Venus in Aries: Thinking It Over

 /

Venus and Mars (1528-1558) by Paolo Veronese

That 2009 spring Venus retrograde in Aries pretty much said it all to me. Venus is graceful, heightened and most beneficial when in Taurus or Libra – signs it is said to ‘rule.’

Not that Venus would rule anything, right? Certainly nothing more than somebody’s heart, their regard and oh, maybe their bank account?

All kidding aside (was I kidding?) the whole Venusian concept is that what is put out there gets a positive response. Or that Venus is the precept of creating that you are looking to create (and maybe even a bit more than that). All of this you feel inside, but usually there’s another in the mix somewhere…the beauty has her admirers, the gift gets the excited and delighted response, the artwork you bring into being not only satisfies you but people are moved by it and get things out of it you hadn’t even been thinking of…

And when you get that pay for work, you then have the security of mind to know the bills are paid and that you can enjoy yourself in good company (however you define ‘good company').

Any way you look at it, there is something of a quality of others in the Venusian mix. The approval, the payoff, the validation…heck, even if what you get is a couple of hours of peace and quiet with the kids and cats and everyone out of the house – the Venusian point is that you have done the work. Now you get the reward.

That last bit? That explains why Venus and Mars go together. Yes, yes…I know…everyone thinks of Venus and Mars as the he and she lovers. But let’s talk the times here – there are plenty of gay lovers and plenty of people who want no lovers and they have Venus/Mars processes in their lives too. We all have these symbols in our charts!

So what’s the pairing here? Simple: the ‘Mars part’ is the working for it. The Venus part is the reward. Sitting here on Earth, Mars is one planet ‘out’ from us and Venus is one planet ‘in’ from us. Metaphysically, this becomes Mars energies as going ‘out there’ (out of ourselves) to get, and from the Sun (essence of life) side of the metaphysical cycle we gather in the reward.

Capiche?

That said, what’s the hangup with Venus in Aries?

Aries is the quintessential sign of being and doing. It’s all proactivity and no receptivity. So by definition, Venus in Aries is not “rewarding.”

And we generally don’t find this passage very rewarding, either!

  This is a 'natural' zodiac wheel, one which puts Aries on the

Ascendant (at "9 o'clock") and the rest of the signs as they

fall in order, around the wheel. The two signs in pink (Taurus

and Libra) are the signs Venus "rules" - meaning when Venus

is in either sign it tends to act more to the positive, though

it can also indicate some laziness and/or 'expecting things

to turn out to my pleasure' even if/when one fails to invest any

effort or attention. Opposite every sign of rulership is a sign of 'fall'

(here pictured in greenish-gray) which is merely a sign where

achieving positive Venusian efforts takes a whole lot more effort.

It's not impossible, though many 'roadblocks' exist when we see

Venus - or any symbol for that matter! - in its sign of fall.

This gets to be a little convoluted, but stick with me here…Venus, which hopes to get a reward from someone else is positioned in a sign all about me, myself and I. Therefore, “I” am supposed to reward myself. Or become my own reward.

That doesn’t sound so hard – but it tends to be exhausting…at least on that mental/emotional level which causes us to look up at times and say ‘is this EVER going to end?’ 

Fortunately there is an answer to that – and it’s not even all that drastic. Well, at least not when compared to 2009 when Venus was in Aries for two months or so. But that is a good time to look back on. Remember early 2009? Economies were crashing, jobs and investments were going down the tube and people were trying to figure out how to survive? A lot of people went into ‘I need my OWN business’ at that time and that’s one really good solution to Venus in Aries. It does support that idea of ‘making more of one’s self’ to the max!

So if you’re someone who has some inkling that they want to strike out on their own, this is a good time to make a move in that direction. But take note: this sort of description generally fits two types: those heading towards a ‘sole proprietor’ or artistic/cottage industry where you ‘do the thing’ yourself – and those who are looking to be in some sort of business about improvement of the Self…whether that’s physical training, self-help books, parenting classes…whatever.

To finish the thought (now that I’ve kept you dangling…sorry!) Venus enters Aries on April 21, 2011 (UT/+0) and will be in Aries until May 15, 2011 (UT/+0).

There’s also a bit of the ‘this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius’ (dutiful nod to the musical ‘Hair’ included) to consider. Part of the Aquarian Age theorem is Aquarius on the first house as a signal that this is indeed an age of corporations and corporate entities. At the same time, this is also the Age of the global marketplace. With Aquarius being the sign of technology and thus the internet (and all things techy in general) that the internet has come along and given us all a chance to be our own small company with such virtual ease (all puns intended…ha!) …that’s also a sign of the times.

The first house is the ‘native’ house of Aries. So this becomes part of the ‘what I should do’ or at least think in terms of, both going forward and at the moment – i.e., while Venus is in Aries. And that makes it a good time to invest in yourself…or to invest yourself in anything which will give you that Aquarian individual standing as someone ‘worth it’ in the eyes of the Aquarian collective.

Aquarius is the sign of the collective and each and every individual without which the collective isn’t as whole or functional. (Which is why it’s both about your income, your ‘place’ in the big world and societal systems in general).

Meanwhile, Aries is on the 3rd house of the Aquarian Age. That means people will either think about themselves, think in terms of themselves, think about why they are who they are (or why they think the way they think) or think in terms of who they can be or become.

And yes, we would hope that this Aries ‘I/me’ on the house of mentality-doing-thought-communication would be about our being constructive…but the reality of this is that people are more likely to simply spout off. And feel entitled to.

That we are clearly moving into the Aquarian Age now is being signaled by the many societies and people around the world which are right now attempting to throw off the shackles of silence. The two fish of the Piscean Age image one group (or person) in charge and the rest being followers – and either content with or accepting of being followers.

Not so going forward.

But that does suggest that these weeks of Venus in Aries will 'feel' or 'sound' or even be predatory. There will be those who prey on fears and those who manifest Venus in Aries as a 'they won't get me' which proves exactly the bravado energy which draws victimization to them.

Self-awareness is a positive here. Obsessive hesitancy or fearfulness (particularly 'learned' fearfulness) isn't good. Part of leaving the Piscean Age is the whole Big Brother thing. And while many loathe Big Brother as the snooper, most of us like the idea of the 'Big Brother' entity which protects us...physically, financially, emotionally or even from freakin' inconveniences.

Pure and simple, you can get rid of Big Brother (or federalism, if you want to talk about this in the political sense) and still have that umbrella of protection or provision.

That one issue is going to create a lot of garble now in politics, in families, in commerce.

And that 3rd house position? Let's go back to the idea that the 3rd house is the native house of Gemini. And Gemini – while famous for talk(or talk, talk, talking), doesn’t always have anything to say. Or anything educated to say.

Every sign is a polarity. Gemini (and thus the 3rd house polarity) is all about the Gemini/Sag or 3rd/9th polarity. It’s thus about knowing what you’re talking about before you say anything…and it’s also about listening as much as you speak. 

(Okay, and let’s throw in not just listening, but hearing. That’s always good…and not quite the same thing!)

With Aries on the 3rd house this calls upon us to not only do the Aries part but also do the Libra (on the 9th house of the Age) part.

 Aries on the 3rd house of the Aquarian Age: houses

are counted counter-clockwise from what we think

of as the "9 o'clock" position. Here the 3rd house of the

Age (and the horoscope wheel) is color coded against

the frame of the diagram...

 

 ...just as in this diagram, Libra on the 9th house of

the incoming Aquarian Age is easily found by matching

the frame to the 9th house of the horoscope wheel.

So this becomes all about the ‘my ideas’ against the 9th house facts and what actually works…it’s what I want against what others will join in with (or reward me for)…it’s about not expecting others to kowtow simply because I say I’ve got clout (even if I prove it) and it’s about doing as much for/with others as they do for me – none of that ‘hey – come here and fix this’ stuff.

At the beginning of any Age we should figure that all these attributes are raw and infantile. So we’re likely to see some incredibly noble gestures…and a few foolish ones. But we’re also likely to see a lot of extremes – and that’s what we’re seeing now.

All this is to say (I know…big explanation for point yet to be made)…this is to say that we should not all be surprised if this April/May Venus-in-Aries period sees a lot of strikingly non-exemplary examples of all these things on the political, national and international stage. There will be a lot of finger pointing. There will be what amounts to a lot of immature behavior and like as not, a deal of tantrum throwing. 

Fair to self as one of all should be the hallmark here. Unfortunately for the next month we’re likely to see, feel, hear, even be on the receiving end of those only looking out for themselves – screw us. Or those mightily (in)vested in my way or the highway positions. There will be a lot of …uh….idiotic suggestions made which hold less than two shreds of sensible, workable conception in them. People will want what they want because they want it to be true even if it can’t work. And if they say two plus two is one, they may be standing there throwing some incredible hissy fit about it much to your amazement, since obviously two plus two is four.

Where are people coming from?

Good question. And considering this is a global influence…? AND that this ingress is happening on a date when Mercury's 'station effects' begin, considering Mercury will go direct on April 23rd?

...Maybe its an even better question when we pose it to ourselves.