The Libra moon heads towards a meeting with Warrior Mars today. Communication and action is likely to be more direct and encounter less resistance than in the past few days. This energy is the perfect opening ceremony for the movement of the nodes of the moon into Libra/Aries.

The nodes of the moon (the points where the orbits of sun and moon cross) will be on the Libra/Aries axis for about the next 18 months. The nodes determine where eclipses occur in the zodiac, and subtly color our collective experience. The position of the nodes suggests a balance (or tension) with the planetary energy of the Grand Cross.

The south node is in Aries, pulling us towards more independent but also more selfish perspectives. The south node in Aries is likely to bring out more of the darker side of Uranus, who is also in this sign. At extremes, there may be more of individuals and groups going rogue and off the rails. As tension and pressure builds on us all, the tendency to explode is a predictable result, and a strong sense of selfishness (as opposed to a strong sense of self) may yield very poor results.

The north node pulls us towards Libra. At the core, this is about balancing the extremes, letting off the pressure slowly and with fairness. With Mars also in Libra for the first half of 2014, we may see more overt 'fighting for fairness' in our personal and collective lives. On a personal level, this could be about developing what I call creative selfishness, or the recognition that we can only do for others if we have first taken care of our own needs. Collectively, it will manifest as a more direct push for social and economic justice. The recent debates about minimum wages in the U.S. are a clear example of this.

The nodes have left Scorpio/Taurus, where they encouraged tighter clinging to material possessions and the status quo. While questions about who or what has power and how legitimate it is were an important part of this time (government spying became an issue, for example), the south node in Taurus put the emphasis on personal and collective economics. Holding on to mine was prominent for both individuals and businesses, and although there was criticism of how wealth and income are distributed, the default setting was to hold on to every dollar, euro, or pound.

Today's cosmic energy - and in a sense the ongoing Libra emphasis - suggests riding a bicycle. You go forward only to the extent you can maintain your balance, and the faster you move, the more challenging that is. Yet fast motion is indicated if you need to get to (or away from) someplace in a hurry. Pluto and Uranus are shifting the ground beneath us, and pedaling fast seems a good idea.

Catch a video version of this astroblog on YouTube by clicking here.

You may appreciate this synchronicity. Last weekend, I got one of those email petitions to sign, from a woman who asked me to help her to get her father out of jail. She said that because of pressure from her addicted mother, she had lied and said that her father sexually abused her. He has been in prison for 15 years for the crime.

Later that day, the Dylan Farrow/Woody Allen story broke in the news.

Child abuse is a hot trigger issue, and I hesitate to write about it. People are so justifiably incensed at the thought of a child being sexually harmed by an adult that they cannot listen to the most basic plea to stop and think for just a moment. It is a topic that conjures up the two most dangerous words in Western society: Zero Tolerance. Accusation is conviction.

Many astrologers, including some from whom I would have hoped for better, were quick to dive into the analysis of Woody Allen’s chart, in a search for factors that might make him a hopeless pedophile. I saw no one who stopped to consider the larger picture, and to review the story without convicting Allen of child abuse on the basis of Dylan’s claims. Because, once again, accusation is conviction.

The astrologers related this story to Saturn in Scorpio, the bringing up and exposing of hidden sexual actions. Allen, they said, was being called to account for himself by Saturn in the sign associated with sexuality.

It seems to me that is a wildly simplistic assessment. For one thing, the sexual abuse of children has been a hot trigger issue since Pluto was in Scorpio. The barrage of stories - many of which have been substantiated - against the priests of the Catholic Church has been in the news for decades. The Jerry Sandusky/Penn State scandal broke while Saturn was in Libra (although Sandusky was sentenced when Saturn was at 0 degrees Scorpio). The accusations against Michael Jackson happened years before Saturn entered Scorpio.

One thing we might notice, and it has little to do with astrology, is that the substantiated cases of sexual abuse that get media attention have to do with large institutions, the apparent foundation of society - churches and universities. The unsubstantiated (and, as Allen pointed out in his letter to the New York Times, deeply investigated yet unsubstantiated) accusations have been against people who we tend to see as peripheral and ‘not normal.’ Like the witch hunts of yesteryear, society is ready to convict those who appear a little different, a little ‘off’ from the rest of us.

Both Woody Allen and Michael Jackson have the kind of personalities and lifestyles that make it easy for more normal folks to say, “Oh, yeah, he’s so weird, I’m sure he did it.” Yet the public cases that are substantiated tend to involve people who not only present as normal, but as role models of normality. Perhaps that is what we should be thinking about. Perhaps that is what Saturn in Scorpio may be asking us to consider.

And if we as a society have been so determined to root out and convict child abusers, we may consider why we find this crime both so common and so heinous. Saturn in Scorpio may get us to ponder our approach to children.

When Jonbenet Ramsey was murdered, after Pluto left Scorpio, she was regularly referred to as a “child beauty queen.” Pictures of the seven year old decked out like an adult were everywhere. Few people stopped to question what kind of society would even consider having children as ‘beauty queens.’ When seven year olds are dressed up like adults, not for Halloween or a party, but as part of their identity, there is something deeply wrong with our collective psychic economy. Perhaps we as a society are so sensitive to child abuse because we recognize that we have, in so many ways, taken childhood away from children.

During the Pluto in Scorpio years, stories about child abuse were commonplace, although not so much among celebrities as among more everyday folks. It was a dangerous time to have a daycare center in the United States. The fallout of that time is still with us today - a teacher hugs a crying first grader at their own peril. School is a no-touching zone, and a few years ago two second graders were suspended for kissing. We are raising a generation (or more) of children for whom virtually any human contact will seem strange, dirty, and bad. Generations of new Victorians who really believe in the inherent wrongfulness of contact with anyone outside of tightly prescribed guidelines. All for their own good, of course.

So, I would say that Saturn in Scorpio is asking us to consider and reconsider our attitudes. To get to the truth. But not simply the truth behind the allegations of abuse: The truth behind our society’s attitude towards children, sexuality, and the fear we associate with it. To think that Saturn in Scorpio is about exposing perversions in ‘the other’ is simplistic - it is about exposing the perverse attitudes that are accepted as common sense.

Heeeeere's... Some other guy who's name begins with a 'J'...

Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and now Jimmy Fallon. Lots of J's! (Conan and Steve Allen are anomalies)

Jay Leno said goodbye, again, last night. This time around, the show had an air of finality, something that was missing in Leno's 2009 leaving. The network's botched attempt to move Leno to primetime and replace him with Conan was dripping with the failure to understand one of its own greatest assets. This time around, there was again a sense the NBC had spilled the glass with which it should have been saying 'cheers', but the feel was more of transition than crash-&-burn.

Leno took over The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson on May 25, 1992. From the start, his job was impossible in the sense that he was replacing an American institution that stretched back to the very start of the 1960s. Americans had been through so much with Johnny, who held the post for 30 years - a complete Saturn cycle. It seems fitting that Leno's 22 years on Tonight is 3/4 of the Saturn cycle - point of recognizing what has been accomplished and then deciding (or having network suits decide) whether to continue or move on.

A look at the chart for Leno's first show as host is interesting. The midheaven is 15 Scorpio, which makes the 10th house Pluto ruler of the chart. Transiting Saturn entered the 10th house - destiny, public image, role in the world - last fall, and is only one degree away from the chart's Pluto today.

Saturn is also the chart's ruler, as Capricorn is rising. With such a Saturn/Pluto emphasis in the chart, it is no wonder that we see Saturnian timing so prominent, particularly as it conjuncts Pluto (for a television show, the MC may be more important than the Ascendant). It also says something about the show as an institution.

But wait - did I just say 'institution' again? Looking forward, we may well wonder about the future of The Tonight Show. After 22 years, Leno was still 'the new guy' to many Johnny fans. Jimmy Fallon will be playing to an audience that may largely be unaware of who Carson was, which is freeing for him, but it raises questions about Tonight as the late-night talk show. It's all a level playing field now. With the Uranus-Pluto square (check out the positions of Uranus and Neptune in the chart) so prominent now, institutions are up for review, for sure. If Fallon makes it seven years (1/4 of a Saturn cycle), that would be impressive in our faster-changing world.

Venus was retrograde in Capricorn from December 21, 2013 until January 31st, 2014. Yes, the usual Venus retrograde things happened - old relationships may have been reheated, or at least there may have been some connection in order to reach a feeling of resolution. New relationships that began in late in the fall may have started bright, only to fizzle just as quickly.

But Venus was in the sign we associate with business, government, and institutions, and we shouldn’t overlook how those things were affect. For example, the stock market shot upwards early in the period, then tumbled lower throughout January.

The 40 days of Venus retrograde is associated with the 40 days of the flood, Jesus’ time in the desert, the Lenten season, and many other examples of going inward and not indulging in outward pleasures. It’s interesting that it occurred during the time of year we usually associate with indulgence and spending.

One particularly interesting aspect of this Venus retrograde was that it occurred in a sign associated with business during the time of year when many businesses get their biggest boost due to holiday shopping. It sure seemed like people were going crazy on Black Friday (after Thanksgiving in the U.S.), but apparently holiday sales were somewhat weak. Each of us is both observer and participant (or nonparticipant) in the phenomenon. We watch and see what other people are doing, and note how it will affect the economy. But we also have to make our own spending decisions, and in that sense participate in the outcome.

It seems like this Venus retrograde was a time to not only revisit and come to some resolution about relationship issues, but also a time to make resolutions about our spending habits and participation in our consumer economy. Nothing is resolved in a day - or 40 days - of course. But perhaps the retrograde brought some awareness about our spending habits.