Today is Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011. The Moon is in Aries all day. While there, it makes a conjunction to Eris, and the two of them trine retrograde Mercury. That’s a bit of a mouthful, emotionally speaking, but it is navigable. It can feel like alienation and fragmentation, given the placement in Aries. Applied to the Moon, it becomes ‘the postmodern mother’ – a bit deconstructed.
Does this describe at all your relationship to your own mother? Or how you see her in that role? You may be prompted to consider these questions further by another small, influential player in that mix. Nessus is in Aquarius, opposite Mercury and sextile the Moon-Eris conjunction. Mercury (which represents children) is picking up some dark energy, and beaming it out from Leo, which also represents children. You may encounter a playback of childhood trauma with this aspect.
The tricky thing is, you might not recognize it as such. Some of the buttons getting pushed in these days were set so long ago, and by those whom we so trusted as infallible, that we can’t see how old they are. The lover, the friend, the boss, the coworker may get upset or call us out, but in our reaction to that, how much emotion and self-judgment actually belongs to that encounter?
If you’re feeling unworthy, like you’ve failed, or defensive to the point of being unable to empathize, see how far you can get if you stop to parse that out. You may need help with that – the ear of a therapist or a particularly insightful and incisive friend, for instance. And you may not find the root at all this time. But if your attention has been called in that direction, you can still get as close as you can, from where you are. That is all any of us can do. So be gentle with yourself, recognize the tools you currently have and those you still need to search out in order to move forward. Mercury retrograde in Leo is all about this self-inquiry.
Today brings a bright boost of assistance, too. Mars in Cancer is sextile Jupiter in Taurus. This is a constructive relationship between earth and water. Emotional drive meets practicality. It’s a great day to get things done. With regard to anything you’re building or value – whether something tangible or the self-inquiry just mentioned — move toward the future one step at a time. As the saying goes, a journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. Just say yes to something. Do something.