venus retrograde meets the Sun | January 8th, 2022 - a light on what we want/value, seeing the real worth of our efforts, our actions can be challenged by what we can't control, allowing things to unfold/unwind, swimming against the tide just wears us out/gets us wetter


 

For SATURDAY - the Moon is in fiery Aries now - we are nourished/nurtured by moving our body, starting, taking action, passion, arguments (sometimes), men. Her only aspect today is a smooth sextile to Mercury at 7 degrees Aquarius. Good for new conversations (keep in mind Mercury is walking degrees he will walk two more times during his upcoming retrograde, so ideas/communications/information - nothing is set in stone here), writing, commerce, opportunities through siblings, our local community, our tech, transportation. Mercury is cutting edge in Aquarius, our minds are linked up with the FUTURE/humanity. 


This is a BIG day for Venus as she meets up with the Sun - reaching the mid-point of her 40 day/40 night retrograde cycle. HERE is a light on what this Venus retrograde is about for us. Can we see the real worth of our efforting? What have we learned?


A message comes in now, likely expressed through a Venusian situation - relationships, love, our values, self-esteem. 

 

Since Venus started her retrograde cycle as omicron was announced as a new variant, maybe now is when we get some enlightening data/sense of what is happening.


Venus also rules beauty, so changes are good while Venus is retrograde, we are "re"vising after all, but only if it’s something we used to love and/or can be easily reversed once Venus is direct, in case we find the change something we are not loving later on. Move the couch, but don't buy a new couch, for example.


At the same time the Sun is meeting Venus, he is sextiling Pallas at 18 degrees Pisces and Mars (18 Sagittarius) is squaring Pallas.

 

Mars square Pallas and applying to his upcoming square to Neptune speaks of tension/frustration/delays with our QUEST. Our actions can drift off course. Here in New Jersey, we've just had a snowstorm and everyone is sick, was sick or is probably about to be sick. Pushing through a Neptune square is like trying to fight water/swim against the tide. 

 

Better to go with the flow of that smooth sextile between the Sun and Pallas.

 

We are working with our intuition and spirit, offering compassion/rest/healing/imagination, connecting illusive dots as a STRATEGY.

 

Ultimately this is another Saturn/Neptune - making the dream real with maybe a sacrifice/release necessary before things can stabilize. Patience is par for the course here. Also keep in mind, although Mars is squaring Pallas, the Moon, answering to Mars through Aries is sextiling (opportunity) Mercury. Talk about something new. The North Node is still Gemini - there are more choices than we think there are. Ask new/smarter, less emotional questions.

 

Know there are almost certainly going to be delays and changes of directions over the next month, take care of yourself - this is all in bigger hands than ours ....


xo all - back with a post about Mercury's upcoming retrograde, the second part of the Nodal shift AND, I think, we'll take a look at next week's Cancer Full Moon this weekend, get a jump on things with that and see where this two week cycle winds up

 

note - people with planets/points nearest 18 degrees will probably feel these energies strongest as well as people with natal aspects getting repeated (regardless of signs) through these transits and probably Venus ruled Taurus and Libra risings

more about the astrology of january 2022 | january as preparation for February through April's GO time

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Once we get through the next month of retrogrades - we will have all the planets direct for quite a few weeks. 

 

We might want to be thinking about this now/preparing. January's New Moon in Capricorn last weekend was a GO/get seeds in the ground with that trine to future-focused Uranus, but we still have Venus retrograde in Capricorn and an approaching Mercury retrograde that will start in Aquarius - the future - and pull us back into Capricorn - the present/past. 

 

We also have Mars in Sagittarius now reaching the degrees where he is beginning to square Neptune (this will be exact on January 11th) - which can feel draining/diluting. It can also pull in wet weather/virus, flu, etc and other Neptunian situations that can work at cross purposes to our actions/our quest. Mars in Sag is answering to Jupiter in Pisces, so ultimately answering to Neptune, really giving Neptunian delusion/exhaustion/escape (but also inspiration, healing, compassion) the upper hand here. 


Once we get past February 3rd, we will have all the planets direct including Venus and Uranus (currently retrograde) and Mercury (retrograde starting January 14th). We will still be walking old shadow degrees for a bit, but that's ok. This will be prime 'LAUNCH'; time, but there will be some days/times that are better than others. This 'forward ho' will last until April 28th when Pluto stations retrograde and the spring/summer retrogrades begin. We will talk about this more as we get closer and move through it, but the preparation/clear the field/reflection/get seeds into the ground time is NOW.


This doesn't mean we can't launch/start anything important before early February if we must, just know things will tend to revise themselves as we move along. With the Nodes set to move into fixed signs - Taurus/Scorpio - on January 18th, it might be in our best interest to not be as flexible as we have been after this time. So, if we can help it, we really don't want all the retrograde energy in the 'start chart' for anything that really matters (realizing sometimes this can't be helped). Forward moving planets mean less revisions later and that's usually a good thing - less headaches/more momentum with fewer starts and stops.

 

Just keep in mind these retrogrades MUST BE WORKED in order for the 'momentum' thing LATER to be most effective or we could be moving ourselves toward a cliff/brick wall very quickly when all the planets are direct. There are good reasons for the delays/road blocks/turnarounds we will encounter as we move through January. The retrograde energies are times for INTERNAL work - getting real/getting clear. Doing the "re's". We usually can't just sit them out.

 

A couple dates to note in January: 

 

January 14th - we have Ceres stationing direct (27 degrees Taurus, conjunct that RED HOT degree from the last Solar Eclipse in December 2021 that kicked off the Taurus nodal shift) at the same time Mercury stations retrograde (10 degrees Aquarius). 

 

January 18th to 19th - we have Uranus stationing direct, the nodal shift into Taurus/Scorpio and the Sun's move into Aquarius answering to Uranus and squaring those freshly minted Nodes. This also lights up the RED HOT 'world starts up again' 0 degrees Aquarius where Jupiter and Saturn met back in December 2020. 


(an interesting side note here is that Venus will meet Pluto at 0 degrees Aquarius on December 7, 2024 - so they met on "time runs out/power cemented" for the first time on the day Omicron was announced in November and meet again on "time starts up again" in 2024)

 

Lots of changes ahead/twists and turns. Opportunities and challenges. 

 

We are probably feeling more 'goal-oriented' right now with all this Cappy energy. With Venus retrograde we want to be bringing more Venusian charm/balance into our business dealings. AND conversely, we want to be taking Venusian themes - relationships, money, our values and self-esteem more seriously. February will bring fresh opportunities/starts, but it is the January "re's" that make sure we have that 'ladder of success' we will be climbing perched against the right wall.


With all this Capricorn, life's a marathon, not a sprint. Take care of yourself.


xo all

 

artwork by the amazing Duy Huynh

Today's Astrology Forecast | Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 - re-imagining what we want, giving up the ghost, all day void moon


 

The pile-up of planets in one part of the heavens is creating an unusually long void Moon today. The Moon, void last night off a sextile to Mars, is void until 7:17PM EST tonight when she enters Pisces. In dreamy Pisces we are nourished/nurtured by art, music, imagination, rest, meditation, prayer, compassion. Her only aspect is a conjunction with Pisces ancient ruler Jupiter at 9:56PM EST. 


This feels very supportive of today's dreamy Venus/Neptune sextile at 20 degrees Capricorn/Pisces. 

 

Venus is retrograde and this is her second of three meetings with Neptune. We had the first sextile back on November 30, 2020, so maybe something from that time frame is connecting to a situation now. 


Cappy/Pisces is 'making the dream real' energy. Neptune rules the collective unconscious and his contact with a personal planet, in this case Venus, in stabilizing Capricorn, can merge the collective creative imagination with our physical power to create something in tangible form. This is excellent energy for making art, music, writing, etc. We can tap into collective potential. Give life to something that can benefit/heal other people.

 

There might also be something here about softening the hard edges of our ambitions or defenses. The retrograde of Venus in Cappy can be particularly eye-opening for people with Venus/Saturn natal aspects which might have manifested as the feeling of needing to 'earn' love or 'earn' our keep or having a great sensitivity to rejection. Situations can arise that mimic or trigger childhood emotional pain. Here, maybe the Neptune contact can bring some healing/compassion. The three-peat nature of this sextile can be especially healing and we will have Mercury and Mars through here in the coming weeks. Old ghosts/family curses can be put to bed. Keep in mind, for our benevolent Venus, this is our second pass - the one where we are doing the "re's", re-evaluating, re-feeling, re-doing, etc. 

 

Maybe an old dream is re-awakened. Maybe someone/something can come back around.

 

Whatever this is, the sextile is opportunistic. It's a good time to be socializing, connecting with other people, connecting with our muses and spirit via meditation/prayer. Tonight's meeting of the Pisces Moon and Jupiter might foreshadow next spring's big meeting between Jupiter and Neptune. Write down your dreams. Pay attention to what is inspiring you now.

 

Venus pulls in themes of money, relationships, our values and self-esteem. Neptune brings in our dreams, healing, compassion, our ghosts, sometimes our escape mechanisms. Saturn activates our Cappy natal house themes and the more general themes of our careers, goals, karma and ambitions. 


This is a good time to be "re-imagining" what we want. 

 

Keep an eye on the Void Moon, too. Give yourself a break.


xo all


artwork by the talented paulee1

the nodes of fate shift to taurus and Scorpio | january 2022 to July 2023 - turning away from the complicated drama and crisis situations, Keeping things simple, minding our own business, turning toward mother earth, savoring life

 

On January 19th, 2022, the Nodes of Luna move from Gemini/Sagittarius to Taurus/Scorpio. The North Node will be in Taurus (which becomes our most beneficial path forward) and the South Node (where we are, what we need to leave behind) will be in Scorpio. 

 

The nodes will be in Taurus/Scorpio until July 17, 2023.


Here is where we, as a collective, and in our personal lives, of course keeping in mind we have our own nodal story playing out through our birth charts - appoint Taurus (ruled by Venus, and we will look at Ceres here, too) our guiding North Star and Scorpio (ruled by modern ruler Pluto and we'll look at ancient ruler Mars, too, at times), the space and themes in need of sorting/sifting and, whatever is past its use-by date here, retirement. 

 

The Nodes are activated by transits (their interactions with planets/points) and our Taurus/Scorpio houses will be amplified via Eclipses in these signs over the next eighteen months. This story kicked off a little early with the New Moon Solar Eclipse at 26 degrees Taurus on November 18, 2021.

 

We talked about that one HERE


(this was the Eclipse with the Moon on fixed star Algol, tightly conjunct the U.S. birth chart's exact Wuhan/Pandora conjunction, conjunct asteroid Sedna and opposing President Biden's Sun - yes, the Eclipses came in with a bang)


What does it means to appoint Taurus our North Star? 

 

Taurus rules our collective second house - our values, our self-esteem, our finances, our resources, our earned income. Taurus likes comfort and ease and stopping to smell the roses. This isn't about being lazy, although Taurean energy can be a bit lazy. This is really about our ability to savor. And to put down roots.  In Taurus we see where we are and what we have. WE HOLD ON TO THINGS. Gratitude and patience pays off. Taurus always makes me think about stewardship - the responsible care we take of ourselves, our families, our businesses, our spaces, our planet. As the North Node moves into Taurus, Taurean ruler Venus is retrograding through sober/traditional Capricorn, so, even though the North Node is all about the future, with a retrograde ruler at kick-off time, the past, this whole 'going backward to go forward', will need to be factored in. 

 

Another thing to consider is that even though Taurus is FIXED EARTH, we have had disruptive Uranus in Taurus, shaking up our Taurus stability for the last couple years, so it's an area of life we are already dealing with CHANGE. As the North Node moves into this space in our blueprint/birth chart the changes/chaos we have ALREADY BEEN DEALING WITH will be magnetically lining us up, as we lean into Taurus, with our best path through these changes and their aftermath. When the North Node meets up with Uranus next summer, we can expect a big chaotic push into the future.

 

The South Node - where we are, what we need to be leaving behind - will move into Scorpio. 

 

Scorpio rules our collective eighth house - where those second house themes get merged or purged through our relationships with other people. So, Scorpio rules other people's resources, other people's values, other people's money, our spouse's/partner's income, loans, debts, taxes, inheritance, death, rebirth, intimacy, sex, reproduction. Here is where we take the time to understand/unravel/obsess over other people's motives. It's through the constructive traits of Scorpio - focus, resourcefulness, passion, probing, deep perception - that we experience real intimacy. We merge with other people physically and materially. The sum becomes something far greater than its parts.  

 

The shadow of Scorpio, like all signs, are always the positives taken too far. Compulsion, jealousy, manipulation, power struggles, making things too complicated, we get too focused on what someone else has/is doing or on things that don't belong to us, the need for life and death drama, the need to dig so deep/unearth so much that we lose sight of the importance of any of it. The South Node will move into Scorpio with Scorpian ruler Pluto uber active via multiple hits with Venus and Mercury, the Sun having just met Pluto and with Mars scheduled to meet Pluto in a few weeks. Scorpio is fixed water - think oasis in the middle of a desert, bottomless lake/sometimes pit, stagnation.

 

With the North Node in Taurus - our values, our self-worth, what we really own - is going to MATTER. 

 

We will be in a collective heap of sh*t if we don't get this stuff right. Simpler things will move more smoothly than complicated things. And this might sound obvious and always the case, but it isn't. Remember with our North Node in Gemini for the last 18 months everything has required multiple things to move us forward, nothing has been simple. 


With the North Node in Taurus, boundaries will be important. We are going to need to know where we end and the other person begins. We are going to want to be looking at where we are putting our time/resources and how and if this is paying off for us.


Our Taurus natal planets will meet up with the North Node, our Scorpio planets the South Nodes. Our planets in Aquarius and Leo will square the nodes and offer us challenges and pivot points. The Nodes move from the mutable signs - breathe a sigh of relief, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces and into the fixed signs - looking at you Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. 


The Nodes are karmic points. During the Nodes time in Taurus/Scorpio - people with planets and points in these signs (and the other fixed signs) will release what is ready to go, past karma that is keeping us from moving forward, and, pull in what we have lined up with for our future.


The South Node shows us where we are. With the South Node in Scorpio we start this transit IN SCORPIO/the dark/dealing with life and death/needing to rise from these sweaty death bed sheets. With the South Node in Scorpio, there will be some 'bottom-less' pit activities/situations that won't get us anywhere, will keep us stuck.

 

1. getting immersed in the complicated minutiae, looking for problems, looking for truth that hurts, continuing to be absorbed in these never-ending and escalating (what we give our attention to GROWS) crisis situations

2. losing ourselves (and our resources) in another person 

3. focusing on what is dead/dying

4. getting all tangled up in other people's business/third party situations/other people's motives

5. borrowing too much money, having no personal safety net

6. trashing our physical bodies, spaces, the planet

7. inappropriate merging - lack of boundaries

8. being judgmental or withholding with others and ourselves

9. compulsions, jealousy, manipulations (trying to control what someone else is doing/thinking/wanting)

10. endless power struggles


We will be happiest/most successful if we lean into the positives of Taurus:


1. making things more SIMPLE

2. living by our own values - not getting our self-esteem through feedback/thumbs ups

3. minding our own business

4. making things more beautiful/comfortable

5. slowing down, having patience - think of the way the seed in the ground will not be rushed, be realistic, this is fixed earth

6. being outdoors

7. practicing gratitude for what we have instead of focusing on what someone else has or what we are missing

8. enjoying our five physical senses, SAVORING LIFE

9. choosing quality over quantity, accumulating resources that gain value over time

10. taking care of our physical bodies


With the North Node in Taurus our successes will be EARNED. This will be through a practical, step-by-step process. Our values/our self-worth should be dictating what we DO. This is a good transit to make money/gain resources.


Let's say you were born with a North Node in Taurus or North Node in your 2nd house - you have earned the opportunity, via your past lives' financial maneuverings with other people, to gain/reap personal wealth in this lifetime, but this time those rewards will need to come through your own efforts. Yes, you can have nice stuff. Yes, you will have to earn this stuff.


As we collectively, over the next year and a half, move away from the darker dynamics of Scorpio and build, through our own efforts, that Taurean stability, we will EARN the right to gain, too. We can have nice stuff. Comfort. Security. What we value.

 

I am writing this a bit early, so we will have to see where we are at when we come into this nodal shift. Our North Node is still in Gemini for the next couple weeks, our South Node in Sagittarius - we talked about these Nodes often over the last eighteen months and in greater detail HERE and HERE.


We'll talk more about the deeper energies of this nodal shift and dig in by sign, in Part II as we get closer, but I thought this heads up now might be helpful.


xo all


artwork by the amazing Brian Kirhagis

Today's Astrology Forecast | January 4th, 2022 - the Aqua Moon pulls us back into the Saturn/Uranus square, contractual changes, time to adjust


 

The Moon is in Aquarius now - we are nourished/nurtured by logic, smart conversations, group dynamics, our friendships, detaching a bit from intense situations. She will square ruler Uranus (retrograde) at 11:24AM EST, meets Saturn at 1:43PM EST and goes void off a sextile with Mars at 7:44PM EST. She will be void until 7:17PM EST TOMORROW (so, yes, almost all day Wednesday - the planets are mostly all huddled together creating some big empty spaces!). 


Her square to Uranus and conjunction with Saturn pulls the energy of 2021/2022's Saturn/Uranus square into our personal lives. The new and the old, liberation and responsibility. That final sextile to Mars in Sag (QUEST), tells us there is an 'all's well that end's well' here if we take positive action, stay optimistic/brave. The void itself is a kind of 'time between time' - the hours get stretchy. We can be very productive/get alot done, just don't start anything brand new you want 'something to come of'. 


At the same time, Juno, at 18 degrees Capricorn, inconjuncts Black Moon Lilith in Gemini. This is the wife vs the 'other woman' energy. Juno in Capricorn is about traditional partnerships/commitments/contracts and BML is a take-no-prisoner kind of girl in 'a little of this and a little of that' Gemini. Maybe Juno's limits/rules are too tight and need to be loosened up. Maybe BML's crash and burn tactics/lack of focus/toss baby with bathwater needs to be reined in a bit. Inconjuncts are rocks and hard places and these energies are kind of repeating the Saturn/Uranus the Moon is activating, so we are probably going to run into something like this today. 

 

The good news with Gemini is THERE ARE OPTIONS. Sometimes multiple solutions. The Moon in Aqua will allow us to step back emotionally from heated/tense situations and that will be helpful. The final aspect of this Aqua Moon being a supportive/opportunistic sextile with Mars speaks of solutions through action, optimism, courage. 

 

For late tonight and tomorrow the long void gives us time to rest, re-group, yada-yada. Time gets stretchy during long voids and we can be very productive/get alot done. Just stick to routine work. It's not the time to start anything brand new unless you want to have to do it all over again later.


xo all


artwork by the talented gerezon

weekly astrology forecast for Creatives | January 3rd - 9th, 2022 - an obstacle, an opportunity, knowing what we value, starting something fresh and new, detaching from the drama

 


 

Sunday's New Moon kicks off a two week cycle of practical/stabilizing fresh starts focused on the future/change/something NEW. 

 

Magical new beginnings are possible people!

 

Let's take a look at the biggest aspects of the week ahead:

 

MONDAY - Jupiter squares North Node

WEDNESDAY - Venus sextiles Neptune

SATURDAY - Sun conjuncts Venus

SUNDAY - Mercury sextiles Chiron, First Quarter Moon



On MONDAY, Jupiter, at 1 degree Pisces squares the North Node in Gemini

 

This is the FINAL major North Node in Gemini aspect before the node switches into Taurus in the middle of January. One more course correction folks!

 

Squares are tension/frustration. Piscean squares can bring up our delusions, addictions, lack of boundaries, spiritual bypassing, illness, escape, self-sabotage tendencies. Jupiter will exacerbate the situation, show us the problem if there is one here, so we can't miss it, by pulling in Jupiterian excesses - what just got BIGGER?

 

Nodal squares are skipped steps - something needs to be addressed before we can proceed any further. Keep in mind we are still working with the North Node in Gemini - so there can be more than one way forward, more than one thing that needs to be decided, etc. As we have for the last 18 months we want to point our sails toward GEMINI. 

 

Following the facts/details/asking questions/working through your natal Gemini house theme.

 

(collectively, one of the things this might speak of, because nothing is ever just one thing, is the virus or even wet weather situations - Neptune - squaring off with our Gemini situations, for example children's education)

 

On WEDNESDAY, Venus, retrograde at 20 degrees Capricorn, sextiles Neptune in Pisces


This is Cappy/Pisces - 'making the dream real' energy - a creative opportunity. With Venus retrograde, something here feels like a second chance. Neptune softens Venus in Cappy's harder edges and brings the 'dream/our imagination' into Capricorn's more practical realm. Venus gives Neptune a sober/concrete support for the 'dream'- something solid is being built now. Something lasting. 

 

As we've talked about before with Cappy/Pisces (Saturn/Neptune) aspects, they often involve a sacrifice/release - we may have to willingly give up this, to get that.

 

If we are working too hard, we might get a rest/break. We could even get sick if that's what it takes. Which doesn't sound like much of an opportunity, but somehow it is. If we are being too escapist/lazy, well, here is some kind of responsibility/situation that requires we put in the effort/get to work. 

 

Either way this is - Creative Opportunity. Practical magic. Unconditional love.


On SATURDAY, Venus, retrograde in Capricorn, reaches the mid-point of her retrograde cycle and meets the Sun at 18 degrees, her inferior conjunction as she moves from an evening to a morning star turning invisible. People with planets/points near this degree will probably be feeling this strongest.


For all of us - a light shines on what this Venus retrograde has been about for us, even as Venus is occulted by the Sun, as she/we reach a symbolic turning point in this 40 days and 40 nights journey. Venus' cycles particularly pertain to Venus things - love, money, our values and self-esteem. Cappy has pulled in collective themes of our work in the world, careers, goals and reputation. What do we want? What do we value NOW?

 

On SUNDAY - the Moon at 19 degrees Aries reaches her First Quarter Square with the Cappy Sun while Mercury sextiles Chiron.


The square is Aries/Capricorn. Tension/frustration. The self/identity vs work/career/reputation. The new vs the old. Independence/doing it our way vs responsibility/commitment/tradition. First quarter squares require ACTION and Aries doubles down on this. The New Moon energy is checking up on us - are we doing something new? Are we STARTING? Have we set out intentions

 

At the same time, Mercury will be sextiling Chiron in Aries giving us a way through. 

 

We can discuss what hurts/our vulnerabilities/what we are needing without alot of emotional drama. Detach. Use logic/intellect. With Mercury in future-focused Aqua - here is another aspect about doing it differently/trying a new approach to an old problem. 

 

This week continues the New Moon in Cappy story. What are we starting from this older/wiser position? What needs to change?


xo all

 

(this week isn't about some giant leap forward, just get some seeds into the ground)


artwork by the talented agnes-cecile