Clarify Your Terms
When I was young, but old enough to know better, I invited a pen pal from another state to come for a visit. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it ended up being a disaster. As it turned out, this friend had certain… misunderstandings about the nature of our relationship, and things turned out very awkwardly for all involved.
Mercury sextiles Neptune this week (May 26, 2025, 1:37 pm). Mercury, and for that matter the sextile aspect, are symbols of invitation, of extending one’s hand out in an offer of connection. But when Neptune is involved, these kinds of misunderstandings are pretty common. So before you put that hand out in friendship, clarify your terms, and you may have to continue having clarifying conversations along the way.
That said, this is a wonderful transit for artistic projects, which involve pulling together a number of imaginative somethings another thing entirely. And in particular, if you’ve already completed some art, this is a great transit for promoting it, because Neptune is in Aries, and that’s a sign that isn’t shy about self-promotion.
A Different Story
There’s a bonfire burning on the beach, and you’re sitting around it with a small group of fellow travelers and campers. Everyone is far from home; in some cases, you don’t share a common language. You take turns introducing yourselves, and when it’s your turn, you begin to recite the usual details – your name, your job, the place you call home.
Instead, you find yourself telling a different story. One about sitting around a similar fire with your family, back when you were too young to have much of a biography. How you and your sister got up and entertained the adults with a silly song, and your older brother made shadow puppets against the background of the tent. How mom and dad leaned into one another and laughed; how you all toasted marshmallows. Around your present-day campfire, this odd collection of strangers relaxes and smiles, perhaps remembering childhood camping trips of their own.
It’s often harder to tell the story of who we are now, than it is to remember where it all began. Maybe it’s because we’ve told the old stories for so long that we know them by heart; we’ve even learned how to pause at the right moments for effect. Or maybe it’s because who we are is always shifting, and the ongoing story needs time to find its structure. As the Gemini New Moon (May 26, 2025, 8:02 pm PDT, at 6º05′ Gemini) sextiles imaginative Neptune and transformative Pluto this week, there’s an opening to become someone a little bit different, and to tell a new story around the campfire.
Give the Right Name
There are shadowy, nasty impulses lurking inside each of us. They are where Pluto lives, like trolls under a bridge. And if we can understand them, we can overcome them.
While transiting Mercury trines Pluto (May 27, 2025, 10:56 am PDT, 3º41′ Gemini and Aquarius), we meet one of these trolls along the road. Something we read, some conversation we have, awakens an ugly thought; it might be jealousy, or contempt, or an illicit idea you’d never act upon. Don’t be afraid of these thoughts. They’re just Mercury’s way of introducing you to one of your trolls, so you can make friends with it – and then it will lose its power over you.
As in a fairy tale, each of these encounters requires you to give your name and answer a question correctly before you can pass. The trick is, we call ourselves by many names – not just the one on our government ID, but also titles like Mother, Father, Husband, Wife, Best Friend. The key is to find the name that’s called by this encounter, and then you’ll have no trouble answering the question that’s asked of you.
Falling, or Maneuvering?
A planet, coming together in an exact conjunction within 17’ of arc with the Sun is said to be cazimi, or “In the heart of the Sun,” and especially powerful.
Mercury makes an exact conjunction with the Sun this week (May 29, 2025, 9:13 pm, at 9º01′ Gemini), the apex of a cazimi period that falls between May 29 at 3:44 pm PDT and May 30 at 2:41 am PDT. When Mercury is cazimi, profound moments of mental or communicative clarity are possible. It’s a powerful time to deliver a message; just make sure it’s exactly the message you want to send – it will have all the power of the Sun behind it, as well as the strength of Mercury in its own sign.
The Sabian symbol for this conjunction, An airplane falling, sounds ominous, especially here in San Diego where, a few days ago, a Cessna literally went down in a residential neighborhood about 5 miles from our home. But Dane Rudhyar stated the symbol a little differently: An airplane performing a nose dive – and with Mercury cazimi, it might be like the Blue Angels performing a spectacular maneuver at an air show. Both versions of this symbol get the adrenaline pumping, but Rudhyar’s restatement offers a note of control and intentionality that’s reassuring, though accidents can happen to even the most practiced pilot.
As we enter this Mercury cazimi, who’s in charge of your airplane – you, or fate? Make sure you’re confident behind the controls, before you ever leave the ground.
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
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