‘Clytie’ by Louis Welden Hawkins Date Unknown {{PD}}

Mercury moves back into Virgo, prompting critical thinking–but we have to ask ourselves, is this critical thinking as in discernment and analysis that leads to synthesis, or critical thinking as in criticism of and bitching about others or the world? That’s the choice we’ll make, influenced by two contacts to Pluto: the Sun forming a trine, and Venus a quincunx (which of course makes the Sun and Venus semi-square each other).

Pluto! Our old friend. Shining a light on the dark makes Pluto act up, and sometimes act out. He loves the attention; we are prone today to focus on those darker parts of ourselves, our rage, our shame, but also on our resilience, our ability to rise from the ashes, our hope to transform things, to bring what is to a higher form. We’ll see how to make it all better–and the good thing is, we’ll be enlightened with full awareness of what those changes will cost us, in relationships and otherwise. We’ll make the choice: assess and improve, or gripe and wallow–it’s up to you.

My take on today is prompted by a forum that had referred a small run of traffic to an old article here. It appears the discussion I was mentioned in and linked from revolved around a number of people naming different subjects and viewpoints they found offensive, astrology included. I’m fine with people who don’t accept astrology as valid; I just don’t understand why they put so much venomous energy into letting others know what they think. The name calling didn’t bother me, but the anger did. Is their world view so shaky they must defend it by attacking anything that doesn’t fit? That sounds weak, rather than strong, and fearful, spurred by a belief system that shuts out contradictory material–which suggests that belief system can’t stand up under scrutiny. And here’s my other point: I wouldn’t think of criticizing someone’s translation from, say, Urdu, as I don’t speak it–how would I know what’s wrong with the interpretation of a language I don’t understand? Or, if someone claims to be able to read tea leaves or palms or any other material they consider divinatory, who am I to say they’re wrong, without subjecting that system and their methods to observation and testing, as the scientific method requires? These people were critical of astrology yet had no knowledge of it; they assumed it was junk, without ever testing it, seeing themselves as superior simply by the fact of their rejection of it. So, guard against this kind of bias in yourself, and avoid those who claim to be rational when they’re anything but–they have nothing of worth to add to your world.

Oh, and the Sabian for the Sun at the time I investigated the referrer? ‘A Volcanic Eruption’!!

Crocus alatavicus By C T Johansson – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14172723

Today’s word image is a crocus pushing up out of the snow. This is a spring event, and so implies one of two things: that something happening now will show results in the spring of 2018, or that something happening now is an early auger of other growth/ productivity/ development to come. What strikes me is that in late April Mars and Pluto will meet, just as Jupiter trines Hygeia. This suggests healthy, informed action that brings significant change–and our image says, that actually puts down roots, and maybe even starts to show, right now.