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Highlights for Aug. 23-29, 2021: Regrets, I’ve Had a Few

Regrets, I’ve Had a Few

Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.

The personal becomes eternal

Some relationships exist purely for pleasure. You might enjoy the occasional lunch with a casual acquaintance, wish them a happy birthday, compliment their latest selfie on Instagram. In some special cases, you enjoy sensual escapades together without the desire for anything more serious. Relationships built on pleasure are Venus in its simplest form.

But there are a few times in life when you look into another’s eyes and see the future staring back at you. You realize that you could build something with this person. It might be a band, a business, or a family. But whatever it is, they draw you toward a future you’d never have imagined on your own.

This is what it’s like when Venus in Libra trines Saturn in Aquarius (Aug. 23, 2021, 5:48 am PDT), and the personal becomes eternal. There’s a reason Saturn, the planet of commitment, is exalted in Libra, the sign of partnership. Commitment doesn’t preclude pleasure, but in Venus/Saturn relationships it’s no longer the only thing that matters.

An existential cul-de-sac

It isn’t often that fast-moving Mercury dominates the astrological landscape, unless it’s turning retrograde. But this week is the exception. Other than the Venus/Saturn trine, every really interesting thing in the sky is connected with Mercury – beginning with Mercury’s opposition to Neptune (Aug. 24, 2021, 6:14 pm PDT).

Mercury is on the Sabian Symbol 23 Virgo, “An animal trainer”; Neptune is on 23 Pisces, “Spiritist phenomena.” Mercury in Virgo is literal, pragmatic, accustomed to “taming” disorganization with spreadsheets, checklists, and hospital corners. But on those occasions when logic leaves us stranded in an existential cul-de-sac, spinning around and around with no rational solution, it’s time to appeal to the invisible. The “spiritist phenomena” of Neptune’s symbol doesn’t necessarily mean we need to consult a psychic. It may just mean that our own intuition and faith in spirit can be as useful as logic – and at some moments, even more so.

A firm embrace

Mercury opposed Neptune opened the portal of spirit, reuniting the conscious and unconscious mind in a kind of meditation. The next day, the refreshed acuity of Mercury in Virgo plugs into a powerful source of pragmatism as it trines Pluto in Capricorn (Aug. 26, 2021, 7:23 am PDT).

If focus has eluded you lately, today it gathers you up in a firm embrace. This is a quick transit, so set this day aside for the last, hard push toward birthing an idea into a physical form. What Mercury and Neptune together could only dream about, Mercury and Pluto can make real, and in record time.

To the marketplace

Mercury enters Libra this week (Aug. 29, 10:10 pm PDT), and it will eventually retrograde in this sign (Sep. 27), resulting in a longer than normal stay. Mercury in the preceding sign, Virgo, analyzed the information at hand and sharpened critical thinking skills. In Libra, Mercury likes to use those skills to engage others in debate, bargaining, haggling, and negotiation. We’ll have until Mercury enters Scorpio on November 3 to refine our negotiation tactics.

Libra is a sign associated with good manners, but those with this placement whom I’ve known well are actually pretty argumentative. They’re scrupulously fair, though, and when you’ve won the point, they concede without hesitation. What’s important is that the debate be fair and the opponents equally matched, and that the truth and value of what’s under discussion be fully revealed.

During this protracted Mercury in Libra period, be prepared to take your ideas to the marketplace and engage in a spirited debate about them. You’ll soon find out whether they hold water.

Regrets, I’ve had a few

This week’s Last Quarter Moon (Aug. 30, 2021, 00:13 am PDT) is in Mercury-ruled Gemini (with the Sun in Virgo, Mercury’s other home sign). At the Last Quarter we look over our shoulders at what we’ve done and failed to do, and occasionally, there will be regrets. Particularly with Gemini involved, they could be regrets over things we’ve said.

Born at a Last Quarter Gemini Moon, I’ve said plenty of things I regret. Just the other day, a kindly viewer tipped me off that a video I’d uploaded might benefit from a little trimming. When I watched it, I was mortified to hear myself – enormously frustrated at the technical challenges of finishing the video – blurt a frustrated expletive that I’d overlooked clipping out! I hope no one was offended by it, but I have to admit that I had a good laugh at myself when I heard it.

Sometimes, though, our past words can have far more serious consequences. Last week, the newly hired host of the TV quiz show Jeopardy! resigned after offensive comments he’d made on a podcast came to light. It’s an extreme example of life in the modern age of social media, when most of us have, at some point, posted in haste and repented at leisure.

Coming at the end of a Mercury-saturated week, this Last Quarter Moon is a moment to focus on and tame not only our tongues, but our busy, chattering, Mercury minds. The calmer the mind, the more control we have over what we say, and the fewer regrets we’ll have to live with in the long run.

Writing and images © 2020-2021 by April Elliott Kent

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