You: Review my book and then email your review to me. I: will enter you into a drawing for a free astrology reading!

Whether you have your copy already, or you need to buy my book, from January 31- February 14, post your A Love Alchemist’s Notebook review on your website, blog, or any online bookseller site (like Amazon, B&N, GoodReads etc.)  and you’ll  be entered into a random drawing for a free 45 minute reading all about your birth chart + love & relationship*. 

Why read A Love Alchemist’s Notebook (also available on Kindle) ?

If you’re… longing for a partner; experiencing lack and negativity about your partnerships; want to learn love magic; wanting a fun way to heal your heart, move past karmic blocks, release past relationships, recover your confidence, get your attractive mojo back, and just feel good about your self again — you need to read my book!

So c’mon, spread the love & increase the positive vibes! As one Amazon reader said, “I’ve read my fair share of self help books, and not to come off overly dramatic, but this book kicks my heart’s depressed ass with cosmic loving arms!”

*Recorded one-way reading on your birth chart + love & relationship delivered by MP3 before June 30, 2012. Email your review by February 15, 2012 to moonkissd@ moonkissd.com.

When I think of Aquarius, I think of  the Nile. In ancient Egypt every year melting winter snow flowed from the Ethiopian Mountains into the Nile River, essentially flooding the city surrounding. Since it was their only water source, a small flood or no flood meant famine so they depended on this annual cycle. Change wasn’t easy. They had to plan for it by preparing to be wiped out, as flood levels were unpredictable. And the Egyptians still love their Nile. When I visited Cairo in 2008, they still call the river a precious jewel of Egypt. In Cairo, modern Egyptians stay up late- and one of their favorite things to do (besides visiting the air-conditioned malls, which stayed open all hours of the night) was strolling the Nile, where they’d convene for midnight family picnic dinners along the board walk, catching up with friends. Ancient Egyptians hoped for the best & viewed the unpredictable floods as good. Upheaval goes hand in hand with life and forward progress; it was so built into their lives that they planned their entire year around it. Upheaval and change is the price of progress and the Egyptians know it. The essence of the Nile river, upheaval-progress-abundance, is in Egyptian blood - just as it is in any Aquarian born.

Modern Egypt is experiencing this incrementally with their government -and gender discrimination. When we visited, we found the people hospitable, lovely, really, but unhappy with their government which was too loose in some areas, too strong in others. I remember a ride on the way to a midnight dinner. Clutching at my seat belt, I noticed people running red lights left and right. I asked our host if a red stop light meant something different there than it does to us in America, and he replied, No, and that the police often don’t bother to enforce traffic laws, and people generally know they can pay off certain cops, anyhow. As Egypt attempts to establish a new democracy in one of the most peaceful of all Arab spring revolutions, they’re forced to face other obstacles, like gender discrimination – even among women – as fewer than 2% of those elected into parliament are women, and 100% of women asked whether they would vote for a woman president, said they would not. In the long square, progress (Uranus in Aries) continues to clash with corruption, falseness & the status quo (Pluto in Capricorn). Looking at the positive – things have begun to change…but change on this caliber…one change leads to another.

This year’s New Moon sextiles Uranus in Aries, and squares Jupiter in Taurus. So where would you like to experience another breakthrough (click here for pdf)? To make your request more potent, ask your self where you’ve wanted to experience a sense of expansion, possibility and abundance (Jupiter) then ask for a Uranian breakthrough in this area.  Heed the spontaneous call of intuition. If you’re experiencing a Uranus transit, or you’re an Aquarian, this New Moon may be even more personally fulfilling to you as any build-up of tension can now release into new possibilities and greener pastures that are now finally within your reach. If you’re feeling tense, try Caroline Casey’s Uranus invocation: If I feel agitated, restless, on the brink of discovery, where in my life do I want lightning to strike? Consider that you don’t have to ‘do anything’ but express an intention for change. Through willingly offering our self to the Gods of Change, the question itself becomes the lightning rod.

My departed great-grandmother had many teacups. Like many of her generation, she collected things. They sat in one of those fancy showcase cabinets with glass doors that only grandmothers have, probably purchased at Sears Department Store. My grandmother (her daughter) once told me that when I’d go over to great-grandmother’s house I would immediately run to the teacup cabinet. My memory is fuzzy about childhood, but I can imagine my Cancerian inner child admiring the delicate flowers, my favorite colors (purple). The florals always looked too artificial for my taste -which still tends toward natural, wild. I’d also gravitate toward those teacups with symmetrical, graceful lines. I have one memory of an actual cup, a purple one showcasing a bouquet of mums. My grandmother has this in her house, to be bequeathed to me when she dies.

The other main thing I remember my great-grandmother for, besides her carrot & raisin salad, is her poetry. She was a realtor by day, but moonlighted as a poet. That she wrote poetry especially for me, her first grandchild – which she slipped into Valentine’s Day cards, early childhood Birthdays, Easters – has always been meaningful. I imagine that when she imparted those sweet and loving words to me, she may not have known she was supplying me with the gift of a lifetime: an innate sense that I was especially, and beyond a measure of a doubt, loved. With Venus conjunct my Mercury in Cancer in my Tenth House, administering cups of comfort in the form of words is surely a direct imprint from my female lineage. There’s an obvious legacy here: I must have inherited a desire, gift and a joy for writing, from her. That my father is a psychotherapist by trade, and my mother was a social worker, undoubtedly also influences my sensitivity & natural counseling abilities.

Looking backward, I hardly intended to re-trace the lines and the steps on the family map already scratched in ancestral wood (ironically, my maiden name is Mapes) but I consistently find myself not just remembering the gifts of my ancestors but re-vitalizing them through living my own life. It’s strange to say and read – strange for my own eyes, to my own ears. I wonder how and when and why this transmission happened, but there’s no answer. They just are. Cancer, Fourth House planets, are a storehouse of all familial gifts, the blessings, the shadows, the failures of nerve from our familial tribe. These gifts are either acted upon, or lurk in the shadows as “potential,” but these transmissions are always and ever there, though we may only notice in hindsight. I recall the time I decided what I really wanted to do with my life (for the first but not last time): curate a museum. Years later, my grandmother told me that this was exactly what my father had tried to do after college, too.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, they say. In the old days, if your father was a baker, so were you. Nowadays, we move far away from home, and their gifts, through our unique career choices, odd quirks, tendencies, talents are lived through us. If we look for them, we can trace our gifts through our biological family. If we’re searching for our Capricorn/Tenth House professional calling card, our Cancer or planets in the Fourth House holds clues. If you don’t see your gifts, I’m certain that someone else is holding it for you. It’s in their glass case, waiting to be given to you- or for you to lovingly claim it.

Cancer Full Moon tugs at the fabric of our lives, testing for any weaknesses or frays. A Cancer Full Moon can feel emotional, tugging at our heart strings, asking us to face our emotions squarely, or to address basic needs that have gone too long unmet. We may feel tenderness around our tribe (biological or not), extra-sensitized to our emotional and physical body(s). If this Full Moon aspects a planet/point in our chart, we may feel like a woman who is ready to become a mother when we realize our soul wants to be fulfilled in a new way. Elementally, what we need is: comfort and care, good food, respite and healing, to make our house more of a home, and happiness. Happiness belongs to the Moon, mistress of whimsy. Feel free to follow yours. Take tea in old-fashioned teacups, if it’s your fancy; value the familial gifts that form the touchstone of your life.

]]> http://www.moonkissd.com/2012/01/07/full-moon-in-cancer-tribal-gifts-teacups/feed/ 1 http://www.moonkissd.com/2011/12/23/capricorn-new-moon-the-magic-of-the-season/ http://www.moonkissd.com/2011/12/23/capricorn-new-moon-the-magic-of-the-season/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:55:10 +0000 Jessica http://www.moonkissd.com/?p=3983 There’s an adage for picking out the perfect Christmas gift that says, If you don’t know what they want, give something that you yourself would like. This rule of thumb isn’t foolproof (there’s truly no accounting for taste, nor well-meaning relatives), but in a pinch, if you think about something you would have a hard time buying for yourself, yet you also know you would use - it practically, works. I enjoy giving, but this year I would simply like to receive. Receiving the present is the one present I have a hard time buying for myself- and it’s as much of a necessity as a nice tea mug, or new pair of slippers.  The more gifts & presents I receive, the more there is to give – to reciprocate back. But to truly receive… More than presents, this year, it’s presence I want.

Saturn is a God of Necessity, and necessity calls during Capricorn New Moon when  family gatherings often feel like obligation, financial outlays that require far more belt-tightening than jolly St. Nick is  familiar with, clearly. Capricorn has its paradoxes. Just as Mountain Goat ambitiously climbs to great heights, persevering through rough spots and making painstaking sacrifices to arrive on time with presents, the glyph of Capricorn reveals that the goat (curiously) also has a mermaid tail. It appears that every two and four-legged above ground citizen needs a tail. For making sea dives into our soul.Yet, it’s a tenuous balance, being in this world and not of it.  Finding the touchstone of our heart and soul may mean de-programming from what we habitually and ambitiously ‘go after’- the successful career, promotion, car, amazing love life, because sometimes the only thing truly standing between us & a full heart, is the singleminded pursuit of desires that have grown bone calcified over time. And then Christmas arrives, and we’re swimming in what we truly need: the warming Christmas carols of heavenly song, the generosity of strangers, traditions that connect us to our roots, memory. On a candlelit evening, when in a moment of warmth and stark clarity we are filled with the benevolence & forgiving friendship of the present, a knowing about what is right & true – it’s this moment I look forward to every year. It’s the magic of the season.

Ever since I picked up my first astrology books, astrology has held me in her cosmic cradle, in a sea of metaphor and imagination, helping me to look within. But how often we forget the stars and planets actually hang in the night sky, as real as dust motes, and this week 7 of them are visible ( if you don’t have a telescope, and have an iPad you might really enjoy one of these Apps- I like Star Walk, which allows you to point your iPad in the direction of your sky and ‘see’ the constellations from your own spot on the globe). Astrology has been the sky I dive inward into, to swim in symbolic language. But sometimes words, language and abstractions  of astrology weigh me down. That’s when I look up at the stars and go for a night swim. Swimming alone, in the black massive womb of sky, no language, no thought, I find my footing again.

Capricorn realigns our earthly instincts with heavenly ones. When the inspirations that alight our soul, cosmically align with earthly life…magic happens. The recipe for this seasonal magic is simple. We possess the right earthly instincts: to see our life clearly for what it is (not what we want it to be),  the wisdom to relinquish any resistance and control in an area of life that is making life harder than necessary, and the maturity to work with the limits & resources we have. We possess the right spiritual instincts, too: all we have to do is open our heart to the Spirit of the season and allow what we discover to lead the way. Our own life has all the ingredients we need. This season, in a precious moment of solitude among friends, may your Spirit climb higher and dive down deeper. May you, with feet solid on the Earth, unwrap the magic of the present.

Image credit: Deep Sea Girl by Nicona

“Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing. No one to blame.” -Erica Jong, Venus in Aquarius

“The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off.” -Gloria Steinem, Venus in Aquarius

“Sometimes you can’t see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others.” – Ellen DeGeneres, Venus in Aquarius

If you were born when Venus was in the constellation of Aquarius, the Water Bearer…

Venus in Aquarius’ perceptions about love, art, beauty, body, and relationship are far from mainstream. This is the Venus sign who wants to build a separate wing on the house for her partner. Outrageous! What’s outrageous to you is not the same, to me; we are shaped by the cultural constructs of the time and place in which we live, and for Venus in Aquarius no matter whether taking off your Burka in France or leaving a stifling marriage in Utah, outrage is sacred. For you, standing up for your right to be happy, free and loved in the way you want to be loved, is a radical act of self-love. When this Venus sign dares to truthfully turn the tables on social expectations, she will likely shock people. This certainly makes for interesting relationships. It also makes this Venus sign one of the most invigorating, unusual people to hang with!

A Venus in Aquarius in love…

Every astrology textbook says Aquarius needs freedom. Why is this? In the karmic past we may’ve signed on to play a role, to become someone we’re not, to be a pretty face in the crowd, or we may have become overly defined by our gender role. In short, in matters of relating and self-worth, we’ve deviated too far from our truth. Optimally, this Venus sign was born to challenge the status quo– in values, relationship, art, self-worth and body image. This may include re-drawing the lines of the sexual and body politic, the social and gender roles within a community, or breaking the relationship mold she’s been given. All confrontations against her authentic self are alchemical acts that bring her closer to happiness. Truthfulness is a perilous position for the Goddess who strives for peace, love and happiness but she has no choice but to live by her own rules.

What this Venus sign needs to keep the love going..

This Venus sign can sometimes be heard saying things like: “I want to be loved for my brains, not my body or sexual orientation.” This is a worthy request to make of our admirers and friends, but over time our reactionary insistence on being perceived in a certain way can bring out an intolerant streak in the sign known for it’s tolerance! When other people become too unacceptable to tolerate, our own self-acceptance remedies this. Often the liberation in love that we crave isn’t freedom from the expectations of others, or changing their point of view, but the liberation we crave we must learn to give our self, first. The deeper request of Venus always, is: Love me, for being me. In Aquarius, Venus says, I am unlike anyone you’ve ever known before. I will be real with you and all I ask is for you to be authentic and real with me.

This was excerpted from the report written by Jessica Shepherd, Your Venus Sign: The Alchemical Goddess Inside of You. Find out your Venus sign and order your report for only $10, right here.

It was December 2010 and my Gemini client exclaimed, ““Oh nooooo. The eclipses are coming – in my sign!” After barely surviving the Cancer/Capricorn cycle myself, I understood her foreboding. Eclipses are associated with uncertainty and the unexpected; they often mark turning points & crisis, evolutionary leaps and bounds made without the known safety net of the familiar.

Geminis and Sag’s: the Universe has wanted you to move forward. If you are either Sun Sign, this two-year period has initiated (or begun to initiate) monumental life changes. One Gemini girlfriend is about to have her first baby; my Gemini stepdaughter, Sarah, just got her learner’s permit yesterday, hurrah! A Sagittarius friend is quitting her previous job as a professor so she can move into expansive new career directions, and a friend with a Gemini Venus is celebrating a romantic victory. Eclipses bring breakthrough energy into our lives, and kinder eclipses like these proves not all growth has to be painful. I’m so happy for those of you who are on the brink of change!

This eclipse set, yoking Thanksgiving Day’s Sag Eclipse to the Gem eclipse of 12/10/11, has generally brought more positive developments than not due to few challenging planetary aspects. The energetic, “breath of fresh air” enthusiasms and heart revivals we’re experiencing is also due in no small part to last weekend’s conjunction of (retrograde) Mercury with the Sun -an aspect which traditional astrology calls ‘cazimi’ an Arabic word meaning ‘heart of the Sun’ (love that phrase) -and- the recent North Node and Sun in Sagittarius conjunction. Uranus at 1 Aries moves forward tonight, a not so quiet player in tomorrow’s eclipse, bringing forward any innovative ideas (& necessary upheavals) to the area of our life Uranus transits.

Personally, while this particular set falls in my 2nd/8th and 3rd/9th, only mildly touching a planet (Gemini eclipse sextile my Seventh House Aries Moon), I’m noticing that my attention and energy doesn’t want to be as divided between “This and That” as it has been.  I’m appreciating the power of stillness, pauses, space and breath noticing how these impact my physical and mental health & thought processes– as well as my ability to truly listen to what the people in my life are communicating to me. I’m also getting excited about the process of book-writing again. Eclipses shift our consciousness; Gemini rules mind, thinking, communication and Sagittarius, the search for truth, understanding and meaning, our vision for life.

Eclipse watching in your own chart? If you have planet(s) at or near 18′ Gemini (Sag, Virgo, Pisces) or 2′ Sagittarius (Gem, Virgo, Pisces) on the Thanksgiving Day eclipse, you are being stimulated by this set. Here are the final eclipses for this cycle.

• December 10, 2011 18’11′ Gemini Full Moon Lunar Eclipse
• May 20, 2012 0’21′ Gemini New Moon Solar Eclipse
• June 4, 2012 14’14 Sagittarius Full Moon Lunar Eclipse
• November 28, 2012 6’46′ Gemini Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

Want more eclipse information?: For eclipse pointers and eclipses by house and sign visit my Eclipse Archives. Also, be sure and get your personal eclipse report over at my friend April’s BigSkyAstrology.com.