By Amanda Painter

What’s on your mind? Or, perhaps a better question might be: how is your mind behaving this week, especially in response to the unexpected or the unclear? I ask because Mercury in Virgo (a sign it rules) is making some aspects that could well be affecting your thought processes and perception.

Street art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.* Photo by Amanda Painter

The primary aspect in question is Mercury’s opposition to Neptune in Pisces — exact today, though it’s been in effect for several days and will continue to be so for several more.

Mercury is also in a square to the rather mysterious Great Attractor (a deep-space phenomenon in mid-Sagittarius), exact today. And between now and Sunday, Mercury is making a trine to Pluto in Capricorn and a sextile to Jupiter in Scorpio.

But first: Mercury and Neptune. At its best, this can be an aspect of heightened spiritual sensitivity and awareness. With Pluto offering assistance with investigating deep issues and mysteries, and Jupiter lending a hand with seeing how things fit the underlying patterns in your life, you may very well uncover some profound truths with this astrology.

Here’s the thing, though: in our mainstream culture and everyday life, it’s relatively rare to witness or experience Neptune in its higher manifestations. More often, we encounter Neptune’s glamour, cloudiness, slipperiness, confusion and outright deception.

One look at all the clickbait online, glossy magazine ads, the proliferation of ‘fake news’, Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS confirmation hearing, and the escapist nature of most of our entertainment options will tell you where we, collectively, stand with Neptune — not to mention the many forms of mundane denial so many people live in, covering everything from the truth of our desires and most intimate relationships, to things like climate change and the abuses of the Catholic church. Which is to say, Neptune is great at obscuring where one really stands in relation to almost anything, including in relationship to oneself.

For this reason, it’s probably best to wait until late in the weekend to lean on the Pluto and Jupiter influences. Diving into mysteries or business negotiations is likely to feel a little more solid as Mercury begins to clear Neptune’s influence early next week — though that influence has wide reach, so due diligence will still be necessary. Regarding anything you learn today, you’ll want to give it some time to sort itself out thoroughly before making any permanent decisions about it.

Oppositions generally represent an interpersonal situation. It’s not necessarily as simple as one person acting like Mercury and the other person acting like Neptune (or like the Sun and Moon, in the case of a Full Moon). In meeting up with, confronting, conflicting with or negotiating with someone else, the themes and energies of the planets and signs involved can be expressed various ways by both parties.

Yet, sometimes it really is like one person plays the role of one of the planets and the other person plays the other role. Which is why Mercury opposite Neptune comes with an important caution: watch out for deception by others, both intentional and unintentional. No matter how confused or emotionally overwhelmed you feel, no matter how fuzzy and frustrating communication gets, it’s up to you to fact-check. It’s up to you to stay grounded in verifiable reality this week if anyone tries to sell you on anything that seems too good to be true. It’s up to you to double-check your work, particularly if you’re dealing with data, numbers or logic — and especially if you’d rather fantasize, or if your Facebook feed is full of conspiracy theory posts and feel-good New Age pablum.

It’s worth noting that Mercury’s square to the Great Attractor could be adding a little edge to all the potential soft-focus perception. Yet it could come through as the sense of getting pulled along toward something, or the feeling that no matter whether you swallow someone’s lie or call them out on it, things are just going to feel more polarized. (Reactions to Pres. Trump’s recent comments attempting to celebrate last year’s response to Hurricane Maria, made while Hurricane Florence is bearing down on the U.S. East Coast, seem to fit this description.)

Yet, despite Neptune’s wide orb of influence, Mercury’s current speed means that this opposition will not last nearly as long as some other planets’ aspects to Neptune do. And with the Virgo-Pisces axis being a very creative one, you may find this an excellent time for making art. I’m thinking that the performing arts, with their willing suspension of disbelief and the need for audience members to witness and often participate, could be especially fruitful right now. With Venus in Taurus still opposite Uranus in Scorpio, there’s added creative potential in working with the unexpected — in love relationships and flirtations, as well as in art.

These dynamics will wane and dissolve with each passing day as other astrology builds. What will remain, however, are the effects and consequences of our choices and actions.

That’s as true for the lies we tell and believe as it is for the effects of a massive hurricane — and the consequences of choices like diverting $10 million from FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to ICE (the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency) so it could build more detention centers. Which, apparently, has happened.

I don’t look forward to seeing how that works out. And while it’s possible the government can play a shell game of sorts and divert money from somewhere else back to FEMA should it be needed, it’s obvious that kind of strategy is, at best, delusional and shortsighted — and at worst, overtly malicious and deceptive. We can do better than that.

The question, of course — whether in our most personal moments or at the highest levels of government and industry — is, will we? We all experience moments of confusion, of fearing the truth, of wanting to believe what is unlikely or unconfirmed. Sometimes doing our best in those circumstances still means making a mess. Sometimes, though, taking a little extra time and care can save a lot of hurt down the line.

*The writing in the mural:
“Oh look at the horses and people, how they hurry and trample and fight.”^

“See! That’s why I’m gonna be a mermaid when I grow up!”

^Celia Thaxter, born in Portsmouth, NH.