Venus in Scorpio

Within this nodal shift we have the welcome reprieve of a (relatively) well-situated Venus.

Venus offers her beneficence to us this month through her strength in Libra, which bestows a fluidity to everyday experience. This can help to buffer any potential turbulence related to the nodal movement. Venus entered Libra at the end of November, and will remain here until 12/24, when she moves into Scorpio to join Mars.

This is an extremely supportive transit for shopping, markets, ogling beautiful things and acquiring new luxuries. Libra rules the marketplace and Venus here wants to shop, and will tend to thoroughly enjoy what was purchased.

A strong Venus means a strong water element, which supports enjoyment through relationship, new friendships and romance and a general tendency towards extroversion. By itself, Venus in Libra is a carefree, extraverted and indulgence-oriented placement.

When Venus moves into Scorpio, things get a lot deeper and more serious, and suggest that whatever relationships were begun during Venus in Libra have gained depth and may be exploring new, slightly trickier but also maybe more interesting, territory.

Venus will join Mars here, creating a specific combination for passion, which we will only have for a few days until Mars moves onto Sagittarius on 12/27. Take advantage of the vitality lent by the planet of passion conjunct the planet of action in the sign of depth to reinvigorate any roots that might be withering. This is especially supportive of sexual passion, particularly because of the association of Scorpio with sex (in the Kalapurusha this sign rules the genitals!).

There will be affliction to Venus for the duration of her transit in Scorpio, which will create some roadblocks related to this passion and pleasure. Until 12/27 because Venus will have the association of three malefics (saturn, rahu and mars) she will be technically cursed. When Mercury joins Venus on the 27th the situation should improve: Venus and Mercury are the best of friends and will help each other out. Practically speaking Mercury will provide support with any relationship problems through his communication ability and his friendly natural disposition.

It is noteworthy that since Rahu moved back into Pisces, the sign of Scorpio, and any planets moving through it, have been under the gaze of both Saturn and Rahu, creating strain the area of life Scorpio rules in your chart, as well as its general significations: transformation, elimination, debt, buried things which may not be visible but can be felt. Scorpio is the ability to compost our experience into fertile material that can inform our direction and purpose, which we find in the next sign Sagittarius. Tension here, for this reason, can stall this transformation so that it becomes difficult to see where one is going or even what one believes. This all makes sense, when we consider all that Rahu is riling up in Pisces. It is the effect of this welling up of unconscious components that will contribute to the clouding effect in Scorpio through Rahu’s aspect, so that a while we are wading a bit blindly into a future that can feel very tenuous considering we may feel like we don’t have a great handle on the past.

Once Mars moves on there can be less intensity in this area, but the Rahu/Saturn aspects for the next year or so can still make this a confusing and chaotic area, showing that there is a major collective re-negotiation around the precursors to purpose and path, and some difficulty metabolizing the weight of all that’s gone on in recent years. There will be a tendency for this to create a backlog, as both Rahu and Saturn can create ama or undigested material in the system which can cause a host of problems. This means that the processing of past and present tensions is actually a physical necessity, if we are to maintain health. Scorpio rules the intestines and organs of elimination, so this transit can also create some strain and blockages in these areas.

The way to move through heavy material—both in the body and in mind—is by supporting the digestive capacity or agni. On a physical level there are practices and herbs for this, which will be unique to each individual. Mentally, spiritual practices like meditation and others which focus the mind can be very helpful during this time. The practice of gazing at a flame would also be supportive. Mental sharpening of attention is a bit like physical sharpening of agni. A focused mind has a much greater capacity to handle information and experience than a scattered one.