If the current Mercury retrograde has brought its share of delays, technical snafus and frustrations, take heart. This week everything changes. While Mercury usually gets, and deserves, all the blame for mishaps and all manner of tech misfires and meltdowns, this time Mars has also been contributing to the cosmic inertia. Since early October, the red planet of passion has been stuck in eternally deliberating Libra. Libra, in its quest to be fair to all sides, stops to consider each and every point of view, all potential outcomes and their implications. The resulting indecision can be absolutely exasperating for Mars, and us. Fortunately, just after midnight late Monday night, or very early Tuesday morning (depending on your time zone), Mars moves into Scorpio. Before Pluto was discovered, Mars was Scorpio’s ruling planet, so this is familiar and comfortable territory for the action-oriented planet. Mars will reside in Scorpio until January 3, 2020, and from there enliven us with emotional honestly. If Mercury’s retrograde in Scorp showed you what you want, Mars will motivate you to go out and get it. Further improvement comes on Wednesday when Mercury stations to go direct, officially ending the dreaded, and dreadful, retrograde period. Things lighten and brighten up even more on Friday, when the Sun leaves intense Scorpio for inspirational Sagittarius. The Sun will spread the Sagittarius cheer for the next four weeks as it transits the Jupiter-ruled sign of optimism, hopes and aspirations. Giving us an immediate dose of those spirited and spiritual good vibrations, the much anticipated Venus Jupiter conjunction takes place, in Sagittarius, on Sunday. Venus loves pleasure and Jupiter brings luck and expansion, so many are seeing this meeting as the ideal time to wish upon that proverbial star. However, Sunday is also when Mars opposes Uranus, and both are in those intrenched fixed signs. All of this is taking place under the unflinching watch of a Scorpio moon. With a distinctive talent for disruption, Uranus is likely to win the day, helping us to break new ground or to see things from a radically new perspective. In any case, this week roadblocks are removed and new insights and possibilities are presented.

Tuesday’s full moon in Taurus will undoubtably garner lots of attention. Not only is the celestial event a pleasure to behold, but because Taurus is ruled by Venus, the planet of beauty, there will be an astrological emphasis on contentment. Adding to the cosmic sense of ease and cooperation are a week’s worth of positive aspects. These begin on Monday when the Sun and Mercury meet in Scorpio. While at times Scorpio can feel overly intense, this alignment takes place on the day of the 11.11 portal opening and when Mercury literally transits the Sun (viewable in North America). We are redefining ourselves, and their meeting signals agreement and an opportunity for self-discovery and growth. On the full moon even combative Mars is making nice, in this instance, from harmonious, even-handed and fair-minded Libra to benevolent Jupiter at home in optimistic Sagittarius. If that elusive stroke of luck doesn’t turn up, encouragement will, and maybe both! But it’s Wednesday when the skies shower us with heaps of planetary support. Mercury and Saturn and the Sun and Pluto form sextiles and Mercury later trines Neptune. Wielding copious amounts of honesty and pragmatism, the Scorpio to Capricorn connections are resolute in their findings, purpose and shared determination, and the Mercury Neptune trine supports deep, meaningful and abiding understanding. The week’s only spat occurs on Thursday. But even that involves gracious Venus squaring Neptune in nebulous Pisces from affable Sag. Fighting over which sweetener to use would be a good analogy for this one, and with both in mutable signs, hard feelings aren’t on the menu. We head into the weekend under the care of a Cancer moon. While it could get into some contentious cardinal squabbles, it is equally capable of helping us commit to self-care and to surrounding ourselves with what most nurtures us. During this decidedly introspective week, a good strategy is to meditate on problems needing solutions on 11.11, Monday, to allow Tuesday’s full moon to work its illumination magic and to be receptive to those uncanny and unfolding Scorpio/Capricorn/Neptunian insights. Best look? A Monk’s robe, sacred text and votive candle, with the phone on DND for extended spurts.

The week begins with a fixed, futuristic Aquarius moon squaring the Sun in equally fixed Scorpio and energizing Mars, presently in the sign of justice, via an uplifting trine on Monday, and a colossal square between Mars and Pluto on Tuesday. By Friday, the Sun, Saturn and Neptune will be on point and on purpose, as their considerable forces are joined. Their cooperative alignments include a Sun Saturn sextile, a Sun Neptune trine and Saturn’s final sextile to Neptune (until 2031). The Sun describes our identity. Saturn enforces the law and Neptune helps us see the bigger picture. All of this is happening under the intensive scrutiny of Mercury’s retrograde in Scorpio. The truth is coming out, like it or not, and it’s time to face the music. In its highest form, Scorpio is here to heal. Because daylight is the best disinfectant, the Sun and Mercury may very well be exposing what we’d prefer to ignore, those insidious shadows. Whether we choose consciousness or not is up to us. But whatever that choice, we’re still operating under their influence. When we’re willing to examine our feelings, motives and histories deeply and honestly, we create room for improvement. In a week starting off under an Aquarius moon, a force pointing towards outcomes and our future condition, the revelations emerging now are part of shaping what will become. Illusions we want to cling to are set for another jolt on Sunday, when the Taurus moon, building towards full strength, connects with disruptive Uranus. All of this week’s goings on are leading us right up to Mercury’s transit of the Sun, on the 11th and the full moon on the 12th. We are being asked what stories we tell ourselves, which ones are false or unhealthy and what we’re prepared to do differently to create more peace in our lives. Indeed, this is some weighty cosmic stuff. But then again, it’s Scorpio Time!