The Cut Up Method
Owls eyes, goats eyes, dogs eyes, and our own; rolling like stone wheels into a center track until they all become one and disappear, our vision made a rod of infinite distance, we glimpse the obsidian mirror and scrye, even if we don’t want to. The black surface of the well in the darkness flashes on like a cinema screen and we watch ourselves busy with scissors snipping, snipping paper dolls, letting the debris fall into a circle of fire at our feet. Changes have been made leading up to this eclipse and alterations will persist throughout the season. Like tailors we lay out the fabric across the table, squint at its hue until the shade darkens and we can imagine what shape it might be willing to or want to take We drape it on a dressform and command some structure with pins It melts into suspension, hangs like a hydra lifted from the sea We take a step back and assess the turkey tails and cordyceps that string and fan off the curving smoothness, and with our shears we shave some friction off. This is not yet a garment, but a prototype. We can leave it on the dummy and begin another. We can photograph it and then dismantle it. We can sketch it in various alternatives. We can rearrange it on the spot in real time. Though it exists, it is happening, it has our attention, it is not yet our outfit, it is not ready to wear.
Consider that we already had the fabric. This is not something we have newly manifested but an old gown we have dismantled and are reshaping. This has mostly been an act of reduction; cutting apart and cutting away until we find in this deconstruction the freedom to reform and arouse new, exciting patterns. This is not something we want to rush. The old garment is our last wedding dress and the one we now create is our next. It will be what we wear when we unite with our next great love. The old garment is our old uniform and the one we now create is our next. It is what we wore when we rose victorious over our foes and it will be what we wear when we step into our next battle. Elements of the past remain our resources, although they have to be filtered and paired down for us to fit through the doorway into the future, and be received as freshly emerging rather than a restless ghost that persistently haunts the house. This summer is the 25 years between the 2nd season of Twin Peaks and the 3rd. The next episode doesn’t pick up at the moment the last left off; there is an interim where life doesn’t go on pause, but we are between, betwixt phases, and how we operate while we are in between decides our status when the curtain again opens and the show goes on.
We rarely get this opportunity to edit our characters, adjust all our instruments, sharpen our tools, true our course. When things are full tilt we pine for the opportunity to bring things down so we can manage ourselves and the lives we lead, but when we find ourselves between big steps, like the Hangman’s head suspended inverted between mounds of earth, we become quickly impatient and scramble for the controls, trying desperately to get the car started so we can get back behind the wheel.
The car can only start to careen out of control right now, so its better to get out and maneuver in the local space and in the short term, setting ourselves up for when we can carry on with our journeys; this layover may prove more critical in retrospect than it now seems, we don’t want to sit behind the wheel as inert as our vehicles and wait for an ignition that won’t come for a few months. Indeed, step out of the car and explore the space around you. You’re not staying there and likely to not come back, so make this visit worth you’re while, but don’t set up permanent arrangements you’ll be forced to soon break. Certainly, it would be wise to make connections while you’re here, you never know, having a contact in your back pocket in a far flung depot can certainly come in handy, and is likely to be impressive in just the right moment somewhere down the line. “How the hell do you know someone out in the middle of no where that can help?” Your future comrades might ask. “I met them in the Summer of 2018.” They’ll likely reply, “Ahh, that’s when everything changed.”
Eyes roll in their sockets, spotlights beam out of pupils to blind us, shadows cross and cover the arc light and the glow darkens, descending the scale of prism steps until the floor bloodies and is swallowed by a deep red. Birds thrash in the ferrous lagoon, unable to fly, their wings crusty with black plasma. Shadow corrodes the gates and all that lingers and loiters in the aethers files out into oblivion. Now its just a memory, just like all the others. We eye it with our shears, and summon it with our sketchpad, but never can we have it back, even though it is the sheer darkness of our creative continuum, the nothing that our something comes from, what we were before finding the mine from which we pull out jewels, the refined singular gems with which we barter for our future. With pick and shovel we head to the tunnels, as Mars returns in retrograde to Capricorn mid month. The structure shifts like a tensile web rather than a concrete complex; new materials ushering in new aesthetics; natural law shakes and shimmers, oozing potential.
There is much here for us. Three planets in rulership and one in exaltation. Spheres rolling over high profile stars, grand trines, another eclipse, and coherence of cosmic fantasies that are found in the depths of our own guts. Again I call for embodiment. We can go out by going in; finding the underworld behind in the starry sky and inversely reaching the celestial realm, as the Sun does, by traveling through the Underworld. We can do this with our own bodies and engagement with the space around us. As we walk the elliptical byroad between two eclipses and beyond back into the rhythm of regular lunation we must alter our pace and patterns, but remain active in the interim; recipe is the same to navigate the retrogrades. Localizing our energy, like the Emperor, while keeping our eyes monitoring the distance, and like the Empress, giving ourselves over to the flow of creativity, as space warps and reassembles around us, and like the Hangman, inverting our posture and perspective to master reversed articulation, and like Arcanum XIII, sweeping away the dross and stirring it into a compost black and rich with fertile potential.
August begins with a bang as retrograde Mars in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus on the 1st at 10pm. Blunderbusses sound and ripcords reel as off/on style, disjointed, outside energy clashes with destabilized pace and materials. We may find ourselves so far out on the perimeter of our normal programs that we need to adjust quickly to rhythms we’re not used to and stuff we’ve never handled before. Innovate and experiment to adjust our tactical knowledge to the flux of unusual ground. There is likely a continuation of May 16th’s narratives or parallels to the themes there of. This activity might incite overexcitement, and the ground beneath us may be as variable as the currents that search for seating. Luckily Saturn is applying to trine Uranus, tightening over the course of the month, so search for the skeletal structure to grab hold to the bedrock beneath the ground, or onto the reality and limits of nature itself, like ‘earthing’ in an earthquake; in a terrestrial disaster we can still call upon nature as our Mother, even when the Earth rebels against us. The square will not play out so dramatically as this for all of us, but remember that when thrown suddenly into strange lands we must reassess and often invert our standard tactics to wangle in the gambit.
The next morning (August 2nd) the Sun pushes onward into Leo’s second decan, streamlining fixed focus towards Leo’s core concepts: virtue, natural rights, performance, leadership. We may be considering becoming or looking to role models, being aware of not just who we are, but the character we play and what we represent, and how to ethically hold and sustain the weight of such nobility. The Moon conjoins Uranus the following morning (August 3rd) and with her touch feels out the changes in materials and rhythms.
By Saturday August 4th Mercury returns to the 2nd decan of Leo ready to re-analyze public expression, consider re-organization of public affairs, re-edit positive thinking, re-figure pointing to the bright side of matters, and how to sustain heart with particular information; the task has him stressing our egocentric logics. At 2pm the Moon makes her waning square, moving into the last quarter and there is a downshift in the energy of manifestation.
As the next week begins the Sun squares Jupiter on Monday August 6th at 7pm posing virtue and leadership against coherence and wisdom of intense mutual engagements. As this is a benefic and a luminary there is a certain energizing of the two coming together in tension. Luckily, Venus steps into rulership in Libra at 7:30pm, returning passions and poise for grace, charm, manners, equality, and fairness to culture at large and creative energy can be applied to summoning social delight. A day of critical diplomacy is likely to be lubricated by charisma and glamour.
The Inferior conjunction of Mercury and the Sun occurs on August 8th at 10pm, which will have Solomonic significance for some, but for all is an opportunity to receive deep insight from the depths of the heart, connecting the heart to the earth and then to our minds and brains. The conjunctions of Mercury and the Sun are literally the moments when he acts as ‘The Messenger’, passing information to us , in this case, up from the depths. Have your psychomanteum primed and ready or simply schedule a meditation for the occasion.
Thursday August 9th delivers a square between Venus and Saturn at 9:45pm. Venus and Saturn coming together is often a thorn in our sides, but at least this time she is also in rulership. Charm and grace in tension against hard reality, laws of the territory, whether natural or hierarchal. Not likely to be pleasant, but sounds like she has a fighting chance to keep her composure in the face of daunting circumstances or a restrictive format, even though a battle it still could be. Saturn finds his exaltation in Libra so hopefully he can relate, or simply make himself useful.
Our next eclipse comes on Saturday the 11th, a partial Solar eclipse on the North Node in Leo. The July 27th Lunar eclipse was the more dramatic of the pair, but this event still moves the story line along increasing identification with virtue and leadership, with sustained visions of embodiment of our most noble selves and what we deserve, becoming a prominant character in our own narratives. As its solar and Leo it also brings greater visibility to the part of your life it falls upon. Not as volatile a date as the last one but take her easy and don’t bite off more than you can chew and give it up to Rahu with some offerings or some chanting if you’re so inclined.
Earlier that day, well before dawn retrograde Mercury squares Jupiter at 2:30am, while we sleep we analyze public affairs and leadership logic, egocentric thinking and bright side focus twirling in tension against wisdom and coherence of intimate engagement and deep mutual relationships. We might wake with intense feelings, understandings of new ideas and character revisions that walk us forward toward Rahu’s gates of manifestation where all that had been previously invisible streams into the manifest world.
Following the eclipse the Sun walks into the third decan of Leo the next day at 2:30pm August 12th, the lion gazing proudly over the crests and armory of bravery, determination, fighting for what is virtuous, chivalry, upholding what is good and right and glorious. This suits the North Node ‘inflating head’ theme that’s likely going on here. As we’ve just puffed up our ego and roused ourselves to fight for what the character we play is expected to fight for, Mars ingresses back into Capricorn at 9:15pm that night, returning to exaltation. Going back inside, returning to conservative strategies that get more predictable results. Retreating to solid ground. Positioning for combat, taking a position of power. Defense as offense. Focus on material victory. Laying in wait to strike. The chivalric knight suits up in armor, hefts a lance, and stations on his horse within the fortress surrounded by his own heraldry, awaiting the enemies approach, reacquainted with his strategy. This might return us to some of the themes and storylines that were running strong in mid May and prior, maybe back to mid March. This is certainly a time to get your bearings; in our lives Mars has retreated and fallen back to defensible territory for a reason, there is something about our longer strategy that we want to remember or retain, some repair or reloading we must do before we head back out into obscure distances, some skills we want to take with us into the field, and also some abstract insights from the frontiers we must bring home and incorporate into our foundations, augmenting our original strategy with bleeding edge technology.
Midmonth sees the Saturn-Uranus Capricorn-Taurus trine tightening in harmonic expression, and this suits Mars’ revisit to Capricorn perfectly; his experiments out in the field are then attempted in laboratories and finally are integrated into the strategies of structural management. Hierarchy improved by quickly shifting around its parts. The system gets hot-rodded. Nature mutates. Jupiter’s simultaneously applying trine to Neptune has us looking at this with a deep intuitive understanding of how to open our imaginations to entirely new ways we can engage and blend. This is assisted by Venus’s continued dance into the 2nd decan of Libra by August 16th, where her focus steadies on agreement, accord, unity, and diplomacy. The following day at 1:20pm (August 17th) she sextiles Mercury where this love of diplomacy and accord work hand in hand with a re-evaluation of organization of public affairs and motivated optimism. This is then followed by the waxing square of the Moon on the 18th and an upshift in energy and finally Mercury’s direct station at 8pm on Saturday August 18th, just in time for his nightly rulership, significant for magic of various sorts. Technical issues and communications stabilize, thinking clears, especially regarding public affairs and the ability to perform and lead.
On Sunday August 19th Jupiter completes his trine with Neptune which has been building and influencing us already for weeks; intense engagements and mutual relationships in harmony with the dissolve of all boundaries and distinctions into an intuitive understanding of psychic sensitivity and free-flowing imagination, allowance of dream and fantasy. This of course has many practical applications in magical practice from divination, to journeying, to dream sending to sex magic and so on. Too much to go into here.
As multiple planets are in slow motion from proximity to stations aspects float over the next few days applying and separating, but then we get a modality shift late on the 22nd (early on the 23rd) when the Sun ingresses Virgo around midnight, passing over the fixed star Regulus, renowned for its ability to increase visibility and renown, so the talismanicly concerned take notice. Visions of and identification with details, processes, organization,— thoughtful and insightful, intricate, with much more humility than Leo, quieter, focusing on assessing the small parts and subtle signals.
On the 25th Saturn gets as close to trining Uranus as he will before slowing for station, coinciding with the Sun entering the trine, completing with Uranus at 12:45pm and then to Saturn by 6pm. Process and detail orientation harmonized with sudden changes and experimentation with materials and pace. Process and detail orientation, laws of nature and of structure, and experimentation of materials and pace all in harmony. This is a time Uranus is likely to show his innovative and revolutionary energy more than his Tower toppling lightening bolt; we hope. Discoveries can come along with blowing up beakers. This will also be the night the Moon is waxing brightest in the sky, as the 26th brings us the Full Moon in Pisces at 8am, the first regular lunation thus ending eclipse season with a brief blossoming of compassion, fantasy, boundless emotion, dreams and manifest dissolution. Appropriately almost, Venus squares Pluto at 3:30 pm and unity, diplomacy, accord clashes against fears, obsessions, unknowns and unprecedented aspects of society, nature and reality. Considering a high saturation lunation in Pisces is going down, looks like possible paranoia, so make sure to keep some tether to the dock.
August 27th moves Venus into Libra’s third face where she elegantly seeks equilibrium with poise and puts pleasure in balance. Perfect timing for Mars’ direct station at 8pm, regulating our energy at last. This occurs in maximum exaltation for those who have a mind to harvest, we might imbue substances for ‘action finding footing’. Confidence, competence, and a return of solid base for maneuvering. The retrograde shadow extends into early October, but from here on we move with steadier steps and truer aim.
Adding to the symmetry is Mercury’s next square with Jupiter on the 28th, likely tying events to the previous square on August 11th which was the Solar eclipse, or further back still to July 9th, the first in the series. We follow out the month again analyzing how public affairs and leadership logic or egocentric thinking stir up tension within the wisdom and coherence of intimate engagements and the intense exchanges of mutual relationships, not surprising dynamics to focus on with Venus is in Libra, as it is in the social and cultural spheres that we derive our pleasures, and the Sun in Virgo listens intently and scrutinizes practical details. Mercury moves into the third decan of Leo on August 30th and thinks of making courageous speeches, giving voice to those in need, even if words must come off as defensive and argumentative, there comes a time to volley when attacks on virtue and morality threaten.
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August 2018 Herbal Forecast for Liminal Light
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 what is a recommended dosage, & 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 is important here), 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 great wisdom to offer.
During this month, Saturn in Capricorn will be applying to trine to Uranus in Taurus, bringing some structure, discipline & grounding Saturnine Earth to the shaking & turbulent Earth of Uranus’ influence. Therefore this month, accessing the structure & foundation of Saturn with Saturn ruled herbs is essential. For this, I would recommend Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum multiflorum), Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), or Mullein (Verbascum thapsus).
Solomon’s Seal, also High John the Conqueror Root, really a rhizome, has the Doctrine of Signatures of many jointed roots that look like joints, knuckles, & vertebrae, telling us of this plant’s aid for the musculoskeletal system, as well as the way the structure of the leaves attach to the stem like the muscles to the bone. The leaning pattern of the leaves of the Solomon’s Seal plant tells of its ability to assist those who feel weak & undernourished. The moist rhizomes tell of its lubricating abilities for joints, tendons & its enhancement of the synovial fluid. Because of these attributes, Solomon’s Seal is a tropho-restorative for the musculoskeletal system, meaning it helps to adjust the tension of the ligaments & tendons to a proper balanced level when they are too tight or too loose. This prevents future injuries as well as restores health to old wounds. Thus, Solomon’s Seal attends to structure in our lives, helping with discipline & setting strong foundations.
The flowers of Boneset are bone white & the leaves are alternate & sometimes joined around the stem. The Doctrine of Signatures of the joining of leaves around the stalk relates its ability to join bones back together. Published literature will deny this quality of Boneset, but folk practitioners will use Boneset extensively for this.
First Nations of Eastern North America called upon Boneset for the typical winter flu of the northern climates: intermittent fever with strong chills, aching in the bones, as well as for influenza & for malarial conditions. It was called “augeweed” as the word auge was translated to mean intermittent fever. The Europeans arriving in North America learned from the First Nations the importance of Boneset medicine. Boneset is one of the only medicines that was adopted by every medical school of thought in the 1800’s, from the allopathic to the Thompsonian, to the eclectic & homeopathic as well as the folk, although today mostly the herbal world calls upon this amazing ally.
Boneset’s s ability to reset our musculoskeletal structure that is out of whack, tells of its skill to also bring alignment to a chaotic, disordered life.
Mullein, being an herb of Saturn, is as well, a strong ally for the musculoskeletal system. It promotes the health of cartilage by lubricating the connective tissue of joints. Mullein does this by allowing synovial fluid into the bursa & promotes internal fluids to move into the surrounding tissues thereby moistening joints, muscles, bones, & ligaments. Mullein grows in sandy, dry or even gravelly soils, so that it knows how to work with & access water, thereby offering the ability to move fluids through the body or out of the body as needed.
Mullein has the “intelligence” to help reset bones back into place through this lubrication. Spinal dryness, inflexibility & nerve pain can be allayed with the use of Mullein. Herbalist Jim McDonald uses the basal rosette leaves or the root of the first year plants (as Mullein is a biennial) to offer this “intelligence” that moves the plant ever upward in the next year. Mullein also relieves the pain of a stubbed or broken finger or toe.
Once again, these actions on the physical level can be transferred to the nonmaterial level of spirit & Mullein offers this pillar of strength during times of transition. All three of these herbs have the plant “intelligence” to reset bones that are out of place in our body, thereby also resetting the skeletal arrangement of our lives, with fluidity, so that we move with the shaking Earth, and do not shatter. Taking the tinctures, carrying the roots/rhizomes, placing them on ones altar, or anointing with the infused oils of these three herbs are good ways to work with this Saturn energy.
August 6 at 7 pm EST, the Sun in Leo squares Jupiter in Scorpio bringing an above ground/below ground tension, but to our fortune, at 7:30 pm, EST, Venus progresses into Libra, her rulership. We are dealing with a strain between our great luminary & our greater benefic, so let us call to our lesser benefic, Venus. She is holding sovereignty in this situation, & we can implore to her beguiling & charming ways to resolve any conflicts. Both Boneset & Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), also called Bachelor’s Buttons, are herbs of Saturn & Venus, so can be called upon for work here. As well, North American Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata), or Eurasian Vervain (Verbena officinalis), both being herbs of Venus, as well as of Libra, & both being able to be used interchangeably, will be wise & grounding diplomats during this time. Vervain has been a foremost magical herb for time in memoriam. Some believe the word ‘Vervain’ comes from ‘herba veneris’ or ‘Herb of Venus’, because of its aphrodisiac qualities. In Rome, Vervain was used to cleanse the altars of Jupiter, using small bundles to sweep the temples. This was such a common practice, that ‘Verbena’ was the word for ‘altar plants’. The Romans also called Vervain ‘herba sacra’ as it was often used in ritual sacrifices. It was also used by Solomon to asperge his temple.
Daughters of Druids were crowned with Vervain & magicains wore these crowns for protection. Vervain carried, worn, or placed in the home brings protection wealth & peace. Vervain is used to clear a space of negative energies & Vervain’s divining abilities make this herb a wonderful wash for ones divinatory tools. The Pawnee First Nations felt Vervain enhanced ones dreams. Before a banquet, Vervain was strewn throughout the hall to make the guests more lively & to bring peace among adversaries. Plny stated, “If the dining chamber be sprinkled in water in which the herbal verbena has been steeped, the guests will be merrier.”
Blue Vervain is also a specific for tension in the neck, especially at the nape of the neck. Blue Vervain is a systemic relaxant, bringing relaxation to the digestive system, the liver, gall bladder, nervous system, muscles, heart & to the urinary tract. It is an amazing ally for nervous tension. Vervain has been also used as a poultice for pain from arthritic complaints. Both Vervains are emetics, so are low dose botanicals, therefore take 1-3 drops Vervain tincture internally to loosen tension, or use the sprigs to asperge an area or part of the body that is needing to loosen from rigidity.
On August 8, Mercury retrograde conjuncts the Sun in Leo. Even in retrograde, Mercury, when is conjunct the Sun, acts as an important messenger, possibly this time about revisioning, revisiting, or revising ones personal ideas & ways of being in the world. To assure ones ability to listen with the necessary attentiveness, call upon Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea), ruled by the Moon & Mercury. Clary Sage is protective of the eyes & all visioning & called upon for assistance with meditation & bringing revelations. Clary Sage brings self-confidence, uplift of spirit & enhances ones creativity & imagination, as it relaxes & tones the nervous system & assists to calm when there is too much stress. Clary Sage essential oil diluted in a carrier oil, or the Clary Sage infused oil can be used as anointing oils upon the third eye & crown so to be ready for Mercury’s conversation with the Sun.
Venus in Libra squaring Saturn in Capricorn on Thursday, August 9 at 9:45 pm alerts us to potential difficulty, air & earth do not always find a meeting ground. Continue with our Venus/Saturn herbs of Boneset & Cornflower, as well as Vervain to be relaxed in the face of a possibly too rigid structure. Asperge with uplifting Venusian Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) or spritz oneself with Venusian Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) hydrosol or water to keep one’s appeal & enchantment in the face of possible adversaries.
On the eve of Friday, August 10, to access Mercury retrograde in Leo squaring Jupiter in Scorpio at 2:30 am EST, prior to the partial Solar eclipse the next day, burning some Jupiterian & Rahu appeasing Sandalwood, as well as trio ruled Juniper (Sun/Mercury/Jupiter) will ready oneself to receive communications from our Messenger planet opposing the Underworld Jupiter across the table. Sitting with or imbibing some Mercury & Jupiter ruled Oatstraw (Avena sativa)/Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)/Lavender (Lavendula officinale) (Lavender also calls in the Sun) tea will relax one into a space to receive such exchanges. Five-leaved Grass or Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) being under the rulership of Mercury/Jupiter/Sun can be added to ones work to augment the meeting of these three.
Saturday, August 11, brings the final eclipse of this season, a partial Solar eclipse on the North Node in Leo. Burning Sun/Leo ruled Frankincense will balance the energy of Rahu, as well as honor the rulership here. Calling upon Sun/Leo herbs like Calendula (Calendula officinalis), Angelica (Angelica archangelica), & St. joan’s Wort (Hypericum perfolatum) in a tea, bouquet, or placing some on ones altar will help one to clearly understand the personal messages one may be receiving about self here. All three are herbs that bring confidence, uplift of spirit
& convey wisdom in action.
August 12 brings the Sun into the third decan of Leo, ruled by Mars, at 2:30 pm EST, as well as Mars returning to its exaltation in Capricorn at 9:15 pm, EST. This is a day of the warrior, so be sure to call upon the warrior herb(s) one has chosen at the beginning of our year, so to be a wise, strategic warrior. If one was not chosen, Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), as talked about last month, our lion-hearted warrior is an excellent ally to carry forth into this month. Motherwort is an openhearted, practical, thoughtful, hard-edged warrior with the ability to vision possibilities & openings. Taking 1-3 drops of Motherwort tincture is a game changer, allowing one to relax into & trust ones inner knowing.
August 15 brings us closer to the Saturn in Capricorn/Uranus in Taurus trine & sees Jupiter in Scorpio nearing the trine with Neptune in Pisces. Continuing with our Saturn herbs for stability as well as incorporating Neptunian Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) will help us to incorporate the Underworld imaginings & creativity with our solid, yet dynamic foundation.
Venus ingresses into the 2nd decan of Libra, August 16, allowing for continued diplomacy & unification & when the next day, August 17 at 1:20 pm, EST, she sextiles Mercury in Leo, cooling & wise, Mercury/Saturn/Venus ruled Elder (Sambucus nigra) as well as courageous, solidifying Venus ruled Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) can be called upon as allies. Elderflower infused oil, or water can be used for anointing for clarity & visionings.
Goldenrod is in its time of exuberance. Solido means to make whole or strengthen which is what Goldenrod does for our entire body. Goldenrod has an affinity for the kidneys & bladder, as does Libra. Goldenrod brings exhausted kidneys back into health & thereby diminishing the other symptoms that were caused by this. Herbalist Maria Treben states that the kidneys also help us to process our emotions, the same as they process our blood, so that in emotionally trying times, drinking Goldenrod tea can nourish our kidneys so we can work through such sensations.
We celebrate August 18 when Mercury stations direct at 8 pm, on this Saturday eve, where this planet also holds rulership. During this clear, direct time for magical work, call upon some of our Mercury herbs like trio Oats/Fennel/Lavender called upon before, or include Mercury ruled Peppermint (Mentha piperita) or Lemon Verbena (Lippia citriodora) to enhance the increased lucidity.
Sunday, August 19th, brings Jupiter’s completed trine with Neptune, offering an apex of imagination & visioning. Again calling upon Neptunian Mugwort as well as expansive Jupiter ruled Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) as a flower essence to aid in perceiving visions, as well as burning Jupiterian Sage (Salvia officinalis) & Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) will aid in opening these otherworldly portals.
August 25 brings a Grand Earth trine between Uranus/Saturn/Sun on the same day that the watery Pisces Full Moon will shine on the Jupiter ruled evening after Venus in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn. With this combination, there’s a possibility for heading down some deep, dark tunnels without ones tools. Yet keeping our Venus ruled nervines, Motherwort or Vervain tinctures nearby will be wise to ward off possible paranoia. Motherwort & Vervain, are both of Venus as well of Earth. Jupiter ruled Wood Betony (Betonica officinalis) mentioned last month, will add to the grounding. Working with the Grand Earth Trine, one could nourish oneself or the spirits with Earthen Beets, Turnips, Buckwheat, Barley & Potato. Kava (Piper methysticum), being of both Pluto & Venus may be of assistance here.
Mars stationing direct on Monday, August 28th at 8 pm EST brings us back to our warrior herbs again, this time in a place of planned & measured energy, especially as the Sun is in Virgo & Venus in Libra, both placements of thoughtful, balanced ways. Mercury in Leo adds courage to this forward motion.