forecast for the week of August 17 - 24
One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best. - Jane Austen, Persuasion
Exact Transits:
Monday, August 18: Mercury in Leo sextile Mars in Libra
Tuesday, August 19: Sun trine Chiron
Friday, August 22: Venus square Chiron
Friday, August 22: Sun enters Virgo
Saturday, August 23: New Moon in Virgo
Sunday, August 24: Sun in Virgo square Uranus in Gemini
Sustaining transits: Mars in Libra opposite Saturn and Neptune in Aries will be releasing mid-week (one of our most tense transits of late), Chiron has moved into a square with Pluto which could bring up more intense needs for talking through and healing trauma, and Venus in Cancer is approaching an opposition with Pluto which might look like difficulty with compromise or understanding in close, bonded relationships.
the memo
This week, I see it will be fruitful to pay close attention to what persuades you. What influences you in to changing your mind or acting? Who in your life are you most easily persuaded by? Are you more persuaded by emotional need or rational design? Are you more likely to go through Door A or Door B ā and why?
As we transition from Leo season into Virgo season, our experiences will naturally shift from the heart (Leo, ruled by the Sun ā our will, our inspiration, our motivation) and into the mind (Virgo, being ruled by Mercury ā our cognition and language). Both the Sun and Mercury are major players in persuasive conversations, no? Itās my experience that in these transition periods, we feel a hybrid of the energy, like a slow relay switch-off. And you will see from the transit list above there is *much* at play when it comes to the tenderest parts of ourselves, parts that are more likely to look for someone or something else to follow. Parts more likely to be persuaded in moments of distress.
But you may not be the person being persuaded. You might be using persuasion on others. Itās a tricky role to assume, that of the person hoping to use language, emotion, or consequence to make someone else act in the way you want or need them to. What you convince them of doing now may come back decades later against you. I confidently say, most of the time it is better not to step into persuasion mode and, rather, express your own needs and fulfill them yourself.
But itās never quite that easy, right? As a human in a species that relies on collaboration for survival.
I say all this and forgetā¦ everything is an act of persuasion.
influences
I am struggling to āloafeā these days ā everything feels like an opportunity to further progress on one of my projects. I am feeling something decay, though Iām not sure what yet. So Iām leaning into reading Whitman who taught me the word āloafe.ā
- is inspiring me to connect repulsion with attraction.
This post by
is making me want to dream of a second visit to India, now in my 30s and not my teens.
field journal
helloāI think thereās a lesson here: I got a new office chair this spring and, though it feels made of cushions, my hips and lower back have suffered from sitting on it. And the day I switched to a 100+ year old wooden chair from my grandparentsā family line, I sit in constant mild discomfort but my body feels no distress at all. This is a metaphor, right? For something?
New here? Hi!
My personal website collects my projects into one place.
I offer 1:1 astrology consultations. Hereās the page to learn more about these!
Hereās a āwhy should I even read my horoscopeā post I made recently.
And Iām a co-host of
with IFS and art therapist ā this is one of my biggest joys right now, connecting our practices in conversation and demonstration with the long-term goal of presenting how we see them ethically working together in a therapeutic setting. At the end of the month, Chelseaās going to hold a live Q+A for people considering becoming a therapist.