"And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?"

— Daniel Campbell Smith
Bastille - Pompeii

It is usually a retrograde Mercury that gets all the attention but this week's retrogrades — Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter — are more than likely to get our attention. As well, there are challenges from the shifts of Mercury into it's home sign of Gemini and the departure of Mars from innovative Aquarius and its arrival in introspective Pisces. This week both begins and ends with a great deal of scattered energy, confusion, and general lack of focus. However, there is some important help, midweek, when Mercury trines Saturn from Gemini to Aquarius. Wednesday's Mercury-Saturn trine offers a brief opportunity for some important [...]

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The promise of last Wednesday's Taurus New Moon (7:25 PM PDT 3° Taurus) shows up in 'fits and starts' this week amid some significant challenges. Rugged determination and patient attention to detail are required on order to undertake new rounds of planning. The seeds of leadership that were planted under last week's New Moon begin to find a foothold. However, much of the action may be behind the scenes in order to avoid this week's myriad distractions, stirred up restless energy, and irrelevant chatter. Nonetheless, even with the distractions, there are increasingly insightful flashes of intellectual understanding. Mercury leaves impulsive Aries for determined Taurus, setting up an extremely helpful mutual reception with Venus in Gemini. The showy, superficial tendencies of [...]

"To put up with what you cannot avoid is a philosophical principle, that may not perhaps lead you to the accomplishment of great deeds, but is assuredly eminently practical."

— Jules Verne

This week's Sun-Pluto square and Sun-Jupiter square increase the pressure this week. The atmosphere may encourage us to pursue impractical aspirations, especially under the kind of pressure we're dealing with. Venus has moved into the 'shadow' of her next retrograde period (May 13th - June 25th). In her slowdown, she just barely misses completing a trine to Mars, which restricts [...]