Venus in Capricorn conjuncts Pluto this week and squares Uranus so – not business as usual. The biggest drama would be working to maintain the structures that are ready to be changing forms.
“To die would be an awfully big adventure.” – Peter Pan
For this week I want to specify that I am not speaking of body death, but death of the past, death of a part of the self, in which case something new will take its place. Many of us are living in cultures that fear death on both the literal and psychic levels; because of an understanding of life and time as linear (there not being any sense of renewal – just an existential abyss to drop off into, the great unknown as nothing versus pure possibility).
My point is that people do very strange and intense things to maintain whatever IS already, to avoid change. The astrology of this week revolves around this major theme; and I would like to present it as an initiation into a new realm. However, without this kind of context, I feel like the energy of this week would just feel intense, and the resistance high, given the volatile energy that Pluto (a player of our week) brings. This week holds significant opportunities in the realm of shifts of power; internally and externally.
“Proud and insolent youth,” said Hook, “prepare to meet thy doom.”
“Dark and sinister man,” Peter answered, “have at thee.”
The Peter Pan principle is one of eternal childhood, the inability to take accountability for one’s actions as though one were an “adult” , adult being synonymous with able to take accountability for one’s decisions. It’s interesting that Peter Pan is simplified as a champion of “never growing up”, when his character in the book itself is much more complex than that. The Disney movie does have him, though, literally dealing with his shadow. Hook is another distortion; he is grown but not reconciled with his inner-child – or else why would he be at war with the eternal child in the story?
While Peter Pan moves from adventure to adventure; he is still in one cycle of self; he has not “died” on the archetypal or psychic level and thus he cannot move on even though reality around him moves on – Wendy grows up, for example. The “to die would be an awfully big adventure” augers a kind of hope for his next phase of life when he is to take that step. Because his consciousness is not calcified, he is ever youthful, he can perceive the other end as an adventure. And so can we, when we find ourselves on the precipice of some major life-morph, maybe one that challenges our most tightly held values.
This week we have a certain chance to “grow up” – but not into Hook. Not into the jaded figure we were at odds with. It’s not about growing up into something we have already understood and been able to demonize as callous, boring at best and sinister at worst, or lacking vision and childlike qualities. What we are growing into is simply NEW – upgrading to “an awfully big adventure” that takes us out of Neverland’s matrix entirely. The new frontier can be entered with intention and ethic that is as youthful as can be, in truth.
I have been talking about Venus in Capricorn’s confrontations with Pluto and Uranus this week – forming a conjunction first to Pluto and then squaring Uranus. Venus in Capricorn is about our value that we place in maturity; as well as, with Pluto here, how we resist maturity as though it did not come with its own set of perks if you will. And this is also about how we become calcified or rigid in our concept of what maturity means – or what “proper conduct” is.
With Venus in Capricorn conjunct Pluto in Capricorn, we are looking at empowering love connections, OR disempowering ones. Work this vibe intentionally – the best way to use it is to be dignified — consider the EMPEROR or father principle – how we manage to be providers or benevolent rulers of our realm, and where this energy becomes distorted, malevolent, controlling or dictatorial. With Capricorn, a common issue is to hold on to things past their prime because we are attached to what we have built (think of Hook as a symbol here of the struggle to maintain power, and the shadow that comes with this.)
Capricorn can become skillful at maintaining control. This is an excellent and veritable skill in many arenas of life, except when it’s fear-based. Think to a place in your life where you practice constraint out of love – versus where you are practicing constraint out of fear. The power of this transit is both in its powerful measures of restraint and its ability to turn the soil over; to initiate major change. But as with all things Capricorn, consequences are to be considered. Capricorn fear equates to not acting, being too tentative because of fear of what could go wrong, a limited understanding of possibility. Capricorn courage can make bold, important decisions because of the understanding that change is a necessary and welcome part of life. The key with Venus-Pluto in Capricorn is to release blockages around love – where we are constricting and keeping ourselves separate from the flow of love. What is something we valued, a part of us perhaps, that is undergoing psychic death? How can it help us to love more or let ourselves be loved more?
As Uranus is concerned in this storyline, assuming proper form according to one’s values confronts one with radical changes or frequencies, adjustments, evolutions, channeling. Discipline yields freshness. Likewise, being out of alignment with one’s values, or compromising one’s boundaries, results in certain “shocks” – this is not a week to be fucking around with that which you know isn’t a good idea. I’m not talking about healthy risk – I’m talking about repeating old patterns that you know yield suffering. Complacency and Uranus don’t mix.
Venus in Capricorn sextiles Mars in Scorpio this week. Once you’ve got your world in order a la Cap, not necessarily in any tight-ship kind of way but just like, you’re composed in all your right ways – there is steamy love and good stars here for romance. This is a time where boundaries are raised to keep out the low vibe, low rent stuff. Or proper containers are found for exchanges that you want to have, but to keep at a distance.
Also keep in mind Mercury in Capricorn trining the North Node and Jupiter conjunction in Virgo. This is supportive of communicating plans or structures to support evolutionary/destiny/life purpose goals, very managerial energy. Maturity meets growth, outgrowing old patterns that symbolize structures of self that no longer belong to us, i.e. using the wisdom that “every time I do x, some unfavorable thing happens”, and so to stop doing that thing. It sounds obvious, but it’s not often so. It requires a commitment to change and growth, an openness to new methods, and a willingness to take one’s destiny into one’s own hands, rather than allowing time alone to push along the current.
The Sun in Aquarius squares Mars in Scorpio, if our love stars weren’t explosive enough this week with Venus-Pluto and Venus-Uranus. So there is tension here around being and acting; around being cool versus acting on passions. With finesse, this can be utilized for objectivity with action. This is a week to think about how we project our anger or even just our will, and how we channel it, and if there are better outlets or choices without resisting it or sweeping it under the rug. In what ways can we use the fire that burns within for our own becoming and self-actualization? Think of the story of someone who didn’t feel like anyone believed in them so they went and made something of themselves alone (“I’ll show them”). When this person gets to their destination, chances are they ended up discovering a resource of self that they didn’t have at the time they were needing that validation from others. I use this metaphor to illustrate the way in which we can expect others to take accountability for our will or stifled will which becomes anger; when often the situation that is causing us anger is a message that we need to separate from that given situation, or that a deeper force within us is wanting to come out, and our current circumstances, too small a container, feel stifling. The will is wanting to be strong with Sun-Mars this week; it just has to understand, objectively, how to express itself, by stepping back and taking detached account.
~Monarch
(Image: Jamie Baldridge)
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