The 16th is a Good Day To . . . listen. There’s an undertone to events that sneaks up on us, a dull roar that’s easy to dismiss as just background noise. It starts with a handful of contra-parallels, opposition-toned energy duos that enter the arena but don’t necessarily engage directly with each other: Our love for something or someone, our finances, or our relationships themselves are at odds with our own successful empowerment; the messages we receive or our own thinking fails to correctly understand the value (or lack of it) in what’s happening; and we’re likely to be surprised either by ourselves and our reactions or by what receives scrutiny or ‘the spotlight’–and there’s a chance that light will shine directly on something unusual, unique, radical, or original that we’ve done or are pursuing. Can make for a confusing atmosphere, the kind that shakes our confidence in our own identity or beliefs just enough to make us hesitate–and when we do, we should try the recommended listening, as an internal stillness and receptivity will offer (or make the way clear for) what we need to know.

This isn’t helped by the late afternoon Pacific time retrograde of Mercury in Pisces. It kicks in at 12 Pisces 53, with the first aspect it makes a semi-square to Saturn, and the first aspect made to it a square from the Moon in Sagittarius and then a sextile from Pallas and semi-sextile from Venus (over the first two days of the retro, with the order not being especially important). I see the way the retro period starts as a kind of harbinger of what to expect through the cycle; the ‘birth’ of the retrograde, and so its meaning. This time we have the retro occurring in Water, asking us to re-consider how we feel, with that examination of feelings showing us what values and relationships are making the ‘hard edges’ and difficult circumstances in our world. We have the wisdom and practical orientation to address what we see; at the same time, a flood of emotion bolstered by the square from the Moon in Sag, which we might describe as ‘difficult knowledge’, compels us to ‘dream backward’, that is, to assess the current reality, especially the emotional reality, by reviewing what previous dreams and ideals were chosen, which discarded, and how this built things as they are now. Exercise the imagination in the first half of the cycle, and in the latter half, exorcise it, flushing out delusions, misinterpretations, and untenable fantasies that are standing in the way of what you really want.

A Good Day To . . . is based on the aspects perfecting on each day, Pacific time.

We’re finally moving, so I won’t be able to make daily posts as I won’t have access to my computer, but I’ll do my best to pop in when I can. Once we’re settled I’ll resume some sort of regular schedule–’til then, I’ll miss you all!