The nature of my work as a consulting and teaching astrologer, I witness a lot of personal transformations. I also see it in other aspects of my life in the gym and powerlifting.
As Mars in Aries activates my own 11th house of friendship and social circles, I wondered about how the current retrograde may impact the nature of these connections. One observation I’ve made so far, is that I’ve lost count of how many conversations I’ve had around the topic of plastic surgery.
My eyes have been opened to ‘injectables’ which I’d been completely oblivious to. I knew about a bit of Botox here and there to smooth wrinkles, but I didn’t realise you can change the shape and structure of your face as well All this time, I thought it was just the Instagram filters!
Just today, I spoke with a young woman who works at my local supermarket is awaiting results of her endometriosis surgery, (the second person I know who’s had it in the last two weeks). A close friend underwent gastric band surgery in June. Women sharing their thoughts with me around getting their boobs done, and other people I know having undergone surgery to remove excess skin after weight loss. All this since the Mars in Aries ingress.
There’s an account I follow on Instagram, where her plastic surgery journey, a 360-body lift, to remove excess skin from the mid-section, is documented in great detail. My astrological curiosity piqued when I discovered the surgery being performed while Venus stationed direct in late June. It was then I hit the follow button!
Within a short time-frame, my feed was littered with gruesome images akin to an episode of Dexter and I couldn’t look away. Over these last few months, I’ve watched her through my phone being barely able to feed herself, to being able to train again in the gym. Now the majority of healing is done, she exudes a sense of confidence and pride that overshadows her former self.
It’s this idea of coming to the end of a massive weight-loss journey but still having to lug around excess kilos of skin reminds me of the current astro-weather we’ve collectively been through in 2020.
It’s been a long an arduous year. You’d be forgiven for feeling fed up by now. We are now at the halfway point in the Mars retrograde cycle, just as Mercury stations retrograde in the watery home of Scorpio.
The desire to throw your hands up in the air and announce a big old ‘fuck this’ to some can feel like failure. Like giving up. Like no longer caring. It’s all too hard. Too overwhelming. Too heavy. Too hard. Too emotional.
There is a tremendous gift in being fed up.
It’s your inner voice telling you you’re ready to change. To invite something new. To cut away the thoughts, stories, the situations or possibly even the excess skin that holds you back from what you truly desire.
It’s the rock and hard place that invites change.
If you feel stuck or that you’re lugging some kind of excess weight, be that physical, emotional or metaphorical, what new insights are you willing to consider in order to experience the change you desire?
As Mercury reverses through Scorpio, where in your life do you need to perform some type of plastic surgery? In what parts of your life do you need to lift the lid, take a look inside and face another massive hurdle? It may be in this very place you’ll find the ability to transform, heal and renew.
It’s the beauty of being so uncomfortable in something that you have no option to open up the Pandora’s box within you and take a look inside.
This is the beauty of the current skies.
Mercury retrograde in 11 degrees Scorpio – 26 Libra
October 15 – November 3
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