Planet Weather for the Week of March 16, 2008

SkyWatch – Moon phase of the week: 3/21 -- The Moon reaches perfect fullness at 2:40 PM, at one degree of Libra, when the Moon is below the horizon for the Western Hemisphere. But look for Her to rise in Her full glory just after sunset. In Native American lore, this is the Crow Moon. This is also the Paschal Moon, the first Full Moon after the Sun enters the astrological sign of Aries, marking Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Fall in the Southern. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday. Skywatching events of the week: 3/19 -- The Waxing Moon passes near the bright astrological star Regulus in Leo, and, after sunrise, Saturn. As viewed from North America, this is simply a close passage in the western sky. However, from some locations in the Southern Hemisphere, the Moon occults or eclipses the star. 3/20 -- The Sun enters Aries, marking the March Equinox, so-called because night (-nox) theoretically equals (equi-) day, although this doesn't actually happen until a few days later because of the way the rising and setting Sun is refracted by the Earth's atmosphere. Space news of the week: Space Shuttle flights seem to be happening at an increasing pace, after the long hiatus following the Columbia disaster a few years back. Astronauts aboard the Shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station and are preparing for some major construction work on the ISS. Go out! Look up!

 Knowing when VOC Moons occur is key to planning your successful week!

 

The Void-of-course (VOC) Moon is a kind of limbo. As it reaches the end of a sign, the Moon makes no major aspect to another planet before it enters the next sign. VOC is best for less outcome-oriented activity, since VOC often means detours, distractions, drifting, or delays. If you want specific outcomes, or if timeliness is critical, don’t use a VOC Moon time. VOC is best for processing, imagining, creating, and open-ended activities, like parties, research, or cleaning your desk/closet for instance! It is said that when a new action is initiated during VOC, “nothing will come of it,” or energies go in unplanned directions, which may not necessarily be negative.

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Week of 3/16/08 – Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the most active energetically and potentially most productive days – more Moon or planetary aspects for engagement and/or producing results. On 3/16/08, the Moon is VOC/Cancer from 2:58PM to 9:04PM EDT – on 3/18/08, VOC/Leo from 2:39PM to 3:25AM EDT (3/19/08) – on 3/20/08, VOC/Virgo  from 3:28PM to 11:45AM EDT (3/21/08).

 

PlanetPatterns:

The following planetary energy patterns flavor the day and are felt or experienced often hours before and after their exact culmination. They remain effective, certainly until the next major planetary pattern comes along to shift the energy gears.

 

Venus in mutable, water Pisces trine (120deg.) Mars in cardinal, water Cancer @ 4deg. on 3/16/08 @ 4:21AM EDT. The sexes are in alignment – for today at least. Both males and females are more responsive to emotional content and at the same time more emotional content will be expressed! This aspect does not mean we will like all the attendant feelings and emotions, but with this trine angle, issues are more easily negotiated than not.

 

Mercury/Pisces opposes (180deg.) Saturn in mutable, earth Virgo @ 3deg. on 3/17/08 @ 5:47AM. Mercury is busy this week meeting first with Saturn and then with Mars. So, with Saturn, initially there is resistance, blockage, and deaf ears metaphorically, (if not actually). Another outcome is the need for clarification and definition and a certain amount of stress in reaching a decision, with the attendant pressure to do exactly that. At first there is an obstacle or challenge to communicating smoothly or clearly, but with patience and good judgment, the best solution can be realized. Communication can be harsh or seem cold due to the realistic, judgmental, and practical characteristics Saturn brings to Mercury’s message.

 

Mercury/Pisces trine (120deg.) Mars/Cancer @ 3deg. on 3/18/08 @5deg. on 3/18/08 @ 7:38AM. With this aspect, the message or the communication is typically active and assertive, albeit in a watery or emotional manner. After a decision was reached during Saturn’s meeting with Mercury the previous day, there is the emotional need to experience action and to progress with forward movement, at the least – mental initiatives.

 

The Sun enters cardinal, fire Aries on 3/20/08 @ 1:49AM EDT until 4/19/08. The Vernal Equinox, along with the Solstices and the Autumnal Equinox, are power moments and degrees in the Zodiac and the astrological year. The Sun’s entry into fiery, active, and impulsive Aries is both the alpha and omega of the year – the end and a new beginning. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is the start of Spring. It is even more significant – being a moment in time when we have come full circle again to ourselves, and we can tap into the renewal, the activation of the synthesis of  the experiences we’ve gathered throughout the past year. It’s a BIG marker and excitement stirs within us just as the sap begins to run in the trees of Springtime. The natural tendency is to break out and experience life, even if at times somewhat impulsively, selfishly, or impatiently.

 

The Sun/Aries square (90deg.) Pluto in cardinal, earth Capricorn @ 1deg. on 3/21/08 @ 4:36AM EDT. Although not as powerful as the Mars square Pluto of 3/7/08, the Sun meeting Pluto has its own message and both are about negotiating political power, influence and leadership.

 

NewsBits: Mars/Cancer opposed Pluto/Capricorn on 3/7/08! Another strong message, or as I like to say: a Pluto in Capricorn seedling that sprouted into the news in the days surrounding Mars opposite Pluto, will likely prove to be a huge issue in the next 16 years during the Pluto/Capricorn cycle –  polluted drinking (and showering) water. More than 56 varieties of veterinary and prescription drugs have been found in Philadelphia’s drinking water, such as pain, cholesterol, asthma, and mental illness medications, as well as veterinary pharmaceuticals. The news report states that the water we use to shower with may be just as polluting for our bodies as that which we drink. So…you may want to go forth and check out various water filters for both faucet and shower!

 

Elliot Spitzer Sex Scandal. The (over-) zealous former prosecutor and recently resigned, Gov. of New York, Elliot Spitzer, now faces prosecution himself. Spitzer was disliked for his tough, unyielding stance on prostitution and corporate corruption and it’s ironic (or poetic justice) that he now faces his own Waterloo with few friends at his side and many enemies cheering. Let’s look at the anatomy of a fall from high places. Spitzer was born on 6/10/59, in the Bronx, NY, time unknown. Although a Gemini Sun sign, Spitzer has 4 planets, including his Moon, in often prideful and willful Leo. With Venus and Mars conjunct in fiery, fixed Leo (need for adulation), sexual desires often run high with this pairing. Add to that Jupiter in fixed, intense, passionate and often excessive Scorpio, and the story begins to emerge. The sky pattern had some challenges in store for him. It has yet to be revealed how long Spitzer was paying prostitutes and with whose money. However, it is interesting to note that in 1998, Neptune in Aquarius was beginning to oppose (180deg. angle) the first of his 4 planets in Leo – Venus, followed by Mars, the Moon and then Uranus. Neptune means many things but in this case, it was probably the beginning of a more serious impulse to lead a secret, or other, hidden life. An astrologer would have been able to tell Spitzer to be more careful since the eclipse of 2/20/08 @ 1 Virgo was exactly conjunct his birth Pluto/Virgo. Right at the time the story broke in the news, Uranus, planet of unexpected truth and revelation of secrets (in Pisces) squared his Sun @ 19 Gemini. There was no more hiding, the truth had been uncovered. By this time too, Pluto had moved to 1 Capricorn and was also focused on Spitzer’s Pluto @ 1Virgo. By itself, when Pluto reaches a trine (20deg. angle) to its own place, the self is expected to become fully aware of its needs, desires, and demons, and sometimes circumstances conspire to reveal the dark places of self, if we do not acknowledge them, or if we are purposefully hiding or ignoring them. Neptune is now approaching an exact square angle to Spitzer’s passionate Jupiter/Scorpio @ 24deg. by the end of April, making a station at that degree. We think this will probably buy Spitzer a plea bargain and keep him out of jail, but one can only guess that his personal life must be hell. The recent time frame bracketed on the front end with the eclipse, concludes with Saturn making a station exactly on the same eclipse degree by 5/2/08. So there you have it – another sex and politics secret revealed! Are we at all surprised? Should we care about the sexual lives and activities of our leaders?