Tag: Vesta

Vesta Enters Virgo Today

Virgo is Vesta’s happy place. Most modern astrologers give rulership of Virgo to the asteroid Vesta. This transit is all about devotion to duty. Vesta’s domain was hearth and home, similar to the Greek Hestia. She kept the fires of the temple burning and was dutiful, almost narrow minded in her task.  ”

Virgo and Vesta have general domain over the body – how we feed, care and work the body – our health and our work habits. Even if you do not have much Virgo influence in your chart, this would be a good time to run a “check-up” of these areas. Do you need to make that doctor’s appointment, get that test? Is your desk a mess? Do you have a thousand years’ worth of paper work waiting to be recycled? Work with Vesta now to make these things happen.

Vesta in Virgo is also about finding the sacred in daily life. It is a very a very grounding, nitty-gritty placement and a time not just to smell the roses but find the mysticism in their design. No matter how mundane, try to see spirit in all you do. 

 

Joan and Johnny – the Feud

With the sudden death of Joan Rivers, I decided to look at her battle with Johnny Carson that lives as one of the Hollywood’s great feuds. The story unfolded when, after years of being his fill in host, Joan Rivers took a job with the new Fox Network to host her own late night show. According to Rivers, she had inside information that NBC would never give the show to a woman and her contract was ending. Whatever the details, Carson hung up the phone when she called him and never spoke to her again. 
Karma anyone?
Of course, I had to look at their charts to see what forces could have led to him first giving her career the boost it needed to take off and then almost destroy it. 
The biwheel of their chart tells me three things immediately – karma, power and jobs. Let’s do the juicy stuff first – karma. Her retrograded Juno, the goddess of loyalty and partnership, is on his Mars, the warrior, in the 12th house. There is no more karma house that the 12th because it connects us to the universe and carries our karmic history. Hmm, it seems like this played out once before. She was in an inferior position (because of the retrograde) and royally annoyed him by defying his power. Mars is the leader, the epitome of male energy, so it seems Johnny just didn’t like this happening again! I wonder if they are doomed to repeat the situation although she always said she appreciated what he did for her career and a good deal of pain over the whole thing. Has he moved on? Guess we will have to wait and see.
OK we had karma how about power? Look at the eighth house, the house of personal power. He had Pallas and Vesta there, ironically they are two female asteroids named for the goddess of war and the goddess of the devotion to a cause, respectively.  These two gals gave him drive and determination as Vesta gives us the desire to overcome all obstacles. However, right on top of these powerhouses are Joan’s Sun, Mercury and Venus; her inner energy, her communication skills and her creative energy. That makes sense in light of the encouragement he gave her to reach her creative goals in the entertainment business. I do find it funny that they have their Vesta’s in conjunction meaning they could have – and they did indeed- work together for a long time to overcome power obstacles. He boosted her career and she was a reliable co-host. However, playing with that much energy and that much power is a little bit like dancing with burning torches – you can get seriously burned at any time. 
 
 
Finally, Carson had a retrograded Chiron in Aries, the wounded warrior, in his 6th house, the house of day-to-day work. This accounted for his colossal temperament and touchiness when on the job. He was carrying an enormous chip on his shoulder in the workplace. Mars rules Aries and he was always looking for people who were threatening his power. Well along comes her Uranus, the rebel and it plunked right down on that wound issue. Uranus is the rebellious teenager of the Zodiac. Who better to stick a pin in Aries ego?
The stars show the battle that ensued. Why there was no kiss and make up between the two might have something to do with his Mars and Saturn in stubborn and vengeful Scorpio in the first house. Mars and Saturn in conjunction is not a good placement – it is warrior energy and authoritarian energy (see my recent blogs on the current Mars/Saturn conjunction and the havoc is it causing to the planet right now.) Johnny may have been the king of late night but he was a difficult man, a secretive man, an insecure man and a man of vengeance. She got on his wrong side and there was no going back.
Maybe now – maybe now – they can meet on the other side and put a stop to this. Maybe…

Have A Watery Solstice.

The Summer Solstice is by nature a watery event because the Sun is moving in the Cardinal, water sign of Cancer. This year we have an abundance of other planets and asteroids in water signs. Mercury and Venus will be in an exact conjunction in 22 degrees Cancer at the Solstice. This is a great time for writing love sonnets and poems if you are so inclined – or just putting pen to paper or ink to paper if you are more artistic. The wordsmith-ability of Mercury combined with the artistry of Venus makes this a perfect time to communicate with words or art.

Other bodies in Cancer will be Vesta and Ceres. The first is the goddess of devotion and the later is the goddess of nurturing and they are both in the sign of mother. Once you put the sonnet down you can work on finding the cause that you can devote yourself too. What feeds your soul? What feeds your desire?
Hey why not combine all of these water signs and sit down and make a list of things that you need to do or want to do – that will nurture your spirit.

Cardinal signs are the doers, the leaders, the ones who get things done.  The Sun energy and all of these other very powerful planets and asteroids should give you the energy to take on these projects. Where am I go – what do I want – what feeds me?

Neptune is, of course, still in Pisces, it’s natural ruler -and Saturn is in Scorpio  — water, water everywhere. Once you make that list – use these two to put some structure – some design behind your spiritual, devotional practices.

The Solstice is a time for new beginnings!  Enjoy

Vesta – The Fire Inside

The smallest but most determined asteroid goddess is Vesta. To the Greeks, she was Hestia who is actually the woman pictured in the Virgo the Virgin glyph. When the Romans took over the world, they renamed her Vesta and depicted her as the goddess of the hearth and the keeper of the sacred flame. (Remember the Vestal Virgins?) I, like a growing number of astrologers, assign Virgo rulership to Vesta. Poor Virgo doesn’t have its own ruling planet…Scorpio finally got Pluto but Virgo and Taurus are so far without rulers. However, Vesta’s dedication to a cause despite the hardship it causes her, the organized way she goes about keeping the fires burning – all sound Virgoan to me – and why else would the ancients make Virgo Virgin the picture of Hestia?

Simply, Vesta in a person’s horoscope indicates where their burning heart’s desire rests — some inner burning fire…for me it is in the 12th house. Duh — twelfth house our connection to the universe– astrologer – hello! Seen in the first house, it would be a dedication to self-goals -often to the exclusion of long-term relations with others. In the fifth house, it will give a dedication to artistic and creative goals. The eleventh house placement would lend a person to be dedicated to group humanitarian efforts — remember Jane Addams?

Vesta is the little but bright asteroid that keeps our inner passion and inner dedication burning. Someone with a strongly aspected Vesta will give up everything to achieve their goal – family, sex, society— everything! Now that doesn’t happen in too many charts but it gives you some idea of how intense she can be.

Girls will be girls. Don’t mess with them when they are set on something!