New Moon In Gemini – Set Yourself Free

Astro Butterfly

We have a New Moon at 4° Gemini on May 25th. The New Moon is unaspected and the New Moon ruler, Mercury is unaspected as well, so we will have pure Gemini energy, curious, movable, playful, like a dandelion sweetly wafting on a gentle breeze.

This New Moon in Gemini is great for learning and explorations of any kind. Not the type of learning you get when you enroll in a class, when you listen to what others have to say, but the learning you do by yourself, by touching, smelling, tasting, making your own sense of the world, exploring life with a beginner’s mind.

New Moon Neptune Venus Cancer Scorpio

I love unaspected planets. Although we can find at times the free energy of an unaspected planet uncomfortable, the unaspected planets are in fact the pure expression of the genius of the Universe. When a planet is aspected, it cannot express itself freely, it plays by the other planet’s rules.

Imagine you want to make a song, or to write a poem, but your Mercury is conjunct Venus – in this case you will start thinking “what would the others like to hear? …or is opposite Jupiter – and you start wondering “what other songs sound like the one I am trying to write?” or gets a square from Saturn – “which nodes should I use for the bass guitar in C minor?”. You see, the free expression of Mercury is blocked. You cannot write a song playing by the rules, music knows no rules. An unexpected Mercury is a like a jazz player who is not “owned” by the music, but instead is able to spontaneously express himself through music.

“You cannot tread the path before you become the path yourself” – Zen saying

Gemini rules the mind, so the New Moon in Gemini is a great time to get rid of our “autopilot”, of our habitual tendencies, preferences, prejudices. If we choose to shut down the autopilot and open to the present moment, to our intuition, we can experience the reality in a completely different way, we can finally lift the veil of illusion, and for the first time be able to see things how they really are. Trust your intuition to alert you to your true priorities and the chances you need to make.

“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders” – Lao Tzu

But don’t let the lighthearted, curious nature of Gemini fool you. We have a very tight Venus square Pluto in Cardinal signs which is almost exact at the time of the New Moon.

Venus square Pluto is an extremely passionate aspect, is the aspect of “desire”. When we want something desperately nothing can stop us. Desire can turn into fascination and obsession. We can literally fall under the spell of our consuming desire and want to “get” the object of our interest, no matter what.

Although you may not want or you may not be ready to give course to your intense desires, try to stay with this energy and understand where it comes from. Something you’ve been neglecting in your life is now asking for chatarsis. What is it? How can you honor it?

Venus square Pluto can also point to some inner lies – how do you find your false comfort? In emotional eating, in excessive drinking? What about your false sense of control, by overthinking, overanalyzing, overscheduling? The false sense of avoidance? Procrastinating, saying “yes” when you mean “no” – all these false beliefs will be challenged as Pluto will ask us to face them for what they are.

Venus square Pluto will blend with the energy of the New Moon in Gemini, giving us an insatiable desire to discover the world around us.

The sabian symbol of the New Moon ruler, Mercury is “A woman watering flowers in her garden”. You choose which thoughts to water and grow, which skills to focus on. You are your own master.

Every New Moon is a time for new beginnings. Because both the New Moon and the New Moon ruler are unaspected, the New Moon in Gemini is giving us the opportunity to manifest whatever we want. Write down your wishes and intentions. Imagine yourself becoming one with the seed of intention you are planting.

Grand Fire Trine – Building Castles In The Sky

Astro Butterfly

We have a Grand Trine in Fire signs between Saturn, Uranus and the North Node which started forming mid-May and will last until mid-June. In the middle of the transit, the Grand Trine will turn into a “Castle” a highly beneficial configuration that will enable us to actualize our life mission, turn our vision into reality and make our wildest dream come true.

Grand Trine Uranus

Every time the Nodes are involved, we have the choice to stay where we are, adding an extra layer of security to the comfort of our South Node, or move into the unknown, pushing of our instincts to the pull of our purpose (North Node).

3th of June will be the highlight of this very special energy, due to some very special transits:

  • Venus conjoins Uranus, adding an “extra sparkle” to the Grand Trine.
  • Mars, in the last degree of Gemini, applies a sextile to the North Node and to Venus and Uranus
  • The South Node is in sextile with Saturn and Venus/Uranus

On 3rd of June 2017 the Grand Trine will become a Double-Kite, also called a “Castle” which is an extremely rare and progressive astrological configuration.

Castle

I like the symbolism attached to the Kite, which is a bird flying between Heaven and Earth bearing the sign of the Cross. The role of the Kite is to stimulate the expression of the Grand Trine, of the infinite potential of the Universe through our consciousness. The Grand trine energy is expressed through the Kite.

In our case we have two possible “outlets” for the Grand Fire Trine energy (North Node/ Uranus/ Saturn): one is though Mars and the other though the South Node. We have to choice to either “act” upon our mission in this lifetime, and literally start building castles in the sky, or to go back to our comfortable routine and do nothing (South Node) about the opportunity we’ve been presented.

And because we have 2 kites the configuration becomes a “Castle”. The Castle is a highly stable structure, resting on the base of the trine / triangle. The planets we have at the base are Saturn and the North Node. The foundations on which we are building our castle are solid (Saturn) and aligned with our soul’s Purpose (North Node).

The Universe is giving us everything we need to turn our dreams into reality.

Who said you can’t build castles in the sky? The highest point of the Castle is the Uranus  / Venus conjunction signifying the edelweiss on top of the mountain, the stunning beauty of the higher realms of the sky, the promise of heaven.

Leave behind your comfort zone and chose action instead, you now have the chance to build upon a foundation that will stand for an eternity.  

If you have planets or angles around 27° in Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, you are especially favored by this transit.

Full Moon In Scorpio – Walk The Talk

Astro Butterfly

We have a very powerful Full Moon in Scorpio taking place on May 10th at 20° Scorpio. The Full Moon in Scorpio will help us get in touch with our most intimate, authentic self and will ask us to live in the truth and “walk the talk”.

Exact times: Los Angeles – May 10 – 2:42 pm / New York – May 10 – 5:42 pm / London – May 10 – 10:42 pm / Sydney – May 11 – 7:42 am)

The Scorpio Full Moon is highly transformational not only because it is a Scorpio Full Moon but also because Pluto, the ruler of this Full Moon, makes very tight (and favorable) aspects with this lunation – a sextile to the Moon and a trine to the Sun.

The Scorpio Full Moon connects us with our deepest self, with our most consuming desires, and with our most dreaded fears. Ultimately the Full Moon is Scorpio wants to “give voice” to our authentic self.

Full Moon Scorpio Art by dzaet

Scorpio and Pluto are linked to the primal instincts of the reptilian brain: the instinct to preserve life by all means, and the instinct of perpetuate life though procreation. Pluto also rules Status, because status and power make easier to achieve both survival and reproduction. And above all, Scorpio and Pluto rule transformation – as the only constant in the mystery we call life is change.  

The Full Moon in Scorpio is an invitation to get in touch with your primal instincts that know  how to guide you to the Truth. Don’t resist change, Pluto has no tolerance for that, and Pluto always wins. Go with the flow and embrace the energy of this Full Moon fully.

Anything that is in a “terminal state” of deterioration in your life can be reborn now. The Full Moon is Scorpio is your unique chance to clean away the clutter in your life and get to the root of the matter.

Because Pluto plays such an important role in this Full Moon you are granted very intense and deep experiences. Your desire for personal power will increase now, as well as the desire to mark clear boundaries between “what is yours” and “what is theirs”. This is not limited to material things – you can also make a statement at work that you are only accountable for what is under your control and the others should take responsibly for their part.

Your relationships in general can turn very intense out of a sudden and you may feel an urge to reveal your feelings and opinions. The others can also reveal their true feelings for you. With so much Pluto, there is a strong call to tell the truth and live in the truth, no matter what. This desire to speak out is also highlighted by the exact conjunction of Mercury and Uranus, which takes place only few hours before the Full Moon.

But this Full Moon is not all about Scorpio. A Full Moon always brings into awareness the polarity of the two signs in opposition. The Moon is in Scorpio and the Sun is in Taurus. Taurus is earthy, fertile, while Scorpio is mysterious and regenerative.

The Full Moon in Scorpio is about reconciling the practical nature of Taurus and the transformational nature of Scorpio. It is about walking the talk.

Sometimes we think we are all spiritual and enlightened but our actions prove the opposite. We talk about being authentic and being “true to ourselves” but we do nothing to change the status quo. The message of the Full Moon is to have the guts to take action on what is most important to us.

The theme of commitment is very strong in this lunation, also because Juno, the asteroid that rules commitments of any kind, turns retrograde in the same day very close to Pluto (Juno is at 18° Capricorn and Pluto is at 19° Capricorn).

Juno embraces Pluto’s energy and the commitment becomes much more than a scribble on a piece of paper. Most of the rules in relationships, in societies are unwritten, our culture itself IS based on unwritten rules. The Full Moon is Scorpio will ask us to commit 100% to our truth. There is a saying, that there no such thing as 50% commitment, or 60%, or 70%, not even 99% commitment, there is only 100% commitment.

We find the themes of commitment and staying true to oneself again if we look at the sabian symbol of the Full Moon.

The sabian symbol of the Full Moon is “Obeying his conscience, a soldier resists orders”. The message of the sabian symbol is: sometimes you have to assert your values, your truth, even if you have to face the consequences of your decision, no matter the cost. You have to stay true to yourself, no matter what. This is the ultimate freedom. And the only one we really have.

“One can take away everything from a human being, but no one can take away the ability to choose our attitudes towards the circumstances in which we find ourselves.”

The sabian symbol and the overall energy of the Full Moon in Scorpio goes in line with the Nodal shift which takes place just before the Full Moon. The North Node moves into Leo, asking us to honor OUR gifts and talents, as opposed to follow the groupthink.

If you have with planets or angles at 20° Scorpio or 20° Taurus or Scorpio rising you are especially in the focus of this Full Moon, which will bring positive changes in your life – look in which house the Full Moon falls in your chart for more clues.

North Node Moves Into Leo – Embrace Your Heart’s Longing

Astro Butterfly

The North Node moves into Leo and the South Node moves into Aquarius on May 9th /May 10th, depending where your live. No more “do your duty” or “suffer the consequences” polarity of Virgo/ Pisces. We are about to explore a new theme until December of 2018 – the theme of creative self-expression against the group-think.

We have 18 months to  release ourselves from the control our mind (South Node in Aquarius) and learn instead how to live from the heart (North Node in Leo).

Many people know that the Lunar Nodes have “something to do” with the eclipses. The Nodes are abstract points reflecting where the moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic. Eclipses happen only near the Lunar Nodes, when the Moon moves directly and precisely in front of the Sun. The Nodes blend the subtle energies of the Moon and the Sun, of the feminine and the masculine, of the Yin and the Yang that make life as we know it.

That’s why the Nodes are always somehow linked to our destiny. Transits to the North Node tend to show in the most important moments of our life: when we move from one phase of our life to the next, at the birth of a child, when a family member passes away, when we meet a soul mate. The Nodes represent our “spiritual compass”, the “essence” of our purpose in life.

The Nodes come in pairs of opposite zodiacal signs –  the North Node represents the unfolding destiny, and the South Node, the karmic past. The North Node is literally our “North star” and represents fresh new learning and the qualities we need to embrace to move forward, while the South Node is the repetitive patterns and old lessons. The past (South Node) is the foundation of the future (North Node), the “old” on which we build “the new”.

Our heart’s longing

Leo is ruled by the Sun, the life-giving, generous and radiant star that gives us light, warmth and energy. The Sun is the “engine” of our solar system, without it we won’t exist. Leo rules our heart. The heart is the “Sun” of our body, the little engine in our chest that pumps life. The beating heart is the promise of life. Our heart is the core of who we are, our center of gravity, the place where we feel fully alive.

North Node

When we live from our center, everything is the way it should be. As children (Leo also rules children) we knew how to get in touch with the innocence of our existence, but as we grew up we learned to follow rules, listen to our parents and be what the society is expecting us to be.

But we have never really forgotten that place of joy, radiance and innocence. The deepest longing in life is the longing to be one with the center, to get connected with that place of love and truth. This evolutionary calling is usually experienced when the North Node touches a point in our chart. When you have a North Node transit, the Universe is asking you to get out of the cage – even if it is challenging and painful. This longing is the homesickness of the heart, the yearning to return back to your divine nature.

This spiritual crisis comes in different ways. Sometimes, it comes with a clear and strong yearning and desire to express more and to be more – to give your uniquely creative gifts to something bigger than yourself.

Other times, it comes with hopelessness and frustration because you’re unsure about who you are and how you fit into the world.

And other times – and this one is the most daunting –  it comes with a vague dissatisfaction. You may tell yourself “I have everything, I have a great job, I have money, I have a relationship, but still there is something missing from my life”.

During the transit of the North Node in Leo, you will be thought how to embrace the longing of your heart and how to activate your evolutionary purpose from that place of truth.

You are now given the chance to identify the part you are meant to play (North Node in Leo) in the larger context of reality (South Node in Aquarius) so that your gifts and talents can be actualized to their fullest potential.

“Evolution is calling you to participate in creating a world equal to your potential”

The only way to come “home” is to (re)discovering the true nature of yourself. For this, you need to detach yourself from the global (TV, imposed cultural models, internet, social media) and focus on our own creative genius.

Your unique talents, your individual aspirations, our dreams ARE important. The North Node in Leo is an invitation to straighten your crown and stop worrying about what other people think.

Follow your heart’s longing with courage even if this goes against the approval of your friends, community or society.

The South Node in Aquarius is the release point. In the process of embracing your heart’s longing, you may find you need to let go of some friendships. Remember, real friends want the best for you, want you to express yourself, to be you. Resist the temptation to go back to the old ways if some “friends” find your new ways unacceptable. Let them go if they threaten to leave. See who stays. These are your real friends.

Of course, I am not encouraging you to be selfish, but is nothing selfish in allowing the real you to emerge. Be the sculptor of your life and allow the everlasting Universe express itself though you in your unique way.

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it” – Michelangelo

The world Needs you – and it is your duty to let yourself shine – this is ultimately the message of the North Node in Leo.

What does it mean for you

We will be all affected by the Nodal sift. Last time we had the Nodes in Leo/Aquarius was from September 1998 to April 2000. Go back to 1999, 1980, 1962, years when we had the Nodes in Leo/Aquarius to get a feeling about what to expect in the next 1 year and a half.

Also, if you have your Nodes on the Leo/Aquarius axis, you will be especially in focus because you will experience your Nodal Return. The nodes return to the same zodiacal signs once every 18,5 years. Therefore, if you are 19 years of age, 37, 56, 75 and so on you  will experience a “karmic reset” to balance your inner polarity and bring you “back on track” in case you’ve lost your compass.

Look in which houses you have Leo and Aquarius in your chart for more details. For example, if you have the North Node in Leo in the 1st house and the South Node in Aquarius in the 7th house, you need to let the others hear you roar, and no longer depend on group approval.

If you have the North Node in Leo in the 2nd house and the South Node in Aquarius in the 8th house, during this transit you need to start treating yourself like a queen or king, become more generous with money, and pay more attention to your own value system as opposed to other people’s value systems. And so on…

Also, if you have personal planets in Leo/Aquarius the Nodes will bring into awareness that area of your life symbolized by the respective planet or angle.

Astrology Of May 2017 – The Nodes Are Changing Signs, Get Ready For A Major Shift

Astro Butterfly

May is marked by the Nodes changing sings – The North Node moves into Leo and the South Node in Aquarius. We will all experience a strong shift toward expressing our creative gifts and talents so we can reach our fullest human potential.

The message of this Nodal shift is to stop searching aimlessly for the right cause, for the right movement or for the right community to fill the emptiness inside (South Node in Aquarius), and focus on our Own creative genius (North Node in Leo)

The two rulers of the South Node – Uranus and Saturn – will be in trine throughout the month. The temptation to stay comfortably numb, to choose familiarity over possibility, to accept whatever the society is telling us to do needs to be transcended now. Now is the time to shine as an individual, to rediscover your passion and power. The world needs your uniquely creative gifts!

May

May 2nd Mercury turns direct at 24° Aries and the mental fog will lift slowly. The time has come to move ahead with your projects! Thanks to the conjunction with Uranus, your mind is highly lucrative, and your ideas very original. In the next two weeks make use of your brain as much as you can.

May 10th is an extremely important day, so make sure you mark it in your calendar. The Nodal axis shifts from the Virgo /Pisces axis to the Leo /Aquarius axis, more exactly the North Node of the Moon leaves Virgo and moves into Leo and the South Node leaves Pisces and moves into Aquarius. Last time we had the Nodes in Leo/Aquarius was from September 1998 to April 2000. Try to recall what happened then so you can get a feeling about what to expect in the next 1 year and a half.

In the same day we have a very powerful Full Moon at 20° Scorpio. The Full Moon is highly transformational and will bring positive changes especially for people with Scorpio rising or with planets or angles at 20° Scorpio or 20° Taurus. Pluto, the ruler of this Full Moon, makes favorable aspects with the this lunation (a sextile to the Moon and a trine to the Sun) which is highly beneficial. Plutonian energy is usually difficult to digest but this time we can make the best use of it.

Mercury links with Uranus for the last time around this date as well. Mercury has been concocting something with Uranus for a few weeks – it is highly likely that the Full Moon and the Nodal shift will activate it – you can expect remarkable breakthoughts and unexpected news around this date! If you have planets around 25° Aries the news will be about you! Expect the unexpected.

May 11th Mars is square Neptune and then trine Jupiter, while Mercury is trine Saturn. You can feel a blood rush and a desire to escape the boredom of everyday life. Thankfully, you won’t do anything silly as your mind is practical and focused on what makes sense.

May 15th Mercury enters Taurus reactivating the Sun/Mercury conjunction which took place on April 20th. If you started a new project around April 20th you will now gain more clarity about where the project is heading.

May 18th Saturn is trine Uranus. The transit will bring the much needed reassurance that we are on the right track with our efforts. Uranus wants progress but most of the time its erratic energy can be too much to handle. But thanks to the stabilizing energy of Saturn we will now have the comfort to move to unknown territories from a place of assurance and ease. People with 26° in Fire signs will especially benefit from this transit and if you have planets around 26° in Leo this is a time of remarkable and durable advancements.

May 19th Venus at 13° Aries opposes Jupiter at 13° Libra. This is a flamboyant transit – plan to go out, you will have a blast. Venus wants you to enjoy every little thing and Jupiter wants you to enjoy every little thing to the fullest – just make sure you don’t exaggerate 😉

May 20th Sun enters Gemini and the atmosphere will lighten up. We have 30 days to feel light and carefree, be curious and explore the world around us.

May 25th New Moon in Gemini at 4° and Venus square Pluto. The New Moon is unaspected so the Gemini energy will be expressed freely. This New Moon is great for learning and explorations of any kind. Plan a trip or watch a documentary on a topic you know nothing about. Time to forget about any opinions you “borrowed” from other people, from books, from the TV, and make your own instead. Explore life with a beginner’s mind.

May 28th Mars at 25° Gemini opposes Saturn at 25° Sagittarius. You can now feel a friction between the desire to explore the world in your terms and the need to obey the rules of the society. Take it lightly, just like a Gemini would do!

May 31st Mercury – now at the speed of light – is trine Pluto and your mental focus will skyrocket. Nothing can get in your way now as you are fully tuned in with your purpose.

If you want to know what the stars have in store for you from May 2017 until April 2018, the Astro Butterfly Calendar is available for purchase on my Etsy store

New Moon In Taurus – Revelations And Discernment

Astro Butterfly

The New Moon in Taurus takes place on Wednesday April 26th, at 6°.  The Moon feels great in Taurus because she is exalted in the Earthy sign of the Bull.

The New Moon in Taurus doesn’t make major aspects to other planets. An unaspected planet is not “influenced” by any other planets and is “free” to manifest its energy – so the New Moon will serve us with pure Taurus energy at its fullest.

Taurus is very connected to the Nature, to the Earth, to the Life Force. Taurus is a very stable and grounded energy and it will ask us to create solid foundations for the future.

Imagine the Zodiac without Taurus. Let’s say you want to build a new house. In Aries, you come with the idea, with the insight. You are going to build a house. And then in Gemini you start to get all excited and build rooms here and there, some balconies and maybe a roof top terrace. But without the Taurean energy, your building will collapse (that’s if you start building it in the first place!). We all need the solid foundations in our life without which nothing can be done.  Will all need Taurus.

The New Moon in Taurus will invite you to get in touch with what is real, what can be touched, smelled and tasted. Now it’s time to experience, enjoy, touch, taste and feel the world around you. Focus on your connection with the Earth. Go out and spend some time in Nature. Walk through the grass barefoot, hug a tree. Appreciate the Mother Earth. Connect spiritually with the nature.

The sabian symbol for this New Moon is “The woman of Samaria at the ancestral well”,  symbolizing the meeting of the traditional past with the creative spirit of the future.

The sabian symbol speaks about the New Testament episode when Jesus meets with a Samarian woman at a well and reveals his messianic nature for the first time.

Samarian woman

He says:

 “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life”.

The woman said to him:

“I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us”.

And then Jesus said to her:

“I am he, the one who is speaking to you”.

We start to understand the meaning of this sabian symbol if we take a look at the ruler of this New Moon. The ruler of the New Moon in Taurus is Venus, now at 29° in the Water sign of Pisces.

The 29° Pisces is a very spiritual degree, the last degree of the Zodiac. A new life cycle is on the horizon as the old cycles dissolves.  But an old order is never open to a new Revelation until it opens to the power of Love. Venus is exalted in Pisces and in the terminal degree of the zodiac, signifying the undying, everlasting power of love.

Venus has been floating for a long time near Chiron, the wounded healer.  Over the last weeks, she has sacrificed her old values, her old beliefs, gave her heart away, and is now ready to be born again.

Keep your heart open to the revelation that is about to come. Make sure you are tuned in with yourself so you can recognize it when it comes. And just like the Samarian woman, leave behind the ancestral realm of the past and embrace the New fully and completely.

The revelatory nature of this New Moon becomes more and more apparent when we look at the conjunction of Mercury retrograde with Uranus. Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury and a meeting between the two always brings breakthroughs and revelations.

Because Mercury is retrograde, you now have the chance to break free from an old thinking pattern. The things you discover will surprise you and shake your belief system.

Mercury and Uranus also trine Saturn – ensuring that all your breakthroughs and brilliant ideas have a solid foundation to grow in the following months. Moreover, Mercury is in mutual reception with Mars in Gemini, making sure you will act upon our ideas. The New Moon will bring you the clarity and the discernment you need so you know what to do next.

Look where 6° Taurus falls in your chart. The house where this New Moon lands is the fertile soil you can ground yourself in. Also look if the New Moon OR Venus at 29° Pisces make any aspects to your planets or angles – this will give you further insights on what to expect from this magical New Moon.

A New Mercury Cycle Begins – Time to Start a New Project

Astro Butterfly

A very important Mercury Cycle is about to start on April 20th. The Mercury Cycle starts when Mercury retrograde meets with the Sun for an conjunction at 0° in Taurus, a very potent degree. The Mercury Cycle culminates when we have the superior conjunction of Sun and Mercury at 0° in Cancer, on June 21st.

If inferior conjunctions act like New Moons and are time for new beginnings, superior conjunctions are like Full Moons and mark culminations of whatever has been started at the time of the inferior conjunction. 0° Cancer is one of the 4 most important degrees in the Zodiac – the others are 0° Aries, 0° Libra and 0° Capricorn (yes, the Cardinal signs which mark the 4 axes of the chart, AC-DC and IC-MC).

To have both the beginning and the culmination of a planetary cycle at 0° is extremely rare and highly significant.

All of us will benefit from the New Mercury Cycle but you are especially in focus if you have:

  • Gemini or Virgo rising
  • Planets or angles around 0° Taurus or 0° Cancer
  • The Sun in Gemini or Virgo (especially for men) or the Moon in Gemini or Virgo (especially for women)

A Mercury cycle usually lasts for 120-130 days and begins with the inferior conjunction with the Sun. This phase marks the ending of a planet’s previous synodic cycle and the beginning of the next cycle. This phase, when a planet is still retrograde, but has already encountered the Self (Sun) is when we become conscious of the energy of the planet and we initiate a new cycle of growth.

Mercury cycle AB

Occurring in the middle of Mercury’s 3-weeks retrograde period, the inferior conjunction is similar to the New Moon and is a time to initiate projects and get organized.

The duration of the cycle (approx. 4 months) is ideal to kick-start and complete medium-term projects, especially projects that involve the qualities of Mercury: writing, teaching, structuring, organizing, traveling, commerce, or communication of any kind.

Mercury, the Roman God of commerce and travel was the counterpart of the Greek God Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. In Astrology, Mercury rules not only travel, commerce and communication, but also the processes of the mind.

Mercury, or the quicksilver, rules the Mutable signs Gemini and Virgo. Astrologically, we know relatively little about Mercury – the close proximity between Mercury and the Sun makes it difficult to observe and interpret. However, given the proximity to the Sun, we can say Mercury, even if stays invisible most of the time in the sky, is the most familiar energy to the Self.

The Mercury Cycle, just like all the planetary synodic cycles, is part of a continuous spiral of growth, with the retrograde marking the point when we shift from one state of “Mercury” to the next.

There are four Mercury “phases” in a Mercury cycle, determined by Mercury’s direction from the Sun (clockwise or counterclockwise) and whether its motion is direct or retrograde.

Phase I – Observe and Insight: The Phase I starts at Mercury’s inferior conjunction to the Sun and lasts until Mercury turns direct – April 20th 2017 – May 2nd 2017

In this phase Mercury has a strong will and a clear sense of purpose, thanks to the encounter with the Sun. This young Mercury is unimpressed with traditions – it is only interested in manifesting the Insight it got from the Sun. And although this intuitive impulse might not yet lead to clear answers, Mercury is willing to take his time to observe its immediate environment to envision new ways of action.

Phase II – Prototype and Test From Mercury direct until Mercury’s superior conjunction to the Sun – May 3rd 2017 – June 20th 2017

This phase starts when Mercury is stationary turning direct, and ends around 50 days later. A few days after Mercury turns direct, it reaches its furthest distance from the Sun, known as Mercury’s greatest western elongation. This phase symbolizes intensified mental activity seeking external expression. Mercury is at its highest speed now – that’s why our mind is most eager during this phase, and is capable of  intense learning. This is a good phase to start putting together a plan to fulfill the initiative started at the time of the inferior conjunction. This is also a good phase to test different elements of our plan to get immediate response from our environment, to see what it works and what it doesn’t.

Phase III – Build From Mercury’s superior conjunction until Mercury turns retrograde – June 21th until August 11th 2017

Mercury’s superior conjunction with the Sun marks a phase of culmination. Whatever has been started in phase I and “prototyped” and “tested” in phase II can now finally take shape and materialize. Mercury is getting now a “reality check” from the Sun, who acts like a “curator” and synthetizes the good bits and pieces that have been produced in the previous phases. The mind becomes now practical, analytical and objective. Now is the time to “go live” with your project.

Phase IV – Analyze From Mercury retrograde station until Mercury’s inferior conjunction to the Sun – August 12th 2017 until August 26th 2017

Mercury’s forth phase is contemplative, deeply introspective and seeks inner meaning. We now want to discover the reason, the meaning and the purpose behind everything, and we are unlikely to be satisfied with easy, superficial answers. The last phase is great to “analyze” what has been produced in the first three phases and see how the outcome can lead to an even better outcome, to be initiated in the nex cycle.

The sabian symbol for the Mercury Cycle starting April 20th is “A clear mountain stream”, signifying the pure, uncontaminated and spontaneous manifestation of one’s own nature.

This Mercury Cycle is especially significant not only because it occurs at highly potent degrees but also because Mercury spends an unusual amount of time around Uranus, due to its slow move around the direct station. Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury and this prolonged conjunction will catapult Mercury’s qualities. Any project that requires innovative thinking and creativity is highly favored. It is especially beneficial to start a project exactly when the cycle commences around April 20th at 0° Taurus.

The Mercury cycle lasts for almost 4 months. It is well known that the ideal timeline for a project is from 3 to 4 months. This is enough time to delve into a topic, do your research, test and build, and then analyze your outputs. Anything that goes beyond 4 months loses momentum or becomes the point.2 version of the previous project so you always want to keep your projects within this timeframe.

Take your time around 20th of April to focus on a project you want to undertake. Follow these 3 steps to identify your project and plan it according to the Mercury cycle:

1) Consider your current priorities in selecting the project you want to start. What are those things you know you need to do but you have been procrastinating? These projects should not require a long time horizon (e.g. if you want to do a master’s degree, completely change your career, get married or have kids then probably these are not the most appropriate undertakings for a Mercury cycle); similarly, these projects should require enough time so you don’t complete them in a few days only (e.g. write an article, finish a PowerPoint presentation or learn how to cook a new dish). You want to identify a project you could complete in 3 to 4 months.

2) For more guidance look in your natal chart to see in which house the Mercury cycle starts – for example if it starts in your 2nd house you want to start a project to generate a new source of income, if it falls in your 4th house you want to do home improvement, in your 6th house a diet and so on.

3) After you have identified your project – split it in 4 different phases according to the 4 phases of the Mercury cycle, as I described above. Try to stick to the timeline (e.g. around 2 weeks for the 1st and 4th phase, around 5 weeks for the 2nd and 3rd phases)