I love Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day email. Not only do I find learning a new word a great daily practice, but I’m often struck by the synchronicity of the words they choose, as they sometimes seem to reflect the kairos, the archetypal invitation reflected by the current astrology.

Take the word of the day for Sunday, August 26, as an example: puissant. Meaning “of great force or vigor” I couldn’t but help think about how aligned this word was with the times, given that its highlighted appearance occurred while Mars was stationing, set to go direct the next day on Monday, August 27.

When a planet is stationing, whether as it prepares to shift retrograde or completes this cycle, the archetypes it represents seem to become even more present and noticeable in the collective. As such, with Mars being the warrior planet, puissant may be something that we realize we or others are more connected to, tapping into our will and energy center. Or, alternatively, puissant may be something we are aware of because we feel disconnected to it, zapped of dynamism or vitality. Make note of where you are on the “puissant scale” taking care to use your energy thoughtfully and wisely, whether you are bounding with it or need to do what you can to preserve this precious resource.

Mars has been retrograde since June 26. Since that time, you may have found that you’ve gained some fast-and-furious lessons about the importance of being slow and steadfast. Frustrations may have arisen if you’d wanted to push something forward only to realize that the timing wasn’t yet ripe for the level of progress envisioned. Patience became an alchemical ally, allowing us to mine the riches that exist in time, those that we forego when we try to go from 0 to 60 as soon as possible, rather than meandering through treasured landscape at a pace that provides awareness of all that is crossing our paths.

Mars Retrograde was a time of turning to the past, spanning territories already traveled so that we could see steps skipped. By doing so we may have either experienced a valuable (although often under-appreciated) sense of conclusion or the discovery of insights that we realized were previously missing pieces to the strategies held.

Whether you or not you are finding yourself relieved at the thought that Mars Retrograde is complete, skim back as to what you learned over the past two months, as this is the treasure that can be used now that it—and our pursuits—are moving forward.

As you reset your sights on what you want to fight for, galvanize your will for, and assert yourself in aim of, weave into your tapestry the nuances of what you’ve come to understand. The coming weeks feel like they offer more of an open canvas for forward momentum for soldiering onward in quests desired. And it's the past two month's cosmic curriculum that offers us integral knowledge of how to do so with greater awareness and integrity as well as a greater connection to feeling puissant, a more forged ability to access our well of inner force and vigor.

P.S. Remember that as Mars moves forward, throughout this week, it does so slowly. And so, following the as above, so below principle, so should we as well.

Astrological Highlights

August 27

* Mars Stations Direct (the completion of its retrograde cycle)

August 28

* Mercury/Jupiter Square

Dates noted reflect Eastern Daylight Time

Stellar Insights: August 27 - September 2, 2018

Astrological Highlights