"The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of humanity; the feeling of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of deference and compliance is the beginning of propriety; and the feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom."

— Mencius

Mars turns direct in Gemini this week, on Thursday. Often, there is an immediate surge of energy when Mars returns to direct motion. However, with Mercury retrograde in Capricorn, ruling Gemini, there is a more considered, deferential, and circumspect quality to the revived martian energy. As well, Venus makes a trine to Mars, just before Mars turns direct, softening [...]

"It takes two flints to make a fire."

— Louisa May Alcott

Last Friday's Capricorn New Moon and the impact of Jupiter in Aries is encouraging us to take action and express ourselves forcefully this week. However, there is still an overriding emphasis on developing cooperative, collaborative, 'group efforts'. We find some tension this week between individual expression and 'group mobilization' that needs to be ironed out through negotiation and patience. The transit of Venus through Capricorn takes a lead role, making a soothing sextile to Neptune, then moving on to conjunct the stationing Mercury and ending the week with an intensely passionate conjunction with Pluto, nearing the end of Capricorn. Venus in Capricorn helps us to [...]

"The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

We begin this week with a 'show' of confidence which slowly becomes more circumspect and considered. We may initially try to overcome our insecurities with a bit of bluster and a 'fake-it-till-you-make-it' approach. Even if our confidence is superficial, it may spread to others, which opens doors to broader perspectives. There are certainly shifts and changes on the way as we head into 2023. We may believe that there is a need to take some kind of immediate action this week — or at least make it look like we know where we're heading and what we're doing. There may even be some inclination to push forward as though the 'wheels' have already stopped turning and the shifts have already happened. However, with Mars still retrograde and Mercury pushing into the shadow of the next retrograde period (December 29, 2022 - January 18, 2023), there are still plenty of [...]