A new lunar cycle of two very different halves sees Mars changing signs and Venus emerging from the underworld into the night skies through the waxing quarters…..this is soul time, a medicine to counter the new dominion, but, what is on the other side of full Moon?

Back in May last year I decided to let things roll in the planetary sphere, to lay off the writing for a while and focus more on just observing how things were unfolding. In itself this is not new, as a quick glance at publication dates for posts on this site will show. Alongside this, its one of the ways in which I work, that I won’t write unless there is something ‘coming thru’ and clearly wanting to be said. But, at the heart of this more intuitive and divinatory approach another astrological factor was calling for attention as well, that of just how important cyclicity and process is to the practice.

To see and engage with the astrological process as an ongoing journey is one of the most important ways in which astrology finds meaning and makes personal meaning available to us, in my opinion. It provides us with a mirror for our inner processes, not only as a transmutative experience, but as a way in which the ongoing experience of our terrestrial life becomes more deeply integrated with the outer cosmos; it not only informs our outer world, it nourishes our inner cosmos, brings it more fully alive.

Through much of the fifty years I have been practicing astrology and divination I have been aware of this understanding but in the course of time it has become more central, foundational. It has established itself through practice and experience as being much more fundamental to my personal relationship with astrology than perhaps horary concerns and specific moments in time, marked by aspects and transits.

Those aspects of astrology have always been active too, and I have an active client base, many having become good and important friends, but, once we entered ‘lockdown’ and the world appeared to be taking a more inward turn, I decided that I needed to look more deeply into the realities of cyclicity and process, to go deeper and re-appraise them.

And a curious thing happened once I started to follow this focus – the area of my work which does look specifically at and bring out the significance of aspects and transits, especially in readings and working with people on their natal and progressed charts, quite suddenly began to gather energy.

This has been one of the busiest times I have known as the energy levels in both sides of this work has risen consistently throughout the last nine months – but, what I also noticed is that there was a corresponding influx of new energy at work in the world, and nowhere was this more visible than in nature.

May 2020 also saw profound changes in the human world, for sure, but, in the heavens it was the planet Venus that really caught my eye.

Nature and Venus might well go hand in hand, in our thoughts and symbolic associations, but, Venus also has a beautiful cyclical relationship with the Earth, expressed through her phases as Morning and Evening Star. When Venus entered retrograde in mid May last year and subsequently began her journey into the underworld, to return as the Morning Star in June, Nature herself seemed to be making that increase in inner energy more visible.

I began to wonder if She was leading the way in my own change of focus – following her, in fact, proved to be an unbelievably beautiful and rewarding undertaking and, this post has in many ways grown directly out of that journey.

The current new Moon in Aries, happening as I write, is the perfect marker on that journey, as a place of emergence – some of what I experienced will find its way into this and upcoming posts, but, its the world process that is now happening that is really grabbing attention, and there is much more to it than the establishment of a ‘new dominion’. And, what is more, Venus figures significantly once again in its corresponding celestial unfoldment. What this has to tell us is, in my humble opinion, of the greatest value to us now.

The planet Venus is in an emergent state once again, travelling back into the night world, having passed behind the Sun on March 26th 2021. Their conjunction in the sixth degree of Aries signalling the end of Venus journey in the guise of the ‘Morning Star’, which began back in May last year.

As I write, Mercury too is becoming obscured within the solar radiance and as it passes behind the Sun, is also emerging from day to night role. Mercury will first be visible again, close to Venus in the skies at dusk, in the period around Beltane, at the beginning of May.

One significance for us now is that the first half of the new lunation leading up to full Moon in Scorpio on April 27th sees only three of the five classical planets visible in the skies.

This brief period of invisibility suggests that self assessment and introspective contemplation is one of the ways in which we can work with the new lunation during its first two quarters. While this might sound decidedly meditative, this might well in fact be the best time to deal with important choices, in preparation for the following lunation,  as following the Scorpio full Moon there will be much more emotional energy being activated, Mars having entered Cancer on the 23rd April.

Mars transit of Cancer will trigger a square with Chiron in Aries and, towards the end of the transit, an opposition with Pluto, and the ongoing archetypal tensions associated with these planets will be hightened between then and full Moon, especially as the Moon squares Pluto on the 26th.

Mars passed over the Moon’s north node at the beginning of the month, within a few hours of Venus transit of the Sun in fact, which could have been a warning to pay heed particular to our future through the next few months. As the red planet now moves away through the arc of the zodiac that follows the Sun’s path from Cancer to Sagittarius, and from mid year is joined by the remaining inner planets, the months up to December will be peppered with oppositions to Jupiter, Saturn and the outer planets, with a monthly regularity.

The balance needed to navigate these aspects is going to be highlighted in areas of weakness found in the part of the chart opposing Mars, and this makes the next few weeks especially valuable in preparation; if only used for simplifying our burdens and building a calm centre, we will see the benefits in the near future.

The inner Venus and Mercury, now at work in sextile with Mars, become very important through this time, making of the first and second quarter of the Aries lunation an opportunity to make peace with ourselves, to create a sense of sanctuary in our lives and to make sure we are not neglecting the most important things in life, those that matter most to us personally.

There are simple if really practical things that can be undertaken through this time, and its perfect for simply ‘getting our house in order’; some of this also makes use of the current increased presence of Saturn in the planetary mix.

For example, this is the perfect time to think about inheritance, to assess the energetic imprint you are creating in life and that you will leave behind. This is certainly heavily in view in the world at large now, but, its personal aspects are really highlighted now and will become more so with Mars ingress of Cancer.

Make a symbolic act of updating your will, write one if you haven’t already, but, take stock of the fundamentals and use this as a way of looking on life as a practical doorway, in the most grounded sense, to the sacred.

Its not about death so much as being about keying into your heart, its connection to source, and letting its inner wisdom be a strong guiding voice in your worldly affairs.

All things are included in this process, and its a very good habit to get into as well, but, taking this approach to life will matter even more and make a bigger difference in the second half of the year if we pay attention to it now.

Venus and Mercury’s hidden influence from Aries, and then Taurus as we run up to full Moon, will help the dust settle. By the time the shift in Mars energy lights up our emotional field, and brings home the importance of trust and the reliability of friends and family, we will be able to utilise the protective and passionate inner build up of energy that Mars transit signifies with greater confidence and clarity.

The Cancer field emphasises emotional boundaries as practical edges to our personal field of sensitivity, and Mars transit may highten that sensitivity. The ‘sanctuary of the now’ is where we can find strength and refuge from having those boundaries stressed and triggered, and that is why getting our affairs in order now makes sense – we have had a long period of emotional pollution to deal with and while cleansing this toxicity from our system is another important aspect of this work, it all becomes a lot easier when we have cleared the ‘in-box’, so to speak, and strengthened our personal position.

Cancer’s sector of the zodiac also carries memories of the ‘great mother’ aspect of life, is connected with times in which the Earth Mother was given respect and honour, was more central in how life was lived among humans.

That feeling of being in sacred relationship with the natural world, which is so heavily under stress and challenged in our times, even while Mars may bring a supressed anger to bear in response, can also be strengthened now, especially while the world shifts gear and experiences a localised lifting of restrictions. In fact, its important that we do pay attention to that sacred relationship now, and not be distracted by the appearance of ‘normality’ or return to at least a partial sense of freedoms with the lifting of ‘lockdowns’.

One of the lessons of the last year has been to pay attention to what might be on our mind more closely, a point which I made quite central to the last post and how the larger forces are shaping our world. But, for all that external pressure, the real challenge is to maintain our true nature, regardless.

One of the amazing things to experience during this time, as nature regained her vitality, as rivers and skies cleared and pollution levels dropped, was to witness how resiliant and quick to respond Nature is, given the chance. Her true nature and creative energy never falters.

Witnessing this it seemed like the most natural thing to me, in following  Venus and spending more time with the land, within nature, to honour the life force, the great mother and her incredible dynamism and presence. I found myself gathering clay, sculpting simple images of the goddess, installing them at the ancestor shrine and so making deeper connections with them, the old guardians of this beautiful planet who sing at the roots of all our ancestral tree, through this – its a powerful healing technique, to speak to those ancestors who preceed the injury and suffering that has been passed down the line into the present, and to petition them to help restore to the present the power of their living relationship and symbiosis with the living Earth, the nature spirits and children of the Earth Mother.

This is a very poweful time to make offerings back to our planet, through this lunation and beyond, to get into a deeper relationship with Her in this period of transition – She will return our call, and keep open the intimate connections we create and revitalise now.

During the nine months that Venus has been in Morning Star mode she has leant herself very much to powerful sacred work in the world. She commands transformative energy in the earth plane while in this form. The transition into Evening Star mode, a return to the sky realms and more mysterious nature of the night and star light signals a sublimation of that earthly power, a call to become aware of the greater cosmos, both as an active mirror for our life experiences, and as an active inner experience.

The star mother, who may be more of the Sophianic nature of the Great Mother, as deep Source, comes into play. This is going to resonate with people who identify especially with the galactic, the star realms, in their spirit connections.

Being a manifestation of the flow between the spirit and the earth realms, the soul’s work is naturally oriented towards bringing these connections alive. Soul groups provide an indication of the nature of this link, its ‘flow’ and how it can consciously be worked with in this life.

I have found this area of ‘natal’ work coming up more and more in recent months, especially in working with friends who are returning to their charts for a deeper look. I believe that a planetary surge in soul group activation is now underway. The levels of activation are increasing, as is the conscious intent to fully manifest the purpose these soul groups embody through individual lives.

This is super important to the counter-surgent energy that Venus signalled through taking on her Morning Star role in May, and is exactly in sync with both the resurgence of Nature herself and our quieter, more inner focus. I see them as a singular process, braided into many levels of realisation, that describe a re-souling of the earth plane.

Ultimately, this speaks of reintegrating our celestial nature on earth, and in turn of finding our home in the stars. We do not need to leave here to make this a reality, in fact, Earth is deeply invested in this process, and helping us fulfil the potential we carry in being a part of it, while on Earth.

Soul work, in astrological practice, provides a bridge between the realms which Venus embodies in her twin roles, the celestial and the terrestrial, the spiritual and the physical, and I see the integration of Venus transits within the larger cosmological process now unfolding as of imense importance.

They offer us a working framework for developing the strength and effectiveness of what you could call our cosmological immune system, but, their grounding nature also means that we do so through direct manifest experience, and that fundamental necessity is integral to anchoring the re-souling process itself.

The opportunities offering themselves to us now, despite all the restrictions and turmoil, to grow soul and really turn on our true, innate power as individuals and participants in living the intent of the soul, as well as its ‘group’, are full of promise.

This is our time to rise, and to keep rising – lets make it count.

Blessed be!

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If you are interested to know more about your own soul group and the means by which you can manifest its intent, I work with the method described by the great astrologer, Robert Blaschke. This effective and beautiful approach to living astrology empowers us to identify soul groups and their modus operandi through which we can manifest their intent in our own lives. Its a very rewarding aspect of astrological work, very confirmative and empowering, and takes this work as an evolutionary process to the next level.

Robert is sadly no longer with us in the physical plane, but his profound insights into the metaphysical nature of astrological work, and its practical application, live on and were one of the major grounding influences in my own practice.

I highly recommend all of his written work, much of which can be found here, alongside some great tutorials.