Mercury joins the Sun, Venus, Chiron, and Neptune and becomes the 5th planet to enter into the sign of Aquarius on Wednesday. This has been a rather interesting Aquarian transit. To understand the natural energy of Aquarius, we need only look at the tragic earthquake which occurred in Haiti. Not that Aquarius causes earthquakes, but a dimension of the sign reflects human beings at their best. Imagine the millions of individuals that used their cell phone (an Aquarian device) to send money through the international (Aquarian word) Red Cross (An Aquarian Institution). The concerts, celebrity pleas, media attention, and politicians all joined hands in a collective embrace to help an ailing nation recover from one of the worst disasters in modern history. There is even a remake of “We Are the World,” being recorded and set to release soon.

What will Mercury do in Aquarius? Mercury is the planet of expression. Long after the Sun and Venus escape into the watery realms of Pisces, Mercury will still be doing his job ushering in messages and thoughts that have to do with the collective group consciousness and our willingness to participate in the fellowship of man. Mercury likes to understand the patterns of such groups, and we most likely will hear about disaster relief focus groups, improvements, and implementation for the next several weeks.

On the inner level, Mercury seeks out the truth. What is our truth? Is this simply another set of cliché words used to express our own self purposed agenda? Today, we can use the energy of Aquarius to decide just what exactly our truth is, and begin to express it with love and respect for others. We can all make a difference by first being truthful with ourselves.

We have an opposition between Venus the planet of love and Mars the God of War. In mythology, these two were lovers, and like any relationship theirs was complicated. First off, Aphrodite which is the Greek name for Venus was married to Hephaestus the Smith God. Although, Aphrodite was not really attracted to her husband on the physical level, her husband had a knack for getting the other God’s to side with him because he made them all the beautiful toys that they played with. On the other hand Aries (Greek name for Mars) was quite tempestuous, angry, impulsive, and blood thirsty – and caused problems and had associations that the other God’s would have to clean up. Eventually, despite having a child with Mars – Venus chooses her husband because he is the more socially pleasing of the two Gods. However, when she has an itch that needs to be satisfied she would run off and begin her affair with Aries once again.

In this case, Venus in Aquarius is too humanitarian and ideal to deal with Mars’s self focus while he is in the sign of Leo. Venus wants to go out and make connections and Mars wants to do his own thing – independent of the group. So, there is a tension here because our urge for relationship and our urge for individuality will be at odds today, which could provoke arguments and disagreements with others. One way we can explore this aspect in a positive way is to exam our own passions, and how we could express these impulsive feelings in a constructive rather than destructive way.

The Moon moves into emotional Pisces on Monday. After the eclipse in heavy Capricorn and then the Moon moving through social Aquarius, the Pisces Moon will bring us into a more emotional state as we move through the day. For those that get an extra day off work, the Pisces Moon could be used to relax, connect with our higher source, or enjoy some creative activities. Since Pisces is a “collective” sign rather than personal, we can use this energy to be charitable or humanitarian to those who may be less privileged or in need.

Although we have minimal planetary activity this week, both of the benefic planets (Jupiter and Venus) change signs. In astrology, planets are like actors they express a particular energy and have motivations of their own. Signs, on the other hand, are like wardrobe, they are the clothes that the actors where. In essence, when a planet changes signs it resembles an actor changing clothes in the middle of the movie for something more fitting to the script. In this case, Jupiter will put on Pisces clothes and Venus will put on Aquarian clothes.

Jupiter in sublime Pisces should bring a bit of optimism to the future. Let’s face it, the last year for many has been very rough for many financially and there appears to be little hope in sight as we continue to go through a world recession. There have been many studies done that show that when circumstances in our lives become challenging, we tend to move towards areas of belief, religion, our connection to God/Goddess or source, and a need to find a sense of unity with others and a spiritual sense of purpose. For many, finding the spiritual purpose behind something allows the banal frustrations of ordinary life to be a bit easier. Jupiter in Pisces increases our interest in the spiritual and spiritual modalities! However, Pisces can be a rather deceptive sign, so I urge everyone to be careful of what they put their blind trust in.

On a more social note, Venus moves out of Capricorn and into social Aquarius. During this 3-week period, the urge for us all to become a bit more social will bring out the friendliness of even the most passive introverted individuals. We all want to connect in a broader capacity when Venus is in Aquarius, because the ability to express our opinions and ideas with others is vastly important. However, Aquarius is not known for its emotional intensity or even deep intimacy, therefore those of us that are more feeling oriented could find ourselves a bit distanced in relationships over the next few weeks. This is a great time to expand our social networks, and to go out and spend time with like minded individuals.

Enjoy Your Week!