Feb

25

Olympic Retrograde

Filed Under Astrology trends | 1 Comment

More Julia MMars rules athletics and competitions. So when the Winter Olympics is held during a Mars retrograde, one might expect the difficult and strange. The crash and death of the Georgian luger, Norda Kumaritashvili, made for an unsettling beginning—echoed symbolically by the fourth leg of the Olympic cauldron failing to rise. Lindsey Vonn, arguably the best female skier in the world, suffered a serious shin injury, a fall, a broken finger, and dashed hopes for five golds. The phenomenal Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer was on his way to gold when his coach sent him to the wrong lane and disqualified him. Small bumps cheated a few South Korean skaters out of their medals. Canada lost to the US in hockey. And curling, of all things, has been drawing a huge audience.

And why not? Watching men shout and slide stones into painted circles as their pals furiously sweep the ice is oddly comforting. The retrograde has thrown pauses, frustrations, and challenges at many of us, which may be why NBC’s coverage is enjoying such huge ratings. We’ve heard you Mars: we’re sitting things out and watching other people push themselves until it’s time for us to go cautiously forward again (on March 10).

Mars rules my third house of communication. I’m no athlete, but I’d hoped to do a little metaphorical skating and soaring in my writerly life. Instead I suffered a long string of third house computer difficulties. After several problem-filled weeks, I’ve found my computer macho. I’m feeling good, strong even, braver and better than before. I can now download a new operating system, install a new modem and wireless card, trouble-shoot wobbly software and a recalcitrant printer, and find the answer to almost any technical question on Google. It’s nothing that would earn me a gold medal; still I count my new learning as a definite prize. I hope you won something good during Mars retrograde too!

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Feb

10

Venus Evening Star Rise

Filed Under Astrology trends | 1 Comment

BeyonceThis week Venus reappears as the Evening Star, in the sign of her exaltation (Pisces) and conjunct magnificent Jupiter. I would expect nothing less, as she’s been kicking ass during her recent underworld journey (which began just as Tiger Wood’s furious wife took a golf club to the cheater’s SUV). In my Oregon town (often called “land of a thousand goddesses” for its many bright and talented single women), a sudden string of sexual attacks brought out angry marches, attended by both women and men. Here in Ashland, Venus was not trembling in fear. From many of the Super Bowl ads it seems that men may be the ones trembling today, hoping to reclaim their grunting authority from the powerful Venuses in their lives (or maybe that was just the retrograde Mars). At the Grammys, Venus divas dominated: Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Pink and Taylor Swift, all reminding us how much fun it is to be a girl. We’re halfway through this current Venus cycle and it’s worth recalling how it began: when Venus emerged as the Morning Star, so did the breakout popularity of Susan Boyle, who showed us that even a middle-aged Venus in a frumpy dress can be a diva. Boyle’s song was “I dreamed a dream.” Now as an exalted Venus rises with the sky god Jupiter, it is perhaps time to live our dreams too.

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