The Cosmic Story: February 2022: Interesting and Intense Month.

 

There’s so much going on this month in the heavens! How we integrate these energies is so vital now. We’re living in times when we’re called on to live in our hearts and see how we’re all connected. With Sun in Aquarius, the role of our tribes, our groups, our families need us to live our truth and shine out our light.

World views create worlds. Our task is to change our view of life – from our patriarchal individualism to a communal vision, a knowledge of our unity. Our Oneness. We have a choice every day to live our best Self.

So I’ll give you a context for the seasonal change that’s upon us and a brief look at the astrology of February 2022.

February Festivals:

This weekend and next week kick off February’s intense and interesting energies, so I wanted to get you oriented for this transformational month ahead.

At the beginning of February, we arrive at a new gateway of the Wheel of the Year called Imbolc by the Celts, Candlemas by the Catholics, and St. Brigit’s Day by the Irish and pagans. But first and foremost, it is an astronomical marker of the year.

 

By February, Earth has reached a point in the Sun’s return North that the Light will begin to grow more rapidly now. It’s already noticeable. All these festivals point to that fact. (Just as the light declines more rapidly at the opposite festival of Lamas on August 2 and now in the southern hemisphere – where they are preparing for Autumn.)

We Americans know February 2^nd as Groundhog’s Day, the day this burrower comes out to check to see his shadow. If it’s sunny and he can see it, that means we’ll have an early Spring. If it’s cloudy and there’s no trace of a shadow, we’re in for at least 6 more weeks of Winter. He’s looking for the light.

The second gateway of the Wheel of the Year occurs on February 1^st - 2^nd. The Celts called this cross-quarter fire festival Imbolc, which means 'ewe's milk' because this is the time when spring lambs are born and the mother ewe's milk comes in. The lamb's birth promises returning life and light to the world, despite the snow and frost that still linger in the land. Imbolc was considered the first day of Spring. At Imbolc, we look for a vision of the future year. Take time to meditate – go to Cerridwen’s Cauldron (the Goddess of Bards and Inspiration) and look inside. What do you find there? We have hope in the light’s return.

St. Brigit’s Day is celebrated on Imbolc as well. The Celtic Goddess Bríd was regarded as a sun goddess of healing and the ancient Celts acknowledged her on this day as the day that signaled renewal, new growth, and a lessening of darkness. The Catholics turned this goddess into a Saint because the Irish would not give her up. She is the Goddess of Healing, Smithcraft and Poetry. You can read all about her at my Wisdom Chronicles blog. (The Irish just made St. Brigit’s Day a holiday!) 

 

Brigid ~ Emily Balivet

The Catholics also took over this cross-quarter day as the day baby Jesus was presented in the Temple (and Mary was ‘purified’) and renamed it Candlemas – the day the Church blesses all the candles it will use in ceremony for the year. They are blessing the light.

And this year, the day before Imbolc (January 31 - February 1^st) is the New Moon in Aquarius and therefore the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year – the Year of the Water Tiger, a sign of strength, bravery and overcoming negative emotions.

That’s a lot of energy centered around the next few days. And Venus turns direct on Saturday, January 29^th to add to the fun. There’s more on Venus below.

Before I get to the astrology, I want to talk about February’s energy.

All these themes of returning light are also seen in ancient Roman society, for the Romans viewed February as the month of purification, a time to let go of the old so the new could flourish.

 

 

In ancient Rome, February was the month of Purification. The Roman poet Ovid says that In sum, anything used to purify our bodies was named februa by our ancestors. The month February is named for this.

The Romans considered February a pivotal month, a transitional time between winter’s deep sleep and spring’s reawakening. They used this month for purification rituals, purifying their every day surroundings, sweeping away any decay, the outworn and any debris from their homes and fields, as well as letting go of any negative emotions, bad feelings and self-destructive behaviors.

In the fields, they cleaned up debris from winter storms and tended to the vines, pruned the olive and fruit trees, and began early planting. It was a time to set things right with the home, the community and especially the family.

It was a time to solidify their family ties, for families worked together to ensure everyone’s success. It was a time to heal old family arguments and a time to remember family members who had died, honoring the ancestors and healing old family wounds.

On February 1^st, women were honored as the birthers of children, supporters of family, tenders of the home and keepers of the hearth fires. This was the day to honor the work and worth of women and support them with positive energy. On this day, young girls went to the sacred grove of Juno Sospita, the Goddess of Protection and Fertility and fed her sacred snake in honor of the feminine powers of fertility and regeneration. (It isn’t only about physical fertility.)

So let us use this next month like the Romans did and purify and bless our homes, our animals, our stoves & ovens which cook our nourishment. We can take time to honor our living and dead kin. February is a quiet month best used to come to terms with our past and purify ourselves to prepare us for the future.

If we are to begin to live in a sacred manner, we need to incorporate old/new rituals as we align with the magic of Mother Earth once again.

One last February tradition that we need to honor as well as change.

 

 

St. Valentine’s Day is February 14^th. In modern America, we’ve turned it into a day that celebrates romantic love. Or it was turned into that by corporate advertising. Romantic love was introduced back in the 13^th Century, when the Divine Feminine was valued (when the Grail legends were written down) and the Courts of Love taught warriors how to live by their values and honor women.

Perhaps we need to expand our understanding of Love this Valentine’s Day and make it a day to practice holding love in our hearts for everyone and for Mother Earth. Once again, to live in a sacred manner means that we have to walk our talk, so let’s all pick February 14^th to walk with Love in our hearts.

Can you spend a whole day full of Love? Think of the vibrational change. Think how when Mars and Venus come together on the Full Moon on February 16^th, that love might change the world. We certainly need it to. Look at how quickly the men in charge of our world are preparing for war again. How unimaginative! How remarkably stupid!

February’s Astrology

Sovereignty

 

Venus:

Just before February begins, our Lady Venus, who has been retrograde since last December 91, 2021, will turn to direct motion on Friday - Saturday, January 28^th – 29^th. Venus is now a Morning Star, shining in the early morning sky just before sunrise. If you see her in the next day or so, the old crescent Moon will rise with her before dawn. It’s breathtaking to see them together then.

The Sabian symbol for Venus direct is at 12* Capricorn: In an old diamond mine, a showcase displaying and explaining different crystalline structures. Crystals are energetic matrices, just like the archetypes, which are the pre-existing building blocks of life here on Mother Earth and within our psyches. Venus says, let’s understand what makes life worthwhile if we’re going to build a new society based on natural laws.

When Venus met the Sun on January 8, 2022, she began a new Capricorn Venus Star Point. With her retrograde, she is backtracking to pick up the wisdom she learned from the previous Gemini Venus Star Point that began in June, 2020. That was a cycle of being open to new ideas and possibilities. Now as Venus moves direct, we have to get practical about the ways we can integrate those new ideas and possibilities into society, which is Capricorn’s intention.

Venus turning direct is energized by a lovely trine to Uranus in Venus-ruled Taurus, supporting her rebellion against patriarchy (she meets up with Pluto in Capricorn 3 times, helping to change the tone of cultural transformation). When she finally meets up with Pluto for the third time on March 3^rd, she will be joined by Mars. These three planets can change the collective picture – especially if we let them change us in the process. 

Venus and Mars meet twice in the next month. First on the day of the Leo Full Moon on February 16^th at 17* Capricorn and again on March 3^rd at 1* Aquarius – the same degree as the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction on Winter Solstice 2020. A new Aquarian beginning – again.

Mercury:

Hours before Venus goes direct, Mercury retrograde, the Messenger god, meets up with Pluto in Capricorn, perhaps revealing more secrets about what’s not working in our culture anymore as well as what’s no longer working for us personally. Mercury can travel through the three realms of the heavens, the earth and the underworld, offering his services as guide of souls. (You can listen to Hermes/Mercury’s birth story at Grandma Cat’s Bedtime Stories for the Soul.)

 

 

If you have planets in the last 5 degrees of cardinal signs, you might as well resign yourselves to a dip into the underworld. It’s time to release those secrets you’ve been holding onto. Or at least begin to think about it, since Mercury will go direct on February 3^rd and meet up with Pluto again for the 3^rd time on February 11^th. Prepare your mind for transformation!

The Sabian symbol for Mercury rx and Pluto meeting at 27* Capricorn is: Pilgrims climbing the steep steps leading to a mountain shrine. Our modern society has lost touch with the divine in so many ways. It’s time to realize again that we’re all one in Spirit. This is a great day to meditate and pull into focus what this retrograde has shown you. You can deepen your Imbolc visualization.

After Mercury goes direct on February 3^rd, all the planets will be in direct motion until April 29^th, when Pluto goes retrograde. So hang onto your hats – the energies are going to be strong and on the move.

Aquarius New Moon @ 13* Aquarius on January 31 – February 1, 2022

 

 

This second New Moon of 2022 is also connecting with last year’s Uranus/Saturn square. At the Capricorn New Moon, Uranus gave a boost to our New Year’s resolutions. At this Aquarius New Moon conjunct Saturn and squaring Uranus in Taurus, we’re taken back to the issue of Old vs New. We are challenged to change our ways. The universe gives us plenty of help to make the changes we need to make.

Will we listen to the voice of Mother Earth’s creative genius or will we succumb to the messages of media hype? It’s time to stop listening outside ourselves and turn within to listen to our own instincts and intuitions and our own critical thinking. We all need to stop running around like chickens with our heads cut off and really see what’s going on in our world. The pandemic isn’t the worst of it. The men in power are willing to go to war again rather than deal with the very real issues facing us. It’s time to stop them.

We don’t need nor want another war. Or any wars. This is our ‘death culture’ at work again. It’s time to create a life culture. And it’s up to women and men of good will to do it.

At this New Moon, Venus joins the asteroid Vesta, the fire priestess. It is so important now to ‘belong to ourselves’ (being virginal) and stop trying to be what our culture says we should be. Venus can help you find your own sovereignty during this New Moon. Ask her for her blessing.  With Mars added to the equation, Venus, Vesta, Mars and Uranus makes for unconventional partnerships.  Stay in your own power and see who's around.

The Sabian symbol for 13* Aquarius is: A barometer. The ability to discover basic natural facts that allow us to plan for the future.

Leo-Aquarius Full Moon @ 28* Leo-Aquarius on February 16, 2022

 

 

This Leo Full Moon activates our creativity and our place in our tribe. What do we have to offer to our group? What creative expression do we feel we need to make? This Full Moon squares the new lunar nodes in Taurus/Scorpio. What old values need to go so we can build something new?

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 28* Aquarius is: A tree felled and sawed to ensure a supply of wood for the winter. What do we need for the future? Isn’t that the question. What do we need and is it sustainable?

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 28* Leo is: Many little birds on a limb of a big tree. There’s a flood of ideas and possibilities but which one to choose? Look to Aquarius and ask, What does the group need?

The First-time U.S. Pluto Return: February 22, 2022

We’ve been feeling this transit for awhile now but it perfects on February 22^nd. What does it mean for a country to have their first Pluto return? Well, it sometimes means the end of empire – which we’ve seen played out these past few years. America is no longer the wonder child; American exceptionalism is on the wan. In fact, America isn’t doing very well in the things the matter to life – our health care system ranks below 3^rd world countries; we are the most violent country in the world; it looks like our democracy is failing; we are controlled by corporate interests who own the government and the courts; we haven’t stopped our over-the-top polluting. I could go on and on but you know what’s wrong.

But we now have a chance to fix things if we actually engage in our society. If we actually take up our duties as citizens. It’s time we stopped waiting for our government to do what’s best for us. It’s been proven that our government officials listen to corporate lobbyists instead of we the people. Isn’t it time we took our government in hand? Or at least had a tax revolt like our fore bearers did.

Remember: Taxation without representation is tyranny. It seems money is always at issue here. That was the rallying cry of the American revolutionaries. Why isn’t it our cry now? The wealthy and corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes but working Americans are. Our government isn’t spending our tax dollars on things Americans need – they’re giving it away to the military and to Wall Street banks.

Are we ready to participate in our government? That’s what democracy is about. If not, we will be led by dictators. There is an element in our country that wants us to live by their rules rather than allowing us to make our own decisions. Isn’t it time we stopped supporting those institutions which no longer represent us? This goes beyond vaccines. This is about how society’s decisions are made. Airlines get to stop 5G from coming in because it disrupts flight patterns. But people can’t stop them when it disrupts our personal electro-magnetic field, causing harm to our bodies.

Anyway, these are questions we need to look at if we’re going to help create a new society. What do you think?

May we all arise together to a new day,

Cathy

Beginners

“From too much love of living,
Hope and desire set free,
Even the weariest river
Winds somewhere to the sea—“

But we have only begun
To love the earth.

We have only begun
To imagine the fullness of life.

How could we tire of hope?
— so much is in bud.

How can desire fail?
— we have only begun

to imagine justice and mercy,
only begun to envision

how it might be
to live as siblings with beast and flower,
not as oppressors.

Surely our river
cannot already be hastening
into the sea of nonbeing?

Surely it cannot
drag, in the silt,
all that is innocent?

Not yet, not yet—
there is too much broken
that must be mended,

too much hurt we have done to each other
that cannot yet be forgiven.

We have only begun to know
the power that is in us if we would join
our solitudes in the communion of struggle.

So much is unfolding that must
complete its gesture,

so much is in bud.

~ Denise Levertov ~

(Candles in Babylon)

The Changing of the Gods:  https://changingofthegods.com/

A great series about the astrological perspective on what’s going on in the world. Based on Rick Tarnas’ book ‘Cosmos & Psyche’, it’s a wonderful explanation of astrology, archetypes, social movements. It’s a new world view that has at its center, we are all One – we are all connected and we all have meaning.

You can go to https://astrologyhub.pages.ontraport.net/cotg-waitlist

Check it out and sign up to see the whole series. And pass it on!

The Cosmic Story: Mercury in Aquarius Retrograde, 2022 and Cancer/Capricorn Full Moon 2022

 

Mercury retrograde

Friday January 14^th, Mercury in Aquarius goes retrograde for the first time in 2022, retracing his steps as he moves from the evening sky to the morning sky until he moves forward again on February 3^rd.

As we know, when Mercury goes retrograde, it’s time to re-think, re-consider, re-organize, re-do and re-orient ourselves. Since Mercury is between Earth and the Sun, it doesn’t get very far away from the Sun – hence all the retrogrades we experience during the year.

Because Mercury moves back and forth more than any other planet in our solar system, the ancient Greeks named this planet after their god, Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods. (Our planets use the Roman name for these gods, hence Mercury.) Hermes was the only god who had this power to move through the 3 realms of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld. During this Mercury retrograde, he will touch on all three realms. 

 

When Mercury in Aquarius goes retrograde, he squares Uranus in Taurus, which is about to turn direct on January 18^th. When planets station (change direction) they are more powerful. Mercury is also just a few degrees from Saturn in Aquarius, so he picks up the whole Saturn/Uranus vibe from 2021. The question still remains: Are we going to revert back to ‘the old’ or move ahead with ‘the new’ vision?

With Mercury’s quick-wittedness and Uranus’ ability to break down the old and help us think outside the box of 3D reality, we can handle the unexpected change of plans or sudden exciting possibility that comes our way. We’ll have a wild, free mind to find new innovations and ideas. We also have to be aware that when Uranus changes direction, especially in the earth sign of Taurus, it can bring earth changes such as volcanic eruptions or earthquakes.

Mercury in Aquarius gives you an independent, progressive mind. It wants to see the truth in things, and can be stubborn about what it believes because Aquarius is a fixed air sign. While brilliant, it can get stuck in its thinking, so we’re lucky that Mercury is retrograding so we can open up those beliefs and take another look.

Personally, think about what you want to say before you say it, because you might be feeling rebellious and your words could cause damage. Don’t forget, words have power. In the Christian Bible, Christ himself is The Word and the Word creates the world.

This is a great aspect for a wake-up call (have you seen Don’t Look Up?) – our minds need to encompass the tremendous change that has to take place in the social order. Capitalism, at least the way we’ve let it develop, is harmful to our health and the well-being of Earth. It’s time to simplify our lives, because we can no longer live in a ‘throw-away’ society. Even without the dangers of climate change, our garbage is burying us in waste on the land and on the sea.

So Mercury starts his retrograde with this dilemma on his mind. Then he backtracks into earthy Capricorn and meets up with Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld, before he turns back to direct motion. Pluto certainly symbolizes power and in Capricorn, he asks us where we locate that power – in outer authority or inside ourselves? It feels like Mercury is checking to see if we own our authority – do we have sovereignty over ourselves? Sovereignty doesn’t mean doing anything we want to the detriment of others. It means can we live by our values and take responsibility for our choices.

And since Pluto and Mercury meet up at the degree of America’s Pluto return (the first Pluto return found in America’s 4^th of July, 1776 chart), we Americans need to consider if we are being good citizens and taking responsibility for the kind of country and world we want to live in. Are we going to descend into an aristocracy of the wealthy and technological control or are we going to finally create a ‘more perfect union’ that elevates all of us together? The Pluto return asks us to transform our vision of freedom and incarnate it in our lives. It’s time for America to GROW UP!

It reminds me of President Kennedy’s advice: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. [John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address] It is time for all of us to contribute to a new vision for our troubled world.

If we claim our sovereignty, will we reclaim our place in Mother Earth’s biosphere and finally serve our function – to be good stewards of the Earth? Instead of getting caught up in the media and political craziness, perhaps we could spend more time out in nature, praising the Spirit who created us and our beautiful world? If we can let gratitude and joy replace our fear of Covid and the unknown future, anything is possible.

 

Alchemical Hermes

When Mercury is retrograde, he becomes Hermes Psychopompous, the Guide who can illuminate the dark underworld of our unconscious. One of the ways we use this energy is to bring our night dreams into the light of day and engage with them. It’s time to look at our personal shadows as well as our collective ones. But don’t forget, the Shadow is 99% gold! The twisted part of the shadow can be released and its energy made available for life.

So for the next three weeks, Mercury will be our Psychopomp, our Guide to the Underworld. As such, he is also the magical healer who welds the Caduceus, the staff of healing.

With this Mercury retrograde delivering messages between the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the Underworld, stay tuned for important messages!

So Who is Hermes/Mercury?

While astrology understands that Mercury symbolizes the Mind, the myths associated with this messenger god also regarded him as a Trickster – he was called Hermes the Thief! The god of travelers and merchants and thieves! These are also attributes of our mind, especially the left-brain logical mind, which can rationalize any behavior. Carl Jung saw the planet Mercury as symbolizing the mind as dual and amoral, leading to either a positive or negative attitude. Our minds can trick us into believing lots of outrageous stuff if we don’t also use Hermes’ other gift – discernment.

Clever Mercury helps us stay young by sparking our curiosity and having a flexible attitude towards life, helping us meet life’s challenges by analyzing where we’re stuck and adapting our behavior to new circumstances. He also bestows on us a good sense of humor, which we all need in these tumultuous times. 

 

 

Mercury as the Messenger of the Gods could travel through all three realms – the Heavens, Earth and the Underworld. As I’ve said, this is especially true during this Mercury retrograde, where Mercury moves from the heavenly realm of Aquarius back into the earthy sign of Capricorn, until he meets up with Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld.

While there are many stories of Hermes bearing messages to gods and mortals alike, there is one story that exemplifies this crafty character. It is the story of his birth – how he steals his older brother’s cows, tricks him and then creates the most beautiful gift for him. There’s certainly indications of Mercury retrograde in this story as well.

 

I hope you’ll tune into my YouTube channel, The Cosmic Storyteller for my new series: Grandma Cat’s Bedtime Stories for the Soul. I’ll be posting this story of the mischievous god-ling on Friday. So tune in for some mythic storytelling.

The Cancer/Capricorn Full Moon January 17, 2022

 

Cancer Full Moon

A quick look at the Cancer Full Moon coming up next Monday shows us that the Cancer Moon faces the Capricorn Sun conjunct Pluto! This Full Moon is about power. Once again, consider where you give over your power to the state or to another person. This Full Moon is on that Pluto degree I was talking about earlier. It’s a lead up to when the Pluto return is exact on February 20, 2022.

This Cancer Full Moon shows us that we need to nurture ourselves, our family and friends, our community and our world. Cancer is the sign of the Mother, who will protect and defend her children with her life. Since Cancer is a water sign and deeply emotional and creative, emotions might run high. 

 

 Cancer Full Moon 2022

Neptune in Pisces supports this Full Moon, helping us connect to our higher wisdom and to the sure knowledge that Love is the answer to all our questions. This year, with Jupiter joining Neptune in Pisces (they join up in April), if we open our hearts and our imaginations to the spiritual light within us, we’ll always find the answers we need.

With Mars in Sagittarius on the Galactic Center (of our Milky Way), we need to stand for the Truth – not our petty, personal truths but the Cosmic Truth. Which says, Prepare yourself for big change! We incarnated for this, so I know we can do it.

Along with Uranus turning direct on January 18^th, the Lunar Nodes move from the signs of Gemini/Sagittarius to Taurus/Scorpio. The next 18 months will see big changes in how we deal with the Earth and climate change as well as finances as the Taurus North Node connects with Uranus. It’s time to release the secrets and pain of the past so we can create a better future.

May Hermes the Psychopomp guide our steps for the next three weeks and help us discover our heart’s desire.

May the Love of the Goddess and the God be ever in your hearts. Merry Meet, Merry Part and Merry Meet again!

Cathy

The Cosmic Story: Happy New Year! Venus Offers Us A New Perspective.

 

Happy New Year 2022!

 

As we enter the 3^rd 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 8^th 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 14^th. 

 

 Venus 

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