I’m writing to you this week from another planet. I don’t know yet exactly where I am. Obviously they have Internet access here, but it took some doing to figure out how to make the connection.

Not having a computer at home has been very strange. We don’t realize how much we depend on them until they’re gone. My daily routine has been totally disrupted. With other major changes happening very swiftly in my life, I really do feel like I’ve been transported somewhere else.

It looks like my laptop can be repaired, although it won’t be cheap. I got it while Mercury was retrograde, a long story I’ll relay in a Saturday Extra! post soon.

Meanwhile, a friend brought over an old desktop computer, the kind with a CRT that flickers and makes your eyeballs squeeze. The technology has got to be at least nine years old – ancient, in our swiftly advancing times. It’s strange to regress this way, and it’s also reassuring to know that these older solutions still work. I have a feeling we are going to need them more and more in the future as economic realities force us to downside and revise our priorities.

Speaking of technology, the planet most closely associated with technological advances, Uranus, goes direct this week after being retrograde for five months. Once that happens on Tuesday, we’ll have a window of nearly three weeks in which all the planets are direct, including Chiron and some of the asteroids. This is rare, and I believe we’ll all see major progress in our lives. This will be all the more true if Uranus is prominent in your chart.

On Monday, Mercury squares Uranus. This aspect can be nerve-wracking as it is, but I expect it to be all the more so with Uranus about to go direct. Events can happen suddenly under this influence, and you can forget about your plans working out without a hitch. Since both Mercury and Uranus are associated with electronics and the Internet, the fast pace we experience early in the week almost surely will involve computers, cell phones, and other gadgets we use for instant communications.

Tuesday is the Full Moon in Gemini, one of the two signs Mercury rules. Neith did an excellent post on Saturday about this curious lunation, which is happy on the surface but contains an edgy undercurrent. The handwriting on the wall is getting bigger and harder to ignore or explain away.

Earlier in the day, Mercury sextiles Neptune, a good aspect for intellectual creativity, and Uranus goes direct, which should give us all a mental jumpstart. Also, Venus enters frisky Sagittarius and is ready to party, despite the sobering energy of Saturn in Venus-ruled Libra. We can let loose temporarily and have a good time, knowing all the while that we have duties, commitments, and financial worries.

That said, we can take comfort in those same duties and responsibilities, which help provide structure and meaning in our key relationships. If you don’t identify with that statement, keep your ear to the ground on Friday, when Venus sextiles Saturn.

On Saturday, Mercury enters Capricorn. We may not feel very chatty or communicative, but we’ll want our Internet working fast and efficiently for holiday shopping. Get it all done now, because Mercury turns retrograde the day after Christmas (just in time for all the returns). Yes, another Mercury retrograde is looming. Those of us who have been experiencing major issues with our computers and telecommunications devices may have a hard time imagining how Mercury retrograde could make things any worse than they already are. For many people I know, myself included, it’s as though Mercury has been permanently retrograde for months. Mercury officially enters the pre-retrograde shadow period on December 10.

On Sunday, the Moon in Leo conjoins Mars and opposes Jupiter and Chiron. As Neith noted in her Full Moon post, it will be very easy for us to be insensitive and hurtful, so we will need to practice mindful awareness to stay kind and supportive. That’s a tall order when we’re stressed out by all the demands of the holidays, but sincere efforts will not go unrewarded.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Image: Venus in Sagittarius, expressed perfectly here by two acrobats in the Cirque du Soleil. This photo was taken by Stu Seeger, who photographed the Cirque’s Nouvelle Experience show in Las Vegas in 1994.