Mary Jo Wevers

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Venus Retrograde in Gemini: Reviewing our Attachments to a Way of Thinking

A planet moving retrograde appears to move through the same part of the zodiac three times. It is as if the planet is walking back and forth reviewing its issues and processes from different perspectives and providing opportunities for us to revise and re-address them. This “sensitized” part of the zodiac is sometimes referred to as the Retrograde Shadow. 

During a planet’s first pass through the Retrograde Shadow, issues emerge that will be revisited and re-examined during the retrograde period. It then stations retrograde, and slowly begins to move through the Shadow area in reverse direction. This is a time for us to be more internal, reflective, and review what arose for us during the planet’s direct transit through the Shadow area. What emotions triggered in us are surfacing? What missing pieces of information or insight can we become aware of? When the planet arrives at the beginning of the Shadow area it slows, stations direct, and begins moving in a forward direction once again. As it makes its third pass through the Shadow area we can absorb, integrate, and apply knowledge and understanding garnered during the retrograde.

Venus rules, or determines, our natural instinctual physical needs and desires, and our ability to experience comfort and contentment in the physical world. She represents what we appreciate and love for the beauty and physical connections they provide. She defines what matters the most to us, what we find valuable, what we really want in life. She indicates the tangible possessions and material goods we are attached to for the abundance, security, and pleasure they provide.

Venus moves in retrograde motion once every 19 months or so. Its retrograde period lasts approximately 6 weeks. Venus entered its current Retrograde Shadow area on April 10th at 5 degrees Gemini. It stationed retrograde at 22 degrees Gemini on May 13th. It will station direct on June 24th at 5 degrees Gemini, and begin its third pass through its retrograde territory. On July 29th it will reach 22 degrees Gemini once again, leaving the retrograde Shadow area with its issues and lessons, and move on.

During this Venus retrograde in Gemini, we are tasked with reviewing our fixations and attachments to ways of thinking: our thoughts, ideas, and what we “think” we know. Can we find greater value, security and gratification in being more adaptable and flexible in our thinking? Where and how can we entertain other ideas and perspectives on matters? 

We can also reflect on our interactions with our environment and our side-by-side relationships. How do we move through our day? Can we improve the way we communicate and share information? How good a listener are we? How do we respond to the needs of others? What do we love and value about our exchanges with others?

We may also become aware of ways we are fickle, restless, or inconsistent in living by our true values. Are we easily distracted by superficial pleasures which only provide a fleeting sense of pleasure or security? Are we committed to our deeper values, or changeable, depending on how the wind blows?

During its retrograde period, Venus will square Neptune in Pisces twice, challenging us to face up to ways we are unrealistic, or self-delusional by romanticizing or idealizing matters. What illusions or magical thinking do we engage in that we need to acknowledge? Being curious about our inner workings, we can reflect, revise and refine our thinking and ways we interact with the world. Using spiritual awareness we can become more flexible, adaptable, and versatile in order to engage more compassionately in a rapidly changing world. 

“Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix.” – Christina Baldwin

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Taking Responsibility in Life

‘Response’ is the root of the words ‘responsible’ and ‘responsibility.’ Responding is taking the initiative to act in a specific way in a situation. Responding is different from reacting to a situation. Reacting is an unconscious, automatic action that comes from ingrained patterns of behavior that are often based on unresolved emotions. Reaction often takes place before we take the time to engage our thinking processes and weigh options. Responding is a conscious act, using our cognitive faculties when engaging with a situation and deciding how best to take action.

Capricorn responds to a situation by autonomously taking action with grounded practicality and a sense of duty. It employs self-discipline to place the needs of a situation above its own wants and desires. Valuing honor and integrity, it is principled. It has a moral commitment to do the right thing, even when it is difficult. 

Capricorn exercises its will over its feelings. Using restraint, it places boundaries, or limits on emotionality. Having a serious nature, it is purposeful in its responses. It is sensible, levelheaded and mature when making decisions.

Enterprising Capricorn defines success as achieving excellence in some area or field. It knows that sometimes hard work and perseverance are needed in order to achieve an ambition. Being pragmatic, it defines goals, crystallizes objectives, develops strategies and sets priorities. Through its determination and grit it overcomes obstacles. In time it reaches its aspirations.

Capricorn has wisdom born of real-world experience. It respects natural laws, cause and effect, and karma. It understands dharma, working with the principles of cosmic order. It respects the limitations and constraints of the physical, material world, space and time. Dedicated to its life’s work, Capricorn is structured and organized, making efficient use of time and conserving resources as it lives its life with purpose.

Capricorn holds itself accountable for its actions. It demands personal integrity in all it does. A constant, reliable figure it procures the respect of others and receives its just rewards. It earns a position of authority in the world based on the skills and wisdom it gains through real-life experience.

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Pluto: Source of Our Personal Power

In modern astrology the dwarf planet Pluto rules the sign of Scorpio. Pluto was named after the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. Prior to the discovery of Eris in 2005, Pluto was the farthest known planetary body in our solar system. It is composed primarily of rock and ice. Dark, remote and cold, Pluto represents the darkest aspects of ourselves, hidden from the light of our conscious awareness.

The name Pluto means “riches,” and refers to the gems, minerals, oil and radio-active substances found under the surface of the earth. Pluto rules what is buried and hidden in our depths, in our subconscious. This wealth of material is fertile ground for us to probe and mine. It contains our deepest fears and phobias, obsessions and passions that need to be brought up into the light of awareness and processed. Once we summon our courage and descend into our subconscious to uncover its hidden mysteries and secrets, we can face them, transform them and claim our power.

Pluto is sometimes referred to as the “destroyer.” Its energy is destructive as well as life-giving. The year of Pluto’s discovery marked the discovery of radiation, which lead to the development of the atomic bomb, and the potential to destroy life on the planet. This heralded a new development in human consciousness. We became aware of the destructive potential of a new source of powerful energy, and the ability for us to wield this power to create or destroy. Pluto brings us face to face with ultimate power: regenerative or degenerative.

Pluto’s power is potent, forceful, passionate, and sometimes explosive. It rules all intensely emotional transformative experiences, including sex and death. Pluto’s urge is to plumb and probe the depths, the dark and mysterious, in order to uncover what is hidden or in the shadows. Pluto’s force drives us to penetrate to the core of an experience. It deconstructs, surgically removes, amputates or eliminates that which is decaying, dying, or no longer useful. It strips away all that is false or not essential to reveal the true essence and nature of something.

Pluto represents our Shadow Self: our darkest aspects, hidden from the light of our conscious awareness. This is the part of us that has destructive tendencies and can become willful and manipulative, paranoid and withholding, jealous and vengeful. Our biggest secrets, those we have never shared with anyone, as well as anything that is taboo or forbidden falls in Pluto’s realm.

In the astrological chart, Pluto symbolizes how we have used and abused our personal power in our karmic past. This produces guilt and shame carried forward into this life, which becomes part of our Shadow Self. Facing our guilt and shame, we can transmute them through forgiveness and understanding, and reclaim our power and passion for life.

Sometimes we have painful experiences during the first decades of life. Plutonian themes of power and control, betrayal and abuse, play out as part of our karma. By the time we have our first Saturn return around age 29, we have paid our karmic debts, or created karmic balance through these experiences. However Pluto and its fixed sign of Scorpio are reluctant to let go of pain and suffering. They carry them forward in our life, even when we have completed our karma. We need to be conscious of Pluto’s love of suffering, acknowledge and honor our karmic balancing experiences, and then move on. Letting go of our karmic guilt and shame allows us to reclaim the power of our Pluto and use it in its highest, life-affirming expressions.

Pluto represents the principles of transformation and regeneration, of death and rebirth, and for this reason is also referred to as the “great renewer.” It is the force behind personal transformation and change as well as human evolution. Pluto asks, “What needs to die?” What old toxic parts of our ego-identified self need to be eliminated or released, so that we can be regenerated and evolve to a higher spiritual expression of our true essence? The placement of Pluto by sign and house in our horoscope gives us important clues.

We can summon our courage, descend into our subconscious, and wade through our turbulent, swampy underworld, probing the depths of our psyche. Coming face-to-face with our Shadow, we can discover its true nature, purge toxic elements, eliminate falsehoods, and reclaim our power. Emerging from our underworld with new self-knowledge and insight, we are transformed, revitalized and reborn. Like the legendary phoenix rising from its ashes, we are transmuted and renewed through Pluto.

“We all need to look into the dark side of our nature – that’s where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds pieces of us we’re busy denying.”
– La Gitana Eva

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The Asteroids

The asteroids are minor planets of the inner Solar System. The large majority of known asteroids orbit the Sun in a diffuse belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid belt consists of what some astronomers believe to be innumerable pieces of a planet which broke apart and fragmented. Symbolically these fragments represent different parts of ourselves that have become fractionated, disconnected, compartmentalized, and are wounded and hurt. 

While the traditional ruler of Virgo is Mercury, many modern astrologers feel the more appropriate rulers are the asteroids and the centaur Chiron. Rulership of Virgo by the asteroids is more congruent with her description and aligns more closely with the character of this feminine earth sign than placing her under the rulership of masculine Mercury, who more appropriately rules the intellectual air sign of Gemini. 

Although there are thousands of asteroids, the four largest are the ones most commonly used by modern astrologers in chart interpretations. These asteroids are named after goddesses in Greek and Roman mythology, which represent female archetypes. Each archetype symbolizes a different facet or fragment of feminine earth energy found in the human psyche. Through Virgo, the broken fragments, represented by the asteroids, can be recovered and reclaimed. Using the Virgo powers of analysis, discrimination, categorizing, and healing we can recover, mend and integrate these disconnected parts of ourselves, assimilate them and become whole.

Ceres

Ceres was the largest of the asteroids, before its reclassification and promotion to ‘dwarf planet’ in 2006. In mythology Ceres is the Roman version of the earlier Greek goddess Demeter. Da mater means “earth mother.” Ceres/Demeter is the goddess of the abundance of the land, agriculture, and the harvest. She is known as the Goddess of Grain. Pagan farmers saw her as the source of all food crops. Ceres’ daughter Persephone learned to tend the crops and nurture living things at the side of her mother. 

In the astrological chart Ceres represents the need for nurturing as well as the capacity for nurturing others. Ceres shows what we need from ourselves and others to feel unconditional love. The sign of Ceres in your astrological chart shows how you need to be nurtured and nourished, as well as how you express your propensity to nurture and nourish others.

While the Moon rules the protection, caring and feeding of babies and very young children, Ceres rules the nurturing of older children and the caring for adults. She rules mentoring and apprenticeships, relationships where the Ceres archetype instructs and guides the protege how to grow and flourish.

Ceres rules the growth of crops and animals and their major life cycles including life and death. As the goddess who has control over nature’s resources and natural life cycles, Ceres is associated with environmental and ecological causes in our modern world. Here the care-taking function of Ceres is broadened from interpersonal relationships to instinctive nurturing of the environment and the global community dependent upon it.

Ceres governs mother-child relationships, attachment and dependency. In our culture women tend to express Ceres’ energy more easily than men. A woman with a strongly place Ceres in her astrological chart yearns to be a nurturing caretaker. Men and women with a strong Ceres make good parents.

The dark shadow side of Ceres, expressed problematically, include withholding of nurturance, or over-controlling others for the sake of nurturing. Modern topics that fall under Ceres realm include nourishment, eating disorders, women’s reproductive rights, custody struggles, empty-nest syndrome, environmental issues and work stoppages.

Pallas

The asteroid Pallas was discovered shortly after Ceres, and is the second largest asteroid. In Greek mythology Pallas Athena is a Warrior Goddess. She was born fully grown and armed from the head of her father Zeus, after Zeus swallowed her mother. She is one of the first goddesses of the new patrilineal and patriarchal culture, where power and inheritance from the mother line was subjugated to the sole power and authority of men. She is the archetype of the daughter who learns to identify with her father and live in a man’s world.

Pallas is a somewhat androgynous goddess who refused to marry. She was known for her absolute chastity. She channeled her efforts into achieving success by aligning herself with the patriarchy, its goals and measures of success. She is willing and able to do the things that will please those in power, even if it means denying her feminine self. The armor she wears walls off her emotional vulnerabilities, and protects her from patriarchal judgments against feelings. 

Pallas represents feminine wisdom and intelligence that is holistic and inventive. As a great warrior and political strategist, she has a unique ability to recognize patterns, see a situation in its entirety, and devise a plan of action to achieve a goal. As a warrior goddess Pallas is a protector of those in battle. She uses compassionate wisdom to teach merciful justice and peaceful resolution of disputes. She supports the political and corporate state through her keen and perceptive intelligence and strategic efforts. 

Pallas’ intelligence is not only strategic, but also creative. In mythology she is revered for teaching the practical arts and crafts that enabled humankind to develop culture and civilization. As a patroness of the arts, her wisdom inspires artistic vision in artisans and craftspeople.  Pallas is also associated with healing and holistic therapies that integrate mind, body and spirit. 

Pallas is associated with the father-daughter relationship. She carries wounds from her relationship with her father, her lack of a mother connection, and from her allegiance to male authority. Because she identifies with men more than women, she loses a part of herself, her ability to be feminine. The dark shadow side of Pallas can be seen in selling out to the powers-that-be, or conversely, fear of success. Modern topics that fall under Pallas’ rulership include incestuous and abusive relationships with a father figure, and conversely, women who abuse men. 

Pallas helps us devise strategies that allow us to have healthy, productive relationships with those in authority, and an energetic drive to have a career. She is a promoter of professional excellence. The dilemma of professional women who sacrifice relationships or children for career falls under Pallas’ domain. Pallas at her best represents the ability to balance the male and female parts of ourselves in order to live our life fully and creatively while interacting with others effectively.

Juno

Juno is one of the two largest stony asteroids. Juno is named after the highest goddess in the Roman pantheon, the long-suffering wife of Zeus/Jupiter. She was one of only two legally married goddesses on Mount Olympus, Venus being the other. Unlike Venus, Juno honored her marriage vows, despite numerous obstacles and her husband’s legendary infidelities.  

Juno represents committed partnership. Of the four asteroid goddesses, Juno alone represents steadfast loyalty to a relationship for the sake of the relationship. In her highest and best expression, Juno represents transcendence of the personal ego that committed partnership can offer. Through partnership we can move beyond the separateness of our self by joining forces with another at the deepest levels: physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

Juno represents the wife-husband relationship. She symbolizes attitudes towards marriage and other committed, long-term, stable partnerships. If a partnership does not contain mutual respect and support, the shadow side of Juno appears revealing co-dependency and power struggles. In many of the Roman myths Juno acted out her fears of abandonment and infidelity. She experienced the “double standard” and had power struggles with Jupiter in her marriage. She experienced jealousy and indulged in score-keeping and cruelty for retaliation.  

Juno represents what we are looking for in any committed personal or professional partnership. Modern partnerships, including long-term commitments without a legal ceremony, and same-sex unions fall under Juno’s jurisdiction. Marriage contracts, separation and divorce are ruled by Juno. Other issues include co-dependence in partnerships, financial dependence, spousal abuse and powerless wives.

The Juno principle is expressed at its highest and best when rather than relinquishing total control of yourself and the relationship, or losing your identity in it, you are able to harmonize and find complete and transcendence with and through the other, your “soul mate.”

Vesta

Vesta is the brightest of the asteroids and can at times be seen by the naked eye. Vesta in Roman mythology is the goddess of the hearth known as the “keeper of the flame.” The altar of Vesta was placed in the spiritual and secular center of a community, usually in the central town square. The “vestal virgins” were priestesses of the Goddess who tended the perpetual fire in the public hearth. The vestal virgins served their community by keeping the divine flame lit not only in the town center, but also in the hearts of those they were dedicated to serving. Vesta represents the ability to keep the “home fires burning” and to sustain our connection to the sacred source of life within us.

In pre-patriarchal times vestal virgins practiced sexual rites in the temples to initiate disciples and pilgrims into the sacred mysteries. Through the sexual act they channeled the spiritual power of the Divine Feminine and provided the means through which the common man could experience Her. They were not “virgins” in the modern sense of the word, but in the original sense of belonging to no one, of being independent and in sacred service to the Goddess. 

In modern patriarchal times accessing the Divine Feminine and sharing Her powers with others through the act of sex is taboo. The collective memory we have of this aspect of ourselves is repressed and distorted. Fully connecting with our Vesta principle is not honored and respected in a culture where God is viewed as a male principle. Rather, female sexuality that is not other-centered is debased and judged as evil. When our Vesta principle is repressed we can experience sexual repressiveness, fear, alienation, frigidity and impotence, or conversely, promiscuity. In our modern times we need to learn how to re-integrate our spiritual and sexual energies.

Vesta represents devoting oneself to being of service to others and a commitment to finding meaningful work. This work is a high calling, not merely a job to earn a livelihood. In our modern society Vesta transmutes her sexual energy and channels it through her creative abilities to do meaningful work. She is dedicated and shows devotion to an altruistic cause that is sacred to her. 

Working side by side with her sister vestal virgins, Vesta represents the sister relationship. She demonstrates denial and self-sacrifice for a greater good. She keeps her emotions at arms length in order to meet the demands of her work and achieve her goals. Vesta’s shadow side is using work as compensation for other interests. She sublimates her personal interests for her vocation or career. It can also manifest as sacrifice or denial of the self for a “greater goal.”

Vesta describes our inner center, or focus, where we feel safe and whole. She represents the way we connect with our inner center, which houses our divine flame, and how we maintain it with spiritual purpose. She defines the way we use our inspiration and creativity in the world to be of greater service to our community.

“Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.”
– Tori Amos

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Virgo: Sign of Healing and Integration

The negative polarity of the feminine earth sign of Virgo gives her a receptive, internal nature. She is a humble, practical archetype, striving to serve through self-improvement, healing, and mentoring. The word “humble” comes from the Latin word for “ground” or “earth.” Virgo is the embodiment of humility, grounded in the material world, keenly aware of the physical needs of humanity, and our interdependence and interconnectedness with the earth’s ecology. Virgo “tends the seed” with dedication and dependability. She wants the earth and its inhabitants to function more efficiently and healthily. She mentors others by passing along her guidance, skills and practical wisdom.

The key phrase for Virgo is “I Analyze.” Virgo studies the objects of her attention carefully and precisely. Her focus is on the details, symbolized by the individual grains of wheat on a stalk. Virgo analyzes and categorizes in logical, methodical ways, assimilating essential facts. Virgo can efficiently divide a task into manageable parts. She is a careful planner, capable of integrating diverse aspects of her projects. She is discriminating and discerning, scientific, conscientious and thorough in her efforts to create order and perfection.

Although Virgo appears to be concerned with the constituent parts and details of the whole, her goal is unification through refinement, realignment, and integration of parts into wholeness. In this manner she represents the holistic healing disciplines. The Divine Feminine energy of Virgo is devoted to the integration of body, mind and spirit.

Virgo rules areas of our life which prepare us for being of service in the world, including our work related skills, habits and competency. Virgo is represented by people in the service industries, social services, law enforcement, and organized labor and unions. Virgo strives to improve and perfect herself so that she can serve in higher and better ways. She learns new skills and works diligently to perfect and apply them.

Virgo also rules our physical well being and health-related habits such as diet and exercise. Virgo serves others with her healing skills, and is represented in the health profession by doctors, nurses, midwives, nutritionists, and holistic practitioners. Parts of the body ruled by Virgo are the organs of digestion and assimilation, including the intestines and gall bladder. With Mercury as her traditional ruling planet, Virgo also governs the nervous system.

The ecological sciences are ruled by Virgo. Through studying the components of ecosystems, the plants, animals and environments they are dependent upon, ecologists come to understand the interconnectedness and interdependency among the parts of a whole system. They analyze, categorize and explain energy flow, food webs, and relationships between species, populations and their physical environments. They provide understanding of the workings of the unified whole.

The domestic sciences are in Virgo’s domain. Housekeeping and household chores including cleaning, laundry, preserving and putting away food for the winter are Virgo activities. Virgo creates useful items through her crafts, sewing and weaving. She tends domestic animals and pets, and through animal husbandry produces food and useful products.

We cultivate our Virgo energy when we tend to our pets and domestic animals. By feeding, exercising and caring for their needs, we contribute to their health and well being. We learn the meaning of dedication and duty. We come to understand the importance of methodical, efficient habits and routines. Our animals become our teachers and healers in life.

Archetypal representations of Virgo include the Divine Feminine, the Earth Mother, Goddess of Fertility, and the Virgin. Isis and Mother Mary embody the energy and healing power of Virgo. Colors for Virgo are navy blue, gray and orange. Navy blue and gray are the colors of the uniforms worn by workers in the service industry. Orange is a color from the late summer harvest. Gems for Virgo are sapphires, agates and jasper. Quicksilver and nickel are its metals. Pansies and nut-bearing trees are Virgo plants. Small domestic animals and pets are Virgo animals. Parts of a house that are ruled by Virgo include bathing rooms and showers, laundry rooms, closets, cabinets with cleaning supplies, pantries and shelves.

“The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” -Robert F. Kennedy