Horoscopes for Venus Rx and Feb Solar Eclipse

Important: This week’s Horoscopes have far-reaching significations because it is the week of a Solar Eclipse at 08° tropical Pisces which leads into the larger Venus Retrograde cycle which ends toward the end of April over the signs Pisces and Aries. So, you should read these horoscopes as indicating those activities that should get started this week, which have consequence over the following months to the end of April. The period of the Venus Retrograde shows a deep call for personal cleansing in an area of life that is needed, and in which we will be resolving and incorporating new insights for the rest of the year.

*****PLEASE BOOKMARK THIS PAGE TO REVISIT THESE TOPICS AND CONTEMPLATIONS EARLY APRIL 2017 AND EARLY OCTOBER 2017*****

VENUS RETROGRADE (03 March – 16 April 2017)

Venus Retrogrades form part of the Inferior Conjunction between Venus and the Sun, as seen from the point of view of the Earth. At the inferior conjunctions, Venus is between the Earth and the Sun in their respective orbits.

What effectively happens during Venus retrograde is that the feminine Venus principle of sharing and responding, having reached its maximum luminosity as an Evening Star, is suddenly stopped and held down, turning retrograde, and is forced to bear the burning conjoining of the masculine Sun principle under combustion. This is not a happy union of feminine and masculine principles, it is a forced union, and speaks to the same principle in our lives. There is some area in our life where our passions, our social consciousness and pleasure-seeking nature has taken us far away from our goals and actually the core of who we are. The Venus Retrograde cycle effectively symbolizes the need in all of us to take a step back and re-align our passion for involvement with life with our goals and our heart again to avoid being abused or betrayed out there in the real world going forward. This 2017 cycle is occurring over the signs Pisces and Aries, indicating that there is that area of life where we have played the victim for too long, or we have handled things too fancifully, or have been a doormat, and this retrograde cycle gives us time and circumstances that push us or seem to frustrate us into ourselves (as Venus in Aries is in detriment), to deal with it, to get over it, to see our passions as authentically aligned with who we are and then only step out into the world again, renewed and with more vigour for life, as Venus turns direct in her brilliance as a Morning Star come mid-April.

03 March 2017 – Venus stations retrograde
05 March 2017 – Venus goes Rx
20 March 2017 – Venus retrograde encounters Combustion
25 March 2017 – Venus retrograde is in Cazimi
30 March 2017 – Venus retrograde is free of Combustion
14 April 2017 – Venus stations Direct
16 April 2017 – Venus goes Direct

Cazimi Duration: approx. 8 hours 40 mins
Combustion Duration: approx. 10 days
Retrograde Duration: approx. 44 days

The Venus retrograde cycle lasts for 40-48 days, and symbolizes a process of renewal and personal testing, of alignment of our energies with our hearts. This “40 days and 40 nights” is present in may world religions and ancient rituals and mystery cults of purification and cleansing. John the Baptist was in prison for 40 days before being beheaded. Jesus the Christ was tempted in the desert for 40 days by Satan. Noah was afloat on the Ark for 40 days. David waited 40 days before fighting the giant Goliath. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was in a cave for 40 days before ascension. In Hinduism, a remedial cleansing ritual is typically recommended to be followed for 40 days. In yoga, the breath changes focus in the natural course of breathing from right to left nostril and back every 40-48 minutes. The list can go on. But essentially, this self-testing, willingly or unwillingly, is a feature of the Venus Retrograde cycle, after which we either come out as the Morning Star Venus in wrath as warrior Goddess (if we have not done any internal work or cleansing) or as Lucifer which means “Light-bringer” (if we have done the internal cleansing and alignment work).

By contrast, the Superior Conjunction of Venus with the Sun is more indicative of the typical “honeymoon” Venus, as she spends a lot longer time with the Sun (note the considerably longer Combustion and Cazimi periods), and also this conjunction shows both masculine and feminine principles moving direct, in tandem with each other. It is more of a consensual union or cleansing than the Inferior Conjunction, which shows the masculine and feminine principles moving in opposing streams, with the masculine overtaking the feminine, only making a fleeting and destructive contact, leaving the feminine Venus enraged as a Morning Star. This is a significant difference in how the the Superior and Inferior conjunctions and Combustions and Cazimi’s play out in interpretation and in life, and is a point to be noted.

This is part of a larger mundane cycle in astrology known to matriarchal cultures as (what I am calling) the Feminine Great Conjunction of Sun-Moon-Venus. The last Feminine Great Conjunction occurred on 05 June 2016 at 14° Gemini. The next one will occur in June 2024. The chart for this Feminine Great Conjunction is to be read as a context for all Venus Retrogrades and cycles in its effective period. In this context, the current Venus Retrograde cycle occurs across the 10th sign to the 11th sign and vice versa (Pisces-Aries-Pisces). So this Venus retrograde cycle, as part of a larger shift in our lives over the next 8 years until 2024, shows a change is needed in how we respond to and approach career and friendships in our life. Of course, the natal significations of Pisces-Aries will also manifest as per each individual birth chart.

In the chart of the Feminine Great Conjunction, you can see the direct influence of Saturn, the Nodes, Neptune, and Jupiter all connected to the Sun-Moon-Venus conjunction very closely. Thsi shows that subsequent connections which occurred in 2015 through 2016 such as the Saturn-Neptune square from Sagittarius to Pisces, and the current Jupiter-Uranus oppositions in Libra-Aries, are indelibly affecting the people in how we respond to life on a daily basis. The fact that the Feminine Great Conjunction occurs at squaring the Nodal axis is in itself a major indicator that during these 8 years (2016-2024) the collective approach and attitude and relationship to the Feminine (women, the environment, the people, safety, comfort, etc) are going to change in a dramatic way. With Mercury, the ruler of the Feminine Great Conjunction, placed in Taurus in the 12th sign from it, shows the Environment and Finance sectors to be sensitive or vulnerable points in society during the next 8 years. The chances of financial stress and conflict due to speculative activities in 2019/2020 when Uranus moves through Taurus are most likely. Venus ruling the 12th and 5th signs here shows financial speculation, environmental laws, and secret foreign deals all being involved. Similarly, one can look at this context chart in a lot more detail in support of further mundane astrology work. I recommend mundane astrologers to include this cycle of Feminine Great Conjunctions in their work, especially in understanding the impact of global events on everyday people in terms of how do these global events affect our ability to feel comfortable and safe in life (Moon), and our ability to have fun and feel loved with what we do and in our relations with people everyday (Venus). In this way, this Feminine cycle can be used to help understand and provide guidance for global events in the context of people’s everyday lives, which is always in my opinion, an important follow-up step to any mundane astrology work.

As I said, the last Feminine Great conjunction of 2016, occurred on 5 June 2016 in Gemini. Is it any wonder that a leader with strong Gemini influence announced his run for candicacy as President of the US on 16 June 2016? Donald Trump clearly has a role to play in activating the Greater Feminine (women, the earth, the environment, the people, our feeling of safety etc) for the next 8 years.

In many ways, the injustice that can be experienced at the Venus Retrograde period is resolved and worked through by the time the next Sun-Venus conjunction occurs, the Superior Conjunction, when Venus is on the other side of the Sun in alignment with the Earth. Venus after her March Retrograde cycle will actually not meet the Sun again until early 2018. Collectively, the Feminine is playing catchup for all of 2017, and indicates that April will show significant events which will impact the lives of people in the sense of our comfort level and feeling okay in our own skin, which can lead us to question many things in the way we handle and respond to life. For ultimately, the ability to respond to stimuli in life, is a direct indicator of being alive! If a body isnt responding to vital stimuli of life – light, touch, etc it is pronounced DEAD. This ability to respond to life and things in our life, is a Feminine principle at work. Being responsive doesnt mean you have to take action, that is a masculine principle. Whether or not you are able to create an action in response to a stimuli of life, you are still able to and should allow yourself to be RESPONSIVE to all that is happening to you. A big part of meditation is not so much the WHAT, but is largely focused first on simply increasing our awareness of all the things in our body and outside of our body that we can be responsive to. As our awareness of all stimuli progresses and deepens, we find that we are actually responsive to all of life. As you are sitting here reading this, you are able to be responsive to the air around you, the light of the sky, the color of flowers, the concept of universes perceived in your head, all of space and over all times – these you are capable of being responsive to. This is a wholly Feminine principle – accepting ALL of life, ALL of its stimuli and being open to respond to every interaction and relationship that your life touches as other lives everywhere.

*****This means that whatever process or parts of ourselves and our lives that undergo this testing period during this Venus Retrograde, we will see it resolve in stages over the rest of the year and finally complete in January 2018. These 40 or so days of the Venus Retrograde cycle coming up therefore is a crucial beginning stage in this larger cycle and process wherein we are cleansing and testing and refining the area of life affected for the rest of the year. As with anything in Astrology, the beginning contains the seed patterns for the emergent and unfolding subsequent life processes, so it is of personal relevance to take these 40 odd days of this Venus Retrograde cycle seriously. Use the cosmic energies to refine and redefine and cleanse aspects of your life from the influences of others and environment, so that when you emerge out of it, your personal energies (Venus) are renewed and reinvigorated with your core spirit (the Sun). *****

So in general, during Venus Retrograde, our ability to respond to life – we feel it is forced, we shy away from any interactions that don’t feel right, that are not entered into wholeheartedly and with sincerity, because there is a sense here that we are in a period where we have to align with our own self let alone get into deeper relationships! So it is said that relationships can go a bit wonky during Venus Retrograde, not because people suddenly cheat on one another and betray trust, but initially simply because people get to a point where this inner urge to deal with one’s own relationship to oneself becomes undeniable. Now, people can respond to this in various ways – by reaching out to other “outlets” to escape, and this can have unsavoury outcomes as most astrologers typically will say. However, if we are in a relationship at this time, it is important to be open with your partner and be respectful of each other’s need to deepen their relationship with themselves, and not place ourselves in their way. We may offer our help and assistance to help each other understand one another better, and really this will be the most beneficial and practical use of these retrograde days. For those not in a relationship, the urge to get into one becomes significantly intense, as an externalization of our own inner calling to deepen the relationship with oneself via some form of meaningful “testing” or “cleansing” that realigns your life energies with who you are.

SOLAR ECLIPSE 26 FEB

The solar eclipse on 26 Feb is in tropical Pisces and is connected to Mercury and Neptune vibrations. This signals very strong insights about the past, our past assumptions about the role our feelings play in our view of life, and this is what is being changed going forward. The deep potential insight and resulting opportunities of this eclipse are wholly based and encountered in the realm of our feelings and inner awareness and showing that kindness to ourselves first. Assumptions about our past are being shown for what they are and we can change them. In whatever way, we have experienced or created victimhood in our lives over the past year, where we have felt like a doormat, we have an opportunity to change and shift into empowerment through new action and new intent in this area of our life.

It is time that the role of imagination and vision in our life take on a more meaningful role in and of itself, deep within who we are, and move past perhaps the limitations of our imagination and small beliefs or limiting assumptions that have kept us in a state of coma, incapacity, and inertia. We may get insights into these outdated imaginations and visions we clung to for ourselves, our personal fantasies, our private deceptions, through others in surprising or shocking ways. The real shock or surprise is realizing to what extent these false imaginings and assumptions have controlled the choices we have made in our life over the last year and now it is time for us to change them.

Recognizing new opportunities, and even feeling okay to grab them fully, even becoming aware of any new insights that are happening in our lives now – these things are only possible or rather more possible if we are prepared to leave aside these old assumptions and fancies about our life. Moving forward, we must leave something behind.

March is going to be a month of fireworks for many people. It is in April that we will understand better where we stand. Below are pointers and “meditations” or questions for each of the Signs which will assist your mind in going inside to begin the contemplations and considerations that will help you understand what sort of cleansing and new beginnings this solar eclipse and the Venus retrograde cycle mean for you. In terms of career, read for your Sun sign. In terms of home and health, read your Moon sign. The most important would be the reading for your Rising sign. 

ARIES

Changes on the work front may leave you frustrated having to play nice, but you can channel the frustration into refining your actions to drive a new way forward with the work that you do (or that you want to do). Despite the circumstances, it’s a good opportunity to practice incorporating your personal vision through your hands and into the work you do. The changes that are looming on this front have you playing a central role, so clarify your personal vision and act upon it without delay. You are being called upon to take a more active role in defining how you want to be seen in the world, both in your appearance and through your actions.

Setting aside time each day for soul searching is going to bring many fresh insights for your work ahead, mostly because the resulting changes in how you see yourself from the past into the present, is going to change the way you interact with others and they you. There are deep assumptions about who you think you are that are not coming from you, and are not serving your higher purpose. These imaginations and assumptions were set in childhood. The best way to work with these is to begin doing something again which you enjoyed doing as a child, and now allow yourself to experience this same activity in a wholly new dimension. This will ignite new purpose in your life and create many deep changes in your psyche like a domino-effect which may go unnoticed at first, but which will clear your energies noticeably going forward slowly but surely. In fact, others may notice the changes more than you do at first. Keep on going. You are stepping into yourself to connect with or find a new authentic way of presenting yourself to the world.

TAURUS

You’re going through a testing time where your interaction with others brings about situations that challenge your beliefs and the way you see the world and your place in it, even if you may not fully understand what this means for you yet. Take it easy, these are not easy lessons to learn mostly because the environment and the way it’s being presented to you isn’t as you’d like it to be. Personal preferences aside, the lessons and refinements that you make in your life now proactively, is creating a new seed or aspiration within you which will play out and resolve over the rest of the year. So, take your time, step into yourself, and observe, embrace changes and again stop and observe – rinse and repeat. Incorporating these changes and trying them out for yourself in small doses is going to help you get through without feeling that people are asking you to change the entire world at once.

Consider what the role of friends have played in your life, and what sort of friend you have been to others in the past. Have friendships been a burden for you? How has your social life played into your work life and vice versa? In what’s ways can these roles change going forward in your life? Have you been trying too hard to be the ideal friend? Do you feel the need to be this way? What does being good friend actually mean to you now? Before stepping too much into our friendships and social life, you may need to take stock of your internal reserves. Keep your goals close at hand, don’t speak about them, just plod on with them considerately and lovingly in your own sweet time.

GEMINI

Your friendships need to change. It’s as simple as that. Or as complicated as that. Depending on how long it takes you to figure out how you want to get through this process. Even if people mean well, the requests and requirements of interaction with them seem to drain you of energy more than it should. This results in both you and the other party withdrawing a bit from one another, and maybe that is a good thing. One of you doesn’t like feeling so obligated or responsible for the relationship, and the other doesn’t like feeling forced to slow down and take it easy. Especially if the drain on energy is happening together with a drain on finances for you. In a larger context, through these interactions you are being asked to change your relationship to money in your life, and ask yourself what do you really value as part of any exchange with another person. Always remember that while you do have to be firm, you don’t have to be unkind.

This is an internally definitive time for you in terms of what you want to do in the world, and a big part of this moving forward involves you re-looking at what you have been able to do compared to what you thought you were doing in the past. You may have worked in such a way to preserve fun and maybe even formalize a hobby into your work, and well, think about this. What assumptions and hopes did you carry relating to these things and this area of your life? How has it affected your ability to feel capable in life, and what can you change now in progressive ways to alter this going forward? Have you been trying so hard to be the ideal boss or perform work with some ideal of perfection that it has resulted in you feeling confused about what your actual role in the world is or can be? Where is this coming from and what can you do about it such that you can feel okay enough again to work and also enjoy it? Take the time to align your aspirations and heartfelt wishes for your life, with your goals and where you feel you are headed.

CANCER

It is becoming increasingly clear that for your health and sanity, your own space and new activity separate from relationship and separate from your work is necessary. A part of your feels out of place at work, and out of place in relationship, even if you are indeed being helpful and considerate as usual. The more you reach out, the more responsibility arises, the more circumstances change forcing you to juggle more balls and you’re running out of pincers. The more you want situations to change, the more it’d be best to do something for yourself and by yourself, and please think big because whatever you decide to do, the feeling I have is that it must be a strong personal statement to yourself and others that you are taking the matter of personal freedom and aspiration into your own hands now and doing this for yourself. There is nothing selfish about this. Finding your crab hole and busying yourself in it, allows your energies to settle into this “I am at home” feeling that you are craving. Having done this for yourself, your work relationships and partnerships will then seem to settle a bit more gently as well. So be decisive about this personal project and get moving on it.

The work of the solar eclipse for you Cancer is that actually the role of a belief system in your life (religion or otherwise) is needed, and one needs to look at this area of your life with fresh eyes now, and choose something to believe in and act upon it, or change the way this has been for you in the past. And yes, this may change your relationship to family and also help you feel more at ease at home rather than having this perceived gaping hole and uncomfortable spot lurking in the shadows all the time. Are you carrying extreme standards of what a belief or religion or philosophy should be in your life, and is this justified? Have past judgement about the role of these things in your life served you or hurt you? How are they affecting your happiness in life right now, especially in the context of home and family? What can you do to change this and look at it again with maturity and adopt a system of belief that adds value and sense of belonging to your life going forward? Bring it out into the open, be open to discovering new ways of looking at the old problem, or new solutions altogether, and work to incorporate this into your life going forward. Your beliefs and views of the world and how you judge your actions in it should be appropriate to the nature of your goals and actually what you are capable of.

LEO

There is something to be said for the “value-driven work ethic”. Your view of the world and your long-term life purpose is changing, and how you handle the challenges of life daily, can be adjusted to incorporate your changing beliefs and views in a way that is more meaningful and healthier for you. This could be as simple as changing your diet, or going for a morning walk before breakfast, or changing your work desk paraphernalia – whatever routine changes are being made, they may not feel very comfortable but ultimately you will have more free-flowing energy in the long term. You can also look at your responsibilities and obligations to others and work to align how you do these with your values and beliefs about yourself and your world, rather than just be reactive to changing circumstances and the whims of others. If you are planning on working at new teaching or a new learning experience, it would be advisable to take it slow as there are a lot of variables up in the air now and will be for a while.

Giving too much of yourself, making sacrifices and adjustments and unbalanced exchanges with others, especially because or for a financial incentive, is the work of this solar eclipse for you. How have these situations in your life played out based upon assumptions in this area? Unclear communication, changing goal posts halfway, expectations and promises financially or otherwise in the contracts we make with others and in our relationships and business partnerships. Who has played the victim here? Who is the real victim? In many ways, your own power of influence has been the victim and the doormat, and you can think about other parts of yourself that have been handed over to others in such exchanges as well. Your influence has reached a larger audience, but why do you still have a sour taste in the mouth? How has the way you communicate with others helped or hurt you over the last year, and what can you learn from this? How has it brought unwanted change into your life? What are the boundaries, the terms and conditions of your interactions with others – this is where the consideration and re-evaluation and resetting is to happen for you going forward. Have you rushed into spending your energy because of or with others, losing sight of the vision for your life? Take time off to realign your internal compass. For the sake of novelty and new experiences, you may have overextended your financial capacity, and this needs to have a reality check before you move forward.

VIRGO

One needs to define or redefine your boundaries, especially regarding finances, children, and the exchange of affection between yourself and others. Someone has promised more than they can deliver, and it may be driving people a bit loopy. Take a step back, now take another one back, and take stock of the situation. It isn’t important who started it, or who didn’t deliver, but move past that into asking yourself whether the role you’ve played in this exchange was worth it, and how you would want to change this dynamic going forward. And then do that. Pay your dues and then move on. Sometimes what is needed isn’t a change of people that we interact with, but rather our expectations about them and their interaction with us. Some things do need to be said, but say it and leave the rest to the powers that be, and move yourself forward.

You may have made assumptions about the value of relationships in your life. Can you understand how assumptions and fanciful hopes in this regard and with people in general have not served you over the last year? What does it mean to be helpful, and maybe you have been taken advantage of, there could even be a sense of injustice here which is part of the healing journey? Are you trying so hard to be the ideal partner or business partner, that you are losing sight of who you are and what you are bringing to the table and your own worthiness in the interaction is being undermined? Are your assumptions about what and how family should have or should be supporting you actually limiting or causing unnecessary restrictions in your relationships? Take time out to consider the role of relationships in your life, past and present and future, and work to change how much of our feeling and assumptions bear upon us in this way going forward. The financial demands you’ve experienced in relationships or partnerships may have gotten out of hand, and you need to get a handle on this in order to see your relationships and partnerships more clearly and realistically.

LIBRA

Other people close to you just haven’t been doing their fair share lately, and it’s a good thing to speak up about it and change this interaction. You may not feel like staying at home as much as you normally do, and the usual people you move around with may not be as available or willing to be out and about as much as you’d like. Find a new group, discover new things you’d like to do, and new ways you can make your home space feel like home again. Yes, there is effort and some not-so-pleasantries involved, but best to remove the problem in the bud before you’ve got a thorn bush on your hands and must call in the Ghostbusters. When interacting with others and family or people you live with, there can be some coldness and distance being felt here, and realize it’s probably more to do with what is going on with them than it reflects how you are with them. Give them the space where they’re at, and you go find your own new space and new social groups as well, outside the home. It’s a sort of see-saw between your personal life and connections, and your public or established connections with people – and you’re in a sort of transitioning phase between the old and new (on various levels). So, take some time to consider how you’d like each of these interactions with others to change or shift or be left aside for a later time, and then do act accordingly. Resentment or frustration in dealing with others serves to bring to your attention the need to re-evaluate all the terms and conditions you’ve placed upon yourself in your most intimate capacity to simply be – who are you deep down inside, and what are you doing every day to interact with yourself in this way without telling anyone about it. Unbalanced interaction with ourselves often creates unbalanced reactions from others. But you’re aware of this, and it’s a call to empower yourself in this deeply relevant personal capacity going forward.

What are we doing with our work? What are we doing with our health? How are the two related? This solar eclipse can provide you with new insights in how to move this forward. On the one hand, you want to expand the sense of who you are into our work, and make a difference in that way, even in the way you communicate with others and the words you use and why. Look at how your assumptions in these things may have limited you and caused you more stress than is necessary. You may have created grandiose ideas and expectations for yourself, very good standards, but the work required to maintain these and see them through to completion can be just adding more onto your plate than you can chew. How can you handle yourself at work in a healthful way and bring your expectations down to manageable levels? Are you trying to be the ideal employee or worker and is it really working for you? If not, why not and what can you change here? Are your assumptions of what it means to be a good worker actually limiting your efficiency? You may have been sacrificing your energy and your health, exerting yourself because of what promises people have made to you, and they are not being honored. Its time to bring balance between how you treat your body and how you treat others.

SCORPIO

Your words have power, you may not be aware of this especially when it comes to your work. Words, how we communicate with ourselves and others, can also have a deep effect on our health. The people you are working with may not be up to your standards or even their own standards, and you should watch your words and how communication is happening. They will sort themselves out as time goes on, or your interaction with them will naturally sort itself out, you don’t need to be adding more fuel to the fire right now. Cease and desist. Yes, in many ways it is true that you are the one that may have to demonstrate how things are done, but thankfully the hands are not dependent on the mouth to function. Just get on with it and leave the realizations be, it will happen in due course. Working for the sake of the work itself, this is the main area in which you should apply yourself now. Really, forget that other people are even there. I mean that really and I mean that energetically. Sit back, close your eyes, and imagine that there is nothing else and no one else besides you and the work that must be done. See how much better you feel? So, every day establish this inner awareness and act with it.

What is the actual role of children in our life? Are your hobbies, sexual proclivities, and means of mirth creating more burdens than they’re worth? Do you tend to make choices more for pleasure first rather than the long-term view? Do you judge the worthiness of what you do by the amount of fun you get out of doing them? Is this a realistic dynamic, has it served your greater good over the past year or not? How can you work and apply yourself with full creativity and wholeheartedness even if the amount of pleasure or fun you get from this activity is less than expected, or is only to come to your much later than anticipated? Have you taken this role as parent too seriously? Are you trying to be the ideal parent and this is what is actually working against you? Is the rejection of your solitude or loneliness causing you to react in ways that are not healthy for you, that are not actually joyful for you, because you may start having fun but are inevitably confronted by your intimate self and its alone-ness? How has this affected your love life and your relationship to children? Consider how all the assumptions and expectations in these things have played out for you, and then work to change the dynamic for the year ahead. Perhaps you’ve been having too much fun at the expense of your work taking a back seat. Your children may have taken the work out of you, leaving you with precious little energy for your own work. Maybe you’ve been too risky in your approach to work, and need to take time out to get a sense of proper boundaries and structure here.

SAGITTARIUS

Money matters seem to leave no room for laughter these days. You can show others you care in other ways besides a monetary exchange or financial achievement. I mean, where’s the fun in that? Find a hobby you once loved and rekindle the pioneering and adventurous spirit within you and do it. Or find a hobby that isn’t heavy on the money, be inventive. Most likely there is a problem around the house and home that could do with a creative solution, and it’s just the sort of thing that can activate your adventurous spirit maybe not physically, but mentally as well. In many ways, you are learning to be your own best friend, and yes children may be involved if you have them and can teach you a lot in this regard, but if there are no children around, THINK like a child when it comes to being your own best friend. Observe children and how they interact with themselves, that sheer authenticity that is undeniable and refreshing and which gets those creative juices flowing again. So, drop all the intoxication with financial goal-setting and achievements for a while, and find the value instead in the little things, those little good things that are happening in your life. They will hold you in good stead later.

This solar eclipse brings up all your assumptions about your role as the caregiver and provider and friend toward your family, your parents (your past interactions with them), and even how you have seen your friends more as family than your own family. There is a lot of deep changes necessary here, so take your time. You may choose to drown yourself in your work to avoid going deep into your past, but the questioning and requesting of relevance and meaning from your roots, your heritage, your ancestors, and your immediate parents and even yourself as a parent – realize that these are all connected. The journey lies in understanding and coming to a new relationship with your past, especially your assumptions about family. What is the ideal family? Where has this come from for you personally? Which friends have played key roles in this concept of family for you? How are these visions and imaginations and assumptions affecting your current family and home situation? What can you do to move this into a new light and fresh outlook, by stepping forward without bringing these things from your past into your present? You may feel that you’ve sacrificed a lot of your personal happiness and joy for your family, and its time to take a step back and reconnect with how you have fun so that you can bring that into your home dynamic again. This will rejuvenate you and allow you to interact with your home and family more meaningfully.

CAPRICORN

How much quality time have you spent at home and with your family lately? You’re going to have to make or accommodate some changes at home and with family before you feel your energies free up and you can move on. For some time to come, this is going to be the one area of life that deserves some attention. You will feel the better for it. The emphasis and the solution to any discontent in this area of your life is clearly pointing to taking decisive and clear action. Home should be a place where your energies are rejuvenated, so whatever you need to do to get it to be that, or whatever improvements are needed to let this home and family space work better for you going forward – that is what needs be done.

Sometimes the universe wants us to speak up, and sometimes the universe wants us to speak truthfully. How has your relationship with your siblings and relatives affected your life so far, especially over the last year? Are you looking at this correctly, or are you allowing past assumptions to affect how this can be for you right now? How much of your feelings toward your associated family are true or relevant, and how much of it are your own assumptions or perceived truths? Is this related to your reluctance and frustration whenever you have to speak up for yourself? Is your way of communication influenced by how your relationship to siblings and relatives have happened to you? Can you use this to change the way you want to communicate with others because maybe you are trying too hard to get it right all the time and it affects the opportunities you can create with people you work with and for. What assumptions are behind the way you communicate with everyone in your life? Is this giving your valuable insight into those guilty pleasure procrastinations that have peppered the last year? If there is some major writing project or speaking gig that you have been procrastinating, well – get it done or use the next month and a half to make significant strides in this area. You seem to have been talking a great deal and actually not taking time off to firmly root yourself or ground yourself and your words and communication seems to take a lot out of you sometimes. Are you overextending yourself and your energies in trying to keep the peace? Take some time off to ground yourself in your spirit and find your sense of innovation and drive for personal success which is at the core of your life and upon which you have always been able to fall back on when times got tough. You want to ground yourself in Resilience again.

AQUARIUS

It becomes important that you pay attention to how you are conducting yourself, your actions, and communications daily in helping and assisting those less fortunate than you. There may even be people that you work with who could use your help in other ways and are not able to voice their needs. If you can feel it, if you have a hunch about it, it’s best to speak up and ask how you can assist. Your work situation can improve when there is more warmth in the interactions, instead of the usual cold and dry formal approach. Can the word “professional” be more warm than simply its formal connotation? Yes, your health may have been affected due to work stress, and all the deadlines and such that have been imposed by others and which you have also created for yourself. While you may not now have a way to undo much of these work obligations and associated stress, you can choose to interact with others more warmly and more considerately, and this can make a huge difference for you in terms of how you get through, avoiding unnecessary conflict and contortions on the communication front. Keeping a journal during this period is going to help you tremendously.

It is becoming apparent that you are working at understanding what you believe in for your life and how this affects the way you look at yourself. You may be putting every philosophy, ideal, or belief to the test, because you’re trying to ascertain the value each has for your in your life. If you leave aside the constant quest to test every belief, maybe you will actually begin to see how your beliefs have actually been influencing your life. Over the last year, you may have embarked on studies to learn more about financial management or branched out with something new for financial gain in some way, has this worked out the way you anticipated? From what you have learnt regarding money and how it works for you (or not), can you see that the same “testing” you’ve been applying to your beliefs perhaps you did not apply to the assumptions about what you know about money? The approach you may have taken to your beliefs and view of the world, has in a way affected your relationship with what you see as valuable in life and with money in particular. Changing how you believe about life and living, can change the way money works for you. You may have been concerned with money issues and also your sense of value needs some cushioning. Sometimes you may find yourself just saying things without knowing how this communicates your values for your life. You need to take time off to figure out what your life values are again, and begin to communicate with others from that place first.

PISCES

While you’re getting some feedback, and understanding from others now, it’s less than what you expected, and more so it’s as if you’re being asked to do more for them to boot. It’s not spiraling out of control. They’re not making more demands than is necessary. Yes, it is pushing you out of your comfort zone, and with good reason. Your whole relationship to money is changing in ways that you may not be aware of yet, and the outcome depends a lot on how capably you gather up your energies and exert yourself, pushing past comfort zone into new waters, and for some you, new waters for the first time in your life. Let friends and children help themselves first for a change, you move into hobbies that are going to assist you in your future work, so even having fun seems a bit serious and daunting. Take courage in your faith to adapt if things change, and focus on the work at hand as priority. Don’t let financial implications stand in your way, they are to be considered, but they should not limit your options. Trust that you are adjusting yourself in many ways to a new stream for your life, and soon you will be able to ride the current forward way beyond anything you’ve imagined or envisioned for yourself of late.

Every relationship that you have had to encounter and leave behind over the last year, beginning new ones and seeing them go, all types of relationships, whether these were of your choosing or not…can you see how these have influenced you and perhaps changed who you think you are and what you believe is true about yourself? If you take time out to look deeply at the way all these relationships have happened with you over the last year, and specifically what you have brought to the table in each of them, what you were responsible for as part of such relationships, can you understand how each one has taught you something about yourself? Especially those relationships that perhaps ended up with you doing more work than necessary to maintain it or keep it afloat, those working relationships and financial exchanges, what have you learnt about yourself in terms of how you share your money and energy with others, but also actually what type of energy this “I” is made up in itself. You may have taken for granted who you thought this “I” was for a long time, and lost sight of how you can help yourself. A lack of self awareness could’ve opened you up to financial losses. Take some time off to focus on developing self-reliance as you connect with your deep and intimate self everyday, allowing that to nourish you instead of creature comforts and spending sprees.

An in-depth journey and explanation of the nearest Venus Retrograde Cycle is included as part of the Astrology for Spiritual Guidance consultation.

For the article wherein I discussed the role of the Feminine in the 2017 US Inauguration Chart, see the article Artemis and the US Inauguration Chart.