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Yesterday was Venus’ Inferior Conjunction with the Sun—the heart of her Retrograde. Venus’ Inferior Conjunction is usually a day where a lot of messages are conveyed—especially in the sign of Gemini. The question, however, is whether or not you make yourself available to receiving them. Gemini is also the sign that rules divination. It’s ruled by Mercury, the messenger, the trickster who rules and protects the space between Heaven and Earth, what messages pass, and to whom they’re made available. So, this is a deeply spiritual time.
Venus’ Inferior Conjunction with the Sun is the day when she disappears from the night sky. On Saturday, she will reappear, but in the morning sky and in a much different form. In a way, her Inferior Conjunction is kind of like her Good Friday.
If you’ve ever practiced Christianity or been around others who do, you may be familiar with the deep sanctity that comes with the solemnity of Holy Week—and, in particular, Good Friday. It’s one of the holiest days of the Christian Calendar. It’s a day of deep repentance. It’s kind of like a Christian version of Yom Kippur. But I digress.
Yesterday was the last day of one of Venus’ cycles. She will disappear for a few days and she will begin a new cycle this weekend. It’s impossible for me to separate Venus’ Inferior Conjunction from the Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse coming up on Friday, given the strengths of each of their energies and the fact that the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse will occur during Venus’ absence in the sky. Again, in a way, this is like a Venusian Holy Week.
And honestly, right now, can we not ALL use some extra Venusian energy!?!?
Venus will be absent, which means that we all need to be more connected than ever to our spirits (internal and external) of love and connection. She will not be here, so she needs US to dig deep and muster up the courage to connect with and care for one another—especially in light of the full moon in Sagittarius.
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Sagittarius is a sign of truth—ultimate truth. Sagittarius without Venus can be truth without mercy, truth without compassion, connection, and consideration. It’s easy, while so many of us remain in physical isolation and separated from one another, to put things out on social media that we wouldn’t say to a person’s face. Alternatively, a lot of people don’t have the courage to speak the truth to someone’s face that they can on social media. With an eclipse in Sagittarius during Venus’ absence, we’re being asked to review how to find the courage to tell the truth with compassion.
We’re all stuck here together on this planet together. We can’t truly isolate or separate from one another. We have to learn to connect. We need the courage to both tell and receive the truth with the grace that we’d hope others would offer us—both as conveyers and receivers of the truth. There are no rules anymore. Boundaries are blurring, and I believe that this eclipse season, as a whole, is very much going to be about the release/breakdown of political boundaries. This could be both internal/cultural and external/geographic, and this breakdown can open us up to move in more intuitive ways, to nourish ourselves holistically, and to REALLY take care of ourselves—especially the parts of ourselves that we haven’t been very good at caring for.
Venus Retrograde, among other things, is always about values and worth. What would your life look like if YOU truly valued yourself? Do YOU live YOUR life in a way where YOU value yourself or do you spend more time worrying about whether and/or how much everyone around you values you? Others value you when YOU value you.
You find what you look for. To be conscious is to be intentional about what you’re looking for, to know that you’ve been programmed to seek a certain thing and to know that you have a choice about what you seek and how you see. When you value yourself, you seek others who can see you and who value you—truly—and you find them. When you don’t value yourself, you seek out people who don’t value you and either get upset about it or try to convince/force them to value you in ways you don’t or can’t. The heart of this Retrograde can bring clarity around which set of glasses you’re wearing. Generally speaking, with Venus in Gemini and the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius, this week can bring clarity around a LOT of things—including what you see, how much you value yourself, what you’re seeking, and how authentic your relationships actually are.
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It’s likely that, surrounding this lunation, people could have breakthroughs related to their worth. It is also likely that the catalyst for those breakthroughs could be something related to one’s family, home, origin, or ancestry. This is a time when people could find a new sense of pride in where they come from and in their people—not in a militant way, but in a way that’s filled with love.
Sagittarius seeks the unified theory. But the problem with unified theories is that they’re inherently exclusionary. Whenever ONE theory, belief, or system is privileged, others are excluded. It’s a harsh truth that most people in the U.S. (regardless of who they are) don’t want equity or multiplicity (within individuals or within collectives). Instead, we want our own systems and beliefs to be the privileged ones. That’s how the system was built, and it’s working, because we’re still fighting against one another about who is right, rather than acknowledging that everyone has a little bit of truth and merging our truths to work together.
We don’t need a unified theory right now, we need a unified world. And a unified world is grounded in diverse theories. To be clear—diverse theories are not the same as diversity theory—which is just another unified theory. This is the same as believing diversity is the result of differing bodies rather than allowing people to embody the many narratives that are flowing through them—individually and collectively. This is the narrative where everyone in a society, community, or family is only accepted if they think, dress, and worship the way those “in power” tell them they’re “supposed” to. Some of the shadows of Sagittarian energy revolve around the sense that one is always right, the need to always be right, and the need to constantly try to prove one is right. It makes me tired just thinking about it.
During a lunar eclipse, something is cut off and, in the weeks following, that thing is released. A lot of people in the U.S. are EXHAUSTED at this point. This is actually valuable because it leaves little energy to put towards bullshit, pretending to be someone you’re not, or cosigning on things that you don’t support. Eclipse seasons are connected to the Nodes of the Moon—prime indicators of a person’s destiny in their natal chart. So, eclipse seasons are times for fated events. Destiny tends to kick in, whether you want it to or not. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter—the Great Benefic, the ruler of faith. If you are willing to surrender completely, I believe there’s a lot to have faith in during this eclipse season. What you resist persists. Stop fighting, start loving. Stop resisting, start flowing. You decided who you wanted to be before you came into this life. Now it’s time to own that person.
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In addition, there are some side energies with the potential to be very soothing and comforting—which is a prime theme for this eclipse season overall. Again, this is REALLY a time to step away from burdens and bullshit and take very good care of yourself. You don’t have to worry about other people all the time because you can’t care about anyone if you’re not caring for yourself. Anyone who can’t handle you isn’t for you. That doesn’t make them bad, it just means they’re not for you. In the same vein, anyone who expects you to constantly prove to them that you care in the exact ways they want you to at the exact times they want you to and gets mad when you don’t isn’t for you. That’s deeply oppressive and you’re never inadequate for failing to fit into another person’s narrow expectations for you (and probably themselves). Love is open. It flows. Boundaries are absolutely necessary—but sometimes, there’s a fine line between boundaries and limitations.
This Venus Retrograde has certainly brought about a review of values in the collective in the U.S., but moving forward, this is a time to (as discussed above) redraw the lines. It’s time to move away from the large scale and hone in on what one can influence the most. This is a time to return to YOUR self, to focus on YOUR passions, to love up on YOUR people more than ever before, and to worry less about things that are happening outside of you or over there. Yes – everything is connected, but only when you truly value yourself do you have the capacity to value others. This eclipse season is about valuing yourself so that you can receive the renewal and restoration you need all the time - not just when you’re burned out.
Life is not nearly as hard as we sometimes make it out to be. When all else fails, go with what comes easily, go with what flows, pay attention to what seems to be able to grow organically without having to push. Just be you and do you and see how much beauty, joy, and FUN you attract when you simply allow yourself to be your most BEAUTIFUL, JOYFUL, and FUN self!
Happy Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius!
<3, Hilary