more inner than outer exploration. Everything is undefined and vague and a bit of a mystery from the standpoint of the surface layers. Education is one source of assurances but it won’t be the kind that comes from books. In the caverns of inner desire and intuitive grappling for big answers you’ll find that experience is not just the best but actually the only teacher.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) You are in a fantastic place right now, Pisces; this is your time. Although lately you can be more sensitively alert to the ups and downs of your surroundings than is usual even for you, your self-expression and dramatic presence is a torrent right now when you let it out. You have only to ensure that you disregard lingering voices of negativity and self-criticism that seem to come from nowhere but are actually holdovers from the past. When you get out of your own way you are constructively engaged in the process of finding your true self and crafting future plans that are more consistent with who you really are. Putting all that positive energy to good use feels like a win-win because it is.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

Transformational Astrology

June 2011

Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of June focuses on the powerful summer eclipses plus once again the important T-square of outer planets Saturn, Uranus and Pluto, along with a stationing Neptune in the first degree of its sign.

These next three months will see the closest square yet between Uranus and Pluto. Beginning with the Solar Eclipse of June 1^st and through to the very end of August, the pressures of the times that we are already seeing will build dramatically. As Uranus and Pluto, and Saturn also, continue to form the arms of a vice or the pot and lid of a giant pressure cooker they enable us to squeeze through the narrow passage of a birth canal that we would otherwise be unable to pass. In another way of looking at it, there are necessary changes that we must make in our own lives and in the life of the society around us that will not be made without the dire extremity that renders them if not palatable at least possible to digest. The radical transformative pressure of Pluto in combination with Saturn and Uranus are catalyzing changes that we all know are needed but which we might have trouble springing for if times were flowing more easily.

The presence of Neptune in Pisces, stationing early this month and aspected by Uranus and by Jupiter as well, lends a spiritual quality to the proceedings and also makes for a large degree of confusion surrounding what exactly is happening. The June 1^st and July 1^st Solar Eclipses aspect Saturn as well as Pluto, so that the conservative backlash to revolutionary change that we have been seeing from the public squares of the Middle East to the halls of congress will also continue in intensified form over a politically heated summer.

The Solar Eclipse of June 1^st closely trines Saturn and forms an inconjunct to Pluto, bringing their square into far greater prominence. We are likely to see conservative elements greatly intensified. Since Saturn is at this moment in a biquintile yod with Mars and Chiron, the difficulties and painful qualities of this situation are also likely to become apparent. Meanwhile Uranus lurks only a few degrees away from its forming square with Pluto, so that the motivation for necessary revolutionary change becomes more intensified over the course of June and then on into July.

The Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse of Wednesday, June 15^th, might make for a more peaceful resting place between the Solar Eclipses, since Neptune in Pisces, now retrograde, is triggered by Jupiter and Uranus. This goes for the Summer Solstice of June 21st as well, which will be a particularly spiritually enlivened moment in time. There is a joyful quality to the middle of the month as we concentrate on positive solutions rather than the obvious problems that plague us.

Then the last week of the month, culminating in the Solar Eclipse and New Moon of Friday, July 1^st, once again brings the Uranus-Pluto square into sharp prominence. The long hot summer that follows, the first of several more still to come, might have similarities to that of the Watts riots of 1965 which was the kick-off to the revolutionary ardor of the late sixties. In all this we must remember that the chaos that we are seeing in the society at large, and potentially in our own lives as well, is but the prelude to an unknown birth. We have the opportunity now to move in either direction, to a higher or to a lower state of consciousness and choice. With the grace of Spirit and with our own best efforts we can try to make this special time that we are living through count for the highest.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). The beat of massive change continues, Aries.  As the pressure for total transformation grows, so too does your understanding of what you are up to, from the largest possible perspective. You are gathering the resources that you will need for your next stage of personal evolution, not least of which is the willingness to go there. You are both inspired and forward-looking at this time, discovering surprising enlightenment around each corner, and yet holding back somewhat. Communication is key. You are encountering a conservative trend within you perhaps enacted by significant partners in your life, and secretly embodying your own balancing tendencies. By see-sawing in this way you are nevertheless steadily moving onward, integrating boundless enthusiasm with a more practical and grounded sense of both forward momentum and the limitations to your progress.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  This is a powerful time for you, Taurus, one filled with numinous grace and yet practical concerns as well that can come to dominate your thinking if you let them. What currently focalizes your attention is your concept of available resources. You are successfully fighting off perceived lack with the help of the inspiration of angel guidance from the depths of your psyche, slowly transforming your perspective as you prepare to more fully enter a major new phase. Service to others around you is an important touchstone. You have reached a plateau of relative comfort in the midst of change. It’s been a long road to where you have currently aligned yourself and it is a longer one still to go, but the truest joy is not with the arrival but the journeying.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). Spring is popping for you Gemini, both physically and metaphorically. Yet even as you reach for adventurous exploration, you are solidifying a more conservatively centered sense of yourself. New beginnings are powerfully constellated at this juncture. You will find that the cosmically illuminated component of your existence is calling you forward even more poignantly then the merely physical side that is occupied with the routine details of life and living. Although you are also fraught with second guessing, so that with another part of yourself you are holding back, there can be great satisfaction in your drift toward the mystical and the numinous. The tension of these opposite tendencies is creative, and leads you forward, by fits and starts, to precisely the place that you have needed all this time to go.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) This is your season, Cancer, and it is up to you to make the most of it. The eclipses of June provide seismic shocks that lead you to inner realizations that are startling and also life-changing. You are being called upon to exercise worldly activities in a new way that takes Spirit more fully into account. You could be rocking your existence after the June 21^st Summer Solstice, although leading up to that time you are far more internally centered. This has been an interesting spring for you, as you weather the storms of major shake-ups and gather your energies to expand your capabilities in a truly mystical fashion. You wind up by assuming all the consensus thinking that has lead you to this point and then going beyond it.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) This is an amazing month for you, Leo, when you will have flashes of new insights and get a better handle on future direction. Your wishes are powerful now so you must choose wisely. As you feel the future moving toward you at express-train speed, new perspectives abound, including negative imaginings. The glass feels at times half-empty, at times half-full, and mostly overflowing. This is wonderfully exciting from the standpoint of revolutionary ardor and ultimately of spiritual development. Your task is to sort out, as carefully as you are able, the wheat of true evolutionary experience from the chaff of spinning your wheels, which includes illusion and even delusion. If you can achieve that you will be sitting pretty, or at least as pretty as you can, in this challenging and stimulating new world.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) This is an excellent month for you, Virgo, especially if you enjoy being shot out of a cannon. After a period of relative stagnation, there are changes that you are now ready to make and multifaceted talents to dive into. A fundamental instability at the very core of your being is scary but productive. Even though the outcome is uncertain, there is no time like the present for exploiting your opportunities and moving forward. You are still held back by perhaps too great a reliance on the solid ground of what you already know, so that the progress that you seek must stitch together all your assets, including past beliefs and impossible dreams and longings. Once you get over your natural hesitation, it is a vibrant and exciting future that awaits you.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) This is the first month of the rest of your life, Libra. Transformation is coming, sometimes fast and sometimes more slowly, as you prepare to enter into a brave new world of your own devising. You are moving with quiet deliberation now, placing each foot ahead of the other with carefully thought out intention, and yet each step hopefully aligning in a generally forward direction. Intimacy with others around you and especially with yourself is a rapidly moving target but one well worth pursuing as you feel your way forward. You are seeing the world in an entirely different fashion these days, and that changed vision paves the road ahead of you as you slide along into more rapid movement over the course of an intense summer still to come.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You are in this world but not of it right now, Scorpio, feeling your way forward in a dreamy period of time where nothing is entirely what it seems. You are engaged in real-world activities it’s true, especially those concerned with significant partnership connections in your life, but one part of your mind is elsewhere. You recognize that you are on the road to important life development and that it takes a fully integrated self to achieve it. You might be missing that boat when you feel yourself slipping into old tapes of conditioning or automatic responses corresponding to consensus thinking or to the lack of creative thought. You do better by making your own headway, in your own fashion, and you help the world to transform around you when you do.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) Welcome to the patterns that connect, Sagittarius. There are moments in your awareness when others in your universe become quite important almost in spite of yourself, and this is one of them. Relationship is a big item for you this month but the truly startling news is the way that helpful partners and the input from your surroundings filter in to enhance your own ongoing set of realizations and transformations. These in the end involve nothing less than a wholesale revisioning and revitalizing of your entire basis for self-knowledge and for finding emotional security in this world. You are moving slowly in the direction of greater reliance on Spirit inside you for providing the answers and although you can momentarily dam it up there is nothing that can ultimately stop this flow.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) You are both outer and inner oriented right now, Capricorn. The information comes over you in waves and can be entirely confusing, or else ignored, and then seems to recede once again into non-awareness. While you are firmly in the saddle you are out there rising so successfully and so far ahead of the pack that it might tend to get a little lonely. But inside you feel stirrings of a vastly different nature that can alert you to more radical changes still to come. This year and next represent a huge changing of the guard that ultimately serves your own best interest although it might not seem that way in the turbulence of going over the waterfall. These next few weeks of summer are the doorway into a new world.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) This is a huge month for progress, Aquarius, but it is progress of an unusual kind. Your creativity is on fire with loads of artistic production going on and also realizations regarding how the world around you ticks. Your energy is focused more than usual on home and family and the exploration of your inner world. Past patterns of behavior could come to light as a result and be up for review and revision. This all serves to further an incipient transformation of ideals and values that has been ongoing but underground and now burgeoning to the surface of your awareness. You are fully present to the world of events and circumstances but it is your own changing internal compass to which you are ultimately attuned.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) This is an unusual month for you at the beginning of an unusual summer, Pisces. You are paradoxically making rapid progress and yet remaining somewhat stuck in the mud, doing well and enjoying life and yet conflicted. You are comfortable in your own skin and reaching out to others around you in new ways. You are also conscious of the places of insufficiency that you can discover at the deepest layers of your being when you take the trouble to look closely. Home and family concerns are key for you right now, and the information that you get from others helps you find your own way. You win when you accept everything and take it all extremely seriously and also lightly, trusting in the ultimate beneficence of the surrounding cosmos to take you home.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

Transformational Astrology

May 2011

Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of May focuses still on a potent Aries line-up, this time with the New Moon in the next sign of Taurus. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are also still very much highlighted. The start of this month represents a slightly different emphasis than with the very strong New Moon at the beginning of April, some thirty days ago, and could be conceived as a follow-up to that powerful initiatory energy, since Aries and Taurus are both involved. The emphasis remains on initiative, represented most significantly by Mars conjunct Jupiter in fiery Aries, plus Uranus in Aries in aspect to the Sun and Moon.

It is also quite significant that Saturn in Libra, on the opposite side of the Zodiac from Uranus, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter, is getting to earlier and earlier degrees of that sign, and therefore coming into closer square with Pluto in early Capricorn. We have this spring and summer a final run of the contentious Saturn-Pluto square – a configuration of polarization that astrologer Richard Tarnas has termed “conservative empowerment.” The last gasp of this important configuration is closest over the next two months, and is definitely significant as can clearly be seen in the polarization between liberal and conservative forces both in the area of national politics and across the world. This dynamic and tense aspect exhibits an angular distance of only about 4 degrees through June, widening to a bit more in July and August and fading away after that.

Meanwhile, in another echo of the revolutionary note that sounded so resonantly in the sixties, the Uranus-Pluto square becomes closer and closer over these same summer months, leading up to about 1 degree of separation in August. Uranus and Pluto separate slightly over the end of 2011, then make their first exact hit in June of 2012. They are indeed very close now and a definite factor in the angst and the glorious revolutionary quality of these difficult days in the spring of 2011. Years ago, astrologers were led to remark that in these climactic years of the lead-up to the first exact pass in 2012 there would be people out in the streets in protest to social and economic conditions, with massive changes in store long before this decade of the “turbulent teens” is over. This is a prediction that is already beginning to come true, as can be seen with the recent mass unrest in Egypt and the rest of the Middle East, as well as with the public protest over collective bargaining in Madison, Wisconsin – a protest that is far from over.

The Taurus New Moon that begins the month represents another dynamic configuration in a series of powerful lunations. Neptune, newly entered into Pisces and therefore emphasized, is also closely aspected by this New Moon, meaning that idealism, fantasy and illusion are all strongly constellated while the dire conditions heralded by the Uranus-Pluto-Saturn T-square also continue to play themselves out. Deception and manipulation of the truth to serve political ends is one way that this energy can manifest, although self-delusion is another, which is one mechanism of denial. It is up to our intuition – also strong within us right now – to separate truth from illusion. Mercury is also powerful over the first half of the month as it regains its Zodiacal longitude, emerging from its retrograde shadow by the 11^th. The stellium in Aries is active right up to the 15^th, two days before the Scorpio Full Moon. The last half of May is quieter, a time for thoughtful follow-up and course correction based on the startling information coming our way over the important first two weeks.

All in all, this is an extremely dramatic monthly cycle, especially in its first half, and an important lead-up to the dramatic changes still to come over the summer.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). It’s a powerful time, Aries. You are still quite energized and charged up with the multifaceted possibilities of your situation, only now you are able to even more concretely pursue them to their logical or perhaps their emotional conclusion. Your ideas continue to come fast and furious, and not all of them can blossom. Sudden left turns come up out of the blue, and before you know it you’re taking a new byway. Relationship twists and turns are only part of the story. These have their better than expected endings that are also beginnings. Tough love has its own rewards, so that you are learning more than you ever thought you would as you advance, seemingly haphazardly, toward an unknown outcome.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  This is a time of full-on intensity that moves you closer to your spiritual purpose, Taurus. You are reaching for the happy end of the rainbow and although you might have to half-close your eyes to see the treasure that awaits you there in terms of inner goals, you are finally beginning to see how to reach them. You have spent the previous month mulling over your possibilities, operating from a largely internal standpoint as you attempt to discern the real reasons behind what you are currently up to. Mere financial reward no longer seems to cut it. Now, in this current cycle, you are reaching for the gold ring down inside yourself that represents your truest motivation.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). You are ready to let fly your arrow, Gemini, although you must be aware also that it could outstrip its intended target by miles and lead you into unexpected results. Of course, these might indeed prove better than what you originally had in mind. The mystical side of life calls to you quite strongly right now and lends a mysterious and internally fulfilling subtext to everything that you say and do. You are on a fortunate path to perceived excellence that transcends ordinary thinking and goals, moving you toward an essentially artistic set of agendas and pursuits. You are in some ways held back by caution, but this has the benefit of allowing your wine to more fully mature before you uncork the bottle and plunge ahead.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) This is the first month of the rest of your life, Cancer. You are in the midst of a big push forward and yet also holding yourself firmly in place so as not to float away. Part of you wants to stay rooted in the past, and in the safe haven of your home base, while another and larger part of yourself yearns to go sailing out on the high seas of the adventure that calls to you. Deciding your course might turn out to be difficult, if not impossible, and there are also unintended consequences that could complicate your plans. Be that as it may, your choices are still extremely powerful at this juncture, and whatever you decide will prove to be an important springboard for future development.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) This is a month of contrast and of strong initiative, Leo. You are reaching for the stars while still remaining grounded in concrete reality, or at least partly so.  There is idealism present in your evolving situation now, and also a tendency for illusion or fantasy that could prove troubling if you are not willing to take everything slowly and to look carefully before you take each step. You are seeing the world in a qualitatively novel way and this new set of insights informs everything that you think and do. You find yourself once more in the midst of a powerful set of changes – crossing an enormous ocean of belief to a farther shore – and it will leave you feeling quite different on the other side than when you started.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) Welcome one more time to the roller coaster, Virgo. You are entering yet another entirely different phase with everything that you do, based on changing perspectives within your conceptual framework. These perhaps in part stem from exploring new horizons and also perhaps from significant relationships in your life, which currently represent something of an idealized view and a moving target. There is a jumping off point that you reach and then reach again, and although you are so tempted to hold back you must in one form or another take the leap that is offered.  All this might lead you to an overwhelming tsunami of questioning that will only really hit you during the last full week of the month.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) This month is a strong one for you, Libra. There have been surprises, and there might be even more coming your way, especially relationship-wise. Changes like these go better when they are not resisted, although they provide you with much food for thought and perhaps even a few more wrinkles in the fabric of your ongoing personal evolution. If you resist what comes up for you at this time you will suffer, that’s just the way of change. But you sail through if you allow things to unfold without trying to steer the unknowable outcome. Throughout these relative trials, you are keeping what the British call a “stiff upper lip;” this serves you well and keeps you on a steadier course than you might otherwise adopt, but everything is best in moderation, even restraint.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Sufi rainbows of internal bliss make for a true cause of celebration this month, Scorpio.  You are entering upon a quietly mystical space that has you also feeling exuberant in service to those around you. There is extraordinary punch in your personal energy field but is directed toward daily routine and a sense of duty that could feel like obligation until you turn it around and see it for what it is, a commitment to your Higher Self. You find yourself taking a more active role in partnering with significant others in your life, and in discovering joy in the smallest of details. There are rational and artistic motivations but they all translate into the spiritual sense of finally doing what you came into this life to perform.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) This is a confusing period of time for you Sagittarius, and yet also an extremely rewarding one if you take the time to look more closely within. You are discovering a truly expanded sense of who you really are, in concert with your angel guidance. Everything remains the same and yet everything has changed. There is an element of looking ahead with breathless anticipation and also one of slowly feeling into a more conservative streak that honors the past and its limitations. You are in fact both consolidating the insights that have been coming at you fast and furious lately, and simultaneously launching yourself forward into the world in an entirely different way than with previous growth spurts, so that you are this time on more solid ground.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) You are asking the universe what you are currently living for, Capricorn. The evolutionary pressure of these recent months and even years had been easing off, but is now intensified, and your feet are once more being held to the fires of circumstance. Everything is clicking along but with an undercurrent of massive deep-level change. Home is where the heart is, but yours is in extreme flux, so that your internal guidance center and the basis for your psychological security is somewhere up in the air. Your communication reflects other-worldly priorities as much as worldly ones. You gain by trusting the information that comes your way at this time, no matter how far it seems to stray from the more mundane concerns that are your forte.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) It’s a curious universe that you find yourself in these days, Aquarius. There’s important development that awaits you this month and it partakes of revisiting your roots. You are drawn toward the mystical, and to your psychological grounding. Startling information continues to come your way and it might be the occasion for a learning experience that transcends any that you had in school, giving you the chance to complete the course work for a more unusual diploma than the one that you wound up with. You are building the foundation for a different type of service to the world at large, and although in one way nothing is certain any more, in another that makes for a refreshing change, and a return to wonder.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) You are in a good place these days, Pisces, or at least moving in the right direction. A seed for the future has recently been planted and the seed has fallen on fertile ground. You are more than ready to break free from at least a few of the shackles of the past. Something seems to be holding you back from a total assault of those ramparts, but it might also be a healthy strategy to “look before you leap” and be very sure of your ground before you attempt to cross it. You are collecting yourself and the information you will require before a full-on exploration of your depths, so all is indeed well. Your way forward at this time leads you down and through the deeper layers of your psyche before surfacing.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

April 2011

by Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of April focuses on Mercury in retrograde, an Aries lineup as the month takes off and also once again the outer planets: Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Mercury is in retrograde all month long, when you count the shadow period – the time when it is still catching up to the Zodiacal degree where it began to go backward – so we might expect the usual symptoms of missed communications and false starts. This is a particularly powerful Mercury Retrograde, and the times of its most heightened activity are the 9^th, 17^th and the 23^rd. Mercury will be totally free of its shadow by next month, on May 11^th or so.

The Aries New Moon, taking place on Sunday, April 3^rd, in the beginning weekend of the month, features a long chain of planets in Aries, each feeding off the energies of the others. Mars and Uranus, in the beginning degrees of the sign and in almost exact conjunction, are followed by the Sun and Moon at the 14th degree – a degree with a particularly powerful Sabian Symbol – conjunct Jupiter and directly opposed to Saturn across the Zodiac at the 14^th degree of Libra. Finally, in the last decant of Aries, Eris and Mercury are in conjunction. The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon is a serpent encircling a man and a woman, representing the process of transcending polarity in conscious evolution, and certainly that is precisely what these climactic times are all about.

Mars conjunct Uranus – and at the beginning of Mars’ own sign of Aries – brings a creative spark of enlightened activity to the fore. It is an exciting time to be alive right now, and also, we must note, a time to temper the headstrong rush of activity with a dose of caution. It is definitely in the cards to go overboard with sudden enthusiasm and accidents are more than possible. Saturn opposed to Jupiter brings in this corrective energy of limitation as a counterweight to the rebellious and forward-going energy represented by Uranus and we do well to heed it during this powerful and climactic month.

Since Saturn, retrograde in Libra and exactly opposed to both the New Moon and Jupiter, is also now in forming square to Pluto, there is a great deal of emphasis on the darker side of limitation. Rick Tarnas, in his ground-breaking astrological study Cosmos and Psyche, refers to Saturn-Pluto as “conservative empowerment.” This can be seen in reaction to the forward-going energy of Uranus in square to Pluto. So we have Uranus newly in Aries – and being given a kick this month by Mars – urging us to go forward, while Saturn holds us back, thereby pulling us in at least two directions at once. The revolutionary energy of Uranus has been prominent for weeks now, as evidenced by the Mid-East protest movement that has toppled at least one prominent dictator so far, and the reaction to that movement.

Now, with Saturn-Pluto, we will be seeing an even greater resurgence of conservative backlash within the collective. In our own lives as well, we will continue to deal with disillusion and loss of faith in ourselves, just as we are also getting a jolt of new energy to go forward and accomplish great things, freeing ourselves from the shackles of the past. We are getting both contrary impulses simultaneously, and this is complicated by Pluto in square to both Saturn and Uranus. We are thus experiencing a final surge of the Saturn-Uranus-Pluto T-square from last summer, with all its potential drama. We win when rather than experiencing defeat we make these difficulties an occasion for learning and growth of character.

Pluto in his turn, stations on April 9^th, squared by Mars in Aries, and is therefore very powerful in the midmonth timeframe. This midmonth time is also when Mercury retrograde conjuncts the Sun, and when Neptune enters Pisces for several months leading up to this summer. The entrance of Neptune into Pisces brings his planetary archetype of compassion and selflessness more fully into play. This is an energy that is also idealized in nature, wanting the best for everyone, and perhaps too, an energy somewhat confused by real-world considerations. We will very much need to access the sense of compassionate oneness with all the rest of humankind that Neptune brings. We are all in the same boat, as we are increasingly reminded, and the boat is leaking.

The Full Moon in Libra takes place on Sunday, April 17; along with the Sun and Moon, Mars and Saturn are now opposed, making it difficult to get things done. Retrograde Mercury conjuncts Mars – exact on the very next day. Neptune and Pluto are also powerfully aspected at this time, Neptune by parallel, so the outer planet energies continue to be powerfully invoked. These energies take us literally out of this mundane world. Compassion is with us now, which we need both for ourselves and for others within the pressure cooker of the evolutionary impulse provided by Uranus and Pluto in combination. Their square is well within orb, and draws ever nearer right through the summer. These times are tough now and we need to be even tougher if we are to survive – and to prosper artistically – in the midst of creative chaos.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). It’s all new, Aries. It is an exciting and novel phase that is beginning for you now, taking off with an eccentric burst of energy right from the first weekend of the month. You usually get a boost from the springtime, but this time it’s literally over the top. Partnership with significant others represents a steadying influence for you right now, that serves to balance you out and ground your creativity to your ultimate benefit. Holding back as well as jumping forward is definitely one of the joys of this climactic time period. Surprises lead you into uncharted territory that turns into powerful insight when you pause in your onrushing forward momentum for the briefest instant to look around you and allow your intuition a chance to pay attention.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  You have grown tired of the same old rut and yet may have hesitated to jump the tracks, Taurus, until now. There is an important opening this month that propels you into a new way of looking at the world. Ready or not, here it comes, and it includes the best glimpse that you might ever have of your own secret internal workings. Intuition tells you which way it is that you need to go. You are gloriously idealistic now and ready to be of true service to others. You might finally be available for a novel approach combining conscious and unconscious; a sense of freedom and simultaneously a sense of dutiful responsibility.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). You are entering into what is fundamentally an optimistic time period now, Gemini, even though you are also left with a feeling of déjà vu and a sobering reminder that everything is not exactly what it might appear to be on the surface. Let your faith win out and you will be the better for it, even if things do change once you have set your course in any one particular direction. Since your ruler Mercury is retrograde this month it might be best to take a wait and see attitude for eventual outcomes. You have the power now to imagine a future life path that really works for you instead of one that just pretends. This is a marvelous opportunity and not to be missed, even if the devil really is in the details of working it through over the next weeks and months.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) You are going all-out for professional goals right now, Cancer, and mostly winning. There are still many surprise turns of the road and changes in attitude to contend with and things do not simply take their normal course of action, but basically you are forging ahead. While taking it to the top and going all out for what you believe in, and where you feel your greatest contribution lies, you are simultaneously holding back and reconsidering your position. In so doing you connect more fully to your home and family. Midmonth bumpiness starting around April 11^th involves a series of trials that also serve you by providing tests of character. Security issues could arise in this context, as you contemplate even more deeply and fully who you really are.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) New horizons beckon, Leo. You are building a bridge to a different universe, and it involves new ways of seeing and of being, not so much of doing. Travel might well be involved but the emphasis is on the novelty of the perspective that is gained thereby. Even your day-to-day communication is more sober and serious and to the point, as you are called into greater conscious service to the surrounding collective. You are presented with not only a vision of the way things are and the way they could be, but of how you might be able to make the crucial difference. You have the lever that you need to move the world closer to your true heart’s desire, now all you need is the place to stand.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) This is the moment when you are being asked to put the pedal to the metal, Virgo, at least in terms of getting clear on your ultimate vision. No more fooling around with the potential for radical transformation in your life, it’s time to get serious in your commitment to change. You are exploring new ways of being and of grounding your experience with a sense of protection that does not flow from monetary considerations or the expectations of others but instead from a strong sense of your own inner worth. This month is more about the research necessary to rethinking your basis for security along with your creative presence in the world and your approach to intimacy. Next month you take off with it.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) This is a powerful month for you Libra, and one that is full of changes. You are very fixated on relationship considerations right now, and relationship is rising up to meet you. You are suspicious that there might be a better way of connecting with significant partners, and impatient to find it, even though it might be just a trifle impetuous to do so at this time. With Mercury retrograding through your partnership sector nearly all month long, you are reviewing and rethinking your position, with all the returns not yet in. Still you are more than aware that an important tide is turning, and it is likely to arrive more fully by next mid-month. Ready or not, here it comes, and it sweeps everything before it.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) A sudden change in the cosmic weather has you almost reeling, Scorpio, as you adopt a stronger stance on a helping role. You are going all out for education and ratiocination, and for connecting others up with a pathway forward for yourself that allows you to be of true service to the surrounding collective. Communication with others around you is key. You are jumping ahead of where you were standing only a few short weeks ago, desiring to make your daily existence count for more than a simple paycheck, but you still have much thinking and rethinking of your basic position before you are ready to commit. When you do finally launch, it will involve your deep interior process even more than your outer one.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) This is a deeply paradoxical month for you, Sagittarius. You have on the one hand a huge opening to better connection with yourself and with others, and the unleashing of all your natural creativity; while on the other something seems to be holding you back from too exuberant a display of personal fireworks. All this is complicated by the Mercury retrograde period that lasts virtually all month long, and which enjoins you to follow up and finish existing projects before launching yourself into new ones, no matter how keen the impulse. You do best to wait until perhaps mid-May to set out upon any brand new endeavors. Your unique individuality is sizzling right now, even so! Holding back can also be ultimately creative, concentrating your energies so that when you do finally release them it will prove to be even more amazing.

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) It’s a wild, wild world inside of you these days, Capricorn.  While still continuing to shine at outer world pursuits, you are feeling the queasiness of instability running through your sector of home and family. You are being rocked to the core. Mercury is retrograde in this area of your universe as well, so that you are busy reviewing familial arrangements which will continue to shift as the month wears on. You may be striving to hold on, but change in inevitable, perhaps dramatic and certainly surprising, and part of a larger cycle of transformation that has held you in its grip of tough love for the past year or more. Newfound possibility will eventually work its way into even your professional life, but there is no need to be afraid. Fore-warned is fore-armed.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) New information is coming your way, Aquarius, and whether you are ready for it or not, it is causing quit a stir in your psyche. Communicating your deepest truth to others around you might spur you on to new activity even though you might also be tempted to stay stuck in the mud of outmoded belief systems. With Mercury retrograde in your sector of communications you are also more inner than outer; reflective as opposed to ebullient. Whatever you are not yet ready to give up is in essence holding you back from where you need to be, but the natural caution that you are exhibiting also has its advantages. Sometimes it is better just to watch carefully, and to wait for the opportunity to reveal itself in no uncertain terms.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) You are fumbling your way forward, Pisces, although in fits and starts. There is a torturous winding way that leads you up from where you now dwell to whither you are going and this is the way that you must inevitably traverse. In the current stage of this years-long journey, you are taking off in some very new ways this month. You are like a butterfly escaping the net, and yet you are in such a complex process of transmutation, with so many rotations of the rotisserie, that it will probably be well into the next month of May before you see your safe landing place. When you do, however, you will know it, and know it all the better for all the twists and turns of your arriving.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

Transformational Astrology

March 2011

Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of March focuses on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Jupiter will be opposed to its archetypal counterpart Saturn for the latter half of the month, so that optimism and a defeatist sense of limitation will face off within our psyches.  Neptune also aspects Saturn by sesquiquadrate all month long, bringing a slightly cynical attitude to the proceedings. The big news of March is that Uranus will enter Aries on the 11^th there to join Jupiter. This is a strikingly huge occasion, bringing the unique and startling perspective of Uranus more fully into conscious awareness, and linking it up once more with Jupiter, since they are again in the same sign. The Spring Equinox takes place on March 20^th and will be more than a little wild, since at that time the Sun will conjoin Uranus.

As the month begins, Jupiter squares Pluto, so that the re-forming Uranus-Pluto square is triggered and very much in our awareness at this time as well. This will be increasingly so as the weeks unfold, leading up to a climactic summer. We are already seeing signs of this revolutionary influence, reminiscent of the period of the sixties, in the ongoing mass demonstrations across the Middle East.

The New Moon of Friday, March 4^th, features a strong dose of mystical and dreamy Pisces since five planets reside there, including Chiron and Mars, the Sun, Moon and Mercury. This Pisces line-up further emphasizes Neptune, which is hovering on the brink of its ingress into Pisces early next month. Saturn is strongly emphasized at this time as well, since all the traditional planets except Saturn form a tight cluster, within 90 degrees, across from Saturn. These planets are in fact contained within the close Pluto-Jupiter square from Capricorn to Aries. This implies that March is starting off with a bang rather than a whimper. Jupiter amps up the powerfully transformative power of Pluto, which is the energy to effect massive change in our lives. We have already seen a good deal of this sometimes overly extreme energy for personal and collective evolution and we will see more as events continue to unfold.

With the Full Moon configuration of March 19^th, the Sun and Moon in the last degrees of Pisces and Virgo closely conjunct and oppose Uranus as it enters Aries. The Jupiter–Saturn opposition is also highlighted. Jupiter suggests expansion and optimism toward the future, while Saturn, almost exactly opposed, symbolizes contraction and negativity, a sense of limitation. These planetary archetypes, fundamentally opposed in meaning as well as in these Full Moon skies, will bring out political polarities and drive us to somehow seek balance. Their push-pull is also triggered by the Last Quarter Moon of March 26^th, when this edge will also be most decidedly felt.

The Full Moon weekend of the 19^th and 20^th includes the Spring Equinox on Sunday the 20^th, and promises to be a particularly intense time. We are thrown forward into our future, ready or not, and do well to pay close attention to the changes that are coming toward us, and through us.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). This is a big month for you Aries. You are gathering necessary information from deep inside yourself, and using this more profound sense of knowing to illuminate your path forward. The major changes of last year are far from over and you are entering yet another growth spurt. You might feel as though you are caught up in dream worlds of your own imagining, but this is actually a productive time without the obvious trappings of productivity.  Everything within you is gathering for a more enlightened approach. Career initiatives are moving ahead, and more importantly your own basic sense of identity which is significantly linked  — but not constrained by – the way you see your work in the world progressing.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  Intuitional directives from your deeper Self provide a rich backdrop for your current service orientation, Taurus, as you see your life path laid out before you in greater detail than you have thought formerly. You are definitely in the world these days, but yet not entirely of it. You are coming out more strongly than ever, coexisting – although not always peacefully – within the realm of public commitment to an establishment game plan. The twist is that you are doing so now from the standpoint of inner perspective, and with a shot of loving kindness thrown in. The wishes that you make at this time for your future will eventually be granted to you, so wish wisely. The planning will take care of itself.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). The world is full for you right now, Gemini, maybe almost too full. Somewhere down inside you’d like a little alone time and you’re not always getting it. The demands of outer life might make it seem like you are in a wrestling match with yourself, and it’s difficult to tell who’s winning. This illusory tug of war continues throughout the month, and could involve the demands of group or collective activity versus the desire to find your own center, independent of the needs of others. You’re on a mission to discover your very own sense of creativity and to fully embrace it. As your self-concept evolves, the seeming conflict will ease. It helps when you decide to take everything less than seriously.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) You are feeling somewhere inside yourself just like the crab in your astrological symbol, Cancer, hiding down there in your shell. This first month of spring finds you still somewhat stuck in a rut, but with also some extraordinary resources at your disposal that can help to pull you out of it. You are developing a more compassionate nature that includes significant others in the equation in a new way.  A winter season of brilliant ideas has left you with some good ones that you can allow to mature into useful strategies for living. You are in a great position right now to apply some of this amazing talent to your life at large and to your family and home experience in particular.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) Your soft side is showing, Leo. You who are the great jungle cat and often attack with your claws or else threaten to, are now lying on your back and purring. You might also feel somewhat troubled as this is not your characteristic mode of operation. Never fear, your purpose is still strong, and as always exceedingly present; it’s just that you are now devoted to a dose of soul healing. As you forge deeper and more poignant links with important others in your life you are also, and more importantly, investing in profound connection with yourself. It’s exciting and freeing to find yourself in this way, carving, as the poet says, necessary and deeper ripples in the tissues of your mind.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) Your ship is coming in, Virgo, although it might not take the exact shape that you were expecting. These days you are feeling your way into better and more satisfying connection with surrounding cosmos, and that source takes many forms. Not the least of these is compassionate connection with significant others in your life, who provide both support and ongoing lessons. Another way to look at things is to say that painful realizations can be your helpful guideposts now as long as you look closely into the matter. As you make your way, an unexpected turn at an unknown crossroad derails your planned excursion. You might discover that the adventure of getting lost and then finding yourself again is well worth the investment in time and energy.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) The hits just keep on coming, Libra. You are reinventing yourself yet again in this current monthly time frame. Your soul purpose is strongly invoked, which has a lot to do with recognizing old patterns and responding to them with increased awareness, and also with choosing a new course and heading for your ship of state. The benefit at this time is that others around you are on board to help with your significant and necessary adjustments. You also have the courage of your convictions at your disposal now, so that only the smallest gesture is needed, a move toward wholeness that you have been contemplating for some time. The universe is calling. If you have the inclination, take the change; if you don’t have the inclination, take the change anyway.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You are stepping up to the plate one more time, Scorpio, and swinging away for the grandstand. Who knows how far you can get if you really let fly? Your creativity is rampant and coming from a compassionate place within you that is making a strong bid for attention almost to the exclusion of other factors. Your communication is also engaged and engaging, deepened and strengthened to the point that you might almost need to be on guard against too forceful of an approach. Surprising breakthrough is in store. What you are conveying to others at this time can be neatly turned around as advice to self, as long as you take the inner space for contemplation and realization.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) Can you slowly and steadily move forward, Sagittarius, while staying rooted in your own deeper experience? The path of service to others is the path of your own soul work, simultaneously. The road to the future opens before you and seems to represent a clean break from an increasingly distant past, and yet certainly partakes of that prior history as well. Old patterns revisited and made more conscious become exemplars of health and healing rather than dysfunction. You continue to be in the idea business, with so many and so varied thoughts constantly coming that it is all you that can do to keep up with them. It might help to organize via computer notes or a journal. Although your mind is wide-ranging, home is where your heart is.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) You are stable in word only these days, Capricorn. Even though you represent a pillar of your community with your focus even more than usual on outer- and achievement-oriented events and accomplishments, there are simultaneously tremendous seismic shifts cooking underground where no one is watching. Mystical interaction calls you now, reflected in heart-felt communication that surprises you with your own intensity and also delivers huge quantities of novel information. Your emotional center is deeply stirred, and also quite seriously shaken, as you are rocked to the very core of your personality. Making your new home on a traveling skateboard does not give you that totally secure feeling but it is exciting and extremely productive of new insights.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) Your real and your unseen worlds compete, Aquarius. Events have transpired lately to bring both strongly to your conscious awareness, even though they are fundamentally opposed. An important learning experience awaits you in the current month that might serve to bring these disparate parts closer together, although a final integration is still distant. The resources for this endeavor are arrayed to your advantage, in support of an inner pilgrimage. You are investigating more concretely important factors of higher mind – and your take on them – that have been brewing within your psyche for many months now without a clear resolution. This could involve perspective shifts or even travel plans. The latter half of the month is a good time to come to a more solid conclusion on these matters.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) It’s a strange and wonderful season, Pisces; the world is newly made and just for you. As this exciting and potentially challenging month unfolds, you are coming into yourself in many novel and different ways. There is the enjoyable mundane enthusiasm for the horizontal scene of everything that you can see and taste. Additionally there could be monsters to face in the form of old habitual patterns that startle and confound you, or undercover liaisons with spirit guides who whisper unexpected solutions. It’s a matter of sticking to your ideals, no matter what, even if they are confronted by looming critical voices that ultimately stem from inside yourself. Your values are shifting to accommodate changing circumstances, and yet remain constant in their service to your highest purpose.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

Transformational Astrology

March 2011

Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of March focuses on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Jupiter will be opposed to its archetypal counterpart Saturn for the latter half of the month, so that optimism and a defeatist sense of limitation will face off within our psyches.  Neptune also aspects Saturn by sesquiquadrate all month long, bringing a slightly cynical attitude to the proceedings. The big news of March is that Uranus will enter Aries on the 11^th there to join Jupiter. This is a strikingly huge occasion, bringing the unique and startling perspective of Uranus more fully into conscious awareness, and linking it up once more with Jupiter, since they are again in the same sign. The Spring Equinox takes place on March 20^th and will be more than a little wild, since at that time the Sun will conjoin Uranus.

As the month begins, Jupiter squares Pluto, so that the re-forming Uranus-Pluto square is triggered and very much in our awareness at this time as well. This will be increasingly so as the weeks unfold, leading up to a climactic summer. We are already seeing signs of this revolutionary influence, reminiscent of the period of the sixties, in the ongoing mass demonstrations across the Middle East.

The New Moon of Friday, March 4^th, features a strong dose of mystical and dreamy Pisces since five planets reside there, including Chiron and Mars, the Sun, Moon and Mercury. This Pisces line-up further emphasizes Neptune, which is hovering on the brink of its ingress into Pisces early next month. Saturn is strongly emphasized at this time as well, since all the traditional planets except Saturn form a tight cluster, within 90 degrees, across from Saturn. These planets are in fact contained within the close Pluto-Jupiter square from Capricorn to Aries. This implies that March is starting off with a bang rather than a whimper. Jupiter amps up the powerfully transformative power of Pluto, which is the energy to effect massive change in our lives. We have already seen a good deal of this sometimes overly extreme energy for personal and collective evolution and we will see more as events continue to unfold.

With the Full Moon configuration of March 19^th, the Sun and Moon in the last degrees of Pisces and Virgo closely conjunct and oppose Uranus as it enters Aries. The Jupiter–Saturn opposition is also highlighted. Jupiter suggests expansion and optimism toward the future, while Saturn, almost exactly opposed, symbolizes contraction and negativity, a sense of limitation. These planetary archetypes, fundamentally opposed in meaning as well as in these Full Moon skies, will bring out political polarities and drive us to somehow seek balance. Their push-pull is also triggered by the Last Quarter Moon of March 26^th, when this edge will also be most decidedly felt.

The Full Moon weekend of the 19^th and 20^th includes the Spring Equinox on Sunday the 20^th, and promises to be a particularly intense time. We are thrown forward into our future, ready or not, and do well to pay close attention to the changes that are coming toward us, and through us.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). This is a big month for you Aries. You are gathering necessary information from deep inside yourself, and using this more profound sense of knowing to illuminate your path forward. The major changes of last year are far from over and you are entering yet another growth spurt. You might feel as though you are caught up in dream worlds of your own imagining, but this is actually a productive time without the obvious trappings of productivity.  Everything within you is gathering for a more enlightened approach. Career initiatives are moving ahead, and more importantly your own basic sense of identity which is significantly linked  — but not constrained by – the way you see your work in the world progressing.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  Intuitional directives from your deeper Self provide a rich backdrop for your current service orientation, Taurus, as you see your life path laid out before you in greater detail than you have thought formerly. You are definitely in the world these days, but yet not entirely of it. You are coming out more strongly than ever, coexisting – although not always peacefully – within the realm of public commitment to an establishment game plan. The twist is that you are doing so now from the standpoint of inner perspective, and with a shot of loving kindness thrown in. The wishes that you make at this time for your future will eventually be granted to you, so wish wisely. The planning will take care of itself.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). The world is full for you right now, Gemini, maybe almost too full. Somewhere down inside you’d like a little alone time and you’re not always getting it. The demands of outer life might make it seem like you are in a wrestling match with yourself, and it’s difficult to tell who’s winning. This illusory tug of war continues throughout the month, and could involve the demands of group or collective activity versus the desire to find your own center, independent of the needs of others. You’re on a mission to discover your very own sense of creativity and to fully embrace it. As your self-concept evolves, the seeming conflict will ease. It helps when you decide to take everything less than seriously.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) You are feeling somewhere inside yourself just like the crab in your astrological symbol, Cancer, hiding down there in your shell. This first month of spring finds you still somewhat stuck in a rut, but with also some extraordinary resources at your disposal that can help to pull you out of it. You are developing a more compassionate nature that includes significant others in the equation in a new way.  A winter season of brilliant ideas has left you with some good ones that you can allow to mature into useful strategies for living. You are in a great position right now to apply some of this amazing talent to your life at large and to your family and home experience in particular.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) Your soft side is showing, Leo. You who are the great jungle cat and often attack with your claws or else threaten to, are now lying on your back and purring. You might also feel somewhat troubled as this is not your characteristic mode of operation. Never fear, your purpose is still strong, and as always exceedingly present; it’s just that you are now devoted to a dose of soul healing. As you forge deeper and more poignant links with important others in your life you are also, and more importantly, investing in profound connection with yourself. It’s exciting and freeing to find yourself in this way, carving, as the poet says, necessary and deeper ripples in the tissues of your mind.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) Your ship is coming in, Virgo, although it might not take the exact shape that you were expecting. These days you are feeling your way into better and more satisfying connection with surrounding cosmos, and that source takes many forms. Not the least of these is compassionate connection with significant others in your life, who provide both support and ongoing lessons. Another way to look at things is to say that painful realizations can be your helpful guideposts now as long as you look closely into the matter. As you make your way, an unexpected turn at an unknown crossroad derails your planned excursion. You might discover that the adventure of getting lost and then finding yourself again is well worth the investment in time and energy.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) The hits just keep on coming, Libra. You are reinventing yourself yet again in this current monthly time frame. Your soul purpose is strongly invoked, which has a lot to do with recognizing old patterns and responding to them with increased awareness, and also with choosing a new course and heading for your ship of state. The benefit at this time is that others around you are on board to help with your significant and necessary adjustments. You also have the courage of your convictions at your disposal now, so that only the smallest gesture is needed, a move toward wholeness that you have been contemplating for some time. The universe is calling. If you have the inclination, take the change; if you don’t have the inclination, take the change anyway.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You are stepping up to the plate one more time, Scorpio, and swinging away for the grandstand. Who knows how far you can get if you really let fly? Your creativity is rampant and coming from a compassionate place within you that is making a strong bid for attention almost to the exclusion of other factors. Your communication is also engaged and engaging, deepened and strengthened to the point that you might almost need to be on guard against too forceful of an approach. Surprising breakthrough is in store. What you are conveying to others at this time can be neatly turned around as advice to self, as long as you take the inner space for contemplation and realization.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) Can you slowly and steadily move forward, Sagittarius, while staying rooted in your own deeper experience? The path of service to others is the path of your own soul work, simultaneously. The road to the future opens before you and seems to represent a clean break from an increasingly distant past, and yet certainly partakes of that prior history as well. Old patterns revisited and made more conscious become exemplars of health and healing rather than dysfunction. You continue to be in the idea business, with so many and so varied thoughts constantly coming that it is all you that can do to keep up with them. It might help to organize via computer notes or a journal. Although your mind is wide-ranging, home is where your heart is.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) You are stable in word only these days, Capricorn. Even though you represent a pillar of your community with your focus even more than usual on outer- and achievement-oriented events and accomplishments, there are simultaneously tremendous seismic shifts cooking underground where no one is watching. Mystical interaction calls you now, reflected in heart-felt communication that surprises you with your own intensity and also delivers huge quantities of novel information. Your emotional center is deeply stirred, and also quite seriously shaken, as you are rocked to the very core of your personality. Making your new home on a traveling skateboard does not give you that totally secure feeling but it is exciting and extremely productive of new insights.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) Your real and your unseen worlds compete, Aquarius. Events have transpired lately to bring both strongly to your conscious awareness, even though they are fundamentally opposed. An important learning experience awaits you in the current month that might serve to bring these disparate parts closer together, although a final integration is still distant. The resources for this endeavor are arrayed to your advantage, in support of an inner pilgrimage. You are investigating more concretely important factors of higher mind – and your take on them – that have been brewing within your psyche for many months now without a clear resolution. This could involve perspective shifts or even travel plans. The latter half of the month is a good time to come to a more solid conclusion on these matters.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) It’s a strange and wonderful season, Pisces; the world is newly made and just for you. As this exciting and potentially challenging month unfolds, you are coming into yourself in many novel and different ways. There is the enjoyable mundane enthusiasm for the horizontal scene of everything that you can see and taste. Additionally there could be monsters to face in the form of old habitual patterns that startle and confound you, or undercover liaisons with spirit guides who whisper unexpected solutions. It’s a matter of sticking to your ideals, no matter what, even if they are confronted by looming critical voices that ultimately stem from inside yourself. Your values are shifting to accommodate changing circumstances, and yet remain constant in their service to your highest purpose.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

January 2011

Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of January focuses on Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Also, Mercury is still emerging from its retrograde shadow period, until mid-month. The reason that all the outer planets are configured in this important transition month into 2011, both astrologically and calendar-wise, is that they are very much a part of the January lunations, especially the Solar Eclipse of the early morning hours of January 4^th.  Taking place only a few days after New Year’s Day, this powerful Solar Eclipse links Pluto and Saturn, which are still roughly in square with each other, since it conjuncts Pluto while squaring Saturn quite closely. The eclipse also makes an ethereal quintile aspect to Uranus and Jupiter, which are exactly conjunct each other in late Pisces. It also makes a semi-square to Neptune and Chiron as well, also conjunct in the same degree of Aquarius as Jupiter and Uranus. With all the outer planets configured we will be inspired to move beyond our present dilemmas, one way or another. The outer planets are all about change, although they effect change with their very different energies in different ways. Enlightenment descends upon us quickly with Uranus, now prominently occurring with Jupiter in the sky, so that ideas for a better future come easily. Neptune, also quite prominent, presents us with ideals and with intimations of that which is beyond logical thought process, yet necessary for fully opening our hearts to each other. Pluto is the most drastic energy, and encourages us to be getting about our real business in being here whether we consider ourselves ready for that or not.

Saturn is also powerfully configured in this month’s sky. Saturn stations retrograde late in the month, around the 25^th, and its symbolism of a sense of limitation will be more poignantly felt at that time. This takes place at about 12 degrees beyond its perfect square position with Pluto, but the square returns next spring and early summer to within 4 degrees. Saturn with Pluto is dire, as we have already seen over the past few months; in our individual lives we might be tempted toward doom and gloom in line with the television pundits. In political terms Saturn with Pluto represents a conservative empowerment that has never fully faded in recent decades since the time that it was rebirthed in reaction to the leftward political movement of the sixties. This conservatism has real consequences for us all. There are many signs right now of this trend of turning away from the more enlightened progress that is also our legacy from the sixties.

After June, Saturn’s square with Pluto fades, and the Uranus–Pluto square becomes more important. This square is highlighted in the last week of January when Jupiter crosses over into Aries, squaring Pluto there while remaining in contact with Uranus, a mere 2 1/2 degrees away. Uranus in dynamic aspect with Pluto means that we are primed for radical departures from our pre-existing patterns, for better or for worse. Uranus represents the vision of future possibility that can lead us out of our rut, while Pluto is the wrecking ball that comes along to make way for drastic change.

The January 17^th time period also proves interesting. Not only is Mercury finally out of its retrograde shadow, but it also makes an exact conjunction with Pluto on this day, with the Moon opposed, triggering the conjunction. We will be all the more aware of our deeper desires and need for transformation. At the same time we will exhibit an intelligence that is slightly cynical and penetrating and that will see right to the heart of many matters.

Then, the mid-week Full Moon that follows, taking place on Wednesday, January 19^th, puts us in another place altogether, occurring as it does on the very verge of the humanistic energies of Aquarius and Leo. With this culmination to the eclipse energy that began the month we are engaged mentally and viscerally to move beyond ego and into cooperation with the social forces that encapsulate us. Only by each one of us making a difference will there result a different outcome, a rescue from the road that appears collectively before us and that leads us over a cliff. We are encouraged to make this difference not out of blind obedience to the dictates of consensus thinking, but by rising up out of our own unique individuality. And we must do so if we intend to make an all-important directional shift for the society around us, in these crucial and nearly ultimate times.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). You are coming once more around the mountain of your destiny in this brand-new year, Aries. You are very business oriented now, but with a twist, as you seek also to radically transform your outer world presence. Careening almost battle-like into situations, wild with an enthusiasm for your ideas that only grows as the weeks roll by, you must nevertheless watch and wait for the right opportunity to present itself. Consult your inner guidance at all times. Observe carefully so that you will not be fooled as the universe like a magician pulls each fresh rabbit out of the hat. A false appearance can often masquerade as true quality.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  This is an active month for you, Taurus, as suddenly everything seems possible. A new you is emerging from the cocoon of your winter slumber. You are transitioning out of a contemplative end-of-year period with bells on and with only some small degree of trepidation. As you imagine a better future for yourself and seek to transform your beliefs to match your inner knowing, your old order is rapidly changing.  Travel plans might still be on the front burner but these too are swiftly evolving. There is plenty of excitement and no room for doubt; you are getting another take on where you are actually heading with your life right now and it’s no place where you have ever been before.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). The holidays are over but the excitement of the season is only just beginning for you, Gemini. You are in the midst of far-reaching changes. Your sensitivity is high and idealism rages, so that you might need to defend yourself against putting someone on a pedestal or outright self-deception. You have been rethinking your partnership dynamic lately and that is just part of the story that is unfolding within the current timeframe. The most important relationship that is transforming for you right now is with yourself. Your largely hidden inner spaces are coming closer to the surface over the coming weeks and it opens up an entirely new way for you of being in the world.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) The New Year holds many blessings for you, Cancer, not the least of which is a better handle on significant partnerships in your life. You are doing the relationship dance this month with many variations, all of them novel and some of them profound, and the shifts come over you quite suddenly. You might find that old wounds are coming up for understanding, acceptance and imaginative healing. The flavor of your experience shifts markedly as the days unfold. By month’s end you might even believe that the real heart of the story — and the most radical sense of newness – lies within your own soul, having profited mightily from the experience of the last thirty days.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) This still remains an important time of change for you, Leo. You have been mulling over your choices and it is perhaps only this month that you are beginning to discern what it is that you truly want to get out of life. An accumulating sense of softness for others around you might itself constitute a clue. You lately inhabit a place of greater compassion for your own internal nature also, wounded or not, reactive or not, and are perhaps finally willing to set aside feelings of lack. A new dawning of awareness comes with the Solar Eclipse that begins the first week of the month. Later on in January it becomes more obvious that you cannot entirely go it alone; friends and partners are vital components now of your own journey toward wholeness.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) The holidays are over but your winter metamorphosis is still in full swing, Virgo. For you this is still a season of dreams and a season of sharing. You are participating in a multi-level series of deep inner transformations that began last month with the December 10^th retrograde of your ruler Mercury in your creativity sector. You have been intensely watching all your reactions ever since, hoping to find the gold ring amidst the clutter and the misinformation of life. You are stalled for the moment in financial blossoming, awaiting the springtime. Your mystical moment of redemption comes then, and the payoff for your self-reflection also. You must wait for many weeks yet you are making an all-important start this month.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) Your time for contemplation is nearly over, Libra. This is the best moment to reconsider relationship questions and communication issues that have long plagued you. Familial connections within tribe and domicile are also up for review and revision. Surprises abound, together with revelations concerning specific partners in your life and your relationship patterns in general. You must strive for clarity. You are reevaluating all that has gone before in a new light and things that once seemed clear are now less so, while what was complex now appears unbelievably simple and readily discernable. Your ideals are running strong as you prepare to commit in a new way to everything that you hold dear. Your task this month is to discover just what that truly consists of.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You are moving quickly, Scorpio, in thought and deed, although something seems to be simultaneously holding you back from total completion. Life in the fast lane is not so bad as long as you do not mistake the glitter for the gold. Your communication is in some ways your most important product now, and you do well to recognize that fact, and the role that others play in keeping you on track. Meanwhile your fantasy life is improving, especially where relationships are concerned. You just want to be careful not to take illusion for the quote unquote real thing. Your currently brilliant ideas may yet save the day. Living out your ideals in spite of all the cynical information that’s around has quite a positive appeal

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) You are in some ways skating on thin ice right now, Sagittarius, but your positive mental state just might save you from a fall. This is definitively a good month to get better grounded. Family and home-based scenarios are taking off. Your sometimes naïve optimism is flaming up and lighting your universe on fire and it is helpful if you can make it a controlled burn. Your finances are in flux at the moment and essentially working for you, but the most important information there is that the non-material trumps the material in this day and age, and especially for you right now. Communicating your most closely held values is powerful as long as you can separate ideals from illusions while doing so.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) This is the season of your transformation, Capricorn, still ongoing.  Your outer world presence is more powerful than ever but it falls short somehow in capturing the real truth of what you are about. You have scaled certain heights during December, only to find that you have discovered further heights to scale.  As the new year begins, and rings in a new era for you, it is good to be aware that you must be patient and await the fullest outcome of your ongoing rebirth. The cosmos is your ally now. Strange epiphanies occur this month that can help to show you the way forward, mystical though that way might be, so long as you are prepared to meet its magical essence at least half way.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) This is a powerful monthly period for you Aquarius, a most magical time of the year. You are participating and somehow also not, suspended between realities of past and future and yet separate from each of these more productive bookends to this current time frame. Your head is only halfway embraced by the so-called real world right now, while the other half rests among the stars and dreams of what is not revealed by simple logic. Financial success comes knocking, but as you are at least partially surprised to learn, it is not sufficient to make up your happiness. Veils of illusion suddenly part, and then close again, but leave you knowing that there are wonders of the universe that underlie all that you say and do and that yet remain largely unseen.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) This is a visionary month for you Pisces, when you will hatch concepts enough to last you the rest of the year and beyond. You have lately been conscious of a basic instability in your identity center that is also productive of new concepts that emerge, fully formed, to dazzle the thoughts of your normal waking awareness. This month these effects are accentuated, especially during the first two weeks, punctuated by the presence of the January 4^th Solar Eclipse. Your ideas are potent right now, and whatever you sincerely wish for has every chance of coming true in good time. Later in the month you are applying concepts of connection with others directly to your work in the world, and this turns out to be a powerful combination. 

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

Transformational Astrology

December, 2010

Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of December focuses on Mercury, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Throw in an eclipse on December 21^st just in chime with the Winter Solstice plus Mercury retrograde and we have another potent month, providing yet further harbingers of the massive changes that are still coming down, and coming on stronger throughout the end of the year and on into 2011, and as we approach 2012. Mercury contributes to a sense of mental agility now in the face of transformation, as it conjoins Pluto three times in early Capricorn, in December and then during the first half of January. Mercury retrogrades near Pluto on December 10^th and returns to direct motion by month’s end – escaping from its retrograde shadow by mid-January. This makes for plenty of food for thought as we ponder how we see the world changing around us and contemplate our place in society while all of this is happening. Can we manage to help or will we hinder the progress of the surrounding collective toward realizing what needs to be realized, and for understanding what can be understood? As Bob Dylan put it in the turbulent sixties, of which these times are an important and interesting reflection: “Get out of the road if you can’t lend a hand, for the times they are a’changing.”

All three outer planets are once more strongly configured this month. Uranus stations direct on December 5^th and is therefore much more powerful at the time of the December 5^th New Moon, when Mars also squares it. This is therefore an extremely accident-prone time, and also one of sudden and unexpected revelations concerning how we function out in the world. Mercury is also conjunct Pluto, and about to station in a few more days, so that this is a thoughtful as well as an active time period, leading up to the 10^th. More revelations and unexpected or especially powerful events could occur leading up to the December 21^st Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse, which takes place in the last degrees of Sagittarius and of Gemini, just before the Sun slips into Capricorn to mark the Winter Solstice. The eclipse itself is Monday night just after midnight on the West Coast, even later on the East Coast and Europe, so that the moment of the Winter Solstice on Tuesday afternoon and evening – with the Sun actually in Capricorn – strongly influences events that day as well. An eclipse directly in square with the Aries point is powerful, and brings up the cardinal T-square from last summer and as well points ahead to early March when Uranus crosses back into Aries, there to square Pluto more directly once again, bringing up another round of radical transformation in our lives. The eclipse moment harkens back to prior experiences with this transformative energy and provides a taste of what is to come in the spring.

The first of two eclipses that bracket the end of the year, the Lunar Eclipse of Tuesday, December 21^st, is described above. Then, just after New Years Day, the Solar Eclipse of January 3^rd represents another powerful event linking Pluto and Saturn. We are really in for it, and the more so if have not been paying attention or doing our personal homework. If we keep our heads together, we might instead be able to conceive of the enormous changes coming down – for individuals and for society at large – as a series of necessary corrections, a healthy pruning of the rose bush before it gets even further out of hand. When we take a look around at society as we have it today, we can clearly recognize that some sort of corrective transformation is badly needed.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). Life just keeps moving, Aries. You are seeing things differently than you did even a few short weeks ago, in the midst of the powerful energy for change that you have been embodying lately. You are engaging in a new understanding of the dance that the universe goes through as it does its best work, and of your place within it. Unexpected enlightenment comes in the second week of the month, and helps to break you still further free of the “mind-forged manacles” that have perpetuated your unconscious intention of holding yourself back. Climaxing with the 21^st, and continuing into the New Year, business ideas merge with mystical common sense, taking you farther into the depths of your own psyche and back out again than you ever would have thought possible.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  The beat of massive change continues, Taurus, this month and into the New Year. You are still dealing with the personal issues that have come up for you over the past few weeks, colored by the ghosts of relationships past and present. It may seem like you are going round in circles but you are actually making progress, the more so the more you can stay as open as you can to all your possibilities. Through all the partial drama, and the potential misconceptions, your views regarding these matters are inevitably and forever changing. The remnants of your former worldview are something to celebrate in flux and not to enclose in stasis. It helps to remember – as the poet says – that life is constantly breathing, like a bellows; always emptying, always full.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). You are in for an interesting couple of months, Gemini, heading into the New Year. Relationship with significant partners in your life is only one of the things that are on your mind. Another involves your future life path opening up before you – a path that implies yet further and more massive changes in the way that you see yourself at the deepest possible levels. This affects how you connect intimately with others, and ultimately with yourself. This month is for investigation and mid-January is the time for action. A doorway is presenting itself to you and it leads you away from static existence and previously overly-limiting conceptual cages. The train is getting ready to leave the station and your angels will rejoice when they turn around to find that you are actually on board.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) The hits just keep on coming, Cancer. Another in a series of amazing months gets off to a powerful start with the New Moon on its first weekend, when for you there is an almost fated sense of destiny unfolding. You are finally beginning to get clear, relationship-wise, and also regarding where in the world you might be headed. Your ideas are the driving force of your transformation now, but what begins in the head ends up in the heart or it is wasted. By the time of the Winter Solstice on the 21^st you will see the world essentially remolding itself around you, and closer to your innermost desire. You will be redefining and re-imagining the nuances of partnership connection for the next several weeks, well into the New Year.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) This is an amazing time for you, Leo. The flag of your metamorphosis is still in the process of running up the pole, as familial disruptions continue to settle and you find yourself reinventing some important piece of your persona and of your daily flow, including health concerns. You are attempting to put your best foot forward while bringing heart and mind into some kind of balance. What is called for is yet another move to the inside where you will find everything that you currently seek. In a mirror image of the starry sky above your head, it is within you that far-distant and potentially lost parts of yourself glisten and shine. Heading into the New Year the emphasis is on service to others, and seeing it come back to you in double measure.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) This month represents a powerful and a difficult time for you, Virgo, with your ruler Mercury retrograding back and forth across Pluto in your sector of self-expression. Your creativity is blossoming and also transforming in alignment with the dark unknown and largely unconscious center of your personality. Home, family and tribe are very much on your mind tight now as something within you calls out to you quite clearly, enjoining you to sit up and take notice. The signals are there, provided by an essentially benevolent universe, but how you respond is entirely up to you. At the time of the Winter Solstice and Lunar Eclipse of the 21^st, surprises come and enlightenment may follow, but the fullest denouement takes weeks to unfurl, well into the New Year.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) It’s quite a roller-coaster ride for you right now, Libra, as you end one strangely powerful year and begin another. You are still struggling somewhat to regain your balance after being knocked out of your normal orbit by the retrograde of your ruler Venus. Another factor out of the usual comes along mid-month with Mercury conjunct Pluto and retrograding through your sector of home and family. This is an excellent time for you to be journaling, and for inner work in general. Communication with your peers is also vitally important for you at this time and helps you to center. Service to the greater collective calls you as you expand your scope of action and stretch for your highest purpose. Heading into the New Year, family and tribe assume gigantic proportions in the arc of your continuing development.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Everything changes and yet stays the same, Scorpio. This is a powerful month of transition for you that takes you into more inner realms than outer ones. You are coming into a fresh concept of where it all could be heading for you, while revamping your ideas of what it is that you truly want. Communication is key. You find yourself sharing your concepts with others in your circle, and at the deepest possible level, and it is vital that you continue to do so. Only by thoroughly understanding where you have been on the inside can you come to the new phase of connection with others that is awaiting you. This is one important part of your journey now, climaxing toward the end of the month and expanding into the New Year.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) This is a big month for you, Sagittarius, as your birthday time comes around and a climactic year begins to draw to its close. This month, there are surprising developments in your home and family scene that enlighten and entertain you while also creating a certain degree of disruption to the normal flow. The information gained is well worth the trauma, but only if you keep yourself alert to the message that it brings, and take an open attitude toward yourself and others around you. Issues could also arise concerning nonmaterial versus material values, or in making necessary resources available for further self-development. You are reassessing what you require in absolute terms, as opposed to what you only feel like you want, as you continue to forge the links to a more integrated future self.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) The end of your year is somber and philosophical as usual, Capricorn, this time even more so. You are embodying a practicing hermit this month, sitting alone on your mountaintop to answer questions. The most important supplicant is you. With your thought process so profoundly contemplative right now, everything that you encounter leads you ever more deeply into yourself. Although your outer persona is present and functioning, the real action takes place behind a closed door within your soul. After the Winter Solstice you begin to open up a bit and allow others access; but you benefit from recognizing that an important piece of all your interactions remains clothed in the mysterious inner spaces behind your conscious mind.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) This is a wild and crazy month for you, Aquarius, continuing a series. This time, your wheelhouse revamped and your ship of state fully engaged, you are getting ready to sail off in some brand new directions. Be careful what you wish for at this time because you just might get it. You are also receiving some unclear signals from your deep inner spaces and you must bend your ear to hear them or miss something vital.  Especially the second half of the month, and into the New Year, you might find yourself slipping into a trance state. You are seeking enlightenment in the strangest of places and finding it. As you swim through the unknown waters of this month and the next, it pays to remember that it is always darkest before the dawn.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) You are putting yourself out into the world in many varied ways these days, Pisces. Partly you are contemplative and partly not so much, but it is all fresh. This end-of-year period is about seizing a brand new identity for yourself and learning to live it in style. You are involved in a tremendous process of remembering who you really are. As you begin to recognize the long-term implications for your personal evolution, your feelings change for friendships and groups that were formerly important, and for future plans that are also very much in flux for you now. It will be a dramatic New Year’s Eve.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.

Transformational Astrology

November, 2010

by Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of November focuses on Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. This is a time of great transition, with outer planets Neptune and eventually Uranus changing into direct motion and simultaneously aspected by the Sun and Moon. When outer planets station, or change the direction of their motion, they slow down and become even more powerful in our collective awareness. Neptune stations direct on November 6^th, the day after the Scorpio New Moon, and Uranus does the same a month later in the first week of December. Pluto, direct since September, is also highlighted as it is hit by the Moon’s North Node this month just as the New Moon aspects it in a semi-square.

Meanwhile Venus and Mars, conjoined in Scorpio as recently as last month, separate into different signs, Venus dipping briefly beck into Libra – the sign of her rulership – where she herself will turn to direct motion on November 18^th, while Mars extends his energy into Sagittarius, eventually to square Jupiter there by month’s end. The Venus retrograde reminds us that as we continue to ferment in the pressure cooker of change, our relationships provide us with incredible information concerning where we ourselves are currently at in the cycle of transformation that is so much a part of daily life right now.

As the important archetypal energies of the outer planets interact with our lives, we are brought to a better understanding of deep places within us, both places where we are able to let go of past trauma and move on with our lives and also places where we are still stuck. The New Moon of Friday, November 5^th, aspects both Uranus and Pluto, just as Pluto conjuncts the Moon’s North Node. This first weekend of the month therefore brings the mandate for radical transformation represented by these two powerhouse planets directly into our awareness, just as the hope and the inevitable disappointments of the American post-election period begin (no matter what your party affiliation). The Uranus-Pluto square, still forming, becomes much more active in 2011, signaling massive and much needed transformation. We are all looking for answers right now to the current plethora of societal dilemmas, and these next several years leading up to the spring of 2012 – when the Uranus-Pluto square becomes exact for the first time – and beyond, will provide if not answers then at least a working hypothesis for taking the next significant step. As has become increasingly evident, the old ways are simply not working that well any longer. Both collectively and in our individual lives, we represent right now the butterfly in his cocoon, dissolving, dreaming up what will eventually emerge as our newly awakened and freer selves.

ARIES (March 20-April 19). Personal transformation is once again fully present in the life waters that you are imbibing, Aries. With one facet of your awareness you are positioning yourself well above the fray in a dream world of your own creation so that you can observe and philosophically digest all that is happening to you. With another part of your being you are still struggling in the thick of it. Romantic notions of a future free from psychic pain remain in the offing. If you cannot yet manifest these ideals amidst the messiness of actual real-world events, you can at least look to them as models for what you believe will eventually manifest. Relationship is key for you right now and continues to provide its own special brand of murky fulfillment.

TAURUS (April 20-May 19).  This is a huge transition month for you, Taurus, extending through the first week of December. Relationship with significant others in your life occupies an important place in your heart right now, and is also on your mind, in the sense that you are trying both to imagine a better way through and to analyze the possibilities.  This applies to past partnerships as well as to present ones, and to past patterns of relationship interaction as well as to what is to come. By means of inner deliberation you are becoming more integrated in your outer approach. And by getting a better handle on what has occurred you are in a good position to assess what might eventually be available to your more enlightened future self.

GEMINI (May 20-June 20). You are coming into a better informed notion regarding what exactly constitutes your most enlightened pathway, Gemini, and it seems to involve others as well as yourself. In some ways right now, you are all about service – both to specific people in your life and to humanity in general. You are also refining and reorganizing your ideas regarding what makes you tick in this important area of your life that includes your day-to-day responses and activities. This can be a confusing time as well as an inspirational one, as you continue to balance issues of self and other, inspired ideas that take you forward into new dimensions of your career and professional life versus mundane ones, and dreamy versus more practical real-world oriented approaches.

CANCER (June 21-July 20) You are moving ahead, Cancer. You have recently been puzzling out your understanding of the Universe and your place within it, and artistic inventiveness is now a major focus of your enquiry. There might also be a fated sense of destiny in relationships that you form over the next few weeks, as the Lunar North Node draws near to Pluto, lighting up your partnership sector in an unusual fashion. A foggy mysticism rules your close personal interactions these days, and leads you to novel conclusions regarding current life direction. You seek, as always, the path with heart, and you won’t be satisfied with anything less. In the second half of the month, your creativity soars and finds new avenues of expression.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 21) Your season of change continues, Leo, as you refine your approach to home and family. This is the most important area of your life in forming the basis for your emotional security. You are delving down into the psychological roots of your being, hopefully to emerge with the pearl of wisdom that will get you to the next phase. In this you are aided by flashes of inspiration and idealization, perhaps over-idealization, of partnership contributions. You are starting to get a new handle on the connection between how you perceive yourself and the universe around you and what you do in the world. Each large triumph is but another small step along the way to a new level of your ongoing transformation.

VIRGO (Aug. 21-Sept. 21) This is a time of beautiful confusion and productive chaos, Virgo, as you dig in and rearrange your thinking on important issues for actually finding yourself. You are on a mission of metamorphosis that will not culminate until the spring of the following year, or even beyond. Nothing can be created within the shell of the past without breaking it open. The butterfly knows this intimately, dissolving its former life away within the cocoon, and in some sense it applies to you as well right now. As you struggle to find your true essence and as you dream yourself onto a more fulfilling road of service to your life path, significant others in your life provide inspiration. Still, the specific steps are yours and yours alone to take.

LIBRA (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) You are finishing up one phase of your ongoing transformation, Libra, and setting your feet upon the path to the next. The retrograde of your ruler Venus that continues through the first half of the current month in your sector of resources will turn out to be extremely educational in the long run. You are refining your approach in many ways right now, attempting to see through to the core and the essence of what you value. This can be confusing but also exhilarating period, as you put renewed energy into establishing a sense of security that is independent of superficial concerns. Surprising twists and turns of fate bring you closer to an understanding that is actually deeper than your mind can travel.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) This is a confusing and yet also a richly rewarding period of time for you, Scorpio, especially when you take spiritual progress into account as one measure of success. Relationship with significant others continues to haunt you and to provide valuable lessons for you going forward. You are still mulling over where past partnerships have taken you in your life, and why. You might find upon reflection that each has had its purpose in bringing you closer to an understanding of your deeper reason for being here. By month’s end, as you continue to develop on your individual path, you might also find an entirely new conception of where to put the relationship eggs in your basket.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) This month you are both in and yet also out of the mundane world of events and circumstances, Sagittarius, reveling in the magical and largely unconscious world of dream images and powerful imagination from deep inside your soul. Perhaps your task right now is to make that entire unseen world more readily available to your conscious mind. There is a treasure trove of information and heart lore that can take you into deeper connection with yourself and therefore with others around you as well. There are stages in your investigation that lead to further stages. By month’s end, and on into December, as you emerge from the tunnel of your inner awareness refreshed as if from sleep, you are finally ready to return to the action with a more integrated approach.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 21-Jan. 19) The world of outer events is very present for you right now, as you seek success in all the usual channels and enjoy the planning that leads you to your next triumph. Only, with another part of your psyche altogether, you are also leaning to the inside and to your life as a whole. There have been major changes in the way that you present to others and how you feel about yourself that will continue. This month is yet another important turning point in this greater and more gradual transition. Unexpected promptings from inner realities shake you up as the weeks unfold and serve to remind you that there is more to your existence than meets the eye. You wishes are powerful now, so be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 17) This month you are in this world but not of it, Aquarius. Even as you revel in real-world pursuits, and even as you totally excel in them, you are reviewing and refining your understanding of what this activity is really all about. A process that begins as analysis ends in holiness. There is a feeling of mystical union with the divine inside that has been growing ever stronger in you until you now see that there is no way to avoid coming to terms with it in some important way. For this you will need not your head but your heart. With each further stage of connection your wisdom grows concerning who and what you really are.

PISCES (Feb. 18-March 19) This is an important journey that are on right now, Pisces, even though it might be an almost entirely mystical one. In contrast to dream worlds of your imagination, so-called real world activity has been just a tad difficult to contend with lately. The way the world looks at it, these two sides of life might seem to be in conflict but they are really part and parcel of each other – two sides of the very same coin. As you move through a sometimes dicey month it pays to recognize that everything happens for a reason, although not necessarily the reason that you had in mind. The activity mounts to a rapid pace by month’s end and it helps if you can keep your focus on that one simple fact.

Henry Seltzer, transformational astrologer and creator of the TimePassages astrology software, is based in Santa Cruz, California. An extended look at this month’s star signs is available on his website. Holding degrees from MIT and the University of California-San Diego, Henry is a popular speaker and also offers life enhancing private astrological counseling. Call him at 831-425-3686, or visit his website at www.astrograph.com.