Do oppo­sites attract? That’s the ques­tion you face today as Venus (Beau­ty & Love) oppos­es Mars (Desire & Dri­ve). They make this aspect, giv­en Mars’ rough­ly 2 year orbit, every 2 years or so.

Venus rules val­ue; it is what you “want”. Mars rules action; it is how you (try) to get what you want! So it will appear as if you are in some kind of con­flict between what you want and how you are going after it. Cer­tain­ly it is a moment for many rela­tion­ships to step back and make sure that what is shared and agreed to (Val­ues) is being sup­port­ed by the actions of each oth­er. Usu­al­ly one or the oth­er may feel that their val­ue is being harmed by their part­ner, or that their actions are not appre­ci­at­ed by their partner…but what is real­ly going on?

The par­tic­u­lar mes­sage of any aspect is always to be found in the signs that each plan­et is in. Venus is mov­ing through the sign of com­pas­sion and empa­thy (Pisces) while Mars is in the sign of dis­cern­ment and align­ment (Vir­go). It seems as if the uni­verse is pulling you in oppo­site direc­tions; you seem­ing­ly must choose between being car­ing or crit­i­cal, to be for­giv­ing or judgmental…

And so it may play out with each per­son tak­ing one side of this false dichoto­my, hold­ing up one end and pro­ject­ing the oth­er side onto their part­ner. The prob­lem may seem to be “out there” between you and you, (and there is some truth to that), but the real chal­lenge, the path of spir­i­tu­al growth through under­stand­ing, will always be found with­in. So you must turn the ques­tion back with­in your­self and face your chal­lenge of choice…

But of course you can­not “choose”; you have only one “choice” if you are to walk the path of truth which is to find your way to com­bine these ways into one true way, your way of being the two togeth­er. Each plan­et and each sign is meant to inform, shape and bring nuanced under­stand­ing to the other…for it is only togeth­er, in this bal­anced aware­ness, that you can walk the noble path, the one true path of the spir­i­tu­al war­rior (who’s “bat­tle” is always within).

Venus is in Pisces, where she finds her high­est expres­sion in uncon­di­tion­al com­pas­sion­ate love. But as a result, (since very few have entered this self-mas­tered, tran­scen­dent state), it makes you more like­ly to ere on the side of sur­ren­der­ing too much, sac­ri­fic­ing what should not be sac­ri­ficed, and so harm­ing your­self (and doing lit­tle good for the oth­er as well, as you become part of the prob­lem). Venus real­ly needs a lit­tle more dis­cern­ment (Mars in Vir­go) so as to be able to show enlight­ened com­pas­sion, car­ing guid­ed by wisdom.

Like­wise, Mars is in Vir­go where he finds him­self delight­ing in the per­spic­u­ous analy­sis and sub­se­quent actions that lead you from con­fu­sion to clar­i­ty, from chaos to ordered con­tent­ment. But with the oppo­si­tion there is the very real risk that your rapi­er-like mind and voice will not heal but wound, not bind togeth­er but rend apart one from anoth­er. Mars needs a lit­tle more com­pas­sion (Venus in Pisces) so that your scalpel of wit and rea­son is wield­ed with the most gen­tle of inten­tions and effect.

This is the mes­sage of their oppo­si­tion today; that you should not be pulled apart from one anoth­er nor divide your­self from your Self either. You can­not choose between feel­ing and rea­son. Instead you must find that bet­ter way of blend­ing togeth­er your heart and mind so that the great­est good is made pos­si­ble for you and the oth­er too. 

Choose the path of whole­ness, stay on the path of togetherness…

Choose your Path of Wis­dom and Love.