Happy Monday!

Some of my Facebook friends are reporting a bit of stress this morning. And indeed, the stress of a potential power play and/or emotional catharsis is reflected by  today’s nurturing Cancer Moon in a face off with  ruthless Pluto, exact at 8:11 AM ET.  What needs to be released so that something else might thrive? The mood expands — for better or for worse — as lunch approaches, courtesy of a harmony between the Moon and Jupiter. Note the potential for a flash of illumination, a twist or other upset to the status quo around 4:51 PM ET, as rebel Uranus challenges the emotional security-seeking Cancer Moon. From then until 11:42 PM ET, the Moon will be void of course, suggesting a time to not make a mountain out of a molehill. Chill and focus on routine concerns, preferably those close to home. Roll with whatever twists and flakes  may disrupt your efforts to move forward in a straight line. If you are new to this forecast and not familiar with the term “void of course Moon,” here’s the 411. 

TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY are sponsored by the Moon in drama queen Leo. Great for party, a show or for issuing royal edicts. Emotions are on the rise, as the Moon is waxing to fullness in Virgo on THURSDAY at 7:51 PM ET. Before we get to Thursday, however, we have a busy few days of communication flows and challenges, as well as a chance to pour your heart out. In the case of the latter, on TUESDAY Venus in intuitive Pisces will be in harmony with powerbroker Pluto in Capricorn.

But wait, there’s more. Mercury (the way we need to think and communicate) pulls focus on WEDNESDAY, challenging a righteously opinionated, boundary-pushing Mars in Sagittarius, exact at 6:56 PM ET. An outburst energy for those walking and talking. Keep an eye on P45, as that Mars will be sitting on his opinionated Sag Moon, opposing his blah blah blah Gemini Sun. Provoked much? If you have a planet or angle around 20 degrees of Sagittarius, Gemini, Virgo or Pisces, you may also feel a wee bit provoked. Count to ten before you lash out.  And that includes the horoscope of the United States, too. Transiting Mars in Sag will connect with Mars and Neptune in the USA horoscope. Assertion, anger, scandal, vision, dreams, drugs, oil, fantasy — watch the headlines — and expect the debate over gun control to continue.

Later on Wednesday, Mercury will be in harmony with Pluto at 11:40 PM ET. Should be a fine day for investigative reporters. Mercury-Pluto patterns excel at digging up dirt.  The Leo Moon goes void at 6:13 PM ET on Wednesday; chill until 12:57 AM ET on THURSDAY, when the Moon enter Virgo to clean up the mess.

THURSDAY features the aforementioned Full Moon. In Virgo, its mission is to refine, organize and make things perfect. A lovely harmony between Venus and Jupiter, exact at 6:22 AM ET, gets that day off to an amiable — dare I say generous — start. Another easy flow between Mercury and Jupiter, exact FRIDAY at 8:05 AM ET, facilitates big news in publishing, legal affairs and other systems of collective beliefs.  By then we’ll be seeing manifestations of rose-colored glasses to the max. Why? Because on SUNDAY the Pisces Sun makes its annual meet-up with visionary Neptune, and Mercury meets up with Venus. The two together scream “idealism!!” — to be  expressed prominently in matters of women, money, art and social expression the following week.  Watch how those themes will be reflected in the Academy Awards.

What are your plans for a dreamy weekend escape? Moon goes void at 6:50 PM ET on FRIDAY; West Coasters can skip out early.

Don’t know where your planets are? Why not  make an appointment for a personal consultation?   Really, there’s too much going on in the cosmos to remain clueless about how it  likely to impact YOU. Now is the time to plan a strategy for the rest of 2018 — and beyond.

And now, the news.

In the aftermath of the Never-Ending Uranus-Pluto Square of 2011-2016, autocrats rule. Now it’s President Xi of China joining the Men Who Would Be King Club.  Yesterday the Communist Party announced it was abolishing constitutional terms limits.  And why not, on a day with Sun (leaders) in harmony with Saturn (authority, structure), with the Cancer Moon about to be challenged by power-grabbing Pluto? Xi’s birth date is unconfirmed, though it is reportedly June 15, 1953. That would make him another double-talking Gemini whose horoscope was under a streamlining squeeze all last year, as Saturn opposed his Sun. Moon in either regal Leo or Cancer.  Mars at 0 Cancer — the prominent Aries Point. We can watch for prominent initiatives from him next week.

Also — the American Dream is still alive for those currently threatened by the destruction of DACA.  SCOTUS refusedto hear the P45 Administration’s argument on why it should be permitted to strip Dreamers of their protected homeland status.

Meanwhile…

Back in 2009, when I began writing this forecast (!!!), the original conceit was to see if awareness of planetary patterns could be used to anticipate the headlines in the “paper of record,” a.k.a., the New York Times.   With Neptune pulling so much focus, I would expect a truckload of stories involving fish, water, oil, drugs, glamour, fanatics, scandal, film, illusion, spirits, victims, pacifists, lies — to name a few. Here are some examples from Sunday’s edition:

• On the front page — a special report — The Drowning Coast.
• Next up: Despite an Ethics Order, Cuomo Took $890K from Appointees
• In Russia, Bringing Home the Children Raised by ISIS
• Why Your Pharmacist Can’t Tell You That $20 Prescription Could Cost Only $8
• European Ex-Officials Deny Being Paid by Manafort to Lobby for Ukraine
• In the Business Section — front page profile of Linda McMahon, illusionist extraordinaire (“It did not matter that the venue…was not as TV viewers were told…”)
• Why These Goldfish are 70 Percent Organic
• Catching Forgeries and Aiding Justice
• Sports Sunday — Raw Octopus That Quivers? Don’t Mind If I Do — on the front page! Of the SPORTS section?!
• Sunday Styles — front page — actress Heather Graham’s new film is called “Half Magic.”   It’s a rom-com about sexism (Venus in Pisces square Mars in Sag) in Hollywood (Neptune).
• “Rehearsals Follow Rehab” — profile of cabaret singer Luann de Lesseps
• Arts & Leisure — front page —  “Spellbound” — about next month’s Broadway debut of Harry Potter & the Cursed Child
• Metropolitan — front page — “A Murder, A Conviction and Doubt” (“…the case remains muddled and a jailed man remains in limbo.”)
• Week in Review — front page — “Am I Going Blind?” (“…my eyesight is in jeopardy. But I see some things more clearly than ever”)
• “What Poisons Are in Your Body?” — this one links to an app called the Detox Me Action Kit — check it out and change your life for the better
• Ghosts, monsters and other supernatural stories are discussed in more than one piece in the NYT Book Review
• The cover story of the NYT Sunday Magazine — Is Google Too Powerful —  doesn’t seem to fit the Neptune theme — until you  realize it’s about how smaller companies are being totally wiped out
• The back page of the Magazine features cinematographer Rachel Morrison
• Travel Section — front page — “A Weird and Fragile Louisiana Beauty”  Opening sentence: “If New Orleans is an aging beauty queen drunk on the fumes of her glorious past, Plaquemines Parish, to the southeast, is plain old sloshed — not to mention saturated, striated, slivered and surrounded by water. “
• Obituaries — Sridevi Kapoor, Bollywood’s First Female Superstar, Dies at 54   She drowned in a hotel bathtub. 

What do you think? Coincidence or conspiracy? Next Sunday I expect we’ll have more of the same, with Neptune pulling focus in planetary patterns.

Thank you for reading this forecast.