A Moon-Venus-Mercury triple play
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.
This year, the luminaries in their tight embrace form a supportive 60º sextile to Mars and Jupiter—exactly aspecting those planets’ midpoint. The Sun and Mars have a natural affinity as conscious, passionate action takers and seekers of authentic expression. The Moon represents our emotions, core needs and desires, often unconscious. And Jupiter just says “More! Bigger! Faster! Better!”
The New Moon is <5º away from a trine with the karmic north node, suggesting that actions initiated now could be connected to your soul’s purpose. No pressure there!
How to work with all this
This energy is great for any kind of creative, original, possibly daring form of self-expression, not necessarily involving “art.” It could be how you speak, dress, move or interact with people. Wherever 12º Leo falls in your chart will give you a better sense of its potential unfolding for you. Feel into that, and then do something just for the sake of doing!
New Moons are the prelude to initiation. From a manifesting perspective, you’ve got a blank slate or canvas to work with. Let your imagination off-leash. Don’t focus on “practical,” “doable” or "realistic." Just tap your own rich inner source and ask it what it wants to produce. Here’s a good clue: If it feels joyful and makes you happy and more openhearted, you’re probably on the right track.
Leave the “pragmatic/viable” to Virgo, which is in no short supply this month. Mercury, its ruler, is already there, and Venus will cross the Leo-Virgo threshold later on Sunday night (10:23 pm EDT). That’s like switching hats from artist to editor, from visionary to producer, from being big and boisterous to being modest and understated. Nothing is “better,” it’s just a natural evolution from one to the next.
Venus in Virgo can make you a bit more traditional, cautious, appreciative of the details. You may be a little fussier with your daily toilette—possibly bordering on critical, which you’d be wise to shrug off and then have a chuckle at your own obsessiveness. The quest for “perfection” is a trap, trust me, and can only prevent you from wholeheartedly creating, innovating, loving, crushing, giving without strings or expressing yourself.
Just a few hours after that sign change, Mercury will station (“turn”) retrograde at 4º Virgo and spend the next 23 days in apparent backward motion. On August 14 it will revert to Leo for a few weeks before finishing out the cycle in Virgo.
How much to “fear” Mercury retrograde? The only real answer is, As much as you need to. While I personally wouldn’t buy a new laptop or change my internet provider or sign a binding contract, I am going to travel and engage in other “risky” behaviors.
Why? Because Mercury is retrograde 17-20 percent of the whole year, every year. And think about it: What if nobody did anything for that much of the time? (I know sometimes it seems like absolutely nothing is happening, but that’s just our impatient perception.)
I will say, for the record, that I was strong-armed into signing a contract many Merc-retrogrades ago. And not just some casual, no-big-whoop contract, either. It was to sell my NYC apartment, which should have been a slam-dunk. When the close finally happened—almost half a year later—I asked my Realtor and lawyer how common that was. Both said it was unquestionably the most protracted and frustrating deal either had ever worked on.
So maybe don’t buy a phone—or sell your home—but please don’t hole up in the bunker until August 28. Just follow the standard warnings: Back up your plans (and important documents), print things out and save them to the cloud. Put things in writing and ask for acknowledgment. Triple-check travel itineraries and plans involving other people. And, as I learned in Drivers’ Ed a hundred years ago, “Always leave yourself an out.”
Keep this advice in mind all month, especially on the 14th, when undaunted Jupiter forms a testy square to circumspect Saturn and a word to the wise may not be enough.
