February’s Theme: Enhancing Receptivity

February’s Theme: Enhancing Receptivity

By Kathy Biehl

Posted on February 1, 2025

 

 

 

 

The year is going out with attention to practicalities, costs and meaningful connections – and a more retrospective than usual air.

Thoughts and conversations turn to the bottom line from the outset, with Mercury entering Capricorn on day one. No matter how many holidays dot the calendar, attention is on goals, working hard, and considering responsibilities, all of which Saturn, planet of adulting, quickly supports.

Late November’s sociability also gives way to seriousness, and to more private and selective activity as well. Relationships, financial dealings, and creative projects gain laser focus (and cut back) when social director Venus squares Pluto, agent of inevitable change, and then enters his Scorpio realm December 3 and 4. As with Mercury’s shift, Saturn is on board, bringing commitment or structure to something of importance.

The communication mode and the flow of relationships are simpatico until just before Christmas. Ideas proliferate and settle in to benefit both when Mercury and Venus link with Jupiter and then each other December 7-11, largely coinciding with Hanukkah. Dream big; ask for what you want, and you might get it, or something close.

Optimism with a dose of nostalgia (and holiday films) hits a peak December 12, with the bright-spirited Sagittarius New Moon squaring dreamy, otherworldly Neptune.

The event leaves a retrospective vibe in its wake. Mercury begins his final retrograde of the year December 13. It lasts until New Year’s Day and takes him from early Capricorn back into Sagittarius, which he re-enters December 23.

The first 10 days of the retrograde present tangible trip-ups and do-overs. These mushroom especially December 18, when Mercury revisits his collab with Jupiter in the month’s first week, and may stabilize when Saturn offers containment again December 21 (echoing his assistance at the month’s start).

The final stretch, from Christmas week on, reviews the scope (or lack of it) of our outlooks. Watch for opportunities to address situations you avoided or did not take adequately seriously.

A flurry of powerful activity precedes the Sun’s entry into Capricorn December 21, which marks the solstice. Relationships and desires are feeling the need for change – or challenged by the prospect of it – or frustrated by it not being within reach – with Venus opposite Uranus. Sudden developments are requiring adjustments in tactics and approach, with Mars inconjunct Uranus. Cleaning or firming up practicalities and goals is on offer from Mercury’s sextile to Saturn.

And underneath it all, there’s a sense in our very bones that a huge chapter is on the way out, and that our holiday celebrations are in their current configuration for the last time. The cause is Pluto hitting the very last degree of Capricorn for the next-to-last time in our lives. He’ll stay there, continuing to deconstruct and reconstruct institutions and foundations, until he moves into Aquarius late in January, and returns for a brief, final visit early next September.

We quickly know our position. Clarity comes from the Sun/Mercury conjunction December 22; Saturn drops a grounding cord within our reach, via a sextile from the Sun December 24.

Nostalgia, tenderness and an abundance of affection and sentimentality flow on Christmas Day, as Venus trines her higher counterpart in love and inspiration, Neptune.

The tender touch continues with the Cancer Full Moon December 26, highlighting issues of nurturing, home, family and traditions and, from a link to Jupiter, offering awareness and appreciation of aspects that have stood the test of time.

Nostalgia and escapism stay in the air as well, pumped up by squares from Mercury and Mars to Neptune December 27 and 28. Inspired action is high, with mind and motivation fusing from the inner planets’ conjunction.

These three aspects are delivering real-world examples of form following thought bordering on the magical. Watch where your mind goes; your drive is following right behind.

The end of 2023 has us homing in on our heart’s desires and deciding to go for them, as Venus sextiles Pluto and enters Sagittarius December 29. We turn to adventure and exploring the new. That feels eminently and imminently possible when Sagittarius’ ruler Jupiter stations direct December 30.

May 2024 bring a long-held wish come true.

 

Kathy Biehl

 

https://empowermentunlimited.net/

 

 

December 2023 Energy Forecast

December 2023 Energy Forecast

By Kathy Biehl

Posted on December 5, 2023

 

 

 

 

The year is going out with attention to practicalities, costs and meaningful connections – and a more retrospective than usual air.

Thoughts and conversations turn to the bottom line from the outset, with Mercury entering Capricorn on day one. No matter how many holidays dot the calendar, attention is on goals, working hard, and considering responsibilities, all of which Saturn, planet of adulting, quickly supports.

Late November’s sociability also gives way to seriousness, and to more private and selective activity as well. Relationships, financial dealings, and creative projects gain laser focus (and cut back) when social director Venus squares Pluto, agent of inevitable change, and then enters his Scorpio realm December 3 and 4. As with Mercury’s shift, Saturn is on board, bringing commitment or structure to something of importance.

The communication mode and the flow of relationships are simpatico until just before Christmas. Ideas proliferate and settle in to benefit both when Mercury and Venus link with Jupiter and then each other December 7-11, largely coinciding with Hanukkah. Dream big; ask for what you want, and you might get it, or something close.

Optimism with a dose of nostalgia (and holiday films) hits a peak December 12, with the bright-spirited Sagittarius New Moon squaring dreamy, otherworldly Neptune.

The event leaves a retrospective vibe in its wake. Mercury begins his final retrograde of the year December 13. It lasts until New Year’s Day and takes him from early Capricorn back into Sagittarius, which he re-enters December 23.

The first 10 days of the retrograde present tangible trip-ups and do-overs. These mushroom especially December 18, when Mercury revisits his collab with Jupiter in the month’s first week, and may stabilize when Saturn offers containment again December 21 (echoing his assistance at the month’s start).

The final stretch, from Christmas week on, reviews the scope (or lack of it) of our outlooks. Watch for opportunities to address situations you avoided or did not take adequately seriously.

A flurry of powerful activity precedes the Sun’s entry into Capricorn December 21, which marks the solstice. Relationships and desires are feeling the need for change – or challenged by the prospect of it – or frustrated by it not being within reach – with Venus opposite Uranus. Sudden developments are requiring adjustments in tactics and approach, with Mars inconjunct Uranus. Cleaning or firming up practicalities and goals is on offer from Mercury’s sextile to Saturn.

And underneath it all, there’s a sense in our very bones that a huge chapter is on the way out, and that our holiday celebrations are in their current configuration for the last time. The cause is Pluto hitting the very last degree of Capricorn for the next-to-last time in our lives. He’ll stay there, continuing to deconstruct and reconstruct institutions and foundations, until he moves into Aquarius late in January, and returns for a brief, final visit early next September.

We quickly know our position. Clarity comes from the Sun/Mercury conjunction December 22; Saturn drops a grounding cord within our reach, via a sextile from the Sun December 24.

Nostalgia, tenderness and an abundance of affection and sentimentality flow on Christmas Day, as Venus trines her higher counterpart in love and inspiration, Neptune.

The tender touch continues with the Cancer Full Moon December 26, highlighting issues of nurturing, home, family and traditions and, from a link to Jupiter, offering awareness and appreciation of aspects that have stood the test of time.

Nostalgia and escapism stay in the air as well, pumped up by squares from Mercury and Mars to Neptune December 27 and 28. Inspired action is high, with mind and motivation fusing from the inner planets’ conjunction.

These three aspects are delivering real-world examples of form following thought bordering on the magical. Watch where your mind goes; your drive is following right behind.

The end of 2023 has us homing in on our heart’s desires and deciding to go for them, as Venus sextiles Pluto and enters Sagittarius December 29. We turn to adventure and exploring the new. That feels eminently and imminently possible when Sagittarius’ ruler Jupiter stations direct December 30.

May 2024 bring a long-held wish come true.

 

Kathy Biehl

 

https://empowermentunlimited.net/

 

 

October 2023: Eclipses

October 2023: Eclipses

By Kathy Biehl

Posted on September 29, 2023

Strap in tight: October’s keyword is WHOOSH! Two eclipses have us simultaneously zooming ahead and bolting doors on the past.

It’s a volatile, anything-can-happen pairing, but the skies are encouraging civility (at least, through the 22nd), as well as healthy choices and boundaries. Gear shifts accompany the excitement from all the inner planets changing signs. They make possible clear, sensible thinking and action, and give us a fighting chance for getting along.

The first big event is a solar eclipse, the Libra New Moon October 14, upgrading relationships and our approach to them, to support our current conditions (and upgraded senses of self). Some of those upgrades come from – or force – departures, which might be immediate or might be on a time delay. All the departures, and arrivals, and other big developments come with pressure, raw survival instinct, and a sense of inevitability. Those fly off the Moon’s wide square to evolutionary change agent Pluto, as well as the sensation of a cosmic finger pushing and poking and pointing the way. (One is, actually, a Finger of God, formed by awakening Uranus and otherworldly Neptune.)

The second big event is intense and supersized, just in time for Halloween: the Taurus Full moon lunar eclipse October 28. This one is wrapping up the evaluation of money and resource issues we’ve been undergoing for the past two and a half years. Huge revelations are coming out, followed closely by major departures and slamming doors. With amplifying Jupiter opposing Mercury, they all loom larger than life, like figures casting distorted shadows in a horror film. Adding to the high stakes, the Sun and the Moon are again widely squaring Pluto, this time out of sign and with the luminaries squeezing him from opposite directions. We’re acutely aware of emotional treasures and costs, and of the tangible ones as well, and where our evaluation lands feels inevitable. And no going back.

The eclipses’ combined impact is not so much a one-two punch, but a gigantic jumble of volatility. Fortunately, the skies are equipping us with focus and clear-headedness. No matter what symbolic weather is blowing around you, you can get through by keep your eye on the bottom line, on details, and on what’s in front of you at any given moment.

Our communication channels, socializing, and actions all change modes of expression this month, and each shift follows a meeting with the clarifying scythe of Pluto. This means that each area of existence becomes intense, profound, and pared back before the next mode takes over.

Thought processes, conversations, and information channels strip down to what’s most important when Mercury trines Pluto October 3. (Time heavy discussions for then.) The messenger god then moves into Libra from October 4-21, which encourages artful phrasing, soft-pedaling messages, and, paradoxically, fighting for justice and harmony, whatever our individual definitions of that may be.

Details, boundaries, and improvement all around come back into the picture when Venus enters Virgo and earth mother mode October 8 ,for the remainder of the month and beyond. Just before, though, on her way out of Leo, where she’s been shining since June, she touches Pluto in an inconjunct, which unleashes adjustments in relationships and self-expression. (Watch the allure of summer’s newcomers dissolve into dust.)

As Venus changes sign, developments are probable that call on her discernment and tidying skills. The shift coincides with fierce demands for action that are impossible to ignore, from Mars’ square to Pluto October 8. The impact will not be subtle, but bold, decisive, and possibly cold-blooded. (After all, the clash is pitting the god of war against the god of death.) The impact primes Mars for his next journey, through the power-laden undercurrents of Scorpio, which begins October 12. Want to research? Work behind the scenes? Maneuver undetected? This is your time.

Deep-level routing out and clean-up are possible, with Venus and Mars traveling sextile by sign. Thanks to them, focused action comes easily once we get past the solar eclipse. Their simpatico potential makes it possible for you to evaluate a situation, then engage in precise, efficient strikes.

One of the month’s moments of stabilizing lands early in their collaboration. You may not see what’s happening, but you will experience results when action hero Mars trines Saturn, planet of structure and adulting, October 13. Acting responsibly pays off. Acting behind the scenes for the greater good pays off. Trusting your intuition pays off, perhaps as simply as being in the right place at the right time.

Tough conversations and candor – in thoughts, in words, with yourself – come when Mercury and the Sun square Pluto October 20 and 21. They then dive into Scorpio, October 22 and 23 and swim straight into the month’s other moments of stabilizing, trining Saturn October 22 and 24. Watch for confirmation of hunches and more.

Your sixth sense takes the lead the last week of the month. Whatever the lunar eclipse lights up for you, you’ll know precisely how to respond. Watch for dazzling, if backroom displays of form following thought when Mercury conjuncts Mars October 29. One carefully placed whisper could work wonders.

The month ends with a surprise party for Halloween. Anything can happen: Last-minute schedule changes that deliver unexpected fun (or people).A new person or situation materializing in an empty space created by the lunar eclipse. Something you had never thought possible suddenly becoming possible. Love goddess Venus is trining quick-change artist Uranus October 31, and their collaboration sends us flying out of the month in ways we could not have foreseen at the beginning.

Kathy Biehl

https://empowermentunlimited.net/

2023 Scorpio Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

2023 Scorpio Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

By Kathy Biehl

Posted on April 30, 2023

Been tense lately? Have your worst fears been stirring? Have you been seeing monsters crawling out from under the bed, the closet, the backrooms of power? Are you ready to flush certain dramas and situations out of your life?

Phenomenal release is on the way. You have been experiencing the build-up to May’s Scorpio Full Moon lunar eclipse. It’s got the triple-strength action of the usual high emotionality of a full moon amplified by the intensity and power of Scorpio and the intensity and volatility of an eclipse.

This moon is escalating, reshaping, and in some cases shutting down issues that have been demanding attention for the past two years of eclipses on the Taurus/Scorpio axis. This polarity deals with resources, and particularly the dichotomy of possession vs. control.

Lunar eclipses bring departures, revelations (eventually), chapter endings. This one is rife with secrets, scandals, fears, toxicity, obsessions, corruption, and high stakes power games. Many feel like they can’t go on much longer, filling the atmosphere with an end-of-an-era feel.

And something is definitely coming to a close – for starters, this eclipse cycle. We are at the next to last eclipse in this cycle, which ends with October’s Taurus Full Moon lunar eclipse. As the cycle winds down, this month’s is stirring – and providing a radically different perspective on – many a drama that crested at last November’s lunar eclipse in Taurus. The two events are bookends, occurring near the same degrees but with the Sun and Moon reversing positions. T

he instability of quick-change artist Uranus factors into the link between current developments and ones from late last year. Uranus was retrograde and conjunct the Moon at November’s lunar eclipse.

Watch for a number of situations from then to change direction, because the agent of unpredictable change is now direct and opposite the Moon. Flip-flopping has already been happening; Uranus recently returned to and has now moved beyond the degree he occupied at the November eclipse. (This has been playing out in the news, with a few state level politicians who were elected in November changing parties recently and giving their new parties super-majority power; expect the switcheroo trend to accelerate, in other areas as well.)

This could show up as flipping, or breaking, your emotional investment in a situation. There’s a conscious, intellectual streak, too, as well as a sense of clearing space for the future. This comes from the Moon’s opposition to retrograde Mercury, itself conjunct the North Node. The Sun – representing our rational side – is sandwiched between the Mercury/North Node conjunction and Uranus, jolting our sense of selves and our thinking and opening us to new relationships with money, resources, and power.

This Full Moon’s line-up is a superb formula for breaking attachments, habits, or addictions (emotional as well as chemical). Much of the action will simply occur, but you can certainly engage in some deliberate releasing as well. Beyond the usual tactic of cleaning out closets and drawers and putting bags at the curb, one potent ritual would be visualizing situations and energies flowing from you into a toilet with the lid up, and then closing the lid (to prevent any symbolic backsplash) and flushing.

Consciously or not, we are all dumping gunk and making room for the next phase of life – more dramatically and more exhaustively than appearances may suggest. This end-of-an-era experience is fraught with hints of what’s to come. Scorpio’s ruler Pluto is at the doorway to the next 21 years, at 0 degrees Aquarius. He turns retrograde days before the eclipse and is in an out-of-sign square to expansive Jupiter, finishing his year in Aries and not quite two weeks away from entering Taurus and completing the square.

Their impact encourages over-the-top dramas and big, bold responses. Watch for widespread recognition of previous ways no longer cutting it, and widespread adoption of radically different approaches. That is an imperative, wired into this Full Moon by a t-square to Pluto from the nodes (pitting the old against the future and requiring metamorphosis).

The imperative has a long fuse. It doesn’t have to be honored at once, and in fact can not be. It gets another power-up when Jupiter moves into Taurus and completes his square to Pluto May 17, and then again each time Pluto returns to 0 Aquarius over the next year and a half.

The upshot? You don’t have to pour everything out at once. You don’t have to clean everything out at once. And don’t expect that from collective developments, either. Release in pulses (although, right now, you’re probably motivated to engage in a huge outpouring); and loosen your grip on anything that is leaving or falling away. We are on a trajectory to a major wrapping up, which takes greater and greater shape by October.

Kathy Biehl

https://empowermentunlimited.net/

April 2023 Aries New Moon Solar Eclipse

April 2023 Aries New Moon Solar Eclipse

By Kathy Biehl

Posted on April 12, 2023

-

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” — attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

You’re in a hurry. You’re on a mission. And boy, have you got company, as in, the rest of the entire world. But in your haste, remember that quote. And if that’s more than you can manage right now, remember three words: “begin,” “boldness” and “power.” They sum up the extraordinary force of April’s Aries New Moon.

The impulsive, unpremediated gusto of Aries has been running especially high this season, with amplifying Jupiter stoking the fires. Everyone’s already feisty, excitable and amped up; a lot of people are outright aggressive, combative and stirring up fights. This New Moon takes those inclinations to the max and hurtles them – and all of us – into the future.

It’s the year’s second New Moon in the sign, so far into the last degree that it’s almost at Taurus. (March’s was at the very beginning of Aries.) That degree leads to extreme expression of all traits Aries, which are combusting within individuals, situations and events. Adding to its force: it’s a total solar eclipse (visible only in strips of Australasia), which super-charges the lunation.

On top of which, it’s in a square – a demand for action – with Pluto. A solar eclipse in a Mars-ruled sign pressured by the lord of death and rebirth? Nothing about this combo is subtle. Pluto is the agent of evolutionary change, ruler of power and secrets and subterranean impulses. The square to him pushes forces out of psyches, closets, back rooms and all manner of other hidden places. It’s like a plant sprouting through concrete, with such velocity and ferocity that the concrete explodes.

And, because Pluto has only recently arrived at the first degree of Aquarius, this eclipse is christening – and, actually, catapulting us into – his 21-year visit to that sign. Pluto will retreat from and return to this degree multiple times through December 2024, a process acclimating us more and more to radical changes in society and technology. Each pass over this sensitized degree will trigger the energies of this eclipse and its hardwired Plutonian action.

This event is also teeing up issues that will carry through the next two years. This New Moon launches eclipses through March 2025 on the Aries/Libra axis, which pits personal identity against relationships. We’ll be revisting, resetting and rebooting the challenge of expressing our identity while maintaining relationships (from specific connections or agreements to the ground rules we operate by).

The kick-off is weighted toward the individual and the future. A situation or person may well leave you – all eclipses blot something out – if it is not on the same trajectory. More likely, you may well leave a situation or person in the dust as you zoom ahead. Whichever way they happen, departures will be quick, possibly unexpected, unapologetic and permanent, with no looking back.

It’s all part of moving into a different phase of existence, and a different phase of how we get along with each other. Think of this solar eclipse as installing a new operating system. Remember what happens with a computer, phone or device: It shuts down and, on timing you can’t control, reboots. When it comes back up, it’s changed. Some functions are gone or different; some new ones are now present. It’s an upgrade, in theory, although some learning curve or bugs may be involved.

Keep this in mind as you set intentions and goals. If you go into the event with those in mind, they will be in the picture as impulses erupt, and you will have uncommon boldness and courage to run with them. (Refer back to the introductory quote.) You will probably not, however, be thinking them over much. Or thinking much at all. Everything that launches now blazes with instinctive, organic life force, overriding social niceties and your usual internal constraints and propelling you into personal super-hero territory.

You’ll be feeling, burning with and flying on this eclipse for months. Watch for a noticeable flare in issues in mid-May, when Jupiter crosses the eclipse’s degree and squares Pluto, still at the spot he’s occupying at this eclipse.

The next reboot – the next installment of Aries/Libra eclipses – will not come until fall, however. We’re in overlapping eclipse families this year, April’s solar eclipse is the pivot point between them. It’s 10 minutes away from Taurus, and conjunct the North Node in Taurus, which shows where we are collectively heading. (All the departures and brash moves really are moving us ahead.)

The eclipse is ushering in the crossover from the resource-oriented Taurus/Scorpio eclipses of the past two years. They have been lighting up, clearing out and shutting down issues of individual and joint finances, including what we own, what we invest in and what we get back from investments. We’ll get two more pulses of wrapping up, at May’s Scorpio Full Moon and late October’s Taurus, which wraps up the cycle. Their worldly issues remain active factors as the Aries/Libra eclipses hurtle us forward now and again in October.

Their energetic difference? Dealing with, shutting down or transforming financial, sharing or investment matters is putting stories of the past to rest. Daring, risk-taking action and rearranging relationship dynamics are molding the stories of the future. Stretch, breathe, and dress accordingly. And you’re off!

Video: https://youtu.be/DbKHO8ZeNqY

Kathy Biehl

https://empowermentunlimited.net/