Leo New Moon Conjunct Venus July 30
Venus moved out of cardinal, yin Cancer and entered fixed, yang Leo this morning, leaving the last emotional residue of the tense, charged and hyper-disciplined Cardinal Grand Cross energy behind it.
Masculine action/aggression planet Mars enters Cancer August 3 and tightens the Grand Cross energetic strings to just shy of their breaking points yet again August 8-11 and August 24-25, becoming the final personal planet to activate this formation.
But the feminine planet of love, values and relationship Venus is currently easing the proceedings as it officially passes out of energetic range. Venus is in Leo just in time for the 7 degree New Moon in Leo July 30 (1:40 p.m. Central) and will be conjunct the Sun-Moon at that time.
This New Moon conjunct Venus really gets the creative fires burning, with a potent Dark of the Moon period through Cancer and Cardinal Grand Cross territory to fold in as fuel today and tomorrow.
We’re coming to the end of a two-year, Leo-infused cycle of creative goals and direction, spurred by the Mars in Leo retrograde December 2009 to March 2010. We received an altering of course at that time, finding deeper, newer, fresher, more effective ways to creatively direct ourselves by the guidance of our hearts.
But as Mars moves through Cardinal Grand Cross territory this August and then through Leo (September 18 - November 10) ahead of the next Mars retrograde in Virgo January 23 to April 13, 2012, we are about to be re-directed yet again down to every last pertinent detail as we work to effectively and practically apply the love in our hearts.
Old creative fires along with the last vestiges of old romantic flames burn down to ash as the Balsamic Moon moves into Leo (1:16 a.m. July 30) and then through a succession of completion aspects. The 12-hour Dark of the Moon period in Leo July 30 involves quincunx aspects to both Neptune in Pisces and Pluto in Capricorn, a conjunction to Venus in Leo and a trine to Uranus Rx in Aries.
Venus is warm and happy in Leo, but it’s far from simple. The broader context is tugging, pushing, pulling and stressing us. The ghosts of old, wished-for love and old, hoped-for lovers are released here and we’re forced to rapidly adjust under the emotional discomfort of the quincunx aspect to Neptune in Pisces. The love and relationship ideals that we know cannot be, the pleasures we wished for but have not experienced, and the innocence of our hearts that has so many times been disappointed are folded into the alchemical Balsamic Leo Moon fire just before it winks out. There is some definite Dark of the Moon sadness here related to those glimmering Neptunian-Venusian love dreams that did not materialize.
The loves lost and the ones we never got to experience. The love stays. The open, innocent heart stays. But the wished-for and dreamed-of forms that did not materialize, that were never meant to be, that held only disappointment and longing are released into the mix, and as the Moon becomes new, we’re burned clear.
Our open, innocent hearts take on a new wisdom here, with deeper understanding as a result of the process remaining as our guide. A new spark is just about here. As we start the month of August – full-on Leo season – that spark lights licks of new fire which will burn bright into new loves, new creative juice and a rejuvenated, warm and sustaining fiery force that fuels us and keeps us moving, powered by love, through the sometimes tricky territory ahead.
Sun-Venus Exterior Conjunction August 16: Heading to the Venus Retrograde in Gemini and the Venus Transit 2012
Venus in Leo is heading to its exterior conjunction to the Sun August 16 (7:08 a.m.) and will remain in this conjunction into early September. At the time of the exact conjunction, Venus is at apogee, the furthest point in its orbit from Earth, on the other side of the Sun from the Earth. This Sun-Venus conjunction August 16 is a very nice marker. It is the point at which love planet Venus starts to come closer to us on Earth, heading to its interior conjunction to the Sun during its next retrograde in Gemini which marks perigee or the closest point in its orbit to Earth.
The next Venus retrograde in Gemini (May 14 to June 26, 2012) is a special one – and not just because it releases us from the Via Combusta Scorpio overlay of the previous fall 2010 Venus retrograde! The Venus retrograde through Gemini in spring 2012 marks the book end to the Venus retrograde in Gemini in May/June 2004, and both those retrogrades involve rare Venus Transits.
Venus Transits are similar to solar eclipses. They are very precise alignments of the Sun, Venus and Earth when Venus can be viewed against the Sun, traveling in orbit between the Sun and Earth. The Venus Transit in 2004 happened June 8. The Venus Transit in 2012 will happen June 5.
Venus Transits happen in pairs eight years apart, but they do not happen often. The most recent Venus Transits prior to the 2004/2012 set occurred in December 1874/1882. The next set will occur in December 2117 and 2125.
At its point of perigee next June, Venusian energy will be flooding the Earth from a much lighter-hearted sign – airy Gemini – with the strong 'backdrop change' energy of the eclipse alignment accessible to us. In Gemini, connections can finally be made. Necessary information can be passed all along the past-present-future continuum, no longer obscured by the Piscean era veils and clouded, confused, wishful thinking related to love and relationship.
The 2012 Venus retrograde in Gemini has the ability to put multiple layers to rest in much lighter and more immediate ways than the Venus retrograde through Via Combusta Scorpio/Libra. We have the ability to enter a whole new ballgame relationship-wise coming out of the Venus Transit, with old relationship patterns and cycles discharged in one fell swoop, reaching far back into history, balancing in the present moment, and setting a new and refreshing tone for relationship cycles to come as we move fully into the astrological Aquarian era.
As of the Sun-Venus conjunction August 16, we're officially on our way to this once (or rather twice) in a lifetime event.
Triple Conjunction in Leo Trine the Sagittarius North Node: New Creative Inspiration August 13 to 21
Mercury also changes signs today, entering Virgo at 12:59 p.m., the sign of its exaltation, for just a few days. It turns retrograde at 1 degree Virgo at 10:50 p.m. August 2. (The U.S. debt ceiling deadline has more than likely been set for this day so that the decision is made pre-Mercury retrograde.)
Mercury turns direct again at 18 degrees Leo August 25.
Mercury Rx re-enters Leo August 8 and will be involved in a tight triple conjunction with the Sun and Venus at the time of the Sun-Venus exterior conjunction in Leo August 16.
The Sun and Venus come together at 23 degrees Leo, and Mercury Rx will be there at 24 degrees.
This Sun-Venus-Mercury conjunction will also be in tight trine to the Sagittarius North Node at 21 degrees.
The fires of inspiration, love and creative power, newly lit at the July 30 New Moon, are stoked to blazing at the point of this triple conjunction trine North Node, burning away what has served its purpose and lighting our way on the trail up ahead. We can look forward to new applications of the loving creative force that runs through us, broadening our lives in ways that truly excite us and in ways that catalyze the unfolding of new meaning.