Mercury goes Retrograde within 48 hours of the onset of spring providing a perfect image of the leap forward only to find you may have left a few things behind. Our fears can pop up that we aren’t quite as prepared as we would like to be for what comes next. An idea may propel us forward and yet the fully formed reason to act isn’t clear yet. This battle is won when you balance the mind and body with thoughtful action. Neptune is a factor and brings up cloudy emotions and a sense that something maybe off. Boundaries are fuzzy and you might feel another’s anger, sadness or anxiety and not know exactly where those feelings are coming from when the show up.
You benefit by going slowly, step by step as you move through this time and out the other side with a clear direction and more fully present you. The benefit is you are also a bit more aware of what another feels, thinks or wants. This helps us have more understanding of those around us to strengthen community bonds. But first it can make you feel more than a little wonky or confused. Then again Mars can make you feel really reactive and show you what your power story is. How do you display your power? How do you handle other people when they express theirs in healthy or unhealthy ways?
Hasty reactions aren’t likely to take you far enough down a satisfying path to be worth the immediate gratification. Instead, examine them for your own wants and needs, hidden triggers and old fears. Quality reflection time is pure gold right now. The New Moon on Saturday the 17th stood for the end of an era and the beginning of the new. Blane Bee describes it this way: ‘An old emotionally charged memory can bring one to repetition or inspire a new course: take your pick.’ It is so important to trust a new direction. Less speed makes it easier to break old thought patterns and habits so you can replace them with a fresh one.
If you are normally impatient this will be more of a challenge but also more of a benefit. If you are more cautious, then watch for tendencies to put off any decision until things are ‘just right’. Balance your mind and body, almost like a dance step you learn to master so that it becomes automatic and even fun. Explore YOU the same way you would a vacation spot you saved and waited to go visit. You have wonderful sights and/a rhythm all your own, time to discover it. The cards and stars will help
Card of the Week: Queen of Vessels
This lovely Queen is the symbol of good fortune and happiness. In fact the Wildwood Tarot says “She brings joy to the darkest places and addresses the most difficult problems with grace and civility”. What a wonderful overseer of the week ahead. It’s a reminder to not take this all so seriously. Everything that happens each day offers you a chance to trust the benevolence of the Universe and your place in it. Vessels are the emotions, so lead with your heart. Be sweet to you and go easy on your shortcomings. Not to ignore them, or you end up repeating painful mistakes, but rather to move on gently from them. Science proved that when you maintain self esteem it is easier to correct problem behavior. So shame and blame don’t help anything get better. It’s just a young way to try to distance yourself from what feels uncomfortable in the moment. Emotions dissolve boundaries between people like water dissolves rocks. Let your feelings help bring balance into the mind/body hair-trigger responses this week. See where they drive a defensive response rather than a commanding one. Feel your way…
Monday: Queen of Arrows
This is the second Queen in combination with the Card of the Week and represents ‘meetings between friends’. One of the attributes from the Wildwood Tarot is ‘Finding freedom in the midst of restraint’. The arrows are symbols of the mind and so with the Moon conjunct that Great Awakener Uranus ushers in our early morning hours, we are dealing with mental limits today and working with them. Friends, colleagues, conversations of all kinds help reveal to you where your perception put restrictions on what was possible. Look at any information with a wider perspective. See it from the other person’s point of view. Don’t agree with them if that’s an issue. Just try standing in their shoes and looking out their eyeballs. The Moon moves into earthy Taurus to help ground the view and then meets up nicely with both Mars and Venus to bring you actions that increase your harmony and happiness in connection with those around you. This Queen can be the ‘woman alone’. Yet the Cards and Stars together give you a recipe to make sure you are not isolated, unless of course you choose to be.
Tuesday: Ten of Bows (Vernal Equinox)
Welcome Spring! Tens always signal you have moved up a level and bows are your intuition. Time to set a stretch goal and plant that with the onrushing of the season. Moon trine the time keeper Saturn reminds you that you can’t plant a seed tonight and expect to pull fruit off the tree tomorrow. The Sun moves into Aries so impatience is present. The balance between the urge to rush forward and the need for strong foundations go head to head. This Ten says you are up to the task. The Moon is in soft aspect to the great connector, Neptune, so grab a buddy and let them help you manage the gas/brakes conflict from the urge to rush ahead when you know a healthy pace benefits you more . It’s likely others may have their own version of the push/pull. This team up is also a great way to practice owning your own wants and needs while navigating with another. It’s good practice of being your healthy self you share with those around you. Now that’s a worthy stretch goal this Ten says you can handle to kick Spring into action.
Wednesday: Ten of Arrows
Just before Mercury goes retrograde this difficult card shows up to say, ‘are you prepared?’ The Wildwood Tarot calls this card Instruction. In traditional Tarot it’s the card where plans do not turn out the way you want them to or endings. Since our New Moon last Saturday was ‘end of an era, beginning of a new one’, I’m going to go with the endings interpretation, although it could be a combination of the two. Things aren’t going the way you hoped and it’s time to let go. Two tens together mean a stroke of good fortune due to a shift in work. This also speaks to one thing ending and another beginning. The Moon dances nicely with Pluto the Great Transformer who also represents Death, so it is an easier or even welcome transition. At the very least, something about it brings relief with the sadness. Then both Jupiter the Good Luck planet and Chiron get involved to show you that wound no longer has the power to make you miserable when you allow for graceful transitions. What doesn’t work out can flow into what does work out without too much struggle or angst attached. Let it become a new normal… Change is a constant and you can practice allow things to flow from one state to another. This is welcome instruction, indeed.
Thursday: Page of Arrows (Mercury Retrograde)
The dreaded Mercury Retrograde is here. Except this one is not so dreadful. Deeply impactful on relationships but for the better if you work with the energy of this the next few weeks. This Page of Arrows ushers in the retrograde period and invites you to take a long hard look at your inner critic. Criticism and it’s other three horseman, Defensiveness, Contempt and Stonewalling carry with them a message of doom for good relationships. Most people use two of these on a regular basis. Some overachievers include three, while others stick to one the majority of the time. Which one is yours? Get to know it, see it, manage it. Not control, mind you, but manage. The difference lets you acknowledge that you learned to judge (Criticism ), or learned to withdraw (Stonewall) as a means of protection. The pressure to be right or the fear that you got it wrong (Defensiveness) was a learned behavior. The best way to get rid of a habit you don’t want is to replace it with one you do. This colorful wren underlines the importance of study and investigation of a big picture to help you make decisions. This next few weeks with tense aspects to Saturn and Pluto especially, time trade in these unpleasant habits – starting with your relationship with YOU. How you talk to others, think about others is often an indication of how you think about and talk to yourself. Notice, validate what created these behaviors and the kindly replace them with a better option. The Moon triggers the Nodes and Neptune as well, which says you have to learn to disagree without the need to destroy or denounce those who see it differently. It’s a long term goal, but a rewarding one to replace these death rays to relationship with a healthier option. When in doubt, slow down, and speak to yourself kindly first. It makes it easier to do it for others.
Friday: Green Man
Today offers you some lemons that can make very tasty lemonade. Especially in the story you tell yourself about whatever happens. Remember Mercury is behind the Earth so this is where we get out in front of ourselves and like Wiley Coyote you are suddenly off the cliff with a drop below when you chase something headlong without a pause to check your surroundings. This card is the Magician card and whatever pops up today is a chance to practice collaborating with what the world offers only to see it become more than you thought was possible. This Mercury Retrograde aspects Saturn before it’s through which brings old promises back around to be completed. Look to have things that have languished on a back burner suddenly have the heat turned up. When this happens you may find yourself adjusting what you originally wished for to include new options you didn’t have when you first wished for it with a little help from Venus and Pluto today. This is the abundance that comes with patience while things bloom and grow. You had to wait for things to come into view so that you can include them into the promise. Spring is underway…
Saturday: Ace of Bows
New life bubbles all around you with this intuitive Ace and you can sense it even if you can’t see it yet. The Moon moves into sensitive Cancer and promptly clashes with the Sun and Mars. It’s time to take the next step even if the fears pop up with their worst case scenarios running through your mind. It’s good practice to release the need to get it right and instead focus on what you want to create, not what you want to protect yourself from happening. It takes up until almost 5pm today to feel the shift from a justified reason to not act or a knee jerk impulse to do something immediately so you get plenty of time to engage just enough gas without stomping on the brake pedal. Here’s a hint, imagine, visualize, dream rather than actual physical actions. Be sure to add something that inspires you. Put on the theme song from Rocky or a movie that motivates. Let the feeling of possibility bubble through your veins and tantalize you. Good, now create something from this place.
Sunday: Seven of Arrows
The brainstem doesn’t like change. It is a fantastic pattern recognition machine, unequaled in the world. So unfamiliar patterns that come from change is what that survival section of the brain avoids at all costs. To do that it goes to work using those four horsemen, Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness and Stonewalling. You will get a chance to see yours in action today. We have a celestial storm and the Seven of Arrows is the perfect card to represent the mental tug of war going on inside your head. Seven is the number of partnership so this battle in your mind is all about relationships, starting of course with the primary one. What’s your relationship to you look like? Start there and let the ripples roll out from this place. Because this sensitive Cancer Moon lights up with several planets big and small in tense ways that call for an adjustment. You want to begin as you mean to go on, which is with trust that you can do this, your fear is probably lying, and yet it is worthwhile to dig deeper on what you fear. Let those fears help you release the old story and take back command of the brain stem, which isn’t smart but is two seconds faster than the rest of your brain. It’s the survival mode. This is not likely to be life or death, but your fears may try to dial up the intensity of the threat to scare you back into familiar territory. Don’t let it.
