This week’s astrology

Here is a brief overview of some of the sky’s movements this week, as an adjunct to Eric’s Daily Astrology article. To begin with, the newly waning Moon entered Virgo Monday night.

This is a signal to watch out for overly self-critical thoughts as you work through the material that has been brought into consciousness by the Mars-Nessus conjunction over the weekend.

If you can keep your mental plane flexible (Virgo is a mutable sign, after all) and save the nit-picky, detail-oriented urges for reorganizing your workspace — or your literal bedroom closet — you may find yourself better able to release the emotional stuff that has been cluttering your metaphorical bedroom closet.

Wednesday the Aquarius Sun forms a square to Saturn in Scorpio. Sun square Saturn can be marked by a kind of ego-centered selfishness and negativity toward the world, but here we have the Sun, representing the ego part of that equation, in the sign of groups. Saturn, representing the structures and limitations of the world, is in a sign that’s about deeply personal exchange and transformation.

If you are currently excavating deeply taboo information about yourself (in the realm of sex, in particular), are you finding that you have built structures to contain it that might be ready to change shape or dissolve? And are those structures, and the parts of yourself contained within them, at odds with how you define yourself within society? The Sun square Saturn generally asks us to take action by releasing the overemphasis on self. What happens if you start to see your story in terms of a collective release of karma needed by the world right now (for example)?

I ask this partly because on and around Thursday, Mercury is sextile a whole herd of centaurs in Sagittarius (it’s also sextile a couple of asteroids in Aries, plus square a couple more objects). Centaurs in general have a lot to do with raising up shadow material and baggage and very old patterns (sometimes from our ancestors or past lives) for the express purpose of letting us see it vividly, so we can understand how to heal it. Just like one might expect from a herd of creatures that are half-horse, working with the material they represent can get a little messy and stinky.

To have Mercury in a fairly mental, detached air sign like Aquarius and making sextiles to these points suggests that there’s a lot of potential progress available when it comes to intellectually understanding what you’re working with, being able to communicate it clearly, and seeing a lot of correlations in the world around you.

The key with a sextile is that you have to actually make the effort. In the case of centaurs and shadow material, be ready to dig in places you’ve been avoiding; don’t be afraid to turn over the muddier rocks as they present themselves; and consider seeking help from a gifted therapist or other healer to aid in releasing what you’re processing. That way it’s an investment in your long-term mental health, not a mental loop to get stuck in.

Giving all of this a boost, Jupiter stations direct in early Gemini (a Mercury-ruled sign) at 6:37 am EST on Wednesday. This may feel like “moving forward in all directions,” and has the potential to feel a little scattered. Luckily, the Moon will still be in Virgo (another Mercury-ruled sign), offering some help with keeping things organized and focused on de-cluttering.

There also may be some grounding available as Venus in Capricorn squares minor planet 1992 QB1 in Aries. Eric described this as “the anti-centaur.” In other words, 1992 QB1 is about crossing thresholds — basically birthing ourselves into the new — especially in the realm of sex. It’s as though Venus, a bit reserved in Capricorn, is being challenged by QB1 to expand past its current structures and boundaries. What parts of yourself have you not yet dared to love into full, conscious existence?

Put another way, the message is to take all sexual encounters as opportunities for healing. This shouldn’t detract from the pleasure aspect but rather deepen it.

The challenge from QB1 to Venus comes just before Venus enters Aquarius Friday at 9:46 pm EST. Venus is cool, calm and detached in Aquarius. It can be a little challenging for love relationships, since emotions get filtered through the mind, but can be great for friendships. With all the action involving Nessus and the other centaurs, however, this detachment could continue to facilitate the understanding and release of the material we’re working through collectively. No, it’s not a ‘warm fuzzy’, but neither does it look like attachment to things that no longer qualify as ‘love’.

Less than an hour before Venus makes its move, Mars ingresses Pisces at 8:54 pm EST Friday. Like Venus in Aquarius, Mars in Pisces is not the most comfortable position — but for contrasting reasons. Mars’ drive can get a little bogged down in the waters of Pisces. In particular, be mindful of any draw into heavy drug or alcohol use, since those substances can alter perception and inhibition in a way that doesn’t mix well with a headstrong Mars.

On the other hand, Mars in Pisces can give a real boost to musicians (and other creative types). The trick is for us to harness some steam for locomotion when our direction is clear. No need to go barreling into a delusion or illusion when we have the opportunity in the beginning of the week to bring some shadows into the light, clear away some mental/emotional clutter, and see how our individual stories and healing journeys are weaving together in a positive way.

By the time Venus and Mars change signs, we’ll have a Libra Moon offering a lens on the world and our hearts that’s tinted by beauty and looking for balance. (The Moon ingresses Libra at 1:35 am EST Thursday morning.)