Can you feel the heat? The area of our charts containing Aries is being activated once more. At this moment, it is both the planets and the other astrological happenings this week that will make for significant change. This week we will be gathering up some vital potential energy for the months to come. Movement is on the horizon once more and this astrology seeks to charge us up for the run. It's all about harnessing the ideas, energies, and motivations that light a fire under you, however, the doors are still closed, awaiting their cue to open and send us off to the races. The trick is to avoid bodily stress and burnout while we stomp our feet in vibrant anticipation!
Mars has been at home in Aries for about a week now (since 5/24) and gave us some much-needed caffeine to get us out of our sleepy eclipse haze. We took some time to stretch and yawn, to adjust our eyes to the sunny morning, and then the time came to fully rise from bed. Jupiter met up with Mars on Sunday 5/29, rousing us from our snuggly nest of Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio introspection. Their rendezvous serves us greatly at this moment, even though we are not quite ready to jump into action.
You see, Jupiter expands and blesses everything it touches, while Mars kicks up dust in an effort to sprint and adds fuel to the fire. This is potent energy for a breakthrough, my friends! But it will happen best in chunks and pieces, with some much-needed stillness in-between, helping to sort through the remnants of what is still being let go of (eclipse season residue). Tend to your needs with care as we are still being asked to invert into our own minds to sort some things out as Mercury finishes up its last week of retrograde. However, when inspiration strikes, it's okay to lend a little energy to scoping out what wants to be born. Just know that this process is more about planting seeds and cultivating energy than kicking off and making things happen. Sometimes we are guided to plant seeds because of our frustration at the lack of current harvest. While the seed sowing is something we can do now, the solutions and the fruits may take a little more time to come along!
That time will come, next week and into June, once we finish setting our players up and getting the lay of the land. Our movements forward may feel more like a heavily weighed down freight train trying its best to get chugging along. With Jupiter here, however, we just might find ourselves magically receiving the people, opportunities, and tools that we need to push our caboose and gain some true speed moving forward. Stay open to synchronistic happenings and solutions that seemingly appear out of thin air, even if we just get a distant whiff of them as they journey toward us.
This whole week is colored by a few big energies: the energy of new beginnings and planting the seeds that will take us there (New Moon in Gemini), the energy of slowly but surely undoing the knots in our minds that have been frustratingly reflective as of late (Mercury stationing direct), and the energy of hard work and discipline shifting from our outward experience to our inward experience (Saturn stationing to turn retrograde). Here is how these energies will play out and how they will help move us forward, one very important step at a time!
For now, we are still in the plotting and pondering stage of our season. With a New Moon in Gemini on the morning of 5/30, we are ushered into the week with new ideas and new ways of understanding the chaos that has been swirling around in our minds since early May. It's not all clear quite yet but our intentions for how to get there may be finding their shape. Use this time to create and sow tiny seeds. You may not know what they will grow to be, but deep within your genius you know that you need more harvest and the seeds represent the harvest as a whole right now, rather than the individual crops they will become. For a more specific look at this New Moon in Gemini and the areas it plants its seeds in, check out the house that contains Gemini in your natal birth chart.
Then, we coast through the rest of the workweek tasked with Mercury in retrograde's final demands before stationing direct on Friday 6/3. While things may appear to slow down even more as Mercury comes to a near standstill, this is a great time to reflect while keeping in mind the forward-moving energies that are beginning to reveal themselves. Think of Mercury as a lake. The waters have been a little chaotic and choppy the last few weeks, carrying the current in toward us and inundating our banks with moisture and minerals necessary for growth. A lot to soak up and integrate into our soil. As Mercury stations to move direct once more, the water comes to a standstill and provides a beautiful reflective surface for us to lean over and gaze into. It is here that we can begin to see what's changed. Once Mercury starts moving forward and gains some speed, the current will begin to move outward once more, rippling out and carrying our realizations, ideas, and retrograde gains out into the great lake of destiny, where they will incubate and create further progress.
So, as we have a very swift turnabout in our mental processing and forward-moving energy, we also switch energies as Saturn stations to turn retrograde on Saturday 6/4. This not-so-gentle giant is VERY slow-moving, therefore we will be feeling the effects of its standstill all week. Saturn is a stern planet that delivers us the challenges, struggles, and sometimes suffering that we need in order to learn and grow spiritually and on our human life journey. Saturn is not negative, but rather nuanced, heavy with discipline and the 'tough love' needed to guide us through our powerful life lessons. Saturn wants us to learn and embodies the mountains that we spend our strength and resources climbing, often struggling at some point along the way, in order to reach a new peak, a new view, and a higher understanding of our journey. Saturn often feels like the heaviness of the physical world and the burden of the long-term journey through life, but know that everything Saturn touches will be strengthened, for as we plunge our sword into the burning hot embers of life, we forge a metal entity that cannot be bent or broken.
When Saturn is direct, a little over half of each year, our battles are oftentimes met through the outside journey. Of course, it truly depends on where in your chart Aquarius falls, as that is the sign slow-moving Saturn has been in since December 2020 and will be in until March 2023. For those of you with Saturn in Aquarius in your natal chart, you have been moving through what is called your Saturn Return. A time period that comes around only 2-3 times in your life, typically 2-3 years long (the time that it takes Saturn to move through one sign and into the next) filled with self-reckoning and a certain life journey overview. Saturn returns often get a bad reputation because they tend to shine a very slow-moving, bright light onto the major lessons of our life so far and the progress we've made - or haven't made - on our human journey of growth and learning. It's a moment where we hit a milestone on our mountain climb and can clearly, and painfully, see where we've been and where we still need to go. It can feel harrowing if we've wasted our time or have been stuck climbing in circles. My own personal Saturn return will come next spring when Saturn sashays into Pisces and I promise I will have much more to say on this topic as I make my way through my own experiences!
When Saturn turns direct, however, the energy of learning and working hard to grow as humans focuses more inward. The mountainous landscape switches from real-life, external challenges to overcoming internal challenges and climbing the mountains that are less tangible and arguably more vital to our spiritual growth. While outside challenges give us a chance to learn and test our human strength and navigation skills, internal mountains call for us to integrate what we struggle with and overcome barriers and blocks from within our own being and consciousness. While both journeys are necessary and powerful in their own ways, Saturn in retrograde has a way of challenging our spirit during times of struggle, and also a way of helping us to draw from our inner reserves of strength and discipline to keep forging ahead.
While Saturn retrograde isn't necessarily a get out of jail free card for external, real-life struggles, you can expect to have a certain focus on the inward processes of climbing your mountains. It is not the sources of challenge that change with Saturn’s dance in and out of retrograde, but rather the perspective from which we view them. In other words, rocks may still fall out from under you, but the focus will be on the ways in which you react to the uncertainty of your steps and how you keep yourself moving forward. You may learn a lot about yourself and your journey from new heights, as Aquarius is highly intellectual and loves to understand and see the inner workings of ideas, experiences, and phenomena. Aquarius also seeks to innovate, evolve, and make things better, often by taking the road never traveled - and a few rebellious risks - along the way. Saturn will be retrograde from 6/3 until 10/23. It is time to catch up with our karma and allow the integration of our not-so-easy journey over the last seven months (since Saturn turned direct on 10/11 last fall).
When a planet stations (stops) to turn direct or enter its retrograde, it draws the current focus to its energy in very strong ways. Saturn may be slow-moving but it's also heavy and its pull is strong and steady. This week that energy may feel like a need to get organized, disciplined, and get your sh*t together in more ways than one. Depending on what part of your chart Saturn is soaking right now, know that it doesn't have to play out as heavy as it feels. Saturn loves preparation and contingency. Give yourself some structure where you're feeling the pressure. Be proactive and get yourself what you need. Medicine may be bitter, but if you take it with something sweet, it doesn't have to be a moment of suffering. Tend to your weeds, my darlings! So that when the real work begins, you have a clear landscape to work with. That is the sweetness in this moment! Setting yourself up for success and making sure you have a solid structure to support the climbing that's to come will pay off in the long run AND it will soothe your nervous system in the present moment.
As you can see, this week is not an overly complicated one, in terms of astrological happenings and aspects. It is, however, definitely a potent one! Although there are only three energies shaping our week, they are all rather large and dignified in their effects. This is an overall great week to sort through what's been piling up and tend to the to-dos that press on your mind. It's also fantastic energy for intermittent rest and stillness, amidst the work, to keep yourself balanced and nurtured. Think of this week as a gas pedal and a brake. To slam your feet down on both at once would surely blow your engine. However, taking methodical steps to ferry back and forth between the two will serve you greatly. Some moments call for a little gas, while others call for the brakes and some space to take in the scenery.
Confer with your spirit in stillness (whatever that looks like for you) if you feel stuck or lost, and know that although we still have a few days before the energy swiftly shifts, each moment still leads us directly into the next. Everything is temporary and if one energy feels rather uncomfortable, allow yourself to flow into the next moment and the energy beyond. Look to Saturn and Mercury as your leaders right now and google more about them to learn what they like - and don't like - so you can better serve yourself along your journey. Also, know that this energy could manifest in your bodies as mental anxiety! As a rule of thumb for this week, if it doesn’t have anything to do with the present moment you are currently in, it doesn’t need to percolate around in your mind. Drop your energy from your head down toward your hips, legs, and feet. Ground into nature, self care, and high vibrational energies like gratitude, trust, love, and security within. While the energy may charge up the hamster wheel in your mind, you don’t have to run circles on it. Shift to your body and find a peaceful home there!
These are fruitful times, ladies and germs! Nothing in life is instantaneous but your harvest is just around the corner. The spiral of manifestation from the eclipses continues to turn, offering us our next moments at the drop of a hat. You are in charge of how you react and respond to the happenings in your world! While we must always make space to honor our human condition and feelings, know that gratitude and a positive view of what's to come always help cultivate more love on your path. This world is full of dark suffering and peril that can never be willed away with 'love & light' or 'thoughts & prayers'. However, to fight the good fight, in our own world and in the collective experience, it benefits us greatly to root ourselves deeply into love and hope, if we wish to have the endurance to create powerful change.
Love is the fabric of our universe, the molecule that everything is born from, and the creator of our existence. It is the vibration that connects us all and holds us all, in spirit and in the human experience. Let love be your anchor so that as you plunge into the depths of life, you have a rope to help you navigate back to the surface.
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Take care, be well, and find the love hidden in our connections and what lies before us!
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