Tag Archives: Venus

You’re Not Actually About to Float Away

By Amanda Painter

Are you feeling like a total space cadet this week? Or maybe like you’re beaming in somebody else’s daydreams? How many times have you absentmindedly suffered a minor injury / locked yourself out / thought it was a different day? Are your efforts at sensitive, empathetic communication just not landing anywhere near your intended target (especially online conversations)?

A giant Pinocchio balloon above the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in Manhattan, probably during the 1930s. Photo by Walter Kelleher / NY Daily News Archive.

A giant Pinocchio balloon floats above the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and its many handlers in Manhattan, probably during the 1930s. Photo by Walter Kelleher / New York Daily News Archive.

Is the world an ever-morphing mix of crazy-beautiful and scary-surreal?

Okay, I’ll grant you, that last sentence has been applicable for a good three years now — or perhaps for all time. But from my perspective, all those other questions appear to have been peaking in this last week — described by Mercury traveling in apparent retrograde motion in a tight conjunction to Neptune in Pisces.

Mercury makes its direct station today at 9:59 am EDT (13:58:41 UTC). It does so (cozied up to Neptune) while making a T-square to the asteroid Juno in Gemini and Ceres in Sagittarius.

This image just came to me as I was writing that sentence: that Juno and Ceres are kind of like a couple of handlers from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, each holding a line to one of those giant cartoon-character balloons high in the air. (I know, I know: wrong season. Just bear with me.)

Continue reading →

The Day of Integrity: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is March 26
The Day of Integrity | Pre-order Your 2019-20 Aries Reading | All Other Signs

Aim at strengthening your connection with your spirituality this year, in whatever form that exists. In this busy age, make a point of setting aside some time for quieter moments, in which you can ground and center yourself. This may mean actively overcoming social pressure to maintain constant motion. Recognize that you, along with everyone else, deserve to have space to wind down, and to cultivate peace of mind within you.
— By Amy Elliott

Written in the Planets

Have you ever spent the day walking around in business attire at work in the winter, and then you get home and slip into a warm bath? That might be one way to think of Venus entering Pisces later today. Venus is still Venus, just a little more relaxed and open, and better able to be sensitive to others’ needs and emotions. Yet Venus is also moving into aspects with Uranus in Taurus (exact tomorrow) and Pholus in Capricorn (exact Friday). Be on the lookout for romantic flights of fancy that offer an exciting break from routine, and for stimulating friends and new acquaintances. Caring gestures — given or returned — have the potential now to offer lasting positive benefits to the recipient (which is always a solid cosmic law to follow). So why not extend a little love (in the sense of agape) for love’s sake?

Just be aware that Mercury stations direct in Pisces, conjunct Neptune, in two days. This means we’re currently in the pre-station ‘storm’ phase of this process. If you’re experiencing an element of choppy psychic waters, general absent-mindedness, or difficulty keeping track of whose emotions are whose (yours or the other person’s), Mercury’s situation definitely describes all of those. If you’ve been doing your inner-awareness-honing homework and healing for quite a while, it’s possible you’re accessing higher planes of intuition this week. Even in that case, however, it’s best to confirm your hunches a couple of ways, rather than launching straight into action. The mental realm is slippery right now; these are key days to watch your step (and the road), think before you speak, and mind your mind.
— By Amanda Painter

The Day of Clarity: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is March 21
The Day of Clarity | Pre-order Your 2019-20 Aries Reading | All Other Signs

Remember that integrity is your best friend. You seem to have a good deal of energy focused on you, and may draw various people toward you in the near future. Make sure the relationships you form, of any sort, are healthy and constructive for you and for everyone else involved. That starts with surrounding yourself with honest, compassionate people, who are likely to bring forward your best and brightest qualities.
— By Amy Elliott

Written for the Planets

We’re officially in a new season, and last night’s Libra Full Moon is starting to dissipate. Yet with such a potent setup to start the Sun’s time in Aries, chances are you’re still feeling the reverberations. Continue to give yourself a little delay before replying to any recent communications that might have raised your dander and defenses the last couple days. We’re in “small cause, big effect” territory through the weekend, thanks to the fiery Aries Sun’s impending square to the centaur Pholus in Capricorn. On top of that, Mercury is still very much retrograde in Pisces, and very much conjunct Neptune — indicating potentially imprecise thinking, possible emotional reactivity in communication, and an inability to see clearly the truth of a situation (including the emotional truth).

On top of that, today’s square between Venus in Aquarius and Mars in Taurus could be kicking up some inner tension. That might simply play out as a spike in arousal, including toward someone new. But it could also indicate discord in relationships where there’s hidden or frustrated sexual energy. Venus in Aquarius describes the potential for this to rear up in a friendship where there’s unspoken attraction, rather than with an established lover or someone you’re actively pursuing. Does that Aquarian influence help to cool things off and make it more of an intellectual exercise, or does it just make it weirder? How does that align with what your body’s telling you? If you have the opportunity to express this energy sexually (whether solo or with a partner), it’s possible that taking your time with the sensuality of it while experimenting a little might yield the most satisfying results.
— By Amanda Painter

The Day of Artistic Sensibilities: Birthdays and Planet News

Leave a reply

If Your Birthday is March 1

Order Your 2019-20 Pisces Reading | All Other Signs

Growing into the person you wish to become is more often than not a lifelong process, and there will be the occasional stumble. Take it easy on yourself. The key is perseverance: you will make it through so long as you keep heading in the right direction. At this moment, you are likely to see that path clearly, and have the opportunity to progress substantially along it. All you really need to do is maintain your focus.
— By Amy Elliott

Written In The Planets

How flexible are your closest relationships (especially the more intimate kind) when it comes to new experiences? What do you need to get out in the open with a partner? In what ways are you itching to make a bold declaration, indicate your interest, or otherwise spark up your interactions? All of these questions (and their related offshoots) appear to be on the table today. So how can you answer them with action rather than just more thinking and imagining and wishing?

Even though Venus is in a relatively reserved sign (Capricorn) as it makes a square to high-voltage Uranus in the final, restless degree of Aries, it’s still prompting activity to ease some of the tension. By late morning (Eastern time) Venus will move into cooler, calmer ‘friend zone’ Aquarius — though it will still be within friction-distance to Uranus, and Uranus rules Aquarius. You might find that your need for stimulation shifts more to groups and acquaintances, rather than primary partnerships. Whether that’s true or not, keep tabs on what, exactly, you may be provoking in others (and whether it’s truly the reaction you’d prefer). Supplying a little extra warmth than you might automatically offer looks like a useful approach.
— By Amanda Painter

Merging with the New Moon; Uranus Makes its Move

7 Replies

By Amanda Painter

I feel like it’s been weeks now that I’ve been experiencing and mentioning some kind of edgy or energized sensation to the astrology; I do sometimes wonder if it’s just me, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. With only six days to go until Uranus leaves Aries and enters Taurus — and only five days until Mercury stations retrograde in Pisces — I think it’s reasonable to call out again an undercurrent of agitation or instability, mixed with a little mental and emotional fuzziness or diffuseness.

Continue reading →

Echoes of Uranus: Venus Meets Pluto and Eris

4 Replies

By Amanda Painter

Now that Chiron is in Aries, we have one more era-defining planetary sign change left this year: Uranus entering Taurus on March 6, just under two weeks from today. There seems to be a general sense of vacillating or vibrating pressure in the air. Maybe it’s just me, but I get the feeling a lot of the social and political surprises that make the nightly news — the way so many things seem to be teetering on an edge or hanging by a thread — have small-scale, personal-level echoes or complementary events.

Rosemary in winter; photo by Amanda Painter.

Obviously that’s for you to decide for yourself. Yet this week, we do have a ‘personal planet’ — Venus — moving into an outer-planet aspect pattern.

It’s those outer-planet configurations that tend to reflect the larger social currents and upheavals we’ve been experiencing. Then planets like Venus, Mars and the Sun sweep through to involve us more directly or internally. Venus will not be coming into contact with Uranus, but it is entering the square between Pluto in Capricorn and Eris in Aries.

Pluto, Eris and Uranus are the three planets that perhaps most signify the last ten years: first through the Uranus-Pluto square, then through the Uranus-Eris conjunction. So those bells of upheaval, revolution, the need to change and media-induced identity chaos are all getting rung by Venus — by the planet that represents the feminine, our relationships, and the ability to receive others’ gifts (whether those be love, empathy, compassion or something more material).

Although Venus conjoins Pluto tomorrow in Capricorn and then squares Eris in Aries on Saturday, it’s really all one event. And it seems to be asking some rather interesting questions.

Continue reading →

Getting Ready to Get Going

4 Replies

By Amanda Painter

Even though the calendar page will turn to a new year in a few days, the astrological year still has most of a season left to it. Yet the sense of one thing ending and something new beginning is still strong — and there is some major astrology on its way to support that sensation, even if the timing is not exact.

Photo by Amanda Painter

For one thing, Uranus will station direct on Jan. 6. This means that ALL the sign-ruling planets will be in direct motion for a spell — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (the Sun and Moon are never retrograde).

If that doesn’t sound like a cosmic green light to finally move important projects forward, I’m not sure what does. I don’t know about you, but after the continual feeling of limbo I experienced with this year’s inner-planet retrogrades, I’m really looking forward to a phase of momentum and traction, even if it’s brief.

Continue reading →

Big Thanks: Sagittarius, Jupiter and the Gemini Full Moon

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

The Sun enters Sagittarius today at 4:01 am EST (9:01:23 UTC) to begin the last month of the current season. Less than 24 hours later, we get a Full Moon in Gemini (the Moon opposite the Sun, exact at 12:39 am EST / 5:39:06 UTC). On the one hand, the Full Moon could amplify any Thanksgiving tensions (or other social polarities, if that’s not your holiday); on the other hand, given the mutable signs involved, you may find that conflicts are easier to breeze over, chat your way through, or bend around.

The 2015 Gemini Full Moon; photo by Amanda Painter

Part of what will spell the difference is your own personal emotional history and the social circumstances (especially familial) that you find yourself in today and through the weekend. If you’re gathering with people who don’t tend to push your buttons, or if you’ve done a lot of therapy and healing work around those buttons, the sociability of the planets currently in Sagittarius (the Sun, Jupiter and retrograde Mercury) may be more dominant or easier to tap into.

If you know you’ll be in a situation between now and Sunday where it’s possible old wounds might be metaphorically uncovered or picked at, it could be helpful to make a self-care strategy before you get there. Identify early the spaces (indoors or outdoors) where you can escape briefly to collect yourself. It might be useful to get in touch beforehand with either someone who’ll be at the gathering who is an ‘ally’, or someone elsewhere who’ll be able to respond to texts, and let them know you might call on them for a little grounding or venting.

Of course, if you decide instead to do your own thing — or if you get to choose who’s invited to the gathering, with no sense of obligation to invite those who cause you difficulty — this shouldn’t be as much of an issue. (Though you might want to investigate sometime the relationship between your sense of obligation to your family and your sense of commitment to your own healing process and wellbeing.)

Continue reading →