Dear Friend and Reader:
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in honor of Dr. King’s birthday and his key victories for civil rights. The astrological and political climate are perfect for this: the Sun enters Aquarius today, the sign of innovation and change, and tomorrow is the inauguration of Barack Obama, the United States’ first black president. The Moon, which changed signs from Libra yesterday, will remain in Scorpio until tomorrow. A Moon in Scorpio is sure to heighten intense emotions, so if you already feel like you’re busting with pride, pull your shoulders back and feel your chest swell even more. Mercury, which has been retrograde for 11 days so far, is semi-square Venus in Pisces today. A semi-square is 45 degrees or one-eighth of the astrological wheel; it’s the distance the Sun travels in six weeks, one half of a season. This particular aspect spans from Mercury in early Aquarius to Venus in mid-Pisces.
Piscean-Venus energy is pleasure-oriented, though there is a psychological dimension more than a physical one due to the influence of Mercury.
Venus usually brings a sense of openness and refinement everywhere she goes. Pisces energy is known for its compassion and a vivid imagination. Mercury, as we have been discussing, is about communication and thought. A semi-square tends to create a sense of friction between the two energies that may inspire a person to try to avoid circumstances which bring about feelings of tension. It’s sometimes referred to as a hidden square.
Perhaps this aspect can manifest itself as inhibition in the realm of expressing your concerns or things that make you uncomfortable in the realm of love and vision. A sense of shyness or coyness is possible, though this seems to be an illustration of what so many people already feel: the inhibition on communicating with others.
On a more constructive note, this aspect can be used to investigate the matters which make you tense in your sexual or artistic/creative life. Like many aspects that tend to be called “negative” (an unfair moniker if you ask me), awareness is the light to bring into a potentially murky situation.
We’re less than a week away from the the New Moon and annular solar eclipse in Aquarius, occurring on Sunday in United States time zones and early Monday morning in the UK and European time zones. Eclipses almost always arrive in pairs, and the solar eclipse of Jan. 26. is is paired with a penumbral lunar eclipse on Feb. 9.В Remember that eclipses are pattern-setting astrology. We can use them to establish the patterns of the next six months, and to clear the patterns of the past six months (those established during and since the most recent pair of eclipses in late summer). Instead of predicting, remember that you are creating as you go, with the astrology as your partner.
Til then,
Genevieve Salerno w/Eric Francis