If you enjoy spending at least some of your weekend shopping for gifts, this weekend is probably not the best for it.

It features a New Moon in Taurus, which in itself is OK – Taureans love their possessions – but which is going to get activated by the Mercury square Neptune aspect (in force until Sunday morning), and then be followed up by a crushingly brutal Mars square Pluto combination lasting until early Monday.

So what this points to is a “need” (the Moon is what you need) around money, finances, posessions etc. You may “need” to go shopping for a birthday gift. 

Mercury (thoughts, communication) squares Neptune (glamour, illusion, escapism) suggests that you could be severely deluded if you think that antique in the market stall is real, the bag on eBay is a genuine Prada, the gizmo actually does what it suggests etc. Lies, fantasies, wishful thinking, confusion are all typical of a Saturday afternoon at the shops – and then of course, there’s this aspect.

Then the real kicker is Mars (aggression, anger, energy, drive) square Pluto (hidden secrets, power, control, taboo). You could be boxed into a very uncomfortable corner, made to agree to something not in your favour or bullied in a thoroughly unpleasant confrontation.

Since shop assistants aren’t allowed to carry on like this, your weekend could go like this: You want to go shopping for something/anything, so you buy something useless, flimsy, or unreliable, and then you get into a big fight about your spending habits which you’ve been trying to avoid or they finally discover your credit card statement. Or something similar.

This might be one weekend not to go shopping…