Mars-Pluto Square

Mars-Pluto Square - Explosive Pressure

"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 an uncomfortable environment early this week where our only option is to slog through it — and essentially face facts no matter how grim. We can't just put a 'happy face' on anything or spin things to look better, as the Libra influences are often inclined to do. But there is some hope that by getting down to 'bedrock', we can begin to build a new, more stable foundation. We are likely to face challenges knowing who to trust. Responsibility and, perhaps more importantly, authenticity are required to make any progress at all. The tense uncertainty produced by the Mars-Pluto square seems to ripple through the early part of the week until Mars finally leaves Libra for Scorpio on Wednesday evening. Mars in Scorpio suggests that we will find a far more definitive, determined course of action but the lack of trust is still a factor. Once in Scorpio, Mars makes a helpful, stabilizing trine to Saturn that stirs our resolve to follow through on our plans. Ultimately, as we head into Saturday's Libra (Eclipse) New Moon (10:54 AM PDT 21° Libra), we will need to recognize that we really need to learn to trust ourselves. But there is no way to escape the need to maintain open lines of communication. The New Moon is conjunct the Lunar South Node, which points to the need to let go of the things that are blocking our progress. We are easily tempted to believe that it is those others that are stalling progress and creating our impatience but it is actually impatience that we need to let go of. We need to take the time to gather input from a wide expanse of viewpoints. This week's tensions and shifts do create quite a bit of 'raw materials', that is, many differing viewpoints, to be poured into the New Moon. The New Moon forms a highly significant balanced quincunx with Uranus and Neptune. Chiron is at the focal point, opposing the New Moon from Aries. The atmosphere is likely to be extraordinarily confusing with a wide variety of voices and approaches all pointing us in different directions. With Venus now in Virgo, ruling the Libra New Moon, there is hope that we will have everything we need to methodically sort through the myriad of differing opinions and eventually find remarkably effective solutions. But we can't just take someone else's word for it — adopt the solutions that others give us. The challenge produced by the new lunar cycle is to honor our own unique voice while staying open to cooperation and collaboration. But we need to own the approaches that we adopt. We can't simply take the solutions of others at face value — without seeing the value from our own perspective. Otherwise, we will only accomplish disappointment and resentment.

The tension is extraordinary on Sunday and we may possibly see some explosiveness. There are strong indications that many will respond to the tension with nihilism or a sense of hopelessness. Trusting others is difficult on Monday and egos are on the line. Responsibility and authenticity are demanded. Knowing who to trust continues to be a challenge on Tuesday. However, there is some potential to use our intellect to make adjustments and stabilize ourselves. Wednesday's energy is unsteady and we may see some self-righteousness emerge. The lesson is to learn to trust ourselves before we can hope to really trust anyone else. Communication is fraught with pitfalls on Thursday. Our messages are garbled and subject to misunderstanding. Friday provides an excellent opportunity to assess our success in adapting to the reordering process that has been underway since last summer. We have more freedom than we may realize but we need to give others their due. The Libra (Eclipse) New Moon on Saturday brings significant confusion and a myriad of differing opinions and approaches. We shouldn't take anyone else's opinion at face value without checking in with our individual, unique perspective.