Is there ever such a thing as an accident, karmically speaking? The moment I pressed a pencil into the re-set button of my computer on the day Uranus went retrograde (don’t do it, dear reader) I set off a chain of events…It happened as I had tried three times to print a birth chart, and my computer froze each time. The pencil, of course, you’ve guessed it, went right through the hole. My computer then went to my brother in-law’s for the weekend; the whole kit and caboodle – computer, monitor, keyboard and printer. When we collected it I found out that it had 5 years of dust inside which I had not hoovered, and my brother in law removed it.  My inner Miss Havisham had been alive and well, accumulating cobwebs in there.  The conclusion of this tale, what my printer did next, I still at this point cannot bear to relate.  Suffice it to say that my brother-in-law and sister-in-law were kindness itself, and I am most humbled.  In the five and a half years of my blog history, this is the first time I have been late with the aspects for the week, though I have often wondered what it would take.

Mercury stopped in its tracks yesterday, prior to turning retrograde, and we all know what that means – uh oh!  Disruption to communications, and blogs.  Although we have the Uranus/Pluto square at our heels, that does not mean we cannot master the retrograde Mercury, if we have not already. I know I have not been a good example, but the key to Mercury retrograde is to be clear in advance, from the outset, and during the period, about our communications.  Mindfulness is a good practice to enable this.  I hope that is useful.

Today (Monday 16th) the Sun squares Saturn, so if you are not feeling flat at the thought of Mercury retrograde, something else could be getting you down.  It may be a sense of inertia at a project which is not easily getting off the ground, or someone around you could be suffering from depression. There may be delays to your normal routine, and you may feel you have a backlog of work. The key to this square is to have a sense of purpose, and steadily and persistently plod on with the task.  That may enable a breakthrough.  Even if you are not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, just assume it is there.

A light at the end of a tunnel comes tomorrow, Tuesday (17th), with a trine between Mars and Jupiter, even if it may not necessarily be the one you were seeking.  Something gains positive momentum, whether it be the project you were slogging at over the weekend, or an improvement in the one who was suffering depression.  It could go the other way however, the project could go into overdrive, and the depressed one may become manic.  But aim for balance, and moderation, and you will be able to steer the ship.

However, towards the evening Mars squares Pluto, and you will need that centring, that point of balance, for there is a danger of overbalancing at that time, and particularly feelings of resentment, and the enactment of extreme feelings (more possibility of violence in Syria, or further risk of avalanches, for example).  Aim, in your meditations, to be the calm at the centre of the storm rather than be carried away by the storm-tossed waves.  In the midst of a crisis, especially in a group of people, there needs to be someone who can play that role.  If the storm or explosion is within your own psyche, then wait it out, meditate if you are able.  Lie down in a darkened room, and quietly observe your process.

I watched one of the Hay Sessions programmes this week, an interview between Stephen Fry (well known as a sufferer of bi-polar syndrome) and Kay Redfield Jamison, American Psychiatrist who practices at the John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  She herself is a bi-polar sufferer, or what used to be called manic-depression, and has written two best-selling books “The Unquiet Mind” and “Touched with Fire”.  It is a depressive-manic week, and Tuesday evening is touched with fire.  The book of that name is describing the feverish creativity of the manic space.  But feverish creativity is a good way of harnessing this energy, and not allowing it to become the fuel for anti-social behaviour, e.g. there is a danger we could see a mini-riot or two.  May Angels go with you.

The early hours of Thursday(19th) is still unpredictable in its energy, as Mars then opposes Uranus.  We may see graphically the results of the Uranus-Pluto square, enacted:  wilful rebellion, for example.  There are plenty of things to rebel about at the moment.  Our government is having to do U-turns constantly, at the merest whiff of rebellion.  As a pensioner, there are some unpalatable measures being taken towards my age group, which do not take into account the fact that pensioners by and large are not going to be earning much in the future, an example being the idea of giving them loans for their care…I can feel the Inner Rebel, responding to this.

That’s the tone at the end of the week.  As we attempt to express or manage our Inner Rebel, and cope with everyone else’s, we need to identify the Inner Tyrant.  Does he or she lie within, or without?  This is the continuing task of discernment while Uranus continues to progress through Aries.  The Arab Spring is still as expressive as ever, Egypt has elected a President but can he govern?  Libya has yet to decide on its process…this week may see more frustration turn to depression then unrest.  Keep meditating and centring, and don’t take the tablets (they will only flatten your perceptions and distort your responses), unless you are on lithium (Kay Redfield Jamison described it as a necessity for her condition).

At 4.24 a.m. on Thursday, about an hour and a half after the opposition between Mars and Uranus, there’s a New Moon in Cancer.  A renewal of all things domestic, emotional and familial.  You may start to feel that you are making a fresh start, while still dealing with the opposition.

End of the Week

Congratulations!  With having negotiated the challenge of Mars to the Uranus-Pluto square, you have passed a major test of this square.  Write down how you fared and coped or even triumphed, in your Uranus-Pluto square notebook or computer folder, for reference in September at the next phase of the square.  And give yourself a pat on the back.

The week in bullet points:

  • Sunday – communications set back
  • Monday – depressive
  • Tuesday – manic, then more manic with less sense
  • Thursday – still manic, with a rebellious streak; fresh start possible
Date: Jul 16th, 2012 · Comments RSS · Tags: Astrology