Astrology: fierce compassion, engage
By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
12-18 July 2020
Our favourite trickster god Mercury finishes his Retrograde party over the weekend, turning Direct and delivering a shift in perspective around how we speak, how we listen, and how we think.
Sitting in Moon-ruled Cancer, Mercury Rx invited us to rethink and reassess our own deepest and most vulnerable emotional home ground. How do I feel here? What does my heart want?
And since this is fiercely nurturing Cancer – the great archetypal mothering energy of the zodiac – we’re also invited to rethink how we feel about the other humans with whom we share the planet. How can I be more humane? How can I be more compassionate to my fellow human?
As Mercury turns Direct, you can expect to find it easier to articulate the answers to those questions.
And it might not be polite, diplomatic or tactful, depending on a) how you’ve been trained to speak your truth and, more importantly, b) where this lands in your own natal chart.
Because this is Mercury turning Direct while in the shake-things-awake square angle (90º) to fiery Mars in his own home sign of Aries.
How does this show up?
It depends on how strategic you want to be, and how practised you are at DOING fierce compassion.
If you’ve been trained to let your Mars run riot, he will probably lash out at all and sundry, escalating debate, letting compassion twist into a rigid ‘them and us’ mentality, shaming and blaming, and setting fires at random. We see this in how many of our [white male] establishment figures defend themselves, especially lately.
If you’ve been trained to keep your Mars trapped in the dungeon by years and years of being told to ‘play nice’, he may well come crashing out, short of temper and prone to rampagery, as he finds the reach of his unfamiliar metaphorical sword. We see this in the way many people are triggered into outrage, by ideas and concepts which they might previously have explored with more cool curiosity.
Emotionally, either experience is exhausting and can actually leave you defenceless, as Mars – the guardian of your own personal boundaries – runs around looking for a fight, instead of protecting the ramparts of your psyche.
A more effective and efficient approach is to get picky about your boundaries, implement excellent fire warrior strategies, and decide where to cut your losses and where to go into battle.
As an example, if you’re on social media you’ll want to check your outrage before marching into battle.
Feel free to go to town with the unfollow and unfriend buttons more than usual, since Mars and Mercury working together have no need to enter into lengthy debates with trolls or bots.
Activate your fierce compassion for everyone, even the ones with whom you disagree violently.
And don’t fret if you occasionally get pulled into an ineffective battle – I have engaged with the trolls this week, and I’m not thrilled about it!
Overall, though, your thoughts and feelings (Mercury in Cancer) are too valuable to waste energy where there is no benefit to be had.
Rather, we step up and implement a well-thought-out management of our own boundaries, using our recently-acquired insights into our own emotions, and ask the question “ Who has earned the right to be in my personal space, to have an opinion here?”
We also become aware of when we’re hiding in our bubble, so that we can speak out about what matters to us and perhaps bring our own clarity of thought to the party.
We calmly find the actions which have the potential to make a difference, even if it is merely helping one other person get curious, or supporting one person whose outspoken opinions have resulted in their being jumped on.
Cancer is profoundly desirous of a connection which makes space for compassion, nurturing and kindness.
Mars in Aries is fire warrior energy and has no hesitation speaking up on behalf of those who may not have a voice, those for whom we have compassion.
It can be a potent combination for our personal and our wider social relationships, used deliberately and with strategy.
The other player this week is Saturn quincunx the True Lunar Node*.
Saturn is the lord of legacies and life purpose, governance and authority.
True Node represents the unknown and expansive future towards which we stretch.
The angle they form – approximately 150º – creates the kind of tension which emerges from two giants who don’t speak each other’s language. It doesn’t happen every five minutes (the next occurrence is 2030) so it’s worth taking advantage while it’s here.
Adjustment and negotiation is required.
Saturn in his own home sign of Capricorn represents sturdy, ambitious certainty, a rigorous concern with getting things done, and getting them done right.
True Node invites us to move into brand new experiences, out on the edge where nothing is certain and experimentation is the name of the game.
And of course, at this time anything which activates Saturn echoes through to the other planets with whom he currently shares Capricorn – expansive Jupiter and transformative Pluto.
Saturn is the curator of our life mission, but the weight of responsibility to do a Good Job can trigger a fear of taking risks which, in turn, can see us hesitating to take the first bold step forward into the uncharted territory of the True Node*.
What if I screw it up? What if WE get it wrong?
Whether we’re thinking about our personal ambitions for career and business, or our bigger ambitions for the world to be a better and fairer place – we might not feel fully up to the task.
The solution?
Activate the Mars-Mercury dynamic. Let your words help bring you further clarity about what your heart wants to see in the world, and bring that fire warrior online.
One of my mentors, Fabeku Fatunmise, taught me the Yoruba proverb “fire makes a way for itself”. Having recently been through the Australian bushfires (is it really only a few months ago??), I can attest to the truth of this.
Rather than letting that fire energy sweep it all away, this is our opportunity to harness that fire. We can let the flames fuel our willingness to march boldly forward, doing what will ultimately bring us joy of the personal, and joy of the world.
Ask the questions which will remind your brain of the answers that serve you.
Why do I want a fairer world? Because I care, and because it’s in my long-term interests.
Why do I want a thriving business? So I can serve, and so I can fulfil my purpose in the world.
(Those are my own questions and answers; they may not be yours – but this is a great time for you to ask your own brain these questions, and see what emerges).
None of it has to be perfect.
Yes, Saturn wants to do it well.
But perfection is a construct of the patriarchy.
We are messy, meaty humans, not rigid mathematical crystalline structures.
Human brains being what they are, especially with the various kinds of upheaval right now – political, health, societal – your individual capacity to courageously do bold scary things might feel depleted.
You are not your brain.
You are the owner/operator of your brain, and you came here to do work that brings you rich satisfaction and helps change the world in some way (I know that because you’re here reading this journal!)
Let the Mercury-Mars energy help you elicit and articulate the deeper feelings of joy for your life purpose.
Let the True Node* and Saturn activate your awareness of any tension between ‘here to do important, world-changing work’ and ‘have to get it right or else…’ – and decide what path you’ll devote your attention to.
Your innate superpowers and your inherent courage all predate any of that additional brain drama.
Your fierce compassion has the potential to move mountains.
Time to engage it, for the benefit of you, and for all of us.
*True Node is a hypothetical point in the sky representing our past-present-future timeline. The Mean Node is the same thing, but calculated using a slightly different set of parameters. Both are part of the Lunar Node concept. The Mean Node quincunx Saturn happened in April, so your experience now may have had its beginnings in April.
Exact times (US Eastern timezone):
- 12 July, 4:26 AM – Mercury turns Direct at 5º Cancer
- 16 July, 8:24 AM – Saturn Rx at 28º Capricorn quincunx True Node at 28º Gemini
Janette Dalgliesh helps rebel progressive women to create their 5-year dream in three months (even if they don’t know what that dream is yet). Her international clientele — the poets, the politicians and the entrepreneurs — all bring their unique skills and talents to the work of dismantling patriarchal systems, both external and internal. Janette uses her unique blend of astrology and neuroscience-based coaching to help women come home to themselves and their inherent, world-altering power, so they can do work which makes a difference, makes good money, and makes their hearts sing. Find Janette at her website.
