"It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we're alive — to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are."

—Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

This week begins with a Pisces Full Moon Eclipse (11:08 AM PDT 15° Pisces/Virgo) that initially only seems to produce a fuzzy feeling of disconnection. The intensity is somewhat understated, with swirls of emotion that suggest that we are feeling underappreciated. As well, with Mars now separating from the square to Jupiter, we may begin to recognize areas where we've been a bit too impulsive. Ultimately, the Full Moon suggests the need for broad reassessment which seems to come into our awareness rather slowly. This lunar cycle began with [...]

"It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow."

—Voltaire

The strong initiatory power of last Friday night's Virgo New Moon (11:06 PM PDT 0° Virgo) is precipitously extended into the first couple of days of this week, culminating with the arrival of Venus in Leo, ruling Monday's Libra Moon — as well as Mars in Libra. Venus really takes charge this week in Leo, encouraging plenty of dramatic 'flair', 'flash', and even some amazing 'razzle-dazzle'. Action heats up through increased (and 'flashy') creative energy and steady, willpower-driven determination. The Moon activates another Grand Air trine with [...]

"A society should never become like a pond with stagnant water, without movement. That's the most important thing."

—Mikhail Gorbachev

This week's direct station of Mercury on Monday comes under a waning, VOC Moon. Although we might like to 'hit the ground running' by using the improving intellect offered by Mercury's direct station, we will need to take it slow this week. Mercury won't actually escape the shadow phase of the current retrograde cycle until a couple of days after the Virgo New Moon (11:06 PM PDT 0° Virgo) coming up on August 22nd. We can expect an extended 'clean up' imperative under the next lunar cycle when Virgo's processing abilities will [...]