May 16-22, 2016: Truth Bombs
Mars retrogrades are not easy – the action planet’s energies turned inwards reflects the appearance of more internal conflicts, or situations in which there is nowhere to really go or nothing to really do – but deal with the energy within. The astrology has been very earthy with the Sun-Mercury-Venus in Taurus, Jupiter in Virgo, Pluto in Capricorn (at times forming a grand earth trine), and overthinking anything has been detrimental, despite what Mercury retrogrades are typically about. Thoughts need grounding right now, and so getting into the body is super important. (With this astro, you really will feel your thoughts and inner-dialogue shift when you get embodied, versus when you are being led by the thoughts.) Amidst the drama of these larger squares in the background – Uranus-Pluto, Jupiter-Saturn, Saturn-Neptune, Mars retrograde — it is so easy to fly off into crazy parts of the mind, building castles in the air out of anxieties and fears.
So, the stress is on. These dramas continue this week with the Full Moon in Sagittarius conjunct Mars retrograde. The heart of the Mars retrograde (when Mars conjuncts the Sun and is at the midpoint of its retrograde cycle) occurs just before Mercury stations direct a few hours later. Expect some messages to come through then that are at the same time that the Moon (collective mood of Earth) is tinted with a sense of urgency and the need to break through limitations. Truths are hitting hard, a la Saturn in Sagittarius & Mars in Sagittarius, making for a review of our own inner-programming and where it’s not who we really are.
It’s a storm report this week – but the same way you can wear a coat or put a rain fly over your tent, challenging astrology can be met with strategy and innovation as well.
May 20
Sun enters Gemini: 7:37 AM
With the Sun leaving Taurus, the planet of vitality and how we radiate our essence is now moving into a sign where it can experience greater agility – try on new ideas.
It will not be this week that the Sun forms a mutable grand cross with Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn, but that is close on the horizon (start of June). If we’re accounting for that though, and this being like a seed planting time, you may consider setting the intention to opening your mind to what opportunities are actually present. Mutable astrology (w/ Mutable Saturn) can lend itself to things not going to plan, but the flow being accessed through being available for change. Adaptability of the mind and intellect is where the Sun will be shining.
May 21-22
Full Moon in Sagittarius: May 21, 2:14 PM and Sun in Sagittarius conjunct Mars in Sagittarius rx: May 22, 4:17 AM (Heart of Mars retrograde):
Inner-truth becomes a big point to consider… or more over, feel, since we are talking about the Moon in Sagg. And conjunct Mars – the planet that relates to defensiveness and the need to sometimes go at it alone. The planet of separation — linked right with the Moon, where we bond, where we feel secure, where we feel safe. So, nothing’s safe. Or, we are the only one. Or, we find security in tribe. But even that – is the tribe gathered around something that is close to nature, close to your nature, or is the tribe collected around what is not true, fear, etc?
What can come up for examination is how much of our identity is linked with our beliefs, and if that connection holds true, then are we believing what is really nourishing our development and evolution or are we following stories that will never bring us home (to self, to feeling connected to all things)?
The Sun in Gemini can relate to a multitude of ideas being expressed at this time that are then directly shining light on the interior sense of truth. This can easily create the sense of a lot of external noise that either threatens, or has no bearing, on what is internally true. Which the Mars-Moon vibe within us can feel incredibly oppressed by, like the walls are closing in. Or we can break free.
The freedom available here is in a state of being – sometimes Sagittarius’s security drive is about converting the beliefs of others, or needing to be believed, to have one’s truth be recognized. But that, this week, is not going to be as likely a feeling. Independence is taking a key vibrational role and it can feel emotionally distressing (when it is taxing the sense of being connected or being in relationship) but it can also be empowering for whatever independent vision or drive is capable of emerging at this time: what are YOUR goals, where is your arrow pointed.
What situations are triggering you enough to make you stand up and say “This is NOT who I am. I am SO MUCH MORE than this.”? (Sagg.) Not in the sense of blowing up the ego, but in not identifying with bullshit stories anymore.
The Moon will be approaching Mars at this time, and finishing a cycle with Mars – you can look at it as the emotional state dissolving into the archetype of independence, will, and forging one’s own way, creating our own security within.
Tread lovingly with people you are connected with – emotional storminess can lead to some arguments, blow-ups, difficult conversations. Which, blow over as the may, the drama feels big in the heat of it. The independence vibe is not to be isolating and separate from people, but just to stand solidly in your energy around the general instability of these transits so that you’re not feeding fires or getting sucked into extraneous emotional storms. You can be mobilized instead, to share sage advice or lighten the mood for everyone who is struggling. When in doubt… be chill!
Mercury stations direct in Taurus: May 22, 6:20 AM
In tandem with the rest of this astrology, this can bring in messages around what your needs are, and mobilize you to advocate for them. The inconjunct to Saturn that Mercury is forming then adds in a level of significant structural adjustment – and the mutability of the outer planets right now creates pretty big shifts. So with Mercury in self-oriented, Venusian Taurus, and the outer planets working in mutable signs, it’s kind of like this small, but solid voice saying what it will stand for and what it will not – the bull is stubborn – and larger events around that will shift accordingly. May it be related to super uncomfortable things or have uncomfortable stakes? Definitely could.
However, if we’re honoring the point of Saturn in Sagittarius which is truth, and cutting out the bullshit, being too flexible w/ stuff that goes against your core values is like going against your nature. And whatever ephemeral circumstance rewards that is not worth the habit of going against nature. What do you need? Do you support a reality that aligns with your needs or let yourself be restricted by one that doesn’t? And because it’s Saturn it can feel big and heavy – but that’s the test of the week. Take some time to get centered and know what it is you really, really want.
Excuse the pronoun-ing of the ultimate creator of the Universe – here goes a poem for our week:
My Wage
by J.B. Rittenhouse
I bargained with Life for a penny
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store.
For Life is just an employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.
~Sabrina Monarch
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