Happy New Year 2022!
As we enter the 3rd year of Covid, hopefully we’ll figure out how to reclaim our lives in a deeper, more conscious way. The Goddess always works in 3, so perhaps we’ll be able to process the changes our world needs to go through during this third year. As we see in fairy tales, there are always 3 tests, challenges, or balls to undergo to create real change.
As we welcome in this New Year, we once again have an opportunity to do things differently. Isn’t that what our New Year’s resolutions are always about? Unfolding the new and improved us?
But do we really need to diet and exercise ourselves into shape or do we need to deepen into ourselves and figure out who we are and what we want out of life? What if this year we recognized that we needed to change our perspective, rather than change our diet.
We need to seriously consider how our world is changing and what we want to do about those changes. What if things don’t ever go back to ‘normal’? Do we even want them to? How can we create a different, more life-sustaining cultural norm, which honors the Earth and all of her children in the face of dominator wars and technological machines?
What if we realize that it’s time to begin to live that new norm more deeply and truly? The truth is, if we don’t become the examples of how to live in a more sustainable, compassionate, creative way, how or even why should anyone else?
With this Venus retrograde conjuncting Pluto in Capricorn three times – the last will be with Mars – very close to the degree of the triple conjunction in 2020 of Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto, it seems the message to all of us is ‘to bring real connection and love, kindness and love of the Earth’ into our cultural lives.
That’s where the energies of Venus come into play as our New Year’s guide. With Venus changing from Evening Star to Morning Star rather quickly as January begins (January 3 - 15), this feminine energy will be impatient to get out there and shine.
There’s a certain magic to this shift in her cycle, because she’s joining up with Pluto in his cultural demolition/revitalization project. She’s bringing the wisdom of love into the equation of what makes a good society – if only we actually listen, and then act on it when Venus and Mars and Pluto all meet in the beginning of March. The transits of Mars over these same degrees will lead to action, so try to be patient as you work out your new goals before then.
Evening Star Venus over Wickford, RI
As Venus slowly disappears from the western sky, she dances with the Sun, baths in its brilliance and, emerging in the morning sky by mid-January, shines with her own light as she becomes the herald of the Dawn.
What better energy to take as our guide at this time of cultural transition and, hopefully, transformation. To do it, we need a change of perspective. In ancient times, when you worshiped a certain god or goddess, you entered into a whole world-view that was shaped by this spiritual energy.
So what if our New Year’s resolution is to embrace Venus as our guide and mentor?
This would mean to bathe in our self-worth – not a fake superiority over others but a true understanding and owning of who we are. And with that understanding comes our openness to our innate talents, which might not be what patriarchy would actually value in us. But what if we valued it, and it turned out to be valued by others in our community?
Of course Love would be a big part of this world-view, but not just a romantic love that chooses only one passion or person. Rather, it is a love of life, of joy, of our sexuality and our sensuality. A love of nature, of others, of seeking and learning, nurturing and helping, creating and playing. What if we choose real enjoyment – (Old French enjoir "to give joy, rejoice, take delight in," from en- "make" (see en- (1)) + joir "enjoy," from Latin gaudere "rejoice"). Venus/Aphrodite is all about taking joy in life.
Aphrodite & the 9 Muses
Another aspect of culture that Venus/Aphrodite encourages is The Arts. She hangs out with the Muses, so why not take some time and journey to see them. Perhaps there’s some artistic project that is calling for you to manifest. Art can heal our differences, just as good music can. We need our artists if we’re going to change any cultural patterns.
Another value Venus in Capricorn embodies is Sovereignty, the ability to govern ourselves – to belong to ourselves. But in ancient times, the Goddess Sovereignty claimed that the needs of Mother Earth had to be the foundation of society. Something we need to incorporate in our vision of the future. I’ll be telling the story of Sovereignty at my January 8th talk. (See below)
This is the spiritual energy which grows our psyche or soul. When we turn our passion and imagination to life, we create beauty and art, no matter what form. Without it, we get what we have now – a soul-less culture that panders to the profane and insipid. A flat-earth ideology that isn’t opened to the mystery of life.
Venus encourages us to think about our values. What values do we live by? Do we consciously work on those qualities we say we embody?
In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (I tell this story athttps://youtu.be/aoGARXBcp1w ) he carries on his shield a pentagram/pentacle that symbolizes the virtues he lives by: generosity, kindness, chastity, chivalry and piety.
What values would you put on your pentacle: Creativity, Gratitude, Love, Wisdom, Fairness, Faith, Beauty, Imagination, Compassion, Strength, Order, Discipline etc.?
The year also starts off with a Capricorn New Moon on January 2, 2022. This New Moon opens the door of the year with a great connection to Uranus in Taurus, the magic of embodiment and Earth’s creative genius. With Uranus set to be a big player in this year’s energy, we all have to get used to surprises and sudden awakenings. The Uranus/Saturn square that was 2021’s major astrological aspect – the old (Saturn) vs the new (Uranus) – will still have lingering effects, so we have to keep choosing the new, the untried, the mystery of life over the security of the old ways. Papa patriarchy is on his way out the door – he can no longer ‘protect’ us. We have to learn to find our own inner security in the face of immense change.
And Jupiter moved into its own sign of Pisces on December 28th. Along with its co-ruler Neptune, Jupiter will expand our connection to the more subtle dimensions of life. Stay open to what your imagination has to say, whether through dreams, journeys and meditations. Then have a reality check to make sure your inner trickster isn't shaking its tail at you! It's so important to ground in the magic now with Jupiter in Pisces and Uranus in Taurus working together. Boundless Water and Awakened Earth. More in the months ahead.
On Saturday January 8, 2022, Venus joins the Sun and begins her new journey as the Morning Star, appearing in the morning sky after January 14th.
I’m giving a free talk on Venus in Capricorn – I will be telling stories about some of the values that she brings to us. If you’re interested in listening, you can sign up at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtcu2trjIjG92nG-CfFr6mbjPtuPP_y4-P
May the peace and the love of the Goddess and the God be ever in our hearts, to guide us to ourselves so we can be a light to the world.
Blessings for this New Year,
Cathy
