Tag Archives: Pluto in Capricorn

Weekly Forecast September 21: Sun Enters Libra, Full Moon Eclipse in Aries

This week is the second most significant in 2015, astrologically speaking, with several shifts and a lunar eclipse, the last of four in a row.

The first shift is the Sun’s entry into Libra, the fall or spring equinox, depending on whether you’re north or south of the equator. In Western culture, the equinox is considered the first day of fall, but I view it as mid-autumn. We’re now in the final descent into the dark days of winter.

The two key associations of Libra are personal relationships and diplomacy, which is just a large-scale relationship between nations. Many of the same principles apply: listening and responding, give and take, negotiating and compromise. The point is to achieve balance and harmony, Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast November 10: Mars Conjunct Pluto, Venus Conjunct Saturn

Reflections on a Purple Flower. © Gretchen Friedrich, 2014.

The tension builds again this week, and duties and obligations must be met. In short, it’s not chill.

However, those who value hard work, commitment, and integrity will find that events this week have their own rewards, and confronting difficult situations head on could be quite productive. Moreover, there are subtle energies at work this week that could manifest as sudden flashes of inspiration, intuition, and insight. Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast August 18: Venus Conjunct Jupiter, Sun Enters Virgo

Cool fall morning. © Pat Paquette, 2014.

This week is likely to be tense, with issues coming to a head later in the week in both our personal lives and in world affairs.

As I mentioned in last week’s forecast, Mars is moving toward a conjunction with Saturn on August 25. That’s not until next week, but Mars transits tend to be felt a week on either side, so we’re in the zone. Moreover, the planet of war makes a jarring inconjunct with Uranus on Saturday, adding fuel to the conflicts that have intensified since the middle of June, when the inconjunct (technically called a quincunx) between Saturn and Uranus was within three degrees Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast July 14: Jupiter Enters Leo, Saturn Direct

No man’s land in Jerusalem between Israel and Jordan. Photo taken c. 1964 by Etan J. Tal.

There’s a whole lotta shiftin’ going on in the sky this week, with Jupiter entering a new sign and two outer planets stationed, one turning direct and the other about to go retrograde.

On Wednesday, Jupiter leaves tender, cautious Cancer and heads into dramatic, exuberant Leo. In principle, that sounds good, and I think it will be. We could use a good dose of optimism. At the same time, Saturn is stationed at 16 degrees Scorpio, in preparation to return direct on Sunday (July 20), while Uranus is stationed at 16 degrees Aries and will turn retrograde the following day.

Maybe I’ll feel different once Jupiter changes signs Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast July 1: Sun Opposes Pluto, Squares Uranus

Sun and Fog. © Pat Paquette, 2013.

The United States is taking a lot of heat this week, literally and figuratively.

Record-breaking temperatures are baking much of the Western U.S. (To my readers in California and Arizona, I hope you are staying cool indoors.) The political heat is on, as well, just in time for the U.S. solar return – depending, of course, on which natal chart you use for the United States.

There are plenty of valid arguments for dates other than July 4, but this is the date on the Declaration of Independence, which we more or less consider our country’s birth certificate. It’s also the date in the collective consciousness, and so I’ll follow the people on this one. We were, after all, supposed to be a democracy. The exact time is debated as well, but according to Thomas Jefferson’s account, the debate was concluded in the evening. One of the best articles I’ve found discussing the U.S. birth chart was written by Dane Rudhyar in 1971. Rudhyar made a case for the popular “Sibly” chart, rectified by about four minutes.

I won’t do a complete analysis of the U.S. solar return chart, but I have a couple of comments to share. First, it is laid out similarly to the Cancer ingress chart I discussed in my June 17 forecast. In both charts, the Sun is in the fourth house, with the Uranus-Pluto square in the first and tenth. People are in a rebellious mood, and what transpires over the summer will continue to reverberate for an entire year. In both charts, Jupiter is sitting right on the fourth-house cusp, reinforcing the potential for devastating storms. There are a few major differences between the two charts, and of the two, I judge the solar return chart to be the most troublesome, which leads me to the conclusion that the summer’s political and weather-related activities will be a warm-up act for the rest of this year into mid-2014.

The two big astrological events of the summer are the grand water trine with Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, and the cardinal T-square with Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto. Last week, the Sun formed a grand trine with Saturn and Neptune, giving us a taste of what’s to come under the more-powerful configuration, which peaks in mid-July. This week, the Sun forms the T-square, and so we’ll get a glimpse of what’s coming with the difficult Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto configuration in mid-August. I know, it’s all so confusing. And Mercury is retrograde, which doesn’t help with clarity or confidence.

Last week I watched The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as stage magicians in a death match to outdo one another’s illusions. David Bowie makes an appearance as real-life scientist Nikola Tesla, who is best known for his work with electricity. The plot jumps back and forth through time in a way I found confusing, but the nonlinear narrative was quite effective as a dramatic device, and it all made sense in the end. It seems as though current events are unfolding in a strange sort of discontinuous time, like in the film.

As this week begins, the cardinal T-square is already in effect, and it will remain in play through the weekend. The Sun forms an exact opposition to Pluto on Monday, and then squares Uranus on Thursday (late Wednesday in western time zones). Egypt is the latest hotbed of protest, and it looks like clashes are about to get violent as opponents of the current president call for his resignation.

Also on Monday, Venus squares Saturn, an astrological wet blanket if ever there was one. In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has called for a special legislative session to begin on Monday to readdress an abortion bill blocked last week after a filibuster by state Sen. Wendy Davis. Ceres is closely conjunct Venus and squares Saturn on Wednesday. It doesn’t look good for Davis and her supporters in the near term. If the legislative session drags on into the following week, the outlook is better for women’s rights advocates, as Venus will form a lovely trine to Uranus, planet of rebellion and change (the aspect is exact on July 7).

Saturn, meanwhile, is stationed to return direct next Monday. A planet is said to station when it appears to stop in the sky before changing direction. Stopped in Scorpio, Saturn will be stubborn as a mule. In general, I’d say that Saturn represents the “establishment,” but Saturn in Scorpio is a strange animal. Structures are ready to rot and break down, and with Uranus at the apex of a T-square, there’s no telling how events could defy even the surest of expectations.

Speaking of Uranus, T-squares, and rebellion, what better time could there be for reading the Declaration of Independence? If you haven’t done so in a while, I strongly suggest revisiting it. Our Founding Fathers – who surely would have been branded “terrorists” according to the current government definition – laid out quite a brilliant argument for abolishing a government that no longer serves the people. I have a feeling we could come up with a list of grievances as long as the colonists sent to King George.

The other aspect worth remarking on this week is the Moon’s entry into Cancer on Saturday. Normally, lunar movements are too fast to signify much more than fleeting events and moods. However, this will be the first conjunction of the Moon with Jupiter in Cancer. The Moon moves forward to conjoin Saturn and Neptune on Sunday. Again, we may get a quick glimpse of things to come as Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune approach an exact trine on July 17. That’s only a couple of weeks away, and it’s the most exciting, positive aspect we’ll experience all year.

Next week starts out with the New Moon in Cancer, so over the weekend start thinking about what projects you’d like to initiate. I just wish I could help you out in that regard with a StarGuide report, but that project is still on hold. Do keep in mind, though, that if you’d like a three-month transit report, you can order one for $19 (click here to see a sample).

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Weekly Forecast June 10: Saturn Trines Neptune, Venus Opposes Pluto

The Boston Massacre. Detail of an engraving by Paul Revere, March 1770.

In my down state, I’ve been watching a lot of movies, borrowed from our terrific local library. Last week, I found the seven-part miniseries John Adams, which first aired on HBO in March 2008.

Despite historical inaccuracies typical in Hollywood productions, the miniseries is a decidedly unromanticized version of history and rightly won several awards. Based on the biography by David McCullough, it’s an excellent portrayal of the conflicts among colonial leaders, not all of whom were ready to take up arms and fight for their rights. There were those who strongly preferred negotiations to war and who feared that uprisings in Massachusetts would subject all of the colonies to a deadly crackdown by the British.

The first episode begins with the Boston Massacre, in which a crowd agitated by the growing tyranny of England provokes British soldiers into opening fire. The soldiers are charged with murder, and the only lawyer who will defend them is John Adams, who goes against his countrymen on the principle that everyone deserves the right to a fair trial.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know where I’m going with this, yes?

The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, with Pluto in Capricorn. The Uranus-Pluto square had occurred more than a decade earlier, in late Pisces and Sagittarius. Incidentally, the square in March 1758 occurred with Pluto conjunct the Galactic Center – just a bit of interesting astro-trivia there. I mentioned the Boston incident in a post in August 2011 that actually was about a Michael Lutin presentation at the National Press Club in 2008. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

The HBO miniseries was broadcast less than two months after Pluto’s entry into Capricorn in January 2008. Talk about synchronicities. Michael Lutin’s Press Club speech (which you can watch in my August 2011 post) followed an article he wrote for Vanity Fair magazine about the implications for the United States of Pluto in Capricorn. What I remember most from his speech – which has reverberated in my mind many times over – were his words, “You’re all under surveillance.”

Well, well, well.

Mikey predicted it would all go down in 2011. He was off by a couple of years, but so what? His predictions ring uncannily true, including his opinion that it didn’t matter who won the White House in 2008. Of course, we already were under heavy surveillance when he gave that presentation, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist or even an astrologer to know it. The bomb dropped by The Guardian on Wednesday, followed by even bigger ones, wasn’t really news to anyone who’s been paying attention.

As I type, the whistleblower has come forward. Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old employee of a contractor for the National Security Agency, is inevitably being compared to Private Bradley Manning, who is on trial for leaking classified information on the war in Iraq. Rather than being hanged for treason – the punishment of choice in colonial America – Manning has been imprisoned for three years awaiting trial and, by all accounts, tortured by cruel and inhuman means. We have, after all, progressed toward a more civilized society, especially here in the United States, land of the free and home of the brave.

Back to John Adams, he eventually became the new nation’s first vice president and second president, although history sort of seems to have forgotten him in favor of more classic heroes such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and even his own cousin, Samuel Adams. John Adams was by all measures conservative. Yet, he called a spade a spade, and he was one of the most vociferous supporters of fighting for independence, once it became apparent that negotiating with the British would solve nothing – and he figured that out early on. That, I believe, is the critical lesson for us now.

In an interview with The Guardian, Snowden said he would have gone to the media sooner, but he was waiting to see whether President Obama would curb some of the abuses of the NSA. When he not only failed to do so but expanded the program, Snowden made his move. To an astrologer, it’s no coincidence that the revelation came with Uranus in a close square to Pluto. The big question now is how the American public will react. Very clearly, this isn’t an abuse that can be remedied by voting out one political party in favor of another – a point, by the way, that I made several years ago and for which I was soundly flamed by Obama supporters.

I don’t know precisely where this is all going to lead, but I do know that we have more explosive times ahead. As I’ve remarked before, the influence of the Uranus-Pluto square will last for another five years at least. After that, we’ll march steadily toward the Pluto return of the United States in 2022. In the meantime, we’ll also experience a conjunction of Saturn and Pluto in 2020, and in 2026, Saturn and Neptune conjoin in Aries. I have extensive thoughts on what these transits will entail, but I’ll save them for another time.

Surveillance of the citizenry is very definitely a signature for Pluto in Capricorn, and it’s interesting to note that publication of the extent of the abuse occurred with Mercury in opposition to Pluto and square Uranus. Also, warrior Mars in Gemini made a square to Neptune, planet of fog and deception. Note, too, that Mercury was approaching conjunction with the United States Sun, and the Uranus-Pluto square isn’t far from making contact with the U.S. Sun (exact in April 2014). From an astrological perspective, it makes perfect sense that the news broke last week. I confess that I couldn’t have predicted it exactly (especially in my current condition), but I did note in last week’s forecast that we’d likely have some shocking headlines:

Collectively, I think we’ll see more jarring headlines – not that anything could shock us anymore, but the extent to which we’ve been deceived and lied to could be a revelation to many.

Looking at the week ahead, Venus follows on the heels of Mercury by opposing Pluto (Tuesday) and squaring Uranus (Wednesday). Venus in Cancer is a soft influence, and yet in a T-square with Pluto, she can’t be expected to do much to soften the recent blow. If anything, the powers responsible for this gross invasion of privacy may try to further defend the program on the grounds of national security: “We’re keeping you safe from terrorists,” etc. Internet companies such as Google and Facebook also may try to reassure their users. We’ll see how many people buy it, and how well the government will be able to persuade its citizenry to fight among themselves instead of aiming their anger where it rightly belongs.

The other big aspect of this week is the trine of Saturn and Neptune, second of a three-part transit. The first occurred in October 2012, and the third and final pass will fall on July 19 as part of the grand trine with Jupiter. Trines in general are highly favorable, and grand trines even more so. My only worry is that storms involving precipitation and flooding could be exaggerated; after all, nature doesn’t share our subjective notions of “good” and “bad.” An unimpeded path for us also can be an unimpeded path for a hurricane. But do make what you can of it, starting now. Don’t wait until July to decide how you want to use this rare gift of cosmic energy.

Speaking of energy, mine is still low, but the good news is that I feel like I finally bottomed out this past week. It’s been a very hard place to be, and I don’t feel like I’m out of the woods yet. The demons are following me out of hell and nipping at my heels. Short walks, doing little tasks in my apartment, and lying on the couch watching movies have been my best strategies. Chocolate is nice, too, but unfortunately, all this lying around has exacerbated my weight and blood pressure – issues I’ll need to address once I have the strength to get out more. If you recently ordered a report and have not heard from me, expect an e-mail in the next day or two. My deepest apologies, and my heartfelt appreciation for those of you who have been so patient, understanding, and concerned for my well-being.

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat

Weekly Forecast July 2: Full Moon in Capricorn, Mars Enters Libra

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s gloomy and cold, but we’re not complaining much, given that the rest of the world is either burning or under water, with high winds thrown in for good measure.

It’s always tricky pinning weather phenomenon to astrological configurations, but there seem to be strong correlations here. Jupiter, symbol of “big,” is in Gemini, an air sign … and we get high winds. Neptune is in his (some say “her”) own sign of Pisces, and we get floods. The Sun is in Cancer, another water sign. Last week, they were all dancing together in a close dance, and it manifested as weather that perfectly expressed the character of the cosmic dancers.

The fires are something else. Whenever you see the word “wild,” Uranus is an immediate suspect. Uranus is in Aries, the first and most impulsive of the three fire signs. It’s hard not to correlate the wild fires in the Western United States with the Uranus-Pluto square. There are other possible correlations to this signature, too. Ray Merriman discusses the other potential manifestations in his weekly column, and he’s much better than I at explaining financial developments.

The Uranus-Pluto square is with us for the next three years – and, if the 1960s are any indication, the manifestations of it will continue to unfold for a few years after that. As I’ve mentioned before, the most explosive year in that decade was 1968, even though the Uranus-Pluto conjunction officially ended more than a year before. It’s safe to say that the biggest events are yet to come.

This past week has been wild and crazy for a lot of us. We’re exhausted, freaking out over lack of jobs and money, working too hard for what we do have, and finding less and less time to relax and have fun. I’ve been asked several times whether I think it has anything to do with the Uranus-Pluto square. Yes and no. Outer planetary cycles such as these tend to manifest socially, culturally, and globally. But that doesn’t mean that each of us isn’t affected. When everyone is stressed out, it stresses us out even more – especially those who are the least bit psychic or pick up on the emotions of those around them. The water signs and those with Moon in water signs are particularly susceptible to picking up on this collective stress.

To be clear, the planets aren’t “causing” the stress. However, I do believe that the Uranus-Pluto square represents a push for totally overhauling how we live. We can’t keep going to our jobs every day, working harder and getting paid less, paying more and more taxes for fewer services (and paying more for those services in addition), feeling more exhausted and less personally rewarded, and not reach a breaking point. It’s not a question of “if” but “when.”

Click on image to enlarge

“When” may get a little closer this week with Tuesday’s Full Moon in Capricorn conjunct Pluto and square Uranus. The conjunction is a bit wide – more than four degrees – but it’s close enough for government work, as they say. Pluto, meanwhile, is at the apex of a Yod with Venus and Mercury. No matter how you dissect it, it looks like Pluto is the breaking point in this configuration. Pluto in Capricorn is about big government, authoritarian rule, and the impenetrable power of multinational corporations. On a personal level, there’s a higher-than-normal risk of explosive emotions and quiet implosions. You know yourself better than anyone, so I won’t tell you what you should do if you feel an outburst coming on.

A few hours before the Full Moon, Mars enters Libra, which is also big news. Mars, the planet of action and aggression, has been in diligent but nitpicky Virgo for nearly eight months. Normally, Mars stays in a sign for about six weeks, but due to his retrograde cycle, he has had an extended stay in Virgo. Mars and Venus both went retrograde this year, and in signs ruled by Mercury, who also was retrograde in April. Getting anything done in the first half of this year has been fraught with setbacks, delays, and less-than-stellar feedback. Mars leaving Virgo should help ease up on the obstacles, although Mercury is about to go retrograde toward the end of next week. Still, I don’t think it will be as frustrating as the past six months.

If you’d like to know where Mercury is going to be retrograde in your chart – as well as a lot of other essential information for surviving the summer – I highly recommend my StarGuide Summer forecast. If you order now, I’ll add a few extra weeks of transits to the end of the report, since the season is already well under way. I do have to tell you, though, that my schedule is still very tight, even with classes over the summer, and so my normal turnaround time of two days for reports has stretched to 3-5 days. My consulting hours are reduced, too, so if you’d like a reading, I suggest setting it up as soon as possible. I currently have a wait period of about two weeks.

Getting back to Mars in Libra, my take on this particular passage is that it’s going to somehow activate the entire cycle of Saturn in Libra. Saturn, you may recall, entered Libra in 2010, right as a powerful T-square in the early degrees of the cardinal signs was forming. It peaked in July and August of that year, which many of us remember as a time that was volatile, frustrating, and enervating, even while new doors were opening to us and new directions beckoning. Over the next week or so, as Mars passes through the early degrees of Libra, watch for events or circumstances that somehow link back to the summer of 2010, especially in terms of your closest relationships or important partnerships. Mars will conjoin Saturn in mid-August, an important passage, about which I’ll write more as the date gets closer.

On Wednesday, Mercury, Venus, and Uranus form a lovely sextile-trine arrangement. This is an overall positive configuration that will express itself as surprises in love, money, and communications. Sudden meetings, unexpected phone calls, a text message that makes you sit up and take notice – these are the kinds of events we might expect on a personal level.

There are some other minor aspects this week, but I’m going to stop there so that I can get this forecast posted and hopefully get a few hours of sleep for another grueling week.

Wishing you all unlimited love and courage,
Pat

Three Years Ago Today

I was going through some back files (a good Mercury retrograde activity) and found this hilarious video from Michael Lutin at the National Press Club.

His talk was in January 2008, but he posted this video, with highlights from that presentation as well as an appearance on the Today Show, on Aug. 19, 2008 – three years ago to the day. This is as good a time as any to review it and also to have a look at his predictions in the December 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, a groundbreaking article that I’ve referenced several times on my blog.

Still working on a Vesta article, which is growing into something more and will have to wait until next week.

I’ll be back on Sunday with the forecast. Until then, hang in there!

Pat

The last time Pluto was in Capricorn: Boston Massacre, Mar. 5, 1770, by John Bufford, 1868.

Saturday Extra!Looking Back, Looking Forward

Bust of Janus, the Roman god of gates, doors, and beginnings. Vatican Museum, Rome.

January is named for Janus, the Roman god with two faces, one peering back into the past and the other looking toward into the future.

There’s sure a lot to look back on. Astrologers knew years before 2010 arrived that it would be an eventful year. Among other things, we predicted there would be earth events, environmental disasters, political upheaval, police crackdowns, and economic collapse. All of that happened and more. We also predicted personal challenges and sweeping changes, depending on where the year’s powerful planetary configurations fell in individual charts.

Humans are wired to stay with familiar patterns, even when they don’t work – which is why the “shock and awe” of the cardinal T-square wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Many of my clients have complained over the years that they were stuck, and more and more people have come to understand that it’s possible for circumstances to change in their lives, but the underlying patterns remain stubbornly ingrained.

All of that has changed since the T-square. At the very least, the worn-out and decaying structures – in society, in our individual lives, in our thought patterns, perhaps within the planet itself – began falling apart so that something new could take their place. The process began slowing down after September, when the planets moved out of the tight cardinal T-square formation. Not coincidentally, we experienced flashbacks in December, after Mercury and Mars conjoined Pluto, and Mercury went retrograde.

As 2011 begins, we’re still in a state of shock. Even those of us who experienced wonderful breakthroughs are reeling, mostly because circumstances changed so quickly. Everything is still in a state of flux and likely will remain that way this year. We’re riding a fast-moving current, and it’s all we can do just to hang on.

The good news is that 2011 won’t be another 2010. Rather, it will bring an unfolding and ripening of whatever was initiated last year. Whatever was broken down entirely – including economies – will begin building up again, but in new and different ways. What still needs to break down further before it can be reassembled will continue to fall apart.

And here is where we come in. We will indeed have choices, and our thoughts and actions will be critically important. Banish from your thoughts any notions of going back to how things used to be. Focus instead on how you as an individual and we as a collective can do things differently – radically differently – to achieve a different outcome.

I’m reminded of a quote from R. Buckminster Fuller:

[callout]You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.[/callout]

That is our mission in 2011. It will be accomplished through continuing spiritual awakening. In our personal lives, we can bring new worlds into being by giving less energy to the old way of doing things that doesn’t work and doesn’t allow us to live to our fullest potential.

On a larger scale, corrupt and dysfunctional systems continue to exist as long as people feel powerless to do anything about them. As more and more people awaken, we’ll understand what our options are and work to bring them into reality. I am not naïve enough to think we’ll have a bloodless coup – indeed, violent public protest over the next several years is virtually guaranteed, with rebellious Uranus creeping toward an exact square to Pluto in authoritarian Capricorn. In addition to the general predictions I made in Part II of an article I wrote last year on the cardinal T-square, we may be headed for a class war, too.

The Romans honored Janus as the god of endings and beginnings and the guardian of gates and doorways. Here’s a nice summary from Wikipedia:

Janus was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, births and other beginnings. He was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood.

Never was this symbolism more meaningful. We aren’t just standing on the threshold of a new year, but of a new universe.

Happy New Year!
Pat

Weekly Forecast December 27:Mars Square Saturn, Mercury Direct

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is typically pretty low-key, and that’s what we can expect this week, for the most part.

The only major planetary aspect in the next seven days is a square from Mars to Saturn. This is among the dread “big bad wolf” aspects, and yet I don’t think we’re going to feel any terrifying effects from it. There are a couple of reasons I say this.

First, Mars and Saturn both are in the signs of their exaltation and thus on their best behavior. Further, Mars in Capricorn “feeds” Saturn, Cap’s ruler, and so I don’t think the square is going to be a tense as a Mars-Saturn square normally would be. It might even be positive for some people.

It could, for example, get some of us off our butts and into action, especially regarding career and family obligations. For those who feel this effect, you may experience some discomfort with the initial push, but once you get going, you’ll feel the sense of relief that comes with accomplishing something you’ve been dreading and putting off.

Second, and more to the point, Mars has already crossed the early degrees of Capricorn, where he and Mercury reactivated the summer’s cardinal T-square. That effect occurred from the first week in December until the 18th or so. Those days were extremely challenging, and we’ve moved out of that. In my estimation, Wednesday’s Mars-Saturn square will be anti-climactic and perhaps have a “dust settling” or “light at the end of the tunnel” feel to it.

Mercury, meanwhile, will return to 19 degrees Sagittarius, where he’ll return direct on Thursday (Wednesday in Western time zones). It’s hard to determine which issues arose over the past few weeks in relation to Mercury retrograde and which were associated with events of a few months ago, at the height of the T-square. In all likelihood, you’ve experienced a combination of the two, which is why this Mercury retrograde was so harrowing.

As usual, when Mercury returns direct, we can expect communications and transportation to be at a dead stop for a day or two on either side. Once he gets going again, though, much of what stood in our way over the summer may begin to resolve, little by little. Real breakthroughs are still a few months away, but it’s encouraging when we begin to see answers, solutions, and results. A little success goes a long way toward restoring one’s faith and optimism.

All other aspects this week are lunar. The most significant are the aspects from the Moon in Libra on Tuesday and Wednesday to T-square points. These aspects could add some stress to the Mars-Saturn square. Again, I don’t see much of anything new here. Rather, we’ll be returning to issues that plagued us over the summer, with a greater possibility of resolution now. Even if the resolution you get isn’t in your favor or causes you some emotional distress, it’s resolution nonetheless, and it will allow you to move on to a better place.

The only other thing I want to alert you to is that we’re in the two-week period between eclipses, which sometimes can be a bit disorienting. That sense of inner chaos and lack of control can be disturbing, but it’s not necessarily negative. Often, it’s just a sign that we’re trying too hard or attached to a particular outcome. Many people I know have managed to truly give up control and ride the wave. The more you relax and let that current carry you along, the less stressed out you’ll be.

Friday is New Year’s Eve, and we’ll be blessed with a merry Sagittarius Moon to ring in 2011. Sagittarius is the party sign, and the Moon with be there for the entire weekend. Come Monday, reality will set in, and this could be depressing for some. So enjoy the good times while you can. Eat, drink, dance, laugh with friends, and revel in the camaraderie and joy of the season.

Wishing you all much love, prosperity, and good health,
Pat

RealAstrologers

The astrology of world affairs, human evolution, the future, and the state of the universe.