The Week Before I Turn 61 Okay, so I'm preparing my article for next week. It's the week before my birthday. I'm going to be 61 years old. I want to do a little bit of a revision of what the last 12 months—or probably 18 months—have been in my life since my mother passed, and how I see that I'm taking charge of many things that were there, but I was not focusing on. I just want to go deep into all the decisions that I've been making, and where I feel that my life could be leading. Although I don't have any clear direction. The direction is really about how to become completely free. How not to comply, how to study as much as I can, the laws of nature, the fake codes, so I can learn, process, synthesize, experience and then give back. Because my aim is really to be an emanation of spirit—through my acts, through my work, through my encounters. I want to be able to support the world with my presence. And that's very lofty, but at the same time it needs to be taken care of. It needs a lot of nurturing. The Dance of Mars and Pluto This current dance between Pluto in Aquarius and Mars in Leo has traced a long arc—three passes where they oppose each other over the last few months, the first echoing back to the beginning of November, when Mars was still in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn. Then, on January third, Pluto at 1° Aquarius confronted Mars Rx at 1° Leo. But it’s this final pass that I feel most deeply. It’s the final confrontation between the desire to act and the desire to evolve—action in relationship to creation, to the validation of the individual, and to the harmony that may exist in a collective or tribal setting. This energy, though extreme, will be felt differently depending on the frequency you are vibrating. If you’re still on a boat steered by someone other than you, the waters can be rocky—and capsizing is a fear to take seriously. If you’re halfway to the other shore, then trust your decisions have followed spirit and you are protected. And if you are on the other side of victimhood and disempowerment, and have gathered the strength to be your damn self—unapologetically—well done, fellow warrior. The battlefield is just a field of opportunities, where creativity opens new ways of being. It is a battleground between collective and individual desires to be resonating. I am everything but afraid, to be honest. This third pass squares my natal Jupiter exactly, creating a T-square in fixed signs. Before something has to give, I’d rather read the memo: that it's my perspective (Jupiter in Taurus) that needs to be seen differently. And with the New Moon on my birthday (4/27), also part of this T-square, falling on my natal Sun/Mercury conjunction, the message is clear: new ways of approaching how I want to be seen and validated—authentically. Even though it marks a new beginning, the Venus–Saturn-North Node conjunction in the last degrees of Pisces reminds me—as the ruler of my stellium in Taurus—that without knowing my needs and values, I can’t proceed to embody a new perspective with awareness. What Uranus in Taurus has done since 2018 is give the rhythm—shock and awe—and never let things, situations, or people feel too comfortable. As it sits natally in my 7th house of relationships, it is through its erratic nature that I’ve been forced to shift and evolve, shift and evolve. Deeply. Uranus in Taurus doesn’t give a break to those of us who would like to be “comfy.” My Moon in Scorpio will make sure we dive deep, even if only for a short time. As Uranus keeps transiting my fourth house, home is where erratic behavior occurs—so yes, move, move… Pluto carries the force of evolution itself. In Aquarius, it brings collective transformation—of systems, power structures, technologies, and ideals. Mars in Leo, on the other hand, speaks to personal will, to the fire of individuality. When they oppose, they stretch the axis between the group and the self—between the pressure to conform and the courage to stand apart. I personally believe we can create extraordinary outcomes as free individuals, as long as we do not succumb to the stress and pressures of collective programming. I’ve lived that polarity in my body. I’ve seen the subtle ways in which the collective wants to swallow the individual—how easy it is to confuse disempowerment with compromise, and how silence sometimes masquerades as civility. This time they will meet at my Ascendant–Descendant axis on the 12th–6th houses: my subconscious still needs to reveal and transform worldviews, as I intend my creations can be of service only if I am 100% authentic. Otherwise, you could call my bluff…. But I’ve also seen the cost. When you suppress the self in order to belong, you don’t just lose your voice—you lose your frequency. And then you wonder why life feels muted. This transit—Pluto facing off with Mars, squaring my Jupiter—has shown me where I’ve clung to old ideas of freedom, of how I want to be seen, of what I thought expression meant. It’s softened
