Thursday, Venus stations direct in Gemini. It’s been retrograde since May 13. Venus is retrograde the least of all the planets (about 8% of the time), so they are all meaningful, if not memorable.

First, a brief recap of the weekend’s astrology, which included the northern solstice on Saturday and an eclipse of the Sun early Sunday morning. We are in one of those fulcrum moments, where tapping the telescope can shift the view by hundreds of light years. Pay attention to those moments where you can move on your pivot just a little, and alter the trajectory of your life.

These moments are not always easy to see, though it’s fair to imagine that you’re always in one; that every choice is relevant, and more significantly, every decision gives you practice in the basis by which you choose. Ultimately, each decision is a reflection of who you think you are, and what you think you are — so that is the thing to focus on and, in a real sense, the most significant decision you make.

Addressing the Problem of the Past

I say this knowing that this decision is rarely made consciously. Also, it’s often experienced as the acceptance of one’s mission and purpose, which is a choice. Yet this is often swayed and persuaded by past baggage and influences. The essence of the spiritual path is finding the present, and keeping both the past and the future in their appropriate context.

One of the processes I take all of my astrology clients through is journaling some moments in their lives that show up as similar to the current time. This presents an opportunity to frame one’s personal history in a useful way rather than have it drive one’s life “unconsciously.” We have a lot of reevaluating to do.

Meanwhile, we are in a moment when your choices are amplified — and where it is possible to change the typical pattern you’ve lived with.

Remember that every time you choose, you affirm something that is true, or not true, about yourself. There is no great mystery here. It helps if you notice that seemingly outside influences can sway your sense of your own being and your own purpose. Keep an inventory of those people and situations, so you know them when they’re up to their tricks.

Who you are and what you came here for have nothing whatsoever to do with the opinions of others. People who are supportive and informative are different from people who are merely opinionated.

Venus Direct in Gemini

One quality distinguishing the current Venus retrograde is that the past two times the retrograde happened in Gemini were both transits of Venus. Those were in 2004 and 2012. It seems everything that was being planned for 2012 ended up happening in 2020, though mostly in the form of emotional overreactions rather than New York City disappearing into the sea.

The more interesting implications of Venus retrograde are deeply personal. Venus is one of the most intimate planets, in terms of what it represents. Gemini is a sign close to the level of mundane human experience, and the first sign of the zodiac where humans appear.

Much of the human drama is driven by dualism — consciousness that creates perception of things being either one way or the other. There is truth to yin and yang, as long as you remember that each contains the other. They are not strictly opposites; they are complementary. That is not generally how we see or experience opposites in our society.

For various reasons, from religion to how the media portrays life to phony social Darwinism, we are pushed into perceiving opposites as clashing, and as being mutually incompatible. This tends to appear in the world, though it’s a projection of thought. It could not seem true if people did not think it’s true.

Venus stationing direct in Gemini illustrates the potential for inner reconciliation. This may be reconciliation from a conflict you were not aware would be happening. To the extent you have been guided by guilt, that is evidence of a struggle.

The Message of Our Times

It would seem that one message of our times is that we must be afraid of existence. It’s not the only message — it depends on whether you’re getting your information from the plants in your garden or from CNN.

Plants are an integration of air, earth, water and sunshine. Most of them love to cooperate with the human experience. You can gather mushrooms that serve 20 different purposes on one walk in the forest, and disrupt or disturb nothing.

CNN exists in competition with everyone and everything. They are broadcast by way of technology that divides everything into ones and zeros, and therefore amplifies and profits from that message. If you want to feel better, stop getting your “information” from television. Speaking as a professional news reporter, I assure you: no news is ever broadcast by way of a “news network.”

Meanwhile, if you notice that you’re afraid of existence, that is a spiritual issue, not a medical or scientific one. If you think that nature or society is a disease vector, that is a spiritual issue.

It’s true that there are dangerous elements of existence, and that everything in physical form dies. Yet in our time, most danger is a thought form. Fear does not exist as an objective reality in the environment. It exists as a subjective state of mind. The purpose of life must be something other than dealing with, or hiding from, the supposed horrors of existence — though this is currently a popular philosophy that is being sold on every street corner.

If you can tune into who you really are, and therefore look at the world with fresh eyes, you may notice that there is suddenly a lot of space to move around and to explore your environment.

There is a new world to create, though that world will always be a reflection of who you are. So that is the most important choice you will ever make. It helps that though there are plenty of distractions, the underlying truth of your being does not change. You possess it in all of your strength and beauty.