Aries Ingress Charts for 2014 - Crimea and Russia

As you may be aware, tomorrow we start the new Astrological year as the Sun moves out of the last sign in the zodiac, Pisces and into Aries. Looking at the moment of the Sun's ingress into Aries can give a taster for what may happen for any place on earth for the coming three months until the Cancer ingress heralding the start of summer. Obviously the one place on earth where there is most instability is the Crimea at the moment as Russia is claiming control over the (former) Ukrainian region.

Mars Retrograde in Libra – Recharging one’s batteries and saving your strength.

In a few days time on the 1st March Mars the planet of action and force turns retrograde for 2 and a half months. Mars only turns retrograde every couple of years so this is not a very frequent occurrence but it is significant when it does happen as the driving force of the zodiac, the one universal influence which pushes all of us forward on a regular basis suddenly goes into retreat. Mars this time is in the sign of Libra too, a place where it is not normally very happy and so in effect we have a double dose of Mars in a rather grumpy mood. What are we likely to be in for and how will this irritable Mars affect our lives? I offer a few passing thoughts on the matter.

Saturn conjunct Agena - Serving the people's needs

This aspect is in force now as Agena sits at 24:00 degrees Scorpio. Saturn will get close to an exact conjunction before turning retrograde on 2nd March although they will stay in contact until 22nd March. Saturn will return to make a second conjunction in October later this year.

As you may know if you follow my blog, Agena is a star that sits in the constellation of Centaurus, the Centaur. The Greeks saw this star as representative of the tale of the two Centaurs, Chiron and Pholos. The story goes that Hercules who, after drinking too much wine, accidentally wounded Chiron thinking that he was under attack from them. Chiron was the immortal to the two Centaurs and so this injury condemned him to a life of pain and suffering. As Pholos was pulling out Hercules’ arrow from the foot of Chiron, he grazed himself with the tip of the arrow also causing a mortal wound. Pholos was able to die, and Chiron gave away his immortality to Prometheus so that he could die too. This star is thus tied to the idea of healing and the sacrifices you make in order to improve your situation or to encourage growth, either by yourself or collectively.

Now of course the Pluto opposition to Jupiter squared by Uranus which had precipitated the situation in Ukraine - outright power and control (Pluto) opposed by justice and international desires (Jupiter) being affected by a revolution of the masses (Uranus) has been the dominant aspect affecting our world in the past few weeks however Saturn now slowing to a stop and connecting with Agena is now coming along to correct the vacuum of power in that country. This connection brings the need for a common goal and an understanding of what is needed by the people combined with the sacrifices that Chiron in the story above depicts. There is a sense here of bringing together all the resources you have to make something lasting and potentially strong and out of it a leader of substance may emerge.

Saturn is the planet of administration and the formation in embattled Ukraine of a unity government is a perfect example of this conjunction and the healing properties that it can perform. In this sense you may have to collate what you have to curb the potential excesses and reckless behaviour that you may have been subject to under the very volatile skies above us. The next three or so weeks may also be a time of trying to be a bit more sensible. As Robson wrote many years ago about this conjunction about this conjunction it is time to be "shrewd and thoughtful" and to use the healing powers on offer to us.

Mercury Retrograde for February 2014

it’s soon time for another round of Mercury retrograde, this time we get a dose of the quicksilver planet moving in reverse between 6th and 28th February in particular affecting 3 degrees Pisces and 18 degrees Aquarius, the degrees where it stations. We are now well into the shadow zone and you may have noticed an increased amount of technical and computer breakdowns as Mercury was in Aquarius within the hit zone I mentioned above.