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Margaret is an international astrologer and author with 40 years’ experience. She specialises in Soul Astrology, focusing on everyday life from the soul’s perspective, while tuning in to your individual guidance.
Website: soulastrology.com
The Moon ceases making aspects to the planets as it approaches the end of each zodiac sign, a period of hours shown in the diary pages as V/C every two or three days. As the Moon aspects a planet it is said to precipitate events, triggering energy for action and projects. So a Void of Course Moon is no longer triggering planetary energy until it moves into the next sign. This fallow time is perfect for doing the things you’ve been putting off, because nothing else is pushing to be started. So, finish things that you may have begun and not yet had the time to complete; chill with friends, or perhaps just give yourself rest if you need it; read a book, meditate quietly, or ponder inwardly. Tune in to the quality of that Moon sign in your life, so you are better prepared for immersion in the next Moon sign - see the list of Moon through the Zodiac Signs.
As the Moon circles the Earth, she channels to us the qualities of the starry constellations, the Sidereal Zodiac. Biodynamic gardeners follow that sequence of qualities, although the influence on the land of the Phases of the Moon is more pronounced in effect. Western astrologers use the Tropical Zodiac, which follows the same sequence but depends only on the Sun’s relationship with the Earth. (The dance between these two Zodiacs creates the great astrological Ages - we are shifting from the Pisces Age to the Age of Aquarius). The Moon shines into our emotional life from each sign for only two days, so our mood quickly changes from one sign’s quality to the next:
♈︎ Moon in Aries: a drive to action; speed; impatience. Others are equally keen to get to their destination, so take care as you travel about. Perfect for waking up to your surroundings, ready for the move into...
♉︎ Moon in Taurus: slowing down; rooting; getting grounded - back to square one. Take time, don’t push yourself. Steady progress is assured. Great for gardening and being with nature. Exercise and rest prepare you for...
♊︎ Moon in Gemini: connecting; making phone calls; talking/listening with friends, clients and colleagues. Getting out and about while the energy moves us all, you will feel deserving of...
♋︎ Moon in Cancer: coming home; cooking; taking care of yourself - and another. Emotions are flowing, so give them space. Knowing how you really feel, you will be more ready for...
♌︎ Moon in Leo: being yourself; showing up; sincerely praising others. Good for enjoyable gatherings, and expressing positive opinions. Connecting with the world from an open heart, you discover who you are, and then you will be ready for...
♍︎ Moon in Virgo: the everyday work; clearing spaces; sorting things out. Focus on the tasks that will improve your life, or the lives of others. Take time, and organise yourself for good health and well-being. When you are sorted, you will be ready for...
♎︎ Moon in Libra: relating to another; finding out how life is for someone else; rebuilding friendship bridges. A good time to say what 6 needs to be said kindly, to prepare a space of harmony for...
♏︎ Moon in Scorpio: going deeper; recognising your real motivations; dealing with finance and family. Emotions will be rising from old beliefs and hurts, so tread carefully when anyone is upset (including yourself). Own up, transform your attitude, and then go for...
♐︎ Moon in Sagittarius: finding out the truth; trying another way; laughing kindly at yourself and the world. Explore new ideas, discuss problems positively, and have fun! Only after that will you want to be ready for...
♑︎ Moon in Capricorn: putting ideas into practice to achieve your planned results. Take responsibility for your life being what it is, and set about doing what is necessary. Having fulfilled your commitments, it’s time for...
♒︎ Moon in Aquarius: standing back; making time and space for yourself, and for others. Breathe and take stock; with a detached view, consider the part you play in your community. Having savoured your freedom, you will be ready for...
♓︎ Moon in Pisces: meditating; sensing the ebb and flow of all life; feeling spirit as part of every moment. World events trigger everyone’s emotions - so be kind and respectful to all in the truth of oneness; and you will eventually experience a need for... Moon in Aries!
We have the opportunity to begin a new emotional cycle at each New Moon. The Sun sign, as the Moon reaches it, bathes us all in that quality for the following month. We experience the waxing and waning of the Moon through our emotional responses to each unfolding situation.
New Moon: A seed of light from one of the Zodiac signs is planted, and that quality will colour our emotional involvement in whatever begins now. But as the seed is deep within the ground of our being, we may not yet know what will grow.
Crescent Moon: We see the first shoots of the new seed of light, and feel the stirrings of growth within. Something in daily life may have started to develop, and we need to allow the natural timing of its growth without interfering too much.
First Quarter: Problems of expansion may arise, where our established habits and attitudes may want to block the new plant’s growth. We need to clear space amongst our assumptions of what we need, which may entail uncomfortable introspection.
Gibbous Moon: Having passed the blocking inertia of past expectations, growth is rapid and strong. We have a good idea now of what the New Moon seed was about, and life makes way for its flowering. This is the optimum time for seed germination.
Full Moon: The fullest growth for this cycle is now on show. The light of purpose it brings touches our soul and shines in our face, and we respond emotionally, rising to the task.
Disseminating Moon: The fruit of the New Moon seed is ready to share, the light to be radiated into the shadowy areas of our lives. With the giving comes new understanding, the pressure fades, and the work gets done..
Last Quarter: It is now time to gently withdraw from identifying with what has been achieved. This is a time of letting go.
Balsamic Moon: The cycle is almost complete. We need to accept the lessening in motivation and relax, rather than trying to create a ‘new’ burst of enthusiasm. This is our opportunity to open inside with gratitude for what has been, becoming ready to receive the next Zodiac impulse.
Planets appear to travel backwards through the Zodiac when we are overtaking them. A planet’s retrograde movement suggests a reluctance to express its energy outwardly. So we use the energy inwardly, and consequently experience hold-ups in the flow.
Mercury - Being about movement, be prepared for hold-ups in local travelling and misunderstandings in communication. Develop your self-awareness, meditate, and get your correspondence up to date. Focus deliberately on what is going on around you, responding to situations as though other people are asleep! Say clearly what you mean, and listen carefully for what others mean. And don’t take the glitches personally! Three times during 2018: 23rd March - 15th April; 26th July - 19th August; 17th November - 6th December.
Jupiter - For four months every year, Jupiter’s growthful influence fades. Projects that were developing nicely seem to slow down, or even stop. Leave them fallow, or gently review them, making adjustments and checking the grounding is good, to go forward successfully when the energy picks up. This year Jupiter is in Scorpio, so deep emotional issues may be re-worked, or any business or financial plans. 9th March - 10th July 2018.
Mars - The motivating energy of Mars, felt inwardly at the solar plexus, will likely have us making a stand in Aquarius and Capricorn, polarising on the spectrum of freedom: focussed on either personal independence, or humanitarian issues. Check and take care of all electrical systems, including your nervous system. And don’t push for results! 26th June - 27th August 2018
Venus - Venus, transiting through Scorpio, will be looking at your deepest emotional concerns in relationships. So this is an opportunity to enquire into what you really feel, recognising that what you want, you need to provide for yourself before you attract it from another. People’s behaviour has deep roots, so be kind, and respectful of vulnerabilities. 6th October - 16th November 2018
Astrology writing for 2018 © Margaret Koolman
The purpose of this book is to show how to use very basic understanding to say something about oneself or another person from the Sun-Sign, and from the other planets shown in the birth chart, that will bring more joy into everyday life. This ‘how-to’ is demonstrated with many examples, and the reader is encouraged to try for themselves, through exercises given at many points, Many of these exercises consist of questions, and as every person is different, there will be many different ways of answering them. All answers that you come up with are valid for you. The questions are designed as a process, which will draw out both your inner knowledge of what is right for you, and your intuition for others.
It always seemed to me that, if I couldn’t explain an idea to my young sons, I hadn’t understood it properly myself. So my book, ‘Soul Purpose Astrology’, is as simple as I can make it while including the philosophical ideas that give life meaning for me. Also I learn better from books that are illustrated – and short! During the early years of my teaching astrology, travelling round the world listening to the people whose charts I read, I heard many different ways of experiencing any aspect of a birth chart, so I am always expanding my understanding through others’ experience of life.
‘Soul Purpose Astrology‘ presents astrology in its simplest and broadest form. The four elements each having three ways of being expressed explains simply the basis of the twelve Zodiac Signs, yet when the twelve signs are followed in order they describe the journey of humanity in twelve steps from the virgin spirit of archetypal Aries to quiet mastery through Pisces. The Sun, Moon and planets out as far as Saturn can be related to seven of the energy centres in the body, describing the inner experience of being human, yet the fact that each planet can be in one of twelve signs shows clearly our differences from each other, even though we have the same basic system. The broader concerns of human life – freedom, spirituality and transformation of the human species – are introduced as messages from the outer planets as great guides. Chiron is one of those guides, even though it is so small. On a personal level, I see Chiron as the healer in each of us, as well as the wound that never quite heals, and my book offers questions you can ask yourself to discover Chiron’s meaning for you.
In order to feel the love from our spiritual source, we need to accept ourselves as we are and learn to appreciate our uniqueness and inner beauty. Soul Purpose Astrology shows how every planet in any sign represents the potential for a spiritually beautiful energy to flow through. Once we recognize the beauty within, it is a small step to increasing the beauty in the lives of those around us. My chosen task – one that fills me with pleasure and satisfaction – is to help in recognising the beauty within.
Llewellyn 2002 paperback, 210 pp. ISBN 0-7387-0221-8 out of print. Available Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com
The full circle of the Zodiac, all twelve Signs added together, describes one whole complete human being, with spirit shining from the centre in all directions. That complete being is the best that any person could possibly be. This person knows how to do things well, is kind and thoughtful, brave and generous, excited about life and yet steady when necessary. Each of the Zodiac Signs describes part of that wonderful human being. They are almost like different characters that we each need when involved in the different things we do in our lives.
In this story, these twelve characters in their own Zodiac World are discovering themselves as we do, learning about each other, relating and playing, each in their own way. Although some of them are not exactly the traditional Zodiac creatures expected, they all behave in the traditional way. But in the story they also show us why they behave that way. We all make the mistakes that the creatures make, and we all have their special gifts to share with each other. When we see others doing things differently from us, we often think they are strange, wrong, perhaps just silly, or maybe even better than us. It always feels better, though, when we try to understand why our friends and family do what they do. When we accept people the way they are, we get to see that it is the same wonderful spirit that shines through the eyes of every person we meet – the spirit of love. This is what the Zodiac creatures are discovering through the story.
Paperback 100pages, illustrated, available from Margaret and on Amazon.co.uk
Published by Greenleaves: ISBN 978-0-9930621-0-0
‘Gateways to the Soul: Heart of Astrology’ by Kay Snow-Davis and Margaret Koolman is now available through www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com or can be ordered through any good bookshop. ISBN: 9 780977 195121. Cost shown on the cover UK £12:95, US $15:95, Canada $18:95.
This book gives a spiritual reading of every planet in every Zodiac sign, so that you can put together a reading of your own chart, showing how your personal characteristics allow the expression of your soul. I feel that our soul, for its own purpose on earth, chose our personality traits deliberately, and this book is focused on their value beginning with loving support for each Zodiac sign. The Ascendant/ Descendant, Midheaven/IC, Moon’s Nodes, and Part of Fortune, are also described through the signs, and the Houses are explained, all in spiritual terms.
Comments from readers:
From a non-astrologer – ‘I have started reading ‘Gateways to the Soul’ and i have already found it amazing. the word helpful is a bit of an understatement. i have only just begun it, but there was a sentence that went straight to my heart, describing a difficulty i have always had, and then…a solution! i was really moved. it is an amazing gift, an astrological book that explains astrology in terms of finding wholeness again. perfect. thank you!! i am actually going to write out for myself the sentences that i have read that i find so helpful. they are like gold dust and i think they will support me in being strong in my essence around other people. thank you again.’ J.E. – UK
From an astrologer – ‘I guess there’s probably little new for an experienced astrologer but having said that, the angle is very different from other astrology publications which, of course, focus on the development of character and personality rather than the wider issues of our purpose here on earth. To that extent anyone interested in astrology at all can gain from this volume. There are valuable nuggets to be found in every section. One thing I particularly liked was its accessibility: the book is comprehensive yet concise and comes in bite-sized, manageable headings (rather like Soul Purpose Astrology). It would make a very good starting point and companion for someone new to Astrology but also a useful addition to the library of a person with a lot of astrology under their belt. I was very glad to see the Midheaven, the Part of Fortune and the Moon’s Nodes included. Of course as pointers to the direction of the chart they are central but it is unusual to find them in such an easy to read format. I feel very affectionate towards this book. I feel it was written with a lot of love. I’m very attached to my copy but also want to give it to friends who are just getting into Astrology. It will be a revelation to them.’ H.S. – UK
'Gateways to the Soul: Heart of Astrology’ by Kay Snow-Davis and Margaret Koolman. ISBN: 9 780977 195121.