The Right One
Years ago, on our 10th wedding anniversary, we stopped by the animal shelter to pick out a companion kitten for Bodhi, a recent feline addition to our household. I had in mind a marmalade-colored kitten named Max; within the hour, we came home with a straggly brown tabby whom Jonny immediately dubbed Spike.
I had a very particular kitten in mind, but the heart was wiser and recognized the right one.
When Venus is trine Uranus (Oct. 31, 2023, 5:51 am PDT), something you’ve been wanting may show up in a surprising way. The timing could be unexpected, or it may arrive in a package that’s different than you’d imagined.
When Venus trines Uranus, let your heart surprise you.
Heroic Measures
The Sun opposes Jupiter this week (Nov. 2, 2023, 10:02 pm PDT, 10º30’ Scorpio and Taurus) on the Sabian symbols 11 Scorpio: A drowning man rescued, and 11 Taurus: A woman sprinkling flowers. Both symbols are about caretaking – a man being rescued from drowning, flowers being gently maintained by a woman sprinkling them with water.
The Sun in Scorpio, ruled by Mars, is an excellent first responder. The more perilous the emergency, the more chaotic the mess, the more irresistible Scorpio finds the call to action. But the Sun’s opposition to Jupiter in Taurus, on a symbol that depicts the peaceful beauty of keeping things healthy and beautiful, is a reminder that regular care and attention to everyday matters can help us avoid the need for such heroic measures altogether.
Through a Stained-Glass Window
Falling in love with someone – love, not just obsession or lust – brings us into an exalted state, one in which one’s best self meets the finest qualities of another. We see the very best in this person, and we become better versions of ourselves.
But there’s a downside of looking at someone through a magical stained-glass window, and that’s the disillusionment that can come when one day, they step into full daylight. In a single moment, the object of one’s rapture can be exposed as all too human, with feet of clay.
No one is perfect, however much we love them, no more than we are ourselves. And this week’s Venus opposition to Neptune (Nov. 3, 2023, 3:06 pm PDT) prompts us to consider whether we can still love those closest to us even after we see what isn’t so lovely about them.
Even if your relationships are doing just fine, this aspect can reveal uncomfortable truths about your basic values. Our politics, figures of inspiration, our approach to earning and managing money… any of these can suddenly be revealed as naïve or wrong-headed.
Venus moves quickly, so this influence lasts no more than a couple of days. But it could trigger a larger shift in how and whom you cherish.
Latch-Key Kid
When Saturn is retrograde in a birth chart, it often symbolizes growing up with relatively little external authority. Sometimes dad was literally missing from the picture, or else emotionally distant, receding into the background. The Saturn retrograde person might have been a latch-key kid, or charged with taking on responsibility for their siblings from a young age.
When Saturn is retrograde by transit – as it is for almost half of each year – it’s a time we’re left to follow our own leadership and authority, to delineate our own boundaries and set our own rules. We’ve been running the show ourselves since Saturn last turned retrograde on June 17.
This week, as Saturn turns direct (Nov. 4, 2023, 00:03 am PDT), I imagine we’ll see the leaders and authorities around us begin to flex their muscles and start trying to set rules for us. But they’re in for a surprise. The authority we internalized during these months of Saturn’s retrograde will make us much less willing to take instructions from anyone else.
Telling the story
There’s a story we tell about ourselves, beginning with our earliest experiences and encompassing all the milestones up to the present day. The experiences we choose to highlight in that story – and most importantly, the way we frame ourselves as hero, victim, victor, or loser – are up to us. As Mercury, the storyteller, moves into an opposition with Uranus (Nov. 4, 2023, 9:07 am PDT), it’s time to change the way we tell that story.
Mercury in Scorpio tends to keep matters close to its chest, but as it connects with Uranus, maybe it’s time to experiment with being a bit more open. Uranus prefers to lay all cards on the table, so we may as well reveal information intentionally instead of blurting something out, or having our secrets exposed, at an inopportune moment.
The White Whale
The Sabian symbol for this Leo Last Quarter Moon (Nov. 5, 2023, 1:37 pm PDT), An old sea captain rocking, is in contrast to the Sun’s Sabian symbol, An inventor experimenting. The Last Quarter Moon is a time of reflection, and I picture the proud old Leo sea captain on the porch in his rocking chair, looking out to sea and thinking of times gone by.
But the Last Quarter Moon won’t leave us alone with our thoughts indefinitely. It challenges us to take action based on our hard-won experience and wisdom. There’s pressure, now, for that old sea captain to come out of retirement and make one final attempt at capturing his white whale. And he can still succeed, but not if he uses his same old methods and strategies.
This is the last critical point in a Lunar Phase cycle that began with the Aug. 8, 2021 New Moon at 16º36’ Leo. What house of your chart contains that degree? Did you initiate a project then, especially a creative project, that is coming to fruition? This is the time to reflect on how well it’s turned out up to now – and the changes you might have to make in order to finally succeed.
Writing and images © 2017-23 by April Elliott Kent
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