If you’re noticing your thought patterns taking a more serious turn today and tomorrow, chances are you are not alone. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though for some it might ask for some extra mindfulness.
The planets setting that agenda are retrograde Mercury in Aquarius square Saturn in Scorpio, exact Wednesday at 2:11 am EST. Before that aspect peaks, however, the big event is the Sun’s entrance to Pisces. That happens at 12:59 pm EST today, bringing us into the last phase of this astrological year: the creative, inspirational, erotic, inclusively spiritual waters of Pisces.
Sun in Pisces is calling us to get back in touch with our own sense of inner knowing, to be our own intuitive authority and have faith in ourselves. This forms the backdrop for Mercury-Saturn, which carries its own dynamic of authority. On one level, it’s a parent-child dynamic, with Saturn in the role of parent and Mercury in the role of child.
Saturn is urging focus and depth; Mercury, especially retrograde, might feel a little distracted. You’re being asked to step into the role of being your own authority figure. Throughout life we often find ourselves either answering to an outside authority, acting as that figure, or else internalizing that quality as a means of accomplishing our goals and living ethically. This is a moment for that last option.
However Mercury square Saturn, especially with Mercury retrograde and with both planets in fixed signs, is also a caution not to get stuck in negative thought patterns. Negative thoughts have a kind of seduction to them for many people; if that describes you, remind yourself that it’s possible to get serious about important matters without that seriousness having to drag you down, or getting you fixated on worst-case scenarios, or feeding an obsession with ‘what happened last time’.
Speaking of the past, the asteroid Juno is in late Pisces, making a trine to Saturn, and Juno is also square the centaur Pholus in Sagittarius. Both Juno and Pholus share the common thread of multigenerational ideas passed along unconsciously. Think of Pholus in its square to Juno as provoking your parents’ and grandparents’ concept of marriage. Is that something you are still trying to live up to, whether consciously or not? Are you still in the process of becoming your own authority on how to structure your relationships?
Pholus squaring Juno also suggests you stay aware of how you use alcohol or drugs when you’re searching for a way to transcend it all (negative thinking, having to step into your own authority and responsibility, parental/ancestral relationship concepts). Fogging over the issues is not the same as working through or mastering them. As the Sun conjoins Neptune in Pisces, that distinction will be one to watch.
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Love your comment, Wandering_yeti, and second it.
Reading When God Was A Woman by Merlin Stone. It gets put into the spirituality section because of its title and subject, but it’s really a sociological study illuminating how the myths of a culture encode it’s social practices. Thus I see Juno in a new light: she is essentially a goddess who existed in her own authority before the northern invaders showed up with their ideas of male superiority. Her behavior with Zeus is what it is because she knows what it’s like to be a free person, now enslaved by marriage to a raping, murdering invader. Well, times have changed. A woman can now sue for divorce. Hey Juno, if Jupiter is dragging your heart through the mud, kick him out!
I’ve been noticing some elements of the current aspects certainly. Natal date was a week ago today, and yes, Mercury was right there when I was born – although not retrograde.
The Pholus/Juno effect has to come to the fore as well: I’ll never be married like my elders, in fact at the rate I’m going, I’ll never be married. Partnered, perhaps, but not married. I don’t consider it a negative either, but then I have not always been known for my conventional thinking…
Amanda: How to work the thin line between getting serious and getting negative is valuable advice indeed. Thank you! Also thanks to Mary for an insightful take on a similar balancing act between fluidity and organization.
ps: fluid. looking for FLUID rather than florid … and I’m called to notice how I loathe being cornered (w/ Saturn ontop of my scorpio moon) and so my awesome and irksome Mercury flits about refusing to connect for much more than a blink of an eye. Defense mechanism, I suppose. This astrology is offering me a window into connecting with due diligence and compassion, until there is resolution not until there is something more fanciful to think about.
pps: thank you all for that and more
Interesting days indeed!. I have been trying to figure out why, over the past few weeks, my reality has gradually become more and more….wacky (can’t seem to come up with a better description). Then yesterday, I realized, 1. Saturn is conjunct my natal Neptune in Scorpio, square my Leo Sun 2. Merc retro is opposing my natal Sun, squaring Neptune 3. Mars just left a square to natal Mars. I feel like my back is up against a steel wall, everyone is in front of me demanding something, but they are behind a glass wall and cannot hear me. The more boundaries I set, the more they are directly confronted and repeatedly challenged.
I do a lot of work in the dreamtime. This morning I awoke with the realization that the last time Saturn went over my neptune I was a senior in high school in the ’80s and was snorting massive amounts of free cocaine up my nostrils. I spent an hour one night in a bathroom feeling like my heart was going to explode out of my chest. I literally thought that was it and I was going to die. This time around I am totally sober, not even nicotine or weed, and things seem just as strange. Just trying to retreat and lay low as much as possible and tune into messages from other realms. Thank god for astrology giving me some kind of sign posts so I’m not totally lost in the Neptunian fog.
yes! I am in the midst of an issue with another and I’m dealing with similar pulls within me — the retrograde mercury (me) wants to let it go, move on, alit on something else more fun or florid … while another part of me is insisting I behave reasonably and responsibly. Ugh.
I feel very at home with mercury in Aquarius (that’s my natal position mind you) … even retrograde now I think on it, and if I might I’d throw in the following aspect signature of merc in aqua — scattered and quick (to judge, etc).
Ah, Pisces. Such a new day.
thank you Amanda!!
mary
It describes my personal circumstances.
Saturn is to the exact degree conjunct my natal Scorpio Moon in the 12th House (while Ceres is conjunct my Sun).
If Neptune dissolves then we can thank the Creator that Saturn can hold form for us to have earthly experiences.
Soon I am hoping, others will stop treating me like a parent.. that includes my parents…