THIS is the Jupiter-Saturn Trine?!

Such a beautiful, stabilizing aspect between two planets that are polar opposites. (Jupiter: expansion, "luck," faith, travel, religion, philosophy. Saturn: contraction, limitations, hard work, crystallization, pragmatism.) Given the signs involved, this should be especially beneficial for a Cancer-Scorpio type like me. And yet the only way I think I'd feel worse right now is if I got run over by a bus or a meteor fell on my head. Hey, lightbulb moment: the Jupiter-Saturn trine is protecting me from total disaster, leaving me free to obsess over various shitty "first world" problems. Though come to think of it, don't people all over the planet (and probably the entire universe) want to feel wanted, loved, understood, part of something authentic and meaningful, and content, if not ecstatic, to be alive? What's the point of survival if you don't have those things...or am I just being a disingenuous idealist again?

By the way, I'm still doing private consultations via Skype or phone. I may an unhappy camper, but I'm one hell of an insightful astrologer. Read my testimonials. Email me for my rates. Peace out.

Mars Finally Turns Direct

Mars is all about action, so it seems apropos that with Mars finally turning direct after over three months of being retrograde in the sign of its detriment (Libra, in case you haven't been reading my blog lately), I would finally be moved to update my astrology site.

Not that I'm feeling all that energetic. Indeed, I am so tired I can barely keep my head up. It's been a hard day's night for the past few months. The hardest thing to deal with has not been my business-as-usual problems, but losing Miss Meowsers, my sweetie's darling gray tabby whom I was lucky enough to know and love for the past two years, to chronic kidney failure (diagnosed in late March, Miss M. declined considerably after the Grand Cross passed in late April; we put her to sleep at home, a few days before the Full Moon, at the tail end of last weekend, just past Mother's Day). I feel that I've lost a dear friend, guru, and child. Miss Meowsers was a true inspiration and proof that miracles exist in this world -- just for starters, when I met her, I was allergic to, and did not especially care for, cats. I have a great imagination, yet could never have imagined the bond that would begin developing between us in six months' time and deepen up till the very last moment she looked into my eyes.

Mars turned retrograde in my 2nd house and although I was lucky enough not to go broke, my finances did not remain stable, as my job situation ended soon after Mars backed over my critical-degree Jupiter (interestingly, the job began soon before Mars, still direct, passed over my Jupiter; it was good and unexpected fortune, as I'd been found for it instead of applying to it). In early April, Mars retrograded into my 1st house and I became increasingly dissatisfied with my appearance (a 1st-house concern), lack of creative motivation, and listlessness. I can only hope that as Mars moves beyond its stationary direct phase and begins to pick up speed and purpose, so will I.

Natually, we've all been in some holding pattern or other these past few months, but depending on the house or houses in which Mars turned retrograde in your own chart, its effects have been felt in strikingly different ways. For example, if Mars turned retrograde in your 3rd house, you might have found it increasingly frustrating to communicate, particularly with neighbors or siblings; if Mars turned retrograde in your 12th house, you might have been plagued with nightmares, developed hard-to-diagnose health problems that might have landed you in the hospital, or even been unjustly incarcerated.

Although Mars direct is generally worlds better than Mars retrograde, Mars is still in indecisive Libra and will be until late July; it will also need to repeat the square to Pluto and opposition to Uranus (though interestingly, Jupiter leaves Cancer before Mars can square it again). In other words, we are not in smooth sailing by a long shot -- but at least we won't be in the hellish, boxed-in limbo known as Mars retrograde.

Let's Do the Uranus-Pluto Square Again! First, a Jump to the Left...

...and then another jump to the left. Very good! Now keep on jumping to the left, at least until we reach the center. That's right -- or should I say, correct. Personally, I'd go farther than that, but the center would be a good place to start having a real conversation about the deep shit we are all in -- including those unrepentant 1%ers, though it is hard to call up much sympathy for them, as their heads are still firmly attached to their necks, 95 percent of financial gains since the recession supposedly ended have gone to them, and they still have tucked into their back pockets all of our politicians who are supposed to be working for us.

For the past two years I've written about the Uranus-Pluto square, as has every single astrologer in the world. Honestly, I'm sick of it -- both writing about it and the actual aspect. It is one frightening mo'fo, and fear seems to paralyze the nicest, most intelligent and refined people while encouraging itchy trigger fingers to the impulsive, bloodthirsty, and sociopathic. However, I'm one of those oddballs who can frequently, if not always, understand something (or someone) better by writing about it. I think it comes from having a Mercury-Mars conjunction that squares my Jupiter and trines my Neptune.

Anyway, today is yet another Uranus-Pluto square. Five down since the party officially started in June 2012 (though early birds, the canaries in the coal mine, felt it a year or two early), two to go till last call next March. Are more of us finally "getting" that this square is all about societal and global crisis? We have an increasingly shameless plutocracy intent on buying the whole planet by distracting the populace with divide-and-conquer tactics. It is indeed such good, clean fun to blame the victims, then sit back and watch the victims blame one another! Young vs. old; haves vs. have-nots; middle class vs. rich and poor; men vs. women; blue states vs. red states; conservatives vs. radicals. We also have save-the-planeters in one corner, climate-change deniers in another. Freedom fighters vs. oppression makers. And fill-in-the-blank "ism" vs. polar opposite ism. And so on, and. So. On.

Are you feeling overwhelmed, overheated, or chilled to the bone? Are you standing blindfolded at the edge of a precipice that is giving way under your feet, yet you don't know which way to jump? Are you bobbing along in a barrel that is nailed shut and meandering toward Niagra Falls? Are you losing your livelihood, your home, your roots, your nerve, and/or your mind? Just remember that this is the most intense Uranus-Pluto square of 2012-15, as it is part of a very rare Grand Cross that is peaking this week (please check my last few posts for more detail). I'm not going to offer up such platitudes as "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," because damn it, it's just not always true. Whatever doesn't kill you too often warps you and embitters you and makes you hell to be around. I ought to know; I've been guilty of it. I have no solutions other than this: try to remember to breathe, and try not to take out your rage, which may be perfectly justifiable, on those whom you love. Save it for writing a nasty short story about your boss, or a cosmic manifesto. Or if you are, unlike me, a "people person," band together with likeminded malcontents and come up with something with a longer shelf life than Occupy Wall Street.

And if you no longer have love in your heart for anyone or anything, try to find something that makes you glad to be alive even if it's only for a few minutes, like watching a cute cat clip on YouTube, standing under a blossoming cherry tree, or listening to "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy.