…and a happy Valentine’s Day to you!

February  14th seems like an odd day to celebrate romantic love, given that the Sun is always in  “I love you, but don’t take it personally” Aquarius. Friendship? That’s every Aquarian’s dream. But all that heart-on-your-sleeve stuff? Say what?

If you must have your hearts and flowers, don’t despair, as today’s Moon in Leo is happy to set the tone for dramatic expressions of affection. In fact, it NEEDS such expressions of love, love, love — so you are thus advised to share your lovely sentiments with your sweetie. True, some may feel rebuffed around 12:41PM ET, when stern Saturn poses an authoritative challenge. On the other hand, some may seize the opportunity for a bold, ambitious reach, based on the illumination they’ve received on an agenda that started two weeks ago. Will it be innovative and idealistic? Probably – and thus perhaps revisited in March after Mercury turns direct. Still, there’s an  easy flow of physical energy (aside from mental Mercury’s retrograde) available, suggested by harmonious connections through this holiday weekend among a Sun-Mercury hook-up and action hero Mars. Much merriment can be had with that easy flow….and you’ll have plenty of energy left over to clean up the mess over the weekend (noted below).

The Full Moon is exact at 6:53PM at 26 degrees of Leo, so those of you with planets at 26 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius are likely more personally affected by the buildup and release of emotion. The polarity illuminated with this Leo-Aquarius Moon is this: personal ego fulfillment needs vs. “hey, we’re all in this together; we’re all cut from the same cloth.” Aren’t we? Food for thought as the Moon goes void with a sigh at 10:13PM ET and enters Virgo at 2:26AM ET on Saturday…and mused about in yet another compelling op-ed about Woody Allen: Monster or Maestro?

The Virgo Moon can be applied with gusto to innovative and idealistic dreams of REorganization, REview, REconnecting….all those Mercury REtrograde things you may not allow time for when Mercury is direct. It’ll be in effect until 1:23PM ET on Monday the 17th, when it enters Libra. Note there is a Moon void between 12:04AM ET and 1:23PM ET on that Monday, suggesting twists in your efforts to move forward in a straight line.

No sleeping in on Tuesday, the official “back to work” day after the Presidents Day holiday. Moon will be fully engaged — and especially with the never-ending Uranus-Pluto square. Surprise?

And now, the news.

The idealistic tint to the weekend is suggested by that Sun-Mercury hook-up noted above, and people with this aspect in their horoscope really can have blinders on about certain things, as intensely passionate about them as they might be. How interesting to read an op-ed in Thursday’s NYT entitled, “Thomas Speaks…Blindly On Race”, arguing that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an idealist. Well, of course he is. As noted in a prior forecast, Justice Thomas has a Sun-Mercury hook-up — also conjoined with Venus...AND in touch with nebulous Neptune. He really really really needs to see the world in the best possible light.  Or so his horoscope would suggest.

As for an easy flow of energy, how about this blurb about the switch being flipped on at the world’s largest solar power plant? Or a breakthrough in thermonuclear fusion that may “not have any practical application yet” — but is still apparently pretty cool. Finally, not sure yet if this one falls in the category of “spectacular communication misfires” I opined we’d see in this lunar cycle, but the proposed 45.2 billion dollar acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Comcast is something you should know about — and should be seriously reviewed once Mercury turns direct.

Have a lovely weekend — see y’all on Tuesday!

What do these planetary patterns mean to YOU? Find out in a personal astro-logical consultation…