Today is Tuesday, Aug. 16. 2011. The Moon is in Pisces, approaching a conjunction to minor planet Ceres — the first minor planet ever discovered (that was back in 1801). This is an emotional, even sentimental alignment, which could be describing some deep movement of energy, especially regarding mothers and daughters. This is a day to pay attention to the subtle level of feeling (Pisces always says ‘subtle’). There is something here about women understanding how they’re shaped by their mother’s vision for who they’re supposed to be. Yet for many this may be a background theme, as we’re in the midst of a spectacular triple conjunction this week, which is exact today: Mercury, Venus and the Sun in Leo.
Mercury is just as retrograde as it was yesterday, but we’ve now reached the peak of the cycle — the Sun and Mercury are in a close conjunction that will be exact at 9:03 pm EDT.
That conjunction is Mercury passing exactly between the Sun and the Earth, and is the midpoint of the Mercury retrograde experience we’re in.
(The technical name for this is the Mercury-Sun interior or to astronomers, inferior conjunction.) I’ve noticed that this is one of the ‘unusual things happen’ days such as something out-of-pattern that grants an opportunity.
Venus is also in the picture, but it’s on the other side of the Sun from our point of view. That’s a Sun-Venus conjunction, but it’s called the exterior conjunction because Venus is ‘outside’ or on the other side of the Sun. (Astronomers call this the superior conjunction.) So there’s a row of planets strung like Christmas lights — Venus, Sun, Mercury, Earth. This is invisible to us because they are all so close to the Sun.
That means a lot of Leo conjunctions, one after the next. These are not ‘major’ conjunctions such as when very slow moving planets get together and shake up the whole world, but there is the feeling of a shuffle, a dance, a little chaos; there is an atmosphere of uncertainty in the air. Since the conjunctions involve the Sun, that’s about expression. Expression is always a little chaotic. This is illustrated in what is called the Sabian symbol for the degree, a little description of a scene that goes with each degree of the zodiac. For today’s conjunction, the degree is, “A person sitting in neglect of their body, totally concentrated on inner spiritual attainment.”