Venus in Capricorn

Venus Verticordia by Dante Rossetti (1886)

The Sun will be getting ready to cross the Scorpio cross-quarter point when on November 5th, Venus moves into Capricorn.

In the wake of the solar eclipse, Venus’ change of signs along with the cross-quarter crossing are the first signs of life moving on.

Moving on from…what?

From that strange Scorpio ability to freeze us in our tracks even as we are magically (even for some, magickally) transformed.

Scorpio has a strange quality which philosophically we associate with it’s representation of water (the energy of fluid emotions) in its ‘fixed modality’ or state – thus water’s ‘frozen’ state. And there’s no question but that things which happen under a Scorpio influence…or things which strongly activate factors we associate with Scorpio in your personal chart can freeze you - in your mind, in your tracks, in that moment or those weeks of experiencing the depths of some transformative or even traumatic issue.

It can also elicit the experience of those place in our emotional psyches (in particular) where we are particularly ‘frozen’…stuck somewhere in emotional time.

Then again, there are things which benefit from freezing. That’s something which occurred to me as I considered Scorpio’s various facets as being both about our darkness and our light. All astrological emblems can be something better…or something worse. They can even simultaneously function to our advantage and our disadvantage.

Which yes, can – and often does drive us half past bonkers.

As I thought…suddenly it hit me: only that which has been frozen can thaw.

Put that in Scorpio terms, and we come to the things which are most precious to us are also the most frightening as that’s where we stand the most to lose – especially in our own eyes.

There may be someone alive who has seamlessly come to love…for whom life has been peaceful and devoid of even a single bruise, but in general, that doesn’t seem to be the human rule.

And when it comes to the pitfalls of interaction, Scorpio pits us against the pittiest of pits in the most pitiful and pitiless of manners. And there, even as we shake in our frost-bitten misery we experience the heat of ‘being burned’ in that singularly Scorpionic sort of way. Exposed to our own foibles we stand naked, whipped by the cold fury of our shame, our regrets, our feelings of helpless haplessness.

So it’s been very Scorpio of late. And even now as Venus moves into Capricorn, Scorpio is still compressing our attentions. Despite the deceptive brightness of floating normalcy, we have each been confronting and confronted by personal ghouls we would like to blame on anything but our own inability to cope…to grapple…to be honest…to own our feelings.

As the Sun moves over the cross-quarter point early on November 7th (UT/+0) we are being moved into a realm and phase of life which requires of us that we deal with greater things. The bigger picture, the fact that the microcosm of our life or of our situation exists as (and reflects) dynamics in the greater realm and in our greater outlook…that would be the focus.

Some reality has come upon us. For you it may have many parts…or one driving issues which like some mythic monster, has many heads, each one of which you face in turn.

For most of us, the underlying Scorpio dynamic of asking us to face whatever it is about our Self which frightens us the most lies at the heart of all. And though we may not yet know the answer to our quandaries, Venus’s shift into Capricorn does mark a new phase in what we might call ‘the process of our processing how to get where we want to go’ in our life, with some situation – whatever.

Venus in Capricorn elicits life’s endless ability to show us the worth and acceptability of our being, our direction, our efforts and our choices. The Venus energetic being that which creates results (where causal Mars efforts ‘become’ the result), the very long Venus in Capricorn passage ahead of us will show us what works…and what doesn’t work.

An orbital Sunrise with Venus and Mars

(photo credit: NASA, Aug 1995)

And through that…and while that is going on…and while we are trying to figure out if what we’re trying so hard to achieve is even worth it – as all that happens we will reflect on life’s opportunities and how often times the effort to not be seen becomes a form of self-imprisonment.

Venus enters Capricorn on November 5, 2013. As of November 13th it will conjunct the North Node as Neptune goes on station, challenging us to take on some act on faith which.

Will this be easy? Probably not. But is it necessary? Probably yes. That the Sun’s movement enters a transiting period of trining Jupiter on November 5th (UT/+0) as Jupiter is just going retrograde marks a shift of our tide. The very act of the Sun crossing over the cross-quarter point is what brings it into orb to ignite this massively energetic trine…and let’s remember, both Sun and Jupiter are in position to highlight…and to push and pull at how we are feeling about our lives. About how life works and doesn’t work. About the difference between how life would be if we could run it merely from our own perspective against the incredible difficulties of living in a world with other people who are equally as bent and as fervent as we are.

That trine will last into November 17th – a period which will have most of us dedicatedly pushing to get things done (Mars is still in Virgo representing our efforts to keep ourselves on track). But there will be some of us who during this time will realize that we have embarked on some path or effort which isn’t worth our while, our precious and un-refundable time.

If you’re one of those people, expect life to seem like a drudge…one long wade through peanut-butter-and-molasses-filled days which are both sticky and cloying, which feel not at all good and which are telling you that you have forgotten something very vital.

But it’s not ‘out there.’ It’s inside of you. Those of us who have ‘left out’ some intrinsic part of our nature in what we have ourselves invested in will be meeting up with it at this time. How difficult that Self encounter becomes is not about the quality of what that part of you is… remember, this is Scorpio turf and we’re just coming out of a Scorpio eclipse. So no, the issue isn’t what the thing ‘is’ – it’s how you feel about it. And that it is part of who you are.

Only that which has been frozen can thaw.

Difficulties with Self will reflect now and increasingly as we move forward through lack of positive results, an ever-bothersome sense that ‘you’re in the wrong place’ (no matter how hard you try to tell yourself otherwise) and a lingering, drifting sense that life’s externals don’t validate our internal being.

That’s the point. If we are not being who we are, or being the whole of that Self honestly – replete with whatever mistakes we have made – then we will find this period moving forward particularly shallow. Hollow. Unrewarding. Even numbing.

And when come November 19th Venus enters the shadow of its upcoming retrograde, the ‘cocooning’ effect of the shadow will have us shadow boxing with ourselves. And our disappointments and quandaries, all of which reflect our realization that reality isn’t cruel…it just Is. Whatever need we have to anthropomorphize Existence and make it 'loving' or otherwise, that's not Existence...that's our desire, our willing life to be good to us when life - as Venus - merely responds to the quality and qualities that we put out there.

We can neither sacrifice ourselves nor try to command all. We cannot succeed without being whole nor wholly succeed at being whole.

Life is what it is. Ultimately, quality and the qualities of relationship to Self are what create what comes back to us through others. The avoiding our injuries through not feeling them fixes nothing just as the refusal to value our Self as a Self worth valuing (which so often manifests in our rejecting those who really care about us while we busily glom onto those who in...REALITY...don't give a tinker's darn about us)...all that is Venusian.

Venus is the quality in all things. It cannot be feigned or fake or the effect is merely fleeting - like makeup.

Besides, we cannot wear makeup with ourselves, on the inside. There we live a naked life with our bare-faced Self.

Venus enters its shadow at 13 Capricorn – the degree it will retrograde back to and go direct at come January 31 (2014). Known for qualities of integrity and a willingness to be committed to the very difficult as well as walking away from any  personal (or worldly) battle when it cannot be won within the present temporal parameters, 13 Capricorn is a degree which focuses on correctness as opposed to ego and other-worldliness as opposed to this one.

That may seem odd for a Capricorn degree, considering that Capricorn is the heart and soul of worldly accomplishment and tangible results. But Capricorn isn’t just about any result. Yes, it is a sign about bringing things into being…and thus Venus in Capricorn is a very good combination which amounts to manifesting the goal.

But if that goal isn’t a lasting one? Or if it isn’t true to your nature? Capricorn is often thought of as the sign of penalties as in, you broke the law and now you have to suffer the consequences for having broken that law.

With Capricorn – the sign at the top of the zodiac’s natural wheel – all that may be true in a worldly sense, and then again, also be true in the spiritual or energetic sense. If we are not doing something we were intended to do, Capricorn transits will tend to manifest as blockades, limitations and ‘realities’ which plainly show you that you’re doing “it” wrong, in the wrong place, using the wrong tools or in the wrong company.

Or else it just manifests as malcontent. Or ennui. Or that awful feeling that you’re alone in this world…or devoid of any chance to be happy.

Venus actual turn to retrograde, on the other hand, will occur on December 21st (UT/+0) at 28 Capricorn. And 28 Capricorn is a degree which underscores the above by being all about whatever our ‘burden’ is in life.

Consider the Scorpio solar eclipse and the fact that it is now being followed by Venus working over the degrees 13-to-28 Capricorn. The eclipse was seeking to get us to face our own emotionality and now Venus is testing our externally driven sense of contentment with our life.

Yes, astrological tales are ongoing and truly epic. ‘War and Peace’ ain’t got nothing on real life for poignant trials.

Question: does this mean everything is just going to be miserable for the whole of this Venus-in-Capricorn transit? Does this mean the holidays and the start to 2014 are going to be just plain miserable?

Answer: Not if we are willing to be real about who we are. Under most circumstances we would simply look at the reality of the situation…but with that which we have seen rolling through of late plus what this astrologer knows will be coming down the celestial pipleline in the next six to eight months, the better bet...the more profitable direction lies in going within. Everything is pointing us to our Selves. Everything in life is asking that we get perspective on who we really are so that what we invest in, what we put so much effort into…so it will last.

Lasting durable structures are the Capricorn aim. Under Venus in Capricorn (November 5 – January 31) we will have many a structure tested. And not all will come up as being sound.

To the extent that we are willing to make corrections and deal not just ‘what it is’ buy why we got ourselves to wherever we are now…if we deal with the truth, then we can better our lot. That’s another really important concept to think about now. Though we might think things are ‘settled’ or ‘immutable’ or ‘set in stone’ the universe is a far, far bigger place than we imagine.

And we can be free to the extent that we are willing to free ourselves – first and last – from our urge to limit what our Self is, especially when that’s not the whole truth…and nothing but our truth.

There is help in Existence, in our existing, and in our willingness to exist for who we are as who we are.

We just have to be that person, in totality at the individual level and as part of that greater world which would honor us if we could only bear to the enduring beauty of our imperfect humanity rather than the being beautiful merely in our flesh. 
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A Shift of Solar Magnetism

This NASA-ESA-SOHO Observatory shows the Sun's magnetic flip already

in process, moving from the Sun's "north" pole down towards it's south pole.

(photo credit: NASA, ESA, SOHO, August 2013)

NASA put out a bulletin the other day on the fact that the Sun’s magnetic polarity is about to reverse.
Here’s a link to the full story in text…

Link to: NASA - Science News for August 5, 2013

…or for those who prefer the visual version, here’s a link to the YouTube version of same.

Link to: NASA Channel - the impending Sun Field Flip

(It's the exact same information, just formatted in one place as text and in the other as a voice-over with pictures.)

Before you get all worried about this, according to NASA and scientists who study such things, this reversal happens about every eleven years. Not that the Sun uses any Earth-made calendar, mind you.

But that general expanse of time – eleven years – is an interesting reference, seeing as Jupiter (the planet which had it been just a smidge bigger would have also been a star) takes 11.86 years to complete one orbit around our Sun.

 The above chart (generated by the Wilcox Solar Observatory) shows the

timing of the Sun's magnetism flips starting in 1976

The chart above is a bit deceptive in that it was evidently run starting with a January 1st date and ending with a December 31st date with each line along the bottom referring to a three year interval. So from this, it’s a little hard to get the exact dates of pole reversals…but in general, considering NASA is telling us that the next field reversal is due in three to four months (call that November-December on our watch), to date – just using the 11 year marker - these reversals would have been  during 1980, 1991, 2002 and 2013.

And just in case you’re wondering (and not inclined to read or watch any of the NASA material) the study of our Sun’s polarity only goes back to 1976 – which in astrological terms grounds this whole study in the Pluto in Libra / Gen X period…a fact I mention seeing as the next couple of posts scheduled here at the blog concern Plutonic generations.

Interesting also is the fact that at the time these solar studies started, Uranus was at the spot Saturn is now – which is in itself an interesting comment on the famous Mayan ‘wheels within wheels’ concept on how everything and every cycle and the workings of time and manifestation…how they’re all seamlessly interlocked.

Just as a preliminary conceptualization here, I looked back to the positions of Jupiter for the years of past flips. (And yes, I’m going to look for exact dates when I get a bit of time.) In 1980, Jupiter was in Virgo and by November moved into Libra. In 1991, Jupiter started out in Leo, and by the end of the Earthly calendar year moved on into Virgo. 2002 had Jupiter starting out in Cancer and ending up in Leo…and for those who get the ‘sign drift’ here, it isn’t surprising to know that 2013 started out with Jupiter in Gemini, a position which has now evolved into Jupiter in Cancer.

This is plainly another form of the ‘counter-spin’ portion of ‘spin/counter-spin’ motion which typifies the functioning of matter at the atomic (particularly electron) level, and personally I wouldn’t be surprised to hear (in time) that there is something about the Jupiter-Sun mass-gravity-magnetism which helps keep our solar system duly organized and functioning as it does.

I’ll also guess – from very far out in the field (granted) that whatever this effect is, it accounts for holding the mass of rubble (important rubble, but rubble nonetheless) which is the asteroid belt where it is. It may even account for why the asteroid belt even exists.

Astrologically, spin-counter spin is all about how the daily rotation of the Earth as an object in space…a space which remains relatively static with regards to motion (taken on a daily basis, give or take the Moon) causes the wheel of the horoscope to appear to rotate.

And as the Earth turns, effectively ‘pushing’ zodiac degrees in a clockwise motion around the horoscope wheel, that is why on any given day the Sun “rises” at the eastern horizon - the Ascendant. And it’s why that turning of the Earth causes planets (which are in motion around the Sun independent of Earth) to appear to over time move in a counter-clockwise motion through the chart.

Spin, counter-spin. Inhale, exhale. Tides flow, tides ebb.

Jupiter’s cycling through this chart seems to speak to yet another form of metaphysical ‘bringing things home’ to us, rather as the Lunar Nodes do. With the nodes being a function of Earth’s own satellite Moon around its planet, it’s not too hard to understand why the nodes tend to picture our ‘world’ – our relationships with others and our relationships with society. That the nodes also cycle backwards has always struck me as a commentary on how what we do to grow (spin) is at least in part ‘responded to’ by life either granting rewards, posing new challenges or bringing about those eventual moments of downfall we tend to call ‘karma.’ That’s the ‘counter-spin.’ We do, we get what we create by doing: cause-effect…what you put out comes back to you…and for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.

There is no question but that there’s some form of spin-counterspin within each sign plus within each pair of signs – the polarity.

As for the current solar ‘flip,’ this would seem to be an emphasis on our coming either to ‘magnetic zero’ or into balance where we can make changes which have to do in particular with Jupiterian increased understandings of all things Cancer – whether that’s our inner psyche, our personal histories, our culture, our home life, our families…whatever your Cancerian issues are.

It’s another example of the notices we are getting from the solar system (and universe) around us that indeed life is changing. More specifically, our lives are changing and they’re changing – at least in part – by our recognizing who we are. And what our potentials are.

That this news comes out as Jupiter is coming to an exact opposition with Pluto’s position in Capricorn (with Pluto retrograde) speaks to a growth of internal understandings of things and about who we are, and the ‘responding shift’ in our comprehension of who we are able to be or become.

It doesn’t guarantee we’ll do anything about it, no. But the understanding is ‘coming upon us.’

NASA and the scientists at California’s Wilcox Solar Observatory (who are doing this work studying our Sun) say this solar ‘flip’ will occur in the next three to four months – towards the end of 2013. Considering what is happening between now and then, as an astrologer I would nominate a couple of ‘influx’ points as this awareness…or our need to become more aware…is going to come upon us.

Actually, one just started. It would be clocked by the ‘maturing’ of the 13 Capricorn Solar Eclipse which occurred back on January 4, 2011. If this eclipse hit your chart you probably remember it as events which disrupted your life and sense of ‘structure’ during November and December of 2010.

There will be a post on all of these ‘eclipse matters’ coming up at the first of next month, which would be the ‘official’ entering of the ‘breaking down’ period in advance of this November’s Solar Eclipse at 11 Scorpio. In the meantime, if you felt the energy start to fluctuate a couple of days ago (actually just one short day before NASA sent out this missive), this would be the start of a process which will have it’s first big peak at the eclipse (November 3rd) and another whenever it is that the Sun finally completes its process of magnetic reversal.

Yes, it’s already begun. And if you’re feeling like there are areas of your life – especially as that pertains to a new understanding of your mentality or how Gemini mentality works in Jupiter-Cancerian terms, you understand something about the enormity of the push life is giving not just you but ALL of us when it comes to growing past our old limitations, our old definitions and beyond our old boundaries, choices and sense of personal being.

There's a reason why the number '11' has always been known as a 'bridge number.' Astrologically associated with the duration of Jupiter's orbit, eleven is all about 'bridging' the gap between what we know now and what we will understand come tomorrow.

It's about our relationship between today and all those tomorrows, just as Saturn is always and eternally about what we've built, what we've already earned and the challenge to own the responsibility we have to be who we are. Known widely as Jupiter's 'partner' in the rise and fall of societies, the Jupiter-Saturn process is that of growth and restabilization, of letting go of what doesn't work so that we can grow and how (unfortunately) so many of us restrict ourselves - and thus our ability to grow - through fear, through grief, through a refusal to deal with things on the level of Saturn reality, preferring Jupiter's hugeness of scope as our panacea for dealing with that reality.  

After we enter the ‘eclipse zone’ on September 3rd will come Pluto’s September 20th station. The current Jupiter-Pluto opposition is difficult to handle; we’re all currently growing at a rate which is almost beyond our ability to handle…process…make good on.

Right now it’s internal. But once Pluto goes direct on September 20th, we can either use what we’re learning – putting our growth to work by investing in real time, real life, real ‘terms of engagement’ which grow our life, our structures, our goals, our worldly vision and the idea of who we are in this life (who others think of us as).

This is a test. On one end of the test is what we’re comfortable being…on the other is a testing maturation of our willingness to be more of who we really are, regardless of what that means.

It’s sort of like ‘coming out’ - to ourselves, yes.

November 3rd is the actual solar eclipse. And just for the record (since we're having this conversation), this eclipse is going to be colored by Saturn, which is currently in Scorpio. So as usual, we will encounter all the 'memorable shifts’ having to do with the eclipse process prior to the eclipse itself. And a lot of us are going to make huge and hard efforts while others of us are going to wall ourselves off. (You may have already noticed this in various combinations as people, companies and nations instinctively get into this eclipse-Saturn mode).

With this period being marked as it is, it’s probable that we can expect the between-now-and-November period to be one which beats the band. The temptation (as always) is to project. To think that someone else is in charge of what becomes of us or to try to ‘protect’ ourselves from those who are different who in actuality we have drawn into our world because we need to understand that sort of ‘difference’ in ourselves.

And yes, our ability to live differently and to think about things differently and maybe even to make a different difference.

Successful relationships – whether that’s between ourselves and others, ourselves and our world or our Self and our life or our jobs or our finances - it all has to do with owning our own ‘stuff’ and using that process, inclusive of all which it attracts to us, as a means for personal growth. The most powerful and long-lasting of relationships and experiences are always interactive, and that particular quality is being emphasized this year by the Cancer/Capricorn (Jupiter/Pluto) opposition.

Our Changing Sun (photo credit: NASA)

With that said, given the current Taurus/Scorpio solar eclipse series, life is also particularly trying. The Taurus-Scorpio polarity is always about needing to accept risks on an interactive level which force us to look at ourselves.

Again, it’s not about others…it’s about who others make us feel ourselves being. Or not being. The flip of the Sun’s magnetic axis would seem to indicate that we are in for a ‘flip’ in life (Sun) directions. And since this is the Sun we’re talking about, it’s hardly a matter of total choice. Since the Sun is obviously part of the solar eclipse image, we are being slowly but steadily ‘unmasked’ not so that we can hurt or have hard times, but so that we can let go of things which aren’t working for us so that we can hopefully grow into a new and sunnier and more potently powerful auric skin.
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