Dear Friend and Reader:
Venus is making several major aspects today, all of them involving the Aries Point — which broadcasts her on every channel. Venus entered Aries with Saturday’s New Moon, which is another way of saying “Venus crossed the Aries Point” or entered the cardinal cross of the heavens. In any event, she is in Aries, one of the most peculiar, challenging and sexiest signs for Venus.
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Here, she can be at her hottest and also her most chillingly powerful; it all depends on her level of evolution and how much mercy she feels like showing (to herself first, and others second). In our society, people tend to be drawn to self-centered. We night scoff at egotism in one breath, and then swoon over that potent inner focus and slightly arrogant self-confidence in another.
There may be little inherent compassion when the Moon or Venus is in Aries — it has to be learned like yoga. Hopefully if you have this in your natal chart, there were good examples early in life; if not, it’s never too late.
Len Wallick, one of my most devoted correspondents, writes in reply to this idea: “I was surprised that you implied a lack of compassion co-incident with this placement. Unless I’m very blind in this spot about myself, I don’t see that. As a matter of fact, I think compassion is pretty much a learned ‘yoga’ for almost everyone (at least as I understand compassion).”
Good point, Len. He adds: “Where I have seen the [natal] placement expressed is a stubborn wanting things to be my way in matters of intimacy (even though, in the end, negotiation is what actually happens). Another aspect of the aspect is missing opportunities for intimacy that do not fit my pre-disposition (still tempted to kick myself for those, settle for learning). Another (more comedic) consequence is the masculinity of my feminine side (and vice versa with my Mars just over the border in Pisces). Do these count for lack of compassion?”
I would say — probably, of a sort.
There are some planets that men and women respond very differently to, though it becomes dangerous to generalize too much. Very few of the major planets bestow powerful yin energy, and women in particular depend dearly on the Moon and Venus for this purpose. Saturn will do in a pinch, because like some astrologers, I believe that Saturn is yin (some would say feminine) energy. Saturn in many of its expressions is inherently maternal. It deals with boundaries, courtesy, respect and with structuring the ego — the things your mama is supposed to teach you first.
Planets we regard as representing yin energy (in Western astrology, those are the Moon and Venus, for starters) can be imposing, self-centered and self-aware in Aries. The result is not cuddly, not at first — but what you get is an energy that seems to demand worship.
But we’re a little ahead of ourselves. We live in a society where all things Venus are expected to deny that they are sexual. There is a conspiracy of women to deny that they are sexual — that is, to maintain an image of purity. There is a high price to pay for not doing so: that “A” from the Scarlet Letter is still going around. Sexuality is still made into a thing of shame.
Venus square Pluto internalizes this struggle: it demands inner focus, and the lust that is there raging through one’s body demands either expression or suppression. There may be a struggle before deciding which it’s going to be. Most people cannot just walk around like this, feeling like they are on fire.
Yet before doing one or the other, it would be healthy to check in with the grief of repeated loss associated with the square to Pluto — the feeling that any experience of opening up will be followed by loss. In this case, how do you justify opening up?
Well, is death a reason not to live well? Most people, if you asked them, would say it’s a reason to live very well.
Vesta and Psyche get into the picture: Vesta trines Psyche from Pisces. Vesta of Vestal Virgins fame always seems to emphasize one of three things: suppression of sex energy into work and projects (work is always available, people are not); highly erotically charged celibacy, sometimes involuntary; or some ritualized or formalized expression of that sexuality, usually in a contained way (ritual always involves a container of some kind, be it conceptual, spacial, or whatever).
Psyche is the psychic injury but she is also the curiosity that leads us there: two of the most inherent properties of the mind. And what Vesta represents at her core, we are all curious about. She is the inner space where we give ourselves over to an experience, not quite for ourselves, but for a larger purpose. We surrender to being part of something larger than ourselves. That fire she represents in you is connected to that same fire in every other person. When we get together — really get together — that is the fire that we merge.
Though it may be a little challenge to people carefully trained to think on one track or make no choice more complex than paper or plastic, we have several factors to keep in mind: the lust factor being one of them; the image factor being another, which goads people to suppress their creative and sexual life force so that they “look proper” to others.
So, just what are you afraid of people finding out about you? Maybe make a list, and “find out” those things about yourself.
The Aries Point adds that your personal energy affects the world. Stuff it down and that affects the world; let it out and that affects the world; breathe and be with it, and you are sending a vibe of self-acceptance out to the world.
The Vesta-Psyche factor adds some delightful psychological and emotional depth to the scene. We are far subtler than the superficial images of sex that are put in our face, which we expect ourselves to live up to and which ultimately leave us feeling empty. If we embrace that subtlety, a feeling of fullness can slip into awareness, remind us how much we have to share, and how eager we are to do so.
Aspects are courtesy of Serennu.
Monday 07 April 2008
Venus (1+ Aries) opposite M87 (1+ Libra)
Venus (1+ Aries) square Pluto (1+ Capricorn Rx)
Vesta (24+ Pisces) trine Psyche (24+ Scorpio Rx)
Eros (4+ Taurus) quincunx Arachne (4+ Libra Rx)
Mercury (8+ Aries) semisquare Neptune (23+ Aquarius)
Eros (4+ Taurus) septile Hades (25+ Gemini)
Mercury (9+ Aries) semisquare Admetos (24+ Taurus)
Sisyphus (24+ Libra Rx) quincunx Vesta (24+ Pisces)
Vesta (24+ Pisces) sesquiquadrate Chariklo (9+ Scorpio Rx)
Mercury (9+ Aries) sesquiquadrate Psyche (24+ Scorpio Rx)
Hidalgo (15 Scorpio Rx) sesquiquadrate Aries Point (0 Aries)
Mercury (9+ Aries) quincunx Chariklo (9+ Scorpio Rx)
Here is today’s short, sweet Oracle. This is obviously from Flaunt magazine, for which I wrote for a few years.
Feb 13, 2006- Aquarius – Monthly
How do people who are financially well off get that way? From the ones I have met, I can tell you they come in two styles. The first is those who are cold, calculating and can set aside all their desires. Then there are those who plunge into their passion and surrender entirely to what they love. This second one is you.
My most compassionate hope for my fellow human beings is that they don’t have to feel what it is to “walk around like this, feeling like they are on fire.” Speaking from current and personal experience, it is hell.
Whether compassion is inherent or learned, I think we are trained to feel compassion for everyone but ourselves.
I disagree that the denial of sexuality is a conspiracy perpetrated by women alone. It is a sad reality created by society as a whole and by our ages old and largely misguided attempt to force human relations into confining boxes. Boxes labeled “Marriage,” “Monogomy” and “Socially Acceptable.”
And, unfortunately, opening up often does lead to loss. Opening up requires that you put your compassion on hold so that you can express what you really want. People aren’t generally interested in what you want — people are interested in what they want. Every time you open up you are scorned for your self-indulgence and you lose a little bit more of yourself.