Today is the New Moon in Aquarius (exact at 4:39 pm EST; you can view the full chart here). This New Moon is happening in the context of Mercury ingressing Pisces (tomorrow) Venus stationing direct in Capricorn (also tomorrow) and retrograde Jupiter opposing Pluto (exact tomorrow, but has been in effect for a while).
All of these factors combine to impart a sense of impending rapid transitions.
Beginning with today, Eric has described today’s New Moon as “a friendly event with a ‘let’s get together’ theme.”
He continues, “This is a beautiful chart for participation in any kind of group or collective experience while expressing your individuality,” adding, “You’re unlikely to be invited to step out, however — you will need to push the issue and see what happens. If you cannot be yourself, you don’t belong there — wherever ‘there’ is.”
Yet the Aquarius New Moon will be followed very closely by Venus stationing, and Venus retrogrades tend to be on the subtle side (compared with, say, Mercury retrogrades). So while the New Moon is about individuality within group participation, tomorrow’s Venus station may warrant some conscious stillness and introspection.
Venus has taken us on a six-week exploration of our values and resources, and of the past — including in the form of old friends and lovers reappearing; the influence of your family on your patterns of relating; your family’s influence on how you feel about love, relating and sex.
In the context of that inner inventory, Venus is stationing in a conjunction with four other planets in Capricorn: Pluto, Narcissus, Psyche and Persephone. This puts Venus in the midst of the Uranus-Pluto square and cardinal grand cross — the bigger, era-defining astro-picture — at the same time that it puts us in contact with some of our most intimate psychological challenges.
Eric discusses this configuration in the first segment of this week’s Planet Waves FM broadcast; here are some notes on the individual planets involved:
Venus and Pluto: transformative, lusty, deep, earthy.
Narcissus: being in love with oneself to the exclusion of any interest in others; our attraction to others’ displays of self-interest.
Psyche: the sensation of a mental-level injury that will not heal — that is, the inability to heal/resolve it is a perception, not a reality; an injury to faith (in yourself, a relationship, another person).
Persephone: we’re in Northern Hemisphere winter, and sure enough, Persephone is down in the underworld with Pluto; a reflection of how stuck society is on the toxic equation “sex=rape”; yet there’s an opportunity to come to the surface.
My own take on this configuration is that in the process of retrograding, Venus has taken us to the place where we’re fixated on our own lost and wounded inner ‘daughter’ or fought-over feminine side. (Do you ever feel like every faction of society except yourself gets to define what it is to embody the feminine? If it’s not the patriarchy, it’s our mothers.) It’s an aspect of self-image we’re over-focused on, though with good reason, since it often seems to be in the hands of others to the point of feeling like it can never be wrested back.
This place is rooted deep in the past, nestled in ‘the way things have always been’, which is actually a form of the underworld. And who do we meet there but the Lord of Change, Pluto. Venus gets close, stations direct and asks:
“Which do you value more: your sense of wounding and ‘the way things were/have seemingly always been’? Or do you value emerging from that place, letting it die, and rebuilding your whole self?”
Easier said than done, but deciding is the first step.
Curious to read what else Eric has to say about the Venus station? Sign up now for a six-month membership to our twice-weekly astrology service and Friday’s issue will be delivered to your inbox, containing horoscopes interpreting the Venus station for all 12 signs.
Not Amanda not of old lovers that come lurking but the consolidation of what already existed.
About friends, I do the household, why keep those that pump you your energy? which must remain what are friends on whom we can rely and which respects especially your freedom.
Better to be alone than badly accompanied
Good cycle of the Amanda Moon
For me, at the station, this feels like it’s about reclaiming a daughter, one lost or kidnapped actually by the dysfunctional family system I’ve fought to obtain freedom from, for both of us. I feel betrayed she allowed herself to be seduced by it and have compromised myself by not ever confronting it. Now the road has narrowed and I feel incapable of continuing the charade; I must speak honestly though it could mean her rejection. Does any of this make sense?
I am a Capricorn, and Venus retrograde came through loud and clear. My first boyfriend/lover contacted me on Monday, we haven’t spoken since High School. And a friend I haven’t spoken to in 7 years contacted me out of the blue. Both were relationships that ended badly. And both were situations where I lacked the strength to speak up for myself in a calm and clear way (Venus stationing direct is exactly conjunct my Mercury). The boyfriend broke my heart and I thought it would never heal (Psyche), but this recent surprise contact (Uranus square Pluto/Venus and my natal Mercury) made me realize I hadn’t thought of him in years, and I am happy that it didn’t work out. As for the friend, I didn’t really want to hear from her because she is a bit Narcissistic. This situation spoke to a dark emotional place hidden in me (Persephone), because I ended the relationship due to one specific situation where she wasn’t there for me as a friend, in one of those situations that a close friend really really should be there, the final straw. I felt abandoned. And realized that one of my deepest wounds from childhood was abandonment (Psyche / my father left when I was young). Both of these situations involved a harsh and abrupt abandonment, and change. Both were situations that had I been more confident in being myself and felt more self love, they would have certainly turned out differently. Both were situations where I put up more walls to seal off the pain that this abandonment tapped into, the wounded female child. And these new, current communications both upset me and transformed me (Pluto). So it’s been a clear example of the astrology, and how I had let the subconscious wounding from the abandonment in childhood negatively influence delicate situations later in life. The message came through thanks to Venus’ movement through my sign, mixed with all the other elements. The current astrology is really hooked up to my natal chart, the new moon yesterday was exactly conjunct my natal Venus, and Venus stationing direct today is exactly conjunct my natal Mercury in my 6th house, which plugs into the cardinal grand cross by being conjunct transiting Pluto, and into my natal T-Square by being exactly sextile my natal Saturn (a point of the T-square). I’m not sure which part of this astrology is impacting the good news that I received this week, notification that something I have created was chosen from many applicants. But I have a feeling Venus had something to do with it.
kazaa & bette: yes, i’m familiar with the sensation of knowing, on one level, that a relationship is done but still trying, still working for it — or being afraid of the loss of security, loss of companionship, perceived loss of whatever sense of self i had invested into it or projected onto it. it’s not a fun feeling, but i suspect it is a common one.
the healing can take quite a while. but it’s available. it can take a while to reorient oneself on looking within for those things we had gotten used to looking to another/a relationship for.
but that strength that comes from recognizing the truth and making the decision? that is worth more than gold in the long run.
good luck!
Kazaa, I just wanted to say that in my long (50+ years) experience of being in & out of relationships, including marriage, there have been times when I failed to end a destructive or otherwise miserable situation because of fear, & it cost me dearly – in stress, heartache, lost self-esteem, & just plain time. The fear can be financial or take the form of other apprehensiveness about lost “security” in some form or another. Fear of being alone for the rest of my life was another one, one that women (especially) seem to get a lot of conditioning toward.
The bottom line, though, is that the worst loneliness, in my experience, was that which one feels when WITH someone, but not connected – not valued – not heard. My last relationship deteriorated from romantic bliss into that kind of chill, yet if I attempted to talk about what I felt, what I saw as missing, or what I needed, the only response I got was, “Do you want me to leave?” Eventually, of course, I found the courage (which it seems is often born of desperation) to say, “Yes!” That was four & a half years ago. I have few prospects of new relationships coming into my life, but that’s okay. Because I deserve better than what I had.
I do feel lonely, but I’ve also found strengths I didn’t know I had, & that’s a good thing.
I hope we can all benefit from the healing energies in the current astrology. Venus turned direct on my 7th house cusp – she hadn’t brought any past partners back into my life, but I did have some useful dreams about them, & that was helpful.
So yesterday, after about six weeks of intense grieving for a relationship I knew already was lost, I pulled the plug, after 3.5 years. I didn’t so much kill it as call it – I’d been reaching for connection and love with this person, who would open and close with me with no warning, too often leaving me with not enough. In the last two months, due to external and internal stressors, he’d withdrawn to the point where it felt we were no longer in an intimate relationship. I entered the conversation wanting to work things out, but something bigger in me also just said, “No more.” Interesting to see how it fits in with the astrological moment… Any comment or insight welcome. I hope healing energy is in store for the coming weeks. I need it.
thank you DivaCarla!
“Which do you value more: your sense of wounding and ‘the way things were/have seemingly always been’? Or do you value emerging from that place, letting it die, and rebuilding your whole self?”
Such a perfect New Moon Question! Thanks, Venus/Amanda!
And this is rich: Venus has taken us to the place where we’re fixated on our own lost and wounded inner ‘daughter’ or fought-over feminine side. (Do you ever feel like every faction of society except yourself gets to define what it is to embody the feminine? If it’s not the patriarchy, it’s our mothers.) It’s an aspect of self-image we’re over-focused on, though with good reason, since it often seems to be in the hands of others to the point of feeling like it can never be wrested back.
Daniel, beautiful poem. I can smell the wet dirt, even though all is still frozen here.
“Which do you value more: your sense of wounding and ‘the way things were/have seemingly always been’? Or do you value emerging from that place, letting it die, and rebuilding your whole self?”
From my song Stardust: “I couldn’t see you with the stardust in my eyes; I couldn’t feel you with the ghost around my heart; I was closed for so long I lost my gift of song, but now the gravity of your love is pulling me open again…I emerge to shine and share my light in the constellation of my tribe”
From Tori’s Dragon “Your wild card boy needs playing; don’t believe the lie your dragon needs slaying; lay with me and I will bring kisses for the beast”
Venus slides up close enough to Pluto to whisper in his ear…this human’s local pattern has Mercury where Pluto drifts, and Venus is stopping just in between the devotee and his flame, the Sun. A distinct sensation that the pop stars I tune into catch my attention because we’re all emanations of the same trans-human force…or something like that.
Yesterday playing Tori Amos’ Winter on guitar, the robins swooned and I felt like the song approved of how I treated her. Then I played my own songs and sang them like I never sang them before, feeling like the being that gave Winter to Tori was listening. Is it real? In some sense, yes: the feeling of that being being there had the very real effect of making the flow of my own songs smoother and stronger whether it was generated by Narcissus, a private fantasy or whether it was actually a love spell from Persephone. The robins loved it anyway.
Grandmother Moon
Sitting at her lavender pools,
I honour Grandmother Moon,
In her gentle glow and wisdom cools,
My face from walking a sun swept dune,
Entering her domain with only the silent bands,
Written upon the sum of my sun dried hands.
Plunging myself into the rich clay of these ancient earthen fields,
To pull out a sludge of what incessant mixture yields,
Remolding reshaping myself amongst the rocks I sink,
Repairing a lost and broken link.
Great Spirit is speaking.
An immense flood like falling curtains,
Behind the shield of walled up tears,
Appears the gifts of refulgent fountains,
The waters of wise and forgotten seers.
Flushing the shorn and stagnant crust,
I’m thrown against a powerful thrust,
Into a depth with gathering speed,
Like a boulder dislodged overturned and freed. –
Now, as a moment to breathe, to regain some calm,
As the water subsides into a gentle balm,
A presence arrives with voices of crones,
That shift the very landscape’s half light tones.
And in my open moistened eyes,
Grandmother Moon comes and gently dries,
Telling me secrets from brother Lynx,
Written upon the walls in the Cave of Blackened Inks,
Weaving the tales from sister Deer,
With fire glowing hairs of majestic thread. –
And while I rest, I may fail to hear,
And while I’m caressed and nourished and fed,
A while may I feel much that has been quietly sleeping,
In the bluest skies within an eternal breath’s safe keeping.
-Daniel
Beautiful Amanda! What a day! Embraced by all that I am, all that I fear, all at once!
Today can be a breakthrough day if I let it.
Been humming Jim Morrison today, a surprising voice for a spirit guide.
Kelley Hunter refers to this Venus as a Crone Goddess, and so she is. Venus in Capricorn begins a new Venus cycle activating Grandmother wisdom. I think 2014 is going to need lots of grandmother wisdom. I know there are several of us here!
There is some amazing healing energy happening right now as the two benefics, Jupiter and Venus, both retrograde with the slower benefic stationing so as to prolong the effect, oppose each other and sandwich Pluto between them. I believe, Patty, your father has been “writing” to you on some level, about seeing life from a practical (Capricorn), compassionate and all encompassing point of view. I believe the Pluto (in Capricorn) sandwich is meant for all of us. . . a way to heal what ails us. It is nourishment that reaches us through the aid of Chiron (sextile Venus-Pluto, trine Jupiter) who will make us conscious through our grievances of what and how to heal those grievances.
I also believe I see a positive side of the symbol Narcissus, the asteroid that conjuncts Venus and Pluto and opposes Jupiter and sextiles Chiron now. If we can’t heal (love) ourselves then we certainly won’t be able to heal others. It has to be a balance (opposition between Venus and Jupiter) of love for what’s inside our soul and what’s outside; the animus mundi, the world’s soul.
Thanks Amanda for again seeing the astrology as a way to relate to our personal lives, and the peripheral attendees of Psyche and Persephone adds even more depth (Persephone) and detailed (Psyche) understanding to the moment.
be
This Venus retro has been incredibly productive for me in two ways. Going deep into sexual material (well, that’s not really new for me), allowing a nourishing communicative space for curiosity. And then, distracting myself so that I learn how to keep myself on topics that are proactive, that keep me moving without being focused on it. Those aspects involve to passions for me: music composition and cycling. I’ve been on a progressed winter programme and this week I’m moving into core strength and lower body weights. I’ve loosely set a 12 week schedule, launching me into the spring with a lot of power.
I’ve been sleeping amazingly better, I’m not worried about crap, I feel energized, I feel creative, I meditate everyday for 20 minutes, and the other stuff – well….. I’m showing up. 😉
Another thing: I’m not sweating as much during sex. I used to sweat a ton and get really hot. I think my energy is moving more easily with less resistance.
Happy New Moon Venus Pluto Jupiter thingy!
Wounded daughters…Recently we’ve seen on FB where various people are dying of cancer and writing letters and notes to their children to be read far into the future. The whole idea seemed macabre to me, just down right creepy. Then I started thinking about it yesterday and realized I am resentful because my father couldn’t write. I mean he wasn’t comfortable with language and couldn’t really write a letter. He wasn’t a bad man, but he was heavy handed with discipline and lord knows how he was treated as a child, abandoned at an early age by his father and mother dead. He went to work full time in the 4th grade (1931). I’d give anything to have a letter from my dad. I’ve been processing a lot ever since the Jan 1 new moon, and tagging every resentment that comes up to its source. I’m a little freaked out by it too, but in a good way. So I’m wondering, what is the verdict for Amanda Knox? A verdict at the new moon seems auspicious. She has a lot of fear and resentment to dissolve too. Underworld indeed! Thanks Amanda!
Very beautiful, very powerful. Would love to write more but don’t have the time. Thank you so much Amanda. And another amazing photo – your photos make me want to get on a plane to Maine.