More Garden Pretties

Too pretty to keep to myself! From our front yard:

Veronica, dianthus, lilies (not yet blooming), columbine, and blooming chives. (That’s a pot of carrot seedlings to the far right.)

These irises aren’t “blue” and they don’t rebloom, as advertised, but they sure are pretty when they do bloom. 🙂

The yellow irises came with the house — up by the mailbox and the original inhabitants of the backyard bed.

Some of the front yard beds. That’s purple salvia, flowering chives and, I think, red veronica. I forget what the white flowers are. They’re perennial.

These beauties made the journey from Goshen. There was quite a breeze, hence the flutter.

 

Astrobutterfly ~ The Astrology of June 2020: Solar Eclipse in Cancer (+ My Own Notes on this Month’s Alignments)

Here’s another terrific big picture overview by Astrobutterfly. I’ll just add that in addition to what she mentions here:

June 3rd, 2020 – Venus Conjunct Sun

On June 3rd, Venus retrograde is conjunct the Sun at 13° Gemini, and a new 584-day Venus cycle begins.

This is when Venus leaves her nightgown and transforms into a morning star. Venus is still invisible, burned by the Sun. But it is in the purifying heat of the Sun where we will experience a rebirth of the heart.

Read more about this process of metamorphosis here: Venus’ Descent Into The Underworld – From Evening Star To Morning Star.

…

A recent dream alerted me to the importance of 13 Gemini and 13 Pisces on Monday into Tuesday, right before Venus conjuncts the Sun at 13 Gemini. It turns out this pivotal event when Venus begins her new cycle, also squares Mars and the asteroid Nessus at 13 Pisces. Astrobutterfly talks about Mars as the planet of action, but with Mars also conjunct Nessus, a centaur that can indicate “obsession” and “cycles of abuse,” we see more clearly the dynamics that this Venus reset aims to shift. Look at any relationships with cycles of abuse — whether in their own right, or in generational, ancestral and societal patterns of abuse.

As usual the alignments of June 2020 hit uncannily precise spots in my natal chart. My natal Venus is within minutes of 13 degrees Gemini, and my natal Mars is at 10 degrees 10 minutes Pisces, exactly (to the minute) conjunct my mom’s Mars. Nessus has been hanging around that area for awhile now since centaurs move slowly, but to have Nessus conjunct both transiting and my natal Mars, square Venus at the moment of a new Venus cycle — right on my own natal Venus? Wowza.

In addition to the Sun-Mars square that day, the June 5 Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius conjuncts my natal Juno, an asteroid connected with relationships, especially romantic ones. Mercury will turn direct right on my natal Vesta, the keeper of the flame, vestal virgin and a different kind of relationship asteroid. When the Sun conjuncts the collective North Node on June 19, it also conjuncts David’s natal Venus and my progressed Saturn. As Astrobutterfly notes:

The Solar Eclipse in Cancer is a North Node eclipse. Unlike South Node eclipses, which have a karmic flavor, North Node eclipses are opportunities to rewrite the script of our destiny.

The North Node is like a vortex – anything is possible when we have a North Node Eclipse. But be mindful of what you do. Because there will always be a payout – usually at a future South Node eclipse. 

The Sun is conjunct the North Node once every year. This is the best day of the year to ask yourself “Who am I really?” “What is my true purpose? What is my life path?”

Notice the first answer that comes to you. Gemini has a curious, open-minded vibe. It is important that you don’t try to seek confirmations or validations to existing assumptions during this time.

Instead – be like a Gemini. Be open-minded. Welcome new perspectives. Accept that you don’t yet have all the answers. 

(Laura again): If you’ve not read my North Node Horoscopes for June, you can read Catherine’s intro and find the link to them here. I’ve shared only some of my own uncanny, personal transits this month, but make no mistake: everyone will feel at least a few of these astro events. We’re talking major shift potential. Do give some thought to any cycles of abuse that you’d like to resolve and/or release. The alignment on June 1-3 seems extra potent for both clarity and healing.

Again, you can find Astrobutterfly’s full write-up here.

Garden Update ~ Garden Tower 2 Setup and Spring Planting

I haven’t posted a Garden Update in a long time, so I decided to document the assembly of our upgraded Garden Tower 2. I had this in Goshen as part of a demo garden showcasing different ways of growing crops — permaculture, raised beds, Garden Towers 1 and 2, Square Foot Gardening, tiered/circular raised beds, Big Bag Beds, Smart Pots, wood mulch gardening, food forest, etc. I had not set up the Garden Tower 2 in Kalamazoo, though, because doing so required me figuring out where to put it, building a patio, and also fencing it in from critters.

I’ve detailed three years of groundhog adventureshere — from Kalamazoo Kal to all his very hungry relations. Last year, I switched the front yard beds primarily to rabbit/deer/groundhog resistant herbs and perennials and had all but given up on annual vegetable gardening. It’s just too frustrating to fight all the critters. Our fenced backyard is even worse than the open front yard, as the groundhogs have generations of tunnels and ancestral habits.

A dream on April 4, 2020 told me that my future self would really appreciate if I assembled the Garden Tower 2 that lay unassembled in our shed. I followed the advice, ordered seeds, got everything needed for assembly, only to learn that that weekend was the last time I could have done so prior to Michigan’s Governor declaring gardening “non-essential” and making it illegal to buy what I’d need. Score one, Dream Guys! A “mix-up” led to me ordering some extra parts for the GT2, and we ended up with an extra tier. For me, this changes the entire aesthetic of the GT2, and I love it so much more now. I don’t know why that one extra layer makes its form so much more appealing, but it does.

In any case, David and I spent a long Memorial Day weekend celebrating my birthday, going on wooded walks and drives, building a patio, and setting up and planting the Garden Tower 2. For anyone interested in the process, we documented some of the highlights.

The “Before” space, slightly in process, since I forgot to take a Before photo! This required moving three Smart Pots to the other side of this existing raised bed. Moving those turned out way easier than anticipated. In the photo below, you can see the patio blocks before digging out and leveling the ground. We’ve got the base of the GT2 there for reference, to see where we wanted this rotating tower:

June North Node Horoscopes are Up

Due to the holiday weekend, these got posted a little later than the usual 22nd, but they’re up now.

North Node June Theme!

Eclipse Season begins with a Sagittarius Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on June 5, followed by a Cancer New Moon Solar Eclipse on June 21st, just one day after Summer Solstice. These events will affect everyone on some level. Whether or not it triggers any destiny level activity in your life depends on not only the sign but especially the degree of your North Node.

You can read the rest of the intro and find your individual North Node Horoscope by clicking here. (If you don’t know your North Node sign, Catherine Grace O’s blog has a handy chart to figure it out.)

Normally, I recommend reading both your sign and the sign associated with the house of your North Node (if you know it), but this month has such specific alignments in the sky that your North Node sign kind of trumps its house. You can read both, but the house is less involved in the predictions than it often is. For reference:

1st House North Node = Aries North Node similarities

2nd House North Node = Taurus North Node similarities

3rd House North Node = Gemini North Node similarities

4th House North Node = Cancer North Node similarities

5th House North Node = Leo North Node similarities

6th House North Node = Virgo North Node similarities

7th House North Node = Libra North Node similarities

8th House North Node = Scorpio North Node similarities

9th House North Node = Sagittarius North Node similarities

10th House North Node = Capricorn North Node similarities

11th House North Node = Aquarius North Node similarities

12th House North Node = Pisces North Node similarities

For example, if you have a Leo North Node in the 12th house, your primary North Node Horoscope would be Leo, but you’ll also find guidance in the Pisces North Node information. The beauty of North Node horoscopes is that you can usually calculate the sign without an exact birth time, and the sign is always super relevant to your life path. As with anything in astrology, though, the more exact time you have, the more subtle information you can glean.

Again, this month’s North Node Horoscopes are less house-specific and more sign-specific than usual.

Happy Eclipse Season and Venus Retrograde!

Astro Butterfly ~ 1001 Nights

I’m posting the link to this Astro Butterfly post because a) May 22 is my birthday; b) this New Moon occurs right between my natal Sun and Mercury; and c) I had a beautiful dream about Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights, on the night of May 13, right as Venus went Retrograde. That’s a triple whammy sync among many other syncs, so I assume this is a significant New Moon, for me, as well as others. Here’s the link.

Door Number 21: The Hermit Portal

I finished painting this portal on May 14, 2020, right around the time Jupiter went retrograde. I needed to wait for paint and glue to dry, but mostly, I needed better light for photographing it. Michigan rivals the Pacific Northwest sometimes! I love the gloomy days, but they don’t make for good indoor photographs. This “door” has been knocking on my subconscious for months. I thought I’d begin the weekend of March 29th, tapping into the world’s pandemic “hermit” mode; however, when the world goes crazy, I get busy. I’ve had so many sessions that I didn’t even start working on it until the week of May 4th.

As usual with these portals, astrological timing superseded my own plans. May 4, 2020 marked the actual crossquarter day of Beltane, when the Sun crosses 15 degrees Taurus. Beltane is a fire and purification festival, and also one of two key times the trooping faeries change residence — the other being Samhain, on or near Halloween. Even before I knew much about astrology, the doors — literal then, now sometimes canvas with painted doors — either featured astrological signatures or began or finished on key dates like Easter Sunday or Pentecost. This Hermit portal is Door Number 21:

The bottom isn’t crooked like it looks. I just can’t get it to photograph or crop right on my phone. The bottom and right edges are gray and the darker blue. The lighter blue is the wall behind it in my office. For some reason, whenever I try to photograph doors or canvases, something weird happens with the angles. By now, I’m used to it, but just to clarify, the portal itself ends with the gray rock and dark blue sky.

Ann Kreilkamp ~ Three Planets to go Retrograde May 11-14

Adding context to yesterday’s Venus Retrograde post, here’s another astro-weather update from my friend, permaculturist and astrology mentor, Ann Kreilkamp. Again, these transits hit very close to home in my chart. My Moon sits at 1 degree 14 minutes Aquarius, so all this Aquarian action triggers a popcorn reaction in my natal Sun-Moon-Pluto Grand Trine in Air. Lots of activation on a very personal level, but these transits also very much affect the collective.

NOTE: I changed the original title to May 11-14, as I’m pretty sure that’s what she meant. The Saturn-Pluto Conjunction was in January; however, this update mostly covers this week.

Ann Kreilkamp ~ Three Planets to go Retrograde May 11-14

Hold on to your hats and prepare to back up. However far you’ve come to this point — especially regarding the most important matter, to last all this year, of working with the Saturn/Pluto conjunction pressing on us from mid-January on — is turning even more intense from now through the end of September.

Throughout this entire year, and especially since March 23, when Saturn moved into Aquarius, we are being tasked with  experimenting (Saturn in Aquarius) with ways to dissolve or reconfigure old Saturnine patterns and habits which have masked, restricted or even prevented the full flow of the Plutonian life force. That goes at every level: inside the self to fully re-experience and reprogram memories, between people (to penetrate and release the old stuck gunk you’ve kept under wraps) — not to mention inside organizations, institutions, governments, human-made structures at every level. So many filled with or identical to bad habits or patterns from the past; all these must be let go if we are to fully surrender to the death and rebirthing process that Pluto demands..

Saturn, with the longest cycle, has the longest retrograde period, this year from May 11, backing up into late Capricorn on July 2, then finally, on September 29th, turning to go direct at 25°02 Capricorn. Saturn will not complete whatever unfinished business this retrograde period signifies until the first few days of January 2021, when it finally moves over 1°57 Aquarius again, the degree upon which it turned [on May 11].

Astrobutterfly ~ Venus Retrograde in Gemini 2020: What to Expect

This is an important article by Astrobutterfly detailing the 40 day Venus Retrograde period that begins tomorrow, May 13, 2020. In its usual uncanny way, this major astrological event hits very key areas of my chart. This past year just keeps hitting exact aspects of my natal and progressed charts. If you have planets at or very near 21, 13, or 5 Gemini, you’ll get direct hits by this relatively rare transit that also amplifies the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction at 0 Aquarius this coming Winter Solstice.

As I mentioned in my May North Node posts, the collective North Node moved into Gemini between May 4-5. It will spend 18 months retrograding through this sign, which means extra destiny level changes for any planets you have in Gemini — or its opposite sign, Sagittarius. Again, this transit will hit me in very big, personal ways, as I have four planets in Gemini, including my Sun. Sometimes it feels like I’m on one of those automatic walkways in the airport … just carried along by these mega-astro-events.

In any case, if you have planets in 21, 13, or 5 Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo or Pisces, then this Venus Rx will affect you in stronger ways — especially if those planets include your own Venus or Moon, or the angles of your chart. Those with planets at or near these degrees in other Air signs (Aquarius, Libra) will receive a Venusian uplift via supportive Trine energy. Even if you don’t have planets or angles at these degrees, you’ll experience changes just by being here now as part of the collective. Here’s Astrobutterfly’s comprehensive post.

And here’s me, just saying hi from sunny Kalamazoo:

Enjoy the journey!

Happy Mother’s Day!

To all mothers of all types, mothers by blood, our Mother Earth, and those mothers we encounter on the road of life … thank you!

 

The Hermit Archetype in a Time of Social Distance

I finally got started on the Hermit portal today. My goodness, as the world went into hermit mode, I got super busy! While rumblings to reopen society get louder, I feel like this Hermit portal has now had enough time to incubate. The bottom quote changed at least five times, and I received an extra month of Dreamtime instructions. Today, as the Sun crosses 15 Taurus, the actual crossquarter day of Beltane, I designed and sketched the outline and filled in the sky. The lantern of wisdom begins to shine its rays in the darkness.

Laura Bruno's Blog

As large swaths of humanity practice “social distancing” and “voluntary quarantine,” it becomes clear why The Hermit keeps knocking on me to become the next portal painting. This has been going on for months, but I always let paintings announce themselves in their own timing. Today, I got out nine (for Hermit’s #9) Tarot decks and pulled the Hermit card from each, so I could explore the archetype itself.

I laid them out on the mandala rug in my office and found this image so emblematic of society right now:

All the individual Hermits doing their own thing, shine light outward, but they also blend into a larger, connecting mandala. These larger, magical connections become more apparent (in focus) the more we each “blur” our usual perspectives and go deeper inside ourselves.

I felt led to post a lot during the early stages of the US crisis, and yes, I’m…

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