Full Moon in Aries – 10/11/11

Oct 11, ’11 2:53 PM

I moved to New York City six years ago today. I am indeed one of the vilified Midwestern Transplants, having fled a flyover state to denser Eastern pastures. What was I looking for? It was quite simple, really. I wanted nothing more than to find a partner, be in a band, and work in publishing. And six years later, I find all three of those dreams have come true. I branded them personal dreams, but in truth, all three of them came out of a place of needing something to fulfill me that could only come from others.

They say no man is an island. We human beings need others desperately, as they need us. But often we fling ourselves too far to the Other side of things, becoming quite dependent, sitting atop of society, expecting it to lift us up. But as the other cliché goes (which I choose to purposely un-deify), the World helps those who help themselves. The World would prefer a human being who has taken its assistance and actually done something with it. The full moon in Aries is the perfect time to reflect on the self-society interdependency.

I joke that Aries is the screaming baby of the zodiac. It is truly so: Aries is first, and were it to find itself in any other place in the circle, it would kick and scream its way up to the front. It forges headlong into the world, thinking little of consequences or barriers that may stand in its way. But of course we who are privy to the zodiac know that Aries functions as a mere figurehead, as something that we needed to put in place for lack of a true “beginning.” Blame our human inability to grasp the logic of a universe that has always existed and will always exist, even after we have passed on. But while we’re here, we must believe that our individual existence is necessary. This is the fulfillment of the promise made during the New Moon in Libra: That of the infant ego, on this earth to grow up to fulfill its deeply personal, individual promise.

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Sun in Virgo (8/23 – 9/22) – The Welcome Mix

Aug 23, ’11 11:06 AM

Virgo 2011 – The Welcome Mix **click to listen, right click/control+click to download

Welcome to the Sun in Virgo. That just so happens to be my sign, and I just so happen to be a musician, so I’m particularly excited about this mix. We Virgos are often accused of being rather precise in our playing…not necessarily very creative, or at the very least, dependent upon the shine of others (a la Alice Coltrane, a regrettable omission — I couldn’t find a song short enough to include in this mix of “pop” songs). But if you listen closely, you notice a warm self deprecation in these songs. Yes, constantly working towards the labor and/or pleasure of others gets old. But that’s the stereotype of the Virgo coming through, and we Virgos are nothing if not perceptive of the world around us. In other words, it’s your fault we’re so maladjusted, not ours. :) Enjoy!

Elvis Costello - Welcome To the Working Week
Elastica - Connection
Barry White - Never, Never Gonna Give You Up
Pulp - Babies
Michael Jackson - Human Nature
The Birthday Party - Mr. Clarinet
The Cardigans - Lovefool
Belle & Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
Cocteau Twins - Lorelei
Maureen Tucker - I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Dinah Washington - Send Me To The Lectric Chair
Hank Williams - Take These Chains From My Heart
Leonard Cohen - Stranger Song
Wilco - Ashes Of American Flags
Cass Elliot - Love Was Not a Word
Mirah - While We Have the Sun

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Arthur Rimbaud, Libra

Aug 22, ’11 2:25 PM

Arthur Rimbaud

“I is another. Too bad for the wood which finds itself a violin, and brush off the oblivious, who quibble over things they know nothing about!” – Arthur Rimbaud, Libra

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Ted Hughes, Leo

Aug 17, ’11 5:57 PM

Ted Hughes

I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.

Inaction, no falsifying dream

Between my hooked head and hooked feet:

Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.

The convenience of the high trees!

The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray

Are of advantage to me;

And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.

My feet are locked upon the rough bark.

It took the whole of Creation

To produce my foot, my each feather:

Now I hold Creation in my foot

Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly -

I kill where I please because it is all mine.

There is no sophistry in my body:

My manners are tearing off heads -

The allotment of death.

For the one path of my flight is direct

Through the bones of the living.

No arguments assert my right:

The sun is behind me.

Nothing has changed since I began.

My eye has permitted no change.

I am going to keep things like this.

- “Hawk Roosting” by Ted Hughes

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Full Moon in Aquarius – 8/13/11

Aug 13, ’11 8:45 PM

Saturday the 13th. That’s a bit what tonight’s Full moon in Aquarius might feel like. So what of that famed Aquarian eccentricity? And doesn’t its unique presence in the world contradict its humanitarian streak? Can you be both a humanitarian and a fierce individualist? Well, you probably already know that the modern ruler of Aquarius is Uranus, the first planet discovered through means of technological innovation (the telescope, that is!). What you may not realize is that Aquarius has another side to it, which can be explained by pointing to its esoteric ruler: Saturn. Saturn invites the individual to get in line with the others. A contradiction indeed.

But we can already see that the individual must be developed in order for it to assimilate itself within society. Just like we had to prepare for today’s full Moon by meditating on the previous New Moon in Leo, the sign of self-expression. Had we not taken the time to develop ourselves, society would be composed of a whole bunch of followers. The leader must first develop in order to follow appropriately. Each of us has a leader and a follower within.

Tonight’s Full Moon implores us to think of what which makes us human. But not what makes us merely general, but what makes us both human as a being that shares being with others, and as an individual subject. Doing things for some “greater good” isn’t an emptying out of self in order to achieve a higher state of being; you’re doing good for you as well. After all, you live in the world along with the rest of the individuals you see around you. Each shares, and yet sets one another apart. Tonight, we’ll have a little bit of both.

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Mercury Retrograde – 8/2 – 8/26

Aug 2, ’11 7:40 PM

Hermes Mercury

Picture it: An astrologer consults his ephemeris and notices that Mercury is about to go retrograde. What does he do? In my case, I decided to play it safe. And no, I didn’t retreat back to my new home (although my Cancer Ascendent would have quite enjoyed that). I didn’t cancel any of my remaining summertime plans. I didn’t do anything of the sort. I decided to go to the DMV. You see, my driver’s license was about to expire, and while I never drive anymore (this is New York City…you don’t need a car!), I do live in fear of anything going awry with my daily matters. So I went and got in line, and everything ran smoothly. In fact, this Virgo arrived overly prepared. Apparently I didn’t need a passport, social security card, two pieces of mail proving my new address…

Renewing a license is a wonderful Mercury Retrograde activity. Mercury Retrograde is all about tying up loose ends. Can you think of a better loose end to tie up than a rapidly-expiring drivers license? Yes, it may have flown directly in the face of all that beginning-of-the-week New Moon Leo grandiosity. It had the potential to expand, broaden, and further our potential for personal growth. And I certainly hope that you ceased the day. But now it’s time to get the proverbial drivers license renewed.

I think I’ve said this before, but just to reiterate: Mercury retrograde periods aren’t bad. What you’ll find over the next 3 weeks is that a whole little will go wrong. I realize that won’t make the heart attack over a temporarily crashed server any less real. It just means that the universe will give you small opportunities to slow down the rapidly accelerating pace. Especially in this world of constant connection, it’s essential to take a break. So by all means, take a mental breather. You may even take a trip, so long as the itinerary isn’t particularly complicated.

Mercury is currently in the early part of Virgo, indicating that the beginning of this retrograde cycle will be taken to details, skill sharpening, and responsibilities. It will then retreat back to Leo on the 8th, creating an opportunity for self expression. Anything left unsaid over the past month should come out. Typically, you shouldn’t “start” anything new under Mercury retrograde, so it would be best to revisit projects already started, or projects you plan to start in the near future. The golden opportunity is at hand.

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Bertrand Russell, Taurus

Aug 2, ’11 11:33 AM

“When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself ONLY, ‘What are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out?’[…] That is the intellectual thing that I wish to say. The moral thing I should wish to say is very simple. I should say: ‘Love is wise, hatred is foolish.’ […] If we are to live together and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.” – Philosopher (and Taurus) Bertrand Russell with a Venusian message of love and tolerance, aimed at us, the people of the future.

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New Moon in Leo – 7/30/11

Jul 30, ’11 1:35 PM

Today at 2:16 AM, the Moon tumbled into the Sun in the sign under which it’s most comfortable: Leo. In their book The Luminaries, Liz Green and Howard Sasportas explain that during the second half of the lunation cycle (from full to new Moon), the Moon acts as if it’s a world-weary traveler, ready to return home. You know the feeling: After a long journey of sight-seeing, suitcase full of dirty laundry, camera filled to its digital capacity, body tired of all that walking, you’re ready to go home.

So as the Moon arrives back at the Sun, its proverbial filling station, think of what needs refueling. Surely the events of recent days have you feeling spent. Our country has quite literally spent all that it can. Of course America thinks that it can spend more, do more, expand more. (It must be its Sagittarian ascendent…) But there is some insight that we can glean from this attitude: Complacency with what one has is not always good. But it goes without saying that we need to strike a balance.

Whether we realize it or not, a creative act is not only something that we do with paints and a canvas, or ink and paper. We do many things each and every day that we’d normally designate as automatic functions that are creative. The manner in which we walk, speak, or act are all creative. We always put our own spin on something. It is the style with which we live our lives that makes us all unique. If you think of it this way, the “greater” creative acts such as painting or writing, become relegated to a level of work. What we say and do in between the major events that make up our greater creative selves.

During the New Moon in Leo, it is imperative that we reflect on how we wish to express ourselves. Whether the project be big or small, public or private, we all have a Self that calls out for expression. And the mood is such that we’re all in it together. Leo has a way of achieving a sense of utter honesty. So just know that whatever looms in the forefront of your mind will not be judged harshly by the rest of the world. The audience, the world, awaits your performance.

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Claude Lévi-Strauss, Sagittarius

Jul 25, ’11 10:00 AM

Claude Lévi-Strauss

“. . . luck, chance, and talent are of no avail, and the man who wishes to wrest something from Destiny must venture into that perilous margin-country where the norms of Society count for nothing and the demands and guarantees of the group are no longer valid. He must travel to where the police have no sway, to the limits of physical resistance and the far point of physical and moral suffering. Once in this unpredictable borderland a man may vanish, never to return; or he may acquire for himself, from among the immense repertory of unexploited forces which surrounds any well-regulated society, some personal provision of power; and when this happens an otherwise inflexible social order may be cancelled in favour of the man who has risked everything . . . Society as a whole teaches its members that their only hope of salvation, within the established social order, lies in an absurd, and despairing attempt to get free of that order.” – Claude Lévi-Strauss, Sagittarius

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Sun in Leo (7/22-8/22) – The Welcome Mix

Jul 23, ’11 1:37 AM

Leo

Leo 2011 – The Welcome Mix **click to listen, right click/control+click to download

Welcome to the Sun in Leo. You can feel that sun right now, can’t you? It’s burning us from its very core. That’s the whole point, really. We’re meant to feel the radiance of the sun in all of its life-giving power. And the Leos represented on this mix should provide an adequate representation of that power: the power of the self, unedited, unbridled, and at center stage. And it should be noted how many of these songs show the Leo artist preoccupied by the very human, heroic experience of love. It’s the one remaining human function that even the Lion can’t fight its way out of. You’ll see how much the Leo finds this inspiring. Enjoy!

The Ronettes – Be My Baby
Public Enemy – Bring The Noise
Madonna – Burning Up
The Rolling Stones – Street Fighting Man
Isaac Hayes – Do Your Thing
The Crystals – He’s A Rebel
Felt – My Darkest Light Will Shine
Galaxie 500 – When Will You Come Home
Elliott Smith – Between The Bars
Kate Bush – Cloudbusting
Kristin Hersh – Your Ghost
Jim Reeves – I Can’t Stop Loving You
Edith Frost – Easy to Love
Connie Converse – Man in the Sky
Sonic Youth – Madonna, Sean, And Me

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