February 28-March 7, 2005

This week the sun continues in sensitive Pisces while the moon gets down to the bottom of things. Last week mind aligned with wisdom in tenderness. Now it's love's turn.

The sun (soul vitality) is in the slushy emotion of late winter (Pisces), the vulnerable aftermath of recent isolating alignment under pressure. This past weekend the moon (heart sensitivity) was in Libra, awareness of love. Monday begins with it progressing into the magnetic intensity of Scorpio. Along with the sun in Pisces and Saturn, centering/grounding, in emotional Cancer, all three of the water signs are anchored, creating a solid core of feeling, especially Tuesday. Mind (Mercury) is also peaking in tension with power (Pluto), charging thought and communication.

Wednesday the moon moves on to Sagittarius, the warm passion at the bottom of the seasonal cycle. This often feels like a low ebb, restless, but it's natural, part of settling with reality, especially during sensitive Pisces time. Action in constructiveness (Mars in Capricorn) is tense with creativity in love (Jupiter in Libra), peaking and releasing its charged energy early Thursday.

Friday, while the heart is dragging down, beauty (Venus) is aligning with wisdom (Uranus) in vulnerability (Pisces). By afernoon things start to shift. The moon hits bottom, rebounding with the primal earthiness of Capricorn, and Mercury, quick mind, leads the way into Aries, the spark of early spring. Saturday we awaken still sensitive (Pisces sun), but with a powerful, constructive spirit (Capricorn moon and Mars). Having survived an emotional drag, we may now be driven to act on our feelings. And with Mercury in Aries fire, we'll probably clearly express them.

February 21-28, 2005

We've entered Pisces, the tender sensitivity at the end of winter. It began on Friday, just as the moon crossed into Cancer, emotional release. Mercury and Uranus, immediate and deep mind, are also meeting in sensitive Pisces. Soul (sun), mind (Mercury) and wisdom (Uranus) are aligning in melancholy feeling. It's sweet, doesn't have to be sad, but it does pull us down to the ground of our tender depth.

Sunday night the moon (heart) progressed from Cancer's protective sensitivity to Leo's passionate expression, moving through it Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday the moon grows full in the ripening fruitfulness of Virgo, opposite the Pisces sun, the tender heart building to break-out on Wednesday night. Thursday and Friday, still in Virgo, the moon expresses a practical manifestation of released sensitivity. Thursday night the sun's vitality is exactly aligned with the deep, wise mind of Uranus in vulnerable Pisces.

By Friday night, and for the weekend, the moon crosses into Libra, awareness of love and harmony, meeting big, expansive Jupiter there Sunday morning. With Mercury (mind) blending with Saturn (grounding) in emotion, this is a time of precious, heartful feeling getting a hold of us for our own good.

January 31-February 6, 2005

We're being drawn deeper into the individualizing alignment in awareness that is the emphasis of Aquarius, mid-winter, on our way to the new moon of February 8, this year's seed germination turning point. As we are stripped of everything we can do without, reduced to the fertility of a solitary spark, it can be a challenging experience of isolation under pressure, the purification of our core essence. We must accept this time as a critical part of the seasonal process, a natural distillation that brings renewal and emergence with the coming spring.

This week begins with the moon, heart sensitivity, in Libra, mindfulness of love and harmony. Monday, the moon meets big, expansive Jupiter, this year also in Libra, just as it is slowing to an apparent stop, beginning five months of retrograde--internalizing,deepening. The shift of Mercury and Venus, mind and beauty, from earthy Capricorn to airy Aquarius, also reinforces the intensification of awareness as our underlying emphasis right now. Tuesday and Wednesday, the moon's sensitivity is drawn by the magnetic gravity of Scorpio, a vortex of concentrating emotion. This as the sun, our soul vitality, is reaching the mid-point of winter/Aquarius, and meeting Neptune, the 164-year cycle planet of dreams, deepest feelings, at that same place in the seasonal cycle. It should be a powerful, polarizing moment of tension building and breaking between the sun's vitality isolated in awareness and the moon's sensitivity charged with undeniable feeling.

Thursday and Friday, the emotion released, the heart settles down to the low ebb of the seasonal cycle, Sagittarius, resolving passion. Late Friday, heart sensitivity aligns with deep power and action expression (moon meets Pluto and Mars) dragging down to the ground of things, before hitting bottom Saturday morning and crashing/rebounding in Capricorn's primal earthiness. Sunday morning, impulsive Mars, on its two-year cycle, also shifts into Capricorn, adding its active energy to the moon spirit's empowered constructiveness. We are now on approach to the heart/soul convergence at the center of awareness, the Aquarius new moon, on Tuesday, February 8. That will begin the Year of the Rooster. Get out your colors, the love parade is about to begin.