March is Women’s History Month. If you all recollect my thoughts from Black History Month -highlighting a group of people for a month makes me distressed, because I think we learn more from history as a whole then in its parts – kinda a segregation of history. And here is the hard truth – Racism and Sexism still exist, and having a month singling out a group is not a cure. We need equal rights, and I believe we have hit a plateau in our human rights it’s still short of actual equality. This is a complex but changeable situation. So I am just going to throw out some facts for you all to mull over.

Two of the great equalizers are money and power. But here is the rub. The Gender Pay Gap has stalled out around 75-79% for the past 10 years.   Women are still making 79% of what a man makes. And, if you are a black women it is 74% compared to a white male. And the crazy thing is, the more educated you get the wider the gap between men and women. So those student loans we all have – men can pay it off faster by like 7 years. Oh, and let’s talk about age and income. For women, ages of 35-44, have topped out on what they can earn. Males continue to get pay increases straight through to their 60’s. This of course is linked to the statistics that women are more likely to divert their career path to a more flexible job at lower pay because they are the primary caregiver in their house, that men don’t typical get paid maternity leave and if they do it’s short term, and that the disparity is hidden in sign on bonus, annual bonuses, stock plans, and other benefits.

This disparity continues around women in power positions with elected heads of state worldwide (see map above), women holding CEO positions (4.0% in S&P 500 companies), and in our government (20 female senators out of 100, 84 women out of 435 or 19.3% in The House of Representatives). “Yippers people, in America we move at a snail’s pace when it comes to equality. In 1971 Switzerland final legalized women’s voting rights and they elected a woman president 27 years later. We are closing on 100 years after the women’s right to vote and have had only one woman make it to Speaker of the House and never in the senate as a majority or minority leaders or the president.

Now I am not advocating for you all to vote for Hilary- do what you want with that. We need to be more grassroots about this. What I am saying is, if you are a woman, advocate for yourself at your work and your home. And if you are a man advocate for your wife, daughter, sister, or mother. So until we are at that point in our history where we can look forward in equality and backward at the whole picture, I will honor the ladies in March.

References: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/30/about-one-in-ten-of-todays-world-leaders-are-women/ ; http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

P.S. I have tacked on some cool ladies to your sign. Remember signs that have * it’s a big week for you.

Aries – Two of Pentacles – Whew, you are done with Rods – good work! Now on to Two of Pentacles, this week it’s all about balance. That new idea you been brewing for the past six weeks, it’s time to work on making it happen. The challenge from the Two of Pentacles is to do it slowly and methodically – experimenting, balancing and weighing out how this will work in your new schema. http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_williams_mary_lou.htm Mary Lou Williams – Jazz Composer

Taurus – Ten of Pentacles – I hope you all took the time to relax and mend last week, because the Ten of Pentacles is here to get you back into the game. You will have a full plate this week and almost everything you do will come with ease. However, the challenge with the Ten of Pentacles, especially for Taurus, is when your plate is full on the pentacle(material) plain you all forget that the mind and spirit is what got you there. You all know but if you say “Oh I’m busy doing this cool thing so I’ll put off meditating/exercising/alone time just for today”. Please do it. The things you are putting off might be the things that are keeping you balanced.    http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/madam-c-j-walker-self-made-millionaire/ Madame CJ Walker – first woman millionaire

*Gemini – The Hermit – The Hermit is here this week to get you all back on track. You need to go back two weeks where you were suppose to close some doors/tie up loses ends and shape what the next act is going to be and you hit that wall. Then the Ten of Swords came to remind you to hone your intuition and hear your own inner voice. And now The Hermit comes to guide you to your next act. Here is the cool thing for you all and The Hermit, he is a very grounding card and you all are air signs which need to be grounded. He is suggesting that you find some solitude this week. You can do this in big chunks or little chunks each day. Doing this will help you intuitively finish up some things and start creating some new ones. http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/suzanne-valadon-self-taught-artist-bohemian-paris/   Suzanne Valadon -painter

Cancer – Six of Swords – You have been collecting information for the last two weeks and now it’s time to process that information. Remember you don’t have to carry it all with you. You will need to sort what is useful and dump the rest. The challenge from the Six of Swords is you will need to gain perspective to process so try and gain some distance from the information mental and/or emotionally. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt – activist

Leo – Seven of Cups – So the Knight of Pentacles is still moving through this week asking you all to continue working on work, but you also got the twist of the Seven of Cups. The Seven of Cups is all about daydreaming and fantasizing. The challenge for you is can you set sometime aside to just daydream? You actually need a bit of this to help you be creative. Because if you don’t you will be daydreaming when you need to be paying attention. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/peopleevents/pandeAMEX02.html Bessie Coleman- aviator

Virgo – Five of Swords and Six of Cups – Ok you all get a two card week. The Five of Swords means that you all will have ups and downs this week and you will need to really pick your battles or try not to battle at all. And then the Six of Cups is your way to deal with this week. If you all remember you got the Queen of Cups last week which means to look for the good with the world and connect to it. Well the Sixes are always about giving and receiving and continues her theme. This week’s challenge is do as many small acts of kindness to get yourself out of the Five of Swords up and down battle march. “Democracy is the best revenge” Benazir Bhutto- politician

Libra – Knight of Cups – That’s four court cards in a row. No shock there you all are people persons. The Knight of Cups is back this week. So those people you identified two weeks ago that you love and love you, you need to spend some time with them. And the Knight is challenge you to widen your circle of love even more. So if you are single get out there and do some sharing (remember be safe wear protection). If you are in a partnership, spend some time with your honey and have fun experimenting. And if you aren’t feeling the “spring in air” at the very least go out with your friends and paint the town red. “When we face pain in relationships our first response is often to sever bonds rather than to maintain commitment.” bell hooks – writer

*Scorpio – Strength – Second big week for you guys. Last week the Hangman was here to help you gain some perspective on places where you were feeling stuck. You realized with the Hangman that you have some stuff to work on . So now that you have unearthed some enlightenment on your situation, Strength is here to challenge you on how to tame what you have learned. I want to add the definition of tame – is not dangerous or frightened of people. Strength is advising you to confront your issue with some compassionate and understanding, and your compassionate reaction to the situation will make it less dangerous and/or frightening to you. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Hypatia   Hypatia – ancient scholar

Sagittarius – Three of Pentacles and Nine of Cups – Last week with The Moon you shined some light on thoughts you didn’t wanted to deal with and realized they weren’t so scary. This week you got two cards to help you process last week enlightenment. First let’s deal with the Nine of Cups so after last week you are a bit wistful. You feel as if there is something missing in your life. Then the Three of Pentacles reminds you to restate your goal(s) and grounds you by asking “are you doing what you need to do to obtain them.” Once you have gone through that process you will see that “something missing” – well, you have been planning to find it all along. “Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” Anais Nin – writer

Capricorn – Eight of Rods – This week look for inspiration and information coming at you at a fairly rapid pace. The ones you need to pay attention to you can identify by the synchronicities that are happening in your environment.   If you are having a hard time pin pointing them ask the universe for a consistent sign to tag the information for you. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=102167126&m=102188641 Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Godmother of Rock and Roll

*Aquarius – The Hierophant – So now that you have defined yourself, The Hierophant is here to challenge you to create some structure in your life this week. The last couple of weeks have been a bit all over the place, and the Hierophant has come to remind you that you all need to create some structure and scheduling in your life. So here are some examples of what he might ask you: Are your taxes in? Have you been exercising or have you even put it in your schedule? Have you done your spring cleaning? etc…It is always a good idea to heed The Hierophant. He usually shows up right before things get a little crazy. So you having some structure and a schedule you can fall back on helps the crazy become manageable. http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/margaret-hamilton-the-woman-behind-the-moon-landing/  Margaret Hamilton – woman behind the moon landing

*Pisces – The Moon – Last week The World invited you into your future where many things are possible as long as you kept your eyes and heart open. Well, you got a little overwhelmed with all the possibilities or couldn’t see any, so the Moon has shown up to help. The Moon represents dreams and the subconscious. For you all that got overwhelmed, your challenge is to shine some light on what is stopping you from moving on into your future. I know you might think the answers are scary because they are in the dark recess of your subconscious but really they are only hidden. And for you all that couldn’t see the next step the Moon is here to help you dream bigger. For both of you the answers will come in dream format or in meditation. So keep a pad of paper by your bed or where ever you meditate because you will be getting a few insights about your future when you turn off your conscious thoughts. http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/05/murasaki-shikibu.html Murasaki Shikibu – first novelist

May light be on you, light around you, and light within you,

Nina