Retrograde Stations: Mercury and Neptune

...From inside the reef on Grand Cayman Island

(photo credit: Ray Bodden, March 2009)

Four people close to those in my life have passed away since just before April’s eclipse. The last of them I found out about only some short time ago by logging onto Facebook - and that’s really not the way to find out someone has died. And even stranger (and somehow terribly ironic)...is how that one last person was someone I wrote about in an eBook put out just a couple of months ago.

It took me over fifty years to bring myself to tell the tale...and within a couple of months life itself echoed the closing out of that cycle with the finality of his death.

There’s a lot which is going on which feels cosmic, karmic and inevitable - a combination which rouses our desire to control through revealing how all control is in essence, essentially futile...and yet how the gap between futility and peace is less about what goes on than our ability to accept it.

The fight is ours...or not ours, as are the emotional vacillations and insecurities.

This is our primal and primary Neptunian lesson: we are only in control of anything once we surrender to whatever feelings come with accepting we don’t (and can’t) control everything.

We’re not superheroes, we’re humans. And with Neptune going retrograde on June 9th at 7:52 in the evening (UT/+0) after several long weeks of being positioned at 7 Pisces, we can expect the whole of this week and in particular the period of June 5th through June 11th to call upon our ability to deal with our feelings about control (and what we can’t control) with some degree of focus...if not precisely intensity.

Why so long a period? That, you’ll understand in a minute. But first, why not ‘intensity’?

Well...in the astro-sense, ‘intense’ is more of a Scorpio-Mars-Pluto word - a term which implies that singularly Scorpio sort of feeling connected to some situation, desire or focus which tests our ability to manage, maintain and find our way forward...all of which has to be applied to Self first and then to the situation to be productive and positive.

(A fact Pluto in Scorpio/Gen Y people are coming to comprehend thoroughly and viscerally.)

In any case, as opposed to ‘intensity,’ with Neptune there is ‘disconnection.’ Like the sign (Pisces) Neptune is so strongly associated with (and which it is currently transiting through), Neptune isolates anything and everything having to do with personal ego - and in the process forces us to face extraordinary possibilities as possibilities so that ‘in light of that (Pisces) enlightenment’ we can (Neptune) let go of our ego-investment or ego-driven priorities in favor of perhaps more humble, but humanly and humanely productive (in other words, integrally moral) overall choices.  

So with that said...a couple of nights ago I got up in the middle of the night (‘tis human to get thirsty) and because I got up I discovered a flood which had, in its own watery, seeping manner snuck into my personal space - which is not what I suspect anyone wants to deal with at 4 o’clock in the morning.
It was a soggy, soggy dawn.

But as I worked through the aftermath, it came to me how as I had gone to sleep I was thinking about a phrase used to describe Neptune - in particular, certain forms of Neptune connecting with Mercury.

The phrase was ‘flooded feelings.’

How quaint, right? And yes, how metaphysical. Making those connections is the hallmark of Pisces and Neptune, both of which are known as promoters and provokers of human instinct.

What that means is that since 2012 we’ve all been dealing with a continuing series of events (reflected by solar eclipses) along the Taurus-Scorpio axis bringing out all the many ways we balance our own (Taurus) interests and security against that of (Scorpio) others... into which now comes/has come a healthy dose of questioning/self-questioning which in being Neptunian (and therefore Piscean in nature) has caused insecurity where, and with regards to anything and everything which ‘touches on’ that Neptune/Pisces issue of not wanting to be scared by how we feel about something we now have to confront.

It isn’t the ‘thing’ which is the issue, though many (if not most) of us will have our moments of utter conviction that the threat is real and that our feelings are justified.

Well...maybe they are. That’s the astro-news of the moment. But we just can’t know.

No...that’s not you haven’t done enough to know, and it’s not you don’t care so you don’t know...that’s we can’t, don’t, won’t and (for those who are more metaphysical or spiritual) we aren’t supposed to know yet.

Oh...and did I mention Mercury’s going on station? That’s right - Mercury will be going retrograde at the end of this week. The date is June 7th, and the time will be 11:58 a.m. (UT/+0).

THAT’s the reason for the extended period of sensitivity.

With Mercury a symbol of all which goes into and gets processed by our mind (or doesn’t get processed, depending) plus all we are, and need to be mindful of - and Neptune a signal for the blurring of ego lines (and thus our feelings of discretion) all sorts of things are likely to get said now.

And revealed now.

How we react to what we hear depends on how ‘married’ we are (mentally or emotionally) to our ‘image’ - the ‘picture’ we imagine of how things are going to turn out. Again, the issue is not the ‘thing’ or the process - it’s the emotional investment we have in our “solution,” our goal and our aim, some part of which is likely to get challenged during the days ahead by some reality or fact we hadn’t counted on.

Reactions can (and will) range from disappointment to outrage, with the greater intensities of negative emotionality virtually surely a projection of inner hurt, disappointment or denial of some essential sort of reality - most commonly that which has us believing that ideal we hold so dearly in our soul can ever be real.

Pisces...the 12th house of the horoscope (and therefore Neptune)...was once aptly described to this astrologer as ‘the distance by which we will fail our own expectations.’

And the problem there would evidently be the ‘expectation’ part. When we ‘expect,’ we vest our ego.  When we ‘allow for what might happen,’ we are accepting reality as a whole.

That is - and will be a theme heard and well felt in the days which lie ahead.

Even more ironically, it is likely that those who believe these ideas the least will experience them most deeply.

(Life is just like that, you know.)

As for the degrees of station, Neptune is going retrograde at 7 Pisces - a first decan degree indicative of energies which are felt personally, physically or focused through our choices of action or pursuit. The Sabian image here - “A GIRL BLOWING A BUGLE” is a call - and by being expressed through Neptune the cause is truly human, something which we all would feel and understand regardless of our place in life, time or national society.

Pisces is akin to the Jungian collective - it’s the most human part of our mortality. The ‘girl’ here being metaphysical, this is an expression of response, willingness to respond or experiences/resources already gained which are brought to and applied to a given question.

With Neptune going retrograde, we’re questioning our Self...or that Self is questioning the validity, integrity, morality, wisdom and/or consequences of ‘plowing’ ahead without sufficient reflection.

That reflection would generally be defined (at least as a first stage) by the 21-day Mercury retrograde period beginning on June 7th.

But there is a bit of a quirk here - namely that Neptune-Mercury contacts are known for a quality most often typified as 'deception.'

Mind you, this doesn’t have to be a negative - and it doesn't have to refer to lying. As the momentary daydream distracts us from some form of tedium, as a motivational idea we keep in our head isn't 'real' but still spurs us on to greater effort...the movie which entertains us - that movie just isn't ‘reality' even when it's non-fiction as those events aren't taking place right there in that moment.

All such things are entirely typical examples of Neptune-Mercury connections which though not ‘real’ (in any everyday operational sense) are still real enough to our feelings.

You know...those messy Neptunian, Piscean, emotional experiences we all go through in our own personal and really 'unreal' way.

Such things can challenge...and reward. Sometimes in the very same (and ultimately positive) moment.

To all of this, Mercury’s going retrograde at 3 Cancer speaks to some ‘turn of thought’ - something which is as likely to arise spontaneously from within as to be generated from without. Again defined as a personal degree which applies most frequently to physicality or actions, 3 Cancer refers to basic emotional needs, loyalties, feelings, habits and wherever those reactions or tendencies to be reactive come from - our Cancerian association with, feelings about or allegiance to childhood, family, home, national identity, customs and traditions and all which that becomes in our day-to-day life.

Given that Cancer trends towards the historical and old (the ingrained, traditional, the comfortably understood) there is some very good chance that some long-held notions or beliefs (in particular about who we are in our own minds) are likely to become active at this time. And with transformational Pluto in a multi-year conjunction with charismatic star Vega, at least some of our ‘star notions’...things which have held us in their charismatic sway as well as  qualities in us which reveal/denote our personal relationship with charisma or our inherent power of charisma are in for a bit of a flex. Seeing as Mercury is so mentally-oriented, it would not be unlikely to have a ‘new thought’ come into being now, just as the Sabian image for 3 Cancer (‘A CAT ARGUING WITH A MOUSE’) may indicate the need to consider, reconsider or accept some (unexpected) consideration as part of the process or probable whole...and all the rationalizing we’re likely to go through with ourselves (and others, yes) either as part of the process OR in some effort to thwart the underlying (Neptune/Pisces) need to face why we don’t want to ‘go there.'
 

The 'Ring of Fire' produced by the May 2012 Annular solar eclipse at 0 Gemini

(photo credit: Massaru Kamikura)

 
Plus there is one other a little notice which comes with Mercury as it enters its ‘station allowance’ period on June 5th.

What would that be?

That’s just how, as Mercury goes into ‘station mode’ on June 5th, how that would be the date when Venus reaches 8 Taurus.

You remember 8 Taurus, right? The degree of the April 29th (2014) solar eclipse?

- link to -

April's 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse

(Pt. 3) Stars and Patterns

Venus being a symbol all about turning cause into effect, with Venus well-placed in a sign of personal expression we should expect some ‘push’ for concrete conclusions as well as concrete demonstrations of various types, especially where the kind of limitations and fears so clearly set off by the eclipse haven’t yet been ‘owned’ by each or all (as necessary). Venus will be in a sextile to Neptune at this June 5th point, indicating a good time for conversation, an excellent time for exploring topics of mutual interest (and possible mutual benefit) without any definite point in mind. This sort of influence favors friendship, business discussions and it can be helpful where misunderstandings have produced difficulties with best results arising where everyone puts their agenda aside (and checks their ego at the door).

However...not many astrologers would suggest you commit yourself to anything serious during this June 5-11 Mercury-Neptune station. There may be great hope, and this may be a time when great movements are seeded or arise through discussion - particularly those which express, air and explore vulnerabilities, ‘mysterious’ reactivity and various forms of misgiving.

Mercury retrograde has long been thought of as a time when we think things over, do our ‘homework’ (research) on whatever subject and when we attend to that which we can do as opposed to focusing on something which...inevitably...fails to proceed, conclude or come to pass until Mercury’s retrograde concludes, an event which will happen this time come July 1st, 2014 at 12:51 in the afternoon, UT/+0 time.

Whether we have or haven’t thought about, through, or in terms of something inclusive of where our feelings, choices and/or convictions on the subject come from - that’s where Mercury retrograde delays or denies forward progress, calling on us to look beyond the obvious....and perhaps it’s just the fact that no matter who we are in this world...from the highly placed and mightiest among us to those of the truly wayward sort, we’re all likely to find some slice, some sliver, some ‘gap’ which merits thought.

There are no ‘rights’ or ‘wrongs’ in any of these equations - only that we bring to our discussions, be they with others - or with that person we think we know so well, our one and only Self.

Maybe we do know what we want...but maybe we don't really know yet. Maybe we need to give ourselves time to be who we are - never mind anyone else.

Either way and whether we're thinking in terms present, past or future we now feel ourselves responding...not to others, but to our own emotionality. With that in mind...and with a little bit of luck, from there we will be able to discern and more fully recognize the difference between success and possible failure in purely human terms...along with how two totally different things can bridge a gap without producing a diminution of, or compromise of valuable, viable connections providing we walk our most accepting mortal path.
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April’s 8 Taurus Solar Eclipse (Pt. 3: Stars and Patterns)

An Annular Eclipse

(photo credit: Sancho Panza, October 2005)

Each of Earth’s yearly solar eclipses is a process...in this case one which in rolling over us on April 29th at 6:15 in the morning (UT/+0) moves us out of a ‘breaking down’ phase where whatever is outmoded gets revealed so as to challenge our values and whatever we value or why we value or prioritize it, for good, bad and indifferent.

From this shift, exposure and need to re-evaluate our perceptions will come a new phase of development, experience and resultant utilization of abilities.

And though we may need such changes, let’s be real - we may not like going through them. There is something about the solar eclipse process which, with all due respect for dentistry is rather like having teeth extracted without painkillers.

There is a level at which we should take that sort of difficulty as a hint, perhaps. Why? Because throughout the millennia, the observation of solar eclipse effects on humans and in this world includes some of our very worst attributes.

You know...that very popular human sport called “being stubborn.”

Mind you, having opinions is lovely and standing for what you believe in and who you are the most necessary of things in this world. (Those who can’t do even that much have a very hard time.) And stubbornness has it’s place - no question. But when we are stubbornly refusing to know ourselves...that’s where eclipses come in.

Eclipses are very mysterious timekeepers. But they do seem to clock out areas of our life which will get exposed to us no matter what else happens and who else does, or doesn’t see.

Also: in the case of eclipses - a “blinding” object in the sky - IF someone else ‘sees’ you in the middle of dealing with your eclipse puzzle, whether or not they react you may be assured that witnessing is part of their own process. In other words (to quote a seriously Leo female I used to work with), ‘it’s so NOT about YOU.’

Well, mostly not. There is this factor of ‘like attracts like’ (metaphysical water/emotions seeking its/their own level) between people at eclipses and for good or bad, whether we like it or not the polarizing effects have much to teach us, if we’re only willing to learn.

So...do we value learning more or sticking with a ‘decided upon’ perspective or set of priorities?

Right now...right in this moment as we move into and through the solar eclipse, something will end or get ‘blacked out’ as the metaphysical ‘eclipsing’ of our former ‘norm’ - “the way we thought things were” gets wiped away.

This doesn’t have to be violent. It doesn’t even have to be unpleasant, though eclipses in Taurus tend to be particularly trying as they reveal things which, while they may or may not make us vulnerable in reality, sure feel that way.

It’s a prescription for insecurity - all of which we are being ‘told’ (astrologically) is going to challenge us with our own ability to act on faith...or to be faithful to some promise and/or precept.

-link to-

Mercury in Taurus / Neptune at 7 Pisces

Solar eclipses happen about every six months, reminding us of our mortality in the sense that events which happen during ‘eclipse seasons’ operate at a mental latitude omnipotent, humbling and incomprehensible in the moment. The sextile from Neptune (at 7 Pisces) to the eclipse (at 8 Taurus) signals a manifesting, an outpouring or ‘bursting forth’ of all things which confuse and disorient us precisely so that we can see or witness something different...or at least differently than we have seen it.

From that will come a nebulous strew of new perceptions, some of which - at least - will challenge us to be more honest with our Self.

And if we can’t (or won’t) go there...then we feel our own pain most acutely. It’s easy to make excuses now. It’s easy to do that which makes us feel better in this moment. Yet even the most determined (or hard headed, depending) among us are likely to have doubts at the moment. Whatever we’re involved in (or not involved in), there’s no clear path through the fray.

We will cope, of course. With the degree of this eclipse being 8 Taurus this time is simply personal in nature - and equally so for each and every one of us, whether you’re baking cookies at home or being focused on by schools and scads of media on some high profile international stage. In some way reflective of our ability to think ahead, adapt along the way and plan for the proverbial ‘rainy day’ (whether that’s past or present) we are at something of a ‘checkpoint’ in time - an idea quaintly referred to by the eclipse’s Sabian description ‘A fully decorated Christmas Tree.’

Can this reference be religious? It could be, but since the origin of Christmas is northern-hemispheric it’s as (or more) likely that this reference is to cyclic renewal: the idea that late December is when in the northern hemisphere days start growing longer and (solar) renewal is thus promised.

There will be another growing season, another harvest, we have more time, we can try, try again.

Evidently we humans like knowing there’s brighter light ahead. Before Christmas and around the globe humans have always celebrated the moment when we feel life quicken and begin to grow.

We celebrate it in our calendar, we celebrate it when in the moment when we learn of a human’s conception - or see their birth. Such things transcend our differences as societally, culturally, globally accepted moments worth celebrating even in the life of our dearest enemy.

Okay...so maybe we won’t celebrate the birth of their child as they would, but we’d probably stop shooting at them long enough to let them kiss their newborn.

Those who don’t and won’t go that far may win in some short run, but in doing so either seed or reveal their monster/monstrous tendencies...which only begs the question when they’ll notice that the psychic blood being spilled is really theirs.

Solar eclipses are not gentle. Solar eclipses often manifest in group experiences but are always and eternally about us - who we are as individuals and our ability to recognize, realize and/or deal with who we are.

At the moment, this entire process is highly amplified and yet strangely ‘inaccessible’ - that being the manifestation of that pesky Mars still in (Libra) retrograde which remains with us until-and-through Mars’ May 20th station - a station which will open doors to ‘move forward’ starting at the ‘theoretical/mental’ end of things with actions and “progress” (as we see it) slowly picking up pace as we move through June. Prior to May 20th the (Mars/Libra retrograde) ‘gap’ between the ‘me’ and ‘them’ (or ‘it’) of life will tend to feel like isolation. Where we are and where we want to be are just not in synch. We can think of this as being given us a bit of ‘space’ and “mental room” and many of us will do (and have been doing) just that.

But there is that (Neptunian) insecurity. And if there’s anything humans don’t like, it’s feeling insecure.

And why would that be? Could it be that insecurity stems from feeling that our personal power (or power to be the person we are) is being threatened?

Or maybe we aren’t “all that” (with or without the bag of chips)?

The good news is that we’re all in this together. The bad news is that there is no clear-cut solution to whatever it is we’ve gathered onto our plate...nor are we all that happy about having to confront knowing about all those choices which got us to wherever we are at the moment.

But then, so did everybody else. And if E=mc2’d...or if you merely want to think about Existence as a single thing which at whatever level manifests as the whole of what it is in every given moment, then you...me...the doorknob and your computer, we are ALL energy.

As is all the space between us - which really means we’re contiguous...from which vantage point individuality takes on a whole other perspective: that of knowing our part in order to play our part in a Whole which provides all we need and all we could ever conceive of or want.

So given that, who are we fighting when our feelings prompt us to upset? It’s a whole different question, isn’t it?

And one which is not all that comfortable to deal with as generational shifts continue evolving. Deep within we want things to change - we just aren’t sure that anyone else knows how to do the right thing.

Then again, neither do we. Our lives social, societal, worldly and planetary are all changing, bringing about a wholesale crumbling of old allegiances (Pluto/Sabine) and whatever attitudes or perspectives have outlived/completed their usefulness in our lives, our world, our life and times.

Whatever (Pluto/Vega) appeal brought such qualities to the fore is beginning to fade, asking that we (Pluto) transform our Self - not that (Uranus) change is very easy. The innate difference between Plutonic and Uranian processes has pitted us against our own ability to tolerate inexorable inevitabilities we may or many not like amidst an aura of fractious reactivity, ‘shaking us’ at an entirely (TNO Typhon) primal level and as always, Uranus will manifest as situations which 'exert' change in a more abrupt force where we are unwilling or unable to be sufficiently flexible.

Given the ongoing Mars/Libra retrograde, we may see such displays in others...Or we may feel like someone is ‘doing’ something “to” us (or even with us in mind) when that very concept is far less (if at all) about them and (more or less) entirely about why we’re reacting to them in the manner that we're doing.

We feel like it wasn’t long ago (Diadem @ 9 Libra) when in comparison to this moment, things were simple. And part of us does know that the difficulties of this moment are valuable because whether we like it or not, some of humanity’s most valuable (Diadem) lessons come not from joy but through the discomfort of times when we fight the hardest with our Self.

And this is where solar eclipses get so interesting. In moving over our world they move through our lives erupting in whatever sort of event or situation will bring out our weaknesses - in this case, our weakest values.

Priorities - particularly those we have been comfortable with allowing or identifying with (not to mention being known for) either have or will form  lasting (Lachesis) images (Photographica) we will carry forward for some time to come.

Our challenge: not to get (Europa) carried away and not to (Uranus in Aries) over-react. Innovations and various forms of ‘catching up’ are needed and meeting those needs will require (Uranus change)...and probably some degree of sacrifice (Alpheratz) as we relinquish old ideas and ways of thinking, particularly about who we ‘are’ (or need to be) in our own eyes - or those of others.

That all of this comes to us in the form of a grand cross suggests a period of days...even weeks...which with whatever else they bring will also pose challenges, challenges which through their very lack of resolution cause us to question.

Some of our questions will ask why we’ve (Capricorn) come to this place. Some of our questions will ask what we can do in the (Libra) face of feeling like nothing can be done. Some of our questions will cause us to want to know why it is that as individuals or whatever form of family, group or alliance we have such issues (Cancer) with living a fruitful, peacefully productive life. Are we really at such cross-purposes with an other, or with our (Aries) Selves?

All of which brings us to the most symbolic and astro-mythic figure in this side of this eclipse as represented by fixed stars Hamal and Schedir being at 7 Taurus, just a degree off the eclipse itself.

8 Taurus manifests generally as sensitivities and difficulties, one which feeds the other. Responsibilities become focal whether our issue is a rejection of responsibility or our being overwhelmed in the face of responsibilities we don’t know how to (or simply can’t) handle with the whole of this degree being somewhat more ‘airy’ (idea-driven) than many a more earthy, ‘reality oriented’ Taurean degree. With the eclipse at 8 Taurus it is the ‘idea’ of the value we have lacked - most of all in our Self - which in becoming exposed changes our ‘playing field.’

Against this, 7 Taurus is a highly corporeal degree - and one known for its focus on ‘physical existence.’ Not known as a particularly pleasant degree, 7 Taurus tests our ability to cope with painful realities which at some level are the result of choices made, perhaps over time (read: probably within the last eclipse cycle of 19 years) which did not fully grasp or ‘embody’ the reality of consequences - be they theoretical, physical or...considering the ‘trigger’ on this lesson is a solar eclipse...life changing in terms of how we regard life, whether or not our lives are touched in any moment-to-moment manner.

As for the stars, as primary/alpha star in the constellation Aries the Ram, Hamal (alternate name: El-Nath) stands for either the type of (Saturn/Mars) focus and motivation which could be typified as ‘determined effort’ ...or (at the other end of the polarity string) something akin to ‘limited options’ or ‘restricted range’ (implication: of activity, motion or effectiveness). Like most fixed star effects, Hamal’s ‘backdrop to life’ quality tends to take on some ‘coloration’ from whatever is associated with it or in its constellation (Aries) at the time the star is ‘triggered,’ as it is being by a solar eclipse one degree away.

As photographed by NASA and ESA, HST-G1 (also known as Mayall II)

near the core of the Andromeda Galaxy (Sept 2006)

Metaphysically speaking, the eclipse marks at time which seeks to educate and inform us through the ‘expose’ or ‘release’ all things having to do the energies of Hamal and the principle of all things Aries and currently Aries, giving us to think about the nature of our consciousness, about what we’re doing with our life, about who we’re being and about the innate innocence involved in being human, an innocence and vulnerability of mortality we so often like to (consciously) forget.

The eclipse is in Taurus, to be sure. But with the ‘currently transiting Aries’ list currently being headlined by Uranus and dwarf planet Eris, that points to changes which come about through whatever puts us in position to be tumbled into periods of self-confrontation.

And considering how few people really like that sort of thing, we can hardly expect things to be powder puff pink and cutely rosy. Considering the retrograde implications here (Mars rules Aries), something about ‘them’ hits ‘home’ to (Aries) on a personal level by whatever means will promote careful (even critical) reflection. The more (Libra) ‘married’ we are to ‘them’ or their (Libra) ideas, or the more we tend to impose, restrict or reject others when and where they are simply different, the more difficult things will seem.

In other words, we need to know and be who we are, as do others. But to the extent that this equation (either the being or doing or both) is out of balance, things now won’t ‘pay’ or ‘play out’ as anticipated and the more problematic the moving ‘through’ this eclipse period is likely to be.

Situations have now broken down to where we can either ourselves or feel our own inner walls. Why we have those walls is part of our metaphysical corona - the opportunity to see in Self and life that which ordinarily gets lost in day-to-day doings. Once we get through that...once we get honest (at least with our Self)...then we move on.

Constellations Cassiopeia (center), Andromeda (lower left), part of

Perseus (upper left) and the edge of Cepheus (middle/right)

 

But that probably will involve dealing with Schedir principles at some level, since of the two stars at 7 Taurus, Schedir is definitely the one related to emotional knot-tying.

The myth behind Schedir is that of Cassiopeia, the beautiful if arrogant and vain queen of Ethiopia. To those who know the tale of Niobe this story will sound familiar - though there are a few key differences. Where Niobe claimed her children were more beautiful than the collective intellectual attributes represented by Apollo (the truth of enlightenment) and sister Artemis (the truth of experience), Cassiopeia merely claimed her children were more beautiful than the sea nymph daughters of Neptune (Poseidon) known as the Nereids - which is another way of announcing that she (Cassiopeia) was so wonderful that things she could do (or produce) would be more valuable to human beings than the products of their (Neptune/Poseidon) feelings.

I’m sure you hear some bad times brewing behind this highly mythic sort of assertion, and for those  pondering in that direction, you would surely be right - although this is not the ‘arrow to the heart’ solution reaped by Niobe for her arrogance. Arrows and such being the things of airy flight, that is not how Neptune (emotionalism) chose to punish Cassiopeia. Instead he sent Cetus (a monster of our unconsciousness or ‘the monstrous image’) to attack Ethiopia itself...which is a curious way of saying that the arrogance of our emotions and/or emotional assertions is fully capable of damaging that we stand for, say we love or are trying to lead, protect or otherwise be in charge of.

How Cassiopeia responded to this situation appears to be not so noteworthy. But when king and husband Cepheus learned of the impending attack he sought out advice from an oracle. And when that oracle said the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his own daughter Andromeda, that’s what Cepheus chose to do. In chose country over family he also chose intellectual ideal over emotional commitment - an idea metaphysics has long spoken of in discussions about mythic male and female character images. They aren’t ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in other words, they’re the naturally assertive and responsive parts of our individual nature... which makes this conversation at least in part about the ‘seed of the child’ within us as Alpheratz - the fixed star in conjunction with Europa in the eclipse’s grand cross - is a star located 

To finish with the myth, Andromeda was duly chained to a rock at the ocean’s edge and abandoned.

Andromeda by Gustave Dore

And just as the monster Cetus appeared, so did hero Perseus while on his way home with the head of Medusa. Having already ‘done battle’ with his own fear of facing fear (Medusa) Perseus was exactly the right fellow to rescue Andromeda from  being living ‘payment’ for her kin’s self-defined, self-concerned values.

As is our more ‘heroic’ self Perseus represents whatever part of us which has seen the bad, which has survived the ugly, which knows to look at fears in reflection. It is not that Perseus - or that we always know how to attack the problem of those dangerous emotions which can appear from the psychic deep to threaten us, but that we need to face the real need to try our best which counts.

- link to -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

So...over the past two months (more or less), life has evidenced and provoked situations and experiences which reveal to us the embodiment of everything which has gone wrong in areas which are (8 Taurus) rather sensitive. The whole idea of trying to deal with something complicated and which seems - at least on the intellectual level - potentially massively destructive probably bothers each and every one of us as we think about it, and that makes facing up to what must be done in facing the physical attributes of whatever is at hand now all the more difficult.

Why that is...and what that value can teach us about other things in our life? That’s for us to sort through, and as the date of the eclipse passes and we give up trying to hold onto some bygone status quo we will indeed do that.

In the meantime... since our emotions seldom let us escape such ‘monstrous’ situations unscathed it’s not surprising that Neptune/Poseidon (our emotionality) imprisoned Cassiopeia - and in classically Greek illustrations her punishment was an evocative one which has come down to us with Cassiopeia as the ‘chained woman.’

A woodcut of Cassiopeia depicted seated in her 'chair of tormentr'

(from the Hyginus 'Poeticon Astronomicon,' courtesy of US Naval Observatory Library

Tied to her throne (her ‘seat of vanity’) constellation Cassiopeia remains ‘on top of the world’ as it circles Earth’s pole, but for fully half the year she is pretty much ‘standing on her head’ - which some think of as an invitation to ‘turn tables’ and reinvent one’s self and some think of as doomed destiny.

Apparently it’s up to us. (Again.)

Through the period of this eclipse - both as we come to it and in its wake as we start a long, three-year evolutionary process we cannot as yet know the end of, Schedir’s involvement may reflect some grotesque or grotesquely negative reality in your world or which has surfaced in your life. Or it may represent your being ‘tied’ by some commitment, promise, legality, situational parameter, custom... something which prevents you from ‘getting up from your throne’ to act. Looking at the myth it would seem the more ‘tied’ or ‘bound’ we are emotionally the more we will tend to attempt to handle matters on more of an ‘externalized’ basis - and that for those choices to succeed we must be ready and willing to face our fears (or our fear of our fear) about something in fairly short order even though the fullness of whatever happens will not become apparent for several years yet to come.

That the name ‘Schedir’ (which comes from Arabic) means ‘breast’ would seem to indicate that some sort of ‘failure to nurture’ (or nourish or even ‘parent’) is involved here, in which case the ‘chain’ would be the connective between that ‘nourishing factor’ and whatever considerations you may be going through with regards to values and valuations or  evaluations being - or which have been exposed since the latter part of February (2014).

As I’ve said (and will no doubt say again), eclipses are difficult to understand while in the ‘break down’ and ‘passing through’ phases. We look back at eclipses in our life and understand what was changing at that time but seldom understand in the precision of the moment what the eclipse is truly about.

All we know are the current circumstances...which is apparently all we should know as, unbeknownst to us the universe functions as it should. And as it does that, irrevocably if effortlessly we are each and every one of us moved individually and in contiguous continuity through our metamorphic processing: stripped of  whatever seeming solid convictions are separating us from being our most self-respected - and therefore validated in value) Self - we are therefore left with the opportunity to better utilize what we are in the support of who we can be: one human among a contiguous E=mc2 many we of this greatly blue planet tend to call 'All.'
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Jupiter opposition Pluto

A drop of water

(photo credit: Michael Melgar, March 2007)

One of the interesting things to be observed when you think things through astrologically is the difference between the effects of personal or inner planets (Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars) against what happens when generational planets Jupiter and Saturn - or an outer planet like Uranus or Neptune move through aspects over time. As an example here, nobody (at least that I know of) has any fun at all with the ongoing Venus retrograde. Whoever we are, whatever we’re aimed at doing or being…accomplishing or figuring out, Venus retrograde seems to have found our weak point.

Not that it’s mysterious, no. That quality is exactly what astrologers mean by ‘personal’ planets – they affect us personally, and at a personal level. When personal planets go retrograde very few of us think wonderfully… maybe even rationally…about ‘our person’ or self.

And thus things happen – personally and on the personal level.

Now it isn’t that Saturn and Jupiter or the outer planets (or all that lies beyond Neptune) doesn’t affect our personal life. Our life is our life and we feel all of it. (Hopefully, that is. To be deprived of knowing your Self is after all, a form of losing your life.)

But when we’re talking about Jupiter, we’re talking about something akin to an interface. Known as the planet of ‘expansion’ and ‘increase’ the astrological Jupiter embodies the process of going beyond where you are now, whatever that involves.

Yet Jupiter is not a personal planet. So when Jupiter is in retrograde, the question is more about what we don’t know about where we are now (and how are we going to learn all that?) and all we need to do in life. We’re growing and expanding inside – within the realm of our mind or soul or psyche. We’re realizing that the world is bigger than we suspected. That things can happen we never imagined would happen in life or to us – whichever.

Jupiter's Auroras photographed in UV

(photo credit: NASA,JPL)

Currently, Jupiter’s retrograde in Cancer is coinciding with Venus’ retrograde in Capricorn – which is the astrological ‘reason’ (or indication) that the current Venus retrograde is…well…about as little like the Venus we know and want to love as apparently possible.

I did tell you I’ve been getting complaints about this, didn’t I? Yes. I’ve even been getting protests from people who don’t like astrology – and let me tell you, that’s a sure sign that something is amiss.

Theory would suggest that considering the belief that since everything happens when (and as) it should, this Jupiter-impounding-Venus-retrograde effect which is forcing all of us in some way to take a good look at what it is we need to do or be in order to function cohesively in a world which seems ever more complicated and structurally amiss.

There are no simple answers here. But we do have a bunch of astrological facts to think through – the first of which is the obvious one. We already know that Venus is retrograding back through Capricorn about to go direct at 13 Capricorn. Those gut wringing effects have been with us for a while now asking us to re-prioritize so that the whole Venusian concept of ‘cause-effect’ works correctly – which is to say, what you puts out comes back to you…meaning we can’t be aiming for the effect and trying to ‘back into’ whatever will cause that.

That won’t work. And that’s one of the big points of this time – we don’t just get to do things the ‘pretty way.’

And frankly, if you haven’t gotten that message by now, stand by. Yes, there are a few of us who for whatever astrological reason have had the right rock to hide under to avoid this Venusian chaos, but as an astrologer I’ve never seen a chart which would be theoretically “immune” to everything which is going to occur over the next four or so months. It has struck me of late that it’s some sort of cosmic dirty trick that Venus and Mars tend to go retrograde in a 1-2 fashion as both planets are personal astrological indicators pertaining to our sense of being appreciated in this life and world.

So yes, there is an important point there: how we feel about whether we’re appreciated or not may have nothing to do with how others truly regard us. But it’s a feeling…and that feeling is real. Vitally real.

An artist's conception of Pluto and its moon-and-binary-partner, Charon

(courtesy of Pat Rawlings, NASA - October 1992)

Evidently life doesn’t want us resting on our laurels collecting huzzahs and accolades…which brings us back to Jupiter. Life wants us to keep growing – that would be the Jupiterian view. So as Jupiter moves from 13 Cancer into 12 Cancer and ‘locks in’ this face-off against the forces of transformation and our need to change something in order to move on…ahead…or even just to stay in one place, so we move from the more theoretical realm of 13 Cancer (an unusual Cancer degree which functions through the intuitive mind) into 12 Cancer, a degree which through exposing us to whatever is habitual, mundane and seemingly inescapable tends to drown dreams in false promises we may well think are safer.

This issue is purely Cancer: Jupiter in Cancer. There is in essence, no safety in yesterday’s solutions. We can try to avoid the inevitable, but if we do, inevitability will find us – eventually and inevitably. A lot is breaking down and a lot is coming out. Jupiter’s being positioned in this image at 13 Cancer brings in dog star Sirius, which questions our use of brilliance and our willingness to be simply…dazzled.

And when we do, and of through that we end up with nothing – or with something we know is utterly wrong for who we are…is the lie theirs? Or is it the lie that we told ourselves when we truly knew better?

Asteroid Hel and Child are sitting right beside Jupiter at 11 and 10 Cancer respectively bringing in the emotional aura of wanting things to be good and to go well. But are they? Given the opposition from Pluto (i.e., Pluto/Venus retrograde) this would seem to be some form of personal naiveté being brought to our own mental table for a bit of carving.

At least trimming of the fat. We’re better than all of the wishing and hoping, the placating, putting off and ‘going along to get along’ we’ve been doing - it’s time to get down to work. Across the zodiacal gulf, Pluto is just sitting there alongside asteroid Psyche (our mind) in Capricorn, asking us to use what we know in a manner which can change our direction – and maybe that of a few others or something else out there too.

Pluto conjunct Psyche is the sign of a changing mind. Those who resist Plutonic energetics generally get crushed, stripped or unjustly taxed – even punished. Those who stop trying to define today and tomorrow by yesterday inherit Pluto’s power.

These months are not just about us. To think so is likely to be one of our big and bigger mistakes – as indicted in the above t-square. With Jupiter in the ‘goal’ position here we are asked to get ‘over’ our Uranian ‘I don’t want to’ selves…or to embrace the unique and Uranian in our Self and to use that universally so that we can achieve our Jupiter (expanded) goals.

T-squares always, always, always ask us to think more globally. To therefore have an Aries Uranus at the ‘hurdle’ of this t-square asks us to ‘use our Self’ in a universal way or in a universal cause – or merely to understand that what we’re going through is something everyone can relate to, or everyone is going through in their own uniquely Uranian way.

That process starts with our moving ‘off’ our Venus/Pluto position – which could well be some sort of personal ‘power base’ into something new or unknown. Against that, Uranus in Aries (pretty much by nature) represents the nerve-wracking which  generally requires at least some ingenuity and maybe a bit of risk. Then again, Uranus in Aries can make us think we’re risking when we’re not – we’re just stepping outside of some ‘known’ or ‘comfort zone.’

Into all this comes the idea of 9 Aries, a degree which concerns the need to make corrections, often of the “course correction” type. Realizing that such things are universal may help us now as we admit – even just to ourselves – that how we have been going about something isn’t optimal.

9 Aries also supports learning about the pros, cons and variable values concerning just doing ahead and doing things as opposed to stopping to consider the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and/or ‘popularity’ of something among friends, associates and others. Considering this is an early Aries degree and Aries is (if nothing else) the heart and soul of ‘I am me’ it’s curious to think of any Aries degree as being ‘group-oriented.’ But maybe that’s the point – Uranus in 9 Aries will be, if nothing else a test of our willingness to own our opinions and gain perspective on who we are in any given situation.

Not that this t-square stops there.

Yes, that is a complicated diagram – and thus an indication to us that things will be complicated. So let’s just go through it one item at a time…

The bulk of the additions here end up centering in Pallas (dispassionate perspective) retrograde – indicating a perspective on ourselves. That Pallas is in Virgo increases our ability to carefully ‘inspect’ what we’re doing – a positive in anything complicated, technical or task-oriented. Against this, Pallas in Virgo can be a negative where feelings are concerned. Pallas is hardly a cuddly symbol and when we add in the Virgo tendency to opt for the earthy and practical, this combination could be wonderful or disappointing, depending on how earthy your personal natal chart is. (Or isn’t.)

That Atropos and Sphinx are united with Pallas at 11 Virgo speaks either to a good will which is for some reason being held/caged in or the definitive (Pallas) understanding that the (Sphinx) time for waiting is (Atropos) over. In sextile (denoting an opportunity) to Jupiter, there is no requirement per se that we do anything, but we could. With the Pallas-Atropos-Sphinx grouping solidly trined to Pluto/Venus, we have the standard trine notification that the status quo isn’t going to change until we do – which in this case comes in part from the Uranian t-square hurdle we talked about plus this Pluto/Venus-Pallas group-Jupiter ‘workaround.’

We’re working around our situation…and around ourselves. (Yes, it’s come to that.)

However…with all of the above (this is beginning to sound like a murder mystery), the Pallas triad is also inconjunct Uranus. This astrologer isn’t going to make any call on which end of this 150 degree inconjunct is going to give, but either the Pallas end or the Uranian end is likely to give between now and…oh, call it mid/late May.

Did I mention that mid/late May is when Mars goes direct after going retrograde on March 1st? And how there’s going to be a solar eclipse in Venus-ruled Taurus while Mars is transiting Venus-ruled Libra?

I’m just guessing here…but in reading through an ephemeris it looks like we’re all in for some seriously trying growth over the next couple of months. How you and those around you choose to handle this time will without question raise issues of helplessness and the need or call for those types of self-discipline we would all much rather exert through exercise than personal vulnerabilities of self or to others. And yet, courtesy of Juno, Chiron and Dionysus at 11 Pisces in opposition to Pallas, Atropos and Sphinx in Virgo, we will all face, hear or experience such moments, with the sorriest part of it all being our own lacks and a resulting feeling of regretted failure to live up to our own standards of belief about ourselves.

(Ouch.)

Another thing to consider: everything here and about this time is not only what it is in the moment, but also part of a greater Jupiter/Pluto synodic cycle. Such cycles roll through about every thirteen years with the last one having begun in December 2007 at 28 Sagittarius – a degree which one one hand requires patience and endless dedication...and which on the other is often slow to mature, coalesce or succeed. The Sabian Symbol for this degree reads as follows: “A FAT BOY MOWING THE LAWN OF HIS HOUSE ON AN ELEGANT SUBURBAN STREET.” The original keynote from astrologer Marc Edmund Jones speaks of ‘The need to attend to everyday tasks which both ensure social worth or respectability, and benefit one’s constitution,’ which Dane Rudhyar brings down to pithy succinctness by citing SOCIAL RESPECTABILITY.

With Jupiter and Pluto having begun their synodic cycle at this degree, in some senses the joke is on us – and it’s no joke. Wherever these two start their cycle is the crux of a thirteen-year-long odyssey which will bring most of us to our knees through lessons which teach us the fallacies of ego and the illusions built into our most mortal, human desires.

Then again, life does have to get us to do something somehow.

This month’s Jupiter-Pluto opposition perfects on January 31st, the same date as Mercury’s Pisces ingress and Venus’ turn to direct.

I repeat: this is NOT a genteel time. We can get over life not being what we would like it to be and not working the way we thought it would - or not.

After January 31st, Jupiter will continue in retrograde as Pluto moves into achievement-oriented 13 Capricorn.

 From Solar Fire's Graphic Ephemeris generator, a screen shot of a partial page

showing activity patterns for the early months of 2014. The symbols at the left

being (from the top down) Saturn, Uranus, Pluto, Jupiter and Neptune, if you

follow the green Jupiter line you will see where it aspects Pluto's position at

the end of January and rather late on in April.

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Then we get April. With Mars retrograde in Libra (can we say ‘relating and relationship issues’?) Jupiter turns direct on the 6th, we take a breath and then pass through a lunar eclipse in Libra (more interactivity) and Pluto’s station/retrograde on April 14th.

Another week passes, Jupiter (now direct) opposes Pluto for the third and final time and we arrive at the solar eclipse at 8 Taurus, a degree known for its ability to test how well what we think the world is matches the world’s seriously worldly realities. 

Do or be done in by that we choose to leave undone would seem to be the message here. The learning isn’t easy and our failure to learn becomes our mortal hindrance.

That’s all I can really tell you.

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Venus in Shadow

'Silhouette'

(photo credit: Cornava, March 2007)

Not that we humans asked for any further life complications or anything, but Planet Venus will be entering the shadow of its upcoming retrograde as of November 20th. 

And here you thought life was going to calm down after the Scorpio solar eclipse? Oh, not hardly...

But let’s be real about this: Venus retrograde generally sucks…and that means that as Venus moves into (and through) its shadow, things are likely to grow ever more sucky. (Is ‘suckier’ a word?)

The date of this leaping into shadow? November 20th…which means no, you didn’t get any notice about this impending whatever-it-is, which meant you couldn’t invest any quality time fretting about something you probably couldn’t change anyway.

The retrograde shadow, I mean.

As for the Venus part, yes – there we can change. And when discussing Venus retrograde in any way, shape or manner, the optimal issue is pretty simple – if hard to really get hold of. That issue is feeling rewarded…which when we think of Venus as the hot and sulfuric little planet it evidently is, doesn’t seem too far off the mark.

Put simply, in the world of what you put out comes back to you…(aka cause/effect)…Venus is the hinge energy which ‘turns’ cause into effect. In other words, though many of us think of Planet Venus as being the ‘ruler’ of our Pleasure Principle, Venus really only gets to that distinction because of its association with things we like.

Or getting our way.

Or winning the moment.

Or basking in the warmth of adulation and admiration.

In other words, Venus is NOT the feeling of success - Venus is the energetic which aligns response with generation. Venus is that magical moment when what’s in the package matches your expectations because you have that particular expectation. Venus is the quality of knowing you’ve gotten what you deserve because you know (deep inside) what you deserve.

Venus is not precisely beauty. It is our appreciation (or lack thereof) of what we get to deal with in life based on whether there is a difference between what we want to be true and what the truth really is.

So…with that said, Venus is about to enter the shadow of its retrograde tomorrow – November 20th. Whether we like it or not, Venus enters its shadow on that date, after which Venus will go retrograde on December 21st, only spare hours after the Capricorn Solstice.

And it’s pretty guaranteed that some of us won’t like that part at all, as Venus in shadow OR in retrograde tends to be a time when no matter how hard we try, nothing feels really rewarding. That urge to be loved, that need to be cuddled, coddled or appreciated – all of that is dampened if not doused during Venus’ retrograde cycle.

On the other hand…there is the fact that since this cycle is up for grabs again (it happens just shy of every two years) …it is evidently time for us to experience this Venusian lack of thrill, thrall and enthusiasm – for whatever reason we may have.

Let’s remember…cycles turn up when they’re supposed to turn up. When the greater dynamic of life needs for them to turn up in order that we might be reminded of something or learn something new.
That’s the theory of it, anyway. And under that theory, we should all take it on credit that there’s something in life we are needing to feel chilled about. Or alienated from. Or not so enthused about.

Why would that be? Okay – let’s consider that in terms of the typical responses or patterns associated with Venus in Shadow and Venus Retrograde. The basic concept with Venus Retrograde being akin to ‘you’re on your own,’ or ‘the current state of things doesn’t work – try harder/again’…that suggests that from wherever we are to wherever we are going to be by the time Venus goes retrograde (in December)…that’s the territory for Venus’ shadow.

In other words, things have to change so that we will feel that we’re on our own. Or so that we’ll recognize that things aren’t working at a level which demands or necessitates change.

And that’s what makes the Venus Shadow period dicey.

For instance…let’s say there’s something ‘Venusian’ going on in your life which you are perfectly fine with, but which you KNOW….somewhere in the fuzziness of your soul you just KNOW it’s not the right thing. Maybe you’re temporizing, maybe you’re saying ‘I’m going to make the best of this while it lasts,’ maybe you’re trying to be noble and put up with behavioral excrement (yes, I said that)…

…anywhere in your life where things aren’t optimal is where Venus Effects are likely to surface.

Since this whole Venus retrograde is going to be in the sign of Capricorn, we know that matters of getting ahead in life, social standing/status and all that fancy-dancy head talk we all get into about ‘how we will be thought of’ is in for some serious challenging. We know that those of us who are attempting to live in a ‘shell’ of respectability which is all surface and no depth will begin being exposed simply because Capricorn demands the sort of solidity and durability which is lasting.

There’s also the fact that Capricorn is the sign of commerce – which when we think of this Venus cycle extending through the holidays and into the January of fiscal 2014 sort of begs the question whether Venus entering its shadow bodes well for the economy of the US and the world?

Simple Answer: no.

More Carefully Couched Answer: strictly in terms of holiday shopping, the great bulk of consumers are to be expected to rein back a little and look for good prices on large-ticket items. Venus in Capricorn points in one direction to ‘sensible gifts’ and another to the kind of luxury item which is either better built or known to hold its value more effectively.

Most of the effects of the actual Venus retrograde won’t be felt until Venus goes retrograde – which is not until December 21st. But we should also expect our social and societal climates to begin reflecting a subtle ‘pull back’ into what we might think of as a ‘reflection mode’ as Venus moves into its shadow and the Sun moves into Sagittarius on November 22nd.

At the moment, in other words, we’re likely to merely feel frustrated and subtly annoyed by that which we can’t quite get back on the track with. And since maybe recalling our last go-round with this will help remind us all as to how this passage works in our life, let’s look back. The last Venus retrograde began in early October 2010, lasting until mid/late November. Considering there was a solar eclipse (at 13 Capricorn) on January 4th of 2011, that Venus retrograde was part of the ‘breaking down’ period which preceded the eclipse, and that combined with that retrograde having been in Scorpio accounts for the scads and scads of painful decisions people went through at that time.

We were incorrectly ‘invested’ – you know, that Scorpio thing. Many of us needed to rebalance or at least reprioritize. In going retrograde in Scorpio at that time Venus mirrored in our individual lives as the knowing if or where we needed to let go so that we could grow into someone closer to who we really are without catering to that ‘other’ or to dictates which really didn’t fit us.

Now it’s happening again with the sign being Capricorn – that of rules/regulations against the rewards, the costs and the realities of what life is…and isn’t. Issues like appearance and how appearance can’t really fix what’s wrong underneath the veneer are going to surface. This time ahead would be one where it would be very natural to compare yourself with others and find yourself lacking…or when you may, after tons and tons of work and effort feel like walking away from something (or someone) altogether.

For those less of the action orientation (read: more prone to taking everything personally) this may feel like a time when you are undervalued. Or not valued at all. It being so hard to feel the warm cozies of love under Venus retrograde even though all the normal and upstanding appreciation may be there makes the next month or so one ripe for loneliness, yearning, wishing life was otherwise and in general, thinking about how green the grass could be.

And no…this isn’t about how ‘the grass is greener on the other side.’ When the grass is merely greener, usually we know where that grass is. With this incoming Venus period, the grassy goal is in our head. The imagined peace is in our heart. The image of an optimal life which functions optimally is in our soul.

Which is exactly the point. Venus retrograde – and thus the Venus shadow period which precedes it – is all about valuing ourselves so that we don’t NEED to be valued by others. It is that need, after all, which corrupts us, causing us to pander to others in ways which will never actually validate our self respect.

It’s not who ‘they’ are. It’s not what ‘they’ are doing or not doing now which is the issue.

The issue going forward is ‘who do I really want to be? Who will I respect MYSELF …independent of anyone else…for being?’

Venus passages always ask us about who and what we value – and why we value it. A huge proportion of us tend to opt for peace and fun stuff not because it’s nice, but because we don’t want to deal with the tough stuff, the hard stuff, the sad stuff and the scary stuff. We think that if we just don’t poke that dog, it won’t hunt.

Wrong. Dogs hunt because dogs hunt and the nature of what we are…particularly as that pertains to the things in our life which scare us, make us sad or tempt us to deny our own history…those are the very things the Venusian urge seeks to tap into.

Why?

Because our desire to be loved is – in the end – one of life’s most powerful motivations. By moving us towards challenges that the Venus retrograde period will confront us with more blankly, the shadow period begins…well, let’s just call it cluing us in on what’s yet to come. Plus, as with many shadows and retrogrades, issues of the past now come into play.

Or more precisely, the results or consequences of things already done now come into play…mostly with us – which is to say, on the inside. But since Capricorn is that most worldly of signs and we’re likely to be ‘doing’ things even as we begin recognizing there’s something brewing amidst all which underlies that doing…well, let’s just say the satisfaction with accomplishment will be real.

The regret of loss will also be real.

What will perplex and goad us now is why must there be loss where there is gain? Or…must there be loss where there is gain? In that difference…right there…lies the parsing of our path - and thus, the measure of the reconciliation which still lies there untended.

The reconciliation is within and with our Self. But considering this is Venus we’re talking about, and Venus is at some level always about connecting (or the feelings which come from being connected) there are going to be parameters we each have to face.

Do we want to have life slow us down with notions and nudges about how we might not yet have all our VID (Very Important Ducks) in a row? No.

Can we profit by heaving our giant impatient sigh and shifting our focus anyway? Yes.

A fractile image sample as generated by Electric Sheep

(image credit: February 2006)

 

Oh gosh...it's a recipe for mental barf-a-roni. You know, that moment when you'd like to just shove everything down but the thought of what it'd be like coming back up just warns you not to?

Besides, why should we care?

Answer: we should care because second best can’t do when the subject is our life. When we moderate our choices because we only want the results and end up contorting who we are and what we know is right…true…right…human…humane…feeling and thoughtful….that’s giving up on us.

You know...our Self person (yes, that one).

To whatever extent you now feel life slow you down now…part may be about what you’re doing and part may be about the internal realities (or lack of reality) inherent in you. We cannot want to be anything other than what we are and we cannot deny our past, lest we relieve it.

We think of Venus as a sumptuous wallowing, a coddling of our physicality so as to render us pliant.

We tend to forget that what we must be pliant to first is to our Self, and that to share ourselves with others has nothing to do with giving up the integrity of who we are.

What begins to surface now or the next couple of weeks may in substance continue on through Venus retrograde (December 21, 2013 – January 31, 2014, UT/+0). Then again, the part of you, the relationship you have to your Self at some level may be what is truly seeking voice and consideration.

The distinctions here are going to be between what we want to be and who we are. Venus shadows tend to be periods of increasing coolness which helps the ‘reality quotient’…but decreases what is apparently a degree of romantic suspension of fact we all build into our lives in order to cushion us from life’s blows. Once retrograde starts in late December, being willing to be your own person and take responsibility for your own happiness becomes vitally important.

From now until retrograde, themes appear. From December 21st through January 31st, we work on our own or within our own Self (or realm of influence) and/or face ‘road blocks’ which have to do with our not dealing with/not having dealt with such themes.

Venus will not exit the shadow of this retrograde until March 4th. Between January 31, 2014 and March 4th we will be setting things to right. We’ve grown through our self-positioned barriers and we’re ready to move on.

Of course life isn’t going to make this easy, y’know. Venus doesn’t exit the shadow of this retrograde until March 4th, but by the time Venus gets there, Mars (Venus ‘partner’ in getting things done) will have – as of March 1, 2014 – gone retrograde.

What this adds up to is a big long period of...

...PROCESSING.

The first (Venusian) part is the drafting, planning, figuring out the relative values of this and that – in life…and (one would suspect…!) in your life as a whole. All the problems with wanting what you want and needing to do what you need to do to HAVE what you want are going to become obvious.

The second (Mars) part is the not being able to get where you want to go as deftly as you had planned. Some of us will get interrupted, some of us will have to figure out how to get past prior convolutions to get to that so necessary or desired. Expect frustrating oddities…they always show up under Mars retrograde. If it’s bizarre and strangely interesting but something you really (REALLY) don’t want to deal with, it’ll show up under Mars retrograde.

And yes, Venus and Mars retrogrades travel as a pair – at least of late (which is a whole other astrological commentary. Apparently we humans are needing more convincing than ever!). That this incoming around of Venus-Mars retrogrades are in cardinal signs (Capricorn and Mars) is another thing again. It suggests times of wanting to promise big, whether or not you can deliver. The more savvy and balanced among us will do well to approach this next six (or so) months deliberately but with an eye to negotiating agreements which as opposed to ‘sounding good’ are actually sound.

This is not, in other words, a time to think cheery buoyancy is reality. It may or may not be suitable, but that’s not the point. As we move into Venus’ Capricorn shadow and I look through the ephemeris pages…I realize that the counterpart to the hugely trying (Scorpio) eclipse we just experienced will be occurring next April (in Taurus) before Mars even gets out of retrograde.

Oh…and for those who are into patterns (read: the energetic self-structuring of time, space and life) as that April 2014 solar eclipse occurs at 8 Taurus, guess where li’l ol’ transformational Pluto is going to be?

Answer: 13 Capricorn – the degree ‘highlighted’ by the January 2011 solar eclipse our last Venus retrograde led us to.
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