Highlights for Jan. 3-9, 2022: A Dream, an Option, and Rugged Terrain

A dream, an option, and rugged terrain

Dates and times are given for U.S. Pacific Time zone.

What is your dream?

The marvelous astrologer Caroline Casey is fond of saying, “Believe nothing, entertain possibilities.” After 18 months with the South Node in Sagittarius, the sign of beliefs, and North Node in Gemini, entertainer of possibilities, perhaps we’ve taken this adage to heart. Hopefully, we’ve released our vice-like grip on some of our lesser beliefs and gained a new appreciation for learning, curiosity, and intellectual flexibility.

Now, a couple of weeks from the True Nodes exiting Sagittarius and Gemini (on Jan. 18), Jupiter – happily ensconced in his home sign of Pisces – squares the nodal axis (Jan. 3, 2022, 3:39 am PST) and introduces a new line of questioning: What is your dream?

Prepare to let go of what you believe and even the enticing whispers of possibility. Jupiter in Pisces takes a broader view of truth and potential. In what do you place your faith? How do you wish to elevate discourse? What’s the bigger story to be told, unbound by mere belief and propelled by the heart?

No low stakes

In the cycle of two planets, as in a love story, there are predictable chapters: The planets meet (conjunction), they kiss (first square), they confront disillusionment (opposition), and they decide whether or not they have a future together (last square).

In between, there are moments of ease and ecstasy – the trines. And then, there are moments of choice – the sextiles. Often, these moments represent low-stakes choices: Do I confess that I don’t really like his favorite restaurant? Do I take a weekend away with my dear friends, even though he might feel lonely? Do I risk sharing something from my past that I’m not proud of, in the hope of gaining more intimacy?

This is more or less that it’s like when Venus, symbol of relating, sextiles Neptune, planet of romanticism and illusion (Jan. 5, 2022, 8:03 am PST, 20.45 Cap/Pisces). It’s a low-stakes aspect, granting the option to build an extra layer of honesty and empathy into a relationship.

This, however, is no ordinary Venus. She’s retrograde and bruised from recent encounters with Pluto (on Dec. 11 and 25); nothing feels trivial, low-stakes, or even optional to her. And this isn’t the first time this particular opportunity has arisen. On Nov. 30, Venus made the first in a series of three sextiles to Neptune; this is the second. And there will be a third on Feb. 24.

It’s still a sextile aspect. It represents opportunities, offers, and choices, none of which you’re obligated to accept, and with no particularly consequences for refusing them. But whenever an offer is repeated several times, you do need to pay attention, and take the opportunity seriously.

Filling the Bag

The Sun and Venus come together in their inferior conjunction (Jan. 8, 4:47 pm, 18.43 Capricorn) on the Sabian symbol, A child of about five with a huge shopping bag.

In my imagination, this retrograde Venus in Capricorn is a dutiful child. Recently conjoined Pluto (Christmas Day), she brings a big, empty bag with her on her reunion with the Sun. A bit ragged from her first two encounters with Pluto (Dec. 11 and 25, 2021), she needs fortification and encouragement for the rest of this difficult journey. The job of the Sun in Capricorn is to provide it.

But the Sun is low and weak, just weeks after the solstice, when inspiration, confidence, and physical energy are at their low ebb. The Sun can give this child good advice, and teach her how to pack the bag with what she’ll need for the rest of her retrograde journey and her last fateful meeting with Pluto (March 3). But in the end, this child, and we, will have to find our own light, inspiration, and strength.

Tiny, stubborn shoots

The Moon in Aries is a pioneer at heart. And this particular Aries First Quarter Moon (Jan. 9, 2022, 10:11 am PST), is a pioneer set out on an unforgiving western landscape – not out of a love of adventure, but because it’s burned its bridges in the lush, verdant hills of its birth. Or perhaps, because its home had become a dustbowl with no economic opportunities, and the only solution was to seek opportunities elsewhere.

I’ve found myself watching a number of modern westerns recently (News of the World, the Power of the Dog, Godless), depicting a lawless 19th century American west that was no place at all for the gentle, kind, or weak. I see echoes of these stories in the Aries First Quarter Moon (on the sweet Sabian symbol, A young girl feeding birds in the winter), square the pitiless combination of the Sun and Pluto in Capricorn. Even Venus, symbol of the feminine principle, is retrograde and besieged by Pluto; this is rugged terrain we’re entering. It’s the first critical chapter in the lunar phase story that began at the last Aries New Moon (April 11, 2021), conjoined Venus, and all square Pluto.

It’s a tough combination, Aries and Capricorn; Mars, the brutal warrior planet, is the ruler of one and exalted in the other, and that pretty much tells us what we need to know about its ferocity.

But it’s a fearless and determined combination as well. Whenever we find ourselves on a hard road, beset by danger, these two signs serve us well. Neither will give up, give in, or be denied their objective. So, what was the quest you set your wagon to back in April? Maybe you don’t remember, or maybe it wasn’t even a conscious decision; New Moons are dark times, after all. Sometimes we don’t realize what we planted at the New Moon until the First Quarter shines a light on the first tiny, stubborn shoots emerging on the dusty plain.