Venus: Gratification 2012 Station/Retrograde

  In the Meadow by Pierre Auguste Renoir (c 1890-1894)

Planet Venus goes retrograde on May 15th at 2:34 p.m., UT/+0 time. Because we give any celestial object a two-day before/two-day after ‘station window,’ that means Venus’s station effects begin on May 13th and last through May 17th, with the six weeks of Venus in retrograde stretching on beyond that.

The general ‘rule’ for celestial stations holds here: events which strike you as being of import which occur during these days can be major ‘turning points’ in life.

Those which happen prior to the start of retrograde tend to indicate things which have yet to unfold or play out.

Those which happen during the station if after the start of retrograde generally are part of something which has already happened – a consequence, a result, a response. This may or may not be the end of the matter, but if the celestial object (in this case, Venus) is already in retrograde it’s likely that nothing substantive will evolve from here until the retrograde ends – which in this case will be June 27th.

Pop astrology (which sounds like something which would have a label saying it’s ‘cosmically carbonated’…)…pop astrology refers to Venus as money and luxury and beauty and love. All of which Venus can be connected to. But the real ‘astrological Venus’ is a precept which in broad-stroke terms can probably best be described as ‘the cause/effect factor.’ Depending on the nature and quality of what we put out there…that determines the reactions others have to us. 

That ‘quality’ – and the ‘quality’ of our presentation as we put said ‘quality’ out there is the Venus of it all.

And once you have that stuffed in your brain (slid into your brain?) understanding why Venus retrograde is generally known as a touchy time becomes not all that mysterious. Any planet which goes retrograde functions within. We live here on Earth and during a retrograde, the retrograding object is falling behind in relative perspective from here on Earth - which rather readily explains why the Sun and Moon never go retrograde. (The Sun isn't going anywhere and the Moon never leaves Earth’s orbit.)

photo credit: NASA-JPL

The important thing about all of this is that we’re Earth (or earthly, if you prefer) entities. Even astronauts haven’t yet ventured away from Planet Earth to any distance. So to think of retrograde as being here on Earth and not being able to connect with the planet whose precepts are in retrograde (because it is behind the Sun) is a decent way to think about the whole thing.

In the case of Venus, Venus is all about cause – effect. So it’s pretty darn hard on us when those we are accustomed to getting reactions from suddenly are off-line.

Who does that leave us to get appreciation and applause from? Answer: ourselves. And though this doesn’t sound like much fun (and doesn’t tend to be much fun, either) what it does describe is what we might call a ‘quality control loop’ which is totally ours to own. Venus retrograde isn’t a great time to make a statement to others, no. But it’s a perfectly fine time to be thinking things through. How to do them…how would others react to this or that…what if I…how would that look or work…

It’s a good time for tinkering with projects – or with how you go about being yourself. Though the biblical verse did not say ‘a time to sulk, a time to mope…’ if the person writing that had known their astrology, they might have added this rather pragmatic line. And yes, a smattering of sulking, a pound of pouting, a measure of moping is to be expected. But those who make a decision to change their ways, to ‘fix’ themselves on the INSIDE are in a good way under Venus retrograde. It is, in short, a great time for private projects. Just remember – it’s NOT external. So this isn’t the moment to dye your hair green. This isn’t the moment to go and splurge on something fancy-schmancy for the house.

Internal. Think private and internal. 

When Mars went retrograde earlier this year, our ability to connect with the cosmic essence of ‘getting it into gear’ was missing. So though we wanted to get things done, things ‘out there in the world’ weren’t reacting. We weren’t connecting to them in any truly efficient way. I know people who made advances while Mars was in retrograde. Nearly all of them lost those advances (or finished those projects) before Mars came out of retrograde.

So did they waste Mars retrograde? Not at all. For one, the gains they made – whatever they were – those are real. What seems more in question here is whether they will have learned anything from what earned them the advantage…and garnered them whatever disadvantages they might have then encountered. A friend of mine got a job not long after Mars went retrograde – and then lost it before Mars went direct. Sure, there were a few corporate machinations which went with his being laid off, but the greater observation would be someone had to go and they decided it was him.

What he doesn’t know (unless he reads this blog, in which case I’m going to get a tout-de-suite phone call) is that he had been sufficiently ‘beaten down’ by the time Mars went into retrograde that his assertively edgy, highly Martian energy had become subdued. But the minute he was in and the paychecks started hitting his account, his less tolerant, less ‘team player’ energetics began to return.

Less team player works when you’re a freelancer (which he had been). It doesn’t work as well when you want to work corporate.

There are five ‘inner solar system’ symbols (inner here meaning inside the orbit of Earth) which we meet up with everyday: the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Moon. So like Mars, Venus is something which though we think of it as being something we operate in the world, it’s personal. It therefore starts in, and with us.

As we come into Venus retrograde, some things are going along in a just plain nifty fashion…and some are probably glitchy. With Venus going retrograde in the latter part of Gemini (at 23 Gemini, to be exact), we are given to know that others are giving us feedback indicating what is and isn’t working. Venus having entered the ‘shadow’ of its retrograde back on April 11th, mental issues and ideas having arisen since that time are uppermost on our mind – this being because Gemini is an airy, theoretical sign about thought, communications, ideas…and our mentality, priorities and choices. It’s about what we’ve learned and whether we use what we know.

And why would it be about all such things? So that we LEARN, people! (Oy, I feel like such a mother…!)(maybe a muthah, not sure…)

Whatever isn’t working now…you’re likely to project. You may think it’s ‘about them’ or ‘their fault.’ You may well think you’ve been rejected or forgotten or discarded, even if that’s not even vaguely on the other guy’s mental radar. (Unless they’re thinking the same about you, of course!)

Under Venus retrograde in general finances tend to be an issue. Either they’re being discussed, harped on or in a scramble, or they may be a source of difficulty. Any or all of these are really less about the money per se than they are about you and either your mindset about money…or what you’re doing/not doing to earn it or keep it. There are those who simply think there can never be enough money. Then again, there are those who have ‘decided’ there is only one thing they can do to earn money. Or that they ‘can’t get a job.

All of these things are not about the money itself – they’re about your thinking. And from that point of view, Venus retrograde is a simply splendid time, as it’s a premier indicator when it comes to thinking over what we’re going to do with our lives which is of value…and which therefore can cause the effect we want – in this case, income.

A lot of people are changing jobs. A lot of people don’t have jobs. But of those who do have jobs (even careers – didn’t mean to leave you out!) there are many people who got into their ‘chosen’ career for the wrong reasons. In other words, they’re not happy doing what they’re doing.

Is life ever long enough to be doing something we really don’t like doing for a lifetime?

I know perfectly bright people (even a few brilliant people) who when I point out how unhappy they are with their current job they reply ‘but that’s all I know how to do.’ Really? When was it that smart people got so dim about their capacity.

Or maybe it’s not really that? Once we get into a field of endeavor, we not only get comfortably secure with the pluses and minuses of everyday life…but we also begin building a reputation. I submit to you that this may be the real problem with bright people who “can’t” change fields of endeavor: the thought of going back to being a small(er) fish in a big(ger) pond…well, maybe it terrifies them.

A long time ago now, someone not intending to be kind to me at all said a very true thing. He said ‘most people would rather sit there being miserable with what they know than risk standing up and making a difference in their own life.’

Several months after he said that (and trust me, I quit my job that day then broke up with him that very evening!)…master astrologer Robert Zoller said just about the same thing. I paraphrase here, but basically what he said was that a horoscope is ‘fate’ only because most people won’t exert the effort to turn ‘fate’ into free will.

At some level, effort equals risk. What we risk is the known – and that is our status quo: our Venus. The effort and risky part of risk – that’s Mars. Together they create the friction which results in growth, sex, pleasure and the deliciously scary part of life’s adventures, life’s risks.

It’s worth noting that Venus and Mars also do go retrograde pretty much in pairs. This year Mars went first, retrograding in Virgo (functionality: how well is your life working?) and now Venus is going retrograde in Gemini, asking us what’s worth putting that (Mars) effort into?

 Mars, Venus and Amor by Titian (c 1530)

 

Those who make ‘course corrections’ and ‘fine tunings’ of their plans (or total jettisoning of old plans in favor of new plans) will over the next two years, build on the basis of what they learn or recognize now. Come 2014, Venus will go retrograde first. It’ll be going retrograde in Capricorn, which suggests it’s at that point when we’ll either see and reap the success planted here in 2012 or…given that Mars is going retrograde in 2014 in Libra (our relationship to our world) we’ll be hit with personal-feeling, very frustrating shortfalls and an ever-increasing sense of lack of personal fulfillment.

Another useful idea to ponder when we talk about the ‘personal’ symbols (Sun, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Moon) is that while they are pozzolutely personal, they’re also personal for everybody. So while we need to think in terms of ourselves, we do ourselves a favor by remembering that everyone else has a life and feelings and hopes and aims as well. They may not process problems at the same level we do, but their problems are real to them, nonetheless – and they don’t always function the way we think they will.

Yet another friend…a well-to-do, highly trained medical professional - he and I had an interesting conversations a while ago. It was about hunger. I’ve been hungry in my time, and knowing his history, I pointed out his never having been there.

His reply: no, I’ve never been hungry. But some of my patients are hungry and I sometimes try to imagine what that’s like.

First of all, I wish hunger on nobody. But more than that, I realized that his well-heeled, fortuitous upbringing had blessed him materially without giving him the slightest bit of ability to recognize the value of what he’s got. That lack of having ‘gone without’ limits his ability to be satisfied – and satisfaction (along with security) is the Taurean hallmark and very much connected with Venus (ruler of Taurus and Libra).

It even limits his ability to connect with his patients. 

Back in my early days I went to some doctor’s office and he walked in holding a bowl of cherries. Want some? Seasoned by his many years in practice, he sat down and we had our medical conversation over that shared bowl of cherries. Years and years later I realized that those cherries – like all gestures of shared food open a door to humanness.

And I came to think that particularly useful in a doctor, since they're all about humanness. Someday I may go back into that office of the younger doctor and have him offer me an apple or an orange. You never know - life teaches us how to value ourselves, others, each other and what we have to share at the oddest of times.

 Foods by US Department of Agriculture

 

Not shockingly, food is a Taurean – and therefore Venusian – commodity. The necessities of life, that we need to sustain us, give us a modicum of security, those things are Venusian.

Value (the value of something), our values, our ability to evaluate and valuing other - they're all Venusian. The equating of something or someone (or some idea) with some value we hold - that's the Libra side of Venus, and thus something which we think about now and realize we've done well with or need to learn more about come Mars' 2014 retrograde.

Being valued - the more familiar side of Venus (that we link to love and beauty) is where Venus' two signs of rulership come together. Those who think beauty is the do-all, be all, let's  try that out through Venus as Aphrodite concept. If goddess Aphrodite is gorgeous but a bitch, is she still beautiful? Do you still like her, are you still attracted to her if her every desire is selfish, if her every word is caustic?

I’m going to guess the answer is ‘no.’ And the reason for that would be her causal dynamic is faulty.

This is where the cause-effect thing becomes our Taurus reality. Rejection hurts not because someone doesn't like us, but because their not liking us or not giving us that job or not liking our sense of humor - that somehow strikes us down deep inside. It hits our internal sense of beauty - the 'am I okay?' spot. That's generally called security...but only when security meets up with our having values and satisfying the standards set by our own values do we achieve satisfaction: the Taurean gold standard.

Gemini is the sign after Taurus. Venus going retrograde in the sign after its own home sign tells us we're going to be thinking about our value, our values, our worth - and what do to with them going forward. With Venus in an exact semi-sextile to Jupiter and in trine to Saturn (which puts Saturn in an inconjunct to Jupiter), things aren't as we want them to be. Maybe even as we need to them to be. We don't know what's wrong but something is. Or maybe we know what's wrong but don't know how to fix it. Or we don't want to have to fix it.

Part of the 'why's' here involve what we value. Part of the 'why' is what we're doing with our mental (Gemini) resources - those things which are valuable. With Sun conjunct Jupiter just as this station begins, we're probably a bit myopic about things. Some us will need time to sort something out...and some will need some part of Venus' six weeks in retrograde for 'gaining perspective' purposes.

If the image of Venus (Aphrodite's) beauty can be sullied by what's inside, then so can ours. Where our lives are ragged or jagged are where we can make real gains and come to feel better about ourselves by thinking things through and doing some re-evaluating.

Maybe there's more we can do. Or something we need to be brave enough to try. Or some reason we don't like our Self which needs coming to terms with.

It's to think about...and over the next six weeks, we'll probably all be doing some thinking!

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