Venus Direct

Act in Blues

by Antoni Karwowski (January 2009)

Of all the posts I write, without question those marking the end of a Venus retrograde or Mars retrograde are my favorites – if merely for the relief I know they will spell for so many.

So here’s the news we’ve all been waiting for: Venus will go direct on January 31st at 8 p.m. (UT/+0) at 13 degrees of Capricorn.

In going direct conjunct Pluto and in a semi-sextile to an Aquarius Sun everything isn’t perfect or probably even sorted out at the moment. Many of us are still uneasy or undecided about what has happened during the past six weeks. That the degree Venus is going direct in (13 Capricorn) points to where we stand at the moment in our own life as well as where we thought we were going has created a curious sense of separation…isolation…even alienation as we’ve tried to let go of certain things while preserving that which seems vitally important.

And not all those choices have been easy. Or “fair.” Venus in retrograde, so known for its ability to manifest as situational relationship dynamics which disappoint, fall short of expectations or which elicit feelings of compromise, rejection or lack of proper reward for our efforts. Focused through the Capricorn lens, this particular retrograde has been sobering. Apparently ‘aimed’ at our hard core, real life, ‘what it takes to exist’ sorts of Capricorn standards as applied to wherever we need to grow, get more realistic or consider the effort(s) being made – or which need to be made, this Venus retrograde has been uncomfortable for all and costly on a very personal and human scale.

Through others, through our experiences we have been forced to at least consider something about who we are and how we’re going about living our lives. And now that Venus is going direct, all those many things which haven’t been so straight-forward or obvious are facing us – at least as an undercurrent - going forward.

To toss in a little metaphysical history here, that Venus is going direct at 13 Capricorn – a degree which calls on the toughness it takes to make it on your own while making us wish things were ‘nicer’ all the way around – this is a degree hit by a solar eclipse back in January of 2011. At that point something about our ‘direction’ (or the directives by which we live our life) was irrevocably altered, sending us into a three-year solar eclipse rebuilding cycle, the results of which only really began to surface during early-mid 2013.

As those effects did surface, something else was revealed…something we could not have anticipated and which we would not have considered or undertaken to take on had we not been through that January 2011 solar eclipse.

Or more specifically, the two months or so before that eclipse. In some ways we could say that this Venus retrograde has taken up where the eclipse left off, echoing through our lives asking us who we really are – and what or who we want to be thought of as.

The most sensitive points affected by the January 2011 solar eclipse AND this

current Venus retrograde (which takes its station to go direct at 13 Capricorn)

are the Capricorn conjunction, the Cancer opposition (the 'confrontation' with

issues and ideas) and the two squares - one in Aries and one in Libra. Seeing that

all four of these signs are members of the cardinal (pro-active) modality, what the

2011 eclipse may have stopped now will have resurfaced as a check point.

All of these points have a five-degree orb allowance, as shown above.

    

The gaps between those two ideas or values or qualities were shown up in large scale back in 2010/2011 …now we’re at a checkpoint, asking ourselves what we have and haven’t done since then, focusing in particular on the human side of this equation: our satisfaction with life, the integrity with which we think we’re living our lives (and in that, how we feel about integrity as a necessity or option) and what it means to ‘win’ in your terms and survive only to recognize the cost to others…maybe to other things you actually value…and to our self respect, our feelings of self worth and whatever it is which makes us want to do whatever it is we do in this world.

Mind you, this is only Step One in a much longer process. Yes, there will be those among us who will shake off Venus retrograde effects and trot away like some puppy which has forgiven itself its latest transgression. But most of us still have a lot of work to do, the underlying qualities of which are going to remain Venusian and linked to this December 2013-January 2014 retrograde period. Seeing as next up on the calendar is a Mercury retrograde beginning in Pisces and ending in Aquarius we can expect an unusual combination of effort, contemplation,  investigation and rejection during the weeks ahead – all with a dose of wondering what we should take on or be in competition about.

Are we competing with them, with ourselves – or with some ghost of failings past, real, ingrained or imagined?

Then we come to Mars and Saturn retrograde – a pairing of stations which for some may well prove to be monumental on their own and which play into what we’re talking about with Venus seeing as Mars, along with Venus is considered a ‘primal’ sort of descriptor of emotionality – the ‘strength’ side of the feeling energetic - as opposed to Venus which represents a softer and more ‘receptive’ side of our emotionality. And though the natural tendency is to think of these emblems as good-or-bad and even masculine-versus-feminine, that’s not the issue here. This ‘Mars and Venus as Moon partners’ (and the corresponding ‘Jupiter and Saturn as Sun partners’) is not about social attributes, but about whether we are able or even willing to harness our abilities without getting in out own way.

Or maybe more to the point here, what with Mars being in Libra, whether our Mars drive to get things done/assert one’s Self is in harmony with your own intent or desire. And make no mistake, sometimes life knows better than we do…and no, we don’t tend to like it when life takes that tact.

Part of what we are dealing with now – and which we will be dealing with on an increasing basis as we move forward (towards the Mars retrograde and Taurus solar eclipse) is a subtle if ongoing awareness. Mars in Libra is an air sign which functions through the ‘idea of the thing’ – which in the case of Libra is all about who we are in relationship to others, personally and/or professionally. (And yes, sometimes both.)

Meanwhile, Venus in Capricorn (or shall we say, Pluto-Venus in Capricorn) can perhaps be typified as a ‘drive born of necessity’ which operates in a very Big Picture fashion – the ‘big picture’ part being all about the fact that the last four signs of the zodiac (Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces) are worldly and public by nature.

Some will spend the whole of these next few months trying to ‘balance’ the individual/interactive concern against their bigger or worldly concerns. Others will instead move towards the idea of relating to others (or what they learn from others) as a ‘microcosm’ of that ‘world’ in the sense that society is really just a collection of countless individuals, all of whom have pretty basic instincts, tastes and opinions.

Considering the sign aspect here is a square (from Venus to Mars) the first variation will tend to cause friction within us (as to how to use our Mars assertiveness energies) and that’s likely to surface as problems, tough choices and for many, hard scenes. With squares – whether by sign or degree – we always want to work towards integration, towards synthesis. That takes work, hence the reputation squares have for being difficult.

But the reward is an inner understanding we’ll never lose…and since this is Mars-Venus we’re talking about, what stands to be gained here seems likely to be self respect or confidence.

The ‘medium’ through which Venus operates may be anything - emotional or financial, something to do with a career you have or want…it may pertain to some physical necessity. Or simple survival needs. You may be grappling with the nature of some responsibility you’ve taken on and whether that really fits who you are.

But whether this time is about something you need to get done in order to move forward towards and into the new…or  whether you’ve determined that you need to put distance between your today and yesterday, this is just the start of a process.

A turning point, call it.

Given the Mars in Libra inconjunct to this April’s Taurus solar eclipse we can anticipate there’s something to be learned from others or experienced through some association or situation which is going to affect us on a substantially personal level.

As for when we’ll encounter such a moment, catalyst or insight…that’s individual. However, considering the fact that Mercury is entering Pisces rather in sync with this Venus turnabout, some of us will be making changes now which we will capitalize on or find out the true wisdom of come this April. Mercury in Pisces can represent indecision and insecurity…but it can also signify intuition and a grace of spirit which is often highly seductive. And because this ingress will occur in tandem with Venus’ station, we can expect an intense few days when relationships and our ability to relate to someone through relationship (be it business or personal) can become a matter of personal fascination.

The caution here is obvious: lest you fall prey to some own desire to be seduced into (or out of) something, know your limits.

It’s also entirely possible that you may now meet or become involved with a project or person who will change your perspective on something fundamental. If so, enjoy the positive but pace yourself. Venus/Pluto connections are well known for stirring obsessive feelings which, given the Mercury in Pisces cue, may be nothing but a mirage.

As always, there is a two-days-before and two-days-after ‘station allowance’ given here, and the usual astro-theories will apply: things which occur during the two days before the station have yet to play out and things which happen during the two days after the station are a playing out of situations already met.

Pluto will be moving into 13 Capricorn as of February 26th…which would be late on the 25th for those in the Americas or eastern Pacific basin. It will then remain at 13 Capricorn and go retrograde on April 14th under Mars retrograde - during the heart of eclipse season.

This 13 Capricorn Pluto sequence will recommence just before New Years 2015 and finalize in January, teaching us all a lot about what ambition really means along the way. 

This last six weeks has been difficult for everyone. No doubt it's been particularly hard on Gen X’ers (born under Venus-ruled Pluto in Libra) and Gen Y folks – the Pluto in Scorpio tribe. (My sympathies, absolutely.) But across the board, no matter what generation you were born into, as many times as we've all been told we need to learn to love our Self, most of us aren’t that good at comforting ourselves with the sort of support we need when we feel like no one understands us and we don't understand life, when it seems like our dreams are crumbling for no known reason, when nothing seems to be going our way.

This feeling...the odd malaise so many of us have been laboring under for the past month or so...will begin to pass as January gives way to February. But it will be slow. Any planet coming out of retrograde takes a bit of time to pick up speed again, and thus our lives - or in this Venusian case our sense that things are more or less back to 'normal' will take a bit of time. Some of this is individual. But even if your personal chart doesn't answer to 13 Capricorn (Venus' station point), 23 Taurus (the degree Sedna will go direct at on February 5th) or 3 Pisces (the degree Mercury will go retrograde at on February 6th) it will be mid-February before Venus motion is more or less back to normal - at which point we'll be under Mercury retrograde, an influence which is easier on the heartache but more prone to producing headaches.

That Venus won't be exiting the shadow of this retrograde until March 4th tells us we're going to be working with and through much of which we've been challenged by for a while yet. But that's natural. Some decisions haven't yet been made (or acted on) and many situations need resolutions. Relationships and financial issues are likely to take the longest to sort out and a few such matters (probably those which embody or test our personal sense of vulnerability as it concerns how to proceed) - will become part of Mars retrograde quandaries. 

Still, as of January 31st we can expect communications to warm and many a process human or situational to finally achieve some sort of ease. The combination of Venus going direct as Mercury motion slows can create great clarity, great confusion and a whole list of questions and choices all at once. So yes, we do evidently still have a lot to learn yet.

But at least we've gotten this far.
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