Even though they're sitting near one another, there's something solitary and peaceful about these artists W. Homer 'Artists Sketching in the White Mountains' 1868 {{PD-Art}}

Just prior to 9:30 AM PDT the Sag Moon trines Jupiter in Aries; it’s a day for broadcasting and reaching out across the social scene, and this is so despite Merc still (seems like forever!) in retrograde. This is because it’s all about getting the message out, and we are, perhaps oddly, unconcerned with whether we communicate clearly; as such it’s an almost pure energy of expression–and thus a little chaotic. Our attention is on expansion, especially in creative arenas, and we are eager (burning, we might say!) to show who we are–but we are fundamentally at least a little confused on the identity front (Sun sextile Neptune). What we need to know is that this is an influence, not something actually springing from within us–and we need to remember this when we start to feel inadequate or irritated that we are not able to pull ourselves together in quite the way we hope to–it’s not us, it’s the Universe!

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I liked this painting because the light is so bright and orange, the fire seems wild and out of control--even though it isn't. Bierstadt 1863 'The Oregon Trail'

8 PM Pacific sees the Moon sextile Saturn, quickly followed by the Moon sextile h.Zeus, trine Mercury, then trine Mars. We enter this period thinking we can hold back, control our actions, and keep to the status quo–wrong! Ambition and desire speak up (likely through aesthetics or relationships) and then we tell everything we know (or at least everything we thought we’d keep to ourselves), and it ends up lighting a different kind of fire under us: one that is fueled by a synchronization of the emotions, the intuition, and the action urge. Despite the way we may put our foot in it, it may still be a good time to act–as long as we are truly clear about what we want, and what the situation is–and unfortunately this is nearly impossible with the retrograde of Merc still hanging on. It’s a shame to waste the energy, though, so most of us may decide to act now and ask questions (or clean up the unintended consequences) later