The death march through Scorpio gives way to a Sagittarian celebration! After a harrowing process after being taken apart and reassembled, this week first sees Venus, then Mercury and eventually the Sun enter into the centaur’s sign, a rollicking hall that should prove overflowing with revelry and bounty. Later in the month, things in that hall may become a little TOO rowdy – good-natured ribbing giving way to ridicule giving way to bar fights giving way to bar stabbings, that sort of thing. But that’s later! Let’s talk about now.

Venus moves into Sagittarius today. She’s generally considered neither strong nor weak there, but peregrine throughout most of the sign, a term meaning “pilgrim;” she is a stranger in these halls, not accustomed to the subtleties of delicate sensuality nor the aesthetic beauty that arise when Venus is in one of her cushioned seats of power. No, she’s not much for subtleties at all in Sagittarius, in fact. But that doesn’t mean she’s going to miss a function. Venus can be a barrel of laughs in Sag, can certainly be stylish and expressive, and if anything, may adopt an aesthetic that many would agree is “too much.” But its bright lights and big dreams are mostly benign, and for every person rolling their eyes, there are sure to be three who are roaring with laughter or snapping their fingers in agreement.

It should be a real sheetcake of victory for the first part of the solar month, being that Jupiter is back into his position of strength in Pisces, and Jupiter rules Sagittarius. It’s a squadron built for blessings, at least in the first part of the solar month, before Venus and other planets in Sag come to an opposition with Mars Retrograde that will shake things up.

For now, enjoy the party. Venus has had a rough go of things lately: weakened in Scorpio, turned around by a retrograde Mars, and caught in the crosshairs of the recent eclipse, likely leaving a lot of hearts lost and despairing. But this is a fiery, willful, questing Venus, one who can rediscover pleasures both high and low. Do a kick-flip in the lecture hall! Delve into Classics with a fistful of birthday cake! Dance it out with a foreign dignitary in their native body language! That sort of thing.

Thursday (11/17) doubles down by adding Mercury to the Sagittarian mix. In fact, Mercury and Venus will be conjunct, walking in lock-step until the end of November, creating nice arrangements for discourse, study, socialization, or anything that combines cognition and connection. Now, while many of the above passages on Venus’ happy transit will also apply to Mercury, it’s not exactly the same. As a rule, Mercury doesn’t do quite as poorly in Scorpio, and in fact, has a tougher time fulfilling its function in Sagittarius. Whereas Mercury traditionally delights in being able to skip around the x axis as it pleases, dancing from topic to topic, Sag usually finds one thing it likes and rides the y axis all the way up. This can have positive effects, such as an enthusiastic deep-dive down a rabbit hole, the other side holding vaunted expert status, knowledge, and ability. On the other hand, it might just create more folks obsessed with one thing that keep steering the conversation back to that one topic that you couldn’t give less of a shit about. And to be fair, that inept conversationalist might be the rabbit-hole crusader may be the same person. In any event, Venus and Jupiter’s benefic influences should soften this Mercury’s more grating characteristics.

So things kick off on a pretty nice note, one of fresh and vibrant momentum. It may take just a minute to feel the good times kick in (and as ever, your mileage will vary on whether or not they kick in at all,) as the moon forms a confrontational square to this new configuration in Sagittarius, possibly showcasing the ways in which the big to-do can be a public nuisance. The Sun is in a strange place too, still lingering in Scorpio and caught up between the dreamy influence of Neptune, the power-control matrix of Pluto, and the benefic-but-backwards influence of Jupiter. It’s a real grab-bag of influences on will and identity, fitting for Mars retrograde season, and self-expression may come out strangely diffuse.

Mars is likewise caught up in Neptune’s influence, but in a more confrontational manner. I know I keep banging on about it, but it’s important: this is the season to reign in substance abuse, as self-destruction is at a premium. Neptune is an arbiter of mood and consciousness-shifting activities, and indulgence in drugs and alcohol are certainly included in that. This pattern is one under which these types of activities could cause particular harm. On a less intense octave, it may mean that drive to accomplish is thwarted by a lack of clarity, that the way to your goal – or even the goals themselves – are muddied. Do what you can and try not to be restless about the rest. Certain things may be out of your control right now.

Saturday (11/19) we have an antiscial connection between Mercury-Venus and Pluto. Auspicious for connections to the hidden, to the reins of power, to peering behind the veneer. For some, that means binging some Breaking Bad episodes. For others, it’ll be kinkier than that. For others still, it means black candles and old spirit registries. However you get down! Sunday (11/20) has the partile conjunction of Mercury and Venus, just to say that their merging of hearts and minds is at its most pure here here. The Sun also fully locks into its exact trine with Jupiter, further fueling this new current of optimism and good will. The moon opposes Chiron in the morning before making a trine to Saturn that night and finally to Mars the following morning, Monday 11/21. This looks to me like avoidance of self-care followed by self-assignment of various tasks and a possibly frustrating bout of wheel-spinning. The moon will briefly give us a grand air trine, an array that will leave some feeling afflicted with overthinking. The work may be worth doing, but don’t get swept away by the gale of directive.

Finally, on Tuesday (11/22,) the Sun will make ingress into Sagittarius. As a vessel for fiery self-expression, the Sun is more at home here than either Mercury or Venus, and should get us all in the mood to dig our feet in and argue with relatives/dig our forks in and get fat on turkey and stuffing. The day stays interesting though, as the moon runs across the South Node, possibly triggering shake-ups and big surprises from Uranus-North Node, which themselves may be echoes of our three planets which have recently crossed the South Node. What have we cast off lately, and is it done with us?

Until next Hump Day!