Journalling the Zodiac: retrograde edition

Oh, this poor neglected blog. I have several posts half written, and lots of astro journalling in my notebook but nothing written up on here. But yesterday Mercury went retrograde, in his native sign of Gemini, so this is the perfect time to review my writings and re-visit the work I've done in the last few months.

I had only got as far as Pisces, a whole new zodiac cycle has started since then. Completing the last cycle, this Sun in Pisces had me writing about soul yearnings, and about healing. I wrote about needing to surrender - always a challenge for my strong Saturn - and about how my soul is most often set free not through the abstract thought and ideals of my Aquarius Sun, but through the physical stimulation and connection to nature of my Mars in Taurus. Running through the woods, wild swimming, these are the ways my soul finds that ecstatic connection to spirit, to the oneness of the universe. As ever, the energies of our charts ebb and flow, Pisces to Mars, Taurus to Aquarius, planets and signs dancing their unique energies within us and without.






So then I moved on to Aries - here are my journalling prompts for Aries:

• Where can I be a leader? A pioneer?

• How do I assert myself?

• Where and how do I take direct action?

• What is my identity, as an individual?

• Where and how do I seek new experiences?

I struggled with these - in common with the rest of my generation, I have Chiron in Aries. Chiron is well known as the wounded healer of the planets, showing us where we carry deep hurt. On some level, many of my generation carry deep wounds to our individuality, feeling alienated from ourselves. Not everyone experiences these transpersonal energies consciously, but in my chart Chiron is exactly sextile my Sun, making that wound very personal. Thankfully a sextile is a helpful and constructive connection between planets, so with a little work I can access the shamanic healing of Chiron. And thats exactly what I've been doing in my journalling, realising first just how much I struggle with, or am totally alienated from, those Aries concerns. Its only now as I get older that I am learning to assert myself better, for example, and to grow in self confidence. Chiron's presence there in my natal chart has made journalling the sign of Aries especially healing for me - in that typical blunt no hiding from the truth here Aries manner. It's all good, got to work through the painful stuff to grow.

But let's hope Taurus is a little calmer for me! I'm still working on my Taurus journalling, and toddler nap time is over, so that one will have to wait for another day.