whm: the feminism in the cosmos

Just as I was about to sit down and write this piece, I got into a rather tense conversation this morning with my mother about R.Kelly. She had been watching clips of the now infamous interview of Kelly, conducted by Gayle King, and clips of the interview that Ms. King also did with the two young women purported to be his live-in girlfriends, Azriel Clary and Jocelyn Savage. Upon talking with my mom, it seems she doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for Kelly’s victims. She didn’t have much sympathy for Cosby’s victims either. To my mom, born of a generation where the people in power (adults, men, white people, etc.) were always right, the women coming forward about their abuse seems like a grab for money and attention. I explained with all the compassion and all the patience I could muster up for my mom in that moment, that this wasn’t a cash grab nor are the victims to blame; R.Kelly and his enablers are.
The thing is, I don’t entirely fault my mother for the way that she feels. She is a victim of sexual abuse too. And I know that the reason she feels the way she does is because she was shamed into doing so. My mother has never got to have her day in court. Her abusers are long dead and buried. When she tried outing them at the age of 10, and 11, and 12, and 13; she was told it was her own fault. Repeatedly.

But this piece is not necessarily about my mother. This is about the astrology of the moment that’s making conversations like the one that I had with her possible. It’s about the astrology of the present moment that is helping us to not only have these kind of conversations but to also start doing what we can to address and change the societal mores that allow for the rampant abuse of Black girls and women — all Black women — to be the norm. Right now, at the time that this piece will be published, it’s currently Women’s History Month. It’s also Pisces season too. In astrology, which is arguably limited by the binary of masculine and feminine, Pisces is a feminine zodiac sign; as are Cancer and Scorpio. Astrology defines feminine as being receptive, intuitive, nurturing, and security-oriented as well as associated those that identify as women and femme.

From October 10, 2017 to November 8, 2018; when Jupiter (the planet of growth, morality, and law) was in all-or-nothing Scorpio, it helped to bring more eyes and ears to survivors of abuse and sexual assault, many of whom were women and femmes. Scorpio is the zodiac sign associated with secrets, taboos, control, power, and to some degree – sex. As a zodiac sign represented by the element of water, Scorpio helps us to heal our subconscious wounds and emotional trauma by helping us to face our fears and reclaim the power that we may have given to others or had outright taken. Though true to Scorpio’s nature, the process of healing and reclaiming said power is never easy (as we’ve seen with critics and detractors of the Me Too movement, for example).
Enter Cancer and Pisces.

On November 6, 2018; just as Jupiter was about to leave Scorpio, the North Node moved out of passionate and attention-grabbing Leo and into nurturing and protective Cancer. Astrologically speaking, Cancer is the sign connected to home and hearth, motherhood, women, as well as our emotions. The North Node, or rather the Lunar Nodes (North and South), mathematically represent points in space that highlight where the orbit of the moon crosses the ecliptic. In astrological terms, the nodes represent where we need to grow and evolve (North) and what we need to release (South). With the North Node in Cancer until May 5, 2020; collectively we are being called to bring the focus back to the feminine; to help shift the way our culture sees, treats, and holds space for women and femmes; and to help cultivate and employ better tools for managing and improving our emotional well-being.
Still, know that this planetary shift isn’t just about uplifting and healing the feminine, but also about balancing out the feminine and the masculine, so the masculine (and people that identify as such) can heal too. Since Cancer, like its opposite sign Capricorn (where the South Node currently sits), is connected to history and tradition; the shift that’s taking place also has to do with breaking down and dissolving the old attitudes, rules, and regulations that have helped to keep Black women and femmes invisible, oppressed, and at the bottom rung of society. It’s also about addressing and healing toxic masculinity too, especially as Chiron (a dwarf planet associated with our deepest wounds and their healing) currently sits in Aries (until April 2027); the sign associated with both the fearless warrior and the abusive bully.

With Pisces season underway until March 20 and love and relationship planet Venus moving into Pisces on March 26, the emphasis is on compassion and understanding. Pisces also helps us to heal our individual and collective pain by encouraging unconditional love for others and pushing us to heed the call towards spiritual peace and enlightenment. Planet Neptune, which has been in Pisces since February 3, 2011 (where it will stay until January 26, 2026) can be attributed to kicking off such a spiritual awakening by highlighting the need for the Divine Feminine, a core set of spiritual principles and practices based on the power of feminine energy. Still, as with the North Node in Cancer this awakening is not about centering one side or spectrum of the gender binary at the exclusion of the other; it’s about learning to hold space for it all as Pisces is a boundless and boundary-less sign.
However, as history has shown us, if we want true change, we can’t simply be well-intentioned. We have to be willing to do the work. And that’s why planets like no-nonsense Saturn and transformative Pluto will be in Capricorn (which is also a feminine sign, in fact all of the earth signs are), to assist us with putting in the work necessary; which includes challenging history and those in authority, as well as establishing boundaries and creating new rules that ensures true equality for all.