Tag Archives: Venus

Friends, Benefits, and the Leo Full Moon

By Amanda Painter

We’re heading toward a Full Moon on Feb. 9, and Mercury stations retrograde one week later (on Feb. 16). That would be more than enough provocative energy on its own, but there are additional elements of the sky that will be sparking up the weekend.

Disco lion’s mane or crystallized moonlight? Photo by Amanda Painter.

One of those elements gets cooking tomorrow: Venus enters Aries at 3:02 pm EST (20:02:17 UTC) Feb. 7. Venus in Aries (the sign of Self ruled by Mars) tends to be lusty and assertive, idealistic yet impulsive, charming but sometimes inconsiderate without realizing it.

So remember your empathy, especially if any interpersonal situations get confrontational or intense as the Full Moon builds.

Yet it’s the conjunction of Venus to Chiron and the object Salacia that really focuses the qualities of Venus in Aries. Salacia appears to relate to sexual maturity (particularly the lack thereof) and to the kinds of sexual activity that get people all flustered.

In the U.S. media at least, that seems to be anything taboo or ‘scandalous’. In your personal life, it might mean the same things — or simply your perception that certain facets of your desire and sexual activity could be seen that way. But aren’t those always the hottest fantasies?

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Not Your Typical Aquarius New Moon

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By Amanda Painter

Tomorrow is the Aquarius New Moon, exact at 4:42 pm EST (21:41:52 UTC). Aquarius is a curious sign, at its best when blending the structuring abilities of Saturn with the liberating impulses of Uranus.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

In that sense, it seems a perfect sign to host the first lunation after the Jan. 10 eclipse: eclipse periods generally feature a process of liberating oneself from some facet of the past, in order to take greater authority in directing the next steps forward.

The slowly separating Saturn-Pluto conjunction underscores these themes, connecting them to long-term processes. Whatever ‘new start’ Friday’s New Moon represents for you should be familiar, perhaps even expected.

Chances are you’ve been involved with some form of drawing something to a close this week, or resolving one phase of a process. Today and the first part of tomorrow still carry that signature.

Yet life is not simply ‘business as usual’ right now, thanks to a couple of factors. The first is that the Aquarius Sun is square Uranus in Taurus, exact today.

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The Cosmic Breath that Quickens Capricorn

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By Amanda Painter

I was thinking recently about how, each year, the Sun moves from its alignment with the Galactic Core in late Sagittarius (today) to its ingress of Capricorn (Saturday) within the span of a couple of days. I’m fascinated by this juxtaposition of energies, and what it might mean.

Aurora Borealis, or northern lights, shines above Bear Lake, Alaska. Photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang, U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons.

Aurora Borealis (northern lights) above Bear Lake, Alaska. Photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang, U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons.

Even though our Milky Way galaxy and its center are far from the most massive things in space, they’re still too huge and too far away for most of us to comprehend.

How do you relate something like that to your job or your breakfast, or your life’s goals, or even how long it takes you to fly on a plane from one continent to another? You can’t. And yet we’re part of the Milky Way.

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Body and Soul, After the Full Moon

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By Amanda Painter

By the time you read this, the restless Gemini Full Moon will be separating. However, I’m writing this piece in the thick of it, and it’s been a challenge for me to stay focused on the Sagittarian arrow of the Sun and not get mixed up in the less-conscious mental chatter of the Gemini Moon. Thankfully, today you may notice certain interpersonal situations begin resolving, even if other feelings are intensifying.

Male dancers performing the Tedung Agung, a dance evoking a protective umbrella, in Ubud, Bali. Photo by Amanda Painte

Dancers performing the Tedung Agung, which evokes a protective umbrella, in Ubud, Bali. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Mental activity should ease this evening, after the Moon enters Cancer at 6:23 pm EST (23:22:58 UTC). With the Moon in its home sign, emotions are more likely to be felt for what they are.

Yet they might get verbalized less, as the Moon opposes the impressive collection of objects in Capricorn over Friday and Saturday.

While the Moon oppositions act as mini tidal shifts (either with people you encounter or entirely within you), you’ll want to notice whether there’s anything deeper going on for you.

Emotions that intensified during the recent Full Moon likely still have depths calling for exploration — or excavation. Venus makes its exact conjunction to Pluto tomorrow. Venus is the planet of feelings and the senses. Pluto represents not only change, but also all that exists ‘below’ — such as below consciousness, below the Earth’s surface (as in Capricorn), or below the proverbial belt.

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The Day of Inner Fervor: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 10
The Day of Inner Fervor | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

The intrepid quest for truth is a core motivation for Sagittarians of any stripe. Truth and freedom are inseparable, yet to live in terms of those ideals requires hard-won self-awareness and self-acceptance. Your path this year calls for honestly addressing mounting tension in some area of your relationships or support systems. Fortunately, you’re well equipped to tap your highest capacity for insight, objectivity and skillful communication. Take the reins on your busy mind and steer with intent.
— by Victoria Emory

If you have a Sagittarius Sun, rising sign or Moon and could use some insights on such real-life matters as work, relationships and career, your 2019-2020 Sagittarius Astrology Studio reading by Eric Francis will cover your ruling planet Jupiter’s conjunction to the Galactic Core, a preview of Jupiter in Capricorn, and many other potentially life-changing facets of your astrology.

Written in the Planets

Emotions will be running deep as Venus in Capricorn aligns with Pluto and Saturn. The planet of feelings, sensory experiences and pleasure makes contact first with Saturn, then with Pluto. Venus to Saturn describes a potential sense of loss, longing or a limit placed on a relationship. That can lead to a breakthrough of depth: of discovery of your real feelings.

This aspect peaks at the same time as the Gemini Full Moon on the 11th. The Full Moon is a high tide emotionally, which will accentuate the poignancy of Venus-Pluto. Yet the Moon’s full phase in Gemini can be about talking a lot but not really saying anything. Avoid chatting away your feelings; rather, stay with yourself and what you’re experiencing, whatever it may be.

Almanac: Moon enters Gemini at 11:47 am EST today. The Full Moon in Gemini is exact at 12:12:12 am EST Thursday, 12/12. That’s a lot of 12s!

— by Eric Francis

Would you appreciate a resource to help guide your personal review of 2019? We’ve compiled all 12 of your monthly horoscopes by Eric for this year.

The Saturn-Pluto conjunction is upon us, just weeks away. While this event will happen two or three times in the lives of most people, this particular event is a moment of convergence and reckoning for the world and for us as individuals.

I’m underway recording RESPECT, the 2020-2021 Planet Waves annual readings, to cover the momentous astrology of the coming year-plus. You can read more about the project, and pre-order the readings, here.

The Day of Idiosyncrasy: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 7
The Day of Idiosyncrasy | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

You’re starting this new birthday year more profoundly aware of who you are, where you’ve been, and what past imprints must transform to get where you want to go. Old images of nurturance or support no longer suffice, and you know in your bones that self-worth is an inside job. A grounded, one-step-at-a-time approach to consolidating foundational security is your path of mastery.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

Mercury leaves its post-retrograde shadow or ‘echo’ phase today. Meaning, it will finally enter new zodiac territory for the first time since Oct. 11. What a long, strange trip it’s been through the waters of Scorpio. How actively did you dive into yourself and explore? If you really went for it, did your investigation seem to mitigate the usual Mercury retrograde frustrations? What have you learned, and did you recover or regenerate anything there in the deep?

Also today, Venus and Eros in Capricorn make a harmonious aspect to Vesta in Taurus. If love and/or sex are on your agenda, your activities will benefit from an ability to be as tangible as possible about giving it the room it needs. Whether solo or partnered, this means literally creating a comfortable physical setting — as well as emotionally opening up the space within yourself to be fully present. Earth signs are tactile; listen to the messages your skin and bones (and other senses) are sending you. All of these ideas also hold true for any practical creative sparks you’re trying to stoke.
— by Amanda Painter

In 2020 we have not one but two conjunctions that mark the turn of a generation, and of an era in history. On Jan. 12, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn form their once per 33-year conjunction. Then on Dec. 21. 2020, Jupiter and Saturn, both now in Aquarius, form a conjunction in the first degree of that sign. Read more here…

The Day of Extraction: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 6
The Day of Extraction | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

Steps you take to enhance financial security have the potential to generate results beyond what you’d imagine, and this is the year to direct efforts to do so. Avoid risking precious resources, or splurging on unnecessary expenses. Have fun, just don’t be reckless. Foster creative relationships through self-knowledge, i.e. honesty about your own emotional history. Value yourself and others will follow.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets

In the direction of the middle of Sagittarius lies a deep-space phenomenon called the Great Attractor. The Great Attractor (GA) is the focal point of a supercluster of about 100,000 galaxies stretched out over 520 million light years — and everything in our region of the universe seems to be contracting toward it (though overall, the universe is expanding). Today the Sun — emblem of conscious self-expression — aligns with the GA.

What goal, vision, or sense of faith and optimism is pulling you along currently? In what ways does it feel elusive, or like you’ll never finish chasing it? Trying to express it, whether through actions or words, could provoke strong reactions from others. Yet those reactions will likely slide past you or spur you on, rather than ruffle or dissuade you. Note also that figures and images from the dreamtime may mirror another side of this situation to you.

On a more mundane and less ethereal level, a Venus-Eros conjunction in Capricorn suggests that feelings of emotional, material or social security will foster arousal or your general Joie de vivre. “Traditional” turn-ons (whatever that means to you) are another good bet. A square between Pallas in Sagittarius and Orcus in Virgo describes a sense of tension in fulfilling a promise. What do you need to do to bring ‘the spirit of the law’ into better accord with ‘the letter of the law’? Chances are this will also align with that elusive vision that’s drawing you along.
— by Amanda Painter

The Day of Fortitude: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Dec. 4
The Day of Fortitude | 2019-20 Sagittarius Astrology Studio | All Other Signs

Honor your emotional sensitivity this year, and respect urges for privacy or introspection. Yes, there’s a lot on your plate, and business to take care of; action directed toward financial security will help you create the personal sanctuary needed to feed your spiritual well. Processing issues from the past or from your family, and tending your living space, are important to your evolutionary path.
— by Victoria Emory

If you have a Sagittarius Sun, rising sign or Moon and could use some insights on such real-life matters of work, relationships and career, your 2019-2020 Sagittarius Astrology Studio reading by Eric Francis will cover your ruling planet Jupiter’s conjunction to the Galactic Core, a preview of Jupiter in Capricorn, and many other potentially life-changing facets of your astrology.

Written in the Planets

Today’s Pisces Moon squares the Sun and asteroid Pallas in Sagittarius for the lunar first quarter. Symbolically, you’re turning the initial corner in whatever you invoked or began with the New Moon a week ago. In this case, the romantic dreaminess of the Moon in Pisces is pushing (or squishing) against the forward-thinking political strategy of the Sun and Pallas. Where do you feel pressure to do the right thing toward a specific goal, rather than just escape into the fantasy version?

We also have Venus in Capricorn square the asteroid Juno in Libra. Venus here describes ambition that does not want to look ambitious; it also values status and security via relationships, and the ability to care well for loved ones. Meanwhile, Juno in Libra tends to be socially competitive, tracking how people behave and becoming jealous if someone (especially a partner) gets more attention. With Venus flanked by at least six other planets and points in Capricorn, we have a striking image of all the ball guests flocking to one particular (and sophisticated) belle — leaving someone else feeling ignored.

Squares are about inner tension demanding action. Yet this one says to watch your scorekeeping (and related behaviors) in both one-on-one relationships and group situations. After all, the best way to be noticed for your social graces is to feel secure enough in them that you don’t need to point them out. Those who matter will notice regardless.
— by Amanda Painter