posted August 30, 2010 07:28 AM         

It is going to be one of those weeks! Mercury retrograde is going to play with us. He’s playing with us big time. Mercury is in Virgo, the sign of PRECISENESS and EXACTNESS. Mercury is being VERY PRECISE with us. He wants us to be VERY PRECISE with him. Exact! He is working with or bringing back our dream and tweaking our dream just the tiniest bit to make it NOT our dream. Our job is to hold firm to our dream and move towards it. To restate our dream in OUR own new, revised or perhaps CORRECTED words so we and Mercury are VERY clear on what the dream is and how to get there.

So think about what happened last week. Did your “dream” suffer a reversal or a sudden change that made you go “Hey, wait a minute, THAT is NOT my dream! My dream was xyz!” The reversal or the disappointment was part of getting clear on your dream. So this week, you get an opportunity to further revise or revisit your dream.

Remember back when you irritated a Virgo and they got all precise, prissy and literal on you? Suddenly all the t’s needed to be crossed and the I’s needed to be dotted? If you didn’t say it EXACTLY right to them or complete the form perfectly, they STOPPED working on it to wait for further instructions from you? Or they stopped offering “helpful” reminders and let you get in a passel of trouble because you forgot something while they snickered behind your back?

Mercury is in Virgo this week so he’s doing JUST that. S thought he’d found a space to sublease. Even though it had limitations, he decided to go for it. Then the co-tenants backed out. Was the space what he wanted? Nope, not quite. Whoosh it was gone ~ the co-tenants withdrew the offer. A wasn’t thrilled with her boyfriend’s behavior. She thought about breaking up with him ~ whoosh, a fight happened and he seems to be gone.

My own saga with Mercury is about a refrigerator. I have a one bedroom apartment with a decent sized kitchen. However, as a Virgo gal with lots of Cancer and Scorpio planets I do a great deal of entertaining. And, I have kitchen lust/envy when I visit my friends with REAL kitchens. When I grew up our kitchen was two large rooms that my mother renovated and combined into a single room. Our kitchen was bigger than most people’s living rooms with a huge baking island in the middle. The island in the middle of my childhood kitchen is the square footage of my current, grownup kitchen. Yes, I measured! We LIVED in my childhood kitchen. It was so cozy. It was the heart of our home.

A few weeks back when we held a wedding shower for my friend Ellen, we moved the location from our planned beach day to Marianne’s house as it was over 100 degrees. Too hot for the beach! Marianne has one of my dream kitchens. And she’d just gotten a brand new, HUGE, gorgeous REFRIGERATOR. It was a refrigerator that figures into my fantasies. I know, fantasies? Fantasies about a Refrigerator? Yes, I am a Virgo! We get turned on by hardware stores, cute helpful gadgets, devices and appliances. I had a serious case of lust for Marianne’s refrigerator.

Back home in my lowly apartment kitchen, the size of my mother’s baking island, my trusty, well used fridge had been making LOTS of noise whenever I was in the kitchen. It is over 25 years old. I bought it YEARS ago to stop having to defrost the darned ice box every month. Back when I bought it, I totally loved it! I totally adored and appreciated my frost free refrigerator. Now, I had lust in my heart for another refrigerator ~ a bottom drawer freezer, French door refrigerator. I think my trusty refrigerator knew! It smelled my lust.

Last Sunday, I woke up to find my refrigerator dark, silent and apparently dead. Elated, I raced off to Home Depot. It was time to get my dream refrigerator! There was apparently a RUN on refrigerators on the east coast so the stock was quite limited, especially with my tight delivery date. After all, I had a dead refrigerator in my house! I compromised and settled on a lesser fridge with sooner delivery dates. I came home and moved all my food to neighbor Peggy’s house. And, at about 3 pm that Sunday afternoon, my old refrigerator turned it self back on. It was still alive! Decision time ~ should I cancel the order and keep my old refrigerator ? I left the order in.

My compromise refrigerator was delivered after a bit of a screw up with delivery dates. Mercury was retrograde of course! And, when it was finally delivered, it didn’t fit! Somewhere while flipping around in the computer for delivery dates, we’d screwed up on the size or the measurements or something. I know you are all shouting MERCURY is RETROGRADE! I refused delivery of my compromise refrigerator. DEPRESSION! I cleaned my old refrigerator very, very well and reloaded the food into it. Perhaps it would be okay. After all, the old refrigerator HAD come back from the dead. No need to spend money if I didn’t have to.

My assistant, the ever helpful Melissa, pointed out that I COULD have my DREAM refrigerator IF I rearranged stuff in the small room off my kitchen. No the dream fridge wouldn’t fit in the kitchen space provided BUT there WAS room for it in the small room. My friend, Beaver, yelled at me “OF COURSE you have to go get a new refrigerator as your old one has proven unreliable. It could die again at any minute!”

Then, Beaver switched into her loveable, supportive friend mode and further said “Isn’t this what you’ve been writing about in your column? Going for your dream? Being clear about it? Not compromising on your dream if you don’t have to? You have a dream refrigerator! IT IS A DREAM YOU CAN MAKE COME TRUE! YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR DREAM COME TRUE! GO GET WHAT YOU WANT!” When I mumbled a sad, depressed, little “Yes.” Beaver said “Well, THERE, you have your answer! It is time to go get your dream refrigerator.”

Still, I could feel my dream ebbing. Ebb, ebb, ebb ~ out it was flowing. My old fridge was perfectly adequate. I looked at refrigerators on line. I called Home Depot to find out when I’d get my money back. I vacillated. I whined. Boy, CAN those Cancer planets of mine whine! I felt deprived and sad and that life was hard and the economy was crappy and I should save my money and make do with what I have. I looked at the Staples catalog to see how to do what Melissa suggested. I went to bed. No, I didn’t cry but I thought about it. It seemed way too stupid to cry over a silly refrigerator. I decided I would think about it. But in my heart of hearts, I knew I was leaning toward NOT getting the refrigerator of my dreams. The Virgo practical part of me was winning.

And, today, on this bright beautiful Sunday morning, as I sit down to write this column, my 25 year old refrigerator appears to have died yet again. No lights. No cold. No noise. Hmmm. I know that frigging Mercury is playing with me! He’s making me pay attention and focus on my dream. Even if the dream refrigerator IS in the small room off the kitchen, I COULD have EXACTLY what I want ~ no compromise, no kind of sort of okay but with a limitation or two. I could have my dream refrigerator! All it takes is me going and getting it.

So what do you think I should do?

So what dream of yours is playing with you? How is Mercury reminding you of what you REALLY want? How is your dream dancing in front of you just the teensiest bit out of reach?

The universe is playing with us on this Mercury retrograde. It is making us aware of what our dreams are. It is making us focus, CLEARLY, on the dream we have deep in our heart. Simon Cowell always asks the contestants on the reality shows, “So what’s the dream?” He says “the” dream ~ not “your” dream. He makes you own your own dream. That is your job. Certainly others can help you make your dream come true, but it IS your dream. You are in charge of your own dream. Ask yourself “What is my dream?” And how do I get my dream to come true for myself?

The universe is also going to be sending you GHOSTS from your past to remind you of your earlier dreams. Mercury is going to remind you of what you SAID you wanted way back when ~ when you were younger, dreamier, hopeful, before life got its dream-dashing hands on your dream. Time to dust your dream off and give it a push out there. Time to dust off your hopes and dreams. Hold them up to the light of day to see if there is still a spark in there! And if so, go for it!

My client A emailed me a clip that is particularly poignant and will help us all as we nurture our dream in the week ahead. Sometimes WE have to nurture OURSELVES. And when we nurture ourselves, we nurture our dreams. And when we nurture our dreams, they can come true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdeMkywlS54

Monday Moon Day August 30 finds the Moon in Taurus with lovely closing aspects of a sextile to Uranus so find creative solutions Sunday, Monday and Tuesday that support what your dream is. Time for a new dream refrigerator! I did go buy one. The exact one I wanted. Which happened to be on sale. It will be delivered on Wednesday. Time for your dream office. Time for your dream relationship. Or time for whatever YOUR dream is! Cupido, a Uranian planet, stations today and asks us to surround ourselves with supportive family and friends. Or Cupido makes us aware of our supportive family and friends. Who supports and loves you? Who do you support and love? Cupido asks us to focus on those folks and spend time with them. As the t-square starts to separate, we are getting the energy to move forward and create our next chapter. We’ve seen our patterns ~ good and bad. We understand how they supported us and created the life we have now. If we want to have different things in our life, we need to move towards supporting and creating THOSE things. The oceans of emotions swirling through us ask us to nurture ourselves. Take time today to do things that nurture and support yourself. Someone will be in the mood to pick a fight with you (or you with them). It is a tension releasing fight ~ designed to release the tension that has been building for awhile. Sometimes discord, irritation and crabbiness helps us get clear on what we REALLY want. Give yourself room to be irritable or irritating. There is a desire to break free from partnerships or relationships that you find irritating today. Could be the best thing that ever happens to you!

Tuesday, Mars Day August 31 Taurus Moon continues to create nice energy. She moves into Gemini and aspects the t-square energy in the evening with some what pleasant energies of discovery, communications and connections. Pay attention to the emotional needs on the home front, especially the ones that are easily talked about. The talked about energies are connected to the deeper emotional energies that go with out words that are available. Words or music can be especially emotionally soothing today. Hygeia is at a point of mental instability arguing with the Goddess of Discord today so people can feel very emotionally unstable. The unstable energy requires an adjustment. What we’ll talk about is NOT what is going on underneath the surface. Underneath is the area that is feeling quite unloved and not nurtured. Play the you tube video again. If we can take action we will feel better. Assume it is OVER and finished, even though Mercury is retrograde. Release and move forward. The transformative energy of letting go is quite profound. Let go. Deep emotions can and will surface. Push them in and pull them back out, creating a whoosh of energy that is very clearing. Kind of like a toilet plunger. Pull the energy up, out and through you ~ get it out of your soul and release it.

Wednesday, Mercury’s Day September 1 How did it get to be September already? Moon in Gemini squares Uranus making today and Thursday great days for releasing things forever ~ emotions, stuff, things that clutch at your soul. Release old patterns of behavior and approaches to people. Change it up. Mercury can be a bit explosive as he’s in the mood to fight with whoever is near. He’s fighting for the dream but he’s stressed at the same time. So what would happen if you DID allow your dream to come in? What would THAT be like? It CAN be stressful to have your dream come true. Then what do you do? What would happen if you crushed your dream and left it in broken bits on the floor? Do you think you would never dream again? Do you think your dreams are some how not possible? Do you think it will never happen for you? Gemini Moon bounces us back and forth between conflicting realities. What we nurture and care for grows within us. As my co-hort and fellow conspirator Caroline says, “Vote for the reality you WANT to have happen!” Let go of that negative, down ward spiraling view of yours. What IS your dream? Mercury is connecting to Hades today, on the world axis, so expect difficult news from around the globe. Still, you need to vote for your dream to come true. So ignore the news. Go work on your dream. No distractions!

Thursday, Jupiter’s day, September 2 Moon in Gemini is quite busy activating Mars, Venus and Neptune by positive aspect. Take some quiet time today to work on your dream. Give it wings. Give it roots. Clear out the spaces that no longer support you in your home and office. Any place you nest or seek to be nurtured must create a sense of joy in your soul or it needs to go, go, go! Watch for who you meet today as they are important to help you move forward toward your dream as Sun connects with the Nodes of Destiny. Venus is opposite the Astraea ~ I always think of the Star card when I see this configuration. Or Pandora’s box. Focus on the stuff that is good, kind and supportive. Sure the spites and spiteful, mean spirited folks are out there. But what purpose do they actually serve? What is the point of sending snaky, snarkie, or mean emails to people? Do you think that will actually be productive? Kindness works better and does seem to be in short supply today. Spread some kindness around to the folks you meet. A bit of tenderness goes a long way. That said, Mars is opposite Eris so if you must say something to someone, be aware of NOT being disrespectful. Eris is highly sensitive to being treated with disrespect. And she goes off like a rocket when someone is disrespectful to her. Just because you don’t happen to believe in the other guy or gal’s point of view, doesn’t give you the right to be disrespectful of it. And they have the same responsibility to you. It is a great day for “YOU” words ~ so if you find yourself saying “you did this” or “you didn’t do that”, hold up. Why do they have to do what you say? Who are you to tell them what to do? Be aware that projection is running rampant today with all the planets in Libra and Mercury going retrograde. We don’t much want to see our part in the story even if we have a very large part. Certainly you can request behavior changes that would make you happier. However, bossiness or over criticism needs to be watched out for. If they gave you their word, then you can ask them to uphold their commitment or to let you know if they changed their minds.

Friday, Venus’ day September 3 is a rocking and rolling day. Moon in Cancer has a trine closing aspect supporting changes, especially unique ones. Moon is busy at night so watch your dreams and make sure to record them upon awakening. Emotions are strong. We need to adjust how we nurture ourselves, especially emotionally. Today has oodles of aspects so we’ll be bouncing from one to the next to the third. Sun joins with Mercury moving retrograde so we will think WE are right and THEY are wrong. Combust Mercury’s are convinced their world view is the only one that is correct. Today we all have a combust Mercury by transit. If you get into a disagreement with someone, they are NOT going to agree with you. Agree to disagree and move on. No need to cast aspersions. If someone comes after your dream today, tell them to leave you alone. It is your dream and you have a perfect right to dream it. Just make sure you start to work on making it come true, rather than talking about it and doing nothing. Partner with your dream. Change your behavior so you get a different result. Shake up the pattern. Allow for the possibility that you don’t know it all OR that they don’t know it all. However, your or their experience in the matter is not relevant here. It is about the PROCESS when things are in Virgo. Relisten to the nurturing video. Allow yourself to try new things or ways of seeing things. You can be exceptionally THRILLED about changes in your house and home today, especially if they nurture you.

Saturn’s day September 4 Moon in Cancer starts off a lovely three day weekend in the States. Venus is trine to Neptune so we can all fall a bit in or into a BIG love this weekend. We are in love with the dream and that is completely okay! Neptune transits want us to experience the rapture! Again a day with oodles of aspects so we’ll swirl and bounce around. You might just meet your future today! And it will feel like you are tied to a rocket! A breakthrough of emotions is also quite possible. Mercury has a trine to the Nodes of destiny so pay attention to who you talk to or what you hear today. Very important information and news comes to light. Pay close attention to messages from Mercury! Or to the people from your past who arrive bearing gifts or the ghosts that swirl in your brain. Stuff breaks and is broken for good. It is time for it to go. Clear it out! Watch for a way to concretize or crystallize your dream. Start to work on it in earnest today and use Saturn‘s helpful aspect to get a good grounding or solid start. If things feel like they need to end today, it is okay. They are supposed to end. Their time on earth or in your life is finished. The purpose is served.

Sun’s DAY September 5 Moon in Leo has a lovely closing sextile to Venus so today’s events have a lovely energy of creativity and complete beautifully. Moon is in productive aspects with our separating t-square helping the day be a full and content one. Dreams are disturbing but necessary to help you release the last remnants of stuff. Notice and release what ever disturbs. Jupiter on the world axis squares the Uranian Planet Hades suggesting we have a close encounter with a difficult, dark or underworld situation. Do the psychological work to help the situation be processed. Words can be very wounding but they ARE TRUE. Pay attention to the truth behind them. Tell the truth if you are asked. Venus has a gift of brilliance to the Nodes so watch for your heart’s desire to dance before your eyes. Say yes to it! Give it permission to enter your life. If you feel emotionally overwhelmed or awash, it is totally where you are supposed to be. Listen to the sound of the emotional waves lapping against your heart. What is the dream? What is YOUR dream?

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It‘s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I‘ve been praying for
It‘s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there‘s nothing but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothing but blue skies

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It‘s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Johnny Nash