This week (6/8/15) might be an ongoing exercise in frustration as Saturn in Scorpio continues to influence Mercury, Mars and the Sun in Taurus. Mercury is retrograde until the 12th and is close enough to an exact opposition to Saturn that it can be hard to find much good cheer or mental optimism.  Normally, it would be a good time to meditate, journal or relax as Mercury finishes his retrograde motion but this cycle it might not be as easy..

The Sun and Mars are in close conjunction with one another (the exact conjunction is on 6/12) which can make it challenging to be calm and relaxed.  The Sun and Mars are the most active and fiery of all the planets and they have been stifled for weeks by the heavy influence of Saturn and his tendency for delaying action.  As the news reports daily many unstable people have cracked under the pressure while accidents and weather patterns have shown us the challenging results of the planetary alignments.

The start of the breaking up of this pattern begins with Mercury going direct on the 12th which can begin to ease communication and clear the cobwebs out of our brains.  On 6/15 the Sun moves into Gemini and away from the influence of the heaviness of Saturn.  The following day (6/16) Mars moves into Gemini where he will be away from the influence of Saturn for the first time in approximately 12 weeks.  Those who have charts with a strong Taurus or Scorpio influence can begin to exhale with relief – it’s been a long spring for you.

In the meantime as we move through this week there can be a few more surprising and/or disturbing news stories and the difficult people in our lives will most likely still stir up a few more challenges.  It is important to not focus on changing others and instead to give attention to our own consciousness and balance.  This is a good week to do something nice for ourselves even if it is only something as simple as watching a fun movie or purchasing some good chocolate or wine – this is the week when we both need and deserve a treat.