Crimes of Passion: Top Ten Themes for Venus in Aries Square Pluto in Capricorn

Transcript:

Hey everyone, this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology. Happy Monday, everybody. Today we're going to take a look at arguably the biggest transit of the week, which is Venus moving into a square with Pluto.

So Venus is in Aries, a place that is a little complicated for Venus. We'll talk about that. Pluto is, of course, in Capricorn. So you're going to see Venus move through the square to Capricorn, as Venus is also culminating in the late degrees of Aries. That's also important. And then Venus makes her shift into Taurus, where her dignity improves greatly by the weekend. So it's kind of it's a pretty cathartic moment for Venus this week. And that's what we're going to start off the week talking about; there are other transits happening this week as well that we'll be looking at; I think we will sneak in a grabbed episode of storytelling. And probably later in the week, closer to the 27th or maybe on the 27th. We will be looking at the horoscopes for Venus square to Pluto as well. So I'll make sure to take those for the 12 signs and give you a sense of where that might be landing in your birth chart.

So I am really excited to be looking at this transit this week, although I will tell you this is one of the transits that historically I have found to be a very challenging one, and so my knees are knocking a little bit. But I really try not to get fearful about transits like; it's easier said than done. If you know enough, you know, astrology and you know that it's not like everything's just roses all the time with these transits, but this transit is, here we can see Venus in the sign of Aries and starting within about five degrees right now as I'm making this to the square of Pluto. Now, as of Monday, the day this is being published, May 23, you'll be seeing Venus pulled up within about four degrees; the engagement range for this transit is going to be more like May 24 to 28th. So Venus is squaring Pluto from Aries to Capricorn May 24. Through the 28th, if you're going to use that three-degree range that ancient astrologers like to use, called an engagement range, the actual transit perfects on the 27th. So if we take this forward to Friday of this week, by the end of the week, Venus is passing through the square, but let me tell you right now, you will be feeling this transit as the week progresses. So we're getting out in front of it today and giving you a heads up because, you know, by tomorrow, Venus is within that three-degree range. And that's when you know, the burners are on, and things are really cooking.

So what we're going to do today is, you know, as you guys know, I love to talk about my list of 10 things to watch for. I love making these lists because there are always so many things. So one of the challenges of making a list. And honestly, if you, if you guys want a really great way to practice and develop your astrological eye, make lists like this because when you have to try to capture as many themes as possible, when you know, you could make a list of like 100 themes, and you have to find ten things that sort of capture 50 things. Making a list is a really if you're developing as a practitioner of astrology, or you're starting a YouTube channel or anything like that; this has been one of my practices that I have had for eight, nine years of daily writing lists like this and trying to capture the archetypal essence in like ten different ways or five different ways or three; usually, I'm a three, five and ten guy, like you'll see my titles are always three, five or ten things to watch for. And sometimes that usually when I'm like down to three, it means that we're focusing on a very specific sort of, we're meditating in a particular way, we've got a very particular angle that we're turning the jewel five is maybe a little bit, you know, a little bit broader. When you get to ten, it's like, okay, we're really trying to just keep turning the jewel so that you get a feeling for what's coming. And you really have a broad vision of the archetypal field that we're interacting with this week. So ten things to watch for; oh, and by popular demand, I'm no longer using the scrolling feature at the bottom because apparently, it's really tough on some people's eyes, or even, God forbid, I don't, I just don't want people to get sick or, you know, some people actually can have seizures, and I was not even thinking about that. I thought, oh, it kinda looks fun to have. Because when I do that, you can have like the ten things to watch for up here. And then you can have the list streaming, but I don't know; it's kind of cheesy. I'm not sure if I like it anyway, so thank you for your feedback, and I hope you'll appreciate this.

So ten things to watch for with Venus square to Pluto. But first, we need to say something about the context. Venus is in Aries, a hot Cardinal fire sign, the first sign of zodiacal spring, Don't take it literally; take it symbolically, And the place that Venus was said to be in her exile, it's a planetary contrariety between Venus and Mars. So if you take Venus and put it in a Mars-ruled sign or vice versa, you have the Venus-Mars tension heightened. It's sort of like if you've ever been around a Mars and Taurus person, despite the desire to be peaceful and stable and sensual and enjoyable and peaceful. They're kind of like they can be like a bull in a china shop. And I'm just teasing because I have, you know, I have people in my life who have Mars, and in Taurus, so I never tried to rip on anyone or anything because there's plenty to rip on in my own chart if we want to go down the stereotype path but Mars and Taurus kind of like a bull in a china shop at times. I want to be peaceful, but I'm just I'm so angry or whatever. So the same thing with Venus in Aries. You know Venus in Aries can be like, sometimes I joke that Venus in Aries is like Sporty Spice. Venus in Aries, my wife, has Venus in Aries in her 10th house. And you know, she owned and first managed and helped start a yoga studio and then managed and owned her own worked in many yoga studios and also worked in gyms teaching yoga. So, you know, Venus in Aries, sometimes you're gonna see that mix of like, Oh, here's, you know, my wife's case Venus in Aries. She works with tons of women, but in a sort of athletic, take care of your body type of way or in that kind of environment. She's entrepreneurial, but she does things that are all about nature and plants and very beautiful feminine things. But there's this real she's got a real like entrepreneurial like edge to that you have to be we have to be kind of executive and so forth. And, you know, there's not just a few women who have probably experienced living with Venus in Aries and being called intense or some unfortunate stereotype, so we definitely don't want to hate on Venus in Aries.

However, for most of us, Venus in Aries will present as the tension between Venus and Mars, and Venus is trying to be Venus, but also having to it's like three altering itself through the lens of this youthful, hot, intense, fiery Mars-ruled sign. It's a very masculine place for Venus to hang out. And we can work that tension in a million different ways and very productively, but it's a tension, and you have to be aware of it. That's all the dignity is really pointing us to. More often than not, there will be struggles associated with Venus trying to hold the Mars energy, as opposed to, say, Venus in Taurus, where it's just Venus is in an environment where there's not that conflict of planetary dynamics. So that's, that's what we mean when we say Venus is in her exile.

For example, many women growing up with Venus in Aries, and I've talked to hundreds and hundreds of people in my practice, of course, who you know have had Venus in Aries men, women, every you know, every orientation you can imagine. And what is constantly said is, you know, I'm, I'm like a peaceful person, but people think I'm very intense, or, I'm, you know, can be Venus in Scorpio a little bit similar. Okay, so that's why Venus in Aries is a bit challenging. Now more so than any other degrees within the sign of Aries. When planets get toward those late degrees, ancient astrologers said that those late degrees tended to be more difficult because the pattern sort of that was placed on signs philosophically was like creation, maintenance, destruction, just like in nature, you got to creative phase, you've got to maintain what's been created phase and you've got an entropy phase. So the last part of the signs tends toward entropies, you could say energetically or in what it signifies. So Venus at the end of the sign, the little intense, little intense, because it's also in Mars, a sign a little intense because it's also going to square Pluto. Pluto, of course, is associated with Hades, God of the Underworld, and kind of like a, like a weird, parallel-twin brother to Zeus. People don't recognize that very often. But Pluto is sort of like the Zeus of the underworld. So it's like the Jupiter of the underworld. So Pluto has a keen sense of justice, though it is subterranean, and often very mysterious and healing and helpful, but often harrowing and dark. Pluto is empowering and points to abundance. The name Pluto means riches. Jupiter is associated with abundance, and so is Pluto, but Pluto, Hades abundance is often mixed up in power and greed in complicated ways, for example, or in things that you know come from the rich underworld. So that the kind of fertile lifegiving energies associated with Pluto are often paired with death, death, and rebirth, or something like that, so it's a very, it's a lifegiving planet. But it's also one that tends to be complicated in the way that it delivers like abundance is associated with justice. The underworld, in general, is associated with justice as in the allotment of the soul in death and rebirth. But it's a subterranean, mysterious place that's not like the civic, social justice of being alive, but the justice of the underworld in the spiritual dimension or something like that. So they're very interesting parallels between Zeus, Jupiter, and Pluto. But when you get Venus in the square with Pluto, that's going to intensify it very deeply. Because Venus is culminating in a sign that some can be tense for Venus, and then you're adding in Pluto. So that's why this is sort of the transit of the week; it's very fast, it moves along very quickly, it perfects May 27, by the 28th. That's moving into, into Taurus, where it's then in its own dignity, and you're going to see Venus sort of emerging from a harrowing dynamic this week into a much brighter space. So that's kind of nice.

In the meantime, here are ten things to watch for that really get to the archetypal heart of this transit, and in my opinion, one, and I put this at the beginning because, you know, it's kind of like the most dramatic and sort of fun one to talk about. Even though it's really dark crimes of passion, I would not be surprised at all to find that you have in the news this week you have and I noticed is really dark and terrible. I don't mean to like call it into creation or something like that, but it's like, Oh, well, I found out my lover was cheating, so I killed them both and then killed myself. That's it's a that's very Venus in Aries square to Pluto and Capricorn. Like, the potential for real things that are done very, like eruptions of intense violence or passionate intensity that are wrapped up in love and relationships and our appearance and being offended by something and sort of blowing up in some kind of, you know, a crime of passion. Another crime of passion could be very mundane. It could be like crossing a boundary you shouldn't have crossed by saying something you shouldn't have said whatever, but be aware of the potential if offended or for something to come up that puts you into a mode of feeling like vindictive and potentially getting into some trouble because of this kind of unbridled, passionate fury of the Goddess. That's a real thing. It's a real, it is a real wrath that Venus-Pluto can sort of embody, so I'm just telling everyone to be careful about it.

Okay, number two is secrets and scandals in love. It's funny how many times you will find out during a Venus-Pluto transit. I've seen this more times than I can count in my astrological practice that someone's getting Pluto transiting their natal Venus, and there will be an affair that they find out about, or there will be hidden something hidden about the other person that they're not saying or telling you. And maybe it's not even that big of a deal. But you can tell they're holding something in or holding something back, and then it comes up, and it's healing perhaps, but there it is. You have to deal with it first. So I'm going to talk about the healing part later. But number two here is just the idea of scandalous things happening around love sex women, anything Venusian but then also secrets or things that are hidden in the unconscious kind of erupting upwards so you can see them and potentially being somewhat challenging to deal with but maybe a necessary part of the growth or evolution of a relationship.

Three would be intense eroticism. Look, Venus and Pluto. This is a, I mean like you could just have a week where you're just like bunnies all week. Like Venus-Pluto is just like Marvin Gaye's playing, and there's a kind of like, are we going to kill each other? Are we going to dance, you know? So watch for the intense neuroticism this week.

Number four would be an underworld aesthetic, very similar in terms of there being an appreciation aesthetically for darkness for things that are complicated and mysterious, Tangled, difficult, and provocative. So any, anyway in which Venus, whether it's in dress or clothes, or speech or art or culture, is expressing something dark or hidden or complex. That could be very much the kind of Venus-Pluto dynamic.

You could also see number five, something Venus in the square to Pluto from those late degrees of Venus is late degrees of Aries is provocative and alluring, so provocative as in you know, oh, there's a social standard that says something ought to look this way or act this way or behave this way. All things that Venus rules are pleasant, agreeable, and harmonious. Venus is an Aries square to Pluto. It's like, I'm going to, you know, pee in the wishing pool and in the town Plaza.

Alright, anyway, I have no idea where that example came from. But Venus square Pluto is, you know, you know the person at the restaurant who's like, sure. You're talking a little loud. Oh, am I talking loud? You know? Well, I'll talk loud. So, but then at the same time, Venus-Pluto is provocative and alluring.

I, for example, last night, I stumbled; I was watching a movie that just came out by; I think his name was Robert Eggers. It's called the Northmen. And I really liked his movie, The Lighthouse, because it was such a phenomenal capturing of archetypes and mythology, and it was very dark but super Promethean. It was I just I couldn't believe what a haunting, beautiful like almost like Jungian movie The Lighthouse was. So I was like, Well, I'm gonna watch his new movie, The Northmen. Well, I ended up falling asleep because I was really tired. But I got so far as to see a scene where Bjork made an appearance, and I was like, Oh, I was like, Bjork is so because I was thinking about my talk. And you know, think putting notes together in my head knows, like, Venus via Bjork is very Venus, Pluto, she's got something I haven't looked at her chart for a while. So maybe someone out there could tell us what Venus is up to in our charter where we see the signature, maybe what Pluto is doing or something. But, man, if you want to talk about that provocative and alluring quality, so I after that, I actually paused the movie, and I flipped through my phone, and I started looking on YouTube at interviews with Bjork. And like, she's crazy and in the best way, in the most interesting, fun, artistic, imaginative, quirky, alluring, but provocative way. So I mean, Bjork is my example for you, but that's just because I'm a big fan of the best concert I ever saw in my entire life was, a Bjork concert to this day, even though I'm not like the world's biggest Bjork fan. Hearing her sing is weird. It's like visiting another planet in person. Anyway, I don't know if anyone has seen Bjork performed or not. And if New York is like a big sticking point for you today, then Peace be with you.

But anyway, number six is jealous, resentful, bitter, and backstabbing. Here's the thing. Venus doesn't fight in the same way that Mars fight. It's in Venus is in a Mars-ruled sign, so it's possible Venus is going to fight. So what is Venus fighting look like? Venus is more like Mars goes directly at something. Right? It's more like taking a sword and stabbing someone. Venus is, how can you put it, Venus is going to be up more plotting, clever, cunning, and much more, Like if I had to if I didn't think of Mars, you think of like, like a lion or something just like aggressive and blunt. When I think of Venus in terms of like attack mode, I think more of like the world's most beautiful serpent. And I know, that's kind of stereotypical. I don't mean to say it's not, don't take it too seriously. But like, you have always had to be careful with Venus-Pluto, of the way in which something can explode. Like in a workplace environment. Someone does something behind your back. It's very Venus-Pluto, but they do something behind your back because maybe you did something to them that they didn't like and they never told you, and then they let it fester. And then, all of a sudden, there's this very deceptive and sort of backstabbing type of thing. So anything that is spurred on gets into fighting and conflict that is due to jealousy, resentfulness, bitterness, backstabbing, gossip, trying to undermine someone or something. Now, the reason that Venus isn't always like this it's the Venus-Pluto combination that tends to make it like that, plus the Venus-Mars combination. I don't particularly think that Venus is like this in general. So I'm just it's this is particular to the Venus-Mars combination and the Venus-Pluto combination.

I once heard, and I don't remember where I heard this, but it was like a podcast or something. And it talked about like, you know, what, like, Where does the stereotype come from that women are more like underhanded in the way that they fight. It was like; it wasn't. It was like an evolutionary biologist or something like that. And it was a woman. And she was talking about, and she was saying like, Oh, well, you know, when, you know, early on, if, if, and I don't know if any of this is true, guys. So please just take it with a grain of salt. And I'd love to hear your opinion if you think this is true or not. But she said something like, Well, you know, early on, like if men were more domineering and powerfully powerful physically, which would probably be true, you know, more often than not, then like not always, if I remember what she said correctly, then, you know, how do women adapt to defeating men if they need to, like, what are the strategies that you use? And she was like, well, it's going to be more cunning. And so that's where that stereotypes comes from, and I was; that was kind of an interesting explanation. And again, we're in, like, a major stereotype category here. So please don't hate me.

I'm just also we want to know why is it that we, you know, when Venus is in Aries and square to Pluto, that you have these things, I think it's really less to do with Venus and more to do with the fact that it's in a Mars-ruled sign and square to Pluto that you get the really complicated dynamics of like, but also let's be real like there's so many examples in ancient mythology of destroyer goddesses. And there's nothing like passive about those Goddesses, right? There's nothing like, it's not like, oh, well, I have to sneak around because I'm not strong enough. I'm sure. You know, it's not like Kali is saying that, right. So anyway, food for thought. Jealousy, resentfulness, bitterness, you know, in infused into situations that could blow up and lead to really intense conflicts.

Number seven is an appearance that hides the darkness. So the anything that you're like, oh, let's make it look nice. But on the inside, there's something really corrupt or dark or scandalous. Venus-Pluto will be, you know, let's, let's make it look. You know, I always remember there was a comedian a long time ago that I used to listen to when I was in like college. His name was Dane Cook. I don't know if you guys remember him. He was popular for a minute, a long time ago. I haven't listened to him in years. I remember he had this joke where he was talking about how you know, in New York City, there were people like a spray painting, Rusty buildings, make it look nice. And he was like, Who do you think you're fooling? Yeah, he's like, we can you paint rust, whatever color you want. It's still rust. And anyway, the whole set, the whole sequence was a lot funnier than I'm probably remembering. But anything that where you're trying to make something look good, or you're trying to make sure that people all feel good about something, you know, but on the inside, like and then I think this is why for example, a lot of people are really turned off by the media and politics and advertising. Because it's all like, Oh, well, that's just covering over greed, or that's just covering over some political agenda, or you know, so we have a nose for this stuff, but Venus-Pluto tends to be the combination where You will; you will often see, you know, people trying to make something look good or look nice, appearance-wise or on some superficial level despite it may be being rotten to the core. That's something always, and you have to watch for that in yourself, too, because it can be such a gauge when you feel the pressure to make something look a certain way with this transit, and then you're like, wait a second, that's just not real. That's not who I am. That's not authentic, you know?

Anyway, number eight is healing, purging, and cleansing around love and sexuality. So I've seen Pluto Venus transits when people transition when people come out when people are going through a period of time where they're working through sexual trauma. I've also seen Venus-Pluto come up when people are, you know, dealing with sexual violence or sexual assault. It's it can be a dark transit like that as well. So, the upside of this transit is the potential is always there for there to be healing, purging, and cleansing around love around, relationships around sexuality; sometimes, it's a little heavy before it's lighter. But that is kind of one of the upsides of this transit is it can be very healing and transformative in a very positive way.

I think also about the themes and topics of women's violence, feminism, and power. You know, there's a lot of debate going on in the United States right now around abortion laws and the right to have a choice or what the government should or shouldn't be allowed to do or say about a woman's choice. You know, so this debate is sort of raging as Venus is in Aries, as it started really, as Venus entered Aries. And that is a really appropriate symbolism for the sort of anger and activism that you see, as well as the nature of the debates and political gamesmanship that's going on all around a Venusian topic, could that all come to a head somehow, I think that's possible. I am not the person really, you know, as a, like a straight white man sitting here to be like, you know, acting like I know a lot about these subjects, but I can tell you that they will come up that these are the kinds of topics that will arise, because I've seen it enough to believe that it's true. So, but I defer to all of you who have, you know, more experience and expertise in these matters than I do to spot it and name it and identify and work with the archetype. And maybe in the comment section, also, you know, show us what you're seeing this week or how you're experiencing it. In particular, I'm much more aware of these things now. And I feel like I'm much more curious. And I ask a lot more questions in my wife, for example, raising two girls, right, that's been like, wow, this
is like really eye-opening, it's, for me, it's been one of the most acute times in my life, where I've realized, you know, all that I don't know, it's like, you don't know what you don't know kind of thing. And raising two girls, I'm like, Just asking so many more questions and learning so much more about my wife about what it's like to live in, and with a woman's body and perspective. And, you know, it's been, I thankfully have just a really, I think, a really enlightened wife too.

So anyway, these topics can come up in really dynamic ways. And watch for them, watch for the the the women in your life who are trying to speak and say something or the sisters in your life who are trying to speak or say something, watch for your friends who are going through a sexual, you know, reorientation of their sexual identity, or a deepening of their sexual lives or sexual healing or who are going through something that's challenging and be there for them this week, because this is the week where, you know, sometimes the heat gets turned way up again, on the burner, and people are really going through something all chemically around, you know, who they are and what they're trying to get clear or feel safe around their sexual nature. So it's just something to be aware of.

I would say, for example, that when, when this transit comes through, I guarantee you this week, my client practice for probably the next week or so, I will have people coming in and talking about, you know, choices they have to make around relationships, love sexual identity, the choices they have to make about being a mom and how much to work versus how much to be identified as a mother or pursue their own dreams. I will see people coming in and talking about, you know, troubles with a domineering person in a relationship or something like that. So, you know, it's a good week to also get ready to hold space for people around you who might be going through something that's kind of intense.

Okay, so number 10 is a transformation of desires. I think this one, you know, is the one that sort of the broadest to end with. Venus, broadly speaking, has to do with what we want or what we desire, what we find beautiful For appealing or attractive, what we, what attracts us whether it's sensual or you know, relational or professional, whatever, it's, it's that thing that that object of beauty that we want to yoke ourselves to or relate with, or it can be a food that you want to taste. I mean, it's whatever appeals to us as beautiful an object of desire. Well, when Venus goes through the square to Pluto, sometimes we start to understand that we have healthy desires that are lifegiving, life supportive, that help us to become more compassionate, sensitive, patient people that develop our spiritual lives. And then we have certain desires that are, you know, that are inherently selfish, that might be destructive to our mind or body. Venus square Pluto is a great way of starting and is a great transit for starting to understand the difference. Okay, this is a healthy desire. This is something that's really not taking me in the right direction. What happens in relationships, too. I can't tell you how many times Pluto will square Venus in someone's chart and will come in and be like, I realize that there's something I keep attracting or I am attracted to in another person. And it's really not healthy for me, and I'm starting to become aware of it. So all of those things can come up. All right, well, that is what I have for today.

I hope that this has been a useful meditation for all of you to get a feel for this. I'd also love to hear from all of you and your own expertise on Venus in Aries. What is it like living with it? Do you have Venus in Aries? I love reading what people say. I don't always comment. I usually, you know, go through and like and love things, and that strike me in a particular way. But I read the comments. And one of the things that I love seeing in the comments is when someone adds something I've never heard or thought of before about living with a transit or a planet that I just haven't lived with or don't know much about. I always appreciate your input, and if you have a story to tell, you can always share that story in the comment section by using the hashtag grabbed if you have a transit story to share, like oh Venus entered Aries or Venus square Pluto, this week brought about Voila, the story. Please do share that or email us if you don't want to share in the comment section grabbed at nightlight astrology.com. We will be doing a storytelling episode. This week. I have one day set aside. I'm not positive which day, but we will be finally catching up with that this week. So it'll be good to read what you guys have to say about this transit as well.

That's what I've got for today. I hope you guys have a good one, and I'm looking forward to breaking down more stuff as the week goes on. Take it easy, everyone.