Venus Direct/Mercury Direct

Newsletter from September 4th, 2023

Venus with Taurus and Libra, from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, 1945

Dear Reader,

Alas! As of today, Venus has emerged from her 40 day retrograde visit to the underworld, and is preparing to be re-birthed anew. Now visible in the early morning skies, Venus’ re-emergence symbolizes an opportunity to reflect on what’s transpired over the past month and a half. For a review of your Venus retrograde horoscopes by rising sign, click here. A common theme of Venus retrogrades is breaking or renewing attachments to precious people, projects, desires and ideals. What (if anything) have you uncovered, been surprised by, reclaimed, re-subscribed to, un-subscribed to, or reconnected with in the past month and a half? Did it in any way link to or rhyme with what was happening in August-September of 2015* (the last time Venus went retrograde in Leo)?

La Volupte (Sensual Pleasure), vintage French playing card

And although Mercury is still retrograde (thus hijinx), this week promises a moment of clarity and insight via the Sun-Mercury cazimi which happens on Wednesday, September 6th. A cazimi is a short window of time when Mercury (the planet of communication and messages) enters “the heart of the Sun” — astronomically speaking, when they are at the exact same degree of the zodiac. This phenomenon is associated with revelations, insights, breakthroughs, and receiving messages or news of importance, as the communicative power of Mercury is amplified and illuminated during these few hours.

Robert Fludd, from Utriusque Cosmi, 1621

If you’re so inclined, you may take this moment on this day to pull a tarot card. Or you may prefer to let life reveal what it will, through conversations, communications, encounters, or dreams. It’s a good day for staying a little extra alert to what you hear, see, read, and think. Sometimes these cazimi insights are as soft as a whisper, and sometimes they are as loud as the angel’s trumpet on the Judgement card.

Judgement, from the Tarot Minchiate Florentinas

I will offer a recent example from my own life:

Earlier this year on May 1st, the Sun and Mercury formed a cazimi in the sign of Taurus. It was during this cazimi that I discovered I was pregnant.

I took an at home pregnancy test because I was a couple days late, though I figured it was due to an irregularity in my cycle rather than a pregnancy. I thought this was the case because my husband and I were under the impression that it would be exceedingly difficult to become pregnant naturally. It had only been a couple of weeks since a fertility doctor told us (after reviewing some tests) that we had a less than 3% chance of getting pregnant without medical interventions.

I read the positive result of my at home pregnancy test with disbelief, and immediately looked to the chart of the sky at that moment — there was Mercury and Sun, both at 11 degrees of Taurus, meeting in my 7th house of one-on-one partnerships. While the 7th house isn’t typically associated with children or pregnancy, I can’t imagine a more intimate partnership than having another living being growing inside of you, absorbing everything that travels through you, physically and psychically. A revelation about a partnership, indeed, and easily the most profound and life changing *message* I’ve ever received.

Robert Fludd, from Utriusque Cosmi, 1621

I share this to illustrate the ways in which observing the astrological currents can infuse your own life with a kind of heightened awareness to the symbolic dimension of reality — which in turn, can promote a deepened appreciation (or at least a greater acceptance) for whatever life brings. If you’d like a thorough understanding of how this Venus retrograde, the Mercury cazimi, or the upcoming Fall astro-weather may impact your own life, I would be happy to assist with a one-on-one consultation, which you can book here.

Venus in Leo Retrograde Horoscopes

Venus and Cupid by Lorenzo Lotto, 1520

Venus, the planet of love, beauty and values, goes retrograde from July 22nd - September 3rd for 40 days and 40 nights. If that length of time sounds familiar, it might be because it appears numerous times throughout the Bible (or perhaps because of the early 2000s rom-com starring Josh Hartnett). In both the movie and the Bible, 40 days and nights is time in which someone (Moses, Noah, Elijah, Josh, etc) was tested in order to receive illumination or absolution (or a date with Shannon Sossamon) following a period of trials and tests.

40 weeks is also the average length of time it takes to gestate a human life —as well as the period following birth, commonly referred to as “the first 40 days”, a necessary period of healing, rest and integration. 40 seems to denote a meaningful length of time in which one can endure a challenge, reflect on it, and come through it alchemized in some way.

Ancient Roman uterus talisman for childbirth

During the retrograde period, Venus descends to the Underworld to help us reignite lost connections, re-think creative projects, reconnect with forgotten pleasures, and recover shards of connection to our true selves which got lost in the forward-momentum of life’s usual pace. Since it’s happening in Leo, there will be overarching themes of re-evaluating our self-expression, creative urges, and our impulses for originality and individuality. Additionally, the people and activities which bring a sense of joy, pleasure, ease and connection may be up for review.

Medieval alchemical illustration of Leo and the Sun

During the retrograde, Venus will come as close in her orbit as she ever gets to the Earth. Symbolically, Venus’ proximity to us helps us to magnify our true desires and to examine them intimately. This period of review, re-examination, and re-evaluation of where we put our relational, libidinal and creative energy can help us to refine and clarify our desires, claim them, and emerge from this period with a deeper, heart-felt connection to that which we want to be in relationship with, to express, and to radiate.

Read on for your rising sign-based horoscopes (or if you use Placidus, you can look them up based on what house/s the retrograde will hit).

Aries Rising / 5th House Venus Rx

The Birth of Venus by Alexandre Cabanel, 1875

Venus will be retrograding through your 5th house of creativity, romance and fertility, representing that which we give life to either literally or metaphorically. The tug to re-examine what you want to create may feel especially strong, with an air of heaviness or seriousness as you review and reconsider what you’re putting your energy into. You may no longer feel satisfied by once brought a sense of pleasure and this period can help you refine what brings a deeper sense of joy. If you feel abandoned by your creative muses or your usual pathways to fun, allow a new current of inspiration to find you by digging through forgotten mediums and abandoned or unfinished projects. When this period ends, you can emerge with a renewed vitality and connection to your creative and life-giving energy.

Taurus Rising / 4th House Venus Rx

Snuffbox with decoration of Venus and Cupid, Jean Baptiste Carnay, 1766

Venus will be retrograding through your 4th house of home, family, foundations, and your past or lineage. During Venus’ sojourn through the roots of your chart, you may be prompted to review some aspect of your current or past home life. Whether you are considering literally moving house, redecorating, or are reconnecting with family, this period can be fruitful for aligning with a deeper set of values and principles in your home life. You could be uncovering some aspect of your family past or reconnecting to an aspect of your childhood which allowed you to feel creative, expressive, and playful. When this period ends, you can emerge with new ideas about what you need to feel authentically yourself at home.

Gemini Rising / 3rd House Venus Rx

18th c French decorative paper featuring Venus

With Venus retrograding through your 3rd house, you may be prompted to review your daily routines, communications with others, social activity, and the general amount of noise in your daily activities. Venus slowing down here can prompt you to reconsider what of your daily habits and patterns brings a true sense of joy, pleasure, and creative stimulation; and what feels less exciting or draining. If you’ve been working on translating an idea into a communicable form or media, you could be reviewing and re-working the way you want to get your message out in ways that are truly resonant with what you want to share, express or communicate. Allow this period to help you let go of, shift, and reconnect with your creative expression in unexpected ways.

Cancer Rising / 2nd House Venus Rx

Pendant with Venus and Cupid on a Dolphin, Alfred Andre, 1865

Venus will retrograde through your 2nd house of resources, prompting you to review the ways you earn money and the values that guide your income-generating activities. This period could also motivate you to review your possessions and assets to understand if they are offering you maximum pleasure and value. You could be reconsidering the ways that your self-expression or creativity impact the way/s that you earn money with a desire to calibrate a more clear expression of self. It may require a re-prioritization of resources or projects to allow you to see what work efforts are truly worth your time. If your sense of self-worth is deeply enmeshed with your income, this period of time could offer some opportunities to examine and disentangle these aspects of self.

Leo Rising / 1st House Venus Rx

The Planet Venus, German, mid-16th c

Venus will retrograde through your 1st house of self and identity, offering you some major opportunities to reflect on the way you channel your essence outwards through your style, presentation of self, and your persona. You may feel like your self-presentation is no longer resonant with who you feel you are now, and you want to channel your essence outwards with more specificity, performativity, play, and jouissance. There may also be opportunities to assess whether you feel supported to be your true self in the context of your close relationships, and to make adjustments if not. This retrograde can offer you opportunities to tweak your inner sense of identity as well as your outward appearance, and work to make changes so that they are in more alignment with each other.

Virgo Rising / 12th house Venus Rx

Venus and Psyche Pointing to the Underworld, 1530

Venus’ underworld journey happens in the part of your chart which corresponds neatly to your own underworld: the part of your psyche which is just beyond conscious awareness, the place where subconscious motivations, fears, and desires can bubble to the surface through dreams, intuitive insights, or nagging feelings. What Venus reveals during the retrograde can help you to reclaim something that’s been cast into the shadows — a part of your heart, your creativity, or your desire for self-expression which may slowly make itself known over this period of time. Stay open to receiving insights or clues in unexpected ways, which can help you reconnect to something vital that lives deep within. This period of time can offer you the opportunity to transform something that feels shadowy, fearful or unknown into a source of strength, creativity and pride.

Libra Rising / 11th House Venus Rx

Venus talisman with symbol of Libra, 16th-18th c

Venus’ retrograde tour through your 11th house of social and professional networks can instigate a period of review and adjustment in your social life, where you want to direct your social energy, and how that intersects with your larger hopes, aspirations and goals. With Leo on your 11th house, you may feel the need to connect with groups which allow you to feel a part of something larger, creative, and inspiring. The ways in which your friendships or alliances may feel disappointing or challenging can be highlighted during this time, prompting you to realign with those who you feel more connected to or who mirror your own creative energy.

Scorpio Rising / 10th House Venus Rx

Venus Triumphant by Fatima Ronquillo, 2017

Venus will be retrograding through your most public house of your vocation and career, prompting you to re-examine some aspect of the way that you show up in your professional role/s. With Leo on your 10th house, you’re driven to make your professional work a vehicle for self-expression, play and creativity, a place where you can channel your essence into your work. This retrograde might prompt you to reimagine how you express this part of yourself, initiating untold re-brands, launches and new offerings. How can what you “do” be more You — or at least, some version of you? Use this period to examine the ways that you can show up more confidently in your work and you can emerge from it with a renewed clarity on what values you want to embody and offer the world.

Sagittarius Rising / 9th House Venus Rx

Temple of Venus, manufactured by Meissen Manufactory, 1710

With Venus retrograding through your 9th house of higher values, you may find that this period draws you into an imaginative reverie on your ideals, beliefs and big-picture goals, with a desire to re-imagine how you embody them in the world. This can be an expansive time where you reformulate some aspect of what guides you creatively or ideologically, and a time where you can reconnect to some forgotten ideal, wish or idea that serves to inspire you and remind you of a buried but important truth. You might find that the prism through which you see the world expands, as you notice more facets to the jewel and observe the multitude of beautiful perspectives available to you. Through this process, you can formulate new paradigms of beauty, self-expression, and creativity.

Capricorn Rising / 8th House Venus Rx

Bath of Venus by Sir Edward Jones, 1890s

The shadows that live in your 8th house of sex, death and money are ripe for examination during the Venus retrograde. During this time, you can uncover some buried psychic treasure through therapy, journaling, or other forms of self-exploration which reveal your own forgotten desires and needs within partnership. This time could also see you reviewing your financial agreements and shared financial responsibilities with others to renegotiate and find new ways of sharing the load. The way through this retrograde is to go within and to look at what you share with others (emotionally, sexually, or financially) and to examine the ways that these agreements can be made more equitable, expansive or creative.

Aquarius Rising / 7th House Venus Rx

Venus and Mars engraved gem, ancient Greece

Venus will retrograde through your 7th house of committed relationships, prompting you to recover forgotten pleasures, people, or desires within partnership. If you’re in a committed romantic or business partnership, you may be reviewing the relational needs, wants, and agreements (spoken or otherwise) between you, with the intention of setting new patterns in your relationship. If feelings of boredom or disenchantment start to percolate, allow them to be the bread crumbs that lead you towards greater connection and pleasure. If you’re not attached, you could be revisiting connections from the past, though you could also just be reviewing the ways you want to show up in partnership in ways that feel more embodied, more true to who you are now.

Pisces Rising / 6th House Venus Rx

Anatomical Venus, Fontana Workshop, 1780

Venus will be retrograding through your 6th house of daily routines, health, and employment, prompting you to examine the structure and contents of your daily life. If your routines start to feel dull or limiting, you may be prompted to discover new pathways to pleasure, new ways of seeking employment or new health regimens that feel more expansive. Allow any feelings of boredom or limitation to guide you towards what feels more exciting, expansive and inspiring. If your days feel weighed down by boredom and drudgery, Venus’ retrograde tour wants to show you the way out and back towards a feeling of aliveness in your body and in your days.

Horoscopes for Taurus New Moon, May 19 2023

New Moon in Taurus at 28 degrees on May 19 2023 at 8:52 AM PST

May 19th brings a New Moon in Taurus with Jupiter co-present, offering an opportunity to plant seeds of intention around what we desire to cultivate in the Taurus part of our charts over the next year. Because Jupiter is associated with expansion, opportunity, and abundance, the Greater Benefic (as it was known to the ancients) will be sprinkling fertilizer over this part of our chart over the course of its yearlong stay in Taurus, bringing opportunities for growth and plenitude.

This New Moon can also offer a point of reflection to the Scorpio Eclipse on May 5th, which may have coincided with a major purge, revelation, illumination, or culmination. Because these two signs are opposite each other, they’re connected by a mutual concern with the resources we own and share with others, as well as with processes of birth, death, and rebirth. Reflecting on whatever was released, illuminated, catharted or healed around the May 5th Eclipse may shed light on what you now have space to cultivate anew.

Taurus and Scorpio both relate to the idea of surrender, but from different vantage points: Scorpio invites surrender through release (by shedding layers of ego so that a more authentic self can emerge) while Taurus invites surrender through trust (by trusting that goodness will come to you when you surrender control over how and when it will happen). Taurus reminds us that a seed doesn’t bloom overnight: your unfolding is happening in its perfect and natural timing.

Taurus is about slow and purposeful growth, an insistence on pleasure as a birth right, and the desire to build systems that support our ability to actually enjoy life’s delights at a reasonable, not hurried pace. This New Moon represents the beginning of all of the underground work that eventually culminates in a gorgeous bloom.

Aries Rising (or Jupiter in the 2nd house)

The Taurus New Moon on May 19th highlights your 2nd house of income, skills, and values. This part of your chart describes the resources you earn, have, and can cultivate in order to support your life, and Jupiter here will invite in opportunities to expand your income or help you to develop new skills which can lead to a greater return down the line. Psychologically this can feel like an expansion of self-worth and a growing confidence in your ability to generate the abundance you desire. The May 5th Scorpio Eclipse may have prompted a release or brought forth an important insight around your shared entanglements with another (either with the context of a romantic or business partnership). Whatever agreement you renegotiated or ended can create the space for a new influx of material support, gifts and opportunities over the next year.

Taurus Rising (or Jupiter in the 1st house)

The Taurus New Moon on May 19th offers you an opportunity to welcome in expansive opportunities and blessings that bolster your sense of self. With Jupiter here, you are learning to embody a bigger version of yourself, one that wants to take up more space and share your talents and vision generously with others. You can tap into a grounded sense of self-confidence during this transit that feels like a deep knowing that you can achieve your highest ideals and visions. Make the most of these opportunities for your personal expansion and those which allow you to inhabit your true self more brightly, more fully. The Scorpio eclipse on May 5th may have coincided with a major shift or culmination in your closest partnership, which simultaneously supports your evolving and expanding sense of self.

Gemini Rising (or Jupiter in the 12th house)

The Taurus New Moon on May 19th invites you to reflect on the ways that you seek meaning and purpose from deep within, and to create pathways of connection to the furthest corners of your innermost self. Jupiter in your 12th house over the next year can also bring a positive expansion to any behind-the-scenes work you’re undertaking, aligning you with the support and connections that help you to do preparatory work for a larger project. Jupiter helps you to deepen what gives your daily life a sense of meaning, whether that’s your friendships, your work, or your spiritual practices. The Scorpio eclipse on May 5th may have seen you releasing an old way of working or old daily habits and routines, and with this new beginning in Taurus, you can do meaningful preparatory work for the expansion that’s to come.

Cancer Rising (Or Jupiter in the 11th house)

The Taurus New Moon on May 19th brings an opportunity to expand your connections to your wider social networks, your friends, and those who share your ideals or aspirations. Your professional and personal networks could feel especially supportive, and you could find yourself making new connections that help you branch out into the world in new ways. Friendships which help you further your own dreams or aspirations can materialize with ease, and you can cultivate these connections over the coming year while Jupiter’s in Taurus. The Scorpio eclipse on May 5th may have coincided with a shift in your creative work, with a project finally coming to completion or the letting go of one path in favor of another. With this shift in focus on what you’re creating, you can now forge meaningful connections which support your goals and dreams.

Leo Rising (Or Jupiter in the 10th house)

With the Taurus New Moon on May 19th, your career, vocation, or public facing work is highlighted as the area of expansion to focus on. Jupiter here over the coming year brings the possibility of greater recognition, opportunities for growth and expansion, and achievement in the realm of your work. You can use this New Moon to plant seeds of intention around how you’d like to grow in your field, and to call in the blessings and opportunities that will support your development. The Scorpio eclipse on May 5th may have shaken up or illuminated an important issue at home, prompting a release or a shift around how you show up within the family unit. This New Moon can be an impetus to define yourself anew within (and in distinction to) the context of your foundations and family.

Virgo Rising (Or Jupiter in the 9th house)

The Taurus New Moon on May 19th invites you to consider how you’d like to expand your world and over the coming year. Jupiter in Taurus can offer you opportunities for learning, traveling, teaching, publishing, sharing your work with the world, and generally widening your frame of understanding of what it means to be alive on this planet. New and enlivening people, places, artworks, and ideas can penetrate your mind and contribute to the richness of your worldview. The Scorpio eclipse on May 5th may have seen you releasing or shifting some aspect of your daily life or routine, or the way you communicate and share your ideas with others. Whatever was illuminated during this time could set the stage for the expansion happening in your 9th house of exploration.

Libra Rising (Or Jupiter in the 8th house)

The New Moon on May 19th invites you to reflect on the ways that you desire to grow your collaborations and the investments (emotionally and financially) that you have with the partners in your life (romantic, platonic or business). With Jupiter here over the next year, you can benefit from the resources, patronage, and blessings of those who desire to support your growth. Things like a mortgage, an educational grant, inheritances, gifts, or joint ventures may be available to you over the next year. The Scorpio eclipse on May 5th happened in your 2nd house of income, which may have coincided with a shift in how you want to earn your living or in the way that you desire to work. With Jupiter in Taurus, you can focus on cultivating the meaningful partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures that will uplift your new trajectory.

Scorpio Rising (Or Jupiter in the 7th house)

The New Moon in Taurus on May 19th invites you to reflect on the ways that you can invite in opportunities for growth and expansion through your committed partnerships (romantic, platonic, or business). You may receive blessings and good fortune by virtue of your partner, or they may come as a result of a joint venture undertaken together. Your clients, business partnerships, or romantic partnerships can all be a conduit for your personal expansion, and you can invest in your growth by cultivating the close connections in your life. The May 5th eclipse may have coincided with a shift in how you conceive of yourself as an individual, with some aspect of your inner or outer identity going through a major process of change. You can lean into this shift by committing more deeply to the relationships which reflect and support your evolving identity.

Sagittarius Rising (Or Jupiter in the 6th house)

The New Moon in Taurus on May 19th invites you to reflect on ways that you can build in more ease and pleasure to your daily routines, work life, and the activities that support your physical health and wellness. With Jupiter here over the next year, you can create routines that honor your needs as a physical being who craves beauty, rest and pleasure; allowing for a feeling of integration and connection between your “work” and your “life.” With the May 5th eclipse occurring in your 12th house of your subconscious mind, you may have recently confronted revelations from the deepest layers of your psyche. Committing to the activities which connect you to the natural joy of being inside a body can be a grounding and supportive antidote to the deeper shadow work undertaken over the Eclipse.

Capricorn Rising (Or Jupiter in the 5th house)

The New Moon on May 19th invites you to seriously consider what will bring you maximum joy, pleasure, and expansion over the next year. What you pour your creative or libidinal energy into can bear fruit as an expression of your soul made manifest — whether that’s a magnum opus, the cultivation of an actual and unapologetic hobby, or the creation of a new human being, you have Big Fecundity Energy and you are the conduit for its materialization. The May 5th eclipse may have brought a shift in the ways you relate to your social world, friend groups or professional networks. Perhaps you’re reconsidering the ways that you want to relate to the larger world, and now you can focus on re-envisioning what form your creative energy will take.

Aquarius Rising (Or Jupiter in the 4th house)

The New Moon on May 19th highlights the ways that your family unit, foundations and home life may be shifting to accommodate new growth and expansion. The blessings and opportunities that Jupiter can offer over the next year can come through your family or in the form of an expansion of home, whether that’s because you’re literally moving house or perhaps because your family is growing to include new members. You can use this energy to envision what the most expansive version of home feels and looks like to you, and start taking steps towards making this a reality. The May 5th eclipse may have coincided with a shift in your professional life, perhaps bringing with it a release of certain responsibilities or obligations at work, which now allows you to pour more energy into cultivating abundant and expansive foundations.

Pisces Rising (Or Jupiter in the 3rd house)

The New Moon in Taurus on May 19th invites you to expand your outlook on life and the ways that you relate to others through your communications and daily interactions. You’re being urged to adopt a more expansive and abundant mindset, and can cultivate new skills which expand your capacity for self-expression. Jupiter here over the next year asks what you’d like to learn and how you can expand your ability to communicate your ideas and thoughts. Your consciousness can widen because of the new ideas, skills or routines you begin to incorporate into your daily life. You can expand beyond any limiting thoughts, beliefs or self-doubts which have become calcified in your mind. This influx of abundant energy can come as a welcome shift after the Scorpio eclipse on May 5th, which may have highlighted the ways in which you feel stuck, prompting you to release or clarify an aspect of the larger goals you’re working towards.