On March 5, the Sun will make a conjunction with Jupiter at 14º Pisces, a condition in which Jupiter is said to be in the heart of the Sun or cazimi. This is really lovely because it marks the start of a new solar cycle for Jupiter, a moment of purifying and clarifying the purpose of our hopes, dreams, and aspirations, perhaps even some kind of revelation or realization related to our faith and what we believe about the nature of freedom. This conjunction also happens in Jupiter’s own bounds, which adds even more affirmation to what Jupiter will be able to accomplish this cycle as it becomes a morning star.
For this whole month, Jupiter is technically not visible due to its proximity to the Sun, what ancient astrologers called being “under the beams of the Sun.” When a planet is hidden under the beams, it is often working behind the scenes, in the background, out of the public eye in some sense. This can also be a condition of depletion, a planet scorched by its proximity to the Sun, but because Jupiter is in its domicile, it is said to be in its own chariot, protected from the Sun’s rays—like an oasis in the desert, where it has all the resources it needs in order to provide itself with shelter, hydration, shade and relief. It doesn’t change the blazing, scorching heat that close to the Sun, but it has the resources with which to mitigate that condition. All of that said, Jupiter making this conjunction with the Sun is like two royals having a meeting or congress with one another, extending favor to one another, and marking the start of a new journey as Jupiter will then appear as a morning star in a few weeks (around March 25). Jupiter is being renewed and refreshed during this conjunction on March 5, which has the potential to be really excellent for the Pisces and Sagittarius parts of our charts that Jupiter rules. Something is getting reborn at the close of one cycle and the start of another. How can you make yourself more available for this renewal? [Image read: 5 March 2022: Jupiter in the heart of the Sun in light lettering on a dark teal starfield]
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On March 3, both Mars and Venus will make conjunctions with Pluto at 27º Capricorn, with the asteroid Vesta less than 1º away. As they each conjoin Pluto, the push-and-pull, together-but-separate dynamic that has been unfolding between Venus and Mars since their conjunction on February 16 could get intensified or magnified in some way. It could also be a time when we must confront the power dynamics operating within those kinds of entanglements, the potentially toxic or even abusive ways in which desire can be exploited or manipulated. Where are you disempowered, undermined, or even harmed by following the thrall of relationships that fueled by compulsion rather than care? Transformation and even healing are possible, but only if we are willing face the shadows and bring light into our own underworlds. With Vesta close at hand, this could be a reclamation of your own sexual agency and power, erotic healing that comes from committing to sacred forms of sexuality in which you honor the abiding flame of your inherent worth—even if doing so requires refusing the machinations of others.
This could be a time for going deep into the conflicts in our relationships, knowing that moving toward conflict rather than avoiding it is a bid for greater intimacy. It requires courage and vulnerability to be truthful in your needs and desires, to listen and respect the needs and desires of others, to acknowledge and explore how those trajectories diverge as well as finding where and how they might align. I often think of a quote Kazu Haga shared on the Finding Our Way Podcast with Prentis Hemphill: “Conflict is the spirit of the relationship asking itself to deepen.” As Mars and Venus conjoin Pluto, what are the depths of relating to which conflict is calling you? [Image read: 3 March 2022: Mars and Venus conjunct Pluto in light lettering on a dark starfield] February 16 is the first of two conjunctions Venus and Mars will make this year. Venus stationed direct on January 29, and is still moving rather slowly, allowing Mars to overtake Venus in this first conjunction. For the next month, Venus and Mars will be moving within 1º of one another. This could be a tense but passionate dance between these two planets over several weeks. Then they will make their second exact conjunction at 0º Aquarius as Venus builds speed to pass Mars, just minutes after they both ingress into Aquarius on March 6. Venus draws us toward connection with beauty and grace; Mars severs and separates, cutting ties or charging off on our own. At their best together, Venus and Mars can describe the erotic thrill of intimacy and distance, pulling one another close, backing away, then coming together again. Mars keeps us from merging, and across the space between us, we are enraptured with longing. When more troublesome, this dynamic could describe relationship dynamics that are on again/off again, the uncertainty of are we together or are we separated, and the anxiety that comes with unstable attachments. Try to be mindful of these dynamics and make choices during this time that both align with your values and honor your boundaries. These two conjunctions and the weeks in between could also describe a weaving together of the areas of your life ruled by Venus and Mars. Look to the parts of your chart occupied by Taurus, Libra, Aries, and Scorpio, and consider how those areas of your life might be described by this dance of arousal, connection, separation, and reconnection.
[Image reads: 16 February 2022: Venus Conjunct Mars in light lettering on a dark starfield] On January 11, Mars in Sagittarius will make a square with Neptune in Pisces, both at 20º. Mars often describes fiery, assertive, driven, and even divisive action, and in Sagittarius, this can be directed toward expanding one’s territory, striking out beyond familiar borders, and conquering that which demands courageous adaptation. However, as Mars squares Neptune, we may find ourselves charging into a tidal wave that sweeps us off our feet, swirling us around and disorienting our plans. It might be challenging to accomplish your intentions around this aspect. At best, you might surrender to the current, adjust your plans to move with the tide, even if it takes you off course. With Jupiter in Pisces ruling both Mars and Neptune, it does feel as if there is some oversight, some promise or potential that even if you find yourself wrestling with the waves or surrendering to their force, this confusion might lead the way to something greater than you could have anticipated.
[Image reads: 11 January 2022 Mars in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces in light lettering on a starfield that fades from a reddish tint to a teal tint] Juno is the Roman goddess of the feminine, marriage and commitment, the counterpart to Jupiter and protector of the community and the state. Astrologer Demetra George describes Juno as “the principle of relatedness and commitment to the other,” “one’s capacity for meaningful relationship and commitment to another person.”
On January 7, Venus will make a conjunction with the asteroid Juno as part of Venus’ longer retrograde journey. Our capacities for commitment within our most significant partnerships are being woven into the larger process of reflection and review described by this Venus retrograde. Feminist philosopher Judith Butler writes on the subject of love and commitment: “Commitment would be the agreement to commit oneself anew, time and again, precisely when circumstances change. And this would mean changing the concrete meaning of commitment as circumstances change … if commitment is to be alive, that is, if it is to belong to the present, then the only commitment one can make is to commit oneself again and again. ‘I love you and I choose you again and again.’ I did not just choose you once, but I continued to choose you, and what there is of me in my speech is given to you again and again through this speech act, declaration, vow, and promise, one that binds me to you in the present, whatever present that happens to be.” As Venus makes this conjunction with Juno, you may find yourself assessing your commitments, committing yourself anew, once again, making your commitment to those you love alive in this present moment, choosing those you love again and again. Doing so may require considerable reflection, asking the questions: why is it that I choose this love, this commitment, now again? How can my love be more than simply a habit or pattern and instead emerge as a clear choice under these current conditions? Venus will make another conjunction with Juno this year, at 21º Aquarius on March 28. You may notice reverberations between these two connections on January 7 and March 28. [Image reads: 7 January 2022 Venus Rx conjunct the asteroid Juno at 19º Capricorn in light lettering on a dark starfield] Today is the third and final exact square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus, both at 11º. These are degrees where they have already been: Saturn was here around March 28 and July 21, Uranus was here around May 8 and will be here again on February 12, 2022. So, not only is this the third of three squares, it is happening on familiar territory. While Uranus can be unpredictable, it is unlikely that this third square will break new ground. Rather, this aspect may be more like an aftershock, the ongoing reverberations of internal and external events that have been in motion since at least the first square in February.
Where have you been experiencing the collision of insistently revolutionary change with unwavering and potentially limiting beliefs about the world as it is or as it can be? How have the longings of your body propelled you toward a path of liberation this year, despite the constraints of rigid ideology? Where are you feeling destabilized or disrupted, and what structures might you build to hold the changes you have been experiencing? These conflicts that have been set up and intensified throughout 2021 will continue to unfold throughout the remainder of Saturn’s time in Aquarius and will no doubt play an important role in defining Uranus’ transit through Taurus until 2026. While this is the last exact square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus, they will come very close to an exact square at multiple points in 2022. If you would like to learn more about how this story continues to unfold in the year ahead, my Astrology Guide for 2022 is currently available for immediate download. [Image reads SATURN SQUARE URANUS 24 December 2021 in light green letters on a dark brown background.] On Thursday, July 8, Venus in Leo will form a square with Uranus in Taurus. Venus is separating from an opposition with Saturn in Aquarius and applying to a conjunction with Mars — and using only the visible planets, this is a condition of enclosure, in which Venus is flanked by the rays of Saturn and the body of Mars. This can describe challenges in our relationships and social dynamics, confronting barriers that seem immovable and reeling into the impulse to separate. Intimacy can sometimes feel threatening or even impossible, especially if we are holding trauma in our systems or if we were shaped by inconsistent care. In between the unyielding thought patterns and the instinct to bolt is Uranus, the planet of disruption and upheaval making a square with Venus, shaking up our ability to coregulate and feel safe with others.
But these aspects can also tell another story: Saturn can remind us of the boundaries we need to maintain in order to love well. Venus conjunct Mars can describe the fiery passion of coming together in shared desires. In this story, Uranus describes our liberation from old patterns that were never working in the first place. As we face our fears and ask for what we need, we find freedom that we did not know was available to us, an emancipation that sets us loose into blazing erotic satisfaction. The planets describe archetypal patterns. How they correlate with our lives is full of variation and often choice. As you navigate these transits, look back to April 22 when Venus was conjunct Uranus to understand what was planted then that is now breaking through the surface of your life. What will be your story for this astrology? [Image reads VENUS SQUARE URANUS 8 July 2021 in bright pink letters on a dark red background] Today Venus in Taurus perfects a square with Jupiter in Aquarius, just before Venus leaves its domicile for Gemini, and just days before Jupiter ingresses into its domicile of Pisces. While the square is the aspect associated with the qualities of Mars—contention, conflict, crisis, and the demand for adjustment—in Hellenistic astrology, the square can also be a very dynamic form of bonification from the benefics. Today the two benefics bonify one another—Jupiter overcoming Venus in a superior square, Venus hurling rays back to Jupiter from the inferior position. Both are offering support and affirmation, particularly in the area of favorable relationships. This could be a potent time for forming powerful alliances, as well as for building deeply meaningful connections in our intimate partnerships. Jupiter describes the principles of expansion and inclusion, whereas Venus describes the principles of union and pleasure. How can we form relationships—personal, political, and professional—that encompass more of our capacities for pleasure and joy? Asking for what feels good and supporting others in experiencing satisfaction can create important solidarities between us. As Audre Lorde writes in “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” “The erotic functions for me in several ways, and the first is in providing the power which comes from sharing deeply any pursuit with another person. The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.” How might you center the sharing of joy in your relationships today?
[Image reads: VENUS SQUARE JUPITER 8 May 2021 in pink letters on a dark purple background] Tomorrow, April 22, Venus in Taurus makes a conjunction with Uranus. Venus’ conjunction with Uranus offers grounding connections to sustain impulses toward authenticity and freedom throughout the ongoing Saturn/Uranus squares. Notice how Venus entices us to cultivate radical new patterns of relating throughout the year, particularly on July 8 when Venus in Leo makes a square to Uranus, on August 3 when Venus in Virgo makes a trine to Uranus, on September 23 when Venus in Scorpio makes an opposition to Uranus, and finally on November 19 when Venus in Capricorn makes an overcoming trine to Uranus. The trine on November 19 occurs the same day as the lunar eclipse in Taurus, just two days after the Mars/Uranus opposition, suggesting that whatever is culminating and breaking through in mid-November has the potential to bring us into greater loving connections with others, with beauty, and with justice. Tomorrow’s conjunction is the start of this Venus/Uranus cycle, so attend to what is being seeded now in order to witness how this story unfolds in the year ahead. Commit yourself to revolutionary care, and then devote yourself to the process of daring to love in ways that break from established patterns—your own and those you have received from society—knowing that doing so is necessary for our freedom. As adrienne maree brown write, “We need to learn how to practice love such that care—for ourselves and others—is understood as political resistance and cultivating resilience.”
[Image reads: VENUS CONJUNCT URANUS IN TAURUS 22 April 2021 in bright pink lettering on a chartreuse background] Today the Moon makes a conjunction with Venus in Cancer. Both the Moon and Venus draw us toward one another, into connection and union, and together they prioritize safety, comfort, equality, and justice. bell hooks teaches us in All About Love, “There can be no love without justice … Without justice there can be no love.” And adrienne maree brown teaches us in Pleasure Activism, “Liberated relationships are one of the ways we actually create abundant justice, the understanding that there is enough attention, care, resource, and connection for all of us to access belonging, to be in our dignity, and to be safe in community.” What if we understand justice as there being more than enough attention, care, resources and connection for all of us to access safety, dignity, and belonging? And what if our intimate and familiar relationships are a primary site at which we practice and create this kind of justice? Uranus stations retrograde in Taurus, marking a turn inward for reflection and introspection in the longer process of radical change that Uranus is describing in whatever area of our charts is occupied by Taurus. Uranus began its transit through Taurus in 2018 and will be retrograde until January 2021. What movements toward radical change have you been experiencing over the last two years, and how might this retrograde period offer a time for review and reorientation? Finally, the Moon makes a sextile to Uranus, perhaps describing a felt physical, emotional recognition of this outer planet shift, hopefully in the form of subduing some sense of urgency.
Today the Moon in Gemini moves through supportive sextiles with the Sun in Leo and Mars in Aries before ingressing into its home sign of Cancer. The Sun and Mars are both powerful in their respective domiciles, with access to abundant resources that they can share through these sextile aspects. Both offer courage, with the Sun emphasizing bold visibility and enduring prominence, while Mars extends ambition, drive, and assertiveness. Today may be a day for putting yourself out in the world and demanding that others take notice, getting clear about what it is you want to accomplish, and taking steps to make those ambitions a reality. With the Moon in Gemini, this may require thinking in new ways, making connections that excite and animate us, and discovering how these ways of thinking propel us into action. Audre Lorde writes in “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” “But there are no new ideas still waiting in the wings to save us as women, as human. There are only old and forgotten ones, new combinations, extrapolations and recognitions from within ourselves—along with the renewed courage to try them out. And we must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply, and so many of our old ideas disparage.” As the Moon then settles into Cancer, we move back inward, toward comfort, care, and sensitive connections. After the energy and effort of the day, how can you move intentionally toward the things you already know allow you turn down the intensity and move toward rest?
Today Mars in Aries perfects a square with Pluto retrograde in Capricorn. The rulers of rage and the underworld clash in this tense aspect, dragging conflict up from what has been buried, confronting abuses that have been repressed or forgotten, demanding transformation in the places where rage propels us toward destruction. As Judith Butler has said, “How often is sorrow effectively shouted down by rage? How does it happen that sorrow can bring about the collapse of rage? Is there something to be learned about the sources of nonviolence from this particular power of grief to deflate rage of its destructiveness? … Mourning has to do with yielding to an unwanted transformation where neither the full shape and nor the full import of that alteration can be known in advance. This transformative effect of losing always risks becoming a deformative effect. Whatever it is, it cannot be willed. It is a kind of undoing.” What is the grief or mourning that is covered over by rage? Beneath the intensity of whatever anger or righteous indignation that you may feel, what is the mourning that you carry that—if given the opportunity—has the potential to transform you in ways that can be neither willed nor known in advance? The Moon in Gemini makes a sextile with its ruler Mercury in Leo. In the wake of breaking open whatever part of us resists the immensity of the grief we are holding, the light of new understanding finds its way through. Perhaps we find that we can share parts of our hearts that have been bound up in the crypts of rage and grief to which we denied ourselves passage.
Today the Moon in Taurus makes a trine with Saturn retrograde in Capricorn before ingressing into Gemini. Saturn invites us to slow down, to feel into the moment, and to set whatever boundaries are necessary in order for us to feel safe and grounded. In thinking through the work of transformative justice, adrienne maree brown writes in Emergent Strategy, “Real time is slower than social-media time, where everything feels urgent. Real time often includes periods of silence, reflection, growth, space, self-forgiveness, processing with loved ones, rest, and responsibility. Real-time transformation requires stating your needs and setting functional boundaries.” I think that astrology as a whole calls us into more slowness, into more real-time, but Saturn may be the great teacher of slowing down, giving space, resting in silence, and accepting responsibility. How can we listen to these lessons today as we work to create more support for our own well-being and the well-being of others? As the Moon ingresses into Gemini, we may find our curiosities awaken, our desires to learn and discuss and share ideas coming alive. Gemini may not always be the most suitable for sustained, deliberate focus, so what if over the next few days you let your attention move in different directions and considered the relationships between different thoughts and perspectives rather than trying to concentrate on only one thing? What becomes possible if we allow for this kind of mobility in our thinking?
Today the Moon in Taurus makes a trine with Jupiter in Capricorn, a square to the Sun in Leo—entering the waning quarter lunation phase—and a sextile with Neptune retrograde in Pisces, all within a matter of degrees. The Moon is exalted in Taurus, and Jupiter—fallen and retrograde in Capricorn—reminds us that we can become more whole when we learn to listen to the parts of ourselves that we continue to deny and integrate the parts of ourselves that we continue to ignore. As the Moon moves into the waning quarter phase and sextiles Neptune, we are moving away from what we have known and abiding in dignity as we push forward into what we do not yet know or what is not yet clear. What if we can trust that everything we need to know or understand is already available to us within the grounding wisdom of our bodies? As Aurora Levins Morales writes in Kindling, “My body and your bodies make a map we can follow … Our bodies are in the mix of everything we call political. What our bodies, my mother’s and yours and mine, require in order to thrive, is what the world requires. If there is a map to get there, it can be found in the atlas of our skin and bone and blood, in the tracks of neurotransmitters and antibodies. We need nourishment, equilibrium, water, connection, justice.” As the Moon forms a trine with Pluto in Capricorn, we can ask: what if coming into right-relationship with our bodies is how we begin to access the map toward living in a world in which we can be in right-relationship with power? What if there is no way to be in right-relationship with power if we still have not learned to trust that the body knows what is needed in order to be well—as a body, as a society, as a planet and a world?
Today the Moon in Taurus makes a sextile with its ruler Venus in Cancer, suggesting making time today for seeking comfort and pleasure in meaningful connections with others, relationships that support you in feeling safe and secure in your own body. Mercury in Leo makes a sextile with Uranus in Taurus, then the Moon in Taurus makes a conjunction with Uranus and a square with Mercury. Uranus in aspect with Mercury and the Moon demands revolutionary change that we can articulate, name, and embody—even in the most rigidly established areas of our personal and collective lives. Audre Lorde writes in “Learning from the 60s,” “Revolution is not a one-time event. It is becoming always vigilant for the smallest opportunity to make a genuine change in established, outgrown responses … Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.” If you long for a world the refuses to be structured by domination, exploitation, and violence, how can you accept responsibility for creating change, for becoming always vigilant for the smallest opportunities to challenge and disrupt deeply entrenched oppressive systems—in how we think, how we speak, and how we embody new possibilities.
Today the Moon makes a conjunction with Mars in Aries before squaring Pluto and Saturn, both retrograde in Capricorn. Mars is dignified in its domicile of Aries, bringing forward its more functional qualities: courage, assertiveness, the will to pursue that which we desire, fight for what we believe in, and defend those in need of defending. But as the Moon moves into the squares with Pluto and Saturn, we may find ourselves in struggle as we encounter resistance to that actions we feel driven to take. Rather than surrendering to discouragement when we find ourselves in struggle for that which matters most to us, can we instead see that it is ourselves who are being forged through such processes? We are becoming more of ourselves as we are shaped by the forces that resist our intentions. As Audre Lorde writes in “Age, Race, Class, and Sex,” “Change means growth, and growth can be painful. But we sharpen self-definition by exposing the self in the work and struggle together with those whom we define as different from ourselves, although sharing the same goals.” In the midst of struggle, both with and alongside those who are different from ourselves, can we push forward into greater clarity in our own self-definition, sharpening our sense of who we are and what it is we are struggling for? The Moon then ingresses into Taurus, the sign of its exaltation, beckoning us back into the grounding comfort of sensual pleasures, our encounters with ourselves, others, and the world around us that not only bring us back to the immediacy of body but also invite us to feel good there, here, wherever we are.
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AuthorMichael J. Morris is a witch, an astrologer, a tarot reader, an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Categories
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