Anonymous Flammarion woodcut (1888). (Source:Wikimedia Commons)

Anonymous Flammarion woodcut (1888). (Source:Wikimedia Commons)

Hello, everyone.

This is another very quiet, restorative week following on the heels of our summer (or winter) of transformation.  The waning Moon provides a natural period of wrapping up projects and retrograde Mercury continues to provide down-time, time to review and reflect and reorganize.  The only major aspects for the week are a Sun/Mercury conjunction on Friday and an inspiring Venus/Neptune contact on Saturday.

Friday

Retrograde Mercury joins the Sun today which marks the midway point of the retrograde cycle.  You may notice the energy begin to shift today and if you take some quiet time you may be able to see what is on the horizon.

The best book on retrograde motion is called Retrograde Planets by Erin Sullivan.  I return again and again to this book.  It’s one of those from which you learn something new on each reading.  This is a quote from this excellent book addressing the conjunction of the Sun and Mercury:

A fertilization occurs at [this conjunction] which gestates throughout the last half of the retrograde cycle, birthing shortly after Mercury …turns direct about ten days later.  What is revealed at the conjunction is appropriate to the new beginning which emerges at the stationary direct point.

Let’s all watch this Friday to see if we can sense what will emerge in 10 days.  This is an excellent exercise to fine-tune our intuition and work with the retrograde Mercury cycle.  Here’s a hint:  since the Sun and Mercury are in Virgo, an earth sign, let’s look for a message about a practical matter such as our work, day-to-day schedules and routines, or the solution to an employee or employment matter.

Saturday

This day is lovely for anything to do with the arts, with an aspect of harmony between Venus in Libra and Neptune in Aquarius.  You should feel really “in-tune” today, connected to others, and willingly sharing time and energy with them.  Art museums, jazz, dance, multi-media, theater  – all of these will feed your mind today, especially if you attend with a favorite someone else.

If your creative team is meeting today, be sure to have someone on hand to capture all of the product and marketing ideas.  One risk of this particular aspect is that our inspiration is flowing so abundantly we may think it will continue like this always, like we’ve stumbled upon the temple of the Muse!  We may have but we’ll be invited to wander on by the end of the day, so be sure you’ve recorded every bit of revelation before you come back down to earth.

Have a wonderful week and remember to check back daily for updates on the wandering Moon and on Tuesday for the Forecast for September.

Do you have a question for Ellen? See the “Work with Ellen” tab at the top of this site for my Straight to the Point Response service.

For an overview of the month, see the Astro4Business Month Ahead – August 2010

For tips on how to use Mercury Retrograde to your advantage, see

10 Best Practices for Mercury Retrograde

Mercury Retrograde – 10 Ways to Engage

For more info on the business descriptions of the planets mentioned this week, see

The Sun

Mercury

Venus

Neptune