Yes Means No
When stress is applied over time, when when you engage in a strict schedule of action, when energy flows into a structure, there are physical results. Whether or not these are tectonic shifts producing massive shockwaves, silent and subtle hand motions that signal reorganizations of the system, the massacring of incarcerated populations or legal restrictions preventing expressions of violence is largely still unknown. Mars has come to visit Saturn in Capricorn. The planet of cutting, burning, bashing and crisis action has been mixing significations with the planet of negation, duration, restriction and contraction. Is this the critical blow coming down from industrial pistons to crush us and then pulverize our remains, or is it the warrant to arrest the gunslinger, and the bars he’ll hold and bark behind once stripped of his revolver. It seems to go all ways, showing up in the historical record as all of the above. Unnerving as that is, it is the Malefics we here face, the Lesser and the Greater. Issues of energy, how its used, how we structure our lives and if we have the vitality and stamina to adhere to the structure, what structures need our attention; which need the constructive raps of the hammer to pound in nails and which need the destructive blows of demolition; and if our hammer, or hammer arm even has it in it to apply the pounding required, or if we are in need of a whole other strategy that must be painstakingly erected. Whether this is as glaringly obvious as a totaled vehicle slumped in your dooryard or as reptilian as the quiet repositioning of the patient snake motionlessly waiting in the grass; your competition may not be aware that you have a whole new plan and are expecting you to approach in your usual fashion, although, they might arrive with a slow crawling tank where as you’re only carrying a sneaky switchblade in your boot. This period could as easily entail strapping on a tool-belt and getting productive, getting chained to a wall and beaten or finding yourself in a heated court battle, or simply, not being able to get your lawnmower started. This of course means different things for the world at large as it does for us personally, but of course, the insanity we read about in the news are at least a percentage of the time the antics of people that actually exist, so if its your fate to be a part of history as it unfolds, you may stumble into encyclopedic infamy, otherwise, double up on the protective measures, and this means magic for many of you, and rightly so.
Of course, the tool-belt version is most desirable, within reasonable reach, and advisable; you’re going to want to find something to do with the energy, likely something physical, well planned and of a timely nature. Make sure its something relatively safe and be aware of your surroundings. Find that slow Saturn pace that will get us all through the next couple years of his rulership.
Also, think about what actions, or what yang fueled excesses simply need to be stopped in your own life and make a rule to limit them or bury them beneath some stones in your personal cemetery. Venus is in Taurus, so even though that part of you had to die, and you don’t do that anymore, it doesn’t mean you can’t keep the grave fresh with flowers and well remembered. R.I.P.
Venus being in Taurus is an important factor; she’s in rulership here, sensitizing us to earthly delights and pleasures of the flesh. She has her say about what we experience first hand, even if storms are approaching and there’s rumbling in the distance, nothing is stopping us from sexual satisfaction or epicurean indulgence. A thunderstorm might constrict us to indoors, but does not negate the creative urge or silence the Muse; just ask Lord Byron, Mary Shelly & C.
Sunday April 1st
Some fire and brimstone for our Easter morning, with sensual romance lacing our bunny chocolate and lurking in the basket grass. Not only this but Mercury retrograde in Aries comes conjunct with the Sun at 2 pm (EST), what is called an Inferior Conjunction, which is a moment of sudden realization and insight from the halls of the dead, from hidden underground libraries, from the forgotten past, or from the very essence of what you hold in your hand or stand upon beneath your feet, like Hermes turning over stones from below and extending messages up from tunnels and caves, envelopes arriving from Hades. For those planning on attending Easter Mass in the Extraordinary Form, latin incantations echoing in old cathedrals might just carry insight upon wafting incense to you from the rosewood grain carved into the face of a saint. A memory is set wobbling within your mind of being mystified by the stained glass and stone lungs of churches in youth, and wondrous imaginings fall from the shelf into your lap, where you paw through the past in a dossier of clues that could connect you once more to not only your old imaginary friend but some regressed incarnation that has something they’ve been trying to tell you about the village your great grandfather was born; just rip up that squeaky floorboard in your parents barn and retrieve the cigar box with the skeleton key; it could unlock elements of yourself you didn’t know were missing, and complete an identity you hadn’t realized was lacking logic.
As always, if you can, get into meditative position before the exact conjunction, as these are brief but potent exchanges between deities and mortal minds. They are sometimes experienced as times when something just suddenly seemed to click.
This particular conjunction is assisted by Luna’s opposition to Uranus who is also in Aries. The Moon is now slightly on the wane, but still quite full and feelings might be in sight of unmitigated personal revitalization; our needs for general equilibrium might be set swinging by what individual revolutions these insights deliver, and it could throw the sliders around in our social harmonies. We’ll likely be ready for a remix, but we still have to balance our vocal volume with the other sounds in the song. Bus in some beats from a forgotten track, there could be stuff on an old tape that turns this tune into gold.
The Sun-Mercury conjunction and the Uranus end of the opposition occur in Mars ruled Aries, so there is more than likely a relation to what is discovered in these epiphanies with what drama is playing out in the contraction-action blending.
Monday April 2nd
I’ve discussed the Saturn and Mars team up at length, and here it goes down at 11am. Go easy through possible frustrations, dangers, energy blocks, maliciousness, and foundation attacks, even if it is you doing the attacking. Get a sense of your balance and your footing compared to the obstacle course as its laid out before you, being aware of any trips or booby traps, then with bearings gathered, move systematically through the obstacles and begin climbing up the levels. Some may find their groove, and put behind them a period of industriousness, just keep aware of snares, as you would in a busy restaurant kitchen where scalding substances and razor sharp implements are being swiftly passed to and fro, or in professional sports, when the bodies around you intend to ram into you and shoulder you to the ground, or in construction, when you may be locked into a vortex of loud power saws, while others do the same four feet away facing the other direction: keep aware and take it one step at a time.
As discussed, depending on where this hits your chart, you may experience mental, immune, creative or monetary blocks, or alternately, unusual excitements, positive and negative. When we look at Jupiter and Venus coming together and say “this could manifest in a lot of different ways.” We might neglect to sketch out every which one and just don a positive outlook. When Saturn and Mars come together and we say the same, its more likely we want an extensive list of what could go wrong; although, that list would be too voluminous to be effective, simply, clean your body, pray to whomever, smudge your zone and keep your wits about you, and try to get some stuff done.
Coincidentally, the Moon will be sextile the malefic conjunction in Mars’ sign Scorpio, suggesting that we may be our own undoing, as the above is willing to collaborate with voracious hungers and destructive desires, needs for intensity, emotional trauma or initiation, and primal yearnings. Although, we also have Jupiter in Scorpio, trying to hold down the fort through general coherence of said dimension, and the Moon is also waning, beginning to drain and let go, so perhaps we might be loosening our grip on things that might otherwise get us in trouble; hopefully. Additionally, this could cast some impressionistic moonlight on understanding dark secrets revealed, shedding some understanding now on why the assassin’s gun case must by locked. That this occurs not even 24 hours after the Inferior Conjunction, secrets spoken by the dead to those who press their ears to the tombs seems likely to influence which way the triggers get trapped.
Wednesday April 4th
Then things move on, slowly, as Saturn and Mars now separating remain in proximity for more than a couple days. Mercury continues his backward walk to where he once was, carrying our re-examination of who we are, who we once were, and what we’ve done into more primary territory. What did we originally want to do, what had we wanted to say from the get go. We could begin again to blurt things out we said already, or hadn’t gotten to say. This could be cathartic and bring matters closer to closure, but our likely to be out of context and cause trouble. These notions might be good fuel for revamped logic systems, but might be better if kept to ourselves, or at least mulled over a bit and articulated to be less of a less single pointed stab, as Mercury backs up into a square with Mars on Wednesday at 3am, and our identity editing could clash with the moves we are currently trying to make; if we are thinking of resurrecting old characters and giving them the microphone, it might set off some alarms. This could stir up the perfect diversion for our sneak attack, or we could get lost in a smoke screen we didn’t intend to release. Be mindful of what your strategy might be, what you want to accomplish and how your twitter meltdowns might detract from your steady ascent, or even cause an unnecessary landslide. This will hopefully be assisted by Mars’ progression into Capricorn’s second decan, where the focus is more on determined focus and less on positional advantage and possessing optimum territory. Keep your eyes on the prize, and keep your game play both relentless and agile while remembering to keep conserving energy. Your enemy doesn’t care if you are outmaneuvered, knocked out or exhausted to defeat, so keep all factors in mind.
Thursday April 5th
Next Mercury encounters Saturn by square in his return trip. Our double back motions to pick up dropped elements of our unique voice run us headlong into walls and barricades, chasms, divides and impassible peaks. There may be elements of our identities that cannot be retrieved, or lapses in our logic that simply cannot be brought together. We can’t think our way around what society presents us and we can’t be who we were in different days. We might have to then create our own rules and apply our own laws to ourselves, put limits on our voices, say things that are difficult to say, like no and make efforts to defend ourselves, and even defend our identity and individuality, to fight against forces insurmountable simply as an act of protest, or, alternately, know when futility could lead to our own destruction and move on from clashes of logic that can not be resolved— learn how we might be better able to direct the fire of our tongues as we will never plasma torch through a mountain one lick at a time— the mountain will defeat us— but the invocations which fill balloons can carry baskets of those lost and searching for their logic over precipices that could otherwise not be passed, achieving heights where something we once attacked becomes instead inert, dangerous up close but at a distance unable to interfere; although, for many it will prove difficult to hold our tongues.
Saturday April 7th
All this could have discouraged and exhausted us by Saturday when the Moon comes to conjoin Saturn and feel the pressures of the fortress. She doesn’t prefer Capricorn where there are more needs to work than there are to rest, to ration rather than renew. Although, Venus has come to trine Saturn by 9am which can dramatically change the occasion. Venus runs her hands over the exquisite stone work, marvels at the carvings, finds ways to feel as part of the landscape, to find value in all the work this monument took. The spiraling neolithic cairns took not mere ‘man-hours’ but man-millennia, and in that there is simple yet devastating beauty. After a week where Mars and Saturn have teamed up we might at last sit atop the tower we built, uncork a bottle of well aged wine from the cellar, and celebrate what we established. We can derive pleasure from the earth we inhabit, from the area we defend and from within the temples of worship the smell of soil and the coldness of crypts are like balms on both our bodies and souls. There is always more to be done, always a move to be made, and though we could become cross at those that put them selves in our path, we must be a matrix of both forward and back, of above and below, of airy thought, fiery spirit, watery feeling, and earthly actuality; as it is in the sinking sanctuaries and crumbling castles of the past that inspire the most awe, especially when we step inside and feel their forms in the flesh. The future does not do this, it cannot, even though it excites us, it is too abstract and unfixed to touch.
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Moon of Hyldemoer Herbal Notes for Liminal Light
April 1-7, 2018
These notes are suggestions for herbal allies to assist with the effects of the cosmic influences of this week. Before imbibing any of the herbs recommended, research recommended dosages, & ask yourself & research such questions as, Does this herb interfere with any medications I am taking?, Does this herb match with my constitution?, Do I really need to take this herb into my body? Be wise: listen to your own body, intuition, guiding spirits & the plants themselves.
Imbibing the herbs recommended is of course only one way of meeting the herbs. There are multitudinous manners of developing relationships with our herbal allies including sitting with the fresh or dry herbs, or a picture/drawing of the herb, making an amulet to wear or have on your altar (adhering to planetary hours/days), visioning or meditating with the plant, & taking an herbal body or foot bath (In this case remember your skin is the largest organ of your body). Use your imagination & listen to the plants, they have been on this planet much longer than we have, are our Elders & have much wisdom to offer.
Sunday, April 1
As Mercury in Retrograde conjoins the Sun in Aries, & we are receiving insight from the deep caverns of the Underworld that fill us with “sudden realization(s) from the halls of the dead, from hidden underground libraries, from the forgotten past…”, it is important to welcome & honor these messages. Our tree allies, Juniper (Juniperus spp.), Cedar (Thuja occidentalis/Thuja plicata), & Pine (PInus ssp.) will guide us in this deep listening. All three of these ancestral allies reach deep into the Underworld with their roots & energies & bring much wisdom up to the Cosmos & back down again. Juniper, Cedar & Pine all assist us in communing with our ancestors also. Calling upon these allies through smoke, fumigation, a few drops of tincture, tea, or steam will help us to open our own conduits in preparation for these Otherworldly communications.
Monday, April 2
As Saturn & Mars conjoin in Capricorn today at 11 am EST, continue to smudge the area & your own body with the above mentioned tree allies, or with Sage, Rosemary, or Mugwort to offer clearing & protection. Carry Rue leaves (Ruta graveolens), Elder bark (Sambucus nigra), or Solomon’s Seal Root (Polygonuatum multiflorum) (High John the Conqueror) to bring protection & clear negativity.
Call upon Milky Oats (Avena sativa) & Hawthorn (Crataegus ssp.) for stability, enhanced circulation, heart hearth & the ability to adapt. Taking three drops of Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) whenever feelings of overwhelm cloud the day or night will help to bring confident clarity & to be able to honor the messages being brought forth by the joining of the Malefics. Sipping on a strong infusion of Nettle (Urtica dioica) throughout the day will offer omnipotent green vitality so that our warrior selves are ready for that which comes our way.
Wednesday-Thursday, April 4-5
I recommend Nettle/Oatstraw/Hawthorn Berry infusion these next couple days for strength & commitment to self & others even as Mercury Retrograde in Aries squares Mars in Capricorn at 3 am & then as Mercury Retrograde dances with Saturn. They will also offer patience & compassion on these days when exasperation & irritability can rule.
Saturnsday, April 7
As the Moon feels uncomfortable conjoining Saturn in cold & shrewd Capricorn, Venus in rulership in Taurus trining Saturn offers us relief from this discomfort by reminding us of our love, honor & admiration of the beautiful landscape, of Gaia, our precious planet & our place in it. To guide us to this place of thankful celebration, call upon Venusian aphrodisiacs like Rose (Rosa ssp.), Peach leaf (Prunus persica) & Violet (Viola odorata). Opening last year’s Mead, Cider, or Dandelion wine or warming up with some Chaga Chai will open oneself up to honoring festivities.
References:
Cunningham, Scott. Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs Llewellyn Publications, 1997.
Culpepper, Nicholas. Culpepper’s Colorful Herbal Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1983.
Hopman, Ellen Evert. A Druid’s Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year Destiny Books, 1995.
Wood, Matthew. The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants North Atlantic Books, 2008.
Wood, Matthew. The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to New World Medicinal Plants North Atlantic Books, 2009.
Moon of Hyldemoer, Suzanne Stone, Community Herbalist.