a week or so into venus retrograde ....

afternoon sister by polish-girl

How is Venus retrograde in Aries working out for everyone? By now, a week or so into this 40 day and 40 night transit we are likely to see the writing on the wall.

It might still require a pair of those magnifying readers you can pick up at Walgreens for $9.99 or maybe it is splashed in two story high, full color graffiti like mine. Events are transpiring to get us to clarity about what we really value - relationships are tested, the way we handle our money (and other resources) is tested.

Old relationships or earlier times in existing relationships, actions and choices come back for another look or maybe in some cases to bite us in the ass. We might be more sentimental or just more pissed off. We could find ourselves attracting backward.

The theme of the house where early Aries sits in our natal chart will be Venus's field of play. And of course with Aries ruling everything from war to our first house version of ourselves, we could be retooling and re-looking at multiple Aries general themes.

The last Venus retrograde (summer 2015) had me obsessed with several Netflix series about life in the early 60's. This one is hitting closer to home. Recent battles have required me to stand up for my own happiness. Which is a pretty way of saying something that doesn't look very pretty in real life.

It also has me focused on how I used to look or maybe more accurately put if I look deeper, how I used to look to others.

(and yes, I am talking about more than physical appearance but I am talking about physical appearance, too - for example, after seeing my recent vacation pics with my hair gone almost totally gray, I am not sure this is such a good idea anymore, plus I need to lose 10 pounds)

Today, Venus squares asteroid Juno (partnership, relationship) at 10 degrees Capricorn. There is a clash/tension here between our personal freedom and our commitments to others.

We also have the Sun conjunct asteroids Pallas and Chiron - all in watery, dreamy, imaginative, illusive, deceptive (pick your poison) Pisces. Maybe something from late last week when Mercury touched these same asteroids comes to light now, concludes or evolves. Or maybe Sunday's Full Moon did that and now we are dealing with the aftermath. There is some turning point here.

Mars is trine the North Node today encouraging us to focus our efforts on what we feel most passionate about (that might mean working with a situation that is making us angry - anger is passion, too). As exhausted as most of us are now, there is still some fight left in all of us. 

There has to be.  

xo all

Mercury into Aries - them's fightin' words and fired up with new ideas

angry workplace by tarelkin

Mercury (communication, conversation, thoughts, ideas) moves into fiery Aries today.

Our words get to the point.

What comes to mind or out of our mouths first is what catches attention. Words get blunt and powerful and also more potentially hurtful and deadly. Everyone else's words will have more fire behind them, too. Conversations are more straightforward and passionate. More sensitive people can get hurt. Know this is an annual transit and necessary toward everyone's advancement. People will be speaking up and letting the chips fall.

The message becomes more important than the words now because the message is all the other person will hear/remember anyway. The truth will come out and it won't always be pretty.

Communications and conversations will speed up. Our thinking, and everyone else's, will be more independent. New ideas bloom like apples in autumn - pick one. Focus.

Words spoken with passion and authority produce the best results. But remember everyone will be thinking "what's in it for me?" - the goods must be delivered (Mercury in Aries will give the collective a greater tendency to start something full of passion, maybe anger, and then fizzle out). With Aries it is easy to get so fired up over something we haven't thought all the way through and then toss the baby out with the bathwater at the first sign of trouble (and use multiple metaphors in the same sentence, why the hell not!).

It will be very easy to get into a fight now. With Aries, the first sign, focused in on that first thought (wth, did he just insult me?) it will be harder to think twice. If we have to stand up for ourselves the energy to do so will be there for us. It will also be there to cut others off at the knees - keep this in mind.

This is great energy to turn our thoughts and ideas toward ourselves (Aries is about me, me, me after all). Over the next few weeks (through March 31st when Aries moves on) the energy will be there to revamp our language, words, name, profile and start fresh.

What house is Aries in your natal chart? This is the area of life our conversations and communications will focus in on. Mercury also rules siblings, local travel and transportation - all these things will get a shot of Aries fire, too.

xo all