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June 2, 2023 In Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Fortune’s Moon—Full Moon in Sagittarius—June 4th.

’’Break the tyranny of your ordinary awareness. The rest will begin to unfold itself—Cynthia Bourgeault.

A full moon bastes the earth with liquid buttery light tonight, seeping moon magic into the pores of our skin, penetrating deeper than words as we stand in her beauty. As the stars flicker and fade into moonbeams, some say that an energetic portal opens and that what has been concealed in the spaces and cracks of our lives suddenly becomes quite clear. This full moon, in the expansive sign of Sagittarius, points at possibilities. Reminds us of what neuroscience now validates: what we practice consistently—qualities like honesty, generosity and gratitude, or those skills that we tend to and nurture—become embedded in our spiritual muscle. What we practice, we become.

This confident lunation trines energetic Mars in Leo and Chiron in Aries, a hyperbole of powerful energy that may compel us to take that first brave step towards our heart’s desire. The moon also squares Saturn which may represent a set-back or emotional state that demanded our attention around May 27th and 28th when the Sun made a fleeting square to Saturn. Sagittarius is ruled by jovial Jupiter, hedonistic, entitled King of the gods in Roman mythology. In the language of astrology, Jupiter is often simplistically described as bringing “good luck.” Yet “good luck” is as ephemeral as happiness, as fleeting as our attention. We invoke the buoyancy and resilience of Jupiter when we keep the faith, when we dare ourselves to hold the white feather of hope long enough to notice the silver lining in the dark clouds of circumstance.

Venus joins Mars in Leo on June 6th, energising the square between Jupiter/Pluto and the Nodes of Destiny, which was activated by the entry of Mars into Leo on May 21st. Pluto squares the Nodes from June-September, tasking us to break the tyranny of our ordinary awareness. Venus opposes Pluto till mid-June, and Venus/Pluto aspects so often accompany what spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle calls the pain-body. He explains: “the pain-body, which is the dark shadow cast by the ego, is actually afraid of the light of your consciousness… if you don’t face it, if you don’t bring the light of your consciousness into the pain, you will be forced to relive it again and again.” As Venus and Mars move in tandem through the fiery sign of Leo, we may see an enactment of the Venus/Pluto tension in the public lives of celebrities and politicians, and in explosive acts of war in our own relationship dramas if we deny the pain that lives within.

Venus enters her Retrograde Shadow on June 19th and will descend into darkness for 40 days and 40 nights from July 23rd (28° Leo) to September 5th, finally leaving the shadowy Retrograde landscape on October 7th. This Venus Retrograde ingress has a disruptive energy as Venus will consort with unpredictable Uranus on July 1st, a call to be creative, resourceful and wise. Venus Retrograde periods invite us to reflect upon who and what we hold dear to our hearts. Venus presides over love and beauty, aesthetics and quite literally, money and social events. Many astrologers suggest it might be wise to postpone a marriage or commit to any important financial venture, invasive “cosmetic” procedures, home renovation.

Ancient sky watchers plotted the tight inward loops of Venus’s eight-year Retrograde cycle that form a perfect pentagram or five-petalled rose in the night skies. In 2015 (July-Sept), Venus moved Retrograde in Leo and it may be helpful to reflect on events and themes in our lives eight years ago as we prepare for this next Retrograde cycle. Retrograde periods lead us back over well-worn paths, quite literally as we circle back once more to deal with the residue of something that still lingers. Retrograde periods invite reflection. Out of the blue, a circumstance or a reunion with someone we once knew, and what was left undone can now be healed or resolved as with the wisdom gained from experience.

This Venus Retrograde cycle will activate Ukraine’s birth chart as well as the birth chart of Volodymyr Zelenskyy (who has Mars at 0° Leo, possibly a Leo Moon, and Saturn at 28° Leo). This could be a critical pivot point in the gruesome course of the war.

Pluto’s 15-year passage through Capricorn is not yet over. Pluto, planet of death, decay, and rebirth, slides back beneath Capricorn’s dark underbelly again, stirring up unconscious material which may feel ominous, even fearful.  Pluto returns to Capricorn on June 11th, and will continue to stir up toxic sediment that has not yet been purged collectively. Pluto transits unleash primal forces that may coalesce as irrational obsessions, trauma, power plays, and ruthlessness. We will continue to witness the exploitation of the powerless, the hypocrisy of those who hold power as old structures decompose.

Pluto enters Aquarius in November 2024 and will stay there until 2044 as we collectively and personally experience what it is to be human and begin to deal with the Frankenstein’s Monster of AI.

The opposition of the sun and the moon tonight is a reminder that what we relegate to the dark side of the moon will emerge in our experiences and circumstances—the peace loving yoga teacher who meets a confrontational student, the idealistic social worker who encounters hatred and bigotry.

This full moon reflects the light of a mercurial and ambiguous Gemini sun. We may be challenged to acknowlege another point of view as we practice (again) patience and kindness. We may choose gratitude and hope even when we don’t feel grateful or hopeful. In this light-infused moment  may we notice the silver lining in the dark clouds of circumstance. Mary Oliver asks: “Do you bow your head when you pray or do you look up into that blue space? Take your choice, prayers fly from all directions”.

Get in touch for a personal astrology consultation by email please: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

 

 

Midsummer Celebration of Light June 24th at 2pm BST.

 

 

 

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May 13, 2023 In Astrology, Relationship By Ingrid Hoffman

The Way of Beauty—Taurus New Moon—May 19th.

Nature is not a place to visit, it is home―Gary Snyder.

 

The sun-dappled days of May unfurl in a rapture of colour. Whether we live in cities made bearable by parks and public gardens, or whether we have our own small patch of earth to tend, nature calls us back home.

The constellation of Taurus rose at the vernal equinox, accompanying nature’s re-birth around 4,000 BCE-1,700 BCE. Over thousands of years, the earth has wobbled, and the Sun has shifted in what is called precession of the equinoxes. Now, as the Sun moves through Taurus, spring swoons to the warm exuberance of summer and Taurus season is festooned with flowers, daubed in many shades of green. Bluebells and buttercups, flutter of delicate pink apple blossom. A showy froth of cowslip and white daisies dance across the meadows. Trees flame out, emerald, lime green.

Encrypted in the sliver fire of the starry skies this month, are three important sky-stories:

  • Mercury stations direct
  • Jupiter enters Taurus and T-squares Pluto and Mars
  • New Moon in Taurus

Mercury enters the morning sky and stations direct (at 5° Taurus) on May 15th and by May 29th will be at its greatest distance from the Sun. Mercury leaves the ambiguous Retrograde shadow on May 31st.

Mercury in the sensual clothing of Venus-ruled Taurus guides us across the threshold of change as one lavish British spectacle merges with the most-watched spectacle on earth. The Eurovision Song Contest staged in Liverpool, with an estimated audience of 180 million people culminates with the finals on May 13th, as a Taurus Sun makes an electrifying conjunction with unpredictable Uranus. This signifies a high-voltage energy, tempered by a tender Pisces Moon conjunction with serious Saturn trine Venus in Cancer.

Just before sunrise, Jupiter emerges from behind the moon, shining like a yellow citrine in the apricot light of dawn. Jupiter enters Taurus on May 16th and will square both machismo Mars in the royal sign of Leo and Pluto in Aquarius on May 21st. This is potentially a cathartic T-square which may explode in the wastelands of war in Ukraine and Syria and could spark panic on the financial markets. The Pluto/Jupiter square at 0° Taurus/ Aquarius is a waxing square in a cycle that began with the Pluto/Jupiter conjunction at the beginning of 2020.

Jupiter and Pluto connect in a combustable square in May, April and June and move close once more from early December 2023 to February next year.

On May 19th, the Sun and Moon caress the cool, soft flanks of Taurus. Her fleeting embrace with the sun is a heartbeat that pulses through our bodies, a monthly reminder that we are stardust, sea-borne, rooted in our animal bodies. New moons are celestial pause points. Tender moments when we can begin again, this time more gently, more slowly, more tenderly. To focus on one thing at a time. This is our prompt to breathe in beauty and cherish our belonging in the delicate web of life. Virginia Woolf remembers a moment of grace in a garden in St Ives, “It seemed suddenly plain that the flower itself was a part of the earth, that a ring enclosed what was the flower, and that was the real flower, part earth, part flower.”

This lunation in a fixed earth sign represents those things we value and desire. For some this may be a simpler life, a strong urge to pare down, to soften inside as we love and nurture ourselves.  Author Anne Lamott suggests that that we start taking action, even if we don’t really have a conviction that it will ever help and change… “Little by little, I think the message becomes that we’re worthy of that and we’re deserving of that. We start to notice the softening inside of us, of being loved and nurtured by our own selves. Then buckle up because it is going to change every single thing about the world.”

Taurus which is not simply a personality trait or a list of keywords.Taurus is a metaphor for beauty, sensuality, and indulgence. Taurus invites us to attune to the slow circles of nature, to be receptive to those things that bring us pleasure and delight.

The new Moon in Taurus invites us to draw down, to focus on our senses, to dig our hands into the earth, to plant seeds that will grow. Where Taurus is in our birth chart is where we must work the ground, nurture our gifts and talents, attentively manage our resources, cherish those people and things we value.

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace,” writes May Sarton.

The moon is exulted in moist, fertile Taurus. If you have a herb or vegetable garden, now is the best time to plant root vegtables and salad greens and ease back on the weeding.

The Chelsea Flower show is now re-branding “weeds” as “hero plants” and Alys Fowler suggests “rather than going to work in our gardens, we could all relax a little, spend more time looking and listening, waiting rather than reacting, being in the garden as much as actively gardening.”

Neurologist, Oliver Sacks once said, “in forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical “therapy” to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases―music and gardens.”

There are many ways to remember our connection with the natural world and cherish the beauty that is all around us. We might take ourselves on an “artist’s date”, allow ourselves to be seduced by beauty when we visit a gallery. We might let music fill our senses. Wrap our arms around a tree. We might start this new day with a cup of tea or coffee in a beautiful mug, a fresh flower picked from the garden in a vase on our breakfast table.

Cheryl Strayed writes, “there’s always a sunrise and always a sunset and it’s up to you to choose to be there for it… put yourself in the way of beauty.”

To book an astrology consultation, or to join me and spiritual guide, Eileen Heneghan on June 24th as we celebrate the Summer Solstice please email me: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

 

 

 

Midsummer Celebration of Light—June 24th   

 

Breathe in the Light, the sweet scent of flowers. Today we celebrate this ancient feast of fire, the pairing of the Sun and the Moon, the strength and vitality of  Midsummer. 

Join archetypal astrologer Ingrid Hoffman and energetic healer and teacher, Eileen Heneghan for an inspiring afternoon of story, myth, folklore, and meditation at this still point of the year.

Our Wise Woman gathering will be on Zoom with plenty of time to reflect and to share, to deepen our connection with others, to explore new ways of finding ourselves a-new.

 

Together we will allow ourselves to be transported to the lush green hills of County Kerry, as we immerse ourselves in a powerful old Irish story of love and triumph. There will be plenty of time to reflect on what it teaches us about how we might live more authentically, how we might forge our souls, in challenging circumstances; how to make sense of a world that is changing so fast.

Join us on Saturday, June 24th, 14.00-15.30.

Payment in advance: £20 via Paypal or €23.

Zoom link will be sent to you via email.

Contact Ingrid Hoffman: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

 

 

 

 

 

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May 1, 2023 In Astrology, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

Light Magic—Full Moon Lunar Eclipse—May 5th.

The miracle is light. The miracle is that we rise again out of suffering. The miracle is the persistence of the soul to find itself, to look hard into the darkness, reach back, and grasp remnants of ourselves. The miracle is that we create ourselves anew—Tina Davidson.

May arrives in an extravagance of blossom, sunlight that shimmers over undulating meadows festooned with buttercups and dancing daisies.

We’re mid-way between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. The Moon is waxing as she moves through the earthy sign of Virgo today, reminding us of primordial connection to the earth, an ancient memory of ritual that is rooted in the cycles of nature.

May Day, Beltane, is one of the oldest recorded Gaelic festivals, celebrated for centuries with May Kings and May Queens, gathering of communities, much bawdy merry making and dancing around May poles.

But in the darkness of the outer reaches of our solar system, Pluto, named after the Roman god of the underworld, begins its five-month Retrograde journey on this May Day, accenting the unknown and unknowable, prompting us to surrender, let go, and renew. Pluto’s influence can’t be grasped with the intellect. It relates to something archaic, those deep reservoirs of ancient memory, those heavy layers of accreted history, those fearful, shadowy realms of ourselves where we hesitate to look hard into the darkness; where we reach back and grasp the remnants of ourselves… and create ourselves anew.

Both Pluto and Mars preside over the full moon Scorpio eclipse on May 5th, augmenting the emotional charge that courses through our heart field and bathes every cell of our body. The lunar eclipse opposes a Sun/Uranus conjunction in Taurus – material possessions, personal values, stability, and security—which may be suddenly toppled and overturned or liberated by unpredictable Uranus while the full Moon in Scorpio emphasises complexities, intangibles, mysteries, and the inevitable necessity of letting go our old stories, our familiar places of discontent.

The full Moon lunar eclipse illuminates the lavish £100 million carefully choreographed coronation spectacle, the cost of which will be borne by the taxpayer, not the billionaire King. Screened from public view, a private anointing with holy oil blessed in Jerusalem will emphasise the sacred import of the ceremony, a heavy 361 year old solid gold bejewelled crown with a comfortable padding of ermine will be placed on the royal head. Those who will be watching the ceremony will be invited to swear allegiance to the monarch and his descendants. The richly decorated robes and weighty sceptre will add magic and spectacle to this ancient rite rooted in patriarchy. “Charles III will share in a ritual that originally marked out the kings of Israel—Saul and David and Solomon—as the adopted ones of God. The 21st century will be joined by means of a living ceremony to the bronze age.” Writes Tom Holland.

Charles Philip Arthur George was born on an eclipse as the Sun moved through Scorpio, just as the Moon waxed full in Taurus. The Sun and Moon were conjunct the fated South Node. The Nodes are “destiny points” in a horoscope and Regal Leo was rising when he was born, as it will be at the time of his long-awaited coronation on May 6th.

The solar eclipse of April 20th conjoined Charles’s Taurus Moon, which was confronted by a square from Pluto. His Moon will be activated by Pluto all through this year and next, most notably on May 18th as Jupiter moves into Taurus and makes a conjunction. As Pluto, now moving Retrograde, squares his moon for the second time, with three more squares in 2024, we may imagine an emergent awakening to deeper emotional truth that may be accompanied by a private personal metamorphosis that will not be without pain.

Charles was born with a painful Chiron/Sun conjunction which may have shaped his internal narrative, especially in his formative years a sense of being an outsider, a maverick, flawed, different. Might he in later years, seek to heal or reshape the institution of the monarchy, usher it into the 21st Century? Transiting Chiron, the centaur associated with wounding and healing has been moving back and forth over his midheaven since May 2021. Mercury in Taurus is moving Retrograde now at the time of the coronation, while the Nodes of Fate will make a once in every 18-year return to his birth chart. So this coronation is most certainly a meeting with Fate. The way ahead may not be smooth for the elderly king. Disruptive Uranus, planet of upheaval and revolution, transits opposite Charles’s Sun, and contacts the North Node in his house of reputation, career, social standing.

The symbolism of the whimsical hand-painted invitation speaks to the romantic and artistic Venus/Neptune conjunction right at the root of his birth chart.  Over the many years as May King in waiting, he has been an outspoken advocate for the preservation of architecture and the environment, for his alternative beliefs in the curative powers of homeopathy.

The jovial face of The Green Man dominates the flower-festooned design. Carved into ancient oak pews and ribbed ceilings of musty old churches, the Green Man has remained a potent symbol of fecundity and renewal for centuries.

We may be dazzled, indifferent, sceptical, or hostile as this new defender of all faiths is crowned in the dark of a Scorpio Moon. Yet, as the earth positions herself between the two luminaries and casts her shadow across the face of the Moon, we may sense the regenerative potency in these ancient rituals. As the glittering crown is raised over the head of this May King who also bears the name of the legendary Arthur, we may, even for just a brief moment, allow ourselves to be transported to a time of miracles and wonder, to fabled kings who reigned over England’s green and pleasant land.

 

To book an astrology consultation, or to join me and spiritual guide, Eileen Heneghan on June 24th as we celebrate the Summer Solstice please email me: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

 

 

Midsummer Celebration of Light—June 24th   

 

Breathe in the Light, the sweet scent of flowers. Today we celebrate this ancient feast of fire, the pairing of the Sun and the Moon, the strength and vitality of  Midsummer. 

Join archetypal astrologer Ingrid Hoffman and energetic healer and teacher, Eileen Heneghan for an inspiring afternoon of story, myth, folklore, and meditation at this still point of the year.

Our Wise Woman gathering will be on Zoom with plenty of time to reflect and to share, to deepen our connection with others, to explore new ways of finding ourselves a-new.

 

Together we will allow ourselves to be transported to the lush green hills of County Kerry, as we immerse ourselves in a powerful old Irish story of love and triumph. There will be plenty of time to reflect on what it teaches us about how we might live more authentically, how we might forge our souls, in challenging circumstances; how to make sense of a world that is changing so fast.

Join us on Saturday, June 24th, 14.00-15.30.

Payment in advance: £20 via Paypal or €23.

Zoom link will be sent to you via email.

Contact Ingrid Hoffman: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

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April 17, 2023 In Astrology, Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

The Edge of Becoming—New Moon Hybrid Solar Eclipse—April 20th.

There is no place so awake and alive as the edge of becoming—Sue Monk Kidd.

This week, the Moon withdraws into the darkness, slipping between the familiar body of the Earth and the fierce light of the Sun. This new Moon invites us to stand expectantly at the edge of something new.

New Moons speak of fertile new beginnings. They signify those edges of becoming that make us feel young, alive again. And yet, as the Moon lays her soft white body over the Sun tonight, we may be overcome with a strange tiredness, a listlessness that sucks at our energy as if our own life-force was eclipsed.

This rare hybrid solar eclipse at the very last degree of Aries signifies an ending and the birth of something new, which may be a change in perspective, a new way of being in the world, a reliquishment of the need to hold on so tightly. If we imagine the moon’s pale body briefly obscuring the light of the sun, we may sense, in the darkness, the soft presence of a deeper knowing, the urgent thrust of life force that compels us to move beyond our fear.

Eclipses act like wild cards. They drop into our birth charts or into the charts of nations, catapulting us from our place of comfort, taking us to the edge. They fizz with an urgency that may reshape our choices and invite us to be more attentive to the longing of our soul. Hybrid solar eclipses occur only a few times each century. We will engage with the deeper meaning of this celestial event if this eclipse energises an axis or conjoins a personal planet in our birth chart.

Astrological Aries carries the heat of fire that ignites an ancient urge to battle and survive. Tonight we engage with the archetype of the heroine/hero. Tonight as we feel the firepower, we may be inspired by those who challenged patriarchy, dared to risk, to speak out. As we imagine the fierce courage and commitment of trailblazers like Cornish-born Emily Hobhouse who exposed the horror of the British concentration camps in South Africa and was an avid opponent of the first world war, or Jane Goodall who has worked tirelessly for the welfare and survival of primates, and writer and sage, Maya Angelou, (all born as the Sun moved through the flames of Aries,) we will sense the potency of this astrological archetype.

This Aries eclipse marks the beginning of the eclipse season that will last until October 28th with this year’s final partial lunar eclipse (5° Taurus.) It charges the powerful, final degree of Aries (29° 50′) and belongs to a family of eclipses (Saros 7 North) that pertain to what astrologer Bernadette Brady describes as igniting “sudden passions and lust to birth and procreative drives that may catch people off guard and confront them with their own very deep passion which may have been hidden for many years.”

With a challenging square to Pluto and a weakening conjunction to Jupiter, this eclipse releases a renewing surge of energy from the heavens that may inspire us to confront a situation, or bravely relinquish our need to engage in a futile power struggle.

There’s nothing subtle about this hybrid eclipse. It conveys the qualities of Pluto’s long passage through Aquarius, which will influence world events and our own lives for the next 20 years. The effects of this solar eclipse will linger for six months and may manifest as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, financial and political crisis, socio-economic change.

The Sun advances into the steady earth sign of Taurus on April 20th, as Mercury moves Retrograde in Taurus (April 21st to May 14th) bringing our attention to those things we value, perhaps quite literally our material possessions, property, finances, or income. As Pluto’s evolutionary influence threads through the collective consciousness, the AI arms race accelerates, spewing torrents of misinformation on social platforms. As AI research and tech leaders call in vain for a pause on the AI arms race, data warehousing expert, Dr Barry Devlin adds his voice to a group of concerned industry gurus and warns, “this rapid, profit-driven growth in generative AI which uses as its lexicon the clearly biased, deeply flawed, and completely un-curated corpus of internet text and imagery is a massive, unregulated social experiment.”

AI-generated art, writing, and photography scrapes billions of words and images from the internet without their creators’ knowledge or permission. The mythic-poetic symbolism of this first eclipse of 2023 draws us down into the Underworld of AI-generated deepfakes, a collective social experiment where we face not only ethical concerns, but also the loss of millions of jobs—actors, models and model agencies, artists, writers and photographers, accountants, and teachers, to name but a few, will be obsolete. Writes senior Vox reporter Sara Morrison, “Levi’s will be able to use AI models to show off its gloves, while the rest of us might be thrown into a new world where we have absolutely no idea what we can trust — one that’s even worse than the world we currently inhabit.”

She cautions, “if you see an image of Pope Francis strolling around Rome in Gucci jeans on Twitter, you might want to think twice before you hit retweet.”

At this time of emergence, we may not feel quite ready to emerge, to bravely step onto new ground. But this new Moon is charged with the grace of new beginnings, and we must step cautiously and bravely into an earth that is dying, a new world that is becoming.

Poet Rainer Maria Rilke offers these words of encouragement, “fear not the strangeness you feel. The future must enter you long before it happens. Just wait for the birth, for the hour of the new clarity.”

The significance of this rare eclipse can only be fully understood in silence. There may be times over the coming months, when we need to unplug from the peremptory dictates of technology and go within. As we stand bare-footed, rooted to the Earth, as we feel the steady presence of a tree, as we hear the sweet song of a river’s flow, we return again to a place of beginning.

Anne Lamott who was born under the sign of the Aries Ram asks “how do you begin? The answer is simple. You decide to.”

 

 

Join me for a Midsummer Celebration of Light—June 24th
The Midsummer Solstice is a pivot point in the Great Wheel of the Year. A time of celebration and plenty, a time of magic and mystery, when the veil between the worlds is thin, the Sun is at its Zenith, and the world is infused with Light.

We’ll explore an old Irish story of love and triumph; we’ll attune to the phases of the moon and the best time to be newly creative.

We’ll journey with Eileen Heneghan in a soulful meditation and connect with the Light within.

Join us on Saturday, June 24th, 14.00-15.30.

Price: £20 or EURO 23.

Zoom link will be sent to you via email.

Contact Ingrid Hoffman: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

 

 

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April 4, 2023 In Astrology, Relationships, Self Growth By Ingrid Hoffman

The Balance of Heaven—Libra Full Moon—April 6th.

Your pain, your sorrow, your doubts, your longings, your fearful thoughts: they are not mistakes, and they are not asking to be ‘healed.’ They are asking to be held. Here, now, lightly, in the loving, healing arms of present awareness—Jeff Foster.

The Sumerians called the constellation of Libra Zib-ba An-na, “the balance of heaven.”

The Egyptians weighed the souls of the dead against the Feather of Truth in golden scales of balance.

At this time of pause and reflection celebrated with ritual and reverence in so many tradtions, we are called to hold ourselves tenderly at this point of stillness.

Tonight’s full moon makes an exact opposition to the Sun, Jupiter, and Chiron, the wounded healer, all warmed by the fire of Aries highlighting the ways we wound and heal in all our relationships, inviting us to bring harmony, beauty and balance in our own lives. As we cradle our pain and our sorrow, our doubts and our longings, may we also tend to our tired bodies while the full moon silvers the world with her light tonight.

The full moon holds the tension of opposites between two hot-headed Aries new moons (March 21st and April 19th). Alluring Venus in sensual Taurus disposits this full moon heightening her charm and her grace, a celestial reminder that we need more beauty, more sensual pleasure, more harmony and ease in our lives. Mercury joined Venus in Taurus on April 3rd and begins to lose pace as he slides into shadow on April 7th, the day after the full moon. We enter a Mercury Retrograde cycle in a fixed element of earth from April 21st-May 14th, which accents practical concerns like finances, property, working conditions, and importantly the most valuable rescource, our body and its needs. For those who have angles or planets at fixed degrees (5-15°) Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius, this will be an opportune time to attend to the most fundamental details of life. Jupiter will amplify themes of abundance or lack (finances, love and loneliness) when it enters Taurus in May and also accents that 15° point, turning Retrograde at 15° Taurus on September 4th and moving direct again at 5° Taurus on New Year’s Eve.

As we contemplate the worth and the meaning of the associations that support or challenge us, this lunation illuminates the patterns in our relationships, and the part we play in braiding the ties that bind.

For some, this will be the moment in time when we harvest all the thoughts and emotions that have brought us to a place of ending. This will be a time of departure from a relationship that for far too long has provided scant nourishment. Within every human heart is a longing to be cherished and to be seen. Psychologist Sue Johnson writes, “this drive to emotionally attach—to find someone to whom we can turn and say ‘Hold me tight’—is wired into our genes and our bodies. It is as basic to life, health, and happiness as the drives for food, shelter, or sex. We need emotional attachments with a few irreplaceable others to be physically and mentally healthy—to survive.”

We expect so much from our partners, in love, and as we continue to live with the existential anxiety of the climate crisis, those relationships that have sustained us—friendships old and new, the intricacies and vagaries of family relationships, the encounters with our virtual tribe or colleagues at the office—we absorb and embody experiences that take us down the twists and turns, repeats and spirals, back to ancient themes.

Spanish philosopher, Ortega y Gasset wrote that “no land in human topography is less explored than love.” It is the exploration of love’s landscape that is essential to the soul’s holy longing, and we must be brave wayfarers. Although all planetary archetypes portray our human experience of relationship—attachment, separation, autonomy, and dependence. The Venusian art of relating and healing the heart’s contraction has evolved from Agony Aunt columns and our urge to pathologize, improve or fix, into the collective experience of relationship therapy. The “telly-therapy” of Esther Perel and Orna Guralnik offers voyeuristic participation in couples therapy, revealing the archetype of Venus in all her guises, and inviting personal identification with couples who are living in the trauma world of fear, disconnection, and shame.

“Intimacy is a difficult art,” Virginia Woolf once said. Intimacy is a difficult art in a world where technology replaces the warmth of human encounter. Voyeuristic TV series like Married at First Sight portray a lonely absence of intimacy, a hungry urgency to find shelter for the soul. In a culture so focused on measurables and certainties, we may find the candlelit depth and substance of intimacy a difficult art. The Sun, the symbol of our creative self-expression, is said to be in its fall in Libra implying that a perpetual state of balance is impossible to achieve, as we continually re-create ourselves amidst the complexities of our relationships and metastasise the events that are unfolding in the world right now.

Balance is as capricious as the patterns of neuronal firing in our brains, as fleeting as our emotionally charged perceptions of the world around us. It will be the small gestures of love and kindness, the careful harnessing of our untamed thoughts, the brave reimagining of how this world could be that keep us open-hearted, willing to be held and to hold.

Please get in touch if you would like a private astrology consultation or to join me and spiritual guide and teacher, Eileen Heneghan on Saturday June 24th in Celebration of the Midsummer Solstice: ingrid@trueheartwork.com

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