The Sun and Moon form a conjunction in Gemini at 3:43 pm EDT Wednesday. The retrograde happens in the context of many sign changes of outer planets (Chiron, Uranus, Pholus and others).

Mars represents individuality; and Aquarius represents the rules of society, which tend to ban individuals from expressing themselves, or make it frustrating to try. Mars, however, will not be contained. This dynamic, on one level, sets the group and the individual in opposition to one another.

‘Earthrise 2.0’, captured in 2015 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, while taking a break from documenting the Moon’s surface. Image by NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University.

Yet there are much wider forces that are conditioning groups of all kinds — families, companies, tribes, cliques and so forth. Collectives of any sort are being shaped by deep, far-reaching processes of change.

The individuality that would seem to be coming from Mars also originates with Chiron in Aries (the ultimate maverick) and Uranus in Taurus (a revolution in values). With these aspects, you only get the potential for change, and the energy to make it happen; you don’t get a guaranteed outcome.

You need to tap into the energy like the Sun, the wind and the rain, and harness it to get the desired result. It will help if you know what that is; and if you don’t know, spend some time considering what you need. What are the ways that your life is too conditioned or restricted by any form of a group dynamic?

Mars retrograde is an opportunity to shuffle the social order and make some space between our thoughts for these new outer planet transits to take root.

As for the Gemini New Moon, it’s square Urania in Pisces. Gemini is about communication, something that is not done so well here in the age of the internet, of bubbles, and of inflamed hyper-partisanship on everything from political party to one’s brand of sunglasses.

Urania is about an invention, a method, or an intelligent approach; in this case, to communication. Yet Gemini reminds us of the extent to which our internal dynamics dominate all social dynamics. That is to say: for the most part, we take our relationships with ourselves and broadcast them to the world.

This places the emphasis of responsibility on understanding ourselves, and getting along with ourselves. Particularly within intimate relationships, this is crucial because the potential for projection is so present.

My impression is that our intimate relationships need to be re-framed as opportunities to help our partners to get along with themselves, rather than as an interpersonal dynamic where many people feel they have to fix one another.

I have much more in tonight’s Planet Waves FM, accompanied by The Clash.