In this phial is caught the light of Earendil’s star…May it be a light to you in dark places…”Gladriel’s gift to Frodo (from “Fellowship of the Ring”)
Overnight tomorrow and into Wednesday, the heroic quest of Venus in Aries reaches its second great milestone aspect, a square with Pluto. This follows a conjunction with Uranus over the weekend just past. That’s a big shift. The conjunction was a combination of energies in the context of one sign. The approaching square symbolically indicates something entirely different: contrast and tension.
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In astrology, a square takes place when at least two objects are separated by 90 degrees on the zodiac circle. That means they are necessarily in different signs. That’s where a lot of the contrast comes from. The energy a planet expresses at any given time includes not only the identity it carries around, but also where it is, the planetary ruler(s) of that location and the distinguishing combination of element (fire, earth, air or water) and quality (cardinal, fixed or mutable).
The tension part comes from the geometric figure of the same name. It is structurally unstable in the material world. If you build something with a square shape, the 90 degree corners need to be reinforced to maintain the tension and hence, the form. Otherwise it will become a parallelogram and the structure will ultimately collapse. That is not a good thing for buildings and furniture. For our inner lives, however, the release of tension means that stability has not been lost but in fact re-attained.
It is perhaps because we are so involved with our outer lives that the square aspect has an undeserved reputation as something to be dreaded, avoided or despised. If we buy into the cookbook astrology formula that we are about to encounter a difficult and discouraging setback, who would feel otherwise?
What if we saw it differently? What if the square of Venus to Pluto really was a chance to notice what is going in inside of ourselves and act on it? What if we could scratch the itch and address the pain? What would that look like? It looks like a road map. The nature and timing of a square in the sky informs us of where and when to look on the inside.
Right now, Venus is literally the bright light on the eastern horizon just before dawn, the proverbial darkest hour. Weather permitting, you can see it with your own eyes. Because of that one factor, the fact that people have always been able see it for themselves for as long as our kind has walked this Earth, the mythology and the thing itself are one in our minds. While in Aries, its innately understood energetic expression as attraction itself can be harnessed to guide our self awareness. It is as if we are being directed to pay attention to what we are attracted to and what we find attracted to us as a source of self knowledge.
Pluto is literally and figuratively operating from a different angle. We can’t see it easily in real time. A comparatively small number of people actually have. Only a century ago, no human being knew of its existence. It is associated with an ancient myth about places we don’t want to go and things we don’t want to think about, but that is obviously recent and arbitrary. The only way most of us can ‘see’ Pluto is through the aegis of scientists and even science is not sure what it really is. In recent years and months, its appearance and atmosphere have changed significantly as it continues into the greater part of its orbit from which it has never been observed. Heck, we are thinking about taking bets as to whether or not the damned thing grows a tail and becomes a comet.
Pluto’s time in Capricorn since 2008 has already coincided with big shifts in our collective relationship to the established order and in our individual relationships to the power structures in our lives. This provokes us to re-examine our perceptions of just what the huge institutions of government, economy culture and religion actually are as well as who and what purpose they serve. That can lead to some powerful feelings of repulsion. Well, how about that.
This particular square of Venus to Pluto can thus be expressed in a useful way. It is about contrast, in this case, attraction and repulsion. Both exist for real as part of our inner lives. There is tension in the contrast. Go ahead, tell us that isn’t true for you. Finally, there is the task of resolving that tension and growing stronger from the experience. And how to do so? Well, you can start with what you know, really know, really damned good and well know — your attractions. You can use them as a light.
You can take that light to dark places where things are too big, too dark, too complicated or too far away to comprehend. You can use that light to dispel the darkness and realize that those things you don’t want to think about, those places you don’t want to go, the mysteries and fears that are used to control you are not so different from what you know dammed good and well. And when the tension falls away you will know yourself better and you will feel your gut relax.
Who could not use a little of that about now? Oh, and one other thing. The next time some chump cookbook astrologer tells you to give up on yourself and roll over, do me a favor and tell him you’re not a dog. Don’t let no Pluto square stomp on you. You are way better and more powerful than that.
Offered In Service
Fantastic poem, darkmary–thanks so much for the share; Kitty3–that thing about tension and creativity is so true, thanks for the reminder and Hi and Hugs to everyone, so good to hear from you!
Thank you so much for this post, Len. We are so often taught to mistrust our desires, our attractions, and yet they ARE the light. Your words reminded me of this passage from Rilke, The Book of Hours (translation by Joanna Macy.)
GO TO THE LIMITS OF YOUR LONGING
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
Go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
This rings some bells. I was born and spent my first 50-odd years in a place where the Venus-Pluto lines (astrocartography-wise) crossed just a few dozen miles to the south, out in the northern Gulf of Mexico. I always felt vaguely (or often not so vaguely) oppressed, ground down and frustrated, but I knew it was where I needed to be at the time. Really felt karmic; there were things I needed to see and that was where I could see them best. The tension was released on August 29, 2005, right when Uranus was crossing my Ascendant, when Katrina came barrelling through and flung me cross-country. Now I live on my Uranus line. 😀
The thing I like to remind myself about tension is, as any writer or artist knows, it’s essential to the creative process … the ability and strength to hold the discordant forces, to remain in the ambiguity and discomfort long enough to see what develops. When I’m in that place, I generally come out of it with a lot of momentum. Without tension, we wouldn’t be able to breathe, in fact.
Thank you, Len. I’ve pretty much given up on getting my arms around anything at all right now – so much external/internal pressure going on that it’s all I can do to let go and just traveling with the current – while trying to get a breath now and again.
Like the Dog of Pavlov, however, I have been trained to know each and every Word of Len has Good attached to it, and so although glazed eyes breeze the type over and over, yet I travel knowing wisdom swims nearby. Sort of like following a distant star.
Love.
I’ve read this twice today, Len, once before dashing off to school and again now when I am seeking to unwind and relax from the day. As always, your words are both educational and inspiring. Reassuring, even.
Normally, squares don’t always seem to effect me. At least not on the day they actually occur: I’ve noticed that sometimes they seem to hit me a couple of days earlier, and certainly not always having the advertised effect either. I tend to take them as they come: good, bad, or indifferent it’s the ‘now’ and how I react to it that really matters. Teaching is almost nothing but the now, and it can be very hard to project away from that at the best of times.
Coffe has not affected me at all, but then I don’t drink it on the weekends. Sleeping is another story: uggghh! Last night was restless and wakeful, barely dipping down into deep sleep at all. My bedside radio malfunctioned too, and only my cat jumping on me repeatedly at 5:04 got me up. She knows. A little Mercury hangover there.
Is my life changing? Oh yeah, but I don’t even know how it’s changing yet. So many things, job, home, relationships are in flux for me now, I just don’t have any good ideas as to where I’ll be this time next month. So much change, seemingly so little time…
Hi everyone!
That’s a lot of *squaring* off for a girl to handle, Amanda. I hope the tensions let up for you very soon. I could just feel the angst coming off the screen reading about it, and the hormones fluctuations never help at times like these, do they?
All’s I can throw out there to help you ride it out is to say that I found reading anything by Pema Chodron or Thich Nhat Hanh somehow threw up a notion or two that helped quieten those chattering, mental loopings. I’m happy to say their volume can be turned down to a whisper (or shut off completely) through a concerted effort to challenge and replace them.
Take good care.
Sarah and eco11 thanks for the corroboration. Very interesting and very not funny–the sensations. It’s great for awareness and consciousness and even greater to know it WILL pass as the dance continues. Love to all.
Yeah, another one here with a coffee reaction: hot flashes and jitteriness after a latte this afternoon, which struck me as unusual. Not pleasant.
Funny you should say that, Burning River, because I love my coffee and it is too much for me the past few days and making my skin crawl too, jittery awful.
Thanks, Jere and shebear for your links! liked them. Here’s mine:
Stevie Niccks with Fleetwood Mac, “Storms”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEG5diXgcG
Amanda-I know what you mean about the tension–Alot of this stuff is opposing my natral Sarurn in Libra–I feel like my skin is on fire sometimes–but I noticed yesterday that drinking coffee (I normally drink tea, but of course the stress of the weekend drove me to the forgotten enemy- and I paid for it) I felt the caffeine intensified my anxiety to almost unbearable heigthts–almost like physcical pain–I also thought “hormones” were a little involved for you. Take care, sweetie, You deserve the best and you’ll figure it out. And, oh, Love not only brings up and out everything unlike itself (which it does). It also brings up love. Hugs.
len —
i keep telling myself i’m going to settle in with this one a bit later, and hopefully it will have a chance to penetrate in a way that i can allow and use. i don’t mean i don’t understand it, because i do. i mean that the last week has involved squares and now there seem to be more and the tension has me all hair-trigger explosive and frustrated and emotional and now increasingly concerned i won’t be able to let it all go and/or dive deep enough into it, in order to let it all go enough to enjoy the company of someone i love dearly this weekend. or even my own company, for that matter.
this last week it’s been my natal mars square transiting mercury-mars on one side and square transiting saturn on the other side; now we have venus conj my natal venus, square that transiting pluto and opposite my natal pluto-vesta.
honestly, the tension is killing me, and i haven’t quite slowed down enough internally to turn the investigation deeper within instead of pointing fingers outwardly and staying in ‘react mode’.
eric is fond of saying, “love brings up everything unlike itself,” and here we are heading into beltane, the season of love and abundance. and sure enough, i seem to be finding and perpetuating all of these things very unlike love in spite of myself.
i know i’m caught in a surface-level, mental sort of loop, full of resentments that are hard to bring up without stirring up an icky emotional mess. sometimes i find it hard not to gt caught up in the sense of justification (self-righteousness?) that comes with those feelings; an impediment to movement and resolution and understanding, for sure.
oh, and did i mention my hormones likely aren’t helping the situation?
and then there’s chiron hanging out by my midheaven and a couple other intersting characters…..
ok, i’ll stop now.
thank you…
Groovy! I finally found a space to put ‘THIS’ 🙂
It’s grateful deads Corrina. The visuals are kinda eye-screwy. It’s almost a good 15 minutes of ‘solid background productive vibes’ though, like for tidying or such. 😉
Len, seriously, you help me breathe easier.
Love ya cat,
Jere
This made me think of a line from the beautiful 23rd psalm: “Yea though I walk in the valley of darkness, yet shall I fear no evil.” (at least that’s how I remember it from childhood, though I see there are a variety of versions/interpretations out there.)
That said, I’m leaning toward something more modern, and this *sweet* performance I came across, by way of illustrating the truly magical message of this post.
Cheers, Len.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEG5diXgcGI
I have a Pluto/Venus conjunction in Virgo, 8th house and that aspect seems to be bursting alive in a brand new way since Ms. Venus sauntered into Aries! It also helps to have my nose burrowed deep into the book “Soul Centered Astrology” by Alan Oken, and I have Jere to express my deep gratitude for pointing me in its direction; *many* thanks for the heads up, mr.coolcat!
Get your hands on a copy dear peeps and you’ll know what I mean!
Many thanks to Amanda Painter for helping get the margins fixed. Now it’s all there.
Wow, did I ever need that today. Thanks Len.
Whew. What a past six days I’ve been having, holding on for dear life while being ripped off my planet. Some steadying and light are sorely in order.
And maybe, just maybe, when you find yourself going soaring through space, instead of falling down down and down, it’s time to open your wings.
Dayam’ Len! You are too cute! This gift of yours today put a smile in gear and that is the best I can hope for. Until Pluto moves to another degree any aspect to him will also affect my Jupiter. So glad it’s Venus this time. Personally I’m looking forward (I think) to getting past the recent full moon opposite my Saturn. Maybe I should look that up to be sure it isn’t worse, but no matter. Testing one’s Saturn is necessary from time to time. That goes for Jupiter too. Bummer.
be
Burning River: Thank you. You are far too kind. T.S. Eliot was the best, whereas i can only do my best.
We seem to be having margin problems again today and are working to restore the entire first sentence of the third-to-last paragraph. It all shows to go you that i’ve gone over the edge in at least one sense, eh?
Stellium: Thank you, good point, Chiron in Pisces is part of this just like it was when Uranus and Pluto were conjoined.
Kelly, KathyC and Hazel1: Thank you for accepting my service.
zoey: something very John and Yoko in that, thank you. Give Peace A Chance.
Len! Incredible! You are the T.S. Eliot of astro-journalist-seers.
Venus in my 10th House in Taurus, Pluto in 12th House in Leo, conjunct within 1 degree, 1 degree above my Ascendant (among other dynamite aspects)—-my life has been an astral storm (cf. Fleetwood Mac’s “Storm”) of control and manipulation on both sides. I was told by an astrologer that if I did not learn to tactfully side-step those trying to control me and stop trying to control others I would “end up utterly lonely.” That astrologer also, thankfully, dubbed the “indestructible force” of Pluto as being unconditional love. I hung on to that, and wondered at but was not surprised by the other. Except the fear put on me about “utter loneliness at the end”. Words like those have made all astrology until now with you and Eric speaking for the planets completely useless to me.
As Sadge said: the torches are lit and it has all always and will always be Good/Love. (“awesome. I’m loving the imagery of carrying a torch into the dark, bye-bye fear, it’s all love -howdya like that? Chiron. my friend, ya coming with? ze torch of torches.”). ( Thanks, Sadge.) You and Len are putting the words together and the pictures are coming into focus.
Last night in meditation I finally came to remember what I already know about how to go through what is in front of me right now. A situation potentially rife with threatening unknowns and life changing changes without any insurance policies or guarantees. But, hey! (my inner self spoke out of the silence) Remember! you’ve done this before! And look around—it’s been just what it shuld be . Good. But who could have known?! (In this phial is caught the light of Earendil’s star…May it be a light to you in dark places…”
Gladriel’s gift to Frodo (from “Fellowship of the Ring”)
“Don’t let no Pluto square stomp on you. You are way better and more powerful than that.” L.W.
“And how to do so? Well, you can start with what you know, really know, really damned good and well know – your attractions. You can use them as a light.
You can take that light to dark places where things are too big, too dark, too complicated or too far away to comprehend. You can use that light to dispel the darkness and realize that those things you don’t want to think about, those places you don’t want to go, the mysteries and fears that are used to control you are not so different from what you know dammed good and well.” L/W.
Pluto squared Venus has been the light of my life. The lessons have been long and arduous, but the light of attraction has always pulled me into the reality of what is next, no matter how unknown. And Venus (love you, my Mother Goddess) has Never failed to draw me to the Best as confusing as that has appeared at times when I have looked at my life though the eyes of others and society as a whole (which is what we are trained to do).
I repeat your words again, Len. To me, they are utterly breathtakingly beautiful and true.: “You can take that light to dark places where things are too big, too dark, too complicated or too far away to comprehend. You can use that light to dispel the darkness and realize that those things you don’t want to think about, those places you don’t want to go, the mysteries and fears that are used to control you are not so different from what you know dammed good and well.” L/W.
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Thank you Len!
Reading this article produced a personal visual, I feel the “showdown” coming and instead of drawing up my sixshooter, I plan to drop my drawers.
xxzoey
Thanks, Len,
I have pluto square venus in my natal chart too, and one “astrologer” did tell me I was sort of doomed. I’ve never felt doomed, though I have felt that the “places we don’t want to go and the things we don’t want to think about” are ALWAYS showing themselves to me, to the point where, now, at age 47 or so, I’m just used to it and used to people not wanting to talk about it because they don’t have to deal with it personally. A friend of mine told me, “you and I are comfortable with the things that most people are scared of”. I don’t know about comfortable, but whatever. It’s nice to see it explained the way you explain it. It’s not “doom”, it’s just a different way of seeing what’s going on.
Especially connected to your words with my Aries moon a degree away from Pluto in Virgo. Thanks Len. I needed that.
I am hardwired with this square in my natal chart. Thank you for the heads up!
awesome. I’m loving the imagery of carrying a torch into the dark, bye-bye fear, it’s all love -howdya like that? Chiron. my friend, ya coming with? ze torch of torches.
thanks Len!