Venus square the Great Attractor: Attract-repel-notice

Nicole Hanhan and friend in Chinatown, Washington, D.C. Photo by Kiersten Angela Porter/Nicole Hanhan.

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Monday’s New Moon was accompanied by so much activity, it almost seems strange that the newly waxing Moon is already on its way out of Aquarius, ingressing Pisces at 4:11 am EST. The Moon in Pisces has a visionary, dreamy, romantic and poetic feel, which sounds rather pleasant. It certainly sounds emotionally gentle, which may be welcome for many of us. But the Moon is not operating in a vacuum – and it seems that the dreaminess you may feel today is at odds with other corners of the sky.

For one thing, Venus, also in Pisces, is making a square to the Great Attractor today into tomorrow. The Great Attractor is that deep-space point in mid-Sagittarius that is pulling our solar system toward it, while it in turn is rushing away from us. At essence, this setup brings tension to the issues of attraction and repulsion in your life — and that can manifest in many ways, with a variety of emotions involved.

The Moon catches up with Venus tomorrow, which could amplify whatever you’re feeling about who and what you do or don’t attract and why, as well as who and what you are attracted to (or repelled by). That’s where some of the rest of the sky, with more mental leanings, may provide some tools. The trick, as is often the case, is to be mindful of those thoughts (negative mental loops are hot helpful; using some logic to notice what you don’t know, however, is) and to reach for the right tool. No sense grabbing a sledge hammer when a sculptor’s chisel will do, or a paint roller to touch up the portrait you’ve been working on.

The Sun is still only in the early degrees of Aquarius, lending a little detachment to our inner workings if we stay open to it. Stephanie Gailing at Planetary Apothecary has written of the Sun in Aquarius that “The focus [is on] how to solve problems and help make things better, not just for ourselves from for the larger world around us.”

That actually describes a foil for Venus square the Great Attractor: if you can pull up out of any unrequited longing you may be experiencing, you may notice the ways you can actively make your world work a little better. Gailing continues, “You may notice over the coming month a sense of pulling back, a slight (or not so slight) distancing [of] yourself from situations. The impetus isn’t because you don’t care — it’s that you do and you realize that standing back can give valuable pattern-recognition perspectives to help you better understand issues so as to spark solutions.”

If part of that pattern-recognition includes noticing the tendency to get so caught up in romantic wanting that you come a bit unmoored from your center and your own life path, keep that understanding front and center. The other mentally-oriented event at play – which is with us for eight months (almost 3 of which are retrograde) – is Mars in Virgo, which began Monday with the New Moon.

Willow at Willow’s Web Astrology writes, “Throughout this time, we’ll be directed down only the most pertinent and effective channels in our lives, honing and refining our courses and withdrawing personal energy from anything that is not necessary, valuable, or vital moving forward. This process is happening, specifically, in the house or houses where Virgo falls in your natal chart. That’s the area where things need to be tightened.”

So if you’re feeling at all drawn in these couple of days to emotional habits that do not move you forward, or unnecessary romantic gestures and drama, considering collecting that energy back up and aiming it toward actions that keep you centered, vital and clear. No one is saying not to dream, desire or love. Far from it. But as Willow continues in her article, those who grasp the sexual (Mars) element of health (Virgo) highlighted now will be called to move with greater and more precise awareness in their relationships. Specifically, there is “a new awareness and focus on the health of the individual, the partner, the relationship, the immediate social groups and society, and the spirit, in general. There’s a re-wiring of attractions and sexual habits here, a clarification, and a removal of toxic sexual connections. Holistic sexual health.”

Here’s to remembering that you are whole, as you are, where you are. Tempting as it may be to go rushing off after that ‘missing piece’ drawing you away, if it were really missing from you, there would be a way to get there.

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13 thoughts on “Venus square the Great Attractor: Attract-repel-notice”

  1. Popped awake at 2:11amPST…which would be an hour off the ingress – well; whatever!

    There was no sleeping after that until 4:30ish when I had quick succession of cut/n/paste video as it were. my notes are cryptic but the first one says “hating mothers” the second “wet art left on desks” “building a bed of rice for the dogs” — there are several more but the one that stood out most was a 30-second spot wherein the other woman in my “v” clearly said (to the man we are both attached to) that they should always include me in all of their activities from now on.

    That would be a bit much, but at least my subconscious is optimistic. 🙂
    Gotta love ’em, those dreams!

  2. Well, my last remembered dream involved moving to a city that I did not know, but was excited about being in. A North American feel to the place, definitely not Asian or European, familiar yet unfamiliar. Coastal, or at least next to a large body of water. Not Chicago, or any West Coast locales.

    Dreamless last night…

  3. Negative mental loops, emotional patterns…yup. Not sure that I’ve ever read anything that so poignantly speaks to exactly where I am right now – thanks for that!

  4. She is a beautiful Pisces woman and she tugs on my heart strings man! I’ll just breathe for now…………. We’ve been exchanging glances. Then I black out…..

  5. HS — i see nothing about flowers in the post! the question is, does she walk away when you approach? 😉

    wow — interesting dream night all around, huh? i got a call yesterday from a former lover (i’ll call him “M”) i’ve been trying to keep out of my energetic sphere (we haven’t “done anything” in almost 3 years, but cross paths a lot & he considers us closer friends than i do). he wants to get together for dinner sometime. i have no desire to put myself in that proximity. but he has a particular set of guilt-hooks in me, and i find myself replying in vague ways rather than simply saying “no.”

    so he shows up in a dream last night, complete with a very familiar inner conflict i’ve been trying to sort out. it has something to do with guilt, and letting go, and in some weird way, seems to have some link to my mother…

  6. so, what you’re saying is, I shouldn’t spontaneously buy flowers for the girl down the hall from me? …..hmmmmpff.
    😉

  7. I woke up this morning from a dream in which I was at a restaurant waiting for my husband and his friend to return from going out for something. When they didn’t come back for over an hour, I called his cell phone only to hear the voice of a Black male telling me he had robbed my husband but that he was ok. The guy on the phone didn’t sound threatening or even angry but that felt so creepy to me. I was so distraught that I woke up.

    I don’t know yet what that dream means.

    The transiting Mars Rx is happening in my first house and transiting Venus is one degree from my seventh house cusp.

    Weird way to start the day indeed.

    The dream reminded me of the Republican rebuttal to the SOTU last night; that rebuttal was meant to instill fear (the usual tactic of the Conservatives).
    The dream was also meant to instill fear. I will not succumb to that.

  8. Wow! Some dream, Patti! Actually – water coming in is meant to be really positive in dreams, a letting in of emotions. I was thinking that maybe there was some instant karma in my mum’s phone call – given that I’d posted the Police song Mother yesterday – opening line “is that my mother on the phone?”….

  9. Thanks for the supportive words. My Moon, Venus and Pluto are in Virgo. Huffy I awoke at 4am from a dream of floods, water pouring in all over the house and no way to stop it. After yesterday’s lengthy maternal discussion good old mom as there too, painfully oblivious to it all and planning a dinner party. Definitely don’t feel like going to work today…!

  10. Thank you. So needed to read these words this morning, makes it all so crystal clear. Woke up at 5, with the image of a moving train coming to a grinding halt, the screeching of breaks, smell of metal (my Mars is n Virgo, and really appreciated eric’s rundown in Fri’s newsletter). In fact my computer blocked completely yesterday evening, and to tie in with yesterday’s blog and mothers (and food!)I had an hysterical phone call from my mum. I’ve been trying to secretly organise food deliveries for her, from miles away, because when I was over at xmas I saw that she wasn’t up to shopping online anymore, and she’s not getting any fruit or veg in. She still thinks she’s running a tight ship as she used to. An)yway, she found out yesterday that I was operating behind the scenes (have tried doing it upfront with her but have got nowhere), and she obviously felt humiliated, and was furious and upset. Managed to calm her down in the end. Oy vei….

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