It’s Friday the 13th—Freya’s special day! Forget that nonsense about bad luck. Somewhere in heaven, Freya is riding joyously in her cat-drawn chariot, heading to meet her beloved consort Od, the god of ecstasy. Before the Church cast its gloomy superstitions on Friday the 13th, this was a pagan festival day, devoted to guiltless indulgence in pleasure and love-making. Both the number 13 and Friday are sacred to the goddess. Fish are among her sacred animals. Eating fish on Friday was considered an aphrodisiac and fertility charm before this tradition was coopted by the Church. Today I hope you feel inspired to invent a few pagan rituals of your own!

I’m pleased to have Mary Pat Lynch as my guest blogger for this wonderful cross-quarter holiday.

Beltane is one of the four great Fire Festivals in the fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. In the ancient Celtic calendar, Beltane is a hinge ushering in the light half of the year, a time of fertility and abundance. In the standard calendar, Beltane is May 1. Astronomically, Beltane is May 5, when the Sun reaches the middle of Taurus, at its 15th degree. Celebrations include bonfires lit to honor the solar god Belos, rites of cleansing and purification, and rites to bring fertility to the land, to animals, and to the people.

This year’s Beltane season promises to be powerful indeed. The Sun may be in peaceful Taurus but five planets continue to blaze in Aries. In the Beltane chart, Uranus the Awakener is first, followed by Venus conjunct Mercury, and Jupiter conjunct Mars. The bonfire is alight!

At this time, the veils between the worlds are thin, the land of Faery is close at hand, and magic abounds. White hawthorn blooms, whose branches are cut but not brought indoors, for this flower of May belongs to the Fae. Now everything gestated during the winter is born, desires are made manifest, the unconscious emerges into the light. Venus and Mercury together are expressive, Jupiter and Mars are active, Mars exactly trines the North Node energizing our life path.

The past weeks have brought the challenges of Aries––irritations, miscommunication, anger, headaches, accidents––with an almost overwhelming energy. This Sunday, as the lusty month of May arrives and Beltane begins, we are invited to flow that energy into exuberant celebrations of Spring. Throw open the doors and dance with fairies in the fields.

During this Beltane, find your joy. Connect with whatever brings you alive. Be juicy! Where is Aries in your birth chart? With so many planets in Aries now, something new and exciting wants to happen there. Saturn remains in Libra, opposite Aries, but remember one of his roles is to make things real. The Taurus New Moon is also part of this Beltane season, a time of planting seeds in fertile soil. Celebrate the fiery energy of Spring!

“It loved to happen” ––Marcus Aurelius

Mary Pat Lynch combines archetypal astrology with the Tarot, dreamwork, and shamanic practice, exploring many intuitive languages. Her blog traces the Moon’s transits and cycles through signs and seasons.

Energy sensitives are well aware of the current line-up of planets in Aries. It’s easy to catch headaches these days! Aries is fire that burns hot in the head. It sends us charging forth–discovering, battling, creating, protecting–wherever our impulsive thoughts lead. With the Full Moon in Libra, the sign of balance, we get a not-so-secret instruction: pause and regain your balance now. Energetically, fire is balanced with water and earth. Take your warrior into a bath. Or let him picnic on the ground. Look up at the stars. Do not move until the movement comes gracefully from deep within.

What was the message—when the winged Messenger, Mercury—entered its-retrograde shadow just as NASA’s Messenger entered this planet’s orbit? And what should we make of the first close-ups of Mercury’s surface being released on the very day the planet stationed retrograde?

Of the gods, Mercury is the most clever and nimble, an artist of intricate puzzles. Perhaps he knows we’ve named his craters for artists, musicians and writers; he released his photos as Earth was entering a Pisces Moon (the sign of photography, art and symphonies). What was that bright spot on his very first photo? The Debussy crater. Does Mercury have a special relationship with this gifted composer? Of course! Rising with the Sun on the eastern horizon just after Debussy was born, Mercury is strong in his own sign in this chart.

Mercury’s retrograde is traditionally seen as a time of snafus and mechanical breakdowns, but NASA’s engineers checked the Messenger craft carefully before turning on its instruments: everything worked! I’ve had this argument with colleagues for years: I’ve noticed that a lot does work during the retrograde. And it seems that Mercury may have chosen this moment to give us both a new view of his surface—and of retrogrades. At least—to allow in his Mercurial way—that at the same time unexpected problems can occur so can unexpected miracles.

Mercury retrogrades occur three times a year, but at least one of those will be what I call a “fix-it” retrograde. Just as the name implies, this retrograde allows us to fix many critical problems we’ve collected in the preceding weeks. It’s as though the universe floats a “to do” list into our hands and we discover an easier momentum to tackle its projects. We take advantage of the “redo, rethink, rework, repair” promise of the time.

Our brains usually want to drift and dream during Mercury’s retrograde. That’s why they don’t pay attention to details, which is what creates many of our frustrating retrograde moments. Yet with Mercury in quick-paced Aries now (along with five other planets!), there’s just too much energy to pause in the usual retrograde way. What’s more, Saturn is opposite the cluster of Aries planets. If we don’t direct energy carefully, he will call us to account! So how can we best use this “fix it” retrograde to actually fix things?

Let’s take our cue from NASA’s Messenger. In order to enter Mercury’s orbit—so close to the stronger gravitational pull of the Sun and without any atmosphere to slow itself down—the space craft had to perform a clever slow burn, so it could be captured by Mercury’s gravity. Perhaps in the whirling universe of your own life, there’s a particular way you could slow down, in the proximity of your problems; let their gravity pull you into their orbit. Once there, check your plan, get focused, and turn on the juice.

It’s hard to imagine that anything could shift our focus from the stunning revolutions sweeping the Middle East and Africa last month. That was expansive Jupiter reaching zero Aries—raising courage and sending through this sensitive degree in the World’s chart the conviction that new worlds are possible. Just as we began to ask ourselves, when and where all this regime change would end, electrifying Uranus entered Aries. This sky lord creates new worlds too, but his action is sudden, violent, and disruptive. An earthquake measuring 8.9 (later elevated to 9) struck Japan, followed by a tsunami that erased whole villages from the landscape, killed tens of thousands and physically moved the Japanese coastline eight feet.

What happens at zero Aries happens to the world. We are all riveted on events in Japan, and through them, we are refocused—on our own vulnerabilities, the fragility of life on this planet, and the necessity of waking up to the needs of this time. Uranus is not just the Great Destroyer; he is the Great Awakener whose message now is clear: Pay Attention! Here is your opportunity to change the way we live on this planet!

There is much work to do. As I write this, four nuclear reactors damaged by the earthquake/tsunami are perilously close to meltdown, and two others are compromised. Thousands are homeless, Japan’s financial markets have already lost hundreds of billions of dollars, and reporters, international leaders, and people everywhere seem incapable of fully grasping what has happened and what might still happen. We are in shock. But we must not stay there.

Next year, Uranus will begin squaring  Pluto, an event that promises even greater global change. Things will get tougher, and how we handle that will largely be determined by how much we’ve awakened from this challenging point on. If you’re creative, organize your projects and get to work. If you’re emotional, send compassionate intentions to those around the world who are in distress. This moment is a tipping point. It’s not the last one, but let us make allies out of Jupiter and Uranus. Let’s rise up. Let’s realize that we are fully capable and compassionate—that we can meet our serious challenges with great energy and a powerful imagination.

Like lucky paparazzi behind the hedges, we’ve been given plenty of god sightings these days. During exciting times—and these are such times—the archetypes walk more boldly among us, teaching or meddling, depending on the day or your point of view.

I never understood why ancient astrologers claimed Saturn was exalted in cooperative Libra. It seems like such a soft or even prissy sign in which to dress the master, but I’ve been schooled. Through events in Egypt (a Saturn-in-Libra nation), Saturn is showing us how to stand elegantly firm with dignified restraint. The thirty-something dissidents—many of whom have Saturn in Libra in their charts—gave us a vital, organized, disciplined, harmonious and successful demonstration of peace in a region that has too long carried the world’s projected shadow of violence. The world’s balance requires the nourishing imagery of Tahrir Square. Let’s remember this 2011 Saturn victory for Libra virtues like equality, justice, and peace.

The events in Egypt also demonstrate a fine way to approach and appease Saturn during his often-dreaded returns. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to dread them if, in whatever sign they occured, we strove to embody the best virtues of the sign. Egypt as a nation, the Mubarak regime, and the young dissidents are all going through their Saturn returns (it’s the first for the dissidents born when Mubarak came to power; it’s the second for the country). Mubarak’s regime is getting one of those crushing Saturn returns that compensates for getting too far out of balance, going beyond the limits of proper responsibility. Wael Ghonim—the Egyptian Google executive whose internet activism and imprisonment helped galvanize the demonstrations—expressed gratitude to the Mubarak regime for taking itself down through its own stupidity. That’s how most bad Saturn returns happen. Ghonim is also riding his Saturn Return, but he’s more receptive. Positive Libran virtues weave throughout his words and gestures, as when he forgave the ones who beat him because he understood how it looked from their eyes—they thought he was the bad guy. When they took his blindfold off, he kissed them. Now there’s an exalted Libra Saturn!

Of course it wasn’t Saturn alone who brought the revolution. Uranus and Jupiter, both fresh from squaring Egypt’s Sun and Jupiter squaring Mars, drove high energy, courage, and enthusiasm into Tahrir Square. But Pluto played an important role. Between the first demonstrations of the youth movement on April 6, 2008 and the revolution declared on January 25, 2011—Pluto opposed Egypt’s Mars five times. This transit is well known—and feared—for its violence and extreme power struggles. An astrologer might easily have predicted this would be when the powder keg would ignite. What happened is instructive. People began filming police brutality with cell phones and posting these videos on Facebook. It shocked the nation and helped it to gather its courage, so that when the first protestors began walking to the Square on January 25, they had gone beyond the barrier of fear. How succinctly this portrays the highest promise of a Pluto/Mars transit! What is underhanded will be exposed and what is disempowered will be transformed.

Of course not every moment was a victory. Resistance thugs appeared. People died. And on February 11, as Venus separated from her conjunction to Pluto, the CBS news correspondent Lara Logan was separated from her crew during the celebration of Mubarak stepping down. She was beaten and sexually assaulted by a mob until finally rescued by a group of women and soldiers. Like Perspehone abducted by Pluto, she has since disappeared. There are no statements from her family or her employer. What do we make of this? Though we might want the gods to be always on our side, we must suffer, respect, or stand in awe of their mysteries too. Perhaps it is a moment for those of us with Pluto/Venus contacts in our own charts to behold the loss of innocence in ourselves, to be the grieving Demeter, and perform the dance that eventually brings Persphone back as a queen.

Of course the gods are also brilliantly entertaining. When Sun and Mars conjoined in Pisces, they marched onto the world stage in the form of two colossal egos, driven mad by their own (drug-induced?) fantasies—Muamar Gaddafi in Libya and Charlie Sheen in Hollywood. Oh let’s personalize this lesson too! Pisces can dissolve us into higher realities, but if not adequately prepared, we might also fall down the rabbit holes of addiction, deception, illusion, manipulation, and victimization. It’s a good time to wonder: with what ego-serving delusions have we been fooling ourselves!?

Great day! The gods are alive in Egypt! Mubarek resigns after thirty years as Egypt’s dictator. There is much to say about the astrology of this event, but as my computer live-streams Al Jazeera’s great coverage, I find myself thinking of Saturn, exalted in its current sign: polite, harmonious, and graceful Libra. When one of the commentators was asked to sum up this moment, he called it “The Dignity Revolution,” praising the calm, kindness, and dignity of the Egyptian people as they held their ground against oppression. For the past weeks, watching the exciting coverage, I saw smiling faces on the long polite lines of protestors heading into Tahrir Square, I saw women standing equally with men, I saw people sharing food and water, parents swinging their children in delight. The Egyptians gave us Saturn in Libra at its finest!

Not surprisingly, Egypt is a Saturn-in-Libra country, heading for its second Saturn return. Mubarak took office during the country’s first Saturn return. If you’ve wondered what Saturn returns mean to countries, these are good events to study. If you’ve got a Saturn return coming up in your own life, know that it’s time to act on lessons learned and change your current structure. But be polite. Especially, be kind to yourself. Act with strength and grace.

Saturn in Libra has been visible in the United States too. There were those embarrassing diplomatic flip-flops in the early days of the Egyptian uprising. That’s the shadow of Libra in Saturn–a government that’s indecisive, vacillating, superficial. But on a more positive note, after the recent horrific shooting of Senator Gabrielle Giffords, throughout the US blogosphere there has been a call for a “new civility” in our political discourse. “Just say No” Republicans sat with “We Don’t Know What We Stand For” Democrats during the President’s State of the Union address. Will their new harmony stick? Will Congress actually work together? If they don’t, Egypt has shown us an interesting way to respond. Remember Ghandi’s example. He had a Libra Sun.

Not much in this life can lay honest claim to being the “best in the world.” But The Mountain Astrologer, born in the mountains of Colorado and now over twenty years old, has consistently been just that. The current issue–devoted to the emerging field of archetypal cosmology–is so rich, I suspect it will become a collector’s item. If you’ve wondered where astrology is heading and why intelligent people are still drawn to its magic, if you’ve wondered about the secrets in your water houses, the astrology of your dreams, or how to deal with Pluto, don’t miss this issue! Check it out online or at your favorite bookstore.

What an auspicious New Moon, occurring on Imbolc–one of my favorite cross-quarter holidays. The need to cleanse and refresh our lives at this time is coded in our DNA, as humans have been honoring this turn on the wheel for milennia. Below is what my good friend shaman and poet Jane Galer has to say about the holiday. She’s launching her new book, Becoming Hummingbird, on this date!

Whether you live in northern snow, or the southwestern sun, or the green and wet isolation of the coast like I do, I hope you come to this day of midwinter with a sigh and a sense of peace. Imbolc (pronounced Im-olc) is the ancient Celtic day that marks the halfway point between the solstice and the equinox. This is a cross-quarter day then, a reminder that time is moving and we have obligations. In ancient times, perhaps we simply cleaned out our fireplace, set aside a burning taper, cleaned out the ashes, and then kindled the warming fires of winter again. This was a safety issue, a housekeeping issue, and yet it has deeper implications. This is a night time moment, a time to clear out the “ashes” of our lives, kindle a stronger fire, a stronger sense of purpose for ourselves. This is a time to notice whether we have done the work of winter. Have we told the stories we need to tell? Have we rested, feasted, and shared our hearth with our larger community?

When Christianity came to the Celts, Imbolc became Candlemas. February 2nd, a fixed date instead of the mutable date engendered by Sun reaching the middle of Aquarius. Candlemas suggests a lovely ceremony. Gather those you connect with around a fire, each with a candle and a prayer; sing, feast, share and encourage the great work of winter. Make a circuit or procession with candle as your only light. Honor grandmother Moon, the candle is her light. Slow down, it’s winter, remember the ancestors and their stories, dream deeply.

Jane Galer, is an award winning poet and author who trained with the Q’ero indigenous shaman of the high Andes of Peru.

As the global elite dined on Norwegian lobster in Davos, Egyptians took to the streets, erupting in protest against decades of oppressive leadership, high unemployment, rising food prices, and lives without hope. It is a dramatic post card, illuminating the collision between the haves and have-nots promised by Pluto’s entrance into Capricorn in 2008 and accelerated by its coming squares from revolutionary Uranus in 2012. There may be debate on which astrology chart is most accurate for Egypt, but this one (from Nick Campion’s world horoscopes) reveals that Egypt’s Sun (its identity) is receiving its final liberating square from the recent Jupiter/Uranus conjunction. In the country’s progressed chart, its Sun is rapidly approaching a conjunction with transformative Pluto. This developing story will not go away quietly.

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