Up to now, I wasn’t quite sure what I thought about Venus’ current retrograde period. But the chart for this New Moon (Aug. 14, 10:53 am Eastern Time) features the Sun and Moon in a close conjunction with Venus, so perhaps it’s time to tell that particular story.
In astrological Venus, we find the symbol of style, beauty, pleasure, value, and keeping up with the Joneses. We also find the very human susceptibility to being told what we should enjoy. There are entire industries that rely upon this tendency, and they are part of a world that is all too happy to tell us, every day and in a variety of ways, what it is we should love and find pleasurable.
There are socially approved body shapes, clothing styles, music, and colors. You should aspire to drive this car. Your kitchen can only look beautiful with granite counter tops, cherry wood cabinets, and travertine tiles. If you are a woman and not naturally svelte, you must starve yourself to maintain the correct shape.
The specific messages vary greatly depending on our age, gender, where we live, and our interests. But the essential idea is the same: The world conspires to tell us how to be beautiful and where to seek pleasure. And if you find that your own preferences lie outside the mainstream, it takes awareness, confidence, and a strong sense of self to embrace them.
Fortunately, Leo wrote the book on confidence, or at least the dogged pursuit of it. The profound relief of Venus retrograde in this sign (July 25 through September 6, 2015) has, for me, been the awakened urge to retreat from those messages and turn within to examine what actually does bring me pleasure. Who are the people with whom I really enjoy spending my time? Does the value of our home truly depend upon renovating our kitchen in a style I dislike? Am I a failure as a woman because I enjoy eating carbohydrates?
Once I became aware of these thoughts and questioned them, I was ready to turn to my internal compass to seek Venus in my own way.
But soon after Venus made a difficult aspect to Saturn (August 5) and the nights waxed darker toward New Moon, that compass led me into uneasy territory. Looking within for my own happiness led me to wonder whether I’ve been helping others feel happy. After all, Venus symbolizes relationships as well as personal satisfaction. Perhaps, I worried, I haven’t been as good and faithful a friend as I’d like to be. Maybe I’m too often absorbed in my own little dramas and don’t take the time to participate in other people’s lives. I think that standing outside the mainstream has sometimes been not so much a way to celebrate what’s true about me, as a way to keep myself separate from others.
This New Moon in Leo offers clear views of two shores, distant and distinct from one another. The New Moon point is trine Uranus, where the freaky, free, and friendly geniuses hang out; occasionally a storm breaks out, complete with lightning strikes, but when it clears the air is startlingly clear. On the other shore, the Sun and Moon approach a square to Saturn in Scorpio, now moving direct making his final descent before landing and changing planes in Sagittarius (September 17). Saturn’s shore is rocky and treacherous, filled with lean, muscular people, deftly sidestepping venomous creatures as they rake shards of broken promises, falseness, self-absorption, and useless self-recrimination into pyres, ready for burning. When the beach is clear, they’ll begin building something new there.
At each New Moon in Leo, we create an intention to be more joyfully and authentically ourselves. What we are learning this time around is to be just as joyfully and authentically present for others, and to let ourselves be guided by our own desires and pleasures. Take this New Moment to stand on both shores. Clear away the debris, burn away what’s untrue and unhelpful, make room for building something new. Then stand on another shore along with the crazy beloveds you call your comrades, watching as lightning strikes the beach and turns the sand into heart-shaped glass.
© 2015 April Elliott Kent
My new book, Astrological Transits (Fair Winds Press) is now available in both print and digital formats! I hope that it will inspire and empower you to learn more about your own chart and planetary cycles. See this page for details!
