11 days until Halloween! Let me count all the ways I'm behind in the party planning arena now...
I haven't decorated ANYTHING. I put my wreath on the door, but that's IT. I haven't even been upstairs or looked into my cabinets and boxes to see what I own. And yes, I have so much Halloween crap that I can't remember what I have. It's an addiction, and I can't be held accountable! At least I've restrained myself from buying much this year. Only a couple of tiny things here and there...
I haven't planned anything for food. (I do know I'll make cupcakes, but that's a given, so it doesn't count! Still deciding if I'll make some from scratch or use a box.... so many decisions to make!) I'll try to come up with a list of recipes this week. I've got some good magazines and web sites to peruse.
I've only bought a basic costume in a bag! I need a couple of accessories to really bring it together, and I have to practice my Halloween makeup a couple of times before the big day! I'm going to be a witch, but I think I want to go with the evil/scary look versus the ugly look. I'll be drawing exaggerated eyebrows and will have scary dark lips, but no fake moles or anything. It's all in my head, I just have to make sure I can execute it properly by practicing a couple of times.
Luckily I'll be working from home next week, which will give me a little extra time that I wouldn't normally have, but I really feel behind with all the traveling and extra-curricular activities I've been participating in lately. I'm a little bummed because I haven't had any time for projects this year, but at least with a holiday that comes around every year, you know that you always have next year.
Still, I'm really excited, and I just need to formulate a plan for Halloween Preparedness and make it happen next week! I'm sure it will be awesome, and if it isn't perfect, well, there's always next year. ;)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Fire & Ice - HBO Update
Most of you probably aren't aware of this, but I've been following it for YEARS so I'll give you the background. An amazing author, George R. R. Martin, is in the process of writing an amazing series of books called the Fire & Ice series. About 3 or 4 years ago HBO bought the option to adapt this series for television, and it's been an incredibly ardous process for a fan to follow for that long, but what can I say - the books are THAT GOOD! So far, not a lot has happened, but the pilot has been greenlit, so that's a start. HBO has slowly tackling the casting process and will hopefully film the pilot within the next year. Here are the casting highlights so far: Sean Bean (Boromir from Lord of the Rings), Mark Addy (A Knight's Tale, The Full Monty), Peter Dinklage (from Penelope), Alfie Allen (Lily Allen's little brother), and Tamzin Merchant (Catherine Howard - wife #5 in The Tudors) have been cast for the pilot. The latest though is a bit I'm incredibly excited about - Lena Headey, best known as Queen Gorgo from 300 and Sarah Connor from the Terminator television series has been cast as Queen Cersei! I'm so very exited about this series and thrilled with the talent they've found for this pilot. I'm hoping beyond hope that this gets picked up and cast for a full season. I've sincerely missed Deadwood and Rome, and I think this will fill that gap nicely for HBO. Of course I've never met an HBO drama that I didn't like... comedies, however are a different story... :)
The first book in the series is "A Game of Thrones" if you are interested in reading it - these books are AMAZING, and epic in the sense that Lord of the Rings is epic. Twilight readers beware, this stuff is WAY over your head. If you don't love to read, and can't handle having your heart broken within the first 100 pages, don't bother with this series! Words cannot describe the range and depth of emotion you will feel reading these books... be prepared for a wild ride with amazing highs and lows. You won't get through them in 3 days either... and you'll need many breaks, but it's sooooo worth it!
The first book in the series is "A Game of Thrones" if you are interested in reading it - these books are AMAZING, and epic in the sense that Lord of the Rings is epic. Twilight readers beware, this stuff is WAY over your head. If you don't love to read, and can't handle having your heart broken within the first 100 pages, don't bother with this series! Words cannot describe the range and depth of emotion you will feel reading these books... be prepared for a wild ride with amazing highs and lows. You won't get through them in 3 days either... and you'll need many breaks, but it's sooooo worth it!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mmmm... Cocktails are a girl's best friend!
Cool as a Cucumber Martini
1 1/2 oz. Absolut 100
1 oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Juice of 1 Lime
4 slices Fresh Cucumber
2 oz. Ginger Beer (this is non-alcoholic - like Root Beer)
• Muddle 3 slices of cucumber in shaker until mashed
• Squeeze in fresh lime juice
• Add St. Germain, Absolut 100 and ice
• Shake 15 times
• Add ginger beer
• Strain into rocks glass filled with ice
• Garnish with a slice of cucumber on glass and black straw
Jayce and I discovered these at the bar at Morton's in Charlotte during our weekly happy hour/dinner there. They have the BEST drinks, and their happy hour is $5 apps all night! Check it out some time - I highly recommend it! The mini salads, steak sandwiches, and cheeseburgers are our favorites.
This drink is ridiculously tasty and refreshing! It's labor intensive, but well worth it! :) If you like refreshing, slightly tart drinks, give this one a go.
I found my ginger beer at World Market (I was told that the stuff from Australia is the best!), but I think you can find it at your local fancy grocery store.
Let me know if you try it and like it!
1 1/2 oz. Absolut 100
1 oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Juice of 1 Lime
4 slices Fresh Cucumber
2 oz. Ginger Beer (this is non-alcoholic - like Root Beer)
• Muddle 3 slices of cucumber in shaker until mashed
• Squeeze in fresh lime juice
• Add St. Germain, Absolut 100 and ice
• Shake 15 times
• Add ginger beer
• Strain into rocks glass filled with ice
• Garnish with a slice of cucumber on glass and black straw
Jayce and I discovered these at the bar at Morton's in Charlotte during our weekly happy hour/dinner there. They have the BEST drinks, and their happy hour is $5 apps all night! Check it out some time - I highly recommend it! The mini salads, steak sandwiches, and cheeseburgers are our favorites.
This drink is ridiculously tasty and refreshing! It's labor intensive, but well worth it! :) If you like refreshing, slightly tart drinks, give this one a go.
I found my ginger beer at World Market (I was told that the stuff from Australia is the best!), but I think you can find it at your local fancy grocery store.
Let me know if you try it and like it!
Workouts, Diets, and Personal Trainers, Oh My!
It's been a while since I've made a post, so I'm just gonna give you a quick update on what's been going on in my life lately.
I recently signed up for a big block of personal training sessions at Fitness Together in Allen (www.allenft.com) and I did my intitial assessment on August 7th, and got the results and started working out in earnest on August 15th. An assessment basically measures all sorts of things, like your weight, your metabolism, resting heart rate, strength, flexibility, and measurements of pretty much every body part you have. I've learned that my metabolism is slow (like I needed another obstacle!), I can bench press 95 pounds (that really makes me sound like a wimp!), my resting heart rate is 60 (which is awesome), I'm really flexible (no problems there!), and I have a gazillion pounds to lose. So basically, I'm pretty strong, healthy and flexible, just need to drop some pounds and inches. All in all, about what I expected.
Currently my main goal is weight loss, with some secondary goals of gaining strength and cardio-vascular fitness. Given those goals, my diet is currently limited to 1200 calories per day (300 calories for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 150 calories for 2 snacks between meals) and I'm working at with a personal trainer twice a week, and trying to get cardio in 4-5 days a week. I'm really just trying to make sure that I stick to the diet (not easy AT ALL) and do some sort of exercise every day (so far I've only missed one day, but I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't being lazy!). It seems to be working, because I think I'm down 5 pounds so far, and considering I'm sore more days than not, I must be building up some good muscle mass, so that's helping me keep going. I like being strong, which doesn't make a lot of sense, since I'm not the type of person that will go into a gym regularly and pump iron, so I really need someone to make me do it, which is why I went the Personal Trainer route.
So far it's been an interesting ride, and I just don't really enjoy working out or dieting. The diet is the biggest challenge right now - keeping a food journal is really time consuming and can be frustrating at times since I spend a lot of time eating in restaurants (are veggies still healthy when you don't know how much salt & butter was used?!?) and have to spend a lot of time guessing how many calories were in the food I just ate. Luckily, I've gotten a good grasp on portion control and eating right before I started this, so it's not as hard as it would have been if I'd started 8 months ago. Basically, the idea is this: eat lots of fresh foods (just say no to processed foods!) with an emphasis on lean protein, vegetables and fruits. I can do that. I really enjoy that! My weakness however, is sweets - I love to bake and I'm trying to wean myself off of my morning mochas, but who knows if I'll actually do it. I did go from a Grande Non-fat No Whip Mocha (220 calories) to a Tall this week (170 calories), so that's a step in the right direction, but there's still a crapload of sugar in there. I'm trying to take it one step at a time though, so if I can keep the calories in check, I might really start watching the sugar in a week or two. I'm trying not to do too much at once so that I don't get too overwhelmed or discouraged.
Right now, I'm just trying to stay focused and try to make it to the 8 week mark when I do another assessment. The way I see it, if I stick to the diet and exercise as much as I can stand, I'll reach my goals sooner and be able to go back to a more realistic lifestyle. Some days I do better than others, but if I know I goofed a little, I try to throw in 15 extra minutes of cardio to make up for it. For me, a lot of it has to do with planning. For example, if I know that every Wednesday is Happy Hour day, and I really want to have a cocktail, I try to budget my calories very carefully so that I have enough left for that cocktail without having to cheat or go over my 1200 calories. It helps knowing that sticking to this will help me reach my goals faster, and knowing that I don't have to avoid anything, just eat it in moderation. It's really not as painful as I thought it would be!
I'm enjoying the progress, and enjoying the training, but I know I can't maintain this lifestyle forever. I know me, and I'm not a gym rat. Even after this is all over, I'll keep the yoga up, keep going to bellydancing class, and keep taking walks in the neighborhood. Pumping iron and hopping on treadmills on a regular basis.... not very likely. I know me and I just won't do that stuff without outside motivation. I'll have to revisit in a couple of months to see if I need to keep doing the personal training thing once a week just to keep me motivated and accountable.
Whew! So much for quick! Time to sign off... keep an eye out - I've got 5 more weeks until my next assessment, and if you're lucky, I'll have made enough progress that I won't feel embarrassed about posting my results...
I recently signed up for a big block of personal training sessions at Fitness Together in Allen (www.allenft.com) and I did my intitial assessment on August 7th, and got the results and started working out in earnest on August 15th. An assessment basically measures all sorts of things, like your weight, your metabolism, resting heart rate, strength, flexibility, and measurements of pretty much every body part you have. I've learned that my metabolism is slow (like I needed another obstacle!), I can bench press 95 pounds (that really makes me sound like a wimp!), my resting heart rate is 60 (which is awesome), I'm really flexible (no problems there!), and I have a gazillion pounds to lose. So basically, I'm pretty strong, healthy and flexible, just need to drop some pounds and inches. All in all, about what I expected.
Currently my main goal is weight loss, with some secondary goals of gaining strength and cardio-vascular fitness. Given those goals, my diet is currently limited to 1200 calories per day (300 calories for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 150 calories for 2 snacks between meals) and I'm working at with a personal trainer twice a week, and trying to get cardio in 4-5 days a week. I'm really just trying to make sure that I stick to the diet (not easy AT ALL) and do some sort of exercise every day (so far I've only missed one day, but I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't being lazy!). It seems to be working, because I think I'm down 5 pounds so far, and considering I'm sore more days than not, I must be building up some good muscle mass, so that's helping me keep going. I like being strong, which doesn't make a lot of sense, since I'm not the type of person that will go into a gym regularly and pump iron, so I really need someone to make me do it, which is why I went the Personal Trainer route.
So far it's been an interesting ride, and I just don't really enjoy working out or dieting. The diet is the biggest challenge right now - keeping a food journal is really time consuming and can be frustrating at times since I spend a lot of time eating in restaurants (are veggies still healthy when you don't know how much salt & butter was used?!?) and have to spend a lot of time guessing how many calories were in the food I just ate. Luckily, I've gotten a good grasp on portion control and eating right before I started this, so it's not as hard as it would have been if I'd started 8 months ago. Basically, the idea is this: eat lots of fresh foods (just say no to processed foods!) with an emphasis on lean protein, vegetables and fruits. I can do that. I really enjoy that! My weakness however, is sweets - I love to bake and I'm trying to wean myself off of my morning mochas, but who knows if I'll actually do it. I did go from a Grande Non-fat No Whip Mocha (220 calories) to a Tall this week (170 calories), so that's a step in the right direction, but there's still a crapload of sugar in there. I'm trying to take it one step at a time though, so if I can keep the calories in check, I might really start watching the sugar in a week or two. I'm trying not to do too much at once so that I don't get too overwhelmed or discouraged.
Right now, I'm just trying to stay focused and try to make it to the 8 week mark when I do another assessment. The way I see it, if I stick to the diet and exercise as much as I can stand, I'll reach my goals sooner and be able to go back to a more realistic lifestyle. Some days I do better than others, but if I know I goofed a little, I try to throw in 15 extra minutes of cardio to make up for it. For me, a lot of it has to do with planning. For example, if I know that every Wednesday is Happy Hour day, and I really want to have a cocktail, I try to budget my calories very carefully so that I have enough left for that cocktail without having to cheat or go over my 1200 calories. It helps knowing that sticking to this will help me reach my goals faster, and knowing that I don't have to avoid anything, just eat it in moderation. It's really not as painful as I thought it would be!
I'm enjoying the progress, and enjoying the training, but I know I can't maintain this lifestyle forever. I know me, and I'm not a gym rat. Even after this is all over, I'll keep the yoga up, keep going to bellydancing class, and keep taking walks in the neighborhood. Pumping iron and hopping on treadmills on a regular basis.... not very likely. I know me and I just won't do that stuff without outside motivation. I'll have to revisit in a couple of months to see if I need to keep doing the personal training thing once a week just to keep me motivated and accountable.
Whew! So much for quick! Time to sign off... keep an eye out - I've got 5 more weeks until my next assessment, and if you're lucky, I'll have made enough progress that I won't feel embarrassed about posting my results...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Happy Birthday to me...
So I just had a birthday last week and I finally hit the big 30! My 2 best friends and my b/f planned a lovely dinner out for me, and it was a blast. It was great to celebrate with friends and to feel loved. What more can you ask for on your birthday?
All in all, I think I'm really going to enjoy my 30's. The 20's are kind of chaotic and unsure... a time for figuring out who you are and learning about life and making plans for the kind of life you want to lead. That's not to say that turning 30 magically gives you the answers to all of life's little questions, but really just to say that at this point, you've probably done enough living and learning that you've answered a few of the important ones.
Anyway - in the spirit of my birthday, I'd like to post an Astrology reading done by an online friend of mine a while back. I find it to be interesting to read every now and again...
All about me:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michelle, born July 23, 1979 in Fayetteville, AR at 7:55PM
Sun and Moon in Leo, conjunct in the 7th house; Capricorn rising.
The best way for me to make certain I cover at least most of your chart is to take the houses in order, one through 12, and discuss planets as we meet them (this is kind of contrary to what my first instinct is, which is to start in the middle and dash all around, but doing it with at least an appearance of orderliness might help. Maybe.)
Thus, ta dah: First House. Your ascendant is in Capricorn, but your first house also contains Aquarius. In fact, it has the entire sign of Aquarius swallowed up within it (the next house cusp is Pisces on the 2nd). The technical term for this, so you can impress astrology buffs everywhere, is that you have an intercepted sign, or “Aquarius is intercepted in the first house”. When one sign is intercepted, or enclosed within the boundaries of a house, across your chart you will find the opposite sign intercepted in the opposite house (Leo intercepted in the 7th house).
Backing up: you do have the basic info that your chart has 12 houses, right, and there are twelve signs, and there are a bunch of planetary and other energies, and mixing them up together is what makes this all so much fun?
The first house (and the rising sign in particular) are supposed to show how you come across to others, particularly first impressions: the energy you project, your persona. You have no planets in the first house. When there are no planets in a house usually it’s that there aren’t particular challenges or gifts or a big focus on this area, but with your intercepted sign this is a little different.Capricorn rising comes across with a lot of serious dependability (Capricorn is ruled by Saturn): orderly, ambitious, and so on. What’s interesting here is that, although people by and large may meet you and think “oh, good, Ms. Dependable” this is really not what you want to project. You have an inward desire to show your originality, your independent spirit, how unusual you really are (Aquarian qualities: Aquarius is ruled by Uranus). You may have a desire to show the brightness of your intellect (Aquarius being an air sign) but what mostly comes across is capable, earthy Capricorn (“gee, she can really file well, can’t she?”). Thus there may be sometimes a big sense that people don’t get the real you. You may feel your intellectual abilities and originality are overlooked. It’s not that you aren’t capable of organization, structure, discipline, and all that—but your essence is much more that that (jumping out of line: we’re going to see one strategy or actuality for getting that originality out when we come to the placement of Uranus in your chart—in Scorpio, at the midheaven.) And—it’s not at all a bad thing to have, in your self presentation, both structure and originality. And, with Capricorn rising, Saturn may be an easier energy to deal with than for some of us (everyone gets a little worried about Saturn: the planet has such a bad reputation. In your chart, however, Saturn has a very important place, and since your immediate self presentation is harmonious with Saturn energy you may be fine with this.)(May be kind of like my own Pluto, which is on the ascendant—so’s Saturn, actually—I was talking to another astrology buff about Pluto; she was all “ooh, scary, hate Pluto transits, oh—wait, just look, you went through one…over there..” The period in question had felt quite normal to me (though full of Plutonian tumult), because—well, that’s the way the world felt to me as I was born. It’s the way it’s supposed to be, to my inner self.
For you, Saturn transits may be similar. But we’ll get to more on that soon too. (trying hard to stick to logical progression here!)
So, Second House. We have Pisces on the cusp here, and the south node of the moon. This is the house of valuables, of what is valued, of what you own, of what you think is important. Old time materialistic astrologers called it the house of money, thereby showing what they valued, now most look to it for a sense of what the person believes is important. This can be spiritual concepts, or silverware. It can be pride in some talent you possess, or pride in the fact you have a nice house. With Pisces here, I would believe what you value most has a spiritual or idealistic slant far more than a material one; with the south node of the moon here, you are very much in touch with your personal and private value system. A Pisces south node also fosters appreciation for dreams, imagination, fantasy, and can be drawn into what my dear departed dad would have termed bleeding-heart situations, into caretaking situations. But in fact this empathy and care feels right to you, it is what you do quite well, particularly if you can give unquestioningly-or if you can, perhaps, spend time in spiritual pursuits or fantasy (it has always made me a bit uncomfortable that astrology always lumps spirituality and fantasy together when we talk about Pisces or Neptune qualities. I think maybe it’s not a question of fantasy as in “this isn’t real” but in “this isn’t quantifiable”; it’s beyond what we can logically know.). So anyway—whatever that “beyond what we can know” quality means to you, it is very much a place you know in life and in your soul. (The north node, is what you must strive to know and achieve. We’ll get there, yes we will).
Aries is at the cusp of the 3rd House. You have no planets in this house, but you do have the asteroid Ceres here (and Vesta in early Taurus at the other end of this house). The third house is the house of communication, siblings, people who are like sibs to you, neighbors, short journeys (I always think of it as the “immediate network” house). Aries on the cusp of this house would bring a forthrightness to the areas covered by this house, a sort of dash-in-there impulsiveness. Ceres here might indicate a need for physical action to make yourself feel good (maybe a need to walk while you think, or something). Also a caretaking attitude towards the immediate environment (including brothers and sisters and neighbors, should you have any) that expresses itself actively (in Aries mode) or passionately and directly (and maybe sometimes tactlessly). There’s also a possibility that what you write or say (your communications) may actually nurture the spirits of those around you. However, with Vesta in Taurus also here, you need from time to time to remove yourself from the people right around you in order to recharge—you can find yourself drained by others (this goes back a bit to the Pisces south node as well, which needs to establish some boundaries—there could be a tendency to give and give and give and take care of and so on…This is admirable, but in order to continue doing the best you can in this area—and in others—you need to have times that are absolutely your own.). Vesta in Taurus, like your Cappie ascendant, is quite good at focused work. Might take a bit of time to get down to that focus, but once you are engaged in a project (particularly in 3rd house matters—writing might be one) you can stay with it very well.
Vesta is opposite your midheaven Uranus in Scorpio; although you have great focus when you want to, you may have some difficulty putting your focus on things that seem ordinary and mundane (like dishes…I am mentally wondering where my Vesta is at the moment; I’m so bad at putting off the mundane. sigh.)And, Vesta is conjunct Chiron, which is just over in the next house, the 4th house, with Taurus on the cusp. I’m just learning (in the past couple years) about the asteroids, and haven’t got a real feel for what happens when they are sitting together having tea…A guess here is that for you, healing and transcending any problems in the past (particularly in your sense of a secure home, of where you are at home) may have required the inwardness and focus that Vesta brings.
Maybe.
Anyway, with a Taurus 4th house…Home, for you, or “where you are at home in the world”, or your sense of roots and family—has a very physical component. You need a secure and lovely (Taurus being ruled by Venus, and an earth sign) home, probably in actuality (though this can be “home in the world of ideas” or something like this). Probably you are adept at creating such a place for yourself, as well as for others. In childhood—maybe not quite so secure. Chiron in the 4th is often associated with a childhood in which one or the other of your parents was in some way unavailable, either actually (because away from the household) or in essence (because ill, preoccupied, whatever). You had to work to create your own home and in a way your own inner parenting. You may also have struggled to create your own sense of self worth (like those terrible ads for—is it haircolor? “because…you’re worth it”.). It is not wrong to love beautiful actual things, to take pleasure in the nice material stuff in the universe (sometimes people with this placement become self-denying—but I’m hoping you aren’t given that we met via a very sense-indulgent forum). You have the Chiron-Uranus opposition that marked your generation of people who have amazing, jumpy, quirky, original minds. Chiron shows where you can transcend your own fears and hurtful experiences and mentor others who are experiencing similar things in their own lives. Thus, you may have skills (or may develop them) in helping others ground their energies, make their homes (internal or external—I’m not saying you are going to go into house construction as a business—but you’d be a great asset to a group like, say, Habitat for Humanity)
Your 5th house has Gemini on the cusp. Mars in Gemini is here; so is Juno, also in Gemini. Mars is opposite Neptune (Neptune is over in the 11th house in Sagittarius). This is the house of love affairs (the falling-in-love early stage of those), of play, of creative projects, of children. With Mars here you have a lot of actual physical energy to invest in this realm (which is great), with Mars in Gemini, you will need friends/lovers/playmates/children who are good conversationalists, mentally adept, and not boring (or at least you’d prefer this). You are probably very good with children, because you have an intrinsically playful spirit (which might surprise anyone who only picks up your rather dutiful Capricorn ascendant), and if you can use the concept of “play” in any creative endeavors it will take you farther than “okay, now I must do something creative and worry about it”. This 5th house energy is a real asset to your chart (say I with a tinge of “aw, I wish I had planets in my 5th house”). Mars sextiles Jupiter/Mercury who are very much happily together in Leo in your 7th house; it squares Saturn and your north node, and is one of the points in your T square (and more about that later too).
Partnerships, marriage, deep relationships—these, for you, will help you further your creative and career goals, rather than hindering them.
Sometimes the Mars/Neptune opposition brings in almost too much empathy and kindness; don’t get involved romantically with people who make you feel sorry for them, okay? Then you’ll be fine.
Gemini is also on the cusp of the 6th house, though just barely (there’s a lot of Cancer in this house as well). 6th house is the house of health, service, work-to-pay-the-rent (may not be what you long to do, more about what you find yourself having to do). Your Venus, in Cancer, is in this house, conjunct your descendant (the cusp of the 7th house).Gemini on the cusp of the 6th would make me think a number of things: that you bring a lot of inquisitive, energized intellectual energy into the realm of work/service/health (but not stodgy intellectual energy, never boring). You need to have intellectual engagement in the workplace, and to feel your best (like you would not be happy doing “mindless” labor; whatever you do you want to be able to think about). Nervous energy, perhaps, that needs some physical grounding (back to that Ceres in Aries stuff). But you also need to feel secure in this area (Cancer in the 6th) and are very, very sensitive to your surroundings. The work environment really needs to be congenial for those with Venus in the 6th; this includes having pleasant people to work with as well as nice surroundings. Venus in Cancer is a very tender placement; Cancer is a mothering sign, a nurturing sign, so often affection is displayed and security sought through “mothering” whatever your gender; Venus in Cancer people can be extremely ferocious if they feel that something or someone they care for is threatened. They can be romantic in the traditional way often attributed to my own sun sign (Libra): they may love the whole flowers and sweetness and poetry and tender little touches scenario a lot, and they can get their feelings hurt very easily. People who pick up your Capricorn ascendant are going to be way startled by the depths of your emotionality, and by how sensitive your feelings are.
Cancer is on the cusp of the 7th house, and here’s where the intercepted sign of Leo also lives. And here’s where we find your Sun and Moon, absolutely conjunct in Leo, and your Mercury and Jupiter conjunct, also in Leo. Dark Moon Lilith is also in the 7th house.
Although your Venus in Cancer is in the 6th house, she is conjunct (close enough by degree) to your Leo Moon and Sun in the 7th.
You were perhaps a very unusually pretty little child, and certainly drew a great deal of affection from your parents, or from those who were like parents to you. Venus conjunct either the moon or sun usually makes for attractiveness wherever it falls in a chart; conjunct the two lights—well, gee, people likely find you extremely attractive at all levels (doesn’t have to be physical perfection or anything like that—my mother had something similar in her chart and while people tended to think she was beautiful—she projected this very well—she was the first to note that in fact it was kind of magic/illusion. But in her case Neptune, the planet of all that illusion and projection, was strongly involved as well.) I thought my mother was gorgeous, by the way, despite her patient pointing out that if I could look at things rationally, her nose was too short, etc. And she was big on the “inner beauty counts most” stuff. You possess that inner beauty, whatever the exterior may be.
When Sun/Moon are conjunct, in the same place, there is an inner and outer consistency in the nature. Sun governs how you consciously define your self; the Moon the unconscious, more emotional side of your nature. For you your inner and your outer sense of identity moves through the qualities of Leo, and in the 7th house.
This is interesting (indeed, all your Leo energy is interesting, because it is just a bit hidden here, yet so strong).
You’ll have to excuse me as I dash about here—there’s a lot of things to say about all that is happening at this point in your chart, and I’m trying to make it coherent without skipping anything.
So, 7th house, Cancer on the cusp: in partnerships, marriage, joint ventures, you will take a tender, Cancer-like view of things. Protective, sentimental, tender (but, as I always like to throw in when talking about Cancer elements, one must remember that revolutionaries like Emma Goldman and HD Thoreau were sun sign Cancers) You may treat friends and welcome them into your life as if they were family (a Cancer sort of trait). And friends, particularly partners (business or romantic) will instinctively come to you for nuturing, for someone who will give them uncritical (though sometimes moody) attention and affection.
BUT there is part of you, and an important part, in which all that Leo is shining, and wanting what Leo truly wants and deserves. Because all this is enfolded in the intercepted sign, you may (as in the first house) feel that you aren’t quite able to make your needs and essence known. Sometimes this sort of frustration works out in like—over amping those qualities kind of like a child who has been patient and asking for something in a quiet polite voice who gets ignored, and ignored, and ignored, and finally shouts and stamps her feet and says “HEY! I WANT…” whatever. And everyone is very shocked. Thus, when you assert your Leoness, you may assert it very fervently. Especially with Sun/Moon here.
You are probably very familiar with the popularized versions of Leo traits: generous, brave, in the spot light, luxury loving. Leo at its purest has the essence of the perfect, charming, indulged child playing in the sunlight, happily noticing that everyone is watching her, and loving everyone. Leos are dramatic, loyal, bold, and very proud souls. Nobility actually means something to a Leo, and I can’t think of another sign that is more inherently hopeful and yet able to go through stresses and storms, and even enjoy the intensity.
With sun in Leo you consciously exemplify many of those traits; with the moon here as well you have an internal Leo sense. Lots of passion, lots of warmth. And—a need for admiration.
It is intriguing that your sense of self, inner and outer, play out best in the realm of partnerships/marriages; it is in a way as if you find yourself in the mirror of the eyes of others; in the give-and-take of relating to partners. This would feel kind of paradoxical to people who don’t have a strong 7th house emphasis in their charts (“what do you mean, the LAST thing I need to be me is the presence of other people!!!”)—and even for you, with that Vesta in Taurus placement and all your empathies, there is still a need for time that is not partnered. But, on the whole, partnerships should be good, and good for you, and good for the people you get involved with.
And, you have Jupiter/Mercury conjunct in Leo in this house. So, your mind, your communication skills, are very Leo (Mercury) and kind of expanded (Jupiter); there should be a lot of optimism in your nature, and you should have excellent skills at kind of rallying people, making them feel good, and so forth. (and, all the qualities exemplified by the planets in the 7th house may also in some way describe the sorts of people you are drawn into partnership with). Jupiter/Mercury people do sometimes have trouble with convincing other people to take them seriously when they are depressed or sad, because even in the depths there is this sort of rosy-sunshine thing going on. Someone has to know you very well indeed to really see when all is not sunshine-bright and lovely for you. This might be particularly true if they are expecting always that you will be the tender, supportive one in the partnership.
With Darkmoon Lilith also in this house I’d think that you do have a healthy sense of yourself and your own feminine power and won’t get swept off track too quickly or too far. Again, partnership is going to offer you a lot of scope for exploring all this.
Virgo is at the cusp of the 8th house.
(another day here, let’s continue the circuit)…
In Virgo, in this 8th house, you have your north node conjunct Saturn. With Saturn conjunct, you are given a little more help in a way, in meeting the challenges of this node, which are in my view (remembering always that someone else might see this a bit differently) to manifest, to ground, at a mutual level, the ideals and values and fantasies of your Pisces south node. This could play out for you in actual relationships with actual people, particularly major, intense, sexual partners in your life, or it could play out in a more metaphoric way (although equally in physical reality) through contacts with death, regeneration, inheritance issues (which is a concept that I think goes way beyond “oh, grandma died and left me her collection of china” to “what do we really gather from the collective traditions? what is our greater legacy, what has been given to us that it is up to us to claim, and then to further and pass on?” ) In the second house your south node is about your personal, individual value system; in the 8th house it goes way beyond you. I said Saturn is a help to you, but you should be told that sometimes Saturn is heavy handed in his helpfulness (this is why Saturn scares some people: words like discipline and structure and boundaries and paying attention aren’t necessarily fun words to hear. Saturn can come into your life like an overbearing elder, and, depending upon how you greet this energy, there can be a good deal of “gee, why me?” going on.)
My thought about your T square (Neptune and Mars with Saturn as the focal point) is that this Saturn energy is probably vital in giving you the focus and strength to develop whatever is important to you through creativity/play/kids/romance (5th house Mars) and the collective group imagination, wishes, dreams (Neptune in the 11th). As with your Capricorn ascent, this should help with focus and carry through.
When you have intercepted signs you also get double signs , or duplicated signs, and in your chart you have Gemini and Sag duplicated (Gemini on the cusp of both your 5th and 6th houses; Sagittarius on both your 11th and 12th). So I might speculated that the way to get your originality (intercepted Aquarius) and your drama, flair, place in the limelight (Leo intercepted) out there is through travel, study, and communication (all Gemini-Sagittarian sorts of things)
But (tries to invoke her phantom inner Virgo qualities)…on to the next house. The ninth house is all about travel, stretching the mind (higher education, philosophy, spirituality—in terms of thinking, exploring, learning, teaching, and so on). For you a nicely intellectual, balanced, beauty loving Libra area of life, sizzling with transformative Pluto here. Oh, and look—Pluto trines your Mars. It’s kind of like darting some sizzling energy up and down from creativity to exploration and back again. Wow. You have some formidable power there. Pluto sextiles Neptune in your 11th also; you can draw this energy into groups (hmmm. Ever consider being a TV evangelicalist? Nope? Well, you can probably really galvanize groups of people, drawing them to their higher ideals.) This would also be a great combo for someone who was teaching (either as an actual teacher, or someone who in some fashion needed to pass on information and excitement—and get people to actually do something: hey, clean up the streets! plant flowers! feed the hungry!)
And on to your midheaven and 10th, with Uranus at the midheaven in Scorpio.
Okay then. Unconventional, brilliant, perhaps suddenly thrust into the public view. You’d work best in your career if you work by yourself (or if you have an equally brilliant boss). The corporate career is not a very good option for you (unless your Saturn energy really carries everything for you) because, frankly, you aren’t good at ass licking, and the corporate world will likely view you as beyond avant garde (down to just plain nuts). Their loss, because you have tremendous abilities and talents to offer in the right place and right light. Computer stuff and the whole cyber world would be very appropriate and easy places for you to focus some of your career energies, because these sorts of things would tend to come very naturally to you.
11th house (hopes and wishes, collective endeavors, groups, friends) has Sagittarius on the cusp, Neptune within, great idealism, great sympathies (good for rallying people to causes). You may attract kind of…spacey people, which could either be fun for you or annoying (or both). May have to balance needs of the collective versus your own path .And indeed, with that T square going, there is an inner pull that makes you work on how you fit the needs of the collective (or your own secret wishes), your creative drive (and fun), and your life path (node/Saturn) all together in something that makes sense.
I like squares, because they build our strength and our ability to actually do something in our lives; lovely flowing trine energies sometimes just make people sit back and sigh and say “oh, it’s all good, isn’t it” (the most boring people I have met had charts that were pure trine energy. They were nice. They were content. They were boring.).
Your 12th house, house of the unconscious, has Sagittarius on the cusp but a whole lot of Capricorn going on. You have no planets here, so it’s not that you are repressing a whole lot of stuff (lucky you); you will get best in touch with your unconscious and things that might otherwise be hidden by working with the Jupiter energies in the 7th house (oddly, in intercepted Leo): true, dramatic, warm, generous expanded partnerships, and with the Saturn energy of the 8th house/node conjunction (which also involves, in a way, other people at a really intimate level).
This is a lot to process indeed. You’ll probably want to print this out (I hope it fits in the PM box!!) and think about it; any questions are welcome. (Leo women are wonderful, by the way, whatever else is going on in their charts!)
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Thanks again to the dear lady who put this together for me! It's amazingly accurate! Hope you weren't too bored reading it...
And if you are interested in astrology at all, I highly recommend www.astro.com as a place to check out your own info (or that of your spouses, children, friends, etc.). All you need is birthday, time, and place. No need to register or anything.
Have fun!
All in all, I think I'm really going to enjoy my 30's. The 20's are kind of chaotic and unsure... a time for figuring out who you are and learning about life and making plans for the kind of life you want to lead. That's not to say that turning 30 magically gives you the answers to all of life's little questions, but really just to say that at this point, you've probably done enough living and learning that you've answered a few of the important ones.
Anyway - in the spirit of my birthday, I'd like to post an Astrology reading done by an online friend of mine a while back. I find it to be interesting to read every now and again...
All about me:
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Michelle, born July 23, 1979 in Fayetteville, AR at 7:55PM
Sun and Moon in Leo, conjunct in the 7th house; Capricorn rising.
The best way for me to make certain I cover at least most of your chart is to take the houses in order, one through 12, and discuss planets as we meet them (this is kind of contrary to what my first instinct is, which is to start in the middle and dash all around, but doing it with at least an appearance of orderliness might help. Maybe.)
Thus, ta dah: First House. Your ascendant is in Capricorn, but your first house also contains Aquarius. In fact, it has the entire sign of Aquarius swallowed up within it (the next house cusp is Pisces on the 2nd). The technical term for this, so you can impress astrology buffs everywhere, is that you have an intercepted sign, or “Aquarius is intercepted in the first house”. When one sign is intercepted, or enclosed within the boundaries of a house, across your chart you will find the opposite sign intercepted in the opposite house (Leo intercepted in the 7th house).
Backing up: you do have the basic info that your chart has 12 houses, right, and there are twelve signs, and there are a bunch of planetary and other energies, and mixing them up together is what makes this all so much fun?
The first house (and the rising sign in particular) are supposed to show how you come across to others, particularly first impressions: the energy you project, your persona. You have no planets in the first house. When there are no planets in a house usually it’s that there aren’t particular challenges or gifts or a big focus on this area, but with your intercepted sign this is a little different.Capricorn rising comes across with a lot of serious dependability (Capricorn is ruled by Saturn): orderly, ambitious, and so on. What’s interesting here is that, although people by and large may meet you and think “oh, good, Ms. Dependable” this is really not what you want to project. You have an inward desire to show your originality, your independent spirit, how unusual you really are (Aquarian qualities: Aquarius is ruled by Uranus). You may have a desire to show the brightness of your intellect (Aquarius being an air sign) but what mostly comes across is capable, earthy Capricorn (“gee, she can really file well, can’t she?”). Thus there may be sometimes a big sense that people don’t get the real you. You may feel your intellectual abilities and originality are overlooked. It’s not that you aren’t capable of organization, structure, discipline, and all that—but your essence is much more that that (jumping out of line: we’re going to see one strategy or actuality for getting that originality out when we come to the placement of Uranus in your chart—in Scorpio, at the midheaven.) And—it’s not at all a bad thing to have, in your self presentation, both structure and originality. And, with Capricorn rising, Saturn may be an easier energy to deal with than for some of us (everyone gets a little worried about Saturn: the planet has such a bad reputation. In your chart, however, Saturn has a very important place, and since your immediate self presentation is harmonious with Saturn energy you may be fine with this.)(May be kind of like my own Pluto, which is on the ascendant—so’s Saturn, actually—I was talking to another astrology buff about Pluto; she was all “ooh, scary, hate Pluto transits, oh—wait, just look, you went through one…over there..” The period in question had felt quite normal to me (though full of Plutonian tumult), because—well, that’s the way the world felt to me as I was born. It’s the way it’s supposed to be, to my inner self.
For you, Saturn transits may be similar. But we’ll get to more on that soon too. (trying hard to stick to logical progression here!)
So, Second House. We have Pisces on the cusp here, and the south node of the moon. This is the house of valuables, of what is valued, of what you own, of what you think is important. Old time materialistic astrologers called it the house of money, thereby showing what they valued, now most look to it for a sense of what the person believes is important. This can be spiritual concepts, or silverware. It can be pride in some talent you possess, or pride in the fact you have a nice house. With Pisces here, I would believe what you value most has a spiritual or idealistic slant far more than a material one; with the south node of the moon here, you are very much in touch with your personal and private value system. A Pisces south node also fosters appreciation for dreams, imagination, fantasy, and can be drawn into what my dear departed dad would have termed bleeding-heart situations, into caretaking situations. But in fact this empathy and care feels right to you, it is what you do quite well, particularly if you can give unquestioningly-or if you can, perhaps, spend time in spiritual pursuits or fantasy (it has always made me a bit uncomfortable that astrology always lumps spirituality and fantasy together when we talk about Pisces or Neptune qualities. I think maybe it’s not a question of fantasy as in “this isn’t real” but in “this isn’t quantifiable”; it’s beyond what we can logically know.). So anyway—whatever that “beyond what we can know” quality means to you, it is very much a place you know in life and in your soul. (The north node, is what you must strive to know and achieve. We’ll get there, yes we will).
Aries is at the cusp of the 3rd House. You have no planets in this house, but you do have the asteroid Ceres here (and Vesta in early Taurus at the other end of this house). The third house is the house of communication, siblings, people who are like sibs to you, neighbors, short journeys (I always think of it as the “immediate network” house). Aries on the cusp of this house would bring a forthrightness to the areas covered by this house, a sort of dash-in-there impulsiveness. Ceres here might indicate a need for physical action to make yourself feel good (maybe a need to walk while you think, or something). Also a caretaking attitude towards the immediate environment (including brothers and sisters and neighbors, should you have any) that expresses itself actively (in Aries mode) or passionately and directly (and maybe sometimes tactlessly). There’s also a possibility that what you write or say (your communications) may actually nurture the spirits of those around you. However, with Vesta in Taurus also here, you need from time to time to remove yourself from the people right around you in order to recharge—you can find yourself drained by others (this goes back a bit to the Pisces south node as well, which needs to establish some boundaries—there could be a tendency to give and give and give and take care of and so on…This is admirable, but in order to continue doing the best you can in this area—and in others—you need to have times that are absolutely your own.). Vesta in Taurus, like your Cappie ascendant, is quite good at focused work. Might take a bit of time to get down to that focus, but once you are engaged in a project (particularly in 3rd house matters—writing might be one) you can stay with it very well.
Vesta is opposite your midheaven Uranus in Scorpio; although you have great focus when you want to, you may have some difficulty putting your focus on things that seem ordinary and mundane (like dishes…I am mentally wondering where my Vesta is at the moment; I’m so bad at putting off the mundane. sigh.)And, Vesta is conjunct Chiron, which is just over in the next house, the 4th house, with Taurus on the cusp. I’m just learning (in the past couple years) about the asteroids, and haven’t got a real feel for what happens when they are sitting together having tea…A guess here is that for you, healing and transcending any problems in the past (particularly in your sense of a secure home, of where you are at home) may have required the inwardness and focus that Vesta brings.
Maybe.
Anyway, with a Taurus 4th house…Home, for you, or “where you are at home in the world”, or your sense of roots and family—has a very physical component. You need a secure and lovely (Taurus being ruled by Venus, and an earth sign) home, probably in actuality (though this can be “home in the world of ideas” or something like this). Probably you are adept at creating such a place for yourself, as well as for others. In childhood—maybe not quite so secure. Chiron in the 4th is often associated with a childhood in which one or the other of your parents was in some way unavailable, either actually (because away from the household) or in essence (because ill, preoccupied, whatever). You had to work to create your own home and in a way your own inner parenting. You may also have struggled to create your own sense of self worth (like those terrible ads for—is it haircolor? “because…you’re worth it”.). It is not wrong to love beautiful actual things, to take pleasure in the nice material stuff in the universe (sometimes people with this placement become self-denying—but I’m hoping you aren’t given that we met via a very sense-indulgent forum). You have the Chiron-Uranus opposition that marked your generation of people who have amazing, jumpy, quirky, original minds. Chiron shows where you can transcend your own fears and hurtful experiences and mentor others who are experiencing similar things in their own lives. Thus, you may have skills (or may develop them) in helping others ground their energies, make their homes (internal or external—I’m not saying you are going to go into house construction as a business—but you’d be a great asset to a group like, say, Habitat for Humanity)
Your 5th house has Gemini on the cusp. Mars in Gemini is here; so is Juno, also in Gemini. Mars is opposite Neptune (Neptune is over in the 11th house in Sagittarius). This is the house of love affairs (the falling-in-love early stage of those), of play, of creative projects, of children. With Mars here you have a lot of actual physical energy to invest in this realm (which is great), with Mars in Gemini, you will need friends/lovers/playmates/children who are good conversationalists, mentally adept, and not boring (or at least you’d prefer this). You are probably very good with children, because you have an intrinsically playful spirit (which might surprise anyone who only picks up your rather dutiful Capricorn ascendant), and if you can use the concept of “play” in any creative endeavors it will take you farther than “okay, now I must do something creative and worry about it”. This 5th house energy is a real asset to your chart (say I with a tinge of “aw, I wish I had planets in my 5th house”). Mars sextiles Jupiter/Mercury who are very much happily together in Leo in your 7th house; it squares Saturn and your north node, and is one of the points in your T square (and more about that later too).
Partnerships, marriage, deep relationships—these, for you, will help you further your creative and career goals, rather than hindering them.
Sometimes the Mars/Neptune opposition brings in almost too much empathy and kindness; don’t get involved romantically with people who make you feel sorry for them, okay? Then you’ll be fine.
Gemini is also on the cusp of the 6th house, though just barely (there’s a lot of Cancer in this house as well). 6th house is the house of health, service, work-to-pay-the-rent (may not be what you long to do, more about what you find yourself having to do). Your Venus, in Cancer, is in this house, conjunct your descendant (the cusp of the 7th house).Gemini on the cusp of the 6th would make me think a number of things: that you bring a lot of inquisitive, energized intellectual energy into the realm of work/service/health (but not stodgy intellectual energy, never boring). You need to have intellectual engagement in the workplace, and to feel your best (like you would not be happy doing “mindless” labor; whatever you do you want to be able to think about). Nervous energy, perhaps, that needs some physical grounding (back to that Ceres in Aries stuff). But you also need to feel secure in this area (Cancer in the 6th) and are very, very sensitive to your surroundings. The work environment really needs to be congenial for those with Venus in the 6th; this includes having pleasant people to work with as well as nice surroundings. Venus in Cancer is a very tender placement; Cancer is a mothering sign, a nurturing sign, so often affection is displayed and security sought through “mothering” whatever your gender; Venus in Cancer people can be extremely ferocious if they feel that something or someone they care for is threatened. They can be romantic in the traditional way often attributed to my own sun sign (Libra): they may love the whole flowers and sweetness and poetry and tender little touches scenario a lot, and they can get their feelings hurt very easily. People who pick up your Capricorn ascendant are going to be way startled by the depths of your emotionality, and by how sensitive your feelings are.
Cancer is on the cusp of the 7th house, and here’s where the intercepted sign of Leo also lives. And here’s where we find your Sun and Moon, absolutely conjunct in Leo, and your Mercury and Jupiter conjunct, also in Leo. Dark Moon Lilith is also in the 7th house.
Although your Venus in Cancer is in the 6th house, she is conjunct (close enough by degree) to your Leo Moon and Sun in the 7th.
You were perhaps a very unusually pretty little child, and certainly drew a great deal of affection from your parents, or from those who were like parents to you. Venus conjunct either the moon or sun usually makes for attractiveness wherever it falls in a chart; conjunct the two lights—well, gee, people likely find you extremely attractive at all levels (doesn’t have to be physical perfection or anything like that—my mother had something similar in her chart and while people tended to think she was beautiful—she projected this very well—she was the first to note that in fact it was kind of magic/illusion. But in her case Neptune, the planet of all that illusion and projection, was strongly involved as well.) I thought my mother was gorgeous, by the way, despite her patient pointing out that if I could look at things rationally, her nose was too short, etc. And she was big on the “inner beauty counts most” stuff. You possess that inner beauty, whatever the exterior may be.
When Sun/Moon are conjunct, in the same place, there is an inner and outer consistency in the nature. Sun governs how you consciously define your self; the Moon the unconscious, more emotional side of your nature. For you your inner and your outer sense of identity moves through the qualities of Leo, and in the 7th house.
This is interesting (indeed, all your Leo energy is interesting, because it is just a bit hidden here, yet so strong).
You’ll have to excuse me as I dash about here—there’s a lot of things to say about all that is happening at this point in your chart, and I’m trying to make it coherent without skipping anything.
So, 7th house, Cancer on the cusp: in partnerships, marriage, joint ventures, you will take a tender, Cancer-like view of things. Protective, sentimental, tender (but, as I always like to throw in when talking about Cancer elements, one must remember that revolutionaries like Emma Goldman and HD Thoreau were sun sign Cancers) You may treat friends and welcome them into your life as if they were family (a Cancer sort of trait). And friends, particularly partners (business or romantic) will instinctively come to you for nuturing, for someone who will give them uncritical (though sometimes moody) attention and affection.
BUT there is part of you, and an important part, in which all that Leo is shining, and wanting what Leo truly wants and deserves. Because all this is enfolded in the intercepted sign, you may (as in the first house) feel that you aren’t quite able to make your needs and essence known. Sometimes this sort of frustration works out in like—over amping those qualities kind of like a child who has been patient and asking for something in a quiet polite voice who gets ignored, and ignored, and ignored, and finally shouts and stamps her feet and says “HEY! I WANT…” whatever. And everyone is very shocked. Thus, when you assert your Leoness, you may assert it very fervently. Especially with Sun/Moon here.
You are probably very familiar with the popularized versions of Leo traits: generous, brave, in the spot light, luxury loving. Leo at its purest has the essence of the perfect, charming, indulged child playing in the sunlight, happily noticing that everyone is watching her, and loving everyone. Leos are dramatic, loyal, bold, and very proud souls. Nobility actually means something to a Leo, and I can’t think of another sign that is more inherently hopeful and yet able to go through stresses and storms, and even enjoy the intensity.
With sun in Leo you consciously exemplify many of those traits; with the moon here as well you have an internal Leo sense. Lots of passion, lots of warmth. And—a need for admiration.
It is intriguing that your sense of self, inner and outer, play out best in the realm of partnerships/marriages; it is in a way as if you find yourself in the mirror of the eyes of others; in the give-and-take of relating to partners. This would feel kind of paradoxical to people who don’t have a strong 7th house emphasis in their charts (“what do you mean, the LAST thing I need to be me is the presence of other people!!!”)—and even for you, with that Vesta in Taurus placement and all your empathies, there is still a need for time that is not partnered. But, on the whole, partnerships should be good, and good for you, and good for the people you get involved with.
And, you have Jupiter/Mercury conjunct in Leo in this house. So, your mind, your communication skills, are very Leo (Mercury) and kind of expanded (Jupiter); there should be a lot of optimism in your nature, and you should have excellent skills at kind of rallying people, making them feel good, and so forth. (and, all the qualities exemplified by the planets in the 7th house may also in some way describe the sorts of people you are drawn into partnership with). Jupiter/Mercury people do sometimes have trouble with convincing other people to take them seriously when they are depressed or sad, because even in the depths there is this sort of rosy-sunshine thing going on. Someone has to know you very well indeed to really see when all is not sunshine-bright and lovely for you. This might be particularly true if they are expecting always that you will be the tender, supportive one in the partnership.
With Darkmoon Lilith also in this house I’d think that you do have a healthy sense of yourself and your own feminine power and won’t get swept off track too quickly or too far. Again, partnership is going to offer you a lot of scope for exploring all this.
Virgo is at the cusp of the 8th house.
(another day here, let’s continue the circuit)…
In Virgo, in this 8th house, you have your north node conjunct Saturn. With Saturn conjunct, you are given a little more help in a way, in meeting the challenges of this node, which are in my view (remembering always that someone else might see this a bit differently) to manifest, to ground, at a mutual level, the ideals and values and fantasies of your Pisces south node. This could play out for you in actual relationships with actual people, particularly major, intense, sexual partners in your life, or it could play out in a more metaphoric way (although equally in physical reality) through contacts with death, regeneration, inheritance issues (which is a concept that I think goes way beyond “oh, grandma died and left me her collection of china” to “what do we really gather from the collective traditions? what is our greater legacy, what has been given to us that it is up to us to claim, and then to further and pass on?” ) In the second house your south node is about your personal, individual value system; in the 8th house it goes way beyond you. I said Saturn is a help to you, but you should be told that sometimes Saturn is heavy handed in his helpfulness (this is why Saturn scares some people: words like discipline and structure and boundaries and paying attention aren’t necessarily fun words to hear. Saturn can come into your life like an overbearing elder, and, depending upon how you greet this energy, there can be a good deal of “gee, why me?” going on.)
My thought about your T square (Neptune and Mars with Saturn as the focal point) is that this Saturn energy is probably vital in giving you the focus and strength to develop whatever is important to you through creativity/play/kids/romance (5th house Mars) and the collective group imagination, wishes, dreams (Neptune in the 11th). As with your Capricorn ascent, this should help with focus and carry through.
When you have intercepted signs you also get double signs , or duplicated signs, and in your chart you have Gemini and Sag duplicated (Gemini on the cusp of both your 5th and 6th houses; Sagittarius on both your 11th and 12th). So I might speculated that the way to get your originality (intercepted Aquarius) and your drama, flair, place in the limelight (Leo intercepted) out there is through travel, study, and communication (all Gemini-Sagittarian sorts of things)
But (tries to invoke her phantom inner Virgo qualities)…on to the next house. The ninth house is all about travel, stretching the mind (higher education, philosophy, spirituality—in terms of thinking, exploring, learning, teaching, and so on). For you a nicely intellectual, balanced, beauty loving Libra area of life, sizzling with transformative Pluto here. Oh, and look—Pluto trines your Mars. It’s kind of like darting some sizzling energy up and down from creativity to exploration and back again. Wow. You have some formidable power there. Pluto sextiles Neptune in your 11th also; you can draw this energy into groups (hmmm. Ever consider being a TV evangelicalist? Nope? Well, you can probably really galvanize groups of people, drawing them to their higher ideals.) This would also be a great combo for someone who was teaching (either as an actual teacher, or someone who in some fashion needed to pass on information and excitement—and get people to actually do something: hey, clean up the streets! plant flowers! feed the hungry!)
And on to your midheaven and 10th, with Uranus at the midheaven in Scorpio.
Okay then. Unconventional, brilliant, perhaps suddenly thrust into the public view. You’d work best in your career if you work by yourself (or if you have an equally brilliant boss). The corporate career is not a very good option for you (unless your Saturn energy really carries everything for you) because, frankly, you aren’t good at ass licking, and the corporate world will likely view you as beyond avant garde (down to just plain nuts). Their loss, because you have tremendous abilities and talents to offer in the right place and right light. Computer stuff and the whole cyber world would be very appropriate and easy places for you to focus some of your career energies, because these sorts of things would tend to come very naturally to you.
11th house (hopes and wishes, collective endeavors, groups, friends) has Sagittarius on the cusp, Neptune within, great idealism, great sympathies (good for rallying people to causes). You may attract kind of…spacey people, which could either be fun for you or annoying (or both). May have to balance needs of the collective versus your own path .And indeed, with that T square going, there is an inner pull that makes you work on how you fit the needs of the collective (or your own secret wishes), your creative drive (and fun), and your life path (node/Saturn) all together in something that makes sense.
I like squares, because they build our strength and our ability to actually do something in our lives; lovely flowing trine energies sometimes just make people sit back and sigh and say “oh, it’s all good, isn’t it” (the most boring people I have met had charts that were pure trine energy. They were nice. They were content. They were boring.).
Your 12th house, house of the unconscious, has Sagittarius on the cusp but a whole lot of Capricorn going on. You have no planets here, so it’s not that you are repressing a whole lot of stuff (lucky you); you will get best in touch with your unconscious and things that might otherwise be hidden by working with the Jupiter energies in the 7th house (oddly, in intercepted Leo): true, dramatic, warm, generous expanded partnerships, and with the Saturn energy of the 8th house/node conjunction (which also involves, in a way, other people at a really intimate level).
This is a lot to process indeed. You’ll probably want to print this out (I hope it fits in the PM box!!) and think about it; any questions are welcome. (Leo women are wonderful, by the way, whatever else is going on in their charts!)
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Thanks again to the dear lady who put this together for me! It's amazingly accurate! Hope you weren't too bored reading it...
And if you are interested in astrology at all, I highly recommend www.astro.com as a place to check out your own info (or that of your spouses, children, friends, etc.). All you need is birthday, time, and place. No need to register or anything.
Have fun!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Halloween is on it's way!
The title says it all! For those of you who don't know, I hosted my first Halloween Costume party last year (2008), and I'm looking to do it bigger and better in 2009! Food, decor, costumes, I like to go all out! My ideas are always huge, but sometimes I fall short in the execution, so this year, I've got to start planning EARLY!
Since I've got absolutely nothing to do this week at work, so I've been trying to scare up things to keep me busy. (Yesterday's task was researching Vegas for next weekend's trip! Woo woo!) Today's task is much more relevant to the title and definitely and much more interesting! I'm trying to figure out what to be for Halloween, and since Troy has his awesome French Musketeer costume, I'm considering trying to do a matching costume... so I started googleing Marie Antoinette costumes, and stumbled across this fantastic link which has seriously inspired me:
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/11/the_making_of_a_marie_antoinet.html
The dress! The wig! The mask! The fan! It's just ALL so FREAKING FABULOUS that I can't stand it!
And then I made my way to the Romantic Threads web site... and the gowns are so breathtakingly beautiful, I can hardly stand it. I can hardly afford it either! But look at this peacock masterpiece: http://store.romanticthreads.com/pemaanfago.html Sooo lovely! If you're gonna host a rocking costume party on Halloween, shouldn't you look the part?
And what about this one? This one could work for the French theme, AND I could totally push it over into vampire territory EASILY: http://store.romanticthreads.com/scfawegoorco.html If I spend that kind of dough, I'm wearing that bad boy for several years!
Hmmm.... time to start saving that hard earned cash! Those babies aren't cheap!
Since I've got absolutely nothing to do this week at work, so I've been trying to scare up things to keep me busy. (Yesterday's task was researching Vegas for next weekend's trip! Woo woo!) Today's task is much more relevant to the title and definitely and much more interesting! I'm trying to figure out what to be for Halloween, and since Troy has his awesome French Musketeer costume, I'm considering trying to do a matching costume... so I started googleing Marie Antoinette costumes, and stumbled across this fantastic link which has seriously inspired me:
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2006/11/the_making_of_a_marie_antoinet.html
The dress! The wig! The mask! The fan! It's just ALL so FREAKING FABULOUS that I can't stand it!
And then I made my way to the Romantic Threads web site... and the gowns are so breathtakingly beautiful, I can hardly stand it. I can hardly afford it either! But look at this peacock masterpiece: http://store.romanticthreads.com/pemaanfago.html Sooo lovely! If you're gonna host a rocking costume party on Halloween, shouldn't you look the part?
And what about this one? This one could work for the French theme, AND I could totally push it over into vampire territory EASILY: http://store.romanticthreads.com/scfawegoorco.html If I spend that kind of dough, I'm wearing that bad boy for several years!
Hmmm.... time to start saving that hard earned cash! Those babies aren't cheap!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wining and Dining in Charlotte, NC
This is just a quick post to recommend a delicious wine that I tried last night. I was at the Savannah Red Wine Bar, which is tucked inside the City Center Marriott in downtown Charlotte, NC, and their wine list is impressive to say the least. I had the Delta Pinot Noir from Marlborough, New Zealand, and it was one of the post enjoyable pinots that I've had a in a long time. It was fruity and light, yet very complex which really is what makes pinot noir such a fabulous grape. Plus the wine bar was a fun place to try wines - the staff are very knowledgable, quick to offer a taste if you express curiousity about a wine, and really go that extra mile. We witnessed them saving a wine label for a customer at a nearby table, and the manager demonstrated a nifty trick about how to get a wine cork out of the bottle! That was impressive, but the most impressive part was watching by co-worker and drinking buddy, Jayce, master the trick on his first try!
If you're curious, here's the link to Delta Vineyard's web site:
http://www.deltawines.co.nz/wines/deltavineyard_pinotnoir.asp
If you're curious, here's the link to Delta Vineyard's web site:
http://www.deltawines.co.nz/wines/deltavineyard_pinotnoir.asp
Monday, May 18, 2009
My New Car... a Mini Cooper! Woo hoo!
So for those of you that don't know, Troy and I finally decided to spring for a new car this year. We've been putting it off for what seems like FOREVER, but our circumstances just finally got to the point where we couldn't put it off any longer. Troy is training for a 100 mile bike ride for Team in Training (check it out here!) and let me tell you... only having one car with him leaving for training rides for 8 hours every Saturday got old quick!
I've always wanted a smaller, more gas-efficient car, and while I grew out of my VW Beetle obsession shortly after college, I will never grow out of my love for cars with personality, so I decided to get a Mini Cooper. I've been building them online at the Mini site for years now, and my friend Lacey has one that she had graciously allowed me to drive in the past, so I was pretty familiar with them and knew without a doubt that a Mini Cooper was what my heart desired! I contacted the dealership and was seriously disappointed in what they had in stock, so on February 28th, I high-tailed it down to the Mini dealership and custom ordered my Mini! I was feeling pretty good about everything, but buying a new car and not actually getting to take it home is a little anti-climatic. But finally, on April 25th, after an agonizing wait of 8 weeks, my baby arrived! I can't tell you how great it feels to have a second set of wheels, and to have a car that is all my own! I'm positively thrilled, and it's everything I thought it would be. :)
Take a look at my pride and joy:
I've always wanted a smaller, more gas-efficient car, and while I grew out of my VW Beetle obsession shortly after college, I will never grow out of my love for cars with personality, so I decided to get a Mini Cooper. I've been building them online at the Mini site for years now, and my friend Lacey has one that she had graciously allowed me to drive in the past, so I was pretty familiar with them and knew without a doubt that a Mini Cooper was what my heart desired! I contacted the dealership and was seriously disappointed in what they had in stock, so on February 28th, I high-tailed it down to the Mini dealership and custom ordered my Mini! I was feeling pretty good about everything, but buying a new car and not actually getting to take it home is a little anti-climatic. But finally, on April 25th, after an agonizing wait of 8 weeks, my baby arrived! I can't tell you how great it feels to have a second set of wheels, and to have a car that is all my own! I'm positively thrilled, and it's everything I thought it would be. :)
Take a look at my pride and joy:
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Since I promised some more pics of the garden, here are some close-ups of some of my plants!
This is my Goliath White Tree Peony- this is the first year it's bloomed!
A lovely blue and white Columbine.
The teeny blossoms of Black Barlow Columbine.
A Nora Barlow Columbine - I love how many blooms a single plant can send up at once!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Exciting events in my butterfly garden...
For those of you that know me, you probably already know that I LOVE gardening and am easily excited about happenings in the Butterfly Garden that Troy and I created last spring (March 2008). I'm thrilled with the progress that has occurred over the past year, so I thought I would post a few pictures of it's humble beginnings:
This is the very beginning - digging out the grass, tilling the soil, and in general just laying the groundwork for a successful garden. It looks pretty good considering that we didn't know what we were doing. :)
Teeny, tiny plants (they're more affordable that way!). Most of these are still there, and man is it amazing to think of what can happen in a year. That little green spot in the back left corner of the garden is now 3 feet tall! Of course I think it did that in about 3 months - 'Black Knight' Buddelia (Butterfly Bush) can put on some serious size in no time!
Here's a close-up of the teeny plants.
Okay - enough of the old stuff - on to the new!!
This is what my garden looks like today. It's totally filling out and starting to look like a real garden! I've even started to get butterfly visitors already this year! My garden typically looks best during the summer, but I think it's putting on a good show this spring also. I'm mourning my passion vine, since it's April and it hasn't started coming back up yet, I don't think it's going to come back so I'll have to purchase a new one. It's the only host plant I had caterpillars on last year, so I definitely want to make sure I always have one.
This pic shows how large my butterfly bush has become, and also shows how much growth I've gotten on my honeysuckle this year. The honeysuckle didn't really do much last year, but it's making up for it! I've got some lovely blooms on my 'Butterfly Blue' Scabiosa (the cloud of lavender-colored blossoms in the front left of the picture, just behind the curly parsley) and my 'May Night' Salvia (Dark purple spikes) is blooming like crazy also. That one's a favorite with the local honey bees. :) The red blossoms on my Coral Bells (Heuchera) are doing great as well!
This is just a close up of the 'Butterfly Blue' Scabiosa and 'May Night' Salvia. Both are fantastic for continuous blooms from spring to fall.I've got a lot more going on in my garden, so stay tuned - I've got some great pictures of my columbines, my peony and the beginnings of some blooms on my Red Hot Poker that will be coming soon to a post near you!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
My grand entrance...
I finally decided to start a blog, and I'm not really sure where to begin! I'm not sure if my life is interesting enough for people to actually want to read about it, but I'm always wishing I would write things I do in my life down (that amazing wine I tried last week, a review of the restaurant I ate at last night, what's blooming in my garden, and so on and so forth). At least if no one reads it, I can do it as a form of record-keeping for myself. On the other hand, I'm absolutely horrible when it comes to keeping in touch, so at least my parents will read it. ;)
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