Things that reflect or amplify serve a dual purpose. In positive situations, they show us or give us more of what is desired. We tend to think of this as ‘good’. In negative situations, they show or give us more of what we don’t want. We generally call that ‘bad’. But it doesn’t have to be, if we add one crucial factor to the equation: awareness.
Awareness sometimes seems even more helpful in situations we call ‘bad’ — though being aware of the ‘good’ is key to enjoying and being grateful for it, and sharing it with others. This is the role I see the Moon playing over the next couple of days as it interacts with planets in prickly situations in Aries: that as it amplifies or reflects what is going on, the key to using it as a balm or emotional escape valve is your own ability to bring your deeper awareness to whatever transpires.
Here’s the scene: if you read Monday’s Daily Astrology post, you know that Friday’s Mars-Uranus conjunction in Aries (exact at 2:17 pm EDT and in effect now) has the potential to manifest as serious volatility. That can come in the form of combativeness/militancy, sudden and serious (and avoidable, if you stay conscious and proactive) accidents, and unpleasant consequences to hasty decisions (though productive results may come from thinking things through).
Mars-Uranus is an aspect that some might approach with fear, but I think approaching it with a high degree of focus and a reminder to count to ten (or 100) if something unexpected sets you off is a more constructive tack. (And don’t forget basics like driving the speed limit and avoiding thoughtless, easily avoidable risks.) In other words, using your awareness is key to mitigating (or preventing) damage.
Along with that Aries activity, Venus ingresses Aries today at 11:15 pm EDT. Aries is a prickly spot for Venus. It’s the sign Mars rules and the sign of ‘I am’, and those two factors make it difficult for Venus to express herself well there. She takes on the assertiveness associated with Martian passion and loses some of the receptivity and empathy we usually associate with her. It’s not a death sentence for love by any means (I have Venus in Aries myself), but it often makes it easy to forget to look at situations from a partner’s perspective.
Again, it’s awareness and a level of heightened emotional or social intelligence that offers a way to work with Venus in Aries. Self-assertion and awareness of one’s own needs in sex and love is great; it just isn’t the end of the story.
The key is to be conscious of that tendency or dynamic so that you remember to take the next step in balancing out a relationship. If one’s first impulse is not to give or nurture or allow in (different from ‘getting’), it will take that extra awareness to develop those things as second and third impulses.
So over the next couple of days, as we adjust to the challenge of our feminine principle wearing Mars’ cock and balls, and Mars holding a match to Uranus, does the astrology offer any assistance?
I think so, and the Moon is one place it’s coming from. The waxing Moon ingresses Leo at 2:50 am EDT on Friday, and over the next couple of days proceeds to trine Venus, the Sun, Mars and Uranus in fairly quick succession. Trines are known to be easeful, flowing aspects that occur between signs of like element — in this case, fire. It might sound counterintuitive that adding fire to fire could help what I’ve been describing, but bear with me.
First of all, these trines the Moon is making have positive descriptions attached to them: loving, harmonious, positive for domestic and public life, attracting resources (Venus); harmony between inner and outer self, stability, self-reliance (Sun); vitality, harmony between will and actions, constructive (Mars); originality, independence, healing potential (Uranus).
Now, the Moon is about our inner, emotional life. It may not have the same kind of worldly impact carried by Mars conjunct Uranus. But it is this fabulously effective reflector and amplifier. Can you allow it to amplify your awareness of what is going well in your life (and in the world) and see your own reflection in that?
Or if, over the next few days you find yourself living through some of the less desirable possibilities described here, can you allow it to show you all the little steps that led you there? And as it reflects that picture back to you, will you allow yourself to see whatever lessons it holds? An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure, but failing that, the Moon is offering an emotional escape valve so you can learn from it productively.
Len’s comment about Ansel Adams’ work in which “both distant and close-up objects were in focus at once” beautifully captures the essence of mindful awareness, a comment for my needs now.
Aries is the initiator. Time to write out the real new year list of what you want to accomplish this season, starting with the words “I AM.”
This reminds me of a quote that I have hung in plain sight: “Whatever follows ‘I am’ will come looking for you.” Joel Osteen. Don’t know where I plucked it from; could have even been here at PW.
Eye yam wot eye yam. Onward into the new Zodiacal year, setting intentions.
Thanks, Amanda.
JannKinz
Dion Fortune said in The Mystical Qabalah that Venus’ energy really comes into itself when associated with Fire, and that the Seven of Wands Tarot card (Valour) is representative of this. I think Venus in Aries symbolises quite neatly the courage to love unconditionally, to fight for a good cause, or to protect something held dear, in the face of apparently insurmountable obstacles.
Thank you for your wonderful comment, Patty. Will put it to good use. xx
The best teachers are those who can reimagine their material and continue to offer it in different ways until the student can make it her own. I know you’ve said this before, Len, and I appreciate your willingness to say it again: narrow focus, long view. Don’t get distracted, keep the big picture in mind. Your image of Ceres’ energy as being “the one who has the most grace and compassion” is lovely. I’ll get there, but for now the frightened child in me humbly thanks you.
Aries is the initiator. Time to write out the real new year list of what you want to accomplish this season, starting with the words “I AM.” I am helping one homeless person; I am exercising; I am planting a garden; I am a loving person, etc. Don’t say “Iam going to…I am going to be a loving person when I stop being a long-faced negative troll.” Like the words in the song that say something like, ‘…you get addicted to a certain kind of sadness.’ You know exactly what that means, and it is time to stop. Stop looking for excuses and someone to blame and start looking for solutions. That is what Aries is really good at.
Strawberry: Amanda has accepted my offer of service to answer your questions, and i pray that you will as well. First: the orb of any aspect will vary, depending upon the astrologer and the planets involved. There is no hard-and-fast to rule them all. In general, however (with a nod to William Lilly’s guidelines) anything within five degrees is “close enough for government work” if the aspect is between two objects or points. Next, Chiron opposed Ceres is not a bad thing. Your focus is your reality. Chiron has a lot to do with focus, the kind that Ansel Adams achieved in his photographs, where both distant and close-up objects were in focus at once. The main thing you have to remember about Chiron (referred to by Al Morrison as “the inconvenient benefic”) is that you need to respond to its stimulus by reacting in a way that serves healing rather than hinders it. You serve healing by focusing on what good you can do for yourself and others. Serving the greater good and your enlightened self interest are not mutually exclusive, they are the same thing if you focus like Ansel Adams. With Ceres in opposition you serve the greater good by being the one who has the most grace and compassion, exercising appropriate discretion while standing in your power and setting your boundaries – in other words, it’s being the grownup in the room full of frightened children. Hopefully you have found my service in answer to your questions to be satisfactory.
As I look back, Chiron retrogrades have been times of huge transformation & upheaval in my life, & I’ve been noticing it opposite my Ceres for a month now. A month of significant inner work and revelation for me. I’m now realizing that due to two separate (?) retrogrades that will keep it within 3 degrees of where it is, Chiron will remain in opposition to my Ceres for the next two years. That’s like forever in me-years. Advice??
I have a basic astrology question: how long (within how many degrees) do you consider the energy of an opposition to be in effect? And does it depend on the speed of the planets involved? I’m thinking of Chiron in Pisces specifically right now.
Amanda: Thank you for emphasizing one of the primary rules of astrology – awareness. It is awareness, first and foremost, that makes astrology actually work for us. Otherwise, the luminaries and planets move on without us. Thank you also for so artfully anticipating the fire trines from the Moon in Leo (where, meaningfully, the Sun rules) to the growing stellium in Aries.
Great advice Amanda, especially the “can you allow it to show you all the little steps that led you there” part. Last November, shortly after Thanksgiving, there was a Gemini lunar eclipse (that followed a Scorpio solar eclipse) which featured Mars in the same degree as Pluto, at 8 deg of Capricorn. Venus was sextile them at 8 degrees of Scorpio and only 2 degrees away from Saturn at 6 Scorpio.
This made that Nov. Saturn quincunx (need to adjust) to the eclipsed Moon at 6 degrees of Gemini. It sounds to me like whatever was hidden by the eclipsed Moon and delayed by Saturn (conjunct Venus and sextile Mars and Pluto) is now being triggered by Mars’ conjunction to Uranus, with the Moon activating that Martian response.
Something else to consider is that tomorrow, Friday, transiting Mercury at 6 Pisces will square the November eclipsed Gemini Moon, but also trine the November eclipse Saturn. So, yes it’s complicated but it is a showtime Leo Moon and she can show all the little steps that led up to this point in time, as she trines Venus, Sun, Uranus and Mars. Underneath it all, it is the Uranus square Pluto energy that could give it explosive power. However, the Venus-Moon delivery should take the dangerous edge out of expression of that power.
A specific example could be the aftermath of the November U.S. election; Netenyahu “backed” Romney but he lost to Obama, and now Obama is visiting his country, Israel. Very touchy. Still, Mercury (TV camera) being newly direct, will recall last November’s Saturn which he now trines, as well as his square to that Nov. eclipsed Moon and hopefully, refrain from exposing any “hard feelings” (watery Pisces Mercury and Scorpio Saturn). At November’s eclipse, Mercury in Scorpio was quincunx (adjustment) Vesta in Gemini (investments).
Fingers crossed!
be
Thanks for this great piece, Amanda. Still wading through trauma on the inside, while on the outside, my work situation is pretty dire. But you’re right, awareness is key.