Venus comes home with a mission (diplomacy!), Chiron turns around (re-thinking very old wounds), the Sun and Saturn are finally working together.
Let's dive right in and unpack the week!
MONDAY - Chiron stations retrograde, Venus squares Ceres and Mercury squares Pallas
WEDNESDAY - Third Quarter Moon
THURSDAY - Sun in Leo trines Saturn retrograde in Aries, Venus in Virgo inconjunct North Node in Aquarius, Venus enters Libra
FRIDAY - Venus in Libra inconjuncts Chiron retrograde in Taurus
MONDAY - Chiron stations retrograde, Venus squares Ceres and Mercury squares Pallas
Any planet stationing tends to dominate the sky, as it appears almost motionless for days, concentrating its symbolism. Chiron who has been in Taurus for about a New York minute has been asking us to heal our relationship with what gives us stability - our bodies, money, talents, values, self-worth and the belief that life will support us as well as the physical health situations Chiron consistently represents. At 0-degrees Taurus, we're still at the very beginning of these lessons.
As Chiron, the wounded healer, turns retrograde, external circumstances become a little less important than our internal response. Instead of looking for the next solution, we're invited to revisit the original wound. Taurus reminds us that healing doesn't have to be dramatic.
Sometimes it looks like eating better, resting, something that feels like comfort, getting our hands in the dirt and our feet on the grass, creating something with your hands, maybe learning to receive help or questioning the old belief that our worth depends entirely on what we produce or provide.
Retrograde Chiron in Taurus might invigorate circumstances that have us asking ourselves - Where have I confused survival with security? What do I still believe I have to earn? Can I trust that I already possess value? Because this station occurs at the very first degree of Taurus, it feels like the beginning of a long re-education around abundance - this is not about having more. This is about feeling fundamentally ENOUGH.
Chiron will be retrograde for the rest of the year. He will pop back into Aries on September 17th and then station direct January 6th, 2027, at 26-degrees Aries. We will be back where we are now next April, older and wiser - with this and other things! We can see next Spring is going to wrap up quite a bit of this chapter.
Also Monday we have the tension of the Venus/Ceres square AND the Mercury/Pallas square!
With Venus in Virgo for the last month, love has been expressed through competence. "I packed your lunch." "I remembered your appointment." "I fixed the problem before you noticed." It's love through usefulness. Ceres in Gemini nurtures differently. She feeds through conversation, information, curiosity, teaching, checking in, sharing ideas. She wants movement and mental connection. The square asks - am I caring for people in the way they actually need or in the way that feels most natural to me? That's a wonderful Chiron question. Sometimes our love language develops around our own wounds. Someone who never felt supported may become endlessly helpful. Someone who wasn't listened to may constantly offer advice or information. The square can expose those unconscious patterns.
Another layer with Virgo/Gemini is that Gemini scatters while Virgo concentrates. Ceres in Gemini says, "There are so many people who need something." Venus in Virgo replies, "I can't possibly do all of that well." That tension feels very much like our crazy busy lives. Many of us receive hundreds of tiny requests every week - texts, emails, news, social media, responsibilities. The square asks us to become discerning about where we actually place our care.
AND we have Mercury in Cancer (for what feels like forever!) squaring Pallas in Aries. Mercury thinks. Pallas recognizes patterns and develops strategy. Mercury processes. Pallas perceives.
Mercury in Cancer thinks through memory, feeling, belonging and emotional intelligence. Pallas in Aries sees quickly. She cuts through crap/complexity. She trusts instinct. She says, "the answer is obvious Mercury." Mercury in Cancer responds, "yes ... but people have histories. People have feelings". So, we may feel tension between compassion and decisive action.
Think about the fact Pallas Athena was born fully armored from Zeus's head. She is wisdom that arrives complete. Mercury is much more conversational. He gathers information. He asks questions. He changes his mind. The square can produce situations where our first strategic impulse isn't emotionally digestible or where our emotional attachments prevent us from implementing what we already know is wise.
Or think about it like this - Mercury is in the sign of the mother. Pallas is in the sign of the warrior. Nurture meets courage. Protection meets initiative. Sometimes caring requires decisive action. Sometimes decisive action must be softened with care.
Saturn is retrograde in Aries now - before we build the new structure, we have to notice the old reflexes! Before we can become more authentic (North Node in Aquarius which I still have to write about!), we have to recognize where our caregiving, problem-solving or communication has become automatic rather than intentional.
Monday looks like a big day. There is alot going on and some piece of it will likely be hitting each of us - keep in mind the Chiron station this week. Very old wounds prominent - let's be kind to each other when we can.
WEDNESDAY - Third Quarter Moon (Taurus)
The Third Quarter Moon in Taurus arrives just three days after Chiron stations here, so the "am I doing enough, am I keeping what I've built" waning-square anxiety lands directly inside the opening days of the retrograde. The Moon rehearsing the worth-and-security question before Chiron has even properly settled into looking backward.
With the Moon in Taurus, the emphasis becomes practical rather than emotional. It's more about - what can I hold/sustain? what do I have? - than it is about how do I feel. This is a Taurus vs Leo fixed square. The Sun wants to have fun/shine. The Moon wants security and comfort.
This is an excellent time to simplify schedules, finances, possessions, habits or commitments. If something constantly drains more energy than it returns, this Moon makes that increasingly obvious.
THURSDAY - Sun in Leo trines Saturn retrograde in Aries, Venus in Virgo inconjunct North Node in Aquarius, Venus enters Libra
The Sun in Leo wants us to shine, and Saturn reminds us to earn confidence through integrity (which lasts) rather than applause (which fades). A flowing trine (brakes off) between them suggests that confidence becomes more solid when it rests on discipline instead of performance. With Saturn retrograde in Aries, we're reviewing our own authority, so situations might conspire for us to think about and deal with -
am I acting from conviction or simply reacting? what have I already started that deserves deeper commitment? Does my ambition reflect who I truly am becoming?
Leo supplies inspiration while Saturn provides structure, so it's easier to make lasting progress because enthusiasm is supported by patience. This is a great aspect. Creative work, leadership, teaching, parenting, building businesses or simply following through on promises all benefit from this influence. This aspect is a reminder that authentic confidence is built one kept promise to ourselves at a time.
This is also the day Venus at the very end of Virgo - she can almost taste her beautiful home in Libra now! - inconjuncts the North Node of Fate. The inconjunct (quincunx) is an aspect of adjustment and rocks and hard places. There isn't an easy answer. Venus in Virgo wants to improve, refine, fix and be useful and at the very last degree something here can have this 'now or never' flavor to it. The North Node, recently moved into Aquarius for the next 18 months, is pulling us toward a future that requires authenticity, community and a willingness to think differently.
Virgo and Aquarius are naturally out of sorts, but are often trying to solve the same problem using entirely different operating systems. Virgo asks, "What can I improve?" Aquarius asks, "What needs to evolve?"
Both are signs that want things to function better. Neither is particularly sentimental. Both can be incredibly intelligent, observant and future-oriented. BUT they can have difficulty understanding each other because they define "better" so differently. Again, the different operating system thing. Virgo trusts what it can test, refine and perfect. It begins with the individual piece. Aquarius trusts the pattern. It steps back from the individual and asks how the whole system could be redesigned. Virgo notices the one broken brick. Aquarius wonders whether bricks are even the right building material.
We have just had the South Node in Virgo until about a week ago. This asked us to grow beyond defining ourselves primarily by our usefulness, so this inconjunct feels like a little bit of a check-in on where we are and what we have learned.
Aquarius values contribution, but not necessarily service in the Virgoan sense. It asks, "What unique perspective can only you offer?" This can feel uncomfortable because Virgo tends to ask, "How can I fit myself to what is needed?" And Aquarius asks, "How might what is needed change because I showed up?" :) I am very familiar with these particular signs could talk about them all day, but bottom line -the quincunx doesn't get to resolve in Virgo. Venus carries the "how do I recalibrate service versus destiny-direction" tension over the sign line with her, still unintegrated, and lands in Libra two and a half hours later.
VENUS COMES HOME TO LIBRA. After being cramped up in tidy Virgo, Venus can breathe again. Venus in Libra is about love and partnership, collaboration and compromise. Venus in Libra is about balance.
This transit (until September 10th) makes Libra Suns and Risings, who are already naturally attractive, even more so - both physically attractive and more able to attract what they want/need. Everyone's Libra house gets more magnetic, too!
We will be attracted to what we find 'beautiful'. We will be attracted to what we find 'just'. We will be attracted to what we find 'peaceful'. And these are the qualities people will find attractive in us and our work in the world. These are the qualities we'll want to bring to the table (and yes, flowers that would be a good thing to bring to the table now, too) to attract whatever we are wanting to attract now, particularly in the area of life housing your natal Libra. The potential for peace can increase as Venus strengthens and we (the collective) move from critic (Virgo) to diplomat (Libra).
In Libra, Venus quickly bumps elbows with Chiron. Again, this is NOT a crisis aspect - it is an adjustment. It reads like the relational recalibration she just carried over from Virgo runs almost immediately into the same worth-wound Chiron is about to spend five months circling.
Nothing huge (quincunx, not a hard square), but a preview of the friction between wanting ease/beauty in relating (Libra Venus) and the raw, early-degree Taurus material about what we're actually worth without performing for it.
This aspect can expose, among other things, the subtle ways we compromise ourselves for the sake of keeping everyone else comfortable. Venus in Libra wants relationships to be balanced. And then a retrograde Chiron reminds us that balance starts within. Sometimes Chiron aspects - and we have multiple this week plus he is strong changing direction - indicate important HEALTH situations going on.
Next week there is ALOT going on. Mercury, Mars and Ceres will all change signs. Juno will back into Capricorn and away from Pluto and we have the FIRST LEO ECLIPSE which looks mega and prolific and like a very big GREEN LIGHT.
xo all
Saturday, August 8th is the so-called Lion's Gate Portal. Let's discuss. The modern "Lion's Gate Portal" is largely a New Age creation even though it borrows real symbolism from ancient Egypt, Sirius and Leo season. The idea of a yearly "portal" on 8/8 isn't part of traditional Western astrology, Hellenistic astrology, or even classical Egyptian astrology that I know of.
That said, it didn't just come out of nowhere. There are several genuine symbolic threads that got woven together. The Sun is in Leo/the sign of the Lion. Sirius, the brightest fixed star, becomes prominent in the sky around this time of year (the exact timing depends on latitude and era due to precession). Ancient Egyptians watched the rising of Sirius because it heralded the flooding of the Nile which meant the return of life and abundance. Numerology gives significance to 8/8, with eight representing power, manifestation and the infinity symbol.
Those are all real traditions. The leap from there to an annual energetic "portal" is a much newer interpretation.
I didn't think much about it until a few years back when the FBI raided (this was while Trump was out of office) Trump's resort/estate Mar-a-Lago in Florida on 8/8.
Trump, a Leo Rising (exactly conjunct Sun God Apollo and our Ascendent is literally the face we show the world) has long embodied - or consciously projected - Leo archetypes. Royalty and kingship. Gold, luxury, spectacle. Personal branding. A kind of centrality ("I alone..."). The larger-than-life persona. The lion as a symbol of dominance and sovereignty. There are people in the middle east who think Trump is the reincarnation of King Cyrus (the Lion King of Persia).
In mythology, the lion isn't simply about courage. The lion is sovereignty. And sovereignty always carries a question of who has legitimate authority. When that question arises, the "king" is often tested. In fairy tales and myths, there comes a moment when the castle gates are crossed. The king's court is entered. The ruler must answer to a higher law than his own. That's a recurring archetype - from Arthurian legend to biblical narratives to Tolkien.
So, the image of agents passing through the gates of a palace belonging to someone whose identity is steeped in Leo symbolism has a mythic quality independent of the legal details. The "gate" wasn't an invisible energetic portal. It was an actual gate. The threshold was crossed. The king's castle was entered. The sovereign's authority was challenged. Whether we see this as justified or unjustified is a totally separate question.
Archetypically, the symbolism is pretty amazing and made me wonder if Lion's Gate isn't so much a portal (although it could certainly be) but a recurring moment when the archetype of sovereignty/the king is tested.
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