the weather inside me

a christmas tune for a pisces moon

All I ever get for Christmas is blue...

moon in capricorn: get real

Sweet Earth Flying (mp3)

The Moon entered Capricorn today. As I write this, it's just crossed Pluto, so if you're wondering why the obssessions and fixations today, wonder no longer. With Pluto at 0+ degrees Capricorn and the Moon crossing it's path, it's natural to feel like someone pulled your large intestine into your mouth. It's that deep.

Compounding this gut-twisting scene is the Sun in Libra at a sharp angle to both Pluto and the Moon. I've been writing a lot about Libra lately (and will continue to do so as Saturn heads into this sign), so you probably already know Libra's penchant for balancing ideas through balanced relationships. But Libra's dynamic is hardly as tidy as that sentence suggests.

As Micheal Lutin puts its, Libra's dilemma is the eternal "who's on top and who's on bottom?" question. In other words, Libra's dilemma is about power. In our culture, it's usually expressed this way: who you're gonna screw, or who's gonna screw you? Libra runs the gamut from one end to the other, trying strategy after strategy, skipping from glittering ideal solution to glittering ideal solution, attempting to work this out in his head, and thus missing the whole point.

And that point is? Find the fulcrum of that mental see-saw. Find the meeting place. Find the cooperative vision, the consensus that balances. Libra searches always for the ideal, hoping that with just a little tweak here or there, they'll find it. But it's not to be found in some outward bound adventure; it's always to be found in the mundane meeting of common ground.

Enter a Capricorn Moon alongside Pluto, hauling Reality in on a caravan of 18-wheel Peterbuilts. You want relationship? You want compromise? You want to find that balance that helps us all cooperating and get on with the work of recovering this crazy financial mess? You got it.

Just take a look at today's news. Talk about finally accepting reality: the G8 finally acknowledges a decade old truth and becomes the G20, bringing China, India and other huge developing economies on board; and Iran's bad-faith relationship with the rest of world worsened with the revelation of an underground nuclear development facility. Get real. (I would talk about the UN, but the closest thing to real going on there are the Survivaballs protests. Check out Planet Waves for this truly sharp and funny protest.)

On the other hand, Libra and Capricorn can pull out some really elegant moments together. There's nothing untoward or ugly about these two; they vibe with the need for elegant and functional design in all that they do.

Capricorn Moon is also not just about getting in the office for a weekend work jag. Cap Moons have a soulfulness that's not usually acknowledged: they remind us to work out our "salvation" brick by brick. Salvation has little to do with someone plucking your burning butt from the fires of your own bad decisions, and a lot to do with acknowledging why you built those fires in the first place. The rest is learning to love yourself. Pluto, wherever it is, gives us profound transformative power to do that. The engine is there, folks. And the will is available, too, if you want to grab it.

Consider this weekend a reminder it can be done. If Survivaballs can float down the Hudson River and get a chuckle from CNN; if the G8 can consent to letting some dark skinned folk into their club, then it can be done... It can be done.

Just for fun, here are the dates when Pluto was last at 0 degrees Capricorn. If you've been paying attention, you may see them as milemarkers along the route of your current personal evolution:

• May 2008
• November 2008
• August/September 2009 (turned direct September 12th)

Pluto will square off against some Libran themes for the rest of '09 and into '10, but it won't pass by this exact degree again until 2254. Thus, this is the end of the preliminary push into your new life. What are you slowly letting go of these days? What are you inviting (or thinking of inviting) into your life?

But..we've got less than a week left of Mercury in retrograde (plus another week or so of a lingering shadow phase), so you're still free to rethink your new self and play around with what you'd like that self to be.

Just remember, getting "real" is the key. No giving out blue ribbons to every runner just because it makes us all feel better about ourselves. If you really work for your good vibes, Pluto is totally on your side now.