2012 Aquarius Full Moon

August 1-2, 2012
8:28 PM PDT/ 11:28 PM EDT / 3:28 AM GMT
10 Aquarius 15 / 10 Leo 15

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi

These days, change is every which way. We’re seeing it, sensing it, feeling it, and living it, no matter where we go, no matter what we do. We’ve been coping and crafting Plan B and plotting new routes on the fly for so long that we have not taken stock of how profoundly altered we are, too. Time for that comes now, under the Aquarius Full Moon.

The host of this event is one of the sources of all this change: electrifying, liberating Uranus, the awakener, the thrower of bricks and lighting bolts alike, the proponent of unique, radical, genius perspectives and approaches. He’s still very much in the throes of a struggle with Pluto, agent of deep-rooted, unavoidable change and regeneration, and the tension and demands of that battle reverberate in his field. The Moon opens a channel to Uranus (and all that he’s going through) three hours before going Full. His energy — and exhilarating potential — crackle through all the events and realizations and emotions that well up and crest and crash during this event.

And, boy, is this current ever strong. Jupiter is upping the voltage, since he is in an even more direct link-up to both the Sun and the Moon. As a result, every development, every communication (and there are lots of those), every emotion, every everything that comes to light now is as huge as one of those otherworldly mega-moons that occasionally looms over the horizon. Think of it as cosmic amplification, rendering situations so ridiculously large that you can not help but take them in.

Don’t let these words brace you for trauma. That isn’t coming unless you insist on engineering it. Instead, start looking for evidence of getting yourself back. Because that’s what’s been happening.

All the twists and turns you’ve been through, all the footwork you’ve been doing as the once-solid ground shifted and broke up underneath you, all the jolts and alternate routes and line-drawing you’ve been experiencing — all of these, even the ones that felt yucky, have ushered you into a very different relationship with yourself, your own special needs and, bottom line, your uniqueness.

You are your own gatekeeper, regulator and prison guard, and you hold the key. Will you put it in the lock and turn it? Step outside the door? Move freely in the open? Look around you: Are you already free but staying within the familiar outlines of walls that are actually gone, as in the story, probably apocryphal, of prisoners who stood within the rubble after the Bastille had been stormed and taken down?

Don’t you know yourself better these days? Aren’t you more quick to acknowledge, validate and let other people know who you really are? And less able to put up with much of anything that’s not in line with you? Evidence of all that is mounting now. So is the drive to conform the outside to your inside. The Moon and the Sun will quickly link up with “make-it-so” Mars, who is standing at the ready to implement their dictates, so you will come out of this Full Moon with the incentive, the drive and the willingness to do something about those externals that just don’t fit.

You don’t have to blow up your life, though that choice is available. You don’t have to throw everyone out, either (though, again, the choice to toss is on the table). Your choice may be as deceptively simple, a seemingly tiny, internal move that is imperceptible (at first) to anyone else: Choosing yourself. And from that repercussions will flow like rings in water after a pebble has hit. No more cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all living, please. Only ones tailored to you.

You can also read my forecasts (and lots more) at my website, EmpowermentUnlimited.net.

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

Who’s Your Buddy? Forecast for July 30-August 2, 2012

Relationships are coming back to the fore. We all have a clarified, reshaped and more sharply focused sense of self, after the puzzle pieces and choices that abounded last week. Opportunities are now here to firm up relationships and agreements to match those freshly honed identities — and, in the process, reshape ourselves even more.

Everything is moving, inescapably, into a new paradigm — yes, I groan at that word myself, but it really does apply to what is happening within each and within each of our connections. We are different. We are relating to each other differently. The structures and rules of our relationships are, as a result, vastly different, too.

These two steps occur on top of each other, so intertwined that the relationship ramifications are developing even as the personal shifts are still going on. The phrase “work in progress” applies to a lot right now. Even so, firm, clear and very real parameters are taking shape that will stay with us.

This week the Sun, which embodies our sense of self, is contacting both of the change agents that are fomenting the relentless upheaval we are experiencing and seeing on so many fronts. Both contacts occur during overnight hours, well before dawn on Monday and on Tuesday. The timing causes the shift resulting from each contact to lock into place in the subconscious (although we will certainly feeling the pressure during waking hours the day before).

The Sun starts the week at a choice point with Pluto, guardian of what lies beneath and holder of the ultimate power of life, death and rebirth. We cast our lot with either fear, compulsions and demons in one direction, or personal truth and alignment with a greater consciousness in the other. The choice permanently changes our psyche and relationship to power; a part of us dies so that the remainder may grow and flourish.

An open channel follows to the liberating, awakening electricity of Uranus. New possibilities are opening up for who we are and who we can be. The Plutonian/Uranian one-two guarantees an end to putting up with situations that squelch or imprison you, simply to keep the peace. Personal honesty, liberation and unfettered freedom of movement and exploration are becoming imperatives.

They’re actually invigorating and intoxicating, to be honest. This has probably already been occurring to you, even if you’re still cowering in soul-deadening circumstances because you don’t see a way out, or feel brave enough to rock the boat. Make that haven’t, up to now. Mice are roaring. Standing up for yourself in even a tiny way makes a huge impact now.

While our inner world is the first frontier for this end of the equation, it will likely also play out through external developments. Watch what blows open, lands in your lap or flies into your life from a direction or source you did not see coming.

All of this coincides with a strengthening, solidifying, grounding and real-making trend in relationships. The astrological timing dovetails perfectly with the psychological. When we are more truly ourselves, we are more present in relationships, and relationships become more honest, true and real.

What’s bringing this on: Venus, ruler of all that we value on a mundane level (relationships, money, possessions, core values, aspects of our selves), is linking with the ruler of stability and commitment, Saturn himself. Situations of lasting value are shaping up. Ones that can’t support us in the long run are winding down.

Information and negotiations are going to fly this week fleshing out new ground rules, discussing where both parties want the relationship to go (and how to get there), making commitments and hashing out exit strategies.

Don’t go into this with anxiety. It will be easy to talk. Conversations will flow. People will be astonishingly amenable to them, too. You don’t have to manipulate or engineer; more than once you will find yourself in the right place at the right time. (You do, however, have to step up to opportunity when it appears.) You already know where most of these situations are heading, or at least you know the direction that you want.

Remember: lasting value is at the top of everyone’s list. That’s why this has not been a summer for light-hearted romance or casual flings. Those would be distractions and interruptions. What we need now are companions who can walk shoulder to shoulder with us, true to their own journey and yet supportive of ours.

There’s also an element of coming to grips with sober, and sobering, reality: recognizing what is feasible and what is not. If you’re hoping that someone who treated you badly is going to come back, undergo a personality change and never engage in that objectionable behavior again…that relationship is in the second category. To which you are starting to wise up.

You won’t want anything other than what is true to you. The clean-up event in this process ensures that: the Aquarius Full Moon late Wednesday/early Thursday. This Moon is not only ruled by Uranus, one of the change agents already at work this week and for the foreseeable future, but it is also in direct and free-flowing contact with the liberating, awakening firepower that Uranus is wielding in Aries. More in my mooncast, which will be posted by Wednesday.

Venus and Saturn are toning down some of the “my way or the highway” impulses, but fires of individuality and personal freedom are igniting and flaring. Reckless, maybe; bold, probably; fast-acting, for certain. Know thyself. Be true to yourself. Speak up. And don’t make agreements you can’t or don’t want to keep.

For more, read my extended weekly forecast and listen to my quickie podcast. If you like it, please give it five stars on iTunes! NEW: You can now get my podcast as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Info under this week’s podcast.

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

Epiphany: Forecast for July 23-29, 2-12

Are you welcoming the slow stretches yet? If yes, this week ought to suit you just fine. If not, well, opportunity is coming to change your tune — and for all of us to change our minds.

Slow stretches are one of the two defining characteristics of this week. The other is a flurry of mental activity, conversations, messages and realizations. (Yes, once again we have a terrific amount of action in the midst of inaction.) They’ll take us by the weekend to a very different stance from what we had at the outset.

Let’s start with the second. It’s the by-product of contacts that Mercury, the planet of communication, is now making. He’s currently retrograde (appears to be moving backward) and taking us back over territory we’ve recently covered. Welcome what you rethink, discover, trip on or get hit upside the head with this week. You may soon wonder if you’ve been sleepwalking lately; that’s the magnitude of what’s in store.

Mercury has an open channel to the genius, light bulbs and alternative-to-disruptive perspectives of Uranus the awakener. While the air is still tingling with whatever that breaks or shakes loose, Mercury hits a high-stakes choice point with Pluto, who holds the ultimate power (which could be lower brain impulses, fears or desires or a higher force that trumps the ego). Thinking is clarified and focused, minds are made up, a direction is chosen and there’s no going back. Instead, Mercury heads straight for the Sun. Whatever the choice, we’re on board with it, quickly and unshakably.

In sum: You catch something you missed before (particular in how it relates to you). You make a choice. And then you wrap your mind and self around that choice and make it part of you.

Little of this happens in a flash (except, of course, the Uranian part). Thanks to the slow stretches, we have the opportunity to think about, look at and chew on all this — which is likely to convert you hold-outs to the viewpoint that slow is good.

The slow stretches are not merely from Mercury’s ongoing retrograde (and attendant epidemic of traffic-snarling accidents, highway, bridge, lane and exit ramp closures and, my favorite, multi-lane standstills without visible reason). The day-eating void of course moons are back, and how. That’s no sci-fi phenomenon, though it sometimes feels as eerie as one; it’s a condition that results from the current nature of the Moon’s activity.

Because there’s no planet at the end of a sign just now, it’s taking the Moon an uncommonly long time to leave each sign once she makes her last major aspect in it. When she’s in this unaspected zone, the atmosphere is floaty and unmotivating. It’s hard to get anything done (just try to get a business call answered; I dare you), and much of what does manage to get done has a way of unraveling or not amounting to much later.

We’ve got three big ones this week: Monday into early evening, Wednesday from late morning (EDT) till late night and — sit down for this one — Thursday from late morning, through all of Friday, until the wee hours Saturday. If you were already planning on a long weekend, you nailed the timing.

Use these to digest whatever Mercury’s travels are kicking up for you. Contemplation is more important than achievement; being is more important than producing. (Exception: I find void moods particularly suited to tasks that you are going to do again anyway, such as cleaning, shopping, laundry, preparing food). Sunday will make up for the stillness all in one day.

Read more in my extended weekly forecast.

For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. If you like it, please give it five stars on iTunes! NEW: You can now get my podcast as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Info under this week’s podcast.

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

2012 Cancer New Moon

July 18-19, 2012
8:25 PM PDT/ 12:25 AM EDT / 4:25 AM GMT
26 Cancer 55

Do you feel the squeeze? It’s coming from the Cancer New Moon. A new phase is here in emotional expression, nurturing and relating to family, tribe and tradition, and cosmic forces are making sure we head right on into it.

This New Moon has the pressure of a hand on an uncooperative tube of toothpaste — or contractions forcing movement down a birth canal. There’s a sense of purpose and destination, of unavoidability and inevitability, of something being pushed out of one container into a more open one.

This is not bad news. Getting out of stuck places can be a relief. This is not unexpected, either. The parts of your life that are showing the pressure are not a surprise. They have been worked over relentlessly since the summer of 2009. What’s going on now is another round of focusing on the condition of your emotional security and pushing, pushing, pushing you to decide what you truly need and allow yourself to have it.

All manner of security blankets are at play right now — archetypes of Daddy and Mommy, the comfort of food, nostalgia and, most of all, the anchor (or ball and chain) we find in other people. That last category is especially active right now. This New Moon brings another growth spurt in the ongoing evolution of how we treat each other and, just as importantly, what we expect from each other.

The pressure on and from the New Moon is coming out of the relationship lab that we’ve been in for nearly two years, as taskmaster Saturn has traveled through Libra. Saturn can be the ultimate party pooper. He can also be a stern but wise teacher that helps us mature and see the long-term benefit of assuming responsibilities and making commitments.

Right now he is making a confrontational aspect to the New Moon, an aspect that can not be ignored. Relationship issues are not staying under the carpet; they are coming out into the open and demanding action. Do our agreements and arrangements provide emotional support, nurturing and reciprocity? Do they have the potential to deliver what we need in the long-term? Solid ones are firming up. Rickety ones are in for shaking up.

If someone is falling short, keep blame out of this as much as you can. Turn your focus inward. What do you need? Are you getting it? How can you nurture yourself better? Acting on your answer will likely affect the dynamics of the relationship that made you raise the question. It will likely affect the dynamics of lots of relationships, actually. But that’s only a side effect. What’s important is the effect on you.

This New Moon may show you where it’s realistic to look for emotional nurturing and turn your head from situations that can not provide it. Certain connections may become more precious. Others may move more to the sidelines. The bottom line: a hand is against our back shoving us toward situations that are emotionally healthy and nurturing for the long haul.

Inside the relationship arena and out, welling emotions are possible. Tears are possible. Let them up and out; they’re probably overdue. We’ve all been through enormous and intense developments lately. Emotional release is in order now, even for the positive and fun ones.

Endeavor to be kind. Remember that everyone is experiencing heightened sensitivity just now. That goes for you, too. I see chocolate …. lots of chocolate.

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

Paradox: Forecast for July 15-22, 2012

It’s so cliché but I’m going to say it anyway: Can you believe that the year is half over already? On the other hand, doesn’t it feel as if a lifetime has passed since New Year’s? That’s certainly fitting for our current experience of time. So much is happening, and yet so much is taking for-e-ver.

The for-e-ver bits are the most frequently frustrating, but they are actually a saving grace these days. They prevent us from vanishing into a whirlwind or tumbling into one of the crevasses that are cracking open all around.

So who knows; you may actually count your blessings a time or two during Mercury’s current retrograde. His apparent backward motion will coming to the fore this week and, as usual, slow, confuse and sometimes snarl communication, technology and getting around.

Stay alert to this. Avoid making assumptions; ask questions; do your research. If your phone or Internet service becomes unreliable (there’s precedent), whatever you were trying to do can wait. When you drive into a traffic jam as far as the eye can see — and last week’s buildup to the retrograde birthed some doozies — treat it as a time out.

The slowed or outright snarled moments afford the opportunity to catch up mentally, emotionally and energetically. Resting is by itself a great perk (especially during what appears to be an epidemic of disrupted sleep). Too, when you’re not in the thick of the action thoughts and realizations pop up that have been swirling in the back of your mind.

Besides, it’s hardly going to be a week of stillness, thanks to a do-si-do involving the planets of action, expansion and regeneration. (Trust me; you WILL welcome the quiet.) Relationship and agreement issues will zoom into high gear, as opportunities mushroom — and incentive and impulses skyrocket — to Do Something About Them. Some connections or situations will move forward, some will be amputated or reworked; some will hit a crossroads requiring a permanent choice.

The whirlwind of activity (and talk; there will be lots of talk) spins out from a cooperative link between go-getter Mars and bigger-is-better Jupiter. Once action starts, there’s no telling how far it will go. Some of it will escalate into outright drama, as the warrior god challenges Pluto, lord of the underworld. These two will inflame passions, cravings and tempers alike and amp up pressure to make huge, drastic, even scary changes, within ourselves as well as in the structure of affected arrangements.

When Jupiter cuts in on the dance and joins Pluto in an adjustment aspect, we cross a line of no going back. (Fence-sitters, take note: You may have to take a side at last this week.) The intent behind the choice is as important — possibly more so — than the outer nature of the choice. Are you guided by fear? By your personal truth and power? Whichever it is, Jupiter will be pumping it up. Go for what’s most beneficial for you. He excels at delivering that.

Mars, meanwhile, has a showdown with unpredictable Uranus, who is under the warrior god’s rule. (“Command” is not an appropriate word when that idiosyncratic rebel is involved.) Anger, accidents and umbrage are all likely; treat it as stopping at a scenic overlook and take in the long-distance view. The panorama contains something to your benefit. It could pop when Uranus changes partners over the weekend and winks at Jupiter. A lucky break may well be yours.

A cycle is beginning in the midst of all this, courtesy of Wednesday’s New Moon in Cancer. (Read about it in my forecast, which will be on the site by Tuesday). Don’t be anxious about what may be coming. The week is likely to play out in with a twist that you can’t (and couldn’t) see coming, and that’s probably better than what you could have imagined. Likely there’s a connection to early June, too.

That’s because this weekend Venus returns to the degree of her transit, where she moved across the Sun on June 5. Something that could not fully come out then will resurface now, involving or engaging your heart in some way. One or more of love, money, beauty and the arts are in the mix. It’s riding the tailwinds of the Mars/Jupiter link, so it should be attention-getting…and enjoyable!

Read more in my extended weekly forecast.

For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. If you like it, please give it five stars on iTunes! NEW: You can now get my podcast as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Info under this week’s podcast.

For more big-picture information (and strategies), visit my Summer of 2012 Resource page. Bookmark this and come back to it again and again!

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

Forecast for July 9-15, 2012

Catch your breath. Breathe. Breathe deep. The last couple of weeks have been heavy on moments that knocked breath out or stopped it outright. Take every chance you get now to replenish it.

Those chances will be popping up more frequently this week. No one can go full tilt ahead without a break, and the astrological influences are providing time for that now. Once again, after monumental aspects have converged, they’re going to hang in the air with little new coming to join them, and with two enormously long stretches for us to kick back and simply be (long void moons on Wednesday and Friday).

So what’s going on besides breathing? The pace is actually picking up speed. Mars, the planet of action, is covering ground quickly, while slow-and-steady Saturn is finally creeping forward, too. We’re just starting to forge new connections, new partnerships, new collaborations, new agreements, and new terms for all our existing ones. On top of which some of us have some debris to deal with. All aspects of that process switches to investigation mode by the weekend, when two retrogrades lead us into some backtracking.

On Friday, Uranus starts to back away from the foundation-shaking conflict he’s engaged in with Pluto. (Pluto will turn around and catch up with him at the end of September.) These days, Uranus’ flashes of brilliance have had the impact of flaming arrows, daring, impulsive and revolutionary to the point of recklessness. His retrograde, which lasts into December, may cool some of the fires, and some of the hotheads, or maybe just let them gather more ammo. The option is open for you to revisit the shaken foundations and consider how you could free yourself from them or shift your perspective on them. As for those new connections and agreements you’re making, how could you

On Saturday, Mercury goes retrograde till August 8. Everything he rules is up for second looks, not to mention snarls and delays — communications, technology, traffic, transportation and vehicles. Phones, computers, the Internet and all the latest wireless gadgets are especially vulnerable. Redundant technologies and backup plans are key to navigating this without going hoarse from screaming in frustration. Use this time for examining the fine print, investigating new connections and agreements, and unraveling the ones that are going under. Clean up, reorganize and tidy up the clutter that the volatility of the past few weeks has thrown off. Hold off on launching new projects, signing major business deals (unless you want the flexibility to rework them later) and making high-dollar purchases or investments.

Read more in my extended weekly forecast.

For more big-picture information (and strategies), visit my Summer of 2012 Resource page. Bookmark this and come back to it again and again!

For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. If you like it, please give it five stars on iTunes! (Please? I know it’s a pain for some of you to use, but that brief action would be a greatly appreciated gesture of appreciation.) NEW: You can now get my podcast as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Info under this week’s podcast.

2012 Capricorn Full Moon

July 3, 2012
11:53 AM PDT/ 2:53 PM EDT / 6:53 PM GMT
13 Capricorn 12 / 13 Cancer 12

As the cosmic change agents pressure the institutions and bonds that we look to for nurturing and security, this month’s Full Moon drives home the emotional realities of their condition — and calls us to action.

That call is going to be hard to ignore, because motivating influences are woven into the tapestry of this Full Moon. It locks neatly into the ongoing Uranus/Pluto square (the source of the aforementioned pressure). The link-up enhances the intensely personal, emotional and inescapable ramifications of their evolve-or-die edict.

It also creates an aspect pattern called a t-square, which is a dynamic configuration that has opposing forces stressing the body between them. In this one, the Sun and the Moon (plus Pluto) are amping up the volatile, firecracker properties of Uranus in Aries. When he goes off — and he will — the explosion will send shock waves into our relationships, agreements and contracts. Warrior god Mars is poised to follow through on those and will be moving in to do just that in the days after the Full Moon.

On the actual event, though, Lone Ranger impulses will be erupting all over the place. Some will be happy. Some will be from hitting a wall and no longer being able to put up with a situation. All will eventually lead to forward movement of some kind in dealings and arrangements with other people.

As if one t-square weren’t sufficient incentive to move off dead center (at last), this Full Moon occurs with a second one in place, involving Jupiter and the Nodes of the Moon squeezing Neptune in the middle. Jupiter is barely clearing the South Node of the past, whipping up thinking and connections from long ago. His presence on the communication and media axis is swinging the seesaw wildly between knee-jerk or archaic reactions and the way of the future. With cosmic spin doctor Neptune as the pressure point, it’s anybody’s guess what’s true and what’s a lie, what’s real and what is an illusion. The one certainty is the motivation this Moon delivers to step out of the fog, analyze, use discernment and establish your own boundaries.

It’s a major moment of reckoning. We’re experiencing the emotional realities of the foundational changes that are rocking our sense of security. Long-term implications are coming to light. Personal truths are being revealed, just as ways we’ve fooled or deluded ourselves are being revealed. The point? Motivating us to abandon collapsing structures, clear out rubble and debris and head for sturdy, solid ground. If you can’t see it directly, your guidance knows where it is.

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

Forecast for July 2-8, 2012

The cosmic organ is still playing a long, vaguely unsettling chord. Now at least a few passing notes are entering the chord to lighten the mood and suggest movement. We’re nowhere near a point of resolution, but at least the sensation of being frozen in time is loosening up.

The source of the movement — and the cause for relief — is the long-awaited sign change by Mars, the planet of action. He’s been cooling his go-getter tendencies, not always happily, since November, when he entered the detailed-loving turf of Virgo. He usually spends only a handful of weeks in a sign, and being earthbound for eight months has been both frustrating and ultimately useful, providing opportunity after opportunity to clean up, reorganize and prepare.

His take-off into airy Libra will be giddy-making. Now longer will trying to get something done turn into a game of Whack-A-Mole, with a myriad of prerequisites popping up that have to be dealt with before we can move forward. Instead, we’ll think, we’ll talk and — whoosh — we’ll do.

Yes, we are entering implementation mode, and some of that is going to require negotiation, teamwork and not merely owning up to, but also finally acting on, all those relationship decisions we’ve been quietly and not-so-quietly reaching. For the next month or so, Mars is on the trail of Saturn and the relationship lab he’s been overseeing. Saturn has ended his five-month retrograde, but he isn’t moving for another week, which offers a good long look at conditions in the lab.

In the first phase (as in: now), negotiation and implementation have great potential to go smoothly, because Mars has the cooperation of his lady love Venus, ruler of our hearts, bank accounts, self-worth and treasures. This bodes well for talking things out and seeking common ground or resolutions that both sides can live with.

The chatter level is only going to rise, though. Issues involving women, the arts and fundamental values will be coming even more to the fore. Mars in Libra has a streak of an advocate for social justice and equality, and he’s in easy contact with not just Venus, but also boundless, expansive Jupiter, the guy who ups any action he enters. With both Venus and Jupiter in Gemini, the sign of mental juggling, chatterboxes and the airwaves, discussions and negotiations will be going on 24/7. Political issues (and arguments, sigh) are unavoidable. So are personal talks and reckonings. Speak your piece, but be sure to listen. A monologue approach to conversations will cut you off from valuable information.

Even with Mars and Venus in air signs, conversations are not going to be entirely intellectual and detached, for two reasons. One is that long, vaguely unsettling chord that won’t go away. It’s the signature of the clash between the two cosmic change agents, Uranus and Pluto, who have locked into a confrontation that’s part of the rich tapestry of our existence for the next few years. It’s the most profound, life-changing aspects of our lifetime, destabilizing underpinnings of our personal and collective way of life.

Many of those underpinnings were already in a precarious state, but that doesn’t mean it’s not unnerving to witness the collapsing occurring, even if expected (or welcomed). Powerful, terrifying forces have emerged from the shadows and are walking about in broad daylight. A lot of people are on edge. Some have slipped over. Keep that in mind if you encounter someone whose words or behavior strike you as an overreaction. Panicked four-year-olds are running loose in adult bodies, desperate for their mommy, their blankie and a world that no longer exists. It may never have existed, to be honest, but they aren’t open to hearing that, so don’t waste your breath.

The other reason for less than rational conversations is the regularly occurring monthly one, a full moon. This month’s is in Capricorn, the sign of tradition, societal structures and material security, and it’s close enough to Pluto to pull his argument with Uranus into the full moon picture. A full moon is always a harvest time, when situations and emotions crest to a culmination. This one directs attention to home, family and security, and particularly how we define each of them. The full moon expands the Uranus/Pluto configuration into a bigger one called a t-square, which funnels enormous and inescapable pressure onto the point in the middle: rebellious, unpredictable Uranus in impulsive, hot-headed Aries. This pressure will unleash sudden breaks for individual freedom, but we don’t have the luxury of existing in a universe of one. Ironically, and ultimately, the pressure will release itself in relationships and social contracts, the very arena where Mars is now at work. I’ll have a longer take on the full moon in my mooncast.

For more big-picture information (and strategies), visit my Summer of 2012 Resource page. Bookmark this and come back to it again and again!

For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. If you like it, please give it five stars on iTunes! (Please? I know it’s a pain for some of you to use, but that brief action would be a greatly appreciated gesture of appreciation.)

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.