By Amanda Painter

If you had to pick a watery metaphor for the general feel of your life this week, would you choose something like sitting in a Jacuzzi with the jets on; floating on a small, still pond in a dinghy; a leaf caught in a stream’s eddy; a washing machine on the ‘spin’ cycle; or maybe a sailboat tacking from shore to shore on the breeze, as it takes an indirect route to its destination? None of the above, or maybe an alternating combination?

View of the Bay of Skaill, Orkney, Scotland, from the Kristin Linklater Voice Center. Photo by Amanda Painter.

I ask because despite the focus on fire and air earlier this week with Tuesday’s Sagittarius Full Moon opposite the Gemini Sun, there’s an emphasis on the water signs as we head into the weekend.

This is coming in the form of a grand water trine: Venus in Cancer, Jupiter in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces all in aspect to each other in the middle of their signs. A grand trine is a combination of three trine aspects connecting the three signs of any given element (in this case, water). Although it makes a triangle shape on an astrology chart, the energy of a grand trine can often feel more ‘circular’, as the planets involved all feed each other in a continuous loop — until one or more of the planets moves out of the aspect pattern.

For this reason, despite all the energy it represents, sometimes a grand trine can feel a bit like getting caught in a whirlpool. It’s not always easy to get traction with them — though we don’t always need traction in life. Sometimes it’s okay to float a little.

Between that general characteristic and the particulars of the planets and signs involved, you might find it easier through the weekend if you scale-back any ambitious plans or goals. That does not mean abandoning them; rather, merely easing off the throttle — and your expectations — for a few days. Eric’s Monday Diary this week mentioned holding off on major moves for a few days, and this seems to be one of the background reasons why that might work best.

You may notice your feelings carrying you along, no matter what you try to focus on and think about intellectually. With both the Sun and Mercury in Gemini, the ability to perceive more than one side of things might underscore any sense of vacillation. Yet, this could actually be enjoyable.

One way the energy of this grand water trine might play out might be summed up as: sensitivity and a desire for security feeds the emotional facet of sexual or financial issues; which feeds idealism, fantasy, your ‘spiritual senses’ or possibly denial; which, in turn, feeds emotional sensitivity, compassion and a sense of security. And you can run that in reverse, too.

That said, each of the individual trines involved — Venus trine Jupiter, Venus trine Neptune, Jupiter trine Neptune — are generally considered fairly gentle and useful. They just tend not to be high-energy, “go get ’em!” aspects.

Overall, they tend to indicate things like ease and pleasant social interactions, contentment, reaping the rewards of past actions (rather than expending energy to start something new), daydreaming, creativity (especially the inwardly formulated/incubated type), compassion and romance, idealism and being spiritually stimulated.

Interestingly, on Friday, the Capricorn Moon briefly transforms the grand water trine into what’s called a ‘kite pattern’. This occurs when the Moon opposes Venus in Cancer, simultaneously making sextile aspects to Jupiter and Neptune.

This kite pattern suggests there’s a window tomorrow for putting some of this emotion, sense of ease, idealism and desire for security to use. Capricorn indicates that doing so will work best if you’re working with a clear structure, goal or boundaries. Yet Capricorn is not the easiest sign for the Moon; tempering your ambitions could actually be the most useful way to get a little something done.

For example, addressing tangible matters from the past looks like a good way to go. Think in terms of things like organizing or posting photos from an event or trip; getting recent financial moves sorted; finishing setting up some part of your workspace; catching up on social correspondence or visits that got delayed. Any of these activities and similar can be done without the major energetic initiative of a ‘new’ project, and still allow for your inner emotional tides to ebb and flow at their own pace.

It’s worth noticing that also on Friday, Mercury in Gemini and Mars in Aquarius make their own trine aspect. This should help bring some sharpness or cleverness of mind, and assist in taking practical, positive approaches to what needs to get done — though with Mars preparing to station retrograde in a few weeks, action might not always feel straightforward.

You may want to take notes on any new ideas that pop up the next couple days, as your mind and imagination might be more active than the rest of you as you go with the flow. Keep solid land (i.e., verifiable facts) in view so you can stay oriented, but don’t worry about trying to push the river.

Eric is rapidly moving out chapters of The Sacred Space of Self, your 2018 Spring Reading on Chiron’s transition into Aries, and Mars retrograde in Aquarius over the summer. Order today and get all 12 signs for $99. You may read more about what Eric will be covering in your Spring Reading here.