For several years now, scientists have been threatening to remove Pluto’s “planet” status because it has turned out to be much smaller than originally thought when it was discovered in 1930. Scientists now believe that Pluto may be a member of the Kuiper belt band of rocky objects that orbit the Sun just past Neptune. The International Astronomers Union meets today in the Prague to decide whether Pluto can keep its title. If Pluto is declassified as a planet, will... Read more

Pluto is the lord of death and the underworld and all things dark and mysterious as well as deep and intense. Pluto on its darkest days brings obsession and pulls us into darkness in order to bring us face to face with the deepest reality of life and death and face to face with our fears. It breaks down our existing reality and rebuilds a new one in the ashes of the old. Ultimately, Pluto releases us from bondage and... Read more

Art by Willow Arlenea These new terrorism arrests and the exposure of a plot to blow up perhaps a dozen planes heading to the US coincided exactly with the lingering effects of the Full Moon. Evidently the investigations that led to the arrests had been going on for quite some time in a cooperative enterprise between the British and Pakistani police. 24 suspects were arrested in Britain, with additional British nationals of Pakistani origin arrested in Pakistan. The opposition between... Read more

It’s always fascinating to look back into the historical record to see how planetary configurations applied themselves during those times in order to learn more about how those planets work together and to derive clues of how they may manifest this time around. Saturn/Neptune is a 36- year cycle which gives us plenty of interesting information. Remember that Saturn strives to build form where Neptune reminds us that there is a world beyond form; Saturn rules incarnation in the body... Read more

Thanks to Astrococktail for this fascinating link to the Washington Post vote database. where you can track who voted for what by party, state, region, “boomer status,” gender and astrological sign. It also gives a list of how many congresspeople are represented in each sign and who they are. I usually don’t highlight this kind of Sun Sign representation, but it’s interesting to see that three signs dominate the Senate and three are significantly underrepresented. For example, out of 100... Read more

The Full Moon is still a few days away, but its energy is beginning to make itself known. This Full Moon is in Aquarius, opposing the Sun in Leo. Over the past week we have seen Mars beginning a harmonious dance with Jupiter which reaches the exact degree on August 8. During this first week there will be an expansion (Jupiter) of energy (Mars) available that will help to shake out the cobwebs of the inward push we have been... Read more

2006 has been an intense year so far, with planetary dances creating a cycle that alternates between a building of tension through the hard aspects: squares (between Jupiter and Neptune and between Jupiter and Saturn) and oppositions (Saturn to Chiron); and an opening of the doors of consciousness and awareness through the flowing aspect of the trine (Uranus and Jupiter). The two planets that dominate these cycles are Jupiter (expansion and possibilities) and Saturn (contraction and boundaries). These two planets... Read more

from Skywatch for August Jupiter, the planet that drives us to search for the meaning of life, is still in Scorpio where it has been since late last year. Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, the god of death, and therefore relishes the journey through the underworld of darkness and emotional baggage. Scorpio seeks power and emotional intensity and Jupiter is the planet of buoyant abundance, so this is an odd combination that expands (Jupiter) the focus on death, secrecy and... Read more

Artwork by Maria Kay SimmsAlso spelled Lughnasad and later called Lammas, this holiday is traditionally celebrated on August 1st but as a cross-quarter day (halfway between the solstice and equinox) is more properly when the Sun is at 15 degrees Leo which is the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox, although it is also sometimes celebrated on the full moon nearest the midpoint. For modern pagans, the cross-quarter days are the most magical times of the year,... Read more

I don’t know how this ties into astrology, except perhaps that with Uranus retrograde our understanding of the internet may be going backwards as witnessed by the speech on the issue of net neutrality, which included brilliant statements like this one: “I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday,” and “[T]he internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s... Read more