Now that Jupiter has completed its annual sign change (this time from Libra to Scorpio), it’s time to look around. Maybe it’s because Mars (in Virgo) was moving to oppose Chiron (in Pisces) when Jupiter made its ingress. Maybe it’s something else, but current events do seem to feature a lot of what you might frankly (if not politely) call pissing contests.

Predictably, many participants in these diuretic exchanges are men who are in possession of power. Almost uniformly, the parties to this seemingly expanding pattern of conduct have better things to do.

This is not to say anger doesn’t have its place. If there is anybody not angry about something at this time, it’s likely they are either profoundly evolved or not paying attention. Indeed, it would be fair to say that anger is sometimes a crucial factor in getting things done.

In practical experience, however, rage tends to be more corrosive than constructive. Especially so if grudge comes along for the ride. Even more so if agendas contested through excessive verbal urination (comparative manhood, for example) are not nearly so important as more worthy issues being neglected (like survival).

So, the question logically comes up: Can we really expect this gratuitous, unending and public exchange of euphemistic bodily fluids to continue unabated for the next twelve months? Furthermore, is there anything any of us can do about it?

We can invest some hope in the late, great Rachelle (“Rocky”) Gardiner’s assertion that astrology is not destiny. You can also do your part by refusing to participate with petty pissers in kind.

Instead, you can direct your attention to what is probably an abundance of authentically vital issues in your personal life. You can also, if you are so moved (and in your own way), insist that your putative leaders be just as accountable, mature and responsible as they expect you to be.

There are too many people dying unjustly, and before their time. The ugly stench of bigotry is exacerbating by the day. Wealth and power continue to conceal, excuse, and sometimes even glorify serial abuse. Love and tolerance are increasingly being disparaged, even (or perhaps especially) among those whose ostensible spiritual practice is based on exactly those two principles.

There is work to be done. Real workers take care of their personal needs privately and effectively in order to be productive. Yet, somehow, a lot of people who should be working for you are in fact defiling public life and the greater good because they have been enabled to believe it’s all about them.

If you would like to see the pissing contests stop, don’t support them. Don’t encourage them. Don’t respond in kind. Work the upside of both Jupiter and Scorpio: do your part to get things done, even if it means a wiser use of anger. Encourage the selfless and comfort the needy. Leave the polluters of public discourse with nobody left to listen.

Jupiter in Scorpio has started. When it is over, it will have been what we made it. For now, it’s pretty clear what it could, but does not have to, be.

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With the Moon waxing through watery Pisces all day today, it would not be surprising if both your inner and outer environments featured a significant emotional component. Shortly before 4 pm EDT (20:39:31 UTC) tomorrow, the Moon will move on to Aries, where Thursday’s Full Moon — with the Moon opposing the Libra Sun — will take place.

With any Full Moon comes an indication of climax, but not conclusion. That’s because a Full Moon is commonly recognized as the middle (not the end) of any given lunar cycle.

The two weeks following a Full Moon tend to be underrated. Perhaps it is because the Moon rises later each night. Hence, during the two weeks or so between a Full Moon and the next New Moon, it becomes more and more likely that you will go to sleep before the Moon becomes visible.

While that which is out of sight can easily be out of mind, it is not necessarily so. Your mind does not turn off while you sleep; it simply processes information in a different way compared to your waking hours.

As you will probably recognize from evaluating the content of dreams that you recall from slumber, a lot of the material commonly relates to your experiences from the day (or days) before. For what the waking mind struggles to resolve, the sleeping mind can very often provide some insight.

Working with dreams requires some intent. It is also necessary that you be as shrewd as you hopefully are when interacting with somebody who is attempting to sell (or convince you of) something. If ever there were a time to remember and apply those two principles, it would be during what remains of this week.

Based on what the Moon will be doing in context with the rest of the sky between now and Sunday, you can expect some rather strident sales pitches to be part of both your inner and outer climate. Given where the Moon will be in its own cycle during the same period, it would serve your long-term well being if you remain engaged while refraining from immediately buying in.

This does not mean you should procrastinate. What needs to be done will always remain so regardless of astrology. In matters where discretion is involved, however, it would probably do nobody any good if you were to rush to judgement over the next handful of days.

Instead, explore. Be curious. Note all your waking mind gathers. Consider everything your sleeping mind offers. Listen to others, not just for data, but also to put yourself in their place on the spectrum between highly reactive and unresponsive. Then, work with your imagination.

Imagine where you would like to end up on the continuum between any extremes you are observing and/or personally experiencing. Finally, give yourself at least five days (and as long as two weeks) to change your mind before taking a stand.

The times in which we are now living are trying – there is no denying that. Yet, no trial can result in a just end without the patient application of due process. If you can but facilitate that process for yourself, patiently allowing for one step at a time, the beginning of the next lunar cycle could very well come with the seeds of genuine wisdom.

And some authentic wisdom from you is something the rest of us could use right now.

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To some extent, we have all seen (or should have seen) the present day coming. Those of us who are older are (or should be) seeing it come around. It is not a question of whether some rather substantial changes are going to happen. It is a matter of how. If the current astrology is any indication, you matter.

This week, the so-called “personal planets” (which usually can be said to include the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars) are playing a substantial role in the astrology. Even so, that role is in a longer-term context.

That context is being provided by the interpersonal planets (Saturn and Jupiter), along with the planets that correlate more closely to the history of established cultures and nations (including, but not limited to, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto).

As if to initiate the “personal” side of things for this coming week, Mercury will leave Virgo behind to join the Sun in Libra shortly after 8:42 pm EDT tonight (which translates to seconds after 00:42 UTC tomorrow morning).

In the meantime, the Sun and Moon are gradually moving farther apart even as Venus and Mars are moving closer together. On Thursday, the combined motions of all the personal planets will reach an implicit climax.

Venus and Mars come together in the same degree of the same sign — for what both astrologers and astronomers call a conjunction — roughly every other year. The last time was 2015. The next time will be on Thursday, in Virgo.

About two hours after the Venus-Mars conjunction, the Libra Sun and Aries Moon will reach their monthly opposition (or, as it is usually called: a Full Moon). That’s a lot of astrological activity in one day, but it’s not about one day.

It took nearly two years for Venus and Mars to get to where they are now. Likewise, it’s been about a year since Mercury toured Libra, and nearly a month since the last Full Moon. Very much like the prospect of substantial change, the astrological events having to do with personal planets next week have all been coming for a while.

With those events will implicitly come personal choices. In general, there will be no clearly “right” or “wrong” electives. In most cases there be three ways you can go, and the consequences of each way.

First, you can act to favor going back to the way things were before now. Or, you will be able to endeavor to keep things the way they are now. The upside to either path will be the lure of familiar outcomes.

Both scenarios, however, will almost certainly require you to put more energy into the effort than you will get out of it. That’s because you will be resisting change during a time when there is no longer any excuse for not seeing it coming.

The third path is not passively letting change happen to you, either. Rather, it is being receptive (Venus, or the Moon if you will) to something different from before. It is also being both thoughtful (Mercury) and active (Mars) in determining what that difference is. Of course, this approach will have its challenges.

It is not easy to break personal habits and patterns, even if you are dissatisfied with them. In addition, uncertainty comes with the territory of moving forward.

All that being said, there is one clear reward of electing neither to go back nor to stay in the same place. It is the satisfaction of knowing that you are now participating in what will one day be seen as what was coming, even if all you reshape is your own life.

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Nobody can credibly deny the reality of seasons. Likewise, there is no disputing how seasons are driven by the Sun’s relationship with the Earth. Yet, you are constantly challenged by practices and convictions in direct conflict with those two facts. It need not be so, however. Intrinsic to astrology is an alternative point of view: the truth.

When the Sun enters a cardinal sign on astrology’s zodiac, a new season is simultaneously initiated and recognizable by what you experience of the Sun — no matter where on Earth you are. That’s the truth.

Today, shortly after 4 pm EDT (20:01:42 UTC) the Sun enters the cardinal sign Libra. At the same time, it will be one of two days in the entire year when the Sun is directly overhead at the equator. That’s the truth too.

In addition, everybody on Earth is receiving an equal portion of sunlight today. What’s more, sunsets are now taking place precisely in the west, and the Sun is rising exactly in the east, regardless of your location. Taken all together, these simple facts do more than constitute an equinox.

The basic solar data evident today (all of which you can apprehend and confirm for yourself) separates truth from fiction.

Revealed as an (admittedly convenient) fiction is the human construct of time zones. Regardless of what your clock reads at the time of today’s Libra equinox, you will experience it at precisely the same moment as anybody and everybody else. In other words, at least one (and implicitly all) of the artifices which divide rather than unite us in our individual experiences are basically lies.

Those lies, as it turns out, serve to empower and enrich only a comparative few while perniciously yoking the minds and lives of many. Just like monetary currencies, and nations, and war.

It’s enough to make an open mind wonder how anybody can be convinced to kill and/or die for such plainly manufactured falsehoods which are, at best, inconsistent with the seasons and the Sun. Yet, vast numbers of people are so convinced.

Some even say that such clearly contrived and unnatural predilections are somehow “hard wired” or even fated. Yet, even cursory observations of the seasons and the Sun reveal such a dim view of humanity to be the biggest lie of all. Conflict, bigotry, hatred and separation are choices which are (but need not be) constantly remade.

On the other hand, the ancient (and now, often disparaged ) discipline of astrology is in perfect synchrony with the Sun, the seasons, and their self-evident truths.

Take for example, the famous (and often discredited) fact that we are all created equal. Witness the frequently contested certainty that all of us are endowed by our very existence (regardless of what brought you to exist) with certain inalienable rights.

On an equinox, those self-evident certainties are verified by the Sun, and not just symbolically. Nobody can conceal the Sun’s support of those truths from anybody who bothers to simply look. Furthermore, every occasion of an equinox implies a new start which gives you and everybody else a chance to begin living in better harmony with veracity.

So, today of all days, look. See the truth of the seasons, and their connection with the Sun as what they are: the backbone of astrology.

Look too, and see the lies, especially those which keep much of the world angry or worried. Your purpose here is not to experience or inflict pain and fear. Anybody who says so is a liar.

There are other reasons for your existence. Just as with equality and inalienable rights, they should be self-evident. Up to now, those reasons have frequently been concealed by no small amount of stubborn attachment to pernicious conditioning which does only a few any good. But periodically (such as now), the truth is brought to you by the Sun – provided you will simply have it.

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Later today (or early tomorrow, depending on where you reside), the Moon moves on to Leo for the weekend. Then, on Monday, Luna leaves Leo for Virgo where it will meet up with the Sun for a New Moon, either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning (once again, depending on your time zone).

With the Virgo New Moon next week, a new lunar cycle will begin. Astrological events leading into and following the next lunation appear to be promising. Yet (as always) astrology is not destiny.

You are not a puppet in the cosmos. You are a participant. The greatest influences on you rarely (if ever) emanate from above. Rather, it is your choices that most often determine your fate.

Even so, what goes on in the sky (and on the zodiac) does provide guidelines for you to take into account. It all begins with awareness.

We are now in the final days of a lunar cycle that started with an exceptional New Moon which was also a total solar eclipse, on Aug 21. Depending on your personal astrology, it may seem like a long time ago — or only yesterday. Regardless, at this point it would probably be a good idea to practice long-term awareness on a daily basis.

Looking back to the solar eclipse, and ahead into next week, the holistic picture portrayed by astrology represents much that is supportive of your efforts. By the same token, some circumspection (even caution) would seem to be in order.

Mercury’s conjunction with Mars tomorrow will rapidly fade into the past, provided you can refrain from being reckless (or ruthless) this weekend. Then, come Tuesday, Mercury will leave behind the portion of the zodiac it has retraced three times — going into, during, and after its most recent retrograde.

Less than ten hours after Mercury moves past the 12th degree of Virgo, Venus (still rising brilliantly before the Sun) will emblematically follow suit by departing Leo to join the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Mars in Virgo.

Less than five hours after Venus makes its ingress, the Sun and Moon will conjoin in Virgo’s 28th degree. Finally, a week from today, the Sun will move on to Libra to precipitate an equinox and initiate a new season. That’s a lot of implicit momentum over the course of one week.

It is almost as if both a proverbial tide and metaphorical wind will be with you, and in support of any enterprise you have in mind. To cite just one example, the coming days would be an excellent time to publish a book or premiere a stage production.

The outcome of the coming week’s astrology, however, is not predetermined. A lot depends on one of the most powerful forces in the universe: your intent. Another big factor is your priorities. If, for instance, you were to run roughshod over the lives of others in pursuit of your ambitions, the result could easily be a success that is ultimately diminished by its cost.

To make the most of what remains of our current lunation and season, therefore, go boldly but with due diligence into this next week. Do not allow yourself to be mastered by either fear or ambition.

Be the master of yourself. Endeavor to feel the ground under your feet with each step. Make each stitch with equal care. Be willing to adapt just as much as you are determined to overcome. If the skies are any indication, it’s even now every bit as possible to bring as it is to be brought a renewed balance and equity to your life.

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It has been well over half a century since Bob Dylan told us “the answer is blowin’ in the wind.” If events in the three weeks since the Leo New Moon and total solar eclipse of Aug. 21 have demonstrated anything, it’s that Dylan richly deserved his Nobel laureate. To the same nation over which the Moon’s shadow correlated with questions, the wind has repeatedly brought reply.

Nobody, for example, can plausibly dispute the fact that sea levels have risen over the past century. Now, hurricanes Harvey and Irma have confirmed just what a big difference an increase of inches can make.

In the Pacific Northwest of the contiguous U.S., the ashes of incinerated trees have been carried by winds into cities. As if in response to how timber has been farmed with an eye toward profit, charred flecks of forest have covered cars, interfered with breathing and infested the inner workings of personal computers.

To the ancient Chinese, the wind was a background of sorts. Separate from but integrated with their five “elements” (fire, earth, water, wood and metal), moving air was noted for its ability to carry information both over vast distances and through the smallest crevice. Bob Dylan’s cogent observation of where an answer could be found was thus not without precedent.

Now, with this latest round of answers borne on a breeze, other questions have been raised. Who (and how many) have heard? Of those, who (and how many) have listened?

It is not randomly coincidental that a corporation named after the fruit of a tree has just announced a new (and very expensive) “phone” device. Those who can afford this latest model will do more than distinguish themselves by their relative wealth. Ironically, a financial commitment to information which is entirely of human artifice will render its owners even more deaf and isolated than ever before.

Yet, assuming the thinking of long-ago Asian sages is still applicable, nobody can totally escape the wind. The forces that combine to bring an apple to the ground will not be evaded by anyone.

In astrology, there are only two objects that also function as substantial physical forces continuously felt on Earth: the luminaries (the Sun and Moon). Their gravity combines to precipitate tides. In addition, the Sun’s radiation participates with gravity and Earth’s rotation to drive the wind.

The planets, while not negligible, are far more subtle.

Hence, it should be no surprise that answers recently brought by the wind have a temporal correspondence with an especially momentous beginning for the current monthly cycle between the luminaries.

It is a cycle that has not yet concluded. We have another week before another New Moon (which will not be a solar eclipse) renews an ostensibly more ordinary rhythm between the Sun and Moon. You would therefore do well to heed air in motion, and listen for yet more news that can in no way be construed as fake.

It will not be an ill wind, except for those who deny it.

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Speculation is not an entirely bad thing, so long as it is leads to something more solid. On occasion, an established way of explaining events or scenarios does not account for observations. In such a case, it makes sense to first examine available data carefully.

Most often, any given discrepancy between expectations and what happens can be traced back to errant information. Only once in a while (and only after the data has been verified) is it reasonable to question how the expectation was formed.

Looking at the motion and distribution of celestial bodies and points to get useful clues for understanding the world and your life is (to say the least) controversial. Yet, it is self-evident that you and planet Earth are part of a system defined by matter-energy moving in predicable ways through space-time.

If you will grant that any one part of a system tells you something about both any other part and also the whole, it is not unreasonable to employ astrology as a tool. Based on the present holistic distribution and motion of cosmic entities, astrology as an implement for at least orienting yourself should not be excluded from your personal tool box.

That’s because the world in which you live has demonstrated some undeniable trends since the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21. One word which could fairly be employed to describe prevailing patterns over the last two-plus weeks is “unprecedented”.

From the behavior of some people to behavior of the Sun, exceptions to recent memory (at least) abound. Established means of anticipating and explaining account for less than they have for a long time.

In addition, there is no sign that extraordinary will cease to be more and more the rule anytime soon. For you (indeed for nearly everybody) that’s good news.

To become part of a paradigm shift which is presently being implied above and simultaneously expressed below, it is important not to speculate too much. By the same token, it is equally vital that you not confine yourself to ways and means of orientation and understanding which are not currently working as well as before.

Based on what the Sun is doing, it is reasonable to expect a new season in nearly any sense of the word. Looking at where the Moon is (and where it is moving), it should be possible to employ intuition in harmony with logic.

Mercury, Venus and Mars are each in their own way making progress towards a new beginning as well. Jupiter and Saturn imply that nobody is alone in any of this. Other objects orbiting the Sun (notably, but not confined to Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) are emblematically indicating both a long-term meaning and a short-term substance which cannot be cynically explained away as absurd, random or pointless.

Even a grounded skeptic cannot be construed to have a handle on what’s going on at this time. Awe and wonder are not unfounded, so long as you keep them in their place.

You may be justified in feeling small, helpless or confused for the moment. There is no reason to remain that way, however. So long as you run your imagination rather than having it run you, you can participate in achieving a greater understanding of what’s going on that will be serviceable for those not yet born.

You can start by examining what raw data you can gather with a critical eye, and follow the good information where it leads.

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