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Consultations Now Available Via Skype -- Worldwide Toll-Free Calling!
Now that we're both set up on Skype, you no longer need to be concerned about long-distance charges incurred during a telephone consultation. Skype's free software allows anyone with a high-speed Internet connection and a PC mic to call any other Skype user in the world. It's absolutely free, and the calls sound great!
Our Skype addresses are benjamin.bernstein and mary.oshannon. (Don't worry if you forget them - they appear as part of the contact information at the bottom of every page of our website, www.ItsAllGoodAstrology.com.) To learn more about Skype, click here.
We can also make toll-free calls to all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico on our regular telephone. So clients who live there have two ways to work with us, with no worries about long-distance charges.
We always look forward to working with you - however you choose to communicate!
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Benjamin to Lecture at World's Biggest Astrology Conference!
Benjamin is honored to have been selected as a "Free Speech" lecturer at UAC, the United Astrology Conference. Held in Denver May 15-20, UAC is co-sponsored by five major astrology organizations (AFAN, ACVA, CVA, ISAR & NCGR), and is expected to be the largest astrology conference ever held! Benjamin will lecture on "Light Speed Astrology: Diving into the Heart of the Chart."
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This Week in Astrology: Now the Most Popular Astrology Podcast of Any Kind!
Benjamin's This Week in Astrology podcast has reached another milestone. Thanks to large numbers of new listeners from around the world subscribing in December, the show has jumped from being the most popular Western astrology podcast to being the most popular iTunes astrology podcast of any kind. Many thanks to those of you who subscribed!
Another change is that Spiritsong is now making guest appearances on the show. She added her interpretive insights on two shows in December, and plans to continue adding her silky voice to the mix now and again. Current and past episodes are always available for free listening on your computer or digital music player at www.ThisWeekInAstrology.com.
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Come "Embody the Planetary Gods" at AFOA Jan. 22!
"Archetypal Astrology: Embodying the Planetary Gods" will be the experiential workshop featured at the January 2008 meeting of the Asheville Friends of Astrology on Tuesday, Jan. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. The love offering workshop will be held in the Earth Fare Westgate Community Room, 66 Westgate Parkway in Asheville, NC.
It will be presented by New York City astrologer, Jungian psychotherapist, author and metaphysician Sherene Schostak, M.A. "The aim of this workshop," she says, "is to take astrology down from the mental realms and into embodied experience of the planetary energies through myth, metaphor and movement.
Everyone is welcome. For more information, visit AshevilleFriendsOfAstrology.org or call Kim at 828-628-4007.
AFOA's meetings are usually on the fourth Tuesday of each month at Earth Fare Westgate. If you'd like to be added to AFOA's email list, email KimMannine@aol.com.
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Celestial Forecast for January 2008
by Benjamin Bernstein
Whatever your sun sign, this forecast will help you choose how to best use each month's astrological energies! Events are most powerful on the dates listed. However, their influence will be active for at least several days before and after. All dates and times are in the U.S. eastern time zone.
While everyone is affected by these global transits, you will be most powerfully impacted when moving planets activate natal planets and other sensitive points in your birth chart.
BONUS! To read Benjamin's sun sign column in the January issue of Aquarius (the Southeast's largest metaphysical/holistic publication), click here.
1/1. A business-friendly GRAND TRINE peaked yesterday, composed of three planets with financial themes: Saturn, Ceres and the Capricornian Sun. The fact that the Grand Trine is in earth -- the element most associated with business and money -- adds to its power. You can ride this energy to success 12/24 thru 1/6. Not so financially focused? You can still enjoy the Grand Trine's grounding and stabilizing effect.
NOTE: There's another business-friendly Grand Trine that lasts all month, and then some! See the 1/21 entry for details.
1/2. Are you feeling lucky? Try not to hear Clint Eastwood saying it, because, with Jupiter quintiling Uranus, it's a real possibility today! Jupiter is the planet most associated with good fortune, Uranus can bring sudden and unexpected events, and the quintile is the angle of magic and divine inspiration. With Jupiter in Capricorn, however, it may take some effort on your part to bring potential blessings into full manifestation.
Great power can be unleashed -- for good or ill -- with today's Mars-Pluto opposition. Rather than giving in to its dark side -- violence, anger, volcanic rage -- you can choose instead to make a powerful and positive new beginning. With Mars in Gemini, energized learning, teaching and writing could all be great choices.
1/6. A Venus-Saturn square is always good for some relationship challenges. This is never fun, but it is very useful for bringing problems to light so they can be worked through, and it's also good for identifying relationships that may have outlived their usefulness. Venus also quintiles Neptune today, joining the two most creative planets with the angle of creativity! Possible combined effects of these two Venus aspects include easily receiving intuitive insights that can heal relationship issues and being motivated to work diligently at manifesting your creative visions. It's also a great day to work with the Law of Attraction!
Communication may not be easy today -- not with Mercury in tight-lipped Capricorn quincunxing retrograde Mars in Gemini. Be prepared to make whatever adjustments are necessary to get important conversations started.
1/7. Mercury enters Aquarius today for an unusually long stay through March 14 (prolonged by its Aquarian retrograde 1/28 through 2/18). This is a time when intuitive flashes can come more easily -- Mercury represents rational mind, while Aquarius represents the instantaneous insights that our limited human brains can receive from omniscient Higher Mind.
1/8. This month's NEW MOON occurs at 6:37 a.m. U.S. eastern time at 17°33' Capricorn. It's a great time to set new plans in motion around work, productivity and being recognized for your efforts.
1/9. The first of two GOLDEN YODS in January peaks today, with quintiling Saturn and Mars both biquintiling Mercury. Golden Yods make it easier to receive divine inspiration and access heightened levels of creativity. In this case, learning, writing, and communicating (Mars in Gemini, Mercury at the Golden Yod's apex) get the juice, while Saturn in Virgo will help you bring structure to what you're doing. This Golden Yod is active the 8th thru the 11th.
1/11. With Venus sextile Chiron, it's a good time to fine-tune relationships or creativity. It's also a good time to "sit at the feet of the master."
1/12. I hope you're not too attached to any fine-tuning you did in your relationships or creativity yesterday -- with Venus square Uranus, all bets are off if it's time for a new paradigm shift! Deliberately set aside some quiet time to receive intuitive flashes in these areas, or they may be hard to receive. (Click here for my article on how to channel information from your Higher Self.) And have the courage to act on the intuitive insights you receive, even if you initially resist them.
1/13. Communication could be little challenging today (Mercury quincunx Saturn), so be willing to make the extra effort to understand and be understood. With that in mind, the energies of two separate aspects (Venus biquintile Ceres, Mars quintile Saturn) indicate that it can be a great time for doing business.
1/16. Here are three great ways to use today's Venus-Neptune sextile: receive creative inspiration, deepen your relationship with your Higher Self, or deepen a soul-level connection with a physically incarnate being.
1/17. The annual conjunction of Mercury and Chiron is always a great time for organizing your mind, or the things you've created with it (writing, for example). Because they're coming together in Aquarius, be sure to leave room for the occasional right-brain intuitive flash in the midst of all that left-brain logic!
1/19. The classic relationship planets (Venus and Mars), come together today in the angle of relationship (the opposition). Under this energy, relationships can be initiated, empowered, adjusted and/or ended. Whichever of these directions you may be leaning in, I would take Mars' current retrograde into account and reflect carefully before taking action.
1/20. The Sun enters Aquarius today, radiating the energy of individualism, humanitarianism, genius and "letting your freak flag fly" until it enters Pisces on February 19.
1/21. A business-friendly and unusually long-lived GRAND TRINE peaks today, at the same time as two of its members, Jupiter and Saturn, make their trine exact. (The third planet is Ceres.) This grand trine lasts from December 31 through February 3.
Why is this Grand Trine is so good for commercial activity? For starters, all three planets are in earth, the element most powerfully associated with business. In addition, all the planets have obvious business associations: Jupiter and Saturn are the workhorses of business astrology, while Ceres carries the Taurean meaning of money earned through your own efforts. Finally, the Grand Trine configuration means that all these energies flow together easily. By applying consistent effort to your business endeavors, even if it doesn't always seem necessary, you can be sure to milk this potentially rewarding energy for all it's worth!
1/22. January's other GOLDEN YOD peaks today. The back end -- a Saturn-Mars quintile -- is the same as the one that peaked on the 9th, but they're now sending biquintiles to the Aquarian Sun instead of Mercury. Making time for spirituality and/or creativity should boost your vitality while this Golden Yod is active, especially if you do these things in exactly the way that they best fit you. This Golden Yod is active the 19th thru the 23rd.
January's FULL MOON occurs today at 8:35 a.m. U.S. eastern time at 1°54' Leo. Consider how" full-filled" you are in shining your creativity or leadership into the world, as well as how much you're interacting with kids, taking enough time to relax and have fun, and engaging in appropriate levels of calculated risk. Make adjustments as needed.
Mercury conjuncts Neptune today. To whatever degree your thinking seems fuzzy or clouded, the same degree of opportunity exists to receive the flow of intuitive certainty. Bottom line: try to let your Higher Self do the thinking today!
1/24. It's all about Venus today, as she both conjuncts Pluto and enters Capricorn through February 17. One combined impact of these events can be to transform relationships to make them more productive, or release them altogether if they prove impractical. There are also strong financial possibilities: Venus can stand for money, just as Pluto can represent massive wealth. Put them together in Capricorn -- the sign of doing business -- and the sky's the limit!
This period of enhanced financial opportunity is actually extended, since Venus "carries" Pluto's energy over to Jupiter thru February 1. But, as with all transits, these energies work best when you consciously use them to make something happen!
1/25. PLUTO'S ENTRY INTO CAPRICORN, which begins today, is probably the most important astrological event of 2008. (See the article in the right column for much more on this subject.) When Pluto changes signs -- which only happens every 12 to 20 years -- it signals profound transformations in the areas of life which relate to that sign.
Just look at one example of what's happened since Pluto made its prior sign change, entering Sagittarius in 1995. One thing Sagittarius represents is religion. Since 1995, the Catholic Church has weathered a huge scandal involving the sexual abuse of children by priests, and numerous fundamentalist megachurch preachers have been ruined by scandal. (Pluto loves to bring hidden dirty doings out into the light!) In a more positive vein, there has been an ever-accelerating sea change in how more and more people now approach spirituality, abandoning more intellectual or emotional approaches in favor of direct, conscious and transformative union with Spirit.
So what can we expect as Pluto transits Capricorn for the next 16 years? For one thing, even more exposure of the hidden dirty doings of big business - the huge multinationals, in particular. Capricorn also represents the underlying structure of things - it rules the skeleton, for example - and is an earth sign. Thus, Capricorn can represent the core structure of the Earth itself. Pluto, representing death and rebirth, gives a clear and sobering message at this critical moment in history: either humans need to positively restructure how they interact with the global ecosystem, or death and destruction on a cataclysmic scale will result. And there is no guarantee that humans will be among the surviving species.
Heavy stuff, I know, but Capricorn is a no-nonsense, let's-deal-with-the-facts kind of sign, and it is not Pluto's habit to sugarcoat hard truths. Let's just hope that the United States, China and the other major contributors to climate change quickly embrace the radical paradigm shifts needed to ensure that the Earth continues to possess a habitable ecosystem.
1/27. If you're milking Venus' financial and business possibilities (see 1/24), then be especially attentive to any flashes of inspiration as Venus quintiles Uranus today. Otherwise, Uranus' intuitive flashes are more likely to contain insights related to creativity or relationships.
1/28. MERCURY RETROGRADE. Mercury is back (and backing!) for a three-week retrograde, lasting from 3:31 p.m. U.S. eastern time today (around 24° Aquarius) until 9:58 p.m. on 2/18, where The Trickster shifts into drive again (around 8° Aquarius). As always, communications, technology and travel are more prone to glitches during this time, and it's best not to start major new projects if you can avoid it. You can use this time positively by reflecting on how well you're fulfilling your core needs, reassessing your technological tools, and meditating on how you can contribute more to the common good.
1/29. It's nice to have a transit once in a while that specifically about stabilizing relationships! That's a great way to use today's Venus-Saturn trine. Creative types can also use it to groove into some consistent productivity.
1/30. MARS GOES DIRECT today, finishing a two-and-a-half-month retrograde that started on 11/15. Taken in isolation, this represents a green light to kick into gear with all the plans you've been cooking up since mid-November. Personally, however, I'd wait at least until 2/19 when Mercury is direct again!
QUICK GLOSSARY OF ASTROLOGICAL ASPECTS
Conjunction. Two planets in the same place (0° apart). Union; merging.
Opposition. Two planets opposite each other (180º apart). Opposition; relationship.
Square. 90° angle. Conflict; challenge for growth.
Trine. 120° angle. Easy, flowing connection.
Sextile. 60° angle. Flowing, high-energy connection.
Quincunx. 150° angle. Difficulty making connection; adjustment required.
Quintile. 72° angle. Inspiring, creative connection.
Biquintile. 144° angle. Like a quintile, but more subtle.
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In Closing
Thanks for taking the time to read this. We welcome your comments on both the content and the new format. May the stars light your way!
Be well,
Benjamin Bernstein & Spiritsong
Holistic Astrologers
It's All Good Astrology
"Take Charge of Your Destiny"
828-658-9073 / 800-461-3569 (Benjamin) or 828-777-6688 (Spiritsong)
www.ItsAllGoodAstrology.com
benjamin@ItsAllGoodAstrology.com; mary@SpiritsongOasis.com
Skype: benjamin.bernstein (Benjamin), mary.oshannon (Spiritsong)
Benjamin hosts the This Week in Astrology podcast. Discover how you can make the best use of the current planetary energies while deepening your knowledge of astrology!
"Insightful and inspiring! The passion you have for astrology, combined with the thoughtful and compassionate way you share the information, is awesome. It's like therapy and career counseling and someone reading a blueprint of your life all at once!" - Anna B, Weaverville, NC |
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Forecast for 2008 and Beyond: Pluto in Capricorn!
by Benjamin Bernstein
The big astrological news in 2008 is Pluto's entry into Capricorn. I wrote a few lines about it in my January forecast, since it begins on January 25 (click here to read that entry now on our website). But Pluto will still be nostalgic for its Sagittarian years: it will retrograde back into Sagittarius on June 14, then re-enter Capricorn to stay (through 2024, anyway) on November 26.
In my January 25 entry, I focused on the dirty secrets of big business being exposed, as well as it being "make or break" time for the global community to deal with the world's environmental crisis. However, Pluto in Capricorn has many more ramifications. And this critical sign change sets a world-changing chain of events into motion that extends well beyond 2008.
Let's start by examining the archetypal energies we're dealing with. Pluto is the planet of transformation, death and rebirth. Metaphors for its processes include a phoenix burning to ash and resurrecting, a snake shedding its skin, and a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly. Pluto can also represent tremendous power and/or wealth.
Capricorn is the sign of existing institutions and structures, including big business, governments and established religions. It's inherently conservative, traditional and resistant to change. Its shadow side can be cold, dictatorial, and ruthless, believing that the ends justify the means. Its more evolved qualities include integrity, commitment, and perseverance, as well as being the "wise elder."
Some historical perspective is also helpful. Pluto orbits the sun about every 250 years, so a quarter of a millennium elapses between its passes through Capricorn. The last time it was there was from 1762 to 1778, during the American Revolution. The time before that, 1516-1533, Martin Luther's Protestant revolt created a religious and political crisis for Emperor Charles V and the Catholic Church. No matter how far back we go in recorded history, Pluto in Capricorn periods correspond with revolutionary changes to the existing world order.
This will also be true for us. The powers that be, however, never go down without a fight. Pluto and Capricorn do have some things in common - they both love being in control, for example - and so we can expect more of the "Big Brother" style surveillance and invasion of privacy already spreading through the United States and other countries such as Great Britain. (Saturn can also bring fear - of terrorism and other real and imagined threats - to justify government's systematic erosion of our fundamental civil liberties.) Government will seem to believe that, in order for freedom to be kept safe, it must be locked away.
The forces of authoritarianism and ever-increasing government control are likely to gain power through about May of 2010. On May 27 of that year, however, Uranus brings the planetary energy of revolution and paradigm shift out of its seven-year stint in Pisces (dreaming, visualizing and imagining) into Aries (the leader or warrior taking impulsive action). At that point, we may well experience the start of something resembling another American Revolution in order to set our ship of state on a more enlightened course.
This idea is also supported by the fact that Uranus is aspecting three planets in the United States' natal chart around that time (Pluto, the moon and Mercury), and conjuncting the nadir! (I'm using the Sibley chart for the U.S.) The U.S. is also about to undergo the most powerful Pluto transits it has experienced since the 20's and 30's: between now and 2015, Pluto will oppose the United States' Venus, Jupiter and Sun. Venus and Jupiter rule the U.S. midheaven and ascendant - powerful and public points - and the Sun is the core of identity and vitality.
These Pluto transit alone are enough to guarantee that the U.S. will be profoundly transformed over the next seven years. My feeling is that we will emerge a more humble country, either by choice or because the rest of the world finally gets fed up with us! Hopefully, we will move away from the arrogant "cowboy diplomacy" of recent years, and will instead adopt the spirit of harmony and cooperation that has become so essential for the well-being of the global community.
The Pluto oppositions just discussed are unique to the United States, but Uranus' entry into Aries will have a global impact. Other countries and institutions will experience revolutionary events relevant to their particular situations.
By 2010, Uranus and Pluto will already have been radiating some of the energy of their impending square (a 90° angle of challenge for growth). These two planets create revolutionary transformation and powerful paradigm shift whenever their energies connect. This happened most recently when they were conjunct from 1964 through 1966, a time when the revolutionary fervor of the 60's shifted into high gear. (Their prior conjunction coincided with the French Revolution!)
Uranus and Pluto will make seven exact squares to each other from 2012 through 2015, wiping out old structures of all kinds that have outlived their usefulness. A square is much more dynamic and challenging than a conjunction, so this wrecking ball effect may make the 60's look tame by comparison!
This may sound scary, but look at the stakes. Nothing less than a radical shift in how the global powers-that-be operate - be they governments or multinational corporations - will be sufficient to save the planet from an environmental catastrophe too horrible to contemplate. Archaic assumptions that have held sway for hundreds of years must fall by the wayside if mankind, as well as most of Earth's remaining species, is to survive. These include the outmoded ideas of endless economic growth, unrestrained population expansion, and mankind's right to exploit Gaia's resources without regard to future consequences or future generations.
Some people hope for a miraculous rescue. It could be that, when the Mayan calendar ends on the Winter Solstice of 2012, mankind will experience a quantum leap into a more enlightened state of consciousness. (To hear my free lecture on that subject, "The Astrology of 2012," click here.) Or maybe the alien motherships will finally descend from the skies to save us from ourselves.
I could more easily believe in such a deus ex machina if Pluto was in Pisces, the sign of saviors. But Pluto will be in Capricorn, the sign of sweat equity, hard work and keeping your nose to the grindstone. Its spiritual motto could be, "God helps those who help themselves." If 2012 does mark an evolutionary leap, I believe that the exact nature of that transformation will be shaped by what mankind has done, individually and collectively,
up until that moment to raise its vibration. At this point in human history, more so than ever before, the work each of us does to awaken ourselves can profoundly benefit humanity as a whole.
What else can one person do when faced with such daunting astrological energies? Let's take some inspiration from Pluto itself. It's a tiny planet - not even that, if you accept its new "dwarf planet" classification. And it's nowhere near the heart of the action - so far out in the boonies of the solar system that the Sun hardly looks brighter than any other star.
Yet Pluto is astrology's most powerful transiting planet. Its diminutive size demonstrates that small things can be very powerful. It does, after all, rule plutonium, a tiny amount of which can either power a city or obliterate it. In the same way, one person - working with Capricornian discipline and Plutonian obsessiveness - can make a huge impact during this time. By doing whatever you are most called to do - however insignificant it might seem - you will be playing your perfect part in a leaderless web of perfect synchronicity. (For more on this idea, I highly recommend Daniel Quinn's empowering book Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure. And as long as you're book shopping, pick up Richard Tarnas' Cosmos and Psyche [click here for my review], which presents compelling evidence of the outer planets' powerful effect on human history.)
Pluto's entry into Capricorn isn't the only significant astrological news of 2008, although it is by far the most important. Jupiter will be making three sextiles to Uranus, on March 28, May 21 and November 13. The periods around these dates will be times when following your intuitive flashes will bring you enhanced good fortune. You would also do well to heed any lightning strikes of sudden illumination regarding religion, foreign travel, higher education, publishing or politics.
However, the astrological event that I would rank second in importance to Pluto entering Capricorn is Saturn's opposition to Uranus. It occurs on November 4, the day of the American presidential elections! It represents the struggle between Saturn (conservatism, business as usual) and Uranus (revolution, paradigm shift). This opposition, which will occur five times between November 4, 2008 and July 26, 2010, will serve to open chinks in the armor of the powers-that-be, and will pave the way for the revolutionary shifts (Uranus entering Aries, Uranus square Pluto) that we've already covered.
So what can you do to make the best of 2008's Plutonian challenges? The bottom line is to stay open to change. As I tell my clients who are having powerful Pluto transits, the more you resist transformation at such times, the more you suffer. The more you embrace change - even if it's frightening and you can't see where it's leading - the more empowered you become.
Pluto can be experienced as cruel and greedy people and institutions conspiring against you, or as a river of divine power that flows through you. And that river is always strongest when you allow your actions to be guided by your inner wisdom. As with any astrological energy, you can use it or be used by it. The choice is yours.
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