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There is a divine, evolutionary purpose behind everything that happens in the astrological sky. For me, that is the foundational principle of our craft. Aiming ourselves toward the higher ground is what it is all about — and there is always higher ground, no matter how grim the astrological configuration might appear to be. I believe in that principle fervently. It is elemental to everything I teach, write and practice with my clients.
But I’ve got to say, my knees got weak when I looked at April’s planetary patterns. On April 17th, Mars makes a station, turning retrograde, at 8°54' Sagittarius. The next day, Pluto also stations, at 17°29' Capricorn. That’s two potentially scary planets, both getting very intense at the same time.
I will stick to the best truths I know here: this combination of energies represents an open evolutionary avenue for us all. There is higher purpose in it. Astrology is the mirror in the sky.
by Steven Forrest
If you have been watching the evening sky this year, you’ve witnessed a lovely minuet of bright-eyed Venus and much dimmer Mars. They’ve pulled apart since their spectacular conjunction last February, but they are now racing back toward one another’s arms. Their final embrace will happen on November 2, in just about exactly 24°Virgo. Over the next four weeks, on their way to that happy rendezvous, the two planets first do a line-dance with Neptune and then a sexy slow dance with Jupiter—two events in the heavens whose fingertips we will all feel in our intimate lives.
Most of my language here in this newsletter will reflect the classic Mars-Venus terrain of intimacy in a “partnering” sense of the word. But really, these configurations have broader meaning, affecting all of our various relationships. With just a little translation, all that we explore here is relevant to those kinds of connections too. Even if you are single, there are people you love. You also probably think about relationship—and these planetary patterns will underlie your thoughts and meditations.
I love planets in so-called “detriment.” Take Mars, for example. It’s not normally viewed as the most cooperative of planets, but just look how nice it is being to me. Right on schedule for this April newsletter, on March 31, it leaves Aries and enters Taurus—the sign of its detriment—where it will remain until May 11. How convenient! This gives me a chance to write about one of my favorite topics, which is underscoring how unintentionally poisonous to our clients some of our conventional astrological language can be. One out of every twelve of us is born with Mars in Taurus. How does such a person feel when he or she hears the word “detriment?” Ditto of course for anyone born with Mars in Libra, its other sign of “debility?” Words such as those can’t bring good news, huh?
This kind of astrological language conveys the notion of a weakness or a flawed condition that is inherent one’s chart. It disempowers people. It helps no one. And, to me, words like “detriment” and “debility” simply represent bad astrological theory.
We are proud to offer our newest instructional program this month: “Working Consciously With Mercury, Venus, and Mars.”
I love the immediacy and liveliness of teaching a room full of astrologers, and I am never so happy in that department as I am sitting with my apprentices. With serious, informed students and four or five days to work, we are able to probe deeply into the heart of evolutionary astrology.
A year ago, I offered this particular program to my southern California students. Tony Howard brought his video camera and captured the introductory material, which is what we present here.
Stored deep in the antiquarian depths of my memory banks is an old giggle about the dance that heterosexual people do: “She ran away from him until she caught him.” Are the times gone when people believed that script? Is it extinct? I guess that is an essay question nowadays as the old gender assumptions pass through the wringer of cultural change.
In any case, the saying came to mind as I watched Venus chase Mars around the Zodiac this month. At the beginning of January, Venus is speeding through the last degrees of Capricorn while Mars lies safely ahead, deep in Aquarius. Venus joins “him” there on the 3rd, but “he” quickly escapes into Pisces on January 12th. Venus tracks Mars down and enters Pisces “herself” at the end of the month, on the 28th. Mars nearly makes his getaway yet again—he just manages to cross the line into Aries in mid-February, but Venus finally catches up with him there on February 22nd.
