Mercury Cazimi in Aries: Brief thoughts and horoscopes

Mercury is Cazimi again today, meaning it is meeting up exactly with the Sun, this time in the sign of Aries.

This is an opportunity for important messages, ideas, or dreams to reveal themselves or become more clear.

These messages may be about topics in your Aries house and may come through or play out via your Gemini house, thanks to the Moon being in Gemini and ruled by Mercury during the Cazimi.

Read your brief horoscope below:

♈️ Aries: messages around self via your local community

♉️ Taurus: subconscious thoughts revealed via your resources

♊️ Gemini: downloads about your goals via facets of your identity

♋️ Cancer: career ideas via your subconscious

♌️ Leo: messages informing your beliefs via your friends and networks

♍️ Virgo: reflections around how you are perceived via your public life

♎️ Libra: insights about your closest relationships via your studies or spiritual beliefs

♏️ Scorpio: ideas around your responsibilities via a dream

♐️ Sagittarius: concepts of fun via your lover

♑️ Capricorn: ideas of home via what is required of you

♒️ Aquarius: reflections on your environment via your hobbies

♓️ Pisces: images about your resources via your family

Venus in Scorpio for the Holidays: Yikes! Or...

A good friend asked me about Venus being in Scorpio during the holidays back in 2023. She was worried about this transit happening at a time when we are expected to be cheerful and take part in a never-ending barrage of gatherings and events. Her concerns were totally valid, and I appreciated the prompt to dig a little deeper and reflect on how this could actually be a refreshing take on the season. Here are the ideas I shared with her:

Since Venus is considered "in detriment" in Scorpio, she does not do as well here in a traditional role. It is a dark and dirty journey for her through the swamps, bogs, and backwaters of Scorpio, and this requires her to get creative in how she puts her benefic prowess to use. To endure this successfully, she needs to play by the rules of Mars, ruler of Scorpio, and take on a bit more of an edge. No one escapes this transit without getting a little mud on their boots. 

Mars being the planet associated with war and strife in many ways is the opposite of Venus, the planet of beauty, relationships, and love. When in Scorpio, Venus can see clearly her home sign of Taurus directly opposite her, giving her a birds eye view of her ideal state while also being as far away from home as possible. She longs for the green, idyllic pastures of the sign of the bull as she traipses through the muck-filled landscape of the scorpion. As difficult as this might be for Venus, it also provides an incredible opportunity for a unique point of view, filtered through the lens of Mars. Venus in Mars’ house sees the benefit in conflict, the beauty in the ugly, the romanticism of duty, and the magical properties of compost.

And just because she has to work a little harder here doesn’t mean Venus won’t bring good things. This transit happening while we are supposed to be celebrating and getting along and avoiding conflict lest we disturb family and societal traditions that uphold patriarchal white supremacy provides a moment to go deeper. This is a chance to solidify connections, commit to those who reciprocate, and celebrate our ride-or-die relationships. There is a choosing in Scorpio, a selectiveness. It is the perfect time for re-evaluation. Who are you making room for in your lifeboat? Who are you bringing with you as we move forward into a new year? 

As with all things, there is a flip side. For Venus in Scorpio, it is the inability to have surface-level conversations or relationships, something family gatherings and social events absolutely hinge on. It is the inability to perform pleasantness. It is the tendency toward revenge when those same deep connections go unreciprocated, are betrayed or are avoided all together in favor of the surface. The Scorpionic gift of closeness and truth in relationships has a dark counterpart of vindictiveness that can be all too easy to fall into without some self-restraint. 

If we can make choices from a healthy, grounded place, Venus in Scorpio this season may just be the transit needed to finally drop the toxic traditions or “required” gatherings. It may give us the boldness needed to speak up at family dinner or reject the invite once and for all. While this breaking of societal norms might feel really good to go about doing with reckless abandon, we do need to make sure action is being taken from a place of love and not spite. In the home of Mars, it is easy to lose our tempers and take things too far very quickly, causing more damage than good. 

In terms of productive uses, Venus in Scorpio might be a great chance to find a way to go deeper with someone you have only stayed on the surface with. Consider gifting yourself or a loved one a hard and kind conversation, one that can bring your relationship to another level of understanding or makes it apparent that this is not a good use of your energy. Utilize the cutting quality of Mars to pare back joyless customs, creating more space for new ones. Cultivate newer relationships by consistently showing up for them. The benevolence of Venus combined with the aggressive nature of Mars gives us the fierceness and courage to really go there and to live authentically, to celebrate in a way that honors what is true to us.

Double the boldness, double the fun, double the Mars in Aries I

Aries starts with a Mars decan. Like an explosion, an uncontrolled fire, a volcanic eruption, this decan is where we encounter instinctual power. It is impulsive and without constraint. It is a power we access without thought because it taps into something primal, something that operates not on the level of consciousness but somewhere deeper, in our brainstem, the hindbrain and medulla. Here we are focused on survival. 

While this way of operating might sound a little unnerving in the world we live in, it is an integral part of our daily lives. This is our fight or flight response, and we absolutely need it in many situations. It’s what keeps us alive, what fuels us, what drives us forward. 

But in addition to furthering our survival as individuals and as a species, our instinctual power can move us to a place of boldness and push us beyond our perceived limits. We have all heard stories of adrenaline-induced feats of strength in situations of extreme stress, but we can also exceed our expectations for ourselves in more abstract ways. When we access that primal energy and get to the heart of what drives us as an individual, we can produce powerful results: transcendent art that inspires and ignites others. 

I use the term “art” very loosely here. All of life is art. Every choice, an act of creation.

To live boldly and instinctively is so rare in our modern, social media-driven, prefrontal cortex world. Fuck your farmhouse chic Instagram, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver is not asking you to stop and think about this. She is not asking you to create a vision board with a five-year plan. She is not asking you to poll your friends or compare notes with what everybody else is doing. She wants you to tell her right now what passion is burning deep in your soul and for you to immediately start doing it. 

I am no stranger to the fear and avoidance of exercising this type of power. And as a woman, I’ve been conditioned to reject it all together. But as I have aged and played all the games and followed all the rules set before me, it has become clearer and clearer that the only path to freedom is to remember that I have this power, too. And so, at 36, I'm left asking myself, “What do I desire? What would I do if I were unafraid?” And little by little, creating a life that includes those answers.

For more information on what the decans are, I highly recommend this post by Marlene Seven Bremner introducing them to start off a collective Journey through the Decans with the future Astrologers’ Co-op:

https://astrologerscoop.substack.com/p/an-introduction-to-the-thirty-six?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

Why a foundational understanding of astrology is important

I put together a little video on why I think it’s important to learn a little something about astrology :)

Virgo Season Thoughts and Announcements

Hello!

Happy Virgo New Moon, Happy Venus Day, Happy Mercury-Stationing-Direct!

I hope the summer season has been good to you and full of joy, sunshine, nature, adventure, and slowness. I'd say those are all accurate pieces of mine, in addition to lack of routine, a little bit of chaos, and an abundance of learning opportunities as an astrologer and parent.  With the return of Virgo Season, I'm re-establishing my routine, and I am excited for what lies ahead. 

As a truly basic bitch, autumn has always been my favorite time of year, thanks to the weather, the colors, and the general darkening of the ambiance and flavors. It invites a time for more reflection and introspection. Now that I have an astrological view of the world, I only appreciate this time more. 

Front porch decor after a thorough sweeping in honor of the Virgo New Moon

There is something so special about seeing the myths tied to Virgo fully animate our physical world as it prepares for harvest. The celebration and anticipatory grief of another summer coming to an end coexist in the same way that Mercury flits seamlessly between the underworld and the heavens. The excitement for what is to come and the nostalgia for what was coexist in the same way the virgin and the whore archetypes necessitate each other. This time of year is about "both, and," and it feels slightly more possible for a society that struggles deeply with grey areas to embrace the in-between.

What are your Virgo Season reflections? Venus/Mercury retrograde lessons? I'd love if you'd drop me a line about what has been coming up for you.

As part of refreshing my routine, I've updated my services to now include year ahead and short, topical consultations, as well as an offering specifically for those of you who are returning clients. Feel free to book through my website or reach out with any questions!

Looking ahead at Libra Season, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. Keep your eyes peeled for some announcements as it draws nearer. 

Janessa