Last week, I spoke about the grand water trine which was formed between Saturn, Neptune and Mercury/Venus. Coinciding with these events has been the dreadful flooding across Europe as a foot of rain fell within 48 hours across the Alps. With the wettest Spring for many years, the waters had nowhere to go so rivers swelled in size and spilled out across towns, cities and villages, causing death and destruction in its wake. It’s said that these are the worst floods for 500 years. Trines aren’t always ‘easy’ aspects. The ‘flow’ we talk of can turn into an uncontrolled deluge – my thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.
This week, we have a tense alignment as Venus moves in to oppose Pluto and square Uranus, forming a t-square in the heavens with Uranus at its apex. Venus is ruled by her desires whether it be love, wealth or materialistic trinkets. Her function is to connect at a physical level (Taurus) and/or at a mental level (Libra). Venus above all wants things to be good between us. She charms and flirts her way into our good graces, making us feel good about ourselves. And that’s all fine and dandy until Venus runs into a situation where she can’t get her own way such as with the opposition to Pluto on the 11th June. When Venus and Pluto are in opposition to each other, it can bring out the worst in each of us. Venus will be damned if she’ll let go of what she wants and Pluto just isn’t going to play nice. In fact he might just sling some mud at Venus’s beautiful dress just to get a reaction. Venus opposite Pluto can tend towards obsessive love and obsession with being loved. It is aspects like this that press our buttons about how we are supposed to love and be loved. With Venus in Cancer, it’s easy to regress into childish behaviour or patterns stemming from love (or the lack of it) in childhood.
Venus-Pluto can also dance between pleasure and pain, the sense that it’s better to feel something than nothing, even if those feelings are dark and twisted or jealous and vengeful. Many of us at some time or another have known emptiness – particularly after losing someone we love and there becomes an urgent need to fill that space with something, anything that will make it feel better.
But both Venus and Pluto are concerned with ‘truth’ and that is how you can work with them. In order to heal the strain and channel this difficult energy, it’s necessary to really feel what’s going on inside of you – even if it is ’emptiness’. It’s necessary to really experience those not so ‘nice’ feelings because in doing so, you release their hold over you.
With all this going on, Saturn perfects the trine to Neptune on the 11th June as well which is going to become the ongoing story for the next few weeks. Can we make peace real? Can we realise our dreams? Can we dissolve the barriers between us? Could what we see as ‘supernatural’ become real and present? Whilst we are dealing with our pleasure and pain, there’s a bigger story at work.
Venus squares Uranus on the 12th June, heightening the feeling of wanting to run away, wanting things to change right now! As we are looking at transpersonal planets (Uranus and Pluto), this may erupt as feelings of exasperation with the world. We need peace, we need change! But Venus quietly says that it begins at home. It’s about finding peace in your own heart and about making small changes in your own life that have an impact. It can be a quiet revolution.
And in the midst of all of this tension, Venus makes a trine to Chiron on the 14th June. It may be precisely because you have been hurt or feel wounded by the weight of the world that now you have compassion for others. Somehow it’s about moving out of your own pain, darkness, and regrets and transmuting this energy into something positive. Lend a hand, let yourself love despite everything.
The wounded healer himself turns retrograde on the 16th June. You may like to read the post I wrote back in 2011 ‘Chiron Retrograde 2011 – Healing Nightmares’ as much of it still applies here. When Chiron retrogrades, it’s time to tap into your own healing power. With the trine from Venus still in effect, it’s love, love, love that will heal much of the inner pain as well as the outer pain in the world.
There is also a first quarter Moon on the 16th June which occurs on the Sabian symbol A Boy With A Censer Serves The Priest Near The Altar. This symbol exemplifies the need to be of service. Sometimes the way to help yourself is by helping others. This symbol encourages you to see each moment as sacred. Sometimes, in the midst of difficulties and frustrations it is easy to lose that connection to the divine. But it is there in every moment of every day. Do you clean the house mindfully or do you rush through it because it’s got to get done before everyone gets back home from work/school. Do you concentrate on the washing up or do you daydream of better times ahead? Being mindful of every moment tends to stop that feeling of life rushing away from you – the panic that life is passing you by. Make an active decision to fully experience every moment and within that you will find the presence and peace you are looking for.
Painting – Crow on a Cherry Branch by Ohara Koson (Public Domain)
