Blog
by Steven Forrest
Venus turned retrograde on December 21st, right on the Winter Solstice. Those two pregnant moments coinciding is a rare event and it tells me that we should pay a lot of attention to the strong Venusian signature on the coming year.
On January 11, that retrograde Venus conjuncts the Sun at 21°12' of Capricorn. It remains retrograde for the usual forty-day period, finally turning direct on the last day of January at 13°33' Capricorn.
The Sun-Venus alignment on the 11th is called an “inferior conjunction.” Despite the term, there’s nothing wrong with it! “Inferior” here only means that Venus is directly between the Earth and the Sun. On the other side of its orbit, Venus again aligns with the Sun, but this time with the Sun between us and Venus.
We can usually count on nice weather in Portland in September. It's often like a much-needed extension of summer – a sweet memory to tuck away for the rainy months to come. But no such luck this year. In fact, it's been raining cats and dogs. And it usually only rains butterflies and hummingbirds here, if you know what I mean (light sprinkles and mini drops).
So after about 5 days in a row this week without seeing the sun, I started getting grumbly. But now as I prepare October’s newsletter, it's all perfect fodder for this month's subject: The Grace in Debility! Because if we're evolving well in life, we learn to appreciate the benefits in "taking our medicine," whether that means eating our greens for health, or accepting the first frost, which might signal the start of winter, but also lays the stage for the coming rebirth of Spring.
September opens straightforwardly with Venus in Libra and Mercury in Virgo. Each planet is in the sign it naturally rules, in other words. And that symmetry can be a bit bland, like a beige rug in a beige room. But then things get a lot more interesting. On the 9th, Mercury crosses into Libra where it resides for the bulk of the month, until finally entering Scorpio on the 29th. Two days after Mercury slips into Libra, Venus leaves it, crossing the border into the classic sign of its “detriment,” Scorpio, where it remains until the end of the first week of October.
It is this period from September 11th onward, with Venus in Scorpio and Mercury in Libra, that I'm interested in. Harnessed in an evolutionary way, this planetary combination can trigger conscious deepening, support both truth-telling and truth-hearing, and foster the resolution of tough, longstanding intimate conflicts. Experienced unconsciously, it can read like the script of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf. People can tear each other apart in the name of love, in other words.
Well, we’re still smack in the middle of the Uranus-Pluto square, as evidenced by any handful of news headlines you can find on a daily basis. As I write this, judge Col. Denise Lind just issued a verdict on the Bradley Manning case. The Manning case is likely to be remembered historically as one of the hallmarks of this transit, and the verdict could have a profound impact on our culture. Whether you believe Manning’s actions were right or wrong, the case calls into questions our current legal system, and glaring issues around accountability for wrongdoing within our armed forces and systems of government.
As a true representative of the Uranian archetype, whistleblower group Wikileaks is seen as a threat by the status quo. They are criticized for “going too far.” Their actions are seen as “offensive and operating outside the law.” And maybe that’s true. But in the eyes of those blowing the whistles, the means taken to reveal truth are necessary to shed light on wrongdoing. These are extreme archetypes at play, so whatever stories unfold on the world stage right now, they’re sure to be dramatic.
As I write these words, temperatures are nearing record highs all across the US. So it seems fitting that Steven's newsletter this month takes the sun as its subject. Have you ever heard of Solar Maximum? If not, you're not alone. It just so happens that right now we're in the middle of the peak of the solar cycle - called solar maximum. Below, Steven shares some thoughts on this. And to bring you up to speed, we're also including his chapter on sunspot cycles from The Night Speaks. We'll be re-releasing this beloved little book in ebook format soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the teaser.
