Daily Astrological Currents

Mercury's square to Chiron occurs just after midnight this morning, setting up a particularly unsteady energy. The Sun catches up to Pluto at 4:28 AM PST, making the first exact conjunction with Pluto in the sign of Aquarius since February 17, 1798. Individual power is focused on broad, humanitarian ideas but there is a strong need for balance, practicality, and clear vision. Once the Moon arrives in Scorpio at 8:19 AM PST, individual power is challenged in surprising ways as the Moon squares the Sun and Pluto around Noon PST. We do get some support for a clear perspective from Mercury's conjunction with Pallas, which combines intellectual flexibility with a sharp intuition. Planning and a broad perspective is likely to be far more effective than any attempts to take action or launch initiatives today.

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Weekly Summary

"In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats - maybe it's imperative that we encounter the defeats - but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike."

— Maya Angelou

The Sun conjuncts Pluto this week in Aquarius — the first such conjunction (in Aquarius) since February 17, 1798. The retrograding Mars moves back into a sextile to Uranus, amplifying this 'novel' energy of the Sun-Pluto conjunction and creating a sense of imperative that is both emotional and rebellious. However, under the waning lunar cycle, we aren't likely to find much traction. This week's imperatives are vague but intense. The Sun-Pluto conjunction can increase our sense of fatalism but also increases our individual power and creativity — although we may not see exactly how. As well, Mercury's square to Chiron sets up the self-doubt that can quickly undercut whatever power we might feel from the Sun-Pluto conjunction and bring in defensiveness. Venus and Mars head into a trine that completes by the end of the week which encourages us to seek connection but also increases our sensitivity. There are challenges to clear communication. Mercury's trine to Uranus on Thursday isn't much help unless we can balance the emotional need for connection with a clear perspective. Getting our message out seems to be stalled by defensiveness and suspicion. Connections with others are certainly important but we won't find the stability that we're looking for by seeking external support. The biggest challenge this week is finding enough 'inner stability' to keep us moving across what feels like an 'Abyss' of uncertainty. When our need for others leads us into dependency, we will find that leaning too heavily on others only leads to collapse. We may be inclined to push too hard or make unreasonable demands. Self-indulgence can decrease humility, leading us to blame others for the lack of traction. This is not an environment where we can hope to intellectually analyze the situation or criticize any shortcomings that we find in others. Both Neptune and Venus are approaching a conjunction with the North Node — newly established in Pisces — that will complete at the beginning of next month following next Wednesday's Aquarius New Moon (4:35 AM PST 9° Aquarius). The route to our 'salvation' will be found through compassion, faith, intuition, and creative inspiration that can help us embrace the new environment that we are just beginning to encounter. Next week's New Moon will help us to find enough detachment to begin to move away from this week's emotional uncertainty and vague imperatives. In that atmosphere, we will certainly do better blending intellect with intuition without as much defensiveness and suspicion as we find this week.

Sunday's mood is optimistic and amiable but there is also a note of apprehension. We may become vulnerable to impatience when things don't fall into place quickly or consistently. A delicate balance of diplomacy and initiative may help us take advantage of Monday's opportunities. We need a clear-eyed perspective unhindered by both over-optimism or pessimism. Energy is quite unsteady on Tuesday, making it difficult to embrace any detached perspective. Practicality is important but difficult to combine with the heightened imperatives that we're feeling. Confidence is hard to find on Wednesday. Defensiveness may lead to suspicion or even paranoia. Interaction heats up on Thursday but with a strongly emotional undercurrent. There is a vague imperative that seems to raise the stakes in our interactions with others. Strong imperatives and little traction leads us to try to push too hard on Friday. Blaming others will only set us back further. Sensitivity is quite high on Saturday and we are likely to worry that we aren't making enough progress. Defensiveness and a lack of trust hampers our ability to make strong connections with others.