January 31st, “Ending the Month With A Bang – Venus, Jupiter and Pluto, Oh My!”

Venus' tarot card, #3 The Empress
from "Steampunk Tarot"© by
Barbara Mooreand Aly Fell

While in retrograde, Venus, planet of relationships and possessions (7th and 2nd houses respectively) asks us to review what me value in people, possessions and baggage.  Venus has been retrograde in Capricorn since November 20, 2013.  As a result, we’ve had lots of time to sift through our emotional and mental closets – particularly if you happen to have Venus retrograde in Capricorn in your birth chart. 

Today Venus goes stationary direct in thirteen degrees, thirty-three minutes of Capricorn.  The keyword here is ‘attachment.’  We are attached to what remains in our closets, i.e. the people and things that we value most. We’ve created a solid platform that will support the life we wish to build for ourselves. Love that has passed our personal litmus test thrives under Venus in Capricorn. The goddess of love tells us to be committed, dedicated and unflinchingly honest with our partners.  

Balanced attachment is a good thing.  It means you are

Ciro Marchetti give us cosmic
balance in his depict of #11 Justice
"Legacy of the Divine Tarot"©

invested in the outcome and will work hard to keep your commitments on track.  However, attachment for attachment’s sake leads to possessiveness, both in relationships and in the material world.  Guard against being a clinging vine.  People need to be free to grow and clinging to things just makes you materialistic.  

In other news, Jupiter is in opposition with Pluto today.  If you feel as if you're running a marathon on a treadmill, you’re right.  Jupiter, the planet of fortune, has a difficult time moving your life forward against Pluto’s resounding, “NO!” Pick your battles during the next couple of days, but engage only after carefully redesigning your strategy.  Ears tend to be deaf right now, so if you can delay pursuit, do so. On February 5th Jupiter goes trine Chiron (wounded healer) and this energy salves bruised egos so that you’ll have a more congenial audience.

LADY ORACLE

January 30, 2014, New Moon in Aquarius - Merging Creativity and Individualism

#17, The Star - Ciro Marchetti's
concept that represents the
magical individualism of our New Moon in Aquarius
from "Legacy of the Divine Tarot"©

On January 30th, at 1:39 P.M., PST, we have our second New Moon of the month occurring in 10 degrees, 55 minutes of Aquarius, Water Bearer.  The other super cool thing about this New Moon is that it’s also a Super Moon.  You may recall that Super Moon is a somewhat freshly coined term referring to a moon that presents at 90% perigee (the lunar position closest to us).  Five Moons in 2014 carry the designation of Super Moon.  January’s New Moon in Capricorn was the first, and the second largest, January 30th’s will be the three largest.  The other epic perigee months this year are July, August and September.

The lunar influences are much stronger when the Moon is at perigee. Tides react, but so does the human body because, as adults, we are composed of between fifty-five and sixty-five percent water.  You’ll definitely feel the pull from this New Moon.  Just be careful if it tells you to swim up stream to spawn.  Cut yourself a little extra slack on the 28th and 29th.  This is time for the Dark of the Moon and if we have a Super New Moon, it only stands to reason that we can experience a Super Dark of the Moon that leaves us feeling unsettled, or carrying some free floating anxiety.  These feelings are a normal part of the New Moon reboot process. Honor them with your favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry’s® ice cream and a movie night. 

Do you feel as if the month of January has already been three month’s long?

That’s Cardinal Grand Cross energy for you.  Are you tired yet?  If so, you’re not alone. If not, just wait until our New Moon in Aquarius gets under way.  New moons set a new emotional tempo for the coming lunar cycle.  They are also a time to take stock and change it up if anything needs changing up.  New Moon in Aquarius celebrates the individual in all of us and January’s second New Moon joins with this month’s cardinal energy to tell us that as individuals, we get to make a few of our own rules along the way.  Think James T. Kirk, reprograming the computer for the Kobayashi Maru.   

The 30th is a great time to work on ending your dependency

The High Priestess, tarot card for the Moon
seen here in Rome Choi's delightful
"Dreaming Way Tarot"©

on other people’s good opinion of you, their advice, or their control over you.  This New Moon is about detaching from people and situations that trap us. Aquarius demands extra freedom and a respite from strong emotion during this New Moon, so be respectful of boundaries, yours and other people’s.  Our rewards for successfully harnessing the super energy of the 30th will be new-found idealism, enhanced intuition and creativity.  On the darker side, if you ignore Aquarius’ positive message, you’re apt to become dogmatic in your thinking, touchy and more blunt than normal, particularly if you have Moon in Aquarius in your birth chart.  

This New Moon is an excellent time is reset your goals and make adjustments to them.  Remember that Venus goes direct on the 31st and Mercury turns retrograde February 6th.  Have a great New Moon!

LADY ORACLE

Five of Swords – “Winning, Losing and Weighing the Costs”

If you’ve ever held a sword in your hand, even a ceremonial

The Five of Swords - RWCS
US Games Edition

one, you know that they are   weighty things.  To wield a sword is to weigh the cost of each blow you strike whether the sword is real or metaphorical. Is each swing worth the cost to your strength? Are the transgressions of your opponent so egregious that striking the blow is worth diminishing your own power?  These are just a couple of the questions posed by the Five of Swords.  

Swords are the element of air and the suit’s intent is to show us our state of mind and how we communicate.  The keywords for the Five are, strife, dishonorable conduct and self-interest.  In a nutshell, the Five asks us to consider the nature of wins and losses and how we relate to them.  In the RWCS depiction, we see a sky torn asunder.  In the background two figures turn away from the battle, striped of their swords as well as their pride. They grieve the death of their dreams of conquest.  To the victor, goes the spoils and as a result the losers have lost their weapons, or symbolically, their personal power.  The water in the background gives them nowhere to retreat.  They must stay and face their defeat and subsequent humiliation.  The rough surface of the water expresses their emotional turmoil.

The figure in the foreground of the card is a seasoned combatant used to defending himself against all comers – note the five swords in his possession.  His thoughts are about securing his place in the world order.  He is not a gracious winner. He believes that carrying the day is its own reward and he spares little thought for his defeated opponents, other than to gloat over his victory. You could say that the lesson of the card is to be a gracious winner, or loser, but that’s an over-simplification and the Five’s meaning.  

"Tarot of the Pagan Cats"©
from Lo Scarebo

The Five of Swords is not always an easy card to understand.  It asks the reader (and the querent) to look for a deeper significance in the imagery. Which figure represents you?  Are you being asked to stand and face the unpleasant consequences of losing a trial by combat when you’d much rather quit the field to lick your wounds in private?  Should you consider that self-interest is not always a bad thing? Part of the Five’s lesson is to remind us that there’s no crime in putting ourselves first when the situation warrants it. Do you give up your dreams too easily for the benefit of others? Do you pick your battles carefully, but find yourself unready to commit to the first blow when the trumpet sounds?

Tarot’s job is to make you think – to make you delve deep into the complexities of your life and come out with true wisdom.  It’s not an easy task, but them neither is defending yourself against all comers.  Next time the Five of Swords turns up in your spread don’t quit the field with a glib interpretation.  Ask yourself what winning means to you and when is a battle not worth the cost.

LADY ORACLE  

#13, Death or Transformation - “The End of the Beginning”

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

 I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

                                         Robert Frost

One of the scariest cards to appear in a reading for a novice

Death, Transformation - scary images?
Perhaps, but this can be a rewarding card
Ciro Marchetti's "Legacy of the Divine Tarot"©

querant is #13, Death.  They are sure it holds impending doom and it becomes the reader’s job to educate their client that this card simply marks a well-earned fork in the road.  #13 also means transformation and how can you make an omelet if you’re not even willing to go near the hen house?  

The Death card, or Transformation card if that makes you feel more comfortable, makes its appearance when you are at a pivotal moment in time and space. You are making something happen.  You are having an effect on your world and it is changing you forever.  More often than not, that’s something to celebrate.  Imagine your life in complete stagnation, somewhat easier, perhaps, but also more predictable.  Many people choose to live their lives that way – never pushing boundaries, never asking the million dollar questions.  Those are the people who settle and play it safe.  They are also not the people reading blogs like this one. 

People who pull #13 know there’s more to life’s equation and they want to solve it.  Does this make them superior to everyone else?  Of course not.  It simply means they’ve chosen to live differently.  Their path gets a little bumpier from time to time.  Perhaps they get more easily distracted, losing sight of the end result by getting momentarily lost in the experience.  Each one of them, however, comes to know the complexity and the glory of the moment.  When the path diverges as in Robert Frost’s yellow wood, they are chomping at the bit to go down the road less traveled either by circumstance or by design.

Temperance - a question of balance
as seen by Ciro Marchetti in
"Legacy of the divine Tarot"©

The Transformation card is the card of dreamers and achievers who realize that chapters end, but there’s always a new book to pull off the shelf and open to page one. They understand that the past can be put behind you and that when the winds of change sweep clean, you still have bare ground to be rebuild on.  Transitions are not easy.  They can be unsettling for weeks, maybe even years at a time, but once the transformation is complete you arrive at #14, Temperance.  

It’s in Temperance where you recover your equilibrium and have the opportunity to combine the lessons of your journey, heal if need be and hold on to that oft-times hard-won sense of contentment.  Next time #13 pops up in your reading note the placement.  Ask yourself who and what you wish to become and which fork in the road would serve you best.  

LADY ORACLE

                                                                                                                                                

Jumping on the Boards – Why We Succumb to the Lure of Self-Sabotage

8 of Swords, self-restriction, self-limitation.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the ego.
RWCS, US Games version

At one time or another we’ve all snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  We know not to go down to the basement of deserted old house all alone, or wander in an abandoned mine.  Then, there are days where, for whatever reason, we invite chaos into our lives either through random actions or by our mental outlook.  Usually we extend the invitation when things are running smoothly.  Here’s an interesting looking loose end, we think. I wonder what will happen if I pull this thread? Suddenly, by our own design, our whole picture starts to unravel.

What turns us into major league thread pullers who suddenly let anxiety freeze us into indecision? Three little letters, my friends –  E, G, and O.  Our ego stems from our mind, our ability to rationalize, to remember and to over-analyze.  Our ego is designed to be our first line of defense in a hostile environment.  It tells us whether or not we are safe and if we are operating within the boundaries of our personal normal.  What happens when we suddenly change our behaviors to accommodate new goals and ambitions?  Our ego, who defines our sense of self, goes into hyper-drive thinking up new ways to get us back to our habitual program – even a program that has proven detrimental to us in the past.  

We don’t fall victim to self-sabotage out of stupidity.  We fall

9 of Swords, RWCS by US Games
Anxiety, guilt, obsessive thoughts.
An ego in full control

for it because the ego knows that it works. The ego is thorough, relentless and infinitely patient in its mission. It is no friend to out-of-the-box thinking.  It will lie to us and play on our fears (Nine of Swords) to keep us operating in the familiar.  How do we halt the progression of an ego gone wild? One of the first things to do is to identify self-sabotaging thoughts or behaviors for what they are and to do so without judgement.  Judging yourself and others feeds your ego.  The bigger the judgement, the more power you’ve surrendered to your ego self.  

"OSHO's Zen Tarot"© by Deva Padma
shows the value of quieting the mind and
engaging inner stillness when the mind's
illusions seize control.

Two traits of self-actualized people are acceptance of their human frailties and acceptance of the frailties of others, as well.  Stop listening to your ego’s judgment when you think of your life choices.  Listen with your heart and come from a place of compassion instead of the place of self.  Does this mean you surrender your own best interests and stay in situations that cause you emotional, or even physical pain? Just the opposite. People don’t stay in bad relationships because they are placing other’s needs first. They stay because their ego is being fed in some way.  I am noble – look how I suffer.  I do this for my family even though I am unhappy.  Really?  No.  You do it because your ego likes a steady banquet of martyrdom.

9 of Wands, RWCS US Games
Battered, beleaguered, but determine
to persevere.  Battling yourself can
be exhausting, but so worth it!

Tarot’s Eight of Swords shows us a woman kept prisoner by her own ego.  (Swords being the suit of mental outlook, thoughts and communications.)  She stands loosely bound, blindfolded and semi-encircled by eight swords.  No one holds her there accept her own state of mind.  She can slip the bonds and walk away, but for whatever reason she choses her self-imposed prison rather than risk to her safety for the adventure and freedom outside the circle of swords.

One of my greatest teachers, Linda Becker, (author of “Living With Soul – The Great Spiritual Revolution”) taught me to give my ego a name and to envision locking it away in a box when it demanded I feed it with self-defeating thoughts or behaviors.  It's a simple method, but one that works – even when I have to pull my ego off me just like Spiderman pulling off that black, Venom costume.  Out of control egos are sticky things. Chakra meditations that are designed to open the heart also work wonders for controlling the ego.  

No one is immune to their ego running amok. As with everything in life – it’s not a question of whether or not you make a mistake, but of how well you recover from the mistakes you do make.

LADY ORACLE

ALL FEATURED DECKS AVAILABLE FOR SALE THROUGH "LADY ORACLE TAROT"

Full Wolf Moon in Cancer, January 15, 2014 – “Welcome Home”

#7, tarot's The Chariot, helps you rise
above during this Full Moon in Cancer
from "Wizard's Tarot"© by John J. Blumen and
Corrine Kenner

This January is the month of cardinal energy (See blog: "Astrological Trends For January 2014" ).  On January 15th at 8:52 p.m., PST, we welcome the Full Wolf Moon at 25 degrees and 58 minutes of Cancer (yet another cardinal sign). Cardinal energy acts as on instigator. It’s restless and come Full Moon time, perhaps a little edgy. Properly channeled, this energy will not only motivate you, but once you take action towards your goals, it will lift you up and over the obstacles in your path.  Aptly, tarot's card for the sign of Cancer the Crab is #7, The Chariot – reaching your goals, focusing your intent and knowing who you are.

The Moon is high-functioning is Cancer, its home sign.  Home, hearth and foundations are what Cancer is all about.  Full Moons are about emotions and culmination. Our Full Wolf Moon in Cancer asks us to consider the nurturing strength of our families and close friends.  Use their support as a foundation for refining the goals you’ve set for yourself this year. Are your family and friends unsupportive of you?  Get new ones.  Seriously.  Remember Venus is retrograde in Capricorn until the end of the month.  This is the perfect time to review your relationships and determine what their true value is for you. Are you paying for 24 karat gold and simply receiving gold-plate in return, or are you recklessly casting true diamonds away as if they were cubic zirconium?  You get the idea.  Full Moon in Cancer and Venus in Retrograde want you emotionally satisfied so you can put all that great cardinal energy to work for you this year.

Take time on the 15th and 16th to nurture yourself.  Just as

The Moon's tarot card, #2 The High Priestess
stands for indirect energy and intuition. from
Corrine Kenner and John J. Blumen's
"Wizard's Tarot"©

Lady Moon reflects the Sun’s light, allow yourself time in the comfort and security of your own home to reflect on where you’re headed this month.  Ground yourself and get a sense of where you belong.  You have the entire world to choose from remember.  As you use Venus’ energy to help you review the events and people of your life, store away those special golden nugget memories so that you can pull them out to help light your way this year when the path you travel isn’t as well lit as it is right now.  

On the plus side, warm-hearted Cancer Full Moons are imaginative, intuitive and creative.  They work well with Mercury in Aquarius (See Blog: "Mercury Moves to Aquarius" )  to express our thoughts and ideas. Full Moon in Cancer is a writer’s moon if every there was one. On the downside, and, yes, there is definitely one of those, Full Moon is Cancer can leave us feeling a little raw and exposed.  Cracked crab can feel vulnerable, moody and a little touchy.  

Lady Moon herself as depicted by John J. Blumen for
"Wizard's Tarot"© created with the
awesome Corrine Kenner

Our Full Wolf Moon in Cancer is a great moon for targeting what we want to create for ourselves.  Work on all aspects of abundance and prosperity during this Full Moon period.  Use tarot’s The Chariot  as a focal point in your meditations.  It will help you develop faith in yourself, faith your goals and ultimately, faith your own destiny.

  

LADY ORACLE

January 11, 2014, Mercury Moves to Aquarius – “A Marriage of Intellect and Humanity”

Mercury was the messenger of the gods in ancient times,

Mercury's tarot card, The Magician
A wizard commands all elements
to shape the world he envisions.
From "Wizard's Tarot"©
by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell

fleet of foot and able to cover the vastness of time and space within the blink of an eye. Likewise, Mercury is the fastest moving planet in our solar system.  It travels at a rate of thirty miles per second and completes its orbit of the Sun in a little under ninety days.  There are good reasons for this.  Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and therefore has the shortest distance to travel to complete its orbit.  Also, the Sun’s gravitational pull is strongest on Mercury and as a result, centrifugal force keeps the planet spinning faster.  

On January 11th, Mercury moves into Aquarius, the sign that governs the tenth house of the Zodiac.  Mercury is exalted in Aquarius which means it is at its peak in terms of power and influence.  Mercury is the planet of communications and intellect and because it moves so quickly, we must stay mindful in which sign of the Zodiac it resides. Under Aquarius’ domain, Mercury’s skills influence the areas of career, reputation and societal structures (such as corporations, government and agencies that benefit the human endeavor).  Mercury in Aquarius is sort of a big ideas type of guy.  Aquarius is an air sign and as such, supports big picture communications.  Corporate structure becomes not only easier to understand, but also to navigate after January 11th. It also becomes easier to have your voice heard, so look for your ideas to earn you advancement. Networking and being an active part of the company team go smoother under Mercury in Aquarius.  We understand all sorts of communications – even the non-verbal kind.  

.

 Star, the Aquarian tarot card, offers hope and a
capricious sense of balance.  All flows where nature intends
She's a perfect partner for The Magician.  From
Barbara Moore and Aly Fell's "Steampunk Tarot"©

Aquarius also carries a strong human component that helps analytical Mercury see into the heart of a person’s motivations.  While Mercury still carries an innate intellectual detachment, here in the tenth house, this messenger of the gods gains perspective and a greater understanding of the human psyche.  This translates into a greater ability to convey that understanding to others – particularly beneficial if you are a writer or otherwise have the ability to influence the thoughts of others.  Fiction writer’s will find their characterizations become richer and more meaningful.  Their plot lines will flow and take on a life of their own.

In relationships, look to uncover the motivations behind your partner’s actions – not necessarily in the manipulative sense.  I’m talking about the ability to understand their underlying need and for both of you to have open and honest dialogue about how both your needs can be met.  Try to pull the insights you gain under Mercury in Aquarius through your heart and not through your intellect.  When you pull information about your relationship through your mind you run the risk of handing it over to your ego.  Engaging your ego is a poor way to resolve any issue.  

Work with this wonderful opportunity to expand your communications this month.  Mercury remains in Aquarius until January 30th so use this time wisely.

LADY ORACLE

Astrology Trends for January 2014 – “A Month for Innovation and Relationship Building”

A typical example of a Grand Cross configuration.
This month's Grand Cross is in
the cardinal modality, however.

We kicked off the year with a glorious New Moon in Capricorn on the 1st.  If you haven’t started your list of goals for 2014, get started now. Capricorn is a cardinal sign.  Cardinal signs are all Zodiac signs that come at the beginning of each season.  Capricorn (winter), Aries (spring), Cancer (summer) and Libra, (fall). Pay attention to the names of these cardinal signs because they will be popping up for the next several months to come. Cardinal signs carry traits such as independence, originality and  seeking the new. These are the signs for fresh starts and the astrological patterns for January 2014 are inundated with cardinal signs.

Capricorn's tarot association is
#15, The Devil – Enmeshment and
enslavement to the material. Check your
priorities From "Legacy of the Divine Tarot"©
by Ciro Marchetti

January’s tempo is set by a Cardinal Grand Cross composed of four planets at ninety degrees to one another, forming four astrological squares and two oppositions.  Whew! Heady stuff. Grand Crosses can carry very challenging energy – particularly in the cardinal modality. On January 11th Mercury bows out of Capricorn, but that still leaves us with Uranus in Aries (about the self), Mars in Libra (about relationships), Jupiter in Cancer (about home), Pluto in Capricorn (about the workplace) and Venus in Capricorn (more workplace, but with an emphasis on professional relationships). These planets share a central theme (I’m big on themes this year) of cardinal energy. Get used to the components of this Cardinal Grand Cross (hereafter known as CGC) because they will be recreating this formation off and on for the next several months.  

Those of us who’ve decided to change things up this year will be assisted by all of this CGC energy as long as we pay attention and take positive action. Action is the keyword here.  Get off the couch and turn off your electronic pacifiers. Cardinal energy hates to stand still.  It must be put to work. Create, strive, tap into your potential and make significant changes to your life. Stagnant cardinal energy causes your life to run amok and can give you feelings of anxiety, even depression.

The Empress is tarot's card for Venus, a highly
influential planet this month. From
"Steampunk Tarot"© by Aly Fell
and Barbara Moore

Venus is in retrograde until January 30th.  During this time we have the opportunity to review all of our relationships – not just the personal ones.  Venus Retrograde asks us to review our values, our business relationships and our finances as well.  Expect to see some underlying issues surface in our personal relationships. Old amours may return in person, or via the emotional baggage they left stored at your place.  Focus on the lesson in the Two of Cups.  What, or who, are you bringing to the relationship and what are you looking for from your partner?  Initially, each person only brings to a relationship what is stored in their cup.  Therefore, its important during this period to ask yourself if the contents of your partner’s cup is satisfying to you and if some of the items in your cup need to be left behind. Work to discover how both of you can add, or subtract from your own cups. Look for a great opportunity for communication when Venus is conjunct Mercury on January 7th.  

Also, Mars’ warrior energy comes off more dashing and debonair under Libra’s influence.  Ruled by the planet Venus, the sign, Libra is where we house our primary relationships and our partnerships. See how all this folds together this month? Mars pulls balancing energy from Libra and while it makes us more fair-minded, we may also bend over backwards to accommodate our partner and then resent them for it.  Be sure to balance the scale fifty-fifty.

Several tarot cards symbolize our relationships with money

The 6 of Pentacles asks us to make
decisions about finances, but also to
question our relationship with money
From Ciro Marchetti's "Legacy of the
Divine Tarot"©

and the material.  Probably the most significant during Venus’ retrograde in January will be major arcana’s #15 The Devil, Capricorn’s tarot card (enmeshment, enslavement to the material and conflict between higher goals and baser desires) and the Six of Pentacles ( judgments about money, your relationship with money).  Focus on these cards and what they symbolize in your life when it comes to reviewing issues with money, finance and the material.

Also this month we have a Full Moon in Cancer on January 15th, Sun in Aquarius on January 21st. and another New Moon in Aquarius on January 30th.  A twofer this month.

I’ll have more on these and other transits later.  In the meantime, don’t forget to meditate, goal-set and use this powerhouse of energy from the CGC to make the changes you want to see in your life.

LADY ORACLE