What is real and what is not?

Today is Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. We have a waxing Moon in Capricorn — sign of institutions — all day for Halloween. Anyone planning to dress up as one of the 1% tonight? Or maybe an ATM machine? If you can figure out a way to wear your pup tent, you could go trick or treating as your own Occupied encampment. That said, the main astrological aspects this week have to do with the planet of disguise (as well as denial, delusion and drugs): Neptune. Our three personal planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars) are all splashing into Neptune in one way or another. Just as it’s prudent to wade into unfamiliar waters rather than diving in headfirst, so too is it wise to slow down a little with these aspects.

Venus and Mercury are in the last degrees of Scorpio. Venus moves into Sagittarius early Wednesday morning, and Mercury follows suit later that same afternoon. During their last couple days in Scorpio, both planets square Neptune in late Aquarius. We tend to want our personal planets to feel very solid and real. But when inner planets encounter Neptune, it can create doubt and a dreamy kind of idealism. This kind of setup can mess with our emotions and intuition. (It is rare that Mercury, Venus and Mars all make aspects to Neptune at the same time.)

If you have any Halloween festivities to attend tonight (or if you had some lush encounters over the weekend), bear in mind that you might be a bit more prone than usual to get stoned and think you’re in love — or simply to think you’re in love even without any substances altering your consciousness.

After Mercury and Venus square Neptune, they ingress Sagittarius and then make squares to Chiron. This has the feeling of a sudden awakening — the sensation of, ‘how could I have missed this?’ It’s likely to be something emotional, such as a perception or emotion. Think of squares to Neptune followed by squares to Chiron as coming out of denial — a feeling that we Westerners rarely experience.

After the emotional complexity and uncertainty of Scorpio planets square Neptune, they ingress a sign known its love of freedom, travel and adventure, and where there can be a feeling of extreme clarity rather than the potential doubts of the current days. This could be spurred by some event, emotion or reaction. Get used to the sensation of these planets being in Sagittarius, square Chiron, before you make any irreversible decisions, particularly based on injured emotions, office politics or any form of deception.

Meanwhile, Mars in Leo is working up to an opposition to Neptune. This is another summons to clarity, honesty and choices based on intelligence and discernment.

Mars and Neptune, especially in conjunction, a square or opposition, can be self-destructive. Mars-Neptune can also be poetic, but it has a touch of the rock star mentality to it: whatever it takes to get these songs written. Whatever it takes to get through the next show. That kind of thing. While Mercury and Venus lean toward doubt and delusion when they dance with Neptune, Mars lights the whole thing on fire. It brings all the heat and drive you would expect, but the question is: Do you actually know what’s in that thing you’re about to spark up? Give yourself time to figure out what you’re working with on the emotional level this week.

This set-up — all of it — is asking for good judgment, which is to say, any judgment or discernment at all. What are you really feeling in there? As you try to figure it out, be cautious with alcohol and conscientious with your driving (and definitely do not mix the two). Stick with writing poetry and taking photographs and other creative pursuits that are not likely to put you or others at risk. Use discernment. And whatever you do or do not indulge in, lay off the blame.

One of the things about Neptune aspects is that as they get close, we figure out what has been going on. You can avoid feeling like the realizations come too late by giving some attention now to your inner landscape and assessing the pragmatic circumstances. Either way, any doubt that has been stirred up by the square to Neptune is likely to precipitate a sense of ‘Big Truth’ when Venus and Mercury land in Sagittarius.

How you feel when they square Chiron is an open-ended thing. People experience Chiron many different ways, some as a constant companion and some as a harsh teacher. With Chiron, it all depends on your relationship to denial. As Mercury and Venus change signs, any denial or idealism you’ve been feeling may give way to some kind of revelation. There may be a sense of injury, but it may not necessarily be the real thing. For some this may be painful; for others, it could be exhilarating. It really depends on what you do with truth, as you recognize it. At the very least, Neptune suggests using your relationship to doubt as a creative force, and Chiron says use what you learn.

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