Why February 29th is My Favorite Day of the Year

It may seem strange to say a day that only "exists" every 4 years is my favorite day of the year, but as an Astrologer, and an observer of nature, leap year is a perfect example of man kinds need to simplify what should be appreciated for its beautiful complexities. Nature is, by design both wonderfully simplistic and unfathomably complex; a dichotomy of the most extreme, living side by side in perfect harmony with no compromise and no apologies for being difficult to understand.

The idea of a leap year is a compromise for the world at large. The ability to easily cut up our years into months, our months into weeks, our weeks into days, and  days that can all be ticked off by hours and minutes, into easy to work with numbers, has long been a quest of evolving man. There’s only one small problem with that idea; the universal clock doesn't work with our number system! There always seems to be this "leftover" bit of time that adds up!

It's this idea of extra time that I love as an astrologer. Does the fact that we are unable to simplify the complex cycle of our planet make sunrise to sunset any less a full day? We adjust our clock for daylight savings time in order to feel like we are living our typical work week during the peak hours of light, but couldn't we just adjust our work day without adjusting the clocks on the walls? What is this obsession we have to cut everything up into pieces, analyze the pieces, and assign value to them? Once they are in little pieces we then declare they are understood. Once we take these pieces of our world apart, does the whole still exist?  It would be very easy for mankind to simply live with the natural rhythms of the sun and the seasons, take the days for what they are and leave well enough alone, but that  seems to be completely against our own nature.

A natural human instinct seems to be the need to explore the world around us and then try to harness our surroundings to best serve us. We have been trying to bend the earth to our will ever since our ancestors began plowing the fields. At the heart of all mankind has done in the name of science, is the basic knowledge that to understand the repeating cycles of time is to master the universe. Leap year is a reminder to me that mankind is still a long way off from mastering time and space. February 29^th is a symbol that we, too, are a complex dichotomy of simple and complex. We can sit back and enjoy how very sweet and easy it is to move through a lazy Saturday in August, and not care one bit how many minutes are in a day. Later that night we can look up at the planets and stars and be marveled at all we still can't comprehend.

That little bit of time we don’t know how to justify with our current clock and calendar system, other than clumsily adding an extra day every 4 years, reminds me that we as a civilization are still evolving. We are not yet masters of the Universe. Leap year gives us the illusion of an extra day every 4 years, as if our mother Earth built in a reminder to stop, pull back, and put that balance back in place. That one out of place day, reminds me as an astrologer that my clock system may be more complicated than would be practical for the every day work week, it is well worth knowing and sharing. Much like everything in nature, my complexity lives in harmony with the everyday simplicity and we don’t complain.

 Leap year is a lot like what I do as an astrologer. I remind people how simple and how complex life can be, all at the same time. I help people understand the wonder and beauty in the natural systems and cycles we live with every day. Astrology as a discipline dissects life and the world around us, but as an astrologer I get to look at the magic of putting it all back together. Just like our days and seasons would continue on without our calendar, there is nothing I can tell you as an Astrologer you wouldn’t find on your own eventually. However, with all that being said, isn’t it nice to have a system in place to let us know when winter is coming? 

As an astrologer I look at seasons. I look for clues of how you naturally adjust, and let you know how you might best prepare for what is coming. I love watching clients start to unfold to their own natural rhythms and embrace the dance they alone can share. Without leap year our simple system wouldn’t work anymore, and regardless of its limitations and imperfections it does work. I don’t claim to read the future any more than our calendar does, but I do know how to help you find your seasons. What an incredible job I have! 

February 8, a good day to change your life (or something...)

Since this is an Astrology blog after all, I thought I would get back into the swing of things by finally looking at the horoscope for the day of my accident. I have always gone back to astrology when life gets overwhelming, and boy was this overwhelming. It was 23 days after I had posted my last horoscope here, for the upcoming month of February, when I plowed head-on into the side of a car that had run a red light. Not only had the car run a red light, it was barreling down the road the wrong direction for the lane it was traveling.

I don't normally let the people in my life be privy to the inner workings of my brain and how I analyze events through the lens of astrology (mostly because I lose them somewhere along the way and their eyes start to glaze over), but I think this is such a great example of how I use astrology in my life, I knew I had to share my process.  For any of you other astrologer types out there, my birthday is May 16, 1974, 4:18 AM, Aberdeen, WA. My life changing car accident happened on February 8, 2014 at 3:25 pm in Colorado Springs.

There was so much going on in my life; yet, I had felt hopeless and stuck for a long time. Although I was struggling through the practice of writing horoscopes and keeping in touch with clients, I was feeling very detached from astrology, friends, clients and all the things that used to make me... well... ME! I can remember talking to an old friend that was telling me she wished I could post horoscopes more consistently because she got so much from them. I thanked her for the complement, but I didn't feel anyone else was getting much from them. I actually shook my head and laughed a few days ago when I actually logged back in here and read what would have been my horoscope for February. The very first piece of advice I gave Taurus: "You are being asked to shake up your routine and bring your focus back to career, the exchange of information, and expanding the idea of what you have to offer the world." 

Up until that day, I had resigned to making astrology a hobby. I was actually in the last semester of a medical assisting program. After the accident, I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to physically finish the program, let alone do the job once I was done. I had pinched nerves in my neck causing anywhere from 3 to 7 of my fingers to be numb at any one time (not good for phlebotomy, my other certification), I had a pretty sever concussion, and literally sprained the muscles in my jaw and skull. While looking at the horoscope for the day, the first thing that strikes me is the intense tension of all the aspects. Transiting Pluto (the planet of destruction, rebirth, confusion and conflict), is moving right over my mid-heaven, giving my desire for rebirth and change, even if it comes in the form of destruction, a full audience for everyone in my life to watch this play out (my car accident was even in the news that night). 

As Pluto was separating from my natal mid-heaven (Pluto was at 12 degrees Capricorn that day, my natal chart mid-heaven is at 8 degrees Capricorn and transiting Venus, my ruling planet, was at 14 degrees Capricorn and in the middle of it all), these planets were all moving into closer opposition to my natal Mars (The planet of energy, impulsiveness and activity) at 15 degrees Cancer (my natal 4th house and the place where home is felt for me). All of this was happening while Mercury was retrograde (Of course! Did you notice the car I ran into was even going backwards!), and only 2 degrees away from Neptune (chaos) forming a quincunx (discord) to my natal Pluto!  For those of you following along that don't fill in the astrology blanks, what this says to me is that I was reaching a huge turning point in my life. It was coming suddenly, possibly violently, was created by confusion, would definitely cause confusion, and there was no way the universe was going to let me keep the status quo after this event. Another important aspect to the "crash" of the day, is brought together with transiting Mars just starting to separate from a conjunt with my natal Uranus and both of these planets are forming a very tight quincunx to my natal Sun in Taurus. This is probably the most telling of all the other aspects from the day. A sudden, unexpected event, coming together with raw energy and sparking action, all touching off  the elements my 7th house of partnerships, connecting with discord to my natal Sun (the planet symbolizing vitality) which sits in my first house of identity. The accident was the final straw my marriage could no longer withstand. My husband moved out about 3 month later, and it was a huge relief. 

There is so much to the reading of this chart, I'm going to pick it up again sometime, I'm sure. What I can say in short is that with all of the chaos, disillusionment, and forced growth caused by the 8th of February 2014, Jupiter (the planet of expansion and opportunity) was also sitting right in the middle of it all. So, to sum it all up, as I was going through this I knew I was going to be a better and wiser person when I reached the other side. I was being asked to reevaluate who I was and what I had to offer the world - and I was being told to dig deeper; there was more. 

I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to be helped by outside circumstances (Transiting Saturn was quincunx my natal south node in Gemini) to force through the blockages concerning the past lives and Karma I was ready to be free of. So, for all these reasons, and all the ones I haven't mentioned yet, I don't look at my accident, my surgeries on my neck, my wrist and my jaw, or my divorce as a tragic set of circumstances. I think of these events as the culmination of all the universe was willing to provide in order for me to learn to be the best version of myself. I would never have done the work I needed to do without the catalyst. The Universe, God, the supreme force in the ether, whatever it is out there that I feel never leaves me in the dark longer than I can handle, gave me just as much as I could handle. I didn't handle it perfect, but I know I'm on the right path, because I am right back here where I belong, feeling like Sarah again, and knowing I can survive any test I am given.      

It's been a long, strange road, that seems to lead me back to you....

Wow! So the universe moves in mysterious ways. Around three weeks after my January 2014 post, I was in a very serious car accident which resulted in a concussion, several operations, and months of physical therapy. Now that I am bolted back together and can type again (I broke my wrist and the operation really slowed me down), I will be back on-line and sharing my thoughts on the stars (well, mostly planets, but you know what I mean=o). Stay tuned for some thoughts on the date and time of my accident, what I learned from it, and how I am moving on - using astrology and intuition of course!