Jessica Murray’s Skywatch

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Feb 2024
Odd Bird

Are you a non-Aquarius who finds herself intrigued by this odd bird of a sign? There’s a lot of it in the sky right now, so this is our chance to get better acquainted with its wavelength. Aquarius is often brilliant, sometimes opaquely baffling, and never less than fascinating.

And if you have Aquarius in your own chart, be sure to celebrate your uniqueness while February’s transits are buzzing above.

New Moon

On Feb 9th, the Moon is New at the 21st degree of Aquarius, marking out the themes of the four weeks to come.… click here to continue reading.

Jan 2024
Future Tripping

New Year’s Day in the Western calendar always packs a multiple punch. It begins the month, laying out the themes of January. And it also begins the solar year, which means its transits constitute the birth chart of 2024.

The big news for the month and the year – not to mention the next two decades — is the re-entry of Pluto into Aquarius on Jan 20th. The Sun will have conjoined Pluto mere hours before the big ingress, so this should be a red letter day.… click here to continue reading.

Dec 2023
I Do Not Think; I Believe

At its best, Sagittarius lives its whole life in a passionate search for truth. At its worst, it believes it has found it.

As it always does in December, the Sun stays in Sagittarius until the Solstice (12/21). This year, Mars is there as well, all month. Mercury too retrogrades back into Sagittarius on 12/22, and Venus joins them as December draws to a close (12/29).

It’s a good time to get to know this sign a little better.… click here to continue reading.

Nov 2023
Under the Quiet Waters

Just as the season’s flames were burning out, the world received a new firestorm on an energy level. I discuss the chart of the Middle East crisis in the MothersSky blog.

On personal and collective levels, we are having to navigate the element fire. On November ninth, Mercury enters Sagittarius, on the 22nd the Sun follows suit, and on the 24th it’s Mars’s turn.

But first, it’s Scorpio time.… click here to continue reading.

Oct 2023
Stop and Look

Do you have any planets at the first degree of a mutable sign? If so, Saturn has your number.

The Great Bullshit Detector has found its way back to the first degree of Pisces, which means it is zeroing in on whatever is represented by that natal planet of yours. This may show you things you’d rather not see.

Don’t take it personally. Wherever Saturn is passing, we tend to worry that we’ve done something wrong, but that’s not the point of the transit.… click here to continue reading.

Sep 2023
Hot and Sweet

Get ready to pivot. Venus & Jupiter station the first week of September, and Mercury stations midway through the month. These changes of direction signal subtle shifts in the atmosphere – or not-so-subtle, for those with natal planets in their path.

Then comes the Equinox (9/22), when we get a shift of a different kind.

Strut your stuff

Venus turns direct on September 3rd at twelve Leo. You don’t have to have a planet at exactly that degree to feel the heat.… click here to continue reading.

Aug 2023
Working with Fairies

Saturn, the planet of grown-up thinking, is moving through a sign that believes in fairies.

Since just before the summer Solstice, Saturn (realism) has been inching backwards in early Pisces (the otherworldly and uncanny). In August it occupies the same degrees it was in two months ago. As the month begins, it opposes Mercury; as the month is closing, it opposes the Sun.

Saturn in Pisces is a paradoxical placement. This is the planet of disciplined focus, but it’s in a sign that erodes boundaries.… click here to continue reading.

Jul 2023
Surprise Yourself

Pluto has retrograded back into Capricorn, revisiting the last couple of degrees of the sign. Like a hunting dog chasing the rabbit back over its own tracks, Pluto will make a few loops before it moves in for the kill.

Pluto demands that we identify the issues of the current sign before it moves on to the next. Next year, when it re-enters Aquarius, for two decades, it will have other fish to fry (see this webinar).… click here to continue reading.

Jun 2023
All in the Same Boat

June is alive with flutterings, quick shifts, coming-and-goings. As the month begins, the Sun is in Gemini, the sign of birds, butterflies and weathervanes. Especially when Mercury, too, enters mutable air, things can change direction on a dime.

The first half of the month is a time to consider the ways information flows in and out of our lives. It’s time to take stock of our communications. How are we handling wired life?… click here to continue reading.