By Amanda Painter

Recent news events have a lot of people either feeling activated to fight for change, or overwhelmed and seeking emotional refuge. It may seem like there’s not a lot of room in the middle for things like connecting with others, making art, making love or integrating everything that’s rushing at us. And yet, today’s astrology is suggesting some of these very things through two major aspects.

The February 2015 conjunction of Venus and Mars, with a crescent Moon mimicking this week’s Full Moon thanks to a phenomenon known as “Earthshine.” Photo by Amanda Painter.

These aspects happen nearly simultaneously, essentially making them one event: Venus conjunct Mars in Virgo at 12:53 pm EDT (16:53 UTC); and the Aries Full Moon, exact at 2:40 pm EDT (18:40 UTC).

Eric, in covering this week’s astrology, wrote on Monday about the ways that conjunctions (two planets coming together in the same degree of a sign) differ from oppositions (the Full Moon being an opposition between the Moon in one sign and the Sun in the opposite sign). For example, he notes that Full Moons not only represent a peak of heightened emotional energy, but also ” distinguish between the energies of the signs involved, in this case Aries and Libra. They pull the picture into high contrast.” With Aries and Libra, that can mean the contrast between individual needs and balance in a relationship.

He also writes, “Conjunctions guide us to blend, morph and merge the energies involved; in this case Mars, which rules Aries, and Venus, which rules Libra.” There’s the idea here of integrating female and male, receptive and active. And since this conjunction occurs in Virgo, that integration would seem to be mental and yet manifesting physically somehow.

Yet, you might be reading this and thinking, “Ok, but what do I do with all of that?” The Venus-Mars conjunction and the Aries Full Moon seem to have opposite agendas — at least on the surface. And while the Full Moon might be more obviously palpable, Venus and Mars are not exactly background players; our inner female and male are core energies that directly influence how we see ourselves and how we move through our daily lives.

Interestingly, one of the heavyweights of the solar system is in contact with both aspects: Pluto in Capricorn. Although the contact is not exact, Pluto is definitely involved: making a T-square with the Sun and Moon (tension), and making a trine to Venus and Mars (harmony).

Pluto seems to be suggesting you go deeper with everything that is coming up for you this week. Be willing to look beneath the surface of any apparent conflict, disagreement or stalemate you’re caught up in. How deep are those roots, and what’s truly at stake? Perhaps go beyond how you dress and what pronouns you use for yourself to allow your receptive and active sides to work in clearer harmony in everything you do. That is, regardless of what society says ‘gender balance’ is, what feels balanced, integrated and aligned to you?

In other words, I think Pluto’s contact with both the Aries Full Moon and the Venus-Mars conjunction is about intensifying the transformational power of these two aspects in tandem. Do you feel like some kind of subterranean pressure is pushing you from within to release what’s not working in your relationships (specifically how you are in your relationships) and to create something better? Is the desire to merge disparate facets of yourself (or even to merge with another person, or with your creative process) compelling to the point of almost feeling like lust?

Pluto is a strong force; handled well, it can be an incredible catalyst for growth — though that growth is rarely simple, and is not a one-way process. It asks you to listen to your deeper needs honestly; and those deeper needs might not look much like the needs you’re used to articulating, if you’ve gotten too focused on symptoms and surface reactions. Particularly with this Full Moon, Pluto seems to be a reminder to be accountable for your actions, and to beware of falling into any kind of victim/perpetrator dynamic or compulsive behavior.

Trine the Venus-Mars conjunction in Virgo, Pluto would seem to add extra body (and all that physical bodies imply) to what might otherwise be a fairly intellectual or detached exercise in gender integration. I’m talking about: meaningful emotional expression (especially of love or lust); making emotionally deep art (especially if your preferred forms of creativity are physically active — think sculpture, dance, acting, etc.); the ambition to walk your talk in terms of how your own aims and the social good align.

Finally, today’s astrology is a reminder that there are conscious and subconscious (or unconscious, or semi-conscious) facets to just about everything that we do and feel. Sometimes we’re more aware of those dynamics than others. When we are, it opens us up to a whole new set of tools, a whole new level of being present in the world. With that deeper presence, your choices have more potential influence. Use it well, and use it consciously.