Astrologer Bill Attride

Sun Square Jupiter (Aug 1, 2011)

Watch Out! ...Sometimes too much is well...way, way TOO MUCH!

This Sun Jupiter Cycle began with the promise of Bountifulness on April 6 with the affirmation "Growth is Good"; now you find that you will need to qualify this "truth".

While growth is good, too much growth (or the wrong type of growth) is wasteful, destructive and will actually lead to growth's opposite or disintegration. There is good growth and there is less good growth...now you must choose. That is what the Square is for; it represents a turning point, a fork in the road of life...and you must choose a fork now in order to continue on your (better) path of growth.

What is the choice you face? With the Sun in Leo you are being driven by idealism as you seek to stretch yourself in displays of leadership, creativity and love. Jupiter in Taurus brings matters to a focus now by shaping the scene, bringing to bear practical considerations that are centered upon solid values.

Basically, it is at time where you must not let the pursuit of the ideal or the perfect to become the defeat of the possible. You must adjust your plan and path so that your growth is meaningful and sustainable.

You will see how well you have managed the balance when the Sun and Jupiter meet again in early September. 

Venus Trine Uranus (Aug 1, 2011)

What do you want, really?

Well... Truly, you just want to be appreciated for who you really are! And, you want whoever walks alongside you to be free to be true to their self too! Well, today is that day!

Whereas on July 7 the juxtaposition of Venus and Uranus posed a challenge to you (and them), today the Planets of Love and Originality, of Value and Individuality align to forge a balance between sharing and independence, between relationship and freedom.

Today the promise of what was released on April 22 is met. What began as an intimation of truth, of what ties and binds you one to another has now come as an experience...of real, of substantial...of True Love.

True love is unconditional; it is founded upon your fundamental experience of your essential self (monad) which is but one spark among countless shining ones who are upon a great journey outward and back from the One Divine Source.

Through many stages and many turnings you come upon other consciously aware sparks of this same Divine Source...and there you see it, in their eyes...the Recognition...

You say, they say "I know this, I know this feeling...I know you". And then, the recognition, the acknowledgement is shared, by that most precious, most genuine of signs...you smile!

Smile today...and say to one another, "I have always loved you...I love who you are...I love who we are becoming".

Smile...

New Moon in Leo (July 30, 2011)

You have moved through the First Four, the Initiatory New Moons of the Astrological Year. The Fundamental Vibrations have been evoked...Fire, Earth, Air and Water have each taken their turn around this, the first third of the Wheel of Life. Those New Moons released their seed-forms to inspire, inform and guide you on your journey...

And now you begin again, with a greater understanding, in the Fire that is Leo. Whereas in Aries you moved through the experience of being for itself; you formed your personas (masks) so as to present yourself to the world. Now in Leo you must go further and so extend yourself through roles, upon stages and in the dramas that are the Dance of Life itself; here in Leo you must create, perform and release yourself for you (and the world) to see.

Sing your spirit song, dance your creator's dance, as you humbly acknowledge, accept and treasure the gift that is Life-Consciousness-Spirit.

Mercury Opposition Neptune (July 29, 2011)

Misunderstanding...Delusion...Deception...Confusion...

Which will lead you to...eventually...

Acceptance...Revelation...Illumination!

Yes, that's right; it is another "Through the Looking Glass" moment when Mercury and Neptune stand opposite one another. Only this time you are really going to be "challenged" (and have a wonderful opportunity); with Mercury turning retrograde next week, this opposition is going to occur 3 times in the next 40 days! That's a lot of Delusion/Confusion as well as Illumination to deal with!

Mercury rules your mind (manas), your intellect, powers of perception, analysis and comprehension, as well as your faculties of communication. Neptune is one of the Great Three, the Avatars from the Beyond, truly gifts from the gods, whose purpose is to reveal (re-veil) the multi-dimensional universe, the "Multiverse", that you really move through.

You had a similar encounter within yourself back around June 3 when Mercury Squared Neptune. This time the drama of Hermes and Poseidon will play out more externally, seemingly between you and another (or others). That's the way it is with an opposition, the quickening of your awareness is elicited by the juxtaposition of one consciousness to another.

You may find yourself in a particular misunderstanding that mushrooms between you and another, or you will realize each of you have been making an incorrect assumption about one another for some time...or you that you have stumbled into a situation of deliberate deception. (But, spiritually, it is true, that all deception is ultimately the product of self-deception).

But of course, as in all things, the real opposition, confrontation and opportunity will take place within you; it is really between your more limited awareness versus your ever unfolding potential for a greater awareness. Remember, there is nothing to fear; you have been through this many times before; and there are many more steps you must take as you become the becoming...

Your unfoldment proceeds from one level of consciousness to another; at each level you will eventually move from certainty, to doubt, to confusion...Treasure that, for it is that confusion which is your gateway for the release from the lesser reality; it is that letting go of the old certainty that you were attached to that makes possible a re-imagination and movement into a greater, more encompassing consciousness.

So Neptune serves you now as The Illuminator, who comes along to help you re-connect to your transcendent, intuitive mind, your Buddhi Mind, and so frees you, for a time, from your more limited, dualistic lower mind; Poseidon takes you into his "sea of mirrors", into a portion of The Multiverse, so that you may see the reflections of reflections of reflections, the wonder that is Life-Consciousness-Spirit.

You will emerge out of the waters renewed, restored and humbled by the majesty of creation which you have just, even for a moment, felt yourself to be one with.

This is the Truth that you are moving towards, slowly, surely but not yet able to hold.

Not yet...

Venus Enters Leo & Mercury Enters Virgo (July 28, 2011)

All right, Shift!

And...Repeat!

Yes, it is a double-day of inspiration as the Winds of Spirit swirl; it's time to change directions in your heart and your head.

Venus moves into Leo for the next 3 weeks...Now this is the time for Romance! When Aphrodite dances through the stylish, gracious and regal rays of Leo you better put on your finest, know how to bow...as well as make your entrance! 

Venus in Leo means it is time to show your appreciation of beauty, life and love; time to have fun in the sun and with one another. With Venus ruling value...what you want to experience now quite simply is...Love, Love, and more Love.

While Venus was in Cancer you re-affirmed the source of your love, the foundations of your life that nurture, stabilize and center you. Now it is time for you to move out from that centered space; now is the time to love yourself and to enjoy your love for one another.

 

Hermes' shifts are more complicated. He's moving into his own sign of Virgo, and your mind will become sharper, more discerning...and more practical! But Hermes is only in Virgo till August 8th, why so short a time? Well, there is a bump ahead. Hermes is about to turn around, back up and go into Leo for a little while longer... that's right, next week Mercury "stands still" and goes retrograde, (from Aug. 2 till Aug. 26), and so will move out of Virgo and revisit Leo from August 9th till September 9th.

There is something going on here; you will have an opportunity to attend to some issues that were not resolved in July. Maybe you forgot something (with Leo it was probable that you or the other were being less than practical or too idealistic), or you didn't convey some message as well as you could of (maybe you or the other did not show one another enough respect), or perhaps the message was not understood (maybe you or the other did not exercise enough compassion).

Whatever the nature of the misunderstanding or disagreement, you should take the next 10 days with Mercury in Virgo to use your power of reflection and discernment to figure out what might need to be adjusted. Then on August 8th, take the "high road" but go within and reconsider what that means as Mercury retrogrades and reconnects with Leo.

Try to correct the mistakes made in July because that is the gift that Mercury in retrograde offers you, a chance to go back and get it right this time. Then, as Mercury moves forward again on August 26, you can take your new understanding and think, communicate and act with greater wisdom.

So, get ready to shift gears, display adaptability and learn...that's what it's all about on this beautiful blue orb called Earth!

Sun Trine Uranus (July 27, 2011)

Sparkle....Dazzle...One of Kind...Yes, this feels good!

That's right it's time to celebrate how special you are when Uranus and Sol align, from Aries to Leo.

The Sun is your pure potential to be what you will be. To become some "thing" you have to pour yourself into forms of self-realization within which you journey. Yet, those very forms become limiting, confining to your unfoldment. What was self-fulfilling becomes self-denying...

The spirit within yearns to move beyond those rings of Saturn...and the Hierarchy of Compassion answers you.

Uranus is their Universal Emissary, the ambassador/awakener of the greater cosmos, that releases you from limitations so that you may reveal a little more of who you truly are. It offers a way through by opening new pathways of understanding; Uranus is the Illuminator whose light shows you new forms of self-unfoldment, of greater fulfillment.

Sometimes this "gift" is less than gentle; we are often jolted, shocked and upset by Uranus' gift of growth. Yet, grow you must for your spirit is never ceasing in its journey of becoming, of moving beyond the forms which no longer fulfill you.

Enjoy today for now you will experience a point of equilibrium where pure potential is quickened by enlightened understanding. Original thinking will lead to new approaches; a breakthrough will be achieved through inventiveness that moves you out of those "zero- sum games".

This is not a day to be lagging...today you are at the cutting edge, the razor's edge that is known as the path of wisdom. Ask for help, it will be given. Your only offering is to extend your hand to those who follow...

Beaten paths are for sleeping souls...arise, awake and be a soul blazer!

Shine on, shine on Luminous Ones!

Sun Enters Leo (July 23, 2011)

And the Fifth Door opens...

After securing your foundations, embracing the Self at your center in the time of Cancer, Spirit must move out now so to release, express and stretch itself in "performances" of creativity, leadership and love. Yes, that's right... it is Leo's time to shine in your life.

The time of Cancer was a time for "feeling"; you were immersed in the "waters of life" so that you could feel yourself whole again. Your life was centered upon home, family and the roots of your being. Now you are back in Fire; you must move out upon the stage of life with "emotion". You must move out from the within. You must "per-form" (act through an appropriate vehicle or form); you must choose your stage to act upon and a role to perform through.

What you seek...is acknowledgement, that you are what you are..."I am that, I am!"

You need to be recognized, you need to be appreciated and you need respect. But, of course, the struggle and answer is always within you.

You want recognition, but you must first see yourself.

You want appreciation, but you must first value yourself.

You want respect, but you must first respect yourself.

Wherever Leo is in your own chart, there you will always seek to shine, to project, to realize yourself in something or someone. Now is the time to understand more about this Leo side of you. Now is your time to shine!

Yes, you do need to experience these emotions for yourself, you need to release yourself in dramatic displays of leadership, creativity and love...but perhaps just as important to the Spirit that is within, you must honor these selfsame truthways in those that are before you. Set an example for them to follow...

Understand that you do not lead by telling someone what to do; you lead by helping them to believe that they can do it!

Understand that your power by which you create comes through you; you are "merely" a focusing lens for its revelation, so be joyous, grateful and humble in your achievements.

And understand that the love you have for yourself is completed only by the unconditional love that you bestow on those around you.

Like its ruler, the Sun, Leo is about the release of your true self. It is time to create authentically...it is time to lead respectfully...it is time to love with all your heart.

Shine on you shinning ones!

Full Moon of Cancer (July 15, 2011)

The Full Moon of Cancer, (Sun in Cancer and Moon in Capricorn), illuminates the relationship between your origin and your destiny, between your roots and your responsibilities. This Full Moon will appear to you as a contest, challenge or strife between your private personal life and your outward responsibilities, between your home and career. Each is demanding attention; one is causing "problems" for the other. But, of course, the Full Moon is here to illustrate the importance and necessity of both of these realms to one another...The challenge, as always, is to maintain or restore the balance between them.

The Sun has been moving through Cancer since June 21^st, pulling your focus inward towards feelings, family and caring. It has been all about your home, about how secure or insecure you feel, about how nurtured or nurturing you are. Now the Moon reflects back to the Sun the understanding that the necessary counterpoint of your inward drive for integration is the fulfillment to be found in your capacity for, and outward manifestation of, your social, professional and spiritual responsibilities.

Capricorn represents the summit of achievement, the climax of development in your expression of your purpose. The personal expression of integration within the family fold is now spread throughout, expressed within and so preserved by the institutions of the culture, in government, in business and other social organisms. The personal integration of Cancer, the creation of a steady, secure and meaningful foundation upon which you are centered (and can move out from) is absolutely necessary. But to what end, where do you go, what is your purpose?

The Full Moon in Capricorn shows you that your personal seed and rooted self will and must lead to the flowering of your potentials, powers and duties as a responsible member of your society. Yes, you must first stand upon something but that is in order to purposefully, masterfully create something that lasts; you must fulfill your destiny.

The dynamic tension between responsiveness in Cancer and responsibility in Capricorn never ceases. It will lead to conflicts, to the hardest choices as to whether to serve oneself and one's family or the larger society, whether to follow feeling or duty.

These dilemmas constantly tug at one's heart and spirit as they also drive forward your story of becoming the becoming, of self-fulfillment. Both Truthways must be honored as each depends upon the other for its existence (and meaning). For just as much as the personal development of a secure self leads to the creation of a greater society, wherein you preserve and so can pass on all that has been achieved in your culture, it is also true that eventually the overarching institutional ways of that order will crystallize and so fail to honor the living spirit which gave birth to it.

It is at such times that the "Song of Spirit" within your soul will move you and others to personally challenge those outworn structures; so that the living spirit may be freed again to create new forms for the substantiation of Spirit. And, as you might have noticed by now, the "Winds of the Spirit" are blowing stronger each and every day. You are reaching the fork in the road; the decisions of destiny await you now...the whole world will hold its breath as we reach our moment of destiny together.

You must preserve what you can, protect what you must, and prepare for the challenges that lie ahead...There is a new world stirring and from the depths of your soul you can and must feel out the ancient truthways that will keep you on that noble path of honor and hope.

You will be caring and responsible, nurturing and courageous...This is your journey; it is your destiny as you become the becoming.

Shine on!  

Venus Square Saturn (July 13, 2011)

No doubt about it, this one is going to hurt. It's the "beauty meets the beast" time again. Whenever Venus has a "hard" encounter with Saturn, you definitely feel less valued; you feel the lack of love. There is probably some problem that has come to a head in a relationship; there is a choice to be made that will change it (or end it). But, of course, the real challenge lies within you; with your values and self-worth. It really is all about your love of self.

Venus has been in Cancer since July 4; bathing in the waters of family, nurturing and doing what feels right. Saturn throws down the challenge from Libra; you just cannot do what feels right to you without (equally) taking the other into consideration. Yes, you should follow your feelings, but you have to be guided by principles of fairness and reciprocity too.

So the problem will appear as if someone is being too selfish; they are clamoring for and getting their needs met while not acknowledging the legitimate needs of the other. Or someone is just being too rigid about maintaining "the balance" in the relationship; they are not being responsive enough (spontaneous) when the situation requires that.

It comes down to a seeming struggle between emotion and reason, feelings and principles, and neither side is going to be happy, and, of course, both are right! So what do you do? The struggle and answer, of course, is within you. You must strike the right balance, a dynamic ever-adjusting balance, between your caring/cared for self and your principled/reasoning self. The problem appears "out there" (and it is there in them, most certainly), but it is out there so you can face it within yourself.

The lesson comes from Saturn, he is the shaper here, and so Venus must let go of that lesser, possessive, demanding and needing way of loving so that it can evolve into its truer, higher expression. If you stay too attached to your familiar ways you will not be able to love yourself or another as you must...unconditionally. For that is the only way you can create the conditions for true love; because then you will consider and treat yourself equally as you do the other, (because you understand "the mystery", that in the other I meet myself). And you will likewise create the conditions for the other to return the same unconditional love to you.  

The answer, as always, is to look within, to your soul and heart and see the wonder there...It is your shining, starborn self, who is love, and is the guarantor of your everlasting, unfolding value in this universe.

And, you are never alone. You are accompanied on this journey of self-realization through relationship by a great host of shining ones who seek as do you the answer to that question, "Do you love me?"

In your heart you will find your answer, and so speak the words of understanding: "I am that, I am." (I and thou, we are one).

Love yourself, love another. Shine on!

Mercury Sextile Mars (July 11, 2011)

Hermes, who was just graced by Saturn's Libran transit, is now quickened by Mars who is dancing in Mercury's own sign of Gemini. Your mental acuity, manual dexterity and overall "buzz" are very evident now. Your mind and actions are so perfectly aligned that you evince grace, style and purposeful determination.

Ideas more effortlessly form/inform your actions; you are freer to think and become. Praxis rules the day. Praxis is the process/means by which your ideas become realities. Your higher mind or Reason guides actions; the results of which go back to inform your Reason...and now repeat.

Sometimes there is too much talk, too little action; sometimes it's the reverse. Today you find that perfect blend of right thinking/right action. Today your words and deeds create the sublime feeling that you really are becoming the becoming...

Shine on!