Astrology

December 2, 2025 In Astrology, Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Long Night Moon—December 4th.

We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep—William James.

In small suburban gardens, dancing reindeer and corpulent Santas twinkle. Fairy lights garland trees and hedges. As the old year dies in the darkness of midwinter, rituals—quirky and quaint—secure threads of continuity and connection, create meaning, beguile us with wonder.

The sun lies low on the horizon, just two weeks before the mid-winter solstice. For some, this may be a lonely wintering. For those unmoored by a cluster of losses, as the darkness closes in. The gaudy glitter and surfeit of this Christmas season amplify isolation. For some this may be a fallow time of scant resources. For some, the protracted dying of a relationship may rachet up the strength to shrug off a life that now feels too small, too tight. And for some, this festive season may be a time of joyful celebration, gifts exchanged, good food enjoyed, a long awaited reunion with family or a much-loved friend.

The last full moon of the year caresses the face of the earth on December 4^th, an imposing supermoon in the sign of Gemini, an astrological archetype associated with duality.

Supermoons―a term coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979―arrive consecutively, in threes or fours, amplifying the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon upon the earth, affecting the circadian rhythm of all living things. This supermoon cycle ends on January 3^rd, with a Cancer supermoon. The next cycle begins in November 2026.

December’s supermoon is accompanied by the Geminid meteor shower as the earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid―shooting stars that streak across the skies. They emanate from the heavens near the bright star, Castor in the constellation of Gemini. They blaze through the night skies from December 4^th to 17^th.

The best time to view will be as the moon begins to wane from December 11^th and the skies darken, preceding a new Sagittarius moon, just before the mid-winter solstice on December 20^th.

This lunation invokes Gemini’s contradictory, mercurial magic. The moon conjoins erratic Uranus Retrograde and squares the Nodes in Virgo and Pisces. Tonight, we might reflect on those bonds of love and loyalty that bind us, or the painful bruise of estrangement. We may be suspended between Piscean idealism/empathy and Virgoan pragmatism/discernment. Saturn (structure and boundaries) and Neptune (dissolution) are still moving through the final degrees of Pisces, stirring deep currents of sorrow, world-weariness and exhaustion, in the closing phase of this long cosmic cycle.

In the Greco/Roman world, Mercury/Hermes presided over thresholds, crossroads, and boundaries. As we prepare ourselves for the challenge of crossing a new threshold, we may meet the spirit of Gemini in the wind that rustles the branches of the tree outside our window, a reminder that nothing is constant. Against the rich warm browns of dying bracken and marmalade and honey-gold of the last autumn leaves, it is the oak that holds fast the green the longest. A reminder perhaps that change emerges discretely for some of us, or in a flash, with a sudden change of heart, for others.

Air is Gemini’s element. This is the energy of the trickster—versatile, elusive, clever, playful, and infuriatingly inconsistent. Gemini moves through its two personas, appearing in those either-or choices we feel compelled to make, sometimes showing up at crossroad moments in our lives. Through Gemini we encounter the power of two, the kindred spirit, those relationships we find most challenging, the conflicts that bring out our exiled dark twin. Spiritual teacher, Caroline Myss’ Gemini Moon conveys the archetype of the Storyteller, the Data Gatherer. She writes, “the challenge is for us to decide whether to make choices that enhance our spirit or drain our power.”

The deeper meaning of Gemini encompasses a subtle tuning into the invisible currents that flow through the fabric of life. The Sabian Symbol for this lunation is “Transcendent Connection”. Tonight, we may feel conflicted about a choice (the sun and moon are in opposition at full moon times), yet if we can still our minds, connect with our heart, we will find the courage to be with what is. As Mercury, ruling both the moon and the south node, infuses the energy of this lunation a ritual, an intention, a heartfelt prayer will be amplified tonight.
Mercury is now moving direct in uncompromising Scorpio, yet the mood will lighten as he enters buoyant Sagittarius on December 12^th, leaving his shadow (the degree at which he turned Retrograde) on December 17^th.

We can’t avoid winter’s darkness, yet the Sun’s passage through hope-filled Sagittarius is a reminder that we may have become too rigid in our opinions, too wrapped up in anticipatory anxiety, or encased in cynicism to dare to trust and hope. Venus and Mars join the Sun in exuberant Sagittarius, as even the most churlish succumb, perhaps just a little, to the effervescence of this season.

Raising our glasses to the year almost gone, may we listen deeply to what is said around the dinner table, sensing a heartache or a longing that may be concealed in an emotionally charged silence; then choose to soften our stance, allow a change of heart, a deepening of connection.

Please get in touch if you would like to book an astrology consultation for the year ahead: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

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November 25, 2025 In Astrology, Relationships By Ingrid Hoffman

Amazing Grace—Sun in Sagittarius—November 22nd-December 22nd.

Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful. L.R. Knost.

The Sun in exuberant Sagittarius scatters star dust and sparkle into the weeks preceding the winter solstice. This is the month of Thanksgiving. For counting our blessings and breathing in the amazing. This month we turn our attention away from the cynicism and lies of the swaggering polititians who dominate the news. This month we switch channels to something lighter, less dissonant, less deeply disturbing.

On November 22^nd, the Sun in profligate Sagittarius rises from Scorpio’s generative mud and looks upwards, towards new horizons. As we engage with the archetype of the archer, we become explorers, adventurers, pilgrims. We look for meaning, watch for signs. We reach for the stars, dream the impossible dream, buoyed by the faith that it will all work out in the end. Sagittarius is ruled by portly Jupiter, a planet which, on a good day, softens the hard edges of the world with good cheer. We invoke the spirit of Jupiter when songs of grace touch our hearts with their beauty, when we look up, when we notice the silver lining on the dark clouds of circumstance.

Jupiter has been moving through the emotional currents of Cancer since June 9^th bringing our focus to safety, home, and family. Cancer is the Moon’s sign. Jupiter expands the qualities of Cancer, heightening our sensitivity and empathy, our innate ability to nurture, to form deeper, heartfelt connections to people, places, to our faith, or our religion. To what brings meaning to our lives. Jupiter finds ease, joy and abundance in Cancer, traditionally, the sign of Jupiter’s exaltation. Jupiter’s 12-month journey through Cancer will influence all our lives in some way if we tune into Jupiter’s benevolent wavelength and focus on positivity, abundance, and gratitude.

Jupiter stationed Retrograde on November 11^th and moves direct on March 11^th, introverting the expansive energy of Jupiter as it moves through the watery sign of the crab—a creature that lives between the material reality of earth, and the ever-changing swirl of emotional and imaginative tides. Amidst the sparkle of festive lights, the Christmas playlist that pulses through shopping mall, the human-rush of life, a wash of fatigue may grey our days. We be physically or emotionally exhausted as this year draws to a close. It might be that we outgrown our shell—a home, a place of work, a state of mind. Cancer is a sensitive, intuitive sign, and Jupiter amplifies this energy. Over the coming weeks, take time to close the curtains, indulge in your favourite comfort food, and withdraw from the noise and bustle as you gestate something new, much like the crab who must seek safety as he grows a new shell.

Changing our attitude takes practice and repetition. Rick Hanson, a psychologist who focuses on mindfulness reminds us that our brains are biased towards fear and threat and negativity because the brain keeps us safe. Yet our brains are plastic, constructed for growth and adaptation. Research acknowledges what shamans and wise women have known for eons. The thoughts and images that flow from the deep ocean of our imagination have real physiological consequences for our bodies. Yet our ancient human brain often can’t distinguish whether we are imagining something or experiencing it in “real time”. It’s up to us to re-frame our dark nights of suffering and loss, to take our bundle of straw and spin it into gold. To practice gratitude. To allow grace to find us.

Within the sacred geometry of overlapping cycles, light and dark, the amazing and the awful, and the wonder of the ordinary, Mercury turned Retrograde (3º Sagittarius) on November 9^th — stationing direct on November 20^th (20º Scorpio) and will quicken the tempo of our lives as it opposes Uranus on December 10/11^th before leaving Scorpio’s dark waters to move into optimistic Sagittarius on December 12^th. From fixed water (Scorpio) into the fire (Sagittarius), Mercury travels over that same Retrograde degree on December 14^th as we consciously focus on our state of mind, tracking the wonder, celebrating the amazing. Writer and teacher, K.M. Weiland describes gratitude as a state of being, a frequency we must choose to embody. She writes, “the older I get, the more I believe gratitude is the secret sauce. Without it, nothing is good. With it, all of life is miraculous. I don’t believe gratitude is a feeling, any more than love is. It is a force that changes the world—perhaps, ironically, less because it demands change and more because it is focused on accepting and celebrating exactly what is.”

Pragmatic Saturn stations direct in Pisces on November 27^th, squaring the sun on December 17^th, an inflection point in its journey in tandem with Neptune. Saturn and the sun are in combat in our natal chart, as they are two antithetical forces. As Saturn begins to move slowly forward, a feeling, a thought, a desire, that is gestating within us is beginning to grow.

Both Saturn and Neptune linger at that critical, final degree of Pisces (29º) symbolising sorrowful endings, also often quite literally, water symbolism: storms, floods, wet, wild weather. As Saturn/Neptune journey through the final degrees of Pisces we may have a sense of what we must now release from the past, what we must lay to rest, what we must mourn. Venus opposes erratic Uranus on November 29^th, carrying the promise of incandescent encounters that may not last long, but that offer us the opportunity to move from the sadness that has weighed us down towards what could be…to believe in love after love, to tap into the power of gratitude which never wanes.

Thank you for sharing with me your stories, the amazing, the awful and the ordinary.

Thank you for supporting my work, for your trust and faith in the power of astrology to illuminate the way.

Together, let’s savour the “secret sauce” of gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving!

To book an astrology reading, please get in touch: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

November 4, 2025 In Astrology, Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Rooted—Full Moon in Taurus—November 5th.

To be rooted is not the same thing at all as being tied down. To be rooted is to say, here I am nourished and here will I grow, for I have found a place where every sunrise shows me how to be more than what I was yesterday, and I need not wander to feel the wonder of my blessing—Kevin Hearne.

The moon rests her bright face close to the heart of the earth tonight. The extravagance of autumn is muted now. Flowers past their bloom. The scent of fallen leaves mingles with the earthy smell of burning wood. This is the season of bonfires, pruning, and staking.

Melody Beattie reminds us, “there are seasons and cycles in us, just as there are in nature. Learn to recognise and honour the seasons and cycles of the soul.”

This so-called “supermoon” in Taurus will be followed by a regenerative new moon in Scorpio on November 20^th and as this lunar cycle completes, Taurus symbolism directs our attention to our finances, the energetic terrain where we so often feel empowered/disempowered, lacking, or abundant.

Money matters, abundance blocks, accompanied by fear and shame, may be weighing heavily in the month that preceeds festive spending. Where Taurus is in our birth chart is where we must work the ground, plant the seeds of our gifts and talents, learn how to manage and conserve our resources, grow towards stability and security, stay connected to the material world. “Being grounded” can seem like one of those self-help adages, yet as moonlight washes over the face of our earth tonight, we may ask, what makes me feel grounded, stable and safe? Have I planted roots in a place that feels nourishing? Am I tired and depleted; my body and nervous system dysregulated? How well am I managing the currencies of my time, skills, and money?

Taurus imagery offers us a chance to stay steady, perhaps begin to address our money wound, which usually is deeply rooted in our family’s relationship and attitude to money and possessions, charged with an energy that spans generations.

This full moon precedes an important celestial pivot point: Erratic Uranus back tracks into Taurus on November 8^th. Uranus lingers at the potent, critical 29° point till December 1^st, before stationing direct in Taurus on February 3^rd, moving back over old ground before returning once more to that anaretic degree point between April 7-29^th before leaving Taurus to move into Gemini.

As we review the years between 2018 and 2026, as Uranus travelled through the sign of Taurus, we recall those practical necessities that have shaped our choices, helped define our values. As Uranus moved through Taurus, crypto currencies gobbled fossil fuels and the climate catastrophe worsened. Stocks and shares rose and fell. A tariff war escalated anxiety and economic chaos. Uranus, like the Tower card in the Tarot, represents a toppling of a structure, a breakdown, a breakthrough, that shatters and shocks us into a new realisation, releasing a renewing surge of energy from the heavens.

This month, Saturn and nebulous Neptune meet in Pisces. As they move over the sensitive degree point of the new moon eclipse on September 21^st, there’s speculation of an AI bubble burst in a precarious world economy that teeters on the brink of recession. Saturn has been moving through through the liminal realm of Pisces since March 2023, and will remain in Pisces till February 2026. The archetype of Saturn carries ponderous associations with fate and consequence, and Saturn/Neptune conjunctions correlate with events that bring dissolution to structures; a sense of deep ennui, a vague, undefined sorrow and hopelessness that pervades the collective; confusion, disillusionment, political polarisation. Saturn and Neptune will be co-present in the same signs until 2028 and although these great astrological cycles and seasons don’t form in isolation, this corrosive cosmic energy unmoors, unsettles, makes it hard to discern truth from lies. Astrologer, Richard Tarnas writes: “There is also a tendency during Saturn/Neptune eras to experience a subtle but pervasive darkening of the collective consciousness, sometimes as a diffuse and difficult-to-diagnose social malaise, at other times as a direct response to deeply discouraging or tragic events.” This month, Saturn presses slowly forward, suffusing our experiences with necessary endings, the dissolution of outworn structures. Neptune invites us to grieve.

The effects of September’s two eclipses linger perhaps in our own lives, and certainly for Mr Mountbatten Windsor.

The lunar eclipse (15° Pisces) fell on Mr Mountbatten Windsor’s Mercury. He now faces pressure to give evidence before the US Congressional committee about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The House of Windsor is still embroiled in a criminal crisis.

The explosive, deeply cutting Mercury/Mars aspect of October burns across the heavens this month. Mercury stations Retrograde on November 9^th, with Mars now moving swiftly through the fire sign of Sagittarius close on its heels, gaining ground, till they meet in another combustive conjunction between November 11^th and November 14^th as Mars, the war-god, viciously slices through communication (Mercury). Poet, Andrea Gibson, speaks to hunting out the fear, which might mean facing a painful truth and harnessing rampant reactivity or finally daring to open to that difficult conversation.

As nature contracts, exposing an uncompromising knot-work of bare branches and stubble fields, the primordial pulse of change stirs deep in our blood and bones. Yet, tonight, we may sense a slow, steady certainty moving through our body, a knowing, that at month-end, the invisible new moon in Scorpio carries the seed for repair, for release and renewal.

In this world of dying things, may those dead places in ourselves open to Love in new and deeper ways. And as the moon’s light bathes the earth tonight, may we trust the rhythm of the universe, the cycles and the seasons that bring endings and new beginnings.

Please get in touch if you would like to book an astrology session: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

October 22, 2025 In Astrology, Relationship, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Resolute—Sun Enters Scorpio—23rd October.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves. We must die to one life before we can enter another—Anatole France.

In October, leaves of gold turn to mulch. Shimmering spiderwebs sparkle in coppery hedgerows. The sunlit days, charged with beauty, are more precious now as the light begins to dim.

October is when we turn towards the quiet darkness of winter. This is the season of dying things, a time of shadows. The season of Scorpio brings two powerful forces into sharp focus: life and death. This is a liminal time, halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. A time when we may notice an unsettling shift in the seasons. A time when melancholy wraps itself around the wan light of the dying year and ghoulish costumes create a safe diversion from our squeamishness about death. This is the month when the dead come calling—Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead with roots that twist down through the centuries to Aztec death rites.

Hallowe’en, loud and gaudy, prickling with single-use plastic, was once Allhallowtide, a time in the liturgical year that was dedicated to the departed, before that, the Celtic festival of Samhain.

Soft-bred pumpkins grimace with menacing faces; bonfires consume summer’s fruitfulness, light-hearted tricks and sugary treats sweeten the older tradition of guising (disguising ourselves from sinister wandering spirits) while ruby-red toffee apples symbolise the potent symbol of the pentagram that lives in secret within every store-bought apple; incantations against the supernatural, rituals for protection against the descent into the dark of the year.

As the sun moves through the sign of the scorpion this month, we may become acutely aware that our time here is finite, as we ask ourselves, “what is really important to me?”

It was the serpent, not the scorpion, that ancient Hebrew and Egyptian astrologers associated with the qualities of the modern archetype of Scorpio. Snakes, in ancient times, were associated with wisdom, prophecy, and healing as well as destruction. The cyclical shedding of the snake’s skin was thought to be symbolic of renewal and immortality. In modern times, Scorpio is associated with the far-sighted eagle that soars high above the mayhem. The mythical Phoenix that soared from flames and ashes. Now, as the sun moves through Scorpio, we may be letting something or someone go, rebuilding, starting anew.

When confrontational Mars and communicative Mercury, both personal planets, meet in the still waters of Scorpio this month, they can deliver a nasty bite that wounds. Power struggles, Machiavellian betrayals, buried truths emerge. Snakes and scorpions move easily through the darkness.

On the world stage, Mars/Mercury themes have played out in the truce violations in Gaza and the unspeakable horrors of torture, executions that continue to ravage any hope of peace. As Mars and Mercury move through Scorpio, a sign connected simplistically with the regenerative act sex, comes the unsurprising revelation that Prince Andrew hired internet “trolls” to harass Virginia Giuffre, the courageous advocate for justice for the survivors of sex trafficking, who committed suicide in April this year. As new sordid allegations emerge, Prince Andrew is stripped of his royal titles, just as transiting Mars and Mercury travel in tandem across his secretive Scorpio moon, and Saturn (law, responsibility, accountability) conjoins his fated south node (the past, karma) and Chiron lingers over his Midheaven (reputation and status). It is unlikely that he has willingly and generously given up his prestigious titles. This decision has been made to bolster the power and reputation of the Royal Family brand. Prince Andrew continues to resolutely deny his part in the abuse and sexual assault of Virginia Giuffre.

Cosmic static begins this month as Mercury has entered its Retrograde shadow (misunderstandings, travel delays, technology glitches all start creeping in—notably the major website outage experienced globally on Monday, October 20^th) and will station Retrograde in fiery Sagittarius on November 9^th, finally moving direct in watery Scorpio on November 29^th. With Mercury moving Retrograde in Scorpio, we may feel a strong desire to withdraw from the world. Our dreams may be intensely disturbing or revealing. This is a cosmic nudge to slow down, focus, pay attention, repair, heal, before moving forward. Fact-check what you post online before you send it, resolve an old argument with a loved one, attend to the tedious admin, read the fine print before signing a document.

Scorpio carries enormous power, for good or ill. The deadly sting or painful bite may self-inflicted.

“Just as splinters can get embedded in our body, old emotions and beliefs can act like toxins and become embedded in us too. We may have picked up residue along the way, beliefs we didn’t consciously choose, feelings we weren’t safe enough to feel, toxins from the world around us” Melody Beattie writes. “What hurts? What are you remembering? Who has come back into your life? Sometimes the process will sting just a bit when you pull out the splinter, or the process of releasing old toxins can be as gentle and natural as the way a flower or tree grows with sunshine and rain.”

Scorpio is associated with the element of water, so tune into what flows and what feels frozen and immovable in your life. Pay attention to what rises to the surface now, what is worth holding onto, and what must be allowed to die.

Swedish archaeologist Cornelius Holtorf observes, in a field of work where preservation is so valued, that accepting loss and change can be important in fostering resilience. Holtorf believes that seeing things fall apart may help us recognise that life is not static. He warns that we can all be drawn into the swamplands of melancholy, rabid nationalism, fanaticism, ghoulish witch hunts, in the name of keeping things “as they were”.

As we prepare for the coming of winter, the sky-story carries a message of hope and regeneration through its association with the snake that sheds its skin, the mythical phoenix that rises from dust and ashes, and the all-seeing eagle that soars above the beauty and the suffering. Let’s enter this Scorpio season of change with the willingness to trust the process of shedding, embrace the sorrow of loss. Let’s turn towards life with grateful hearts.

To schedule a virtual astrology reading, please email: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

October 5, 2025 In Astrology, Relationship By Ingrid Hoffman

Together—Libra Season—September 22-October 23rd.

We say, a person is a person through other persons. I need you in order to be me and you need me in order to be you―Archbishop Tutu.

Autumn flames out in October in bolts of gold and copper. This is the month that the astrological sun sweeps through the sign of Libra, highlighting our relationships. Libra is a sign of paradoxes. A sign depicted by a set of scales.

The Sumerians called the constellation of Libra Zib-ba An-na, “the balance of heaven.”

The Egyptians weighed the souls of the dead against the Feather of Truth in golden scales of balance.

The Sun, the symbol of our creative self-expression, is said to be in its fall in Libra implying that a perpetual state of balance is impossible to achieve in the messy complexity of life.

“Paradoxically, it’s in our most enduring and important relationships that we’re least likely to be our most mature and thoughtful selves,” observes psychologist Harriet Lerner.

Yet this month, a super full moon in the assertive sign of Aries on October 7^th and a new moon in Libra on October 21^st serve as cosmic reminders to hone our relational skills.

It’s an act of courage to reach out to a friend or family member after years of silence, yet unconscious anxiety and pain tends to surface as anger or stay submerged as depression. “Keep in mind that people, like other growing things, do not hold up well in the long run when severed from their roots,” Harriet Lerner reminds us.

This month’s full moon in Aries (courage, self-assertiveness) opposes the Libran sun (diplomacy, relatedness, fairness and balance) illuminate situations where we might need to temper our need to be right or to “win”. Finding our “authentic voice,” telling it like it is, might require some careful editing. Raw, unbridled Mercury in the early degrees of emotional Scorpio now squares Pluto and forms a Yod with Uranus and Neptune, adding tension, the potential for ruthless truth-telling. Yet, the sextile between Uranus and Neptune offers new insight, a chance to act with courage, integrity and compassion as we end an impasse or repair a misunderstanding.

Mars is in Scorpio presides over this Aries moon, amplifying the potential for conflict as we march into battle with a colleague or a loved one. We may have reached a crisis point, we may choose now to give up, to save ourselves, speak our truth, even if this means losing a relationship. Mercury is now sweeping through uncompromising Scorpio, adding impetus to reflexive anger, our need to defend our point of view.

Venus, Libra’s ruling planet, is now a morning star. She shimmers in the modest, temperate sign of Virgo at dawn, a reminder to take care of the ordinary things, practice common sense, take one small step at a time, patiently repair those bonds of connection that have been ruptured through fear of being hurt, or through misunderstanding. Venus makes an opposition to Saturn in Pisces from October 11^th bringing opportunity for a practical reality check as we re-evaluate our part in our relationship dance. Venus enters its home sign of Libra on October 13^th as we practice the art of relating to others in this uncertain world. This change of sign may bring us to a crossroads in a situation that requires sound judgment and careful consideration.

This first lunation of the month follows the Autumn Equinox here in the north (September 22^nd) when the sun entered the cardinal sign of Libra and the unsettling winds of change whisked across carpets of fallen leaves. Aries and Libra are both cardinal signs. They carry an urgent momentum through the cosmic air: energy for movement, change, getting things in the right order before we come to this year’s end.

Pluto stations direct on October 14^th, dredging deep into collective unconscious, bringing up those essential truths, life or death issues we would rather not face. Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Eris, and Chiron are all still moving Retrograde, signifying a silent, unseen energy of evolution that is shaping our collective and personal destiny. It is unlikely that there will be compromise and peace in Gaza in this “me and you” cosmic weather. Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post threatens belligerently, “if this last chance agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas…”

With both Mars and Mercury moving through the fixed sign of the Scorpion, battle lines are drawn. Threats add fuel to the fire. Compromise and lasting peace are unlikely in the near future and the tragic loss of human and animal life will continue.

A Libran new moon on September 21^st arrives with charm and grace at this time of changing seasons. New moons signify new beginnings, fresh starts. As we practice a light touch in our conversations, generous gestures of love and kindness, and the careful editing of our untamed words, psychologist and author, Harriet Lerner reminds us, “it’s an act of maturity to not take things personally and to understand that the other person’s response may have more to do with them than with us.”

Please get in touch if you would like a personal astrology consultation―ingrid@trueheartwork.com

August 29, 2025 In Astrology, Relationship, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Season of Eclipses—September 2025.

Hope has holes in its pockets. It leaves little crumb trails so that we, when anxious, can follow it. Hope’s secret: it doesn’t know the destination–it knows only that all roads begin with one foot in front of the other—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

All too soon, leaves of crimson and gold flutter and fall.

As the seasons turn, September arrives accompanied by two eclipses that rhyme with the changes in our lives. We may be moving through our own season of metamorphosis as summer ends. Change, even change that is longed for, unstitches us from all we know, unravels those things that offer familiar comfort. A beloved child leaves home, a relationship strips us of our innocence, a retrenchment escorts us to a crossroads of choice.

On September 7^th, a super-charged full moon daubs her silver light across our earth. As the moon slips between the earth and the sun, she blocks the sun’s light and energy, a temporary power outage, a cosmic punctuation point that marks an ending and an in-between space for a new beginning. Full moon eclipses catapult us from those soft places of comfort. Like an escape room experience, we must find our way in the darkness for a while, and then quite suddenly, something is revealed.

Eclipses often accompany resolute shifts in consciousness, changes of heart. Relationships are illuminated at full moon times and more intensely at full moon eclipses. We may realise our own role in a power struggle or misunderstanding. Quite suddenly, the grace of a gentle compassion settles. We forgive ourselves and the one who has bruised our heart.

During these next few days as the eclipse energy builds, and we attune to this powerful cosmic energy, we may find ourselves assimilating what we have taken in during the hopeful days of spring, and the sun-saturated days of summer. This lunation gifts us with a serving of practical Virgoan self sufficiency as we realise we are much stronger than we think.

This eclipse carries the poignancy of endings, the hopeful promise of fresh starts. As life coach, Martha Beck, writes so beautifully in her book, Steering by Starlight, “no matter how many years have been stolen from you by your own ignorance, by cruel fate, or by the acts of others, you have a clean, broad slate before you. In this instant—this one now—you can begin steering by starlight, and if you do, the rest of creation will conspire to guide, teach, and help you.”

If this eclipse sensitises your natal moon, a house move, a birth in the family, or a situation pertaining to a woman will be emphasised. The moon in our birth chart is delegated to our most intimate, private life, our security, as well as our popular appeal if we are a public figure. Eclipses begin a cosmic process that take time to ripen. Some astrologers suggest that the effect of an eclipse to a personal planet may linger for up to three and a half years. In 2001, before the insider trading scandal broke in 2003, an eclipse fell on the moon of the ultimate Homemaker, Martha Stewart. Her public popularity was about to be eclipsed.

Another note to the cosmic symphony in this season of change is Saturn’s Retrograde into Pisces on September 1^st. One final pass, one last opportunity to lay to rest what we experienced between March 2023 and May 2025 when Saturn moved through this soulful sign.

On September 6^th, Uranus makes its first station in Gemini, a precursor to what will unfold for the world and for us personally, until 2033.

Birth charts with placements in early degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, or Sagittarius will encounter this unpredictable Uranian energy that accompanies change, sudden awakenings, shocking revelations. There will be opportunities to open our hearts wider. Take those small resolute steps into unchartered territory.

Just days before the autumn Equinox on September 21^st, a Partial Solar Eclipse at the final degree of Virgo offers a powerful opportunity for inner house keeping. Now is the time for clearing, healing and repair. This new moon eclipse opposes cautious Saturn, now backtracking through Pisces for one last time: a cosmic intruction to clear the decks, prepare for change, to begin anew. Even as the sly rogue thought lands with a reproachful “what’s the point?” Virgo energy supports us as we clear our thoughts, declutter our homes, tidy our desks. In this clear bright space, something new is possible. All roads begin with putting one foot in front of another.

And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings. Meister Eckhart.

To book an astrology consultation, please get in touch: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

August 14, 2025 In Astrology, Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Bittersweet—Saturn Neptune Conjunction—August 2025.

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea—Karen Blixen.

Blackberries glisten in the hedgerows, black and juicy. Wave upon wave of sun-bleached grasses ripple across the meadows, branches sag under the weight of blushing fruit. This is a time of harvest here in the north, and for some, as the sweetness of summer begins to fade, a bittersweet sadness settles, a listlessness lingers.

Celestial Titans, Neptune and Saturn whirl closely through the heavens, just zodiacal minutes apart. Saturn and Neptune, are an ambivalent pair, reflecting fundamental human conflicts that accompany “Days of honey, days of onion,” as an Arabic proverb describes this bittersweet experience of life. They’re moving through the sign of Aries, not the most collaborative of zodiac signs. These two archetypal forces collide on February 20^th 2026 at 0° Aries, closing an astrological cycle that began in 1989. Saturn dips back into world-weary Pisces from September 1^st to February 13^th.and then both planets journey uncomfortably together in Aries until the spring of 2028.

August gives us a preview of what this cosmic reshaping of the coming times might look like. Already the stage is set the lights are raised as petty dictators dismember democracy and the ultra-rich control every aspect of government and society.

Astrologer, Richard Tarnas describes a sense of depletion and ennui which so many of us are feeling now as we witness the ravaged landscapes of Gaza and Ukraine. “In wartime, Saturn/Neptune alignments often coincide with the later stages of a war when a collective sense of physical and spiritual exhaustion, disillusionment, and low morale—often on both sides—is dominant.”

When the contradictory forces of Saturn and Neptune converge, the boundary between what is known and unknown becomes blurry. What is solid and certain, fantasy, or fiction becomes difficult to see clearly. Collectively and personally (as these planets move across your own birth chart) we may be drawn into an undertow of diffuse energy. Things fall apart. People betray and dissapoint us. What we believed was solid and real is washed away.

Saturn signifies boundaries and structure, realism and practicalities. Neptune, named by the Romans after an ancient sea-diety, carries the salt of our tears as it reflects a facet of the collective consciousness that calls for some kind of sacrifice accompanied by boundless compassion.

These times can be the best or the worst of times. We can harness the power of our imagination to dream something into being— or finally accept that what we believed in, what we worked so hard to build, is simply a sandcastle, swept away by the turning of the tide.

When Saturn/Neptune met in 1989 as students poured onto Tiananmen Square. Their cries for freedom (idealistic Neptune) silenced by guns and tanks (Saturn).

In South Africa, after years of resistance and unrest as well as international sanctions, the cracks of institutionalised racial segregation widened. Prime Minister, PW Botha resigned, and FW de Klerk became State President. Fast forward to 2025. Millions now live in the sprawling shanty towns that ring the fortressed communities of the rich. Their cries for equality and freedom subsumed by a relentless struggle for survival.

In 1989, the year of the last exact Saturn/Neptune conjunction, the UN established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A closing square took place during 2015-16, which saw Obama bringing the US into the Paris Climate Agreement and Trump withdrawing from it a year later. As Neptune (signifier of oceans) meets Saturn (laws, sobering re-structuring) will we treat our waterways and oceans with care, or will water-wars define this next Saturn/Neptune conjunction?

These are times of fear and uncertainty. We may feel overwhelmed, powerless, hopeless. Our innate negative bias overwhelms our ability to see any hope for our children during these turbulent times. Yet, the astrology points to a potent possibility.

As Saturn and Neptune glide through the skies, Saturn also sextiles Uranus this month, a portal of opportunity and the second of a sequence of three aspects, with the final one on January 20^th. August’s new moon in Virgo on August 23^rd is an opportune day to begin to harvest those thoughts that nourish and strengthen our resilience. Start small by committing to a daily practice of prayer, mindfulness, or simply weeding out fear-based doubts and self-limited beliefs. As Anne of Green Gables said brightly, “because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worth while.” In the bittersweetness of this moment in our human story, the courage to imagine something worthwhie is our greatest rescource.

Please get in touch if you would like to know more about what this luminous astrological invitation means for you. To book a session, pop me an email: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

July 24, 2025 In Astrology, Relationship, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Rewind—Mercury Retrograde—July 18th-August 11th.

There is always a risk in increasing your awareness. You risk seeing things you might rather not notice. You risk feelings you might rather avoid. You risk having to change what you think and worse—having to change what you do. Betty Martin.

July’s green days stretch drowsily into the endless arc of a china-blue sky. School’s out here in the North. Families flock to golden beaches, children make hearts and angels in the sand. Stunned by the glut of sunlight, hordes of visitors amble slowly along promenades, slump in deck chairs, grateful for any distraction from the ache of the world.

A brave new moon in Leo on July 24^th accompanies Mercury Retrograde passage in Leo. This lunation accents the powerful emotions we cradle in our hearts; what we love, and the anticipatory clench of what we fear. Leo rules the heart in medical astrology, so clasped within the darkness of this new moon lie heart-directed choices, opportunities to begin again. Pluto (irrevocable endings), opposes this lunation, adding a charge of potency to what we initiate this week as every bright promise of a beginning requires a little death.

Pluto demands honest soul searching. If you have planets or angles in early degrees Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius, you will be unable to avoid having to change course, you will be compelled to increase your awareness. Change will be an evolutionary imperative. And for us all, this is a year of life-changing ingresses―Pluto in Aquarius, Jupiter in Cancer, Neptune and Saturn now moving in tandem through Aries―an uncomfortable medley of distinctly different energies swirling through the collective and impacting on our own lives in some way.

Disruptive, inventive Uranus entered changeable Gemini on July 7^th agitating the frequency around us all, ushering sudden change and chaos to societies, as borders and boundaries are shattered. As our children play in the sunshine, our thoughts may turn to the children who endure the unspeakable terror of war.

Uranus is associated with innovation, civil unrest, revolution, and those shocking “wake up calls” that jolt us from our complacency. Uranus will hurtle through the sign of Gemini over the next eight years, accompanied by an unprecedented acceleration of technical momentum as AI appropriates our autonomy, requisitions our work, presses—unbidden—into our awareness.

This week, as Mercury (intellect, nervous system, transport, and communication) backtracks through Leo, the Trump administration signs executive orders to take the guard rails off AI, dismantling safeguards and standards that will protect us from hate speak and othering. The “Build Baby Build” also plan dismantles environmental and land use regulations to bolster the vast AI infrastructure, and the energy needed to power it.

Dharna Noor sounds the alarm in an article in The Guardian, “the AI sector is already depleting land and water rescources and taking a massive toll on climate, with AI-powered large language models such as ChatGPT taking up to 10 times more energy than a regular Google search, according to an estimate by the Electric Power Research Institute.” Good news for the Billionaire Tech Bros. An accelerant for global warming.

We know that when fear curls tightly in our nervous system it hooks us in anticipation of what lies ahead. When we feel the awful squeeze of fear, we become self-centred, we lose our capacity for caring and empathy. We are locked in developmental arrest.

They’re calling it the age of anxiety, says Kristen Lee, author of Worth the Risk: how to micro-dose bravery and grow resilience. Yet, amidst the overwhelming pain and chaos of it all, we may be moved to do something noble, gracious, kind today.

As the sun shines brightly and our children make sand angels on the beach, we may be reminded of what Mark Twain famously said: The worse things in my life never actually happened.

Mercury Rx periods so often bring to our awareness those thoughts that are entryways into a state of fear. We may linger in the past, fret about the future.

Spiritual teachers ask that we bring our fear to our awareness and tend to it like a timid wild creature. The shamans say that when we name a fear, it loses its power over us. Science corroborates this. We activate the pre-frontal cortex, calm the limbic system, when we can gently name and turn towards our fear.

The vibratory signature of this regenerative New Moon may light the way, even if dimly at first, to a flowering of purpose, a deeper way of listening, a different way of seeing, an outward rush of a life force that floods through us even in the darkness. “Despair is our chance to wrestle with fire and come through,” writes Christina Baldwin.

Today, let’s risk seeing things we might rather not notice. Bring to our awareness those feelings we would much rather avoid. Practice wishful thinking.

Please get in touch if you would like a personal astrology reading: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

July 2, 2025 In Astrology, Relationships By Ingrid Hoffman

Sign of the Times—Uranus enters Gemini—2025-2033.

To survive, to avert what we have termed future shock, the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before.

We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots—religion, nation, community, family, or profession—are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust—Alvin Toffler, Future Shock.

The month of July marks a change in tempo. In indigo skies pricked with stars, Uranus explodes into the mutable air sign of Gemini, an accelerant for change in this living, dying world. On July 7th, for the first time in 84 years, Uranus leaves the solid ground of Taurus, to whirl through the unstable element of air.

Uranus briefly returns to Taurus on November 8^th, then returns to Gemini on April 26th, 2026 where it will rush through the zeitgeist till 2033.

Uranus accompanies innovation, disruption, anarchy, and rebellion. When Uranus moves through restless Gemini (information, communication, transportation) anything that is too fixed, too crystallised or rooted or limited, will be torn apart, as Uranus offers the promise of something better, more perfect.

Gemini is a mutable air sign. As the winds of change wrap around the globe, we might think back to the events that unfolded in our world when Saturn and Jupiter aligned in Aquarius, on the solstice of 2020. It was then that we collectively entered the astrological age of air, an element associated with ideas, information—and mis-information. Pluto entered the air sign of Aquarius (March 2023) and now, Uranus the archetypal creator-sky-god, enters Gemini, a hurricane force that will intrude on all of our lives in some way over the next eight years.

Futurist Alvin Toffler coined the term “future shock” and “information overload” to describe what happens to a society when change escalates beyond the human scale. We have lost our bearings in the swirl of social media, wearable tech, disembodied AI, algorithms and “influencers” that draw from our most tender places for commercial gain. The tempo of technological and social change coupled with climate chaos has shattered our illusions of autonomy and control. We are brittle, anxious, reactive, addicted to those very distractions that leave us feeling empty and alone. In 2023, at least 24 million Americans took drugs like Xanax, known as benzodiazepines, according to the Wall Street Journal. We are Generation Xanax.

Author and spiritual teacher, Caroline Myss observes, “we’re living at an unprecedented time of change in the world… the ingredients that are creating this chaotic rupture have never come together before, ever…now we begin to consider the unimaginable. That maybe life’s not casual. That a human life is a sacred assignment and that the purpose of life is not to accumulate stuff with a great big, huge shopping cart, but rather it is to experience how powerful every one of us is. And to decide, that every choice I make is an act of creation.”

Transits of Uranus to our own birth charts are often accompanied by sudden events that shake us awake, bring into sharp focus something, some hidden spark of light within us, that has been there all along. When Uranus transits jolt our birth chart, they take us by surprise; awaken us from the trance that anesthetises, offers a promise of something new, better, brighter.

Uranus transits come with a velocity that requires a whole new set of skills, that demands an honest soul-searching enquiry, a stepping back from the old coping strategies. Endurance and resilience alone won’t be enough.

This month, the sky-story invites us to take a sacred pause before tumbling into the future as Uranus draws us into the currents that swirl through the collective :

Neptune stations Rx on July 4th, Saturn turns Retrograde on July 12th. On July 18th Mercury turns Rx (15° Leo), turning direct on August 11th (4° Leo) and will move out of shadow on August 25th to enter detail-orientated Virgo on September 2nd. Pluto has been Retrograde since May 4th.

Venus enters Gemini on July 5th, a grace-note that may signal sudden reversals or unexpected surges in the financial markets, or the opportunity to revise our “wants” or “needs” as we revise our monthly budget, make new choices around what we truly value.

Venus aligns with Uranus between July 2nd and July 7th, highlighting this cosmic turning point and perhaps bringing to our attention those places where we feel bruised and vulnerable, which are so often triggered by those we are closest to.

Tara Brach talks of the trance of fear that keeps us imprisoned in a primitive survival mode. As Uranus moves through Gemini, we might notice the cycles of reactivity that play out in our own relationships—shaming, blaming, control, judgement and revenge—the need to break free, to be independent—and how these primitive survival mechanisms play out when nations go to war. Gemini is assocaited with the arms, hands, lungs and nervous system, our coordination and fine motor skills. When we soften our fingers and hands, we send a message to our nervous system to relax. When we hold our loved one close in tender embrace, we fortify our capacity to be with whatever is so scary.

Hindsight is often associated with Uranus, the kind of rear-view mirror gazing that only comes after some great force moves through the collective and impinges upon our own lives. Uranus in Gemini accompanies innovation birthed from chaos.

“Before the earth and the sea, and the all-encompassing heaven came into being, the whole of nature displayed but a single face, which men have called Chaos.” wrote Ovid in his poem, Metamorphoses around 8CE.

Uranus moved through Gemini in the 1940s (1942-49) as we emerged from the trauma and chaos of World War 11 into a period of geopolitical muscle flexing, we call the Cold War. Uranus in Gemini was expressed by espionage, propaganda, and the rapid development of science and technology, intercontinental ballistic missiles, jet aircraft, the space race, and the lingering threat of the annihilation of all life on earth as nuclear weapons proliferated. Portable television replaced the fireplace, as the focal point in the living room. America went to war when Uranus moved through Gemini during the 1860s. And once again, it was conflict and chaos that birthed innovation and technical advances.

Expect the unimaginable as Uranus moves through the unstable element of air. Stay anchored in Love. Mindful of the false stories we tell ourselves that shock our nervous system, scare us into feeling lost and alone.

At this time of transition, we may be seduced by the security of the old ways. We may try to continue as we did before. Yet there is another way. “Where do we begin? Begin with the heart,” wrote anchoress Julian of Norwich who was walled up in a small cell built onto the church for most of her life. “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well,” Julian of Norwich is quoted as saying.

Even as we feel the slow suck of apathy, a sense of numbness or hopelessness, the sharp stab of fear… All shall be well.

So, let’s rest awhile, then begin again, with tender, open hearts. All manner of things shall be well.

Please get in touch if you would like a private astrology consultation: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

June 11, 2025 In Astrology, Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Home Comforts—Jupiter enters Cancer—June 9th-June 30th 2026.

The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned—Maya Angelou.

Here in the north, the shimmer of summer sparkles across newly mown meadows of powered gold. We’re drunk with light, overwhelmed with a surfeit of beauty. Now the sun pauses at the zenith of the year and ancient Sarsen stones drink in the heat of the midsummer sun.

The sun dips into the cool waters of Cancer on June 21st marking the midsummer solstice, a turning point in the solar/lunar cycle. As the days of June shimmer in shades of green and the scent of dog rose wafts on a hot honeyed breeze, we have come full circle.

Within the constellation of Cancer is a delicate brush stroke of stars in the sky called Praesepe, the Latin word for “manger”. Cancer is associated with wombs, and cradles, with nourishment and containment, with our ancient human longing to belong, to seek shelter and comfort in a place we can call home. The word “home” dates to the Old English, “ham” or “hamum”, and many settlements included the word, “ham” as they were dwelling places, places of belonging to clans. Cities like Nottingham and Birmingham are reminders of the importance of the places we come from, the bonds that are forged in our families and communities.

“I believe that one can never leave home. I believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and dragons of home under one’s skin, at the extreme corners of one’s eyes and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe,” writes the inimitable Maya Angelou in her superbly written letter to her daughter.

Home, belonging, safe places, will all be highlighted over the coming months:

Mercury moved into Cancer on June 8th, followed by Jupiter on June 9 th. Jupiter finds ease, joy and abundance in Cancer, traditionally, the sign of Jupiter’s exaltation. It is in the tender embrace of Cancer that Jupiter expands our innate human abilities to nurture, create, belong, to feel “at home” in a place, community, or country.

Jupiter travelled through Cancer from June 2013—July 2014 and will be moving through Cancer from June 9^th June 30^th, 2026.

Jupiter’s 12- month journey through Cancer will influence all our lives in some way if we tune into Jupiter’s benevolent wavelength and focus on positivity, abundance and success. Cancer is the Moon’s sign, and Jupiter expands the qualities of Cancer, heightening our sensitivity and empathy, our innate ability to nurture, to form deeper, heartfelt connections that add meaning and texture to our own lives. There may be new arrivals in our family—babies born, the joy of an engagement or a wedding, opportunities to reconnect with a family member, to excavate an important event from the past, to heal and repair.

As Jupiter enters Cancer it squares Saturn and Neptune in Aries, demanding discipline and imagination as we overcome challenges, make sacrifices in pursuit of our dreams. This final square between Jupiter and Saturn (it has been in play since last August) suggests closure, a final restructuring, opportunities to in pursuit of a dream.

Venus is moving through Taurus, the sign of her domicile (June 5th-July 4th) as we celebrate the sweet-scented days of midsummer with sensual indulgences and root ourselves in what we truly value. We may need to focus on money matters this month and this will be an auspicious time to invest in a property, or list our home, or spend our money on something or someone we value.

A luminous full moon in Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius on June 11th (20 ° Sagittarius opposite the Sun at 20 ° Gemini) squares the fated lunar nodes, nudging us towards brave life decisions, journeys to be taken. Jupiter rules this full moon, bringing blessings and abundance if we are open to them, yet this lunation is quickly followed by a volatile, unsettling square between Mars in Leo and unpredictable Uranus on June 15th, one day after of Donald Trump’s 79th Birthday.

On July 4^th, 1776 when the new nation of America was born, the Sun was moving through the sign of Cancer, Venus and Jupiter were conjunct in Cancer, and Mercury was Retrograde in Cancer. Home, family, belonging, and safety are enduring qualities in this country of settlers and immigrants, qualities that are deeply rooted in the American psyche. This week, active-duty marines and members of the national guard were mobilised against Americans who have protested over travel bans, rushed deportations without due process, and mass detentions, all targeting immigrants and their families.

Now as the Sun dips into the cool waters of Cancer, a sign that clasps us to the familiar breast of comfort and security, may our hearts my open to the plight of immigrants, to families torn apart by conflict or political ideology.

At this sacred time of pause, of empty space, may we send prayers for the displaced and the homeless out into the darkness. May our prayers blaze with light, find safety and shelter in Love.

To book an astrological reading, please get in touch: ingrid@trueheartwork.com