An exciting and insightful couple of weeks are in store as Venus opposes Pluto, the Sun squares Uranus and Mars heads into Gemini, for an unusual seven-month-stay. The action starts late Monday night with Venus. Back on July 18th and 19th, Mercury and Sun found themselves opposite of resourceful, transformative Pluto, when they were completing their tours of Cancer. Now, the planet of money, love and pleasure will have to negotiate with the Lord of the Underworld before she too can move into Leo. What was left unresolved by the Sun and Mercury will fall to Venus to settle. As Venus and Pluto are both associated with wealth, finances are likely to take center stage. Tuesday’s Mercury quincunx to Jupiter will probably convolute matters. Staying focused will go a long way toward successfully navigating this week, especially Thursday’s full Moon.
Leo’s flair for theatrics and frivolity is unrivaled. In 2022, however, even the audacious, courageous Lion may not want to bite off more than he/she can chew. Instead of endless romps through the jungle or days spent frolicking in the Sun, this year has Leo running a gauntlet of fixed sign squares and oppositions. The full Moon of August 11th is a major hotspot. Not only will the Leo Sun be opposite of the Aquarius Moon, but erratic Uranus will square both. Three days later, the free-spending Leo Sun will be opposed by restrictive Saturn. During the upcoming struggles an unlikely player, Mars, will be cast into unexpectedly pivotal roles.
Under the tumult of that 19 degree full Moon, some prescient inspiration will flow to Mars from Neptune. And while the Sun and Saturn battle, Mars will form an earth trine to Pluto. Neptune, in Pisces, is illuminating a higher path, and Pluto, in Capricorn, is a master at accumulating riches, psychological and material. After conferring with the two, Mars may prompt a quest for more deeply gratifying rewards. The planet of action is about to head into Gemini for a visit that will include its next retrograde. Referencing the revelations downloaded around this full Moon may prove useful when the Gemini trip gets fully underway. Mars will be in the mutable air sign from August 20, 2022 to March 25, 2023, and its October 30th to January 12, 2023 retrograde there will cover the 25 to 8 degree range. As it prepares for this ingress, the surrounding skies will lighten up a bit. An enthusiastic Aries Moon conjoins Jupiter on the 15th, clever Mercury trines Uranus on the 16th and Venus trines lucky Jupiter on the 18th. This cycle concludes with a Mercury opposition to Neptune on the 21st. Rather than the typically contentious nature of oppositions, the exceptional flexibility of both planets, as well as their placements in mutable signs portend a relaxed, open-minded approach to problem solving. Their get together is also a forerunner of September 10th’s full Pisces Moon under the Virgo Sun. The difference between that one and this week’s full Moon will be well, dramatic.
