Planet Weather for the Week of June 17, 2007

                                                                                                                                  

SkyWatch -- Moon phase of the week: 6/22 -- The Moon enters her First Quarter phase at 9:15 AM EDT, at zero degrees of Libra. Moonrise happens a few hours later. This is a great week for viewing close passes by the Moon of stars and planets (although the timing is not great)! Skywatching events of the week: 6/18 -- The waxing Crescent Moon passes  close to the Beehive star cluster in the constellation Cancer, their point of closest approach coming about 2 AM EDT. (A star cluster is a kind of compact "mini galaxy" containing thousands of densely-packed stars that orbits our Milky Way galaxy.) Unfortunately, this passage comes after moonset in the U.S. on 6/17. However, the Moon's approach to the Beehive will still be a grand sight in the West while the Moon is in the process of setting. 6/18 -- The waxing Crescent Moon next passes less than a degree North of Venus at about 11 AM EDT. This happens in broad daylight for U.S. skywatchers, but the two will still be fairly close in the West after sunset, making for a nice sight. 6/19 -- The Moon passes less than half a degree North of Saturn about 4 AM EDT. This is long after moonset in North America, but the two will still be close even before moonset late the previous night. (For Japan and other parts of Asia, as well as Eastern Europe, the Moon actually occults, that is, passes in front of, Saturn.) 6/19 -- The Moon passes less than a half degree North of the bright and astrologically significant "Royal Star" Regulus in the constellation Leo about 8 PM EDT. Again, the timing for this pass is not great, since it occurs before sunset for North America, but the view should still be great after sunset, with the Moon well up in the western heavens. Space news of the week: Russian astronauts aboard the International Space Stations (ISS) have reported that the installation of solar panels by the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (which rendezvoused successfully with the ISS last week) has caused their computers to fail. The computers enable the ISS to be stabilized and maneuvered. Hopefully, backup U.S. computers will be able to take up the navigational slack, without interruption of the continuous human presence in space. Go out! Look up!

 

Knowing when VOC Moons occur is a key to planning your astrological week!

 

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/closet for instance! It is said that when a new action is initiated during VOC, “nothing will come of it,” or energies go in unplanned directions, which may not necessarily be negative.

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This week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday are the most active energetically and potentially most productive days (depending on what you’re doing!) On 6/17/07, the Moon is VOC/Cancer from 3:39AM to 1:25PM EDT – on 6/19/07, VOC/Leo from 5:22PM to 8:46PM EDT – on 6/22/07, VOC/Virgo from 2:50AM to 7:43AM EDT.

 

PlanetPatterns:

The following planetary energy patterns flavor the day and are felt or experienced often hours before and after their exact culmination. They remain effective, certainly until the next major planetary pattern comes along to shift the energy.

 

Sun in mutable, air Gemini opposite (180deg.) Pluto in mutable, fire Sagittarius @ 27deg. on 6/19/07 @ 2:46AM EDT. This annual aspect in combination with Uranus’ Retrograde Station on Saturday will probably make for a bloody week and/or disruption in Iraq and in other tension-prone areas, such as Gaza, probably already expressing some of this energy stimulated by the New Moon in Gemini last Thursday. Pluto is known for mercilessly pushing issues and insisting on getting what it wants. On a personal level, the aspect asks you to consider how you have changed since this time last year, and whether you are any closer to morphing your life into the form you deeply desire. Where you want to go may be blocked by financial or other conflicting needs or desires. Examine the cross-purposes that impede your progress.

 

Venus in fixed, fire Leo trine (120deg.) Jupiter in mutable, fire Sagittarius @ 12deg. on 6/19/07 @ 6:48PM EDT. Completely opposite in significance to the previous energy combination, this aspect is loving and giving, generous and excessive – sometimes to a fault. There’s fire and activity and certainly a willingness to be exuberantly demonstrative. You may receive a gift if this aspect dovetails closely with your birthchart or you may feel inclined to gift others. It’s an aspect of appreciation and finding the joy and possibility in life. A strong female celebrity is featured, recognized, or honored.

 

Mars/Aries trine (120deg.) Pluto in mutable, fire Sagittarius @ 27deg. on 6/21/07 @ 9:35AM EDT. A second Pluto aspect this week makes it easy to force/push issues/agendas and possibly get what you want. The power of persuasion is great, and so is the need to conquer. You realize that you can make a leap while having the necessary force behind or within you. Still with Mercury Rx now, evaluate when exactly to make your move. Perhaps it’s time to do some research and development? Stoke the fire, so the engine can move down the tracks, full steam ahead.

 

Sun enters cardinal, water Cancer on 6/21/07 @ 2:07PM EDT, marking the Summer Solstice. A power moment in the zodiacal year, marked by humanity for millennia – is the Sun’s entry into Cancer, aka – the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The Sun now sits at its zenith in the Northern Hemisphere, and people’s energies shift toward relaxation (opposite the driven Capricorn energies of January) enjoying the warm weather and outdoor activities and experiencing the closeness of family, friends, and loved ones.

 

Uranus in mutable, water Pisces turns Stationary Retrograde @ 18deg. on 6/23/07 @ 10:43AM EDT until 11/24/07. A major outer planet making a station marks a phase shift in timelines and this shift is usually reflected in world events. We define Uranus as unpredictable, rebellious, shocking, and yet revealing the truth, but often in drastic, unexpected, or dramatic ways. Uranian energies cannot be tamed or easily predicted, as they happen often without a plan, without warning. Something wants to awaken in you. Do you know what it is?

 

Mercury turns Stationary Retrograde (Rx) @ 11 Cancer on 6/15/07 @ 7:40PM EDT.

Mercury entered cardinal, water Cancer on 5/28/07 @ 8:56PM until 8/4/07. If you are being stopped in your progress, instead of being angered, stressed, or upset, ask the deeper question – why? If you are honest enough, the answer will come to you. And if it does not, then trust that the universe has something else in store for you. Think of events, projects, and goals not coming through as a fail-safe mechanism – perhaps delay is better, or that the desired event or activity does not happen at all. Often a delay via Mercury Rx indicates a project/idea/action is premature and we need to do something else, something more to bring it to completion or to a certain level of perfection. Or yet still, we may discover missing pieces of information that bring us to a different conclusion. Pay attention, there’s something valuable in Mercury Rx.

NewsBits: Split Factions Divide Palestinian Government. Hamas, led by Ismail Haniyeh, takes Control of Gaza, leaving the West Bank in the control of Western-backed Fatah and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Yet another disastrous political mess, the future of Gaza (and the dream of a Palestinian State) is very uncertain and its people deeply troubled. Already isolated geographically and economically by controlled check-points, its people in despair, being represented by militant Hamas will not help their situation. Hamas and Fatah combined to create a unity government in March, but it began to unravel in May and resulted in the five-day bloody coup that separated the two factions on 6/14/07. That was the day of the New Moon, with Sun and Moon approaching an opposition with Pluto and just one day before Mercury’s retrograde station (always increasing unpredictability). True to the doubling nature of Gemini, there are now two territories for Palestine and still no support for a unified state. The planetary pattern of the Palestinian Unity government formed on 3/17/07 was tenuous. The chart shows five planets closely clustered in Aquarius and Pisces, two planets at the difficult 29^th degree, and Saturn/Leo standing alone opposite the cluster of 5 planets. Israel’s rejection of the fledging Hamas controlled government was surely defined by Saturn’s stand-alone position, in detriment in Leo, feeling the lack of support. Beginning with the birth Mars in Aquarius, indicating the struggle for truth, Mars transited through the Pisces portion of the chart’s planets, stimulating its inherent uncertainty, mistrust, and confusion. By mid-May, when Mars entered aggressive Aries, new action, goals, and objectives were desired, resulting in the separation of the two groups, who could not come to terms on how to achieve what they both wanted, a Palestinian State. This is a serious crisis situation and coincides with explanations given in previous issues of Planet weather – these are portents and shadowy themes of the more intense restructuring of land, resources, and international power shifts to come during Pluto’s time in Capricorn, about 18 years, beginning in January 2008.