One of the proficiencies that allows human beings first to envision (one thing Neptune represents) and then to manifest (which is one of many corollaries with Saturn), is an ability to look ahead in time. It’s easy to take this ability for granted.

Nonetheless, it is something to be appreciated.

Indeed, we human beings often seem to be better at dwelling in the past (too often with anger), or dwelling on the future (too often with fear) than being present in the here and now.

Just as astrology has representations for envisioning and manifesting, the art of interpreting the sky also includes emblems for looking forward and back.

One particular indication of whether it is somehow timely or appropriate either to anticipate or to reminisce is symbolized by two objects and their orientation to each other on the zodiac circle of signs. Those two objects are Mercury and the Sun.

Just a few days ago, on Nov. 17, the Sun and Mercury came together in Scorpio for what astrologers call an exterior (or ‘superior’) conjunction. That event, recounted earlier this week in this space, can plausibly be interpreted to represent a rebooting of the relationship between Mercury and the Sun.

Among the many things the Sun can characterize, perhaps the most prominent is consciousness in the sense that most people understand it: awake, aware, interactive and shining its light to illuminate the world. Among versatile Mercury’s many correspondences is the mind and its means of expression.

There is, so to speak, very little distance between mind and consciousness. Yet, as anybody who has tried meditation can testify, the busy mind and a centered consciousness are two very different things.

The metaphorically spatial relationship between mind and consciousness carries over to the reality of the Sun and Mercury. Because Mercury is the innermost planet in our solar system, it is never very far away from the Sun, either on the the zodiac or in the sky. In between its rebooting conjunctions with the Sun, Mercury appears on alternate horizons for us on Earth. When Mercury is on the Western horizon after sunset (where it is heading now) it is moving ahead of the Sun on the zodiac circle, where all direct motion is counter-clockwise.

So it is that Mercury leaves Scorpio behind and makes ingress to Sagittarius today, ahead of the Sun entering Sagittarius on Sunday. As such Mercury is demonstrating a time when it might well be appropriate to be thinking ahead.

One of the advantages of being able to think ahead is that it helps you to contribute to or participate in creating the future. This proficiency, however, must be exercised consciously, lest you drag unpleasant things with you and compromise your future. Foremost among those unpleasant things is fear.

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Nothing spoils tomorrow more surely than fear of it. This is true even when it is reasonable to exercise caution when looking ahead.

For example, it is entirely proper and prudent to slow down and be observant when your automobile approaches a controlled intersection of roads. Yet it does you no good whatsoever to fear an accident at the intersection. The same holds true with intersections in life.

One of the big-picture, long-term intersections indicated by the astrology right now is a series of three specific separations from Saturn (also in Sagittarius) and Neptune (in Pisces) beginning next week. Those separations will measure 90 degrees on the zodiac and in the sky to constitute what astrologers call a square aspect.

Because the square aspect from Saturn to Neptune will repeat three times (and because they will never be far from 90 degrees apart in between those three occasions), you can think of yourself and the rest of the world as moving through one very long intersection. That represents months and months of your life, and it would be a shame to spoil such a length of time before you even get there.

Which is where first Mercury entering Sagittarius, and then the Sun, and you moving through your life, all come in. Think ahead, yes; there is nothing wrong with that. Indeed, there is empowering potential. But think ahead consciously so as to actually, literally make your experience of the oncoming intersection something pleasant and productive, unspoiled by fearful (and probably unfounded) anticipations.

Drive safely. Enjoy the ride. There will be much to see. You have far to go.

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It’s reasonable for you to ask when, or if it will all stop. Almost from the beginning of this century, the unconscionable ways of power politics have continuously raised the bar on unspeakable tragedy. Media technology has kept pace to bring it all so vividly and immediately into your personal life.

It’s painful. It’s wearying. It’s difficult to pay attention, yet nearly impossible to look away. It’s enough to make you wonder whether you can care about the world and care for yourself at the same time.

Above it all, the sky simply is. In the sky, there are movements. In those movements there is connection, wholeness and even perspective for you even now.

There are those who see the sky through the detached perspective of science. Yet, even science does not have all the answers. Even the most brilliant scientists cannot fully account for all they see, or how those things came to be. Even so, the endeavor to empirically understand and mathematically account for celestial events proceeds, setting an example for all of you who look for reasons and strive to be rational.

Then, there are those who view celestial events through the lens of imagination. Astrology is one of those ways. Yes, astrology does observe and correlate, much as science does. Unlike science, however, astrology does not strive to demonstrate or prove any truth conclusively. Rather, much as with music, astrology evokes truth through means that transcend the limitations of pure reason. Which is how astrology sets an example for all of you who also struggle to live through unreasonable events in an irrational world.

Two notable astrological events (one today, and one tomorrow) are combining to evoke a different world and a better life. It is a world less punishing and more nourishing, which can only begin in the imagination. It is a life that can be lived to make the imagined real.

Today’s evocative astrological event is represented by the Sun merging in the same degree of Scorpio with Mercury for what astrologers call a conjunction. Because its orbit around the Sun is inside that of Earth’s orbit, Mercury demonstrates two types of conjunction.

When Mercury is moving between Earth and the Sun, it is an interior (or ‘inferior’) conjunction. That sort of merger of the Sun and Mercury always marks the midpoint of a Mercury retrograde, evoking introspection and rumination regarding all that is evident. That is not the sort of conjunction taking place today.

Today the Sun is between Earth and Mercury, for what is called an exterior (or ‘superior’) conjunction. It is the midpoint between Mercury retrogrades. Because Mercury is literally hidden by the Sun, today’s conjunction of the two evokes an imagining of what is not evident.

Additionally, every conjunction of the Sun to Mercury (whether interior or exterior) is always followed by Mercury appearing on the other horizon from where we last could see it. A familiar light moving toward a new horizon implies the possibility of tomorrow transcending wherever and whatever your life is now, or has been before.

Speaking of tomorrow, that’s when Neptune (a planet that, among other things, correlates with imagining) resumes direct motion after just over five months of retrograde. From an empirical perspective, the change will be almost imperceptible. Slow-moving Neptune is in the same degree (7+ Pisces) that it backed into on Sept. 17, and where it will remain until Jan. 17.

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Yet, symbolically, a change of direction for Neptune evokes all the difference in the world. This is especially true when you consider the Sabian symbol for the degree in which Neptune is turning around all that it represents.

The Sabian symbol for 7+ Pisces (which is actually eighth degree of Pisces) is of a girl blowing a bugle. To paraphrase the late, great Dane Rudhyar’s interpretation of this symbol, the young woman is calling all of us to participate in service of humanity at a time of evolutionary crisis. It is not implicitly a militant service as the image of a man blowing a bugle might indicate. Rather it is another way to serve, corresponding with an emergence of feminine traits that support and affirm a world and a life that defy death by nurturing life.

Hence, the more positive and progressive nature of Neptune, which a return to direct motion implies, combines with the Sabian symbol for 7+ Pisces as well as with the merger of Mercury and the Sun to call upon you. It is not a call to arms. It hearkens to another horizon. It heralds another world, where there is no end but rather continuation of rational life and connection with reasons to live. And it all must necessarily begin with you rising above the din of discouraging events to courageously imagine how it can be so.

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