Venus in Aquarius Opposing Mars Retrograde in Leo: Divine Lessons and Insights

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology. Today we're going to take a look at Venus and Mars opposing one another—Venus in Aquarius and Mars Retrograde in Leo. We'll reflect on this opposition from a deeper philosophical point of view.

Sometimes, I like to cover the transits from the standpoint of what we may see in the mundane world, what kinds of themes and topics may manifest in our lives. This is super important because we want to be able to notice the planets in our experience. But we also want to have ways of reflecting upon their presence philosophically and spiritually.

So today, we're going to explore the oppositional tension between Mars and Venus. This is an ancient archetypal opposition, as they rule signs opposite to one another: Taurus, Scorpio, Aries, and Libra. We're going to talk about that archetypal tension and how spiritual traditions have encouraged us to reflect upon its existence for thousands of years around the world, including in the Hellenistic astrological tradition.

I hope you enjoy this deeper reflection on the opposition between Venus and Mars. We'll also take a very practical look at their opposition this week as well. So, you'll have a little bit of both. Anyway, that’s our agenda for today.

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Okay, on that note, let’s take a look at Mars and Venus today.

All right, let's get into it. We are going to be taking a look at Venus's opposition to Mars. First, I'm going to show it to you on the real-time clock so that you can get a feel for the timing of the transit. Then, we are going to unpack some lessons and insights for this Mars-Venus opposition that run a little bit deeper than a simple list of delineations, which, by the way, there's absolutely nothing wrong with.

Tomorrow, we will be unpacking some of those delineations a little bit more because I think it's good to cover transits like this from several different angles. We can have the kind of mundane level at which we talk about the kinds of things you might see in a more literal sense—what may manifest, what may show itself. Then, there are questions about where to place these experiences as reflective beings who are interacting with these events on the level of archetypes and symbolism, philosophy, and spirituality. So that's what we're going to do today.

Now, first, let's take a look at the transit. You can see right here that we have Venus opposing Mars Retrograde. This Mars Retrograde has been in effect for just a few days, but it's still at that sixth degree. What we're going to see here is that between today and tomorrow, that aspect will perfect. So it's very close tomorrow, which is why we're still going to have a day to reflect on it. It will very much be at play for both today and tomorrow, and even into the weekend.

Let's look at the overall timeline. If I back this up just a little bit, you'll see that it's actually about four in the morning, Central Time USA tomorrow, Thursday, December 12, that the opposition is perfect. If I let me just go by, let's get down to the minute here, we'll see that Venus is coming to 5:58. This is around 4:45 am Central time, 5:45 am Eastern. I guess that would be about 2:45 am Pacific in the United States.

Anyhow, so that opposition is forming today and tomorrow. Now, if we allow this a little bit more space in time, let's—oops, let's go to—let's draw this out just a little bit more. Let's give it three degrees of separation. That three-degree range of separation doesn't fully occur until Saturday afternoon. From now, you could have easily been feeling this since the start of the week, which is why we started the week with a little bit of coverage on the week ahead, including it. We've been building up to this, and we did some horoscopes last week. So we've been thinking about this for a while, but it is in effect now. Today and tomorrow are the intense part of the perfecting aspect, and then the engagement range will finish by Saturday.

So, within that three degrees of separation, the fruit is on the tree and sort of falling off. That's what I would recommend watching for. In terms of the timeline for this one, it takes us from today, Wednesday, December 11, through Saturday, December 14. The three-degree engagement range started really by Monday, so it stretches from Monday through Saturday of this week.

Okay, now tomorrow, like I said, I'm going to give you that list of what to watch for, things we're all used to. We've talked enough about this in advance already, and I feel like I wanted to take some time today to give us some places to put these experiences in terms of spiritual and philosophical insights and reflections that run deeper than just what's going to happen. Where do I place these experiences, and how do I make sense of them? How do I make meaning from what is happening?

That's a different order of question in astrology, and one that is always just as important as the question of what will actually occur, or how do I see what's occurring in terms of the symbols or something like that. This is something that, in every astrological reading, plays a really important role within the delineation.

So, a client comes, for example, and says, "What's going to happen in the next year?" I may see a transit of Uranus to their natal Mars, and I think to myself, "Gosh, they're going to be emboldened, and they may have to break free from various structures, systems, or people that feel like they're antagonistic toward the individual's will." So I've got themes, topics, and a timeline that I know match the Mars-Uranus dynamic occurring in their chart.

But the second order of question is: where do I place such experiences in terms of my personal growth, my cultivation of consciousness, virtue, healing? Those are questions that are equally as important, if not more important, than the question of the themes, topics, and timelines. Astrology has always been meant to do both.

So today, I want to give us five lessons/insights for the Mars-Venus opposition that's occurring this week, given that obviously Mars is retrograde as well. I'm going to share these from five different sources. Today, we are going to look at five different traditional wisdom texts and see what different wisdom traditions have had to say about Mars and Venus.

But first, I need to offer you a little context for how I chose these texts and why. So, first of all, Venus and Mars. Venus is broadly considered the lesser benefic and Mars the lesser malefic. What did those words mean, really? Did ancient astrologers think that planets were good and bad, evil and benefic, like they sound—really prescriptive, narrow words? Not at all.

Basically, the view that ancient mystics who practiced astrology begins with is that of an interplay of light and dark. That is the basic stuff that constitutes the fabric of reality itself. What is reality? Reality is the tension, the interaction, the play, the drama of light and dark, and that the spiritual seeker will be polarized and torn apart by their struggle to manage, control, get rid of, deal with the play of light and dark in us, in our lives, in our minds, in our experiences—unless we come into a deeper understanding of the divine reality of light and dark and their interplay.

This takes many forms over many thousands of years, in many different traditions. So it's not like everyone says the exact same thing. I'm trying to reduce these ideas into some simple, perennial philosophical concepts that we can work with. These ideas are repeated across the five wisdom texts I've chosen, but when we think about Mars and Venus, we are placing the two planets into a category of oppositional tension that is fundamental to the way the entire language of ancient astrology is constructed.

From the way that dignity categories are established—rulers and detriments or exiles, exaltations and falls, the sun and the moon, the spirit and fortune distinction, the sect distinctions (like a day or nighttime chart), the diurnal and primary motion versus the secondary motion—the entire language is that of an interconnected series of opposites. Their tension, their creative tension, is the boiling cauldron of life in the material universe. These tensions are deeply philosophical, prior to their ever being used as symbols to reflect the kind of concrete manifestations of the metaphysical tensions in the material world.

In other words, what do Venus and Mars represent for ancient mystics, at the core of the philosophy? Venus represents harmony, and Mars represents strife. The two are a dyad that are absolutely inseparable, personified in the actual gods and goddesses of many different traditions and beings that we relate with—fields that we relate with, that we put on our altars in different traditions all around the world, and that we see at work in ourselves and in the universe itself, in the cosmos itself.

So, are strife and harmony inherently good or bad? Well, from a relative consensus-based reality, yeah. I mean, you and I would definitely describe strife, for most of us, as bad. People who cause injury to others, or the very presence of malicious and aggressive energies within ourselves or other people, we describe that functionally as bad. But we're all smart enough—and this is why people don't like the categories, understandably, maybe are rubbed the wrong way by the categories—we understand that there's also a role that strife plays.

For example, there's a lot of strife in anything that you have to push yourself to do—like hot yoga, weightlifting, running a marathon, developing skills that require hard work, persistence, and sacrifice, fighting or advocating, guarding and defending. These are all qualities that we recognize as sacred. We think of the image of a knight, you know, or a warrior goddess, and we think of the virtue of a protector.

So, we can see the good in the bad. And sometimes, if we flip it around, we can see the bad in the good. Harmony, pleasant things, enjoyment, sensuality, has a dark side, like greed, vanity, or lust, possessiveness. So, were ancient astrologers aware that Mars is not purely bad, and Venus is not purely good? Of course they were. They were not idiots. They came up with this language, not us. They were the ones who downloaded this language in the first place. And they saw, of course, there are nuances—just like the yin and the yang circle is black and white, but there's a little speck of black in the white, and a little speck of white in the black.

Ancient astrologers were very aware of the interpenetrating nature of archetypal opposites, where Mars can be good and Venus can be bad, and vice versa, in terms of our relative consensus experience of reality. Can Venus be a bummer? Yes. Can Mars be good? Yes. But broadly speaking, we have to have symbols within this language—just like we have certain rules of grammar, syntax, and diction—that allow for us to say certain things, generally speaking, about certain archetypes and symbols and the fields they represent metaphysically.

Mars represents strife, and Venus represents harmony. Now, these two principles can also play out in terms of, think about the house designations that they were given. Think about Venus being associated with the house of good fortune or good luck, and Mars being associated with the house of bad fortune or bad luck. There's also an experience we have where it's like, "This day has sucked." All this stuff came up that acted like it was thwarting me, and I felt like I had to persevere and work around things that felt like they were antagonizing me, that felt like they were out of my control. That's a strife experience, so no wonder Mars is associated with the sixth house, which was called Mala Fortuna, or bad fortune, bad luck. Venus is associated with good fortune.

I had a lovely day today. Things went well. I paid off my bills. I have a little extra money in the bank account.

Things are going nicely, you know, getting along with my spouse. We had date night, the kids were well-behaved, whatever. We go, "What a good lucky day." So, the ancients also observed, just like Venus and Mars, that at work and play, the interaction of opposites—good fortune, bad fortune, good luck, bad luck, good days, bad days, good stuff, bad stuff—is always at play. There is a mysterious way in which the two are woven together. These things have been noticed and pointed out by wisdom traditions all over the planet. Life is our experience of life, our relative experience, and how we place value judgments on it works along the lines of opposites: "My cup is full, my cup is empty," "The sun is up, the sun is down," "It's daytime, it's nighttime," "This felt good, this felt bad."

There is a mysterious interconnection between opposites, and this is fundamental to most mystical traditions. When Venus and Mars oppose one another, we have the mysterious way in which the forces of strife (Mars) and harmony (Venus) are at odds with one another. They have things to say about each other. They may offer feedback, criticism, or critique. There may also be, as with every kind of opposition, a mysterious union between the opposites, despite the tension that exists.

Most mystical traditions have also taught us, including modern depth psychology, that learning to hold the tension of the opposites is the secret to their mysterious conjunctions and oppositions. So, we have to remember that when Mars and Venus come through, there may be stuff around relationships or power struggles—manifestations we've talked about for a couple of weeks leading up to this transit. We'll return to those tomorrow because it's good to refresh ourselves on them.

However, as philosophers, mystics, and spiritual seekers, we can place the reality of these things into these philosophical entertainments. There's space in which we can understand and reflect upon these experiences. It is this kind of reflection that we seek, so that, as we walk through the experiences that we will inevitably have—where we will at times be hamstrung by the opposites, torn up by them, or caught in their push and pull—we also have the opportunity to reflect upon and create sacred space for what emerges.

If we're not doing astrology to help make our experiences sacred, then why are we doing it? Otherwise, the only other answer would be that we’re using astrology for our addictions and attachments to material things, like a celestial gossip column. So, let's turn to five wisdom traditions that have said something about the existence of harmony and strife as interconnected opposites dancing and playing their way out in reality, in our psyches, in our experiences. Let’s reflect on them.

Let's start with wisdom from the Tao. This is from the Jonathan Star translation of the Tao Te Ching, from Tartar Cornerstone editions. I love this little book. I've done a whole series on it on my channel. Here’s verse two:

"Everyone recognizes beauty only because of ugliness. Everyone recognizes virtue only because of sin. Life and death are born together, difficult and easy, long and short, high and low—these all exist together. Sound and silence blend as one; before and after arrive as one."

I'm not saying that, in the midst of a Venus-Mars debacle with another human being, we can step back and say, "Let me Lao-Tzu you" or use mystical mojo to skirt around the issue, pretending like it doesn’t exist or that we don’t have to walk through the fire of being alive in a time where strife and harmony are clearly opposed to one another. But how do I make sense of the appearance of this opposition? I place it in the wisdom of the sages, who say that light and dark go together. They come together as one, and if we study their relationship, we can grow wise.

I’m not saying I have that capacity in every exact space of my life, but this is why I practice astrology, and I'm sure this is why you like this channel. This is the kind of stuff I go to.

Let’s go on to the Hermetica, from Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, published by Tartar Cornerstone. I’ve read from this text in the past, too. Here it is:

"Look at matter filled full with life, and see a ton pulsating with all he contains. To know atoms being, contemplate him in thought; to see him with your eyes. Look at the exquisite order of the cosmos, the necessity which governs everything you perceive, the goodness of all that has been and all that is coming to be. Contemplate the cosmos as his ancient body, which is ever prime and new."

In the Hermetica, there is encouragement to contemplate the cycles of opposites that we see playing out in front of us. If we take them in as a kind of meditation, they reveal something of the nature of divinity. It’s hard to do this because, to do so, we have to do two things at once. We have to hold space for ourselves as human beings with a stake in material existence, while also seeing that experience as the play of the Divine. This is the path of Hermes: "As above, so below, as within, so without."

This is the path of astrology. This is what it’s here for.

Next, we turn to the Bhagavad Gita, one of my favorite wisdom texts. I spent a lot of time with this text when I practiced bhakti yoga. This is from the fourth chapter, 22nd verse:

"Content with whatever gain comes of its own accord and free from envy, the wise person is beyond the dualities of life, being equipoised in success and failure. They are not bound by their actions, even while performing all kinds of activities."

The Gita teaches that we perform activities on the field of Dharma—Kurukshetra—and can’t run from it. Yet, we can meditate within it. The opposites are present—Venus and Mars, harmony and strife, beauty and ugliness, virtue and vice, light and dark. Sometimes they flip-flop—what seems dark may actually be light and vice versa. We can’t be fooled by appearances.

When two planets are opposed, we have to study the perspective each has of the other, from each side of the opposition. As we do so with heartfelt curiosity and empathy, we come to hold that tension, and we are given a creative seed for growth as spiritual beings.

Number four comes from Heraclitus, another one of my favorite ancient authors. The poet was a fool who wanted no conflict among us, gods or people. Harmony needs low and high, as progeny needs man and woman. War, as father of all things and king, names few to serve as gods and makes the rest sleep, makes the rest slaves. Those men are free.

"The mind to think of the accord that strains against itself needs strength, as does the arm to string the bow or leer. From the strain of binding opposites comes harmony. The harmony past knowing sounds more deeply than the known."

Heraclitus compares the opposites to a sacred dance. The dance of life is one of dualities, and contemplation of the opposites is the path of spiritual enlightenment. We all have glimpses of this realization, whether we call it enlightenment or not. Astrology is one of the ways we do this, especially when Venus and Mars—goddess of harmony and god of strife—are in opposition.

Now, finally, I’ll read from Marcus Aurelius, the famous Stoic. Here’s a quote from his Meditations:

"The universe is change. Our life is what our thoughts make it. Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current. No sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away."

He also says, "He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe."

The Stoic tradition encourages us to see time and change in the material world—coming to be, passing away, and the constant fluctuations—as always moving along lines of opposites. When we have an opposition between Mars and Venus, we should study the perspective of each planet. As we do, we come to hold that tension, and through that, we find creative growth.

This is the path of astrology: understanding the play of opposites and embracing them. The planets help us see sacredness in the world, even when strife and harmony are at odds.

If we can embrace life while living it, what more can we really ask for?

I'll leave us there today as we contemplate the oncoming Venus-Mars opposition. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about some of the more earthly things we might expect, which is also good to look at.

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That’s it for today. We’ll see you again tomorrow. Bye.