Venus retrograde… emerging feminine energy!

Venus is visible above Earth's moon, which is illuminated solely by light reflected from Earth. Because of Venus' nearness to Earth and the way its clouds reflect sunlight, it appears to be the brightest planet in the night sky. Photograph courtesy NASA.

Many of my friends and I often make the comment, “Oh, it must be retrograde” in reference to whatever challenges we are experiencing on a particular day… not truly grasping the meaning of our words. For the past 10 years, Eric Francis’ writings have been my all time favorite astrological interpretations and explanations. In today’s entry, as always, he provides insight to some global and very personal changes that we are presently experiencing, giving clarity to why we attribute challenging experiences to ‘retrograde’.

Eric Francis, founder, editor and publisher of Planet Waves

excerpted from Planet Waves Daily Astrology & Adventure (Eric Francis)

[Today (April 3, 2009), Venus retrograde is in an exact square to Pluto, inching her way toward the Aries Point. The square was exact at 6:21 am ET and because Venus is slow and powerful …(more here)

On one level, Pluto in Capricorn (2008-2024) is about blowing through the ludicrous ‘traditions’ we live with in our society. Many of those are expressions of stoic, stodgy, joyless and blatantly boring Christian and capitalist values.

Remember that Christianity was foisted upon society along with the murder of the sacred Vodan trees, the slaughter of Mother God, the spilling of an ocean of human blood and the sacrifice of thousands of women as alleged witches, along with many of their cats. After that a real measure of docility could be counted on, but if you ask me it’s never really been complacent.

We don’t know exactly what this New Order replaced, but pre-Christian rituals such as Beltane suggest strongly that there was a more equal emphasis on maleness and femaleness as collaborative, complimentary energies and as attributes of nature.

It is the core of that female self that we are now in a process of dialing in and attempting to recover and explore. This can be lonely; the poignancy of emotional birthing can often discover itself as alone first. But here is the really interesting part: The Aries Point (the first degree of Aries) is involved. As individual and private as this experience feels, it’s widespread, collective and ultimately a public phenomenon. The Aries Point is that place where every private reality adds up to what we all share and must contend with, and where collective movements of society influence the consciousness of an individual. This is not theory. All you have to do is look.] (Read more at Planet Waves Daily Astrology & Adventure)

Subscribe to Planet Waves hereÂ

_______
from yours truly,Â Debra Cortese: Yesterday, I watched Michelle Obama as she spoke to the young ladies of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in London. Soft tears of joy welled up as I listened to her telling the girls to believe in their dreams, education and most importantly, that they do have the power to control their own destiny! Â We all do and as I now know, challenges are life’s opportunities to learn, share, and grow.