Mercury Retrograde Oct 4 - 25: a survival guide

To effectively communicate, we must realize we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

Tony Robbins, Motivational Speaker and Teacher

"A word to the wise is enough. The old proverb is, forewarned, forearmed."

©AstroActivator by Kathryn Andren 2001

Now that the recent Lunar Eclipse day has had its day in, or really "out of the Sun", I want to move on to Mercury Retrograde. I'm sharing this information because this particular Mercury Retrograde carries a stronger intensity than usual. Yes...MR can be more intense than its usual craziness!. That intensity mirrors Mercury Retro occurring amidst two eclipses in October.

I must laugh too. Visiting Sri Lanka during Mercury Retrograde has amplified the quintessential  "lost in translation" experience. The nuances of communication here exist in a world unto themselves. Head nods of varying angles say more than words. Thus...I've readily learned to be alert, pay attention to what feels easy or hard, and more than anything else, laugh and go with the flow. For example...my daughter and I are traveling north tomorrow to visit the ancient temple sites of Anuradhapura. Yesterday we learned the trains are not operating in the North due to a train strike. So now we're driving north. Going with the flow. And, I ask myself (good Mercury Retro strategy) "what wonderful spontaneous adventures await us?"

With that out of the way...please read on:

Eclipsed Aries Full Moon Oct 8: Awakening The Shadow

"Shadow is the obstruction of light. Shadows appear to me to be of supreme importance in perspective, because, without them opaque and solid bodies will be ill defined; that which is contained within their outlines and their boundaries themselves will be ill-understood unless they are shown against a background of a different tone from themselves." Leonardo da Vinci

"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires." Nelson Mandela

For the second time this year, the Full Moon will glow blood red. Just 6 months since the last eclipse in Libra, this eclipse will grace the night sky as the Moon transits Libra's opposite sign of Aries. Breathe in...breathe out.

I'm in Sri Lanka now. Africa adventures fade...Japan adventures await. Near Colombo, I'll see the waning moments of this eclipse. The rising Full Moon will be emerging from its shadow journey through the Earth's Umbra.  And just like the counterpart eclipsed Full Moon of last April, this Full Moon comes with very strong planetary aspects portending further continuation of

Libra New Moon Sept 23: Resetting the Balance

"If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable."  Donald Trump

 

Fish River Canyon Sunrise

Those who intimately know me would be absolutely surprised to find me quoting Donald Trump. Yet forgetting the messenger while focusing on a message in resonance with the Libra New Moon, speaks to the shifts and changes unfolding around the globe in cultural practices and rules, and human opportunity and new beginnings. 

 

I am now in Namibia in Southwest Africa. This is a land of extreme beauty and silence, stark deserts, majestic dunes, deep canyons, desert Elephants, brilliant starry nights, and compassionate, loving people. I am here on a 14 day Landscape Photography Workshop with Trey Radcliff and his team from Stuck in Customs. And yes...pleasure and work have become

Super Full Moon Pisces Sept 8: Vision Expansion 101

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements."   Napolean Hill (1883-1970) Author

Beaming by Derick Van Ness

What is your vision for sharing your gifts in the world? Has it been languishing of late? Have you contemplated recently upgrading your dreams and the direction of your life? Are you clear about the next steps you want to take? Ponder no more! On September 8th, the Full Moon in Pisces arrives to assist you with opening your vision to greater possibilities.

The world is stirred. Intensity continues to build. Not a day goes by without mention of global warming, extreme weather challenges, strife in the Middle East and Asia, political contentiousness, racial profiling and disparity, and financial  uncertainty. Yet, great changes always fuel adversity and challenges. It's the critical tension that births a new expression and direction.

And sometimes that critical tension arrives in the most subtle or sensitive of ways. September's Full Moon lunation may be such a herald...yet on a weather level...water events may be anything but subtle.

Where: Full Moon occurs at 16° Pisces conjunct Chiron. This is the 3rd of 3 Super Full Moons of 2014

When: 3:38 PM, Hawaiian Standard Time on Monday the 8th. That's 6:38 PM PDT, 9:38 EDT, and

Virgo New Moon August 25: A cry for social justice and equality

Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.Saul Alinsky (1909-72) author and founder of community organizing

The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being. Lech Walesa (1943- ) Nobel Peace Prize and former Polish leader

"Activation Station" sketch by Joseph Mina

Intensity grows. Transformation abounds. Societal polarity reaches new extremes. Ferguson, Missouri…Ukraine and Russia…Iraq and Syria…Israel and Palestine…China and its neighbors, Ebola virus in West Africa, great drought in California…social unrest in many quarters.. seemingly fill the daily news. Meanwhile, the human voice for social justice and equality grows louder.

These flash points of critical tension point to symptoms of great change and activation now underway around the globe. We stand at the edge of a precipice. Depending on your perspective, one view augurs an Utopian ideal; another perhaps a depressing outcome, and many possibilities in-between. However, the astrological cycles and strong headwinds say "no outcome is certain. No guarantees are available." For better or worse, our evolving human script is being written as it unfolds. Quite a potent backdrop for this Virgo New Moon and its demand for greater, compassionate service to humanity.

Here's the Astro 411.

Where: New Moon at 2° Virgo. Virgo qualities include a focus on your health, precision and discernment, and service to others.

When: August 25th at 4:13 am Hawaii Time (HST); 7:13 am on the US West Coast, 6:13 pm

Super Full Moon Aquarius Aug 10: A Cry for Freedom

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

"Dance for Joy" painting by Ira Mitchell Kirk

Paradox abounds…best of times…worst of times. Our awareness of each other is expanding exponentially. Rare to meet someone who is unaware intense change fills the ethers around the globe. While the intensity meter has dropped somewhat from the very strong levels of the 1st half of 2014, we are far from being out of this cosmic transformational soup. The Full Moon of August arrives to remind us our evolution is far from complete.

This lunation activates the Leo-Aquarius axis about the same time Moon reaches its closest perigee in 2014. Hence, we now dance with the vibrational effects of a Super Full Moon over the next 14 days.

Here’s the Astro 411 for this lunation: 

Where: Full Moon positions at 18° Aquarius. The sign of the water bearer brings the qualities of humanitarian service, independence and freedom, and an expansive view of life. Aquarius embraces technology, Utopian ideals, the future, social connections and creating a better world through social justice and equality. While its opposite sign Leo is quite individuated and

Leo New Moon July 26: The Heart-felt Roar of the Lion

"Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love." Leo Buscaglia (1924-98) Author

"Rejoice" photo by Joseph Mina

Has there ever been a more compelling time for humans on Earth? Energy is moving rapidly these days. Everything seems exaggerated and fast. People are connecting in ways unthinkable just 10 years ago. Life appears larger than life.

We now arrive at that magical time of the year when the New Moon visits Leo and its deep well of heart-felt love. This time around, and not since 2003, Jupiter awaits the Sun and Moon. What expansive, optimistic opportunities of the heart await you over the coming year? Here’s the astro 411 for this lunation:

Where: Leo New Moon at 4° Leo: Passion, creativity, self-importance, royalty, radical love, heart-felt generosity, dignity with power, leadership, romance, play/fun are qualities of Leo and the focus of this lunation. Archetypal Sun rules Leo, which further underscores the strength of this external vibration.

When: July 26 12:42 pm Hawaii; 3:42 pm PDT; 6:42 EDT; 10:42 pm GMT; 12:42 am on the

Capricorn Full Moon July 12: Energy Vise...Are you feeling it?

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen, Author and Inspirational Speaker

"Super Full Moon Mauna Kea" by Joseph Mina

Yes, for the moment...energy is building...intensely. Trouble sleeping? Feeling edgy??? The chart below shows the major components of the Capricorn Full Moon. Why the intensity? Aren't we over this already???  Here's the Astro 411:

Where: Capricorn Full Moon at 20°. Laws and rules, structure and organization, finances, business, and politics are the domain of Capricorn and the focus of this lunation.

Type: Super Full Moon (SFM). Full Moon occurs close to perigee with Earth. It is the 1st of 3 consecutive SFM's, with August's Aquarius Full Moon(8/10) the closest of the 3. SFM = heightened lunar influence. Also visually "big Moon" rising at sunset.

When: July 12th: 1:25 am on the 12th in Hawaii; 4:25 PDT, 7:25 am EDT; 3:25 pm GMT

Theme: "Past versus Future"

Significant Players: annotated in chart below: (1) Saturn in Scorpio; (2) Uranus in Aries; (3) Chiron in Pisces, (4) Moon in Capricorn opposite Sun in Cancer

Energy forms created: Cardinal T-Square (in red) and Kite In blue/green) - enough to know this combination represents the building of strong critical tension patterns during this lunation...akin to an "energy vise".

Synopsis: Current dynamic tension represents more intensification for freedom and quest for something new. This is particularly evident now in the emotionally heated and war-torn Middle East, parts of Africa and Asia, as well as along the southern border of the United States (children immigration). Also, the energetic field is quite ripe for conflict, especially on a country level, unless

Cancer New Moon June 27: The Evolving World Community

"It is in our hands -- yours and mine, each person here today -- to make a decision to work, to work together, and to work with others around the whole world, to build friendship, and love, and understanding among all people."  Alice Bartow Hobensack, Author

Aloha Friends of the Night Sky

New Oxford Dictionary's definition of "Community":
• a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common
• a particular area or place considered together with its inhabitants, eg. a rural community.
• a body of nations or states unified by common interests
• a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals

AstroActivator© 2001 by Kathryn Andren

Over the past 10 years, the very concept of community has rapidly evolved into an extraordinary awareness of the human family. In the on-going building Aquarian vibration of the 21st century, the circle of connection around the Globe has become greater and smaller simultaneously. Technology, and its child "social media" has stretched the parameters of our connections to every habitable corner of the Earth.

Today, it is quite easy to have a video chat with someone living on the other side of the Globe, or to collaborate with a team of people from a variety of locations. Yes...we are embracing a new concept of Community...the global human family. In turn, this is preparing us for a much bigger step...one that embraces our connection to other civilizations in the cosmos.

This Cancer New Moon provides the opportunity to reflect and celebrate the growing web of human connection, diversity, and inter-relationships. It is also a time to honor the traditions and gifts of the past, as well as embrace the new wave of co-existence and inter-dependency beginning to unite the human family. Peter Russel's description of the Global Brain and this unfolding unification is more relatable  and revealing

Astrology June 2014 Sagittarius Full Moon: Truth and Liberation

"You need to challenge your fear of life becoming unreasonable - because it is already unreasonable. In truth, your life has never been reasonable, it’s just that you keep hoping tomorrow will be different and that you will find a way to bring more control into your world. Recognize that life will always be full of challenges and crisis. The wise way is not to attempt to find one path that promises you will never have to endure the pain of loss and illness, but instead to learn how to endure and transcend when unreasonable events come your way. Learning to defy gravity in your world - to think, perceive, and act at the mystical level of consciousness - is the greatest gift you can give yourself, because it is the gift of truth. And as we are bound to learn again and again in this life, the truth does indeed set us free.” Carolyn Myss, author and spiritual teacher

"Mercury Retrograde" sketch by Joseph Mina

Whenever the Moon comes into New or Full aspect in the sign of the Sagittarian Archer, the notions of "truth" and embracing/attaining a higher spiritual perspective enter our human conversation. This month's Full Moon seeds this theme in unusual and compelling ways. Are you ready to face life's unpredictable ups and downs from a new or more enlightened perspective? If so, I suggest first re-reading Carolyn Myss' quote, then reading on.

Full Moon occurs at 22° Sagittarius (chart below) on June 12 at 6:11 pm in Hawaii, 9:11 on the West Coast, 11:11 in the Midwest USA, and shortly after midnight on the 13th on the East Coast USA, east to the International Dateline. GMT for the Full Moon is June 13th at 8:11 am.

In this lunation, powerful transformational forces continue to dominate the astrological landscape. As I mentioned in my end of May update, Mars in cardinal sign Libra continues its ever-so-slow direct motion as it retraces its retrograde movement of March through mid-May. This "slog" continues