Predictions for May 15 to 21, 2012: Venus Retrograde, Solar Eclipse on May 20th

Get ready for a week to remember, there will be a sustained level of intense factors hitting us in succession. Venus turns retrograde, Mars and Saturn make a hard aspect, Jupiter and Pluto aspect, and then there is a powerful solar eclipse to culminate it all on Sunday, May 20. I’ll try to describe them all:

Venus retrograde: the planet basically comes to a stop in the sky and takes on the appearance of moving backwards for a period of time. A planet moving retrograde (not literally, of course) implies looking back, reviewing, or even pausing or hesitating.. Therefore, the activities associated with Venus; relationships, artistic endeavors, and being able to live and enjoy the good life, may go through a period of delays, redress, or just may seem to take strange turns.

Retrograde would be considered to be an affliction to a planet’s expression, so it may be just a little harder to connect or experience that love that we otherwise normally do. Retrograde planets also will mean the spiritualization of a planet’s expression, since spirituality is more of an internal experience, and not as easily understood, or accurately assessed just by looking at the external circumstances.

Mars and Saturn aspecting each other can bring out the worst feelings of frustration, anxiety, or shock in extreme cases; it won’t normally indicate accidents and injuries; but many times their aspect will coincide with harsh emotional climates. Harshness in emotional state may bring on, or coincide with crisis; and like the chicken or the egg, it is hard to say which came first. Mars also aspects Pluto this week, which increase the possibilities for emotional intensity.

Jupiter aspecting Pluto brings out arrogance, risk-taking, and ideological impudence. Rhetoric may be bold with very broad sweeping actions, and the details can be of little consequence. The danger with this configuration is that people may make brash moves, or at least make a lot of bold pronouncements risking being called an arrogant fool. Positively, some may get lucky breaks, which they seemingly don’t deserve; but we get to see the effects of ill-thought-out adventures, and how bluster doesn’t replace disciplined application.

Solar eclipse, Sunday, May 20: an eclipse is where the light of the Sun and/or Moon becomes temporarily “shut off”, an appearance of which occurs because the Sun, Earth, and Moon move into very close alignment with each other, happening only a couple times a year. It’s kind of like if you’re in a storm and the power gets knocked out, suddenly you’re plunged into darkness. There is a terrifying initial disorientation and your furtively groping for some support system. You fumble around and you find your emergency flashlight, or perhaps a candle.

The light is not very great, and your reference system, the familiar walls, doorways, and floor plan may not work as well. You have to depend on your “extra” senses in a very dramatic way. So an eclipse astrologically somewhat indicates a spiritual version of this, feeling disoriented because there is some rewiring or software updating going on with you, and you need to adjust. “Lights out” in this case means the normal perception of the way of things no longer works as it did, so we have to bide our time with the new investment of energies that this eclipse delivers. All in all, eclipses are like spiritual, cosmic transfusions of energy, which help inaugurate new life changes, new life directions, etc.

With all the energies being stirred up with the previous configurations, which I have endeavored to give you a taste of, this culminating eclipse may bring some profound changes for some. Being able to see and identify exactly what those changes will be is next to impossible to predict, but in time we can see their effects.

Now this brings us also to the anticipated Venus Transit of June 2012, when Venus will be seen literally moving across the surface of the Sun. I plan to write more about this event in the near future, but my point now is that we are in an unusually active astrological period.

Tuesday, May 15
The connectedness and warmth we feel in life is accentuated. Relationships may reach new levels of love, and the creative side of our natures will be stimulated as well. Venus turns retrograde today, possibly trying and spiritualizing our expression of love for about a month or so; things may be more apt to go slightly awry in relationships for a while. Meanwhile, Mars and Saturn aspecting each other are certain to spoil the show with sharp spikes in frustration, anxieties, and more or less pathological human response patterns. Be careful also of injuries and accidents, or any type of mishap in general, making life “interesting” as they say. (Venus stationary retrograde, Mars semisquare Saturn)

Wednesday, May 16
Deeply conflicting astrological patterns may create a halting and frustrated character to the day. Mars trines Pluto making us want to move mountains to attain our goals; but Jupiter gets quincunxed by Saturn, seemingly choking off our enthusiasm. Efforts may be get snagged by problems, but this gives us an opportunity to gain patient qualities and learn how to more effectively manage our endeavors.

Thursday, May 17
Risk assessment may be notoriously biased towards optimism right now, and people may think that just enthusiasm and audacity is all one needs to succeed in anything. People may make bold claims, pronouncements and judgments of others; but the errors exposed may simply be prejudice and scapegoating on the part of those making accusations the loudest. Toxic conditions may cloud accurate thinking or perception. (Mercury quintile Neptune, Jupiter sesquiquadrate Pluto)

Fri and Sat, May 18-19
No peaking influences

Sunday, May 20
Today the Earth, Moon, and Sun line up in a particularly tight way, creating a few moments where the Moon literally blocks out the disk of the Sun in the sky, plunging the world into a twilight darkness. Eclipses have a tendency to feel rather odd, unsettling, or disorienting; affairs may seem to go awry at some level. However I like to think of eclipses signifying global downloads of extraordinary spiritual energy, which we have to take some time to adjust to. Therefore the effects of the eclipse may not become apparent for a couple day, week, or months; and sometimes and adjustment requires us to let go of things, which the attachment to is no longer advantageous for us; and this may be how things become lost to us, or are summarily taken from us. The pain from the loss is because of the inappropriate attachment, which has become a liability and the Universe prunes the tree, as it were, suddenly or gradually. This eclipse also makes a particularly acute aspect to Saturn, and then Mercury makes aspects to Mars and Uranus; so this may be a more impactful eclipse. (Solar eclipse, Sun biquintile Saturn, Mercury semisquare Uranus, Mercury tridecile Mars)

Monday, May 21
The mental cast to this day may be somewhat pessimistic, fatalistic, and somewhat pathological. Toxic thinking (and action) patterns may be brought to light for redemption. (Mercury quincunx Saturn, sesquiquadrate Pluto)