Near the Ashokan Reservoir on Jan. 26, 2019. Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

This week, both Venus and Mars begin to pass through outer-planet squares. Venus is currently in late Sagittarius, and Mars is in late Aries. While the aspects come into full focus early next week, around the time of the Feb. 4 Aquarius New Moon, we can use the look-ahead ability of astrology.

When inner planets pass through aspects involving outer planets, there can be deep and interesting effects. Outer planets, in this case ones such as Chiron, Pluto and Eris, tend to describe the longer processes of growth and individuation. Inner planets describe emotional states, feelings, desires and immediate motives.

Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

Both aspect patterns involve squares, which indicate that something wants to be expressed. Remember that. Pay attention to what you feel and what you want to say about it. We live in a moment when it only seems appropriate to address anger and pain, and then to use them as a means of seemingly gaining power.

Many other options are possible. This is the kind of thing you learn about in therapy: the many ways you have available to respond to the same situation, and the fact that you have the power to choose.

To me, the involvement of Venus and Mars looks like more discussion of gender, a topic over which our society is obsessed. However, gender (largely a construction) is a derivative of sex, which is biological. Gender might seem like the meaning we give to sex, though we might consider what would happen if we proceeded from the other direction.

Here are the two aspect patterns, again, approximately synchronous with the New Moon a week from now. You may see the themes percolate to awareness well in advance of this, which is why I’m describing them.

Venus in Sagittarius forms a conjunction to a distant point called Ixion, and then a square to Chiron in Pisces. Here, we have a picture of how people with prior injuries tend to get caught in cruelty similar to what they experienced in the past. This is sometimes described as the pain body, which is what happens when someone forms an identity around this kind of repeated experience.

Additionally, this is a warning against the view, “I am in pain, so I can do anything to you.” Ixion also advises that if you get a second chance, you use it well. I cover this tonight on Planet Waves FM, by the way, in considerably more detail than I am here.

At the same time, Mars in Aries makes a square to Pluto and a conjunction to Eris. This is a picture of how we respond to anger and to feelings of revenge. The world has an anger management problem right now. There is also something going on where certain individuals are granting themselves permission to be angry and at the same time denying others permission to be angry. This boils down to “my anger is right and your anger is wrong.”

Simplified chart for Mars square Pluto. There are several other squares going on at the same time here, including Venus square Chiron, and Jupiter square Neptune. At the time of this aspect, the Moon is jumping into the mix, and will make a series of squares from Capricorn to Aries.

Essentially, this is a psychological and emotional position that makes empathy impossible. Why would anyone want to do that? Empathy emphasizes equality. There is no exercise of power. Where there is power and no empathy, the result is the impulse to dominate — along with the justification that such is OK.

Under both of these aspect patterns, that needs to be checked for carefully. Life is not a question of power. It’s a question of whether we help one another.

That may seem impossible if someone is in a hurtful situation. In that case, the question would be what that person is doing about it. At that point, blame can be set aside and responsibility for one’s own choices and actions embraced.

One other thought. When it comes to matters of sex and gender, and relationship experiences, most people think their opinions and perceptions are right.

However, a necessary prerequisite for working with this astrology successfully is challenging your own assumptions. This is not so easy; it requires establishing a balanced viewpoint and also figuring out how to look into the blind spots in your mind.

At our current time in history, it would seem our society and much of the world are in a crisis associated with sex, gender, sexual identity and gender identity. Some people are having fun with this, but for most, it’s difficult — we have no reference points for sex roles, for appropriateness, or for tradition we can depend on. We are also under assault by hormone-disrupting chemicals, which is left out of the conversation over and over again.

There is quite a bit of tension to address, and we need to act on it. That is the nature of a square. But if we’re not humane and compassionate in the process — toward ourselves and others — we are accomplishing nothing.