The Astrology Blog – 27 July 2015
All times posted in BST
It’s a quiet week in terms of major planetary activity as everything is packed into the coming weekend. However, we have a backdrop of Venus having just turned retrograde at 0 degrees of Virgo on Saturday – to recap from last week:
Regular readers will be familiar with the phenomenon of retrograde Mercury as this happens three times a year, for three weeks at a time, during which periods all Mercury stuff seems to operate in reverse and ties us all in knots. Venus turns retrograde less frequently, approximately every 19 months (October 2010, May 2012 and December 2013 were the most recent retrograde dates) for approximately 6 weeks at a time. Venus also repeats her retrograde patterns every 8 years – so in July 2007 Venus turned retrograde in early Virgo, returned to Leo and spent most of the retrograde period in this sign.
Interestingly, China’s stock market crash fits this pattern – Shares in Mainland China saw a steep slide towards the end of the trading day on Monday – marking its biggest one day fall in more than eight years.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-33671459
This reminds us of Venus’ link to money and values, as well as her primary role as one of the love planets. From my book, Be Your Own Astrologer –
Venus is Aphrodite, goddess of love. Your Venus sign tells you about your relating skills, what you are looking for and how you approach relationships. She is feminine and rules women, all pleasure seeking, lovemaking, beauty, art, music and the fashion industry. She also rules sustenance, everything from food to the money we make in order to live.
Just as Mercury’s concerns (communication, transport etc) become complex and confusing when he is retrograde, Venus’ world is the one that’s now in a state of flux and under scrutiny.
One of the saddest showings for Venus turning retrograde in Virgo (sign of health) was the death of Bobbi Kristina yesterday.
http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Bobbi_Kristina_Brown
Bobbi was born on the Uranus – Neptune conjunction that is a characteristic of those born in the early 1990’s. For her this conjunction sits on the cusp of the 8th house (death) of 20 degrees of Capricorn, with Neptune at 20.30 Capricorn and Uranus at 21.03 Capricorn. This is tragic symbolism for the loss of her mother Whitney Houston in a scenario that was repeated for her own death – Neptune ruling both drugs, sleep and altered states of consciousness, and all misadventures related to water, Uranus ruling shocks, recklessness and all dissociative states (ie splitting off, escapism related to early unresolved trauma). In terms of current astrological activity remember that Uranus also turned retrograde over the weekend, at 20.30 of Aries – making a “partile” (exact to the minute) square to Bobbi’s Neptune. She never woke from the induced coma. To die at the age of 22 with so much potential ahead of her is beyond sad, and made me think about how I signed off last week’s blog – enjoy the things that money can’t buy – as no amount of money in the world could save this poor kid and the worst problems in the world are usually ones that you can’t resolve by throwing money at them.
More about retrograde Venus – and how to survive it!
Keep a watchful eye on the things you love! Our new dog Dora has, just this morning, eaten my favourite flip flops after I left them on the balcony last night, having got home late and taken them off to enjoy the coolness of the tiles on hot feet….this may not sound momentous but here in Greece the women tend to have smallish feet, and the shoe shops rarely stock more than a couple of pairs in anything in my size 7, so the chances of replacing them are probably zero. And my car broke down last week which meant getting a hire car for a few days, and I put my favourite CD into the player, only to find that it wouldn’t play and now won’t come out again….
For the bigger picture of retrograde it can be helpful to think “re” words – specifically applied to love and money matters – such as review, reappraise, revive etc – but whatever smacks of being a backwards step comes with a warning tag. A story from my work this week showed this perfectly, with a woman tempted to go back to a lover for whom she has deep feelings but who can never offer her more than mistress role. The message now surfacing for her is not that they love each other any the less, but that she is blocking the possibility of finding someone who can truly be there for her as long as her lover continues to fill the partner shaped space in her life. Saying no to what is on offer now is to say yes to what will be on the offer in the future, and it’s a decision that is intrinsically tied up with her self-worth and sense of being “fed”. We all deserve our own feast rather than the crumbs from someone else’s table.
At the end of the week Venus will slide back into Leo and will spend the rest of her retrograde period in this sign, eventually turning direct at 14 degrees of Leo on 6 September.
Friday retrograde Venus ingress Leo (16.28)
For the immediate future the most important thing to note is that Venus will travel backwards through 29 degrees of Leo until 3 August. This is the degree of the royal fixed star of Regulus, also known as the Heart of the Lion. Regulus denotes ambition, honour, success, status and leadership. Examples from the world of celebrities include –
Actress Mira Sorvino shot to fame after winning the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite, stunning symbolism for her natal Venus at 29 degrees of Leo.
Pippa Middleton has the Moon conjunct Regulus, perfect symbolism for having a sister marrying into royalty and destined to be Queen, and subsequently for her own elevated status. She also has Venus in Leo conjunct her Ascendant, the angle that rules the physical body. In THAT dress, the figure hugging Alexander McQueen creation, and with perfect poise and straight backed posture – Leo rules the spine – she all but outshone the bride at the royal wedding.
She probably has one of the most famous bottoms in history!
Anyone with natal planets or angles at 29 degrees of Leo is up for an interesting time! Here’s the usual link for checking the position of your natal planets:
http://www.alwaysastrology.com/birth-chart-calculator.html
What else is in store this week?
Venus sliding back into Leo coincides with the Full Moon –
Friday Full Moon at 8 degrees of Aquarius (11.44)
Full Moons illuminate, clarify or bring a matter full circle. Often they signal a milestone in a journey already unfolding. In particular look out for themes ruled by the air sign of Aquarius – mostly friendship, groups, causes and everything related to social awareness and the role of the collective. If you have planets at or close to 8 degrees of this sign (or the other fixed signs of Taurus, Leo or Scorpio) then this Full Moon will be especially significant for you.
Possibly the best news of the week is that Saturn is finally turning direct –
Sunday Saturn turns direct at 28 degrees of Scorpio (06.54)
Saturn is therefore now getting ready to finish the last leg of his journey through Scorpio (between now and the middle of September), a journey that has been ongoing since October 2012 and which has been very heavy going for a lot of people. It will take a while for him to pick up speed again, and for now he’s stuck at 28 degrees of Scorpio and heading for a square with Jupiter at 28 degrees of Leo, exact early next Monday and therefore an aspect that will be forming over the coming weekend –
Monday (3 August) Jupiter square Saturn (11.38)
This is clash of the giants – a square between two major planets and in fixed signs – that smacks of intransigence and situations that can’t be resolved, easily or at all. Look out for a clash of values/beliefs or for a major milestone in any situation that has been very slow moving and drawn out. Saturn tends to plonk roadblocks in front of us and for reasons that are not immediately apparent. Patience is paramount, as is acceptance.
In the middle of all this rather ponderous picture is a very lively and sparky message from Mercury, who is now at full speed and whizzing through Leo –
Sunday Mercury at 20 degrees of Leo trine Uranus at 20 degrees of Aries
If you have planets or angles at or close to 20 degrees of these signs, or the other fire sign of Sagittarius, then this aspect will be especially important for you. Universally, Mercury in good aspect to Uranus signals surprising turns of events, exciting news, spontaneous decisions and sudden changes of all kinds. So gird your loins for an action packed coming weekend!
Until next week, with love from Greece,
Joanna
Oh… and Mercury is 23 Libra…
Uranus 29 Leo, North Node 24 Leo, Moon 26 Gemini: I think it will be an interesting time.
Venus going back over Uranus on Regulus – just about anything could happen! Do give us some feedback Jean if you can.
My North Node is 29 Leo, and the full moon will conjunct my Aqua sun. Bracing!
Would be fascinating to have some feedback after the event Matty!