"I gave up my struggle with perfection a long time ago. That is a concept I don't find very interesting anymore. Everyone just wants to look good in the photographs. I think that is where some of the pressure comes from. Be happy. Be yourself, the day is about a lot more."

— Anne Hathaway

We begin the week with a tense and potentially explosive Mars-Pluto square. A brief Moon-Jupiter square may weaken the intensity somewhat on Sunday, leading to a rather nihilistic hopelessness. But the tensions are obvious. The pressure produces a clearer picture of our challenges but we don't find many solutions. Venus gets to Virgo just after the Mars-Pluto square completes. In many ways, this creates further complications. Mars is not comfortable in Libra (or squaring Pluto), and Libra's ruler, Venus, is not comfortable in Virgo either. Compounding the discomfort is that, once in Virgo, Venus opposes Saturn. The result is [...]

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

As we approach Friday's Aries Full Moon (2:57 AM PDT 6° Aries/Libra), there is a sense that we are coming to some clear conclusions — a new plan of action. Mercury returns to make a third trine to Jupiter on Monday, which increases our confidence, as well as our belief in ourselves and the new insights that we have developed. Mercury escapes the shadow of it's last retrograde phase with a demonstrative trine to Uranus on Saturday, just after the Full Moon. We have done our review and 'research' and we're ready to [...]

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more."

— Henry V - William Shakespeare

We begin to slowly step back from the intensity of multiple retrogrades this week — a process that will continue through the rest of the year. The reordering process is ongoing but there are significant new insights beginning to develop that offer us help to find a new way forward. Mercury turns direct on Friday, just after Thursday's important Virgo New Moon (6:39 PM PDT 21° Virgo). The New Moon is ruled by the stationing Mercury, giving it extra intellectual potency. As well, there is a tight trine to Uranus and a forming trine to Pluto. Transformative insights and improving communication are quite likely as we move through this entire new lunar cycle over the next few weeks. There is [...]