In a world full of people, you can lose sight of it all, and the darkness inside you can make you feel small.
— Cyndi Lauper

With time, you will probably conclude that this Mercury retrograde in Gemini was more complex and nuanced than it now seems. That’s why today, with Mercury in the midst of a long slowdown and getting slower, is not the best time to draw conclusions or make judgments. Instead, try considering alternatives, and consider how some, or even all of them, might be true.

Indeed, one of the best things that might come from this period of Mercury’s apparent reversal (which ends on Thursday just before 6:33 pm EDT — 22:32:55 UTC) is an appreciation of how many things can be true at once.

If you simply grant that many things can indeed be true at once, then perspective becomes everything. For each point of view serves to reveal only its own shade of truth, in a broader spectrum where truth has many colors.

One of the great blessings of our time is the willingness of so many to see that a spectrum of realities actually exists. With each passing day it seems that many more are willing to respect a truth other than their own. It’s a miracle, really. When you consider how much power is in the hands of those who insist that you conform to their system of belief and their standards of behavior (or else), it’s amazing that there is any social tolerance at all.

Yet, this month of LGBT-plus pride festivals worldwide is clearly asserting and celebrating more than tolerance. There is also a growing recognition that any one person or group is actually a rainbow unto themselves as well as part of one. That includes you. The question is how wide a spectrum of your own truths you can accept without being critical of yourself. The challenge is to show your true colors without embarrassment, so as to better see yourself in others and feel others in you.

Yes, this particular period of Mercury’s apparent regression has undoubtedly brought you up against tangible, hard-core, real-world problems like making ends meet and getting enough to eat. Even so, it is just as certain you are not alone. To prove that you are not alone, all you need to do is look around.

Whether you attend a pride festival this week or simply get out amongst the rest of us on your way from one place to another, look around. As you do so, tell yourself with certainty that everyone, everywhere you look, is dealing with substantial difficulty. It will not be theory. Let yourself know that somewhere, some of us are sure to be confronted with problems remarkably like your own. It will be fact.  

If you can manage to grasp that even your most troubling predicaments are not yours alone, you will have become less small. You are in fact part of something bigger. After you realize that you are part of something bigger, then even your smallest efforts will take on a brighter hue as one of many colors in the world, each of them true. Once you see your own endeavors as shades of truth, you too will be able to take part in taking pride. And you should.

Because all that you are is somewhere to be found in everything that is.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

The Moon is in comparatively sober Capricorn today, waning after its Full Moon peak in stimulating Sagittarius a few days ago. Mercury is in its slowest retrograde of the year back through Gemini. Venus is climbing through its last day in Cancer. Another season is winding up towards its last fortnight. Things just might feel a bit heavy for you right now.

Much like love and passion, however, astrology indicates that motivation and support to at least lighten your load are likely to be found if you bother going halfway to meet and find other people and experiment with other aspirations.

Earlier today, Amanda Painter covered the love and passion angle admirably. In her treatise regarding the trine from Venus to Saturn, Amanda cogently noted how a little discipline can go a long way to channel passion, manifest talent and define love.

Sometimes, however, it may feel as though the tank of devotion that fuels your discipline has simply run dry. Now might be one of those times. Your mind may not be able to keep up with all there is to think about. Your emotions might have recently been wrung out. Your labors of love could seem lost. Even the fuse lit by the vernal equinox in March has very possibly now been spent.

If there is anything to astrology, however, this time need not be a nadir for you or anybody. The amplification of ambition is available if you reach forward to experiment with achieving (or at least seeing) something outside of where your endeavors have recently been focused and possibly frustrated.

If jogging seems like a drag lately, borrow a helmet and a bike to see what a dose of wheels will do for your feet and legs. Should one field of work be getting old, look into another. It won’t hurt to look. In the event that you have bitten off more than you can chew, consider spitting it out to take a smaller bite. If nothing else, just take a break away from what has turned into a chore so that you can appreciate your work from a new perspective — like a painter stepping back from a mural.

Reaching back might be even more productive than reaching forward. Something you burned out on long ago (perhaps stowed away in your closet, attic, garage or basement) might burn more brightly now if you reach in, get it out and dust it off. A live wire could be made by simply plugging back into group endeavors from which you once withdrew, no matter how good the reason at the time.

Finally, reaching out to others would seem to very possibly find empathy if not common aspirations at this time. For there is balance to be found in the astrology. The Sun and Mars are advancing through Gemini as surely as Mercury is retreating. Venus still waxes even as the Moon wanes. Jupiter is as direct as Saturn is retrograde. You just might find that balance manifesting on Earth if you bother meeting other people halfway at any opportunity, in any sense of the term. 

So mix it up a little bit. Explore new passions. Seek out new ways to stimulate your consciousness. Offer so as to receive — even if it’s one small thing at a time. Before you know it, motivation could be renewed, support might be refreshed, and life may not seem so heavy, if you bother.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

There are always two sides to any coin. Otherwise, no coin could exist as a tangible entity. If you are sensing that there must be another side to the sweeping, mutable scope of today’s Sagittarius Full Moon, you probably need look no farther than Venus. For as Venus rises towards its highest point in the West, it is also on the verge of flipping like a coin in at least three ways.

Even if you are among those who find change to be a challenge, the impending ‘flips’ of Venus are not bad news. With Venus, it is always possible for you to win whether the result  is ‘heads’ or ‘tails’, because both sides can realistically be bright.

When it comes to Venus, the most likely problems involve either excess or passivity. Excess can bring imbalance. Passivity can foment disorder. Think of people with the neurosis commonly called hoarding, and you get one picture of a Venus downside. 

Fortunately, astrology gives you a good look ahead and provides you with timeframes to work with. That way, you may eschew the excesses of attachment, and head off the consequences of being passive about doing some flipping yourself.

The first flip comes on Friday. Don’t worry, it’s enough simply to be aware. The second flip will be on Saturday — likewise, not to worry. The third flip (which will probably involve some work) will not take place until late next month, which is plenty of time to prepare.

On Friday, following today’s Sagittarius Full Moon by almost exactly 72 hours, Venus will flip from Cancer to Leo just before 11:33 am EDT (15:32:46 UTC). Your appropriate response will be to go with the flow. Flip into a more conscious awareness of Venus and its manifestation in the world. It will be easy; just observe with greater intention and take note with perception.

Notice how the truth can be a majestic, beautiful thing, even when it’s challenging for you. Observe how beauty in any form also expresses a great truth.

Additionally, make a resolution to become more conscious of your own values, thereby allowing what may have been difficult decisions easier and more clear. Finally, begin considering how you might release sentimental attachments to excess that weighs you down, or to passivity that holds you back.

Your resolution to be more consciously aware on Friday will allow you to catch the next flip of Venus while it is still subtle, and ride it like an expert surfer timing a wave. That flip will come on Saturday when Venus reaches its highest point in the West — what astronomers call its greatest eastern elongation.

Most people won’t notice at first, but from our perspective here on Earth the distance between Venus and the Sun will begin to gradually narrow next week. Soon, that bright and romantic beacon, which has been lingering with you (and perhaps a loved one) later and later into the night, will follow the Sun behind the horizon earlier, heralding the third and final flip next month.

That final flip will be Venus stationing retrograde on the doorstep of Virgo. It will then retrace the latter half of Leo two more times before eventually returning to Virgo in October. That is when the awareness of Venus you begin building on Friday and Saturday will come in handy. Should you elect to undertake the Venus retrograde project of becoming more deeply and truly aware of your valuable and brilliant self, what you learn beginning this weekend will make all the difference.

But that can wait. Start easy and enjoy the ride. Look for truth and beauty on every side of every thing. Get to know and value Venus while you also learn to let go of what it was, so you can better embrace what it will be. That’s a flip you can win, no matter which side of the coin shows for you.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Many and inspirational are those who have extolled the merit and benefits of struggle. Even so, there are other ways to evolve, strengthen, and be whole. If you will but allot some part of your endeavor toward seeking alternatives to struggle over the next handful of days, the Sagittarius Full Moon at 12:18 pm EDT (16:18 UTC) Tuesday might well reveal its best possible outcome.

An ancient Chinese text, the “I Ching” observes how there are times when perseverance is not a virtue, and does not further the best outcome for all (or even any) concerned. Based on how the Sun and Moon are moving, this is one of those times.

The Moon is moving to oppose the Sun from our perspective, and waxing (growing in luminescence) as it does. That’s what a Full Moon is. It’s an opposition of the luminaries from our point of view between them, with the Sun fully illuminating the Moon’s near side.

Unlike other contexts in which the word is often used, ‘opposition’ does not inherently imply conflict for astrologers. Instead, the cyclical and holistic nature of astrology at its best considers opposing signs, objects and/or points to be complementary. In other words, one pole of the opposition functions to complete and/or reflect, rather than clash with, the other.

Perhaps nowhere else is a complementary perspective of oppositions better illustrated than during a Full Moon. The Moon rises just as the Sun sets. The Sun traverses from one horizon to the other during the course of the day, and the Moon does the same on the corresponding night. The same principle, and your appropriate responses to it, are everywhere to be seen, including when you look into a mirror.

When you look in a mirror, you are getting a complementary perspective. A reflection of your visage shows how you look. Combining how you look with how you feel completes the picture of your countenance and enhances your self-awareness.

Even if you don’t like what a mirror shows you, nothing of what is made apparent would be changed by destroying or disregarding the reflection. If you can bring yourself to accept what you see, however, you will have options. Some alternatives to struggle would involve making adjustments in your life so as to improve your appearance. Other appropriate choices would possibly include compromise rather than conflict.

The fact that Tuesday’s Full Moon will take place in a mutable sign (Sagittarius) reinforces the pertinence of alternatives to struggle as an appropriate motif for your life now. The same fact also leads to an understanding of how the Sun is moving to demonstrate the same theme.

Opposing signs always share the same quality — cardinal, fixed or mutable. The Sun is now in mutable Gemini, opposing Sagittarius, and will remain in Gemini until the Cancer solstice on June 21.

Whenever the Sun is in a mutable sign, it means a new season is at hand. If there is anything for which struggle is not appropriate, it’s resisting seasonal changes. No amount of perseverance will forestall the consequences of Earth’s tilted axis combined with its orbit around the Sun.

Hence, the Sagittarius Full Moon on Tuesday will, more than anything, be supporting alternatives to struggle. The impending opposition of the luminaries will be asking you to move on from what the square aspects this week have implied (as elucidated by both Eric and Amanda in earlier posts). For the time being at least, you may want to begin accepting resilience as an appropriate substitute for leverage.

For as laudable as it is, there is for persistence (as there is for everything) a season. If this upcoming Sagittarius Full Moon is going to show you anything, that season is about to pass.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

The symbolic Sun is direct in tropical Gemini, moving as it always does — counter-clockwise on the zodiac. Emblematic Mercury is also in Gemini, but retrograde, moving clockwise on the zodiac. On Saturday, the Sun and Mercury will meet (or ‘conjoin’) in passing at 8+ Gemini. The Sun’s conjunction with Mercury will imply a meeting for you as well, between consciousness and intellect.  

You might want to begin preparing for your meeting with an understanding of what’s going on in the actual sky, then translate the astronomical events to the astrological framework of the zodiac circle. The planet Mercury is presently moving between Earth and the Sun, about to pass Earth from the solar system’s inside lane.

The process of Mercury catching up and passing Earth as both orbit the Sun gives rise to the illusive perception that Mercury is moving backwards, or retrograde — shown in abstract as clockwise apparent motion on the zodiac.

Mercury retrogrades happen three times a year, for approximately three weeks each time. The approximate middle of each Mercury retrograde period is marked by what is called an interior (or more traditionally, ‘inferior’) conjunction. This is because Earth, Mercury and the Sun are all lined up with Mercury in the middle. That’s what will be happening Friday. 

Hence, the interior conjunction of the Sun with Mercury shortly before 12:56 pm EDT (16:55:46 UTC) Saturday will not be a rare event. Nonetheless, each Mercury retrograde and its midpoint are unique, based on the context in which they take place. As you can probably tell by the conditions of and events in your life and the world right now, the context implied by astrology is energetic and complex. Such conditions call for conscious awareness 

The Sun represents consciousness, among other things. It’s the sort of consciousness that is evident and interactive, giving rise to personality and revealing something of what’s going on inside you and everybody else. Because Mercury is always so close to the Sun — and therefore difficult to discern separately — it represents (among other things) something close to consciousness but still discernibly different: the intellect.

The intellect is self-aware, frequently analytical and capable of abstraction. At its worst, intellect can get in the way of consciousness and inhibit awareness. At its best, intellect can moderate the vagaries of personality, facilitating better communication, greater awareness, and deeper understanding between conscious beings.

Hence, your role going into Saturday’s meeting of the Sun and Mercury. It will not be enough for you merely to show up and pay attention this week. You will be called on to participate and make a difference by recognizing and enhancing the highest, best potential in any situation and acting to prevent worst-case scenarios.

To participate most effectively, take a clue from Mercury’s position relative to the Sun. From our perspective here on Earth, Mercury will be in front of the Sun, representing the intellect in front of consciousness. Therefore, as a first principle, endeavor to show yourself as a thinking person as Saturday approaches.

In the heat of any particular moment this week, when others ask you why something is as it is, ask yourself how it could be as it should be. Should you be confronted by conflicting energies, consider not reacting in kind and not taking sides. Instead, try applying your own personal energy to solutions, even if you must venture to do so alone. When you encounter complexities, try what seems to be the simplest solution first.

Also, please remember that Mercury’s apparent motion is much slower than usual right now. Therefore, when you have time, take it — to think deliberately. Make notes, lists and even diagrams to get your thoughts out of your head and on paper (or some other printed media).

Finally, apropos of retrograde motion in communicative Gemini — where Mercury rules — employ words with an “re” prefix. Review, research and revise (among other things) before relating not just what you are conscious of in yourself, but also that you are aware of consciousness in others.

You have a meeting to be part of on Saturday, but really it’s for the rest of this week. In the midst of some of the most challenging astrology of the year, the implication is clear. This meeting will not be something to fear. Neither do you need to anticipate things getting worse in any way, shape or form. Rather, this week will be a chance to distinguish yourself as Mercury would have you do, and shine like the Sun you are. Be a natural resource in the world. Keep thinking. That’s what you’re good at. 

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

With a holiday weekend coming up in the U.S., many of you probably don’t want to do a lot of work. Not to worry. Venus and the Moon have you covered, and will serve to measure your life. You just have to take it in. It all begins overnight tonight with Venus in Cancer reaching an opposition to Pluto in Capricorn (separation of 180 degrees).

By Monday, which will be Memorial Day in the U.S., Venus will have moved away from an opposition to Pluto and into an opening square aspect (separation of 90 degrees) to Uranus in Aries.

Less than ten minutes after the square aspect from from Venus to Uranus is exact, the Sun in early Gemini and the Moon in early Virgo will follow suit with their own opening square aspect. That is the first quarter Moon, shortly before 1:19 pm EDT (17:18:49 UTC) Monday.

This lunar first quarter serves to measure where you are with what you initiated during the Taurus New Moon on May 17 (or May 18, depending on your time zone). It will be an appropriate time, especially on a holiday, to evaluate your progress and fortify your gumption in the face of any doubt you might feel.

Weather permitting, you don’t need an astrologer or a calendar to know when the lunar first quarter is happening. You can see it. After the Sun goes down, Luna appears half lit and half dark at or near its highest point in the sky for the evening.

If you point at Monday’s sunset with one hand, and at the first quarter Moon with the other, you will find your arms forming a right angle. It’s the same angle of separation (90 degrees, or a “square”) the Moon will have opened up from the Sun during the week or so since the two shared the same degree of Taurus as they moved through the sky together. Hence, it’s called an opening square aspect, the prototype for the same aspect between planets.

Uranus and Pluto are now in the process of separating away from their own opening square aspect. It started with their conjunction in Virgo, which was repeated three times from 1965 to 1966. In between their three exact conjunctions, Uranus and Pluto were never far part. Hence, it would be fair to say that Uranus and Pluto were conjoined continuously for at least two years. Compare that to one day for the Sun and Moon in conjunction. Imagine a New Moon lasting for two years. For Uranus and Pluto, that’s what happened.

Then beginning in 2012, and finally ending on March 16 this year, Uranus and Pluto reached a precise opening square aspect an unprecedented seven times. Once again, you could fairly say the aspect was continuous. Uranus in square aspect to Pluto was essentially one event lasting at least three years, which is now gradually spreading apart.

During this extended weekend, Venus will essentially be taking its measure of the spread that has opened up between Uranus and Pluto since March 16. Venus will move from 15+ Cancer (opposing Pluto in the same degree of Capricorn), to 19+ Cancer (to square Uranus in the same degree of Aries). In doing so, Venus will in effect be measuring your progress since March, and even since 2012. Indeed, you might go so far as to construe Venus taking its measure of history (and all who have lived through it) since the 1960s.

There will be no need for you to work overly hard to understand what Venus will be telling you. The information will probably be at least hinted at by the lunar first quarter. In the week or so from last Monday to next will likely be a prototypical parallel and representation of longer time frames.

Assuming you are not spending all of the next four or five nights distracting, intoxicating or exhausting yourself, all you have to do is take it in. Weather permitting, you can begin by watching unmistakably bright Venus in the western sky, and just take it in. With your eyes thus transfixed, take in the last week. Then the last two months. Finally, take in what you can of the last 50 years or so.

As you take it all in, search within. Feel out themes that emerged this week. Look for corresponding tableau that emerged this season. Reach for correlations in your life. Take your own measure from simply gazing upon Venus and the waxing Moon.

Provided you can allow yourself time for the contemplation of time (ideally under the sky) over the next four or five ‘darks’, you might find the days between take on a new meaning. You might even find the days after your holiday to hold more than you ever expected them to as the Sun and Moon move further apart — even as Uranus and Pluto are now doing.

Give Venus and the Moon a chance with a little of your holiday time. You just might see that time expand forward in proportion to how far you were able to take it back. You could do a lot worse.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Shortly before 4:45 am EDT (08:44:44 UTC) Thursday, the Sun will enter tropical Gemini. That will mean you are two-thirds of the way through the season that started on March 20, when the Sun entered Aries only hours after a total solar eclipse in the last degree of Pisces. It also means the great illuminant of sky and astrology is bringing its light to what’s going on in Gemini.

The actual Sun is inseparable from the light of day. The symbolic Sun of astrology brings a similar light — that of consciousness. Whether in actuality or in astrology, that light is reflected by other objects in our solar system.

From your perspective, the actual Moon (in Gemini today, in Cancer for most of tomorrow and on Thursday), appears to reflect solar light most brightly most of the time. That’s because the Moon is, of all objects in the solar system, routinely closest to the Earth.

For reason of its brightness most of the time, the Moon is classified as a luminary along with the Sun. Actual planets, because of their distance, appear less reflective of the Sun. Even so, it is because of the actual Sun that you are conscious of the rest of the solar system. 

The symbolic Sun serves a similar purpose in astrology. It is the point of reference that determines our relationship to the Moon and planets. For example, Saturn’s opposition is now peaking not only because Earth is moving between actual Saturn and the actual Sun, but also because the glyph for Saturn is in the process of being opposed by the Sun’s glyph on the zodiac circle. The same is true with all oppositions, defined both literally and emblematically by the Sun’s position relative to the rest.

In analog, the symbolic Sun of astrology illuminates your consciousness of all of the zodiac. Most of the time, the greatest degree of emblematic enlightenment will be received with regards to the sign occupied by the Sun and any planets in the immediate vicinity. Such could be the case for you with Mars and retrograde Mercury, two planets already in Gemini. First, however, you must realize something about yourself.

You must realize that you are part of astrology, not separate from it. You must also acknowledge that the enlightenment you seek is what you are most likely to find.

You can always find reasoning (however out of proportion, context and scale) to support what you want to believe, even if what you believe is demonstrably not true. As soon as the Sun enters Gemini, it will rapidly move towards a separation of 90 degrees (a square aspect) from foggy Neptune in Pisces as if to prove the point. As with all square aspects, you must act to resolve the tension. Veracity can only be gained after you have acted to resolve discrepancies and demonstrate (rather than simply assert) the truth. 

Hence, you might want to discard your hand-me-down notions of what Gemini, Mars and Mercury retrograde “mean” by the time you wake up on Thursday. Avail yourself of an opportunity to awaken to a greater degree of truth. Give yourself (and the great illuminant) a chance to get your consciousness out from under any attachment to prejudice.

Give the Sun, in Gemini until the Cancer solstice on June 21, a chance to shine light on your experience and banish the shadow of hearsay. Let Saturn (in Sagittarius opposing the nascent Gemini Sun) restructure your awareness. Allow yourself to navigate through fog (Neptune) to reacquaint yourself with life’s energy (Mars) and regain mastery of your mind (Mercury).

All that and many other adventures await you in solar Gemini. Just remember, it will all begin with and ultimately depend upon you and the Sun.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.