Tomorrow’s smoking ban in enclosed public places in the UK is an opportunity to look at these issues karmically. I find in regression work that many spiritually evolved people still have an attachment to smoking when they also have a strong soul lineage in the North American Indian tradition, where smoke is sacred. So here’s a cue to look at whether you or someone you know may have this karmic pattern. It may be time to release it or shake some of it loose. Why not try Hopi Ear Candling? It comes from the Native American Indian tradition, is non-addictive, and as my friend June Chase says has “all the smoke and fire”. You can find her website link on my Contacts page.

This evening brings the arrival of Mars in the sign of Taurus. For those with a strong emphasis of Taurus in their charts, its presence will stimulate their creativity over the next six weeks. If new ideas for creative projects present themselves to you this week, you may be an honorary Taurean or responding to this effect on a universal level. Therefore get cracking while the enthusiasm is still fresh, and know that you have about six weeks before completion. Tomorrow brings a more serious and reflective mood with the return of the opposition between Saturn and Neptune. This could be the time when you will need to resolve once and for all the tug between two areas of your chart and life which have been plaguing you over the last few months, for Saturn will soon be pulling away from this relationship on its journey to the new pastures of Virgo in late Summer. There’s a feeling of this can’t or won’t go on, and you may need to cut your losses on one side if you can’t resolve the polarity on a higher level which benefits all. Thursday (28th) gives us a conjunction between the Sun and Mercury in Cancer. Time to experience mental clarity about emotional minefields, or really see how the land lies after the major aspect on Monday. Visualize where you go from here, and keep a record of this crystal moment. Saturday afternoon (30th) delivers a double punch-line in the form of two oppositions: The Full Moon in Capricorn opposing the Sun in Cancer and Venus opposite Neptune. The first aspect will be about emotional balancing, and if you have been recording the effects of the Moon’s phases in your life, you may have an idea what to expect, or not. The second aspect speaks of emotional confusion, or even deception, and you will need to unearth that record of crystal clarity from earlier in the week to help your perspective on the issues which could be complex. I feel I need to end on my usual note about Rufus Wainwright or aubergines, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome on location at Predator Design HQ. So please excuse this hastily cobbled-together blog and hope it helps you through…

We’re embarking on a week of contrasting light and shade as we cruise towards the first major aspect of the week which comes on Tuesday. Consolidate the projects and wishes from last Friday’s Gemini New Moon in this period. The poet Walt Whitman said: “There was a child went forth every day, and the first object he look’d upon, that object he became, and that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day…” Well on my way to work on Friday I saw a duck and a drake, a symbol of the Gemini twins, balancing of the inner male and female. So if you haven’t got a feminine side, ye lads and ladettes, it might be the time to get one. Tuesday morning brings the drama of the Sun opposing Pluto. If you are a Drama Queen or King, just ask yourself – “Why?” There’s enough natural drama without creating the man-made variety. If you’re worried about someone, remember to send out healing instead of the poison worry-dart. Providing you get through Tuesday (is there a choice?) the evening promises a much more convivial atmosphere with a trine between Venus and Jupiter, which either provides a happy ending or a welcome distraction from the earlier trauma. If you’re hosting, that’ll be music and dancing, spit-roasted aubergine and sparkling mineral water all round. There’s work to do on Thursday afternoon and evening, for the Summer Solstice coincides with a trine between Mars and Pluto. It’s a constructive aspect, but not for the faint-hearted. If you doubt your ability to be constructive or supportive in a fraught situation, don’t forget there are various cosmic forces available to help if you just ask. Know that you have the strength and qualities within you for the task. Non-violent resistance in the style of Gandhi and Martin Luther King is the order of the day. And, don’t panic Mr. Mainwaring! That done, Saturday finds Uranus stationary, so someone is not budging, someone is standing up for their principles, even if it’s just your pet cat or dog.

“You will know you have forgiven someone when you see them and you no longer have an emotional reaction. You will hear the name of the person and you will have no emotional reaction. When someone can touch what used to be a wound and it no longer hurts you, then you know you have truly forgiven.”

The rhythm of this week’s aspects resembles the quick-step: slow, slow, quick-quick slow, or to be more accurate slow, quick, slow etc. Today you might be grateful for a slow start, in order to absorb the surprises of yesterday’s aspect. Perhaps someone got in touch from the past out of the blue, taking you back decades (if you are old enough to have decades behind you). So tomorrow (Monday 11th) is the first “quick” day, with no fewer than 3 major aspects, all in synch with each other. First off is Sun sextile Mars: the day therefore starts briskly, with a sporting chance for your chosen activity, or your daily grind. Next up is the Sun sextile Saturn: a chance to realistically assess what you have achieved. And at the very end of the day (in UK time) a beautiful summation of the other two aspects in the triangular shape of Mars trine Saturn, bringing a balance between headlong activity and careful planning which spells a job well done. Tuesday (12th) is the next “slow”, so keep checking and balancing, in the afterglow of that trine. If you’re getting into the groove you’ll guess that Wednesday (13th) is action packed (no, not Action Pact, the punk group of the early 80s). Actually eventful may be more true to say than action packed on reflection…Like Monday’s aspects they are both positive and harmoniously linked, but unlike Monday’s there’s more gentleness to the rhythm. If Monday was jazz, today’s a waltz. The Sun trines Neptune in the morning, allowing magic and dreams to come to the fore. In the evening, Mars sextiles Neptune, encouraging that sashay across the dance floor, that movement towards your dreams, the beginning of the beguine. Have a rest Thursday (14th), you might need to soak your feet. Friday (15th) brings the next New Moon, in the sign of Gemini, fostering new projects in the realms of communication. There may be a false start though as Mercury is stationary, all dressed up and nowhere to go before turning retrograde on Saturday (16th), when it might be as well to nurse those blisters at home and avoid the frustration of yet another weekend of engineering works on the rail network. You’ve probably had enough excitement for one week, anyway.

Tomorrow (4th) kicks off with a trine between Mars and Jupiter in fire signs. If you’ve had a lazy weekend, this may jump-start your enthusiasm for the task in hand, be it a work project or a leisure project. It favours both sporting activities and philosophical explaorations. So if you are planning something special this week and it’s a moveable feast then move it to Monday. Tuesday (5th) sees the arrival of Venus in Leo (more fire to your elbow). Feelings will transform from the sentimental approach of Venus in Cancer to the heart of the lion: courage and magnanimity ruling the day. Later that day you may begin to sense the challenge involved in the task you set for yourself at the beginning of this week (or at the Full Moon late last week). The tussle is between Sun in Gemini (seeing the minutiae of a project) and Jupiter in Sagittarius (seeing the whole picture or beyond). You need to see your next step as well as the end product in order to maintain the motivation. Geminis may get irritable with Sagittarians, whose character traits are just so magnified this year…it may take a Libran, Arien or Leo to help solve the situation. Many heads are better than one or two. That search for group consensus is likely to simmer for a few days until Saturday evening (9th) when the Sun squares Uranus, and something has to give. The nearest Aquarian could make the definitive or prophetic annoncements which goes unchallenged…stand back in amazement and re-group for a renewal of effort next week. If you haven’t got a project on the go or don’t have a group situation going on, take the planets as archetypes in your own interior drama/kitchen sink play/magical mystery tour – you decide.

Mercury opposite Pluto today may start for some the build up of tension towards the Full Moon on Friday, especially if you are by habit susceptible. Our valiant Moon Researchers (Moonpod for short) are still beavering away trying to make sense of why some people are and some people aren’t sometimes or always. Back to the Now, emotion versus reason may be tearing you apart, so you may need to expand your vision to see the whole picture today. Mercury enters Cancer on Tuesday (29th) and you may then be able to see how reason and emotion fit together to create that bigger picture. There’s an unusual dearth of major aspects during the week itself, but if you are preoccupied with the reason/emotion dichotomy that may be enough to keep you busy. You can apply it to anything, if you get bored. Work yourself up to a lather by Friday’s Full Moon, or find ways to chill out (attend the Singers Inspired Concert perhaps), go into deep spiritual retreat, watch the Apprentice and its re-run, listen to your new Rufus Wainwright CD (“Reach for the Stars”), and you will be ready for what (in the absence of any competition) is the astrological event of the week. So come Friday (1st June) you’ll be ready to understand the significance of the Full Moon, particularly as it applies in the signs affected (Moon in Sagittarius opposing Sun in Gemini) and the houses affected if you know your birthchart. You may want to use the Alice Bailey keynote for Moon in Sagittarius: “I see the goal. I reach that goal and then I see another.” On a more global scale, there may be a media frenzy that day (maybe peaking the night before), or a denouement of understanding about a situation. And someone, somewhere, will announce the book deal. That’s all Folks!

For those of you who missed the Eurovision Song Contest, our local choir “Singers Inspired” will be recreating their own version which includes Serbian and Bulgarian hits such as “Oj Livado” and “Shto Mi e Milo” which are not to be missed. Hurry along to the Town Hall in Downham Market, Norfolk (U.K.) on Tuesday 29 May 2007 at 7.30 p.m. for your ticket at the door, which will include a buffet. £7 full price, with concessionary rates also available.

According to at least one ephemeris Mercury makes 3 aspects today, so it’s a complex but rewarding day for Geminis and Virgos. Mercury is trine with Chiron, opposite Jupiter and square with Uranus. That’s good for finding mental solutions to problems and getting to the psychological root of health issues. Mentally there may be a tendency to be too wide-ranging and multi-tasking: take it to the limit by zooming in on your location on Google Earth and then zooming out of the planet again for a sense of perspective. Then the square with Uranus late in the day could find your head buzzing with a storm of ideas. Additionally to start the week we have a sextile between Chiron and Jupiter. Hope and trust for healing could contribute to a miracle, both personally and on a wider scale. That’s not all: today our Sun is aligned with the Pleiades, so if you are into communing with the Fixed Stars (wasn’t that Deneb celebration something else?) the Pleiades is the current venue. All that and we haven’t got past Sunday: so if you are having a lie-in or tuning in tomorrow, you’ve missed yer chance. Or those particular chances, for tomorrow (Monday 21st) the Sun enters Gemini, bringing more focus on the mind and intellect, the sensual emphasis of Taurus being left behind. Mercury also sextiles Saturn in the morning, which makes for an applied start to the working week. Head down, nose to the grindstone and all of that. Wednesday (23rd)…is anyone doing anything special that day? It takes a refined spirituality to make a success of the day with Mercury trine Neptune, but it can be done, and in such a satisfying way that brings the intellect and the spirit together. Consolidate that feeling or perception on Thursday (24th), because Neptune is Stationary on Friday (25th) prior to retrograde motion, and you may wonder at that point if it was all an illusion. It wasn’t : only you need to understand more, so Neptune is on its way to another run-in with the daddy of reality Saturn which is one of the main events for this year and is scheduled for late June. And finally, and also on Friday, a lovely trine between Venus and Uranus. That’s good for impromptu parties and synchronous meetings which make you wonder about life.

One correspondent has already reported a casualty of this morning’s Sun square Neptune under the guise of missing e-mails…and can we also attribute the bizarre results of the Eurovision Song Contest to that? I think we need to keep our feet squarely on the ground today, with Mars squaring Pluto this afternoon. That is a combustible combination so lots of health and safety checks, meditation and rescue remedy are required. Energy is heightened at the moment, not just because of the aftermath of the Deneb celebrations, but because Mars is preparing to return to its home battleground Aries on Tuesday (15th). It will give us a chance to align with our authentic energy before the focus of the New Moon on Wednesday (16th), which takes place in the sign of Taurus. If you are working on manifestation and creativity it’s a good New Moon to take that crucial step forward, and then build on that for the rest of the week. Mars energy rules this week, not least because Rufus Wainwright has just made an impact on our screens with his captivating triple conjunction of Mars/Chiron/Moon in Aries singing it like it is, and the soul expression of his Venus in Leo…is it just me or can you actually fall for a triple conjunction?