Together with the New Moon of only a day ago the principal feature of this current alert is the alignment between the Moon and Mercury which will be influential from 13:30 GMT (08:30 EDT) to around 07:30 GMT (02:30 EDT) on the 7th of May.

With regards to moods this is likely to lead to an atmosphere of greatly increased nervous restlessness with a powerful sense of awareness and perception that for some may just be a little too much for comfort. These feelings will run in tandem to those of the New Moon increasing overall levels of insecurity and ensuring that feelings of worry, apprehension, and indecision will all be magnified.

The Moon/Mercury alignment will also contribute to raised levels of alertness with enhanced perception and intuition. Indeed some may develop an almost psychic degree of insight, and imaginative and creative ability will both be boosted. Under these circumstances feelings will also be subject to a high degree of sensitivity with an easy disposition to upsets or perceived criticism, and a strong desire for change.

The effects of the current New Moon mean that more aggressive and belligerent moods will never be far from the surface and although this mood is not of the highest category of bellicose atmospheres there is still the constant risk of arguments that may on occasion become quite nasty. In this respect it should be remembered that Mars continues to be in opposition to Jupiter and this will increase feelings of an assertive nature with forceful, robust and at times objectionable attitudes that may be tinged with boastful, bullying and self centred behaviour.

Once again some measure of restraint will come from the influence of Saturn which still remains in opposition to Neptune. This will give some degree of emotional frustration with a poor sense of satisfaction, as well as reduced self confidence with easy disillusionment. Hence there may be an intense desire for instant emotional rewards and escapism in its limitless forms will be hard to resist. Not surprisingly it may feel hard to get going and ones daily routine may suffer from frequent distractions. Similarly there may be a poor sense of concentration and it may become ever more harder to focus on the task in hand.

On the more positive side the energy of the Moon/Merucry alignment may be good for physical pursuits as well as offering enhanced potential for creative or artistic expression or all activities that depend on expressional ability. The intense nervous restlessness of this period may also encourage thoughts towards activities or ideas that one may never have previously considered.

The week ahead is likely to show a gradual decline in the intensity of moods and emotions as we head into a short period with one of the years lowest concentrations of planetary alignments.

Alert is 8. Moon 1% illuminated.