irrational impulse
Uranus has been retrograde since September 5, 2025, and will go direct this week (February 3, 2026, 6:33 PM PST) 27°27′ Taurus. I came to expect the roar of energy as the outer planet changed direction. Feeling restless and rebellious for no reason is a sign of Uranus stopping, as is the irrational urge to do something irreversible. There are moments in life when that’s exactly what’s needed.
But there’s been an air of extremes and overreaction in the air for days on both sides of the station, so proceed with caution. Uranus will want to free us from the ways that prevent us from enjoying happiness and prosperity, but this rarely happens without consequences.
Now is the time to ask yourself: Where have I moved beyond my old definition of safety? What resources (skills, connections, ideas) do I already have that can support me in new ways? How can I stay open to opportunities that are different from the traditional paths I’ve relied on?
Uranus doesn’t promise comfort, but it does offer freedom. This freedom often begins with a willingness to treat the things we value most differently.
Outdated
Let’s say you’re a great typewriter repairman. You’ve spent your career mastering the features of various makes and models, sourcing replacement parts and, in some cases, making them yourself.
The problem is, almost no one uses typewriters anymore.
You can be the best at something, but if it’s about to become obsolete, you won’t have many opportunities to do it.
as Mercury squares innovative Uranus (February 5, 2026, 4:13 AM PST, 27° Aquarius and Taurus) Circumstances force you to adopt a new strategy. This is an opportunity to use old skills in new ways to better meet contemporary needs. The world is changing at an accelerating pace; don’t let yourself be ignored.
relax your mind
Is your brain tired? If your days are an endless, repetitive cycle of chores, tasks, analysis, and chatter, you might benefit from some unstructured dream time now. Enter Mercury in Pisces (February 6, 2026 at 2:48 PM PST, to April 13), which facilitates processing and communicating with the world in a more poetic, less linear way.
Pisces speaks to us through images, music and art. As a toddler, my Pisces godson would stop in his tracks every time he walked past a television set, immediately mesmerized by the images on the screen. A dear Pisces friend spent as much of her teenage years sleeping as possible. When he wasn’t sleeping, he was playing music. In my birth chart, Mercury aspects Neptune (the modern ruler of Pisces); when I was a child, it took a lot of effort to pull myself out of my daydreams.
Ideally, we’d be away from the world, spending Mercury’s Pisces season at an easel, or in Esalen, sitting in lotus position overlooking the Big Sur coastline. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have access to a ten-week retreat at an exclusive meditation center. However, we can make an effort to temporarily loosen control of our schedules and to-do lists a little more than we normally would. When Mercury is in this sign, it’s worth taking a moment to read a novel, take a walk in nature, meditate, and do other unyielding things. Take a moment to relax your mind and follow the threads that connect your thoughts back to their origins so you can come up with a different dream for your future.
retrograde wild horse
Venus square Uranus This week (February 8, 2026 at 1:49 AM PST) Aquarius and Taurus 27°28′. Aquarius and Uranus are both like trying to catch a raging wild horse, so this might be the equivalent of having a friend show up at your door with your favorite candy the day after you commit to starting eating healthy. Or set a strict budget for your family in the new year, only to find that the refrigerator immediately breaks.
Along with diet and budget, relationships are an important part of the Venusian terrain. This week could bring a new, exciting business or personal relationship—or a surprising development in an existing relationship. When Venus squares Uranus, there is a tension between the proper balance of unity and independence, emotion and freedom.
Finding this balance is often a difficult task, especially in relationships where partners live in the same house. But this aspect can also make us aware of desires we didn’t realize we had, and with someone so familiar, we may have begun to ignore them.
Text and images © 2017-2026 by April Elliott Kent
