As we enter the last week of Leo season (the Sun moves into Virgo next Monday), I felt called to share these wise words from Marianne Williamson:
“You playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightening about shrinking so others won’t feel insecure around you. As you let your own light shine, you indirectly give others permission to do the same.”
So, make sure to let yourself be yourself. Express the uniqueness that makes you who you are, sharing your creative spirit with the world around you. It will not only bring you vitality but will do so for those around you. Be bold, be courageous, be generous. Be and radiate love. Revel in the brilliance of the sun, frolic like a child, and live through your heart.
Also, this week we embark upon an extended journey into thinking about what we desire and further understanding how to activate our will in pursuit of what we want. The reason being is that on Saturday Mars moves into let’s-follow-our-curiosity Gemini for quite some time. Usually the action planet spends about seven weeks in a sign, but given its upcoming retrograde cycle (beginning October 30 and going through January 12), it will actually linger in the sign of the twins for over seven months!
With Mars in Gemini, we may find that rather than there being one path forward that there are numerous options. We may find ourselves with a further appreciation for multivalent strategies, seeing how a little of this and a touch of that may better help us get the job done. Our minds may feel exceptionally activated and our love of language heightened; we may even find ourselves quite attracted to someone because of the way that they think or communicate. Because Gemini likes to consider various inputs before making choices, we may perceive a greater propensity for indecision about where we want to be and/or how we want to get from place a to place b.
Also note that Gemini rules the arms, hands, shoulders, and respiratory system. As such, these are possibly areas of our body that feel more energized and activated over the coming months. Yet, they are also the places where stress may amass and where we may experience mishaps if we are experiencing an unbalanced overdose of Mars energy (aka, moving too fast and/or acting errantly). Of course, this may not impact everyone. It may just be something that we notice trending in the collective.
Wherever Gemini falls in your personal chart is where, through early next year, you will find yourself deep diving into lessons related to your drive, desire, willpower, how you galvanize energy, what you truly want to champion and/or the way in which you relate with anger. And if you have any planet or chart points located in range of the zodiac that connects to Mars’ deeply etched retrograde path (8 – 25 Gemini), this will be the realms of life that will be quite activated for you. (If you’d like to do a 45-minute Stellar Guidance that will help you hone in on what these next Mars months will inspire for you—including strategies to undertake and self-care suggestions to bolster your well-being—don’t hesitate to connect with me.)
It’s quite synchronistic that this week, as Mars enters the awareness-sparking sign of Gemini, that messenger planet Mercury is so activated. As it makes a harmonious trine to change-it-up Uranus, we are called to think outside of the box and open our perspective to new ways of accessing data imputs. And as it also opposes Neptune, we may find ourselves drifting and dreaming, accessing our intuitive and imaginative mind, and seeing to what beautiful shores of realization the tides of reflection take us.
All my best,
xxStephanie
Astrological Insights
August 16: Mercury/Uranus Trine
August 18: Venus/Jupiter Trine
August 20: Mars enters Gemini
August 21: Mercury/Neptune Opposition
All days reflect Eastern Daylight Time (- 4 hours GMT)
Photos by: Fayza Rasyid, Nathaniel Shuman, and Womanizer Toys, all via Unsplash