On January 31st, Venus enters the shadow period of her next retrograde, which will cross from Aries back into Pisces, and begin a new Aries cycle of Venus. We are at the final stages of the Leo cycle of Venus that began during Venus retrograde in Leo during July and August of 2015.
During Venus retrograde, Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun, known as the inferior solar conjunction (“inferior” as in “below”). The transit of the Moon conjunct Venus each month after the inferior solar conjunction represents the gates Inanna must pass through as she descends to the Underworld. Each gate corresponds with one of the seven chakras, and at each gate we meditate on clearing blockages and cleansing each chakra, starting from the crown and going down to the root. When Venus passes behind the Sun as seen from Earth, that is known as the superior solar conjunction, and it represents Inanna in the depth of the Underworld, hanging from a hook, immersed in shadow work and facing her trauma. After the superior solar conjunction, Venus begins to rise in the evenings, and during the Moon’s monthly transit conjunct Venus we meditate on the opening and activation of each chakra, starting with the root, and rising up through the crown.
For the first time since I began to follow the Venus cycle, I have successfully charted the complete journey of Inanna Rising through the chakra gates, which I have compiled here. Please click on links for further reading and in-depth analysis.
Click Here to read about the Superior Solar Conjunction of Venus, June 2016
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Inanna’s First Ascending Gate – Opening and Activating the Root Chakra
August 3rd, 2016
August 3rd, one day after the Leo New Moon, the waxing crescent joins Venus in the sunset haze for the first ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus). The first ascending Moon/Venus conjunction corresponds to the root chakra, which is our organ for multidimensional perceptions and expressions of safety. We use it to probe our environments for vibrational information about safety and survival, and we use it to create connections with Gaia that protect our multidimensional bodies. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the first time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our root chakra.
The aspect pattern between the four major asteroid goddesses and Mercury has released slightly over the past few days due to Mercury’s quick forward motion, and Athena’s retrograde, but Juno, Vesta, and Ceres are all holding fast in their positions during this ascension gate. People with prominent chart points around 3 Capricorn experienced this as a grand sextile over this past week. (Birthdays December 23rd-27th. Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are common placements here for the late 1980’s generation.)
Venus and the Moon join at 28 degrees Leo, which is a very close square to Mars who is finally once again at Zero Sagittarius after his long retrograde back into Scorpio. This is a rare fire square, a ~90degree aspect between two major planets in fire signs. This ties the ascension of Inanna and our root chakra energy to the upgrade we are currently receiving as a result of the Mars Retrograde experience. Mars in Sagittarius square Moon/Venus in Leo expresses the new foundation of confidence that we solidified by working through our old insecurities in a new environment, and the understanding that true safety means that fears will rise to be released.
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Inanna’s Second Ascending Gate – Opening and Activating the Sacral Chakra
September 3rd, 2016
September 3rd, 2016, two days after the Virgo new moon solar eclipse, the waxing crescent moon joins Venus in the sunset haze for the second ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus). The second ascending Moon/Venus conjunction corresponds to the sacral chakra, which is our organ for multidimensional perceptions and expressions of intimacy. We use it to probe our environments for vibrational information about relationships, and we use it to create connections with Gaia that inform our sexuality. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the second time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our sacral chakra. Venus rules Libra, the sign of relationships, so appropriate for this sacral chakra gate.
During the first gate, Venus and the Moon were square to Mars, while the four major asteroid goddesses were united in aspect. During this second gate, each of the four asteroid goddesses have separated from aspect to each other but still have major roles to play.
Athena has gone retrograde into Aquarius and perfected her sextile to Uranus/Eris during the solar eclipse. Uranus/Eris in Aries can be summarized as a mass technocultural-identity-confusion. Being linked to Athena, one of mythology’s great guides and mentors, from the Uranian realm of Aquarius, gives this confusion a powerful wake-up jolt, you might even call it a reboot.
Juno is steady conjunct Lilith, trine Neptune on the south node and sextile the Sun on the north node, which I have discussed at length in previous posts and articles.
Vesta has perfected her opposition to Pluto, and quincunx to Mars. Vesta’s Cancerian meditation is one of self-preservation, self-protection, I can almost imagine myself as a baby floating inside my own womb. To bridge this energy to the very masculine destruction of Pluto in Capricorn, we can navigate through the quincunx to Mars as he blazes forward away from Saturn and Antares. Mars is carrying so much forward momentum right now, and if we can balance the inner calm of Vesta in Cancer with the outer exuberance of Mars charging through Sagittarius, then we can have some semblance of control over how Pluto is expressing himself in our lives.
The quincunx between Vesta and Mars takes on another dimension of relevance when we look at the only aspect to the Moon/Venus conjunction at 5 Libra- a quincunx to our fourth and final major asteroid goddess Ceres, who is stationed retrograde at 5 Taurus.
While Vesta quincunx Mars challenges us to protect ourselves completely as we move forward into new territory, Venus quincunx Ceres challenges us to adjust our beliefs about the love we feel that we deserve. Ceres retrograde will take her back into Aries and in December she will station direct conjunct Eris and Uranus, while Mars will be in Aquarius conjunct Athena, showing us that our ability to be intimate in relationships is not only tied to our identities as individuals, but to our identities as a collective. In other words, the type of healing that leads to an increased ability to be intimate is something that should ideally not happen behind closed doors. When someone is brave enough to show their healing in public, everyone who witnesses it shares a part of that healing.
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Inanna’s Third Ascending Gate – Opening and Activating the Solar Plexus Chakra
October 3rd, 2016
October 3rd, 2016, three days after the Libra new moon, the waxing crescent moon joins Venus in the sunset haze for the third ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus). The third ascending Moon/Venus conjunction corresponds to the navel chakra, also known as the solar plexus chakra, which is our organ for multidimensional perceptions and expressions of self-mastery. We use it to probe our environments for vibrational information about our personal authority, and we use it to create connections with Gaia that inform our inner strength and willpower. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the third time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our navel chakra.
During the first gate (corresponding to the root chakra), Venus and the Moon were square to Mars. During the second gate (corresponing to the sacral chakra) Venus and the Moon were quincunx to Ceres. Now during the third gate, Venus and the Moon are exact sextile the north node and trine the south node. The Libra Sun is sextile Saturn in Sagittarius, who is approaching his exact square to the nodes. Saturn’s connection to the Moon/Venus conjunction is key to our meditation on the navel chakra. Saturn rules issues that revolve around self-discipline, persistence and determination, addressing limitations and insecurities, and coming to terms with our role in life as defined by our society and our historical era. When Saturn squares the nodes, it’s common to be halted by frustration at obstacles that arise and stand in the way of our progress on life’s karmic journey. FML. However it is precisely these obstacles that reveal to us our reactions, our emotional base that is uncovered when we get stuck, that lead to the progress that we want to make in unfolding our karma. What are your usual responses to this type of FML frustration? Do you become angry and take it out on unrelated subjects? Do you joke about it and avoid thinking about it seriously? Do you self-medicate to the point you no longer care? Do you withdraw and refuse to engage with anyone or anything? Observe yourself as you act out your usual patterns. You have the power to change the moment you identify exactly what needs to change. Our reactions to adversity hold the treasure, the lotus blooming out of the mud, “malefic” crone Saturn mentoring us by holding up a mirror so we can see what we try so very hard not to see. Obstacles are not some external events that thwart what would otherwise be a success- they are the dead ends of our existing process- when we can no longer proceed, the way around and through it is inside of us. The Sun’s sextile to Saturn is the final major aspect before they join again in December, which is our opportunity to really dig in to these hard-to-look-at images, and do the work of integrating what we find into the lessons we’ve lived through in the past year, and move forward on our life’s journey.
There’s also an exact square between asteroids Athena in Aquarius and Juno in Scorpio, which challenges us to see our personal turmoil in context of the rest of the world. Without minimizing or belittling our experiences, we actually can choose to feel lucky that we are dealing with the issues that we are dealing with. There’s a saying that if everyone in the world put their problems out on the table to trade, we would all choose our own problems back.
Mars is approaching his first quarter square to Jupiter, charging this moment with the urge for action, which could take any number of forms depending on how it aspects your chart. Since Jupiter is in Libra and Mars is in Capricorn, there’s a heightened possibility for manipulative actions, stealing, cutting off, cheating, with a thick veneer of civility to disguise the true nature of one’s actions. Keep an eye out for this behavior, but since we are following the journey of Mars, and we know that he is separating from his tough-love trine to Ceres retrograde in Taurus, we can channel the clinical efficiency of Mars in Capricorn into constructive pursuits that allow the best qualities of Jupiter in Libra to rise to the surface.
Finally asteroid Psyche has entered Virgo, where she will be until August of 2017 due to her long retrograde, which will include three trines to Pluto and three oppositions to Neptune. Stay tuned for much more about Psyche’s Virgo transit in the coming year.
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Inanna’s Fourth Ascending Gate – Opening and Activating the Heart Chakra
November 2nd, 2016
November 2nd, 2016, three days after the Scorpio new moon, the waxing crescent moon joins Venus in the sunset haze for the fourth ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus). The fourth ascending Moon/Venus conjunction corresponds to the Heart Chakra, which is our organ for multidimensional perceptions and expressions of love(love defined as the pure state of consciousness that transforms energy to matter) and connection to source. The Heart Chakra generates a toroidal electromagnetic field around the human body, which carries our thoughts and emotions outside of our physical bodies, and absorbs the thoughts and emotions of others. Many of the uses of the Heart Chakra have been culturally associated with the physical heart organ: it is the foundation of our experience of emotions, and therefore at the basis of how we filter our experience of reality; feeling buoyant and free during the experience of love and connection, feeling crushed and broken during the experience of separation and loss. True and complete Heart Chakra activation requires the ability to stay connected to the buoyancy of source, even as we shield ourselves and stand against those who wish us harm. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the fourth time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction in Leo, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our Heart Chakra, the Heart of the Lion.
We set our intentions to be a peaceful warrior during the Scorpio New Moon conjunct Mercury, and as Mercury transits sextile Pluto we can see instant manifestation of those intentions. Instant. The Lion’s Heart conjunction of Moon/Venus is sextile asteroid Athena in Aquarius, joining this heart activation to the wisdom of the collective heart- when our hearts are open, we are connected to every other open heart- this is the power of the people that cannot be destroyed by violence- this is the power of spirit that oppressors fear.
Read the Full Article: Scorpio New Moon – and – Opening The Lion Heart
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Inanna’s Fifth Ascending Gate – Opening and Activating the Throat Chakra
December 3rd, 2016
December 3rd, 2016, four days after the Sagittarius new moon, the waxing crescent moon joins Venus after sunset for the fifth ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus). The fifth ascending Moon/Venus conjunction corresponds to the Throat Chakra, which is our multidimensional organ for speech, communication and expression. We use it to contribute to the vibrational information in our environment, creating connections with Gaia that inform our creativity and our voice. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the fifth time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our throat chakra.
Moon conjunct Venus at 25 Capricorn falls exact trine Sedna in Taurus, uniting our original trauma to the activation of our voice. Sedna is joined in Taurus by crossroads oracle Hekate, showing us that it is ultimately our choice to craft a narrative, a life story, that integrates the traumatized self into the full, whole self. Opposite Sedna, Apophis in Scorpio meets Moon conjunct Venus by sextile, which perfectly captures the chaos factor of speech and communication- throughout any day we encounter people with unpredictable actions and feelings, we move in and out of environments with unique energetic imprints that we can match or alter, we improvise based on the connections we form and the emotions we navigate. We can look to asteroid Athena in Aquarius, who forms a square to Hekate and Sedna, for wisdom and a strategy to navigate the chaos- her transit through Aquarius is about the wisdom we can access when we are plugged in to the collective. Using your voice is never a solo endeavor, we are all here informing each others’ experience.
In the background, six bodies are united across half the zodiac at 16-18 degrees: Psyche in Virgo, Jupiter in Libra, Sekhmet in Scorpio, Saturn in Sagittarius, Pluto in Capricorn, and Mars in Aquarius. This is an very yang moment of planetary resonance between Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in masculine signs, modulated by Psyche, Sekhmet, and Pluto in feminine signs. Speaking is yang, listening an perceiving is yin, and both are crucial to communicating creatively. It is not helpful to imagine that we must speak 50% and listen 50% for balance. It simply isn’t realistic. Different situations, different environments, different conversations call for various proportions of yin and yang. The throat chakra is highly sensetive to yin/yang balance, and our understanding of yin/yang on a vibrational level goes much deeper than the symbolic black and white. Sekhmet in Scorpio, and Pluto in Capricorn, are both deeply complicated cocktails of male and female energies- their sextile in particular is such an intricate interwoven tapestry of yin and yang.
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Inanna’s Sixth Ascending Gate – Opening and Activating the Third Eye
January 1st, 2017
January 1st 2017, four days after the Capricorn new moon, at exactly 11:59pm on the west coast of the united states, the Moon transits conjunct Venus for the sixth ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus), corresponding to the opening of the Third Eye chakra. The Third Eye chakra is our multidimensional organ of intuition and inspiration. It is the source of what we call “psychic abilities” or clairvoyance. We use our third eyes to see beyond the surface of material reality, access gnosis(knowledge that can not be taught), and develop our wisdom and creativity. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the sixth time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our third eye.
Of the seven ascending gates of Inanna, this is the only one that does not have anything on the zodiac in exact aspect to the Moon and Venus. At 28 Aquarius, they form a conjunction to asteroid Athena at 1 Pisces, who is exact sextile Mercury retrograde at 1 Capricorn. Athena and Mercury form a yod to Vesta retrograde in Leo. On the chart below, I included the separating squares to the Lilith/Sedna opposition, and a line for the lunar node axis to show how the Moon-Venus conjunction, Athena, and the Mars-Neptune conjunction are all crowded around the south node.
During this third eye open meditation, Athena and Mercury are activating Vesta in Leo, allowing us to cut through the cloak of ego and be real with ourselves about the status of our soul, and develop strategies for improving our lives, leading to increased ability to express life force. As the Moon and Venus both carry the tension of their recent squares to Lilith and Sedna, we can use our third eye sonar to see what lies within the fog, and gain greater awareness of obstacles that trap us in unhealthy patterns. As Moon, Venus and Athena eventually cross the south node, we will make connections of understanding the patterns that have led us to this moment- it’s up to us to decide whether to strengthen and continue the pattern, or to identify how to break and escape. The longer these patterns have been in play, within this incarnation or stretching back many lifetimes, the more difficult this choice will be. It also depends heavily on your natal chart and how the current transits are affecting you personally. This is why knowledge of astrology is such an effective guide. I encourage everyone to learn all about your own natal chart, and to understand that the power of astrology lies in the meaning that you bring to your own identity and your own experiences.
Read the Full Article: Capricorn New Moon – and – Third Eye Open
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Inanna’s Seventh Ascending Gate – Opening and Activating the Crown Chakra
January 31st, 2017
January 31st 2017, the Moon transits conjunct Venus for the seventh ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus), corresponding to the opening and activation of the Crown chakra. The Crown chakra is our connection to the cosmos, to source. It is the receiver of human consciousness. We use our crown chakras for higher reasoning, for maintenance of our central nervous systems, and for developing compassion through transcendence of the individual self. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the seventh time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction, now blazing as the evening star long after sunset, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our crown chakra.
Venus has already crossed into her retrograde shadow at 27 Pisces when the Moon joins her there, joining Juno in Sagittarius opposite Prometheus and Persephone, who are stationing direct on the final degrees of Gemini. Ceres has advanced to 28 Aries, trine Juno and sextile Prometheus and her daughter Persephone. Lilith in Scorpio trines the Moon-Venus conjunction to complete our view of the Sovereign Leonic Crown.
Lilith in Scorpio is a unified female sexuality that is untouchable by judgement. She Is Who She Is. Her connection to the activation of the crown chakra is vital. It is common for people to say “I don’t care what others think of me” but it can be easier said than done when we are perfectly and exactly aware of the judgements that others are making. Scorpio Lilith is not only aware of the judgements, she is aware of the shadows inside the judger that cause them to project their negative feelings onto her, and she can use this knowledge for her own alchemy. It is this magic, based in total self-knowledge, that sets her free.
Asteroid Persephone, stationing direct near the summer solstice point, carries a deep magic that I explored in this short article – Summertime Persephone. As Persephone revels in the warmth of the earth, she experiences unity with her mother Ceres in the form of a sextile. This is the embrace of wholeness, of belonging.
Persephone’s arrival at this place in her cycle is connected to Moon and Venus by less than 1.5 degree orb, and connected through Juno to the generationally relevant transits of Saturn and Jupiter, and beyond into the fractal of the zodiac.
The square between Moon/Venus and Juno is tied to the square between Chiron and Saturn. This reveals that with an open and activated crown chakra, you can hold all of your thoughts like you hold a cup of tea. You can observe your own mind. You can build a map of your own mind, and then you level up because you’ve identified the shadows, demons, trauma, whatever you call it, it’s just another category of things you’ve objectively observed inside your own mind. But that is only the first step of a life long journey- It takes diligence, honesty, and an unwavering commitment to choosing love over fear, to keep your crown chakra open and fully integrate all levels of your being.
Read the Full Article: Aquarius New Moon – and – Lioness Crowned
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