This week

At the weekend Astrobabble had a super douper massage and now feels like a steam roller has 'ad a go. Ergo, this week’s blog is to the point so Astrobabble can recline against a bed of hot water bottles...Which leads us clunkily to the current focus of heat and water in the planets. Mars changing signs and a New Moon in Cancer are this week’s forthcoming Taa daaaah highlights.

Aries
After six weeks of zoomy times vis creative doodah/ mekin whoopee/and feistiness in the mekin bebes zone of your chart, Mars your ruler hits treacle in the form of Virgo and for the next six weeks it’s a slow-boat to China vis work all work. Stop frothing at the mouth already. Decisions and worky ting you set in place this week and early next are for the long haul, Ram. The Virgo treacle is the Universe’s way of slowing you down and calming the steam from your ears (ispeshly if co-workers are effing useless). Watch for any ego ‘issues’ which flare but this is the time to carve a chain of command and a new manifesto for How Things Will Be in the future which will (a) spare the blood vessels in your eyes, fists, and throat for years to come and (b) align you, yourself, and you with Today and not with the you, yourself, and you stuck with how things Have Been In The Past. Old health issues are coming up for a looksee. Don’t shirk. Make a decision and make it work.

Taurus
Your ruler Venus, all bosoms and pastry crusts, makes links with Jupiter and Uranus at the same time as Mars, the planet of trouser snakes and sling shots and feistiness, jumps ship from the flarey-nostrilled Leo to the pedantic, eagle-eyed Virgo. This all sez that love offers are coming up and you may be (a) surprised but (b) inclined to let your hair down and sashay into some fun. Vast and passionate as your sense of adventure may be, you're disinclined to accept frivolous overtures. You want something solid that spells f-u-t-u-r-e and smells of r-o-s-e-s. Words of love are best exchanged from Thursday; the Moon links to your ruler and could leave you enraptured with celestial poetry from then and through the weekend on a whiff of David Austen's finest. PS Don’t sign or make financial decisions on Friday or during the weekend. There are surprises in store which you haven’t reckoned on.

Gemini
The New Moon and sign-change of Mars link your bank account and home-life with the emphasis on expansion rather than reduction. It can be something as simple as finally redecorating the loft space because family are coming to stay – or as extravagant as buying up a condo and decorating the entire thing in your favourite shade of puce. Either end of the spectrum, you’re certainly in the mood for investment, luxury, and aesthetic delights and your home is where the energy Is At. If you’ve been thinking about buying you’ll be wanting to make moves in the coming weeks. Watch out Friday and the weekend though. Your focus will be on work things and an idea on how to do things differently is likely to pop up for a looksee. You’ve Mercury right at home on your sofa for another week. If you need to express yourself get to it end of this week or next.

Cancer
A New Moon in your sign is a Good Thing although for the early part of this week, as we experience the dark of the moon, you could be forgiven for thinking that there are rain clouds overhead wherever you go. The darkest hour is the one before the dawn, dey say, and Monday – Wednesday may feel like a mini flashback to the fears and low-esteem you’ve dipped into during the past few months. But hold up there Crab. You’ve Venus flashing her winning smile right beside ya and the Sun beaming at ya saying the past is another yacht ride. Monday – Wednesday lounge by a paddling pool, laze on your water bed sucking ice, or if you’ve got to work, get yourself to that water cooler as often as you can. Then on Wednesday night make That Wish and make it like you mean it and then start Telling Everyone about it. If the power of humiliation is the only thing that makes you do things – then set yourself up for a pratfall. Tell everyone exactly what you are going to do. Then woe betide you etcetera and so forth.

Leo
You’ve been up and at ‘em for a good six weeks now. Have you made progress? As fiery Mars shifts gear into the slow-moving quicksand of Virgo, it’s time for you and money to get yourselves together to form a Plan. Mars moving into your piggy bank is usually a time of biiig money coming in and biiig money going out, Mr Bygraves. At the moment though, with Saturn here too, the emphasis is on taking the long view, building a plan for el futuro, getting a pension, savings account, solid investment portfolio etc. Astrobabble has mentioned this before to you pussy cat but with Mars entering the bank of piggy this week the ante is upped. If this all feels a bit not-very raaa, it is as it should be. Now is the time to keep your head down and sort out your shekels. Venus and the Sun will be with you next week and the week after respectively and you can wax your whiskers and raaa again then. Wednesday this week brings an irksome feeling in your tummy. Note it. It’s you recognising a weak spot in the way you face the world.

Virgo
The clouds are breaking Virgo. The energy is starting to rise. As Mars moves back into your sign for the first time in two years on Tuesday you get a shot to the arm in the shape of (a) energy (b) intolerance to ‘bullies’ (c) self-belief. Mars is the thrusty, self-asserting, firebrand of the skies and having him on your side – if mastered correctly – can win you respect, followers, and vast strides forwards on your path. If let off half-cock, however, he can make waves that you will not want to surf anytime soon. His first call as he enters Virgo is to pick a seat next to Saturn on the train of Where You’re Heading. In the next 10 days chances are you will need to confront authority figures to assert your own autonomy and declare your own desired path. With your ruler Mercury still in your 10th house these are good times to be having those kinds of discussions. The word ‘discussions’ is key; ultimatums won’t work under these skies and with business partners being erratic and unreliable, you may push them too far from the table to ever sign up to what you want. If you have to fight don’t back down – but fight fair. On a gentler tip the New Moon falls in your home of wishes. Wednesday dip inside that wide-eyed child within and write down at least three things you want to accomplish this week, this month, this year.

Libra
Mars moving into your 12th house is not a snooze in a hammock while the world takes care of itself and your stocks rise all by themselves. No sirree. And twinned with the presence of Saturn, already camped out in this zone of “Boo! Arrgh! It’s behiiiind you!”, Astrobabble would quite understand if you were reading this hiding behind the sofa eating marshmallows and sobbing into a bottle of gin. Mars joining Saturn here is an intense crash course Masters Degree in seeing (a) where your past behaviours are undermining you and (b) where you are still more concerned with what They are saying than is entirely healthy. Traditionally planets in the 12th herald a time of being undermined by ‘secret enemies’. You cannot undo what is in the past, so you will have to pay the price, but you can learn from the quick draw lessons that are flying at you like flies to a lumpapoo. How are you going to Not upset people in the future? But how are you also going to assert yourself in a calm and decisive fashion so that You respect yourself more in the future? Pick Wednesday’s New Moon in your house of success to make a pact. You’ll start to feel it taking root by the weekend.

Scorpio
Idealistic notions of the future will need tweaking this week as you recognise a flaw in The Plan. It’s not the Plan that has to be chucked out in its entirety, just some fantasies you’ve had of it that in the cold light of day aren’t going to be possible just yet. As Mars heads into your 11th house of Wishes and Friends this week you'll find that even in a pared down version, the Big Dream is going to get a shot in the arm and those around you will give you the credit you deserve (and have rather been hankering for). Renegotiation, research, and giving some ground are your best friends right now. So do it, do it. Where work and Making It out in the world have been your primary concerns of late, Mars's hook up with friends and networks means that social whirls and bopping til you drop are written in giant, flashing letters in the sky. Party on, dude.

Sagittarius
Early in the week if you feel you may be conceding too much in negotiations stand back and wait for your sense of purpose to resume forward ho on Wednesday. Mars moving into your 10th house and the New Moon in your 8th spell powerful times where you can leave the old ways behind and carve a new path for yourself in the rock face up to the mountain top. In all this glory and progress pay heed to the rather appropriate adage that one should be nice to all people on the way up because you may need them on your way back down. And you will come back down, you have to, even if you don't believe it right now. Mars is ego. He is not, actually, making you into an invicible superhero (even though he'd like you to think he is). Watch him like you’d watch a teenager in a fast car. The weekend brings some truly lovely vibes around home life. The changes happening now really are for the better.

Capricorn
If Astrobabble should find claw marks anywhere near your cookie jar over the next few days, Goat, it would understand entirely. But it would also point at the rainbow up ahead. The recent nuclear bombs of Pluto have shaken you down to your withers and now as we enter the dark side of the moon, in your 7th house of squeezey and bizniz partners, the weight of it all may leave you hiding in the pantry with bloodshot eyes and a hangover. How can Astrobabble say this without getting slapped…? These are exceptionally rich times. These are times which are bringing you to a point of no return from which you will emerge like an articulate, grounded, self-believing leprechaun with de charm and de luck and de heave ho necessary to blaze a glorious trail in this crazy old world. Right now though you’ve got to pay the toll for that journey up front. On Wednesday make a wish about what you and your love affairs and business deals MUST bring to the table in future before negotiations even begin. That same day, start to feel your future racing towards you. Decisions you make now impetuously actually have nothing impetuous about them. It’s just you catching up with where you should have been all along.

Aquarius
Work doesn’t feel shiny, sparkly or nearly satisfying enough – particularly when held in the light against your creativity/ love affairs/ chilun which seem to be getting more inspiring and downright intuitive this week. Yet creative ting and whoopee aren’t bringing home the bacon (and for the recud Astroabble is NOT suggesting one make a livin outta lovin…!). Wednesday’s New Moon in your 6th house of work and health may bring you a sense of ‘it’s worth it’ or a rekindled plan to ‘find something better’. Simultaneously Mars moving into your 8th house will have you turning Diva demanding what you want when you want it! Be careful not to flick the boss's ears! Or storm off in a huff! Mars here is a cunning plan by the Universe to show you just how doggone crazy an off-kilter ego can be. Your job is to find ways to rein it in and make it work for you and not against you in the future. Your libido is about to hit warp factor 10 at all hours of the day and night. If you hear Astrobabble knocking on the ceiling at 3am begging for some peace and quiet, it’s time to have a cold shower.

Pisces
If you’re in the throes of a new love affair / creative venture / pregnancy any nerves that start rising Monday – Wednesday are only a passing Moony ting. The shiny stuff for you really is in these areas with choral harmonies floating down around your pretty fins. On the other side of the ridge, Mars enters your open highway of long-term biz and squeezy partnerships this week and your rampant ego could have you tearing off willy nilly. Let your ego flare if you like but you know the policeman of fate is gonna getya round the next bend. You’ve been fighting the call to conform for a few years now. In the last year someone or something in your life seems to have been clipping your wings and holding you back. Grrr. And yet… And yet… isn’t there something very grown up about where that perticaler signpost is pointing you? This weekend Mars heads for a collision with that policeman of fate. Thrash as much as you like but you’re only resisting bonds of silk. With this realisation comes the need to eat some humble pie. Watch your ego doesn’t pop out sideways and hit the bumper of your nearest and dearest.