Looking at the astrology as we head into the weekend (approaching a New Moon in Scorpio on Sunday), a few things come to mind: incisive, insightful communication (which may or may not always be offered tactfully); the ability and desire to get beneath the surface of things; the potential for surprising outbursts due to frustrated urges; discovering new solutions to new challenges.
If that sounds like a lot of energy looking for constructive expression, you’re right. The beautiful thing is that the current astrology could help you to go deep, get creative, and renew some facet of your life.
The tricky thing? As with so much in our lives, awareness is the key. The more aware you are of things like others’ viewpoints and feelings, any sense of staleness or stuckness in yourself, or the ways in which your needs, desires and sense of self have recently changed, the easier any necessary communication and action will be.
And by “easier,” I mean being direct, empathetic and balanced rather than passive-aggressive, being honest and intuitive, and being willing to do the work to create positive new situations. “Easier” here does not mean passive, detached or even necessarily “nice” in the sense of putting on a falsely happy face. We’re in the land of being real.
At the same time, “real” does not mean wantonly cruel, thoughtlessly self-absorbed or immaturely explosive. There’s a middle ground. Emotional maturity helps in finding it; acknowledging that it’s up to you to decide what it means to be yourself helps; the willingness to listen, learn and perhaps take some notes may help.
Astrologically speaking, what would these pointers be helping you with? Up first is a conjunction between the Sun and Mercury in Scorpio, exact at 12:16 pm EDT on Oct. 27 (today).
Also simmering is Mars in Capricorn square Uranus and Eris in Aries, exact beginning Saturday at 12:06 am EDT. Since Mars aspects can usually be felt most strongly before they’re exact, this is an important one to keep in your consciousness beginning now.
Mars-Uranus squares are classic accident astrology—particularly when it comes to accidents that occur due to repressed anger, frustrated desires or perceived threats to one’s ego. So watch out for road rage (yours and others). If you’re upset, breathe, calm down and focus before operating heavy/hot/moving/sharp machinery or anything you drive or ride.
This is not to scare you or make you paranoid; it’s to increase your awareness so you can be proactive. It applies in other ways, too. For example, if you’re feeling like you want to be free of certain restraints or that you’re not getting noticed in some way, rebellion or revolt might be attractive. Astrologer Robert Hand suggests that the way to approach such urges and desires is to create for yourself a situation of ongoing change.
That is, rather than waiting for things to reach their limit, you can work little by little, ongoing, to reinvent, renew or redirect them. Think taking a class part time rather than abruptly quitting your job; rearranging a different room over the course of several days instead of suddenly taking a sledgehammer to a wall; introducing incremental, direct, meaningful requests into your sex life rather than shouting, “Why do you always do the same damn thing?!” at a delicate moment.
True, sometimes a bold wake-up call is necessary. But the more you stay in touch with what’s building up within you, the better you can articulate your needs and desires and take some action well before the point of crisis.
Speaking of communication, that brings me back to Sun-Mercury in Scorpio. On the obvious, surface level, this could totally mean that you spend most of today thinking deeply or talking to a lot of people -- especially about topics like sex, money, death and secrets.
But especially in combination with the Mars-Uranus-Eris aspect, I see a more general reminder to come up from air once in a while, as you delve and penetrate, to notice where those around you are coming from. They might be coming from almost the exact same place as you are. But if you don’t stop to listen, you might never notice that their ‘hidden’ story is similar to yours. Once you discover that, the pressure may well ease enough to find unexpected solutions to your latest challenges.
Yours & truly,
Amanda Painter
