Last month we mentioned the number of planets and asteroids in Aquarius in this year's chart, namely Chiron, Pallas Athena, Neptune and Hygeia, all of which have extraordinary healing qualities and act as catalysts for significant spiritual openings. In this Aquarian month then, we have the Sun and Mercury highlighting and activating the potential for these openings. As these inner planets cross this fantastic collection, anything can happen!

The month begins with the Sun exactly conjunct Chiron on one side and Pallas on the other. The three of them have a great sextile to the expansive Jupiter, which serves to extend and elevate their operations with additional grace. The Wounded Healer reminds us that the very essence of the inner healer lives at the core of our wounding and so whenever he is active we can expect healing experiences masked as wounding ones. The trick is that the wounding already exists within. He will attract experiences which serve to replicate and catalyse the much earlier material, so we can get to it to heal. So any healing or therapy we may do at this time has extra power behind it and so the benefits can be greater and deeper.

But there is more afoot than just the fruits of our conscious efforts. In this combination lie hidden powers driven by an almost ruthless compassion. Within this four way equation lie the archetypes of the teacher, the guru, the wizard and the warrior priestess, a formidable team operating in sync to heal, initiate and to open the mind. Its operations are guided by a degree of intelligence beyond the scope of the rational mind. Each of these archetypes has the ability to direct Shakti or spiritual power accurately, surgically, to any part of the self or any branch of the chakra system that needs release and unblocking. This is why the potential of this time is both so extraordinary and so hard to predict. Great mysteries are afoot and with them come the opportunity of connecting more deeply with these capacities within one's self, not just for the month but for the whole year. Magical stuff!

The sign of Aquarius is innately a gifted place within each of us, a place of expanded awareness that seeks to share its awesome range of knowledge for the benefit of all. Those born with Chiron or Saturn in Aquarius know the pain of not, at least initially, being able to make that kind of contribution to the collective good, while intuiting the deeper possibilities of what is hidden within themselves.

This is one of those times for the re-awakening of these gifts, which can come in the form of the experience of heightened awareness, great flashes of intuition, insight and creativity.

All of this sounds fantastic and in potential it is but, like unblocking the plumbing, the healing doesn't always come gift-wrapped and there are certain dangers when old stuff is moving while big openings are happening. Intellectual arrogance and spiritual ego tripping are amongst the latter, as well as emotional insensitivity. We can get so high, we don't know who or what we're stepping on, a common Aquarian trap. A good strategy is to stay open to the incoming, while not getting too attached or hung up on the results, as they may be only temporary.

As for Mercury, he is conjunct Hygeia, that healer goddess asteroid who holds the secrets of Kundalini and the serpent wisdom of the deep feminine (along with Pallas who specialises in the directing of this Shakti through the use of thought, word and mantra). Once again, there are awesome healing possibilities but success is dependent on how much we can let go of what we "know" and how much we can trust the deeper non-rational healing energies at the core of our selves. Much of our work here is, as always, getting out of the ....... way.

In the case of Hygeia, when we can't trust, we use control and manipulation. The challenge is to allow the energies of our deeper emotions, of the body, and our sexuality, in its less genitalised expression, to arise. Better to dance with the Shakti that to spend too much energy holding up the leaky dam wall. As Jupiter is conjunct Eros in Sagittarius, there is much support and encouragement for the former and reinforces the possibilities for a lot of sexual healing, as well as for staying loose when there are some very strong energies around. However, Saturn in Leo is opposite both Mercury and Hygeia, so watch out for doing the latter or denying that anything is going on, because there is a lot going on. Saturn in Leo can be so invested in preserving its ego or protecting its pride and dignity it can miss out on both healing and fun. Better to use Saturn energy to be able to hold and contain the Shakti than to hold it back.

Finally, in honour of all that is magical in this month's proceedings, Jupiter and Uranus are squaring each other, very much a wizard combination that contributes much high energy and dynamism. While not the most stable of connections, it is one of the better squares and will certainly add vibrancy to a very interesting month. Hope you enjoy it.

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