Mars and Neptune: aspect cards

Mars conjunct Neptune makes your drive subtle and at times blurred. You act from inspiration more than plan, which suits art, dance, music or helping others with compassion, but your energy tends to rise and fall with mood, and sometimes you are not sure what you want to do. The things to watch are putting work off again and again, and dodging confrontation by sidestepping the issue.

• You act from inspiration and bring creative work to life.
• You help others out of compassion without needing to be told.
• You sense a group's mood and feelings before anyone speaks.

• Your energy rises and falls with mood, so steady output is hard.
• You may avoid confrontation and leave things open instead of saying them plainly.

You promise a friend you will help make a poster for a charity event. In the first week you are overflowing with ideas, but by the second your mood dips and you leave the file open all day without touching it. Try setting a twenty-minute timer each morning, and tell your friend plainly where you are. Inspiration with a schedule under it becomes real work.

Give your inspiration a small schedule, and it will have the strength to act.

When Mars is in harmony with Neptune, the energy to act serves a vision gently. You work from inspiration, move fluidly and act to help others with compassion. Dance, art, music, counselling-type work or instinct-led sport suit you, because the doing and the dreaming happen together. The thing to watch is letting inspiration drift with no plan under it, so a lovely idea stays an idea.

• You turn a picture in your mind into finished work with ease.
• You help others with compassion and do not make them feel like a burden.
• You work well by instinct on jobs with no fixed formula.

• You may wait for inspiration before you start, and work sits for a long time.
• Compassion may lead you to carry more of other people's load than you should.

You want to make a short dance clip but have waited two months to feel ready. You book a rehearsal room every Tuesday and invite a friend to film on the thirtieth. With a clear date, the choreography takes shape within two weeks.

Give your dream a schedule, and your gift will have results you can touch.

When Mars challenges Neptune, your drive leaks away or loses direction. You may feel unmotivated for no clear reason, procrastinate or dodge confrontation. Dissatisfaction is sometimes hidden as passivity or indirect sarcasm, and you may meet people at work who are not straight with you. The upside is compassion and imagination. When you set a clear goal and say what you want plainly, the energy flows one way.

• Your imagination finds other ways out that others do not see.
• You feel for people at a disadvantage and will not let them be overlooked.
• You are open to flexible ways of working and do not hold to one formula.

• You may procrastinate when the goal is unclear or you do not know where to start.
• Dissatisfaction you do not voice may come out as sarcasm or silence.

In your group project nobody has taken the summary section, and you are unhappy at carrying it but say nothing. As the deadline nears you start answering the chat in short, curt lines. Try writing who should do which part by Friday, then send it to everyone and ask whether they agree.

Say clearly what you want, and your energy will flow in one direction and count.