Retrogrades are an excellent opportunity to release and let go of what’s not serving us anymore. Here’s a tarot read for all signs. It’s timeless, and when you find it, it’s there for you.
Tag: cancer
Spring Equinox & Re-Calibrating
Happy Spring Equinox!
Let’s face it, we’re still fighting the corona virus. It’s not spring-as-usual. It’s easy to escape into thoughts of Easter eggs, bunnies and chickadees. All these things are nice and help us to feel good, but right now, I feel the world is called to restore balance.
So many us are chronically over-stressed, busy in lieu of being present, and not balancing rest, repose and activity. Our environment is over-burdened by the pollution caused by our commutes. Our psyches are now overburdened by fear, anxiety and panic. We need to embrace this pause, this balance point, offered by the vernal equinox.
Looking ahead, this spring equinox we have a void-of-course moon on March 20th for most of the day, if you are in the US. Check your local times. Void-of-course moons are ideal times for reflection, study and meditation. Take this opportunity to re-calibrate your body, mind and spirit.
I did a tarot and Lenormand pull by sign pairs, regarding what needs to be brought back into harmony and balance. Every Aries has a deep part of them that’s Libran, acknowledged or not, and vice-versa, as so with all the sign pairs. When restoring balance, it’s helpful to think of the signs as a story with a theme that’s playing out between the “opposing” or complementary energies. Look at your sun, moon and ascendant to see what areas to re-balance.
ARIES/LIBRA
The Sun, reversed
The Queen of Wands, reversed
The Key
It’s time to stop and smell the flowers for Aries and Libras. Too much doing is scattering your energy and robbing you of joy. Don’t keep knocking on metaphorical doors, looking for approval from everyone. You have the keys. Use them. Your mission is to set yourself free of the approval trap this equinox.
Saturn moves out of Capricorn around the equinox. It’s now time to put the old criticisms of a boss or your own father to bed. This is especially true for Libra and Aries women. You don’t have to earn daddy’s love now or ever. Build a new life around an empowering POV, instead of answering for “mistakes” you made deep in the past.
TAURUS/SCORPIO
The Chariot, Reversed
The Anchor
Taurus and Scorpio, how you feel about a matter is not moving you forward. Now is not the time to choose freeze or hide. How can you move forward valiantly and purposefully? Old, unprocessed emotions are keeping you stuck. Get grounded to get in a safer emotional space.
Both Scorpio and Taurus need to keep expecting the unexpected, with Uranus in Taurus. Some surprises are good, some not what we’d hope for, but from now til the next equinox, you are asked to make the best of everything. You’re being a called to alchemize the inconvenient and adopt the attitude that all things are ultimately moving in your favor. What’s needed most is a deep surrender. Pull the anchor up and trust the tides.
GEMINI/SAGITTARIUS
The Ace of Swords
The Mask
The truth sets Gemini and Sagittarius free for the next six months. Commit to the truth, speak it, write it, teach it and preach it. You’re keenly aware of other’s masks, pretensions and follies. People who put on a nice persona around you may be eager to take from you. Be careful of flattery and ask yourself what’s truly behind it. Your gut will know what’s a sincere compliment versus one that’s intended to get something out of you. The strength of your will and character are being tested. Choose integrity over shortcuts.
Venus enters Gemini in early April. Venus, being the lover, the coquette and seductress of the zodiac, brings pleasant distractions to you this spring. That in mind, keep it real in dating and romance. Opt for deeper conversations and don’t just hear what you want to hear in the game of love. Deep listening in matters of the heart is called for. Does the beautiful lover you desire have beautiful thoughts? A beautiful spirit? Look at the whole package.
CANCER/CAPRICORN
The Four of Pentacles, Reversed
The Nine of Wands, Reversed
The Key
The Man
Capricorns and Cancers, are your defense mechanisms working? Your strong self-protective streak may be backfiring. Your equinox goal is to dismantle the deep tiredness and apathy you’ve been feeling. Give a little, especially to yourself. It’s safe to splurge on something that will revivify you at this time. Likewise, look at what you tend to hoard–things, bad memories, resentments. It’s time to purge all the past junk that’s not serving you. Stop chasing. The truth that you seek is seeking you too. It’s time for stillness. I am talking to you, Capricorn and Cancer men, especially. Sit down, chill, meditate. You have a deep, unacknowledged need for space. Give it to yourself.
Saturn moves out of Capricorn at the equinox, so the long-held burdens weighing down the Capricorns and Cancerians are lifting. Pluto, Mars and Jupiter are all in Capricorn at this time. This is a powerful, transformative, activating energy at work. It’s time to drop the past and build the future. Don’t build your new future with stones of anger, resentment and regret.
LEO/AQUARIUS
Strength
The Mice
For Leo and Aquarius, it’s time to identify the small things that are taking up too much time and energy. It’s time to gently and deeply investigate your work processes, habits and impulse buys. You are called to make the best use of your resources and rid yourself of the tiny thieves of your life. What’s robbing you of joy, calm and peace of mind especially? Leo will be deeply in their element with this inquiry, as the Strength card resonates with their sign. Aquarius, keep this purging gentle, like you would a fast or detox.
Saturn enters Aquarius near the equinox and for Aquarius, it’s time to take stock. Ask yourself, “am I making the best use of my time?” For Leo, Saturn in Aquarius rewards them for being and staying on mission and purpose, using their natural leadership skills to lead others towards a better life. Both signs need to examine how they want to grow as leaders and what they want their legacy to be.
VIRGO/PISCES
The Magician, Reversed
The 8 of Wands
The Coffin
Pisces and Virgo need to be more intentional with their actions at this time. Both signs are in the trap of feeling like they have to work themselves to death to accomplish something, anything. They may also be trying to prop up a situation that’s far outlived its usefulness to them. It’s time to say “enough” and acknowledge there’s no more you can or should do. Meditate on right effort, right mindedness and right actions. There’s no magic words you’ll be able to conjure to bring something back to life. Let it be.
Mercury is in Pisces til about mid April with Neptune in Pisces. Both Virgo and Pisces need to trust their intuition, but not indulge in too many fantasies, what-ifs and such. The situation or burden they are facing will undo or unravel itself. Let it settle. No more effort is needed.
Wishing you a beautiful, restorative spring journey, full of health, wealth and love.
Silence Is Not Always Golden
I’ve been talking more lately, and not because I’ve been feeling chatty. I’ve realized how much I’ve kept under wraps and repressed to keep the peace and to just get along. Frankly, it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever done to myself. Silencing myself has been a huge burden. I’ve been grieving. I’ve been healing. I’ve been shouldering some difficult situations that don’t have easy answers.
There’s a lot of good too, but I’ve realized in the past week that not all silence is golden. Not all silence heals. Sometimes, you have tell someone what you feel. We all want to “look our best” at the expense of feeling our best and fessing up that there may be some issues.
One of the biggest things on my mind and my heart this week is remembering Fortuna. She was diagnosed this time last year of renal lymphoma and in April, almost four months to the day later, she died. Her death and issues around her death had me in a deep state of shock and denial. I told few people she had actually passed. I loved her so much and I couldn’t speak about her without being immobilized by grief, pain and anger. 
Cancer is a cruel disease and some of the circumstances I dealt with peripherally didn’t help either. I’ve been having a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help raise funds for research to help both people and pets who are suffering from this rare disease. I still tear up each time I post about the fundraiser. It’s okay. Better a thousand tears than a mess of hardened, bottled up feelings.
Tuna was naturally very expressive. She always would tell you what she wanted. You didn’t have to guess. She was not coy. She didn’t hide what she thought. So much of what is hurtful and damaging grows in silence. We don’t acknowledge something someone said or did hurt and then it just becomes part of us somehow. My silence magnified my pain. I was getting harder and harsher as time went by because I was really angry. I was angry at cancer for killing her and turned some of that anger on myself.
I am doing better now. The tears are still there, but the what-ifs or what-could-I-have-done-betters are now mostly gone. I got to a point of surrender–and if you know me, surrender is not an easy thing. I’m used to winning.. I expect myself to overcome. The word “surrender” is not a go-to for me, but it has been lately. I’ve surrendered some of my pain, some of my angst by talking about it. Talking about her life and her suffering has helped heal some of mine.
If you have something that’s burdening you, please get some help. “Suffering in silence” may seem noble, but it can hurt too. It can make your pain greater. We all have problems to face and once you get in the habit of airing them out, the problems become more manageable.
Silence is not always golden, but the love in our hearts is. Speaking from the heart, even when it’s inconvenient, will always serve you better than pushing your feelings down. I miss Tuna every day. I miss her honest green eyes. She not only saw people; she saw through them. I miss they way she chewed my hair. I missed her demanding things of me as a matter of course. Today and every day, ask you if your attitude of “put up and shut up” is really serving you, or if you may be hiding something you really need to heal. Today, I am still healing from my loss of Tuna.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for caring.
2019: The Year of the Martians
I’m not talking about little green men or Marvin the Martian. I’m talking about the character of 2019. The New Year came in on a Tuesday–day of Mars–and Mars is the driver’s seat this year, in Aries.
Find your Natal Mars sign here.
Mars rules Aries (as well as Scorpio) and is exalted in Capricorn. You may be feeling “on fire”–are you passionate or getting burned? Mars is about drive, confrontation, taking action and making war. Aries energy confronts challenges, individuates and shows strength.
“Mars in Aries”–the fight for you, the fight for your individuality, your authenticity, the fight for your passion, the drive to do it your own way. (Cue Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way”).
The New Year had Mars in Aries at nearly 0 degrees–so this a very much like lighting a match. The fire you may be feeling is fresh, new. There’s a quality of newness. It’s the fire of fire–acting for the sake of acting. It’s a year to make your will known and heard–and act on your will.
The year did start with a waning moon and waning moon years are about deep emotional let-go-s. (Cue Frozen). You’re not letting go with resignation though. It’s not giving up. That Tuesday, Martian, solar start says you’re letting go to get in alignment with your true will. There’s just stuff you don’t want to carry around anymore so you can move faster and stronger towards what you truly want. You want to travel lighter.
If you have natal Mars in Capricorn, Aries, Scorpio, Sagittarius or Leo, you’re on fire right now and feeling this Mars energy. Remember this feeling as Mars transits through other signs this year and you may be feeling down or deterred. Hold on to this passion that you’ve started something new with this year.
If you have natal Mars in Libra or Taurus, it’s okay if you’re not feeling the passion right now. Honor any burnout you may feel. Honor that little voice that says “be careful”. Things may be moving too fast and too recklessly for you. Bide your time. Take the long view. You’re being choosy about whom and what to fight for and that’s okay.
If you have your natal Mars in Cancer, Mars influences you less than other planets. Be careful of passive aggressive tendencies, though. Don’t rain on someone else’s parade. You may not see what the fuss is about. When water confronts fire you get steam or hot water. You can heal or hurt. You get to choose.
If you have natal Mars in Aquarius or Gemini, don’t get swept up in someone’s passion project to the point you neglect yourself. Have a plan and work the plan, but don’t get relegated to being the sidekick. Likewise, where there’s smoke there’s fire. Your “early warning” radar is on high alert. Trust your hunches. Fire energy needs air to fuel it and smoke is the product of fire. You’ll be very in tune to the rhythms of this year.
If you have natal Mars in Virgo, you also have to guard against getting swept up in someone else’s passion project to the detriment of yourself. The energy here is like lava–hot, but when it cools, creates new ground and new stones with which to build. Managing your temper, especially if you’re in a habit of biting your tongue to keep the peace, could get challenging in a Mars years.
If you have natal Mars in Pisces, you may feel left out or out of sync. The pace at which things are transpiring may irk you. When you’re feeling pushed or not in the driver’s seat, imagine a peaceful waterfall, the water surrendering to gravity, with a bright rainbow dancing against the cascades of water. You are that rainbow–a sliver of beautiful light in constant movement.
Other insights:
Mars itself, the actual planet, becomes a big topic.
People are not afraid to fight in a Mars-driven year. Unfortunately, this means more potential for conflicts, especially in countries that are ruled by Aries, like England. The Brexit debacle is exacerbated by this Mars energy. We are also attracted to politicians with military experience, especially combat experience.
Athleticism and athletes draw more attention this year, especially in individual sports, like tennis, boxing and golf. Expect a big headline or two, especially in boxing, since the tendency of Mars is to want to draw blood. Lots of luck for fire sign boxers this year, especially when the matches are happening during Aries, Leo or Sagittarius season. Even the Rams might get some extra astrological love this year, since Aries is the ram.
Mars rules any kind of weaponry, from guns to pepper spray. The gun control debate will be in full swing, especially pertaining to the “individual’s” (Aries) right to bear arms (Mars)”.
The pertinent tarot cards are The Emperor (Aries) and The Tower (Mars). Emperors by their nature are autocrats and rule by force. The Tower indicates an act of God, or a sudden insight or revelation, shaking people from their lofty and exalted positions and the tower is on fire.
In this year, if someone seems entrenched or immovable or has consolidated their power to the point they’re too comfortable, it’s likely a sudden shock or unanticipated event will throw them. Expect the unexpected, especially when it seems like someone may be invulnerable. In the traditional image, it’s two people who fall off the tower, so it’s likely the Emperor and an enabler fall off. If you look at the original Rider-Waite image, in defiance of gravity, one of the persons falling off the tower still wears a crown–like an emperor.
Likewise, there’s a lot of ego energy to go around this year and a sudden insight or misfortune may knock the ego and force us to grow spiritually in ways we don’t think we need to. The more positive side of this is that we may get the flash of insight we’ve needed for years if we’re spiritually ready for it. Instead of being punished in the tower, we may get the lightning bolt of insight (Mars) to rule (Aries) over ourselves with confidence, compassion and dignity.
Happy New Year! The red planet is red hot this year. Use this energy to your advantage!
Kristin West 