Category: Evolutionary Astrology

There is a correlation between our inner being and the vast universe. Evolutionary Astrology illuminates your current life Soul-intent while analyzing and reviewing past life gifts and blockages. Because the Soul is the most profound level of our being, it produces the widest and most meaningful context for direction in our lives. As the old saying goes, you can’t know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been. I provide the “a ha” moments as you uncover subconscious blockages and bring latent gifts to life. No matter how many times we reincarnate we are never the same person again – make the most of each life – live a life that is most in tuned with the universe and nourishes your soul most deeply.

Chris Christie

Since “Bridge-gate,” a couple of people have asked me to look at the birth chart of Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. That sent me a on a search for his birth time which alas seems not to be made public. Without that little fact, it is hard to draw an accurate chart. However, we can get some information, such as his South Node. 
Christie was born with a South Node, his past life indicator, in Aquarius. Aquarians are very difficult to pinpoint – they love being the rebel, love-bucking authority. Most unusual about the Aquarian personality is that they truly do love humanity but individual people bug them. There is a bit of exclusivity that surrounds the Aquarian personality – a standoffishness. They want to help humanity just not be a part of it. (We see Aquarius rising President Obama demonstrate that too well.)
Christie’s South Node is conjunct a retrograded Saturn. Saturn turned backwards on the node is a screaming alert that he had issues with his father in the past –and possible in his current life – and real issues with authority. The pugnacious Christie exemplifies these qualities very well.
However, it was those qualities that made him buck the current Republican mantra of “do not interact, touch or in any way get near that President” to seek Federal aid for his State after Hurricane Sandy. His actions clearly stated his Aquarian desire to help his people despite the demands to do otherwise by Party leaders.
With his North Node – his current soul’s path – in Leo, Christie needs to learn in this lifetime to get into his heart. Aquarians are great at theory but feeling real emotion is their Achilles heel.  Did he know about “Bridge-gate?” I cannot imagine how an intelligent, engaged Governor could be in a fog about something like that for four days. Does that really pass the test of reality?  The saddest part of that for him astrologically is that by at-least appearing to be the pugnacious rebel, whether he was involved or not, he was not moving in a forward motion to Leo.


It would have been so easy to build on the great success he had with Sandy and become the efficient, caring, and feeling Governor. It also would have helped him politically to appeal to the middle left.

That South Node is tough, especially when we have a retrograded planet so close to it. To paraphrase the movie line, it keeps dragging us back down.

The Moons of February – Get Ready for Pisces Energy

YES! There was a full Moon on Valentine’s Day and it was in Leo. I didn’t post that information and heard from a few people about that. Sorry! So for your planning  – there will be a new Moon on February 28th and it will be in Pisces. For those who do new Moon manifestations – this is a very spiritual Moon.  Not only will the Moon be in Pisces, but it will be conjunct with Neptune, the planet the rules Pisces. There is no better time to let the imagination and your spiritual awareness soar.

Jupiter, which in the days before Neptune made its appearance to us, was given ruler ship of Pisces, will be making a harmonious aspect to both bodies. Jupiter’s energy is one of expansion and reaching beyond our borders. Moon dreams, Neptune spirituality and Jupiter growth — it all sounds like a wonderful combination!

Yes, Jupiter will still be in retrograde for another month. So you will have to do a little more work to tap into that energy. Half the fun is in getting there isn’t it?

Our Aquarian Presidents

In honor of President’s Day, I want to take a look at all, not just one, of our “February Presidents.” * All of these men, born while the Sun was in Aquarius, are Presidents we have remembered throughout the years. They all had that Aquarian ability to be rebellious, prescient, unique and in their own way, fascinating. 
George Washington left his stamp for his leadership and innate knowledge of how a President should act. Yes, he was the first and that alone would make him memorable but his Aquarian ability to “see into the future” and know he needed to make an indelible imprint on the office has set precedents that remain today.
Abraham Lincoln was close to being the last President of the entire United States. However, through his tenacity, genius, and vision he preserved the union and then used his Aquarian sense of compassion to call for us to come together with “malice toward none.”
Franklin Roosevelt was of course unique because he hid his paralysis from the world – but proved that a physical handicap is not a mental handicap. In a time when “cripples” were considered damaged, he guided the country through horrific economic and militaristic times.
While I am too liberal to fall for the myth of Ronald Reagan as killer of Communism in the Soviet Union, the fact that he broke the age and martial norms previously required of presidential candidates proved he had his Aquarian rebelliousness intact!
Each of these men also exhibited that maddening Aquarius duplicity. Washington, “the father of the country,” was childless. Lincoln, a man known for almost suicidal bouts of depression was still able to maintain his sanity in the midst of a nightmarish Civil War. Roosevelt, pulled people toward him with his charismatic voice yet had no emotional bond with his wife and children, and Reagan the darling of the hard religious right who was divorced and from the Hollywood they profess to hate.

Our Aquarian Presidents remain a part of the American fabric because of their ability to stand out – to be unique in some way.  Our current President, Barack Obama, has Aquarius rising. Can you get more unique and rebellious than breaking the color barrier? Oh those Aquarians – always shaking things up!

*I am taking a bit of liberty here because FDR was born on Jan. 30 but he was still an Aquarian.

Neptune is all Around Us

I chose the title carefully because, by nature, the energy of Neptune is so amorphous that it does float all around us like a lovely cloud. Little is solid about Neptunian energy.

Neptune moved into the constellation of Pisces a few years ago and will be there until 2025. Neptune rules Pisces so we have a double-dose of Neptune energy cascading down around us. Lately we have started to see the positive and shadow aspects of Neptunian energy in the news.

First, the bad – let’s get it out of the way. Amazingly talented actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a heroin overdose. Now I know a talented, sensitive artist being an addict is sadly not an uncommon story. However, almost immediately after learning of his death, we started to hear stories of heroin addiction being on the rise. Neptune is the planet of illusion and escapism and leads to the desire to remove ourselves from reality. An increase of hallucinatory drugs is a side effect felt during a strong Neptune period.

Attached to this is the increase in escapist games – more people will prefer to build computer worlds of illusion than deal with the cold hard nitty gritty details of life.  I expect that by the end of this decade we will see computer gaming reach levels we can’t even imagine now.

On the positive side, Neptune brings us in touch with our compassion. I laugh every time I hear that the laws banning gay marriage are falling even in states that are very conservative. A decade ago gay marriage was used as a ballot box wedge issue that rallied the right wing to come out and vote and now it is like oh ok another state removes a roadblock to people loving each other. Ho hum. That is Neptune at work! Neptune always calls us to be compassionate and caring toward all people. I love it.

We have are just beginning to really feel the impact of Neptune in Pisces. Let’s hope she helps us keep our compassion high as well as our feet on the ground!

   

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Looking for the most “unusual Valentines gift under the stars?” – get an astrological chart done for you and your honey! Or perhaps an astrological gift basket – personalized to their chart analysis



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February – Retrograded Mercury – The Winter Season of the Planetary Cycle.

 OK I am telling you now and I don’t want to hear the complaints – remember, one, it isn’t my fault and two; there are benefits to a retrograde. Nothing in the universe is all good or all bad – there are gifts in every placement.

 Mercury is going retrograde on February 6 while it is still in Pisces and does not get out until February 28thwhen it is in Aquarius.  Yes, it is the entire freaking month but again I didn’t do it!

Before the freaking out ensues over missed messages, screwed up computers, phones that go wack-a-doodle, travel plans disintegrate, remember there is a benefit to that retrograded or backwards energy.  When Mercury is in retrograde, it is a time that we must slowdown in order to prevent disaster. What is wrong with that?

Mercury in retrograde is a time when we can rethink situations – old habits, old response mechanisms.  In this day of instant communication and immediate responses – what is wrong with a bit of introspection? Use the “backward time” of Mercury to reassess old through patterns and responses to learn where you can improve.

While this may seem counter-intuitive, think of this retrograde period as a great time to restart a stalled project. Is your closet half-organized and half-frightening disaster area? Fix it now.  Do you still have holiday cards from 2012 to complete?  Dive in.



In a society that looks only forward and insists on relentless pushing forward there is really nothing wrong with slowing down and going through some checklists. Think of a retrograde of the winter season of a planet. Winter is a time when we are supposed to hibernate, rest and prepare for the rebirth of spring. We don’t do that anymore. We live in the same speed all of the time – it isn’t healthy.

If you are having a “bad” retrograde period, take a breath and figure out where you are pushing too hard. That is the area you need to reassess – pull back and clean up before you charge ahead later.

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. 

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 11th 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 5thhouse – 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!