A note for today, the 8th: Saturn squares and Mars sesquiquadrates Pallas, almost daring us to do something unwise or impractical–obviously the answer is, just don’t! What pushes us is the way we feel our power and mobility threatened by the social order or ‘the facts’, or by an outright power struggle with our opposite number (Jupiter opp Juno)–but we should all know by now that being reactive is a poor way to go through life. Do your best to pull yourself together–the danger is we’ll go down a mental or emotional rabbit hole it will be hard to extricate ourselves from, as it will seem like reality–and try to be proactive in some reality-based arena that doesn’t rely on our interpretation of events, that instead has objectively measurable standards by which we can judge our efforts.

For the 9th: Perhaps strangely, considering the influences, objectivity is enhanced today–we cut to the chase, internally and in dealings with others, and the result is we are likely to get somewhere much quicker than we thought we could. Take advantage of this by strategically not looking the proverbial gift horse in the mouth; plow forward, enjoy the serendipitous breezes and beneficial surprises (and they will be beneficial, even if right now it seems they are not), and don’t try too hard to make sense of things for the conscious mind–that’s the one practice that can slow you to a crawl. Instead allow things to come together, respond from and to them, and enjoy the ease with which some things are, almost miraculously, accomplished.

(Pallas conj Zeus, Chiron conj Vesta, Venus conj Neptune and semi-sq Uranus, Mercury nov Uranus and trine NN, Sun opp Pallas-Zeus and contra-parallel Zeus)

For those who have the natal Sun at 19 Aries. Check your natal chart for the correct Sun degree (you may want to read both the degree number and the one that follows, if you have minutes on your Sun position–that offers a more complete picture of your year ahead). Aries, your ambitions and desires come under direct scrutiny this year, by yourself and by others; it’s your job to recognize what’s wise in your aims, and what misses the mark and is impractical or just plain not worth pursuing. Though you may feel discouraged by this vetting of goals, ultimately it will weed out what’s wasting your time and resources, and so leave you more than ready to implement ambitions and wishes in real-world terms. Assets this year include emotions that will support your choices, making actions that much more effective, and instincts that, if you listen to them, will tell you just when and how to deal with those less pleasant facets of life that really shouldn’t be ignored. Good luck, Aries–the dream awaits!