Aspects for the week beginning 3 October 2010

Mercury enters Libra today so the day may start with a cool rational look at life.  Certainly our Libran Prime Minister David Cameron appeared on our screens this morning ahead of the Conservative Party Conference urging a cool rational approach to politics.  That may at least get us through the major part of the day.  This evening however there is a conjunction between Venus and Mars at 12 degrees Scorpio (people with birthdays on 5 November be particularly aware).    This aspect is about balancing our male and female sides in the best of zodiac signs, but in Scorpio it is positively tantric or even gender-bending.    If the question a couple of weeks ago was “Who do you think you are?”, today’s question is “What is your sexual identity?”  First time regression clients are sometimes surprised to have found themselves in a session in a body of the opposite sex.  They may not have thought deeply about that possibility before.  Feminists may find they have contributed to the oppression of women in past lives, and peacemakers may find they were conscripted onto battlefields before.  For men are from Mars and women from Venus, aren’t they?  And if Mars = Red and Venus = Blue then Mars + Venus = Purple, and purple can come in different shades depending how pink or blue the emphasis is.  We lost Geminian Tony Curtis this week whose most famous role was as a cross-dresser in Some Like it Hot.  In his private life he was a womanizer who later in life went to Hawaii for inspiration as a painter.  Thus he blurred in my mind this week with Paul Gauguin whose new exhibition opened at the Tate Modern this week, who was also a Geminian, a womanizer,  a big drinker, and who loved and painted in Hawaii.  Art is one of the main expressions for the planet Venus, and you could do worse than take to the paintbrush this evening, and forego the absinthe.  On Tuesday morning Mercury squares Pluto, and later in the week it conjuncts Saturn: a mental mirror of last week’s aspects with the Sun.  The Venus/Mars conjunction and the New Moon lift this week, and though we have repetitions from last week, the energy is not as stagnant (hands up anyone who found last week stagnant!  I found the exercises in Anne Jirsch’s book “The Future is Yours” helped me out of it).  If you are buying and selling, you’ll find things easier to understand this week, though there may still be difficulties moving merchandise.  Mercury squaring Pluto will urge you to look at the meaning and ethics of your business practices.   Tony Bennett’s voice has been hauntingly blaring from our televisions this week as he sings “I walk along the street of sorrow The boulevard of broken dreams Where gigolo and gigolette Can take a kiss without regret So they forget their broken dreams” all to advertise the glorious return of “The Apprentice” with Sir Alan Sugar on Wednesday.   But the Mercury square Pluto will be too late to inform the hapless contestants as the series was filmed a while ago and delayed because of a political controversy just before our Election this year.  The New Moon in Libra takes place on Thursday 7^th at 14 degrees Libra (people with birthdays on 7 October itself be particularly aware).  In relationship, it could be a day to propose or renew vows, if romance has not been vanquished.  One’s relationship with oneself of course is of utmost importance, and will also be renewed that day.  Renewals of love and gestures of affection are especially urged for action on Thursday, as on the morning of Friday 8^th Venus stands stationary, prior to moving retrograde.  This means that Venusian activities (love, art and money) could take a turn backwards from Friday, and until 19 November.  It depends how securely rooted in reality the love actually is.  Whether it is coming from the heart, the mind, or elsewhere.  The second setback on Friday comes from a conjunction of Mercury and Saturn at 8 degrees Libra (people with birthdays on 1st October be particularly aware).  The conjunction of the Sun and Saturn last Friday encouraged us to concentrate and train our consciousness, and this conjunction highlights a need for mental focus.  If there is a skill which has eluded us in the past, it urges us to keep at it and keep working on our blocks until we “get it”.  We may not necessarily “get it” on Friday, but our steps will be part of the process.  In contrast, the evening gives us a semi-sextile between Jupiter and Neptune.  This signals a change of emphasis philosophically, seeing things differently and in a wider way which may not initially be comfortable for us, until we realize we are adjusting to the bigger picture.