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Astrological Insights for 9/16/23 - 9/30/23

9/16/2023

Relationship and Finances
Venus in the Current Astrological Forecast

In my last blog article, Venus was just emerging from retrograde on September 3rd.

Our discussion on Venus in the current astrological forecast continues!

Venus is a fast-orbiting planet (coming in second place for speed after Mercury) and is never more than 47 degrees from the Sun from the vantage point of the Earth. In astrology, we can look to the astrological insights of faster-moving planetary transits to help us understand more about the day-to-day affairs we find ourselves in. For the longer overarching life cycles and transformations that evolve over a more extended time frame, we draw astrological meaning from the analysis of slower-moving planets, such as Saturn or Pluto.

Venus’s transits are short-lasting, but when it’s retrograde, it holds a more prolonged effect. You can refer to my last blog article below if you’d like to learn about the most recent Venus retrograde. What I would like to bring into this current astrology report regarding Venus retrograde is that although it is now direct, it will still be in its shadow period until the end of October. This shadow time relates to how long it will take for Venus to return to the same place in the sky it was just before it went retrograde. Therefore, you may continue to reprocess, revisit, and come to resolutions around dynamics you’ve been in since the beginning of summer involving Venusian issues: relationship matters, finances, and how you manifest beauty in your life.

Over the next couple of weeks, as Venus continues its track toward its pre-retrograde position, it will make aspects with Jupiter, Chiron, and Uranus, opening more influence to Venus’s energetics.

Venus Squares Jupiter
September 16th - 20th

Venus and Jupiter will form a square aspect with each other during the 16th - 20th. Squares can offer more internal conflicts for us to sort through while providing opportunities for personal growth once we learn how to shift and evolve through and out of the conflict. Jupiter and Venus are known as the benefics in astrology; they bring more positive elements to life. As a result of this leaning toward optimism and goodness with these two, a square aspect is usually not particularly conflictual. However, there is a possibility of influencing you to get out of balance by partaking in behaviors that disregard your limitations, such as overindulging in food, sensual pleasures, or overspending.

Jupiter brings good luck and opportunities to help you become more expansive towards your interests and what’s drawing your attention. Venus connects you to the sensual aspects of life and represents the part of the human experience that allows you to receive by simply “just being” and allowing things to come to you. Venus also influences your connections to intimate relationships, friendships, and finances, and brings beauty and aesthetics into your life.

If you know what house Venus is in your birth astrology chart, this is the area in life where you may find yourself easily receiving what you need with little effort. Similarly, if you know what house Jupiter is in, this is where you will feel supported with opportunities for learning new things for personal growth and expansion in your life.

While Venus and Jupiter are in a “challenging” square aspect during 9/16 - 9/20, here are some things to look out for:

Your budget - there may be a tendency to feel optimistic about an expensive purchase, only to feel regret later. Jupiter and Venus are planets we look to in the chart to help us understand more about money and finances. A square between them makes it difficult to curb spending if something feels like you must absolutely have it. You may want to buy that beautiful thing for your home. I recommend pausing or waiting until after the 20th to see if you still feel the same about the purchase. This can also be true if you want to invest your money in something new during this time.

Relationships - Be mindful of overlooking things that may come up in dating or your intimate relationships that would be important matters to consider. Again, this square aspect can make you feel more fancy-free, ignore red flags, or want to stay in the feel-good pleasures with pure optimism. What may feel delicious at the moment might lead you down a pathway that might not be right for you. Again, give pause and allow more time to develop new relationship connections, and/or resolving emerging relationship issues.

When Venus was retrograde, it also made a square to Jupiter in August.
Think back or look back to what was happening in your life related to finances and relationships from August 20th - 25th. A similar theme may be coming up from September 16th through the 20th, allowing you to see what more internal patterns need shifting.

One last thing to consider for more clarity: Go further back this summer, Venus and Jupiter made a Square aspect from June 9th - 14th. This may have set off the cycle of these relationship/financial themes you've been in all Summer and will be into Early Autumn. Reviewing the dynamics of that time period can provide insight into what issues are looking to come full cycle now.

Venus Trine Chiron + Mars Opposes Chiron
September 19th - 27th

From September 19th to 27th, Venus will make a flowy trine with Chiron, the Wounded Healer, bringing supportive energy for beautiful healing in intimate relationships and opening the energy to heal aspects of your relationship with money. Perhaps you’ve had some Venusian issues to sort through over this recent Venus retrograde. When Venus Trines Chiron during the last week of September, it’s a supportive time to take what you’ve learned and allow yourself to have healthier patterns for yourself. It’s also a good time to allow yourself to receive (Venus is our receiving planet/aspect of ourselves), which can also be healing.

It is also important to note that Venus Trine Chiron coincides with Mars opposing Chiron from the 22nd to the 28th, adding stronger urges to take action towards healing. Mars influences can activate you to go after what you need, and when it is opposing Chiron, you might feel triggered by something that, by taking care of the matter, you can experience some healing for yourself. We can call this “healing-action”.

Venus Square Uranus + Full Moon in Aries
September 28th - 30th

As we continue to follow the orbit of Venus till the end of September, it will move into a Square aspect with Uranus in the last couple of days of the month. Uranus’s influence connects you to a desire for freedom and can have you suddenly making shifts to create such freedom. Furthermore, Squares between planets can be experienced as frictional energy related to the astrological qualities of the planets, requiring your action toward resolution.

Squares are most often felt as an internal conflict that has perhaps been brought on by a circumstance that has you pausing and feeling like there’s something you need to do about it. If you try to sit on the matter, it will only get louder and worse. Squares are where we ultimately grow and create new and healthier patterns in our lives.

As a side note, if you have planets making Squares to each other in your birth chart, this shows areas where conflict in your life CAN provide you with opportunities for personal growth. I say “can” because some may accept the conflicts as a part of life and make little progress in overcoming their challenges. We all have free will! Life tends to get harder as the knocks get louder when we ignore the calls to shift. Astrology can teach us to see these patterns better and make conscious shifts, learning there are more ways to be with the challenge that allows you to move into new and happier places and ultimately no longer in the unhealthy pattern.

Now, back to Venus Squaring Uranus on the 28th and 29th. Notice what’s happening these days concerning your finances, intimate relationships, and friendships. Are you feeling any internal conflicts with a call to break free from habits or stuck patterns? Tune into your needs and find a way to bring in new ways of being. Uranus’s influence can create a sense of “suddenness” around changing something you weren’t expecting. The change either is self-initiated by you or happens to you. If either or both happens, keep an open mind and recognize how this change is an aspect of becoming free from feeling stuck.

The Venus/Uranus Square will also combine with the energy of the Full Moon in Aries on the 29th. Fiery Aries connects us to our independence and need for self-care. You may feel an extra emotional emphasis on the need for freedom if certain relationship circumstances get you down.
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On a final note, as mentioned earlier, Venus won’t leave its shadow until the end of October. Therefore, it is possible that the end of September will bring you to the next place, or have you taking the next step. However, there may be still more to work out through the month of October in connection to topics of the Venusian aspects mentioned in all the sections of this blog.
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With astrology, the most helpful advice is always individual and personalized based
on your astrology birth chart and life situations.

Astrology readings with Laura can help you:
~ Align with your unique talents and opportunities
~ Move through life's challenges more intentionally
~ Gain a new awareness of major life changes
~ Know when is the best time to take action
~ Find clarity on self-limiting patterns

Learn more about scheduling an astrology reading with Laura to help you navigate your life!

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Astrological Insights Sept 1st - 15th

9/1/2023

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Planetary Retrogrades: Revisit, Review, Reintegrate

We can feel it in the air; the seasonal wheel is turning. Summer is winding down. We, too, are turning (inwards) as we embrace Autumn’s approach, and I am returning to this Blog - writing what's current in astrology. In re-evaluating my approach to this offering, I have decided to provide more focused astrological insights instead of giving a general overview to allow for a richer experience for you, the reader. There are multiple planets presently in retrograde; this edition will center on how to best work with them.

We have three key planets moving in and out of retrograde over the next few weeks. I am dedicating this blog post to the planetary retrogrades of Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. I feel it’s helpful to pay attention to how a planet’s retrograde motion offers an opportunity to reintegrate and more fully metabolize particular material present in our lives. There is a popular narrative about Mercury retrograde (Mercury is the planet most frequently in and out of retrograde) as a time to expect SNAFUs in communication, tech, travel, and such, and to expect the unexpected and take extra care. Retrogrades are much more than this. It may be helpful to think of them as a time to rein in our typical ever-forward bearing and to reevaluate and re-integrate our current intentions and direction. Retrograde periods offer the gift, if we choose to accept it, of an opportunity to back up, review, and re-process our recent life experiences.

We can look at the astrological sphere of influence of a retrograding planet and at the themes in our life occurring during retrograde to gain insight into the specific opportunity for integration that is more available during this period.

Understanding the simple basics of a retrograde planet’s motion helps to bring meaningful understanding to the gifts and challenges of a retrograde period. We know that the planets’ orbits always move around the sun in the same direction. Because of the different orbital speeds each planet cruises at, they periodically appear to move forward and then backward in the sky, from night to night, relative to the fixed stars. As a planet begins its appearance of retrograde motion in the sky, it’s “walking backward” . . . retracing its steps over its recent forward motion, and thus backing up over the same sky territory it already covered in recent weeks and months. We can see this in the sky by tracking a planet’s location among the stars from night to night.

Here is an embodied, helpful way to understand how planetary retrograde periods create a unique time to re-work through something in your life. Visualize walking on a sidewalk; you reach a certain point, stop, and then take ten steps backward. You have now covered the same ground twice, once when walking forward and again when walking back. After ten back steps, you stop again, take another ten paces forward, and this time, you keep on walking along. Notice you covered the same stretch of sidewalk thrice as you’ve walked an additional 20 on top of the original 10 strides. Planetary retrogrades, similarly, take us back through our life processes. Even though time is moving ever, always forward, the thematic narrative of a retrograding planet is re-traversing the scene of the same stretch of our lives.

Each planet brings astrological tides to realms of ourselves and how we relate to the human experience—knowing what parts of ourselves the planet influences can help us understand what themes to focus on. As one particular planet retrogrades, it offers us more time to simmer in a life process. The theme of your particular area of focus is personal and relates to how the planet’s expression is moving through you and the current situations evolving in your life.

This month, we have retrograde motion occurring with three planets:

Venus Retrograde
7/23/23 - 9/3/23

Venus influences intimate relationships, friendships, finances, and how you bring beauty into your life. Venus goes retrograde approximately every 18 months for about 5-6 weeks.
September begins with Venus in retrograde but will shortly turn direct a few days into the month on the 3rd. Venus started moving retrograde on July 23rd.

This Venus retrograde period remains an opportune time to explore and refine your quality of presence in your loving relationships. It’s powerful to reflect on how you manifest your love! It’s a profound time to become more attuned to the processes in play between you and your dearest ones.

When Venus is in retrograde, holding off on making new high-impact decisions related to the Venusian aspects of life (relationships, finances, costly aesthetic purchases, etc.) is advisable. Like any planetary retrograde time, optimal clarity and direction may be challenging, and it is more effective to work through existing matters than starting something new.

For example, if you’re in a process with your partner(s) regarding navigating your relationship, continue to work out what’s already there. Revisit issues not fully resolved from the past before making new moves towards the future.

It also holds true for making expensive purchases or other financial decisions. Give yourself more time for clarity after Venus has gone direct to decide if this is the right thing to buy or invest your money in.

Venus’s retrograde path takes us back to where it was in the sky on June 20th. As it goes Direct on the 3rd, it will cover the same themes regarding relationships, connections with beauty in the world, and finances you’ve been in all summer. As Venus moves along after the 3rd, it will take until October 27 to return to the position in the sky before it went retrograde. Therefore, it may take until the end of October to feel fully clear on the current issues in relationships or financial matters you’ve been in the process of working out.

Jupiter Retrograde
9/4/23 - 12/30/23

On September 4th, Jupiter begins to retrograde and will do so until December 30th. Jupiter retrogrades approximately every nine months for about four months. Jupiter influences the part of ourselves that feels optimistic about moving towards opportunities for growth and expansion in our lives - embarking on new adventures. Jupiter also brings allies, supportive means, and connections with the greater community.

During the up-and-coming four-month Jupiter in retrograde, accessing new ways to grow and expand outwardly in your life may feel less accessible. A way to focus this energy is to consider how to grow and refine these dynamics internally. It is a potent time to explore how your work and connections with the world fit together and how best to authentically lean into what you do each week. What is happening to generate your sense of purpose and optimism? How can you better hone your capacity to bring your gifts to the world?

If, from Sept 4th until the end of the year, you suddenly feel like you want to reorganize your work, change hats, seek more education, or plan extended travel to faraway lands, it may be good to take more time for consideration. Wait (if you can) until Jupiter is out of retrograde to get more clarity on approaching these new urges unless these plans were already in the works before Jupiter retrogrades.

Mercury Retrograde
8/23/23 - 9/15/23

Mercury retrogrades 3-4 times a year for three weeks; it recently retrograded on August 23rd and will go direct on September 15th. During these first couple of weeks of September, Mercury will be in retrograde, and it is a supportive time to review, reprocess, and integrate your current thinking about your life. It’s a good time for recollecting, reflecting on, and metabolizing your recent thoughts about your experiences. It’s a great time for journaling, talking things over with confidants, walking, hiking . . . taking time for gaining perspective.

When we avoid this opportunity and try to conduct our affairs by charging ahead as if Mercury were moving with a direct forward motion, communication and thinking processes go haywire and run wonky. When we allow the retrograde period as an opportunity to welcome a retreat into integration, we can take the opportunity to recalibrate ourselves and move in harmony with the nature of this time.

It would be advisable not to make big decisions until after September 15th. Decision-making and processing may not be fully clear during Mercury retrograde.

Mercury will retrograde to the place it was in the sky on August 4th. Whatever mental processes, plans, and communications revolving around what has been going on in your life from August 4th may continue to be rehashed/worked out until Mercury leaves its shadow (gets back to the place it was before it went retrograde) on September 30th.

It’s also a supportive time to finish projects taking up psychic space. Spend time with these activities during the next couple of weeks. Clear clutter in closets, garages, workspaces, donate items, etc. Mercury rules our minds, and when you clear out the physical clutter, you are also helping clear your mental clutter. When Mercury goes direct again on 9/15, you can feel more mentally refreshed if you take advantage of the Mercury retrograde, rewind, review, and clean out period.

With astrology, the most helpful advice is always individual and personalized based
on your astrology birth chart and life situations.

Astrology readings with Laura can help you:

~ Align with your unique talents and opportunities
~ Move through life's challenges more intentionally
~ Gain a new awareness of major life changes
~ Know when is the best time to take action
~ Find clarity on self-limiting patterns

Please get in touch to learn more about scheduling an astrology reading
with Laura to help you navigate your life!

0 Comments

Astrological Insights for 9/16/23 - 9/30/23

Relationship and Finances
Venus in the Current Astrological Forecast

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Astrological Insights Sept 1st - 15th

Planetary Retrogrades: Revisit, Review, Reintegrate

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Astrological Insights for 9/16/23 - 9/30/23

Relationship and Finances​Venus in the Current Astrological Forecast

​Sign up for Northwest Astrologer's Newsletter

Astrological Insights Sept 1st - 15th

Planetary Retrogrades: Revisit, Review, Reintegrate

​Sign up for Northwest Astrologer's Newsletter

Author

Archives

Categories

Relationship and Finances
Venus in the Current Astrological Forecast

Sign up for Northwest Astrologer's Newsletter

Sign up for Northwest Astrologer's Newsletter