Your Guide to Planetary Energies for September 16 – 22, 2013, by Pam Younghans

THE PLANETS are very active this week, and we have a few important transition points in particular to talk about.

At the top of the list are:

• an alignment in Scorpio between Saturn, the North Node and Venus (with all three sextile Pluto, sextile Ceres, and trine Chiron)
• the Full Moon on Thursday
• Pluto’s change of direction (station) on Friday
• the Libra Equinox on Sunday

That’s a lot of “astrologese,” so let’s take these one at a time…

THE NORTH NODE is our “guiding star,” although technically it is not a star at all.

It is a point in space defined by where the Moon crosses the apparent path of the Sun as it “orbits” the Earth (from our geocentric perspective, of course).

In our birth charts, the North Node provides information about our chosen path of growth for the current lifetime — the traits we wanted to develop, the evolutionary step we knew we were ready to take.

It tells us a lot about who we intended to become when we chose this life experience.

WE CAN USE a similar interpretation of the North Node when looking at how it affects all of us in the present.

The North Node, by the sign it is in, tells how we humans are evolving as a group, and what qualities we are being asked to develop and refine.

With the North Node currently in Scorpio... 

... our shared path of growth includes being willing to see truth...

... even if it is uncomfortable; learning to work with others in mutually supportive ways...

... rather than feeling we have to do it all ourselves or fearing a loss of power if we collaborate...

... and being willing to choose change as needed...

... instead of holding onto existing conditions out of habit or fear.

The North Node entered Scorpio in late summer 2012, and will finish its 18-month journey through the sign in February 2014.

AS SATURN AND VENUS align with the North Node this week, we will have opportunities to see how we’re doing with developing those positive Scorpio qualities, especially as it involves our personal relationships.

This is also a time of re commitment to the values that we feel most deeply, as an extension of knowing our truth more fully.

Pluto, Ceres and Chiron provide support to this alignment through helpful sextile and trine aspects.

This means we can call upon the strengths of each of these “planets” as we get clear and get serious this week:

Pluto will help us release the past and transform our goals based on new definitions of self;

… Ceres will help strengthen our self-worth and knowing of the values and relationships that will most fully support us going forward;

… and Chiron will help us have the faith in the unknown future, and help heal the fears that have kept us in comfortable but self-limiting situations.

THE INFLUENCE OF PLUTO is especially strong this week, since the planet completes its retrograde (backward-motion) phase and comes to a standstill on Friday. 

Pluto’s transformational energies are therefore stronger for all of us, but especially for those who are working directly with its aspects to their natal chart.

As we work with these heightened Plutonian energies, we can imagine ourselves as the Phoenix of myth, burning away the old goals and outdated forms of our lives so that we can be born anew.

OUR FULL MOON on Thursday is the culmination of our growth work over the last two weeks, since the Virgo New Moon graced the skies on September 5.

You may recall that the New Moon opposed Chiron in Pisces and initiated a process of healing, especially as related to our ability to trust the unfolding of our lives.

Now we have the Full Moon, with the Moon in Pisces opposing the Sun in Virgo… another opportunity to find our balance point between directing and allowing, and between practical perception and intuitive awareness.

THE SABIAN SYMBOL for the 27th degree of Pisces (the location of the Moon at the time of the lunation) tells us that our work along these lines has been very important:

“The Harvest Moon illumines a clear autumnal sky:

The light of fulfillment that blesses work well done.”

The description of this symbolic image calls it a “karmic moment,” when we reap what we have sown and cultivated since the New Moon.

And, as we move forward from here, into the Moon’s waning phase, we will continue that process of releasing and allowing… and, most importantly, forgiving ourselves and others for perceived lacks and lapses.

THIS IS ALSO the week of the Libra Equinox, when the Sun moves into Libra and the seasons change: in the Northern Hemisphere we welcome the first days of autumn; in the Southern Hemisphere, spring begins once again.

A chart drawn for the moment of the Equinox is said to set general themes for the coming season, until the Solstice in December.

The Libra Equinox chart shows the Taurus Moon aligned with the South Node (representing our karmic past), and Saturn exactly aligned with the North Node.

These aspects indicate that the next three months will be very instrumental in our recommitment to our path of destiny and purpose, and that our growth will require that we release our emotional attachment to the past that no longer serves us.

WITH PLUTO trine the Moon/South Node and sextile Saturn/North Node at the Equinox, we have assistance in this letting go process.

Pluto will help us release our reliance on routines and on what is comfortable but also stagnant in our lives.

This powerful “dwarf planet” will support us as we embrace change and make choices that will help us live lives of greater passion and compassion.

Pluto will help us as we move beyond self-reliance to interdependence, realizing the importance of collaboration, community, and relationship to the fulfillment of our life purposes.

Blessings, Pam

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