Monday evening, Mars will enter Gemini. Mercury is already in Gemini, warming up to a retrograde that begins in one week. So the addition of Mars brings additional focus onto communications and in particular, the whole matter of being right.

Tell-it-like-it-is writer Erica Jong has Mars in Gemini and is one of its poster children.

To put it simply, Mars in Gemini feels right, as in correct — as in the right to be and feel right. But Mercury, now square Neptune and slowing to a station retrograde, is suggesting that this is not such a simple matter.

The Mercury retrograde process is going to bring out layer after layer of information, and Mars will be involved throughout.

There are many reasons to slow down, pay attention and figure out what’s really going on. Even if you think you know exactly what’s going on. Even if you’re certain you’re right and are working with all the relevant facts.

The whole point of astrology is to see what cannot normally be seen; to bring the otherwise invisible or blurry environment into focus. Mars might seem like it’s doing that; Mars in Gemini is assertive and bold, argumentative and self-assured.

But there is reason for caution. This mix of Mercury, Mars and Neptune is suggesting that arguing will prove to be fruitless. Checking your facts, or any relevant facts, will prove to be fruitful. It also may take some time to get to the bottom of things, if there is a bottom.

If you enjoy puzzles, writing or lively conversation, Mars in Gemini can be great fun. It lends impulse to the native wit and intellect of the Twins. It adds energy to the metaphorical light bulb that appears over the heads of cartoon inventors. Neptune in the mix offers a touch of the mystical and intuitive, the solution-in-a-dream.

But you must beware of false certainty, and for that matter, false uncertainty. It’s necessary to be cautious under this astrology, which means reflexive, checking your facts and reading emails carefully before you send them. Then read your outbox to be sure you got it right in hindsight, and send a correction if you didn’t.

Just as there is wisdom in backing up your computer files, so too in this case extensive fact checking and practiced detachment may be in order. Those pesky feelings getting snarled up with rational thoughts in decision-making are in essence what we know as the human condition.

It’s helpful to notice when emotions and biases rear their heads, to make sense of them, and figure out where they come from. This might tell you more about your thought process than the issue you are trying to consider — but that could turn out to be just as important, if not more so.

In another recent development, Venus has recently arrived in Cancer, and will be making many trines to the group of planets now in Pisces. If you want to emphasize the nourishing, the positive, the empathetic, keep your focus on Venus. Life is not a game of who wins. It’s an experience of taking care of one another, as best we can.

— Additional writing: Amy Elliott