Got your crampons on? Fastened tight? Good, because this week we begin our climb straight up the face of the cardinal T-square.

We’ve been waiting for Saturn, the leader of our party. He had to return to Virgo for a few supplies, but he’s due back at base camp Libra on Wednesday, when we’ll get further instructions — specifically, who we’ll be climbing with and how we’re going to share the load.

As I mentioned in my Saturday Extra! post, Saturn will be on the Ascendant in Washington, D.C., the moment of his ingress. It remains to be seen whether this manifests in the short-term, or whether it represents what the United States will experience during the two years that Saturn is in Libra.

On Thursday, the Sun enters his home sign of Leo, ruler of the heart. The Latin root for “heart” and “center” are the same, and it also is the root of the word “courage.” Thus, to encourage someone is to give them heart. It’s one of my favorite words, and we’re all going to need to give each other a lot of encouragement as this T-square unfolds.

The last aspect that the Sun and Saturn make before entering their respective new signs is an inconjunct with Chiron, who as of Tuesday is back in Aquarius, sign of the collective. This places Chiron at the apex of a Yod with the Sun and Saturn at the base. To be able to set our sights high and encourage each other to keep climbing, we’ll have to confront our wounds, collectively and individually.

Most of us are wounded in some way. As I was re-reading Eckhart Tolle last week, I came across his comment about how the human mind is inherently dysfunctional. Our egos essentially make us an insane species, he says. He talks about the “pain body” and the ego’s investment in remaining wounded.

Some of us are more wounded than others, which means that the load isn’t going to be distributed evenly on this trip to the top. We want as many of us to make the climb as possible, so those who can carry more will have to do so. Conversely, those who really do need help will need to ask, and in a clear, direct manner, without whining. Some people don’t like to ask for help, because they think they might be perceived as weak. To avoid that impression, they sometimes resort to manipulative tactics to get others to carry their load for them. That won’t work anymore.

If you truly are doing your best, no one can ask more of you, but the point is that we’re climbing to a field of higher consciousness, where our best is far beyond anything we could ever have imagined. We need to stretch and grow. If we were climbing a mountain for real, we’d accept sore muscles and fatigue as a given. So it is with the climb to your higher mind.

Some people are so wounded that they won’t be able to make this trip, and that’s going to be extremely painful for all concerned. We don’t want to leave loved ones behind, and yet we can’t hold ourselves back. It’s an excruciating choice to have to make, but that’s part of what the conflicting energies of this T-square are all about. And we’re probably not going to have the luxury of time to weigh all the pros and cons. The climbing party leaves at the crack of dawn. You’re either geared up and ready to go, or you’re not.

On Friday, the Sun in Leo trines Uranus, who’s retrograde and somewhat diminished but still feisty enough in Aries to create a crisis or two. “Fires to put out,” we might say. Or maybe “shock and awe.”

At the same time, Jupiter is stationed to turn retrograde in Aries on Friday. We’re going to feel this shift, possibly as a financial event of some kind. The Big Guy squares Pluto on Saturday, the first of three exact squares between these two, both of which are associated with money, power, and influence. Corporate giants like BP definitely fall in this category, so we may see major developments in the Gulf of Mexico at this time, perhaps as a result of government enforcement or legal action. But, as I’ve repeated several times, there are so many variables in this equation that predicting with any confidence is simply impossible.

Sunday is the Full Moon in Aquarius, which forms a mystical rectangle with Saturn and Mars on one leg and Jupiter and Uranus on the other. This could be the magic “release point” of the Saturn-Uranus opposition. In addition, the previous Full Moon coincided with a lunar eclipse, so this lunation is the 30-day marker, which sometimes is the trigger point for delayed eclipse-related events. I’ll have a detailed analysis of the Full Moon later this week.

In the meantime, I’d like to leave you with a lovely image of Venus aligning with Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, taken at Point Venus in Tahiti. You’ll need to squint at your screen a bit to see them all (Venus is the brightest object) but it’s still an amazing photo.

Wishing you all limitless love and courage,
Pat