Redemption
Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.
Brain food
The last in a series of three Mercury trines to the North Node (March 2, 2021, 11:09 am PST) is a reminder to use language to lift one another up instead of tearing each other down. The first in the series was on January 20, with Mercury on the Sabian Symbol 20 Aquarius, “A big white dove, a message bearer.” In that day’s U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony, that symbolism appeared in singer Lady Gaga’s dress with a large dove applique on the bodice, and also in the hopeful words of young poet Amanda Gorman.
We are ever more conscientious about what we feed our bodies. But it’s just as important to give our brains a healthy, balanced diet. Especially in challenging times, it’s vital to balance hard facts and strong rhetoric with language and messages that make our spirits soar.
The Call of the Weird
I remember seeing a documentary in which a casting director said something I’ve never forgotten. She said that what made actors stand out to her, and eventually get cast, was some quality of strangeness about them. She said that’s the quality casting directors are looking for, because the camera loves it.
Venus rules attractiveness, and Uranus rules strangeness. When the two meet this week in the spark of a sextile aspect (March 3, 2021, 9:09 am PST), what is odd and unique becomes beautiful. Find a quality that makes you unique – a physical feature, your walk, your voice – and call attention to it. Unleash your personal attractiveness, and see what connections are formed, and what doors may open.
Distracted driving
I live a few blocks from a busy thoroughfare that connects three mid-town neighborhoods with busy retail areas. The avenue was designed a century ago as a trolley route that serviced what were, at that time, bedroom communities for downtown workers.
By the 1930s, the trolleys were increasingly replaced by buses, and later automobiles. Consequently, while there are many things I love about my neighborhood, the congestion along the avenue is not one of them.
Unless you’re the patient type, which I fully confess that I am not, navigating our main drag is an exercise in frustration at most hours of the day. It’s the embodiment of Mars’ transit through leisurely Taurus, which ends this week.
As Mars moves into Gemini (March 3, 2021, 10:29 pm PST), we may feel much happier on a faster highway. But even if a Gemini type lives in a busy place, like Los Angeles, they find ways to adapt to their lengthy, frustrating commutes. When I lived in the Pasadena area and commuted to my office near downtown, my seven-mile morning commute could easily take an hour. Blessed with the Moon in Gemini, I spent that time sitting still in traffic eating my breakfast, drinking my coffee, finishing my makeup, and occasionally writing a song. These days, I’d be listening to podcasts instead of the drive-time radio jocks who used to amuse me. But the modus operandi is the same: Gemini will go to any lengths to avoid boredom.
As hard-driving Mars moves through easily bored Gemini through April 24, we’ll find its light, zippy quality is terrific for, say, like catching up on correspondence or fighting speeding tickets. But trying to do too many things at once can be perilous; and while focus will be challenging while Mars is in Gemini, it’s not impossible. Just work for awhile on one thing, move onto another, then circle around to the first one again, like a hummingbird that’s busily pollinating.
Unmasked
This week’s conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter (March 4, 2021, 7:27 pm PST) should bring a conclusion to matters that began in the first days of the new year. The Sabian symbol for this conjunction is, A man unmasked – which could, literally, have something to do with pandemic protocols. But it could also refer to a metaphorical unmasking – someone being revealed for who they are or something they’ve done. This could be someone close to you, someone in the news, or even yourself; it might be good works or character that are revealed, not only poor ones. Note the previous dates of the conjunctions, January 11 and February 14, and you should have a pretty good idea who and what is being revealed this week, and what lies underneath the mask.
The Sun’s square to the Lunar Nodes (March 5, 2021, 9:29 am PST) signals the midpoint between eclipse seasons. It’s a trigger for the Lunar Eclipse on Nov. 30, 2020 (8.38 Gemini) and the Solar Eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020 (23.08 Sagittarius), and a preview of the May 26, 2021 Lunar Eclipse (5.26 Sagittarius) and June 10, 2021 Solar Returns (19.47 Gemini). Look to the Gemini and Sagittarius houses of your chart and virtually any planets in those signs (or Virgo and Pisecs); something powerful is changing there.
The Sun’s square to the Lunar Nodes gives us the choice of continuing to languish in the Sagittarius South Node comfort zone, where we believe we have all the knowledge we need, or continuing to reach out toward the questioning, curious Gemini North Node path.
Now or Never
How did you arrive at this moment? Are you on track to reach your desired destination? And if not, is there time to shift course?
The Last Quarter Moon is a phase of redemption. It’s the pivotal third act in our personal narrative, when we undergo a crisis of confidence, come to terms with our circumstances, and take action to resolve something. This Last Quarter Moon is in Sagittarius (March 5, 2021, 5:30 pm PST), which, with its optimism and humor, is one of the more uplifting Last Quarter Moon signs. We are a tad more likely to believe that we can pull off a redemptive third act.
This Last Quarter concludes a lunar phase family that began with a New Moon at 15.o7 Sagittarius on Dec. 6, 2018. It’s now-or-never time for something we envisioned then, first acted upon at the Sep. 5, 2019 First Quarter Moon, and saw come to fruition at the June 5, 2020 Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse. Now, we decide how to conclude this chapter with perspective and grace.
Writing and collages © 2021 April Elliott Kent
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