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See www.mountainastrologer.com to subscribe! TMA is written by and for astrologers and astrology students at all levels.

The Mountain Astrologer is published five times annually and each issue contains articles written by accomplished astrologers for students of astrology at all levels. Subscriptions (print and digital-only options available) at www.mountainastrologer.com/order.html The magazine is available in most Barnes & Noble stores, many Whole Foods stores, and independent bookstores worldwide.

10/10/2021

Saturn Stations Direct in Aquarius

With yesterday’s Libran trifecta (Sun, Mars, Mercury) and Saturn preparing to station, I felt the truth lurch forward from my throat like a soft body bracing for impact.

They say the more relaxed we stay, the less damage is done when we collide, but the courage required to stay supple in the face of conflict is a nirvana-like phenomenon of the nervous system— perhaps, only arrived at through a practice-born presence.

Even though physically, Saturn never stops spinning in its same eternal vector, I still imagine its station as a Herculean reversal of momentum. They slow, creating an almost unbearable and torrential wave of gravity— enough to bring an entire celestial body to an imperceptible moment of stillness, before They reverse, and brazenly accelerate in Their more innate direction. As They do, everything we’ve been chewing on in the last 140 days of retrograde is slung forward like debris in a tidal wave.

As Saturn is already the planetary embodiment of pressure, it seems that these transitionary moments of directional polarity add an uncomfortable and palpable potency to the downward/inward push. Said another way, what we’ve been chewing on is suddenly chewing on us. How long before we’re swallowed?

Pressure is a binding force. And as it seems that we, as earth-bound beings, are meant to be tethered to many things in this life, what is it that we actually wish (choose) to be bound to? Perhaps, this is the nature of accountability: what we desire to remain connected to, we are destined to act in accordance with.

So, as the Aquarian dichotomy of the individual and collective is squeezed by Saturn’s grandmother hands— strong, but loving— we may catch glimpses of crumbling systems reflected in our own personal struggles. And in a new era, as new and old-but-unearthed values pop up like tender seedlings, which ones will we care for with our own strong and loving hands?

Undoubtedly, a larger 'course reversal' is ushering in an unprecedented paradigm, mired in uncertainty. What, if not the most human parts of ourselves, will we cling to most tightly?

Words: .c0nnor
📸:

14/09/2021

MARS ENTERS LIBRA

The Libran scales of justice come from the Roman unit of measurement, roughly equivalent to 12 oz— the predecessor of the US customary pound. In Spanish, ‘libra’ still means ‘pound.’

Search as I did, and it is very difficult to find any relationship between the root ‘lib’ in ‘libra’ and the ‘lib’ in ‘liberty,’ which apparently also has no connection to the ‘lib’ of ‘library.’

False cognates are fascinating to me. Although, there might be a deeper etymological connection here that eluded my search.

I am irresponsibly compelled to ‘ad-lib’ the connection of these root words: the ‘lib’ of the roman unit of measurement, of the Latin ‘book,' and the ‘liber’ pertaining to all things ‘freedom.’

Perhaps, one could argue that both justice and knowledge have the capacity to set us free.

This is as far as I will lean into the Libran archetype today, as Mars is an important part of this astrological equation.

Taking action for the cultivation of harmony, justice, and diplomacy can manifest in many forms. As the god of war moves into the land of de’lib’erateness, certainly an abundance of air could stoke the Martian fires.

Revenge, too, is a form of justice, as in the Merchant of Venice’s ‘a pound of flesh.’ But forced absolution generally begets a vicious cycle.

The temptation for taking back, using the same means, what was taken from us can be an intoxicating proposition. Hence, we've had a word for ‘bloodthirsty’ since the early 16th century.

The ‘lib’erating power of justice is not generated through retribution— in fact, it tends to bind us further, imprisoning us in an imbalanced system that is perpetually fighting for equi’lib’rium.

So how do we tip the scales, on both an individual and collective level, toward the more consonant end of this energetic composition?

Without any concrete answers, I’ll leave you with my own personal inquiry on the matter:

How can I be passionate without becoming righteous?

Do my presence and engagement contribute to greater harmony?

What is the difference between pacification and passivity?

Curious to hear your insights in the comments!

Words: .c0nnor
Image: 🌟

10/09/2021

VENUS IN SCORPIO

Today our planet of love steps into the “vixen-regalia” of Venus in Scorpio.
With the Moon here as well,
it’s a serious ‘femme/homme fatale’ day. Venus in Scorpio is all about intense physical and emotional connection that functions like a soul-level, heat-seeking missile.

Traditionally considered to be in her detriment in Scorpio, the lessons of love are charged to the max. Hunger, power, seduction, loss, betrayal and redemption are all part of the way we learn and evolve with Venus in Scorpio.

As she makes this journey, she will activate and be activated by the ongoing fixed Saturn Uranus square.
The Revolution continues, and our personal relationships are not exempt from this deeply confrontational and transformative process.

Desire is a powerful engine and with this ingress, it’s starting to rev very high. What do you want to devour in your life right now? What would you like to be devoured by? The connections made or further developed over the next month will be extra hot, with the potential to excite as well as burn.

With Saturn as part of the conversation, there is cause to check ourselves at the gateway and ask, “Before you go for the “groin vein” of a new connection,
is it aligned? For real?
Or are hormones taking the
wheel in a situation where there
may be hell to pay later on?”
Have a little forethought, it’s extra worth it right now.

Words:
Image:

07/09/2021

We are so excited to announce the launch of our Oct-Dec 2021 issue of TMA.

In fact the joy of creating this issue extends beyond what any return could offer.
Bottom line - we want you to have this in your hands for years to come, which is why we are gifting you 20% off all orders placed by 9/30 using the code GIFT20 at checkout ❤️

This special theme issue on “Astrological Life Cycle Transits,” was curated by our fabulous Editor at Large, Frank Clifford!()

As our transition issue between our old Bi-Monthly publication cycle and our new Quinquennial schedule, you will see that the Forecast carries you through to Dec. 14th. Our first quarterly “Capricorn Sol issue, will begin Dec. 1st, this overlap is intentional and designed to ensure our readers don’t miss the time sensitive material they love!

Join our community of readers and dive into the digital edition now!
Link in bio 🦋

We hope you savor every drop of wisdom shared by this incredible group of Astrologers:
Tag Features/interview:
Jessica Murray (Mothersky)
Brian Clark
Rod Suskin
Melanie Reinhart
Kira Sutherland
Amanda Walsh
& a Special thanks to our dedicated columnists!
Tag them
Elisabeth Grace
Wonder Bright
Nina Gryphon
Penny Farrow
Moon Zlotnick
Bill Meridian
Pam Younghans
Diana McMahon Collis
Hank Friedman
Gloria Star
Julene Louis

All Subscription come with complimentary digital access to all 2020 and 2021 issues of TMA!

❤️ TMA

07/09/2021

Mercury in Libra opposite Chiron in Aries

"I hold up my ways
These thoughts are pervasive
It’s not a statement
But peace can be evasive.”

- Chet Faker

With natal Mercury in Libra, I hesitate to ask a reductionist question in relation to this transit but also feel the need to qualify it as an oversimplification before I do:

What happens when our diplomatic sensibilities are on the other end of the lever from a lack of self-worth?

When I think of the wounded healer traversing the Martian landscape, I imagine they have traveled there to restore a dwindling inner fire. Far from fatalistic, the hero’s journey of Chiron in Aries is learning how to stoke our own flames, so that we can demonstrate to others how to do the same.

I think good questions to ask here are: Are wounds ever fully healed? How can we tell when we have been completely mended?

I find that it is often when I lull myself into a complacency of ‘healed-dom’ that I lose track of the vigilance required to keep my more harmful tendencies at bay.

At its finest, Mercury in Libra conjures an image of a dazzling prizefighter who never really has to throw a punch because they’ve exhausted their opponent with their fancy footwork. It’s the kind of diplomacy that can talk their way out of the muddiest quagmire and keep their shoes clean in the process. It’s that floating feeling when flattery fills the room.

And yet, if we are always side-stepping conflict because we’re afraid of how others might perceive us if we stirred the pot with our honest opinions and feelings, is that real diplomacy? Meditation is not the avoidance of conflict, but rather the ability of one (or many) to bring differing values and beliefs to the table and be able to walk away with an agreement consented upon by both parties-- a mutuality reached not by going around conflict but by moving through it.

As a regularly relapsing people pleaser, I know the diligence needed to not fall prey to placation-as-peace. May we find the worth needed to neither under nor over assert ourselves in our perennial dialogue with all of life's dynamics. Relationship isn't 50-50, it's 100-100. Are we willing to come all the way?

Words: .c0nnor

06/09/2021

NEW MOON

Good lord this is a power packed New Moon at 14° Virgo! Good thing, as the healer archetype is so needed right now it’s not even funny.

At this lunation, the Great Virgo Grain Goddess is planted into the earth with her arms raised, as a lightning rod to receive and ground the Uranian Sky God’s gifts

This is a wildly electric fertility.
Virgo as untamed, self-possessed, and sultry feminine power,
arcs into the concurrent square Venus is making to Pluto.

Relationship is a very intense cauldron right now, and things are warming up as the alchemical vessel darkens, and the real things that need attention rise to the surface,
for healing and release.

Needless to say, just about everyone is having some version
of a hard time right now.
This is a good New Moon to reach deep into yourself and conjure a litany of prayer. Whomever you pray to, it’s time to cultivate your unmitigated connection to the divine. We know that Earth is not our ultimate home but while we are here, the work is to take care of our physical selves, as a home for our spirits selves.
This New Moon is a massive reboot to getting your s**t together.
Only you know what you need to do, but I can tell you that it’s definitely time to do it, and part of the work is communication.
Don’t hole up alone and bottle your feelings; stay current with what you’re feeling and speak about it,
or write about it as a way to reflect and reorient into the autumn season. All your relationships will grow.

Words:
Image:

02/09/2021

MARS OPPOSITE NEPTUNE

Today the Mars Neptune opposition perfects. This is the age old battle between order and chaos, between giant unboundaried nature and humans’ attempts to intervene.
Ida is a fresh reminder of this force, as humans are now helping other humans recover from this massive, destructive inundation.
The astrology of now is very deep, tidal, and emotional and we do best to surrender, and let it have its way with us. Don’t resist the current, rather dive into it and re emerge on the other side.
People may be upset and easily provoked today so take extra care and try to be nonreactive.

02/09/2021

Wishing a few of our core family members the HAPPIEST OF Leo/Virgo SOLAR RETURNS ☀️

Tem, Jan, Ann, Rachel, Kimberly, and Paetra,
We love you.
We are because of you.
We are for you!

❤️ TMA

29/08/2021

Just leaving this gem here because...

IT’S VIGRO SEASON ♍️☀️

25/08/2021

TOP 5 ASTRO EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER👁

"The New Moon in Virgo takes place on the 6th and marks an unusual new beginning since it’s exactly (to the minute) trine Uranus….. Satisfaction comes from cleaning up your act, doing a good job, and being helpful to those in need. This New Moon is especially favorable for those with their Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or ruling planet at 12º-14º of any sign."

Click the link in our bio to read on 🌟

25/08/2021

MERCURY OPPOSITE NEPTUNE

The muddied waters of the mind can make thinking and communicating clearly challenging under the veil of today’s transit.

Make space for misunderstandings. If we don’t agree on the first go around, we can always regroup and try again. And maybe we weren’t meant to completely agree and acknowledging this, in and of itself, is a kind of agreement.

Bring awareness to awkwardness. When did ‘awkward’ become a derogatory term? Life is full of little misalignments. Perhaps, awkwardness is generated when two (or many) individualities come into contact in an authentic way. When uniqueness is purely expressed, it not always immediately translatable. Discomfort arises in the lag time as we learn to digest and be digested.

Be mindful of mendacity. Neptune, while wonderfully weird, carries the signature of deception. I like to imagine taking off my goggles underwater— clarity becomes obscured. The power of a lie is not that it changes the truth— more nefariously, it attempts to convince us that our own perception is inaccurate.

Confusion can abound. One of my teachers used to always say, “from confusion comes clarity.” What I’ve taken from this is that if we are willing to acknowledge when we’re lost, then at least we’ve reached a starting point and from there we can proceed. It’s when we refuse to accept our lack of knowing that we commit to remaining stuck.

Words: .c0nnor
Image:

23/08/2021

VENUS TRINE SATURN

“Perhaps all the questions we ask of love; to measure, test, probe, and save it, have the additional effect of cutting it short. Perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something (love) from our partner instead of delivering ourselves up to them demand-free and asking for nothing but their company.”
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Contrary to the notion that often casts a somber tone onto any combo of these two planets, there is deep affinity between this pair. Currently exuding extra confidence in the comfort of their intellectual Air palaces, we have the benefit of basking in the power of their austere beauty. Like the posture of a ballerina or the stone statues lining Medusa’s den. This dynamic is sharp, refined, and elegant, a picture of true poise.
The North Node in Gemini filling out a grand trine with these two—playfully provokes us to entertain the quote above ☝️… How can we drop our rigid expectations and just show up for the conversation or company of love? How about just savoring the sweet breathe in our lungs and the joy of shared laughter?
No more carving, craving, or contemplating— just flow. Let levity win 🌈🪐

Words:
Image: Alexan Sarikamichian

21/08/2021

~THE ROYAL FULL BLUE MOON ~
In Aquarius opposite Jupiter perfects in the early morning on the west coast.
The second Aqua Full Moon this month is a bookend to the first one, which featured an opposition to Saturn, highlighting major limitations.
The Leo Aquarius axis teaches us how to balance the head and the heart in equal parts, to be the most effective in navigating life and manifesting what we need.

So now this Jupiterian Full
Grain Moon brings us hope of solutions and breakthrough, as we face the mountain of issues in our world right now.
Mercury and Mars in Virgo are active healers, very observant of any vicissitudes that need remediation, and their opposition to Neptune reminds us that nature is the best mender, no matter what ails ye.

So if you’re feeling out of whack right now, (and honestly, who isn’t) take the time to escape the human constructs and edifices and seek solace and calm in the larger story of the natural world that always holds us, whether we are aware of it or not.

Words:
Image: Gospel Isosceles

18/08/2021

Mercury-Mars Conjunction in Virgo

Is the pinnacle of communication pure effectiveness?

We may know enough (and potentially plenty more) to know that Mercury is exalted in the sign of Virgo. Virgo’s earth-bound brilliance is not only its practicality but its geniality. To me this implies a degree of innocence- an ease that can only be born in Nature.

When we think of effectiveness, it can conjure an image of precision, which appears to have a sharper edge. However, is something effective if it causes problems along the way to meet its ends? I don’t know where it came from but someone once profoundly said that, ’Truth delivered without compassion is a form of violence.’

It seems to me that communication thrives in an environment that is not only precise but also lenient. Perhaps it is expressed in the difference between refinement and perfection. Jazz has rules but they are often bent for the sake of greater expression. Similarly, the laws of nature are precise but they are also perfectly imperfect. We plant our seeds in rows but the mounds themselves are beautifully misshapen. I think we can agree that a world with only parallel lines and right angles would be incredibly unpleasant.

With the conjoining Martian energy, the world may feel a little like it is on fire at the moment. There is a never-ending list of things that ‘must’ be done. May we remember not to sacrifice kindness as a necessary component of grounding our actions in our shared humanity. While there are always exceptions, few ends are worth a destructive means. There is always time for respect, no matter the sense of urgency we may feel. Compassion is timeless.

Words: .c0nnor
Image:

15/08/2021

Venus enters Libra

A friend of mine recently adopted the mantra, ‘embrace the grey area.’

As a person of extremes, my more radical parts want to scream at the notion of swimming in the tepid waters of ambiguity.

While not everyone identifies as a sensation-seeker, I do think there is something human about our desire to feel intensely— especially in a society that has largely domesticated our more instinctual tendencies.

My own desire to swing from one end of the pendulum to the other can breed some exciting and adventurous circumstances but it can also leave me unwilling and unable to sit in the more mundane experiences and cultivate a mental, emotional, and physical disposition that is restless in the face of ‘normalcy’ or let’s say… lack of drama.

When we are motivated by an absence of tumultuousness, we are destined to crave some amount of heightened sensation-- both dramatically negative or positive. Rollercoasters are thrilling because they go up and down, not because they cruise along, one-dimensionally at a leisurely pace.

Libra, the polarity of Aries, is the sign associated with diplomacy. To be a mediator in any dynamic, one must be willing to embrace some degree of dubiety. Diplomacy cannot be achieved on a razor’s edge— there must be softness in order to receive. This is the grey area in which relationships (of all kinds) can be fostered to full bloom.

Venus in Aries might give us the thrilling, passionate, lustful explosion of the extremity, while Venus in Libra can help us cultivate longevity through mutual understanding and equality. If we’re used to high-octane situations, this may come across as a bit boring. Perhaps, boredom is simply a lack of presence.

Beware the Libran tendency to need to perfect before proceeding— not all things must be equal in order to be effective. A little bit of imbalance gives us the excitement born of potential. There is always room to refine— an attitude that keeps us coming back for more and the ability to weather our ‘boredom’ when we’re attempting to stay still in the expansive plains of ambivalence. Rest easy, my friends, and even luxuriate in the unexplored spaces of greydom.

Words: .c0nnor

13/08/2021

Happy Friday the 13th!

This was originally a day of good luck and a day to leave the work in the fields to stay home and make love, ALLLL DAY.
“This will never do”, said the
Muggle overlords! “We must taint the day as bad luck!”
But you know better and can spend today knowing that there is an older, better story that you get to reclaim.

The Moon squares Pluto today, which can be a relationship flashpoint, so be aware
and try to diffuse any such flare-ups.

Words:
Image: Jaime McCartney - The Great Wall of Va**na

11/08/2021

Today Venus comes into trine
with Pluto. This signature is reminiscent of the Persephone myth where she is periodically called
(and desires to go)
into the underworld.

There is so much richness
and fertility
down in the hidden land
of roots.
We are encouraged to do our own
descent today, into the less conscious
parts of our minds, the place from
which new ideas and
creativity emerge.

Mercury enters Virgo today,
the sign of its exaltation and rulership,
and for the next month our
communication becomes easier,
more efficient and more on target.
Use it well!

Words:
Image:

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Mercury in Libra opposite Chiron in Aries "I hold up my ways These thoughts are pervasive It’s not a statement But peace can be evasive.” - Chet Faker With natal Mercury in Libra, I hesitate to ask a reductionist question in relation to this transit but also feel the need to qualify it as an oversimplification before I do: What happens when our diplomatic sensibilities are on the other end of the lever from a lack of self-worth? When I think of the wounded healer traversing the Martian landscape, I imagine they have traveled there to restore a dwindling inner fire. Far from fatalistic, the hero’s journey of Chiron in Aries is learning how to stoke our own flames, so that we can demonstrate to others how to do the same. I think good questions to ask here are: Are wounds ever fully healed? How can we tell when we have been completely mended? I find that it is often when I lull myself into a complacency of ‘healed-dom’ that I lose track of the vigilance required to keep my more harmful tendencies at bay. At its finest, Mercury in Libra conjures an image of a dazzling prizefighter who never really has to throw a punch because they’ve exhausted their opponent with their fancy footwork. It’s the kind of diplomacy that can talk their way out of the muddiest quagmire and keep their shoes clean in the process. It’s that floating feeling when flattery fills the room. And yet, if we are always side-stepping conflict because we’re afraid of how others might perceive us if we stirred the pot with our honest opinions and feelings, is that real diplomacy? Meditation is not the avoidance of conflict, but rather the ability of one (or many) to bring differing values and beliefs to the table and be able to walk away with an agreement consented upon by both parties-- a mutuality reached not by going around conflict but by moving through it. As a regularly relapsing people pleaser, I know the diligence needed to not fall prey to placation-as-peace. May we

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