I would love to kiss you.
-The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let’s buy it!

-Rumi

New Moon Aquarius, Tuesday, February 8, 2005 2:28 PM PST

The astrological weather changes again, and aren’t things different from even a few weeks ago. The ancient Roman holiday of Saturnalia loosens the wool bindings at Saturn’s feet. The God of nose-to-the-grindstone loosens up. It would behoove you to perform some equally liberating ceremony, right now. Freedom is in the slightly electric air.

So, make a wish and run with it. This is a fabulous moon for dreams come true. Hope, wish and dream of Aquarius is that you use your personal wishes to better all of us. It’s no coincidence that Aquarius rules the house of hopes and dreams, and is also the sign of the humanitarian. It is true, the dreams associated with this sign always benefit all of humanity, even if the dream appears to be very personal. Your dream to live your life ‘on purpose’ has everything to do with the rest of us. Friends also play an important role with this energy. Go with any dream involving group endeavors and collaborations of like minds. The consciousness of someone else working on behalf of your dream and your dream working on behalf of others absolutely magnifies it. Your energy puts wind under everyone’s wings.

There’s a transcendent urge happening. Although Aquarius is a detached, intellectual sign, in close relationship to Neptune and Venus, you’ll find yourself not only wanting to connect your purpose to a larger vision, but feeling it. Stories of compassion, altruism send a signal to the animal brain we’ve all been listening to. ‘wake up, wake up, reality can be deconstructed!’ In the spirit of Aquarius, reality television may actually change the world. Something prompted me to do what I never do-watch a reality TV. show. A group of designers give a widowed wife and two children a new home and life. Witness the whole community of Bakersfield, CA build, create, heal not only the family, community but an entire ‘viewing audience’. The tides have turned, from Hollywood money-grubbing to whole-hearted acts of generosity and kindness. Headline: ‘Acts of Kindness Create Larger Market Reach.’ This is lovely. Aquarius comes as a water-bearer, healing and melting, cleansing and merging.

Warning: It may also be easy to space this lovely energy out. That’s Neptune for you, rubbing your belly with clever little addictions, diversions and fantasy, lulling you into total complacency. You’ve passed out in front of the tube for several days-‘huh?, transcendent change? I just want to check out.’ Wake up and smell the eucalyptus. There’s something fresh just outside your window but you have to open it.

I heard a newsbyte about a day trader’s career change. He was a millionaire by age 30. Successful by social standards, he was terribly unfulfilled. So he left urbanity, moved to Boulder, Colorado and wrote a rock opera. Now he is wildly happy. The day-trader friends now fly in to attend his unusual performances. The friends he lost in the process, uncomfortably look down at their martinis when his name is mentioned. A good friend once said, ‘there’s no higher price than the cost of freedom’. What is the cost of living someone else’s dream? The cost of not living yours? Acts of courage, insanity and social disruption encouraged here. Where we’re hard-wired to the inner critic, push the release button.

Although it sounds risky, it doesn’t feel edgy. And that’s your ‘in’, so you can take a step forward into what may normally cause you small anxiety attacks. It’s also what astrology is most excellent at providing, perfect timing to move you seamlessly, elegantly into a new beginning. This new moon offers the antidote to the usual suspects, the sidekicks of change–Fear and Distortion. The antidote is love-a soothing, melodic and transcendent song playing in the background. Iconoclasm meets a graceful prima ballerina. Be outlandish. Especially if your animal brain says: ‘-but that’s not me, I’d never do that.’ It’s a signal to loosen up & live a little.

Neptune’s love is transcendent, Venus’ love is personal, Aquarian love is visionary. The shadow of Neptune is codependence, fantasy and glamour. Hyped up fantasy is the mindset around Valentines Day. In an effort to combat the marketing sirens who want to convince you that you, your lover or love offering is imperfect, know that a more civilized society would honor your romantic longing instead of exchanging it for DeBeers billboards. Peek into Plato’s dialogues on the Nature of Love: Eros, Philia and Agape. Eros is not so much romantic physical love, but the element of ideal beauty your lover reflects in shared values and pursuits. Philia is mutual admiration, the cultivation of virtue in self and others experienced most often with friendship relationships, a priori self-love. Agape is the decidedly Aquarian ideal, containing both brotherly love and erotic passion, awe, and desire that transcends earthly cares and obstacles. This is the gaze of your lover, the mate to your soul. She is fervent, devoted and longing for reunion. Who is this faceless lover stirring in your heart, ready to marry your life’s work to everyone and everything? Name the promise you made to yourself, the dream that costs nothing less than everything-costing, in fact, all you have to spend. Buy it now. What a bargain.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/l/love.htm

Notable Dates:

2/10 Mercury in Aquarius trines Jupiter in Libra. Ease of information, the expansive mind and higher education. Communication has the potential to open new doors. Market your idea, speak your piece.

2/12 Moon in Aries, Sun and Mercury in Aquarius sextile Pluto in Sagittarius. Ride Thursday’s flow and you have the green light to do your own thing. Anything you’re doing on behalf of others has the potential for deep change, making everyone stronger. Remember that willfulness only pays if righteously applied, a light touch holds more promise than you thought. This is a good day for investments and joint ventures.

2/14 V-Day Venus in Aquarius conjunct Neptune. Dreamers, unite! Love, poetry, fantasy, mystery, intrigue. This day has all the makings of an epic romance. Actually, does this stuff ever really happen? Well, today maybe for a Leo, Libra or Aquarius. If you’re not busy feeding your lover grapes and wine conversing on Plato’s love: ‘ I think Eros is underrated-‘ take it to the movies. It’s a perfect day to bliss out & experience love, in all her emanations-from personal to divine.

2/15 First quarter moon in Taurus, Mars sextile Uranus. Get some spunk under you. If you’re feeling lethargy, blame it on your love hangover. First quarter moon we need to ‘do something’. Moon in Taurus is more placid than most, preferring security and stability to action. But Mars and Uranus give you some pep in your step.

2/15 Moon in Gemini, Mercury into Pisces. It’s a mental day, truly. Mercury moves into Pisces for the next month and this isn’t a strong position for the mind. Details get mixed up, facts have the chance for getting thrown in with the laundry, one red shirt turning everything pink. Forgive yourself for your spaciness and make space instead. Shut down the monkey mind and give the mind a chair on a beach. Suggestion: use this time for mental rest and non-rational creative pursuits of fantasy, spirituality and imagination.

2/17 Venus in Aquarius trine Jupiter in Libra. Okay love muffin, shower the people you love with love. Express it, give it-to someone specific or no one specific. Catch the eye of a stranger and smile. Actually talk to the cashier at your grocery store. Ask them how they are doing. If you’re surprised to feel the love bouncing back at you, contemplate your surprise. Why not do this all the time? Generosity is the absolute cure to loneliness.

2/18 Moon in Cancer, Sun in Pisces. Sun moves into imaginative, nebulous Pisces. Artists love this energy– we all have a heightened ability to drink the ethers of the cosmos with thirsty abandon. Our sense of purpose is primarily felt in the moment rather than rationalized. Sensitive, subtle and intuitive energy predominate the Sun’s trip through Pisces. This is the sign of the believer. Don’t expect a Pisces to know exactly where they’re going and why. They ‘just know’ that they’re on the right track and when to get off. Use the lesson of Pisces: the gift of knowing. You don’t have to justify or explain anything. Just be.

2/19 Mercury in Pisces conjunct Uranus. Carry a pen or tape recorder to jot down electric impulses and ideas. Put on your secret decoder ring.

2/21 Moon in Leo, Venus and Mercury in Aquarius sextile Pluto in Sagittarius. Moon in Leo highlights pride and where we exercise our creative powers. Venus and Pluto want you to see below the surface of things, making sure everyone is counted. Merge the energies by using integrity and truthfulness in all relationships.