The Greater Malefic

I’m preparing to take a two-week “vacation” (I’ve got so much in my life that needs tending to that the idea of being dragged away from it for two weeks is really unsettling) and I have been extremely stressed out about it.  So, let’s take a look at the transits and see what might be causing the problems.

Major outer transits include:
T Jupiter (in my 1st house) opposes my natal Mercury
T Saturn (in the 9th) square AC/DC
T Saturn square Sun
Since Neptune (currently in my 3rd house) is currently opposing Saturn, that means I have a lovely Fixed Grand Cross with the Saturn/Neptune opposition and my AC/DC axis.  I also have a Fixed T-square with my natal Sun.  Transits have combined to give me some sort of Fixed GC or T-square back to 2005.
T Uranus is going through my 4th house, and I think this has given me lots of unsettled feelings about home and what that is (its conjunction with my IC was right around the time when I moved 500+ miles from home)
T Pluto (in the 2nd) is making one more swing back at my natal Neptune and has also started to make square aspects to natal Jupiter

Basically the ongoing picture is one of a lot of stress (the Fixed hard aspects not letting up for nearly 2 years) and neither Saturn nor Uranus are well placed by house for personal travel.  Indeed, it has been years since I was really excited about a trip that could be called “personal.”  In fact, my panic over this trip is nothing compared to my panic over a similar, shorter trip last summer.  It seems like my anxiety could just be part of my ongoing reaction to these long-term transits, but I’m still interested in the short-term picture.

During my trip the Sun will move from 18 Gemini to 2 Cancer.  As it goes from 21-27 Gemini, it will oppose my Neptune, and at the end of the trip, it will start to square my Jupiter/Saturn conjunction.  The Moon will move from Aries to Libra, and I will have my Lunar return on the penultimate day of my trip.  The big one, of course, is Mercury, which goes into retrograde (two days after we begin a trip within the larger trip).  Now I have done a lot of traveling during the last few years, and I have traveled under multiple Merc RXs, and there is no rhyme or reason to predict whether or not troubles will ensue.  I really hope that the blasted thing doesn’t add too much stress to my travels.  As Venus treks across Leo, she will square my natal Mars, and as Mars itself wends its way through the last half of Aries, it will oppose Pluto.

The Sun transits and the Mercury retrograde stand out as the two major sources for concern.  The last time I was home, I had transiting Sun square natal Moon, and ended up having an emotional breakdown the day before I was supposed to leave.  It looked bad, but it was only a partial breakdown, and I hope that the illusion of Sun opposed Neptune or the stress of Sun square Saturn (thank heavens for Jupiter) will not trigger a similar episode (it is interesting to note that I will have my second T Sun square natal Moon about a week after I return–this year’s Sun/Moon transit cycle is worth a note of its own, methinks).  Family summer vacation is not really the time for such things, but the only other time of year I’m ever home is Christmas.  Obviously there are some things that I need to “get out,” but I just don’t know if doing so under a Mercury retrograde is such a hot prospect.  I suppose I know what to be “on the lookout for” over the next couple of weeks, and I’ll try to monitor the skies themselves and see how things come to fruition.