Saturn-Pluto Overwhelm – Why 2020 Has Been So Damn Hard!!

In Part 1 of this Essay, I will explore the intense collective initiation of Saturn conjunct Pluto which is wreaking psychological havoc and dramatic soul-churning on all of us. We will explore how Saturn-Pluto is felt personally, as well as represented in film, music, and government. I will share more about Saturn—Pluto in an upcoming […]
Scorpio Mercury Retrograde – Halloween’s Phoenix Flame

The week begins with the spirit of last Sunday’s New Moon in Scorpio, inviting us to sip the alchemical fires of soul transformation – the study of the esoteric and occult, personal therapy, past life regression, healing of trauma, and sacred sexuality all benefit now, especially with Goddess Venus also in Scorpio. What house does […]
The Astrology of Film – Brad Pitt, Ad Astra, and Saturn-Neptune Archetypal Symbolism

The new film Ad Astra stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut on a quest to find his father, extraterrestrial life, and a sense of meaning beyond duty. This essay focuses on how life and art not only mimic each other, but reflect the astrological charts of actors in their starring roles. Although heavy-handed at times […]
New Moon Leo – July 31, 2019

Just as August first cusps, we enter not only a New Moon Portal, but Mercury finally going direct. The New Moon occurs at 8 Leo July 31st 11:12 pm EST, and both god and goddess Venus and Mars celebrate a lot more as they occupy Leo. The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon at 9 […]
Human Design Projectors – Guides of the Planet

The 5 Types and their Strategies One of the foundations of Human Design is the component called “Type.” Depending on which centers are defined or not, a certain Type of energy emerges. Each of us is one of five possible types. These Types also have very specific Strategies for making decisions in life. The five […]
An Introduction to Human Design’s 9 Centered Bodygraph

An understanding of the Nine Centers is essential to interpretation of a Human Design bodygraph. Similar to the chakras, these nine centers represent primary energetic matrices, which also include specific biological associations such as glands and organs, in addition to their more purely energetic symbolism. But why are there nine energy centers in Human Design […]
Saturn-Pluto Overwhelm – Why 2020 Has Been So Damn Hard!!

In Part 1 of this Essay, I will explore the intense collective initiation of Saturn conjunct Pluto which is wreaking psychological havoc and dramatic soul-churning on all of us. We will explore how Saturn-Pluto is felt personally, as well as represented in film, music, and government. I will share more about Saturn—Pluto in an upcoming essay.
First, Friday Jan. 24th marks the New Moon at 4 degrees Aquarius, a time to initiate new friendships with your cosmic tribe, to upgrade your relations to those who truly serve the same visionary purpose and humanitarian ideals as you. And with a Uranus square the Moon, expect surprise encounters, shift some paradigm in your current worldview, allow a breakthrough revolution in an area of your life screaming for change.
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Jan 12’s Lunar Eclipse was exactly conjunct Saturn and Pluto, who are currently at 24 and 23 degrees of Capricorn, respectively. If you have planets between 18-28 Aries, Cancer, Capricorn, or Libra, you will feel this dramatic transit with even more profound catharsis necessary.
I’m writing this essay as the Moon is transiting both Saturn and Pluto, which occurs one day each month. Mark down Feb. 20 for the next day when the shadows will battle streetside, and when the Dark Night of the Soul may sneak up inside, and prepare by initiating one of the healing modalities listed below.
Saturn enforces Pluto. Pluto intensifies Saturn. Let’s break these down.
Let’s start with the good new and our best strategy – find what you can obsess on—something deep, profound, and soul-meaningful—in the most constructive, creative, and healthy way, and focus all your energy on it….
Saturn delivers Pluto into concrete 3d reality. Chronos, Lord of Time brings his scythe to meet Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Finality, death, endings. These have been occurring for all of us—in relationships, in friendships, careers, and the literal passing of loved ones, including my grandmother. Our paranoias and suspicions of others and even ourselves are painfully acute right now, and manifesting strongly through issues around collective resources—Money, Time, shared Living Space.
We must sing now our lamentations and threnodies, allow what must die to decompose. Watch a documentary of a volcano, and remember that the destruction paves the way for new life, in the buds of lichen, to grow. And TAKE TIME for SOLITUDE. Don’t try and force the issue with another. And when in doubt or overwhelmed, compassionately WAIT before letting whatever wound surge its demon force out in verbal expression.
For Saturn’s sickle also carves into our Pluto shadow. It feels like undigested meat, clogging our arteries, clawing at the guts, weighing down the heart, with lifetimes of the unprocessed and unhealed.
Whatever we are processing now, its importance cannot be understated—it both arises from and impacts the depths of our soul. It is as if we have entered a dark cave, forced to crawl on our knees, tripping through cobwebs, until we meet a slow burning fire. On the shadows of the cave wall, dance what look like amoebas, and you know that these are parasites, something that has been living off of you, in your physical body, in your emotional body, in your self-destructive thoughts, in the unforgiven relations.
As Saturn demands and forces the issues of the Plutonian unconscious, the only way to rid ourselves of the parasites is to first embrace them. We do this through cathartic healing—shamanic soul-retrieval, plant medicine ceremonies, past life regression, Breathwork, ecstatic dance, occult studies, and pattern recognition systems like Astrology—whatever can help us tear back the veil of the pain body’s charade, and move us from trauma to wholeness.
Would you like help navigating this intense transit?
Receive a consultation incorporating elements of Astrology, Numerology, and Human Design for a complete picture of your soul’s current initiations.
Or embrace the catharsis through shamanic healing – Breathwork, Past Life Therapy, and Active Dreamwork.
In the next essay we’ll discuss how to navigate this Saturn-Pluto energy further, looking at Film, Music, and Political themes of this cycle, including Best Picture Nominee “1917,” TOOL, and the US Impeachment hearings.
Here’s a preview of some musical insights for the cycle.
As a Musical genre, Saturn-Pluto is undeniably a breed of various types of Goth, Industrial, or Metal. As a guitarist and conoisseur of sophisticated Metal, the Metal genre has continued to hybridize and procreate in recent years, with even a sort of renaissance occurring and many styles emerging. Check out spotify playlists of the genres listed below, from the upcoming Dark Troll Festival in Germany. And note my favorite Metal acts – Saor, Sojourner, Ashbringer, Pillars, Alcest, Mono
Bands:
OBSCURITY – Viking / Death (DE)
Galar – Melodic Black / Folk (NO)
Agrypnie – Post Black (DE)
Helsott – Pagan Death (USA/CA)
DARK SEAL – Pagan Black (CZ)
Nocte Obducta – Avantgarde Black (DE)
Grimner – Folk (SWE)
Empyrium – Dark Symphonic Folk (DE)
CROM – Epic/Melodic (DE)
Cân Bardd – Atmospheric Folk Black (CH)
Totenwache – Black (DE)
Black Messiah – Special Black Metal Show (DE)
Ruadh – Atmospheric Folk/Black (UK)
Ellende – Ambient Black (AT)
Wolfchant – Pagan (DE)
KHORS – Heathen Black (UA)
Baumbart – Acoustic Folk (DE)
Helheim – Viking Black (NO)
ÄERA – Atmospheric Black (DE)
Thrudvangar – Viking (DE)
OUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON US – Sludge/Doom/Post (AT)
Uprising – Black (DE)
Scorpio Mercury Retrograde – Halloween’s Phoenix Flame

The week begins with the spirit of last Sunday’s New Moon in Scorpio, inviting us to sip the alchemical fires of soul transformation – the study of the esoteric and occult, personal therapy, past life regression, healing of trauma, and sacred sexuality all benefit now, especially with Goddess Venus also in Scorpio.
What house does Scorpio transform in your chart? This area of life undergoes not only a seed-planting and an intention for growth and evolution, but six months from now, when the Full Moon is in Scorpio, what you cultivate now in this astrological house will reach its culmination—the ripening of the fruit.
This same House is where Mercury will be journeying and bringing mental clarification and penetrating insight through his three-week Retrograde from Halloween Oct 31, to Nov 20th, from 27 back to 16 Scorpio.
So how do we master the shadow? How do we spar with the Scorpion’s stinger?
In 2 weeks, for November’s Full Moon, I invite you to join the special Shamanic Breakthrough Webinar: Pluto, Scorpio, and Shadow Mastery. This class will offer specific guided practices in Past Life Induction, Shamanic Drum Journeying, Active Dreamwork, and navigating the 8 Fears of the Human Design Spleen center, in addition to learning about the soul-work of your Generation and how to harmonize with the forces of the Underworld—especially Pluto and the power of the Unconscious. Learn more and join us here.
Remember that the Phoenix rises from its own ashes. A Scorpio Mercury Retrograde, New Moon, and Venus catalyze the confrontation with the dark parts of our soul, the parts which hold the secret key to our awakening. As the negative emotions, the reactive tendencies, the paranoid suspicions, or self-sabotaging behaviors arise, we offer all the shadow up to the Scorpio Dark Goddess—to Kali, to Pele, to Innana, to Lillith—to transmute and empower us through sword-like Awareness.
In the Tantric texts as well as the Bhagavad-Gita, the word ‘yajna’ – sacrifice—is a core, repeating concept. Every moment of our life is a sacrifice that we perform in the direction of a higher fulfillment, and a sacrifice is therefore a gain and not a loss Whether we offer a gift, a creation, the food we eat, an irritation,or a challenging situation, the act of offering, of sacrificing to the most high, connects us with the divinity within. For to sacrifice means “to make sacred.” In the Gita, Krishna instructs Arjuna: if one offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or even water, I delightfully partake of that article offered with love by My devotee in pure consciousness.”
In Karma Yoga, in the act of devotion, what one truly sacrifices is the idea that I am separate from my Source. So offer your ‘shadow,’ in whatever form it arises, during this week’s Day of the Dead, as the veil thins. Honor the ancestors, cleanse the genetic storylines, and empower yourself through naked vulnerability. Dance in your flame, and let your spirit soar on your Phoenix wing.
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The Astrology of Film – Brad Pitt, Ad Astra, and Saturn-Neptune Archetypal Symbolism

The new film Ad Astra stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut on a quest to find his father, extraterrestrial life, and a sense of meaning beyond duty. This essay focuses on how life and art not only mimic each other, but reflect the astrological charts of actors in their starring roles.
Although heavy-handed at times in its dialogue and symbolism, Ad Astra is a serious achievement in film, and will be appreciated by all those who love layers of archetypal symbolism. Pirates battle on the tourist trap of the Moon and man has colonized Mars. Astrologers will love seeing so many planets visited and their symbolism explored—I even wondered if astrologers were consulted during the making of the film.
Like Gravity and Interstellar, Ad Astra focuses on the theme of how space travel alienates one from the earth and human affairs, resulting in a severe disconnection from family members. Whereas Gravity reflected the Uranus-Pluto square that was just beginning to peak upon its release in 2013, Ad Astra reflects the positions of Saturn and Pluto near the Capricorn South Node during the Sept 21 release date, a transit which directly impacts lead actor Brad Pitt’s birth chart.
In studying astrology and film over the last 13 years, I hae found, as other astrologers, that actors tend to choose roles that reflect both their own innate astrological birth script as well as their cycles of forecasting.
Pitt is a Sagittarius Rising with his Sun also in Sagittarius—the sign of the vagabond philosopher on the adventure of seeking meaning in life. This Sagittarius Rising and Sun have been experiencing an expansive, inspiring, and joyous Jupiter transit through conjunction this year, which will peak with Jupiter on Pitt’s Sun in November, followed by 2020’s Jupiter transit on all of Pitt’s Capricorn grand stellium of five planets—Mars, South Node, Mercury, Moon, Venus. Perhaps with all this fortunate Jupiter energy, we will not only see an oscar nomination but a win.
However simultaneously, Pitt has been experiencing an ongoing intense and dramtic transformation from the planet of death and regeneration Pluto on his Mercury and South Node, thus marking his ugly 2016 divorce from Angelina Jolie, and deep journey into his soul and years of powerful personal therapy.
Currently, Saturn also initiates Pitt with his themes, since Saturn has hit all of the above planets in Capricorn. Upon release of the film Saturn had just changed direction (“stationing”) on his South Node in Capricorn, the symbolic point of the soul’s history, while Pitt is also experiencing the Nodal Return, which only occurs every 19 years. Thus, he is extremely sensitive to all of the Capricorn energy in his soul’s karma—this South Node can bring a heavy burden, a sense of overwhelming responsibility, a mandate to duty, themes of the father and genetic legacy, and a drive to success and ambition at the cost of all emotion.
Yet Pitt also experiences his North Node Return in Cancer, and in the film, as in life, we see an emotional breakthrough. Pitt is a father of 6, and has just begun a new relationship with a Cancer figure, a holistic healer and jewelry designer, who also follows the Sikh path, named Sat Hari Khalsa.
With all these cycles simultaneously, we watch Pitt portray stoicism (Saturn) with the undercurrents of unexpressed, pent up emotion (Pluto), Neptunian disillusionment, and the spiritual quest for truth, faith, and meaning (Jupiter). As an astrologer, I love that we see Pitt’s character in Ad Astra literally traveling to the Moon and Mars just as Saturn in the sky is transiting over Pitt’s astrological Moon and Mars!!
The opening scene shows Pitt’s Roy McBride, an astronaut receiving a psychological test, determining his inner stability for space travel. Legendeary for never letting his BPM rise above 80, even when he’s plummeting to Earth, Roy refers to sober, Saturnian states of mind—being “calm, steady, and without bad dreams” and proclaims the cold precision and high standard of Saturn in the opening scene: “I will not let my mind be vulnerable to mistakes.”
Yet, McBride then shares that the face of his successful astronaut is always a facade, something he’s been trying to get out of for a long time, yet he has been called to this since being a young boy by his father, tuning us into the Saturnian themes of paternal legacy, but also the Neptunian themes of camouflage, projection, and the false image or mirage appearance.

Ironically, McBride is commissioned to go to Neptune, where gamma ray bursts from an anti-matter device are causing power surges killing thousands, including astronauts and earthlings. And Neptune was where we last heard from McBride’s father, the respected pioneer of space travel whose entire mission was to “find our brothers in exaltation—” an alien kindred which he hopes will extend the family of God’s creation. Yet the theme of an ‘absent creator’—the weighty 3D world of law, order, body, and bone as harsh reality—reflect the Saturn vs. Neptune archetypal dynamic.
These words are taken from McBride’s father, who combines the Saturnian and Neptunian archetypes—he is deeply religious and believes in a “manifest destiny” of humans to colonize space. And he is literally found on a space station outside of Neptune.
As we lead to the encounter between father and son, we sense that father has gone a bit insane (Neptune’s shadow) in his pursuits for ET life, and has lost all contact with reality or with earth, both literally and in his soul. He even admists that he was never really meant to have a family or to be on the earth. This all reflects the Neptunian themes of a desire for transcendence, for opening to the Spirit world / altered consciousness, and for a psychotic break that can lead one to delusions of messianic grandeur. In addition, Neptune’s ethereal, spiritual, and generally nebulous nature reflects the anti-matter device which seems to cause the power surges.
Images of Saturn or Capricorn appear repeatedly and these obvious appearances as well as lines of dialogue leave little subtlety—they directly reflect the themes of alienation, fatherhood legacy, and a search for God. These lines include: “In the end, the Son suffers the sins of the father.”
Fatherhood is an especially important theme for Brad Pitt personally. About his own father, Pitt has said “My dad always said he wanted to give me a better life than he had coming from extreme poverty, and he did it. And it makes me think, as a dad, what do I have to offer that’s better than I had, to my kids?” Again, this connects to theme of Capricorn legacy – an archetype whose highest expression may be the Native American adage to make decisions in a way so that the next Seven Generations will be positively impacted.
Pitt also has 6 children with Angelina Jolie, some adopted, some his own, and he was estranged from them for much of the last few years during his divorce proceedings, just as Roy McBride is estranged from a father he thought was dead, but is still alive near Neptune.
Other archetypally resonant lines include when McBride states “So many times I’ve screwed up,” guilt and impossible standards being extremely Saturnian / Capricornian as well as putting labels, definitions, and boxes on and around everything suggested by the statement “I’ve been trained to compartmentalize.”
Saturn and Neptune also battle it out thematically here and in Pitt’s own life. We addressed the many transits of Saturn in Pitt’s life, but should add that Saturn is a sobering planet, a reality check which distinctly showed up as Saturn crossed Pitt’s Ascendant and Sun during his divorce with Angelina Jolie. Ironically, Pitt also has had Neptune squaring his Sagittarian Ascendant adding an invitation for spiritual growth and prowess in his creative work as an actor.
Pitt, who recently became sober, also opened up about his divorce and former relationship with alcohol to CNN. “What I realized is that I was running to avoid tough feelings, painful feelings….” And continuing the positive Saturn and Neptune transits, “I want to sit in it, I want to feel it, I want to get through the rough night. I found in doing so, you come out the other side with a more profound understanding, of yourself and a greater gratefulness of those in your life.”
One of the relatively contrived images that still retains poignancy juxtaposes Saturn’s sense of entrapment with Neptune’s return to innocence. It features a bird cage next to a teddy bear and doll as McBride discusses his father’s mission with another female astronaut who becomes key to his odyssey to Neptune.
There is a particular shot in the film where the overhead door and its crossbars are the exact shape of a Hexagram. Is it a wild coincidence that if you study the North Pole of Saturn, you will find that the direction of the gases form a heaxagram, once again suggesting the geoemetric order, symmetry, and structure of Saturn’s archetypal symbolism?
McBride’s father first left on his mission as part of the Lima Project when he was 29—the exact year that each individual experiences their Saturn Return, when Saturn comes back to the position of one’s birth and brings up every theme we’ve thus far discussed.

There are moments of Neptunian altered consciousness aboard a spaceship as characters consume something that appears to be like laughing gas. Behind McBride, we also see images of the ocean (Neptune) in the “Comfort Rooms,” places that are supposed to calm and tranquilize and nearly sedate the anxiety of astronauts and required in order to pass the psychological tests.
Additionally, the Lima Project—the name for the mission to find ET life out to Neptune and beyond—suggests Peru and the plant medicine spiritual traditions of the Amazon.
As we can see, Saturn and Neptune symbolism appear strongly throughout the entire film, extending as well into the realm of relationship even as the film mimics Pitt’s real life.
One cannot ignore the fact that actress Liv Tyler, McBride’s wife, looks almost identical to Pitt’s real word ex wife Angelina Jolie. He only hears from her and her disappointments in their relationship through a screen (Neptune’s long-distance relational theme and Saturn’s harsh professional duty that requires a choice of work over family.)
As the tagline to the film states, “The answers we seek are just outside our reach.” The layers of archetypal symbolism throughout the film are seeminglye endless, so it’s best for you to go experience it in IMAX and receive their magic yourself.
Ad Astra: To the stars and beyond.
New Moon Leo – July 31, 2019

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Human Design Projectors – Guides of the Planet

The 5 Types and their Strategies
One of the foundations of Human Design is the component called “Type.” Depending on which centers are defined or not, a certain Type of energy emerges. Each of us is one of five possible types. These Types also have very specific Strategies for making decisions in life. The five Types are broken up into the following: Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Projector, and Reflector.
Before exploring the five Types in detail, I would like to explain some hesitancies which may naturally arise when using words such as “type” to describe people. When I first came across Type, I felt sceptikal because of the tendency for people to label and try to box themselves or others. Astrologers see this constantly when people refer to themselves as “a Gemini” or “a Leo” and believe their Sun sign is their identity. Yet, we all began astrology with the intrigue of Sun signs, and as we studied more, we realized the elegant complexity of astrology. Human Design works similarly. Types, although more insightful and instructive than Sun signs, are a necessary starting point to begin one’s experiment with living one’s design. Type, Strategy, and Authority are the reference points for all other factors in one’s bodygraph.
Discover your Calling! – Join us for:
Business and Career Success with Human Design Training – May 8- June 12, 2019
PROJECTORS
Projectors represent about %20 of the population. Projectors do not have any motor centers defined, nor do they have the Sacral Center defined. Thus, access to the life force energy is really determined by a Projector’s engagement with Generators and Manifesting Generators. Since they do not have the Sacral fuel, Projectors are not designed to “work” at the same pace or consistency as the generating types. Rather, Projectors are built to study, be informed, and create, which gives them the tools and intelligence to guide and direct the generating types.
The Projector strategy is “to wait to be invited” in order to make key decisions in life, such as choices referring to career, relationship, or locations in which to live. When they are invited, then Projectors will be given access to their necessary energetic resources from those who invite them.
For instance, in the realms of work, Projectors often make wonderful counselors, coaches, or teachers because the Projectors knows that they have studied, that they are equipped to guide others. There is a certain ambition in Projectors to be seen for their gifts, not necessarily for their own ego fulfillment, but because their wisdom will actually aid the efficient and appropriate use of energy in those around them. Thus, the Projector may wish to travel and teach or lecture on their given area of expertise. But if they try to force their counsel or even their creative gifts onto a group of people or individual, it will often be rejected or ignored. Projector advice must be requested in order to actually be received by the other. Projector art must be appreciated in order to be recognized by a community or audience.
Thus, Projectors must patiently learn, study, and create in an unconditional way, doing what they love without huge expectations. They can let people know about what they are studying, teaching, or creating, and then naturally, the wise and focused aura of the Projector will become obvious and attractive to the Generators and Manifesting Generators seeking guidance. In this way, projectors are designed to get noticed.
Growing up, projectors need to be recognized as having special gifts and talents. These can be offered through special artistic education and through a keen and consistent sense of acknowledgment from parents and educators.
In relationships, projectors often approach relationships though the lense of a spiritual language, such as astrology. They are not designed to go out and “make” a relationship happen or try to continuously date. They live by the motto of following their own passions and heart, and that the “right person will come along if I continue to follow my own bliss.”
Rest and recuperation is essential for Projectors. They can not function at the same pace as the generating types and can be overwhelmed at times if living with a generating type or spending excessive amounts of time in highly energized environments, such as group housing or in the downtowns of cities.
What makes Projectors even more unique and helpful as counselors, coaches, managers, and guides for others, is that they have the widest range of possible authority. There can be Projectors who have Emotional, Splenic, Ego, or Self Authority. This means that this population empathically connects with many segments of society, which assists Projectors in guiding the other types into deeper self-awareness and healthier decision-making.
Barack Obama, seen above, is an Emotional Projector with only two centers defined. Thus, he is a very open and permeable being, who must get away from his cabinet members, his wife, and all other stresses to allow his emotions enough time to settle and find clarity before making a key decision.
He can not only be influenced and conditioned by others but he is easily projected upon by others, as the voice of a community, or as a scapegoat. This is perhaps why he does not take a rigid stand on too many issues. If he did, it would likely due to the conditioning of others around him. Politicians who are more obstinate in their opinions and perspectives often have much more definition in their chart.
Other Projectors include J. Krishnamurti (Emotional) actor Brad Pitt (Splenic), psychological astrologer Liz Greene (Mental), singer Peter Gabriel (Mental), and Bob Marley (Self/G-Center)