Heavenly Truth

Rethinking Venus: Venus Retrograde in Scorpio

As with any craft, the longer you're in it, the deeper you want to go into its components to get better and better at it overall. Most people understand that after you've been doing something a long time and can do it in your sleep, you can get bored with your craft. I've been doing astrology long enough to fall prey to the boredom, I'm sure, but I never get bored.

Instead, I get confused.

I know all the puzzle pieces in astrology. Insert planet A into sign B and all that. Some people might say I've even gotten pretty good at twisting those pieces around into little pockets of meaning (I did write a book and all, I suppose). While many people spend time trying to figure out the next new puzzle on their horizon such as midpoints or sesquiquadrates or the elusive triple-yod-summersault-dismount trickybob, I like to dig as deeply as I can into the elegance of the core components of astrology: the planets, signs, and houses; to re-enchant myself with the foundations themselves. I know it's time for another excavacation when suddenly everything I seem to know about one of these components simply dissolves when I try to pick it up. File empty. These days, ask me about Venus and I'll search my brain's database, only to find that the files have been stolen and a sticky note left in its place: "I.O.U."

And then, like a good little Virgo with Capricorn Rising, I panic and fret while all the while trying to fake it so I can keep my reputation in good standing. Yes, yes, Venus, yes. Be right with you. Just, um, gathering my thoughts and opening up my programs. Wait, where's my laser pointer and my headset?!

It's not that I've forgotten the keywords. I can recite them just as well as the next good little astrological monkey. Venus: Relationships, Charm, Beauty, Creativity, Art, and so on. But it's not enough to parrot the words inherited from every beginning astrology book one's read. This 8th house girl has to know WHY? What are the roots that have birthed these branches? It's come time for me to dig into the very soil from which our modern understanding of the Venus archetype has grown. So I'm dutifully going about it in Gemini south node fashion: a stack of books and a list of mp3 workshop recordings, and back to the myths themselves to do my own distillation process. Hopefully when I stir them all in the 8th-house pot, the themes, truths, and patterns will rise to the Neptune-in-Sagittarius-conjunct-my-north-node frothy top.

Is it a coincidence that I've got the Venus Research bug as it retrogrades in Scorpio, the sign of research and mysteries, over my Midheaven? Goddess, I hope not!

I hope to have more to offer in the future, but my preliminary findings (one with Cap Rising must talk like that to sound official, you do understand) have drawn my attention to the trouble with the white-washed Venus that has been most celebrated. Venus wants to make everything 'pretty', just like herself, right? She wants us all to get along and play nice, or at least pretend to play nice. I'm not interested in standing on a feminism soapbox here as much as I'm interested in wholeness, as in, don't just show me the pretty parts, show me all of it (even you, Venus). It's not about finding the tabloid dirt on Venus to prove how ugly she really is. What really intrigues me is the definition of beauty itself, beyond the symmetry of faces or the argument of pastels over fluorescents. I found this paragraph from Anne Massey's book Venus: Her Cycles, Symbols & Myths to be particularly provocative:

Our view of Venus has become sanitized over the centuries, removing whatever we as a society are not comfortable accepting. This would naturally account for the fact that we still like to place women on pedestals where we can admire their beauty (and no doubt lament the lack of our own in some way by comparison, I'd like to add). Fashion magazines are a prime example. The faces of women who grace the pages have been airbrushed to the extent that there appear to be no lines, creases, or imperfections, let alone a wrinkle or a laugh line. With each brush stroke, a part of the woman's personality has been erased. (italics mine, bold added)

Venus is retrograding through Scorpio right now (I think I mentioned that!), creating a seemingly perfect time for us all to ask questions about the raw truth that lies beneath any image of beauty or any bonds of love. In marital love, for example, we recognize the lines from the age-old vow: "for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part." Well. We can certainly recognize Saturn's stamp on all of that. After all, until death do us part is pretty committed and serious. But we can recognize Venus in it too, I hope (especially in Scorpio). The depth of the passion in a commitment like that has to be profound.

We don't like to think about it, but Scorpio knows the frightening truth of love in the face of poorer, sickness, and death. As Venus retrogrades through this sign, perhaps we are being shown what is terribly beautiful in its power and horror, not just pretty or easy. Singer Lily Allen (May 2 1985) has just lost her baby at 6 months pregnant, while Venus in Scorpio retrograded right over her Pluto. Love meets horror and loss? You betcha.

So what is my point, that Venus, and especially Venus in Scorpio, is actually ugly, frightening, painful and ultimately ends in death? No, it's even worse. That the face of Venus that is love, human love, contains all those things, Scorpio or not. Retrograde or not. It also contains timelessness, ascension, safety through the howling winds that life blows at us sometimes, vulnerability in the best sense, and every love song you've ever heard. Let's honor its raw and provocative power that isn't always pretty, but supersedes prettiness with its elegance and flawed purity.

This is one of the best Venus in Scorpio photos I know, and surprise, surprise, it has nothing to do with leather, vampires, or heavy eye makeup:

photo credit: unknown. Do you know? Please comment and let me in on it!

So how does the chart reveal the similarities but the differences alike? There are a few theories, such as the idea that twins 'split up' the chart's energies and express some traits stronger than their twin or that environmental factors make up the other half of the astrological picture, that external stimulus and life events dictate how each twin uses their chart to respond to life. Or is it the core of modern astrology and the belief in free will: that no one can predict what an individual soul's choices will be, only their lessons, struggles, and strengths?

Countdown to your Soulmate? Love, Astrology, and Fate

With the Sun in Libra, the horoscopes inevitably turn to relationship talk. But with Saturn in Libra too, we're focusing not on true love or happily ever after, but how to make these things real. What are the real steps to finding love and making it last? How do we know we're with the 'right' person? Forget the romance of soul mates, Saturn says. Once you find love, how do you manage to live with them and stay in love?

Astrology, at least predictive astrology, tracks life's internal (and external) clock. The timing of events--when they'll take place and what they might be--is a big deal in astrology, and the biggest question is often When will I get married/find love? Even more important than wealth, a successful career, or a healthy mental attitude, the question of love seems to top the charts.

Can astrology tell you when you'll meet the one? Some astrologers say no. Some astrologers say maybe.

What if a clock, astrological or not, could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate?

In the movie Timer, Oona is dying to meet her soulmate. She obsesses about it and her decisions about life and relationships, even casual ones, are marked by it. She's a woman with a mission. Her timer is blank, which means her soulmate, wherever he is, has not yet had a timer implanted himself. Oona tentatively dates men without timers, convincing them to get one as soon as she can bring it up, so she can see if they are her 'one'. "What's the point in continuing without a guarantee?" she says.

So many questions are brought up by this concept; my Libran Mercury in the 9th house is spinning with weighing the options. Your timer doesn't guarantee you'll instantly like/love the person. It will only identify that they are your soulmate. What if you meet your soulmate before you're even of an age to sustain a mature relationship? What if you get a timer and it says you won't meet your soulmate until your 50s or beyond? And if you're not due to meet your soulmate until much later, do you abstain from relationship and sex until you find your one like Oona, or do you have fling after fling like Steph? What if you accidentally fall in love with someone who's not your soulmate? Gasp! And the big one: should you get one or not?

Would you opt for one? Why or why not?

The timer brings up more questions than just whether or not one has a soulmate. It's based on a big assumption that fate is in precise operation; not just fate in love, but fate in life: that your decisions will lead you to the same place as the decisions of one other specific person and you will meet up at the right and fateful moment. Can't miss. While some people believe in fate to that extent, others think this idea sounds absurd. Yet that's exactly what happens every day - two people find themselves in the right place at the right time and begin a relationship. If it leads nowhere, they think nothing of it. But if it leads to happily ever after, they may look back and think about 'that fateful day,' saying things like "little did we know that our lives were about to change forever..."

Is astrology our timer? Not implanted in our wrist, but in our very DNA, as symbolized by our entrance on earth at an exact moment? This astrologer thinks its not that easy. But nevermind that land mine; try this one on for size: The timer brings up the same question that astrology does for a lot of people:

Do you want to know your future?

It's fun to speculate which signs may want to know the future and which wouldn't. Earth signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn might like it so they can plan for the future (and Capricorn will probably take it all the way to the couples retirement plan and have a honeymoon savings account). Fire signs Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, with their love of living in the moment, may not enjoy being confined to a feeling of fatefulness, no matter how lovely the prize. Aquarius might say not out of a distate for being so predictable. Gemini might be too curious to avoid it, and try getting a final answer about the question out of Libra! And the mysterious water signs: I can picture Cancer, with it's desire for security leaving it wanting to know, but I think the water signs in general, including Scorpio and especially Pisces, could go either way: loving the obsession or the romance of it all or respecting the mystery of life and its ability to change and to surprise us, like a moving river.

If the answer can be reduced to an equation in the natal chart, it certainly isn't just sun sign.

But what about the timing of love in astrology, you say? Many say there are time-honored and accurate techniques in predicting love and marriage. But the astrology I've encountered merely shows me potential and freedom in those potentials. If your progressed Venus croses into your 7th house, are you destined to get married, meet your best friend, or begin an art business with a female partner? The potentials are just that: potentials.

So, soul mates, yay or nay? And if so, would you want to know? Here's some wise words in closing from one of my favorite tv gals, whom I have to say, I agree with for the most part:

(ignore the subtitles!)