WOMEN, POLITICS AND THE VIRGO STAR POINT™
by Arielle Guttman
© 2011 August

For the next few weeks four planets (the Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury) will grace the sign of Virgo. Millions of jobs, large and small, are performed daily that for the most part go unnoticed and unrecognized. During this Virgo period, it is time to appreciate every bit of help from the people who have contributed their part to the daily business of keeping the cogs in the wheels of life turning. After all, Virgo is the sign of the Earth Goddess, and sits in the sector of the sky that glorifies the goddess of industry and the harvest.

NOTE: In Venus Star Rising: A New Cosmology for the 21^st Century, we learn how the planet Venus weaves a five-pointed star in the sky in its relationship to the Earth’s orbit. Each point of the star is associated with a particular Sun sign, which creates a Venus Star Point (VSP) that is strongly influenced by the Sun sign’s characteristics. Therefore, your VSP can have nearly as much influence over your life as your Sun sign. The Venus Pentagram passed through Virgo from 1875 to 1984. Because the Venus Star touches down on five signs at a time in creating its star, the population born during that century is comprised of about 20% Virgo Venus Star Point (VSP) individuals. That’s a lot of people, so chances are, you might be one of them.

Notes from the July 15th Star Talk by Arielle Guttman

(c) July 16, 2011

Long after the 75 chairs were put away and the lights dimmed, Star Talk was still going strong, streaming in my head into the following day. So I’ve attempted to gather up some resonant fragments of stated and yet unstated topics that were circulating around my cosmos, for consideration here.

August 15: The Venus Star is changing phases, signs and positions

We’ve been in the Scorpio Morning Star Phase of Venus since last October 28 and as of August 15, 2011 we will move into the Leo Evening Star Phase. Venus is currently invisible to us as she is at that crossroads between shining upon us in our morning skies and eventually gracing us in our evening skies. Now she resides within the beams of the sun — or combust. When she moves into the heart of the Sun and they kiss one another in what is known as cazimi on August 15, they will be joined by Mercury in a 3-planet love fest. During this period of invisibility, as Venus moves closer to the Sun, we are entering a Venus period, a time to celebrate Venus coming out of her warrior phase and into her lover phase — and a time to engage in Venus practices.  In Leo we can anticipate the celebration of the feminine,  of nature’s beauty, of artistic creations, love, of marriage, of childbirth, of our existing children, our creations, our playfulness and the sensuality with which Venus engages in any practice.

August 2011 marks the seventh passage of the Venus Star through the sign of Leo since it began transiting that sign 24 years ago in August 1987. The birth of the Leo Star at that time brought us the Harmonic Convergence, the period that was identified by the Mayan Factor as the doorway to a twenty-five year passage concluding in 2012 – of earth’s transition to a new dimensional portal – one that would allow the needed shift from a populace governed by a sacral center to a community of humanity becoming centered in the heart.  It is not an easy shift, but this forthcoming Leo Star period (August 2011 – June 2012) reminds us of the necessity of following a mind whose control center is housed in the heart rather than giving into the mind’s reflexes located in the cerebral cortex of the brain. The cerebral cortex of the brain is a more easily manipulated and seduced mechanism that allows us to think that lies are truth and thus begin to believe them. Contrarily, the heart was given one essential full-proof component that cannot be altered or tampered with: it doesn’t know how to lie. The mind may have taught it how to trick itself into covering up the lie, but the consequent suffering of that is certainly not worth the effort of attempting it. Want to pay your fair share of taxes? Offer them up to the heart.

What can we anticipate from the coming Leo Star? The 2011 Leo Star Evening Star constitutes the FULL phase of the 8 year Leo star that began four years ago  in August 2007 as the NEW phase and which will culminate in August 2015. We are now at the important midpoint, the turning the wheel of the full period into a new direction. The inception of the current eight year Leo Star period in August 2007 identified the actual implications of the dire economic conditions that would beleaguer the U.S. housing market, rippling around the world and spreading like an infectious disease to every other sector of the economy to the point of now, a near bankruptcy for the U.S. as the full phase of Venus rapidly approaches.  This full phase of the Venus Star Point, as in any full phase, depicts the most inflated build-up to the crisis, followed by a  subsequent release and reorientation. The good news? Something’s got to break – it must release and change direction on its way to the completion of its journey four years from now.

Mercury Retrograde –  August 2 to 26

Coincidentally in what is sure to be no coincidence is that Mercury turns retrograde in the earliest degrees of Virgo opposite to Neptune in Pisces on the day the government is asked to resolve the debt crisis.  A stationary Mercury about to move retrograde is in itself a time when misunderstanding, misdirection and confusion can abound. But add that to Neptune and Pisces and what emerges is a tangled cobweb of truth based on belief, unsupported facts and rhetoric which makes me believe that not one single person in Washington actually knows the bigger picture of this economic maze we’re attempting to navigate through – something like a DaVinci style puzzle box that once open, one finds many other layers to unlock with very little clues as to who holds the key. That, punctuated by Neptune itself all over the U.S. chart right now (natal Moon, progressed ASC, progressed Sun) will produce political proclamations, statements, resolutions and writs that may not make sense to anyone.

August is the month to welcome the triple Sun, Venus and Mercury alignment to Earth as a personal celebration and relief to an otherwise very tense drama that is still operating in the planetary sphere. Mars in Cancer, Pluto in Capricorn, Uranus in Aries  and Saturn in Libra are involved in a giant cardinal cross that will be triggered by the Moon once a week during the month and will no doubt provide lots of drama, tension, explosion and release. Look to Mercury retrograde, along with Sun and Venus in Leo, as comic relief and be creative about solutions to problems. Elect to move out of a box of conditioned actions that finds the same old repetitive responses totally not doing the trick. And, seriously, look to theater, entertainment, the arts and the playfulness of children to remind us of the elegance of this Leo Star when the will is aligned to creatively, spontaneously (from the heart) and intentionally reflect and act out the beauty of life and nature with the flair and beauty that Leo possesses.

The U.S. is having a Saturn Return — through November 2011

Every 29 years it happens: a Saturn Return that some of us experience as a wise and stern, sometimes cynical old professor forcing us to finish an assignment that we dread having to undertake. Ultimately we’re supposed to learn some sort of responsibility from that test or assignment, and here it is, aspecting the U.S. 8th House Sun which points directly to fiscal responsibility and the use of other people’s resources. For the U.S. right now, the transit of Saturn to the U.S. 8th House Sun and the concurrent transit of Pluto to its 8th House Jupiter is a cruel blow to a greatly inflated wallet that has now been shriveled to small coins and stale crumbs.  You, the holder of that sad and shrunken wallet, says: “Please give me one more loan. I promise I’ll pay you back.” But there’s no one left to borrow from who doesn’t hold a price on your head if you don’t pay up and pay up soon. Time, the nemesis of a Saturn period, is running out.

Saturn, in a double whammy of a transit to both the U.S. Sun (squaring it) and the U.S. Saturn (returning to it) makes this period doubly fierce and seem doubly doomed. But wait, isn’t Saturn in Libra, the sign of compromise, of mediation and of giving equal time to both sides of the issue? If Saturn truly lives up to the wise teacher that the sages of old have claimed it to be, the really right solution in keeping with Saturn’s reputation as an exalted aspect of stern but conciliatory wisdom in Libra is its ability to negotiate fairly with both sides. In other words, this present government has got to find a way to cooperate or we shall all perish. The consequences of both sides not giving equally to this battle is that the victor who uses coercion and bullying tactics to win only finds his own head on the chopping block the next time it comes around.  Without getting Biblical, you could say that Old Man Saturn’s song is something akin to “as ye sow, so shall ye reap”. So, the Republican Congress, the Democratic Administration and everyone in between, needs to swallow their pride, yield even if ever so slightly to the cause and condition at hand and take care of business.

The Planets over the Middle East

February 19 2011

Bahrain’s chart is being hit by almost all of the outer planets currently (2011)-Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Chiron.

Primary transits to consider to Bahrain’s natal are:

• Jupiter transit in Aries to Bahrain’s Uranus/Chiron opposition
• Saturn transit in Libra to Bahrain’s Uranus/Chiron opposition
• Uranus transit in Aries to Bahrain’s Neptune
• Neptune transit in Pisces to Bahrain’s Neptune/Moon/Saturn
• Chiron transit in Pisces to Bahrain’s Neptune/Moon/Saturn

Bahrain’s natal chart is rather amazing:

Moon/Saturn conjunction opposition Neptune/Jupiter (how’s that for an large, wealthy, oil-ruling family)

Large & Wealthy==Jupiter

Oil==Neptune

Family==Moon

Ruling==Saturn

Egypt’s peaceful demonstration began on January 25 when Saturn was stationary retrograde, indicating an almost certain turn-of-events and something quite significant for its ruler, Hosni Mubarak.  This event was punctuated by a Mars/Sun/Ceres conjunction in Aquarius, trining Saturn. This triple conjunction in Aquarius was passing through the geodetic borders of Egypt for several weeks, from the time the demonstrations began until about midway through the process, giving some amount of power, recognition, support and favor to the protesters.

One can clearly understand why the people of Bahrain became so fired up and inspired, watching what just took place in Egypt. Transiting Mars in Aquarius was passing directly over the natal Mars of Bahrain during this time.

The Bahrain demonstrations also began while the Sun and Mars are in Aquarius, but in this case the duo has joined Neptune, Chiron and Mercury in late degrees of Aquarius. By Sunday February 20 when Mercury, Mars and Neptune make a triple conjunction (effectively lasting for four or five days) from Feb 18 to Feb 23, there will be a tidal wave of potent energy massing in the heavens, that can only be described as fast-moving, hard-hitting waves of the ocean or waves of emotion that characterize this three-planet convergence.

Geodetic Chart for Bahrain:

Don’t expect the people of Bahrain to settle down any time soon. The Mars transit through Aquarius and Pisces has produced a series of hard-hitting aspects to Bahrain’s natal chart, leaving almost no planet untouched. Mars can be relentless, driven by the sheer power and force of anger and resentment, built up over many years of their people being marginalized and excluded from achieving power in this nation’s economic, social and political system. The majority of Bahrain’s natal planets are in fixed signs, and with all four of the geodetic angles also in fixed signs, there is an almost unyielding resistance to change imposed by its ruling force.

Meanwhile, through February and March, Jupiter and Saturn (in opposition for the world in Aries and Libra) target Bahrain’s Chiron/Uranus opposition in Aries/Libra, indicating a real tug-of-war situation. The natives are restless, for sure. Some of this restlessness is described by Bahrain’s natal Uranus in Libra in the 2^nd House (geodetically) that paints a picture of an uprising of the masses (Uranus) who are asking for equality and justice (Libra) in economic opportunity (2^nd House). The response from governing forces and law enforcement (Saturn’s transit to Uranus) is suppression by any means, including violence resulting in death. For the next several months the transit of Saturn presses on Bahrain’s Uranus, not completing its passage until July 2011.

But 2011-2013 also bring the arrival of Neptune and Chiron to Bahrain’s chart, offering tension producing squares to the nation’s Moon/Saturn opposition to its own Neptune. The watery Neptune can easily erode or dissolve Saturn’s earthy, structural form and with the many repetitive passes of Neptune over Saturn (Bahrain’s government rulers), the Moon (Bahrain’s citizens including the families of its rulers) and Neptune (wealth from oil and/or tourism) one can only wonder what will remain of the present structure of this nation once Neptune’s passage is complete.