Back to School Shifts: Venus, Mercury and Saturn
by Tony Howard
In planetary transit news this month, Venus goes direct, Mercury goes retrograde, and Saturn settles into Sagittarius. That’s a lot of shifting energy, perhaps fitting for the "back to school" season.
Mercury’s Phases – The Hidden Dimension
Open up your interpretations of Mercury by incorporating its phase. Mercury can be understood through its relationship with the Sun and its visibility in the night sky. When Mercury is a “morning star” at birth, its function in our chart has a unique quality when compared to its “evening star” phase. We’ll unpack these differences as we review the technical specs of the Sun-Mercury relationship, including its retrograde cycle.
Venus will station direct on Sunday, September 6 at 14° Leo. Check your chart for any planets close to that degree of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus or Scorpio. You folks will likely notice the station the most. Take note, and if you have any good stories to share after the station, Tony would love to hear them. Email tony@forrestastrology.com. If you track the shadow periods of retrograde cycles, Venus will remain in the shadow through October 9, when it passes the degree at which it stationed retrograde, 0° Virgo.
Mercury stations retrograde September 17 at 15° Libra, and then stations direct October 9 at 0° Libra. With Mercury retrograde in Libra this time, communications are highlighted. We may not see quite as many of the typical computer mishaps usually attributed to Mercury retrograde, but stay on your toes when engaging in sensitive conversations with others. Prepare for unwanted misunderstandings by cultivating more patience than usual. Libra wants us to find an equal sense of give and take in the dialogue. So make sure you listen well in addition to clearly asking for what you need.
If you’ve learned some imago therapy techniques, or nonviolent dialog methods, those will come in handy this month for your important conversations. In imago therapy, the general idea is that you mirror what the other has said and then give space for them to mirror what you say. So after they talk, repeat back to them what you heard, checking in with the other person to see if you truly understood what they meant to say. Then you share your piece and ask them to do the same afterwards.
This kind of dialogue can seem cumbersome if you haven’t done it before, so you might reserve the technique for close partners or important business dealings. It can really be eye-opening. You’d be surprised how often we misunderstand each other, and Mercury will be in full trickster mode, so be on high alert for crossed wires.
Folks with planets near 29° Scorpio have been feeling the squeeze lately, as Saturn has been spending it’s last days near the end of that sign. If that’s you, a sigh of relief could be just around the corner. Saturn will give Scorpio a break (from conjunctions anyway) for another 30 years, and turn it’s attention fully to Sagittarius on September 18. If you have planets in the early degrees of Sag, get ready for part 2 (or 3!) of Saturn school. To get a sense of this transit, I did a little research on the charts of several folks with both the Sun and Saturn in Sagittarius back in February. You can read that newsletter here if you missed it the first time.
Steven will present a new webinar this month on rulerships, inspired in part by a conversation I recorded between him and Rob Hand at NORWAC earlier this year. Planetary rulership is one of those "hot button" techniques that astrologers have differing opinions about. In his webinar September 19, you’ll get to hear Steven’s evolutionary perspective on rulership. Steven will explain how he uses both the modern and traditional rulers, explaining any differences he sees between the two, and including plenty of examples.
Finally, we have a new release for you on Chiron recorded at NORWAC this year, as well as a couple of archival releases from past United Astrology Conferences (see below).
Whatever shifts might be in store for you this month, we hope you weather them well. Happy Back to School season!
-Tony Howard
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Photo credit: "Rosa" by Manu Jobst at Kunstfabrik
A New Look at Chiron
The process of determining the meaning of a planet requires the collective effort of the entire astrological community. It takes quite a while. Witness the broad consensus about the meaning of Mercury vs the many different takes on Pluto, discovered 85 years ago. Chiron was only discovered in 1977 and we astrologers are still figuring it out. Both Chiron and Pluto correlate with the psychic wounds most of us carry, but the healing processes they represent are quite distinct. Join Steven as he shares his own discoveries about this mysterious and powerful Centaur object.
New archival audio releases from past UACs:
- 12th House Symbolism audio download
- Finding Your Natural Mate: Houses Four through Eight audio download
- Discovering Past Lives in the Birthchart audio download
Shop for more Audio Downloads or webinars.
Tony Howard graduated Summa Cum Laude in history and film from the University of Colorado. His degree turned out to be the perfect precursor to his career in astrology, where his focus includes historical research and chart analysis. His writing has been featured in The Mountain Astrologer and in two Flare anthologies: Astrology, the Next Generation and The Book of Music Horoscopes.
Tony has been researching declination since 2011 and specializes in “out of bounds” planets. He also loves working with and studying aspects, which forms the core of his work with clients. He is the founder of Astrology University.