By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
5-11 April 2020
I have to confess a soft spot for Venus.
She’s my chart ruler (my Rising Sign is Taurus), and I have my Sun in her other sign, Libra.
So I’m looking forward to this week enormously!
First up, we have a Full Moon in Libra.
As you might remember, with the Full Moon we take the research we’ve been doing since the New Moon – and any new ideas and concepts we’ve come up with – and bring them forth into the world.
Full Moon is the harvesting time, as the work of the past two weeks comes to fruition in some way.
Airy Libra brings grace, refinement, intellectual curiosity and a capacity to collaborate and communicate to the mix.
Ruler of Libra, Venus, helps us to know who we are, by giving us clarity about who we like to hang out with, what we find beautiful, and our own personal core values.
In her airy sign of Libra, we come to it through our minds and our understanding, so this is a good time to ask “who would I like to become next?” – and imagine the answer, by exploring who you’d love to be hanging out with, working with, spending time with (including virtually, for now); what things you find truly beautiful (including all the senses, not just visually); and your own deepest core values.
But – big caveat here! – this is only just beginning.
We may not yet know all the answers – though of course, that’s no reason not to ask the questions!
There is more to be revealed over the coming months, because on 9 April, just a few days away, we begin a changed relationship with Venus herself as she prepares herself for a period of Retrograde motion.
Remember, a planet in Retrograde isn’t literally moving backwards, but rather Venus will appear to move backwards from the perspective of Earth due to the relationship of our respective orbits.
The actual Retrograde period begins in mid-May (exact dates below), but later this week Venus passes the point at which she will make the pivot to move Retrograde. This is known as the shadow zone, and while not all astrologers observe this – I think it’s a useful time to begin our own preparations.
And this entire period takes place in the sign of Gemini – like Libra, an air sign where we can stand back from the swirl of watery emotions or the hefty weight of earthy practicality.
This is Venus in the sign ruled by Mercury, so we can tap into his quicksilver wit, keeping us elevated and giving us access to a higher, more objective perspective.
Venus governs our close one-to-one relationships and our values, so when she is in Rx mode, we have a brilliant opportunity to reexamine those aspects of our lives, bringing these deep connections and deep systems of belief into the light of day for some calm and curious reflection.
We can revisit what we want in our relationships – how we want to be treated, how we want to treat others, who we want to be with. Relationship can mean our lover, our client, our beloved friend.
We can revisit our core values – those personal values which are less about what meets with cultural or societal rules, and more about what truly makes our heart sing.
During Venus Retrograde, we reassess who and what we value.
We might find ourselves revisiting old relationships in order to re-evaluate what we learned (or should have learned the first time around).
It’s not ideal for new relationships or for marriages.
It’s definitely not a great time to rekindle an old romance, but it is useful to examine how you are now a different person from the person you might have been back then, and figure out what you’ve learned.
By the end of this week, we also see Mercury moving out of dreamy Pisces, where he’s been for ages thanks to his own recent Retrograde period, and into go-get-‘em Aries.
Any confusion in how you think, or any old beliefs that have had their roots in fear or anxiety – those are up for a reframe, as Mercury the gods’ messenger moves into this fiery sign and its ability to burn away the dross.
Expect to have bold thoughts, a willingness to embark on new adventures, an eagerness for fresh new initiatives.
Meanwhile the ruler of Aries, action-hero Mars, is hanging out with rigorous Saturn in inventive and radical-change sign Aquarius, so on a social and individual scale we can already see that at play in the world.
Here in Australia, we have been seen a conservative government undertaking extraordinarily radical initiatives to tackle the current drama. They’ve created a safety net (albeit with some large and obvious holes) in a way that would have been unimaginable six months ago: the effective nationalisation of child care, a basic liveable income to large numbers of workers, and a moratorium on evictions for all residential renters. Instant socialism, anyone??
Reinventing one’s own self is something we always have the capacity to do. But sometimes, astrological weather lends itself to making that process not only easier, but also inevitable.
This week, it’s a great opportunity to honour Venus and invite her energy in to support you in creating whatever it is you want next (even if you don’t know the details – you can get help with figuring that out by focusing on how you want to FEEL).
It’s also a great time to simply ALLOW new ideas and realisations to emerge, without the need to force anything.
Here are some ways to leverage the Libran Full Moon this week, and set the scene for the upcoming Venus Rx:
- create an altar or special space for Venus – set up a candle, something to represent Venus herself (a statuette or a beautiful stone or an image of the goddess herself) and some offerings. Good choices for Venus are fresh flowers, jewellery or gemstones, sea-water or shells to represent her birth out of the ocean. Each day, you can light the candle and have a conversation with Venus about what you’re seeking to create, then light some incense to show gratitude and to make her space beautiful.
- use your own body as a way to honour the goddess, by practising the art of adornment. Wear jewellery, play with new hairdos or head wraps, pick a sensual perfume or lotion. Wear clothes that make your body feel good. As you get ready in the mornings, offer up ANY adornment or dressing or makeup to the goddess. This includes donning your dressing gown over PJs if you’re having a nap-focused day, so don’t imagine you have to make this too much of a stretch!
- read or write poetry, especially love poems. I’ll be diving into Caroline Kennedy’s beautiful anthology “She Walks In Beauty” as a starting point.
- explore art. This is a great time to visit the great galleries and museums as so many are opening up online access. You can even recreate works of art with some found objects and your camera, as a fun way to tap into this aspect of the goddess.
- revisit your core values. Remember with Venus Rx coming up, approach this as a no-rush project with plenty of space and time to explore. You might find the starting point is to become willing to question or drop old values. For example, if you’ve clung to a value of “I finish everything I start” you might want to consider opening the door to a value of “I discern how best to manage my own internal resources” or “I know when to quit and when to keep going”. If you’d like help with this, grab my free resource at this link.
- celebrate the Full Moon herself as a coming-together of nurturing, soul-connected Moon and self-aware, collaborative Venus. Start on your Unapologetic Desire list. You might like to grab a fresh blank journal for this work, and keep working with it throughout the Venus Rx period. But invite Moon to the party, to help remind you that ultimately this is also about making your SOUL happy.
Happy Full Moon!
EXACT TIMES (US EASTERN)
- 7 April, 10:35 PM – Full Moon at 18º Libra
- 9 April, 4:53 PM – Venus enters Retrograde shadow zone at 5º Gemini
- 11 April, 12:48 AM – Mercury enters Aries
- 13 May, 2:44 AM – Venus turns Retrograde at 21º Gemini
- 25 June, 2:47 AM – Venus turns Direct at 5º Gemini
- 29 July, 1:14 AM – Venus exits the Retrograde shadow zone at 21º Gemini
Janette Dalgliesh has a simple mission in life – to wreak more joy in the world. She helps people figure out their most resonant and authentic life mission (aka ‘what do you really want to do when you grow up?’), and then she helps them make it a reality, through a unique blend of neuroscience-based coaching and astrology. To find out more, visit her website or track her down on Facebook. And if you’d like to learn how to create and use your own chart, grab her free resource Astrology 101.
