Category: psychic

Stories of the Season of Pisces 2026

Chartres Cathedral

The big astrology news is today’s Annular solar eclipse and New Moon happening in Aquarius at 28 degrees and 50 minutes. This also marks the start of Ramadan and the beginning of the Chinese/Asian Lunar New Year of The Fire Horse. The last Fire Horse year was 1966, with coup d’etats in Nigeria, Ghana and Syria, the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China, the first public address from Martin Luther King on Vietnam, space tech, and a truly horrible third space walk in which an astronaut lost 13 pounds, and almost of it was water. The first credit card was issued in Britain, with Barclays bank.

The Tarot card for 28 degrees of Aquarius is the clever, stealthy, diplomatic-or dishonest-Seven of Swords, complemented or opposed by the stamina and fortitude of Leo, the opposite sign of Aquarius, and the Seven of Wands.

Smith Waite Centennial Tarot

Tomorrow we enter the starry territory of Pisces, the Heavenly Fishes as codified in Western/Tropical astrology with a history originating at 36 degrees latitude, first recorded in what was Babylon and is now modern Iraq.

Certain big fish are caught right now between the frying pan and the fire. But the very biggest fish of all will almost certainly escape the net altogether, and not end up in the pan.

It is time once again to go fishing…or diving with Pisces. What are its stars, what do they look like in the night sky, and what’s the ancient story behind it all?

Traditional Associations

Dates: 18/19 Feb to 20/21 March. Variable cusp depending on the leap year cycle

Ruling planets: Jupiter and Neptune (before Neptune’s official discovery in 1846, it was Jupiter)

Zodiac House 12: Endings, Resurrections, the Unknown, enemies, mysteries, all that is hidden.

Element: Water Quality: Mutable – versatility, changeability, the ending of one season and the beginning of another

Energy: Yin -receptive

Key phrase: I believe

Body: Feet, eyes, bladder

Homeopathic cell salt: ferrum phos…iron phosphate for the optimal carrying of oxygen throughout the body. Iron phosphate is not readily bio-available in other forms. Industrially, it is used in steel making and in batteries.

Birth Stone: Aquamarine the water of the sea but also amethyst, ruby, blood-stone and jasper. Aquamarine is the blue variety of beryl where Emerald is a green beryl. The aquamarine, a hexagonal crystal structure sometimes confused with blue topaz, is reputed to enhance foresight and clairvoyance.

Aquamarine via Wiki

Tarot cards: The Moon, The Hanged Man, Knight of Cups, 8, 9,10 Cups.

Meanings: The Moon, Mondays, tides, cycles, ebb and flow, feminine cycles, fertility, instinct, wildlife, walking on the wild side, hunting, fishing, psychics, ghosts, visions, dreams, delusions, madness, contamination, infection, delirium, fever, food poisoning, uncertainty, danger, confusions with documentation, risks in travel.

Astronomy

Wiki

Pisces, the Latin plural of fish, is the 14th largest constellation overall, covering a large V- shaped region in the part of the sky known as The Sea or The Water.

Its stars are faint as seen from Earth —hard to see with the naked eye.

The fishes of Pisces are traditionally depicted as freshwater fish, koi carp, swimming at right angles to each other, one to the north and one to the west, attached by a cord. Its brightest star, Eta Piscium, also known as Alpherg or Kullat Nunu, is a bright giant star (G class) 294 light-years from Earth and has a luminosity 316 times greater that of the sun. Kullat Nunu is its Babylonian name. ‘Nunu’ means ‘fish’ and ‘kullat’ is a bucket.

My Pisces brother (a hobby fisherman in later years) when very small used to cry for his nunu. His blue, blue blanket. He would not go to bed without it, but still, he used to lose it. By the time he outgrew his love affair with the nunu, it was nothing but a small square of fabric no larger than a handkerchief, so often had it been torn, trimmed and mended.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.comcaption…

The vernal equinox currently occurs during Pisces, 19-21 March, the astronomical marker of the start of spring in the northern hemisphere. Pisces is the month that carries away more of the frail and elderly more than any other month, just as we come to the end of winter, while the old saying went a “green winter makes fat the churchyard.” Pisces carried away my own mighty little mother in 2023. Still active and beautiful at 83, she had a fall, followed by pneumonia.

History and Mythology

Own pic

Pisces is the sign of the thaw, the freshwater melt and the first spawning of the freshwater fishes, though depending on latitude and therefore temperature, some species may spawn sooner. Fish may rise again to the top to feed. Frogs and Toads will spawn.

The fish of Pisces are attached by a cord of stars, just as life and death are conjoined and cannot be separated. Pisces is not only the last sign of winter, moving into spring; it is the last sign of the whole zodiac year, the culmination of all the signs that came before it.

Egypt

“It (Pisces) is one of the earliest zodiac signs on record, with the two fish appearing as far back as c. 2300 BC on an Egyptian coffin lid ” -(Wiki) The two fish of the constellation Pisces were the offspring of the Great Fish. In Egyptian mythology, this fish saved the life of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and she placed this fish and its descendants into the heavens as a star constellation.

India

In Hindu mythology Matsya is an manifestation or avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu the Preserver who rescued the first man, Manu from a great deluge. (…and here we are again, back to the great flood stories of Aquarius) The Matsya may be depicted as a giant golden fish or as a merman, the half- fish half humanoid Lord Vishnu. Vishnu is the second god in the Hindu holy trinity (Trimurti) Brahma was the Maker, god of creation and passion, Vishnu, the face of light and preservation, and Shiva, the face of the dark, and destruction.

Via Wiki

Greece

To the ancient Greeks, the fish were the goddess Aphrodite and her son, Eros, who were out walking by the Euphrates one day when a terrible monster rose up out of the water. This monster, Typhon, had been terrorizing the gods of Olympus ever since the war with the Titans. Typhon was a Titan, a son of Gaia, and he hated the gods of Olympus as invaders and upstarts who had overthrown and dispossessed his own, more ancient race of Titans. He was as tall as the heavens and his eyes shot flames. Instead of fingers, he had 100 dragon’s heads sprouting from his hands -for which one could read ‘flames,’ or magma.

Not one of the Olympian gods had the power to destroy Typhon, not alone. All they could do was avoid him or flee for their lives, which they often did by transforming themselves into animals. Aphrodite and Eros now transformed themselves into two fish (koi) and swam away. Ultimately, Zeus imprisoned Typhon beneath Mount Etna, but Typhon is still very much alive down there. This is a threat that never goes away; the threat of a potentially cataclysmic volcanic eruption, not only of Vesuvius in the Bay of Naples, but of Etna.

Rome and Early Christianity

Early Christians used the Fish as a symbol of their faith and called the TWELVE apostles of Christ the Fishers of Men (Pisces as the twelfth sign.) The secret code name for Jesus, Yeshua Ben Joseph- was Ichthys from the Greek meaning fish, it was an acronym Jesus- Christ- God- Son- Saviour.

The so-called Age of Pisces began 1 AD and- depending on your source, will end in 2150 when we enter the so-called Age of Aquarius, though some astrologers say we are already in that Age. More about the disputable astrological ages HERE

The Age of Pisces has seen the rise of the Monotheistic religions, Christianity and Islam. This current, much discussed brand new mini Age of Aquarius, 2024-2043, is supposedly a secular age, all about technology, progress, humanitarian enterprises and collectivism.

But there is so much more in the celestial mix than this. And now with Neptune in Aries, reinforced now by Saturn also in Aries, religion shows no sign of going away. Islam is fast on the rise in the west, Christianity on the wane in the west, with vacuums filled by socio-political ideological transmutations of the religious instinct. Identity politics weaponized for control of the general populace. New inquisitions.

The Pisces Archetype

From The Golden Tarot, by Kat Black

In Tarot, whether the subject of any inquiry is male or female, Pisces is embodied as The Knight of Cups. In Arthurian legend this would be Sir Percival, or in later versions of the legend, Sir Galahad. This knight is a champion of the underdog, a protector, a lover, a bearer of grace. The healing chalice. This card generally translates as good news, a happy situation, recovery from illness, a new friend, an admirer, possibly a marriage proposal, news of a baby on the way, “my cup runneth over”.

Pisces combines imagination with the determination and self-sacrifice of a salmon fighting upriver to spawn, even at the cost of its life. New life must come, says Pisces, even if the death of the self is the price. Paradoxically, there may be a certain passivity, even inertia. This serves Pisces well at times, but may, in some cases, this same passivity may either work as an expression of resilience or may degenerate into the shadow side of Pisces, escapism, avoidance of responsibility, depression, alcohol or other substance misuse.

These individuals are natural artists, writers or musicians. Compassionate and sensitive. But while their steel may be hidden, all the same, it is there. Not much is said about this scaly Pisces steel. They can be tough, even hard in a quiet way. They don’t say much but watch the eyes harden. Cross the line once too often, you are gone. That is it.

Pisces needs variety. Desk-based work, although Pisces can certainly do it, and with considerable efficiency, it is not really their thing. They like to be on their feet, which are ruled by Pisces. They make excellent and approachable team leaders. Passing the buck is not their style. They will take on injustice, taking on those senior to themselves in status. But Pisces, unlike, say Aquarius, acts on an individual basis. Group actions, campaigns or crusades, do not sit naturally with their temperament, except just possibly for early Pisces, born close to the Aquarius cusp.

Later born subjects especially, born close to the Aries cusp 20/21 April, are especially the ‘doers’ of Pisces, and Pisces is brave. Very brave indeed. But these watery denizens need to guard their physical energy. It can be erratic, and their reserves once depleted, are not so easily restored as other signs. If they become prone to headaches at the back of the head, there may be related bladder infections or other issues.

Famous Pisces Sun Sign subjects

Michelangelo, Amerigo Vespucci, Copernicus, Vivaldi, Handel, George Washington, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Albert Einstein, Nat King Cole, Elizabeth Taylor, Nina Simone, Harold Wilson, Yuri Gagarin, Sidney Poitier, Steve Irwin.

Pisces 2026

Pisces planetary co-ruler, Neptune, aka the god Poseidon, The Earth-Shaker, is associated with earthquakes in not only the literal sense, but also the metaphorical sense.

silhouette of man on boat during golden hour
Photo by Inu Etc on Unsplash

We have been navigating fathomless waters of Saturn in Pisces since March 2023. Peculiar times. Borders and boundaries dissolved. Norms overturned. We are are increasingly on edge. The feudal overlords never went away, they just changed the basis of their wealth, and like the gods of Olympus they dwell in another realm, high above the laws that govern the rest of us.

“Can thou draw forth Leviathan with a hook?”

We can draw out fish, or even whales. But not the ever present Leviathan. We are being reminded in the most shocking way, that there has always been, and still is, a realm of power operating beyond all accountability, infiltrating political institutions, operating beyond the law, and that elements within both the political institutions and the law have been, and are actively complicit. The Law is not for them. Only for the little people. Still, they may have their gilded cages well and truly rattled from time to time, and maybe such a time is coming before too long.

‘No man is an island,’ wrote John Donne. We come in to this life alone. We leave alone. We are both the ocean and the land. Islands in archipelagos. But it is for sure, no-one can do it all alone. Or truly wants to. There are bridges. Lighthouses. Signposts. Harbours. There are boats.

Meanwhile Mercury is in Pisces from February 6-April 14. Intuition first, explanations second. Feelings work faster than thinking. Dreams are vivid. We may experience a ghostly visit.

And Venus is in Pisces from February 10 to March 6, 2026.

Pisces is a mutable sign. It deals in nuance, grey areas, entirely at odds with the rallying call to action of today’s New moon and the annular eclipse in Aquarius and the start of the lunar New Year of the Fire Horse. Venus in Pisces is haunted by memories and the longing for something that is difficult to define and hard to satisfy. Venus is exalted in Pisces, devoted, compassionate, exceptionally giving, and capable of sacrifice. We might rely heavily on our intuition with our finances and love life during this cycle, a sharp ear on the slightest hints. We may be sorting through old photographs, gravitating towards poetic, artistic objects, situations and people.

There is a deeply uneasy lull for the time being, but we can feel it building, that big things are stirring, a leviathan churning beneath the surface. Back channels on overdrive, calculating how to manage the public. We are hardwired to recognize injustice. We know that we are looking right at it.

Smith Waite Tarot

Neptune is associated with The Hanged Man in the Tarot deck. Last year at this same time I drew this card together with The Hierophant, and had a feeling about the Pope, that his time was coming very soon. More usually, The Hanged Man is about taking time out. Stepping back to review, to rest, to recalibrate. Sometimes there is immaturity, innocence, naivete, and now someone has a lot of growing up to do, and they had better do it fast.

The Hanged Man is ready to sacrifice something for a greater good, accepting losses as a painful necessity. It is about looking at things from a new and different perspective. Perhaps less comfort, less trust, less complacency. More self-reliance, more rockiness of autonomy.

We are poised between the old social normalities we thought we knew, and that have faded out since 2019, and a new emergent collective normality.

The Sabian symbol for yesterday’s New Moon is the butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. Nothing will be all bad, any more than it has ever been all good.

February 22 could be a turning point date in any manner of good ways with Venus trine Jupiter.

Thank you for reading.

Back soon.

Ushered in by a Lion Moon: February, the Fae and the Fires of Imbolc

Today is the Aquarian Full Snow Moon in Leo at 13 degrees, and this is typical of the Tarot. I drew 3 Tarot cards inviting comment about the Full Moon and drew the Strength, the Six of Wands and the Nine of Pentacles. The Strength card, ruled by Jupiter and correlating with the zodiac sun sign of Leo (as does The Sun card) The Six of Wands which correlates with the second decan of Leo at 13 degrees.

A Full Moon of fighting energy, winning energy, scoring victories. The Sun in Leo says, ME, myself and I, with the bombast or the innocence of a child. But the Six of Wands says, the victor may wear the laurel wreath, but he did not do it alone, and the victory did not come quick or easy. It was worked for. Earned. The Six of Wands also talks about transport issues, literally, travel AND the vehicles themselves. MOTs, cars, vans, motorbikes and of courses, horses, and at this coming New Moon we will be entering a year of the Fire Horse.

These cards have “merely” reflected the astrology of this Full Moon but the synchronicity is striking.

The third card, the Nine of Pentacles is ruled by Virgo. The card nicknamed “Luxury”…this comfort has been hard earned through consistent effort. Virgo in turn is ruled by Mercury which is currently in Aquarius. A theme therefore of devotion, duty and attention to detail in tending to “our garden.” Also health matters. A Full Moon In Leo speaks, not only of our inner diva and personal projects, but of a time of great focus upon the wellbeing and happiness of what we love; new things, young things, of children and grandchildren.

The first of February marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also known as Candlemas, the Christian festival of presenting Jesus at the temple. But long before Christianity this time of year marked a more ancient celebration in Gaelic Britain: the rites of spring, and the fire festival of Imbolc.

February

Let’s get with the programme and parade down the street, and go pray for the health of the fields! It’s all about the health of the SOIL.

A close up of small green plants growing in dirt
Photo by Nora Jane Long on Unsplash

The name February comes from the Latin ‘Februarius,’ referring to Februa; a Roman festival of ritual purification. Below, the Roman spa at Bath, UK.

Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com

January and February were two new months added to create the new Gregorian calendar matching it up correctly with the 365 days of the Earth’s journey round the sun.

The Anglo-Saxons called February Sōlmōnath, from sōl , the Old English word for wet sand or mud, alluding to the weather this time of year, and the effects of rain and snow-melt. The romantic Solway Firth between North West England and South West Scotland is actually the massive tidal ‘Mud Way,’ rather than the romantic ‘Sun Way.’

The northern English scholar monk, saint Bede, wrote that February was celebrated as “the month of cakes,” when ritual offerings of savoury cakes and loaves of bread were made to ensure a good year’s harvest.

Imbolc- In the belly of the ewe

In the belly of the ewe is gestating the fiery Aries Ram-Lamb.

The fire festival of Imbolc and Brigid began as a neolithic festival marking the 1/2 way point between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Beltane.)

This half-way point correlates with 15 degrees of Aquarius. And so Imbolc this year astronomically speaking is happening 3-4 February. For more about this look up Maureen Richmond who suggests we could treat 1-4 February as the window for any observance of Imbolc this year.

Imbolc marks the start of spring, celebrating the arrival of the goddess deity Brigid, “The Exalted One,” the harbinger of the first lambs, so vital to the survival of those early communities. The deity Brigid later became conflated by the Church with the Christian figure of Saint Brigid of Kildare.

Brigid From The Sacred Circle Tarot

‘Imbolc’ is thought to mean ‘in the belly.’ It will soon be the time of the first lambing, though the start of the lambing season can vary by up to two weeks in any given year.

Photo by Paul Seling on Pexels.com

Brigid was a protector of women in childbirth, as well as the safe birthing of precious livestock. She was not only a goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann, The Tribe of the Gods, but a triple goddess of healers, poets and smiths.

Via Wiki Riders of the Sidhe, the Tuatha de Dannan

“The Tuatha de Danaan, the people of the (mother) goddess Danu in Celtic mythology; a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians (the ancestors of the modern Irish). They were said to have been skilled in magic, and the earliest reference to them relates that, after they were banished from heaven because of their knowledge, they descended on Ireland in a cloud of mist. They were thought to have disappeared into the hills when overcome by the Milesians. The Leabhar Gabhála (Book of Invasions), a fictitious history of Ireland from the earliest times, treats them as actual people, and they were so regarded by native historians up to the 17th century. In popular legend they have become associated with the numerous fairies still supposed to inhabit the Irish landscape.“-From The Encylopedia Britannica

Brigid might visit your home at Imbolc. People would make a bed for her, and leave food and drink and items of clothing outside in the hope of receiving her blessings, petitioning her to protect their homes and livestock.

This was a time for feasting and visits to sacred wells, and a time for ritual divination. A St Brigid’s cross is made from rushes and was placed in doorways to protect the home from harm, representing the wheel of the seasons.

By Culnacreann – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3500722

Ingwaz -The Fire Rune

Fire is not gentle. Spring is not gentle. New life is not gentle. It rises up fast and fierce. It has to fight in order to “become”, or it would never break through. Like a space rocket leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. Spring is fierce in its quickening of new shoots. It is initiation. Spring is fire, just as Aries the Ram of the zodiac is a cardinal fire sign, even though we do not enter Aries until late March.

Where Brigid represented an essentially feminine energy concept, the old Norse rune ING/INWAZ or INGUZ, a fire sign rune in particularly associated with masculine principles of fertility, vitality… and also recovery from sickness.

This ancient masculine fire rune represents the power and potential of “The Seed” matched with action. Literally, the name of this rune means “the seed of the god Ing.” When we say we are do-ing, writ-ing …anything at all with -ing at the end of it, we are describing an action, and indirectly, invoking the magical energy of Ingwaz.

The Elder Norse fire rune Ingwaz

The people would light bonfires on the hilltops by night, and by day, they might run cattle through the smoke of lower lying bonfires, asking divine protection for the livestock. We can think too of the comfort and the contained danger of the fire in the ingle-nook.

a fire burning in a fireplace in a dark room
Photo by Scott Greer on Unsplash

With the whole of Pisces season coming up next, we are being given a sneak preview of Aries.

Imbolc was a key moment in weather forecasting. This was the time when The Cailleach —the divine crone of Gaelic tradition—gathered firewood for the rest of the winter. If the Cailleach knew the winter was going to last a good while longer, she’d make sure of good weather during Imbolc, and use it to gather more firewood to top up her stores. Bad weather at Imbolc was regarded as welcome news. It meant the Cailleach wasn’t worried about running out of firewood. She had turned over and gone back to sleep, and the worst of winter was almost over.

Via Pinterest

I am somewhat mixing up these cultures, systems and traditions, but Nature is the common ground and I make no apology for it.

As I mentioned earlier, Imbolc falls at 15 degrees of Aquarius, within the second decan of the fixed Air sign of Aquarius. The fixed signs denote the height of a season. The second decan of Aquarius marks the height of winter, at least symbolically speaking, in the northern hemisphere… and yet already the snowdrops are breaking through.

The Six of Swords in the Tarot deck is a card of recovery and onward progress, taking matters into our own hands, we chart our own course into the unknown, steering the passing of winter’s peak point.

The Gilded Tarot

See the toad in the rushes? The frogs and fishes are, right now, undergoing a alchemy of profound physiological changes, getting ready to spawn. The light is coming back again, galloping faster it seems, by the day. Dark sacred night’…yes, and the night is dark. It is sacred. It brings rest and healing. But when the dark goes on too long, we rouse ourselves to purposeful Action, stirring the Promethean gift of fire.

You and I overcame such odds just to be here, to get born as US and not someone else. Science suggests the statistical odds against you and me getting born as us, and not as someone else were 1 in 400 trillion. Yet here we are. Somehow we broke through. We must have had our reasons. Mighty powerful ones.

Snowdrops of the Snow Moon.

white flowers on brown dried leaves

Back soon.

Thank you for reading.

Dancing With Saturn 2025-2026

This World card is from The Gilded Tarot illustrated by Ciro Marchetti. This was one of my go-to working decks when I started reading professionally back in the noughties. A hard-worked deck of cards, as you can tell, but now relaxing in its box.

Image
From The Gilded Tarot

“Dance dance wherever you may be…”

The World card correlates with Saturn in astrology, Old Father Time, and in readings involving timing questions can literally represent events that happen on a Saturday.

More broadly, The World card signifies the end of a chapter in our lives, the closing out of a cycle, the end of an era. Bittersweet, perhaps, or even a cause for grief, but not unexpected. Timely, due and inevitable. Somehow we must make our peace with that existential sword of Damocles, living in the clear and certain foreknowledge of loss and of our own mortality.

Que sera, sera, says the World card. What will be, will be. But that doesn’t mean we do not have an agency all of our own. World dancers, you and me, one and all. The adventure of Life is its own reason and meaning enough. The experience is its own purpose entire.

The odds against us being born as us, and not as someone else have been estimated as 1 in 400 trillion. But somehow it was us that got through. And here we are. Reaching out and across to one another, conversant in cyberspace.

blue and brown globe on persons hand
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

Expansive, ebullient Jupiter doesn’t get all the fun. Saturn has its moments too. The World card not only signifies completions but adventure and opportunity. Where to next? “Dance dance wherever you may be…”

Saturn as the ruler of Capricorn holds the bottom line, however. It promises and demands honesty. Saturn is old age, memories, ancestry, parents. Saturn is work, responsibility, discipline and duty. Growing up. Facing life head on. Putting our shoulders to the wheel. Life is the eternal dance. So the artist shows us the world dancer. Her dancing signifies grace in effort, vision in struggle, form to music and movement. Something we can do, and make, and show for our time here in spite of, and in defiance of our natural fears, tribulations and anxieties.

Saturn has been going back and forth between Pisces and Aries in 2025, struggling to bring order to chaos, and having a Capricornian devil of a job trying, snared in Neptunian fog and wilful illusions and deceptions (Epstein’s island being just one of many examples under the searchlight throughout 2025, and with files released but heavily redacted.)

Saturn will finally settle into Aries 13/14 February 2026, and will stay there until 2028 in a whole new astrological cycle. New, because Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac. The spring-born ram-lamb baby of the Zodiac.

white and brown horse on green grass field during daytime
Photo by Liam Read on Unsplash

This Saturn in Aries cycle has been seen before. History tell us that previous cycles of Saturn in Aries have witnessed the rise of ideological fanaticism, new religious wars or revolutions, for example, The Reformation, The French Revolution and the American War of Independence.

People decide they are being pushed around, and now, they are not going to put up with it any longer. Lines get moved. Maps get redrawn, and so do constitutions, creeds and codes.

Saturn in Aries moving into the ultimate zodiac sign of new beginnings is like Saturn The Old Man of the Zodiac, herding the bumptious ram lamb. Saturn (settled authority) is rejuvenated but Saturn also needs to show that pioneering rebel ram-lamb how to focus, directing its energies and strategy to lasting effect, and to do the necessary legislative spadework and paperwork, operate through existing state apparatus.

Or else to overhaul it.

Health-wise, Saturn rules old age and specifically, the functionality of the knees. Saturn in Aries could mean wonderful advances in related medical knowledge and technology.

Saturn does not dispute we need to take proper care of ourselves. For our own sakes, first and foremost. But, as Saturn will advise Aries, “Ask not what your country/people/family can do for you but what you can do…”

This from AskAstrology:

Saturn enters Aries on February 13, 2026, and will stay there until April 2028. This transit marks a time of personal accountability, renewed ambition, and disciplined action. Collectively, Saturn in Aries encourages courage in leadership and a willingness to take bold, responsible steps toward progress. It asks society to rebuild systems with integrity, initiative, and resilience. As a result, the global focus turns toward independence, innovation, and defining success through effort and perseverance.

On a personal level, Saturn in Aries strengthens confidence, structure, and self-discipline. It challenges people to act with integrity and take ownership of their goals. For those with Aries ruling the 6th House, this influence reshapes daily work, health, and routines. Individuals need to set firm boundaries around time, energy, and service. Consequently, consistent effort and steady habits will lead to lasting results, empowering a healthier, more focused approach to both work and well-being.

And then….

Saturn and Neptune will Conjunct in Aries

On February 20, 2026, Saturn and Neptune form a conjunction in Aries at 0°45′, blending vision with discipline. This powerful alignment urges the collective to build new systems rooted in visionary ideas and action in a long cycle focused on spiritual leadership, inspired innovation, direct experience and courageous reinvention rather than blind faith.

We see ever more starkly now, that something has changed in the western societies that goes way beyond even the most important considerations of party politics. Something has fundamentally changed in the historic covenants between the People and elected Governments in the West, in the UK, in western Europe, in the US and Canada. This, we are coming to realize, is neither recent nor sudden nor organic and accidental. The New World Order. It has been quietly taking hold for a long time now, starting after the end of WW2, but now it is raising its head above the parapet, starting to flex, and whatever the good intentions, at least to begin with, the gimlet super-corporate gaze of this new Globalist Techno-Sphynx is not friendly, not even…or even least of all…to its own people.

The implications for this increasingly authoritarian so-called New World Order seem likely to come to a head during Saturn in Aries. Saturn is on the side of farmers, and the countryside. Mao crushed the farmers and starved the people. So did Stalin in The Holodomor, especially in the bread basket of Ukraine. Closer to home, when WW2 broke out, my maternal grandfather left his day job as the Curator of the Museum in Bolton, Lancashire, joined the Navy, and in 1942 was part of “Operation Pedestal”, and the convoy that went to the relief of hungry Malta.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/SmXflagrdpo?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

The UK government has just relented somewhat in respect of lowering the threshold for inheritance tax which has threatened to close down smaller farmers. It wants the land for eco-energy, massive solar panel farms, truly huge, and we can see it shaping up nicely (not) very near where I am, and that certain companies and their shareholders are going to get incredibly wealthy, basically vandalizing the countryside and local economy on a fragile coastal flood plain, purportedly for environmental reasons, but actually for a mega-profit.

Saturn says we need land to live on. We need a base, a place to stay rooted and connected, however far we may travel. And those roots go very deep socially historically and even biologically. Not every soil is the same.

We need energy, yes. Lots of it, yes. The cleaner the better, yes. And we need reliable food supplies. It is madness for any government to rely too much on imports, not in times of war, and not in times of peace either.

Saturn, from the Latin “sator” is “The Sower of The Seed.”

There is revolution in the air when Aries is in Saturn. We may be seeing it again. Saturn is slow to rouse but if really pushed, then it will pick up pitchforks and shovels in defence of the land, local jobs and food supplies.

Resetting to Zero

steel wool photography during nighttime
Photo by Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash

Resetting to Zero. What does that even mean in real terms? Zero emissions, zero anything? When can that happen in the real world?

But in terms of Tarot symbolism, The World card, major arcana 21, is the last card in the Tarot deck, thereby returning us to the beginnings represented by The Fool card, and its numinous portal, the number Zero.

The Fool stands for a landscape in which we do not have our map co-ordinates to know where we are right now, let alone plot our direction of travel.

(Alternatively, some Tarot scholars might say, the number 22, nicknamed “The Master Builder”, signifying that big changes are just round the corner, but on balance, it’s probably for the best right now to take a few chances.)

“The discovery of zero will always stand out as one of the greatest single achievements of the human race.”–Tobias Dantzig

But the number zero, so indispensable in the modern world, and to the new gods of the algorithms, was not discovered, or would not have been discovered, had it not been invented, used initially as a placeholder for accounting purposes, likely as far back as Sumeria about 4000 years ago (as usual).

Zero does not stand for nothing, but for an unknown value or quantity. Likewise, there are many unknowns in the natural world. But there is no zero.

We can decide to clear the decks, but the past is never dead and gone.

We stand witness. We carry the torch. We look for ways to pass the torch. That’s what we are doing here right now, you and I, and everyone else.

With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long-drawn wailings and half-sobs, and was more the pleading of life, the articulate travail of existence. It was an old song, old as the breed itself–one of the first songs of the younger world in a day when songs were sad.

– Jack London

wolf pack on rock formation
Photo by Thomas Bonometti on Unsplash

No wolf goes out to hunt for zero rabbits.

Or for zero anything else.

Tonight and tomorrow night, 27/28 December, the first quarter Moon is in Aries. See what happens tomorrow, if there is any uptick in your energy levels, or in family news, or the pace of events.

And if the skies are clear tonight, and you see a brilliant planet a little way east of the crescent Moon in the southern skies, well, there it is.

a saturn saturn is shown in the dark sky

That’s Saturn up there right now. Saturn, son of Chronos.

Saturn, the planetary embodiment of Time itself.

The things that time does with us, and for us. And to us. For better and for worse.

But still, we are here. There were never any promises.

But this is our time.

We were given this.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/dzNvk80XY9s?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Thank you for reading.

Back soon.

Season of The Scorpion 2025

The Stories in the Stars

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From Uranias Mirror 1825

The fixed water sign of the celestial Scorpion is the zodiac archetype of Halloween. Still waters run deep, truly, but this is water as steam, like the steaming geysers of Iceland, bursting out from sources deep down in the heart of the hot rock.

Traditional Associations

Zodiac glyph

Scorpio’s glyph is symbolic of a serpent representing the life force energy, the flow of that energy and the release of it. Imagine the M as a coil with the energy flow going outward with an arrow sign attached. This arrow represents the sting of the scorpion. It also represents futurity, but is also the arrow of Sagittarius, the next sign of the zodiac. The other “m” glyph in the Zodiac is Virgo, but here the M is imagined as a coiling serpent with its tail folded inward in protective, healing mode.

Ruling planets: Traditional: Mars. Modern: Pluto following Pluto’s discovery in 1930.

House: The Eighth House of power, secrets, sex, death, finance, legacy

Symbols: Scorpion, Serpent, Eagle/Phoenix (nearby constellation, Aquila, the Eagle.)

Element: Water (but this water STEAMS.)

Quality: Fixed

Keywords: I desire. I transform

Hebrew letter: Nun, meaning the snake. Scorpio has three glyphs, the only sign to do so; the snake, scorpion and eagle (or phoenix.) The snake sheds its skin and thus represents transformation, healing and magic.

Colour: Dark red

Birthstone: Yellow Topaz, Opal, Aquamarine, Tourmaline

Body: reproductive/sex organs

Tissue cell salt: calcium sulphate, repair of tissues and resistance to infectious diseases.

Trees: Walnut, hawthorn, blackthorn

Tarot Cards: Death, King of Cups, 5, 6 and 7 of Cups. The major arcana card in the Tarot representing Scorpio is the Death card, one of the most feared cards in the Tarot deck. Note the Biblical ‘pale horse’ of Death and the white rose. He comes for all, the king, the archbishop, the child. But the rose signifies beauty and immortality. All that has ever once been, is recorded somewhere, somehow, forever.

Smith Waite Centennial Deck

The Death card is not usually about the literal death of any person. It may represent the death of something else, like the ending of a situation, chapter, project, plan, or relationship.

But. BUT. I have learned in my own experience as a reader, the Death card can mean exactly that, physical death, like it or not. The cards can mean exactly what it says on the tin and this has more than once hit me hard and very close to home in the literal, physical human sense. There is no Life without Death. We die. Even rivers can die. Even the stars die.

Old age is not our natural birth-right. Few animals reach old age living in the wild. It is this sharp focus of such an awareness that gives Scorpio its drive, intensity, its passion, or its preoccupation with the “darker” side of life, and with the occult and the mysterious, but also its power of regeneration, and the drive to procreate new life.

The Real Life Scorpion

A scorpion crawling on a piece of wood
Photo by Andrey Tikhonovskiy on Unsplash
  • The scorpion is a staggeringly ancient creature. The earliest evidence dates from the Silurian period 450 million years ago, when the first scorpion ancestors left the seas for the land. Fossils from the Carboniferous 300 million years ago indicate little change since then but early scorpions may have had compound eyes.
  • They are arachnids: arachnida scorpiones, with a body in two sections, 2 pincers or pedi-palps, 8 legs like a spider, and an exo-skeleton made of chitin. They are more closely related to Harvestmen than spiders.
  • They dance before mating, a stately promenade. They give birth to live young and carry them on their backs until the babies have their first moult and disperse. The mothers may eat the young if resources are desperately scarce.
  • They have a long life span compared with other arachnids, 2-3 years in the wild but they have lived up to 25 years in captivity. They can live a year without food and they eat insects, spiders, other scorpions and lizards. They also eat small mammals, such as mice.
  • They glow in the dark except when newly moulted. Scorpion fossils still fluoresce, despite spending hundreds of millions of years embedded in rock.
  • They are famously venomous. However of the nearly 2,000 known species of scorpions, only 25 have venom powerful enough to be dangerous to an adult human. In the U.S., the Arizona bark scorpion, Centruroides sculpturatus, produces venom strong enough to kill a small child, but anti-venom means deaths are rare.

The Stars of Scorpio

Wiki: Till Credner

Nature, science, religion, astronomy and astrology were intertwined in the ancient world.

Scorpius is a massive, spectacular j- shaped constellation located in the skies over the southern hemisphere near the centre of the Milky Way. In the Northern hemisphere it can be seen in July and August, and in the Southern hemisphere, it’s visible from March to October.

Sometime around four thousand years ago the Babylonians looked up, discerned the huge and brightly leaning “J”- shape in the summer stars, saw in this the shape of a gigantic scorpion and called this constellation MUL.GIR.TAB – the ‘Scorpion’, literally read as ‘the (creature with) a burning sting.’

The movements and relative positions of Scorpius were mapped by Babylonian magicians and astrologers, who left written records of the omens they observed.

“When a halo surrounds the Moon and Scorpio stands in it, it will cause men to marry princesses, (or) lions will die, and the traffic of the land will be hindered.”

A comet appearing in Scorpius (Scorpio) was read as a dire warning of a coming plague, but when the Sun rose in Scorpius, alchemists saw their chance for the transmutation of lead into gold.

By kind permission of EarthSky.Org

There are 18 known stars in Scorpius, the most famous being the red giant star Antares (rival of Mars, the god of war and the original planetary ruler of Scorpio) Antares, its biggest star, is almost unimaginably huge – our sun is barely more than a dot in comparison- is one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

Methuselah

Scorpius contains exo-planets, some extremely old, while others may be potentially habitable. The planet PSR B1620-26 b, nicknamed “Methuselah” is estimated at 12.7 billion years old (The universe is about 13.7 billion years old.) Methuselah has a mass about twice that of Jupiter and it orbits around not one, but two stars.

Cue existential angst. I may need to lie down awhile in a dark room. Where, pray, is the eau de cologne?

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Zr9MxbFBV70?start=12s&rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Scorpio Season 2025

Hot water under pressure but it’s in a hosepipe this month, and it has sprung a few leaks, spouting scalding jets and clouds of steam. Water as steam. Full force.

Veritable spiders webs and networks. Flexing. At home here in the UK, amongst so many other terrible and furious things on the world stage right now, we see China threatening the UK government behind the scenes. Long suspected. Now we see it in plain sight. We are told it is presented as a case of “You will authorize the building of this monstrous new super embassy in the historic heart of your capital. Or there will be consequences.”

One thinks of the unquiet ghost of the failed Guido Fawkes. There are fireworks outside my window even now.

a bunch of fireworks that are in the dark
Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash

More hopeful news, The Met Police are now declaring they will no longer be policing NCHI’s – Non crime hate incidents. No more knocking on the doors of the citizenry to threaten them over social media posts that have upset “someone.” May the other police forces now swiftly follow suit. This is Britain, not North Korea, and there can be no apologies for drawing the parallel.

A bill to introduce Islamophobia as a new crime has not passed in the House of Commons. Thank goodness. But after all the furore a few weeks ago, they seem to have kept that rather quiet. England finally did away with blasphemy laws in England in 2008. The history is cruel. Ans so are the things that still happen now, in countries where blasphemy is still punishable by death. We do not want blasphemy laws creeping in again by the back door, enabled by our government in the name of so-called diversity and inclusion.

Just as in Scorpio season 2024 we are challenged with keeping our own equilibrium while watching yet another intense month of massive threat and fury in world events. And keep it we must, while maximising our own energy bursts to fix, to clear, to burnish, to cherish all those and all that which we most rightfully hold dear.

Eruption of the Strokker Geyser, Iceland, public domain, credit Andreas Tille

This month we are all children of The Scorpion. Scorpio may sting. And it may heal us. Scorpio is a great healer. Natural charisma and…anti venom.

Human Uses of Scorpions

I beg your pardon

I never promised you a rose garden…

But remembering the Death card, and Death offers a perfect white rose. Still, there are roses, always and for ever, even in the season of the Scorpion.

a black and white photo of a rose
Photo by KOKESHI on Unsplash

Salutations to the celestial Scorpion. Wishing a very Happy Birthday season 2025 to our savvy, deep and subtle Scorpio friends.

Till next time 🙂

The Story of The Star Lion Leo

Stories of our Seasons in the Stars

Most of us know something about our zodiac sun sign. But what’s the ancient story behind it? This month it is Leo’s star turn under the spotlight.

lion in close up shot
Photo by Luke Tanis on Unsplash

On July 22 we left the zodiac domain of Cancer; the zenith of the summer in the northern hemisphere, and moved into the sun sign territory of Leo until 22 August.

Traditional Associations

Ruler: The Sun   Lucky Day: Sunday

Symbol: Lion

Element: Fire     Quality: Fixed

Hebrew letter: Av (father, regal) Tet (coiled serpent) Tov (goodness)

Metal: Gold

Body: Heart, aorta, circulation, blood pressure, spine

Constitutional salt: Magnesium Phosphate (Mag Phos) Leo rules the heart and this salt is a cardiac tonic. Mag Phos is a muscle and motor nerve nutrient, helping to empower the muscles, or to relax them, helpful for all types of cramp or spasm, whether induced by physical exertion or by the menstrual cycle. May be beneficial dissolved in warm water for cramps in the stomach, or for colic in babies, crushed and rubbed onto the gums

Trees: Palm trees, laurel, walnuts, olive trees, lemon and orange trees.

Plants: Marigolds, sunflowers, dandelions, (dents- de- lion =”lion’s teeth”) celandines, passion flowers

Gemstones: peridot, sapphire

Key phrase: I love/I desire

Tarot cards: Strength, Sun, 5, 6, 7 Wands

Astronomy

Leo has since ancient times been associated with the sun and royalty, ruled by the sun in astrology, and is one of the oldest constellations collectively recognized as a lion. Archaeological evidence suggests that Mesopotamians recognized the star grouping we later came to know as Leo as early as 4000 BC. The Persians knew this constellation as Shir or Ser. The Babylonians called it UR.GU.LA (“the great lion.”) The Syrians knew it as Aryo and the Turks as Artan, while the Greeks associated Leo with the story of the Labours of Herakles/Hercules, and the slaying of the man- eating lion of Nemea.

Via Wiki

Leo is the 12th largest constellation in the zodiac, and one of the most recognizable in the skies of the northern hemisphere due to its many bright stars, and its distinctive shape suggesting a crouching lion facing to the right, located between the constellations of Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east.  The bright planet pictured beneath Leo is Jupiter.

The best time to see the Leo constellation is in Spring in the northern hemisphere, from around the March equinox, and in the fall/autumn in the southern hemisphere where it can be seen in the northern skies, but is seen as if upside down. In early April, the constellation Leo reaches its high point for the night around 10 p.m. By around May 1, Leo reaches its highest point for the night around 8 p.m. local time.

In early May, Leo is beginning to set in the west around 2 a.m. local time, and by June it is descending in the west in the evening, drifting ever further westward. By late July and into early August, the Lion is fading into the sunset before disappearing, and by late September into October it is visible again, reappearing in the east before dawn, below the Big Dipper or as it is perhaps better known in the UK, The Plough.

The Lions of The Nile and the Dog Days of Summer

a plowed field in front of a body of water
Photo by Mohamad Sameh on Unsplash

Leo season includes the so-called Dog Days of summer, July 3 to August 11, the window of the warmest days in the Northern Hemisphere.

The ancient Egyptians and later the Romans noticed that the brightest star Sirius “the scorching one,” aka The Dog Star, aka, Canis Major, reappeared in the sky, rising in the east just before the sun each year 21- 23 July when the sun entered Leo. See more here on You Tube:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/PFtCuw9VP5Y?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

This was immediately prior to the annual flooding of the Nile River which started around August 15 for two weeks every year. The Nile floods, while potentially massively destructive, replenished the soil, bringing forth new life, renewing the lifeblood of their agriculture- and the nation entire.

New life, such is the symbolic meaning of the Sun in Leo, correlating with the Sun card and Strength in the tarot deck, and also the 5, 6 and 7 of Wands.

adult lioness lying on ground
Photo by Chris Rhoads on Unsplash

Lions were once upon a time a common sight in Egypt, roaming the semi-desert regions on either side of the Nile Valley, and there are surviving depictions of pharaohs hunting lions. The lions began to disappear during the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 B.C.) until eventually they became extinct in Egypt as the climate and environment became drier and the human population increased. But not before they had become an eternal part of the zodiac story.

By August in Egypt, the desert lions were becoming increasingly desperate for water after weeks of drought, coming ever closer in sight of the city walls in their search. But this lowest ebb in the lives of the desert lions was a welcome sign that the Nile floods were shortly on their way, the tributaries far upriver massively swollen by tropical storms over the highlands of Ethiopia and southern Sudan, and in their joy, the people honoured the lion with festivals.

Boston Public Library Kasr En Nil

Statues of lions can still be seen along the course of the Nile River, while the lion-headed fountains so popular with later Greek and Roman architects was a direct legacy of this great story of the zodiac, symbolizing the life-giving waters released by the sun in the season of Leo.

August the Eighth, the 8 of the 8th, is known as the Lions Gate, a mythical portal said to represent a peak of intensity in human affairs. 2024 is a number 8 year and we already know we are living in a time of new and increasing intensities.

Lion statues on a water fountain
Public Domain, photograph Petr Kratochvil

Thank you for reading. Back again soon with more on Leo in the Tarot, the decans, and the astrology of this Leo season 2024.

The Story of the Star Twins Gemini

Gemini, the Decans and Tarot: Gemini Season 2024

This year the sun is in the sign of Gemini from May 20- June 19, 2024. The dates for the sun signs can vary by a day or two from year to year for astronomical reasons. This year the sun leaves Gemini and enters Cancer on the day of the summer solstice, June 20.

The word ‘zodiac’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘circle of animals.’ The only zodiac sign that is non-representative of a living creature is Libra, the sign of the Scales. But in astronomy, even the Scales of Libra are borrowed from the stars of Scorpio and the claws of the giant scorpion in the heavens next door.

Gemini is the third sign of the Western Tropical Zodiac, and represents the end of spring and beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere.

Gemini associations

Symbol:  

The Roman numeral for 2 is joined top and bottom in representation of the unity of duality

Hebrew letter: Zain, meaning, sword, weapon.

Ruling planet: Mercury

Affirmation: ‘I think, I inquire.’

Body: shoulders, arms and hands, lungs, autonomous central nervous system. The cell salt for Gemini is Kali Mur- potassium chloride, which builds fibrin in the blood, organs, and tissues of the body. Gemini is vulnerable to upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, and asthma (pollen season).

Birth Stone:  If born in May, Emerald. If born in June, Pearl (although it is not a stone, it is thought to be ruled by Mercury)

Lucky stone: Tiger’s Eye. Why? The Tiger’s Eye is made of silicon dioxide with bands of iron. Grounds ‘flighty’ Gemini energy. Brings focus.

Public domain

Colour: Yellow

Tree: all kinds of nut trees

Flower: Lily of the Valley, Lavender

Tarot cards: Major Arcana: The Lovers (love, choices, decision-making) For some readers The Magician, associated with the Norse god Odin/Woden/ruler of Wednesday and the rune OS/ANSUZ (mouth, speech, oratory, answers.) Court card: The Knight of Swords. Minor Arcana cards: 8, 9 and 10 Swords.

 Astronomy of Gemini

Public Domain via Wikipedia

Gemini is the northernmost constellation in the zodiac, and the thirtieth largest in size, appearing high in the winter sky in the northern hemisphere looking north east of the constellation of Orion between the Taurus and Cancer constellations. The best time to view Gemini is in February, and then by April and May, we’ll get the best views looking west soon after sunset.

Gemini was recorded by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century as “The Star of Apollo” (Castor) and “The Star of Heracles” (Pollux).

Public Domain via Wiktionary

The two brightest stars in the constellation are the “twins” themselves – Castor and Pollux, representing the heads of the twins from Greek mythology, while fainter stars outline their bodies. Pollux, the westerly twin, is a red giant star 33 light-years from Earth and Castor is about 51 light-years away. A light-year is the distance that light travels in a year – about 6 trillion miles/9.6 trillion kilometres.

Pollux is the brighter of the two stars with a massive planet orbiting it; Genorium Beta, 1.6 times bigger than Jupiter (and Jupiter is so massive Earth could fit inside it x 1,300 times.)

Castor is actually not a single star, but a star system made of up six stars not visible to the naked eye.

History and Mythology

The concept of twins in mythology goes back at least as far as the so-called Age of Gemini, during the Palaeolithic, 6, 500 BCE, arising from our understanding of the duality fundamental to the nature of reality. There are male and female twins in world myth, but there are many twin brothers in particular standing for night and day, light and dark, heat and cold, male and female, war and peace, good and bad, life and death. The creation myths of ancient cultures reflect this eternal battle of seeming opposites.  Many surviving objects feature twin gods and goddesses; a major theme across all cultures.

Photo by Vika Glitter on Pexels.com

The ‘twin stars’ have been recognised as representing twins across all cultures, each with their own names and stories. In Arabic astronomy the twins were seen as peacocks. In Egyptian astrology they were twin goats, or else the two gods, Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger, while classical Greek mythology identified them as the twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, aka The Gemini, from the Latin word for twins. The name Castor comes from the Greek Καστωρ (Kastor) and means “to excel, to shine.”  The name Pollux comes from the Roman form of the Greek Πολυδευκης (Polydeukes) meaning “very sweet.”

The circumstances of their birth were unusual to say the least. Queen Leda of Sparta was seduced by Zeus though seduced is putting it too politely. She was bathing in the river when he glided up, disguised as a swan, preening his feathers, and then pounced.  

Photo by wal_ 172619 on Pexels.com

Later that evening, notwithstanding the undoubted trauma of this shocking event, Leda slept with her husband, King Tyndareus, and went on to produce four children all in one go; Castor, Pollux and their sisters Helen (later Helen of Troy) and Clytemnestra (later married to Agamemnon as queen of Mycenae.) Pollux and Helen were immortal, fathered by Zeus but Castor and Clytemnestra were mortal, fathered by Tyndareus.

Public Domain, the young Castor and Pollux (Meissen)

The mortal Castor was renowned as a horseman and a master at fencing, while the immortal Pollux was known for his great strength and skill at boxing. They went everywhere together. But then Castor was killed in a quarrel, in a disagreement over dividing the spoils after a cattle raid, and the sorrow of Pollux was so great he told Zeus he didn’t want his immortality, not if it meant eternal separation from his twin brother. Zeus scratched his head, wondering how to fix this, and then decided to place them both in the stars, to be together forever as the constellation Gemini.

The Greeks worshipped the twins as gods who helped shipwrecked sailors while the Romans later developed a cult around Castor and Pollux dating back to 484 B.C. building a temple to the twins in the Roman Forum in 414 BC in thanks for their help in defeating their old enemy, the Latins, in the battle of Regillus. Castor and Pollux were the patron gods of horses and the Roman cavalry, the equites, appearing as such on early Roman coins.

Gemini Zodiac Archetype

Mercury by Hendrick Goltzius, 1611, Public Domain

All the zodiac signs represent archetypes; meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing. The natal zodiac sun sign in western astrology paints a poetic portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season  as experienced in the northern hemisphere, in a tradition originating at the thirty sixth latitude (Sumeria, modern day Iraq).

The planetary ruler of Gemini is Mercury, the planet nearest the Sun, representing the winged god Mercury or Hermes; patron deity of all forms of communication, media, trade, global commerce and travel, medicine, research and analytics.  Hermes was the son of the goddess Maia, one of the seven sisters of The Pleiades who gave her name to the month of May.

Mercury has a lesser known role as a psychopomp; one who can go between the realms of the living and the dead, a go-between and safe escort to the dead. It was Mercury/Hermes who escorted the souls of the newly dead to the banks of the Acheron or The Styx, where they waited for Charon to come in this boat and ferry them across to the Underworld. It was Hermes who escorted Persephone out of the dominion of Hades to be reunited with her mother Demeter.

Painting by Frederick Leighton

Gemini is a mutable sign, ruling the borderline between late spring and early summer. The other mutable signs are Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. The mutable signs are considered the most changeable and agile of the signs; inquiring, agile, adaptable, talented, cerebral, analytical, logical and restless.

The Gemini temperament is friendly yet watchful, generous but changeable -mercurial as personified by Hermes with his winged sandals and the caduceus- emblem of messages and trade. The well-known delivery company of the same name clearly chose its name for this same reason. At the same time, Gemini can also be surprisingly dogmatic, attaching themselves to causes, whether it is to do with religion or an entirely secular social or political manifesto, or to do with lifestyle; for example, exercise or diet choices. Gemini may become a born-again convert- or crusading missionary. Intellectually, Gemini is quick, but emotionally, can become fixated. Taurus is stubborn too, but Taurus doesn’t seek to convince or convert others to its own way of thinking.

Gemini can be, not insincere, at least, not in that moment, but quick to lose interest, fluttering like butterflies, looking for the next new thing, looking for some better, brighter flower. This can apply to the way they interact with other people, here today and gone tomorrow, even though once mature, and once committed, they make dutiful, devoted partners and parents.

Smith-Waite Tarot

Card Meanings: unity, duality, love, friendships, partnerships, agreements, correspondence, contracts, difficult choices, decisions

Every suit in the Tarot deck has its own court with a king, a queen, a knight and a page. The principle court card associated with Gemini is the super- fast moving Knight of Swords.

Smith Waite Tarot

Card Meanings:  news, sudden developments, strongly worded email, legal action, surgical procedure, dental procedure, shock, blow, attack, air strike, plane,missile, bird of prey, assertiveness, intelligence, calculation, a confident, forceful young person (aged about 25-40), injury, snow, hailstorm, windy weather, cold wind, east wind,

The Decans of Gemini

The word ‘Decan’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘ten.’  Each zodiac sign lasts about 30 days and is further divided into three blocks of roughly 10 days each.  These are the decans or as they’re sometimes called, the ‘thirty-six faces of astrology,’ bringing added depth and nuance to the psychological profile associated with your natal sun sign. The minor arcana cards associated with Gemini; the Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords, correlate with the decans.

If you don’t feel like you are a ‘typical’ Gemini, well, we’re all unique, and our natal sun is the keynote in our natal chart but not the whole story. But it may be because you’re a second or third decan Gemini native, rather than a ‘most typical’ first decan Gemini. It’s all still equally Gemini, whatever the decan and this holds true for all the zodiac signs. But an early-born Gemini and a later-born Gemini are born under slightly different planetary influences.

First Decan Gemini (0-10 degrees)

21-31 May

Eight of Swords

Smith Waite Tarot

Card Meanings: Entrapment, uncertainty, helplessness, waiting for rescue. There is a way out if only you will open your eyes, look around and take a step forward. I have also come to associate this card with practical plumbing/drainage issues.

This decan gets a double dose of the planetary influence of inquisitive, rational, Mercury.  This is an alert, perceptive, intellectual and forceful personality. The acumen is sharp.  The negative side of this coin is a Gemini native who is just as inquisitive but careless, flighty, forgetful, restless and unreliable. First decan Gemini is a multi-talented juggler, light on their feet, graceful and agile. But at the same time they tend to develop a strong point of view on a wide range of subjects, and they have a clearly defined belief system. For all their apparent flightiness they are also tough and resilient-even stubborn, a quality more usually associated with Taurus, its next door neighbour and predecessor in the zodiac.  Gemini make devoted partners, contrary to whatever people might assume. They will hang on in there when the going gets tough, though they are prone to boredom and quickly tire of routine. They have considerable charisma and sex appeal. But they also know when they’ve got a good thing, so long as there’s plenty of social interaction and sufficiently frequent short distance travel to keep their restlessness under control.

Second Decan Gemini (10-20 degrees)

June 1-10

Nine of Swords

Card Meanings: The so-called Nightmare card, also nicknamed “cruelty.” Worry, ‘the black dog,’ anxiety, stress, grief, insomnia, depression, the things that keep us awake at night.

The sub-ruler of this decan is Libra, ruled by Venus, planet of love, beauty- and money, while Libra is the natural ruler of the seventh house of marriage, partnerships, close associates, associations, and legal matters. This Gemini is more of a “me-too” person, rather than an “I-am” person compared with, say, a first decan Gemini. This Gemini native needs to be especially discriminating in their selection of companions/associates and to avoid making early decisions about a choice of partner. Gemini 2nd decan is often drawn to quiet, reserved people. Their reserve fascinates Gemini-Libra which matches up well with reliable, practical types who can get a job done with little fuss or excitement. This person will ground, refine and complement the Gemini-Libra.

People respond well to the Second Decan Gemini warm and effusive nature. They also have a sense of adventure, same as the other Gemini decans, and they enjoy travel for the sake of new experiences.  Sharing is part of the Gemini-Libra life; they are generous with their time and friendship and also with possessions.  Gemini-Libra is great company. Just don’t be surprised or upset if they disappear as suddenly as they appear, or if they go quiet on you without warning. It’s not personal. It’s just the way they are.

Third Decan Gemini (20-30 degrees)

11-20 June

Ten of Swords

Smith Waite Tarot 

Card meanings: Destruction, despair, betrayal, stabbed in the back, ruin, dark night of the soul, and the darkness before dawn, the only way is up, illness, comatose, a fall, spinal injury, head injury.

The personal planets of the third decan Gemini are Saturn and Uranus, painting a portrait full of contradictions. Sometimes this person is ultra-careful, dutiful, responsible, serious, at other times carefree or even careless. Uranus combined with the planet Mercury suggests an unusually active or even brilliant mind possibly even verging on genius. This person may be a thinker who is ahead of their times. Or maybe they are just zany.

Aquarius – natural ruler of the eleventh house of friends, hopes, and wishes-makes this Gemini a social type, a friend-oriented individual interested in social causes. This Gemini is an optimist, always interested in trying out what is new, and never happier than when they are on the move.

Life is rarely dull with a cheerful Decan 3 Gemini around, but they are the most independent- natured Gemini decan. They need plenty of space and freedom, with a partner who makes few demands on their time and attention. They are very hard working when they put their mind to it. But keeping promises, fulfilling obligations and routines are not their strongest suit. It is a mistake for this Gemini native to marry early or settle too soon. Adventure, exploration and experimentation with ideas, people and places- this is what they are about. This is what makes them tick.

The Cusps of Gemini

Birthday May 21 through May 23

This is Gemini with Taurus tendencies. The ruling planets are Mercury and Venus. This is a strong and magnetic personality, often with talents in music, art and literature. They are lively and sociable, good conversationalists hospitable and fond of travel. They desire to excel but may suffer from a fear of rejection, and at times may worry overmuch about the opinion of others at the expense of their intellectual independence and the exercise of their personal agency.

Birthday June 18 through June 21

This is Gemini with Cancer tendencies, ruled by Mercury and the Moon. This native possesses foresight and analytical ability combined with idealism. They will do well so long as they stay practical and do not go in for speculation and risk taking. This birthday does not bring that particular kind of luck. They may at times be too sensitive for their own good, liable to take offence or be sorry for themselves. But, graceful in movement, tidy in appearance, affectionate in nature, this native is a good friend. If they say they will do something, they keep their word.

Famous Gemini natives

John F Kennedy, Donald Trump, Frank Lloyd Wright, Boris Johnson. Johnny Depp, Queen Victoria, Charles 11,  George 111,George V, Muammar Gaddafi, Angelina Jolie, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Carl Linnaeus, Peter the Great, Adam Smith, Richard Wagner, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Maynard Keynes.

Keynote Astrology Dates in Gemini 2024

 

May 20: Sun enters Gemini ruler of the third house of intellect, communications, siblings and neighbours

May 23: Full Flower Moon in Sagittarius. Futurism, a breakthrough, foreign affairs, possible summit, visionaries, possible progress on a ceasefire

May 23-June 16: Venus enters Gemini coming together with Jupiter. Feeling good, looking good. Dating and socializing. Making Art. Writing. Just watch the spending.

May 25:  THE astrological event of Gemini season 2024. Jupiter enters the sign of Gemini until June 9 2025. Here is an intense focus on fact-finding, fact-checking and the power and meaning of words. Here are big things in public discourse, deep fakes, AI and space tech and all things, welcome or otherwise, carried on the wind and in the air. We are witnessing the Fourth Industrial revolution. Last time we had Jupiter in Gemini, June 12, 2012-June 26, 2013, Voyager 1, launched September 5 1977 was the first man-made object to enter interstellar space. Just be aware, Jupiter in Gemini can mean disinformation and cults. It can mean the mob and witch hunts, especially when Pluto is in Aquarius (think too of the French Revolution and the guillotine). It’s best not to rely on any one single information or news source before arriving at our conclusions about anything.

May 31: Mercury conjunction with Uranus in Taurus. Sudden changes, surprises or breakthroughs to what we may have thought were insoluble problems.

June 6: New Moon in Gemini. This one falls at in the second decan of Gemini correlating with the Nine of Swords. On the plus side, it’s conjunct Venus. Fun times. We’re in demand. There is a real buzz of adrenaline and mental energy. But it’s also square Saturn. We may gallop about the place non-stop, spreading ourselves too thin, or struggling with issues or memories to do with a difficult parental relationship.

June 9: Mars in Taurus: our energy might hit a bit of a slump but it’s all good. We can adapt, go a walk, feed the birds, tend the flowers, take it easy, refuse to brood, and work on long term planning

July 20: Mars in Gemini. And the energy is back again. You’re taking charge and it shows, but prioritize your health, rest and relaxation, especially if you are a natal sun sign Gemini.

And finally….

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

To the witty, brilliant, charming and cheerful Gemini sun sign native, we say Happy Birthday! Pluto calls you to new learning, crafts and foreign travel, or even a permanent relocation over the next twenty years, while 2024 is the year to reassess your professional trajectory and your place in your chosen community. This is not the year for flightiness. This is a time to stand firm and concentrate. Tis is a time to dig and build. Or rebuild. Deep and emotional Pisces in Saturn, planet of duty, responsibility, or possibly even care for older relatives, in your tenth house of your public life and your career calls for a plan, for discipline and focus. Stand firm. August in particular may be a real roller-coaster ride or a turning point. This is your on-going challenge- and your great opportunity in 2024

Happy Birthday Gemini 2024!

Hey Toro! The Season of the Star Bull Taurus

This year the sun is in the sign of Taurus 19 April 2024 -20 May 2024. The dates for the sun signs can vary by a day or two from year to year for astronomical reasons.

The word ‘zodiac’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘circle of animals.’ The only zodiac sign that is non-representative of a living creature is Libra, the sign of the Scales. But in astronomy, even the Scales of Libra are borrowed from the stars of Scorpio and the claws of the giant scorpion in the heavens next door.

Taurus, from the Latin for Bull, is the second sign of the Western Tropical Zodiac and represents the height of spring in the northern hemisphere, ruled by the planet Venus and the goddess herself in all her verdant mythological glory. Venus rules Taurus by day, and the Moon, which is exalted in the sign of the Bull, rules Taurus by night.

Symbolic Associations

·        Ruling planet: Venus

·        Element: Earth

·        Quality: Fixed (mid-season)

·        Birthstone: Diamond (April) Emerald(May)

·        Metal: copper

·        Body: neck, throat, tonsils

·        Homeopathic salt: Nat Sulph (Sodium sulphate) used for indigestion or at the onset of cold and flu symptoms

·        Flower: the Daisy; innocence, sanctity

·        Tree: the Apple Tree; happiness, immortality. Avalon, the resting place of King Arthur was the ‘isle of apples’

·        Colours: pastel blue, green, pink

·        Spheres of Influence: The Establishment, Church, universities, publishing, agriculture. Professions: Politics, Banking, Agriculture, Church, Government, Construction, Arts, Music/Dance, Entertainment, Beauty, Retail, Fashion, Restaurants

Astronomy

Wiki

Taurus is a large and prominent constellation bordered by Aries to the west and Gemini to the east. It ranks 17th in size of the 48 Greek constellations as recorded by Ptolemy in The Mathematics of the Heavens, the Almagest, written AD/CE 150.

The stars of Taurus depict the face, horns and forepart of the bull’s body. His face is made up of a triangular cluster of stars called The Hyades. There are no legs. The bull is imagined half-submerged like the mythical Bull from the Sea.  A cluster of stars, The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters, swarms like bees above him.

Aldebaran is Taurus the Bull's fiery eye
Via Earthsky

The best time to observe Taurus is December and January. By March and April, you might see it in the west in the   twilight. To find Taurus first you need to find the three stars of Orion’s belt. This is very easy on a clear winter’s night. Now look up to the right, looking north- east, See that bright orange-red star? That’s Aldebaran, ‘The Follower,’ a red giant. Aldebaran is the biggest, brightest star in the constellation, the famous red eye of the Bull, glaring down towards the Hunter. Orion isn’t after the Bull. Orion is chasing the hare, Lepus. But the Bull doesn’t like him anyway.

Aldebaran is Taurus the Bull's fiery eye
Public Domain

Should the Bull ever escape his heavenly pen, said ancient Arabic legend, he would stampede the universe to pieces, and it would be the end of things for all time. Let’s hope nothing upsets him up there, and there are plenty of daisies and buttercups, and no flies or mosquitoes to bother him.

Wiki

History and Mythology

Taurus has been recognized as a sky bull since at least the Early Bronze Age, when the figure of a bull was discerned in the stars by the Sumerians around 3000 BC, and was later recorded in cuneiform by the Babylonians.

In modern astrology Aries is the first sign of the western zodiac, ushering in the spring (vernal) equinox along with the culmination of the first lambing season. Aries was encoded as the first sign of the zodiac by Ptolemy. This remains the case symbolically, although the vernal point of the spring equinox is now technically occurring in the constellation of Pisces owing the wobble of the earth, and the effect known as the precession of the equinoxes. The invisible celestial point that represents the spring equinox changes roughly every two thousand years

4000 years ago, it was still happening in Taurus. For Babylonian astronomers Taurus was the first sign of the Zodiac, and the Bull was also the first sign for the early Hebrews, who called it Aleph, as in A, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Why is Taurus celebrated in spring? Taurus coincides with the calving season. The bull, like its ancestors, the wild aurochs, is a potent symbol of strength and fertility. But where Leo the lion, represents wild strength, Taurus the bull is domesticated, controlled strength, just as the power of the oxen was harnessed for ploughing the fields. One of the archetypes associated with Taurus is ‘The Farmer.’

But the sheer animal power and potency of the bull has exerted a magical influence on the human imagination long before the dawn of agriculture. Paintings of aurochs, the wild ancestors of the modern bull, were discovered in the Lascaux caves in France in paintings, thought to date from 15000 BC/BCE. The most famous section of the Lascaux caves in the Dordogne in France is the Hall of the Bulls, featuring four black bulls, or aurochs.  One of these bulls is 5.2 metres (17 feet) long, the largest animal so far seen in cave art.

Photo by John Nail on Pexels.com

It is thought that the aurochs migrated at this time of year; a dangerous but potentially highly rewarding hunting opportunity for sabre toothed tigers- and for human hunters. Not only did the aurochs provide the luxury of meat, but the horns,hide and sinews had many uses. Elsewhere, the physical remains of auroch have been discovered on Salisbury Plain near Stonehenge in the UK. Salisbury Plain was once a “lek” -a mass gathering site of the auroch on their annual migration route. These mighty stones were not raised simply on account of ancient ancestors or solar solstice alignments, but to honour the rich and ancient hunting grounds along this resting place on the migration route of the auroch.

a grassy field with rocks in it with Stonehenge in the background
Photo by Karen McKeogh on Unsplash

Hunting gave way to farming, guaranteeing vital survival supplies with less risk attached. The first evidence of the domestication of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs was found in the ‘Fertile Crescent;’ a region covering eastern Turkey, Iraq and south-western Iran from about 12000 years ago.

These farming practices spread westwards, and in time had a genetic effect on the human population, with the sudden appearance of a gene mutation that enabled humans to digest raw cow’s milk into adulthood. It’s not known when this first occurred, but it happened in Northern Europe, probably driven by the food challenges of longer colder winters. Today, an estimated 35 % of the adult human population can digest the milk sugar, lactose, mostly in Europe, while this is much lower in other countries and as many as 99% of Chinese people are lactose intolerant.

Bull Worship

The bull was considered a divine animal throughout antiquity; a symbol of the moon, fertility, rebirth, and royal power, while today, the Lithuanian word ‘taurus’ means ‘noble.’

There is evidence of bull cults throughout the Mediterranean starting in Anatolia, dating from at least 70000 BC. From the worship of the Apis bull in Egypt, to bull-leaping in Knossos and the sacrificial portrayal in Roman Mithraism, the bull has been an integral part of many diverse and important religious traditions. The High Priestess in the Tarot deck wears a two- horned or crescent moon crown with the full Moon in-between in token of Hathor, the cow goddess of Thebes (Egypt).

Smith Waite Tarot

Greek legend associated Taurus with the legend of Zeus and Europa, in which the god Zeus, up to his tricks yet again, disguised himself as a beautiful white bull, coaxed the princess Europa into climbing on his back, then swam away with her to Crete, and made her one of his mistresses, giving her the gift of a pet dog that later became the constellation Canis Major. Their children included Minos, King of Crete, the builder of the Labyrinth and the famous palace at Knossos where the bull games were held.

Bull worship; the concept of the bull as a divine concept, gradually migrated westwards and northwards. The Celtic druids held Tauric festivals at least 2000 years ago, and there is archaeological evidence of bull worship near Newcastle and York in northern England in the UK.

The Buddha was born when the Full Moon was in Taurus (Vesak.) The Buddha’s birthday is celebrated at the Vesak Festival which in 2024 will be celebrated on the day of the Full Moon May 23 based on the Vedic lunar calendar. Vesak day honours the day of the birth, the enlightenment, and the death of the Buddha and is considered a public holiday in South East Asia in countries including Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

shallow focus photo of Gautama Buddha figurine
Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash

The Taurus Archetype

All the zodiac signs represent archetypes, meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing. A zodiac sign paint a poetic portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season. A baby born in summer in either hemisphere arrives into a different physical environment from a winter baby; differences of temperature, hours of daylight, maternal diet during pregnancy and so on, with potentially different effects on the baby’s physical makeup and constitution.

As a fixed sign, Taurus rules anything associated with the mid- zone of spring, the height of the season. The other fixed signs are Leo, mid-summer, Scorpio, mid-autumn and Aquarius, mid-winter. The fixed signs are traditionally considered the most stable and steadfast signs, rooted in their ruling element, protectors of the status quo, the signs in tune with ancient things, the guardians of conservation and protecting continuity.

Taurus rules the ears, neck and throat. Taurus is known for its particularly pleasant or distinctive voice. Taurus may seem slower to learn compared with say, a mercurial, quicksilver Gemini native. But their grasp is both intuitive and thorough, and they possess an excellent memory. Once learned, never forgotten.

Taurus has an equable, pleasant, even magnetic personality, always excepting the grumpy, taciturn, self-opinionated natives. Taurus is known for a quiet style of physical attractiveness. Ruled by the Moon and Venus, these are sensual people. This sign especially needs to watch they don’t overdo the whole comfort thing, over-eating and so on. Taurus is a singer and a dancer. They have natural rhythm, but while they are strong and they have good stamina, they are not known as sporty types. This beautiful model is wearing the colours of Taurus.

woman in green and purple floral dress
Photo by Chalo Garcia on Unsplash

Taurus won’t be pushed about.  Many a bull has worn a ring through his nose for the safety of the farmer. Masters of passive resistance, notoriously resistant and stubborn, their strength and stability is the bright side of this same coin. Taurus has a gift of soothing and reassuring others, though, like a bull shaking off gadflies while chewing the cud, they can be irritable if you try to rush them, crowding them while their thoughts are elsewhere.

herd of brown and black bulls on brown sand
Photo by Kendall Ruth on Unsplash

Bulls cannot actually see the colour red. It’s the movement of the matador’s cape that provokes them in the bull ring, and not the colour. Taurus is slow to anger but rarely loses in a fair fight. The bull ring is not a fair fight. The bull is weakened by the picadors on horseback, injured before he meets the matador, who would have a far smaller chance of survival otherwise. Still, the matador requires superb courage to meet the mighty bull in an open space, and this is the chance for the bull to have his revenge for his death, a chance denied to other bulls who will go to the slaughter house.s

When the human bull ‘sees’ red they either dig in hard or else charge head on. Taurus in a full-on rage is a ‘bull in a china shop’ – the Earth sign that will withstand or demolish the opposition of  the other more famous ‘fighting’ signs, Aries, Leo, and even the famously lethal Scorpio, its opposite number in the zodiac. Other people get a shock when Taurus suddenly turns and starts lowering their head and hoofing the turf.  The mistake of the other person was in pushing the boundaries once too often, taking their good nature for granted.

If a Taurus is being unreasonable, or being a ‘bully,’ stay calm and quietly stand your ground.  Do as you would be done by, and more often than not, the typical Taurus will respond in kind.

Thank you for reading. Back soon with the story of the Decans, Taurus in the Tarot and the weather in Taurus season 2024…

The Lupercalia, Venus, Valentines and Vampires

Camasei-lupercales-prado.jpg
Painting Andrea Camassei 1635, Museo del Prado

Once upon a time there was a fertility festival called The Lupercalia. Men in wolf masks ran about the streets of Rome, and, in honour of the fertility god Lupercus, and in memory of the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus, would symbolically thrash (lightly touching) any women they met of child-bearing age. Any woman not wanting to be fertile had better stay indoors. But some would deliberately loiter in the streets, hoping to encounter the wolf men.

Later, Christianity claimed the festival originally held on February 15th, renaming it in memory of Valentine, a Christian physician who was beheaded in Rome after doing many a good turn to other people, including the daughter of his jailer, whom he apparently cured of blindness. The violent death of a well-disposed person on religious grounds. What could be more romantic? Another account tells us he was a priest who was conducting illegal marriages, at a time when Claudius 11 did not want military men to marry, because it deterred them from seeking active service overseas. This story makes more sense.

Valentine’s Day is nowadays an uber commercial-fest, but, still, it serves to remind us, if we ever needed a reminder, of the eternal power of that magical experience of the human condition – ‘that ol’ Devil called Love’.

The Devil card however, more truly speaks of infatuation than love. The Devil card in the Tarot speaks of passions and powerlessness. It betokens entrapment, frustration, and the urgent need to break free, even if the wish to escape is not there.

Scorpio gets the rap -or the credit-for all things sexy. But The Devil card of Capricorn also represents the nature god Pan, and the imperatives of our most earthy animal nature. And it is mighty powerful. In terms of human body chemistry, sexual passion might as well be regarded as an addiction.

Image from The Gilded Tarot Royale

The Energy of The Devil card

I have more than once encountered the experience of what we might term a psychic vampire, in my professional reading work. One such reading left me so physically drained I had to go straight to bed afterwards, where I slept like a stone all night, but not in a good way, feeling slightly unwell.

It stands to reason. The Devil is fear, and people can be very upset and worried when they come for reading. Sometimes this fear or worry is palpable. And so is obsession.

The client was a very pleasant person to read for, but she was struggling with ‘the ol’ Devil’ all right. She wanted another man but he was married. So was the lady. Her husband brought her to the reading to make sure she would be safe, and that I was who I said I was. Then he left and later returned to take her home.

This was an agreeable, congenial, good looking and glamorous lady, and I could tell from the cards that the other man in question had powerful charisma. Then I had a bolt from the blue, an outright ‘psychic’ moment, and I saw a picture of the man in my mind’s eye. I told the lady who I was ‘seeing’, and asked if this was the person we were discussing. This man was a well known circus and stage performer.

The lady was extremely shocked that I correctly guessed his identity. And so was I, actually. But so it goes sometimes. She said to me, rather sharply, “you know him!”

I did not.  I had never met him. and I knew nobody else who knew him. But he had a public profile, and all at once, looking down at my cards, I seemed to ‘see’ him standing behind her, looking out over her shoulder. These things happen every now and then, though I know readers far more clairvoyant than I am.

Would she get to be with this man for keeps? This was what the lady wanted to know. I felt she might get a taste of what she was hoping for. She might get a little more time with this man. But if she did, I had to tell her I could see no ‘happy ending.’ Sometimes, rightly or wrongly, we can only say what we do not see.

I hope she got free of this unhappy situation one way or another and was happy. But I doubt it. That man moved away to the U.S, to Las Vegas. I found that out because she must have given him my number. One day I got a call from the States from this man, using a different name, saying he “had heard about me, and he wanted to know his future.”

I didn’t let on that I knew who he really was, although his accent was an immediate alert. But I declined to do a reading then and there, just like that over the telephone, and recommended he find a local reader. It’s funny sometimes, how some people will deliberately mislead or misdirect a reader, but still expect to receive accurate feedback. If we can deliver that, then we can also see they are not playing straight with us, and no-one likes to feel they are being made a monkey of.

It is another curious thing, that often there will be a succession of readings all dealing with the same card as their main focus. It is almost as if The Everything is setting homework for the reader. The Devil turned up in the following three readings, and in each one we also drew the Moon card, signifying hunting, fantasy, dreams, emotional extremes. Obsession. Illusion.

Image from the Smith-Waite deck, U.S Systems

In each case, some poor soul was having a desperately unhappy time, struggling to let go of a romantic relationship, though they had decided that they must. They no longer felt wanted or respected, or welcome.

One such client was now in danger of starting to behave like a stalker, and I had to warn them against certain behaviours, although on none of these subsequent three occasions did I feel quite the same physical impact of the ‘show biz’ client.

Perhaps this was physical impact was only to be expected.  A showbiz  sized energy field is likely to carry a highly charged aura, to be anticipated in such readings, and when we talk about a vampire in real life, this is what we’re talking about. A habit, an encounter or a situation that can physically utterly drain your batteries on contact.

Blake 5 Whirlwind Of Lovers 5 Illustration To Dante S Inferno A4 Print - Picture 1 of 1
William Blake’s illustration, ‘A Whirlwind of Lovers’…from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Obsession Has Consigned the Lovers To A ‘Circle Of Hell’…in Tarot…captivity, servitude, an dependent, obsessional and un-free state of mind.

The Devil card drawn upside down or  Ill-Dignified, is usually better for being drawn upside-down, as this tends to say the worst is over, denoting clarity and self control, which is to say, liberation and the recovery of our equilibrium and the reclaiming of our personal sovereignty.

If you need to move on from a damaging personal relationship or a habit that’s proving harmful, this card is an encouraging sign when drawn reversed.

The Devil card is known, with justice, for its powerful negative aspects. It speaks of fear, frustration, anger, unhealthy habits, obsession and addiction, and the evil that can ensue from these things. Usually, the situation that it’s referring to could do with overturning.

The tough news is that it’s going to have to be us that overturns it. No-one else can do it. It is simply not in their power. Possibly too, there is no real solution as yet, and the situation meantime can only be managed or endured.  Now it is a case of damage limitation.

But The Devil isn’t all bad.

As an image of Pan, god of all wild creatures, rather than in its guise as Christianity’s Devil, this beastly card is still strong stuff, requiring careful handling.

But this is the power and the glory of Cardinal Earth. And the animals, however “red in tooth and claw”, are ultimately innocent.

Artist Helen Stratton 1914

The Devil can be one heck of a sexy beast. It is charisma. It is the drive and passion to create. It is our connection to our roots in earth and our general animal vitality – (steady tiger!) –  a strong glue for keeping relationships together over the long haul. And as they say, a little of what you fancy does you good.

The anger of The Devil comes in handy, is downright necessary, when you find yourself dealing with disrespect or downright nastiness.  Let that Devil look out of your eyes, as you politely say ‘Excuse me?’

Subtext.  ‘You better back off.’

If your inner Devil can clear some cr*p out of your space, there’s nothing the matter with that. Let him off the leash.

No. The Devil is not all bad. The challenge is to keep him in his place and not feed him too often. Just watch for the signs and make sure it’s your devil, or your cheeky imp, that’s under control, locked up inside that cage.

And not you.  

gray concrete lion statue on gray concrete floor
Photo by Anna on Unsplash

Meantime, Venus, the planet of love, beauty, luxury, fashion and finance leaves behind our friend Pan, The Devil of Capricorn, and meet up with Pluto in Aquarius today or tomorrow depending where you are in the world. The dates for this transit are February 16 to March 11.

Venus needs a bit of fresh air. She loves you. She loves everyone, but at a bit of a distance. Lucky colours for a bit of added Venus power during this transit: white and soft silver, hot cobalt blues, soft shades of lavender and aqua.

a bust of a woman with a group of lamps above her
Photo by Yura Timoshenko on Unsplash

Thank you for reading.

Back soon.  

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