Venus enters Libra

Dawn in Southern California

(photo credit: Jessie Eastland, January 2012)

Venus enters Libra on Sunday, October 28th and 1:05 in the afternoon, UT/+0 time.

And maybe not a moment too soon for many of us! Three-plus weeks of Venus in Virgo has (obviously) led to Venus traversing Virgo’s higher degrees where we’re most apt to encounter challenges and critiques. And nobody likes that part much! Even those of us equipped to use the Venus-Virgo effect for streamlining our effects and getting things done are probably plumb worn down with being patient, checking to-do lists and listening to people announce what else needs doing. (Not to mention all that difficulty with the when such things need doing, right?)

All this is to say that as Venus enters Libra, we may (for reasons we can’t quite place), heave a sigh of relief and begin to relax. Under optimal conditions Venus in Libra drains off ‘focal tension’ which will allow us to complete tasks with less stress…maybe even attract a helping hand.

It’s simply a more generous people-to-people time. Where a couple of weeks ago Michelangelo could have unveiled the Pieta and a few Italians would have grunted as they hurried by on their way to some meeting, now he would whip off the cover and people would ‘ooooh’ and ‘ahhhh.’

The Pieta of Michelangelo Buonarroti as it is housed in the Basilica di San Pietro in Rome, Italy

(photo credit Rsuessbr, September 2004)

But lest you think all done under Venus in Virgo would be for nothing, naught and nuisance value, if what you were doing was part of a greater process, then you did the right thing. Acts of utility (which may have felt like futility) but a couple of weeks ago will now tend to bear fruit.

And so we sigh collectively saying…’so they DID notice…!’ and we cheer.

Libra being the sign of connecting to others, attracting others and ‘exchanges’ of ideas on the abstract plain, the next three-plus weeks of Venus in Libra will be good for finding out what works and what doesn’t work. Venus in Libra tends to evoke whatever charisma we have…and teach us how to be more effective through rewarding that others like.

In other words, it’s not guaranteed they’ll like everything we say or do, but it is more or less guaranteed that they’ll let us know the pluses and minuses OF what we say or do. And that cues us into how we can achieve ever greater success.

That Venus is entering Virgo some twelve-plus hours prior to Mercury entering Sagittarius (and half again that prior to this month’s Full Moon) signals either a ‘piling on’ of responses or things you have ‘set up’ prior to now falling into place.

Think dominoes. If your dominoes are properly lined up, you’re now all set for a spectacular display, much glee and a great Full Moon moment. If your dominoes are not in alignment, or if you have tried to include a few ‘tricks’ that you haven’t yet figured out, between October 28 and 29 life will show up what has gone wrong, derailing some portion of your effort.

 Apparently kittens like to play at dominoes, so why shouldn't we?

Katjesspel by Henriëtte Ronner-Knip

(c 1860, oil on panel, housed at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)

After the Full Moon however, what we effectively have is a personal planet ‘line up’ of sorts: Venus will be in Libra, the Sun will be in Scorpio and Mercury and Mars will both be traversing Sagittarius.

Under any estimation this marks the next several weeks as a time when interactions and efforts aimed at creating agreement and a ‘forward path’ will be focal. Not necessarily pleasant or happy making, but focal.
And what’s the issue? Why, with Venus in Libra should there be any flies in our luscious, deliciously unguent ointment of life?

There are actually two flies here. The first is Mercury’s shift into Sagittarius, which often manifests as the tendency to substitute volume for common sense. Undoubtedly there will be more sound and less sense now for a while.

And yet, we won’t get as annoyed as we otherwise might get with such people. We’ll look at them, we’ll give half-a-listen and we’ll decide that we need to do what we know is right. At least right for us in terms of what works for us. That’s Venus in Libra.

Then there’s the Sun in Scorpio, a far more volatile problem especially since there will be a Solar Eclipse on November 13th. The tension we feel now which will covert on that date to a feeling of having to cope will cause many of us to quail. And yet some of us – notably those who have been too headstrong or too ‘my way or the highway’ may now realize the wisdom in working together.

It all depends where and how you come into this time.

And what you come into this time doing. And how you’re going about doing it.

Considering the Solar Eclipse, there is a shift in social and societal patterns going on which is global, yes. But it’s also personal to you. This is part of the natural ‘breakdown’ process which happens in advance of any solar eclipse. Prior to now, the tendency will have been to ‘judge’ others. But once Venus enters Libra, we may see wisdom in their choices we hadn’t taken into account. We may recognize that even if what they have to say or what they aim to do isn’t our cup of tea that doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid path for them.

We may, in short, learn more about who we want to be with/to others (or maybe who we need to be in order to maintain or improve things) BECAUSE we stop feeling so disappointed that ‘they’ aren’t who we’ve been wanting them to be!

About now…and through the period of the Full Moon and into the first few days of November emotions may well run high. We’re likely to be very concerned about whether we can make things work the way we want them to work.

During this time, Venus in Libra is likely to manifests in two very different ways. Some will try that old ‘power of persuasion’ thing. Or the ‘I’m going to charm your socks right off of you!’ thing. And some will take a step back and think about what works…and WHY it works.

You may think along one theme, you may think along the other. Or maybe you’ll vacillate between both.

As will everybody else, hence feelings of ‘doing a little dance’ which may seem evident – even amusingly so! – during this time.

But since the bottom line is likely to be whether we want to insist on our way OR whether we want to aim for that which will help us build a profitable future…

You get where I’m going with this, right?

And why CAN’T we have our own way? Why CAN’T things be what they’ve always been?

The answer to that is the famous Bob Dylan line: ‘the times, they are a’changing.’

They simply are. We’re moving into a time which is going to be very ‘make it work’ period (that’s for all the Project Runway fans!). Hardly anyone is going to get to continue doing what they’re been doing (or how they’ve been doing it) and most of us are going to face some sort of personal crisis which forces us to take that ‘same set of skills’ and transport it into some new avenue or outlet.

Sunrise in orbit above Earth reveals Venus and Mars

(photo credit: NASA-JPL, August 1995)

 
There are those who aren’t going to be affected directly by this November’s solar eclipse directly. (They wouldn’t be any of my friends, but I’m sure such people exist, she says gallantly…!) But as I look ahead, you know – as the online astrologer – I’m doing calculations and seeing that very, very, VERY few of us (if any of us) are going to get through the next year-and-a-half (or so) without some serious transitioning.

This Venus in Libra time is going to be a boon to those who have already embarked on their purposeful life shifts. Since it spans a set of weeks during which Mercury goes into retrograde, news which comes in during the last part of this Venus transit (in other words, while Venus is transiting that ‘input from others’ 3rd decanate zone)…that’s going to be useful grist for the mill and something you can apply to your ongoing evolution. Against that, those who haven’t let go of the old assumptions, the old assertions, the old ‘I want what I want and I want to do it the way I’ve always done it’ (or ‘how it’s always been done’) folks are going to find themselves stalled during the days between November 14th (ahem – the day after the eclipse…) and early on November 22nd (which would still be November 21st in the Americas) when Venus moves on into Scorpio.

There’s a lot coming down the pike next month: Neptune is going direct, we have a solar and then a lunar eclipse…and nobody’s favorite (Mercury retrograde) will tend to muck up the works.

And then Venus goes into Scorpio, a combination of sign and planet which signals emotionally challenging efforts at the very least!

All that is to say make the most of Venus in Libra…which is sometimes easier said than done. But then again, all depends on your definition of ‘making the most of things’ too, right? Venus in Libra is a great time for socializing. It’s also a great time for networking, making good impressions and working to improve the positives while…well, doing our best to avoid the negatives.

Speaking of that trend, this will be the Venus passage under which the United States goes to the polls to elect not just a President, but a giant chunk of the nation’s Congress. Venus transiting Libra at this point in the campaign promises some glossy last-minute ads and serious outpours of campaign and pac/super pac money.

 Franklin D. Roosevelt campainging in Topeka Kansas in September of 1932 (National Archives and Records Administration, Catalogue No. 196072)

The Mars and Mercury in Sagittarius merging with this speaks to the fervency of positions and a fine walk (certainly for the candidates, if maybe others too!) between ‘right’ and ‘righteous.’ One describes a path, the other evidences the nature of a human ego – and the candidate who knows which is which and who is able to manifest the right choice is going to (Venus in Libra) probably get the response they want at the ballot box.

I can well understand if you’re sick of politics by now. Personally, I think an entire tree has given its life for the number of political mailers which have ended up getting stuffed in my box during these past couple of months. But the comments above do have bearing in our individual lives as the “patterns” which lead to success on the ‘big stage’ don’t change just because we’re not running for high political office.

That’s one of the interesting things about astrology – and probably why its kept my interest through more than thirty years now. How this universe manages to manifest so that the same ‘shapes’ of things seem to challenge us…with everything fitting together just so with each person responding to their generation and their family and a nation which was founded when and re-founded at a later date…

It’s just plain ol’ interesting.

And useful – which is why (I am guessing) you come to read this blog!

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