Relationships

Into the Dark—New Moon in Scorpio November 9th.

It’s not the conscious changes made in their lives by men and women which really shape them… but a long, slow mutation of emotion, hidden all-penetrative—Nadine Gordimer.

In Scorpio season, the sun lies low on the horizon. Nature visibly contracts, exposing a filigree of bare black branches. Fallen leaves lie scattered on the ground, bright splashes of raspberry, marmalade and pure gold.

The sky story this month speaks of what is slowly dying and what is waiting to be born.

As the tyranny of Trump’s regime begins to crack and crumble, archetypal patterns in the collective psyche coincide with major world events.

Saturn and Neptune, briefly united on February 20^th, 2026, at 0° Aries, a defining moment in time that marked the close of an astrological cycle that began in 1989 and heralded the beginning of a new one.  When Saturn and Neptune meet in the heavens, their restless union razes obsolete systems.  In the 1980s, we witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the slow dismemberment of Apartheid.

As Saturn and Neptune united in February this year I wrote: “The Aries Ingress chart based in Washington DC speaks of instability and war. This chart encompasses layers of astrological symbolism as it corresponds to events, past, present and our collective future…. In chaos theory, the term “strange attractor,” is used to describe a complex pattern of behaviour in a chaotic system. It’s a term borrowed by Richard Rudd in his Gene Keys series, signifying the disruption of the COVID pandemic or the social phenomenon of personalities like Donald Trump. As these “strange attractors” create chaos around us, hastening the dying process of a civilisation that is no longer fit for purpose, something is growing in the mycelium that threads and coils beneath the cold ground.  What is destined to crumble will crumble and be blown away by the winds of change.”

All-penetrative change is inscribed across the heavens this month. Yet change comes slowly in our human story. The divisive political power struggle in the US will continue as transiting Mars and Jupiter also conjoin Trump’s own belligerent and vindictive Mars in Leo. This conjunction delivers a powerful surge of energy, heightening his will to fight, and win—at any cost. Trump is halfway through his second term of office. A strutting emperor with no clothes, he’s a tawdry caricature with a noticeably dimmed cognition and weakening physical stamina. As Saturn squares his Mercury in the coming months, he will not have the grace or psychological maturity to step away from the spotlight and support younger candidates. He is wounded and dangerous.

A Scorpio new moon on Monday November 9^th draws us back into her reassuring cyclical darkness.

This lunation is charged with the intensity and gut-feel depth of Scorpio. Both the sun and moon make a confrontational square to Jupiter and Mars. (New moon chart shown here.) There’s a fusion of new energy, a potent yet difficult birth.  A new cycle has begun, and even though we won’t see the moon’s slim silvery belly until a delicate crescent appears, yet it is in the silence of darkness that new life begins to stir.

Scorpio is ruled by Mars, god of war and Pluto, god of death. The modern symbol for Scorpio comes from ancient Greek stargazers who imagined a solitary scorpion who would bite or sting to survive, even stinging himself to death, if cornered with no escape.

Mercury in Scorpio and Venus in Libra are both still moving Retrograde so expect an unsettling stirring up of the dusty sediment of unfinished business. We may be confronted now with intense situations around finances, property, relationships. There may be misunderstandings and miscommunication. This month we balance the delicate art of relating to others with our own stories about how things should or could be.

Mercury turns direct on November 13th and Venus’s turning point is November 14th. Remember, Scorpio is a fixed water sign, moody, emotional, deeply sensitive, and subjective. Yet Mars-ruled Scorpio is courageous and  fiercely tenacious. This is the month to question an ossified belief, even though a situation may seem so fixed and beyond control.

Sometimes we can’t imagine what is possible, yet new moon times offer a container to begin again, unburdened by the drag of experience. We speak glibly about  Scorpio season as a time of “release and letting go”. Yet this emptying out, this surrender, is often so very hard to to.

As we touch our own tender vulnerability, keep hope alive amidst the fragility of a dying world, may we sense  in our heart, a readiness to receive. Something new is growing beneath the surface, even though its contours are not yet visible. Trust what is unfolding.

Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise—Victor Hugo.

To book an astrology consultation, please connect by email: ingrid@truheartwork.com

Take this Heart—Venus Retrograde. October 3rd—November 14th.

Philosopher, Lao Tzu once said, “being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” 

Within every human heart is a longing to be cherished and to be seen. Yet in a world where social media provides a brittle veneer of connection, a lonely absence of deep love and true intimacy pervades our culture.

On October 3rd Venus pivoted in the heavens at at 8º Scorpio. Venus travels Retrograde through Scorpio and Libra over the coming weeks, stationing direct on  November 14th at 22º Libra.

Astrologers pay attention to these planetary turning point moments. These are “heart of the matter” times that may deliver epiphanies, push us toward a deeper understanding of who and what we love. Popular astrology associates Venus Retrograde periods with the return of the ex. People who have played important roles in our lives reappear, either quite literally, or in a sudden tightening of our heart as we hear a song that  transports us back to a time of innocence and wonder.

These rear-view glimpses of relationships past may give us an opportunity to let go of any residual heaviness, or deliver a razor-sharp reminder that love should not hurt.

Scorpio is a fixed water sign. Intense, often unyielding, always deeply emotional. As Venus journeys Retrograde  through Scorpio this month, she exposes shadowy power dynamics: jealousy, manipulation, control and cruelty. Venus’s realm also encompasses money, and those things we truly value. When she moves through Scorpio, we look to other people’s money: debts, inheritances and taxes, investments, joint accounts.

Power struggles and secrets erode trust in our relationships, financial debt strips us of our sense of agency.

October 24th marks the midpoint of the Venus Retrograde cycle. Venus meets the sun in the heavens at the exact same point in the zodiac: a symbolic turning point, called a cazimi.

Venus will glitter at dawn from October 24^th, when she reappears as a morning star, and she will have greatest morning brilliancy from November 27^th. Mercury also stations Retrograde in Scorpio on October 24^th, as we revisit unresolved issues, confront uncomfortable truths in our relationships, perhaps notice how we curate our own stories about what someone did or said. This month’s full moon in Venus-ruled Taurus on October 26th, offers a brief respite from the hard edges of this world, a wondrous moment in time to appreciate the sensual pleasure of a tender embrace, the sweet sound of a robin’s song at dawn, the glittering beauty of Venus as she rests on the horizon in the early morning.

Venus retrograde cycles are important, as they don’t happen frequently. The last time Venus moved through the Libra/Scorpio section of your own horoscope was in 2018. It might be helpful to notice any reoccurring themes. If we are struggling with one lingering deep and complex issue, take some time for self-reflection, or simply remind ourselves that there is nothing we could have done differently.

As Venus moves Retrograde, womens’ issues surface in our collective consciousness. The Guardian reports that 23-year-old woman, Najmeh Amini, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy in a social media post.

Christa Gail Pike was sentenced to death at the age of 20 for the torture and murder of her classmate, a crime she committed when she was 18 years old. Christa’s childhood was one of abuse and neglect by alcoholic parents. She was raped as a toddler and again repeatedly during her teens. She attempted suicide at the age of 12 and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

After 30 years, on death row, mostly in solitary confinement, Christa Gail Pike was due to be executed by lethal injection on September 30^th as Venus in Scorpio slowed ahead of her Retrograde station and conjoined unpredictable Uranus in her birth chart.  She received two doses of the lethal phenobarbital and survived, her badly damaged arms still shackled to her hospital bed despite pleas from medical staff for the removal of restraints. Christa is now experiencing a Chiron return, a time of deep wounding, quite literally, as she has pneumonia, a blood clot and is unable to move her badly swollen and needle damaged arms. Chiron return times are important milestones in our human journey. They can also be times of deep spiritual healing. She is reported to have received compassionate care by the first responders and medical staff attending to her after the botched attempt to execute her.

Helen Prejean, a catholic nun who has called repeatedly for the abolishment of the death penalty in America, told the Guardian: “this is the essence of cruelty. Take a conscious, imaginative human being, give her a date for her death, have her anticipate it over and over again, and then take her out and try to kill her.”

Venus Retrograde in Scorpio is a deep dive into the collective and personal shadow.

Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan. He is due to be shot to death on December 3^rd as Venus, now direct, lingers poignantly on the final critical degree of Libra.

As Venus moves through the still dark waters of Scorpio, she reveals the dark underbelly of  toxic masculintiy and misogyny that pervades so much of our society. The obnoxious sexual predator Russell Brand appears in court on trial for rape and sexual assault during this Venus Retrograde period. Back in September 2023, when Venus was blazing through Leo, Brand was in the throes of the second of three Pluto oppositions to his beleaguered Venus/Saturn/Chiron configuration. Now, transiting Saturn (fate, the law) conjoins his moon and Mars in Aries. Carl Jung is often quoted as saying, “until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

In a world that feels so fast, so broken, Venus Retrograde periods distil the essence of what it is that we hold dear to our hearts. Venus in Scorpio demands that we examine the stories we tell ourselves about our relationships – are our power struggles about power, or about trust, or our innate human need to be truly seen?

“Nurture your commitment,” advises couples therapist Howard J. Markman. A great marriage is predicted not so much by your finding the right partner as by your being the right partner.”  Now, as Venus travels through uncompromising Scorpio, may we replenish our courage to share difficult truths. May we have the courage to  love deeply.

Everything that is in the heavens,
on earth, 
and under the earth
 is penetrated with connectedness, 
penetrated with relatedness.
—Hildegard of Bingen.

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

Breathe it in—Sun in Gemini May 21st—June 21st

Beneath the popular astrological descriptions of breezy Gemini, the fun-loving and fickle eternal child, lies a story of loss and longing. Gemini is the story of twins and soulmates; the story of brothers and sisters, an age old story threaded with the pathos of loss and separation, woven with duality and ambiguity. Twins in myth and fairy tale, are similar at first glance, then reveal themselves to be fundamentally different.

The story of Castor and Pollux, and their beautiful twin sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra are stories of theft and revenge, kidnapping and murder, love and loss. Mercury, ruler of both Mercurial zodiac signs, Gemini and Virgo, was the younger brother of the handsome golden-haired Apollo, favourite son of mighty Zeus, and their story is one of sibling rivalry tempered by playfulness. Gemini’s two brightest stars are Castor and Pollux, mythical twin brothers, twin souls. When his brother, Castor dies in battle, a bereft Pollux implores king of all the gods,  Zeus, to allow him to die also. Zeus agrees and the brothers are forever united in the heavens, holding hands, talking, laughing, doing those things that brothers do.

Whether we’re closely bonded, painfully estranged, our relationship with our siblings is the longest relationship we will ever have.  Maya Angelou once said, “I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.”

Working at it can be a Herculean labour that may erode our energy, gnaw at our resolution to untie the knots that keep us bound in conflict or rivalry. Siblings betray one another, they quarrel, they separate, they reunite. The love one another with a love that is different from the love we have for our parents.  Brenna Yovanoff writes so poignantly, “I wanted to tell her that I loved her, and not in the complicated way I loved our parents, but in a simple way I never had to think about. I loved her like breathing.”

There’s a new documentary on Netflix that’s worth watching, even songs like Can’t Get You Out of My Head, Dance to the Music, and the thumpingly repetitive Padam Padam make your toes curl. It’s a heartfelt, vulnerable depiction of the glittering ascent of one of the most enduring and engaging female singers, Kylie Minogue. Her undimmable power has shimmered since she appeared on TV weekly at seven years old. She has a warm and loving relationship with her younger sister, Dannii, who has managed to forge her own successful career as actress and singer.  Dannii has a very different birth chart to that of her older sister: Libra sun, Venus conjunct Mercury in Scorpio, a Scorpio Ascendant and Mars in Aquarius. Saturn was Rx in Gemini when Dannii was born. These two remarkable women have expressed their creativity in very different ways and both have supported one another in loving ways throughout their careers.

Described by Nick Cave as a “joy machine”, Kylie has managed to sell over 80 million records in an industry that can be excruciatingly cruel to women artists. Kylie epitomises the spirit of Gemini.  Kylie was born with an effervescent string of planets in Gemini: sun, moon, Venus, Mars and Mercury, all so beautifully expressed in her chosen métier. All those Gemini qualities of adaptability, youthfulness, playfulness, and the wonderful ability to communicate to people from different generations and social backgrounds. Kylie speaks of her need for freedom as an artist, saying she does not want to be “boxed in” which exemplifies the airy qualities of someone infused with the Gemini archetype. As Saturn moved over her Ascendant, Kylie withdrew from public life to focus on her recovery from breast cancer. More than 15 years later, as Pluto opposed her Ascendant, a second cancer diagnosis brought another initiation and awakening. Kylie is quoted as saying,  “you learn what resilience means and what love means. Having had cancer one important thing to know is – you’re still the same person. I remember coming out at the other end and feeling more like myself than ever before.”

Kylie’s second Saturn Return (2026/2027) coincides an energising Uranus transit over the next seven years with Uranus animating Kylie’s Venus, sun, mooon and Mercury in Gemini. For those who speak the language of astrology, here is Kylie’s birth chart:

The constellation of Gemini is visible now, low on the western skyline. It will begin to fade as our sun reaches its zenith on 21^st.

As the Sun, Mercury and Uranus whip up the winds of change this month, a new moon in Gemini on June 15^th offers a “celestial instruction” on how we can use our innate dexterity to create something beautiful and useful. Intention is important at new moon times. Focus on where we might be flexible, open to trying something new.

This lunation carries the spirit of siblings and twins, so notice what comes in pairs, observe how we might project our unprocessed sibling issues onto a friend, a lover, partner or antagonist: those sympathetic similarities that draw us in; those polarised differences that repel. Mercury slows mid-month and will turn Retrograde on June 29^th, moving into the protective waters of Cancer followed by a luminous full moon in Cancer on June 30^th as Mars joins Uranus in Gemini.

In this Gemini season, may the winged sandals of Mercury carry us towards those extra-ordinary encounters that bring everything into focus. May the mythic Twins preside over those soulful tugs of the heart that herald of radical change in the way we live, and the way we love.

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

Dark Skies—New Moon in Capricorn—January 18th.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme―Mark Twain.

As the days of this new year unfurl, honeyed or harsh, we may not yet distinguish who we are becoming. We may be clinging to where we are now, accepting those things we simply cannot change, or embracing the unknown of a new beginning.

January’s storyline reveals a glimpse of those things we can’t yet fully know. As the planets circle silently in the darkness of space, the astrology of this month proclaims a year of endings and beginnings, rage and love, sorrow and joy.

In the first week of January, an incandescent moon dominated the heavens. Her silvery light washed over the bare bones of the trees, tempering the gaudy flash of fireworks.

Imperial Jupiter, powerful in Cancer, held court in the heavens, rising in the east each evening as he escorted the pregnant moon across the skies.

Just before dawn on January 3^rd, explosions rocked Caracus. News of an internet black out, the capture of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, swept through the post-Christmas torpor, foreshadowing what will be a tumultuous year.

Nations, like people, have birth charts. On the day of the attack, January’s full moon (13º Cancer), conjunct Jupiter, brushed across the birth chart of America (sun 13º Cancer.)

Jupiter amplifies the qualities of whatever planet or angle it touches. Jupiter will be one of the planets to watch this year as it ingresses into fiery Leo on June 30^th and opposes Pluto Rx just as Mercury stations Rx in Cancer and Mars and Uranus conjoin in Gemini. This may be a volatile celestial recipe for sudden disruption, conflict, domination by arrogant and grandiose leaders, or a dramatic AI bubble bust.

This month, Neptune and Saturn whirl closely through the heavens in the final degrees of Pisces. We may sense a collective energy of fatigue, psychological exhaustion, or sorrow. 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. For those who have Pisces, Gemini, Virgo and Sagittarius placements, this has been a long haul. Neptune has been moving slowly through Pisces since 2011, and Saturn entered Pisces on March 7^th 2023.

As geopolitical tension builds, Saturn (blockades, authority, control) and Neptune (oil, propaganda, sacrifice and dissolution) dominate the skies. This disquieting pair have been conjunct Mars/Mercury Rx in Iran’s birth chart for some months now, as violence erupts and things fall apart. Transiting Uranus Rx conjoins the Taurus moon and makes a disruptive square to natal Uranus of the chart of the Republic of Iran.

Saturn and Neptune meet uncomfortably at 0º Aries on February 20^th. Aries is not the most collaborative of signs and this meeting of these two archetypal forces seeds a new astrological cycle, signifying the end of the cycle that began in 1989. This disparate pair travel together in Aries until 2028, reflecting fundamental human conflicts. As history rhymes, this may present initially an idealisation of the “muscular warrior”, the glorification of war and aggression, celebration of a leader who appears at first as a redeemer, then madly deluded or immature… at the end of it all, a sense of bitter disillusionment, unspeakable suffering.

January offers a preview of what this cosmic reshaping of the coming times will look like. As Saturn and Neptune met in 1989, 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?

The new moon (28º Capricorn) falls on January 18^th. Mercury and Mars in Capricorn add energy or irritability if blocked. This presents as a restless, aggressive combination that ideallly requires a physical outlet, some goal or purpose to strive for. This aspect adds to the potency of this new moon. This is a wonderful time to begin a new project that requires focus and energy. This alignment of  Mercury and Mars also marks the completion of  a  trio of Mercury/ Mars conjunctions―October and November 2025. This final conjunction nudging so close to the new moon this month symbolises an ending, a new beginning, some resolution perhaps to a fractious situation or a anxious state of mind. New moons are dark sky times. We may not yet be able to see clearly the path ahead. But with these planets in pragmatic Capricorn, making an easy trine to Uranus Rx, now might be an opportune moment to take practical action and find a new way through a frustrating impass, set a clear intention and be prepared to do something about it.

In the meantime, Venus, Mars, Mercury and the Sun all conjoin Pluto, dark god of the Underworld (January 19^th-27^th). It is only a benign Jupiter in Cancer that sweetens an unfolding storyline that will become more dramatic towards the end of June. This month and next, Jupiter moves Retrograde across the Cancer section of our own birth chart as we tend to those things we wish to nurture and protect. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, so pay attention to opportunities that emerge as Jupiter stations direct on March 10^th. There will be a distinct change in tempo then, and an opportunity to tend to those things that make us feel optimistic, positive, grateful and blessed, in the Cancer area of our birth chart.

Trust your intuition. Know when to make wise choices. Sing in the face of fear. Keep the flame of faith and hope burning brightly in the darkness. “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.” Mary Oliver.

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

Dazzling Darkness—New Moon in Sagittarius—December 20th.

The quieter you become, the more you can hear— Rumi.

The sun rests low on the horizon, spilling light through living room windows, igniting Christmas baubles that dazzle behind bay windows. There may still be gifts to buy and to wrap, potatoes to peel, and that last dash to the grocery store to buy the cream we’ve forgotten, Yet, tonight in the womb of darkness, the astrology of midwinter offers a moment to pause, even for a moment, to give thanks for this year now almost gone.

Inscribed across the heavens, the astrology of midwinter speaks of endings and renewal. The old sun symbolically dies at Yule. A new sun is born.  Just two days before the midwinter solstice, a new moon nestles in the dark womb of the sky as we tenderly acknowledge the anniversaries of the heart—the death of a loved one, the day we started our new job, the moment we bravely stopped a self-destructive habit, or defied our fear, and said yes to love.

The final new moon of the year is in Sagittarius, a sign usually associated with optimism, vision and faith. Yet this new moon makes an uncomfortable square to the doleful union of Saturn and Neptune, both planets still swimming through the last degrees of Pisces, since October, the final sign of the zodiac.

As Mars squared Neptune earlier this week, news of the senseless shootings in Bondi and Brown University weighed heavily on hearts already saturated with sorrow, nervous systems already strung too tight to hold yet one more shock.

Neptune moves into Aries on January 27^th while Saturn lingers in Pisces till the day before Valentine’s Day, so we have a few more weeks of this oppressive, enervating collective energy to wade through. Saturn/Neptune conjunctions in Pisces so often accompany emotional and physical exhaustion, cloak deception, or engender pitiful disillusion. This week, Venus also squares Neptune and Saturn, accenting themes of disillusion, blurring truth and lies.

On December 22^nd the sun moves into Capricorn, marking the mid-winter solstice here in the north. As ambassador of the mid-winter darkness, Capricorn embodies stoic acceptance, the pared down necessity of wintering through difficult times. The essence of Capricorn is structure, so amidst our midwinter rituals, this is a perfect time for putting things in order, preparing for a spiritual or physical metamorphosis.

The Chinese Zodiac has increasingly become part of the prevailing culture in the west, powered by indiscriminate scrolling and sharing on social media without much curiosity or deeper enquiry. Animals and elements, paired with a year, apparently can be traced by to the Han Dynasty of 201BCE. As the year of the wood snake ends with its powerful serpent energy,  many anticipate the year of the fire or red horse as bringing a respite: strength, courage and  “good luck”. Yet the last year of the fire horse, in 1966 delivered disruption and war, chaos and mass violence. In China, The Cultural Revolution of 1966 lasted 10 blood-stained years. The astrological weather forecast for 2026 (read my forthcoming new year post) carries the potential for loud, radical, innovation (for better or for worse), the need for resilience to adapt to change beyond human scale.

Venus and Mars are invisible in the heavens now. Mars moved into Capricorn, the sign of his exultation, on December 15^th joined by Venus on December 25^th prompting us to focus on practicalities, to stay grounded in those things that calm our nervous system, bring peace and comfort to our hearts. From Christmas day to January 6^th, Venus and Mars are at the lowest point in their cycle. A symbolic descent into the Underworld of the two planets that symbolise our values: what we love and what we desire. On January 6^th all three are exactly conjunct at 16º Capricorn. Venus and Mars are then combust—symbolically consumed by the brilliant rays of the Sun—forged, purified, and weakened according to traditional astrology.

Mercury moved out of his shadow on December 17^th, arriving back at the exact degree at which he turned Retrograde, which may bring things to full view, those small details of our daily lives that we might not have noticed in the fog of the Neptune/Saturn conjunction. Now any Retrograde anomalies can’t be blamed for misunderstandings or transport glitches. If we connect with this energy and the introspective mood of the astrology that is inscribed in the night skies now, we may feel the need to rest, to stay quiet for a while.

This is not only an ending of a year but a turning, a moment of re-orientation, a powerful astrological threshold as the heat of the fire-horse yang energy mounts and builds, as planets change signs and make new alignments, all throughout next year.

Take some time to be grateful for the brave, beautiful, uncomfortable moments we have experienced in the months now past. Feel what is beginning to stir and grow in the darkness. Grow quiet. Listen.

Margaret Atwood reminds us, “this is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath, the door of a vanished house left ajar…”

Heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported my work this year past. I am taking a break from technology over the solstice and will be looking forward to meeting again for personal astrology consultations in early January. Please email me to make a booking: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

Wishing you all a replenishing and peaceful solstice.

With love,

Ingrid.

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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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

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