A Closer Look at Venus’ Crazy Month of January

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology Happy Friday everybody. Today we are going to take a look at Venus and the significant transformations that Venus is going to be going through from the time that Venus conjoins Pluto over the weekend Pluto in late degrees of Capricorn all the way through Venus's journey through Aquarius, where it's going to do. Venus is going to make a number of really interesting aspects all the way until Venus enters Pisces later in the month of January, where she is then in her exultation.

One of the things that I'm going to focus on today is this question of Venus being enclosed. I was recently a guest on a colleague and friend of mine's Instagram and YouTube channel, Spencer Michaud, and he's going to join me today. When we were prepping for that talk, he noticed that Venus was enclosed between Mars and Saturn for a good chunk of January; I had been completely oblivious to this. And immediately, it was like, wow, that's actually really big news, especially in light of the fact that if you remember, earlier this week, Alex Amorosi came on my show, and we talked a lot about Venus's journey in the month of January, and we just failed to recognize this enclosure.

So I asked Spencer if he would come on today. And we would kind of talk about what an enclosure is and whether or not we should really consider this an enclosure. What's at stake, what does an enclosure mean, as well as the rest of Venus's journey between now and the end of January, which is really worth looking at a little bit more deeply. And I recognize that as I was a guest on Spencer's show, and we were getting into it a little bit more like it's a really interesting month for Venus. So that's what we're going to do today. And I'll call Spencer on the channel in a minute to join me.

But before we get into that, as always, don't forget to like and subscribe, and share some comments and reflections in the comment section that always helps the channel to grow. If you subscribe and you want to know when I'm going live or when a new video is dropped, click the notification bell for updates. You can find transcripts of any of my daily talks on my website, of course, which is nightlightastrology.com.

Well, we have today and tomorrow left in the Kickstarter; we are still trying to reach 1608. Backers, as of the time that I am making this, we still need about 350. So we're coming down the home stretch. We have like 48 hours left, we have all of today, Friday, and we have New Year's Eve until midnight. I think we can get there. But we have a nice big last push that we still need to to reach our goal. So if first of all, a big thank you to everyone who has already donated. There are almost 1300 at the time I'm recording this.

So a huge thank you to everybody. If you haven't yet, and you listen to this channel regularly, you value the content; it gives something positive to you, whether you're a student of astrology or just a casual listener; if it does something good in your life, then please consider donating and pitching in to support the channel, you're supporting me and my staff. And you're supporting the really good goal that we have in 2023 wishes to build an affordable Reading Clinic where people who otherwise couldn't afford a reading will be able to get one. And some of my best and brightest students will also be able to gain experience and start earning a living doing astrology.

So we're using the capital from the Kickstarter to launch that project, which is why I'm just really banging the drum trying to get us to our goal. If we know that if we beat last year's backer total, which is 1608 backers, we have to do in order to reach that goal, we are really confident that we will be in the range that we need to be in financially with that goal having been met to make sure that we can pull it off within a year.

So when you donate, first of all, you can find the link to donate in the description of this video or in the comment section below; you'll find a link there if you go to my website nightlightastrology.com, you'll see the 2023 Kickstarter link at the top of the page, you could click on that when you go there, you can choose a reward when you donate from my talks on the astrology of 2023 to your sun or rising sign horoscope for the year ahead. Two different kinds of readings and talks that I offer.

Of course, the best deal that I offer is going to be upwards of 50% off of any of my online programs. Or if you bundle them together, you save even more. So if you bundle four classes together, the price goes down to about $500 which is almost per class which is almost 75% off the full rate. So even if you were to use any of my early bird sales that we run there, all of the program deals to the Kickstarter are still four or $500 cheaper than all of the early bird sales that we run throughout the year.

So it's the ideal time to stock up if you know you're going to take another class, you're in year one, you maybe want to take year two, you're in year two, you want to take horary something like that, or you know you want to study, but you don't know exactly when; you can bundle them together and use them whenever you want. They don't ever expire. So if you want to use them in 2023 or four or five, if you want to gift one class to someone and take the rest of yourself, you can mix and match as you please.

There are six different classes that I offer year one, year two, horary, a class called Readings and Passages, and MasterClass Series, which is new and different every year. And also our Roots and Spheres. Program Roots and Spheres also begins in January. You could buy that just on its own and still save significantly if you want it as well and join us for a moon circle that my wife and I are leading throughout the year before every new and full moon, where we study the plants of the planets alongside plant teachers that we actually diet during every moon cycle. So there are a lot of cool things to choose from.

If you have questions about any of the classes, go to the Kickstarter, go to my website @nightlightastrology.com, Go into the Courses tab and look at any of the programs that we offer. New classes start in the spring and the fall; you can jump in on those in 23 or 24 2025. Whenever you want, the coupons don't expire. So take advantage of that to help us reach our goal. And again, a big thanks to everyone who's already pitched in.

Okay, so we are going to be looking today at some really interesting dynamics from the planet Venus that are happening as soon as this weekend when Venus conjoins Pluto in Capricorn, but also as Venus enters Aquarius and then does a whole lot of different things, including a square to Uranus potential malefic enclosure or conjunction with Saturn around the new moon and Aquarius. So so many things to talk about. I am going to bring my friend and colleague Spencer Michaud on now to discuss this with me. Hey, Spencer; good to see you.

Spencer
Hey, Adam, longtime No, see,

Adam Elenbaas
I know we just Spencer and I; just earlier today, I recorded a talk on your YouTube channel and your Instagram. So and we talked about some of the same things that we're going to talk about. I wanted to make sure that I just felt like this would be the greatest thing to talk about going into the weekend, as Venus is going to conjoin Pluto.

Spencer
Yeah, it's pretty interesting to see that come up in the, you know, the exploration of January; it was something that was kind of surprised to see and a really interesting dynamic there.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, absolutely. Um, before I go any further and we get into it, I want to tell people a little bit about you. First of all, what is your YouTube handle so that I can point people to it? I'm just going to put it up on the screen.

Spencer
Yeah, my YouTube channel is Spencer Michaud Astrology. And I do a full and new moon live stream usually with a guest like you are my guest today for the full moon. And I do a monthly forecast and things of that nature. And yeah, I'm on Instagram as well as just at Spencermichaud on Instagram. Those are the two places where I'm most active at it.

Adam Elenbaas
So Instagram is Spencermichaud, and YouTube is Spencer Michaud Astrology is, right? Um, you know, before we get into it as well, Spencer has been through a couple of my programs as a part of his ongoing journey as an astrologer. And you've been through, Let's see, year one, year two, and horary. Right?

Spencer
That's right. I think I did year two twice. And maybe horary. Twice.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, yeah, I was wondering, before we get into it, if there's anything you could say to help me promote the programs since they're on sale right now through Kickstarter. I thought since you're an alumni who enjoyed the programs, you might say a word or two about what people could expect or what they might get out of it or why you might recommend it.

Spencer
Oh, man, so many things are coming to mind. Just a really well-run, well-organized program. It really launched was I was able to launch my career as an astrologer through your teachings and through being able to really understand some of the underlying philosophical things that are permeating through traditional astrology; I think you were really good at connecting all of those dots. And, you know, you just had a really great community as well. I think that was the other thing that I really enjoyed about your classes and the way that you've structured them. What you do is that you were able to connect with a lot of other people that felt similar, and we're learning through the same process. And it really did feel like a really nice group where we were learning together.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, that's great feedback. I mean, it's funny because I feel like when you came through the program, we were just on the edge of starting to hire a whole staff that has now made the program so much more organized and effective than it was even when you were in it. And so yeah, I just I'm really glad to hear that you had that experience, even before we had a lot of the new supports in place. So that's really good feedback. And yeah, I agree. I think that the magic about the program is now the way I experienced it is, you know, I'm just one obviously, I'm the teacher, and I've developed the curriculum, but it's really about what we create together with my staff with my tutors with Delia and Michelle and with everyone who does such a nice to all the students do such a nice job of coming to class with really intelligent feedback and questions and conversation that gets generated? And yeah, and so it's I think, you know, a lot of people what they don't know they need when they love astrology is a little bit of like, guided structured curriculum to just like a launch pad, but then also like community and friendships to build as you're going through it.

Spencer
So it's a good accountability partner too. You know, I think that when we're studying traditional astrology, there's a lot of text to wade through. There are a lot of concepts, and there's a lot of source text. And I think you did a really great job of contextualizing all those texts and kind of just pointing the way and holding up the hermit's lamp, so to speak, right? Look at this; this is really interesting. And I think about, there's a line in that refers to Helen of Troy, where she was the face that launched 1000 ships, and I think your program is the class that launched 1000 careers, you know.

Adam Elenbaas
So that's amazing feedback, man; thank you, that really means a lot. Speaking of classes, and launching astrologers, and stuff like that, Spencer also has a wonderful teacher of astrology. And it is often if you follow him on Instagram, you'll also be able to see when he's teaching classes, leading workshops, and giving tutoring sessions, and I couldn't recommend Spencer as a teacher more highly. Spencer also has a background prior to being an astrologer of being a teacher, a teacher of music. And a transition between music and music of the spheres, I think, has been very natural for you, it seems to be like you feel you seem to be very much at home and your role as a teacher, and that must have carried over from being a music teacher.

Spencer
I love teaching. And I think that astrology and music have a lot in common with pattern recognition, and being able to tap into like an emotional divinatory space that where you're channeling things, and, you know, combining the rational mind and the emotional mind and I think that's what astrology does really well. So yeah, it's been a lot of fun. It's been more than I could have imagined.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, totally. Well, I'm glad to have you here today to talk about Venus again for everybody; check out Spencer's work at Spencer Michaud Astrology; you can see the stream that we just did on this upcoming Full Moon in cancer if you want to go check that out on his YouTube channel. And also, on Instagram, Spencer Michaud.

I'm going to pull up the chart, and I'm just going to walk us through the dynamics of Venus that are coming up. And then I just want to try to talk about them with you for a while. You heard Alex and I break this down on our overview of the astrology of January. But what we failed to talk about was a concept called a malefic enclosure that Venus is also going to be moving into, or we're gonna we're actually going to ask like, well, how intense is this malefic enclosure? And how, like, how should we read it? And we'll also try to teach you what a malefic enclosure is as we go along. But here, let's get into the first piece of this.

So, first of all, Venus going into the conjunction with Pluto. So that conjunction happens, you can see Venus moving through the conjunction with Pluto on December 31. That's Saturday into Sunday, January 1, that's I would give it that kind of Saturday or Sunday as a range within which you're likely to see the manifestation of the Venus Pluto symbolism most intensely. You could, you know, say within a couple of degrees like today, you may already be seeing it or within the next couple of days. But coming through over the weekend.

So that starts off January right away with a major Venus dynamic. And remember, Venus has recently appeared as an evening star here later in the month of December 2022. And from that, Eveningstar position is now gaining luminosity and strength and is sort of in her grandeur as an evening star. So Venus is sort of in a for Venus. It's a sort of royal position for Venus, and yet immediately, she's going through this intense conjunction with Pluto enters Aquarius, and then we'll just going to take her forward and Aquarius a little bit. And this is interesting.

What happens next is that Venus is going to go through a trine. This is right around January 9; I'm giving or taking some minutes of a degree, but right around January 9, Venus trines Mars. What's interesting about that is that shortly after Venus trines Mars from what we call a superior position, which means Venus sort of has a more dominant influence over Mars, Mars turns direct. That actually, to me, looks like we talked about this in our video on the astrology of January. It looks to me like a very benefic connection between the two of them and maybe some kind of good fortune for Mars reaching out a critical turning point, maybe sort of a lift of breeze, a wind coming where there has been none for Mars as Mars is making a turnaround and usually a malefic recovering from a retrograde turning direct would be a good thing you would want that to happen.

So that looks positive. But then it's interesting because immediately, Venus, as Spencer pointed out to me, will go through now I use the mean nodes. Depending on which nodes you use might be a little bit different. But Venus will then go through a square to the nodes of the moon, a concept that Spencer reminded me of; it's called being at the bending of the nodes. So that's super interesting.

And then Venus. And that happens, by the way, that's right around January 10. And then, on the 11th and 12th, Mars is turning direct. So then, after that, we have Venus. Now, this is where it's questionable, do we consider this a malefic enclosure or not? So here's what an enclosure is. So we're gonna get rid of everything in our perspective, except for these three planets. So here's what an enclosure looks like. Kind of like technically. So you have the ray of Mars at eight degrees of Gemini, sending Aries to eight Aquarius. And in that sense, it is as though you have a little box that's getting created here. Mars is behind Venus, so to speak.

In the meantime, Venus is heading into a conjunction with malefic Saturn. And so Saturn is creating another little boundary. And it's as though Venus is now stuck or hemmed in between the ray of Mars and the body of Saturn. So this according to some ancient astrologers, both in the medieval era and the Hellenistic era, different concepts of the medieval era, I believe it was called besieged, meant by that point was a more conventional translation of the Arabic maybe, but then enclosure would be one of the words that was translated for the Hellenistic version of the same concept. So here's what makes this tricky.

So it does appear, from this standpoint, as though Venus is enclosed. And this is something like I said that Spencer pointed out that I was like, Okay, I just totally missed that. Then you have all the way up until Venus conjoins Saturn, which is January 22, right after the new moon on the 21st; you would have Venus enclosed as soon as Venus passes over Saturn, which would also happen later in the day on the 22nd. Venus would be enclosed.

So let's go back to the trine between them. And that's going to be; I'll get the exact hours down for everybody. So January 9 through the 22nd. So January 9 through the 22nd would technically be a period where Venus is enclosed. Now, again, we're going to talk about the technicalities of that in a minute. What's interesting is that right after that enclosure, not long after, on the 22nd. Right, so then if we take this forward just a little bit more. By January 26, just four days later, Venus has escaped the enclosure and then moves into her exultation. It almost feels like just a really like a roller coaster ride for Venus.

Now, what's interesting about this and the reason that I wonder if this should be considered a malefic enclosure or not, is the one thing that can happen for a malefic enclosure that will break it apart, and it will kind of release it from the clutches of the alethic enclosure, which basically means that it's the planet that's caught between the body arrays of two malefics is like hemmed in, and that planet is kind of like maltreated, it's going to be the Venus stuff wherever it lands in your chart would be going through a hard time.

So if Venus is your ascendant ruler, it could affect your health. I had one in the July of 2021 that had this really, it was a malefic enclosure of Venus, and it was like really hard on my health. I broke a rib I had an abdominal hernia. I ended up needing surgery for all during the enclosure of my ascendant ruler Venus between the malefics, but not all enclosures are the same, and so one question about this enclosure is that as the enclosure goes along, one thing that happens is right around January 14, Venus will go into a degree based square with Uranus.

Now, in traditional astrology, you're not going to consider the outer planets as planets that would typically break up and enclosure; you're just looking at the traditional planets to form this kind of dynamic. The reason that I would scratch my head about Uranus a little bit is if there is ever a planet that would break apart, something called a containment or an enclosure. Do you think it might be the planet Uranus, the planet of freedom and liberation? So that's one question mark, could it be that Venus is sort of hemmed in from what did we say? I think it was like January 9, was it? Yeah, to the 22nd. So nine to the 22nd. But on January 14, the enclosure is there's an intervention of another planet, and so it's broken apart. Now typically, you would need a traditional one of the traditional seven to do that. So that's one question.

The other question about whether or not this should be considered an enclosure comes from a look at the different definitions of the enclosure, which I needed to brush up on after Spencer and I talked about this earlier today. So I was looking at Chris Brennan's Hellenistic Astrology, the study of fate and fortune, which is pretty much the along with Demetra George's books, is like standard, you know, like, the standard textbook for Hellenistic students. There's Demetra George's book, Ancient Astrology, another like both of those I use in my programs, right? So Chris describes that there is, so there are several different definitions that ancient astrologers worked with. One of them was signed based on the other degree based. So, for example, in this case, by sign-based definition, this would not be an enclosure for a few different reasons; you have different versions of sign based as well; for example, you could have this assign-based enclosure could, for example, be if you had a planet in Aries, like on the left Vic in Aries, and a malefic in Aquarius, that we're sending arrays to Libra and Leo, and you had a planet in Virgo, then they're on the signs; they're sending their rays into hole sign aspects on either side of a planet in that's effectively in the middle.

So that's one interesting definition that would not fit with this because from this standpoint, you have this is this would be a degree-based version, not a whole sine version. So there could have been multiple versions that people use at the same time and the degree-based version, though, there's also a question mark, which is that there seems to have been, and maybe this was used by every astrologer, maybe not, but there was a seven-degree rule.

So, for example, people always ask me, Should we use the seven degrees or not? And I'm always like, you know, I don't know it's, it's a good route seems to be a good rule, but I just need to live through one, you know, before I can, this will be a great test. So because here's the deal. So right now, as Venus has just separated from Mars in the trine in this picture that you're looking at 833 811, Saturn is way beyond seven degrees out. And so unless the enclosure has each of the two malefics, within seven degrees of the position of the enclosed planet, from that standpoint, from this definition, that would not be an enclosure.

But let's just take Venus forward a little bit. So let's see how we don't like what happens when we get Venus. Is there ever a point where Venus is seven degrees away from either planet? So here, Venus is about eight degrees away from Saturn and about five degrees away from Mars. But what's really interesting is that when you move Venus into the position where she will be within seven degrees of either planet, which is about January 14, that happens to be the day that Venus squares Uranus. So it's like even if we play by the seven-degree rule, Uranus wants to mess with us, it appears. And I was looking at this, and I was like, alright, Spencer, do you have time? Do you want to come on and talk with me about this?

So anyway, that's the dynamic. Is it an enclosure, or isn't it an enclosure? Will Uranus break it apart or not? And what do we make of the entire journey of Venus from the standpoint of the conjunction to Pluto all the way to her entering her exultation at the end of January? It's quite a ride, so I wanted to present that first, and now I'll just ask Spencer to talk a little bit and tell us what you think about all this, Spencer.

Spencer
Well, I busted Demetra's book out because I think that there were a lot of questions that I had when I was first looking at this, too, especially with the trine aspect, you know, the degree-based relationship that you were talking about, and on page 472 of chapter two meters book Volume One, ancient astrology and theory and practice she says, enclosure by rays right where the sun is at 20 degrees Libra, so on so forth. There is some ambiguity as to whether the rays from malefics that enclosed planets have to be from square or opposition figures or if they can be from a sextile or trine figures. Porphyry gives an example in which a ray from a trine is part of a containment, a variation of enclosure; we can thus assume that rays from any of the figures carry, at least in part, the nature of the planet emitting them. Enclosure by rays is by whole sign aspect, but intervention necessitates the seven-degree orb rain. So that seems to suggest that a trine could still, you know, play this drama out potentially.

Adam Elenbaas
they can play the role of being an encloser.

Spencer
Yes, my question, and I'll toss this back to you like, what about the moon? And what is the moon and intervening factor that can come in and out of intervention?

Adam Elenbaas
You see the thing that's so tricky about that; it's that's a great question. And I get that in my classes a lot. And the way that I try to explain it is like, Okay, you're, of course, you're going to get, like, let's say that Venus is. Okay, let me give you an example, actually, because it'll work better if I give an example. So let's go to I'm gonna go to a Venetian enclose an enclosure of Venus, I should say. A Venusian enclosure might actually be fun. If you had, it's like a magnetic enclosure is actually a lot better. Okay,

Spencer
Our former president had one of those that encloses his Saturn, right?

Adam Elenbaas
Oh, interesting. Yeah. So it's kind of protecting. Yeah, that's right. I remember that. Yeah. Um, okay, so this is July 2021. And what I want you guys to notice is this. Here is Venus. Just about to be enclosed by the malefics. She's got Mars right here at 16. And she's passing through the opposition with Saturn.

Spencer
This is my birthday that you have pulled up here. My Solar Return chart for 2020

Adam Elenbaas
Oh, god. Yeah, that's, that was Yeah. And you had some, I mean, not that we're gonna go into, but you've had some you had some rough stuff that year.

Spencer
My mom died that year.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, I wasn't gonna say it. But, yeah. Um, so here's Venus enclosed between the malefics. But the thing is, is that this enclosure is coming from malefics that are also opposing one another, and hence, opposing the one malefic is opposing Venus. Now, to my mind, this would be significantly different than an enclosure that we're looking at, which involves a trine as one of the pieces of the enclosure. And not only that, but a trine in which Venus is superior to Mars, and Mars is turning direct, and a planet that's sitting down and turning direct is like a sick person getting out of bed and getting better from something. It just doesn't feel like this kind of enclosure like this, to me, is like, so, but here's the point you asked about the moon. So I'm going to show you when I noticed the biggest change because Venus and Leo is my ascendant ruler. And during this enclosure, I broke a rib and had an umbilical hernia doing jujitsu.

Okay, so it was like very my central or very physical version of, like, ouch. So but here's when everything changed. So it was right here. So this was Thursday, July 8. And this was right about the time I had gone home to Michigan after breaking my rib and getting the hernia earlier that week. I go home to Michigan. Well, my mom lives in Michigan. So that's like I say, go home. I'm not from Michigan, but I go home to see my mom and where my family lives. And I had a conversation with a friend that made me realize that you know, I sort of brought this on myself, and jujitsu probably wasn't the best choice and so forth. And that happened on the day that Venus squared Uranus. I felt like from that day forward; The energy was, I felt like it was like, the enclosure was over for me anyway, like that the worst of it sort of was done when it hit the square to Uranus. But this was also interesting to me right here.

Spencer
So isn't it interesting that Uranus is at the exact same degree that Venus will square it from the other side of the axis?

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, totally. I think that's yeah, that's, that's a really good point. All right, let's see. So here, I thought this was interesting, too. So this was right about the time when the moon came through Leo, because right before my birthday, and I was like really paying attention to the astrology because this enclosure had been so intense. And this was just a few days before my birthday; I was still I was staying with my mom. And the moon went through past through the conjunction with Venus, and Venus is still enclosed, right? Like Venus has not yet passed over Mars. And this was another moment for me that was super important, where I actually contacted, I finally emailed the jujitsu studio, and I cancelled my membership. So I did that on the day that the moon was conjoining Venus before Venus had broken out of the enclosure. So I don't know if any of that gives us an answer or not. But I find it interesting that in both instances, there were there was a moon aspect, and there was an outer planet aspect that seemed to be breaking apart the worst of the condition prior to the actual conjunction of Venus with Mars. Does that make sense?

Spencer
Yeah. And, you know, I wonder if the moon gives us temporary relief from it, you know since it moves so quickly.

Adam Elenbaas
That's a good point. Yeah. I mean, so just so that people if people don't follow what we're saying, so like, let's just go forward to the like, like here. So let's go to, like, January 13. On January 13, the moon will trine Venus from Moon in Libra to Venus in Aquarius. Sorry. So Moon in Libra trines Venus in Aquarius; the idea is that okay, could you get on these days during the enclosure? What to speak of the square to Uranus or whether or not this is technically an enclosure or not? Let's just say that it is. Could you still get temporary relief on these days when you have the moon making an aspect such as this to Venus? And I think I would say at the very, you know, you should watch and see, but probably you do.

Spencer
Yeah, I think so too. I think it's definitely a little bit of a waste, a little bit of an oasis when we have those aspects breaking it up. I think, you know, I agree that this isn't probably not going to be as difficult as the one we experienced in 2021; I hope it isn't because it was pretty; that one was pretty challenging, especially wouldn't recommend that baked into your solar return. But you know, at the same time, now, it's Venus that's in the overcoming square to Uranus rather than Saturn, which is a huge improvement in my estimation. You know, and I believe, like, the overcoming squares of Venus, or a benefic in general, weren't really thought of as terrible in traditional astrology, sometimes they really bonafide.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, exactly. In the fact that the worst of this is the seven-degree range for Venus and Saturn would come after Venus has passed out of the seven-degree range with Mars. And that Mars is direct and that Venus is in the overcoming position. I just get the feeling that the worst, if I had to pick, like, okay, when is the worst of it for Venus in January of Venus is running into some real problems. I would guess that it's right around January 14 into, say, the 15th. Because around that time, a couple of things. Venus goes through the square to Uranus; I still think you're right that that gets that, so it sort of has the upper hand. And then, after the square has completed itself, Venus is now within seven degrees of Saturn while the moon is now in its fall. And the sun is going into a conjunction with Pluto. So, you know, you kind of almost like this, like this, maybe right in here like the 14th, let's say all the way to we'll just take the sun through Pluto to like the 19th. That feels like it could be a little rocky.

Spencer
A little respite during the Sag moon, potentially.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, that's a good point. Then I think I have to think about The New Moon in Aquarius with Venus coming through the conjunction on the 21st and 22nd. I would think that there's kind of like a harder turning point; maybe it's, it's kind of a reality check of some kind. There's a karmic consequence. But you're also there's; you're turning the page, you're there's a new chapter that's getting started. And you're going to start putting the drama of Venus in January behind.

Spencer
Absolutely. Yeah, I think just, you know, a couple of things. If we were to think about this, you know, mechanically, those are some of the stories that we bring in every once in a while now that we're, you know, you were saying you were starting to bring in.

Adam Elenbaas 35:42
Through Jupiter in Aries, discussion is Spencer. So everyone doesn't know Spencer has taught workshops on, like, all of the decans through the Zodiac and is really sort of a decan specialist. So no, but keep going.

Spencer
Yeah, so the themes that we are going to be working through, first of all, Mars and the first decan of Gemini, is related to the eight of swords, right? So in the eight of swords, you have someone who is bound and really feeling maybe a sense of paralysis due to the amount of options that they may have, especially in Gemini; I think that that we've been feeling like we want to move in so many different directions, but we don't know where to go. And it's been making it difficult to move forward. And as Mars is starting to move forward, I think that Mars wants to eliminate some of those options. It says I'm going to eliminate distractions; I'm going to eliminate a number of pathways so that you can choose which ones you want to breathe life into, eventually, which I think is, to me, that's what the transition from Gemini to Cancer is okay, let's explore.

But then we actually have to make a choice; there is a sacrifice, like the sacrifice of the solar king as it switches direction at the summer solstice. But it's a lot of times my Gemini clients' friends or whatever; I try to counsel them and say, look, it's not what you don't focus on what you're giving up focus on what you are wanting to breathe life into. So to me, Venus is going to be assisting in making a choice number one.

Number two, Venus will start off in the first decan of Aquarius, which is related to the five of swords, right? So this card is called conflict and defeat. It's basically showing some kind of challenging relationship between you and some kind of person or adversary. But there is an energy of this card of willingly going off into the frontier and into the outskirts of society.

So to me, the conjunction with Venus and Pluto that we start this process off with is showing us the corruption in our systems, which is related to the four of pentacles of where we're gonna see that conjunction taking place, which could be related to how you utilize your material resources, how you wield authority and power. And then, by having Venus conjoining Pluto, it reveals that which is hidden. I think that Pluto is a planet that drives things underground. But eventually, like, it bubbles up like a plunger or like a clogged toilet erupting and a volcanic.

Adam Elenbaas
Gross.

Spencer
I think that we're gonna, you know, I really want people to pay attention to both the Taurus and the Libra areas of their life, too, because not only are we going to see this play out in the fruiting body of Capricorn and an Aquarius, which is the visible part of it, but the mycelium okay, this is my new favorite metaphor for planets, hosting other planets as we get the fruiting body in the sign, and then we have the mycelium that it's connecting to the host, the host signs. So pay attention to the Libra and Taurus area of your chart is what that energy is providing for.

So I see is we're going to have a confrontation with that which we've repressed. And we have to be really aware of power dynamics and manipulation and relationships. And then we might be like, Screw it; I'm not even gonna play this game anymore. And I'm gonna go off into onto my own thing; I gotta do something completely different. I'm not going to play this old game. I'm overwhelmed and overburdened. I'm going to try to do it in a completely different way because that first decan of Aquarius is Venus ruled Venus will be in its own face. So Venus is able to find beauty in that which is discarded, that which is on the fringe. So we have that trine with Mars, and it says, Alright, do something different, do it way differently than you've done it in the past. It doesn't have to look like it's always looked, and that may help you make a decision as far as which path you want to pursue.

Um, so those are two players. And then we have Saturn; we have Saturn in the third decan of Aquarius with the seven of swords. And this deck in the journey from that we have in the Aquarius decans, we have the five of swords, which shows the conflict and the willingly going off into the fringe due to a perceived injustice, right? Then we have the six of swords in the second decan, the second 10-degree section where we're crossing from one place to another; you can see someone going across the river, right? Communication between the center and the frontier. And then, eventually, we're we are leaving the unknown altogether. We are taking what we've learned from the past and finally saying; You know what, I need to leave this situation completely, and Austin Copic in the did you just get that book on 36 secrets? Is it new?

Adam Elenbaas
I've had it for a long time. But I just pulled it out and showed it to everyone. Yesterday so that people can see it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there we go.

Spencer
He talks about that decan as being the not in a knot of, of karmic ties that we're trying to untie and release like frustration that's built up over time. And there's a spirit with that decan, a daemon called Osiris, which is basically the Egyptian god that was split into many pieces; he was murdered by his brother set split into many pieces. His wife, ISIS, had to reconnect him together to be able to mate with him to create the new deity, the new god Horus. And eventually, Osiris was split apart again; I think he was re murdered by set, and he became the lord of the underworld.

So to me, the second is to learn what you need to learn, come together to birth something new, and then release it completely. And to me, I see that Venus Saturn conjunction is finally saying, you know, we finally have to let go, we finally have to say, you know, this is it, this relationship, this way of doing something is finally done. And in the middle of that, we have that Uranus Venus square with these two decans, okay, so we have the passing from one reality to the next. And then Uranus is going to be in the six of pentacles decan, which is related to rhythms, routines, showing up consistently; it's also associated with generosity and abundance and generous sharing with others. But mostly, the vibe with this deck into me is, and this is where my moon is.

So I'll check back when the square happens, but it's basically saying, all right, I need to do things in a completely new material fashion, I need to completely rearrange my business might the way that I organize my time and my day. I really think that the gist of this enclosure is us saying what we're doing isn't working. We have too many options, too many things. We need to pare it down so that we can finally move forward into the next stage of our evolution; I guess you could call it.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, that's brilliant. You know, I asked the I-Ching. After we got off our call and I was preparing this talk, I asked the I-Ching. What should we be on the lookout for? Or what should we learn, or what's the advice or wisdom during Venus's enclosure, or even if it's not an enclosure, just this period of time, where Venus is going through some pretty intense aspects, especially even the square to Uranus. And interestingly, I got hexagram number 19. Spencer got what we got earlier today when we were talking. I thought that was fascinating. In particular, the third line was changing.

Spencer
And same line, same line changing.

Adam Elenbaas
Exactly. Isn't that crazy? That's great. So one of the so I want to show you what the third line reads in my translation. Aggressive action meets inflexible resistance. If regret leads to a softer approach, there will be no irreparable damage. This is interesting to me because your translation that we just talked about on your show was a little bit different. But it largely said the approach that you have to something you desire or something you want or something you're trying to get done is going to meet with some kind of no or it doesn't work somehow. It might not be the right approach.

But if in reflecting upon why something isn't working, you know, if you can reflect on it and be kind of humble about it, then it's as though if you find a little different approach, then suddenly the way opens And yeah, I think that it's, it's a way of being like, you might have done something wrong, or you might not have taken the right approach. Or you might be realizing that something isn't working. But that can be a very liberating thing if you can reflect openly and honestly about it and not get too, I don't know, don't get morose, don't get too caught up in it. And then it's as though there's some kind of refining or revisionary effect that then grants you some kind of freedom that feels right in line with what the deck of cards and story was saying as well.

Spencer
Think of how fixed those two signs are, Aquarius and Taurus, where you want been wanting to do something a certain way both idealistically and physically. And I'll tell you, I have the moon at 15 degrees of Taurus, right on my midheaven. And I've been thinking a lot about how to restructure my business, my readings, my time because, you know, I think that I've been putting a lot of energy into things, and I'm trying to reevaluate if it's the most efficient use of my time, because I tend to this is the Mars Gemini, part of that is I tended to be more as more type of person with the details. And, you know, something that we learned in your class was economy of craft. And that was, that was always something a little bit of our, our only real, you know, tension sometimes is that sometimes I had like this, like, I get so many details and you're like, No, nobody wheels.

Adam Elenbaas 46:34
But what I've got decans, I've been talking about decans,

Spencer
yes, it's beautiful, my friend. I'm super excited about that journey. And I think it's going to bring a lot of insight and clarity to certain things that could be fairly ambiguous. My journey with the decans has been really, really enlightening. I'm really in gratitude and in debt to people like Austin Copic and T Susan Chang, who've done a lot of that heavy lifting before I went on my journey. So but I think that what I'm learning is that throughout this, I think what that I-ching now it's making sense to me now; I think that it's all about essence versus form, isn't it, where the essence of what we have to offer is, is still if it's pure if it's in alignment with our authenticity. So like, for example, when I have a reading, sometimes what I will do is I will go way overtime on my reading because I've prepared like three pages of notes that I cannot possibly get to in the reading. And I think that what this enclosure is saying is, You know what, your presence is enough, your the irregular space that you create is enough, you don't have to cover every single pathway. You don't have to try to do everything you are enough in. And I think that that's the main message I think that comes through with me in this is your sincerity, your essence, can get you to the same place without all of the mental machinations that we all often feel like we have to go through to either provide value, which is a Venus type of thing to be worthy of receiving resources, or something of that nature or be worthy of love. I think that's another thing that we could see too is oftentimes we feel like we carry a huge heavy burden of responsibility when we're in relationships. And I think that might be the Venus-Pluto conjunction to is like, really, what burdens are you carrying in your relationships? And do you really have to carry those, and what are your agreements with your partners as far as you know, the distribution of responsibility, right? And sometimes just allowing yourself to be is enough, and I think that I don't know, that's just that's coming through that frequency is coming through thinking about this.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, yeah. It's, it's interesting. It's an interesting way of thinking about Venus, and I think the I-Ching hexagram brings up aggressive action meets inflexible resistance. If regret leads to a softer approach, there will be no irreparable damage when I think about Venus in going through Aquarius, going through the trine to Mars, the enclosure, the square to Uranus, the eventual conjunction with Saturn in an Air sign like that. You know, we don't always think about Venus as being dogmatic. It's not a planet you usually think of like that. But Venus can be dogmatic about what she, let's say she wants, like, what does Venus desire or what is Venus is ideal. Something that I'm attracted to, something I want. It's something the way I want to appear to other people, all the Venutian things.

And it says, though, it's like you might have to make some kind of adjustment to what you're expecting or attached to or hoping for or desiring. Like you said, there's maybe a split between essence and form, something like that; what I like about this is that this journey for Venus seems more flexible than, say, the enclosure of July 21. There's more of a sense of like, as the I-ching says, if, if you in realizing that something isn't working, or you can't have something, or if that leads to some kind of reform or an appropriate adjustment, or even like, if you made a mistake if you have a degree of insight and some healthy regret, then all of a sudden the way opens. And there's this sense of transformation that comes through. And I think that's also reflected by the fact that right after Venus conjoin Saturn, she goes into her exultation. There's some good fortune that comes through this somehow,

Spencer
you know, something that's coming up, as you're describing that, is that this is happening, this enclosure is in air signs. And another author I really liked her name is Joy Usher. She wrote these books called The Tiny Universe, she's an Australian astrologer, and she talks about Aquarius and Saturn, in particular as the glass ceiling, which is a concept of like, sometimes, our ideals and our thoughts become limiting. And I feel like this is a way to break out of limiting thoughts that structure our lives, right? And say, You know what, maybe this narrative that I've been completely constructing my life around isn't bringing me joy or satisfaction, and I need to do it a completely different way. Because at the end of that malefic enclosure, you're in a school and turn direct in, like literally the day after, and Taurus Uranus turns direct at 14 degrees of Taurus, and it says, You don't have to do it that way. Why do you believe that? You did it because it was your duty; it was your responsibility. And oftentimes, the prisons that we make for ourselves aren't can be our own in our own minds. Right.

Adam Elenbaas
Right. Right. So Venus, as you were, as you were just alluding to their moves into the first deck and of Pisces, and I was just looking this up, and I wonder if you could speak to what the transition might be like for Venus from the last deck in of Aquarius into the first deck and of Pisces at the end of this whole process. Could you say something about that?

Spencer
Sure. So we have the eight of cups card here, which is a card of leaving behind material success on one on the one hand, but also trying to go within to be able to find your why or your meaning or your purpose. It's a Saturn-ruled deck. And so you might feel an initial sense of dissatisfaction. When Venus first moves into Pisces, you're saying this is not working this story, this narrative; I need to go out and find something that actually is meaningful and purposeful and animating. I think that's really the journey of Pisces is saying how can you go into your internal mythmaking, create co-creative energy and figure out how to work with divine energies to find peace and satisfaction because I think that that that card moves into the next card is called satisfaction in the nine of cups where, you know, we're like, this is enough. It's different than the Virgo energy. We're like, let's constantly refine, let's constantly refine. It's like, no, I guess I'm enough just how I am. And I think Venus in Pisces, in its exultation, is much; it's obvious it's emotional. But it is more. It's I think it's universal to that. I think the real gift of Venus and Pisces is compassion. And I think if you're, you're learning how to connect, not with just your partner. But with source, you know, I think we're going through with this is like you get out of your mind and you get into your heart. And I think that this Venus enclosure period is going to help us to move from the head to the heart.

Adam Elenbaas
That's a great way of putting it; I love that summary. And the just the move from almost like ideological, mental, or strategic bind that Venus has to, like, figure out and solve. But then the bomb afterward is like, Let's move now; let's move from that into a relatively undifferentiated space. That's more healing and immersive, somehow. At least, that's what I was hearing from what you were saying. So yeah, I like that. That's really beautiful. I don't want to take up too much more time. We're almost at an hour. I'm wondering if there's anything any other last insights or thoughts that you have about Venus's journey between now in late January that we haven't covered already?

Spencer
I think that it's important to see every ending as a beginning. I think that that's really part of this cycle. I do think that the venous side or in conjunction could lead to a pretty significant ending and untying of something that you've maybe tried to keep afloat for so long but wasn't truly making you happy. And I think that coming to terms with that and accepting that is going to liberate that energy to be able to find a new form. And I think that even if something ends, your connection with spirit with the divine is, is still going to be there and will carry you through maybe some of the, you know, some of the sadness that might come up with, you know when we see forms that are passing through or passing on or something of that nature.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, that's, that's a great way of putting it. I'll never forget one of the first times that I saw like a, was like learning astrology and was looking at this woman's chart, and Venus was about to conjoin Saturn in her 10th house. And she literally left her job on that day after a long time of contemplation. So I'm not saying that that's what's going to happen, but it does strike me I think it's important that we understand whatever Venus is going through; she's reaching some kind of conclusion when she hits Saturn around the new moon and that the fact that it's also a new beginning like you said, it's coming right after a new moon.

Spencer
I think that's important. So in, this might be the process that we have to go through to really unleash the power of Jupiter in Aries, to write potentially, to say, I'm really ready for that new start; I had to tie up these loose ends, I had to come to terms with the version of myself or my relationships that is no longer reflective of the present. And then I think that Venus is going to harmonize and make that partying smooth; I think that it is a really, it's going to just make it a, I don't know, conscious uncoupling. And I don't think that not everybody's relationship is going to end. You could talk about conscious uncoupling just from an ideal from the job, like you're saying, or from a limiting thought, right? But I think that Venus is really going to smooth that process out and make it really something that's very, I don't know, you'll feel ecstatic afterwards.

Adam Elenbaas
Yeah, places. Yeah, that's a great way of putting it. I really think that's a nice way to put a bow on it. Perfect. Well, I am. Yeah, just really thankful that you could come on today, Spencer. I'm going to point everybody to if you want to study with Spencer, learn more from him about astrology, and hear more of his takes on the daily astrology and so forth of the monthly astrology. His YouTube is Spencer Michaud astrology, and his Instagram is Spencer Michaud. So I just want to thank you for being here and taking the time to help me plug the Kickstarter, really appreciate it. On that note, I want to remind everybody that the Kickstarter is today and tomorrow; that's all we have left. So we're gonna see if we can get these last. Whatever, it was 350 or some backers that we still need. You can find the link in the description of this video or the comments section, or you can find it on my website nightlightastrology.com.

Click on the link that says Kickstarter 2023. And when you go there, you can choose a reward when you donate; every little donation helps us reach our goal. And don't forget that all of my programs are 50% off; if you bundle them together, they're even more, and there are even more savings. So be sure to take advantage of that before midnight on New Year's Eve. And thank you to everybody again who's already donated once more Spencer; thank you so much for being here today. Really appreciate it.

Spencer
All right, take care, friend.

Adam Elenbaas
Alright, see ya.