Get perspective, give a little: Mercury-Jupiter, Venus-Vesta

Today is Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. The Moon spends most of the day in Gemini, and ingresses Cancer just before 9:38 pm EDT. This may translate to a chatty workday as the Moon trines Saturn and the Sun in Libra. Did you participate in the international Day of Action associated with Occupy Wall Street on Saturday? You may find it hard to focus on work in favor of discussing the event, the greater movement and all manner of justice/injustice in the world (and perhaps in your relationships). After the Moon enters Cancer, it also opposes Pluto. This may find you ‘separating the wheat from the chaff’, as Isabel Hickey puts it, with regard to how you really feel about all you’ve discussed during the day and experienced over the weekend.

Through all of it, the thing to remember is to take your own convictions and beliefs with a grain of salt. Stay flexible and open in your conversations, especially with people whose stance conflicts with yours. Mercury in Scorpio is opposing retrograde Jupiter in Taurus, just as Venus did last week. This is an aspect whose behavior varies significantly depending on the signs involved. Mercury polarizes Jupiter, since they happen to rule opposing signs (Gemini and Sagittarius, or Virgo and Pisces, respectively). That’s kind of like a double polarity, and in the fixed signs involved, any stubbornness of will or resistance is going to exacerbate matters. Mercury opposite Jupiter in fixed signs may give strength to your convictions, but it does nothing to ensure they are correct.

The thing about this Scorpio-Taurus axis is that it’s partly about values and the material (Taurus) and partly about deeper forms of energy exchange and transformation (Scorpio). That can be a lot to handle any time; an opposition calls for some conscious negotiation. Recognize what you value that others give; look for ways to receive graciously and give in kind. In fact, to help keep focus where it belongs, try to start every transaction by offering a little first. Then receive. And then evaluate any information that comes through.

That’s also going to help in keeping some perspective. We have an action aspect today between two action planets (Mars and Uranus). The need for end results to have significance is more important than usual, and you might find yourself with extra ambition or initiative to start a project or get involved with the #Occupy movement. If you feel as if you have found your calling, go with it, but proceed with caution. Use the Uranus gift of insight to find a solution by wits rather than getting frustrated by rushing in.

Namely, if you find yourself getting upset today, make sure there is not some hidden emotional factor driving you along. Mars aspecting retrograde Ceres suggests the potential for reacting to something from the past that you cannot identify, or have not yet. It’s an awkward aspect; not quite an opposition but asking for similar negotiation. As A Course in Miracles puts it, “I am never upset for the reason I think.” Circling back to Mercury opposite Jupiter, allowing room for receptivity may complement your inquiry; it may also help to get a reality check by asking someone older.

Lastly, the weekend’s Venus-Vesta square is still in effect. Our culture has collectively forgotten that the word Virgin did not originally mean a woman whose vagina was untouched by any penis. Rather, she was a free woman, not bound to or possessed by any man, who was sexually and socially her own person. During the monarchical period in ancient Rome the priestesses who served in the Vesta temples had sex, only their sexual encounters were said to be a divine prayer to the goddess of the hearth.

Vesta in freedom-loving Aquarius expresses the need to be in charge of one’s own sexuality. It also allows the freedom of engaging sexually with friends in a detached and non-possessive way. The caveat, however, is a square to the relationship planet Venus in transformative, sexually charged Scorpio.

If you are in a committed relationship it may feel confining at the moment and you may even feel a desire to withdraw from intimacy. The key is integrating the desire to be free with the reality that you create your own destiny. Talking about your feelings with your partner or picking up a book on Tantra could help regain some feeling of independence.

If you’re not in a committed relationship this could be a good time to explore your sexuality in a conscious way. With Scorpio and Aquarius involved, be careful not to go to either the chilly/ closed off extreme, or to lose your center and ‘do anything that walks’. Creating a personal ‘sexual doctrine’ stating your values on sexuality and what it means to you will clarify and balance extreme tendencies.

Mystics believe that the first form of meditation derived from the euphoric state achieved during an orgasm. Let all forms of sexual activity be a prayer, an offering of gratitude for this amazing experience and the ability to be sexual. Go deep within yourself and find the virgin who lives there. When you find her, offer her a little something; receive what she has to give; evaluate the information coming through.

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