This Week’s Tarot Reading
MIND: Three of Wands
BODY: Six of Pentacles
SPIRIT: Queen of Wands
You’re wanting to move in a new direction…but aren’t quite there yet. That’s ok! Continue to plan and prepare for what you can feel coming over the horizon. This stillness also serves a purpose. By being generous with yourself this week (yes, even you deserve some sweetness on Valentine’s Day) you’ll connect with your most passionate desires. Let your body be the bridge.
If you’d like to book a personalized Tarot reading, you can find my offerings here. 11% of every reading is donated.
This Week’s Astrology
Monday, February 14: Pluto trine North Node, Mercury enters Aquarius
Wednesday, February 16: Full Moon 27° Leo @ 11:56 AM EST
Friday, February 18: Sun enters Pisces
The Full Moon often represents a culmination point of the corresponding New Moon that preceded it 6ish months earlier. The Leo New Moon was on August 8th, 2021. Look back to that date to see if anything you started back then is now reaching a climax.
This week is an opportunity to shine your brightest and boldest. Leo energy is all about the heart center and because of a conjunction between Mars and Venus at the same time, we're being encouraged to move towards what we want with love. This lunation squares the North Node in Taurus...so have no doubt that whatever happens serves to carry you forward.
If you’d like to book a personalized Astrology reading, you can find my offerings here. 11% of every reading is donated.
This is my first Substack email and if it’s landed in your inbox, THANK YOU for subscribing to my newsletter sometime between 2020 and now. I’m here to do much of the same work I did before, just a bit more regularly (every Sunday!) and on a new platform that feels more aligned personally and professionally.
Next week, on 2-22-22 no less (much more on that next week), the United States will experience the exact conjunction of transit Pluto with its natal Pluto.
This moment is astrologically referred to as the “Pluto Return” and because of Pluto’s long cycles, only happens every 248ish years*. So, an individual can’t have a personal Pluto Return…but a collection of individuals relating to the same entity can experience one together.
*Side note we’ll discuss in another future email: the average age of an empire is 250 years. Coincidence? I don’t believe in those.
You might notice that my Substack url is “Erin River Sunday” and that’s because it’s my (new!) name. I’m in the midst of transitioning it legally, but have been using this name professionally for many Moons and am now fully integrating the usage with everything I do. If we’re close enough that you have my phone number, please update my contact information. :-)
But what does my name change have to do with the United States’ Pluto Return? Well…sort of…everything.
If you run in spiritual circles, you might’ve heard of the impending Pluto Return already. At worst, you might be scared that the United States is, without question, doomed. This fatalist mentality is a common and rampant reaction to Pluto (the modern ruler of Scorpio) that fails to examine all angles (ahem, “angles” is spelled with the exact same letters as angels) of its energy.
Yes, Pluto is associated with a lot of power, and when that power is unevolved, it’s amassed through harnessing fear. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
My name change didn’t happen because I got married (or divorced, for that matter) in a patriarchal society. No, no, I will not willingly be construed as another piece of man's property because it’s just part of our (cult)ure. I was born into a family that gave me my father’s last name, but that’s not a story I’m forced to keep telling.
Instead, my name, Erin River Sunday** is a symbol I came up with independent of societal norms. It was “given to me, by me” à la Lady Bird. It’s been an extremely personal process of becoming, and unbecoming, fueled by excavating the deep truth of my individual soul.
**I have to thank my Mom, though, for giving me the “Erin” part at birth. I’ve always loved it and am happy to carry it into my new self. Thanks, Mom.
The beauty of my name change process, this rebirth, is that I live in the United States. I’m free to give myself my own name, as long as I go through a few legally required steps.
The tedious government documents have been especially annoying for my 12th house Sun, quite literally the opposite of detail oriented…but no one ever said recreating yourself would (or should) be instantaneous/free of pain.
The impending Pluto Return of the United States will have Americans continue to confront the hidden core of their homeland. Our nation’s 245 year old bleeding heart is ready for harvest.
The easy, and defeatist, reaction would be to blame the country for its shortcomings, rather than acknowledging that a country is simply perfect nature with invisible lines drawn across it. A country can only truly be defined by its ACTIONS…and the actions of the United States couldn’t have happened without its citizens.
Who are those horrible people we’re so mad at for making our country this way?! They’re you. They’re me. They’re our friends and family. They’re our ancestors.
We’ve been in a period of reckoning since Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 (funny timing, no?) that’s going to reach more culmination points, both highs and lows, in 2022 and 2023. It would be a very sad decision to blame others for what’s happened, what’s happening, and what’s going to happen…without acknowledging our unique responsibility.
“Figure out who you are, then do it on purpose.” - Dolly Parton
I don’t really know what’s going on any more than anyone else. We’re all on a mysterious rock floating through time and space. But while we’re here together…I’m personally determined to embody what I believe in each day. The U.S. Pluto Return is an opportunity for “US” ALL to be reborn, so that our country can be, too. What will you do with it?
Until next week’s magic,
Erin River Sunday