What we remember during Venus’ retrograde times is that the way our lives look on the outside is a reflection of inward-facing work: the promises we’ve made to ourselves, and whether or not we’ve kept them. Over the next forty days, run if you must… but run inward, and not away.

A clarifying Sun-Uranus aspect, Mercury enters Scorpio and squares both Mars and Pluto, Venus stations retrograde, and a Mars-Pluto opposition ignites power struggles. Plus a Cancer Last Quarter Moon, and a Sun-Saturn opposition demands decisiveness.

When Mars, the warrior planet, enters the regal sign of Leo, it rallies support for a cause not just because it is worthwhile, but because the fight itself elevates those who support it. Mars is the planet of battles and those who fight them, and in each sign of the zodiac it symbolizes a different style of warrior. As Mars leaves mute, defensive Cancer this week and enters Leo, it’s time to fight like kings.