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

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General Notes: Escaping the Fog-Filled Labyrinth but not the Fog: Neptune stations Retrograde, more All-Day Void Moons

In the depths of last week’s configuration of Mars, Neptune, Saturn, and Jupiter which climaxed around the 13th and 14th, I found the metaphor I couldn’t come up with from outside of those energies: The Fog-Filled Labyrinth.

It was this long process of running into obstacle after obstacle, unsure of the way out or through or when the next obstacle would show up in your face. It was complicated, frustrating, and discouraging. Mostly discouraging. Jupiter had a powerful influence over the configuration, being better dignified than any of the other planets involved, and was able to give most folks a sense that there was, in fact, a way out and through. The obstacles were surmountable. And as last week ended, the stories around me of this configuration reached a climax or conclusion, or at least closed a significant chapter.

This week however has a persistence of the fog, if not the running into walls. On June 21st, Neptune stations retrograde, which casts a miasma over this week and next. Outer planets—Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto—don’t have a huge difference between what they’re like retrograde or direct, but their stations influence the energy around them for a week prior and a week after. Neptune’s stations can make you feel spacey, disconnected, dissociated, intoxicated, or just plain sleepy. This is true whether the station is retrograde or direct.

Not helping the matter is the fact that there are two extremely long void-of-course moons this week, lasting all day in my time zone. On June 19th at 7:19am EDT, the Moon goes void of course in Capricorn and remains void of course until entering Aquarius at 10:02pm that night. Exactly 36 hours later on June 21st at 10:02am EDT, the Moon goes void of course in Aquarius, and remains void of course for exactly 24 hours until entering Pisces at 10:02am on June 22nd. Astrological aspects like this can be off by a minute or two—a couple of my calendars say 10:01 for some of these—but it is worth noting from a numerology standpoint if the times in your local time zone are meaningful to you.

As I wrote last week about void-of-course moons:

Void of course moons aren’t specifically malefic events, they just tend to run counter to the desires of fast-paced, capitalist, consumerist society. Plans made when the Moon is void of course either get canceled, have to be re-planned, or the end result turns out very different from what the plan was. Any work meetings during these times will end up being full of decisions that have to be revisited and changed, any sessions booked will have to be rescheduled or might just end up turning into a different modality when you get there. I remember distinctly one time a client booked a tarot reading with me when the moon was void of course and five minutes into it we switched to astrology for the rest of the reading (they booked an hour and the price is the same). Purchases made when the moon is void of course end up going unused or otherwise become sources of regret—if you buy groceries, you end up eating out. If you buy a dress, you wear it once. I once bought food to donate to a charity drive during a void moon and ended up getting into a disturbing political argument with the reactionary collecting food. Hungry people got fed, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Void of course moons are great times to daydream, to wander, to loaf around, to kick back and relax. They’re great times to get rid of stuff. They’re great times to do things you’re forced to do but don’t want anything to come of—this was Ronald Reagan’s strategy, releasing bad news when the Moon was void of course so it couldn’t do anything to harm him.

All of which contributes to the foggy atmosphere engendered by Neptune’s retrograde station, so keep this in mind as you plan the week ahead.

June 16th: Mercury trine Neptune, Mercury quincunx Jupiter, Mercury opposed Saturn, Jupiter square Neptune

Just as Mars touched Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn on Friday, Mercury passes through the same field of pain on Sunday. This is a time of thinking too deeply; blockages in communication, organization, and travel; and left-brain processes in general getting stressed and strained.

Soothing this wound is the square between Jupiter and Neptune, which makes its second of three exact passes the same day. Themes around blind hope and faith, spirituality that takes on fantastical forms, dreams and visions that expand greatly, and other combinations of Jupiter and Neptune rise to a crescendo around this time, though the most relevant event may happen around a week-ish on either side. Look back to January 13th of this year, give or take a week, for part one of this story, and look forward to September 21st of this year, give or take a week, for part three.

One thing worth noting: Between June 16th and 18th, Mercury is caught between hard aspects to the two malefics, and therefore matters Mercurial will be under serious stress during this time. Planets in Gemini or Virgo, whether transiting (like the Sun and Venus right now) or natal (look at your birth chart) may feel under siege during these three days, and also extra emotionally sensitive (because Mercury is in Cancer), so be extra gentle with yourself if you have anything important natally in Mercury-ruled Gemini or Virgo.

June 17th: Full Moon in Sagittarius

While Mercury is besieged and ruling the Sun, we have a lunation with that Sun: A full moon in Sagittarius.

All else being equal, this should mostly be a moment to breathe, as the Moon will be in Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius while Jupiter is in the best condition of anything in the sky right now. But this could go either way — highs and lows at once is my best guess, though with the emphasis of a Full Moon being, y’know, the Moon, I’m hoping it’ll just be a positive break from the difficult skies of this summer.

It’s probably fine to charge your crystal or whatever else under this Moon. Feel out the vibe over the weekend.

June 18th: Saturn sextile Neptune, Mercury conjunct Mars

The Saturn sextile Neptune transit is a weird one. Most of the astrologers I know, even the exceptionally senior and experienced ones, seem to be looking at this and knowing it’s a thing but not quite what to make of it. So we’re all saying different things which are our best guesses. The biggest issue is that much of the material written about outer planet transits to each other involves hard aspects, and the sextile is a soft aspect. The other main issues are that sextiles are generally weaker aspects which aren’t felt as intensely, and that Saturn and Neptune are not two planets you expect to see getting along with each other like they are here.

My current take on it is that much of the solid, real structures Saturn in Capricorn wants to build are ending up being mostly highly visible delusions or existing in non-physical space—digital structures or spiritual ones. Then again, there’s the fact that concentration camps are actively being built and filled throughout the United States right now (Saturn in Capricorn builds prisons, as astrologer Patrick Watson has pointed out), and those concentration camps are places of confusion which are largely hidden from the public eye, though not entirely. Saturn is not a nice planet. He has some nice and necessary qualities, but most of what he does is unpleasant in nature. He’s not a bad guy, but he does have scary jobs to do. Neptune is helping him do those jobs with characteristic qualities of enshrouding and obfuscating, plus a little deception and delusion in there too.

We’re already seeing, as I write this, increased public conversation about the concentration camps in the United States, so I would expect the things Neptune shrouds that Saturn builds to have more of a spotlight on them this week.

Let’s talk about Mercury-Mars under the next day’s section.

June 19th: Mercury opposed Pluto, Mars opposed Pluto, All-Day Void Moon

And here we go. First of the two void days. Mixed with the intense passion and possible rage of Mars-Pluto, the obsessive thinking of Mercury-Pluto, and the impulsive “think and then immediately act” of Mercury-Mars.

These two days are going to be characterized by outbursts of anger, lust, aggression, passion, and other forms of impulsive action. There may not be much fuel in the tank, but lots of folks will find themselves flooring the pedal anyway without really knowing why. Impulsive actions like this benefit from being done during the void of course moon, because you probably don’t want much to come of them anyway.

Stay calm, stay cautious, and try not to get caught up in animal passions unless it’s with a consenting partner and you’ve communicated about it together ahead of time.

June 21st: Neptune stations Retrograde, Sun in Cancer, All-Day Void Moon

We talked about the station and the void moon above, so let’s focus on the Sun entering Cancer.

On one hand, the Sun leaving Gemini means he won’t be burdened by the rapidly approaching Mercury retrograde in July. On the other hand, it means the Sun is now mixed up with everything else in Cancer and Capricorn, adding another planet under the weight of The Boneyard in Capricorn.

Keep your head up this Summer — there’s a lot of good that I’ve seen come out of all of the pain and frustration and incredible difficulty happening everywhere I look, and for some of us (myself included), the good things happening far outweigh the ill. There’s going to be a lot of sensitive hearts feeling beaten up at this time though, so keep your friends close and your enemies blocked on social media. We’ll get through these trying times together, and be all the better for it on the other side.

That’s all for this week! If you found this valuable and would like to learn more about your chart, you can book a reading here.