Astrology of Now: Sizzle, Sizzle

Tuesday February 8th 2022

Venus and Mars surprised by Vulcan. Alessandro Varotari

Venus and her lover Mars meet quite often — at least once a year — but usually their trysts are brief, a matter of a few days at most. Perhaps that’s because their meetings are illicit, since Venus was, of course, officially married to Vulcan, the smith.

This year, things are different: Venus and Mars are going on a long road trip, which starts around now. The journey takes them from rocky Capricorn into cool Aquarius. These are the signs of winter, both ruled by stern Saturn, so perhaps not the comfiest place for a lover’s tryst.

Some technical details

They will make an exact conjunction on 16 February at 16° Capricorn and again on 6 March at 0° Aquarius.
But they are close enough for kissing from 10 February right through to around 15 March.
The conjunction begins in the second decan of Capricorn and ends in the first decan of Aquarius. Each sign is divided into three sets of 10 degrees which are called decans. Each decan has a sub-rulership by a particular planet. In this case, the second decan of Capricorn is ruled by Mars, and the first decan of Aquarius is ruled by Venus. (Different authorities cite slightly different rulership, but this is the Chaldean and Ptolemaic tradition.) So you see, they are moving from a place where Mars is powerful to a place where Venus is powerful, before she pulls away.
In Capricorn, Mars is considered to be on his best form — “exalted”. This is where passion is controlled and put to use.
It’s also notable that the South Node is currently in Scorpio, ruled by Mars — and the North Node is in Taurus, ruled by Venus.
During that time they will make important aspects together with first Neptune by sextile on 24 February, and then Pluto by conjunction on 3 March.

What does it mean though?

When Venus and Mars meet, you have the union of two opposite energies — yin and yang, war and peace. But also the union of two like energies — love and lust, liking and desire. So we think of these two as passionate lovers, swept up in sexual fervour. Renaissance painters were fond of depicting Mars disarmed by Venus. To make love he puts down his shield and his sword. He is soft. This may be the case, but astrologically it can also be true that Mars fires up Venus. He gets her off her silken cushions and fills her with passion.

Just to give you some idea of what might happen if War overcame Peace, or Peace overcame War, consider this: Adolf Hitler was born with a conjunction of Mars and Venus in Taurus, a sign where Venus is ruler, Mahatma Gandhi was born with the same conjunction in Scorpio, where Mars rules. Hitler wrecked the peace, Gandhi was a warrior (Mars) for peace (Venus), and he was also a martyr for it.

A Mars-Venus conjunction can also give a person tremendous artistic energy. There’s Amy Winehouse, for example, with the conjunction in the sign of performance, Leo, and maybe more obviously, putting sex front and centre, Barry White and Tom Jones both have it in emotional, alluring Cancer. Keanu Reeves, everyone’s favourite emo, has the same signature in Cancer, but made more subtle by his many planets in Virgo and the 12th house. The world’s most famous athlete (I guess), Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer player supreme, has this magical combination in 1-2° Aries, a really winning combination.

On a less savoury note, convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein (in Pisces) and his friends Ghislaine Maxwell (in Sag-Cap) and Prince Andrew (in Cap) all have this signature too.

So you see how significant it can be in birth charts.

What of this long conjunction?

You should definitely look to see where this falls in your birth chart. Clearly if you have any planets in Capricorn or Aquarius, they will be stimulated by this conjunction. Likewise if you happen to have those signs on signifcant angles. For example, Cancer or Leo Rising or Suns may be feeling this in their partnerships.

Wherever these two travel will be juiced up from now onwards — even Valentine’s Day benefits this year from this sexy combination. Note the first exact conjunction is on the Full Moon in Leo on 16 February.

Those of you with anything at 23° in water or earth plus Libra, Gemini, Sagittarius and Aries, will get a combination of Venus-Mars-Neptune energy at the end of February. That’s incredibly artistic, imaginative, creative.

Then on 3 March, there’s a blast of Venus-Mars-Pluto, which is sexy, insistent, truthful, especially for the Cardinal signs — Libra, Aries, Capricorn and Cancer, and the earth signs at 27°-28°.

On 6 March, Venus and Mars are echoing that Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn which opened this two-decade Aquarian period in December 2021. This is a repeat in a minor key, a reminder that we are in an Aquarian Age, and just at the very beginning of something new.

If you have something new to begin, you might want to begin it now — whether it’s a partnership, a tech business, a friendship.

Here this should cheer you up.