Venus ends a long stay in Gemini – since April 3! – and enters Cancer on August 7. This could mark a palpable shift in what we are attracted to or repulsed by, our most important values and those we choose to interact with. During the past four months, Venus in Gemini has correlated with an explosion of online activity including commerce, data gathering and connecting with others out of necessity due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements. In the sensitive water sign of Cancer, Venus’ feminine qualities lean into nurturing and a greater focus on home, family and other loved ones. In lieu of venturing out, we may feel inclined to beautify and cozy up our home environment or delve deeper into relationships with those who share our core values.
On August 10, Mercury in Leo’s tense square to Uranus in Taurus could generate a sense of excitability in the air. The planet of perception and communication in a tense “crisis of action” alignment with the planet that correlates to sudden awakenings and revolution challenges us to perceive everyday life in a way that transcends common consensus. Uranus is highly potent at this time as it will station retrograde on August 15, which contributes to the agitation. Uncertainty can be extremely uncomfortable and most resist it. However, making an effort to be open to receiving new information could move us out of herd mentality and consequently disrupt an entrenched belief system or line of thinking that has been stalling progress. Pay particular attention to a recurring thought that tells us something is out of order. That could motivate us to close the loop on it and move out of entropy.
With the Uranus station, there are again five planets retrograde for the next month: the societal planets Jupiter and Saturn, and the transcendental planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. This suggests an imperative to go within and recognize where we are headed as a society and how that reflects our state of consciousness. Looking at this with sustained attention will reveal how we truly feel but may be denying. Contemplating the humanistic Uranus archetype as it changes directions could awaken us to recognizing that we each have a unique part to play as valuable contributors to the future we desire.
Mars is also slowing down and will move only four degrees between now and September 9 when it turns retrograde – a fifth of its normal pace. Fortified in its home sign of Aries, Mars is in the degree space it will traverse three times so what is set up now is likely to undergo adjustments until it leaves Aries in early January 2021. Mars represents our self-reliant spirit that loves a good challenge. It is our inner warrior that takes a stand for what we want and need to thrive, and commits energy to actualizing our desires. As Mars slowly marches into the later degrees of Aries, and back again, it will square the powerful Jupiter/Pluto/Saturn stellium in Capricorn that is keeping the pressure on to affect necessary radical changes in our societal structures. The carpe diem quality of the first Mars/Jupiter square was covered in the last AstroCast. On August 13, Mars reaches its first square to Pluto, further amplifying the need to break out of the suffocating existence of complacency and inauthenticity. I’ve heard many who ask when will this crisis end, or otherwise complain about the restrictions put upon them due to the integrally linked pandemic, the severe recession and the strong revival of the civil rights movement. But what is truly needed now is a shift in that kind of thinking. Like in the classic movie Ground Hog Day or its modern follow up Palm Springs, something magical happens when we cease to fight the life we’re living and decide to show up to it, accept it for what it is and consciously decide to discover what we can learn out of the crises we experience.
Pluto is the higher octave of Mars, the life/death, transformation/rejuvenation principle. It only cares about what feeds and awakens our soul and destroys that which does not through intensification of the areas in our unconscious we have not confronted. We can’t change something until it is faced with brutal honesty. If Mars square Jupiter was the moment we decided to fight for a just and meaningful cause, Mars square Pluto heightens the urgency to confront our inner dragon and see it for what it is: a representation of the overpowering fears we created out of negative beliefs that stop us from being who we were meant to be. Only by going through this process can we then see more opportunities than obstacles, including how to tap the deep resources of our psyche wherein the dormant archetype of the hero resides just waiting to be activated into action.
In a sublime act of synchronicity, other planetary alignments offer a message of support to enter this battle for our future. Both the Sun and Mercury in the heroic sign of Leo form an energetically flowing trine with Mars on August 16. The Sun represents our will and purpose, what lights our internal flame that connects us with spirit. Mercury relates to information gathering and analysis but also, as the Messenger of the Gods, is an archetypal conduit by which we receive guidance from the cosmic intelligences. This alignment therefore could mysteriously generate a creative spark within that gives us the courage to stand up to the ever-present countervailing negative forces.
The Sun and Mercury then quickly segue into their Superior Conjunction on August 17. In the playful, creative self-expressing sign of Leo, Sun/Mercury uniting at the culminating “full moon” phase of their cycle in trine to Mars suggests we will feel empowered and find joy in acting from the truth of our Being. On August 18 the Moon moves into this alignment as it forms the New Moon in Leo. The new lunar cycle thus commences with a dynamic four-planet configuration in inspirational fire signs suggesting the theme for the coming month is one of creative heroic action. The Moon factors in a strong feminine quality operating through a sensitive, intuitive approach that with some awareness has the potential to draw strength from a deep knowing we are right where we belong. This configuration brings to mind a new twist in the civil rights movement where the “Moms” have joined the front line of the protests, risking tear gassing, baton bashing and criminal records because they care about the civil rights of others as much as they care about their own.
With Venus in Cancer, the sign ruled by the Moon, forming a stimulating sextile to revolutionary Uranus also on August 18, I imagine more “Moms” will be protesting how our civil rights are being so heartlessly suppressed. It motivated my 89-year-old mom to make sure she was registered to vote, and she asked me to help her with the online process. Making her voice heard in the only way she can do it under quarantine is that important to her. There are many ways to make your voice heard. Think also of how many others may need that simple form of assistance at this moment in history so they can add their voice to the sum of voices wanting to effect positive change. If we all wake up to this crisis in our democracy, it could lead to a critical mass that sweeps the nation up into the biggest voter turnout in the history of this country.
“At no point in my career or life have I felt our nation’s values under greater threat and in more peril than at this moment… America has thrived because citizens have been willing to contribute their voices and shed their blood to challenge injustice and protect the nation. It is in keeping with that history of service that, at this moment, I feel the burden to advocate for my values and an enormous urgency to act… A groundswell is building that will issue a mandate to reject hate and bigotry and a return to the ideals that set the United States apart from the rest of the world. I look forward to contributing to that effort.”
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.) who’s testimony contributed to Trump’s impeachment, in a recent New York Times editorial. Vindman’s natal chart features Venus in Cancer in a T-square with the Moon and Uranus, and a Mars/Jupiter conjunction in Aries opposing Pluto.
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