#223-"We Believe Completely in Beauty"--Week of August 28, 2023

Uranus (Maverick) turns retrograde in Taurus inviting you to a 5-month journey of radical inner transformation with your resources and concepts of safety. The Full Moon in Pisces is a Blue Moon (second full moon a month) and conjunct Saturn (Responsible One). Honor and align with your deeper intuitive knowing (Pisces) and let it guide you to realign your life to be more congruent and effective (Virgo). Venus (Relational One) turns forward in Leo after 6 weeks  of being retrograde. Time to rise up with your creativity and sovereignty and allow your beauty to be visible. Recognize the sovereignty and beauty of others too.

Podcast poem:  "Why I Smile at Strangers" by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Poet's website: https://www.wordwoman.com

Chapters

• 0:07 Astrology Alchemy
• 9:19 Venus Retrograde
• 15:00 Finding Goodness and Breaking Fear

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hello, welcome to Astrology Alchemy. I'm Sheila Belanger, your host for this podcast. Alchemy is defined as a seemingly magical process of transformation. Spiritual alchemy is the process of pursuing the gold of your true nature by transmuting the unrefined, limiting parts of yourself. In this podcast, I'll offer you inspiring insights from current astrology cycles that support your path of turning your personal lead into gold. More resources are available at the website on theedgesofchangecom.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Hello and welcome to the podcast for the week of August 28th. I'm your host and guide, sheila Belanger. We have a week of changing directions and a very rare full moon. Pay attention to how you want to swim in the new currents that come your way. On Monday, august 28th, uranus goes retrograde at 23 degrees of torus and will be retrograde for about five months, until late January 2024.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Uranus, the Maverick, the Awakener, the Change Agent, the one who just won't follow a straight line and goes to the beat of its own drummer. This archetypal character, when it goes retrograde, is asking you to go inside and look at the radical changes that you need to make for greater authenticity and to set yourself and others free from old structures and constrictions that no longer serve. Remember that Uranus has been in torus for a number of years and torus is an earth sign that's very grounded and pragmatic and is very interested in security and stability. Many times it's connected to financial security. But any kind of stability, any kind of physical safety, this in torus, for a couple of years we have felt the archetypal disruption of what we used to think was safe, is not safe, or all the upheavals globally with the have and the have nots, with injustice, with finances, food security and so many things like that. For you personally, you may feel this week already here, this need for something different and perhaps you've had a wake up call that what you used to think was the path to take, the way that you were going to keep yourself stable or take care of yourself financially or anything like that. There might be some fluttering like wait a minute, you might have had some wake up calls, you might have had some breakthroughs, some aha's, some lightning bolts in the brain, and if you didn't, no problem. But pay attention this week to where you are turning, more to an inner process. Retrograde means the planet appears to look like it's going backwards in its orbit. It never does, but energetically, the archetypal energy is turning within. It's turning inside. So it's time for the next five months for some inner liberation. Get yourself free and help others get free, including the more than human world.

Speaker 1: 3:32

On Wednesday, august 30th, we have a full moon at 7 degrees of Pisces, at 6.36 pm Pacific Daylight Time. This is what they call a blue moon. It is the second full month in the month of August. We began the month with a full moon and we end the month with a full moon. And the full moon is illumination. You know, it's that brilliant energy when you see that shining disk of the moon in the sky and the illumination that comes, the bright light.

Speaker 1: 4:03

Full moon is that balance between the solar and lunar energies, between the sun, the architect of the conscious self, the hero, the heroine, the awakened one on its path to live its life and be on its journey of change. And the moon is the instinctive nurturer, the deep, fluid yin energy, changing deep feelings, wanting to nurture, wanting to nurture others, wanting to nurture self. So right now the sun is in burgo, a grounded earth sign that wants to have things be whole, that wants to fix what is broken, that wants to serve appropriately to bring more harmony, more groundedness, more healing into the world. The moon's opposite sign is Pace's where the full moon dwells. Pisces is very intuitive and sensitive and emotionally fluid and changing. It's very connected to altered states of consciousness and profound compassion.

Speaker 1: 5:07

One of the greatest balances that happen with Virgo and Pisces is doing and being. Virgo has this amazing gift of accomplishment of seeing what needs to be realigned and rolling up the sleeves and get in there and get it aligned. Bring things into a sacred form, serve, but it's deepest challenges, overdoing self-sacrifice, service or driving yourself, criticizing yourself. You should do more. Pisces balances Virgo with this tender, compassionate spiritual energy. It says whoa, wait a minute, virgo, calm down. Equal to your doing is the being, your heart, presence, your prayers, your compassion, your willingness to have your heart open. So notice, in this full moon and when it's a second full moon, it has a kick to it because it feels like this month has been a full moon. Right, you might consider if that resonates in any way like so much has been happening. So now this full moon calls you to really balance the doing and the being, to want to bring things into right form and fix it and clarify it, but not at the cost of losing your softness, your holy softness, your compassion and intuitive spiritual self. Plus, the full moon is so strong because the moon is very close to Saturn.

Speaker 1: 6:38

At this full moon, and Saturn is the responsible one archetype you know many of you who've listened to me for years, I call it the guy, the gal, the person with the clipboard right. Let's get the game plan, let's figure it out. What are we going to do here? Abc Saturn is much more than that, but it really is about manifestation responsibility. In its healthy expression, it's about ethics and doing the right thing. In its unhealthy expression, which all the archetypes have, because they represent us and we all have that spectrum of really healthy, empowered parts and wounded and suffering parts. It's all there. When Saturn is in its suffering guys, it is constricted, it is controlling, it is bossy, it is very fearful of losing control, it's tight, it's tight-assed.

Speaker 1: 7:30

So the full moon being with Saturn brings this invitation for greater responsibility to your inner life, being responsible to your intuition, what comes to you in altered states of consciousness, being responsible to compassion and recognizing so much suffering in the world. And yet it doesn't mean that you collapse into constriction and negativity. It means you have the courage to keep your heart open and to keep believing and to keep the faith, in whatever way feels reasonable and right in your heart, because there is so much suffering, there's so much cruelty now and yet Pisces says, underneath it all, there is this heart connection, not in a spiritual bypass way, not in a sort of simplistic oh, everything's going to be all right, or a deep courage to stand up for connection, for kindness, for courage to have your feelings and to bring beauty into the world, which is the most important thing in life. Talking about beauty coming into the world, on Sunday, september 3rd, venus goes forward at 12 degrees of Leo after 40 days of being retrograde. Many of you have felt the resonance with this big archetypal journey. Remember, venus is the relational one, the lover, the one who connects, one who magnetizes, and the lover. In quotation marks. It can be with personal, romantic, sexual partnership. It can be a love relationship with yourself, it can be a love relationship with a tree. I mean, it's the one of you who wants to relate.

Speaker 1: 9:19

Venus, when it goes retrograde, is really a powerful experience astronomically and I want to remind you of something I said a few weeks ago when Venus goes in its retrograde phase, meaning it looks like it goes backward in the heavens again, it's not actually doing that, but the angle of how we go around the sun and Venus goes around the sun, sometimes in its orbital journey it looks like it goes backwards and the astronomical phenomena is that, as we see Venus in its cycle, half the time it's what's called a morning star Venus and half the time it's called an evening star Venus. And it's just like it sounds. When it's evening star Venus, you see Venus after the sun is set. It's following the sun. If it's a morning star Venus, you see it before the sun rises, so it's rising up before the sun. It's very different Venus energies. The morning star Venus is more of a warrioress kind of, you know, god, goddess, deity, like well, let's go, let's go after what we love, or let's have the courage to love and be who we are. Evening star Venus, it's following the sun, it's more gentle, it's more. Come to me, you know, and they're both holy.

Speaker 1: 10:33

What happens when Venus is retrograde is that's when the planet switches. It's an evening star and then, as it comes into retrograde motion, it slowly gets closer to the sun and disappears to the horizon. The myth is that Venus is going into the underworld. The anonymous myth is very powerful here or the Persephone myth, going into the underworld, stripped down to her core, and then has a deep transformation and then rises up again and becomes the morning star, rising up bright and brilliant and beautiful. So here we are, finishing the Venus retrograde cycle after 40 days.

Speaker 1: 11:15

She's been retrograde in Leo, which is a sign of creativity, of beauty, of visibility, of wanting to shine your gifts, of wanting to be in your sovereignty and wanting to respect and honor others in their dignity and sovereignty. So Venus retrograde in Leo has stirred the pot archetype for all of us to really ask deep questions about our current relationships, our values, what's important to us and also, how am I spending my life, energy, whether it's your time, it's your emotions, it's your money, whatever it is, this Venus retrograde cycle for the last 40 days, six weeks, has challenged you to stop and especially with Venus being retrograde in Leo, where are you not honoring yourself and others? Where have you lost your dignity? Where have your? Has your flame gone out? Has your creativity and your desire to bring your love to the world? It's all been stirring and as Venus goes forward on September 30, it's not like suddenly it turns on a dime, but you may, in your sensitivity, feel that lightning up, if you will, that shifting and you may begin to feel oh, these are the changes I've either already made and I want to continue with, or now I feel a readiness to rise up like Venus morning star, to take a stand for your own creativity, your own preciousness, as well as others.

Speaker 1: 12:47

The beauty of Venus and Leo is not just let me shine my gifts and be visible and seen. Let me see you in your beauty and sovereignty. Let me honor all beings, treat them with dignity and respect and joy. And Venus is very, very sensual. It's a very central part of ourselves. So when it turns forward, it's like awaken your sensuality, awaken your love of beauty and reach out and have the courage to be in relationship, in a sacred way, with the world. So there you have it Uranus going retrograde, venus going forward it's changing directions and a big blue moon to illuminate your willingness to trust your heart and your intuition. So enjoy these changes and currents, dear ones.

Speaker 1: 13:47

The poem I bring to you for this week honors Venus, honors beauty and honors the courage to keep your heart open and to be in the joy and sensuality, the privilege of being human. It's called why I Smile at Strangers by Rosemary Watola Trummer, and she begins with a quote from Blaise Pascal in difficult times, carry something beautiful in your heart. And so today I walk the streets with vermilion maple leaves inside me and the deep purple of late blooming lark spur and the lilting praise of metal lark. I carry with me thin creeks with clear water and the three-quarters moon and the spice, warm scent of nasturtiums and honey in the sunlight, and words from Neruta and slow melodies by Eric Satie.

Speaker 1: 15:00

It is easy sometimes to believe that everything is wrong, that people are cruel and the world destroyed and the end of it all imminent. But there is yet goodness. Beyond imagining the creamy, white flesh of ripe pears and the velvety purr of a cat in my lap and the white smear of Milky Way, I carry these things in my heart, more certain than ever that one way to counteract evil is to ceaselessly honor what's good and share it. Share it until we break the chokehold of fear and at least for a few linked moments, we believe completely in beauty. Growing beauty, yes, beauty. Why a smile at strangers? So may you believe completely in beauty this week, may you break the chokehold of fear and may you have the capacity to ceaselessly honor what's good. The celebration of Venus. Going forward is a shining light of the full moon in Pisces, but there is yet goodness beyond imagining. May it find you this week. Dear ones, as always, thank you for your support of this podcast. Please pass it on to others. Please enjoy it. Take good care.