By Amanda Painter
This weekend’s astrological highlights are definitely emphasizing the tangible ways that you can process your thoughts and emotions. That is, going beyond ‘just’ thinking or feeling, and involving your body, your environment or some kind of direct contact with others looks like the way to go. I’ll give a few examples:
— Gardening sits at the top of the list, thanks to key planets in Taurus.
Detail from “The Tree of Life” by Laura Fuller. Photo by Amanda Painter.
— Engaging actively in any kind of artistic process, with bonus points for things that get you out from behind the computer screen (painting, drawing, photography, dancing, acting, singing, playing an instrument, sculpture, paper collage…you get the idea).
— Heart-to-heart conversation with a loved one, especially if you can have it while together in person and (if appropriate/comfortable), physically touching.
— Any kind of therapy, astrology, psychology, coaching or spiritual healing session aimed at helping you to understand yourself on a deeper level.
— Experiences, events or spaces that engage your physical senses and your mind in some appreciation of beauty (i.e., museums, poetry readings, live music, attending the theater, strolling through gardens, and so on).
What exactly is going on in the sky to suggest this? Retrograde Mercury will conjoin Venus in Taurus Friday at 3:10 pm EDT (19:10 UTC).
Any Mercury-Venus conjunction tends to help our understanding in relationships, offers a sense of unity and amplifies our appreciation of art and beauty. Because this conjunction is a meeting of the planet representing intellect and the planet representing love and beauty, emotional understanding of concepts (and yourself) can be best synthesized through the arts, according to astrologer Robert Hand.
When you put these planets in Taurus, the earth sign that Venus rules, the ‘Venus quotient’ gets multiplied, drawing things even more strongly into the realms of the physical, the beautiful and the relational. Feel free to ignore this next bit, but if you have an opportunity to perform in (or watch) some site-specific theater in a park and then lie on the grass discussing with your lover how it reflects insights about the pattern of your relationship, the planets are with you.
I suspect that scenario applies to a narrow selection of people, but take from it anything that resonates with you.
Incidentally, the factor that really brings in the ideas of an especially deep relationship conversation, or a therapy/astrology/etc. session, is that the Mercury-Venus conjunction makes a trine aspect to Pluto in Capricorn. People often get nervous about Pluto; the idea to bear in mind here is that a trine is an aspect that describes easeful flow. In this case — with both Mercury and Pluto retrograde — it seems the flow is moving in the direction of self-understanding, new insights about the past, and how those processes can play a positive, creative role in your relationship conversations.
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Speaking of flow: technically we have a grand earth trine in effect (though not exact), since Jupiter, newly in direct motion, is within degree range in Virgo. In other words, Jupiter is making trines to Mercury-Venus and to Pluto.
One simple reading of this is that it brings another layer to the intellectual-physical integration process, with an emphasis on moving ideas into concrete form. Yet because of the triangular flow of energy, watch for any patterns that start to feel like a loop, rather than moving from emotional insight to expression.
Finally, I’d like to note that the Moon, currently in Leo, makes its opening square to the Sun Friday at 1:02 pm EDT (17:02 UTC). This is a clear boost to moving processes and projects into gear, especially if they relate to any of the Mercury-Venus in Taurus themes mentioned. A Leo Moon offers up some extra heart, courage and sociability to help you along. To access those qualities better, it will help to keep pride and ego in check.
Saturday the Moon enters Virgo at 1:52 am EDT (5:52 UTC). This looks to me like a reminder to lean your inner processing in the direction of physical/emotional integration (think tangible action), rather than getting caught on the mental plane. This matters especially if you feel yourself getting stuck on incomplete details amidst overall beauty.
If so, put that Virgo Moon to work with some in-depth tidying and reorganizing of your home this weekend. It will look better, you will feel better, and you’ll have cleared space for what really matters to you.
I’ve been noticing how different life is when approached like an artist — using the tools in my own toolbox, whatever’s at the ready. Feels like such a perfect metaphor for this time, thank you, Amanda, for increasing the tools in my box with this piece.
mm.
ps: glorious stain glass image!
Indeed, Mary — and it can be so easy in Western culture to put “creativity” or “artfulness” on a special shelf that only special people have access to — forgetting that Life Itself is a Creative Act, and continually asks us to approach it like the innate artists and lovers of beauty and harmony that we are. Sure — sometimes we need a little dissonance or friction to point us back in the right direction, or to notice how good the harmony feels. But we do have many tools at our disposal if we’re willing to see them as such and use them.
I don’t know of any site-specific theatre going on anytime soon, but I am going to see “Praeludium ex-Machina, [or pXm]” tomorrow, in which my partner is performing. It’s described as such: “In a dreamscape w/ distorted time and fractured memory, how are women put on trial with surrealistic expectations?” It sounds fascinating. I’ll definitely look for ways in which the performance “reflects insights about the patterns” of our relationship. I glean from the description of the play alone that it will.