Solstice Capricorn 2013

A Sunspot as photographed by spacecraft TRACE shows what NASA refers to as an

'off' or 'calm' day in the life of our Sun.

Suggestion - take plenty of sunscreen if you get a hankering to visit.

(photo credit: NASA, September 2000)

There are three ways to look at the fact that Venus is going retrograde on the same day that the Sun reaches its Capricorn Solstice. We can look at it as Venus’ turn to (Capricorn) retrograde as being a factor in the Sun’s ingress and transit of that most worldly and public of earth signs, Capricorn. Or we can look at this as the Sun reaching its Capricorn Solstice as a factor in how Venus’ turn to retrograde is going to affect us – which is rather the approach I took in the last post on Venus’ station. (I’m referring to the December 18th post here.)

We can also think of this as a single confluence – a single, metaphysical Sun-Solstice-Capricorn+Venus-retrograde-Capricorn thing – which would tend to be a reconsidering, a getting real-or-realistic (even practical or pragmatic) in a way you haven’t quite gotten to until now…

It would seem likely that anyone who has lived too much in their dreams - or by what they ‘thought’ something was going to be ‘in theory’ is going to meet up with some earthy, nuts-and-bolts sort of necessities.

Then again, one would also suspect that those who get real now will be able to forge a plan now. And that plan may well take you somewhere in the (Saturn rules Capricorn) long run.

Saturn, remember? Time, dedication, responsibility to the thing you want to achieve at or as…all that Saturn stuff will manifest subtly and generally and even specifically during the month of Sun in Capricorn. And it’s all going to be colored by the Venus retrograde.

That means the core activity – which is to say that which we take on or tackle (even just mentally) which has to do with the structure of our life (physical or experiential) is done on our own. And for many of us, purely internally.

In other words, this is something of a pivot moment. And with the Sun (will, life, consciousness) moving into Capricorn obviously starting at zero degrees AS Venus begins backing down from 28 Capricorn, we get a notice that the date of all this doing (December 21st, with the Sun reaching Capricorn at 5:12 in the evening UT/+0) will feature a confluence of energetics which is likely to manifest as a feeling of being burdened with/by something which has very distinct plus and minus features. There is a desire for all to be as ‘comfortable’ (easy, maybe?) even as there is a need to grow and create an inner core of something which is going to sustain you.

And that is happening in each of our lives as the Sun moves into Capricorn on December 21st. But since your chart isn’t my chart, and my chart isn’t your BFF’s mother’s-auntie’s employer’s chart, we’re all going to be experiencing all this a little bit differently.

Courtesy of NASA and NOAA, one of the 'Earth at Night 2012' photo series, this one showing the Atlantic Ocean, the Americas (left) and Europe plus part of Africa at the right.

Let’s see…that means there are somewhere around 7.13 billion people on this planet, all of which are going to be having a ‘get real’ moment. And yet…there are those among us who have truly terrible Venus placements. Or (and?) rather rancid Saturn placements. (And to have both…? That would be particularly psyche-grinding at the moment.) A rebellion here is fine if it has been earned…that’s the premier and ultimate Saturnine rule: EARN IT.

But taking liberties? That’s probably not a good idea. Whether or not things work out in the temporal sense, this would be one of those moments when any of us could do (or realize we have done) something truly not productive. Greeted with that, some of us will go into a ‘turnaround mode’ and begin working to ‘re-structure’ things in a mode more supportive of long-term personal aims while others of us set everything personal aside in favor of concentrating on that thing which we are driven to do. Or which we know is really ‘us.’ Or that we know HAS to be the next step in the process of building a framework which will support our being who it is we know we are and need to be.

And yes, honesty counts. It’s a thing to think about that the energetic frequency which indicates responsibility (i.e., the Saturn Vibe) is also associated with honesty AND the penalties we pay for not being honest – first and last with our Self. In connection, Saturn-Venus often represents the sensible choice and the kinds of disciplined effort which in utilizing our talents and better attributes gets us places with the down side being the question of why we do any given thing. Here the combination of Sun-Venus which is very creative (often overly so) encounters Saturn’s ‘cooling’ (I know…some would say ‘chilling’!) quality asking us whether the thing we ‘should’ do is what we really ‘should’ do if we’re going to be either surrendering our individuality or not being who we really are.

You know…way deep down inside.

Anything we do now and any direction we go now is going to encounter a period of either challenge or reconciliation and reorientation next year as Mars also goes into retrograde on March 1st. Considering that date is going to be under the auspices of the April 2014 Taurus solar eclipse and how Taurus is ruled by Venus…

We would see to be at a ‘heads up’ point in time. Some of us will move towards those truths about who we really are no matter how difficult, challenging or painful that is, no matter how many dreams (our own - or maybe those projected on us by others) we have to steer clear of or let melt away into a clearer vision of what our life is – and is going to be about.

And this goes to an astrological factoids which seldom gets talked about. Part of what the ongoing shift from the Age of Pisces into the Aquarian Age does is exalt both personal achievement and social involvement, two qualities which seem oppositional until we think of them as the twin results of successful entrepreneurial (individual) spirit.

Saturn premises lay the bedrock and foundation for all things Aquarian which last.

So…how do we define ‘success’? Some will define success personally, some will define it financially, some will have a more philosophical point of view.

Venus and the Sun won’t be meeting up until January 10th. And January 10th, “coincidentally” (not really, but…) is when Mercury, having fleet footed its planet self into Capricorn on December 24th, reaches 28 Capricorn, the degree Venus is going retrograde at now.

Yes – draw a little dotted line. That which arises now, which you put off/avoid now, which you are conscious of having on a back burner (you know, that itchy thing you want to get to, sooner rather than later?) will probably resurface at that time. Or conversely, perhaps you will need to bring it up. Or ‘inject’ it into the other things which are going on at that time.

Canova's 'Cupd (Eros) and Psyche' at the Hermitage of St. Petersburg in Russia

Sometimes ingresses and solstices fling open the door to opportunity or a change of style or pace. This one, particularly with the Sun presented in conjunction with asteroid Psyche as Venus goes retrograde, asks us to think of who we really, truly are.

You know…way down deep.

And you may be thinking now about a piece you read here at the blog….about Eros and Psyche.

- Link to -

EROS AND PSYCHE:

FALLING IN LOVE WITH OUR MINDS

As we think through what these next few weeks are going to bring, understanding the difference between our Eros ‘passions’ (which while they can be sexual can also represent a passion for or about anything in your life) and our Venusian ability to generate what we want…or don’t want from others, from life, from what we do.

At stake here just may be what it takes to achieve what we need to achieve in the long term, and what that is going to require of us that we grow to be able to do, tolerate or deal with. For the Sun to be entering Capricorn now, with Venus turning to retrograde greets us with the reality of how things will work, whether or not we want it or like it.

Often thought of as the most ‘maturing’ of astrological signs, all things Capricorn offer us a choice. In this case the choice would seem to be about what we want to be, what it will take to be what we want to be, and how we feel about that investment, whatever form that may require of us or take.
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