A busy, interesting week ahead with some twists and turns as the Sun changes signs and Saturn starts moving backward.
The beginning of the week looks especially EMPOWERING - pay attention to news and information/choices that can help set your course/heal/stabilize, especially around themes of money, relationships, values and self-esteem. At the end of the week, situations become less clear/might appear better than they actually are. With 3 planets in Gemini and Mercury walking degrees he will walk two more times (in Gemini!) - we'll need to stay flexible, light on our feet and just generally keep our wits about us.
Let's unpack the week!
MONDAY - Venus conjunct North Node, Sun trines retrograde Pluto
TUESDAY - Venus sextiles Chiron
WEDNESDAY - Venus trines Saturn, First Quarter Moon
THURSDAY - Sun into Gemini
FRIDAY - Sun squares Jupiter
SATURDAY - Mercury squares Neptune
SUNDAY - Saturn stations retrograde
MONDAY - SUN TRINES PLUTO RETROGRADE | Taurus/Capricorn, 26 degrees | VENUS CONJUNCTS NORTH NODE | Gemini, 10 degrees
This is personal/ego empowerment/recognition, maybe based on old work or responsibilities. We might be empowered by a loss/merger/inheritance/loan. New ideas/conversations, more choices about how to make money, attract what we want/need/value, improve our relationships/career are possible now. Venus is following in Mercury's footsteps (the Sun gets to the North Node at the end of the month and we'll get the result of this then), so maybe we are working out the details now of something that came to our attention last week. Or maybe with Venus in Gemini, an important message/information comes in now that has POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR FUTURE. With Venus moving on to sextile Chiron and trine Saturn - this can be both healing and stabilizing.
TUESDAY- VENUS SEXTILES CHIRON | Gemini/Aries, 11 degrees
This is what we want connecting with 'what hurts'. Talking about what hurts/our vulnerabilities makes us more attractive. There is more than one way to say it/get what we want. Just keep in mind Gemini likes to keep things light/quick/tongue in cheek. This isn't about a heavy emotional interaction. Just know your wounds are not holding you back here - they are actually creating the opportunity. Speak up/keep it light.
WEDNESDAY - VENUS TRINES SATURN | Gemini/Aquarius, 13 degrees | FIRST QUARTER MOON | Leo/Taurus, 29 degrees
We get this month's First Quarter Square with the Sun and Moon at the very, very end of Taurus and Leo. This is part of last week's New Moon story - tension/frustration between what has been stable/reliable and what is calling to our heart now/what we enjoy now. Security vs fun/risk. With Venus, ruler of Taurus, trining a strong Saturn at the same time - we can look to Venus for a way through this.
Venus has met the North Node (the future), sextiled Chiron (an opportunity for some healing of a very old wound around our ability to be ourselves/take care of ourselves) and now she trines - brakes off, and arguably the best aspect in astrology - a powerful Saturn in Aquarius, as he prepares to station. And this is likely all the same thing in the beginning to middle of the week. So, maybe here is an official confirmation. Maybe a commitment to a solution in a financial, relationship, work, or group situation. Here is a visible result/payoff. Logic. Venus/Saturn can also narrow our choices ... in order to bring focus or for better long-term results. Trust this one.
THURSDAY - SUN INTO GEMINI
The Sun moves into Gemini today where he will hang his hat until June 21st (summer solstice). During Gemini season life gets busy - physically busy and mentally busy. We already have Venus and Mercury in Gemini, so the Sun is here playing catch-up.
Do you know which house holds Gemini in your natal chart? A light shines on that area of our life now. The stuff that got stuck in Taurus season, gets moving again in Gemini season. Gemini is the teacher who never stops learning - this is about the processing of information.
Ruled by Mercury and ruler of our 3rd house of communications,
thinking, ideas, early childhood education, our neighbors, local
community, our siblings, transportation, short trips, our computers, sales, commerce.
Gemini is a mutable air sign/flexible. The energy goes wide rather than deep. Gemini wants to look at, and learn
about, and talk about and do - a little of this and that and the other
thing. Geminis are clever and very good with words. They can say one thing to one person and something else to someone else - they are changeable. Geminis can create the perfect blend of imagination, half-truths and logic making them sometimes less than totally truthful, but they are so freakin' fast and so freakin' funny we might not even notice. Their symbol is the twins and with Gemini duality, things/situations often come in twos. Also, everything has another side.
(My Sun is in my 3rd house (Gemini's natural house) in Aquarius ruled by Uranus (in my 10th house of career).
With my "career" things almost always come in pairs. In my first job
doing taxes I worked in two different offices. When I was in banking I
managed two totally different departments at the same time. I once had
carts in two different malls selling things in two different sizes and I
have two websites and two different jewelry lines both of which
carry items that come in two different sizes. I am currently writing two
books at the same time (have been for awhile, Saturn in Aqua will likely force my hand with this if they are needed) and have renovated a vintage camper which I have in mind to house two different businesses (this got held up/is in flux due to covid, - so instead I added two more jewelry lines short-term that are less labor intensive). I could go on and on (but I won't, don't worry, I know you are busy now, Gemini season and all). This career "things come in pairs" thing hasn't translated into double the money - go figure.)
With the Sun's move into Gemini things will not be quite so
black and white as they were in Taurus. It's a time to be curious. Ask
questions. Try different things. We've been going deep and now we want
to go wide. The North Node, our collective way forward, is in Gemini, so smart people are already doing this.
The Sun in Gemini is a good time to talk about what we are doing and what we are going to do. It's a good time to advertise. It's a good time to promote what we are doing. It's a good time to try something new/even two things, focused on where our heart is leaning. It's a good time to read, learn, write and teach about what we love. The fly in the ointment (yes, the fly, it's spring, the fly is back) is that in Gemini quantity can rule over quality as thoroughness/accuracy loses out to speed.
FRIDAY - SUN SQUARES JUPITER | Gemini/Pisces, 0 degrees
Mercury squared Jupiter back on May 3rd - tension/frustration, maybe between traditional/entrenched ways vs new information/big ideas. Back then, Mercury was in Taurus and Jupiter in Aquarius. So, now things have moved on. The Sun, freshly minted in inquisitive/information-rich Gemini squares Jupiter in emotional/connecting Pisces. A light is thrown HERE, but with Jupiter's tendency to enlarge/exaggerate and Gemini's tendency toward trickery/duplicity/endless words or choices - this can be tricky and not the best time to make an important decision because things can look better/bigger than they actually are. ONLY MOVE FORWARD WITH WHAT MAKES SENSE AND IS CLEAR/TRUE. Double check information. There is a need here to separate facts from fantasy.
SATURDAY - MERCURY SQUARES NEPTUNE | Gemini/Pisces 22 degrees (first of three)
This is repeating yesterday's message at the powerful 22 degrees. Mercury (home in Gemini) moves into her square with Neptune (home in Pisces), so it could be tricky to separate the fantasy from the reality now. Keep that in mind with whatever you have going on. We could be dealing with Neptunian themes - hospitals, healing, things
put away, things from the past, addictions, medications, meditation,
spirituality, imagination, etc. This isn't the time to quickly run with some information that comes in unless you are very, very sure it is correct. It would be the time to speak with a conservative kind of caution (am I saying what I really intend to say, what I really feel, what I really KNOW to be true?). Listen the same way. Avoid gossip. Avoid rushing too far ahead with half thought-out decisions/ideas. Keep in mind, with Mercury's upcoming retrograde in Gemini, we will have this aspect two more times, so this is PART OF A PROCESS - this is only our first pass, treat it as such. 22 is a master number, but also a 'self-sabotaging' degree. Keep this in mind. ONLY MOVE FORWARD WITH WHAT MAKES SENSE AND IS CLEAR/TRUE. Double check information. Drive safely/know where you are going. This doesn't stop the new ideas/conversations from happening, but gives us a protracted period to figure them out. Squares to Neptune are also asking us if we need to meditate, pray, rest.
There could be disappointing news now.
The Neptune square here is also asking us to have faith. Use our intuition. We can get really stuck in our heads with Mercury in Gemini, and maybe we need to release something here/go with the flow/let it go. This transit (Mercury retrograde) can be good for releasing negative thinking - maybe we are getting in our own way, avoiding opportunities, looking for reasons to say "no" when Gemini is asking us to be more spontaneous.
Retrograde season AND eclipse season has started, lots of stuff is going to change - there is no need to rush.
SUNDAY - SATURN STATIONS RETROGRADE | 13 degrees Aquarius
We can think of a retrograde as if we are pressing the wrinkles out of a shirt. We move the iron forward, then we slow down a bit and move backward being careful not to iron in any new creases. Then we make one final pass forward more forcefully before we move on. This is kind of how it goes.
Right now we are starting the backward swivel part where we try to avoid ironing in any new creases.
Generally the best use of Saturn retrogrades is going back over structural issues.
Re-considering our commitments. Re-thinking our responsibilities.
Re-assessing our goals and ambitions. Re-defining our boundaries.
Re-valuing our time. Re-structuring our projects. Sometimes we get to
see what is holding us up because it isn't holding us up anymore. Dad is
on vacation folks. Some situations will halt/reverse course temporarily. Rules/limits/sometimes responsibilities can ease up.
What happens for us personally depends on our natal chart and our
relationship with Saturn. If we have planets/points between 13 degrees Aquarius and 6 degrees Aquarius, (add a couple degrees on either side)
we will feel his retrograde strongest. The ease-up thing is probably not happening for these folks. This can also apply to
planets/points in the other fixed signs as he squares and
opposes them. If we were born with Saturn retrograde, and so the need to
face up to certain responsibilities in this lifetime that we, or our ancestors - think patriarchal line here - have
previously avoided, we will likely feel his retrogrades more intensely, too.
For everyone else and for all of us collectively Saturn's station will either:
1. ease restrictions/limits/traditions (daddy's on vacation) or
2. create delays/pull back support (again, daddy's on vacation).
It just depends on which kind of "daddy" we have via our natal chart. Saturn retrogrades give us a second chance to get it right. Wherever Saturn goes, so does our time and commitment. When planets are retrograde, more of the work becomes internal. He will station direct on October 10th and then - it's full steam ahead/report card time.
xo all
artwork by the talented Asiza