By Len Wallick
It’s Thursday, please pause and take a deep breath. Hold it just a bit. Let it out more slowly than you took it in. Slowly. The end of the week and the month are not so far away now.
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Depending on where you are, the Leo Full Moon conjoined with retrograde Mars will take place in two days or less. Opposed to the Moon and Mars the Sun will be nearly conjoined with Venus in Aquarius. Stop and think about it. You don’t have to be an astrologer to know that Venus and the Moon imply a feminine energy. You can feel it when you see them in the sky. You have known it since you can remember. It is unmistakable. You know it in your body. Soon, they stand opposed with us in the middle.
When you stand under the Sun at mid-day and when you stare up at the steady red glow of Mars, you know without thinking that they are a masculine presence. An easy guess. Knowledge without thought. Soon, they stand apposed with us in the middle.
The male luminary, conjoined with the female planet. The female luminary conjoined with the male planet. Exchange, consort-ion, emergence, manifestation. With us in the middle. We can of course, readily shut it off, change the channel, opt out. We are superbly conditioned to distraction. This one time, try something else. Tomorrow and the day after take what you experience in the world and compare it to what you know in you body. Try, really try, to maintain that awareness and perspective for two days. See what happens.
The day after the Full Moon, January winds up with the second square between Pluto and retrograde Saturn. Neither one of them is a rebel, or an outsider, or an underdog. They are both lords of the established order with a taste for turf. Most of us are serfs on that turf, the alternative would be to live like an animal – don’t fool yourself. But because Saturn (the immovable object) and Pluto (the irresistible force) confront each other on the cross of cardinal signs, we feel their own struggle within as pressure to stir from complacency and act somehow. That some and how will define us. How often do you get an opportunity, however stressful, to define yourself? It can be painful. Remember, in the first “Matrix” movie? Neo’s eyes hurt because he had never used them before.
We have had steps to this point. Venus transited into Aquarius. The Moon completed an air trine between Saturn and the Sun. Two rare and simultaneous yods (“Y” shaped aspects involving three astrological bodies). One with a promise and a caution for its focus, Mars in preparation for the gender dynamic of the Full Moon. The other yod offering Mercury the fertile rewards of participation in resonance Saturn-Pluto square.
Today, on the threshold, they are tested as they move through a gauntlet of sorts.
As the Sun approaches the point of opposition, it is squared on one side by the minor planet stellium in Scorpio (Ceto, Deucalion and Poseidon) that being to mind the immense terror in the term “deep blue sea”. On the other side Askapaphus (in Taurus) with specter of suffering health, and opposed by Atropos in Leo (the Fate who cut the thread of life). What courage it must take for Sol to keep moving through.
As the Moon approaches its moments she suddenly finds herself averse to the Sun then opposed by Mercury. What faith it must take for her to advance to completion.
Courage and faith do indeed allow us to persevere, but to stay on course, in our lane, we need one other quality, discretion. Born of awareness, tempered by judgment, balanced by authentic compassion – the ability to discern. Between discomfort (the physical body telling you its truth) and anxiety (the mind telling you its lies). Between Patience (waiting for the promise of opportunity) and avoidance (rejecting the risk of opportunity).
And that takes us back to the Mars-pointing yod. The upper part a sextile between Mercury and his Other, Hermes, conjunct with Psyche. The mid point of this sextile is the realm of the trickster. Scorning patience as a waste of time for the weak to indulge in, confusing temporary discomfort with anxiety, offering avoidance as a false solace, tempting us to let go of awareness and enter into illusion.
All the while we feel the square aspect between a Titan and a Tyrant insinuating as though down our throat. With the trickster in control we might be persuaded to bite off the head of the serpent when in fact it is no snake and we would only be rejecting the nourishment we need. Or we may be persuaded to swallow poison in the guise of medicine. Only through discretion can we know. Only through awareness can we discern.
So that’s the opportunity we came here to harvest. To persevere with courage in the face of fear. To sustain faith in the face of alienation. To combine these two with awareness and discretion to know transcendence, not just as an idea, but in the body as we know the Sun and the Moon. And that’s a fine thing.
Offered In Service
ashawf: yes.
beth: yes yes yes!
i might have to get myself skating sometime, too. although the thrill of whizzing down a snow-packed hill on a sled this weekend felt pretty exhilarating.
i’ve felt most of the night like i want to pick a fight with someone… all this bottle up tension really needs to be channeled safely and productively. i know what i need to do (at least the first part), and the baby steps toward doing it are accumulating.
auntie racquel: funny, but as someone who’s had a shifting cycle all her life, i think i actually like it better when i’m in sync with a quarter moon! seems a little mellower. i should be starting any minute, and the hormones on top of the astrology this week have been killing me. it’s a mini miracle i haven’t bitten a real head off, but i guess there’s still time…
Thank you one & all, it is a continuing joy to read PlanetWaves & the PW’s family comments & as always it reflects this body mind organism’s inner transformations clearly.
Wandering Yeti, surely a major (extra & most useful) sex organ such as the uterus/womb, cannot be written off as a ‘superficial difference’?
Continuing on that theme it is the luna cycles that moves the tides of the oceans & menstruating women; I follow this cycle in my calendar purely to confirm when my menstrual cycle will begin; all unequivocally feminine.
However WY I agree & am sincerely most interested with everything else you say (always read your comments) & in fact everything else most whole heartedly that all of you good people say.
with much love from a luna chick! (ha ha! could not resist!)
Racquel J-P xxx
for some reason our mutual courage is bringing me to tears
humans. I salute each one.
bearing witness.
ashawf – thank you for your interpretation of this profound aspect. Your words are a rich and welcome extra layer of perspective. Well said!
Beth,
Thank you for your inspiring real-life metaphor. “that’s what i’m talkin’ bout!”. Ladies and gentlemen, take Beth’s advice, put on your skates and fly on the ice!
” Between discomfort (the physical body telling you its truth) and anxiety (the mind telling you its lies). Between Patience (waiting for the promise of opportunity) and avoidance (rejecting the risk of opportunity).”
Ya, I am feeling this one big time. Last night I let the mind get to me, I kept a straight face all day, kept all those anxieties bottled up real deep and well hidden, and then the tiniest insignificant obstacle caused a full blown bull-shit festival. The girl in the gas station did not deserve to get yelled at like that…
I had a pretty significant appointment this morning, and I had been letting the anxiety build. I was feeling pretty bad about yelling at gas station girl, so I decided to go ice skating which is something I have not done since I was about 8 and never any good at. Nothing screams avoidance like not taking the opportunity to tread on a perilously slippery surface having only a thin blade or two support you.
When I finally let go of the wall is when it hit me — I let go and stood on my own two feet. Nevermind how I stumble and fall, that happens. It was great whizzing around on that ice, and when I opened my eyes a little wider and listened to my body, it only got better.
I compared this experience to my life in general, and learned a thing or two out there, or maybe I just remembered them. Either way, it just worked and I was able to trust myself a little more this morning. Enjoying the ride, or allowing myself to enjoy the ride, really is not that bad. In fact it may be the best thing that has ever happened to me!
Here is my interpretation of Full Moon conjuct Mars in Leo and Venus Conjunct Sun in Aquarius
To me it seems like the Higher self is at odds with Lower self or you can say there is a conflict between the Higher purpose (Soul purpose) and the purpose that is more connected to personality born out of emotions and desires. The fact that the moon is full indicates that this personality motivated purpose will find a way to align with Soul purpose.
For Cancer, Leo is a second house of resources, resources being the natural resources the able body, breathing heart, thinking mind, intellegence, intellect, senses, imaginaion, creativity, perception all these spiritual assets have to be put to use to attain spiritual purpose.
Or if I look at Leo as a fifth house of self expression, it is saying that it is time to work towards the higher purpose that serves a bigger cause, bigger than yourself, serve the universe. !!!!
Thanks
eek!
i know the trickster is at work, because i just read those last few paragraphs and felt the anxiety of second-guessing creep in.
i’m going to refer to the random “thought for a day” card i pulled last night at the beginning of a shift at a job i’m looking to evolve out of:
“success. live in alignment with your values, vision, abilities and potential.”
“no,” i tell myself, “i am not about to drink poison. i am reaching for nourishment. it is time to take that risk of opportunity.”
*deep breath*
WY, I get your chafing at the gender assignments, but the fact is most of us ARE the descendants of Greco-Roman overlords. Even if you are Celtic, there is a long tap root back to the Roman Empire. There’s a blurry space in the Caucasus where West/East are articulated, but even that has more Roman values built in.
I study and use Asian systems as well, but while fully understanding that at an unconscious level I still the Moon as my mother, Sol as my father. When I am states outside of ‘language’ (beyond the speaking-being-in-time) they carry a different weight entirely. But *in* language, inside of the identity I use to negotiate and preserve my lifeforce, the code Len is using is the major currency.
Shalom,
M
wandering_yeti,
Thank you for your response that resonates with Eric’s blog (below) regarding what he calls the “transgender theme”. Rest assured that i am NOT an Aristotlean – after all it was Aristotle who characterised women as “mutillated men without souls”. Neither do i identify with the fascist “Roman way of organizing thought”. However, i do know what i feel in my body. The key here is to experience the transit in the body, not in the intellect. In that way the trickster (who would divide us and place us into confused conflict) can be foiled and we can transcend our differences in the body and not just as a mental abstraction. So, yup, you are quite right, absolutely correct and more trancendent in your eloquent expression than i managed to accomplish with mine.
Okay Len, I got it. . courage, faith, . . ummm . .compassion was in there too somewhere. . .awareness and discernment, or discretion.
Today my neighbor friend will come home from a 2 week, 2 day stay in the hospital after cancer surgery. His wife, with him 90 % of that time, will need this advice as much as he.
For that matter, so will his kitty Casey, whom I’ve been caring for during this time. She’s gone through so many emotional changes that the advice could apply to her too, and her “parents” regarding her. I’m sure it is innate with Casey and hope it is with her people too as they do not include astrology in their belief system.
But me . . I KNOW what’s going on, sort of. And thanks to you Len, I know what to watch for and what to do and not do;this cerf will be paying attention. It’s a very confusing time though.
be
The ancient Norse, Native Americans and the Japanese all see the Man in the Moon and the sun as a life giving breast of the goddess. Egyptian goddess Sekhmet is every bit as martial as any deity with a dick. Orpheus partakes of Venus more than Athena. I think it’s a mistake to identify planetary energies exclusively by the gender of the god names Romans gave them. Those names don’t describe “reality” but a very Roman way of organizing thought. This kind of either/or thinking is part of the thought structure that keeps men from knowing their lunar and venusian energies internally, that make us have to live our “feminine” side through women.
These days I prefer to think of Venus as Metal (Western Air), Mars as Fire, Jupiter as Wood (Western Earth), Mercury as Water, and Saturn as Earth (Western Spirit). In my body (and women’s bodies too- we all have the same organs above the belt, and below the belt the differences are really pretty superficial) Venus is my lungs, Mars my heart, Mercury my kidneys, Saturn my spleen/pancreas, and Jupiter my liver. The sun and moon are Yin and Yang, not male/female. That’s a Western distortion of the concept that comes from our intense gender split that Asian cultures don’t have as bad as we do. Yin and Yang can change into each other, none of this Aristotlean the moon IS female and NOT male stuff. Taking away the idea that they’re gods but only energy also helps us get past the idea that we must obey them and remember that we are the creative gods who choose to manifest the energies of the cosmos by the force of our decisions.
Thank you Len