After a few hours outside on a hot summer day doing hard labor, you’ll likely feel exhausted — maybe even depleted. If you didn’t properly apply sunscreen, your skin might be burned. You slowly amble back inside, in search of some self-care: perhaps some soothing lotion for your skin, a cold beverage, and dip in the pool.
A reset to replenish your system.
If you’re feeling that way right now, its with good reason.
The astrology of the past week has been reflecting three major sources of burnout, illuminating patterns we might not notice without this cosmic mirror. And just as the planetary alignments can show us where the problems are, they can also point us to the solutions we might not otherwise see.
The Fire/Air Dynamic Creates Conditions Ripe For Burnout
When fire and air dominate without a grounding force, it can leave us feeling hot and bothered, scattered to the winds, and moving in all directions at once — a perfect storm for burnout.
The planetary transits of the past week have been heavily concentrated in the elements of fire and air. The dynamic between these elements creates conditions that are a breeding ground for burnout.
Air and fire are compatible elements; both move outward and upward. Fire dances and spreads; air shifts and swirls. The elements feed each other: air fuels the fire and fans the flames; fire fills the environment with “hot air.”
Without a containing force, both fire and air will spread in multiple directions — like a wildfire or an airborne disease — without reservation.
Air represents the intellect and our thoughts; fire represents our action and motivation. When this energy is aligned and grounded, it’s like a bonfire or hearth: we act with a clear sense of purpose.
But when this energy dominates without a grounding force, it can leave us feeling hot and bothered, scattered to the winds, and moving in all directions at once — a perfect storm for burnout.
The fire/air dynamic came into focus when Mars, the planet of fire, action and drive, entered airy Libra, a place where it struggles. It immediately ran headfirst into obstacles it couldn’t see, thanks to an opposition with Saturn and Neptune — both air planets — in firey Aries.
The full moon in Aquarius — an opposition between the Sun in Leo (fire) and Moon in Aquarius (air) — intensified this dynamic, especially because it pulled in the Mars vs Saturn and Neptune signature.
Meanwhile, some other dynamics of the planetary landscape mirrored where and why we might be feeling burnout.
This week kicks off with an eloquently sequenced series of events that shows us the path to healing and wholeness.
3 Burnout Causes and Strategies for Healing
Burnout Cause 1: Inauthentic Expression
The ideas you don’t express literally burn a hole inside you — that fire consumes energy for other projects; it keeps things stuck.
Mercury — an air planet and the archetype of communication — has been retrograde in firey Leo.
While we were feeling the heat of the Mars/Saturn friction and the full moon tension, Mercury’s retrograde stymied our ability to communicate clearly about our experience, adding fuel to the fire of our frustration.
Mercury in Leo values authentic expression; it is a bold communicator with the courage of its convictions. Its retrograde through Leo invited us to review where we are lacking courage and bravery to speak our minds.
Mercury’s cazimi with the Sun illuminated where and why we hold ourselves back.
The frustration of Mercury retrograde in Leo goes deeper than communication hiccups. When you’re not communicating your best ideas and thought leadership in a way that feels authentic to you, you don’t feel fulfilled — even if other people find your work helpful.
The ideas you don’t express literally burn a hole inside you — that fire consumes energy for other projects; it keeps things stuck.
The Healing Strategy: Mercury Stations Direct: Find Your Courage
Mercury stations direct (August 11, 3:29 AM ET, 4º14’ Leo). After three weeks of review of where we are lacking courage to speak our truth, we might have some answers. As Mercury pivots to move forward and retread old ground again, we get a chance for a do-over in our conversations and how we articulate our ideas.
Instead of struggling to spark the fire of our words, we might feel the inner burn to fan the flames of our biggest and boldest ideas.
What ideas and thought leadership have you been holding back that you’re now ready to articulate to the world?
If the words aren’t quite lighting you up just yet, be patient; it can take Mercury a minute to get up and running after it pivots.
Burnout Cause 2: Ineffective Systems, Structure, and Support
A firestorm of ideas and frenetic action without a solid strategy, structure, and support is the prototypical recipe for burnout.
The full moon in Aquarius illuminated where you’re lacking effective systems, structures, and support to do your best work. Without an effective support system for turning ideas into reality, you’ll end up chasing every spark of an idea, lighting many fires, and then running around to put them out before they spread out of control.
A firestorm of ideas and frenetic action without a solid strategy, structure, and support is the prototypical recipe for burnout.
The Healing Strategy: Saturn Sextile Uranus: Innovate Better Systems
A sextile between Saturn in Aries and Uranus in Gemini (August 11, 11:32 PM ET, 1º12’ Aries/Gemini) brings more fire and air —although this time in a supportive aspect.
The aspect between Saturn and Uranus is an opportunity to innovate your systems and structures, and recruit the support you need so that you can build a bonfire that sustains you rather than a wildfire that burns out of control.
Saturn wants to create structures and systems; Uranus wants to outgrow those systems to find something better. This is about innovating in a way that helps you create structures that will support rather than suffocate.
It’s about creating a structure that gives you freedom, rather than limits your freedom.
- What systems will help you hone your focus and prevent energy leaks without restraining your autonomy?
- How can you create conditions that catalyze breakthroughs without breaking you down in the process?
Read: 5 Types of Structures You Need to Create Flow
Burnout Cause 3: Frustration from Working Hard Without a Payoff
Burnout isn’t just being tired. It’s a feeling of futility. When you’re running into obstacles and feel like you’re betraying yourself you lose your sense of purpose and motivation.
Mars in Libra wants to fight every injustice, but of course, it’s ineffective to fight multiple fronts at the same time. This can often create a dynamic where we invest effort in one thing while feeling guilty for not doing another important thing.
The result: feelings of self-betrayal — a common signature of Mars in Libra.
Mars’ opposition to Saturn and Neptune revealed where you’re constantly repeating a crash and burn cycle. In its best iteration, Mars opposite Saturn can be the resistance that helps us build strength. When we reap the rewards for our effort, we receive that dopamine hit that makes it all worth it.
But when we keep bumping up against obstacles we can’t see, our efforts start to feel futile. Neptune in the mix introduces confusion. We may start to wonder:
Am I doing the right work? Am I on the right track? Why even bother at all?
Burnout isn’t just being tired. It’s a feeling of futility. When you’re running into obstacles and feel like you’re betraying yourself you lose your sense of purpose and motivation.
The Healing Strategy: Venus Conjunct Jupiter: A Healing Balm of Nourishment
When we begin with principles of care, our potential is limitless.
After all the fire and air, you have good reason to feel sunburned and scattered, like you’ve just been through a windstorm in a heatwave.
And then comes the healing balm: a conjunction between Venus and Jupiter in Cancer (August 12, 1:30 AM ET, 14º03’).
This is the aloe on your sunburn, the cool drink of water. After all the hard work in the firepit, you get to jump into the pool for a refreshing swim.
Venus and Jupiter are the two benefics — planets that bring luck, blessings, and rewards. Their annual meet-ups are always an auspicious moment, and this one is extra special: it takes place in the healing and nurturing sign of Cancer, where Jupiter is exalted and Venus is also very comfortable.
In many ways, the energy is the opposite of the Mars/Saturn opposition: while Mars/Saturn exposes a tension with the two challenging planets in signs where they have no resources, Venus/Jupiter is a union of the two best planets in a sign where they are well-resourced.
A conjunction is a “new moon” moment for the Venus/Jupiter cycle. This is a new beginning; a rebirth in the sacred waters of Cancer — the womb.
Venus and Jupiter promise ease and flow, abundance and generosity, love and care, nurturing and nourishment.
This moment is a reminder that when we’re pushing hard we also need to engage in self-care; that we need to nourish ourselves so we can fill our cups.
If we don’t have that inner nourishment, we can’t create a spark to express our genius, to innovate better systems, to summon the courage we need to share our best work in a way that feels authentic to us.
This is why Cancer comes before Leo in the order of the zodiac: we can express outward only when we have first nourished within.
Venus and Jupiter meeting up in Cancer reminds us that when we begin with principles of care, our potential is limitless.
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[…] you follow astrology, you have likely read about the auspicious Jupiter/Venus conjunction in Cancer (August 12, 1:30 AM ET, […]