Category Archives: Astrology

Lunar Lore

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The Moon moves fast, spends about 2 days in each sign, it navigates the entire zodiac in 27.33 days.

According to Ye Olde Farmer’s Almanac tradition, here is how to set the best times for surgery dates.

First look to the Man of the Signs drawing above to see which sign rules which part of the human body.
Then look to the see what sign the Moon falls in.
Choose a time when the moon is in the sign furthest away from the area you will be having surgery on.

For instance if having surgery on the head or face, schedule the appointment when the moon is in Pisces for best results.

Also watch for full moons and avoid surgery at these times as the moon rules the ocean tides and water, and human blood is 80 % water.  The blood flows more freely and is slower to clot during full moons.  Some also give 3 days on either side of the full moon as a time to avoid surgery because of the increase of blood flow.

During the Last Quarter and New Moon times, blood flow is more sluggish and is better for healing and resting.
Keep in mind, I am not a medical doctor, this is Farmer’s Almanac lore and wisdom, not medical advice.

Ever wonder why during dark moons you only feel like being quiet and lounging with a book ?
Now you know ~ your blood flow is slightly reduced, meaning less oxygen throughout the blood stream, it is a time for respite.

Hair ?
For increase of growth, cut between the New and Full Moon.
For thicker hair, cut on the Full Moon.  (My boss swears by this !)
To decrease growth, Full to New Moon (plucking, shaving, dyeing)

Looney for Lunar info ?    More here ~> just click !

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

cloudberry

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Rubus Villosus/Rubus Fructicosus (Blackberry)
Feminine, Venus, water.
 Also known as: Bramble-Kite, Cloudberry, Dewberry, Thimbleberry

Astrological:  Primary: Libra, Taurus
Secondary: Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio

God: Lugh  God of Light, the Harvest, All – Skills, August festival Lughnasa is in his honor.
Goddess: Brigit   Goddess of the fires of inspiration, healing, divination and smithing.
Lugh and Brigit are patrons of arts and crafts.

Blackberry fruit contain vast amounts of anthocyanocides, which are found in the pigment that gives the berries their color. Anthocyanocides are powerful antioxidants that help to reverse cell damage caused by free radicals, and are reported to be instrumental in preventing heart disease, cancer and strokes.

Blackberries can be used as an astringent or tonic: infusing the leaves in warm water will help rid the kidneys of stones, the fruit is good for the the gastrointestinal tract, and the root has strong astringent properties.

The blackberry stimulates and awakens love and sweetness.

The thorns and brambles of this plant teach that patience and persistence will eventually bear sweet fruit.  Blackberry enhances forgiveness that comes over time and with loving efforts. 

Blackberry is very helpful to enhance quieter states of meditation, it calms the anxious mind and teaches a patient path to enlightenment.  It also counteracts the Libran tendency towards indecision and procrastination. It increases the formation of goals into action via willpower.

The 3rd, Manipura, (solar plexus) chakra is strengthened, along with the bladder.

When there is any difficulty with the planet Saturn, even if it is only a hard aspect with the fast-moving moon, blackberry will help.

The blackberry helps to increase patience, and it eases the onset of age on the physical plane, while also enhancing the spiritual and astral bodies.

* I am not a medical doctor, informational purposes only.

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Fantasea

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How cool is this ?
The photo is from here, a terrific photo-filled post about the sculptural artist Jason deCaires Taylor . (click for artist website)

My biggie Neptune (sea) square Venus (art) in Leo (creativity) really digs this !
My Neptune is also opposite Moon, (Neptune= ocean, Moon= tides) so oceanic art is right up my alley ~> Sculptural art placed in the sea and left to age ?!  Very cool !
(Saturn rules age and time, and is my chart ruler)
I was a sculpture major in college, so this really speaks to me.
Working and weaving art in tune with Mother Nature.
(Saturn rules work and spiders/weaving webs/ knots.)
Naturalists are Saturn and Neptune ruled.  Neptune rules inspired art.
Does Jason’s art inspire you..?

Look to the Neptune in your natal chart to see how you are inspired, and how you inspire others. 

Look for conjuntions to indicate where matters are dreamy, foggy, underwater, basically you are operating on pure inspiration and spiritual guidance.
 (This is also also where you need to be cautious of illusions, and delusions.)
Look for any squares to Neptune to see how you will reach deep within for inspiration.
Look to any oppositions to Neptune to see where others will directly inspire you.

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Year of the Neptune Dragon

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January 23 2012 – February 9, 2013 
Year of the Water Dragon of the rain

Yang Dragons are protectors of the East.  They are associated with spring,  green/blue, the elements wood/water.  They control the rivers, rains and storms.  Naga (sanskrit for serpent-like creatures) protected Siddharta, Guatama (the Buddha) from wind and rain for seven days.

Visionary, outspoken Dragons (Chen) are blessed with vitality, health and enthusiasm.  Self-sufficient with a strong power of will, Dragon is a particularly lucky sign promising health, wealth and happiness.  Dragons are witty, restless, freedom-loving and secretly enjoy shocking others with their eccentric behavior.  Dragons are incredibly perceptive, imaginative, intuitive and drawn to the inexplicable.  Dragons are original, admired and loved but they often prefer to remain at a distance.  They are rational yet their actions are most often driven by instinct.  Dragons are flamboyant, unpredictable, assertive and crave the limelight.

Dragons are especially compatible with Monkeys, Rats and Snakes.
Famous Dragons: Salvador Dali, Charles Darwin, Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Oscar Wilde

Water as an element is receptive, passive and reflective and flows around  obstacles.

Water (in frozen and liquid form) covers 75 % of the Earth’s surface.
The human body is 70 % water, blood 80%‚ brain 75%‚ liver 96% water.

Water conducts electricity which makes it the medium of bio-electricity in all living things. The Water Dragon known as the electric eel can produce up to 1,000 volts with a current up to one ampere.

Electrolytes become ions (click here for more on ions) in water and conduct electricity.
 Drink plenty of water – especially in Water Dragon years in order to maintain electrolyte balance within the body.

Water Dragons are shape-shifters, revered and worshipped in the east- they are protective, humane and benevolent benefactors.  Water turns Dragons protection towards matters of the heart and emotions of fellow human beings.  Water Dragons are naturally drawn to metaphysics and intuitive arts.  Water Dragons advocate justice, are humanitarians and are more willing to share than other Dragons.  Water Dragons are optimistic and see things objectively.  They know the ring of truth and are fluent communicators, open to new ideas and experiences.

Year of the Water Dragon and Neptune is going home to Pisces in February ? !
WoOo HoOo !
Sounds great to me !  (click here for Neptune info)

Happy Chinese New Year !!

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Retrogasminutiae

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Glassy (detail) by American Artist, Fred Tomaselli.

Click on Fred above, watch the video and tell me he’s not a Virgo !
(educated guess – no info)
Whoa – the sorting – it boggles !
He laminates !
I get that !
I laminate !
I am a Virgo Sun/Uranus /Pluto in 9th and I laminate all my hand drawn study guides. hilarious.  (You don’t have to tell me, I already know. haha)
~~~~~~~~~~~
What brings me to this post is New Years Eve. (USA)
Are we supposed to review?
I am Virgo.  I LIVE  to review.
Also, I just completed a reading for a client who has 6 planets Rx (retrograde).

Retrograde = revision.

Currently all planets are direct ~> do you feel the forward motion ?
The next planet to go retrograde is Mars.

Mars is our drive, so during Mars Rx we will be nit-picking our brains, going inside our little Virgo headspace to analyze our actions while Mars was direct.  Mars retrograde in Virgo or Earth will bring big time Virgo analysis of material earth matters.
Have we been sorting ?  labelling ?  list-making ?  organizing ?
Well, I have.
I have been super-powered Virgo the last few weeks and during Mars retrograde we all get to re-vise our re-visions !
YaY !
Perfection awaits.  heh heh.  SoOo Virgo.

Mars Rx (retrograde) January 23, 2012 at 6:54 pm CST, USA at 23 Virgo
Mars direct April 14, 2012 at 10:53 PM CST, USA at 03 Virgo

Click here for Mars Rx in Virgo house by house info (bottom).

I have one retrograde planet, my chart ruler Saturn, which is already in its fall (uncomfortable) in Aries.
Saturn Rx is in my 3rd house of writing, and here I am – where I wouldn’t have guessed I would be a year ago – writing this blog.  (Yes, I have written before, but it was only viewed by friends, not publicly, that was a big step for Neptune girl.)
So please don’t let retrogrades throw you off your goal, even if you have 6 of them.


Planets obviously don’t turn in their orbits and go backwards, it only appears so from the vantage point of the Earth.  Earth moves between the planet and the sun, passes the planet, and from a geocentric (Earth centered) viewpoint, the planet appears to slow, stop, and reverse it’s motion in the zodiac.

Click here for a visual of retrograde motion.

View retrogrades as a challenge to transform, transmute and transcend.

Retrograde planets cause frustration in expressing energy.

It requires constant vigilance – exercising the planetary energy over time brings strength.
It will take work, patience and practice to own the energy.
Lasso and herd the energy, before you can ride and steer the energy.

Those with a natal chart free of retrogrades often find a life circumstance pushes them to become introspective.
Those born with many retrograde planets, often find the opposite is true.

Retrogrades are flavored by the Sun – how we express the retrograde planet via the ego (Sun) is reigned in, subjective, an internal struggle.
The energy of the planet feels overshadowed, needs patience and cultivation.

It is a natal point where we drive the same roads over and over until we feel confident enough to express the energy outwardly.

What element holds your retrograde ?
This is where you will focus !

Fire = ego, creativity, self-expression
Earth = material plane, work, recognition of labor and achievements
Air = communication, thinking, social skills
Water = emotions, intuition, psyche
~~~~~~~~~~

From the study of John McCormick: The Book of Retrogrades

Born with 0 retrograde planets:  7.7 percent
Born with 1 retrograde planet:  18.7 percent
Born with 2 retrograde planets: 29.2 percent
Born with 3 retrograde planets: 26.7 percent
Born with 4 retrograde planets: 12.7 percent
Born with 5 retrograde planets: 4.15 percent
Born with 6 retrograde planets: 0.66 percent
Born with 7 retrograde planets: 0.005 percent

0 Rx planets = perseverance, determination to reach goals, needs company to be happy (Common in US Presidents, successful athletes and dancers.)
1 Rx planet =  independent, a loner that can work, achieve alone.
2 Rx planets =  people are drawn to you, they feel comfortable around you
3 Rx planets = operate more behind the scenes, need to excel
4 Rx planets =  writers, solitary expressions, and professions
5 Rx planets = solitary occupations, avoids people pleasing professions, less likely people feel comfortable around you
6 Rx planets = so rare (only 51 days out of the whole 100 years), no conclusions. (Angela Davis, Muhammad Ali are the only famous examples he found)
7 Rx planets = even smaller, no conclusions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enough revision !!
Enough minutiae !!

 Happy New Year !!
WooOoo HoOoo !!

   om mani padme hum
  namaste~
  gneissmoonastrology.net

Georgia on my mind

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Pictured above is American artist Georgia O’Keefee in the New Mexico lands she loved.

I was thinking last night of how my brother was always dragging things in from the woods (I do the same) morels, feathers, skulls, interesting wood things, you name it.  My skulls and turtle shells (found, not killed !) would probably turn Feng Shui aficionados on their heads, but I love skulls and natural things.  I have strong Scorpio placements (rules death), and all the horned signs are active in my chart, so it makes sense to me.  (Cap rising, Moon in Toro, Saturn in Aries)  We are born to die, may as well accept it.

It reminded me of Georgia, who loved skulls and bones and painted them over and over in her red rock, blue sky landscapes.
I have been to Abiquiu, Taos, and much later, to her museum in Santa Fe.  I traveled the whole area because I wanted to see what she saw.  I wanted to see what she painted.  I stood on the sandy dry road in tiny Abiquiu and marveled at a wooden door set in an adobe wall.

It was her door, she painted it so many times, I knew it instantly.
~~~~~~~~~
Georgia, a Scorpio Sun, Moon, Mercury and Jupiter blazed a trail in the art world.  I love the depth with which she viewed the natural world around her.

Her eyes gave life to the universe within a flower.

~~~~~~~~~
Georgia also had Venus (art) conjunct Uranus (innovation) in Venus ruled Libra.  Venus in her chart is not only conjunct Uranus, but also trine a Neptune Pluto conjunction, that’s revolutionary artist without a doubt.

Neptune is in earthy Taurus (rendering the beauty found in earth), Pluto in Gemini.  She was not only mentally sharp and curious, but also incredibly versatile and a powerful communicator through her craft.  Pluto in Gemini (rules hands) indicates her beautiful, graceful hands – her photographer husband, Alfred Stieglitz photographed them many, many times.

It also indicates the enormous volume of correspondence (Mercury) via post between them.  They were often separated and negotiated (Pluto- power) terms of their relationship through the post.

~~~~~~~~~~
Alfred took the photo above.  He was older than Georgia by 23 years, and they greatly influenced each other.  Saturn not only indicates work, and where you are forced to achieve, but also an older person, a male figure (along with the Sun) in the natal chart.  Georgia has Saturn conjunct North Node of Destiny in Leo the sign of creativity.

Her Saturn is also trine Moon and Mercury in Scorpio.  She loved working in her garden (Moon and Saturn rule) and communicated (Mercury) her depth of feeling (Moon) through her artwork.   Georgia had Mars in Virgo sextile Scorpio Sun and Jupiter, again another aspect of depth.  Mars is powering Virgo analysis of what and how to express (Mercury) the power (Scorpio) within.

Virgos notice everything – keep their eyes on everything – as they sort it out.

Scorpios notice everything – hone in on one thing they desire – laser beam focus on that one thing.
~~~~~~~~~~
Here is some quick synastry between Georgia and Alfred:

conjunct = power operating
Georgia’s Moon, Mercury, Sun and Jupiter in Scorpio were conjunct his Venus, Jupiter and North Node of Destiny, also in Scorpio.
Georgia’s Uranus was conjunct Alfred’s Saturn in Libra.  (Uranus is the unexpected break, and Libra is relationships – when Alfred met Georgia, he took up with her, and divorced his wife.)
Georgia’s Venus is conjunct Alfred’s Moon.

trine=harmony
His Moon is trine her Neptune Pluto conjunction.
Georgia’s Saturn is trine Alfred’s Mars, and also trine his Neptune.
Alfred’s Neptune is trine Georgia’s Scorpio stellium.
Alfred’s Mercury is trine Georgia’s Neptune Pluto conjunction.

* Neptune rules film and Alfred took hundreds of photographic portraits of Georgia.

* Also worthy of note: Georgia has no squares (internal conflict), only oppositions (something someone else does).

Georgia’s Scorpio stellium is opposite her Neptune Pluto conjunction indicating not only the impact New Mexico (land of her inspiration- Saturn rules NM and the land) had on her life, but also the impact of her photographer husband, Alfred.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click here (& scroll down) for a lovely video that matches some of her paintings up with the landscapes near her home.
I will leave you with another of my favorites from the Jack-in-the-Pulpit series.

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

 

Earth Mama

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A friend of mine recently asked her girlfriends on fb to list their girl crushes, as she didn’t have any.  I couldn’t think of any either – not any recent ones anyway. Chrissie, Joni, and the Wilson sisters..?  Well, that’s been going on for years…
Now, usually when it comes to my Venus Jupiter conjunction in Leo (love and heaps of it, especially for the creative arts) square (creative tension)  Neptune (music, film and illusion), if you ask me about crushes, I’m gonna ask, “How much time ya got ?!”  haha  (You can sift through the entries on here for the scruffy dudes if you really want to know.)

Venus square Neptune..?  It’s the escape, the other world, the dream life blooming inside my head.  I feed my imagination every chance I get.  It’s a waking meditation which allows intuitive sparks from my Mars in Sagittarius quintile Uranus to light me up !

Today a friend posted a Zooey Deschanel video, and I remembered: I have already mentioned Emmylou, (click) – she was one of my very first posts) then Patricia, now Zooey.  So I guess I have 3 recent girlcrushes, if you can call it that.  I like their work, voices, talent, their art.  It’s synastry somewhere between us that brings out my curiosity, I will follow their work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As far as the synastry, I peeked and Zooey has Saturn conjunct my Virgo Sun/Uranus/Pluto stellium, all of which is trine her Sun/Moon/Mercury/ Part of Fortune stellium in Capricorn.  My Mercury is conjunct her Pluto and her North Node is conjunct my Venus in Leo.  My biggie Neptune is sextile her stellium as well.  (It just dawned on me…all these women I mentioned have strong Capricorn. hmmm…)

Go and check your synastry with your favorite artists, see where you end up, it’s fun !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zooey has loads of Mystical Sea Goat all conjunct her Capricorn Ascendant.
Zooey is a triple Capricorn.
Sun, Part of Fortune in 1st, Mercury spot on Ascendant, and Moon in 12th – all within 6 degrees.  (click here for another triple capricorn)

Planets conjunct the angles are stronger, and with both the luminaries conjunct her Ascendant, Zooey has presence !

Zooey has Venus exalted in Pisces quintile (genius talents- gifts of spirit) Neptune in Sagittarius !
These are the planets of the arts, and any aspect between them denotes an artist.  Venus, is the earthbound cultivated artist and personal love.  Neptune is the inspired artist, being in tune with the universe, cosmic love.  Zooey’s Venus and Neptune are both in visionary signs : I see (Sagittarius),  I believe (Pisces).

Her Capricorn stellium at the Ascendant is trine Saturn in Virgo.  Moon and Mercury are also trine Mars in Virgo (which is conjunct Jupiter).  Fair to say she is most likely a very hard worker, and organized with all that Virgo.

Uranus is at the Scorpio Midheaven in 10th showing the public she is a bit quirky and inventive with her talents, needs to switch it up a bit in career.   She is multi-talented and takes on many different projects – movies, music and she recently launched a website HelloGiggles (click).

North Node of Destiny at 29 degrees of Leo is a culmination degree in the sign of creativity.  Pluto in (Venus-ruled) Libra 9th, square Sun, Moon and Mercury, and Zooey is a powerhouse communicator through her artwork.

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net