Start the week Monday morning by checking in with your own personal Sun, the Light you bring into the world. Let the Sun in its home sign of Leo and the waxing Moon in Virgo help you find and clean up whatever is keeping your true Self from shining. We all have a Light of our own to share — and everyone’s is needed in these darkening days.

I expect a great deal of drama, handwringing, self-aggrandizing bombast, and finger-pointing (all negative manifestations of Leo or Virgo traits) in the wake of the massacre in Colorado as the week begins. In fact, we already have a Congressman and an Evangelical preacher exploiting the tragedy in a particularly revolting way to promote their personal religious beliefs. Hopefully, Leonian heart-based generosity of spirit and Virgoan critical faculties with a focus on service to others will ultimately rule the day, and these people will be seen for the braying jackasses they are.

My take on the shooter’s psychology, based on what we know of his natal chart, is here. I’ll discuss the planetary transits in effect at the time of the shooting in another post.

The Moon moves into Libra on Monday night, bringing the focus to relationships, but we know now that Mars and Saturn are also transiting Libra, so relationships are already under pressure. While Libra is the sign of relationships, it will occupy one or two (sometimes three) particular houses in your natal chart as I discussed last week. Do you know, yet, which house(s) Mars and Saturn are transiting in your chart? The Moon will be there this week, too. Expect activity in those areas of your life.

Tuesday kicks off with the Moon in Libra squaring Pluto at 8:00 a.m. (all times are EDT), and then opposing Uranus an hour and a half later. This is a “road rage” kind of aspect, and the day will likely get off to a tense start, then will get even tenser in the afternoon as the Moon conjuncts Mars around 3:00 pm Use the energy constructively by purging some clutter, or making any changes that require physical work. But be very careful —  accidents and injuries are waiting for those who aren’t focused on what they are doing.

Wednesday brings a trine of Mercury to Uranus. Even — perhaps especially — with Mercury retrograde, this aspect encourages out-of-the-box thinking, sudden travel plans, and breakthroughs in communication. But the Moon conjuncts Saturn around 11:30 a.m., so do your due diligence before putting any plans into action.

Early Thursday morning brings the waxing Quarter Moon at 4 degrees of Scorpio, which moves quickly into some uncomfortable aspects with Venus, Mercury and Uranus. Intensity of emotion can lead to uncomfortable, even explosive situations, but also may bring relationship breakthroughs. Friday’s aspects follow the same pattern.

Saturday is a busy day. The Moon moves into Sagittarius early in the morning, and Mercury conjuncts the Sun in Leo later in the day. The combination of Fire energies will be intense, but can be fun. A Moon - Jupiter opposition late Saturday afternoon can lead to social opportunities, and/or excessive emotionality.

Sunday finds the Moon opposing Venus and then sextiling Saturn later in the day, making this a good day to do some heartfelt and serious communicating in relationships.

Next week is the Full Moon in Aquarius, which will be making some interesting aspects in Barack Obama’s chart. I’ll talk about that in the next week’s post. I hope your week is magical!