THIS WEEK — Mercury retrograde ends Monday. That can come as a sense of relief, as if someone finally turned off the chaos generator. Yet this can feel like the water churning as a ferry pulls into the slip and the pilot throws the engine into reverse.

Virginia Woolf, Aquarius, born Jan. 25, 1882; author of “A Room of One’s Own” and other famed works.

The best thing about this event (technically called Mercury stationing direct) is that it can bring out information that solves mysteries.

You might get the missing piece of data, the clue, something someone says offhand, and you suddenly figure it out. Remember, the more you know, the more knowledge comes to you.

The Sun is now in Aquarius, the sign of cool, brilliant types, inventors, sci-fi fans and people who tend to believe in mind over matter.

If your birthday is this week, you can count on a highly motivated time in your life, when you have the energy and persuasive power to accomplish anything you set out to do. A close relationship partner could also be a tremendous asset to your professional ambitions.

Note — We covered Mercury stationing direct in more detail in a mailing Saturday. Here is that article if you missed it.

By Eric Francis

THIS WEEK — We have one more full week of Mercury retrograde. This process, which began Tuesday, Jan. 5, ends Monday, Jan. 25. The last week of Mercury retrograde can present some challenges. For example, you might want to take action or make a decision before you’re ready.

Three playful arctic wolves — basically, big, wild dogs from the north — at the Toronto Zoo. Photo by Scott Fleming/Flickr.

You might think you know something when it turns out there is more information coming. One of the most distinct properties of Mercury retrograde ending is making a discovery. So take your time, be patient, and let that revelation come at just the right moment.

Aspects this week are all about honest conversation. Many of the signs describe this as being about the most intimate aspects of life. If you answer this calling, and practice sincerity, a kind of magic is possible. Barriers between people can melt. You can discover things about yourself that you would never have imagined, particularly creative talents that surprise you.

The Sun changes signs to Aquarius on Wednesday. This shifts the emphasis from work-related matters to a lighter social environment. But as far as work is concerned, group efforts are favored over individual ones. Learn to put your mind together with those of other smart people and come up with the best ideas, and the best solutions.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Here is your overview for the week. Saturday we passed through the Capricorn New Moon, and are now in the very beginning phases of the new lunar cycle. The Moon is in Aquarius as of Sunday afternoon and all through Monday and Tuesday.

Image by Eric Francis.

Mercury is retrograde, and has ingressed Capricorn. It’s now moving into an alignment with Pallas Athene, the asteroid associated with law, strategy, politics and daddy issues.

With regard to the latter, it would be wise to recognize your adult prerogative and power rather than submitting yourself to various forms of paralysis associated with the ways in which children lack the ability to influence the flow of events, or their own destiny. It may help to remind yourself, “I am not a child.”

The retrograde, though, may serve to remind you of places where you’ve given up your autonomy or had it taken from you. There is a reclaiming of that autonomy that’s illustrated in the alignment of Mercury and Pallas. Typically, that involves becoming hip to the politics of your environment, and how the politics of your early environment were compromising to your sense of your own power.

The idea of politics at its best is about getting what you want without resorting to brute force. That might come in the form of negotiation. In order to negotiate, it helps to know what influence you actually have — and not over-estimate it. You need to know what you’re willing to offer, what you’re willing to give up and what you’re willing to receive. Then from there, you would engage in a conscious dialog about attaining your goal — keeping the goals of the other fellow in mind. Mercury retrograde suggests taking an innovative approach, but since this is Capricorn, just a little.

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We’re in the last few days of the Sun’s transit through Libra. It’s been interesting, hasn’t it? The past few weeks has included a total lunar eclipse in Aries, Mercury retrograde, and now a sequence of conjunctions in Virgo (Mars-Jupiter, Venus-Jupiter, Venus-Mars).

Ceres (Summer) painted 1717-1718 by Jean-Antoine Watteau, now kept at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Before the Sun ingresses Scorpio on Friday, Oct. 23, it will pass through the late degrees of Libra. The sky is clear of major planets in the late degrees of signs, though Ceres, now called a dwarf planet, is in late Capricorn. All week the Sun will be approaching a square to Ceres.

Previously Ceres was considered an asteroid (before that, a planet, and before that, mainly for political reasons, a comet); it seems less dwarf-like when you consider that it makes up one-third the mass of the main asteroid belt.

The next 10 largest asteroids make up another third of the mass, and the remaining tens of thousands of objects make up the remainder. It’s true that size isn’t everything, but it’s worth knowing about.

More significantly, Ceres was one of the most important goddesses of the classical Roman era. She meant many things to many people, and her role changed over the centuries, making her an exceedingly complex mythological figure, involved with everything from equality between the classes to her best-known feature, agriculture. However, more than the ‘goddess of grain’, Ceres was regarded as she who makes things grow.

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