This week’s sky features energies concentrated to maximum intensity. 190-proof Everclear Astrology. The superior solar conjunction of Venus aligns with Pluto in Capricorn, forming a sextile to Mars, Jupiter, and asteroid Psyche in Scorpio. Both triple conjunctions form hard aspects to Ceres conjunct the north node in Leo. Between January 4th and 9th, these points and bodies all aspect each other exactly; This chart is set for the moment that Ceres retrograde crosses the mean lunar north node after midnight on Sunday, January 7th.
The Superior Solar Conjunction of Venus, conjunct Pluto
When Venus is the morning star, we meditate on Inanna’s descent, we meditate on removing blockages from our chakras as we pass each gate on our way to the Underworld, making the conscious choice to terminate the negative patterns that stand in the way of optimal Yin. Now that the descent is complete, we enter the stage of total surrender. When chakras are cleansed, we can receive information through them in brand new ways, or perhaps for the first time ever: this is auric reprogramming. We can resist being reprogrammed (as most people tend to do when given the opportunity to truly evolve), or, we can surrender. Now is the time to close your eyes and trust this universe to give you what you need to receive. Let go of what you think that’s going to look like. Venus in the Underworld is Venus In The Dark.
Forming a conjunction to abductor Pluto, the themes of this superior solar conjunction are very similar to the superior solar conjunction of October 2014 which took place in Pluto’s sign, Scorpio. That was about five weeks after I had found out I was pregnant with my son, which turned my life completely upside down. At that time, Inanna in the Underworld was expressed through my experience of coming to terms with the idea of needing to become a completely different person to meet this new future I hadn’t imagined. With Sun and Venus now conjunct Pluto in Capricorn I am, once again, surrendering. Letting go of who I have been in the past so I can step into a future that I did not anticipate. Dying to be reborn.
Psyche, Jupiter, and Mars in Scorpio
In October of 2017, Pluto was exact square to the Sun conjunct Psyche in Libra, which was blatant foreshadowing for Psyche sextile to the Sun conjunct Pluto:
“It is easier to dismiss things you can’t explain, than it is to question the basis of your entire worldview. As Jupiter and Psyche form sextiles to Pluto in Capricorn we must focus on the things that cannot be explained by our current beliefs and be willing to un-learn anything that is preventing us from truly and thoroughly understanding the energetic structures at the foundation of our world.”
I always hear that Mars is at home in Scorpio, but I have never seen any evidence that the planet of action functions anywhere near optimal underground. Rather, I have consistently seen desperation as the primary expression of Mars in Scorpio, which can often be channeled into a type of determination to succeed, but more often used to create the facade of success. If the Martian drive to build and work in Scorpio isn’t used entirely to construct these elaborate images that gain power through social status, then it is almost always used to construct rigid and narrow borders where success becomes inevitable, like a big fish in a small pond.
The only way to manifest a positive expression of Mars in Scorpio, in my opinion, is to turn it 100% inward. We will be humbled if not outright humiliated if we use the energy of Mars in Scorpio to force upward growth. The lesson now is to channel the desperation of Underground Mars into a meditation on the seed, not yet sprouted, silently and invisibly straining and tearing itself apart in the dark.
Ceres and the North Node
Ceres retrograde conjunct the north node in Leo is an opportunity to re-orient ourselves towards a healthier future. For a person with low self-esteem, simply deciding to start loving yourself isn’t enough. You have to actually get to know yourself, know thyself, to know how to carry yourself in a way that reflects your true value. Pluto’s quincunx to Ceres and the north node is a depiction of how painful it can be to really learn the truth about who we are, and why it is so often easier to avoid these areas of ourselves entirely…
The role of Ceres is also influenced by her daughter, asteroid Persephone in Libra. Ceres reveals the ways that our most important sources of support are not actually directly connected to us, but rather they are cheering from the sidelines. Ceres shows us how we can still accept help from those who care, but can’t join us on our inner journey.
While composing this article I shared a quote from the radiant Jill Renee Feeler on my personal facebook page, and it started a conversation with Susannah Furr and Leslie Pitts that brought all of these ideas and themes into a sharp focus:
from Love Without End – Jesus Speaks by Glenda Green:
“…Through divine guidance, and by Moses’ efforts, the Hebrews had been delivered from their long period of Egyptian enslavement. Even so, that was only a technicality concerning enforced bondage. How liberated is anyone who has no place to go? Moses had enough responsibility and wisdom to know that a man is not free until he has a place to be and a purpose in being there. This is why he kept the Hebrews in the desert for forty years. It was necessary for them to pass through two generations and to acquire a whole new rank of elders who knew nothing of slavery. Only a free people could build a new nation. If they had proceeded straight from slavery to their former homeland all would have been lost. Hundreds of years of slavery erased any sense of personal responsibility, self-determination, and ethics. Slaves are not educated and are denied the privilege of making decisions, determinations, and discernments. Thinking is disallowed. A slave must take orders only. The wisdom and greatness of their ancestors mattered little, for the continuity of the forefathers had been virtually lost. Moses had a giant cultural problem on his hands, and a massive responsibility for restoring the integrity of his people.”
In a different conversation, Bill Walker shared his notes on one of my favorite historical figures, Frederick Douglass:
“(Douglass) Communicated some of the deeper philosophical truths regarding slavery… translated today that we become slaves of what it is that we choose to, or create the illusion, that we own.. as well as of what we desire, and what we sacrifice to get. This is karma that lives in our hearts as the awareness of a greater picture gets ready to erupt from the depths of the underworld…”
As Jill Renee Feeler said, “This reality is a fun house mirror, not a legit reflection.” The idea of wandering in the desert is what we are experiencing now… losing the mentality of servitude and worthlessness, losing the poisonous and erroneous belief that the self-limiting patterns and abusive environments that used to hold us back are a true reflection of who we are.
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Stay tuned to Planetary Clarity for a special report on the upcoming Capricorn New Moon featuring asteroid Prometheus in Virgo opposite Chiron in Pisces on January 16th, the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Leo on January 31st, and the ascension of Venus as the evening star on February 19th.
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