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The beginning of March brings us an unusual patch of astrological weather. Both of the so-called “malefic” planets, Mars and Saturn, make stations and turn retrograde pretty much simultaneously. Mars does so on the 1st of the month near the end of Libra. Saturn follows just about 24 hours later in late Scorpio. Mars will remain retrograde in Libra until May 19th. Saturn turns direct a few weeks after Mars, on July 20th, still in Scorpio.

When a planet is stationary, its energy is more pronounced. We feel it more strongly. A really easy way to see this effect is to think of Jupiter. When it is moving fast and breezes through what might seem like an important conjunction in your chart, you might ask your astrologer for your money back. Where’s that promised good luck? You didn’t hit the Powerball after all. But if Jupiter makes a station on the same sensitive point, start picking out the interior for your new Lamborghini. By the way, Jupiter will also make a station during the first week of March—turning direct on the 6th, about a third of the way into Cancer. If your birthday is near the end of June or early July, head for that car dealership.

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In this issue of the Forrest Astrology newsletter, Tony shares an open discussion about Uranus and Venus retrograde in the charts of Madonna and Miley Cyrus on the night of the taping of Miley's MTV Unplugged special. But first, a couple of updates...

Today, as we enter the shadow period following Venus retrograde, we find ourselves in yet another shadow – the one just before Mercury retrograde, which kicks off officially with its station retrograde on February 6th or 7th (depending on your time zone). Completing the trio of personal planets, Mars joins this planetary backwards-day party on March 2, marking the first half of 2014 as a season of retrogrades.

We tend to complain about retrogrades no matter when they occur. But having them at the start of the year goes against the natural logic of forward momentum that any new year carries with it. Instead of marching valiantly forward with our New Year goals, we’re encouraged to take a step back.

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As I think about the state of change we find ourselves in at this particular moment in history, I’m drawn to step back and take a bigger view. I want to enter the controversial territory of The Age of Aquarius. The energetic shifts it embodies casts long shadows over all contemporary events and all the various paradigm mutations we are experiencing. I call this territory controversial because while there are many astrologers who say we are already in the Aquarian Age, there are others who claim it is still four centuries away. As is often the case, there is a lot of intellectual posturing, and behind it, quite a mountain of ignorance. 

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As I write these words, I am sitting in a hotel in Beijing, China. I am about to teach the second day in the first of a pair of seminars I am offering here. I’ve got about forty students. Many are now friends and familiar faces from my previous visits to this country. When I was a kid, I thought China was another planet. Times change: The concerns of my students here are not so different from those of people in my classes in America, or anywhere. And maybe I am not so different from them either: For one thing, I ate breakfast with chopsticks this morning! I did that while reading about the US government shutdown on my Android smart phone.

When I was a kid, if I had seen a picture of my future self holding a smart phone, I would have thought Star Trek had come true. To say I am living a life that my grandparents could not have imagined understates it. I am living a life that I myself could not have imagined not so long ago. And nowadays “not so long ago” might as well mean the Late Jurassic. That’s true for me, and also for my Chinese friends and students.

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On Saturday, February 1, I am going to do something I had pretty much decided that I would never do—a Webinar.  I will be talking intimately to my laptop computer. I will cling to the belief that somewhere out there in the vague world of electrons, ones, and zeros there are some actual human beings who are listening, watching, and hopefully getting something out of the whole enterprise.

I will also moan to myself about the absence of what I have always found to be critical elements in my teaching: eye contact, body language, and that whole critical, vague, rich territory we call “vibes.”

While I am doing all that, transiting Saturn will be standing just one-quarter of a degree from my Ascendant.

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by Steven Forrest

Venus turned retrograde on December 21st, right on the Winter Solstice. Those two pregnant moments coinciding is a rare event and it tells me that we should pay a lot of attention to the strong Venusian signature on the coming year.

On January 11, that retrograde Venus conjuncts the Sun at 21°12' of Capricorn. It remains retrograde for the usual forty-day period, finally turning direct on the last day of January at 13°33' Capricorn.

The Sun-Venus alignment on the 11th is called an “inferior conjunction.” Despite the term, there’s nothing wrong with it! “Inferior” here only means that Venus is directly between the Earth and the Sun. On the other side of its orbit, Venus again aligns with the Sun, but this time with the Sun between us and Venus. 

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We can usually count on nice weather in Portland in September. It's often like a much-needed extension of summer – a sweet memory to tuck away for the rainy months to come. But no such luck this year. In fact, it's been raining cats and dogs. And it usually only rains butterflies and hummingbirds here, if you know what I mean (light sprinkles and mini drops).

So after about 5 days in a row this week without seeing the sun, I started getting grumbly. But now as I prepare October’s newsletter, it's all perfect fodder for this month's subject: The Grace in Debility! Because if we're evolving well in life, we learn to appreciate the benefits in "taking our medicine," whether that means eating our greens for health, or accepting the first frost, which might signal the start of winter, but also lays the stage for the coming rebirth of Spring.

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September opens straightforwardly with Venus in Libra and Mercury in Virgo. Each planet is in the sign it naturally rules, in other words. And that symmetry can be a bit bland, like a beige rug in a beige room.  But then things get a lot more interesting. On the 9th, Mercury crosses into Libra where it resides for the bulk of the month, until finally entering Scorpio on the 29th. Two days after Mercury slips into Libra, Venus leaves it, crossing the border into the classic sign of its “detriment,” Scorpio, where it remains until the end of the first week of October.

It is this period from September 11th onward, with Venus in Scorpio and Mercury in Libra, that I'm interested in.  Harnessed in an evolutionary way, this planetary combination can trigger conscious deepening, support both truth-telling and truth-hearing, and foster the resolution of tough, longstanding intimate conflicts. Experienced unconsciously, it can read like the script of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf.  People can tear each other apart in the name of love, in other words.

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MERCURY

“When the pickpocket meets the saint, he sees pockets.”

Orbital Period: 88 days

Synodic Period: Approximately 116 days (115.87754 days)

Archetypes: Teacher; Student. Writer; Reader. Storyteller.

Rules: Gemini and Virgo

Core Concept: The reception and transmission of data between a person and the surrounding social, physical, metaphysical, and psychic environments.

Developmental Focus: Evolving perception. Evolving thought. Evolving speech.

Positive Subjective Response: Curiosity, wonder, open-mindedness. Alertness. Comfortable self-expression; good listening.

Negative Subjective Response: Mental rigidity, intellectual defensiveness; compulsive speech, running around in circles.

Existential Emphasis Under Transits, Progressions, or Arcs: New information; omens and synchronicities; key conversations; speedy, chaotic developments; education in any sense; physical motion. Contact with young people or siblings.

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Want to Learn More? Read Steven’s article The Out of Bounds Moon. Learn how to calculate the out of bounds moon using Solar Fire and Winstar. Learn more about the Out of Bounds moon and lunar phases with the following programs: Preview of Full Workshop: The Moon Out of Bounds Buy Now

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