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You are here: Home / Archives for Featured Post

June 27, 2025 By Janet Booth

April 16, 2024 Janet’s Plan-its Daily

Tuesday

Today’s Rating: 3 MR  Today’s Message:

Let love lead you as you make an adjustment (maybe just in your attitude) in a key relationship. Let something go – it’s not more important than your bond. If you can’t find the words to be kind, show it in actions. If you don’t feel warmth, at least be respectful.

Days are rated 1 – 5   (1 = most challenging; 5 = easiest)
MR = Mercury Retrograde

Filed Under: Featured Post

July 22, 2023 By Janet Booth Leave a Comment

LOVE YOU!

A couple days after I get home from traveling, a postcard arrives, reminding me of my trip. I send it to myself, not just as a low-cost memento, but also for a hoot. “Hey, You! Having an awesome time [insert place] [doing this or that], etc. … Love you! Hugs, Me”

This habit came to mind as I pondered Venus Retrograde in Leo (July 22–September 3). Here is what I think its message is: LOVE YOU! Not in an egotistical or egocentric way, more in a healthy ego way. Be your own cheerleader as well as honest critic, forgiving yourself for your mistakes and accepting your foibles. Thank yourself for becoming the person you are. Remember your shining moments. Soothe yourself for your saddest times. Write yourself a script, “Today is the first day of the rest of my life,” and play pretend, like you used to as a kid. What do you want to happen next? Ultimately? Tell yourself you deserve to have that dream come true and live happily ever after.

Because its retrograde takes place entirely in Leo, Venus is in this sign for a long time: June 5–October 8. This is a ideal chance to be creative and embrace your inner child. If there’s a passion you’ve always wanted to pursue, try it. Has it been a while since you enjoyed a favorite hobby? What benefit did it provide? Would you like that again now? You might reconnect with children or people you knew when you were a child. A former romance could be rekindled or an old friend comes back into your life again.

Venus is the main indicator of attraction, affection and assessing worth. When it appears to travel in reverse, it drives its power home, to oneself, rather than its usual outward expression when it’s moving forward. The retrograde period prompts self-evaluation, perhaps leading to improvements or maybe forgiveness.

In addition to its association with romance and relationships, Venus is affiliated with money, finances and valuables. A Venus retrograde period is useful for taking an inventory, getting appraisals, making (or revising) a financial plan or investment strategy, and selling unneeded possessions. Take a look at your relationship with money. Do you have any negative notions, possibly inherited from your upbringing, that you’d like to put in the past where they belong. Now is the time.

When you love and value yourself, believing you deserve affection and abundance, you attract more of both into your life. You don’t have to travel to write yourself a love note.

What is Venus Retrograde?

Venus comes between earth and the sun roughly every year-and-a-half. Since we’re in motion as well, an optical illusion results where Venus appears to move backward through the zodiac (called retrograde motion). This lasts for forty days as Venus shifts from being an evening star to a morning star. It traverses through a range of degrees going forward, backward, forward, thus repeating any connections it makes to a natal chart three times. The first and third “hits” occur during forward motion (and are usually not as difficult). The second, while Venus moves backward, calls for an adjustment.

When retrograde, Venus spends more time in one area of the zodiac (usually one sign) than when in straightforward motion. It’s typical to pay more attention to the traits and functions associated with the sign where Venus backtracks. And the sign where it zigzags repeats after eight years. Some people notice they have related experiences or circumstances cropping up eight years apart.

In the 2023 retrograde cycle, Venus marches up to 28º36’ Leo on July 22 and then backtracks to 12º12’ on September 3. It enters its zigzag range of degrees on June 19 and exits it on October 7. If you have natal planets or important parts of your chart (such as the Ascendant, Midheaven, Vertex, Part of Fortune or Lunar Nodes) between 12º12’ and 28º36’, they will receive the three-part visitation. If they’re in Leo, they receive a conjunction; in Aquarius, an opposition; in Taurus or Scorpio, a square. These are all strong motivators to take action. In another Fire sign (Aries or Sagittarius), they get a smooth trine; in an Air sign (Gemini or Libra), they get a sextile and when you put in a little effort, you get a good result. The first hit awakens you to the need or circumstance requiring attention. If you do something then or at the second hit, you’ll see the outcome by the third pass. If you do nothing at the first or second visit, the third one will usually force you to do something. Work with the planets and they’ll work with you.

Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: 2023, Leo, retrograde, Venus

December 21, 2022 By Janet Booth Leave a Comment

Mercury Retrograde – Here We Go Again

The next round of Mercury appearing to go backward begins early in the morning of December 29, 2022, continuing until January 18, 2023. The reverse motion starts at 24°21’ Capricorn, descending to 8°8’ Capricorn. The entire retrograde cycle includes the “entry shadow,” when Mercury first passes through the retrograde range, from December 12, 2022 until its turning point on the 29th, and the final pass through the range (“exit shadow”) occurs from the January 18 forward-motion pivot until Mercury exits the retrograde degrees on February 7. That’s a long visit for quick Mercury in just one little portion of the zodiac circle. Capricorn is the sign of order, organization, structure, planning, goals and following the rules, any or all of which may be on your radar screen now.

If any part of your natal chart is in this area of the zodiac, Mercury will pass it three times. If you have something aspected from this range, such as in Cancer across from these degrees or in the other Earth signs, Virgo and Taurus, a third of the zodiac away, it will likewise receive a trio of hits. Usually the first contact is a wake-up call about what needs attention. The second one signals time to take action and if you do, the third one brings a conclusion or denouement. If you pay no heed to the call the first time, Mercury alerts you again at the second pass. Ignore that and you’re asking for a shove at the third hit.

ALL of the 2023 Mercury Retrograde cycles take place in signs of the Earth element, pushing us to deal again and again with practical matters in our lives (even if the retrogrades don’t touch your chart directly). There is even a certain small slice of the Earth signs that get hit every time, namely the degrees from 8° to 15°. Mercury is not the only planet emphasizing that degree area. Jupiter will make its Retrograde backtrack later in the year in the exact same slice of Taurus, 5°- 15°, where Mercury zigzags in the spring. This is rare! Jupiter enters the range in June and doesn’t exit until March 2024. The exact dates appear on Janet’s Plan-its 2023 On a Page. And if you look at the list of New and Full Moons there, you’ll spot a Lunar Eclipse on October 28 at 5° Taurus. Anyone with natal planets from 4° to 6° of any of the Fixed signs (Aquarius, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio) will have that part of the chart emphasized over and over, right until the end of 2023.

The top end of the doubly emphasized range, 15°, is significant because 15° of the Fixed signs are the degrees exactly halfway between the Equinoxes and Solstices, and they hold nearly the same power as the Equinoxes and Solstices, which are the key season-changing power points of the zodiac. Like those, the 15° Fixed positions have far-reaching influence and often bring news-worthy incidences.

Anyone with planets around 15° of the Fixed signs is also in the process of being strongly impacted by slow-moving and volatile Uranus passing through 15° of Taurus. It came close, at 14°, in the summer of 2021 (July to September) and reached 15° in 2022, in May and December, playing an important role at the Winter Solstice on December 21). It returns for a third visit in February to March of 2023. Uranus is famous for sudden, unexpected and often shocking turns of events. It certainly wants to force changes for whatever the affected planet represents in a chart. The 15° Fixed degree gets a n additional punch at the Lunar Eclipse at 14°58’ (nearly 15°) of Scorpio on May 5, 2023, during a Mercury Retrograde. Although neither Mercury nor Uranus is close to the eclipse degree, the Sun then will be about one degree from the midpoint of Mercury and Uranus, pulling their influences into the picture. This is a strong combination for fresh thinking and inventive ideas, and possibly jarring comments. The degrees of planetary turning points (“stations”) and eclipses are “sensitized” and respond when other planets pass through them. Thus when Jupiter comes to 5° and 15° Taurus, it is not only foreceful on its own, but it will bring us back to subjects that are important when Mercury is there in the spring. Similarly, the October 28 Eclipse may re-ignite topics that were highlighted earlier in the year by Mercury and Jupiter.

This Mercury Retrograde probably won’t be too difficult. It begins hand-in-hand with Venus, which it joins just 4-1/2 hours after it turns Retrograde. This sweetens the process or tunes us in to issues of fairness and balance. The repeating aspects Mercury makes with slow planets are more harmonious than discordant. Three times, Mercury is trine Uranus and sextile Neptune, stimulating the left and right hemispheres of our brains. We can benefit by using our intuition and imagination. Mercury is trine Uranus (at approximately 15° of Capricorn to Taurus) on December 17, January 8 and January 29. It’s sextile to Neptune (at 22-23° Capricorn to Pisces) on December 24, January 1-2 and February 6. The challenge comes from three squares to Chiron, December 15, January 11 and January 27 (at about 12° Capricorn to Aries). This likely requires us to heal or improve an idea, opinion, communication or document by revisiting it.

Astrologer Gary Caton has done extensive research on Mercury Retrogrades. His second book, Hermetica Triptycha: The Mercury Elemental Year, discusses the phenomenon of repetitions in a certain element, which is fairly common. A given year might have all the retrogrades in one element and the prior and next years have retrograde ranges that crisscross between two elements as the emphasis shifts. For instance, all of the 2022 Mercury Retrogrades had the higher degrees of their ranges in the Air element and the lower degrees of their ranges in Earth. After the Earth repetition in 2023, the retrogrades of 2024 will move between Earth and Fire signs, followed by primarily Fire signs in 2025, shifting to the Water element. Gary will lecture on this subject for the Astrological Society of Connecticut (on Zoom) on January 19, 2023, a day after the first Mercury Retrograde of the year ends. Non-members can attend by paying the $10 lecture fee by January 18 using the Donation button at myasc.org. A link for the Zoom will be emailed in the day(s) prior to the event.

For a better understanding of Mercury Retrograde, see my article by that name. And don’t fear Mercury Retrograde. It’s a good time to correct mistakes or deal with piled up paperwork.

Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: 15 degrees fixed, earth element, Mercury Retrograde, solstice

February 17, 2022 By Janet Booth Leave a Comment

Zero Degrees Aquarius

During some periods, certain degrees or slices of the zodiac see a lot of action and catch our attention. We’re in such a period and the emphasized degree is a key one, the first degree of a sign that connects all people, Aquarius, related to the masses. It’s the sign opposite, and most in contrast to, Leo, the sign of royalty. The flavor of Aquarius is well expressed by the motto of the French Revolution: liberty, equality, fraternity. It imbues a humanitarian, gregarious stance, promoting common causes and no privilege for one group or person above another.

The zero degree (or first degree) of a sign (0º00’ – 0º59’) sets the impulse strongly for the sign. The symbol itself – 0 – looks like an egg! It presents seed energy. Each sign’s traits are very different from those of the adjacent signs, so the shift from one sign to the next can be notable. What exactly undergoes change depends on what celestial factors are moving through the zero degree.

First and foremost of the phenomena at 0º Aquarius in the current period is the most recent of the once-every-twenty-years Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions on 12/21/20 at 0º29’. These are the two biggest planets of our solar system and slow enough in their circuits around the zodiac that they spend sufficient time in a sign to make an impact on what’s associated with that sign. The average visit per sign is a year in Jupiter’s case and two-to-three years in Saturn’s case. The sign where they meet to start a twenty-year cycle directs the tempo and agenda for the whole period, regardless of what signs they move through during those two decades. Both planets have an association with laws, Jupiter with politics and the legislative process, Saturn with the enforcement and administration of laws. Saturn has a strong influence on business and government; Jupiter, on media and international relations. These are arenas for the application of the Aquarian approach.

More importantly, this conjunction kicked off a series of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in Air element signs lasting over a century. Such an elemental change is called a Great Mutation and signals big cultural movements over time. We’ve just come out of a long Earth sign era in which the material side of life took center stage. We developed and owned and benefitted by things. The Air element stresses communication and relationships, cooperation and ideas. It’s the Information Age. That already began, you say, and you are right. We had a single Air sign Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (in Libra in 1981) after more than a century of Earth sign conjunctions and before the final Earth sign conjunction (in Taurus in 2000). That two-decade Air cycle brought us PCs, the internet and cell phones. Imagine what will be invented in the coming century!

Zero degrees of Aquarius is especially important in the USA. Every four years, we inaugurate a President on January 20 when consistently the Sun, emblematic of leaders, passes through this degree. The ceremony is always in Washington, DC at noon and the Ascendant at that time and place is always in Taurus. This should help our leaders to focus on the people and put our values at the forefront. (The Ascendant, the degree rising in the east, is what you’re facing and Taurus is the sign of values.) The 12/21/20 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction was about a week after the certification of the 2020 election results. Joe Biden is the first President inaugurated since that major highlight of the degree of the Sun on Inauguration Day.

Most recently, quick Mercury passed through this degree three times in its retrograde zigzag. It was at 0º Aquarius on 1/2/22 before it went retrograde, 1/25-1/26 while retrograde, and following the retrograde on 2/14-2/15 (as I began working on this blog). The Messenger planet often is the bearer of news. I can’t say that I tracked any particular big news of an Aquarian nature on these days but I invite you to do some looking around and let me know if you find something significant.

You may hear astrologers talking excitedly about the Venus-Mars conjunction coming up on March 6 at 0º33’ Aquarius. It begins a new Venus-Mars cycle that will last almost two years until their next conjunction on 2/22/24, also in Aquarius, at 6º57’. The close proximity of their zodiac locations made me wonder if was common for a conjunction sign to repeat. In the century 1960-2059, there were sixteen conjunctions (of approximately fifty) that were sets of sign repetitions, either in pairs or trios. Only two of these are in Aquarius, now and in 2054-2056. So this seems pretty special, adding a little two-year pizzazz to the developing big twenty-year Aquarian Jupiter-Saturn cycle.

On 2/16/22 (yes, the full moon date), there was a Venus-Mars conjunction at 16º53’ Capricorn beginning a brief cycle, hardly a blip on our socio-cultural radar, only to be quickly replaced by the Aquarius vibe. Most often, there are about two years between Venus-Mars conjunctions but when they’re near one another and Venus has a retrograde cycle, it slows down and falls behind Mars, which is usually slower. Once Venus speeds up after its retrograde, it doesn’t take long to pass Mars. The two conjunctions in the duo can be almost three months apart. This one is quite close in time. An even closer one, only 9 days apart, comes up in 2029.

Venus represents social connections, affections and what we value. Mars enlivens and activates, pushing with assertiveness. Venus shows concerns for others; Mars indicates self-interest. You can also think of them as symbolizing women and men (think of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray). The two-year cycle with the Venus-Mars in Aquarius imprint will likely see more emphasis on (and acceptance of?) transgender and non-binary identification and issues around gender equality. (Will the Equal Rights Amendment campaign be resurrected?) Venus is affiliated with decoration, Mars with anything done using a sharp instrument, and Aquarius with unique, individual expression. Sounds like tattoos and piercing could become more mainstream or accentuated. Aquarius is the sign of friends and social circles. This cycle could see a lot more group socializing as opposed to couple-dating and bromance movies more than RomComs.

In 2023-2024, we see the zero degree of Aquarius popping up again. First, there’s a new moon close to this degree on 1/21/23 at 1º33’ and it’s part of the repeating pattern (which I call a “groove”) of new moons at 1º of successive signs for six months from the fall of 2022 to the spring of 2023. A new moon signals a beginning and the fresh energy is very potent near the beginning of a sign.

A major visitor to 0º Aquarius is Pluto, which crosses back and forth over the threshold between Capricorn and Aquarius. It will be in the 0º of Aquarius about two-and-a-half months 3/23/23 – 6/10/23, turning retrograde on 5/1/23 at 0º22’, and returning to 0º Aquarius again 1/20/24 – 2/22/24. After that, it stays in Aquarius for about 20 years. As the planet most linked to economic factors, wealth and resources, its time in the sign of equality – especially because part of it occurs during the Jupiter-Saturn-in-Aquarius cycle – will do a lot to level the playing field across the economic spectrum.

In July 2023, the Lunar Nodes are finishing their 18 months or so in the sign polarity of Taurus/Scorpio, shifting into Aries/Libra. These important intersections of the Earth-Sun and Moon-Earth orbits move backward through the zodiac. Thus the final degree they occupy in a sign is the zero degree. In 0º Taurus and Scorpio, they form a T-square to 0º Aquarius, which still resonates from the Jupiter-Saturn and Venus-Mars conjunctions and Pluto’s first transit through that degree. A T-square gives a push to make a change, which still isn’t easy because these three signs are in the Fixed Sign category. These signs have a lot of inertia – slow to bring about change but once a new direction is underway, it will persist. Individuals, companies or countries with something important in their chart at 0º of any of these Fixed Signs (as well as Leo, also in this category) will be more affected by the celestial happenings outlined here. They also have more inclination to utilize these energies.

There are a lot of opportunities from 2022 into 2024 to build on things that stem back to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in 2020. The Venus-Mars conjunction may seem like a little thing, just a rather ordinary get-together of two of the quicker planets. It’s not the big drumbeat of the 20-year Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. But it does plug into that energy and it tees up the stimulus from the Nodes shifting signs, the Full Moon “groove” and Pluto’s entry into Aquarius. March 6 is the perfect day to celebrate peace, love and brotherhood, and sing the Aquarius song, “Let the Sunshine In.”

Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: Aquarius Jupiter Saturn Venus Mars Pluto Inauguration Biden

December 22, 2021 By Janet Booth

Overlapping Mercury and Venus Retrogrades

For half of January 2022, Mercury will be retrograde at the same time as Venus is. Mercury is retrograde for 21 days, about half the duration of Venus’s 41-day retrograde. Such an overlap doesn’t happen every year. In fact, looking back to 2000, there were no such incidences through 2016. Beginning in 2017, it has happened 9 times in 14 years. So we can’t say this is rare but it’s also not something to which we’re accustomed.

We have a hard enough time when one or the other of these ordinarily quick planets backtracks and spends an extra long time in one small part of the zodiac. It’s doubly difficult when retrograde simultaneously. The information and communication mix-ups for which Mercury Retrograde is famous bleed into the arena of finances and relationships, which come under the purview of Venus. Are you getting the idea that January is not going to be a month where we charge ahead and make great progress?

Venus is retrograde 12/19/21 until 1/29/22. Mercury is retrograde 1/14 – 2/3/22. The two weeks they are both in reverse are from 1/14 – 1/29. And not only do their time frames overlap, the degrees where they zigzag also overlap, barely. Venus marched from 12º to 26º Capricorn before turning retrograde to repeat those degrees. Mercury descends from 10º Aquarius to 24º Capricorn before ascending through those degrees again. So that little 2-degree slice, 24º-26º Capricorn, has both Mercury and Venus passing through it three times.

This just happens to be in the neighborhood where Pluto is travelling at 25º-27º Capricorn. Both Venus and Mercury pass by Pluto three times. Venus joins Pluto on 12/11/21, 12/25/21 and 3/3/22 (this last time, Mars teams up with Venus and Pluto). Mercury gets together with Pluto on 12/30/21, 1/28/22 and 2/11/22. Pluto throws an additional monkey wrench into the works. As the planet related to banking, investments, insurance, taxes, the economy and all joint financial and shared monetary matters (while Venus relates to individual finances). With all three in Capricorn, the sign of rules, organizations, business and government, you can see the potential for big problems.

Add to this, Pluto isn’t finished with its 90º abrasion (“square” aspect in astrological lingo) with Eris, the dwarf planet of chaos and battles, known as a trouble-maker. Eris is S-L-O-W and spends a long time in any one degree. Currently, Eris is moving between 23º and 24º Aries. Pluto, which is associated with viruses and death, hit 24º Capricorn five times in 2020-2021 and its five squares with Eris correlated rather closely with waves of COVID-19. Apparently, we’re not done yet. Even though there won’t be another exact occurrence, their positions relative to one another are not far off that 90º mark and the bottom line is about the same. From early August through early November, Pluto is less than 2º from an exact square with Eris. And at the 10/25 Solar Eclipse, Mercury at 22-1/2º Libra forms a T-square with Pluto at 26º Capricorn and Eris at 24º Aries. Mercury rules the respiratory system and Libra is sign of the Air element, so the possibility exists that we might still be dealing with airborne viruses well into the fall of 2022.

Venus is square Eris 3 times, on 12/7/21, 12/30/21 and 2/26/22. These are points where partners could have disagreements or mistakes may be made in personal finances. In the midst of this, Mercury and Venus are conjunct on 12/29/21, a time around which we are reminded of our most important values and when we have a stronger chance of being tactful about any harsh realities we need to communicate.

The Venus-Eris square on 12/30/21 occurs close enough to the New Moon on 1/2/22 that it still is powerful then and impacts the following four-week lunar cycle. At the next New Moon on 2/1, Mercury sits at the 24º spot, 2 degrees from Pluto and square Eris by one degree, again a dicey indicator that affects the following four weeks. The New Moon on 3/2 finds Venus, Mars and Pluto around 27º Capricorn and all three square Eris with a leeway of 3-plus degrees from exact, still pretty darn close. Again, the following four weeks fall under their sway. So there go the first three months of the new year, a tough time for finances and relationships, and all forms of communication.

If you have planets in your chart in the range of 23º-28º of any sign, they’re being shaken up. In fact, the degree range of 24-26º has eleven key planetary phenomena happening in 2022, including the Lunar Eclipse on 5/16. Fasten your seat belt! Whatever your planet(s) indicate in your life is apt to get a lot of your attention and go through major changes this year.

You can find the dates of Venus’s and Mercury’s “stations” (turning points) and the exact degrees where they go retrograde and return to direct motion on 2022 On a Page, a free downloadable PDF at AstrologyBooth.com. You’ll also see those other occurrences at 24º-26º (be sure to read the note at the bottom about Eris).

Even though the dates when phenomena discussed are precise and are the most potent times, these influences are still strong for days before and after these dates. So stay on your toes!

Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: COVID, Eris, Mercury, Pluto, retrograde, Venus, virus

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