Molly's Astrology Blog

The action planet is in Libra, ruling with a an iron fist inside a velvet glove through October 3rd. In this air sign, Mars looks at the give-and-take in relationships, and reacts angrily when things are out of balance. The warrior moves in fits and starts in Libra, and when that cardinal energy gets backed up, you see a lot of eye rolls and sharp tongues. With that mental force behind it, Mars Libra probably has the fiercest evil eye around (next to Scorpio).

On the flip side (and with Libra, there's always a flip side), what you see during this time is not always what you get. Astrologer Molly Cliburne wrote recently, "Libra can be friendly and cordial when it wants to be, but eventually the see-saw turns and Libra becomes blunt, frank, and sometimes even downright mean. When people say “yes” but you hear a reluctance in their voice, either wait or proceed with extreme caution. Libra often says yes when it means no, and gets angry about it later." I've gotten much better at saying, "Let me think about it," but having this Mars, I can attest to her being spot on here.

There's a lot of stewing and weighing of options, and that can lead to not much getting done. But this Mars is also one that creates beauty out of disparate elements, making this a good time for creative projects. We might see more people taking a stand for their beliefs, to right some wrongs. This also favors acts that restore balance, whether its changing the colors in the home, or taking that friend out to lunch (the one that's treated you so many times). Mars is now the peaceful warrior, ready to actively carve out some serenity in the day, do something artful...or subtly provoke until the right equilibrium is reached.

• Mars in Libra

In the opening of her film, 2012, The Odyssey, Sharron Rose says, "Something odd is happening. Like a shadow on the wall, we don't know if it's real or illusion. We just know it's there." Even those not normally drawn to otherworldly events, are curious about 2012. Everyone senses something's up, especially since the stories of so many traditions converge at this epochal crossroads. 2012, The Odyssey begins with questions, and as they are answered, more questions emerge. That's just how it is with a cosmic mystery of this magnitude.

This is a great intro to the Mayan prophecies and concepts of time. The interviews take a spiraly path into all the ancient wisdom and signs pointing to 2012. It ends with a blessing from the Q'ero Shamans of Peru, who are featured more in-depth in Sharron Rose's latest film, Timewave 2013. In this interview about the Earth Keepers from the Andes mountains, she explains their vision of Homo Luminous. That our evolutionary destiny is to transmute from our human form into a body of light. It frees us from the Trance of the culture, which is actually a barrier to the wisdom of the ancients.

Here's her description of that process, "The transmutation into a luminous light body is a purification or distillation process in which we rid ourselves of darkness. On a psychological level, our emotions — such as anger, lust, jealousy, ignorance and pride — are transmuted through meditation and through working on ourselves. The work begins on the inner levels. The whole change of the world has to start with you, so if you want a world of beauty and connectivity, you have to start with yourself."

• The 2012 Conference November 1-2, San Francisco, CA (Many of the scholars and shamans from these films will be there.)

The story of the Dervaes urban homestead in Pasadena, told in the video Homegrown Revolution is inspiring to anyone who senses that the future belongs to the self-reliant. On just one-tenth of an acre, this family of four grows most of their vegetables, along with herbs, edible flowers and a menagerie of producing hens and goats. Imagine if everyone turned their yard into a lush source of sustenance. America waking up to its farming roots pleases Saturn in Virgo on a few fronts -- notably it brings the community back together through bartering, and it re-aligns us with nature's cycles.

Jules Dervaes is another practical sage, emerging from the back to the Land hippy generation that was energized by the Pluto-Uranus conjunction in earthy Virgo of the late 60s. When the societal transformer (Pluto) met the awakened radical (Uranus), a whole generation rode a wave of change with a unique Virgoan flavor. Things like natural healing, living in harmony with Mother Earth, taking a critical look at the establishment emerged with the force of a social revolution. With the teacher Saturn in Virgo, the real-life lessons and refinements of that generation are coming to full fruition. The Dervaes mini-farm , for example, is not meant to be a showcase, but a working homestead that models that "small is beautiful and productive."

Many of us grew up with small gardens by the kitchen door, and have a legacy of earth-wisdom, if we dig deep enough into the roots of the family tree. Jupiter in Capricorn this year, adds a solid feel to those roots of the past, as something to build on for the future. During World War II, Americans grew about 40% of their food in backyard or rooftop Victory Gardens. These gardens were seen as part of the war effort, since it kept Americans from the ration line, and left more resources for the fighting.

The enemy of freedom today is greed and the rush to control all of life through seed patents and genetic modification. It's not far-fetched to imagine waiting in food lines at some future time, and having no choice about the nutritional integrity (another Virgo signature) of what's available. Says Dervaes, "Growing your own food is the most dangerous thing you can do on the face of this Earth -- you are in danger of becoming free." It's a way to shake off the passivity and myth of helplessness, and remember that we were once (not so long ago) a nation of farmers, intimately tied to the seasons and local harvests. And it's easy to see how the simple act of planting and saving heirloom seeds, our heritage, and the result of generations (Jupiter in Capricorn) agriculture in this country, is a path to freedom.

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." Thomas Jefferson

The full Moon in Aquarius bathes us in the light of consciousness that's like a beacon for our collective destiny. It carries a recognition that every person has that Light within, not just a special few. Aquarius in opposition to the Sun in Leo, is the tension between personal ambitions and the greater good. It's a fabulous time to take stock of how your life is affecting the web of the Earth community. How can you pursue your creative passions (Leo), and by doing so, add to the light, rather than the darkness, in this time when everything seems on shaky ground.

Aquarius rules electricity, and the collective grids of thought that reflect what's on our minds. Are your preoccupations worthy of you? Are you spinning in stale, drab dramas? It can seem like an abstract new agey concept, but enlightenment is just growing lighter, something that happens when you let go of old baggage. The peak of the lunar cycle is an energetic high point. In air sign Aquarius, spontaneous thinking, a surge of liberating ideas, lifts you up and out of the little mental boxes we fall into. Neptune in Aquarius calls to the imagination, but its illusions can cause a lot of confusion, if we're not careful. The jarring tensions of a T-square between Pluto, Uranus and Mars makes it all the more important to do the right thing. You know when you're on track, and when you're not...this full Moon is a chance for a massive realignment of the Self with your divine wisdom. Sudden leaps of evolutionary growth are an Aquarius specialty.

Mademoiselle Kiddie of the children's astrology site Kiddiegram.com says her raison d'etre is to "help parents understand the talents and special skill set their children have brought to the planet." The virtual Diva took time from her whirl of adventure travel and stargazing to wax poetic on children's astrology. "The map is not the territory is a major dictum in semantics," she begins. "Parents could remember that a child's chart wheel or any interpretation is a map, not the territory. Like Lewis and Clark, mapping the New World, a parent can use the general outlines of their child's psychological terrain to help their child navigate their amazing journey through life. Some kids have lots of mountains, others deep rivers, others beautiful self sustaining deserts islands or urban landscapes. Others may have a mixture of many terrains. An ocean view from a bustling boulevard. Other kids might seem more drawn to outer space!"

The birth chart is not a precise playbook, nor is it etched into the stone tablets of destiny. "Mlle Kiddie doesn't believe in astrology just as she doesn't believe in French or Mandarin Chinese," she continues, playfully referring to herself in the third person. "She feels it's a symbolic language that can help describe certain aspects of a child's personal map of the heavens. An engaging way to activate the right brain."

This series was written by Amy Herring, an astrologer with the simple, but profound mission of helping people become whole. Mlle Kiddie spilled the beans that Amy is a double Virgo, which explains the clarity, thoroughness and zero flake factor in her writing. I'm happy to post these articles here. And hope you'll see what's new over at Kiddiegram, a resource for parents that offers real-life wisdom, without straying from the wonder-full world of the magical child. And read up on newborn Clementine Hawke, the latest Aquarian Moon in the extended Uma-Ethan family at the site's blog, Star Signs for Celebrity Kids.

• What is Astrology?
• How Astrology Works
• The Puzzle Pieces
• Twelve Influences on Life
• The Balanced Scorecard
• How is Child's Astrology Unique?
• Parent-Child Synastry
• Warning Signs in a Birth Chart
• Your Child's Destiny: Fate Vs. Free Will
• Your Child's Transits

Image of the Earth's shadow on the Moon, for Wordless Wednesday. There's a partial lunar eclipse and Full Moon in Aquarius this Saturday, August 16th.

Talk about synchronicity. The latest crop circle in England (Wiltshire) was made on 8-8-8, and is a series of circles that form into a Giant 8. The wonderful images can be found at Crop Circle Connector, along with an astronomical analysis of what it means. It seems to show the lunar phases, leading up to the coming lunar eclipse on August 16th, with the Earth in the middle of the Sun-Moon opposition. This could be a hopeful message, that the full Moon just around the corner, is a moment when the Earth starts to receive very different cosmic energies. Just as the world seems to be going to hell in a hand-basket, an influx of higher vibes is available to those that are tuned in.

It fits with many of the prophecies of 2012, and the uniting of Earth with the rest of the beings in the universe. Some lightworkers declared 8-8-08 to be Galactic Freedom Day, marking the end of any pacts of official secrecy and isolation from the rest of the galaxy. My husband and I have been skywatching every night, with our lawn chairs positioned before a big farm field. So far, we've seen several large unblinking white lights that seem to appear out of nowhere, and disappear into thin air. We've also had a shared half-waking dream of luminous beings that seemed to be teaching us something...and curiously, there was no fear. Even as we seem forsaken by those in power, it does seem there are allies in even higher places. Has anyone else made contact this summer?

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Fear has taken over the planet like a black plague. It's harder to know what's healthy fear (of something that could put you in harm's way) or the fear that feeds the insatiable beast. Remember how the wise old guy said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself?" This past week, a report of a possible avian flu pandemic came into my orbit, putting my personal homeland security alert in the high red-orange range. A freak-out ensued, but luckily some discernment kicked in, and I was able to keep the plague of fear from spreading to everyone around me.

In an exchange today on the intensity swirling now, Jessica Murray of Mothersky wrote (via email): "Global scenarios both real (mass suffering in impoverished parts of the world) and imagined (terrorists on every street corner) will elicit in the years ahead no lack of collective worry and fear; and Americans of conscience must consider carefully how to deal with it. Just after the autumnal equinox (September 22nd) Saturn and Uranus will begin opposing each other in the sky, the most important aspect of the rest of this calendar year. This past week we had a preview of it, when Mars opposed Uranus: many of my clients were skittish and sleepless; paranoia was racing through the mass mind like tumbleweed. When unmoored from spiritual grounding, fretful Virgo and reality-challenged Pisces threaten to pitch us into overwhelm -- a state that will not help us deal conscientiously with the intense times ahead."

So, how do we deal with our inner Chicken Little on speed? Writes Jessica, "The higher meaning of the Saturn-Uranus transit is to instill within each of us a sense of responsibility (Saturn) for the explosive information (Uranus) coming to light in our world. This kind of spiritually maturity entails cultivating a viewpoint that goes beyond fear. In this context I am defining “fear” as an acute awareness of the seriousness of the situation but without the requisite understanding."

The silver lining is that we're likely seeing the death throes of a civilization, with the birth convulsions of the new. Again with some perspective, Jessica writes, "It is time to understand. None of the global challenges being heatedly discussed right now -- by ecologists, by international social justice groups, by concerned citizens amongst themselves -- is new or surprising to anyone who has been paying attention. We are seeing conditions long in the making rendered obvious for the sake of wrenching the collective into a new consciousness."

Mark Twain once said, "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened." If we learn to tell the difference between real and imagined threats, we can stop the spread of this paralyzing dis-ease. Then we can know and face what truly endangers us.

Today, I woke up experiencing Ace of Cups kind of energy in the heart, and the desire to show cleavage, bring out the boobs. I use that word because it's so juicy and round, just like the very feminine date of 8-8-08. Eight is the number of wholeness, cause and effect, and the cycle of life. In numerology, 8 is auspicious, strong, lucky, solid and as the infinity symbol when turned on its side, the energy of life's endless spiral. It's known as the Great Balancer, the numerology of what goes around, comes around. Hans Decoz of Tarot.com writes, "We can expect shocking and unexpected events, but they will be corrective -- this includes big surprises on the global and national stage. These "8" occurrences tend to bring relief and justice."

If you're a child of the 70s, you'll remember Figure Eight by Schoolhouse Rock. It's a song by which I learned my eights, the multiplication tables, and this one has shades of the mystic cosmic questions. There's a sweet melancholy to the voice of Blossom Dearie, as she sings, "That's a circle that turns round upon itself... place it on its side and it's a symbol of infinity." I was that dreamy child that stared out the window, and this was one of the few children's programs that reached in and caught my attention. The number 8 is simply magical. Pythagorus called it Light and Darkness a hint at the idea that what's created here in the physical has a mirror reality in the celestial. It's a natural path in and out of the realms, one where we take divine concepts and bring them into form. It's the path in and out of the infinite, the zone of endless possibilities.

There's the 8th House and its Scorpio connection to kundalini, the life force that awakens at the base of the spine/root chakra. The feminine ecstasy coming in could be a taste of the mass awakening of 2012, when prophecies have foretold a return of the Goddess in harmony with the masculine principle. If shapely Venus is a number 8, her receptive energies help us come to our senses. Last night I listened to an interview with Credo Mutwa, a Zulu shaman who told of an ancient time when drinking a glass of mountain spring water was a religious experience. The human senses were alive, and we had the eyes to see the shimmering of nature. Today's succulent energies might inspire you to seek out sensory pleasures that fill you with that bliss-feeling we're all in short supply of these days. There's an instinctual path, if we tune into it, that takes us and out of the mystery, and adds richness to our life. Perhaps 8-8-08 is a symbolic evocation of the circular (with the Olympic rings), the Sacred Hoop, the Spiral Dance, nature's seasons and cycles, wholeness, balance of masculine and feminine, and is a preview of things to come.

• Eric Francis: Astrology of the 2008 Olympics

Venus has joined Mars in Virgo, and together they set a love-sex mood of earthy, refined pleasures. Virgo's symbol is the Virgin, meaning whole unto Herself (or Himself), giving this sign an air of self-containment. Last year, I wrote about Catherine Deneuve's idea of what's sexy. She's a Venus in Virgo that believes artful covering up goes further than putting all the goodies out there. It's the slow reveal, and the promise of a rare invitation to the body-as-a-temple kept pure and clean. It's the smell of soap with a hint of lavender.

There's a critical eye on relationships now, which could go overboard with harping about what's wrong. But the Virgo quest for perfection can also lead to analyzing little problems, and in resolving them, bring more ease to daily life. Virgo might be modest in some ways, but it's also a tactile, physically flexible sign, and that opens the door for more real satisfaction in the bedroom.

Venus in Virgo through the 30th puts the possibility out there of meeting someone through work, or at the gym. Friendships form now because you do stuff together, slowly forming a bond day-by-day. This Venus brings out the naturalist, and it seems fitting that Greenpeace is asking for video clips of sensuality in nature, as reported in this Telegraph UK article. The idea was inspired by a mega-hit collage of sex scenes to celebrate European cinema. By encouraging people to show love to nature, in an erotic way, Greenpeace hopes to turn the heads of the EU leaders, so they'll consider a ban on imported timber. Good timing for an al fresco moment of intimacy with the beauty of nature. While Venus is in Virgo, you might like to....make new friends through volunteering, get to know someone at work better, build community, try aromatherapy, let go of a toxic relationship, speak up about what you like in bed, join friends in the sauna, go back to your natural hair color, show love to your body.

• Erotic Video: Forest Love, "Come Together for Forests"
• Venus in Virgo
• Venus through the signs