Hyperactive to the point of being spastic, Mercury-ruled Gemini cannot sit still. Accordingly, as the Gemini Sun reaches the zenith of its 2023 cycle, Mercury, Venus and Pluto will change signs, Saturn will go retrograde and there’s a turbo-charged new Gemini Moon on the 17th. Inquisitive Gemini also loves variety. Fittingly, amidst all of the sign changes, there are also strong incoming alignments to support grounding and serenity. On the earthy side, when the Moon enters Capricorn on Monday, the 5th, it will trine Jupiter. Now that the planet of good fortune and expansion is sufficiently settled into its year-long transit of fixed Taurus, it will pair nicely with this productive Capricorn Moon. The intuitive Moon is also foreshadowing Pluto’s return to the cardinal earth sign on the 11th. This Pluto stay will last until January of 2024 and take the reforming planet back to 27° Capricorn 53′, right over America’s natal Pluto. More immediately, the Moon will then visit Taurus from the 13th to the 15th, where it will begin unlocking the collaborative power of Jupiter and Uranus, via its conjunctions with both. Exuberant Jupiter and dynamic Uranus are heading towards an exciting exact conjunction in April of 2024. This Moon’s links with them may reveal some of the paradigm shifting possibilities of the larger, forthcoming conjunction. Making all of the important connections, that Taurus Moon will also sextile Saturn and Neptune before trining Pluto. As that takes place, Mercury, shortly after arriving In Gemini on the 11th, will square Saturn, and present another interesting facet of the story.
The hard fixed sign squares leave little room for flexibility. But as the Taurus Moon squares Venus and Mars in Leo, Mercury’s mutable square to Saturn will present more moderate options. Mental Mercury informs how we think and communicate, and Pisces works to dissolve boundaries and barriers. Mercury’s squares to Saturn on the 15th and Neptune on the 25th, as well as the Gemini Sun’s square to Neptune on the 18th, may reveal healthier ways of resolving conflicts or of releasing unhelpful patterns. Given the summer’s incoming fixed sign squares, like the hefty Mars Uranus one on the 26th, now is ideal for exploring the adaptive nature of the planets in mutable mode. Further signaling that new ways for solving old problems are at hand, the new Moon in social Gemini will take place on the 17th, just as Mercury forms an agreeable sextile to diplomatic Venus. The 17th is also when Saturn, in mutable Pisces, will start its retrograde.
Back on March 7th, much to the relief of those with Saturn in Aquarius and Aquarius Sun and rising sign natives, the planet of structure and discipline ventured into the contemplative, spiritual realms of Pisces. Even for those with charts relatively free from the challenges posed by the Taskmaster in the fixed air sign, the past three months have unveiled a softer, more easygoing side of stern Saturn. This Rx will see the ringed planet travel from 7° Pisces 13′ to 0° Pisces 31’ before stationing to turn direct on November 4th. As the first retrograde of this three-year Pisces journey gets underway, we can reflect on our initial impressions of the transit, recommit ourselves to devotional and artistic practices, and deepen our experience of the integrating, prescient power of Pisces through the presence of persistent Saturn.