Venus: the Station

I know...ow. Just ow.

Yes - I know. Been there...doing it. Ow.

This is the start of the next three months. What we learn now - and going forward, echoes.

I have no answers for you at the moment except this is a moment to endure and learn from. As I write, the Sun is at 11 Aquarius (ON A VAST STAIRCASE STAND PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT TYPES, GRADUATED UPWARD) which seems to be the image of all we are going through at the moment which is giving us greater clarity - for good or ill - about where we stand with ourselves wherever we have gotten to in life.

Within a couple of hours the Sun will move into 12 Aquarius, the Sabian symbol for which is A BAROMETER...which is keynoted as 'the ability to discover basic natural facts that allow us to plan in advance for action.'

We're at a checkpoint - a point at which we look at the barometer and 'read' our pressures personal and external, considering as we do how it would seem a painful truth that human beings never let go of comfort or that desire to humor themselves or some cherished vanity until sheer need overcomes unwillingness.

That effect and concept will now deepen and move towards coloring central considerations as the weekend turns into next week, as Sedna goes on station, and as our capacity for greater perspective (or the lack of same) becomes that which governs critical choices leading to this year's external challenges and those realizations which amount to internalized success.

Other than that, this Venus retrograde almost became my death knell. Yes, it was an accident, but the whole affair made it very plain to me that what we don't know can indeed kill us - and that there are both prices to be paid for such ignorance...and clarity about what's worth anything which just maybe can't be learned any other way.

In any case, I hope these weeks were reasonably kind to you and yours. Going forward, what kind of human we want to be...as opposed to why we know we've been that person we are now...that's grist for our mill going forward.

And I wish us the very best with that.

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EDIT/UPDATE: From the emails I'm getting, I need to say a bit more - most of which falls under the general title "SCRAWLS FROM DETOX."

Come to think of it, it's worth saying. What happened is this: after I was told to 'go forth and detox' by all the Los Angeles MDs, I looked the drug up to see if there were any known 'side effects' which came with detox.

On that rather benign looking list was 'loss of appetite' and 'anorexia' - the latter of which my brain filed under "not in this life."

Seriously...once I got out of the house and had access to food I was fine about eating. Until I began detox, that is.

Let's just say I lost my appetite, which at first was fine. But then...well...I didn't get hungry, so...

Moral: what you don't know can kill you. There was a very sobering moment when a woman out begging looked at me and said 'are you going to make it?'

It was about then that I realized something was wrong.

Like I say...what you don't know can kill you. Food being a Venusian thing, this whole episode strikes me as strangely karmic as it strikes me as wholly Venus retrograde.

When I say that any retrograde can force you to get in touch with that 'quality' (like food, like nutrition) on the inside, that's how a retrograde works.

(No, some retrogrades aren't all that friendly.)

I'm okay. Venus is going station-direct at the top of my chart so I'll go with the idea that I'm simply owning this experience in public. Maybe by my doing that, you or someone you love will never go through anything like this.

And that would be good. :)
 

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Thanks for your emails and expressions of care. I really appreciate them. Grazi.

- Boots


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Venus in Taurus

With Pluto having just gone retrograde on April 12th, that means that the ‘shaking out’ of the Pluto station is still happening as Venus is ending its transit of Aries.

And we do remember that Venus in Aries isn't always life at it's most comfy, right?

In case you missed that post, here's the link:

Venus in Aries 

So as this post hits the digital airwaves (on April 13th) it is to be expected that a lot of people will be feeling at least a little put upon - particularly as pertains how other people are acting...or more precisely, probably how they're not acting the way we want them to (or as we would hope they would).

Heavy sigh. Life is full of such moments, isn't it?

Then we add a dash of Pluto to the mix. That means many of us will be feeling truly grungy. But there will be a whole bunch of other people who will be getting more into the mode of 'how did things get this way?' or 'what did I do to get myself into this situation?'

The positive side of this dissatisfaction is that with Pluto's going retrograde (moving the energy of transformation and change into our court as concerns changing our own lives) this is exactly the sort of thing which prompts us to change so we do have more of what we want in life. Pluto represents change. And often before we change we feel the dissatisfaction which causes us to change. So the message-of-the-moment (i.e., as the post goes up, while Venus is still in Aries) is all about not where others disagree with you (or the specifics of the subject) but what their disagreement really means.

You know, metaphysically. On the metaphysical plain, disappointments and rejections and failures are the way life tries to get us to look at ourselves or think beyond the box.

You know, our box.

Under Venus in Aries we feel like we’re doing everything we can do – and oddly enough, part of that is because we’re so focused on the doing. But if you've ever seen a virtuoso musician playing their instrument, you know that 'trying' is all about not yet having mastered the thing. Really great musicians make it just look so easy, don't they? It's part of what we so admire in them - it's not just the music, it's also the magic of the musician and how they're not focused on what they’re doing. They don't need to try, they just do.

That’s the difference between Venus in Aries and Venus in Taurus.

You’ll often hear about Venus in Taurus as a sign-and-planet combination which denotes luxury. And that’s not wrong, though the ‘luxury’ in that statement should not necessarily be taken to be physical luxury. Any feeling of satisfaction, comfort, contentment, security…those are Venus in Taurus. Relaxation itself is very Venus-in-Taurus, if only because it denotes a lack of pressure and obligation.

Conversely...too much obligation - or a feeling that obligations haven't been met or even that you're feeling very 'anti-obligation' can now manifest in problems with processing - and we aren't just talking about financial transactions As a sign or signature, 'Things Taurus' also often refer to absorption - such as your body's ability to process or absorb nutrients, which is the metaphysical 'flip side' of our ability as people to process certain kinds of issues - particularly those which make us uncomfortable with, or in our own skin.

Taurus (and its associated 2nd house) has two very different modes: relaxed and generous (which comes from security) and tense or stressed and unyielding – which comes from any sort of feeling that you may not have enough or that you’re being obliged to do something…as opposed to wanting to do something. In 'real life operational' terms, this gets us into the realm of whether we can deal with or accept why things are going wrong...which goes back to that idea of Taurus as a sign about our ability to accept or 'stomach' (literally or emotionally) things in this world.

Understand this and you’ll understand why the Taurus-Scorpio polarity is all about having enough self worth and comfort within the Self to be able to risk yourself in group situations. People who fear Scorpio interactions (be they social, sexual, financial or contests of will of whatever sort) are afraid of “not measuring up.”

The measuring up in ‘that other person’s’ eyes is one thing. We all can get past that. No, the real Scorpio fear comes from having to deal with yourself after ‘the moment’ happens.

Mind you, we’re all fine with the wonderful things which can happen when we take the risk and everything goes our way. But when it doesn’t?

Most of us have areas of life which we’re okay with and areas of life which make us want to hide behind our own shadow. And that’s where Venus in Taurus is a mighty and wonderful thing.

This year's Venus in Taurus passage has another interesting quality in that it ends the day prior to the Taurus Solar Eclipse on May 10th. That makes this a very good time to work on things which you want to change...and when 'situational results' indicate changes which need changing or which changing whether you like it or not.

This doesn't have to be bad, though given how adept we all are at wanting to keep what we like and resist changes which poke us in the 'I like things my way' button, this can be a difficult time.

But it certainly doesn't have to be. There are many who say having a positive attitude is a goodly measure of success. Astrology doesn't seem to preach the idea of just radiating intent and getting what we want, though I doubt you could find an astrologer in a hundred who wouldn't agree wholeheartedly that when we feel comfortable and relatively secure about creating change and improving our life through personal growth, we tend to do better across the board. 

So when Venus moves into Taurus, as it will do on April 15th at 7:26 in the morning UT/+0 time, some of us will be quicker to react than others to the ‘letting go of expectations’ which tends to happen during this passage. No matter who you are and how your chart is shaped you’ll feel some lowering of the ‘empty’ feeling in your Accomplishment Zone.

And for some of us, it’s this very feeling that we’re not behind the 8-ball which allows us to try.

Venus will be in Taurus until May 9th – about three and a half weeks. It will be in Taurus during April’s Scorpio Lunar Eclipse, pushing the ‘highs’ a little higher and the ‘lows’ a little lower than might otherwise be expected.

At the same time, there’s a curious sort of ‘fuzz effect’ which is likely to come with this edition of Venus in Taurus. For a lot of us it will manifest as a focus on what you value most which allows other things to...drift aside. And given Neptune's position in early Pisces (a sextile to Taurus) with the approaching Scorpio Lunar Eclipse, there are things to be faced which we may not be in the mood to face...but which still merit our attention.

On the other hand, the cumulative effect here may be something of a ‘Vaseline lens’ which softens the lows and makes the highs seem just that more magical.

Its as if…even though times are tough, even if the worst happens, we’re still able to have hope. Somehow Venus in Taurus gives us perspective, as if being centered in ourselves allows us to accept what happens in the rest of life with a little more grace.

With Saturn retrograding back through Scorpio, Pallas/Lilith in Taurus and an Aquarian Juno, there’s a fixed sign t-square set up to highlight this Venus ingress.

Given the standard structure of t-squares, the basic question here is about whether we’re up to par in what we say and do. The ‘starting point’ is in Scorpio, so the “stakes” or the motivation is emotional.

And the goal? That’s pure Taurus. Lilith-Pallas-Child-Chaldea is all about wanting to have something over, done and taken care of.

The sticking point is Juno at 9 Aquarius. Juno is all about ‘managing’ things (often yourself!), and in a social sign like Aquarius this becomes a question of your part in some situation. As a degree, 9 Aquarius has a reputation for being a bit challenging, a bit quirky and often a ‘turning point’ in one’s thinking.

And that may be the key. As a sign, Aquarius always asks us to see the ‘Big Picture’ and the ‘other person’s perspective,’ and though that’s not intrinsically Scorpio-ish, the nature of a t-square suggests that if you can get past wanting what you want just far enough to really understand all sides of the question, you’ll get where you need to go.

As is typical of fixed signs (the energy of which moves more slowly than cardinal or mutable signs) this t-square influence lingers on until on the 19th (UT/+0 time) there’s a period of about ten hours when the Moon is passing through Leo and not just turning this t-square into a grand square but ALSO creating a Yod with Chiron (in Pisces) and Pluto (in Capricorn) as it does so.

And since the ‘solution’ to a Yod is the midpoint between the two branches of the “Y” (in this case Chiron and Pluto), that would be 11 Aquarius, a degree about understanding how to reach understandings.

With Juno still at 9 Aquarius as this happens, this is a wonderful time for solving problems, especially interpersonal problems. And given the Venus-in-Taurus question (plus Pluto now being in retrograde) this would be a great time to see how with just a little bit of tinkering...maybe on how we approach others, maybe on the level of what we value or do or don't put out there...how we can be far more effective. How we can get where we need to go and maintain relative peace.

This is also a good time for straightening out things in the ‘commerce’ or commercial (career) setting - providing we don’t approach the situation all heavy-handed and Godzilla-like. It’s likely that these combined influences (the grand cross and the Yod) will get under somebody’s skin, to be sure. But if we can maintain come at the situation with a light touch and avoid saying this one is “right” and that one is “wrong” we just may save the day, spare a lot of people a lot of trouble, save big-time on hurt feelings and (yes!) get where we want to go.

(Which is what we all want anyway, right?)

Once the Sun and Mars join Venus in Taurus we will all find ourselves thinking more about our goals and what it takes to get there. Those who haven’t worked through lingering problems will obviously be less content than those who have cleared the air (or the deck or whatever it is they need to clear!). For those who have, the balance of Venus in Taurus (give or take your relationship to the incoming eclipses) will be a time of serious personal drive. For those who haven’t, things will pop up here and there seemingly just to annoy you. Even the everyday doings will tend to get on your nerves. (Or the nerves of someone you need to deal with – and that will get on your nerves!)

People think of zodiacal Venus-Mars connections as love and romance and hot erotic pleasure. And yes, it can be that. Exactly that. But in this case, with the sign being Taurus, there could be trouble.

The Scorpio Lunar Eclipse (which we will talk about separately) is in the sign opposing Mars and Venus. So once Mars ambles into Taurus (can you imagine it - a planet ambling?) ...then it becomes a particularly bad time to play hanky panky with people's feelings, whether the topic is intimacy, money or just plain 'are you on the up and up?'

Ordinarily, Venus transits help describe the general ‘tone’ of life. Here we have Venus with Mars tagging along adding a note of urgency just at a moment when we want everything to be okay.

Then, this too shall pass. This Venus transit is leading us towards and through emotional moments (Mars in Taurus and the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse) on our way to some life shifts, re-evaluations of priorities and general world changes (the Taurus Solar Eclipse). The distance between who you are and who you want to think of yourself as is the big question.

And the moment in which that question will be asked is lurking just beyond the celestial horizon.

So...you are who you are now. 

And now is the moment to ask yourself: Who do I want to become?
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