Tag Archives: Astrology

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The Language of Love: Saturn in Sagittarius

I visited Paris fresh out of high school, smitten by her unapologetic passion and confidence. All I could offer her was my clumsily accented French and youthful naivete. Her perfume lingers still, a faintly remembered pleasure.

How about if we just focus on the best outcome possible concerning what has recently gone down in Paris? What if we orient ourselves towards peace, love, understanding? I believe it to be possible. I believe that we can all join hearts, look at one another and accept that we are human and stand as one. Perhaps we can stop attacking one another, whether through physical violence or judgment. Perhaps we can come together in our mutual woundedness and reach a compromise. What if we are not enemies to one another, but rather brothers and sisters (and who has ever had a sibling with whom they didn’t argue?).

Maybe it’s just about a really good conversation-a peaceful one-where everyone gets to say what’s on their mind. I don’t condone the attacks, but I sense that there is a deeper reason-disconnect. If we disconnect from one another, we disconnect from that which our souls know to be true-from that which might be called god/dess. Let’s get together and discuss rather than debate. It’s all about love. All about love. There is nothing, nothing, nothing more than love, or more powerful or more healing. It is the life blood coursing through our veins, through the consciousness of our planet. I believe that there is a great teaching in this event that can lead us to higher ground-that which is more sacred and authentic.

In wild celebration of that which is possible,

Joyce

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Evolutionary Astrology: What It Can Do For You

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I keep on doing that thing that I do?” Y’know, the scenarios that you find yourself in again and again? They’re different for each person, and they’re hard to stop repeating. Could be that you keep dating the same type of person who’s wrong for you. Or having trouble making up your mind (picture this: the kid in the ice cream store who is the last one to order because there are too many choices to pick from). Finding yourself in deadend jobs (or working for the reincarnation of Attila the Hun). It’s a knee-jerk reaction that is both familiar and unconscious and doesn’t help you grow. This can, of course, drive you into the welcoming arms of therapists or taking a pill to “fix” you, but that doesn’t always work.

Want to know why you continue to do trip over your own feet in a specific way? Enter Doc Cosmos, cheerfully toting his Evolutionary Astrology bag of tricks. Grinning hugely (which, initially, bugs the hell out of you), he opens his bag and announces, “I have just the prescription for you.” You roll your eyes; after all, you’ve heard that one before. But with a sleight of hand and a twinkle in his eye, the show begins. This time, it’s the real deal.

And it began before you were born. Yes, when you were someone else whose name you don’t remember, in a time you don’t recall, in a place you may never have visited in this lifetime. Through the lens of Evolutionary Astrology, when you took your last breath, your soul consciousness, or emotional memory of that lifetime, broke free. It started looking around for a child getting ready to be born under optimum circumstances that would allow this soul consciousness to evolve. Otherwise, it could simply repeat the same old, same old (if you’ve ever had to repeat a class or stay back a grade, you know the feeling). But when it became one with that child (who is now you), it didn’t know anything more than what it had experienced in its last lifetime. So it started doing it by rote. The idea is, as you get a little older, a little wiser, you’re so frustrated by this habit, you’re ready to kick it.

I have a client I’ll call Tony, who, from the time he was 2,  knew things about Buddhism that were impossible for him to know without any training. He assumed complex yoga positions, spoke about Buddhist rituals, recognized objects sacred to revered monks. Tony could easily “trance out,” as Buddhist monks do while in deep meditation. As a person, Tony grew up to be charismatic, clever, kind, creative, socially adept, well-educated and successful. Many perceived him as golden, untouchable, throwing him up on a pedestal (a terrible place to be, because eventually you move a muscle and off you topple). He “showed” well, but hid a motherlode of pain and insecurity. Throughout his “ideal” life, he’d been taunted, envied and degraded. His well-meaning parents had taught him that, even when someone was being cruel, he should be nice in return. He didn’t allowed himself to get angry, disagree or stand up for himself.

We explored his past lifetime together through the lens of Evolutionary Astrology, and here’s the story that emerged: He had been a revered monk, the apple in the eye of his community. People looked up to him as the embodiment of what was good and holy. Children of that era must have been told  to respect and honor him. Of course, he was denied “earthly pleasures.” But he had needs-a body and desires. He wanted to know pleasure. To eat foods that he denied himself. To taste wine. To touch a woman and experience the sweet release of orgasm. These were forbidden to him by both position and religion.

But, being human, he couldn’t withstand these temptations. Surreptitiously, he sought out these “guilty” pleasures. Tony has a memory of being caught by righteous authority, incarcerated and sentenced to death. Unable to face the ridicule and shame of his public execution, he went into deep meditation  before he was to be hanged-and, the following morning, he was found dead. He had meditated himself right out of his body.

In this lifetime, Tony experienced a multitude of undiagnosable physical ailments. Certain foods that tasted good gave him severe abdominal cramping and swelling. He underwent endless, sometimes excrutiating tests to see what ailed him. His diet became very restricted, his body enemy territory. Shame and guilt from this past lifetime haunted him. In our series of meetings, Tony apologized endlessly for nothing that I felt needed an apology. These very emotions left him prey to people who would happily take advantage of his low self-esteem.

As a result of our astrological work together, he found a therapist open to reincarnation. She referred him to a bodyworker who helped him release some of the deep-seated emotions trapped in his body. This was several years ago, and Tony’s life has undergone a 360. He’s since married a wonderful woman and is about to become a father. His stomach and digestion problems are virtually non-existent. He eats pretty much anything he wants to without a subsequent physical battle.

Evolutionary Astrology helps you understand where you’ve been-and how to not be held hostage by the riptide of the past.  It gives you specific “driving instructions” on how to move forward, breaking free from limiting beliefs and habits.  It helps you “get on with things” and to be as alive, vital and authentic as you can be.

This astrological approach has helped more people than I can begin to name or number. It informs, it transforms, it heals. It is the medicine of the planets, and the planets love us. Ready for a breakthrough? To realize your potential? Maybe you just might want to give it a try.

With passion and in peace,

Joyce

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Astrology & your birthtime: Why is it so Important?

Astrologers need three things in order to cast an accurate chart (which will then reflect an accurate picture of  you, your potential, your skills, talents and drives): 1) your day, month and year of birth 2) your city and state of birth (or country) and your time of birth, hour and minute, am or pm. All three are equally important.

The time of birth helps determine which areas of life (or “houses”) will be brought to life by the planets. The planets are actors playing specific roles in the houses, or  stages. When any of the 12 houses are being stimulated by planets (career, relationships, home, travel and so forth), whether at birth, or as planets move through them, there are specific planetary drives to be expressed.

I wasn’t sure of my correct birth time until a couple of years ago. My mother, who has been gone ten years, claimed that it was 12:30 PM but it wasn’t on my birth certificate. My dad thought that it was around 8-9 am because, as he recalled, my birth had interrupted church services. Steven Forrest, my mentor and friend http://www.stevenforrest.com/stevens-bio rectified my chart according to my dad’s recollection. He did a terrific job, but it felt all wrong. It didn’t feel like me.

I decided to do some detective work. Thanks to the Department of Vital Statistics http://vitalrec.com I knew that I had to go to the Arlington, Virginia County Clerk’s office (if you’re looking for your time of birth, this website will tell you what government office has your records). I’d been told by another astrologer that, if I really wanted to find the “other” birth certificate that had my time on it, I had to speak to a human being.

Becca, who picked up the phone, sounded dusty and tired. I pleaded my case. “I don’t have to tell you,” she told me peevishly. “Besides, it’s in the vault.” The vault? What was that? I had visions of damp cobwebs and scuttling creatures. “What’s the vault?” I asked. In lowered tones, she replied, “Where they keep the important things.”

For a moment, I felt as if I were in an Indiana Jones movie. Was my birth time a priceless artifact? Why would anyone but me care? So I concocted a desperate little white lie that worked: “I’m an astrologer working on an article and I need this information to make my deadline.” Becca became my co-conspirator. She promised to come in early the next morning, before anyone else was there, and go down into the vault.

There was a message on voicemail the next morning. Becca had done her job. She’d braved the vault and found my correct birth time. In my case, it was what my late mother had always said–12:30 PM. But that’s not always so. Dazed clients have wandered into my office in a state of identity crisis because they’ve just discovered that they’re not Cancer rising (presenting the social persona of the Great Mother, warm and nurturing) but rather Aquarius rising (the Rebel, detached and objective). They’re no longer who they thought they were because they had the wrong birth time. But after they do get the correct time, and we do a reading for the “new” person, it’s a huge relief. They feel validated, seen and connected to themselves.

So doublecheck everything. Ask really good questions. Be persistent. Check baby books, baby bracelets, aunts, friends, whoever may have been present at your birth (your mother doesn’t always have the sharpest memory for good reason). If all else fails, there is a process called rectification, where an astrologer helps you accurately pinpoint your birthtime by gathering information about major life events and when they happened. I recommend Jodie Forrest http://www.stevenforrest.com/Readings for this service. It is the last item on this page of the Forrests’ website.

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Jupiter in Pisces: Telling Your Truth, Dreaming Your Dreams

Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything.” What he didn’t add was, “and it won’t always win you popularity contests.”

To ignore truth is dangerous. Politeness can be toxic. I often encourage clients to speak their feelings at the time they feel them, even if they’re not totally clear. It’s okay to begin a sentence with, “I’m sensing something here,” or “What’s true for me is…,” or “What you said just hurt me/made me sad/angry.”

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve participated in groups. They have been my bliss and my folly. Why? Because I didn’t know how to maintain my autonomy within them. Instead I would shut up, agree when I really disagreed and keep my ideas and opinions to myself. Inevitably one of two things would happen: I’d leave, feeling hurt, misunderstood and excluded. Or what I’d kept caged would fly out of my mouth like a wild beast on the rampage.

These days I try to say what I’m feeling when I feel it. I have opinions. I set boundaries. As the community leader of the Northern California Steven Forrest Apprenticeship Program http://www.gossamerrings.com/forrest.php that’s an essential part of the job. Someone inevitably disagrees. I don’t win all of the popularity contests. But I do sleep better at night.

On January 17, 2010 Jupiter, the planet of possibilities and expansion, moved into Pisces. Jupiter is generous. Whatever sign it’s in, wherever it is in your chart, is where you can expand your horizons. If it’s moving through your career sector, you have a better chance to get that dream job. If you’re looking for love, Jupiter opens the hallowed doorway and says, “Look for the best of the best. You don’t have to settle.” In Pisces, Jupiter heralds a time of seeking truth through connection with the divine. Piscean energy brings an awareness of the unity of all things and beings. Pisces is mystical, magical and inspirational.

But here is the shadow of Jupiter in Pisces: you hit the bottle. Lose yourself in romantic fantasy. While away the time with petty distractions (think whipping out the credit card and charging madly away in a delirium of excess). There is the danger of merging rather than emerging as an individual within the whole. Life can turn nightmarish, fraught with bigger-than-life illusions and delusions.

The voice of the sacred speaks differently to each of us. Trust your own interpretation of what you intuit. Jupiter seeks truth and meaning. It breathes this need into the Piscean state, where time becomes irrelevant: music sweeps you away. You stare out at the ocean, mesmerized. You become one with God-force. Poetry, meditation, sleep…they will take you there. Surrender consciously to this state of pure unconsciousness and generous Jupiter doubles your luck. Then healing happens and truth flows into you. And, when you speak out, you share that truth with others. And all are healed.

So trust the intuitive process. Enter into altered states of experience in order to access your highest potential. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day—but it was built on a dream. Therefore, trust your dreams…and dream big.

Want to know more about Jupiter? Check it out at  http://joycevanhorn.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/making-jupiter-work-for-you To find out where your Jupiter is and how to make the most of it, come in for a private session https://joycevanhornsf.com/service.php and I’ll tell you all about it.

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Astrological Food for Thought: A Recipe for the New Year

We experienced a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse this last New Year’s Eve. The Sun (our physical energy) was in structured Capricorn, which rules the knees, joints and skeletal system. The Moon was in the opposite sign of sensitive, nurturing Cancer, which rules the stomach and digestive system.  An opposition between two heavenly bodies offers up the chance for them to be integrated. This doesn’t always happen, but compromise is possible.

Often we end up partying during the holidays, staying up late, drinking and eating foods that don’t have an ounce of real nutrition. So when we wake up to a new year, it’s good to give our bodies something to shore us up. Here’s an “astrological” recipe which will fed you in the following ways:

Capricorn, ruling the skeletal system, needs calcium. Cancer, aware of the sensitivity of the stomach, needs food which is digestible and nourishing. To that end, following is a recipe that everyone can enjoy and that your bones and belly will benefit from. I’ve tried it several times, although at first I was relatively suspicious–but the flavor and consistency were nothing short of divine. This can also help to deter “post-holiday” illnesses as well as helping to boost your spirits.

I’d like to thank Sonya White, a knock-down chef and nutritionist here in San Francisco, for sharing the following recipe with me. You can reach her at <sonya_white@sbcglobal.net>.

Crispy BBQ Kale Chips by raw chef Alyssa Cox

1 Big bunch Kale, washed, dried, and torn into large pieces (collards work fine too).
2 TBs Extra virgin olive oil
1 TB Apple cider vinegar
1 TB Agave nectar

Spice Mixture
4 TBs Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp. Garlic granules
1 tsp. Onion granules
1/2 tsp. Chipotle chili powder
1/4 tsp. Smoked paprika
3/4 tsp. Sea salt

1. Place torn kale leaves in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle on olive oil, agave nectar, and apple cider vinegar. Toss well to coat.

2. In a small bowl place all dry spice ingredients. Whisk well to combine. Slowly and evenly add dry spice mixture to the kale in the large mixing bowl, using your hands all the while to keep the mixture moving to evenly coat the greens.

3. For Dehydrator: Set dehydrator at 115 degrees. Place kale leaves on mesh sheets, allowing enough room for them to dry, not letting them overlap. Dehydrate up to 12 hours, until crispy and dry.

4. For Oven: Preheat oven to 350F. Place kale on lightly oiled or non-stick cookie sheets, making an even layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes, flipping once halfway through until crisp but not browned. Keep an eye on them as they can burn easily. Let cool and serve!

Crispy BBQ Kale Chips by raw chef Alyssa Cox

1 Big bunch Kale, washed, dried, and torn into large pieces (collards work fine too).
2 TBs Extra virgin olive oil
1 TB Apple cider vinegar
1 TB Agave nectar

Spice Mixture
4 TBs Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp. Garlic granules
1 tsp. Onion granules
1/2 tsp. Chipotle chili powder
1/4 tsp. Smoked paprika
3/4 tsp. Sea salt

1. Place torn kale leaves in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle on olive oil, agave nectar, and apple cider vinegar. Toss well to coat.

2. In a small bowl place all dry spice ingredients. Whisk well to combine. Slowly and evenly add dry spice mixture to the kale in the large mixing bowl, using your hands all the while to keep the mixture moving to evenly coat the greens.

3. For Dehydrator: Set dehydrator at 115 degrees. Place kale leaves on mesh sheets, allowing enough room for them to dry, not letting them overlap. Dehydrate up to 12 hours, until crispy and dry.

4. For Oven: Preheat oven to 350F. Place kale on lightly oiled or non-stick cookie sheets, making an even layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes, flipping once halfway through until crisp but not browned. Keep an eye on them as they can burn easily. Let cool and serve!

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Winter Reflections: Beneath the Surface

In the midst of holiday celebrations also come endings-of yet another year. What is “outside of us” appears to be dead. Trees have gone barren and plants sleep, buried deeply beneath the surface of the earth.  We, too, need to go to sleep-to take the time to explore our inner realms. We round an astrological corner on 12/21 at 9:47 AM PST, leaving capricious Sagittarius as the Sun enters time-conscious Capricorn. This is particularly emphasized when the Sun catches up to psychological Pluto on Christmas Eve, where a deeply honest review of 2009 can be rewarding.

Questions to ask yourself as 2009 comes to a close – what have I done that’s make me proud? What lessons did I learn from the mistakes that I made that will prove to be useful in 2010? What do I know about myself now that I didn’t know at the beginning of 2009?

Keep your reflections on a positive note because they fertilize the soil of 2010, in which you will plant the seeds of your intentions.

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Where is Home, Sweet Home? Relocational Astrology

I had such an amazing time in Zihuatanejo, Mexico  (sister to Ixtapa, a tourist city built by the Mexican government)–and got so charged up by its simple values, love of  the land, sense of abundance–that I decided to pretend that I’d been born there and see how that changed my natal birthchart. This is done by “relocating” where you were born and seeing what planetary energies were dominant. The result was fascinating!

If I’d come bouncing into the world just one hour earlier (I was born in Alexandria, VA at 12:30 PM EST), as would have been the case if I’d been born in Zihuatanejo, I’d be a different me with certain abilities emphasized and a radically different way of presenting myself  and/or relating (the rising sign or ascendant).

Instead of having a chameleon-like Pisces rising, I’d have a rebellious, “I am born to be weird & like it and who cares what you think?” Aquarius rising. In Zihuatanejo, the 10th house of career goes full-tilt-boogie with both the Sun (self-image) and Mercury (voice)  in adventurous, philosophical Sagittarius. I could be destined for glory there, right?

…but it might help if I first achieved fluency in Spanish. This would optimize relocated Juptiter (possibilities, faith and expansion) in my 3rd house (communication, ideas, language).  While visiting, I wrote endlessly in my journal (3rd house) and had lengthy, meaningful conversations (Jupiter). The locals were curious (3rd house) and generous (Jupiter) despite my broken Spanish, encouraging me (Jupiter) to continue my studies.

A Plutonian influence energetically dominates me in San Francisco, my home for 25+ years. Pluto has brought me to my knees more than once–but I inevitably learn by default or choice.  Superficiality fails itself and truth triumphs…but it’s not easy. If I am unfailingly honest, both to myself and others, Pluto takes me unapologetically to higher realms. As a result, I am empowered.

How about you? What’s your story? Do you feel “at home?” Or are you longing to put down roots? If so, give me a shout. We can demystify and clarify…and help you find “home.” It might be right around the corner…or halfway across the world. And everyone, sometime, needs to feel as if they’ve landed…as if they’ve arrived home.

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The Rising Sign: Your Social Persona

What is the rising sign?  Literally, it’s where the sun was rising at dawn on the day you were born–hence, it’s how you “dawn” on people. It’s your style, both relational and in your “look.”  The rising sign (also known as the ascendant) guards your inner world, protecting those more private parts of you known only to intimates. If you’re doing your rising sign consciously, you have poise, confidence and savoir faire.

Throughout a lifetime, the rising sign changes 3 or 4 times, giving you a social makeover.  If you were born with sensitive, protective Cancer rising, for example, at some point it will change to expressive, outgoing Leo rising.  At first this will feel like a really bad idea. It’s awkward.  Your clothing selection may not suit you anymore. Your behavioral style changes. Friends notice. Ask them what for their honest opinions:  “You love me. Do I look dumb in this outfit?”  or “Did what I just said make sense to you?”  The new Leo rising may want you to present yourself with more flair and color.  When an edgy, passionate Aries rising moves into earthy, sensual Taurus rising, it’s natural to slow down and adopt a simpler, more comfortable style. Once you’ve adjusted to a rising sign change, you discover a new set of needs which correspond with boththe new sign and the planet that rules it.

Want to know more about your own rising sign?  Or what it’s changed to now? Call for anappointment.  Sliding scale pricing available.

Relationships

Nobody’s Right if Everybody’s Wrong:Saturn-Uranus

During the current Saturn-Uranus opposition, it feels as if you’ve been drafted against your will into a  tug-of-war that is virtually unwinnable. You step on someone’s toes. The other person reacts. She’s certain that you’re wrong and you’re certain that you’re right. Tension builds. So do irritations and accusations. You stall out, not having made any progress. But that can change!

Saturn is the conservative planet of tried-and-true. It’s been there, done that. It asks,“why change if the old ways work?” Rebellious Uranus sarcastically rejoinders, ” If change didn’t happen, we might still be living in caves and eating wooly mammoths for dinner.” These two planets aren’t at war, but as they oppose one another, extreme tension occurs. Yet compromise is possible.

If you’re feeling frustrated or rebellious now, try to meet the problem or person half-way. It’s likely that there’s something you can learn from one another. Perhaps, as you work the tension, it becomes creative, thus co-creating the most positive outcome possible.

Build higher ceilings of consciousness upon the strong bones of the past that will hold their weight. Notice how they illuminate each other. Engage in this time with curiosity and a willingness to listen. Work together in interesting ways. This will be far more rewarding than to make each other wrong.

Saturn Return, Transformation

The Second Saturn Return: Passage to Wisdom

Everyone who lives to be 57 or thereabouts goes through their second Saturn return. This means that they have reached a point in their life journey where they are entering the earliest stages of “old age” or elderhood. Like the first Saturn return, it is once again a cycle of maturation involving significant life passages. People retire, they become grandparents, their own, aging parents may die, they may move, values changes, bodies change. This is hardly the end of the road, however. It’s actually just another beginning.

Saturn wants these folk to climb their own mountain, too–only it’s a far different one than the one of the first Saturn return. There is a gravity to their efforts, and a sense of less time ahead than before them. Therefore, an urgency often arises to pass on what they know. Many people who volunteer, for example, are older. It may, in part, be as a result of extra time due to retirement, but that’s only part of it. They want to give back.

Older doesn’t mean wiser, of course, but it does mean that someone of 60 has had more life experience than someone of 30. All of us have had the misfortune to have to sit and endure an older person pontificating about “the good old days.” How boring is that? We don’t learn, or want to learn, from such lecturing. Those are the individuals who fail the second Saturn return, to be left alone in Saturnian loneliness and solitude, cut off from the kind of meaningful connection that can occur between youth and elders.

The Cool Old Man or Woman, who traverses this critical life cycle elegantly and consciously, shares examples of his or her life. In that way, younger people want to hear what they have to say, because they’re not being judged and the stories close the gap between the generations. Think of Dustin Hoffman–he’s funny, wise, enjoying the hell out of life and is eminently human.  He still acts, but his main focus is on his family and truly taking time to do what he enjoys. He doesn’t care what other people think. He’s one cool dude.

The second Saturn return, done correctly, allows the person to chill and mellow. To notice what’s important now, not in the doing, but in the giving. In the sharing. In the reflecting. Life tends to become less serious and sweeter. If someone tries to ignore this passage, they may face end-of-life fears which could manifest concretely as lack, restriction and  loss of faith.

I approach my second Saturn return this year. I look to it with curiosity, openness and respect. I have a sense of what it will bring, but I choose to make the most of it. Meanwhile, I surround myself with people younger than I am, who remind me not to get rigid, to go with the flow, to be curious, open and celebratory.