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Showing posts from June, 2014

A Circle of Fortune--Exploring a Solar Return Chart

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While we celebrate a collective New Year each year depending on our culture, each of us celebrates a personal new year every time our birthdays roll around.  On this day, we begin a new cycle determined by the new planetary alignment in the sky as the planets fall into the houses in our Natal Charts in the form of transits. When our birthdays roll around we visit an astrologer who casts a Solar Return Chart for the upcoming birthday year.  While the Sun always returns to the exact degree of our births, the other planets land in different signs and directions while informing us of upcoming energies.  As I prepare to explore my own Solar Return Chart, I feel guided to share general insights. As you already know, astrology transits feature cycles whether that is the shorter cycle of the Moon or a longer cycle of an outer planet.  For instance, the Moon travels through each Zodiac Sign every 28 days, but there are even longer Moon cycles such as the cycle between a Cancer Full Moon w

Singleton Venus Memoir--Reflection of an Unaspected Retrograde Venus in the Sixth House

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photography by Patricia Herlevi Venus usually represents charm, diplomacy, romance and enjoying abundance.  She represents beauty, sexuality and sensuality, but a Singleton Venus transiting retrograde offers a new twist to an old story. I'll share my Venus story here knowing that many women relate to it. Unaspected retrograde Venus affecting me in the following ways: In my early childhood to adolescence I was a tomboy.  I played with dolls and other girl toys, but I also climbed trees, rode horses, played kickball and baseball with the neighborhood children.  I loved spending time outdoors though spring hay fever put a damper on that.  Venus in the 6th House which rules health and in my case respiratory health (Venus in Gemini) kept me indoors.  Doing housework worsened my allergies and I suffered from asthma too.  When I was ten, a boy pushed me off a table in art class, causing me to fracture my wrist (Gemini). Photography by Patricia Herlevi As a teen, I fantasized

July 2014 Forecast--Dragons of Luxury & Abundance Loose Upon the World

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Wikipedia The image I see for July 2014 is a bowling ball gaining momentum, lining up and hitting its target.  The other image I see revolves around fire breathing dragons coming out of their caves and sleeping in the grass among sparkling jewels.   For most people, July represents the proverbial ship carrying treasures arriving at the port. In July, Mercury gains momentum in the forward direction where it transits over the shadow of the retrograde until the 18th after Mercury arrives in Cancer.  Venus rolls into Cancer on the 19th, giving us Mercury conjunct Venus (wide orb of 6 degrees) in the nurturing Water Sign that also heralds the launch into summer.  Mars finally moves out of Libra into Scorpio on July 27, Jupiter transits into Leo on the 17th (July 17 - 20 is an active time), then Saturn goes Direct on the 20th and Uranus goes retrograde two days later.  Anyone who has felt stuck or stagnant for the past few months gets a push forward now, with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn

Cry No Tears for Me, Cancerian (June 21 to July 22)

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photo by Patricia Herlevi Sentimental, mushy, clingy, nurturing, motherly and generous (though sometimes stingy depending on the childhood experiences), Cancer natives leave many folks feeling baffled.  Who are these mysterious moonbeams staring at the stars and wishing on dandelion pollen? Who are these hoarders of old birthday cards, childhood photographs and memories of past loves? Their reflective moods remind us of the cycles of the Moon as the orb shines its light on a calm lake or they remind us of a kaleidoscope capturing the rainbow wings of dragonflies.  Cancer natives, though often shy, peak during the summer months.  It's at this time that you find the Cancer natives hanging out on the beach watching the surf roll in or out on a sailboat, that is if they're not frightened of deep water like I am. Famous people born under this sign include Princess Diana, Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep (cry me a river), Erin Br

4th Week of June Forecast--Nurturing the Soul through the Stomach

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photo by Patricia Herlevi Food will be on our minds the final week of June.  We question which foods actually nurture us and which foods wax nostalgia for us (foods from our childhood that we cling to as adults).  Food safety, food security, nutrition, diet and gourmet foods grab our attention in news headlines or at dinner tables.  What exactly are we eating and what eats us? First, we have the Sun in the sign of nurturing Cancer, then Jupiter in Cancer squares the North Node in Libra (balance and moderation) on exact on June 27th, also the day of the New Moon in Cancer.  Meanwhile, we're going to talk about food, nutrition and diet as Venus transits into chatty and analytical Gemini on June 24 and Mercury RX also transits in Gemini trining the North Node exact on June 23 and 24th.  What foods did we love as children and do those foods serve us now? As anyone would imagine, each astrologer has his or her own take on the week's transits, but since my Sun and Mercury fal

3rd Week of June Forecast--Bring on Summer in the North

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Wikipedia We won't only experience the turn of seasons this week with the Solstice on June 21st, we also experience another transformational shift on the planet with the Cardinal T-Cross with Mars, Uranus and Pluto.  Meanwhile, Mercury travels backwards into its own sign, Gemini. First let's look at the T-Cross which is not exact degrees.  Mars in Libra which has already been in an exact square with retrograde Pluto in Capricorn tightens the opposition with Uranus at 16 degrees Aries. Meanwhile Neptune forms a sexile with Pluto so this brings a deeper level of consciousness to the picture and we might just take a spiritual approach to age old problems that we aren't solving on the mundane level.  Saturn in Scorpio also forms a sextile with Pluto and inconjunct (yield signs) with Uranus so this actually puts the breaks on the T-Cross so we won't be seeing events like we saw in April, but underneath in our subconscious and collective unconscious, we experience a des

Neptune Types Part 2--Girls and Boys Wearing Space Boots

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Wikipedia You dreamy, mystical Neptuneittes (just coined the word) welcome to the land of space boots and mystical visions.  Unlike your Virgo polarity, you don't pay much attention to details and people often diagnose you with ADD or ADHD, if they want to sound more technical.  But what's really going on in your section of the Zodiac Wheel? If you have Pisces Rising, Sun or Moon or Neptune on the MC (top of the chart), then you qualify as a Neptune type. If you have a stellium of planets in Pisces or in the 12th House you also qualify as a Neptune type and often times you feel out of sync with the world.  The drummer marching to a different beat isn't Aquarius, but Pisces, except you're not marching, you're floating. It's not true that Pisces can't hold down a job or that many of them end up in the breadline or the detox facility because they don't cope well with modern living.  Well, I've actually known both types of Pisces, the kind who fl

Provocative Astrology & Sage Wisdom

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Wikipedia In ancient time, astrologers and sages were rolled into one.  Astrologers played the role of reporter too by letting the aristocrats know what fate awaited them.  So in this regard, here is a sage astrologer Kelley Rosano as she strikes out with the sword of truth.  Go girl! The message with the Sagittarius Moon revolves around speaking our truth, but even better, living our truth.  For me, the awakening came when I decided to pursue the path of happiness. If it doesn't make me happy, then I'm tossing it out. I don't know Kelley's Sun Sign, but I'm guessing she's an Aries with some planets in Taurus.  She's definitely a warrior. The video was removed from YouTube or from the embedding feature. Look up "Kelley Rosano, Sagittarius Full Moon" to pull up the video.

Transits for 2nd Week of June--Astrological Congestion on the Super Highway

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Photo by Patricia Herlevi, Boston, 1989 I woke up last night with pin and needle sensations in the entire left side of my body, I wondered what the heck was going on?  Why did I feel like someone had plugged half of my body into an electrical outlet? First, I panicked.  Then I prayed to my Spirit Guides and Angels. Then I thought about looking up the day's and the week's transits.  Oddly, looking at my planetary guide calmed me down, but also surprised me.  Have we always had this many transits in a single week?  And does the hand of God play a role? And finally how are astrologers supposed to keep track of all the planetary configurations and transits? This is full-time work and frankly, it's a rare occurrence when someone signs up for an astrology reading so I'm hardly making a living as an astrologer and I don't have full-time to give to this profession. The image that comes into my mind is Lily Tomlin playing the role of the gossipy phon

Retreat, Read & Retread (June's Planetary Energies)

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Many of you have already figured out that the June energies are asking us to retreat from everyday life.  We are asked to review past events, regroup and reassess while taking time to read spiritual or self-help books.  Time to dig through that pile of wish list books, visit a library or better yet, a spiritual retreat center. With Neptune, Saturn and Mercury in Retrograde we feel like procrastinating and we might even beat ourselves up and call ourselves lazy.  But that's not what's going on.  The planets ask us to delve more deeply into our newborn selves and to take this month to ask hard questions.  Why are we pursuing certain goals and dreams? Are those even our dreams or someone else' such as a parent, friend, spouse or authority figure? Many people focus on manifesting fame, wealth  or at least recognition in their communities.  And by focusing on those trappings, they lose sense of themselves and their connection to the Divine or Source or God (whatever you wa

Deep Breathing Required---Mercury Stationary RX & Other Tense Transits

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Photo by Patricia Herlevi Some of you felt like a wrecking ball crashed your party and the restful days of May hardly sufficed as giving you time to heal past events.I'm picking up chaotic energy and not just because Mercury is preparing for the backward dance.  Back in April, we experienced intense transits mainly with the two eclipses and the Cardinal Grand Cross as well as, the T-Crosses as we moved into the Grand Square. May felt restful to some of us, those mainly who put in the efforts towards self-love, claiming shadows/projections and soul integration.  But not everyone on the planet has chosen these paths of mastership and some are hardly prepared to step on these paths at all.  So we have witnessed murder and mayhem literally on the planet.  We have witnessed corporations placing strangle holds on the everyday person and this seems to grow worse with each passing day.  We have witnessed insanity in the name of commerce, healthcare, food distribution and the surreal

Sun in Gemini and Mercury RX--Crisscross Communication

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Twins by Patricia Herlevi Sun in Gemini until June 21 Mercury Retrograde June 7-30 Mercury in Cancer June 1-16 Mercury in Gemini June 16- July13 Normally when the Sun transits in the Air Sign Gemini, people seem more chatty and communication flows.  However, starting June 7th, Mercury goes retrograde in the Sign of Cancer then backtracks into Gemini, Mercury's sign. Our focus is on telecommunication corporations, lack of service, internet laws, internet access, cell phones, landlines and the media.  In our personal lives, we experience frustration in communication wires getting crossed in personal and professional relationships.  Phone or e-mail messages get lost, voice mail malfunctions, planes, trains and buses experience delays depending on the speed of our personal frequency.  Those people vibrating closer to the fear frequency will experience the most dastardly communication malfunctions while people vibrating at higher frequencies, will turn off th