ASTRO: Are you feeling stuck? Your not alone..

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I am writing today on the Aquarius full moon, super-moon to be exact. There should be no question this moon is a powerful one, just a glimpse outside during the night these past few days would have proven to you a ginormous glowing moon engulfing the night sky. Last night I had enough; I broke into tears and just felt like the universe felt to be punishing me in some way. As some of you know, I had to re-home my dogs last week. These dogs were my everything, they gave me incredible purpose and a sense of stability and familiarity. In a world that keeps getting more and more artificial, having a connection with any pet can keep you feeling connected to the raw and real earth. Amongst that, it just seems this year has been one thing after another and I couldn't help internalize all of that last night into believing it was only happening to me. Luckily I have an amazing partner who will talk me through my emotions, but other people may not be so lucky, other people may live completely alone. It was through talking this out that I not only realized that this is happening to almost everyone around us, but there is also a planetary explanation for a lot of it. 

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I've written in the past about how Saturn transitioned into Pisces earlier this year. Saturn influences our discipline and mastery, it's also the planet of karma. Being stationed in Pisces, which represents sacrifice, fluidity, and spiritual connections, Saturn is in it's detriment. Putting those together, intuitively I feel that without spiritual dedication during this time, your karma will come in ways of sacrifice. After chatting with many people this year, it feels many are experiencing a lack of discipline in their everyday routines. Not only the feeling of discipline, but the desire to master something to it's fullest. What may have come easy in the past couple years, now seems like an everyday struggle. Perhaps we are feeling a post covid blues, or a delayed response to an extremely stressful world shutdown, but the timing of the planetary transits this year seems fully in line with what many are going through. Structures and boundaries that got worked on in the past few years now seem much harder to maintain. Pisces is the sign of the fish which when overwhelmed, can swim to the depths of the sea, avoiding and escaping ones duties. It's as if we are escaping ourselves with diminishing our structure and boundaries within us. An amazing astrologer I follow said that during this time "we need to maintain our own boat" in order to work through this transit, and those including myself that didn't fully adhere to this warning, seem to be sinking. I know the way out, but it seems like such a daunting task to get to that place, and I know others feel the same. Not to mention Saturn is retrograde at the moment, making it even more hard to access our structure. The remedy is spiritual discipline and self care. A full surrender to the gods of karma, going into the depth of your own inner waters to understand them, navigate them, and come back up to the surface. 

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The next planetary shift I will touch on is Venus and Pluto retrograde (with many more planets to join this August). When planets go retrograde, the exterior influence they have end up going more inwards and individual with more influence on the psyche and inner waters. Venus, who stands for beauty, finances, and love, now going retrograde and influencing our relationship of those things to ourselves. That is big, very big, being that many of us are needing to re-evaluate our connection to self care and our relationship to money. It is very hard for anything that a planet stands for to move during a retrograde.. it's all about evaluation. That frustration of feeling stuck, you know what you should do, but you are unable to make the moves to achieve it. This all happening in the sign of Leo, the lion heart of the zodiac, can leave us feeling extra hard on ourselves if we don't like what we see. Pluto, the planet of ancestral rage, power and destruction, and rebirth, went retrograde back into Capricorn in May. I wrote about how it did an "Aquarius teaser transit" in early spring this year. It gave us that feeling of finally moving forward into something new, just to turn around and go seamlessly backwards, forcing us to view leftover parts of ourselves that we have not laid to rest. It's like being rewarded with a metal, then for someone to take it away and say you need to put even more work in to get it back. After an exhausting 3 years (and some of us more) in working towards that metal, this can seem like an immense defeat. Again, Pluto being in retrograde makes us stay stagnant and stuck in reflection without that motivation to take action. Luckily, the positives during these retrogrades will give us all the clarity we need to take action once they station direct, but that doesn't make it any easier. Neptune, planet of inspiration and eternal love, is also retrograde, forcing us to look inwards into the ways we contribute our love to society and our creator. It asks us "How are we giving back?". That seems like an extreme task, when we already feel so depleted. In order to give freely, it's easier when you have something to give. In August, Mercury and Uranus will join the retrograde and become their groupies, with Jupiter to follow suit in September. This makes most of us feel STUCK and STAGNANT with our lives and pursuits, this literally forces us to transform our own inner-selves before we venture back into the world. Escapism is a huge risk at this time.. with my history of alcohol abuse, I am finding myself wanting to engage in drinking more during this time, but in order to successfully exit out of these transits, one needs to face themselves and find healthier ways in coping with stagnant energy, otherwise it can consume us. 

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The last transit I'll touch on is this full moon in Aquarius. This full moon is the perfect opportunity to tie all of these transits together, and focus on how to heal and transform the collective into it's next faze in the era of Aquarius come 2025. I've noticed in the land of the web the past week or so, many people are speaking out on their thoughts of morality, collectivism, and selfish pursuits. All of which are fitting conversations to have around an Aquarius full moon. Aquarius, the sign of future forward collective pursuits, will get us thinking about the ways we are contributing back to society and how society as a whole can improve on equality for all. This full moon happening in Leo season has us reflecting on ourselves and our inner motives towards our pursuits. It will shine light on selfish motives, especially in the healing arts, and help us understand if we are helping for validation and success, or helping toward the greater collective. Can we facilitate healing in our communities without the recognition? Can we eliminate the need for competition? These are all themes in which I have been witnessing in myself and greater community. I wrote something very personal on my instagram about the healing community earlier this week, that I think reflects the energy of this full moon. It seems today everyone wants to be someone who influences another, instead of the desire to just be of service with no strings attached. This is another energy that can have us feeling stuck with our future pursuits, until we figure out our true desire behind what we are trying to achieve within ourselves and community. 

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I understand this blog is long, but since my partner helped me realize that I am not alone in these feelings came to me last night, I thought I could help others realize they are not alone. Perhaps I just needed to write this all down for my own self to take in and conceptualize my thoughts, but nothing is more authentic to share than a personal journal entry. I hope this helps you understand where yourself fits into all this, and to realize that most of us are feeling this energy. Social media and the internet at large can have us feeling small and stagnant when there is a constant display that others are doing better. We must remember at these times that the internet is artificial, and that a deep and intimate conversation with those around you can make you realize we are more connected and similar than we think. 

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Take time today to reflect, journal, and ground during this intense full moon. Drink plenty of water, and move your body. The cycle will pass and your mood will improve. 

Lots of love,

Sydney