We need a big vision, a relentless imagination, and a bottomless well of courage to draw from. We need frameworks that hold the possibility for collective health and communal well-being. We need to be investing in systems of care so solid they can catch us when we fall and carry us through the most challenging passages of our collective evolution.
Our current systems of incarceration were historically created to criminalize Black people and keep white supremacy in power. They will always be exposed as the tombs of injustice that they are. This moment is an acute reminder of the horrors of it. This much-needed eruption is a chorus in a long-sung protest song about divesting from systems of harm and reinvesting in life-affirming, life-enhancing, generative, and generous networks of care.
Those that distort this moment with their own calls for an unearned unity seek to disrupt this uprising. If in the midst of a revolution our discomfort is revealed, that is a good thing. Unpacking our white privilege (and all our privileges) is meant to challenge every part of our lives that have been made unfairly easy. Solidarity means nothing if it doesn’t also dismantle our unjustly attained power. Peace is sometimes only possible when we are unified in disruption.
Venus, planet of union, harmony, and relationships has been retrograde since May 13th. When Venus is retrograde we are given the opportunity to review what causes the opposite of unity: separation, isolation, injustice. We are asked to investigate the connective tissue of our world and our lives, making note of what is torn, damaged, dislocated and why.
Venus made a square to Mars on June 2nd that emphasized these fractures. When Mars is this active, we know that whatever system we are looking at will be inflamed, agitated, and overheated – but to misdiagnose the symptom for the cause would be malpractice. On a collective level, we know white supremacy, and all of its allies, is the culprit to address. Anything less than naming the harm-doer outright, is victim-blaming.
Venus made its inferior conjunction to the Sun on June 3rd.
Snuggled in between the Sun and earth, Venus is as close to us as it will ever be – so too is our need to hold our pain with great tenderness, address interpersonal wounds, and acknowledge the hurt around us.
At this conjunction, Venus enters into the inner chambers of the Sun. Infused with the strengthening balm of solar light, Venus helps us to gain clarity about where the pain is and grants us the courage to begin healing it. This conjunction is a special moment in Venus’s cycle and comes at a time when we have swung from the extreme of social isolation to a mass outpouring of folks protesting on the streets.
Gemini Season loves a moment of duality.
The penumbral lunar eclipse in Sagittarius occurs on June 5th at 12:12pm PT. This eclipse ushers us into the second eclipse season of 2020. It comes bearing 3 eclipses in a row (instead of the usual 2); one on June 5th, one on June 21st, and one on July 5th. Eclipse Season reveals what is usually relegated to the shadows. It is a time for purging toxins. It signals moments of important change.
Sitting near the south node, opposite Venus retrograde, and square Mars, this eclipse encourages us to purge the poisons in our systems. In Sagittarius, this means reconsidering what we, or the society we live within, holds to be true. Laws need to be revised. The consensus that we live under needs to be questioned. What we have had faith in gets investigated. Occurring opposite Venus and the Sun, this eclipse magnifies the feelings, values, and conflict that Venus has helped us get to the heart of. Square Mars and Neptune, this eclipse brings both conflict and mass movement.
This isn’t easy astrology. This is urgent astrology.
After the eclipse, Mars will go on to make a conjunction with Neptune on June 13th. Neptune brings with it dreams of an ideal. It transcends the boundaries of the world we live in and entices us towards connection. It erodes barriers – something that is both necessary for mass movements and challenging on an interpersonal level. Since everything in Gemini (including Venus) has, or will, square Neptune in Pisces during its transit, the levels of confusion and anxiety have had a chance to run wild. It’s always challenging to concentrate when planets dominate mutable signs; add a pandemic and an uprising and it’s near impossible. It’s ok if you don’t know what to do from moment to moment and you feel 1000 different things on the way to the fridge or the protest. Go easy on yourself. This isn’t a time for regularly scheduled programming.
Mars is the activist and instigator. In conjunction with Neptune, this warrior needs a dream to defend. As Mars edges closer to Neptune, it implores us to not cheat ourselves out of our dreams for equality, sustainability, and justice. They may not be a reality yet, but they are waiting for us to make them so.
Eclipse Season always reveals the shadow, the difficult matter that must be made conscious. Retrogrades always remind us that with careful review, excavation, and examination of the past, we can change. This world can change. We haven’t always lived like this. It doesn’t have to be like this. Another world is possible.
I will not be writing lunar eclipse horoscopes this week, but if you would like a reading, ritual, and guided meditation specific to your sign for this eclipse, please join me for A Workshop for the New Moon in Gemini, the Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius, and A Journey Through Venus Retrograde Part 2. All of the revenue from these sales will be divided between The Okra Project , BEAM, and National Bail Out. If you would like access to the workshop but are not able to pay, please email sales@chaninicholas.com and we will send you the link.