Spike on wheels!

Spike takes a spin in his lovingly handcrafted "Chuck wagon" - named for the Charles Shaw wine (known around these parts as "Two-buck Chuck", 'cuz you can buy a bottle for $1.99) box that serves as the cab.

Wedding stuff

Okay, so I've got an article posted over at AOL Horoscopes about ... astrology and weddings and Venus' sign. There. I can't put it any more eloquently than that. (I've been struggling all morning to cut 500 words from a magazine piece that's due this afternoon. Apparently, I'm cutting words here so I don't have to cut them there.)

Plus, Sunday is the day! Jonny and I have spent the past several months developing a new report, a sort of astrological wedding planner called "Moonstruck," and it goes on sale Sunday. Consider ordering a fistful of subscriptions for all the rattled brides in your life....

Summer at Big Sky Astrology

I've posted some of my old summer essays at my website, Big Sky Astrology, just to get you in that day-after-the-solstice spirit:

Slowing Down, Turning Around (2005) - "Just as the sun at the summer solstice appears to stand still in its movement across the horizon, then turn around and move the other way, that is our job at midyear: to stand still for a moment, look around, and take stock of where we are...."

Behind the Wheel (2004) - "Unlike when I was a small girl, I don't feel so safe out on the open highway, and I find reasons to stay put - work, cats, money. The truth is, everybody keeps leaving, and the more they leave, the more desperately I want to stay rooted in place...."

Tectonics (2001) - "As much as we seek security, our souls know we need movement in order to keep growing. Even the earth -- our home -- is not a given, not a solid platform we stand on. Like life, it's a relatively thin and fragile thing, broken into big pieces that bang together, drift apart, and graze each other in passing-- full of movement and change, designed to put us exactly where we need to be and to keep us wondering where, precisely, that is...."

True North (2000) - "Yesterday, as my aunt’s daughter, my sister, and I rushed around, providing food and comfort—a little clumsily, like children playing dress up—while waves of grieving men and children washed up against us, I thought, Good god, now we’re all that’s left. Our mothers left us their compass, hidden deep in our fourth houses like buried treasure; but we’ll have to learn to read it ourselves if we’re to bring this ship safely into harbor...."

Happy summer, y'all.

Ewww: a Mars/Saturn story.

As a married couple with thirteen years of trandem entertaining under our belts, Jonny and I are fairly unflappable hosts. Spilled wine, broken dishes; inebriated or emotionally distraught guests, guests suffering from heat exhaustion or from canopies falling over on their heads; too much food, too little food, food allergies... we've seen it all.

Or so we thought. But Saturday night, a scant half-hour before our dinner guests were due to arrive - and just a few hours before the exactly conjunction of Mars and Saturn, representing blockages of all kinds - every drain in our house spontaneously... stopped draining. And for a moment, we froze like deer in the proverbial headlights.

But then the reflexes born of many years' experience kicked in, and we sprang into action. Within an hour, Jonny had gone to three home improvement stores and finally tracked down and rented an electric snake to clear the drain. Meanwhile, I held down the fort, finishing the cooking and entertaining guests with salty snacks and as little liquid as possible. Within 90 minutes, indoor plumbing had been restored and we were all sitting down to dinner and a dazzling array of cool beverages, which we enjoyed without restraint.

Teamwork and coordination, friends: thats the key to a marriage that works. That, and a 75-foot electric drain cleaner every few years.

Eclipse Midpoints: Kickin' up dust

Just when the dust had finally settled from last March's eclipses, along come this month's lunations to kick it up again.

On June 11, the Full Moon at 20.41 Sagittarius formed a feisty square to last March 14's lunar eclipse point (at 24 Virgo). And on June 25, the New Moon at 3.58 Cancer squares the solar eclipse point at (8 Aries) last March 29.

Eclipses tend to briefly grab our attention twice each year, at six month intervals, when the eclipses actually happen. But like all astrological events, eclipses are part of larger cycles and represent not just solitary moments in our lives, but ongoing processes. Eclipses themselves are ground zero of a pivotal turning point in your life; but the midpoints in the cycle, when the New and Full Moons reach the 90 degree mark between the year's eclipse points, are turning points within turning points.

The March eclipses fell in my 10th and 5th houses, and I certainly felt ambitious, determined to succeed, and full of creative zeal. This September's eclipses (at 15 Pisces and 29 Virgo) fall in my 4th and 10th houses. So it feels as if this year is the opening salvo in a critical career/domestic campaign that will unfold over the next couple of years, as the cycle of eclipses churns through this axis of my chart and I ruthlessly advance my goal of world domination! (Cue diabolical laughter.)

Eclipses are agents of change; who knows where I'll be living and working two years from now, when they are done with me and these parts of my life. But this month, with the New and Full Moons highlighting the more intimate, collaborative areas of my chart, I'm reminded that interpersonal relationships are an integral part of my story. The people close to me have needs and goals that - imagine! - sometimes have nothing to do with my own! So, I can proceed entirely according to my own timetables and objectives - some of the most successful people do. But time for myself, and energy for those closest to me, would be the casualties of that approach.

Well, that's where we are this month. Preoccupied with a couple of areas of life, to the possible detriment of a couple others. Integration and compromise would appear to be the keys to sanity and success. That, and a good dust mask.

Shameless plug: In honor of this month's eclipse midpoints, I'm offering a discount on my "Followed by a Moonshadow" eclipse reports through June 30, 2006. Read more here!

Eight Random Things About Me

Yikes... just noticed that Barbara of Silverwheel Astrology tagged me for this game like, five days ago! Thanks Barbara - I feel all loved and included. And tardy.

Being in a particularly Saturnian frame of mind lately, I'm looking for rules here and find that, guess what! there aren't any. Random! Right. Okay. Here goes.

1. Margaritas: blended, no salt.

2. Extra-terrestrials: completely neutral. Maybe there are, maybe there aren't. Though the existence of same would certainly explain some of the people I went to high school with.

3. First record I ever bought: Steven Stills, "Love the One You're With." I was seven. I have no idea what that was all about.

4. My ride: a shitty 2000 Toyota Corolla.

5. Flavor: Vanilla, not chocolate.

6. Chocolate: Dark, not milk.

7. Guilty historical crush: William Tecumseh Sherman. Don't judge me: the heart has its reasons.

8. Funniest movie ever: I refuse to choose just one. Put me on a desert island with a DVD player and the following comedic offerings and I'll die a happy woman: Airplane!, Blazing Saddles, Clueless, and State and Main.

You're it!
ethereal one
tai
susie

The Shallow End of the Pool

Hear ye, hear ye: my latest article, "The Shallow End of the Pool," has been posted at my website. The Full Moon in Sagittarius is not until Sunday at 11:03 am PDT - but why wait?

At this Full Moon in Sagittarius, with the Moon conjunct passionate Pluto, the undertow is pulling us inexorably toward the deep end of the ocean. In the middle of this bright and glittering Gemini season of light comedy, fleeting romance, and trashy novels indolently read on a crowded beach, we're reminded of the need to stand in our Sagittarian convictions and proudly embody them, without shame, guilt, or violence.... Don't be surprised to find yourself examining your own Sagittarian truths this month, and in the unlikeliest and cheeriest of settings.... (go to article)

full moon

Catching up.

Treated myself to a small vacation last week. Didn't go all that far (unlike astrobarry - showoff!) or do all that much, which was just the way I wanted it. Read trashy novels. Took afternoon naps, which is normally something I just can't manage unless horribly sick. (I attribute this to my many natal planets in hard aspect to sleepy Neptune in the 12th house: I resist unconsciousness!) Had breakfast in the park. Drank numerous margaritas (because I don't resist unconsciousness all that hard). Watched mindless teevee. Celebrated my nephew's high school graduation. And didn't write anything, hardly so much as an email. Ahhhh. Relaxing!

And who couldn't use a little relaxation? Between Mars entering Leo on Saturday, Venus square Saturn yesterday, and Sun square Uranus today, things have been a little tense. Those of us with tons of planets in the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius) are in for a rollicking time of it through July 21, what with Mars lighting the fuses of the ticking time bombs of our legendary tempers. And Mars in Leo ain't the passive aggressive shrinking violet of Mars in Cancer - Mars in Leo lets fly with the drama, complete with objects passionately hurled, invective lustily spewed.

Venus square Saturn was a moment to revisit the more irritating themes of the Venus/Saturn opposition back in March. The less said about that aspect, and this one, the better.

And Sun/Uranus aspects are always good for a bolt out of the blue. Around here, it's meant, as always, technological challenges. We upgraded my hard drive and operating system, which of course meant reinstalling a metric buttload of applications, including the exercise in aggravation that is transferring Outlook Express. I only use if for a client's mail list, I swear; I'm a Eudora gal myself, and this little exercise reminded me why. Basically, I didn't get much done on this, my first day back on the job.

Both my desk calendar and my Pocket Astrologer look a bit calmer tomorrow. Maybe I'll get caught up after all... on my napping.