Things are heating up for the Uranus/Pluto square in June! You can read the entire article here, but here is the general overview of the month to get you started. If you’re not already on my mailing list please sign up in the sidebar and you will receive not only the latest planetary news but also a simplified translation that is easy for newbies to understand.
There are two big news stories for May and a few smaller headlines. Planetary activity over the past six months or so has been relatively quiet, with very few outer planet alignments that foster intense change and transformation on a global and personal level. This, however, is about to end as the upcoming square from Uranus to Pluto becomes tighter and tighter, culminating on June 24 th. Uranus is the planet of radical change and liberation from repression, and Pluto is the planet of death and total transformation. You can see how a challenging aspect between these two planets can be quite intense and inspire global upheaval as social and cultural traditions are forced to give way to new patterns of human life.
Follow the Astrological Musings blog for more detailed articles about the square from Uranus to Pluto, but this aspect actually began last summer when the two planets came within a degree of the exact alignment, fostering revolutionary fervor and a desire for change. This summer marks the first exact aspect, and the groundwork that has been laid for the eighteen months will culminate and there is likely to be a great deal of political upheaval. How we handle this in our personal life will depend upon our own chart and the planetary aspects that we ourselves are experiencing.
The second major news story for May is the retrograde turn of Venus, the planet of beauty and relating. Venus only changes direction every eighteen months or so, unlike the outer planets which are retrograde for roughly half the year and Mercury, which retrogrades four times a year. Planetary retrograde periods serve to encourage us to complete unfinished business and to perfect half-baked processes, so they are very important and useful. But because they necessitate a backwards view they can be somewhat frustrating which is where they get their bad reputation.
When Venus is retrograde we often reacquaint ourselves with people from our past, or repair broken connections that require mending. It can be difficult to begin a new relationship when Venus is retrograde, and any kind of partnership (personal or business) that begins under this influence may have a difficult time taking root. Venus will remain retrograde through June 27 th.
What makes this particular Venus retrograde period exceptional is that it coincides with a transit of Venus over the Sun, a relatively rare event that occurs in pairs eight years apart only every 243 years. The first transit of Venus over the Sun in the current cycle occurred in June 2004, and the next one won’t occur until 2117. The coincidence of such a rare astronomical event occurring during the dreaded 2012 has given rise to much speculation about the end of the world, but these transits of Venus are not associated with devastation. Transits of Venus always occur in Gemini and Sagittarius – the signs of knowledge and understanding – and they have been associated throughout history with breakthroughs in these areas.
