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Weekly Weather Report

by Stephanie Azaria

Significant Planetary Aspects for:

Kathy is offering a 30-minute reading of how this summer’s change energies are affecting you at the special rate of $90, good for bookings scheduled and paid by August 15, 2010.

Keep your grounding cord anchored tightly and pace yourself. We’re still in an extraordinarily dynamic time, and the intensity peaks this week. Stress lines are breaking into open fractures. Subsurface pressures are bursting up and out. Pent-up energy is propelling people and situations off dead center and into fierce, bold action. Relationships, finances and desires are rearranging in an eyeblink and heading for more settled, solid turf. In a sense, it’s more of what we’ve been experiencing for the past two weeks, only sharper, clearer, more dramatic (as if!) and more personal.

None of this is comfortable, to be sure, but at least now ongoing sagas and issues are coming to a head, and each climactic moment leads to palpable relief. We’re being sprung from situation after situation that constrained us too tightly, and the force it’s taking to free us is shooting us into the high-energy rebooting of the self that will come with next week’s New Moon in Leo. For now, don’t think too much about the meaning or specifics of what is playing out this week. We’ll have plenty of time and opportunity to go back over that later in the month, after Mercury goes retrograde and revisits this territory.

The big picture behind all this is the coming together of a grand cross in the first degrees of the cardinal signs (Aries Cancer, Libra, Capricorn). A cross is an aspect configuration that splays energy in four directions, like a giant plus sign. While it often leads to a feeling of a logjam, this one does not, because it involves signs that are self-starting, goal-oriented and prone to action rather than being stuck. Those traits are part of the current discomfort, because we are feeling such pressure to do something (anything!) instead of collapsing in a heap each time something hits us in the head or makes us want to jump out of our skin. The grand cross will move into place again Friday night, when the Moon enters Cancer and adds a fourth leg to the three-way, action-demanding conflict between Jupiter and Uranus in Aries, Saturn in Libra and Pluto and the North Node in Capricorn.

Before looking at the cross though, it’s helpful to track the movements of the two other players coming into the cross. Those two are cosmic lovers Venus and Mars, the rulers of what we desire and how we go after it. They are doing clean-up work on the Saturn/Uranus opposition, having separate but equal conversations with the clashing rulers of order and restructuring. They are also working out furiously this week in preparation for their upcoming reunion in Libra, the sign of relationships. The lovers are not yet on the same page — in fact, their approach is diametrically opposed — but each is making hard aspects to all the outer planets and running the gauntlet of transformation those titans have formed. They will be vastly different by their late-night date on August 20, and so will we and most everything that they rule.

Mars is leading the way this time. He starts by meeting Uranus by declination on Monday, which shoots electricity into our motives, ambitions, agendas and actions. Our view of them turns upside down. We see new possibilities and approaches. Sudden, precipitous, risky moves occur. The genie flies out of the bottle (and once that happens, no mortal can make him go back in). Still energized by — or smarting from — the Uranian bolt, Mars then clashes with Jupiter and Pluto on Tuesday. Monitor your motivations and especially your ego. Power plays and attempts to force outcomes can quickly get out of hand. Actions become grandiose; irritation mushrooms into anger; skirmishes explode into war. Put ego aside and set your intention to follow a higher impulse, though, and the same dynamics can lead to beneficial and even pleasant results. You can see your goals expand into something much bigger than you previously dreamed and, at the same time, focus and streamline your effort so that a little goes a long, long way. This influence can also lead you to fine tune your ambitions, pare away ones you’ve outgrown or no longer want and take more potent, penetrating and effective action. By Friday, when Mars faces off Saturn by declination, a signal comes to slow, to rest, to stop (which may, as always, come in a form you don’t automatically welcome).

The goddess of love begins and ends at the same energetic point — teaming with Saturn, which brings desires down to earth into solid and practical, if possibly limited, form. She meets him by declination on Monday and by degree on Sunday, bookending the week with issues of seriousness and commitment. What do you want? What relationships have meaning and value to you? Are you treating the important people in your life consistently with the importance you say they have, or are you taking them for granted? If someone is saying no or is unavailable, is that what’s attracting you to them? These questions have no wrong answers; they are simply points of departure. The week will provide you with your own personalized list. By Sunday, it is likely you will not only have some answers, but also know what you willing to commit to, whether the circumstances are before you yet or not.

In between looks at these questions, Venus runs our hearts through choices, expansion and multiple twists and turns. Think you know on Monday what you’re going to do by Sunday? Don’t be so sure. Wednesday brings a choice between heart-and-soul-level love and fantasy, romantic love — between an emotion that connects heaven and earth and a rosy-colored lens that spins a Hollywood script out of a situation. (If this plays out in the financial arena, get a reality check when you hit a choice point.) Again, don’t be so sure at the outset which path you’ll take. Uranus is also involved, tossing lightning bolts that startle, awaken, usher in alternative perspectives and possibilities, and precipitate changes of heart. Thursday and Friday desires mushroom as Venus contacts Jupiter twice by declination. The first offers the opportunity of getting a good look at what we think we want, as well as what is going on in our social and financial interactions — but may easily inspire some people to want more, more, more of what they think they aren’t getting, whether that’s at all or as quickly as they’d like. The second contact brings some of that much-desired gratification at last. Do take note of the bounty that envelopes you, and a response of gratitude will go a long way to keep the flow going.

Satisfied and happy, Venus then goes home late Friday, home to her second base of Libra, the sign of relationships, where she’ll stay through the first week of September. She is happy as can be here, and all our dealings will enjoy an ease, flow and naturalness as a result. Even amid the tumult, her coming home will encourage us to talk, at least, about the give and take that is part of any relationship. She will be encouraging greeting cards, poetry and lovely dinners to counterbalance some of the rawness and ferocity being occasioned by some of the other celestial influences.

Opening the windows and rearranging the place are her first order of business early Saturday. She is both immersed in and distant from Uranus’ influence, which gives you objective awareness of whatever breaks through, open, out or up, inside of you as well as in your interpersonal dealings. It’s only after this shakeup, and fresh on its heels, that she meets again with taskmaster Saturn. She is the ruler of the sign in which he is spending the next two years and giving us all ongoing teachings on how we relate to each other (in every possible way, not merely romantically). Venus is handing over to Saturn the lesson plan that he — and we — will be working from. She’s telling him what she values enough to work toward, and to what she is willing to commit. This does not necessarily mean that any one relationship that’s currently in focus will dominate the next two years, although it could. More likely the values, attitude and concerns that she brings to the conversation now will play a role or be in issue during Saturn’s stay in her sign.

When this conversation happens Sunday, it will be informed with a clearer notion of our own nurturing and emotional security, needs that will certainly factor into the Saturn in Libra relationship lessons. That clarity is one of the gifts of the cardinal cross that is locking into place overnight on Friday. Yes, there is a point and a positive benefit to what we’ve been going through, and this weekend delivers a major key. Moon in Cancer is joining the configuration to accentuate the birth process that we’ve been in all summer. The discomfort we’ve been experiencing is forcing us out of the confines of our previous lives, as if we are babies that have outgrown the womb and ready to live and develop on a grander scale.

At one point in the cross are Uranus and Jupiter in Aries blowing us out of the complacency of the womb and triggering massive, explosive eruptions of change, individuation, impulsiveness and daring. Across from them are Saturn, Mars and Venus in Libra, drawing attention to the existence of relationships (can’t run away!), their structure and ground rules, and issues of reciprocity and of balancing the masculine and feminine, assertive and receptive, and will and heart. In between are Pluto and the North Node in Capricorn, dredging up rot, disease and primal instincts and working a complete and utter metamorphosis of structures, foundations, long-term goals and systems (financial, political, corporate, geological), so that we evolve individually and collectively. The ends of the opposition have been putting enormous pressure on Pluto and the North Node (and everything within their dominions), pressure enough to crack the crust of the earth open or to transform carbon into diamonds. With the Moon in Cancer entering the configuration, all that pressure has a receptacle. Our family ties, our traditions, our attitudes about mother and home and food, and, most of all, our primal, cellular, completely nonrational needs for comfort, belonging, safety and security are all bearing the brunt of this pressure. Some will crater; some will crash in waves. Walls of protection we have built will tumble and release tears and emotions and memories. Any flow of tears and emotions will have a cleansing, releasing, relieving effect now.

Whatever comes up, remember this: We are being freed from the relationship dynamic of putting responsibility for our emotional security on any person or in any situation outside of ourselves. We are being freed from recreating parental relationships in our dealings with the multitude of people in our lives who are not our parents, particularly those people we have categorized as romantic or marital partners. Mommy and Daddy are within each of us, where we assimilated them long, long ago. We don’t need an outside person to play those roles. We are our own parents. We are our own partners. We are intact, complete beings coming together with another because we want to and no longer because we believe that person can meet a need or fill a hole or give us anything we don’t already have within. That’s the goal we’re working toward, at least. This week is a huge kick-off toward it.

Monday: The week begins with a revisiting of the Saturn/Uranus opposition that culminated last Monday. Mars sides with radical change, while Venus sides with structure and order. Feistiness is in the air, but so is sternness. Motivations and agendas may turn on a dime, both the ones inside you and the ones you encounter. No playing around, though; the stakes are high and important. Heart and financial exchanges may feel cold, distant, delayed or deadly serious. Start contemplating what you most value and desire. You’ll be working on that question all week. Meanwhile, refining information is likely to surface overnight, so put something by your bed to capture it.

Tuesday: Jupiter and Pluto square before the sun rises in the Western Hemisphere. The underbrush and deadwood are clearing out of our psyches and lives. We are getting clearer and clearer about our personal bottom lines. Some monsters and phobias may surface in the process. Take note of what is grabbing your thoughts as you awaken. We’re not at ease with what’s coming up and out. The Moon’s aspects are uncomfortable and edgy. Adding to the raspy aftermath of the overnight, Mars is opposing Jupiter and squaring Pluto. Some people are going to be looking for a fight; some will be making sure one happens. Use the same triggers to purify and clarify your motivations. Actions can be pointed, precise and penetrating today.

Wednesday: Relationships dominate the day, but maybe not in the touchy-feely hearts-and-flowers way that we might want. With Venus and Mars facing off by declination, hearts and minds are not in alignment, and probably many people aren’t as well. The Moon is void of course for most of the morning (8:44 AM – 12:54 PM EDT) after squaring Neptune, which could increase misperceptions, confusion and a general sense of life being a bubble out of plumb. The afternoon brings a crossroads involving love. Proceed from healthy love of the self and compassion for all others, and the appropriate path will be clear — and deliver you to a new vantage point on your social and financial interactions. More twists and turns, turns on a dime and raining thunderbolts are in store. Be open to them. They are an organic part of the journey to Venus’ meet-up with Saturn on Sunday.

Thursday: This is likely the quietest day of the week. There are only two major aspects, both involving the Moon, and one showdown by declination between Venus and Jupiter. As the mood shifts from hairsplitting communications to self-satisfaction, the bigger impulse will be self-indulgence. The Venus/Jupiter aspect offers the opportunity to get a good long look at what you actually have, but for many people it’s going to unleash a desire for more. Make the effort to take advantage of the opportunity. It’s offering up data that will be useful come Sunday.

Friday: Anger and impulsiveness could get out of hand today, with indulgence blossoming right behind them. It’s a I-want-what-I-want-and-I-want-it-NOW kind of day, a statement that explains much of the behavior you will observe. The Moon only adds to the fractiousness, what with her squaring Venus, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter and opposing Pluto. Slights will be taken, mightily, deeply, and desires will intensify into the magnetic and irresistible as evening progresses. Against this backdrop, Venus comes home to Libra late in the night and starts bustling about seeing what she can do to set relationships right. Hardly a light-hearted date night, but passion and surprising harmony could come out of it.

Saturday: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Hearts are awakening, splitting open or turning upside down. Fresh approaches, attitudes and possibilities are springing up everywhere. Alliances are morphing. Self-worth is shifting. Exciting new people and financial connections are dropping into the picture. It’s all part of the process of breaking out of our shells. A huge push forward in that occurs mid-afternoon EDT, during one of the most protracted void Moons we’ve had in a long, long time (until you include Chiron in determining the time of the void, in which case we’ll have another super-short one tomorrow.) A message, thought or conversation kicks it off at 2:46 PM. We’ll have till mid-evening Sunday to contemplate it and pick broken bits of shell from our psyches.

Sunday: The morning is made for rest, relaxation and lazing around. There are no aspects, absolutely none at all, until Venus meets Saturn at 1:24 PM EDT. Spend some of that downtime reviewing the weird and winding journey your heart and will have taken this past week. What do you want, now? What are you willing and energized to do to get that, now? Let those questions roll around in the back of your mind until the Moon enters Leo at 7:23 PM. Though that time on a Sunday is generally winding-down time, you’ll feel your life force and enthusiasm perking back up in the evening. You’re gearing up for the energy boost coming into tomorrow’s Leo New Moon. Tonight brings opportunities to wrap your heart around the commitments you’re choosing to make, even if they’re still at the level of idea and not yet formed in your external life.

Mp3s of Kathy’s 100-minute talk on this summer’s exciting aspects are available at her site Empowerment Unlimited. Sign up for her mailing list there.