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Mercury in Sagittarius

Mercury in Sagittarius

I first published this post a few years ago – the ages and dates have been updated. These days our walks are on the beach and her school days have been replaced by university…the rest remains the same.

There’s a line in the great Aussie movie The Castle where Dale Kerrigan is introducing us to his family.

‘Steve is also an ideas man- that’s why Dad calls him the ideas man.’

Ms T and I love the movie and love that line. We say it to each other all the time.

‘You’re an ideas girl, Mum.’

‘You’re an ideas girl, Sares.’

A lot of our ideas come when we’re walking- something we do together at 6am most weekdays. It’s a little like an active meditation. It’s something about the sun coming up, the birds waking up, the smell of the gums and banksias and whatever else is in bloom that pushes the narrow chatter of detail from our brains and opens our thoughts up to something more expansive.

We’ll talk about everything from the things we’d invent if we could (mine is the inbuilt drum kit in car steering wheels), to what events each group of birds would be in if there was an Olympics (the ducks were doing synchronized flying the other morning), to where the snails live when its dry, to seriously where does that much mucous come from when you have a cold. The big stuff: ‘if you could be any road sign, what would it be?’ For the record, mine would be ‘dangerous curves.’

We also solve more relevant problems, like the issues she could be having with her business studies assignment, or the character problems in her short story for English, or the major work she’s undertaking for Visual Art for her HSC.

When we’re walking it’s as if our minds are cleared from the every day and the horizons to our thinking are pushed past where we can see them. Anything is possible. The sky isn’t the limit but, rather, a starting point.

For Mercury in Sagittarius the mind is expansive and every idea a journey – albeit one with many distractions, rambles and stop-overs along the way. This post will be much the same, I suspect.

According to a podcast I listened to in the car the other day, the human brain is hard-wired to be able to deal with distractions. The theory being that the simple act of focusing too hard for too long on something could have dire or even fatal consequences.

Whilst cavemen didn’t have the ding of an email arrival or the tweet of a new twitter entry to distract them from what they were supposed to be doing, they did have other concerns. Imagine concentrating all your energy on, I don’t know, making a slingshot only to have a lion eat you because you weren’t alert to the distractions.

The question the host asked was: Were Ugg and Thug Multi-taskers?  Mercury in Sagittarius certainly is!

The premise is that “expansive environments… inspire expansive thoughts.” And there is no more expansive a thinker than Mercury in Sagittarius. Not only are his ideas big, in fact, bigger than big, but it doesn’t occur to him that they can possibly fail. Mercury in Sagittarius isn’t just a big thinker, he’s an optimistic big thinker. But this isn’t just normal glass half full optimism, Sagittarius optimism is an absolute faith in the future, the Sun will come back out tomorrow type of optimism.

In Sagittarius, Mercury is really not big on details or organization – that’s what Gemini and Virgo are good for. The Sagittarian concept is too big for that…besides, details just put limitations and boundaries around what is possible.

In order to think this big, Mercury in Sagittarius needs room and freedom to move. The more space the better. His thirst for knowledge is immense – but not in any dry, abstract sense. He needs to have a passion for the subject in order to have his interest maintained.

And if he has a passion for a subject? It’s communicated with immense enthusiasm – perhaps even that of a zealot. At his worst, he will preach rather than discuss – not because he wants to push his ideas down your throat, but because it simply doesn’t occur to him that his beliefs will not also be good for you too.

Mercury in Sagittarius is open-minded but also has his own blind spots. He’s moralistic and intolerant of prejudice – unless it’s his own. He’s a straight talker but a crappy listener. He can be tactless and politically incorrect. He does, however, mean well.

He doesn’t do spin and, unless he has the Moon in a water sign or his Sun in Scorpio, won’t pick up on underlying tensions – he simply doesn’t have the inclination to do anything other than telling it as it is.

If you aren’t fine, don’t tell him that you are…fine, that is. He’ll have moved on already – you are, after all, fine. Want to piss off a Sagittarian?  Too easy – talk in riddles, subtleties and hints. Whilst he loves fun, and laughs easily (and can often make those around him laugh easily), he doesn’t play mind games.

For the next few weeks, allow your thoughts to fly, think big, dream big, plan big…Let them soar, as a balloon…you’ve got plenty of time to put reality into practice when Mercury shifts into Capricorn.

I’m here at home sitting in my armchair, listening to my mind at play.

I’m building buildings, I’m ploughing hilltops, I’m crossing oceans… only thinking.

… I could go anywhere, do anything…only thinking.

Only Thinking, by Mi-Sex

Think this reads like you? If you are a Sagittarian, have Mercury in Sagittarius or Mercury in close aspect to Jupiter (especially the conjunction) or Mercury in the 9th house, this may be just how you tick… 

Mercury will be in Sagittarius from December 13 through to January 5 2019.

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Mercury retrograde revisited and something about the balsamic moon…

I told you last week about my Mercury mishaps this time around.

There have been more…

I’m off to Sydney this weekend for a 60th birthday party. I’m staying down into next week in order to show my face in the office, but hubby is coming home on Monday. When I booked his return flight I forgot that our daughter had changed her work hours so that she could fly to Sydney on Wednesday – as such she won’t be able to pick him up from the airport.

A minor issue, but a hassle never the less.

Then there was the time when I booked my boss on a flight to Brisbane for a meeting and both of us forgot that his calendar would be on Sydney time while Brisbane has no daylight savings (don’t get me started).

I don’t normally get impacted by Mercury retrograde. I do everything that I’m supposed to do and usually sail through unscathed. Not this time.

Having said that, nothing has happened that we haven’t been able to fix – albeit with some rework…another Mercury word.

One thing I’ve found Mercury retrograde is fabulous for is bright ideas. Perhaps it’s because Mercury for me is in Pisces and retrograde natally in the 12th house, but the best creative ideas I’ve had have happened when Mercury is retrograde.

This time around was no different. I’ve had a novel jump into my head that I want to write now. As in right now. The problem is I’m already editing one and drafting another so I’m mustering some discipline from somewhere and merely writing copious notes in the hope that it will still be a shiny bright idea when I can get onto it (hopefully) in February.

I read something in a cookbook today that really described not just Mercury retrograde, but the retrograde motion of each of the planets. It was in Nigel Slater’s Christmas Chronicles which is, incidentally, an amazing Christmas/seasonal cookbook.

“For all it’s bare twigs and pale, watery sunshine, winter is very much alive. Underneath the fallen leaves, things are happening at a rate of knots; new life burgeons. Bulbs are sprouting, buds are bursting through grey bark, new shoots push their way to the surface. Many plants require vernalisation, a prolonged patch of low temperatures, in order to grow… (I sometimes feel I do, too.) A secret world quietly doing what it does this year. A study in renewal, rebirth, new life.”

When planets are retrograde their energy is turned inward. Despite the frustration we often feel, we need that space and that slowing down too.

Anyways, Mercury will be direct Friday morning (my time).

In other news, with a New Moon just around the corner, we’re now in the balsamic phase of the Moon. The energy associated with this is one of rest, recharge, and finishing.

As you get ready to set your intentions for the New Moon in Sagittarius, take a look back at the mini-goals you set for the last cycle. Sometimes it helps to symbolically clean the slate by either actually finishing something or tidying something – even if it is just a drawer or your desk.

 

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Sagittarius New Moon

The New Moon in Sagittarius is about hope, spontaneity, optimism, faith and adventure. Wherever it falls in your chart is where you need an injection of these things. For that reason, this is one of my favourite New Moons of the year. It’s the opportunists New Moon. It’s not so much glass half full or half empty, it’s, ‘wow that half was great and now there’s room for more, so fill me up!’

Sagittarius is the Seeker, the Optimist, the Gypsy, the Student of Life and the Preacher of Faith. It follows that wherever Sagittarius falls in your chart is where you are being asked to actively seek out people and experiences to help you expand beyond your comfort zone on this great adventure we call Life. It’s where you aim for the horizon, focus on the future and the possibility of possibility, and ask the bigger questions.

Every so often we need to re-discover this part of ourselves – the part that will take a little (measured) risk, the part that wants to be excited by what’s next, the part that wants your heart to race (even just a little) at what you have just (or soon will) experienced.

The New Moon is your reminder to do just that. It can be like a recharge on your faith and excitement switch so if life is feeling a tad so-so, you have the opportunity to do something about it. Notice I said you have the opportunity to do something about it? Yep, as with all new starts, passivity simply won’t cut it.

It doesn’t need to be difficult – it could be as simple as trying a new cuisine next time you eat out or picking up a book on something you’ve always wanted to learn about.

The other thing with the New Moon in Sagittarius is that you might be less afraid to look up and out, to take that leap of faith. Maybe you feel you have outgrown your present situation? Maybe it’s time to take the reins into your hands and gallop off into the sunset? Maybe it’s time to be honest with yourself and those around you? Maybe it’s time to reach for the Moon? Take a magic carpet ride? Dream big? There is no limit to the possibilities.

Doing it for yourself…

As you probably know by now, this site isn’t about telling you what will happen, but rather giving you the tools to attempt to identify the themes for yourself. That’s the DIY part of the tagline. If you’ve been reading along, you should know how to find where the New Moon is happening in your chart. If you’re new to this site (welcome), duck across and check out this post before you go any further.

The position you’re looking for is 15 Sagittarius 07’, or thereabouts. This is the area of life that you’re being asked to expand, learn and grow through experience. It’s where you have the opportunity to push some personal boundaries.

This is the 10th house for me and by 10thhouse I mean it is exactly conjunct my Midheaven. To the degree. Therefore it’s also square my Ascendant. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about “self-care” and what I want to do – professionally – the things that will make my heart sing. I’ve been enrolling in some on-line courses to learn about book marketing and the business of self-publishing. It’s those things I’ll be setting intentions around this month. I’ll be writing them down with the Sagittarian spark of freedom and soaring dreams in mind. The sky is not the limit and boundaries are there to be leapt over.

The Moon is natally in my 1st house and rules my 5th, so as always my New Moon story will have an outcome in the 5th In order to be true to my Moon, the goals I’ll set for my career will have 5th house creativity in mind.

As for you? Find where 15 Sagittarius is in your chart.

  • How do the concerns of this house make you feel?
  • How would you like to feel about them?
  • What positive steps can you take over the next four weeks to minimise the gap between how you feel about this are and how you’d like to feel?

Now, let’s set our intentions. Think about the area of life you’re focusing on and set small achievable targets. Make sure that you do at least one thing towards this goal this month. If you’re unsure where to start, check out this post. Because we’re talking about Sagittarius, think about the big picture and pretend there are no fences in the way. You can plan the steps out next month when Capricorn hosts the New Moon.

*****Write it down!!!!!!!!!!******

If you don’t have any idea about your birth time, or can’t be faffed working it out, you can follow the solar guide:

  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Sagittarius, this New Moon will be in your 1st house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Capricorn, this New Moon will be in your 12th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aquarius, this New Moon will be in your 11th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Pisces, this New Moon will be in your 10th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aries, this New Moon will be in your 9th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Taurus, this New Moon will be in your 8th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Gemini, this New Moon will be in your 7th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Cancer, this New Moon will be in your 6th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Leo, this New Moon will be in your 5th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Virgo, this New Moon will be in your 4th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Libra, this New Moon will be in your 3rd house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Scorpio this New Moon will be in your 2nd house.

Sagittarius New Moon 7 December 2018 at around 7.30pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time.

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Venus in Scorpio

Venus is about to move back into Scorpio – a sign she’s not particularly comfortable in. Venus in Scorpio is in what traditional astrologers term the sign of her detriment(remember back to this Toolbox?). This doesn’t mean that Venus is weak in Scorpio, it means that she is in a position where she can’t use her strength, in a place which is alien to her. She has no essential dignity in Scorpio.

Venus loves pleasure, beauty, art, food, attracting. What she doesn’t like is too much intensity, focus and sharp edges. Venus likes to attract, and in Mars-ruled Scorpio, she is magnetic. Venus likes to lightly and gracefully skate across the surface, in Scorpio she goes deeper to a place that is darker than she would like.

Anyways, if you want to know more about Venus in Scorpio, I just happened to have prepared something (much) earlier. You’ll find it here.

Venus has already been through here this year – back in September before she turned retrograde. Have a think about whatever was going on for you back then, as similar themes could be coming back up now.

Doing it for yourself…

We all have Scorpio somewhere in our chart, and it’s this part of life that Venus will be bestowing her presence on. It’s this part of life that you’ll find pleasure in – yes, even when Venus is in intensely focused Scorpio. Don’t be surprised over the next few weeks if you’re no longer pleased with the watered down option, or the almost there’s. Under Scorpio Venus is not satisfies with second best – nor is she in a mood to compromise.

If you have a particular obsession with something, you’ll probably want to be indulging that a tad now. If so, whether it be shoes, love, lust or something else entirely – take care not to obsess past a stage that is healthy for you.

Whereas you might have been inclined to socialize a lot under Venus in Libra, Venus in Scorpio is more about one-on-one occasions…so to speak…and not necessarily what you’re thinking- Venus in Scorpio prefers to catch up with close friends and talk about what’s really happening in their lives rather than skim the surface in a larger gathering.

Think about your relationship with whatever part of life Scorpio signifies for you. Have you been lying to yourself or to a significant other? Perhaps you’ve been hiding something away – or hiding from something. When Venus is in Scorpio all relationships require honesty. If it’s your first house that Venus is transiting through, think about your relationship with yourself. If it’s the 2nd, consider your relationship with money. Are you valuing yourself as highly as you need to be? If it’s the 7th, it’s honesty in relationships with partners that are important. In the 10th, what can you do to improve your relationship with your career, your boss, your job, your public persona? Are you pretending in any way? What can you do to make your work life more pleasurable?

Get the idea?

In my chart, Venus will begin her transit of Scorpio in the 8th house and finish it in the 9th. The 8th is about (amongst other things) debts, investments, inheritances. I’ll be using this first half of the transit to get some financials up to date. Somehow I doubt there’ll be much pleasure in it. More appropriately, I’ve recently enrolled in some online course around self-publishing and marketing and advertising on platforms such as Amazon and Facebook. I’m looking forward to getting stuck right into those. I think my 2nd house Venus in Aries would be happy.

If you have your chart already, look for Scorpio on your chart. This post will help you do that.

scorpio-2

If you don’t have your chart, read this post on how to get one.

If you don’t know what the houses mean, check out series 1 of the Toolbox or this post.

If you don’t have any idea about your birth time, or can’t be faffed working it out, you can follow the solar guide:

  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Scorpio, Venus will be transiting your 1st house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Sagittarius, Venus will be transiting your 12th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Capricorn, Venus will be transiting your 11th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aquarius, Venus will be transiting your 10th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Pisces, Venus will be transiting your 9th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aries, Venus will be transiting your 8th house.
  • If your Sun of Ascendant is in Taurus, Venus will be transiting your 7th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Gemini, Venus will be transiting your 6th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Cancer, Venus will be transiting your 5th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Leo, Venus will be transiting your 4th house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Virgo, Venus will be transiting your 3rd house.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Libra, Venus will be transiting your 2nd house.

Venus will be in Scorpio until 7/1/19.

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The week ahead: December 2- December 9 2018

This week in a photo (or 2) a day

How on earth did we get to December? And yes, it is a rhetorical question.

Okay, this last week has been a tad tough. You might have noticed there was no post last Sunday – that’s because I had to travel to Canberra for the funeral of a close friend taken way too early…although when it comes to the passing of someone you love, it’s always too early, I suppose.

It was, however, a beautiful send-off that she would have been honoured by.

In any case, I haven’t written a weekly wrap post yet, but I have “wrapped up” November. So, if you’re interested in what I’m doing, reading, watching, writing, blogging, listening to, eating and cooking away from the day job and the stars, check out this post. Oh, and the red-flowered tree in the featured picture? It’s a poinciana and they’re looking beautiful at the moment.

As for the week ahead? It’s a busy one in the skies this week, so grab a cuppa and settle back for a bit.

As I write this on Sunday morning before the rest of my house has risen Mercury has moved back into Scorpio. He won’t be there for too long – just until 13/12 – but long enough to revisit anything that needs to be revisited. And given this is Scorpio, that doesn’t mean having a look and moving on, it means gritting your teeth, taking a deep breath and raising the covers to look underneath.

Mercury isn’t the only one re-tracing his steps – Venus is also still covering old ground as she also moves back into Scorpio on Monday. The difference is that while Venus is retracing her steps, she’s doing it while moving forward.

Because she has been retrograde this is the third time that she’s visited this part of the zodiac since September, so if you have planets or chart points between 0 and 10 Scorpio, this will be the third and final pass this cycle for you guys. Don’t ignore whatever it is (if anything) that’s brought up – even if your instinct is to turn your head away.

Venus will be out of her “shadow” by 18 December. As for what Venus in Scorpio means for everyone else? I’ll rehash an older post and pop it up later today, but if you want a sneak peek you can check it out here.

There’s a square between the Sun and Mars to kick our working week off. While there could be some irritations about, they’ll be mostly slights (or perceived slights) on your ego, so before reacting think about what your motivations to do so truly are – some skirmishes really aren’t worth the effort.

Normally this transit, brief as it is, would come with a warning not to act too rashly and ignore risks, however, Mars is in Pisces and tends to drift rather than burst out of the starting gates. Instead, consider whether your inaction is actually passive-aggressive behaviour which is, as we know, a Pisces special. And yes, with as much Pisces as I have I’m allowed to say that.

One last thing on this, all too often – especially on a Monday, I’ve found (although naturally, I have no real facts behind this) – the behaviour that seems to be directed towards us is actually being projected from us. Are you the one who’s picking for a fight? Think about that.

Thursday brings another square involving the Sun. This one, though, is with Neptune – and very different indeed.

Neptune tends to diffuse energy and if the Sun represents your vitality, then you might not be feeling terribly vital during this brief but potentially frustrating transit.

If it’s at all possible, it’s a good day to take a step back and take it a little easier – that’s exactly what your energy levels are telling you. At this time of the year though, that’s very unlikely. You are, however, receiving an advance warning so at the very least don’t put things off until Thursday that could be done earlier when you do feel more like it. In other words, if your deadline is Thursday, don’t wait until Thursday to start.

The downside of this transit is that under it it’s easy for you to convince yourself of things that are lurking in your subconscious. Imaginary problems and discouragements become real, and real problems can be pretended away into figments of your imagination. Neither of these scenarios is ideal, but the truths they tell are both real and unreal at the same time – depending on your perspective.

Sometimes the time for asking questions has gone and it’s now time to trust. Sometimes the truth becomes visible when you stop attempting to see it. That’s the Sun-Neptune conundrum.

Friday morning sees Mercury turning about to start moving in a forward direction again. That’s no reason to take your eye off the Mercury ball just yet though…give him time to get back up to normal speed before you begin implementing all those wonderful big ideas you’ve been percolating.

There’s also a New Moon on Thursday in Sagittarius. I’ve scheduled something for Tuesday morning for this, so keep an eye on the website. For reasons I have neither the time or inclination to think about, posts aren’t automatically linking to Facebook and when I’m in the middle of a work week I tend not to remember to take the extra step to do it.

We end the week with a conjunction between Mars and Neptune – making this possibly the most Piscean that Mars will be this year. This transit is exact late on Saturday night for those of us here in Australia – which could be quite fitting given that I’ll be in Sydney at a 60th birthday party for a friend at that time.

Okay, what to expect? The textbooks say that you could be feeling tetchy and irritable but unable to do anything about that. Yep, that’s a pretty good assessment. I have the occasional dream where I’m swimming laps and not going anywhere. That’s also a pretty good assessment.

In a way, it’s a little like Mars is retrograde, so take the hint and take it easy. It’s not a day for pushing yourself, starting anything new or acting on your fantasies and daydreams. If you’re tempted to do so look for the facts first.

It is, however, a great day for doing something for someone else – as long as the action is truly selfless and not a way to show the world how much of a saviour you are.

Phew! We got there.

It’s already 30C and not even 9.30am so I’m off to sit in the pool for a bit before the day really gets underway. I have to get our Christmas cake baked, our Christmas tree put up, and our Christmas presents wrapped – the latter all ready to take to Sydney next week.

Enjoy what’s left of your weekend.

 

 

 

 

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Mercury Retrograde…the story so far…

Hi all,

I’m sitting at Sydney airport waiting for a flight home and just thought I’d drop by & give you a few Mercury retrograde stories to have a giggle at my expense over.

We’ve been in Canberra for the funeral of a very close friend. To be honest, it freaked me out quite a bit – not just the grief, but something else. I’m not sure whether it’s because this is the first time I’ve lost a friend of my age and vintage. I’ve been extremely fortunate…touch wood… Seriously though, I suppose that it brought me smack bang against my own mortality – and yes, I’m fully aware that this isn’t about me.

Having said that, my friend leaves a fabulous legacy in an amazing family and lasting changes in the community and the causes that she was an advocate for. Sixth house Aries stellium at work…literally. As deeply sad as it all was, she did have a good send-off.

Anyways, getting to Canberra from the Sunshine Coast is costly and difficult so we opted to fly to Sydney on Sunday and hire a car to drive the remaining 300kms.

Conscious that Mercury was retrograde I built in plenty of contingency. Even so, we were pleased when informed at the car rental desk that we’d scored an upgrade. #winning

We weren’t so pleased when we got to our assigned car and found another family piling into it. Yes, they’d double-booked the vehicle.

The upgrade magically disappeared and we were led to another car. This one had a flat tyre.

‘No it doesn’t madam.’

‘Really? What’s that if it isn’t flat?’

‘Maybe a little bit deflated?’ he suggested hopefully.

Twenty minutes and another car we were on our way.

Strike one to Mercury.

In order to take the time off to attend the funeral, I was doing the blue-arsed fly thing, ie running around like a mad woman (sorry, it’s an Aussie saying). I’d set up the print version of Happy Ever After and because Mercury is retrograde had checked and rechecked things like the trim-size (ie the size of the book), the page numbers, the cover proportions…everything. So when the digital proof came through for approval I checked it another few times and ticked the appropriate box.

In the hotel, I was catching up on some work and saw that an email had come through from my cover designer advising me that the cover version she’d sent through was the low resolution one for my approval and not the final version.

So, I had to edit the book, pay the cost of the changes and pretty much start over.

Strike two for Mercury.

Last night when we got home from the funeral I had an email waiting for me from bookings.com. One of the B&Bs we’d booked for a New Zealand trip early next year is no longer able to accept guests so our booking has been cancelled. The booking was made last time Mercury was retrograde. As annoying as it is, I can’t help but hope that everything is okay with the owners.

Strike three to Mercury.

This afternoon when we settled down at the airport to wait for our flight home I opened my email to find one from Singapore Airlines. We’re flying with them to Singapore and Penang next April. The email was to advise me that due to an aircraft change (?) the extra legroom seats we’d paid for were no longer available. Yes, that booking was also made last time Mercury was retrograde.

Strike four to Mercury.

Once I finally got the book design right I also ordered a box of paperback copies of Happy Ever After from the printer. As we sat in the bar this afternoon another email popped through with the shipping confirmation. Normally I wouldn’t consider checking it, but Mercury retrograde and all that… That’s when I noticed that while I’d changed my billing address to Queensland, my shipping address was still our old house.

Strike five to Mercury.

All of it is solvable, all very much #firstworldproblems – I’m super conscious how lucky I am to be travelling. It is, however inconvenient and time-consuming to fix. It’s also very Sagittarian that each of these issues relates to travel plans or publishing – especially given that Mercury is currently 9th house (using placidus house systems) for me at the moment.

In the case of the issues with the book printing and shipping, both of these could have been avoided if I’d slowed down. But I didn’t.

Mercury slips back into Scorpio on Saturday bringing us face to face with whatever unfinished business is lurking in the shadows.

Venus too is doing a similar thing as she crosses back into Scorpio in the early hours of Monday morning. Venus is still retracing her steps from before she went retrograde at 10 Scorpio back at the beginning of October. It’s definitely a time for exposing truth and manipulative behaviour…

I’d love to know if anyone else has any Mercury stories they’d like to share…

Update:  And just for more Mercury randomness? Sitting across the aisle from me in row 1 on our Jetstar flight was a friend and fellow writer. In Sydney for meetings with her publisher, she mixed up her times and almost missed her flight down – and then realised when she had landed that she’d forgotten her credit cards. Aaaah Mercury, you trickster you…

 

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Gemini Full Moon

Full Moon 0 Gemini 52′, 23 November, 2018 4.40pm (AEDST)

I’m greeting this Full Moon with a heavy heart as a very close friend has passed away in the last couple of days.

We’ll be travelling interstate to attend the funeral so there are travel bookings that need to be made, work absences to be arranged, and a couple of social engagements to be cancelled. It’s all the minutia of first world life that is insignificant when compared to the massive upheaval that my friend’s family faces as they adapt to their new normal without her.

In a way though, it’s reminded me that that is what the Gemini Full Moon is all about – not life and death, but rather the difference between the detail and the big picture…for want of a better term.

You see, there’s chatter all around us – white noise as I like to call it. It’s the business of our everyday lives, the commutes and small trips we make as part of our usual routine, the meetings and dates that fill up our calendars.

Then there’s what we see when we step back and really look. It’s like those mind-bending pictures that make their way onto Facebook or Instagram every so often – the picture that you don’t see in the maze. Only this past week the socials have gone into meltdown over the 8 that has been sitting in the 8 of diamonds card forever and a day. Now that I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it.

When the Moon is in Gemini our curiosity is stimulated. There are conversations to be had, ideas to be followed, questions to be asked. Sometimes, though, the chatter is overwhelming and fills your brain in a way that it doesn’t need to be filled. Sometimes you ask questions for the sake of it. Sometimes you over-analyse the data and see links and patterns that aren’t really there – an optical illusion – or that don’t mean anything very much at all.

These everyday connections – this background noise – represent safety and comfort. It’s what we know, what we’re used to. Even as we tell ourselves that we’re following our curiosity or learning a new piece of information we’re doing so from a place that we know and are comfortable in.

Yet, in the routine noise of every day there are times when you don’t see what you really need to see, hear what you need to hear, ask the questions you need the answers to, or have the conversations that you need to have.

At the Gemini Full Moon, the Sun is in Sagittarius – and Sagittarius isn’t interested in the detail. And at this Full Moon – for the first time since 2007 – the ruler of Sagittarius, Jupiter, is not only at home in Sagittarius, but also conjunct the Sun.

Jupiter and Sagittarius want us to learn through experience – away from the everyday and beyond your current boundaries.

Jupiter and Sagittarius want us to stand back, look at the horizon and think something like, ‘seriously, how hard could it be?’

Jupiter and Sagittarius want us to have faith that we can get to that horizon and beyond.

Also active at this Full Moon is a square from Mars. Mars in Pisces is idealistic, inspired, empathetic and intuitive. He is, however, more emotionally vulnerable that Mars tends to be – something that is challenged when squaring Jupiter.

‘But it will be ok,’ says Jupiter. ‘Off you go – down the mountain, one ski, no poles. What a ride!’ Okay, maybe he doesn’t quite say that, but you get the idea…you should also get the idea of what sort of fear could be holding you back at this Full Moon.

Not that you call it fear. You might call it something else. You might say that you don’t have all the information you need to move forward. You might say that you’re waiting for more data or for questions to be answered. You might use this as an excuse.

The thing is, sometimes you’ve already asked everything you need to ask, answered the questions that needed to be answered, and analysed the data that needed to be analysed. The only thing to be gained from asking more, answering more and analysing more is, well, nothing. Sometimes you already know what you need to know and all that you need right now is to trust in that knowledge – and trust the future.

Of course, though, you’re the only person who can truly answer that.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve not been asking enough questions, listening through the white noise to the snippets hidden beneath. You see, quite often we think we know it all. You’ve been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and think that you know it all – and are happy to tell anyone else who’ll listen that you know it all.

Sometimes we’re so stuck on our vision or perception of what the big picture looks like that we make the mistake of not looking for or seeing the detail of what’s really there. Again, only you can honestly answer that.

Wherever this Full Moon falls in your chart is where you need to ask the questions, to listen beyond the white noise. It’s also where you need to know when to stop questioning and when to trust your instincts and flipping do it already.

While it’s important at all Full Moons to sit and reflect, it’s possibly more important at this one.

Why? Because Mercury is retrograde and messages received and communicated during Mercury retrogrades tend to be distorted or misunderstood.

On the other hand, it’s also an amazing opportunity to listen beyond what is said and go within to hear what your heart already knows and wants to tell you. And the only way you can do that is to pull back, sit quietly and reflect.

If you’re into meditating do that, if you’re into sitting and watching the ocean do that, if you’re into grabbing ten deep breaths in between meetings do that. But whatever it is that you do, do it totally and without distraction. And then listen.

Doing it for yourself

Ok, by now you should know the drill, but if not, check out this post.

I’ve popped a solar guide below to keep things simple, but if you know where 0 Gemini 52’ falls in your chart, check that out.

As for what you can expect? By now you should also know what the general themes of each house are about, but if not – or if you’re new to this site (and welcome, it’s lovely to see you here) – you can always check out this post.

As for me?

This Full Moon is an exact sextile to my 2nd house Saturn and is lighting my 4th house. I’m in the process of getting the house ready for Christmas. I have a big picture vision in mind of how I want things to look and be, and am now dealing with the detail. There’s some family stuff in Sydney and Canberra too that needs my attention at present. All 4th house concerns.

There’s money going out that needs to be pulled back somewhat (Saturn in the 2nd) and an eye kept on it as income isn’t keeping up with the spending at the moment.

With a trine from Jupiter/Sun at this Full Moon to natal Saturn, I should be able to balance my longer-term goals while dealing with the business of the everyday. With the Moon shining it’s light there, it’s all quite clear – I just need to take care of the practicalities and do the work to make it happen.

Over to you…

  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Gemini, this Full Moon falls in your 1st house – look also to the 7th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Cancer, this Full Moon falls in your 12th house – look also to the 6th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Leo, this Full Moon falls in your 11th house – look also to the 5th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Virgo, this Full Moon falls in your 10th house – look also to the 4th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Libra, this Full Moon falls in your 9th house – look also to the 3rd house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Scorpio, this Full Moon falls in your 8th house – look also to the 2nd house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Sagittarius, this Full Moon falls in your 7th house – look also to the 1st house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Capricorn, this Full Moon falls in your 6th house – look also to the 12th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aquarius, this Full Moon falls in your 5th house – look also to the 11th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Pisces, this Full Moon falls in your 4th house – look also to the 10th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Aries, this Full Moon falls in your 3rd house – look also to the 9th house for balance.
  • If your Sun or Ascendant is in Taurus, this Full Moon falls in your 2nd house – look also to the 8th house for balance.
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Sunday 18 November, 2018 – the week ahead

As I write this I’m in a hotel bar in Brisbane, a city about an hour south of where I live, and the capital of our state, Queensland. I’m catching up on some blogging work and sipping on a wine in celebration of the fact that my new novel is now live on Amazon. Yes, Happy Ever After is out now…and no, it has absolutely nothing to do with astrology, but if you are interested, you can get it here.

Ok, what else is happening? By the time this post goes out, I should have also updated my week in review – you’ll find it here.

The week in pictures

As for the skies?

The highlight of this week is a Full Moon on 23/11/18 at 0 Gemini 52′. Jupiter is in the mix for this and still full of exuberance at being home in Sagittarius. Anyways, I’ll pop something up closer to the time.

What else?

Mars squares of against Jupiter on Tuesday. Jupiter is a tad like one of the dogs we see down at the beach who tear up and down chasing balls with unflagging enthusiasm. ‘A walk? My absolute favourite thing in the world. A ball? My absolute favourite thing in the world.’

Everything is bright, new and full of possibility.

Mars, though, is in Pisces and a tad damp around the toes. he’s more interested in feeling his way. (Did anyone else start singing ‘You’re the one that I want’ from Grease then – or was it just me?)

In any case, there is energy to be used – but used wisely and safely. Although this would normally be a good time for leaping into something new, Mercury is retrograde, so bear that in mind and adjust accordingly. Take care not to let frustration lead you into needless conflict and if in doubt, either move through it productively via exercise or creatively.

The Sun moves into Sagittarius on Thursday. We all have Sagittarius somewhere in our chart. It’s this part of life where we’re encouraged to seek and grow through new experiences, where the good stuff really does lie beyond our comfort zone. It’s also where we need to have faith and believe that we can jump those fences and gallop off to the next one…and then jump that one too.

Finally, Neptune turns direct on November 25. I wrote this about Neptune direct a few years ago – and actually still quite like the analogy:

“Neptune’s effect is subtle, barely there- on the surface, anyway. Anyone who has been or is going through a Neptune transit knows that the impact can be huge. A little like how that cupcake looks like it could only have a teeny amount of calories in it- something that beautiful couldn’t possibly cause that much of a movement on the scales, could it?

Most of us have a dream, a vision of the future, an idea of how things could be. The very nature of that dream is often idealistic and couched in terms of if only. That’s ok- that’s what dreams are made of…

In fact, a recipe for a decent dream might look something like:

Take a pinch of illusion, a touch of delusion, a smidgeon of glamour, a dollop of idealism and mix it together with a good whack of fairy dust. Spoon into cupcake tins and bake for as long as it takes.

Sometimes we take our dreams out and turn them into goals.

Sometimes we forget to turn the oven on.

Often we just continue to, well, dream.

Over the last five months, Neptune has been retrograde – our dreams have been directed inwards, happily baking away.

But now the buzzer is going.

Will you be opening the oven door, and bringing your dreams out? Icing them, decorating them and consuming them? Or will you be leaving them to bake a little longer…”

On that note, have a great week!