"Everyone knows that the yielding overcomes the stiff,
and the soft overcomes the hard.
Yet no one applies this knowledge."

—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

As we ride the wave of last Wednesday's Aries New Moon (9:12 PM PDT 29° Aries), themes of stabilization and security are drawing a great deal of our focus. In some way or another, we can see the need to plan our course in a way that lays a foundation that is stable and secure. However, we may feel such a strong emotional imperative to feel secure that there is a significant potential for irrational responses. We may find ourselves focused entirely on amassing or even hoarding resources, instead of methodically assessing what resources are already at our disposal. As well, we run the risk of becoming too rigid in our individual determination to lay out a plan and follow through on it, while missing the opportunity to [...]

"What makes a freethinker is not his beliefs but the way in which he holds them. ... if he holds them because, after careful thought he finds a balance of evidence in their favor, then his thought is free, however odd his conclusions may seem."

— Bertrand Russell

It isn't easy to gain our footing this week. In a sense, we have come through the 'birth canal' into a brand new reality. There are any number of intriguing, new, 'shiny bits' that draw our attention. We seem to be somewhat torn between wanting to explore our new surroundings, test the boundaries, but also look for ways to establish a new, reliable sense of security within this new environment. The Sun-Jupiter conjunction on Tuesday expands optimism and produces the courage to explore some 'New Horizons'. However, Mercury is slowing down to turn retrograde (April 21 - May 14) in [...]

"Once you see the boundaries of your environment, they are no longer the boundaries of your environment."

— Marshall McLuhan

The powerful, initiatory effects of last week's Spring Equinox Aries New Moon is complicated by Pluto's entrance into Aquarius just after the New Moon. The growing power is strong but, intellectually at least, we are likely to struggle to understand exactly what it is that's been planted. For the most part, we are trying to 'straddle' the past and the future this week. Much of our ability to effectively communicate has been reworked over the last 6 months under the long retrograde of Mars in Gemini. That ability to communicate is tested this week. Now, with Mars in Cancer, we are likely to [...]