No sleeping in on this Back-To-Work/School Tuesday. The Moon is waxing in high-flying, opinionated Sagittarius, fueled by a square to the Virgo Sun at 7:11AM ET. A First Quarter Moon suggests a challenge to whatever seeds were planted on last week’s New Moon. What was that all about? “Piercing intellect” and integration of whatever sharp reality check or ambitious reach may have landed on your plate last week, especially if you have planets or angles around 2 degrees of Virgo, Pisces, Gemini and Sag…and 16-19 degrees of Scorpio, Leo, Aquarius or Taurus.  If you don’t know where your planets are, consult your local astrologer.

Deep perspective and issues of resources, healing and regeneration are facilitated over the next two days, courtesy of a harmonious alignment between potent Pluto and the Sun on Wednesday at 12:08PM ET, as well as supportive contacts to the optimistic Sag Moon from expansive Jupiter and innovative Uranus Tuesday at 8:10AM ET and 5:38PM ET, respectively. Avoid finalizing shipments and signing on the dotted line between 2:06PM and 6:15PM ET on Wednesday, when the Moon will be void-of-course. Stick to routine tasks and chill during this natural planetary rest period; roll with whatever twists may occur in your efforts to move forward in a straight line.

Once the Moon enters proactive Capricorn at 6:15PM ET on Wednesday, you’re likely to feel a push to make things happen, with the following caveats: a potential power play or emotional catharsis around 1PM ET and/or an upset to the status quo around 8:41PM ET, when the enterprising Moon is challenged by ruthless Pluto and rebel Uranus. I’ll give you an example of how one of these bumps can manifest later in this forecast.  Otherwise, forge ahead with your agenda until Friday at 11:08 AM ET, when the Moon once again goes void for the rest of the business day, until 7:59PM ET. Skip out early for the weekend without consequence; avoid impulse purchases and launching important initiatives; see if you notice a wandering “drift” in the energy of the day; avoid making mountains out of molehills.

Two planets change signs this week. Mercury, which rules the mind, travel and communication, leaves Virgo for Libra at 1:38AM Tuesday. Mercury excels in Virgo, where it easily tends to every exacting detail. In Libra, Mercury’s need is to be fair and pleasing, but it may miss — or avoid — unpleasant details for the sake of peace and/or appearances.  On Friday at 1:07PM ET, Venus leaves Leo for Virgo. Venus refers to social expression, women, aesthetics, finances. In Leo, Venus can be grand, dramatic and generous. Note how the ubiquitous Ice Bucket Challenge caught on fire (Leo is a fire sign) when Venus met up with expansive Jupiter earlier this month. The preceding link is comedian Wendy Liebman’s effort to raise awareness of ALS. She’s a Wellesley classmate, too — and will be on America’s Got Talent tonight at 9pm — go, Wendy, go! Vote for Wendy — rah rah rah! See? Dramatic Leo social expression. Let’s just say that in Virgo, social expression is likely to  be more refined, sometimes priggish and critical.

When planets change signs, we may need a day or two to adjust. Patience is advised if your communication and social expression experiences are a bit “wobbly”.

And now, the news.

Regular readers may recall a recent post about Saturn, the planetary taskmaster, finally past the halfway mark in Scorpio, sign of energy, resources and transformation, a.k.a. sex, other people’s money/debt and death. Saturn began its journey in Scorpio back in October of 2012. At that time, we anticipated that issues involving deep, difficult consequences of sex, death and money would dominate the headlines. And in fact, we have seen plenty of disturbing and controversial stories involving rape, contraception, abortion, crushing debt and — at least in the US — downright horrific stories about the death penalty. Did you know that the US is only one of nine nations that regularly executes convicted criminals (not including random citizens stopped by police)?

Anyway, there’s been tremendous controversy in the above-referenced matters, especially in areas of CONTROL (Saturn!). But now with Saturn past the halfway point — i.e., 15 degrees of Scorpio — as expected, we’re seeing more and more headlines about pushing back. In Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, judges have ruled that certain restrictions placed on reproductive health clinics that provide abortions are unconstitutional. Sunday’s NYT magazine features a fascinating profile of a pioneering Dutch doctor who has found a way to provide women around the world with a method of terminating pregnancies without having to travel to a clinic.  In California, a federal judge ruled that its death penalty system was unconstitutional. We saw a similar pattern in cases involving same sex marriage when Saturn was in Libra a few years back. Once Saturn was moving forward past the halfway point, the tides were began to turn in favor of marriage (Libra) equality (Libra!), as predicted. Interesting, isn’t it? Search the archives of this forecast for specific examples.

In other news, there was more than one upset at the U.S. Open while the Moon was void, as predicted. Moon voids often suggest a surprise twist or victory to the underdog in sports matches. Here’s some of what happened on Friday afternoon — and how about this:

Two matches were bona fide upsets: a 32-year-old former junior champion disposing of the No. 2 seed and a Swiss teenager bouncing the No. 6 seed. The third match went by the book according to the rankings but not according to anything else.

Here’s the whole article, also from Friday. And here’s another upset during a long void on August 27th.

Meanwhile, sniping and bickering between the sexes of a most territorial kind erupted on two airplane flights last week, perhaps reflecting last Wednesday’s clash among stern Saturn, Mars and Venus, all in the stubborn signs of Leo and Scorpio. A more productive reflection of this energetic combination can be seen in this article, “The Decisive Marriage,” which argues that couples who are proactive about making plans are more likely to succeed than those who are not. What kind of marriage do you have?

Finally, you may recall I mentioned some days ago that I’d been tending to my adorable, but ailing, Himalayan cat. I’m sorry to say that she departed for Kitty Heaven last Thursday. She was the cat I always wanted when I was a little girl growing up in a house full of dog people. Not that dogs aren’t great, but you know what I mean if you’re a cat person. But did you know that pets have horoscopes, too?

I was fortunate to know Phoebe’s birth time — July 17, 1997 at 11:45AM in Sherman Oaks, CA— for astrology students who would like to see the chart. She was a nurturing Cancer with Moon in opinionated Sagittarius in the highly communicative 3rd house. She had a distinctive meow and was not afraid to use it. She loved to travel. She had a Libra Ascendant — beauty and social grace personified. She was highly intuitive and a little “out there,” suggested by her Sun opposed by nebulous Neptune (she was named after the spacey Phoebe Buffet from Friends). But she was also a hard worker, fiercely determined, suggested by an opposition between Mars and Saturn — which all together formed a loose Cardinal Grand Cross (remember the dynamic energy we experienced in April)?  If I told Phoebe I needed to get up at 6AM, she’d jump up on the bed and meow right on time.

With her horoscope,  I could see two years ago the potential for a critical illness that might develop at the end of 2013, when controlling Saturn began a series of long, tough contacts to Phoebe’s Mercury (ruler of the house of critical illness & also neurological issues), Venus (rules kidneys and her 1st house, the health center) and Jupiter (rules the liver,the hips and her 6th house of the physical body). In fact, she suffered from a combination of all three potentials, but the one that proved more than her strong will and heart could handle was the third hit of Saturn to her Jupiter (hips, liver).

I am deeply grateful to Diane Samsel, a highly gifted animal communicator whose insights about Phoebe’s physical condition were astonishing, as were the loving messages she relayed from Phoebe about Phoebe’s concern for my well-being, which was delaying her transition.  Diane helped me move quickly into a space of release and joy. She assured me that “our pets are perennials,” capable of returning to us again after “a nice long vacation”. She mentioned a friend of mine by name — Phoebe had a message for him, which I relayed. And get this: this friend had dreamed about Phoebe the night before she passed — it was definitely Phoebe, he said — but in the body of a black and white kitten!

She left this world at 1:46PM ET in Forest Hills, NY on 8/28/2014. Since I had to take her to a vet, I knew I would not have full control over the timing of the event, but there was a window of a couple of hours that suggested the procedure would be smooth. As it turned out, it started a few minutes later than I’d hoped, with the Moon in an approaching connection to Pluto and Uranus. Remember what I wrote earlier about potential bumps or surges with those planets? The bump in this case was the vet’s decision to ignore my warning not to touch Phoebe’s hind leg, which caused her pain. A power play resulting in an emotional catharsis — the potential of Moon to Pluto. Otherwise, the vet and his staff could not have been kinder, and Phoebe made her transition with great dignity. I hope to see her in my dreams one night soon. She was the best assistant this astrologer has ever had.

Rest in peace.

Your donations never fail to make my day, with much gratitude to you for  your appreciation. Gratitude also to those of you who share this forecast with friends. Here’s the 411 on personal consultations. Have a wonderful day!

Gratitude to photographer Jim Herrington for taking this snapshot in May 2014.