Category Archives: fast and dirty

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fast and dirty—just straight chillaxin’

Many people do a lot of work around the cycles of the Moon.

From starting projects at the New Moon, to home gardening and even large scale farming, to relaxing and tying up loose ends during the Waning Moon.

06WarwickGoble_CriseydeAndHerMaidens_100It is fun and I find it helps a wee little human stay connected to the natural rythyms of the big ol’ universe.

Anyway.

One nuance to this work is what is called the void-of-course Moon.

This is basically the period of time when the Moon makes no more major (conjunction, opposition, square, trine, sextile) aspects with another planet before moving into the next sign of the zodiac.

Let me illustrate: Moon moves into Leo> trines Uranus in Aries > continues in Leo > conjuncts Jupiter > continues in Leo > sextiles Mars in Libra > continues in Leo > becomes void-of-course > remains so until ingressing into Virgo > when the whole process of ingress/aspects/void-of-course/ingress occurs again and again and again . . .

Moon void-of-courses (MVOC) can last a very short time or  a very long time or somewhere in between—remember back at the Solstice/New Moon when the Sadge Moon was void-of-course for over 12 hours!?!?

Well, from my research, MVOC’s can be seen as mini-Mercury Retrogrades, where things don’t go as planned and new projects shouldn’t be started. But instead of 2-3 solid weeks like Merc Rx, VOC usually only lasts hours, though they occur every couple days instead of 2-3 times annually.

OK.

MVOC are seen as times to catch up on sleep (yes, literally) or somesuch activity that bolsters your soul—like meditation or a walk in the woods or yoga or a nice cup of tea with a friend.

Relax and let things wait til Luna moves to the next sign.

Of course, mundane life doesn’t come to a stand still because the Moon is telling you to take a nap, yeah?

Control what you can and don’t sweat the rest!!

Calendars of Moon void-of-course times for 2015 are readily available all over the internets.

Lona

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fast and dirty—only a matter of degrees

hs-2003-09-a-small_webSince the next New Moon falls on 0º of Sagittarius, I am posting a fast and dirty about degrees of special consideration in astrology—of which, zero most certainly is!

Alright, let me break down some of the more common examples—

Aries Points:

  • the first degree of any Cardinal sign—Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn
  • they mark the seasonal changes—Equinox or Solstice
  • depending on which planet or point falls here, there is great impetus towards a fresh beginning

Avatar Points:

  • the 15º of the Fixed signs—Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius
  • they are the half-way point between the seasonal changes
  • characterizes points or planets with a sense of stability and stubbornness

Classical Critical Degrees:

  • 0, 13, 26 degrees of the Cardinal signs
  • 8-9 & 21-22 degrees of Fixed signs
  • 4 and 17 degrees of the mutable signs
  • these are traditionally very sensitive points and any body located here will be emphasized

Beginnings and Endings:

  • the oº and 29º of any sign are seen as important
  • these are the cusps—the areas where two fundamental archetypes seem to meld into one another
  • the 29º is known as the Anaretic degree
  • when a body or point is at the 29º, it is commonly felt a crisis concerning the pertinent themes is occurring, therefore the planet is debilitated somewhat
  • planets or points at the 0 degree are seen as more stable than the 29th and may be areas of power, as such the Aries Points

Fixed Stars:

  • during ancient times, these were bright objects in the sky that did not move like the planets did—named ‘fixed’ by the Ancients
  • not traditional degrees, but I thought I would mention them anyway—more thorough post to come later
  • there are many Fixed Stars, each with their own myth and importance, some well-known ones are Regulus and Sirius

A few additional notes:

  • with the exception of the Fixed Stars, there are no orbs to these degrees—a planet is either located there or it isn’t
  • Fixed Stars have very tight orbs—1-2 degrees only
  • such special degrees are used extensively with progressions and predictive work and added to interpretations of the natal horoscope to add nuance and depth

More info—here and here.

Well, there you go, folks. Short and sweet.

The upcoming New Moon is at 0º Sagittarius and on deck to be a  flexibly wonderful new start.

Lona

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fast and dirty—I/O/Q triad—a working theory

This whole inconjunct/opposition/quincunx (I/O/Q, for short) triad is a working theory of mine. And I reference it a lot, so I figured I better ‘splain myself a bit.

Here’s some back story:  huh?, planetary hand-me-downs, exam metaphor, venus example

Ok.  So, why is it so compelling for me?

Well, I love the way the cosmos funnels energy across the charts. You will get the raw materials, one way or another, always. Of course, it is up to you to make it precisely what you need. That’s what I feel is going on here.

The I/O/Q cycle honors the wisdom of the number 3. It focuses on a chronological segment of the zodiac (eg. Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces) and pumps energy that way from a big kahuna outer planet. It puts our personal, worker bee, planets in the service of the generational outer planets. Cosmic lessons of great magnitude will be available to this area.

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fast and dirty—t-squares, boomerangs & kites, oh my!

In anticipation for the upcoming grand-Fire-trine/Kite formation this October, I want to post a fast and dirty about astrology’s ‘outs’.

ornamentHuh?

Well, what I mean is, sometimes the planets line up in a manner that gets a little bit tricky, little bit stressful, little bit scary, yeah?

But the cosmos always provides a way OUT.  This is a post about these indispensable tools.

All three demonstrate the functional beauty of the opposition!

Remember, the ‘out’ is triggered by either a natal planet/point, a transiting planet or another person’s planet/point through synastry.

Shall we?

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orbs, borbs, bo-borbs . . .

Here’s a fast and dirty about the orbs I use in my weekly forecast posts.

For the daily/weekly transit posts, I use ridiculously tight orbs—1-2° tops.

Here’s my thinking:

The inner planets move so fast.  They whizz in, then out of aspect to one another that the effects don’t last more than a day or two.  And, geez, with the Moon, she is only within orb for a couple of hours, she travels soooo quickly.  Of course, this can change with retrograde motion, where a planet can go over a spot 3 times (sometimes 5 for Neptune and Pluto!) in one cycle.

Now, I do feel aspects involving inner to outer planets build for maybe a week before perfection, then dwindle at a slightly faster rate.  Outer planet to outer planet, well—the energy can stick around for a good long while, simply due to their slllllooooowwww speed and retrogrades.  Those I take case by case.

I try to post 2 days before the perfection of an aspect, since I feel most folks will probably already have noticed the energy gaining strength and be wondering what the heck is going on?  I see no need to talk about something weeks in advance when it will be most certainly forgotten precisely when you are in the thick of it.   A couple days fair warning and it will be fresh in your mind when it is at peak manifestation.

More about the orbs I use in my individual chart readings as questions arise.

Lona

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september 17th-21st—what ya lovin’ and who’s lovin’ you?

Oh my, Venus will be participant in three configurations involving big boy outer planets for the remainder of the week.  It is a line up of challenges and potential breakthroughs.  This is the week to attract a voracious healing to the house Venus is transiting in your natal.

So, it all starts with Chiron.  If you’ve ever doubted your attractiveness or desirability as a partner (and who hasn’t???), Wednesday the 17th, will be a gold mine for you.  Virgo Venus is opposing Pisces Chiron and this speaks to healing issues of self-esteem.

Virgo is practical, therefore this is a real chance to make heuristic alterations to how we view our worth.  It won’t feel the best to be sure but there’s a reason Venus is who she is and Chiron is who he is—have faith.   The onslaught of negative media images and inadequate cultural ideas as to what makes a woman and a man worthy is exhausting to even the most confident of us.

This hits harder for some, but we all have our doubts to work on.  Use this energy, people, to make a change, no matter how minute, toward a stronger core of armour-propre.

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a heavenly entelechy

On Tuesday, September 16th, Mercury conjuncts the North Node of the Moon’s Nodal Axis at 19° Libra.  This is a perfect occasion to post a fast and dirty about what is up with the Moon’s Nodes and get cozy with the Aries/Libra polarity.

2014-08-28 00.37.33-1The Moon’s Nodes are an axis—there is a North Node and 180° away, a South Node.  They are the places in space where the Moon’s orbit around the Earth crosses the elliptic of Earth’s orbit around the Sun.  When New or Full Moons occur at a Nodal point, we experience eclipses on Earth—Solar (New Moon) if at the North Node; Lunar (Full Moon) if at the South.  Their ‘motion’ in the heavens is the opposite direction to all other planets in our solar system.  Therefore they are thought to be above the frey so to speak—hanging on the periphery of all the daily celestial drama.  They stay in a sign for about 19 months at a time, and take about 18 years to come full circle around the zodiac.

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planetary hand-me-downs

Here is my fast and dirty theory about one secret to outer planet transits.

But first let me define some terms:

inner planets (i.e. personal planets)—planets inside the Asteroid Belt

personal planets—Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars  I call them the worker bees.  The Moon is the Queen Bee for she works her magic around the entire zodiac each month.  Next is Mercury and Venus, who are never far from the Sun, fleshing out the sign he occupies each month.  Mars is the renegade of the bunch, taking roughly 2 years to make his path around to each sign.  Along with the Rising Sign, these guys are the building blocks of the personality—the nuts and bolts.

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