Does anyone else feel like the past week contained several weeks compressed into one? Eclipses will do that. I’m still reeling from this latest pair.

Although the dust still hasn’t settled, it does feel like we’re getting a better idea of where events are headed. We still don’t know why or to what ultimate ends, and this could remain a mystery for some time to come. That said, we should get some clues this week, with Mercury back in Aquarius and out of the post-retrograde shadow as of Saturday. But I’m getting ahead of myself — typical Aquarius!

An energetic three-way aspect between Venus, Mars, and Jupiter begins on Monday, with a sextile from Venus in Aries to Jupiter in Aquarius. Mars and Jupiter conjoin on Tuesday, and then Venus forms an exact sextile to Mars on Wednesday. Rather than taking these aspects individually, I’m looking at them as a whole, and I’m going to stick my neck out here and throw the asteroid Juno into the picture, too.

Juno is one of the bodies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Many astrologers use the asteroids in individual chart readings, especially for women. The only one I routinely use is Ceres, who is no longer classified as an asteroid but is in the new category of dwarf planet, along with Pluto. I’m going to make an exception this week, though, because Juno is just a degree from Jupiter (the exact conjunction was last Wednesday, with the lunar North Node at the exact degree and minute as well), and she’ll be crossed by Mars this Friday.

It’s hard enough to make predictions anymore based on one aspect alone, but when you’ve got three or four planets involved, it gets even trickier. In order to make some guesses about how these energies might interact, I decided to go back to the mythology and examine the relationships between these two couples. You have to give the ancients credit for making up stories about gods and goddesses. In our ignorance, we say they were superstitious, but anthropomorphizing hidden energies and then creating stories to describe their interactions was a quite ingenious way of helping us understand how they play out in our lives.

In classical mythology, Mars was the son of Jupiter and Juno, and he had an adulterous affair with Venus. It’s interesting to note that in the Greek version, Ares was hated by his parents because of his blood-thirsty temperament, but his reputation in Roman mythology was much better, probably because the Romans expanded their vast empire through bloody conquest.

So we might imagine Jupiter and Mars as swaggering father and son, off to conquer a neighboring territory. Or maybe they’ve decided to have a little boys’ night out of drinking and philandering. They’re full of themselves and expect that they are invincible, women will swoon at the very sight of them, and they will get anything and anyone they want.

That, in a nutshell, describes the exuberance and exaggerated self-confidence of a Mars-Jupiter conjunction. If you are faced with a seemingly impossible task, this energy is just the extra boost you need. Depending on where this aspect is hitting your chart, it may give your self-confidence a much-needed lift, and that in turn could translate into achieving a goal. The potential downfall in this mix is hubris and a sense of entitlement.

That is where the ladies come in. I expect this testosterone-laden pair to be tempered by the close presence of Venus and Juno. After their little escapade, Mars is going to have to face his mother, and heaven forbid he should be implicated in any of dad’s shenanigans. If, on the other hand, their hunt or conquest was with their women in mind, mom will be mightily pleased. The moral of the story, then, is to contemplate your purpose as you sail on these strong and swift currents. There is no higher calling than love, be it love for a romantic partner, friend, or family member, or for generic love of one’s fellow humans (the collective, a keyword for Aquarius). Remember, too, that there is a difference between selfishness and enlightened self-interest.

After that big bang of Aquarius energy, the Sun enters Pisces on Wednesday, leading up to a new lunar cycle and interaction with Uranus and Saturn. Don’t be surprised if you suddenly feel more emotional or intuitive, maybe both. In the watery realm of Pisces, a lot of things don’t make sense on an intellectual level, and it’s better not to even try. That won’t prevent me from making up stories about our new cast of characters, though!

Speaking of which, newcomer Comet Lulin is still out there and about to make an appearance, probably next week. I’m working on that article, honest, and will post as soon as I can.

Much love to all…
Pat

P.S. You might have noticed that my personal blog is down. It may be off-line for several weeks, but I’ll posting here regularly.

Image: Jupiter and Juno, by Annibale Carracci, part of a massive fresco in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, completed in 1608. Not surprisingly, images of his philandering were much easier to find than this rare depiction of him with his wife.