Monday 11/6/2023: Sneak Peek at the Week; Venus in Libra; Mercury in Sagittarius

Alllrighty then!

It’s the start of another weird, wild week in the cosmos, so here we go. Here are the highlights:

  • Venus trines Pluto on Monday
  • Mercury trines Neptune on Monday
  • Venus ditches Virgo and enters Libra on Wednesday
  • Mercury sextiles Pluto on Wednesday
  • Mercury leaves Scorpio and enters Sagittarius on Friday
  • Mercury squares Saturn on Friday
  • Mars opposes Uranus on Saturday

Here are the details:

  • MONDAY:  The Leo Moon is primed for drama, but note that it went void at 2:25 AM ET, and doesn’t get focused until 2:39 PM ET, when it enters Virgo and gets to clean up the mess from the Leo Moon’s parade. Avid Readers know that Moon voids are apt for taking care of routine tasks, and not letting a molehill of crisis turn into a mountain. Take unwanted items back to the store; refrain from making major — 0r impulse — purchases. Roll with the likely twists and flakes…and chill! And speaking of chills, once the Moon does enter Virgo, its first contact is an opposition to chilly Saturn at 3:42 PM ET, which could put the kibosh decisively on remnants of Moon in Leo grandstanding.
  • MONDAY: Humming in the a background all day are two patterns of note. At 9:38 AM ET, Venus (who, what and how we need to love) trines Pluto (power and resources; investigative dirt) suggesting an easy flow between the Powers That Be and projects that are designed to improve. At 8:36 PM ET, Mercury (how we need to think and communicate) trines Neptune, facilitating vision, imagination, healing, music, and rose-colored escapes. As I type, the former guy is on a witness stand in NYC, pretty much grandstanding and wandering off-course in his responses to questions from the NY district attorney. Judge Engoron is not amused, and it will be interesting to see if TFG is still on the stand once the Moon regains its focus, and potentially puts the kibosh decisively on the wandering Trump. [UPDATE: it was, and then court adjourned. The defense told Judge Engeron it planned to submit a motion — not sure what — and the judge immediately imposed controls on what the defense said it planned to do.]
  • TUESDAY: starts with a possible cause for celebration, as the Virgo Moon’s perfectionism is supported enthusiastically by a trine to Jupiter at 10:43 AM ET.  Getting it right in exacting detail is the name of the game today, as the Moon travels without interference until it connects harmoniously with the depth-seeking Scorpio Sun at 9:53 PM ET. GET TO THE POLLS AND VOTE!!! Please confirm your voter registration before you go to the polls, and if for any reason you are told your name isn’t on the roster, request a provisional ballot. It will be counted after the polls close, but it will be counted!! To check your voter registration, look here. Pass it on! So sayeth your astrologer — who also serves as a poll worker because she believes in democracy. Remember, if you don’t vote, someone else will…and then you’ll be sorry.
  • TUESDAY: Also driven to perfection — and distraction — is Venus, which is at the verrrrry end of Virgo, and thus in touch with the Aries Point (suggesting prominence). At 4:30 AM ET on…
  • WEDNESDAY: Venus enters Libra, one of her home signs. All hail, as the Lesser Fortune facilitates fairness, beauty, diplomacy, and balance in matters of women, money, aesthetics, social expression, and…the law. Venus will be in Libra until December 4th. Arise, go forth, and pick out fabric swatches, and oh lookie — this is day that daughter Ivanka is scheduled to testify in NY (because the court rejected her plea that it was during a school week, and thus a terrible inconvenience). Moon sextiles Mars one minute before Venus changes signs, getting the day off to a robust start. Unconventional alliances and tech support are favored in the morning, as Moon trines Uranus. Double check the directions and the spin on the news, as Moon opposes Neptune and possibly muddies the message with great persuasion (reflecting a sextile between Mercury and Pluto at 7:16 PM ET). That Mercury-Pluto alignment could also favor investigative reporters, so watch the headlines for dirt dug up on the latest scandal. More depth and messaging weigh in around midnight, as Moon trines Pluto and sextiles Mercury at 11:20 PM ET and 11:55 PM ET, respectively.  Chill during the three hour Moon void.
  • THURSDAY: Moon enters Libra, now focused on fairness and balance in relationships. It meets up happily with Venus at 5:22 AM ET, getting the day off to an optimistic start. And then…two whole days of no contact with any other planet, possibly generating a giant snowball of Moon in Libra’s “on the one hand; on the other hand,” as it swings from side to side in an effort to achieve a sobering reality-based balance.
  • FRIDAY: Mercury ditches silent Scorpio for righteously opinionated Sagittarius. In the sign of the Centaur, how we need to think and communicate is in broad strokes, sometimes sloppily so. Mercury in Sagittarius’ need to think expansively may be clipped and/or necessarily controlled by its square to Saturn, exact at 10:07 AM ET. This is the only pattern exact today. Not until 10:05 AM ET on…
  • SATURDAY...do we have an exact contact, and this one is a square between Moon and Pluto, suggesting our weekly power play or catharsis. Chill during the three and a half hour Moon void. At 1:39 PM ET, Moon goes silent again in Scorpio (when have you ever heard a scorpion talk), seeking depth, substance and control. This control is aided by a trine to Saturn, exact at 2:43 PM ET. Oh — but there has been a buzz in the air for the past few days, reflecting the tension between Mars — planet of action, assertion, and aggression — and Uranus — planet of shocks to the system and other disruptions. Technological advances, gender-benders, accidents, aviation, cars, firearms, and recklessness are likely to pop up in the news. The Mars-Uranus opposition is exact at 4:11 PM ET. Here are examples of past headlines reflecting this pattern, including one that demonstrates that disruptive patterns can be reflected in positive breakthroughs, too. You are more personally affected by the Mars-Uranus opposition if you have planets or angles around 21 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. Consult your astrologer for details.
  • SUNDAY: The only exact pattern today is an opposition between Moon and Jupiter at 7:09 AM ET. This could be exuberant, abundant, and happily expansive. It could also be overconfident. Note that we are now in the dark of the Moon — the end of the lunar cycle. With no light from the Moon, it’s an apt time for activities you’d prefer be unseen. The New Moon in Scorpio starts on Monday, and immediately thereafter, we’ll have the annual opposition between the Sun (leaders) and Uranus (surprise, surprise). Examples of headlines from a past Sun-Uranus opposition are here.

And now, the news.

If the former guy had ordered one of my computer-generated Your Year Ahead reports (described in the Helpful Reports section here), he could have prepared for:

  • Transiting Mercury opposition Midheaven: “Expressing opinions. Ego involvement in one’s ideas and communications. Strong sense of purpose. Nervous tension.”
  • Transiting Jupiter square Pluto: “Tensions arise as you struggle to achieve your goals. It seems as though other people and external events are deliberately plotting to thwart your every move. However, it may be that you are going overboard in your attempts to get your own way. The trouble is that you want to make great changes in your life, but lack the necessary tolerance and patience to get the timing right. While taking action can certainly have positive effects in the long run, you would also be wise to find the right balance of confidence and patience.”

He’ll have the third and final Jupiter-Pluto square in mid-February.

Meanwhile…

UPDATE: on Mike Pence, who tossed his hat into the presidential race in June. Here’s what was written back then:

Told ya a couple of weeks ago that [Pence]  would be making headlines right about now. Last week he announced that he would be announcing his presidential bid on June 7th. That happens to be his 64th birthday, and also when transiting Jupiter (expansion; confidence) opposes his Neptune (his need for vision/delusion), and Mercury opposes his Jupiter.  Of course he’s thinking big, but as it turns out, another pattern dominating this entire month suggests a stalemate. No soup for you, Mr. Pence. Mars and Saturn have other plans.

It’s worth noting that Pence announced his bid with another pattern daring him to be daring: transiting Mars conjunct his natal Uranus. So when did he throw in the towel because the “no soup” suggested by Mars and Saturn was really, truly for real? When transiting Mars squared his Uranus. No surprise to astrologers! Pundits opined that he should have been forced to carry his campaign to term.

Meanwhile, patterns reflected in the headlines over the past several days include:

  • Venus opposing Neptune, suggesting beauty, music, healing, ideals involving women, the arts, money and/or social expression; Neptune also refers to chemicals and delusion, naturally.
  • Sun opposing Jupiter — BIG news or overconfidence involving leaders, publishing, courts, sports, foreign affairs; possible jackpots.
  • Saturn turning direct in Pisces: compassion, empathy in matters of displaced persons, oceans, elders.
  • Mercury opposing Uranus: shocking data and/or communication, possibly involving aviation, technology.

Ready?

Speaking of Saturn at a virtual standstill, focusing our attention on grief, loss, reality and necessary controls:

Meanwhile…

Speaking of alternate realities…

More on alternative realities…which is also big news in publishing…

Oh, there are so many elephants in the room…and it is challenging to try to write about them all. That’s why I appreciated Beth Owl’s Daughter’s latest always-in-sync Tarot Card of the Week. Planetary patterns are volatile, and this week’s card is a stark image of grief. But in Beth’s wise interpretation, a productive way to apply this image in our own personal worlds (where we may have a shot at greater influence, no matter what hits the headlines), may be to ask ourselves:

What is the core cause of your deepest heart’s suffering right now? It is time for you to understand and even speak to that which troubles you.

And then she links a wonderful article by Robert Reich, which reminded me of when I was a child — and on a tour in Istanbul during the Yom Kippur War. There was an Egyptian man in our tour group, and I remembered being irrationally afraid of him because I’d read about the war in the papers, and thus knew for a fact that all Egyptians were the bad guys. Clearly there is a lesson here about putting absolute faith into what we read in the papers. I later learned that the Egyptian man was on his way to Switzerland to be treated for cancer, and I remember feeling ashamed that I’d judged him so harshly, especially since he’d been quite kind to me and my mother. My fears were all in my mind — the element of Air. In Tarot, Swords correspond to Air.

On a lighter note:

I leave you with a beautiful interactive feature from the NYT magazine about images captured by the James Webb telescope….

Here’s the 411 on personal consultations. All of the eclipse insights have been sent!

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