Category Archives: Mars

Martians have landed

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Mars MARS MARS !

My progressed Mars is conjunct Moon in Capricorn, square Saturn in Aries this is my nine (culmination, working tail off) year and my timely North Node of Destiny is powering HULK SMASH in natal Aries 4. 

This recent Venus / Uranus opposition triggered my chart.  Transit Uranus Rx is applying trine to natal Mars, while transit Pluto applies to natal 3rd house Aries Saturn Rx (which trines natal Mars).  Transit Pluto is also applying to progressed Mars.

One factoid randomly pitched in conversation, my ex replied with something he most probably and completely stupidly thought was innocent – and I saw RED !

I’ll spare you the details, but know the cycles of life are teaching me how to operate my own Mars by pitching me Martians and their antics / teachings at every turn.  North Node activates around 40 + years, and my Mars is burning tread around every corner.

Crazy times !!
This astro is forcing growth on all of us, take a break and sit on the bench – you’re UP to bat again soon.

Play ball !
gneissmoonastrology.net

one

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Titania’s Fortune Cards

Picked these up from my local library at a book sale for 2 bucks.
I got a good deal judging by the link.
Anyway, love my library, love books, love sales and lately I’ve been lovin’ me some Mars.
One card draw.
For everyone – the Martian reading for fanatical freaks in a frenzy.
One.
Number of self, pioneers, leaders.
Being blunt.
These cards are great – BAM !
Ship comes in.
Garden grows.
It is just that easy.  Reminds me of Cypher.
All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead.
cya
gneissmoonastrology.net

Desires on parade

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Firebird and Phoenix by Markova Dasha

Tuesday April 10 CST, USA Pluto stations retrograde 11:25 am

Friday April 13 CST, USA Mars stations direct 10:53 pm

Prior post here (click).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pluto DESIRES.
Pluto is SEX.
POWER.
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.
DEATH.
Pluto is FORCE – the drag you kicking and screaming like it or not GAME CHANGER.
Pluto DELVES DEEP.
Pluto is DEFIANCE.
STRUGGLE.
Pluto is INTENSE.
Pluto rules anything small or miraculous.
Pluto may be small but take it from someone who has it hooked up with BOTH luminaries – Pluto’s packin’ one hell of a punch.  Underestimate it at your own peril.

Pluto is the light burning from behind the eyes – the DIVINE WILL.  Pluto is the higher octave of Mars the aggressor.

Mars is the PERSONAL WILL – the physical energy behind the natal chart – it is your blade, your weapon, the traditional ruler of Scorpio.

Mars and Pluto are kicking into gear this week – POWER IS FLUCTUATING.

Pluto is a generational planet, moves slowly and will stay in one sign from anywhere from 11-30 years (average 21 years).

Mars is a personal planet moves through a sign on average every 2 months.
Mars has been in Virgo since November 10, 2011.
Mars kicks the door in on Libra on July 3.
FINALLY.
Eight months of aggressive Virgo nit-picking self – flagellation will be ovah.
Hallelujah AMEN !

Not only will Capricorn and Virgos feel this shift – Scorpio (Pluto rules) and Aries (Mars rules) will likely feel it as well.

In the natal, also find any planets in Scorpio or the 8th house to see where Pluto kicks that planetary energy into high gear.  ie: A Moon in Scorpio or Moon in the 8th is akin to Moon conjunct Pluto.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  I am a late 67 Virgo stellium.  Mercury at MC, with 9th house Sun conjunct Uranus and (8th house) Pluto, Pluto trines my Taurus Moon in 4th.

Sun is the center, the ego, the spirit, it rules the heart and the creative spirit.
Pluto conjunct Sun in my experience is continual life-long ego hits – one right after another.  Sun conjunct Pluto is a regeneration of who you are at the visible level – what others see.  A regeneration of how the self expresses the creative spirit, it is WILL POWER.

Contact with Moon is just as powerful – it is POWERFUL INSTINCTUAL DESIRES and a need to plumb the emotional depths.  It is the subconscious brought to the surface to breathe deeply of fresh air and it ain’t always pretty.  We humans are a twisted little bunch ~ beautiful, but twisted.  Contacts to Moon means fluctuation of personality, family and home, restructuring of security, powerful insight into the psyche – it is emotionally wrangling – the discomfort zone 24/7.

Where Pluto lands you will always find CHANGE and MAJOR GROWTH.

Pluto in any aspect reveals a struggle, a force of atomic change that will completely destabilize and restructure that planetary energy.  Pluto rules atomics – positive or negatively charged atoms are called ions.  When you feel better after a thunderstorm, or after you smudge with sage, that is Pluto at work changing energies on a sub-atomic level.  Expect the same energies at work when dealing with Pluto and Scorpio in the natal chart.

Plutonic energies are shifting in the house of Capricorn.
Martian energies are shifting in the house of Virgo.

Find your Capricorn and Virgo houses (also Scorpio and Aries houses) and apply the below to your chart to see where you will be feeling the shift in energies.

Here’s a very general guideline:
1/7 = self/others
2/8 = mine/ours
3/9 = learning/teaching
4/10 = home/career
5/11 = personal will/ will for others
6/12 = personal health & work/ universal health & service

If you need a quick fix and release from overwhelming desires – disengage. (click)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pluto stations retrograde on Tuesday (USA) in trine to Mars Rx in Virgo and trine Jupiter in Taurus.  That’s gonna tap the primal instincts and crank up the volume on the libido.  Especially true since Moon is trine Sun and Uranus from free – wheeling Sagittarius.

Emotions and instincts are expansive and we are communicating them. Mercury is coming up to dance with Uranus in Aries again, so surprises are on the way from men in your life.  Communications with women or lovers are favored with a quintile between Mercury and Venus.

questions and comments welcomed…

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Pyromance with me ?

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The long night of winter is coming.  

I have a thing for scruff, leather and swords ~> a hero with a taste for adventure thing.
When the lights go out my Sagittarius Mars needs a hero handy with a quiver of arrows, that wields a sword, a saber or a side arm – better. yet. all. four.

Sag Mars loves the treasure hunt, the circus caravan, to run and run and run  on a wild merry chase of discovery.

Mars in Sagittarius needs freedom.
Mars in Sagittarius needs fire.
Mars in Sagittarius needs mental gymnastics.

In the natal chart, Mars represents fire, energy, desires, men, husband, and the blade, the weapon.

Where is your Mars ?
What is your weapon ?
How do you wield it ?

I wield the sword of spiritual truths, polarities, cosmic justice, forgiveness and healing.

In my case, Sag Mars is in the 11th quintile Uranus – science freaks and geeks and astrology (Uranus rules) get me off.  My men absolutely must have an open mind and be open to my bizarre explorations into the higher (and inner Virgo) realms.
I think, learn, teach, heal and do absolutely everything (Virgo is daily routines) my own way.  Uranus. !  aka. Insert ‘self’ as prefix to any noun…self- taught, for example.
(I am a 9th house Virgo Sun conj Uranus / Pluto- 9th is the natural Sag house)

Where does the sign of Sagittarius fall in your chart ?
This is the house where you need unbridled freedom to engage life, SEE (sag motto) everything.

Sagittarius in my chart falls on the 12th – fire of the mystics.
Divination.
Signs are everywhere.
In everything and everyone.
This whole world is a miracle in progress, and I read all of it.  Signs and events in my life, Daenerys and her stunningly Plutonian last scene, as well as my bugger Pluto transit (square my chart ruler, Saturn in 3rd – trines Sag Mars) have me fired up to divine in all sorts of new ways.

Mercury – any and all communications going  in & out – is my elevated planet at MC.
Neptune – cosmic waters of prophecy and intuition – is my most highly aspected.

What are these two planetary placements / energies in your chart and what do they reveal about you ?

MC is high noon and how you are seen by the world, if well aspected it is likely where you excel.
Your most highly aspected will be a strong energy that colors and flavors your entire life.


Pyromancy

Divination by fire.

This is the fire I built to burn old documents – remnants of my married life up in flames.
I am in the flames on the left wearing a crown of daisies with eyes of fire.
Divination.

There is a Cheshire cat on the right which means happiness at work.
True, happened – misunderstandings cleared; vacation starts after work tonight.

There is a small fox – magical cunning shapeshifter, quick and invisible if need be.
Fox medicine is both Mercury and Neptune, it fits. (fox totem – click)

Fox people often have thick hair that works as a psychic antenna. ! *
(Venus and Jupiter in Leo -mane- square megaNeptune here. true.)
*click for Moose, lol.

American Indian tribes, the Blackfoot and Apache both have legends of fox stealing fire of the sun and bringing it to the people.

Pyromancy has ancient roots.  Once humans discovered fire they began to gather for warmth, cooking, companionship and stories.  Tribal cultures have gazed into fires across the ages of time, quietly waiting for the salamander (fire) spirits to reveal messages of the gods.  Moses for instance, received divine messages on Mount Sinai from the burning bush.

For cleansing:
Write on a piece of paper those things you want to be rid of in your life, write your negativity and fears onto the paper, be specific !  Say a prayer, a blessing aloud and toss it into the fire to release it.  Renew and cleanse your spirit through fire.
Fire is a source of purification, sacrifice and renewal.
* see martyred saints here

Pluto is the planet of sex, death, metamorphosis, transmutation and rebirth. 

Its energy is born of the internal fire  – the spark of the soul – it replenishes and regenerates by the laws of spirit and  thermodynamics.
:::Neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed, it only changes form:::

Pluto in your natal indicates where you will metamorph again and again and again.
Something in your life has to die for something else to live.
Pluto is unavoidable, painful struggle- necessary for growth but not without pain.
Ever.
Pluto renders you powerless in the face of oncoming change and death.
From the ashes you rise – forever changed – powerful, invincible, fearless.
You have nothing left to fear because your worst fears have already been realized.


Pyromance with me ?

Start by gazing at fire… go quiet…fade into the zone….images and impressions will appear.  Trust your instincts, these impressions are whispers from the cosmos within and surrounding you.

Bedouin diviners believed sounds and smells of fire communicated spirits as well. Bright, clear crackling fire brought good fortune, dull and sputtering was less fortunate.
Fire smoke can also be read…you have heard the saying smoke follows beauty while camping, yes..?  It stems from capnomancy (kapnos is greek for smoke) – divination by smoke.  Thin straight smoke plume is fortunate; billowing smoke less fortunate.

When smudging with sage, more smoke means less negative ions are present, when the smoke lessens, the energies are clearer, cleaner, more negative ions are present.  (click for more ion info)


Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, and volcanoes.

She who shapes the sacred land  lives in the Halema’uma’u crater (click) and has been spilling lava on the southeastern shore of the big island almost continuously since 1983, adding nearly 70 acres of land to the coastline.

Pele is asteroid 2202 at astro.com, go check her out in your chart.  She is currently nearing 9 degrees Libra.  She is conjunct my MC and Mercury in my natal chart, makes sense, I am always going on about earth and rocks and Gaia energies, and Gneiss IS metamorphic.

Gaea (greek for Earth) is asteroid number 1184.  Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus (the sky), the sea-gods from her union with Pontus (the sea), the Giants from her mating with Tartarus (the hell-pit) and mortal creatures were sprung or born from her earthy flesh (click).

Gaea Rx is currently 11 degrees Scorpio.  In my natal earth mama Gaia is conjunct Venus in Leo 8th at 29 degrees conjunct fixed star Regulus (click). (Watcher of the North, Archangel Raphael, Divine Healer, angel of Providence that watches over all humanity.)  Sweeet, love it !

Where do the goddesses of fire and earth fall in your natal chart ?

Consider Pele to be where you are in a continual phase of Plutonic destruction and renewal.  Gaia is the place in your chart where you embody earth spirits and manifestations spring forth.

Aloha ~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Crown of Courage

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Moose as power animal brings contradictions – knowing the path of balance between worlds.  Self – confidence and the power of psychic vision and protection are the gifts of Moose.

Moose is the largest of the deer family growing a palmate (leaf – shaped) rack of antlers, unlike others of the deer family that grow dendritic (twig – like) antlers, making moose easily recognizable. Moose antlers represent psychic antenna, sensitivity to vibrations and depth of perception, keen sight and insight.

Moose do not herd like other members of the deer family, they forage for plants on land and water in solitude.  Moose are good swimmers making them equally at home on land or in water.

Moose is gangly, yet graceful and swift if stirred to action.  They are not aggressive unless startled, angered, or protecting young — then they will charge – aiming what is known as ‘The Crown of Courage’ – (rack of antlers) at you.  Aries and Mars rule fight and courage.
Interesting as I have Saturn Rx (rules antlers) in Aries trine Mars.

Autumn is the power time for Moose, for it is mating season.  Moose power time aligns with late Virgo, Libra, and early Scorpio.

Adult moose use antlers to fight for a mate in the autumn, then the antlers are shed, to conserve energy in the winter.  When the antlers regrow in the spring, only taking 3 – 5 months to develop, they are covered with skin called ‘velvet’, which is shed when the antlers are fully grown.

Moose brings the gifts of vision and revision, the ability to follow fresh uncharted territories, new horizons, and swift progress on the material plane.   Antlers, ruled by Saturn represent earth and business, as Saturn rules Capricorn – home of the 10th house of career and status.

I dreamt of moose in the weeks prior to starting this site. I have seen moose in Colorado many times, but I live in the midwest, so moose are a bit out of the ordinary, I have only dreamt of them once.  So Moose medicine was good for me.  I love wild things, (Uranus) solitude (Saturn, Neptune), and I immerse myself in metaphysics and occult studies.   Neptune (mysticism) is my most highly aspected planet, and Saturn (antlers) is my chart ruler.
Moose medicine told me it was time to tune IN and start broadcasting.

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

the arms of the universe

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Edmund Dulac

Venus will float into Pisces on Saturday 1.14.2012 at 1:47 am, CST, USA.

She will linger in Pisces until February 8th (when she will enter Aries) in the sign of her exaltation.
Venus is love, art, and the spending and earning of money.
Neptune, which rules Pisces, is the higher octave Venus. While in Pisces, Venus will be at flying high – emotionally receptive, giving and passionately inspired.

Venus is coming to conjunct Chiron, express love in order to heal ~ extend this gift not only to others, but also to yourself.

Re-affirm your unique qualities that add to the collective all one.
Be comfortable in your own skin.
Feel the dynamic spirit of life coursing through your veins with each heartbeat.

Venus is now in the decan of Venus in the last degrees of Aquarius, have you been expressing love to your tribe ?

Signs are 30 degrees, divided into 3 decantes of ten.
The decan is an added flavor the planet steeps in on those degrees.

Upon entering Pisces she will be in the decan of Neptune (0-10 degrees), then Moon (10-20), then Mars (20-30).
Expect during the Neptune decan mystical love crushes (beer goggles ?!) or fantastical art urges, the need to sing and create. During the Moon decan expect even more emotional receptivity and fluctuation, during the Mars decan – action, maybe some aggression regarding love, money and wine, women and song.

Venus is feminine and magnetic, she represents what we attract in the natal chart.
She graces your Pisces house with beauty, charm, friends, and good luck.

Think of Willie Nelson…everybody loves Willie, he’s a good guy, fabulous talent, hard-worker, helps others.
He is a Taurus Venus in 10 conjunct Sun in 9 with Midheaven dovetailing between the two (all happening within 4 degrees in Taurus).  When the government repossessed Willie’s stuff for tax evasion, his fans showed up to the auction in droves – bought it, and handed it right back to him.  That’s Venus attracting love and kindness.  Taurus motto is I have  and Willie has friends – and lots of them.

Above all, while in Pisces, Venus will restore the emotional and spiritual balance.

Go with her flow … sneak off to your secret hiding place, get cozy with a book, rest easy in the arms of the universe.
Find the wonder and peace in the infinite cosmos that surrounds you.

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

appetite for instruction

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Andrew “Duff” McKagan

One of the first things I did was go to the grocery store to buy food. It was a novel idea at the time, for I hadn’t really shopped for food in about 10 years. Now here I was, 30 years old, and probably doing the first good grocery shopping in my life. I was an adult with a credit card, a checkbook, and an ATM card. I could buy whatever I wanted in the store, but I had no idea where to start. I thought that everyone was staring at me. It had been so long that I had been anywhere sober that I didn’t know how to act or how to deal.

It was like being on LSD. The lights in the store were blaringly bright to me and the music seemed to be playing hidden messages. I bought some milk and barbecue sauce and cigarettes, and that is all. My shirt was drenched in sweat and I was having a full-blown panic attack. As I drove my car home, I stiffly steered my machine out of the way of three accidents as I rode the brakes the whole way. I could smell my brake pads when I got home.

~Duff McKagan, on his sobriety from “It’s so Easy and other lies” (click here)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duff McKagan rose to fame as bassist for Guns ‘N’ Roses in 1987, when the band released Appetite for Destruction.  
It is is the highest selling debut album of all time in the US, with more than 28 million copies sold worldwide.

Next year’s class of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be headlined by Guns N’ Roses, the only group on the ballot to be inducted in their first year of eligibility.  Click here for Cleveland R&RHoF

I’ve been reading Duff McKagan’s autobiography and obviously GN’R partied, but I had no idea how far it had gone for Duff personally.  He is brutally honest, candid and wryly funny in his accounts of his life as bassist of GN’R.

On May 10, 1994, Duff’s pancreas burst and he was told by his doctor if he had one more drink he would die.  He spent two weeks in the hospital recovering and taking small steps in the early stages of detox.  He credits his sobriety in large part to guilt over seeing his mother suffering from worry while he was in critical care.

He describes his recovery from addiction through a love of mountain biking, and his voracious appetite for reading.  He began to write columns for Seattle Weekly, and later many other publications.  For Seattle Weekly McKagan archives, click here.

While in recovery Duff read GN’R financial documents and found he couldn’t understand them.  He decided to enroll in financial accounting courses (got an A in his first class) and discovered his love of academics.  He earned a 4.0 and was on the President’s list, quite an achievement from the earlier addictions he describes in his book.  When he saw a need for musicians to be educated about their financial holdings and business deals, it lead him to start his own wealth management firm, Meridian Rock, to educate musicians and give them the power to make good business decisions on their own behalf.

Duff is a 9 life path, meaning he is in a lifetime of completion.  Nine is the culminated knowledge of all the numbers before it, and is a number of utopian ideals.  Nines are spiritual and often have a lifetime of overcoming difficulties.  They learn how to succeed themselves, in order to teach the world how to do the same.  (I’m a nine too.)
~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a solar chart, I don’t have the correct birth time, so keep in mind the planets in signs remain the same, houses may change.  

First off, I was struck by how Duff has several difficult fixed (ingrained over several lifetimes) squares (inner conflict, obstacles)  involving the Sun (ego, spirit) and Moon (feelings, fluctuation) – they are the luminaries, the conscious (Sun), and unconscious (Moon).
Hopes (Sun) and Dreams (Moon) forming an obstacle to one another.

Moon and Neptune in Scorpio are quiet, secretive and perceptive, if they do not find stimulation, (speaking from my personal experience here; and Duff speaks of facing it in the ring)  they can turn the Scorpio stinger on themselves to feel something, anything.

Moon (habits, instincts) conjunct Neptune can mean addiction in its low vibration, or spiritual healing at its highest vibration.  This conjunction is intuitive, and feels the cosmos coming in.  It is a conjunction that can bring mystical emotions, heightened perceptions, illusions, daydreams and imagination into the waking life 24/7.

Note also the asteroid Dionysus 3671 is opposite Sun and Mars and square Neptune.  Dionysus is symbolic not only of wine and merriment, but also of the sharp pruning of the vine in order for it to bear the best fruit.   Sun (life, spirit), Mars (the blade) and Saturn (pruning) conjunction in Aquarius has indeed led to the bearing of Duff’s best life / fruit.

Coupled with a hedonistic Sun / Mars conjunction in square ( inner tension ) to the often delusional energies of Neptune, that’s one heck of an obstacle.  Sun conjunct Mars is raw power, tempered by Saturn (the tester, restriction, karma) the need to restrict and rein in the wild tendencies inherent to the nature of Aquarius.  That trio of planets in Aquarius, is in itself a hurdle.

Here’s his ace in the hole : Mercury trine Uranus.  Mercury is thinking; Uranus intuition and innovation.  Mercury in good aspect to Uranus is the sign of genius, a quick study.   The mental faculties are very sharp and capable of radical trail-blazing ideas.  Through his love of learning (Mercury is study and is sextile {opportunity} Venus, love) he transformed his life (Sun) his habits, (Moon conjunct Neptune) and his creativity, his love and spiritual health (Venus exalted in Pisces) all by taking the opportunity (sextiles) to learn and stimulate his intellect.

He also took the opportunity (sextile) to keep actively busy through sports (Mars), higher education (Jupiter), and he continually pushes his endurance (Aries) physically in order to improve his self-esteem (Sun).

Duff’s North Node of Destiny is in Cancer, the sign of nurturing.  Once he got himself on his feet, he will push ahead helping others too.  Now Duff is strong in heart, mind, body, and spirit and has a loving family.   He is, by building (Saturn rules building, the earth and rocks)  Meridian Rock  (perfect name- I love it !) reaching out to help his fellow musicians learn how to handle their finances so they can take care of themselves too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very quickly I want to say a few words about the day Duff was admitted into the hospital with a burst pancreas.  Moon rules the pancreas, and conjunct Neptune in the natal, it can indicate a weakness.  If circumstances in the life and transits activate it, trouble may arise.  Duff speaks in his book of alcoholism and drug use spiraling out of control, and that will further weaken the body.
Transiting Sun 19 Taurus (life-force) was opposite (call for compromise) Moon 19 / Neptune 17 conjunction (addiction) in Scorpio (the house of death and rebirth).  Transiting Moon was also nearing opposition at 11 Taurus.  Transiting Neptune was conjunct natal Mercury (which is trine Uranus in the natal – that’s a wake up call !)   Transiting Pluto and North Node of Destiny were conjunct in Scorpio as well – a call for transformation, rebirth, and rising to meet your destiny.
Ohm mani padme hum

Duff’s band, Loaded released their 3rd studio album, The Taking, earlier this year, see the video below for an acoustic version of Flatline.


namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net