For those of you still trying to catch up on sleep after the English Earthquake, the conjunction between Venus and Chiron over the next couple of days may help toward healing. Whether or not the earthquake woke you up, you may still be affected by it on some level, and may need to reassess your relationship with the earth and make it whole. That may include honouring your mother, and self-mothering. Chiron then segues nicely into a conjunction with Mercury on Tuesday (4th), enabling us to make sense rationally of what we felt about healing when Venus was conjunct Chiron. Of course, Chiron brings healing crises, so mini-emotional and mental storms may come as part of the package, but healing is the potential, and you may envision the answers to your problems almost as soon as the questions have been set. Also on Tuesday Mars is entering the sign of Cancer, which normally would make us all protective and stir up our parental instincts and again re-emphasize the role of the mother in our lives. But at the same time, Mars is limbering up for an opposition with Pluto, and so is in no mood for outside interference. Be aware of what your passions are leading you into, where they are focussed, so that your own Mars-Pluto process becomes a constructive one. I am getting ahead of myself here, but some preparing of the ground may be worthwhile. Don’t let the prospect of this forthcoming opposition spoil your unalloyed enjoyment of Sun sextile Jupiter on Thursday (6th). Really go for the pleasures life has to offer on that day (provided you have attended to your subconscious simmerings first and taken note of where they are likely to land up for Friday). Just take the day off work and celebrate life. If it’s not a public holiday where you live, then employ Zen and the Art of the Workplace. Friday (7th) starts with Venus conjunct Neptune, the afterglow from the more rumbustious pleasures of Thursday. Perhaps you really did reach some high spiritual states in connecting with your inner joy on Thursday, because you may find yourself starting Friday in total serenity over breakfast. That first fine careless croissant will be blissful. But you know what is lurking soon after, the opposition between Mars and Pluto. Perhaps someone tries to shatter the inner peace, and you will need to put into practice your highest ideals in order to show that you are not going to rise to the bait. Or perhaps you are on the other side of the fence, determined to be brutally frank, at the expense of the delicate flower on the opposite side of the breakfast table. Yes, we are still at the breakfast table, hiding our true feelings behind two different newspapers. Verbal sparring at dawn? Who will leave the table first, throwing down the napkin? Can there be any winners when discussing politics? Can you sort out the conflict in the Middle East or the rights and wrongs of the Obama-Clinton contest over the breakfast table? Don’t go to work on a cross word, or a crossword, agree to disagree if you must, but know that there is a new start at tea-time in the form of a New Moon in Pisces. During the course of the day and by the evening you will have sorted things out in your own mind, and be able to make that New Moon wish or pledge for a new start. With fresh learnings about our subconscious drives, the Pisces New Moon will favour new beginnings in psychotherapy, and in ecology efforts to improve marine life, and on higher levels spiritual unity. This puts us in a position to enjoy the last treat of the week, Sun conjunct Uranus on Saturday (8th) which favours the new, the unconventional, and surprises. It favours telepathy and astrological insights, as well as new group initiatives. It doesn’t favour doing things the way you’ve always done them and the way they have always been done. Emulate Emily, that young Masterchef finalist, and be truly creative and original next Saturday.