Seeing Stars with Mark 7 - 13 March 2009
Dear Friends,
I know this week has been difficult for many of us, and surprisingly, it has also been productive, at least for me. My sincere hope for everyone is that we are all able to find the positive in our experiences this week and to use them as a guide for healing and growth. Mercury and Mars sitting together with Neptune and Chiron has been a wake up call, alerting us to where we have issues that need to be fixed. If we have already fixed them, then we may have had some very affirming experiences this week. Many of us were brought closer to an understanding, or at least closer to an experience, of where we are wounded, where we lack strength, or where we cling to illusions over reality. Acknowledging a situation is the first step towards making it better. This week has been a week of acknowledgement. Now, lets move on to the week ahead.
This Friday, March 6th, Venus will turn retrograde in Aries. Venus represents the natural attractions that occur in our lives. Venus is the force which binds the subatomic particles of an atom together. The attraction is natural, like gravity. It is either there or it is not. Mars is the planet that makes two principles come together against their will, but Venus is an easy, passive principle that works very nicely when we let it, assuming that there are no weak or detrimental associations to our Venus. Our society has a problem with passivity. Learning to go with the flow is derided as an outmoded, lazy, or “hippy” way to live. Our society recognizes the Martian drive to conquer more than the Venusian principle of attraction. This is unfortunate, because Venus brings to us what we need, the same way a magnet will attract a metal. There is no need to fight or force the metal towards the magnet. Of course, if we are the magnet, then we need to get close enough for the magnetic field to operate on the object we wish to attract, and this is the work we must do. I am not advocating laziness or an abdication of strong work ethic, my Capricorn ascendant would never hear of it! I am, however, suggesting that if we are clear about our needs and if we focus our attention on creating what we need for ourselves rather than trying to take it from someone else, then we will create, through attraction, what we need to be fulfilled.
Aries is a self-starter who wants to stand up and say, “This is ME!” Venus is not especially comfortable in this forceful territory, because there is a very clear emphasis on action in Aries energy. As a matter of fact, Mars is the ruler of Aries. Venus would prefer to sit back and wait for sincerity to build and then gently lift what we want into the current flowing around us. The current brings the things we need, and we create the current, but Venus is the one who releases the object into the flow. Venus in Aries is saying that together, she will help us to create a new Self during this retrograde period. A retrograde period is a time to do something over; we get a second chance. In Aries, Venus retrograde is telling us to re-do our Selves, because Aries energy is always an expression of Self. We just lived a week with Mars (ruling both Aries and action) and with Mercury (our thoughts and communication) sitting with Neptune (illusion or inspiration, healing or addiction) and Chiron (our biggest wound and our biggest strength). What did these experiences make us want to stand up and say about our selves? Don’t just say the, DO them! We must BE the change we want to experience!
Last week, I counseled that we must take care to ensure that our thoughts (Mercury) and our actions (Mars) support each other. If this is not happening, then there is no way for Venus to accomplish her job. Think of our lives as car. A car is complex machine with many parts, not all of them essential. In order to function properly, however, a car requires many things like gas and filters, and coolant and plugs, etc. A car also requires maintenance. If all of these variables are not kept in balance, then the car no longer serves us. In order for our lives to serve us, we must be sincere, which means that our thoughts and our actions must be aligned. This is the oil that keeps the rest our engine running smoothly. Dirty oil, dirty engine. Clean oil, happy engine. Once we can align our thoughts and our actions, Venus can do her job and the things that we need and want will come to us without effort. The effort is keeping our thoughts and actions aligned. This is the work. We often get this backwards, focusing on tasks that don’t reflect our true desires or needs because we “think” we will be rewarded for the effort. No good deed goes unpunished in this situation. This is an example of how the negative aspect of Neptune can work in our lives: creating illusions that seem real, but which carry us further away from ourselves. There is no way for Venus to bring what we need when our actions are insincere and do not reflect the truth of our natures. We are not creating the current that Venus needs before she can release gifts into our self-generated flow.
On Wednesday, March 11th, we will have a full Virgo Moon conjunct Saturn opposing the conjunction of Uranus and the Sun. This is a powerful energizer for both the Sun and Uranus, as their energies feed each other. Uranus will receive a big charge from the Sun, and the power of the Sun will be magnified by the electric current of Uranus. This supercharged combination of innovative light and energy will be reflected back upon the Moon and Saturn, illuminating what we have and what is broken. This full Moon will call to our attention the structures in our lives which are not supporting us. Virgo is a critical and detailed sign. At her worst, she is nit-picky and cold, but at her best, she is constructive and service-oriented. It is up to each of us to direct this full Virgo Moon in the direction of constructive criticism in order to facilitate an improvement in the structure of our lives. Think of this full Moon as a time to make a blueprint for a serious self-renovation. From here, we must be sincere about changing what needs to change. Change is good! Embrace change! Once we do this, then Venus will begin to create more harmony for us by rewarding our hard work with the things we want or need. Simple. Sort of…
Venus retrograde is NEVER a time to do cosmetic fixes. Venus retrograde is a time to work on the structure beneath the surface. Once Venus goes direct, then we can worry about making things pretty. Now is not the time to be concerned with how things look on the surface. It is a time to be focused on creating deep, thoughtful changes at the core of our being which can sustain the new visions of our Selves which have, hopefully, surfaced over the past week. This vision is the higher octave of Neptune shining through: it is called inspiration. We should allow the acknowledgement of our issues to inspire us to make some serious improvements in the way in which we operate. Virgo is detailed oriented, and she can get carried away. This is not the time to nit-pick ourselves or anyone else. We should, however, pay attention to what comes up. Let’s not allow the small things to pass by without noticing them (noticing, not criticizing). If all we need is a new tire, then why buy a whole new car. I have been thinking a great deal lately about my theory of sincerity, and I think that I like my concept. Make the changes that bring your thoughts and actions into alignment. Create sincerity. From here, all things flow.
Once we become aligned in thought and deed, and we are attracting what we want and need, then we notice that we can share the joy of our experience with others. The guilty indulgence of a soothing hobby (astrology or yoga or pottery or baking or…) can become a life affirming and validating experience. We can choose to make this experience a career - as I have done with astrology, or we can keep it a hobby, but what really happens is that we continue to charge our own battery and to allow Venus to bring good things to us. We do not need to take things away from others when we can create them for ourselves. We in turn become more happy, more free, more light, and more fulfilled. Hopefully, we share this energy with others so that they can learn how to become sincere, and this also brings good things, good people, good groups, into our lives.
Thank you all for being a part of mine.
Be well.
mark
