"Remember: You are your own father. Do not let yourself spend years creating yourself only to let your guard down and allow the ghost of the past — father, habit, history — to sneak back in."

— Robert Greene
The 48 Laws of Power

Mercury returns to square Saturn and oppose Jupiter this week for one last time. The Saturn-Jupiter square also returns this week, making the second of three passes in a longer lasting interaction that is ongoing into June of next year. Mercury 'inserts' itself into the ongoing interaction in ways that produces more confusion than diplomatic balance. Active engagement seem to be encouraged but our 'engagement' won't bring the expected or desired results that we hope. The second Jupiter-Saturn square completes on Christmas Eve while the Moon is [...]

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."

— Winston Churchill

This week begins with a quietly powerful Pluto-Ceres conjunction, which offers incredible creative and regenerative ability. The themes of connection and balance continue to dominate the atmosphere as we head toward the Gemini Full Moon (December 15th 1:01 AM PST 23° Gemini/Sagittarius) at the beginning of next week. Both Mars and Mercury are retrograde this week, driving much of the action 'inward'. When we find challenges or interference, we'll do better to look inward rather than struggle against external blocks and obstacles. In this environment our 'Self Talk' is particularly important. It will be helpful if we can become our own [...]

"Some things have to be believed to be seen."

— Madeleine L'Engle

We begin the week with a strong desire to break free of whatever we believe is holding us back. The Sagittarius Sun's mid-week trine to Mars in Leo stirs us up. The Sun-Mars trine offers courageous adventurousness to explore the entirely new environment that is offered by Pluto's return to Aquarius. But our ability to 'walk' is still developing — something like needing to find our 'sea legs'. Nonetheless, there is a powerful determination to 'step out' and find our way — even if we might have to take a few 'falls'. However, the Moon wanes in light all week before this Saturday evening's Sagittarius New Moon (10:21 PM PST 9° Sagittarius). We are likely to believe that [...]