Hey there! I’m back. Happy 2023!
I took a couple weeks off of the weekly horoscope so that I could finish the 2023 Sidereal Astrology Guide. I think for the first time I managed to launch it before the new year.
You can pre-order a printed + bound version of The Guide until 12pm central on January 3, 2023. All pre-orders come with a complimentary PDF. For those who want just the pdf, you can download it right here.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program!
Here is your Weekly Horoscope for January 2 – 8, 2023
This week is all about Mercury. There is a Full Moon in Gemini that coincides with Mercury reaching the midpoint of its current retrograde. This midpoint is the conjunction of Mercury (which is moving backwards) and the Sun (which is moving forward) in Sagittarius.
This week’s themes are: How do you know what you know? Why do you believe what you believe? What is the difference between knowledge and belief? What is the difference between truth and fact?
- 6 – Full Moon, 22° Gemini
- 7 – Sun CONJUNCT Mercury Rx
We have been in a truth crisis for a while now, and it didn’t start with the cries about “fake news.” That phenomenon was the logical outcome of a long building trend. The information age gave us access to more information than we have the tools, skills, education, and energy to process and vet. This access has made visible how much we as humans rely on prejudice to process and make sense of information.
Yeah, we’d like to think that any info presented with enough “evidence” is valid and true in its own right. Or, that we are intelligent or clever enough to spot a lie. But processing evidence requires context which is often erased or left unnamed. We receive information without an acknowledgement or understanding of the intentions of the source. And we each have our own context that informs our processing (this is what I mean by prejudice). Some of those contexts are shared like culture, religion, political convictions, or shared experiences. Even the nuances of our emotional experiences and traumas are shared, though it can be hard to recognize them as such.
We believe that what we know is true, and that’s why we believe it. Yet we call it knowledge or facts, not belief. What is the difference between knowledge and belief? Doesn’t knowledge require belief? Prejudice is human nature. If we had to learn to identify a snake every time we saw one, we’d be in big trouble. In order to make sense of what we encounter, we rely on past experiences, stories absorbed from the culture we inhabit, and our genetic emotional inheritance.
Sincerity as the gift of Sagittarius fuels the sense of entitlement necessary to make our lives and our communities a living testimony of our convictions. But what happens when those convictions are rooted in what we eventually learn are lies? Or, when those convictions cause unintended harm? Is sincerity enough to override the consequences of that harm? Sincerity is often a cover for lies. If I believe what I said then it can’t be a lie, even when my own experiences contradict that belief.
Speaking of lies, I wonder what happened with the word “lie.” We’ve numerous euphemisms for it: half-truths, falsehoods, falsity, etc. Why can’t we just say the word “lie”? What’s wrong with us that we can’t just call it out? For many of us in the Black diaspora, “lie” was an outright curse word for children. You could not accuse anyone of doing it, nor could you even say it in passing.
But we want everyone to be allowed to have their own truth and believe it. That’s pretty scary. I want to be believed when I have been harmed. And I want those who try to make me out to be a liar to be shamed and rebuked. And I think that gets to the heart of it. We only acknowledge something as true when it reinforces our beliefs about who we are. And you know what I say about that… Identity is a belief system and it’s being weaponized against you.
As you move through this week, I hope that you will consider these questions:
- How are you distinguishing between facts, truths, and beliefs? What’s the difference?
- How do you vet the sources of information you encounter?
- What makes a person or source trustworthy in your eyes?
- Are you able to recognize the prejudice of others, meaning their taken for granted beliefs that inform their intentions? What about your own prejudice?
- What is more important for you to preserve: Your body? Your political convictions? Your religious beliefs? Your identity? Your connections with others?
- Which will you choose when on of those is pitted against the other? Your political convictions or your body? Your religious beliefs or your connections with others? Your body or your connections with others?
This is a sidereal astrology horoscope. Use this guide to cast your sidereal birth chart. Learn to read your sidereal birth chart, and identify its wounds and gifts.
For a more personal application of this week’s astrology, download the 2023 Sidereal Astrology Guide. In it I guide you through the personal application of the year’s astrology month by month. No previous astrology knowledge required.
I’ve created sidereal astrology transit iCals that you can upload into your personal calendar. This will allow you to see the dates and times of planetary and moon transits right in your phone or on your device. Want to know what time the full moon is in your time zone? Or, the precise moment that Mercury stations direct?
Find the Moon sign changes, new and full moons, and eclipses in the 2023 Moon Transits iCal.
Find the sign changes and various aspects between the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in the 2023 Sidereal Planetary Transits iCal.