It’s Wednesday and I have some major updates on Mercury for you today.


I love this quote from Steve Jobs for today’s forecast: “Do not let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”


Mercury and Venus will continue to work their way in close tandem through Capricorn until mid January. What is most interesting about these two as they move through Capricorn (and Aquarius too), is that they will be under the control of Saturn and Mars.


To add to the complexity of this transit, they will also be closely conjunct when they receive an exact aspect from Rahu early in the morning (pst) on January 14. Rahu represents tremendous desire and the combination of the Mars/Saturn exchange can be fueled by Rahu and lead to potential frustration. Venus and Mercury will be influenced by every malefic planet most significantly starting early morning January 13 through the morning of January 15. Mark your calendar in bold with BREATHE on these dates!


So how do these transits potentially influence us? Excess vata, and some pitta will prevail during mid-January. Particularly if you are naturally prone to Vata disturbances and you are (sidereal) Taurus, Gemini, Virgo or LIbra rising. Or, if you have key planets like Sun, Moon or your lagna close to the 18-22 degree range of Virgo, Capricorn, or Taurus (like I do!). NOW is a good time now to start taking measures reduce your vata!


Pranayama and yoga is excellent for Vata disturbances. Dr. Lad has an amazing pranayama video on the Ayurvedic Institute site – highly recommend! I will be revisiting this one myself in the next week! Or take a hike, go swimming, walk on the beach. Whatever you can do to remain grounded during this short time period.


For those who find mantras to be very calming, you can chant the traditional mantra for Mercury “Aum Bum Budhaya Namah” on Wednesdays or you can change a mantra to Vishnu, “Aum Namo Narayanaya”. If you are not sure about pronunciation just copy and paste these mantras in to youtube and you will find many wonderful audio recordings.


At the same time Sun will be straddling the gap between Pisces and Capricorn and very weak January 13-15. All of these transits combined point to the fact that it is not a great time to make important or life changes decisions like starting a new business or learning how to base jump.


Finally, Moon is debilitated early afternoon January 15 through January 17 and with Saturn. Another period to mark on your calendar with BREATHE. 🙂 Sleep may be disturbed during this time — another day to eat a vata reducing diet and spend some time grounding yourself before sleep.


Communication, business matters, education and relationships in general may feel the stress of the current Mars, Saturn exchange (check my post about this exchange a few days ago) until Mercury, Venus and Sun finally make their way through Capricorn and Aquarius. More to come on this as we have a Mercury retrograde phase coming soon.


But for now it is best to not allow the noise of other people (or planets!) drown out your own inner voice! Trust your heart and your intuition. And wear some green on Wednesdays!


Digital art: Mercury microphone mandala — Pamela McDonough


www.yantramandala.com


schedule a reading with Pamela here

The good news is that Venus
(Shukra) the planet of love, beauty, art and procreation has finally
left its sign of debilitation (Virgo/Kanya) and has moved into its own
sign of Libra (Thula) for the next three weeks. 

This article shares some important upcoming influences to Venus in the next three weeks.

While Venus is transiting Libra
there will be some icnteresting planetary interactions along with the
entanglement of Venus in the Solar eclipse on October 23rd. There will
also be a meeting between Venus, the Sun and the servant, Saturn. 

Shortly after the Solar
eclipse,Venus will meet the Sun on October 25. Whenever a planet
transits close the Sun it is almost like an eclipse of the transiting
planet. 

Think about it like this; if
you were looking at the Sun in the day sky and there was a planet next
to it, which one would you see shining brightly? 

The Sun! It is so big and bright that you are not be able see anything that comes close to it. 

The various meanings and things
that Venus symbolizes along with the indications of the sign Libra
(procreation, trade, relationships) will not be strongly supported
during the eclipse and the conjunction with the Sun.

Once Venus moves past the Sun
it will still remain in a very close relationship with the Sun through
the first week of November. At the same time Venus will be hemmed in
between the debilitated Sun and exalted Saturn while in Libra. This is a
very interesting configuration. 

This places the planet of love
and relationships in the middle of these two planetary enemies. It may
have us considering where the balance is in our personal relationships.
Or we may seek a new-found humility as we interact with those we love.

Broadly, this transit also may
raise issues around justice in terms of the distribution of wealth,
opportunities, and privileges (particularly as it relates to
relationships) within any given society.

Venus finally breaks free from this Sun/Saturn sandwich on November 12 after a meeting with Saturn in early Scorpio.

Between the eclipse and the
interactions of the Venus with Sun and Saturn this would suggest that
important issues and decisions related to Venus and Libra (also at it
relates specifically to your chart, may best be delayed until
mid-November).

Thank you so much for taking time to read my blog!

You can schedule a reading with me here to better understand how this important transit may affect your life experience.

Namaste,

Pamela

www.yantramandala.com

~ Painting by Josephine Wall