CAPRICORN – Taking Charge of Life

by Barry Kerr, Evolutionary Astrologer

• Dates:          December  21 – January  21
• Ruled by:     Saturn
• Element:      Earth

Though true for everyone, the following information will feel more relevant to you if your sun, north node, Chiron and/or a group of other planets are in Capricorn on your birth chart.

What Is Capricorn’s Intention?

Having discovered, through Sagittarius, the vastness of our world and our intuitive connections, our ego is now eager to use our newfound wisdom toward purposeful achievements in this world. Practical Saturn, previously our slave-master, now becomes our best friend, teaching us how to create order from chaos, to be conscious co-creators within our earthly collective of incarnated beings. OK Capricorn, who’s in charge!

The Capricorn in us recognizes that we have always been co-creating our world, albeit unconsciously. It’s what we’re here to do. Initially, this awareness may cause us to take ourselves too seriously, feeling overly responsible for everything and everybody and demanding recognition for it. However, Capricorn’s spiritual intention is to teach us how to manifest our expansive loving visions into the world with ease and joyful fulfillment.

Through Capricorn, we are learning control, discipline, orderliness, and focus, both inwardly and outwardly. As we grow into an “adult” position of self-care, we accept responsibility for the life we are creating. We learn to focus on our goals, keep commitments, and let go of the past. In maturity, we lead by example, build teams, and hold others accountable with respectful compassion. We create a loving order.

Our unconscious Capricorn self tends to take charge of things without fully understanding situations, ignoring the process, too focused on egotistical goals. People around us experience us as bossy, emotionally unavailable or callous, overly ambitious and opportunistic. Inside, we may be hiding our feelings and fears while managing everyone around us, feeling hyper alert to what is “socially admirable” rather than what is authentic.

What needs healing and growth?

Our Capricorn ego can at times feel unrecognized and unappreciated, like we will not find our purpose in life. Or we may feel that life itself is too chaotic and unstructured, fearing an absence of clear, practical realities.  We may strain to get accolades and acceptance, perhaps by associating with those we deem as successful. We may become obsessed with creating some kind of order around us (e.g., anorexia). Or we might submit to outer authorities for structure (e.g., military, cult, etc).

This drive for recognition and order eventually leads us back to ourselves. To address our fear of chaos, we learn first to bring order and discipline to our minds and emotions.  We find worthiness and appreciation by loving ourselves. By continuing to listen to our inner soul voice, we align our disciplined thoughts and actions with our true spiritual goals and aspirations. Applying the Capricorn values of focus, responsibility and structure to our lives, the world begins to see our soul and we feel recognized and appreciated as a unique and conscious co-creator among co-creators.

What Can I Do This Month?

To heal and evolve your Capricorn self, pay attention to your ability to take charge of your life. Does life seem chaotic? Craving recognition? Do you respect and honor yourself? Do you try to manage people, even their feelings, yet avoid your own? Do you have a vision for yourself and the world? Are you willing to take responsibility, even leadership toward creating that vision? Or do you depend on others for that?  Are you in integrity in all areas of your life? Do you trust your intuition to guide your choices? Are you willing to upset people to get things done?

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

MERCURY – Part 1: in Gemini – curiosity and communication

by Barry Kerr, Evolutionary Astrologer

Fleet-footed Mercury rules the sign of Gemini. After establishing our right to exist with Mars/Aries and connecting to our body and resources with Venus/Taurus, it’s now time to begin exploring our environment. Mercury represents our rational, logical thinking mind, which takes in information through our five physical senses, processes that information, and communicates the results.

Our thoughts are primarily driven by our values and needs (Venus) and determine our actions (Mars). These three functions (Mercury, Venus and Mars) are the primary components of our animal existence. (The Moon in Cancer will add the layer of emotions, inviting us back to soul awareness.)
Our brain (Mercury) typically runs the show. Through logic and reason, we’re able to organize perceptions into memories, associations, symbols, lessons, and possibilities. Through symbols, we are able to communicate our thoughts to others, thus combining our brain with theirs into a web of mental synergy that increases our capacity for collective survival. As we extend our mental awareness outward, experiencing our relationships to things and people, our mind creates a reality, a story of life, which becomes the evolving phenomenon we call our “self”, the very limited perspective defining our ego.

The sign your Sun is in will be the filter that determines the central qualities of your ego self. However, the sign your Mercury is in will determine the way your mind assists you toward that expression. For example, a person with Sun in Libra will ultimately be driven toward relationships more than most people, and if that person’s Mercury is in Virgo, her mind will be most curious about practical feedback and analysis within relationships. However with Mercury in Scorpio, that person will be most curious about the emotional undercurrents within relationships.

One of the most important processes that form our ego is that of comparisons with other(s). Contrasts and similarities define our sense of self, and because this world of time and space consists of dualities and polarities, we find ourselves exploring various ends of those spectrums, curious to discover and learn about them. This is why Gemini people can be so curious, fickle and easily distracted, yet delightfully interested in all points of view. There is an innocent and neutral mental exploration in process.

When our inner Mercury is wounded or dysfunctional, we can feel a sluggish awareness, intellectual inferiority, or communication problems, sometimes leading to overcompensating in these areas. As a healing issue, it’s about becoming more aware of the principles of duality.

Mercury plays a necessary and important role in our ability to navigate the physical world. Because it is the major engine of our ego’s construction and existence, it is also the primary inhibitor in our intended journey toward transcending our ego’s limited perspective and reclaiming our intuitive awareness, seeing our selves as divine beings, whole and immortal, and only temporarily subjected to the illusions of limitedness in this world.

In each lifetime, as our Mercury explores the plethora of dynamics within the polarities of time and space, our soul is able to absorb these experiences, add them to our accumulated soul knowledge, and apply the gained wisdom to new incarnations. Thus, we become master creators, and it is in Gemini that our commitment to learn is renewed.

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

Astrology, the CoV Pandemic and the Aquarian Wave

In this video, Barry explains how the recent long-term conjunction of Pluto and Saturn reflects the gestalt of our pandemic world and how it is leading up to a Saturn-Jupiter-Pluto entry into an Aquarian awakening. (20 min.)

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners at their Inner Essence Center in Sedona, Arizona. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Skype or in person. Inquiries are welcome – free 15 minute consultation to explore if this is for you. Visit http://www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

MERCURY Part 2: In Virgo – feedback and discernment

Mercury rules both Gemini and Virgo. In Gemini, it was all about absorbing information, thinking and processing, and then communicating with those around us. In Virgo, the energy is focused on feedback, discernment, improvement and service.

People often use the terms “big” ego and “strong” ego, sometimes confusing the two meanings. It’s important to understand the difference. A big ego implies that a person is filled with self-love, is able to express her thoughts and feelings in big ways that demand or invite other’s attention. This can be warm, entertaining and delightful or brash, self-serving and boorish. Think Robin Williams versus Donald Trump. By contrast to them, the proverbial quiet, introverted librarian has a “small” ego.

A strong ego, on the other hand, is about a person’s ability to withstand criticism or rejection. The capacity for one to maintain self-love, self-worth, and belief in oneself is the measure of an ego’s strength. The quiet librarian might not command people’s attention with a bright personality, but might radiate warmth and not emotionally collapse in the face of harsh feedback from friends, colleagues or failures. Think of Rosa Parks, who humbly and lovingly refused to go to the back of the bus, fueling a wave of civil rights activities.

Williams and Trump both have large, but weak egos. The librarian and Parks have smaller, but stronger ego.

In any particular incarnation, we may choose a big ego or small, whichever serves our soul’s goal for that lifetime.

The strength of our ego varies less and is a reflection of the ongoing work we’ve done over many lifetimes of soul evolvement.

All this talk of egos is important to understanding the role of your Mercury as it rules the sign of Virgo. It is through the Virgo qualities of your human experience that you take in, through your Mercurial rational mind, the observations and details of how your ego actually affects other people. This sometimes comes directly through feedback and criticism from others. More often, you begin to discern unspoken and repeating patterns of rejection or acceptance, failure or success, needs and desires met or not. If you are learning from this feedback and applying lessons to future choices of how you express your ego, then you build successful connections to others, relationships that satisfy your needs and validate your self-worth. If not, relationships tend to be difficult and you feel alone.

The key here is learning to embrace the feedback from people and the world, to value the information as clues to self-fulfillment. As you focus your attention on what others have to say about how they experience you, you can begin to relax your ego’s drive for self-assertion, incorporate other people’s feelings, thoughts and desires into your own values and thereby make choices that serve those to whom you wish to relate and love. Mercury’s role in ruling Gemini was to sharpen mental awareness for connection to environment. Now in Virgo, Mercury uses those same attributes of logic and communication to create a practical approach toward connection to other beings. Success in this endeavor improves the ability of our Venus (the relationship planet), in the next sign of Libra, to create fulfilling one-to-one relationships with friends, lovers and even business partners.

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

VENUS – Part 1: in Taurus – values and attractions

Taurus is ruled by planet Venus. In our journey around the zodiac, after asserting our spiritual essence into human form via Mars in Aries, our Venus sets about establishing a stable connection to the physical world. This includes how we relate to our body, to physical resources like food, clothes and shelter, and to nature. At the same time we learn to enjoy the beauty and miracle of being in a body, to delight in our five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. This is fundamental to surviving on the physical plane. We strengthen our commitment to building and maintaining a self, claiming territory for our ego to grow.

Think of a planted seed. Its life force is there, ready to grow and eventually bare fruit. Taurus is the early stage of the seed sprouting, sending roots into the earth and growing a shoot up into the world to engage with the environment around it.

The healthy result of our Taurus experience is to develop the ability to provide for our self, to gain the things (like money) that we need to maintain existence and well-being. Yet this extends past the tangible needs into needs like love and comfort. To do that, we first must establish a sense of self-worth, without which we may not even make the effort to attain our needs, much less our comforts.

Venus is the part of us that wants and needs to relate, both to things and to people. When our Venus is doing well, we are willing to give ourselves the pleasures of life. That includes delicious food, comfortable and attractive surroundings, and a sense of abundance. We feel comfortable in our body. Through this process, our Venus forms our values: what do we like and not like? This applies to people, too, in a practical way, however it will be in the sign of Libra that Venus explores the human and emotional dimensions of relationship.

When our Venus is wounded or undeveloped, we experience a lack of self-worth, lack of abundance, lack of values, and/or an unbalanced desire for money and possessions. We might feel overly dependent on others or extremely self-contained, needing no one. We might feel unattractive or that our body does not support us.

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

MARS – Your personal will

by Barry Kerr, evolutionary astrologer

Aries is ruled by planet Mars. At the “beginning” of the circular zodiac, Aries represents the fiery insertion of the spirit into the physical world of time and space. When each of us is conceived, a spark of our soul light ignites our human embryonic form and sets in motion a trajectory of our soul’s power to cause change in this world. It begins with the multitude of tiny changes that form our body and continues after birth to develop our personality and empower the physical actions we assert with our tiny bodies. This spark of spirit is what Mars represents in us.

Mars is the assertion of our individual power and thus relates to decisiveness, aggression, protection, desire and action. This is the stuff in us that causes change to happen in alignment with our unique soul expression. If our Mars is not fully alive and willing to express, then it is more likely that we will experience our life passively, as if it’s all happening “to” us, instead of “by” us.

It’s no wonder that in ancient times, Mars was the god worshiped by those who longed for more power in the world. Whether it was war, athletics or sexual prowess, Mars/Ares was the go-to archetype to inspire self-confidence and determination.

Yet, our inner Mars does not act in a vacuum. There are many other parts to our human and soul expressions, and for each of us, the dynamics between those inner aspects are different and unique. This is what an astrological birth chart can show us.

A study of different birth charts shows that for some people, their Mars is accentuated and acts in harmony and ease with most of their other inner parts, as represented by the other planets. Thus, for those people, the energy and vitality of their life force is easily expressed through their bodies. They are decisive and take action and risks, in what others might sometimes judge as an uninhibited selfishness.

For others, their Mars is in conflict with many of their other inner parts. Thus, they have a hard time asserting their will or even feeling the energy to do so. Or if they do make a decision and take action, it seems to create problems or take extra effort or awareness.

These differences that show up in each of our charts, and therefore in our experiences, is not without meaning and purpose. Each of our incarnations is a journey through the physical world of dualities which the zodiac represents. Each lifetime presents us challenges, lessons and blessings as a unique strategy for our soul’s evolvement. Whether amplified with synergy, repressed with complicated conditions, or something in between, how Mars shows up in our chart is determined by our soul (karma), before birth, and is inevitably a wise and loving support to fulfilling our soul’s purpose for this lifetime.

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

PISCES – Being a Soul

by Barry Kerr, Evolutionary Astrologer

• Dates:     February 21 – March 21
• Ruled by:     Neptune and Jupiter
• Element:      Water

Though true for everyone, the following information will feel more relevant to you if your sun, north node, Chiron and/or a group of other planets are in Pisces on your birth chart.

What Is Pisces’s Intention?

In our journey toward an ever-expanding sense of self, Pisces brings us to knowing a oneness with all that is. To the extent we believe God to be outside our self, Pisces will haunt us until we actually experience that we are part and parcel of God. Pisces, home at last!

Our inner Neptune always feels oneness, but because our ego has been unaware of any direct experience of our divine connection, we have struggled through various substitutes, from religious martyrdom to drug addiction and more. Pisces’ spiritual intention is to give us conscious access to our divine wholeness in infinite, eternal and unconditional love.

We learn to be nonjudgmental and compassionate. We free our minds with meditation and self-reflection. We relax our need to fix the world, and surrender our anxiety to a higher power and a divine plan. Our ego learns to relax totally, sometimes seeming nonexistent. We feel at peace, not by denying worldly reality, but by incorporating divine reality.

Our unconscious inner Pisces, feeling the longing, but not knowing how to create authentic connection to our divine wholeness, can feel vague, disorientated and a victim to life. Our deep feeling Neptune, always connected to others, can be oversensitive to others’ pain, creating emotional confusion and self-doubt. This can lead to escape through alcohol, fantasies or even mental illness. Or we might try to force a spiritual connection, a seeming death to our ego, through religious cults, martyrdom or drugs. Sometimes we can invoke divine awareness through music or other artistic experiences.

What needs healing and growth?

Our ego, blind to the illusions of its limited senses, can suffer greatly from a lack of faith or trust in God. The world can seem entirely unfair and merciless. One can shut oneself to the divine and create a hard shell of cynical pragmatism, afraid of opening to others, yet painfully desiring connection. And we can feel overly sensitive to others, like an open sore, lacking boundaries. The pain can crush us, drive us to escapism or, more positively, to creative and artistic expression, and eventually to our inner spiritual resources.

After lifetimes of blame, rescuing others, denying self, escaping and recovering from various addictions, we eventually begin to experience a larger order to life. There is justice within the unjust, fairness in the unfair, blessings in every turn of events. Love is ever present and supporting us in everything we experience. We open our spiritual heart to receiving and giving that love, thus grounding our soul in full presence in this physical dimension.

What can I do this month?

To heal and evolve your Pisces self, give attention to your spiritual awareness. Do you blame outside yourself? Do you feel alienated from God? Do you get confused around other people’s feelings? Can you feel compassion without needing to rescue? Do you trust the flow of life? Can you feel your divine connection to others, beyond just a concept? Do you meditate and spend time alone in self-reflection? Do you trust that this seemingly unfair and cruel world is actually perfect for all souls in it? Does that last question tend to annoy you?

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

AQUARIUS – Find Your People

by Barry Kerr, Evolutionary Astrologer

• Dates:           January 21 – February 21
• Ruled by:     Uranus and Saturn
• Element:      Air

Though true for everyone, the following information will feel more relevant to you if your sun, north node, Chiron and/or a group of other planets are in Aquarius on your birth chart.

What Is Aquarius’s Intention?

Last month, Capricorn invited us to step boldly into the world and manifest our visions. Now, Aquarius is here to show us this is always a team effort. Uranus, ruler of freedom and individuality, prompts our intuitive awareness toward seeing ourselves objectively, as part of a greater organism of humanity. Oh Aquarius! What now?

Our inner Aquarius/Uranus knows, intuitively, that the authority of the status quo is temporary to the understandings of our limited senses, changing as consciousness evolves. Thus, we strive for the “ideal”, often feeling rejected or weary when the world doesn’t “get it”. We know, in our hearts, that we are all in this together, as equals. Aquarius’s spiritual intention is to teach us how to remain true to our unique vision while blending in with others, collectively.

Through Aquarius, we learn objectivity, equality, group participation and serving humanitarian causes. We learn to relate to others as whole individuals, not just their functions, recognizing them as special, just like us. We learn to share our intuitive and unconventional ideas with others and encourage them to do the same. This further taming of our ego creates friendships, camaraderie and “belonging”. We begin to experience the oneness of humanity as an extension of self.

Our unconscious Aquarius, in a misguided attempt to feel the “belonging”, may yield too quickly to peer pressure, thus losing individual will, waiting for others to prompt our decisions and actions. Or in fear of belonging, we may run away from confrontations, detach from emotional situations, aloof and waiting endlessly for more information.

What needs healing and growth?

Our Aquarius ego can often feel like an outsider, estranged by the rest of humanity, feeling very different, like something is wrong with us, with no place in the world. For comfort, we might purposefully try to stand apart by being contrary, eccentric or rebellious, thus feeling in control of our aloneness. Yet our innate drive for connection keeps us trying to belong. Instead of real, intimate friendships, humanitarian causes or technological webs might dominate our social life.

From this position as “outsider”, we are forced to look at the world more objectively, to discover why we feel alienated, and eventually see a much bigger picture of our place in the world. Our intuition informs us of how the outer world reflects the complexity of our inner being and we gradually feel more integrated and connected to others and to the whole. Eventually, the synergy of human spirit feels like home. 

What Can I Do This Month?

To heal and evolve your Aquarian self, pay attention to how well you do in groups. Do you strive to understand the group or do you insist on getting your own way? Can you follow your own heart and still work with a team, or do you do what’s expected in order to feel you belong? Do you treat others as whole and special or do you only see them as serving a particular function? Do you honor your intuition? Are you open to creating win/win situations? In a world that falls short of your ideals, can you still feel your loving connection to humanity and know you have a place?

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

SAGITTARIUS – Finding Meaning

by Barry Kerr, Evolutionary Astrologer

• Dates:           November 21 – December 20
• Ruled by:     Jupiter
• Element:      Fire

Though true for everyone, the following information will feel more relevant to you if your sun, north node, Chiron and/or a group of other planets are in Sagittarius on your birth chart.

What Is Sagittarius’s Intention?

Once our ego has survived last month’s stinging Scorpio dance of personal intimacy and seeming death, we become aware of a greater sense of self, connected to realms beyond our five senses and logical mind. Expansive Jupiter beckons us to adventure into the unknown and seeks meaning and wisdom. Wow, Sagittarius! Look at the stars!

The Sagittarius in us understands that the world is not what it seems, that there is something much, much bigger going on here. In our initial, fiery enthusiasm for trans-ego visionary truth and wisdom, we might bow to the first inspiring scriptures or doctrines that seem to satisfy our need to understand something greater than ourselves, but more is required. Sagittarius’s spiritual intention is to inspire us to explore truth in all directions, not as beliefs, but as experience and knowing.

A healthy, conscious Sagittarius is developing a sense of spontaneous freedom beyond the limits of our conditioned past, learning to trust intuition and divine guidance. Spending time alone and with nature, we learn to listen to our inner voice of higher self and speak from this source, uncensored. In maturity, we allow others to have their truths while we remain centered in our own.

Falling short of this, our unconscious Sagittarius self becomes self-righteous, needing to defend our ungrounded beliefs, espousing “the truth” to others without taking their views into account. In our need for absolute truth, we resist new ideas that threaten to shake or undo our current, and still limited, perspective, and thus lose ourselves in dogmatic, uncompromising systems of belief and ritual.

What needs healing and growth?

At times, our Sagittarius ego self, feeling wounded by inevitable disillusionment, may experience doubt or confusion, no longer satisfied with the pat answers offered by science and religion. We may retreat into aloofness and even sink into a fear of not knowing, afraid there may be no meaning to anything — no wisdom to be had. Yet our hunger for truth and meaning persists.

By continuing to explore the many truths presented by others, we eventually begin to see a commonality and more universal answers emerge, answers that resonate with some deep inner knowing that was already in us. As we push past the boundaries of familiar beliefs, our ego becomes more comfortable living from within the questions. Experience teaches us that when we can just “be,” knowledge comes intuitively to us as a reflection of our deep, inner, divine wholeness and wisdom — our higher self. From there, each new question invites an exploration into the unknown and the limitless possibilities of our magnificent universe. Life is truly an adventure!

What can I do this month?

To heal and evolve your Sagittarius self, be more adventurous. Explore inwardly and outwardly. Travel. Read an inspiring book. Spend time alone and in nature. Notice how you experience your truth, your beliefs and your responses to others. Do you cling to the familiar? Do you prejudge situations based on past experience? Are you able to listen to others intuitively, hearing the meaning behind their words? Or do you think you know what others are saying without really listening? Do you need to feel right or get caught up in arguments? Are you attached to your religious beliefs? Do you resist others’ beliefs or ideas? Do you listen to and trust your own intuition? Do you speak from your higher consciousness, free from self-censorship? Does your life have meaning? Are you comfortable with and perhaps even excited with the idea that you barely know anything about what is?

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.

SCORPIO – Searching for Soul

by Barry Kerr, Evolutionary Astrologer

• Dates:           October 21 – November 20
• Ruled by:     Pluto (and Mars)
• Element:      Water

Though true for everyone, the following information will feel more relevant to you if your sun, north node, Chiron and/or a group of other planets are in Scorpio on your birth chart.

What Is Scorpio’s Intention?

If last month Libra was inviting us into relationship awareness, this month our inner Pluto is drawing us deeper into the crucible of intimacy, feelings and change that relationship inevitably requires. Ouch! It’s Scorpio.

The Scorpio in us is driven to uncover the dark, hidden secrets in our self, others, and life. Thus, when we are in our watery, feeling Scorpio self, we can seem intense, hidden, and serious. We may be drawn to crisis situations and melodrama. Scorpio’s spiritual intention is to strengthen our trust in spirit, to know that death, in any form, is but a rebirth of something new: that we are, as souls, immortal. Where change is demanded, Scorpio is there.

Our healthy, conscious Scorpio is learning self-discipline and how to choose constructive change, releasing whatever causes stagnation and low energy, eliminating non-useful possessions, and enjoying things without the need to own them. In relationship, Scorpio is learning to open into the vulnerable intimacy of feelings, to accept support from others, embrace cooperation and merging of power. In the process, we become more aware of other people’s psychology (desires, needs, wants and motives) and learn how to blend our energy with theirs to meet our own needs.

Our unconscious Scorpio self becomes judgmental and impatient, overreacts intensively, and becomes preoccupied with other people’s motivations, taking things personally. Unenlightened Scorpio can be fearful of change and frightened by the unknown.

What needs healing and growth?

Our wounded Scorpio, doubting our immortality, fears death. Change always involves some form of death. Thus, we cling to things and people. Perceiving enemies who threaten to take them away, we use our power to manipulate or destroy, all the time putting on a face of light-hearted sarcasm. Though we are very sensitive to other people’s feelings, we keep ours hidden, afraid that vulnerability will be certain death.

To heal our Scorpio selves, we need to use our intense passion for truth to discover the mysterious secrets of life. Our wounds and losses will ultimately demonstrate that we never really lose anything, rather the essence of all we treasure remains with us, born into new forms and relationships. This journey requires that we embrace our feelings and be vulnerable with others, knowing our ego will be challenged, and though it may feel like death upon us, it is actually another part of our phoenix soul, birthing through the fire of transformation with fuller expression into this world of time and space. We then feel spirit, know our immortality and are happy to release people and things to live freely and playfully in this world of illusions, knowing we can never really lose their essence. Our Scorpio intensity turns to passionate delight in how spirit is hidden in the changes, deaths and re-births of this world.

What Can I Do This Month?

To heal and evolve your Scorpio self, pay attention to your feelings. Do you routinely honor and respect your own feelings and share them with trusted loved ones? Or stay hidden? How good are you at reading other people’s feelings? What do you do with that? Are you drawn to melodrama, in yourself or others? Jealous much? What’s behind that? Do you ask directly for what you need, or do you manipulate? Do you resist cooperation? Do you lash out when feeling threatened? Have you learned the difference between interdependence and co-dependence? Are you confident about your immortality? Can you enthusiastically embrace change?

Barry Kerr, a certified soul-based astrologer, has over 40 years of experience with an international clientele, including many medical professionals and alternative healers. He and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, are owners/practitioners Choose Conscious Living in Sedona, AZ. Both have extensive training in soul-guided healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. Barry offers astrology, energy healing and transformational coaching by phone, Zoom, or in person in Sedona. Inquiries are welcome. Visit www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com for more information or email Barry at Barry@ChooseConsciousLiving.com.