Venus Retrograde: The Work of Love

Venus Retrograde: July 25—September 6, 2015

The Work of Love

To take love seriously and to bear and to learn it like a task, this is [what] people need. Like so much else, people have also misunderstood the place of love in life, they have made it into play and pleasure, because they thought that play and pleasure were more blissful than work; but there is nothing happier than work, and love, just because it is the extreme happiness, can be nothing else but work. So whoever loves must try to act if he had a great work: he must be much alone and go into himself and collect himself and hold fast to himself; he must work; he must become something!

For believe me, the more one is, the richer is all that one experiences. And whoever wants to have a deep love in his life must collect and save for it and gather honey.

Rainer Marie Rilke: On Love and Other Difficulties

If asked, most of us think of Love as play and pleasure, but anyone who loves someone knows that love takes work too. It is the most important work we can do—to learn how to listen to the heart, know its truths and act on them. Love wants to see through the collective glamour of romantic love into the heart of the matter. Love asks us how do we let our connection to Self, to others and to the world shape our lives?

For the next 40 days, we get to think about these heart connections and work at them. For the next 40 days, the planet Venus is going retrograde in her final phases as the Evening Star of Wisdom. Go out and look to the West as evening falls and you'll see Venus shining brightly. But very quickly her light will begin to dim and she'll move closer to the Sun until she disappears into its light on August 11^th. On August 15^th Venus will conjoin the Sun before she reappears in the morning sky on August 20^th as Lucifer the Light Bringer, the Morning Star. As Evening Star, Venus symbolizes a wiser love nature that takes into consideration our social responsibilities. As Morning Star, Venus is more instinctual, urging us to find our personal values and subjective love. 

 

Venus is completing a 583 day cycle which began in January 2014 in Capricorn. What did you learn about love and connection in the past year and a half? As Venus ends this part of her cycle, which over 8 years forms a pentacle (5-pointed star) in the sky, she wants us to become wise in the ways of the heart—Leo's great task, which includes the joy of being alive as well as the joy of relating to others with an open heart. If you align yourself with your heart needs, this can be a time of emotional rebirth.

Venus represents the power of love, sex, beauty, our values, the arts, all types of relationships, as well as money and possessions. She symbolizes the power of balance and harmony, attraction and cohesion, pleasure and creativity. Venus, who is a Romanized version of the great Greek Goddess Aphrodite, also symbolizes deep feminine Wisdom, the kind of Wisdom that we develop when we open ourselves to Life and the Creative Imagination and listen to our own instincts, feelings and intuitions. 

 

Venus/Aphrodite is the great Connector, the power of Love in all its phases, the initiator of Psyche/Soul. In the earliest myths, Aphrodite arises from her watery womb when the potency of Heaven mixes with the primal waters of Earth. She is our blessing and our curse, for this myth makes it clear that the truest gift of Life here on Earth is Love. “Love is the Water of Life. And a Lover is a Soul of Fire. The Universe turns differently when Fire Loves Water.” (Rumi) 

 

Our patriarchal society has not been kind to Love, instituting 'rules' about love that have twisted Venus' original energy to conform with society's needs. While there are many forms that love takes, patriarchy has only recently begun to let down the barriers it set around Love, our sexuality and the wisdom of the heart. From the twisted side of Venus' collective shadow comes the greed, jealously and entitlement that is rampant in our society. On a personal level, Venus' shadow can make us insecure, needy, jealous, manipulative and materialistic. As a society, we're slowly losing touch with Venus' need for beauty as we continue to ravage the Earth, creating ugliness rather than celebrating beauty.

Old astrological advice says not to start new love affairs or buy luxury items during the 40 days Venus is retrograde. For the soul, it means to stop looking outside yourself for love; it's a time to be with yourself and decide what you long for in your life. When the planet Venus turns retrograde, the energy of love and connection turns within and we get back in touch with our personal values, our individual sense of beauty, our self-love and our need for love. It's a time for literal solitude as well as inner silence, so we can re-connect with our psyche/soul and re-claim our own deepest truths, which always entails the needs of our heart.

As we all awaken from our patriarchal-induced illusions about life and love, we can use the power of our passion to create the type of life that we've secretly longed for since our birth. As the world resonates with the energies of the Pluto/Uranus square, we have the perfect opportunity to incarnate this divine feminine wisdom for our own sake as well as for the world.

Since Venus retrogrades back through Leo and joins up again with Jupiter in Leo, expect to expand on your heart's wisdom. Both planets square Saturn in Scorpio after it turns direct on August 1-2, so we are challenged to integrate the final intimacy lessons of Saturn's stay in Scorpio. Use Jupiter's curiosity and open-mindedness to help you let go of the past and trust in the future. Let your heart knowledge guide you and open you to new experiences and people. The new story is here to stay. Take what you've learned from the old story and then let all the rest of it go.

The astrological energies of the next few weeks are once again intense. Try to attune to them, especially if you have natal planets involved.

1. July 25^th – Venus goes retrograde at 1* Virgo. Mars at 22* Cancer squares Uranus at 21* Aries, urging us to find our freedom and express our needs.

2. July 26^th-- Uranus turns retrograde until December 25^th.

3. July 31^st – Aquarius Full Moon at 8* Aquarius-Leo.

4. August 3^rd – Saturn at 29* Scorpio turns direct and leaves Scorpio behind on September 17-18^th until its next visit in 2042.

5. August 5^th – Venus and Jupiter unite again at 29* Leo on the powerful star Regulus. Look to the West at sunset for a last look at this beautiful celestial energy before Venus disappears into the Sun's light on August 11^th.

I'll discuss these astrological happenings in more detail in the Aquarius Full Moon newsletter.

Until then, walk in the Light!

Cathy

Astrology Time-Line

• Venus in Leo until October 9 turning retrograde between 25 July-September 6th descending from the Evening Star into the underworld  to re-emerge  as Lucifer ahead of the Sun as a Morning Star
• Venus and Jupiter in two conjunctions in Leo on July 1st and August 4^th -a pairing known as the Guardian Angels
• Jupiter square Saturn between July 19 and August 11^th at 29 Leo/Scorpio
• Saturn turns direct in Scorpio on August 2
• The Master degree of 29 Leo on the Leo/Virgo cusp conjunct Royal Star Regulus is activated all summer by Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and the Sun
• Jupiter enters Virgo for the first time in twelve years on August 12^th

There is alchemy afoot in the way the planetary trifecta of Venus, Jupiter and Saturn perform a sacred and intricate dance through July, August and September ; in the way Venus’ descend into the underworld at the same time as Saturn excavates the Scorpionic dungeons of our personal histories for the last time until 2042.This is a summer long process of soul retrieval , made possible by Jupiter the Hierophant carrying all the learnings of the heart from his 12 month stay in Leo across the wisdom cusp into Virgo to be mediated by Regulus..Our fragmented selves -those dispossessed, abandoned, aspects trapped and lost in some past or future time–line, are crying out for a homecoming, a true sense of belonging, where the jagged injuries inflicted by the world can be repaired, individually, collectively, nationally and globally

Venus is completing a 583 day cycle which began in January 2014 in Capricorn and ends as she reveals the Leo mysteries. Expect a shift away from Saturn’s preoccupation with authority, agency and responsibility towards the Sun’s operating manual which includes how to enjoy being alive, how to relate to others from an open heart and how to create your reality so your needs are met easily and abundantly. With Venus as Queen of the Heavens, put your own highest interests first so that you can better be present for others. Just as the life giving light of the Sun is always shining somewhere in the world, as you clear away your small Me separations and specialness-Leo’s shadow-you become a light in the Great Web for others. From July 25 when the Goddess enters her Lucifer phase descending into the underworld, expect relationship dramas, separations, endings, beginnings, the return of former partners .Cast your mind back to the 8 year Venus cycles of 2007, 1999 and 1991 to map your personal Venus mandala on your birth chart. Frame the process as light being shone into the dark corners of your psyche to show which of your unconscious and habitual beliefs and behaviours are toxic, outgrown or limiting.

Reflect on these questions:

• How much do I love myself on all levels?
• Do I know that I carry the DNA of radical self love?
• How do I express it day by day?

On August 15 UT , when Venus conjuncts the Sun, if you’ve changed your patterns to get results more congruent with your needs, your emotional rebirth is over and you’re poised to begin a new phase of love and relating.

The Retrieval of Disassociated Parts: Saturn in Scorpio

 Saturn has turned back into Scorpio until September 18^th tapping the barometer of your psyche and giving you one last look at anything you need to clear out of the basement of your life. Between October 2012 and December 2014 you faced up to aspects of yourself that were outgrown, unconscious and toxic- ready to be left behind. This time around you return in a much more resilient and resourceful state to get completely right with yourself by shining the lamp of hindsight on to missing soul pieces, tattered ghosts and shoddy compromises. Between July 19 and August 11^th when Saturn aligns with Jupiter, laser away those last rays of Dark Matter and ask

• What in me is dead by the roadside?
• What is emerging, calling me, summoning me on?

The Return to the Upper World: Jupiter

As Venus and Saturn are excavating the dark corners of your unconscious, Jupiter holds his lantern of wisdom as he journies through the last degrees of Leo .The Hierophant reaches the master degree of 29 Leo and conjuncts Royal Star Regulus between 7-18 August on the cusp of Leo/Virgo. During the summer, all the inner planets will pass over this degree, sensitised by the Jupiter /Saturn square.

The Chandra Symbol LEO 29
A broken sword.
Consecration to a higher power. The giving-over of the personal will–the marvel of root change. Coming to the end of your own path, and it is just the beginning of the greater way. The heart must open. The infinite must be born inside. The destiny-necessity is there–so much karmic backlog. So many ways to be right and to be wrong. The realisation in the very midst that there is nobody listening to the old tale and everybody is awaiting somebody else to come through. A profound and utter doorway into a great unknown. What has been is finished. What shall be is so very different. And what is now is a question and a prayer and a destiny that must find its redemption

Regal Regulus is the closest star to the ecliptic and therefore closest to the red carpet path of the glorious Sun ,a symbol of archangel Raphael, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and a great protective healer.

When Jupiter enters Virgo on August 12 for the first time since August 2003 with Venus shining as the Morning Star and the Lord of Time and Karma heading back to Jupiter’s sign of Sagittarius, you will begin to reclaim then integrate those gifts, talents and strengths that are now available with the return of the soul. As Epigenetics and NLP show, your brain has the endless potential to create new neural pathways and out of those, new forms of behaviour. Whatever is blossoming in you is drawing you nearer to a compelling future.

“Dare to love yourself
as if you were a rainbow
with gold at both ends.”
Aberjhani,

The 7th Uranus/Pluto Square, March 16, 2015

The 7th Final Pluto/Uranus Square

Monday March 16^th 2015 at 6:50pm PDT/9:50pm EDT, Uranus and Pluto will square (90*) each other for the 7^th and last time since 2012.  The wild awakening of the 60s’ conjunction (0*) of Pluto and Uranus in Virgo was the awakening to a deeper and higher consciousness, opening up doors of perception and states of awareness that our parents still can’t wrap their heads around.  This was to prepare humanity for our future.

These two planets have been dancing with each other since June 2012.  Each time they've met before, one or both planets have been retrograde, but for their final bow, they are both going in direction motion, meaning that the kinks have been worked out and now things are set to move forward.

This 7^th square indicates that we have reached a point in our evolution when we have to make a conscious choice about how we’re going to live the rest of our lives.  Can we let go of our personal and cultural stories of need and greed, violence and sex, power and domination, inequality and death, them and us?   Or can we step into quantum theory’s new paradigm that states that we actually do create our own reality?  As viewed, so it appears.  The observer influences what happens in quantum theory.  That means we have to take responsibility for the life we create.  And it also means that if we pursue our true purpose, we can create the life we are meant to live.

Carl Jung’s psychology works within the quantum field.  In our engagement with the Unconscious, through dreams, visions, active imagination, story, archetype, mythology and symbols, we play with the part of the psyche that can engage this quantum field through the Creative Imagination.  The Creative Imagination is what helps us co-create with the Universe.  It is through our right brain feminine consciousness that we access the Quantum Field, which contains all the possibilities of Life.  We just have to learn how to access it correctly and for the right reasons.

The 60s’, Part 2

Once we developed the capacity to annihilate the world in the 1940s, our inner psyches were brought face to face with the possibility of horrific death at any moment.  The very hell-fire that Christianity predicted for evildoers could descend on us at any moment!   Of course that just made life more interesting and more immediate.  If death was lurking just around the corner, why not live life to the fullest?  Besides sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, that meant exploring new ideas about the possibilities of life and of death.

In stepping outside the box of those dogmatic beliefs and judgments instilled in us by church and state, we explored the possibilities of who we are and what we wanted to create.  We rebelled (Uranus) against the status quo (Pluto). 

We Baby Boomers are great creators, having Pluto (transformation) in Leo (creativity).  We just have to learn to turn our creativity toward the good of the world, rather than the good of ‘me’, which is the shadow side of Leo.  That’s the side Pluto works to transform, because that kind of selfishness is no longer viable.  We are here on Earth to enrich life, not consume our way through it. 

We BB’s also engaged in a more personal spirituality which led to embarking on the soulful journey to enlightenment, freedom and bliss that so occupied the 60s’ generation.  How our generation influenced subsequent ones is evident. Young people today are all on their spiritual quest. And many of them already operate innately out of the Quantum Field.   They are taking up the challenges of the future with vision and hope. 

Back in the 60s, the original seed was planted in the sign of Virgo, symbolizing both the harvest and the mastery of life.  Virgo asks us to grow up and utilize our gifts and talents in appropriate ways.  To become Masters at the Art of Life.  Pluto and Uranus started their new cycle in 1965-66 in Virgo with concerns about social justice, women’s equality, food production and our environment, war and peace, space exploration and resource depletion, sexual freedom and religious freedom, artistic freedom and technological freedom and world unity. 

That new seed has grown into a deep-rooted plant these last three years as we’ve gone on the hero’s journey, working to overcome the obstacles to incorporating this new vision into our personal consciousness as well as into the collective consciousness of the world.   Now that new life calls us to be of service (Virgo) as we learn to be co-creators of Life (Pluto square Uranus).  

This Cosmic Story of awakening and transformation has completed ¼ of its cycle.  This part of the re-birthing of our consciousness has been about the struggle with the powers that be to bring needed changes into our social, political, economic structures and belief systems.  We are outgrowing our childhood as a world.  We know we are one world now.  How will we deal with each other and our precious Mother Earth?  This is the radical choice that faces us.  

The Story of the 6th Square

     On Sunday December 14^th and Monday December 15^th, the 6^th square between Uranus at 12*35’ Aries and Pluto at 12*35’ Capricorn occurs.  These squares will bring up the failure of corrupt social institutions, so we can create new, more viable structures in the future. 

     The most recent example is the new budget bill that was basically written by Citigroup and the banking industry, removing the law that said taxpayers wouldn’t bail them out again—Pluto in Capricorn.  The old power structure fighting back.  And then look at Elizabeth Warren’s speech about the bill—Uranus in Aries!   

     On a personal level, it’s time to connect to your real desires and get your true needs met and to stand up for what you believe in.  Be a shining light to the world.

     To recap: This series of 7 squares between Uranus, the planet of revolution and awakening and Pluto, the planet of death, rebirth and evolution began in 2012 and continues through March 2015.  All 7 squares take place in the cardinal signs of Capricorn, our collective social structures, and Aries, our personal identity and vision.  Our cultural institutions are dying (Pluto) and we have to wake up to our personal mission in life (Uranus).  Cardinal signs indicate crucial situations that can’t be put off.  They require immediate attention, since cardinal signs signal the change of seasons.  The wheel of life will keep turning, no matter what!  If we fail to take responsible action, there will be consequences.

     These planets first came together to begin a new cycle of evolution and revolution in the mid-60s in Virgo (the sign of personal integrity), beginning the revolution that is continuing today regarding the environment, women’s rights, civil rights, holistic health, healthy foods, workers’ rights and spiritual awareness.  During the 60s, these energies gave rise to new ideas and beliefs which went against the grain of the culture.  During the past 50 years, our society has integrated some parts of these revolutionary energies, but not all.  Now these new beliefs and values need to be rooted more securely in our collective mindset.  Our economic and social structures no longer serve the people and it’s time to re-set our course, away from manipulation and domination and into real freedom and individual responsibility.

     A square is a 90* angle which brings about a change in direction, a re-orientation of consciousness.  A square’s energy lets you know that you’ve come to a crossroads and now you must choose which path to take.  A square calls for decisive action which often entails struggle and assertive action, often causing lots of inner tension and friction but also opening up our awareness to new possibilities.  The energies of these two specific planets can be explosive, but also enlivening. Pluto is deep, powerful life-energy.  Uranus is out-of-the-blue electrical discharge, the spark of life.  Together they are brewing new life.  We are challenged to act on these new possibilities.  If we repress them, those life-giving energies will turn poisonous and implode.

     This square between Pluto and Uranus is very polarizing.  We are seeing many examples of that polarization between Pluto (the old) and Uranus (the new): between billionaires and workers (Walmart workers are striking, demanding a living wage and full-time hours), between Conservative oil/coal proponents and environmentalists against the Keystone pipeline, between the protests against campus rape and young men’s patriarchal attitude toward rape.  The Michael Brown judgment and harsh ID voting laws bring up unresolved civil rights issues.   The Supreme Court’s decision to aware ‘personhood’ to corporations got ridiculous when they allowed a corporation to have ‘religious’ beliefs.  And now giving banks power over our laws.  As the polarization gets wider, we are seeing all the cracks in our democracy. 

     This 6^th square between Pluto and Uranus will bring up issues of balance and cooperation, especially because both Mercury Venus are involved. Venus will conjunct Pluto and square Uranus exactly on December 20^th, while Mercury does the same on December 24^th.   Since Venus is the energy of harmony, love, beauty, and unification and Mercury promotes better communication, perhaps we can expect some actual change to happen both within and without.

     The 6^th square between these two change agents will bring yet another layer of meaning and depth to these encounters.  The number six is aligned with the form of the hexagon/ hexagram as well as the 6-pointed star, shapes symbolizing the perfect union of the feminine and masculine, as well as the energy of integration of body, soul and spirit.

     The number six stands for Truth, union and lovers, harmony and balance, equality, perfection, integration and real communication.  To understand the harmony and union of a 6, think of beehives, which are hexagon-shaped and serves their communal life-style so well.

     The energy of six is ideal for joining opposites together to form a unified and much more powerful entity—in fact, generating a whole new energy. Since six-energy promotes harmony and balance, we might naturally discover solutions to issues if we engage with others in a calm and diplomatic manner.   Perhaps after this square, both sides of the philosophical spectrum will learn to work together to serve life.  Let’s envision that!

     On a spiritual level, six energy deals with enlightenment, showing us where we need to come into spiritual and mental balance. Like the 6-pointed star made up of two triangles, one pointing up and the other pointing down, six energy can bring about the integration of feminine and masculine consciousness, the union of the right and the left brain so we can engage in holistic thinking and processing.

      Seeing is believing, and hopefully, more and more people are coming to understand that if we want a healthy environment, if we want fair wages and affordable housing, if we want real equality amongst all people and between the sexes, we the people (Uranus in Aries) have to do what it takes to change our social structures, government and especially the economy (Pluto in Capricorn).  

     If Americans want the promise of our Declaration of Independence that says we each deserve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, isn’t it about time to become patriots and stand up for our principles and get involved in making the world a more just and peaceful one?  First we have to change ourselves and our beliefs about life, and then we have to change the way we relate to each other through our social institutions.  We cannot survive alone—we have to care for our communities.

     Our way of life is going to change.  There’s no question about that.  Whether those changes come through acts of Nature (the flooding of our seacoasts which will send people on mass migrations), or through the depletion of our resources (water, metals, soil, food), we can no longer sustain our economic philosophy of consumerism. 

NASA probes — sent to other planets and their moons in our solar system over the last 30 years — reveal massive changes in brightness, magnetic field strength, atmospheric weather features, and other scientifically measurable phenomena. Massive changes are happening on the Sun and throughout the solar system, and not just on Earth. This has to do with our solar system crossing the plane of the galaxy. On a more subtle level, these same cosmic energetic shifts are bringing about a massive change in human consciousness on planet Earth.  © 2014 Louis Acker     www.LouisAcker.com

     The next step is for us to open our higher consciousness to a new vision of what we want our lives to look like so we can create a more sustainable and responsible way of living in the world and in connection to Mother Earth.

Our deepest connection must be to the Earth right now, since that’s where the answers to our problems will come from.  We have to remember we are Earth’s children as well as children of Heaven, and realign ourselves with the World Soul—the consciousness of Mother Earth.  This consciousness is available to each of us when we listen to life with our imaginations and open to our dreams.  We’ve been trained to ignore and vilify the very things that can connect us to each other and to the Earth.  Right now, we need to find some Wisdom to deal with these changes, and Mother Earth and our own souls can help us if we listen.

     This is the challenge of our times—to open to our own brilliance and re-create the world.  We have to become conscious co-creators of life—we have to consciously evolve ourselves and our society to the next stage of human awareness.  Facing what’s going on can’t make us so depressed that we give up and opt out.  That’s what patriarchy hopes we’ll do.  That’s a failure to evolve, because the next step for humanity is conscious community in the Age of Aquarius. We have to be living examples of those principles for the future good of our world.

     We also can’t ignore the bad things going on in the world because it brings a negative vibe to our lives, disturbing our peace and balance.  That doesn’t cut it either. That’s refusing to face our collective Shadow, of which we’ve all contributed a part.   We have to face what’s happening in our world—face our collective choices of war and fear and of giving over power to our ‘new kings’—the corporations and banks.  If we withdraw our support from those corporate entities as much as possible, they will die out from lack of life.

To live our spiritual values means that we have to become social activists and live out our beliefs.  And so we become leaders in our own small way.  

      That is the Aquarian ideal, you know—everyone at the Round Table is equal, free and responsible for the collective welfare.

The Cosmic Story: Sagittarius New Moon 2014

Sagittarius New Moon 2014

We enter the darkest time of year with a fire sign that wants to light up the sky.  The Sun and Moon enter Sagittarius almost simultaneously on Saturday morning, November 22, and the New Moon occurs soon after.  The light Sagittarius has to offer to the world is its mainstay—the Truth.  

As we emerge from our Scorpio death, rebirth and initiation into Sagittarius’ new vision of Life, we get to confront the truths in our lives we’ve been avoiding.  Truths we cannot avoid any longer. 

On November 18^th, the Sun joins Saturn in the last few degrees of Scorpio making us aware of the lessons Saturn has tested us with over the past 2 ½ years while it sojourned in Scorpio. What have you learned regarding sharing who you are with other people? With being open and honest with your feelings and needs?  With sharing your resources with others?  With weighing your values and seeking those with similar values?

Old emotional wounds regarding sharing yourself hopefully have been cleaned up and healed.   Saturn in Scorpio tells us that it’s time to stop blaming others, the world and ourselves for the emotional pain we all suffer.  Scorpio’s lesson to us is that pain is part of life.  Our job is to handle that pain with consciousness and courage.   

Saturn enters Sagittarius in December 23^rd for the first time since 1986.  (What was happening in your life back then?)  It will retrograde back into Scorpio from June to September 2015, and then it begins our testing of Sagittarius’ goals—to know what our beliefs are and if we live by them.  Never doubt we’ll be tested!

That’s why it’s important for us to see our truth, walk our talk, and share the vision of the possible human—an awake and responsible human being.  This month before the Winter Solstice is celebrated as a time of visioning and hope, a time when the light comes from within each person as the outer darkness grows.         What if we each became a light to the world this month?  What if we shine out this month with our Truth, regardless of what others expect of us? 

What beautiful Light we have within us!  Bring it out and let it guide you through the darkness of these times.

Sagittarius

A New Moon is the beginning of a new cycle, a time when a seed idea or feeling is planted in the unconscious so it can grow to awareness up until the next Full Moon. 

A Sagittarius New Moon poises the question: What do you believe and do you have the faith to keep believing?  What do you understand how following the Cosmic Laws of the Universe (uni=one—world) makes us whole? 

Sagittarius is the sign of the seeker, the philosopher, the curious wanderer.  Sagittarius wants to find the meaning of life, and so keeps looking over the horizon for a new way to see the world.  Out of the dark rebirth of Scorpio comes a need to see the Light and understand the grace of that re-birth.  Our mind projects outwards into the unknown and we open to unexpected experiences.   We are on a Quest—the quest for the meaning of life.  While our experiences define us, our ability to look at different perspectives sets the tone for the intuitive leap of understanding which is central to Sagittarius’ quest for meaning.  

There is optimism and a sense of enthusiasm for new adventures that defines Sagittarius’ energy.  This mutable fire sign wants the freedom to explore and expand our awareness until we can see into the cosmos and know we belong to it.  Our life has meaning and we are not alone in our search. 

We don’t need to travel to foreign countries to find a bigger perspective, although that is always fun, and Sags’ do love to travel.  We can also travel in our minds with a good book, or just travel outside our daily habits.  This is a great month to break old habits and develop new ones.  Think and act outside the box!

Sagittarius New Moon 2014

The Sagittarius New Moon occurs on Saturday, November 22 at 4:32am PST/ 7:32am EST/ 12:32pm GMT.

The New Moon is joined by Venus, Ceres and Vesta in Sagittarius, bringing the feminine gifts of connection, nurturing and wholeness to the party. These feminine energies want to be integrated into whatever your new belief system is.  This is a good time to begin to operate in a partnership mode—using both sides of the brain and working with men and women who share your vision and can expand on it.

The New Moon’s energy also squares Neptune and Chiron in Pisces.  Both these planets are ending their retrograde phase and turning direct—Neptune on November 16^th and Chiron on November 23^rd.  They challenge us to integrate other realms of consciousness into our new routines. 

Meditation is always a good start.  Stay open to the gifts of the imagination so you can’t be deluded by the manipulation of symbols by the corporate media.  Weave creativity, imagination and intuition into your understanding of life.  We have to become a more compassionate society, one in which is it not against the law to feed the hungry and find shelter for the homeless.  We have to see the big picture as well as the details.

Neptune turns direct on November 16^th at 5* Pisces: A Church bazaar.  This is a symbol of giving the most mundane activities a spiritual basis.  Spirit/God/Goddess is present in everything we do.   Be joyful when you cook, be gracious when you shop, be loving when you deal with people.  These spiritual values never go out of style.  Pay attention to your dreams now that Neptune is moving forward again.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 1* Sagittarius is: Joyous reunion of Army veterans around a campfire.  These veterans share a common vision and ideals, committing themselves to stand up for their beliefs and even to suffer hardships for the good of others and for those ideals.  Let us also stand up for what we believe and not back down when it seems the darkness is growing.  All darkness is dispelled by the Light.  Be a Light to the World!

Other Astrological Happenings

Last week Mars reconnected with both Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries.  In April, Mars in Libra became part of the cardinal grand cross along with this Uranus/Pluto square. 

On November 10^th, Mars joined Pluto instead of squaring it as it did in April.  In hardworking Capricorn Pluto and Mars join up to get some work done.  Have you been sensing some urgency in getting yourself on track?  With these two planets, we can develop the discipline, purpose and concentration to eliminate obstacles to develop skills that can transform our lives.  Power struggles can occur but it isn’t about overthrowing external authorities but rather the internal patriarchal voice that criticizes and confuses us.  This combination can give us the passion to make positive changes in habits.  We have to learn to take care of our own needs, so we can really understand what others need.

On Wednesday November 12^th, Mars squared Uranus in Aries instead of opposing it as it did last April.  The surprises no longer come from outside ourselves, but now are more internal.  These energies are rebellious and push us toward independence—helping us break free from our own expectations as well as those of others. 

Pluto tells us the truth we’re reluctant to face, Uranus brings us the surprise of this discovery and Mars gives us the present moment in which to work things out.  We can’t plead innocent about our responsibility.  It’s up to us to embrace what we’ve been denying.

The 6^th square between Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries is coming up in December.  Look for more about it in the Gemini Full Moon Cosmic Story.

Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius is slowing down, preparing to turn retrograde on December 8^th.  It’s in Leo, so let it show you where you need to get more creative in your life and spend its retrograde period working on your project.

There is a brilliant grand trine in the sky between this New Moon & Venus in Sagittarius, Uranus in Aries and Juno and Jupiter in Leo.  With all that fire, don’t be afraid to light up your life with vision, inspiration and fun during the holidays!

Walk in the Light,

Cathy