I am a consulting astrologer hailing from Melbourne, Bunurong country. My passion for astrology began as a youngster who was open to the curiosities of coincidence with a deep need to know why people did the things they did. You can read more about me at my website www.druish.com & book a reading in person or via skype.
As Venus completes its 2020 retrograde cycle and steps out from the shadow phase this week, it also completes its connection with Neptune. This dance has been active since May when the common sense of quarantine and masks started to disintegrate into the terrain of a violation of rights.
Neptune blurs the lens, and with Venus it can feel sooooo gooooood! It can confuse, glamorise and hold “the good” above all else. This is what spirituality culture holds onto when it focuses on peace, love and positivity while actively ignoring any contribution or benefit from systemic oppression.
Watching AOC fearlessly wave her sword at the insidious power of patriarchy gives image to Venus as a morning star; a skilled fighter and warrior seeking to restore balance to injustice.
AOC brings Venus as a Morning Star into the House.
At the same time however, Neptune held sway this week as a movement in Turkey, aimed at highlighting the link between political corruption and high femicide rates, was co-opted by those eager to break up the catastrophic 2020 feed of civil unrest with their best black & white selfie. Instead of the challenge offering agency to those seeking to avoid having their image on page 3 of a newspaper as victim, like Pinar Gultekin, it became a challenge to find the truth and to see who still gave a shit about women in Turkey when it no longer benefited them.
This week Poland also announced its plans to leave the Istanbul Convention, a treaty aimed at preventing and combating violence against women. Not surprisingly, Turkey ratified the Convention just prior to the last Venus retrograde cycle in Gemini in 2012. #cantmakethisshitup
This morning star phase will continue until March 2021 when it again crosses the face of the Sun in Aries along with Chiron. Venus in Gemini is a messenger, and at its best Neptune can inspire. Hopefully this is a reminder for us to continue to understand the power of the device in our hands – that it can both harm and heal, inspire and co-opt and deregulate your own brain function so that you start thinking in an alternate pattern. Gemini as an air sign offers moments to take a breath, to find both your voice and to know when its time to listen and receive. #handlewithcare
Venus Retrograde cycles last approximately 40 days and 40 nights, taking us on both a personal and collective journey to face off with our shadow and those rejected, lost parts of ourselves. Venus started this descent on May 13th and will pass through the heart of the Sun on June 3rd.
Image by Ryoji Iwata
We’ve all heard modern astrology give Gemini a bad wrap: it’s two faced, never present, talks too much etc… but what is embedded in Gemini’s mythology is an underlying theme of loss, grief and reconnection via a journey that can take us to the edges of the Cosmos; the twins, Castor and Pollux, are on a perpetual search for wholeness via their relationship with one other.
This Gemini Season has been like a fresh breeze amongst the decay. It invited in some playfulness for us to reconnect after being quarantined, and some levity amongst the seriousness of it all. As fleeting as this may feel, it’s not separate from the Venus Rx cycle currently moving through Gemini’s terrain, so keep your sails up!
Like Gemini, Venus also takes us deep into our psyche, digging up old stories of love and loss, highlighting what is unresolved and reminding us of where healing and release are required. In true Gemini style, it’s a double dose.
This week Mercury switched gears and ingressed into Cancer. Being the driving force behind Gemini, this change in temperament adds another layer to the Rx cycle. Cancer has an undeniable survival instinct; try standing between a mamma bear and her cubs and you will understand the fierce protectiveness that imbues Cancer. You will not see the weakened, overly emotional figure that patriarchy has attempted to undermine Cancer (and femininity) with.
With Mercury in Cancer at the helm, Venus Rx is tugging at our core sense of home and belonging; we can’t experience one moment of grief without it triggering all the rest. Cancer remembers. It has intimate, emotional bonds with the past that weave through the threads of now. It’s the warm embrace you give a friend or loved one you haven’t seen in too long. It’s the memories that flood back when looking at an old photo. It’s the people you bring close to you who feel like family. Cancer offers a safe nest for survival. Together we’re stronger, but going forward we must remember our past.
With the USA doing its shadow work on the world stage, offering us the macro-micro view of ourselves externally, we’re witnessing what it looks like to not feel safe, to have the grief of the past ever present in our now. People who feel supported don’t loot. People who are treated equally, with respect and dignity don’t need to burn down police stations. People who are listened to don’t get pushed to desperate measures to be heard in their deepest grief.
Indigenous communities constantly hold up the mirror for us to acknowledge our complicity in stolen land, stolen generations, displacement and the generational trauma inherent in being disconnected from home and culture. Hong Kong is illuminating the power of state over people, the ripple effect that lack of sovereignty brings and what disempowerment can drive people to do for survival. These narratives are happening everywhere, on the world stage and in our daily lives.
While these ongoing issues occur outside of these Rx cycles, they are signposts on our current trajectory and Venus Rx always comes through and exposes what lies hidden.
This week we are descending with Venus. We’re in the phase of the cycle where Inanna is stripped of an item of clothing at each of the seven levels down into the Underworld. We’re being stripped back, our shadow is being exposed, our grief is echoing all grief everrrr, bringing up aspects of the past we might have hoped had been laid to rest.
Gemini reminds us of the finality of death and the eternalness of grief, that you can bargain with the Gods for change but the scars remain. We may be able to film everything now and utilise technology for change, but that means nothing if we remain detached from facing our own place in the story, our own separateness.
The Twins of Gemini are two pieces of the one whole, seeking union and release from the pain of separation. Now is not the time to look away or deny what’s coming up. It’s a soul retrieval on a collective level. The small things we all do in our personal lives can only have a ripple effect across the collective, across time.
NEW MOON TODAY at 2* Gemini, in the sign of the Twins on the 22nd!
Personally, I’ve appreciated the levity that all this Gemini energy has ushered in. 2020 has been a hard slog for most of us – be it physically, psychologically, relationally, no one has been spared, but the playfulness of this witty air sign is a welcome change. This may not be true for folks with predominant Water and Earth in their chart…
Neptune is pretty heavy in the mix right now adding to the changeability that Gemini basks in. Neptune can add a glow of denial, illuminating insight or a crash landing as we try to cash our reality checks! It might feel hard to get anything done as our energy and attention is scattered and easily distracted, so either scrap the project for another day or break it down into bite sized pieces. Just don’t push it.
The sky is pretty much a bag of mixed lollies; You’ll win some, you’ll lose some. With the potential for some crossed wires and misunderstandings, be extra clear and vigilant with communication and allow for some playful exchanges. What we will lose is the presence of Venus in our night sky as it descends to pass through the heart of the Sun under the gaze of an eclipse. Wave good bye on the 23rd/24th if it’s still visible at your location.
Our Venus Retrograde workshop remains open for sign up if you want to jump in. You will receive all of the back catalogue of emails, daily horoscopes, magical inspirations and the opportunity to learn more about Venus in your chart as it moves through this cycle.
I hope you’re staying safe out there, wherever you are.
Click the image for more info on the Venus Rx workshop
Venus stations Retrograde today & Jessika Fancy & I are offering a 6 week workshop to inspire & guide you through.
Like any Rx cycle this slowing down & reorienting can throw us for a loop. Venus, however, has an extra special ability to take us to different places in the sky and therefore, farther reaches of our psyche. Starting out at 21* Gemini, Venus is in the terrain of Fixed Star, Capella (21* Gemini).
Capella is a free-spirited, action oriented energy, desiring unbridled terrain in which to roam. Sound familiar right now? Aligned with Venus, Brady says the combination seeks to, “challenge the values of society. To strive to be free of the restrictions that society can impose. A group or person goes outside of society’s accepted boundaries.” As we step into this Venus Rx cycle, lock-down laws are starting to ease across the globe, Summer is picking up speed in the Northern Hemisphere and many who have felt like horses locked in a stable are kicking and bucking with the desire to be free again!
To collectively move forward we need to be personally responsible.
Over the next 6 weeks, you will have access to weekly astrological guidance, magical suggestions & creative prompts. Working at your own pace, this workshop is designed to keep you consciously working with the changing energies. Come join us! SIGN UP IS OPEN and will remain open – week 1 has begun! 🌹💫🌹
Hades called. There’s a buy one Retrograde get 3 free sale going on. Stocks aren’t limited & participation is compulsory. 💯
We’re still following the funeral procession that was the Full Moon in Scorpio and Saturn has today slammed on the breaks, just days before Venus & Jupiter. In a few days 4 planets will be retrograde. This week will likely throw us for a loop. Think of it like being in a car going around a corner at high speed; don’t try to push against it, lean in & trust your instincts. Find your flow.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Moon in Capricorn is snuggling up to Pluto all day today making sure to rattle any cobwebs of grief & uncertainty you were hoping to ignore.
Lean in. Listen. Watch carefully. Whatever is taking flight right now will likely land as a message further along the road. 💫
Scorpio Full Moon — Taurus Season: You can’t take it with you when you go.
With SO MUCH changing at this time Taurus Season helps us focus on that which nourishes & sustains us and keeps us connected to source while we inhabit the body.
A fertile, abundant energy Taurus is resourceful. It saves for a rainy day and softens the hard edges. It also has the potential to hoard or get bogged down in the fear of change, and this Full Moon is reminding us of the inevitability of change and endings, of something greater than our creature comforts and convenience.
As some places relax their lockdown laws many folks are fearing that nothing will have changed in this incubation time, that so much loss and suffering was for nothing and that hope of a new world is too far from reach.
It’s said that this is the Full Moon that Gautama the Buddha attained enlightenment under. Knowing that there were only 5 people at his first teaching we can rest assured that from little things big things grow. The seeds that you have planted in this incubation time can grow into physical and spiritual changes in your life – if you nurture them. Whether it be awareness about how a fast paced, capitalistic world hurts you, or how there’s a natural rhythm in your body that does not require an alarm clock, or that you’ve realised the relationship / job / lifestyle you were living needs some tweaking will all require both the pain of loss that accompanies profound change as well as your dedication to nurturing that growth.
Whatever your situation throughout the last 3-6 months, we’ve all had time to reflect on what this one precious life is about and what our relationship to the material and spiritual world is. There is undeniable change occurring and it will continue to unfold. If it’s not a pandemic it’ll be something else; choices made in the past have left us in an ongoing crisis and there’s nothing comfortable about it.
As the Nodes shift signs and Venus slows down to turn retrograde, this Full Moon encourages us to clarify what’s important. The economy is not our new North Star! What 2020 has gifted us is what Scorpio does best: penetrate straight to the heart of the matter and highlight what is no longer valuable. Nurture those seeds no matter how small or insignificant they may feel because it’s a collective effort bringing in the new world.
For the duration of this cycle Dru Ish & Jessika Fancy are offering weekly astrological and magical guidance to inspire you. This is designed for you to work through at your own pace no matter your knowledge or experience.
You will be sent a link each week for the duration of the retrograde cycle (6 weeks) to work with the current themes via different media.
Anyone else finding it hard to sleep with this Full Moon building?!
The Libra Full Moon on April 7 ~ the Pink Moon ~ will be the biggest & brightest of the year! Supermoon’s (a Perigree Full Moon) are closer to the Earth than average, so we feel the pull, just like a high tide in the ocean.
If you’re keen to step out of incubation & check it out, be sure to spot Venus radiating in the sky, too!
Venus is in the brightest phase of its cycle before it slows down to turn Retrograde on May 13th.
