Prepare to touch the future
- Dates and times given are for Pacific time zone. Click the dates given to find the equivalent for your time zone.
- Need a quick refresher on the houses of the horoscope?
Taking Mars in a new direction
Mars finally turns direct this week (Aug. 27, 7:05 am), at the last degree of Capricorn. Two months ago (June 26), the red planet turned retrograde in Aquarius. Mars hadn’t been retrograde in that sign since 1971. Sure, Mars moves through Aquarius every couple of years, and the soil of your chart’s Aquarius house (don’t know how to find it? this post might help) gets a good tilling. But retrogrades are a little more thorough. You’ve had to dig a little deeper, get rid of some tough old roots and stones, and get ready to plant something new in this area of your life. And it probably hasn’t been an easy process, because that ground hasn’t been turned over in 47 years!
For me, every step forward has immediately taken me straight into a brick wall – which I then had to dismantle, brick by brick, and then figure out what to build in its place, and how to go about building it. In short, this has been like a Mercury retrograde on steroids. And while Mercury actually was retrograde (July 25 – Aug. 18), the process was even more frustrating!
Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. – Kurt Vonnegut
Mercury/Jupiter and the Full Moon
We tend to ignore Mercury unless he’s retrograde. Generally, he moves quickly, before we can pay much attention to what he’s up to. But let me call attention to something. On the same day Mars turns direct, Mercury makes a square aspect to Jupiter (Aug. 27, 10:31 pm). It’s the last in a series of squares between the two planets that began on July 9 and repeated on August 11, while Mercury was retrograde. Whenever Mercury aspects Jupiter, it means that at least a couple of opposing houses in your chart (usually four) are engaged in an intense dialogue with each other.
Look for the houses of your chart ruled by Gemini/Sagittarius and by Virgo/Pisces (don’t know how to find them? this post might help); the needs and demands of these areas of your life are in conflict, however minor. How do we reconcile the needs and concerns of the moment with the need to move toward larger goals? This week marks the point in the argument between the two when a resolution is possible.
It’s an exciting start to a week that begins in the wake of a Full Moon in Pisces, which I’ve written about elsewhere. But it’s worth noting that this Full Moon—with the Sun in Mercury-ruled Virgo, and the Moon in Pisces, traditionally ruled by Jupiter—further emphasizes the ongoing Mercury/Jupiter dialogue.
The Full Moon is the moment each month when all is revealed and the darkness is fully illuminated. If people seem crazy at the Full Moon, perhaps it’s because it’s harder to sleep with the light on. Pisces, in particular, holds sway over parts of your life where you need quiet and sanctuary; a Full Moon here is the equivalent of having an audience watch you while you try to pray. So part of the ongoing Mercury/Jupiter discussion, which comes to a head at this Full Moon, might be something about privacy, and the space to think your own thoughts without being interrupted by another’s words. It could also be that you’re wondering whether the details of your daily life (Virgo/Mercury) are in line with what you see as the purpose of your life (Pisces/Jupiter).
Your intuition will tell you where you need to go; it will connect you with people you should meet; it will guide you toward work that is meaningful for you – work that brings you joy, work that feels right for you. – Shakti Gawain
Your new story – Disseminating and Last Quarter Phases
Those sorts of questions lead naturally to new insights and a desire for change. Each month, the Moon’s Disseminating phase (beginning Aug. 30 at 3:34 am) is a good time to revise the story you’re telling about your life, who you are, and your experiences. Particularly as the Sun and Moon form a trine aspect on August 31, share your story with others. The series of squares between Mercury and Jupiter has helped clarify the plotline of your life; now it’s time to share it. Catch up on your correspondence. Write a blogpost. Dust off that short story in your bottom desk drawer and get to work.
The week ends at the beginning of the Moon’s last quarter phase (Sep. 2, 7:37 pm). The Last Quarter can be a bit of a melancholy phase. After the storytelling Disseminating Moon, we’re reminded that every story must eventually come to an end – including our own. This intensifies the pressure to accomplish something. The Sabian Symbol for 11 Gemini, the degree of the last Quarter Moon, is, “Newly opened lands offer the pioneer new opportunities for experience.” If you’ve been sensing that the road forward for you involves blazing new trails, you’re right.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou
Seeds of your future self
What trails, though? This takes us back to the Aquarius house of your chart. That is where the earth is freshly tilled by Mars retrograde, thoroughly revitalized, and ready to receive new seeds. Aquarius is the sign that wants to touch the future, and it’s never too late to get started.
Each month, the Last Quarter Moon reminds us that time is a precious resource, dwindling away at a steady pace. It’s up to us what we choose to do with that knowledge. Take two women in their 80s. One is a shut-in, looking back angrily at her lost time and missed opportunities. She’s out of new stories to tell; all she has is complaints about the past. The other might be like a woman I met recently at a local astrology meeting—vibrant, youthful, and passionately interested in learning.
As the week, and this lunar cycle, come to a close, ask yourself which one of these women you want to be—and then get to work planting the seeds of that vital, future self.
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
©2018 April Elliott Kent
