By Esther Frances
Greetings Readers,
I am letting go of the format that gives a little snippet to each sign as your monthly update. I’ve always been frustrated by that structure because one size doesn’t fit all and I am no longer willing to try to stuff my creative “footage” into an outgrown shoe. It’s kind of like taking a snapshot of a movie and then acting as if it were the movie or tasting a bite of a five-course dinner and acting as if the taste is equivalent to the whole meal. I know we live in a “sound-bite” culture but my appetite isn’t satisfied with this modality so I am going to go the route of a blog that really interests me and tie it in with the astrological happenings for the month. I hope you’ll enjoy the ride. If not, there are plenty of venues offering you the astro tidbit for the month!
One of the extraordinary events happening now is the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter which began on June 19th. It will be exact on July 1st at 22 Leo and lose its combined Leo energy on July 19 when Venus moves into Virgo. These planets have accented the night sky, dramatically drawing attention to themselves by the brilliant light that distinguishes them from the rest of the night sky. Right there is a key to this conjunction. It reminds me of the Maryanne Williamson quote that says:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson
We have been misguided to feel that we are separate from Divinity, magnificence, love and most of us suffer from the wound of either feeling inadequate and inferior or the stress of trying to compensate by attempting to appear better than or superior. What if we were to fully realize that we are, each and everyONE of us, equal in value, equally Divine, equally worthy? What if we treated ourselves and each other this way? Can you imagine children taught that this is so, who no longer feel the need to shrink to fit in?
There is no better time to begin this correction or “core rectification” than during this portal of possibility that is the Venus/Jupiter union. Dare to love yourself! Dare to forgive yourself! Dare to reject all the internalized voices that want you to believe that somehow you better or less than, more entitled or more less deserving than others. What would that do to transform the topography of our social systems, our relationships and our communities?
What would it be like to live inside your skin with the knowing that you and everyONE else is sacred? …to know that the Earth, the Sun, the sky, the birds the breeze are sacred…..How could we then pollute, poison and rape with this knowingness? We are at a junction…a con (with) junction (where there is joining) where the decisions and choices we make impact the generations to come. Our consciousness is a shaper and co-creator of the quality of Life we and our descendants will live. This is the time to awake and take back our power!
Venus is love, relationships, beauty, fertility and art. Its symbol combines the circle of Spirit with the cross of matter. Astrologer Martin Schulman points out that “The clockwise rotation of Venus presents the only instance in our solar system where the direction of energy is focused outward.” Venus also symbolizes the scale of balance or justice and in that sense represents the “lower courts” or local legal systems.
Jupiter represents the principle and process of expansion. It is also an outgoing energy, the breath out in complement to the breath in of Saturn. In the Torus —- the cosmological donut, not the sign — we see both the outgoing and incoming energies comprising a whole, wholographic fractal system, found in stars, planets and us! Jupiter is extroverted, adventurous, expressive, and oriented toward increase. Jupiter also refers to natural law and the “higher courts” of law.
A conjunction symbolizes the uniting of the planets that come together to create a fusion or combination of their energies. Conjunctions are the simultaneous beginnings and endings of any cycle. They are powerful! The saying that “the whole is more that the sum of its parts” speaks to the synergy created in such an alliance.
Love needs to start from within, and be given out, to fulfill its greatest potential. The twelve signs of the zodiac serve up twelve different aspects of the whole enchilada of love. With Venus and Jupiter aligning In Leo we are given the opportunity to open our hearts and let our love flow! We are invited to celebrate, dance, make art, love and see the glory and the gifts Life has given us no matter what challenges we may be facing. One of my song lyrics is “Love is the answer; Love is the way: Love is calling you today.” It is an apt affirmation for this time.
The idea that we are to wait until some condition is met in order to love and celebrate gives away our power. Our challenge is to have the courage, (the word derived from the French word for heart) to initiate love, celebration and gratitude now, with whatever is present in our lives. It takes an activation of the archetype of “the brave” to step into this new territory.
The Summer Solstice begins with Mars conjunct the Sun in Cancer, sign of the Mother/child archetype. It is connected to a Libra Moon conjunct the North Node. The shorthand interpretation to all this is that in order to achieve the equity and social justice so many of us are yearning for, we need to initiate our own capacity to be a leader. We are to tap into our own authority, listen to our heart’s directives, or as Joseph Campbell said “follow our bliss.”
Mothers know that love involves strength and the willingness to protect what we love. To preserve the values we love—-despite all the flaws and shadow elements of our country and its origins that go unaddressed, is love made manifest. We cannot pretend we don’t see and avoid taking responsibility for a trend that will impact our children and their children if we don’t awaken from the slumber of denial and ignorance.
July 4th marks the day we call Independence Day here in the U.S.A. At the moment the ideals and laws created to insure protection of the citizens of this country are in jeopardy. The N.D.A.A. provisions 1021 and 1022 violate our constitutional rights to be informed of the charges in an arrest, to a lawyer, fair trial, notification of kin and allow a person can be sent to a military prison anywhere in this country or beyond its boundaries without the person’s family knowing where they’ve been sent .
I refer you to the Romero Institute at (romeroinstitute.org) to become informed of what we are creating here in Santa Cruz to create a Constitutional Protection Zone. I hope that this movement will catch on and that we can have a ground swell of awakening that will reverse the tide and insure that freedom and fairness can be reinstated and extended to encompass all people, as put forth in the Constitution. Please contact them to get the info you need to replicate this movement where you live.
May we see through the myth of independence and embrace the interdependence of all, all work toward a planet where all of us thrive.
© Esther Frances,
Addendum
In regards to June the month named for Juno Goddess of Marriage:
I just heard of the Supreme Court Decision for marriage equality and am rejoicing that we have collectively come to this point. The inner informs the outer and the outer informs the inner. I’m glad the law is catching up with what so many of us have realized, accepted and celebrated paving the way for this official acknowledgment.
It is important to realize that this is the cart following the horse, the horse being all the brave women and men who came out of the closet, affirmed their Divinity, equality, differences and diversity that created the consensus reality that was so powerful it could no longer be denied.
The Moon(archetype of Mother/child, family, bonding, and nurturing) and North Node (direction we are to move into for our greatest growth and evolution) is in Libra. Venus is the “parent planet,” of Libra. Libra’s traditional domain and is marriage, relationships and equality! The timing is perfect for this affirmation of equality to be sanctioned as law of the land.
A shadow side of the Venus/Jupiter conjunction is the passing of the Fast Tract Trade agreement. Venus is also about money, prosperity and values. Jupiter embraces generosity, or in its “too-muchness,” greed and excess. This bill is a boon for corporations and another loss for most the populace. Let’s continue to exercise our freedom of speech to make our voices heard and gather the momentum to repeal the decisions that violate our constitutional rights. This Marriage Equality victory shows we powerful once we realize that we are!
