#228-"Everything to Do with Being Fiercely Here"--Week of Oct. 2, 2023

Mercury is a key ally this week for shifting your habitual mind. Mercury (Storyteller) in Virgo opposes Neptune (Dreamer) in Pisces inviting you to balance your pragmatic nature with the more spiritual, intuitive aspects of life. Mercury harmoniously trines Pluto (Transformer) in Capricorn helping you to cut through the fog and offering us the mental clarity to make deep life-altering changes. The challenging square between Mars (Champion) in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn challenges you to embrace the unknown, to say "I don't know" and dissolve the boundaries of certainty that can limit your growth in relationships. 

Podcast poem: "We Were Made for This" by Julia M. Fehrenbacher
Poet's website: https://www.juliafehrenbacher.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hello, welcome to Astrology Alchemy. I'm Sheila Belanger, your host for this podcast. Alchemy is defined as a seemingly magical process of transformation. Spiritual alchemy is the process of pursuing the gold of your true nature by transmuting the unrefined, limiting parts of yourself. In this podcast, I'll offer you inspiring insights from current astrology cycles that support your path of turning your personal lead into gold. More resources are available at the website on theedgesofchangecom.

Speaker 2: 0:51

Hello and welcome to the podcast for the week of October 2nd. I'm your host and guide, sheila Belanger. Here's a phrase from this week's podcast poem Everything to do with being fiercely here. Mercury is a very important ally for us this week the communicator, storyteller, bridgemaker ally. On Monday, october 2nd, mercury is opposite Neptune, retrograde at 25 degrees of Virgo, pisces. Again, for my new people listening to this podcast or non-astrologers, don't be concerned about the degree measurements. Some people can use that information to help them understand their own journey with their chart. You don't need it to get really supported by this podcast.

Speaker 2: 1:40

So when planets are opposite each other, they're balancing each other and Neptune and Mercury connect with a sort of intuitive mind. Mercury right now is in Virgo, which is a precise earth sign that wants things to be figured out, wants some answers. How does this work? Different energy with Neptune? Neptune is a visionary, dreamer, altered state, one of us that really opens up to other ways of knowing other realities, and it's in its favorite sign right now. Pisces has been there for a while and Neptune and Pisces is really calling you to kind of fuzz your mind and open to those intuitive hits or those you know just at the corner of the eye, you perceive something opening to where the veils are thin. And so the balance when two planets are in Virgo and Pisces is can you be open in that mysterious, intuitive, psychic realm and yet bring the wisdom of that into a grounded, practical way? So you may find in the beginning of this week that you are kind of in a dreamy place and I invite you to pause and not get frustrated with yourself, not try to stay. You know, business as usual, but like, oh wait, what is my muse telling me? What's coming to me from other realities? Could I pause and be open to it in a good way and then let it be grounded and manifest in the Earth's plain reality? And now the challenging side of Virgo, the wounded side, is very critical and kind of tight-assed. It's like I want it to be this way, I want to figure it out, it all has to work this way. And the wounded side of Pisces is ungroundedness and being a psychic sponge. So you want to watch for this like sweet spot this week where you're open to the mysteries, you're open to the intuitive knowing and you're also grounded and you're channeling it in a practical way in your life. So just notice what shows up with that.

Speaker 2: 3:43

On Tuesday, october 5th, mercury is trining, pluto retrograde at 27 degrees of Virgo, capricorn. A trine means that the two planets, the two archetypal energies, are in really good harmony with each other. They're wanting to support each other. I've already honored Mercury and Virgo as this sort of grounded, healing storyteller communicator. Can we get clear here, people? Okay, pluto is the great transformer.

Speaker 2: 4:11

This planet, which is still a planet for astronomers and not dwarf in any way whatsoever, is named after the deity of the underworld, the deity of hell, and Pluto is about an underworld transformation. Pluto wants deep systemic change. It wants you to go after I call it the boxes in your closet that you haven't looked at for years. It wants you to do your conscious shadow work. It wants you to detox from limiting patterns that you've gathered ancestrally from the culture. It wants you to get it clean with your power and stop playing games.

Speaker 2: 4:48

And Pluto being in Capricorn another earth sign. Like Virgo, capricorn is very executive as its function, it wants to see results, it wants to see integrity and responsibility. When you have Mercury and Pluto in connection with each other, you can have a very penetrating mind. This week, it's like you perceive. Oh, here's the heart of the matter. Okay, here, here's the BS I gotta address. Okay, oh, these are the moves that I'm perceiving is happening with this person or this organization and the situation. Okay, let's get clear. That's not working. Virgo wants things to work. What can happen here? And when Mercury and Pluto are trining each other? It often means there's an ease with your ability to tell the truth to yourself so that you can make changes that are functional in healing Virgo. So just notice what shows up for you.

Speaker 2: 5:41

And then, on Sunday, october 8th, mars squares Pluto at 27 degrees of Libra, capricorn. This is a very different conversation with Pluto. Mars is the active advocate. It's the Holy, young archetype. Whether you see it as a warrior or a warrioress or you don't generalize it, but it's very young, it's very active, it goes after what it wants, it advocates and stands out for. It fights, particularly with Mars and Libra. It's a sign that is really connected to justice and balance and fairness. So when Mars is in Libra, there's an archetypal invitation to stand up, to rebalance, to fight for fairness, to go after injustice, if you will, whether it's collectively, as a social activist, with all the very profound, harmful, toxic, dominator culture behaviors happening, with the haves and the have-nots and the othering of non-people who are marginalized. It also can be an inner advocacy, where you have the courage, mars, to create more harmony in your heart.

Speaker 2: 6:53

Now Mars and Pluto are both about will. Mars is often seen as astrologers about personal will. We take action, we go after what we want, we stand our ground, we follow our desire, nature, our sexual attraction. Pluto is seen as collective will or soul will. It's about the evolutionary changes that are necessary for not just individuals to grow but for collectives to grow, and they're very intense archetypes and when there's a square, it means it looks from the sky's point of view, from the air's point of view. They're 90 degrees away from each other in the heavens. There is tension and it is a battle of the wills.

Speaker 2: 7:33

Now I want to warn you with a great deal of love really pay attention to your energy and your criticism of self or other in this week, because Mars has a very short fuse and Pluto has a very intense reactive energy when those two are wounded. So if you feel you're getting hotheaded and you're getting pissed off because you perceive an injustice or people's people are not being in relationship the way that you should be and then you want to kind of power over them so that they get it right. That's wounded Pluto and Capricorn. You know might makes right or domination or like. This is how it's supposed to be and I'm in charge.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Okay, we know the toxicity of this. We see it everywhere, collectively in our world, particularly with our politicians. Instead, pull on the gift of Mercury, the communicator, that, the one that is with your mind, who is in harmonious relationship with Pluto this week, because they just a minute stand down before you go off, you know, frothing at the mouth because you're going to go fight somebody because they're not doing they're you're standing up for something or they're not relating the way you think they should be. Stand down, take a breath and go inside, because Pluto in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn says it's really about the courage to look again about your paradigms, where your anger and your unmetabolized trauma your own or your ancestors is keeping you separate, keeping you with a chip on your shoulder, and you think you're fighting for justice and you think you're trying to make things be more balanced, our harmonies, but actually you're perpetuating otherness.

Speaker 2: 9:20

You're perpetuating anger and frustration because, ultimately, the healing gift of Mars is courage and incredible strength to stand up for what you care about. The incredible gift of Pluto is courageous, systemic, evolutionary change. So watch where your unmetabolized trauma parts want to go off fighting a battle this week and, if you can resource yourself, pause and say well, what do I really want to change here? Because it's not about get pissed off at somebody else internally, do I have the courage to go after my basement boxes? Do I have the courage to bring inner balance and peace to the ones of me that are hurting and suffering? Can I help my own reactive of pissed off rebels stand down and get resourced. So just notice, because it's an incredible week to help you shift how you look at relationships, what you're really pissed off and angry about, and that maybe what you think is really going on is not really going on. That maybe it's time to stand down with your certainty about yourself or others in a sacred way.

Speaker 2: 10:45

And then, finally, also on Sunday, october 8th, venus goes into Virgo for a month, and this is a big deal, because that means this planet is finally leaving Leo, where it has been since early June. Okay, and that's huge, because Venus was in Leo and was in a retrograde motion and myself and many other astrologers challenged us all to look at the archetypal invitation, which is to make deep changes with relationships, resources and money and values so that there's greater self-respect and respect for other, to stand in the sense of sovereignty and dignity and to offer that to others. So here we are are four months later, venus finally finishing the journey in Leo, and you may find that there's that some integrative work that's happening for you, like what did you learn? What deep changes did you make? How are you rounded more in your own dignity and self-respect? What? Where do you want to go forward now in a healing way? That's Venus and Virgo. What needs to be cleaned up and healed in your own relationship process, with your relationship to money and values? Just take a look at that and see me, because it is about the gift of collapsing, separation and othering in a way that is unhealthy.

Speaker 2: 12:16

And so here's this week's poem to support you in these changes. It's called we Were Made For this by Julia M Ferenbacher. We were made for this. I want to fill this space with words that will erase the distance between your certainty and mine. Make room under the big empty sky for grace to sit, move closer until skin touches skin. Eyes, see eyes.

Speaker 2: 12:52

Maybe we can take a good deep breath, clear body and mind of all that's come before. Promise to pay attention, to stay, especially when it hurts. Maybe this time we will see that it has nothing to do with who we've been or who we think we are and everything to do with being fiercely here, like breath is for life, yes, like that. Maybe perhaps we can begin and begin again with I don't know. See that it takes just one step toward to erase the distance that was only ever a thought. Dinner is on the stove. Will you join me? So may you have the courage this week in your mind to erase the distance between your certainty and others and to have the courage to be fiercely here and let the past just rest and practice saying I don't know, practice dissolving the certainty and remember that opportunity to open your mind to your more visionary nature, your more intuitive knowing. Bless your journey. Thanks, as always, for your ongoing support.