New Moon in Gemini- Serving Two Masters

Conflict by Anton Rehrl, CCL

Effective Date- 6/4/16

Helios Says:

Hope and despair. Power and impotence. Past and future. Heaven and Hell. Human and Divine. Head and Heart. Confidence and Doubt. Welcome to the edge of the storm. The crosswinds of the opposing forces within you are ripping you apart. You have moments before it envelops you- What is your play? Whatever it is, you cannot hesitate- You will only get one shot here, so you better make it count. We stand on the precipice of the challenge that the Cardinal Crisis spent years molding us for- And instead of being battle-ready, eager to take on whatever the cosmos can fling at us, we are running from the front lines as fast as we can! Those who can't run? Shaking in their boots, second guessing every decision in their life that has led them to this point, trying to figure out the moment where it all went wrong to lead them here.

It will do you no good to run- You couldn't possibly hide from this, because the battle you face is within yourself. Each of us will have our demons to face, but I promise you one thing- Helios and Artemis are here, with you, fighting at your back. We will get you through this, I swear it. This is what we have been training for, and it is OUR moment!

Let's go.

Artemis Says:“I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't.” -- Marilyn Monroe

Out of all the mutable signs, the strongest source of chaos seems to originate from Gemini.  Like Virgo, there is a sense of striving toward order but being stretched too thin.  At least Virgo is an earth sign, giving her a sense of grounding and purpose to her chaos.  Gemini is ruled by air, and this in itself gives him very little restriction.  Of course, this could drive a person insane and create a sort of split persona.  Perhaps this is why Gemini is represented by the Twins;  you're always talking to two different people when talking to a Gemini.  One person dwells deep inside and they are extraordinarily insightful.  This twin has a wonderful appreciation for higher intellectual pursuits, a keen eye when it comes to analysis of any kind, a whimsical sense of humor and an ability for the arts that can rival any other sign in the Zodiac.  The other Twin is kind of a piece of shit (or just really ridiculously flashy).  Oh shut up, Gemini, you all know it's true!  We never know which one of you to expect, and I bet you don't either.  This new moon is a lot like that.  What the hell is on the horizon?  What can we expect?  And who are we going to end up choosing to be?

H: The Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto- You read that right. All seven are counted in this. Let's break this down- The hot zone will be anything between 12-16 degrees of your chart, but especially the mutables. This is major change energy in the air- Yes, things have been stagnant and you have been at a loss as for what to do to surmount your obstacles. Overnight, it seems like these obstacles are melting away in front of you, and the ground has suddenly changed from quicksand to one of those horizontal escalator walkways that they have in airports for no adequately explored reason and that exist no where else- Only they actually have some speed to them, and its more than you can handle. The main players are going to be the benefics, Venus and Jupiter. This new moon is right on Venus and being squared by Jupiter; But in the background are Saturn, Neptune and Pluto. You are caught between your brightest future and your darkest past. Your secrets, mistakes, lies and failures seek to weigh you down so that you may never reach those lofty peaks you dream of- Your fears haunt you at every turn, and your insecurities take every opportunity to remind you how much of a piece of shit you actually are. They rake you over the coals for every misspoken word, every failed venture, and every chance that you didn't take. They will do this for as long as you continue to give them your attention- Engaging in that negative self-talk will only give your demons more power over you. In spite of the war raging in your head and heart, you have achieved so much, so quickly, and in ways that those around you never believed that you were capable of- But you cannot see it. All you see is your failures, because you are the only one who knows their full extent! You can get through this, but to do so you will need to forget the failures, and the losses. You need to get over yourself- No, your life is not perfect and blissful, and exactly the way it turned out since you planned it all out at age 10. No ones is. You are not that same person as you were back then, and thank god for it- if you insist on trying to gauge your success on that metric, your original plan, you will ALWAYS come up short. You have to let go of that dialogue that says that you need to get back to the original model- Unless you somehow develop time travel powers there is no way to do it (and then you run into causality, and bifurcated timelines... its a giant hassle); You have to deal with your situation, this world, reality as it is - Not how you wish it would have been. Most of all, you have to be honest with yourself- There is something in your past, or in your subconscious that you are desperately trying to hide from. This is keeping you chained to it, so that you can never escape it. Break your shackles and face the truth. Only then can you move forward. (Minor Planets in play- Psyche, Tantalus, Hopi, Teharonhiawako, Hidalgo, Osiris, Phaethon, Cyllarus, Bienor, Echeclus, Ceto)

A:  The Sun (ace of wands), Moon (3 of Pentacles), Venus (8 of Pentacles), Jupiter (High Priestess), Saturn (7 of Pentacles), Neptune (7 of Wands) and Pluto (Queen of Swords):

There seems to be a "split" in all the air signs.  Gemini is split by two personas, Libra is split by everything in fucking existence - trying fruitlessly to bring it all together, and Aquarius is split between the heavens and earth.  Unfortunately, this leads to a sort of dissociation in all three signs.  Who are they really?  Do you remember how I told you on the Sagittarius Full Moon that what we imagine, we become?  I pulled the same goddamn card for the moon again; the Ace of Wands.  It makes a lot of sense.  This time, we are tackling it from a far more personal side than when we were being pummeled by moon in Saggo energy.  Saggo asked us who we wanted to be in regards to the collective, and Gemini is asking us who we are going to choose to be in regards to our own daily life.

Marilyn is the perfect example of a Sun (and Mercury) in Gemini person.  Her friends would talk about how she could trigger different personas into existence at whim, and how she could effortlessly weave her way through conversations.  One minute she was Norma Jean; quiet, intellectual, serious, and plain.  People would pass her on the street without a second glance.  She would tell her friends to watch closely as she shifted into Marilyn Monroe.  The next minute she would "transform" into her other half with a little shift in posture and mindset.  People immediately began to notice her as she walked down the street.  This is Gemini's gift.  You can project on to them as much bullshit as you'd like, and the inner twin will always be just behind the scenes taking notes as the more theatrical twin is picking away at your defenses.  What you imagine, you become.  What others imagine we are, we become.  Instead of putting down the inner person who is clearly not the outer person, use the "image" others create for you as a weapon.  Theater is an important art-form.  Figuring out which myth people believe you are living out can come to your advantage.  Venus and Jupiter are going to be helping us chop wood and carry water, so to speak.  Jupiter is whispering to us that the secret to all of this lies in him, and that Venus is helping him construct this grand plan.  Both planets are sitting in Mercury ruled signs; Virgo and Gemini.  So, the answer lies with connecting to others who share similar views in regards to connection that we do.  How can we merge our ideas with others?  How are we all going to put together our little pieces of the puzzle with those who are working on the same puzzles as us?

While you are working with your allies, you need to prepare for your enemies.  How can you use the "idea of you" that they have to destroy them?

It's time to focus on how to use our skills, especially our personality, to get what we want.  Jesus Christ, I sounded so Gemini just then...  Although Gemini knows how to nudge people in various directions for their own benefit, there is always this underlying guilt they face.  Perhaps this is why they are constantly running in the middle of situations they have manifested?  This warns us to keep in mind that whatever you do to turn a situation into your favor, do so without nudging people off of their own path.  All in all, this is an extremely creative moon.  Use it to paint a beautiful new mask for this stage we call life.  The myths we create are a map of the underlying reality of things; which we are unable to truly communicate.  Sorry, Gemini, we know how much you like to communicate.  How do you talk about something that we really don't know how to talk about?  Art.    

While you are learning how to use your exterior self as an art form, don't get too lost in the being that you create.  You are never exactly what others say you are.  Your inner self also has some shit they are dealing with that needs focus as well.  The outer planets are digging under our skin to reveal to us the truth of our inner lives.  Sometimes love has to be tough.  Pluto has always had a bad reputation for being volatile when she should be tender (makes sense that I pulled the Queen of Swords for her).  Remember, there is a need for fire to clear things that are overrun.  There is an ancient wisdom to Pluto that tells us that to uncover what is buried inside of us, we have to dig deep and use big explosives.  It is a violent process.  Anytime false ideas about who we are come toppling down, it can't help but be a violent process.  Use this chaos around us like a ladder.  Gemini knows that when the pieces scatter, you can use them to create whatever fairy tale you wish to create.  The Mutable Grand Cross that is coming up in less than 2 weeks is going to be a big opportunity.  We are going to be able to re-arrange the pieces of our existence into a new shape.  Mutable signs like Gemini are like play doe.  You can pummel them into any form that you wish, but always keep in mind that it is not permanent.  We will be learning grand lessons of impermanence now, from crumbling social circles to crumbling ideas of persona.  Keep in mind that the truth of any individual can never be gleamed from one perspective of them.  We are like the eye of a storm; still and empty like a void.  Our exterior is always spinning and changing; picking up pieces of others as we move along our path.  We are both.  The person that you create to take on your exterior world has repercussions for the person living inside of you.  Remember this as you choose which myth you want to live out.       

H: Mercury and Uranus- As you are dredging up the mire in your head, your mind is supercharged right now, going a mile a minute trying to think up a clever way out of the situation your cleverness got you into. News flash- getting out of it, running from the problem? The least effective way to move forward. Your best way out is through. Note that I didnt say the ONLY way there- you can choose just about any way to move you want: Forward, back, up, west or at a downward slope. Doesn't matter. You will move, and if you dont harness the energy here for your own aims, it will run roughshod over you, and when it is done with you it will cast you aside in a random direction of its choosing- not yours. For some of you, this is what you really want- I get it, but if you can take control, why not do so? You will also run into the issue where you are afraid of what you want, that it is either not big or world-changing enough, that your dreams are too small and you cannot be enough for this world- that you have missed your shot at your best life. If you do, reexamine what you think you want. See if your goals are still in line with your path. (Minor Planets in play- Ceres, Borasisi, Hebe, Niobe, Hybris, Bacchus)

A: Mercury (Page of Swords) and Uranus (9 of Wands):  

Eek, we're up against the ropes and have no idea where to move from here.  9 of Wands indicates our huge sense of exhaustion, yet it also shows us that we have a lot of EXPERIENCE now.  These two cards show us that we are finally coming into a deeper understanding of our mental workings.  The Page of Swords is always poised to move but a little nervous.  She has all the knowledge she needs, just as the 9 of Wands, but where the 9 of Wands is exhausted and beat up, the Page of Swords is nervous and anxious.  You need to figure out a way to ground yourself and summon some strength.  Things are literally going to be able to go anywhere from here.  The Mutable Grand Cross and this Mutable sun and moon are telling change is here whether we like it or not.  Uranus is about to go conjunct with Eris (June 1), which is sending more CHANGE our way.  You can sit there and cry about how tired and nervous you are, or you can keep plugging away.  Venus being the 8 of Pentacles tells me that our route to fortune is going to be in the plugging away, regardless of the insanity coming from Mercury and Uranus.  Make a move.  

H: Mars and Chiron- With all of this, what can you actually do about any of it? Well, this is mostly going to be an internal struggle, primarily a mental one. The best thing to do is to focus on resolving your conflict, and not trying to rush it- You must not try to push forward quicker than the flow wishes for you. You can choose to do so, but I promise that you will be pushed back and knocked on your ass at every turn if you do. Or you could be patient and allow events to unfold in harmony (*cough cough* Fourth Law *cough cough*). The downside to following the path, the flow, is that right now no matter what course of actions you decide to take you will be forced to confront old issues that have not been resolved. Any shortcuts you have taken, anything unfinished will be thrown back up in your face. We have been down the chirotic path before though, so you know the territory- besides, the more you face the issues, the less power they have over you. Your freedom comes from this conflict, both within and without. You must not shrink from it- you have to fight through. Step up and fight for your future or watch it fall away (Minor Planets in play- Siwa, Varuna)

A: Mars (the Heirophant) and Chrion (6 of Pentacles):

Ugh, Mars is retrograding into Scorpio, meaning more skeletons popping up for us.  It's fine.  Every time these issues come around, they give us a deeper understanding of why they manifested in our lives.  Everything is not as it initially seems.  Chiron is the Wounded Healer of the asteroids and he is telling us we have to be willing to give as much healing as we are receiving.  To heal yourself, you have to help heal others.  The thing is, we have to seek the perfect balance right now.  Putting too much energy into others, or putting too much energy into yourself over others, is going to send you under.  Everyone's self esteem is struggling right now.  Build each other up as Mars in Scorpio brings back more unfinished business for everyone.  We seriously all need to work together.  Throwing others off the cliff is not going to make it easier for you to climb the mountain.  Sure, if it's one of your piece of shit enemies, knock that sucker to the motherfucking ground.  But if it's a friend, or someone you hardly really know, lend a fucking hand.  You are going to need people you trust holding the ropes for you, and vice versa.  There is something really strange about the Heirophant representing Mars in retrograde in Scorpio.  I get a sense of ancestors calling out to us.  Sit and meditate on this.  What unlived dreams of your ancestors do you need to address?  How are you an unknowing device for your ancestors to live out those dreams?  This is an important thing to keep in mind when we are manifesting a future for ourselves in the coming weeks.  Keep in mind what your dreams are juxtaposed against the dreams everyone has been feeding you plus the dreams that your ancestors never fulfilled due to giving up on their lives or any other tragedy that may have befallen them.  Gemini teaches us that we are never truly just one person, and we never truly serve just one master.  

Venus in Gemini- All That Glitters...

glitter 07 by Aschevogel, CCL

Effective Dates- 5/24-6/17/16

Helios Says:

"Because life is short and you are hot" -Steven Moffat, Doctor Who, Blink (2005)

You're tired. You're done- I get it, trust me. All you want is a reprieve, a way out of what seeks to oppress you. You feel the pressure from all sides, and you just want to run. That is the nature of Venus in Gemini- Screw the rules, fuck the future! Lets have fun today!

Of course, this attitude is unsustainable, especially with Saturn in Sagittarius- But after all we have been through, don't we deserve a bit of a breather? Especially when She will play a key role in the upcoming New Moon and will be active in the Uranus-Eris conjunction. Honestly, under Pluto in Cap, any bit of a reprieve is welcome- And those usually come during Gemini transits.

Yes it is super important to take the long view, and it is important to fix your mind onto great big thoughts, full of import and gravity- But if you neglect the moments in front of you, you neglect the chance to come up with your OWN wisdom to last through the ages. If all you do is parrot those who have come before you, and you have nothing new to add to the conversation, you will be forgotten. To make any impact, you must be present in the now, in the moment!

And goddamnit, you need to have fun. We all know that we have been needlessly kicking our own asses lately, because of a perceived lack of progress or a feeling of being off course. Think of this as a vacation from that (and good practice for Jupiter moving into Libra) You have to forget the big picture, at least temporarily. Gemini can run literally hundreds of scenarios in their heads at any moment, and will come up with the best solution given the variables, but can only do that from a relative perspective- otherwise key variables go unknown- In other words, you are the master of your fate at this juncture, no one else can tell you what to do because they have no idea of the reality of what you are facing right now. Sure, they can advise, but you're not going to give them the key secrets that could change the entire equation. Its just the way this time works.

During this time you will need to make key decisions about what is right for you, and no one else can tell you what to do. This is not helped by Chiron in Pisces- You will need to actually follow your instincts, and figure out what the hell it is that you really want. You will be distracted at several points by things that SEEM like they are great for you, and the logical way to proceed, but Venus doesn't do logic- everything here has to be the truth of the heart. If it doesn't feel right, you will shoot yourself in the foot to get out of it, whether consciously or unconsciously. Get it right the first time.

Of course, with Jupiter in Virgo, your natural reaction will be to deny this truth and run from it- I get it, its uncomfortable. Besides, i am the poster child for running away from the truth of my Self. You will think that you are not worthy of happiness, and blah blah, so on and so forth- Get over it. You will need to get these issues resolved before Jupiter moves into Libra, and you will not have a lot of time to do it. It is THIS YEAR folks. But in the end, time moves forward regardless of what we do and if we get it right- and that is the key to understanding Gemini- it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work. Ideally, everything would be perfect, and harmony would be the de facto modus operandi, but what is perfect for me isnt necessarily what is perfect for you, and with 7 billion humans all wanting various things, their own versions of heaven, perfection cannot exist. A workable, functional future can, however- if you are willing to choose it.

Artemis says:

Cards:  Queen of Cups, Ace of Swords, 2 of Wands

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Press on the gas peddle, it's fucking Gemini season!  Everything seems to speed the fuck up at this time of year.  And BAM, Venus is having her next ingress.  This one kinda hit me out of nowhere.  I was beginning to fall asleep from a Taurean induced stupor, cradled by ice cream and soap operas.  This is a welcomed fucking wake up call.  I feel like someone just dunked me in ice water and told me to get my shit together.  It's party season.  

Who hasn't fallen for a god damn Gemini (god damn fdsjlksadjf Gemini)?  Venus in the Twins is a charming muse who skips around blowing minds and bringing a flair of sophistication to any romantic interaction.  She makes you laugh, she makes you think, and then she leaves you.  And this is why we have all also hated a Gemini.

I absolutely love air signs in Venus.  It gives love a flirtatious, easy going nature (which is nice coming out of serious earth).  We are crawling out of a period of time where our emotions were worn on our sleeve.  The last couple of Venusean ingresses have brought to the surface the flood waters of our heart, revealing to us truer shades of our attachments.  Now that we have received our insights, it is time to dive deep into our connections.  It's time to view love from the Air sign's perspective.

Saturn and Venus are coming into opposition, so I suspect Gemini will give us epiphanies about the grand plan.  What do I mean by this?  It will show you just why you are connected to the ones you love, and just why you value what you value.  We have a primal attraction to what we are attracted to for a reason.  It's an eerie sort of fate, and it gets stranger  with a planet like Saturn involved.  Saturn is going to give Venus a lot of pressure to address her grand plan.  Saturn wants answers, and he wants purpose.  He likes structure and lines and containers, and love really rebels against all of this.  Love destroys any sense of "container."  The intellectualization of Venus in Gemini fighting a idealistic Saturn in Sagittarius is going to be quite the battle.  With these two signs, I imagine two girls fighting in a pudding or something.  Hey it's still fighting, and one of them has to win!  It's just going to be kind of a sexy fight.  As the fighting between these two progresses, love will address the structure of our life and the structure of our life will effect our love.  It'll be a tug of war for a while, but one of their influence will overpower the other in your personal chart.  However,  both will be forever changed from this interaction.  The mutable Grand Cross is coming, and big changes are ahead.      

How do air signs fall in love?  With our brains.  No, dead serious.  If we can find someone who makes connections in the same way that we do, regardless of their belief system, we find great value in this.  Gemini is the flirt for a reason.  She is always testing our minds, seeing how everything holds up and if we are able to contend with her.  This is plain and simple air sign behavior.  Get ready for a lot of this, in yourself and others.  Gemini is going to send us out into the world, exploring each other's paradigms and having a lot of brain sex.  Doesn't that sound awesome?

2 of Wands warns us not to fear the unknown.  Just go out there and find your vision.  It manifests when you are around similar thinking people.  You can solve this puzzle together and find out why we are pulled to the people we are pulled to.  Why are these particular loves in your life?  Insight is here, and it's electrifying.

TNO Watch- Orpheus

A boy and his guitar by Michael Taggart

You know, we have been way too stuck in the underworld lately. Im not a fan. I think its about time to bust out of this cage, dont you? Luckily I know just the man for the job...

The Astronomy: 3361 Orpheus is an Apollo asteroid that was discovered on April 24, 1982 by Carlos Torres at Cerro El Roble Astronomical Station. Its eccentric orbit crosses that of Mars and Earth, and approaches Venus as well. From 1900 to 2100 it passes closer than 30 Gm to Venus 11, Earth 33, and Mars 14 times. It passed by Earth at a distance of about 40 lunar distances on December 7, 2013. 3361 Orpheus is a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) because its minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is less than 0.05 AU and its diameter is greater than 150 meters. The Earth-MOID is 0.0139 AU (2,080,000 km; 1,290,000 mi). Its orbit is well-determined for the next several hundred years.The orbital solution includes non-gravitational forces.

The Myth: Orpheus  was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydike, from the underworld, and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting. For the Greeks, Orpheus was a founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries. He was credited with the composition of the Orphic Hymns, a collection of which only two have survived. The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife Eurydice (sometimes referred to as Euridice and also known as Argiope). While walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was set upon by a satyr. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld. By his music he softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following, and, in his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time, but now forever. Other ancient writers, however, speak of Orpheus' visit to the underworld in a more negative light; according to Phaedrus the infernal gods only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. Ovid says that Eurydice's death was not caused by fleeing from Aristaeus but by dancing with naiads on her wedding day. In fact, Plato's representation of Orpheus is that of a coward, as instead of choosing to die in order to be with the one he loved, he instead mocked the gods by trying to go to Hades to bring her back alive. Since his love was not "true"—he did not want to die for love—he was actually punished by the gods, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld, and then by being killed by women. After returning from the underworld, Orpheus never took another wife, instead only taking the company of young boys from that point on. The women of the area, feeling spurned, went into a Dionystic frenzy and ripped him limb from limb- Even as Orpheus tried to calm them with his music, they could not hear it. And so he died.

The Astrology: Okay, so- it doesn't take an astrologer to see just how absolutely contrived this story is. Seriously, i've seen comics with less convoluted plots (actually that's a lie- Ive never actually picked up a comic in my life). Orpheus was history's first rockstar. Unfortunately for him (and his adoring fans) he had some... different tastes than the culture of the time was used to. The Eurydike story was made up as a cover for this fact. Now in terms of the astrology itself, some astrologers link this asteroid as the long sought-after indicator of homosexuality (possibly sharing this with Ganymed), but I would go straight for the kill and call it more likely to be an indicator of pedophilliac tendencies, at its most extreme. Obviously more study would need to be done, but that would be my take on it. However, drawing solely from its myth (regardless of how contrived it is) Orpheus should indicate musical talent, a love of being in the spotlight, tragedy in relationships, going to the ends of the earth for the ones they love, drama, and a direct link from the world of the gods to the world of man.The greatest message that Orpheus tell us however, is that if you nuture your gifts, and use the skills that you are given, you can move even the will of heaven and hell.

To find out where he shows up in your chart, go to astro.com, put in your birth details and in the extended options, all the way at the bottom, there will be a menu of additional objects. Under that is a blank space where you can enter the number 3361, for Orpheus. Once you have it entered, generate the chart! Where does Orpheus affect your life? Let us know in the comments below!

Lillith in Scorpio- Dark Desires

in your eyes, morbo by Colectivo movimente CCL

Effective Dates: 5/22-12/2/16

Helios Says:

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” -Paulo Coehlo

So much for feeling stuck, right? It seems like events started moving again, going from 0 to 60 overnight (Which in terms of car speed, is actually insanely slow, but in cosmic terms not so much), and it couldn't have come quick enough! The events of the last two months have been grueling, to say the least- being slowly ground down, like each planet was raking a sheet of sandpaper across your soul an inch at a time, trying to buff out your edges and exposing the flaws.

Well I have some good news and I have some good news; The good news is, the greater part of this process is over, and we are on the other side of the storm (specifically the feelings of being stuck and impotent) - The bad news is that now the real work begins, and you are going to have to put your money where your mouth is. You see, now we have Lilith to contend with, and she is not the one to let you sit back and let life be something that just happens to you, especially not since she is in Scorpio! Your grace period is over and you forgot to cancel your subscription.

This will be an uncomfortable time, especially at the onset with it being Gemini season- You have a conflict between what you THINK you should do and what you actually WANT to do. Lilith will be running around in your subconscious as you try and keep pace in your mundane life, and will buck every attempt you try and make to get her under control- and that is a good thing.

This energy of this year is straight out of Fight Club- No, no, not the obvious "You don't talk about Fight Club" reference, I'm actually onto something here. In Fight Club, the narrator knows he is dying a little more every day, and he is losing himself in the inauthentic nature of his life. In fact, the creator, Chuck Palahniuk wrote the story after he had a fight on a camping trip, and came back to work bloody and bruised- None of his coworkers brought up the injuries to him and their reluctance to get involved in any kind of "messy" personal details or trying to forge any kind of authentic human connection was the inspiration for the book. These last few months have been the equivalent to that camping trip, and now we are coming back to work, battered and bruised. You will be given the same treatment as Palahniuk was given- and it will open your eyes. No one else will care about what is happening to you, they are too wrapped up in their own bullshit. Your isolation will be a boon, even if it doesn't feel like one. You will be made aware of what needs to change, and will not be able to ignore it. You will know what you have to do.

Work with Lilith and she will save your soul. Fight her and she will leave you to rot. She doesn't have time to waste on the unworthy. Show her what you can do!

Artemis says:

“We are all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it's a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift.”  -- Marilyn Monroe
Cards:  The Devil, 8 of Swords, The Queen of Swords

You will hear me barking about mirrors all of the time.  It is one of my favorite topics.  We are all little mirrors running around, projecting our issues into the outside world and receiving projections from others.  Sometimes we forget where our reflection begins and where the reflections of others end.  Unlike a mirror you may use to look at your beautiful face, humans are living, lucid mirrors.  We are ever morphing like liquid, filling cracks, reflecting some more, creating labyrinths of the mind - projecting outward and beckoning our deepest, most repressed desires to manifest as people and events in our lives.  We take things in - traumatic events or hurtful words people say - and leave a void in the world.  This is where Black Moon Lilith comes in with her influence.

Who is the mirror of the moon?  Why, that is the Black Moon Lilith.  So what the fuck is that?  Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?  Why, Lilith gives no fucks about silly questions like that.  She is the "evil" queen, aka the wild, self owned woman who kicked Adam in the teeth and bore a bunch of demon babies in some myths.  She is not passive femininity like Eve, who is born of his rib and bound to her identity as a subplot of man.  No, she is as much of a full being as Adam.  She is associated with the dark sexual energy inside all of us that we unfortunately stifle due to the commands from "civilized" society.  And then we label those urges a "monster" or "demon."  How backwards is that?  "Exercise the beast, don't exorcise the beast," goes a famous Satanic saying.  You can't ever rid yourself of your primal side, so you better learn how to harness it and ride that dragon.  

Nature has no idea what the fuck we are talking about when we say shit like "good" and "evil."  It doesn't know "good" and "evil."  Nature only recognizes when things are out of wack and a horrible imbalance has crept into the fold.  With our actions, we create a pocket or a void in our life.  Back to Black Moon Lilith.  During this ingress of the Queen of mental darkness, Black Moon Lilith will show us just how tight our blindfolds are.  Shackles of various kinds lead to mental blocks that keep us from fully expressing our nature.  As the mirror of the moon, Lilith will show us what personality traits we have developed to repress our desires.  Scorpio is very heavy handed when it comes to transmutation.  Why are you so terrified to change?  You know that your job, spouse, whatever, sucks.  So why don't you leave?  Why don't you severe?  Because you are afraid of your own power.  Lilith left her position of glory because she did not love Adam and did not want to be his servant, as the Abrahamic god YHWH commanded.  That was some big fucking decision...  That means she wont take any of your shit excuses anymore.

It's time to change.  You feel it in the air, don't you?  All of the events the past couple of moons have been gearing us up for our ability to cut through this thick jungle of our mind.  We have witnessed deep misery.  We have witnessed the power of the cosmos and how we are mere peons when it comes to the force of nature.  The "dream" that society gives us is as fragile as glass when it comes to the forces inside of us.  Don't fight her.  Learn from her.  Lilith will crack you open and devour your insides.  She is ruthless.  Change is inevitable, and that realization alone is enlightening.  

Remember what I told you when Vesta entered Gemini?  Watch your mind.  You lie to yourself as much as you lie to others.  Those urges you feel in your gut, what do they say to you?  If you do not manifest what you truly desire, the demons in your external world will just get scarier and scarier.  And then they will seep back into your brain as anxieties and more trauma and back out like a horrifying wheel of death and destruction.  Break that fucking wheel!  This Lilith energy is very Kali, the dark dancing Hindu goddess of time, creation, preservation and destruction.  She is associated with Shakti energy, or feminine sexual energy that leads to Kundalini Awakening.  Creation and destruction are mirrors, and this is an ancient creative/destructive force we are dealing with.  The deep, repressed desires inside of you are your way to the light.  They only seem ugly because we are reflecting back the tremendous fear that society has for the wild.  The power inside all of us is tremendous and boundless.  Why wouldn't that terrify a handler?  

Lilith knows she was born a Queen, not a slave.  Let this lesson pass on.  Don't live your life in quiet servitude to those around you.  Transform, become one with your desires, let the fucking beast out of the cage.  Don't let them use your own mind against you.  Don't let them tell you what you want.  You know what you want.

Mercury Direct- Measure of a Man

Redemption - vance by Michael Taggart, CCL

Effective Date:  5/22/16


Helios Says:

Are you done?

Honestly, I truly want to know. The way you have been talking, and the way that you have been thinking lately, it sure sounds like you are! You sound like you have given up- That you cannot take another step forward. It would be absolutely understandable, knowing what we know about what has happened to you- All those secret struggles, every loss, the looming abyss that is the future expanding in front of you; with your position in it growing more precarious with every step that you take. No one could rightfully blame you, with all of that in perspective- No one but yourself, that is.

There is no harsher judge at the end of the day, is there? At some level it has to be that way, as a survival mechanism- If you are harder on yourself than anyone else can be, then that becomes something that you can control; No one can hurt you other than you. Pain can be managed, quantified and controlled- The damage inflicted is in YOUR hands, and taken from your enemies, those who would inflict the pain on you themselves. The obvious flaw in that logic, however, is that while you strip your enemies of their power to cause you pain, you turn that power immediately over to a more powerful enemy than you could ever beat, and knows exactly where to strike for maximum damage. You make an enemy out of your own mind, and then hand it the launch codes to your personal nuclear arsenal. Then, to preserve its power and its hold on you, the mind will start to jump at shadows, seeing threats everywhere outside itself, fearing its own intentions are shared by everyone that you meet. You spend all your energy and time on guard from allowing yourself to slip up, carefully selecting every word you say, every move you make- judging every interaction you have for possible exposure, or a chance to exploit a weakness exposed in another in case they ever try to come for you. Your mind is the true torturer: Mercury is far crueler and colder than Pluto can ever be, Pluto is simply more creative in his punishments.

Your real enemy, however, is fear. Fear is what caused you to first turn your mind's own sword upon itself- What caused you to commit treason against your own self. Through fear, you have allowed yourself to become less a man and more a beast every day. Fear has you hiding. Yes, fear is a completely normal and understandable response to the threats we face in our lives, and in the face of an extremely uncertain future, but allowing it to paralyze us is not. The longer we spend our time being frozen in fear of a less than perfect future, the more we assure that becomes a reality. Every moment we spend paralyzed is one that we lose of happiness. What we must do, of course, is face your fear. Now, we hear that a lot, it is a common thing to say and it is trite. What must be done in reality is that we must stop trying to run from pain, and instead turn and look it dead in the eyes. From there it will fling the worst-case scenarios at us. We must accept the reality that we will experience pain, loss and suffering- A lot of it. Such is life, and it is the way it has always been. Your mind will throw everything that it can at you to try and cling to its power, but you must be stronger than it- you have to withstand the onslaught. It will try to show you your failures, missed chances and opportunities, those you have failed along the way- These must be accepted. Throughout this process you will want to run from everything it shows you, but you have to remember that you are better than that- You have overcome so much already, and this is just another challenge, albeit one where your future is on the line, your present is untenable and your past is a weapon. Once you have stopped allowing your fear to insulate you from reality, and you accept it as it is, right now, you will win. Acceptance of what has come before, and bravery in the face of uncertainty will ensure that your future is a bright one, even if it takes a shape different than what you once saw for yourself.

Artemis says:

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."  -- Tolkien

Cards:  King of Pentacles, 8 of Wands, 4 of Swords

So, I have good news.  Those are powerful words aren't they?  It's a nice feeling, to sense things shifting in a different direction.  A slightly more stable direction.  Like, instead of rolling down a hill in a flaming car, now we are outside of the car and tumbling down.  This is better!  We were in a 6 planet deep retrograde period, and now that Jupiter and Mercury have gone direct, we only have to deal with 4 more wolves (Saturn, Mars, Pluto and Juno).

We have learned who our friends are.  The internal burrowing we have done, deep down into the marrow of our bones, has purged a lot of our demons.  So here's the thing.  After you are done fighting the demons inside of you, you naturally bring them outside of you.  Now that Mercury is swinging back into forward motion, those things are going to become projected into your external world.  They are going to manifest as situations or people in your daily life, and you are going to have to take what you have learned and swiftly defeat these ghosts of your anxieties.  Don't panic.  This is a good thing.  This is the only way to defeat them once and for all.

We are almost done with this intense wave of internal war, and the external enemies are going to begin to poke their heads out of the woodwork.  Be swift.  Don't waste your time.  You have come out of this Mercury retrograde period with a deeper understanding of the workings of your own mind.  It's a scary fucking place, yeah?   So now it is far easier to understand the way that the darkness behaves in your external environment.  Your brain is going to shift focus to the external world once again.

With this Sagittarius full moon on the horizon, this is going to be an incredible time of action.  Decisions are going to be made, coffins are going to be nailed shut, and ghosts are going to be put to rest.  And thank the fucking gods because some of these things have needed to die for a long time now.  Mercury being in Taurus will make all of your actions very purposeful.  Don't give into the lazy energy of the bull, because if you don't put the externalizing issues to rest, if you don't do battle with your inner demon become outer dragon, you're going to regress tremendously.  Getting your ass kicked by the personification of your anxieties is a very traumatizing experience!  That's like double PTSD...  So take what you have learned during the past few weeks of demon days and utilize it.