It's been a year since we had a month with no Retrograde planets, which is why February feels like a chance to catch our collective breaths and reshuffle our cards before the next hand is dealt. The first half of the month spotlights definitions of community and the obligations and responsibilities we have towards one another.
The Aquarian New Moon on February 4 calls for universalism, expanding concepts of "us" and "them" beyond geographic and cultural lines.Sometimes, it feels like everybody wants to live in the Age of Aquarius, but nobody wants to do the hard work to get there. Inclusion and acceptance begin at home: Those who reject the broken, fragmented parts of Self are least likely to accept the marginalized and vulnerable in others.
High-minded idealism and the attempted Utopianization of society are superseded by deep compassion and empathy after Valentine's Day. Keeping imperfect and broken humanity at arm's length while paying lip service and writing checks to good causes is a distancing technique designed to avoid dirtying your hands in the messy muck which is real life.
The Full Super-Moon in Virgo on February 19th gifts us with discernment and the power of wise discrimination: the ability to choose that which is useful, good, or valuable, and put aside that which no longer serves. The second half of February turns the spotlight from exterior to interior. The angels of our better selves lift their lamps and hold our hands as we navigate the corridors of our identities. This field trip to these hidden recesses is really a rescue mission: extracting the gold of self-awareness from the dross of the unconscious and instinctual. You may not know exactly what you're looking for, but trust that you'll recognize it when you see it. It looks exactly like actual authenticity.
