"People need trouble -- a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it."

— William Faulkner

The seeds of profound frustration are sown this week and are likely to be fully apparent by Thursday's Cancer New Moon (7:57 PM PDT 20° Cancer). Mercury has entered the shadow of the next retrograde period (July 27th - August 19). As well, Mars is now retrograde and won't turn direct until August 27th, leaving us without effective levers to effect direct action. There are likely to be serious temptations to demonstrate our frustrations with explosive outbursts — or more. With Mercury in dramatic and demonstrative Leo, we may seek to display our feelings with extra flair and flourishes — even bombastic emphasis. However, no matter what pronouncements we may make or demands we issue, we are [...]

"You only ask for directions when you can't see you're in Heaven"

— Matt Kahn

There may well be a whole lot of rattled nerves this week. Mars stations to go retrograde on Wednesday just as we reach a Full Moon (9:52 PM PDT 6° Capricorn-Cancer) that is conjunct Saturn. With Mars retrograde, idealism runs headlong into reality and one way or another, adjustment is required. The increasing sense of responsibility may lead us to believe that we need to take direct action and impose our will on circumstances that are entirely beyond our control. The stationing of Mars requires that we step back from imposing our will or taking direct action and look for opportunities to increase our insight and simply [...]

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

— Mahatma Gandhi

This week's Gemini New Moon (Wednesday, June 13th, 12:48 PM PDT 22° Gemini), takes us into a wilderness that is swirling with heightened intellectual activity and conflicting emotions. We may find ourselves feeling like we're trying to survive a chaotic Brain—Storm. During the storm, none of the pieces seem to fit together and refuse to fall into place in any sort of order. The paradox here is that the more protective we become during this chaos [...]