Allllllllrighty then!

It’s Monday, and we are in the middle of the first of three long Moon voids: today, Wednesday and Saturday. With Mercury retrograde, if your morning got off to a slow start, or a twist or flake or upset disrupted your morning routine, you are experiencing the potential energy flow of the Moon when it is wandering without connection to the other planets. That’s not to say that there will not be interesting things happening — e.g., such as the announcement that Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon have parted ways with their respective networks — but any perceived crisis is likely much ado about nothing.

Major patterns this week are:

• Sun sextiles Saturn on Tuesday
• Mars sextile Uranus on Saturday

Humming in the background this week is Pluto — symbol of power, resources, breakdown and transformation — slowing to a virtual standstill from our perspective on Earth, as it prepares to turn retrograde next Monday — which is May Day. Avid Readers will recall that a planet about to change direction operates like a car horn blaring (because it is being leaned upon). Thus I expect a truckload news from underground and other catharses, as corruption among the Powers That Be is exposed. Seismic events and news of gas, oil and other power sources would not be a surprise. The sextiles noted above suggest an easy flow of authority, action and innovation. There may be headlines drawing our attention to wounded warriors, reflecting a square between Mars and Chiron, exact on Wednesday.

Also humming: Mercury retrograde...so if you choose to lighten your jam-packed schedule of forward activity, go for it. Now is the time to REview, REorganize, REtreat and REconnect. Be flexible in your travel plans; triple check everything before you hit “send” — and back up your computers!

Here’s how it goes:

• MONDAY: Did you note your dreams? Mine were over the top, reflecting — no doubt — the potential of the Moon in Gemini as it sextiled Jupiter at 4:48 AM ET…and then squared wiggy Neptune at 8:14 AM ET. A day driven by Moon in Gemini facilitates chatty informative buzz, though whatever buzz occurred until 2:58 PM ET may have been much ado about nothing. That’s because the Moon was void, as noted in the open of this week’s Forecast. Moon gets focused when it enters Cancer, driving the next two and half days with a need for home, family, homeland and emotional security. Whenever the Moon is in Cancer, it seems to be helpful for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, so lets keep an eye on them. (UPDATE: the ERA — Equal Rights Amendment — is on the agenda in the Senate). This evening offers a productive stretch among leaders of state and business, as the Moon sextiles the material security focused Taurus Sun at 12:10 AM ET on…
• TUESDAY: …and then trines Saturn (structure, authority) at 12:39 AM ET. At 6:47 AM ET, the Sun sextiles Saturn — another helpful pattern for cooperation and communication. Let that easy flow propel you through the workday, aided by an easy flow between Mercury and Moon, exact at 7:46 PM ET. By then, tensions may be on the rise, with an energized, focused outburst cropping up around 11:08 PM ET, as Moon meets up with Mars.
• WEDNESDAY: The hours between last night’s Moon-Mars conjunction and this morning’s sextile between Moon and Uranus (at 2:45 AM ET), are a preview of the “innovation in action” potential of Saturday’s Mars-Uranus sextile. Go about your business today, noting again that it’s driven by a need for emotional security. Reviewing or reorganizing projects involving home and family would be apropos. Late afternoon and evening may have an exuberant, rose-colored glow, as Jupiter (big!) squares the Moon at 5:09 PM ET (I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!), and trines Neptune (cheers!) at 7:40 PM ET. Moon then goes void for the next seven hours — chill, chill, chill!
• THURSDAY: Moon enters Leo at 2:29 AM ET, looking for ways to shine, celebrate, or command a stage. Minutes later, Moon makes its weekly clash with Pluto, adding to the potential for power plays and catharses that we already have with Pluto about to turn retrograde. Afternoon and evening hours are marked the by tension of the First Quarter Moon at 5:19 PM ET. Moon in Leo’s need for ego recognition challenges the Taurus Sun’s initiatives involving material security, and neither one is inclined to budge an inch.
• FRIDAY: A square between Mercury and the Moon at 5:44 AM ET makes for argumentative headlines. As with yesterday, the rest of the morning is quieter, with a disruption scheduled around 3:25 PM ET, as Moon squares rebel Uranus. An evening of merriment could be yours, as Moon in party-on Leo harmonizes with Venus in witty, charming Gemini.
• SATURDAY: A trine between the Moon and Jupiter at 6:52 AM ET suggests good cheer…hopefully carried on for the next eight hours, as the Moon goes void. This is not the day to shop for major goods, as a Moon void suggests a higher than average probability of purchases that do not live up to expectations. And yet, this may be an active day, reflecting the cooperative flow between Mars (combat; assertion; courage) and Uranus (innovation; technology), exact at 4:04 PM ET. At 2:59 PM ET, Moon enters Virgo, now shifting our focus to putting things back in order after Moon in Leo’s party…with sobriety suggested around 1:41 AM ET on…
• SUNDAY: as Moon opposes Saturn. Taking care of all the practical details in your Mercury REtrograde REview and REfinement is supported by the Virgo Moon’s trines to Sun and Mercury, exact at 10:59 AM ET and 3:05 PM ET.

Meanwhile, here is Beth Owl’s Daughter’s always-in-sync Tarot Card of the Week.  

And now, the news.

Last week’s headlines were expected to involve big power plays, reflecting the once-every-three months challenge between the Sun (leaders of business and state) and Pluto. Another pattern over the weekend was the second of three sextiles between Mars (action) and Mercury (thinking). Both planets are in security-focused signs — i.e., Cancer and Taurus, respectively. With Mars in Cancer — where it does not function at its best, according to the tenets of traditional astrology — we’ve seen a ton of stories of Men Behaving Badly.

• A big story last week was the $787.5 million settlement between Fox News Corp and Dominion Voting Systems. You can listen to my take on the astro-logic of the settlement (based on the time that the prosecutor’s opening statements were supposed to begin in last Tuesday’s scheduled trial), in episode 34 of Off the Charts: A Stellar Newscast. Be advised that even-numbered episodes of OTC are behind a (very modest) paywall. Why? Because we love love love creating podcasts, and we want to keep creating them, but we need energy from our listeners in order to continue.
• Facebook also reached a settlement in the hundreds of millions of dollars — $725 million, to be precise. And guess what? You can claim your two cents of it — if you had a Facebook account between 2007 and 2022. Just fill out this form by the end of August.
• “Let’s launch a rocket right after a solar eclipse, as Mercury turns retrograde,” said no astrologer ever. But that didn’t stop Space X from launching the biggest rocket ever built — and then having to blow it up because the mission wasn’t going as hoped for. Here’s The Daily Mail with videos and diagrams galore...and in the wake of the destruction and potential health threat to humans and other living things, the FAA has grounded the program.
• Elon Musk continues to make Twitter an inhospitable place for accurate breaking news. In the spirit of Mercury retrograde in Taurus, the NYT Sunday Magazine ponders what has been lost, what Twitter was really all about…and “how it broke our brains.”
• CNBC anchor alleged sexual harassment by NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell — who was ousted Sunday
• Tennessee Republican resigns after it is revealed he was secretly convicted by the House Ethics Committee of sexually harassing at least one intern.
• As noted earlier, Tucker Carlson— and his executive producer — are no longer at Fox News. It is reported that their dismissal was ordered by Rupert Murdoch himself.  Here is Carlson’s horoscope. We can see how this could have been a provocative day, as Mars — ruler of his Midheaven (career) — squared his Venus. Carlson’s horoscope has been accelerated by eclipses all last year — and I’m also intrigued by how Eris — Goddess of Discord — is being activated. Before Mars made contact with his Venus, it connected with his natal Eris. Meanwhile, transiting Eris has been squaring Carlson’s  24 Cancer Ascendant for months. Here’s a post from a few years ago about how Eris’s travels through the horoscope of Bernie Sanders “coincided” with his 2016 political campaign.
• At CNN, Don Lemon was also sacked — and he should have followed the Mercury retrograde rule of “when in doubt, be silent.”

On Tuesday, Jupiter — planet of expansion — exactly squares President Biden’s natal Jupiter, which rules his Sagittarius Ascendant. That can be a pretty darn feel-good pattern, and it should be no surprise that on that day, he’s scheduled to announce his campaign for re-election.

Here’s a fun one for the Mars-Mercury sextile:

• “3000 Orbiter image produce atlas map of Mars — perfect for your bedroom wall”

That’s it for now. I confess I was at my computer for four solid days, fine-tuning a PowerPoint for a talk I presented for OPA — the Organization for Professional Astrology —  at its spring virtual conference. OPA publishes The Evolving Astrologer — a quarterly journal with solid writing and gorgeous production values…and if you check out the latest issue and turn to page 94, you’ll find an interview with yours truly and EA’s delightful editor, William Sebrans.

Meanwhile…

Here’s the 411 on personal consultations and written reports.

Thank you for reading this forecast — and sharing it with your friends.