By Amanda Painter

Are you feeling like a total space cadet this week? Or maybe like you’re beaming in somebody else’s daydreams? How many times have you absentmindedly suffered a minor injury / locked yourself out / thought it was a different day? Are your efforts at sensitive, empathetic communication just not landing anywhere near your intended target (especially online conversations)?

A giant Pinocchio balloon floats above the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and its many handlers in Manhattan, probably during the 1930s. Photo by Walter Kelleher / New York Daily News Archive.

Is the world an ever-morphing mix of crazy-beautiful and scary-surreal?

Okay, I’ll grant you, that last sentence has been applicable for a good three years now — or perhaps for all time. But from my perspective, all those other questions appear to have been peaking in this last week — described by Mercury traveling in apparent retrograde motion in a tight conjunction to Neptune in Pisces.

Mercury makes its direct station today at 9:59 am EDT (13:58:41 UTC). It does so (cozied up to Neptune) while making a T-square to the asteroid Juno in Gemini and Ceres in Sagittarius.

This image just came to me as I was writing that sentence: that Juno and Ceres are kind of like a couple of handlers from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, each holding a line to one of those giant cartoon-character balloons high in the air. (I know, I know: wrong season. Just bear with me.)

Juno and Ceres would appear to offer some stability, except for a couple of things. The first is that with Gemini being an air sign famous for its duality (like Pisces) and mutability, Juno could represent vacillation — such as between what you truly need in a relationship versus what you only think you need; or between sexual love and something more platonic. Likewise, with Sagittarius associated with the big picture and the expansiveness of Jupiter, Ceres may describe certain challenges in being able to nourish, nurture or mentor with the kind of here-and-now specificity that is being called for.

The second thing making it hard for Juno and Ceres to guide the Mercury/Neptune fantasy balloon is that, in astrology, a T-square is not considered a stable aspect. That may seem counterintuitive, since (for example) a tricycle is much more stable than a bicycle. But people are not bicycles, and neither is an astrology chart; the most energetically stable figure in a chart is a grand square (also called a grand cross), which has a fourth point or side.

In this case, that point is Virgo: the other Mercury-ruled sign (along with Gemini), the fourth mutable sign, and an earth sign. Virgo is the sign of making thought manifest — of bringing creativity into concrete form — in all its organized detail. It’s the sign of careful analysis of facts. That’s the part of the equation we’re being asked to supply right now, since there are no major planets doing the job; it’s the third wire needed to manage the Mercury-Neptune balloon. But with Virgo ruled by the currently backwards (or barely moving) Mercury, the footing is far from sure.

How do you know if you have the facts you need to plant your feet? Well, you probably don’t — but Mercury might offer up some clues or missing info as it stations today. How do you know if your intuition is spot-on and divinely guided, or just a beam of shimmering projection? Again, it might be impossible to tell right now; but a few days or weeks down the line, chances are you’ll be able to see if reality is unfolding in accordance with your subtler senses (or with your fantasies).

Patience might be hard to come by in that process, but it is still a highly recommended practice — at least until Mercury can gain some distance form Neptune. Keep checking your facts; continue to regard any ‘really good deals’ with skepticism, and do your research; reach for the phone if emails or social media get twisted up, and try for face-to-face if phone calls aren’t getting through. It’s all basic protocol, but we’re in an especially floaty couple weeks.

Along the way, a sextile tomorrow between Venus in Pisces and the centaur Pholus in Capricorn suggests that if you take the opportunity to offer even the smallest gesture of compassion, it will ripple out beyond expectation. What or who do you know who could use a little warmth and empathy? This may not be the time for grand gestures; in fact, given Mercury’s situation, such could get tricky. Just be sincere.

Looking ahead, Mars enters Gemini at 2:12 am EDT (6:12:01 UTC) this Sunday, March 31. Gemini tends to be a witty, sharp and alert placement for Mars. Given the predicament of Gemini’s ruler Mercury, however, it appears well advised to beware an energized tongue next week. It could easily get you into trouble — or at least complicate conversations that could have been simpler.

The more consciously you can direct your energy next week, the better. Keep in contact with your sense of purpose; if you get restless, consider switching tasks frequently, circling back to the original one when the urge strikes you again. Trying things more than one way, or taking a ‘both/and’ approach to your options (including during sex) may feel more satisfying than sticking only to ‘either/or’.

Finally, it’s worth noticing that Vesta in Pisces is making a square to the Galactic Core (GC) and the centaur Ixion in Sagittarius between now and early next week. Although Vesta-GC looks like a need to integrate the ways you tend your inner flame with how you serve the greater good of humanity, Ixion highlights how that process can get complicated or corrupted.

The phrase that immediately came to my mind was, “Watch your boundaries!” In other words, make sure you can tell the difference between ‘holding space’ and transgressing it. From what I can tell, it’s easier to confuse these two functions than we like to think; perhaps especially in many of the healing professions (spiritual and otherwise). When we get excited about helping, it can be harder to notice our underlying motivations. If anything about this seems to describe a ‘second chance’ of any kind, you may wish to pay extra attention to the interplay between your concept of service and your ethics record.

As it is, Mercury stationing direct in a tight, two-week conjunction with Neptune in Pisces is already giving our collective perception of boundaries a run for its money. Saturn is nearby, in a sextile from Capricorn. But using its offer of structure to stay grounded is going to take discipline; raise your hand if you feel like that’s in short supply right now. You can do it — you may just have to choose your spots.

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.