Tag Archives: Venus

No. 2 from Group IV of "the ten biggest ones"; tempera on paper over canvas by Hilma af Klint (1862-1944).

Catching What Shakes Out of the Ethers

1 Reply

By Amanda Painter

Today and tomorrow are busy days astrologically. The combination of events involved suggests that tracking your inner emotional and mental landscape (or monologue) is equally important as keeping tabs on what is going on around you personally and culturally — perhaps even more so; though the moments when external and internal intersect could also be key. Here are the main events:

No. 2 from Group IV of "the ten biggest ones"; tempera on paper over canvas by Hilma af Klint (1862-1944).

No. 2 from Group IV of “the ten biggest ones”; tempera on paper over canvas by Hilma af Klint (1862-1944). Her “Paintings for the Temple” relate to inner processes as conveyed in meditation via spiritual entities.

Mars is leaving Aquarius after a long sojourn in that sign — about six months, thanks to its retrograde, not counting a few weeks in Capricorn this summer. It finally dives into Pisces at 5:21 pm EST (22:20:42 UTC) today. About eight hours before Mars makes its move, we get the first quarter Moon (Aquarius Moon to Scorpio Sun, late in their signs).

Tomorrow, Venus stations direct in Libra after its own month-and-a-half or so of retrograde motion, most of which was in Scorpio. Venus makes its apparent pivot at 5:51 am EST (10:50:58 UTC). About 15 hours later, Mercury stations retrograde in Sagittarius at 8:33 pm EST (1:33:06 UTC Saturday).

That’s a lot to have happening all at once with the so-called personal planets: the bodies that represent such attributes as our motivation, physical activity and sex drive (Mars); our emotions, receptivity and intimate relationships (Venus); and our thought processes, communication and communication technology (Mercury). And although the monthly cycles of the Moon (emotions and subconscious) are perhaps less striking, the sense of moving into gear that can accompany the first quarter is certainly coloring the background.

As a result of all this, it would seem that the first order of business for the next few days is simply to stay tuned in — to your experiences, to your responses to others, to any little insights or pieces of information that come your way, to any urges or tugs of intuition, to the sensation that you’re finally answering a question you’ve been grappling with a while, and to the arrival of new questions. Standard protocol for Mercury stationing is to notice when your attention to the task at hand has lapsed so you can refocus; but with all that’s going on, it could be just as enlightening to note what other thought your mind was occupied with at that moment.

Continue reading →

A blue wave? Jupiter’s south pole, as seen by NASA’s Juno spacecraft from an altitude of 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometres). Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles

After the Election: Which Jupiter Will You Feed?

3 Replies

By Amanda Painter

As the dust settles on Tuesday’s midterm elections in the U.S., I wish I could say the political landscape looked even more different — but I am grateful for the movement that was achieved. Voters came out in increased numbers on both sides, and women were voted into office to an unprecedented degree. There is no longer a one-party lock on all three branches of government.

A blue wave? Jupiter’s south pole, as seen by NASA’s Juno spacecraft from an altitude of 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometres). Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles

A blue wave? Jupiter’s south pole, as seen by NASA’s Juno spacecraft from an altitude of 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometres). Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles

This opens the way for House Democrats to put things in motion, specifically subpoenas to investigate Trump’s taxes and his involvement with Russia in 2016. Of course, Trump is already saying he’ll be happy to work with House Dems — as long as they don’t go after those subpoenas; in which case he’ll “fight fire with fire.”

Even so, we now have the first two Native American women in the U.S. House (for context, more than 10,000 people have served in the House since the first Congress met in 1789). The first two Muslim women have been voted into the House. A Latina woman is the youngest representative ever elected to the House, and there are new African American women elected to this branch of government, with USA Today putting the total number of all women in the House at 118 as of midday Wednesday — breaking the previous record.

Colorado elected its first openly gay governor. And although Democrat Beto O’Rourke lost his Senate bid in historically red Texas to incumbent Ted Cruz, he did strikingly well in counties that border Mexico and have higher Latinx populations (as well in as the more diverse urban centers in the state).

Continue reading →

View of October leaves from below; photo by Amanda Painter.

In These Days, Do Not Play Dead

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

We’re in the midst of the Days of the Dead (a Catholic celebration of departed souls that has pagan roots, and echoes in many ancient indigenous cultures), and I have a question: How does one honor one’s ancestors when so much of what they helped to build is being dismantled, perverted, mocked and cut down?

View of October leaves from below; photo by Amanda Painter.

View of October leaves from below; photo by Amanda Painter.

I’m not referring to past institutions that we’ve come to realize are systematically racist, sexist or in some other way oppressive; the process to recognize and dismantle those strikes me as being one of the reasons we’re all here at this time.

I’m talking about cultural advances that were made to lift up and empower as many people as possible, and which now appear threatened. I’m referring to past cultural lessons about things like fascism, which many people seem to have forgotten or somehow never learned in the first place.

If you are someone who chooses this time of year to honor your deceased ancestors, how do you bring your meditation and ritual intention into action? How might you choose to connect the past and your place in your familial lineage with serving the highest good for all concerned?

I have a couple thoughts on that, especially this week, in view of the pointedly anti-Semitic murder of 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh, PA, synagogue (including one survivor of the Holocaust), and Pres. Trump’s declaration that he intends to issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship (which is protected by the Constitution). Trump’s refusal to denounce outright the violent actions of ‘white nationalist’ extremists, and his repeated, toxic, inflammatory language whipping up that demographic, is having visible — and measurable — effects.

Continue reading →

Photo by Amanda Painter, taken at the 2016 Sacred and Profane Festival.

Expressing What’s Real: Scorpio Sun Conjunct Venus

1 Reply

By Amanda Painter

As I write this on Wednesday morning, I’m hearing reports of explosive devices discovered at the homes of Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, and also at the CNN offices in New York; this is following an explosive found at the home of billionaire philanthropist George Soros on Monday. By the time you read this, there will likely be more information available; but as I write, I’m most interested in the accompanying astrology. (Ed. note: as of Thursday morning, we’re up to ten suspicious/explosive packages sent to eight people.)

Photo by Amanda Painter, taken at the 2016 Sacred and Profane Festival.

Photo by Amanda Painter, taken at the 2016 annual Sacred and Profane Festival on Peaks Island, Maine.

As if the party or parties responsible for these actions had consulted an astrologer, this all unfolded in the lead-up to Wednesday’s Taurus Full Moon conjunct Uranus (the explosive planet), opposite the Scorpio Sun (secrets, death, other people’s money). Close to the Sun in Scorpio is retrograde Venus — ruler of the Taurus Full Moon.

Sometimes it’s just astonishing how well the aspects mirror the themes of events. By now I shouldn’t be surprised, yet it can still catch me off-guard.

I’m curious whether it’s possible that the connection of Venus to laid-back Taurus is a factor in the explosives being discovered before they could detonate. Is it something about the retrograde quality? What is the significance of the lunar nodes square the Full Moon configuration; is it some kind of balancing point between what we know and what we don’t know, or a choice between paths of action?

Continue reading →

Looks Like Libra, Smells Like Scorpio

6 Replies

By Amanda Painter

Although the Sun is still in Libra, some of this week’s news events appear to have a distinct Scorpio scent. This would seem to relate to astrology involving Mercury in Scorpio that is bookending the current workweek.

Micro-landscape at Acadia National Park one year ago. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Mossy micro-landscape at Acadia National Park in Maine one year ago. Photo by Amanda Painter.

We began the week with news coverage intensifying about the disappearance of Washington Post journalist and Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkish officials allegedly have audio and video evidence of Khashoggi being tortured and dismembered within the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, which he had visited to obtain legal documents pertaining to his upcoming marriage.

We might interpret this as representing a dark shadow side to Mercury conjunct Venus in Scorpio, which was exact on Monday and which was also sextile Vesta in Capricorn. Usually astrologers describe Mercury-Venus conjunctions as stimulating an appreciation for beauty or declarations of love. Yet Mercury-Venus can also help one to see the underlying patterns in a relationship. The alleged events surrounding Khashoggi’s disappearance and apparent murder do appear to be laying bare certain unsavory facets in the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Continue reading →

Street art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.* Photo by Amanda Painter

Neptune on My Mind

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

What’s on your mind? Or, perhaps a better question might be: how is your mind behaving this week, especially in response to the unexpected or the unclear? I ask because Mercury in Virgo (a sign it rules) is making some aspects that could well be affecting your thought processes and perception.

Street art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.* Photo by Amanda Painter

Street art in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.* Photo by Amanda Painter

The primary aspect in question is Mercury’s opposition to Neptune in Pisces — exact today, though it’s been in effect for several days and will continue to be so for several more.

Mercury is also in a square to the rather mysterious Great Attractor (a deep-space phenomenon in mid-Sagittarius), exact today. And between now and Sunday, Mercury is making a trine to Pluto in Capricorn and a sextile to Jupiter in Scorpio.

But first: Mercury and Neptune. At its best, this can be an aspect of heightened spiritual sensitivity and awareness. With Pluto offering assistance with investigating deep issues and mysteries, and Jupiter lending a hand with seeing how things fit the underlying patterns in your life, you may very well uncover some profound truths with this astrology.

Here’s the thing, though: in our mainstream culture and everyday life, it’s relatively rare to witness or experience Neptune in its higher manifestations. More often, we encounter Neptune’s glamour, cloudiness, slipperiness, confusion and outright deception.

One look at all the clickbait online, glossy magazine ads, the proliferation of ‘fake news’, Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS confirmation hearing, and the escapist nature of most of our entertainment options will tell you where we, collectively, stand with Neptune — not to mention the many forms of mundane denial so many people live in, covering everything from the truth of our desires and most intimate relationships, to things like climate change and the abuses of the Catholic church. Which is to say, Neptune is great at obscuring where one really stands in relation to almost anything, including in relationship to oneself.

Continue reading →

From Neptune to the New Moon

3 Replies

By Amanda Painter

Are you looking around this week wondering if you can believe what you’re seeing? I know, I know: for many, this has become the expectation, not the surprise. Yet as we wind down toward the Virgo New Moon on Sunday, your perception of the environment — and how that influences your direct interactions and immediate relationships — could use some attention and discretion.

Caterpillar mimicking the edges of the leaves it's feeding on; photo by Amanda Painter.

Ridges on a caterpillar’s back mimicking the edges of the leaves it’s feeding on, making it hard to discern; photo by Amanda Painter.

I say that because one of the most important aspects between now and the weekend (and even beyond) is the Sun in Virgo making its yearly opposition to Neptune (which itself is taking a leisurely stroll through Pisces).

This is an aspect of slippery perception: one that warns us to be wary of deception, both intentional and the accidental kind that comes with being distracted by surface impressions and glamour.

This week’s social media brouhaha over Nike’s choice to feature Colin Kaepernick as the face of its latest “Just Do It” ad campaign is one example. Kaepernick, you may recall, is the NFL quarterback who began the trend in 2016 of kneeling during the national anthem as a silent racial justice protest.

Continue reading →

Back to School with a Handful of Aspects

Leave a reply

By Amanda Painter

Now that Mars is finally direct as of Monday, what have you been able to put in motion? Is there anything you actually feel more uncertain about or stymied by than you did last week? Hopefully you’re enjoying a sense of energy freeing up for use, though it’s possible that this week’s aspects are raising some new questions.

A fellow student in the lounge of the Kristin Linklater Voice Center. Photo by Amanda Painter

A fellow student in the lounge of the Kristin Linklater Voice Center. Photo by Amanda Painter

For example, two aspects that have caught my eye are: the asteroid Vesta conjunct the centaur Ixion in Sagittarius; and the asteroid Ceres square the centaur Pholus and the Galactic Core (GC) in Sagittarius.

In general, that Sadge energy might be lending a sense of restlessness — though the tension of these aspects could also be seen as questions.

For example, are you finding this week that your approach to nurturing your ‘higher purpose’ is to get critical of the ways you’ve often strayed from it? That could be one way Ceres-GC might manifest.

Yet, when we add in Pholus, another thread emerges: the idea that, just as a small act of selfless service can go a long way, so can a little self-criticism take on a life of its own. Which of those would you rather send rippling out into the world? Because even if you keep your fault-finding of yourself to yourself, there’s an excellent chance it could hinder your ability or willingness to offer your gifts fully to those around you — thereby shortchanging the world of your light. What might happen if you pushed aside any thoughts of ‘not good enough yet’ and just offered what you can do?

Continue reading →