Perhaps it’s just Mercury retrograde that makes me feel that the world is spinning with a million details that are having difficulty fitting nicely into the pigeonholes of my life. Or perhaps it’s the exact conjunction of my progressed Moon to my natal Moon. This event is known as the Progressed Lunar Return and it’s supposed to be a major time of change and I’m sure that’s true if I could only slow down enough to notice it. I feel that the pace of life in general, not just my life, is accelerating so that we’re all like hummingbirds buzzing around, being busy.

Evidently it’s not just me; a recent study in Britain found that city dwellers are walking 10 percent faster than they did in 1994. In Asian countries the pace has accelerated by 20 to 30 percent. Is this progress? I’m not so sure.

Mars is in Taurus now, where it demands that we slow down and smell the coffee and then have a seat and savor it for most of the afternoon. The joys of being in a physical form are the domain of Taurus, and there has been a noticeable lack of the earth element present in planetary dynamics over the past year. Earth is the element that grounds us; that takes our ideas and converts them into practical form and helps us to feel rooted on the planet. Without earth it can be difficult for us to feel comfortable in our bodies unless we consciously spend time in earthy pursuit such as gardening.

I for one am looking forward to a return of earth when Jupiter heads into Capricorn in December of this year, paving the way for Pluto to follow shortly thereafter. Capricorn provides structure and rootedness, qualities which are often resisted as boring and restrictive but will be welcome to me as stabilizing and providing much-needed balance.