Today is Friday, Jan. 13, 2012.. Today is a big day – which you can read about throughout this past week’s installments of Daily Astrology: Mercury conjunct Pluto and Venus conjunct Neptune. We’ve been tuning into these aspects all week. So now that they are upon us, let’s look ahead just a bit to Venus ingressing Pisces tomorrow.
Yesterday Len Wallick treated us to a lyrical consideration of the buoyancy of fish and the gravity of land; the receptive listening and catch-and-release frame of mind we can use to chart a divine course over the next few weeks. The post was a demonstration in itself of the creative fertility this transit offers everyone. And the energy goes beyond artistic expression – though that s excellent use of this energy. Venus is exalted in Pisces, combining the personal affection of Venus with the divine compassion of Neptune, modern ruler of Pisces (which will join Venus Feb 3). Because of this combination – love and compassion – Isabel Hickey notes the willingness of this placement to sacrifice for love, to be wounded by love – because only in knowing love can the freedom of the spirit be known.
It’s something that sounds at once hopelessly romantic and yet unnecessarily painful. Mere mortals can be left wondering if it’s possible to know love without pain, or to find that freedom of spirit with a bit more discrimination as to whom we entrust our hearts. Alan Oken, in his book Soul-Centered Astrology, offers some perspective: “In Pisces, Venus turns knowledge into wisdom, learning how to blend the discrimination of reason with the urge to love all people universally.” Blending love with discrimination to form wisdom seems to translate to: stay grounded (or in this case, in contact with the water) as you learn to swim in deep waters; if you remember the vast power of the ocean, you can enjoy it by maintaining respect for it.
Or, it could be said this way: it could be easy to be swept away in the tides (or rip currents) of romance. What may take a little more conscious thought and action, yet ultimately be more fruitful in the long run, is to use this transit to attune yourself to the beauty in everything, including yourself; to seek ‘right relationships’ with everyone – beginning with yourself.
Monday Venus makes a conjunction to Chiron, which is still in very early Pisces. Chiron is going to focus this sense of love and surrender and show you where and how you can use it to heal your relationships – again, beginning with your relationship to yourself. Specifically, with Venus involved, expect the focus of healing to be your feminine side. We are not, in Western culture, terribly well attuned to our receptive sides as being valuable, though that may be shifting. Receptivity has a special kind of power, shapes a clear container, in which truly transformational surrender can occur. Many of us have grown up cut off from that, instead seeing the 1970s model of Mars-feminisits held up as the ideal.
But guess what Barbara Hand Clow has called Venus in aspect to Chiron? “The orgasmic fusion of the cosmos.”
Whoa. That is no small thing. And neither is surrendering to love – or erotic energy. But what is the key to surrendering to love in creative, holistic fusion rather than getting caught in a tsunami of delusion? Self-knowledge.
Anaïs Nin put it this way: “Eroticism is one of the basic means of self knowledge, as indispensable as poetry.” And she should know: A Pisces by Sun, she also had her Venus in Pisces conjunct Eris – and sextile Chiron. There is not space here to go into Nin’s full chart (which fits her to a T), but that article is in the works. Suffice to say, if you are familiar with her life and writing, you can see her absolute surrender to love and self-knowledge, creative expression, erotic daring and healing. Venus conjunct Eris would seem to demonstrate Nin’s independence, and in particular, her sexual independence. But her struggle with that can be heard when she writes:
My concept of love clashed with my desire to create. Everyone’s life and love were more important than my own.
Creation I considered a danger to my loves, my human relationships. In creation I would reveal what I was, in opposition to the roles I played to be whatever anyone needed.
Her Venus conjunct Eris practically leaps from that quote – the division within between herself as lover and herself as creator, one part seemingly banished as she embodies the Pisces trait of ‘everyone’s life/love but mine’. Nin surrendered and sacrificed, loved and tasted freedom, experienced pain and great passion. She was a woman and an artist who took chances, who went deep, whom no one was going to stop. Find your inner Nin. Catalyze the fusion of the cosmos this weekend. Know yourself — and know you can heal.
Looking for insights on how this week’s astrology affects your personal Sun and rising signs? Try out Planet Waves Light, our streamlined horoscope service. For deeper cultural context and astrological investigation, the premium Planet Waves subscription includes the same horoscopes, plus extensively-researched articles on Fridays.
I too feel profoundly as though I am walking these words, and reveling in the gentle yet lively support of this community. blessings~ph
aword,
There’s always magic in natal Venus; just wait until February 21! Pallas-Athene, the thinking woman’s asteroid, will be conjunct that New Moon, and Valentine’s Day for you should prove to be spectacular. Hang on to your heart and your mind and above all, your soul. Report back.
be
zerosity,
“Think with the heart, Love/feel with the mind. Perfect. A kind of walk-a-mile-in-my-shoes arrangement for our faculties could prove to be a lesson in consciousness raising at the very least! I would guess your dream of living in a Transition Town would fit into this picture too.
Next month when the Moon squares her nodes like she did yesterday she will be in a degree whose Sabian picture is of men traveling a narrow path, seeking illumination. Dane Rudhyar says “The Path is always open to the pure in heart, the mentally aware, the conqueror of emotions and the spiritually self-mobilized.” It doesn’t say whether the “men” are walking or driving or riding bikes but in any case, having your bumper sticker where those behind you could read it would be a great incentive to them I would think, er feel….
Then too, on Valentine’s day next month Mercury will conjunct Neptune, now in Pisces for the long haul, and the day after that, Venus will square Pluto from Aries. What a challenge for the thinking heart and the feeling mind on such a traditional day of love. It’s Venus’ first square since her December 1 conjunction to Pluto. This could surely qualify her for the Overthinkers’ Anonymous club, don’t you reckon?
be
be: the bumper sticker for \the ride in the year cycle of Venus/Neptune and Mercury/Pluto:
Think with the heart, love (feel) with the mind.
Given my self-imposed task of shedding my legally trained brain, I am going to charge myself with being conscious of what the heart and mind are doing and then switch. May I can now better appreciate my homiletics professor’s admonition to me several years ago that I – like him – was a charter member of “Ovethinkers’ Anonymous.” Time to flick the switch and not the Bic.
Perhaps the subtleties of the septile will be permeating our subconscious as we strive for a better, more balanced consciousness?
JannKinz
thank you marymack and Burning River for your letting me know, I’m so touched that you liked it. 🙂
Thank you All, so much.
Be, I do not have anything concrete yet (why would this Fish have that?) But I can tell you for sure that of which you speak is the wave I am riding.
And with triggers my natal yods pendulum swingging now shifting somewhat from a base of Pluto to Uranus…(and there must be some magic in natal Venus at 00AQ with today’s conjunction in last degree)
I am feeling something as powerful as a very large waterfall coming, perhaps that will be a water-up, not a fall-down – but feeling my way through the spray and the fog will take awhile and a lot of discernment.
xo
Thank you-this is so beautifully written, and so thought-provoking and inspirational 🙂
Still processing and absorbing this post, but wanted to mention that I _adore_ today’s picture. Really, I look at it and it just fills me with a soul-smile. It makes me Happy.
stormi — that is really too cool. thanks for sharing! 🙂 you can hang out here as much as you like — and that goes for everyone else receiving and offering nourishment here. i like the idea of being a filmmaker/narrator of that sort…
ah sorry, meant the man made a cameo last night. but actually amanda, you made a cameo a couple of nights ago when i had the circus of identity chaos dream. it was right at the end but it was like you were a filmmaker/narrator showing me a video with the screen reading something about getting lucky and a star. both were very light presences/presents/reminders. also probably a sign i hang out here too much. 😉
getcalm — love your method. i’ll have to try it out.
stormi — i was in your dream last night? or were you talking about anais?
GetCalm,
I love your perspective! That’s exactly how I approach it (though I didn’t use the same phrase). Living consciously takes work but it is so well worth it.
I suppose I’m drawn to analyzing these New Cycles of Venus and Neptune, as well as Mercury and Pluto, when in fact, the energies themselves prefer a blending that disguises or even hides the details I’m searching for. How ironic is it that the two sets of inner and outer planets have decided to wed, in a manner of speaking, some “one” from a different “level” at the same time?
How remarkable that it is the last degree, a most important and transitional degree, of an air sign, the LAST of the 3 air signs in fact, where the union of Venus to Neptune has taken place, when neither of these planets are directly associated with thinking. That the Mercury to Pluto cycle has started this time in an earth sign suggests something tangible will be the outcome, although whatever that may be will be hidden from view and discussed discreetly.
Interesting as it is, the aspect between the 2 sets of new beginnings doesn’t lend itself to the typical method for research. The septile aspect of just under 52 degrees is a mystical energy, operating in such subtle ways as to be undetectible to the eyes or ears or “normal” thinking. Perchance the gods just want their privacy at this time or perhaps it is more than that. Perhaps the outer gods have wed the inner gods in order to cultivate a latent sense in humanity, an undeveloped sense, or a hidden or disposed-of sense.
As you say, the receptive feminine aspect of human beings no longer carries much value in the thinking of modern civilization. But. . . . Neptune dissolves boundries and lines of demarkation in order to include the un-included, while Pluto will uncover the outworn by digging up its remains in whatever system, device or container it is attached to. By releasing Venus from her former constrictions and Mercury undergoing a thorough “cleansing”, both at the same time. . . . does this not suggest a change in the way we “think” about “love”? It is an equal opportunity moment in our history.
A new way to think and a new way to love seem destined to take place during the playing out of this cycle of about a year. It might even be a combination of the two senses. . thinking with the heart might develop into a useful and valuable faculty of modern man/woman. If you see evidence of such, as of now, hidden developments, would you please pass them on? Thank you so much!
be
To find the Inner Nin—oh yes! may it be so!
And hs, thanks for sharing your beautiful heart in such beautiful words with us.
(((all)))
may I just say that i am so moved by the poety here … gorgeous use of language, inspiring and sensual … thank you Hugging Scorpio for sharing such treasure.
as to aspects to Eris, I’ve witnessed my mars in aries behaviour soooo not acceptable to the groups I’ve known and thus I’ve toned it all down and turned it all off and live a life of … less than me.
I so admire the fearlessness of Nin and the women who put it all out there, authentically and let ‘er rip. That’s where my intentions lay … lie?
mm.
ah, this explains my dreaming last night, and the cameo by you. plus, it’s freya’s day, the 13th. bliss*full! 😉
♥☮♫
Carrie, I love your perspective and employ it myself – but only when I can make it a conscious choice.
Where I find myself suffering from the unnecessary pain is when I surrender and sacrifice without it being a conscious decision.
With conscious decision making, I can feel the joy of serving another. That (for me) demonstrates compassion and love, engaging in true relationship with others. If my surrender and sacrifice is made from an unconscious place (either to “people please” or manipulate or because I feel worth-less) it is not love and instead creates the walls of the prison of resentment.
Since freedom is what I seek, I am committed to making my choices with as much consciousness as I can. A simple inner tool I employ is “If I were to make my intent/motive known to the other for why I am saying/doing this, would it demonstrate love?” If so, I am free to continue and may even make my intent known aloud. If not, I should “out” myself by making my motive known (which I’m not likely to do!) and that means I should reconsider whether to continue with my planned action or speech.
Imagine what a change we could effect, in ourselves and in others, by employing this simple inner test before speaking or acting! That’s a love revolution!
Thanks PW,
would love to share a poem I wrote a couple of years ago:
Within the Lovers’ Plume
Dissolving through sight
Resolving into light
A Darkness whose time has come
To lend its shadow upon a separate night.
Transpose a deeper ray
From underneath these lovers lay
Underpinning backdrops
From a starry milky way
Suns lighting candescent scenes
Filtering down long held back dreams
Incinerating those who chose
To block and perjure against
These hearts that conjured a mistaken fence
Who fathomed no disguise
Withstanding quiet lies
Sifting sands on a sublunar beach
Straining for an angel’s speech
Of tales uniting Psyche’s lover teach.
And undisturbed a plume surrounds
In gold a garden newly found
Far from eyes these two entwine
A long awaited eon shine.
Past Moon and Sun their distant face
To calmer times and peace, replace
The memory that lived inside a darkened space
Their freedom, to us their gift, –
Our hopes and dreams, with love they lift.
D Palmo
Have an amazing weekend,
HS
“Her Venus conjunct Eris practically leaps from that quote – the division within between herself as lover and herself as creator, one part seemingly banished as she embodies the Pisces trait of ‘everyone’s life/love but mine’. Nin surrendered and sacrificed, loved and tasted freedom, experienced pain and great passion.”
Ahhhh….so there’s a phrase for what I do. That care I have for those I love (thanks, Mystes for saying that yesterday in another reply) and my love for self and the balance I reach now has a face. The words “surrender” and “sacrifice” are not negative.
Too long the psychobabble du jour around me has been “do what feels good to you” yet my heart could not run with that because part of what feels good to me is loving others and caring for their feelings. So sometimes, I give up some things I desire (or think I desire based on hormonal changes) in order to preserve the feelings of others.
Often, when I do that, the feedback consensus around me is that I am “trapping” myself and “not allowing my true nature to be free.” Yet my moon in Capricorn and my Pisces sun tell me that holding back for the sake of balance IS what makes me free. I feel better when I balance my desires with my love and care for others. So I surrender and sacrifice…like Nin and become free in the process. Free from pain, free from complication.
This freedom is not always apparent to folks looking from the outside because they cannot understand that sometimes, both sacrifice and surrender can feel so good and so appropriate. From inside the deep waters of my heart, they are entirely appropriate at times. Our society has been too long one of “anything goes as long as it makes you feel good” which is imbalanced and completely ignores “the other” people in our lives and how they are affected. They matter because when they don’t we are not in balance. They don’t matter more than me, but their feelings carry equal value to mine. So in thinking about my desires, I have to think of my loved ones’ feelings too and assign them equal value.
Thanks for this article; it articulates what I live.
Anaïs Nin – Someone I have ALWAYS admired. Thank you for including her in today’s AWESOME piece.