Yesterday saw some shifts in mood, as both Mercury and Mars made ingress into new signs – Mercury is now in sensitive Cancer after an extended stay in Gemini (and the later degrees of Taurus) due to one its retrogrades; Mars has meanwhile moved on from bellicose Aries and into Taurus.

Mercury is of middling strength in Cancer, neither doing particularly well or poorly. It’s the messenger planet trying to communicate clearly in an element known for distortion, thus, a lot of communiques may be (more than normally) colored by personal feeling on a matter, or delivered with some unnecessary or unhelpful emotional charge. On the other hand, Cancer is cardinal, so messages may still be delivered in an effervescent manner, timely if not direct, and are likely to be given proper weight and urgency. Mercury in a water sign is also a boon for artists, storytellers, songwriters, or anyone else trying to put feelings to words. That said, planets moving through Cancer have some tough aspects to contend with right now: for this week, Mercury will contend with a square to Jupiter, likely to be a source of some mountain-out-of-a-molehill-style arguments, and given the state of the nation lately, very likely to be the source of some ill-conceived proclamation or pushback on policy change. Protests? We’ll see.

Then again, tempers may (hopefully) have cooled sufficiently to prevent any major violent events this week. Mars is thought to perform sub-optimally in placid Taurus, a sign not known for its rages. So in a way, that’s good; the planet of destruction gets a little sleepy here, prone to attack a nap and snacks. The problem is that this may plunge personal willpower into sub-optimal levels, too. Underperforming Mars also means a higher-than-normal tendency to stuff down anger, sometimes even to lash out at the wrong person because you didn’t respond with the appropriate level of force to a party that DID personally affront you. Mileage may vary. The best things to work on now are the things that form a single, cohesive unit: a standing curriculum, a regimen, some plain that can be tilled slowly and steadily, as is the Taurean wont.

Mercury and Mars are currently in a good relationship, so forming plans to the above effect and either recording or communicating them effectively are at a premium right now.

Another big to-do around Mars moving into Taurus is that he’ll be co-present with the Uranus-North Node conjunction, which is kind of like putting oily rags next to the explosion machine. So let’s talk about that a bit more:

Uranus inching closer and closer to full conjunction to the North Node. Uranus is sudden revelation, an irrefutable bolt from the blue which changes what is true. The North Node is a point of manifestation. Thus, when this configuration is triggered, big changes may happen in a way that has material impact. The shameful overturn of Roe v. Wade is one such example. We can expect that the faster moving planets (mostly thinking of the moon and Mercury) getting into tight orb may set off more bombshells like this. Uranus is a highly unpredictable energy though, so please don’t think I mean that the Supreme Court will just keep dumping on the will of the people. (I mean, that’s objectively likely in the long run, but you don’t need astrology to tell you that and it’s not all happening this week.) Mars being anywhere near this mix, even as far away as he currently is, even in his weakened state, adds powder to whatever the lightning bolt decides it’s coming for. And hey, that might sound doom-y, but I’m hoping that lightning bolt creates more unions in unexpected industries/companies, a developing trend which also seems to be connected to the Uranus in Taurus story.

With the big stuff out of the way, let’s examine some other notable features of the week:

Thurs 7/7 – The moon travels through the last decan of Libra, encountering some tough aspects as she does. The early morning sees a mix of playful-and-pleasant from a Venusian trine mixed with a deep ache of insecurity from Chiron. By noon, she’ll start catching rays from retrograde Saturn (which COULD be a helpful restructuring element, but may also just feel oppressive,) and a square from Pluto (which will almost certainly feel oppressive, touchy, a lot of potential for high-pressure situations and hurt feelings.)

Sat 7/9 – The moon in Scorpio hits the South Node, also opposing the Uranus-North Node conjunction. This is a volatile array, but there is potential for positive purgation here, of letting out what is making one’s heart heavy. This array creates what astrologers call a t-square, and the long and short of it is that Leo ends up being emphasized: thus, performance and dramatic self-expression may be positive uses of said purgative impulses.

Tues 7/12 – We’ll get a full moon tomorrow, and the swelling completion of this lunation has probably been palpable throughout the week. Mercury has been edging closer to the Sun, and is now within 5 degrees. Planets that get too close to the Sun are drowned out by its light, so Mercury has been getting weaker and weaker. This will pass swiftly, but we’re in the thick of it here, and indeed, Mercury will get caught up in the soup of that full moon on Pluto tomorrow. For today, the moon’s aspects to Mars and Jupiter give a little shot in the arm to agenda, a good day to buckle down and get some work done.