Mars Is Square Pluto, and Tensions Are Rising

Today should be light-hearted enough, with a steadying influence of Saturn overnight and then the moon moving into fun, playful Gemini this morning. Later this evening, though, Mars forms a square with Pluto, and it may set us up for some challenging struggles ahead. Read on, and see what you can do to prepare yourself.

The Moon is Trine Saturn at 2:46 AM

Overnight, the moon in Taurus formed a trine with Saturn in Capricorn. This placement brings about the patience and emotional strength (or perhaps detachment) to allow you to handle sensitive or difficult relationship issues. It also brings on strong instincts of common sense, allowing you to make important decisions about home, family, and relationships.

This is an incredibly stabilizing transit, and generally puts us into a very reserved and conservative state of mind. It happened while we were asleep, however, so its influence on us today is fleeting. Gemini’s here to declare all of that stuff pretty boring.

The Moon Moves into Gemini at 8:40 AM

This morning, the moon moves into the sign of playful, chatty, curious Gemini. A Gemini moon puts us in the mood for socializing—but nothing too heavy, please! We’re in social butterfly mode; we want to flit from person to person. There’s nothing we want more than to make the rounds in a light-hearted, fun loving circuit.

We’re more prone to short attention spans right now, and probably find ourselves deflecting uncomfortable situations or sticky emotions with humor. We’re also highly curious—Gemini is the first air sign of the zodiac and it ushers in an, um, air of endless possibilities. (Sorry.)

There’s a bit of jittery energy that comes with the territory, which some might enjoy as the buzz of excitement. But if you’re prone to nervous tension or anxiety, it could be a bit more uncomfortable for you. Try to channel that energy into something active. Go on an adventure. Seek out new people and experiences. Invite your friends to a backyard shindig.

If you’ve been working on a project or creative idea, you might find that today would be an epic day for a stream-of-consciousness brainstorming sesh. There are no bad ideas today. Don’t pass judgment on the thoughts flitting through your brain. Just write them down as quickly as you can.

Mars is Square Pluto at 10:18 PM

Later on tonight, Mars in its fiery native home of Aries forms a square with Pluto in stubborn Capricorn. You might want to hold on to your hat, because this transit will bring about some serious tension and power struggles. Mars is the planet of passion, assertion, anger, and war. There’s a lot of ego here. Pluto, as you’ve probably picked up by now, is the planet of undoing—it’s death and destruction, and then rebirth. So, in short, our egos are quite likely to be challenged to the point of dismantling under these influences.

Because Mars in Aries is such a potent placement, you can expect to have a lot of energy, confidence, and drive. You’ll want to keep moving forward no matter what your current mission, but be prepared to meet challenges at every turn. Whether that’s in the forms of colleagues or competitors at work or outside influences in our daily lives, this is not a time to rush into things unprepared. If we leave loose ends anywhere, they will trip us up.

On a macro scale, you can expect to see this transit wreak some havoc on our already tenuous government and corporate institutions. This is the first of three Mars-Pluto aspects this year that will have influence on a global scale.

The positive aspect to this is that Pluto’s ultimate mission is not to destroy and then leave. It’s to shake us up, dismantle patterns that are ultimately not healthy, and rebuild from the ground up. This will be positive in the long run, it’s just not going to be comfortable for the time being.

All aspects mentioned here are calculated in Eastern Standard Time. For greater accuracy, please adjust for your time zone.