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November/December 2010 Astrology Forecast
It's Time to Ease Up and Practice Trust

by Mark Dodich

It’s been a tough year with challenging planetary activations, and you are probably hoping this forecast will offer you a bit of a respite. It’s joyful to be able to tell you that you are going to get it — at least relative to the intensity of the past six months.

The final months of 2010 emphasize retrenchment and retrospection rather than forward actions. Love and money planet Venus continues to move backward in her retrograde cycle until Nov. 18. It is time to create beauty and harmony in your life while reviewing your changing value system.

Your personal, career and family relationships — including your relationship to money and possessions — will be readjusted in the months ahead. Currently, you are inwardly deciding who and what will stay, then releasing those aspects of your life that no longer resonate with the choices coming in 2011.

On the worldly level, you see changing relationships within elected leaders in the U.S. Congress. The media reports describe changing relationship dynamics such as those of the leaders of Israel and Palestine. And you just need to go through the grocery store checkout line to read about the relationship soap operas of famous people.

On a personal level, you must ask yourself if you are working too hard for what comes back to you. With Venus retrograde in Scorpio, it is important to pay attention to fearful thinking that does not serve prosperity consciousness. In other words, are you living in a place of fear and lack because of some outer world condition like the economy? Or are you staying in a bad relationship for the illusion of security?

From a spiritual perspective, this cycle brings up your trust issues. If you are divinely connected to the one source of unlimited abundance as metaphysical philosophy suggests, then of course the universe will help you step into right livelihood and right relationship.

The issue is that Venus retrograde in Scorpio requires that you go to the deepest, shadow part of your being to transform old patterns and fears. Although this is not always fun, it does not have to be a grueling process. After all, Venus is the planet representing grace and harmony — so trust yourself to gently make the changes you already know you need to make.

Fortunately, this revisioning cycle will be finished before Thanksgiving. The moon will be in nurturing Cancer for the holiday, so there will be plenty of comfort food to help you feel better about the choices you are making.

Odds are good this will be a quick holiday. Quick-trip Mercury and fast Mars are lining up in party-animal Sagittarius for Thanksgiving week, so you are motivated to keep on the move. The only cautionary note is that people tend to drive too fast under this impatient energy. Give yourself plenty of time to get where you are going and allow a wide berth for potential road rage or rude drivers.

Thanksgiving is the better holiday to travel because communications planet Mercury will be in its debilitating retrograde cycle Dec. 10 to 29. This does not mean that you cannot travel during the Christmas holidays, but do allow extra time for flight connections or last minute schedule changes.

Mercury begins its retrograde cycle in serious Capricorn, the ruler of time. Practice healthy timing by tuning into the universe for good timing, rather than being attached to a rigid schedule. A good spiritual practice is to put covers or post-it notes over all but one of your clocks, thereby helping you to reduce your attachment to clock-time.

Mercury move backward into Sagittarius just before winter solstice. The sign of the archer likes to enjoy the social aspects of the season. Brush up on a few good jokes as Sagittarius energy likes to laugh.

Finally, there is a lunar eclipse at the winter solstice. It is the first of a series of emotional activations in the signs Gemini and Sagittarius. This eclipse lands on a sensitive point related to the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks, so it is easy to see that a lunar eclipse brings hidden emotions to the surface long before it actually occurs (the building of the New York City mosque, for example).

The Dec. 21 eclipse urges you to open to new ideas for taking care of your emotional needs. You are being asked to practice emotional flexibility, as the universe begins to line up for yet another series of changes in the New Year.

During this holiday season, I send you abundant blessings for your highest good, and many thanks for reading this column for well over a decade now.

Mark Dodich has been a professional astrologer and intuitive consultant since 1980. His specialties include natal astrology, relocation astrology maps and seven ray spiritual purpose astrology. Receive his free Astromark newsletter and download a free Basic Astrology Primer at www.astromark.us or call 503-252-1558.