Aspect for the week beginning 8 July 2012 – Mercury sextile Venus

The Square Background

The Uranus-Pluto square is still prevalent, slightly waning now until its next phase in September.  It was exacerbated yesterday by Venus square Chiron, an aspect I hadn’t mentioned, but which seems to have brought up relationship crises.

Global Round-Up

The global issues which are linked in my view with the Uranus-Pluto square continue to concern the world:

Syria: The slaughter continues, and Hilary Clinton gets tough with Russia and China for their obstructiveness towards intervention.

Eurozone: The Uranus-Pluto square seems to have highlighted tensions between Austerity Merkel and Anti-Austerity Hollande, while Greece struggles to fulfil its pledges with new Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Climate: More extreme weathers: record heatwaves in the Eastern U.S., flooding in the U.K., and in Russia where 150 people have died in floods in Krymsk.

The Aspects

Friday the Thirteenth

We have all week to prepare for Uranus turning retrograde on Friday (13^th). This is not an aspect, the aspect of the week itself occurs on the evening of Saturday (14^th), the very end of the week.  Uranus tends to turn everything on its head at the best of times, but when it is turning retrograde even more so.  Coupled with friggatriskaidekaphobia, fear of Friday 13^th, some people may create their own dramas through fear.  While I would never tempt fate, it has always been my attitude and policy to debunk superstition.  A lot of people meeting me are puzzled by that, because they regard Astrology itself as a superstition.  But, never mind, eh?  What I would like to say about the prospect of change and turning moments next Friday, is do not panic.  Spend the whole day on Thursday meditating, and you’ll be really chilled…

The Aspect

This week’s aspect in question is Mercury sextile Venus and it occurs late on Saturday (14^th) in the U.K.

“Er hang on…? Didn’t we have that one last Wednesday?” You might ask.  The cause is Mercury slowing down preparing to turn retrograde, so that Venus catches up with him.

Last Wednesday, the world of Science (Mercury and Uranus) was happy with the discovery (Uranus) of the God particle.  Mercury was trine Uranus that day, signifying scientific discovery, but the day started with Mercury sextile Venus, the announcement of the discovery.

The chart of Professor Peter Higgs who lent his name to the Higgs Boson particle has a very tight, almost exact fire trine, between Venus, Neptune and Saturn.  I had a spooky thought when I saw it: “What if that was the signature for the God particle? With Venus providing the human glue of love to balance the more Saturnian structure and scientific element, and Neptune representing the boundlessness of the Universe.”  This could provide the basis for new research.

Seriously though, in last week’s Comments to the blog, Sinhagupta pointed out: “I’m still suspicious of the Higgs Boson ‘discovery’ – it would seem with all that money and technology, they would be bound to find something – and all that fudging about whether they have enough evidence to call it a discovery or not – either they have or they haven’t! I’d keep it as one of the myths of the 21st century. Begs the entire question of ‘what is matter’?”

So what can we expect from Saturday’s sextile?  Announcements, engagements, and cultural developments.

This week is a creative space in which to develop your own art and culture.  I suggest you write chapter notes for your blockbuster sensation before Friday, write the first three chapters on Friday before 4 pm, then send it off to the publisher.  Mercury with Venus favours the combining of art and writing, such as more often found in children’s books, but sometimes in adults’.  If you have Mercury sextile Venus natally, this may be one of your talents.

Café Culture

You don’t have to be in a café in Café Culture Week, but it helps.

Every city has its equivalent:

Champs Elysees in Paris…Dizengoff Street in Telaviv…Brooklyn in New York…

We did go to the Café frequented by Jean Paul Sartre when we paid a visit to Paris, but all we got was a surly waiter…the aspects must have been against us that day.  I had hoped for a glimpse of the Café culture of the Rive Gauche.

When we were first married we lived near the Finchley Road in London, and there was a Café called Dorice…there was a high elderly proportion of clientele, and you could sit and listen into stories of the Holocaust, and philosophy debates going on.  It was as if you were being transported to Central Europe in the 1920s/1930s.  Hubby says: “Having coffee with Kafka came to mind”.  This was the early 1970s, mind.

Cafes if visited on one’s own are a chance to let the pen loose in a notebook, writing poetry or even channeling or automatic writing.  Other alternatives include poetry circles, or Cream Tea Shoppes in the West Country

The Signs in Café Culture

Here is a sample of what you may expect, sitting in cafes or in reading rooms, or both

Aries

You might find them still talking about the football.

Most likely line: “In the Euros England were technically inept!”

Reading:  “What you see is What you Get” by Alan Sugar (Sun in Aries)

Taurus

You might find them talking about their next meal.

Most likely line: “I don’t agree with Michael Gove’s latest initiative on school dinners”

Reading:  “Jamie’s Italy” by Jamie Oliver

Gemini

You might find them talking about talking.

Most likely line: “That Higgs-Boson particle – Have they really found God?”

Reading “Thinking about Thinking” by Antony Flew

Cancer

You might find them talking about family news.

Most likely line: “Girls just want to have fun, that’s all they really want, when the working day is done”

Reading “Bring up the Bodies” by Hilary Mantel (Sun in Cancer)

Leo

You might find them talking about the Olympic Games.

Most likely line: “Does all power corrupt in the banking sector?”

Reading “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli

Virgo

You might find them talking shop, especially if accompanied by a fellow worker.

Most likely line: “It’s definitely a Health and Safety issue…we ought to do something about it.”

Reading: “Mars and Venus in the Workplace” by John Gray

Libra

You might find them, not talking, but just placing an art book on the table.

Sample conversation: “Was Yoko Ono (Libra rising) before her time in the 1960s?”

Reading: “An Autobiography” by M.K. Gandhi (Sun in Libra)

Scorpio

You might find them psychoanalyzing the other.

Sample conversation: “Are my borderline personality features showing?”

Reading: “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath (Sun in Scorpio; Mercury sextile Venus)

Sagittarius

You might find them discussing the meaning of Life, or Liff.

Sample conversation: “Why are we here?”

Reading: “The Book of Why” by Judy Hall (Sun in Sagittarius; Mercury sextile Venus)

Capricorn

You might find them discussing politics and accountability.

Sample conversation: “How long can the coalition hold out?”

Reading: “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens

Aquarius

You might find them discussing Utopian societies.

Sample conversation: “Have you tried Future Life Progression?”

Reading: “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells (Mercury sextile Venus)

Pisces

You might find them discussing Euthanasia.

Sample conversation: “That programme about ageing had me in tears”

Reading: “The Long Earth” by Terry Pratchett

Wimbledon Watch

I am feeling epic this morning, as for two years running I have correctly predicted the Wimbledon Ladies’ Champion.  Scientist hubby, however, is unimpressed: he says he doesn’t know what the odds are for that.  The basis of my prediction was that Serena Williams had the least worst aspects of all the ladies, and that she wore the power colour of magenta in her bandanna and pants.

I would love Andy Murray to win the Men’s Final today, and fervently hope that he does!  However, I predicted that Federer would win (on the basis of his good aspects for the Final) before the start of Wimbledon.  So if Murray doesn’t win, that would be a double whammy for me, and for Astrology.

The week in bullet points:

• Friday – Keep Calm and Carry On
• Saturday – Announcements, engagements and cultural achievements