Astrology 10/10-10/16: Molten Silver

Though the week begins with the conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter in harmonious Libra, it climaxes with the exciting, but volatile, Full Moon in Aries on Saturday night.  This week asks for balance, but not the static, yogic variety.  It’s not our tree pose that we need practice, but rather the kind that the professional skateboarder demonstrates.

The View From Above

The week begins with Mercury and Jupiter’s conjunction in Libra.  This is a bit of good news, and should serve to offset the difficulties inspired by the Mars-Jupiter square last week.  Though equilibrium has been tested, and peace disturbed, it is not forever lost.  Mercury’s conjunction with Jupiter highlights how homeostasis might be restored, and harmony regained.  There are potential fixes and stabilizations hovering about this conjunction, but it is important that these hopes be anchored to plans of action, or they will merely remain moments of positivity, with no lasting impact.

On the wings of this conjunction, rise above the busy terrain of life.  From there, you can survey the territory with ease, and plot a path in your desired direction. It is a vision of circumstances overcome, both through nobility of spirit and cleverness of means.   Sketch a map of this aerial view, for its pattern might easily be lost among the more volatile transits waiting later in the week.

The first of these challenges is Mercury’s Thursday square with Mars in Capricorn.  Here irritations, obstacles, and assholes threaten the equilibrium envisioned only days earlier.  Patience and preparation are the tools need to tread gracefully through this part of the week.  Do not let an irritating exchange or an unexpected situation derail you.

The Breath of Relationship

The weekend is chock full of planetary action.  The most important, and visible, celestial event is the Full Moon in Aries, but there are plenty of other things happening.

On Friday, Mercury in Libra sextiles Saturn in Sagittarius.  Here Saturn orders Mercury’s many ideas.  It is organizational and disciplined, and on its own, would provide the surrounding days with a businesslike atmosphere.  But as it happens, the Sun and chaotic Uranus oppose on the same day.  Rebellious, pattern-breaking Uranus is everything that sturdy, lawful Saturn is not.

The Sun’s opposition to Uranus is amplified the next day with the Full Moon’s conjunction to the distant, mohawked planet.  The Full Moon occurs on Saturday, the 15^th, less than a degree away from Uranus.  As I wrote in my piece about this October:

“While there will certainly be some fireworks on display, for many people the pyrotechnics will be internal.  This Full Moon ignites the desire for independence and personal sovereignty.  Some will make swift and radical breaks in pursuit of an overwhelming desire for freedom.  Indeed, what limits and controls may feel temporarily intolerable, but perfect liberty does not exist.  Personal sovereignty is a fine ideal, but it is important to recognize that life is always part of an interdependent web.   Let the eternal fire bloom within you while the Full Moon rises, but take care not to scorch your neighbors.

Saturday the 15^th also hosts Mercury’s exact square to Pluto, which opens the way for secrets to come spilling out.  Power dynamics weigh on what is said and not said, further pressurizing a volatile Full Moon.”

During this Full Moon, the tension between the luminaries echoes the tension between the Self and the Other, and pulls us to explore the complexities of this most fundamental polarity.  There is no simple answer to be found here, but there is an artful one, which weaves together a tapestry of harmony and strife.  Separation and connection must both be given their due, for they are the rhythmic, alchemical breath of relationship.