By Amanda Painter

We’re not quite at the midpoint between eclipses — that occurs Jan. 14 with the first quarter Moon. How are you doing with ‘looking where you want to be’? Are you feeling drawn to continue clearing out some space, or to initiate a project, or to dive into something? Are you feeling optimistic or frustrated (or something else entirely)?

M100, known as a ‘grand design’ galaxy, is 56 million light-years away, and is similar to our Milky Way. Studies of variable stars in M100 have played an important role in determining the size and age of the Universe. Photo by NASA / ESA / Hubble.

I ask simply as a prompt for some reflection and self-assessment; a way of taking a barometric reading on your inner and outer environment. With all the major sign-ruling planets in direct motion — and therefore not ‘forcing’ introspection — it occurred to me these questions might be useful.

Did you watch Pres. Trump’s Oval Office address Tuesday night? I confess I did not, trusting that I could read all about it afterwards if needed, without subjecting myself to his toxic projections in real time. It’s challenging enough being surrounded by its effects as they ripple through the collective. But in researching some of the current astrological aspects, it occurred to me just how reflective his speech and government-by-tantrum are of the astrology.

The first aspect to really speak to me of this is tomorrow’s Sun-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. Now, on the level of your own personal life, you may experience this as another wave of deep cleaning and space clearing related to the recent eclipse — particularly regarding how you express or present yourself to the world. Or it could come through as the drive to get beneath the surface of something. Or perhaps as the need to repair a thing or situation that’s broken and needs radical changes to be able to continue.

That last sentence alone calls to my mind the overall state of the Trump administration, the U.S. government in general, and even the U.S. corporate culture. But check out these passages about Sun conjunct Pluto from esteemed astrologer Robert Hand’s book Planets in Transit:

You may have to contend with a person who is trying to exert unreasonable power over you today, forcing you to defend your right to do things your way. […] True Plutonian energy does not manifest itself through someone’s ego drives. It is a transpersonal flow of creative or destructive energy.

Under rare circumstances you may come into contact with someone who embodies the Plutonian energies within society, such as a person in power or someone who represents hidden elements of change and/or decay, such as a person living in poverty, a tramp, a criminal, or someone who is associated with a radical movement for social change.

Somewhere this week I read someone describing Trump’s partial governmental shutdown as a “right-wing coup” because of the way it has hamstrung the federal government — and so much of the country. At the very least, we’re obviously seeing someone’s ego drives run amok; and I have no qualm about calling Trump a criminal representing the hidden elements of change and decay and the psychological shadowlands of U.S. culture. The shutdown — already the longest in U.S. history — certainly counts as someone trying to exert unreasonable power over others, in my book.

Note that the Sun and Pluto are also in a square to Eris in Aries (exact for the Sun on Sunday). Eris is here in its role as a destabilizing social factor. The phrase “inflammation of identity chaos with relation to governmental/social upheaval” also came to my mind. When something like a federal government — which might otherwise be thought of as a central organizing principle of a society — is in such disarray and shows itself to be an extremist force, how do you locate and identify yourself in relation to it? Does that relationship of identity start to mean more or less?

On a more mundane, personal level, you might consider whether you’re feeling any tension between how you present yourself ‘officially’ to others in public and any part of your identity/personality you tend to minimize or have tried to cast off entirely. Can you identify a way to integrate those parts of yourself more fully?

We also have a Mercury-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn that’s exact on Sunday. One interpretation of this aspect is that the facets of personality you’re afraid to expose could feel very close to the surface. Would it be so bad, really, if you were to speak anyway, and it all showed through?

Mercury-Saturn conjunctions (especially in Saturn’s home sign) are also a reminder to beware getting stuck in negative thinking. Most likely it’s too narrow-minded to be a realistic reflection of all the potential in a situation (or of a person). Yet this aspect also lends intellectual precision and concentrative ability — especially if you work on the details of an existing plan (rather than broad visioning). This could be a valuable tool here between eclipses.

Finally, coloring all of this, we’ve had a square between Jupiter in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces in effect all week (exact Sunday). Neptune is famous for its slipperiness and deceptive potential, especially in our modern culture’s obsession with glamour — though it can represent spiritual and creative beauty; Jupiter can lend much-needed optimism, but is also known to over-promise if potential is not met with disciplined supporting efforts.

If it seems like you’re being challenged to demonstrate that your ideals are based in reality, you probably are (you can look to certain new U.S. Congress-people and a certain president for varying degrees of illustration of this dynamic). There’s a warning with Jupiter-Neptune around false optimism, sure. For example, if you’re feeling generous and confident, are you sure you have the resources to cover any risks you’re taking?

But this astrology is also a way to test your ability to translate your loftier ideas into practice. That is, after all, how we make progress. With the Pisces Moon sweeping through a sextile to the Sun and Pluto just as their conjunction is exact tomorrow morning, perhaps we’ll all be blessed with a little breathing room and the emotional depth to help make that happen.

As we go deeper into this most unusual and challenging phase of history, intelligence is the thing we need the most. That is the theme of the 2019-2020 annual edition of Planet Waves — audio now available for instant access. See more information here. If you’re looking for individual signs, order here.