| We are now well into the "Mercury storm" phase of Mercury retrograde, the most turbulent stage of the retrograde phase, occurring when Mercury's average daily motion slows down to less than a degree per day. [For the full schedule, please see this link.] Mercury retrograde is definitely a challenging condition where most practical concerns are involved. It can arrive with mental stress, increasing tensions between people, disappearing overnight packages and meaningless disk errors coming from your computer. These things can build on one another if you're not careful, and all the positive benefits of the retrograde experience can be lost. With the personal planets Venus and Mars passing directly between the slowly-unfolding Saturn-Pluto opposition this week and through the weekend, there are numerous other planetary stresses on us, all of which have their message and all of which have their benefits. On the preventive side, astrology has developed quite a few techniques for dealing with this energy, which appears to be caused by a massive data overflow associated with Mercury passing between the Earth and the Sun. One is to leave time, space and, if possible, cash for things to go a little buggy. Patience may seem like the most difficult thing to muster, but it's also the most important. There will be delays. This is so well established that it's irrefutable. Making the delays work for you is a productive exercise under this particular planetary enchantment. Easing off on the multitasking, running your computer with fewer programs open, and dealing with people on a priority basis are also reasonable techniques. And where computers are concerned, the guideline is to make no unnecessary changes, and to back up data extremely carefully. Equipment purchased during this time, and contracts signed during this time, may not do quite what they are expected to do, so anticipate some renegotiation, or delay in the months that follow the purchase or agreement. On the constructive side, this is great energy for retreating, for slowing down and for rethinking your whole plan. There is unusual creative potential here because we have no choice but to think outside the box. It's a fine time to take care of past business and to clarify issues that are in flow. The past is a different kind of phenomenon with Mercury seeming to move in reverse, because our whole perception of time is changed, but if we work with that our perspective on our flow through existence can be shifted in very helpful ways. One last reminder. I have noticed over quite a few Mercury Rx phases that there is an effect of things seeming to go wrong when there is no actual problem. What vets call benign neglect, and what the Wise Woman tradition calls doing nothing can be the best course of action when something (or everything) seems to go wrong; it's a grand idea to wait, then to make sure there's actually a problem before you try to fix it and make things five times worse. There is other basic stuff that really helps, to which just about all astrologers would agree. For example, proofread, spellcheck and add the numbers up a few times. Get someone else to help you do so. Keep asking yourself what really needs to happen next. Eat breakfast and lunch so your brain works. It usually helps. Cut people lots and lots of slack. They need it, those who don't believe in astrology. And I've noticed it's always a good time to breathe. Namaste. | Sign dates below are approximate. They now overlap by one day. The date and time of the Sun's ingress to the new sign changes a little each year, so please check with an astrologer if you want the exact position of your Sun, and while you're at it, your rising sign -- this horoscope is written for both your Sun and rising signs. If you find that some other sign's interpretations work for you, then go for it. | | Aries (March 20-April 21) | | There is a pattern in this world to the relationship between ideas and their birth as clear and tangible results. New Agers call it manifestation and bridge builders call it engineering. But as my grandfather, a draftsman, often pointed out, everything you see has its origin in a drawing. It works the same way in the mind, and its relationship to the physical world. Making your visions real is, for the most part, about working from a plan, and sticking to it. The secret ingredient is always patience, but these days, even you are blessed with this virtue of success. | | Taurus (April 21-May 20) | | This year promises to be one which tests your limits, which is a fine thing because your limits need testing. Quite a few of them are unnecessary and do you just about no good at all, except to give you a "sense of limitation" that substitutes for actual security. It's a strange trade-off, and you deserve better. There is only one problem as I see it: the tests are likely to come from outside you, and that will be a lot less comfortable than consciously moving your energy voluntarily. And that, it seems, is the real limit you are seeking to stretch. | | Gemini (May 20-June 21) | | If that bit of reality known as your sex life has been below par lately, or if your par has been below par, then these are good times for a renewal of your erotic cycle. Sometimes your erotic cycle is like a motorcycle. You need to change the oil, do a lube job, put a little rubber on the wheels, and maybe rub in some body paint. Then you take it out in the country for a nice long afternoon in the fresh air, where there aren't a lot of people, and you can do anything you want, make a lot of noise and go really fast, or maybe very slowly, in a soft, fragrant meadow, by the side of a brook. | | Cancer (June 21-July 22) | | Your dreams have I mentioned your dreams? They are everything these days. They will be dreams of reconciliation, of the joining of opposites within, of the working out of languishing questions that deserve answers, and of pushing past boundaries of desire. You may dream what life would require to make you as desirable as you want to be, to transcend that inner wall between you and the deep, warm emotional core of who you are. Most of all, if you dream consciously (perhaps meditate right before sleep), these are dreams that can become reality. | | Leo (July 22-Aug. 22) | | One way to view the events of the past week, and the coming weeks, is as tests of maturity associated with a rare threshold in your development. The question of what you deserve is likely to be coming to the surface in a way too compelling to ignore, as is the significant issue of your role in this world. If you have been fighting with two opinions, or two visions of your role, which seem to compete, you can be sure that what you're learning now will help you pull these opposites together into one reality. You may think you're facing your limits, but I assure you that such are designed to give you far more than they take away. | | Virgo (Aug. 22-Sep. 22) | | What is happening now has deep roots in the past, but the past cannot be used as a basis for the future if you plan to be as successful as you dream of being, and know you deserve. The past describes the way in which you were able to master systems of thought and belief on the level of ideas. Ideas by themselves only go so far, however. This particular time in your life is about practical expression of those concepts, and applies the living spirit of spiritual lessons to the affairs of the world in a way that honors their ultimate meaning. That's the whole point, right? | | Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) | | Our society has yet to come to terms with how closely related sex and religion are. We could consider the fact that religion claims to have the answer to the creation of life, while sex is the demonstrated method of making people. Ultimately, with this particular paradox, we get a metaphor that encompasses the entire issue of religion: how much do we really believe of what we're told, by authorities, is true, but which contradicts the sensibility of our eyes and ears? It could very well be that both sides of the coin work together, and are currently doing so in your life, which would negate settling any argument in favor of one side at the expense of the other. | | Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) | | If you are negotiating any contracts or agreements in writing, they will work out a lot better if you take your time. The point being, if your agenda is for things to actually work out, be it on your behalf or mutually, you don't have quite enough information, and a number of factors are still subject to change. Please don't cringe, but you're unlikely to have a remotely clear picture for at least another month. The good news is that the prospects for success are very good, and increase with your level of patience and your attention to the details. | | Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) | | One of my Sagittarius clients had one of those "couldn't have said it better" moments today when she described her life as being in trapped a fun house where all the weird, curved mirrors suddenly become perfectly straight and clear. It must be very disorienting to suddenly be compelled to view yourself in such practical terms, bearing in mind necessities of the simplest order. No matter how spiritually evolved humankind becomes, there will always exist the basic requirements of life, including honest love and emotionally meaningful sex, hopefully in the same moment. | | Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) | | A mystery surrounds one particular relationship: its origins, its meaning, questions of appropriateness, and a vast unknown about what really happened. That mystery extends to the present moment, where so much seems uncertain. In the end, this whole issue stands as testimony that we must be the final judge of our own actions, and what is correct for us. But I would advise caution on any aspect of this situation that involves a scheme for revenge. It is not what it seems, and is likely to backfire on you, and besides, there are more creative revolutions calling. | | Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) | | You have long since run out of excuses for not expressing yourself, though now it's becoming impossible to ignore your rather deep inclination to create art, and to risk the creation of your life. There is tremendous anxiety in this world around such simple things as painting, writing and making changes to our patterns of living that (as does art) reflect who we are into the world, and provide us a space within which we can feel more at home here. But you are reaching a limit to the extent to which you can be bound by limitation in this area, which is another way of saying that freedom is inevitable: and you know it. | | Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20) | | I imagine you are feeling a lot these days, and that some unusually deep emotional questions are finally working themselves out. Pisces is the last sign and the most of many things, especially dualistic and seemingly contradictory: it is the essence of opposites containing one another, of two ideas reaching for one another, of one self expressing its yearning for existence two ways. The intense process of clarification now underway, of feelings passing through filters and becoming purified, is one you will benefit from for many years to come. But for now, it is true: what you feel, you can act upon. | Search | Horoscopes | What's New | Index | Consultations  Space graphic above from the Rosette Nebula in Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur.
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