Today's astrology | Tuesday, Nov. 14, '006 WE are swiftly moving into the heart of what some astrologers call the Mercury storm. This occurs the first and last few days of Mercury retrograde. It's generally the time of the most pronounced Mercury retrograde effects. Mercury stations Saturday. It's a good time to put off new endeavors and take care of what is already in motion; there is plenty. Mercury both takes adjustment, and is continuously calling on us to adjust. This is somewhat contrary to the way most people think they like to live, but in fact we do have to keep refining the plan, dealing with new information, or discovering that the old information is not what it used to be -- no matter what we think we're going to be doing in three years. At the same time, Mars is heading into a square with Neptune, which is throwing many things into doubt or suggesting there is either more to the picture -- or too much to the picture, that is, that our imagination has taken over the process of what needs to be a fairly cool examination of the facts and figures. Mars-Neptune is a signal to consider your risks carefully. Today we have two aspects involving planets other than the Moon, both of them drawing on the group of minor planets called the Centaurs. Mars quincunx Asbolus could be about refining or adjusting our survival strategies. Mars is always about action; Asbolus, one of the first Centaurs, has a name which means "carbon dust" in Greek, which to me is the symbol of what all life has in common. Asbolus is the planet of the survivor. Mars is the energy which drives us to take action. In this aspect combination, we might want to refine, reconsider or clarify whatever survival strategy we have devised. Certainly some new information will be available to assist us in doing so, owing to yesterday's trine of Mercury and Uranus. Sun quintile Nessus opens the flow to feelings and ideas from the dark side we might not want to consider, particularly in the realm of personal responsibility. The buck stops with Nessus, you might say, but it starts with the Sun. Can we get the information and sense of conscience flowing in both directions? Is it to our greater glory to actually claim responsibility for what we have created? Perhaps, and maybe that will just make life simpler. 00:30:54 UT - Mars (14 sc 32' 2") quincunx Asbolus (14 ar 32' 2" Rx) 09:39:53 UT - Sun (21 sc 52'18") quintile Nessus (3 aq 52'18")     e