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Venus Stations Direct

Dear Friend and Client:

WELL NOW, it was a heck of an interesting first week of the Year of the Dog. I dare say it was even productive. It's not exactly over, but the imminent station direct of Venus in Capricorn provides an excellent backdrop for whatever develops next, and will help fill in the blanks on a lot of what we have seen and experienced.

Stations of inner planets often have many tangible effects, both personally and in society. They blend the concepts of a slow-moving outer planet with the intimate, personality-level feeling and experience of an inner planet. It can be a little strange, really.

Here is the station direct chart: http://planetwaves.net/chart.php?c=venus-s-d

One thing we need to remember is that this retrograde began in early Aquarius at the end of 2005 with a long conjunction between Venus and Chiron. This gives the whole experience an Aquarian flavor spiced with Chiron, even though the retrograde itself is mostly happening in Capricorn.

It's worth noting that inner planets, when stationing, can be the most frustrating things in the world. The retrograde process can seem like it's gone on forever. People go silent, projects can come to a halt, and there is sometimes that strange feeling of stillness or stasis. Venus is a lot more mentally oriented planet than people give it credit for. Intelligence, sensitivity, and a dimension of emotional awareness are intermingled with Venus in such a way that, when this planet is working well, we have our priorities straight.

Planets have their greatest impact when they are stationing, because they are moving so slowly and focusing any aspects they're making. For instance, this station direct is in a long sextile to Jupiter in Scorpio. Inner planet retrogrades also have impact because they spend so much time in one sign. Developments and a shift of levels for that house and sign are on the agenda, particularly if you're able to tune into the energies and themes involved in a conscious way. But of course this does not need to be true, because most of the time most people have no awareness at all of astrology but it still works.

But the more conscious we are of the movements, the more effective we can be.

Stationing inner planets can work like a battery, being charged up with energetic qualities of the sign that is involved. They then take on elements of that sign clear through the next retrograde cycle.

Venus is a planet that symbolizes values, and its current placement in Capricorn addresses both tradition and government. Integrity would be an excellent way to sum this up in one word. Venus is also a planet that often represents women. Three of the top stories this week involved women in public life, including the death of Coretta Scott King, widow of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mrs. King, who continued the civil rights struggles of her late husband, died at age 78 the same day that Samuel Alito was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. In a truly surprising development, Alito's first decision on the court was to side against the court's conservative bloc, and stay the impending execution of a death row prisoner in Missouri. The prisoner raised the issues that lethal injection is cruel, and that the death penalty is biased against black defendants.

While the "pro life" conservative movement just adores its human sacrifice rituals, the Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings in recent years that are gradually making it more difficult for states to execute people. The United States is the only Western nation that still uses a civilian death penalty. Its cohorts on the other side of the world include Saudi Arabia, North Korea, China and Iran. Western European nations ended their death penalty in the wake of the Nazi atrocities.

Kicked out of the Big Speech

Antics of the Capitol Police just prior to the State of the Union address were both highly entertaining and democratically nutritious, with the feeling of both Venus stationing and Chiron in Aquarius.

Two prominent women were ejected from the House of Representatives gallery before the State of the Union Address for wearing tee-shirts that were deemed to be "protests." This, despite a specific constitutional right to do just that under the 1st Amendment -- and the rather odd fact that they broke no actual rules or laws.

Cindy Sheehan you probably heard about. Sheehan, the peace activist mother of fallen soldier Casey Sheehan, and the invited guest of Rep. Lynn Woolsey, was wearing a shirt with the number of U.S. soldiers and marines killed in Iraq, anticipating that network news coverage would occasionally show her sitting in the gallery.

The other was the wife of a Republican congressional representative from St. Petersburg, FL, Beverly Young, who was asked to leave the House chamber for wearing a "Support Our Troops" shirt. Unlike Sheehan, however, she was not arrested, and not charged with a crime. Here is how the Associated Press reported the incident:

Beverly Young said she was sitting in the front row of the House gallery Tuesday night when she was approached by someone who told her she needed to leave, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

After reluctantly agreeing, she said, she argued with several officers in an outside hallway.

"They said I was protesting," [Mrs. Young] said in a telephone interview with the newspaper Tuesday. "I said, 'Read my shirt, it is not a protest'. They said, 'We consider that a protest'. I said, 'Then you are an idiot'."

Well spoken, Beverly.

The Capitol Police later apologized to both women and dropped the charges against Sheehan, but not before her arrest made world news for two solid days, a great gift to the peace movement. I can think of few developments that could better make the point that the State of the Union Address, with all its platitudes about "democracy," was a heap of bull-pucky.

Chiron in Aquarius: Standing Out

We often think that it's the big moves in government that are the most important: someone is elected; there is an impeachment; there's a war. Just as often, it's the actions of individuals that may seem like side-notes that have the greatest effect at shaping history, shaping opinion and showing clear contrasts between myth and reality. And while everyone cannot do this on a national scale, dissent on any level counts because the smallest injustices are those most often ignored -- and which need attention focused on them. Often one person showing a little moral courage makes all the difference in the world.

During the Chiron in Capricorn era (2001-2005), there were some fabulous whistle-blowers in government and corporations: FBI Agent Colleen Rowley, who revealed some of why the impending Sept. 11 attacks were missed; Worldcom auditor Cynthia Cooper; and Enron's Sherron Watkins come to mind.

Cindy Sheehan, who rose to prominence during the transition between Chiron in Capricorn and Chiron in Aquarius, personally represents that transitional phase since she is a grassroots figure in the Aquarian style, but is taking on the highest levels of executive power, Capricorn style.

But what we commonly think of as activism doesn't have to involve the government or corporations at all. Many people are turned off by the notion that activism requires this kind of involvement, particularly if they have the idea that taking part in life requires them to somehow pay attention to public policy, the newspapers, or any affairs of collective reality.

There is another dimension of "activism" that doesn't get the name, which is actually participating in life. This may mean life outside your immediate personal concerns (traditional activism) -- or it may mean actually living in the way that matters most to you. Both would be examples of putting Chiron in Aquarius into action.

There are many reasons people don't live their own truth naturally, and for the most part they include being worried about what other people might think. Consensus reality can drive the wider culture (leading many people to support a war they would not necessarily support or fight in as individuals), but is just as effective as dictating what individuals think, feel and consider appropriate action in their private lives.

We often miss how powerful those forces are at keeping us in line, keeping our lives regimented, and in general, squashing originality. We don't want to think of our most personal decisions as being the result of public policy or the ideas of a marketing agency, but very often they are.

Look at Your Chart

Everyone has Aquarius in their chart somewhere, and that zone will be an important place where these kinds of subjects arise. Aquarius will be associated with one or more of the 12 houses, and it may also have one or more planets. To know which house Aquarius is associated with, you will need to cast your chart on one of the free chart casting sites, such as astro.com. Then, look at which of the house cusps intersects with the sign Aquarius.

For a refresher course on the houses, here is a link: http://snipurl.com/m6al

The house cusp will tell you aspects of your life where you experience typically Aquarian themes.

Let's say your 6th house cusp goes through Aquarius. This will put part of Aquarius in your 5th and part in your 6th, so the themes of both houses will apply. The closer Chiron gets to the house cusp, the more of an influence it will have on the later of the two houses.

Themes covered by Aquarius include anything involving groups; shared experiences; collective responsibilities; and the theme of where the individual and society intersect. The chances are, you're living those houses in an Aquarian way, which may or may not be easy. It depends on the theme of the house and how well it lends itself to group experience; and it depends on which side of the Aquarius coin you typically live on -- the individualistic side, or the conformist side.

Historically, this is probably a zone of your life where you've experienced some tension between your own needs and what you perceive the world around you is insisting that you be. There can be issues of fitting in, peer pressure, meeting expectations of authority figures, and a strong drive to be independent.

Chiron will likely have the effect of raising the activity level in that house. Issues and situations that seemed stuck will probably start to move with greater speed, though this process may have already begun. You just may have not given it a name. Now would be a great time.


Imbolc: In the Belly of the Stars

FEBRUARY ARRIVES at the depth of winter in most of the Northern Hemisphere, when we live in the shadow of cold, rain and snow. Within February’s first few days lies one of the four high holidays -- or sabbats -- of the pagan calendar, called Imbolc in Celtic times. One of the four "cross-quarter days," its corresponding holidays are Beltane (or May Day, May 1), Lammas (also called second planting in agricultural communities, August 1) and Samhain (also called Halloween, October 31).

Imbolc, also called "Midwinter," literally means "in the belly," and at this time we are deep in the belly of winter, held in gestation for the coming spring at the Vernal Equinox around March 21. Imbolc is like the first movements of the fetus preparing for birth. Its precise timing is when the Sun crosses the middle degree of Aquarius, the symbolism of which we will visit in a moment.

More at: http://www.stariq.com/Main/Articles/P0002096.HTM


Planet Waves by Eric Francis
Weekly Horoscope #596 - Feb. 3, 2006
 
Happy Birthday Aquarius!

Faith in the unseen is something you've always aspired to, and if your charts ring with one message, it is to trust certain factors of your life about which you have no tangible proof. Any decision where the rewards outweigh the potential risks entails such a stretch. It's not like you to "know without knowing" or to trust yourself to the point of accepting a hunch with no verifiable data to back it up. But when you look back you will see that you do indeed have data -- it's just that today, you were not aware of its meaning or its impact. Often, intuition is not as mysterious as it seems.
 
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Once again, fate seems to be knocking on your door. However, it's your side entrance, not the front door. Circumstances, particularly on the human level, are conspiring to guide you in a particular direction, and for reasons you may not understand today, you're beginning to acknowledge that you are free enough of the past to consider these possibilities. If you need information about the right and wrong ways to go, I can keep it simple: alone is the wrong way to go. Making your way with others willing to share in the responsibilities and rewards is the right way to go. And if you look, you will see they are right there.
 
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
In any relationship it helps immensely if both partners lead the way into the present, but there are many times when one will suffice. At the moment, others are indeed figuring out that the past is over. You, however, are in the midst of a quest to determine why you believe what you believe, and how you consistently get trapped in ideas that have nothing to do with your own values or principles. In this process, you do have a guide, in the form of someone who is challenging you to see a world of possibilities for yourself that you have long denied. It turns out that you're more like this person than you've previously admitted.
 
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
You may be divided between two entirely different sets of beliefs and two distinctly different ways of looking at a situation. At the moment it would appear that you're going back and forth, trying to get a sense of which one is true. They are both true. But it's a little like this: the shortest distance between two points is to fold the paper so they touch. Then hold the paper up to the light and look at the new shapes. The reason you are closer to your goal than you think is because, if you shift your perception, you will see that your energy is much more concentrated than you now believe.
 
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Now is a great moment to build up some speed and momentum, or rather to feel it building. And in the process, to experiment with putting the momentum first and the speed second; velocity is part of what sustains movement, but there are other factors, and many of them are working in your favor right now. The cooperation factor is a vital one, and your role is to maintain the contacts, kind of like an old-fashioned switchboard operator, and to keep the facts and roles of the people in your world clear. Clarity of purpose is vital at this stage: the purpose of every exchange, every relationship, every decision, every point of contact.
 
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
The kinds of imaginative solutions that can only come through cooperation are now available to you in an unusually potent way. But the astrology feels a little like this. Imagine a scenario where you have a few drinks with friends and the ideas start to flow. They seem brilliant -- at the time. Motivation seems to be everywhere -- at the time. The test comes the next morning: does someone take action? Does somebody start making calls, or invite everyone back for a second meeting? Is there someone in the group willing to light a nice sober fire under everyone's ass and get the game in motion? Under the current astrology, that would be you.
 
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
I suggest that before you do anything, you make sure it needs doing. This particularly involves anything you do for others. Your need for activity, service, involvement and exerting energy is greatly exaggerated at the moment. You need at the moment to be more like a piece of digital equipment rather than analog: less energy, more thought, greater efficiency, more refined and with a specific purpose. There is something that needs doing, but it's easier than you currently think, it involves you applying your intelligence rather than your back, and the results can be far greater than you currently suspect.
 
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
You fear this is not the time to gamble everything. Why not just gamble half? This way, if you lose, you will lose that much less. But what if you win? Then you'll be that much less prosperous. What you need to remember is that you're not in a casino; you are in real life, and you're not really betting, you're daring to do something that you can pretty much only do now. So you'll need to decide what you really value: a measure of security and predictability, or the freedom to express yourself. Those really do seem to be the choices. And while I strongly suggest you work with the best facts you have available to you now, I also suggest you follow your strongest hunch.
 
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
You're about to enter new territory for the first time in many months. True, things have been interesting during that time. There have been meaningful developments. Relationships have evolved and changed and maybe disappeared, and others have come along. But the thing about new territory is (borrowing from the immortal words of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart) that you will know it when you see it. New territory has an unrecognizable quality. There is that eminently refreshing sense that something different can manifest. A lot of things in your life have happened over and over again. Get ready for a change, and use it while it lasts.
 
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
There is a change happening around you. It's vibrating through your local environment, your household, your community and your closest friends. Something that has long been stuck is finally starting to give way -- and the scale of the change is likely to be more than you dreamed possible. But it is in fact possible. And what if this is not happening? You need to look for a new perspective. Initiate the change yourself. Seek out like minds and stick with them. Somewhere close to you, there is a group of authentic individuals waiting to embrace you for who you really are.
 
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
The theme of personal finances is strong in your solar chart. But put into psychological terms, the question is how you feel about yourself. I know I've been emphasizing this point repeatedly in Capricorn horoscopes and it cannot be said too often: how you feel about yourself is the universe in which you live. Whether you're experiencing the astrology in a positive or challenging way, the fact remains: you are at a critical turning point on this issue, and you have the potential to turn your life around, any way you want or need, in these very days. Make your decisions, then take action.
 
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
Over the next few days, I reckon that life will be sending you many messages. Some signals are already speaking of changes so far-reaching there is a risk you'll miss them. Others will be so detailed they barely seem relevant. It would help to maintain a sense of scale, but what's more important is that you be as conscious as possible about the ways in which your life is changing -- and moreover, the person you are becoming. You are truly in unprecedented personal territory. There are no specific limits except the ones you agree to, and the amount of energy, responsibility or creativity you can carry. Whatever is happening, the message is clear: your life is your life, and you're free to live like this is true.
 
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Strange forces are at work in your life, which have begun to push you in entirely new directions. I trust that a sense of potential is opening up; that developments and possibilities you would have deemed impossible, or never dared allow yourself to believe, are starting to seem perfectly valid and available. The one thing that could work against you is this: Of all the signs, Pisces is the most notorious for being plagued by insecurities. Yet even though this is true for you, acknowledge and address this one quality and you'll come light years in your personal development. You are free enough to dream, smart enough to know that anything is possible, and brave enough to dare: so dare.
 
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