Daily Astrological Currents

Today's Mercury-Uranus square emboldens our egos to announce a flurry of ideas and insights. The challenge is to filter these ideas through the practicality of both Mars and Venus in Virgo and convey them effectively to others. There is something like a negotiation between inspired vagaries and determined practicality — and such negotiations may become quite heated. It may be nearly impossible to maintain detachment and keep our pride and ego calm enough to understand that both elements are important to the creative process underway. Next Sunday's New Moon (6:49 AM PDT 16° Leo) will initiate something like a production and performance phase, which seems to have us now in the stressful and chaotic dress rehearsal phase where we feel an imperative to add some final touches. Tempers may be short.

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Weekly Summary

"We adore chaos because we love to produce order."

— M. C. Escher

This week's waning Moon sets up something like the feeling of preparing for a major debut. However, the light always dims under a waning Moon so it's hard to see exactly what we're actually preparing for. Last month's Aquarius Full Moon (July 23rd 7:36 PM 1° Aquarius/Leo) provided some detachment which has helped us to set aside some of our more idealistic and unrealistic expectations but there may still be some ego vulnerabilities or nagging feelings of inadequacy. The creative power of the Leo Sun is extremely strong and seems to compel us to move forward even if we can't quite see where we are going. As we begin the week, the superior conjunction of Mercury and the Sun occurs directly opposing Saturn. The Mercury-Sun conjunction in Leo aims our thinking toward creative expression but there may be some temptation to focus mainly on showmanship and appearances instead of delving deeper into the creative process underway. The opposition to Saturn demands that we do indeed move beyond the superficial. Saturn asks us to more fully define our creative vision, our purpose, the reasons that we are doing what we are doing. The demands for accountability surrounding our creative impulses may feel quite uncomfortable. The Leo influence wraps our ego around the creative impetus, which complicates any demands for explanation — our pride keeps us on the defensive. The creative process is a process of discovery and innovation — the birth of something entirely new. Vulnerability and uncertainty abounds until our creative project is unveiled. However, the demands of Saturn inform the process in ways that will help us bring forward new and innovative ideas in ways that are more readily accepted. Where we are in fact heading is towards next Sunday's Leo New Moon (6:49 AM PDT 16° Leo), when we will find ourselves somehow thrust into the limelight in some way or another and asked to perform. It is only through keen intuition that we will be able to use this week's challenges and imperatives to understand how we can best prepare ourselves for the new environment that we are heading into. We will do best when we can tap into creative impulses coming from deep inside of us and move beyond ego, pride and superficiality.

The creative tone of this week is set on Sunday with Mercury's conjunction with the Sun, oppose Saturn. We should be prepared to face questions, perhaps even skepticism. Our pride is the biggest obstacle to progress. We find some helpful space on Monday to listen more effectively. An honest give-and-take of perspectives will be very rewarding. There are a flurry of new ideas and insights on Tuesday. Some conflicts may arise when the vagueness of our ideas is met with determined practicality. Wednesday is split in two by a mid-day VOC Moon. The early part of the day is particularly optimistic, while the later part of the day has us much more cautious and circumspect. We find the need for important adjustments on Thursday. We will need a great deal of detachment in order to avoid feeling threatened by new revelations or insights. Power struggles and conflicting agendas create tension on Friday. The evening is especially unsettled. The Moon's arrival in Leo on Saturday foreshadows the Leo New Moon. There are few clear clues about the shift that will occur but our intuition may be telling us to expect to be thrust into the limelight in some way or another