Interview from the Maryland Psychic Fair

Before the opening of the Maryland Psychic Fair, last Sunday in Gambrills, Maryland, I spoke to Dewey of the Frederickland podcast.  

If you'd like to know more about the Frederickland podcast, please check out Dewey's site, www.frederickland.com. There you can listen to the interview in its entirety; my portion is at around 5:10 and lasts for just over 3 minutes. 

A huge thank you to Ed and the entire psychic fair staff, as well as to the Bowie Elks Lodge for hosting us! We had a great time and hope to be asked back next year. 

Tara's Scorpio Full Moon Forecast

8:57 PM

April 29, 2018

Washington, DC

Welcome back, Sky Watchers, for this extremely intense full Moon in Scorpio!

The chart of this lunation has an ascendant at 21 Scorpio, giving rulership of the chart to both Mars (classical) and Pluto (modern). These malefics are conjunct in Capricorn in the 2nd house, and they are both sextile the Ascendant. This means that both Mars and Pluto will be feeding their energy to the “body” of energy expressed during this full moon lunation.

Jupiter is conjunct the ascendant, and he expands whatever he touches. Although Jupiter is a benefic, its sextile to the MMars-Pluto conjunction allows it to exaggerate the intensity felt by the malefics joining forces.

Saturn shares his sign with his junior allies, and he makes us earn our success, so he is placed well for financial and career advancement. Mars motivates us to passionate action, while Pluto totally transforms our lives. These three planets are not fooling around; they’ve got a lot of energy flowing in their direction, and the time is now.

Both the 2nd and 12th houses are important in this chart. The 2nd house is where are three malefics are, and it rules our security, movable possessions, personal finances, and material goals. This is the house of things we value. The Moon is in the 12th house rules our subconscious mind, our past life, the prisons we create for ourselves, our mental creativity, and our connection to the higher power and our release.

The Moon represents our emotions and our soul’s evolution. Although a water sign, Scorpio doesn’t do well with emotional processing and is in fall in Scorpio. The Moon struggles to deal with the brooding, intense Scorpio power. The 12th house is where we pack away everything that bothers us. Having the Scorpio moon here could mean that we are feeling very unsettled about our own emotions.

Neptune is in Pisces in the 4th house and he is trine the moon. This means that Neptune is sending energy back to its natural house of rulership, the 12th. In doing so it’s added a layer of illusion and delusion to those deep Scorpio waters. Make sure that you’re seeing what’s really there.

Full Moons are always times of heightened emotions; however, with the moon connecting to Neptunian energy while resting deep in the 12th house, it could prove challenging. The Moon also naturally rules the 4th house. With the moon receiving Neptunian energy from the 4th house, there could be a component of the emotional equation that has to do with our family ties.

The Sun is in the 6th house of day-to-day tasks, our health, and our jobs. The sun is trine Saturn in Capricorn, which could mean a boost for our career, especially since Saturn is in the 2nd house. It’s important for us to be mindful to apply caution with our coworkers as well; with so much emotion flying around it will be very easy for us to allow ourselves to become overly involved.

To survive this full moon, look to the Leo north node in the 9th house of higher learning, philosophy, traveling, and language. Leo represents fun, play, childlike wonder and joy. It’s okay to be a little bit selfish and plan something that brings you joy to counteract the intensity of any pent up emotions.

See you next time, Sky Watchers!

Blessings,

Tara

Four Tarot Queens, One Reader, No Waiting?

[knocking on door]

John: Hold on...I'll be right there!

[opens the door to see four well-dressed ladies]

John: Can I...help you ladies with something?

Queen of Wands: I told you I'd be back, John!

John: I see that, dear lady. And I see you brought friends. 

Queen of Wands: You're procrastinating again!

Queen of Swords: Technically, dear, he has been procrastinating for some time. 

Wands: Ah, yes...of course, you're right! So what's your excuse?

Queen of Cups: No need to be rude, is there? [making her way forward to face the Queen of Wands] Why don't we start with 'Good afternoon!' and then go from there? [smiles]

Queen of Pentacles: And we're taking time away from him when he could be working on his next book.

Wands: Ladies, the next book is MINE! He said so! 

Swords: He has the right to change his mind. 

John: I'm sort of re-doing my office today, ladies. 

Jen: [from upstairs] John? What got delivered? I need some help.

John: [raising voice] No delivery, honey. Be up soon! [addressing Queens] See what I mean? 

Pentacles: We understand that your time is valuable. Any chance we can come see you soon?

John: Ummm yeah I guess. 

Swords: People want to know how to use us,  and that nice lady in the Tarot Nerds group suggested this topic. So we need to chat and soon. 

John: Fine. We'll talk this week. Happy?

Wands: [points at John] If you blow us off, we're coming back!

Cups: [to Queen of Wands] So angry! [to John] Thanks for your time. We hope to see you soon.

[John nods and closes the door]

Pentacles: Well that was a waste of time. Where's the closest restaurant?

Swords: I'm "hailing" our Uber. It's five minutes out. 

Cups: First round is on me, ladies!

Wands: He'd better not mess with us! And three visits and he hasn't invited me in once!

Random Meanderings

Greetings and salutations, good people! I figured I'd take a moment for a quick word from me about how things are going in my world. In one quick word, BUSY. 

Those of you who know me well are aware that "busy" is usually the status quo for me, but in some cases, it's even been a little overwhelming for me, which is saying something!

Anyway, here are some of the things happening in my world right now!

1) Maryland Psychic Fair--This event was last weekend and Jen and I had an amazing time. It was an exceptionally busy and fun day, and I'd like to thank everyone who turned up. This was the first time this fair has been offered and considering the number of people that came--I was told over 700 people for 30+ vendors!--we'll definitely do it again next year. It was not far from Annapolis in Gambrills, MD.

2) Video games--Unfortunately my desire to work has only whetted my appetite for video games. I bought Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel for PS4, while Jen grabbed the latest in the FarCry Series, FarCry 5. Let me tell you that FarCry 5 is amazing and extremely scary, especially considering the current world situation. Jen spent countless hours killing cultists on the screen and I was totally mesmerized. 

3) Morgana--We received some very sad news a few weeks ago. Our cat Morgana has been diagnosed with cancer. We're exceptionally sad about this development, and at nearly 14 years old we've decided we're not going to put her through chemotherapy or more invasive tests. We're going to enjoy the time we have left with her. 

4) Guest Bloggers--A special thanks to astrologer Tara Appezzato and burgeoning writer Ren Armstrong for their contributions to this blog. I have plans to ask at least two more people to share their talents with us and hope to have more details to share in the near future. 

5) SOTA--The State of the Art Astrology Conference is in Buffalo, New York, as usual, this October 18-23. I highly encourage everyone to consider going; I've mentioned this event in several other blogs, and I'll be speaking on tarot again this year. This is a small, wonderful conference that I can't recommend highly enough. 

6) Graduation--After three long years of study, I'm scheduled to graduate this June from the Midwest School of Astrology with my Certificate of Astrological Proficiency. The final required seminars, competency exam, and the graduation ceremony itself are all in early to mid-June so I won't have many card reading dates during that time. 

7) Astrology Charts--If you'd like a chart done, now is the time to schedule one before the prices go up in mid-June. If you schedule a chart for any time before May 31, it will be $100.

8) Ready for spring--Northern Virginia weather has confounded me even more than usual this spring, so I can't wait for it to finally arrive. I hate having to turn on the AC during the day and then the heat at night!

As always, I appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you across my table soon!

Mercury Retrograde: Letter from the Caribbean

Jupiter: Are you there, Saturn? It's me, Jupiter! 

Saturn: [unlocks door] Don't you have other things to be doing, Jupiter? And if you think you're going to fool me into somehow saying "By Jove!"...

Jupiter: [laughs] No, Old Man. Nothing like that. You going to invite me in?

[After a pregnant pause, Saturn holds the door open]

Jupiter: Thank you. I sincerely apologize for not texting beforehand. Oh, wait...you don't text so you wouldn't have known anyway.

Saturn: [grunts] Fair enough. So why are you here?

Jupiter: I was over at the office and some mail came in for you. Well, it looked like your style: Plain, #2 pencil, that sort of thing, and it turns out it is for you.

Saturn: So you decided to do Mercury a favor? That's awfully generous of you.

Jupiter: Unlike a certain planet I know, I'm always expanding my horizons. [smirk]

Saturn: I give you "harrumph", Jupiter. "Harrumph," I say. Get to the point! 

Jupiter: This letter from John came in a while back and I guess it was just before Merc went retro. So it's been sitting in the mail room and...well, now you have it. [hands over envelope]

Saturn: [turns away from Jupiter, then turns back] You're just going to ask me what he said anyway, right?

Jupiter: Yup.

Saturn: How about the boundary of privacy?

Jupiter: YOU may be good with boundaries, Old Man, but have you MET me?

Saturn: [sigh] FINE. Let me read it.

"Dear Saturn,

I greet you, dear sir, from the middle of the Caribbean. We are well on our way to Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. We spent today in Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands, part of the old British West Indies, and I must say it was lovely.

By your standards, I have spent the past several days doing things that make you uncomfortable. These activities included ignoring my diet, drinking, gambling, going to a spa, drinking, gambling, relaxing and generally speaking not thinking about you at all."
Saturn: [sigh] It always goes back to you and Neptune, doesn't it?

Jupiter: He's on vacation overseas. Damn right it does. Keep going!

"That last sentence does not mean that I wish you any ill will, Old Man; let me make that clear. But those closest to me have told me repeatedly that your influence over me has been very strong as of late—working too much mostly, but not feeling my usual chipper self, either—and as such I have been listening to their wise counsel. Consequently, this my first attempt at anything resembling work in the past four days.

To be fair, you’re the only planet I’m really talking to at the moment. I’ve even done the unthinkable: I’ve banished Mercury from my life over the past few days by not using the Internet here on the ship. My communications have been done the old-fashioned way: in person with other human beings. There are no messages coming in from the outside. The only thing missing is #2 pencils and you’d be...well I’d never say “happy”. Not sure what I’d say. “Less unhappy than your usual self” is a possibility, I guess.

Anyway, I wanted to take a moment while I’m not focused on everything else to thank you. I understand you have very little use for my gratitude, or anyone else’s, but please hear me out just the same.

While you have pushed me toward working too much and keeping my future in mind all the time—even when I’d rather not think along those lines—I have a big milestone coming up and you’re one of the many reasons I’m going to achieve it.

When I attended my first State of the Art astrology conference back in 2014, I was definitely feeling like a poser. I knew some astrology, sure, and I had been studying on my own for some time. But that was my first real exposure to professional astrologers. And I aspired to be one of them; not a fly by night astrologer who just sort of vomits up whatever comes to mind in a chart, but doing them in a very Saturnian way: Lots of practice, preparation of each individual chart, and then the serious delivery. I know I can’t reach the mastery level of astrology without my 10,000 hours of study, so over the past nearly 10 years I’ve put my efforts in that direction."

Jupiter: Wow. 10,000 hours to become an expert in something? Who knew? I mean...

Saturn: [holds up a hand] Likely I'm the only one of the planets who knew that, Jupiter. My influence can be powerful. Now stop interrupting!

"Now, after three years of astrology schooling, I’m ready to receive my certificate. It’s all review from here on out...the new material is over in class. A decent percentage of my classmates that I started with won’t finish, but thanks to you and your drive to learn my lessons well and truly, I will graduate.

I can feel good about the huge accomplishment and all of the sacrifices it took to get me here. The financial commitments—tuition, materials, books, and trips to school—were part of it. But I’ve spent the vast majority of my Monday nights for nearly three years in three hours of school and learning these lessons. Then there are all the evenings I spent studying with other private instructors, which I’m still doing.

I’m paying forward the generosity of others by mentoring as many astrologers as I can by spending time with them to help them grow. I feel a Saturn obligation to do right by them as others have done for me. You would be proud of all of them, dear sir; if I’m lucky, all of them will go on to become astrologers in their own right and help others. That alone will be thanks enough.

Before you ask, I don't have any mentees that favor you. Sorry, Old Man."

[Jupiter stifles a few giggles, as Saturn sends a "DO YOU MIND?" look his way.]

"As much as I don’t want to admit it most days, I show much more of your influence than other planets. And while you are overly serious, I do understand and appreciate the positive impact you have had on me. I hope every one of my undertakings makes you proud to call me one of your own.

This is one more milestone, and I am aware that the learning will never end, until the day when I must bow to you. Speaking personally, I hope that day doesn’t come for quite a while. My certificate is only the beginning of what I hope will be an amazing career for me for many years to come.

Very truly yours,

John

PS: I won about $400 off of the Kronos slot machine! Your Greek incarnation is a lot more generous than you are. And tell Jupiter the Zeus machine just took our money. What's up with THAT?"

Jupiter: Wow! Even you will have to admit that this is incredibly thoughtful. And I give that man credit for putting up with you all these years. [chuckles]

Saturn: This visit is at an end, Jupiter. Please close the door on your way out.