Month: June 2018

Mars Retrogrades Today

Mars goes retrograde today and stays there until August 27. It will be mostly in the sign of Aquarius but will retrograde back to Capricorn for a short stay.

Mars is the planet of action and motivation, so when in retrograde expect things to slow down and in many cases it feels as though we are walking through water. Even when we want to charge forward, something is pulling us back, making it harder to reach goals.

This is not always a bad thing. While frustrating, it can also give us a necessary pause. Are we charging off in the right direction? Is there a smarter way to reach our goals?  This is a great time for plan evaluation. Many of us live always in reaction instead of in a place of conscious assessment and planning.

Mars retrograde says think, take a breath and then act. That can’t be a bad thing!

 

 

The Mars/Venus Dance on the Solstice

This was written by my friend and mentor Adam Gainsburg of Soulsign Astrology (www.soulsign.com.) It is such a beautiful description of the Mars/Venus dance this June solstice that I am copying in total.

Enjoy

 

Joan

Mars and Venus will be very close to an exact opposition on Summer/Winter Solstice in June (for northern and southern hemisphere people respectively) while also on the nodes of the Moon. They will also be close to their maximum brightness in our skies. Mars will rise while the Sun is setting and thus be MidnightStar, visible and brightest for the entire night. Venus will be at the end of her Remembering & Embodiment Phase, heading toward her Wholeness Phase — her brightest as an EveningStar. They’ll not be in the same part of our skies together, but for an hour or two, we will be blessed with bright, red Mars in the East rising, while bright, glowing Venus in the West will be slowly setting. This is a clear symbol of the Masculine and Feminine inside each of us at their most demonstrative – brightest and highest and longest in our skies – wanting what they each want. This can create quite a pull in opposite directions inside us. Generally, the one we are more comfortable with will win our attention to be acted upon. However, this is a fantastic opportunity to try on the ‘less familiar’ version of yourself, which may not be comfortable at first. Which do you default to when you don’t know how to proceed, your inner Masculine or Feminine?

A suggestion is to select the less familiar for you, while not excluding the other. See how you might make room for both in this new or different relationship to each other (by starting from the less familiar polarity). Is it meditating? running? are you alone or with another or lots of others? Remember, ‘making room for’ does not mean prescribing what will happen. It’s clearing out space to be spontaneous and freed up.

This summer’s alignments are invaluable opportunities to own, really own, as many of your facets, qualities and gifts as you’re safe to. You may just discover yourself as the Whole Living Sky itself that the planets are traversing through!!

 

Venus and Pluto In Opposition: All or Nothing at All

Venus and Pluto are facing off this week. Venus is in the mommy sign of Cancer while Pluto, the god of the underworld, is in taciturn Capricorn. It is almost as if Mom and Dad are fighting and the kids are in the middle. Venus is all about desire and love and Cancer is nurturing and coddling. Whereas Pluto is all about live and death choices and Capricorn is the task master! Family fight!

Depending on the placement of these planets in your chart you might really feel these movements. If, for instance, you are a Venus or Pluto Capricorn or Cancer person, you might feel a bit torn between your duties to your kids or even to yourself. There was a great song in the musical “Mame” when she lamented about perhaps being too strong or soft with her nephew. This describes this placement perfectly.

Even if it doesn’t hit you hard, think about the balance in your life between duty and comfort, work and play, time enjoyed or struggling.

Mom and Dad may be fighting but use that energy to bring balance to yourself.