Tag: aquarius

  • Women of Substance

    “Beauty will destroy your mind
    Spare the gory details”

    Radiohead, The Butcher

    Two movies I saw recently and stayed with me in a haunting way, were ‘The Substance’ & ‘Woman of the Hour‘. I really enjoyed both movies but they also shook me. They both deal with primordial fears: the fear of aging and dying, and the fear of being hunted and killed. And the discovery of these two movies is happening for me during a period in which I’m experiencing the transit of loosely conjunct my Piscean Sun, bringing up a lot of fears, anxieties and difficult feelings to cope with. In some way, by watching such movies I am daring myself to face a couple of fears as well as enjoying some good cinematic work. As I was blown away by the performances, I started doing some astrological sleuthing in order to understand what made these actresses gravitate towards such roles and topics. As always, I am perplexed to find an abundance of astrological details that all three actresses share in common, each with their own nuanced expression. There was a certain vulnerability combined with utmost intensity and emotional strength that really made the performances by Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Anna Kendrick stand out to me.

    Because it’s the end of Scorpio season as I’m writing this article – and fittingly the two main actresses who star in the Substance just ‘happen’ to be two Scorpio Suns themselves – I thought I would explore a little bit their birth-charts in the context of spirituality, aging and self-loathing. I’m bringing Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut into the mix as her soul pattern also falls under the sign of the Scorpion, but in a less obvious way than Demi’s or Margaret’s. Scorpio energy is notorious for embodying the vortex of human complexes and darkness, dealing with taboo, hidden or shocking themes such as: addiction, sex, death, taxes, karma, healing. Ultimately, Scorpionic energy marks the path in the development of the human soul as it grows through the zodiac, where the soul needs to change and find its power. And both of these movies and the actresses who star in them have soul themes replete with the themes of power and rebirth, each in their own unique and specific ways.

    Let’s look at Anna first, as she is not the typical Scorpio. In fact, she was born with a Sun in Leo conjunct Mars and Mercury retrograde. We do not know her Ascendant, and therefore we don’t know in which area of her life her Leonic Sun manifests the most, but she does borrow traits from Gemini and Aries energy due to her Mercury and Mars conjunctions to the Sun. This energy already makes her a natural performer with tons of energy, but it also makes her rather restless, fearless and incapable of hiding her true authenticity. See this interesting clip of Anna’s selection of interviews in which the creator discusses how Anna isn’t pretending while she is performing. Making a PR image based on awkward vulnerability, wicked humor and being a diamond in the rough, can be attributed to that Mars conjunct Sun energy in combination with a South Node in Scorpio. To add to this energy, Anna’s Moon is in the sign of its exaltation, which means that she was blessed with a stable and comfort-seeking Moon in Taurus, offering her a Venusian, loving vibe. However, her Moon is disturbed by two subtle influences: the North Node (which represents a point of uncomfortable growth) and the asteroid Lilith (or the wild feminine archetype, the OG biblical rebel of the zodiac). The next layer of intensity and darkness added to her inner planets comes from the unholy trinity of her having a South Node, Saturn and Pluto in Scorpio! And that’s where I took my cue in order to attribute her a Scorpionic Soul – Anna’s comfort zone in this lifetime is actually deeply uncomfortable, as both Saturn (the master of limits) and Pluto (the master of deep and scary change) are types of energies she feels ‘cozy’ and ‘familiar’ with.

    When things get tough in life, Anna falls back on an even tougher comfort zone. For her, being pretty, patient, wealthy and valued are qualities which represent her growth zone. All the qualities which filter through the astrological sign of Taurus show what her soul expects to grow into in this incarnation. Fittingly it was her conventional, accountant role in ‘Up in the air’ in which she played alongside George Clooney (a Taurus Sun) that brought her closer to professional recognition than ever before, even if she didn’t have the money to get dressed for the Oscars! This is why the quirky girl-next-door or supporting actress persona did not really make her stand out as much as playing darker, serious or moral roles seems to work better for her.

    Image of actress Anna Kendrick and of her birth-chart, taken from: https://www.astro-seek.com/birth-chart/anna-kendrick-horoscope

    Having a South Node in Scorpio also means her formative years, her birth and childhood were marked by hardships, drama and familial tensions caused by intense feelings that were kept secret. We can also see that with her Jupiter in Aquarius retrograde, there may have been a proliference of traumatic events in her lifetime, and shocks and surprises that had the paradoxical effect of liberating her from received knowledge such as learned helplessness or ingrained family patterns. Anna is a really tough individual and as cute and fairy-like she may seem, she is no one you want to casually fuck with, unless you want to be obliterated. I also believe that her chart markers make her a more suitable director and producer than actress, so I would love to see more movies from her as she has the potential to become one of the great filmmakers of her generation as long as she uses her talents ‘behind the scenes’ rather than performing in front of the camera. Without a doubt, she is not someone you can easily relate to, persuade or lead on. And this aspect is evident in her Taurean placements which show that her soul is growing into a more stable, highly conservative, materially abundant but also stubborn energetic imprint. We also don’t have an Ascendant for Anna, but judging by what her chart reveals so far, I would place her Ascendant in Leo, and thereby brining her Sun conjunct Mercury and Mars stellium intp the most visible part of her chart (either that of an Aries Ascendant and placing her Sun in the 5th house, the house of performance).

    Now, if we have a look at Margaret Qualley’s birth-chart we see a proliferation of planets in the sign of Scorpio! This configuration in a person’s chart is called a stellium and it often is a marker of a highly imbalanced and odd lifetime. This is because when the stellium is aspected in a harmonious way by outer transits then not much may be happening in a person’s life and life can be just enjoyed; but when squares and oppositions begin to put tension in order to revitalize the stellium then everything could come crashing down all at once in a person’s life. We are unfortunately unaware of Margaret’s birth time and therefore we are missing an Ascendant but judging by her obvious beauty, nepo baby karma (she is the daughter of actress Andie Macdowell) and choice of roles, Margaret may very well have this Scorpionic stellium parked in either her 2nd house (the area of self-worth) or the 8th house (the natural realm of Scorpio, the house ruled by Pluto) in which case this would place her Ascendant in either brave Aries or beautiful Libra.

    Personally, I’m leaning more towards Aries, since her hair is naturally curly, she has that bold and confrontational look and she seems quite impulsive and instinctual in her acting (sometimes veering on intentionally cartoonish). Margaret also has a Mars in Leo squared by Jupiter (a sign of excess and exaggeration brought on her life by men and the actions she takes on their behalf) and also squaring Venus (a sign of romantic problems and domestic violence). We also can see that with her Saturn retrograde in Pisces, Margaret is currently undergoing her Saturn return, a time of maturation in a young individual’s life that can come with added responsibilities and considerable rewards for past career-related choices. Margaret got married when Saturn began moving through Pisces, back in 2023 to a man called Jack Antonoff (whom I personally do not like at all – since he was together with Lena Dunham, he always gave me creepy vibes). He is an Aries Sun so I doubt he will gel well with all the water that Margaret has in her chart, and I’m having a faint suspicion that she may have married him in an impulsive decision to somehow prove herself to other people or because a relationship with someone she really loved had failed. This is typical of a Saturn in Pisces spiritual path, as someone needs to be sacrificed or surrendered in a deeply painful way for the Saturnian individual to fulfill their karma. Nonetheless, her career took off big-time as she appeared in 4 movies this year (!) and she seems to be quickly becoming art-house director’s Yorgos Lanthimos on-screen darling, appearing in two of his recent movies.

    Image of actress Margaret Qualley and of her birth-chart, taken from: https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Margaret_Qualley

    Coming back to her chart, it needs to be said that Margaret has a Moon in Gemini conjunct Lilith (an aspect she shares in common with Anna), and while I like to see some Air inside such a Water-burdened chart, her Moon does provoke some uncomfortable aspects to her Scorpio stellium. It is note-worthy to mention that Margaret is actually learning how to become a Scorpio in this lifetime by embodying and owning up to her inner darkness (her intense emotions) and shedding light on the darkness of those around her (we see this in her choices of roles but also I’m pretty sure there may be something lewd and scandalous that appears in the next few years about Jack Antonoff which will test their marriage and her loyalty to him).

    She will continue to be drawn to and star in roles that portray a kind of twisted sexuality (like she did in Sanctuary or Kinds of Kindness), deep transformation (like in the Substance) or roles dealing with what is hidden, taboo and occult (like in Novitiate). I personally, cannot wait to see her act in paranormal roles which will fit her like a glove! One final thing I need to add, which shows how perfect an individual’s astral energies fit in relation to the nation, family and specific time when their souls decide to incarnate, is the fact that with a North Node in Scorpio conjunct a stellium, Margaret has past life-time karma with Taurean people, as her South Node is placed in Taurus. This is a link that shows just how connected she is at a soul level to her mother, actress Andie Macdowell who was born with a Sun in Taurus! (just as a sidenote: I love Andi’s work so much, especially since she stars in one of my favourite comfort movies ‘Groundhog Day‘)

    So mother and daughter know each other from a past lifetime but Margaret reincarnated as her mother’s heavy Shadow (with that stellium in Scorpio sitting in opposition to her mother’s Sun sign) in order to change what was stagnant about her family’s (and her mother’s) solid and traditional, moral values. With both Pluto and Jupiter surrounding her Venus, Margaret is meant to create generational wealth by creating bonds with powerful individuals but she may also suffer at the hands of these powerful people, if she is not careful and discerning regarding the performers and superstars whom she interacts with (Mars in Leo).

    Image of actress Demi Moore and of her birth-chart, taken from: https://www.astro-seek.com/birth-chart/demi-moore-horoscope

    Lastly, I want to talk about Demi Moore, and her amazing comeback to the silver screen! Literally, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Demi pulled a 360 degrees rebirth on the public, leaving us speechless with her performance in The Substance. I think this choice of role was also a little bith tongue-in-cheek and cathartic to her, since in the last decade she was pretty much a Hermit and may have had been healing from a number of alleged plastic surgeries (some of which were unfortunately botched). As I grew up in the 90s I would see her movies all the time since my parents loved ‘The Ghost‘ and ‘St Elmo’s Fire‘. She always felt familiar to me and I am in some way emotionally attached to her image and her work. When I was older, I also really liked ‘The Scarlett Letter‘ and ‘G.I. Jane‘ as some of her more controversial roles, and I thought that she was such a beautifully vulnerable, brave and self-assured woman. We can see from her chart just exactly where this bravery comes from: a stellium of planets in intense Scorpio, including her Sun, Venus, Neptune and Mercury, in combination with an exalted Moon in Taurus (sitting in opposition to her Sun, which tells me that she was born on a Full Moon, at peak lunar energy), and a Mars in Leo conjunct the North Node! I guess you can already see the many similarities between all of the three actresses’ charts: the Taurus, Leo and Scorpio vibes that all of them embody and live out in their profession. It’s also fascinating as a sidenote to reflect on divine astrological timing, as we can see that Margaret met and worked with Demi during her Saturn return, while simulateneously Demi is also having Saturn transiting through her first house – Saturn in Pisces, in the sign of film, escapism and the imagination brought them both together during an intensely karmic time of new beginnings for both of them.

    But there is another detail thrown in the mix, something which makes Demi really stand out by comparison to Anna and Margaret and I would attribute this to her Aquarius south Node conjunct Saturn and placed in the house ruled by Aquarius, the 11th house. It’s kind of ridiculous how similar Demi’s energy is both to Margaret’s but also Andie’s own energy! Demi and Andie are members of the same generation (most commonly known as Gen X), while Margaret and Anna are fellow Millennials. Nonetheless, I think that it is Demi’s weird and wonderful comfort zone in mind-opening Aquarius which helps her achieve a cinematic rebirth at 60 and start alongside someone with a generational gap and somehow outshine her. Because, I personally feel that Demi is not only the star but the heart of ‘The Substance’. Her on-screen suffering transforms a story that is in parts comical and neon-colored into something much sinister and darker, a parable for the taboo of aging in an era which seems to glorify exterior good looks over and above anything of ‘deep substance’ in a person’s character. Taking the Subtance and transforming the body is then paradoxically a fight to save whatever is left in your own interior and the movie shows in a cartoonish way by playing with a lot props and body horror themes, how society is slowly killing the idea of inner beauty (or how the idea of inner beauty is currently being butchered and transformed into something violent and sinister).

    That beauty can be something that is used against women and may lead to their destruction is also a theme prevalent in ‘Woman of the Hour’ in which Anna Kendrick’s game show character tiptoes around dating a serial killer, a topic which is even more shocking since it was inspired by real life crimes. The worst thing about the movie is that it shows how difficult it is to believe in love and trust someone you may just have met since not even dressing down, adopting a modest look or not wearing make-up can save you from being violently assaulted by a man who hates women because he so desperately hates himself. The visceral violence of the women’s last hours was what made this movie all the more intense and the escape of Anna’s character even more shocking.

    Outside the margins of comofort, I feel that you can always rely on people with Scorpio-heavy charts to shake you up from a belief that safety is real or attainable, when in reality what is truly authentic is to survive another day and live to tell the tale. And living on also allows one to embrace the process of aging and the way in which it separates one from physical beauty by granting an individual the chance to show their inner authenticity. In the current time of speed-run superficiality, in which people can’t control much except their own bodies, I guess we fear aging because once the physical facade cracks, we have nothing left to show the world. The moral of Scorpio energy is then: work on your soul, because nothing else can save you from the force of emotions as powerful as fear, emotions which may kill what is left beautiful inside of you.

    With universal love,

    Lexi

  • Making sense

    Painted American Flag is a painting by Duukster fromhttps://pixels.com/featured/painted-american-flag-duukster.html

    In light of recent political events, I feel it’s necessary to focus upon the astrological transits which are influencing them. Mostly because we are gearing up for a number of great outer-planetary transits in 2025 which will change the social landscape for years to come. The transits I will focus on in this article are those of the planets Neptune and Saturn as they are joined by the North Node/South Nodes of the Moon in the signs of Aries and Pisces; but I will also reflect on the previous transits of Jupiter throughout Aries and Pisces between the years of 2022 and 2023, since past Jupiterian aplomb laid the groundwork for the current Saturnian injection of fear into the collective.

    These transits began roughly in the year 2022 and will continue up until 2027, and the two astrological signs from which they draw energy are those which represent the Alpha and the Omega of the zodiac. This is no coincidence but a fated mark representing the building of a different social landscape than the one we have witnessed in the last century. It is evident that we are living in times in which many of our social institutions, core values, ways of relating and defining ourselves are not functioning anymore. You could say that they are ‘plastically transforming’, if this transformation wasn’t so painful for ordinary people just trying to get by.

    Aries and Pisces are the first and the last sign of the zodiac, and in the last years they have been unleashing their energies in our collective unconscious, marking the end of an era and the brisk creation of the next: the first sign of impulsive and creative primal energy (Aries) and the final twelfth sign representing the wise, compassionate elder of the zodiac (Pisces).

    On a darker note, Aries (ruled by Mars) is also the sign of war, aggression and anihilation due to Ego strengthening, while Pisces (ruled by Neptune) is about delusion, addictions and pendulating between extreme self-abandonement and extremely uplifting spiritual states. Outer planetary transits impact the collective more than any other transits, especially when they are supported by conjunctions to the karmic lunar nodes: two imaginary points on the Moon’s eliptic movement around the Earth, which represent past life karmic energy and show us where we loose collective energy (the South Node) and what we are obsessively drawn towards, where we feel like the energy is never enough and we crave more of it (the North Node). To aid in my analysis I’m hitting the books and getting some support from Jan Spiller, Liz Greene and Stephen Arroyo, three well-known astrologers who have written extensively on the deeper meaning of Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter and the nodes of the Moon.

    The first outer planet to move through these two signs was the Great Benefic, the planet Jupiter. With its natural expansiveness and enthusiasm, Jupiter led the masses into increased radicalisation and heightened religious and nationalist fervour as Jupiter moved through Pisces between 2021 and 2022, and then Jupiter put the legacy of Pisces into action by intensifying global conflicts as it briskly moved through Aries, the sign of War between the 2022 and 2023. I want to allow an experienced astrologer like Stephen Arroyo to describe the energy of Jupiter as it moved from the first through the last sign of the zodiac, so he can help us put things into a larger perspective (which also happens to be the main hustle of Great Jove) :

    Jupiter in Pisces “Keeping one’s feet on the ground may be the hardest challenge for those with this position. They can float away into dreams of personal glory (…) they can be lost in self-agrandissement posing as big-heartedness; or they can indulge themselves in exaggerated, mythologised versions of their lives. In some cases of more ordinary mortals, they can ‘go to pieces’ if their lyfestyle, marriage or job to which they have been devoted, disintegrates resulting in disorientation, escapism and difficulty coping with reality. Self-esteem and confidence for most of these people, however, slowly develops over time as they align themselves with a spiritual, social, or artistic ideal (…) These folks are usually, future-oriented people and almost invariably they have some kind of special imagination, intuitive understanding of life, or breadth of vision that can inspire themselves and others, and which they need to act upon throughout their lives if they are going to feel prosperous and succesful. As Moore and Douglas explain, “success” for those with Jupiter in Pisces has little to do with money and material goods.”

    Jupiter in Aries “This is perhaps the most fearless risk-taker of all Jupiter positions. Inf act, these people usually love risk and challenge; they crave the experience of the new and the unknown, and life quickly becomes boring without such stimulation. In fact, they sometimes live in such a way that more cautious types wonder if they are bent on self-destruction! They are naturally rash and impulsive liking to act quickly and think about it later, if at all. They are frank and honest, but others must be equipped to deal with their directness and bluntness without over-reacting to them emotionally. They don’t usually mean any harm; they are merely thoughtless at times. However, there can be a mean streak with Aries, especially if other planets are there also. And almost invariably, there is substantial competitiveness, which serves them well in their natural entrepreneurial activities. Those with Jupiter in Aries thrive on constant growth towars the new, and they may best express their potential in very independent work situations, such as being self-employed. They do not like to take orders, and in fact they are the epitome of people who can be called ‘head-strong’ (…) Yet, their intuition into the future is often strikingly apt. They invariably know their future direction, although they may impuslively change it with surprising suddeness. So many new ideas and projects occur to them that many are never pursued long; finishing things may be a problem (…) For those with Jupiter in Aries, progress and prosperity depend more on directing and channeling their innate confidence and vision than on developping those capacities. These abilities are already there, but cultivating more faith in that inner initiative and intuitive sense of what ‘I can do’ may be the next step for some individuals.”

    Jupiter’s transit in Aries also debuted the transit of Saturn into Pisces, when it concomitantly worked with it in an uncomfortable semi-sextile in March of 2023. As Saturn began to move through Pisces, it also began to slowly approach the planet Neptune, now almost at the end of it’s years long transit through the sign of its domicile. Mayans adequately predicted the end of an era back in 2012, a year which eerily coincided with Neptune beginning its transit through Pisces. So Saturn is left now to uncomfortably clean up and provide structure to the Neptunian ‘spiritual spills’ in which we have been bathing for more than a decade now. The astrological expert on everything Saturn and Neptune-related is without doubt, Liz Greene, whose profound reflections on both Saturn and Neptune in these two zodiac signs, can help us understand what exactly we have been immersed in:

    Saturn in Pisces “Saturn in the twelfth house, and to a lesser extent in Pisces is difficult from the point of view of the personality because the Saturnian energies, geared initially toward self-protection and defense against the environment, are rendered ineffectual. This may in extreme situations be through hospitalization or imprisonment for a period of time, and the man may learn through his own helplessness how ultimately impotent the personal will is against the forces of his own past which he himself has set in motion. The feeling that one is helpless and must submit to something larger and greater is frequent with this placement of Saturn, although it may occur on a very subjective level. This is a cadent house and refers to states of mind, and Saturn here often generates a vague fear that someone or something, a misty or generalised fate or destiny, is going to destroy him or control him. He may isolate himself and attempt to shield himself from contact with others at the same time that he is weighed down by an oppresive loneliness and sense of powerlessness (…) It is also often the reflection of a fear of confronting external life and a sense of impotence in being able to handle practical affairs (…) Typical Saturnian ambivalence occurs with a twelfth house Saturn too, and there are both a compulsive fascination with and a great fear of losing one’s identity and individuality (…) It is man’s defense mechanism which is necessary for a long time while the unfolding consciousness needs defending; however, when Saturn is found in Pisces or in the twelfth house, the time has come for the scaffolding to be taken down for the inner structure is nearly complete, and stripping this away is initially like stripping off one’s outer skin and exposing the raw and tender area beneath (…) Saturn in water is responsible for a great deal of loneliness and isolation so apparent at the present time. It is of some help for the individual who has Saturn in a watery house or sign to recognise that his potential in terms of inner peace, understanding, and wisdom is as great as his potential for despair if he will only turn inward to the realm of feelings and of the unconscious.”

    Now, starting from 2025, Saturn will temporarily dip into Aries for a couple of months next Spring, form a great conjuction to Neptune (just enough to give us ample material to work with) and then dip back into Pisces next Autumn, for a conclusive final act. It needs to be said, that Saturn doesn’t enjoy being in any of these two signs, since Water and Fire energies are the most resistant to any discipline, structure or grounding that this Earth Papa wants to impose on them; so these transits are uncomfortable and wounding to our personalities and only with great effort can we distill the gold inherent in Saturn’s karmic lessons. But let’s allow Liz to explain it further:

    Saturn in Aries “One of the main qualities which appear to accompany Saturn in Aries or in the first house is a lack of self-assertion of a positive kind. There is often a need to enforce one’s will and to control the immediate environment; but rather than being the spontaneous and self-confident assertion of the individual, this is more of a defensive maneuvre which sometimes attempts to attack first because it is fearful of attack. Sometimes the need for control is expressed in a subtle and indirect way so that situations are manipulated without any real evidence of aggressiveness. This is the characteristic coupling of need and fear which is so often found with Saturn. The natural shyness and stiff awkwardness of Saturn is expressed more obviously with this placement than with any other although the individual often learns during life to cultivate a smooth, cool and polished surface (…) Saturn is considered to be in his fall in Aries, and from this one might deduce that this is a difficult position for him and one which is not easily carried. Possibly the most difficult side of it is the tendency to be cut off from both the flow of outer life and the flow of inner life so that the individual is stranded in a very small and very arid area of his psyche, difficult to reach, and unable to touch the mainspring of purpose and meaning which would enable him to face the outer world with courage (…) This is because a planet in its fall must generally struggle, and it is this struggle which, if carefully tended, yields insight and eventual expansion of the field of consciousness. This is particularly true of Saturn, who when placed in the sign of his fall is often stripped of the courage and confidence – the natural gifts of Aries – which are required to tackle the problems of living head-on. Yet the thing he wants the most is the joy of being free, of being first, of exploring unknwon regions and meeting unknown challenges and revelling in the innate realization that his existence is guarantee enough of his purpose. Saturn in Aries or in the first house tends first to emphasize the fear of powerlessness because it suggests a clinging to the more superficial features of the personality and a consequent loss of contanct with the rich inner person. Eventually this fear can prod the individual into a deeper exploration of what he considers to be his identity.”

    And here is Liz’s primer on Neptune’s energy as it will make an epochal shift next year (if you thought delusions related to wars and conflicts were abundant in the collective, well next yer we may never see the end of them; at the same time issues related to personal identity and who we are as human beings will become the center of our collective concerns as AI and robots will become common-place in society):

    Neptune in Pisces “In the 12th house, Neptune comes home (…) Neptune in the 12th house is a transmitter of the richness, darkness and light of that which came before us. The 12th is the house of pre-birth and therefore also describes the period of the mother’s pregnancy, when we were contained within the uterine waters. As a medium for the archetypal themes of the ancestral collective, Neptune in the 12th is particularly attuned to feelings and images of suffering and redemption (…) It is not surprising that this house is called the house of self-undoing; if we are unconscious of this vast ancestral longing to go home, we may ensure that we are dragged home in spite of ourselves (…) Commitment to a religious or spiritual path may offer consolation to Neptune’s melancholy and world-weariness, and may provide a means of redeeming not only one’s own loneliness but the victims of the past. Neptune in the 12th may shoulder the burden of redeeming family sin and unhapiness, and is particularly prone to identification with the suffering saviour (…) One may become addicted to the creative powers of the psyche, retreating from relationships with the outer world in order to partake of the universal waters of the source. The individual may see himself or herself as a Christ-like figure, come to save the suffering world (…) The line between Neptune in the 12th as visionary, artist and healer, and Neptune in the 12th as addict, invalid or psychotic, is very fluid (…) Neptune’s eternal enemy is also Neptune’s eternal friend, and a little Saturnian realism can go a long way in assisting a 12th house Neptune floundering in deep waters – although too much Saturn may provoke the very flood the individual is seeking to avoid.”

    Neptune in Aries “Neptune in the first house poses an immediate dilemma, for the nature of Neptune is antithetical to the nature of Mars. Where Mars seeks to assert its power over life, Neptune seeks to avoid birth. Where we experience Neptune, we feel helpless abd impotent, for we are in the hands of powers greater than ourselves (…) Neptune in the 1st may secretly feel emasculated and deeply anxious when confronted with choices and challenges that require a definite decision or act of will – particularly if there is any risk of separation or loneliness. Sometimes one adopts instead a strange fatalism, as though life is unreal anyway and therefore not worth struggling with. Eschewing of personal responsibility may undermine efforts to establish a coherent life direction. Both good and ill are “meant to be” (…) Neptune in the 1st often reflects gifts of tact and subtle diplomacy, one navigates rather than shapes the outer world. The needs of others take on the shape of the redeemer; to merge with others in an ecstasy of mutual pleasing is a form of redemption (…) Neptune in the 1st has a reputation in astrological texts for blindness and self-deception (…) Every personal interaction with another individual thus becomes a potential experience of salvation; and clarity, judgement and initiative dissolve as a result. But this destructive extreme of self-effacement can only occur if there is no sense of self to balance Neptune’s longing. If one has one’s own feeligns and values, the need for others will not swallow up the outlines of the identity (…) The challenge of a 1st house Neptune lies not in any intrinsically malevolent property in the planet, but in the task of balancing its chameleon-like inclinations with a healthy dose of self-value and self-preservation. Neptune in the 1st can also be the special gift of the counsellor or healer, because of its unique capacity to enter into the feelings of others. But the individual may become addicted to those who are needy (…) The inner solidity of the personality decides in the end whether the gifts of a 1st house Neptune will lead to the waters of oblivion or the waters of life”.

    At the moment at which I am writing these reflections, Pluto is a mere 24 hours away from definitively switching from Capricorn into Aquarius; this transit will last until 2044 and it will reconfigure our social landscape. To add to this transformation wave, we are collectively feeling the energies of the North Node in Aries (red and male) and the South Node in Libra (blue and female). It’s kind of on the nose how the colours and gender associated with Mars/Aries and Venus/Libra fit so strongly with the two political party which competed against each other during the American elections at the begining of this month; similarly, the upcoming Romanian elections may also lead to a negative surprise, as the old-guard political party PSD, whose logo is covered in red may become the populist darling, thereby sealing the deal on the gradual “Russification” of Romania during Saturn in Aries’ reign (although, I pray that votes will be disparate and PSD won’t get the majority and my fears will resist to manifest; I also pray that Saturn will freeze & limit conflicts at global level).

    Because the North Node represents a point of collective obsession, and its transit usually describes what we become attached to and constantly crave more of, we would understand why Trump’s campaign which it’s fleet red caravans covering the US and it’s sexist but direct rethoric, had more success than Harris’ – people unconsciously wanted Mars-like energy, so that their personal anger would be reflected on stage, in a form of political anger that was mistakenly associated with true power. Here is how astrologer Jan Spiller describes the core traits of the Libra SN/Aries NN axis under whose spell we have been since July of 2023:

    Aries North Node people have spent so many incarnations supporting the identity of others that in this incarnation they have no sense of who they are. On an energetic level, they are missing the insulation of a sense of identity. When a baby is born, there’s a band in its aura called “identity”, and people in other nodal groups have this. It acts as a shield against the strong energy field of others. Because of it, people can interact intensely without damaging one another (…) In this incarnation, Aries North Node people face the challenge of stregthening their sense of identity. Because they have no preconceived idea of “self”, they are open to discovering what is real and natural within themselves. It’s an innocent process. Their natural impulses validate their identity, and their identity is strengthened through their actions (…) They don’t have enough personal identity left in their “battery” to hold the “charge” for the other person. To be deeply happy in this lifetime, they must focus on developing their own identity and recharging their own battery (…) When they encourage independence and individuality in their relationships – dealing directly with the other person and supporting him or her in being strong and separate – they win, because the other person will give back in the same way, supporting Aries North Node’s independence and individuality (…) For these folks, bein drained and being overly excited are two sides of the same coin: not dealing with what’s actually happening in the moment (…) The balance lies in being consciously aware of others’ energy without being consumed by it. Aries North Nodes need to stay connected to their own power and be in touch with what they can comfortably contribute. The idea is to share their talents freely, to be of service, and to give from the heart without trying to be more – or less – than they actually are.”

    Notice the proliferance of images of ‘birth’ and ‘identity’ in the quotes I shared above. Despite the fact that most of these descriptions are referring to individual circumstances in a person’s chart, they can be extrapolated to explain the current energies we find ourselves navigating through; and the struggle to form identities in the debris of a dying world speaks volumes to what is happening to us, as human beings, on a collective level. As the nodes of the Moon will switch signs on the 11th of January 2025, and as we will move from Aries and into the North Node in Pisces, the collective obsession will turn to spirituality, dissolving, addictions and losing our personal identities in order to recover a feeling of unification; we will long for some sort of connection, with what has previously been separated in the past years, but we may also attach to that which is toxic to us and build up a Stockholm syndrome around it, also because we will long for wholeness, peace and unconditional love and forgiveness. Again, I invite Spiller to describe in her own words how the Virgo SN/Pisces NN axis will manifest in the coming 18 months:

    “The Achilles’ heel Pisces North Node people need to be aware of is their compulsive need for order (“My survival depends of everything being in order according to my view of how life ought to be and how others ought to behave”), and it can lead them into the trap of an unending search for perfection (“If only the people around me were more perfect, I could relax and trust”). But it’s a bottomless pit: Since life and other people are never in a static state of perfect order long enough for Pisces North Nodes to feel secure, their expectations can lead to continual tension and anxiety. Because life – and others – are never ideal enough for them to let go of control, they continually postpone trust and joy. The bottom line involves acepting the universe’s plan is better than their and that things are unfolding properly, regardless of how it seems. The only place they can create “perfect order” is within themselves, by surrendering to a Higher Power and trusting that everything is indeed in order. The irony is that when Pisces North Node people blindly trust the infinite and accept that everything contributes to their greater happiness, they suddenly become aware of the larger picture and begin to sense how things are working to their advantage. Then they can let go of control and be happy (…) They are filled with calm and feel in alignement with ‘the plan’ because the spiritual vision is the energy of perfection they are seeking.”

    In a period in which we may have to bite the hand that feeds so that a new system of feeding that helps all get nourishment can come into place, we may also decide to caress and allow the hand that feeds to even strike us. With both Saturn and Neptune in Aries, we may not be able to see clearly ‘the enemy’ and considering that Chiron, the Wounded Healer is still moving through Aries for the entirety of 2025, we may decide to turn our violence against the enemy within. The hardship of our coming years will stem from the fact that we may be up against forces which we will have no control over, as the changes that will follow are in a large way, fated. Each one of us will feel called to play their part, at the right moment and in order to do so we will have to rely on nothing else but the strength of our faith and the force of our convictions. Living in a world whose material foundations are shacking can be taxing on the nerves so time alone to decompress will become imperative. But at the same time, we may also allow the energy of the unknown to surprise us with what we discover, to create ripples of fun and imaginative exploration, and in this way, the dark path ahead can become illuminated by our everyday, common sense courage.

    We may need to ask ourselves ‘why are we so obsessed with safety?‘ If Pluto in Capricorn broke our souls and spirits and transformed us into pragmatic capitalists so that we could survive, we may need to revise why we do the things we do each day, in order to reclaim control over our minds and souls. At this point in time, we all crave more money but then when we manifest it we just buy shit we don’t need, thereby contributing to the environmental collapse that is defining the current limits of our lived reality. Maybe time spent dreaming, resting, saving up, trusting, fluidly going through life may help both our mental health, and the environment and allows us all to see just how deeply the two are connected.

    Looking at these transits, I have already decided that 2025 will be my year of testing the limits of my solitude. I want to own being a Hermit, to dive into the study of occult scriptures and commit to a disciplined form of mediation and stillness that may help me achieve a state of inner oceanic vastness. And whatever I will find that is meaningful I will share with you all. Who knows? Perhaps once I have made this difficult but empowering decision, life will surprise me in a powerful way by showing me just how connected I am to everything and everyone in the pit of this self-imposed, militant solitude. I look forward to the discovery.

    With universal light, always

    Lexi

  • The Weirdness Within

    Credit: 20th Century Fox Television. Image from: https://fanfare.pub/the-x-files-is-the-best-tv-series-ever-made-e0900e393817

    In a year in which whatever I am building and struggling to maintain seems to be actively dissolving before my own eyes, I find it strangely comforting to spend time each night rewatching the X-Files series. As a child of the 90s, I grew up with episodes of the X-files casually playing on the TV in the background of the many activities that took place in my parent’s over-crowded living room, but I rarely got the chance to sit down and watch the entire series. The collective doom-and-gloom of 2024 made me find comfort in watching two incredibly attractive people debate on the nature of belief and the truth that is out there.

    As I lie in my bed after conflict-heavy days filled with disappointments and rejection, I give my favourite TV characters, FBI agent Dana Scully (played by Gillian Anderson) and agent Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny) my full and undivided attention and escape into a surreal landscape populated by monsters, aliens and men in black suits. I have now reached episode 16 of season 5 and I am having such a good time, as season 5 is slowly becoming my favourite so far. And because of my astrological training, I can’t help but wonder: What exactly made these two people gravitate towards these specific roles and towards each other? What in their astrology, made them the optimal candidates for the X-files? In this article, I will use my astrological knowledge to unpack these questions and come up with some tentative answers.

    I think this is timely, since the X-files – an American entertainment series created by Libra Sun, Chris Carter – is a show about the occult, the paranormal but most importantly it is about what we believe in and how far are we willing to go to uphold our belief (or lack thereof). On the topic of belief, this an opportune time to unpack it as our collective energies are centred around the loss and limits of faith brought about by the current transit of Saturn & Neptune through the spiritual sign of Pisces.

    I’ll begin by analysing Gillian’s chart since it’s only polite that ladies go first 🙂 And speaking of politeness, we are dealing here with a really fascinating astrological chart, one in which the South Node is in Libra and the North Node is in Aries (conjunct Saturn). Gillian was born to be a star, since her Sun sits in the first house and is perfectly placed in Leo, amplified by a conjunction to dynamic Mars and also conjunct the Ascendant and Mercury. This is a lot of fire in someone personal placements! What fans the oxygen for that fire to burn brightly is her airy Moon is in Aquarius placed in the 7th house and perfectly conjunct the Part of Fortune; so, relationships brought Gillian a lot of good fortune and wealth and she seems to be emotionally attached to her contractual obligations. In addition, the Moon sitting in opposition from the Sun is also letting me know Gillian was born on a Full Moon, which makes her a person who has to have other people around her, someone who thrives by relating to others. Not only that but the politeness-factor is added in her energy by the fact that she was born with a South Node in Libra in the 3rd house (so her comfort zone is that of cool and intelligent communication) and a North Node in Aries conjunct Saturn in the lucky 9th house (making her growth zone, one of faith and philosophical expansion through conflict). Talk about being destined to embody a role in which she is persistently and diligently using science to counteract blind beliefs in the supernatural.

    Image of Gillian Anderson and of her natal chart taken from https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Gillian_Anderson

    Gillian is most famous for her work in the X-files but she also made a relative comeback later on in her career by embodying the magnetic detective superintendent Stella Gibson and playing alongside Jamie Bell in the British television series, The Fall. Recently she also starred in Sex education and The Crown, in an attempt to rebrand herself as an actress with a slight British accent and pedigree. However, two of her most know roles are portrayals of tough and intelligent femininity, and I attribute this energy not only to her North Node in Aries but the additional Mars energy in her chart conjunct her leadership-prone Leo Sun. An individual with the planet Mars conjunct their Sun can be someone who is naturally charismatic, feisty and prone to aggression to get their way, but when this energy is creatively sublimated, it can appear in battle-weary roles such as being the ‘soldier of light’ who catches bad guys as a daily living, which is exactly what both Dana and Stella are doing. Using her wit, calm explanations and a formal educational training (exactly the 3rd house energy which represents Gillian’s comfort zone), both detectives are able to hunt down evil and stare it in the eyes; in the first role this being alien-evil and in the second man-made evil.

    Nonetheless, I can see from her chart that Gillian has struggled her entire life with understanding who she is and with developing an identity that is not co-dependently linked to other people whom she shares her life with – this is potentially why she is trying to forego her American roots and rebrand herself as a British Tv actress. I think Gillian is attempting this geographical rebrand also because of her age, as she has celebrated her 56th year of life this year. Appearing in European productions seems to be working for her, as European tastes tend to be more accepting of aging femininity than the American media is.

    I believe all of these changes (her move to a different continent, her switch in roles and confident and more relaxed demeanour as she is aging, her switching from television to theatre) are due to the ripening of her Saturn in Aries placement which is nearing her return placement in the upcoming cycle between 2025 and 2027. Saturn in a fire sign (especially in a retrograde placement) offers a concentrated karma around the aspect of personal identity. This means that most of life’s challenges come a lack of confidence and from other people judging your personality and the actions you are undertaking to build your lived experience of life. Gillian’s chart thus tells the story of woman who had to do some deep inner work to detach herself from how other people perceived her. She had to put in hard work into crafting a healthy sense of confidence and an enduring self-image by taking creative risks and launching herself into a variety of life’s experiences (most of which were highly visible public performances).

    As a sidenote, another interesting case-study born with this placement is Hailey Baldwin, who lived in the shadow of the famous Baldwin family and then the shadow of her husband, Justin Bieber, before she became known for her brand and clean girl aesthetic (which took years to build). Similarly, Gillian had to learn who she is and what her identity and personal brand are, after years of playing either demure ladies (see her character in The House of Mirth) or tough detectives. Not to mention that the signature fiery red hair of her character, Dana Scully, is a combined expression of her North Node in Aries destiny and her Sun conjunct Mars and the Ascendant in passionate Leo. But with Saturn in Aries thrown in the mix, this passionate fire is restrained and slowly released in time, and after many challenges. What’s beautiful to see is how this inner fire is gently supported by her intellectual, weird and spontaneously wonderful Moon placement in Aquarius or the OG alien of the zodiac.

    Now before I dive into what having a Moon in Aquarius could mean for an individual, I need to present the astrological facts for David Duchovny’s chart, as he shares some astounding similarities with Gillian, and most of what I will describe for Gillian applies to David as well. David was born a Sun in Leo, with a Moon in Aquarius and a South Node in Pisces/North Node in Virgo conjunct Pluto. Unfortunately, his Ascendant is unknown as his birth time is missing. Already, I guess you could tell how astrologically twin-like David and Gillian are: both are Leo Suns with Aquarian Moons, both are born under a Full Moon, so it is no wonder that they met and worked as counterparts, both being the masculine and feminine voice of a similar soulful experience. Unlike Gillian, David’s destined path in this lifetime is one in which he has to become pragmatically comfortable with increasing darkness (North Node conjunct Pluto), and more precisely his very own darkness, in order to take control of his energy and purify himself at a soul level (North Node in Virgo) from the messy, emotional and religious-bound experiences he brought with him from past lives (South Node in Pisces). The extent to which he was personally able to fulfill this destiny remains debatable since his quarrels with the producers of the X-Files over money and his appetite for risque sexual encounters are infamous and may have garnered him a role in the controversial series ‘Californication’, in which he plays a celebrity and sex addict (a role which has mirrored his own personal struggles).

    Image of David Duchovny and of his natal chart taken from https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/David_Duchovny

    Different to Gillian, David has a domicile Saturn in the strong sign of Capricorn and a domicile Jupiter in the blessed sign of Sagittarius and both are retrograde placements which makes them more powerful. But the organic balance given by these fortunate astrological placements is upset by the stellium that David has in his chart, a cluster of planets surrounding the signs of Leo and Virgo. A stellium can intensify a person’s energy and their life experiences, bringing an all-or-nothing type of vibe about any small activity they undertake. With David we see a Sun in Leo conjunct beautiful Venus and unpredictable Uranus, usually markers which make someone an ‘on-again/off-again’ type of lover who you simply cannot get enough of because he is so warm and fun (Venus in Leo), but can also be lazy and self-obsessed (Pluto in Virgo conjunct the North Node). Moreover, the South Node in Pisces guarantees that unless David has a creative or spiritual outlet for his emotional energy, he may lose himself in meaningless sexual and addictive practices or religious confusion. It is endearing to see how he has sublimated this energy in Fox Mulder’s character, a man obsessed with his belief who will go to great lengths to prove an emotional truth which he constantly struggles to support due to a lack of evidence.

    Related to this karmic placement, I can also see that his ex-wife, actress Tea Leoni was indeed a soulmate for him, as her Sun in Pisces conjuncts his South Node in Pisces, letting me know that they are familiar with each other from another life and married in this lifetime in order to finish some unprocessed karma. And it’s fascinating as well how I, as a Pisces Sun am carefully re-watching the series during a Saturn conjunct Neptune in Pisces transit which touches upon David’s South Node/North Node energy. Not only that but starting from 2025, both Gillian and David will be having some significant transits as Gillian will be experiencing her Saturn return in Aries and from David will undergo his reverse nodal return, as from January 2025 the North Node of the Moon will enter Pisces and the South Node will enter Virgo. Therefore, I may update this article according to the news that may appear about them in the next few years.

    I always tend to write in tangents and sub-notes, and that’s because I was born with a Uranus in Sagittarius in the 3rd house and my mind can put forth some interesting and yet fragmented thoughts. To make things clearer, I want to come back in this paragraph to the Moon in Aquarius placement and to link this back to the title of this article, the weirdness within. As we all collectively sit on the cusp of the age of Aquarius, ushered in as it is by the transit of Pluto, it is essential that we study everything Aquarius-related so we can better know how to navigate a form of energy that is by nature, unpredictable, chaotic and spontaneous. And these are exactly the words that may be used to describe both Gillian and David in their private lives. It’s hard for us, the fans and spectators, to discern how these people are in their intimate lives but that’s why I love astrology so much – in the blink of an eye, simply by looking at data, you can create a profile of an individual’s inner landscape (much like criminal profilers and psychologists do in their daily work).

    A Moon in Aquarius is a paradoxical placement since it is shows affection and attachment by being actually really detached; people born with this placement are light-hearted and funny, cool as cucumbers and erratic in how they show their emotions. One day they love you ardently, the next day they have to leave you to track mountains because maintaining intimacy at a deeper level actually frightens them. They tend to fall in love with friends and co-workers, and those type of social relationships which usually come with some in-built boundaries. Lunar Aquarians are drawn to the unusual, to the spooky and mad aspects of life. There is nothing sexier to an Aquarius Moon than knowing all the emotional and intimate rules that govern relationships and then having fun mischievously breaking them. At times, Aquarian Moons can be superficial and cold as ice, to the same degree as a Capricorn Moon, but this is what makes them honest people with a great knack for intelligent debates. In some exceptional cases and if poorly aspected, an Aquarius Moon can also indicate the gradual disintegration of a person into madness or lead one to emotional extremes. Here is how one of my favourite astrologers (and expert in all things lunatic) Donna Cunningham describes this hard-to-define lunar placement in her book ‘Moon Signs’:

    My argument is that this electrifying and weird Aquarian energy is precisely why Gillian and David are so good at playing the roles of detectives Scully and Mulder. Their inborn Aquarian zest for life and weirdness helped them engage with such roles to an extent that felt authentic and believable. Moreover, this energy is also what makes them investigate the paranormal and the extra-terrestrial; they can empathise with being outsiders, with feeling as if they don’t belong into the socially acceptable moulds of society. If you too share this lunar placement with them and find it hard to emotional regulate or to find emotional stability and meaning in a life that seems to have trouble finding fitting you in, you may want to re-orient your energy towards investigating the paranormal, or creating sci-fi, and using your natural cool and spontaneous energy to research the mysterious unknown and open people’s minds in this process. You were born to break emotional patterns, much like Gillian and David in their roles as Scully and Mulder are in love with each other without necessarily portraying a traditionally, romantic type of relationship.

    And speaking of romance, I want to tackle the most fun part of their astrological energy, that being their synastry aspects (or aspects of compatibility). I can only imagine what went down between the two of them on the set of the X-files, seeing as they are mirror images of each other from an astrological point of view. Interestingly enough, Gillian’s Mars in Leo touches upon David’s Venus in Leo, which is an aspect that brings instant sexual attraction but it is the woman’s masculine energy which chases the man’s feminine energy. This aspect usually exists in a synastry chart in which the woman more or less romantically and sexually pursues the man. However, Gillian’s Venus in Virgo sits in a square to David’s Mars in Gemini revealing some tensions and frustrations between the two of them that were often hard to overcome (even if both Virgo and Gemini are ruled by Mercury and carry the same intelligence and nervousness stamps to their vibration).

    Furthermore, Gillian’s cluster of planets of in Virgo (her Venus, Jupiter, Pluto and Uranus) activate David’s destined path in this lifetime, in a somewhat uncomfortable and irritating process. I have no doubt that if something physical happened between them behind the scenes, that Gillian was the one which initiated it and that David gradually become more annoyed and irascible in this situation, as he may have felt himself controlled or emasculated (also because her Mars is conjunct his Sun). I also think that David may have bothered Gillian’s inner peace with his emotional messiness as his South Node in Pisces (his comfort zone) sat in opposition to the orderly ways in which Gillian extracted fun and pleasure from her work and the wealth she was creating. He may have thought that she was too much and too aggressive with him while she couldn’t deal with his messy and obsessive sense of wounded self-involvement. If like me, you paid close attention to how the relationship between Mulder and Scully evolves in the series, you may have seen some of this energy ‘leaking out’ in their acting in rather fraught interactions (especially at the height of the show’s popularity in seasons 4 and 5).

    Finally, I wanted to add a distinct way in which we may look at their relationship, as spiritual counterparts and creative co-workers. In the spiritual community the term ‘twin flames’ exists to describe an intense relationship between two individuals who are the mirror images of each other but they are locked in differently gendered bodies; as these individuals come together the fire between the two of them burns so brightly that it cannot sustain a normal, romantic connection for too long. So, what usually happens is that twin flames meet and work on a big project together which changes the collective for the better, and then they go their own separate ways. Oftentimes they continue to maintain a deep connection even if they are not physically close to each other (almost like a red thread of energy linking them). From an occult and spiritual perspective and backed up by the astrological knowledge of their charts, I can say that Gillian and David are a very good representation of a twin-flame connection, as they both were magnetically drawn the content of the X-files series (activating their weird and wonderful Aquarian Moons) and they came together to influence the ‘Millennial’ collective. And finally, it’s important to underline that at the heart of the series, as well as within the astral energies of the two protagonists lies the constant dialogue between faith (Leo energy) and science (Aquarius energy), exploring the unknown with intuition and instinct and figuring it out with facts and experimentation, who we are as humans here on Earth (Leo) and whether we are part of a larger cosmic order (Aquarius). Therefore, it will be fascinating to see how the transit of Pluto in Aquarius for the next two decades will affect us, the two actors’ lives and the creative legacy of Mulder and Scully and the mysterious X-Files.

    To wrap up this discussion, I will leave you with a funny insight into my little life. I recently deleted my online dating profile in which I had advertised myself with one simple sentence: “Just a Scully looking for her Mulder”. Because in the end, aren’t we all just looking for a special weirdo who can help us compliment the weirdness within?

    With universal love,

    Lexi