The Astrology Blog 25 April 2022
All times in BST
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you. ”
Walt Whitman
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Walt_Whitman
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
Confucius
Every now and then we get a week that’s full of especially significant celestial activity and this is one of them. Often these times turn out to be pivotal and decisive in terms of unfolding events (external world) or personal progress and development (internal world) or both.
This week Venus is making her annual conjunctions with Jupiter and Neptune, Pluto turns retrograde, Mercury changes sign and we have the Solar Eclipse, all within a period of four days –
Wednesday 27 April
- Mercury 27 Taurus sextile Jupiter 27 Pisces 06.13
- Venus 24 Pisces semi-sextile Saturn 11.44
- Moon conjunct Jupiter 27 Pisces 12.08
- Venus conjunct Neptune 24 Pisces 20.13
Thursday 28 April
- Mercury 28 Taurus trine Pluto 28 Capricorn 13.03
Friday 29 April
- Pluto turns retrograde 28.35 Capricorn 19.34
- Mercury ingress Gemini 23.24
Saturday 30 April
- New Moon/Solar Eclipse 10 Taurus 21.29
- Venus conjunct Jupiter 27 Pisces 22.15
Sunday 1 May
- Venus 28 Pisces sextile Pluto 28 Capricorn 11.35
HOW DOES INTERPRETATION WORK?
The big question in astrology, about anything, is “what does that mean?” but when you’re working with symbolism of any kind – eg tarot, dream interpretations – the better and more accurate question to ask is “What MIGHT that mean?” It’s never one size fits all. This is the single biggest misunderstanding about astrological (and tarot) craft and in all my years of teaching I’ve found without exception that when a student grasps that (and I include myself) is when their astrology or tarot skills take off.
Staying with astrology there are definite rules of craft to follow that give us a great deal of information, but it’s still really important to remember that’s all it is – information. The whole area of interpretation spins on how to convert that information into accurate meaning.
Elisabeth Brooke says the same about medical diagnosis, that at one level a diagnosis is just an opinion. It’s the subsequent treatment that will show how true the interpretation of symptoms really is. An interesting viewpoint, but then Elisabeth has a knack for looking at things differently, a hallmark of a good symbolist.
Elisabeth has written a stack of books and Traditional Western Herbal Medicine (2019) shows how links to astrology enrich the work of holistic health and healing. This is why this work is subtitled As Above, So Below and this astrological connection is the basis of her course here in the first week of June. Includes working on your own horoscope so you’ll need to supply your data in advance – date/place of birth and time of birth as accurately as possible. More info about the course directly from Elisabeth – elisabeth_brooke@hotmail.com
So all astrological interpretation is based on the principle of “as above, so below” but needs context so, when you actually witness the astrology playing out in the world or in your own life, it’s unmistakable because it carries the hallmarks of the relevant symbolism. It’s like when you arrive at the real meaning of a dream, you can ponder the possibilities, but when you get the message it smacks you between the eyes with its “rightness”.
As an example of context a story in the news is Johnny Depp, who has natal Saturn at 23 Aquarius and is therefore having his second Saturn Return (once every 29.5 years), traditionally a time of struggle or serious life issues –
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Johnny_Depp
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Amber_Heard
In terms of craft we see that Saturn is powerful in his chart, angular and dignified, is ruler of the 7th House of marriage and is also posited IN the 7th House, so this time in his life was always going to be about serious matters in connection to a partner. That’s the “information”. In terms of what it means for him, the context is the court case against former wife Amber Heard and her accusations of domestic violence.
There’s no time of birth for Amber so we’re missing the crucial Me v You horizon of her chart (Ascendant – Descendant) which would be a vital part of her current astrology.
But regardless of that she has two stressful T-Squares – Saturn opposite Chiron and both square Jupiter, and more importantly Moon opposite Mercury and both square Mars. The latter would seem to bear out the stories of her being deliberately or even viciously argumentative, this combination being textbook for the emotional (Moon) wounding (Mars) of words (Mercury).
This shows in their synastry too, along with Chiron (the Wounded Healer) showing both ways –
- Her Mars 12 Capricorn conjunct his Moon 13 Capricorn
- Her Chiron 11 Gemini conjunct his Sun 18 Gemini
- His Chiron 15 Pisces exactly conjunct her Jupiter 14 Pisces
- They both have Venus dignified in Taurus, hers at 25 Taurus and Depp’s at 26 Taurus – which just goes to show that the huge attraction of love and lust and tons of money is never enough on its own
This court case is costing a fortune, is lasting for weeks and making lawyers rich. What little I’ve read, including comments from their therapist, reveals a story of two very talented and very wealthy and very dysfunctional individuals locked into a public battle to clear their names. Whilst their astrology is interesting the whole story is so tragic at so many levels, not least because it would probably be more interesting if we didn’t have a far more important war going on.
AN EXALTED VENUS
Back to now and starting with Venus, a reminder of the info that I included a few weeks ago, that all the personal planets have signs in which they are “exalted” and in turn each one has a “degree of exaltation”. Venus’ is 27 – in other words, Venus’ sign of exaltation is Pisces (any degree 0 – 30) and from the possible 360 degrees of the zodiac Venus at 27 Pisces is her strongest possible position. Here’s the full list –
- Sun 19 Aries
- Moon 3 Taurus
- Mercury 15 Virgo
- Venus 27 Pisces
- Mars 28 Capricorn
- Jupiter 15 Cancer
- Saturn 21 Libra
Venus catches up with all the slower moving planets once a year but because Jupiter and Neptune themselves are conjunct each other (exact 12 April at 24 Pisces) this time Venus links with both of them within a few days.
Again from a craft point of view these are powerful conjunctions as Venus is exalted in Pisces, and both Jupiter and Neptune are dignified in this sign, Jupiter being the traditional ruler of Pisces and Neptune being the modern co-ruler of this sign.
As Neptune is so slow moving we’ll get Venus conjunct Neptune in Pisces again for a few years, and we’ll get Venus conjunct Jupiter every year too (next one 2 March 2023 in Aries) but we won’t have Venus conjunct Jupiter in Pisces again for another 12 years (22 Feb 2034 at 16 Pisces).
In traditional astrology Venus is known as the Lesser Benefic and Jupiter as the Greater Benefic – they benefit us – so any Venus – Jupiter combination is lovely to see –
- VENUS is Aphrodite, goddess of love. She is feminine and also rules women, all pleasure seeking, lovemaking, beauty, comfort and luxuries, art, music and the fashion industry. Venus also rules sustenance, everything from food to the money we make in order to live
- JUPITER is King of the gods, jovial (Jove) and optimistic, planet of opportunity, luck, liberation, good fortune, abundance, generosity both giving and receiving, learning, publishing, truth and justice/all legal concerns. He rules long distance travel, foreigners, all matters or people related to overseas, anything that makes our world bigger and better
- PISCES – a complex sign, Mutable Water, rules the oceans, marine life and seaside time, water in all its guises, super sensitive, artistic, special skills, empathy, sacrifices, suffering of the soul, all altered states of consciousness, rules the booze, pharmaceuticals but also spirituality
The path to the wonderful Venus – Jupiter conjunction on Venus’ degree of exaltation starts with a minor aspect to Saturn, potentially helpful in terms of getting things sorted, solved or organized. I include the monthly Moon – Jupiter conjunction in the list too as that is also at 27 Pisces and definitely part of the picture, look out for the showing of especially lunar events, such as plans with girlfriends, the importance of another woman or anything joyful in the emotional department –
Wednesday 27 April
- Venus 24 Pisces semi-sextile Saturn 24 Aquarius 11.44
- Moon conjunct Jupiter 27 Pisces 12.08
- Venus conjunct Neptune 24 Pisces 20.13
Saturday 30 April
- Venus conjunct Jupiter 27 Pisces 22.15
Sunday 1 May
- Venus 28 Pisces sextile Pluto 28 Capricorn 11.35
Venus’ final aspect is the harmonious sextile to witchy Pluto at the very end of the week, so whatever your priorities are in terms of plans, projects or opportunities the big message is to waste no time. We can achieve a huge amount this week once we recognise what is good for us and how to say yes to ourselves.
Don’t forget that Venus also rules money so this is a fantastic week for dealing with financial matters of any kind too and/or treating ourselves.
Note that the Venus – Pluto finale also coincides with Pluto being SR – stationary retrograde – ie switching direction. This can be the stuff of turning points in terms of good endings too, such as final turning points in a relationship that needs to end, or it can be loss in any situation that is already reaching an inevitable conclusion. Don’t throw good money or love after bad.
THE SUN, MOON & ECLIPSES
It’s a brilliant lesson in symbolism and magic to think about the Sun and the Moon in terms of how we see them from planet Earth. They appear to be the same size. We therefore attribute equal importance to them in the horoscope. In other words, your Moon sign is just as important as your Sun sign. They weigh the same.
And it is only because they appear to us to be the same size that the wonder of Eclipses can happen at all, the disc of one fitting exactly over the disc of the other –
The Sun’s distance from Earth is about 400 times the Moon’s distance, and the Sun’s diameter is about 400 times the Moon’s diameter. Because these ratios are approximately the same, the Sun and the Moon as seen from Earth appear to be approximately the same size (Wikipedia)
That point has always fascinated me and as I was reading more about this it turns out that these ratios are to be discovered elsewhere in our universe too –
A separate category of solar eclipses is that of the Sun being occluded by a body other than the Earth’s Moon, as can be observed at points in space away from the Earth’s surface. Two examples are when the crew of Apollo 12 observed the Earth eclipse the Sun in 1969 and when the Cassini probe observed Saturn eclipsing the Sun in 2006 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saturn_eclipse.jpg
Intriguing stuff. And that looks like a drawing but it’s actually a photo, wow.
Back down to Earth, Eclipses occur every 6 months when a New or Full Moon is also conjunct the Moon’s Nodes. The North and South Node are not heavenly bodies, they are the imaginary points at which the Moon cuts across the Ecliptic (from which we derive the word Eclipse) which is the apparent path of the Sun’s motion as seen from planet Earth. It’s because the Earth’s axis is tilted that we don’t get Eclipses every month.
Back to symbolism, in traditional astrology the line of the Nodes (always exactly opposite each other) symbolizes a dragon. The Sun and the Moon (the Lights) are the eyes of the dragon, and the dragon “eating” the Lights refers to the phenomenon of eclipses –
- The North Node Caput Draconis – the head of the dragon is regarded as fortunate, as this is where the dragon feeds and gains nourishment. Good karma.
- The South Node Cauda Draconis – the tail of the dragon is regarded as unfortunate, being where the dragon excretes, ie where shit happens. Bad karma.
Eclipses work in pairs, sometimes in threes. A Solar Eclipse (on a New Moon) is therefore always followed two weeks later by a Lunar Eclipse (on a Full Moon) or vice versa. So this week it’s the New Moon/Solar Eclipse in Taurus and the next one will be Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse at 25 Scorpio on 16 May.
- A Solar Eclipse – occurs when the Sun is obscured by the shadow of the Moon at the time of a New Moon
- A Lunar Eclipse – occurs when the Moon is obscured by the shadow of the earth at the time of a Full Moon
ECLIPSE SYMBOLISM
Eclipses get mixed press but basically they’re points of significant change that often involve power issues and/or the crux points of triangular situations, ie as symbolized by the intricate relationship between the three bodies of the Sun, Moon and Earth. Who is going to overshadow whom?
There is often a flavour of death/rebirth symbolism – changing colours, the light disappearing and coming back on again. It can be powerful stuff.
If you have planets or Angles at or close to the Eclipse degrees, then be on the alert for key developments in any situation that is about change, and establishing a new order. It may not be easy but when the shadows lift a new landscape is revealed.
When I say “close to” I usually mean within 2 to 3 degrees but with Eclipses the orb tends to be bigger, so allow up to 5 degrees, but the tighter the aspect the more important the planet/Angle in terms of indicating life events.
Key themes to look out for –
- Being overshadowed, feeling in the dark
- Themes of empowerment – disempowerment
- Themes of inevitability – Eclipses light a fuse
- Themes of loss/endings that change your life and set you on a different path
- Themes of symbolic death/rebirth – out with the old, in with the new, literally or psychologically
- Sorting winners from losers between twos or threes (Sun, Moon, Earth), eg affairs, job applications, house buying, any competitive situation. One person’s loss is another person’s gain
- Dealing with that which, until now, has been hidden from us in some way
- Revelations – sometimes on the run up to the Eclipse, sometimes even exactly on the day, or at a later date we learn what happened when we weren’t looking, when we were in the dark or “when the light went out”
- Tipping points of change – no going back to something belonging to your old life
- Getting out of your own way OR standing up for yourself – don’t “eclipse” yourself by staying in the shadows
Note that this Eclipse coincides with the Venus – Jupiter conjunction within LESS THAN AN HOUR –
Saturday 30 April
- New Moon/Solar Eclipse 10 Taurus 21.29
- Venus conjunct Jupiter 27 Pisces 22.15
As Jupiter loves to sow seeds and reveal silver linings this whole week has a feeling of change, no matter how tough at first, being for the better. Focus on what you want an outcome to be, focus on the rewards of making necessary changes, especially the things you’ve been putting off for a long time. This is definitely the kind of astrological picture that suggests that changes can easily be made for us so wherever you’re getting a sense of urgency it could pay off to act on it.
Also act on what’s right for you, not on what other people think is right for you. You’re on your own journey and they are on theirs. As Venus reaches the end of the zodiac 29 Pisces – the position of a Fixed Star called Scheat associated with loss and sadness – there may be a window of time over this coming weekend in which we need to be very careful about what we sacrifice. Venus starts a whole new journey next week, arriving at 0 Aries next Monday, and I’ll be talking more about this next time.
MERCURY – THE WINGED MESSENGER
Last word to Mercury who’s on his home stretch through Taurus –
Wednesday 27 April
- Mercury 27 Taurus sextile Jupiter 27 Pisces 06.13
Thursday 28 April
- Mercury 28 Taurus trine Pluto 28 Capricorn 13.03
Friday 29 April
- Pluto turns retrograde 28.35 Capricorn 19.34
- Mercury ingress Gemini 23.24
So Mercury is doing the same as Venus, making a final aspect with Pluto just as that planet changes direction and then moving on into his next sign, in this case his own sign of Gemini. However this picture is more complicated because, guess what, Mercury will only get as far as 4 degrees of Gemini before turning retrograde 10 May, and will therefore slide back into Taurus (23 May) and will end up making this trine to Pluto three times instead of once.
So it’s not quite the neat tying of a bow as we might see with Venus, and it’s especially important to clock unfolding events around this first Mercury – Pluto combo, especially if you have planets or Angles at or very close to 28 degrees of these two signs, or the other Earth sign of Virgo, or the opposite signs of Scorpio – Cancer, as there’ll be more to come.
So a lot more very lively astrology ahead for next week, including the annual Sun – Uranus conjunction, but for now enjoy the Venus – Jupiter blessings, whatever shape these might take for you. Life can be so hard sometimes, an ongoing pandemic and a war in Europe continue to throw their own shadows, but all the more reason for some very deep appreciation and gratitude for the life and freedom that we are so lucky to have. I’ve commented on this before but “gratitudes” really do work, they actually rewire the brain and make us healthier. So name three things a day for which you’re truly grateful, every day this week, and see what a difference it makes to your general mood and the way you treat yourself!
With love from sunny Greece, until next week
Joanna
