Dear Readers,
Heaven forbid that I neglect to alert you to the fact that tomorrow, May 23, is a big day, and on paper anyway it’s perhaps the most auspicious day of the year. Since I’ve already done the long-winded Gemini thing and you’re thoroughly tuned to the energy of the next four weeks, we can jump back into the list I left you with on Monday.
· Thursday, May 23 1:10AM PDT: Venus conjunct Jupiter (29° Taurus)
· Thursday, May 23 3:50AM PDT: Venus (29° Taurus) sextile Neptune (29° Pisces)
· Thursday, May 23 6:53AM PDT: Full Moon in Sagittarius (2°)
· Thursday, May 23 1:30PM PDT: Venus enters Gemini
· Thursday, May 23 2:45PM PDT: Jupiter (29° Taurus) sextile Neptune (29° Pisces)
· Saturday, May 25 4:15AM PDT: Venus (2° Gemini) trine Pluto (2° Aquarius)
· Saturday, May 25 4:14PM PDT: Jupiter enters Gemini
It all starts in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, when Venus and Jupiter rendezvous at 29° Taurus. The 29th degree of any sign is the anaretic degree and it’s generally considered the “most” of each sign. So, Venus and Jupiter are meeting at the “most” Taurus degree of the Zodiac. When two planets meet up in a conjunction, it’s the beginning of a new cycle. The alignment of the Sun and Moon every month at the New Moon marks the beginning of a new lunar cycle. Similarly, when Venus and Jupiter meet up once every 10 months or so, they begin a new cycle with its own story seeded at the conjunction. Last year, the conjunction was in Aries on March 1. Whatever story was initiated at that time is ending. This year, the story relates to Taurus, and to whatever house it lands in in each of our charts. Taurus is concerned with what is practical, beautiful, tangible, stable, and secure. It’s at home in the body and appreciates sensual, natural pleasures like delicious meals, beautiful music and walking through fields, woods or fabulous gardens. Venus rules Taurus so she wields a lot of influence this time around.
The goddess connects us to what we value, and Jupiter expands everything it touches. Zeus (Jupiter) was king of the gods. Wrapped up in his archetype we find a focus on morals, ethics, legal issues, philosophy, belief systems and other matters associated with what makes for a just and equitable society—all of which reflect our values. When Venus and Jupiter come together, our awareness of what we hold to be valuable including our own self-worth expands. We know what we want or what we want to make. We know what brings beauty, stability, and security into our lives and what doesn’t, and we’re not inclined to betray ourselves.
Venus and Jupiter in grounded earthy Taurus are also sextile Neptune in Pisces. While Jupiter is the traditional ruler, Neptune is the modern ruler of Pisces a good match for the energy. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac—where everything dissolves and returns to oneness before beginning again in Aries. Neptune dissolves the edges of things. With Neptune in Pisces highlighted, we have more access to compassion, intuition, creativity, mysticism, and spirituality, and the world might seem more enchanted and magical than usual. Under this influence, we have the possibility of bringing the visions of what we know we want into concrete reality. We must hold alignment to our values, have faith, and allow grace to handle the details.
Next only a few hours later, we have the Full Moon in Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter. The Moon is at nearly 3° Sag, with the Sun at nearly 3° Gemini conjunct Venus and Jupiter and sextile Neptune. Sagittarius is a visionary fire sign. It’s optimistic, adventurous, freedom-loving and philosophical—in touch with a sense of something larger. Every Full Moon illuminates, and in this case, what is being illuminated are the desires the Venus-Jupiter-Neptune combination is bringing into our awareness. Fire is the element of spirit and the force of inspiration. Once we have a vision and felt sense of what we want, magical thinking won’t make it happen, but fire behind our visions just might. Inspired action is the next step.
Oh, but wait… there’s one more piece in the puzzle of the Full Moon. Pluto is also sextile the Moon and trine the Sun, bringing his signature brand of intensity, power and transformative capacity. The energy wrapped up in the astrology of the latter part of this week is potentially life changing. We are being asked to level up—to go deep and be willing to see what is revealed. To acknowledge our deepest desires, what is holding us back from reaching for them, and find inspiration to do something new requires real courage.
Amid all this and still on Thursday, Venus casually slips over the line from Taurus into Mercury-land where she is subject to the whims of the trickster. She’s not her most stable self in Gemini, but she’s a curious flirt, happily willing to engage in a playful banter. The trine to Pluto on Saturday will bring gravitas to our relational dynamics and she’ll still be closely connected to Jupiter’s stabilizing influence, so it’s not about frivolousness, just a bit more levity in air sign Gemini than in Taurus.
Finally, Jupiter enters Gemini on Saturday afternoon where he’ll stay until June 9, 2025. Any time an outer planet changes signs it’s a big deal, and Jupiter in Gemini will color the next year. For now, though, the mythology can tell us a lot. Zeus (Jupiter) was Hermes’ (Mercury) father. He was elevated to the status of an Olympian god by Zeus because he was amused by Hermes’ curiosity, cleverness, resourcefulness and speed. It was Zeus who gave him the role of messenger—his messenger. Zeus doesn’t have those qualities. Jupiter is out of his element in Gemini, but he brings his characteristic expansion to all that Gemini is known for. Insatiable curiosity is a likely side effect. Too much information is another. We’re likely to find ourselves losing the forest for the trees. We will have to be careful with media. We’re likely to take on too many things at once in our enthusiasm to try everything, or lose track of what we’re doing because a new exciting idea comes along. Jupiter’s vision is about the big picture. Mercury is interested in the details. Jupiter is moving out of Taurus where he was subject to the slower pace of fixed earth. He was patient, slow and deliberate. Think about oxen plowing a field. On Saturday, Jupiter steps from solid ground into Gemini’s mutable air. Taurus likes its comforts, but what happens when we get a little too comfortable? Stasis. What might be trying to grow that needs new energy? In Gemini, the air can be almost electric. It might be more challenging to avoid becoming scattered, but we’ve learned to be patient in Taurus and can bring that knowledge to bear when needed to help us focus on our vision while Jupiter is in Gemini.
Jupiter is known as the greater benefic and wherever he goes, he brings blessings and opportunities. While we often think we know what these should look like, its not until we’re looking in the rear view mirror that we see the blessings in our mixed bag of experiences. If you look back at the year between June 2012 and 2013, you might get a sense of how Jupiter blessed your life during his last passage through Gemini. It might be a mixed bag. For me, it was, but when I add up the elements, I can clearly see how Jupiter brought the goods.
Our world and our lives are in the throes of big change. If you’d like to explore how Jupiter has made his presence known in your life through past transits or learn more about how the current and future astrology of this year is likely to land in relation to you personally, I, like my patron Mercury would be delighted to serve as your guide to the star map known as your birth chart. Email me for details: camelliablossoms@gmail.com or…
We made it through the list…
Now enjoy the Full Moon and the rest as the heavens turn.
Love to all,
Cami
Hi Camille, thanks for the write up, always appreciated to have as many different takes as possible.
I have a problem (I think). I haven't done any research to try and figure it out yet, but perhaps you can help. You wrote:
"Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac—where everything dissolves and returns to oneness before beginning again in Aries."
I understand that, and it's how I read charts and their houses (though I'm just a baby, started in late 2022) - anticlockwise - but it's strange that we've just been through the age of Pisces and enter the age of Aquarius... Not Aries. How do you make sense of this? I can't intuitively grasp it.