In the Grey Flannel Suit

THAT Girl in the Grey Flannel Suit

Here we are! FINALLY! The long planned and promised Venus in Capricorn download on the day that Mercury stations retrograde in Aquarius and then backs into Capricorn (from January 13th to February 3rd). There will be some overlapping themes with Mercury (the planet of communication, commerce, and intellect) potentially helping Venus.

The Facts

Venus entered the sign of Capricorn on November 6, 2021 and is here for an extended stay that ends of March 5, 2022, including a retrograde period from December 19, 2021 to January 29, 2022. (Venus usually only visits a sign for a month or so.)

But, let’s start from the beginning, a very good place to start!

The Power of Beauty, Pleasure & The Pussy

Wherever Venus is treading in the zodiac, she is THAT girl.

You know the one — the one who exudes the power of the pussy. You read that right. This power is taught early on in Filipino culture — that the abilities to bleed once a month and not die and to determine whether or not life can be carried inside you are to be respected and held sacred. She’s the one who knows her value and what access to her is worth and won’t take anything less — but will certainly welcome all the best there is to be had. In exchange, she is certain in her power to uplift whoever she allows into her company.

Over the centuries (really, I’m looking right at the misogynistic cultures of Classical Greece and Rome), the goddess of sex and beauty was transformed from a primal being who inspired respect, fear, and ecstasy into a delicate, fragile statuette existing for the delectation of men…but she never lost her edge — because, no matter how much civilization tries to shackle Venus with taboos and gender roles and standards, we’re fundamentally hardwired to experience lust and love as addictions that take over our minds and hijack our actions. Our DNA still produces brains that are highly susceptible to the power of aesthetics to alter us physiologically and emotionally. And we still need pleasure and well-being to motivate us to engage meaningfully with the manifest world.

In the jyotish (aka Vedic/Hindu/Indian) tradition, Venus manifests through two deities — Lakshmi, the goddess who bestows prosperity to those who labor long and hard to win her favor, and Shukra, the god who is the “Guru of the Asuras” — the Guru to the Demons — he relieves our fears of survival, want, and darkness so that we can learn to control our animal natures and transcend to “humanity”. Shukra also represents sexual fluids and blood and hence also that which is the conduit for sustaining life and creativity.

Suiting up…

In Capricorn, we find Venus wrapped up in the highest quality, bespoke grey flannel suit, like a dragon in the Dragon’s Den weighing up whether or not it’s worth it for her to invest.

Capricorn represents civilization and the social contract — especially for those of us who live in population centers that are too populous to be organized in an egalitarian/generalist model and instead are ordered along hierarchical structures with every individual playing a specific, specialized role that adds value in order to benefit from to the whole. (This is a particular topic of research and interest that I could go on about ad nauseum so let’s leave it at that or this will turn into a thesis that leads us down the road to how we need to reorganize how communities and cities are structured in order to enact the sweeping social and economic changes we need in order to survive climate change as a species...but that is for another day.)

In a general sense, when Venus visits here, we tend to experience it like an interview or a performance review. No, I’m not relying on corporate analogies because I only see Capricorn as career obsessed and climbing the corporate ladder (yes, it can manifest that way but Capricorn is more about the exchange of mission providing meaning for value). I’m busting out the corporate analogies because they are the best to demonstrate the process of evaluation that’s underway here:

Through a mundane lens: Is civilization providing the value it promises to its participants? Are the individuals contributing value that allow the civilization to function optimally?

On a personal level: Do the hierarchies I participate in allow me to rise above scarcity fears and enable me to realize a greater sense of meaning? Does the value I provide a good fit for the “missions” I contribute to? Also, am I creating beauty that is timeless whilst fully embodying the era I live in? Am I building wealth that will grow steadily and surely over time? What actions can I initiate to increase my value so that I can be of greater service to the communities I belong to and hence uplift and empower the other participants?

Purification

So…let’s talk about why Venus is hanging out in this part of the sky for such a long stretch.

As stated above, Venus is retrograde from December 19th to January 29th. When a planet is retrograde, it both appears to go backwards in the sky and is closer to earth in its journey to conjoin the sun and transforms from an evening star to a morning star. Venus retrogrades less than the rest of the bunch — only once every 18 months. Much ink has been spilt regarding the significations of the Venus retrograde cycles but let’s cut to the quick.

Long story short: A retrograde planet expresses itself differently from how it’s expected to in the sign that it’s in in order to to purify its function — through synthesizing a different vantage point and understanding its true purpose in relation to how one nurtures one’s s/Self. This process culminates with the planet meets up with the Sun (called a cazimi, Venus’ took place on Saturday, January 8th) — that great big crucible at the center of our solar system that burns away all the “impurities” of the planet.

Blah blah blah…but how does this play out in real life?

With Venus the key “re-” actions in this process are: RE-EVALUATE, RE-CREATE, RE-NOVATE, RE-MAKE, RE-DISTRIBUTE, RE-INVEST, RE-PAIR, RE-SIGN or RE-COMMIT, RE-ARRANGE…you get the idea.

During this particular Venus Retrograde time period, there tends to be a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction with the status-quo especially around anything you’ve been investing a lot of value in over a long period of time — especially something that you thought would take care of you in return or would provide the structure on which you could frame the context of your life.

With Saturn, Capricorn’s ruler, currently in Aquarius, this dissatisfaction often stems from a growing awareness of feeling dis-integration. As in, your unique contribute/voice/genius isn’t either being recognized and/or optimally utilized and that’s creating a deep sense of alienation — which then drives you to examine the literal nuts and bolts of your life (Capricorn, after all, is an earth sign and supremely practical — no woo woo mumbo jumbo vagaries here!) that enable you to be a member of society.

As often happens during retrogrades, there is a manifestation in real life of things getting cocked up or come back around especially re: Venus ruled topics. There’s the trope that old lovers come back around; deals you thought were dead suddenly come back to life; an old employer comes back to offer you a job; a fashion trend you loved long ago is revived. It might be that something you thought as coming through falters: nailing down the terms of a contract; a big sale you thought you closed; an engagement falls apart.

What’s going on is that Venus is asking you to slow your roll and really look long and hard about the issue at hand. Are you using the right metrics and seeing the opportunity clearly? Are you leaning into the power of the pussy (and this is not just for people who identify as female or have wombs BUT everyone because we ALL have the need and right to be CHERISHED and to manifest energy into the world)? Are you exercising discernment and considering the long term ramifications?

Remember: The fastest way to wind up a hoarder living in a house stuffed with indistinguishable junk on a Bravo show is to accept every gift that’s offered to you.

Think of the retrograde as a long slow dance at a debutantes’ ball of old (hahaha — I’m showing my age) with the person who broke your heart in middle school but now thinks you’re amazing because you’re now this swan (though, bitch, you always were a swan). Will you allow this suitor a second chance? Or will you enjoy the moment and swipe left anyway?

If you can, do what Venus the goddess would do during the retrograde and withhold judgment until the planet stations direct. Let the whole dance play out.

These Boots Were Made for Walking Backwards…

Read below first for your rising, followed by Moon and Sun signs for some ideas of how to handle Venus’ current retrograde.

CARDINALS (Capricorn, Aries, Cancer, Libra)

Venus wants to give you what you need and what you deserve to GET YOURS and start a new, beautiful chapter in your life and finally close the door on the weight that scarcity and expectation yoked to you — as if you were some beast of burden. You love to leap into action when you realize something isn’t working, BUT how are you about actively receiving with discernment? Oh yeah…that’s the little trick here. Imagine it like playing the pitcher in a baseball game with the bases loaded. The catcher is signalling pitches to you while you’re trying to keep your eyes on all the bases and you’ve got to make a judgment call on what to do next. All your senses are on receiving input while your instincts are lining those perceptions up with all your training to meet this moment where it is — because this will determine how the rest of the game will be played…and the catcher is Venus.

CAPPIES
You’re revisiting and revising the veritable rules of your game: What value and values do you now need to consciously seek and invest yourself in? What self definitions do you need to divest as no longer relevant to both how you want to be seen by the world and to what you see as making life worth living? How does your sense of pleasure and fun inform the world you want to see and create? How does embodying your authority allow you to contribute balance and increase justice in society?

ARIES
How are you when it comes to sitting for a critique? Do you immediately want to interrupt and justify why you did things the way that you did? Or can you tame that impulse and really listen — and not just to the parts that re-enforce what you already accept as describing you — to the value of being seen through someone else’s eyes and in a wider context as an individual who is part of something bigger than themselves? Will you allow yourself to be elevated by someone else into a position of authority that you may not have chosen for yourself but may be exactly what you were born to do? Can you receive the materials and resources that you need to self define from someone else?

CANCER
Let’s talk about vulnerability, shall we? No. Don’t snap your claws at me! Being dutiful, careful, proper in your 1:1 partnerships, whether those are romantic or business, is par for the course for you. Everyone in their own lane doing what they agreed to do. Receiving energy and turning it into something veritably dynastic on an agreed upon delivery schedule is your jam. But what about tenderness? What about beauty for its own sake? What about re-evaluating your perception of partnership’s role in your life beyond the utilitarian? How would that change your home environment? Or heal/resolve inherited familial issues about fairness and partnership and balance? Or redefine how you view what truly gives you a sense of prosperity? Or allow you to finally manifest some dearly held dream and wishes?

LIBRA
What’s home? And I’m not just talking about that tastefully curated, IG presentable space. Who’s family? I’m talking about the relationships that allow you to ugly cry and they still think you’re the one they’d rely on when the alien invasion happens to keep a calm head and crisis manage — not the folks that demand that you prove your worth in order to get your space in the bomb shelter. Can we talk about that this Venus retrograde? Are you still including “justifying worth in exchange for security and care” as part of your conscious docket and world view? How’s that working out? Or are you feeling the need to move beyond that and maybe have those not so polite conversations that allow you to get to the nitty-gritty of building intimacy and trust — that might just lead to you being valued for you and not what you do for people?

FIXIES (Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio)

Oh boy…Feeling a little bit like you’re being subjected to an efficiency review? Does it feel like Marie Kondo or the cast of American Pickers or Hoarders has showed up in your life and is rooting around in the dark corners of you prefer to throw a dust cover over and take for granted as functional? It’s time to lift the hood, go down in the boiler room, or open wide and say “ahhhh” and make sure that you’re getting full value from those processes that underpin your life. If those aren’t positively benefiting you and/or your investment in them is poorly utilized, you aren’t going to have everything you need at your disposal to deal with the fulcrums of change the nodes of the moon have in store for especially for you and the landscape of your life for the next 18 months once they move into Taurus/Scorpio on January 18th. Let’s just say that the Taurus eclipse on November 19, 2021 was just a wee preview of what’s to come. (I know I said that nasty word “change” to you. Remember I’m a fixie too! I’m in this boat with you and no! We absolutely cannot be sailing up denial!)

AQUARIUS
So…Let’s talk about that attic of yours. Maybe it isn’t as scary as the one in VC Andrews Flowers in the Attic, but it’s time to poke around in there. Sure 2017 to 2020 felt like the roof blew off, threw it wide open, and the repo man stripped it bare. But, with Pluto still skulking around in there, there’s still more value to be mined from the experience of being denuded of all of the external sign posts and projections you lean on to define who you are. In jyotish, Venus is the only planet that delivers when it traverses the twelfth house — because it makes manifest your value that no one else can take away from you — for you that’s often that you see so clearly how the whole thing is put together and how it should work. So go ahead…re-read those old proposals, those old journals, revisit all those old ideas that were ahead of their time when you thought of them…maybe one of them is ready to be reborn now?

TAURUS
If you were asked to draft up a schematic of how you think the universe works, could you do it? Are there parts of it that you’re now questioning? Especially those parts that involve how you fit into this cosmology and the work that you absolutely have to do in this lifetime is a part of how it unfolds? Are there ways in which your expertise needs more recognition and value or a wider platform so that you can be a resource for more people? Maybe it’s time to dial up an old mentor and walk with this tender and loving teacher through both old and new galleries of ideas to formulate a beautiful way to reframe how the spiritual manifests itself for the senses to perceive and use this to amplify the way you share your abilities to create and conceive of structure, systems, civility? The next 18 months may see you really revolutionizing what your life focus is — so knowing where you stand and being able to draw from that belief system will go a long way to helping keep you centered and present.

LEO
Kitty Cat. I know that you like your routines and you have incredibly well thought justifications for why you do things the way you do on a daily basis and why things are placed just so — especially those things that are supposed to keep you organized. I know you’ve devoted a lot of research and thought to these choices. BUT are they really as efficient and effective as you think they are? Are all of those subscriptions to those apps really where you should be investing your value (do you have an actual inventory of all of the subscriptions — how much are you shelling out every month, year)? Is everyone on your team contributing the value you need them to? How about those debts? Are you working on them and/or restructuring them so that they are leaching the efficiency of your money? How about the way you treat your body as a resource? Do you drive it around like a Honda Civic (that needs little maintenance, I know! I had one for 12 years) not caring about the dings and scratches and love taps when you parallel park? Or is it maybe time to send it off for detailing and invest some loving care into it? It’s time to invest in this part of your life and get it to max efficiency and value because it’ll be key in how you’re about to plant your flag and truly step into your authority over the next 18 months. An executive is only as effective and powerful as their support system…or, as they say, an army lives and dies by its supply lines.

SCORPIO
Oh lord. It feels like an audit, doesn’t it? Venus is “supposed” to be nice but here you are feeling like you keep putting your foot in your mouth and having to find a different way to say what you mean. Or is it that you’re questioning the value proposition of your entrepreneurial projects and wondering how much of you you’ll have to sacrifice in order to make way for a partner to set you up for success? Maybe it’s feeling a little like your skills are being measured and it’s becoming clear that you need a refresh or enrichment? It could be as basic as re-evaluating the tools you use to transfer thoughts from your mind out into the world; or, as complex as, re-examining your relationship with your colleagues to see if you’re co-existing in an ecosystem that facilitates maximum value exchange and communication. Or even — this one is out there: Do you live in a neighborhood that you could see yourself in long term? Right now, take the time to make sure that your environment and the people that populate it imbue you with a sense of being valued, cared for, and appreciated over the long haul…Because over the next 18 months, it looks like you’re going to be tapped to show up in a big way for your partners, collaborators, and clients — and you need everything in your tool kit to be pristine and in good working order.

MUTABLES (Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius)

Okay…I’m gonna give this one to you…This should “feel nice” which is not to say “easy” but it should feel like drinking a steaming hot drink whilst wrapped up in a cozy old blanket you found in a chest just out of the dryer while it’s freezing outside and the wind sounds like it’s about to blow you away to Oz after you just replaced the roof tiles — but Adele is serenading you through a luxurious sound system so it feels like it’s gonna be okay…why? Because it feels like the cavalry is here to help you to get it together in a part of your life that needs consolidating so that you can feel secure, happy, and integrated. So, what’s the challenge? To keep your eyes focused on the long game…No, ignore that squirrel that just ran by!

PISCES
Homework time (if you haven’t already done it by this point): Time to bust out your contacts and scroll through your connections on LinkedIn, FB (I know I know), IG, Twitter, wherever (don’t make me age myself more than I just have) and be someone’s Venus and Mercury retrograde transit. Hit them up and find out what they’re up to and if maybe your projects or causes overlap or intersect. Go through your journals or wherever you record lists of people you’d like to know or organizations you’d like to be affiliated with. Hit them up. Yeah. I know. I sounds like a fishing expedition. It is. Venus (and Mercury) are trying to get you the value of your social connections to help you realize some truly held dreams and wishes…But to get there, you have to conversate and “press the flesh” — in, obviously, a socially distant and safe responsible way — it’s Capricorn after all.

GEMINI
Let’s talk about trust — and how sometimes engendering it might not be your strongest suit. No. I’m not reading you to filth, but it winds up being a lot more complicated a process than sometimes you have the attention span for. Maybe it’s that you get involved with people who have a lot of rules around sharing or who have a lot of insecurity around their sense of self worth or who have a lot they feel like they need to protect. However, with Venus here, maybe it’s time to reframe this process so that it’s a lot more fun for you and the other person and an opportunity for you to step up and show how capable you actually are of co-creating a long-term plan that brings stability and value. How? Revisit conversations about long range plans, values, and security needs, ask and listen to what the other person has to say about what they value and find beautiful and worthwhile, and assess how authentically that reflects and resonates with your own values. If there is dissonance, don’t just gloss over — get into these and see what needs to happen to resolve the differences or if they’re irreconcilable. Find the value in the long slow burn of sharing resources and values.

VIRGO
What makes life worth living? What gives you pleasure? What does it feel like when you let your inner child lead you? Are you having enough sex or, at least, masturbating regularly? When was the last meal you had that delighted all of your senses? When was the last time you played — yes, I’ll give you playing a game on your phone, but I’d rather it be a time you played with your food or something that involved moving pieces around a game board or even some world building game? When was the last time you spent time around children and played a serious game of pretend? When was the last time you invested your attention in a gratitude practice and inventoried your blessings? Because all of the above are relevant to you right now and relevant to getting clear on your values, your value, what and who you need for security, and your understanding of the space you take up in the universe. Contrary to popular belief, your sense of play, fun, pleasure constitute the unique genius you’ve come into this world with and which you contribute to uplifting those around you in your quest to develop safe spaces for the vulnerable. However, you will never truly be able to provide that service until you understand and experience the humility it takes to ask for help and the pleasure you gift to people by empowering them to help you. Homework for you: Practice receiving help. I’m serious. Ask someone you trust for help with something creative even if you don’t “need” it. Maybe ask them to teach you how to play a new game you don’t know the rules of or how to cook a new dish…Observe how the sense of wonder and fun unfolds.

ANYHOW…

That’s all I’ve got in me to propitiate Mercury for now! Lol. More on Mercury Retrograde and getting ready for when we have ALL planets direct.

Until next time!