Neil Spencer

Your Stars 13 June 2010

Posted on 13 June 2010

Mercury is most often mentioned in astrological forecasts in a negative light, during the thrice yearly episodes of ‘Mercury Retrograde’, when the planet of communications appears, for three weeks, to be sliding backwards through the sky and Delay, Cock-up and Second Thought hold sway.

Retrograde motion is an illusion, of course, caused by the relative speed of planetary orbits as viewed form our home planet Earth. All planets appear to go retrograde. The Sun and Moon, neither of which are planets, never go retrograde.

This week we see Mercury in its opposite guise. Far from going backwards, the tiny body is whizzing through the sky at something like its top speed, when it spends a mere fortnight in a zodiacal sign. As said sign is Gemini, a sign governed by Mercury, the planet’s functions are intensified. Events speed up. Quick wits, sharp thinking and rapid response become the requirements. Insight is granted.

We are also in the last week of the Sun’s month in Gemini’s skies, further accentuating the need for adaptability, ambiguity and the kind of dashing around that verges on bi-location. It may seem exhausting, but consider; for a Gemini it’s a life sentence.

Gemini

Yesterday’s new Moon opened a potentially canny fortnight. With ruler Mercury sweeping through your skies, contacts are hot and whatever you say finds a listening ear, so don’t spend all your time on your mobile catching up with gossip; engage earnestly, display your wit, issue instructions and use your agile mind to unlock problems. If you’re a creative Twin, the power of imagination is writ large into these stars.
It won’t be all plain sailing – and if it were there wouldn’t be as much achieved. With Mars and Saturn squaring you, people who rile and rival you will be in evidence. If your birthday is in the second half of this week, you are into the final six weeks of a lengthy Saturnian spell; now is the time to finalise long term decisions, especially anything to do with property and where you live. Play hardball.
Good week for celebrations, including impromptu parties as well as long-planned state occasions.

Cancer

Rise and shine. The Moon, Cancer’s ruler, is waxing in your skies today and tomorrow, a highly favourable couple of days for work or play. In some respects you are in countdown mode to the summer solstice and a birthday month when major issues promise to get resolved, but planets meanwhile let you operate quickly and effectively, especially around trade and money.
Where finances are concerned, it’s like one new age wag remarked; ‘The trick to money is having some’, a riddle you can profitably contemplate while Venus transits your cash zone over the next three weeks. Jupiter, the money planet par excellence, is currently in a tempting position to over-extend yourself. On the other hand, everyone needs a little excitement, which usually costs. Strike the right balance.

Leo

This looks more like it. The arrival of Venus in your skies for a three week stay, as of tomorrow, is the cue for a personal make-over; flashy threads that you can’t afford, a little more bling to emphasis your regal status, plus some serious socialising. The last needn’t be pure hedonism either; this week, especially, you can play strategist and make some cute business or political moves. Tuesday and Wednesday, when the Moon is in your skies, come highly favoured. Rise early.
Romance: for relationships that have become snarl-ins, here’s a chance to be emollient. For ever alert singletons, here’s a time for attraction. If you’re linked to some one at a distance, get in touch!

Virgo

A Virgo is rarely in a state of idleness for long, but with Mars marching through your skies you should be in ‘up and at ’em’ mood. Mars represents decisive, high energy action, calling for focus. Therwise the ‘red mist’ of Martian anger descends, or, in Virgo’s case, an attack of irritation. Curb your more critical tendencies and tolerate even those who irk you. A week with the Sun and Mercury at odds with you will doubtless supply one or two of such folk. On Thursday and Friday, lunar power swings the balance back in your favour.
For those of you born 20-22 September, here’s a good week to handle the issue that’s been weighing most heavily over the last few months. Don’t let anyone push you around.
Romance: favourable for secretive stuff and liaisons dangereuses.

Libra

Have a spare toothbrush and a change of kit to hand; this is high season for an impromptu sprint away from routine and your habitual turf. Yesterday’s new Moon accentuates travel (or links with people from afar) and your personal quest for knowledge and understanding. The restless, dissatisfied aspect of the Libran disposition needs to be scratched, one way or another. Sitting about wondering what might have been if you’d decided to high tail it away from the steady grind (or towards a new romantic interest) is likely to prove way less interesting than getting off your backside and taking a chance.
As your planet, Venus, is in the zone of acquaintances and colleagues, networking (few do it better) and hooking up disparate chums and contacts is also part of the current scenario. Utter concentration on your own career path to glory will be demanded soon enough.
The waxing Moon you’ll witness, weather permitting, next Saturday evening is in Libran skies, favouring a twirl in your favourite frock at the weekend. Romance: all to play for, especially later this week.

Scorpio

Enjoy what are essentially in-between times, when most planets lie obliquely, neither obstructing you nor goading you on. Issues in hand include other people’s money – from which you can benefit, providing you play your cards right – and other matters held in common with partners (eg the in-laws). You can stay ambiguous, but deception becomes an adder waiting to bite you (in a mere couple of weeks at that!).
Mars, your governor, favours group involvements, where you can shine as team leader or as the bright spark at big table meetings. For singletons, the work zone seems to be where one potential crush now resides; a big-haired, glitzy type would fit the frame.

Sagittarius

Whether you are hitched or just browsing, significant others look like a handful. They say this, they say that, they contradict themselves and yet, somehow, you are unable to lay a censorious finger on them, instead struggling to keep up. If you can bite your lip as they go their mad way, you’ll make your life easier.
That said, those of you born just before the winter solstice (19-21 December) may find this week a crunch point in your battles either with a partner or with more impersonal forces (big bad bosses, other authority figures). If so, without evading the issue (you can’t), tough it out.
It’s not the easiest moth at work for any Centaur, unless of the artistic, self-employed variety. But battles of the kind that are likely under a Mars transit are lesser versions of what you have been obliged to handle for the last two years.
Besides, with your two fellow fire signs (Aries, Leo) now aflame, so are you! Follow the gypsy and/or philosophical bent in your soul.

Capricorn

Distinguish keenly between your short and long term agendas. The rare planetary combination at the root of your ‘scope is an alert to issues of where you live and/or your family duties. What you now discern becomes the new paradigm in 2011, so read the signals as best you can.
Work and career, as if you didn’t already know, are likewise unlikely to carry on the same old way indefinitely, and here too, you’re being offered a heads-up of the shape of things to come.
Such issues properly belong to mid-summer (starting at 21 June). Here and now is a time to concentrate on the details: schedules, timetables, making space to attend to your health. Oh, and the need to escape from such duties and embrace rugged mountains, sun-scorched beaches or wherever you dream of escape. A holiday, sure, but also the place where you are free to rant and rave to your heart’s content without being contradicted.

Aquarius

There is a pleasant time to be had now. It’ s not quite compulsory, but you’d be daft not to follow your nose to any available meeting with friends, however sudden. O r, should you be single and looking, to beam back at the gaudy creature smiling across a crowded room. Those, at least, are the scenarios your planets have (somewhat fleetingly) in mind – put yourself in the way of social encounters.
The heavyweight relationship issues that some of you have been obliged to handle this year have not necessarily gone away, but you appear to be in their aftermath (intense and secretive or bitter though it may be). Even if you are all settled, relationship wise, it’s fresh faces and scenes that animate your world for the next week or three. If you are a thinker, artist or writer, crack on regardless. If you’re a new-ager, treat this week as a check on non-materialist concepts.
Exciting weekend ahead, btw, if you can find a place to have one. It almost certainly isn’t at home!

Pisces

It’s hard to maintain a creative working relationship with people who annoy the daylights out of you. Alas, the opposition of Mars (in play until, ulp, the close of July) means folks who rub you up the wrong way seem to actively seek you out, so unless you fancy an air-clearing row, present a moving target; offer ‘em a sarcastic curtsy and don’t get involved.
Besides, there is work to be done; chasing money, filling out forms for the bureaucracy, streamlining your personal routine, quite apart from actual 9 to 5 activities. Over the next couple of days you also have a following breeze for matters close to your heart, though these spring into greater contention come the solstice. This week, you’re living in the material world.

Aries

Your desire to make things happen is commendable, but given the giddy condition of your ‘scope, you can probably get away with a light touch, and simply let yourself be carried along by events. There also seems to be no shortage of frisky, entertaining people at hand – a dearth of such folk would suggest you need to get out the house more often and mingle. With Venus moving into the zone of pleasure, parties, good sport and hot fancies, you appear to be on a roll.
The precise meaning of current events, at least the more surprising variety, may not be immediately obvious, but you are being offered a foretaste of 2011, and you can evaluate the summer’s dramas and victories once the more sober skies of autumn arrive. For now, sing out.

Taurus

Hang onto the ‘vision thing’, as Dubya Bush called high aspiration and idealism, or ‘living the dream’ as it’s more popularly known. You might feel that you’re chasing a chimera at times, but your ‘scope obstinately implies that the project or grand plan that’s preoccupied you this last year or two remains within reach. And persistence is your thing.
That said, a little less plod and a little more speed wouldn’t do your chances any harm. Venus may be nestling comfortably at the root of your solar chart – cue rest and repose in your delightful cottage – but Mars wants action, lights, camera, with a, musical number thrown in for good measure.
Money? Mercury suggests you grab it while it’s trickling through.