I received my first rejection letter from a magazine for an article I’d felt pretty jazzed about, which was exceptionally disappointing 
because it was the kind of rare piece that just wrote itself. The cat died that same day. It wasn’t one of my better days. I had noticed the planets of Strife and Trouble hanging around my chart, Saturn and Mars respectively, sitting there smugly squaring the ruler of my sixth house (Neptune) of small animals, and work. But I didn’t blame them. I didn’t even want to. Instead I contemplated the cycle of life, how I didn’t expect Skippy to be recycled into the earth so quickly, but there it was, and there was nothing I or anyone could do about it. Her death became a profound teaching on being with the now. Compared to human deaths, where we tend to medicate, grasp, and fight against death thanks to the miracle of modern medicine, when the cat died, she was gone - literally. The vultures found her before we did. Likewise, I’ve been startlingly sane about this, my first official rejection letter (there have been others, but this is the first one in e-paper). I’ve decided this rejection joins me with the ranks of other artists. Real artists. Professional artists who once lined their office walls with tens of hundreds of rejection letters. I guess you could say my view of reality has changed and matured with age; I’ve become conditioned to rolling with the punches of life and seeing the reality of a situation through a more impersonal lens. (more…)
Loading up the van with backpacks the size of small people, I helped my family 
make their way to Yosemite. As fun as they made it sound, those midget troopers lugging around an extra person on their backs, they were clearly gearing up for an adventure of a lifetime and said such. I, on the other hand, wanted a facial. I reminded them to think of my dewy pores covered in chamomile and orange blossoms while they faced their fear of death on a slab of granite. Suckers. I was looking forward to the alone time, the solitude, the slowing down after a month of Gemini madness where one’s only choice in life seems to be respond, adapt, respond. Following on the heels of inconstancy, I craved constancy, a long, drawn out and prolonged pause, to deeply assimilate my recent life experiences, read: a whirl of happenings, with the need to restore my inner self and spend time with the gentler sex, my woman friends. If anyone were to ask me during the past month what I most desired it would be: “I need ALONE TIME!” Isn’t this every Cancer’s battle cry? (more…)
Are the Sixties about to repeat? Who will win the presidency? Does Barack’s hopeful message match the challenging times ahead? A panel of six Bay Area astrologers converged last Saturday evening to discuss, dissect, and divulge the next four years of cosmic activity affecting our nation. The meeting was arranged by the San Francisco group, the Bay Area 
Young Astrologers, where young-ish professional astrologers convene to share their knowledge and hear their voice.
People Actually Use This Stuff?
The panel answered some general questions about astrology. It turns out that horoscope readers actually make life decisions from those ’scopes.
“The general public will base life decisions on their horoscope,” said KT Fox, local celebrity and headliner for the event, who got on her soapbox about the importance of getting credentialed through accredited astrology institutions. “I always feel responsible for the information I’m putting out there. It’s amazing how many people in the world will use astrology of their daily horoscope to help them make decisions in their lives so that’s why I think it’s important we put out credible, accurate information.” (more…)
We all could use a co-pilot, for these crazy times. Maybe 
you’re guilty of “google-ing” astrology and coming up with a smattering of predictions that kind of make sense. Oh, but what if you could gather all your questions and answers about, say anything from what the Age of Aquarius portends, to the chart of the next president of the United States - and posit them to a panel of professional astrologers? Finally!
KT the Astrologer, www.theastrologer.com (formerly known as Kelli Fox & founder of a ‘lil website called astrology.com) joins the founders of the Bay Area Young Astrologers, Bill Street, Rebecca Crane, Jessica Shepherd & Alex Villamil, with special guest Paul Bogle for an evening of astrological inquiry and mirth-making. Join them as they discuss upcoming elections, major planetary shifts and answer your questions. (more…)
I went to a baby shower today. Observing the cooing & cawing among women, I felt strangely detached, a person who 
doesn’t speak the ritual customs of the baby mama club. I mentioned to my girlfriend that I wanted a baby about as bad as I wanted my wisdom teeth pulled. Seeing my husband with his wisdom teeth pulled just this week, and being on nurse duty since, a baby just seems like another mouth to look after. I ponder this duality between mom & not mom, I make mental notes as I introduce myself to others- I’m a stepmom, I do still enjoy Sex & the City, I’m a world traveller preparing to give a lecture in Italy in two weeks. As I introduce my self to the Baby Mamas, I’m shocked to discover I’m not only an obliquely Geminian character, a person whose whole, is made up of very distinct parts - some of them don’t even overlap. My stepkids will never see me dancing Burlesque; my single friends have never integrated into my married life (sometimes I question whether my single identity did); the Italians I will meet this summer will know me as the visiting American Astrologer, but Who is she? Will one ever know the other? Will the circle complete? (more…)
They may say time stops for no one, but right now that’s only partially true. Almost half the planets in your sky are now officially retrograde. Mercury moves retrograde in Gemini, May 26-June 19 and if you don’t know what that means, you just haven’t been paying attention. (For those born yesterday & even if you’re not, Virgo Fern Feto Spring, an expert on such matters offers Survive & Thrive Guide to Mercury Rx ). But that’s not all, folks: Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto are alas, retrograde. Good times. “But,” as one of my clients exasperated over retro affecting a pending decision, “life doesn’t stop. I have to keep moving forward!” To this I reply: retrograde is a very good thing. Retrograde motion characterizes the inward-moving, yin cycle of any planet. We can apply the breathing room, information gathering and reflection time toward the principles any planet represents. This is an especially useful time for building sanity & repose around the larger movements of life. (more…)
I lost my hot pants, along with several other items over the past month. I’m no airhead, really - I don’t lose things. So I 
took it as a sign. That maybe…maybe I should take full advantage of the divination spectrum that my craft, astrology, offers, by asking the stars for a little wassup? It’s been necessary. First, my cell phone charger -and then- my hot pants, both equally vital to my existence: mainly a girl needs to communicate, and a girl needs to dance. The good news is I recovered both. In fact, batting 3 for 3, horary astrology has saved my rump and my pocketbook every time - literally. (more…)
The nature-loving Taurus Sun season is simply lucious. Mother Nature is a big show off, like she’s pulled off some major 
collaboration of elemental proportions,symphonically playing her salt o’ the earth orchestra of light, color, and fecundity, beautifully without a hitch. She makes this natural abundance look so simple, so easy. So wholesome, so innocent. So…tooling around the internet one day my husband and I discovered “green porn,” a set of short films starring the lovely Isabella Rosellini. We could not contain our joy at this find! A ringside seat into the sex lives of insects - you’ve got to see it - it’s an irresistible watch. It’s like national geographic meets, david lynch, meets playboy, or in this case the Mr./Mrs. Earthworm Taurus does the 69 with Mr./Mrs. Earthworm Scorpio (watch & learn: you’ll get my drift). There we sat, curiosity rapt, relishing the rare look into the secret sex lives of bugs. (more…)
As a special Mother’s day treat for you, here’s a May horoscope for Moms written by moi!
During the Sun’s yearly passage through Taurus we recognize the valuable people and things that inspire well-being. Of course this is serendipitously tied to Mother’s Day - proving there are no coincidences.
Aries: Quality of life is such an adult concept, and quickly becoming an appreciable reality for you. Yet you retain your edge. Ruling planet Mars plays in your house of fun beginning May 9 and your inner child recovers her moxie to play with abandon.
Taurus: You’ve just been elected Queen for the first three weeks of the month. As long as Venus crosses your path, you are officially relieved of trash duty. The others will get their turn eventually. Right now, it’s all about you.
Gemini: Have you ever had the sensation that while one part of you is busy yapping, another part of you is conked out on the sofa? To the casual observer you appear engaged, but you’re recharging. Don’t resist rest. So when Mercury retrogrades on May 20, you’re amply juiced. (more…)
The cat’s onto me. Skippy senses when I have a spare minute during the day, when I’m mulling over a thought between paragraphs, and jumps onto my chair for any scrap of lovin’ laying around. Within all the roles my self inhabits, there’s something for everyone, a nugget of attention here, an inquiry into well-being there, diet advice, astrological observations on the day. I do enjoy giving, or do I? Lately I’ve been wondering how to squeeze more satisfaction out of the simple exchanges in life, especially when it feels like there’s less around me. With the economy talk I do wonder if we’re being tricked into thinking we’re being squeezed into “less” on some level. Yet what of the more? More essential than these basic resources, like gold which clearly isn’t appreciating, what will appreciate over time are the qualities of attention, presence, and acceptance I bring into this moment. No squeeze there. (more…)
So How Do Husbands Stack Up in the Kitchen? An Expose’ by Moon sign. Part 3 of a series.
Aries Moon Husbands: Natural knivesmen. They probably enjoy the knives and cool kitchen utensils more than cooking. Excellent little choppers; give them a plate of vegetables for soup stock and they go to town. Make great sous chefs. Their feelings do get hurt if you threaten replacement by food processor, so be forerwarned. Don’t forget to make them feel like they’re the ones who really made the meal - they like the power. (more…)
Ever wanted an astrologer in your pocket to help navigate your cash flow, assist your next promotion or plumb your psychological state but do not want to shell out the big bucks to learn? It is your lucky day!
Introducing, a monthly Moon gathering designed just for you. Every month Marin astrologers Jessica Shepherd and Fern Feto Spring play weather girls to the heavens, exploring how moon cycles and star patterns play out in YOUR LIFE. This is a rare opportunity to understand how astrology influences awareness and energy on a personal and collective level in a group environment - with not one, but two professional astrologers. Click here for more.
He Said, She Said features one reader’s love question answered by professional astrologers Jessica Shepherd of Moonkissd and Jeffrey Kishner of Seduction Central . After they each provide their perspective, they combine their insight to offer advice they both can agree on.
Here’s this week’s Reader Question:
We have known each other for four months as business and friends, and he has been very supportive to me. He wants me to be his wife for life. We have not consummated our relationship physically but he swears what that I am the one!My concern is I just found out he was married three times. Is he for real? His last girlfriend was a ten year relationship and he was alone for the last two years? I take relationships seriously and have never been married. I am an attractive, sexy, successful woman who has had offers but I have been leery. This seems real??? My heart says one thing and my head says another. (more…)
So back to my Carrie Bradshaw moment: husbands and kitchens, is it an uneasy compromise?
No. Yes. Okay, sometimes. Seeing as how the Moon sign describes nurture from the beginning, might our beloved men have experienced a little more independence surrounding food, more coddling and feeding from mom, and a smidgen less of her instructive coaching in the kitchen? This discussion is wide open. I’m of the generation (Pluto and Uranus in Libra) where gender roles volcanically erupted and broke down into something more equitable. Still, unlike my stepdaughters, or even my 5 years- younger sister, home economics was required class material. He took wood shop. Surely that counts for something, primarily me, doing laundry, and he, joinery (huh?). And we women, blame it on breast cancer, preservatives, or taking care of our children, do often end up at the fore of wellness movements. I mean, gawd, I know there are men who have to worry about incestuous food-related illnesses that prevent us from enjoying a simple piece of fruit without freaking out about candida albicans but the ratio is something ridiculous like 1 man: 1000 woman. (more…)
The New Moon in Aries fell on my natal Moon in Aries to the exact degree. It was on the house cusp of husbands (did you 
even know that existed?). I hesitated blogging about this New Moon beforehand because I felt very much in the dark as to how this would play out, as New Moons have been known to do. And wow, of all the things I’d love to tell you I’m obligated to protect the innocent (or the guilty). So… thinking about what to write, and filtering through all the Aries New Moon news stories this weekend like “After War, Love Can Be a Battlefield” and various stress related emergency stories, including one apropos story about bloggers who are dying, yes dying, from the competition to stay current (astrologers be forewarned) I kept coming back to one conversation I had last week. It was a simple conversation. And so gosh darn tired of taking everything soooo seriously - an Aries seasonal hazard- this one made me smile. It was about husbands and kitchens. (more…)
I’ve been downloading the podcast of the New Earth for 4 weeks now and am burning to talk about it astrologically. 
Perhaps it’s the Piscean energies circulating this month, and ruling planet Neptune in Aquarius in the air raising astral-consciousness to all-time highs. It seems Neptune’s transit over Oprah’s Mercury in Aquarius has radically opened her consciousness, and the beauty of the Oprah media empire is we’re finally able to ride this new wave of consciousness - together. Goddess bless her for bringing mystic Eckhart Tolle to the masses, via webcast for his timely book, The New Earth. And it’s a fitting title broadcasting Pluto’s entry into Capricorn, which I gleefully told a client the other day after talking about The New Earth, must surely mean: “the death of the ego.” Hurrah!
Hmm, Oprah falls into the unique category reserved for Aquarians, what do we call her? She’s not a teacher, a philanthropist, a wise one - she is a visionary. Eckhart is a visionary Aquarian, too! Here’s the thing about these two: (more…)
Introducing a new bi-monthly astrology love advice 
column! He Said,She Said features a love advice question answered by professional astrologers Jessica Shepherd of Moonkissd and Jeffrey Kishner of Seduction Central . After they each provide their perspective, they combine their insight to offer advice they both can agree on.
Here’s this week’s Reader Question:
My counselor tells me that when it comes to men, I seem to running away to ones I could me and towards ones I can’t. I thought about this long and hard and decided that I just want a different reality- it may be a 7th house thing. The chart of the man is of an actor, a famous one but I’d like to get to know him as a person- all the while respecting his sense of privacy, space, time, constraints all that. I admit to feeling a strong attraction, but also I am afraid to say it, sense a connection- perhaps we share some of the same cultural history growing up in the same era. I want to know the proper way to pursue meeting or at least contacting this guy with success. I believe that some of us in the outer world are really nice folk and aren’t crazed fans. (more…)
After a month of ongoing tension between Mars-Pluto opposition, Mercury sextile Jupiter, conjunct Uranus on Thursday 
(3/27), then Venus conjunct Uranus sextile Jupiter Friday (3/28), reminds me of a benevolent, lovely and light but surprising cocktail - gone shockingly Molotov. Am I exaggerating here? The sheer amount of underlying tension in the emotional and sexual lives of folks read: what’s going on behind closed doors - is epic.
Yikes. The secret is out. I’m wondering about secrets and Pisces - mainly, because I’ve been told to keep like three, under strict confidance, all in the past two days. I’m relating these to the 12th house and Pisces, of secret sorrows and self-undoing, as these are the kind of secrets that by hitting the right ears would un-do a girl, or impel this one into direct conversations with her Maker. And yes, if secrets are circulating that means they’re no longer secrets, right? (I’m saying nothing) (more…)
Aries always reminds me of my kid self. I know, I know, you could say Leo 
is the eternal child, and having a Leo husband I see your point there, too. But maybe Aries is the perennial child, the part of us that emerges from winter into springtime, eager for today. Why does hope so readily spring eternal for Aries, the first sign of the zodiac? It’s another chance to live in the moment, because that’s when we’re really doing our Aries. There is only the now. If there were ever an Aries watch, it’s the stopwatch: Now. Now. Now.
When I was a kid, I experienced all kinds of Aries joys: I’d climb tall trees with the boys in a part of the ‘hood that bore a sign “no trespassing.”
(more…)
Yesterday, I made a not so near fatal tactical error. Hiking in the Marin 
hills, there we were like two dogs lapping up liquid sunshine. It was real quality time, the kind that’s not easy to come by as a non-DINK couple (double income, no kids). So in the spirit of adventure, with an unexplored trail with a lake at it’s head (a lake!) and Mars in Cancer transiting, no foolhardily prodding my Sun, I declared “onward, ho!”
My husband gave me fair warning, tracing the trail with his finger on the plastic park map. It looked long. And we didn’t have a map to carry. How long could it be? We checked our watches, I figured I had three hours before my astrology reading at 6 - and home was only 5 minutes by car -plenty of time. As we reached the lake after an hour (or so) and I exclaimed, we’re almost home! my husband laughed. Not even.
LSS, we got lost.
So. Have you ever seen a death march scene in one of those war movies? Perhaps had a past life memory of being in one?
(more…)
Introducing a new bi-monthly astrology love advice column! He Said,She Said features a love advice question answered by professional astrologers Jessica Shepherd of Moonkissd and Jeffrey Kishner of Seduction Central . After they each provide their perspective, they combine their insight to offer advice they both can agree on.
Here’s this week’s Reader Question:
I am a Capricorn woman. I have much to be grateful for but the one area of my life that is a perpetual source of frustration is my romantic life. I have dated a lot, I attract men, but my romances are always so fleeting, end abruptly, and not usually by me. I have tried all sorts of positive ways to handle being single, but it’s getting rough to keep up the good attitude. (more…)
Yikes, the dark of the Pisces Moon. And if you’ve never known what 
that’s about - the couple of days before a New Moon, now you do. Despite the steady San Francisco sunlight streaming into my study - it feels dark. Ominous. Mysterious. What’s around the corner? Hard to know. We can feel like we’re groping in the dark around New Moons, because there’s no moonlight, and our capacity to see what’s in front of us - that’s gone, too. It’s certainly a lesson in trusting your intuition, with that pesky Mars-Pluto opposition hanging around, stirring up trouble like two birds of a feather - at odds. Both want the same thing, but we’re too engaged in wrestling with the not so subtle differences in “I want-You want” to notice. I say potato, you say potah-to…yada, yada let’s call the whole thing off. Pisces, sigh, surrenders.
(more…)
Mars enters Cancer tomorrow 3/4/08, making an immediate opposition to 
Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto fills out the leg of a cardinal t-square involving Sun, Mars and Pluto. With a Scorpio ruled 2nd house cusp, I figured I’d be hit up with a huge bill. And new resolve to become more viable - financially, and as a person. So when an unexpected pain shot from my tooth-nerve to my brain last week, I did my Aries Moon thing:
“Moon, get Dr. Austria on the phone, cancel all appointments, this is really going to set the schedule back (what does a root canal feel like?) We’re going in…”
(more…)
Backtracking to that endless retrograde station of Mars in Gemini on my 
Saturn for a moment, I need a soapbox here because that particular transit had me wrestling with immovable questions, but also answered them. My clients began voicing a piece of me - the maternal side of me “take care of me, make it all better, promise!” Which in reality came out of their mouths like this, “answer this question. Make up my mind for me…and what will I, should I do?” and resulted in this post - a real defining moment. Straddling the fear of being wrong or right all the time really takes the spunk out of a girl. So I pulled my courage, examined what I could and could not promise, and realized I don’t like making predictions - at all. I can make a “best guess” but that’s about all. Basically, because at best they’re a crapshoot and I’m no gambler. And I don’t like being wrong. So beautifully, magically, when a client yesterday said at the end of her session, unprompted, “maybe with astrology, the exploration is the destination…” I couldn’t help but feel Mars had had his way with my Saturn.
(more…)
I confess. With Mars retrograding then stationing around my Saturn for that hellish-ly 
long period, then the Virgo-fabulous eclipse, I’ve tried to stay as low under the radar as possible in the blogosphere.
And that was the exact prescription I gave my sister when she called last week, saying her company (not to name names but they have the word Star in it) was laying off folks. She was only one of several people I know experiencing big time shakedown in the lay-off department. Fittingly, Saturn (the sickle) in the sign of Virgo, the sign of harvest and golden, abundant wheat, cutting losses has become a theme in the lives of those around me - and this no holds barred theme on big time cutbacks (for prurient Virgoan purpose of efficiency and productivity) affects both the one laid off, and the morale of those left behind (and it didn’t help that said “Star” company announced new promotions on the same day they announced lay-offs).
Worth mentioning that while the Eclipse was a week ago, eclipse energy reverberates.
(more…)
Ellen Page (2/21/87), everyone’s darling, is a Pisces.
And like many other young Piscean celebrities, she refuses to act her age - because she has wisdom way beyond her biological years. It’s a gift of the Fishes. Who can forget Ellen as waif turned disturbingly wrath in Hard Candy? Her tween-y character turned the tables on a man who used the internet to lure teenage girls into his nightmarish domain - boy, did he pick the wrong chick to mess with. And in Juno, her young elfin beauty once again paradoxically highlighted this sagacity.
It’s said that if you look deeply into the eyes of a newborn baby, you can tell if they are an “old soul” or “new soul”. Pisces people just aren’t smart - they’re old soul smart. It’s a subtle knowing, a thought transmission “yes, I’ve seen it all before.” Look into the eyes of a Pisces, young or old, and you can sense their agelessness.
(more…)
Introducing a new bi-monthly astrology love advice column! He Said,She Said features a love advice question answered by professional astrologers Jessica Shepherd of Moonkissd and Jeffrey Kishner of Seduction Central . After they each provide their perspective, they combine their insight to offer advice they both can agree on.
Here’s this week’s Reader Question:
I guess I’ll just dive in. Two broken marriages, my fault. The first lasted 16 years, the second 10. No fighting, no yelling, the first to a passionless Libra, high school sweetheart. The second to a Leo full of physical passion and deep connection–a lot more fiery. But both were very peaceful, even happy marriages until: Flirtations that became affairs…I was friendly, and then didn’t know how to say, “No, I don’t want to do this.”
(more…)
Because folks found it useful, and tomorrow’s the last of the 18-month 
Virgo-Pisces eclipses (harrah for Virgo and Pisces!) I’m excerpting a piece I wrote about eclipses last fall. Enjoy…
Eclipses move us along our evolutionary path, often with huge signposts, other times with a whisper - and always with an element of surprise. It’s like this:
You’ve been focused on redecorating several of the rooms in your house. Then there’s the attic: you’re stuffing it with all the things you’ve moved around. “Suddenly” the attic needs help because the roof is beginning to bow. It’s not really a surprise: out of the corner of your eye, you’ve noticed the bulging attic but you’ve been focused on other things. Now the attic demands your urgent attention.
(more…)
I’m so in love with my husband. We must say “I love you” like fifty times a 
day - genuinely. I know, cheesy, cute, romantic or “uh, huh still in your honeymoon period are you?” says you. No, I believe we’re different. The cup is not empty or even half-empty - but full all the time. And this NYTimes article When There is No We in Marriage made me realize just how different we are in what we come to expect (or ask) of love. And since Venus has just entered Aquarius (February 17- March 11), freedom v. closeness is the topic du jour.
To me, it’s a sad portrait. More than sad, it’s disturbing, because it lives under the guise of hip, cool, bohemian - and socially acceptable - the norm. It’s a story about two cool Manhattan people doing their thing (it’s a paradigm, agreed?) - who once decided work is equally or more important than their marriage; that it’s okay to communicate Blackberry to Blackberry; and who must know their kids will follow their workaholics examples, and be as clueless about how to nurture their marriage, too. So if you’re wondering like me, where does the “I and
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