Let’s look ahead to an aspect on Oct. 10. That’s a few weeks out, but it’s the thing that the Venus-Mars retrograde processes are building toward. And it will be the central chart in the forthcoming EMPATHY-PATHOS reading.

That aspect is Venus retrograde in Scorpio, square Mars in Aquarius. As of this time, Venus will be newly retrograde, and Mars will have just cleared its shadow phase and have entered new territory for the first time.

Photo from the Venus and Mars album cover. Listen to that masterpiece on this sample of Wings Over America, featuring the magnificent Linda McCartney.

It would be difficult to come up with a chart, from all possible options, that exemplified the social situation, at least in the United States, better than this one does. It seems to describe a total impasse, where Venus in Scorpio feels silently entrenched in emotions she cannot express, and Mars in Aquarius would seem to be free to say and do whatever.

This impasse will not be resolved until the Venus side of the equation speaks up. We’re getting some of this right now, though usually it’s about venting rage. This could be healthy in a therapy context, where the full spectrum of feelings connected to that rage can be safely explored.

It is only destructive in a political context where there is no containment, no basis of understanding, no common ground.

Seen another way, Mars, as the ruling planet of Scorpio, is a kind of proxy for Venus. Mars will say what Venus will not say, and do what Venus will not do. Mars will have already been through its introspective process by this time; the retrograde is over and out of shadow phase.

The torch of inner responsibility and accountability is being passed to Venus. This must go deeper than the formula of “righteous anger” if there is to be any growth or healing. This works on both sides of the square — the Venus side and the Mars side.

On the Mars side, it might seem easy (for anyone) to troop through society and smash things up, be an iconoclast, or stake a claim to one’s position. This is not communication. It’s not even the most honest form of communication: an ultimatum. If you listen carefully, you will hear that there are no actual demands being made. So no power is harnessed or leveraged; it is merely vented, and feeds on itself.

As Sting said, there’s no political solution to a troubled evolution.

Thankfully, we have the reflective, introspective, introverted Venus retrograde process to consider. As I described last week, this is an encounter with the deep feminine, as it exists on the hormonal, emotional level. Venus retrograde is a question, not an answer. Indeed, it’s an ongoing series of questions that we will need to consider alone and, ultimately, answer together.

For example, if Venus retrograde in Scorpio represents the depth of inner feelings, what is the acceptable way to express them within polite company, as illustrated by Mars in Aquarius?

Some would say there is no acceptable way. Some would say that to express deep feeling, or any feeling, is never, ever appropriate.

Can that be possible? Look what refusing to communicate is doing to our social environment, and our political environment.

Vesta Conjunct Saturn in Capricorn

Looking at the more immediate moment, Vesta is about to change signs from Sagittarius to Capricorn (ingress is at 11:55 pm EDT, Monday, Sept. 17).

Vesta is the quality of devotion, space holding, and tending the inner creative and erotic flame. It’s also about how we organize physical space, and whether the rooms we inhabit are appropriate to the purposes we give them.

For the next 10 days, Vesta will apply to a conjunction to Saturn in Capricorn. This suggests we must take all of these factors of Vesta seriously. Saturn says do the work. Saturn says build the space you need to build, and then work within that container.

It’s not often said that Saturn is the essential ingredient in relationships. Relationships of any kind need structure, purpose and discipline to work at all. They need respect. Though Saturn is often experienced as part of a parental dynamic, it can also be expressed peer-to-peer. if there are limits involved, use them as a tool, as a lever, as an opportunity.

One last point where Vesta is concerned. Vesta teaches that there is no “normal” in relationships. It does so by being associated with people whose relationship patterns are so different from what is perceived as the norm that there’s no denying that fact.

We put a lot of emphasis on what is “supposed to be” true. Yet expectations are perhaps the very unhealthiest thing in relationships, especially if ungrounded by a true, heart-felt commitment.