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Important Life Seasons That Impact Our Compatibility with Ourselves and Others

Adapted from Signs & Skymates: The Ultimate Guide to Astrological Compatibility by Dossé-Via Trenou

Our seasonal compatibility with life is based on the luminaries and the astrological seasons marked by the transit of the Sun through the twelve zodiac signs, as well as the phases and transits of the Moon. While we may not always be able to map out conversations or decisions based on the cycles of the Moon, it’s definitely beneficial to know which Moon transits we vibe with most and which ones may challenge us.

 

Short-term transits:

Mercury Retrograde

Mercury Retrograde is one of the best periods for figuring out your long-term compatibility with a partner. This transit helps you face repeat­ing themes in your life, and the ways you decide to traverse—or avoid—them will show you a lot about the strength, or lack thereof, of your relationship. This transit is also lovely for exploring your compatibility with self, because you will start to rewire your brain or notice repeated patterns of thought and behavior you may wish to adjust.

Mercury Retrograde simply isn’t as much of a big deal as it’s been made out to be in mainstream astrology. Often the advice of never starting a relationship during Mercury Retrograde scares people away from dating or connecting, when it’s actually okay to be open to it—as long as they slow their roll and take their time. Mercury asks us, what are we in such a rush for anyway?

 

Get to Know Mercury
from the Signs & Skymates Astrological Compatibility Deck

In Yorùbá spirituality, Mercury is represented by Èṣù. He’s known as the master of languages, a trickster. The guru of both communication and crossroads, Èṣù is called on to deepen our verbal and nonverbal gifts as we quickly solve problems using the power of thought, intention, and intellect.

 

Explore Your Mercury Sign: The Planet of Communication
from My Signs & Skymates: A Guided Journal for Mapping Your Astrological Compatibility

In human relations, Mercury placement has quite an influence on how we get to know someone, what we think or infer about someone, and how we connect with them on a day-to-day level. It also helps us know which hobbies we’re most drawn to, which educational paths we may want to take, and which careers will bring us intellectual satisfaction.

What is your Mercury sign?

Mercury placements inform which learning, writing, teaching, and working styles we’re most compatible with. Looking at one’s Mercury placement can help us better understand the environment we need to thrive mentally, feel safe, and open up to others.

Take a look at where Mercury is placed in your chart.

What does the sign and house tell you about the way you think and communicate with the world?

Take a lesson on Mercury Retrograde from my own life. I’m writing this on the first day of the final Mercury Retrograde of 2021. I just got back from a weekend in Togo, celebrating my son Rémy’s birthday with my fam­ily and co-parenting with my former partner Royce. We tend to have co-parenting conversa­tions before either of us travels, so we had one last night, and it revealed many insights to me. It showed that my growth with Royce as a co-parent is not always going to be linear. Since he’s a Gemini with a Gemini Rising who is ruled by Mercury, Mercury Retrograde often reveals to both of us when there’s still a lesson we must learn to thrive in the new partner­ship dynamic we’re cocreating. Sometimes those lessons are hard pills to swallow, which is why Mercury Retrograde tends to repeat the same lessons until we finally get it.

 

Void Moon Periods

The Moon transits each zodiac sign for roughly 2.5 days, and in the hours or minutes before it shifts into a new sign there is a period known as the Moon being “void of course.” During this period before it transitions into a new sign, the Moon makes no particular aspects with planets. It can be viewed as a period of limbo, or a napping period for the Moon. When the Moon is void, usually whatever you begin won’t have as much impact or influence as it would if the Moon were solidly in a sign and making planetary aspects. This doesn’t mean you must avoid having any conversations or initiating anything when the Moon is void, but it does mean you’d benefit from using that time to chill more. The KnowTheZodiac (KTZ) app has a list of void Moon periods that may be helpful. The Moon literally wants us to chill, so she creates set void periods throughout the week for us, and for her, to do so. Thank you, Moon! Thank you, Yemoja!

 

Get to Know the Moon
from the Signs & Skymates Astrological Compatibility Deck

The Moon’s wisdom is healing, freeing us as we allow ourselves to feel the total range of our emotions. It doesn’t ask us to compartmentalize these feelings. The Moon teaches us that everything we feel is useful, especially the feelings we try to discard.

 

Explore Your Moon Sign: The Luminary of Your Emotions and Subconscious 
from My Signs & Skymates: A Guided Journal for Mapping Your Astrological Compatibility

Our Moon signs influence our emotional responses to ourselves and others. The more attuned we are with our Moon sign, the more we hear our inner voice.
What is your Moon sign?

Reflect on how you see your Moon sign in your emotional responses. Are there aspects of it that particularly resonate with you?

 

Longer-term transits:

The First and Second Saturn Return (between 28 and 31 years old and 58 and 60 years old)

Sometimes it’s best to be alone or spend time apart when one or both skymates are going through a Saturn Return. This helps you avoid projecting issues, pain, or loneliness on each other. The Saturn Return demands self-discipline, and if you are in a committed partnership around this time but find yourself needing more time alone, remind your partner(s) that it’s  less about them and more about you. Own up to your mess and imperfec­tions, and grow from there.

 

Jupiter/Saturn/Uranus/Neptune/Pluto (social and generational planets) transiting the fifth, seventh, or eighth house

When these transits occur, they often last several years. They tend to have more sub­conscious, yet quite significant impacts, on the way we approach relation­ships. During Jupiter’s transit through our fifth house, which can last about thirteen months, many skymates may meet someone (or more than one person) they feel is like a soulmate. I’m about to experience this tran­sit next year, so I’m very curious about what it will bring.

As a contrast, skymates who experience Saturn in the fifth house, which can last about two and a half years, may feel tested in their romantic and creative rela­tionships during that transit, because Saturn is the Planet of Challenge. A skymate who experiences Neptune in the seventh house, which is a transit that can last more than fourteen years since Neptune is such a slow-mov­ing planet, may subconsciously be overly idealistic when it comes to find­ing a long-term partner, because Neptune is the Planet of Fantasy and the seventh house rules marriage.

The more familiar you become with the energy and themes of each planet and house, the better you can identify how those themes show up in your life and influence your relationships during the different transits. Not all skymates will experience social and generational planets in their love or relationship sectors throughout this lifetime. On the KTZ site, you can find out how the current planetary tran­sits are influencing your chart in real time. Tracking your current transits is like having super accurate astro weather reports. It’s a game-changer for how you flow through life.

 

Get to Know Saturn
from the Signs & Skymates Astrological Compatibility Deck

Saturn ensures that each human faces the trials they need to grow. It’s not up to other humans to decide which growth is the most authentic or the most valuable. We all grow differently. Focus on your own growth, adhere to your own path, put in your own work, and you will see progress.

 

Dosse-Via Trenou, author of Signs & Skymates

Dossé-Via Trenou

About the Author

Dossé-Via Trenou is a West African astrologer who has been studying the field since she was ten years old. She has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers via her platform @ScorpioMystique and on the app, KnowTheZodiac. She graduated with her Master’s degree in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a professional model, actor, and creator of Magic & Melanin, a travel agency providing immersive experiences for humans of African descent to know, explore, and invest in the Motherland. She is the author of Signs & Skymates, and this is her first book for young readers.

Learn more about this author