I mentioned on Twitter morning of the 21st the Fist of God (Jupiter square Ceres, apex Chiron in Aries, directing that poke straight at our heads!) prevailing through roughly the 28th. It’s brutal, arising from the clash of beliefs, facts, or simply the individual sense of god-like omnipotence (carried by someone over there, not us, right?) with either the realities of Nature itself or with an authority of equal potence and stature–and the result is hurt. The wound may be newly inflicted, the opening of an old injury, or in a best-case scenario will call forward one’s most unique skills, and in any case may befall a third party, not even affecting one of the originating principals. ‘Collateral damage’ is an ugly term for what are deemed acceptable casualties within a conflict; better to whip out the skills in answer to such a clash, rather than cavalierly inflicting harm and judging it unavoidable when it actually is.

The theme of the Fist is hammered home on the 22nd with Venus opposed Vesta (relationships or financial concerns pitted against values) and Mercury opposed Jupiter (thinking or messaging at odds with the facts) and sextile Neptune (deception or confused thinking comes easily) with Merc falling at the midpoint of the soon-to-perfect square of Chiron to Pallas (reasoning caught in the clash between our deepest hurt and what’s wise or practical, almost guaranteeing paralysis).

I know! I’m so negative! I always want you to be equipped, though, and as always, there’s a light in the darkness: the Sun sextiles Chiron. That tells us that we can see our injuries for what they are, in fact we can see any injury inflicted on ourselves or others for what it is, which is typically an indication of imbalance within the person who strikes out–the injury speaks only of how we receive it. Keep that in mind. As well the Sun illuminates those very specific skills we carry that are symbolized by our natal Chiron–it would be a great time to pull those out, polish them up, and put them to work.

Today’s word image is a bird, confused by a reflection, bashes into a window. The bird is us, of course, trying to get our bearings, trying to, as the song says, “straighten up and fly right” (a song I never liked and always found kind of pushy, btw), but we’re disoriented or deceived by something, information or an image, thrown back at us. Is that our fault? The first thought is, not really, until we realize that what we’re responding to as ‘good info’ is simply a reflection of something ‘not real’, a misinterpretation of what actually does exist. Our crash is preventable, if we’ll only resolve to be very clear on the situation surrounding us.