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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Reconcilliating the Venus/Mercury of the Momentary All






 Venus and Mercury 
painting by Bartholomaus Spranger (1585)




A synodic cycle begins when planets are out there doing their orbital thing and by hook or zodiacal crook come to be transiting the same zodiacal degree...as seen from here on Earth.

Let's be straight about this...planets don't actually meet up out there in space - they're literally millions of miles apart. It's like planets don't actually turn around and go in reverse when they're in retrograde.

It's all about how we see and experience things from here on Earth. Astrology is 99% operated as a geocentric ('earth/geo - centric/centered') science...and no, we don't want to get me started on people who don't view it or treat astrology as a science. Things which aren't based on reality are beliefs. Astrology, originally based on repetitive observation (i.e., every month, when the Moon is 'xyz' the tides are 'abc'...hmmmm....does this mean the Moon and tides are linked?) ...is more and more science based if only because advances in science are proving out the cause/effect(s) long noted by astrologers. 

Oh, we astrologers are just so ahead of our time...as I suggested to Mike Brown, planet hunter par excellence of Caltech fame! (And yes, we've done that blog.)

Getting back to the subject...There was a synodic encounter of a rather interesting kind back on October 25, 2010 between Venus - our 'making things real' efforts- and Mercury - the thought and actions which may/may not go into making things real, unreal, or something somewhere between).

The degree of this conjunction? 7 Scorpio, a degree all about inner strength, core quality and everything it takes to recognize said strength or quality, separate it from whatever is holding it back (if something is) and learning to harness/use said strength and quality to best effect.

That this synodic conjunction occurred during difficult global financial times is aptly presented here too - by the very quality which makes this synodic conjunction out-of-the-ordinary: namely, Venus being retrograde at the time.

The implication here is that the outer/worldly (Mercurial) doings, delvings, chattings, conversings and whatever else - they are all in service of learning why we are and/or aren't effective. In other words, how we haven't yet learned to uncover, cleanse, harness and/or use our inner strengths and core qualities to best effect.

Each synodic cycle pairing having its own length, this one (between Venus and Mercury) is 144.562 days long - about half a year, say...the next one being due on May 7 of 2011. That next one being in Aries (I Am/I Do) and the current one being in Scorpio (Emotional Connections-Connectivity), the whole of this cycle is defined as one where we are working towards being able to function from a more powerful, clarified and potent position in life.

How do we know we're working towards it? We know that because we are starting in Scorpio and it's six signs until Aries, the 'sixth harmonic' being the zodiacal sign of working to create functionality and harmony.

And I mention this last rather technical sounding bit...why? Well because...no matter what you read in 'astrology simplified' manuals, as someone who has been tallying the astrological yea's and nay's now for about three decades I'm here to tell you that a remarkable number of long-lasting relationships are founded in what is known to be a 6/8 harmonic - the six part being the effort and the 8 part being power (yes), sex (yes), investment (yup) and...emotional connections made through a willingness to be honestly vulnerable.




 Mirage sunrise over Lake Superior, Minnesota (July 2002)
photo credit: Tom Ruen





Mercury and Venus are so-called 'personal planets' and much of the time get fluffed aside as "non-major" players since by transit they tend to mark errands, paying the bills, dealing with the wash - the mundane things of life.
 
But seen from another level...how we interact on a mundane level is really a product of how well equipped we are to be open, honest, vulnerable - and all the rest.

Without the core, love is a word or placation.

Without access to the emotional core, there is no vulnerability.

Without peeling back the layers and cleansing ourselves from the goo and toxins of life's bruises, grudges and those desires which are simply irrational, there can be no actual connection. Not a durable one, at least.

So why does that matter now? It's not that it matters per se as some sort of giant event you should expect. But during the day...maybe into tomorrow....as part of this October 2010 to May 2011 synodic cycle we're hitting a little 'blip' point.

First comes the Venus side of the blip, as Venus retrogrades from Scorpio back into Libra come Monday November 8th, at 3:07 UT ...which is obviously still Sunday in the Americas and Pacific Basin region.

As this happens, you will feel more thoughtful and less angst ridden. You'll want to understand things more than straighten out the feelings involved. There will be less of a sense of to-and-fro 'tugging' with others or between others. Choices can still be a bit trying to make (sorting out processes seems over-the-top-hard right now, don't they?) and there will like as not still seem to be something 'lacking.' 

Oddly enough, it's about now that you'll recognize that part of that lack - oh, yeah...- is your having done nothing to really fix the problem. For all the whooping and hollering about what we need to do (and what needs doing) which generally accompanies any Venus retrograde but especially one in Scorpio (a sign which would like to turn finger-pointing into an Olympic gold medal event)....for all the whining, complaining, pouting, snarling and dissecting, not a lot generally gets done under Venus retrograde. 

Except....for one, as Venus retrogrades back into Libra, people oh-so often suddenly seem to remember that a.) verbs are useful in sentence structure and in getting things done....AND...that oh-by-the-way, if they want something done then you know, they could just get up and do something and thus make it happen.

And granted, all that is an 'occurring to us mentally' sort of thing. So who says anything will really get done?

Well that's the curious thing. About twenty hours after Venus backs its planetary tushy into Libra, Mercury vaults into Sagittarius (at 23:44 UT on November 7th, to be exact). Libra and Sagittarius are two signs which are in natural sextile. And sextiles represent opportunities. So while the door may not be open, by sign confluence alone, it's now unlocked.

But then we consider Mercury in Sagittarius. Mercury is ruler of ("at home in") two signs: Gemini and Virgo. It's therefore very 'not at home' in the opposition signs to Gemini and Virgo, which would be Pisces (opposite Virgo) and SAGITTARIUS...which is in opposition to Gemini. 
Normally we'd say that given the Sagittarian 'aw, go ahead try' thing which is so obvious where ideas are often concerned...normally we'd think Mercury would be slap-dash, over-the-top, hasty, waste-y and problematic in the 'shooting the mouth off' department (at least!) when in Sagittarius.

But with Venus currently in retrograde....?
You know that old diet joke about how a diet Coke and a candy bar cancel each other out? In real life, this doesn't work so well. But in metaphysics and astrology, the offset of hesitant against hasty can - with a little bit of effort, especially with the natural sextile thrown in, make for not the easiest of times...but with a wee bit of thought, a productive period of time.

Some answers will come quickly. Some, you'll have to wait for. This is not a moment of 'solutions' but it is one for input and exploration of ideas with others...a 'trying things on for size,' we might say.

This is not a mandate. It's an opportunity. So you can turn it down, tune it out and go your own way.

Is that what you want to do?

Oh, questions, questions....!




 The Thinker...by Rodin






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