The Sun is the star of this week’s astrology show, entering a new sign and making several significant planetary aspects from Thursday onward.

This also is the last week of the entire year during which all of the planets are direct! As the old saying goes, make hay while the sun shines. Truly, this is a rare window of opportunity.

Personally, I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon over the past few weeks. Thoughts are manifesting very fast. I have an image in my mind, and before I know it, it’s reality. These are not things I’ve intentionally imagined – in other words, I’m not imagining sitting in a bathtub full of hundred-dollar bills, and suddenly there I am. The one consistent factor is that the thoughts that manifested had considerable concentration and emotion behind them. For example …

On Wednesday I was in my morning acting class, when I suddenly noticed that the instructor was wearing a ring that looked like the one I lost four months ago. The ring was one of a kind, handmade with a turquoise stone set in silver. I’d found it in a junk shop and was very attached to it. During my first week of classes, I lost it – likely after taking it off to wash my hands. I checked the lost-and-found departments in every location where I might have left it. Nothing.

The day after Thanksgiving, I was in a friend’s gift shop and found a new ring, silver with an odd-shaped green tourmaline stone. What happened while I was buying it is another whole story of a miraculous manifestation, but I’ll leave that for another time.

I was wearing the tourmaline ring in class on Wednesday when I noticed the turquoise ring on the instructor’s hand. I thought perhaps she’d found it, turned it in, and when no one claimed it, was allowed to keep it. For the rest of the class, I couldn’t concentrate on our exercises, because I was obsessed with trying to get a better look at her ring. She kept putting her hands in her pockets and otherwise covering it up. I never did manage to see it up close and figured I was crazy to think it was the one I’d lost.

We had a lunch break of about an hour, then an afternoon writing class. I made a quick run to the restroom, and when I went to wash my hands, realized my tourmaline ring was gone! Since losing the first ring, I’ve been so mindful. Obviously, I’d had a lapse in that mindfulness. I asked the instructor if I could run over to the other building to check the restroom. The ring wasn’t there. I almost started crying. There was open office upstairs, so I asked the receptionist where I could find the lost-and-found department. She asked if I was looking for a ring. I was elated! But it had been taken to another room. When I got there, it was locked. I knocked loudly. The security guard who answered was crabby but she had my ring and couldn’t help smiling when she saw how sincerely grateful I was.

Some would say that the obvious lesson in this experience is that I should keep my ring on while washing my hands. However, I got quite a different message – especially given other similar events in the past few weeks. During class, I was intently focused on a lost ring. In less than an hour, that’s exactly what I had! Fortunately, it came back to me right away.

The second message I got right away was that if our thoughts are manifesting this quickly and perfectly right now, it might be a good idea during this all-planets-direct period to focus on what we really want and not waste a single second worrying about disasters that may or may not happen. Of course, you could say that this is reasonable statement in general, and you might be right. But that’s missing the point, which is that we have one more week to perform “magic.”

Several years ago, in an article about the Calendar of Coligny, I read a theory that the druids made special notations during periods when all the planets were direct. It’s not hard to imagine why they may have wanted this information.

Back to this week …

The Sun moves through the final degrees of Capricorn and squares Saturn on Thursday. Typically, this is an uncomfortable combination, and some of us are bound to have some run-ins with authority or clashes over who controls what. Nevertheless, with all planets direct, Saturn exalted in Libra, and the Sun in Saturn’s sign of Capricorn, what gets enforced could be fairness and balance. We may not like the rules, but can we honestly say that if there weren’t any, we’d always do right by others? Our own biases often prevent us from seeing that other people have the right to pursue goals that directly conflict with our own.

On Friday, the Sun enters Aquarius, the sign that bucks convention and thumbs its nose at the rules. On Saturday, the Sun forms a dynamic sextile with Uranus, modern ruler of Aquarius. This is an exciting combination, filled with promise of something new and different, out of the blue. If nothing else, be prepared for your Saturday night plans to change on a whim. On Sunday morning (late Saturday on the West Coast of the United States), the Sun squares Jupiter. Squares typically are troublesome, and the problem with this particular combination is that it denotes a certain amount of stubbornness and self-righteousness. However, there are some positives in this square – namely, that you can get a lot accomplished. I happen to like it for manifestation work.

Meanwhile, Venus and Pluto have a hot date on Friday. Your date could be hot, too, so if that’s not what you want, make sure you have an escape route planned. Otherwise, surrender to the moment.

Next week starts right out with the New Moon in Aquarius and Mars turning retrograde. Again, I can’t urge you enough to focus this week on the most difficult tasks on your plate. Taking care of business now will save you a lot of heartache later.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat