"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful."

— Marie Curie

A heavy sense of responsibility continues to be a major factor this week as the Moon wanes in light ahead of next week's Aquarius New Moon Eclipse (February 17, 4:00 AM PST 28° Aquarius). Venus steps into Pisces on Tuesday, encouraging compassion but also setting up a tendency to make sacrifices without [...]

"What is a fear of living? It's being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself - for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don't know what you're here to do, then just do some good."

— Maya Angelou

We reach the active, First Quarter phase of the current lunar cycle that began with last Sunday's Capricorn New Moon (11:51 AM PST 28° Capricorn). The New Moon was in a trine with Uranus, grounded in the Earth signs of Capricorn and Taurus but spontaneous and unpredictable nonetheless. The current lunar cycle demands a great deal of responsibility as we work to move out of the past and actively participate in the restructuring process that will create the future — symbolized by this week's intense Aquarian energy. Mars connects with Pluto in Aquarius on Tuesday, following up on [...]

"The redwood is one of the few conifers that sprout from the stump and roots, and it declares itself willing to begin immediately to repair the damage of the lumberman and also that of the forest-burner."

— John Muir

This week's challenges and messages are encouraging us to learn to honor the restrictions and constraints of Saturn's 'structure' while recognizing the need to push against the boundaries of those structures in order to facilitate new growth — which is essentially the challenge of any sprouting seed as it seeks to break the bounds of the 'Earth' and 'reach towards the light'. The waning triple conjunction of the Sun, Venus, and Mars all make squares from Capricorn to the now direct Chiron in Aries at the beginning of the week. Mercury joins the parade by Thursday and the waning Moon caps off the Capricorn-Aries connection to Chiron [...]