Mercury stations retrograde today, August 19th, in the beginning of his journey backward in the sky which will continue until September 12th when he stations direct. When a planet stations either retrograde or direct it essentially pauses in the sky (from our perspective here on earth, anyway, the planet itself is not stopping) and this can be an excellent time to harness the energy of that planet. Though, harnessing the power of Mercury right before it goes retrograde isn’t nearly as beneficial as the power right before it goes back into direct motion.

Even people with the most rudimentary knowledge of astrology have heard about this Mercury retrograde period as a period of chaos and mischief, when good communication and work flies out the window and you can’t get anything done. While this certainly can be true of Mercury retrograde it does not have to be.

Any time a planet retrogrades it brings in a reversal of that planet’s energy, so the normal things that Mercury brings in (communication, travel, logic and rational faculties, intellect, commerce, etc.) are going to be disrupted and have to be worked with in a different way. Since Mercury is the planet that stations retrograde and direct the most often (approximately 3 times a year) and because it controlls such everyday things people tend to pay attention in one way or another whenever Mercury goes retrograde.

When a planet is retrograde it quite literally looks like it is moving backwards in the sky. Of course, the orbit of the physical planet in the solar system has not changed, but it appears this way because of our position in the solar system in relation to it. Retrograde comes from the Latin retrogradus which translates to “backward-step” and from this we can understand what retrograde planets mean for us.

Another aspect of retrograde planets to consider is the simple fact that, when retrograde, a planet is passing through the degrees of the zodiac it was just in, allowing us to back up or step back and reflect on what has just happened and the choices we made while the planet was in that sign or those signs that the retrograde planet is going through. And then once the planet stations direct we have a chance for a do-over, to use the energy of the sign(s) again and maybe better than we did before.

Mercury from today until September 12th will be travelling backward through Virgo and it won’t be until September 28th that it returns to the same degree that it is today when it stations. So, you have until the 12th to do what Virgo does best: analyze. Look at the ways you have been using Mercury in Virgo in the past month and allow yourself to back up and use Mercury in a different way, figure out how Mercury retrograde affects you, and how you can do Mercury in Virgo even better the second time around after the 12th. You have until October 3rd, when Mercury moves into Libra.

Retrograde Mercury is generally not a good time to actually do anything Mercury is associated with, such as making new deals or planning trips, getting in heated debates, or, you know, thinking or working. Unfortunately the last two are difficult not to do, but with Mercury retrograde we must learn how to think and work in a different manner, in a “backwards” manner, perhaps, or at least one that is foreign to us. This is why Mercury retrograde can be extremely disruptive, especially for the first few days.

However, if you keep in mind the positive aspects of Mercury retrograde in Virgo, that it can lead to greater awareness and reflection on communications and all those other things associated with Mercury, you can try to harness Mercury retrograde energy as best as possible and (hopefully) not be too thrown out of whack by it. Of course, this is easier said than done and takes some practice, but it can be done.

This is a broad look at the effects Mercury retrograde can have. How you personally will be influenced by Mercury retrograde and Mercury’s transit through Virgo will also depend on your birth chart: if your Mercury is direct or retrograde, the sign and placement your Mercury is in as well as the house and planet(s) you have in Virgo. To find out your own planet and house placements you can cast your own chart for free online. For a personal chart reading I am available for consultations.

The Sun moves into Leo today, July 22nd, at 3:21pm Pacific Time (11:21pm GMT). I’ve talked before about the transition from Cancer to Leo since the Sun is just slightly behind Mercury and Venus in the sky right now, though it won’t catch up to them until after they both go retrograde. The movement from reclusive homebody Cancer back into the social outgoing Leo can be a sudden one, but luckily we already have a good amount of Leo energy shooting down at us to ease the transition. The Sun rules Leo, it is at home in Leo, so it’s pretty happy to move into it’s own sign.

As I talked about in Sun in Cancer, the Sun is all about our self, our ego, our soul and potential. It is one of the three most looked-at aspects of our chart along with the Moon and Ascendant because it helps to form our core selves. If the Moon is our inner core emotional self and our Ascendant is the mask we show to the world the Sun is the mediator between the two, our sense of who we are. This is why “Sun sign” astrology is so popular and can often be right on. The Sun is where we live.

As the Sun transits through the signs it highlights the ruler of the sign it is in, but since the ruler of Leo is the Sun we’re even more focused on ourselves and our ego than normal. The Sun wants us to shine, and the Sun in Leo puts a spotlight on us and trying to encourage us to shine as brightly as possible.

The danger of Leo energy is getting too trapped up in the ego and self. If we remember the nurturing, sharing, and giving lessons we learned about when the Sun was in Cancer we may be able to express ourselves and our ego fully and happily without stepping on other people’s toes. This is the best work of the Sun in Leo, expressing our own self and giving ourselves away while also keeping in mind that other people have the right to express themselves just as we do.

Leo is also a Fixed sign and coming right after the Cardinal Cancer means that all the creative initiation energy of Cancer can be honed in Leo so that we may be able to manifest a new project or activity at this time. This is the time to really get things done, which may be part of why summertime is always the time of projects and activity. Like with all things in Astrology there is a potential downfall here as well, you could get too “fixed” or stuck in a pattern that isn’t as fulfilling.

Overall this is a great place for the Sun as long as we don’t get too stuck or try to outshine others. It’s not about being better than anyone else but being true to yourself and shining as wholly and positively as you can.

This is a broad look at the effects Sun in Leo can have. How you personally will be influenced by the Sun’s transit through Leo will also depend on your birth chart: the sign and placement your Sun is in as well as the house and planet(s) you have in Leo. To find out your own planet and house placements you can cast your own chart for free online. For a personal chart reading I am available for consultations.

Venus (love, art, money) enters Virgo (perfection, logic, analysis) at 4:32am Pacific Time (11:32am GMT) today and will stay there until August 6th, moving out of boisterous energetic Leo and into the contemplative and overanalytical Virgo.

Venus is one of the two benefic planets, along with Jupiter, as it is associated with pleasant things and tends to bring positive influences. However, despite sharing the same first letter Venus is not happy in Virgo, it is in Fall. A planet is in Fall in the sign directly opposite the sign where it is Exalted (Pisces in Venus’ case), it is uncomfortable and has difficulty expressing itself fully. Venus’ desires for self-expression, relationship, and pretty shiny things can clash with Virgo’s need for precision and perfection.

As I’ve mentioned before: each sign a planet encounters tempers and refines the one before it, and Venus in Virgo is no different. Where Venus in Leo was bold and outgoing, preferring to express itself first and ask questions later, Venus in Virgo is the exact opposite, preferring to analyze and interpret before daring to reveal anything too personal about itself. Virgo takes a step back from the over-exaggerated ways of Leo, analyzing our actions during the last thirty degrees so that we may work to realize our motivations before starting to balance and refine them in Libra.

 

Virgo is represented in Tarot by The Hermit card and it’s very possible that Venus in Virgo can encourage introversion, reclusion, introspection and other hermit-like behaviors. All relationships are ruled by Venus, not just romantic ones. Virgo loves to analyze and excel at perfection, at worst this can mean analyzing to the point of anxiety or harsh criticizing of everything. Virgo Venus can inadvertently encourage you to be exceptionally critical of others around you, straining existing relationships and making new ones difficult to form during this time.

On the flip side, if you do not allow Venus to get too nitpicky and overanalytical in Virgo it can be a time of great growth and change. Analysis can lead you to the opportunity to do things better and greater than you did before. This can encourage examination of our values both in and out of relationships, what you are getting out of our current relationships, and our own self-worth.

Venus also rules the material and monetary realm. Virgo helps us recover from the spendthrift ways of Leo, making you more aware of your finances. This could be an excellent time to revamp or start a budget, savings account, or anything which can harness the analytical and precision aspects of Virgo.

While Venus isn’t happy under the Virgo examination microscope and doesn’t enjoy being scrutinized so closely the work done during Venus in Virgo will help you be able to express your own Venus more fully. By keeping in mind the ease of expression that you had in Venus in Leo and making sure your analytical side is kept in check during this month you may be able to grow and learn more about yourself and your relation to others.

This is a broad look at the effects Venus in Virgo can have. How you personally will be influenced by Venus’ transit through Virgo will also depend on your birth chart: the sign and placement Venus is in as well as the house and planet(s) you have in Virgo. To find out your own planet and house placements you can cast your own chart for free online. For a personal chart reading I am also available for consultations.

First image by Delphine Gache.
Tarot cards from The Thoth Deck and Raider Waite decks, respectively.

Today marks the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and the day that the Sun moves from the outgoing socialite Gemini into the nurturing homebody Cancer. In fact it is the passing of the Sun into Cancer which marks the Solstice. At 4:38am Pacific Time (11:28am GMT) the Sun moved into Cancer and will stay there until July 23rd.

The watery sign of Cancer may seem like a strange one to be heralding in summer, but let’s think about it. The Sol is our soul, our ego, our potential, and that which we think of as being ourselves, which is why “sun sign” astrology can be a useful tool (though is not the end-all and be-all of Astrology). It is also where we shine and our conscious thoughts and motivations. The transiting Sun serves as a spotlight, illuminating everything related to the sign it is passing through in our lives and charts. As planets move around the signs each sign tempers and refines the one before it.

In Gemini the Sun highlights Mercury, duality, and social interaction. Gemini is a social butterfly: fun, flirty, and extroverted. All the social lessons and things we learned about ourselves in Gemini will now be refined by coming home in Cancer after the party to decompress. Gemini and Cancer both put a lot of focus on our external world and interactions with others but do it in a very different way.

In Cancer the Sun highlights the Moon, emotions, self-reflection, and family. Cancer is an archetypal Mother: nurturing, comforting, and wise. Cancer puts a focus on our personal and emotional interactions with others, not just the casual social interactions of Gemini. Our intention shifts from how we interact with others to how others interact with us and look for deeper connections with others.

This may motivate us to interact more or less with others, we could become invested in these personal interactions and go out looking for them or become a hermit for the month of Cancer, how it affects each of us individually depends highly on how Cancer looks in our own personal charts and what planets are in and aspected by Cancer. I can say that the Sun illuminating Cancer does put a special emphasis on how our emotional core selves (Moon) interacts with our conscious self and ego (Sun), however that might look for us as individuals.

Also important in this transition is the change from Mutable (flexible, indecisive) Gemini to Cardinal (active, pioneering) Cancer, making it easier for us to make decisions regarding our selves and personal interests. Sun in Cancer is creative and gets a lot done because of it’s Cardinal modality. It can motivate you toward great change, self-improvement, and renovation, and can mean an overhaul of life as we know it to become life as it will be. Isn’t that kind of summer in a nutshell and what those summer road-trip and “coming of age” movies are all about?

This is a broad look at the effects the Sun in Cancer can have. How you personally will be influenced by the Sun’s transit through Cancer will also depend on your birth chart: the sign and placement the Sun is in as well as the house and planet(s) you have in Cancer. To find out your own planet and house placements you can cast your own chart for free online. For a personal chart reading I am also available for consultations.

Today the planet Venus moves into Leo at 1:50am Pacific Time (8:50am GMT), saying goodbye to the soft romantic Crab and hello to the flashy bold Lion. It will stay there until July 10th when it moves into Virgo. In Leo Venus is free to express itself without limitation, a happy situation for Venus which likes little more than being able to openly express itself. The trap of Venus in Leo is being too big and giving away the self too freely without retaining anything.

Venus rules over the realms of relationships, art/expression, worth (both personal/self and physical/monetary), and values. As planets move around the signs each sign tempers and refines the one before it, so Venus in Leo takes the personal emotional lessons learned in Venus in Cancer such as the ability to open up and be true to one’s self and uses them as fuel to ignite it’s own exaggerated and flirtatious nature, expressing the self and the ego as effectively as possible.

Venus’ journey from solitary Cancer to outgoing Leo can be an abrupt change for those comfortable in the nurturing and emotional water sign or a welcome one to those more at home in the heart of the flame. In Leo Venus is encouraged to be bold, risky, and daring, but also risks a bruised ego in the process due to it’s larger than life nature. It doesn’t think, it acts, and can suffer the consequences later.

Because Venus in Cancer taught us about our personal relationships with each of the realms Venus rules Leo can then take that new knowledge and start expressing it to anyone and everyone who will listen.

There can be a tendency to overexpress or give away Venusian items during this time, including money and personal self-worth in the hope of gaining approval and recognition. Leo loves attention, approval, and recognition, and so any personal endeavors are often motivated by that subconscious or conscious desire. The bruised ego comes in when that desire is not met. Because of this personal relationships can become strained if both parties are looking for recognition but not giving any to the other.

When Venus in Leo is well-expressed it is done so by finding a balance between the Cancerian nurturing and Leo expressing, making sure you and everyone else is heard and appreciated. While not always easy to achieve, that is the work of Venus in Leo.

This is a broad look at the effects Venus in Leo can have. How you personally will be influenced by Venus’ transit through Leo will also depend on your birth chart: the sign and placement Venus is in as well as the house and planet(s) you have in Leo. To find out your own planet and house placements you can cast your own chart for free online. For a personal chart reading I am also available for consultations.

I have recently decided to turn this interest into a livelihood of sorts. I was inspired by meeting an astrologer I’ve followed and looked up to for quite some time and taking a couple of his classes. I realized I wanted to do what he did, I wanted to know where the planets are at any given time and what’s going on with them, visualize charts in my head by being told someone’s planets, essentially make astrology a major part of my life.

Why move from a hobby to a livelihood? Well, I’ve been searching for what to do pretty intensely the last two years, the economy has not been good to me. With my MC in Gemini encouraging me to study many varied fields and driving me to share my knowledge with others, coming to astrology as one of the many interests I want to use to make money with just makes a lot of sense.