Celestial Chatter Dec 13 through 19 – Venus Stations
Every couple of years Venus halts in its forward movement and does its retrograde dance. I know that last week she hooked up with Pluto in Capricorn and this will be relevant for the foreseeable future of this particular Venus retrograde signature. The mechanics have Venus turning retrograde this week on the 19th then traveling in reverse until January 28th at 10° of Capricorn. It will once again cross paths with Pluto on March 3rd of next year. As 2021 slides into 2022 this is one of the intriguing aspects on our plates. As I am writing these words these two celestial being are in alignment to begin this initiation process. I refer to this an an initiation because whenever Pluto is in the mix we are being asked to consider processes that are intended to dredge hidden matters to the surface where they can be dealt with. Venus is our value structures as well as our capacity to deal with what transpires when we share space with others. Venus may seek to locate harmony in most instances but, when Pluto wants to penetrate to the innermost recesses of what that means, it is like being stripped naked and all one’s flaws are exposed for viewing. We, in this initiation experience have the choice/opportunity to either scratch and claw our way further under a handy rock or face the music of choices we have made along the way resulting in an altered path going forward. How honest can you be in the company of others? This is soul level investigation into what motivates us.
Since nothing transpires in a vacuum, other factors continue to vey for our attention. Monday finds Mars shifting from Scorpio into Sagittarius and Mercury shifting from Sagittarius into Capricorn. Mars a masculine archetype of will and desire, courage, energy and drive when sailing the distant seas of Sagittarius is far more interested in leaving the port and being on the journey than sitting around thinking about it. Mercury concluding its cycle in Sagittarius where thinking about possibilities the quest may lead to, shifting into Capricorn where practicality, structure and discipline seek to be serious responsible and potentially wise has to don a different set of clothes. The Sagittarius experiences of journey and insight bring us to the shores of a land where it is time to ascend the mountain of opportunity and with any luck our recent investigations have fine tuned our quest for the appropriate climb.
On Wednesday, Mars conjoins the nodal axis from the south node side. As getting set up to go on a quest commences, there may be memories of previous expeditions attempting to distract us from surging forth into new territories. Since Mars has recently completed its sojourn in the netherworlds of Scorpio and hopefully we have jettisoned the baggage that has been holding us back, allowing those fleeting thoughts from past excursions to just fly by like wisps of air passing around us is the order of the day.
Venus on Saturday stops forward motion within a degree of Pluto and Sunday begins it retreat back through Capricorn. This will be an ongoing matter we carry on into next year. Also, as Saturday shifts into Sunday there will be a full Moon as we ponder the ramifications of the recent solar eclipse new Moon phase from two weeks ago. As with most full Moons there is the maximum reflection of feelings initiated at the previous new Moon. Since we are in the field of the Sagittarius/Gemini axis the appropriate question to ponder might be related to your quest for learning. Is what you are doing inspiring or do you feel like you are just treading water with sinking as an option?
The solar trajectory on Sunday finds itself forming a sextile with Jupiter in Aquarius. This should be a lively interchange. Sextiles are harmonious aspects and Jupiter rules Sagittarius where the Sun currently is traveling. Since Jupiter is sitting on the degree of my Ascendant I am somewhat inclined to dive a bit further into this aspect. The Sun is approaching the end of its current cycle in Sagittarius, so might there be a sensing of some level of inspiration gleaned during the quest? Of course, the Jupiter function in this recognizes there will always be more to discover. Jupiter nearing the end of its current Aquarius cycle may wonder if the shared energy of the group will maintain some level of integrity? No worries, Saturn now one third of its way through Aquarius will keep it on track. The lesson plan is shared community development. When looking at the Sabian symbol interpretation from Dane Rudhyar’s “An Astrological Mandala” for where Jupiter is, we are greeted with a vision to meditate upon:
(AQUARIUS 29°): A BUTTERFLY EMERGING FROM A CHRYSALIS.
KEYNOTE: The capacity to utterly transform the character of one’s consciousness by radically altering the structural patterns of everyday living and the types of relationships one enters upon.
This is the second time within a very short span of the cycle that the butterfly symbol appears (cf. Aquarius 25°). Here what is emphasized is the process of metamorphosis itself. It is the fourth symbol of a fivefold sequence and it stresses the essential character of the activity required at this stage of the cycle; i.e. nothing short of a complete renewal of all the implications of being alive as a human individual will do. A radical change is needed. At this stage, this change is individual and mental, and it should be seen against the background of humanity as a whole. What is revealed is the potential ability of every human being to participate in a higher realm of evolution AFTER his or her emergence from a critical state of transition.
At this fourth stage of the sixty-fifth sub cycle the Keyword is METAMORPHOSIS. In spiritual terms, this implies “Initiation,” i.e. entering a higher realm of conscious existence and there joining a sacred Company.
It is an alchemical process that transpires when the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. Physically within the cocoon the caterpillar completely turns into a soup that eventually constructs the butterfly able to sail upon the winds. In a way the current Plutonian composting scenario has the potential for releasing raw material back into mother earth, with opportunity for new birth to have available as resource. This is an initiation experience that we are invited to participate in even though free will gives us the option to forestall its inevitability.