by Will Harrison

Welcome back, fellow wolves! This is going to be a truly amazing semester both at our school and in our world as so much is happening in our solar system to promote growth, progress and moving forward.

A Grand Cross will be occurring for this entire semester with Jupiter in Cancer, Mars in Libra, Pluto in Capricorn and Aries in Uranus. In other words, four planets are taking us in four different directions. This is an incredibly useful time, but also very stressful as these four astronomical influences on planet Earth are constantly vying for a position in our lives.

Here’s a handy little guide to understanding these four different influences in our lives and how to deal with them effectively.

Jupiter in Cancer: focus on the home, emotional nurturing, loved ones, spiritual growth and gain through emotions.

Mars in Libra: focus on harmony, social justice, fairness, conversations and cooperation and challenge with passive aggressiveness.

Pluto in Capricorn: cynicism in regards to institutions, worry about money/material possessions and need to have high status in society.

Uranus in Aries: genius through positive action, moving forward decisively and independently and action based on inspiration.

As always in astrology, with a little bit of awareness you go a long way and we’re never doomed to suffer. So if you’re feeling stressed out during this time, relax and sort out the conflict by connecting to your emotions (Cancer) in practical ways (Capricorn) with a little bit of inspiration (Uranus/Aries) and by working with others (Libra). We’re all feeling this Grand Cross and we’re all figuring out something in our lives so don’t worry; you’re never alone in what you’re feeling.

I’ll be talking more about this astrological/astronomical phenomenon as it develops this semester.

The Moon, as always, is rapidly shifting signs as it travels 13 degrees a day in relation to the Earth — this is influencing us in various ways.

We started out this week in practical, hard-working, detail-oriented Moon in Virgo, which is a great way to get back into studies and school. By the time of this article’s printing, we’ll be transitioning into Moon in Libra, which will help smooth out the nervous tics of the days before and help us all to have a pleasant, conversational time. This is a wonderful opportunity to talk about what you did over break with school friends you haven’t seen in a little while and to meet some new people as well.

Moon in Libra will be trine Sun in Aquarius so feel free to be yourself completely. When the Sun is impacting us in the region of space that is codified as Aquarius, our uniqueness comes through and especially expresses itself through our minds. (Aquarius, like Libra, is an Air sign, also known as an intellectual, a conversationalist and enjoys thoughtful people.) Now is the time to communicate, especially with your friends.

Speaking of Aquarius, Mercury is currently transiting Aquarius as well, which is truly wonderful news for us returning to our studies — Mercury in Aquarius is influencing us to all be more thoughtful, intellectual and approach our lives and our scholastic pursuits with a spirit of quiet genius. It will be much easier than usual to focus, to learn and to advance in our mental growth. Wednesday especially will see a boost to both our mental and emotional lives as the Moon and Mercury trine each other, giving us all the ability to speak about and from our emotions. Mercury will be in Aquarius until the first week of February where it will transition into the more spacey, dreamy energy of Mercury in Pisces, so focus now and set a good foundation scholastically, my friends. February is going to be a very emotionally dreamy month.

By Thursday, the Moon will enter mysterious, introspective Scorpio and we’ll all be feeling a little bit more introverted than at the middle of this week. This, like Aquarius, is a fixed sign, so focus will be readily available, though it will be more of an emotional sort than mental. Indeed, emotions may be a little bit overwhelming during the first part of this weekend, but by the time Saturday night comes around, the Moon will be in Sagittarius and we’ll all be ready to party. So focus, work hard at school this week and enjoy the awesome weekend ahead.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, friends, and welcome back.

Will Harrison studies French and Spanish. He can be reached at opinion@http://archive.archive.nevadasagebrush.com.