Venus Retrograde 2017: Reviving Relationships and Social Scenes By Releasing Old Ghosts

...The Venus retrograde in Aries in 2001 coincided with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) anti-globalization protest in Quebec City that I took part in, driving day-and-night in a 15-passenger van and car caravan with other protesters from Saskatchewan. The meetings and protests occurred just as Venus stationed direct at 1 degree Aries and involved joining together with others (Venus) to fight for our rights and for our survival (Aries). It was quite an exciting and social time, joining 50,000 other protesters from many different locations, groups, and backgrounds. 

The powers-that-be had learned a few things since massive protests shut down the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle, Washington in 1999 (coined the “Battle in Seattle”). The FTAA protest was the first with a ten-foot riot police-guarded chain-link fence erected around the convention centre to segregate the mucky-mucks who were meeting behind closed doors to decide our fates.

Though marching and protesting peacefully, we were tear gassed and CS gassed terribly as we stood around the fence. The air was absolutely thick with it for hours on end, day and night. Do-it-yourself medics traveled around with water bottles, rinsing the eyes of protesters who had been overcome by pepper spray powder, which was also being used. I managed to step in a mound of it myself and was temporarily blinded by it. The gratitude I felt for the DIY medic who rinsed my eyes and restored my vision was pretty well immense. Other protesters gave out bandanas soaked in apple cider vinegar so we could breathe through the gas. (Many of us stood our ground all day and well into the night.) The self-organization and the helpful spirit behind it were refreshing to experience. 

We were also sprayed with a water cannon filled with a chemical mixture that burned the skin on contact. Water cannons are hugely dangerous because of the intense water pressure and have caused severe injuries to protesters in the past, including putting people’s eyes out. Some protesters were shot with rubber bullets, which are not as innocuous as they may sound. My friend was one of them and had a huge red welt at the impact point. These can be deadly if they hit a person in the wrong spot.

In a fit of hilarious poetic justice, so much chemical weaponry was unleashed against the protesters in Quebec City that it blew back into the convention centre and shut down the meetings!

This time around as Venus prepares for retrograde motion through the sign of the warrior, we are in another volatile period, with a catalyzing event taking place January 20: the swearing in of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America. (Sounds like a joke...but isn't.) We are now near the end of the Uranus in Aries – Pluto in Capricorn square, a period associated historically with the rise of violent global fascism and totalitarianism, along with mass slaughter, surveillance, and imprisonment by the state. Stalin and Hitler are two of the figureheads associated with this period of time (mid-to-late 1930s), but there were also many lesser known characters of equal nastiness embedded in high-ranking positions in governments, business, and finance throughout the world. 

Under current conditions, increased clashes between activists (especially young activists) and the police state can be expected. However, I would advise extreme caution, as I did ahead of the G20 protests in Toronto, Ontario in late June 2010. The militarized police tactics used against protesters have become even more brutal and dangerous, now including the use of Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs). These are energy weapons, previously used only in warfare, that emit a high-pitched, ear-splitting sound that can deafen a person, cause inner ear damage, stop a pacemaker, or cause an aneurysm. LRADs were rolled out for the first time in Canada at the G20 protests in Toronto in 2010, appearing a year earlier in the U.S. at the G20 protests in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in September 2009.

Mass arrests and overblown charges and prison sentences are also being used to intimidate protesters. Over 1,000 protesters were arrested (and often beaten/injured) at the G20 protests in Toronto in 2010. Undercover police officers infiltrated activist groups, arresting participants and charging them with things that could involve lengthy prison sentences – all for the crime of organizing a protest.

The initial “stepping up” of militarized police tactics against protesters at the 2010 G20 protests in Toronto occurred with the Uranus in Aries – Pluto in Capricorn square in its earliest stages. Jupiter (expansion, everything made bigger) was also in Aries at the time, conjunct Uranus at zero degrees Aries and square Pluto at 4 degrees Capricorn. A cardinal t-square was formed on the weekend of the G20 meetings with the Sun and Mercury in early Cancer. A call (Mercury) for safety, care, and protection (Cancer) in the face of violent and dangerous police state insanity that unleashed new and deadly technology (Jupiter-Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn).

As we move into another tension-filled time with militarized police on high alert, we must understand the long history of shared struggle against fascist/authoritarian forces and not become impatient or reckless - definite possibilities with Venus in detriment in Aries. Forcing confrontations with militarized police forces is often not worth the risk, more theatrical or symbolic than concretely productive. We must learn from the past experiences of others so that we do not make the same mistakes moving forward.


This is an excerpt from the article, "Venus Retrograde 2017: Reviving Relationships and Social Scenes By Releasing Old Ghosts." This 6,600+-word article details astrological transits, aspects, and themes that span the first six months of 2017. It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased by email money order or by PayPal for $11.25.

Jupiter in Aries Opposite Saturn in Libra, the Benefits of Being True to Ourselves and Maturing The Nasty Libra Tricks

The Jupiter - Saturn opposition coming up next Monday, March 28 happens at 14 degrees Aries/Libra, triggering the energetic themes and events brought up by the 2009 Venus retro period. Venus stationed retrograde March 5, 2009 at 15 degrees Aries.

All the personal planets in Aries will trigger this hot spot opposition point, conjuncting Jupiter and opposing Saturn in Libra over the next six weeks.

Mercury, currently in its retrograde shadow and just past this point, will go back and forth over this area. The first pass was March 17. Mercury goes retrograde March 30 and passes this point for a second time (retrograde) April 14/15. It goes direct April 23, and the final pass direct is April 29/30.

Look at what was going on in your life at the time of the Venus retrograde in Aries (February through May 2009) - especially in relationships - to see how much progress you have made since then and what might need a little more (or less) exertion on your part.

One of the themes of that retrograde was watching for the trap of the false karass - with astrology being one of them. This is a really interesting aspect to watch, as I see these themes coming on strongly in the astrology world. Astrology blogs, astrologers and astrology audiences are differentiating rapidly. Stronger astrological identities are being forged, and the distinctions of politics, perspective, beliefs and motivation are becoming more important.

I like this because, with a prominent Pluto in Libra, these themes are with me all the time.

The only way we can be one, big happy astro family is if we're honest about the fact that we aren't.

The previous Venus retrograde in Aries set the stage for the current Jupiter transit in Aries (entering Taurus June 4), and here we see one of the cardinal rules of astrology - working successfully with a transit as it unfolds sets the groundwork for future success with transits involving similar themes/signs, which repeat in cycles or waves until we get it down. Astrologers don't advise you to work diligently and responsibly with what's going on in your life just to step on your buzz. It's a proactive strategy for longer-term success. If we shirk our duties with transit themes, we have to work doubly or triply hard playing catch-up later.

The 2009 Venus retrograde in Aries had to do with forging an honest and authentic balance between ourselves, our identities, our personal goals and motivations and our ways of being in relationship with other people. To reap the benefits of the current Jupiter in Aries transit, we had to beef up our Aries muscles (authenticity, self-exertion, self-direction, will, independent action, identity) within relationship during that Venus retrograde - differentiating from other people when necessary, being true to ourselves even when it was uncomfortable socially, and learning to follow our anger impulses as a directional force and impetus to action.

Jupiter has a reputation for being nothing but good - inspirational expansion, horizons broadening in beneficial ways, faith and knowledge increasing. But Jupiter, as the largest planet in our solar system, makes everything it touches bigger, including our weak spots and especially areas we have been perpetually glossing over or shirking.

Jupiter allows us to fly by the seat of our pants to a certain extent based on an excess of ancestral knowledge, hard-won wisdom and inherent gifts. We have padding in the bank of a jovial largess variety - but only up to a point. Past that point, Jupiter can create a sort of too-much-too-fast over-expansion, over-confidence in our abilities and a subsequent falling on our face. Jupiter can trigger lackadaisical tendencies, skimming by on the bluster of our gifts or beneficial traits, that can catch up to us when in tense aspect to the other planets - as it is now with Saturn. There are limits to its luck and buoyancy - much as Jupiter dislikes this fact.

It's going to be very interesting with all the Aries energy coming into play opposite Saturn in Libra retrograde. We're going to be seeing new facets of identity in the people with whom we are in relationship, and it's going to be shocking (Uranus). Who people really are and what they really think, believe and feel beyond the Libran facade is emerging in a big, colourful way. Our identities (Aries) want to expand (Jupiter), and with Saturn retrograde in Libra, we are restructuring our relationships and our sharing of social responsibility and authority to give them room to breathe.

It's not always popular to be true to ourselves, but for those who have done it come hell or high water, this Jupiter transit brings big movement and expansion.

On the other hand, people who have relied on Libra tricks - maintaining a false social veneer, playing to the crowd, hiding or compromising their expanding identities to maintain a relationship, social prowess or popularity - are going to have a tougher time. Co-dependency issues will rear their heads - the problems associated with subverting our will and identity in favour of another, constantly deferring to the opinions and beliefs of others, and lacking the courage to stand on our own two feet. People who have been basing a big part of their identity on another person will be strongly encouraged to stop.

Knowing who you are, what you know and what you believe on a deep level and staying true to that in relationship is key for the remainder of the Jupiter in Aries transit. There will be instances until June 4 when we have to stand up for ourselves along these lines, and this takes courage.

These themes become huge between May 1 and 15 when we experience a stellium of planets in Aries - Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter - trining the Sagittarius North Node. Uranus will be in early Aries, shocking us with insights about who we are, who the people around us are, and what that means for our future directions.

Willow as Cruel, Vicious, Lowdown Dog Beater and Other Dark Feminine Projections

Willow's lesson-giver on how to cowgirl up. Sun in Virgo, Venus in Scorpio.

Photo: Willow

I don't read astrology blogs often - mostly because I find my own demanding enough as is, and when I've battled out another article, I just want to move out of that world as fast as possible. But the day before yesterday, I was drawn to read astrologer Elsa Panizzon's blog. I hadn't read it in quite a few months and read through the past little while, which I enjoyed.

In one of those odd 'psychic coincidences' (I'm not a Jung fan so don't use the other word typically associated in astrology circles), she then wrote a post about me yesterday detailing her side of an incident that happened on her blog just under two years ago during the Venus retrograde in Aries.

Elsa also wrote a post about it at the time characterizing me as a vicious attacker who came out of nowhere to beat down one of her regular commenters for absolutely no reason other than that I am a horrible witch of a person who has a pitch black heart and no soul (heh), and she basically repeated the claim in this one.

I don't see it that way, of course, and wrote a reply to her post at the time.

Both Elsa's posts exclude details as far as what really happened, so here is my perspective on it from the previous posts I wrote:

"[The poster] made a comment that she agreed with a quote by Yogananda that a "truly enlightened person" has no need for the astrological birth chart.

I begged to differ on that one and rebutted that many "enlightened" people take on very difficult life circumstances and use astrology to navigate them more skillfully than they could without this tool. I also said that I believed the poster had an old Piscean concept of "enlightened." IE. Someone sitting on a Neptunian cloud sipping pomegranate juice...

Sure, I was being a bit cheeky there, but really! Who making a comment like that in an astrology forum wouldn't expect some opposition to that statement?

Apparently, this person.

She launched a four-paragraph, expletive-laden diatribe telling me to fuck off unless I had something "positive and agreeable" to say, telling me I obviously wasn't enlightened and reiterating that enlightened people have no use for astrology. She claimed I was "harassing" her and called me a troll.

I replied that I was not harassing her but rather rebutting a comment that I didn't agree with."

Your standard online pissing match.

For me, it was a case of defending the practice of astrology from the New Age claim that "astrology is not for the enlightened." I find that there are many, many things wrong with that statement, beginning with the New Age definition of enlightened, which I pointed out to the blog commenter in my colourful little way. A little too colourful for that particular astrology forum, it turns out, but I will explain later.

For me, there's a difference between battling an ideological tenet that threatens to discredit my vocation - something I take seriously and value highly - and a vicious personal attack. If we don't defend astrology, we won't have an astrology to defend. Though I used a strong critique of that commenter's claim, I didn't really take things to a personal level - the commenter did in her reply.

I can take my licks, though, so I won't quibble there.

As I've mentioned before, I came up through tribe.net message boards, which were pretty no holds barred. The philosophical battles got heated, and they were meant to. What we're doing here is more than tapping out messages on little machines, and I'm cognizant of that. I wouldn't be doing it if it were not meaningful and effective.

So I've been the lone non-New Age voice being shit-swarmed by ten or more people of that ideological persuasion on many occasions and managed to come out unscathed with my points across. I believe there are righteous battles, and extricating astrology from an invisible (and I would say insidious) merger with New Age beliefs is righteous to me. It's something I do, though it's not always pretty, and it's almost never popular. My methods are not for everyone - especially anyone not willing to get in and get right into the meat of the subject.

I am a Libra Sun, though, and I do understand Elsa's beef on blog social decorum.

In fact, I wrote Elsa an e-mail a little later on explaining my background and apologizing for my fault in breaching the social rules of her blog. As I explained, I was very new to the world of blogging at that time - especially to the social/community aspects, which I barely realized existed - and I wasn't up on the social rules. I blew in there with the charge of 101 throwdowns with the New Age in my words, and it just didn't fit the scene. I can see how this was not the right vibe for a group of people unaware that that battle even exists.

There are people you can take out of the country and put in the city and have them adapt and fit in quite well. Then there are people like me. Social integration is a slow process.

So I breached Elsa's rules on her blog and apologized for it almost two years ago. As far as I knew, it was a resolved matter. I guess not.

Let me take this opportunity to explain some of the dynamics here astrologically:

Elsa has Mars in Libra. She says she doesn't like to fight, but the way I see it, she is fighting in classic Libra style. She's fighting socially, passive aggressively, using her large social platform, her standards for social decorum, and her like-minded following (heavy on the Mars in Libra, according to the comments section) as a shield, all while denying doing so.

To compare, I'm a Mars in Scorpio with roots in a spiritually-guided warrior clan. I grew up on the prairie in the Dirty Eighties when the earth was parched, the grasshoppers were swarming, and the Pluto in Scorpio pressure on independent ranching and farming families was brutal. If rage and battling weren't a big part of your fuel source, you didn't have the snuff to get through it.

Mars in Libra versus Mars in Scorpio. Passive aggressive versus aggressive aggressive. Guess which one is more socially acceptable, especially for women?

Elsa has a stacked southern hemisphere (top half) of her birth chart. This means that she lives a fairly public life. She has a large public forum, a large public following, and has the opportunity to be very visible in her career. She has become known to many readers through her blog and has become known to many astrologers through the AstroDispatch - an "astrology star" if there is such thing. This public realm is a place where her rules go and her perspective reigns supreme, backed up by many like-minded readers, and that's fine.

What needs to be clear, though, is the Mars in Libra wielding of this southern hemisphere public prowess and Libran popularity. Elsa often talks about having Mars conjunct Mercury in Libra, and she is wielding a definite social and public power when she decides to use her blog as a platform to write about someone, especially another astrologer, and especially when she has closed the discussion to that person's point-of-view. This, again, is a classic way of Mars-Mercury in Libra battling. With Saturn just stationed retrograde in Libra, she is using the social structure she has built and her status within it to throw daggers.

In comparison, I have a northern hemisphere (bottom half) stacked chart. This means my life is not highly public. My vocation is not highly visible. I fly under the radar for the most part - purposefully. My achievements and successes are often not readily apparent to others and are often defined in completely opposite ways than they would be for a stacked southern hemisphere chart person. I don't write accessible astrology for the masses - though I could if that's the direction it took. I write complex astrology for a honed, niche audience.

I have a strong influence (for which I do my best to be responsible) and am among the best at what I do - but very few know it. My work is often hidden. So when I write a rebuttal post like this one, let's just say it doesn't have the same public legs as an Elsa post. I'm sure she is well aware of this fact and that it factors strongly into her southern hemisphere, Mars in Libra fighting style.

In vast contrast to someone with ease in the southern hemisphere (public/career life), my opportunities are few and far between, mostly eked out with blood, sweat, and otherworldly determination. If I did not know this was the way I needed to go in life, it would be sheer insanity for me to continue.

I also have a strong Black Moon Lilith influence - meaning, I'm on the edge, on the outside with my creative perspective, interacting from outer limits, expressing things most don't want to hear and causing big reactions, mostly unintentional, through doing so. When I trigger something, it lasts for a while - apparent in the fact that a five-minute incident on her blog has now warranted two fairly over-the-top blog posts almost two years apart from Elsa.

The strong Black Moon Lilith is the 'wicked witch' vibe along with the projected dark feminine stuff - cruel, vicious dog beater and baby eater, etc.

I have never been nor will ever be accepted with open arms by the mainstream - and this includes the pseudo-alternative mainstream. I will never have thousands of followers backing me up on every word. I have to be willing to say what I know is right for its own sake and stand behind it alone if need be, so this is what I do.

I find it unfortunate that as much as Elsa has written about this, she has never acknowledged the underlying philosophical issue and the issue pertinent to our profession - the merging of New Age beliefs with astrology, in particular in this case with the "astrology is not for the enlightened" claim.

I had a similar experience this past summer and fall with another blogger who refused to speak on the real underlying issues. He, coincidentally, also had a lot of Libra in a southern hemisphere-heavy chart and used his considerable platform to speak about his perspective on me without getting into anything real.

With that, I'll leave with this excerpt:

"This might be a controversial assertion, but I don't think the sign of Libra alone is all that skilled in the creation of peace. Libra is the peacekeeper, maybe. But peacemaker? Peace creator? No.

Libra can often maintain, through it's slick social skills and airy diplomacy, a form of peace that has already been established, but getting to a state of real peace often involves getting into it, and Libra is a sign that, especially when squared by Cancer or Capricorn, prefers to avoid that unpleasantness.

This avoidance is problematic because getting to a real state of peace often involves complex and longstanding disputes, injustice, imbalance, hurt, and oppression that have been hidden, covered over, smoothed over, let slide, reinforced - made worse, in fact, by Libra's glossing over of realities and nervous insistence on everything staying nicey nice.

Slapping a Band-aid on it and forcing a phony handshake over drinks without addressing underlying issues is not the recipe for true, longstanding justice or the peace that stems from that. Keeping everything Libra light and pleasant isn't really the goal when you get right down to it - getting to the root of the discord and injustice is, as well as to a mutual understanding of what caused and continues to cause this so it can be addressed and the chains broken.

The drawing up and divining sign of Scorpio, then, becomes instrumental in the process of peace creation. The road to peace might be initiated in cardinal air Libra, but it's fixed water Scorpio that digs in and takes the process beneath the surface, where it needs to go to be crystallized.

It's the catalytic power of expressing the raw human experiences of millennia of oppression on this planet, especially the emotional realities, that starts the process toward real peace, equality and harmony. If we can't get to and express the core realities, we don't get to any real healing, peace or understanding."

Venus Shows Us How Far We've Come Since Last Spring

Venus conjuncts Uranus at 25 degrees Pisces tonight and it then traverses the last degrees of Pisces, which, of course, are the last degrees of the zodiac, in general.

The interesting thing about Venus' path right now (other than the sudden and shocking relationship shake-ups associated with the Uranus conjunction) is that it is heading into the degrees of last year's Venus Retrograde.

I wrote a lot of posts on that retrograde (click the "venus retrograde in aries" label to read them). It was a very feisty, often incendiary, time, especially regarding our relations with others, with three squares to stationing Pluto in Capricorn. (March 5 - April 16, 2009)

Some of the main themes then were: getting in touch with our anger as a guiding force and impetus to action, false karasses that force us to compromise ourselves, exerting our wills in relationship, the importance of individuality and being true to ourselves within the group, passive-aggressiveness and other underhanded ways of interacting, speaking up and standing up for ourselves in relation to others, creating a healthier balance of masculine and feminine, especially related to the feminine exerting itself.

From a previous post:

"We shone our identities into full-on radiance at that point and burned away what was false. The process wasn't always Venusian pretty, either.

The new ground we've entered into personally since then, initiated by those Aries-Capricorn squares, has set the stage for the upcoming longer-term transpersonal cardinal squares between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. Exertion of will, identity, and new leadership on a global scale as our power structures continue to morph and merge - with the possibility of both open aggression and hidden destructive force.

Getting on top of these energies and themes personally is necessary in light of these huge, transpersonal forces that will be squaring off over the next six years.

If this [Venus transit of Aries] finds us with more work to do to get over the hump related to being exactly who we are in relation to others and in relation to structural institutional set-ups, it could bring some fiery, emotional moments forcing us to stand up for ourselves once and for all.

We must be willing to fight for the survival of ourselves and our true identities when necessary, in the face of people, situations and forces that would threaten that."

A lot of relationships that could not handle who we really were came to an end last spring. We went down to the quick - the soul quick. We simply don't have the time or energy for friend-collecting or for relationships with a degree of falsity that don't truly meet our needs right down to the soul level. Social artifice was stripped down in a major way and relationship rules re-written.

The current Venus transit of Aries should bring new energy and movement in our relationships, along with new relationships altogether, more fitting to our real identities. No painful bending or compromising of ourselves. New partnerships formed now will have a strategic element related to achieving goals we could not achieve alone.

Any ways in which we have kept out true selves/identities and our true desires and motivations hidden or subjugated in relationship (personal or business) since the last Venus Retro will most certainly come out now with hard aspects to Saturn and Pluto. We simply cannot subjugate ourselves to another or to a group or business at this point because with Saturn and Pluto involved, doing so risks losing ourselves altogether in the massive structural shifts we're a part of at this time in human history.

Though this is not comfortable territory for the planet associated with love, beauty and relationship, Venus takes a deep breath at 29 Pisces and courageously leads the way into Aries March 7, immediately creating the cardinal T-square that will be much longer-term when Uranus (May 27) and Jupiter (June 6) ingress Aries.

Venus in Aries will immediately oppose Saturn in Libra (March 9) and square Pluto in Capricorn (March 11). There is a huge amount of tension here, a masterful balance required between ourselves and others. Power struggles, emotional meltdowns and a rebalancing of power within relationships (personal and business) are to be expected. With Venus in Aries, we need to put ourselves first while balancing the needs of others. Not an easy task with Saturn and Pluto involved, and strong self-preservation will be necessary.

Mars in Leo is currently stationing at 0 degrees of the sign and will go direct March 10. Venus will trine almost-standing-still Mars on the 7th as soon as it enters Aries, adding tension and irritability to the pressure-cooker cardinal t-square. (Because we didn't have enough already!) Tempers are smouldering. The Sabian Symbol for this degree of Leo is "A Man is Under Emotional Stress and Blood Rushes to His Head." Pretty much says it all.

Venus retrograded to and then stationed on the anaretic degree of Pisces (the final degree of the zodiac) in April of 2009, adding a cyclical/spiritual clearing house flavour to the proceedings. Clearing out ghosts of relationships past - many not even from our personal lifetimes. Energetic/archetypal stuff.

I'm sensing some similar relationship spring cleaning in the air right now (Venus conjunct Uranus in Pisces) - even before the Vernal Equinox! Clearing dynamics and relationships that are connected to older versions of ourselves - or to people who are interacting with versions of us that exist only in their minds. Oh, Pisces. Oh, Neptune.

In my case, it's a final realization that I have assigned the term friend to people who are actually just acquaintances out of old soul loneliness and isolation. I'm now facing the fact that it is better to rectify this, regardless of a lack of new connections, rather than set myself up for further alienation and feeling like the odd one out all the time. It's definite Piscean territory to accept scraps, and this is a habit I've been conditioned into since childhood through bullying and ostracism. I've been clearing this layer-by-layer for years, so I'm hoping this is the final purge.

Venus passes through the potent 29th degree of Pisces March 6/7, so note anything coming up on the days before Venus enters Aries. There could be clues related not only to personal relationships but to the relationship we have with spirit and how that develops from here.

This transit of Venus in Aries will allow us to see the results of the effort we put forth last year with the retrograde and re-orientation in our relationships. Anything swept under the rug then will be forced to the surface now. Pluto's involved here, remember. ;-)

If we worked on building our Venus in Aries muscles then, while facing what Pluto kicked up, things will be much smoother now. We'll know what actions to take, and we should be able to stay out of the detritus kicked up by those who shirked their Plutonic duties last time around. (Fingers crossed, anyway.)

Staying out of it as a matter of self-preservation. That will be a big theme of this month with Pluto trying to draw us into the fray and Saturn in Libra activating our sense of injustice.

It will probably be impossible not to be touched by some of the angst - even if only on an energetic level. We have a strong stake in how things go down, after all. But these energies should be less difficult to deal with now that we've already had a big old dose last year. Remembering the Venus in Aries retrograde themes and the lessons we learned then will come in handy now.

Full Moon in Aries and Individuality Within the Group; A Long, Hard Stint of Effort is Completed

This Full Moon in Aries at 11 degrees ties in to the last Venus retrograde in Aries (square Pluto in Capricorn) in March/April of this year.

The new directions we launched ourselves in relationship-wise and self-extertion-wise at that time come to a point of emotional culmination here.

I wrote a tonne of posts on this retrograde between March and May, so check those months for extensive background. Here are a couple:

Venus in Aries Retrograde and Anger as a Guiding Force

Kicking False Karasses to the Curb! Retro Venus in Aries Sextile the Aquarius Stellium

The Moon enters Aries at 3:21 a.m. on Saturday, October 3 and almost immediately squares Pluto in Capricorn on the first degree of those signs (4:49 a.m. MDT). We wake into this aspect Saturday morning, and it's the only aspect all day, so its vibes hang in the air. From the square to Pluto, the Aries Moon moves all day to an opposition with the Sun in Libra and fullness just after midnight MDT.

Again, this square to Pluto followed by the Full Moon brings us to a point of emotional culmination around the themes of the most recent Venus retrograde process. The Venus retrograde in Aries came with three squares to stationing Pluto in Capricorn at early degrees of the signs.

We shone our identities into full-on radiance at that point and burned away what was false. The process wasn't always Venusian pretty, either.

The new ground we've entered into personally since then, initiated by those Aries-Capricorn squares, has set the stage for the upcoming longer-term transpersonal cardinal squares between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. Exertion of will, identity, and new leadership on a global scale as our power structures continue to morph and merge - with the possibility of both open aggression and hidden destructive force.

Getting on top of these energies and themes personally is necessary in light of these huge, transpersonal forces that will be squaring off over the next six years.

If this Full Moon in Aries finds us with more work to do to get over the hump related to being exactly who we are in relation to others and in relation to structural institutional set-ups, it could bring some fiery, emotional moments forcing us to stand up for ourselves once and for all.

We must be willing to fight for the survival of ourselves and our true identities when necessary, in the face of people, situations and forces that would threaten that. It's a Matter of Survival...from April.

If we've diligently taken the necessary personal actions related to these themes, this Full Moon should bring some nice levels of satisfaction related to the new directions we set off in then and where they've taken us. An emotional anchoring point.

The Sabian Symbol for this degree of Aries is "A Flock of Wild Geese." It has strong connotations of individuality within the group. Aries within Aquarius. And that individuality is so important now so that we don't get caught up in groupmind and lose ourselves in the Aquarian winds of change and the forms of false leadership therein. We have to be completely sure that we're in the right formations, the right groups, heading in directions we've personally determined are right for us. A strong self-direction is required so we're not bumped off course. No being swooped up into false Aquarian karasses.

The Sabian Symbol for the degree of Libra where the Sun will be at the Full Moon is "Miners are Emerging From a Deep Coal Mine." This symbol also has a nice feeling of culmination. A long period of hard work, in the dark, beneath the surface, is completed and the group of people who were working together emerge. It definitely has Plutonic connotations. The hard and dirty, nitty-gritty work that goes on beneath the surface and a release for the group of people who have been toiling away at it. We've dug up what was buried and brought it to the surface after much struggle. Now we can surface, as well.

Venus enters Libra (a sign of its rulership) October 14 and heads to a closing square to Pluto in Capricorn on October 15. This is where we can bring what we've experienced and learned (especially about ourselves) since the Venus in Aries opening square to Pluto fully into our relationships. We can burn away the last of old constructs here, snip the last tendrils to outdated ways of interacting and develop stronger, truer relationships and relationship dynamics based on our new positions.

Mars is in late Cancer at the time of this Full Moon, on its way to conjuncting the South Node (October 9), and we have one last checkpoint for dropping past-related baggage keeping us from emotional vitality. We're challenged to break any clinging detrimental emotional habits around this time. We're also supported to let go of ineffective ways of trying to have our emotional needs met while tapping into stronger, healthier methods. We should be able to see any remaining weak points along these lines and take action on them here. Watch out for people still trying to get what they want through things like emotional blackmail, guilt trips and manipulation or through old, emotional family patterns.

Mars takes two years to go through the zodiac, and it has now passed the point of its last retrograde (November 2007 - January 2008). So goals related to achieving emotional strength, vitality and independence, especially related to familial patterns, wrap up here with this very fitting conjunction to the South Node.

The next Mars retrograde begins this December in Leo as we embark on a new two-year Mars cycle and set new creative goals...

Venus in Cancer Opposite Pluto in Capricorn

At the moment, we're heading quickly to a Venus in Cancer opposition to Pluto in Capricorn August 1 at the first degree of the signs. This is the first of our big post-Cancer/Capricorn eclipse tests related to the shedding of past-related emotion that was holding us hostage, family patterns, emotional tricks and general emotional dramz we were holding onto...stripping this Plutonic-clean and moving forward with the new emotional realities the two New Moons in Cancer moved us into.

This Venus-Pluto opposition echoes the first New Moon in Cancer (June 22) when the Sun and Moon were at 1 degree Cancer opposite Pluto at 1 degree Capricorn.

We'll see with this opposition how we've done with these themes. It's a status report of sorts. As the opposition tightens and the whole Cancer-Capricorn continuum starts to sing, we'll become aware of any areas left to clear and any remaining detritus left to dislodge and release - long-held emotional resentments it's time to purge and wounds left to integrate, as well as any further emotional ties to sever/transform, especially related to the past, our familial roles and our early conditioning.

There could be some Plutonic gut punches involved if we've been looking the other way when Pluto shows us what needs to go. It's deep, emotional, sometimes gut-wrenching stuff, and Cancer has a tendency to hold on and hold on and hold on...not always conducive to Pluto's psychic surgery and purgery.

Pluto in Capricorn has long-term goals for us. Concrete steps we have to take and progress we have to make to reach our full, shining potentials on this Earth. So relationships now are strengthening the emotional/soul anchor we need to strive for that potential...but at the same time, they're getting the Plutonic strip-down. We're dropping all the remaining emotional baggage we can no longer carry, baggage that would hinder us from reaching those Pluto in Cap achievements, in particular, and transforming dynamics that are past their prime into something more suitable.

This is the balance between honouring our emotional realities and the emotional realities of others (Cancer) and having to do what we have to do to get the job done (Capricorn). The interplay of emotional nurturing and "just getting on with it."

This Venus-Pluto opposition ties in to the opening Venus in Aries squares to Pluto in Capricorn we experienced in April and May. Opening squares create the friction and push to initiate some action in our lives, and with the series of Venus in Aries squares to stationing Pluto in Capricorn, we started off in a blazing new direction, within the broader context of long-term Pluto in Cap progress.

We had to be honest about who we really are now and what we really want...while keeping in mind the context of what is desired for us on an evolutionary/collective level. A fresh start of the most deep and refreshing kind was necessary, and relationships we had outgrown had to be let go of.

If we refuse to let go, Pluto unceremoniously strips things away that would hold us back from our purest and most raw evolutionary drive and process, and relationships hit the chopping block in a big way during the Venus in Aries retro. If not the entire relationship, definitely ways of relating within the relationship that were no longer ringing true. Pluto shifts dynamics in a big way. Anything dishonest is considered worthless. So things got brutally honest there for a while. :-)

We entered a new Venus cycle during the Venus in Aries retrograde:

"During the retrograde period in Aries, Venus had to deal with all the things it would prefer not to: anger, rage, and corresponding passive aggressiveness coming to a head related to all the crap she puts up with from people, the ways she dulls her flame in order to keep the peace with those around her, the way her personal will and desires are put on the back burner in favour of others, the ways her identity is subjugated...

We've become aware, during this retrograde and the squares to Pluto, of relationships and ways of interacting in relationships that have run their course. Relationships that can no longer contain who we really are have been dusted off to make room for more vital ones...or have been gutted and transformed.

There is a new set of rules we started following during this Venus retrograde period. We have to be ourselves 100% and speak up when people project onto us who they (wrongly) think we are. We're expressing a Venus that is no longer willing to put up with any crap."

Now Venus is making her way to Cancer and an opposition to Pluto Rx. This is where we start to come to terms emotionally with where we are now, with the changes that were made March-May as we committed to being truer to ourselves in relation to other people. We headed in our courageous new Arien directions relationship-wise then and have since gotten a little distance between what happened then and where we are now.

Venus transitting Cancer should give us an opportunity to get comfortable with where these new directions have taken us and to recast our emotional anchors where necessary.

Astrology relates to processes, each phase related to what came before and what is up ahead.

And Pluto is very involved with this new Venus cycle. The entire cycle should be looked at as a Pluto-infused transformational process, I believe, related to those things ruled by Venus - relationships, what we love, how we show love, beauty, our needs, self-worth and values. Keeping that in mind as Venus makes her way through the zodiac over the next year and a half will be helpful.

As always: "If we avoided or denied what that Venus - Pluto square was trying to show us then, we could have some nastier experiences as Pluto gets a little louder and more ruthless in bringing certain things to our awareness. We have to sever the dynamics Pluto asks us to sever for our future survival. We have to purge the old emotion we're holding or risk bringing more of the same crap into our lives."

So this Venus in Cancer-Pluto in Capricorn opposition on the heels of so much Cancer-Capricorn eclipse emphasis should be very telling. If we've dug in and done the work Pluto has requested since the Venus in Aries retrograde, we should hopefully just have some finishing clearing to do. If we've been lagging on this front, things will come to a head around this time, making it impossible to deny what is going on beneath the surface.

The only way to appease Pluto is to go as deeply as it says to go...or deeper. It's not much comfort, but the pain we feel doing the work is nothing compared to the long-term damage leaving it undone will do.

Anyway, I know I'm just a little ray of Plutonic sunshine, but what are you gonna do? :-) It's always best to be aware so as not to be blindsided and sucker punched. If we can get on top of the Plutonic game, we can work with the dynamics instead of only being forced to react to them.

Venus Leaves Aries After Four Months! A New Venus Cycle is Well Underway...

Venus will enter Taurus, the sign of its rulership, at 3:07 a.m. MT tomorrow - Saturday, June 6. So this should take the edge off a little for the weekend.

Taurus is a much more comfortable placement for Venus and this ingress is some relieving news, especially in the midst of all the squares we're dealing with.

(Although, both Mars and Venus in Taurus are heading to...you guessed it! Squares to the Aquarius triple conjunction.)

Venus is the sign of what we love, need and value and how we express these things, especially in relationships. It is not very comfortable in aggressive, me-first Aries. Venus rules Libra (along with Taurus), the sign opposite Aries. So four months in Aries and a very intense retrograde period squaring Pluto in Capricorn has put the Venusian energy through the ringer!

All for good reason, though. Venus needed a good stint of Arien training...building up those Aries muscles of instinct, action, survival and self-preservation. As well as the stripping of relationship detritus from the Pluto connections, related to doing what we have to do to make concrete progress in our lives.

During the retrograde period in Aries, Venus had to deal with all the things it would prefer not to: anger, rage, and corresponding passive aggressiveness coming to a head related to all the crap she puts up with from people, the ways she dulls her flame in order to keep the peace with those around her, the way her personal will and desires are put on the back burner in favour of others,' the ways her identity is subjugated...

We've worked through that stuff over the past four months, and hopefully now we are a lean, mean, well-integrated machine related to these themes. :)

We've become aware, during this retrograde and the squares to Pluto, of relationships and ways of interacting in relationships that have run their course. Relationships that can no longer contain who we really are have been dusted off to make room for more vital ones...or have been gutted and transformed.

There is a new set of rules we started following during this Venus retrograde period. We have to be ourselves 100% and speak up when people project onto us who they (wrongly) think we are. We're expressing a Venus that is no longer willing to put up with any crap. And I like this version much better!

The conjunction of the Sun and retrograde Venus at 6 degrees Aries on March 27, 2009 officially started a new 18-month Venus cycle (the period of time until Venus goes retrograde again).

Venus' next retrograde is in Scorpio in October 2010. (This one is interesting to me because I have Venus just turned Rx in Scorpio in my natal chart, and it is something I will deal with (natally and progressed) my whole life.)

In effect, the recent Venus in Aries retrograde also started a new 8-year Venus cycle and discharged the previous 8-year Venus cycle, as Venus retrogrades in a cycle of the same five signs every eight years. The last time it retrograded in Aries was March 2001 - so we discharged the energy and themes of that cycle during this retrograde. The next time Venus goes retrograde in Aries is March 2017, which will then discharge the 8-year cycle we began in March 2009.

Oh, all these cycles! haha

Venus Cycles

Unless it is retrograde, Venus spends a little under a month in each of the 12 zodiac signs - about 24 - 27 days. It takes 225 days to orbit the Sun/complete one cycle through the zodiac.

Venus has a very regular cycle related to the Sun and Earth, also, and retrogrades every 18 months through the same cycle of five signs (with slight variations/overlap). Aries, Scorpio, Gemini, Capricorn (which shifted over time from Aquarius) and Leo. Meaning - Venus retrogrades only happen in one of those five signs, in the same order, and repeat the cycle of signs every eight years.

The points of conjunction of Venus and the Sun during those retrogrades form a pentagram (five-pointed star) pattern in the sky.

During the 18-month period from Venus retrograde to Venus retrograde, Venus conjuncts the Sun twice, once in retrograde motion, once direct.

The conjunction during the retrograde is called the interior conjunction. It is the point of Venus perigee - when Venus is closest to the Earth in its orbit.

Another conjunction of the Sun and Venus happens about 10 months after the interior conjunction as Venus is moving direct, and this is called the exterior conjunction. This conjunction is the point of apogee - when Venus is furthest from the Earth in its orbit.

We just experienced the interior conjunction during the Aries retrograde.

To illustrate the 8-year Venus cycles, here are the patterns of retrograde:

March 1993 - Venus Rx in Aries
October 1994 - Venus Rx in Scorpio
May 1996 - Venus Rx in Gemini
December 1997 - Venus Rx in Aquarius/Capricorn
July 1999 - Venus Rx in Virgo/Leo

March 2001 - Venus Rx in Aries
October 2002 - Venus Rx in Scorpio
May 2004 - Venus Rx in Gemini
December 2005 - Venus Rx in Capricorn (from 1 degree Aquarius)
July 2007 - Venus Rx in Leo

March 2009 - Venus Rx in Aries ** current cycle March 2009 - October 2010**
October 2010 - Venus Rx in Scorpio
May 2012 - Venus Rx in Gemini
December 2013 - Venus Rx in Capricorn
July 2015 - Venus Rx in Leo (from 0 degrees Virgo)

March 2017 - Venus Rx in Aries
October 2018 - Venus Rx in Scorpio
May 2020 - Venus Rx in Gemini
December 2021 - Venus Rx in Capricorn
July 2023 - Venus Rx in Leo

So you can see how Venus retrogrades kick off a new short-term cycle while discharging the previous one (18 months from retrograde to retrograde), as well as a new longer-term cycle (eight years as it cycles through the five signs).

Venus in Aries Leaves the Retrograde Shadow

In honour of Venus in Aries busting out of the retro shadow into new territory tonight (at 15 1/2 degrees Aries or so), I'm linking to a still-relevant post on rejecting false karasses in favour of real, authentic places for our real, authentic selves (no self-censorship) within communities/groups.

Kicking False Karasses to the Curb...

The Moon in Aries conjuncts Venus in Aries tonight at the very same time that Venus leaves the retrograde shadow (9:23 p.m. MT). Oh, astrology.

Mars and Venus in Aries are both heading to sextiles with that Aquarius triple conjunction (Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune), activating these issues again in our lives. Mars in Aries will sextile the bodies in Aquarius May 26 (just after Jupiter conjuncts Chiron (May 23) and just before it conjuncts Neptune (May 27)); Venus will sextile them June 2.

The Venus retro in Aries was designed to strengthen the relationship we have to ourselves. To get in touch with the warrior within - the one who will take no shit from the people around us, who will bow and bend to no one, who will stand up and demand to be heard (and demand that what we're REALLY saying is heard - not what someone THINKS we're saying).

Through the retrograde process, we have hopefully strengthened the relationship to our real, authentic, no-holds-barred selves to the point that we're bringing it all to the table in our interpersonal relationships. All of us. Not downplaying or whitewashing out a bit. Because getting to that place and living from that place is very important now in creating the right place for ourselves within the unfolding Aquarian paradigm.

The Venus retrograde was also designed to strengthen our personal relationship to the constructive, motivating force of our own anger.

Honouring our feelings there, understanding their validity and determining what actions they're asking us to take.

And this leads me to something that really pisses me off that I would like to address now.

And that is the term "rants." I despise this term. Yep, it's a very strong reaction. And when I go to the root of those feelings, I realize I despise this term being applied to my writing/work (and to anyone's, actually) because, to me, this term has been used in the past to invalidate passion and righteous anger. It's a term that seems condescending, making less of that which it refers to.

I see people use this term relating to their own work/point-of-view as a sort of apology for their candor. I also see people using this term to distance themselves from the truths being spoken...making it seem as if the person speaking/writing is an "amusing hothead" and little more. It subtly attempts to invalidate what is being expressed.

And I think it sucks.

I will never apologize for my work or perspective, especially not to make someone feel more comfortable within his or her own mindset. And I will never do myself the dishonour of applying that term to what I do.

The level of self-censorship going on in this culture makes me unbearably sad, but it also disgusts the hell out of me that people will allow themselves to be stifled in these ways. That they will "tone down" what they really think and feel so as to not ruffle any feathers.

I say, ruffle more feathers! If you're speaking the truth from your personal perspective and what you're saying strikes a nerve, that means it's triggering something that is meant to be brought to collective awareness.

But this happens. In a world that constantly resists your point-of-view and rejects what you have to say, people end up questioning their own sanity. (Even though it's the mainstream groupthink that is actually insane.)

Venus in Aries and the Passive Aggressive Epidemic

Passo aggro really is an epidemic these days, isn't it? A symptom of how sick things have gotten and how far from expressing their truth people are, I think.

The current constructs pressure people to put on a happy, smiley face at all times. To keep things harmonious on a surface level and not rock the boat. Everyone is meant to be content, no matter what the conditions. Everything is supposed to be "nice" at all times, especially in the public realm.

So people create this facade self with which to interact. This facade self is always happy, congenial, "positive." It keeps things hunky dory. It's there to give the other person what he or she wants. It will respond to all requests, cater to all needs. It will do things out of a sense of obligation rather than really wanting to do them. It will subvert its own needs to keep other people happy. It will be available at all times. It won't disappoint.

But this just isn't reality.

And the disconnect between the facade self and the truth creates dysfunction. The difference between what the facade self is putting out there in the world and what the real self truly feels and thinks is so big that it becomes an abomination to the soul. It enrages the soul that the facade self swallows what it doesn't want to swallow. That it never speaks up. It's never honest. It's phony, weak, cowardly. It won't stand up for itself or what it really wants, so it goes along to get along...and then bitches about it.

This is a problem a lot of the time with Libra energy (unless it has done the work), especially, as we're seeing, as it relates to Aries energy, but also with Cancer-Libra and Libra-Capricorn squares.

With the Cancer-Libra square, it's the emotional, supportive side of things. The motherly sacrifice. The combo of Cancer and Libra doesn't want to disappoint anyone or make anyone feel bad. It doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so it takes the supposed easy route and tells people what they want to hear, even when it's not the truth. It agrees to things it doesn't really agree with, and then, yeah...gets passo aggro about it.

With the Capricorn-Libra square the pressure is public/career/business world obligations and what people swallow there related to fitting into those constructs, following those rules to get ahead, taking one's place in the hierarchy and never rocking the boat. Think of how much passo aggro is flying around most office environments these days. Toxic.

This falseness in itself is violent - toward the person being lied to, the person doing the lying, and the social environment, in general. It wastes time and energy and does much more damage than being honest and direct, although, passo aggro people wouldn't see it that way. Just the opposite, actually. People exhibiting passive aggressive behaviour usually think they are being the better person by being "nice." Sacrificing what they really want or think for someone else, for surface-level harmony. They see this as a good thing.

Eventually, the real self has had enough, though, and in desperation, becomes so enraged that the facade self can't keep it contained any longer. The anger just won't allow itself to be stuffed down anymore. And because these people refuse to take responsibility for their anger and emotions in a constructive way, it starts leaking out in sneaky, dirty, poisonous little behaviours:

Avoidance, procrastination, seemingly innocuous little comments that poison with tone and intent, little barbed actions (seemingly unrelated) designed to irritate, refusing to meet time limits (since they didn't want to do what they agreed to do in the first place), dropping the ball, "forgetfulness," shirking resonsibilities, blame, denial, two-faced gossipping, leaving other people holding the bag.

All these behaviours (and more!) are used by passo aggros to keep control and manipulate the people around them.

And trying to confront these passo aggros is like "nailing water to a tree." (Heh heh - thanks, sleepless1111). Frustrating as all hell. Impossible, really. They are slippery fuckers and are either in denial about their behaviour and the damage it causes or feign ignorance. I'm not sure which, possibly both. In my experience, passo aggros generally won't even admit there is anything going on - part of the game to keep them in control.

There's little worse than realizing, weeks or months down the road, that you have been completely poisoned by a sneaky passo aggro. It's like one drop of cyanide at a time until your system is overwhelmed, and repairing the energetic damage takes a whole lot of time and energy.

So why so much of this right now?

Remember that Venus is in Aries, just coming out of a retrograde that was designed to bring this stuff to attention.

Venus is the planet of (among other things) relationship. It rules Libra, which is the opposite sign of Aries (sign of self). So Venus is in the opposite sign of its rulership when in Aries, a not-too-comfortable placement.

You can see how things like Arien exertion of personal will, putting yourself first, using anger as an impetus to action, going after what one really wants, directness, honesty, and the willingness to fight for the survival of the self when necessary can be expressed in healthy ways or in unhealthy ways during Venus' transit through Aries.

There has to be a balance, both internally and externally, of Aries and Libra, me and we. And the balance is pretty messed up in a lot of cases.

There is a societal tendency to demonize those Arien things when speaking in relationship terms, especially for women. Putting yourself first is considered a bad thing (selfish!). Exerting your personal will in relation to another is considered a bad thing (pushy!). Being honest and direct in situations is considered a bad thing (not nice!). Even knowing who you are and what you want in a strong way is looked at suspiciously.

Mothers are taught that they have to put their kids first, their husbands first, their homes first. Men are taught that they have to put their jobs first, their families first, their responsibilities first. And we're all pressured within the current constructs to put on that facade self face. People are made to feel guilty or as if there is something wrong with them when they don't do this.

So as people are demonizing and denying these Arien things (or are existing within constructs that make it very difficult to healthfully express them), the anger comes out in other ways - like insufferable passive aggressive behaviour.

The traditional model for customer service is one of the constructs designed to make it almost impossible to healthfully express these aspects of the self. The usual office environment is, too. This is why you see a lot of passo aggro from people trying to work within these set-ups.

This Venus in Aries retrograde, in particular, is about the radical idea that, yes, we have to put ourselves first. If we don't, no one else will. We have to be honest about ourselves, especially in relationships. We have to trust that our anger impulses are meaningful and that they are guiding us in the right direction when we put them to constructive use.

This means shaking off the social constructs that keep us from expressing Aries/Mars energy in a healthy way, changing our structures to allow for the healthy integration of Aries/Mars - and all twelve energies of the zodiac, if you use astrology as a model.

The Venus in Aries retrograde combined with Mars and Venus in Aries squares to Pluto in Capricorn are forcing the dysfunctional relationships we have to these Aries/Mars things to the surface. We're becoming aware of dysfunctional relationships to our own anger, and we're seeing the damage it causes to stuff it down and deny it - passive aggressive behaviour being one of the worst symptoms of this.

I'm hoping that all the passo aggro being forced to the surface in a public way is going to help break down the constructs keeping people from expressing their real selves in healthy, constructive ways. That people are going to ditch the facade self and reconnect to the real self and re-learn how to trust their own impulses instead of looking for external cues.

I think passive aggressiveness does have a self-worth element (Venus) and that people have to learn to value themselves and their own feelings and desires so that they're not always deferring to the external first and then backtracking. People-pleasing is actually pretty ugly.

But in the end, for me, it comes down to taking responsibility for yourself and the way you interact with others. It's not easy to take on the level of self-examination required to peel away facade self layers and move out of passive aggressive coping behaviours. It takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication - things a lot of people aren't too keen on in these days of instant answers.

You have to REALLY want to change. As we all know, no one can make a passo aggro do anything he or she doesn't want to do. So the energy is there to support this process, but as always, it's up to the individual to take it on.

All I know is, I'm done with this bullshit.

Remember Y'All...Venus in Aries is Still in the Retrograde Shadow

Venus and Mars are in Aries right now - a warrior, self-survival, putting yourself first kind of sign - and will be all of May. Venus doesn't leave it's retrograde shadow (get into new territory) until May 20 and doesn't get to the much comfier, mellower sign of Taurus (which Venus rules) until June 6. We're still dealing with Venus retrograde themes...

From a previous Venus in Aries Retrograde post:

"After coming out of Pisces April 23 (under the umbrella of wrapping up tail-end Piscean Age stuff), Venus in Aries really isn't going to take any crap from anyone. Feisty!

Relationships that can't handle who you really are will be left in the dust."

For a reminder on the retrograde themes we're dealing with, check here or here.

Venus is also just coming out of it's second square to Pluto in Capricorn, so our relationships are being stripped to the bone reality. Any relationships that can't keep it real will be dusted off to make room for more vital ones.

And passo aggro vibes are par for the course for people who try to bury their anger impulses. Our anger impulses are there for very important reasons, especially now. So any situations in which we force ourselves to "be nice" instead of being real will have a passo aggro edge to them.

Also any job where we are expected to put on a nicey nice facade (working with the public, etc.). The old customer service model is dying, and it's PAINFUL at the moment...(Saturn stationing to go direct in Virgo).

The use of the Divine Feminine is another of these arenas. Bitch is sick of being pigeonholed as the nice, caring, supportive one when she really wants to tell you to stuff it up your ass.

Venus Retrograde Re-enters Pisces

Early this morning, retrograde Venus moved back into the 29th (final) degree of Pisces. This is the last degree of the zodiac and corresponds with the last day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. So this is a "last day of winter," wrapping up theme related to relationships (and relationship dynamics) past before we make our real push forward into new relationship territory.

I wrote about this Venus Retrograde when Venus first went retro in Aries March 5.

"And remember - Venus in Aries is most certainly about a fresh start for ourselves and those we're in relationship with, but the Venus retrograde is heading back to the last degree of the zodiac cycle, the degree where any unresolved crap (but also a great deal of spiritual wisdom) has accumulated - 29 degrees Pisces.

Pisces/12th House collects stuff from all the signs that came before. It's a bit of a last stop dumping ground, so anything about our relating/relations that was pushed into our subconscious to be dealt with "later"? Well...later will be Venus on that 29th degree. Mopping up the last messes before we can really push forward into something new in our way of relating with others. We'll be tested one last time here to make sure we REALLY got it, that we really have cleared out and bolstered ourselves around any old Piscean pitfalls.

Venus will station (appear to stop and then turn to move forward again) on this 29th degree, so we're challenged to show mastery with these final Piscean lessons from April 11 to 23.

We're getting it from Venus both coming and going!..."

I also wrote about tapping into our flashes of anger as the impetus to action and new direction within relationships. To use our anger as a guiding force as it shows us what needs to go in our relationship dynamics. Because...

"After coming out of Pisces April 23 (under the umbrella of wrapping up tail-end Piscean Age stuff), Venus in Aries really isn't going to take any crap from anyone. Feisty!

Relationships that can't handle who you really are will be left in the dust. With love!"

New Moon in Aries Conjunct Retrograding Venus: Themes for the Next 28 Days (March 26 - April 24)

Today we have finally clawed our way to a breath of fresh air. Our head pops up out of the Piscean fog, at least for an invigorating look ahead. New Moon in Aries (Sun and Moon coming together at 6 degrees Aries) conjunct Mercury and retrograde Venus. And the Sun, Mercury and Venus continue their conjuncting dance in Aries until March 30.

This winter has seemed interminable in a lot of ways. Some days it feels as if time has stopped altogether. I think this is partially due to Saturn retrograde in Virgo, opposing the past month's Pisces planets. We've all been waiting (im)patiently for spring to finally roll around.

I've especially been waiting for this day for quite some time. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of Pisces energy, especially tail-end Piscean Age Pisces energy. That spacey, floaty, diffuse stuff doesn't do it for me (as it's on my South Node in the 8th house). The "been there, done that, let's move on" vibe gets a bit exasperating...and heavy..and painful.

We've been in the Pisces void long enough, I say! Time for something to start happening! And yet...Pisces has not given up its influence. (Well, for $@%! sakes!) This is disappointing news for those of us really hoping for some movement right now. (me) But I cannot pull a Piscean trick and gloss over reality. We're not free and clear to move ahead just yet. Still more going with the flowing...

Mars, which rules Aries, is in Pisces right now and will be until April 22. (Mars will enter Aries and Venus will re-enter Aries at around the same time. Looking forward to that!) That means, all the planets currently in Aries (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus) are being influenced by Pisces right now, and our fresh start is tied to wrappings up of a spiritual nature - much of which is out of our hands until it is brought up.

The spring-induced recharging of physical energy is also going to take a while longer. *sigh*

With the personal planets in Aries, there is a definite emphasis on our physical bodies. It's just that our physical bodies are still clearing past cycles. As well, our every move, our every cell is infused with the spiritual significance of these times we're living in, and this creates a heavy demand on our attention and energy. The significance of these times is huge and the physical demand is and has been, correspondingly, huge. We carry the energy of the collective - the quiet faith, the whispered hopes, the sustaining dreams of all who have come before us, and all who are yet to come, really. We are their prayers. This responsibility needs to really sink in before we just pop off in our new Arien directions.

Mars in Pisces is not a very comfortable combo. Mars wants new directions, speed, action, physicality at the forefront. But with Mars in Pisces, our physical bodies are carrying the energetic impressions of all that has come before...even through ancestral lines. We feel floaty, dreamy and adrift within the collective - not focused purely in our individual bodies and identities. We're still a bit "touched." Our goals, movements and physicality, in general, are being informed from other levels. Sticky parts of the personal and collective subconscious manifest through the physical body.

Mars in Pisces marks a period when our bodies can feel especially ancient with odd, unexplainable aches and pains. Low physical energy. We have a foot in both worlds at the moment, and we have to give due care and attention to both or we'll be prone to karmic incidents (weird accidents and sicknesses, for example) that bring us back up to speed. We can't drop our spiritual consciousness in favour of pure physicality, but we also can't space out of our bodies, either. It's a somewhat tricky combo.

Mars relates to goals, and our goals now have to take into consideration what we know about ourselves on a spiritual level.

Also known as "Old Souls Don't Belong on Snowboards."

The energy right now reminds me of this. When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I saw people my age skiing and snowboarding and rock climbing and such, and I wondered why I never got to do stuff like that. It didn't seem fair. So when I was living in Whitehorse, I decided to try snowboarding. Wow. Was I ever terrible. Like...reaaaaally terrible. Had zero knack for it at all. When I finally got to the top of the bunny hill (after falling 10 - 15 times on the rope tow), I started down (as per my bf at the time's instructions) and fell backwards onto my tailbone so hard, I blacked out. Searing pain. I lay there dazed for about five minutes before I could get back up. Subsequent efforts went just as well. I actually did go up on the big lift but fell so many times and made so little progress that I had to ride the snowboard down the hill like a toboggan because it was getting dark and the hill was closing. True story. I wish it weren't.

It was as if it were a physical impossibility for me to snowboard.

And it makes me think of lovely English lady Natasha Richardson at age 45 on that ski hill in Quebec.

Sometimes the world just taps you on the shoulder and says, uh uh! I think the trick right now is to listen...but also to not let it discourage you to the point that you hole up in yourself and don't try anything new. Again...tricky combo.

As I've written before, Venus in Aries is heading back to 29 degrees Pisces mid-April. Here is another indication of these fresh start/completion of past cycles themes...this time in relationships (including our relationship with ourself). And another reason I'm excited for that April 22 - 24 period when both Venus and Mars are in Aries. That time feels very fresh, like the final layer falling away and leaving us with a push into exciting new territory.

One more thing to keep in mind now...big, bad Pluto is stationing to go retrograde in Capricorn and is being squared by all the Aries. Our fresh directions occur within that context. So all the business turmoil, the economic meltdowns, the restructuring, the white collar criminality, the lack of hierarchical integrity across the board...we're going back over it, making necessary adjustments and coming to terms internally with what it all means and what it is going to mean.

Pluto goes retrograde April 4 at 3 degrees Capricorn. That's right! We've only dealt with the first three degrees of Cappie. The retrograde period lasts until September 10.