Category Archives: Forecasts

Weekly Forecast December 6:Mars Enters Capricorn, Mercury Retrograde

If you haven’t finished your holiday shopping and especially if you haven’t mailed packages yet, don’t read this post.

Stop reading right now, get out of your chair and get busy. Or, if you like ordering online, just do it! Same goes for handmade gifts. If you don’t have all of your supplies, don’t waste another minute. Stock up, and then you can relax and finish reading about what’s happening this week. Even if you’re giving homemade goodies, get everything now, or you may find an empty spot on the supermarket shelf where you expected your key ingredient to be.

You probably know already why I’m writing this. That’s right, Mercury turns retrograde this week, and he already has started creating a little mischief. I’ve had several miscommunications, a Facebook snafu, and a billing error. Important e-mail is ending up in my spam folder. These are small problems and easily rectified. But it’s going to get a lot worse in the next few weeks – right up until New Year’s Eve.

Now, I know that holiday shopping may be the last thing on your mind as the week begins. We’re all hellaciously busy and preoccupied. The New Moon on Sunday is still unfolding, and Uranus is now direct. Although he’s not moving much yet, he’s no longer holding up the show. What’s more, all the planets will be direct until Mercury turns retrograde on Friday. These are very short windows when we can sail with a strong tailwind, so make the most of it!

As I mentioned in last week’s forecast, we’re feeling rumblings of the cardinal T-square again this week, thanks to activation of the early degrees of Capricorn by Mercury, Mars, the Moon, and the lunar North Node.

The Moon is in Cap on Tuesday and Wednesday. Her first order of business is a sextile to Venus in Scorpio, followed shortly by an intense conjunction with Pluto. On Wednesday, Venus and Pluto make direct contact. Hidden things continue to come to the surface, whether we’re talking about explosive revelations by WikiLeaks or implosive revelations from the individual subconscious. There’s an old song from the Broadway musical, The King and I, called “Getting to Know You.” Sing it to your shadow side.

Also on Tuesday, the Sun sextiles Saturn, and Mars enters Capricorn, sign of his exaltation. I wrote about the Sun-Saturn contact in my post on the New Moon. It’s very positive and provides good energy for manifesting your thoughts into reality – provided that what you’re trying to manifest conforms to your highest truth.

Mars, meanwhile, is very powerful in Capricorn, and as he crosses the T-square degrees over the next couple of weeks, springs will be sproinging all over. Mercury retrograde actually may help in this regard, as we’re going to be revisiting issues that came up in July and August but that didn’t seem to have a resolution back then. In other words, we may have another chance to go back and do things right. Or, we simply may have a chance this time, when before we couldn’t get a break to save our lives.

There’s no doubt, though, that things are going to get very messy, and all of the pieces likely won’t fall into place until next spring and summer, when Jupiter and Uranus re-enter Aries. For many of us, the seed we planted during the cardinal T-square is sprouting one tiny little shoot at a time, and the new growth has yet to poke its head above ground. Just have faith that once it does, it will grow like a veritable weed!

On Wednesday, the Moon makes aspects with Ceres, Jupiter, and Uranus, all of which were major players at the height of the T-square. Ceres seems to have made her presence felt mostly through environmental issues. I just read that BP is in the news again as it tries to downplay the amount of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico. The difference could translate to billions of dollars in fines.

Mercury turns retrograde on Friday at 4:04 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Aside from the usual Mercury retrograde shenanigans, we’ll almost certainly be going back over old ground. Chances are, you already know what it’s going to involve, although the outcome could be a big surprise.

The Moon will be in Pisces on Saturday and Sunday. I recommend that you spend the weekend inside, sleeping or watching your favorite film on Blu-ray (my all-time favorite film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, just came out on Blu-ray; I’ll have a review soon). Hopefully, you’ll get your DVD player to work without any problem.

Wishing you all much love and joy in this holiday season,
Pat

Weekly Forecast November 29:Venus Enters Scorpio, Uranus Direct

So much for merry Sagittarius.

Some kind of chaos has been unleashed in the past week, and I’d place my bets on Mercury crossing the final degrees of Sagittarius, which he’ll visit twice more in December as he moves through a retrograde phase. At the same time, troublemaker Mars is moving through these same degrees.

The last few degrees of the mutable signs and first few degrees of the cardinal signs have been activated by the T-square over the past year, and it’s as though Mercury and Mars have been moving through a minefield as they head toward a fateful conjunction with Pluto. How many degrees should be included is anybody’s guess, but for sure, I’d say from the Galactic Center at 27 degrees Sagittarius to about 5 degrees Capricorn, where we had an intense lunar eclipse in late June.

Meanwhile, the lunar North Node is moving backward across the degrees that Pluto occupied during the height of the cardinal T-square this summer.

So what has happened in the past week? Ireland went bankrupt, United States warships are off the coast of North Korea, and WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands more confidential documents that, at the very least, will complicate international diplomacy. Protests and police crackdowns marred elections in Haiti and Egypt. Full body scanners in U.S. airports almost set off a riot among holiday travelers, emphasis on almost. It’s hard to know what would get U.S. citizens to rebel against ever-increasing encroachment on our constitutional rights.

It’s all got the fingerprints of Pluto on it. Oh … and as if all of that weren’t bad enough, Sarah Palin and Barbara Bush are insulting each other’s ancestry.

The next few weeks are going to be like this, so you might want to put up the deflector shields. Of course, that means you won’t be able to use the transporter.

This week starts out with a square from Mars to Jupiter in Pisces on Monday. You’ll recall that the T-square was in all cardinal signs for a limited time, because Jupiter, Uranus, and Saturn went back and forth between cardinal (Aries and Libra) and mutable signs (Pisces and Virgo). On Friday, Mars squares Uranus, which is stationed and about to return direct at the New Moon. Mars often acts as a trigger to set off the energies of major transits. It’s a fair bet that we’ll experience more “T-square events” in the next three weeks.

Also on Monday, Venus re-enters Scorpio. Between now and December 21, the end of her post-retrograde shadow period, we’ll be processing our experience during her retrograde, from October 8 to November 18. Expect developments in relationships and, to some extent, finances and social situations. Venus also is the planet of diplomacy, so it’s interesting that the WikiLeaks release occurred as Venus is about to return to Scorpio, the sign of secrecy and backroom power brokering.

The Moon enters Libra on Tuesday and immediately forms a square with Pluto, just as Mercury enters Capricorn. Together, these transits add to the energy activating the cardinal T-square degrees. Serious Capricorn isn’t the most fun sign for Mercury, but given other developments, some careful, critical thinking wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Mercury sextiles Venus on Wednesday. If you need to have a serious discussion with a romantic partner or a good friend, this is a good time to do it, and you can rely on any promises or commitments you get.

Mars sextiles Neptune and Chiron on Thursday and Friday. The truth can hurt, or it can set you free. On this day, it should be healing. That won’t be the case later on Friday, when Mars squares Uranus. This combination is volatile, and depending where they are in your chart, you may need to keep yourself surrounded with the deflector shields for a couple of days on either side of this transit. Mars in Sagittarius is speedy and corresponds to traffic. With Uranus about to go direct, this pent-up energy could release so fast that it manifests as a serious accident. Do be careful if you’re driving and observe the posted speed limits. Watch for deer and other wildlife, too (wild critters fall under the provenance of Sagittarius).

The week culminates in Sunday’s New Moon at 13 degrees Sagittarius. It promises to be another whopper. I’ve started my analysis and will post a complete article in a day or two, so watch this space. A few hours after the New Moon, Mercury conjoins Pluto and Uranus returns direct. “Chaos” doesn’t even begin to describe it…

I leave you with a video of our winter storm in Seattle earlier this week. Some people managed to find the silver lining.

Sliding on Kite Hill

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Weekly Forecast November 22: Sun in Sagittarius

This week has a very different feel to it, with the Sun entering merry Sagittarius on Monday and Jupiter now direct.

It’s good timing, too, as we head into a holiday week in the United States and our biggest food party of the year. Our traditional main dish originally was a wild bird, and hunting is a very Sagittarian activity. I recall from childhood that we always had to eat early, because Thanksgiving was the first day of deer season and the menfolk were having primal urges to go out in the woods and shoot dinner.

Unfortunately, we aren’t entirely out of the heaviness of Scorpio and won’t be for awhile. Although Venus is back in Libra, she’ll re-enter Scorpio next week, and we’ll be processing her lessons until she returns to 13°13′ Scorpio, the degree at which she went retrograde on October 8. As it so happens, the day she leaves her post-retrograde shadow will be December 21, the winter solstice and start of a new series of eclipses in Gemini and Sagittarius.

We’re also still in the wake of Sunday’s powerful Full Moon in Taurus, which may continue to work its “magic” through the entire week and possibly until the New Moon on December 5. A shift has taken place, and now we need to let the dust settle to see what has manifested.

For the first two days of this week, the Moon is in Gemini. On Tuesday, she opposes Mercury and Mars, recently conjunct in Sagittarius. Some of you probably had “words” over the weekend, and I know at least one person who had an accident. If that’s your situation, this week doesn’t look good for ironing out the wrinkles until Saturday or Sunday. Next week should be better.

The Moon enters her own sign of Cancer on Wednesday and remains there through Friday. Cancer is the sign of home, mother, comfort food, and tradition, which bodes well for a warm and happy Thanksgiving (more mashed potatoes and gravy, please).

Also on Thursday, Mercury in Sagittarius squares Jupiter in Pisces. All I can say about this one is avoid discussing politics and religion at the dinner table, unless you want to go home with a terrible case of indigestion.

The day after Thanksgiving is affectionately known in the United States as “Black Friday,” the biggest shopping day of the year. Susan Miller, one of my favorite Sun sign astrologers, has dire advice and is telling everyone to forget shopping on this day due to the close square from Mercury to Uranus. She thinks that you’ll be unhappy with what you buy, and whoever you’re buying the gift for will hate it. I’m not sure I agree with her on this one, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I think there’s a risk of buying impulsively and exercising poor judgment due to overwhelm.

Susie also points out that it would be a good idea to get your holiday shopping out of the way well before Mercury turns retrograde on December 10. If electronics are on your list, definitely get them now. “Cyber Monday” is coming up, with lots of deals on your favorite items. If you’re knitting, sewing, baking, or you have other homemade projects in the works, don’t wait until the last minute to get started.

Saturday is the big communications day. Despite the Mercury-Uranus square, which may make it hard to stay on point, the sextile from Mercury to Neptune and Chiron may be just what the astrologer ordered to heal tensions from earlier in the week.

Love, courage, and cranberries to all,
Pat

Weekly Forecast November 15: Venus and Jupiter Direct

Big trees. Old growth in Wenatchee National Forest. © Pat Paquette, 2010

We’re in a weird space as this week begins, with three planets stationed.

Neptune went direct more than a week ago but has moved forward by only one arc minute, so for all practical purposes, he’s standing still. Jupiter stations on Tuesday and will remain at a dead stop for the rest of the week. Venus has a smaller orbit and so doesn’t remain at a standstill for long, but she’s moving real slow. Then there’s Uranus, moving at just two arc minutes a day.

I had vivid dreams the past few nights about being in Russia and India. Was I channeling Obama or Jonathan Cainer? Or just picking up psychic noise? It was so very strange.

If it feels like you’re in a freeze-frame, enjoy the moment and use this energy … because you can use it. This is a powerful time to visualize the creative changes you want to make in your life – sort of like sending your Christmas wish list to Santa.

On Monday, Mars sextiles Saturn and the Sun trines Jupiter. Mars-Saturn combinations usually aren’t very much fun, but this one creates a favorable environment for detailed planning for the future. Visualize that wish list and then do your back-of-the-envelope calculations for how you’ll get what you want. Ask yourself whether your goals are realistic and whether you have the resources to accomplish them. You can cross off your list anything that doesn’t pass the reality check or contribute to a balanced life.

The Sun-Jupiter trine is even better and should help boost our optimism about what’s possible. We can be realistic and practical, without feeling like we have to stay inside the lines and think inside the box. Indeed, the Sun also will trine Uranus on Friday, and that’s where our creativity and innovative spirit gets a big shot in the arm.

But I’m getting ahead of myself …

On Wednesday, Mercury sextiles Saturn, adding mental acuity and big thinking to the muscle of Mars. If you can imagine it, it’s possible.

Thursday is the big day this week, when both Jupiter and Venus return direct within a few hours of one another. Jupiter and Venus traditional were considered the benefics – the lucky planets. When Jupiter is retrograde, it’s not so bad. He’s just asleep at the wheel and isn’t all that helpful. Once he wakes up, yawns, and stretches, I expect that we’ll all be experiencing some major breakthroughs, whether material, emotional, spiritual, or all three.

Venus is another matter. She can be quite vicious in retrograde mode, although thank goddess she returned to Libra for her station. A lot of you contacted me with serious issues during this retrograde, mostly regarding romantic relationships, but there were financial setbacks, too. If you ended a relationship during this retrograde, don’t try to force a repair. Just observe for a bit and take time to reflect on what you really want. It’s quite possible that your goals and desires have changed.

Earlier on Thursday, the Sun squares Neptune and Chiron, which will be at the apex of a brief fixed T-square at this Sunday’s Full Moon. Some of you might feel tired and discouraged, and others might have momentary delusions of grandeur. However, I don’t see this as the dominant energy, and if it rains on your parade it all, you should only feel a drop or two. If you’re tired or coming down with the seasonal crud that’s going around, use this time to rest.

On Saturday, Saturn squares Ceres. This is the third and final pass of a three-part square that began on March 24 and repeated on June 16. The cardinal T-square was ramping up back then. What we saw was a conflict between infrastructure, energy production, and the environment. So, I would expect another incident that brings this message full circle.

Speaking of environmental consequences, there is a tragic outbreak of cholera in Haiti as a result of the cramped, makeshift living conditions since the country was devastated by an earthquake in January. Mount Merapi in Indonesia also continues to erupt, and the death toll is rising. These situations are two examples of how the cardinal T-square has unfolded, both before and after its peak in July and August. Ceres was a substantial influence in the planetary alignment.

On Sunday, there will be a Full Moon at 29 degrees Taurus, and it will form a fixed T-square with Neptune and Chiron at the apex. I’ll have a full analysis in a day or two (I didn’t post yesterday, because the Full Moon is still a week away). In the meantime, keep your eye on the prize.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Weekly Forecast November 8: Mercury Enters Sagittarius, North Node Conjunct Pluto

Waning light of autumn. © Pat Paquette, 2010

The cardinal T-square is over, right? So why does it feel like the gift that keeps on giving?

There are a few different ways to answer that.

First, it’s not officially over yet. It has dissipated for a time, but it will be back in the spring, after Jupiter and Uranus are back in Aries, and then it will be activated on and off throughout 2011.

Second, a configuration like this doesn’t just happen and then “go away.” When the planets were aligned in a similar fashion in the early 1930s, a decade of economic depression followed, even though the planets were no longer aligned in a cardinal T-square. Something was initiated, which is what happens when planets are in cardinal signs. As they progress through the zodiac, the seed that was planted takes root and grows.

We are in that phase now. It’s interesting to note that economic writers who don’t follow astrology are talking about similarities between conditions in the early 1930s and current global economics.

Third – and here’s where I segue into this week’s forecast – the lunar North Node gradually has been moving toward the early degrees of Capricorn and conjunction with Pluto, who was the focus of the T-square in 2010.

As I noted in a post last week, there’s a dramatic conjunction on Tuesday of Pluto and the North Node, which at that hour (1:12 p.m. EST) is still retrograde. It turns direct two hours later, just two minutes before the Moon conjoins Pluto. The node remains direct for four days, until 11:31 a.m. EST on November 13. During these four days, the North Node will remain within three arc minutes of Pluto. For all practical purposes, that’s an exact conjunction.

As far as I know, there is no astrological record of what happens when the North Node goes direct in conjunction with the Moon and Pluto, so I am speculating here. What I think may happen is that many of us will have a fleeting glimpse of the true nature of time, and that could mean a lot of premonitions, as well as past-life recognition or feelings of being in another time and place. It may happen in your dreams or while you’re awake. If it’s the latter, you could feel disoriented. I strongly recommend keeping a notebook with you this week.

I’d like to compare notes with others to see whether we can identify a pattern. Perhaps there’s something in the collective waiting to be discovered, and we’ll all get a glimpse of it together.

Otherwise, there isn’t a whole lot going on this week, astrologically speaking. On Monday, Mercury enters Sagittarius. It’s the sign of his detriment, and yet our mental processes tend to speed up. So does traffic, commerce, and other Mercury-ruled activities – to the extent that circuits can get overloaded and break down. At the very least, our sense of humor should improve, and we should feel a bit more optimistic.

Before I conclude, I want to share with you an e-mail I received from a client last week. He described his experience over the past several months like this:

[callout][It’s] like I am at the plate, bat in hand, and God is a stud pitcher throwing all his best stuff at me – curve balls (Uranus), sliders, breaking balls, fast balls … I keep swinging, it’s what I am supposed to do. If I crowd the plate or get too aggressive or expect too much (Mars), I get creamed with an inside pitch to the side of the head (Saturn). I guess I have to accept and wait for my pitch. They say that when the big league players are on their game, the ball coming at them is huge (like Jupiter). They see it almost in slow motion, swing, and wham, it’s outa there.

I keep thinking of Kirk Gibson. In the 1988 World Series he had a stomach virus and could barely walk because of knee injuries sustained in the series before (he was literally beat to shit). He could not play his regular position. The coach put him in to pinch hit and after battling through six pitches, he connects and the ball is out of the park. I will never forget that.

Here’s to seeing the pitches.[/callout]

Sports metaphors aren’t my forte, but I know a home run when I see it.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

The Dream of Scorpio

The other day I was lying on my back, listening to a recording of keyboards intermixed with ocean waves. It reminded me of my life in California, many years ago.

It might as well have been a past life. I was someone else back then, and I was somewhere else, with an entirely different group of people. As the memory flooded into my mind, I wondered … If we can remember being in a different place and time in this incarnation – and in such vivid detail – why should we not be able to remember lives in other places and times outside of this lifetime? What’s the obstacle?

I believe it’s hard-wired into our brains, a necessary adaptation not unlike a scientific experiment in which the variables are controlled in order to understand cause and effect. Being able to see everywhere at once would impair our ability to function in the moment, and we probably wouldn’t be able to learn much.

Sometimes, though, we pierce that veil and get glimpses of other lives. The original meaning of the word apocalypse is “rending of the veil,” the revealing of something hidden. That’s why the “Revelation of St. John” in the Christian Bible is referred to alternatively as the Apocalypse or, simply, “Revelations.” It is about John’s prophetic vision.

Some people are more adept than others. I’ve also found that some locations lend themselves to it more than others, and there are certain times of the year when we’re more apt to have contact with otherworldly beings. According to tradition, the veil between the worlds is the thinnest around this time of year. Many people I know, myself included, are more psychic while the Sun is in Scorpio, especially in the week or so leading up to Halloween. This year, it may not end there.

On November 9, the lunar North Node conjoins Pluto. The lunar nodes move in a retrograde pattern, but they turn direct now and again for a few hours or sometimes a few days. The Node will be retrograde when it conjoins Pluto, but a couple of hours later, it turns direct, just as the Moon is moving into alignment with both the Node and Pluto. If you feel a little strange around this time – dizzy, disoriented, sleepy, or otherwise “out of it,” it could be the veil in your brain lifting.

I have no idea whether this actually will happen or not, but intuitively, I see this rare alignment as a window on time, so it would makes sense that we might get memories of other lives or glimpses into other times. If nothing else, you might experience astonishing synchronicities.

While I was lying there listening to the ocean music, I suddenly remembered The Dream of Scipio, a novel by English author Iain Pears. The book is set in France during three different time periods, each an era when the old culture is being supplanted. Although there are three different protagonists, you get the feeling they are one soul, incarnated in three different lives, facing the same conflict. Each one resolves his dilemma differently, leading to a different outcome for both the hero and his love interest. Although the author apparently didn’t intend his work to be a commentary on reincarnation, it’s a brilliant portrayal of how past lives work (or, as I call them, “other lives”).

Later the same day, I went to our local thrift shop and found a carved wooden box with a zodiac wheel on top. Now what were the chances of that happening? It was made to lock, but the key was missing. And yet, the box opens perfectly.

Messages come in many forms, and sometimes we need a key to unlock the meaning of our dreams and visions. Astrology often turns out to be that key.

Pat

Amazon.com Widgets

Weekly Forecast November 1: New Moon in Scorpio, Neptune Turns Direct

In the Celtic tradition, we’re in the period when the old year has ended but the new year hasn’t yet started. In other words, we’re outside of time.

The ancient Celts obviously knew something we didn’t regarding time, and it colored their entire existence. According to Julius Caesar, who fought the Celts and wrote about it in his famous commentaries, they were fearless in battle, because they believed that if they were killed, it simply meant a brief detour to the Otherworld, followed by a new incarnation. The more bravery they showed, the better the new incarnation would be.

The Celts also believed that night preceded day and that winter preceded spring. So, while astrologers typically consider the spring equinox to be the start of the new year, our Western tradition of Christmas Day at the winter solstice and New Year’s on January 1 is closer to the Celtic cycle. The old year is dead, and the new year will begin on December 21, when the days begin getting longer again (in the Northern Hemisphere).

So that’s where we are this week. We’ve got one foot in the world of the manifest and the other foot in the great void of the unmanifest. It’s a powerful place to be, and there’s a reason it happens while the Sun is in Scorpio.

While out shopping this past week, I noticed that several stores have their Christmas decorations up already! I always hate this, as it reinforces the consumer orgy that the winter holidays have become. And yet, it may not be so depressing when you think about it. Rather than sending a list to Santa or whomever it is you want to buy you that new flat-screen TV, visualize what you’d like to manifest in the new year. Better still, think about what you’d like to become. These are transformational times, and we’ve got an amazing opportunity to create the world we want.

Just be sure you know what that is! If you’re in doubt, Monday’s sextile between retrograde Venus in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn may provide a clue. Then, don’t be too quick to write off what you think you don’t want. Remember, growth can’t happen without a certain amount of pain and suffering, so if you’re seeking to avoid discomfort, you may not be doing yourself any favors. Be brave, and step up to the task.

On Thursday, Mercury trines Jupiter. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.” Favorable contact between Mercury and Jupiter represents the ability to combine the big picture with the smaller details in order to make real progress. Since Jupiter is retrograde for another three weeks, stick to planning for now and schedule your launch date for Nov. 18 or shortly thereafter.

Friday and Saturday are the power days this week, with the New Moon in Scorpio and connections from communicator Mercury to both Neptune and Uranus. New ideas may come streaming in, along with dreams and visions. But be prepared to “edit.” Channeling is a tricky business. The messages you receive may or may not be the truth. While it’s true that rational analysis can ruin your intuitive powers, intuition needs logic as a reality check. Ideally, they need to work in tandem.

Mercury also squares Chiron, which suggests that some messages we hear could be painful or bring up old wounds. I hope that doesn’t happen to you, but I want to forewarn you of the possibility. If something like this should occur, consider it an opportunity for healing, bite the bullet, and do what you need to do.

Neptune returns direct on Sunday (Saturday in western time zones). I usually feel this one, with my Neptune-ruled Pisces Moon. I get sleepy, and my dreams get very vivid. Your energy may be sapped, too, but it depends on where Neptune is transiting your chart. Mars in fiery Sagittarius could help mitigate this effect somewhat.

Also on Sunday, Venus re-enters Libra on her retrograde path. We’ll definitely be revisiting relationships, and you should have an excellent opportunity to go back over unresolved issues and start laying the groundwork for a breakthrough. It can be hard work, but I almost guarantee you that the results will be worth the effort.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

P.S. If you’re in the United States, don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour before you go to bed on Saturday night.

Weekly Forecast October 25: Mars Enters Sagittarius

Last week’s action continues to mount this week as Mars enters Sagittarius and brings out your inner daredevil.

As you can see, we’ve been plenty busy here at RealAstrologers, although in typical Mars-in-Scorpio fashion, all the action has been behind the scenes. You’ve just seen the results, without having to stay up until 3:30 a.m. to tweak some code for the gazillionth time.

Although the Mars-Jupiter trine is separating, its influence will continue and perhaps even magnify as Mars enters Jupiter’s home sign of Sagittarius on Thursday. The Big Guy himself is still slumbering in retrograde, but he returns direct in three weeks, and meanwhile Mars is acting as his advance man. You should get lots of hints of where the action is going to be, so when Jupiter finally does wake up, you shouldn’t have any doubts about how your life is going to charge ahead.

Monday promises to be an interesting day, with Mercury conjunct Venus retrograde in Scorpio. We’re still trying to figure out what she’s up to and how she’s plotting to screw up our love lives. Or how we’re afraid she will, or how we’re screwing things up ourselves by worrying … oh, forget it. It seems so complicated and tangled up in knots, but as I’ve told my clients, just wait a few weeks before making any long-range decisions regarding your closest relationships. Talking about underlying issues would be good, though, and if you persist, you can get to the bottom of what’s preventing you from taking things to the next level.

On Tuesday, the Sun sextiles Pluto in what could be the real surprise moment of the week. Normally, a Sun-Pluto sextile favors moving forward by claiming your power. So much the better if you know where the bodies are buried, although the conventional interpretation is that you have to use this knowledge for the collective good and not just for your personal gain.

However, this year has been anything but conventional, with Pluto at the apex of a cardinal T-square. All that power has been building up, with not a lot of opportunity to vent. Trines and sextiles provide a pathway for the energy to flow easily, and with the Sun in Pluto’s home sign, we should be prepared for a major power surge. The Sun symbolizes the essence of who we are at our core and our power to create. If you’ve been paying attention in class and doing your homework, you’re now ready to recreate your life the way you want it. Like my new website, there may be glitches and the need for fine-tuning, but that just goes with the territory.

Losing our fear is an important part of growing. I loved Alison Chester-Lambert’s remark in her new book about how Pluto’s demotion takes away some of his scariness. We tend to fear what we don’t understand, what’s veiled in secrecy and hiding in the dark. Often our imagination creates monsters that don’t exist, and what we fear is just an illusion. Just because it’s hidden, doesn’t mean there’s some evil lurking there. That’s the real meaning of the word “occult,” which somewhere along the line got equated with devil-worship. In fact, occult simply means “hidden.”

What’s hiding in the dark could as easily be a vast treasure. It’s no coincidence that the Romans viewed Pluto as the god of gemstones, which come from underground.

Mars enters Sagittarius on Thursday. Take care not to step on the gas too hard, literally and figuratively! And do watch out for road rage, an unfortunate side effect of this planet-sign combination.

Also on Thursday, Venus sextiles Ceres and the Sun conjoins Venus, then the Sun sextiles Ceres on Friday. Watch for news headlines about powerful women. Next Tuesday (November 2) is Election Day in the United States, with several closely watched races involving women candidates. Whether a candidate is a man or woman truly doesn’t seem to matter anymore, and we’ve finally accepted that just because a candidate is female, she’s not automatically going to be an advocate for traditional “women’s issues.” It’s encouraging to see that voters finally are focusing on issues and not on gender.

Halloween is on Sunday, but most parties likely will take place on Saturday night. The Leo Moon should make for a festive time, so put on your costume and act the part!

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Weekly Forecast October 18: Full Moon in Aries, Sun Enters Scorpio

If last week’s planetary aspects represented a holding pattern, this week we come in for a landing.

Be prepared to hit the ground running, with Mars in Scorpio making dynamic trines to Jupiter and Uranus, just as the Full Moon takes place in Mars-ruled Aries. And that’s not all.

Monday is still a bit slow, with the Moon in dreamy Pisces and Mercury in a trine to Neptune, Pisces’ ruling planet. Neptune and Chiron are still tracking fairly closely in Aquarius, an energy pattern suggestive healing on the collective level.

One of the ways we heal is by connecting with our tribe, which we sometimes call kindred spirits. I’m seeing a growing trend in this regard, and some individuals even are making connections across time-space boundaries. If you’ve been experiencing this phenomenon, stay open to messages brought to you by Mercury, planet of communications, in synch with Neptune, dissolver of boundaries.

The channel remains open through Tuesday, when Mercury forms an inconjunct (technically, a quincunx) with Uranus. Uranus is back in Pisces until March, meaning that Neptune and Pisces remain in mutual reception. Aspects to one planet feed into the other. Healing on an individual scale affects collective healing and vice versa. You can’t have one without the other, which is why so many of us who have been working on our personal healing for so many years seem to have bumped up against an invisible glass ceiling.

The Sun in late Libra, only a few degrees behind Mercury, repeats these same aspects on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing clarity to what you’re picking up. I often caution against hanging out on the astral plane, as what you see there may be real, or it may be an illusion. If you have any doubts, seek to be enlightened mid-week. Heck, you may not even have to seek it. It may come whether you look for it or not.

Also on Tuesday, Ceres conjoins Pluto. Although they tracked very closely this past spring, the conjunction was never exact. Since the IAU revised its definition of “planet” in 2006, putting Ceres on a par with Pluto, astrologers have been working more closely with her in an attempt to fully understand her role in both personal and mundane astrology. We already know from mythology that Ceres and Pluto are connected, but there also is a theory going around that they came from the same area of the solar system, and Ceres somehow migrated inward. Think about the implications of that!

Ceres is coming into the collective awareness, and I believe this will lead to a global transformation on many levels. Her exact alignment with Pluto this week may well be her breakthrough role.

We’ll feel a shift on Wednesday, when the Moon enters Aries and Mercury enters Scorpio. The Moon in early Aries squares Pluto and triggers the cardinal T-square points, and we’ll likely get a quick review of the last the Full Moon, which fell at 0 degrees Aries. Mercury in Scorpio brings deep insights we may have missed before and that give new meaning to recent events.

You won’t get a lot of time to ruminate, though, as the second half of the week could bring opportunities very quickly and totally out of the blue, thanks to Mars aspecting Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, and Uranus, all in quick succession. Then there’s the Full Moon, which peaks at 9:37 p.m. Friday on the East Coast of the United States. Everything comes full circle, and we could be in for a very busy weekend!

On Saturday, the Sun enters Scorpio, the sign of going “underground” for death and regeneration. In a way, we’ve been doing that all summer, so it’s anyone’s guess how this Plutonic energy will manifest. Remember, Venus also is in Scorpio, and she’s retrograde. We’re rethinking what we want, at the same time as Mars in Scorpio helps us go get it. To those who wonder whether they really want what they thought they did, I advise doing whatever it takes to get clarity in a real hurry. Otherwise, those opportunities might fly by you at head-spinning speed.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Weekly Forecast October 11: Sun Conjunct Mercury

You know it’s a fairly slow week when the only major aspect is a conjunction of the Sun and Mercury, which happens often enough (several times a year) that it’s not a big deal.

But it’s not likely to be a boring week. With Venus newly retrograde in Scorpio, there’s drama simmering under the surface. At the same time, the waxing Moon and three planets in cardinal Libra ensure that we continue to move forward, despite Libra’s ruler being in retreat, and there’s a chance of a brief T-square flashback mid-week.

Other than your own personal fallout from retrograde Venus, if you are indeed experiencing any effects, things should be pretty quiet until Wednesday, when the Moon enters Capricorn. Within a few hours, she’ll conjoin Ceres and Pluto and square Saturn. By now you should know where Pluto is transiting your chart, and you probably have a good idea of how the cardinal T-square is shaking out for you.

Keep your antennae up on Wednesday and Thursday for signs that reinforce the theme that has dominated your life over the past several months. Watch for some subtle shifting, too. I’ve sensed some movement lately, and while opportunities may have to wait until Venus and Jupiter return direct on November 18, the handwriting on the wall is becoming more clear.

On Saturday, the Sun conjoins Mercury at 23 degrees Libra. This is a great day for communicating rationally and fairly, with a good amount of give and take. A lot can be accomplished when both parties express their thoughts and feelings with clarity and then listen to what the other person has to say. This is not about positioning, manipulating, or otherwise trying to talk your way into what you want without any regard for others.

Since Venus is retrograde, this also would be a great time to address unresolved issues that have been bothering you and perhaps getting in the way of a close, satisfying relationship. Before you talk it out, though, I suggest that you have a very clear idea of what’s in your own heart. What do you really want from that other person? If it’s a fair and equal relationship, then any attempt to get a certain outcome because it’s what you want will backfire.

And guess what? It’s OK to admit that, if only to yourself. We all do it. It’s just a question of being mindful. There’s nothing like a Sun-Mercury conjunction in Libra to help you do just that.

Ultimately, this week is great for catching up and doing a little planning. Next week, things could start moving very fast. You’ll be able to respond to upcoming events better if you clear your plate … and your mind.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat