The Planets Align This Friday the 13th: Hang a Horseshoe, Clutch Your Rabbit's Foot, and Load Up on Kitty Treats for Those Neighbourhood Black Cats

First Venus. Venus in Aquarius trine Saturn in Libra - 3:05 a.m. Central Venus conjunct Neptune in Aquarius - 9:17 a.m. Venus enters Pisces - 11:47 p.m. 

Love and relationship planet Venus crosses through the 29th degree of Aquarius - the official degree of the astrological era shift - on Friday, and as it does, it trines Saturn in Libra and conjuncts Neptune in Aquarius before ingressing Pisces late that night. This Friday the 13th, a day ripe with folklore, is an official relational tone setter, drawing on themes previously outlined here: Saturn in Libra (Not Quite) Trine Neptune in Aquarius and Saturn Retrograde: Neptunian Relationship Fodder From the Anaretic Degrees and way back here: Venus, Eros and Mars in the Via Combusta and Karmic Love Cleansing Through the Alchemical Fires. 

Recall that Saturn (challenges) is currently in Via Combusta Libra (spicy, crackling relationship issues), and we're still working under an overlay from the fall 2010 Venus retrograde through Via Combusta Scorpio and late Libra. That overlay isn't complete until the Venus Transit in Gemini June 5, 2012, and all this colours the relationship proceedings. 

On this Friday the 13th, we have another opportunity to calibrate ourselves to the tone of Venus' movement, letting it seep into our bones, and then commit to the new relational track. Venus conjuncts wounded healer Chiron in Pisces January 16, indicating a time period ripe for experiences of the healing, transcendent power of love, as well as, if we aren't careful, the wounding power of human interaction - with both experiences possible in the same interaction. We need to fortify and protect our wounded spots carefully, as this is very old salt in very old wounds. The wounding themes are related, in part, to: 

- unconscious/semi-conscious ways in which we interact with people and they interact with us 

- setting ourselves up for failure in relationship by overlooking key matters 

- social niche and social pigeonholing 

- being the scapegoat for the crowd or the one whose feelings and needs are sacrificed or stepped on when a sacrifice has to be made 

- social isolation 

- weak spots in boundaries: being too permeable when it comes to other people's energy field/influence 

- pining, looking back, excessive nostalgia for relationships past, seeing things through the veil of time, not how they actually were 

- old Piscean era social archetypes: the party girl, the ditz, the idealist, the wishful thinker, the one who's allergic to reality, the stoner, the addict, the starving artist, the energy vampire, the person with "bad karma," the sick one, the disabled one, the hard luck story, the martyr, the saviour, the chronic fuck up, the person who can't get it together, the one who's unlucky in love, the person ill-equipped for the rigours of life 

- keeping ourselves on the losing end of character flaws - in ourselves or in other people 

These are cyclical relational patterns, standard dynamics worked into a deep groove over the course of the astrological Piscean era that must be consciously ushered out with the door locked behind them. 

Throughout Venus' transit of Pisces (January 13 - February 7), we have the opportunity to set the relational tone to "Pisces for the astrological Aquarian era," but this won't necessarily be easy, especially for those who have been resisting a stronger Aquarian vibe. The Piscean pull into dreamy Never Neverland is strong, becoming stronger as Neptune (illusion, delusion, blind spots) enters its home sign of Pisces February 3, and we have to actively head off its influence at points. 

We're being enticed down many relational rabbit holes we've been down fruitlessly before. The application of rational mind that can break us free is like the fight to wake up from one of those dreams that paralyzes you with its intensity. If the will is not there to do so, we plummet down the rabbit hole. 

For those who would like to avoid the surreal Alice in Relationship Wonderland this time around, things are a little counter-intuitive. Venus is in exaltation in Pisces, which means there's a strong feeling that it knows what it's doing in this sign. There's nothing quite like the heights of Piscean love, and with these glowy, exalted Venusian vibes, it's going to be difficult to convince people that some changes are required. 

There's a lot of criticism from the sign of Pisces (and from those vibing strongly to it) of the more Aquarian take on love, relationship, and partnership: it's cold, unfeeling, hard, heartless, overly intellectual, devoid of emotion, lacking in romance. 

Those who refuse to adopt the more detached, responsible, and self-preserving tack in relationships will continue to play out the same old stories, making the same old excuses. 

The successful tack in our relations involves using the relevant qualities of both Pisces and Aquarius. Determining which are the relevant qualities and which are the redundant and detrimental is what we work out now and throughout Saturn's retrograde through Libra. 

Venus will be on the 29th degree of Pisces - the last degree of the zodiac - at the time of Saturn's retrograde station on the 29th degree of Libra February 7.  

Now the Moon and Mars.  

Moon conjunct stationing Mars in Virgo - 6:36 p.m. 

The Moon is in Virgo this Friday the 13th and conjuncts Mars at 22 Virgo. Mars is slowing for its retrograde station January 24, and its themes permeate the astro atmosphere. The Moon-Mars conjunction occurring as Venus conjuncts Neptune and enters Pisces increases the impetus to sharpen the details, remove the unnecessary, and clear the Piscean/Neptunian fuzz and wishful thinking. 

This is a conjunction of a major feminine planet (Moon) with a major masculine one (Mars) and has to do with the perspective of women/the feminine taking the lead in subtle and influential ways as the male-dominated trajectory on the planet is further set to: war, war, and more war (Mars). This is the fight to stop war and the impetus to discontinue support for the trajectory toward war right down to the finest details in our daily lives. 

More on the Mars in Virgo transit and retrograde here: Mars in Virgo Retrograde: Precise Re-direction Within Grand Earth Trines  

Here: Mars in Virgo Hot or Nots 

And here: New Moon in Virgo Sets a Preparatory Tone For the Upcoming Mars Retrograde 

Now Mercury.  

Mercury conjunct Pluto in Capricorn - 7:03 a.m.

Communication/transportation planet Mercury is in Capricorn until January 27, following more than two months (including a retrograde) in the sign of its detriment, Sagittarius, and we're happy to have some type of solid movement here. Unfortunately, a lot of it is Plutonic movement, as Mercury moves out of its square to Uranus in Aries and into a conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn, exact this Friday the 13th. It doesn't take much to hear (Mercury) the Pluto in Capricorn (corpo-governmental oligarchy) undertone coming through loud and clear these days as we head to the first exact square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn this June. The global war profiteers are just itching to get things started, and oil and nuclear take centre stage... 

Verbal aggression is ramping up (again) through the media from Western governments toward Iran over its nuclear facilities and enrichment of uranium. As always, the Plutonic insanity is only understood by a minority, as the media-fed mainstream accepts a scenario in which the only country that has ever actually used nuclear bombs in an attack against another country (the U.S. of A.) is instated as armed-to-the-teeth global nuclear watchdog, determining who can and can't have nukes. 

U.S. and U.S. Allies: Yes. 

U.S.-declared Bad Guys: No. 

The hypocrisy is amazing, and still relatively very few will openly admit the Emperor's naked as a jaybird. 

The aggression is not limited to the verbal this time, though. The United States (through the United Nations) has brought sanctions against Iran, attempting to force it to discontinue its uranium enrichment program. The sanctions have made it impossible for Iran to continue its international oil exports, leading to the plunge of the Iranian currency to an historic low. Devastation (Pluto) of currency and business infrastructure (Capricorn). 

(Incidentally, don't bother trying to use PayPal or to buy books from Amazon in Syria, either. Both these activities have been blocked as part of the broader and more destructive U.S./EU economic sanctions against that country. People with Syrian IP addresses are told they are in a "forbidden country." A further Pluto in Cap crackdown on the flow of money.) 

It might be useful for those in Cancer Sun nations United States and Canada to imagine a role reversal here. One can only imagine the outrage that would ensue if the U.S. economy and the flow of oil in and out were disrupted and interfered with to this extent by a foreign country. After all, the United States enriches uranium for weapons and munitions (and uses them), does it not? Iran is the fourth largest oil producer in the world with a large percentage of its exports (500,000 barrels per day of its 2.6 million barrels per day output) going to the European Union. This adds an interesting element to the dick-swinging global dynamics. 

Pluto relates to one's underlying interests and the overwhelming impetus of those underlying interests. The European Union is now forced to implement sanctions that are in the best interests of the United States which, in effect, starve its nations of oil. Iran is now threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that carries about 1/6 of the world's oil supply from the Gulf nations. 

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz would be met with military aggression from the U.S. and its allies, aggression that would, again, have the seal of approval from the media-fed masses. 

Transportation routes are Mercurial, and the corpo-governmental steamroller being allowed to progress at all costs is Pluto in Capricorn. This appears to be a primary Uranus square Pluto hot spot. 

Like clockwork, it is. 

In Canada, two massive oil pipelines are in the works - though strongly opposed by many. One is the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would move oil from Alberta's oil fields to the West Coast, with a port in Kitimaat, British Columbia, to be sold and exported at a whopping price to Asia. 

The second massive pipeline, called the Keystone XL, would move oil from the ecological and humanitarian catastrophe that is the Athabasca Tar Sands in northern Alberta all the way down to Texas in the United States. Thousands and thousands of kilometres of pipeline just waiting to spring a leak, ripe for international and domestic sabotage. 

With a majority government led by Global Governor extraordinaire Stephen Harper, we won't be seeing any ecological responsibility coming from the Feds on this one, and it's left up to the citizens of both Canada and the United States to form the resistance. 

The United States' presidential race is now well underway, consuming massive amounts of time, energy, and analysis on media outlets. This doesn't stop at the U.S. border, however. (What border? There are no borders anymore.) 

If you flip on Canada's mainstream news (I wouldn't suggest it unless you are a fan of satire that isn't actually satire), you will see an almost equal fervour and an almost equal obsession with the minutiae of the farce going on to the south. The propaganda readers on CTV Newsnet (Canadian Television is a misnomer if ever there were one) could easily be mistaken for those on CNN these days. 

The hidden merger (Pluto) of media (Mercury) and its ownership (Capricorn). 

Because, you know, there isn't anything going on in our own country that might warrant any airtime. (See: Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines) 

As stated previously, we no longer have even the facade of a sovereign nation in Canada. Pluto in Capricorn has ripped the mask off, and Stephen Harper's Conservatives - good little Global Governors that they are - take their orders and implement them dutifully. 

 In August, 2011, under a Cardinal Grand Cross that will form again throughout the fall of 2013 and in April 2014, it was announced by the "Harper Government" that the Canadian Armed Forces would be rebranded the Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy. 

From a previous post: 

"The Canadian Armed Forces shed the "Royal" stamp in 1968, but in a wave of propagandistic nostalgia, the Global Government-aligned Harper Conservatives have brought the "Royal" back with a vengeance, complete with masses of Canadians all too happy to re-pledge allegiance to the Queen and British monarchy. 

Wartime patriotism and pride are being stirred in preparation and hope that the people will gladly repeat the old cycle, hands on hearts." Harper continues to do his mightiest to stir the militaristic patriotism of Canadian citizens as he does his part to create consensus for more global war. He's even adding a commemoration of the War of 1812 to this year's Canada Day celebrations in the country's capital city, Ottawa. "Hey, kids! Forget about ice cream. Look at this cool musket!" 

(You may recall that during Canada Day 2011, again under the Cardinal Grand Cross, the citizens of this country had their Stockholm Syndrome worked into a frothy lather as Wills and Kate came for a visit, also reinforcing the dominion over Kanata of Mummy Dearest in jolly old.) 

At the same time, the "Harper Government" - who sent out memos telling people not to bother calling them the Government of Canada anymore - have made an absolute mockery of the House of Commons, simply shutting it down on two separate occasions. 

The difficulty and lack of transparency Canadian journalists face when attempting to get information from Harper is well documented. 

Really, they have just unveiled, Pluto in Capricorn-style, what was always there. The facade has been stripped, and the idea that the people ever really had all that much of a say in it has gone kaput. 

So multiple exact aspects go down this potent Friday the 13th, a day rich with symbolism and superstition, making it a day with a potentially far-reaching tone. Stay on the good side of luck, as the astro conditions have a bit of a "fated" quality about them and might not let us away with much.