With visible countenance behold me.
– Tatanka Iyotanka, aka Sitting Bull
Venus entered Gemini this morning at about 10:24 am EDT. The Sun, Mercury and the lunar south node were already there. By the same time tomorrow morning, Venus — often called the minor benefic — will already have made a first planetary aspect from its new sign. This will be a square with retrograde Neptune, from mutable Gemini to mutable Pisces.
Squares denote an inner tension. The usual remedy is to act on it. The prerequisite for action is always awareness. When Neptune is involved, that can be problematic. The solution is to approach from the other side.
Venus has to do with attraction. If there is tension surrounding an attraction, it is probably a form of attachment. In other words, wanting what you want to the exclusion of anything else. Pisces can make it an emotional issue but Gemini can offer options. Simply accepting an alternative for now can open you to a release and keep you from getting stuck.
Letting go of an emotional investment in a fixed outcome is not just a practical way to move on into the weekend. It will also set a pattern that is consistent with the changes implied by Venus entering Gemini at this particular time. To emulate that new pattern would involve initiating a process of self-conversion by actively engaging with your own consciousness.
While in Taurus, Venus was resplendent as the traditional (or exoteric) ruler. It was the brightest light in a rare and visible pre-dawn stellium that included Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. For several weeks an early riser could see its crystalline expression of self-possession and abundance. It was, quite literally, a physical reality. Now, with exquisite timing, it begins a process of transmutation.
By entering Gemini, Venus changes more than just its sign of occupation. It is shifting roles as it slowly approaches the Sun. As the esoteric ruler of Gemini, it will become less like the tangible body and more like that which mysteriously animates the flesh. As it closes with the dawn it will also serve as a symbolic connection with the greater spirit that mystically links all souls in union. What is being lost to our grasp will thus made up for by an extended reach. This metamorphic process is not limited to one planet. Like a ripple in still water, it is spreading.
It starts with Mercury, which is no longer visible in the morning. It is preparing to pass behind the Sun this coming Sunday. In doing so, it will begin a hand-off of sorts. It will symbolically release attachment to ideas that served well while displayed on the eastern horizon. Thus unburdened, it will ride unseen towards the western sky. It will appear again at sunset just in time for the Cancer solstice.
So it is, as we round the bend toward a powerful lunar eclipse, that we are blessed with an example of how to prepare for what it will bring. Two planets are dancing with the Sun. Venus is just beginning; Mercury is nearing a climax. As Gemini would have it, they are two sides of a single coin. The value, and the message, is the same no matter which side you look at.
To follow their example is to do a type of Sun dance yourself. In this case, with what the Sun represents, your own consciousness. Begin by being aware that there are nearly always at least two choices. Take the first step with a willingness to recognize and accept what does not work. Then get into the rhythm by releasing inner attachment to external outcome. Show your stamina by remaining open to a new way of thinking as opposed to exhausting yourself in fixation. Demonstrate your courage by embracing new attractions. Before long your dance will no longer be imaginary. It will take on a new reality from practice. Through experiment, repetition and discipline, the new reality will integrate, and become, a new you.
Offered In Service
I can totally relate to this post…thank you Len! I also realise it is a pattern I get myself into, I see someone I like, get to know them a bit, realise I am attracted to them and only want to be with that person. Then something happens and you realise it is just not going to happen between the two of you and it feels like heart has been ripped out as I invest emotional energy in wanting to be with a particular person. I went through this last night and now after reading your article it seems I invest too much into wanting a fixed outcome and need to let go of this.
Letting go is difficult but I do need to try and stop repeating this pattern over again again with people I suddenly find myself attracted to every once in a while…so this can hopefully be the start
You know your shizzle Len! :o)
Yes, I am so happy to find like-minded folks … it soooo does my little moon good!
to: amanda, aword and burning river — I must admit that this is no attempt to equal therapy or a session with eric (or len or amanda … or be or … I could go on and on) but this was a little exercise I came up with to play with (read – detach) emotions that were overwhelming — a not uncommon experience with Neptune transits.,
I am racing to get the train so I cannot talk but want you all to know that I am happy to hear from you and delighted to share … let’s talk. email me, if you like, and we’ll discuss further on monday if you’re into it. Hey, if nothing else, we may all have great new sceen plays to sell!
love it here, always …
mm.
mm-I also would love to hear a little more about your set-up in dealing with the planets as if in a group therapy session. Love the idea, because I have a LOT of probems with Neptune and would really like to have a one on one and a group with that planet until I am fully satisfied that we all understand one another–this really sounds like it might work for me–lol! I gave names to all my “committee members” a couple of years ago and got them all calmed down and shut up. I think I’m ready for the Big Guy (Neptune) now. (((wink atacha)))
MM – lol! how wonderful. I have been using astrology as a tool for understanding the characters for my screenplays for sometime now. awesome.
DarkMary – thank you for asking — your question and Be’s answer was also useful to me although my placements are not the same as yours.
Be – thank you once again. Your conversation for DM was helpful – transiting Neptune/Chyron hovering for some time now around natal sun 8th house….at the narrow doorway (2nd and 8th are those closed off houses — I can never remember what that’s called — so this seems something of a Brief Moment….challenge is to not to let my inner fear of missing said moment create deer-in-the-headlights syndrome – yes?)
Len – as always, poetry in motion; all this venus stuff is no doubt triggering my lovely natal yods and thensome. For the time being I have given up on trying to “understand”the astrology and am just going with the flow……perhaps that’s one of those items that needed letting go of that you so eloquently/gently/patiently suggested..
xo to All.
marymack — i for one would *love* to hear a little more about your “screenplay” astrology integration method. sounds cool & fun & potentially very enlightening!
If I may, I’d like to offer up my little home-grown process for incorporating the grand knowledge I learn here @ PW into my everyday, using my astrological chart. Forgive me, darkmary, if this is way off course, but I offer this up with good intentions.
I have a little variation on group therapy going by virtue of assigning a character (parts of my own self, more of less) to each personal planet. Then I get them talking as if I’m writing a screen play. If you’re into it and want further details, do not hesitate to get back to me. I apologize if this seems too out there. It worked for me through the very long neptune transiting my Ascending/Mercury and Sun in Aquarius.
I like to think of life as a great puzzle and each day offers up new and challenging (and thrilling) clues to incorporate. Getting stuck on something/someone means that I just can’t process what’s coming at me — missing something super juicy and, possibly, profound.
Anyway, dear Len … love your take on dancing with the stars!
mm.
Simply stunning dear Len. Am writing in late because I was home sick yesterday – and I think it’s because I’m grappling with all this stuff. Your piece makes it all so clear. Really so helpful. Thank you dear. xx
@ be: love you back. Lots. Your astrology to darkmary was useful to me with a lot of my own natal 4th house, 12th house, Saturn & Pluto and Chiron and Jupiter stuff that I am always trying to figure out (am I dealing with it?, what is it?, etc.). I did get a boilerplate/$50.00 natal chart cast and read. With that and some early life history of my own with casting natal charts I am just taking my intuitive time to now look at my life as depicted by my natal chart (Yep–That’s my life, was my response to the boilerplate) because there is so much fine tuning that can be done and I love Eric, Len and PW for their insight and integity and the bloggers like yourself who are in this with all of us. Thanks. Lots.
Oh Len, your words conjure up such imagery. Wonderful!
darkmary,
Instinctively I want to help in some way; to relieve the un-sureness you are experiencing. I don’t think anyone will be able to do that via a blog however, especially with so little information available. As a student of astrology you understand that Neptune transits will initiate breakdowns of structures as all the outer planets do. Not in a willy-nilly way but in specific ways because it is time for growth in the areas that are being blocked by these structures, and in the areas that Neptune represents or is associated with. With your 4th house Saturn being transited by Neptune and your 12th house being transited by Saturn at the same time, the structures would appear to be inhibiting your soul’s freedom, in an unconscious way, to explore those areas where growth is needed.
Part of what you are experiencing is also being experienced by others who are your age and share your Saturn placement, but the the fact that transiting Saturn is in your personal 12th house shows you that in a couple of years, maybe less, you will begin a new cycle when Saturn reaches your ascendant. I don’t know when that will be but I do know that in about 2 years Jupiter will enter the sign Cancer and form a trine to your natal 4th house Saturn, which could just be the big breakthrough and opportunity for needed clarity in your life situation and personal soul growth.
I hope you will reach out to a professional astrologer you trust and respect for advice There are many here on the internet, who can be easily contacted for services of this kind. This person will need to know your whole chart, and perhaps those of other family members. Take your time and get familiar with their methods before making a decision. We have all had the experience of not trusting ourselves, especially our memory (did I already take that medicine?) when under Neptune’s influence, so I say for all of us who come to share here at PW, you are not alone, and we are all in it together, and we are all one, and we love you.
be
I think this worked today. Like darkmary, I have exhausted myself with a certain fixation. I kind of came to that conclusion last night, and resolved to do my best to try and let go of it again. I think it might have clicked this time — my workday was filled with lovely, torrid daydreams involving all sorts of people, many of whom I’ve never met. It was a much better use of my time than the usual poring over a certain person or people’s actions in my mind, interpreting them every way they can possibly be interpreted.
Thanks, Len!
I really enjoy your writing Len, thank you.
Thanks, Len, for so beautifully pointing out how the energies are available to helps us release attachments. I have, indeed, exhausted myself with a certain fixation and I need all the help I can get!
A (I’ll try to make it) brief plea to Planet Waves readers who have more astrological knowledge and insight than I do. I am looking for some insight to working with a current conjunction: Neptune has been sitting on top of my natal Saturn at 0 Pisces (in the 4th house) and it has been one of the most confusing (and foggiest) times of my life. At the same time, Saturn is transiting my 12th house and all of the “structures” of the 4th house (home/family/emotional security) have fallen apart. One might say that the veil has dropped; I would just say that reality is pretty sketchy right now. If I didn’t practice in a spiritual lineage that acknowledges that form is “emptiness” (and emptiness, form), I might think I was going crazy. The most challenging part is that I am not sure how to trust myself when Neptune is so intimately involved. As bkoehler wrote, “Am I being delusional? It wouldn’t be the first time.”
All of this to say that I am very much at the beginning of the learning curve in terms of studying astrology and still very much rely on the “cookbooks.” But if anyone could point out a good book or resource that addresses working with the Neptune/Saturn conjunction (and all the ways it gets triggered with transits from other planets) I would be grateful.
Thank you to everyone here to contributes to Planet Waves–writers and reader alike. I draw so much strength from your conversations and insights.
Hey Len,
Maybe Neptune will be less of a problem this time, what with it being the higher octive of Venus and all. Maybe by Neptune being retro and turning inward now, and with Venus being Gemini’s esoteric ruler, esoteric meaning inner, couldn’t there be some common ground found regarding this annoying tension? Maybe letting go could be not as tough as we thought it would be. Maybe all that attachment to fixity is being left at the back door of Taurus and Neptune’s view of the deep water might be very attractive to Venus as she comtemplates a short cool dip before committing to airy Gemini. Am I just being delusional? (It wouldn’t be the first time!)
be
“Begin by being aware that there are nearly always at least two choices. Take the first step with a willingness to recognize and accept what does not work. Then get into the rhythm by releasing inner attachment to external outcome. Show your stamina by remaining open to a new way of thinking as opposed to exhausting yourself in fixation. Demonstrate your courage by embracing new attractions. Before long your dance will no longer be imaginary. It will take on a new reality from practice. Through experiment, repetition and discipline, the new reality will integrate, and become, a new you.”
Wow Len, thanks for this wonderful insight. Your work is always so helpful!