Mercury’s final retrograde of the year is packed with pent-up energy. As the communication planet reverses direction Monday evening at 9:42pm EST, it can wrest open some floodgates.

This can be a hoped-for ice-breaker if you've been stuck—or a serious warning to think before you speak if you tend to be impulsive. It all comes down to your intentions.

For one thing, Mercury is out-of-bounds (i.e., outside the “dominion” of the Sun and prevailing mores) in spontaneous Sagittarius, so good luck with that muzzle. And it’s in a pretty close opposition to Jupiter, which rules Sag and gives it its expansiveness and optimism.

O Pluto, Great Lord of the Underworld, of death, destruction and rebirth, of power and passion, of secrets and mysteries, of obsession and transformation, we kneel before You, trembling at Your awesome ingress into Aquarius.

You may or may not have noticed, but on Friday morning, Saturn stationed direct after four and a half sluggish retrograde months in Pisces.

Planets aren’t operating at “full strength” when they’re retrograde, and it’s fair to say that the planet of form, structure, boundaries and grounding is a bit lost at sea in the watery, amorphous, dissolving-agent sign of Pisces.

Saturn’s annual retrograde is a time for inner reflection, a time to tap (or maybe slam on) the brakes and cease ceaseless forward motion. Saturn is a doer—certainly a planner—and when he’s off-course, and especially in emotional and sensitive Pisces—he can feel rudderless. We can feel rudderless.

I am absolutely passionate about astrology. To me, it’s the unrivaled best tool for self-understanding (and much more). There’s a reason I call a chart a psychic MRI: because skillful and sensitive interpretation can help you “diagnose” a person’s life, experiences, challenges, gifts and soul purpose—also timing—with eerie accuracy.

But there’s one thing astrology can’t do, and that’s live your life for you.

Today’s solar eclipse doesn’t feature just the Sun and Moon at 10º Libra. The (true) Black Moon Lilith and Kuiper Belt planetoid Makemake are also at 10º Libra. Mercury’s at 11º and Juno is also in Libra, at 18º. And the south node, the eclipse’s raison d'être, is at 6º Libra.

Look around and you see that almost everything in the eclipse chart (2:49pm EDT) is stunningly interconnected.

Full Moons have long captured our imagination, partly because they’re so darn conspicuous. And these summer supermoons, when Luna is closest to Earth, can feel almost surreal. Lunar eclipses, or Full Moons that are close to the lunar nodes, occur in pairs twice a year (generally) and crank up the volume, bringing an intensity that, even when we’re sleeping with one eye open, often catch us off-guard.

We’re about to enter another eclipse portal, with this series occurring on September 17 at 10:34 pm (EDT) and then the follow-up, a New Moon Solar Eclipse, on October 2, at 10º Libra.

Three planetary transits in less than 24 hours, whatever they are, is significant, and this Sunday-Monday could inspire you to plant seeds for some important shifts in your life!

On Sunday, the Moon pads up to the Sun, meeting at 12º Leo 34’ just after dawn, at 7:13 am (EDT). This is an annual event, but it’s the other aspects that make each one unique—just the way Leo prefers it.

Every month when the Moon catches up to the Sun, we have a new moon. (And every 33 months, we get a second new Moon in one cycle, which is rare enough to have its own name, a black Moon). This dark lunar phase is associated with rest, renewal, turning inward and planting seeds intended to sprout over the next six months.

New Moons are in the same sign the Sun is in, and this month, the luminaries align at 14º Cancer 23—and they make a lot of aspects. Venus is just eight and a half degrees away in Cancer. The Sun-Moon sextile Mars in Taurus and trine Saturn, newly retrograde in Pisces. They also form a significant square to the lunar nodes. And the tightest aspect of all is a near-exact opposition to the dwarf planet Ceres, frequently associated with Cancer.

Retrograde is an interesting, and widely misunderstood, concept in astrology.

The opening bell of Gemini season rang on Monday, May 19, meaning, in more literal terms, that the Sun entered the sign of the Twins, the first air and the first mutable sign of the zodiac. If nothing more (and there’s actually a lot more), this should serve to lighten the mood and quicken the pace after the Sun’s month-long trek through tenacious, tethered Taurus.

Are you ready to embrace what’s in the shadows?

Scorpio Season ‘23

Your personal mythology — Venus, Jupiter and American Labor Day, oh my!

Mercury Rx—Again

It's not just about work and sacrifice

Is this good, bad or too ?!?! to say?

Saturn retrograde and Gemini new moon!