Adjustment
I’ve been spending time on the chiropractor’s table lately, trying to resolve a back issue that recently transitioned from chronically aggravating to painful. I have confidence in the practitioner and in the practice, but it’s quite Uranian, with various unexpected motions and light popping sounds. My vague apprehension throughout the adjustment makes me tense and tight.
But afterward, I feel great – looser, more energetic. It’s a challenging process, but I feel better with each adjustment.
Think of this week’s square aspects from Mercury (Feb. 10, 2025, 11:28 am PST) and the Sun (Feb. 11, 2025, 11:30 am PST) to Uranus as a kind of planetary chiropractic adjustment. It seems that something has progressed from aggravating to painful, and we need to make a change in order to relieve the discomfort and move forward. It might be something comparatively simple, like giving up a food that isn’t agreeing with you. But it could be something that’s gradually become limiting and even painful. Either way, the Sun and Mercury’s squares to Uranus are designed to get us off our sofas and engaged with that much-needed change.
Part of this change, possibly the greater part, is the need for a new mindset about something, or perhaps many somethings. There’s the problem of acknowledging how we need to change in order to grow (symbolized by the Sun), and there is the story we tell ourselves about that process, which is Mercury’s department. Mercury also connects us with others, and during these couple of days you might run across a message bearer who shifts your thinking. What if you aren’t exactly who you’ve been thinking you are? And who might you be, instead, with just a small adjustment?
Crossing the Desert
Each month, the Full Moon shines a bright light on what is missing in our lives. What do we need more of? What is it about our Aquarius New Moon intentions from two weeks ago that makes them seem unlikely, now, to bring us what we truly need or want?
In focusing on Aquarian dreams of the far-off future and the powerful potential of working within groups, we may have fallen asleep on our Leo creative urges and the need for more fun, play, or romance in the here and now. We may have chosen to ignore the fact that we need love and attention for who we are, individually, and not just as a player in an ensemble cast.
At this week’s Leo Full Moon (Feb. 12, 2025, 5:53 am PST, 24º06′ Leo), the Sun, Moon, and Mercury are square Uranus. “You can have all the things you long for,” says Uranus, “But first, you must change.” The lunar part of us, though, doesn’t necessarily crave change. In fact, since the Moon is a symbol that by its nature is always changing – changing signs every two and a half days, phases about every four days – it tends to welcome a little bit of constancy. (Hence its exaltation in calm, stable Taurus.)
As we see ourselves reflected in the mirror of this Full Moon, we may feel as if things around us are so disruptive that we may never feel safe or that we have what we need. But I like the Full Moon’s Sabian symbol, 25 Leo, A large camel crossing the desert. This is a symbol of self-sufficiency, and maybe this Full Moon is a reminder that in order to create, to play, and to enjoy ourselves, we may need more time to ourselves. Nothing and nobody from the outside is going to be able to sustain us exclusively and eternally; in order to make our way across the desert – and indeed, in order to be helpful to our community, and faithful to those Aquarius New Moon goals – we have to cultivate our own, strong, creative center.
Magical Solutions
Mercury enters Pisces on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 2025, 4:06 am PST), a Mercury sign that’s a bit like that friend you have who isn’t particularly logical, has trouble getting to places on time or remembering names, who maybe doesn’t get to the point for a maddeningly long time… but who comes up with the most brilliant insights, beautiful art, and solutions to problems. Someone who is beloved by all for their sweetness and kindness, who might not get where they were headed but who always seems to end up in exactly the right place anyway.
A person like that embodies Mercury – the planet of perception, sequences, and communication – in Pisces, regardless of Mercury’s actual placement in their birth chart. Mercury in Pisces colors outside the lines, sees what the rest of us miss, wanders off the path and sits by the side of the river waiting for dreams, inspiration, song lyrics, and plots for fantasy novels to catch up with it.
This Mercury can struggle with the minutia of shopping lists and forget about bills that need to be paid, but somehow finds its way to the heart of life’s eternal questions. Who cares if such a friend forgets your birthday, when they make you feel so loved each time you meet?
Mercury will be in this sign through March 3, and then after it turns retrograde on March 14, it revisits Pisces from March 29–April 15. I like to think that Mercury’s extended Pisces spa vacation just means the world needs some looser, less practical thinking just now, and certainly some magical solutions.
Writing and images © 2017-25 by April Elliott Kent
For more on this week’s planetary news, listen to my podcast!
