Michelle’s Midheaven

Vulnerability in the Via Combusta

Michelle Corbesier — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:36:41 GMT

Ah, the doubts, the doubts… As confusing as life gets, through Venus’s green-colored glasses our hesitations look like fertile ground for renewal. In my new video I talk about the courage to let ourselves be touched by the world and the perks of some spicy chaos.

The main signatures I’m focusing on in this syzygy’s chart are Luna’s location at the beginning of the Via Combusta and the intense square between Venus and Mars. Enjoy the video, and let me know how your Libra lunar month is going!

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New Moon at 17°21’ Libra on October 10, at 17:49 CEST (your time)

Michelle Corbesier is an astrologer and artist residing in Belgium with her beloved husband and whiskered companions. Offering natal, horary, and synastry consultations to clients in every continent, Michelle is passionate about guiding others on their journeys of self-discovery and empowerment. Sharing her love for the starry craft, she also provides private tutoring and mentoring to aspiring stargazers. Get in touch with Michelle at her website Michelle’s Midheaven, find her classes here and follow her on Substack and YouTube.

New Moon in Virgo

Michelle Corbesier — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:47:10 GMT

September. The Sun’s gentle gold appeases the farmlands that are starting to look spent and bare. On our way to the equinox, Virgo season crumbles off bits and pieces of precious time, exposing us to a curious tension between eagerness and unrest.

As the end of summer is drawing near, I find myself standing in a portal, itching to move forward while already missing all those gorgeous sun-drenched days.

Must Be Done, by Michelle Corbesier (digital collage)

A crucial momentum passes when Uranus turns retrograde just nine hours before Luna conjoins the Sun in Virgo. What looks like an intriguing idea or a lucky break may suddenly feel like an ultimatum, as some final options force their way through the ether with a ferocious hunger. Antsy to finish one last chapter in the Twin’s sign, Uranus feeds the new lunation with a potpourri of potential plot twists. Consequently, this month is your last chance to take advantage of Uranian opportunities but it’s also time to acknowledge the proverbial elephant in the room.

Point to it. Articulate it. It must be done.

It’s now or never.

From the depths of Cancer’s Water, Mars unwittingly emboldens the Uranian mood by forging quick, instinct-fueled solutions. Name the obvious, the inevitable, and allow your decisions to be swift. One of the gifts of both Mars and Uranus is the ability to find method in the chaos. Instead of getting overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation, they push through by simply eradicating whatever is obstructing progress. Remarkably talented at pinpointing the crux of the matter, Mars and Uranus often do, however, in their rawness, destroy more than intended. That, too, is best kept in mind when responding to said plot twists.

New Moon at 18°25’ Virgo on September 11, 2026 at 5:26 AM CEST (your time)

The poor guy buckling under the stress of having to organize a New Moon ceremony while also dealing with an overexcited guest over at his Gemini address is Mercury. He feels as though his brain just got rewired. So he does what any clever, light-footed youngling would do: he abandons the scene.

Some of us may feel an escapist pull, seducing us to back out of a commitment, or decide not to engage in any new undertakings, especially in the Virgo area of our natal chart.

Trading his Earthy home and exaltation for Libra, Mercury’s mind quickly fills with doubt when he discovers that Venus, the lady of the house, has already moved on to Scorpio. Yet her recent presence is still palpable, as if the air still wants to hold onto her perfume. Under the influence of that enticing aroma, Mercury allows us to carefully weigh the proportions of the new stories that appear on this month’s horizon.

But here’s the thing. A new lunar month arriving in the wake of two planets losing dignity is an undisguised invitation to leave our comfort zone. Instead of defaulting to the same old strategies, embrace the unfamiliar. Explore, experiment, and deliberately choose an unconventional approach. We’re gathering material in preparation for Venus and Mercury’s upcoming retrograde journeys.

Play now and thank yourself later. Have a wonderful lunar month!

Also, come play with me at my COSAPA presentation:

Next week, on September 17, I’m in for some “retrograding” myself as I’ll be revisiting my favorite topic ever - mystical experiences. I’ll be giving an interactive talk on The Mysteries of the Declining Houses at the Community of Southern African Professional Astrologers (COSAPA).

Check your local time here!

Free for COSAPA members / small fee for non-members (R50.00) (Convert to your currency)

You Are Feeding the World Soul

Michelle Corbesier — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:47:57 GMT

Dear Sun,

Kissing my skin, the flowers and the trees, your countless rays tickle my joie-de-vivre once again. Today our Belgian sky rolled out a crispy blue carpet just for you!

After elaborately debating (oh, always the doubts!) whether or not I should witness the veiling of your majestic Light, I found myself waking up this morning firmly committed to boldly ignoring our ancestors’ warnings.

On top of that, as an enthusiastic student of your heavenly writing, I’m so very ashamed to say that I did not manage to get my hands on a pair of eclipse glasses. I tried all the stores… to no avail. Everything was already long gone yesterday.

Nevertheless, I’ll be joining you tonight, at my usual spot behind the train rails. I’ll sit there and pay attention to the cats that roam our neighborhood. I’ll listen to the unusual silence of the many birds whose swarming accompanies you to the Otherworld each night.

And I’ll be there tomorrow morning to greet you and thank you for the life you give and give and give.

All my love,

Michelle

I’m wishing everyone a beautiful new beginning in Leo! In my new video, I offer my impressions of the sky, I talk about the Anima Mundi and what it’s eating, and I also share the root chart of the Saros Series today’s eclipse belongs to.

Watch Video

Total Solar Eclipse 20°01’ Leo, Aug 12, 2026 at 19:36 CEST (your time)

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Venus Writes the Next Chapter

Michelle Corbesier — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:45:12 GMT

At last, Venus returns to Libra where desire finds its right proportions. As she dusts off her trusty Scales, she already knows the weighing is going to take more time than usual. Her prolonged adventure in Libra and Scorpio due to her upcoming retrograde journey will not only be a turning point in her synodic cycle with the Sun, but also in her passionate dance with Mars.

Yes, I can explain everything!

Here’s my new video:

Becoming Undivided

Michelle Corbesier — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:03:43 GMT

Happy Jupiter Cazimi today! A reborn Jupiter, young, (overly) generous, and enthusiastic is leaping into a new adventure in Leo, where he’ll be pulled in by the South Node on three occasions. This is a once in a lifetime sequence of events for us. The last time Jupiter conjoined the South Node three times in the same sign was in 1911.

In my new video, I talk more about our new fixed lunar cross and dig for deeper meaning, focusing on the special Jupiter/South Node treatment we’re about to receive!

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If you’re burning to learn more about the lunar nodes & bendings, eclipses, and the Saros cycle, I recommend my pre-recorded class The Great Serpent which is available here: https://ko-fi.com/s/2144ff4e81

A New Season for Saturn

Michelle Corbesier — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:08:43 GMT

On Sunday, Saturn stations retrograde at 14°44’ Aries, which marks a key twist in the unfolding of Saturn’s current cycle with the Sun that started earlier this year, on March 25.

In my new video, I place this phase in its broader context and offer a framework that hopefully helps you interpret the significance of Saturn’s station in your life. Because a retrograde station is so much more than an “interruption” or “reversal!”

And if you would welcome my help in figuring out how Saturn’s mission is developing for you personally, you know where to find me! Book a reading with me at https://www.michellesmidheaven.com/

I hope you enjoy my new video. Please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

The Living Heavens

Michelle Corbesier — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:11:46 GMT

Not surprisingly, the official definition of astrology is disappointing to say the least.

astrology

noun

as·trol·o·gy ə-ˈsträ-lə-jē

Synonyms of astrology

: the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects

archaic : astronomy

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astrology

The seemingly innocent words “supposed influences” smuggle in an entire worldview. A physicalist worldview that cannot get past the boring confines of measurable causes and effects.

And then comes the second definition: the safe territory of astronomy, the respectable sibling that grew up to become a “true scientist.” Translating our heavenly writing into mathematical equations. Impressive. But then what? Is that how exciting it gets?

Somewhere along the way, astrology was dismembered and dissected. In the same way as everything else in nature gets mutilated, including our abilities as human beings.

Astrologers know better. There’s something more going on, beyond what is measurable. Although, to be fair, we don’t all agree on what that “something more” actually is.

That’s what this episode is about.

I talk about what astrology means to me, based on conversations I had with some of my students. Studying Hellenistic techniques sometimes gets a little overwhelming, but astrology is not mainly about collecting more techniques, memorizing more rules, exceptions, or finding the perfect timing methods. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that becoming a better astrologer simply means knowing and memorizing more.

I think the real (ongoing) work begins after you put down the books, and you realize astrology is a living doorway into something stranger, more intelligent, and far more intimate than you first imagined.

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Shaping and Being Shaped

Michelle Corbesier — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:04:21 GMT

If you’re reading this, I know you no longer see yourself as an independent being moving through a passive world. You notice how every place has its own character.

In astrology, the Moon represents the physical world - the container of Spirit, also known as the environment - which encompasses our body as our most intimate environment as well as our home and family, the rhythms we live by, and the ever-changing circumstances in which we participate.

We are forever shaping and being shaped.

A threatening place cultivates fear.
A fearful person notices danger quickly.
There’s a feedback loop like two tuning forks vibrating together.

Today, Luna conjoins the Sun in Cancer to remind us that the world is magical only because we are magicians.

I discuss the new lunar month in my new video, and you’ll find the New Moon chart below.

July 14, 2026 at 11:43:19 CEST – 21°59’ Cancer (your time)

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Jupiter in Leo Speaks

Michelle Corbesier — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:33:13 GMT

One evening in early June, I was brushing my teeth and preparing for bed when I suddenly felt compelled to ask my friend Maggie if I could record a conversation with her. It was only later that I realized Jupiter was already announcing his ingress into Leo to me.

Because Maggie is Jupiter in Leo: Sagittarius rising, ruled by Jupiter in Leo in the 9th house. Leo, in turn, is ruled by Maggie’s Sun in Cancer—exactly as in Jupiter’s ingress chart... An old Jupiter at the end of his cycle in relation to the Sun.

Perfect.

In that moment, I knew what our conversation was going to be about. I decided to let Jupiter speak through Maggie.

We came together to talk, not deliberately but meaningfully on the very day transiting Jupiter conjoined her natal Mercury.

Also perfect.

I asked Maggie how Jupiter started showing up for her, and she took it from there. All I had to do was simply let her talk because, honestly, everything you’re about to hear is so very Jupiter in Leo. I loved it, and I hope you will too.

For a little context: Dr. Maggie Gilewicz holds a PhD in sociology and a master’s degree in political science. Maggie is an astrologer, transformative coach, and author devoted to humanizing awakening. In her latest book, Awakening to be Human, she shares the raw, real, and often beautifully messy process of awakening. I warmly recommend it if, like me, you love discovering how others find their way through this strange mystery we call life.

Get in touch with Maggie through her website: https://www.drmaggieg.com/

Follow Maggie on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humanisingawakening

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Jupiter Does Not Kneel

Michelle Corbesier — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:36:46 GMT

I always like the last moments right before the sky changes.

And the sky really is about to change. Dramatically so… Jupiter is moving into Leo. Mars is entering Gemini to conjoin Uranus. Mercury is slowing down to station retrograde, just to name a few.

The atmosphere is already changing before the events unfold, like the moment before a storm breaks: the pressure is changing, animals start behaving differently, and people can already feel it in their body. The body is already absorbing the new atmosphere and the mind hears the messages with unusual clarity.

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That’s why I prefer thinking and writing about these changes right as they’re about to happen or while they’re beginning to happen. The old hasn’t left quite yet and the new hasn’t fully arrived. My soul likes to linger in that liminal space, exploring and inhabiting the texture of the new shift. There’s something sacred about standing on the threshold and I don’t want to miss it! I guess that makes me a field astrologer rather than an armchair astrologer.

In this new video on Jupiter’s ingress into Leo, I share what I found on the threshold. If you enjoy this video, please share this post. Thank you so much for your time!

A Uranian New Moon

Michelle Corbesier — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 18:58:00 GMT

As someone who gets bored very easily, I’m genuinely excited about this new lunar month. Uranus’ signature is splashed all over the New Moon chart with extra flashy North Bending neon signs as well as an antiscion to Jupiter and a sextile to Venus for effect. The entire lunar month is infused with benefic, rebellious, frivolous mischief.

Sure, it may not be completely harmless. There could be some plot twists since the ruler of this New Moon, Mercury, is currently stuck in an uncomfortable malefic enclosure.

The gods seem to be playing a game of entrapment and escape, confinement versus freedom, and we’re their pawns.

Speaking of the current enclosure, here’s the new video for the Gemini Moon that I was only barely able to record because of tech issues!

I’m very curious to hear how you’re all doing. Let me know in the comments!

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Saturn Overcomes the Venus/Jupiter Conjunction

Michelle Corbesier — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 16:21:31 GMT

No good deed goes unpunished is a phrase that comes up for me as I see Saturn sending a wide grin to the benefic conjunction in Cancer on June 9.

Venus and Jupiter come together at 25° in the Moon’s home sign Cancer but they’re overcome by Saturn in Aries. If there’s one thing that gets underestimated all the time in astrology, it’s the power of the superior whole sign square.

A Lost Story That Couldn’t Possibly Be More Perfect

I’m starting to think that I made it up but I could swear I read a Dutch short story once that perfectly describes the upcoming Venus/Jupiter/Saturn situation. I’ve searched everywhere but, alas, I couldn’t find it.

Here’s what I remember. It’s a story about a woman who sees people’s pain and feels compelled to do something to alleviate their suffering. She starts offering free hugs to everyone who approaches her. Gradually, however, people start taking advantage of her. They touch her inappropriately, hurt her, abuse her, and then even torture her. It’s horrendous. The story ends with her death. She absorbed other people’s darkness until it killed her.

The kindness of Venus and Jupiter overcome by Saturn.

The protagonist tragically fails in her noble mission because she believes kindness alone is enough. Like many Venusians and Jupiterians, she assumes that goodness naturally evokes goodness. Saturn points out she couldn’t be more wrong.

As the woman offers warm hugs and solace without limits or boundaries, she quietly keeps repeating the same message – that people can take anything they want from her at no cost. The peace she radiates does not evoke respect from others. On the contrary, she becomes a social vacuum into which everyone instinctively starts dumping their anger, fears, needs, frustrations, and resentments.

If you surrender your Saturnian boundaries, you’ll find that people will test how far that surrender extends. A well-intended service can quickly provoke expectations from others which then turn into entitlement. And entitlement typically devolves into abuse.

I think the protagonist resembles a Jupiterian saint who forgets that it is actually self-sacrifice that redeems the crowd… The superior square from Saturn is here to remind us that true love also depends on our ability to say “no.”

I’ll leave you with a video in which I discuss some other themes that could come to the foreground with this year’s Venus/Jupiter conjunction, and how to look for clues in your natal chart.

My books are open for readings if you would like a more personal approach. Get in touch with me through www.michellesmidheaven.com.

Thank you for reading this post and hopefully you’ll enjoy the video. I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

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The New Moon Awakens the Demon

Michelle Corbesier — Sat, 16 May 2026 14:05:51 GMT

Algol

variable star (Beta Persei) in the constellation Perseus, late 14c., literally “the Demon,” from Arabic al-ghul “the demon” (see ghoul). It corresponds, in modern representations of the constellation, to the gorgon’s head Perseus holds, but probably it was so called because it visibly varies in brightness every three days, which sets it apart from other bright stars.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/Algol

Known as the Demon Star, the Blinking Demon, the Gorgon’s Head, the Head of Medusa, Lilith, and one of the Piled Corpses, Algol has quite the reputation. In Taurus, a sign associated with the throat, Algol is the fixed star that severs the head from the body, literally and metaphorically.

I’m guessing more than a few somatic workers are aware of the essential role the throat/neck (the 5th Chakra) plays as a purification center - Taurus’ ruler Venus was traditionally known as the goddess of purification - and how vulnerable it is to what people used to call “demons” and now refer to as energetic interference or attack by negative influences.

I talk about the New Moon on Algol in my new video, but for my subscribers here, I thought I would share something more personal.

In my natal chart, Jupiter represents illness and death and happens to be located within only 23 minutes of Algol. I’ve had the honor of encountering Medusa’s gaze a couple of times.

Here are some examples that hopefully demonstrate (pun intended) how, oftentimes, the mythological symbolism of the stars is expressed in a very blatant way.

As a kid I had what I now think of as undiagnosed allergic reactions where my throat would simply close and I would suffocate to the point where I was just about to pass out before Algol’s grip was released.
I’ve always been a horror fan with a dark sense of humor, and I couldn’t make any art other than horror/gore drawings and paintings. Before I even knew about Algol, I intuitively painted a self-portrait where I held up my own chopped-off head.
Whenever I went on city trips, the first thing I looked for on the map is where the cemetery was located and if there were any medieval museums with torture equipment on display. No, not because I’m a sadomasochist. Yes, it has to do with a “don’t press the red button” fascination but much more so with the remembering of the fact that there’s a very dark yet undeniably real aspect of humanity that most people do not want to look at. I can’t blame them. I sometimes get a little tired of it myself. Enough of that darkness has already been exposed.

Needless to say, not everyone understands my Algolesque hobbies and interests and I quickly - although not soon enough - learned that speaking openly about them is a big No-No. Too dark, too intense. Even Jupiter’s politics and philosophy makes both the Left and the Right feel uneasy. It’s Medusa’s gaze that petrifies people.

The word alcohol derives from Algol, and I confess, alcohol used to be my natal Jupiter’s trusty escape pod. Ignoring my better judgment, and hiding behind the great Marsilio Ficino who prescribed wine to temper Saturn’s rigidity, I still enjoy Algol’s spirit as occasional “medicine,” although, that too, is an avenue of pleasure I frequent less often than I used to… because severed from the head, the body does protest.

But even without Ficino’s remedy the Cosmos knows how to depict Medusa in a more playful way. Dreams, fiction and non-fiction appear to be the same in this realm.

Yesterday, for example, after posting my video on Algol, I watched an episode of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (yes, may I?) and as the law of synchronicity dictates, that’s when my work with the Gorgon started bleeding through in my everyday reality… In episode 6 of season 2, one character got very drunk and another character, Lilith (the old Hebrew name for Algol), discovered the severed head of her lover Adam, while sitting at the table with the greatest demon of all, the Dark Lord himself. I’m not even mentioning another character’s slit throat. Perfection.

May the Algol imagery in your life remain harmless and humorous, and please let us know in the comments how it goes.

And before I forget, here’s that video. Subscribing and liking helps the evil algorithm. Thank you so much for your precious time.

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Newmoonsvideo

Michelle Corbesier — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 16:35:11 GMT

Greetings, friends of the stars,

I’m doing something different today. I could come up with a bunch of reasons, but what it all boils down to is that the New Moon in Aries is asking me to “do Aries.” Instead of sitting behind a computer, wordsmithing, twisting phrases into the container of my usual format, I went for a walk to let myself get inspired by the moment, and I’ve gathered my thoughts in a short video I hope you’ll enjoy.

Don’t forget my new workshop starts on Sunday. You can still sign up!

Have a wonderful lunar month ahead!

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Michelle Corbesier is an astrologer and artist residing in Belgium with her beloved husband and furry companions. Offering natal, horary, and synastry consultations to clients in every continent, Michelle is passionate about guiding others on their journeys of self-discovery and empowerment. Sharing her love for the starry craft, she also provides private tutoring and mentoring to aspiring stargazers. Get in touch with Michelle at her website Michelle’s Midheaven, find her classes here and follow her on Substack, or Instagram.

The Geometry of Aversion: Elemental Tension in the Natal Chart

Michelle Corbesier — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:20:53 GMT

A technique I’ve worked with for many years — one that first came to me through Jungian astrology — turns out to reveal something that’s firmly embedded in ancient astrology.

There’s a persistent misconception that traditional astrology concerns itself only with concrete outcomes and predictions, but the chart is not just a map of events. It holds so much more we can excavate, including our endless inner world.

In this workshop, we’ll look at the elements not simply as temperament, but as an elegantly ordered system of relationships and estrangements. And through the lens of aversion, something crucial is revealed that allows us to see how parts of the psyche don’t always recognize each other.

What you’ll learn

- how the relationship between the elements in your natal chart point to specific psychological tensions

- how these tensions tie into the concept of aversion (i.e., disconnection)

- how to work with these patterns in practice, both in your own chart and in consultation

Workshop Schedule & Content

Part One: Sunday, April 19, 18:00–20:00 CEST

Part Two: Sunday, April 26, 18:00–20:00 CEST

Check your local time here: https://notime.zone/OoPWHGP16x2GO

Who This is For

This workshop is intended for intermediate to advanced students of astrology who are already comfortable reading charts and want to push beyond description into structural interpretation.

What’s Included

- Full session recordings for later review

- A downloadable step-by-step guide

- Access to a Q&A discussion page for continued reflection

Pricing & Registration

- FREE for founding subscribers to Michelle’s Midheaven on Substack

- €10 for yearly subscribers

- €15 for monthly subscribers

- €35 for free-tier subscribers

- €50 for non-subscribers

Upgrade your subscription if you want access at a reduced rate.

Upgrade

Register Now!

Click the button below or this link to secure your spot. Once you sign up, I’ll follow up with payment instructions within 24 hours.

Feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested! I’d love to see you in class.

Much gratitude,

Michelle

The Unfinishable Self

Michelle Corbesier — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:55:43 GMT

Washing away the last remnants of eclipse season, Luna shines like a pearl in the Piscean Sea, while her exalted guest, Jupiter, has just awakened in her Cancer home. Their house swap is a fluid and revealing arrangement.

As the tireless shape-shifter of the heavens, the Moon is always sculpting the Sun’s light, molding it into a fresh face each night. Isn’t this an obvious demonstration that the multitude of forms we see is simply spirit playing different roles?

Belly Laughs, Come This Way, by Michelle Corbesier (digital collage)

Human beings all play their parts in the Great Theater of Life but often believe they need to commit to a single role, stubbornly insisting on a specific story:

This is who I must be and this is what I must do.

And then we cling onto it with self-inflicted determination, locking it in the oven until it’s hardened into a dry identity. This is the perfect recipe for an inexhaustible supply of dissatisfaction, as we struggle to breathe beneath the crust of a self-imposed brand.

Luna and Jupiter shake their heads because, isn’t our behavior odd, considering how we all change in the most obvious ways? Our bodies stretch upward and gather lines with time - evidence of a zillion fleeting emotions. Our minds learn and forget. Seasons ebb and flow like the rhythmic pulse of the ocean. You are an ever-shifting wave. But no wave comes boxed in, packaged and labeled. I suspect the soul isn’t particularly concerned with defining itself, nor with the pursuit of a pre-determined destiny.

Mercury, currently in his detriment and fall, has paused his clever categorizations and is freely absorbing floods of possibilities. Changing course shortly after the start of the new lunar month, Mercury as the psychopomp guides us, here in Pisces, through surrender, because the more fluid you remain, the more life you can contain.

New Moon at 28°27’ Pisces on March 19, at 2:23 CET (your time)

Opposing the recent lunar eclipse point, Mars tends to his weapons. His trine aspect to Jupiter dissolves his usual strategy. Chasing mysterious sea creatures, Mars notices they keep changing shape whenever he tries to grasp them. As soon as we name a thing, explain it, define it, it has already moved on. It seems to me that the soul is playing the same game - always evading capture by becoming. The sextile that the Luminaries make to Uranus echoes the same song.

As an astrologer, I know people want to locate their singular, demarcated purpose, the one role they were born to play. But are the stars really interested in confining meaning to a fixed duty list?

If the caterpillar was able to hold onto its perceived role instead of surrendering to the Piscean cellular soup inside the chrysalis, it would never morph into the lightness of a butterfly.

Spilling his wine as his big belly laugh erupts, Jupiter in Cancer carries a whiff of ecstasy, enticing us to step outside of ourselves and forget who we are. In that sweet, ephemeral space, we’re enveloped by his warm wholeness - a healing experience. Maybe Jupiter’s (in)famous love of “escape” is not evasive at all. Perhaps it’s simply the desire to loosen the corset of expectation and just breathe Life itself.

Can we please remain wonderfully, dangerously, gloriously unfinished, and lose ourselves in Life?

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Demolition is Mercy

Michelle Corbesier — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:49:05 GMT

Life is perpetual change, the visible result of tension between forces, and every impression of stability is nothing but a brief pause before the next adventure is rolled out. In fact, every plan or deed contains the seed of its own demise, and the seed of this lunar month is a particularly tricky one.

Ruled by Saturn and flanked by Mars and Pluto, today’s lunation projects a story about control onto the wall of fate. While the mutual reception between Mars and Saturn greases the wheels of competence and efficiency, we need to keep in mind that this is no ordinary New Moon. It’s a Solar Eclipse that confronts us with a shadow side, literally and metaphorically.

When the King Glows Darkly, by Michelle Corbesier (digital collage)

The greatest catalysts are eclipses, and they strikingly reveal something unsettling: it’s not disorder but alignment that produces interruption. When the Moon meets the Sun at the crossing of their paths, light is devoured and day becomes night. Rhythmically woven into the fabric of reality itself, this geometry, signaling a sudden turnaround, is not a mistake.

In the Sun’s exaltation, Aries, Saturn is fallen, while in Saturn’s domicile Aquarius, the Sun finds his detriment. They undermine one another by design. Now throw in Saturn’s conjunction to Neptune and the eclipse on top of that, and you’ve won yourself front row tickets to a spectacular unmasking of false authority and stolen power. When the Sun’s heart is obscured, we catch a glimpse of the machinery behind the curtain.

Solar Eclipse at 28°49’ Aquarius on February 17 at 13:00 CET (your time)

On an inner level, this eclipse may confront us with our private micro-tyrannies. While it’s only natural to want to be in charge of the script of your own life, the very intention to secure stability and permanence can make you more vulnerable. The tighter you cling to your overworked scenario, the more violently it can be torn from your hands.

Prominent Mars/Saturn signatures often produce strong controllers who feel relentlessly driven. They try to straighten the curve of the world and nothing can stop them. Mountains move, storms are tamed, and circles squared.

But sometimes, beneath all the pep and push lurks a little monster called hypervigilance.

The key is to find out where your discipline comes from. If ambition arises from play, from your inner creative pleasure, you’re breathing life. But if your itinerary is mapped out by fear, control masks a complicated compensatory structure, where instead of taking action, you’re bracing and pre-empting. Instead of pursuing a dream, you’re layering contingencies in an attempt to anticipate everything, optimize everything, and prevent everything.

Isn’t this at least part of the reason why so many of us are exhausted?

Innocently, control starts by managing certain situations that need your attention, and by adjusting your behavior. Wonderful, that’s a great way of navigating ups and downs. But when you over-identify with self-discipline and accomplishment, you’re trying to master uncertainty and that, paradoxically, raises the stakes of every fluctuation. Change, which is the condition, the very nature of the game of life, now feels like an existential threat.

The truth is that, in this realm, you cannot shape yourself into something untouchable.

If you define yourself as the sovereign architect of your life, as the “manifestor,” any event that contradicts that narrative will accumulate pressure, and sooner or later that carefully crafted identity will collapse under the weight of your imagined total responsibility. What a tremendous psychic load!

We’re all inhabiting a field of forces and, yes, our willpower is one of them. It’s a significant force, but it’s not the only one. That’s the message of the Aries/Aquarius dynamic.

Failure is not a betrayal, or a punishment from the gods. Reality is a play of polarities, and if our rejection of change makes us double down on control, our own rigidity will only exacerbate friction, rendering the inevitable reversal more dramatic, because the higher you’re building your tower of certainty, the more catastrophic the fall will be.

With Saturn in Aries until April 2028, the challenge is to shift our focus from control to examining and refining our relationship with defeat. Not in the negative sense but as a sweet release. In the heat of crisis, we discover that failure is nothing more than accumulated strain that, having reached its limit, is finally resolving.

A burden too great to carry will fall from our shoulders, thanks to Neptune’s mysterious vanishing powers, and thanks to ruler Mars’s youthfulness and courageous ability to keep moving forward without nostalgia. No desperate gluing of cracked structures, but brutal demolition so that something stronger and more honest can be built.

Thank you for reading. I wish you an inspiring month!

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The Cost of Being Useful

Michelle Corbesier — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 11:45:53 GMT

Luna has almost crossed Capricorn’s mountains that stand like vertebrae pushing through the decaying skin of an ancient world. Rising sharply, ash grey cliffs carved by Saturn’s unsentimental hands serve as the memory of undeniable upheaval and destruction. The occasional echo of a goat’s hoof or a falling pebble only amplifies the silence of this bone-chilling realm where the right to exist is hard-won.

And yet, springs emerge where Saturn’s cold Earth can no longer hold everything inside. This New Moon is such a spring. No matter how much we try to contain our instincts and emotions, eventually they find their way out, just like water cutting through the rocks.

The One Who Doesn’t Ask, by Michelle Corbesier (digital collage)

Those rocks usually appear as emotional stoicism and over-responsibility, shaping an identity built on the ability to endure challenges. Saturn’s conjunction with Neptune tends to romanticize our determination and hardness, but sometimes what we perceive as strength is a disguise for numb persistence.

The Moon and her exaltation ruler Mars, only two degrees apart, have some questions for you. They’re asking you what you’re afraid of. Would everything collapse if you stopped holding it all together? You’re surviving, yes, but are you living?

New Moon at 28°43’ Capricorn on January 18 at 20:51 CET (your time)

Maverick Uranus, scrutinizing the Capricorn stellium from a trine aspect, refuses to let you keep carrying the burden of obligation. He despises whatever feels stagnating in your life, and that includes the tried and true strategies you’re holding on to.

This lunation cycle is a reckoning that can help you dismantle your illusions one by one.

Mars and Mercury, in a tight connection with Uranus, are calling you out. Stop seeing your emotional repression as “self-discipline.” Stop wasting your precious energy on maintaining a dead end. Enough is enough.

Luna nourishes and Saturn devours. This means that the faster you absorb pressure, the quicker you are consumed by it. The core of the exchange between these gods as contrary principles reveals that (Saturnian) usefulness is a toxic currency that spends the (Lunar) body first. When you allow your value to be measured by how well you function, you’re always going to try to be of service and try to be useful.

But what you’re actually doing is training those around you to depend on you whenever they need something.

Slowly, subtly, your environment will start to reorganize itself around your helpfulness, until your volunteer work turns into a contract. You’re teaching others that you don’t need limits because you can keep going no matter what. Your own needs become invisible under a self-embroidered blanket of productivity. And by the time the exhaustion inevitably stiffens the body, your burnout will be interpreted as failure, not only by others, but also by yourself because you’ve tricked yourself into believing the same lie.

That’s the harsh lesson of the Capricorn Moon. Saturn shows her that nurture is not virtuous when pushed to the extreme. On the contrary, what you’ve been lifting for too long is finally remembering gravity. The Moon’s co-presence with Mars, the sextile to Saturn/Neptune, and the trine to Uranus are all ready to take the strain off your bones before it breaks you.

They want to set you free. Let them. Only then you’ll be able to convert Capricorn’s formidable raw materials into the expression of your most beautiful gifts.

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Missed one of my classes last year? They’re now available in my shop.

Show Classes

The Great Serpent - How to interpret the lunar nodes and bendings, eclipses and the Saros Series

Mastering Transits - A complete but compact guide

Family and Relationship Dynamics - Understand your birth chart in light of attachment patterns

Antiscia and Contra-antiscia - How to find and interpret hidden aspects between planets

Coming soon: The Slope of the Soul - A deep exploration of the cadent houses

If you prefer a more personal approach, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me for a reading or private astro lessons through my website:

https://www.michellesmidheaven.com/

My Capricorn Musings

Michelle Corbesier — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:35:35 GMT

Wonderful friends of the stars,

I’m so happy you’re here with me. Thank you for your continued support. May 2026 bring you inner peace, joy, and tons of love.

I’m sharing a few musings on the current Capricorn season in this brief video I hope you’ll enjoy.

Missed one of my classes last year? They’re now available in my shop.

Show Classes

The Great Serpent - How to interpret the lunar nodes and bendings, eclipses and the Saros Series

Mastering Transits - A complete but compact guide

Family and Relationship Dynamics - Understand your birth chart in light of attachment patterns

Antiscia and Contra-antiscia - How to find and interpret hidden aspects between planets

Coming soon: The Slope of the Soul - A deep exploration of the cadent houses

If you prefer a more personal approach, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me for a reading or private astro lessons through my website: https://www.michellesmidheaven.com/

Newmoonsletter: New Moon in Sagittarius

Michelle Corbesier — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 15:02:04 GMT

Seeds of possibility lay scattered like stars across a blazing sky. Luna draws her bow, her silver arrow yearning for a lofty destination. The options seem endless. Yet when Luna reaches 28° Sagittarius to meet the Sun, she discovers that her target is concealed by Acumen, a star cluster associated with blindness, whether literal or metaphoric.

Venus, always dancing with desire, slips in a few secretive moves on her way to an antiscion with Mars, currently exalted in Capricorn. It’s as if her gaze catches the embodiment of her own fiery passion reflected back at her. It’s an image that cuts. Through the mirror, Mars hands her the knife that presses our cravings deeper into the soul, in unfathomable ways.

Horizons Multiply, by Michelle Corbesier (digital collage)

Ruled by an exalted Jupiter, Venus in Sagittarius is the impossible love, and it’s precisely the impossibility that keeps everything alive and thriving. She cultivates affections that must remain imaginal to retain their potency, because once dragged into daylight, into the familiar world of calendars, contracts, and expectations, they inevitably wither.

Saturn’s messages from the marrow of his chilly bones find their way to Venus through a square. He doesn’t tolerate the incarnation of desire, and certainly not the aimless sort! “There must be goals, plans, logistics, systems, young lady!” And yet, while feigning to protest Venusian inclinations, Saturn recognizes the endless depth of his own melancholy. After all, doesn’t his eternal pensive sadness reveal an abysmal yearning? An unwavering devotion to what time can never deliver?

New Moon at 28°24’ Sagittarius on December 20 at 2:43 CET (your time)

In Neptune’s presence, Saturn is no longer in the mood to kill ideals with rosters and deadlines. Ancient as he is, he understands something crucial: Venus’s desire is not meant to be fulfilled. Because fulfillment is death. The reason why Venus keeps pouring her longing into us instead of results is propulsion. It’s to keep us moving, reaching, and in the process, creating. It was never about possession. How else would we be able to enjoy Venus’s gift of joyous creation? Without her, nothing would ever come into being.

Maybe this lunation asks for a different kind of aim. The kind that celebrates the endurance of a creative tension. Holding tension implies a willingness to not conclude. Sagittarian faith, on the threshold of the Solstice as the Sun prepares his ascent, is about staying with the ache without converting it into dogma or destiny. There’s no summit to conquer here. There’s only the longing that keeps us walking through a living, breathing incompleteness.

In their Sagittarian union, and in a square to Neptune, the Lights enjoy a wide and misty horizon. Meaning resides in the absence of clarity. This new cycle is asking what it is, deep within us, that is willing to burn without any promise of arrival.

Let the arrow tremble mid-air in your field of longing.

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