NorthPoint Astrology Journal:  Your guide to planetary energies for February 8 to 14, 2016  By Pam Younghans

NorthPoint Astrology Journal: 
Your guide to planetary energies for February 8 to 14, 2016 
By Pam Younghans


Highlighted Aspects This Week
MON: Venus sextile Chiron, Mercury semisquare Neptune, New Moon 6:38am PST (2:38pm GMT)
TUE: Mars trine Chiron, Venus trine Jupiter
WED: Sun quincunx Jupiter
THU: Venus semisquare Neptune
SAT: Mercury enters Aquarius, Mars sextile Jupiter, Mercury semisquare Saturn

A NEW MOON begins our second week of February, occurring at 6:38am PST on Monday (2:38pm GMT). This lunation is in Aquarius, which means our new lunar cycle is about new ideas, innovations, and taking strides along our own unique path in life.

The Sabian symbol for the New Moon is an encouraging one:

"A large white dove bearing a message: The answer of spiritual agencies to thorough, sustained, and victorious individual efforts."

I think most of us would agree that these times -- especially as we manage the effects of the Saturn-Neptune square -- are challenging us to sustain our efforts in many areas. We must work to stay in balance, to remain hopeful, and to focus on positive potentials of the future instead of dwelling on disappointments or limitations of the past.

WHICH MAKES the interpretation of this symbolic image all the more reassuring:

"The individual who has gone courageously and with indomitable spirit through a crucial crisis receives, as it were, a deep spiritual blessing from the Soul-realm: 'Mission accomplished. Peace be with you.' And in this blessing, a secret prophecy of what is yet to come may be seen by the perspicacious and spiritually sensitive mind of the recipient. Every real spiritual step we take in our development is the result of a victory over forces of inertia or destruction. The Divine is totally 'present' in the heart of all true victories." (quote from An Astrological Mandala by Dane Rudhyar)

This theme of "deep spiritual blessing" is woven into the fabric of the next four weeks. We will, of course, need to take care of our side of the agreement with "thorough and sustained efforts," but it's nice to be reminded that Spirit is at work as well.

ASPECTS to the Sun and Moon at the time of the New Moon chart include a challenging square to Mars and an opportunistic sextile to Uranus. These aspects reinforce the idea that we'll need to focus on positive ways to release anger and irritation so that they do not weigh us down.

With Mars in Scorpio, we tend to feel very passionate about everything, so it becomes harder to stay in balance emotionally. But, we also have the benefit of strong desire that we can choose to direct in productive ways -- once we get past the ego's need to force certain agendas.

Uranus in Aries is not only sextile the Sun and Moon, but also forms a quincunx aspect with Mars. This aspect requires that we take risks and be willing to move out of our comfort zone, especially if we have found a certain amount of satisfaction in holding on to old resentments and emotions that really do not serve us.

BOTH PLANETARY ASPECTS that occur on Tuesday are also contained in the New Moon chart, so are a part of the lunar cycle as well. These are both clearly supportive influences: Mars is trine Chiron, helping us act with compassion, let go of resistance, and open to new levels of trust. And, Venus is trine Jupiter in earth signs, helping us find practical solutions to relationship or financial issues.

Midweek is a bit less comfortable energetically -- first, a Sun-Jupiter quincunx on Wednesday requires another attitude adjustment when our big ideas meet with obstacles in the "real world." The obstacles may not be major, but they will probably require us to come up with some new strategies. On Thursday, a Venus-Neptune semisquare indicates a certain lack of energy and drive, as we'd rather live in a fantasy world where everything we want occurs effortlessly.

MERCURY enters Aquarius on Saturday for a three-week journey through the sign. This position for Mercury can encourage those innovative ideas to come forward -- but we'll need to get past a small obstacle first, as a Mercury-Saturn semisquare can put a damper on our enthusiasm.

Still, Mars is sextile Jupiter on Saturday, too, so once we jump over the hurdle of pessimism, we should have opportunities to direct our passions in productive and practical ways.

EMAIL ISSUES: I've been having troubles with email delivery recently -- some emails I've sent have disappeared into the ethers and never been received. I always aim to respond to emails within 24 hours, so if you've been waiting for me to reply to your email longer than that, please let me know!

In peace,

Pam



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