No palm trees, but it's a beach. © Pat Paquette, 2011.
Actually, the grand cross started last week, when messenger Mercury entered Cancer and immediately squared Uranus. What a mess! My DSL went dead on Friday, and I found out later it was a problem with CenturyLink that affected the whole state. The lines at our supermarket yesterday were like the day before Thanksgiving. The store’s credit card system works through CenturyLink and was malfunctioning, and they’ve been told it won’t be fixed until Monday. Fortunately, mine came back, or I wouldn’t be posting this forecast!
Meanwhile, United experienced a computer crash that virtually shut down the airline for five hours Friday night and early Saturday, when the Mercury-Uranus square was applying within 2 degrees. And then there was this bizarre headline, about a dead deer in a power line. Uranus rules air travel, power lines, and unpredictable events.
Events such as these help us understand how astrology can be an indicator of the myriad ways cosmic energies manifest in the physical world. On a more mundane level, the Messenger is reminding us in no uncertain terms how dependent we are on computers.
In the more immediate term, we’re starting to get an idea of how the July 1 eclipse might shake out. I’ll have more on this topic in a post on Saturday. For now, let’s look at this week.
On Monday, Mars enters speedy Gemini after spending an agonizing six weeks in laid-back Taurus. Mars, the action planet, is debilitated in Taurus. For us, that has meant a lot of frustration as we’ve tried to accomplish something and kept meeting with obstacles. With the grand cross at a peak, we’re still going to bump into obstacles, but it will be entirely different. This is more like having the gas pedal all the way to the floor and running into a roadblock at high speed. All I can say is, do your best to stay alert and be on the lookout for the detour signs.
Tuesday is the big day this week, when the Sun enters Cancer. This is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, winter for all of you on the south side. Mercury forms an exact square with Saturn less than two hours later.
Fortunately, we’ve got a couple of the “outs” I always look for in difficult configurations like this. The first out is a positive sextile from the Sun to Jupiter, who’s also in a strong applying trine to Pluto. It’s cliché to say that challenges build character, but this is one time when we’ll get an opportunity to transform and grow with less pain than normal under a Pluto transit. The catalyst to your ah-ha moment may be a run-in with an authority figure, such as your boss or parents. Setting aside your pride and ego is key.
There’s a second out, a trine from the Sun to Neptune, but I’m ambivalent about this one. Easy energy paths like this make it possible for Mother Nature to channel her pent-up energies. With the Sun, Mercury and Neptune all in water signs, I don’t like the sound of this. Neptune also is in a trine with Jupiter – although it’s past peak – with Jupiter in Taurus, the “earthiest” of the earth signs.
Before I continue with the rest of the week, I’d like to take a moment to promote a new report I’ve put together to complement my weekly forecasts, which are general and pertain to everyone. For specific transits, I highly recommend StarGuide, a written report based entirely on your own birth data, not your Sun sign! I’m offering it as a monthly or, if you’d like to save a little money, as a three-month forecast starting at the beginning of each season. The StarGuide Summer 2011 edition is now available, so don’t wait too long! It may take me 2-3 days to compile your report, so if you want it this week, you need to place your order now!
I can’t tell you how excited I am about this report! The transit interpretations are by Gina Ronco, who is wonderfully positive and provides suggestions for handling any difficult transits you may be experiencing. The really cool thing, though, is a graph that I created that shows your best days for love, career, and social life. This required some advanced programming to customize the parameters for my personal approach to astrology. The result is a wonderful planning tool that helps you make choices about where to put your energy and focus – so, for example, if you’ve got a great day for love coming up, you don’t want to be on the couch watching reruns of Dancing with the Stars. If you’d like to see what it looks like, check out the sample for Julian Assange.
As long as I’m in advertising mode, I’d also like to put in a plug for the wonderful folks at Cosmic Patterns Software, creators of Kepler and Sirius. They made themselves personally available when I ran into programming issues. I couldn’t have created these reports without their excellent tech support.
Back to this week (thanks for indulging me), Wednesday brings a square to Neptune from Mars and a sextile to Neptune from the Sun. Creativity is enhanced – and that includes finding creative solutions to current challenges. The Mars-Neptune square is not so helpful, as it suggests outright lies and intentional deceit. If something sounds too good to be true, don’t take the bait.
The weekend is a bit schizophrenic. On one hand, the Sun-Jupiter sextile with support by a lovely Taurus Moon suggests appreciating the comforts of home and material pleasures. Setting aside our worries for a few hours and appreciating what we have sends out a positive vibe that can ping back to us in surprising ways.
On the other hand, there’s a Sun-Uranus square later in the day, and the surprises we get may not be of the pleasant variety. If you’ve been feeling stuck, it might be a good idea to intentionally do something different on Sunday – something that in some way reflects what you would do if time and money were unlimited. You may not be able to jet off to Hawaii, but you could slice up a pineapple and do a barefoot dance in your living room. The Sun and Uranus are nothing if not creative. Let your imagine run wild.
Wish you all limitless love and courage,
Pat
posted by Neith . . .
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