Barry Stevens the Mandala Man is back in town in mid-May and so if it has ever crossed your mind to try your hand at painting mandalas, book yourself in for the next Exploring Colour, Light and Sound Workshop held by Barry and Felicity Cook who of course supplies the mellifluous dimension. She also holds a regular SoundPod and recently started a PaintPod for painting which spills over from mandalic work. Visit either of their websites through my Contacts page. The dates are May 16th-18th 2008, and the town is – well a village actually: Snailwell, near Newmarket.

It’s already afternoon, and I have missed blogging about the Full Moon which fell exactly opposite my Descendant, and am also behind in sending out the Moonpod questionnaires…The Scorpio Full Moon is a particularly intense one especially emotionally, as by now you will be able to testify. However, teatime will give you a chance to reassess and reaffirm how much your nearest and dearest mean to you, and how much life itself means, as the Sun trines Pluto. Tomorrow the Sun trines Saturn, completing a Grand Trine with Pluto, and so the best-laid plans can come to fruition. It’s a good day for instance for finalizing mortgage plans even in this tricky economic climate, if you have done your research and proceed with seriousness and commitment. Tuesday (22nd) brings another trine, this one more upbeat, in the shape of Mars trine Uranus. This one could favour buying electrical equipment (so long as you can’t find a more ecological wind or solar-powered alternative), or for renewing your energies and aligning them with progressive Aquarian values. Come Wednesday (23rd), your energy signals may be giving out the wrong messages, e.g. flirtatiousness when you meant Platonic ideals, as Venus squares Mars. So just as you have got your energy right with the planet, it all goes pear-shaped in your social interaction. More adjustment therefore to be made: you know when you’ve got the vibe right, it’s all trial and error, two steps forwards and one step back. Your body language needs a little more fine-tuning: the little finger may need to be at a slightly different angle in relation to your tea-cup, and beware of a false move of the eyelash…More fun and games on Thursday (24th) again concerning your energies and possibly with men in your life, with Venus square Jupiter (more social faux-pas) and Mars by now opposing Jupiter. This time your sense of humour could go a little too far. In an effort to compensate on your body language, you could find yourself using inappropriate laughter where someone else’s sensibilities are set to deadly serious. Or maybe you are on a mission to wheedle out the funny bone from the Bank Manager, or tickle the train ticket Inspector. Seriously it’s a day you may observe that people are taking risks, but the bread is likely to land butter side down. If the stakes are not too high, then maybe you can experiment with pushing the boundaries. Friday (25th) is totally different in mood with Venus sextile Neptune. After days of dubious shenanigans, Venus settles to cosying up to the upcoming North Node/Neptune conjunction. It is smoothing the path relationship-wise, artistically, musically and harmoniously, enabling the more refined possibilities to emerge from that combination. Venus is good at supporting, and so there may be some delicate supporting going on between people. Important dates and appointments are coming up for people, and those around them may be lending gentle encouragement from the wings. It’s time to foster the best in human nature, and put criticism on a mute button. Neptune conjoins the mean North Node on Monday and Tuesday (28th/29th April), and I hope I have drummed up enough interest in this fascinating conjunction to set up a forum.

Number four in my series, and just to recap there is a triple conjunction going on this year in Aquarius between Neptune and karmic features North Node and Chiron, which falls pretty much in one area of your life. The North Node/Neptune component, exact at the end of April, highlights the complexity of interaction between people, but can also bring about spiritual understanding between them. This week I am looking at where the triple conjunction falls in the charts of Politicians and Countries. In these charts, the North Node/Neptune may for instance have the effect of exposing scandal. For the more spiritually inclined it will refer more to spiritual and karmic factors. Integrity will be an important feature for Ken Livingstone as the triple conjunction straddles his 1st (Personality) and 2nd (Finance) Houses. There may be a microscope on his spending. Appearing in the 3rd House of the chart for Portugal, it highlights issues of communication, which may hint at the role of the media in creating and destroying illusion, secrecy and deception. Margaret Thatcher has this conjunction in her 4th House of home and family affairs, and in her later years her focus may be veering slightly more towards this area, for example the Neptunian complexities of her son’s worldly affairs. Neptune/North Node is transiting the 5th House of Nicolas Sarkozy and certainly it’s his love life, leisure activities and glamorous partner which have been receiving more intrigue and publicity than his political side recently. Tony Benn has the conjunction in his 6th House and in recent years has suffered some health complications in the nature of his Aries Sun Sign, but he continues to be passionately driven by his social conscience. The triple conjunction placed here enables him to continue to make a contribution of service, but he has to tread delicately and take into account health weakness with Neptune also opposing his Neptune (which was exact at the time he announced his comeback). Prince Charles has North Node/Neptune currently in his 7th House of Marriage and Close Relationships, and there may be emerging deeper layers of interaction between him and his nearest and dearest. For China, the conjunction appears currently in its 8th House of death and rebirth, and the deep challenges to its human rights record and image may reflect the presence of Neptune here while the North Node represents the clamour for change coming from world opinion. The Dalai Lama has the triple conjunction in the 9th House, and while the state of being in exile in foreign lands has been a theme all his adult life, the spiritual connotations of the 9th House also combine to make this a crucial time for him in combining his spiritual and temporal roles because of the karmic nature of the North Node. There is a similar theme going on in the chart of Tibet, which you will see under the 12th House. Going South, the new Labour Government of Australia may show what it is made of ethically and idealistically at the end of April, for instance on the issue of climate change, with the conjunction occurring in its 10th House of Politics. Our own Gordon Brown has the triple conjunction in his 11th House, and friendships and alliances are tricky for him at this time, and a test of sincerity both for him and those around him, conjuring up a picture of whispering corridors, and a cloak and dagger scenario reminiscent of a scene from Les Liaisons Dangereuses. And finally the chart of Tibet shows Neptune/North Node plus Chiron in the 12th House, a house of spiritual rescources but physical weakness. It is also the house of karmic justice, and this is a placement to watch with interest to see what is revealed over the coming year.

Sorry to be so late in reporting that there was a wonderfully flowing spiritual aspect this morning in the shape of Sun sextile Neptune – I was preparing the third in my Neptune/North Node/Chiron conjunction series. Indeed, the next couple of days are ideal for understanding and looking forward to the more positive benefits of this forthcoming conjunction, because we also have Sun sextile North Node tomorrow. Meanwhile, at tea-time today Mercury squares Jupiter. Those who have recently travelled to the other side of the world may find jetlag catches up with them, and the rest of us may be yearning for some exploration in far away lands, but having to juggle the here and now with our other aspirations. For those in academia, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish what their minds can envisage. Tomorrow (Monday 14th) also has Mercury sextile Neptune, again another positive linkeage with the forthcoming conjunction between Neptune and North Node at the end of April, and it’s a good time to apply information about it, for instance seeing how its celtic knot of complexities are mirrorred in the lives of those around us. Sun conjunct Mercury livens up proceedings on Wednesday (16th), and encourages us to really be in the moment and to emit zen poetry wherever we find ourselves at the time. Get really interested in what you are or are not doing midweek, become poetry yourself. Mercury moves into Taurus the next day (Thursday 17th) and we go from a very direct way of experiencing, to a more practical application of our mental processes, e.g. finally sowing our vegetable seeds in the potting shed after months of envisaging how the finished product will look and taste. Mercury is on a roll this week, with two trines on Friday (18th). First Mercury trines Pluto, and all these benificent aspects from the week can bring about some really profound shifts in your mindset – your mental processes may literally shift upwards a gear. Communication will have long-term significance. If you are travelling that day with others, the companionship could take on the quality of the tales of the Canterbury pilgrims. And as if to reinforce this, Mercury trining Saturn later in the day may find people acting on these profound ideas, even laying foundation stones to five-year plans, or four-year plans under the Mayan Calendar. If you are sharing a meal in a group by Friday evening, the atmosphere will be one of solid and loyal friendship, and commitment to a shared future. If dining alone, you should feel a sense of spiritual wholeness, and telepathically sense the spiritual sangha of which you form a part. On Saturday (19th) Sun moves into Taurus and there is more adjustment into reality, with an accompanying feelgood factor, but also a whiff in the air of the forthcoming full moon, so that we don’t get too complacent on our newly-arrived at plateau of awareness.

This is the third in my series of blogs about this conjunction, and I will probably be writing about this combination long after the Neptune/North Node conjunction at the end of April, because after that event later in the year we have Neptune conjunct Chiron and North Node conjunct Chiron all occurring in the same area of our life. If this is the first blog you have come to, I suggest reading the Intro and the Houses I prepared earlier. What I have noticed this week is that many people have unusual or important appointments or trips booked for the end of April, and this event may encapsulate or crystallize the Neptune/North Node experience for them, with a karmic flavour. What I want to do this week is have a look at some of the Celebs, and see how the triple conjunction is panning out in their lives: David Bowie has the triple conjunction in his first house. He could decide to create a stir, as it’s the 36th anniversary of “Starman”. Gals who may have issues around money and values at the moment, with the triple conjunction occurring in their 2nd house are Heather Mills and Victoria Beckham. Oscar-winning Marion Coutillard may need to toe the politically-correct line in her communications with its occurrance in her 3rd House. Billy Bragg may have mastered political-correctness, but may have karmic connections with Glasgow and Gateshead where he is scheduled to appear – the triple conjunction falls in his 4th House. Rufus Wainwright (just to type his name is an amazing experience) may be cooking up a creative storm at the end of April with the conjunction in his 5th House. Virgo Ascendant Roger Federer, rumoured to be suffering from mononucleosis, may need to look into the mind/body implications of health. With Neptune/North Node/Chiron currently in 6th House, complaints do not easily respond to conventional medicine as they have deeper causitive layers, sometimes related to past lives. I suggest homeopathy or regression. Ascendant in Leo, triple conjunction in 7th House – who has marriage issues? For Angelina Jolie the triple conjunction falls in her 7th house of marriage and close relationships (she has Ascendant in late Cancer). And surprisingly, and by special request, Johnny Depp, whose triple conjunction falls close to his Saturn in 7th house which represents commitment issues. Mel Gibson may remember another lifetime in which he was of a different religion, with the triple conjunction in his 8th house of Rebirth. David Beckham continues to get to grips with his tricky transatlantic lifestyle (Ascendant in Gemini, triple conjunction in 9th House). Writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez will be undergoing another long, complicated and solitary career path which may result in an epic work in the distant future, having as he does Neptune/North Node currently in his 10th House. George Clooney is surrounded by women at the moment, and is working out his relationship with the wider feminine consciousness, with this combination of planets in his 11th House – he is being a triple conjunction groupie. And last but not least Gwynneth Paltrow may be feeling a little lost at the moment with the conjunction in her 12th house of unconscious, but should find her way through deep meditation in order to bring her spiritual ideas into concrete reality. Next week: Politicians and Countries.

Do you feel well and truly ready for a new start? What could be newer than the first New Moon of the Astrological New Year, in Aries? In the UK that will be in the early hours of Sunday morning, so make sure that you do something special on Sunday to mark how you mean to go on throughout the next month, if not the next year. You could spring up from your bed with a new outlook on life, or raring to start a new creative project. Venus also enters Aries on Sunday, symbolizing new life and new love. Monday (7th) could find you back at work, but preoccupied over new dilemmas revolving around the new life and love, for Venus squares Pluto and you may find it difficult to square the old and the new. It may be an opportunity to make a quantum shift in your understanding of love and relationships and the vulnerabilities of the human heart. A new understanding may ease things, and letting go of what you cannot fathom for the moment. The middle of the week is a bit of a transition period: from the square of Monday to two squares occurring on Thursday. You might feel tense or uneasy and not know why. Yes, realize you are in the transitioning zone. We are all experiencing these squares of the Cardinal signs, and learning to use our energies constructively and sensitively. So the two squares to tackle on Thursday (10th) are Sun square Jupiter and Mercury square Mars. Not too daunting – these should be easier, even if there are two of them, than Monday’s square. Jupiter and the Sun just produce a lot of enthusiasm and sometimes hot air, unless they are combined with binge-drinking, in which case they might get out of hand. Mercury squaring Mars can produce minor incidents, such as a tussle over the hole punch in the office, or the train arriving a minute early (just set out earlier, as you’re in the know). Practise your deep-breathing if you encounter any of these problems. Yes, practise deep-breathing, and meditating in public places. And if you are svelte enough, the lotus position.

Following on from last week’s Introduction to this event which occurs at the end of April and beginning of May this year, depending on whether you take the True or Mean North Node, I will now indicate how to spot where it is taking place in your life. If you don’t know your Ascendant, you may be able to sense where the conjunction is placed in your chart from the following descriptions. If two neighbouring descriptions seem to fit, then the triple conjunction may be on the cusp between the two houses, with Chiron (healing) in the first of the two and Neptune/North Node (entangling and disentangling) in the second one. If you find yourself away from home during that period, you may have karmic links with the people or place involved. [Ascendant in Aquarius, triple conjunction in 1st House]: You are quite possibly at the centre of this triple conjunction experience for you and your circle. In fact, you probably feel as though this situation is revolving around you. [Ascendant in Capricorn, triple conjunction in 2nd House]: There may be a complicated financial transaction around now and you will need to be very clear on your values, and be aware of just how much you value yourself. [Ascendant in Sagittarius, triple conjunction in 3rd House]: You may be in the midst of some long convoluted mental journeys at the moment, literally going round the houses. Try to keep your mind clear. [Ascendant in Scorpio, triple conjunction in 4th House]: Your home may have karmic issues at the moment, such as having to look into your rights and how you can secure them. [Ascendant in Libra, triple conjunction in your 5th House]: Your creativity or love life could reach a pitch of complexity and be tantalisingly subtle. [Ascendant in Virgo, triple conjunction in 6th House]: Health issues are the complicated area for you at the moment, ensuring someone receives the necessary treatment, becoming aware of your psychological issues in relation to health, or learning to perfect your practice if you are in the alternative health field. [Ascendant in Leo, triple conjunction in 7th House]: The complexity surrounds your relationship area at this time, and you find it difficult to hold the issues in your mind, having to surrender it to meditation or prayer. [Ascendant in Cancer, triple conjunction in 8th House] You may be aware of your spiritual links to Ancestors and Angels, how they interact and are grouped. Alternatively you may be trying to extricate yourself from a financial partnership which may have been draining you. [Ascendant in Gemini, triple conjunction in 9th House]: The abstruse finer points of philosophy may be obsessing you at the moment, trying to find the key to the meaning of life. Alternatively you may be worrying about long-distance travel, grappling with a fear of flying or incurring air miles. If you are in the publishing industry, be sure your practices are squeaky clean. [Ascendant in Taurus, triple conjunction in 10th House]: In drifting with existing ways and circumstances and allowing them to shape your career and life direction, you may be unwittingly losing your way: time to re-claim it and take charge of your career. [Ascendant in Aries, triple conjunction in 11th House]: Groups and friendships may have you all in a pickle, they’re sweet and sour and dizzyingly-interlinked pods of people in your life. [Ascendant in Pisces, triple conjunction in Pisces]: The karmic entanglement may be so subtle that you find it hard to put your finger on and may feel it doesn’t apply to you. This placement is best worked with through dreams and meditations, which may bring a breakthrough for you. More Next Week!

…segueing nicely on from last week, Aries of the week (don’t worry, it’s not going to become a regular feature) and today’s birthday boy is Piers Morgan whose Solar return gift from the Universe was winning the U.S. Celebrity Apprentice. Aggression rules the day it seems today, because Sun is square Mars and even those who have a prominent Appeaser archetype in their make-up could get steamed up today. A reminder to those in the UK who have woken up with a hangover today that you have also lost an hour of time for whatever you were planning to do. Irritating? That sums up the mood today. But some of you may have been feeling aggressive for a few days, and the build-up to this aspect may be responsible. So channel any superfluous energy into some painting or singing, but resist the temptation to flick paint at your painting companion or shatter chandeliers with your vocals. Monday and Tuesday the raw energy is likely to ebb away, and when we reach Wednesday (2nd April) be ready for switches in gear. First Pluto goes stationary prior to turning retrograde, and it’s a good time to assess how far you have come since Pluto forged its way into Capricorn at the end of January. Some of you may have experienced real transformations, especially if the cusps of signs are prominent in your birth chart. Others may have stood back in awe. But everyone will have experienced something of the subterranean shifts. Now it’s time to revise and take stock and test out whether those changes were for real. The second factor for change on Wednesday is Mercury’s entry into Aries. If you have been holding back or embellishing your words over the last fortnight since Mercury was in Pisces, then it’s now time to be direct, to the point and say what you feel. Mercury’s travelling really fast now, and will only be in Aries for the next fortnight, so you might find yourself just blurting things out, or being pushed for publishing deadlines, or even be aware of time speeding up. Moving swiftly on, Thursday (3rd) is linked with one of the Fixed Stars, Alpheratz from Andromeda. According to Deborah Houlding Alpheratz “has a very fortunate influence and is renowned for attributing honour, harmony, popularity and wealth” very fitting for Leona Lewis, who just topped the U.S. charts and is an Alpheratz gal born on this day. The day also finds us with a square between Mercury and Pluto to contend with. Maybe all the aggression from Sunday, and the verbal carelessness from Wednesday, have contributed to building up a situation where nerves are to say the least frayed, and deeper resentments come out of hiding. Take care, too, while travelling, as those baggage handlers at Airports may have reached their stress limits by now. The consolation of Saturday (5th) is that it is the day before an Aries New Moon, and you can look forward to a new start and let go of the tears and tantrums of the week, even if you’re not quite there yet. It’s in sight and within reach.

The conjunction between the North Node, Neptune and Chiron which is for the purpose of disentangling karma, is getting closer. They are only 5 degrees apart now, and for many they will be stirring up events in one particular area of your chart. For some, they will be spread over the cusps of two houses. For those born around 11 February you may feel yourself to be at the centre of this situation. Neptune conjuncts the North Node at the end of April, but Chiron turns retrograde in May and doesn’t make it to the conjunction but its presence needs to be accounted for in the mix of energies. If for instance, a situation concerns three people, it may be that two become closer at the end of April, while the third drops out of the situation and finds another healing path. Later in the year through retrograde motion the North Node and Neptune will separately conjunct Chiron. What are the energies involved in the conjunction? Well they are all intangible, and tantalizingly so for an Astrologer, yet some people may feel that nothing is going on at all! All three are in a sense linked with karma and spiritual evolution. If you are not comfortable with their energies, you may sense that you want to push the issues to one side. Indeed, they may not affect you strongly, but for some the issues will become intrigues and mysteries which deepen and manifest in a way they cannot be ignored, e.g. involvement with someone who is dependent on drugs. To describe the individual energies: Neptune represents spirituality on a higher level, mysticism and the dissolving of the ego. Emotionally, it can lead to dependency and addiction to substances such as alcohol or drugs. The North Node represents karma, and more specifically our karmic purpose – with it being a transit and not our own natal North Node, it represents the karma of the society or the planet, how it impinges on the disentangling of our own karma, and in its highest form is part of the outworking of the Divine Plan. The third component of this triple conjunction is the asteroid Chiron, the wounded healer, the emergence of the inner healer-teacher. Like the North Node, it connects us to past-life patterns, while Neptune connects us with our participation in the oceanic collective unconscious. Neptune also represents our boundaries,and the process of breaking down a karmic situation through sensitivity and compassion. So look out, from now, for a situation which has been stealing up on you for some time, which is complex and possibly urging you to dissolve past-life patterns. It may crystallize into a merging or union with the divine towards the end of April, but if handled negatively may perpetuate health problems. It is useful to work with this triple conjunction consciously, and also apply our understanding to those around us who may be part of our triple-conjunction experience or whose experiences augment our own knowledge and understanding. The first step is to identify it. Next Week: Triple conjunction in the houses.

Confused? This is the Easter blog and we have the full snow scene…I am wearing three layers of the winter woollies I had scheduled to put away last week. We are contemplating regeneration, rebirth and resurrection and the pictures outside don’t match, well in the UK at least. Are you over the Cardinal T-square between the Sun, Moon and Pluto on Good Friday? Are you ready for the rebirthing of this first week of Spring? If it’s your birthday this week, you’ll probably manage it better than most, because you carry that Aries fire into everything that you do. Our Aries of the week is Sir Alan Sugar, a real Ram, with both the Sun and Moon in this sign. A new series of the Apprentice reminds us all that the first week of Spring is a good week to launch any new enterprise, or renew an existing successful TV series. Here in East Anglia we are launching Med Pod, devoted to the exchange and analysis of interesting meditations. If you want a tip for a starting time, tomorrow lunchtime (Monday 24th, Sir Alan’s actual birthday) is looking good, with Venus conjunct Mercury favouring artistic and business ventures and all their permutations. So make that the actual start of Med Pod, then. Wednesday (26th) evening at 9 p.m. is the start of the new series of the Apprentice, which is not an astrological aspect, but may give you a chance to see the Aries fire in action, with the corresponding Aries verbals such as “You’re fired!”. But it’s towards the end of the week when the intense action begins, starting on Thursday (27th) when we have two significant aspects to Mercury – a sextile with Jupiter and a conjunction with Uranus, both dynamic and both related to the development of thought, business and travel. There is a double thrust in these activities, characterized by expansion and innovation. On Friday (28th) our Sun is aligned with the fixed star Algenib in the constellation of Pegasus the winged horse, at the tip of its wing. This is the first major fixed star we encounter in the Astrological new year and is credited in “Starlight Elixirs” by Fred Rubenfeld and Michael Smulkis as being helpful to creative visualization. Friday is also the turn of Venus to shine, with her own enjoyment of the sextile with Jupiter and conjunction with Uranus. So the dynamism is applied to our social lives and relationships, adding a sparkle to these, champagne celebrations and brilliantly original artistic directions. It would be a great day to re-kindle an old friendship, or make a surprise new contact. Facebook will be buzzing. However, the important focus of the week, toward which all these bright initiatives and warm relations have been networking, comes on Saturday (29th) when Jupiter sextiles Uranus. This is of major importance in connecting two areas of our lives, one where we are expanding and radiating outwards, and the other where we are receving the latest information through our telepathic vehicles, downloading information about how to create a new life on a personal level, and renew the planet on a more worldwide level. Vow to recycle all the plastic bags you’ve got, and equip yourself with enough holdalls made of natural materials that you never again get caught short having to buy another plastic bag. And take part in Earth Hour at 8 p.m. that day (see their website), a global movement to switch off all lights for an hour.