Dream Away This Weekend

Prepare to dream! This Saturday and Sunday, February 1 and 2, will be a good time for pleasant or productive daydreaming. The Moon will be wandering through Pisces and making positive aspects to Pisces' ruler, the planet Neptune. Pisces is very good at sparking our imagination and making us think about "what if." 

Pisces is also excellent at escapism. Taken to an extreme this feature of Pisces can be dangerous and can manifest in alcoholism, gambling, and even suicide. However, there is nothing wrong with spending a cold weekend afternoon with a trashy novel - or a hopefully great Super Bowl. 

If you are more spiritually inclined, this would be a good weekend to meditate and get your spiritual dreams in order - it is Candlemas, after all.

Whatever you do- take a minute to appreciate the energy of a Pisces Moon and work on making your dreams come true. 

Great Review for "Signs of the TInes: The Ultimate Astrological Cookbook" in "Pathways" Magazine

Pick up a copy of this month's "Pathways" Magazine or read on line - and check out page 41 - for the great review of "Sign of the Tines!"

 "I assure you that the usefulness of knowing even the most basic astrological information...will be matched and exceeded by the enjoyment of cooking and eating your way through this book."

"Signs of the Tines" is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com and www.Signsofthetines.com.

" http://www.pathwaysmagazineonline.com/Pathways%20Online/currentissue_files/PathwaysMagazineOnline_Wi13.pdf

President of the Month

Several clients have asked me to do more historical astrology, specifically presidential astrology so once a month I will feature a president born in that month. January gives quite a number from which to choose because Capricorn is a sign that lends itself to corporate and political leadership. Richard Nixon, Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Johnson and yes, even Millard P Fillmore were all Capricorn presidents. We know much about the first two and really, do we want to know anything about Fillmore? Andrew Johnson, however, is a more interesting of the relatively unknown Presidents. However, I would argue that Taurus was a bigger influence in his life than his Capricorn sun.

Johnson had a Taurus Moon, and more importantly a Taurus South Node. Karmically he was coming from a Taurus incarnation. Taurus is one of the most stubborn of signs. No one, not even the sturdy Capricorn Goat is as stubborn as Taurus the Bull. Johnson held fast to his beliefs even when it caused him great political disfavor and even when it brought him to being the first impeached President and just one vote away from conviction and expulsion from office. 

Of course, that Taurean energy was also a help to him. One of the reasons, if not the only reason he was picked at Lincoln's Vice President was that he was a Southerner who refused to join the Confederacy. (It was not because he was cared about slaves but because he hated the rich Southern landowners who were in favor of war and slavery. It was for him, like for the rest of the country, a matter of economics.) 

We also see his ability to persevere in the anchors of his chart. Chart anchors are the signs on the cusps of the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses and Johnson's were all in cardinal signs, Libra, Capricorn, Aries, and Cancer. Cardinal signs are doers - movers - leaders. He needed this ability - having been born in abject poverty. In fact, there is a good deal of evidence that he was illiterate until he met and married his wife who was also his teacher. He literally came from nowhere and overcame immense obstacles to do so.

When he was inaugurated as Lincoln's Vice President, Johnson appeared to be intoxicated and made quite a spectacle of himself (where was CNN when you needed them?) The "spin" that was put out by the administration was that he was ill and had taken some medicine but rumors always persisted about his alcoholism. We will never know for sure, however, with his 6th house (health and healing) opened by Pisces which is known to have escapism and alcoholism as a shadow aspect and Pisces' ruler Neptune being in a tight conjunction with Saturn - he was certainly predisposed to loneliness and the need to escape his problems in some fashion.

Happy Birthday Mrs. Obama

I know I have done a riff on her chart before but several people asked me to review Michelle Obama's chart for her fiftieth birthday.

While she is a “late” Capricorn Sun person, you know how boring I find Sun energy astrology so let’s look at her rising sign.  Ah! Another it is another earth sign! Mrs. Obama’s rising sign (also called ascendant) is in Taurus. Symbolized by the Bull, Taurus is steady, stubborn with a kiss elegance of Venus. Because Venus rules her ascendant, it is the ruling planet of her chart.

Venus appears up in her 11^th house – the house of social and group activities – and is zero degrees Pisces and right on her Pisces Moon. Now, I wonder what artistic ability the first lady might be hiding from us.  Venus in Pisces is a classic sign of someone with some kind of musical, artistic, etc. talent. Perhaps hers expresses in her fashion sense and her elegance but who knows – we might be seeing some other kind of artistry coming from her someday.  (She has two retrogrades in her 5^th house – the house of creativity so it may take a while but it is there!)

Venus on the Moon in the deeply caring sign of Pisces expresses when we see her hugging people and meaning it. She does not give political hugs or handshakes! Her concern and her love of people comes innately.  I look for her to continue to work with groups of people long after she is out of the White House.

Full "Moonth" in Cancer January 15

“Every ‘Moonth’ the Moon travels around the Earth through the whole circle of the sky. The Moon’s Old English name was Mona from that name we acquired the word ‘month.” The Old Lady’s walkabout was 29 ½ days. If you have the patience to watch her journey night after night in a single month you will see that the road she travel is the same one she traveled last month and she will be found there the next and the next and the one after that. As she walks the Road in the Sky she stops to visit friends and family, i.e., she meets up with the stars that live alongside the Road. Her visits are brief for she has a long way to go – clear around the sky – so she must hurry on.”

I love that quote from Wendy Ashley’s “Paleoskies.”  Wendy is an astro-anthropologist who watches the planets (from the word wanderer) make their seemingly endless journey around the skies. She is part of wonderful movement to bring us back to the sky – to make us remember what is going on in the universe as we busy ourselves with our “important” Earthly work.

This week, on Jan. 15, the Moon will have “walked” furthest away from the Sun – and thus we will have a “Full Moon.” Freed from the Sun’s brilliance the Moon shows us her full light. This Full Moon will be in Cancer. The Sun is in the opposite sign of Capricorn. This is a typical Mommy – Daddy battle. Cancer is the sign of the nurturer – vibrates to the fourth house -typical assigned to Mother, home and roots. Capricorn is the taskmaster – the uber-father. 

This is a perfect time to work on the balance between how you are nurturing themselves – and others – and how much you are being too hard on yourself or others. I always say Capricorn is where we “should” all over ourselves. “I should be doing this – I should be doing that – I am not good enough.” Cancer is the active but nurturing Mom that offers us that other cup of tea to relax.

So at this full Moon time think of the balance you are or are not striking between those two in your life. We often forget that we can have the second cup of tea!

"The Heart of Mars" With Adam Gainsburg -

What is your masculine dharma? This has nothing to do with sex or your sexuality. All of us have a feminine and masculine dharma to explore and live. Listen to my interview with Adam Gainsburg founder of Soulsign Astrology as he discusses the "Heart of Mars."


http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/astrological-cook/

Get Used to Hearing about Pluto and Uranus in 2014

And Keep a Positive Outlook!

The Astrological world is all-abuzz about the big goings on in the sky this year.  Uranus in the cardinal sign of Aries is squaring or in disharmony to Pluto in the cardinal sign of Capricorn. Think of them as two powerful wrestlers in a massive tug-of-war. One is demanding things done his way and quickly (Uranus) and the other saying no my slow way is better (Pluto). Neither will give in. Then a little quick instigator, Mars in another cardinal sign, Libra, zig zags across their path several times during this battle – throwing little jabs, igniting firecrackers just to make things lively. Mars will make this dance from late December to mid-May 2014, including a retrograded period from March – May.

The last time we had such a battle of the big planets was 1932- 1934 and we all know what lovely things occurred like the rise of Hitler. However, I am so not a fan of those who say oh that happened then so horrible things will happen now. Yes, mid-April is going to be a rough time – April (the time when the Sun is in Mars – the warrior) is always opportune for violence (Columbine, the start of the Civil War, the birth of Hitler, to name a few “fun” events.) However, I really do not think this is going to bring in the beginning of the end of the country and economic system. There are predications for nuclear war, another Fukishima, another tsunami – general whoa and horribleness.

Why can’t we use this dynamic energy to bring POSITIVE changes in our lives? Perhaps if we all think about the benefits this can bring to all of us we will negate the naysayers. I mean if we sit around and wait for something awful to happen – we often aren’t surprised!