ArtCharts Ambient Astrology Blog

Mercury enters Aries on Wednesday, April 2 and squares Pluto on Thursday, April 3.

Venus enters Aries overnight Sunday, April 6 and squares Pluto Sunday night.

As the planets move from the emotional roller coaster of Pisces currently tenanted by Uranus, they enter the bright light of Aries, and immediately square Pluto now in early Capricorn. Now we see that murky Pisces may have a purpose after all, as a transition between spirit and the fast-paced real world, a place where we can become aware of unconscious impulses so we don’t feel the need to ACT overly impulsively at the wrong times. We examine our egos– not to make ourselves feel bad– but to clear the way. Spring detox. We don’t want to get tripped up or self-sabotage our efforts with bad timing of either quitting too early or being too fast– just when we have finally created the opportunity we wanted.

As Mercury and Venus enter Aries and square Pluto, the cover can be blown off your deep-seated emotions that you would rather not feel, like jealousy, suspicion, and resentment. You can become obsessed with something someone says, about you or someone near&dear. It can be more challenging to release angry or hostile feelings, and revenge can sound sweet. Even if it undermining your own best interests or higher source.

Like the FOOL in the tarot, we can go skipping off into what seems like a wonderful world. And as we encounter the square from stationing Pluto, we may feel stirrings of feelings that need healing.

The current squares of the Sun, Mercury, and Venus to Pluto helps us to see how much resistance we have when it comes to STARTING new projects right now. The desire is there, and you may have a few excellent ideas. Yet, it can seem like something always comes up that makes it more difficult. As long as we find something or someone to blame this on, we can remain stuck, at least until the aspects change. Yet, aspects build on each other, and the more awareness we are able to receive from the transiting aspects, the more ready we will be when the window of opportunity opens We have done our “homework”, we are on schedule, we can remain present and do our best. Yet, even after having cleared inner resistance, we can still meet with more resistance, as deeply buried issues come up in ways that are subtle yet challenge our natural forward movement.

Pluto is stationing Retrograde as it squares Mercury and Venus, and will retrograde out of Capricorn and back into Sagittarius on June 13 and remain in Sagittarius through the rest of 2008. So this square is a test of how we are going to respond to the serious nature of Pluto in Capricorn once returns in 2009. Are we moving towards a sustainable reality, or farther away?

Here is Mercury squares Pluto from Io Transit Report:
“Under this influence you may take some things too seriously. Don’t try to read between the lines when there is really nothing to find. Don’t waste time looking for hidden motives in what others are doing when their actions may be perfectly innocent. You may tend to become too intense or place too much importance on what in reality may be a relatively innocuous idea or piece of information. The reverse may also be true when others take your ideas or actions far more seriously than you had intended. Valuable time can be lost or you can jeopardize a position of personal power or control you enjoy if you manipulate a situation or the information and ideas you get from others to your own advantage. This is also true if you allow others to behave in such a manner. In spite of frustrating obstacles that can turn up during this period, much progress can be gained if you maintain a patient, reasonable attitude.”

Here is Venus squares Pluto from Io Transit Report:
“Interactions at this time are apt to trigger more serious responses than the circumstances might indicate. Something that is said or done in an innocent social or light-hearted context may stir up old memories, deep passions, and even deep anger and resentment. Whether you are the one that is aroused or you inspire such reactions in others is not always easy to predict. Being aware of the potential of such an occurrence and staying in control of your reactions at least, are the keys to dealing with whatever comes along. You should not, for instance, deliberately antagonize others or seek to arouse their jealousy, since such a plan would automatically backfire or result in something even worse. If faced with your own internal conflicts set off by innocent (and even not so innocent) gestures on the part of others, much will be gained if you can manage to rise to the challenge by turning such negative energy to some constructive purpose.”

More about this on the New Moon Newsletter, coming later this week….