The Week Above is a weekly astrological "weather report" detailing the major planetary configurations for the week ahead. All times given are in Eastern Time. There will be references to your birth chart and your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs throughout. If you aren't sure of what that means, check out Astrodienst for free online chart drawings, and Cups & Crowns for the basics of how to understand a drawn chart.

If you enjoy my writing and find it valuable, consider supporting me on Patreon. Future posts will feature horoscopes for all twelve signs if certain goals are met. I’m also available for readings.

Mercury enters Sagittarius - December 12th

Mercury is back in one of its more challenging signs, direct this time, until January 4th.

I like to picture the territory of Sagittarius as being a vast library filled with books of all kinds from around the world. For a scholar who loves to explore, it’s heaven. For Mercury, who wants to quickly pinpoint specific information to use practically, it’s all a bit overwhelming. Mercury in Sagittarius wants to think clearly but can’t help but get lost in all the possibilities and what-ifs. Instead of finding joy in the exploration, it tends to get distracted and confused.

Not helping this is that while Mercury is in Sagittarius, they’ll be making a square to Neptune which completes on December 24th. This just adds to the confusion and muddled thinking which will be more prevalent while they’re wandering Sagittarius’s library. The good news is that in Sagittarius with them is Jupiter, who is helping to guide and direct Mercury and keep things a bit more light.

It won’t be anything as chaotic as the Mercury retrograde period that just ended last week, except maybe around December 24th, but it will certainly be a more challenging time to engage in Mercury functions like analysis, detail work, organization, communication, writing, and trying to get your taxes done.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Gemini or Virgo, or in close aspect with Mercury in your natal chart, or if you have Mercury in Sagittarius natally.

Venus sextile Saturn - December 16th

This isn’t the biggest, most dramatic aspect really, but it is one to take note of.

Venus is traversing the sign of Scorpio, where she’s already a bit unhappy. Venus is the planet of love, beauty, pleasure, and union, and in Scorpio she can’t help but be focused on darker things, finding her beauty and pleasure in graveyards and horror films.

Saturn in Capricorn is a stabilizing but melancholy influence, and a sextile connects planets in a gentle, flowing manner. Venus’s sextile to Saturn—which will be felt for basically the second half of this week—makes it a bit easier for Venus to find that melancholy beauty which comes to her in Scorpio, a bit more peace in staring at the rain outside.

It can also lend you some certainty about what’s really important to you in terms of relationships and what you value which may have been brought to question these past few months. “Is this really what I want?” has been a huge question being asked since September, and this week you may find an answer, or at least come much closer to one.

This transit will affect you most if your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant is in Taurus, Libra, or Scorpio, or in close aspect with Venus in your natal chart, or if you have an aspect between Venus and Saturn natally.

Pings at 7 to 10 Degrees - Ongoing December 13th-28th-ish

This section requires knowing a little bit about your natal chart, so if you haven’t looked at your chart already check out the links at the top of this post to make use of it.

Jupiter and Saturn are staying at very similar degrees for much of December, and for a lot of that time we’ll have Mercury, Venus, and/or Vesta at about those same degrees.

If you’re not sure what I mean, each sign is divided into 30 degrees numbered from 0-29, and when you look at a natal chart it shows you what degree each planet or point is at.

Because aspects in astrology have to do with the mathematical (stick with me) relationship between two bodies or points, any time a bunch of stuff is at similar degrees of its sign, there’s a relationship between them, and it’s going to activate whatever’s at about those degrees in your chart.

So take a look at your chart, and see if you have anything between 7-10 degrees of its sign. Anything around there is going to be activated these next few weeks. If it’s your ascendant, your identity and/or physicality are likely to have a shift. If it’s your Mars, you may feel more energetic, active, or antsy. If it’s your Moon, bring on the feels train. Take a look at what’s getting pinged, and see how you feel about that planet or point’s place in your life. Expect events to occur or internal or external changes to take place with it as we wind down the year.

If you’re confused and need help on this, tweet me at @lipandbone with your natal chart (you can just DM me if you want to keep that private) and I’ll see what’s at those degrees if anything and what you might expect.

Brightly yours,

Arthur