What's With All the Astrology Stuff?

(image courtesy of Mira Cosic via pixabay.com)

Let’s face it, the day before American Thanksgiving, few of us in the U.S. want to do much that makes us work too hard. We want pie.

My annual Nano goal is to hit 50K just before Thanksgiving, so anything else I write between Thanksgiving and the end of the month is gravy. Yes, I’ll see myself out.

If you read my daily blog on the intersection of art and life, Ink in My Coffee,  you see that I note the phase of the moon and any retrogrades, along with the weather. I do the same on Gratitude and Growth, the garden journal that posts most Thursdays, going a little deeper into the moon phases and adding in the Celtic Tree months and what they mean.

But why?

Because it reminds me to take a step back and breathe.

It’s a tool, not an excuse.

Plenty of people use astrology as an excuse to behave like assholes, blaming the planets for their jerky choices. Which is part of the reason it’s often hard for people to take it seriously.

I used to try to ignore retrogrades, but then I started tracking where I ran into challenges and obstacles and found they often correlated with what was going on up in the sky. Writing for Llewellyn Worldwide’s calendars and almanacs since 1994 (as Cerridwen Iris Shea) also allowed me to learn a lot about influences and affects.

Basically, you wouldn’t plant tomatoes outside in the middle of a snowstorm, because the influences work against what needs to happen for the plants to thrive. So why sign a contract or buy a house or a major appliance during Mercury Retrograde if you can possibly avoid it?

Mercury Retrograde is the one with which most people are familiar. It messes with communication, contracts, large purchases, travel, electronics. However, it’s great for finding wonderful, overlooked items at thrift shops and garage sales. My manta is: Stay low, stay quiet, go shopping (at thrift stores). I back up all my files in as many places as I can, because something goes catawampus.

Oh, and Merc Ret is when my coffee makers die. I was shocked this past October when my electric drip coffeemaker survived the retrograde, only to cough and give it up about a week after. So it’s Melita drip and/or French press until I buy a new one – when Mercury is direct. This year, 2022, when I’m first writing it, we get FOUR retrogrades – the last one is December 29 into January 18, 2023. Urgh.

There are warnings about the “shadow” period of 2 weeks on either side of the retrograde. That would knock six months out of my year and I’d never get anything done, so that’s just me over in the corner, with my fingers in my ears, my eyes squeezed shut, singing, “La, la, la” whenever someone starts talking about the shadow.

Oh, yeah, that last coffee maker? Died during the post-ret shadow.

La, La, La.

When this post is scheduled to first go live, we have several retrogrades on the go: Neptune, Chiron, Uranus and Mars.

Jupiter goes direct today, THANK GOODNESS (and it’s a new moon). Jupiter is the planet of expansion and material abundance. We want/need that going into the holiday season. Saturn – life lessons – went direct on October 23. Pay attention to what you learned during that retrograde, so you don’t get slapped upside the head with the same life lesson in the next go round next year.

Neptune is still retrograde. Neptune influences inspiration, dreams, fantasies. While I’ve definitely had a better time of it, inspiration-wise, this summer going into winter in spite of the retrograde, I look forward to it going direct on December 3 and the floodgates opening.

I started paying attention to Chiron, because it is “the wounded healer” and the move in 2021 caused deep wounds, although the result of the move was positive. So the last Chiron retrograde, and this one, when I do internal work, it’s about what needs healing and how best to do that in a way that does not cause harm. Chiron goes direct December 23.

Uranus is the planet of what makes us unique and individual. That went retrograde at the end of August and goes direct on January 22, 2023. I live in a place now that welcomes nonconformity more than my previous location, so it hasn’t been as much outer stress for me this go-round as inner stress. Figuring out where I want and need to make changes. The Uranus retrograde this time has felt more positive.

The Mars retrograde is trickier than usual this time. Mars is about decisive action, forward motion, and, often, aggression. When Mars is retrograde, people tend to be more argumentative toward each other, and in a more aggressive way than during a Mercury retrograde, where misunderstandings can usually be smoothed over by talking it out and careful listening. Mars is in Gemini, which is problematic anyway, since Gemini is about the twins, quick thought, and switching positions. And Mars will sit in Gemini until March of 2023, which, considering where Mars sits in my chart, sucks on multiple levels. But going retrograde in Gemini during the holiday season? October 30, 2022 through January 12, 2023? Let’s just say even if we weren’t still in the pandemic, I’d be staying home.

The likelihood of chaos for the next few months, some of it violent, means putting more thought into just about every interaction.

Great to know the day before Thanksgiving, right?

In any case, these are influences, not demands. That means, when you know what a planet and its retrograde influences, and you find yourself faced with a bigger challenge during that time because of those influences, you stop and take a breath. You step back and say to yourself, “How can I make a choice that better serves my needs and my community without causing harm?”

Being aware of the influences and challenges means having more information to make smarter choices. It means making the CHOICE not to fall into the shadow side of these influences and only RE-act. It means interacting in more thoughtful ways that, hopefully, spill over into the direct times, too.

The positive side of retrogrades is that is encourages you to slow down and reassess.

In my writing, and my process, it helps me time submissions and contract signings, so that there’s less stress on those fronts. It helps me figure out when to launch projects. I launched The Process Muse, here, the day after a new moon, for that new beginnings energy.  Legerdemain launched on a new moon at the end of August. ANGEL HUNT’s launch is planned for the new moon at the end of January, when Mercury and Mars are both direct again. Why not give projects support from as many factions as possible?

There are places to get your birth chart done, some of them free. Then, you can see where the different planets sit in your birth chart and layer over the monthly transits and yearly retrogrades. It can get complicated and headache inducing. It also doesn’t have to be complicated, but be an additional source of extra information, like checking the weather.

Here on Substack, we even have the Astro Poets, whom I recommend.

Anyway, if you celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I hope yours is wonderful, joyful, and stress-free. If you’re one of my international friends, I hope you don’t mind my tangent into why I use astrology as part of my process.

If you’re doing Nano, I hope you’re not stressed. If you are, how can I help?

If you have questions, drop them down. I may not get to them until the weekend, but I will do my best to answer, or point you toward others who can give more complete answers.

Until next week, peace, my friends.