Psychic Nutrients
I’m not sure I can explain why, but sometimes I find myself awash in nostalgia for some of the least wonderful moments of my life. Not the truly tragic ones, mind you. Just snapshots from an unhappy relationship or a vexing job, perhaps, or from a financially strained youth.
I find this weird wistfulness a pretty good analogy for the Pisces Last Quarter Moon (June 8, 2026, 3:00 am PDT, 17º38’ Pisces-Gemini). Each month, the Moon’s Last Quarter phase directs our gaze backward, and the Pisces Last Quarter heart remembers every hurt as well as every moment of ecstasy. Over time, when past pain dominates the story we tell about ourselves, it prevents us moving forward.
The Sun in Gemini rules with the head, but the Moon in Pisces rules with the heart. It’s the sign of letting go, of faith and forgiveness. Maybe that nostalgia I feel is just a final step in processing – of assimilating all the psychic nutrients from an experience before letting it go.
Everything Seems Possible
Venus rushes gratefully into a conjunction with Jupiter this week (June 9, 2026, 12:59 pm PDT, at 25º46’ Cancer). This heart-opening union between the planets of relationship and infinite possibilities reminds me of something my husband-to-be said just after we became engaged all those years ago. As we hurtled along the 15 freeway one flawlessly beautiful afternoon, he turned to me and said, “You know, now that we’ve decided to get married, it seems like everything is possible.”
I knew just what he meant. Some people are reluctant to marry, for fear it will curtail their freedom. My experience has been the opposite. When you join forces with the right person – and this doesn’t have to be marriage, or even love; it happens with business or creative partners, as well as best friends – there’s a feeling of strength, joy, and optimism. The skies open up. The load seems lighter. And everything, indeed, seems possible.
Proof
I studied Communication in college and had a liberal arts major’s typical fear and suspicion of mathematics. But in all my years of school, one of my favorite classes was the one that fulfilled my math requirement: symbolic logic.
How elegant, this system of statements and proofs! They looked beautiful, dancing neatly across sheets of paper on my dining table. And although I found them sorely difficult and frustrating, I worked on them night and day, determined to master them. And in the end, I did. I received one of only two A’s in my class of 40 students. It remains one of my prouder achievements.
This week’s Mercury/Saturn square (June 9, 2026, 10:39 pm PDT, at 12º58’ Cancer-Aries) calls back to their conjunction on April 20. Since then, perhaps you’ve been working on something that’s really stretched you intellectually. You’ve already gotten your A, but you’re haunted by a concept that only you are aware that you never really grasped. So, you’re cracking open your books this week, and by Sep. 18, when Mercury opposes Saturn, you’ll have proof of your diligence.
Push Back with a Roar
Venus transits let us examine what we value. What in the physical world brings us pleasure? Who are the people we treasure, and what makes a relationship successful in our eyes? When Venus is in Leo (June 13, 2026, 3:47 am PDT, until July 9) , the litmus test is whether something – or someone – makes us feel valuable, attractive, and respected. We will adorn ourselves in clothing that makes us feel this way, go out with romantic partners we’re proud to be seen with, party ’til dawn, and demand royal treatment.
While Venus is in Leo, we’re called to share our heart, hospitality, and generosity, usually through big gestures. Venus in Leo wants to pick up her closest friends in a limo and treat them to dinner at a fancy restaurant, complete with champagne.
It’s a sunny, life-affirming position for Venus – but first, we have to get by its opposition with Pluto in Aquarius next week (on June 17). It’s a short transit, but it gets this Venus period off to a bumpy start, with Pluto’s side eye at luxury transportation, ostentatiousness, and extravagant gestures. But don’t let it throw you off your Venus in Leo game – when Pluto pushes you today, push right back with a roar.
What’s in a Name?
Astrological Mercury symbolizes the delineation of our personal boundaries, clarifying where we begin and the rest of the world ends. Few items in our biographical satchel contain as much power as our name to set us apart as distinct from others.
Naming anything – a person, a pet, a book – is a delicious, creative, and powerful experience, a chance to step into Mercury’s winged shoes. By naming something, we define it. We tell the world what it is, before it gets a chance to declare itself on its own terms. It’s the ultimate branding maneuver, as well as the acme of the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Sometimes, as this Mercury-ruled Gemini season reminds us, turning your life around is simply a matter of throwing off your persona and constructing a new one from scraps of memory and imagination. So the Gemini New Moon (June 14, 2026, 7:54 pm PDT, 24º03’ Gemini) is a good time to think about what you call yourself – not just your name, but your titles: mother, son, wife, CEO. And most of all, to rethink the secret names you call yourself, some of which – like playground nicknames – probably aren’t very nice.
You’re not just one thing. As much as impish Mercury likes the challenge of reducing us to just a few words, even he doesn’t insist that those words remain static. The truth is, no one adjective, no one name, could possibly contain you. You’re not your failures. You’re not your successes. You’re not the name your family gave you, or the cruel nicknames you were given on the schoolyard. At this magical New Moon, remember everything else that you are. Imagine yourself differently, and give that imagining a bright and joyful name all its own. It’s never too late to be someone new.
