Mercury Pisces Retrograde 2013 / Rx: February to April Dates & Insights

February 10, 2013 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Transits, World, Planets, Signs, Methodologies, Mundane, Special Topics, Predictive, Abella / Leave Comment

Mercury is in Pisces 8° right now.
My Mercury is in Virgo at 8° (it’s in exact partile today). I am/will be experiencing a Mercury Rx Opposite Mercury transit.
And have been feeling / experiencing the effects for about a week now.

The shadow period is from the 9th to 22nd. We’re already in it! Double AND Triple check EVERYTHING.

The Retrograde (Rx) is happening between Feb 23 (19°) to March 17 (5°). And we are hardest hit, March 1 to 10th!

Mercury rules communication (spoken, phone, email, snail mail, written, etc), trade, sales, contracts, siblings, and travel (over short distances).

It’s a time when things traditionally slow down — including sales so pull out all your advertising mojo to make the sale.

This is also a great time to think about your dreams, meditate, do art, and commune with nature and animals.

When the planet Mercury appears to travel backwards, any word with re: in front of it is what we’re likely to experience — reward, renew, refresh, revisit, redo, renegotiate, redress, etc… In some cases, a retrograde is very welcome, and necessary. Similar to when rain and snow helps cleanse the land, and grow food — reigniting life — a retrograde can also cause havoc.

We are also, transit wise, experiencing Mercury Conjunct Chiron (the wounded healer, wounding healer, and where we receive wounds from others). It’s a good time to mind your words and thoughts, and keep them healing and helpful — for and to yourself and others.

I’m taking note too, and although I find myself wanting to give people a piece of my mind — I’m putting a lid on it. Oh, time to meditate.

The shadow phase, on the tail end — starts March 18th, and ends April 6th.

Godspeed!

The following music video, Retrograde, was released a couple of days ago — just on the cusp of the Mercury Rx shadow!

Fixed star Algol, Taurus: The Sexual, Emotional, & Psychological Drives of Heterosexual Men with Algol

October 2, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Asteroids, Fixed Stars / Leave Comment

Fixed Star Algol

For those that follow the Astrogasm blog but not my VirgoVault blog, I thought I would point out an important article on Algol and the Medusa Myth that I recently wrote up.

My astrology, which may be noteworthy to this article, include: Virgo the Virgin stellium in the 8th house of Scorpio (sex, death, psychology, etc). Moon, Mercury, Venus, Pluto, Vesta, and South Node. Mercury and Pluto, not conjunct, reside in the 8th. Uranus Libra straddles the 8th and 9th with Medusa conjuncting it. Minerva and Athene are in my 7th house conjunct my Sun which is conjunct my Mars. Neptune is in my 10th.Pallas is in my 2nd house in Pisces and conjunct my North Node. I have Algol, as a degree, in my 4th house. It is not conjunct anything though the closest conjunction would be with Saturn, if it were in orb.

The main players in this story are:

Medusa, Virgin Priestess of Athena (Vestal Virgin) — assigned Virgo, then transformed into Scorpio
Neptune (aka Poseidon), Rapist or Seducer — assigned Pisces
Minera (aka Athena),Virgin Goddess — assigned Scorpio
Mother, the missing water sign — assigned Cancer

The Heterosexual Man and the Fixed Star, Algol

Finding meaning in Algol… Read the full story on VirgoVault.

A Lecture is devoid of a conversation

May 18, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Life Skills / Leave Comment

A lecture is something that is devoid of a conversation.

What’s a conversation? It’s when more than one person is exchanging ideas, thoughts, feelings, and/or impressions.

If you don’t want to be lectured at, speak up — ask questions, and make comments. Don’t let the other person control what goes on unless you are enjoying the lecture.

If the person you are talking to doesn’t allow you to speak, speak to someone in the ‘help industry’ such as a crisis center, therapist, counselor, etc. so you can gain the tools and resources to assert yourself.

You never have to hear a lecture again unless you’ve agreed to such an arrangement!

Much love <3

Do You Have The GIFT?!

May 17, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Life Skills, Teaching, Philosophy / Leave Comment

A student said I had the ‘gift’ because they were not getting something I was getting and because they believe in my talent. *eye roll*

Sorry student if you’re reading this – you know I <3 you but aside from the kudos (thanks!) it’s important to be honest with yourself and not externalize what you consider, failure for knowing.

My reply was: I have the “gift”, if it’s the ‘gift of analysis‘. :-P

Seriously, yes… that’s what I’m gifted in: Putting seemingly unrelated items together; pulling stuff apart and putting it back together again, only to pull it apart again; seeing patterns; and making wild connections. :D

So yes, I’m naturally ‘gifted’ at that with my Mercury Conjunct South Node but not Conjunct Pluto in the 8th and in the sign of Virgo, along with my Virgo stellium!!

But anyone can learn anything they want to learn with time, practice, desire, and an open mind.

I also reminded the student that she’s incredibly bright, studious, and able to analyze quite well but from what I understand — she wants an ‘external’ reward for doing so. That’s maybe a differentiator between myself and many others.

My reward is finding a solution — MY solution. It doesn’t have to be anyone else’s, no one has to agree, or clap their hands in praise of my almighty mind… LOL though that’s always appreciated says my Leo Sun-Mars in the 7th. ;P

Now, this may be a news flash to some of you but EVERYONE has a gift. Yup, you too. Yup, you’re gifted in some way too.

What are you gifted in? What do you find you seem to do naturally well but is often harder for other people to do? Did you suppress or stunt your gift, only to find it blooming later in life? What, astrologically, do you think represents your ‘gift‘?

And if you don’t think you’re gifted in something, I feel it’s important to check your self-esteem. And frankly, I’d encourage you to get some talk therapy about that too. Lack of confidence and low self esteem are a couple of things that will hold you and others back in life if you don’t deal with it.

If you’re not sure how your gift shows up astrologically, that’s entirely different and probably has nothing to do with low self-esteem.

(Note: Self-esteem issues are connected to the 2nd house so it’s a good starting point to explore that; however, other houses and signatures also point to this.)

Virgo, Scorpio, the 6th and 8th Houses and Body Modification / Weight Loss

May 1, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Favorite Things, Abella, Life Skills / Leave Comment

Little known fact about me: I have a love of body modification (Virgo stellium in the 8th) through natural means. It gives me so much joy to know the body can do such wonderful things, on its own, if we just work with it and give it a little non-invasive assistance. Natural body modification, to me, is anything we do to naturally affect our body (including hair) but is not likely permanent — it must be maintained by its owner. Weight loss, is one body modification that Virgo and Scorpio (the 6th and 8th houses) can delight in.

Post Statistics

April 26, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Writing & Blogs / Leave Comment

Here’s my post statistics:

Sum: 48194 words
Minimum: 3 words
Maximum: 1330 words
Average: 139 words

Longest post: About My Blogs: Part Two: Readings & Consultations
Shortest post: I’m “Sharing Awesome”!

Total reading time: 2 hours, 40 minutes, 38 seconds. (very good reading speed)

Wow, I’ve written close to 50,000 words in about 60 days! :-)

I guess we can say that I’m not for one to be at a loss for words with Mercury Trine Ascendant, Mercury Sextile Midheaven, and Gemini in the 5th and 6th houses! :-D

And since my average words are 139, I’m keeping to the Twitter length. LOL

One of the careers I wanted to do, a long time ago, was to be a columnist! Would have been a perfect job for me but no opportunities that came followed through. For example, I was asked to write an astrology sun-sign column in our daily paper (even BEFORE I was an actual astrologer — no kidding!!) but that fell through.

I have an occult library (over 2,500 books but I’ve lost track!) and I grew up with the Encyclopedia Britannica (one of my favorite childhood pastimes was to browse through the books).

The Imaginator: Be The Producer of Your Own Moving Picture

April 21, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Favorite Things, Abella, Life Skills, Quotes, Consultations & Readings, Teaching, Philosophy, Psychology / Leave Comment

If you can imagine doom, then you can imagine a perfect world — you’re perfect world. – Abella Arthur

The Imaginator: Be The Producer of Your Own Moving Picture – Abella Arthur

Anxiety: One Cause & Solution

April 19, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Life Skills, Quotes / Leave Comment

Anxiety is the response from attempting to control a situation that you feel is not in your control. ~ Abella Arthur

Anxiety is the response from attempting to get away from something, someone, or somewhere that isn’t making you feel comfortable. ~ Abella Arthur

Better to name your feeling, and get to the bottom of what you’re really feeling and what you really believe and why — then do something about it. No stiff upper lips (causing anxiety so you’re forced to fight or flight) if you want to do away with anxiety!

For example, I was on the bus today and I was feeling antsy. I realized that I didn’t like the smell. Then I realized that’s why I didn’t want to be there. So I was causing myself to be anxious so that I’d hightail it off the bus and walk (flight). Why did I want to make myself anxious? Because I didn’t want to actually get ‘off’ of the bus’ and walk such a distance at that time. I wanted out of the undesirable environment but my normally logical self wasn’t going to go for that (I wanted to get home, taking the bus) so I caused myself to get anxious.

When I figured out what a sneaky trick my head was playing on me, I just got up and moved to an open window to get some fresh air and was conscious to that being my only reason. Then I transported myself into another space and time and got on with the bus ride!

Oh, and now I know when I’ve used Bath and Body antibacterial soap in public spaces I suddenly felt better. LOL… Who knew I was so fussy and finicky (my Virgo stellium) or had my nose soaked in roses (my Jupiter / Uranus Libra)?! I didn’t.

And this is what happened because I kept myself smelling good, didn’t get out of the house often enough to expose myself to foul odors from not only people, but vehicle fumes, etc.., and didn’t want to face the truth about the rat race — basically it smells like a sewer!

So another anxiety solution is to expose oneself to necessary but nasty situations and find something enjoyable about it.

I’ll share more about anxiety in future blog posts!

Virgoness, Body, & Blame

April 14, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Abella / Leave Comment

I think I take too much responsibility.

I was at the movie theater tonight and instead of blaming my coldness on the environment (the movie theater not putting on the heat during cold weather), I blamed it on what I thought was my body malfunctioning (ie bad circulation and see Virgo worry-wort, hypochondriac, health and body nut! :P ).

Anyway, note to self: Blame more on environment and take less responsibility for everything that happens to me. LOL :P

Yeehaw!

Time Off & Quote About Virgos

April 13, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Writing & Blogs / Leave Comment

Normally, I wouldn’t announce that I won’t be blogging for awhile or will minimize it but since I’ve been doing it everyday and its title is “Daily Diary…” I thought it would be good to let you know. :-)

During my time off I’ll be completing my ‘sale’ set up which has taken so much time and I had to rework part of my site and have more to do. Also, I have some home ‘organizational’ projects that need to get finished. And I’ll be taking more time out for myself to exercise and improve my spiritual, physical, and mental health. Plus I’m in process of hiring, training, and redeveloping my business model. So much to do!!

A number of things need to go to make way for an increased workload and personal well-being…

I love blogging but it definitely doesn’t pay the bills (for me) so I imagine I’ll find myself muttering about this and that (to myself) LOL while I’m away because Gemini on the 6th will do that if they don’t have an outlet. But at the same time, it’s good for Gemini on the 6th to close the mental shop now and then.

Then again, maybe I just need to get this blog back-on-track with 1-2 sentence quips! :-) Oh, how mutable of me to say!

Will I stay or will I go? Will I stay or will I go? Oh, I don’t know…

Virgo Energy Quote:

It is clear that those with the Moon in Virgo or Virgo rising, or with heavy Virgo stellium, are amongst the most puzzling personalities we encounter. Virgo is capable of heights or depths, but these are not necessarily obtrusive. The Virgo person is a ‘deep one’. – Martin Seymour-Smith

Me: Virgo stellium, Virgo Moon. Maybe you too. ;P

If nothing else, I’ll definitely be back to post the sale details once I’m finished updating everything.

Thanks for reading, sharing, commenting — love you bunches and catch up with you soonish.

♥

Song: Laid Back, Blue Lagoon (Don’t worry… shout-out to Virgo types!)

April 6, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Music / Leave Comment

The Farmer’s Almanac

April 2, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Transits, Favorite Things, Abella, Special Topics / Leave Comment

I ♥ the Farmer’s Almanac.

I first learned of the book when I was a teen and grew up in and lived near farm country.

I’d use it to plan my summer holidays in Toronto. I always wanted those days to be sunny and bright and the Almanac never steered me wrong! Good days!

Carpel Tunnel Syndrome

March 31, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Favorite Things, Abella, Writing & Blogs / Leave Comment

Lately have been having some twitches in my thumb and a couple of fingers. The doctor thinks it’s because I’m writing a lot. LOL. He was so funny. He did an air-typing animation for me too. Better cool it for awhile on the writing — overuse of hands / fingers. Occupational hazard (Gemini on the 5th / 6th house cusp). ;P

Work: How to Enjoy It More & Have Success

March 31, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Life Skills / Leave Comment

When you do a job or a task have these three principles to work by:

1. Enjoy it for yourself

If you are bored, how can you make it more fun? Can it be played like a game? What parts do you like about it? Can you do more of that? Listen to the music; find the music within the work, the flow. Talk or write about the work, in a productive way, to people. Take initiative; own your job.

2. Excel at it and be the best

Can you make your job more efficient and productive? Is there something that you can do to your job to make it better than anyone thought it ever could? Can you run a seminar, write a column, become an expert? Excelling at your job means you can move on to more enjoyable activities of your own choosing.

3. Better it for others

Tweak and document processes and procedures so you can have someone take over your job (with ease) once you have reached excellence. This is very helpful for when you want to move on to bigger and better things quickly — onwards and upwards.

Please note: Do NOT use these principles if you want to perform in a mediocre way or do a job just for the money because by following these principles you will be excellent and acquire passion for everything you do.

(First published Apr 16, 2009 @ 8:5)

Fitness: Virgo, Bike Riding in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

March 25, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Favorite Things, Abella, Life Skills / Leave Comment

Took a nice long 45 minute bike ride to an errand. Beautiful day out. The 1 hour back was grueling. lol

Female Leo Sun’s, With Lots of Virgo Energy Make For…

March 17, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Signs, Abella, The Lights / Leave Comment

Female Leo Sun’s, with a lot of Virgo energy make for this image: The Queen serving food in a soup kitchen. A noble leader.

Cashiers: The Art of Counting Back Change

March 12, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Life Skills / Leave Comment

Tonight, a cashier held back $1.00 from my change.

When I was a cashier, I counted back the change. So if you gave me $10 and the amount was $4.61, I would state the charge, hand you back the amount of change that brought it up to the next dollar, in this case — $5 and then keep counting back. So I would say $10 while handing them the $5 or if I was handing twonies and loonies, I’d say each dollar until I got to $10 such as $5, $7, $9, $10 while placing the two twonies and a loonie into their hand at the same time. That, along with the original change that rounded up to the $1 that was already in their hand.

Today, they just hand you everything all crumpled up in one go. They don’t say how much the total was or count back the change. Either that or I just did things differently. I’ll also say I was rarely over or under on my till and when it was, it was a very small amount and I questioned the person counting my till and that’s because I counted back change (double check!).

Anyway, I got this weird feeling that I was short changed and I asked what type of change I got back. She seemed surprised, looked over to her supervisor quickly, and then handed me the withheld $1 while mumbling, “oh, yeah…”.

O-o

What’s interesting and happens frequently is that I can actually see the person processing a transgression against me, a dislike, a mal-thought, etc. in slow motion. In the past I’ve ignored it because too much is going on but lately I’ve actually started following through on my hunches and it hasn’t steered me wrong yet!

Of course, often times a) I wish I was wrong and b) I wish I wasn’t so highly observant. It’s not very nice processing other people’s negative thoughts. I think I’ll take up knitting and wear horse blinders! haha

The Connection Between Semi-Sextile Signs: The Truth

March 9, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Signs / Leave Comment

The Connection Between Semi-Sextile Signs

Here’s an example:
Virgo- Libra-Scorpio
Truth
Scorpio wants to find the hidden truth. “The truth hurts.”

Virgo wants to find the absolute core truth. – “There’s your truth, my truth, and then THE truth”.

Libra wants to find the middle path of truth – “Three sides to every story: Yours, mine, and the truth.”

Virgo & Sorting

March 8, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Signs / Leave Comment

This goes out to all my Pisces brothers and sisters, the other half of Virgo. Sorting is fun stuff if you play it like a ‘game’ with a ‘mission’ and all that. Imagine sinking into a sea and coming out into a clear spring… sorting the debris from the clean shiny stuff, is refreshing. Take a dip!

TimeBoxing: Virgo, Capricorn, Mars Square Saturn

March 8, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Abella, Life Skills, Bright Ideas / Leave Comment

Awhile ago I was having immense trouble with my Mars Square Saturn aspect and getting stuff done. I was frustrated, overwhelmed, and my work was imbalanced.

No matter what I got done, I felt it wasn’t enough and that stuff was being left out. So I decided, enough was enough, and set out to create solutions for this problem.

Recently I found out, through Leah Whitehorse, that one of the solutions actually has a name and formal process to it. It’s called Timeboxing – a time management technique, can turn a Mars-Saturn, in hard aspect, to a harmonious one.

If you or your client experiences work related frustration, delays, overwork, etc. consider mentioning Timeboxing (if you don’t already).

For myself, I rotate tasks and jobs throughout the month, and I do a variety of things throughout the day without the expectation that I will complete any of them by the end of day. Some I will and some I won’t and that’s okay because I have a “plan”. :D

Note that I have Gemini on my 6th house cusp and variety is essentially within my day-to-day tasks and how I manage my time.

Somehow I get more done, feel more accomplished and relaxed, don’t neglect one thing for another, and feel less frustrated because I’m getting somewhere — I can see the results.

Hope this helps for someone else. Cheers!

Originally published May 4, 2011

Links

http://sourcesofinsight.com/2009/01/15/how-to-use-timeboxing-for-getting-results
http://www.davecheong.com/2006/07/26/time-boxing-is-an-effective-getting-things-done-strategy/
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jmeier/archive/2007/10/21/how-to-use-time-boxing-for-getting-results.aspx
http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack-1025
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2004/10/timeboxing/

Thanks Nancy Schorr

http://litemind.com/time-boxing/
http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack-1025

Virgo Humility and Leo Pride

March 5, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Planets, Abella / Leave Comment

My Sun in Leo really doesn’t like the humility of Virgo. A maladjusted Virgo sort of acts like a doormat along with a sign that says, use me. I mean, having some humility is good but not over-humility. And there’s a time and place for everything. I had to let go of the Leo ego before being able to balance it out (Libra makes a showing!). So now it’s time for Leo to take its rightful place — displaying some pride, and acting on its sense of entitlement. In a good way, of course. Go Leo! ;P

Mars Rx Stories

March 3, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Transits, World / Leave Comment

Mars Rx: Going over a past botched surgery and medical service. Watching Winnipeg hospital’s surgery error on Yahoo!

Someone who doesn’t know what I do for …

March 1, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Uncategorized / Leave Comment

Someone who doesn’t know what I do for a living said I was an ‘over-analyzer’. Yes, I am! Over-anything means something special, specialist. As a Virgo stellium, I’m a specialist in analyzing. There’s nothing mediocre about people who do in ways that are not average. Success can come in doing something that most people can’t or don’t want to do.

Mercury Rx in Aries with Mars Rx in Virgo

March 1, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Transits, World, Methodologies, Mundane / Leave Comment

Mercury Rx in Aries with Mars Rx in Virgo asks you and gives you the strength to regain any independence and self-will that you have lost.

Mercury Rx Aries & Mars Rx Virgo, in Mutual Reception

March 1, 2012 / By Abella Arthur / In Astrology, Transits, World, Methodologies, Mundane / Leave Comment

Mercury Rx in Aries: Self-talk and reflection about independence, courage, physical health, aggressive speech, and drive.

Retrogrades give you a chance to go over what you didn’t finish. This RX also happens during Mars Virgo Rx. These planets are also in ‘mutual reception’ and I imagine, a rare happening.

While it’s said that the helpfulness of this receptivity is diminished by the retrogrades RX, I’d like to remain on the positive side and hope to see the plans of the PLANets do their good work for the betterment of mankind.