The Daily Astro for February 14, 2013

by Valerie Sylvester

TODAY’S ASTRO:

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Today’s aspects are like a giant box of mixed chocolates–some you wolf down, others you’re not so thrilled about. At 12:42 AM EST a Moon/Venus sextile serves up a friendly start to the day, but since the Moon is in Aries and Venus is in Aquarius, we’re talking friendly-independent or friendly-here’s-me-and-my-great-new-ideas rather than friendly-hearts-and-flowers.

The next aspects aren’t very ooey-gooey, either. The Sun in Aquarius connects with Pluto in Capricorn at 2:15 AM EST. That seems more nightmarish than dreamy to me. But it’s a good Valentine’s Day for stalkers, obsessive types and control maniacs, I suppose. I don’t have to tell you not to get involved with these people today, do I?

After this, the Sun parallels Saturn at 4:32 AM EST. Put these two charmer aspects together and it’s clear that some of us may feel depressed and frustrated when contemplating our patterns and general history in the love arena. Take a look at where you were too attached to achieving an outcome, tried to force things too much, or wouldn’t relinquish control for fear of being hurt. It’s time to flip through the pages of the ol’ love diary and figure out what pages need to be ripped out and burned.

As the day progresses the Moon meets Neptune, Jupiter and Mars.  Most are stress aspects, so we may go overboard emotionally or feel swamped. We’re not really sure what’s going on and what to do about whatever may or may not be happening. We vacillate between ducking behind the sofa and coming out swinging. It’s hard to see past the smoke and mirrors and our fantasies may take us to some very odd places.

The Sun/Moon sextile at 10:37 PM EST is an upbeat influence that ends the day on a high note, so be sure to take advantage. As the Moon’s Void-of-Course, don’t start anything new this late in the day, but do take time off to hang with your loved ones, socialize with friends, watch some romantic comedy with Jennifer Aniston (ok, maybe you don’t have to take it THAT far), or just kick back and relax.

THE SYMBOLS:

Sabian Symbol for today’s Sun: “An ancient pottery bowl filled with violets.”
Kozminsky Symbol for today’s Sun: “ A man of strong build locking securities in a great iron safe in the turret-room of an old castle.”
The Keyword for the Sabian Symbol is: “TRADITION”.
The Keyword for the Kozminsky Symbol is: “STEWARDSHIP”.
Both of today’s Symbols feature something valuable or beautiful combined with something solid and old. Both also relate to safety, security, and stability. Pottery bowls, safes, turrets and castles all protect and contain whatever is within as well, so these symbols are associated with whatever makes us feel comfortable and “contained”.

The Sabian Symbol features an ancient bowl (tradition, history) holding small purple flowers (the soul or spirit, delicacy); the two in tandem tell us that despite currents of change (the flowers will wilt and die), there is continuity through long-standing traditions or practices. Violets are usually purple, which is the Neptune/Pisces color, so here we see an emphasis on spirituality and transcendence of time. This Symbol has a real whiff of past life transmission to me as it seems to relate to the survival of the soul through time.

On the positive end of the scale, this Symbol is associated with inspiration, memories, the persistence of beauty, legacies and the gifts we are born with. On the down side, it can represent becoming stuck in old patterns or repetitive relationships/scenarios or trying to contain or control situations by doing the same thing the same way because “that’s the way it’s done”. These meanings echo the Sun/Pluto and Sun/Saturn aspects today. Too much emphasis on structure or maintaining control can be suffocating and limit opportunity. We need to grow in/to a new or different container sometimes!

The Kozminsky Symbol brings on the Aries imagery (that’s where the Moon is today, as noted above). It presents us with the image of a sturdy type protecting the assets of some castle-dwelling types. This person is both strong and prudent, a boss-man who takes control and serves as a protector. By locking up all the valuables, he’s keeping them safe from harm and discouraging intruders. The castle is “old”, so it’s been there a long time and has survived many catastrophes, no doubt, so this Symbol also illustrates the theme of continuity, history, and tradition. What is valuable must be protected. The violets in the Sabian Symbol need a container to hold and protect them as well. The problem is when the containers are outgrown or the castle turret no longer provides a fine vantage point, but becomes a prison. It’s up to us to invent some new coping strategies. With the Sun in Aquarius and the Moon in Aries, we should be able to come up with a mind-blistering brainstorm or two!

THE DAILY DRAW:

Hanged Man / 4 of Pentacles

Here’s today’s conundrum–do we hang on, or do we let it all go? The Hanged Man reflects our chunk of planets in Pisces and relates particularly to Neptune (ruler of Pisces), which is currently in Pisces.  Next up is the 4 of Pentacles, and it seems as though something has been holding us back but it’s time to willingly give it up. The container is too small! We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing, but we’re not so sure what the next step is.

The Hanged Man is our spiritual advisor, telling us it’s time to change or reverse our perspective, be still, and see what enters. We need to create an opening for spirit to come through. We let go of attachment to an outcome in order to free our mind and spirit. It’s not an easy task, of course. The 4 of Pentacles wants to hang on forever. There’s a crack in the container and it’s leaking, but the 4 of Pentacles person doesn’t want to throw out the container because they’ve always had it and they don’t want to get rid of it! There’s a fear of taking a risk or making a change but staying in a bad situation will not improve things. There’s also a real fear of letting loose or expressing themselves fully. Self-worth and value are trigger words here, and there’s a fair amount of bottled-up anger. What happens if you pull the cork out of the magic lantern?  The genie comes out, of course! Then the fun begins.  Maybe we’re not ready to deal with that genie just now.

The Hanged Man is here to let us know we can’t hold on to anything in this life, we have to release it all, and that includes our attachments to belief systems and ways of thinking. Sometimes we have to unclench our fists and just let go! When we do that we begin to heal.
–February 14, 2013