Venus in Gemini squares Neptune in Pisces this week, bringing a buzz into the field of romanticism, universal values, and cosmic love. Venus is (well, obviously) an archetype of love, and Neptune relates to enchantment, fantasy, and dreams, and both the disorienting and creative powers of imagination. If you’re familiar with astrological aspects, you know the square relates to tension and conflict, also dynamism – so it is quite possible that with a Venus-Neptune square we will be more readily confronted with our delusions and fantasies in love. Sometimes disillusionment hurts, if we were attached to the fantasy, but other times disillusionment is our greatest healing. Like the famous words from Rumi – “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it,” – we can possess barriers to love that are illusions. These barriers, and to speak of Venus in a cerebral sign like Gemini, are often mental concepts.
If we want to engage this transit, we might consider what mental concepts we are running about love and relationship and consider where we are ready for an upgrade. This pivot puts us in touch with seeker energy, puts us in touch with a quest-ion, which will support us in magnetizing teachings and experiences that help us discover new perspectives and resources.
Love itself is a universal value. So is the longing to return home, or to be at one, with Source – a generalized feeling that makes its way into many of our fantasy projections. If I have this particular relationship, this job, this special circumstance — I will feel redemption, I will feel profoundly at ease. Yet, not acknowledging the infinite waters from which the wellspring springs leads us to projection and myopia, instead of being at one with the actual love we seek.
The amazing thing about the vibration of love that we so seek and desire is that it is a remarkably abundant and plentiful, infinite resource, one that magnifies and regenerates. We only have to discover how to attune with it and how to be it – a statement I understand is both an abstract concept and a real experience one discovers how to live into.
While Venus is in Gemini (for literally a few months because of the upcoming retrograde) this is an amazing time for absorbing media about love and cosmic love. It’s a great time to experiment, converse about, and apply what we learn. Some of my favorite resources on love have been the works of John Welwood (a psychotherapist who writes about love), Ecosexuality: When Nature Inspires the Arts of Love, any of Sanaya Roman’s books (channeled texts which elevate me anytime I read), and I’m feeling currently drawn toward A Course in Miracles. Share in the comments your favorites!
Welcome back! Or in case this is your first time here, I’m Sabrina Monarch and I’m a soul-centered astrologer. I love providing perspectives on the opportunities of transits and putting into words what the vibe feels like at this moment in time, to support you on your path & open a dialogue between us and the cosmos. If you would like to receive these weekly forecasts to your inbox, sign up for my mailing list here. This is also a great way to stay in the loop about special offerings and to be notified when Evolutionary Astrology Intensive opens up for enrollment!
Here’s our week, after a few announcements:
Monarch Astrology Kickstarter coming June 2020:
June will begin the sixth year of writing these weekly forecasts and I’ll be asking for your support to crowdfund the year ahead. I’ll be offering astrology readings, discounted tuition to my Evolutionary Astrology course, and more. These forecasts have long been free and providing so much value to many people’s lives, and I truly need the support of you as my community to thrive. (Consider me like public radio!) I aim to keep sharing valuable free content for years to come and I ask for your help achieving a salary for the consistent high-value content I share with the public. This will be my first Kickstarter – please help me make it a success!
These forecasts are on YouTube now! If you want to listen to these forecasts, you can find an audio version on my YouTube channel.
New episode of Magic of the Spheres!
I had a conversation about the astrological centaurs with an evolutionary astrologer, David Leskowitz. We discussed Chiron, Pholus, Chariklo and Okyrhoe. Chiron is the most well-known of these, but even so can be an enigmatic archetype that is a lot deeper than its keyword “wounded healer” so we explored more of who Chiron is in addition to these other centaurs.
I loved learning more about the centaurs and also feeling the energy of the centaurs directly in the conversation. David and I share a perspective that the archetypes are not just abstract ideas but beings. It was a real pleasure to talk with someone whose like an intermediary between us and these centaurs – someone who has really spent time with them. I think you’ll find that David has a door-opening perspective on these archetypal beings.
David Leskowitz works at the convergence of modern astrology, astral magic, and energy healing. His approach is informed by a longterm practice of buddhist spirituality, psychic training, and evolutionary astrology. Centaurs are playful and life-affirming guides to the cosmos, both down-to-earth and divine. At The Centaur Space, David seeks to update the old stories and bring you a new way of healing yourself and the world. You can experience this yourself with an attunement, which serves as a portal to the world of healing with Centaurs. (Available in monthly groups, or whenever in a 1:1). Find him @astral_logistic (twitter), subscribe to email updates and read all about Centaurs at http://www.centaurs.space.
Tune in where you listen to podcasts or on your browser here!
April 30, 2020
Mercury in 6 Taurus conjunct Uranus in 6 Taurus: 8:40 PM PDT
(Image: Leszek Kostuj)
Mercury has passed its squares to Pluto, Jupiter, and Saturn from last week, and after various mental struggles Mercury reaches a conjunction to Uranus which could continue to be jarring, or be a “eureka” moment at the end of the tunnel.
- Having access and practice with personal development and healing tools proves to be an important investment in times of stress or uncertainty. There are certain frameworks and practices that are liberating and provide mental and nervous system resiliency. This is a time to be resourceful about the ones you’ve already collected (perhaps it’s breathwork, meditation, EFT/tapping, intuitive embodiment, mantra, etc.) or open to the possibility of learning a new skill around self-regulation.
- Tranquility and peace is part of the Taurean experience, but it doesn’t always look like lounging in a field of flowers with a decadent picnic array. Taurean tranquility, in a juiced-up Uranian sense, could be the full experience of ANY emotion or inner-state, and taking ownership of it by allowing it to be expressed in sound and movement through the body.
- Uranus relates to the weird and the radical, Mercury expression, and Taurus the body. In a very similar way that we enjoy or can feel liberated by opening our minds to new ideas that allow us to be in more authentic resonance with ourselves and with reality, engaging our body in new ways can also make way for new connections.
May 3, 2020
Venus in 20 Gemini square Neptune in 20 Pisces: 8:53 PM PDT
Venus will station retrograde on May 12, and for much of the retrograde cycle Venus will be in orb of this square to Neptune. It’s a few months that Venus-Neptune will be an influence, even though it will wax and wane in intensity.
- We can have increasingly sublime experiences in our relationships and in our day-to-day encounters with people when we acknowledge that other people are mysterious and that *they are not us*. To whatever extent we project our own value systems, logic, or personality onto others, our ego is essentially getting in the way of understanding another person in their own right. I invite you to challenge this pattern (of thinking that other people are like you) where it lives in you so subtly, below the radar and pivot to a curiosity about another person’s reality.
- From another vantage point, we are all one so others are us, but they are at least different facets of the same crystal. Venus in Gemini is attuned to diversity and novelty, and flirts and loves by being able to truly mentally connect with others perspectives. Paradoxically, to really be at oneness with another requires a level of distance that allows the other to be their own entity.
- There is a deeper allurement toward romantic fantasy, and perhaps also a divine discontent about it (“how beautiful! But it could never be! It hurts too much to think of it!”). It’s really a kind of muscle to be able to dream AND be nourished by the dream. My question for you is how you do that?
- Some people have a deep need for a kind of love that they feel that someone can *kind of* give them. There’s the relationship at hand, and the feelings the relationship provides. As a concrete example, consider the person who pines for someone who is pretty unavailable in some way, but they manage to create a relationship with that person regardless, all the while imagining, “I’ll seduce this person, they’ll love me the way I want someday.” Part of the relationship is happening concretely, and a whole other part of the relationship is happening in an abstract fantasy place. From a place of compassion we might recognize that this is a young kind of love, full of naïveté, and full of ardor to pursue the situation anyway. In my own earlier life, I sometimes traded emotional stability, safety, and trust for “an experience” in love, turning a blind eye to the blatant dysfunction of the situation until the relationship ran its course. Venus-Neptune is this kind of softness of boundary. It negotiates. The standards are mutable. As long as a profound aura surrounds the connection (it feels magical, it feels karmic, it feels sublime) one can forgive the details.
- This blindness in love is not the only octave that Venus-Neptune contacts occur within though. It may be a necessary stage, and often as one departs there is a need to take ownership of those very enchanting qualities that the relationship and/or the other person possessed, and to own them as qualities of ourselves.
- In situations of greater availability, reciprocity, or functionality within the relationship, Venus-Neptune can manifest as the process of mutual spiritual development that happens through the container of the relationship. We find ourselves tending to the ‘stuff’, the psychological content, that naturally emerges from intimacy with another and we are devotional about the process of tending to ourselves. We are devotional about feeding and cultivating the relationship, the discovery of collaboration, the witnessing of one another and the mutual enrichment that relationship can provide. We live into the householder path of enlightenment.
(Image: John William Waterhouse)
- With Venus in Gemini, conversations, books, and teachings about love may be highlighted. We may be exposed or choose to expose ourselves to a variety of perspectives and philosophies on Venusian topics like self-esteem and relationship. Becoming a better conversationalist, or learning some new ways of expressing our needs or asking for what we desire, may prove important during this cycle. There is much space for confusion with Neptune squaring Venus, but that confusion may direct us toward a good question, and eventually a good answer. This may be a time of getting a little granular about the ins and outs of connection. Sure, Venus-Neptune can gloss over details in its naïveté phase. But in a place of mastery, we’ll be more curious about understanding, not glossing over, the liminal and confusing spaces of our intersections with others.
- For those who are single, but desire partnership and connection, the inner-work of Venus-Neptune can relate to creating the space for love in our lives, and getting into a deeper alignment with love itself. This can also be a deeply spiritual experience. Growing closer to something that we long for is a spiritual journey – we uncover and dissolve our inner-blocks and we attract outer experiences and teachers that we need along the path. (If you want an experiential route, read and work through the book “Calling in The One: 7 Weeks to Attract the Love of Your Life” by Katherine Woodward Thomas. The book is, however, directed toward women.)
- A note on attracting teachers and experiences that we need: consent still counts. If you are having experiences that you don’t like, you are not necessarily resigned to them – you can pivot and create a different experience, or you can meditate on the ‘why’ of it and why it’s crossed your path, or you can do both. Even though and especially because boundaries are hazy with Venus-Neptune, please value your internal agency to make choices.
May 4, 2020
Mercury in 14 Taurus conjunct Sun in 14 Taurus: 2:41 PM PDT
(Image: Susan Seddon Boulet)
The two are also conjunct and recently separated from Uranus.
- Mercury is getting a lot of voltage and energy right now! In our experience, this can look like a very active, or potentially stressed, mind – an experience that often be diffused through grounding. We may experience restorative internal vibrancy through pleasure states. It can be especially soothing to get our hands or feet in grass, dirt, mud, or into touching and working with plants (gardening, wildcrafting). Cooking, working with clay or other sensual hand-crafts, can also be soothing and energizing.
Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! I really appreciate you being here with me as I know that if you connect to this writing we have likemindedness and that is so special. Please share this article with a friend who you think would resonate!
I welcome and accept tips for this forecast – my Venmo is @SabrinaMonarch and Cashapp $SabrinaMonarch as well. Thank you!
Please let me know what you think in the comments – truly I want to know so leave a note! I love you and you are soul family to me, thank you for finding your way to these words and resonating with them in whatever ways you have.
If you enjoy these forecasts and would like more personalized guidance re your personal astrology, I would love to read your natal chart and transits for you! If you would like me to explore the themes in your chart, book a reading with me here.
I meditate on charts before the reading and combine my knowledge of astrology with my clairvoyant abilities to offer you some insights about themes you are working with in this life based on prior lives, and what is the evolutionary purpose of this lifetime. I recorded an episode on my podcast recently titled Befriending your Intuition and Clairvoyance if you’d like to learn more about my relationship with clairvoyance along with tips for increasing yours!
I can work with your specific questions and shed light on ongoing issues or patterns you would like to shift, as well! Book with me here.
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With love,
Sabrina Monarch
Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts, works with clients and teaches. She is a novelist and has a M.A. in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness from the California Institute of Integral Studies.
(image of monarch butterflies coming out of envelope by @chthonicbacchae)
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