Venus Retrograde - Let the Beauty We Love Be What We Do

Venus goes retrograde 5 times in 8 years - every year and a half or so. It stays retrograde for 45 days. The retrograde pattern over an eight year period, forms a pentacle in the sky. Perhaps this is the source for the symbol. Being related to the retrograde pattern of Venus in the sky - when Venus may be challenging the status quo - may have led to its identification with 'women's magic'.

Venus will station retrograde March 7 at 15 degrees Aries, go back into Pisces April 12, then station direct at 29 degrees Pisces April 17.

Venus retrograde asks us to review, refine and redefine our values, social behavior and relationship needs. We need to look at how we express love and affection. Time to focus on our aesthetics - taste and style. During this time of economic downturn, we might want to find more frugal and creative ways of dressing and decorating. Another way to approach this is to realize that beauty serves a real purpose in our lives. We need beauty to inspire and heal. But having beauty around us need not be expensive.

Last week, I visited a friend in Oakland. His home was magical and delightful. A true Libran (ruled by Venus), his home was comfortable and inspiring. He had told me earlier it was cluttered. On the contrary, it was a tribute to his full and interesting life. He opened the door and I stepped into another world. Bird song and blooming tropical flowers, wood carvings and paintings, color and light. He had created his own altar to Venus. Part of the magic was the way that each item was placed and arranged with intention. Carefully and lovingly selected.

I realized the influence that such a space can have on the psyche. We truly flourish amidst nature and beauty. It is a need, not just a luxury. It can be accomplished in many ways - flowers, plants, cherished items from our life, stones.

Another thing we can do during this retrograde period is to seek balance between the sacred (spiritual) and the profane (mundane) in our lives. Preparing food can be viewed as a ritual where we are preparing nourishment and sustenance to the temple of our bodies and those of our loved ones, rather than a task or chore. Smelling, tasting and feeling the texture of the food,l rather than just gulping it down.

During this time we have access to undeveloped personal characteristics which will be more available to our view. The house where Venus currently resides may be where you will have revelations. The challenge is to own whatever you discover about your needs and whether or not you are actually communicating or expressing them. Don't blame your partner, family or friends. Don't point your finger about "what they are doing to you". Take responsibility. No one can hurt your feelings and you can't hurt anyone else's. Sometimes the truth hurts. I found it interesting that people are finally seeking a Truth Commission in relation to the activities of our government for the past 8 years, because during this time political leaders can fall from grace.

Venus retrogrades also signal reversals in the stock market, but they can be totally erratic and frequent. So.... it can go up one day and down the next. I am not predicting anything here, so please don't gambol the farm.

In terms of money, you should review your spending patterns (like you haven't already been doing this). By reviewing your values - what you want vs. what you need. And as I wrote above, we all need love and beauty. By examining our values, we might find that we wish to make changes. I suggest you wait until after Venus goes direct to make some of those changes. This is not a good time for major purchases, remodeling your house, getting married or divorced, because your choices right now might actually be the opposite of those you would normally make.

You could end up with an orange house with purple trim that you will only love 45 days every year and a half. But you will LOVE it then! Maybe that's better than never loving it. LOL!

Since Venus is in Aries, it's a good time for new beginnings. Astrology and flower essences are tools that can help you can gain insight as to what is next in your life. Contact me for a reading.

'Let the Beauty We Love Be What We Do' is from a poem by Rumi.

Discovery of Pluto - Harbinger of the Coming Shift?

While doing my EC drops, yesterday, I found an interesting post about the discovery of Pluto at The Modern Historian. That occurred on February 18, 1930.

Astronomers demoted Pluto last year to a planetoid. But as anyone who has ever gone through a significant Pluto transit will testify, Pluto is no "toid" anything. In fact, after working with the Evolutionary Astrology method brought forth by Jeffrey Wolf Green, which focuses on Pluto in our charts, I believe no other planet has as much influence and power in our lives. Indeed, the EA method teaches that Pluto reveals our Soul's Purpose. What could be more important than that?

I have been thinking about the fact that Pluto passed over the Galactic Center in recent years. The "Event" at the core of 2012 is the alignment of our solar system with the GC. What is the significance of this transit? (which happens every 248 years or so.) The last time Pluto was in Sagittarius was a decade or so before the American Revolution. Why was America settled by the first colonists? We have been taught that it was because of religious persecution. Another reason was that people wanted to be free of the economic control of the King and the aristocracy. The 'common' man wanted a chance to make his own wealth. The emerging concept of Capitalism wanted free reign. Entrepreneurs and merchants wanted to out from under the tax system of the Crown, that's why we had the Boston Tea Party.

So here we are, one Pluto cycle later and that American Capitalism gone rampant threatens to destroy the global economy.

Some astrologers say that a planet is discovered when the collective is ready to understand and work with, its energy. So... what was happening in 1930 that relates to us today?

In the Qabbalah, the "non-sefira", lying in the central pillar between Tiferet and Kether, known as the Daat, the Hidden Teacher, is equated with Pluto,. There are some schema that equate it with Saturn "God of Time" because they were established before the discovery of Pluto. And there is significance to this reading as well. I believe that when Pluto passed over the GC, it served to remove the veil and open the way to the teaching from the Galactic Center. The Hidden Teacher in the sign of Sagittarius (the Teacher, the Spiritual Leader) opened the teaching of the meaning of the 2012 event.

Sagittarius represents the Teacher, but is also the "Seeker of Truth". So Pluto "God of Transformation and Death", in the the sign of the Seeker of Truth, went over the Galactic Center, The Source. Our entire Solar System is now within the area of the GC and will be exact on December 21, 2012, the end of a 5125 year cycle in the Mayan Calendar.

Many people alive today lived during the Great Depression. Many of us are children or grand-children of those "Depression Survivors" and have heard the stories and received the 'teachings' although we have dismissed them and not followed them. In the West, we have had abundance compared to the rest of the world. We have become complacent. Unless we were 'back-to-the-land' hippies in the 60s, we have lived an affluent life. The current economic down-turn will be changing that for many people.

I would like to suggest that rather than thinking about what we are losing or having to do without, we shift our attention to what is of real and lasting value. I suggest we develop our inner wealth, utilizing our inner resources to optimize our connection to Source. If you have a meditation practice, a program of prayer or other spiritual methodology, this is the time to dust it off and get with it again.

"Every breath we take is our prayer" I just heard that on the Caroline Casey radio show on KPFA and it seemed totally relevant to this post.

Think of all that you might be losing on the material plane as Sacrifice, which means to 'make sacred'.

In the Shadow of Retrograde

The Valentine's Day Special continues until the end of the month.
Since we are still in the 'shadow' period of Mercury retrograde, I have not yet sent my computer in for service. It still needs repair and is under warranty, but so much has been breaking down this retrograde period, I want to wait another week before I send it.

I have been working on my course for this summer and on my 2012 blog. I have gotten to point where my laptop is like a part of my body and am not looking forward to having it gone for two weeks like the last time.

I can definitely feel the acceleration that is part of the Shift. In some ways, I feel writing is redundant, that all that is required is thought.

I am getting very interested in the work of Nassim Haramein. I went to a presentation by one of his 'emissaries' in Sebastopol, CA and have not been the same since. My mind was blown and I am not interested in 'getting back to normal'. I feel a 'new normal' is emerging for me. I'm not sure what it is but I do know I need to be as fluid as possible.

Personally, transiting Pluto in the 5th house is opposing my natal Mercury in the 11th house and so it is totally appropriate that my mind is being transformed. I am both able to access memories better and having deeper understanding. I am able to vision then manifest at a higher rate than ever before.

February Valentine's Day Special

Are you in a relationship or considering getting into one? The Friends and Lovers Astrology report (see sidebar) will show you things about the relationship that you might like to know. Both the positive elements and the challenges.

For the entire month of February, if you purchase 1 Friends and Lovers Report, I will give you a choice of 1 FREE report from the following: Opportunities, The Sky Within or Asteroids.

Friends and Lovers and The Sky Within are both available in English or Spanish. Please indicate which language you want.

Just follow the links to purchase Friends and Lovers and put the name of the FREE report you want as part of your "name". You do not have to give the real names of the people, but the other data has to be real, or the report will be worthless. For example: Mary Smith Asteroids

Back in a New Way

So I am back. To see the story about my computer, go to first blog. I plan to wait until the shadow period of the mercury retrograde is over, because technology continues to malfunction around me and I don't want to take any chances. Besides, I have a lot of catching up to do with my blogs and various projects.

Things have changed a lot in the last 3 weeks. I have a new blog on the Maya and 2012 and am "on fire" with ideas and projects. My own chart is being activated. I have the Pleiades on the cusp of my 10th house and my Jupiter is conjunct the Galactic Center in my 4th house opposing Uranus. I have wondered about the meaning of this for many years and recently I have begun to understand what it is about.

Our Sun and Solar System are currently conjuncting the GC and things are indeed cooking.

Limited Internet for Next Two Weeks

To all my readers, my computer is in the shop for two weeks and I don't know if I will be able to post during that time since I have to use the Internet in the county library and so I have a short time limit each day. See you all soon! I might actually be forced to clean house....

Karmic Astrology by Judy Hall

Just read an interview with Judy Hall from UK in The Mountain Astrologer Dec/Jan 2009. Her specialty is "Karmic Astrology".

Her work sounds fascinating and includes determining the karmic cause of illness, which has often led to healing and finding the karmic connections between people in relationships. She also works extensively with crystals.

You can go to her website and download many files on karmic astrology, crystal healing and other interesting subjects including her 119 page dissertation for her M.A. in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology. She has written many books including novels based on her own past lives (see the Amazon Carousel in the sidebar for some of her titles). If you are curious about her other titles, you can search in the Amazon Search box. She has many more books, but you can only put 10 on the Carousel.

I am fascinated by her work and plan to find out more about her. She does workshops on relationships and writing in the North of England. Maybe it's time for a trip! You can sign up for a reading online at her website.