Ooh! Lots of talk of Aquarian energy this week, but let's discuss a few other things.
The summary: there's some fighting energy right now. I started out searching for images under the term "gods at war," so that gives you the gist of it (and the image I ended up with is so much better! Although I cannot locate where it came from).
Mars in Aries is just leaving a square to Saturn, and moving on to its square with Pluto and the nodes, and then Uranus. In that process, it is sparking remnants of the Uranus-Pluto square. Meanwhile, the Sun and Mercury are revisiting the territory where Mars went retrograde last June and July.
My biggest tip would be to remember the difference between responding and reacting, and it might be difficult to remember to do the former right now. Mars in Aries is not patient, and Saturn in Capricorn is urging (or forcing) us to do the slow work of laying solid, practical foundations for lasting change.
The warrior spirit is coming forward to help us initiate actions that'll get us what we desire, but it's coming into contact with the deeper evolutionary themes of our individual souls and our collective destiny. This is playing out right now through posturing for war with Venezuela, and hints of forward movement with the American government shutdown. As above, so below, don't let distractions move you away from your goals. The ability to ground our inner fire in sacred values and then use it to ensure a just world has been systematically shocked out of us. We are in a process of reclaiming that ability.
The review of that Mars Retrograde in Aquarius is asking us to be vigilant in recognizing what "forward movement" should actually look like, and to employ detached observance (not dissociation) in order to make sure we respond from a place of true power rather than impulse and frustration.
This is all converging with Chiron's last few days in Pisces. This transit is all about healing separation wounds, so if you're feeling the grief/despair end of the spectrum more than the rage/frustration end, maybe tune out from the news and do what you can to reconnect with real, live humans or a sense of divinity - whatever that looks like for you. It is a hard time to be a deeply feeling person. Careful which scripts you latch onto now, especially those that put you in the crosshairs of an inner blame game. You are loved, you are wanted, and you are not alone.
Amanda is an astrologer and paradigm buster who can be found online at www.aquarianspirals.com. She does tarot and astrology sessions at East West on Thursdays.