By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
22-28 March 2020
About two years ago, I had cause to drive from my Mum’s place in Brisbane, home to Ballarat.
It’s a 20 hour drive, so I planned to do it over a five day period.
The quickest route is to head inland, skirting Sydney and its huge tangle of metropolitan roads.
But I wanted to catch up with my friend and astrology teacher, Kim Falconer, and that meant taking the coastal road via Byron Bay, and then on through the outskirts of Sydney.
In planning the trip, I spent some time looking at the big picture so I could figure out where to plot my overnight stays.
And I chunked down to the fine detail so I could navigate the best way through those Sydney suburbs.
Using astrology is like that.
The stars don’t tell us what to do or what will happen – but they are very useful in helping us navigate the path forward.
The maps didn’t tell me where to go or even what route to choose. But once I knew my destination, the maps made it WAAAAY easier to get there without too many detours.
We can look at the big picture – the slower outer planets and how they impact a generation, a society.
And we can look at the fine details – the faster inner planets and how they impact us on a closer time scale, the every day experience of life.
When we look at the astrology for this week, it’s useful to look at the context of the bigger picture first.
Last year I wrote incessantly about the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, and the way anything with in substantial foundations would crumble. That peaked in mid-January 2020 and it’s still at play.
Last week, I mentioned the movement of Saturn into Aquarius and its relationship with Uranus into Aquarius. The lord of get-shit-done-properly moves into the sign of invention, technology and innovative leadership, while activating the rebellious change-god, who’s more than happy to break apart old paradigms in our relationships with our bodies and our planet.
This big picture journey we’re all undertaking is one which will take us collectively, through some shake-ups and turbulence, to a potential future with creative solutions that we can’t yet even imagine.
Solutions for climate change, political corruption, flawed economic systems and social unfairness seemed likely to be too slow and too late.
Suddenly, huge numbers of people are working from home after being told that was too hard. Conservative governments are undertaking bailouts of businesses and individuals, in packages which look suspiciously like socialism.
I do not take this pandemic lightly.
I have beloved family members who are in high-risk groups.
My husband’s workplace, a leading outdoor museum, closed to the public yesterday. Staff have two weeks work at 80% of their former roster, and then make the shift to using up leave for as long as it lasts.
My brain – doing its job of keeping me safe – is behaving like a terrified three-year-old right now.
It’s throwing metaphorical tantrums, demanding my attention every few hours to try and convince me that I am in mortal danger.
But I’m the owner/operator of my brain, and I’ve had many years of practice at managing its behaviour.
I soothe my brain by taking the long step back to remind myself of this big picture view.
I soothe it by seeking out positive stories of people helping each other, of communities singing together across their balconies, and fitness instructors leading aerobics class.
I engage with the amazingly innovative ways performing artists and cultural organisations are making their work available online.
I use my trusty 20-second hand-washing mantra, based on the famous meditation of Dame Julian of Norwich.
And I track down science-based, practical how-to information so I know what to do if I get sick (because in the absence of information, brains will make shit up, get confused, and fall into even more fear)
I don’t let my scared brain shape my world or my decisions, any more than I would let that terrified toddler tell me what to do.
I remind it that people in 200 years will look back at this as a turning point, an opportunity to do so many thing differently; as though the planet has put everything on pause to take a deep breath.
And when we chunk down into the close-up perspective of this week’s astrology, there are two potent events unfolding.
The first is Jupiter quintile Chiron.
This is Jupiter, the Emperor, the God of expansion and optimism, sitting only 1° away from where the Saturn-Pluto conjunction happened in January.
And it’s Chiron in Aries, the audacity coach in full-on impossible-quest mode: bold, courageous, adventurous, ready to lead the way without needing a map or a compass or a Plan B.
The quintile angle is particularly interesting.
This is 1/5 of a circle, an echo of the pentacle shape associated with magic.
The quintile makes visible something that was previously unseen.
It might be a talent that everyone else admires in you, but you’ve struggled to even see. Or it might be a problem you didn’t know needed addressing, along with the solution you didn’t even know you needed – as though what you thought was a blank wall suddenly revealed a door, along with the key to open it.
Magic indeed!
And this quintile happens right in the middle of a Dark Moon in Pisces, leading up to the New Moon in Aries.
The timing is perfect.
Dark Moon is a time for resting, reviewing, reassessing.
Here in dreamier Pisces, it’s an opportunity to tune into our feelings – especially our feelings about the potential we want to explore next, whether that is a new appreciation of our own gifts, or a new insight into that door we haven’t tried before.
With Saturn at play in intellectual Aquarius, it might be tempting to try and figure out All Of The Everything with your mighty human mental acuity.
Better to dwell on the new direction and then tap into the feelings that you want to experience with it.
Peace, fulfilment, excitement, contentment?
Remember, right now our brains are receiving a tonne of input which might be sending them into panicky toddler mode.
If that’s you, do the self soothing before you try and tap into those feelings.
It’s hard to think about possible new directions or new doorways from a place of anxiety. Your brain will shut down that exciting-but-potentially-scary new stuff, before even giving it time to emerge.
And that would be a shame.
Bask in the Dark Moon. Rest. Gently feel out what you’d like to happen, long term – not the nitty gritty details of it, but the way you’d like it to feel.
Focus in that direction as much as you can. If brain gets distracted by the news or rumours and opinions on social media, gently redirect its attention to this focus.
And then embrace the New Moon in Aries.
Bold new initiatives.
Fresh adventure.
Courage – and a willingness to take on what seems like an impossible quest, perhaps with no plans and no resources.
Start by stepping back to the big picture view, and then chunk it down to the what-comes-next view.
Think about the big adventure you started building with the Saturn-Pluto conjunction.
New Moon is when we begin planning the small thing that we will bring to fruition in two weeks time with the Full Moon in Libra.
For this New Moon, what are the very first steps; what is the very first tiny goal?
Fuel it with that bold Aries fire, and let that pull you towards your overall longterm focus.
We are collectively walking together through a watershed moment. People will look back in 200 years and see this as a turning point. We’re living through history.
We will, as a species, survive COVID-19.
We will come out the other side.
And a whole bunch of things will be different.
This is the moment to ask ourselves, both individually and collectively – what do we want the new reality to look like?
We already have powerful hints of what it could look like – significant reduction of the air miles in the food we eat; a renewed enthusiasm for renewing and repairing rather than simply consuming; people taking massive action to live more sustainability and more gently on the planet; an opportunity for a brand-new green economy to arise out of whatever recession we might find ourselves in.
I am optimistic because I choose to be.
I do not take this situation lightly.
I soothe my brain by feeding it reliable information so that I know what to do for my own self and for my loved ones.
I soothe my brain by lifting my gaze to the horizon and looking ahead to a future shaped mostly by kindness, courage and invention.
I soothe my brain by seeking out stories of new advances, benefits, good news and that most human of traits – love.
Do you please join me, if you will.
PS – I recently presented a video hosted by my good friend Ayesha Hilton, about why and how I am so optimistic in the face of this situation; how I stare into the face of the apocalypse and shout“not today, fucker!”. If you’d like to watch, click here to stream or download the video.
EXACT TIMES (US EASTERN)
- 23 March, 2:42 am – Jupiter at 23º Capricorn quintile Chiron at 5º Aries
- 24 March, 5:28 am – New Moon at 4° Aries
Janette Dalgliesh has a simple mission in life – to help people figure out what they truly want, and then help them get it. A keen student of brain science and conscious creation, Janette serves her people through a unique blend of life coaching and astrology. To find out more, visit her website or track her down on Facebook. And if you’d like to know where the astro weather this week is landing in your chart, and what it means, grab her free resource Astrology 101.
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