August-September 2009 Astrological Changes - The Inner Planets Moving Between Signs Shifts A Lot In Our Charts

by Robert Wilkinson

I was going to post this earlier as it happened, but the last Kennedy brother died, so you get it today. In recent days we've seen the Sun move from Leo to Virgo, Mercury from Virgo to Libra, Venus from Cancer to Leo, and Mars from Gemini to Cancer. These affect all of us more than we think.

These sign and element shifts will mark major changes in many areas of our charts, giving September an entirely different feel than August. Ordinarily these shifts occur at relatively separate points in time, thus giving us less of a compressed sense of the shifts. And, these shifts occur at a precise moment of a Critical Degree Cardinal T-square involving Mercury, Mars, and Pluto, adding to the intensity of this particular week.

As hinted at in previous articles, the last third of a sign is more mental-spiritual in their orientation, whereas the first third of a sign is more actional-physical. We've been through a very rare period when almost all the planets were in the last sectors of their sign, putting a more spiritual orientation on almost every area of our lives.

Now they have moved into the beginning of their respective signs and we can expect more activity of a material-physical nature. And of course, they now make fewer dynamic aspects to planets in our charts that are in the late degrees of their signs, and more dynamic aspects to planets that are in the early degrees of their signs.

So what else do these shifts mean for the individual planets involved? When the Sun shifts signs each month, it moves the energies of the house where we have Leo, most recently from a Leo filter into a Virgo filter. Mercury heralded these energies when it moved through Virgo earlier in August, but this is not a constant, since the Sun will enter Scorpio before Mercury due to the latter planet's retrograde period in September.

Thus Virgo was heralded before the light of the Sun made it "real," while the Sun will begin to vitalize our Scorpio sector before we get Mercurial information helping us coordinate that sign's magnetism. In any case, we now will be experiencing our Leo planets and house through a more practical lens.

Mercury has now moved from Virgo to Libra, where it will go retrograde in about a week, eventually returning to late Virgo just before the Autumnal Equinox at 2:19 pm PDT, 10:19 pm Greenwich on September 22. When Mercury moved from Virgo to Libra it affected how we experience the areas of our life shown by houses with Gemini and Virgo on the cusp.

It also moved our experience of planets we may have in Gemini or Virgo from a Virgo slant to a Libra slant. Thus Mercury influenced planets and houses are moving from a practical to a more idealistic focus. We'll definitely move from preparing to embracing a new archetype in these areas.

We'll get to review this movement between Virgo and Libra when Mercury is retrograde and returns from early Libra to late Virgo, and come to some completion of this internal and external energetic shift when Mercury finally returns to Libra again October 9-10. Thus everything in our charts related to Gemini and Virgo is dancing between the practical education training us to manifest some ideal more perfectly and the emergence of that ideal as shown by early Libra.

Venus moving from Cancer to Leo thus affects the houses in our charts where we find Taurus and Libra, as well as any planets we may have in these two signs. We will no longer feel Cancerian in these areas, and will become more Leonine in our experience and responses.

The same general principles also apply to Mars. Our Aries and Scorpio houses and planets have had a Gemini feel to them for several weeks. Now we will be more Cancerian in our lessons and responses to what comes up in these areas. We will go from discoveries and ideas to necessities and begin to frame these areas in terms of how they are providing us what we need, or not.

We'll certainly all be more sensitive in Aries and Scorpio areas than we have been for the next month and a half. This is a shift from Mutable Air to Cardinal Water, enabling us to act decisively on the mental-verbal information we've gotten since mid-July, making crucial decisions that reorient how we do what we do.

So taken as a whole, the areas and planets in our charts involving Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Libra and Scorpio have shifted over the past few days in how we will experience and express those energies. That implies we should open to new ways of experiencing those sectors, and move into new ways of expressing those energies.

© Copyright 2009 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[caliban]

Much appreciated. The "gemini feel"? And I thought it was the seesaw I was feeling. Hmm, will have to do some study, seesaw might be felt externally.

[Beth]

i'm a bit worn out and confused - so things are going to get better or worse? (I don't think I can take worse)

[Morvah]

Thanks Robert, This article provides much food for thought and some focus to this plethora of planetary perplexities.
Shanti

[yzse]

Hi Robert,
Thanks again for those wise and encouraging lines.

I know it’s a bit early, but I have this “small” problem.
Recently I’ve opened a chart of a friend (his natal Mars is direct on 2 Leo) and when I tried to open his Mars return chart astro program offered me 3 dates or 3 charts (1 direct, 2 retrograde, 3 direct).
Just a doubt… which chart I should consider valid for the next 2 year period or should I “work” with all 3.
Thanks for your thoughts :)

[Valerie]

Hi Beth, join the CLUB. I've been crazed and confused myself. Thanks Robert, for this interesting perspective. It had not occurred to me that so many planets were changing signs at the same time. Hopefully it will be a good thing. The worm has to turn soon. Blessings to everyone, and keep the faith! :)

[WarriorLady]

Robert, thank you as always for your insight.

I have to say HALLELUIAH. I'm not religious, but halleluiah is such a happy word, ain't it?

Anyhoo, I haven't felt this refreshed, energized or productive since March. I've even (finally) decided on a major of study which happens to be affordable. Distance learning, of course, to free me up for my odd jobs and other stuff. But I'm very excited about the next few months and, most importantly, the NOW.

Sigh. Just grateful for it all. And wishing all the same.

Blessings,
Warrior Lady

[Robert]

Hi Caliban - Seesaw energies are now pervasive, with the acute axis along late Virgo-Pisces. Learning to juggle is always a challenge!

Hi Beth - "Better or worse" are temporary judgments of the mind as it decides to pursue truth or illusions. The trick is to find radical dispassion that allows us to view all that happens as temporary conditions offering us opportunities to be creative, imaginative, compassionate, and strong in our courage. Then we're not hooked into the "pleasure-pain" cycles that drive most people into temporary happiness and despair.

Hi Morvah - I thought it might give enough info to help us see charts from an entirely different angle of how it all works.

Hi yzse - Mars return charts only do this when Mars RX's across the natal position. Work with all 3. The first is the beginning of the new process which cannot commence until the final transit. The RX transit will show elements that must be dealt with before the process can move forward.

Hi Valerie - Well, that so many have changed signs is definitely an indicator that the old way is no longer. I'll just be glad when the Saturn opposition Uranus is again separating by at least a couple of degrees!

Hi WarriorLady - Very good words. Jubilant. Glad you're on your game and feeling the momentum. While subtle, I also feel the shifts have opened new perspectives which are helping me redirect more effectively. May you go on to greater recognition and effectiveness with each passing month.

[Valerie]

Hi Robert, so good to be conversing with you again. And I agree about the Saturn-Uranus thing. All of us have got the crazies and would like things to calm down for a while! AUM..... blessings to everyone. :)