Blog :: Sher Institute of Astrology & Metaphysics

April 4, 2011

The Active Aries New Moon – 2011

On Sunday, April 3, 2011, we had a very unusual New Moon at 13° of Aries. As the recent articles on Aries suggest, this sign is one of the most active of all of the signs of the zodiac. It is the true archetype of Spring in that it represents the return of life with all of its hope and natural enthusiasm. I am from the Midwest, where we had hard winters. The truth is that while we do have spring in Los Angeles, it is just not the same as it was in Missouri, where there was a sudden, astounding growth of life that could change one’s mood every time one walked out the door. We couldn’t wait to go outside and run, play sports, or just lounge around in the new green grass. Suddenly there were all kinds of smells and the contrast between the winter’s dormancy and the sudden return of the life force was, in a word, ecstatic. That is the Spring I remember and is the essence of this New Moon.

March 29, 2011

A Period of Intense Opposing Forces

We are entering a very intense period where there are several different forces operating at the same time, creating a push/pull effect that could be quite confounding. I will be writing two articles on this period, since it is unusually complicated, but let me first explain some of the issues. Starting on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, Mercury begins its retrograde cycle. It goes retrograde at 24° of Aries and begins at 1:48pm PDT. The retrograde period ends on April 23, 2011. The first opposing archetypal force occurs at the New Moon on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 7:32am. This New Moon has 6 planets in Aries, which is an intense need for beginning new cycles, starting new projects, and just powerfully forging ahead. And yet, this occurs while Mercury is retrograde, which inhibits the ability to do so since one is having to take whatever time is necessary to review, handle, or take care of things issues coming up at this time from the past. In addition, the New Moon of April 3rd includes an opposition to Saturn which further slows things up.

March 29, 2011

March 22, 2011

March 17, 2011

The Power of the Super Moon

There is much talk going around astrological circles about what the astrologer, Richard Nolle, called a Super Moon. This phenomenon occurs when the Moon is closest to the earth and therefore is said to have much bigger effects than normal. In fact, in this case, the Moon hasn’t been this close to the Earth in 18 years. What makes this Super Moon even stronger is the fact that it is occurring at the same time as the Full Moon on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 11:10am PDT. It can be expected to intensify the ‘Super Moon’ effect even further. I am not an expert on this topic, but it is impossible not to ignore the obvious effects we are seeing already. Long before the earthquake in Japan happened, the Super Moon was described as increasing the likelihood of earthquakes, tsunamis and explosions, but now we see it right before our eyes.

March 7, 2011

Dine Like Your Sign! Pisces

This month we’re going to start with a little quiz. Look at this picture and tell me how you think a Pisces would best respond…

a)    Bar-b-que! Make mine medium-rare, please…
    b)    Hurray! My very own cheeeeeeeese factory!
    c)    Margarine is evil in a cube. Pass the BUTTER.
    d)    Awww look at the sweet little moo cow! I’ll name her Bessie…good Bessie…

If you picked d), then you’re well on your way to dining like a Pisces. But as you can also probably tell, this issue won’t make the carnivores very happy. Hey, I love a good steak as much as the next person, but this month we’re looking for a Win/Win for us AND Bessie and we all know how she’d feel about that juicy 10 oz. sirloin. Pisces, as the most compassionate of all, want everyone to be safe and happy, which includes the faceless entrees that end up on our plate. For this month the DLYS! motto is ‘Do no harm’, which means exploring ways of eating that do less damage to animals, the planet, and even ourselves.

March 7, 2011

A Time for Setting Things Up

It is always a fun challenge to try to encapsulate the nature of any particular period our planet is experiencing at any given moment. One of the reasons I began to become attracted to astrology did NOT come from an astrological book or speaker. It actually began as I was reading the works of a French philosopher and author, Rene Guenon. He wrote quite a few esoteric books on Hinduism as well as being a commentator on the nature of western civilization in general. One of his books that struck me very strongly was entitled “The Reign of Quantity.” This book was a critique of a civilization that so evaluates itself by quantitative measures that it has lost the awareness of the fact that what makes life meaningful and worth living is when the quality of the moment matters most. It’s not the quantity of what is accomplished, for example. Our culture places great importance on numbers, polls, and values everything accordingly. It assumes that every moment is just like every other one, and that what is possible in one is just as possible in another. But is this assumption true? Can it be questioned and investigated?

February 28, 2011

Spotlight on Pisces

The only thing harder than change is endings. Ask anyone who’s gone through a divorce, or retired. Or read a Stephen King novel. With Pisces we’ve reached the denouement of the archetypal story and to encapsulate the sign, well, it feels futile to even try to find the words. Language, as we know it, can sometimes be almost meaningless. It would be like asking someone who’s celebrating their 100th birthday to tell you their life story over coffee, all they’ve experienced and learned. It would earn you a smile and a headshake. Each chapter of the journey has played its part and contains profound purpose impossible to see in the moment. You simply had to be there. Pisces has an experiential appreciation of life like no other, which gives them an unassuming sage-like wisdom that separates them from the rest of us.

February 16, 2011

The Beginning of the 'New'

On January 22, 2011, Jupiter entered Aries, the archetypal sign of new beginnings. Within only 3 days and with Jupiter still at 0 degrees of Aries, the first demonstrations broke out in Egypt and only 18 days later, on February 11th Mubarak had resigned. The world was shocked, amazed and also bewildered. No one knows for sure what will happen next. Will the army give control back to the citizens marking the first true democratic state in the Arab world or will there be detours or even betrayals in the future? Yet, it does seem that something truly new is being born. There is the sense that we are watching history of epic proportions as the meaning of these events potentially has such wonderful possibilities for the entire region and the world. It is easy to become overly optimistic, but who can deny the joy of hope that seems to be emerging now.

February 10, 2011

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