The Moon is now in opposition to Venus and the pair will remain aligned until around 17:00 (12:00 EDT on the 19th of February. During portions of this period the Moon will also begin to come into opposition to Mercury in what is the immediate run up period to the next Full Moon.

Likely mood trends to result from this include a more responsive and friendly attitude with affable, popular and more affectionate feelings. In addition there will be a better sense of rhythm and balance as well as good creative, artistic and expressional abilities. This will lead to a better sense of sympathy and understanding and improved co-operation with others which in this immediate Full Moon lead up could mean rather less by way of aggressive or confrontational energy.

As mentioned above we are now very much in the lead up period to the next Full Moon on February 21st. Inevitably this is bound to result in increased tension and anxiety with a high degree of nervous restlessness, impatience and feelings that could make it hard to settle or take it easy. Consequently there may be a high degree of pent up energy in need of healthy exploitation and over the next few days the difference between a challenging period or one of more rewarding dimensions, may be no more than how one deals with this zestful energy. Certainly there may be creative, artistic, or intellectual inclinations, though this should be balanced - if possible - by more physical pursuits that will help burn off stress causing surges of unused energy.

Another prime factor of this period is the opposition of the Sun and Saturn which is slow moving and will be with us for close on three weeks. As such this will exert a fundamental influence on moods and emotions and will form a very important element throughout the period when this alignment remains influential. Like emotions to result from this may incline towards cool and calculating traits with a responsible and practical attitude. It will also mean realistic and resourceful endeavour with better concentration and persistence of effort.

On the other hand Sun/Saturn alignments can also lead to limited emotional depth and experience with a sense of personal inadequacy or depressional thoughts and behaviour with melancholia and a worrying attitude that may be prone to bouts of phobias, that could contribute to chronic ill health. The proximity of the Full Moon should prevent these traits from becoming too entrenched, and similarly the effects of Saturn should be enough to preclude a very powerful Full Moon atmosphere.

As mentioned earlier the Moon is also coming into opposition with Mercury and this may lead to sensitive and alert feelings with a high degree of mental and nervous activity that may be strongly desirous of change and variety.

It will be appreciated that the current mood atmosphere is one of considerable complexity as once again we are heading into one of the years most concentrated periods of planetary alignments.

Alert is 7.5. Moon 92% illuminated.