What happens when sexual desire runs up against sexual baggage, or when sexual communication runs up against limits or stuffiness? How does one merge “spiritual love” with earthier ways of experiencing sex?
Or, on the flip side of that coin, how can one avoid the ‘false spiritualization’ of desire, relationships and sex — that is, turning them into objects of worship, rather than of physical and emotional reality?
These look like the main themes of this week’s astrology, the highlight of which is a square between Venus and Neptune (exact Thursday at 5:05 am EDT, but in effect now).
Venus enters Sagittarius today at 1:54 pm EDT. Venus in Sagittarius tends to take one of two forms: a ‘good time Charlie’ type of breeziness or a very philosophical form of idealism. Neptune in Pisces is very creative and spiritual in its own right but also prone to altered forms of consciousness, whether enlightened or simply drug- or delusion-induced.
So there’s a question about how to stay grounded in sexual situations or in the face of love and desire. Then again, if you don’t want to stay grounded, what are your motives for that?
As we move toward the exact square between Venus and Neptune, there are some other players in this week’s sex/desire astro-drama. First up is today’s opposition between Mars in Leo and the centaur planet Nessus in Aquarius. When you have the planet of action, drive and desire — astrology’s embodiment of ‘maleness’ — in Leo, you get tremendous passion, courage and vitality. Nessus in Aquarius, on the other hand, seems to be associated with issues such as peer pressure, cultural sexual baggage (including the shadow of collective sexual trauma/abuse) and (thankfully) the ways we can stand up to these things and stop the proverbial buck on these patterns.