Mercury in Pisces / Juno Direct

Harbour City Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong

(photo credit: OTnig17, June 2009)

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With asteroid Lilith having just gone retrograde and the Sun still in Pisces, to have Mercury entering Pisces could seem a bit ... redundant. After all, Lilith refers to not wanting to know (or see, or hear, or ...) and Mercury in Pisces, while very sensitive and often representative of artistic (or just arty) instincts can also speak to lack of clarity driven by a softened mental underbelly.

Of course Mercury in Pisces can also be about understanding our own feelings and why we feel as we do about things. Pisces is a sign all about emotions, be they the thing which prompts us to feel and thus teaches us through what we learn about through ‘feeling it’ ... or that which prompts us to run away from something or someone - or even our feelings, despite the fact that we know the choice is to face those feelings or pay the price for not having done so.

People talk about the ‘deliciousness’ of emotional threats under Scorpio, Scorpio being a sign about interactive emotional tussles and struggles, be they in the bedroom, the boardroom, with the bank or on the battlefield. With Scorpio, that drive to get what you want from something or some situation spurs us on and gets us to tolerate risk ... sometimes to our own detriment, yes. But we tolerate it anyway.

But with Pisces, no one talks about any deliciousness, as Pisces (and 12th house matters in your personal chart) are where we have no one to look to but our Self - and in the emotional realm, that means being left to deal with our own emotions, which whether those emotions are elation or grief isn’t our favorite human way to live. It is educational and informative? Do we learn a lot about ourselves? Absolutely. But do we enjoy learning it?

That probably depends on how you feel about having been put in a position to learn those lessons - which is merely another way of saying the lesson itself is about feeling.

As a symbol, Mercury is about sorting, finding, assembling, organizing, deciding, interpreting, understanding, communicating the designing. We think of these ‘Mercury processes’ as defining, as clarifying, as all those things which assist us in the comprehending of life and the operating of our life in this daily lifestyle world. So to have this mercurial energy put into a Pisces realm means putting Mercury’s mental orientation (mental faculties being the means through which Mercury functions are initiated) into an emotional mode which isn’t as crispy clear as it would be if it wasn’t as emotional. Or which excels through the expressing of emotionality, whether in a conversation or in the forming of, or creating of something expressive of emotions and emotionality.

Mercury in Pisces can mean a focus on things which are emotional, which promote or provoke our feelings - or on the whole subject of emotions, plus and minus, as a whole. And because that emotionality (or the subject of emotions) tends to cause other things to stop until those emotions are either enjoyed, worked through or tended to, Mercury is said to be less ‘efficient’ in Pisces than at other times. It’s not that Mercury in Pisces can’t be artistic and wonderful - it’s just that those moments tend to sidetrack us from what we otherwise might want to be doing, which as a whole speaks to our tendency as human beings to prioritize accomplishment over feelings, and perhaps our human need to do just that, lest we not accomplish or take care of what needs to get done.

Part of Pisces’ formidable reputation in fact has to do with just this: the fact that we know ... how as humans we understand on some instinctual level that though we are, from birth to death, emotional beings under every circumstance.

Without those emotions (or properly functional emotions) life is nothing but the stuff of nightmares.

And yet, those feelings can so easily overwhelm us.

We know this is the nature of mortality, this helplessness which at moments leads us into and then leaves us at the mercy of our most unbridled nature. So we fall ‘helplessly’ into love and we spiral haplessly into despair.

And when that happens - when anything Piscean overwhelms us, we have to have faith that we’ll come through it all intact. We think our way through these times by having faith - which in essence is our mental Mercury model operating in an egoless modality.

Pisces demands a lack of ego. That which we tackle under Pisces benefits us only when we employ it in a manner which initially benefits many, or which is ‘in tune with’ accepted and established human experience. Any planet in Pisces (or your natal 12th house) is going to function this way and ‘pick up on’ this sort of notion - which means that whenever Mercury transits Pisces, the whole of our world shifts, or is made to shift (though things which arise at that time) into a mode where we either recognize the importance of broad-based, feeling thinking and proceed on that basis, or when we face situations which in ‘raising the stakes’ get us to stop thinking in such temporal and ego-driven (“how I prefer to think of it”) sorts of terms.

Mercury will enter Pisces on March 13th at 3:53 in the morning (UT/+0) - one day before Saturn, astrology’s symbol of time, responsibility, facts, achievement, commitment and consequences goes into retrograde at 4 Sagittarius. This being Mercury entering Pisces in metaphysical square to Saturn’s position, some sort of ‘conflict’ is being cited (in general, if not in specific) - which may turn out very productively ,as this is a combination known for ‘holding the line’ and discipline. With the Mercury side of this in feeling Pisces, there may be an ‘emotional penalty’ for something, making this a time which could be filled with regret, but which holds equal promise (providing there’s sufficient Saturn reality in the mix) and which may also become one where apologies get made as someone comes to realize something is wrong, missing - or maybe just not working out the way they thought it would.

With both of these emblems being in mutable signs (signs which learn as they go) this is a good time for discussions, especially discussions which are by their nature ‘touchy’ and which will benefit from a ‘laying out the facts’ providing there is no condemnation or finger-pointing as part of the process. High rhetoric and dramatic statements can be made providing they’re merely an expression of how we feel (or how we don’t like feeling) but accusations and ‘blame-laying’ should be avoided in any situation where we really want to make headway or accomplish anything, as poking (Pisces) feelings under this sort of influence will result in defensive stonewalling (some of it quite fierce) more often than we’d like it to - which would be a Mercury in Pisces tender-versus-tenderized ego issue, don’t you know...!

The height (or greatest intensity) of this Mercury-Saturn square happens as Mercury conjuncts Saturn on Sunday, March 15th. And as Mercury won’t be out of Saturn’s range (the five degree orb of aspect)  to Saturn until Thursday, March 19th, considering Saturn’s March 14th station (which formally extends through the 16th and for some will be felt beyond that) these middle weeks of March are likely to be ‘a moment’ to be sure - with many of us carrying ideas into or forward from this time as the means or motivation through which we will operate pretty much for the balance of the month.

(Or at least until Mercury moves on into Aries as of March 31st, that is.)

And it’s also probably worth noting - for the record, if nothing else - that as Mercury and Saturn come into full and exact square, that will mean Mercury is at 4 Pisces ... the position of fixed and royal star Fomalhaut.

Fixed star Fomalhaut amidst its cloud of interstellar dust

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Astrology’s ‘fixed stars’ (named ‘fixed’ by ancients to differentiate them from the ‘wandering stars’ we now call planets) function greatly as ‘backdrops’ against which other things happen (or seem important or unimportant, depending) or are perceived in life. There is an obvious exception to this ‘rule,’ and that’s about the fixed stars which may be conjunct your natal planets - those tend to be, become or manifest as part-and-parcel of how that planetary symbol functions.

But in this instance? If Mercury just wandered into Pisces (which it does on a yearly basis) and conjuncted Fomalhaut, we would be talking about the ‘purity’ or integrity of our thinking, our ideas and whatever we’re telling others - and ourselves (don’t forget that part!). But here we have Mercury transiting Pisces on a “mundane” or global basis ... (and yes, whoever decided on ‘mundane’ as an astrological term pertaining to daily life was either seriously into understatement or not thinking about Pisces at the time). On the universal level, Mercury conjunct Fomalhaut is all about how our thoughts, our plans and our positions measure up with those of society, history, and general humanity. So wherever we’re out of sync with any of those ‘measures’ we will experience negatives or negativity - and wherever we’re in sync, we’ll feel hopeful and like we’re headed in the right direction.

Or at least a better direction.

And if we aren’t in sync, well ... we may not like having to change our mind or change how we’re acting or who we’re associating with or what our aims or attitudes are, but perhaps we see we should. That’s where Fomalhaut comes in. Fomalhaut is that hidden ‘quirk’ in our brain, in our soul, in our times which guarantees that which isn’t whole, that which is corrupted or corruptive, that which isn’t true or good ... Fomalhaut comes into our life as that which we do unconsciously, or in how we aren’t received by others or by our world which causes us to see or experience that downfall, that comeuppance, that failure or feeling of loss which is really about having not done the right thing, trading honest opportunity for some fantasy which wasn’t ever going to pan out, maybe not because it couldn’t be ... but in the end because despite all that we have done, even we knew that it wouldn’t be.

Or even perhaps shouldn’t be.

Then there’s a little plot-thickening additive guaranteed to make this all a little more interesting (and for some, considering Mercury’s position in Pisces, somewhat more dramatic) called Juno direct. And while this isn’t necessarily the guarantee that we’ll all be in for an astrological soap opera, that Juno is going direct at 3 Leo puts its station in trine to that of Saturn and inconjunct to Mercury does inject some inconvenience into the mix.

Some of that we will experience as that ‘touchiness’ mentioned above: Juno operates as a ‘managing’ force and once Mercury gets into early Pisces degrees just the shifting into ‘emotional mode’ is going to catch a few off us off-guard. Or for you something may happen which causes you to throw up your hands and say ‘why me?’ ... or ‘why now?’ ... or ‘could something just not go right today?’

(Yes, we all have those seriously annoying moments, days and times in life - and some of them are probably associated with Mercury/Saturn squares, since combinations of our great ideas with life’s realities doesn’t always end up in glee.)

To be more exact here, during the period when Mercury is between 1 and 5 Pisces it will be in an inconjunct to Juno, pointing to making things work and (of course, as part of that) encountering that which doesn’t work ... even that which because of what we say or do in the moment gets worse or better as we encounter the ‘adjusting’ energy of the inconjunct. That period of time begins late on March 13th and ends during the latter part of March 15th (in the UT/+0 zone), embracing the whole of the 14th when Saturn goes retrograde - another sign of ‘pulling in’ or ‘putting the brakes on’ something, whether that’s about truly pulling back or ending (i.e., stopping, limiting) your willingness or ability to not do something.

Despite that, this isn’t necessarily an end to anything. In going direct at 3 Leo Juno warns us not to go too far, but warns with equal ... maybe even greater fervor that it is our ability to connect to others and the being accepted by them for who we are and what we have to give and gift life - and our Self - with the ability to do which ultimately spells success ... that in our individual life, and that of the society or world around us. All sides of all conversations will be tested now - as much for their willingness to listen and hear as anything else. Saturn being in the equations of both objects which are “making their move” on this date speaks to the fact that nothing is ‘over and done’ unless we prevent it from evolving - in real time or in our minds as necessary. There will no doubt be some attempts to narrow discussions and block out anything “inconvenient” (read: emotionally inconvenient) during these weeks, and some such efforts may be successful - at least in the short run.

Yet where we find Saturn ... whenever we find Saturn in an astrological ‘equation’ we also know that growth is not in the moment, but over time - and how when we see Saturn as part something which does get narrowed beyond full usefulness there is some sort of (ego driven) fear which will ultimately be set aside or grown through.

It just takes time ... which with Mercury transiting Pisces may not be our favorite piece of news, but which we will like as not deal with and manage - if for no other reason than with a solar eclipse closing in and Juno’s turn to direct at 3 Leo we are closing in a better glimpse of a truer image of Self.

And that image is probably not entirely consistent with where we are in life right now ... which as Mercury moves through Pisces we will probably find worth thinking about because for whatever reason we find ourselves at a place where we know we will feel better simply for the doing so.
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Sun in Libra / Juno Direct: Our Need to Be Who We Are

Saules Sonata Scherzo (Sonata of Sun)

by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1907)

The Sun will enter Libra on September 22nd at 8:45 in the evening, UT/+0 time. Two days later, asteroid Juno will go direct at 3 Aquarius.

The Sun’s Libra ingress is one of the two days a year when day and night are in ‘balance’ - hence the idea of Libra as the scales. We tend to think of this as a time of equilibrium…but this astrologer isn’t quite sure that’s how this year’s Libra equinox is going to manifest.

For one (yes, you know what I’m going to say)…we’re in the ‘break down’ period preceding a Scorpio Solar Eclipse. So anywhere where our willingness or ability to ‘negotiate’ life’s waters – particularly in areas where emotions are either on the table or to be evoked (or provoked) – life is going to push our buttons. We’re going to meet up with things which test our inner willingness to be straight with ourselves.

In other words, are we in balance with our Self? Is what we are doing true to our nature or are our ways of coping or operating ‘out of balance’ with what we really want out of life? Are we even capable (emotionally, as in Scorpionically) of facing, dealing with or risking what it would take to get into balance with ourselves and thus have the life we want to have?

0 Libra is what it is – the point where our inner world meets the outer world and we begin to experience life as a process we do not wholly own or have the ability to work on. What we do, what we are, what we put out there, what we say or don’t say – all those things generate life’s response. And the response of people and entities and whatnot in our life.

There’s also the fact that supermassive black hole M87 sits just inside the cusp of Libra. Black holes are the ‘looking glass’ entities of astrology: whatever is going on, we either see, begin to understand – or get hit with ‘the alternative’ experience. M87 is a black hole which is about our relationship to another…and carries with it all the images of ‘fantasy love’ which go with that concept. The early degrees of Libra are all about self-and-others, making this a time when we’re ripe for projecting some image we want to project (which can be useful, say, in business or the creative arts) and at some level wonderful if we want to ‘enchant’ someone in particular.

You know…that ‘let me just Venus myself right into your world’ thing.

But this isn’t hard core reality. It always pays to remember that Libra is about the (air sign) idea of the thing, not the concrete (earth sign) reality of the thing. Heck, it’s not even about the (water sign) feelings the thing can evoke. We think of Libra as love because we like the idea of love. But Libra isn’t love per se – although at its best Libra is about the care and the caring which we exhibit when we love someone. The Venusian ‘Aphrodite’ ‘how pretty it looks’ thing which is so popularly associated with Libra is fine if you’re just looking…and MAYBE fine if you’re buying…but this is the district of the zodiac definitely marked ‘caveat emptor’: buyer beware.

UNFORTUNATELY…for some this will now be too late. How do we know that? We know that because this ingress comes equipped with a grand sextile to call it’s own.

The above is a confusing sort of drawing, I know – and yes, I’ll explain in a moment. In part it’s a definite case of astrologer-versus-Microsoft Powerpoint. But beyond that, it’s also a fact that when you look at real charts they aren’t always so ‘perfect looking.’ Because sometimes houses are small and sometimes they’re big (unless you’re casting a chart in an Equal house or Aries wheel format) we do get these out-of-kilter images.

Anyway…the point here is that this grand sextile is yet another in a long series which on a metaphysical level seems to have been set off by Sedna’s turn to retrograde back on August 25

- link to-

Sedna’s Station as Grand Sextile Herald

All of these grand sextiles have been posed as earth against water, offering us the opportunity to understand our feeling selves at an ever deeper and more realistic level while bringing to us situations which stir our emotions precisely because reality is at stake. This can be financial or familial, This can be a matter of traditions, culture or some image you’ve been carrying around in the back pocket of your brain about ‘how life is going to be’ when that may not be the way life really works at all.

That the water side of this grand sextile is composed of Saturn/North Node plus Chiron plus Black Moon Lilith is a whole litany about what we need to learn by doing and why it’s better to decide for yourself who you are whether or not others – be that your peer group or society or your culture or your family – likes it or not.

The rationale here is posed by the earth side of this proposal – the reality of how your life can change or be drastically changed by realities which come upon us.

If you’re anyone who has been through something in your life which a moment (or hour or day or whatever) later you said ‘oh, how I wish I could take that back!’ …or do that over again, this series of grand sextiles is all about that sort of reality. It’s about knowing who you are way deep down inside because no matter what you feel about someone else (which would be a Libra-Scorpio thing) and no matter what someone else or ‘society’ wants to think of you as (the Libra-Scorpio experience as thrust upon you) …in the end, we all need to live with ourselves. We need to be okay with what our life is and has become.

And that means sometimes we have to cope with a difficult situation – a feeling we don’t want to have, a reality we can’t afford to face (for whatever reason). Maybe we’re not ready to do something. Maybe we aren’t even sure of who we are or how we feel about something yet.

The Libra balance here is between the ‘what we know’ and what we don’t know or aren’t sure about yet. In all such cases, it is up to us to manage ourselves.

And how do we know that? We know that because Juno is going direct. Known as the ‘keeper of the hearth’ and defender of the household, Juno has long been thought of in connection with wives and motherhood and matriarchs and all that sort of thing.

But astrology is personal. The ‘position’ or symbol someone may seem to have in a worldly sense is just one part of astrological imagery, and in the world of western (Tropical) astrology, probably the secondary form of said dynamic.

The first image for anything astrological in the western teaching is about US. It’s ALL us, because its OUR nativity and these are energetics which are manifesting as waves of time/space in OUR lives and affecting what WE do or don’t do, what WE EACH need to confront and how we will pursue our lives as individuals.

And at that level, Juno is all about ‘managing our individual household’…which is to say, managing our individuality. Or to put it another way, Juno is self discipline. Juno is the ability to know ourselves and to keep ourselves in ‘order.’ It’s about protecting the hearth of our being – our sense of safety and security…and to the extent that we live a life which is not defined by us, but by someone else or some societal or cultural force…that’s where Juno issues surface.

If you don’t know by now, I’m a somewhat counter-cultural person. For all that I’m very into human standards, I don’t tend to hold a standard vision of what’s “right” and “wrong” apart from the obvious: killing people is bad, pedophilia is bad, rape is bad – all those things are the obvious. But apart from that, I’m not much for traditions as a guideline. If they fit you because that’s who you are, fine. But if they don’t, the need to be who you are – providing that doesn’t interfere with someone else’s need to be who THEY are – is generally, to my thinking, the optimal choice.

From there, let me just say that being an astrologer for plural decades will get you to consider all sorts of different walks of life. If you’re a professional, you’re going to see and hear about it all, either from clients or when you’re hobnobbing with other professionals.

Lets face it…astrology itself is still pretty ‘not so mainstream.’ But it’s getting there. Twenty years ago western medicine was anti-acupuncture and chiropractic. Today, both are pretty well accepted and well on their way to being mainstream.

In part, this goes to speak to exactly what Juno is: the minding of our individuality at a level which says ‘I need to be who I need to be, whether or not society understands this yet.’ Valid is valid. Real is real. Thirty years ago most gays were in the closet. Now in a lot of places they’re able to get married just like anybody else. This ‘de-genderizing’ of partners is part of the incoming Aquarian Age, and who better than Gen X (the Pluto in Libra tribe, which represent an evolutionary trine to the Age) to usher in such things. Another form of wiping out the old was the Gen X ‘friends with benefits’ routine. And it was when the front end of Gen X started coming of age that we saw the whole matter of interracial marriage sort of fade away as a question. Between Gen X and Gen Y, give it a couple of decades more and it’s highly likely that the ages old ‘he’s older/she’s younger’ thing with regards to marriage and marriage partners is also going to go by the wayside.

Granted, there are always some people who will remain rigid traditionalists. Populations are their own bell curves and while some are at the front breaking ice, others are at the tail end being sticks in the mud.

So where was I going with this whole ‘traditional/non-traditional’ thing? I was going to tell you something about Juno. Never let it be said that I don’t live up (and down) to my chart’s native abilities: my Saturn/Moon in Scorpio plus a Sagittarian Mars in the highly emotional (and intimate) 8th house has pushed my astrological research in a couple of different directions. One is business – specifically business products and the success and timing of that.

The other…(have you not guessed yet?) is sexuality. Specifically, “non-traditional sexuality” – from fetishes to S&M to D/s (Dominance and submission) to polyamory, you name it.

And yes, it’s really interesting. (Did you think otherwise?)

Anyway...the point about this for today is that wherever we go in this non-alternative lifestyle thing, Juno plays a part. Juno represents our ability to govern ourselves just as much as Juno represents the ability to know who we are…and to manage that in a real life, real time, realistic way.

So with all that said, Juno’s opposition to dispassionate Pallas (the intellectual wisdom symbol) suggests there is a real need to see things for what they are at this time. There’s a need to know ourselves during these days going into the Sun’s Libra ingress and coming out of it.

Remember, planets and asteroids et al get ‘station window allowances.’ So that Juno is going direct two days after the Sun enters Libra says that Juno’s station begins AT the solar Libra ingress…which will have the Sun setting off that M87 ‘alternative’ quotient (which in your life can mean any of a million-zillion “non-traditional” things) as Juno goes direct.

And let's not ignore the fact that Juno's station is not just in opposition to Pallas but also in square to the (relationship oriented) Nodes. Just that gives the very difficult, very challenging image of a grand square, one which in this case is being presented in fixed signs.

PLUS that Nodal axis...that Nodal axis is where the grand square and grand sextile intersect.

 Juno as pictured in a detail from 'The Origin of the Milky Way'

by Tintoretto (c 1575, oil on canvas, National Gallery)

This marks these days as a period when it's hard to understand the full parameters of things, when stress may run exceptionally high, when your aims and those of other people are likely to be at odds...it's just a tough moment.

Then we get to the degree of Juno's station, which pretty much echoes this whole energetic. Juno is going direct at 3 Aquarius, a degree which is all about how hard it is to get where you really want to go. This degree stresses the fact that life is not all lollypops and cuddles. In fact, it’s more along that line I like to quote from the masterful writer Kahil Gibran: “out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

To be complete here, this degree is known for the loss of loved ones – which is interesting indeed at a moment when the Sun is entering Libra, a sign all about relationship. Probably less likely (but still informational) is that 3 Aquarius has a reputation for things having to do with legs (and which relates to the metaphysical ability to 'get to where I want to go') and in a more general sense, accidents.

No, the nature of those 'accidents' isn't defined. They could involve anything...and that's the BIG 'anything.'

And with all this happening in that ultra-vibrational period prior to a Solar Eclipse?

Let’s not forget that Pluto has also just gone direct, which makes this whole event sound a bit like a cosmic recipe, and thus fertile ground for that ultimately useful saying coined by honcho astrologer (and nice guy) Robert Hand: use the energy wisely, lest it use you unwisely.

So…what will you ‘make’ of your life now? Or will life be making you over without your (conscious) consent? Will your life be ruled by your compulsions or are you willing to see things as they are in reality and deal with what we might want to be true, separating that off from what the truth really is?

One of the things about Scorpio is that good or bad, it’s effects tend to stay with us. And part of Scorpio’s fame (and that delicious shudder we all grin guiltily at when the subject of Scorpio comes up) is that there is part of all of us which is attracted to dangerous things.

Why is that? That’s because life wants us to learn what we can survive…and what we can’t live with. With the Sun moving into Libra, we are all going to feel a further ‘ratcheting up’ of pre-eclipse effects. The stakes are getting higher and they are specifically now focused on relationships, whether we relate to others truthfully for our own and their parts…and whether we know who the fern we are to be putting ourselves out there.

The less we know, the more afraid we are, the more unwilling we are to be honest, the more difficult life will tend to be. Because there is a grand sextile associated with this ingress with the Sun moving into the cause-becomes-effect sign of Libra, this would be a classic time to ‘get the news.’

Then again, it may well be a time when you let go of all ‘that’ and all the old presumptions in an effort to…

…well, that would be the question: are you trying to live your mask? Or are you willing to get psychically naked and be who you really are?

The former…inevitably…leads to self-imprisonment, which in this moment would be your handing your Juno power to someone else. The latter? Well, ultimately, knowing and being who we are is our path to personal freedom. Not everyone will like our choices, but they will – to the degree that they respect themselves for their own honesty – be able to respect us in turn.

Which is what we need for ourselves...and that which is like as not now in the forefront of our needs.
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May Dateblog

Spring Wildflowers in a Kings Park

photo credit: Alfeewusy

May is one of those months which has all the usual nuances and daily details but an overarching quality which will form a backdrop for our lives in the personal and global sense.

That quality comes from the fact that the weeks of May are leading up to the first of three eclipses (two solar and one lunar) which we are soon to be experiencing the full dynamics of.

Not meaning to offend anyone who’s loony for our local Luna Moon, but it’s really the solar eclipses which we’re concerned with here. Lunar eclipses have a very tight little build-up before and after the actual date of occurrence and events tend to go off like clockwork.

But solar eclipses? That’s a whole other kettle of pickles (gherkins, probably)! Solar eclipses are preceded by a six-to-eight week ‘breakdown’ period where things tend to get very mish-moshed and feeling destabilized; you probably felt this begin back around mid-April when suddenly everyone was so tired and confused and disorganized and wacky or out of whack.

That continues now. The effect is greatly mental and affecting the quality of clarity, sharpness, all that stuff because the first eclipse will be in Gemini. While the Sun remains in Taurus (which would be until May 21st, UT/+0) universal values and our feelings of worthiness or ‘is this worth it?’ will undulate like nobody’s business.

Around May 15th we can expect eclipse effects from the second eclipse (in Cancer) to begin surfacing in our lives. Think emotionality, think traditions, think habits, think home life and national pride (or lack of, depending)…think the way I feel life ought to be. 

Also (just for that being-in-a-pickle’s sake…), think nutrition, sleep habits, stomach aches, emotional tantrums and memory or memories.

This overlap gives us a message that the second half of the month is going to be particularly goofy, intense and maybe even filled with a sense of ‘unreality.’

What’s the underlying message? To stop thinking of life as it has been and as we have presumed it ‘should be.’ Eclipses are about eliminating our ‘excuses’ for making do instead of being who we should be.

Just bear that in mind.

May 1 through 6: Venus and Mercury running in tandem though emotional degrees of Aries symbolize a lot of fervency and feelings of urgency which may or may not be actually justified in the worldly sense, but which means quite a lot to us personally. We’re wanting to validate ourselves in some way, shape or form and though we can accomplish a lot it doesn’t quite scratch that itch.

In spite of that or despite that, people will either show a good face…or they won’t face reality at all. This is a period of emotional dichotomy when you shouldn’t trust that things are ‘all right’ just because you want to see them as being all right.

As this period begins, a New Moon in Taurus speaks to the necessity to get things done. Add in Ceres (thoughtful support) standing at 14 Pisces and we have a recipe which says the more we can work together, the better off we’re going to be – providing we’re realistic.

In opposition to this (at 14 Virgo) Atlantis is conjunct protective Juno, a combination which sounds very much like having to let go in order to get where you really want to go – and you may not have any assurances that things will be all right even if you do let go. That Juno is going direct here speaks to a ‘turn of circumstance’ or ‘change of direction’ with regards to (Virgo) efforts being made. Events which happen now will set a tone for some time to come and let’s remember, those solar eclipses unfold over a full 3 years!

Also – if you have a birthday either right at the end of April (say on the 29th or 30th) or the first few days of May this aspect, this effect, this dynamic is going to be with you for the whole of your ‘birthday year.’

One last note, with Echo going retrograde on May 3rd, its station effects begin on the 1st and extend through the 5th. Try to not just repeat what you've been told, even if it's by some authority. Think before you speak and consider all your options - and possible consequences (like, who you could alienate?)

May 7 through 10: Energy abounds now, as does a need for personal caution as Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter all line up in Aries. With the Sun one sign ahead in Taurus, things and people who mean a lot to us affect us emotionally; particularly as these days come to a close matters seem intensely personal.

And they are. So don’t expect anyone else to understand entirely where you’re coming from and don’t project: what you’re feeling and experiencing and thinking about is all about your learning about who you are. You may even remember being told the way life ‘works’ and how whoever it was that said whatever is/was actually right. Honor that.

May 11 through 15: Given how Mars is moving into Taurus now, impatience and not liking how things ‘go’ will typify these days to some extent. Maybe it’s traffic, maybe it’s trying to reach someone, maybe it’s trying to get something done and something always seems to get in your way. Or maybe things just aren’t working the way you want them to.

Life isn’t what we want it to be, but when we accept what it is and laugh at life’s foibles, suddenly we’re free. Try it – people around you (who are all grinding their teeth) may think you’re nuts, but once you start laughing you may realize how ridiculous it is to battle life’s tides. Then you can laugh some more! Silly people!

May 15 through 20: Everyone relaxes and things seem to come into more refined focus as Venus and Mercury enter Taurus and a purposeful and deliberate process begins getting things moving in on or another direction. However – don’t count on giant strides: TNO Orcus going direct now tells us there are new parameters to deal with which are ‘consequences’ of things already done.

This last is highlighted by a late Scorpio Full Moon tests whether we have taken others into proper account. If you haven’t, prepare for objections and to need to try, try again. This isn’t the end of the world but it may be a bit of a personal trial.

May 21 through 23: As the Sun moves into Gemini life’s tempo picks up and people get more abstract. The ‘idea of the thing’ gets more important, but with Mercury, Venus and Mars all in Taurus we can expect people to be anywhere between exacting to persnickety about details.

With Jupiter in the last degrees of Aries there’s a lot of prompting to achieve and get things done – we’re going to feel like we’re racing towards various goals, finish lines, benchmarks and the like. And this is a personal issue.

May 24 through 28: The drive is still there. The sense of abstract consideration is there. Tons of information will be coming and going and being buzzed about every which-way. But where the preceding days were personal, now the focus grows more interactive and finally into the realm of the impersonal ‘we’ and ‘they’.

Some people will feel a lot of pressure now. The deadlines (or whatever) may be true, but the real cause of the pressure is their sense of self worth. To whatever degree that is at a lack, so they will be doing the ‘I have to do xyz’ speech.

Take it as their confession. Yes, they may need to get something done…but the real issue is how they don’t feel entirely equal to the totality of what’s going on in their life.

If you want to earn points or salve a frantic soul, just be supportive. Just tell them you’re with them and that if they need you, to call. Right now that’s a magical sort of gift to give someone – your willingness to be there for them tells them how worthy they are and hey, how you have faith that they’re capable.

Sometimes the option of a resource is all we need to make us strong.

May 29 through May 31: As we close in on the Solar Eclipse of June 1st people are once again focusing on values and what they need to have in life, or get out of life, and part of that is going to be based on old expectations, standards and ways.

You’re going to feel tension now, though you don’t have to participate or catch it like some flu. The dividing line here is all about whether you recognize times are changing and that we all have to change with our evolving world. Both the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ are going to feel the shift now, and oddly enough change is likely to be harder on the ‘have’s than those who have little. It’s not some trick or nastiness going on, it’s like what was said in an old episode of M*A*S*H (the television version)…which I very liberally paraphrase: only those who have something to lose can feel in danger of losing  something. 

Don’t clutch – look ahead. Think long term. And whatever you do, don’t hold your breath…no one looks that good in blue!