Venus in Gemini Retrograde (May - June 2020)

During the beginning of this period, people have needed to speak about their inner processes, there was a distinct point, where talking about how they related to the world reached a new awareness. Middle May was the point where the lock-downs was really beginning to grate at people, and they were going very much inward. How am I relating to this ever changing world? I am sensing a difference, and is it because the world is different or is it because, now, I am different from the world?

The questions started to come. And they came from somewhere deep inside the subconscious and niggling feeling that something was inherently wrong. And what Venus in retrograde signifies is a period of intense rebellion. You see, across the current cosmic landscape, a lot is going on. To summon it into one sentence, is that we are unveiling the reality of humanity. A lot of Souls are afraid of what they are finding out, and there is a lot of lies mixed in the truth, there is a lot of opinion, a Gemini function, that is fuelling this rebellion. Some believe in Science, others do not. Some believe that the Governments know best, others do not. And all we are using are words to prove it.

The bottom line of this entire rebelling process is that we as a collective have been consistently lied to, and how we are reacting, is that we are lying to each other. Trying desperately to find a way out of this systematic trauma. A forced lock down which was meant to save us from Covid-19, also gave us the opportunity to incubate, and to go deep into the recesses of how we relate to ourselves, touching the very edges of our inner scarring. And if we relate to ourselves in a selfish entitled way, individualistic and egocentric. Then we are going to feel that we are owed something. The government when it took all of our “freedoms” away, caused a restless rift in society. People began to turn away and find ways that they could empower themselves in accordance to their needs and values. They began to form active tribes. And even the most spiritualist of people did the same! What a phenomena! We at Soul Pathways, we strongly focused on creating workshops aimed to find like minded souls, to breathe healing not just for ourselves but for the whole planet. A way to connect to find the root of individual trauma. And we all acting in the same outward manned, with a need to find a tribe. Because what happens when you have been in isolation for so long? Think of a rubber band, if it’s pulled so far it has a choice, to break or to fling itself to the most polar opposite that it can. And we can’t be self sufficient on our own, our needs are more complex now than ever. We have had to go back and connect to them. Talk about it with others, give each other what we need. Wait for them to give to us. And then realise that the current system is not giving us any of those needs! That in some way, has it ever? This disillusionment is the crisis point of the Venus in Gemini square Neptune in Pisces, there are Souls out there trying to connect for reassurance of their reality, resisting truth for their opinion, and even if this reassurance is not uniting humanity as a whole, this is the inward and narrow focus of the retrograde. It's about their individual self and what they believe, and that is where we are right now.

As we moved into late May, people continued to self examine, to listen for the sounds of their own rhetoric spoken back at them, and have been now as we are entering June, looking face on to this conditioned reality that we find ourselves in. Saturn has been in Aquarius this entire time, this is not a coincidence. Saturn is Authority, Aquarius is liberation from all conditions, including law, and all types of external conditioning. For the past 150 years we as a collective (The West), thought we were in a state of progress. But rather what we have been in is a state of relativity. Relative to what? Wealth. If wealth was once having 10 hectares of land and some workers that you could tax, then what the poor and middle class got, in order to serve their needs was relevant to that wealth. But as the industrial revolution ceased feudal systems, we invented production, the wealthy now had immense wealth, and the poor and middle class’s needs were fulfilled relevant to that wealth. The whole system now relied on Capitalism for the rich to get richer, because it had more workers which were also paying clients! This has just gotten expediently more inflated. And the social contract of slavery, oppression and repression which built that system, has never changed. We are lying to ourselves if we believe we are. We are not in a state of progress. Things have not gotten better for the enslaved and oppressed. What has happened is that there have been people all throughout this period, who rebelled against the status quo, have fought for things to be eased. Just eased… that is how rigid the resistance to this fundamental change is. It is a mammoth of a beast, with strong pillars and a bloody history. For those on top of it, it's been hard won, or that is what they have told themselves, and are now telling us. More relative opinion. Gemini.

Because another state of conditioning has been, that you can escape the wretchedness of poverty. You just need to concentrate on yourself in order for that to happen, and you have to isolate yourself in order to do so. Now you see the connection, isolation when it became an everyday reality, it mirrored the isolation that we have had from one another. This society narrates that you must work hard, to get a bigger slice for yourself. This is so you wouldn’t join your brothers, that you would ignore your allies. A clever manipulation to use your extraordinary gifts to serve the system, because you can get some of that money to buy your mother a house, as a thank you which ultimately becomes a representation on why she doesn't see you anymore. And I’m talking about the wealthy that regulate the prosperity for all that do this. So of course, emotionally connecting to this reality causes a deep inner rebellion that eventually finds a way to express itself. Right now as we speak, we are facing another wave of civil unrest in the northern hemisphere, and another wave of illness is about to hit the southern hemisphere, for the rebellion of mother earth isn't over, she's been rebelling through Uranus in Taurus! (2018) To this wealth that has exploited her for far too long.

There has to be a fundamental change to how we relate to ourselves, and how we relate to each other, we need to face the reality of our systematic trauma. To be liberated from how this system has taught us division, as a way to relate to ourselves and each other. We have been taught to hate ourselves for not confirming. To blame each other for our unhappiness. So it must start by finding and communicating the truth, by going deeper than just opinion, person by person, not tribe by tribe. Racism is just opinion, and an incredibly obtuse one at that. The only way this can end will be with a dismantling of this system which is built on division not inclusivity, oppression and slavery. A system which sees the majority of us as numbers, and in doing so, have dehumanised us all. We are all flawed human. But we ALL belong here.

Take care of yourself, and of each other. Really listen, and find your voice after the fact, not before.

Venus: Relating from the Heart (Part 1)

Venus is a dualistic archetype, that is one that reflects inwardly and expresses outwardly. This means that you need to relate in an authentic and true way to yourself before you can engage with others, because how you relate to yourself is how you attract the way others relate to you. If we engage with ourselves in a negative way, that is we self judge, indulge in our paranoias or are basically self defeating, this has a huge impact on the way our energy is projected to other people. How we relate to ourselves is the beautiful energy generated between our mind and our heart, that projects outwardly when we begin to connect to others.

The inward relating to the self is governed by the reflective nature of Taurus. Yin energy, looking within. All of us have different needs in life in order to find contentment and satisfaction. Needs that fill our heart with a subjective emotion that resonates deeply and fills us with joy, and it is what we all gravitate towards, in order to find meaning we wish to fulfill that what we need in order to find peace and happiness. When these needs are met we feel them in the body, the light heartedness, the deep seated fulfillment that completely relaxes the body, or in whatever way it is expressed in you, as we are all unique living beings. Needs are separate from desires, and in this modern society have I never witnessed so much confusion between the two. Needs are governed by you, and are fully capable in being fulfilled by you. In fact most needs in life can only be fulfilled by you. We desire what we cannot readily have, a need does not have the luxury of wistfulness, it needs to be met in order for wellness to occur.

If we allow ourselves some time now to close our eyes and look within for the answer to this vital question.

Breath in, Breathe out

Turn your attention inwards

and with an open heart ask yourself

What do I need in order to feel content?

To feel happy

At peace?

Wait for the impressions to come, they may come as thoughts, feelings, visuals, whatever they may be. It will help you on your journey if you articulate them, have them defined.

Using Astrology we can look at the Venus archetype in the chart and simply state; Well it is indicative that as a Venus in Aries you need freedom to be yourself. And everything that you have stated in your piece of paper may be the complete opposite. Let’s suppose you said to be Loved. That implies a union, a sharing of a life together with another person. That means that there several pieces of this puzzle missing, and this is why cookbook astrology does not work. When Venus is relating inwardly who is she listening to? The answer for most human beings is our inner narrative, that is our Ego, which is represented by our Moon sign. If you felt within you a need to be Loved as a Venus in Aries, and a Moon in Pisces, is this not a relationship that unifies love to one’s own identity? Did this need not arise from a lack of self love? self acceptance?

I have said it before that it is a strong belief among EA astrologers that the ego cannot be ignored as a human incarnate, the Soul has needed to create this ego as a way of perceiving and emotionally integrating the reality of this human experience. We can push forward the Neptune/Pisces connection and talk about receiving and giving spiritual love, but that is another conversation. This is a discussion about how we inwardly relate to ourselves via our Venus/Moon signs and is indicative of the natural sextile that occurs between Taurus and Cancer.

To reiterate, the Moon is representative of the emotional body, which is governed by the inner narrative that is in our Mind/Ego/Persona. Sometimes this can get warped in childhood or in early development, how? Because our parents are fallible humans and may not have had the understanding of what our emotional needs were, perhaps they just concentrated on the physical, or projected their own needs onto us. This can record an inner narrative that is represented in the shadow side of the Moon sign. For example, I had a client in Hobart who had a very conflicting Capricorn/Cancer dynamic with her Moon. She was constantly worried that she would fail at life, her inner narrative would tell her that no matter what she did, it was never going to amount to anything, that she was never prepared enough, that she could never get it right. This is the exact narrative that was given to her by her mother, when all she needed as a child, having a Moon in Cancer, was to be nurtured, held, and loved and above all else, to be defined as someone who could receive love unconditionally because she was someone’s daughter. So if this is the inner narrative of the Moon, where does Venus fit into all of this? In the chart Venus is what listens and therefore responds to this inner narrative. This client had a tense Moon dynamic that was listened to by a Venus in Virgo. She not only criticised herself constantly, but she attracted partners that were also critical of her. And the more she felt criticised the more of a failure she felt, so it was this endless loop! I advised her that she was someone who needed to listen to her inner narrative in a more analytical way. Virgo energy is still earth energy, it needs to know the reality of the situation, through analysis one can pinpoint what is truly happening rather than the bias of internalisation. Analysis can bring to light the realise that this inner narrative doesn’t belong to her but rather to her mother. She had no evidence that all she did was fail at life, or that she was any less unlovable because things didn’t work out. In life one has to record over this inner narrative if we feel it no longer serves us. How does one evolve and relate to oneself better? By looking at the evolutionary pathway of Venus. All planets have a path, and it’s from going to one polarity to the next. The opposite of Virgo is Pisces. In order to act upon this narrative for healing, the client had to practice Pisces energy in how she related to herself, and what is that? Self forgiveness, compassion, acceptance and to engage with unconditional love, the love she had for herself and for her children. It’s alright if things didn’t work out the way she had envisioned, her body and mind survived the ordeal, and in fact was able to glean something from the experience, she has after all tried her best and that if she truly wanted to make something happen she had to understand that it takes time, perseverance and all of those Capricorn lessons that needed to be kindly taught, rather than berated.