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January 19, 2021 In Astrology, Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Ring the Bells—Sun in Aquarius—January 19th—February 18th

The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don’t dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be—Leonard Cohen

In these fallow times, as we burrow down in the quiet containment of our ordinary lives, hesitant to trust the torrent of news that so often enters our consciousness, unbidden. Many of us are numb, suspended in the eye of the storm; held hostage by loss and grief; struggling to feel at home in a body that feels fragile and pained. Many of us are wondering what is yet to be.

Yet now is the time to start again. A slew of powerful astrological transits swirl around us. We pay our collective debt to the gods today as the Sun joins Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury in Aquarius. In the ever-changing sky, Uranus, the “awakener”, turned direct on January 14^th (6° Taurus). As exhilarating as an awakening may seem, it is so often accompanied by an obliteration of life as we knew it. Saturn and Uranus will be in square three times this year. Saturn transits arrive as the henchmen of stasis that undermine our efforts to move forward. Uranus breaks us open.

Mars, the warrior god, joins forces with unpredictable Uranus (rude awakenings, shocks, and unexpected events) and although so many of us are straining for some kind of change in our lives, some hope that the pandemic will end soon, there will be more losses, more deaths, more grieving.

Creation stories always tell of darkness and chaos that come before creation. The Pluto/Saturn conjunction of January 2020 has fermented all that is rotten in our world. The dross has risen to the surface and each one of us now faces the consequences of those things we have repressed or simply ignored. In the tumultuous confusion, something greater ushers humanity towards what is yet to be.

Few of us go willingly into the kind of initiation that accompanies a Pluto transit. Pluto is still in Capricorn, square Eris and opposing the Mercury of the US birth chart. America’s Pluto Return (2017-2024) and the former President Trump’s Pluto opposition (2019-December 2021) to his heavily armoured Saturn/Venus conjunction require a head bowed humbling of will. Pluto transits never leave us intact.

The Eris square to the US Pluto will permeate American culture well into the 2040s. A Collective meeting with Fate.

The torrent of Tweets has stopped. In the silent space between chaos and something new, there is the descent into the unknown. Joe Biden has answered the call. He has worked and waited and prepared for this day’s dawning. He gazes out at a map of shifting possibilities. If he is to succeed, it will be as a Shaman, a Wounded Healer, not a problem-solving politician. January 20^th is the first anniversary of the first case of Covid in America. As the death toll rises, it may soon surpass the 405,000 Americans who died in the chaos of WW II.

The Moon moves into Taurus on the day of the US Presidential Inauguration and for a brief moment, she will brush gently over Joe Biden’s pragmatic Taurus Moon, at the pinnacle of his political career. The Leo Full Moon of January 28^th illuminates the Pluto/Moon square in Joe Biden’s birth chart, as he begins a process of initiation that will test him to the limit.

Fintan O’ Toole, in a superbly written Guardian article, writes: “His skills as a fixer are finely honed – but they cannot restore a pre-Trump normality. As president, Biden’s private self, shadowed by loss, must come into its own.” Joe Biden’s private self is symbolised by four resilient planets in Scorpio which must find their way through the dark as they will be squared by Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn and Uranus in the coming months and years. Mercury turns Retrograde on January 30^th (square Joe Biden’s Scorpio Sun). There is so much to be healed and repaired. The slow retrieval of what has been lost or captive will be painful. As Pluto opposes the US Mercury from 2017–2024 there will be walls to dismantle, bridges to build, digital communications to reform, and Silicon Valley Titans to tame.

“This will not be an American spring,” writes O’Toole, “the political Biden is not the man who can change America. It is that other, richer persona, the private self, shadowed by time and loss and a sense of tragedy, that must come into its own.”

Therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother’s Hands suggests that the healing of America will be long and slow and will take many generations. He offers: “If we are to survive as a country, it is inside our bodies where this conflict needs to be resolved… the vital force [behind] white supremacy is in our nervous systems… You start with things that are maybe uncomfortable but not hard to do, like: Put yourself in situations. If you’re a white person, go someplace where there are gonna be a lot of black bodies, and just feel what happens in your body. And go back again.”

Here in the North, golden daffodils glisten in the spring sunlight. The first blue bells brush cobalt across the woodlands. The air is scented with the promise of renewal. Today, may our salty tears bring cleansing and deep healing.

May all that is unforgiven in you be released. May your fears yield their deepest tranquilities. May all that is unlived in you blossom into a future graced with love.

—John O ’Donohue.

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

January 7, 2021 In Astrology, Relationship By Ingrid Hoffman

Insurrection—Saturn/Uranus Square January 2021

To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of Fate is strength undefeatable—Helen Keller

This is the year of reversals. Centrifugal forces tug at our priorities, upend our plans, propel us towards changing what feels too rigid or too obsolete.

The astrological autograph is imbued with a tincture of unpredictability and intensity. The new year begins with the disruptive energy of the waning Saturn/Uranus square which infuses 2021 with drama, unexpected events, plans upended, shocks and serendipities. The waning square is in effect throughout 2021 up close on February 17^th, June 14^th, and December 24^th. Saturn is in airy Aquarius and Uranus in earthy Taurus. We are suspended between earth and air, the past and the future. Our hopes and aspirations, our efforts to get moving or make plans meet an intractable wall of inertia. This is an astrological autograph for colossal political change.

War-god Mars enters pragmatic Taurus on January 7^th reflecting the electrical current of change that is rushing through the zeitgeist. Mars confronts Uranus on January 20^th (Inauguration Day in America) and for those who have planets in early degrees of Scorpio, Taurus or Aquarius, late January to late February could feel electric.

A bullish Mars conjunction with Uranus speaks of angry mobs, violence and rage as frustration erupts. Mars has been moving Retrograde through hot-headed Aries (September 9^th to November 13^th) and the applying conjunction with Uranus will fan the flames in the weeks to come. When we are disconnected from our personal Mars energy or when the collective is overwhelmed by a sense of impotence or anger due to economic or social circumstances, this combination can be explosive and destabilising. Mars/Uranus aspects often signify the start of wars as suppressed energy becomes intolerable. Mars makes an explosive conjunction to Uranus and Jupiter inflates this energy by square on US inauguration day so there may be more uprisings, accidents, chaos and disruption. Neptune (delusion, confusion, disappointment) squares the transiting Gemini/Sagittarius Nodes, calling up old karma, highlighting issues around education, justice, morality; obscuring our “realities” as the disinformation pandemic surges through social media. Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius are joined by Mercury (January 9^th) and the Sun (January 20^th).

Revolutionary Uranus stations direct on January 14^th catapulting us into alien territory with rude awakenings, abrupt events that separate us from what once we thought we valued. Uranus constellates anxiety and fear that has perhaps been deeply buried in our psyche. It accompanies a sense of alienation from bedrock aspects of life and thrusts us into the future in quest of some ideal that undermines the old and replaces it with the new in its ideal form, which inevitably results in disillusion and enormous frustration.

Venus moves into Capricorn on January 9^th, where she can become despondent and leaden unless we rework rhythm and routine into the days of our lives. Venus symbolises what we truly value and hold dear to our hearts.

Many of us may feel emptied, listless, as we stand on the shoreline of this year and see the storm clouds gathering. We may still face heart-rending reckonings, impossible choices, thwarted cravings for adventure, and new experiences, as we contemplate the same routine, the same sense of confinement and restriction. For most of us, 2021 will feel like a long uphill climb back to sanity and security.

This is the year to shore up our courage and perseverance when we feel anxious or despondent. This is the year of paring down to the bare bones of living simply, of tending to what matters in our lives, drawing on our creativity, our determination, our blind faith, perhaps, as we practice what spiritual teacher, Pema Chödrön calls “compassionate abiding”.

As we seek out a quiet rhythm that rocks us back to our selves amidst the grim news of death, contracting economies, civil unrest, and a catastrophic climate crisis, may we commit to restoring our serenity, slowing down to bring our awareness to the present moment as we make the bed, comb our hair, dance around the living room to the kind of music that sings us back to ourselves.

May we spend less, appreciate more this year. May we speak gently, listen carefully. May we seek out sublime moments of unexpected pleasure, cocooned contentment as we create a private respite from the stormy weather.

Please get in touch if you would like a private astrology reading: ingrid@trueheartwork.com or visit my website: www.trueheartwork.com

December 20, 2020 In Astrology, General By Ingrid Hoffman

Up in the Air—Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius—December 21st

The future of humanity and indeed all life on earth depends on us—Sir David Attenborough

The weary Sun lies low on the horizon and pauses at the mid-winter Solstice. The lights of Christmas sparkle in the windows and a cold wind rasps across empty streets. Many people will be at home alone this Christmas. Here in the UK, a new variant of COVID-19 heralds a third national lock-down in the new year reminiscent of March 2020. As the Sun moves into Capricorn on December 21^st, he is joined by Mercury in Capricorn and Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius, a Saturn-ruled sign. Saturn accompanies a heaviness and melancholy. Jupiter is the astrological ruler of Sagittarius and also of Pisces, an archetype so often imbued with a tincture of loss and longing. This Christmas may feel more like The Pogue’s Fairytale of New York than Mariah Carey’s boisterous rendition of All I Want for Christmas is You.

If we look to the West, we may see two bright “stars,” Jupiter and Saturn glittering in a tangerine sweep of evening sky. The sky script reflects the heaviness and exhaustion so many of us are feeling as this year of austerity and confinement draws to an end. For the first time in 20 years Saturn (restraint, contraction, and realism) and Jupiter (faith, expansion, and optimism) come together to symbolise the destruction of the old and the birth of something new. The cameo of Saturn and Jupiter in the skies depicts an age-old conflict between the old order and the new. What this “new” will be depends, as Sir David Attenborough is famously quoted, entirely on us.

These two planets foreshadow the dawning of a new age, a new geological epoch: The Anthropocene, The Age of Man. It aligns with the much anticipated “dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” Every 2160 years the Precession of the Equinoxes means a change of sign and a dawning of a “New Age”.

Jupiter and Saturn conjunct were seen by the Wise Men—astrologers—between May, September and December, 7 BCE marking the Age of Pisces, a sign infused with sacrifice and redemption, faith and renunciation.

This conjunction is different. This Great Conjunction, or Great Mutation, marks an elemental shift from earth to air. It is more about thoughts, communication, human rights and human wrongs. Saturn and Jupiter unite in the sign of Aquarius, which is associated with humanity, a broad-sounding brief. Like all astrological signs, Aquarius is complex and nuanced. Aquarius casts a long shadow that is mired in ideologies, cloaked in clever marketing and catchy slogans. Fanaticism, hive mind and totalitarianism. Conflict and unrest may be inevitable as the old order resists the cries for freedom and independence by the populace. Climate-crisis driven immigration will add more pressure to our overpopulated cities. Mooted Antitrust Laws may make it difficult for Google, Facebook, and Amazon to control our digital lives and personal privacy.

The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction will also square Uranus throughout 2021; coming close in January and February, September, and October, accompanying an economic rupture that follows this year of lockdowns and stimulus packages.

We begin a series of consecutive 20-year conjunctions in air signs that will continue until 2199. For the past 200 years, Jupiter and Saturn have united every 20 years in earth signs, except for a brief encounter in 1981 in the air sign of Libra. This conjunction in Libra (1980-1981) birthed the personal computer and the mobile phone, neoliberalism, deregulated markets, and an ominous widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.

The current Great Conjunction takes place when the Sun enters Capricorn, underscoring the serious Saturnian flavour of the moment. Saturn is the celestial task master, Lord of Karma, demanding accountability, enforcing rules and regulations. This conjunction is significant because the last time Jupiter and Saturn joined in the sign of Aquarius, a Renaissance—a new consciousness was beginning to blossom. This was the dawn of a new age of scientific discovery and unprecedented exploitation of the natural world and indigenous peoples.

At the threshold of a new age on this over-populated planet, what are we paying attention to? What is the future we envision? Greta Thunberg (Sun, Moon and Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn) says, “this is not the time and place for dreams. This is the time to wake up. This is a moment in history where we need to be wide awake.” As the ghost of Jacob Marley brings us glimpses of Christmases past and present, and still yet to come, we may awaken this Solstice with more awareness and more integrity, sobered by the spectre of climate change, strengthened by hope and the will to imagine another way to live.

Thank you for all your love and support during this difficult year. Wishing you and those you love and a peaceful and restorative festive season.

Love,

Ingrid.

There is hope—I’ve seen it—but it does not come from the governments or corporations, it comes from the people. The people who have been unaware are now starting to wake up, and once we become aware we change. We can change and people are ready for change—Greta Thunberg.

November 22, 2020 In Astrology, Relationship, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Hope Springs—Sun in Sagittarius—November 22nd—December 22nd

This is the month of Thanksgiving. For counting our blessings. For celebrating just how brave and how resilient we have been this year, for grieving all those who have suffered, all those who have died in this difficult year.

The Sun blazes confidently through Sagittarius this month. As this annus horribilis comes to an end, we may be wishing and hoping that 2021 will be better. Hope, faith and optimism are nourished in the warmth of the fire element. If we can imagine that we all have a Centaur that looks towards new horizons in our Sagittarius house, we may get a sense that in some area of our lives, we now gaze into the future, perhaps dare to allow that small white feather of Hope to land, even amidst events that threaten to capsize our lives, circumstances that roll us into the depths of despair.

Sagittarius is The Pilgrim on life’s Camino—the pathfinder, who sets off on a quest, perhaps impulsively, but with a kind of innocent faith in the kindness of strangers, certainly trust in a benevolent god.

Jupiter is the astrological ruler of Sagittarius but also of Pisces, an archetype so often imbued with a tincture of loss and longing. Our Journey is not yet over. We may still need to metabolise our grief, mourn what we have lost. “There’s this collective sort of drip of adrenaline or cortisol in the collective psyche right now,” says psychologist Matt Licata, author of The Path is Everywhere and A Healing Space: Befriending Ourselves in Difficult Times. “It really does seem like structures, including the structure of human physiology, is being dissolved.”

Licata discusses one of the four stages in the alchemical process, citrinita, the yellowing. He says, “We’re in a dissolution moment. We’re in-between two things. I think many of us have a sense that we’re not going to be able to go back to the way things were. Not just COVID, but all of this sort of social upheaval that’s happening right now. We’re not going back, but we don’t know what’s being birthed. It’s like we’re still in this womb.”

In this liminal space of becoming, we may look back and reflect on our Journey this year. Sagittarius and Jupiter invite us on a journey to find meaning in difficult times. As we begin this new Journey, let’s ask ourselves what we will take with us, what we will have to jettison so that we can travel more lightly… In the days that precede the winter solstice, Jupiter in sombre Capricorn tempers our Pollyannaish exuberance and optimism with an infusion of realism as we prepare and plan for our personal and collective journey at the portal of this new epoch. There are no short cuts. The celestial injunction is to bunker down, be responsible, exercise caution and self-mastery.

Venus opposes Uranus (November 27-28^th) amputating flimsy connections and light-weight encounters. Our our ability to be innovative or counter-intuitive with our finances will be accented, especially if we have planets or sensitive degrees between 7-8° Aquarius, Taurus or Scorpio. In early December, Venus square Neptune may gorge hedonistically on sweet dreams and empty promises. She may languish in the half-light of fantasy or linger too long beneath the glittering lights of the casino. This is the classic bankruptcy signature, so be wary of the siren call to buy more of what you want but don’t really need or can afford. This month Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter are still moving through Capricorn, reminders of financial austerity, new laws and restrictions imposed by those in authority.

We confront the cold facts, the consequences, the karma of our thoughts and our actions. Gloria Steinem once said, “hope is a form of planning.” This is a time of re-imagining, of careful, considered planning.

This month ends with a spectacular Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on November 30^th—A beautiful Full Moon that is the second in a series of six Gemini/Sagittarius Eclipses connected with truth and lies, belief and faith, travel and travel restrictions, education and publishing. In the affairs of nations, and in our own lives, Eclipses herald times of endings, they ease our ability to release, to let go: they are harbingers of new beginnings.

The Total Solar Eclipse on December 14^th gathers Mercury in an awkward square to Neptune—offering a symbolic release of illusion and deception. Mars, the warrior god flexes his muscles and squares Pluto (over the festive period) triggering a release of willful determination that may aid the ingestion of a sugarless spoonful of realism. For so many, the mood may not be merry and bright. Yet, this Full Moon illuminates an uncomfortable contradiction—amidst the excess and the exuberance of Christmas, there are millions of people who live their lives in the shadows of society. The old, the homeless, the working poor we summons from Uber and Deliveroo.

Donald Trump was born under a Total Lunar Eclipse and this Solar Eclipse will “eclipse” his natal eclipse as it moves over his Gemini Sun and Sagittarius Moon. This week, his Nodal Return marks a karmic contract; and ending and another chance to evolve more consciously. His Nodal Return is a turning point, a time to re-evaluate and adjust to the changes in his life and his relationships. Pluto is still making an uncompromising opposition to his Saturn, while Neptune squares his Nodes.

Jupiter and Saturn’s entry into Aquarius on the winter solstice usher in a period of new social order. In the horoscope of the Inauguration (January 20^th, 2021 at Noon) the Sun joins Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius and makes an uneasy square to Uranus in Taurus, suggestive of the challenges that will face those in the White House.

As the weeks gather momentum for crescendo of the solstice on December 22^nd and the much- heralded Saturn/Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius, let’s linger in the warmth of Sagittarius’s fire. As we reflect on 2020, may we allow grace and gratitude to wash over us as we savour all we have learnt; how much we have changed on this Journey. Poet Mark Nepo writes, “to journey without being changed is to be a nomad. To change without journeying is to be a chameleon. To journey and to be transformed by the journeying is to be a pilgrim.” May this pilgrimage lead us all towards a place of healing and Love.

I post regularly on Facebook. I will gladly send you these posts featuring more regular astrological updates and the lunations if you prefer to direct your time and energy away from social media.

For private astrology readings please email ingrid@trueheartwork.com

November 11, 2020 In Astrology, Relationship, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

The Last Stand—Pluto/Jupiter Conjunction—November 2020

America is not nearly done. We’re only in the beginning. Who knows who we will be? Who knows what colour we will be? It is all something that, may our descendants—if they survive that long—will see—Alice Walker.

The whole world watched and waited as the divided states of America turned Red and Blue. Masks on or off signalled allegiance. Now one last stand, one last grasp at power by the outgoing president. We are not nearly done.

We may still be wrapped in the folds of uncertainty about our future, trying to reconcile our ambivalence and incredulity as we plan our festive meals with family members who are angry about the outcome of the election; still divided around the care of a terminally ill parent; still trying to engage with friends who believe COVID-19 is just a hoax; still knowing that those we care for are just as hurt and confounded by how we think and behave.

The sky-script this month reflects the age-old issue of power and boundaries. We may work in an office where patriarchy infuses the woodwork, where we are treated like functionaries. In our relationships, we may feel that it is our duty to give our time, our energy, our love, even our body, in support of those who feel entitled to whatever they ask of us.

Our nations have been founded on elitism and supremacy. Our relationships, with our siblings, our parents, our partners, may be founded on the same principles.

We have only just begun. If we are to survive as a species on this troubled earth, we must not go back to the way we were.

Pluto (ruthless destruction, purging, elimination) and Jupiter (amplification) have been in conjunction all through 2020 (the aspect perfected on April 4^th and will do so twice more on June 29^th and November 12^th). These conjunctions contain an explosive energy that so often coincides with turning points in our human story—as all that is corrupt and rotten in governments, institutions, and in the often flimsy structures of our own lives is revealed. Pluto/Jupiter conjunctions can be combustible when they brush against our birth charts or the chart of our relationship, dredging up buried truths, destroying what is, and inviting us to revision a new future. They may ignite tinder dry resentments. Set ablaze those vows we made to ourselves and forgot to keep.

Jupiter inflates and expands, and Pluto terminates, destroys, ends, irrevocably. As the contagion agitation builds, as Donald Trump makes his last stand, thousands of new cases of COVID-19 are reported. And although scientists and politicians promise a vaccine that will give us back our freedom, there will be the formidable logistics of delivery and safety to overcome. The pandemic will not be prettily wrapped up by Christmas.

Pluto abducts us and takes us into the Shadowlands of our psyche, and draws up all that has served its purpose in the world. Pluto will remain in in Capricorn until 2024. The fabled Hydra will continue to sprout more rapacious heads as Pluto inexorably purges our own birth charts, and the charts of our leaders and our nations. We must befriend the monster within ourselves. We must dare to challenge the creation stories that have driven our civilization to this point of crisis.

The birth charts of nations are conceived in acts of supremacy. Dominion over the Earth and over indigenous peoples. We are still enacting our origin stories, tales of heroism, individualism, and supremacy. “Once metabolised, the old stories are hard to shake from the mind of an individual or the hierarchy of a family or the guiding principles of a country,” writes Elizabeth Lesser, author of Cassandra Speaks, When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes.

As the rhythm of our lives moves to the shape of the changing seasons, each new day may present new possibilities to engage in this collective birthing process more deeply, more consciously, even amidst the uncertainty. Mars still Retrograde, glowers, red and angry in the night sky. He stations direct on November 14th but will blaze a trail of fire through Aries until January 6th.

Mercury stationed direct on the day of the US Election and will return to Scorpio on November 11th, emerging from the shadow on November 19th. Venus makes a cardinal T-square to Mars and the Capricorn stellium between November 9th and 19th. A regenerative New Moon in Scorpio on November 15th consecrates our collective longing for healing and “normality” while the Full Moon on November 30th beckons us with the warm glow of possibility, fortified by the Sun’s presence in Sagittarius (November 22nd) as winter closes in and we make plans for the festive season.

“It takes a strong back and a soft front to face the world,” writes Roshi Joan Halifax. We will need courage and compassion, and firm boundaries as this year draws to a close and we face into another year of restrictions and economic uncertainty.

As we feel the ache of our humanness, the sadness of collective loss that has permeated 2020, one origin story that may be worth remembering is the story of Pandora who opened the jar and released evil spirits into the world. What is often not told is that Pandora shut the lid just in time to keep one spirit from flight Elpis—the spirit of Hope.

From the bottom of the jar of this difficult year, Elpis beckons us to imagine a better world. May we take the energy of the fire symbolism and hold the light of hope in our hearts. May we imagine a kinder world as we move through the ever changing experience of being human.

Elizabeth Lesser says, “women know something the world needs now. We know it in our bones. We’ve always known it. It’s time to dig deep, to excavate our voices, to elevate our emotional and relational intelligence and to transcend the limiting stories of the past. It is time for us to be the scribes and the teachers of a new way— to dream a little before we think as Toni Morrison said— and to stitch the world back together through care and inclusion.”

As this year draws to an end, we may be asking ourselves difficult questions; changing our lives in ways that we never thought would be possible, feeling more attuned to a story with a new beginning, a different ending. But first we must examine our stories. We must question who wrote them. And why.

Please email: Ingrid@trueheartwork.com for a personal astrology consultation.