A Week in the Stars:

Last week, the lunar eclipse in Leo saw a proliferation in foxy femmes flaunting their phenomenal fierceness and I could not be more behind the gallivanting, the flirting, the fabulousness and the fight. This week shit might simmer down a little. Maybe. Although with continued action across the lover/warrior polarity (Jupiter in Libra / Venus, Mars and Uranus in Aries) during our favorite Hallmark Holiday there is still room for some spicy times with the sweetie(s). Here’s to it being spicy in all the right ways.

After what might have been for some, quite the bangin’ weekend, Monday February 13th brings us back down to Earth with a sextile between the Sun in Aquarius and Saturn in Sagittarius. This is a moment of feeling the need to reel it in and reconnect to a firm sense of self. If this feel is coming off the heals of a party-hardy Friday or Saturday night, try not to let yourself tail spin into a shame spiral. Otherwise, Monday can be a great day to make a list of five year goals. Or five month goals if that’s more your speed.

Thursday February 16th Mercury in Aquarius will sextile Mars in Aries. This is a great moment for assertive communication, standing your ground verbally, and engaging courageously in any kind of linguistic combat that needs to happen. Hallmark Holliday or not, all kinds of wacky hijinks seem to sprout out of the much maligned Valentine’s Day. If Tuesday was a doozy for you, Thursday might be the day to set the record straight.

And to wrap our week up, Saturday February 18th the Sun enters Pisces. Welcome Pisces! From the cold dark winter season of Aquarius we are moving quickly toward Spring. The first signs of life are popping up and we remember how fertile the earth can be after many months of death and rot and barren trees and (if you live in Portland) snowpocolypses the city is entirely unprepared for. Pisces the Boundary-less. Pisces takes in their surroundings with little discernment and much exuberance. I got soft skin, are you gonna let me in? An excellent season for cultivating empathy. A difficult season for those who are currently trying to learn how to protect themselves. Remember that sensitivity is a gift and pain is information. Don’t try to push it down or bottle it up.

Weekly Affirmation:

“I honor the power within me to be deeply affected by the world I live in.”

The following horoscopes are written for your RISING sign, and not your sun sign. If you really, really, really don’t know and can’t figure out your rising sign than you can read for your sun. Because there is so much that could be said for each sign every week, I pull tarot cards to help me narrow down the scope of the reading. This week I am using the tarot deck Slow Holler. If the tarot card that accompanies your sign speaks to you, I recommend working with the energy of that card throughout the week. Enjoy!

Aries

In Three of Branches, three thorny rosebush cuttings criss-cross each other in the foreground. Rosebuds are just starting to pop off on the branches. Behind the roses there is a river that winds around a hillside, and in the sky there are many concentric circles that resemble an old print of an astrological chart.

With a Venus/Mars/Uranus stellium still lighting up your first house of self, you are looking shiny as hell right now, Aries. Try not to let all that shiny-ness drown out the light of the dear ones around you. With Jupiter making it’s year long transit through Libra in your 7th house of partnership you might be feeling the tension between being an individual and being a part of a relationship-unit. The Three of Branches is a reaction to the Two of Branches. The Two signifies (amongst other things) a go-it-alone attitude toward the journey. The Three has learned that collaboration is actually the key to succeeding with maturity. Consider the ways you are refusing collaboration this week, Aries and give yourself props for the ways in which you accept it graciously.

Taurus

The Architect of Branches is a pair of eyes staring out from inside a head/hat of burning wood. A fiery inferno of smoke and flame billow up into the sky. The scene appears to be set in a swampy forest. But the hot-head is so bright, it is difficult to see exactly where they are.

This week the Sun is completing it’s final days in your 10th house of public life before moving into your 11th house of friends and community on Saturday. This marks the end of the season that lights up the work that you are known for. Your legacy. If you feel like perhaps you are unsure of what kind of work you are known for, or what kind of work you WANT to be known for or what kind of legacy you wish to leave behind, this week is a great week to clarify those aspects of your life. The Architect of Branches wants to know how you get fired up. The Architect of Branches wants to know when your vision and drive is so bright it could light up even the darkest swamps with it’s fuckin’ brilliance. Start the fire you want to see burn in the world.

Gemini

The Fledgling appears to have an almost invisible body. Just a ghostly whisper wearing boots and a backpack. They walk through a field at night with a flashlight and a walking stick. The ground is full of flowers and the sky is full of stars.

This week lights up the compassionate warrior polarity (Libra/Aries) across your 11th and 5th houses, Gemini (The house of friends & comrades, and the house of creative endeavors). This may be a sweet, sweet time for you, Gemini, with all the action across the two happiest houses, but there also might be some tension between wanting to allocate time and energy to friends and socializing, versus wanting to allocate those resources to your own projects. Whatever the case may be, The Fledgling is asking you to approach the week with an adventurer’s enthusiasm and a sense of wonder. Saturn is currently making it’s 2 and a half year journey through your seventh house of partnership which may mean that you are feeling all kinds of inhibited in the partner-department. The Fledgling says: “no need to get down about it, let’s explore what else is out there in the world!”

Cancer

In the Four of Stones a crow perches atop a three stone cairn, with one stone in it’s beak. Ropes tied into various fancy knots dance mid air in the darkness surrounding the bird. A butterfly is trapped inside one rope, a key is hung from another, and tied up by the third is a feather.

Jupiter is currently retrograde as it makes it’s year long transit through Libra which is your 4th house of home. Jupiter retrograde is a time to go inward and do some soul-searching about what home means to you. How do you make home? Where do you find it? Home is very, very important for Cancers. This week raises questions about whether you look for home in partnership. To what extent do you use home as a way of making connection? Do you live communally? Do you live alone? Which do you prefer? The Four of Stones is asking that you take some time this week to consider whether you are struggling with a scarcity mentality around home right now. It’s okay to appreciate the oft-times hard-won comforts of material resources, but they are no stand-in for an anxiety-inducing lack of immaterial resources.

Leo

Energy and power swirl around the Ace of Knives which is placed high up in the sky with the mountains below. The clarifying white light of truth shoots from the tip of the blade. An eye is placed on the hilt of the blade. A star shines behind the knife. Small clouds float by in the background.

This week lights up your communication sectors with action happening across the 3rd and 9th houses (the houses of communication and personal philosophy, respectively). That paired with the sextile between Mars in Aries and Mercury in Aquarius (Which is in your 7th house of partnership) means that this week is positively ripe with opportunity for you to do the communicative work necessary to really learn some important shit about being in relationship. The Ace of Knives is telling you not to squander this little gift from the goddess. The gift of clarity, insight, and vision that can cut like a knife. Spend some time this week hashing out your romantic life with a friend or lover. Confront someone about some hard reality. The person you confront can even be yourself if you’re feeling up to it.

Virgo

The Visionary of Branches is a naked goddess who blends in with the starry night sky. She clutches a golden tree and a red moon in the background matches the red cloth tied around her waist. Her expression is serene and her eyes are closed.

At the end of this week the sun moves from Aquarius to Pisces which is your 7th house of intimate and contractual partnership. The contractual part doesn’t necessarily mean a marriage contract. It can even mean a business contract; but it definitely means there is a degree of commitment. This week, questions might arise concerning the contractual agreements present in your close relationships (especially sexual ones). How do you share resources with others? Or do you at all? Do you feel protective of what is yours? What inner values are important to you and do you share those inner values with your loved ones? This week the Visionary of Branches is inviting you to lead by example. Vision the person you want to be in the world, and the person you want to be in partnership and then by being that person, you will invite those around you to be that person too. Take time this week to journal about the kind of partner you want to be.

Libra

The Traveler of Vessels holds a fishbowl in one hand and the reigns of the horse she is riding in her other. The white fish swims in red water. The white horse gallops above the ocean waves with no shore in sight. Toy Story clouds grace the golden skies. The rider smiles. She has great bangs.

Libra Risings move about the world in a vehicle made out of their connections. They talk, they flirt, they banter, they critique (tactfully). A favorite saying of one of my favorite Libra Rising folks is “talk to all the people.” Wherever you are, whatever your doing, “talk to all the people.” This week, Libra’s patron saint the Traveler of Vessels is inviting you to ground into that delicious Libra Rising ability to move about the world from connection to connection. Let the Traveler of Vessels inspire you to go out and talk to all the people this week. Saturn may be transiting through your 3rd house of communication, putting a bit of a damper on your ability to be your usual mover and shaker self, but with so much action in Aries in the 7th house of other people, you just might have the vim right now to go out and have fun in spite of your obligations and responsibilities.

Scorpio

In The Chariot, a dyke and her dog lay in the bed of a red pickup truck, gazing up at a brilliant night sky full to bursting with golden stars. The pup is asleep and lays it’s head on the chariot-riders leg. A peaceful and pensive reprieve from whatever journey the two are currently on together.

This whole year, Jupiter is transiting through Libra – your 12th house of inner and hidden enemies – shining a big ‘ol jupiter sized spotlight (which is a really big spotlight, jupiter is fucking huge) to the parts of yourself that are the hardest to see and the most difficult to contact. What could possibly be the shadow of shadow-worker Scorpio? One might ask. Charismatic, sun-shiney Libra of course. Scorpio wants intensity and Libra wants to soften the edges a little bit. Scorpio is pointing out the dumpster fires and Libra is saying “but on the other hand…” This week, The Chariot is asking Scorpio to spend some time reflecting on what you sacrifice in order to plumb the depths. Beauty? Balance? Relationship?

Sagittarius

In The Oracle, a ghostly white figure springs forth from golden fire, a soft knowing look upon their face. One eye is hidden behind their wild hair. A golden triangle is tattooed to their sternum. A red shall is clasped together by a golden brooch. A gold and white moon, huge in the background, rings their head like a halo.

This week, as Jupiter retrogrades back through Libra in your 11th house of friends and comrades, and Mars, Venus, and Uranus kick it over in Aries (in your 5th house of creative pursuits), the Sun is spending it’s final week in Aquarius (in your 3rd house of communication). This is a spectacular time to to put your thoughts, feelings and observations on blast to your community. The Oracle is inviting you to be The Oracle. Don’t keep your valuable insights to yourself. Everything that you are seeing and hearing and thinking and witnessing is valuable. As Audre Lorde says: “When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.”

Capricorn

Pictured in Nine of Branches is a closeup of a section of the dead, rotting corpse of a tree. Spiky, bare branches stick out at odd angles and angry, red fungus is growing all over the wood.

Capricorn Risings: too-cool-for-school, aloof, intimidating, and Queen of the ability to erect walls and climb mountains. Sometimes the walls we erect are important: they protect us, they keep us safe, they keep out enemies. They are a practice in healthy discernment. Sometimes however, we get so good at building walls we just start doing it out of practice, a gut reaction. This week with Mars and Venus hangin’ out with Uranus in Aries (in your 4th house of home) the Nine of Branches is asking you to consider whether you are getting a little trigger happy on the protection front. Do you constantly feel like you need to be on guard? Does it feel like your home (both literal and of course, the metaphorical home that you carry within you) is constantly under attack? This week, try to observe when you are treating home like a battle ground because it is, and when you are treating home like a battle ground because that is what you have known home to be in the past.

Aquarius

The Student of Knives has their back to us. They wear a scoop-backed dress with a talking-bubble pattern. They have a knife earring. Their brown hair flies in the wind. In one hand they hold a knife out in front of them and in the other they hold a knife up to their face to look into like a mirror.

As the Sun is moving into Pisces at the end of the week, this is the last portion of the season of Aquarius, which of course, is a vital, life-giving season for our Aquarius Risings. The sun is shining in your first house of self which means you are being seen. With Mars, Venus and Uranus rabble-rousing in angry-adolescent Aries (which is your 3rd house of communication) you might be finding the fire under your tongue. The Student of Swords recommends that you take lessons from this moment of burning communication, without burning down all your bridges in the process. Your power of language and clarity of sight will be appreciated so much more if it isn’t cutting to shreds all of the people in your life while your at it.

Pisces

In Nine of Vessels there are three rows of three delicate, white, porcelain, china teacups. The teacups are not matching, it looks as though each one might be from a different set. Most feature delicate illustration and all of them are a slightly different shape. The cups are tilted this way and that against a white and gold speckled background.

Pisces, you sweet baby! As the sun runs down it’s time in Aquarius you can take a big ‘ol sigh of relief on Saturday as it leaves your 12th house of inner and hidden enemies, and enters your 1st house of self! Hurray! After an intense weekend and a hard season, you deserve some sweetness and that is exactly what the 9 of Vessels is inviting you to enjoy this week. Drink in the beauty around you as the winter thaws and sun comes out. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Make tea. Share tea with a friend. Maybe even have a tea-party. The world is your sweet, delicate, oyster.