Many are likely still reeling from last weekend’s Full Moon in Aries, a doozy of a lunation that seemed to pack an emotional punch. In its wake, we enter a sort of denouement week which begins with some potentials for volatility, but also for positive systemic change.

This is the strange brew brought to us by the moon’s transit of Uranus and the North Node, the conjunction that has served as an arbiter for sudden material change for some months now. These forces are aligned in direct conflict with Saturn, who is retrograde in Aquarius. This alone would be enough for us to call this a day of dramatic potential. What softens and perhaps redeems this array is the involvement of the Sun-Venus conjunction in Libra, who cast a gently graceful ray onto Saturn, hopefully making sure that any necessary-but-daunting overhauls will run smoothly and with elegance. By evening, the moon will instead make contact with Pluto in Capricorn, direct after months of retrograde, adding gravity to the situation, however amicably. This is the cement drying and setting into place.

There is a fly in the ointment of progress, however. Some may find that their efforts to check things off their to-do lists get stuck in the mud, or lost in a shuffle. Perhaps there is too much to do and you’re feeling overwhelmed? Or the tasks you’ve assigned yourself are not defined clearly enough? A single item to accomplish may actually be 24 items if you really break it down. Any frustration surrounding such matters can likely be pinned on the square between Mars in Gemini and Neptune in Pisces. The goal you seek may be harder to find than imagined – the map is not the territory, and the territory may be low visibility. Not a reason to punch a wall, but probably a reason to unclench your rational mind and ask what intuition has to say about any given matter.

On Thursday (10/13,) the moon enters Gemini, where it will make contact with Mercury, who has newly ingressed into Libra. Mercury is also in opposition to Jupiter, so this may stir up thinking around study and education and around creative solutions. This dovetails into the configuration on Friday (10/14,) a grand air trine triggered by the moon’s conjunction with Mars. A great day for freedom of thought, for conversations that last for hours, for going into a frenzy of cerebral activity.

Saturday (10/15) sees Mercury get his turn at an antiscia with Neptune. An antiscia is a connection not dissimilar to a conjunction, where the planetary pair mixes and it becomes hard to pick apart who is who. As planets have recently traveled through early Libra, we have seen both the Sun and Venus get their turn at antiscia with slow-moving Neptune. Now Mercury makes contact; a good day for navigating fantasy, lucid dreaming, gaming, for getting lost in a rabbit-hole of fandom, for studying the taxonomy of the spiritual.

Sunday (10/16) passes relatively peacefully, no major triggers from fast-moving planets driving the action, though the Sun is beginning to lock into a tough relationship with Pluto, who may be forcing closer examination of public figures, authority figures, or just of the self – all of these people may come under the scrutiny that seeks systemic rot, especially as Pluto has just begun moving forward again. In what ways is power being hoarded or exploited and what allows for that?

The true drama should hit the following day, on Monday (10/17,) as the moon creates a t-square involving both of these planets that terminates into Aries. Without getting into it too deeply, a t-square is a contentious and incomplete pattern which highlights the missing piece as a place for all focus to funnel in. And so, because there is nothing in late Aries, there may be an over-compensatory focus on that section of the sky, giving the day a very Aries feel: headstrong, willful, combative. A day of potential strife in that a lot of people may find themselves drawing lines in the sand or rushing headlong into an unpleasant matter. On Tuesday (10/18,) the moon moves into Leo, striking softer notes in the sky, and we can focus on taping up wounds and replaying fight footage so we can dominate our next outing.

Until next Hump Day!