Irrational Impulses
Uranus, retrograde since September 5, 2025, stations to turn direct this week (Feb. 3, 2026, 6:33 pm PST) at 27º27′ Taurus. I’ve come to expect a whoosh of energy when the outer planets change direction. Feeling unsettled and rebellious without cause are hallmarks of a Uranus station, along with an irrational impulse to do something that can’t be undone. There are moments in life when that’s just what’s needed.
But a few days either side of this station, extremity and overreaction are in the air, so proceed with caution. Uranus will want to shake us loose from ways we hold ourselves back from pleasure and prosperity, but that rarely comes without consequences.
This is a moment to ask yourself: Where have I outgrown my old definition of security? What resources—skills, connections, ideas—do I already have that could support me in new ways? And how can I stay open to opportunities that don’t look like the traditional paths I once relied on?
Uranus doesn’t promise comfort, but it does offer freedom. And that freedom often begins with a willingness to relate differently to what we value most.
Obsolescence
Let’s say you’re a fantastic typewriter repair person. You’ve spent your career mastering the idiosyncrasies of various makes and models, sleuthing out sources for replacement parts and in some cases, fashioning them yourself.
The problem is, hardly anybody uses typewriters anymore.
You can be the very best at something, but if it’s something that’s on its way to becoming obsolete, you’re not going to have many opportunities to do it.
As Mercury squares innovative Uranus (Feb. 5, 2026, 4:13 am PST, at 27º Aquarius and Taurus), circumstances force you to take a new tack. Here’s an opportunity to use old skills in a fresh new way that meets contemporary needs in a better way. The world is accelerating toward change; don’t let yourself be passed by.
Unwinding Your Thoughts
Is your brain tired? If your days are an endless, repetitive loop of chores, tasks, analysis, and word-slinging, you could benefit from a little unstructured dream time about now. Enter Mercury in Pisces (Feb. 6, 2026, 2:48 pm PST, through April 13), which favors a more poetic, less linear form of processing and communicating with the world.
Pisces speaks to us in images, music, and art. My Pisces-rising godson, when he was a toddler, couldn’t walk by a television without stopping in his tracks and becoming immediately enthralled by the images on its screen. A dear Pisces friend spent as much of his adolescence asleep as possible; when he wasn’t napping, he was playing music. I’ve got Mercury in aspect to Neptune, the modern ruler of Pisces, in my birth chart; as a kid, it took herculean effort for me to pull myself out of my daydreams.
Ideally, we’d absent ourselves from the mundane and spend Mercury’s Piscean seasons at the easel, or maybe at Esalen, seated in the lotus position overlooking the Big Sur coastline. Unfortunately, most of us can’t get away for ten-week retreat at an exclusive meditation center. We can, however, make an effort to loosen our grip on schedules and to-do lists a bit more than usual for a little while. A little time reading a novel, walking in nature, meditating, and otherwise unbending, is time well spent while Mercury is in this sign. A little time to unwind your thoughts, following the thread that connects them back to its origin, so you can come up with a different dream for your future.
Bucking Bronco
Venus squares Uranus this week (Feb. 8, 2026, 1:49 am PST) at 27°28’ Aquarius and Taurus. Both the sign of Aquarius and the planet Uranus can be like trying to hold on to a bucking bronco, so this might be the equivalent of a friend showing up at your door with your favorite candy the day after you’ve pledged to start eating healthier. Or committing to a strict budget for your household in the new year, only to have the refrigerator immediately break down.
Beyond diets and budgets, relationships are an important part of Venus’s terrain. This week could bring a new and stimulating business or personal connection – or surprising developments in existing ones. When Venus and Uranus connect by square, tension arises around the appropriate balance between togetherness and independence, between affection and freedom.
Finding that balance is often a tall order, especially in relationships where partners live in the same house together. But this aspect can also wake us up to desires we didn’t realize we had, and to people who are so familiar, we might have begun to overlook them.
Writing and images © 2017-2026 by April Elliott Kent
