Hello Dear readers,
It’s raining in Seattle for the first time in weeks. I awakened this morning to the now unfamiliar gentle rhythm pattering on my metal roof. It took me a few moments to place the sound. How quickly we forget, eh? Last year at this time, the rain and cold were unrelenting. I kept my tomatoes in pots and brought them inside at night until mid-June. This year, it’s been the opposite, nothing but sunshine and the tomatoes have been in the ground for almost a month. At another time in my life, I’d have been soaking up the rays with reckless abandon. Not so anymore. Now I worry… what will this mean for July through September, or even October. The East Coast is blanketed in wildfire smoke. How can we avoid the same fate later in the year if May and June feel like July and August used to? There’s such a thing as meteorological astrology, but I don’t know any astrologers who practice it. The El Nino climate pattern might be a more reliable indicator, but it’s not lost on me that Venus’ recent arrival in Leo, the sign of high summer, suggests that it will be pulling a lot of attention over the next few months. Maybe four and a half months of August weather?
Take note of this Sunday, it’s an astrological doozie—not in the sense of intensity like during eclipse season, but in the overall feeling that there are multiple significant and conflicting elements at play in different arenas of life. The Sun and Mercury are highlighting Gemini, while Venus and Mars are drawing our attention to Leo. Pluto backsteps from Aquarius into Capricorn, and Jupiter will make sure we don’t forget about Taurus.
As I gaze at the chart for today, thinking about the next week or so, my eyes are drawn to the Sun, currently traveling solo through Gemini, but with Mercury poised to join him on Sunday. I note that Venus has been opposite Pluto since she moved into Leo on Monday, but she’s slipping away from his greedy fingers, motivated by her pursuit of Mars, further on in Leo. By the time you read this, she’ll have given Pluto the shake, but she’ll have some reckoning to do with the fallout from this last encounter. It may appear that she’s got her eyes on Mars, but it’s Jupiter’s path she crosses next. The two benefics will form an exact square on Sunday, and with any luck, we’ll be feeling their harmonious and supportive camaraderie between now and mid-next week. Mercury too is making his presence known. As the wing of the messenger god’s sandal crosses into Gemini, he sees Pluto out of the corner of his eye, gesturing that he’d like a word. He’s got information to pass on before Mercury can go further into his home sign of Gemini, where he can truly let his hair down.
In Mercurial Musings #26 I wrote the following about the fixed grand cross that’s been in and out of play since the beginning of May.
“When planets or points align in the fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius to form a grand cross, it intensifies the fixed energies of stability, determination, and resistance to change, creating stressful situations characterized by rigidity and relentlessness. It tends to feel like being pulled in multiple directions, making it extra challenging to find a sense of resolution or balance. Think about conflicting values, desires or callings and how difficult it can be to find a sense of peace even once one decides how to move forward.”
With Pluto now moving back into Capricorn and Venus past the first few degrees of Leo, the fixed cross is losing some of its potency, but these four sections of the sky are still where the action is and I suspect it will continue to act “as if” for a while.
Last Monday June 5, Venus moved into Leo where she’ll remain until October 8. Usually, Venus moves at a similar rate to the Sun, but once every 18 months or so she retrogrades, and this summer it’s in Leo. As we approach her retrograde station in late July, I’ll have more to say about it, but for now, we can simply enjoy a playful, generous and kindhearted Venus. In Leo she tends toward the dramatic, both in expressions of love and need. She’s courageous and creative. There’s a heart-centered radiance to her, but she also needs attention and validation. It wouldn’t be surprising to see some melodrama in relationships and finances over the next few months. With Mars ahead of her in Leo, we can expect more sparks than usual between the masculine and feminine parts of our nature—think creative sparks birthing new ideas and new directions, or new relationship sparks. With Leo, the need for attention can be insatiable. How can we shine our light in such a way that the warmth feeds us—so that in our creative and amorous pursuits we fuel our own fire and enjoy the warmth of our own radiance. This will be important because Venus never catches Mars in their passage through Leo. She never gets closer than three degrees before she begins to slow down to turn retrograde.
Let’s take a closer look at Sunday June 11. In my mind’s eye, it like a glowing blob with tentacles reaching forward and backward in time.
At 2:45am, Pluto re-enters Capricorn, where he’ll remain for the rest of 2023. He’ll be taking stock of the remaining corruption and decay yet to be revealed and demolished in the structures that underpin our society such as governments, corporations, banking, and the legal system. As Pluto continues his backward motion we’ll also undoubtedly see more of the issues related to the Pluto return of the US. that have hidden in the fabric of our society since the inception of our country. Once again, power and control dynamics, the extraction and distribution of resources and wealth, and deep-seated social issues and cultural values will be brought forward and into the transformative process of death and rebirth. Individually we’ll be called to step more into our internal authority and personal empowerment. We’ll be asked to question traditional values and obligations. Whose rules are we following anyway—and are they right for us and for our lives?
After his retrograde in Taurus, Mercury’s been gaining speed, and at 3:26am, he flies across the invisible line between Taurus and Gemini, sticks the landing, and there’s Pluto in his peripheral vision waiting to catch him up on the situation at 29° Capricorn. There might be some detective work involved or a revelation of dark secrets by the lord of the underworld, but Mercury’s in a hurry to pick up his pace again—which will likely appear as some form of frenetic energy. In Gemini, he knows how to multitask. With Pluto, he listens, nods his agreement and willingness to cooperate and keeps going. He’s moving so fast now that he’ll only be in Gemini for a couple weeks. It’s his happy place though, and for the most part, the areas of our lives governed by the winged one are likely to be super-charged in the short time he’s racing through the sign of the twins. He’ll hit a speed bump in the form of a square to Saturn on June 15th; the big naysayer Saturn might slow us down by throwing a wrench into our communications and thought processes, but if we note the larger context, stay curious and flexible, and look at things from multiple perspectives we’ll quickly bounce back from any setbacks.
By 8:45am, when Venus squares Jupiter, all players in the June 11 game are in place. As mentioned above, the glow from this alignment starts now and should continue through next Wednesday. Venus is the planet of attraction, and Jupiter is the planet of expansion. Jupiter is in Taurus, ruled by Venus—he’s doing things her way in this most earthy sensuous sign. This is a good week to practice putting more attention on what we want. Keep scarcity thinking out of the room and don’t let self-doubt dissuade from following through on ideas we’re excited about. Stay positive and let Jupiter bring in more of the same. If we take the most fundamental significations of Venus and Jupiter and put them together, we get “grow love”. With Jupiter answering to Venus in the sign most associated with the earth and new growth, what would a practice of growing love look like?
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While all of this centers on June 11, please note that this is only the day when it’s all exact. Mars will move on from Leo into Virgo before Venus can catch him, but the themes around Venus in Leo will remain in play until October. Jupiter will remain in Taurus until next May, and Pluto will remain in Capricorn until January 2024. The Sun will leave Gemini behind and move into Cancer at the solstice—just around the corner on June 21, and Mercury will follow within a week. Next time we meet it’ll actually be summer!
If you’re at a critical moment, you’re trying to better understand or accept yourself and your life’s journey, astrology can be a wonderful tool. If I’ve whetted your appetite for learning to read your own chart, or you’d like to better understand how the current astrology applies to you personally, I love doing private consultations. If interested, please email me: camelliablossoms@gmail.com
As always, thank you for reading,
Cami
I really love how you see and describe individual planets moving into orb w one another in real time. Thanks for the clarity!