Planet Weather for the Week of February 11, 2007

SkyWatch – Moon phase of the week: 2/17 -- The Moon enters a New cycle at 2:14 PM EDT, at 28 degrees of Aquarius. Try looking to the West 30-45 minutes after sunset on the following night to catch the New Moon's thin sliver -- with the dark portion dimly illumined, as always, by reflected Earthlight -- somewhat below bright Venus.  (If you don't catch it then, try again on the following evening when it should be easier -- and Venus will be closer, this time, in fact, below the Moon.) Skywatching events of the week: All week -- This is a good week for "planet spotting," since, in contrast to the last couple of months, most of the planets are now visible above the horizon at some point during the evening or night. Early in the week, Mercury remains visible very low in the East after sunset, somewhat below Venus, before disappearing "under the beams" (as astrologers call the period when it is too close to the Sun to be viewed) for months. Mars is now an early morning star, rising only a couple of hours before the Sun and not particularly bright, since it is near the most distant point in its orbit from Earth. Jupiter is now rising somewhat after midnight and Saturn just around sunset. Space news of the week: SkyWatch assumes that most PW readers have heard about the scandal involving the "attempted murder" by a woman astronaut of a supposed "rival for the affections" of a male astronaut. The media have certainly abounded in bad puns about "rocketing jealousy" and "lust in space." However, there does seem to be a bit of good news in all this. By and large, NASA tries to present its spacefolk as unfailingly can-do types, at least to judge by most of their relentlessly positive-thinking exchanges with Mission Control. This incident at least reassures us that astronauts are, after all, only human. Go out! Look up!

This week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are the most active energetically and potentially most productive days (depending on what you’re doing!) The Moon is VOC/Sagittarius on 2/13/07 - 3:45AM EST to 6:42AM EST, on 2/14/07 in Capricorn from 10:24PM to 11:34AM EST 2/15/07, and on 2/17/07 in Aquarius from 11:14AM to 1:30PM EST.

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The Void-of-course (VOC) Moon is a kind of limbo – as it reaches the end of a sign, the Moon makes no major aspect to another planet before it enters the next sign.

VOC is best for less outcome-oriented activity, since VOC often means detours, distractions, or delays. If you want specific outcomes, or if timeliness is critical, choose another time if possible. VOC is best for processing, imagining, creating, and open-ended activities, like parties, research, or cleaning your desk for instance! It is said that when a new action is initiated during VOC, “nothing will come of it.”

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Venus in mutable, water Pisces sextile (60deg.) Mars in cardinal, earth Capricorn @ 20deg. on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 @ 5:47PM EST. Energies between the sexes are very active and just before Valentine’s Day too – spicy and hot! This aspect offers opportunity for positive give- and-take and an interest in finding harmony and cooperation.

MERCURY RETROGRADE ALERT!  Mercury turns Retrograde (Rx) @ 10deg. Pisces, on 2/13/07 @ 11:38PM EST, until 3/7/07. Since Mercury turns Rx the day before the mega-romantic holiday, Valentine’s Day, it’s possible some trips and plans get rearranged, rescheduled, and generally reshuffled. However, stay unruffled and take it in stride. The important thing is being with your Valentine, isn’t it – wherever you may be or where the winds of change move you, temporarily?

Mercury entered the wider arc of its retrograde cycle on 1/30/07 when it reached 25 Aquarius, which is the degree at which it will turn direct again on 3/7/07. Then, Mercury passes the shadow point, again reaching the degree at which it turned retrograde, 10 Pisces, and that will be on 3/28/07. These arcs before and after the technical Rx usually foretell and resolve, in that order, the issue that is to be revisited or revised during the actual Rx. When Mercury Rx spans two separate signs, as it does this time, there is more complexity to situations, and it may mean we have to go back a few more steps (research) before we can go forward with a decision or application. The complexity, confusion, even illumination that we uncover or experience in Pisces may be resolved by looking at some cold, stark truths in Aquarius, bare and free from entanglements. The truth is often circumstantial and based on many variables, and yet again, the cold truth may not be as important as the understanding and compassion that is needed. Review your dreams at this time, and know that there is a deeper truth lurking in the complexities and chaos of life situations. It is your task with this Rx to uncover it, embrace it, and work with it to the best of your ability. Do that, and clarity may emerge.

Sun in fixed, air Aquarius sextile Pluto in mutable, fire Sagittarius @ 28deg. on Saturday, February 17, 2007 @ 8:06AM EST.  This aspect offers options and choices for greater empowerment and encourages you towards making your life stronger and more vital – even juicier – as you are prompted to make decisions involving your passions and deepest desires for a powerful life journey. Use your wisdom and stay in step with your truth.

NewsBits:  Molly Ivins Passes On. Last week we lost a powerful voice for democracy and one with a great sense of humor too. Molly Ivins, the syndicated columnist who amused thousands with her biting commentary and her books, lost her battle with breast cancer. She was only 62. Molly was a Virgo with Jupiter exactly conjunct her Sun, a dedicated wordsmith, finding the perfect turn of phrase to delight or enrage her readers! Her chart shows 9 planets tightly bundled together with the Moon by itself approximately opposite the bundle of 9, in tough Capricorn. Molly was no slouch with four planets in Virgo giving her a critical faculty along with the dry humor of a Capricorn Moon, which her readers grew to love. Her Mars/Libra was conjunct Neptune, so she was quite sensitive to the imbalances of the world and politics around her and she wanted to point that out for all to see. Her Moon highlighted by being out in the open field of her chart by itself, lent the energy to be spotlighted in the public and certainly to want to affect the public, which she did in her inimitable, and pragmatic, but very humorous way. I’m sure she’s debating with the Powers That Be in the afterlife, just as she did in this life.

A Short and Dramatic Life! Anna Nicole Smith, found unconscious in her hotel room, is dead. She had a Marilyn Monroe kind of life and death, an actress, whom she admired and deliberately sought to emulate. The voluptuous and sexy blonde bombshell made famous by Guess jeans commercials and a centerfold and cover for Playboy magazine, caused her first huge controversy when she married 89-year-old Texas oil billionaire, T. Howard Marshall. To her dying day (and past it evidently), she was embroiled in a court case with her husband’s heirs, attempting to gain her share of his fortune when he died 14 months after their wedding. Last September, Plutonian life/death forces manifested as the birth of her daughter followed by the death of her 20-year old son just three days later. Five months later, Anna Nicole is also dead. True to her Sagittarian nature, Anna Nicole, 5’11”, with her buxom frame was larger than life. Jupiter/Virgo, ruler of her Sagittarius Sun, was square her Sun, adding to her larger-than-life image but also to her stress. Venus was in its own sign of Libra too, along with the Moon, and she was the kind of beauty this placement often confers. Her Mars, exalted in Capricorn, with a close trine (120deg. angle) to Uranus, could be her attraction to older men and her unusual appearance and life track. Cause of death is inconclusive at this time, but Anna Nicole, born Vickie Lee Hogan in Houston, Texas, certainly lived life intensely, and had a series of challenges that many of us will fortunately never, ever have to face.